Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jessica13 couldn't begin to imagine the condition of the town. The smoke had built to the point where they couldn't see anything beyond ten yards and it grew denser by the minute.
A conflagration this size would be difficult to contain. It would begin to spread into the wilderness around the town and from there, it could sweep through the whole area.
She sighed and coughed when some of the smoke came through the filters.
"My apologies, Jessica13. I will update the filtering software and elevate the protocols," Mini said and immediately did precisely that while she watched through the HUD.
"Why would someone do something like this?" she asked and shook her head. "What's the point of this kind of wanton destruction?"
There was a pause from his processors and a series of protocols activated. They were from deep inside the AI core where Mini's “personality” was stored. She had seen it activated like that in situations where he contemplated updating his personality software.
He had explained that it was what humans called introspection.
"I cannot say," he said finally and displayed a sad face on the HUD. "My knowledge of human personalities is based almost entirely on my personal interaction with other humans. The people who developed me were the basis and you, of course, have played a substantial part in it, as have the other members of the Knights Mechanica as well as the inhabitants of the Sanctuary Bunker.”
A slight pause followed, accompanied by the hum she now knew meant he was searching through his stored records. Not sure where his reasoning would take him, she simply waited for him to continue. “I have found nothing in people’s overt personalities that is any indication why they are capable of such violence. Of course, it could be something subconscious. But according to my files, I would say humans should be incapable of such actions. These are open to update, of course. Based on my records of human history, such things have been perpetrated by humans in the past, which means humans are capable of such acts, but I cannot find any reasons as to why."
Jessica13 shook her head. "I wouldn't have thought humans were capable of that, but yes, I suppose I can’t really ignore the fact that we have been guilty of such a thing in the past. I merely don't understand how."
"Do you think there would be anything that could cause you to set fire to an entire town?" Mini asked, still running his updating subroutines on the AI core.
"I…don't think so," she responded. "It would take some kind of trigger to elicit this kind of reaction from me, I think, but even then, something that draws out an extremely violent response would be limited to the person or persons responsible for that. Not an entire town."
"I do not think you are capable of this kind of mass destruction," he replied. "Which is interesting as it would suggest there is a psychological discrepancy between those who can and those who can’t, which cannot be identified until the action is perpetuated. In every case in history I have been able to find, the perpetrator always felt his or her actions were warranted in some way. Forms of zealotry, religious or otherwise, appear to manifest in actions that are believed to save more lives in what is ambiguously termed ‘for the greater good.’ In the end, however, the assumption is that such actions would never be considered by those who are incapable of them, while those who are regard themselves as willing to make the 'difficult choices.’"
It was an interesting thought and one Jessica13 both loathed and yet felt drawn to somehow. It was because of those types of people that the world had ended all those years before. Humans and invaders alike saw mass killing as a viable option for some reason, and that reasoning had been perpetuated in the world that survived.
Hammerhand appeared to think Athena was a threat to humanity as a whole and she could now see why he thought that. If she was willing to burn an entire town for no reason other than to lure her enemies into a trap, what would stop her from destroying something larger and killing even more people? How much of a reason would she need for that?
As they approached the source of the flames, things oddly became a little clearer around them as the heat from the fire forced the smoke upward so everything at ground level was more visible. The heat could be felt in her mech already and beads of sweat trickled down the ridge of her spine.
Her growing discomfort, however, lost relevance like a nagging noise she pushed to the back of her mind. It all felt so unimportant compared to the sight in front of her.
The town they looked at was almost as large as Auburn. It might have been a little smaller but the fire made it seem much larger, especially as the trees and the underbrush on the outskirts burned as well and contributed to the blaze.
Almost all the buildings were alight and the wind pushed the flames rapidly beyond to the outer reaches. It would soon reach the hills behind it, driven to consume anything in its path if the wind picked up or the blaze wasn’t extinguished.
"Fucking hellion bitch," Windchime muttered under his breath and sounded cold and angry at what he saw.
Jessica13 realized that she shared his rage. It was hard not to as they stared at the kind of destruction they confronted.
There were a few indicators in Mini's AI core that suggested he might be dealing with something similar. For a brief moment, she was impressed as she hadn't thought he was capable of that kind of emotion.
It was short-lived, however, as her mind was otherwise occupied. She would bring it up with the AI another time.
"It is a message," Hammerhand said through their comms. "Athena has found out what we've done for Auburn and she doesn't like it. More importantly, she cannot bear that kind of challenge to her authority. She wants to make sure the other people in her little domain know that any rebellion against her power will be thoroughly punished. The flames will be seen for hundreds of klicks, a clear warning sign to all who would dare to challenge her authority."
"And an effective one as well," Windchime pointed out. "It is also one she has used before. It would seem she enjoys the act of killing these people and destroying them but manages to contain herself until she finds a reason to unleash the beast she keeps so poorly hidden inside."
"We could contemplate the darkness Athena has inside her from now until the heavens collapse and the Invaders return, but I feel our efforts would be better focused on scouring the town below and finding any who might need our help," their leader said. It was disguised as a suggestion, but she knew better than to assume it was anything but an order. The group seemed to share her opinion and headed into the settlement.
The priority had been made very clear—find any survivors and get them clear of the burning buildings. The unspoken idea was to find any useful salvage to take back to the Beast, but that held a very distant second priority in her mind. It seemed that for the present, the enemy forces had retreated beyond the burning town. There was certainly no indication of their presence and no resistance was offered, but the Knights moved warily with an inherent caution based on the fact that they knew they could be walking into a trap.
She moved between the houses first and tried to find anyone who had escaped the inferno that ravaged the town. It seemed unlikely that anyone would be able to survive unless they were in mechs themselves—or maybe had some kind of breathing apparatus since the smoke would be what killed most of those caught in the buildings.
The flames licked at the Minato's armor, and scorch marks were visible where they burned into the green paint she had coated her mech with in traditional Knight Mechanica fashion. It would take a little more than fire to get through the mechs' defenses, however. She could feel the heat transferred into the mech, but Mini had increased the insulators in the armor so she would be safe from being burned. The worst damage the mech would see was if a few copper wires lost their rubber insulators.
It could cause a short here or there, but the rest of it was insulated against that kind of thing. For the moment, at least, she was safe. If there were any problems, they would appear on the HUD an
d alarms would blare long before they became the kind of issue that would end with her dead or injured.
Jessica13 couldn't move through the town without shock at the extent of the destruction around her. It appeared as though Mini was in a similar situation and they simply proceeded in silence and stared at the carnage. Charred corpses were huddled in sections of the houses where the doors had been jammed shut with metal bars that were now all that remained to indicate the occupants’ imprisonment. A couple of bodies hung out the windows, a sign that those who had attempted to escape had been gunned down.
More bodies littered the streets and she assumed those had tried to run. A couple of mechs had been stripped for parts so she couldn't tell if they had been for defense or merely used in the fields, but they had been stripped before the town was set ablaze.
"Great Prophet," she said softly and shook her head. "How many people died here? How many lived here?"
"Census data is not available," Mini said. "But extrapolating from the size and density of the buildings all around us as well as the population numbers of a city like Auburn, an estimate can be made of at least three thousand people living in this town."
"Three thousand people?" she asked and tried to put it in understandable terms. "That's more than they had at Sanctuary."
"My estimates similarly conclude a minimum of ninety-five percent casualties," he continued. "The fire and the smoke, as well as the systematic execution of those who attempted to flee, leads me to conclude that while the possibility of those escaping the massacre exists, it is rather unlikely. Not many people would be able to survive Athena's cruel but effective message, and not without any mechs or defensive armor."
Jessica13 shook her head. "Athena wouldn't have allowed the people under her domain to have any defense. From what I was able to learn from the people I talked to in Auburn, she tried to push her role as a protector against the pirates and the dangers of Outside. She would have seen anyone who might have attempted to leave her protection as much the same kind of threat as the pirates and could have twisted it to explain her actions against them. In doing this, though, she's revealed herself as more of a threat and an abomination than any pirate could ever be. This isn't a message for the people under her dominion. This is a message for us—or, more specifically, a message for Hammerhand."
"The message appears to be that any further attempt to resist her presence will lead to more deaths," Mini said.
"Yes," she agreed. "Although she has to know that these kinds of extremes will only incite him to work harder to depose her, not stop him."
"Do you think she wants a final showdown with him?" he asked.
"It was something she was deprived of in their first confrontation," Jessica13 said. "If she has the same combative instincts as Hammerhand does, I'll bet she is aching for another attempt."
"I suppose that is a fairly sound assumption, all things considered," Mini agreed as they continued to search the town, although it looked less and less like they might find anyone who might need their assistance. "It would be interesting to know if Hammerhand and Athena are related by blood or if it is a relationship based solely on interpersonal interactions."
"What's the difference?" she asked.
"While looking for data that might assist us, I stumbled across other information that might not be relevant but is interesting. From what I have found, the difference would be that those who feel a necessity to conform to siblings’ expectations are more likely to lash out when the siblings aren't present as well as more likely to hide it when the sibling is present," he said. "It might be a possibility to explore should the two run into each other."
"I have the feeling that them meeting again is almost a foregone conclusion at this point," she said but something distracted her and she narrowed her eyes. "Wait a moment—what is that?"
Mini quickly scanned what appeared to be a structure in front of them, although it wasn't shaped like any kind she had ever seen. It appeared to be a manufacturing building of some kind but something about it rubbed her the wrong way although it was difficult to say what.
"Scans indicate a high level of reinforced steel and titanium," he said. "There are also indications that it might not be a structure at all."
"Then what is it?" Jessica13 asked but her question was answered when the scan results were shown on her HUD. Without the smoke and darkness, it was easy to identify arms, legs, and even a cockpit. "It's a mech."
"Larger than any of those we've seen in this town thus far," he pointed out. "And not stripped for parts."
"Oh, shit." She pressed her comms hastily. "Alert to all Knights Mechanica. We're about to have company."
"What are you talking about?" Windchime asked. Thankfully, their small numbers meant that her teammates were close by, so she knew she’d have help in moments.
"There's a mech here and it's still intact," she said and retreated slowly. It appeared that the larger mech had realized it was being scanned and now began to move. "And it looks like it's getting ready to fight."
"It would be good to note that I pick up more movements across the town," Mini said.
"And I guess those aren't Knights?" she asked and looked around when the activity became visible even without the HUD.
"No," Mini replied simply.
Combat mechs emerged from the hidden corners and crevasses of the town. Most were Lancers, but a couple of Cinders appeared as well. They had been positioned at strategic points along the paths and roads leading in and out and had managed to remain utterly motionless and completely hidden among the smoke and wreckage.
It was, like many had suspected, an ambush but given that they made no effort to attack directly, it seemed it might be designed to trap the Knights inside the town and prevent them from leaving. Which meant that whatever it was they had been caught inside with was the real trap, and Athena didn't want them to escape it.
Jessica13 turned her attention to the mech she’d first seen that activated slowly and straightened to its full size, which resembled that of an Excalibur. It was perhaps a few meters shorter than the one Hammerhand piloted but made up for it with a large ballast around the midsection. It looked rounded and even the limbs had been given extra padding that was almost like armor, which would make it much slower but almost impossible to break through.
"What the fuck is that?" she asked. "There are pieces on it from about seven or eight other mech designs, but it's not based on a central design. It looks like…all those pieces have been put together with tons and tons of armor."
Windchime rushed to her side and gaped as the massive mech activated itself fully and exposed a variety of steam vents across its body, obviously for cooling purposes.
"Holy shit," the man said. "That's a Golem."
"A what?" she asked but he made no reply and instead, quickly called to the other Knights to form up. Hammerhand had engaged a group of Lancers and kept them busy for the moment. He would keep them at bay on his own and let them deal with the other threat, whatever it was.
Mini was quick to answer the question. "Golems are created from whatever scrap can be found. They are dangerous to pilot by a human, which is why they are generally operated by an AI with basic combat programming. They're difficult to destroy but generally not that much of a threat."
"Unless they're about twenty meters tall and carry more armor than your average bunker," she pointed out.
He paused. "Yes, that is correct."
"How the hell will we be able to get through the armor?" Jessica13 asked as Windchime turned to the Knights who had responded immediately to his call. The Golem appeared to be fully activated and moved ponderously out of its hiding place. It crushed the remains of a couple of nearby buildings and released showers of bright yellow sparks that almost suggested a pair of flaming wings.
She gulped instinctively, took a step back, and glanced at her teammates. Windchime positioned them quickly and snapped orders to arrange them in fighting formation. None would engage the massi
ve mech alone or even attack it all out.
"Keep it busy," he said. "Hit it when you can but jump back quickly too. Don't let it get a lock on you."
The others appeared to agree with the tactic. While they were all the bravest fighters she had ever met, none of them would risk their lives unnecessarily. She knew they would follow the orders of Hammerhand, Tinker, and Windchime mostly because they knew there would be no lives risked without reason.
"Jessie, try to keep it distracted but do so from a distance," Windchime said once he’d connected with her over a private line. "And keep any of the other mechs off our backs."
"Understood." She removed her rifle from its place on her back and focused on three Lancers that approached, obviously intending to distract the group from their attack on the Golem.
"It’s time to get to work," Mini said and called up the aiming software.
Jessica13 looked down the scope and used some of the upgrades on the motion sensors to give her a better view of the mechs that moved steadily closer.
"Mini, keep us moving away from them," she said, handing the controls to the AI. "Draw them away from the fight and away from the Knights."
"Understood," he replied and guided the Minato back slowly as she lined up her shot. The Lancers didn't appear to pay her much attention and focused instead on the Knights who had begun to engage the Golem. They quite probably hoped to find easy targets among them and so moved steadily closer while they believed their quarry was distracted.
She took a deep breath, exhaled quietly, and pulled the trigger. Her target was the cockpit area to eliminate the human control of the mech, which would in turn remove most of its combat capabilities.
The Lancer slumped forward since the AI still needed to gain control when the human input ceased, and it was immediately apparent that it was out of sync with the other two. They had already turned to try to identify the origin of the shot fired at them.
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