Free Founding of the Federation 3: The First AI War by Chris Hechtl

minutes had been a horrible nightmare, something out of a really bad flick or video game. He wished it was all some sort of mass hallucination. They were still trying to get word on Aurelia and the kids. It didn't look good. Not for them, not for mankind. Already the experts he had access to were claiming half the world's population had been obliterated. Untold millions, possibly billions would die from radiation exposure or from a lack of food and water. The one good thing about the environmental crisis, over the past two centuries it had taught mankind how to deal with crisis situations. Now they just had to find a way to help the survivors.
    He wanted to weep. He wanted to kick himself for turning his vision outward. He couldn't, wouldn't assign blame. Not now. Not yet. Hopefully not ever. There were a lot of questions, sure. But he held at least part of the blame. He'd turned his back on mankind, letting them wallow in the mud because he wanted a clean bright future, a fresh start … his fists clenched a few times as the AI brought the images of the rising skyhook on his screen. The base was a tattered mess. He could see bits flaking off of it. Those bits could be people. People falling to their deaths.
    “Damn it,” Jack muttered, watching the visual of the long space tether move as it's orbiting anchor asteroid turned space platform moved out for deep space. “Get SAR in the works. Anything we've got in the area and call in every favor we've got. They'll be overwhelmed but tell them to do what they can. How did it happen?”
    “I'll also order them to isolate their computer systems from those on the anchor,” Athena replied. Jack nodded. “Apparently someone released the anchor on the ground. The anchor can be released if a storm is inbound to protect the skyhook and those on it.”
    “What else can go wrong,” he muttered, staring at the ruin of Earth.
    “The good news is, the Earth Skyhook didn't have any shipments of radioactive waste on it, sir,” Athena reported. He grunted in acknowledgment. Against the interests of some environmentalists and Chicken Little pessimists that insisted they would have an accident, companies and governments had started shipping up radioactive waste to be disposed of in a sun scuttle. The idea of thousands of tons of radioactive waste … he paused and shook his head, still seeing the mushroom clouds in his mind's eye. What the hell, what was some more?
    “I'm afraid everyone in orbit will be too busy fending off Skynet to help much, sir,” the AI said softly. Jack just grunted as he continued staring out into the abyss.
    <>V<>
     
    “Well, I knew it wouldn't last forever. Mankind was overdue for a good bloodletting. Long overdue considering the population, environment, and resources. Consider this population control,” Roman said.
    “So not funny,” Trevor said, looking at the reports. It was too much for anyone, even an enhanced human to keep up with.
    “Who's being funny? I'm being realistic,” Roman said. He closed his eyes. Despite that, he could still see the flashes of weapons of mass destruction going off on the globe spinning below. Some were also going off in space, bright brief strobes of light as hidden weapons satellites came on line, or weapons on the various stations came on line to defend themselves. Lasers were invisible, but missiles and kinetic weapons were not. “Did I ever tell you my family is down there?” he whispered.
    “Sorry,” Trevor murmured. His own family was dead. He'd never formed personal attachments; most people who saw his physical body were horrified or scornful. One of the reasons when he did socialize he preferred to do it virtually—or did. Now he was wondering if his insistence on machinery had been misplaced. He was pretty sure everyone who survived the initial onslaught would be wondering the same thing.
    “And I've got friends on the L-5 colonies,” Roman murmured, face twisting in anguish briefly as he watched a cloud