by Terry Mixon
“We had no choice in where we went when we escaped the horde city. You have every option in how you react to our presence and in how you help or hinder us in our actions against the AI.
“If we do this, you let us go. No other little tasks you want us to do. Once and done. Then we’re friends, not intruders.”
Almost everyone around her was aghast at how she’d confronted Mordechai. It was a risk but one that needed to be taken. If they just did everything he said, they’d never be free of the old man. No, there had to be a line drawn in the sand.
If her words disturbed Leader Mordechai, he didn’t show it. He only smiled at her response.
“I suppose it’s good to have limits on one’s behavior. Now that we’ve settled what the limits are on what we’ll each tolerate, I suggest that we get back to the problem at hand. My city will only have this one opportunity to take a quantum leap toward getting its old technology functional again.
“You don’t understand what it’s like living next to the horde city. Those people are monsters in human form. If you think we’re xenophobic, then you don’t know them very well. We don’t wantonly torture or kill.
“I needed to make clear to you that armed resistance would have severe repercussions so that you wouldn’t feel the desire to try to use your greater strength to try and overpower us. Our two groups can work together to achieve something that neither alone could do. Perhaps you haven’t considered the options thoroughly.
“If power can be restored to Frankfort, that means that power can be used to reenergize the old trains that once carried people and cargo from city to city. Traveling over the surface to escape the area is asking to be chased down and murdered by the horde. What if you could just climb aboard a train and take it all the way to your destination?
“I don’t know for a fact that the tunnels lead directly to the Imperial Palace, but the old stories certainly talk about them reaching Imperial City. Even though that wondrous place no longer exists, I’d wager that coming out of the ground near Imperial City would put you within striking distance of the Imperial Palace. Wouldn’t you agree?”
That was certainly something to think about. Julia raised an eyebrow at Carl, who shrugged. He wasn’t saying that it could be done, but he wasn’t rejecting the idea out of hand. That meant that it was a possibility that they could cut the trip that would’ve taken them half a year down to a day, or perhaps even a few hours. That would certainly be better than walking the entire distance and fighting whoever they interacted with.
Still, even if they could restore one of the trains to functionality, the tunnel might be blocked, or the train might run out of power partway. Would the air inside the tunnels be toxic? She had no idea.
But she supposed that it was worth examining in greater detail, and that meant that they had to have power in order to check out the systems on the trains themselves.
“I think we can probably stop throwing threats around at one another,” Mertz said, cutting into the conversation. “You’re right that that would help us greatly in our mission, so we’re going to help you get your fusion plant back online, so long as it’s not going to draw the attention of the AI.
“That’s one thing we have to avoid at all costs, particularly now that it knows we’re down here. That kinetic strike destroyed our pinnaces, but you can bet that it’s examining the general area with whatever resources it can bring to bear. It’s going to look at this city and at the horde city, too.
“If it thinks we’re here, it might be inclined to drop another kinetic strike on Frankfort just to be sure. That would be the death of all of your people, and we’ve got to avoid that. Right now, it can’t be sure. We’ve got to keep it that way.”
Mordechai opened his mouth to respond, but the door opened abruptly. One of the guards stepped into the room and bowed slightly. “Leader Mordechai, something is happening at the horde city. It looks like a number of their warriors are exiting their walls and heading toward Frankfort.”
The older man stood. “It looks as if some of our options have just been taken off the table. The horde must believe that you have fled to our city. You’ve definitely kicked over the anthill, and now they seem determined to sting you. I will allow that the kinetic strike may have also played a role in uniting them.
“They will regret that decision quite soon, but even though they’re monsters, they’re canny fighters. The defense of Frankfort is going to be important. I ask that you contribute your three trained fighters to my forces.
“If you would like to use your enhancements to your benefit, now would be the time to do so. If we don’t stop them, not only are you again at risk of death, but you can rest assured that they’ll never let you escape the area and complete your mission.”
Mertz nodded grimly. “Talbot, you and Lieutenant Laird will assist with the scouting and in any other way that the local forces request. You actually have full military training, so it makes more sense for you to be on the sharp end of the stick.”
He turned toward Julia. “You have the ability, but no training. I’d prefer that you help Carl. His work is going to be important, and your augmentation could save him if something goes wrong.”
Mertz turned toward Leader Mordechai. “Kelsey has skill with swords and her augmentation. She could directly join your defenses. I’d like to request that the three that will be fighting be returned their weapons.
“I understand that you’re concerned about whether or not we’re going to stay under your control, so I’m not asking that the rest of us be rearmed.”
The older man nodded at once. “I agree. The remainder of you can stay down here. There are additional quarters available that we can station guards at, but the odds of the enemy incursion reaching this level are small.
“You can assist your technical people in preparing for their mission. If I understand what they need correctly, they’ll want to search for specialized equipment that might be refurbished. We can send individuals to escort you, so your time will not be wasted.”
Julia wasn’t sure how she felt about being kept out of the fighting. She knew that she didn’t have the skills that Kelsey had, and so part of her was grateful that she wouldn’t be directly involved.
The other part of her was still filled with rage and wanted to kill as many of the horde warriors as possible. That part of her was severely disappointed.
It was difficult to balance those emotions, so she didn’t even try. If the incursion was as strong as they’d indicated, she’d get her chance to spill the enemy’s blood at some point. She’d never be able to kill enough of them to pay them back for what they’d done, but she sure hoped that she had the opportunity to try.
For now, she had to focus on helping Carl do what he needed to do to earn their freedom. No matter how dangerous and foolhardy that turned out to be.
When their captors returned his weapons, Talbot accepted them gratefully. He really wished that he had something more modern, considering that the horde just never seems to stop coming, but he’d take what he could get.
Arming them showed a promising level of trust. He hoped Kelsey and Admiral Mertz could transition that into something more solid once this little problem was dealt with.
Talbot had used “little problem” intentionally, minimizing what he knew was going to be a significant incursion. If the horde felt it necessary to enter a place like the abandoned megacity, there would be a lot of them. This place’s reputation demanded they use as many warriors as they could lay hands on.
Talbot wondered what that meant for the power struggle inside the horde city. After Kelsey had destroyed their palace and probably killed most of their leadership, there’d been fires scattered throughout the city and signs of fighting. They’d seen that from the towers. That had probably meant different groups had been vying for control of the horde and literally killing off the competition.
The fact that the horde was now invading Frankfort meant they’d almost certainly settled that p
articular struggle. Someone was in charge now, and he had blood in his eye.
Talbot’s group consisted of Chloe and two guards, a man and a woman. The man identified himself as Richard and the woman as Lydia. No last names were given. Based on how well the two worked together, he suspected they were a couple.
The four of them entered a ruined building that was maybe a quarter of the size of the large tower they’d been in before. It was still a significant structure, but it was nowhere near the league of the big boys.
What it did possess was an unobstructed view down a broad boulevard that had once been a major thoroughfare in the city. Talbot could imagine the wide gap filled with grav cars moving in regimented order through the sky between the buildings as people went about their daily lives or walked through the gardens that once filled the ground level.
That sort of thing was still relatively new on Avalon, but he’d seen recordings of Imperial City, and it was truly mind-boggling. Imperial City had once housed over a billion people. Frankfort was much smaller but still far more extensive than anything on Avalon.
The four of them went up the stairs and only stopped when they reached the fiftieth floor. They were maybe halfway to the top of the structure. The door to the stairwell led them into what had once been a wide corridor, but the walls had decayed, giving occasional glimpses into the rooms beyond.
Their guards led them to windows, where they could see down the boulevard. These, like many others in the city, had been shattered by the nearby kinetic strike. Thankfully, there’d been no rain since the event, so there were only the glass fragments on a dry floor to deal with. Slipping in this could be very bad.
A quick search found an ancient broom that they could use to clean the small area where they’d be lying low and watching for the enemy. Once all four of them were stretched out on the floor, Talbot glanced at Richard and Lydia.
“What are we expecting? We’re going to have a decent view of them coming, but we’re so high off the ground that we’re not going to be useful against them.”
“With only four of us, that’s probably a good thing, don’t you think?” Lydia asked. “All we’re doing is gathering information. You may not have seen it, but there’s a mechanical telephone back at the stairwell.
“Basically, it’s run by batteries that we charge via solar power and capable of sending short-range transmissions down a hard line that we’ve run underground. When we do, the leadership will decide where our major forces will strike. We’re their eyes.”
“What we need to do is give our leaders some decent information,” Richard said in agreement. “The horde usually sends about thirty or forty people when they want to scavenge. That’s not a problem if we can ambush them in a worthwhile manner.
“Even so, horde warriors make terrible prisoners. Most of them would rather die fighting than surrender. Even those we do capture alive will do their damnedest to force us to kill them. Frankly, it’s better for everyone if we just end them in an overwhelming ambush.
“This is going to be a very different kind of fight. They’re coming in force, and that means there’s going to be hundreds of them in any group. Maybe thousands. We have plans in place to deal with a full invasion, but we’ve never had to execute them. What did you people do to piss them off?”
Talbot shrugged slightly. “As part of our escape, we brought the roof down on their treasure vault, and their castle collapsed with it. So not only did they lose all the treasures they had stored down there, but they lost their honchos.
“Based on the look I got at the city earlier, they were having some kind of succession war. Now that they’ve settled it, they’ve obviously decided that we came here, and they want to get us. I’m kind of surprised that you haven’t at least considered handing us over to them to make this problem go away.”
The man gave him a shrug in return. “Leader Mordechai doesn’t cooperate with intruders. Well, until your arrival, at least. He’ll never give in to the horde, though.”
“I see something,” Chloe said. She’d kept her focus on the ground below.
Talbot used his optic augmentation to zoom into the area she was watching. There were indeed a bunch of warriors creeping through the open ground between trees and high grass that had grown up over the century since the AI had suppressed Terra.
It was hard to get a firm count when you couldn’t see the enemy clearly, but he suspected he was looking at a minimum of forty people moving through the foliage. They’d just entered the boulevard and were quite a distance away. He passed that information on to their guards.
The two guards seemed impressed. From this range, they probably couldn’t see the enemy at all, much less count them. He was surprised that Chloe had seen anything. She didn’t have any ocular augmentation, so she must’ve had truly excellent vision.
He was about to say something along those lines when the movement at the end of the boulevard increased significantly. It seemed that those forty were scouting for a larger force, and soon the number of people moving through the foliage left little doubt that there were hundreds of horde warriors down there.
When they finally broke into sight, Talbot saw that none of them were mounted. These were infantry. They had bows out, swords at their hips, and were moving in a well-drilled formation. They looked as if they were expecting an ambush.
He supposed being evil bastards didn’t mean they had to be incompetent or cowardly. Pity.
Talbot passed that information along, and Lydia excused herself to go report. He turned his attention to Richard.
“How are you going to handle that many people? Do you have a large enough force to attack something like that?”
The man smiled grimly. “Just because we’ve lost the old technology doesn’t mean we’re helpless. We have a few tricks up our sleeves that will hurt them.
“My concern is that this isn’t their only incursion. If they’re really coming in force, they’ll have sent every warrior they could muster. Many of the people that became the horde were expelled from Frankfort because they weren’t suitable to have as neighbors.
“They’ve long wished to regain what they believe we stole from them. We’ve been preparing for this day for many years. We won’t lose this fight.”
Talbot certainly hoped the man was right because if the city fell, they were in real trouble. They’d never escape overland now that they’d stirred the hornets’ nest. Their only hope of survival was getting the fusion plant online and taking a train toward the water-filled crater where Imperial City once stood.
Based on the information he had in his implants, there would probably be a station within a hundred kilometers of the Imperial Palace if there wasn’t a trunk line that would take them most of the way to their ultimate destination. Supplies had obviously needed to get to the palace, and not all of them would come in via grav car.
Of course, none of those plans would mean anything unless they survived this fight.
Talbot didn’t know what the city’s defense plans were, but he vowed to make sure they succeeded. With the capabilities that his Marine Raider implants and augmentation gave him in a fight like this, he might be able to make a real difference.
He only hoped that Kelsey would be okay in the brewing fight. If she fell, it would be like he’d been killed, too.
11
Jared opened a metal door set into the wall of the passage. Its faded markings identified it as containing emergency supplies. If it was like the others he’d seen today, it wouldn’t have been disturbed in the last century.
They held basic medical kits, air bottles, face masks that covered the nose and mouth, and other emergency gear that might be required in an area where industrial equipment was in operation.
The priority for him was air, though he did take the medical supplies as well since he figured that Lily was going to need as much help as she could get once the fighting actually started.
She had a full kit, but if they had hundreds of casualties, that wo
uld use up the supplies they had on hand almost immediately. The Imperial medical establishment had made supplies that would last for decades, and even though these were far beyond their expiration dates, many of them were still useful to her.
The air bottles were more problematic. Some still claimed they had a full charge, but most had lost some or all of their contents over the intervening years. Probably one tenth of the ones that Jared had found had a full charge. Of the rest, maybe thirty percent had anywhere from twenty-five percent to seventy-five percent. The remainder were empty or only held a fraction of a charge.
They’d have to test the equipment to make sure that it worked before they relied on it to keep someone safe. If anyone could determine how functional this gear was, it was Carl and Austin. Between the two of them, they understood the mechanical side of Old Empire tech very well.
Jared had found a wheeled cart that he was using to hold his haul. It was just about full, so he turned back the way he’d come.
He hoped the others had found more bottles because even those that were rated as full would only last for fifteen to twenty minutes, and if multiple people were going to work down below, they’d need a lot of them.
Since there’d be four people going down—Carl, Austin, Ralph, and Julia—they’d need four times the air. Thankfully, Julia could haul quite a bit, though he doubted that she’d enjoy being the group’s pack mule.
Carl and the others in the technical squad were busy testing bottles and masks when he arrived back in the air handler room. They were making notations on each cylinder with different colored markers. He noted that perhaps half of what had been brought back was simply thrown into a bin. Their lack of care with them meant that the discards weren’t going to be useful.
“All right, I’ve got my first load,” he said as he pushed his cart up to them and started unloading it. “How’s it looking?”
Carl glanced over as he tossed another bottle into the disposal bin. “The gauges are unreliable. Basically, if it says its below fifty percent, it’s probably useless. If it says that it’s around seventy-five percent, it’s probably going to have maybe ten minutes’ worth of air. If it says it’s full, fifteen minutes is all that we can count on.
