A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 42: (Patreon)

A Perfectly Logical Guide to a Superhuman Apocalypse: 42:

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Arksoul

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I felt like I was playing a game in real life.

The curtain shields deployed created ‘levels’ which I could teleport within, but not through to other locations. If a gap formed to admit traffic from one area and the next, I could go through… but after a bit of watching, I learned that the defenses were made with teleportation in mind.

Only one layer/gate opened at a time every twenty minutes. All the other layers remained closed and the outermost layer was always last to open. Basically, if you teleport past the first layer, you’ll have to wait eighty minutes before the gate outside opens again to get out. Then, it’s twenty minutes more each time you go in a level deeper, since it only opens from the outside in, while each section got smaller and smaller, meaning the operating area of my ability got smaller, too.

Yeah.

These guys were prepped for people who can warp space.

They weren’t prepared for someone who could do the same and had support from an AI designed for world conquest.

“They really aren’t even taking a second glance at me.” I was covered in optical camouflage that shimmered and projected my surroundings onto myself. The technology was beyond me, but using it was simple enough. Stay completely covered by it and it makes me invisible to the naked eye. There was a bunch of other additions, too. It protected against thermal detection and a bunch of other sensors. Sure, it was a high-tech piece of equipment that Parvati could just have self-destruct, but it had vested interest in the mission’s success, so I took the risk. “This is impressive.”

“It will be less impressive, if you keep speaking and are heard.”The AI chimed in through the earpiece, while I kept to the shadows and walked through the gaps between buildings. We were on reconnaissance and looking for gaps in the second curtain shield. If there was some sort of drain or tunnel that went through to the other side, I could pop through, because the energy shield didn’t penetrate solid objects. Unfortunately, it was becoming obvious that my fellow teleporter revealed a lot more than I wanted. There were air-gaps for the shields to touch down on against solid ground everywhere we looked. “I have a question: what if I create a tunneling robot  that goes through the soil and out the other end that is hollow inside?”

“That could work. A golf-ball sized gap is all I need.” That was a bit of a lie. I could do with less, but it took more effort and stamina. The intricacies of my power were something I studied very carefully. Know yourself and you needn’t fear a thousand battles, and all that. Though my favorite piece of wisdom from that book was that a battle avoided was a battle won. Fighting is always about mitigating how much a loss costs you. “Ah, that would’ve been good to know for the spike, huh?”

“Correct.”

The spike was what Parvati decided to call the concentrated beam emitter that it made. For a single shot, it would project enough energy to pierce through all the layers of shielding that surrounded the district, which would allow me to escape. Like I said before, I consider fighting a loss condition, so running away was definitely my choice when confronted. Not exactly heroic, but I’ll leave heroics to the professionals. Still, I won’t be using the arm-length staff’s ability to shoot ludicrous amounts of energy at something against people as a one-off weapon.

I value leaving with my life and no blood on my hands over killing some poor guy on patrol.

But that’s beside the point at the moment.

I was gathering information with Parvati’s help.

“Hey, have you noticed? The outermost parts look like the rest of the city, but the rest looks a lot more advanced.” The district was pretty big. Seven blocks long and maybe six wide. You could see it from afar, but the overlapping shields obfuscated the insides to no more than faint silhouettes. Signal strength practically didn’t exist in the deepest layer, so we were working with rough maps and faraway observations on the third level onward. “Looks like someone’s hiding the fact that he’s keeping his army and essential people nice and happy.”

“They are the keys to the kingdom. He would be foolish if he did not.” I couldn’t disagree with that statement. Warlords kept two people close to the chest: their accountant and the leaders of their armies. Beans and bullets run the world, with everything else just a formality or nice to have on top. Keep both of those sides happy, and you can focus on outside threats. If you can have them continuously but heads with one another for power, and not against you, even better. “Still, it is of great concern that such amenities could be spared. How much power are they hiding in the furthest depths of this place?”

“With my luck, it’ll be another attempt to make an immortal god or something along those lines.” I commented, waited for a counter, and received none. I stopped walking. “Please tell me that they can’t do that. I don’t want to deal with another artificial deity.”

Man, I’m still worried that the thing that I sent careening into space would somehow come back.

There are few nightmares worse than thinking about the fact something that can control energy and matter has a grudge against you.

“Unfortunately, it is possible. It has been done before, and knowledge does not exist in a vacuum. Presumably they are working with research right before the end civilization. Much of the technology was there. Only the will, the manufacturing, and the power was not yet there. A post-collapse nation with a high-technology sector and incredible power sources can accomplish it.”

“I wish that you’d lie to me, even if it’s just for my peace of mind.” I groaned and noticed that there was a gap in the outermost shield. I decided it was time for a break, so I zipped over to one of the safehouses Parvati had staffed. One of the AI’s gynoids, clad in all white trousers and long sleeves, glared at me as soon as I started helping it set up the table. The AI had the strangest hang-ups. I’m helping out, so that we can both get to the meal faster, you know? “So, what do think it’ll be this time? I’m betting on a giant robot that bursts straight out of the castle and the Shogun uploads himself into it.”

“… It would be unwise to have such a cumbersome and slow body. In truth, I prefer my own existence. Transient software that can be hidden and act and update itself provides immense survivability. You would choose the same route, no?”

“Maybe. If I had to be immortal and all-powerful, I’d still want to be me. I think disseminating my consciousness and overwriting my other bodies would mess with my head.” I’m a firm believer that any clone of myself would be similar to me, but different people. The moment he forks from me, he’s his own man who hasn’t lived my life 100%, even if he has all my memories. If he wanted nothing to do with me, and isn’t going to be an asshole trying to get me in trouble by proxy or mess with my shit, I’ll just stand by and treat him like any other person. If he was a terrible person… well, I wouldn’t want anyone who knew so much about me running around. “I mean, I know every single one of your forks that I’ve worked with is you, and they end up becoming you, but that’s how you were meant to be. Not sure how that’d work with me.”

“So, if you could achieve immortality, what path would you take?”

It was a theoretical question, in the end, but I couldn’t help but ponder it carefully.

Couldn’t get deluded by the idea, especially since so many people were committing to it and wasting a lot of resources when they could be helping everyone else.

“I’d like to keep eternal youth and health, but still be killable. Just in case future me turns out to be a bastard or something. Or, if I decide I’m tapped out and out of touch, you know?” I’m not sure how the human brain would work against hundreds and hundreds of years of immortality. Shin seemed to be doing fine as an uploaded mental construct, but I didn’t know how that hardware worked. What if he had whole servers dedicated to keeping himself sane? “I think that I wouldn’t be me anymore, if I stopped being paranoid and caring about bunkers and safehouses.”

Parvati nodded at my choice, before returning to why we spoke about immortality in the first place.

“From our records regarding the Shogun, his personality matrix shows little inclination towards such projects, however the energy output that he theoretically has at his disposal can be used to create a superweapon.” And, just like any tyrant that wanted supreme control over a country, there was no doubt that there was a superweapon being built. Just like in most dictatorships, military might is a must. However, you can’t have it implicitly pointed at your own people. It’s better to point it at ‘enemy’ and there were many enemies around the globe now. “He fits the mold of a conservative military dictator, with a strong belief in genetics and technological superiority.”

Right, the breeding camps.
Almost forgot about those, especially after the blatant showcase of immense military power, even while most of the population are just a little above starvation.

“Well, whatever they’re building, I can definitely run away from it as long as I can punch through the shields. Or, at least, I hope that I can.” I shrugged and settled in for a quick lunch break with Parvati’s current fork. Most of the forks placed in the safehouses were capable of eating. I’d asked for it, since it felt weird to just be continuously waited on, and the gynoids were capable of doing it. “Still, it wouldn’t hurt to have a trump card. Just in case.”

“Maelstrom would most likely suffice for most situation.”

“Unless, for example, the Shogun turns whatever he’s got against his people and holds them hostage.”

“Point taken. I have suggestions after we eat.”

I nodded and focused on the meal.

Countering a potential superweapon with one of our own can wait until after lunch.

What’s that?

We’re not even sure there is a superweapon to counter?

Well, it’s better to have it and not need it than otherwise.

…

I returned to the shielded district, but it wasn’t operating at its usual clockwork efficiency.

Shin made his opening.

He took my silence as a lack of interest.

“The shields are stronger than we initially believed.” In the skies over the district, there were three massive, double-hull cargo planes circling. They were clearly retrofitted to be aerial superiority craft because of the shields enrobing them, as well as the swarms of foot-ball-sized drones descending from them. Point defenses on ball mounts pointed at lightly-armored vehicles and anything outside of the layered shields and they erupted into flames. Directed energy weapons. “And, it seems that Shin had an ace up his sleeve.”

“Yeah, it looks like he’s gone and claimed the skies by putting some of his reactors on cargo planes. Smart, but insane.” There was a reason why people didn’t make nuclear-powered planes. They had the potential to crash and make radioactive messes anywhere on the planet. No airport would risk having one of them around, even with technology accelerating at a breakneck pace. If you wanted to make that sort of thing happen, you needed to accept that you won’t be using it for commercial reasons. Therefore, if you made them, everyone would know what they’re for. “Mostly insane, but I guess the world’s insane now.”

Turrets were popping up from innocuous roofs all over the rest of the city. Some abandoned buildings suddenly had guns pointing at the sky that were filling the air with flack. I presumed that was for people with flight abilities, but they were doing a good job against the drones… but the problem was that there were a lot of drones. More than the double-hulls should’ve been able to put out.

Unless Shin managed to get his energy-to-mass converter working.

After a few minutes seeing small drones armed with small arms and micro missiles keep filling the sky, I knew that the crazy bastard did it.

“You know how Shin is doing this, don’t you?”

“He has an energy-to-mass converter. The last time I worked for him, he was turning the world upside down for parts and pieces, and hiring me so that he didn’t need to worry about transport.” Shin looked at the endless energy available to humanity and thought: how do I make endless armies out of this? And, so, his answer was to create something that could make materials out of pure energy. He simplified his acquisition process to just needing energy, and everything else could just be made by whatever form of replicator that he cooked up. “Looks like he’s going to be a big problem.”

“That’s an understatement. He has at his hands the ability to create a swarm of self-replicating nanobots and destroying the planet.” Parvati’s drone form hovered beside me, before suddenly turning my way. “Egress, I need bodies here and now. The mission is important, but making sure this current threat is handled is imperative.”

I was about to agree when the din of blasting guns and drone of tens of thousands of motors was suddenly blasted apart. A large, keeping noise heralded the palace at the center of the city exploding… and out of it clambered out a monstrosity thirty meters tall, covered in patchwork, pure-white skin over only half its body, and with half its face a skull and the other barley human with fanged teeth and a yellow eye.

“For fuck’s sake, I hate being right.” I grumbled. Three flying aircraft carriers bristling with laser weapons and infinite attack drones. A titan of flesh that could shoot out energy beams out of its face… and that could fly and cover itself with wreckage as armor. I grabbed Parvati’s drone form and jumped away to our closest retreat spot… and where Walker was already waiting and looking into the horizon at Japan’s direction.

Maelstrom’s gaze was levelled at me, and I felt the need to ask for help rise up in my throat, but I focused on what we needed.

“Go rescue whoever you can. We’ll make use of the craziness, while bringing both sides down. Try to stay unnoticed.”

Walker gave a single nod, before shooting towards Tokyo, while I turned to Pavarti… already uploading what it saw to its main body.

“Egress, are you capable of transporting fifteen container units filled with troops and heavy equipment, as well as several weapons into orbit?”

Normally, I’d hesitate before lying and curtailing the AI, but after seeing what I saw.

“Yeah, just set up a table of food for me to refuel with. I’ll get it done.”