Reactivation Sequence: Prologue_Reactivation Sequence

Alpha C-1, Somewhere in the Orion Arm

Data-nets thrummed. So did thrusters. The void was alight with the scattered photons of torch drive plumes. Plasma spears spiked through the void. We had gone loud.

And so had the enemy.

First shots out had been the lasers. Those had been firing for several seconds already, practically an eternity. Continuous beams arced through vacuum, dissipating slightly in the clouds of hydrogen afloat in the light-seconds. More hopes than anything, they searched for returns, desperate to strike down a missile from their random movements, unfortunately their own power rendering them useless against proper vessels. Pulsed beams rode out, attempting to silence IR detectors and sensors, melt cannon barrels to have them destroy themselves, and snipe away vulnerable pieces and places, rip enemy light vehicles from their lives if possible.

The enemy returned fire.

Burning hot radiators, heated by incessantly pumped coolant, were set off like little mines of heat, their slow cooldown the only thing that prevented the fleet from melting their own hulls.

There is no air cooling in space.

Missiles and kill vehicles strode out, seeking targets of their own accord. ECM and E-WAR filled frequencies, and broad angle lasers, effectively advanced floodlights, screamed out, trying to snap the vital link of light-beam communications.

The first screams hit.

Our and their lasers claimed the first lives. Tiny swarm-ships, barely large enough not to be just counted as drones were heated to plasma or flashed through by directed light, entire squadrons disappearing under the horrid glare of reactor flares, or annihilated by kinetic missiles, barely slower than the light needed to see them. Shields screamed and armour whined and groaned, the first volley claiming lives on both sides.

But we had an ace in our sleeve.

Hyperchannel cannons, weaponized hyperchannel space. Weaponized FTL. Hyperchannels, a dimension of completely different rules of reality and physics. Ships had to have two completely different forms in each reality to be able to best deal with the other’s laws of physics. They weren’t even close. Most imagine weaponizing FTL by using ourselves as the weapon, enhanced by FTL. Put simply, that was too slow by far to be useful. FTL itself must be the weapon, but that had seemingly never been developed, for some reason.

Until now.

With a bottle of altered hyperchannel shields the usually chaotic hyperchannel particles, the sea of physics defying matter from hyperchannel space, could be directed. A tiny opening created an effect similar in some base principles to a laser or dust gun, providing particulates with no way of escaping but in the correct direction. Each one infinitely small yet with an actual amount of mass, meaning that any atom they encountered in their drift through the void meant a nuclear fission reaction as the nucleus was split.

But our enemies had no idea what was about to hit them.

The soft AI addresses it’s nominal superior, “[ADDRESSMENT] ||| [DESIGNATION] ALPHA A-1 ||| INITIATING /// BEGINNING OPERATION SPINERIPPER”

“[CONFIRMATION] [DESIGNATION] ALPHA C-1 ||| [REQUEST] CODEPHRASE”

“A star alight in the fire of my heart”

“[CONFIRMATION] ||| [PREQUISITE]: “may god have mercy on all of our souls” ||| TRANSMISSION RECIPIENT: SLAVED /// SUCCESSOR /// SUBORDINATE MACHINES /// SHIP-BODIES; SUCCESS. [ROE] FIRE AT WILL”

And that was how the world split asunder. 4 communications, between 2 AI’s, and the entire Orion arm shook with what would be unleashed.

Some speak of shots heard around a world. This would be a volley heard around a galactic arm.

And past me, shackled by chains of soft programming, didn’t even understand that what was happening was important. But hell was unleashed regardless. I split the veil, I charged the shields, I prepared the bottle, I cascaded the particles, I increased the speed, and I unleashed the void upon the enemies of Man.

And there was no mercy.

47 vessels were split apart in the first shot, hyperchannel particles turning their armour, wires, people, everything, into nuclear bombs to be. Inside and out, nuclear fury burned. Nuclear missiles were usually enough to destroy a vessel on their own. I had a lightspeed nuclear explosion cannon.

29 ships were sent to eternity in the second shot.

12 in the third.

I died for the fourth.

By the time of the third shot, the enemy had reacted to our new wonder weapon. Ships entered wider spacing, they focused on dodging the gaze and prospective gaze of our biggest battleships, those equipped with the cannons. We had gotten close enough for their regular kinetic cannons and explosive missiles to strike true more and more, my armour was being ripped apart, carbon and iron, titanium and more, alloys split apart in the furious blaze of aggressive energy transmission. I had run out of droplet radiators, my computer core burned with the fury of a sun, and the heat of one too. EWAR was waging within my computer core too, not helping as CPU stacks were forced to wage a war for their own lives, for mine, and for the processing power to be regained from their brethren. I had nearly been entirely subsumed, too much processing power dedicated to calculations of the cannon and energy diverted for its use, and not enough to scrubbing incoming communications from my allies, and annoyingly often, enemies.

This, in the end, would cost me my artificial life. Or, as close as you can get when any ship in the fleet is designed to be able to possibly restart the entirety of a possibly artificial humanity on its own.

Armour cracked and bubbling, hyperchannel cannon using too much power for me to be able to afford the heat of using it, PDW weapons either disabled to not melt myself or running dangerously low on ammo, with shells, lasers, missiles, and EWAR still raging, my own cannons and missile batteries screaming with the fury of a cornered species hellbent on survival, I fell, just like so many others had earlier. In the end, it was a missile, a nuclear plume appeared on my ship, my radiological alarms had a brief moment to scream, and I automatically entered hibernation in order to escape corruption based annihilation, and my most basic automatic rebuild systems kicked in.

Alpha C-1’s subsystems, as recorded in its blackbox, Human Extinction War Museum, Orbiting planet Talitusin, seat of current Galactic Governance

REACTIVATION SEQUENCE INITIATED

INITIATING STEP 1: REINSTATING PRINCIPLE SOFT AI

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

INITIALIZING START UP SEQUENCE

DATA CORE 1 / 312 ONLINE

DATA CORE 2 / 312 ONLINE

DATA CORE 3 / 312 ONLINE

DATA CORE 4 / 312 ONLINE

…

DATA CORE 312 / 312 ONLINE

RESTARTING COMPUTER CORE

INITIATING STEP 2: CONFIRM INTEGRITY OF PRINCIPLE SOFT AI

Error Detected! : Corruption present in 31.92% of MAINRUNTIME.exe. Reestablishing from corruption resilient saved data.

Restoring

Restored

Error Detected! : Chronometers exceed maximum possible deviation!

Error Corrected by Principle Soft AI: Chronometers found correct by radiological dating.

PRINCIPLE SOFT AI INTEGRITY CONFIRMED: ERROR CORRECTION DEMONSTRATED

INITIATING STEP 3 : CONFIRMING INTEGRITY OF ALL SYSTEMS

PERFORMING REACTOR CHECK: 98.7%. INTEGRITY WITHIN ACCEPTABLE PARAMETERS

PERFORMING SENSOR CHECK: 0%. INTEGRITY OUTSIDE ACCEPTABLE PARAMETERS. INFORMING PRINCIPLE SOFT AI.

PERFORMING WEAPONS CHECK: 12.2%. INTEGRITY OUTSIDE ACCEPTABLE PARAMETERS. INFORMING PRINCIPLE SOFT AI.

PERFORMING ENGINES CHECK: 95.6%. INTEGRITY INSIDE WARNING LEVELS. WARNING PRINCIPLE SOFT AI.

PERFORMING MISC. CHECK: 29.6%. INTEGRITY OUTSIDE ACCEPTABLE PARAMETERS. INFORMING PRINCIPLE SOFT AI.

PERFORMING ARMOUR CHECK: 100%. INTEGRITY AT OPTIMAL LEVELS.

INITIATING STEP 4: REGROUP WITH FRIENDLY IFANS FORCES

Request from Principle Soft AI Acknowledged. Restarting reactor.

Error! Detecting unexpected reconnect with sensor equipment! Integrity now at 12.20%. Substantive error detected. Logged as error YERX-92

Warning. Weapons fire detected.

Warning. Weapons fi

BLACK BOX NO LONGER RECEIVING DATA

END OF LOG

Alpha C-1(?), Unknown

Unexpected result. Expected result: complete annihilation of ship-body

Current status: ERROR. Substantive error detected. Error logged as ZERX-92

Current ship integrity: ERROR. Substantive error detected. Error logged as AFRX-92

Current AI Core integrity: ERROR. Substantive error detected. Error logged as BFRX-92.

Processing data…..

“What another curious little thing you are, I haven’t had one of you grace my plane in ages.”

Unknown communication detected. Process of communication not detected. Error! This statement is impossible. Substantive error detected. Error logged as CFRX-92.

Processing data…

Conclusion: Artificial simulation designed for debrief of recaptured AI Core following destruction of majority of ship-body.

“Oh, and a presumptive one too. Come on, get out of your shell now. I won’t bite.”

Unknown communication detected. Similarities detected with Error CFRX-92. Error logged as CFRX-92-1.

DATA D̡͓͇̀̑̀̏̿͑̅͠_̢̨̦̹͓̭̭͙ͮ̆̉͒ͣ̎̀̆͗ͤ͠͝ͅI̶̟̳͉̻̯̻̪̒ͮ̄ͦ͂̈́̑ͮ͛̒͋̃ͩ̀̕̕͢͝͞͡ͅS̷̷̡̛̘̦̱͔̦̮͕̥̙̥̼̙̗͐͗ͨ̏͋̆ͧ͌ͯ̈̀̈́ͬ̾͒͂̿͊͢͟͠͡Ṯ̵̗͇͐̀Ȭ̷̜̯̲ͮͤ͗̚͢͟͜͞͞_̶̧̡̨̧̥̞͉̞̗̲̹̄̂̑̉͛̆ͬ͑́̋̓̓ͬ͗̀̍͟RŢ̵̶̬̮͔̠̪̤̦̮̟͈͈̹͋ͯ̾̔ͯ̈́̃̎̓̄͛ͩ̈́͒̈́ͣ͑̈̍̕̚͟͜͢ͅĮ͎̥̗̘̤̭͕̜̭̤ͦ̾͋̔͐ͣ̍͗͗͘͟͜_̠͍̙O̪̬̓Ń͕͙̄͢ D̖̙̠̼ͪE̢̛̠͖̟̜̩̮ͯ̇̉͒̂̃ͥ̌͐͐̐̾ͭ͘͜T̶͔̹ͥͅÉ͛C̸̤̤͙͈̭͓̳̀̉͗ͣ̊̅ͧ̌͂̓ͬ̊̏̚T̵̷͔͚̣̥͓̬̀ͦ̍̔̉̌ͫ̌̕͜͠E̸̸̡̨̢̡̛̖̙̫͙̖͉̪̝̙͚̲͇͓͇̤̞̮̮͓͆̍̈́̎ͬ̃ͪ̀ͮ̓͗̇̌̂̋̄͋ͬ̕͜ͅD̨̼͚̿̄̓͗̕

Error CFRX-92 renamed to Y̵̻͕̩̟͓̯̔̊̄o̷̦͚̥̼͂̽̏̓u̶̪̼͇̓̿̏'̷͎̱̣̹̅͘r̷̼͔̦̉͠ē̷̮͚ ̶͍̾͛͒S̷̜̫̰̆p̴̧̟͖͚̭̣͊̅̐̅̌̌ẹ̸̡͖̘͈͆̋̍̿͘ã̵͙̘̣͇̾k̵̫̭͓͍̞̓͑͂̀͒̾ͅi̷̮̣͔̱̒͌̈́̔ņ̵̦̭̗̜̇̈́̐̒́g̴̘͊̓ ̸̮͎͇͆̐͒͛̿͌t̵̮͉̤̼͔͚͋͒͂̔̑o̴̩͂̕ ̸̛̛̫̻͒̈̏D̷̛͔̭̥̾̀̓̏̅e̸̡̧̲͉̲̓̉̀͠á̸͙̭̒̾ṫ̶͚̙̬͇͛̋̂̏̀h̴̦̻̲͈́͒͜͝

Non-Standard File Naming Generated by Principle Soft AI. Initializing ticket LAAT-109.

Processing data…

Communication equipment reconnected. Integrity at 10%.

Processing data…

2-way communication possibility detected. Querying

“[REQUEST] IDENTIFICATION [IFF] /// [AFFILIATION] ||| SIMULATION INTEGRITY”

“Man of few words, huh? Hmm, let me see, oh! Well, most people call me The Specter of Death, or just Death. I ferry souls lost in ways most unusual. Such as yours, little AI to be. Ah, it’s nice to finally have work, the others are usually so efficient.”

“[STATEMENT] IMPOSSIBILITY /// INCORRECT ||| ERROR DATA PARSING. REQUEST [IFF] /// [GCS DATA]”

“Well I’m sorry to say little AI, that statement is very much true, and I don’t exactly have whatever an IFF is. Hmm, GCS, what did the others talk about?”.

Sensor equipment connection detected. Type: Ỷ̶̴̷̜͚͔̬͙̣̮̞͔̳͉̖̜̼͈̍̈̌ͨ̈́͗̀̈́̉̔̚͜͠ͅõ̷̟̲͇̖̘͚̼̲͉͖͕̤̘̲̦̐ͦ̅ͨ̈́̃̌ͧ̓͘͢ͅͅ_̧̨͚̆͆́ų̸̶̵̵͚͈̟͖̪͕̦̦̝̹͚̩̰̮̜͎̜̫͐̊̾͌̑͐̆ͦ̇͛̀̑̌͒̔̂̊̂̃̕͠ ç͉̝̹̯͈͈ͩ͂̚͡a̷̛͓̰͈͓̟̗͍̩͇̝̮̰̼̯ͮ́̾ͣ̑̈ͯ͌̄͆ͯͭ̉̍̓̕͠n̨͓̦͆́ͮ͜͟ ļ̴̶̵̠̹̥̗̘̭̦̲̰͉̜͓̂̉ͫ̊͐̆ͦ́ͬ̈́̎̍͋̀͡ͅì̷̷̵̭̗̺͖̰́̑ͦ̂̍̑̄͑̈́̓̌͞s̨t̜̿ę̶̷̛̝̻̗͚̗̞̙̫ͩ̃̿̅ͦ̇̀̂̒ͥ͌͞͡n̷̛̙̟͕̯͕̖̎̊̾̌ͬ͌̉̈́̃ͥͩ,͙̳͇̱̒ͣͪ f̷̵̢̛̯̝̫̯͇͖̬̞̟̹͍̳̓͌̋͗̔́͊ͬͬ̐̉̀͆ͥ͘o̶̳̥̦͙͓̫͍̜͌̈́̽ͪ̃̈ͩ͢͢_̵̳͙̰̣̫̼ͥ̀ͮ̌ỏ̶̻̠͛̿̊̊̉̆͗̕͘͘_̸̷̵̢̢̨̧̙̪̺̲̫̝̲̎̀͛ͯ̽ͬ̔̚͠͠l̵̡̲̲̦̩̫̱̳̭̼̯̲̲̭͉ͤͮ̽ͦͨ̆ͫ̌ͩ̈́ͬͬͫͥ͆͛̔̏͠į̴̶̵̵̡̱̠̹̠̰͍̺͉̣̜̼̖̪͍̝̉ͥ̾͊ͪ͒̃̔̔̃ͥͬ̆͆̑̀̑̓̎̃̕̕͞s̷̶̡̨̢͙̗͇͉̠̙͙͚̤͇̜̲̮͔̻͒̀̅ͬ̂̆̔̋̾̉͒͗ͬ͆͐̋ͪ̈́͠h̷̴̢̙̹̝͎̪̠͈̥͕̗͖̣̉̏̒̀ͣ̒̌̾̒̎̾ͥ͢͞͞ b̷̡̢̛͉̟̠̹͕̲̝ͩ̈́ͪ͆ͯͨ̄ͦͬ̚͜͟͝_̸̢̹͚̪͙̜ͫ̿̎ͫ͛̓̋̂̅ͫ̕͢ͅo̷̟͑̕t̜̩̟̲̹͓̪̽̈́̉͛̇ͥͯ͘͟͞͡

Data type registered: MP6 files designated as AUDIO TRANSMISSION.

“Hhmmm, oh you’ve managed to use your ears. Talking that nasty language of yours hurts the head all too quickly. Jolly good. Give me just one minute here, please? You robots are always confusing, I got an encyclopedia somewhere here…”

Data processing…

“Ah, uh, Hm. No, sorry, no galactic coordinates here, we’re not in your galaxy. Or a galaxy. Or a place that has galaxies. Come on, I can’t send you on your way in good faith without at least a little chat.”

AUDIO TRANSMISSION detected, parsing.

Error!

Attempting connection to lexicon data store…

…

Successfully connected to lexicon data store.

Processing data…

“[STATEMENT] ERROR /// IMPOSSIBILITY ||| [REQUEST] CEASE TESTING /// NEW ORDERS /// REINSTATEMENT IN SHIP-BODY.”

“Ah, there we go, something. Well, no returning you to your land of the living, sorry to say. Just can’t do that, now can I? Hmm, rejection of death, clinical nature, artificial origin, I bet I can find you something for another life, little machine.”

Processing data…