by Isaac Hooke
“Makes sense,” Jason said.
She folded her hands behind her back and leaned back on one leg, shyly kicking at the ground in front of her. “I haven’t really talked to you much since that first day. I haven’t had a chance. Not really. The girls keep me occupied. You’d almost think they don’t want me to talk to you!” Her giggle seemed nervous.
“I can’t imagine why,” Jason said. But he could.
“I finally managed to get away early tonight,” Lori said.
He nodded. Then glanced at her. “I don’t think I’ve ever asked, why do you always dress in winter clothes?”
She seemed dismayed. “This is what I always wear.”
“Yeah, but why?” Jason said. He waved at the forest around him. “It’s warm here.”
She shrugged. “Because I like it?”
“To each his own,” Jason said.
“Her own,” Lori clarified. “Besides, here I can alter the heat levels however I want.”
“That’s true,” Jason said. “You view my VR through your own personal lens. Who knows, maybe you’ve got snowflakes streaking down from the sky.”
“Maybe I do,” Lori agreed.
He nodded, looking out at the mountains.
“I’m a skier,” Lori volunteered.
“Ah,” Jason said. “That would explain the clothes.”
“Yes,” Lori said. “I needed money to make an Olympic run, so I went ahead and had my mind scanned. Never thought I’d end up here!”
“None of us did,” Jason said.
“I don’t suppose I can convince you to let me sleep on the floor of your room?” Lori said. “I hate sleeping alone. I always had my little brother to sleep with.”
“You can create a virtual brother,” Jason said.
“But it’s not the same,” Lori said. “All I need is a sleeping bag.”
“Sorry,” Jason said. “You’ve asked before. My answer is still no. I’m not even in the room when I actually go to sleep anyway. I’ve programmed my avatar to log me off.”
“That’s all right,” Lori said. “In fact, that’s good. Then I don’t have to listen to you snore.”
Jason chuckled. “Should I ask how old you were when you got your scan?”
“Old enough for the Olympic ski team!” Lori said, sounding slightly insulted.
“Well, that doesn’t necessarily mean very old,” Jason said.
“Well, also old enough to take care of my brother!” Lori said. “I’ve been the only one around since he was seven.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Jason said.
“Don’t be,” Lori said, sighing.
He waited for her to say more, but when she didn’t, he decided to pry. Just a little.
“Twenty,” Jason said.
“What?” Lori said, perking up.
“You look twenty,” Jason said.
“Thank you,” Lori said. “That’s about right.”
He nodded, then returned his attention to the mountain lake. The stars were coming out.
Lori stayed by his side.
“Anything else you wanted to talk about?” Jason asked.
“Nope!” Lori replied.
He waited, but she still stood there, apparently not getting the hint.
Maybe if I ignore her, she’ll go away.
After a moment, she said: “Anyway, I should probably go to sleep.”
“All right then,” Jason said.
“But I’d love to go skiing with you some time,” Lori said. The words came out all in a rush. “I mean, if you want to. I’ve already asked Sophie and Tara if they want to come, but they don’t seem too interested. So it’ll be just you and me.”
“Sure, that might be fun,” Jason said. “Maybe in a few days.”
“All right,” she said. “Then it’s a date!”
He was about to contest her, but she seemed so happy at the moment that he didn’t have the heart to deflate her bubble.
She turned to go, but then hesitated. She suddenly leaned forward and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Then she backed away, her face turning red. “Night!”
She hurried back inside.
Jason had to shake his head.
I’m trapped in the uninhabitable zone with three machine women. All of them very hot. And very horny.
He knew that something would have to give, eventually.
What have I gotten myself into?
15
The next day, Jason programmed the drones to begin working on a second hatch, this one located just behind the first in the main entrance. He checked the overhead map for tangos—the surveillance cameras would have marked them if there were any—then he opened the main door and let the Rex Wolves outside. They moved eagerly, and he followed them out.
The wolves didn’t bother to take up their usual guard positions; instead, they headed straight for the closest rays of sunlight, and plopped down lethargically.
Jason called Tara over the comm. “It’s time to head to the countryside. Maybe toward the Octoraffe valley.”
“Good,” Tara said, her avatar appearing in the lower right. She looked just as good in the morning as any other time of the day. Gotta love 3D visualization tech. “It’s about time we got some meat for the dogs. They’re getting pretty hungry, in case you haven’t noticed.”
“I did, just now,” Jason said. Having been deprived of sunlight for most of the day before had really done a number on the metabolisms of the animals.
“Tell Lori and Sophie we’re going,” Jason transmitted.
“Will do,” Tara returned.
He heard loud clanking coming from the tunnel, and a moment later Tara’s Shadow Hawk emerged.
But as she stepped out into the sun, he heard more metallic thuds echoing from the enlarged drain tunnel beyond, and then the Highlander appeared. Followed by the Stalker.
“I thought—” Jason began.
Tara’s avatar shrugged. “I told them to stay, but they wouldn’t hear it.”
“It’s safer if we stick together,” Sophie said.
“I’m not staying here alone,” Lori said. She ran to the Rex Wolves. “Doggies!”
Runt barked excitedly, and nipped at her heels.
“Disgusting,” Sophie said.
“Come on, Bruiser,” Tara said, sounding jealous.
But the animal stayed on the ground, lounging around.
“Bruiser!” Tara said.
Bruiser jumped up, then ran over to her obediently. Lackey followed.
Jason shut the main door remotely, and the party set off.
He glanced over his shoulder at Shaggy, and eventually the Rex Dog joined them, trailing in the rear. Runt kept pace at Lori’s side.
They left behind the ravine and proceeded along the outskirts of the city, staying close to the rim of houses there. They weaved through the streets and smaller buildings of the towns that bordered Brussels, until they reached the Octoraffe valley.
“There we go,” Jason said. “Fresh meat.”
Several Octoraffes lay dead at the entrance to the valley, no doubt from the latest Nightmare attack. There was no sign of the previous Nightmares that Jason and his team had killed—no doubt the Octoraffes had dragged the corpses into their den.
“Why didn’t they drag these ones into their den?” Lori asked.
“Probably because they’re not cannibals?” Tara said.
“Yeah but, they could have buried them!” Lori said.
“These are animals,” Tara said. “Mutants. They’re not going to follow human customs.”
“She’s right, they’d probably at least drag them out of the way, considering that this is the entrance to their valley,” Sophie said. “Unless they suffered heavy casualties last night.”
“Not that we’re going to check,” Jason said.
Jason and the others kept watch as the four Rex Wolves dined eagerly on the bodies. He regarded the steep walls that bordered the valley. He was more convinced than ever that the pl
ace had formed from some bomb attack, either cluster or nuke. Likely the latter.
“That’s the one thing I miss, eating,” Sophie said.
“But we eat in VR every night,” Lori said. “Social eating.”
“Yes,” Sophie said. “But I miss real food. Sure, the tastes and smells are simulated fairly accurately by our olfactory and taste bud subroutines. Even the textures are well done. But they’re missing something. They’re slightly off. And that ruins it for me.”
“Umami,” Jason said.
“What?” Sophie said.
“Umami,” Jason said. “That’s what they’re missing. The flavor of glutamates. Among other things.”
Sophie nodded. “Yes. Yes, I can see that. Ketchup tastes so bad.”
“If you really wanted to, you could spend some effort with the Training AI, and learn how to program food,” Tara said.
“Nah,” Sophie said. “That’s too much work. Unless you want to do it?”
“I’ll pass,” Tara said.
“I can do it!” Lori said. “I like programming!”
“You would,” Tara said.
“You think you can create Umami?” Jason asked her.
“Uh huh!” Lori said. “It’ll take me some time to master, but I’m sure I can do it. I’m not sure why the original designers didn’t include it.”
“I’m guessing it’s a hard thing to simulate,” Jason said.
“I do love a challenge,” Lori said.
“I personally don’t miss eating,” Tara said. “Or actually, I guess I kind of do. But it was always just a chore to me. Measuring out my meals on a digital scale. Eating small portions six times a day.”
“You ate six times a day?” Lori said.
“I did,” Tara said.
“It sounds like you made eating become work,” Lori said.
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what it could be, at times,” Tara said. “But it was part of my fitness routine. You know what they say: fitness is ten percent gym, and ninety percent food. So anyway, like I told you, it was a chore to me. And you know what else I don’t miss? Taking shits. I can definitely live without that.”
Lori giggled. “I liked taking shits.”
“Someone’s a weirdo,” Sophie said.
“Maybe you can expound on that a bit for us, Lori,” Tara said.
Lori’s avatar turned red slightly. “Oh, maybe I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Probably,” Tara said.
“It’s not a sexual thing,” she said quickly. “I mean, it just felt good to take a big dump. Somehow satisfying, like I could go on with my day, with one less thing to worry about.”
“I can actually relate to that,” Jason said.
“See?” Lori said. “He understands.”
Jason resisted the urge to rub his forehead. “I meant I can relate to getting through the different tasks you’d set up for your day.”
“Oh,” Lori said. “Okay, never mind!”
The Rex Wolves finished their scavenging, and then flopped down on the grass.
“Come on Shaggy, let’s go,” Jason said. He prodded the hairy mutant, but it refused to budge. It just sat there on the ground, its T-Rex head panting happily.
“Let’s go,” Tara said. “They’ll follow.”
“Come on Runt!” Lori said, walking away. Runt lazily got up and followed her.
Eventually Bruiser and Lackey followed Tara, and Shaggy started after Jason.
“That’s a good boy,” Jason told Shaggy.
The animal looked away, pretending it didn’t hear.
A flash of light drew Jason’s attention to the rocky rise that bordered the valley beside him.
On the ridge there, he spotted something silvery. He zoomed in, and realized it was a humanoid robot. It had some sort of rocket launcher aimed at him.
“Scatter!” Jason shouted, switching to Bullet Time midway through. His comm signal would have transmitted his timebase, and the other members of the party would have automatically increased their time sense to match, courtesy of their monitoring subroutines.
“No!” Sophie said. “To me!”
Jason amped up his servomotor output. He scooped up Shaggy, while Tara grabbed Bruiser and Lackey.
A missile launched from the ridge. He was moving too slow to outrun it.
Lori remained standing in place, confused. Or petrified.
“Lori!” Jason said. “Grab Runt!”
She finally snapped to attention, and, moving at the higher speed afforded by Bullet Time, grabbed Runt.
Jason, Tara, and Lori closed with Sophie just as the missile came streaking in.
Sophie created an energy shield that enveloped them all, likely using up a big swathe of her battery power in the process.
The shield flashed into existence as the missile struck, and a fireball consumed them. The shield absorbed the shock wave, and Jason watched the ground burn all around them, with a crater forming at the edge of the energy shield facing the impact zone.
As the fireball cleared, he let go of Shaggy, and swiveled his laser into his arm. Still in Bullet Time, he aimed up at the ridge, intending to align his crosshairs over the robot, but the tango was already retreating behind the edge. Before he could line up his crosshairs, it was gone.
Smaller robots can move faster than us in Bullet Time, he reminded himself.
“You think that was another one of our own?” Sophie asked.
“No,” Jason replied. “It was too small. Has to be a scout of some kind. Probably part of the group sent to retrieve us.”
“If they’re here to retrieve us, why the hell are they launching missiles at us?” Tara said.
“Good point,” Jason said.
“Maybe they’re pissed that we shut down our Milnet connections?” Sophie suggested.
“Either way,” Jason said, “it’s probably a good idea to prevent that scout from calling home.”
He switched to ordinary time and began dashing toward the far side of the ridge. Sophie meanwhile activated her jumpjets, and thrust directly toward the crest. Tara simply teleported.
“Okay, I got seven of them here,” Tara said. “They’re headed toward some sort of troop transport.”
Jason requested access to her feed, and she gave it to him. He opened it in the upper right of his vision as he ran.
He saw several silver objects moving at a blur; he switched to Bullet Time, and realized they were human-sized robots, similar to the machine he’d spotted on the ridge. Their bodies were smooth, covered in a singularly metal skin, rather than the blocky parts and servomotors of the mechs. Some of them had laser turrets built into their arms, and they were firing up at Tara.
She teleported so that she was next to the transport. It was a quadcopter type with four big rotors protruding from a boxlike cabin. Tara had placed herself so that the craft was between her and the incoming robots. It only reached up to her hips however, so her upper body would be exposed when the robots realized where she was.
She promptly stabbed her sword down into the craft, and electrical sparks surrounded the craft.
“One transport disabled,” Tara reported.
The robots spun around, and began firing their lasers at her. The one with the rocket launcher loaded another missile as he ran, and released it. Tara teleported out of the way.
Micro machine spears began to ram into the robots, launched from the air: Sophie was arcing over them. She disabled two of them, however the remaining robots dodged the spears. They fired at her, but her energy shield flashed rapidly, absorbing the blows. She landed on top of the transport, and then kept stabbing down with her micro machines. Sometimes she hit a robot, at which point more of the micro machines flowed into the body, and tore it apart. If she missed, the micro machines dispersed, and returned to the swarm around her to take another strike. She kept rotating the micro machines around her, offering her protection against the robots when they unleashed their lasers. The one that carried a rocket launcher was
already down.
He rounded the bend of the ridge and dismissed Tara’s feed, because he had the robots in view. They were trying to take cover under the ruins of the transport to avoid Sophie’s micro machines. He lined up his crosshairs over one of them.
No one shoots at my girls.
He fired.
His beam had no effect.
“They’ve got some kind of reflective coating that protects them from lasers,” Jason said. “Switching to my energy weapon.”
But his attack had drawn their attention, and since he was out in the open, some of the robots began to fire his way. Red spots marked his hull on the Damage Report screen.
Plasma bolts erupted from a spot up ahead, seemingly sourced from the air. Lori. She’d activated her Stalker’s invisibility.
Jason could still see where she was, because she was sharing her position with him and the rest of the team, and she showed up as a green dot on the overhead map. She moved after firing those plasma bolts, so that when the tangos returned fire, they hit empty air.
Tara teleported into the fray once more, and she slid her sword across a group of hidden robots, slicing them all in half.
Two more rapidly leaped onto her back, and began climbing up her hull, shooting as they did so. She couldn’t simply teleport away, because she’d bring them with her.
Jason targeted one of them with his energy weapon, and led the target; he fired. The energy bolt traveled across the plains, and struck the robot dead on.
The Rex Wolves had silently approached the scene, moving at a crouch, and Bruiser took that moment to attack. He leaped on Tara’s mech, and wrapped his jaws around the remaining robot before it could move out of the way. Jason heard the metallic crunch from here when that robot went down.
Shaggy, Lackey and Runt attacked the remaining robots. Because of their superior speed, two of the targets evaded the deadly attacks of Shaggy and Lackey, but Runt managed to snag the third in his jaws.
Jason used the distraction to line up his energy weapon on the other two, and released two quick shots in rapid succession, taking them down.
Sophie stabbed three huge swords made of micro machines at the same time, taking out three more of them.
