Warden 1

by Isaac Hooke

  “Something tells me we should probably move away from the entrance,” Will said. “As in, far away. And now.”

  19

  Rhea switched to LIDAR, and the tunnel walls, floor and ceiling filled in on her HUD. The surfaces were depicted as white wireframes made up of several smaller polygons. Her companions remained silhouetted in blue, but the rest of their bodies were also composed of polygons now as well, like the cave.

  “Do you have LIDAR?” Rhea asked the cyborg.

  “Obviously,” Sebastian replied.

  Gizmo, also highlighted in blue, darted deeper into the cave.

  Another thud filled the air, and the collapse shook beside them.

  “Go,” Will said.

  Sebastian led the way. Rhea followed, walking abreast with Horatio and Will. They stayed well beyond the range of that deadly tail. All of them, including Sebastian, kept their weapons out and at the ready.

  “Oxygen levels are stable so far,” Horatio said. “A good sign that this cave is larger than hoped or connects to the surface again somewhere.”

  “I’m banking on the latter,” Will said. “Our luck hasn’t run out yet.”

  Rhea continued to hear that persistent thudding as the party advanced; it soon became distant and muted, until it faded entirely.

  “You think they’re going to give up at some point?” Rhea asked.

  Will shook his polygonal head. “I don’t know. Maybe. Depends on their progress. If they’re halfway through already, then probably not.”

  “But they have no way to know that,” Horatio said.

  “True,” Will said.

  Rhea kept an eye on the overhead representation of the tunnel on her HUD, and watched it fill out as Gizmo mapped the area ahead. But then Gizmo’s dot froze, and the mapping ceased.

  “Did we just lose our drone?” she asked. “Or did Gizmo spot something?”

  Will didn’t answer.

  A moment later the indicator drifted slightly closer to them.

  “We still got her,” Will said. “Keep in mind, I have the drone flying at the broadcast limit. So it’s only natural that Giz will flit into and out of range.”

  Rhea considered that. “I’m just wondering, but isn’t it better to let the drone fly well within broadcast limits, so that if we do lose the signal, we’ll know right away it’s not because of the range? As in, it’s been shot down, or eaten? And also, so we don’t miss anything that might happen while it’s beyond its range?”

  “We don’t have to worry about missing anything,” Will said. “Giz will update the map and report noteworthy findings when it returns to signal range. But if it makes you feel better…”

  On the map, Gizmo’s dot flew nearer by five meters, so as to ensure a more stable connection. It maintained that range as the party advanced.

  “Thank you,” Rhea said.

  They soon came upon a branch. Will had Gizmo take the detour, while the others waited.

  “All right, listen up,” Will said. “Giz just reached the range limit. I’m going to have her continue onward for another ten minutes, with instructions to explore any side passages, and if the tunnel doesn’t end, I’ll have her return. At that point, I’ll send her to map the forward direction the same way. Then we’ll decide which route we want to take.”

  Gizmo’s dot froze on the overhead map as the drone passed out of range.

  “Making you antsy?” Will asked.

  Rhea glanced at him. “What? The frozen drone indicator?”

  Will nodded that polygonal head.

  “A little,” she said. “But I suppose if Gizmo doesn’t come back, we know we’re not alone. I just wish the news could reach us faster.”

  The party didn’t have long to wait however: Gizmo returned to signal range after only three minutes.

  “Well, looks like that way is a dead end,” Will said. “We proceed forward after all.”

  The drone arrived and vanished down the main tunnel. Sebastian took the lead once more.

  They spent the rest of that day exploring. The tunnel seemed to wind on forever. It branched off occasionally, and at times Gizmo returned after ten minutes in either direction. They followed the rule of labyrinths, and picked the rightmost route every time, but more often than not, usually after twenty to thirty minutes, the path ended in a dead end, and they had to backtrack.

  Finally, when it was late evening—at least according to their internal clocks—the party reached a wide cavern that was filled with stalagmites.

  “All right, this is as good a spot as any to rest for a few hours,” Will said.

  “You actually want to rest while those creatures are out there?” Rhea asked incredulously. “We should press on.”

  “Hey, I’m human,” he said. “I need at least a couple of hours of sleep.”

  “Even humans can forgo sleep during times of need…” Horatio said.

  “Maybe so, but I don’t see the point at the moment, as this doesn’t really qualify as a time of need,” Will told him. “If those creatures were right behind us, as in we could see their ugly reptilian heads bearing down on us, then I’d agree with you. But they’re not. And let’s say they’ve actually drilled their way through the collapse and are inside the tunnel, which is likely by now. It’ll still take them a lot longer to reach this cavern than we did, given how cramped the route is for them. Assuming they’re not discouraged by the tight confines in the first place. No, we can sleep for a few hours, I think.”

  “How do you know they don’t have baby Hydras they can send inside to hunt us?” Rhea pressed. “You know, smaller versions of themselves that can better fit?”

  “Then I guess we’ll be shooting down babies tonight,” Will said, sitting down.

  As usual, Sebastian sat apart from the others. Rhea appreciated that. After the look she had seen in his eyes earlier, she doubted she was going to get much rest. Even with Horatio and Gizmo standing guard.

  No, there will be no rest for me. I’ll be watching him the whole time.

  Gizmo flitted away into the darkness, and Rhea glanced at Will questioningly.

  “Sending her ahead to do some preliminary mapping for the usual ten minutes.” Will smiled on the LIDAR. “If the drone doesn’t return, we know we’re not alone.”

  “Since when did you start referring to the drone as a ‘she’ anyway?” Rhea asked.

  Will shrugged, then lay down. “Wake me if there’s trouble.” In only a few moments, he was fast asleep.

  Ten minutes passed. Rhea was relieved when the drone returned to comm range and appeared on the overhead map once more. Her data updated, revealing several new caverns adjoining this one.

  Well, looks like we gots ourselves an extensive system of chambers ahead, Horatio transmitted over a private line to Rhea alone. Guess we’ll find out where they lead in a few hours.

  The reassuring susurrations of Gizmo’s motors came from overhead as the drone assumed a holding pattern almost directly above. While the cramped confines of the chamber intensified the sound, it was still barely audible—though if she really wanted to, she could activate her enhanced hearing to make it even louder.

  Out of curiosity, she did just that, and she listened very carefully for any strange noises that might signify the approach of bioweapons. She heard nothing about the gentle humming of the rotors.

  Sighing, she reverted her hearing, and glanced at Horatio. How did we end up here, trapped beneath thousands of tons of solid rock, running from creatures designed to kill us? We’re supposed to be salvagers. Purveyor of spare parts and all things metal. She shook her head. What if we don’t make it out? What if we run out of oxygen? So many what ifs, all of them negative.

  Focus on the positive, Horatio said. That’s what I always do. I don’t have to worry about oxygen and food. That’s a positive for me. And for you, well, you still have oxygen, and a good supply of rations. We’re all still alive and fighting.

  She smiled. Never thought I’d be schooled in positiv
ity by a robot.

  Just because I’m a robot, doesn’t mean I’m unfeeling, Horatio sent. We’ll make it out, somehow. You’ll see. He paused. I have to believe that.

  I hope you’re right. Rhea sat back, lying down. She turned on one side so that she was facing Sebastian, and then pretended to close her eyes. She kept them open a crack so she could watch the cyborg.

  Sebastian remained sitting there, cross-legged with his head bowed and his hood raised. She wondered what was going through his mind in that moment, and whether he would sleep. Maybe he was slumbering already. He was a cyborg, after all, very likely with a complete robotic body. If the latter was true, he could freeze his servos to assume any posture he liked, and meanwhile allow his brain to enter the sleep state.

  She watched his blue-outlined, wireframe form for maybe fifteen minutes. And then the cyborg suddenly stood.

  Rhea resisted the urge to shoot her eyes open and sit up as well. She stayed motionless, though she was ready to roll aside and unholster her weapon should Sebastian draw his rifle.

  But the cyborg did no such thing. Instead, he walked toward the far side of the cavern, heading deeper into the tunnel system.

  What do you think he’s doing? Rhea sent Horatio.

  If I had to guess, I’d say he was sick of waiting, Horatio replied. He has chosen to abandon us. Let him go, I say. It’ll be a relief to have him gone from our presence.

  Yeah, but what if he’s just looking for a spot to ambush us? Rhea transmitted.

  Always the negative, Horatio said. Why would he bother? He’d have a better chance of attacking now, while you and Will were asleep.

  Except I’m not asleep, Rhea sent.

  But Sebastian doesn’t know that, Horatio told her.

  Rhea remained silent, and when Sebastian’s wireframe form vanished round a bend of the cavern, she sat up. His indicator froze on the overhead map a moment later: he had passed out of range.

  I’m going to follow him, she sent.

  I’ll wake Will, Horatio told her.

  No, she said. Let him rest. I just want to confirm whether Sebastian is leaving or setting an elaborate trap for us.

  Gizmo can do that, Horatio said.

  With Sebastian’s hearing, he’ll know the drone is following, Rhea told him. I can place my feet far more softly than those rotors, at least in this environment.

  I doubt that, Horatio said.

  Besides, I have a question to ask him. She started off.

  I’m having Gizmo shadow you, Horatio told her. She was going to say no, but then the robot added: At maximum range. That way, as long as you stay well away from Sebastian, he won’t know the drone is present. And if anything goes wrong, I can have the drone return to fetch Will and myself.

  Rhea sighed. Okay.

  She set down her feet carefully, padding softly across the hard surface.

  As she walked into the cavern, she switched to directional transmission mode, pointing it directly behind her. This way, location sharing wouldn’t announce her presence to Sebastian, while Gizmo would still receive her position. If the cyborg kept location sharing active, she’d be aware of his position well before he knew she was present. Then again, if the robot was planning an ambush, he would have probably disabled location sharing entirely by now.

  The cavern narrowed as she reached the far side, but then it expanded once more as she advanced into a new chamber. This one had a lower roof than the previous, and stalactites hung from the ceiling, with no stalagmites on the floor.

  She eyed those crystalline structures carefully. Worried that Sebastian was planning an ambush, she switched to LIDAR burst mode, which meant she was sending out scanning photons every five seconds, rather than one hundred pulses a second. It would still give away her position, but as long as she kept moving, Sebastian would have a hard time targeting her.

  In this LIDAR mode, the room maintained its wireframe structure on her HUD thanks to data recorded in the last burst. Overhead, dark sections appeared as she passed underneath, areas located behind stalactites that had occluded them when her last burst transmitted, and they filled out only after the five seconds had passed. One might think that Gizmo’s mapping information would include such topographical data, but apparently the drone hadn’t recorded its surroundings to such precision.

  Speaking of Gizmo… she glanced at her overhead map. The drone pursued at the very limits of comm range, around forty-five meters behind her, according to the HUD. Meanwhile, the dots representing Horatio and Will remained motionless, and not just because they were resting: their indicators had become a darker blue, which meant they had passed beyond comm range. This although Gizmo acted as a repeater behind her to boost the range.

  It’s just you and me, now, she sent the drone.

  She knew Gizmo could understand rudimentary English, thanks to the commands Will often gave the drone, but the machine could not itself speak or generate spoken words. It could transmit prerecorded messages and mapping data, and that was about all. She wasn’t sure why she was talking to it… mostly to reassure herself that she wasn’t alone, she supposed.

  She crossed that eerie cavern, but no attacks came. As she neared the far side, Rhea noticed light coming from around a bend ahead, adding color to the wireframes generated by her LIDAR.

  Warily, she approached. The light seemed to be sourced from yet another cavern adjoining this one. She disabled LIDAR entirely as she entered the new chamber, and instead relied upon the background illumination to light the way.

  Overhead, the vaulted ceiling formed a dome that rose well above her. There was a pool of water near the center, several meters in diameter. Sebastian knelt at its edge, gazing at his reflection. He had lit a flare of some kind, which burned on the rock floor next to him. The source of the illumination. She couldn’t tell if the rifle was holstered on his back or not, because the positioning of his long, curving tail blocked it from her view. She slid her fingers toward her pistol and touched the stock but did not draw it.

  She noticed that he had appeared on her overhead map only when she had spotted him, and that the dot was orange, indicating it was unknown whether the target was friendly. He had turned off location sharing.

  Rhea decided it was time to forgo stealth. She casually walked in, letting her boots thud upon the floor and echo across the walls. She kept her hand on her pistol.

  Sebastian tilted his head to glance askance at her. His hooded features were hidden in the dim light.

  “You know something about those new creatures, don’t you?” she said, wondering why she hadn’t asked earlier. And then she recalled the look he had given her, before Horatio had arrived carrying Will. The look that had promised death and frightened her into silence all this time.

  Bad time to be remembering that.

  Sebastian still hadn’t answered.

  She was glad she couldn’t see his face right now in the murk—she didn’t need fear to drain her resolve.

  She folded her arms. “When you saw them, you spoke the words: ‘They’re early.’ What do you know?”

  He looked back toward the pool of liquid. Finally: “Does it matter?”

  “Tell me,” she said.

  Sebastian shrugged. “Suppose I might as well, since you won’t be leaving this tunnel.”

  Rhea frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  “They’ve been sent to wipe Rust Town off the map,” Sebastian said, still keeping his back to her.

  “What, by who?” she said. “That’s a war crime.”

  “Doesn’t matter who,” Sebastian said. “All that matters is less than a week from now, Rust Town will be no more. Aradne will no longer have to share water with the slums. It’s actually kind of an easy death, versus the alternative. The city is running out of water, you see.”

  “But the ocean feeds the city,” Rhea said. “There’s more than enough to—”

  “Have you seen the ocean levels lately?” Sebastian asked. “Of course you haven’t. News
about the falling ocean level is routinely shadow-banned from the streaming sites. The populace has been kept in the dark. Ignorance is bliss, as they say.”

  “There has to be another way to conserve water,” Rhea said. “Rather than killing all those innocents.”

  “Other than converting all the inhabitants of Rust Town to cyborgs?” Sebastian said. “The city won’t do that. Far too expensive. No, the bioweapons will destroy them. It’s already been decided. Just as your own fate has been predetermined.” He turned his torso toward her, and lowered his hood, so that at last she could see his features in the dim light.

  “What are you talking about?” She retreated a pace, because she already knew. Looking into his eyes, which gleamed with both malevolence and eagerness beneath the light of that flare, how could she not?

  “I was sent to kill you,” Sebastian said, standing. His rifle hung from one hand, pointing downward.

  20

  Giz, get the others! Rhea sent.

  She didn’t take her eyes off the rifle Sebastian held. Her fingers yet touched the pistol in its holster. She wanted to draw it, but she knew the movement would only force a showdown. Then again, did she really want to let Sebastian strike first?

  And then Sebastian’s arm shot up.

  Time seemed to slow to a crawl around her. Rhea drew her pistol and squeezed the trigger, unleashing a shot. It passed undiminished through the energy bolt Sebastian had launched in return, which also continued at full intensity toward her. She was parsing time at a far higher rate than ordinary humans could in that moment, thanks to the enhancements of her mind-machine interface, but that wouldn’t help her: her body, despite its enhanced speed and strength, couldn’t match the pace of her mind. She instinctively tried to twist out of the way, but there was too much distance for her robotic body to cover before the bolt arrived. She had nothing to defend herself with except for the pistol she held, and that was no defense at all.

  Or was it?