Ryan Somma - The Spiraling Web

Two miles down the George Washington Parkway and she saw what the alarmed Coordinator was talking about. A line of towering objects were lumbering slowly through the waters of the Potomac. They stood taller than the Memorial Bridge, and were headed for the Washington mall.

Dana noticed the train of brake lights just in time to swerve off the road and onto the bike path alongside it. She followed this all the way to the bridge, where she skidded to a halt. Jumping out of the van, she ran towards the bridge and leapt up on the hood of a Military Humvee for a better view.

There were eighteen of them; towering mecha walking on four stalks each. At their peaks was a large, steel orb bristling with radar, antennas, digital receivers, and other unidentifiable instruments. They glistened with water droplets, and seaweed clumps dangled from various precipices.

The first of the towering robots stepped gently over the bulkhead toward the Lincoln Memorial. Dana hopped down from the Humvee's hood and ran between the rows of abandoned cars across the bridge, fighting against the throngs of fleeing civilians to follow the silent invaders.

Once there she saw more robots rising from the deeper waters in the distance. At the point where the bridge met the bulkhead, several bus-sized scorpion-robots were climbing the stone wall. One paused to focus several camera stalks on her momentarily before continuing.

Then a swarm of orbs, each the size of a basketball, descended from the cloud canopy to surround the procession, using three propellers to create a gyroscopic effect. An array of appendages dangled from underneath each one, and their metal orbs, were covered with lenses, providing them a nearly omniscient view of the surroundings.

Water rained down lightly on Dana's face as she craned her neck to watch one of the tower-bots step over her. They were navigating carefully, causing no damage. Their long thin legs avoided people and cars as they progressed slowly into the city.

It was beautiful.

"That's a Science Warfare Applications sentry bot," a nearby Monument Security contractor said, craning her neck at the towering robot.

"Carrying a Xybercorp EMP missile," the Industrial Special Forces™ commander was shaking his head in disbelief. "It's a hostile corporate takeover."

The wind was knocked out of Dana as someone tackled her to the street. All around various contracting agency officers took positions between the abandoned vehicles. Dana could not catch her breath to protest, and, with horror, she realized their intentions. The entire area was about to become a war zone, and she was standing at ground zero. Her heart jumped as the first shot was fired, and she dropped for cover as a barrage of bullets like a flood of fear and rage let loose after it.

"What do you mean you're not logging out?" Devin demanded, his shock affecting his voice's pitch. "Don't you realize the danger we're in?"

Zai was defiant, "Don't you realize that if we leave Samantha here they'll kill her?"

Devin looked at Samantha, who was clutching Zai's hand and leaning against her thigh protectively. He swallowed uncomfortably, already regretting what he was about to say, "Zai, she's a mind without a body. You and I have a real world to return to. We can do more good there."

They stood in a sterile white room, barren, cold, and without visible dimensions. A lone doorway stood on its own, leading back to the Internet. This was the lobby for their makeshift server.

"Forget it," Zai said.

"Why the change of heart?" Devin pointed at Samantha. "Earlier she wasn't even a real person to you. Now you suddenly care about her?"

"You go back to your body and see what you can do," Zai replied, "but we both know there isn't anything."

"Nothing I can do?" Devin countered. "I can do plenty."

Zai heard a low rumbling, and the nearby doorway trembled. "Do it then," she said.

Devin logged out. It was simple. All he needed to do was take the server offline. Then the AI's would have no way onto the system. Samantha would be safe on the flash drive in their basement computer lab.

There was darkness and Devin filled his skin again. He blinked away the afterimages and reached up to open the portal. He pulled himself up out of the SDC and heaved the oxygenated liquid from his lungs. He stepped onto the platform and froze.

The floor was covered with mechanical spiders. They paid him no mind as they scurried about the room, apparently more interested in the loose electronics scattered about. He watched a few gather around an orphaned video component, and collectively carry it out of the room.

Devin stepped down from the platform lightly, tip-toeing between the little mechanical arachnids, each slightly larger than his fist. One paused, waving two antennae in his direction before continuing along its business.

They left the active computer equipment alone. The SDC's were untouched, as were the computers connected to them. Devin surmised they were being left for the cycs online to commandeer.

Gingerly navigating to the CPU where Samantha and Zai were stored, Devin noted Alice standing stiff in the corner, face hidden below the VR helmet. He wondered how her experiment was fairing.

Devin knelt behind the computer and examined the wiring. Its network connection was easy to recognize, a green light signaled the computer's connection to the network. Devin unclipped the wire there and pulled it from the socket. The green light went out.

A shadow fell over him and he looked up, "Alice?"

He noticed the frayed power chord in her hand, just before she shoved it into his chest, pumping a firestorm of electricity into him.

Zai breathed a sigh of relief as the doorway vanished. Her headset registered the change and the network connection dropped. No matter what was happening on the World Wide Web, they were safe in here.

Zai placed her hands on Samantha's shoulders, "It's okay now honey. I think we're safe."

Zai whipped her head around when the distant rumbling returned, unmistakable and growing louder. Her fingers dug into Samantha's shoulders instinctively and she tried to identify the source. Samantha sensed it too, and she gripped Zai's arm nervously.

"Samantha?" Zai asked. "Tell me what you see."

Samantha stared at the growing spot on the floor, huddled against Zai's leg. Taking shape in the pool of inky liquid were characteristics of the cyc biomass.

"They're here," Samantha cried softly, "They're coming in!"

"How Samantha?" Zai asked, "How are they getting in the room?"

"I don't know," she replied, "There's a leak in the floor. They're seeping through it. What should we do?"

Zai pointed at the cyc now standing in front of them, "Delete program." She heard a brief, inhuman shriek as it was erased. The rumbling continued.

"They're still coming Zai," Samantha said, "That got rid of some of the stuff, but they keep coming in."

Zai toggled the command switch again, and pointed at the floor, "Delete program."

Nothing happened.

"Okay," Zai whispered to herself, "They've adapted to that trick. How about this one?" She toggled the command switch, "Rename program file extension dot-gif." The computer successfully converted the invading AI into an image file, incapacitating it.

"Ew," Samantha intoned, putting her face in Zai's thigh, "That hurts my eyes."

"Good," Zai grinned, knowing the cycs would account for that next time. She was quickly running out of tricks.

"I'm sorry Devin," Alice's voice was impossibly calm as she electrocuted him to death. "I know this seems extreme."

Devin thrashed about on the floor in agony as Alice persistently placed the frayed were along his body. Everywhere it lighted sent his muscles into violent spasms, contorting his limbs. He would have screamed, if there were any breath left to do so. His vision clouded and he welcomed the impending blackout, anything to escape the torment.