by Isaac Hooke
“Get back!” Rade ordered. He glanced at the wreckages of the shuttle nearby. “Take cover here! The rest of you, too.”
Rade ducked behind the ruined shuttle, and Shaw crouched beside him. Lui and Skullcracker joined him a moment later. Nicholas, meanwhile, dodged behind the wreckage of the second shuttle.
Those Nemesis “doggy” robots appeared.
“Don’t let them spread out,” Rade said. “Use the entrance as a chokepoint.”
He leaned over the top of his cover, and fired his plasma rifle, bringing down a doggy. The other platoon members fired at the two robots with it.
The next group of robots came in, and they fired their energy cannons immediately, using the tracking data transmitted by their companions before said units went down. Rade hunkered down as the energy bolts came in, and fresh sections dissolved in the wreckage above him, reducing his cover and forcing him to duck lower.
Rade didn’t want to raise his rifle in the same spot again, knowing that was a recipe for a headshot, and moved to the far side of the debris, past Shaw and Lui, who were also repositioning.
“I can understand how they’re tracking Rade and me,” Shaw said. “But how are they seeing the two of you, with those suits you have?”
“I’m picking up constant LIDAR burst equivalents from them,” Lui said.
Rade gazed past the edge; several more Nemesis robots had dashed inside the hangar while the first three had issued covering fire, and were rushing Rade’s position.
He fired, bringing down one of those robots, but then pulled back as the other targets opened fire. His cover continued to be eaten away around him.
He heard a loud metallic clang, and then two of those doggy robots flew across the hangar, right off the remnants of the landing pad outside and out of view.
“Was that you Nicolas?” he asked.
“They got too close,” Nicolas said. “So, I kicked them while lying down.”
Rade repositioned once more, and aimed past the edge of his cover to fire at the next group of Nemesis robots that were rushing inside. He, Shaw, Lui and Skullcracker took down one target each, before they had to duck again.
“Taking fire!” Nicolas said.
Rade immediately lifted his rifle over the closest section of the shuttle, and engaged the two doggies that were assailing his mech. Nicolas took several blows to his legs—leaving debilitating blast craters in them.
Rade and the others mowed down the doggies, and those rushing inside to unleash the next attacks. They continued fighting like that for the next five minutes, until a lull came.
“We can’t stay here,” Lui said. “Those robots are going to keep coming. I think they’re trying to retrieve the body of the Paramount Leader.”
“Then we leave, and join the rest of the platoon,” Rade said.
“Probably a good idea,” Skullcracker agreed.
“Nicolas, can you walk?” Rade asked. He accessed the remote interface to check the Jupiter’s damage report screen, and was devastated by what he saw. The servomotors that lined the mech’s legs were all offline.
“No,” Nicolas said. “Those Nemesis robots destroyed what was left of my leg servomotors. I won’t be joining you, unfortunately.”
“We can come back for him,” Lui said. “We’ve won. He won’t be going anywhere.”
“Yeah, except that when more Nemesis robots arrive and see he’s active, they’ll riddle him with energy cannons,” Rade said. “I can’t leave him.”
“And we can’t stay here,” Skullcracker said.
“Listen to your men,” Nicolas said. “Leave me.”
“No,” Rade said. “I won’t do it. I can’t. Not this time. I came here to rescue you. I followed you all this way. I’m not going to abandon you now.”
“Even if it means the lives of two of your men,” Nicolas asked. “And the woman you care for more than anything?”
Rade bowed his head.
He heard distant clangs, and looked up.
More Nemesis robots rushed through the opening, and Rade and the others opened fire.
“If you don’t go now, you’ll never get out,” Nicolas said.
More robots continued to enter. Rade and the others were forced to duck for cover, but they always fought back after repositioning, and the corpses of the doggy robots piled up at the entrance, forming a makeshift barrier; unfortunately, the robots behind them simply unleashed energy cannons at their fallen brothers, and drilled a path through them. The shuttle that protected Rade and the other humans was rapidly growing smaller. Nicolas’ shelter was shrinking as well, and his outer extremities were taking damage now.
Rade glanced at Shaw. The fear was evident in her eyes. In Lui and Skullcracker, while Rade saw that same fear; however, he also discerned defiance.
Rade was unwilling to give up Shaw’s life for Nicolas. He knew that, if given the choice, he would always choose her. He must choose her.
“All right,” Rade said. “All right. We retreat to the landing pad, and follow the exterior until we reach the breach. With luck, some members of Alpha platoon will be waiting for us.”
“Thank you,” Nicolas said.
“Skullcracker, protect Shaw with your body,” Rade said. “Lui and I will cover you.”
Rade peered past the latest edge of the shuttle and fired at the Nemesis robots that barreled into the room. Lui joined him. Together, they provided suppressive fire for Skullcracker and Shaw, who fled toward the landing pad. When they reached it, the pair raced outside, and vanished from view past the edge of the ruined hangar bay doors.
“Lui, are you ready?” Rade asked.
“Whenever you are,” Lui replied.
Rade peered past the lower edge of his latest position; the way was clear, at least for the moment. His eyes drifted to Nicolas.
I can’t believe I came all this way, only to abandon him in the end. Leaving him here, his AI core still intact, waiting to be destroyed by a ruthless enemy.
“Wait a second,” Rade said. “His AI core. I can retrieve his AI core. Lui, cover me!”
Rade scrambled to his feet and moved behind the second shuttle at a crouch. He slid in beside Nicolas, whose outer extremities were dissolved, thanks to the energy cannon impacts.
“You’re still here?” the Jupiter asked.
“You can’t get rid of me so easily,” Rade replied.
He opened up the armor segment that protected the mech’s AI core.
“You might want to shut down at this point,” Rade said.
“Shutting down,” Nicolas said.
Rade slid open the final panel, and then waited until the blue lights running along the left and right sides of the cylindrical AI core inside ceased. Then he unscrewed the AI core from its socket and hefted the heavy cylinder over his shoulder.
Shots came from outside the hangar bay doors as Skullcracker and Shaw offered suppressive fire in turn.
“Lui, let’s go!” Rade rose to a crouch, and peered past Nicolas and the covering shuttle to confirm the way was clear. Then he took off at a sprint.
Lui joined him, placing himself between Rade and the doorway. They raced through the hangar bay doors, and past Shaw and Skullcracker.
“Run!” Rade told them.
A narrow path offered a flat surface across the otherwise sloping exterior of the Pyramid Palace, allowing the four of them to make good progress toward the breach that Alpha had entered ahead of them.
On drag, Skullcracker kept an eye on the hangar bay door behind them.
“Looks like they lost interest,” Skullcracker said.
“They only wanted to retrieve the body of the Paramount Leader,” Lui said.
“Well, they’re going to be disappointed by what they find,” Rade said.
“You think they can repair him?” Shaw asked.
“No,” Rade said. “His AI core was melted away entirely. Even with Nemesis tech, there’s no way the Reborn is coming back. The Anarchist’s sway over the Sino Koreans
is over.”
They reached the breach, and piled inside.
Just in time to meet Tahoe and the rest of the platoon.
“Wasn’t the Paramount Leader,” Tahoe announced.
“I know,” Rade said. “He was still in the hangar bay.”
“What?” Tahoe said.
“We got him,” Rade said. “I’ll tell you the story later. In the meantime, I suggest we make our way to the mechs, so we can get the hell out of here?”
Alpha platoon clambered down the exterior of the palace. They disabled their squawkers so as not to attract attention and confirmed that no Nemesis robots were tracking them from the landing pad and hangar bay nearby.
Using the lights embedded in the surface of the building, Tahoe was able to plot a route between the enemy turrets that were still active out there, and they made their way close to street level. However, the streets were cordoned off below, and filled with the wreckages of tanks—the remnants of a United Systems bombing run. Explosions to the south told Rade that the United Systems was pressing the attack there. According to the map, the main entrance to the pyramid resided that way.
Alpha platoon used their jetpacks to fly across to the rooftop of the adjacent building—Tahoe gave Rade a lift, while Bender carried Shaw.
Tahoe clambered the leg rungs to load inside his mech; he opened up the storage compartment in the thigh, and Rade shoved Nicolas’ AI core inside before climbing into Tahoe’s passenger seat. Shaw climbed into the passenger seat of Bender’s mech beside him.
The explosions to the south suddenly ceased.
“I got a bead on the main entrance,” Tahoe said.
Rade accessed Tahoe’s viewpoint—or rather, the viewpoint of his mech—which was zoomed in on the entrance to the south. Between the debris of SK mechs, tanks, and Nemesis robots, United Systems troops and armored units were flowing inside, storming the palace, meeting no resistance whatsoever.
Rade heard the characteristic buzzing overhead of United System HS3 drones—or maybe they were Sino Korean.
“Snakeoil, if those are our HS3s overhead, are you able to connect to the troop network?” Rade asked.
The mechs had stronger comm nodes than those found inside of jumpsuits, so in theory, if the HS3s were friendlies, Snakeoil should be able to connect.
“I’m in,” Snakeoil said.
“Good,” Rade said. “Find out what’s going on.”
After a moment, Snakeoil said: “I just talked to a lieutenant colonel, part of the Marine battalion responsible for storming the palace. The Sino Koreans have surrendered throughout Beijing, and across the world. Apparently, the reinforcements of the United Systems space navy beat the SKs to Earth, and pushed the Nemesis and Sino Korean fleets from orbit. Also, some Sino Korean starships have been mutinying, and turning on their Nemesis allies, perhaps after learning their Paramount Leader had fallen…”
“The Anarchist thought his hold over the Sino Koreans was real solid,” Bender said. “Bitch didn’t realize just how fragile it really was. They were all close to mutinying.”
“I don’t blame them,” Manic said. “I wouldn’t want my nation to ally with aliens to stage an attack on my homeworld.”
“Any news on Bravo?” Rade asked.
“The lieutenant colonel says his lead Marines were just met by a Chief Rowlock in the residences, so it looks like they’re all right,” Snakeoil answered.
“What about the Nemesis robots?” Rade said. “Have they surrendered, too?”
“No,” Snakeoil said. “There are still pockets of them scattered throughout the city, and the Pyramid Palace, offering resistance, but they’re vastly outnumbered, especially without the Sino Koreans to back them up. The lieutenant colonel tells me the Marines have the situation well under control. I’m trying to reach Lieutenant Commander Scotts to see what his orders are.”
“Let me know when you have him,” Rade said.
“We actually completed a mission for once, without anyone dying,” Fret said.
“No thanks to you,” Bender said. “Your clumsy ass almost got us killed back there.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault turrets unfolded from the floor without warning,” Fret said.
“Not everyone made it,” Manic stated.
“Oh, Nicolas…” Fret said. “Sorry about your mech, Chief.”
“I guess you didn’t notice, but I salvaged the AI core,” Rade said.
“Oh!” Fret said. “Well, that I am very glad to hear! See, for once none of us died!”
“What are you talking about?” Bender said. “We’ve been through lots of missions where no one died. Fallen comrades are the exception, rather than the norm.”
“Let’s not jinx things now, when the mission is almost over, shall we?” Lui said.
“I just finished talking with the LC,” Snakeoil said. “He wants us to return to the extract point for pickup and debriefing. Then we’re flying back to New Coronado.”
Rade couldn’t help a relieved smile.
“We’re done here, then,” Rade said. “Let’s go home.”
30
On the flight back to North America, Rade learned from the lieutenant commander that the Sino Koreans had sent their own troops to torch the remnants of the Anarchist node beneath the mountain. The United Systems had pressed for nukes, but the Sino Koreans refused, citing the damage to their environment; however, the SKs did allow a party of independent observers to watch the torching process, and that seemed to satisfy the United Systems.
Rade slept for most of the journey back, and after landing, the first thing he did was install Nicolas into a new Jupiter mech. He showed the robot tech the digital signature he’d received from Lieutenant Commander Scotts, giving him approval for the install, and the tech promptly inserted the cylindrical AI core, and booted up the unit.
While the tech went through the operational checklist to clear the mech for duty, Rade and Nicolas talked.
“Thank you for coming back for me,” Nicolas said. “More than once.”
“You are my brother,” Rade said. “I would not leave you. Could not.”
“I have never known a human like you,” Nicolas said. “You fight for robots as if they are human.”
“It’s been a learning process,” Rade said. “Though you know, you give me too much credit. Because when you offered me the choice of saving you, or Shaw, I chose her.”
“Even so, you found a way to save us both, in the end,” Nicolas said.
“True,” Rade told the AI. “But in your case, I got lucky. What if your AI core had been jammed inside your mech? Then I would have left you there.”
“Still, you came back for me, when you could have abandoned me in the jungle,” Nicolas said. “That’s not something I’ll ever forget. Not for all my days. And considering I am an AI, that could be for quite some time.”
“Could be,” Rade said.
“Then again, I am a combat model, so I could be mowed down next week, for all I know,” Nicolas said.
“You’ll live long, I think,” Rade said. “Probably longer than me. Any plans for what you’re going to do for your retirement? When the day finally comes?”
“Something simple,” Nicolas said. “Maybe running a toaster oven.”
“A toaster oven?” Rade asked incredulously. “You going to go from inhabiting one of the most powerful war machines known to man, capable of razing entire buildings to the ground in seconds, to toasting slices of bread?”
“That’s the plan,” Nicolas told him.
Rade laughed. “Well, I suppose that’s your prerogative. I’m sure you’ll make a good toaster.”
“The best,” Nicolas agreed.
“Well, that does it,” the robot tech said. It removed a network cable it had installed in the Jupiter’s back, and stepped back to shut the access panel. “You’re fully operational, and cleared for duty.”
“That’s a nice way of saying: ‘I am now going to shut you down to await your next mission,�
��” Nicolas quipped.
“Actually, the lieutenant commander has given me full authorization to keep you active, if you wish,” Rade said. “You can connect to the AI version of the Internet, and check out some of the MMORPGs written for AIs…”
“Hm, I might just do that,” Nicolas said. “Thank you. Yes. I choose to remain active.”
“Good,” Rade said. “Well, it’s been a helluva ride, my brother. I guess I’ll see you soon.”
“I hope so,” the mech responded.
Rade stood with Shaw on the train platform. She was dressed in a casual lace-up blouse with the words “no aliens” written on it with a scratchy font, distressed blue jeans, and brown leather boots that reached almost to her knees. She carried a small backpack over one shoulder.
His gaze drifted to her finger, where the pale outline of the ring she had once worn stood out against the surrounding, tanned skin.
“What are you going to do with it?” he asked.
“With the ring?” she replied. “I don’t know. Sell it I suppose. Or just give it back to him.” She smiled. “You would ask me about some random piece of jewelry, when this is the last time we’re going to see each other in person for a while.”
“It’s not a random piece of jewelry,” Rade said. “It’s the ring given to you by the man who almost took you from me.”
She sighed. “I suppose it is, at that. Fired up your competitive MOTH spirit, did it?”
“No,” Rade said. “Well, yes, but only because of how much you mean to me.” He shook his head, and sighed himself. “So.”
“So,” she agreed.
“I guess this is it,” he told her.
“Guess so.” She bit her lower lip, and held her arms nervously behind her back.
“I hate this part,” Rade said.
“So do I,” she said.
An augmented reality warning overlaid his vision, and over the loud speakers came an urgent female voice: “Final call for train 1C to San Diego.”
“Well, that’s my call,” Shaw said. “I guess we go our separate ways once more. Until next time.”
“Until next time,” Rade agreed.
She gave him a light peck on the cheek, and then turned to go.
