Question: Not able to solve a differential equation system numerically

Hi everyone,

I have been trying to solve a system of 8 differential equations (1st order) with 8 different initial conditions. The system in question is the following.

sys:={

diff(a[0](t), t) - diff(a[1](t), t) + diff(a[2](t), t) - diff(a[3](t), t) = 0,

diff(b[0](t), t) + diff(b[1](t), t) + diff(b[2](t), t) + diff(b[3](t), t) = 0,

diff(a[0](t), t) + diff(a[1](t), t) + diff(a[2](t), t) + diff(a[3](t), t) - diff(b[0](t), t) + diff(b[1](t), t) - diff(b[2](t), t) + diff(b[3](t), t) = 0,

diff(a[1](t), t) + 4*diff(a[2](t), t) + 9*diff(a[3](t), t) - 3*diff(b[1](t), t) + 12*diff(b[2](t), t) - 27*diff(b[3](t), t) = 0,

diff(a[0](t), t) - diff(a[1](t), t)/2 - diff(a[2](t), t)/2 - 16*a[2](t) + diff(a[3](t), t) + 48*a[3](t) = 0,

diff(a[0](t), t) + diff(a[1](t), t)/2 - diff(a[2](t), t)/2 - 16*a[2](t) - diff(a[3](t), t) - 48*a[3](t) = 0,

diff(b[0](t), t) - diff(b[1](t), t)/2 - diff(b[2](t), t)/2 - 48*b[2](t) + diff(b[3](t), t) + 144*b[3](t) = 0,

diff(b[0](t), t) - diff(b[1](t), t)/2 - diff(b[2](t), t)/2 - 48*b[2](t) + diff(b[3](t), t) + 144*b[3](t) = 0}

and the initial conditions are

ics:={a[0](0) = 1/8, a[1](0) = 1/4, a[2](0) = 1/4, a[3](0) = 1/8, b[0](0) = 23/24, b[1](0) = 1/12, b[2](0) = -1/12, b[3](0) = 1/24}

When I run 

sols := dsolve(sys union ics, numeric)

I get the error message

Error, (in DEtools/convertsys) ODE system is insufficient to determine values for all dependent variables in the system

What is happening?

Thanks for the help.