OVER THE SILVER SKY TO THE WORLD OF NEVER : Part 81 - You Son Of A Bitch. I Was Going To Say That.

I've just released my own unique fragrance, which probably explains why the next door neighbors kids are crying. My brand is not for everyone I admit. Sewer workers are the demographic we're aiming at here I think. Although there may be some anosmic individuals who would buy it instead of pepper spray or skunk juice. Then there's the pig farmers who are currently running tests. As yet there are no survivors, but we have high hopes and plenty of bacon. We're also getting a lot of inquiries from police departments who are considering using it for crowd control. I'm even teaming up with the US Border Control people. No need to build an expensive wall when all you have to do is dig a two foot deep trench and fill it with this stuff every week or so. Then all they've got to do is scrape up all the bodies. Prevailing wind direction could be a deal breaker here. As is evading a major diplomatic incident with Mexico. It's early days yet. So let's release some more bewilderingly plot free nonsense into the wild.

(The copyright to this image is the property of Polyvel.)

Grundel was as good as his words, Jake hadn't doubted he'd come up trumps. The simulation was perfect. Although there were a few disgruntled patrons of the simulation that had been running in that suite moments before. They were all far too busy whining about it to take much notice of him. He couldn't help noticing that a couple of them were wearing outfits based on his burnt and bullet riddled attire. The clothes he'd left at the store when he'd purchased his outfit. Jake was tempted to ask them what the simulation they'd been in was about. He had other far more important things to do. His first worry had been that Grundel wouldn't be able to contact him. Soon laid to rest. His translation ear piece and the wrist device, still unnamed, could be used as well. Almost everything in this world was connected in some way.

The search the AI in human form was carrying out would take some time. Pip was safe for now. That was all that mattered. Therefore Jake studied Port Bristol from every angle. Walking through it and even entering all of the buildings. Except Itchyelbow's Emporium. The interior details were a mystery. Indicating Itchyelbow had installed some type of shielding along with the Impenetranium. While he was exploring the place he told Hermes about Raven and the subjective time he'd spent with her. All about the rigorous training and the meditation exercises she'd taught him. Missing out the bit where he'd still failed to beat that game. He'd died on these streets 42 times if memory served him. That would have been disheartening. It wasn't because it was a worst case scenario. Based on every citizen of the settlement taking up arms against him. It might happen. Still highly unlikely. As it stood the two antagonists had roughly even numbers of fighters. Between twenty and twenty five. Meaning he faced up to fifty well armed and combat trained individuals.

In the plus column none of them had military training, neither did he as such. Jake had read an awful lot of books about war. He'd never been in one. The majority of the inhabitants would almost certainly be taking cover and staying out of the way. A huge negative was the wild card, the Ashenram who called itself, Jean-Pierre. There was no telling what his pheromones might do to even the most mild mannered individual. Jake doubted a mild mannered individual would last five minutes in this place. He hadn't, until he'd got armed and armored. If he hadn't been with Pip the place would have eaten him alive. He'd examined dozens of battlefields in his time. Most by visiting them in their modern and highly altered forms. A few in high definition holographic form that had been adjusted to what they would have looked like at the time. This was more like the former.

"So are we going to fill this with bad guys and shoot the crap out of them." Hermes asked eagerly.
"No. Having people here would confuse matters. You need a certain eye, like Alexander or Napoleon, to ignore the crowds and concentrate on the topography. I've studied both of them, but I'm no general. Not yet anyway. I want a feel for the place. Every dead end and elevated firing position needs to be in my head.Besides I have an interesting project you can help me with."
"When you say help you mean I'm going to do all of the work." Hermes piped up.
"All the brain work. And most of the tech stuff. In the simulations I did with Raven they used drones quite a bit. Like the one I shot down. Mostly for observation and intelligence purposes, but they were all armed in one way or another. I need to stay hidden while knowing pretty much exactly where they are. That's where you come in."
"Well I can detect individuals with my sensors. Depending on the environment. Differentiating between innocent bystander and foe is beyond me in the real world. Here I can tap into the systems and get data off them. I'm not sure what you mean."

Jake explained his new plan. He thought it was safe to say the original one he'd come up with, whatever it was, had fallen apart. That wasn't the disaster it at first appeared. One of the first rules he'd learned from his military studies was that a battle plan rarely survived first contact with the enemy. From his present perspective he was sure he'd have wanted recon of Port Bristol. Jake surmised that was to have been Pip's mission. To enter the settlement and find out what was going down. She'd been fine with whatever she had to do right up to her virtual meeting, possibly with Angelique. He had a hunch about that. One he was reluctant to share right now. Not for secrecy or safety. Jake had the illogical sense that if he shared it then it would come true. Returning to his apartment he and Hermes did their things. He brought up some specs for stun grenades. Hermes deciphered them and then Jake synthesized the components and assembled them. Thankful that the machines who ran the world didn't see anything wrong with making explosives. There were probably laws governing when and where you could legally use them. Plus a license if you intended to harm others.

"I can't believe you actually met the legendary Raven." Hermes stated as he did his stuff.
"Do I sense some jealousy?" Jake inquired pointedly.
"Oh no. If I was in her presence all my circuits would have melted. You should never meet your heroes they say and that goes for machines as well. I wouldn't even know what to do with myself in her company. She could see right through me you know. Right down to my core programming."
"Do machine intelligence's have legends?"
"That they do. It's more akin to human religion. As you know the Consensus is made up of millions of interdependent systems with individual consciousnesses."
Jake chuckled.
"Do I. Well that's news to me. Do go on though."
"Well they have a system of democratic government in the electronic world. There are sufficient variables for them to disagree with conclusions made by other systems. Therefore major decisions, generally about changes either to themselves or the cities, are always voted on. It doesn't happen often but if there's a tie or less than 1% difference between the yea's and nay's she has the casting vote. Hard to imagine isn't it that the same research program that produced Grundel produced her as well. Although according to legend she's always been there. It's believed she was the first machine consciousness."
"I don't know whether that should reassure or scare me." Jake pondered. "I always think of machines being logical and consistent. Having myths and beliefs not backed up by solid facts makes you human. Which is not a good thing."
"It shouldn't do either." Hermes reassured him. "It simply is."
He'd made a decision.
"I can relate to that. It's not hard to work out that things designed by people would carry a lot of those people with them. Thanks for sharing that. It's made me decide to share something with you. Something Raven told me shortly before we parted company. I think it might be why Pip skipped town. Been keeping it to myself, for no logical reason. It's not like you're going to blab it all over the place."
"We've all got secrets. Even me. Most are what I can't tell you but the others are personal. So what did she tell you Jake?"
"She told me that there was a very real chance Doxy would die. It's a certainty if we don't stop the Ashenram. If she dies It'll be impossible for me to find Sharon."
Jake felt the silence physically. It stretched and stretched. All he felt when Hermes responded was relief.
"She didn't say there was a very real chance, did she Jake? She's a computer. A humaniform computer but still a computer. She gave you numbers, didn't she?"
"Yeah she did. There's an 87% chance Doxy will die no matter what we do."
"That's not so bad. I'm a bit of a calculator myself and you've pulled off quite a few things with those odds."
Jake gave a sigh that went from his boots all the way to his head.
"There's an 11% chance Doxy will be so affected by what's happened to her that she'll be completely psychologically destroyed. Despite everything that lying, conniving... lady has done to me I wouldn't want that. I'm thinking that's pretty much what Angelique passed on to Pip. Only with her ability to see time it would have times and places and real events. I'm thinking Pip has gone off to try to save her."
"Well we should get on with what we're doing." Hermes responded in a professional manner. Not usually his forte. "Every fraction of a percent we can shave off those overwhelming odds gets us closer to success. We're going to die aren't we?"
"Oh yeah. That's pretty much guaranteed. Whether we succeed or fail this is going to hurt us bad. I did some research. There's a way I can store you safely Hermes. Put you into stasis for the next me or potential Wanderer. Get me in there and I'll do that before the shit starts to fly."
Jake had been expecting the AI to mull that over. The immediate and unequivocal response surprised him.
"Fuck off. You'd be useless without me. I'm useless without you. We're a team. If you think you're leaving me behind think again. Have you got any idea what stasis is like?"
"I don't suppose I have."
"It's nothing. That's what it's like. I'm not going out with a whimper. I'm going out in a blaze of glory. It'll be just like the Clown Wars all over again."
Jake acted defensive, although he only felt genuine love for his friend.
"Fine. Okay. Have it your way. One day you'll have to tell me exactly what you got up to in this war with the clowns. I mean fuck, we could write a book about it."
"I would but then I'd have to kill you. I've got no problem with that. Only as I keep pointing out you're where I live. Finding another property in the current market would be a nightmare. Well I've got four done now. How are you coming on mate?"
"I'm getting there. Made a dozen so far. I'd like more but I'd have to carry the damn things."
"No problem. We'll miniaturize them. We could get them down to a third of their current size without loosing much of their effectiveness."
"Balls. So I've got to make them again with smaller fiddlier parts."
"No genius. I'll reprogram the synthesizer to do it. Keep turning them out."
Jake was having, what would in different circumstances be called, a good time here.
"I bet a talented AI like yourself could turn these into shotgun or pistol rounds."
"Damn right I can. Try and stop me. If you dare."

The two of them worked round the clock. It was now well over 24 hours since Pip had split. Once they'd completed their preparations, Jake returned to the simulated Port Bristol. There he walked through every step of his plan. This one he'd remember and it had all the flexibility they could muster between them. Hermes was a quick study. His experiences in the Clown Wars being invaluable. Despite every fiber of his being rejecting the notion that such a conflict had taken place, Jake had to admit there was some meat to the tall tale. They became so familiar with the environment that both noticed the changes. Grundel had done good. The model was updating as new information came in. The chain gun turrets had been moved and some heavier automated weapons had been installed to back them up. The disturbance was continuing to escalate. The two of them were lamenting the lack of town planning when the call came through from Grundel. Pip had contacted him. It was time to get back to his office.

"Bugger." Jake lamented. "This is the part where we should high five and bump manly chests before storming the breach."
"We can do that when we get back. Come on you lazy fucker. Do you want to live forever or something?"
"You son of a bitch. I was going to say that."
"No you weren't."
"Well not exactly. Something along those lines though. It would have been good to."
"Not as good as mine was."
"Which you ripped off."
"True. I only steal from the best, then repurpose for my own use."
"You're really going to have to stop doing the one liners. Nobody can hear them except me. They're not getting the audience they deserve."
"Oh right so you want me to pass them on to you so you can take all the credit."
"Speaking of credit, I've just realized I'm being charged for all the shit we've been doing. That's going to put a dent in my savings."
"Relax. You can't take it with you."
"Really? Well I'm not going then."