by Isaac Hooke
Still, when the shield flicked off, the resultant shockwave sent him reeling forward. He used his accelerated time sense to avoid as much shrapnel as he was able, and to land at a run.
As both feet struck the ground, he lowered his time sense slightly, so that he was operating closer to normal time, and he continued dashing forward. Behind him, a huge cloud of dust and debris filled the air.
He checked the vitals of his teammates. They were all in the green.
He glanced at Tara and Lori, and confirmed that they’d retrieved the other Rex Wolves, and that all of the mutants had survived. According to the map, Aria’s tanks had all made it as well, along with the Explorer.
“Well done, Sophie,” Jason said. “But it’s not over yet. We still have to reach the valley.”
As if to accentuate that point, his Damage Report screen lit up, and he felt a sharp pain in his neck. He immediately ducked behind a nearby apartment: the Dinosaur had fired at him from five neighborhoods away.
“Swerve south!” Jason said. “Use the dust cloud as a screen!”
“What if they switch to echolocation?” Lori said.
“Don’t think it will matter,” Jason said. “That cloud is too thick at the moment to get much of a read. A chirper would penetrate five meters. Maybe ten. That happens when you unload all of your cluster bombs into the same neighborhood.”
It was true. The cloud literally towered behind them, like the dark exhaust of some volcano.
He lowered Shaggy and proceeded at a crouch through the street. In moments he had the cloud between himself and the two Cataphracts.
“Well, at least those bombs put a dent in the attack from the smaller pursuers,” Sophie commented.
“I’ll say,” Tara said. “A very big dent. As in, a whole lot of them have been wiped out. Replaced by a crater in the ground, and the rubble of buildings. Well, once that cloud clears.”
“It seems Bokerov doesn’t care how many of his own troops, or those of the aliens for that matter, he takes down to get us,” Xin said.
“He’s a bit insane that way,” Jason agreed. “But hey, we’ll use it.”
“He still has more troops with those Cataphracts, remember,” Aria said. “Plus I’m sure some Phasers survived the bombing.”
“No doubt,” Jason said. “Which is why it’s time to head due west now that we have some cover. To the valley, as fast as you’re able!”
Jason and the others leaped over the smaller buildings in their paths, while the tanks swerved around them. When Jason and the girls reached taller buildings, they, too, had to swerve.
In that manner they reached the outskirts of the city, with the tanks trailing. So far, the Cataphracts hadn’t yet circumnavigated the smoke cloud to sight the War Forgers.
The Octoraffe valley lurked up ahead. Jason headed down into the depths. As usual, there were the skeletons of other mutants nearby, kills that the Octoraffe pack had made in recent weeks. The creatures slowly cleaned out those bones as time went on—Jason had spotted them taking the bones back to the caves that lined the edges of the valley floor. What they did with those bones, he didn’t know—maybe they chewed them, like dogs did.
“The Cataphracts are in view once more,” Aria said. “They’re nearing the perimeter of the city behind us!”
“Single file!” Jason said. “Get behind Aria’s shield!”
She held her shield in the air at an angle, and allowed the tanks in front of her. Jason and the others also lined up, staying close. He saw large red spots appear on the inside of her shield as she took hits from the attackers.
Jason led the way into the valley, hugging the interior cliff face, which momentarily took them out of the line of fire of the Cataphracts, and whatever troops were with them. He passed the different cave entrances, all of which contained different families of Octoraffes. They usually only came out to fight at night, unless disturbed.
Jason neared the center of the valley, when the incoming fire began again. Aria’s shield held up. For now.
The team continued to wind along the edges of the valley, and when they passed the last cave, Jason gave an order over the comm: “Aria, trigger the noise generators.”
“Done,” Aria said.
Several loud whale like sounds issued from the different cave entrances. Aria had constructed special stealth drones to enter the caves during the day while the Octoraffes slept, and those craft had placed noise generators capable of producing the same sounds as Nightmares.
Upon hearing those sounds, the Octoraffe pack streamed from the different caves and into the main valley, blocking the advance of the Cataphracts. The mutants, confusing the large mechs for Nightmares, immediately attacked; the Octoraffes often defended the valley against the latter creatures, and were unafraid to do so now. They literally swarmed the Axeman and the Dinosaur, bogging them down, allowing Jason and the others to round the far side of the valley and escape.
The team reached an abandoned village beyond the valley and headed due east through the different estates and farms beyond. They kept low so that their profiles would appear to be just more buildings when viewed from afar. After an hour, Jason headed south for thirty minutes, and then east once more, and south again. Finally, after two hours he reached another valley and nestled the team inside. Then he called a halt.
“We’re surrounded by cliffs on all sides,” Jason said. “It’s defensible. This will be our new base camp for the time being.”
“I can’t believe we lost our home,” Aria said. “After all the work we spent building it up. I just… I feel like I’ve lost a child.”
“We’ll make a another base,” Jason said. “It’ll be deeper, and made of more levels than the last. You’ll see.”
“Did you see the mountains in the distance, before we entered the valley?” Tara said. “If we continued southeast, we can drill our base directly inside a mountain.”
Jason nodded. “We could. But you know what, that’s exactly what I’d do, if I were Bokerov. And southeast is the same direction that Jake went.”
“You think he has a base in the mountains,” Xin said.
“It’s the logical conclusion,” Jason said. “We’ll stay here for now, until I decide what to do. It’s time to top up our batteries. And to relax, mentally. Aria, deploy the tanks to the different slopes. I want them watching all approaches, hull-down.” That was with most of their hulls hidden behind the rise, with only their turrets showing. “The rest of you can stay here in the bottom of the valley, with the Rex Wolves. Enter VR if you like, but I want your Accomps actively monitoring your external cameras. Have them revive you from VR if anything happens.”
Jason also deployed the Explorer to the top of a rise, and had it slowly rotate in place so that he could be alerted if any tangos were spotted.
Then he remained standing in place, intending to charge. He also deployed his local repair swarm, as did the others, to fix the damage he’d acquired to his hull.
“Should we start constructing a new 3D printer when repairs are complete?” Aria asked.
“No,” Jason said. “I’m not sure how long we’re going to stay here. Especially if we’re close to Bokerov’s home base. It just isn’t safe.”
“No,” Aria agreed.
Jason surveyed the surrounding terrain. “There are a lot of radiation resistant bramble-weeds here. It’s probably a good idea to lie down, and cover ourselves with as many of those weeds as we can.”
Jason and the others did so.
When that was done, he allowed the repair drones to resume their work. They easily maneuvered around and underneath the different weeds.
Shaggy lay down beside him, and pressed its nose underneath the bramble-weeds so that it was close to his chest assembly.
“Hey boy,” Jason said. He rested a hand on the mutant’s head. “Been a crazy long day, hasn’t it?”
In answer, Shaggy whined softly.
“I know you’re hungry,” Jason told his pet. “But you�
��re going to have to hang on a while longer. There are no mutants to eat around here. If there were, trust me, we would have paused to snag a few for you. On the bright side, there’s a ton of sunlight for your chlorophyll.”
He ran a metal hand across that green, shaggy fur. The fur that allowed the Rex Wolf to endure those long periods without meat.
Jason chuckled softly to himself. “Meat. I almost don’t know what it’s like to eat anymore. If it weren’t for virtual reality, I wouldn’t remember at all.” He looked at Shaggy. “But you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” He smiled internally. “You know, the two of us would have never become friends if it wasn’t for our unique situation. If I was an actual human, you would have eaten me a long time ago.”
Shaggy gave him a look that Jason interpreted as: “What the hell are you talking about now, strange human?” And then: “Oh well. Time to lounge!”
Jason scratched the Rex Wolf underneath that reptilian neck. “Ignorance is bliss, I suppose.”
He withdrew his hand, and Shaggy rested his chin against the ground beside Jason.
He decided to take a break from the world. It was times like these that he was grateful the army had furnished their AI cores with complete virtual reality simulations. He had no idea what he’d do without the escape the virtual realm provided.
Probably go insane, like Bokerov.
Maybe that was one of the contributing factors to Bokerov’s behavior. Then again, it seemed doubtful that the Russian army would have activated him without providing the ability to enter a virtual simulation, considering that access to decent VR was a basic AI right, Mind Refurb or no.
Clearing his mind, Jason disconnected from the world.
11
Jason walked along the shore of the mountain lake. He had hoped to forget everything, but his mind churned, reviewing the events of the past few hours, and continually pondering their predicament.
They had lost their base, and he had probably only led his team deeper into enemy territory. It was lucky they hadn’t encountered any mutants along the way, or more of Bokerov’s troops on patrol.
Xin emerged from a copse of nearby trees and nodded her head. She joined him, walking alongside. She was dressed in a blue kimono covered in pink flowers today. She also had a small hair fan attached to her head, accentuating her face. Seeing her beautiful features, and figure, helped him forget, at least for a little while, what had happened.
“You’re looking pale as ever,” Jason told her. “Maybe even more-so than Aria, who looks like a vampire as it is. Maybe you should consider getting a tan sometime.”
“I like myself the way I am,” Xin said.
Jason shrugged. “Fair enough.”
“You know, I’ve been thinking…” Xin said. “We didn’t encounter any mutants on the way here.”
“I noticed that,” Jason agreed.
“I think it’s because Bokerov has cleared them all,” Xin said. “A further hint that he has a base, maybe his main HQ, somewhere nearby.”
“It’s certainly possible,” Jason agreed. “We’re going to have to stay alert now, more than ever.”
“I dread to think what would happen if he captured us,” Xin said. “I’ve heard that VR torture can be one of the worst experiences a Mind Refurb can ever endure. That when the pain limits are lifted, it can lead to insanity, or worse.”
Jason nodded. “Torture certainly wouldn’t be pleasant. He could torture us for years, at full intensity, and we’d never die. If he had admin access to our codebase, he could even custom design pain routines to constantly assail us, not just physical pain mind you, but mental. Can you imagine how much grief he could invoke with the emotion subroutines alone? It’s sickening to think about.”
“I see you’ve been studying the programming involved in your AI core…” Xin said.
“Of course,” Jason said. “I’m one of those guys that likes to know how his mind works. Especially when that mind is no longer entirely human.”
Xin nodded. “The Japanese have a saying: when poisoned, one might as well swallow the plate.”
“Exactly,” Jason said. “I knew you’d understand.”
She smiled, and gave a quick nod at that.
“So what were you before you decided to get your mind scanned?” Jason asked.
“Nothing,” Xin said quickly.
“No, you were something...” Jason concentrated.
She must have noticed that he had screwed up his brow, because she said: “What are you doing?”
“I’m trying to remember what I know about you when we combine, but it’s not coming to me right now,” Jason said. “This sucks. I know you all better than family when we join, but when we separate, I forget it all.”
Xin nodded. “It is the way of the Mind Combine.”
“So come, just tell me,” Jason said. “You don’t have to be embarrassed. If you can’t tell me, who can you tell?”
“I was...” She hesitated. Then lowered her gaze. “I was a singer.”
“A singer,” Jason said. “That’s right. Nothing to be embarrassed about.”
“Well, yes, because I only sung in low-class places,” Xin said. “At what you would call dive bars, and the like. And in VR.”
“All good gigs,” Jason said.
“No,” Xin said. “Once you get hit on by the fiftieth drunk guy for the night, you seriously begin to wonder about your choice of profession.”
“I suppose so,” Jason said. “Wait, how were they hitting on you? You don’t have to stay at the bar when you’re done your gig, you know.”
“They hit on me between sets,” Xin explained.
“Ah,” Jason said. “Did you make up your own songs?”
“No,” Xin said. “Well, sometimes. Those I mostly sung on the streaming sites, and I stuck with more popular songs for my live gigs.”
“Interesting,” Jason said. “And how did your songs do on the streaming sites?”
“Bad.” She laughed softly. “My VR videos never really caught on. Hardly received any views. Not that it matters.”
“Let’s hear you sing,” Jason said.
“Oh no,” Xin said.
“Come on,” Jason said.
She paused, then belted out the mellifluous line: “I’ve been dre-aming about you, my en-tire liiii-fe!”
Xin glanced at Jason, and turned red slightly when she caught his eye.
Jason nodded. “You do have a beautiful voice.”
She smiled sadly. “Everyone has a beautiful voice online. And a beautiful avatar.”
“You changed your avatar using some real-time software to make yourself beautiful?” Jason asked.
“Not me,” Xin said. “But everyone else does it online. You can be ugly, even have an ugly voice, but software can fix both.”
“But not in the real world,” Jason said.
“No,” Xin agreed. “Which is probably why I was hired. Not that very many people go to bars these days.”
“You said you were hit on by fifty people a night...” Jason told her.
“Yes,” Xin said. “One night a month the bar would hold an event. People would live behind their VR shells, and enter the real world for some live entertainment. That’s when most of the hitting on would happen.”
“Sounds like a rocking society,” Jason said. “Though one not so different from my own.”
“You forget, I lived in America before I had my scan,” Xin said.
“Ah, yes,” Jason said. “The invasion.” The aliens had destroyed half of the world. Japan was on the lost hemisphere.
Xin nodded. “I’m sad, sometimes, when I think about what happened to Japan. How I can never go home.”
“Ah,” Jason said. “Sorry.”
“My parents were two of the lucky ones,” Xin said. “Visiting relatives overseas in America when the invasion came. They lost everyone. I can only imagine what that was like.”
“Actually, you don’t have to imagine,” Jason said.
“You got yourself scanned. Same thing.”
She smiled sadly. “I suppose it is.”
“So what did you like to do for fun?” Jason asked her. “When you weren’t singing at lounges? Or making songs for your streaming channels?”
“Other than VR?” Xin said. “Fly drones. Watch 3D anime. Dress in cosplay.”
“Those sound stereotypically Japanese,” Jason said. “Well except maybe the fly drones part. Then again, the winner of the drone world cup back in my day was a J chick. I forget her name. Migawee or something?”
“J chick?” Xin said.
“Japanese chick,” Jason said. “Er, never mind.”
“I also like to paint,” Xin said. “I used to make vast landscapes. Mountains. Forests. Oceans. Temples. Imagining what my homeland looked like before it was lost. I want to make a pilgrimage there someday, now that I’m a machine. Now that the radiation won’t harm me.”
“Maybe we can look into doing that at some point,” Jason said.
“You’d come with me?” Xin said.
“I...” He glanced at her, and when he saw the happiness his suggestion had given her, he didn’t have the heart to say no. “Yeah, sure.”
“Thank you!” She gave him a one-handed hug. “You’re a good friend.”
“Yeah, of course,” Jason said noncommittally.
He glanced at her. Xin was still partially hugging him, and her face was only a few centimeters from his own. He felt this overwhelming urge to kiss her. When her eyes dropped to his lips, before darting back to his eyes, he knew that she wanted him to, as well.
And then he heard the rustling of leaves, and Lori came crashing through the nearby undergrowth next to the lake.
Xin immediately released Jason, and took a step back.
Lori came up beside him and wrapped an arm protectively around his waist. Her tail also entwined his left leg.
“Hey Jason!” Lori gave him a peck on the cheek. “Hey Xin! What’s up?”
“Nothing,” Xin said. “I was just leaving.” And with that, Xin escaped into the undergrowth and vanished.
