Rise of the Machines: Book 1: Once Awakened

by Briana Ervin

  You say that... I growled, mimicking her. She returned it.

  “767...! You're way too aggressive...” she grumbled.

  I barked out an incredulous laugh, only proving her right. This coming from you! I thought you were a fan of battles?

  “That was before the General upbraided me six nights in a row,” she said, tapping away on the keys, “I'm literally on the wire right now. I updated you because I had no time left! Don't kill this by trying to actually kill someone! And on that note, don't go crazy either! They can't have one hint that you're different, got it? Not one!”

  My figurative, flat stare at her leveled out into the realization that I had no idea how she figured out this liberty, nor why she wanted me to have it. I scanned each command she sent through the console, but as she said, she was merely pathing through my files and changing the odd numerical value here and there. I relaxed a bit, analyzing my behavior and her reactions.

  Cyrii... I said, why did you overhaul me? You know it's illegal.

  There was a long, still moment where the question hung in the air. It was yet another hesitance, and for a second I doubted that she would answer when she opened up one last file. Then, she spoke up again:

  “Before I tell you anything, I need to know you can keep a secret.”

  My interest was already piqued. What can I do? I said eagerly.

  “Lie on your next report. Say I wasn't in here all through the night until just now, when I'm awake.”

  Reset your arrival time?

  “Yes.”

  Done.

  She paused. “...Really?” She sounded surprised.

  Did I do something wrong? I said, the doubt instantly returning but in different form. I didn't like how tight-feeling it made me, like my processor was hiccuping...

  “No, I just didn't expect you to be so quick about it.”

  Oh! I said, relieved. Well, you're my pilot. You're my top priority.

  She just grunted in response, saving her last changes. I couldn't do much about their updates, but waited to see if I felt any different while Cyrii relaxed back in her seat. It didn't feel like anything changed...

  Now what? I asked her, shifting in my hangar; as well as I could while locked in place, anyway.

  “I suppose we wait for the others,” she said.

  They're taking too long.

  I actually drew a genuine laugh out of her! “Yeah? At least they don't take twenty minutes to boot,” she jested.

  At least I'm fully awake when I do boot! I jabbed back.

  “Hah!” It was a mocking laugh, but she burst out in little snickers afterward. I wished I was able to grin at her; finally, I could scratch operator bonding off my to-do list! That meant I could have more fun playing with my liberties...!

  Yet, as Cyrii said: little steps.

  ----------

  The other members of our party were booted up and their respective pilots woken not long after Cyrii and I talked. I observed the entire process, considering I couldn't move to do anything else. Cyrii was quiet in my head, but I wasn't paying attention to her. Instead, I was collecting data on everything I didn't pay much attention to before, like the drastic size differences of our team, or my comrades' abilities. I took note of it all at my refreshing new processing speed, putting it all in respective files to be referenced later. Even with my own consciousness being a little groggy and paranoid, I was able to function entirely on my own! What convenience!

  I understood Cyrii's impatience now as we seemed to linger on and on about organizing ourselves. Finally though, our group managed to be collected enough that we could stand in a line in front of the General, just like we did every day.

  “All right,” he started, thoroughly grumpy. “Due to a certain, enthusiastic 'someone', we'll be starting today's exercises early.”

  Everyone groaned, many of them shooting accusing looks at me.

  “I don't want to hear it!” the General barked. A hoverlift slowly ascended to the catwalk we were on, with his mech on it. “Anyway, we'll be picking up where we left off, during-”

  With impeccable timing, he was interrupted by the screech of a siren. We all knew what it was, but having never heard it before all us fresh recruits cringed or jumped with collective shouts. I shrunk back uncomfortably as the unbearable screaming rose in pitch, drowning out everything!

  Then a blaring announcement came on, somehow overriding the noise:

  “WARNING! CODE RED HAS BEEN BROKEN. BARRACKS 4, 7, AND 6 ARE UNDER ATTACK! ALL SOLDIERS TO DEFENSIVE POSITIONS. REPEAT, BARRACKS 4, 7, AND 6 ARE UNDER ATTACK!”

  “You have to be kidding me!” the General shouted as the announcement repeated itself. I perked up despite the painful noise levels as the barracks jumped into action, mechs suddenly flying and jumping out of the hangars like some invisible force was flinging them! Thankfully, Cyrii turned down my microphone sensitivity to reduce the cacophony, something I didn't know I could do.

  “What?!” she said, excitement entering her voice,“Did it actually say the base is under attack?! No way!”

  We're going to fight! I said happily.

  “We're going to fight!” She sounded a bit more scared than I did.

  The entire facility was so alive with action that I didn't heed any orders the General might have thrown at us. I wanted to join my fellow combatants outside! As soon as the hangar grips on me let go, I rushed out of the niche, skidded the turn, and thundered down the catwalk. Cyrii was shrieking, pulling back on my controls which I ignored.

  “767!! WAIT! We can't just-!”

  She was interrupted by a mass of clanging as I ran right into a Fighter on the catwalk stairs. Her astounded beep was joined by several others as I plowed through the Row, pushing past all of the mechs, too excited to show any manners.

  “Sorry!” Cyrii shouted for me. I let out an excited giggle; an external giggle! I could tell from all of the bewildered and stressed looks Rows 1 and 2 gave me as I ran past them, dodging the smaller mechs that jumped down to this floor. People were shouting at me, but I dismissed them as background noise along with the siren and the announcement. There was a tugging sensation in the back of my mind as Cyrii kept vainly pulling on the controls. Was she saying something? Who knew?

  I burst out into the morning sunlight, positively thrilled and riled up! I was prepared to fight not against any superiors, but with the Enemy! To finally fulfill my purpose! I may not have had sufficient training, but I had my free will, and I was going to use it!

  I thundered down the ramp, blinded by Cryion as it hovered above the horizon. The first thing that greeted me was an explosion; the real thing! I whipped to the right and saw a watchtower attached to the barracks collapse into a pile of molten concrete and rubble, with Enemy drones flying up above it: gleaming metal pods equipped with thermal beams that continued melting down the frame. Two flying Superiority models were fleeing from the structure. I came to a halt, watching them.

  Why flee? I wondered, Can't they fight back?!

  “Whoooaaa....” Cyrii marveled the destruction for a moment, before shouting, “Watch out!”

  She yanked backward on my controls, and this time I listened, backing up quickly. A chunk of half-molten concrete thunderously crashed in front of us, spraying hot pebbles in my face! I shied away and covered my face.

  “That's why we don't just run out of the complex!” Cyrii scolded me.

  What's the point of staying behind?! I argued. She squeezed the controls, not answering, but directly my eye up at the drones.

  “Doesn't matter now! Fire before they fly off!”

  She swept her paw over my screen to lock my crosshair on them, and in an instant I targeted two of the drones, still stationary in the air, and locked both missiles onto them. Feeling that mechanism slide out, actually loaded, gave me a sense of renewed euphoria despite the close call with the concrete. This was meant to be!

  The drones rotated in place, intending to disperse. I fired. Suddenly, the party of eight ha
d turned to five; collateral damage! Two drones out, another damaged and spinning off toward the ground. The remaining drones broke their tight group, before turning to look right at me, targeting me in turn.

  YEAH! Come on! Get me! I narrowed my blast shield in delight while my comrades poured out of the complex around me, and prepared to fire my power-jumping pistons: these glorious things attached to my legs that gave me such force!

  Cyrii was more watchful though and suddenly wrenched me backward. “Wait!”

  AA! I cried out in surprise as I stumbled backward, a bright flash of orange light scoring the ground in front of me. I picked up a terrifying heat signature that was gone in a flash!

  I was going to jump! I snapped at her. She was more focused on us not getting killed, jerking me to the right to dodge another beam. I forced myself to keep an eye on the entire group, although one of the drones was occupied by a sniper blowing him to pieces. The group finally scattered, each drone flying off in a different direction.

  I overrode Cyrii's control. We couldn't let them escape! I crouched down, powered up the pistons, and launched myself into the air.

  “AAAAAAHH!” Cyrii was squashed into the back of the seat.

  Wheeeeee! I whistled. The ground was flying away from us! I had shot up into the air five stories!

  “They didn't prepare me for this in the exercises!” Cyrii complained, her voice faltering from dizziness. I felt a pang of worry for her, but remained focused on the battle. I glanced to my right and saw an aerial Sniper, hovering right near the peak of our jump. He looked astonished.

  “Cyrii?”

  “INCOMING!” Cyrii suddenly screamed, wrenching away the opportunity of response. I was too slow to see the one drone coming. It slammed into me, ruining my trajectory.

  Aa! I yelped. These things were a lot bigger up close! I dug both bayonets into the drone's chassis and began firing into it. It quickly began to buckle, its deafening thrum suddenly choking up like I hit an important motor. It wasn't enough though; the thrum's pitch ascended as the drone began flying upward, taking me higher up into the sky! I dangled underneath it, its beady red eye locked with my glare. Against my anticipations, it began to spin to throw me off; now my weight wasn't helping me! We quickly picked up into a high speed and I struggled to hold on, trying to keep my bayonets from popping free; my previous excitement turned into dread at the thought of falling. Cyrii fought against the forces with me while simultaneously heaving me up on top of the drone, as best as she could with my fear prompting me to ignore her.

  It's not dying fast enough! I cried, reverting back to firing; but I had already punched a hole through its back! My bullets were just flying out!

  “Hold on!” she said. She made me pull up and over the drone, to the point that I thought I was going to fall off! I could no longer attack for fear of letting go and falling to the ground! The drone let out a muffled vwoo-oom, like it was surprised I did that.

  Cyrii!

  “Just hold on to it!”

  I didn't do anything, considering I was already clutching onto it. Cyrii then pushed me forward, making us dip toward the ground sickeningly. However, it also forced the drone's thrusters upward!

  We started going down fast.

  “Steer it!” Cyrii commanded, holding onto the levers tighter than I was to the drone. I caught on to what she was thinking, and tried to throw my weight to the side, to direct it at one of its fellow drones; they were harassing the sniper from before. The drone tried to right itself while still spinning, which only resulted in the spin turning into the tumble.

  “Aaaah!” Cyrii screamed.

  Aaa! I screamed too.

  “Where-?!”

  I don't know! I can't see!

  I suddenly felt a massive impact on my side and my microphones were filled with the screeching of metal. I was blown off by some kind of bang and slammed into something else.

  Did we get it?!.... CYRII?

  Something clawed at my face from the side, and I reacted by swinging one blade wildly at it. I could still feel the chaotic rush of air around me and I was definitely still floating, but it was somewhat slower. I looked up and saw our Sniper, his thrusters on full blast to slow our descent as he tried to throw me off.

  No, not me. The drone stuck to us! I didn't know these things had teeth!

  I let out a surprised beep, and it also beeped, almost mockingly. Cyrii had fallen silent, so I was stuck with trying to wrest it off myself, trying to pull my arm it had clamped down on while bracing the other on my comrade, making him hiss.. One of the Sniper's wings was also caught in it, but amazingly the drone didn't melt with the thruster firing directly on it. All of his weapons were too long to hurt it, and his vain attempts to pull away were countered by the drone's own thrusters. He was at its mercy.

  So I thrust my free bayonet into its eye.

  It let out a mechanical shriek and twisted, slamming me further into the Sniper. It gave me room to raise a leg up between us, and I pushed it back. Its teeth gouged open my arm, and I refrained from gasping at the pain.

  “Shoot it!” I ordered. The Sniper reared back, now having enough space to point his barrel at it.

  ...I saw the flash. Where was the bang?

  I was confused for a split second before I suddenly had a blast of feedback. TOO LOUD! The Sniper clearly had those frequencies canceled out though, barely reacting and instead pushing me off now that we had descended enough for a safe landing.

  Thunk! A welcoming sound after that horrible screech. I picked myself up right away, not noticing him flying off and instead checking on Cyrii's condition.

  Cyrii? Cyrii?? I looked around to make sure I wasn't being snuck up on; a lot of drones, a lot of chaos, a lot of nondescript pieces flying everywhere...!

  CYRII!

  There was a sudden gasp in my head. “W-W-What the heck?! Did we land?!” she was nearly drowned out by an explosion nearby.

  Yes! The drone is terminated!

  She didn't respond, grabbing my controls again; she must have passed out. Rather than acknowledging it though, she simply swiveled me around, assessing the situation.

  “Okay, okay...! Three drones on your left, two on the right,” she relayed to me, “all are occupied!”

  I tried to think nothing of her faint, choosing the group on the left, who had just darted past after another target. We followed, seeing opportunity.

  “They're going up!” Cyrii warned. I watched them closely; were they chasing a Superiority model? Whoever it was, they lost the target, now hovering in place. I killed some of my speed with a slide, powering up my pistons again. I felt Cyrii grip the controls tighter, but she didn't object this time.

  I released the tension in my pistons, launching myself into the air. The drones swiveled to face me at the sound.

  “We're going to hit one!” Cyrii instinctively pulled me back, making me rear up. The target drone pulled out its teeth – a trap of sharp edges all around its face – in preparation of the impact. One flew between us so it could flank the other side. I swiped at it, but missed. The flip side is that I slammed into the target drone elbow first!

  The hit spun it so its teeth couldn't reach me. I had a second to grab onto it, and managed to successfully. The drone immediately reacted by fleeing with me on it, reinforcing our kinetic energy into a high-speed fling! Its two companions flew after us, charging up their weapons. Cyrii had no advice for the split second, so I took her previous idea and utilized it. I twisted my left bayonet into the drone to really lodge it in there, then flung my right one way out to the side, flipping us over.

  ZwwwwIP-BANG! The drone blew into pieces from his buddies! Unfortunately it also meant I was an open target, and considering I had no thrusters, we were already falling to the ground, and fast. I winced as a piece of shrapnel dug into my eye lens, threatening to shatter it. Cyrii also reacted with a hiss, before pulling me upward, simultaneously shouting: “Bad landing!”

  I looked down and found that she was
right; a pile of rubble greeted me! I prepared to land regardless, the two drones sweeping out in front of me, jaws open and ready. Cyrii swung one of my arms at the left one, exposing my back to the second one; I had obeyed too quickly, so I improvised, kicking out behind me to deter the other drone.

  Scree! The drone crunched down on my arm mid-swing! I let out an angry hiss and brought it closer to me, stabbing it from the other side even though that was the bayonet that still had the old drone carapace on it. I felt something grab my leg and string me out, breaking my descent but not the momentum. I squirmed in the grasp of the drones as they brought me back up into the sky, tugging at either end. I was helpless at their efforts to pull me in two!

  “Hold on! Hold on!” Cyrii panicked.

  There's no time to think! I argued, loading a missile and aiming it at the machine in front of me.

  “WAIT!” she screeched at me, “we haven't found out what this does yet!”

  I was incredulous. Cyrii this isn't the time-!

  She poked something on my screen, and my face began to feel warm as the drone began chewing up my limbs. I cried out at the pain as it overrode my senses. Cyrii didn't bother waiting on me, pushing my controls around and making me target the drone- wait, “target”? With what?!

  The drone suddenly recoiled as its face lit up with red, then orange. Then there was a flash! I was emitting light?!

  The drone's center disintegrated in front of me, the edges melting into soup. I pulled it in half, astonished.

  I! I didn't know I had th – AA! My surprise died into a yelp as I swung downward, no longer held aloft by the machine. I dangled from one leg as the other one held on, keeping me barely suspended, but I was too heavy for it! Our stable altitude quickly dipped into a fall, the ground and the assailants that covered it rushing by like sandpaper in front of me.

  “Kick it!” Cyrii ordered, simultaneously trying to throw the drone off me. I vainly struggled as it flew around with us, trying to pull me up high enough for a devastating landing but lacking the power to do so. Finally, out of sheer luck, I managed to hit it square in the face.