by Wesley Chu
The hallways here were packed with savages racing around like mice. Waves of them charged at her even as dozens more opened fire with whatever weapons they had on hand. The initial volley that struck her shield caused her exo to light up the darkened hallway. She saw blaster fire, wrist beams, projectiles, even a primitive arrow burst into flames as it struck the white glowing surface of the shield. Each of the hits caused an expanding ring from the point of impact. The concentrated fire became so dense, she couldn’t see outside the flashes of her exo.
Kuo checked her levels. They were already at 81 percent. The battle was actually taking a toll. She turned her attention to the barricade and was suddenly flung to the side. She crashed into the wall with extreme force. Her exo wavered for a second as she readjusted her levels. Down to 68 percent. What had just hit her?
She glanced down the hall and saw a large black cannon mounted on a wagon. If she didn’t know better … No, that was a fusion cannon designed to be mounted on top of Valkyries. How did these savages get ahold of that? More importantly, how did they manage to find the energy to power the weapon?
She had far underestimated these savages’ capabilities. Well, no matter. Kuo launched herself straight at the cannon, bowling over bodies as if they weren’t there. She had to be careful. Chances were, the scientist she sought wasn’t among the crowd, but she couldn’t leave anything to chance. Kuo reached the cannon and created a white trunk. She wrapped it around the cannon and lifted it in the air, floating it with her as she made her way back to the barricade. Dozens of small sparks lit up the edges of her shield as small electrical bursts continued to chip away at her exo.
She hurtled straight at the barricade. She aimed for its center and released the long black cylinder-shaped weapon. The resulting explosion sent an expanding ring of pressure that bowled over the unfortunate savages in the vicinity. It was followed by a rolling cloud of fire and smoke that swept over her. For several seconds, she watched from inside the perfect sphere of the shield as smoke and flames curled around its edges. Outside it, the savages screamed in panic as fiery debris rained down all around them. A moment after that, her shocker pod was through, and then the real massacre began.
Kuo, still hovering five meters above, watched as her forces fanned out in their phalanxes in small lines. These particular shock pods specialized in riot control, and that was what these savages were. Nothing more than a rabble of barbarians charging against better-disciplined, better-trained, and better-armed professional soldiers. Within minutes, her forces had acquired a foothold in one of two main entrances. Within five, though outnumbered ten to one, they were pushing the savages back.
She stayed high above ground, overlooking the battle. It was dark up there and most of the savages had quickly forgotten her, especially with the massively armored white shockers bearing down on them.
Her levels were already lower than she had anticipated this early into the fight, but her involvement in this phase of the operation was no longer necessary. Ten minutes later, two monitor squads arrived from the north, followed by three from the west. She pulled the shocker pod back to rest and ordered the monitors to clean up the leftovers. The shockers would be needed elsewhere.
Within two hours, most of the heavy fighting on the thirty-fourth floor was over. Kuo walked down the hall, inspecting the results. The shockers were at 65 percent strength, which was surprising. She had lost forty-nine in the initial attack. The enemy, however, must have lost three hundred here, if not more. There were so many bodies lying about, it was hard to keep track.
She stood over the body of the captain and then looked over at the next man down the line. “You’re pod captain now. When will your men be ready to move again?”
“Within the twenty, Senior.” He saluted.
She nodded and dismissed him. One of the monitor squads canvassing the floor brought out an old man from one of the back rooms. They dropped him at her feet. One look at him told Kuo this man was more important than the usual rabble.
“Your name?” she asked.
“I am Teacher Crowe. You are standing in my home. Allow me to offer you a seat.” He picked himself up and looked around, sadness painted on his face. “There will be many ghosts here tonight. Does this slaughter bring you the satisfaction you seek?”
Kuo ignored the question. “Where is the temporal anomaly? The scientist?”
“I do not know what you speak of. Please. Allow me to offer you a seat.”
“The woman. Elise, the one from the past.”
The old man shook his head again. “I do not know what you speak of. Allow me to offer you a—”
Kuo grabbed him by the front of the shirt and dragged him across the room to where the survivors of the battle—roughly two hundred of these primitives—were sitting on the floor. She threw him to the ground. She took a sidearm from the nearest trooper and pointed it at the nearest savage. “Tell me what I want to know or I start shooting these people one by one.”
“I do not know what you speak of. Please. Allow me to offer you a seat.”
Kuo pulled the trigger, striking a woman in the chest. “Let’s try this again.”
The old man struggled to keep his head high as tears fell down his face. Somehow, he managed to smile. “I do not know what you speak of. Allow me—”
She pulled the trigger again, this time shooting an injured young man. “His blood is on your hands, Teacher. In fact, if you tell me what I want, my army and I will be gone within the hour. We will leave you in peace. What do you say?”
Pain wracked the old man’s face as he bowed his head. He squeezed his eyes shut, his body quivering. Kuo was getting impatient. Dozens of battles were still raging all around the block and she still had to locate the temporal anomaly.
She pulled the trigger five times, killing five more prisoners. Each time, the old man repeated the same phrase. Finally, Kuo turned the gun on him. “This is your last chance. The fate of more than you hangs in the balance today. I will rest easy regardless of what you say, so do not push me, old man. Tell me where this woman is.”
Crowe wiped his face with a bloody sleeve. He turned his back to her and stared for a long time at his people, sitting on the floor. They all looked back at him. He smiled and nodded.
“I am Teacher Crowe of the Flatirons tribe. Allow me to offer you a seat.”
Kuo pulled the trigger, and his body fell to the floor. Irritated, she looked over at the lead monitor. “Kill them all.”
His mouth dropped and he took a step back. “Securitate, they’ve all been disarmed. They’re prisoners. We don’t—”
She created a trunk and picked up the monitor by the neck, lifting him off the ground. “I don’t know how your nonprofit agency runs your operations,” she spat, “but Valta military does not tolerate insubordination. Do you understand me, Lead Monitor, or do I have to publicly execute you to set an example of how a real military behaves?”
“Yes, Securitate,” he managed.
“Senior,” Ewa said, trotting up to her. “Most of this floor has been secured, save for the four primary stairwells and small pockets of resistance. Scouts are reporting from the adjacent buildings. Fighting is heavier than anticipated, but we should have them all secured by nightfall.”
“Any signs of the temporal anomaly?”
“Not yet.”
Kuo pulled up the blueprint of the building on her AI module. “Take a team up to the seventy-ninth floor. The traitor says the temporal anomaly has a high probability of being there.”
“Your will, Senior.”
Kuo watched as Ewa left with her pod. Then she looked at the lead monitor, still dangling from her trunk. His arm flailed at the translucent white bonds wrapped around his neck. His face was turning a deep crimson. She dropped him and watched as he gasped for breath.
“See to my orders, Lead Monitor, or I will find someone who can.”
Kuo turned around and motioned for the shock pod to follow as she headed to the opposite end
of the massive floor. Pockets of savages were still fighting in small groups and had to be cleaned up. She was about to leave this section of the floor when she paused, and waited.
Then she heard it, the lead monitor’s voice. “All right, boys. Let’s get this bullshit over with. Squad one, line the prisoners up in a row.” His voice cracked. “On my mark.”
Following orders was important. If you allowed disobedience once, you invited disobedience again. Kuo powered on her exo and shot toward the sound of the nearest battle.
FIFTY-TWO
THE FREE NATION
Elise watched as Bria picked up Sasha and scurried to the higher levels. She could tell that James was fighting the urge to follow them. There was another explosion. The building groaned and swayed as dust drizzled from the ceiling. People screamed. Somewhere below, a baby wailed. So much pain and suffering in the air. Elise couldn’t help but feel responsible for all of it. She had to do something, but what?
James grabbed her by the shoulder. “You should go, too. Hide in the blood corn fields. I’ll find you when this is over.”
“No, she replied. “You go. She’s your sister, James. I can’t hide while everyone else fights and dies for this thing I started.” She didn’t give him a chance to reply as she bounded down the stairs.
He caught up with her and spun her around. “Elise, please. They’re looking for you. Look at the big picture. You’re the key to everything. You’ll be no use in the fight, and you’re definitely no use to anyone dead. Stay alive and find a way to cure the Earth Plague.”
She knocked his hand away. “Don’t start with me, James. Help me or get out of my way.”
She reached the fifty-sixth floor, where a large crowd of the Elfreth had gathered. It was chaotic. Most of the guardians were on one side of the floor near their headquarters, equipping weapons and waiting and organizing into groups. The war chief was barking orders, but looked frazzled.
She pulled him to the side. “Eriao, are you all right?”
He nodded, but she could tell he was flustered, sucking in deep breaths as he spoke. “The Co-ops have found us. Couriers report fighting in every building. The Flatirons are trying to hold the barricade floor as we speak. Several floors in between also report enemy units. Many of the team aren’t here yet and,” he pointed at the other end of the room, “we have to move the rest of the tribe to safety.”
“Take a deep breath,” she said. “One thing at a time.”
“You should be taken to safety,” he said. “I’ll have a team of guardians escort you to the higher floors.”
“Don’t you start, too,” she snapped. “And no escorts for me. I want all the guardians fighting and saving lives.”
Eriao looked grim. “Without backup, it’s only a matter of time before we fall. Since the initial attack, we’ve been cut off from the other buildings.”
She swore. The situation was worse than she expected. “We need to hold the stairwells,” she instructed. “Organize the guardians. I’ll handle the civilians.”
“They will be ready soon, Oldest.”
Elise looked back as Eriao walked to the mass of guardians milling around the floor. She had doubts he could get everyone under control. Well, he was her war chief, so she had to trust him to do his job. For now, she had her own job to do. She ran to the other side, where the civilians huddled together. Many seemed in shock from the rumbling and shaking of the building. Others were only half dressed, some still blinking the sleep from their eyes.
Elise climbed on a chair and shouted instructions at the top of her lungs. Fortunately, everyone on this side of the floor followed directions a lot better than the guardians. Within a few minutes, she had split them into groups and assigned each to a separate, higher floor to hide in the farming fields. She didn’t know where the enemy was, so wanted to spread the groups out as much as possible.
She looked back at the other side of the room and winced. Eriao was not getting the guardians under control. She hopped off the chair and went to help him. The poor man looked utterly lost as he tried to merge partial teams with other partial teams, and pairing the teams without leaders to others without a team.
She tapped him on the shoulder. “Elder Eriao—”
An explosion rocked the building, and then all the windows on the east side of the floor shattered. Eriao pulled her down as glass shards blew inward. A Valkyrie hovered just outside, strafing the side of the building indiscriminately, mowing down anyone who was unfortunate enough to get in its crosshairs. A few brave guardians crept up to the window and returned fire. Their bullets bounced harmlessly off its hull.
She watched in horror as the attack ship finished pivoting and came back, spraying more red-lit death across the floor. Pieces of hot metal, plaster, and concrete exploded and melted all around them. A testament to their courage, the badly outgunned guardians tried to attack the ship. One of them charged forward, only to be cut clean through the waist, spraying blood across the floor. Several more who made it to the windows shot at the ship ineffectually with their rifles.
A large blast to the flank of the hovering ship suddenly tilted it sharply to the side. Another followed, spinning it around. The ship tried to pull up, but a third blast knocked it into the side of the building. It bounced off the wall, taking out another set of windows, and then careened down into the fog. She looked off to the side as James, holding a big, wicked-looking gun almost as long as she was tall, leaned over the edge of the building and studied his handiwork.
Satisfied, he turned and addressed the room. “Valkyries are heavily armored in the front and rear. Their sides, though, are easy to crack open.” He hefted the big gun in his hands. “Next time, don’t even bother unless you have one of these babies. All right, gather up. The troopers and monitors, you all know how to deal with. I give all of you fair odds against them any day. The real pain in the ass will be the exo-powered and shock troopers.”
He must have realized he was overstepping his bounds, since he glanced over at Eriao, who just motioned for him to continue. James planted the big gun vertically on the ground and leaned on it. He scanned the room and continued in a loud voice, “For shockers, you need to make sustained blows to their armor. For those wielding exos, you need to either drain their levels or temporarily overwhelm their shields. This is how you do it. When fighting, it’s important you spread out as much as possible. The reasons are twofold. One, depending on their skill, exo-wielders have limited control over their coils. Securitates usually only create a large one, called a trunk. You split up so the asshole can’t take out more than one of you at once. Two, shielding is based on focal density, meaning it directs its energy toward points of impact. You can overwhelm an exo with concentrated hits on opposite sides.”
He had the complete attention of the room as he launched into a demonstration. The guardians were completely silent as they processed his instructions, many nodding as they gripped their weapons. Others began to whisper to each other and compare notes. A few minutes later, James took charge of all of them and organized them into teams.
Along with everyone else, Elise couldn’t take her eyes off of him. For a split second, the James she knew, the person she had sorely missed the past few months, was back. The confidence, strength, and control had returned. He seemed lighter, as if a large burden had lifted off him. She would almost say he glowed, but to be honest, that was going too far. James never glowed. Still, she wasn’t going to lie; she wanted to jump him right there.
The war chief of the Elfreth had his arms around his chest and an unreadable expression on his face. Elise whispered to Eriao, “I hope you’re not upset he just took over like this. I’ll talk to him.”
Eriao, whose eyes were still locked on James, grunted and replied, “Do you know what I used to do before you made me war chief, Oldest?”
“What?”
“I was the mapmaker.” He cracked a smile. “I liked to draw as a boy. I learned to fight from many years of exploring the land so
I could draw good maps. I would gladly offer the honor of war chief to the chronman and return to my drawings.”
She put an arm on his. “Maybe after today, not before. We need you more than ever today.”
Soon, the hundreds of guardians had organized into teams and were being assigned responsibilities, some escorting the civilians up into hiding, others holding stairwells and sweeping the floors, and the rest heading down to the barricades to assist the Flatirons.
Elise headed to her private room and threw on her control suit. A few minutes later, Aranea was powered up and ready to go. She moved the mechanoid out of her stable and toward where James had set up an impromptu command center.
He looked up from his work and stomped toward her, his face hard. This was getting old. She knew his overprotectiveness came from a place of fear and guilt, but she still wished he’d get over himself. Elise braced herself for a dressing-down and readied her retort.
He looked the mechanoid up and down. “It’s seen battle. First you lock me up, then you take over my job.”
“Someone had to man the fort while you got better.”
James pursed his lips and pointed at a team of guardians waiting at the stairwell’s exit. “Take that group over there,” he leaned in and whispered. “I don’t know anyone’s names.”
“Kat, Sutt, Comi, Idivi, the short guy—name starts with a ‘Yosh’-something—the grumpy guy who mumbles a lot, and the rest I don’t remember,” she said.
“Not helpful. Go to the lab and check on Sasha and the Geriatric Brigade. Make sure they’re all right. Listen, if things go poorly, grab Sasha and make a break for it. Use Aranea and clear to the south building. It’s close enough for the mechanoid to make the jump, got it?”
“I promise I’ll keep Sasha safe.” Elise actually didn’t want to make that promise, since that sounded an awful lot like running away. Still, if things got really bad and she could save Sasha, she knew she would. Before James could step away, Elise opened Aranea and threw her arms around his neck. She planted a big kiss on his mouth and squeezed his body close to hers. “Don’t do anything that doesn’t bring you back to me, you hear?”
