I wasnt too interested in the outcome of the battle, especially since, despite the cadets stubborn and quite skillful resistance, they didnt stand a chance. I looked at the attackers with interest. This, it turns out, is what my wife has been so enthusiastic about lately at the lizards planet, which Jeff and Professor Stein have also visited several times. For some reason they did not tell me about their venture, though, perhaps they were right, as I was frankly not up to it lately.
Ive seen a similar equipment before. When we first came into contact with the lizards, it was such «dinosaurs» that met in a deadly battle with quarg combat robots on the planets of Iota Persei, the star system of Lit-ta, then Governor General. But they were not exactly the same. Those biological machines didnt have the plasma cannons, camouflage field generators, or even the light force shields that were present here. These beasts were as big as our Bisons, but they were not machines by human standards. Their hulls were grown rather than manufactured in factories, but the flexible and malleable living tissue, covered with thick segments of organometallic armor, coexisted in them with the smooth metal of the plasma cannons and with the grids of the force-field emitters. Technogenic elements fused with living tissue to form a single whole, and this symbiosis formed the strange and terrifying creatures now rushing toward the positions of the cadet company. As it turned out, these were only visible combinations of the technologies of two, or rather, even three races, representatives of one of which we had never seen. The interior of the «dinosaurs» concealed even more surprises.
Why didnt they burn up in the atmosphere during the landing? asked the slightly recovered Colonel General, They entered the atmosphere directly from space, without dropships or any protective gear.
Their bodies have a special organ for correction of gravitational attraction, explained Lit-ta, Approximately the same are used as engines for drone torpedoes and hybrid Black Dragon-class battleships. Only here they are very small and therefore low-power, otherwise they would take up too much space. So the Theropods cant fly, but they have enough power for controlled landings, as well as for long and high jumps during combat, as you may have already seen.
What did you call them? Theropods? asked the General.
Yes. This name was suggested by Major Lavroff. It seems that such predatory dinosaurs once lived on Earth.
it is quite suitable," agreed the General, as he continued to watch the gradually waning combat. In fact, only one commanding robot of one of the cadets and a pair of his surviving drones continued to operate. The robots skillfully used the folds of the terrain and the remnants of the defensive fortifications, they constantly changed positions and hit the encroaching Theropods with all available weapons. Actually, they should have been clamped and destroyed long ago, but the cadet managed to slip away, he broke wawy himself each time and led his drones out of the shrinking ring of enemies.
You train great fighters, I smiled at General Schiller.
It used to be easier, the clearly flattered General grumbled back, but now, after one troublesome cadet came in six years ago, I dont have time to retrain the men on the new types of combat equipment. Im not complaining, though, as I dont get the news of my graduates deaths very often anymore.
Lit-ta, are these drones or manned machines? I switched to another topic with a nod to Schiller.
Neither, the lizard replied with a little hesitation, Its a pack with a leader.
I didnt expect such an answer. Can you tell me more about that?
This is one of our latest developments, Lit-ta turned to me and the General, In principle, we have been developing the topic of artificially grown multilayer neural networks for a long time, but the real breakthrough came only recently, after our contact with you. You are also working in this direction, only you dont grow neural networks, you simulate them with your computers. As it turns out, your theoretical work goes well with our pseudo-living neural clusters. Professor Stein, when we showed him our products, invited his former colleague from the Colonial Tech However, these details are not so important. The bottom line is that the Theropods are indeed unmanned, but they dont require a constant, sustained communication link like your drones do. Their pseudo-brain consists of a very dense neural network grown by our bioengineers and trained in many thousands of training fights according to techniques compiled by your mathematicians. The result is an artificial brain with the rudiments of imitative intelligence. Of course, it is not a mind, but if you compare it to your animals, approximately it reaches the level of a very intelligent wolf, only obedient and perfectly trained. A wolf, as far as I know, is a pack animal, and any pack needs a leader. In the battle we just witnessed, Major Lavroff acted as the leader.
So a pack of Theropods is capable of fighting on its own, even in conditions of complete suppression of communication channels? General Schiller was interested.
For a while, definitely. Even an individual Theropod will continue to follow the last order received, or a predetermined sequence of orders. The set of these orders, of course, is limited, but the list is quite extensive. For example, you and I have seen the pack perform the task of capturing and mopping-up the territory. After receiving the order, the Theropods fought on their own. Major Lavroff did not interfere in the actions of her subordinates.
But the latest models of our drones can also continue to perform the received task in the absence of communication," I reminded Lit-ta, This function is especially developed in boarding robots. How are the Theropods better?
Theyre better because we can produce millions of them a month, Admiral, as long as we have enough plasma cannons and protective and camouflage field generators," Lit-ta replied softly, But now we have the quargs with their fantastic industrial power, so there wont be a problem with that, I suppose.
I nodded silently to Lit-ta and pulled out my communicator.
Mr. Minister of Defense? Admiral Lavroff speaking. Do you have an opportunity to come to Ganymede? How urgent? Well, I think you should see this. I believe what we want to show you can make a big difference in the coming campaign. General of the Army Knyazev? Undoubtedly! His presence is also highly desirable. Thank you. Well be expecting you.
Nelson, Knyazev, Lavroff, Kotova, I beg your pardon, Major Lavroff General Schiller said thoughtfully, running his hand over the gray hair at the back of his head and taking out his communicator, it surely reminds me of something I think Ill warn the Academys supervisor, General of the Army Vasnetsov, and the civilian administration of Ganymede as well, because, you know, anything can happen.
* * *
General Las once again carefully reread his agents report. Dr. Silks trail was discovered in the Kappa Giyan star system, recently overrun by the toads but retaken from them during a counterattack, planned by Marshal Klink. The central planets of the system survived two landing parties, first by the toads and then by the Imperial forces, which knocked the «frogs» out of the cities and industrial areas they captured with heavy losses. To say that the infrastructure of the planets has suffered is to oversimplify the facts. Actually, all that was left there was ruins. The detritus of the multi-level cities were to be cleared and rebuilt for many months.