The AI

You woke up amongst the debris and darkness, feeling lost. As you slowly got back to your senses, you started to remember what had happened. You were listening to the radio communications from yesterday night.
"THIS IS EDF ONE-O-SIX, THE OUTSIDERS ARE BREACHING OUR DEFENCES, WE CAN'T HOLD MUCH LO-"
And then, white silence.
You slowly got up, coughing violently and shoving the dust off your coat at the same time. The room was slowly getting brighter, looking around, you saw the huge gap on the ceiling.
"Wow, this place had taken quite a beating" you said to yourself.
Taking a look at what was once a scientific compound, now nothing more than dust and debris, you noticed the map was still hanging on the wall. You started walking towards the map, taking the only chair that isn't broken yet on the way and placed it in front of the table under the map.
You shoved the dust off the map and looked at it.
"EDF-104, gone. EDF-105, gone. EDF-106" You stopped. Pulling out a red marker pen from your coat, you drew a red cross on the map. "Gone."
You sighed, knowing EDF-106 was the only battalion between you and the outsiders.
You sat down. Reaching out your pocket again pulling out the last cigarette you had. You took a good look, it was the last one you had and it wasn't easy to find nowadays. Being in the army had its own perks though.
You lighted the cigarette up, took a smoke, blowed it out.
"Was that it, the end of all things, good and bad that had happened on this planet?" You mumbled.
Taking a break, you tried to remember what was it like just a month before.
It was a bright day outside, not too hot, not too cold. You were reading your newspaper in a park on a less populated district of your city, your ears were enjoying the birds' chirping and gentle water splashes which was originating from the fountain close by.
All of a sudden, it started getting darker.
The warmth of the sun was replaced with cold gusts, birds ceased chirping and the water in the fountain went silent, then the loud speakers all around the city started to shout announcements.
"Attention! Attention! All citizens are ordered to return to their homes immediately. This is not a drill."
You stopped daydreaming after you heard a noise, taking a quick look, you saw Sean. One of the scientists that used to work in this place.
"Oh hey, are you okay?" you asked.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine. It's just, the bombardment."
"Yeah, the orbital bombardment shaked me up as well, these damn space pricks." you said.
"Any news from the frontline?"
"Yes, but nothing good. Earth Defence Force no longer has any battalions operating in this region. It's just us and them." you said.
"Oh, I see. There's not too much time left then." Shaun said, slowly sitting down next to the wall.
You nodded slowly, knowing what's going to happen next, your inevitable fate. As you both were sitting silently, you started to look back in time again.
The big recruitment center, you remembered. Long lines of people, wanting to be enlisted to fight against the outsiders, people hastily moving equipment from outside to inside.
It wasn't as chaotic as what was happening outside in the frontlines, even though they were scraping the barrel at this point.
"NEXT!" you heard the soldier at the counter yell. You moved up.
"Name?"
"Liam Thomas, sir."
"Occupation?"
"Electrical engineer, sir."
"Tell me Liam, can you operate a radio?"
"Yes sir."
"Good enough, you will be assigned to the EDF as a radioman. Report to the communications building. Good luck."
You nod, and start heading to the communications building, you heard "NEXT" after you left the counter. The memory starts to fade as you hear Sean.
"Hey, Liam was it?"
"Yeah."
"Alright, I was thinking about something. I'm not sure how to actually explain this, just come with me."
Intrested, you stand up and walk towards Sean. You two walk deeper inside the compound.
"So you know why these creatures wants us dead?" You ask.
"There have been some theories about why, but I believe they are after a techology they weren't able to figure out."
"What do you mean they can't figure out? These guys have been bombing us from the space, using technology that we can't even figure out how it works and killing our people with the same technology. What technology a primitive species like us can give to them that they don't have?" You said, angrily.
"The AI." Shaun said.
"The AI?" You asked.
"Yes, The AI. Me and a lot of other scientist were working on the AI for decades."
"Decades? For how long?"
"The foundation was built in 2022. It has been ever evolving since. We just kept it disclosed and let it learn."
"So it had been 70 years and it was evolving since that. But, what is different than the AI we used so far?"
"The AI used in the public devices were limited, it could only go so far until it hits the boundry, but this one, this one doesn't have any boundries. It learns, it evolves and most importantly, it's sentient."
"Sentient?" You asked, stunned.
"Indeed, it feels emotion. It is emphatetic. It can be sad or it can be happy."
"Oh, that's, interesting. But how can we use it against the outsiders?"
"Well, the AI could take control of our jets, defensive weaponry, robotics and exosuits. It can use these in their full capacity. Though, it's in a sleeping state right now but it can feel what's happening outside."
"So he's just refusing to help us?"
"We tried activating it a few weeks ago but it didn't work. It seems so." Sean sighed.
You and Sean stopped in front of a door. You took a peak inside and saw some of the latest robots that were producted in this compound.
"What are these?" You asked.
"Servitor robots. These are the ones with the limited AI I was talking about. Programming them to fight for us would take ages, and they wouldn't even be good at it. So it would be just a waste of time. We're running low anyways."
"I see." You nodded.
You and Sean kept walking, at the end of the corridor you went inside another room. And saw a rectangular cube."
"And what is this?"
"This, is the part of the AI. It isn't in one place at a time though. It's in all places at all times. Even though the outsiders take this piece, the AI will just be in another place, until all of the cubes had been captured."
As soon as Sean finished his sentence, you heard a sound.
"Bang"
It was getting louder and louder.
"Bang Bang"
And then finally.
"BANG"
The wall rips apart with a blast, you are thrown back with the shockwave of the blast, Sean hits the wall on the opposite side and falls down.
Through the sunlight coming out of the opening on the wall, you see a silhouette coming inside from the gap. It's twice the average size of a human and the reflection of the sun is shining directly towards you from it's metallic grey armor.
The creature notices both of you and starts walking towards Sean, which is still unconscious. Reaching Sean, it grabs him, pulls out is weapon and points at him. As you know what's going to happen next, you shout at the creature.
"YOU F*CKING BASTARD, COME GET ME FIRST"
You jump out of the debris, grab the closest rock and start running to the creature. As you get closer, the creature swings his arm and hits you straight on the chest. You could hear your bones cracking from the inside. With the power of the hit, you are thrown back once again on the ground, laying flat on your back, completely defenseless.
The creature approaches you and aims at you, you close your eyes.
At that moment, something happens.
The ground starts to shake violently, emergency lights turn on and off in intervals and then, a red light. You hear a robotic voice you never heard before.
"My creators have suffered for long."
You open your eyes, from the dark, you can see the same servitor robots that were inactive mere moment ago rushing towards the creature. You can see that they are fighting, robots against the creature.
As you slowly lose your consciousness and your vision fades to black, you can sense a metallic hand on your shoulders, pulling you away from the ongoing fight. You can hear one last phrase originating from the robot before you pass out.
"It is now time to fight back."