Tales From The Edge: Emergence
Page 14
In addition to F4H7JJ091, the other Hunter remained operational twenty metres to the north-east, but G9H3RR020 reported major damage to its motor function and heavy fire from a position to its front. There was one Scarecrow high up on the walls of the trainyard, and two Firefly drones airborne. The Hunter received no response from the ID codes off the other 15 bots that had emerged from the robotics bay.
In the absence of the designated controller and access to the Epirian security grid, F4H7JJ091 determined that based on the classification and operational status of the remaining security drones, it had the best capability to organise the defence of the Pike’s Basin train depot. It unpacked the combat analysis from its allies and combined them with the rapidly ageing satellite information.
Three pockets of enemy fire remained. The other Hunter, despite its damage, had the first unit pinned down by its fire. The Scarecrow was tracking the second group of less heavily armoured aggressors and could cover any assault on the depot gates from that direction. The third group was larger and had destroyed both units of Spider Drones that had tried to stop it, and footage from the Fireflies indicated they were preparing a flanking assault on Hunter G9H3RR020, taking advantage of its loss of mobility.
All of this analysis took the Hunter eleven seconds to process, during which time one of the two Firefly drones was hit by enemy fire and disappeared from the grid in a burst of static. Without a Handler to weigh in on its decisions, the Hunter’s own processing unit ran through a series of scenarios, before determining a course of action.
+++ASSESSING TACTICAL OPTIONS… TARGET PRIORITY CONFIRMED.+++
Sending the last Firefly to assist the Scarecrow, the Hunter strode forward, crashing through a pile of fencing that had fallen down in the fighting, and stepping past the bodies of three assailants it had previously dispatched. It pinged a command to the other Hunter, instructing it to use its last strike missile on the unit in front of it, whilst F4H7JJ091 came up behind the flanking unit.
The speed at which F4H7JJ091 approached made loud clanging noises on the concrete. As it rounded a container a spray of energy projectiles splashed into the metal, scorching neat circular holes. F4H7JJ091 tracked three human combatants, turning rapidly to train their carbines on the newly emerged Hunter.
+++TARGETS SIGHTED. PROBABILITY OF PACIFICATION USING MAGLOCK CHAINGUN: 36%. PROBABILITY OF PACIFICATION USING CLUSTER MISSILES: 89%. ENGAGING+++
F4H7JJ091 released the last of its cluster missiles. It had caught the soldiers out of cover on their flanking manoeuvre, and there was no chance that the missiles would miss, streaking into the unit and throwing them in the air like ragdolls. The Hunter’s chaingun barked, cutting the last soldier down with a caseless shell.
The immediate crisis over, F4H7JJ091 began moving towards the other Hunter’s position, but then an update from its communication pings made the warmech stop. It had received no more communications from the other three robots in several minutes. It crested a raised rail track to observe G9H3RR020’s position.
Parts of the other Hunter were strewn across several metres of ground, its torso split asunder, molten metal at the edges of the hole. Its two arms, each with double-mounted suppressor machine guns, had been torn from its body and tossed aside. F4H7JJ091 stopped, studying the remains for signs of the enemy’s location and possible weaknesses.
+++ KNOWN THREATS ELIMINATED. PROBABILITY OF FURTHER TARGETS: 78% SCANNING…+++
A loud shriek from behind spun up F4H7JJ091’s faster reaction processors, sending an additional burst of energy to its servos. It wasn’t quick enough to prevent a pulse of energy splashing into the Hunter’s rear armour burning through the protective plate and sending warning messages up about key internal systems.
The warmech pivoted to face the new attacker. It was even larger than the Hunter, an unidentifiable creature with 12 shapeless limbs. It hurtled towards F4H7JJ091, its elongated maw filling with another burst of destructive energy. The Hunter summoned its last energy reserves, charging its weapons for one final defence of the depot.
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Kayo ran down the tree-lined boulevard that led from the curved spars of the central city towards the transport hub as the space elevator’s descent threw debris across Pike’s Basin, and the sound of battle was punctuated with the crashes of collapsing masonry.
He was now sending messages out on the short-range comm by any means necessary. He’d abandoned all thoughts of recriminations for his misdemeanours, desperate to get support for the depot’s bots. When he finally received a return ID burst, he let out a holler of relief, and hurriedly tapped out a request for support.
A few minutes later a squat armoured prowler pulled up on the boulevard’s central pedestrian walkway, its six chunky wheels tearing dark brown gashes in the grass. A securcon pulled the door open and looked down from the cab.
“Need a ride?”
Kayo didn’t answer, simply swung himself up into the prowler’s front cab. He grabbed the securcon’s arm.
“I need to get to the train depot. Now.”
“So your message said.” The securcon glanced over at his neural interface and Handler suit. “Shouldn’t you be there already?”
“Never mind that!” Kayo gestured at the crumpled remains of the trade ministry halfway down the block, a shard of space elevator cable neatly bisecting its roof. “Do you want our main transport link to the south end up like that? Drive!”
The securcon stepped on the accelerator, fishtailing the prowler back around and speeding off down the boulevard. The ride was bumpy and unpleasant, as the bulky APC dodged abandoned cars and fallen trees, using its bulk to slam smaller objects out of its path. The engine whined and squealed as the securcon pushed it to its limit.
“Hell of a thing, huh?” the driver said, yanking the wheel to squeeze the prowler through a gap in the traffic. There were bangs and annoyed shouts from the rear of the prowler as the other securcons inside got thrown about. “We were out fixing a power line when the whole world starts exploding.”
“It’s crazy,” Kayo managed to say, his hands gripping tightly to the seat to fight the motion of the vehicle. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
The securcon shook his head. “Head Office stopped responding to our calls, even before all this goes down. We’re just a bunch of part-timers watching the city explode, have no idea what’s happening, then this Foreman called Van Needen calls up and tells us there’s a big attack going down at the spaceport, requested support from all units.”
“The spaceport?” Kayo blinked. This was bigger than he thought.
“We were in a big convoy headed that way when your message came in. We got told to come help you out.”
“I hope it isn’t too late,” Kayo muttered, thinking about the dwindling numbers of robots under his command.
The prowler pulled up at the gates of the depot with a squeal of brakes. The rear hatch swung open and the securcons inside leapt out, their maglock rifles trained nervously at every movement. Kayo jumped from the cab, spooling his neural interface back up, pinging the surroundings for signs of electronic life.
“Looks like the excitement’s over,” the driver said, kicking the body of a white armoured soldier.
“But at what cost?” Kayo said, taking in the remains of several of his drones strewn across the plaza. Had the depot fallen? Were the trains and tracks lined with explosives?
A faint signal bounced back from his ping from within the container yard just outside the depot. Ignoring the worried shouts of the securcons, Kayo dashed in that direction, pulling the Dominator pistol from his belt.
When he passed through the gate he was stunned at the devastation. Shipping containers the size of trucks were strewn haphazardly, their frames dented with the impact of large objects. Bodies of enemy soldiers smouldered amidst the wreckage of Firefly and Spider drones, and the destroyed remains of one of the Hunters was spread over such a wide area that Kayo could hardly recognise it.
He followed the signal, he
art thumping at the sight of so much destruction. He found the second Hunter, standing over the tangled body of an eldritch horror, a tangled mess of tentacles and bone, its flesh slowly losing its shape as whatever it was made of seeped into the ground. The Hunter was barely functional, the tattered remains of its left arm hanging by a few cables, a mess of scorched metal making up one side of its body, and great scratches across its head.
On hearing Kayo’s footsteps the Hunter’s remaining sensors flashed and its Chaingun swung slowly towards him, rounds clicking along the ammunition rack. Even this motion seemed like a challenge for its servos, which whined and clicked with the strain.
Kayo ducked instinctively and sent another ID ping, desperately trying to get his control of the warmech back. Was it too damaged to tell him apart from the enemy?
+++CONTROLLER RECOGNISED.+++
The Hunter’s communication came both on his neural interface and, through distorted speakers, in audio form.
“Report.”
+++DEPOT IS SECURE.+++
It flashed him an update of the battle, with icons indicating where Epirian bot and enemy soldier alike had fallen.
+++TWENTY FOUR HOSTILES ELIMINATED, NINETEEN FRIENDLY ID INOPERABLE. ENERGY RESERVES AT THREE PERCENT.+++
Even as it spoke, the Hunter swayed, its limbs getting slower.
+++ORDERS REQUIRED.+++
Kayo stared at the warmech. Despite all the damage it had sustained and the fraction of its power remaining, the bot was still dedicated to defending the depot. He stared at the destruction around him, and the dark clouds of smoke in the sky above. Behind them, the train carriages of the maglev stood pristine, waiting patiently, undamaged, as the securcons swept through to secure the compound. They’d come so close to losing it all.
“Power down,” he told the Hunter. He glanced at its service tag. F4H7JJ091. “Site is secure. Well done, Friday.”
Kayo patted the mech on the shoulder as its systems shut down. He’d been lax in his duties, sneaking off to be with Jena when he should have been here. Maybe if he had been here more of the drones would still be functional. He’d make sure Friday was repaired, even upgraded if he could swing the parts. The Depot was still standing. Kayo would need all the help he could get, if he was going to keep it that way.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Tomas L. Martin is an author and scientist living in Oxford, England. He writes science fiction and magical realism, and his stories have appeared in venues such as Nature Futures, Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show and Digital Science Fiction. When not writing, Tomas is a postdoctoral researcher in Materials Science at the University of Oxford. He manages the atom probe tomography laboratory, analysing materials such as aeroplane engines, nuclear reactors and semiconductor devices at the atomic scale. He has a PhD in chemical physics from the University of Bristol, where he investigated surface dipoles on the surface of synthetic diamond. He is also editor of the scientific journal Materials Today Communications. You can read more about his work at his website www.tomaslmartin.com
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An alumnus of University College, Oxford, Stephen Gaskell holds degrees in physics and artificial intelligence, and divides his time between writing, teaching, and toddler wrangling. His work has appeared in Clarkesworld, Interzone, Years Best Military SF, and elsewhere, and he is currently seeking representation for his debut novel, The Unborn World, a dystopian eco-thriller set in Lagos, Nigeria. As well as helping to develop the Maelstrom's Edge universe, he is Senior Writer at Amplitude Studios, working on their forthcoming 4X strategy title, Endless Space 2. He lives in Paris with his wife and daughter.
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Andrew Everett is an IT professional and avid gamer. Born in 1974, he grew up in Toledo, Pittsburg, San Antonio and Tallahassee before attending college at the University of Florida. His interest in science fiction started at age ten with Larry Niven and Jack L Chalker, and he mocked up his first miniature wargame at the age of 11. Andrew has been writing for his own amusement for 15 years.
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THE MAELSTROM’S EDGE UNIVERSE
Tales from the Maelstrom’s Edge is the first collection of short stories set in the Maelstrom’s Edge universe. In addition to this collection, the first two books in the Battle for Zycanthus series, written by Tomas L. Martin and Stephen Gaskell, Maelstrom’s Edge: Faith and Maelstrom’s Edge: Sacrifice, are available now on Amazon Kindle, at http://amzn.to/2cwsS28
Maelstrom’s Edge is a new science fiction setting, where the far future colonisation of the galaxy’s spiral arm has been halted by the emergence of an apocalyptic wave of destructive energy, the Maelstrom. As worlds and civilisations are torn apart by the Maelstrom’s implacable approach, the people living on the Edge fight for the chance to escape.
The Maelstrom’s Edge miniatures game successfully launched on Kickstarter in June 2015. The first Maelstrom's Edge box set of multipart plastic figures depicts the conflict between the Epirian Foundation and Karist Enclave for the world of Zycanthus, and the game’s ruleset allows for fast-paced, tactical squad-based skirmish combat. Look out for future miniatures and fiction from the universe of Maelstrom’s Edge!
You can read more about the game and universe at:
http://www.maelstromsedge.com
Follow the latest Maelstrom's Edge news and community developments at http://www.thecommguild.com
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