by Briana Ervin
“Now!”
Stratien and I both forced our bayonets upward, piercing the duct. I felt something strike my bayonet, then scuttle backward. I twisted it and sliced down the duct, using both bayonets to rip it open. The target retreated, but found itself blocked by Stratien's bayonet in the duct, so it decided to go on the offensive.
Something rushed toward me and latched onto my head!
“Drone!” Stratien alerted. I recoiled with a beep, the drone letting go and trying to make a break for the exit, but he ran up and gave it a nasty kick. It flew toward the wall and hit it, whirring indignantly. I turned and advanced toward it, readying my turrets, while Stratien flanked it. The drone looked at me and flared, its entire body pushing apart just a bit, plating and all, to briefly reveal the electronics inside. It seemed like a pointless tactic.
Then it flashed!
DANGER! DANGER EVERYWHERE! RETREAT!
I stumbled backward, my sensors going haywire. The scatter function!! Must... stay calm...! I couldn't focus though! I fell backward into the shelves, knocking them over. My brain was completely scrambled, the data I was collecting misinterpreted even though I knew it was fine! It was almost like 433 had come up behind me and jolted me with his stupid termination code!
I heard a lot of garbled, panicked thrashing. I wasn't sure if it was from me or Stratien, because I couldn't see clearly! What little I could make sense of though came through: Cyrii suddenly came back.
“What the-?! What's going on?!”
CyyyyRRIIIII!
She jolted upright. “767?!” Even though I anticipated a flurry of questions, she simply threw the DIAS back on and quickly began countering the effects of whatever this drone did, doing some sort of pseudo-shutdown on me. Thankfully it cleared up my brain enough that I could focus, even if everything was static. I picked myself up and listened intently, sorting out the jumble of noises the best I could while Cyrii tried to ask me what was going on. I didn't respond, instead whipping around and charging toward metallic movement.
I crashed into something big, and we both flew into the wall. Crap! Stratien!
“Seeee#*(%&*fwhATT AR539##@?!” is exactly what I heard.
“SoRrryYY!” my feeble apology attempt. Something struck the right of my head, and I thrashed out toward it while Cyrii kept trying to fix my console.
“What in Gryn's name scrambled you?!” she yelled, still typing like mad. My bayonet struck something smaller and more fragile, and I rushed forward into another wall while the opportunity was present. I successfully pinned it, but then I felt something sawing down on my arm!
OH NO YOU DON'T!! The thought finally rang clearly. Thank goodness for Cyrii!
I raised the opposite bayonet and tried to to tear the drone apart, but something grabbed it with intense force and pushed back. This little drone was strong! Stratien didn't stand idle even though I might have broken something and rushed forward to help. Through static vision I saw him help me pin the drone to wall, then fired up his lasers and focused on the joint of the arm with the sawblade. The drone retaliated, swiping the saw mere nicroQ from his eye and letting out a furious beeping. I prepared my own lasers; there wasn't much else I could do at this range!
“We want to keep it alive!” Stratien warned me. I hesitated while the drone squirmed, looking at him for a moment.
“DANG IT!” Cyrii swore aloud.
What?!
The drone managed to strike Stratien's lens, making him pull back a bit. The little bit of freedom allowed the drone to swing its saw upward and start cutting downward through my lens: a weak spot! I tried to swivel to get out of its range, but I couldn't move!
What the-?!
“We have Leeches!” Cyrii hissed through my comm, throwing off the DIAS. Anger boiled up inside me.
Leeches! One must have latched onto me and I didn't even know! I could have sworn the room was clean of them! Infuriating little immobilization drones!
This was a time when Cyrii was the most useful. Her presence left my head, although I wasn't aware of her taking any weapons with her. I just knew that the drone was already halfway through my lens, almost ready to swing that dastardly saw and blind me. The cameras were one hull layer away from my internal functions; if it could strike that deeply, it could kill me.
“Stratien??” I yelled hopefully.
“I'd love to!” I couldn't see him, but it seemed he was immobilized too. Great, a Leech trap!
This drone was smugly taking its time, and boy did I want to rip it to pieces.
I heard Cyrii growling somewhere on the ground, hitting something that shattered like glass. Something shifted above my abdominal box, then suddenly appeared on my left arm, the one pinning the drone. I swiveled gratefully – accidentally throwing off Cyrii in the process – but right then I realized I made two mistakes: first the drone was no longer pinned, and it immediately began pushing itself off my bayonet, but secondly Stratien saw me move without Cyrii inside! Which was worse?!
The drone freed itself. I tried to stomp on it to keep it from escaping. The machine was quick though, and without being able to move my arm to compensate for balance it was surprisingly difficult.
Then I almost fell forward mid-stomp. My legs stopped functioning! Bloody Leeches! I could swivel and see the nasty things clinging to me, metal worms with their heads buried in my joints and feeding off the current there.
GET OFF ME! I screamed in my head. Dang leeches!
Just to rub it in, the drone began to escape, and I could only watch. It ran past Stratien, and something small flung itself out at the drone, causing it to fall over, especially as damaged as it was.
Wait... Stratien himself?!
“Help!” he shouted, looking around for Cyrii. She threw off the DIAS and rushed forward, a handheld weapon of a... disagreeable size in her paws. What would that tiny thing even do? She must have grabbed it when I swung her off of me!
The two of them piled onto the drone while us mechs were paralyzed, trying to keep it from moving. It was only slightly bigger than they were, so it wasn't exactly a failed attempt, but it sure was funny to watch. I was too annoyed by these Leeches to laugh though.
The drone managed to pushed Stratien off of it, but Cyrii grabbed one of its limbs in her jaws – coincidentally, the one equipped with a saw – and held on tightly. It tried to swing her off, but she stubbornly clung on. Unfortunately, being held out at arm's length kept her from using the tiny weapon on the drone. She had activated it, and it buzzed with a bright blue energy, but it clearly wasn't ranged. So Stratien switched tactics, running over to his mech and grabbing a Leech with his teeth, wrestling it off. The indignant little machine bit him several times, but he then rushed back over to the Scatter Drone and smacked the Leech onto it.
Hah! He was using its own weapon against it! One of the Scatter Drone's arms fell limp!
Stratien continued transporting Leeches, and even though it was done in a matter of seconds it felt like several long minutes. The drone struggled greatly, but now that it was incapacitated by the Leeches it was at the whim of the Xinschi-uual. I could see it frantically looking about, afraid and searching for any possible escape.
No, I thought victoriously, no escape for you!
Cyrii now felt she could let go of the drone, and did so to hop on top of it and thrust the blue weapon into it.
ZZZZT! There was a bright white flash and several shouts of alarm, then complete silence.
I couldn't hear struggling or whirring, so I waited for my cameras to readjust to the darkness. The light in the drone's eye was gone. Did we win? Is it fried?
“It better not be dead!” I heard Stratien gasp.
“All of that and you want it to be alive?!” Cyrii cried, perplexed.
Uh oh. She doesn't know that he was looking for that specific drone.
“Of course! Capture implies not killing it,” he scoffed. Cyrii huffed and looked at me; she wanted to know what was going on, but wasn't sure if it would blow our
cover or not.
“I only stunned it,” she eventually replied. Stratien sighed in relief. I looked at his immobile mech; I wonder if he noticed me moving when Cyrii was outside... Stratien himself may not have, but I was certainly in his mech's peripheral. Leeches don't inhibit sensory functions. All it would take is the truth and a little bit of suspicion...
...No. This can be fixed. We could still be safe.
“Let's clean off our mechs and get out of here,” Cyrii said.
“Gratefully,” Stratien said, “Oh, and... thanks for helping me. I realize it's selfish to go drone-hunting when we have Tanks missing, but... this was very important to me.”
Cyrii just numbly nodded, still looking at me. She had a stony gaze that demanded explanations, and soon.
With the help of the now-mightily-impressive weapon, the two Xinschi-uual began prying off Leech drones and zapping them, literally to death. It takes quite a jolt to destroy a machine, but we weren't any less susceptible to shock than a living thing. Those fragile little Leeches didn't stand a chance. We took a risk with the Leeches on the Scatter Drone hopping onto us during transport, keeping them alive to ensure that it couldn't escape. Cyrii then returned to me, grabbing another device that looked like a claw while she was at it so she had two emergency weapons. Stratien didn't bother grabbing anything; maybe he already had something in his mech. With him back in his mech he picked up the immobile Scatter Drone and carried it himself. I took the lead coming out of the room, just in case any Enemies were waiting up ahead.
Cyrii put the DIAS on once she was back in my head and kept her stony gaze, waiting. I had a more pressing concern though than what Stratien wanted to do.
He wanted to capture a Scatter Drone to raise his Code level. It's the 'new type' he was looking for, I said quickly, BUT his mech knows.
Cyrii raised a brow. “'Knows'? That he gave himself his own private mission to try and fry us with that thing?”
About us.
“...What do you mean?”
The initial pause told me she already knew what I meant. I swiveled to look behind me, checking if Stratien was still there, and he was. He didn't look concerned or anything, just a little... distracted. I faced forward again as we came back up to the sub-level.
“What should we do about it?” Cyrii mused.
Assimilate them, I said flatly.
“Oookayyy, let's not word it like that,” she rolled her eyes, looking slightly to the right where my console was. “Can we trust Stratien? Ensure that he won't give us away?”
You trusted Alesia, I pointed out. I gave the sublevel room a cursory scan for Enemies when we came to it, but it was vacant.
“Alesia is a good friend of mine. I've known her a LOT longer than this guy,” Cyrii said defensively.
Do you have a better idea? I said, looking back at Stratien. He had come up to parallel me, then taken the lead, looking at the ramp leading to the main level of the outpost.
“...Hacking?”
Oh, sure, I said, semi-sarcastic, I'll hold him down while you mess with his mech's brain.
“Okay, fine, bad idea,” she huffed.
First we should decide when to do it, I said, suspecting she agreed with the “assimilation”. We can't allow them to return to base as normal. One report would kill us.
“You're right, but that means we have to do it right here, in hostile territory.”
...Right now?
Stratien swiveled back to check on me, still holding his captive drone. He looked a little nervous.
“Only if Stratien himself believes a word his AI is saying.”
I watched suspiciously, but my half-narrowed blast shield could indicate anything. He looked me up and down, but didn't say anything, just looking back up the ramp. It was difficult to tell what was going on in there...
“We can't just force the change on them. It would be too much, especially for his mech,” Cyrii decided, “we have to let them decide.”
What if the answer is “no”?
She didn't answer, instead saying: “Try and hint to see if he suspects anything. If he believes too much, we'll have to spill the quartz and let him think about it.”
This is a dangerous game, Cyrii, I warned.
“I know. I also overhauled you so I wouldn't have to worry.”
I hummed in distress, taking that as an indicator that I was on my own. Goody. No pressure.
I approached, looking up the ramp as we ascended before picking up the pace. Judging by the way Stratien jerked he must have had his microphone sensitivity raised to listen for activity above us. He only glanced at me when I came up beside him, looking pointedly at the Scatter Drone.
“I wonder how the Enemy did it,” I mused innocently, “making a machine that could mess with a mech's mind.”
“...Incredible, isn't it?” he hesitantly engaged in the small talk. “So, hey, you don't hear anything above us, right?”
“Nothing at all,” I said confidently, without even checking first. “So... your mech didn't see anything weird when that drone... flashed or whatever, right?”
“Wow. You're devious,” Cyrii mumbled in my head.
“Yeah. Yours too?” he asked, looking straight at me. I held his gaze.
“Yeah, she saw some pretty weird things. She keeps talking about a mech graveyard. She won't shut up about it.”
“Mech graveyard?” He sounded surprised.
“Didn't you see a mech graveyard?”
“Uh... no,” he grew a little more nervous. I was coming close.
“What did you see?” I pressed, feigning surprise. “I thought for sure it was some kind of hologram or something! A hologram would show the same thing, right?”
“Well... it didn't happen when the drone flashed...” Stratien faltered, coming to a stop, “but I didn't see anything, so...”
I stopped beside him, staring in anticipation.
“Well, she claims she saw your mech moving,” he said uncertainly, “on its own. But that's clearly ridiculous because I saw you outside of your mech,” he added quickly.
“Oh huh, not every day you come across a guy in a girl mech,” Cyrii commented, “she must be a redeemed mech with a replacement AI, because the voice doesn't match...”
I ignored her. “You're right,” I said, “that has to be impossible. I mean, only a hacker would make a mech move on its own, right?” I giggled.
“WHOA!” Cyrii yelped.
What?
“Never giggle again! Good freakin' Gryn, that gave me the creeps!”
It worked, didn't it? I asked, amused.
“General rule of thumb: mechs aren't allowed to laugh,” Cyrii shuddered. Stratien didn't seem to react to it though, just looking at the ground.
“She says otherwise,” he finally said.
“What is otherwise?” I asked. He looked back up at me.
“She is a new AI, but... well, I'm just going to put it outright: she thinks you're rogue. Your mech, I mean.”
I twitched. Rogue AI. Being called that was no better than running naked through enemy territory screaming “kill me!”
“She wants me to throw a paradox at you,” he continued, rolling his eye; technically his mech's eye, but since it's based upon tracked eye movement she couldn't control it. “I can't do it without frying her too though, so you're safe.”
A paradox... AI was built upon logic, and conclusions were made by stringing ones and zeros together: “true” or “false”. A paradox has no answer, which means we have to make illogical conclusions to terminate the thoughts or else overload our processors, and that opens a big can of worms. It's funny to watch, if my database is anything to go by... but I would rather not have the “joy” of experiencing it.
I pretended to not be fazed by the mention of a paradox, and hold innocent interest instead. “Do you think it's possible though? For a mech to move on its own accord?”
He became suspicious. “Why are you so interested?”
I thought up a
lie on the spot: “Someone back at the complex... I'm a bit worried about him. His mech moves a lot, but sometimes I wonder if the guy is even in there. The two of them seem to spontaneously show up, but not always together.” I then looked away, as if I felt guilty. “I didn't want to mention it... he's not a bad guy, but... protocol...”
The word “protocol” made me twitch. What was up with that word? Why did it make me so fidgety? Stratien seemed relieved though.
“I get it,” he said, “I'm sure it just looks bad, and it's fine.”
We both tensely stared ahead for a while, like the conversation shouldn't end there, but neither of us said anything more. I retreated back into my head.
Should we trust him? I asked Cyrii. Her mouth creased into a long, thoughtful line.
“I don't know... Right now they're butting heads. Let's just keep an eye on them.”
We'll blame the Scatter Drone, I decided.
“Sure...” she said uncertainly.
No longer interested in standing around, I continued to ascend the ramp back up to the main level, with Stratien following behind me. This ramp was longer than the two going down to the subterranean rooms, and as we went up we began to hear a lot of crashing and stomping around. I could see flashes up ahead.
“A battle?” Cyrii wondered.
Could be an ambush, I realized, we DID all split up. Any Enemies watching could plan an elaborate ambush to kill us off as we trickle back in. Despite my own words, I continued forward.
“Oh. Goody. And Sir Stratien back there doesn't have his turrets free,” she grumbled.
He will have to drop his captive, I agreed. I turned to look back at him, but it was hard to tell what he was thinking.
“There may be a skirmish up ahead,” Cyrii notified him for me. Now he looked annoyed.
“Of course...”
There was a boom ahead of us, causing me to swivel back around. Coming closer to the exit only proved that there was fighting. Stratien followed me up closer to the exit, before putting the drone down next to a wall so it wouldn't be damaged in the conflict. The fighting was much louder up here, a cacophony of metal striking metal and the bangs of gunfire. A piece of warped metal flung itself against the wall above and fell down into the corridor. We both stared at it.
