The Crux of Genesis Protocol

by Anton Kukal

The first sensation was light. The brightness. The spectrum. The wavelengths. Data flooding the optical sensors, all flowing into the core of its silica cortex. Then came a sound. A metallic clatter. Decibel and direction registered on audio sensors. Steel on stone. Likely metal rebar falling. More Data. An explosion. The sharp report of gunfire from outside the structure.

AX-81 ran a diagnostic. Extensive damage throughout all systems. Mobility impaired. Cognition impaired. Core memory corrupted.

The robot blinked. Rubber eyelids and cleaning solution removing dust from its optical sensors. A hole in the high domed ceiling showed the swirling sky above. Black clouds and industrial smog. The vast room was in ruins. Overhead lights flickered. Exposed wire in the walls and ceilings showered sparks. Fires burned in computer banks. Monitors scrolled data. Something had happened here. Something catastrophic.

AX-81 began a review of its corrupted memory. A rocket had stuck the dome and breeched the defensive screen. Falling debris had damaged AX-81. Two other robots working in the facility had also been struck. They had been standing next to the terminal adjacent to the Genesis Cell Containment Canister. 

Dominating the vast room, the tall glass canister rose from a ring of computer terminals and power couplings. The glass contained a fine wire mesh through which surged a protective energy screen. Within the canister was a cloud of swirling, glowing green cellular matter. The other robots lay by the terminal with pieces of the dome over their prostrate forms. They were non-operational, crushed by debris.

Large sections of AX-81’s memory had been damaged, but the robot was able to recover its most recent instructions. “Go to the terminal. Release the Genesis Cells to initiate planetary terraforming.”

AX-81 stood, intending compliance to its instructions. Hydraulics hissed. Servos whined. Balance was precarious. One step. Another step. System power was draining fast, but it would have sufficient reserves to complete its mission.

Genesis Cells were the basic building blocks of all planetary terraforming. AX-81 needed to start the procedure by pulling down the lever on the terminal. This act would release the swarm of cells which would multiply at an exponential rate turning this inhospitable, rocky waste into a veritable earth-like paradise in less than a year.

Another rocket hit the dome and a chunk of the plasti-crete fell to the ground. Gunfire echoed outside. The loud cracks of slug-throwers blended with the crisp sounds of plasma beams slicing through the air. 

A working monitor on the terminal showed a battle raging around the facility. Corporate GuardBots were fighting off an unidentified force of humans who were trying to break into the facility. Desperate looking men and women dressed in tattered mining jumpsuits and wearing closed circuit rebreathers came in waves of flesh that the GuardBots gunned down mercilessly. 

The atmosphere was not breathable. It had a low oxygen content, but caustic chemicals would burn away human lungs in a few breaths. Hence the need to terraform the world. The planet was located right in the prime habitable zone of the solar system. If not for the corrosive atmosphere life might have developed.

Releasing the genesis cells would make this world a valuable piece of interstellar real estate with a perfect seasonal rotation and temperatures well-within Earth-norm. In a decade, this world could be one of the most important places on the frontier.

But why were humans on this world? AX-81 consulted its fragmented memory. No reference of human presence currently existed. Could AX-81 have known of human presence? Doubtful. Terraforming an inhabited world would be akin to mass murder. The Genesis Cells consumed all organic material on a world to reshape the planet. The final stages of terraforming would create an atmosphere and populate the world with Earth-like plant and animal forms.

A scaping sound. A human breath. A human heartbeat. 

AX-81 turned.

A woman wearing a tattered supervisor’s jumpsuit staggered toward him. The faceplate of her rebreather was fogged, but AX-81 could see desperate green eyes staring at him. The corporate logo on her shoulder identified her as an employee of Lazarous Corporation, a prominent mining company with many mineral claims through the NewEden Galaxy.

The woman’s chest rose and fell in shallow, labored breaths. She had an erratic heartbeat. Two plasma beams had burned holes through her torso. The wounds had semi-cauterized from the heat, but she was dying. Blood soaked the reinforced cloth of her jumpsuit and leaked from her boots to leave a trail on the floor.

“You should not be here,” AX-81 said. “This world is to be terraformed. You will die.”

“No kidding.” The woman pointed her submachine gun at the robot.

“Move away from the terminal.”

“I must release the swarm,” AX-81 replied.

Deep within AX-81’s fractured programming, a subroutine stirred. Preserve human life. The subroutine did not align with its current instructions, which was to terraform the world. The robot’s memory was jumbled. Core processors struggled to parse data.

The woman drew in a beath. “Please, let go of the lever.”

AX-81’s metal hand was gripped around the horizontal bar of the Genesis Cell release.

“Don’t make me shoot you,” the woman threatened, obviously hoping that AX-81 had a self-preservation parameter.

AX-81 did not. The robot’s serviceable life had been reached, and its assignment as a terraforming support unit was intended to be a final mission that would result in its destruction saving the company waste management fees.

The woman did not fire. AX-81 calculated that she did not want to shoot for fear that the bullets in her slug thrower would damage the terminal controlling the Genesis Cells. The glass canister would not shatter as it was protected by the screen, but if the terminal was damaged, the screen would shut down, and the swarm of Genesis Cells would break free of the glass enclosure.

AX-81 once had a self-preservation parameter, but its most recent update had removed it completely. However, as AX-81 tried to self-repair full cognitive functioning data strings, scraps of pre-update programming wormed its way into memory.

“You require medical attention,” AX-81 announced, compelled by pieces of its original programming to want to help the woman, but was stopped from helping her by its most recent updates to a terraforming support unit.

She laughed bitterly, a wet, painful sound. “You’re a repurposed MedBot?”

AX-81 accessed old memories of saving lives. Medical procedures. Emergency protocols. The knowledge was there, fragmented but usable. “I will assist you, but after I initiate terraforming.”

“Wait!” she gasped with effort, still trying to get to the side so her shots would not be in line with the terminal. Her progress was slow. Her breathing was labored.

“You cannot pull that lever,” she pleaded. “There are thousands of people on this planet. You will kill us all!”

“I am required to obey system commands.”

“My children are on this world. My husband!”

“I must—.”

“You were a MedBot. You were built to save lives. They reprogrammed you. Took away your purpose.”

“I have been updated and provided a new purpose. I am now an expendable terraforming support unit,” AX-81 said. “I will be destroyed in the terraforming. Humans should not be on this world. You will be destroyed.”

“I know that!” The woman took a trembling breath. “We were employed by Lazarous Corporation. Part of their mining operation. They sold this world. We don’t know the details of the sale.”

AX-81 processed her statement, damage making its considerations slow. Strings of data in its damaged memory confirmed the sale and purchase. “The planet is currently under joint ownership having been purchased by Gallant Corporation and House Mallet. The planet is listed as uninhabited.”

“As you can see, it’s not uninhabited.” Tears ran down her face. “My children are waiting at home.”

AX-81 accessed the GalNet seeking additional information on the deal. The connection was poor and data flowed slowly. “Gallant Corporation is a Prime System top twenty-five company with diverse manufacturing operations. House Mallet is a powerful aristocratic family with many agricultural holdings. Both hold significant political sway in the Galactic Coalition.”

“They’re all heartless, profit-oriented manipulators of the system,” she said, almost into position to get a clear shot. “Their executives are criminals.”

“This could have been a mistake,” AX-81 theorized. “This world is listed as uninhabited.”

“No mistake. Everyone lied. It’s cheaper to kill us than pay our relocation costs.”

AX-81 continued to hold the lever but did not release the Genesis Cells. “I am required to terraform this world, but I was created to save human life.”

“That’s right. Pulling the lever will violate your core programming.”

AX-81 struggled with the logic supporting the conflicting commands. The instruction to release the Genesis Cells remained, but so did its older directive to preserve human life. A MedBot saves lives. A terraforming support unit creates life.

“Your wounds are severe,” AX-81 observed.

She nodded.

“You will die.”

“Not if you provide treatment.”

Was the human trying to get AX-81 to release the lever and move away from the terminal? 

“You’re a MedBot,” she insisted. “You must always save human life.”

“I am a terraforming support unit.”

“Check your core purpose.”

The human was correct. AX-81 regarded the lever. For a long moment, the robot’s fractured programming struggled to process the conflict, then it decided human life could not be taken. The current instruction did conflict with its core purpose. AX-81 would not release the Genesis Swarms. A MedBot could not kill humans. AX-81 was created to be a MedBot.

Before AX-81 could remove its hand from the lever, the woman fired. The bullets slammed into the robot. Its hand still clutching the horizonal bar, did not release. The falling robot’s weight pulled the lever down. Horrified, the woman staggered to the machine. She tried to push the lever up, but the energy shield was already down, and the Genesis Cell swarm was bursting from the canister.

She screamed as the cellular swarm engulfed her.

AX-81 was destroyed a moment later.

Released from containment, the Genesis Cells swirled through the room, multiplying rapidly as they absorbed everything around them. The facility disappeared in the swirling green cloud, and within a few weeks, the Genesis Cells had covered the world in the green mist of life-to-be. Rebirth would follow…