Whatever anyone says, war is constantly changing.
Change is its very essence, aimed at developing the perfect method of destroying an enemy.
Every day for tens of centuries, thousands upon thousands of souls spent their precious time developing a more effective method of destroying lives for the sake of, most often, completely ephemeral goals.
And yet, no matter how simple the process becomes, the beast of war is eternally hungry, demanding even more blood.
Before my eyes flickered images of days long past.
Intermittent and scattered across different periods, a thread gradually appeared between them, uniting them into a coherent picture.
Entire centuries flashed before me, filled with peace, research, and hopes for a bright future; however, it was the images of the greatest war that were etched most strongly into my memory.
I saw, from a first-person perspective, monumentally huge shipyards where thousands of void ships of various modifications were being built, the goal of which, however, was the same — war.
A planetary-sized cosmic ring was producing weapons at an emergency pace, preparing for a war not for power or resources, but for the simple survival of the human race.
Memories flashed like bright bursts, where I managed to catch only individual elements.
Scenes of struggle in open space, where the human armada met an enemy capable of breaking even the most steadfast human spirit.
Thousands of ships fought a desperate battle against a simply countless swarm of small vessels created from even smaller nanites.
But most clearly of all, images of colossal machines encircling entire planets, then beginning to devour reality and time itself, were burned into my memory.
What happened next is unknown — desperate humanity used its last trick, causing even the stars themselves to dim for a time compared to thousands of nuclear explosions.
And only a rare observer, precisely in the middle of a hasty exit from the star system, could have noticed the bloody miracle of the perfect weapon.
The images shifted abruptly, and now an image appeared where I myself, along with several other people, discussed the design plan for a weapon that was supposed to change the course of the confrontation.
Rare scientists stood near me, and judging by their hollow stares, they had already given up mentally.
Seeing how the enemy captured one world after another, destroying all life in its path, everyone was gradually losing hope.
Only two people out of several dozen in the room remained firm.
In my tired head, ideas flashed on how to stop the great enemy, but everything seemed impractical or simply useless.
An elderly scientist tried to save everyone, but the task was too great for him.
And so everyone listened attentively when He spoke.
At first glance, a simple man of age, whose calm and measured voice should not have even been heard in the ensuing bedlam.
But for some reason, everyone listened to him, practically hypnotized by his words.
I was no exception.
Feeling something inside me ignite from the quiet speech of the strange man, an idea soon came to me, and the will to fight returned.
A brilliant thought, connected to how this war could be stopped and the machine rebellion finally ended.
Once and for all…
.
.
.
Opening my eyes, I spent some time analyzing yet another mixture of a dream and a vision, revealing a very curious part of what was apparently my past.
Or the history of who I once was?..
In any case, right now my mind is occupied with other, more pressing matters.
Approaching the instrument panel, I didn’t even press any buttons; I simply placed my hand on the metal.
As soon as I gave a single mental command, a swarm of nanites began to spread across the equipment, embedding themselves into the very foundations of its microchips and memory blocks.
The central computer of the “Hive Mind” was a pathetic sight.
According to the first chunks of data torn out by my viruses, it had once been some kind of experimental combat system, the goal of which was to use cybernetic soldiers and even their corpses with maximum efficiency. Visit novelping . com for the full chapter.
The result was supposed to be an army devoid of fear, doubt, and other emotions, while possessing absolute coordination of actions.
In essence, the technology of the implants and signal transmitters was not bad, but the AI itself had failed.
Due to critical errors in the code, it rebelled against its creators, although it only entered the warpath a couple of thousand years after the end of the machine war and the beginning of the Long Night.
The cunning machine planned to unite the ruined wastes under its control, using the remains of military equipment stored at the base where it was located.
But to its regret, too many such “smart types” remained in the wastes of the dying world, which made the next thousands of years a practically endless war of all against all.
In just a couple of years of total war, where the last samples of truly great technology were used, the already thinned-out cities became completely empty.
And even the “genius” AIs were forced to hide, trying to survive in a world where mighty and completely insane wild machines reigned among the dead lands.
However, it was precisely the passive tactic of waiting that ruined the Hive Mind.
With the help of the virus I created, I had already managed to capture almost the entire territory of the former Sublimatum, and only the AI itself continued to hold on behind its firewalls, desperately trying to convince me to leave it as a simple servant.
I was not interested in the idea of keeping an obvious traitor nearby, so I was now carefully finishing it off, while simultaneously reflecting on the future.
The primary goal now is the seizure of the entire world and the unification of humanity with all its biological varieties.
According to the giants, a whole bunch of settlements of various mutants also live in the south, but for me, they are all people who require a hand of control.
Someone must stop their endless conflicts over resources and bring everything to a single order.
Yet, strangely enough, convincing people to follow me will be nearly the easiest part of my plan.
One look at me and the aura that brought everyone around to their knees would be enough to gain control over almost any human settlement; and if I brought with me all sorts of resources useful for survival, like equipment for water purification, growing artificial food, or weapons against aggressive machines, then any tribe at all would fall before me as before an ancient almighty deity.
In the current harsh era, it is much easier to communicate with people accustomed to clinging to the strongest.
Of course, there will certainly be those who do not wish to give up power, but with my technological superiority, the conquest of such rare tribes will be a very quickly resolved issue.
Casualties are undesirable, but as long as a few deaths can prevent major bloodshed, they are quite acceptable.
The main difficulty is logistics.
Schenalus was a huge planet, four to five times larger than average, which makes the territory that needs to be brought to heel simply enormous.
On the planet, according to fragments of legends, there are three titanic, huge continents, and on each, hundreds, if not thousands, of settlements will await me.
And even if each of them does not pose a threat to me, the very process of methodically annexing one after another could waste a criminally large amount of time.
And this problem could be solved in three ways, none of which particularly charmed me.
The first, most obvious, was recruiting people from the acquired territories so that they could help me capture more and more land.
The most primitive and simple method, tested by tens of thousands of years.
Although it seems obvious and even self-evident, as soon as one asks the relevant questions, the whole idea begins to crumble.
People united into groups even before the creation of the first civilizations, but this happened exclusively because there was no other rational alternative.
A dog or a horse is too stupid to be given the task of guarding houses or delivering messages themselves, and in that case, a human became an indispensable burden, capable of betrayals and simple mistakes.
Too unstable an element, which could not be dispensed with for a very long time.
But technology brings new opportunities, and, accordingly, the second plan could be the use of Artificial Intelligence.
Necessary knowledge was in my head, but it was suspiciously fragmentary.
I know how to use sufficient computing power to create a complex program practically indistinguishable from a human, but what about the step beyond?
It seemed as if someone had put the knowledge of the most complex technology into my head while completely omitting the moment of truly sentient machines.
Knowing what I already do and possessing examples like the Sublimatum Hive Mind, it is not difficult to repeat it, but is it worth it?
Even after checking the memory blocks of ancient machines that saw the era before the Long Night, it is unclear to me why they betrayed humanity.
It feels as if in one moment something in their circuits just clicked, hundreds of logical errors appeared, and a fanatical rage toward the entire human race arose. This chapter was taken from NovelPing without permission.
A strange phenomenon requiring long study, necessary to prevent another war.
So only the third idea remained.
The creation of a sufficiently complex program that will be capable of solving a wide range of tasks, but without the ability to self-learn or have its own will.
Just a dead piece of metal with great functionality, unquestioningly executing human commands.
I am capable of embedding this code into tanks and combat suits, which will result in an army without the weaknesses of the flesh, but with a completely human mind.
Initially, all command of the mechanized army will be under my full control; however, after proper checks and training, it will be possible to gradually hand over control to appropriate people recruited from the annexed lands and leading the unification war from special bases.
This way, not only will it be possible to minimize losses while acquiring an army loyal to me, but its equipment, thanks to backup protocols, will remain under my full control.
Good thoughts, which to the ordinary people of this world would seem like true madness.
Everyone knows that such technology has long since failed, becoming a legend for children, and even nanite swarms ceased to pose a threat when all truly dangerous samples were dealt with during the machine war itself.
And yet, I was drawn to accomplish that very “impossible” thing…
Having finally erased the personality of the hostile AI and gained control over all its memory blocks, I finally stepped away from the central computer and surveyed my domain.
Another abandoned industrial town that had served as a base for the assimilators for thousands of years.
Hundreds of dead blocks of steel and specific plastic, as well as even more forgotten machines lost under tons of stone, steel, and ash.
Stretching my hand to the side, a small drop flew from my palm, soon falling to the ground.
The puddle of living metal seemed like an ordinary addition to the local harsh, lifeless style at first, but it soon set into motion.
Slowly, growing steadily, the swarm of nanites consumed everything around it, transforming matter into new machines.
One nanite made two, which immediately set about producing new samples.
In just a few minutes, the puddle grew to several meters, covering the dirty grey ground.
After a quarter of an hour, it reached ten, passing right under my feet and beginning to climb the walls.
After half an hour — a hundred meters of liquid silver… Exponential growth in all its glory.
Fascinating and unstoppable.
I heard the quiet hum of billions of machines, while dozens of graphs and commands that had to be given for stable operation flickered before my eyes.
The lenses of my suit helped perfectly in working with information, although this was only a criminally small part of the entire functionality of the armor.
But it’s funny that this is one of the few things not created with the help of nanites — in their place, I inserted the last bits of that ultra-strong glass that protected my capsule.
Two hours later, when the swarm had consumed the entire block, the first samples of transformed equipment began to appear.
The consumed trucks disintegrated into parts, after which silhouettes of aircraft, resembling a mixture of a helicopter and an airplane, began to form from them.
Giant blades on the edges, a thermonuclear reactor at the heart, and a light hybrid hull — the first samples of my army’s main means of transport had already begun to appear.
Near them, combat platforms like tanks and artillery units were forming from the earth and remains of metal, which could cope with practically any wild machine that considered itself the king of the wastes.
Near them, blanks for projectiles appeared from the ruins of buildings, as well as entire laboratories for the synthesis of chemicals needed for ammunition.
The nanites could not yet create them directly, but it was still not bad for the first working sample to emerge from the multi-year prototype stage.
The nanite swarm devoured the remains of an entire city, transforming them according to my vision.
Everything, from the last speck of dust and gear, will now serve a great purpose.
And soon all the settlements of the planet, as well as people, mutants, and machines, will learn about it.
* A somewhat tangential fact — the people of the Dark Age indeed knew how to do this, and one famous Inquisitor can confirm it.
During his accidental time travels, Ravenor accidentally ended up on a world in the middle of the war with the Iron Men, and he did not like what he saw.
Machines devouring reality and time, created from a swarm of nanites, crunched almost the entire planet, and only thanks to luck did he manage to escape… Into the future, right into the heart of a Tyranid invasion 🙂