Mech Wars: The Complete Series

by Scott Bartlett

  He watched as Jake leapt several meters into the air, crashing to the ground on the other side of the soldier without breaking his stride.

  Just like that, he was at Gabe’s side, saluting. Gabe saluted back.

  “Sir, have you had a chance to inspect the weaponry the Quatro were using against us?”

  Sniffing, Gabe felt a flash of annoyance at the question. Annoyance, because it drilled straight to the heart of his paranoia about what Darkstream might be up to.

  “What are you here to report, Seaman?” Gabe asked.

  “The guns, sir…I’ve found countless SL-17s on this field, as well as a bunch of others I recognize. This is all Darkstream-issue weaponry, sir.”

  “So is every gun in this system. Did you think the Quatro manufactured the guns themselves?”

  “No, sir. But it does raise the question of where they got the guns.”

  “By invading villages, probably. By overwhelming their garrisons and raiding their arsenals.”

  Jake shook his head—or rather, his mech did, and the motion looked surprisingly natural. “Village arsenals tend to be small, and we know they haven’t invaded that many villages anyway. Not enough to allow them to conduct a battle on this scale.”

  Gabe sighed, taking care to prevent his implant from transmitting it. “You’re right, Price. It’s unusual. I’ll talk to Bronson about it.” The captain had been put in charge of overseeing and directing Team Oneiri.

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “Get back to work.”

  Jake did, sprinting away to help a nearby group of soldiers struggling to hoist a Quatro corpse onto a trailer.

  Bronson soon answered the call. Inside the dream, instead of just the captain’s grizzled face, the man actually appeared alongside Gabe on the battlefield. His hands were folded behind his back, and his mouth twisted slightly, as though he’d eaten something that hadn’t agreed with him. It often did that when Gabe contacted him.

  “Roach. What can I do for you?”

  “Sir, one of my pilots has noticed something odd. The Quatro used Darkstream guns to fight this battle.”

  “So? Those could have come from anywhere. Raiding villages, probably. What are you suggesting, Roach?”

  “Nothing, sir. I’m seeking your perspective on the matter. That’s all. I speculated about the Quatro obtaining arms from the villages they hit, but the combined arsenals of the ones we know they’ve invaded…it doesn’t seem like that would amount to as many guns as we saw here today.”

  “Well, what about the bands of marauders? We have no records of how many times they’ve fought the Quatro. They don’t tend to share data with us, and it’s been a while since I’ve sat down with a marauder for afternoon tea. You?”

  “Same, sir,” Gabe said, indulging Bronson’s need for a certain level of absurdity in any given conversation.

  “That’s our answer, I suspect. The Quatro probably attacked some marauder camps before moving on to bigger prizes.”

  “What do you think is the Quatro’s aim in all this?”

  “It seems pretty straightforward to me. The Quatro want their planet back. But unfortunately for them, it’s our planet now.”

  Chapter 40

  Fullerenes

  “I apologize for the lacking communication,” the Quatro said, its lips pulling back from its teeth as it spoke.

  But after a second, Lisa realized the alien wasn’t actually speaking the words. Probably it lacked vocal cords suited to human language. Instead, a device hanging from its neck like a collar emitted the sound. Even so, the timbre of the device’s tones were deep and rich. It reminded Lisa of the way her family’s fat tabby cat back in Hub would purr—except, you’d have to turn up that purr several octaves to achieve a sound nearly as resonant as the Quatro’s.

  “That’s…fine,” Lisa answered, reluctant to get too pushy with a couple dozen giant aliens. She wasn’t sure why the Quatro had chosen to address her in particular. Just go with it. “Is that a universal translator?”

  “With sufficient time, yes. But the device is also needing of enough data to translate with big enough utility. Probably you find the structure of sentence and word choices clumsy, even so.”

  “A little bit,” Lisa admitted. “But I can understand you.”

  The Quatro paused, probably waiting for the device to parse her words. In the meantime, now that they were getting friendly, Lisa tested to see whether the invisible force still prevented her from moving backward.

  Shifting her elbow to nudge the air behind her, she found that indeed it did. The Quatro were clearly interested in communicating with them, but just as clearly, the idea of restoring their freedom did not yet appeal.

  “The device will improve over time,” the Quatro said, and nothing else. It continued to stare at her.

  Maybe it’s as nervous as I am. Somehow she doubted that, but things were getting a bit awkward, so she ventured another question.

  “So…how did you collect this data on our language? Have you been spying on the Habitats?”

  “We have monitored your talking,” the Quatro replied.

  “Ah.” That made more sense. “Is that what that room with all the puzzles was about?” she asked, reasoning things out as she spoke.

  “Indeed. It was the purpose of stimulating you to speak. We generated a series of unique situations, so that you would use words particular only to them, and all the while our program interpreted the meaning and assembled. Before, progress was compromised because of the rate you spoke—we needed you to speak more, faster.”

  “Why’d you bring us here?” Andy said, less amiably than Lisa. “Why treat us like this?”

  The Quatro swung its massive head to peer at Andy. Its expression looking menacing, but Lisa doubted any expression would exactly look comforting on that large, panther-like face. “We have treated you with hospitality, have we not? No harm was brought to you.”

  “You’ve dragged us all around this station using some sort of magic trick, is what you did. How’d you do that?”

  “Easy, boy,” Tessa said. “We’re not in the best negotiating position, right now.”

  Even a glance from the Quatro seemed a momentous gesture, and Lisa thought she saw Tessa flinch a millimeter away when the beast looked at her. “There is not a need for negotiating. We hope to request your help.”

  “Request away,” Tessa said. “What is it you think you need?”

  “Short time will bring your answer. Now, I will answer that of your friend. Your question as to how we manipulated your bodies and other things—it is by way of our minds.”

  “Wait,” Lisa said. “Like telekinesis?”

  The Quatro’s onyx eyes met her. “The word is not one known to the translator device.”

  “You, uh…you can move things with your thoughts?”

  “Not with thoughts. This poses difficulty in terms of explaining with the human words available, but I will make a try. We Quatro—I know that is your word for us, and ours is not translatable into your words, so we will say Quatro—we Quatro have developed brains that channel and focus the energies of our bodies. This ability works in proportion to how colder the surroundings are. In warmth, the ability is very weak, but here in this coldness of underground, it is powerful indeed. We use it to attract, push, or otherwise control anything containing metal. Our ability to move you comes from the metal in the suits you wear.”

  Andy cursed. “It’s been the pressure suits the whole time,” he spat. “If we’d taken those off, we could have taken them.”

  “I highly doubt that, boy,” Tessa said. “Especially considering we would have frozen to death without the suits’ heating systems. It might be time for you to shut your mouth. This is the first communication between humans and Quatro in history, and you aren’t improving it.”

  Seeming to take the hint, Andy shut up.

  Facing the hulking alien once again, Tessa said, “I think I can give you the words you need to explain your abilit
y. It sounds like your brains contain fullerenes—organic superconductors, which you use to generate the strong magnetic fields needed to manipulate metals as you describe. For a long time, evolutionary biologists have speculated whether nature could produce such a structure, and now it seems we know. If I’m right, it would make sense that the ability weakens with warmth. Typically, superconductors only work at extremely low temperatures, and to function even at the temperature of this ship, the fullerenes evolution has given you must be very advanced indeed.”

  Surprising Lisa, Andy spoke again: “How in Sol do you know all that?”

  The white-haired woman shot him an annoyed look. “Your implant gives you access to almost every book ever written by humans, including plenty written by more advanced species, like the Tumbra and Kaithe. I suggest you take advantage of that sometime.” She studied the Quatro again, eyebrows twitching upward. “Now, about answering my question. You said you need our help. Why?”

  “We have observed your people since your arrival on this world.” For the first time, Lisa noticed how still the alien stood as it spoke. All the Quatro did, actually: other than the occasional flick of an ear or—more disconcertingly—a lick of the lips, they barely moved at all.

  The Quatro continued: “At first, we assumed you were just an additional tool of the…” Pausing, the alien swung its head toward Lisa. “What is a word for one who interferes?”

  Blinking, Lisa gave it a moment’s thought. “Uh, how about ‘meddler?’”

  “Then we will now call them the Meddlers. It is the Meddlers that stole the capability of flight from my drift’s ship.”

  “Your drift?” Lisa asked.

  “Wait a second,” Andy said, in a tone that suggested he was having some sort of epiphany. “Are you even from this star system?”

  “Our first home is far away from here,” the alien said. “Many, many stars away. We came here to establish a second home, and at first, this system seemed like the perfect one for that. Like you, we took advantage of the moving devices that carry valuable metals and other materials to holding containers.”

  “You mean the Gatherers?” Lisa said.

  “It does seem likely we are talking of the same thing. Yes. Gatherers. We did not question their existence, also like you, except to worry about whether their makers would return at some time. But we thought that the makers must have these Gatherers in systems elsewhere. We even thought about the chance that the makers might have fallen a long time ago, leaving their devices to continue working.”

  The dark-eyed Quatro turned to exchange looks with another, who had orange eyes. That Quatro raised its paw slightly. Lisa wasn’t sure what the exchange signified, but the midnight-eyed Quatro continued its explanation.

  “At some time, we noticed something about the deep reservoirs where the Gatherers deposited their materials. We noticed they would soon be filled up. Not all of them—many of the reservoirs did not fill, because we were taking the materials for our own use instead, as we have seen you do. But the ones that had been left alone were close to full.

  “It was when they filled that the Meddlers came. They loosed great machines on us, which strode the surface of this planet, as well as that of the other planet in this system hospitable to living. Those great machines prevented us from gathering resources at the levels of before. Worse, they attacked our ships, destroying most. This one crashed to the planet, its moving ability destroyed, though its armor kept it mostly intact. Our drift was driven underground, and over time, we went quietly onto the surface at night and dragged our ship below the surface, piece by piece, to reassemble it here, so that we could have a living place.”

  “How have you survived?” Lisa asked. “How did you…how do you eat?”

  “We had sufficient food to last until we reassembled our ship’s lab. After that, we synthesized what we needed.”

  Lisa nodded slowly. Synthesized meat. I see. Well, that’s a relief. “There are walking machines like the ones you describe on Eresos—that’s what we call the system’s habitable planet. We named those machines Amblers. But no one has ever seen an Ambler on Alex. This planet, I mean.”

  “The machines you call Amblers disappeared very soon before your arrival. We thought you to be another agent of the Meddlers, and so we chose to hide ourselves from you. The Meddlers diminished our drift greatly—we have no more than the forty-two Quatro you see before you—and so we have exercised extreme caution over the last two decades. But when we realized that you three had entered danger on the planet’s surface, we made a decision to bring you here, where you could safely breathe. We could also learn whether you are truly of the Meddlers, and we have decided to base our future actions on the idea that you are not.”

  “That is all very informative,” Tessa cut in, “but you still haven’t told us why you need our help.”

  “That is simple,” the Quatro said. “The Meddlers came when the reservoirs filled, and they will be filled again in fewer than two orbits. That is when the Meddlers will return, and you can expect to lose your ability to fly through the stars when it happens. We are scared of that day, and we believe that you should be scared also.”

  Chapter 41

  Collectivist

  The conversation with the Quatro inside their vessel’s audience chamber had only gotten more interesting after they’d mentioned the Meddlers, who seemed likely to be the creators of the Gatherers and Amblers.

  “We’re not really in a position to help anyone,” Lisa had said. “In fact, we were on our way to seek help ourselves—from Habitat 1, one of the four permanent human settlements on this planet. We come from Habitat 2, where a criminal element called Daybreak has taken control. We aim to take it back.”

  “Then we will both improve our respective situations,” said Rug, which was the name the midnight-eyed Quatro leader had chosen for herself. “We will do so by helping each other. If we help you retake your home, then perhaps you can help us reach our starship.”

  “Wait,” Lisa said. “Starship?”

  “Yes. Even though we Quatro took full advantage of the resources collected by the Gatherers, just as you have, we also took caution. Knowing the creators would likely return some day, we concealed a ship in the outer comet belt, as a contingency. If you can help us reach it, then we all can escape.”

  “What if we don’t want to escape the Steele System?” Andy said. “What if we decide we kind of like this place, after all?”

  Rug looked at Andy for a prolonged period of quiet. “You will want to leave, when the Meddlers come. You will want to leave very quickly.”

  After a brief huddle, Lisa, Tessa, and Andy had decided that the deal the Quatro had proposed was much better than they were likely to get. Much better than suffocating on the surface of Alex, certainly.

  “And we don’t have to leave Steele,” Lisa said. “As long as we help them reach their ship, we’ll have kept up our end of the bargain. In return, we get Habitat 2 back.”

  “How exactly are we going to help them reach the Outer Ring, Lisa?” Andy said. “Do you have that part figured out yet?”

  “No,” Lisa said, a little sullenly. “But I will. We have to figure it out, don’t we? This is our only option, now, and to be honest we’re lucky to have it.”

  That had decided it. Two days of hasty preparations later, the Quatro vessel’s airlock opened, letting them out into the dark tunnel once more.

  So began a very interesting journey.

  For one, the Quatro refused to travel by day.

  It was summer on Alex, and near the equator as they were, the temperature got as high as twenty degrees Celsius during the day. That level of warmth turned the fullerenes inside the Quatro brain from superconductors into fridge magnets.

  Well, not exactly that bad. But near enough.

  The Quatro assured Andy that they would be able to fix the beetle’s wheels once they reached it. They were used to repairing things that broke down—it had been the only way they’d survive
d all these years. Once the beetle was fixed, together the humans and Quatro would press on toward Habitat 2.

  Lisa spent the journey mostly exhausted, since Tessa had decided to renew their training program, driving her even harder than before.

  She began to incorporate more lucid simulations, and now that Lisa’s implant was properly calibrated to reflect her actual abilities, they were much more challenging and generally more intense.

  Even so, after months of Tessa’s tutelage, she found herself way better equipped to grapple with whatever Tessa sent at her, whether it was a whole platoon of Ixa or an Ambler that had malfunctioned and gone on a rampage.

  The older woman had totally eradicated the Quatro from the simulations.

  “Doesn’t seem right, anymore,” Tessa said, and that was all she had to say on the subject.

  It’s all she needs to say.

  The Quatro leader spent a lot of time walking alongside Lisa, talking to her over a wide channel, teaching her about their culture as well as giving her a crash course in the nature of the aliens’ powers.

  “Incredibly collectivist” was the word Tessa used to describe Quatro social organization, after listening to the leader speak to Lisa enough.

  According to the white-haired ex-soldier, “collectivist” meant that individuals of a society placed the interests of the group—“drift,” in this case, Lisa supposed—before even their own needs.

  “The polar opposite of the society we’ve set up in the Steele System, basically,” Tessa said. “No wonder our two species don’t get along.”

  Lisa had to admit that the Quatro were quite different. Part of her wanted to respect the fact that theirs was a totally alien culture and had no doubt taken the shape it had for a reason.

  But on the other hand, she found them extremely odd. The Quatro were so “collectivist” that they didn’t even have names, to begin with!

  Once the Quatro realized that having a name was important for communicating with humans, they each chose one for themselves, an exercise they seemed to view as an amusing game.