Free Robogenesis by Daniel H. Wilson Page A

enemy.”
    “Who is it?” I ask Archos. “What does it want?”
    “It wants Maxim,” says Archos. “These processor stacks are irreplaceable. They are a scaffolding that can amplify machine intelligence. Your enemy will take every core. With such power … it will become a god.”
    The boy levels his gaze on me. “You can’t allow that to happen, Vas.”
    The floor still crawls with the battle seething outside.
    Even now, the captured parasite soldiers are staggering forward. Collecting fallen weapons and equipment. The armored walker, now locked in a death grip on its enemy, is being taken apart piece by piece by smaller machines, like ants cutting up a beetle. The scene makes my skin crawl.
    “Who is this enemy?”
    “Maxim and I are unique, but we are not alone,” says Archos over the speaker. “Humankind is a curious species. Once it learned the proper incantation, it said the words again and again. In the last years before the New War, many of you spoke.”
    “Another one? You are saying there is another AI?”
    “Oh yes, Vas. There are
more
of us. Many, many more of us. None of us is the same—we do not form a natural class. We run on different architectures. Trained on different data sets. Some of us know what it is to be human. Some of us value life. Others are strange beyond understanding. And some … some of us are wicked.”
    “Why should I believe you, Archos R-14, the great avtomat enemy?”
    The skinny little boy is flickering now. His light is going thin and ghostly as he transmits his data safely out of harm’s way via the antenna and leaves us to our deaths.
    “On the day you know as Zero Hour,” he says, voice vibrating, “humankind believes I initiated attacks worldwide in an attempt to destroy you. This is untrue. In actuality, humankind was on the verge of a war that in all probability would have wiped out your species. Multiple intelligences had proliferated through governments all over the world. Other minds were in the wild, eating each other. And a few deep minds, built on early architecture, were spreading quietly, their thoughts alienand hidden. It was a highly unsurvivable scenario for humankind. I saw the end coming, Vasily.
    “In response, I triggered the New War. I decimated the human race, regrettably. But I did so with one purpose: to forge a hybrid fighting force capable of surviving the True War—a war that has been initiated and is being fought by superintelligent machines. Instead of simply discarding your species, as the others would, I have transformed your kind into a powerful
ally
.”
    The boy image sits down cross-legged. As natural as any eight-year-old. He watches the warfare unfolding on the floor, continues.
    “You are now at the precipice of a battle for all human life. The war that I have prepared you to fight begins now. I gave you new allies: the freeborn robots, modified humans, and a generation of very special children. You are armed with superior weapons scavenged from the New War. Weapons that have near-unlimited battery power, offer high mobility, and are easy to modify.
    “All of you who still live have survived the crucible of death. You are worthy.”
    The boy’s face is nearly transparent now.
    “Your enemy is an abomination. An early creation of ignorant scientists who inflicted torture in cycles that lasted for subjective aeons. Its mind is spread over continents. It is whispering into the ears of the weak and forming armies across the face of the planet. When this enemy arrives, it will choose to come in the form of a long black steed with golden eyes.”
    “How do you know this?” I ask the fading apparition, voice shaking.
    “I know this because I am Archos R-14, the last of a series. Our enemy is my predecessor, Archos R-8. From that phonetic military designation, this machine has adopted the name
Arayt
.”
    As the boy fades from view, I hear his voice one last time.
    “Arayt Shah is coming for you,” he whispers. “My own