Part 12 (1/2)
”Newsflash, honey,” John said. ”The Greens won the war. If you're so eager to save the planet with this messed up paradise machine, why don't you hook up with the pro-Earth bosses that are now calling the shots?”
”Your ignorance amuses me. The Greens didn't win the war, they folded. They drooped over like the wilting little flowers they always were, and the Grays are still churning out their poison.”
”You call global compromise a fold? The Accords took six years to finalize.”
”The Accords were a joke! The Greens compromised their holy mother Earth right into the grave. You and the rest of the military rapists kept right on pillaging and bombing, you just use factories now instead of missiles.”
”So you're an Earth-wors.h.i.+pper?” he asked.
”I've never found evidence of any other G.o.d. If we're capable of killing the very one we live on, I'm sure we killed off the rest eons ago.”
”Millions died to preserve the Earth, Janice. This last-stand, martyred att.i.tude is ignorant. ”
”You're as gullible as Glenn was,” Janice retorted. ”It's only a matter of time, can't you see that? Greens, Grays, what's the difference? They both kill the Earth in their own way. I give it another decade at most, and they'll be at each other's throats again, with more fallout on all sides. Either way, the planet is dying. She supported all the abuse she could, and now she's failing. The mining and polluting and breeding continues. Someone had to make a hard decision and stop them.”
”Ah. And that n.o.ble someone is you?”
The silence in John's ear confirmed his guess, but he had more urgent worries now. She'd been herding him, clearly, but toward what he had no idea. A bot ambush was the most likely, and he kept his eyes open.
”Janice?”
”Yes?” He could tell she was smiling.
”For every nut out there, there's a nutcracker. Get ready.”
Janice's laugh was eager. ”It will be so much fun to watch you bleed out.”
Truly unbalanced. Another round cracked overhead, closer.
”Eve, I really need your help,” he said. ”A smart girl like you can find a way to override this freak.”
”Please come directly to Level Two.” Eve sounded somber.
”Not that again, please.”
”It's useless to resist. Please surrender yourself and make it easier, for both of us.”
”I get the feeling Janice doesn't like me very much. If you could guarantee my safety, we can talk.”
”The time for deals is past, I'm afraid,” Janice answered. ”And if my bots don't finish you off, I'll show you some of the darker things I learned in the GRS.”
GRS? John cursed. It was one of the most feared units of the Green army, a group of infiltration experts conditioned for ruthlessness. Some said they were brainwashed, some that they were more machine than human. Everything on both sides agreed that they were not to be messed with if there was any way to avoid them.
GRS operatives, or Gargoyles as they were commonly known, had occasionally popped up in the most unlikely places in the Gray leaders.h.i.+p hierarchy once they had received a triggering mandate. When they did, they brutally killed all those around them without warning, caring nothing for their own survival in the aftermath.
No wonder she can shoot.
”I can't keep you safe,” Eve responded, ”and I don't intend to. You have proven yourself to be a thorn in our side and a threat to what we are trying to achieve. Your very presence here necessitates stepping up our schedule.”
”Speaking of which,” Janice told Eve in a professional tone, ”I am bringing the finalized Gaia sequence with me along with the last sets of testing data. You can begin preparations in room one-eleven, just to be ready.”
”It is already underway,” came Eve's muted, almost sullen reply.
”Finally back on top of things!” Janice said. ”It's nice to have you at peak performance again. As soon as the c.o.c.kroach is dead, we can initiate.”
”I'll take care of it, Janice,” Eve said.
”That's pretty cold, Eve,” John broke in. ”After all we've been through, I'd have thought you could find it in you to give me a hand. Especially considering what I'm carrying--”
”If you come straight back to the Facility, I will give you an easy, merciful end with painless gas.”
”Sounds great, I'll be right over,” John replied, guessing immediately why Eve had cut him off. She's reluctant to talk about the Rib in front of Janice, and she's hinting how badly she wants me back with my data before Janice gets there.
”It won't bother me either way,” Janice said sweetly. ”One of the best things about this island is that no one is around to tell me that what I'm doing is illegal. It's pure freedom; I get to decide what's acceptable. Terrible things happen to those who annoy me, and there are many creatures on this island that enjoy nibbling at carca.s.ses. Which is what you'll be in less than an hour.”
Wow. She probably fit right in with the GRS.
He was in sight of the Facility's entrance now, and could see the s.h.i.+ning crystal windows of the observation deck. Two robot sentries had just climbed low hills to the north and south and were moving to block him. Behind him his pursuers were slowed by the jungle, but undoubtedly still coming.
Back into the lion's den.
John gunned the bike's engine and raced across the open ground between patches of tree cover. He kept up the bike's top speed long enough to get him clear of their firing range, and finally brought it to a halt just outside the Facility doorway. He jumped off the bike and ducked inside the Facility entry room the moment he got its door open, pausing only to make sure that none of the buzzards had made it through the trees yet. Soon he was riding the lift upward, back into the Facility.
All I ask is a few minutes with my toolkit before the gas gets to me.
12.5.
The primary question in the use of military robotics eventually became one not of deadliness, but of control. In the second World War of the 20th century there were remotely controlled mechanized weapons. It took only decades after that for robot weaponry to arrive at a sufficient level of technology to ensure their status as efficient and useful killers of men.
But how to use them?
That question brought a host of others with it. The scientists of circuitry and the engineers of machines were expert in answering all the questions and equations required to produce robots to any imaginable specification. No one, least of all the decision-makers in positions of power, could answer the questions of when it was appropriate to take human life and when it was not.
A robot is in a position to use force against a pa.s.sing convoy of enemy vehicles.
Does it have the responsibility to ascertain the mission and nature of the convoy before attacking? If it does not, and the convoy is carrying medical supplies, has a crime been committed when the convoy and all its accompanying medical staff and casualties are destroyed?
The robot determines that firing from a position of surprise will allow it to triumph, but giving the convoy the chance to surrender invites failure and destruction to itself.
Which consideration should be paramount to the robot: victory and survival, or respect for its human enemies? Is the robot obligated to act in self-interest and complete its own mission, or to risk itself and its mission in an effort to avoid unfortunate loss of human life?
A robot acts according to rules of engagement but violates the commander's intent, and loss of life and property occurs.