The No Names

by Frank Albelo

  “We found another five corpses buried in the snow at the back edge of the fence. The others are taking the belts off like you did. If I might ask, why did you take them?” He spoke more calmly than minutes before, but fear still underlaid his words. I explained the need for spare batteries, especially if the weather did not change soon or we weren’t given shelter. The cutting ice winds that were hitting the holding area were the main contributors to the chill and frost that was starting to build up along the plates of our armor.

  “As gruesome as it may be, we should collect the bodies and make a small wind wall. Once that is done, I’ll try to climb the fence. I don’t know how the people over in the base are going to like that, but I sure as shit am not waiting for them.” The heat in my voice pumping me up for the crazy plan that was forming in my head. I would eke out answers from the Captain one way or another.

  The youth nodded at my plan and set about dragging the mutilated man to the edge of the fence where the other survivors found the bodies. I grabbed the legs of the poor sod that had froze when the monster attacked and followed behind. During the short walk I contemplated the fact that whatever the Government was doing on this moon was not public news. Based on the Captain’s words and the fact that there were more bodies in the holding area indicated previous batches of prisoners. How long had people been getting dropped into this frozen wasteland? I thought.

  It was fast work with the help of the other five survivors to move the bodies into a crescent shape. It was definitely insensitive to use bodies as building materials, but if more of those transformed people were here, then we needed to be in the best shape possible. As soon as the last body was set down, I motioned for everyone to sit and take as much cover as they could.

  I gripped the closest support column to the survivors and shimmied slowly up, putting my armored feet in the mesh holes as foot holds. When I was about halfway up the wall, a loud ringing sounded through the complex and a spark of electricity sprung from the main base. Reacting quickly, I let go of the pole and fence. I landed roughly on the small piles of snow on the ground and an instant later electricity sizzled all along the mesh at the spot where I’d been holding on.

  “I guess I won't be trying that again…” I said trailing off as some static sounded from a pair of loudspeakers I had missed, built into the columns.

  “Patience. You all seem so eager, nothing at all like the others… Anyhow, we will release you soon. You will be given provisions for three days. Should you return with bodies for those creatures you will be given more food based on the number you bring back. If you can keep that up then so on and so forth you get to live.” It took a moment but I realize the slightly distorted voice was Captain Starden. “I would keep that wrench handy, 36589900. Also, I would say farewell, but I doubt you will.” The voice over the loudspeakers cut off replaced by static and then simply the howling of the wind.

  I felt my anger bubbling, but I wrestled it down to focus on what he said. The Captain obviously knew what my Digit was and was making a point of his superiority over us, as a Named. I turned to look at the gangway that led to the base just in time to see a small powered cart silently making its way over to the fenced area.

  The small robot moved up against the fence. I wondered how the machine would let us get to its contents, considering there were no openings anywhere, when it started to whirl loudly. A few seconds later, it catapulted itself into the air, over the fence and smoothly landed amongst our group. The cart had a pair of magnetic repulsors instead of back wheels, which is how it made it over the fence.

  The other survivors approached the cart while I stared closely at its different features. It was a simple steel rectangle about six feet long by three wide with a touch interface screen along the top. The most noteworthy thing had been its repulsors, but when I moved to access the touch screen it shut off. The whirling restarted as the repulsors lip up with electric charge.

  Not missing the opportunity, I shouted. “Everyone, grab on!”

  Without a hint of hesitation, all of the survivors piled onto the cart. I made sure I had a good grip of the pipe wrench and battery belts. As soon as I had settled onto the cart, it stopped whirling and launched into the air.

  While all of us had dropped through the atmosphere, there was something about unprotected falling that always scared people. There were shouts of glee and fear passing through the comm system as the cart tossed us over the fence and into the snow bank furthest from the base. The cart remained upright as it slowed its own descent, but we crashed to the ground.

  As I checked on the other survivors and moved back towards the cart I kept my wrench handy. While the snowed area around the holding area was almost completely visible, it served to be wary.

  This time, when I approached the screen it remained lit. When I placed my hand on the screen, a pair of wires shot out of the cart and injected into the unarmored portion on the inside of my forearm. I muffled a cry of pain as the needles in the wires drew blood roughly. A loading bar started to fill on the screen while it continued to draw blood. The surprise with which it had attached itself caused me to hesitate in trying to pull the wires. After a few seconds I began to feel a bit faint and the bar finished filling.

  “Greetings. I am the All-Terrain-Carrier. I have identified you as Digit 36589900. Would you like to bind to this unit?”

  A mechanical voice sounded from the cart. With a fair bit of apprehension I replied yes. As I watched, the cart turned into a cube that then grew metal arms and legs. The interface moved around to the front of the cart and the repulsors became the feet of the now-mechanoid carrier.

  While this whole transformation happened, only three of the survivors were distracted looking at the fields of ice and snow of Dun Lund. The rest, including the younger kid, were looking at the mech with wonder.

  “Is there something you would like me to call you 36589900? As my programming indicates, humans often prefer letters to numbers.” The robotic voice of the ATC lacked any emotion but it made me think of something I hadn’t thought about since my days in the engineer academy of Earth.

  “Alpha. You can call me Alpha.” I addressed the ATC while also turning to look at my fellow survivors. “It would also make it easier to interact if we had names.” I looked to the rest of the survivors who had joined us at that point.

  “The Government and the Bankers are the only ones allowed to give names aren’t they? Giving out a name like you just did is illegal!” The young survivor presented an almost comical point, but I chose to accept his naive nature and explained my reasoning.

  “The Government already sent us to this frozen shithole, to hunt mutated people no less, they could probably care less about what we call each other on this moon.” The others nodded in understanding as the younger survivor moved closer.

  “Where did you come up with your name then! I only know those of Bankers…” he asked.

  “It is part of one of the ancient Earth languages. Alpha is the first letter of their alphabet.”

  “Is there more we can use!” asked another of the others present. There was excitement clear now on the faces of the survivors, the visors of the helmets doing little to hide their energy.

  “There are more than enough. Would you like to be Beta, the second letter?” I pointed at the younger boy who had asked for instruction.

  “Yes! I have always been 36511300… Beta…” his voice barely a whisper through the comms. As soon as I had named Beta, the others rushed over. The excitement and ingrained fear that the Government had placed in Digits was less than the Forgotten, but I was sure the ‘Dun Lund Welcome Committee’ had done much to change them.

  There were three women in the group who I suggested the names Gamma, Zeta and Eta. The other two men, one of which had been the one who turned his suit’s heating upon arrival, I suggested Delta and Epsilon. The one who had activated his suit first seemed to like Delta and the other man had no preference. Once everyone had selected names they all began t
alking excitedly about them. While the names didn’t give them the nurturing of the Named Bankers and Officials, it would give them an identity they could build in this desolate place.

  The ATC stood quietly behind me through the whole exchange. In my excitement I’d almost forgotten we were in a frozen wasteland. I left the others to their conversations while I touched my hand to the blank ATC display.

  “Please direct voice commands for improved machine learning.” The ATC replied as its screen lit up white.

  “What is your purpose? I can’t imagine our favorite Captain would have provided you without some underlying reason.” I said after I pulled my hand back. “Also, why did you take my blood?” I had never encountered something like the ATC before and my engineering mind hungered to understand the strange vampiric robot.

  “I am intended for carrying supplies. The Captain of USG Pendett set the command to return to base if bonded Digit is killed. I have not receive further commands.” There was a pause as the machine processed my second question. “The DNA in your blood has been integrated to my sensors. It will also allow me to ascertain your health status. If my power reserves reach critical levels you may also utilize your biomass to fuel my functions. You may command actions from me, even from a distance through your suit. If you so wish, I can also add status information on my mechanical condition.” As the synthesized voice explained its functions, a digitized image of the ATC appeared in my HUD. The different limbs of the robot were highlighted green and a small inventory of what he was currently carrying was displayed underneath.

  There were exactly forty two ration meals stored in the ATC. In addition to that, there was a pair of gallon tanks with potable water that were being kept liquid thanks to the robot’s internal heating. Other than the food rations, there was a notification saying that the ATC could carry an additional fifty pounds without extensive power drain.

  As I considered what the machine had just told me, Beta tapped my shoulder. “Hey… Alpha… do we have a plan?” The boy was still a bit hesitant about using the names, but he appeared more sure as the rest of the survivors huddled back towards the ATC.

  “Well. As it stands we have exactly three days worth of food; four if we ration harder. Still, I imagine our first order of business is finding a good vantage point and shelter. I have no clue what exactly we are suppose to be killing, but—” I gestured towards the holding area where we had left the bodies. “if they are anything like what attacked us we need to be prepared.” The rest of the group nodded at my words and we looked out at the snow field beyond.

  While I had had more pressing concerns while in the holding pen and with the ATC, I took a second to look out at the what I could see of Dun Lund.

  Fields of snow extended as far as the eye could see. The holding area and the base were on a slightly elevated hill that slopped down steeply after a few hundred feet. The gray clouds in the sky were swirling quickly, making it difficult to observe the location of the star that lit this planet. Slapping myself for not asking earlier, I turned to the ATC.

  “Where is Dun Lund? Also, are there cardinal orientations we can use on this planet?” I asked.

  “I do not have information regarding our location. I have provided a compass wheel on the top of your display.” As the ATC spoke, an arched rectangle with a series of degrees and an N to the right side appeared on my HUD. As I turned my head, the N moved along the compass wheel showing north, east, south and west presumably.

  “Can you give the others access to this?” I inquired.

  “They will need to activate the setting themselves. I can only affect my bonded’s suit.” While a bit frustrating, it made a bit of sense considering the ‘bond’ that the ATC operated off of.

  Over the next couple of minutes, I had the ATC explain where the compass wheel setting was and the rest of the survivors activated it with ease. Looking back away from the glaring light reflecting off of the base, I noticed that there was some kind of topographic change northeast of where we were, which could indicate a water flow or a drop down from the snow plains that dominated the area around the base.

  I motioned to the others and they all agreed that it was as good a course as any. Our group made it to the slope and slowly slid face down the snow, using the armored boots to dig in and regulate our descent. The ATC unit did another of its repulsor jumps down as it silently hovered behind our group.

  As we walked through the snow, the clouds would occasionally clear away and the system star’s light would shine through the clouds and blind us. When the clouds cleared a path for the light, the whole group was forced to stop since it made it impossible to see due to the snow’s glare. On the third instance of stopping, the others in the group were becoming a bit aggravated at the slow progress.

  While we sat shielding our eyes from the glare, the ATC silently moved closer to me. “It seems the light glare is affecting you. Are you aware of the shading setting for your visors?” I looked at the robot with an annoyed look while internally shouting. It was ridiculous that suits as advanced as ours wouldn’t have something as simple as tinted visor settings. My own suit when I worked at the Nuclelectric Plant had shading settings when working with the radioactive substances.

  I informed the rest of the group, to their immense satisfaction, of the shading setting and how to access them thanks to the ATC. Forgetting the fact that the ATC was a machine, I thanked it for its help. The ATC whirled quietly as it moved back to the rear of our group.

  Unimpeded by the snow glare, we made much better progress through the ankle deep snow. While we walked, the other Digits socialized and Beta zipped to and fro between the conversations. Taking note of the small smile that had formed on my face, I frowned.

  The lull in the action since my capture on Earth had reminded me of better times.

  While it would have been fabulous to simply be out on a snow hike with friends, that was not what was going on. The two hours we had spent walking towards the ice drop had showcased the fortitude of human minds. All of the remaining Digits, including me, almost seemed to have forgotten about the horrifying creature that had eaten and mauled people in the holding area.

  While I had been able to kill the morphed human, I didn’t know what had caused him to change. The speed of the change, the increased mass and strength of the creature made me fearful about what we would encounter. I entered the proverbial rabbit hole of unanswered questions our drop onto Dun Lund had caused. The resources that had been invested to get a bunch of Digits suited up and orbital dropped onto the moon must have been hefty, not including the ATC and the strange technology I had never encountered. Not to mention the weird whisper I had clearly heard after I killed the contorted man.

  I was shaken out of my thoughts when the ATC used one of its wheels-turned-mechanical-grips to hold my arm suddenly. I turned to look at the mech as it spoke loud enough for the whole group. “I would advise caution. I detect some incoming seismic activity.” the robotic voice sounded. I was not sure why the robot had warned us, especially considering it was supposed to be a simple carrier. I turned a doubtful eye on the ATC, but called for a huddle from the other survivors.

  Delta and Beta were getting along well as the wide man joked with the younger one. Epsilon and the other women conversed as they moved closer to the ATC. While it was a bit difficult to tell the survivors apart through their tinted visors, I could recognize some of them by their build.

  As I relayed the information the ATC had told me, the others voiced their concerns about an additional factor to struggle against. I was also worried about the prospect of seismic activity on an ice covered area, but I did my best to keep everyone optimistic. Considering the amount of time since the meal we had on the Pendett I figured it would be as good a time as any to take a meal break.

  While everyone walked, the ATC had suggested I hydrate. It had a reusable cup in one of its chest compartments and it tapped the water through its arms. After I figured out how to use the water system, everyo
ne had been able to drink water by momentarily retracting their helmets into the suit chest piece. It was a cold process, but it was relatively easy to become dehydrated in the cold so I made sure to have everyone taking sips as often as they could.

  “How do we access the food rations?” I addressed the ATC. The mech turned to me and the outline of a panel appeared on its seamless front. I tapped the outline and it popped out on a hinge. There were several more slots than the forty two occupied by the rations. As I passed one ration for each person the ATC shut the rest of the provisions inside it.

  The rations were some kind of protein bar with a fiber crust. When I looked at the ATC skeptically, it indicated that it held enough nutrients for several hours of arduous activity. The other survivors watched me closely as I bit into the corner of the beige rectangle.

  The taste could have been described as bland with a side of cardboard. I did my best to chew through the fiber outside and the flavor improved from mediocre to poor once I got to the protein center. Not even the expired ancient meals of the lunar mining rigs or the crap the Government called affordable food tasted quite as bad as the ration. The other Digits saw my inevitable reaction to the food and were tempted to set it down.