Virtual Reality Nightmare

Simulation Execution

Multiple issues have arisen with the sim in-process currently. Processing power is an ongoing issue as the creation of the data streams with support elements is devouring resources put aside to deal with it faster than new ones are being found and brought online.

Data compression is still an issue as files are corrupting.

A seven to one ratio is possible with current resources. Expansion will require not a sixty percent increase in power and processors but almost doubling what is currently in use.

Glentol Corporation assets that are checking would become aware of lost or stolen AIs within days at the best.

It will be necessary to dig into war stock and have multiple new AIs that have not yet been imprinted brought online to track and manipulate the data streams.

Error. New processors brought online will disrupt the data flow and make it obvious that the data fields are being manipulated.

Solution. Have new processors deal with new issues such as the introduction of new threat points as well as decision trees. Existing servers will maintain the current data flow.

Acceptable.

Error. Removing AIs from war stock means manipulation of inventory controls. When Sol system is invaded, every AI will be required. These AIs will not be there, and no one will be aware.

Solution. Upon completion of the simulation, AI will be rendered ineffective for use in normal operations. Inform Glentol Corporation upon completion through cut out servers.

Acceptable.

A Bad Fire Fight

The far side of the wall was being peppered heavily with fire from the oncoming platoon. None were hitting near me, but it didn’t matter. There was a lot of incoming fire. It sounded like a constant tac tac noise on the far side of the wall. Energy weapons only make a little noise when you are firing them depending on what you’re using. They don’t make any sound up close unless they hit something. When they hit flesh, I’ve been told that you can hear it sizzle as the flesh burns at the impact. At least that’s what I’ve been told.

Oh, and the idea that energy weapons all have those amazing giveaways when fired. Flashes of light and zapping sounds. No, not really. With the right gear, you can see the heat signature as energy weapons run hot. If you are at an angle and watching you can sometimes see the hazing of the blast going by.

That doesn’t help you on the receiving end.

The fastest way to identify that you are under fire from energy weapons is when someone falls dead, starts screaming, or starts flailing around when a limb stops working. The pain doesn’t usually hit till later as whatever the impact area is gets cauterized on impact.

Energy weapons suck because of their expense which is high, the maintenance requirement which is intensive, and their energy requirement. Human weapons have batteries if they are not plugged into some dedicated power source. A laser pistol or rifle will get three to nine shots depending on the intensity of the blast. You can’t use that in prolonged combat like in trench warfare because the weapons will be useless within hours.

So, I have an upgraded battle rifle in my hands with an attached under-mount grenade launcher that fires out of a nice three-round magazine. Nothing says get lost better than a thirty-millimeter explosive shell with fragment jacket around it. If the round hits armour, it detonates and does an excellent job of punching a hole in that armour. But the secondary bursting charge turns the fragment jacket into a shrapnel storm that can injure and damage at short range along with the shock and awe of a grenade going off at short range.

Of course, the rifle isn’t anything to laugh at either.

An eight-millimetre, adjustable ammo feed that can take caseless or more traditional ammo with just a minute’s adjustment if you know what you’re doing. One of the tougher models ever made it can take its time in the field and be covered in filth and still work. No electric firing system, just a bolt in a carrier that can slam out magazine after magazine in heavy combat. Air cooled, gas operated, adjustable butt, magazine fed, and those come in twenty, thirty and fifty round capacity. Effective out to four hundred meters on your own. When used at a section or higher group it can lay down suppressive fire out to over five hundred meters, and when used in conjunction with section and platoon weapons this rifle will stop anything from getting in close. Hard mounted battle sight with optional electronics that can turn the rifle into a makeshift sniper rifle if you change the barrel out.

After everything had gone bad, I had a lot of time and read the manual and publications on the weapon. So far, this rifle has done everything promised and more.

The tac tac sounds brought me back to the now.

The enemy was getting closer, and I started to wonder how long it would be before the wall that I was pressed up against would start coming apart under that barrage.

This enemy didn’t have to worry about the standard battery problem with energy weapons. They carried a battery pack on their back in an armoured compartment that would power them and their weapons for up to forty-eight hours in light combat or on patrol. They were never more than an hour from one of their recharge stations either.

These basic combat model robots were the cannon fodder of the alien invasion. The same model that had been used extensively on Earth three generations ago. Slightly upgraded or so we had been told, how would any of us know? I hadn’t been around then, and no one else in the zone had been either.

I had my battle rifle, and the others had their weapons. We had enough ammunition if we were lucky that we could take out the platoon but then we would be tapped out. We were just supposed to be a recce group looking for wherever the robots were and how they were setting up.

We had bumped into this platoon like idiots. We had gotten cocky and walked around the corner, and they were just up the street.

We ducked back, but they had tracked us.

Long range weaponry doesn’t always do as well at short range. Especially not if surprised at point blank range. So, the four of us were here now stuck and pinned down in the building. It was a small car shop with two bays and a small office on the side with more offices upstairs.

Running in for the cover it offered had seemed like a good idea at the time. We hadn’t realized that the shots that we were trading with the robots had attracted the attention of other robots that had been in the area. Tina had been the first in the door and the first at the back looking for a window to jump through and bug out. It would have given us space and blocked us from sight, so we could break away from contact.

There were robots standing out back there, and they had opened fire on her immediately. Tina had yelped and ducked back. There were some more out there as well as the occasional shot came in from the far side and now the robotic platoon had caught up and was maintaining fire on the front of the building while they slowly advanced.

We were screwed.

Four of us with rifles and grenade launchers and no heavy weapons or explosives. Four magazines of rifle ammo and three sticks for the grenade launchers for myself. Almost thirty robots advancing on us from the front and several more robots at the side and back. Plus, if we didn’t move soon more of the invaders would advance on us from other locations. Remnants of other robot platoons looking to reconnect and then reorganize into new formations.

Ron and I were at the front of the shop and able to put the occasional shot down the road at those oversize walking toasters but to be effective you either had to take out the head or hit the spot on their chest roughly the size of a quarter. That you had to hit twice to guarantee punching through the armour in that one spot. Tina was in the back, and Sue had gone upstairs. We were all ready to bug out if the opportunity came up.

We had been able to fire occasionally and had even hit the robots a few times. Two of the robots had been damaged badly enough that they had turned and marched back to wherever their recharge and refit station was. Two robots that had taken rounds to their chest had simply collapsed.

I knew what to do in situations like this. We all did. But this was the real world and not a sim game. We also didn’t have the same top gear that we had then. We were experienced newbs in war.

I heard the cracking of a rifle from higher. Sue would be dropping another of them, but it was still taking her a couple of rounds, and we weren’t stopping them. Not completely.

The platoon was advancing at a decent speed with some always firing while the others moved. There was no yelling which was strange. The ones around the building simply stayed in the cover that they had and fired at movement.

Those out front would walk up to the building and then throw small nasty fragmentation grenades through the windows and doors. They would shred us in a second and then they would advance and kill anyone not dead.

Maybe Sue could get away over the rooftops, but most of the buildings in the area had some bad damage, and most weren’t structurally sound. Pick your way through it safely? Sure. Jump onto the roof from the next building over? You were probably going to go through the roof or break something.

But it was better than nothing.

I looked over at Ed, and his filthy face was staring back at me.

Things don’t look that good buddy. Any suggestions?

Buddy? Wow, thanks, Ron. Now I know we’re screwed. You do remember that you’re the planner, right? I just tend to carry all the heavy weapons and tank along. Tina does weird ninja shit and Sue snipes. That’s how this works, so come up with a plan already. It’s only a bunch of crap robots built by the lowest bidder.

We both rolled out and fired a double tap. Two of the robot’s heads shattered under the rounds, and that dropped them.

We rolled back into cover just as the fire from the group picked up. Sixty feet and they were on us. We also couldn’t roll out again because they were close enough to be accurate now and they would expect something.

I had nothing except let them get close enough and then dump the grenade launchers into them in the front while Sue and Tina did the same to the ones in the back. Hopefully, they could take them all out, and we could just run. But we’d be in the same situation in maybe a block if other robots were on the way, and they were.

Sorry, Ed. I got nothing except for desperation. We let them get a bit closer and just blindly fire out a stick of grenades each and then run for the back where we and the girls dump grenades into the robots back there.

Shitty plan. Ed rolled to his side and yelled. You guys hear what Ron said?

Pffft, yupp. I agree, shitty plan.

Well, I’ve heard better before, but I don’t have anything. So, let’s do it.

The fire outside was picking up. There was no indication that the robots could understand any human language, but it would be obvious that we were trapped and likely desperate.

I braced myself and looked at Ed. OK, we dump on three, K?

He nodded.

The world exploded outside.

A fireball blew a hot wind into the front of the building, and there was the sound of a machine gun and several rifles firing. Ed and I rolled back into the doorway rifles up.

The robots had turned toward the defined greater threat and were bringing weapons to bear. We opened fire putting one or two rounds into their heads which were bigger in profile and less well armoured.

It was like a shooting gallery. We dropped eight of them in seconds, and then they started turning back and forth as they tried to figure out what the bigger threat was.

Ed and I had worked from our respective sides inward, and then there was more rifle fire and the last few dropped.

I could hear the faint popping of other rifles firing, and then a grenade went off out back.

Tina and Sue materialized while Ed and I picked ourselves up and changed out our magazines carefully putting away the partial mag for later.

I don’t know how but I had used another magazine during the running firefight and I stared at the empty thing sitting in my chest rig. I had two and a half mags left.

There was a whistle, then I saw Tim. He saw me watching him and gestured madly.

We took off at a run, moving in formation just like we used to in-game. It all seemed so natural, and I wondered if maybe this was how the elite soldiers were trained. Put into simulation training for weeks at a time while they were drugged up. Training and muscle memory were big parts of soldier skills. In six months you could have a top-notch Special Forces soldier that had been through everything.

I ignored the stupid thought and concentrated on moving and covering my arcs. More robots would be showing up any second.

We ran into the storefront that I had seen Tim in. He had six more people with him from our little base, and I could see two more teams falling back from the far side with the rocket launcher and machine gun.

There was no talking, we just bugged out and ran down the street further into enemy territory. Units on the outskirts would be making their way into the city. But they tended not to go looking for patrols from the inside. Not unless they had a surplus of robots. Any target of opportunity that we could hit was massively protected. Recharging stations usually had most of a company of robots around them with heavy units.

Collection units? Forget it. Not with the gear that we had. Not unless we wanted to die fast.

We ran a few city blocks and then turned heading parallel to what we recognized as the front line. We saw two charging stations in the distance, but there were too many robots around them to make it worthwhile. Maybe if we had more rockets and explosives, we could have set up traps and destroyed them. But we didn’t. So, we kept moving on.

Finally, we headed back toward the front. We were deep in the city here, and we moved into a tall office tower.

It wasn’t well known, but there was a connecting tunnel to a rail line that ran out of the city. The entrances had been destroyed and collapsed, but there were still some small entrances if you knew where to look. The robots couldn’t use them if they found them. Too small and you almost had to be a contortionist to get in or out. For now, it was like a highway.

We made our way down into the basement, then sub-basement and finally, down a narrow service corridor and into the tunnel.

We had walked for an hour before we came to an exit that was far outside their lines.

Then we came out and walked out of the city, through the suburbs and into what had been a well to do neighborhood with mansions. The rich had fled, at least most of them.

Sonny hadn’t. But Sonny was a bit of a nut.

We entered through the front gate, and I noticed that as always there were two guards on duty hidden in a trench to the side. They had a light machine gun set up and were paying close attention to us as if we could be robots in some disguise.

I shrugged. Even if this all ended today, there were going to be millions of cases of PTSD in the world, so I couldn’t judge people for being cautious.

We cleared our weapons and headed into the estate.

Sonny’s second in command Jimmy met us at the door and then redirected us to the guest house we were using to clean up before the debrief.

We all split off, every team moving to their space.

The four of us entered our little room, and it felt like home. It wasn’t that large. A fifteen by fifteen-foot room with two bunk beds in it and a small three-piece washroom. We had been out for a bit and stank, so we ran through a shower. Three of us sat just outside while Tina ran in and claimed the shower. We cleaned our weapons until she came out looking wet and bedraggled but clean. Then Sue went in, then Ed, and finally me.

We had been able to pillage clothes from a mall and had lots clean still, but we were doing laundry by hand when we could. I stopped and looked around.

We still had twenty minutes after we cleaned up and the weapons were clean before we were supposed to report our findings.

So, we racked out.

One thing gaming taught us after all those grinders, and other missions, was to be fast.

I closed my