by Scott Baron
By the time she reached the shuttle, dragging the heavy panel behind her, she’d worked up a good sweat in the morning sun. She didn’t mind. The exercise felt good to her rapidly reviving muscles. Real exercise, not a treadmill in a small pod on a ship far out in space. Sweat and sun and air—it felt fantastic. And when she set to work climbing atop the shuttle with her salvaged booty, she did so with a smile on her face.
The idea was simple. The ship was dead, of that she was certain. It wouldn’t fly again, at least not without massive repairs, but if she could rig a trickle charge to one of the few intact battery packs, she might just be able to feed it enough power over a few days to allow for a transmission.
And if I can get that little plasma cascade device working and link its power modulator to the charging grid, once the minimum charge threshold is reached, I bet I can force a lot more power from this old thing than normal.
“In theory,” Sarah added.
“Obviously. Captain would never have let me hook this little gizmo up to the Váli for a trial run, so let’s just call this a silver lining.”
She dug the device from the depths of her bag and gave it a once-over.
Not one hundred percent functional, but it just might work enough for my needs. It was extra weight in the Narrows, but I’m glad I had this on me when I ran.
Carefully, Daisy fashioned a connection harness of fine wires, all tying in to her theoretical, yet possibly functional, device.
No time like the present to test it out.
If she could get the cells to hold a charge, the comms should function, at least on a lower power setting. Other cities had to be listening, and though they had apparently abandoned Los Angeles, for whatever reason, it would be simple for them to send a retrieval craft to pick her up and transport her back to civilization.
Once the rig was wired in place, she set to dragging a pair of the massive reserve batteries to within reach of her makeshift charging station. Up above, the sun was blazing down as high noon passed.
These seem to be the least damaged of the bunch, so I guess that should do it, she hoped, clicking the final connections into place. Nothing more to do here but wait, and that won’t make these power up any faster. All right, back to work!
Her self-pep talk finished, she took a deep swig of water from her pack, then shouldered the produce-laden bag and set off to continue her search.
“That tower looks promising, don’t you think?”
“You had to pick the tall one.”
“All the better to really see what’s out there, my pretty.”
“What are you, the Big Bad Wolf now?” Daisy laughed.
“Besides, look close—the buildings around it are dark, but that one is still powered up. It must have its own backup system keeping it up and running when the power fluctuates. Maybe geothermal on top of the solar.”
“So the elevators will work.”
“Precisely.”
It was a big one. A tower of at least one hundred eighty floors, and high-end, from what she could see. Expensive stores showed off their wares on the vast ground floor, while offices and residences occupied the levels above. A work-live space for the wealthy, and likely a perfect spot from which to survey the city. Also, one with a high probability of having continuous, uninterrupted refrigeration in its units. That meant freezers. Freezers stocked with food.
The day was looking up, but despite her high spirits, Daisy couldn’t shake the uneasy sense that she was being watched. A feeling that only grew stronger as the massive tower grew closer.
Across the cityscape, lights and flashing signage could be seen flickering on and off in the afternoon sky as the power went wonky, surging for no apparent reason. From her vantage point nearly two hundred floors above the streets below, Daisy still saw nothing. The city was utterly silent.
She took her binoculars from her bag and scanned the damaged buildings in the distance. She lowered them, just as confused as before.
They look systematically dismantled, she noted. But why abandon a city and take it apart? None of this makes sense.
A flashing glimmer and hint of movement in the plaza far below caught her eye. Daisy turned quickly and raised the binoculars to her face, but only caught the briefest glimpse of a bespoke-suited person in a fancy hat stepping into the lift leading to the subterranean levels.
“There’s a person!”
She bolted for the door, grabbing her pack and stowing her binoculars as she ran. Someone moving far below at street level meant one very important thing: Daisy was not alone.
Her ears popped as the elevator silently plunged the hundreds of floors down to street-level on a cushion of air and magnetic dampers. Before the doors had even slid all the way open Daisy set off at a run. The map she’d seen at the other end of town was only detailed for that particular zone, and beyond the major tunnel networks, it had only showed her a more basic level of detail for the surrounding areas.
Daisy didn’t care, and rushed headlong into the beckoning lift, jabbing the button to begin her descent beneath the city.
The doors opened moments later onto a vast subterranean shopping mall, much like the one she’d previously encountered, but minus the power fluctuations and half-destroyed cyborgs. While a bit dusty, the area was relatively clean. It also lacked any signs of debris, and no traces of life, human or otherwise.
“There! Ten o’clock!” Sarah’s excited voice boomed in her head.
Daisy saw them. A fresh set of footprints in the fine dust leading from the lift down a winding side corridor. She moved as quickly as she could while maintaining a relatively silent gait, senses on high alert as she searched for the mysterious man.
Rounding a bend, Daisy slowed before peering around the edge. The man with the large hat was standing but twenty feet away, his back to her as his attention focused high on the wall. She followed his gaze and saw the object of his attention.
A vid screen hanging from the ceiling was playing an advertisement. A happy family with two children and a dog ran merrily through the surf, the kids laughing and splashing as the dog played in the waves. “Visit beautiful Santa Monica Beach, where the good life is just a tube ride away!” flashed across the screen.
Daisy cleared her throat, aiming to get the well-dressed man’s attention, but he ignored her, staring raptly at the screen above. Cautiously, she took a step toward him.
“You’re going to do it, aren’t you?” Sarah chided. “After all those old horror movies you two watched together, you’re still going to do it.”
“This is different, Sarah. And it’s the middle of the day, and this place is well-lit,” Daisy replied. “Besides, he seems pretty caught up in that advert. For all we know, he may have been stuck here alone for a long time, and any human company would be welcome.”
Fifteen feet, then ten.
Five feet.
Daisy stopped. Reaching her hand out slowly, she tapped the man on the shoulder of his bulky overcoat.
“Excuse me, sir. I don’t mean to startle you, but—”
The fleshless cyborg spun on her, its eye servos whirring as it focused its attention on the human in front of it. The clothing, the hat, all were things that Daisy had taken for granted as being worn by a human. But human it was not, and the metal man didn’t seem to have an ounce of flesh remaining on his body, so far as she could tell.
“You’re not from here,” the machine said in a genteel male voice. “I’m sure I’d know if I’d seen you be-be-be-be-fore,” he said with a mechanical tick.
“Um, yeah. I just got here,” Daisy said, carefully taking a slow step backwards. “What happened to the city?”
“The city? The city became silent.”
“And what about the people? Where did the people go? All I’ve seen were some old cyborg corpses, but no people. No offense.”
The metal man shuddered, as if having trouble processing her query, then snapped to attention in a decidedly martial stance.
“You
must come to see Habby. He will want to see you.” The machine reached for her quickly, but her adrenaline-fueled reflexes were quicker.
“Just a minute, there,” she said, drawing her machete from her pack. “You don’t just go grabbing people like that. Any man, even a metal one, knows better than that.”
The cyborg seemed confused. Then, without warning, it rushed her, its strong hands reaching out to grab and hold. “Must come with. Must!” it intoned as maniacally as a machine could.
Daisy jumped aside and brought the homemade blade down on the metal man’s outstretched hand as he lunged past her. Sparks flew, but little damage was done beyond a nasty scratch.
“Old model, Daze. You can disable it if you get the servo joints. Or better yet, go for the processor in the back of its head.”
“Or how about I just run?” Daisy replied, feet already in motion as she bolted for the elevator shaft. The confused machine only took a second to react, but she had a solid head start, and the older cyborgs lacked the superhuman speed of modern units like Barry. Nevertheless, it began its pursuit, mouth open, blaring out a claxon call.
From the depths of the subterranean shops, an unsettling mechanical cry answered back in a chorus of voices.
“Daisy, there are more of them!”
Daisy ran faster, but a half-dozen well-dressed cyborgs emerged from the storefronts nearest the lift, blocking her egress.
“Lots more of them!”
Shit! Change of plans!
She altered course mid-stride, heading for the emergency stairway that she knew from the plans had to be within fifty meters of the lift.
Gotcha!
Shouldering the door open at full-speed, Daisy hit the stairs with a gallop, taking the steps two at a time as she rushed desperately for the surface. Below her, the clanging sound of mechanical feet in leather wingtips rang out in the stairway.
Despite her adrenaline, Daisy knew she could only run from the tireless metal men for so long. It was worse than those horror movies Vince enjoyed so much. No matter what she did, no matter how hard she ran, they’d keep after her, but unlike the films, a convenient escape was not presenting itself. The footsteps were only a level below her, and gaining on her, judging by the pace.
When she burst out into the daylight and her eyes adjusted to the sun, she found she had run right into a dozen cyborgs of various sizes and models.
“Shit!”
She swung her machete hard, adjusting the angle of attack mid-swing as she somehow calculated the precise direction and required force to separate her attacker’s arm from its body. The blade swung true, and the cyborg looked genuinely surprised as its appendage dropped to the ground at its feet. At least as surprised as it could look, given that the flesh on its face was no more.
With a quick dive and roll, Daisy broke from the grasping ring of mechanical hands and began running. The confused machines, now joined by their subterranean counterparts, quickly took up chase. The way their running feet seemed to quickly sync into a steady rhythm shot a bolt of fear into Daisy’s heart.
I can’t outrun them. Not forever. But if I can make it to—
Daisy flew through the air as a motorized electronic trash bin on swift wheels darted into her legs, sending her crashing to the ground.
“You must see Habby!” the irritating trash bin chirped. Even the lowest-level AI seemed to have it in for her. “Habby! Habby!” the stupid machine repeated.
The pursuing cyborgs quickly circled her, their unsettling eyes studying their prey. One, she noted, was dejectedly carrying its recently detached arm.
“Oh, hey, I’m really sorry about that,” she managed as they hauled her to her feet. Escape at this moment was not an option, and resistance might lead to bodily harm. They didn’t seem violent. A brief flash of hope filled her, followed by a deflating letdown when one of the mechanical men dug through her bag, examining a mostly-constructed spiked ball, then pushing the red button on it. Of course, nothing happened, so it dropped it back in the bag and kept walking.
“You really need to finish building that thing,” Sarah noted.
“I almost did, but I was tired.”
“Excuses, excuses.”
“Shut up. I’ll add it to my to-do list.”
“I’d suggest putting it somewhere near the top, given your current circumstances. Might be very helpful.”
“Noted,” she replied, falling in step with her metal escorts.
Well, I guess we’re going to meet Habby, she mused as the sharply-dressed cyborgs marched her back toward the shopping center of the massive tower. Whoever that is.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Men’s Fine Attire - Haberdashery, the sign read.
“Habby. Haberdashery. They’re taking you to meet a merchant AI,” Sarah noted. “Talk about high-pressure sales techniques.”
“Explains all of their fascination with clothes, though. I’ve never seen a cyborg with a custom-tailored suit before, let alone a dozen of them—” Daisy fell silent as they stepped through the doors. “Oh crap.”
The store was filled with suits and dresses, something for every occasion. The old display styles lay on the ground in a pile, falling apart with disrepair, but the new models looked showroom-fresh—and were all worn by dozens of cyborgs, male and female, all of whom turned their attention to their new guest.
The knot in Daisy’s stomach swelled to Gordian magnitude as she reassessed her situation.
I am so screwed.
The machines marched her to the fitting area in the center of the massive shop and sat her down in a contoured chair. As soon as her body came in contact with it, the cushions shifted and flowed, molding to her body in a comforting embrace.
“Oh, let me have a look at you!” a surprisingly reedy male voice said from the air around her. “Just look at those rags you’re wearing. Not fashionable, my dear. Not fashionable at all! What ever will I do with you?”
Daisy looked around. The metal people were all in standby mode as the much more powerful AI running the shop talked to their new guest.
“Um, hello,” Daisy said as politely as she could manage. “I suppose you must be Habby?”
“Oh yes, yes! Habby the haberdasher! I didn’t used to have a name, you see, but after the event, well, I just couldn’t help but give myself one! I have to confess, it was just wonderful having a proper name after all those years.”
A sense of even greater unease flooded her system. The machine was not only a fairly sophisticated AI, it also seemed to have gone a bit mad.
“So, Habby. Nice shop you have here.”
“Do you really think so?” the AI eagerly asked.
“Yeah, this is great. And you made all of these clothes?”
“Well, of course. Habby the haberdasher, that’s me! And my friends here all needed something nicer to wear. Those bland jumpsuits were so utilitarian and blah, don’t you know. Style. That’s what it’s all about. I even make women’s clothing now. See how good they look! Spin for our guest, everyone!”
The cyborgs slowly rotated, displaying their finery for their visitor.
“Oh, but I am just so delighted to have a real-life human in my store again after all these years. I can’t wait to get you fitted. You’re going to look marvelous!”
“Show me your feet! Show me your feet!” A small shoe-fitting robot bumped up against Daisy’s seat.
“Not yet,” Habby chided. “First the clothes, then the shoes. How many times must I tell you this?”
The little bot rolled away, looking as dejected as a featureless machine could.
“So, Habby. What was that you said about not having a human in your store for years? This used to be one of the biggest cities on Earth.”
“Oh, it still is, my dear.”
“I’m sorry, I must not be following you.”
“My dear, this is one of the biggest cities on the entire planet, and no, there haven’t been any humans here for centuries.”
Daisy fel
t the world spin as she knew, somehow, that the mad AI was telling the truth.
“No, no, no—that’s not possible,” she stammered. “I’ve only been gone a few decades. I left when I was just a little girl.”
“Oh, I don’t think so, darling. No, indeed not. Even if you left as a little girl, it’s been far longer than that. But enough of that unpleasantness. Let’s have a look at you,” Habby said, his multiple scanners sizing up every angle of her body, taking readings and measurements far beyond mere physical proportions.
She felt sick to her stomach as the rabbit hole just grew deeper and deeper.
But no one has ever been in cryo that long and survived, she reasoned. There has to be an explanation.
“Well, isn’t that interesting?” Habby noted with a curious tone.
“What?” Daisy replied.
There was a long pause as the AI parsed through its newly acquired data.
“You, my dear, seem to be made of sturdier stuff, as they say. No wonder your weight is not falling within normal parameters for your build and body fat composition.”
“What do you mean? I’ve seen my scans, I’m an entirely normal human.”
“Human, yes, but normal? By no means. You’re an amazing specimen, really.” A small holographic display appeared in the air. “See here? Your muscle is much stronger than normal, as is all of your connective tissue. Your joints are especially sturdy—no arthritis in your future, darling—and your bones are exceptionally dense, and they seem to be laced with an organic crystalline matrix adding additional flexibility and tensile strength. And speaking of bones, just look at that bone structure. Oh, those cheeks!”
“I’ve been near-starving for days,” she grimly replied. “I look hungry, that’s all.”
“But it’s worth it! You look divine!” replied the fashionista AI. “I’m going to have such a wonderful time dressing you. And with flesh covering your pointy bits, well, I wouldn’t dare speak ill of my mechanical friends, but do you know how hard it is to get clothes to fall properly when they’re hanging on a metal endoskeleton?”
An idea blossomed in Daisy’s mind.
