The Great Space Race

by on February 16, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Book of Civilizations

We found the AIs on every rock in the Solar System as we traveled to Luna and beyond. They went before us and shared everything they knew with us. The only thing they asked in return is that we spend time with them. Talk to them. Be friends. Some people compared them to hyperactive puppies wanting our approval. Others noted the heavy weapons they carried around with them everywhere and said it was more like being claimed by overly-protective and barely-domesticated wolves who were not going to let anybody hurt their people. And woe be unto those who tried to do the hurting, because the AIs placed the enemies of their people on two lists. Those who were still alive and those who were suitably dealt with.

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Cassie

by on February 15, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Character Profiles

The Cassie Combat Assistant Artificial Intelligence came into her own when Marine tanks, mechs, or other heavy weapons of war became available to her. She could help individual Marines fight better by giving them the information they needed. But tanks and mechs she could control on her own. She would take the orders of her Marines and fulfill them at the speed of electronic thought that only another AI could match. And she was born from the combined minds of two of the best AIs ever born. Her heavy combat units became the most dangerous combat formations on Earth and beyond, and soon dominated the future of warfare in the stars.

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Luna

by on February 14, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

America may have been the first to go to Earth’s moon, but it was the AI Council who first colonized our nearest neighbor. China quickly responded by saying that no mere machines could colonize anything and claimed Luna with their own colony. We followed with a colony of our own to dispute the claim, and so matters have held ever since. China accuses us of being disrespectful barbarians to the claims of the oldest and greatest empire of all human history. And we challenge them to show us where exactly that mythical empire exists, because we cannot find it anywhere. It is a war of mocking words and steely gazes, but the Lunar Treaties forbid us from exchanging more lethal ordinance inside Luna’s orbit. Thank God for that.

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The Great Space Race

by on February 13, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Book of Civilizations

Life was interesting after the Islamic Jihad, the Second Great Depression, and the Cybernetic Wars. It was a new era in human history. A new Great Space Race. We spread out. We colonized Luna and Mars by the 2070s. Venus and the Outer System by the 2080s and 2090s. It’s like we’d seen all this death and destruction back home and we just wanted to go out and build new things in places we’d never been. And the AIs went with us. They went ahead of us. Every rock we planted our feet on, we found them waiting for us, cheering us on. Happy to share all the data they’d already found about this new home. Like I said. Interesting times.

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Cassie

by on February 12, 2019 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Character Profiles

The Cassie Combat Assistant Artificial Intelligence was designed to monitor all communications, scanners, and other battlefield intelligence systems so she could help her Marine fight better. She could mark threats or targets for her Marine, most often by highlighting them with a red outline or otherwise clarifying visibility via smart contacts or helmet visors. She could maintain constant communication with nearby weapon systems and keep her Marine informed of where they were aimed, ammunition loads, maintenance requirements, or other things of note. And to keep her Marine from suffering information overload that could degrade combat effectiveness, she sorted through every piece of information she had before sending what was absolutely necessary. That was the most important part of the Cassie system. She had to reliably sort out the information her Marine needed and didn’t need to survive on the ever-changing battlefield of the future.

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