by M. Lorrox
Mary smiles and pets her. “I’ve seen what horrors people have brought upon one another. With modern technology, they’ve killed more people in battles than can possibly be imagined. And now, as we sit on the precipice of a new era, I’m afraid it will only get worse.”
“What new era?”
“Mmm.” Mary nods. “Computers, digital technology, genetic engineering, biological weapons, cyber-warfare, artificial intelligence, microprocessors—all of these things. Although they could be used for the betterment of mankind and usher in an era of peace and equality, I’m afraid people will use these tools to destroy each other—” She looks out the window to the majestic view. “—and further destroy Earth with them. Humans, with their limited lifetime, can be so short-sighted about the changes they’re creating around them. It’s selfish, and it’s wrong.”
July smiles at the sensations she feels: Mary’s heartbeat and breath, the hand that caresses her scalp, and the warmth soaking into her body. Her attempt to frown barely affects her demeanor. “We can hope, though. Maybe it’s finally time that people will change.”
“I’ve seen them fall into the same cycle so many times, and now, with the possibilities these technologies present, I’m fearful of what people may do with these tools.” She looks down at the girl laying against her, and she moves her hand to rub her neck. “But I am still hopeful of the future. After all, what can stop the determined heart and will?”
July purrs. “Let’s hope that nothing can.”
-BANG!- A single shot is fired across the attack boat’s bow.
Hecate drops her head into the cabin. “Sir, we’ve got company.”
Charlie jogs over to her with a fully loaded M4 assault rifle in his arms. “Nice of them to announce themselves. What do we have?”
She shakes her head, hands him a stainless-steel field mirror taped to a Zinner sword, and takes his rifle. “You wouldn’t believe me. Take a look and stay covered.”
The rear hatch of the boat was damaged by the drone explosion that took out the electric cannon’s targeting system. It’s closed as much as it can be, but there’s still a foot-wide gap that remains open. Charlie extends the mirror out the gap and quickly grows frustrated at his inability to angle it properly. “Damn this thing... Wait, what? Is that a walking robot? Oh, I hate their fancy tech.”
Nicolas spots the mirror flash and aims his grenade launcher at it. Through the camera, he zooms in and can make out an eye, looking straight back at him. “SeCComm, I have visual.”
“I see that. We’re monitoring all your systems and video feeds from the command center. I’ll broadcast a warning. Await further orders.”
“Understood.”
Charlie blinks. “That thing has cannons for arms. Guys, get ready for a fight.”
“ATTENTION: I have a message, acknowledge you can hear me.”
Charlie glances over his shoulder. “Hecate, fire a shot into the water.”
She aims the rifle and fires. -Bang!-
“This is Hector speaking, Væir’s head of security. Your intentions have been made clear to us, and you will not succeed. If you want to live, you will leave with your boat immediately and not return. If it is disabled, you will leave all your weapons aboard, and swim to shore.”
Charlie sighs. Waste of time. “It looks like just one robot, but I’m sure it’ll be a bitch to take out. Owen, you finish your toy yet?”
“Almost, sir! Just finishing up the program!”
“Take your time, except don’t.” Charlie hands the Zinner sword and mirror to Hecate, then sticks one hand up through the gap between the hatch and the boat, then the other.
“We won’t fire.”
“Here goes nothing.” Charlie steps onto a crate and extends his head through the gap. Man, look at that thing! It’s strapped with so much gear... Probably really slow. He yells across the water to the shiny walking tank on the shore. “We’re not leaving without July! Ms. Wollstone! And Melgaard’s head!”
“Dr. Melgaard is dead. The uh, girl, killed him. She and Ms. Wollstone are safe. You will leave immediately if you want to live.”
Eddy smiles. July killed Melgaard? Good.
Charlie shakes his head. “Why should we believe you?”
“You have no choice. In sixty seconds, we’ll open fire. Hector out.”
“Wait! Who the hell are you?”
No response.
Charlie drops back into the boat’s cabin and motions to the wall. “The boat’s armor will last a little while, but not forever. Owen, finish that damn jammer, then we can cut off the tower’s signal and shove grenades up that robot’s ass.”
Owen doesn’t look up. “I’m working as fast as I can. I suggest trying to hold it off.”
Hecate tosses Charlie his rifle, then she loads a 40mm grenade into her rifle’s under-barrel launcher. “I loaded a high-explosive round in yours too. Think you can get a clean shot off?”
He slings the rifle over his shoulder. “No, but I bet you can if I go back up. Ready?”
She disengages the modular grenade launcher from her rifle, sets the rifle down, and drops the folding front handle on the grenade launcher. “I’ll fire from beneath your arm. Don’t lower it, or we’ll probably both die.”
“Don’t miss.”
She nods, and he extends a hand up, then the other, then he stands and holds his hands to his mouth. “Hey! Hector! The boat’s fucked! We’ve got casualties! We can’t swim them! We need a raft!”
Hecate has the black barrel of the grenade launcher resting on the top of the hatch door, and she peeks her head up alongside Charlie to aim. She’s careful to keep her neon-green spiked hair hidden in the shadows.
Nicholas doesn’t see her hair, but he does see the heat from her face behind a grenade launcher’s cold barrel in his thermal video feed. “Sir, you’re seeing this?”
“Let them fire. Your CRAM-IT system is active. Show them you can take the hit.”
“Yes, sir.” Nicholas holds his breath. Hope it’s all it’s cracked up to be...
Hecate fires, and Nicholas’ reactive armor system identifies the threat and its vector, then positions a ceramic armor plate to deflect the blast.
-BOOM!-
Charlie smiles. “Direct hit!”
Hecate drops back into the cabin and loads another shell. Nuthin’ says done like a double tap.
“Oh shit.” The smoke settles, and Charlie sees a black mark on a square plate held out in front of the robot. “It blocked it!”
Hecate shakes her head. “What?”
Hector’s voice, once again, plays through a speaker. “In twenty seconds, we’ll fire back. Toss out your weapons or die.”
Charlie swallows and swivels his rifle up and into firing position. He aims the grenade launcher attached under the M4’s barrel at the ground between the machine’s shiny legs and fires. -BOOM!-
This time, instead of smoke, there’s a blast of sand. In a flash, Charlie switches back to the rifle’s trigger, and he opens up at his target. -Brrriittt! Brrriittt! Brrriittt! Brrriittt!-
The smoke and sand settles, and three marred plates are now held in front of the machine. It raises its arm with the attached machine gun, aims at Charlie’s head, and fires. -BRRRRRRRT!-
Charlie collapses into the cabin, barely avoiding the bullets that rip through the air above the hatch’s opening. “Shit, this thing’s tough.” Then the boat vibrates with the rapid impacts of a new volley of bullets against the rear gate, and all the vampires inside hold their ears at the intense sound.
Ghost grabs Charlie and Hecate, and she pulls them away from the door and to the ground. “Stay down, you fools!”
Again, another blast of bullets slams into the same place on the rear hatch. Ghost winces and glances at the bulging spot. “Owen, tell me you’re ready.”
His fingers h
ave never typed faster, and he hits return. The program is installed on the jammer, and he yanks the cable from it. “Got it!” He stands and tosses the weapon to Ghost. “Just aim it and pull the trigger.”
“Fine. Cover me!”
Charlie and Hecate go to either side of the gap and hold their guns out, then fire wildly. They miss entirely, but in that time, Ghost jumps on the crate, sticks her head and the jammer out the gap, aims, and pulls the trigger. A green LED glows.
On the shore, the robot lowers its gun arms for a moment.
In SeCComm’s command center, the monitoring screens go dark. Hector slams his coffee cup down on his desk. “What the fuck just happened?”
A shaky voice answers from the bullpen below. “I’m not sure, but it might be a short in the—”
“JUST FIX IT GODDAMN IT!”
“Yes, sir!”
Ghost keeps the jammer aimed at the machine on the shore and the trigger held in. “Hit it!”
Charlie and Hecate both fire grenades at the walking machine, then follow up with a volley of bullets.
It blocks all the attacks, and before the smoke settles, it raises the machine gun and fires.
-GTKGTKGKTGKTGKTGKTT!- The hatch vibrates with a fresh blast of bullets smashing into its side. Ghost lets go of the jammer’s trigger and drops inside. “It didn’t work!”
Owen shakes his head and huffs. “It should!”
Hecate drops in and wipes her eyes. Charlie withdraws and groans. “I think I need a new pair of pants.”
-BRRROOOM! BRRROOOM! BRRROOOM!- The boat quakes as three explosive-tipped grenades slam into the back gate toward the top corner.
Ghost points. “It’s bending the door in!”
On the shore, Nicholas advances closer, aims at the widening gap between the hatch and the cabin, and switches grenade belts. His system loads a programmable airburst grenade, and the computer sets the fuse so the bomb will explode right when it reaches the boat.
He aims above the opening and fires.
Mary and July sit in a pair of chairs beside each other, looking out the windows. A bird flies from the north side of the surrounding mountain to the south, crossing their view. The iridescent black feathers on its short wings flash in the sun, while every beat reveals a lacy white collar. Mary motions to it. “That bird, it’s a Tui. They’re very intelligent and can imitate speech like a parrot.”
July watches it as it passes. “She’s beautiful.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“How do you know its name?”
“I spent a few years here on the south island, oh, well over a hundred years ago. Those birds were everywhere—you could hear them… You know, I’m curious what you think about something. Why would those birds have evolved the ability to mimic speech?”
July shrugs. “I don’t know, but there must have been some advantage. Right?”
“Some believe the skill helps the birds identify a region, like a dialect. Or to allow them to identify other members of their flock because each flock might use their vocalization in slightly different ways. Others say it’s to allow the birds to mimic the calls of their own predators—so they’re left alone by any real predators in the area.”
“Mimicking a predator to go unnoticed... I guess that’s like the opposite of playing possum... Amazing.”
“Evolution certainly is, and like you were saying, it’s usually due to a group experiencing some advantage over another. Usually it’s to adapt to a new environment, but not always.” She swallows. “July, earlier, when you changed, did you choose that form to change into?”
July shrugs. “My spirit animal is a wolf, and that’s what I change into.”
“Hmm...” Mary grins. “Did you know that domesticated dogs and wolves evolved from a common ancestor?”
“No, I guess I figured dogs evolved from wolves or something.”
“They didn’t, but it’s interesting how plausible that false notion is. Modern dogs seem more approachable than the ancient wildness of wolves, and it seems like maybe they evolved from that ancient wildness to adapt to a changing environment.” She shrugs her shoulder. “But, it’s not the case. They were both wild at one point.”
“Then people domesticated the dogs, right?”
“Actually, some researchers believe that dogs domesticated themselves so they could live with humans. Isn’t that a funny twist on evolution?”
July imagines cavemen and women in loincloths, and a shaggy dog watching them from the distance.
“The dogs had better access to food around people, gained praise by protecting them from other animals, and over time, they morphed their packs to include people. People, in kind, changed how they lived to include dogs, and ever since, dog has been man’s best friend.”
July just stares. I wonder if I could have a pack. Who would they be? Would that be my new family?
Mary shakes her head. “Since then, dogs—as a species—haven’t really evolved much; there wasn’t a need. And people changed their way of life because of the advantages the dogs provided, but now, we’ve mastered the world, haven’t we? There’s not much need in evolution anymore, is there?”
July frowns. “I guess it would be hard now.”
Mary gasps. “I just realized something. Without a reason for people to evolve into something greater—something wiser—they might go the way of the dog. Yes…they are. They’re domesticating themselves too, to technology.”
July tilts her head. “But people make the technology...”
“Yes, and I think they’re enslaving themselves to it... You wouldn’t believe what it was like to live a thousand years ago. Everything was different. People were stronger, they worked harder, they respected the bounty nature provided. What do they respect now?”
Mary turns and glances around the large room, from the cameras with gun turrets in the corners, to the remains of the scientist on the floor. She chuckles. “More transistors packed into processors, bigger profits from raping the land, larger buildings, faster internet, better drugs.” She shudders. “That’s the only way they could control me, drugs. You too probably. You were unconscious when they brought you in here.”
July grimaces, remembering the feeling when Melgaard put the drugs in her IV back in his lab at the Pentagon. I didn’t even feel it this last time, when that bastard Johannes did...whatever he did. It had to be drugs. She subdues a convulsion. “That feeling of not being in control, it’s terrible.”
“Yeah, it is... The technology they control is trapping us.” She glances at July. “I mean, without it, how could they possibly hold us prisoner? You know how strong you are, and I’m not to be trifled with either... But, nonetheless, we’re their latest victims. We’re their prizes, their lab-rats.” She shakes her head.
July frowns. “I was a victim, but not anymore.” She tilts her head to Mary. “I’m not trapped here, I’m waiting.”
Mary smiles. “I wish I had your…optimism.”
“I’m not being optimistic, I’m being real. Charlie and the others—they’re coming. When they arrive, the waiting will be over, then we’ll go home.”
“Home.” Mary smiles. “I have vivid memories of the homes I’ve lived in, over many lifetimes... It was beautiful. People lived in peace with their environment back then... Say, if you don’t mind my asking, your features look Native American if I’m not mistaken.”
“Yes. Aniyunwiya… Cherokee.”
“Your ancestors lived with, and in, the environment. They were part of it, whereas now, it’s a separate thing. Today, nature like this—” She motions out the window. “—is preserved into parks that people can travel to. They can book a flight on their phone, watch movies while they travel thousands of miles in luxury, then visit nature.” She sighs. “Listen to me go on and on about nothing—nothing important anyway. It’s just sad to me, to see the way the world h
as changed.”
July nods, thinking of her grandfather when she visited him at the reservation. Nobody lives like the tribes did, not anymore. “You’re right; people have really changed. It is sad.”
Mary glances at July and smiles. “Would you... Never mind.”
She looks up. “What?”
Mary purses her lips and swallows. “I’m nervous about what will happen next. Someone is probably going to be coming in soon, and what if they try to drug us again? I know you can fight back, but...I can’t.” She frowns.
“I’ll protect you.”
Mary smirks. “Thank you.”
“You were going to ask me something...?”
She nods. “I was thinking maybe I could pet you and sing that song for you again... But it’s silly, we can just keep talking.”
July scoots closer to Mary, then she leans on her. “No, it’s not silly. I’d like it too.”
Mary smiles. “Thank you, my dear. Will you grab me another pint of blood first, though? I’m feeling a little weak still.”
-BOOM! Ting, ting, ting, ting, ting!- An airburst grenade explodes over the partially closed hatch door, sending shrapnel in all directions, including inside the cabin.
Charlie looks up from where he dove. His head is inches from Balena’s. Oh. He gets up. “Everyone alright? We need a plan, or we’re buzzard meat.” He looks at each of his team members: Balena still lays on her stomach; Hecate also jumped, but Ghost caught her; and Eddy sits against the wall beside Owen.
Balena pushes herself up with an arm. “It’s only a matter of time before the hatch fails, and when it does, just one of those airburst shells exploding inside could take us all out.”
Charlie shakes his head. “Okay, say we go outside, but then what? Dodge its bullets until it’s out of ammo?”
-BOOM!- Another high-explosive grenade hits the upper corner of the hatch door, bending it further.
Eddy stands. “We blow it up.”
Charlie shakes his head. “You didn’t see it, it has armor plates it holds up.”
