by Isaac Hooke
“Lego what?” Tara said.
“Never mind,” Sophie said. “Old movie I watched a while back.”
“Well at least I look moderately humanoid,” Tara said. “You look like some sort of spider centaur.”
“I’d take my micro machines and energy shield any day over a measly sword and grappling hook,” Sophie said.
“But you forget, I can also teleport,” Tara said. She vanished from view.
The Rex Wolves started barking in fright. Then spun toward Sophie, as if they thought she was responsible.
“Look to your right, on the rooftop.” Tara’s voice sounded at the same volume level, with similar clarity: she was speaking over the comm, after all.
Jason and Sophie glanced to the upper right: Tara waved from where she had deployed on a nearby roof.
She reappeared next to Jason a moment later and the Rex Wolves barked excitedly. Bruiser whined, and she patted it on the head.
“Show off,” Sophie said.
“Hey, when you got my abilities, you can’t help but show off,” Tara said.
“You were one of those girls who liked to flaunt it, weren’t you?” Sophie said.
“Flaunt what?” Jason asked.
“Tara knows what I mean,” Sophie said. “Don’t you girl.”
“She means my sexuality,” Tara said. “But you were certainly flaunting it, as you call it, back in your VR.”
“I created that world when I was bored,” Sophie said. “But it suits me, I think. Speaking of VR... Jason, we should book a meeting in my VR soon. I’d like to show you my special cat collection.”
“That’s all right,” Jason said.
“Cat collection!” Tara said. “Try not to make it too obvious what you’re after or anything. Might as well say pussy collection.”
“What?” Sophie said. “You’re reading too much into it. I’m not that kind of girl.”
“Oh really,” Tara said.
“Yeah, really,” Sophie said. “I have a bunch of different cats. A Calico. A Siamese. A Persian. A Sphinx. A—”
Jason decided to mute his sound system for the time being. They’d know he’d done it, because a little mute icon would appear next to his name. Their speaker icons continued to highlight as they continued to prattle away, but he wasn’t in the least curious about what they might be talking about.
They reached the subway entrance, which was basically a small shed protruding from the surface. It was inaccessible to their large bodies, but when they combined their efforts they were able to rip it off, revealing the staircase leading down. After some further removal of asphalt and concrete, they were able to expose the subway platform about thirty meters below. It was wide enough to fit all three mechs, but not much else. Beside it, the polycarbonate shield that divided the tracks from the platform was still in place. The subway tunnel beyond didn’t provide much more room.
“Well, that’s not going to work,” Tara said.
“It’s nothing a 3D-printed drill can’t fix,” Jason insisted.
“We’re going to have to drill way down,” Sophie said. “And I mean, way down. And across.”
“I admit, it’s a little smaller than the measurements I read in the blueprints,” Jason agreed.
“That’s right, blame the measurements,” Sophie said. “Rather than the man interpreting it. This is what happens when you let a man do a woman’s job.”
“All right, if you’re so smart, where should we make our base of operations then?” Jason said.
“Well, let’s take a look at the map...” Sophie said.
“What about the cisterns in the upper right of the city?” Tara said. “According to the blueprints, they used to hold excess rainwater. They were installed a hundred years ago when weather patterns changed, causing severe rains to hit the city often.”
“A cistern?” Jason said. “You want to make our base in a cistern?”
“Well, it is underground,” Tara said. “And check out the dimensions. It’s huge.”
“How do we know the measurements are accurate?” Sophie said. “You saw what happened with Jason and his little subway platform.”
“The bigger question is, what do we do if it rains?” Jason said.
“Uh, when’s the last time it rained in the uninhabitable zone?” Sophie said.
“Good point,” Jason said. “All right, to the cistern we go.”
“No protesting?” Sophie said. “No: ‘hey, we should just stay here and use the drill, because I’m the man, and I’m always right?’”
“Nope,” Jason said. “The plans I made will translate equally well to a cistern. In fact, now that the two of you have pointed it out, it’s probably better.”
“He’s mature enough to admit when he’s wrong,” Tara commented. “Unlike you.”
Sophie didn’t answer for a moment. Then: “I might have to rethink my classification of the male member of the species. Not all of them think with their pants.”
“But only the best ones,” Tara said slyly.
Once more, Jason hit the mute button.
They reached the outskirts of the city and circled back to follow the perimeter. There, growing in the loose soil was the only form of plant life he’d seen—a half bramble, half tumbleweed combination that seemed to thrive in the radiation. Tara examined one of them, while the Rex Wolves sniffed the plants suspiciously.
“I think they reproduce by spores,” she said. “Probably bio-engineered by the aliens.”
The party waded through those plants, and eventually arrived at their destination, all without encountering a single mutant. Jason told himself it was because the party made a formidable sight, those three towering mechs and the four Rex Wolves accompanying them, but that hadn’t stopped the Octoraffes from attacking them the night before, after all, so it was more likely that the mutants in the area were sleeping. The Rex Wolves themselves were most likely nocturnal as well, judging from how quiet and droopy eyed they seemed. Their abnormal sleep habits were catching up to them. That they had attacked in the day before had to be because of all the noise he and Tara had made during the little scuffle of their first meeting.
The party stood in a dried out retention pond—essentially a ravine—with a storm drain outlet opening into it. The ravine was surrounded by those radiation resistant bramble-weeds. Beyond them were a few buildings from a nearby outlying village.
By then Jason’s power levels had recharged almost to one hundred percent, so when he ripped open the grill covering the large outlet, he could do so with his strength amped up to max. The grill crumpled like paper in his grasp, and he tossed it aside.
Jason gazed into the tunnel, and shone his LIDAR inside. The tunnel proceeded well away, with no end in sight. “Well, we can fit, if we crawl. But it’s going to be a tight fit.”
“Crawl?” Sophie said. “In there? I’ll have to tuck in all my legs, and bend my torso against my carapace. Hardly a comfortable position. I’m already claustrophobic enough as it is.”
Tara threw up her arms. “You could have told us that before we made the trek all the way here, Princess!”
“Hey, I’m just saying, I don’t want to crawl,” Sophie said.
“But that’s what spiders do,” Tara taunted her.
“I’d walk it, though,” Sophie said. “And if we really want to turn this into a base, we should probably be walking it anyway.”
“Hm, I don’t know,” Jason said. “I kind of like how it’s cramped. Makes a great choke point for enemies. And Nightmares certainly can’t fit inside.”
“But what if we have to get out quickly?” Tara said.
“We’re obviously going to have a rear access,” Jason said. “Maybe an exit in the ceiling that leads somewhere to the street. We’ll have to drill it.”
“Even if we use a drill here, Nightmares won’t be able to enter,” Sophie said. “Please, can we enlarge it? Because I don’t think I’m coming with you, otherwise.”
He glanced at her. Th
e sincerity was clear in her voice, as was the tinge of fear.
“Well, I guess we’ll just have to program our repair drones to start printing up some drills,” Jason said.
“Why?” Sophie said. Her micro machines swarmed from her body, combining together in front of her to form a big, revolving drill that was half as big as her body. “Find me some iron ore, and I can program these machines to make more of themselves.”
“Why would we want to do that?” Tara said. “So you can be more powerful?”
Sophie shrugged. “Bigger drill. Faster access tunnel.”
While she sent her drill into the outlet, Jason and Tara dug into the ground nearby with their fists, searching for any mineral rock. The Rex Wolves watched sleepily from the outskirts of the ravine, keeping an eye out for signs of trouble. Jason had the Explorer hovering overhead, the fully charged drone observing all approaches by slowly rotating clockwise, just in case their commotion awoke some nearby mutants.
Eventually the two hit a rock bed. They got lucky: those particular sedimentary rocks were iron rich. Jason smashed his fist repeatedly into the surface, attempting to pulverize it, but when Sophie realized what he was doing, she came over.
“No dear, you don’t have to do that,” she said sweetly. “Please, move aside.”
Confused, Jason pulled himself out of the pit, as did Tara.
Sophie redirected her micro machines into the pit, and they began to attack the rock bed below. Jason realized they were eating through the sedimentary rocks and processing the iron content in real time: the micro machines fountained upward, with those on top spitting out the molten slag they’d separated from the iron before diving downward once more. Soon a ring of stone formed by the cooling slag around the pit; meanwhile, the number of micro machines grew rapidly, doubling in size.
“Where do they get their energy source?” Jason asked. “They can fly. Melt metal. Reform it into more of themselves. That’s gotta take up a lot of power. It’s obviously not sunlight. Unless they’re covered in tiny solar panels.”
“No, it’s not sunlight,” Sophie said while the machines multiplied. “I don’t actually know what the source is. No one does. At least no one human. But if I had to guess, I’d say it’s some sort of subspace energy.”
“Subspace energy?”
“That’s right,” Sophie said. “There’s a military encyclopedia in your internal database. You should check it out sometime. Read up on the micro machine chapter. Research teams have concluded that the only way these could be powered is by some sort of energy drawn from the space between ordinary space. Subspace.” Sophie glanced at the micro machines. “There, I’ve reached my limit.”
She recalled the tiny swarm.
“You have a limit?” Jason said.
“That’s right,” Sophie said. “The scientists programmed it in. The maximum number of copies is hard coded. If I lose machines in battle, I can create more, up to the hard limit. As I just did.”
Sophie returned to the outlet with her new rotating drill, which was three times as big as the original.
“I hate alien technology,” Tara said.
“I don’t,” Sophie said. He could imagine her beaming inside.
Tara glanced at Jason. “You know what happens if she loses control of that tech, right? She’ll dissolve our mechs.”
“Actually, I can’t,” Sophie said.
“What do you mean, you can’t?” Jason said.
“It’s another thing the scientists programmed in,” Sophie said. “The micro machines can only smelt unprocessed ore, or ore that has been badly damaged. Unlike the actual alien models. The scientists were too scared of losing control, like you mentioned. If there’s a perfectly intact vehicle, or mech, the tiny smelting lasers won’t activate. I can’t change it. I’ve tried, believe me. That’s why I couldn’t just dissolve the two of you. But I can certainly form the micro machines into a cutting blade that can saw through you, and when that’s done, then I can convert you, up to my limit.”
“Sounds like a lot of fun...” Tara said.
“Oh, it is, believe me,” Sophie said.
While they waited for Sophie to enlarge the outlet, Tara rigged up an avatar communication system, so they could finally see the faces of each other’s avatars when they spoke.
“You used the Teaching AIs to come up with this?” Jason asked.
“No, silly,” Tara replied. “I’m a programmer. Don’t you remember I remotely flew drones for a living?”
“Oh yeah…” Jason said. “Though I wasn’t aware programming was involved.”
She giggled. “All right, yeah, I’m joking. I used the Teaching AI.”
He frowned.
“Hey, don’t frown,” Tara said. “It makes your face look like a hamster.”
“A hamster?” Jason said in disbelief.
“All right, I’m through,” Sophie’s avatar appeared in the lower right of Jason’s display. He could have sworn Sophie had winked at him after she spoke. Must have imagined it.
Jason turned toward the outlet, which was inside a hill. “I’ll go first.”
Jason passed by Sophie, who had wrapped her micro machines back around her torso and carapace. The spherical bulge of them was three times larger than before.
He entered the outlet. It was tall enough so that he could fit by crouching only a little. The sides still pressed into him on either flank, however. The upper portion where Sophie had drilled wasn’t concrete, but rock and dirt.
He walked for a hundred meters, and then he was through. He activated his headlamps so that he wouldn’t have to use his LIDAR.
It was cavernous inside that cistern. Just cavernous. The floor, walls, and ceiling were made of concrete, as were the big columns holding up the ceiling at regular intervals. He’d seen pictures of Tokyo’s massive underground storm drains, and it was comparable.
The mechs were easily able to fit between those big columns. As were the Rex Wolves. Jason stood at his full height as he weaved between the pillars, making his way through the room, turning around so that he could take it all in.
“This’ll definitely do,” Jason said.
12
Jason had Sophie drill an escape route into the ceiling near the back of the cavernous structure, and then reprogrammed all of their repair drones to 3D print iron hatches using iron ore pulverized from the rock bed outside. The drones whirred back and forth all day, flying between the openings in the storm drain and the ceiling, creating the barriers. The design even included a remote interface, so he’d be able to open either entrance over the comm.
Some of the drones were printing up solar collectors as well, along with the necessary electrical framework, using metal pulverized from rock under the subway. Sophie, Tara, and Jason donated one backup power cell each to serve as storage for the power generated by those collectors, so that if they wanted, they could hang out in the base all day, and simply plug into the batteries to recharge without sunlight.
It would take three days to finish printing everything.
He had pulverized enough rock to last the day, and there wasn’t much else to do while he waited, so he took Sophie, Tara and the dogs into the city, in search of Internet access. It was also an excuse to keep his batteries charged.
Before he left, he had some of the drones 3D print a fiber-capable switch, along with the necessary accessories, since even if the party did find an Internet center, there would be no equipment around to access it. He set a waypoint for a known data center—at least one that had existed fifty years ago, according to his pre invasion map.
His Explorer scouted ahead, keeping an eye out for any bioweapons that might be lurking about. It was broad daylight, though, so he wasn’t really expecting an attack. Unless the team accidentally woke something that might be hiding in the nearby buildings, like a den of Rex Wolves.
Jason glanced at Sophie’s Highlander, and his gaze lingered on the carapace section with all those protruding nozzles.
“Where do you get the fuel for your jumpjets?” he asked.
“It’s generated by special bacteria that line the insides of my carapace,” Sophie said. “If I run out, it takes a full day to replenish.”
“Nice,” Jason said. “Self-sustainment. It’s the way to go.”
Her avatar nodded. “If I don’t use the fuel, I have to vent it now and then. Sort of like taking a piss.”
“Well that’s certainly a sexy image,” Tara taunted.
“No sexier than your blocky ass,” Sophie said.
“Hey, this is a fine ass.” Tara’s Shadow Hawk patted its rear quarter. “Now yours, on the other hand…”
“Don’t make me come over there and show you what my ass can do,” Sophie said.
“Yeah?” Tara said. “Go ahead, I dare you. My foot wants to give it a good kick.”
“Please, no fighting today,” Jason said.
Sophie’s avatar bit her lip, but then she seemed to calm down.
A flashing icon appeared on his overhead map, courtesy of the Explorer.
“All right,” Jason said. “My scout has reached the data center.” Which was really just a fancy name for a big building. “There are some doors and windows… I’m sending it inside.” As the drone ducked inside the main door, the signal pixelated and froze, because of all the interference between his location and that of the drone.
A moment later the signal returned, and he reviewed the footage. “Okay, looks like it’s mostly intact. There’re no actual computers left inside, of course. But there is an optical fiber box, with the lines still intact.”
The team reached the data center. There was no way any of them could fit any of the entrances, not in their big mechs, of course. Jason had the drone carry the switch into the building, and piloted it through the different rooms. He knelt at the entrance so that the antennae on his head were pointed directly through the main doors, wanting to maintain his signal strength.
He only received a few video freezes before the drone was in place. Then he had the Explorer lower the switch next to the fiber box. Pulling up his digital manual, he had the Teaching AI overlay his vision, and he followed the instructions to connect the switch and its accessories to the fiber optic lines. Then he plugged in the battery the drone was carrying, and attempted to access the switch’s remote interface through the drone.
