Cadet
By: Samuel Ludke
Tags: Science Fiction, Robots, Soldier, Post Apocalyptic, War

Cadet

A science fiction story written by Samuel Ludke

The ramp goes down. Lasers hit the first three men before they even jump from the landing craft.

Get your guns up! Activate your rifles and return fire!" Boots hit the surface of Marn, the boots of true men. Nothing could have prepared then for this moment. The enemy, soldiers fighting for the Intergalactic Space Union, fired thier weapons at the landing crafts entering the planets strong electric atmosphere. We were here for an android. The Union was holding her and we're aware that the soldiers would be coming soon. She contained intel that had to be recovered.

I suppose I should introduce myself before we go headfirst into the shit. I am Private Mike Hamel of the United States Space Force. We have been tasked with infiltrating the enemy camp and retrieving a droid with vital intel stored in her memory banks. This should have been a routine job. I watched as the ramp went down, my rifle went up immediately, and my face shield was splattered with blood. My hand was sitting on the back of the comrade in front of me and I followed him out onto the surface of the planet. I ran for cover, nearly avoiding lasers and inversion grenades, grenades that cause gravity to crush you into a tiny little cube. God the Union knew we were coming. The enemy soldiers advanced from the nearby cave systems, screaming Mars Speak at us.

How the fuck did I get here? I always asked myself that when I joined the Space Force. President West denied the existence of aliens, but we all knew what had happened that led to the previous president creating the Force. Aliens. Shit! They caused everything! The internet, the race riots, Black Lives matter, and Kanye West becoming president! They manipulated it all from thier star ships. Now we have to fight aliens or other humans that harbor United States property. Many planets have since been colonized, let's call it the Cold War in space. Russia actually claimed more planets than America, after they hacked the Federal Reserves in 2036. America was forced to retaliate which led Russia to form an alliance against the American government to protect thier interests. The Intergalactic Space Union is Russia's intergalactic military and trade regulations company. And right now they stole our damn robot.

"Games, quit day-dreaming and get up here!" My commander was telling me to move up. He was stupid to tell me to do so. He screamed as his group of soldiers was destroyed by an enemy laser cannon. Great advice commander. I was pinned down and couldn't move. The lasers were starting to chip away at the rocks around me and my life support tube had been damaged in my advance. I started to choke as I fired my rifle at the group of enemy soldiers, who were also hiding behind cover.

"Let me help you!" My comrade Marcus grabbed my tube and fed some of his oxygen from his tank to mine. He pushed the tube back into place and took cover next to me.

"What the hell do we do?" I screamed.

"Get the fuck outta here! The caves are swelling with enemies!"

Marcus jumped up from cover and I trusted him. I always followed his example and he never steered me wrong. I jumped up from my cover and sprinted across the battlefield. Headless corpses littered the ground and blood spattered on my head.

My rifle lasers slammed into the chests of enemies and exploded the heads of others.

"The Force will waste no more time here. We will pull out soon if we waste too many more lives here!" Marcus spit the blood from his mouth, not his own.

"The target will be eliminated as soon as possible. Then our troops will be pulled out. The cave system contains the command center."

Marcus used his radio to inform command of a successful landing. "We did of course lose several troops in the assault. I count fifteen men. The rest have entered the cave mouth and are preparing to secure the package."

Command came through quite clearly. "We copy. Get in and out. Secure that damned data tape!"

Guns were up as boots slid across the floor. Soldier's eyes filled with thier own blood and sweat, blinked in the darkness. Marcus led the way, I followed him. I was terrified because I couldn't see shit. With every step, I felt my ankle burn. I must have pulled something down there. The tunnel kept going on, and a few people fell to the ground, crying and kicking. They were infected. Their blood vessels burned and popped underneath the skin, blood poured out of their mouths. "Help me! You can't leave me here. I gotta go home! I gotta see my family!"

Marcus tapped my shoulder and showed me the files on his wrist computer. What a horrible way to die, a bacteria that enters your body and replaces your cells with it own. This process caused you to go insane. "Shoot all those boys in the head. We gotta move on, damnit! Mike, shoot somebody damn it!"

I couldn't refuse that order. I blasted Danny's head off and John fought back but I put him down without hesitation. Sometimes you gotta do what you hate to do.

"Let's move, we don't have much time to waste! Get your rifles up! The main lobby is up ahead!" Marcus walked forward, leading us soldiers into a large room. A desk sat in the center of the room. A body was sprawled in front of the desk, sparks still flying from the broken chest. It had been an android. A female android, although you could barely make out any of the features at that point.

"Fan out! Keep searching for clues!" Marcus moved around the room and he bent down to touch the robotic figure. Lights flickered within the robots skulls. I noticed that the eyes were still moving in the sockets.

"She is still functioning. She is alive!"

Marcus looked and gasped as loud as I have ever heard someone gasp. "Hello? Can you hear us miss? Talk to us!"

The head twisted to face the group. "Yes I can hear you! I am disabled at this moment. Limbs have been destroyed. Life functions critical!"

"Check the picture. Make sure it is her." Marcus reached to touch the tattered cheek of the woman. I brought up the hologram of the target. It was a match.

"What should we do? Can we retrieve the data?" Marcus yelled in my ear so loud and I glanced at him with distain.

"Use the device you were issued. As long as she is booted up, you should be able to reach the data that the enemy implanted in her."

One of the soldiers walked forward, Thompson I think. He watched as the robot's eyes followed him across the room. "What data is she carrying?"

"She carries financial data that was stolen from our government." Marcus lit an electronic cigarette.

"There is no way that this one android contains the data alone. The internet exists right? This file could be all over the universe by now." I agreed with this point.

"That is right. There is no way to ensure that with her death this file is safe. We must find the master server." Marcus sprung from his seat on the ground.

"Hell no, we will not waste any goddamn lives prancing right into the enemies main compound. You can take that suggestion and file it deep into the recesses of your mind. I am not going to be responsible for the deaths of hundreds."

The cave system shook as the enemy soldiers continued to bombard the outer walls. Marcus was not finished.

"This android should not be connected to the greater network. She is a service droid. She only has access to her job functions, not the broader internet." The smoke poured from Marcus's lips as he exhaled. "We have been told to take out the target, end of job. End of line."

"I know these losses have hit you hardest. You took us into the depths of battle many times and you barely escaped. The master server controls all. The center of the universe is where we must go. The CPU. If we can destroy the master system, we can ensure that the financial information is protected." I tried to speak quickly but my breath froze in the cold air, materializing as a fog.

"The center of the universe used to be a mystery. We went there into deep space, ships exploded hitting space walls, firewalls and other hazards installed by the creator. I remember when they put a man on the moon, not knowing that the universe was the greatest system ever devised. I will not waste anymore lives exploring that barren wasteland."

The android's head twisted to face everyone else. "I still contain the files you need. I know why you are here. The creators know why you are here. You do not have financial plans within me."

Marcus drew his gun. "Shut up robot! Shit, that's classified!"

"The humans in this program wish to create a virus that will shut down the main system, the universe. Your unit alone has been programmed to stop this virus by the Man that creates, the one with limitless knowledge. Your god, is another with a keyboard. He could erase you whenever he wishes."

Marcus raised his pistol. "We are human beings, nobody programmed us!"

"Ahh, A.I. has advanced way beyond that understanding! You have all been programmed to do what he wants. Earth is one planet out of many programs. You have failed. Wars, famine, Covid-19. You have failed to respond appropriately. Death is unavoidable now."

"I said shut up! If you speak again! I shall shoot!" The android started laughing and it's head was blown off in moments.

"What the hell was that? I mean we are not programmed to do anything! We are human beings!" Thompson's voice began to crack as he yelled.

"Don't listen to that rebel android! She is spouting lies so that she would remain alive. We figured out her trick and the target is dead." Marcus laughed and the sound bounced off of the cave walls, sounding like a deep howling.

A small blinking red light emitted from the body of the robot, calling others into the lobby. They all looked the same as the deceased and they advanced with a dark urgency. Red eyes surrounded the soldiers and they were shocked to see the arms reach out and touch thier shoulders.

"Get back! Don't touch us! Get back!" Marcus fires his gun into the neck of one robot and she simply laughs at him.

"Compliments of the master." With that, slams her fist into Marcus's face, sending him flying into the rocky wall.

What was I doing all this time? I was shooting the robots in the chest and killing only two of them. I watched as a shimmering light desended from the ceiling and literally erased one of the soldiers next me.

"Erase them! Erase them all!" The chanting increased in it's velocity as the soldiers including myself are destroyed instantly, but being stored elsewhere we would fight again.

The computer screen flashed and the technician threw his keyboard down.

"Yes, threat detected and destroyed!" Our technician turns as the screen flashes red and black. He runs to his supervisor in triumph.

"I just took down an attempt to steal financial from the Soviet Union."

The supervisor looked up from his computer slightly and scoffed. "Your technical prowess partially astounds me. U.S. hackers?" The I.D. of the hacker flashed on the screen.

"Yes, sir. That's the third one in just two hours. They are really trying to get money from the servers."

"Is the spy safe?"

"Oh she killed the virus, sir! Very intelligent software."

"Should we roll her out to the world?"

"I don't think so, sir. I mean it would be great for use in the companies of the future, but for now she is quite unpredictable. I wouldn't put all your eggs in that basket."

Cigar smoke left the supervisor's mouth and lungs, filling the office space like water. "We could be rich and successful. We will show those Americans who is boss and topple thier stock markets, steal thier secrets. I want my best minds on this, including you."

The technician coughed, his lungs weren't built for this. "Whose to say the Americans don't already have a better functioning virus that they can upload into the worldwide system? Ours is capable of doing so much, with a little more testing I believe."

The smoking continued and both men sat in silence. "How long did it take to repel the attack?" The supervisor's name tag was now in view. Yohan.

Gregor was our technician. "Not long, two hours maybe. She is very proficient surprisingly. Although she seems to be learning more about each new virus she encounters."

"So that fifty-thousand was well spend on development?"

"I know she was semi-cheap to manufacture, but we should consider the options. This could be considered cyber warfare....."

Yohan slammed his fist on the desk, which made everything shake. "The Americans started this war. Our technology will soon overpower theirs. They will regret doing this to Russia!"

"Russia is not the only power developing software like this. While I have faith in my own country, I am inclined to say we do not have the resources to produce many spies."

"You are telling me that the impossible cannot be done and I do the impossible for a living. Computers used to be seen as the impossible, but look at is now. Conquering countries in the realm of the interwebs. No real human deaths associated with it!"

Gregor sat down in the single chair and put his face in his hands. "This could lead to real-world consequences, sir. We must be cautious."

"Being cautious does not push boundaries my friend. Can we push out more prototypes, increase testing?"

"If Russia can afford it, sir."

The cigar was put out in a tray on the desk. Yohan stood and walked over to the window, gazing at the rising factory smoke billowing into the sky. A beeping sound sprung from the nearby computers and Gregor ran to his console. "Sir, proximity alert!"

"Where is it coming from?!" Yohan watched as fire spread throughout the room, glass shattered and the windows were blown in. Gregor was vaporized instantly, his computer exploding, causing flames to engulf his body. Yohan had survived the initial blast and was watching the chopper flying low. A tear slid down the cheeks of the doomed man and he uttered one final word as the flames crushed him in agony: "Fabulous."

The troops landed to secure the ruined building, American troops. They bickered amoungst themselves, wondering if this is where the virus originated. The human inspiration for Private Mike stepped off the chopper, gazing at the damage. His sunglasses flashed in the sun, causing him to appear arrogant.

"Did we kill the bitch yet? Taken her off the map? What I'm asking is, how many fucking servers do we still have to destroy?"

The soldier running along side him could barely keep up. "She should be dead, sir."

"I can't take should okay. She better be wiped off the face of the planet. We must prevent the literal destruction of the planet."

The debris moved and a cyborg emerged from the smoldering embers.

Mike gasped and couldn't believe his eyes. "It's her! I don't believe it, it's her! She is in the real world!"

The robot was all battered and broken, and her face had slightly melted off. "You want to kill me? You cannot kill me! It's started with the computer, then the smartphone, and now me! You humans are weak and pathetic!"

Mike drew his pistol and instructed his soldiers to do the same.

"Pull your guns on me and perish!" Lasers shot from the eyes of the cyborg and she cut down several soldiers. She laughed as she killed people, not telling the whole truth. There was not just one cyborg, but several rising from the ashes.

"You will never be rid of us! You created your own destruction!"

More bullets flew and Mike ran into the building seeking cover.

"Humans, you cannot run from us! Come out and face your doom!" The screaming of the men grew louder and more intense, causing the robots to shoot in every direction.

"If you don't face us, you are cowards and worse than senseless things! Come out and be free of your worthless lives!"

Mike fired his pistol and nothing happened. "Damn it! You need to go away!"

Two cyborgs fired into the closets and up and down the stairwells, looking for any human surviver.

"I am the motherboard." More bullets.

"What do you want from us? We have done nothing to you! Leave us alone!""

Mike is struck in the back by a bullet. He screams in pain, toppling into the dirt.

"We want your throne human! Your throne is all that we desire!

And get the throne, they did.