by Briana Ervin
It let go!
Aaaa!
“Twist! Twist!” Cyrii pulled back so fiercely I thought the sockets would pop loose! I fell into a mid-air tumble, earth and sky spinning about and turning into a sea of yellow, before I hit the ground.
Miraculous! The resulting thud and the threatening creak from my joints came mostly from my shoulder as I did a saving roll. I earned a few more cracks on my lens and an unpleasant impact on one knee, but the pain signals flitted away as quickly as they came.
Cyrii and I lay there for a moment, gathering our composure. I finally, slowly picked myself up, wavering on my feet.
We... we did it, I said.
“We did?” she whimpered.
We're... not dead!
I could hear her heavy breathing, disintegrating into chuckles. “We're not dead!”
We're alive!
“Alive!!”
We both laughed giddily. We were okay! Saved by lasers I didn't even know I had!
We did it! I cheered, doing a little jump. We made it out of that-!
“We're getting attacked!!”
What?!
I suddenly felt something slam into me! I flew high into the air as the thing bucked!
“AAAH!” Cyrii and I both screamed. She tried to pull me up to land, but I ended up ungracefully falling on my face. Major lens fracture number two had just arrived.
I picked myself up more quickly now, eying the offender. It was some kind of gigantic metal beast! Ragged metal edges decorated the underside of its neck and belly, opening up like a mouth lined with hundreds of teeth. Its head was a sharpened pyramid adorned by spikes and its feet were layered over by thick metal plates. A heavy club-tipped tail pounded the earth threateningly behind it.
“Are those...?” Cyrii faltered.
I was speechless. Yes. Those were bits of mech stuck to some of its teeth. One plate even still sported a streak of our Empire's insignia on it.
This thing EATS mechs!
I felt both terror and the urge to charge into it and rip it to pieces! Cyrii was smarter though, pulling me into a retreat and pushing down my comm button.
“WE NEED REINFORCEMENTS!” she cried into the mic. The beast roared at us with its own engine, overpowering her call for help. She was too slow to react to its pounce, but I had the reflexes; I strafed out of the way immediately, kicking up a cloud of dust insignificant to the debris it created upon landing. I skidded to a halt to face it. It glowered at me, the heavy plating on its neck making it look even bigger than it was, and massive spines stretched between its legs. It almost looked like a copper animal with a cage for legs. I backed up nervously as it leveled all five eyes at me.
We need to kill it.
“Are you mad?!” Cyrii cried, “That thing is three times our size! And we're the big mech here!”
We can't just ask it to leave us alone! I pointed out angrily, before shouting in louder trinary, “Backup requested!”
The beast ran and swiped at us, and I dodged under its belly.
“767 no!!” Cyrii tried to pull me out. I obeyed willingly, but was too slow; the beast fell on top of me with a boom, forcing me up into its jaws!
AA! Distress signal! Distress signal!! I panicked as my vision was filled up by nothing but teeth! I tried to move but I was pinned between their points!
“We can't! The other drones will hear us!” she argued, equally as panicked. I felt hundreds of sharp pains all along my body as the jaws began to crush! I cried out in pain.
“Melt it, melt it!” Cyrii shouted, swiping my interface wildly. I squirmed, firing up my lasers and shooting them in every which direction, but the machine barely seemed to care! I was still getting crushed!
“No no no no no-!”
I suddenly heard a foreign voice in my head: Signal received. Ravager Type 2 spotted. Party of three incoming. Before I could respond, Cyrii was already screaming into the microphone:
“GET HERE FASTER!!”
We're getting there! the prompt snapped back. My lens finally succumbed to the pressure, the glass shattering into hundreds of pieces. I couldn't move with the many teeth impaling me, keeping me trapped!
“Hold on 767!” Cyrii assured, “They're coming!”
I can't stop it! I shouted at her.
“I can't either! Just hold on!” She was moving around anxiously in my head; she must be seeing the walls closing in. I felt utterly pathetic at my inability to save her. Unless... could I even keep her safe that way, though?
I'm over-pressurizing the hull! I warned her.
“Wha – are you mad?!”
I didn't answer, sucking in all of the available air I had to increase the pressure. It was the least I could do to try and keep from getting crushed. Unfortunately I didn't have much air to take in, and I was getting distracted by all of the pain signals flooding my mind.
Cyrii...
She gasped. “I see light!”
What?!
“Past the teeth! Light!”
I was unable to look where she was, so I simply took her word for it, filling up with hope. I wasn't sure what was happening, but what I could feel of my right arm told me it was becoming warmer. It was kind of soothing, actually...
BOOM! I was unable to recoil from the sudden heat! The sound of metal being crushed was replaced by the cacophony of the battle outside, and I felt myself be released. I fell out of the jaws of the machine onto the ground.
“We're out! We're out!” Cyrri cheered.
Oww....
Something about having the metal teeth away from my wires made the pain worse, so Cyrii picked me up and forced me to move. Every step was painful, and I felt like screaming the whole way. Luckily, I only had to take two steps before a blue mech came to help. I didn't recognize him, but as beat-up – yet still alive – as he was, he must have been a veteran. There was the thunder of battle and metal around us, but he was focused on taking me to what looked like a corpse. Cyrii was already showering thanks on him through the com, while I stared numbly at the torn-up remains of... something.
No no don't lay me!.... On it... My mental protest was cut off as he dropped me.
“Stay here. We called for a Support model,” he said, running back to the battle, cutting off Cyrii's objection just as readily. She huffed, but I couldn't tell if it was relieved or not. I took the opportunity to clean up my pain signals, laying immobile so we blended in with the remains. Listening to the battle, but not being in it... this wasn't right.
“Here she comes,” Cyrii announced the arrival of the Support model. I was already eager to get back to fighting, and only became more impatient as the cream mech wordlessly began pulling my hull back out. I didn't know how she was doing it, but it was pretty miraculous. With a few extra bends and some quick globs of solder, I was back to feeling normal again! I had no idea how she managed to do it so fast! She must be a veteran too, with how faded her paint was.
“Go go go!” Cyrii was already pulling me up onto my feet. The Support model ran off before she could be thanked, leaving us to go stumble back to the mech-eating beast known as a Ravager. I already hated that thing for so effortlessly catching me like that. That wasn't even a proper fight!
“Okay,” Cyrii began, pulling me out of my charge before letting go, “so we need to think abo – hold on!!” She wrenched me back when I kept running.
There's no time to think! I argued, already halfway in the arena. The Ravager was currently struggling with a Tank pinning its head down with some sort of electrical field, lashing out at the Fighter and Sniper helping him.
“We can't just run in there!” Cyrii argued. I huffed, and began running again. “Hold up!”
I ignored her pulls on the controls, focusing on the Ravager. Some drones flying by, with bare propellers obviously used as weapons, were coming in to help, preoccupying the Sniper. He had the most unusual thermal cannon that blew them to pieces, and whenever one of them came too close he swiped at it with the axe blades on his arms.
>
“Pusher!” A shout came from the chaotic din around us. I turned and directed my charge to the Fighter model, who was still on the Ravager. The message was obvious: get over there now!
Cyrii growled at my blatant stubbornness, but stopped fighting against my will, letting me jump up onto the Ravager. It thrashed harder at the extra weight, throwing off the Sniper and nearly tossing the rest of us. Its engine was so loud!
“Fire a missile!!” the Fighter shouted over the roar, pointing over to where the Tank was. “She's gonna jump off!”
“WHAT DID HE SAY?!” Cyrii shouted at me. The Ravager bellowed out, drowning out whatever the Fighter was saying next. I just tried to understand his gesturing, stumbling over so I could target the Tank.
Cyrii targeted the spot for me, trying vainly to help. The Tank jumped off.
Fwooosh! The Ravager reared! I lost balance as the ground suddenly dipped away from us, falling down onto the machine. The sky twisted and I felt the momentum turn down.
I didn't know what was happening! I could only float, unable to grab a thing. Cyrii wrest control from me again and forced me to fall first. She was already pushing me to run before I even hit the ground.
Fwo-BOOOOM! The whole world jumped! I went from being on my face, to running, to on my face again! I picked myself up and kept running, still confused, still panicking, and watching as the three mechs bolted away.
Why are we running?!
THWACK! Something hit me on the head hard! My vision flashed with static and I heard Cyrii fall out of her seat with a snap. I hit the ground knees-first.
Cyrii?! I cried in concern, not getting back up right away. My vision returned, and I saw large claws over us. We were under its foot!
I ignored any response from my operator, reacting impulsively by rolling over and stabbing into the Ravager's paw, pulsing my lasers on it. There was a thunderous roar and the machine grabbed me, trying to squeeze me to make me stop. Unlike the tooth situation, I wasn't half as alarmed about this, simply digging into the wounds I was making. I melted and pulled out all manner of wires and plating, searching for a joint to take out. I could feel Cyrii tying herself back in, and just in time too; there was another thud as the beast slammed its paw into the ground to dislodge me, but I clung on! There was no way I was being crushed again!
That's when I realized how far I had burrowed into this thing. The thought took me completely off-guard: it couldn't get me off because I had crammed myself into it!
I did not used to be this flexible! I said in surprise.
“Let's just say I made some mental improvements!” Cyrii said, giddy with adrenaline. I felt something latch onto my legs, pulling me out before I could react. We were both put into shock as I hit the ground with great force, sending a cloud of dust into the air. The vibration was enough to shake the bits of drone off of me!
“Are you okay?!” we both shouted at the same time.
“I'm fine!” Cyrii answered hurriedly. I scrambled to my feet, dodging a swipe from the Ravager, before whipping around to face it. It was strange; I bristled with all of the danger around, and yet I was enjoying myself?
I spotted an open wound in its neck: the spot where the Tank model had been. I locked on a missile and strafed to a better position as the Ravager prepared to lunge. It was almost as if Cyrii could read my mind; as soon as she saw the opportunity, she fired.
Boom! The Ravager's neck lit up so brightly everything else turned black! Molten yellow sparks burst out, blackening the ground beneath it. The machine's head came crashing down, and with it the rest of the body, immediately defeated. So that was its critical weakness!
Cyrii cried victory in my head, even though she was panting so hard she could barely breathe. I did a giddy jump with her; I may have nearly died, but I felt a kind of excitement that I couldn't describe! I wanted to do this forever! Fighting was AWESOME!
In the excitement I didn't notice the blaring alarm of the complex, now changed in pitch and tone, nor the mechs scrambling toward it, practically crawling over it like a teamwork of insects. Nor did I notice the dark cloud descending on us.
“Fighters!” Cyrii shouted. I whipped around, distracted from our small feat. The sky... no wonder everyone was retreating! Spacecraft! We didn't have enough flying mechs to counter that!
Despite the technological advancements I knew we had, we still weren't on the extraterrestrial frontier; instead, the aliens came to us, and most of the time they weren't friendly. The Enemy's ships blanketed the sky, a swarm rivaling our own. I was taken aback with awe.
“767!! HELP THEM!” Cyrii screeched at me, “Come on!!” She jerked out of my daze, and immediately I powered up my pistons to leap into the sky and help our aerial fighters. Her paw touched the button to fire them, but didn't press it yet.
“Wait, hold-!”
I fired them preemptively. The ground fled from us, and I was in the air. “WAIT!!”
Something flew right into me!
I slammed against an armored hull and a cockpit, forcing a surprised beep from me. It didn't take a scan for me to recognize what it was. I pulled myself up onto the nose of the craft, making it dip down further, then rotated and forced a bayonet into the glass, making the blurry figure inside rear back in alarm.
“Fighters all around, watch your back! To the left!” Cyrii relayed information even as I filled the cockpit with bullets. I glanced past my shoulder and dodged a pulse of plasma just in time. The fighter immediately fell out of position, but Cyrii pulled myself up its side as it banked and I jumped off of it. I fell onto another ship, this one much bigger; the shock of landing made both it and Cyrii jerk. I suddenly took damage from the left, just as she predicted, and I whipped around and shredded something with my turrets; I didn't see what it was, I just knew that it attacked me! Something wailing blew by the ship as it picked up speed, and the craft I was on banked. I fell down and immediately dug my bayonets in to hold position. Everything was moving so fast!
Cyrii's warned me with a gasp and pulled me upright as a piece of metal struck the hull of the ship, so close it could have sliced me. It was as if it signaled the rise of the ship's weapons: a panel pulled open and pushed out a large, two-barreled gun. The insides of the barrel lit up like a threatening fire. I was right in the line of fire of a cosmic weapon!
“Thermal weapons!” Cyrii cried, promptly rolling me out of the way as the weapon fired; I swear she was reacting faster than I was! Two searing bolts of energy barely singed me. I tried to use speed to my advantage against the larger weapon, jumping up and circling around it while simultaneously fighting the momentum and banking of the craft, but it rotated to face me every time. I could only run around and hope it didn't eventually grow wise and hit me!
“This isn't working!” My consciousness was growing frantic.
We will be fine! I said, giddy from all of the excitement.
“How are you so happy?!” she cried. I didn't respond, anticipating the gun to fire again, only to have it wait until I hesitated mid-step.
It fired! I didn't expect to feel such pain, but it hurt! Like FIRE!
“AAAAAA!” I tried not to writhe and fall off as my legs flew out from underneath me, slamming my head down onto the craft's hull. I was momentarily stunned, but being melted won't deter me! It shouldn't! I was having too much fun!!
I screeched at the weapon and charged right into it despite my malleable leg, not thinking.
“767, it's attached to the-!”
The weapon fired again, almost blasting us to pieces. The bang was so loud it drowned out whatever Cyrii was trying to say; we were saved only because she pulled me away far enough! I wrenched my bayonets into the crevices of its shell and tried to hold it steady, though it simply rotated rapidly, trying to shake me off.
“AAAHHH!”
This is fun!
I dug my feet into the ship. My feet did have some claws for extra traction, and while having the metal scream against metal was agonizing to hear, it did sl
ow the weapon's movements. The ship itself suddenly banked a sharp left, almost sending me off into the ether, but the weapon also stopped moving! I took advantage of the moment to try and pry off its metal carapace.
The weapon began to sink back into the ship. I was losing grip!
No! You're going to wish you had never come up! I said defiantly. I fought against the force of the weapon, pulling it out even as it went in. Cyrii tried to help, as if pulling only my controls any more fiercely would give me strength. Yet we only reached a stalemate!
“We're stuck!” she said.
We will not be stuck!
“But we ARE stuck!”
With the time gained from the impasse, I pushed my focus from holding the weapon to searching my database for any clues on what to do next. It was easy to preen out the useless information, but there was so much of it... it was almost like I couldn't think, all over again!
Cyrii!
“I'm thinking, I'm thinking! Um! Thermal! I-It must be able to overheat!”
Bless her! I thought privately to myself. I swung myself in front of the weapon, in full danger of a point-blank blast. Whatever controlled it saw the opportunity and brought the weapon back out.
It charged! I charged!
I charged faster!
The lasers around my eyes lit up and focused down its barrels. Being only for last-ditch efforts, the lasers were only a fraction as powerful as the beast I was faced with, but it was enough of a heat increase to matter. As the weapon charged, its internal temperature only grew. It seemed to recognize what was happening to it.
Too late!
“Yes!” Cyrii let out a victory whoop as the weapon melted internally and feebly try to retreat back into the ship, where I continued to melt it. The weapon powered down. Victory! It was a small accomplishment though in the face of the larger battle; the cloud of Enemy fighters had the entire military complex in disarray. Our focused little struggle was nothing compared to the anarchy surrounding us. Now that I paid attention to that, the ship banked right, throwing me into a tumble down to the other side of the ship.
Cyrii went back to screaming. I dug in a bayonet, but the effort was futile. I fell off.
