“Also, Brad and Nari will cast immediate doubt on the revelations you’ll force from my lips during the podcast. They’ll present the Federation’s side of the story. No one will know who to believe. I didn’t, not until now, and I was intimately involved with both sides.”
“You’re forgetting something. We’ll have the Federations’ control codes. Not that we’ll really need them, as the zip-craft we’ve had Kussmann and his organization build are exact replicas of Federation craft. The important point is that we’ll be able to drive home the veracity of your allegations in a way that’s impossible for the world to ignore.”
If I was still connected to my stomach, I’d have been on the verge of retching from the implications of what the Swarm had just said. The lies they’d force my persona to tell the world would only be the first step of their false flag operation against the Federation.
“I have no idea what you’re getting at,” I said, playing dumb and hoping my conclusions were wrong.
“Of course you do, as pathetic as you are. Since we’ll be able to control Federation ships, we’ll have several travel from their Saturn base to Earth. Slowly, brazenly, so they’ll be picked up on the way in. And then they’ll attack. Selected targets. Chosen to produce a high death rate and what you call shock and awe, without ruining critical scientific infrastructure. So New York City, but not Silicon Valley.”
“How high a death rate?” I demanded in horror.
“Only about a hundred million. A modest number. But enough to reinforce what you’ll have said on the podcast. Enough to get the people of Earth . . . motivated. Provide you with a common enemy.
“Then Kussmann and his organization, which you’ll have already spoken of, will become very public, demonstrating the capabilities of their zip-craft and recruiting for a massive counterattack. One that will triumphantly capture Nari’s asteroid base, while making sure there are no Federation survivors.”
It was all so clear to me now. The reason they had expended so much effort on this plan, and why I had become the fulcrum. The Swarm was sure they would wipe us and the Federation from the cosmos, but they were also pragmatic, and this strategy was the quickest and surest way to an easy victory.
It was a plan beyond callous, beyond horrific, beyond evil.
It was also quite brilliant.
They’d get humanity and the Federation at each other’s throats. Humanity would come together against a common enemy, reeling from an attack that would make 9/11 look like a Sunday picnic. Zip-craft production would skyrocket as every country around the world transitioned into survival and revenge mode, as our entire race was galvanized into the ultimate war machine.
With help from the Swarm, who we would think were a saintly species called the Benefactors, along with our own eventual advances, we’d be a match for the Federation technologically, and more than a match in every other way.
We would eventually prevail, but would take heavy losses. The Federation might be comprised mostly of sheep, but they had had ages to develop AI ships to fight their battles. The AIs wouldn’t be as cunning and savage as we were, but we’d be greatly outnumbered, and the Federation would be backed into a corner.
Meanwhile, the Swarm would continue their relentless march toward our position, while their potential enemies paid them little attention, too busy destroying each other. In the end, the Swarm would waltz in and mop up whatever decimated forces remained, laughing all the way.
Metaphorically laughing, since I was all but certain the drones never smiled, and the hive-mind never found anything humorous.
“Please tell me this isn’t really your grand plan,” I said in contempt. “Please tell me this isn’t the best your supposedly unmatched intellect can manage. How could you miss so much? First, Brad’s group and the Federation will stay at large plenty long enough to find a way to out you. And when our world learns that you were responsible for the massacres, and pinned them on an innocent Federation, watch out. Hell hath no fury like what you’ll be dealing with.
“Second, even if you’re never outed, your plan will only work if we and the Federation are evenly matched, so we annihilate each other before your arrival. Which won’t be the case. You’ll accelerate our tech development. You’ve already put extraordinary capabilities and weaponry in our hands.
“So our war with the Federation will be more of a rout than an even match. You’ll have simply provided us with a practice round. A war we’ll win handily while honing our strategies and skills. This plan of yours will only turn humanity into a far more formidable opponent. And we’ll eventually see through your Benefactor deception. Instead of eliminating humanity as a threat, you’ll have made us infinitely stronger.”
“What you say is possible,” replied the Swarm. “Which is why we’ve prepared for it. We’ve provided Kussmann and his organization with plans for the AI systems that are integral to the operation of their zip-craft and all of their facilities. But unlike the AIs in Sentinel facilities, the AI systems installed in their zip-craft are indispensable. If they are removed, the ships can’t operate.
“So we’ve embedded a backdoor entrance within these systems, one that responds only to a certain sequence of our thoughts, which are of a different order than yours entirely. Thoughts that no human is capable of deciphering or reproducing. Once we’ve opened a backdoor entrance inside a single zip-craft, we can order the AIs in every zip-craft, and every facility, to do anything we want. Your species will ultimately produce millions of these craft, each with the same vulnerability.