by Alex Fall
“The city is falling apart,” one her crew added.
A bit anxiety rose inside me, but I kept it hidden. “What about the Dwellers?” I asked.
Nicolette looked slightly confused. “What about them?”
That's a strange response. “How are they fairing with all of this?”
“Fine, I guess. There doesn't seem to be anything different from them.”
My eyes narrowed slightly. You guess? You haven't even been watching, have you? An echo of Keegan's voice recalled that these people aren't what they seem. They will help me fix Lenburg but...something seems off. Sharon clung closer to me. Even she knows.
“Long story short, things aren't going to be quite the same as when you were last here,” she finished.
“Do we have any sort of specific plans to handle this? I mean, I'm not entirely sure what our goals are here,” a rebel asked.
“We are going to fix Lenburg. With this.” I held up a vial of the special liquid.
“That's a cure, right?” Nicolette asked. I nodded. Some on her side expressed discomfort at the idea I found a cure.
“It hasn't been tested yet. But I think I know just who to try it on. First things first, we find the Big Man,” I announced.
Some surprised and skeptical comments were passed around. “We can try, but even we don't know for sure who the Big Man is,” Nicolette said. “Plus even if we find him, I doubt we'll get away unharmed.”
“I've been giving some thought to that, and I have an idea. I'm going to have to talk to my tech op and mechanic first.” My crew members stood to attention but traded confused glances.
We moved to a private room to discuss my first plan.
“Captain, I was not informed about this idea of yours,” Lori stated with skepticism.
“I know. I've had a lot on my mind so you'll have to get over it.”
“Sounds about right,” Wyatt mumbled to the air.
I ignored it. “When I first found Sharon, we hid for a bit in some sort of warehouse that was locked down with prewar security drones. Those drones were armored up with some kind of material that I couldn't burn through.”
“W-what?” Wyatt stuttered. Lori too stood straight up in surprise.
“Well, actually I don't know. Theoretically I can burn anything, but if I melted this stuff I may have lost some fingers or killed myself. I don't know, I didn't want to try. Point is, whatever that stuff is, it's bulletproof and it's me-proof. I want it. I want armor made out of it.”
“Are you sure? How heavy is it? How-” Wyatt began to ask.
“I don't have any and I don't know. Now shut up and listen. Lori, I don't think you can be much help except for pulling those plates off. Wyatt, I need you to hack the security systems or figure out some kind of way to turn those drones off.”
“Uuuuuh…I need to see these things first,” he said doubtfully.
“Why can't I help?” Lori inquired.
“Because these things are loaded out with two mini guns and a type two anti-personnel laser.”
“Uuuuuh!” Wyatt repeated but much louder, emphasizing his doubt. I glared at him for a moment.
“Not to mention they see in the dark or something. They always know where you're at and there's only one entry and exit point.”
“I may ask for a raise now,” Wyatt said.
“Get over yourself, it's not much worse than a leftover.”
“Have you killed a leftover by yourself? Yes. Have you beaten one of these things by yourself? Mm...sounds like no?” my tech op responded.
I stood up in his face, feeling the irritation rise. “Do I need to remind you where you are in the grand scheme?”
“Captain, captain. Maybe there's another way around these things, like cutting power or something?” Lori interjected.
I turned and glared into her until she stepped back. “You know, sometimes I get real tired of you interrupting me to save your friends,” I growled.
She swallowed before continuing. “It was just a suggestion…”
“Don't lie to me. I am your captain, and I really don't like being interrupted.”
“Why are you so tyrannical? I'm not interrupting!” she stated, showing her rebellious nature.
“Wrong, Lori! I am in command! I earned it! And you WILL be silent for the next ten minutes!” I appreciated being just a tad taller than her in these moments, just so I could stand over her. Lori met my glare with an anger of her own and a face flushed red with embarrassment, but she kept her mouth closed. While I finished establishing my authority, Wyatt sighed.
“At least it's not me this time…”
“You're coming with me tonight. I want my armor as soon as possible,” I commanded.
“Are you serious right now?” He whined.
“Yes! Make sure you have everything because we're not coming back empty handed.” I glanced at the two of them, a flustered Wyatt and a shamed Lori, then headed towards the main group. “Tetsuro! We're dismissed, get my ship ready!”
* * *
Lenburg felt like a second home after everything that transpired. I could still place all of the landmarks where my life took me. I felt the familiar instincts of where to find people. I did not, however, remember there being so much dust and ruin. The Greaters have been busy. We had to land in a peculiar pit area a couple kilometers from our destination just to avoid being spotted. At least they didn't move this particular hub, but at the same time, because Greaters now stick together it raises the ante for danger.
“D.S.P? All this security for sonic tech?” Wyatt asked as he eyed a sign.
“Shut up. You're way too loud,” I whispered.
“No one is out here. What are you so worried about?”
I stopped my tracks in a stray, weed ridden median. “How's this for worry? The first time I was here I nearly got burned to death by someone else. Do you want to have your upper body torched?”
“Er...obviously not.”
“Then shut up and whisper if you need to say something!”
We approached the old chain link fence and slipped under towards the dusty storehouse. My eyes were drawn towards a metal panel in the ground that was left open. Wyatt didn't notice a thing, but I remembered the nights Sharon and I spent there. Exercising caution, the two of us slipped inside the front office area. Memories filled me again. I felt like I even spotted some of my old blood in here. Wyatt moved to a side room to begin calibration and setup of whatever instruments he brought.
“Does this warning sticker tell you anything?” I asked.
“Yeah, that stepping beyond that point means you'll probably get shot.”
I shot him a death stare. “Don't get smart with me. I'll throw you in that room.”
Wyatt sighed and stepped towards the door with a small yellow box in his hand. “No respect these days…”
He propped the door open with one hand and held the box out in his other. I heard the high pitch whine of something on standby kick in, but there's probably no way he could have heard it. The smells of plastics and old blood tinged with gunpowder wafted past when he opened the door. Wyatt turned on a small light to check the room but did not enter past the door jam.
“Hello little spunk bot…” he greeted the inactive mess of a drone left on the ground. It wasn't in the same spot as I remembered. It must have dragged itself around for a bit. “How many did you say there are?”
I shrugged. “There should be a damaged one and another somewhere deeper in, but I didn't look through the whole building. I wasn't exactly hunting for these things.”
Wyatt scratched his nose then resumed scanning the room. “Ok, so good news and...interesting news.”
I cocked my head. “Interesting news?”
“Let's do good news first. I think I can deactivate your other friend in there.”
“Oh. Well, this will be simple.”
“Sorry to say but in this context, interesting means complicated. I'm picking up a lot of local signal. Based off of thos
e panels there in the wall, the build of the drone, and those little nuggets on the ceiling waaaay back there and over there, I'm willing to bet that these bots run on SISF.”
“SISF?” I echoed.
“Structurally Integrated Sensory Feed. I'm not entirely sure, but I think the buildings security features are listening and seeing for the drones. So even if you're totally silent and out of sight, the building still sees you and directs the drones accordingly. But...that's only if it's SISF.”
I rubbed my face, feeling my mood sink. “What else could it be?”
“Well I can't see the sensor cluster on the drone, so it could be high frequency wave reader. Like X-ray vision or something, which if it is, that means your white paneling in here won't stand up to radiation at all.”
“Is radiation going to come up?” I asked with slight irritation.
“I don't know. It's just a fact. It may mean your paneling isn't the armor, it may be something underneath.”
“Which is it?”
“I don't know! I haven't gone up and dissected it yet.”
“What's stopping you?” I half yelled.
“There's another pre-war drone in there!” he yelled back.
“You have force fields!”
“They have plasma! Energy and force fields don't mix, remember?”
“So what, we just sit here like a couple of *cusses*?” I bit my tongue and looked outside. Sorry Keegan…
“I don't exactly know! It might mist you with a tag solution the second you walk in and the drones track that. It might cool the whole room to a uniform temperature and the drones track thermal anomalies. The floor might have location triggers. Maybe the drones have tech I've never seen before, I don't know!”
I heard the distant sound of a voice so I crouched and pulled Wyatt down too. “Turn off the light,” I said in a low voice.
“And just like that we have a plan?” he whispered in a frustrated voice.
Ugh! Wyatt, he’s making me so mad right now! Why can't things be simple? Why can't people just do there job? I put my hands up to my head to grip my hair and hopefully distract myself from my anger. “Look, I just want to get this over with.” Wyatt sighed and we sat in silence for a moment. “What needs to happen?” I asked.
“I need to look at the drone...which means you need to distract the other one.”
I let myself fall to sitting position and my head roll back until it touched the wall. I shot Wyatt the most inexpressive face I could and mumbled one sarcastic word. “...really?”
“Yeah...interesting news.”
“I hate my life…”
“That's a bit extreme.”
“I'll need to borrow a shield unit from you then.”
Wyatt went to say something but just turned it into a surprised look. “If it breaks, you're going to owe me a decent chunk of money.”
I shot Wyatt a look of contempt. “Money doesn't mean anything in Lenburg, remember? And I'm not going to break your unit. Why would I do that?”
Wyatt shrugged. “I don't know. Because you're crazy?”
My mood sunk further. I pushed Wyatt to his feet and held out a hand, continuing to usher him along. “Shield unit. You have until we get in that room to give it to me.”
Wyatt pulled off his gauntlet and turned it over to me in time for us both to walk in the room. Wyatt turned to me and asked, “We're assuming it's SISF?”
“Sure. Now hurry up. I'd like to not die.” I began equipping the unit to cut down on calibration time. I also pulled off the star sapphire ring I had been wearing.
“I thought you hated your life,” Wyatt retorted as he hustled to the dead drone.
“Hold this, don't let anything touch it.”
He caught the little ring and examined it with the most confused of faces. “What the? Why would you bring this? Is this real?”
“Shut up and work.”
I began to jog through the familiar, white coated storeroom while allowing my eyes to adjust to the dark. I heard the drone deeper inside began disengaging from its station. Any second it will find me. Come on, hurry up Wyatt…
The red glow of the drone’s “eye” rounded the corner to my left. It's after me. I dashed into an aisle in time to avoid the plasma beam. It opened up with that? It was so loud, I felt the heat, and my pulse amped up. These things are so dangerous!
I paused as my breathing escalated. The battle sense of my mind woke up. Despite all the training, I felt rusty. Ok, don't panic. I've handled these things before, now there's only one. The smooth mechanical sounds of the approaching drone grew louder. I'll need to buy Wyatt time. I need to move deeper in. And why am I standing in the middle of the aisle if this thing is after me?!
I put up a forcefield out of reflex as it came in view. Bullets spat in my direction, a few mortal ones deflected away by my shield. I turned and wall jumped onto and over the shelving unit. I could hear the drone turn about and begin to follow me. If this thing has trouble following me past shelves, this might not be as hard as I thought. I fell into a pattern of walking ahead of the drone, always staying one corner away. The area around me would light up red from the drone’s light, and I would turn away before it could fire. With only one sentry in the area, it was much easier to stay out of danger.
“Erin? Still alive?” my tech op called out.
I clenched my teeth. The drone paused then changed directions. It sensed Wyatt. Now he's in danger.
“Keep working!” I yelled. The only reason I responded was to catch the robot's attention, but it didn't work. No, no, NO! “Wyatt, shields up!”
I got up and ran at the target. I returned to my starting point at the same time the drone entered the area. It was only two meters ahead of me, but several meters to my right. It was fixated on Wyatt, but he saw it too. His Templar unit lit up, and the rainstorm of bullets stopped on an invisible plane. I bull rushed the drone while roaring in an attempt to distract it before it fired off the plasma beam, but it's programming was strong. An intense beam of heat and light burst forth past the shield towards Wyatt and struck. My insides jumped. No! Please no! I can't lose another crew member! The nightmares will never stop! I've already failed Vick, please don't tell me I failed Wyatt! How dare this thing cause me more grief!
I continued rushing out of anger and tackled the robot, but it had no effect other than making it step back to adjust balance. I reared back a superheated fist and punched twice. Nothing. The only change was an off-white blemish on the white paneling of the drones body, and my freshly seared hand. Tears welled up in my eyes from the pain, but I knew I would be it's next victim if I didn't move. I dove away and put up a shield across its left arm to prevent it from turning to blast me.
However, the programming was strong. The moment it stalled on my shield, the laser rotor turned and blasted at me. I think that was its plan the whole time, and I would be dead if I hadn't put up a forcefield, but because I did the beam only grazed my left leg. Unfortunately, being grazed by plasma beam still hurts unbelievably bad. I spilled out across the ground and screamed expletives. It made me mad.
“Erin!” Wyatt shouted in fright. He's still alive?
The drone whirled around to fire again. No, not this time! I raised my other leg and shot off a good charge of fire. The sound reverberated against the walls and lit the room up. I felt like it ripped my leg apart, but it successfully knocked the drone forward and off balance. The sentry stepped forward to adjust then fell on its front side with a loud metallic thud. I was reduced to writhing in pain and tears, but Wyatt curled up in a ball until the noise ceased.
“What the heck was that?!” He yelled.
“Get it!” I spat.
“What?”
“The-- get it! Bot! Drone! *Cuss!*” Another wave of pain swept over me and my head fell back as I forced breaths between my clenched teeth.
“Oh man, oh man, ooookay, oh boy,” I heard Wyatt repeating as he scrambled for some tools. Meanwhile the drone worked on rotating it's body
around so it could return to standing. It didn't take long. Not even half a minute later and the drone stood once again. This time it's attention was on me.
I did my best to drag myself out of harm's way. I put up shields, I pulled myself with my elbows, I even pushed when I could stand it with my burnt legs. But the drone was relentless. It seemed to be running a system check on its weaponry because nothing discharged even though both the guns and the beam were making noise, but it followed my movements. Any second this thing is going to finish it's diagnostics and I'm going to be in trouble. Get away from me!
I encased the drone in a spherical shield to stall it. Though it couldn't move well, I noted the beam resumed tracking my movements. I have to get behind a shelf, now!
A curious technical sound chirped twice. It reminded me of some kind of computer menu prompt noise, or something kind of basic text noise, but the drone ceased moving. I pulled myself behind the first set of shelves I could get to then checked my pursuer. It still made no movement.
“Hey, I think I got it,” said Wyatt. “Look left.”
The drone rotated left.
“Look right.”
The drone rotated right.
“So you got it?” I checked.
“Oh yes, he's mine now. I'm not voice commanding by the way, I was just...messing with it,” he replied while clearing his throat.
I let out a sigh of relief and went limp on the cool ground. Pain still coursed through me leaving me tired.
“Oh dang, did you get hit?” Wyatt put down his controller and rushed to my side. “Where, OH! Your legs! Um, medicine, medicine...I don't think I brought any.”
I lazily raised an arm in dismissal. “Was it SISF?”
“Tetsuro, upload my beacon and come get us. Erin has been hit,” Wyatt called into the comm.
“No, if the ship comes, the Greaters-”
“Um, need I remind that I have a pre-war security drone now?” he interrupted. “I'd like to see them try.”
I closed my eyes and swallowed dryly as I dragged myself to a sitting position against the shelving unit. “I thought I told you not to interrupt me.”
“Don't sit, here use this for a pillow till Tetsuro gets here.” He handed me a padded case for a tool set of his. “I'm going to round up what I can. Don't go anywhere.”
