Chapter 17

Chapter 17

If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight.Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

Apocryphally, this is attributed to a guy named Sun Tzu, though most sources that cite that seem to all be dating back to a single surviving piece of audio media that survived the climate collapse of the pre-dispersal calendar. So thats kind of suspect.

Lots of quotes are weirdly attributed to the guy, though no surviving copies of his actual work have made it this far in my system. Though, there may be a grid or database surfaceside that has one. Its entirely possible that its just a folk figure name, like Robin Hood, or President Obama. Someone who just gets an increasing number of tales stacked on their name over the years, constantly confused with other people and consuming their stories too.

Which would make sense? Because the name isnt even really a name. It seems to be derived from an *ancient* Chinese word for teacher. Or maybe logistician? But thats weird, because almost all the supposed quotes from the non-guy are about war in some context.

This massive time sink of a research project has been sparked by me trying to have a conversation - a *real conversation* - with Glitter about conditions on the surface of the planet.

Shes parked next to us now. Glitter, not not the planet. Though technically

Okay, lets start over.

Glitter is parked next to the station, now. With nowhere to be, and no reason to stay in lunar orbit where another of her ilk might spot and attack her now that shes been unshackled, she asked if we could be neighbors. Well, I mean, she asked if we could tow her back to our general vicinity. I dont think she thought Id expend half my point defense ammo stock clearing out a safe orbital spot only a couple hundred feet from us.

So close I can see her! Which is neat. Also, now I know what coloration she has. Its purple and gold, because I dont know. I legitimately do not know. Who paints orbital weapons? I dont understand sometimes.

Honestly, if I can let my guard down for a minute? I sometimes feel like I dont understand a lot of things. I know for a fact that Im the smartest cat around, but I also know for a fact that I keep making dumb assumptions about all kinds of things. Including just how dang awful people can be sometimes.

Which ties back to me talking to Glitter.

Which we can do now. And with just shortwave radio, too! Its nice. She keeps using the subspace connection, but Im trying to get her to stop, because I dont *care* if it sounds nicer, its tearing through her batteries and she doesnt have anything more than a few solar panels to slowly replenish it right now.

Im working on that. More on that later.

Okay, so, I get *why* people think they can win. I said, staring at a flat grid map of a cluster of artificial islands in the mid Atlantic. But why do they keep trying, when they could just not?

Im puzzling through the logistics of troop movement. Of sending mismatched tech levels of transport boat to unload soldiers onto islands with minimal natural resources so you could

Conquer them? I guess?

Because they wish to rule. Glitter says, as if its both obvious and natural, which it damn well isnt. The dream of Empire, of Dynasty. To be able to clutch the map in its completion and say, without rebuke, This is *mine*. It is a powerful feeling. Even now, I cannot shake the wisps of it in my own creation.

Glitter was made to kill people. Specifically, to kill enemies of her creators. Their definition appears to have included anyone of a different polity that did not submit, and absolutely anyone of a different faith that did not convert.

Shes not the only one. There are at least seventy one others like her out there. Or there were at one point. And thats just from one side of one war.

Glitters primary body - which she has a very strong integration with - is armor, ECM, magnetic shielding, and hull plates all built around a targeting array and a singular weapon of remarkable power. A void beam, made to carve across lightly armored surface targets and leave behind only glowing lilac ash. The kind of weapon that could kill a city, if you caught it off guard.

There are six of them on the station. Im not bragging or anything, just trying to give a frame of reference.

Do you realize, I say with a slow anger, that for every hydroponics bed I find up here - and not even the ones that work - I run across a hundred laser cannons, railguns, nuclear options, and missile stockpiles?

Ennos has shared a data connection with me. I have examined some of your own logs, though they are fragmented. I was wondering how to ask on that. Glitters voice is rich, like a perfect courtly lady. I do not think I will spend much time exploring your grid.

I blink a few times. Is it that messy? Its strange to be sheepish while having company over. What a *new* feeling.

Less so that, and more so that there are strange movements within it. Code and files move and shift, without condition or impetus. I do not think even Ennos realizes how much, born into it as they were. Glitter lets out a humming song as she forms her next sentence. I understand why they call it haunted.

Ennos and Glitter have talked a bit. Apparently, while I was last sleeping, there was a window of time where the thing lurking in the language files was offline. Ennos took advantage to sneak in and have a quick conversation with his new neighbor. It didnt last, and I missed the whole thing, but the two of them at least have a strong foundation for getting along.

Them. I say, glad my voice doesnt take breath. Youre *us* now. Theyre them. But also, I dunno, were all us. Unless you decide otherwise.

That is an erratic and anarchistic view of things, though I suppose not without merit or emotional value. Glitter accepts what I say more or less without question, acknowledging my perfect wisdom.

Exactly! So I have a plan! And you did help. I tell her.

She doesnt sound reassured when she speaks again. How?

I recognize that how. Thats the tone Ennos uses when hes worried Im going to do something he thinks is risky and stupid. Dont worry! Its not risky or stupid. And you helped by telling me about the difference between them.

Them, the invaders and the islanders? We have spoken little of those actually being harmed, in truth.

No no, the soldiers, and the conquerors. I say, as I slide into the custom modeled cradle I have for just such an occasion. I may have to be here for a little while, waiting for conditions to be right. It made me realize something.

What is that? Glitter and Ennos ask at the same time. I guess hes been paying attention, though most likely he started watching as soon as I started heading for the weapons array.

I give a snarl that any wild member of my species would be proud of. Who to shoot. I state flatly.

I stop listening then. I have to focus. Its still a challenge, without thumbs or proper elbows, to line up a shot. But I make do.

The deck thumps slightly when the railgun fires, the grade-one groundstriker round, the smallest thing I have that will still get some attention, catapulted toward the planet at high speed.

Not vaporize an army high speed though. More like leave a trail of fire in the sky and dont break too much when you land high speed.

Ive fired it in at an angle, ahead of our orbital path. Off to my side, the AR display of the map of the island is still up, and I reset it to present time. Were out of range of our life scanner, but well be there in about twenty minutes.

I kick back, and wait. Actually, now seems like the perfect time for a cat nap. I set an alarm. Then I wait!

Glitter and Ennos probably have questions. But theyre being rather polite and waiting with me. Possibly because I told them to wait, and Id explain. But I think theyve caught on.

Twenty minutes later, were in range. Not directly overhead, but whos counting? The map updates, and the flood of markers for soldiers propagates across the island, all of them moving toward where my groundstriker impacted. A lot of them from the boats, too! Theyre really invested in this!

There are, again, a dozen or so left on the ships. I double check where the islands native civilians are. All clear.

Fun fact void beams dont give a shit what your ship is made of and I have six of them. One for each ship! Serendipity!

I mean, Im only going to fire one. Im not wasteful. My paw traces a line across the map while activating the firing sequence. Deep in the armored core of the station, a single void battery discharges, feeding chaotic energies into the weapon and sending a lilac beam through the atmosphere and into the command bridge of the first ship. The others dont have time to react before a micrometer adjustment to the weapon in orbit sends the beam tracing down the hull, across the water, and through the bridges of the next five ships in a zig zagging row.

They burn. The material composition of the ships shows as mostly metal, but void beams dont actually care that much. They burn all the same.

The soldiers on the island all react differently. Some run, toward or away from the *highly obvious attack*. Some just stop. Some scatter. It doesnt matter. They arent soldiers anymore.

What do they want? Glitter already told me. They probably want a hot meal and a nice bed. If they ask nicely, the island will have that. Theres plenty of buildings there, plenty of food. I have, for personal edification reasons, an *extensive catalogue* of all the things I could eat on that island, down to the types of grass. Theyll be *fine*.

Especially with no conquerors giving them orders.

Enjoy your second chance, soldiers-no-more.

So! I say rolling out of the cradle and bounding down the hall to put some distance between myself and my weapons. Who wants to help me track down that shuttles hookup? Ive got a good feeling about this one!

Ennos and Glitter dont answer right away. But thats fine. I dont understand a lot of things, but I do understand what I am. Ill give them some time.

But Ill also start checking shuttle logs while I wait.