by Viola Grace
The test bot was being rolled into the centre of the room and aimed at the target three hundred metres down the hall. It was a fraction of the distance that the final weapon would manage, but it was necessary for safety.
A chunk of the metal was put up as the target, and one of the techs was sighting the bot’s aim with the shiny circle in pride of place.
Xaia nodded and said, “Which are the weakest rounds?”
The tray was held up, and Xaia went to pick up the first round.
She examined it for leaks and loaded it into the chamber. She made sure that the target lane was clear of any inhabitants, and then, she stepped back so that the encasing walls could protect the bystanders.
“Are all monitors standing by?”
The women illuminated by the light from their screens were tense but hopeful. One of them called out, “Monitors and all recorders standing by. Ready when you are, Pilot.”
Xaia moved to the bot control console, and she aimed using the bot’s systems. “Firing in three... two... one.”
The gun kicked hard in the bot’s hand, and far down the line, the shiny round of metal flashed green and then turned liquid silver in the span of twelve seconds.
The cheer in the room was deafening.
Xaia held up her hand for silence as the silver metal on the other side began to melt and drip onto the floor. “Gear up a half load of the crystals, half load of the nanites, and a half load of each. We want to control the ship, not melt it. We can always shoot it again.”
That got a laugh, and the crew divided into their sections.
Xaia looked down the target alley. “Someone, go scoop up those nanites, please.”
There was a giggle, and a crew in protective gear headed down the alley.
Xaia sighed, and she waited, watching the percussion moment over and over, making notes and recommendations for the gas charge. The gun contained a spike, which pierced the gas capsule of the chamber and then caused a mixing of a small tab of volatile chemical. The chemical hit the gas and the gas exploded, propelling the load of nanites and their snack toward the target. It was a mechanism that reached back over a thousand years in human records, but now, it was the best means to hit a target that was moving through an atmosphere, which was now unpredictable.
She hoped that the pilots at the city were doing better.
* * * *
Nyvett was grateful that she was above ground. When the small gathering of folk started to come out from the city, Iff created a trench in front of him by bending and using his fingers to draw a line.
The humans stopped and stared up at them as Iff straightened.
Nyvett moved to keep the humans from the collective kneeling in their protective posture.
One of the city dwellers shouted, “Why are you here?”
Nyvett blinked and she answered, “We are on a rescue mission.”
A young woman stepped forward. “Are you here for the alien?”
Nyvett blinked and chuckled before using the external coms again. “No. We are not here for the Tokkel. He is not our concern.”
“What are you? Why do you keep coming back here?”
“I wish we knew. As for what we are, we are the pilots of Bot City.”
The crowd spoke to each other in excited tones.
“Are you really? We have heard that you don’t look like us.”
She snorted. “You don’t look like you. Your city has left human as a memory.”
They looked at each other, and they paused before nodding. To Nyvett’s astonishment, they began removing piercings, the points from their ears, and wiping off stripes of colour on their skin.
“Not all of us have gone the way of the mayor. It is easier to get through life in the city if you look like those in power. Fortunately, our ability to manufacture artificial prosthetics is fairly advanced.” The woman smiled as she stood there.
“It seems so. We have underestimated you.”
The woman grinned. “It seems so. What is the tower?”
“An ionic shield. It protects Hera against invasion from the stars.”
That got the crowd excited. “Even against the Tokkel?”
“Yes. Unfortunately, as the generator is here, Bot City is vulnerable. The density won’t be able to protect us by the time the scheduled ship arrives.”
The crowd got excited again. The woman cleared her throat. “You have a scheduled invasion?”
Nyvett chuckled. “Yes, we are highly organized.”
The group laughed.
The woman frowned in concern. “Will the valley be all right?”
Nyvett zoomed in on her face. The features were historical human, even if there was a little bit of pigmentation left from some sort of powder on her face.
“I can run a scan if you like.” Iff’s quiet offer was just what she needed.
“Yes, please. I need to know if they are actually human.”
The scanner zoomed in, and the readout took in one of them at a time. The result was undeniable. Human.
“That was not what I expected.” She murmured inside the bot. She returned to outside coms. “How many of your people are still genetically human?”
The woman cocked her head, “I would guess that it is around fifty percent. We are a growing underground, and there are even black-market reversals taking place.”
Nyvett blinked. “Fascinating.”
“It is difficult to speak with a bot. Can we see you? There was a description of one of your kind, but I can’t seem to grasp the details.”
“We were inside the city, with the mayor. There were a few of his people that saw us.”
“His people are not our people.”
Nyvett got the hint. “Then who saw us?”
“It was a couple who were using the tunnels for a moment of intimacy.”
Nyvett frowned, but Iff filled in the blanks with images of mixed gender couples. “Ohh. That.”
“So, will you show us what you look like?”
Nyvett did a scan of the surrounding area, and there was no one other than the small group in the vicinity. She checked them, and no weapons were on the scans.
“Iff, would you mind if I stepped out?”
“I will lower you halfway and no further. Take weapons.”
“Yes, boss.” She unravelled from the pilot’s cradle and put on the headset.
The weapons cache that she accessed was neat and tidy, just the way she liked it. She armed herself with two pulse guns in thigh holsters.
Nyvett walked to stand in front of the hatch, and she knocked on the door. “Let me out.”
“Just know that if they make a move, I want you to drop and I will close my hand over you.”
She sighed. “Yes. This will only take a minute, but do put me on the exterior com.”
“Yes, Pilot.” His tone was grudging as he opened the outer hatch.
In her ear, she could hear the inhalation of the crowd as the door opened. She stepped out and onto Iff’s hand, holding her back straight as he lowered her to his waist.
“Hello.”
The crowd murmured in surprise.
“You look...” The woman blinked. “You look normal.”
“I am normal. Well, relatively. I am a citizen of Bot City. We all look like this.”
The woman who had done most of the talking said, “How tall are you?”
“Close to two and a half metres tall.”
That shocked the crowd.
The woman stared, “Seriously?”
“I am.”
She spoke. “Iff, can you pick the chatty one up and put her on your hand?”
Iff sent her what could only be considered a dark thought, but he knelt on one knee and extended his other hand to the woman. To her credit, the little human stepped up.
Nyvett was curious as the woman got closer to her. When They were face to face across Iff’s palms, Nyvett smiled.
&nbs
p; “Hello.”
The woman moved carefully and extended her hand to Nyvett. “Hello. I am Ledion Smythe.”
Nyvett extended her hand. “Nyvett Norm, pilot of Iff.”
The handshake was strange. It was like shaking the hand of a child with chronic illness. Nyvett looked down and lifted her hand. “Why are you so weak?”
Ledion blinked. “I work with data.”
“Don’t you have mandatory exercise?”
“No. We only have to do what we need to do and no more.”
That idea was stunning. “Wow. Well, are you satisfied with my height?”
Ledion nodded. “Yes, you are... very tall. And strong. How strong are you?”
Nyvett frowned. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Iff’s voice came from the speaker. “She can lift three hundred kilos under duress. One hundred casually.”
Ledion pulled her hand back. “That is... impressive.”
“By your reaction, I am guessing that it is more than is normal in the city.”
“You could say that. Yes.” Ledion looked around. “Can I go down now?”
Iff lowered her to the ground, and she stumbled back to her people.
Nyvett signalled him that she wanted to go back inside, and he lifted her up to his chest, opening the hatch when she was near it.
It seemed that her ability to toss around most of the humans she encountered had not assisted her in winning friends.
Tucked inside, she kept her weapons on when she resumed the pilot’s cradle. It seemed that being fit was a detriment to the people of the city. Too bad for them. Nyvett was proud that the valley made sure that even its curviest citizen could carry one of her companions in case of emergency. When you worked with a lot of robots, things exploded a lot.
Chapter Five
Xaia watched the impact of the latest round. It splattered both portions of the round at high velocity, and then, the countdown began. The silver puddle spread slowly and then enveloped the object in a rush.
Doing testing was part of research and development, but Xaia specialized in repair, so this was torture.
This was the ninth round of experimentation and the level of acceptable radiation was so fine that even half a crystal too much would tip the nanites into ravenous reproduction.
The silvery shield at the end of the test range tightened, and when Xaia entered the coding, it lifted gently off its stand.
She moved the nanites gently around the end of the range before she settled it back in place.
The design teams were standing by. “Bot City citizens... we have our ammunition!”
The cheer was resounding, and when it slowly faded into a happy glow, she said, “Now, do it again big enough for a bot.”
There was a groan, and she chuckled. “And keep doing it until I say stop. We need a minimum of ten guns in bot scale and as many charges as we can manage.”
The women in charge of the guns paused. “Ten?”
“Ideally, fourteen. The bots can and do shoot with both hands, but if the ship shoots back, we will need spare guns.”
The tech looked at the numbers. “What about seven guns and rocket launcher-style armament for the forces on the ground?”
Xaia frowned. “I wasn’t thinking of having ground forces.”
“We have defended the bots before the bots were able to defend us. The valley may lose the bots, but we will not allow aliens to take over our world. We are the only aliens allowed to thrive on this planet.” She nodded and crossed her arms.
Xaia recognized her. She was a member of the Levings, so of course, she was fixed on the safety of the people. It was what they did.
Xaia grinned. “You have a point—”
“Rynna. Rynna Leving, experimental weaponry specialist.”
“You look a lot like Corbyn.”
“Yeah, I get that a lot.” She grimaced, just like her sister or cousin.
“Well, as enchanting as this is, don’t you have rocket launchers to make? I mean, after you make the guns.”
Rynna nodded and tapped her clipboard. “I will get right on it, as well as order ordinance for the size of the launcher.”
“Well, it looks like we have a ton of supplies for that.”
Xaia smiled as Rynna smiled happily and headed off to work on the scale prototypes.
Elder Lameera appeared from wherever she had been lurking and tapped Xaia on the shoulder. “Come on and take a load off. You have done a helluva job today.”
Xaia nodded. “I think a cup of tea is in order.”
Lameera snickered. “It is definitely likely that tea can be obtained.”
Xaia smiled and headed off for a cup of tea. She had a thought. “Can someone bring some tea and food to Lido? I think it would be nice.”
“I will order that immediately. I am rather embarrassed that I haven’t thought of it before.”
“Cio will keep her running. The nanites that we now have in us are great for that.”
Lameera nodded. “Does it feel weird?”
“Not really. It feels like having a companion attached to your mind.”
“Does the connection hurt?”
“Only for the first few seconds then you have his memories from the moment that he first awakened. It sweeps you away into the past and every battle he was ever in. When you also get the pilot’s memories, it completes the picture and puts you at the apex of their evolution. Frankly, you feel pretty smug.”
Lameera laughed.
Xaia smiled slightly, but she knew that the true feeling was one that she only shared with six other people on Hera, and five of them were on a difficult mission. She hoped that everything was going okay.
* * * *
Duel thudded to the floor, gasping for air. “Leave me here. Save yourselves!”
Hima snorted and helped her to her feet. “That was the last ladder. Now, we just have the final slow spiral down to the lab and storage area.”
Duel grunted, and she sighed as she got upright. “I hate going down ladders.”
Corbyn gave her a slow look. “How are you at going up them? We have a lot of ladders to climb to get out of here.”
“I can climb all day long. It is just placing my feet when I can’t see them that bugs me.”
She straightened and looked down the long hall. “Shall we sprint again?”
Hima chuckled. “I believe we shall. These suits are really nice for working out in.”
“And radiation protection. Xaia designed the fabric.” Kiida chuckled. “She wanted one fabric to do it all, but it is exceedingly complicated to put together.”
“Well, she does good work.” Hima stretched.
They trotted down the hall, prepared to coil around again and again, but the doors to the lab appeared in front of them when they rounded the corner.
Duel blinked. “This is unexpected.”
Hima looked around. “Do we just go in?”
Kiida smiled. “I don’t think we are going to get an invitation.”
Corbyn grunted and walked to the door, looking for the closure.
Duel covered her laugh when Corbyn jumped as the doors hissed open. The scent of the air had a chemical tang with something underlying the harsh odour.
Hima lifted her head, and her chin jerked slightly. “What is that?”
“I think we might find out if we go inside.”
Duel nodded. “Here we go.”
She stepped inside, and since Hima was slightly ahead of her, she bulldozed her into the lab.
They looked around, and instead of the neat alignment of tubes or pods or whatever, they found an expansive lab that reached out into the distance.
Corbyn whispered, “How are we supposed to find them?”
Duel got a message, and she grinned, “Kab suggests listening to the sound of machines. Active machines.”
The murmur in her ear reminded her that she had access to Kab’s sight.
“Kab, find the cold spots for us.”
She heard the amused whisper in her ear. “I can do that.”
She looked through the lens, and she found the first cold spot with a weirdly warm centre. “I found one.”
They all moved in the direction that she was leading, and then, they skidded to a halt next to the first cryo tube.
Duel looked up at the extremely muscular naked man in the canister. “Okay, was anyone expecting that?”
To her astonishment, his eyes opened, and the vivid purple pinned her in place. He lifted his arms and kicked upward, grabbing the edge of the tank and pulling himself free.
Hima went up the ladder at the side of the tank and used her fist to strike the back of the man while he choked and coughed to clear his lungs. Her hits were quick and precise. He soon ceased to cough, and he was able to breathe in regular motions.
Hima leaned down. “Are you okay? I mean, aside from being frozen and naked.”
The man stared at her and then laughed. “That is not the first thing that I thought you would say.”
His words were thick, but he was clearly understandable.
Duel blinked. “Right, well, we have one. Only twenty-nine more to go.”
Corbyn nodded. “Right. Split up.”
Hima clambered down the ladder and went to each of them, pressing the spots on the back where they would need to hammer for clearance.
As soon as Duel had gotten the briefing, she was on her way.
The next frozen man had burning gold eyes that opened the moment she touched the cylinder. He kicked up and out, so she clambered up the ladder to help him get it all out. He was coughing and gagging, so she used the pressure points that had been shown to her, and a rush of liquid left his lungs and stomach.
“Well, that is horrible. How are you doing?”
He looked up at her with a surprised expression. “I have just woken from a two hundred-year nap. How do you think I am doing?”
She crouched and looked at him eye to eye. “You seem pretty bitchy.”
His jaw opened, and she grinned, leaving him on top of the tank while she went on to her next victim.
It was easy. She placed her hand on the tank, the man inside woke up, swam up, and she climbed the ladder to smack them around a little. After that, it was a mild insult about the man’s appearance and back down the ladder.
