Ragnarok

Chapter 50 - War

Man and machine launched their best against the colossus, and one and all, their efforts failed.

After the metal giant had emerged from the remains of Jupiter, the first area of resistance it encountered was the Asteroid belt. While the individual asteroids were widely scattered, the different A.I. colonies were able to coordinate their assaults, launching both high-speed kinetic missiles as well as improvised warheads. These missiles headed unerringly for their target, until they were almost upon it. Then the objects' trajectories scattered in all directions, repelled by gravity waves that surged outwards from Ragnarok's central core. The paths of the objects had been altered just enough that not a single one of them struck the oncoming giant.

From some of the large manufacturing asteroids, automated defense drones swarmed outwards by the dozen, coalescing in a great 'cloud' of automated machines numbering in the thousands. Once they had gathered, they surged towards Ragnarok, trying to overwhelm it with sheer numbers and with a barrage of concentrated lasers. Apparently, while its gravity waves were able to deflect projectiles, its mastery over the force was not sufficient to bend light. The outer armor of the giant was soon criss-crossed with streams of molten metal, and the swarm redoubled its efforts, several of the drone fighters launching point-blank missiles or sending themselves on kamikaze missions towards the spots that appeared to be most vulnerable.

At first, it seemed as though it was surrounded by a halo of debris, bits of living metal that had been blown off in hunks and splatters, but then the metal began to reform itself, taking on the shape of sleek, dragonlike ships, which quickly rose up to match their automated foes. The nanomachines permeated every inch of the planet's core, and every part of it was under the central A.I.'s direct control, able to be reshaped at its whim.

The dragon-ships quickly demonstrated that they were both faster and more deadly than their counterparts, sometimes physically closing upon them to tear them apart with tooth and claw, other times letting loose with their own deadly lasers and missiles. A few drones were able to self-destruct and take a handful of the enemy ships along with them, but other than that, it was astoundingly one-sided.

The Battle of the Asteroid Belt had begun ... and soon, would end.

* * *

Micah and several of his friends, Tony and Gunnar among them, were gathered in one of the larger domes, watching a simulated hologram of the war effort. He had to keep reminding himself that it was the news that he was watching.

"A shapeshifting, sentient planetary core that can spawn minions out of pieces of itself," Tony mused aloud, shaking his head. "Is this a new sci-fi horror game, or is this actually happening?"

"Sadly, this is no game," Micah replied.

"Indeed not," Rei added, floating next to Micah. "Though the nature of its shape and powers could be a result of absorbing Smith. He was modelled after you, Master, even if he was later corrupted by Ragnarok's Trojan. If you wanted to take a form to strike fear into the hearts of humanity, what form would that be?"

Tony frowned. "It looks like a giant warrior ... like a humanoid, in other words. Is that because it figures that the thing we fear most is ourselves?"

"It's possible," Micah said. "After all, humanity did make our own home planet nearly unliveable through sheer arrogance and neglect, and for a very long time, people figured it was even odds whether we'd wipe ourselves out or finally pull our heads out of our asses long enough to save ourselves." He didn't mention the horror show that he and Rei had seen while they were infiltrating Ragnarok, but it was weighing heavily on his mind, and a quick meeting of her eyes clued him in that she was thinking the same thing. "In a lot of ways, mankind's always been its own worst enemy, and the thing that kills you might just be the thing that looks most like you."

"Yet here we are, gathered together to watch us get our asses kicked," Gunnar cut in, looking somewhat resigned to the chaos that he saw unfolding in the air above them. "And I don't know about you guys, but it's not my fellow man that I'm worried about right this minute. It's that giant metal bastard that showed up all high and mighty and started messing with my home planet." He suddenly hammered his fist down onto his knee, snarling in rage before quickly composing himself again. "I wish there were something we could do, to fight this monster. I don't like sitting here, feeling helpless."

Micah cleared his throat. "Actually ... I think I may know of something that we can do to help. This is going to sound crazy ..."