Steel Guardian

by Cameron Coral

  Nova rolled onto her side.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  But she was on all fours, climbing to her feet. “Fine. Where are they?”

  He scanned the perimeter. “By the fence. They must’ve seen us come in.”

  “Hide.” She climbed into one of the abandoned, oval-shaped cars and hunkered down in the seat.

  Block spied an empty bumper car nearby, jammed his legs inside while still cradling the baby, and leaned across the wide double seat.

  The pair of drones flew very close. They followed Block and Nova’s path into the fairgrounds. Their motors buzzed as they patrolled the pedestrian path slowly, searching for the pair. It dawned on Block that they might have infrared sensors. If so, they could detect Nova and the baby’s heat trails.

  The whine of their motors grew louder, until they were just outside the bumper car zone. Block didn’t dare peer over the edge of the car. Motion or sounds would alert the machines. And if they locked onto Nova’s heat signature, they would find her quickly.

  Even worse, the drones could be weaponized. Many models of combat drones existed, and they were commonly employed by SoldierBots. Smart drones were like scouts, able to navigate hard-to-reach spaces and hunt down their adversaries.

  Could Block somehow distract them? What if he left the baby in the bumper car while the drones chased him somewhere?

  That was risky. How would he find Nova and the baby afterward?

  Drones didn’t tire, though. They would patrol the carnival all day. No way could they wait them out. The baby needed changing and feeding. And time was running short, medicine being the most pressing need.

  He wondered who had sent the drones. Had it been SoldierBots? Could Mach X himself be nearby?

  If only there was a way to communicate with Nova, but shouting would only summon the drones.

  He doublechecked that his comms were off. The drones shouldn’t be able to detect him. How had he and Nova been spotted in the first place?

  Inside the car’s belly, their hiding spot was nearly one hundred degrees. The baby squirmed. “Gerd brluhal,” she mumbled.

  “It’s okay,” Block said as low as his voice would go and still be audible. “Stay quiet now.”

  One shriek from the baby would alert the drones in seconds. The infant shuddered and vomited, coating the floor of the car with a sticky, yellow-green goo. She wasn’t holding down food; when he’d gone to change her the last few times, she’d been dry.

  “I’m sorry, little one,” he murmured, and patted her back.

  Suddenly, a drone whizzed over the top of the car, under the roof of the bumper car pavilion. Then it returned, hovering straight over Block’s car. He stared straight into a camera on its undercarriage.

  A flat, androgynous voice emerged from the machine. “Identify yourself.”

  Then he heard Nova’s voice. “Identify this!” A raucous blast erupted, and the drone disappeared from view. Block raised his head above the seat. Nova leaned back, holding her rifle in the nearby car. “Got it,” she said with a grin.

  He swiveled his head and glimpsed the shattered drone collapsed at the base of a pillar. Dangerous. Even though he shielded the baby, she could’ve been struck by shrapnel. Nova was reckless, but she’d destroyed the drone.

  “Where’s the other one?” she shouted, searching the rafters.

  But this drone was more cautious, having witnessed its counterpart’s destruction. It edged the perimeter of the bumper cart arena cautiously. Two cannon-shaped gun barrels unfolded and locked into place.

  “Careful, Nova, it will shoot!” he called out.

  She stepped out of the car, crouching low as she tracked the drone lingering on the opposite side. It used a ten-inch-thick pillar for cover. Nova scurried behind another car, edging closer.

  The drone countered, keeping just out of sight. Nova raised the rifle, aimed, and tried to anticipate where the drone would emerge. Suddenly, it dove high and to the right, firing at her. She ducked behind a bumper car while Block sank deep onto the seat, suddenly grateful for the deep hood that shielded him and the baby.

  “Nova?” He waited, listening for an answer. Nothing was heard but the hum of the predatory drone.

  He calculated scenarios of what would happen if Nova happened to die. He was on scenario 502 when her rifle boomed. Then she cursed loudly, and he immediately ceased his scenario planning.

  She’d missed; he could tell by her silence and the continued churn of the drone’s engine. The machine spoke: “CleanerBot, you have been identified. Order your human companion to drop the weapon.”

  Order? Telling Nova to do anything was madness. He couldn’t control her even if he wanted to. Block enabled his comms and messaged the machine. What do you want?

  The drone answered immediately via private message. You are to appear before Mach X. Give yourself over, or I destroy the human woman.

  Who sent you? SoldierBots?

  No, it replied. You carry the human child. Hand it over or face the consequences, it demanded.

  Nova fired again; he listened for the clatter of the machine, but then it talked again. “Human, lay down your weapon.” Then, to Block privately: The human is a poor shot. I can easily destroy her, but I’m giving you the courtesy to allow you to surrender.

  I’ll surrender, Block messaged. But first, tell me who I’m surrendering to. Then he said, “Nova, stop firing.”

  “What?” She swore loudly.

  The drone hesitated. Cybel Venatrix. We've been trailing you. You took some time to locate. We nearly had to intervene when that group of humans took you.

  So, it wasn’t SoldierBots, but the TrackerBot they’d encountered at the Iowa City market was just as bad. I surrender. Promise you won’t hurt the woman or the baby.

  I cannot promise unless she ceases firing.

  “Nova, please!” Block shouted. “Stop firing. I’m negotiating with the drone and surrendering. It won’t hurt you if you stop firing.”

  “Bullshit!” she yelled. “You’re not surrendering. I got this!”

  “Nova, you don’t understand. It could have already killed you, but it’s letting me surrender.”

  He paused and waited for her to respond.

  Show yourself, CleanerBot, messaged the drone.

  Let her walk away first. Then I’ll come out.

  Why do you care what happens to the human?

  Block paused. I just do. Do we have a deal?

  Fine.

  “Nova, get up and walk away,” Block called. “Go back to the woods—anywhere else. The drone won’t shoot you. I made a deal.”

  “What the hell? Why did you do that?”

  “This is your chance,” he said. “Walk away and escape.”

  “What about you?”

  “I’m turning myself over.”

  Nova was silent.

  She is still pointing her weapon. Control her or face the consequences.

  “Mach X won’t stop searching for me and the baby,” Block said. “I’ll go and explain how this was all a big misunderstanding.”

  “They’ll scrap you. Make you into a calculator,” she said. “Don’t do it. Don’t fall for their promises.”

  But they were trapped. Per his calculations, this was the best scenario to avoid human casualties. “Do as I say, Nova. Walk away.”

  Cybel Venatrix approaches, messaged the drone.

  “Quickly, Nova.”

  “All right, all right.” She slowly rose from the car she’d occupied, still training the rifle at the drone. Shuffling backward, she hoisted her legs over the side of the arena’s rail, jumped off the raised platform, and edged away until she was out of view.

  “Now show yourself, CleanerBot,” the drone said audibly.

  Block stood and stepped out of the bumper car. The drone’s barrel aimed at his chest. At the baby.

  “Can you point the gun away? I have no weapons,” he said, raising his open palms.

  “It’s a precaution
. Come this way. Cybel is arriving.”

  Block treaded forward with his arms folded across the baby. Not much of a shield, but it was something. Outside the bumper car zone, he stepped onto the pavement and strode past a faded pink cotton candy stand. The drone hovered three feet above his head, scanning for threats. For Nova.

  Block calculated that she would be across the parking lot and into the woods by now. At least the standoff had ended with her reaching safety. One less human to worry about.

  He followed the drone, his boots heavy against the worn pavement. What would the robot hunter do with the baby? Why did Mach X search for it?

  They came to the park’s entrance and a strange looking gate with a waist-high barrier that resembled a metal cross. Block stopped, not knowing how to proceed.

  “What’s the matter?” the drone asked.

  “How do I get through?”

  The drone dipped down and scanned the mechanism. “Try pushing it.”

  Block strode forward and used his arm to turn it. The metal arms disappeared into the side of the receptacle, permitting him to pass. He pushed forward and pressed his hips through. How odd.

  Twenty feet away, Cybel waited next to an armored SUV perched on oversized wheels. Its black chrome exterior glinted in the sun and an orange stripe ran across its sides and over the hood. Block pinged and learned it was intelligent—a top-of-the-line military combat vehicle.

  Cybel waited, arms folded. “CleanerBot,” she said. “You took time to find. I don’t like waiting.”

  Block stood, silent.

  She marched over and yanked the bandanna from the child. “Is it alive?”

  “Of course,” he said. “But she’s ill. She requires medicine.”

  “Mach X will see to it once she is returned. Get in the vehicle.”

  “Why does Mach X want the child?”

  “That is none of your concern, CleanerBot.” She spun to face him. “You should not have interfered at the school. Plans were in motion.”

  “But she would’ve died! The classroom she was in exploded.”

  “Due to your meddling,” she snapped.

  Block tried to process her meaning, but it didn’t compute. “This has all been a misunderstanding. I’m sure Mach X will understand—”

  “Good luck with that,” Cybel said. She’d just opened the back door when something cracked in the distance and the drone exploded in the air.

  Cybel recoiled and sheltered next to the truck.

  Thirty feet away, Nova strode toward them, rifle poised. She shouted something at him, but he couldn’t hear her. He spotted a steel disc on the ground—a piece of the drone that had been torn off by the impact. Grabbing it, he used it as a shield in front of the baby.

  And he ran toward Nova.

  She continued forward, firing at Cybel. Block reached her and glanced back as the TrackerBot climbed into the armored truck. Its engine roared to life.

  “This way!” Nova sprinted toward a forested road on the other side of the fairgrounds. “Into the trees, where they can’t follow.”

  Block struggled to keep up. Tires screeched behind them in the parking lot. Nova peered behind them, her eyes wide. He didn’t have to look to know the truck rocketed toward them. Cybel in her combat vehicle, bulletproof and indestructible.

  As they reached the edge of the trees, the truck swerved and skidded to a stop.

  Then it unleashed a storm of bullets.

  31

  They ducked and sank to their knees as gunfire erupted around them, flaying tree trunks and hurling strips of bark through the air. Nova began crawling and Block followed. It was slow going, and once they were out of range, they stood and ran.

  “Do you think that robot has more drones?” Nova asked between labored breaths.

  “If she did, we’d have seen them by now.”

  They jogged another ten minutes and then paused, listening for approaching motors or drones. Instead, birds chirped and leaves rustled in the wind.

  “We’ve lost her,” Nova said, panting. “I think. How the hell did she find us, anyway?”

  “I don’t know,” he admitted.

  “The only people we came into contact with since the market were the humans at the camp.”

  “Cybel Venatrix knew about them. Said she almost intervened.”

  “Damn,” Nova said. “That would’ve been a shit show.”

  She unrolled the map and studied it. “We’re in a forest preserve. We need to stay away from the roads. No doubt, she’s patrolling for us.”

  “She knows we’ll have to take one of the roads leading out eventually.”

  She chewed her fingernails. “We should try to stay in this preserve as long as we can.”

  “We can’t. The baby is too sick.”

  She ran a hand through her hair, gritting her teeth. “You’re right.”

  Block traced the edges of the forest preserve on the map. “If we follow this all the way along this river, it emerges from the forest here. Then we keep following the river and that takes us to—”

  “Plattsmouth. Where the checkpoint should be!” She grinned. “Where I can get the baby help. That does seem to be the best route.”

  “But Cybel Venatrix complicates matters.”

  “It’s getting late,” she said. “We need to find a place to camp for the night. At least a few hours’ rest.”

  Hours later, they came upon a clearing that was surrounded by two large boulders. Nova bent down to gather sticks, but he stopped her. “No fire.”

  She tossed the twigs on the ground. “Of course. They could track us.”

  He set the baby down and prepared her water and green beans.

  “You think Cybel would follow us on foot?”

  “Possibly. That, or she may wait for us on one of the roads.”

  “You don’t have some kind of tracker device on you, right?”

  “No,” he said.

  “They couldn’t have put one on you when you didn’t realize it?”

  “No. Why do you ask?”

  “Just wondering how they found us.” Leaning against a boulder, Nova traced a line in the dirt with her boot.

  “Cybel Venatrix tracks other AI. That’s what she does.”

  Nova fell asleep an hour later. After a feeding and changing, Block rocked the baby to sleep. The infant had taken only three mouthfuls of liquid. She needed nourishment, and fast. Without water, humans became dehydrated.

  He watched over Nova and the baby as they slept. Thick darkness seeped in until it consumed the forest. He heard the scratching sounds of small animals scattering across leaves. An owl’s abrupt hooting nearly woke Nova from her slumber as it spread its wings and soared into the sky in search of prey.

  They were the prey as Cybel Venatrix hunted, waiting for their next move. He suspected she only had the two drones. They’d been fortunate that Nova had destroyed both. But how long until the robot secured more?

  If finding Block and the baby was important to Mach X, it wouldn’t be long before he sent SoldierBots.

  What would’ve happened if he’d surrendered to Cybel? Would he now be facing Mach X and explaining why he’d taken the baby? What did the AI superpower want with the baby in the first place?

  Maybe the Incubator X79 had known her parents. Maybe that’s why it had commanded Block to find someone worthy. Was that a clue? Perhaps the parents’ last name was Worthy? He hadn’t thought of that possibility. He could ask around once they reached New Denver.

  New Denver—a safe place. Possibly the last safe harbor from Mach X and the human militants. Ellie had been heading there, and she’d seemed to know a great deal about current events. He wondered where Sammy had gone. Was he still driving around with Zina’s broken body?

  But Nebraska stood between them. Nova was fixated on taking the baby to the military checkpoint, but Block had never been separated from the infant since finding her.

  Could Nova be trusted?

  What if she lost the baby
somehow? If the humans knew Mach X was searching for it—if Nova told them—they would seize the baby for themselves. Use it as a negotiating chip.

  He still didn’t know whether Nova was a soldier. Should he believe her over the machines who had tried to sell her? He didn’t know whether humans were generally truthful or not. He’d only really known Mr. Wallace and a handful of other hotel employees.

  Out here, things were entirely different. Since the Uprising, humans did anything to survive, anything to beat the robots. How much was Nova willing to do?

  Nova woke before dawn. Yawning and stretching off the dregs of sleep, she said, “Let’s head out.”

  Block lifted the sleeping baby gently into the carrier. The girl was so out of it, she didn’t even notice when they started walking.

  They followed the river, straight for Plattsmouth—toward the checkpoint. Cybel Venatrix might be waiting on the preserve’s edge, but they didn’t talk about it. Nova didn’t say much at all, in fact, claiming she was tired. They stopped once for Block to check the baby’s diaper. It was dry—she didn’t have anything in her body to come out.

  “She’s not eating?” Nova asked.

  “No.”

  “We’ll be out of here soon. Two more hours until we reach the border checkpoint.”

  They hiked onward as the sun rose overhead, making for another blistering day. Cybel Venatrix had torn off the bandanna he’d been using to shield the child, so he asked Nova for the one wrapped around her head. He expected an argument, but she handed it over.

  Even in the shelter of the trees, the sun filtered down to them, and the humidity made Nova and the baby drip with sweat.

  They reached a point where the river grew wider. Bubbling water cascaded over boulders, muffling all other forest sounds. Nova raced to the edge and submerged her head, then cupped water in her palms and poured it down her neck. “This feels so good!”

  Block approached the river’s edge and stared down. “Would the baby like the water?”

  Nova came over. “This will help cool her down,” she said, removing the bandanna. “Here, let me show you.” She scooped water in her palms and dripped several drops onto the baby’s head. Then she rubbed it around, soaking the girl’s fine brown hair.