Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 139: John’s Impossible Dream!

"It’s all set! This plasma cannon is now linked with an energy cell group!"

Cissel wiped a streak of sweat from her cheek as she stepped back from the massive weapon. She had handed over the responsibility of refining and finalising the base layout to Elena, choosing instead to stay by John’s side as he had requested her technical expertise.

Elena had immediately taken charge. Under her direction, the Bulltors had begun the back-breaking labour of digging the lake and the primary canal.

Laying down the massive perimeter walls and the defensive towers would eventually fall solely to John. Even with the strength of the giants on their side, Lanmar had quickly demonstrated the physical impossibility of the task for anyone else. He had shown them that even ten Bulltors working in perfect unison couldn’t lift a single modular wall segment.

Each wall was a monolithic slab of reinforced alloy, standing twenty meters high, thirty meters in breadth, and twenty meters thick.

To the humans, each segment looked like a small fortress in its own right, a sight that provided a much-needed sense of security against the hivemind and any other enemy out there.

Because of their sheer number, the huge area they’d line using these walls, only John—with his unique ability to simply activate and deactivate these walls—could actually place them.

While the Bulltors carved into the earth under the watchful eyes of Elena and Luke, Ricky decided to take a scouting stroll along the projected borders of the new base.

He followed Cissel’s blueprints closely, wanting to ensure there weren’t any geographical hiccups—like hidden trenches or high hills—that might require a last-minute adjustment to the fortifications plans.

John had already scanned the entire area the previous night using his System’s map, but he didn’t stop Ricky. He knew the value of boots on the ground confirmation. Instead, he remained focused on the immediate problem: how to transform a mountain of salvaged cannons and big guns into a functioning, automated battery of heavy artillery.

"You do realise that just by powering them up, we haven’t actually solved anything, right?" Cissel stood by John’s side, her arms crossed. She desperately wanted to make him see the technical wall they were hitting.

"The problem isn’t just about giving these weapons a spark. The real issue lies in locating targets, adjusting their muzzles, locking onto them, and executing the firing sequence without anyone controlling them."

"Don’t they have those systems embedded in their bodies?" John asked. He hadn’t even started the process yet, and Cissel was already dropping a list of requirements that seemed a mile long.

He had assumed the primary hurdle was the operating system—something he planned to bypass by hacking, checking the code lines, and embedding his own desired actions into their code to run the weapons in an automated sentry mode.

However, as Cissel pointed out, target locking and motor control were two entirely different dilemmas.

"No," Cissel sighed, shaking her head. "These weapons are massive. They have significant recoil and weight, meaning they can’t be aimed with simple, low-torque targeting methods.

They were designed to be part of a larger, integrated network, which we don’t have. So the other option is to use a large number of people to operate these, which we also don’t have."

"Hmm." John looked out at the grand loot—thousands of cannons and heavy guns of various types—and narrowed his eyes. "Tell me, how did the D-1000 units target the monsters in the fight before? How could they lock on me and you when we moved to save Luke and Ricky?"

"They have motion sensors embedded within their bodies," she paused, reading the gears turning in John’s head.

"But first off, those sensors aren’t naturally aligned with these big cannons. The cannons don’t have the onboard operating systems to support the data feed from those sensors, analyse and implement them.

And even if, by some miracle, we managed to link the two together, these cannons need heavy-duty steering motors to actually move the barrels in different directions to track a fast-moving target."

"Motors like the ones inside the D-1000 bodies," John interrupted, his voice gaining a spark of excitement. "The cannons are heavy, sure, but they aren’t significantly heavier than a full D-1000 combat unit, right?"

Standing in front of a plan that was clearly filled with holes, Cissel couldn’t help but let out another weary sigh. "That’s technically true, I suppose. Still, the integration alone is a nightmare, and we don’t know if the cannons’ standard operating systems support such motors or not, even the sensor..."

"Then we’re going back for a second round of scavenging," John said, interrupting her, while ignoring the scepticism in her voice. He began walking toward the other riverbank.

"You know exactly what a working motor looks like, right? And you can locate where these sensors are inside any D-1000 unit, right? And you can tell if the sensors and motors are working?"

"Well..." Startled by his sudden burst of energy and questions, she found herself hurrying to keep up with his long strides.

"I know all that, yes. But John, this won’t solve the most important software problem! Those motors need specific drivers and programs to run, just like the sensors.

In case they weren’t embedded in the cannon’s software, which is most likely the case, then we’ll hit a dead end! You can’t just wire them together and expect them to run."

"Let’s just pray we find enough intact sensors and motors to arm the lots of cannons we have first," John replied, voicing the only immediate worry on his mind. "We can worry about the brain once we have the limbs."

As they had scavenged the battleground previously, John had seen the extent of the carnage. The machines had been torn apart with the brutality of the monster and his bombs.

Many of the components were scorched beyond recognition or crushed under the weight of the fallen cliff rocks. Yet, he held onto a sliver of hope that within the vast field of wreckage, enough salvageable parts remained to fulfil his vision.