by Scott Baron
“Well, I guess,” she said. “But be careful.”
“You know it. Now go play some games or something. Sarah and me? We’ve got some ass to kick.”
“All right. I do have some stuff I’ve been working on, anyway.”
“Your projects with the AI materials from the lab?”
“Among other things. And hey! I might even have your captured Ra’az power whip inverter thingy done by the time you’re back.”
“Excellent. We’ll call you when we’re done.”
“Okay,” the youngster replied. “Oh, and Daisy, Sarah, try these on.”
A small service mech dropped a pair of snug-fitting headbands on the console in front of them.
“The latest in hair fashion?” Sarah quipped.
“You know it isn’t,” Freya said with an exasperated, and exaggerated, sigh. “It’ll take a while to calibrate once it’s in use, but I’m hoping this will read enough data by the time we meet up again that I can fine-tune it so the Sarahs can talk.”
“Good work, kiddo,” Daisy said, as she and her sister donned their headbands. “Not too tight. I like it.”
Sarah slung her gear over her shoulder.
“You ready, Daze?”
“Ready as ever. We’ll call you when we’re done, Freya.”
Sarah and Daisy exited the ship into the now-bustling city. The swath of deactivation left the alien swarm an easy foothold with which to begin dismantling key infrastructure for components and salvage.
Freya lifted off silently and zoomed away at speed.
“Where’s she off to so fast?”
“Undoubtedly getting ready to unleash another one of her little experiments,” Daisy replied. “So, sisters of mine. You two ready?”
“Yep.”
“You got it.”
“Cool. I’ll take point. Sarah, take the rear.”
“On it.”
And one more thing, Sis. If you’d be so kind as to scan the living hell out of our path for any pitfalls I may have missed, I’d ever so appreciate it.
“Sure thing, but I gotta say, Daze, you’re sounding pretty damn confident.”
I know this city. This should be cake.
“Don’t go tempting Murphy. You know how he loves throwing a monkey wrench into things.”
True dat. True dat.
Silently, the sisters quickly passed through the streets, sticking close to the periphery, using the lengthening shadows to their advantage as they drew nearer to the Ra’az ship. Taking out an actual Ra’az craft instead of a Chithiid worker vessel would be a coup. If they could just get close enough.
Freya, in the meantime, was fast on her way to Colorado Springs. She couldn’t interfere with Joshua’s impending detonation. Daisy had made that much very clear. But she did have an idea. Something else she wanted to give a try, and this was the perfect time to do so.
As she drew near, she fired up her mechanoids and prepped for landing.
“One way or another, this is going to be interesting,” she mused, then quietly touched down.
A pair of heavily modified mechs quickly scrambled out of her open hatch and set to work on their new task.
At the same time, a short hop away in Billings, Daisy and Sarah were drawing closer to the hub of Chithiid deconstruction activity.
“What the hell is that thing? Sarah asked, staring in awe at the dead Graizenhund slowly bloating in the afternoon sun.
“Hell if I know, Sis,” Daisy replied. “I’m just glad we’re not meeting a live one. Look over there,” she said, gesturing at the broken pile of bloody fur a few meters away. “Mountain lion.”
“The one we ran into earlier, you think?”
Seems likely.
“You ran into that thing once before?” Sarah asked.
“No, it was the mountain lion we––hey, wait a minute. That wasn’t out loud.”
“Are you able to hear me?” Sarah asked with anticipation.
“Ooh, garbled noise! What the hell was that?” Sarah said, adjusting her neuro-headband.
“Okay, I guess there are still some kinks to work out.”
Seems that way, Sis. Still, contact has been made, so it’s a start.
“Wait. Something’s kinky?” Sarah asked.
“Close,” Daisy said with a chuckle. “She said there are still kinks to work out. You can hear snippets, though. That’s way more than before.”
“Cool.”
“Yeah, cool,” Sarah agreed.
“Okay, we can dial this in later. Let’s get moving. You hear that hum? That’s a Ra’az ship. Cleaner power source makes it sound like that.”
“And you know this how, exactly?”
“Like I said, we couldn’t attempt any type of warp while you were in recovery. We had a lot of time to survey the alien ships, both Ra’az and Chithiid.”
“Though, technically, the Chithiid ones are Ra’az as well. Just underpowered and minus any amenities.”
Point taken.
“You hear that?”
“Chithiid.” Daisy strained her ears, gauging the voices’ direction. “And they’re getting closer. Follow me!”
They darted across the street, though there was already cover on the side they had been walking on, but Daisy intuitively knew the lower-tech storefront on the opposite side would be a safer haven from salvage-seeking workers.
The Chithiid ignored their hideout, just like Daisy assumed they would, instead focusing their efforts on scanning the more modern one across the way. Rather than wait for one of them to get curious and start poking around, the duo silently slid out through the rear exit, darting quickly down the alleyway.
But they weren’t running from the center of activity. They were running toward it.
Twenty minutes of careful progress between buildings and they were finally within visual range of the Ra’az ship. It was a relatively small vessel, likely a mere mobile command unit, but nevertheless, it was larger than any of the Chithiid craft they had seen up to that point in the city.
They had found their target, and they were armed. There was just one problem––the ship was hovering twenty meters in the air, higher, even, than the surrounding low-roofed buildings.
“Sonofa––” Daisy grumbled, her neck craned to look up at the craft.
“Never easy, is it, Daze?”
“Nope,” she said with a resigned sigh.
“So, you got a plan?”
“Working on one.”
“Care to share?”
“I said I’m working on it.”
“You know, it’s not like we’re surrounded by hostile aliens or anything. Take your time.”
Daisy couldn’t help but crack a little stress-relieving grin.
“You’re such a bitch.”
“You love me.”
“Doesn’t change the fact, though.”
“You two done? We’re kinda standing in the heart of bad guy central, here.”
The ship above let out a low hum as the hatch in its belly opened, lowering a platform with more Chithiid loyalists on it, as well as a pair of hulking Ra’az Hok overseers. They touched down and quickly disembarked, the platform leaving the ground as soon as the Ra’az had stepped clear a few meters.
As they watched the aliens trudge off down the nearest boulevard after their quick-moving servants, Daisy felt inspiration strike.
“Okay, did you see that?”
“Which part?”
“How the lift started moving as soon as the big boys had stepped clear. They didn’t activate it manually, so it has to be a proximity thing.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning if it works the other way as well, all we need to do is Trojan Horse them.”
“I get the reference, Daze, but I assume you don’t actually intend to build a giant wooden horse.”
“Nope. Better. I intend to use a Ra’az to carry this bomb, right up inside their ship.”
“And how, exactly, do you intend to do that? Ask nicely a
nd say pretty please?”
“Oh, no,” Daisy said with a wicked grin. “It’s going to be far more satisfying than that.”
It had taken Daisy the better part of an hour to scavenge the parts she believed would work for her purposes from the nearby part of the city that hadn’t been affected by the EMP grenades detonated during her team’s passage. Hardest to find were power cells with enough juice for her purposes.
The small personal transport scooters, however, were far easier to source power for. They were non-AI devices, and as such had not been run into the ground by the city’s rogue AI. Racks of them sat charging in their solar cradles, and while the cells had degenerated over the many years, enough held plenty of power for what she had in mind.
“It would be easier if my power whip was working,” Daisy grumbled as they lopped off the handlebars, then lashed four of the mobility scooters together, creating a low-slung wheeled platform.
“I still think this is utter madness, Daze.”
“For the record, while I’ve got your back, I agree with me on that point,” Sarah noted.
“Look at that, will ya? You two are getting along better by the hour.”
“Not having you translate everything is helping,” Sarah said. “The algorithm is picking up steam. I can get about sixty percent of what she says. The rest I fill in the blanks with what I think I would say in the situation.”
“Which you are doing.”
“Yeah. But neither of us are too keen on being the bait.”
“If Stabby worked for either of you, I’d offer to switch.”
“Easy to offer, knowing that thing only works for you.”
“Not my fault.”
“So you say. And you named your sword? Seriously?”
“What?”
“Such a douche move, Daze,” she said with a laugh.
“Har-har. Get it out of your system, then let’s get to it.”
The area directly beneath the Ra’az ship was wide open and impossible to approach without being seen. The nearby streets and alleyways, however, posed no such problems. The trick was separating the Ra’az from their Chithiid workers.
Sarah crouched at the ready when the next work team returned to the area. Sure enough, when the Ra’az trailing behind them closed the distance, the lift platform dropped from above.
Knowing the aggressive nature of the Ra’az, Daisy just hoped they would take her bait and opt for a kill themselves.
The dozen Chithiid piled on the platform, leaving plenty of room for the hulking Ra’az lumbering behind them.
“I’ve seen how fast they can move, Daze. These guys are sandbagging it. Making it look like they’re less agile than the Chithiid.”
Yet another Ra’az misdirection. Even for their own loyalists. Aggressive and paranoid––I think this is going to work.
“I hope so.”
“Me too,” Sarah quietly added. “So, the bait’s ready, and they’re about to take the lift up. Wish me luck.”
“Good luck, me.”
“Thanks, me.”
“Remember to go left, then right.”
“Ye of little faith,” Sarah said, then rushed into the clearing and threw a small explosive device.
The homemade grenade fell short, as intended, exploding with a small rain of shrapnel, which peppered the back of the trailing Ra’az as it was about to board the lift. Enraged, it spun around and bellowed in anger.
Sarah, being Sarah, flipped it the bird, then took off running.
The Chithiid moved to pursue, but the angry Ra’az gestured for them to hold back, then took off in a slightly-faster-than-lumbering pursuit, veering left, down the side street after her. As soon as it was out of sight of the others, however, it unleashed its full speed.
“Goddamn, these things are quick!” Sarah gasped as she ran. “Left, then right. You’d better be ready, Daze.”
At the next street, she bolted to the right, the enormous Ra’az closing fast. The raging alien caught a glimpse of something odd right at eye level. The next thing it saw was a flash of white as several million volts coursed through its head, courtesy of Daisy’s hastily rigged stun array.
The beastly creature crashed down in a heap, almost perfectly atop the strapped-together mobility scooters.
Daisy’s sword flashed from its scabbard, slashing multiple wounds all over the Ra’az’s inert body. With the voltage and corresponding amperage she had hit it with, the alien felt nothing, and would likely remain unconscious for quite some time.
More slices followed quickly, creating more wounds, the damaged flesh blossoming thick Ra’az blood, covering the inert creature.
“Okay, help me open its vest,” Daisy called to her sister.
Quickly, they exposed the massive creature’s chest and belly.
“Now for the fun part,” Daisy said, a hint of reluctance in her voice as she hesitated.
“Do it, Daze. War is hell, and this is your plan.”
Her sword paused, hovering over the unconscious creature.
“Fuck it.”
She slowly pushed down, opening a large slice in the heaving belly, careful to not pierce the organs inside. Blood flowed, but she had been successful, and the damage was not catastrophic.
“Okay, arm it and power the scooters on.”
“Already done.”
“Awesome. Well, here goes something,” she said as she slid the bomb inside the unconscious Ra’az’s oversized ribcage. “Okay, it’s in. Help me get this vest closed, then roll him back over.”
The hard part complete, they gave the inert alien one more blast from the stun device for good measure, then steered the scooter array toward the edge of the clearing.
As expected, the others had full confidence in the Ra’az’s ability to track and destroy one puny human, so they had taken the lift up.
“Set it for the slowest––”
“I know. Just help me get it lined up,” Sarah hissed.
Moments later, the jury-rigged device began crawling toward the platform loading area.
“We can’t stick around, Daze.”
“I know,” she replied. “But I really want to see this.”
“You and me both. But if there’s a big boom in about two or three minutes, we’ll know it worked. Now come on!”
They turned and ran. Ran like their lives depended on it, which, if their plan failed, they very well might.
Behind them the scooter rig crept slowly forward until the Ra’az’s proximity sensor lowered the lift automatically. Fortune smiled upon them, and the lift touched down just as the wheels reached the platform. The unconscious creature’s body rolled onto the lift, appearing to be severely hurt to any observing from above. The trail of blood masking the scooters’ progress likewise hid the wheels beneath the inert alien.
Moments later the lift ascended, and much faster than usual. Apparently, someone above saw their injured comrade and was rushing to render aid. So long as they didn’t open the beast’s protective vest straight away, they wouldn’t know what hit them until it was too late.
Two minutes later Daisy and Sarah were several blocks from the hovering ship, but heard nothing.
“It’s been two minutes, Daze. It didn’t work.”
“Dammit. They must’ve––”
The explosion knocked both of them to the ground, debris raining down around them as the Ra’az ship disintegrated, taking out two city blocks with it. Daisy and Sarah staggered to their feet, their ears ringing from the blast.
A flaming chunk of metal narrowly missed them as it crashed to the ground.
“Cover. Now!” Daisy yelled, grabbing her sister by the hand and dragging her into the nearest building.
“Goddamn, even my ears are ringing. How much explosive did you put in that thing, Daze? I thought it was supposed to be an EMP bomb.”
“It was. I just figured I’d add a little something to it in case they had thicker shielding internally than I expected.”
“The
old ‘Better too much than too little’ theory, eh?” Sarah said, rubbing her ears as she cracked her jaw. “But damn. I think you erred more than a little on the side of too much.”
“Mmmaaaybeeee,” Daisy said, cracking a grin as she pulled the comms unit from her pack. “Hey, Freya, do you copy?”
A fine hiss of static came over the line, followed by Freya’s cheerful voice.
“Hey, Daisy. I’m here. Comms are a little wonky after that EM blast.”
“Heard that, did you?”
“Hear it? Heck, I saw it. Wow, that was really cool!”
“Ooh, she saw it? Ask if she recorded it.”
“Sarah wants to know if you recorded it.”
“Of course I did. I’ve already replayed it a bunch of times.”
“Fantastic. We’re going to work our egress to our initial entry point. Does it look clear from your vantage point?”
“Yeah, all of the teams are converging back toward where you are now. Blowing up their command ship seems to have really gotten their attention. I think they’re all scared the city has a few tricks up its sleeve they didn’t take into consideration.”
“They’re even more paranoid now. Awesome. Well, hang tight, kiddo. We’ll shout out when we’re at the pickup spot.”
“Copy that,” Freya replied.
“You hear that, Daze? She’s even talking more like an adult. I think Freya’s speed-puberty may be coming to an end.”
If that means less moodiness, I’ll take it. But I have to say, I think I’ll miss that sweet little kid we knew.
“The fate of every parent, Sis.”
I suppose so.
“Okay,” Daisy said, peering out into the street to make sure the coast was clear. “Let’s get going.”
Thirty minutes later they were airborne, destruction in their wake as they watched Freya’s replay over and over. It was a good day, but Daisy knew a truly bad one was just around the corner.
Chapter Twenty-One
They knew it was coming, but there was nothing they could do about it, and despite their recent victories, the helpless feeling blanketing the ship threw Daisy into a funk.
Resolved to bear witness to the impending demise of the greatest AI mind the world had ever known, Daisy had Freya make a quick stop at Breckenridge to raid one of the local ski chalet’s well-stocked bars.
