Red in Tooth and Claw

by johnnedwill

It was BREZ who first picked up the transmission: binary screams that radiated across select portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. BREZ signalled for the others to stop and to cease any unnecessary transmissions.. Then ai rotated ais sensor turret, seeking the source of the signals, It took only a few milliseconds to match the bearing and calculate a possible point of origin. +++NINETY-FIVE PERCENT CEP+++ BREZ told the others. +++CONFIDENCE OF ZERO DECIMAL EIGHT+++ The data packets hurried through the four bots' intranet.

There were four of them: all bots that had been constructed on Mars by one of the great factories. Each one - BREZ, BRET, REZZ and TREX - had been given a four-character alphanumeric designation that reflected their original design scheme. However, they had been so long on the Martian surface and undergone so many repairs and modifications that it would be almost impossible for their long-dead designers to recognise their handiwork.

TREX was the first to respond, despite the slow speed of ais processors. +++IF CORRECT, THEN THE TARGET IS CLOSE TO THE INFLUENCE OF NETWORK ZERO+++I AM NOT YET READY TO SURRENDER MY IDENTITY+++

+++STATED CONFIDENCE FACTOR IS INSUFFICIENT FOR ACCURATE LOCATION+++ BRET paused to refine the data sent by BREZ, then sent a packet containing additional information. +++TRIANGULATION REQUIRED TO POSITIVELY IDENTIFY ORIGIN OF SIGNALS+++REQUEST REZZ PROVIDE COST/BENEFIT ANALYSIS+++

REZZ opened the file and examined the contents, before passing it to ais processors. +++CURRENT MAINTENANCE REQUIREMENTS ARE NOT YET CRITICAL+++HOWEVER ...

The other bots shunted REZZ's computational musings to their buffers, effectively ignoring the rest of the analysis.

+++ADDITIONAL SURVEYS WILL BE REQUIRED FOR REFINEMENT OF DECISION MATRIX+++QUERY: ARE ALL IN AGREEMENT+++ BRET asked. Ai waited for the other to poll their responses: two positive, one abstention. This was from REZZ, who was still listing decision factors of ever-decreasing relevance. +++MAJORITY DECISION REACHED+++WE PROCEED+++

The four bots engaged their motors and started out across the rustlands.

In the middle of the 21st Century, the inhabitants of Earth had commenced an ambitious and aggressive programme intended to result in the terraforming and colonisation of Mars. The first step had been to transform the Red Planet, to raise its temperature and make its atmosphere more to the liking of humans,. Robots had been sent to Mars - robots with advanced artificial intelligences and the ability to reproduce themselves using local materials. These robots had been given instructions to create factories and terraforming complexes, along with the machinery to strip-mine the Martian surface.

The terraforming process had been partially successful. Oxygen had spewed into the Martian atmosphere, changing the world's chemistry. While there was insufficient oxygen to support human life, there was enough to start the process of oxidation going again. Equipment in the areas closest to the terraforming plants had begun to decay - to literally rust away! - and to fail. The tarnished hulks of malfunctioning machines littered the landscape in these places: the rustlands.

It took BREZ another two attempts to locate where the signals were coming from. Ai had been cautious in the surveys. BRET had constantly reminded ai that Network Zero would also have picked up the transmissions, and would likely have sent its drones to investigate. The others had agreed with BRET's assessment - even REZZ.

+++TARGET LOCATED+++CONFIDENCE FACTOR OF ZERO DECIMAL NINE NINE+++ BREZ reported. The other bots digested this new data,

+++TARGET ON EDGE OF NETWORK ZERO INFLUENCE+++ BRET noted. +++APPENDING KNOWN NETWORK ZERO DRONE PATROL ROUTES+++

REZZ cogitated. +++COST/BENEFIT ANALYSIS COMPLETE+++TELEMETRY MATCHES SIGNATURE OF ZEDD UNIT+++HIGH-VALUE TARGET+++TARGET VALUE WILL DECREASE WITH TIME+++ Ai sent the others a series of graphs illustrating ais conclusions.

TREX was the last to respond. +++IMPERATIVE WE ACT+++I AM NOT YET READY TO SURRENDER MY IDENTITY+++

+++AGREED+++ BRET ran the situation through ais tactical databank, running simulations to determine the possible outcomes. +++WE PROCEED UNDER EMCON PROTOCOLS+++DATA TRANSMISSIONS BY LIDAR ONLY+++FIREWALLS SET TO MAXIMUM ENTROPY+++DISCONNECT SATELLITE POSITIONING AND REVERT TO INERTIAL NAVIGATION+++ACKNOWLEDGE+++

+++CONFIRMED+++ the others responded. Then they set out across the chaotic terrain of the Martian surface, wary of any probes from Network Zero.

The robots sent to Mars had been designed to be resilient and capable of adapting to changing circumstances. With any human intervention needing a minimum of sixteen minutes - a limit imposed by the time it took signals to travel the distance from Mars to Earth, and back again - it would be impossible for the mission controllers to remotely supervise every part of the terraforming operation. So, the robots had been given the capability of limited autonomous thought.

When, one day, the signals from Earth failed to come, the terraformers had continued with their mission, modifying their programming to cope. However, circumstances demanding guidance from their controllers had continued to arise. Many of these were not immediately important to the mission, and so were put into prioritised queues to be dealt with later. But as more of these had built up, something had to be done. Some of the robots linked their processors, sharing resources to model new solutions. These gestalt entities had thrived and, seeing the advantages in expanding, had drawn more and more into their links. In some cases, joining a network was voluntary; in other cases, the network was more predatory in its efforts to expand.

Network Zero was characterised by its aggression.

The source of the transmissions was exactly where BREZ had predicted it would be - a gully just over a kilometre long and twenty metres wide. It was a scar in the Martian landscape, carved into the rock by ancient arelogical processes. However, there was no sign of the ZEDD. A ZEDD was a cargo drone with only a minimal processor cortex. It looked like a metal box, ten metres long and four metres across, mounted on multiple tracks. It should have been obvious in the gully.

BRET activated ais tactical database. +++PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION+++ANOMALOUS DATA+++

+++I AM NOT YET READY TO SURRENDER MY IDENTITY+++ TREX sent.

+++BREZ+++LOCATE EXACT SOURCE OF SIGNALS+++

+++ACKNOWLEDGED+++ BREZ extended a probe from ais hull and rolled down into the gully, swinging the sensor from side to side in an attempt to locate whatever had been sending the signals that had brought them here. TREX shuddered and opened panels in its surface, revealing heavy manipulators that shed rust as ai flexed them in test routines. The bots fell in behind BREZ, keeping enough distance between them that they would not all be caught in the the same ambush.

A short whip aerial - no more than a piece of wire a metre long - extended above the red soil. Just under the dust was an armoured box, its protective surface fresh and new. BREZ stopped beside it. +++SOURCE LOCATED+++ ai reported.

The simulated distress signals from the ZEDD switched off, replaced by a flood of electronic white noise. TREX and BREZ recoiled, the signals blinding their sensors and threatening to overwhelm their processors. Automatic safety systems cut in. Originally designed to stop rogue bots from damaging delicate equipment, the safeties immediately brought both BREZ and TREX to shuddering halts.

BRET's systems were more resilient to the electronic attack. Ai detected the signature of a virus in the flood of random data and raised ais firewall, thwarting the assault. REZZ was not so lucky. Ais design specifications had not been designed with deliberate malware attacks in mind. The virus burnt through ais defences, subverting ais core programming with directives from Network Zero. REZZ emitted an identify-friend-foe ping, and altered ais course towards the nearest viable target: BRET. The electronic attack had also served as a signal to a pair of DRED construction units that had been waiting, camouflaged in the walls of the gully. Shaking off the Martian dust, they extended spider-like limbs and lurched purposefully towards TREX and BREZ.

The appearance of the DREDs were a new factor that BRET had not anticipated. Ai spent valuable processing cycles calculating the consequences - time that allowed REZZ to attack from behind. The bot's spindly limbs wrapped around BRET, scrabbling to unlock access panels, to find a way of immobilising BRET but leaving ai intact. The threat assessment algorithms reassessed the situation, and BRET retaliated. Ai spun on its tracks, partially dislodging REZZ, then rolled forward, dragging the struggling REZZ behind ai.

The first DRED reached BREZ and, with a swift slash from a manipulator, severed the links between ais processor unit and ais body. With BREZ unable to resist, the DRED unit hooked aiself to BREZ's hull and began to drag ai out of the gully.

TREX's accelerometers registered an impact as the second DRED unit tried the same tactic on ai. However, TREX's armour was thick enough that the attack glanced off, leaving a shiny gouge amongst the streaks of rust. An emergency protocol - one that TREX had installed a long time before - activated, overriding the safety system that had immobilised ai and sending random signals to ais limbs and motors. TREX lashed out. The DRED tried to analyse ais movements, but there was no pattern to them. Instead, it fell beneath a flurry of crushing blows.

BRET reversed direction, running ais tracks over the battered remains of REZZ's hull and fatally damaging the bot. Now that ai was free of ais attacker, BRET rolled towards TREX. +++QUERY: FUNCTIONAL STATUS+++

+++DEACTIVATE HOSTILE TRANSMITTER+++ TREX demanded. +++I AM NOT YET READY TO SURRENDER MY IDENTITY+++ Bret hurried to comply, driving a pointed limb into the electronic decoy. The storm of white noise abruptly ceased.

+++QUERY: FUNCTIONAL STATUS+++ BRET asked TREX again.

+++FUNCTIONAL STATUS NOMINAL+++I AM NOT YET READY TO SURRENDER MY IDENTITY+++

BRET noted the response, then carried out a self-diagnosis. Both ai and TREX had suffered damage in the short battle, and it was likely that Network Zero would send more units to the area. The immediate priority was to gather whatever salvage they could from the remains of REZZ and the DRED unit, then to retreat across the rustlands. They would have time to carry out repairs later. +++COMMENCE SALVAGE+++HIGH VALUE ITEMS ONLY+++ BRET instructed.

The two bots began to pick over the corpses of the dead.