Remember Me

by Kyle Robertson

  “Who was this Enceedublay conglomerate, and why did they house these hunting birds?”

  “That is initials for the National College Athletic Association… N, C, A, A. They oversaw all college organized sports. The Eagles were the name of human players.” They looked dumbfounded. “It’s like your jousting, just in many different forms of games.”

  “Jousting is for honor, Klannis. How could they play chess or Knucklebones on an area this vast?” Sagen questioned.

  “You’re getting the concept, just not the size. They were games, just not played on a chessboard. They were more physical and were played on a field.” She gestured to the old astroturf. “We used to call the game played on this field football.”

  “Did you run across this field kicking an inflated boar’s stomach?”

  “You guys are from a very ancient time. The football was nicknamed a pigskin though. American Football was played with your hands, don’t ask. Within the span of your time traveling, football was invented and went extinct.” She pointed to a much larger stadium. “Before the Drop, they played Brawzak. It was a more brutal sport.”

  “Why are you regaling us about your games? We must finish our quest.”

  “You asked me if this was an ancient druid temple, and I had to correct you. It’s not my fault I used to teach and don’t know when to shut up.”

  “I beg of your approval, Klannis, but alas, you are still a Valkyrie,” Araklimn said. “As much as the title abhors you, you have always embodied the warrior’s quality, and silencing yourself to abandon your vital knowledge would be a travesty.”

  Chloe didn’t know how to take that compliment. She didn’t want to be called Valkyrie, but being described as one was strangely flattering. Chivalry was dead in the 22nd century, but it was common practice in his time.

  “I guess I do act like one, Just don’t call me Valkyrie, thank you, Araklimn.”

  “I am enlightened for your approval.” He bowed.

  “How far is this Forest Hills? I must acquire drink,” Sagen said.

  “Check your pack, Krucks. Vetter supplied us with food and drink. The Gornx aren’t just allies in the fighting definitional sense. Intelligence aids intelligence,” Chloe said.

  Sagen took off his pack and opened it. Behind a pouch of dried meat strips, he saw a container of liquid.

  “Please oblige your brethren. He predicted the trials of our journey and supplied us adequately.” He began to drink his water.

  Chloe looked at her constantly updating digi-map and became tactical. She showed the two the map.

  “As you can see, these obstacles are constantly moving. They’ve clustered directly in our path. We have to find shelter before they find us.” She tapped on the map. “Here, Union Square has a building and is half a mile north. We can hold up there until the coast is clear.”

  Sagen and Araklimn saw the mobile blips getting closer and how far Union Square was.

  “It would behoove us to abscond to your shelter. The roving bands are getting dangerously close,” Sagen said.

  “Let’s go; we’ll get to The Rayless One soon,” Chloe said as they began to trek to Union Square.

  llll

  “There’s Yucca Mountain. I know the layout, so when we get in, put on a rad suit and follow me,” Raziel told Borlund.

  “This facility has been abandoned for over a century, I don’t need to wear a ratty suit.”

  “My poor boy,” Raziel said. “Those suits have been hermetically sealed in a perpetual casing, so rats could never eat them. The military used uranium 238. That isotope has a half-life of 4.6 billion years. Wear the suit or die from ignorance. This was a nuclear waste repository initially.”

  “You’ve been itching badly to get into that mountain,” Borlund assumed.

  “When you make your best bot, but you need a certain form of power to get it moving, wouldn't you obsess if your power source is on the other side of the country where you could never get to it?”

  Borlund realized how truly serious this journey was for Raziel. He not only knew where Yucca Mountain was, but he had also ‘cased’ the joint.

  “Wasn’t there anywhere else closer you could get your plutonium?”

  “Every nuclear power plant went dark during the Drop, and they consolidated all the power and waste here so it was revisited then. I was lucky they kept a secret silo complex in the mountain. The plutonium is encased in missiles. We just have to carefully take out the case component. You machine things, so you can dismantle a rocket, can’t you?”

  “Taking apart a complex highly irradiated mechanical apparatus I’ve never seen before and can mushroom cloud the entire team… sure, why not?’ he asked sarcastically. “At least we can see that burning, final white flash together before we die.”

  “If you can follow directions, we’ll never see that final white flash, Oppenheimer.”

  “Who?”

  “Julius Robert Oppenheimer was a theoretical physicist who helped to invent the first atomic bomb,” Raziel explained. “That was over two centuries ago, and you have never heard the I am become death saying? You Hooks really need a Klannis, because explaining a joke sucks.”

  “Haha, it still wasn’t funny,” Botlund said as they pulled up to the access gate.

  “Give it a second. When the code is read, the gate should open.”

  They waited for a moment and heard a whir, but nothing happened.

  “Try it again,” Raziel said.

  “It’s a gate. Even if the iron is fortified with titanium, my HDs can run through it like watered-down lemonade.”

  “You’re not getting it. The gate access opens all vital security daisy-chained with the code. That ‘watered-down lemonade’ has one hell of a vodka chaser,” Raziel explained.

  Borlund looked at the gate and saw the problem.

  “Does the gate physically have to open undamaged to have everything click into place?”

  “Opening the gate gets the dominoes tumbling.”

  Borlund backed up and input something into the dashboard.

  “When they abandoned this facility, they still didn’t want anybody messin’ with their stuff. If they knocked down the fence, the facility would lock tighter than a prude’s panties.” He pointed to the upper and lower corners of the gate opening. “They fused the opening with something made not to break. My Dragon Flame plasma shooters can melt tungsten, so they should melt those fasteners.”

  Raziel saw them and thought Borlund knew how to break into highly classified facilities.

  “That whir we heard means the code worked, they just used another padlock. The stage is yours, melt away,” Raziel said.

  Borlund pressed the button and dual plasma blasts seared off those padlocks.

  “Take two.” Borlund drove forward.

  “Okay, I hope they didn’t double-lock the hermetic rad-suit compartment.”

  “They heard the whir again and the gate slid open.

  “Is there anything else I should be prepared for?” Borlund asked.

  “Everything was top-secret, so every item manifesto was redacted to the normal soldiers.”

  “That’s funny,” Borlund said “Even the world’s most expensive military didn’t know what it was guarding. I’m good for taking out those rogue android mutant vampire kangaroos.”

  “Conspiracy theory much? Just follow me to the rad-suit coffers.” Raziel didn’t like that Yucca Mountain joke. “There may be some… critters roaming these caverns; be careful.”

  “What, creepy-crawlies? My boot will beat a spider any day.”

  “This is Nevada, not Boston. I don’t think your stomping ability is fast enough to crush a horde of scorpions. Their venomous sting is way worse than a spider bite, so stay alert. These things have probably been surviving in pitch black for a century. We’re the invaders today. They won’t be happy. Your boots, an entire complement of skarge cross-bows and oversized for a cavern HDs won't help you defeat the tiny but deadly, stay alert.”

>   Borlund had to remember who ruled the roost in the desert. He had to respect where he was.

  As they crossed the gate access barrier near the front entrance, large double doors built to accommodate gargantuan-tanks parted for them. They all drove into the mountain.

  As everyone got out of their HDs with Raziel and Borlund, Raziel spoke.

  “We’re almost complete. I’ll find the radiation suits before you go any deeper. This complex is over a century old, and I’m not trusting a nuclear containment repository unmanned for longer than I’ve been alive. I'll radio you when I breach the rad-suit coffer. When we’re suited, watch-out for scorpions, and let’s retrieve some plutonium containers.”

  “You ready for Hell?” Doze asked Keisha.

  “One answer, Doze. Let’s do this!”

  llll

  They had to break-in when they arrived at Union Square. They were lucky no one heard them. Otherwise, Union Square would have not been a safe-haven. It would have been their last stand.

  As Araklimn broke-off the planks guarding the shattered windows, they all entered the station. A community of raccoons had usurped the station for their fortress, but when the 3 humans intruded, they scattered to another location to inhabit.

  “Ugh, this place smells like rot, wet fur, and ass,” Chloe complained.

  “An emergency shelter grants no luxuries, Klannis,” Sagen said. “Live in the outer elements for but a fortnight, and you would appreciate this aroma. I have experienced much worse.”

  “At least all of our foes will avoid this place because of the stench. It's so loud, nobody in their right mind would hide here. This stinks so bad I can taste it.”

  “And that is your battle-hardened Valkyrie,” Sagen told Araklimn sarcastically.

  “She can flog you effortlessly, so I still say yes,” Araklimn rebutted.

  Chloe walked around a corner in the dim rotted structure and found the main odorous source. She walked back with a warning.

  “You do not want to go back there. A large litter of coons seemed as if they were born about a week ago, but none of them made it. They all looked half-eaten. It’s kinda gross.”

  “Those demon rodent scavengers eat their own?!” Araklimn was appalled.

  “Have you been here for longer than an hour?” Chloe rhetorically asked. “I’m surprised Krucks hasn’t eaten you yet. That old saying of it’s a dog eat dog world has become true now in the literal sense”

  “You have brought us here. What is our next course of action?” Sagen asked.

  Chloe saw all of the enemy’s movements on her digi-map.

  “We get used to this putrid smell for a couple of hours. Those hunters are patrolling this area. If we move, we’re done. Once they give up the hunt, we can leave.”

  “How doth thou know of their actions?” Sagen asked.

  “I thought we had a deal. You stop that Victorian speak and I won’t talk about relativity gravity wells in the time-space paradigm. Cut it with the Shakesphere crap. The answer to your question is; I’ve been moving around this pit for years and I know the enemy's patterns. When they can’t find anything, they give up, some quicker than others.”

  “I will venture a guess for the beasts having more fortitude,” Araklimn said.

  “Easy guess,” Chloe said. “Dogs and wolves have a heightened smell advantage. We just need to stay quiet, because they hear better. The dead baby coon smell will mask our scents. Stay silent, and it will be a toss-up on the first to quit. Don’t hedge your bet by making noise. You’ll win the bet, but lose your life.”

  “I am a…”

  Chloe put her finger to her lips.

  “Shh, time to shut up now.”

  Araklimn felt offended but remained quiet. This journey entailed many dangerous adventures, but he had to endure them all to get to The Rayless One.

  Now I have to smell ass rot to keep these guys on a string, Chloe thought. Fischer better compensates me well when I complete this mission.

  llll

  “Give me that gange torquer from my case. It looks like an S with fingers,” Borlund directed Raziel.

  They finally made it to the lower silos and opened a missile fuselage. Borlund was performing mechanical surgery to extract a delicate plutonium tumor from the rocket's brain. The backup BoltLayers were guarding the silos for the savage mountain lion pride in which they had surprisingly disturbed.

  They all left, but this was their layer. The cats may come back.

  Raziel gave Borlund the tourquer and watched the tool mesh with the pressure bolts to lubricate and unscrew them.

  “This might take a while. Those bolts are fused to the inner computer, and I don’t want to jostle a hundred-year-old detonator. Is your team still watching out for those mountain lions?”

  “My team is on it. Let me wirelessly nullify the detonation protocol, so you can breathe again, hold on.”

  Raziel taped furiously on his keyboard to override the virtu-lockouts. The detonator security showed on-screen and he disabled the trigger.

  “You’re clean, you can pull it.”

  “Didn’t I say this would take a while? This solvent can break-down a seal on the molecular level, but the activation isn’t like flipping an ammo loader. You have to be delicate. Ask your girlfriend about that process.”

  “Stop trying to be funny. I’m not the one smiling at Keisha.”

  “That only means I’ve had one before. Looking at you, I’m thinking chronology was your last lover.”

  “Hey! I have a girlfriend!”

  “What, in Canada? Oh, I forgot. Canada doesn’t exist anymore, sort of like your girlfriend never did.” Borlund wanted to lighten the mood. Dismantling plutonium was rather stressful. The torque beeped.

  “I have to be careful with this. If I touch the sides, bye-bye momma.”

  “It felt like keeping a mercury switch level on a hill not to set off an alarm. They both held their breaths this time.

  Borlund pulled it out cleanly, so they could breathe again.

  “Have Mike take this and put it in the HD. Put it in the liquid nitrogen stasis container; we did it.”

  “When we get seven more, then we can say that. Don’t celebrate in the first round. Celebrate when the clock hits zero.”

  “It feels like I’ve heard that before. I’m wondering where you got it.” Borlund reminded Raziel he said that earlier.

  “We have ways to go and shut up. If it makes sense, I use it.”

  “That must feel funny to you, a Snaggerz making sense,” Borlund said. “Let’s finish up. Sneak Queen can’t be on easy street for too much longer.”

  llll

  It took 3 hours, but they finally had an opening when the clans left. Araklimn was wrong on his assumption. She looked at her map.

  “We were lucky we didn’t get killed. They are everywhere now, so we have to make it to neutral ground at the Design Center. We just have to go through downtown crossing, Xazen wolf pack territory.”

  She pointed out their map to Sagen and Araklimn.

  Sagen saw how far away they were from The Rayless One and became angry.

  “This is hogwash, Klannis! You tout of knowing the foreign territory for us, yet you are guiding us everywhere except to The Rayless One! Your guidance is mere aimless rubbish!”

  “Listen, Krucks, and listen good! If you’ve never been humiliated, tortured, violated, or assaulted by these vile monsters, don’t you ever tell me my guidance is all bullshit! You were the crazy guy to avoid! I was the spy with all the information they would kill to get to! I think my experience holds a little more weight than an old directionless lunatic labeled as a wino! If you want to run the flaming trail of boiling blod, go ahead! Araklimn’s not joining you though, We’re doing this the right way! You go the stupid route and waste all your magic! I won’t expect to meet you there!”

  Sagen was very surprised a woman would ever yell at him that way! As he instinctually raised his arm to backslap her, Chloe quickly turned around
to his back and gave him a sleeper hold while putting her knee in his back dropping him to the concrete landing on him!

  “You’re just all kinds of stupid today. Who do you think leads the all-female infiltration combat team? I know you’ve seen them about the city, and knew not to screw with them. I can break bones in you that you never knew you had. I snap assholes like you on a bad day; apologize!”

  Sagen was terrified a woman would even think she could do that, not to even witness a successful execution.

  “You are in league with Lucifer, Harlot!”

  She twisted his wrist in a painfully awkward position.

  “Some idiots only learn through severe discomfort. Say you’re sorry.” She twisted more.

  “AARGH! I am sorry!”

  She smiled and let him up. She had wanted to do that for days. She began to brush him off.

  “Good. Since we’ve established who’s in charge here. You can stay or go. It’s just that if you stay, I never want to hear an angry contradiction from you again. Which will it be?”

  “She’s an excellent ally in a pub brawl I’ll tell you,” Araklimn said smiling.

  Sagen whipped around.

  “Silence! She has proven her Valkyrie status, I acknowledge that!” Then he calmed down. “I have witnessed her skill and knowledge. We will follow Klannis. If I separate, I will perish; she is in charge.”

  Chloe had to flex her craft. Sagen was getting close to discovering her mission.

  “We will arrive at the Design Center in 25 minutes. We have to go around downtown. When we get there, we’ll readjust our journey. I’m glad we all agree.”

  The 3 went east towards their destination.

  llll

  All 8 plutonium cases were secured in the hunter-destroyer. On their last trip from the silos, a wild mountain lion snuck=attacked the BoltLayers, but Doze was swift and impaled it with 2 arrows to the face before it got a chance to sink its fangs into Keisha’s neck. He was watching the back of her head, not her ass.