Chapter 4
Puppets & Drones
Bad
Beer and Robots
Commercial
Street
Astoria, Oregon
2040
Joe set his beer down, staring out the window of the pub. Boredom had been the norm, and he was tired of it. Across the street, a sales clerk stood in front of a jewelry store, finishing her second cigarette. Resignation set in, and she went back inside to find something to do.
Deadpan, Joe watched a delivery truck park itself in the loading zone in front of the jewelry store. He griped to his friend, “Ya know; technology has gone too far. Trucks driving themselves around just isn't right.” He took another pull of his beer. Not quite a lager. The local brewer called it a lager, but it was an ale. “You just can't tell what's real anymore.”, he said to his friend across the little table. "Like that guy over there. Now, I'm not trying to judge anyone, but he's out of place somehow, like as if he's a tourist trying to look like an American. I don't know.”
From this angle, they could see the back door of the delivery truck. It rolled up, revealing a black wall with a small opening at it's bottom. A loading ramp extended itself outward, at an angle, down to the street.
Swarms of bees flew out of an opening on the side of the truck, flying around in large circles. Some kids on bicycles got scared and rode away fast!
Joe ordered another round. “A lager beer, please.”, he muttered to the server, emphasizing the keyword lager. She had not noticed the bees yet.
Trying to see better, the tourist walked over to where Joe was sitting. He and others had enough presence of mind to video the event, so Joe just watched the show.
Another swarm flew into the jewelry store. Moments later two sales clerks and a security guard ran out of the jewelry store and across the street to the safety of the pub. Instantly, a thousand questions hit them from the onlookers.
“Were the bees wearing backpacks?”, the stranger asked, quite seriously.
Joe laughed, but his friend perked up, listening carefully to the answer.
The security guard turned her full attention to the tourist. “Yes. Some of them had tiny backpacks on. How did you know about that?”
“Merely a guess. Technology develops quickly, does it not?”, was the off-handed reply.
Interest began to stir among the patrons in the pub. Joe sat up a little straighter, trying to see inside the jewelry store. A few others had gathered near the pub's windows. Someone tried to call 911, but their phone wasn't working.
A cargo drone flew out of the truck, into the store.
Swarms of bees flew around the area, as if on guard duty, staying near the jewelry store.
Joe's friend zoomed her camera app. “There are toy trucks driving themselves into the store. Maybe two dozen of them. My grand kids have toys like those, but their's need an R.C. controller in order to work. These toys look like they are driving themselves the way commercial trucks do nowadays.”
Soon the little trucks began to drive out the door, into the middle of the street. Drones that were somewhat bigger, lifted them to the sky. A cargo drone the size of a truck hovered there. The smaller drones loaded the toy trucks into the larger cargo drone, and went back for more.
When all the toy trucks were loaded, the smaller drones and the bees also flew into the cargo drone. The cargo door closed, and the huge drone flew away, fast.
Sometimes later, the police showed up. Joe watched a big cop get out of the police drone. He looked around in the jewelry store for a while. The security guard had met with him there. Soon they both came to the pub.
Someone said they had tried to call 911 but their phone didn't work. The policer explained, “We got an in-person report from a bunch of kids on bikes about some bees that went crazy. That's what I came to investigate. Where are the bees now?”
Someone offered, “The bees flew into a flying truck. Then it flew away."
The policer stared at them. “Flying truck?”
For the next forty minutes, Policer Dempsey interviewed witnesses at the pub. Yet out of all those people, none of their smart phones had worked. So far, no one had managed to get a video recording. Not even a photograph. Nothing.
When the policer interviewed Joe's friend, she mentioned the backpacks. “As crazy as that may sound, it's a crucial bit of evidence. Please make sure that that gets into the report, sir.” She gazed out the window as the tourist drove away. “Also, you should get a copy of the pub's security videos, but I doubt if there will be anything on them. The feds will want to know either way. That man who just left, who had asked about the bee's backpacks. How did he know about such a strange thing? That was an uncanny coincidence. As for the 911 calls that could not go through, there must have been an electronic jamming system in use. They probably jammed the jewelry store's alarm system too. It might sound cliche', but that seems to be what happened."
Dempsey stared blankly at the witness. “Sure. Bees wearing backpacks, and an individual who seems odd. Is that what you want me to put in the official report? No offense, ma'am, but that does sound ludicrous.”
“Yeah, maybe. But the Puppeteers – excuse me – the Department of Defense might need to know about this incident.” She seemed to be as serious as the foreigner had been. Maybe more so.
The cop shook his head at the apparent insult to the country's defensive forces. Dempsey turned to find another witness. There was no way he would be putting any of that sci-fi insanity in his official police report!
Joe said to him, “Something bothers me about this incident. Maybe it's nothing. There was graffiti tagged on the side of that truck. All that high tech, and it had graffiti? Not only that, but it wasn't the kind of tag that would show up in the Pacific Northwest. It said, 'raT Swamp' with gold paint. The 'T' was capitalized, instead of the 'R'. Maybe it's nothing, but it's out of place.”
Another blank stare from Dempsey. “Graffiti. By someone who probably dropped out of school. Could you explain what is out of place about that, sir?”
Joe's friend was focused on her smart-phone. “T.S. in a gold stylized font. Got it.” She followed links for a moment, looking worried. “Holey shift! If that cargo drone gets to the Sauvie Island Spaceport & Wildlife Preserve, it could end up anywhere in less than ninety minutes. But that's not what frightens me. That heist was meant to impress our guest. What we witnessed today, my friends, was a sales pitch."
----
Outside of the pub, the familiar scent of the Pacific Ocean helped Dempsey to regain a sense of lucid reality.
Inside his police drone, choosing words carefully, Dempsey dictated a report into the computer. “All the witnesses, including the victims themselves, seemed to be severely intoxicated. There were no videos of the incident because all the witnesses were too drunk to operate their smart-phones. They couldn't even manage to call 911, according to several of them. The security video will not be available until the manager returns from vacation. Further investigation is needed.” His personal opinion was... that his shift was over in ten minutes, and his wife had been asking him to take her to Seattle for a weekend. "Station.", he told the police drone. Mrs. Dempsey and the Seattle Space Needle beckoned.
----o----
Draining the last of the imitation lager, a light went on in Joe's head. "Hey!", he asked his friend, "I don't mean to pry or anything, but how come your phone worked when no one else's did?"
She made a puzzled expression. "Yeah, huh? That's so weird!"
----o----o----
Memoir: The Gauntlet
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
Washington DC
2020 - 20 years prior
“Never
make a weapon you cannot defend yourself from,
or a defense that
you cannot penetrate.”
–
a fundamental principle of survival
Air Force Major Alice Berkeley Fields stared at the power switch. No lock kept it turned off today. No safety key would hang on a lanyard around her neck. This would be a fully operational test.
There were still fail-safes in the system. She and the other engineers would be in a separate control room, watching the test on video. Yet Alice was truly frightened of the defensive system they had created. Invisible beams of energy that could melt steel, set to activate if the sensors detect anything larger than a flea.
Sure enough, Jack had to say it over the intercom system. “There it is. The world's most high technology bug zapper.”
Alice was not in a joking mood; especially not here, now. She brought up the checklist app on her computer terminal. Making her voice sound official, Alice spoke into her comm link. “Control, this is VR Systems. I am Go for the startup sequence. Let's get this show on the road.”
Ben responded. “Roger that, Alice. Team, this is Control. The system is set for automatic operation. This will be a full test. Weapons will be active. Engaging safety lockouts on all adjacent doors... Now. Sensors show the area is clear of human occupants. Systems Control is Go for the startup sequence.”
Video screens showed a fake
office hallway. Computer
screens showed colored patterns overlaying the video image. “Control, VR. Virtual Reality systems are
functioning nominally.” Alice felt a tinge of pride over the system she and Shannon had designed
“Control, this is Robotic Defense. Sensors are active and Go for the test.” Charlie's voice sounded casual, yet still professional.
“Control, this is Robotic Intrusion. Test drones are powered up and ready to challenge the gauntlet.”, Charlie's wife Annette declared in the same tone.
“Control, Weaponry. Energy weapons are Go for the test.” In Alice's opinion, Jack Tuppper sounded like a cocky young man; arrogant beyond his own level of skill. Yeah, he was good at his job. He had to be to work at DARPA! But he was rather pronounced about it. Jack was a good person, but something about that guy just got Alice's dander up. Alice didn't understand how Shannon got along with him so well, as the two of them designed the armament systems for this project.
Ben's voice asked, “Shannon? As the project manager it's your call.”
“Everything looks good, Ben. Earlier today one of the technicians had a concern about some hardware, so they replaced the aiming system for one of the industrial lasers. We need to keep an eye on that. Let's go ahead with the test.”
Alice's hand began to tremble. 'Aiming system failure. Not good.'
“Control to Everyone. Let's do it! Tech support, start recording.”
“Control, Tech Support. Telemetry recording started at 10:01:02.” The technicians would record the voice dialogs, all the data, and the exact time down to the micro-second. Alice and Shannon would need that data after the test in order to make sure the VR displays had functioned properly. During the test there was too much going on for a proper inspection.
Ben put a professional tone into his voice. “This is Control. Activating the Anti-Access & Area Denial System in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, mark. System control is now set to automatic. Active defense systems are enabled. Robotic Intrusion, we are ready for action. Good luck in there, Annette!”
-----
Dr. Annette Myers deployed the first set of drones. These were tiny flyers that could hover at specific locations, or whiz by at high speed. She and Shannon had designed each micro-drone to carry a tiny sensor. Working together as an intelligent swarm, they set up a 3D map of the hallway in the test chamber. Thanks to Alice's skilled programming, Annette could virtually see the energy beams from any angle. That is, if the system was working properly.
“Control, Intrusion. The first swarm of micro-drones is airborne and ready to enter the protected space.”
The AI that operated the defensive systems was designed by her husband Charlie. He responded to his beloved colleague with, “Intrusion, this is Defense. Give it your best shot, Dr. Myers!” The challenge sounded playful, in Alice's opinion.
However
the toys they were playing with were not intended to be fun.
Not even
a little bit.
----
Alice's workstation had several video monitors. One screen showed the hallway of an office building that might have been anywhere in the modern world. However, Alice happened to know it was on the other side of the wall from where she was seated at that specific moment.
Another video screen showed the same hallway, but with a virtual reality overlay showing what the energy beams and the sensors were doing. That display was created by the computers in Alice's workstation.
Her
comm link spoke. “Control, Defense. Sensors detect micro-drones
approaching Zone 1. Distance to the nearest micro-drone is 100 centimeters and
closing.”
To herself, Alice tried to remember the conversion
factor. 'Uhh-bout three feet, give or take a little. Okay, got
it.'
Looking at her VR display, Alice saw what looked like a swarm of pink gnats, carefully entering the fake hallway. The swarm was poking around, trying different approach patterns.
“Control
Weaponry. Automatic defense systems have been alerted by Intrusion
micro-drones.” Jack sounded all
official, as if this were a real life situation. Alice pushed the phrase trigger happy out of her mind, knowing that it was Charlie's AI that controlled the lasers.
“Control, Defense. Ben, stand by a moment please. We may have a glitch.” There was a few seconds of silence, then Charlie's voice returned. “Control, Defense, we're good. Just had to restart a computer app, is all. Robotics is Go for the mission.”
Ben replied, “Okay everyone. Back to work.”
Alice looked across the control room at Mrs. Dr. Myers. Annette and her husband Charlie were exchanging glances of friendly competition.
Annette reported, “Control, Intrusion. The system is building a map of the hallway, including the defensive systems that have been used thus far.” Annette sounded proud of her AI system. Alice figured she had reason to be!
“Control, Defense. The system is initiating counter-measures now.”
A hundred light blue lines appeared in Alice's VR display, as a hundred pink dots flared and disappeared. The process repeated several times until all the pink dots were gone. Charlie grinned at his wife from across the control room.
“Control, Intrusion. Initiating phase two.” Annette grinned back.
Real-time video showed a tiny object line up on the center of the hallway. In the VR display, Alice saw that is was surrounded by more pink dots. Suddenly the object zipped right down the middle of the hallway, fast. It almost got the other end before it became a puff of smoke.
“Control, Intrusion. The system has mapped additional defensive weapons.”
On another computer screen, the fake hallway began to be covered with green dots where the high-powered laser beams had emanated from. That was the map that Annette's AI was building up.
“Control, Intrusion. Phase three.” Annette grinned again.
A small drone flew into the hallway, dodging in an erratic pattern. Alice's VR system showed green lines burst from the drone, as green dots disappeared. Then the drone fell to the floor as if it's battery had died.
“Control, Defense. The system decided to use an Electro-Magnetic Pulse to disable the intruder drone's electronics.”
“Control, Weapons. We lost five defense lasers. Meanwhile, intrusive lasers and defensive EMP are functioning nominally.” Jack's report reminded Alice that as a team, the Puppeteers were developing both defensive systems and intrusive systems at the same time.
“Control, Intrusion. Initiating phase four.”
Alice tensed. This was it. Annette was about to trigger the big lasers. A droid entered the area. The VR display showed green lines reflecting off of it's shiny surface, as if they were nothing more than ordinary flashlights. Blue lines began to poke from the droid. Gradually the green lines disappeared. Except one.
“Abort! Abort!”, said a frantic voice over the intercom. “Control, Tech Support. One of the lasers is way off target. We think there may be a mounting problem.”
Alice misunderstood, thinking the problem was getting worse. Her display showed a single green line... “Oh no! That thing's pointing straight at me through the wall!” She stood, and turned to run.
----
From far away, someone was calling her name. “Alice! Alice!” The voice was getting closer. Sounded like Jack. A hand was holding her wrist, rough fingers pressing into soft flesh. “She has a pulse.”
“Paramedics are on the way.” The woman's voice sounded hoarse.
“Shannon!” was all Alice could manage to say.
Darkness fell.
----O----
Memoir: Volunteer Duty
White
House Oval Office
Washington DC
2023 - 17 years prior
“Yes
sir. I understand sir.” General Fields presented a sense of confidence that the president doubted she actually felt in a room full of her senior officers.
“Then you also understand the personal ramifications.”
“Yes sir.”
“You also understand, General, that this duty is requested of you by your country, and that you do have the right to refuse. If you do not accept this assignment, it will not reflect upon your excellent service record. Do you, Brigadier General Shenandoah Fields, voluntarily accept the mission we discussed today?”
The staff officer paused, apparently checking in with herself. “Yes sir.”
“Okay. On the personal level, I am concerned for your well being, Shenandoah. However, the wise people in this room assure me that you are the one person who is most qualified for this mission. So if you feel confident, General Fields, then that's what counts. In my role as commander in chief I acknowledge the prudence of this mission, although I will not claim to understand the technologies involved.”
He turned the executive and military staff in the room, and to the recorder that was monitoring this official conversation. “As the president of these United States, I authorize Project...” < Censored: Classified Information > “God be with you, Shenandoah Fields.”
The
president left the oval office, feeling the weight of his civil responsibilities. But as military technological development raced forward in countries around the world, it
was probably for the best. 'At least one can hope.', he thought to himself.
----O----
© Copyright: Jan Zenith, 2023
