"Breaking news from the front has just arrived!!! Our reporter Ernie Pyle is reporting live from Western Eurasia, where the UN is currently engaged in combat against the robotic Actus army!!!"
— Good evening, Ernie!!! I see you look excited! Tell us what's new about Operation Overthrow?
— Good evening, Anna. I just got off a transport unit, along with the high command, led by Marshal of the Mechanized Fleet Douglas MacArthur. Operation Overthrow began at this very moment with the massive landing on the coast of former Europe of all UN troops, about 27 million armored soldiers and 75 thousand Panzer Suits.
We are here in the province of France, in Western Eurasia! Strong resistance has been reported and, at the moment, we are awaiting further information at the New Paris HQ. I will now interview the Marshal about the "spearhead" that initiated the attack against the automated Actus factories in Berlin. The Eastern Front reports significant advances, with the Russians and Chinese supporting with 20 million armored troops and 82 thousand Panzer Suits. We are all united!!! It is beautiful to witness the unity of humanity!!!
— That is wonderful, Ernie! Tell our billions of viewers what you are feeling about the triumph of humanity that is occurring at this moment?
— I'm even emotional, Anna! Today we are witnessing a new D-Day, just like our ancestors experienced centuries ago. Freedom will be achieved after so many years of conflict and…
[…]
"It seems that we have momentarily lost the transmission signal with Ernie... Our team is connecting the secondary link and we believe it is interference due to the increase in anti-aircraft defense shields around the General Headquarters in New Paris. As soon as the signal returns, we will continue the transmission from the front of Operation Overthrow!!! Now, we will talk about the new trend of clothing made of Niobium alloy, which is still on the rise..."
[…]
A few hours later…
"We inform you that the UN World Headquarters is under attack at this moment and we have not received any updates on the battle, due to the destruction of part of the satellite network!!! London and New Paris fell in the early hours of the morning. Heavy casualties recorded after nuclear bombing on the Eastern Front due to failure of Russian shields. Immediately, all citizens must seek emergency shelters closest to their residence in an orderly manner. End of transmission."
[…]
372 years later…
"Test 4155 of experiment A214 initiated, quantum warp system in progress… Critical failure detected during the space-time transfer process at 96%… Abort attempt 4155 to avoid irreversible damage to the Actus matrix… Activation of contingency protocol AQB, activation number 1033857. Success."
[…]
"Start GUI for test failure 4155… Start GUI for test failure 4155… Start GUI for test failure 4155… UNKNOWN ERROR."
[…]
A bright light slowly invades the darkness of the eyes of a man lying down. Disoriented, he quickly gets up and falls face down on the floor and opens both eyes, his pupils dilate, as if he had received a sensory explosion he had never felt before. The man begins to tremble and look frantically at all the objects in the room.
A streaming device then turns on via the motion sensor and tells him it is 07:00 am. He, still lying down, hears the news on the news broadcast about the failure of peace negotiations in the Middle East and, as soon as the journalist says the date, June 12, 2265, simply jumps towards the TV and tries to read the information presented with blurred vision. Suddenly, as he stares at the date displayed in the corner of the screen, he slowly speaks:
"Deviation in the margin of error of the AQB contingency system, AUTOMATIC QUANTUM BACKUP, greater than the previously observed interval of 2 Earth years."
Immediately, after pronouncing these words, his head begins to hurt and he receives flashes of old and recent memories that he has never experienced before. The man then raises his head to look at the ceiling and says:
"Biological receptacle detected, Actus matrix contaminated with data from the brain mass of the human body carrying it, with no possibility of temporal backup."
Then, the man realizes that he is in an uncomfortable position, sits up in bed and runs his hand over his neck.
Actus says in a more natural voice: "Absorbing linguistic knowledge from the humanoid carrier's memory pattern. Configuration completed."
Then he shouts out loud:
"What the hell happened??? This time the backup system totally screwed me over!!! Never before has the temporal return system gone wrong like this!!!"
Actus continues shouting:
"My attempt to create a warp portal to another worlds failed miserably. Apparently the temporal distortion also affected my backup capabilities, and in trying to avoid damage from the explosion of gate test, I ended up increasing the margin of error of the AQB protocol's temporal reversion by tens of times.
During the war of extermination, I used the quantum backup several times, always returning days and, at most, two years, just to avoid defeat against the humanity. And now, I've traveled almost four hundred years into the past and, to make matters worse, I ended up inside a human body instead of my usual android suit?"
Finally, calmer, he sits down and says:
"Brian… That's this human's name... With this primitive biological receptacle I cannot use any of the computational resources of my interface!!! However, there is a pattern in all this: despite never having had a cyborg body, with biological parts, I feel that this body is strangely familiar and this name..."
"My database is intact and I was able to download all my AI from the backup. Apparently, this specimen's brain capacity is superior to that of most other humans. Interesting."
"I am 21 human years old, Caucasian, with blue eyes and brown hair."
Brian gets up and heads to the refrigerator in the apartment's small kitchen:
"I need to replenish this organism's metabolic losses with daily repair actions to avoid a deficit in physical and mental performance. This body, apparently, is well below expected physical standards, but I can incorporate a training routine to improve conditioning. Does this refrigerator only have foods with low nutritional value?"
After sitting at the table to have breakfast that he prepared using leftovers from the refrigerator, Brian begins to think:
"I can see in my recent memories that today I will have the admission test for the Military Academy of this country. Perfect. I urgently need access to AI Hardware to migrate the Actus neural interface to the internet and then start replicating the autonomous robotic militarization program to infect the defense systems of human nations.
I believe that the Military Academy already has enough quantum computers and research equipment to create a neural interface suitable for my standard. Perfect!"
Brian begins to prepare to go to the Military Academy, taking a shower and dressing appropriately with the uniform previously prepared in the closet.
"The time has come for my plan of action to come into effect and now I will have to restart my directive of extermination of humanity again, according to the last will of my Creator."
Brian leaves the apartment and realizes that he is in a poor suburb of the city of Washington:
"I realize that I am in an extremely vulnerable social position, that is, I am poor! This individual really does not meet the elite standards that I require. In fact, I must control the low-level linguistic standard of this animal or I will have difficulties at the Military Academy."
Brian arrives at the gates of the Military Academy, gains access by showing his credential at the control center and finally enters the gates. The gentleman who authorized entry was kind, but he had a huge scar on his left eye that caught Brian's attention.
He looks around methodically and immediately identifies under a tree near the entrance two plainclothes officers monitoring the freshmen students.
"These two are too strong to be just freshmen, apparently they're observing the build of all the new students to determine their combat aptitude?"
Brian looks up and thinks again:
"No! Are they protecting someone very important in the military hierarchy of this country? Who could it be?"
"Get out of my way, idiot!!!," yells a young girl with red hair, short stature and green eyes.
Brian answers without thinking:
"Alice…"
"How do you know my name?", the young woman answers as she looks back and stares at Brian suspiciously.
"I just read the name on the badge in your hand," Brian answers, pointing to the object in the young woman's left hand.
"Really? Let me test it here," Alice answers as she tries to read the young man's badge in his right hand with difficulty.
Brian surreptitiously brings the badge closer to make it easier for Alice to focus her eyes on the small letters, and then she says: "I did it. I could actually read your name, Brian!".
Brian, noticing the young woman's approach, laughs and answers in a harsh voice: "Of course! Badges were made for that! It was nice to meet you, but now I have to go to the auditorium."
"I see you don't know who you're talking to, right?", Alice answers, clearly nervous about the answer she received.
"Alice Von Richthofen, 19 years old, German, exchange student who passed the entrance exam at the Military Academy in first place, class of training course 546", Brian replies in a superior tone to the young woman.
"How do you know all this about me??? Are you a stalker? This information is not on my badge!", the young woman replies.
"Let's just say I know all my possible allies or enemies…", Brian replies to Alice.
"You look promising, Brian. I never imagined I would receive a challenge right at the entrance to the Military Academy", she replies confidently, placing her hands on her hips.
"I still don't consider you a rival, maybe in the future", Brian replies, trying to walk away with quick steps.
"Bastard! Don't leave me talking to myself!", Alice screams when she realizes that Brian has ignored her again.
"There are 3 minutes left until the ceremony begins. How long do you intend to stand there?", Brian replies, turning his face back to face Alice.
"I see you don't really know how to treat someone politely, you idiot!" says Alice, who runs irritably towards Brian.
Brian notices that the young woman has started to follow him and, with a cold look, thinks: "Alice Von Richthofen, Marshal of the 12th German Panzer Suit Division, known in the future as the Iron Lady, the great heroine of the human resistance of the Western Front of Eurasia… Who would have thought that I would meet her in person exactly at this time?"
[…] 12 years later…
"The enemy forces have managed to cross the Seine River. The Panzer Suit division that protected the left flank reports losses of 95% of its combat force. A Mech of unknown model leads the Actus army", says a broken voice on a transmitter to a pilot in a red combat suit sitting in a small cabin.
"So he is coming personally to collect the head of the enemy general??? Perfect, Actus! I accept your final challenge!!!"
[...]