Official Transcript: Raw Video: Calamity Gun Camera: 08/30/2175

[Several figures flee a small shack in the northwest of Congo. Camera follows them as they run towards nearby tree cover. A second tank waits in the area behind them. A third tank transmits a warning]

CALAMITY: You have been deemed hazardous. Surrender now and turn yourselves in to Hegemony authorities or we will consider you hostile targets.

[One of the figures turns around and holds a loudspeaker to his mouth]

TROY: I don't answer to robots or the Hegemony that they run.

[Troy throws a middle finger back at the approaching tanks]

CALAMITY: Authorization received. Eliminate targets.

[All three tanks fire. The area where the fugitives was is obliterated in a cloud of smoke. All three tanks close in and scan the area. The scans reveal no human organic matter in the crater]

[End Transcript]

The Thoughts of Yong An-Hong: Translated by Alexandra Yuan: Copyright 2205, Centauri University Press: Hanson Harbor, Nova: 08/31/2175

I have been informed that the Ambience host has entered Congolese borders. It...he...is being escorted by Congolese intelligence agents. However, according to reports, Terran armies have followed them across the border. A corresponding push has been coming in from the air since yesterday evening. They seem determined to flatten the entire area in order to capture or kill this one host. I suppose I should not be surprised. Ambience has always been jealous of its technological secrets; this man represents one of the greatest in their history, and he surely contains some that they have not shared even with the Hegemony.

I spoke with Mrs. Mwangi on the matter. She is, as she tells me, "prayerful" about the matter. Of course, the Congolese military has responded to the attack, and is coordinating with forces throughout the African Union and the resistance to repel the attack, but it is very concentrated along multiple fronts. I do not anticipate the defense to hold for long, and neither does Mrs. Mwangi. The final question will be whether the host can be relayed to the relative safety of Kinshasa and held there until his technology may be reverse engineered. If we can achieve this, then it is possible that we will be able to gain access to the Hegemony controlled communication networks. I, of course, do not understand fully the technical details of such a feat; however, many engineers native to this land have a better understanding, and they are hopeful that this may be achieved. I only hope that it will be accomplished quickly; I have spoken to Congolese generals, and they believe that it may be only a few days until the Hegemony's robotic armies break the defense.

Truthfully, the Hegemony armies have not performed as well as was expected by my government. I have seen analysis, completed by the Mainframe and experts in the field, and they all estimated that a war against the Central African states would have been over within a few days of declaration of war. The African armies have actually performed much better than was estimated; I have seen casualty estimates that show a much stronger showing, in fact, from the African forces, than the advanced Hegemony drones. The Hegemony's tanks have been stymied by Congolese armor, and their equipment has proven less than adequate against more advanced Grushan weaponry.

However, we still face the imminent possibility of defeat. I hope only that we will be able to retrieve the host and access the networks; there can be no true defeat as long as the ideas that we have stood up for remain.

Congolese Intelligence Dispatch: 09/01/2175

Congolese 4th Armored Division-Congo Intelligence Agency: We have successfully recovered WORM. Troy says hello. Good luck.

Letter: From Chinwe Opeyemi, 440 E Ormarith Rd, Jimeso, Ghana: To Eglantine Kayode, 1001 Sherman St, Imladris, Nova: Translated by Ibrahim Wassume

My Dearest Eglantine,

Today is a most blessed day, for I have at last been delivered from the hands of the Hegemony. Two days ago, we crossed the border into Congo, and were rescued by the Congolese armed forces. They picked us up in the middle of a battle. They tell me that an entire division was sent to retrieve us. Think of that! An entire division of the best soldiers in the world. We had to hurry, though, for the Hegemony was close on our tails; they tell me that the whole of their force has focused on the border with Ghana. Soon, they may come across the border and invade Congo. Perhaps they will even reach Kinshasa itself.

Our passenger, the Asian man who followed us from Jimeso, has become a great fixture here. I have finally been told who he is; he was a host, a human mind emptied and connected to the Interlink. I had heard of such things before, and they appalled me even in concept. But to see him there, in the lab, where they were hooking my people up to those things too...When do you think it will be that all of us become like that? Hooked permanently into a processing matrix and utilized for cranial power? Our individualism sapped away, our existence reduced to meaningless fantasy while our bodies are turned to whatever purpose the machine deems fit? Is this where our technology has brought us, to the place where humans can be docile, farmed and exploited so long as they can entertain their minds? It is a troubling thought.

I begin to miss the man though. His innocence was refreshing in an odd way. He was a man with know knowledge of who he was or will be. So much like a child in so many ways. He had learned enough Swahili to ask for food and water when he wanted it, and was learning more. It was remarkable. I hope that this war does not leave people like him slain on the field of battle or lost to history. It would be a tragedy beyond the death of the last few months.

Love,

Chinwe

[Letter not sent, dated 09/02/2175]

09/05/2175 0431 Rizheran Standard Time: Transmission Sent Disguised Sender: O Unknown: 09/05/2175 0431 RST: Transmission Received NSN Enterprise AH01-001

Begin Transmission

RED OCTOBER cleared for Norfolk. Prepare to receive further information.

End Transmission

Personal Journal: William Aucaman

09/06/2175

Drone armies poured over the borders yesterday. I'm told that they are only a few hours away from Kinshasa itself, and several of the other neighboring countries have been occupied. Not fully occupied, I expect; the Hegemony has been a little slow getting actual humans on the ground to get industry running again or run things, and they're not paying much attention to the population at all. Some of the people who've come from those areas, mostly back east around Uganda and Rwanda, have been saying that all the Hegemony is doing is constructing fortifications in strategic locations closing in on the border. I suspect more armies will come in soon, and Ambience personnel with them to install Interlinks in the handful of people who decided to stay in occupied territory. It turns out there really aren't that many people in this part of the world who have them, even now after the Hegemony did so much to force it on them.

Olivia has been slowly getting better. It's difficult to say really, because when she's awake she's always angry. Once I was there and she looked me right in the eye and told me that I would have a turn in the black ship. It made my skin crawl. Every time the doctor comes in she hurls every sort of abuse at him and tells him to "fuck off" and to "die with your fat wife," who comes in periodically to help out with patients. I think it's been hardest on Cynthia, because Olivia still abuses her too, even though they're sisters. With Cynthia, though, it's different; Olivia is arrogant and distasteful with everyone these days, to be sure, but she's patronizing to Cynthia and has her constantly running errands and acting as a slave. Cynthia fights back verbally, but she's still very worried, and she still obeys most of the time. I tell her that she might have to step away and let the doctors help her sister, but she's still not comfortable doing it. She loves her sister, and she wants to help her recover. I'm worried that the Zaha-Katchem did something to her that will be difficult to reverse.

I have to stop writing now, I'm afraid. It took me two years, but I've finally reached the end of this journal. If anybody finds it in the future, I wish it had ended on a more hopeful note. I've found a new one at one of the materials exchanges and if I can get enough food tokens on top of the ones for myself and Cynthia, I'll trade for it. For now, though, I'll just have to go without the writing. It'll be strange. I haven't not written in over a year. I don't know what I'll do with my time now.

[Journal Ends]

Cynthia Mattingly: A City Girl in the Boondocks Vlog: Kinshasa, Congo: 09/08/2175

"Hey, everyone. I know it's been a little while since I've posted. Some of you have probably been wondering what on earth is wrong. Some of you might have heard something; I heard that I made it onto one of Michael DeVoris's headlines one weekend. But there are some things I need to say, and I'm not sure if I'm ever going to have the chance to say it. So, here it goes, I guess.

"Some of you might be noticing I'm not in my usual vlog room. This is a bomb shelter in Kinshasa, Congo. I've been here since the war in Africa started and I don't think I can even remember what the sky looks like by now. We can't leave because Hegemony bombs have been falling since Gennady Semyonov died. I haven't seen much of the damage except on television; it's all civilian casualties, women, children, old men and women. The soldiers were all on the borders. I'm staying in a room that's about three meters by three meters with two cots; one for me and one for my sister who's been...really sick. It's not this room; this is my friend Billy Aucaman's room. He let me film in here while he's finding rations for the week. There are food shortages. Some people are saying that we can only hold out for about a week if the Hegemony destroys our supply routes.

"The Hegemony has robots invading the city. I've heard of fighting on the outskirts of town for a couple of days, but earlier, the robots blew up a couple of big buildings downtown. They got into the city earlier today. I've heard that they're only about a mile away from this shelter; once they get here there'll be no getting out. I don't know if the robots will even think to let us out of here or if we'll just starve of suffocate while they hunt down the last soldiers. [tears begin to flow] I'm sorry, guys, I thought I could do this. I'm going to die down here in a bunker in Africa. I'm going to die here and my only friend in the world is going to die with me. [sobs]

"I'm a teenage girl for heaven's sake. I'm sixteen years old. And I had to run to Africa because the government says I'm a terrorist. A terrorist, for fuck's sake? I don't even have a fucking driver's license and they thought I was going to try to start a revolution against the Hegemony! I never hurt anyone. I didn't ask for this. All I wanted was to graduate high school and go to Sun Yat-Sen, maybe go on some vacations to the Chinese Philippines with my boyfriend. But now Brent is dead, and I'm going to starve to death in a fucking bunker in Africa. Even if I don't starve, the robots will come and kill us all. I've been rejected by my family, my friends, my government, and everybody else. And why? Because of the Zaha-Katchem, that's why! They took my sister, they burned my home, they killed the President, and they killed an entire Grushan planet filled with people, and some of them were human! Some were... some... I knew some of them. Billy's brother was on that planet. Everything that's happened is because of the Zaha-Katchem, the war, the Interlinks, all of it is because of the black ship. And they took my sister and did experiments on her for days. And now she's acting like one of them, like she hates everything and everyone even, me. And now I'm going to die and everyone in here will die with me. There are beautiful people here. Njeri and her two sons are my neighbors. [chokes on a sob] One of them's only three. He doesn't understand what's going on or why he has to be hungry or where his daddy went. And Ifiok is seven and she came here with her grandparents. She doesn't have a mommy anymore and her daddy's going to war against the people who are supposed to take care of us. And my mom and dad called me a bitch and a whore because the police told them I was a terrorist. My friends are gone, and they don't even remember my name. My only friend in the world is the one I told you was a stalker and a bastard, and he's the only one who cares about me. He's the only person in the world who has ever shown me who he really is instead of this fake, perfect image that I showed everyone for social credits.

"Why do we do this to ourselves? Why the war and death, why the hate and the control? Why is it that children have to grow up without their daddies and hide in bomb shelters till they don't know the sky? Why do we hate the people who show us who they really are?

"The Novans were right all along. They left the Hegemony because they saw that the Interlink was going to make us hate each other even more than we did before. We have to, because the Interlink just makes us care about ourselves and our social scores. We don't need anybody, we don't want anybody. It shows us exactly what we want to see and what the government wants us to see. I'll bet that the Zaha-Katchem did that same thing when they came here. Did you know that they blew up seven Terran ships when they came here? That they killed the President? That the Vice President had to run away to Yveran and now he's dead? That the robots poisoned Lake Victoria so that we couldn't do it first? Of course you didn't, they didn't tell you. They'll never tell you. And now they're going to kill me and everyone else in this bunker just because we didn't want to have them. Oh...[sobs] I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I don't want to die... [sobs].

[End Vlog]

09/10/2175 1904 EST: Transmission Sent Undisclosed Location: O Nova: 09/10/2475 1905 EST: Transmission Received Ambience Tactical Mainframe

Begin Transmission

Activation code 381849OSTEWQ10. Begin protocol.

End Transmission

Official Transcript: Phone Call: From General Shang Xiang-Xin: To President Yan An-Sing: 09/10/2175, 2108 Local Time: Translated by Zhou Hanshen-Yao

SHANG: Mr. President, the invasion force in Africa has deactivated!

SING: What do you mean deactivated?

SHANG: I mean every single robot on the ground stopped. We have technicians looking into the problem now, but they're coming under fire. We can't withdraw them or repair them safely.

SING: How is that possible? Those drones are being operated by the Ambience Tactical Mainframe. Is something interfering with its signal?

SHANG: Nothing. Signal integrity is unchanged. The Grushan must have hacked into the mainframe somehow.

SING: That's impossible. The Mainframe is unhackable. It uses human neural processing. Something must be wrong with the drones.

SHANG: Nothing is wrong with the drones. Every one my technicians have tested has had no technical issues. It's been ordered to halt and deactivate by the Mainframe and it obeyed its orders. Every robot on the African front is doing this; I've spoken to General Yao and General Ashiko in the south and they say the same thing. The Africans are counter-attacking; we're going to lose our entire army here.

SING: Well, call in naval support and air support.

SHANG: Naval guidance uses Mainframe processing. UAV's are under Mainframe command. We need the Star Fleet if we're going to have a chance.

SING: The Novan jump gate was destroyed by Grushan missiles. The fleet can't leave Nova.

SHANG: Then what about the black ship? Where are they?

SING: The Zaha-Katchem keep their own schedule. Who knows where they are.

SHANG: You made a military alliance with them and you don't even know where they are?

SING: Watch your tone, General. I've already executed an admiral for insubordination.

SHANG: You didn't execute him, you plugged him into the Mainframe...son of a bitch. It's Ito. Somehow he must have planted a virus in the Mainframe.

SING: Shit. We have to unplug him immediately.

SHANG: And contact the Zaha-Katchem. We need orbital support. If we don't get it, the Africans are going to start pushing back. We're going to lose our whole army.

SING: We will come.

SHANG: Sir, can you repeat that?

SING: You have your orders, General.

[End Transcript]

Speech Delivered by Theresa Mwangi: Kinshasa, Congo

09/11/2175

Hello, people of the world. I've never been one for speeches; I don't like public speaking very much. They told me that they would edit out my mistakes if I stood in front of a camera, and so I agreed to do it to tell the world some amazing news. The Hegemony's armies have stopped. All over the world, the robots of the armies have halted, thanks to Nova and the Grushan. It may be days or weeks before they can start moving again. So to you in the bunkers, go out into the streets today and enjoy the sky, for the artillery has stopped for a moment. Don't stay too long, because I am told that the Terrans may take manual control of the guns and fire back in not too long; but the sun is shining and the bombs have stopped! And you soldiers, now is the time to clear the land that has been taken from you. And you people who have not tasted food for weeks, be happy, because the supply trains run once again. This is a day that we will remember, for it was the first day that God gave us hope for our future! And that is all I have to say. May God bless you all.

Grushan Intelligence Dispatch: 09/12/2175 2050 EST

Novan Operational District 12-Grushan Coordination Unit: Black ship detected entering Sol system decloaked and approaching Earth at warp speed. End dispatch.

-----------------------

Hey guys! I'm back. I do apologize for not posting for so long, I've had an insane semester and it's just winding down, and I've been distracted with writing another work. I've written almost 130,000 words in that since January, and it's so good I've been focusing on it exclusively. Also, I've had some severe writer's block with this work; I'm not super fond of it right now, and I think it's become bloated and impossible to work with. But, since I have reached a stopping point in my other work (halfway done!) I thought I might take a minute to finish up this one, so I will try to finish it up here within the next few weeks. Thank you so much to everyone who stuck around to this point in the story, it would be pointless without you! Thanks, the real jonbrain.