Mech 3

by Isaac Hooke

  “Hey…” Chow said.

  “I kid, I kid,” Bender said. “I’m bringing you with me of course.”

  “Oh really?” Chow said. “We’ll see.”

  “What?” Bender said. “They’re just robots. Think of them as glorified masturbation devices.”

  “Just like you treat me?” Chow said.

  “Aw, I don’t treat you like that, baby,” Bender said. “You know you’re the only one for me. You, and a buxom blonde fembot.”

  “A-hole,” Chow muttered.

  “Hey guys?” Rade said. “If you want to have domestic squabbles, could you keep to a private line?”

  “Yes, Chief,” Bender said. “But you know, Chow here, she’s a bit of a drama queen. She thrives on an audience.”

  “Hmph!” Chow said.

  “See, this is why it’s a bad idea to fraternize with your team mates,” Pyro said. “Leads to unnecessary distractions during the mission.”

  “First of all, we’re not really on a mission,” Bender said. “Second of all, she’s not really my team mate.”

  “If you say so,” Pyro said.

  “You’re just jealous ‘cause you’re not getting any,” Bender said.

  “Maybe I am,” Pyro said. “But that’s going to change when we get home. In fact, I’ll be the one at the fembot whorehouse. And I’ll be sure to take a bunch of VR photos to share with you, all teasing like, since you can’t go. Pussy whipped as you are.”

  “Pussy whipped my ass,” Bender said. “I’m going, too!”

  Chow swatted the side of his mech’s head with a gloved fist.

  “Hey!” Bender said. “This is a trillion digicoin war machine. Careful!”

  The conversation died, and they continued forward in silence. Rade and the others continued to scan their surroundings.

  Soon, a rock outcrop appeared ahead, poking through the foliage, corresponding to the waypoint Rade had marked on the map.

  “Bender, I want you to pull ahead,” Rade said. “Get a bead on that outcrop.”

  Bender increased his pace, moving away from the others. Rade piped in Bender’s video feed and placed it in the upper right of his vision.

  “You know, I’m still miffed that Waldo bitch didn’t give us some of those alien scouts of his,” Bender complained.

  “Even if Waldo did, we don’t have the interfaces we’d need to operate them,” Tahoe said.

  “Sure, but it’s the thought that counts,” Bender quipped.

  Bender emerged from the foliage and reached the outcrop. “Hmm, there’s no signs of any activity. No paths around the outcrop. Everything’s overgrown. If there’s a Tepin-Can or whatever it’s called inside, then it hasn’t come out in a very long time.”

  “Waldo’s probes wouldn’t have made a path?” Pyro said.

  “No,” Rade said. “He sent hovering models only. Bender, see if you can find the entrance.”

  Bender circled the outcrop, following the foliage along the periphery. He stopped beside a dark, ominous opening.

  “This appears to be what we’re looking for,” Bender said. He shone his headlamp inside, revealing a long tunnel.

  “The rest of you, let’s get to that opening,” Rade said. “It’s time to do a little spelunking.”

  21

  Rade followed Bender into the dark tunnel, keeping a ten-meter separation from his friend. Pyro brought up the rear. They had switched to LIDAR, in case the Teppakhan proved light sensitive, so that the tunnel appeared as a series of white polygons forming a wireframe around them. It was tall enough to fit two mechs standing on each other’s shoulders, and wide enough for three to walk abreast.

  “How do we know the Teppakhan isn’t sensitive to the particular frequency of photons we’re using for the LIDAR?” Tahoe asked.

  “We don’t,” Rade replied. “But we’ll stick to LIDAR for now.”

  After a moment, Bender commented: “You have to wonder why these aliens would store a machine depot in a cave.”

  “We have similar vaults on Earth,” Tahoe said. “I’m sure they’d look the same thousands of years after an apocalypse.”

  They continued for about a minute down that tunnel, moving slowly, trying to produce as little noise as possible.

  “Got an opening ahead,” Bender said.

  Rade glanced at Bender’s video feed, and watched him approach the opening; his friend stopped at the brim to survey the vast cavern beyond.

  Several objects of different shapes and sizes were piled into a circle around the center of the cavern—presumably these were the machines that had been part of the depot, but now formed the nest of Teppakhan. Beyond that circular embankment were more machines, these crushed to form a floor of sorts, like the base of a bird’s aerie. And there, resting in the center, was a large entity that could have only been the Teppakhan.

  It appeared to be asleep. Rade was reminded of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but with two heads, and these flanked by large, fanlike plates on either side. Its body was covered in sharp spikes roughly half the size of human beings, with a bifurcated tail that curled around its form. It was a lot bigger than their mechs, but just small enough to squeeze through the tunnel Rade and the others currently occupied.

  Waldo had gone into some detail about the Teppakhan and its minions, so Rade and the others knew what to expect. Still, knowing about some terror wasn’t quite the same as actually encountering it.

  “Looks like it’s asleep,” Pyro said.

  “More like hibernating,” Tahoe said. “I’m guessing food has been scarce here since the Craldon wiped out everything.”

  “Hibernating, or dead?” Jiang said. “Doesn’t look like it’s breathing.”

  “Guess we’ll find out soon enough,” Bender said, aiming his stingray at the creature. “Permission to blast the bitch to hell?”

  “Negative,” Rade said. “All of its kind are likely extinct. I don’t want to harm the creature unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

  “Also, we don’t know if Waldo lied about the effectiveness of our weapons…” Tahoe said.

  “True enough,” Rade said. “Another reason not to fire and wake it.”

  “Where are the minions?” Bender said, searching the walls and ceiling. “Waldo said we’d find them clinging to the walls.”

  “I don’t know,” Rade said. Glancing at Bender’s feed, he saw nothing but smooth surfaces surrounding the cavern.

  “It’s possible they all died out after the attack,” Pyro said.

  “Then why would Waldo mention them?” Jiang said. “They must be here. Somewhere.”

  “Bender, switch to headlamps,” Rade said. “But concentrate the beams on the devices composing the nest. Don’t shine it on the Teppakhan.”

  “I’ll keep the beam well away from Cyclone’s wife,” Bender agreed.

  “It’s not my wife,” Tahoe said flatly.

  Bender shone his headlamps at the nest, and ran it from side to side. “There, I think that’s it.”

  Rade saw the toolbox in question, nestled between two cylindrical canisters. It was easy to make out, since the exterior was painted a bright red, while the hand-shaped symbol, while somewhat faded, appeared in yellow. The container definitely stood out from all the others.

  “Keep searching, just in case,” Rade said.

  Bender swept his headlamps far to the left, and then right. “Don’t see any other matching containers.”

  “Maybe it’s on the other side of the nest,” Tahoe said.

  “According to Waldo, it’s supposed to be close to the entrance, ‘among the first few rows of material,’” Bender said. “I’d say this qualifies.” He had shone his headlamp on the yellow and red container once more.

  “Bender, I want you to go in there and retrieve that container,” Rade said. “The rest of us will wait here in the tunnel. That includes you, Chow. Dismount.”

  “I’m going with him,” Chow said. “If we have to retreat in a hurry, waiting for me to re-board could cost pre
cious seconds.”

  Rade didn’t think it would take all that long to scoot back into the passenger seat if things got hot—Bender could scoop her up in his metal hands if he had too—but in the end decided she was right. Every second could count.

  “All right,” Rade said. “But be careful. And Bender?”

  “Yes Chief?”

  “Try not to make too much noise,” Rade said. He nodded at his arm. “Also, you might want to free up that hand.”

  Bender rotated away his stingray so he had a hand free to carry the container. Then he entered.

  He placed his feet slowly, meticulously. His servomotors hummed, and the soft thud of metal upon rock echoed with each step. Rade winced at the louder of those steps, but so far, the creature at rest in the middle of the cavern remained unmoving. And there was no other motion anywhere in the cavern.

  Bender had deactivated his headlamp, and was relying on LIDAR bursts to navigate. Strictly speaking, that LIDAR wasn’t needed to map the place, as his AI would have recorded the position of the container and every other item in the cavern from previous emissions. However, it was wise to send out the occasional burst to ensure nothing tried to sneak up on him.

  Bender reached the edge of the nest.

  “I hope this is the right one…” Bender said, scooping up the target container.

  The container left behind an empty space between the two metal canisters it had been nestled between; those canisters remained in place for a moment, then promptly collapsed in a loud clangor.

  “Shit,” Bender said.

  His latest LIDAR burst revealed the two heads of the Teppakhan rising from the cave floor.

  “Get back here, now!” Rade ordered. “And up the frequency of your LIDAR!”

  Bender hurried across the cavern floor. On the LIDAR, Rade could see that not just the Teppakhan’s two heads were rising, but the entire creature was standing up.

  That thick tail came swinging in on Bender.

  “Open fire!” Rade said.

  Bender unleashed the 5-way in his left hand, and two of the bolts of lightning struck the tail, while the other three hit the Teppakhan.

  The creature squealed, and retracted its tail. It backed away in pain.

  In the tunnel, the walls abruptly came alive: spider creatures erupted from the smooth surface of the rock, leaving behind indentations in the same pattern as their bodies, as if they had been slowly digesting the rock until their bodies fit snugly. They were about half the size of the mechs.

  More creatures were emerging from the walls of the cavern beyond in a similar manner, and blocked Bender’s path.

  “Looks like we found the minions,” Pyro said. “Waldo told us they clung to the walls… he should have said, they are the walls!”

  The spiders emitted a series of squawks and chitters—Rade guessed it was echolocation. Which made sense, if they lived in the dark cave. It made their environmental blending skins useless—not that Rade’s worked anyway.

  One of the spiders lunged at him, and Rade dodged to the side, bashing it with his fist. He crushed it against the wall, and its abdomen exploded. It didn’t get up.

  It was a relief that they could be killed, at least.

  Another spider dropped down on him, and Rade swiveled away, worried about Tahoe.

  “Passengers, duck down!” Rade said. Last thing he needed was those spider aliens ripping them out of their seats.

  He switched on his headlamps: the creatures were the same color as the rock. He bashed away the closest spider, and then fired his stingray at the next two.

  In the cavern, the Teppakhan had gotten up again, and was approaching Bender, who was held up by the sheer mass of minions that blocked his path.

  “Bitches, out of my way!” Bender said, frantically firing his 5-way and bashing the spiders in between.

  “Behind you!” Rade said.

  He aimed his stingray past the minions and released a bolt at the Teppakhan. The blow struck one of those heads, and the creature howled. Bender followed up with a 5-way blast to the chest, and the Teppakhan once more retreated.

  “That’ll teach you, you ugly fricker,” Bender said. “You’re going to learn that you should have never gotten out of bed today!”

  Pyro was trying to clear a path through the spider minions, which packed the tunnel ahead as far as Rade could see. The sound of squawking and chittering filled the cave.

  Rade cleared the spiders between himself and Pyro so that he could fight with his back pressed against Pyro’s mech—he wanted to keep Jiang safe. Then he turned around, and began firing into the minions behind him—those in the tunnel, and that spilled into the cavern beyond, blocking Bender’s way.

  Rade fired both his 5-way, and his stingray, and if the spider aliens got to close, he simply bashed them with the weapons. They fell easily, but his weapons were going to overheat soon.

  Bender unleashed his 5-way whenever the charge was available, and used the container to bash minions when it wasn’t, until he finally reached the lip of the tunnel ahead. Then he ducked inside.

  “Well, that was easy,” Bender announced.

  A spider had been lying in wait on the ceiling there, hidden in the rock, but it dropped down then, landing just above Bender’s passenger seat. Before anyone could react, it plucked Chow from the seat—she had removed the straps that kept her bound to the seat so that she could better shoot down into the fray—and dragged her to the ground behind Bender.

  She screamed as those mandibles perforated her jumpsuit.

  “Meilin!” Bender shouted over the comm. He turned around and tried to strike the spider that had her, but two more leaped onto his mech.

  More spiders latched onto Chow and dragged her toward the Teppakhan. She offered no resistance.

  Bender dropped the container outright and rushed into the horde. He bashed aside spiders left and right. They swarmed all over him.

  Rade glanced at Chow’s status indicator on his HUD. It was black.

  She had probably died from exposure to the alien atmosphere when her suit was perforated.

  Rade couldn’t let the pain of her loss register. Not now. Not when the lives of the rest of the platoon were at stake.

  “Bender!” Rade dashed forward, and scooped up the container before the spiders could surround it. “She’s gone!”

  Rade fired his 5-way, but because of the close range, the forks didn’t have room to separate, and he took out only two minions. He reached the cavern entrance, but was leery of wading into the waiting spiders, not wanting any to slip past him into the tunnel—he wanted to protect Jiang, and Tahoe, who yet remained perched in Pyro’s and his passenger seats, respectively. They were firing down at the closest aliens with their rifles. And constantly scanning the ceiling, to prevent what happened to Chow from repeating.

  “Bender!” Rade said.

  “I’m going to kill them all!” Bender shouted. He was bashing his way through the spiders, intermittently firing his stingray and 5-way at them.

  The Teppakhan was getting up again, perhaps sensing Chow’s blood as the knot of creatures dragged her its way. Rade couldn’t see her at all anymore—too many spiders swarming around her position.

  “Damn it,” Rade said, retreating. “Cyclone, get on Pyro’s mech. I’ll be back.”

  Rade reached Pyro, who was still fighting off the minions that crowded the tunnel all the way to the entrance. Tahoe clambered onto Pyro’s back, close to where Jiang sat.

  “See if you can fit him inside your seat strap,” Rade told Jiang. “I want him secured to the mech, in case one of those spiders gets too close and tries to drag him away.”

  Rade set down the container, knowing that Pyro and the others would guard it with their lives, and then dashed back toward the cavern. He hoped Tahoe—and Jiang—would be all right.

  Bender was completely surrounded by the spiders now, and Rade was forced to wade through them, bashing and firing. The spiders seemed reluctant to tread over the bo
dies of their fallen, so the way forward wasn’t quite as thick with them as it could have been. This allowed Rade to quickly close with his friend.

  The Teppakhan was tearing into something—presumably, the spiders had carried Chow to the creature.

  “You fucker!” Bender shouted. He tried to get off a stingray shot at the Teppakhan, but a spider leaped at him, intercepting the bolt, splattering. Bender fired again, but another spider hit his arm, veering his aim to the side. His stingray overheated a moment later.

  Rade reached him. He swiveled his stingray away so that his right hand was free, then he clamped it down hard over Bender’s bicep from behind, and began hauling him away.

  Bender resisted.

  “I’m gonna kill it!” he shouted.

  Rade swung Bender’s mech around so that he was facing him. The spiders assailed his body, the clangs of their claws echoing loudly from his hull. Rade heard a cyclic whirring coming from his body—the sound servomotors made when they were under strain, or about to fail.

  “Petty officer!” Rade said. “Your chief needs you!”

  Lightning bolts bit into the aliens on either side of Rade. He realized they were sourced from the tunnel. Glancing that way, he saw Pyro standing with his back to the wall where the tunnel met the cavern. He had his 5-way pointing into the cavern, and his stingray into the tunnel, to fend off the spiders on either side. Tahoe and Jiang were firing into the fray on each flank as well. At his feet was the brightly colored container, which he had evidently carried with him before setting it down.

  “Bender, we have to go!” Rade continued. “Now!”

  On his HUD, Bender’s avatar seethed with rage for several moments so that Rade thought he was going to have to physically drag Bender all the way back.

  But then the anger seeped out, and his avatar features slackened. His mech physically slumped at the same time.

  Bender was broken by what had happened. Utterly.

  “Let’s go, Chief,” Bender said quietly.