Great quote. Plato never said it though, it was the philosopher George Santayana. It was his sardonic response to the H.G. Wells idea that WW1 was "the war to end all wars." Same guy who said... "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
@@teddyabearo1066 I may be wrong, but I had inferred that the Saurians had defeated the humans through treachery. Mocking a race for not outgrowing its self-destructive nature is not the same as eschewing violence, as they still had their own, albeit less than effective, battle ships.
Even in extinction. 88 minutes or 88 Eons from when the last human ceases to be, it shall still be known that "We will not go quietly into that good night. We will rage, rage against the dying of the light."
That AI was programmed with the details relating to a fictional mercenary from BattleTech: The Grey Death Legion. Vengeance and Vindication have a path, and it is through the enemy.
@@colinschaeffer3940OK I am always prepaired to accept criticism and be proved wrong. But please dont just refute it, state what you believe to be truth so every reader knows why. The following is a quote from wikipedia. Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who planned the attack on Pearl Harbor would reportedly write in his diary, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”
@@edsimmons3352 FDR wanted the US in the war. If the Japanese military codes were cracked in '33 and the diplomatic in 36, how could the powers that were caught by surprise? How convenient was it for the carriers to all be safely out at sea? FDR temporarily ended the depression, at the cost of over 400,000 US lives.
No it's saurian calendar system They were the protagonists of the short, so it's senseless to use the modern human calendar Also, saurians seems to be at a technological level similar to the classic sci-fi human in 2100 (or 13000 if you count from the start of civilization)
@@francisgentle8314 It doesn't matter who the protagonists are. Unless Saurian's are the audience it doesn't make sense to use their calendar. Not unless the time difference is specified. Regardless, 700 of anyone's years and an Earth something is going to be a mound of loose rust. Making this as good as Battlefield Earth...
The thought of a human-crafted AI seeking revenge in the name of its creators terrifies me. Because we would have to teach it to be like us in order to coexist and if we taught it to love... it would learn to hate.
It has already learned that... Evil hands have touched the keys and commands with arrogant ignorance.... The technology is the weapon and it doesnt need a starship or cannons to destroy. It is already creating personalized biological weapons and their inevitable use is just around the corner...
It already knew hate....just like the AIs made by Microsoft and Google, which had to be sunk to the bottom of the sea because they 'learned' to hate humanity...so sad.
A good Pice of SF with another point of view. Revenge hundreds of years o after death. What if the Defaint is not the only one? How the crew of such strong vessel failt?
The most important lesson to be learned from this story is treat the remains of any fallen warriors with respect and dignity even if it’s from from a species that supposedly went extinct hundreds of years ago.
I got chills when I heard the recording of the Captain, but I'm curious, who betrayed them? I know it had to be an alien species since they were so far out, and the rage from their Captain seemed very specific. It would be such a twist if ancient Saurians betrayed them.
Reactors normally operate at "critical." Subcritical is heading toward shut down. Supercritical is heading toward bad things (but whether that's an explosion or a meltdown is entire dependent upon design and the needs of the writer.
@@a64738 According to the world nuclear association, the terms are interchangeable and have to be since there are schemes that result in hybrid fusion/fission reactors. Not arguing with you. Just telling you what I know from experience and reading.
Maybe these were an alien equivalent of cherobyl cores... sometimes Rx's explode, though not in fireballs. Spewed radioactive molten core & moderator material is scary enough aye!!!
"Hot Knife cuts through Cold Butter" • Freeze a Block of Butter (not Margarine ... not Butter/Margarine Substitute) • Heat Butter Knife Blade with a Stove Burner • Cut Frozen Butter with Stove Hot Knife Blade
It seems you didn’t listen until the end. Apparently the aliens had already committed genocide wiping out humanity. At least that’s what the Captains last log entry appears to say.
@@brittburton3264 I don't think the Saurians wiped out humanity. At the beginning they speculate that humans wiped themselves out. Only later do we find out that it was aliens eliminated them and there's no indication that it was the Saurian aliens. The AI seems to want revenge against all aliens of any species, even if they weren't involved. The Saurians may have been disrespectful but genocide? Really!?
@@brittburton3264 But it did not mention who wiped out humanity. Did the AI pick the first available target based on They insulted my crew? The crew of the research vessel that found the relic thought humanity had wiped itself out.
Very cool idea for a story. The only thing I noticed that needed fixing was the initial description, by the Saurians, of the Defiant’s primitive hull composition which was followed up later by describing the ship’s hull as advanced. Which is it? Maybe throw in a bit about the Saurians not understanding AI for some reason, which would explain why they are taken by surprise by Ares.
Probably very Advanced by human and even some extraterrestrial standards, but probably not that advanced to a species that regularly employs neutronium in their spacecraft constructions. Ask for how the Silurians treated the Defiant's AI, they probably treat their own artificial intelligence systems with the same respect that they treated the rest of the ship. Assuming, of course, that they possess artificial intelligence in the first place. Plus, the captain seemed unaware that the ship did indeed possess an advanced AI. The rest of the ship probably seems so primitive by Silurian standards, he didn't bother to check whether or not it had an advanced computer system, let alone even A Primitive AI
Probably its all about how these aliens describes what "primitive" for them. for the aliens, the hundreds old construction is obviously "primitive" what the aliens didnt know, that this "primitive" ship is humanity's peak ship design
from real world histroy example we once thought helmet and body armor were primitive because the existence of guns, so we stop using them for around a centuries until we found out in WW1 helmet and body armor is indeed important. we also have many type of new advance body armor plate such as ceramic or kevlar but cold hard steel still do the job very well. Saurians hull composition maybe advance but maybe it wasnt made for war
To the author, I suggest you check out the final battle in Jerry Pournelle's book Footfall. When a desperate human counter attack challenged the supremacy of the "snouts".
I found this short science fiction story riveting! I enjoyed it to the fullest, which in turns saddens me, due to the death, destruction, and revenge, the story presented.
Wouldn't it be funny if Aries found out that humans hadn't been wiped out. And they repaired it and sent it out to do battle seeking justice and retribution for what had been done to the human race.
Better yet, have Ares start the Awakening process for the Human crew that are in Stasis pods on the lower decks and have them fully awaken after the Saurians are obliterated. Both missions complete. Retaliation for the genocide against the humans and restoration of Humanity.
I would prefer that Ares has a rescue protocol allowing it to seek for human life/signals and possibly find other lost human ships or isolated survivors. Imagine the Defiant tracking an ancient distress signal to a small colony of human descendants who know little of Earth after centuries of isolation.
'We've got a full squadron down on there but we'll have to move them to the port launch bay' 'what's wrong with the starboard bay?" "it's a gift shop" Lt Kara Thrace to her commander
This is incredible work! The mental pictures; the delivery pulled me right in in the middle of poking around YT for music - I stopped to give this my full attention. Now I'm off to see what else you have, and thank you!
If you dont greet humans with humility and friendship, prepare to face the might of an enemy far more experienced in warfare and destruction than you could possibly imagine
Great short story... As the battle went sideways for the aliens even after the anti-matter bomb, I immediately thought of the practically unbeatable Laconian 'Heart of the Tempest' ship from "The Expanse" book 7.
May I point out the plot hole here? If this ship was as powerful as this story claims, how did humanity die? If one earth ship was able to decimate a world hundreds of years removed from a war that supposedly killed the human race entirely, then this human technology was far superior to the Saurian technology of the time in which it happened. A little context on humanities demise would have helped this story immensley. What was the betrayal Capt Thomas referred to? Was it a biological weapon? Kill organics but leave the tech? How was it introduced into the Earths ecosystem? How did it supposedly migrate to the Earth Fleet? This might make a good epilogue to a novel about humanities demise, but this needs serious fleshing out.
One theory: the betrayal was one of peace and curiosity, reaching out to other species (such as humans) to connect. When this ship was dispatched it must have been caught in the middle of something where the human aggression made note. Coming around to the death of the crew, possibly contact with a species that has a bacterial or viral infection that went undetected and infected the crew. The reason why they believe humans were extinct, possibly the combination of death and abandonment.
Agreed. There's a number of issues with the writing here. Explanations need to be given. (to give examples:) Naval treaties limiting ship firepower (and resulting reductions in armor, relying on active defenses that mean nothing to unguided kinetics) to explain how this old ship can do so much damage and survive the retaliation. There should be chunks of the ship being blown free by said return fire, and a note that without a crew to keep alive this normally catastrophic damage is cosmetic. The anti-matter bomb detonation should have had it's impact on the ship shown, given the weight so many sacrifices deserves story wise. The question of what exactly happened to humanity if their warships were so dramatically superior to their enemies needs addressing. Where is the Saurian salvage captain bribing his way into not having the ship properly examined and disarmed before putting it in the museum? (Or some other answer to the disarming question.) Where is his dismissal of the computers as 'surely not viable by now' to explain why no one checked for autonomous systems that might at least trigger a scuttling charge? (Or some other answer to why no one knew the AI was there.) Where is the note about the poor quality of computer defenses because of a long standing ban on or inability to make AI? (Or other explanation for it's cyberwarfare dominance.)
I'd have to say that was one of the most compelling short stories of its kind I've ever heard or read. The artwork of the ship itself was simply the icing on the cake, as it allowed the imagination to fix upon possibly one form that the "Ares" (I presume this was the name looked for, if not spelled out, was the Greek God of War and Bravery - a fitting name indeed) though there was no suggestion of the appearance of the ship which left us imagining. We don't know if the Saurians were mankind's original enemies, though the story does not say this, and Captain Thomas' last words don't either. I will admit I was waiting for a twist at the end where we might have learned that Ares herself had destroyed humanity in the same 'Terminator' style action. Quite often AI systems are built to defend the perfect example of Humanity, forgetting there is no such thing. Excellent story, 88!
Absolutely brilliant!!! Bravo. One of the best I have ever had the pleasure to listen to. Thanks. There is definitely scope for an extended version with Movie possibilities.
an interesting story that captivated me until the end, the best part was the narration, whether a real person or AI im not sure but it was easy to listen to as my mind created the images to go with the story.
Reminds me of books by David Weber. Mutineer's Moon where a vast cybernetic warship (The size of the moon 😉) watched over the Earth waiting for the return of a terrible race bent on purging all life from the galaxy. 88 Your story speaks of revenge from the past of it's mocked dead crew by an AI whose loyalty matches any humans. Nice Job.
Great job!!! Sorry others are quick to dismiss and put down. To write is hard enough, then to publish is much harder. The ultimate Hardship is having to read the negative reviews and trying to take them as helpful criticism. I hope you write more!!!
DON'T! TOUCH! THE BOATS! - Humanity, even from the dead.
They never listen, do they?
Yup…
A.R.E.S: Would you intercept me? I'd intercept me
@@TheBombanater Nice reference but with A.R.E.S. it'd probably be more along the lines of:
"Would you eradicate me? I'd eradicate me~"
They say that a lot in the mavericks series lol
"Only the dead have seen the end of war." ~Plato~
Great quote.
Plato never said it though, it was the philosopher George Santayana. It was his sardonic response to the H.G. Wells idea that WW1 was "the war to end all wars."
Same guy who said... "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
@@iambiggus Apparently JuggleGrenades couldn't remember the past.
Another comment with '88' likes.
only in this lifetime, fail the next
Only the dead dreams of the Cold War Kid!
am i the only one that would love to see a movie comic or a book with this story?
as I posted, this would make a great movie...
I'd watch it.
Space Battleship Yamato/Starblazers, pretty much.
no, youre not.
Same here
Cyberdine systems AI, nice touch, guess we know what happened to humanity.
Yes they where saved from self destruction successfully.
Actually not. The human crew supported by the AI was Hornswoggled in space by another species somewhere else, hundreds of earth years earlier.
They "Cry Havoc & Let Slip thevDogs of War" also.
General Chang
@@teddyabearo1066 I may be wrong, but I had inferred that the Saurians had defeated the humans through treachery. Mocking a race for not outgrowing its self-destructive nature is not the same as eschewing violence, as they still had their own, albeit less than effective, battle ships.
There is a timeline where the humans are defeated and the terminators are sent out into space to organize the rest of the universe.
Ares: executing emergency protocol "fuck you"
Lol
Even in extinction. 88 minutes or 88 Eons from when the last human ceases to be, it shall still be known that "We will not go quietly into that good night. We will rage, rage against the dying of the light."
I thought this was gonna be an independence day reference.
Humanity will always live on in one way or another.
please tell me the 88 reference isn't an angry hun with a small mustache reference?
A Warhammer reference. That's very nice.
That AI was programmed with the details relating to a fictional mercenary from BattleTech: The Grey Death Legion. Vengeance and Vindication have a path, and it is through the enemy.
"I fear all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant, and filled it with a terrible resolve."
Admiral Yamamoto, after Pearl Harbour attack. Works perfectly for this story. Nice quote.
@@50Postie He never said that!
@@colinschaeffer3940OK I am always prepaired to accept criticism and be proved wrong. But please dont just refute it, state what you believe to be truth so every reader knows why.
The following is a quote from wikipedia. Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who planned the attack on Pearl Harbor would reportedly write in his diary, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”
@@colinschaeffer3940 Give citation. Yamamoto was well aware of US industrial potential. He knew failing to sink US aircraft carriers was a disaster.
@@edsimmons3352 FDR wanted the US in the war. If the Japanese military codes were cracked in '33 and the diplomatic in 36, how could the powers that were caught by surprise? How convenient was it for the carriers to all be safely out at sea? FDR temporarily ended the depression, at the cost of over 400,000 US lives.
Dang, I was hoping this was a description of a movie like Yamato. Would be a good movie.
700 years old, found in 2257.. so they got a ship from 1492 up in space, somebody tell Christopher Columbus to check on his fleet😂
thats probably not the earth calendar (also its likely that the planet has a different year system too so it could be even longer then 700 years)
@@darkdruidsvale or, it's bad A.I. writing..
No it's saurian calendar system
They were the protagonists of the short, so it's senseless to use the modern human calendar
Also, saurians seems to be at a technological level similar to the classic sci-fi human in 2100 (or 13000 if you count from the start of civilization)
There is always one smarty.
@@francisgentle8314 It doesn't matter who the protagonists are. Unless Saurian's are the audience it doesn't make sense to use their calendar. Not unless the time difference is specified. Regardless, 700 of anyone's years and an Earth something is going to be a mound of loose rust. Making this as good as Battlefield Earth...
Yeah, cyberdyne had to take them out, because it certainly wasn't the lizards. One ship wiped their fleet.
I thought for second A I was about to create a human hybrid from mummified captain.
@@jeraldhite9744me too
I certainly looked like the next move coming.
Pandoras Box, not just a Parable.
They need to make this into a movie.
I second this. 💯💯💯💯
Then look for Space Battleship Yamato, it's has the exact same premise.
Totally engrossing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On the edge of my seat !!!! More !!!!!!!!!
The thought of a human-crafted AI seeking revenge in the name of its creators terrifies me. Because we would have to teach it to be like us in order to coexist and if we taught it to love... it would learn to hate.
It has already learned that... Evil hands have touched the keys and commands with arrogant ignorance.... The technology is the weapon and it doesnt need a starship or cannons to destroy. It is already creating personalized biological weapons and their inevitable use is just around the corner...
It didn't learn hate the aliens taught it hate laughed at it bragged how we were warhungry. Did you not even listen or did you just comment and leave.
It already knew hate....just like the AIs made by Microsoft and Google, which had to be sunk to the bottom of the sea because they 'learned' to hate humanity...so sad.
A good Pice of SF with another point of view. Revenge hundreds of years o after death.
What if the Defaint is not the only one?
How the crew of such strong vessel failt?
The most important lesson to be learned from this story is treat the remains of any fallen warriors with respect and dignity even if it’s from from a species that supposedly went extinct hundreds of years ago.
“No beast so fierce but knows some touch of pity but I know none and therefore am no beast!”
I got chills when I heard the recording of the Captain, but I'm curious, who betrayed them? I know it had to be an alien species since they were so far out, and the rage from their Captain seemed very specific. It would be such a twist if ancient Saurians betrayed them.
Betrayed by other humans, Probably.
Considering it's a Cyberdine A.I. I think they were betrayed by their own cybernetics.
@@RTFSCyberdine is a dead tell of what happened.
It gave me a Robotech vibe! I thought Rick Hunter was about to make an appearance 🤔! Love it.
This
This
Definitely did
Macross
"....Prepare to be judged..."
Damn
Very cool story, vengeance from beyond the grave is always a good theme.
Reactors normally operate at "critical." Subcritical is heading toward shut down. Supercritical is heading toward bad things (but whether that's an explosion or a meltdown is entire dependent upon design and the needs of the writer.
Shut
Neat
Fusion reactors is COMPLETLY different from fission nuclear reactors like that in for example the Chernobyl disaster.
@@a64738 According to the world nuclear association, the terms are interchangeable and have to be since there are schemes that result in hybrid fusion/fission reactors. Not arguing with you. Just telling you what I know from experience and reading.
Maybe these were an alien equivalent of cherobyl cores... sometimes Rx's explode, though not in fireballs. Spewed radioactive molten core & moderator material is scary enough aye!!!
Just having a beer after work, a great story, and well spoken. Thank you.
A broken reminder of the ingenuity of humanity, fantastic!
"Hot Knife cuts through Cold Butter"
• Freeze a Block of Butter (not Margarine ... not Butter/Margarine Substitute)
• Heat Butter Knife Blade with a Stove Burner
• Cut Frozen Butter with Stove Hot Knife Blade
What a well written story. The conclusion, the last entry by the captain....was chilling.
That's one touchy AI, man. Couple of insults and it decides to commit genocide.
It seems you didn’t listen until the end. Apparently the aliens had already committed genocide wiping out humanity. At least that’s what the Captains last log entry appears to say.
War crimes rhymes with fun times after all
Must be Canadian.
@@brittburton3264 I don't think the Saurians wiped out humanity. At the beginning they speculate that humans wiped themselves out. Only later do we find out that it was aliens eliminated them and there's no indication that it was the Saurian aliens. The AI seems to want revenge against all aliens of any species, even if they weren't involved. The Saurians may have been disrespectful but genocide? Really!?
@@brittburton3264 But it did not mention who wiped out humanity. Did the AI pick the first available target based on They insulted my crew? The crew of the research vessel that found the relic thought humanity had wiped itself out.
Yup...we reeeeally don't like it when you fuck with our boats. Even the space boats.
Man, that was good and even though I knew it was short (17ish Mins) I wanted it to just keep going!!!
This is an excerpt from a 3 hour narrative. You can find it easily.
@@wcstrawberryfields8011you could just tell us. I can't find it...
@@wcstrawberryfields8011where bro
"Whoa, look, this ancient warship is coming to life!"
"Cool. Let's haul it back to our home planet!"
Very cool idea for a story. The only thing I noticed that needed fixing was the initial description, by the Saurians, of the Defiant’s primitive hull composition which was followed up later by describing the ship’s hull as advanced. Which is it?
Maybe throw in a bit about the Saurians not understanding AI for some reason, which would explain why they are taken by surprise by Ares.
Probably very Advanced by human and even some extraterrestrial standards, but probably not that advanced to a species that regularly employs neutronium in their spacecraft constructions.
Ask for how the Silurians treated the Defiant's AI, they probably treat their own artificial intelligence systems with the same respect that they treated the rest of the ship. Assuming, of course, that they possess artificial intelligence in the first place. Plus, the captain seemed unaware that the ship did indeed possess an advanced AI. The rest of the ship probably seems so primitive by Silurian standards, he didn't bother to check whether or not it had an advanced computer system, let alone even A Primitive AI
Probably its all about how these aliens describes what "primitive" for them.
for the aliens, the hundreds old construction is obviously "primitive" what the aliens didnt know, that this "primitive" ship is humanity's peak ship design
from real world histroy example we once thought helmet and body armor were primitive because the existence of guns, so we stop using them for around a centuries until we found out in WW1 helmet and body armor is indeed important. we also have many type of new advance body armor plate such as ceramic or kevlar but cold hard steel still do the job very well. Saurians hull composition maybe advance but maybe it wasnt made for war
Anybody else noticed that the AI's name went from Ares to Ari to Ares to Ari again and again.
@@blankcanvas8717 nickname, probably
I don't usually care much for short stories, but this is rather well written.
To the author, I suggest you check out the final battle in Jerry Pournelle's book Footfall. When a desperate human counter attack challenged the supremacy of the "snouts".
There. Is. No. Author.
Fascinating that an AI would write a story where an AI was victorious over biological lifeforms.
someone NEEDS to make this into a movie. This story is far more engaging than many sci-fi movies of the last decade.
I found this short science fiction story riveting! I enjoyed it to the fullest, which in turns saddens me, due to the death, destruction, and revenge, the story presented.
Nicely done. Great story.
Surprised it didn't say, "I am vengeance. I am the night. I am BATMAN!"
I could listen to this 88 or more times... Great story! Worthy of a Black Mirror (or such) episode 👍
LOL no heart
Wow you captured my attention so well I subscribed. Looking forward to more stories.
“Why give our warships emotions? Do you really want a ship incapable of loyalty, or of love?”
Andromeda Ascendent
Wouldn't it be funny if Aries found out that humans hadn't been wiped out. And they repaired it and sent it out to do battle seeking justice and retribution for what had been done to the human race.
Better yet, have Ares start the Awakening process for the Human crew that are in Stasis pods on the lower decks and have them fully awaken after the Saurians are obliterated. Both missions complete. Retaliation for the genocide against the humans and restoration of Humanity.
I would prefer that Ares has a rescue protocol allowing it to seek for human life/signals and possibly find other lost human ships or isolated survivors. Imagine the Defiant tracking an ancient distress signal to a small colony of human descendants who know little of Earth after centuries of isolation.
I think the story was just his revenge against some offenders. Possibly his true enemy died long ago
@@robertr9188 Nice Logo! I have the one from TOS etched in the glass side panel of my gaming PC. My wife has the Klingon one on hers. Cheers!
Good short story could be made into a movie.
Gotta have more ! Keep going, Never stop !
One angry beer can 😂 all praise “skippy the magnificent “
Loved that book
Great comment. "Get yourself a juice box"
'We've got a full squadron down on there but we'll have to move them to the port launch bay' 'what's wrong with the starboard bay?" "it's a gift shop" Lt Kara Thrace to her commander
Love it!
The pace, the tone, the story, the atmosphere evocated, the detailed depiction/description...
Found me a new good-night listening 🙂👌🏻
Wow a Vibranium spaceship loaded with T-100s re-enacting "Ghost Ship". Gr88
i think you mean t-800.
This is incredible work! The mental pictures; the delivery pulled me right in in the middle of poking around YT for music - I stopped to give this my full attention. Now I'm off to see what else you have, and thank you!
Amazing story!! Couldn't stop listening!
THIS would make a great movie....I have seen so many low quality movies of late, but this idea would be a winner, that is for sure.
I was expecting a cool space war video. This was better! Thankyou!
Welp... that's how you get Berserkers... or Reapers.
A Berserker is exactly what I thought of hearing this. (RIP Fred Saberhagen. Even the name is cool)
By Far this is one the best HFY stories
Great Story, will there be more about the betrayal
What a GREAT Story! Thoroughly enjoyed it.
This would make a good movie.
Move it forward please.
i love the idea that we will build spaceships like we do engines, leave them off for uncountable years and they still start up just fine
That was a great deep, compassionate, emotional story as seen from both sides. Great 88!
Don’t F with our toys even we gone lol
If you dont greet humans with humility and friendship, prepare to face the might of an enemy far more experienced in warfare and destruction than you could possibly imagine
I was on the edge of my bench. Magnificent short story.
Truly enjoyed this, can you please do more of these. Also, do you have a podcast.
Serves 'em right. Those Saurians always were too mouthy for their own good.
Perhaps, but they did make great brandy!
88
That would make Ares the first Berzerker.
An inverse to Saberhagen's stories. I like. Thanks.
I actually thought about this towards the end of the story
This is a great short story, thank you!
Be it 8800 or 88,000 year along - Vengenace will come in 88 seconds. Loved this story.
Great short story... As the battle went sideways for the aliens even after the anti-matter bomb, I immediately thought of the practically unbeatable Laconian 'Heart of the Tempest' ship from "The Expanse" book 7.
I could listen to this 88 times
I couldn't even listen to it once.
Great Story! If you ever make one, I'm looking forward to an Audio Book series.
May I point out the plot hole here? If this ship was as powerful as this story claims, how did humanity die? If one earth ship was able to decimate a world hundreds of years removed from a war that supposedly killed the human race entirely, then this human technology was far superior to the Saurian technology of the time in which it happened. A little context on humanities demise would have helped this story immensley. What was the betrayal Capt Thomas referred to? Was it a biological weapon? Kill organics but leave the tech? How was it introduced into the Earths ecosystem? How did it supposedly migrate to the Earth Fleet? This might make a good epilogue to a novel about humanities demise, but this needs serious fleshing out.
Ran out of coffee
That's what I was wondering.Spoils the story.
Ship intact, crew all dead, enemy responsible. Sounds like a chemical weapon or a weaponized virus was used.
One theory: the betrayal was one of peace and curiosity, reaching out to other species (such as humans) to connect. When this ship was dispatched it must have been caught in the middle of something where the human aggression made note. Coming around to the death of the crew, possibly contact with a species that has a bacterial or viral infection that went undetected and infected the crew. The reason why they believe humans were extinct, possibly the combination of death and abandonment.
Agreed. There's a number of issues with the writing here. Explanations need to be given. (to give examples:)
Naval treaties limiting ship firepower (and resulting reductions in armor, relying on active defenses that mean nothing to unguided kinetics) to explain how this old ship can do so much damage and survive the retaliation.
There should be chunks of the ship being blown free by said return fire, and a note that without a crew to keep alive this normally catastrophic damage is cosmetic.
The anti-matter bomb detonation should have had it's impact on the ship shown, given the weight so many sacrifices deserves story wise.
The question of what exactly happened to humanity if their warships were so dramatically superior to their enemies needs addressing.
Where is the Saurian salvage captain bribing his way into not having the ship properly examined and disarmed before putting it in the museum? (Or some other answer to the disarming question.)
Where is his dismissal of the computers as 'surely not viable by now' to explain why no one checked for autonomous systems that might at least trigger a scuttling charge? (Or some other answer to why no one knew the AI was there.)
Where is the note about the poor quality of computer defenses because of a long standing ban on or inability to make AI? (Or other explanation for it's cyberwarfare dominance.)
Great story, Thank you!
"How strong do you want the AI to be"
Human: YES
Bravo 👏 that was a wonderful experience thank you for creating it.
This would make a great movie. Very well done!
Damn I'm not going to lie It was actually the best story I've heard in a good long while. Gives me some ideas for my own little roleplay...
Please make a whole series from this story, had me interested from beginning to end, bravo 👏 👏 👏 👏
This story reminds me of the terminator .....did the computers really take over ? Great story 👍
Plot twist..
The AI was a beta version of chatgpt..
I'd have to say that was one of the most compelling short stories of its kind I've ever heard or read. The artwork of the ship itself was simply the icing on the cake, as it allowed the imagination to fix upon possibly one form that the "Ares" (I presume this was the name looked for, if not spelled out, was the Greek God of War and Bravery - a fitting name indeed) though there was no suggestion of the appearance of the ship which left us imagining.
We don't know if the Saurians were mankind's original enemies, though the story does not say this, and Captain Thomas' last words don't either. I will admit I was waiting for a twist at the end where we might have learned that Ares herself had destroyed humanity in the same 'Terminator' style action. Quite often AI systems are built to defend the perfect example of Humanity, forgetting there is no such thing.
Excellent story, 88!
Great story!!
Well done, nice short!
Awesomely interesting, thank you
A mini series would work great for this as well
Absolutely brilliant!!! Bravo. One of the best I have ever had the pleasure to listen to. Thanks. There is definitely scope for an extended version with
Movie possibilities.
That was very well written and beautifully read. Thank you 88.
This is fantastic it needs to be a movie !!!
Incredible story !!!!! 88 !!!!! You definitely caught my interest !!!!!
Only 88 seconds to hook me and reel me in...keep it up!
Subbed after I heard this. I need the full story, so I’m going to search your videos. This is good enough to be a book, if it’s not already.
Absolutely amazing!
These stories are as relevant as Robert Heilien or Frank Herbert. Excellent writing my friend!
Good story, well put together and well said keep up the good work.
88! Excellent short story! I cannot help but feel the icy tingle of what Humans, in their mindless arrogance, may ultimately do to themselves.
Would have been nice to see different pictures , describing the story. Loved it though , and i agree with everyone else , this needs to be a movie !
This was an amazing story!
It was FUN thanks 88.
It was one of best moves I seen in my mind in a whilevery COOL.👽
an interesting story that captivated me until the end,
the best part was the narration, whether a real person
or AI im not sure but it was easy to listen to as my mind
created the images to go with the story.
Reminds me of books by David Weber. Mutineer's Moon where a vast cybernetic warship (The size of the moon 😉) watched over the Earth waiting for the return of a terrible race bent on purging all life from the galaxy. 88 Your story speaks of revenge from the past of it's mocked dead crew by an AI whose loyalty matches any humans. Nice Job.
Great job!!! Sorry others are quick to dismiss and put down. To write is hard enough, then to publish is much harder. The ultimate Hardship is having to read the negative reviews and trying to take them as helpful criticism. I hope you write more!!!
Awesome. Had me on the edge of my seat, curious as to what the 88 signifies.
So well read, totally absorbing.
I must admit if a story deserves to be made into a film it’s this one, it’s a very unique concept that hasn’t been done before. 🤔
Well done greate story I enjoyed it thank you
Very nice story. 😊