Rise of the Machines: Book 1: Once Awakened

by Briana Ervin

  “But think about it!” he said, “Sirun made it! Alesia made it! You made it! And I didn't. I lost my mech because he couldn't move. I can't let it happen again!”

  “But-”

  “No, I want an intelligent mech! One that throws out bad pilots and can save himself!” Krysis said firmly, standing up himself. “I'm not going through that again!”

  “Just to clarify, you want a rogue AI??” Garenede stressed. “You know the law says-”

  “I know what your stupid rulebook says!” Krysis pointed at him, “I don't care!”

  “-that I can kill you where you stand for entertaining the thought,” Garenede finished. I looked at him in shock. Contemplating rebellious behavior was an executable offense...?

  “A-Are you sure?” Cyrii said Krysis, taking those words very seriously.

  “I am. He will be smart, like he's supposed to be!” the black Xinschi-uual insisted.

  “I can't allow that to happen,” Garenede said, looking straight at Cyrii. I looked at her as well, wondering if her past defiance would come back or if she would go back to being submissive. In retrospect, her entire decision banked on whether or not Garenede was dead-serious about killing Krysis right then, right there.

  “Can... we make the mech first?” Cyrii suggested, putting off the decision, “then we can figure out what to do with it?”

  “I know what I'm doing with it,” Krysis said, but he neither agreed nor disagreed with the idea. Garenede remained tense, but chose to look at me as the precaution. Maybe he suspected that if he tried to do his job I would step in the way. Personally though I didn't know what I would do in that situation... let Cyrii boss me around, I suppose. I didn't want to fight him, but I also wouldn't stand around and let him destroy a new machine in front of me.

  He finally took a few steps back, unanimously agreeing. I took my eye off of him to show I was no longer interested in a fight, and he and Cyrii returned to their respective computers. Krysis put a paw on my leg, thinking, favoring his bruised right side but not letting other pains show. If he was the one with the DIAS on I would have transmitted an apology. I never intended to throw him out like that. Something just clicked wrong in my head when he touched that comm button.... Studying Cyrii's stammered comments, it made me wonder what she meant by “kind of”. Would I still have felt that anger and indignation without the BIOS update? Maybe it was just me...

  “Okay... what are we doing now?” Cyrii asked. Garenede glanced back at me, but I wasn't looking at him, instead examining the bare-bones model in the pod. He thought for a moment, before swiveling back around.

  “I'll find the template for a 71 model.”

  Another sensation came through the DIAS, this time one of restraint. I guess Cyrii wanted Garenede to find out for himself that the model is banned. The curious part of me wondered why it was banned, or why some models would be banned in the first place. Were they too dangerous? The weaponry unstable? Certainly the scientists would refine the designs rather than ban them though. A simple skirt through the database proved that the war we were fighting was not looking good... removing powerful mech designs from the equation would just make things worse.

  There was a pause in the clacking of keys, and I swiveled behind me to check on Cyrii. She looked like she was waiting for a command. Garenede was hesitating. He must be viewing the 71's blueprints.

  I fully expected him to comment on the fact that it was banned. To my surprise though, he said nothing, beginning to type again.

  Hm? my thoughts hummed, Why didn't he care? Was he just holding it in?

  “It's telling me to wait still,” Cyrii reported.

  “Looks like the process is automated once the template is accepted. I'm going to need you to confirm a few things,” he said, keeping his voice stolid. Now I really couldn't figure out how he felt about it...

  “Okay.”

  I detected a weight anomaly on my side, and figured Krysis was climbing up for a better view. I took a few steps closer to Cyrii so she wasn't overly exposed to any welding when it began.

  “Confirm.”

  “Got it.”

  “That one too, same code as before.”

  “Okay...”

  “That should be the last prompt.”

  A bit more typing. “Looks like. Says to stand clear.”

  Garenede didn't respond, turning to look at the bare-bones mech as a series of clunks out in the wing signaled different parts being unlocked, the lights of their hangars turning red. I twitched just a bit and opened my entry panels, trying to hint to Krysis that he should probably move where it was safer, but he simply wobbled to keep his balance.

  “She says 'get in',” Cyrii said to him, smiling.

  “Huh?” he said obliviously. “...What's that helmet thing? Is that how you know?”

  “She won't kick you out again,” Cyrii said, deliberately avoiding the question. “I think she's worried about the air quality.”

  I was pleasantly surprised that she managed to deduct my concerns so accurately. The DIAS must tell her more about me than it does me about her! Both fascinating and a little worrisome...

  I glanced at Garenede, noting that he was studying the DIAS as well. Again though, there were no comments. I wanted to know what was going on in his head... with any luck he wasn't thinking anything bad.

  Cyrii leaped back into my head, Krysis climbing down to follow her. I kept my eye on the unfinished mech as a definite thrum started up, rumbling throughout the wing as part after part automatically transferred to a sort of “primary” rail, which led straight to the pod in front of us. The first part in line stopped just behind the pod, allowing the rest to line up. I was watching it with such curiosity, Cyrii had to manually close my entry panels and shut off the air intake grills, just in case. The loud shunk made Garenede glance at me, then shut his own grills as well.

  A ring of tools sprouted from the bottom of the pod and a hole opened up behind it, four of the tools being long arms that mechanically reached up and grabbed the first part in line: a full tail piece. One tool, a saw, started up and began cutting the piece to size right away, a secondary tool dripping a healthy amount of water over it to prevent sparks. The scrap dropped, two of the arms grabbed it and dragged it over to the hole, dropped it through, then went up to help the other arms hold the tail perfectly flush against the unfinished mech. Then a welding tool came up from the side and began turning both pieces into one.

  Despite the simplicity of the process I was fascinated by it. I could hear Krysis's excited comment in my head about how long the tail was, as Sniper models tended to have really long tails for counterbalance. Cyrii just watched quietly, as intrigued as I was. There was something incredible about this process... destroying things was fun, but watching something be created was exciting! Knowing how it was put together, examining the craftsmanship of it – well, if you could call automated arms “craftsmen” – seeing this thing brought to life... I was eager to meet this model already! If only I knew for certain what Garenede would do about an overhauled BIOS. Already the idea of him frying the new mech to stop us was tragic.

  The remainder of the arms were attached next: yes, guns! It would be nice to have another mech model around that had guns, and not blades, claws, or hands. Alesia had a cannon, but it wasn't a weapon per se, and Stratien didn't count because he was a 56 like I was. Other than that there were only Trista and I. Despite recognizing the arm ends as guns though, I really didn't know what they were. Some strange, elongated, disc-shaped, slotted devices. Judging by the strips of glass along their sides though they were a type of energy weapon! Exciting!

  “Stop it, you're going to make Krysis pop!” Cyrii commented on my enthusiasm.

  “What? I'm not even moving,” he said, trying to keep his voice level.

  “Oh, don't pull that, I see you smiling over there.”

  There was a shift in my head, like Krysis tried to hide his face. I refrained from laughing.

  It will be nice to
have our eighth fighter, I said.

  “Fighter... yeah,” Cyrii's excitement faded.

  What is it?

  “Nothing, just remembering that we're probably all Code Reds by now.”

  “Code Red? Yeah right,” Krysis scoffed. I blinked. That was a lot of ego that slipped through right then.

  Cyrii rolled her eyes. “Some Xinschi-uual... Anyway, I'm just a little worried about a situation.”

  Understandably, I said, watching the last of the welding on the arms with my cameras tightly-dilated. Looking at the bright light was stupid, but I didn't want to miss a thing.

  “What should we do about Garenede?” she asked. I glanced at the model for a moment, but the brightness of the welding reduced him to a grey smudge blurred into the shadows. I looked back at the welding.

  Should we do something? I said.

  “I wasn't planning to before...” she faltered.

  I could feel her anxiety through the DIAS, which didn't help my own. I don't know, I said honestly.

  “I think you can take him on,” she said, trying to bolster her confidence.

  Probably, I said. I actually doubted it, sincerely so, but the comment showed that Cyrii still had that defiant spark in her. I wanted her to be normal like that, and lose the mousiness she had adopted recently.

  “Do you trust him?” Krysis asked, an edge to his voice.

  “Do you?” Cyrii echoed back.

  He didn't respond, simply shifting again. The welding on the arms finished up, now going to the next part: some kind of long rod. A barrel? Although it had long slits going lengthwise down it... that didn't seem very practical for a barrel. On second thought, it could consist of several parts and this was just the skeleton.

  The tools promptly positioned the rod horizontally on the mech, offset from the center and closer to the right shoulder, and began soldering it in. With the arms there were enough tools to work on both limbs, but for some reason they were all focused on this one, offset piece. Examining the lined-up parts didn't reveal any identical pieces, but surely the mech wouldn't be finished with that heavy weight on one side? That would mess up everything from movement to aim!

  I wanted to mention it, but figured I should simply wait and see what else was added first. The rod was taking some time to weld on; two of the robotic arms even retrieved some scrap from the hole to add more metal to the frame. It must really need to be stabilized. Once most of the scrap had been melted on as reinforcement, the two robotic arms were freed up and began attaching the next parts to the mech, expediting the process.

  I double-checked Garenede. He hadn't twitched. In fact, he seemed to be staring numbly into the distance... maybe he was talking to his mech.

  If he hasn't said anything it must not be important, I told myself, going back to watching the welding. We can worry later.

  So, what does the 71 model have? I made small talk.

  “Awesomeness,” Krysis's simple, vague answer.

  “Not much,” Cyrii said, ignoring him. “Then again, Sniper models don't typically have much. Surprised he chose a Sniper/Pusher though...”

  Sniper/Pusher? I asked, surprised. You said it was just a Sniper.

  “I never said that,” she denied.

  It was implied.

  “Whatever. It's a Sniper/Pusher.” She rolled her eyes. “It was half-developed before it was banned, so who knows what it's supposed to be like.”

  I looked at the new mech, already half-way done. Some spidery arms with flower-like heads had begun grabbing bundled wiring along the exposed, wireboarding “bones” and stringing them out to the new parts for the nervous system, a smaller soldering iron following along behind them. As far as I could tell only two things have been added to the design. It really was half-finished to not have at least three weapons and a defensive tool. Even I had a defensive tool – large electromagnets for diverting the path of projectiles – even if I didn't use it much. Garenede was nothing but defenses, and Alesia was too. Even Joleus had his own defenses! So why was this model banned if it had only two weapons and nothing else? The scientists wouldn't just drop the project because it didn't work; a ban is where the Empire blacklists the model because it was potentially dangerous. What did the Empire not like about this thing...?

  “Why do you care?” Cyrii said, a little annoyed from reading my thoughts.

  Am I doing something wrong? I asked innocently.

  “Not necessarily, it's just not important,” she huffed, “You're filling up the command prompt with useless information.”

  “What is she thinking about?” Krysis caught only half the conversation. She ignored him.

  What do you expect me to do? I said, matching her tone.

  “Think about something useful, like what we're going to do about Garenede.”

  I glanced at him. Just as immobile as ever. He's not a threat right now, I said.

  “Right now,” she stressed. “Don't be naïve, you're better than that! He's a loyal goody-two-shoes and we both know it.”

  So do you have any ideas? I prompted. She sat back sullenly.

  “No... but I don't trust him. You shouldn't either. He could turn on us at any moment.”

  “Nothing's happened yet,” Krysis observed, “maybe he doesn't care.”

  “Did you just hear a thing I said?” she asked.

  So say he does turn on us, I interrupted, what would we do about it?

  “I don't know... fight him.”

  I slowly blinked and brought up a blueprint on an internal monitor. You're aware of that EMP, right?

  “Yeah, I know,” she scowled.

  All I would have to do is move LIKE I'm going to attack and he'll predict the worst.

  “So don't be predictable! It's that easy!” She sat back up, looking intently at the monitors as if she could see through me. “I didn't overhaul your BIOS for nothing. Use your head. I freed it up for you so you could use it, not ask me for ideas!”

  You don't have any ideas, I deducted, and she groaned. I was personally annoyed about how in the past she told me to trust her and let her do the thinking, but sometimes – like right now – she contradicted herself... I guess she just hadn't made up her mind yet. While I had the blueprint up anyway though, I checked it to see what I would actually be up against.

  The micro-edged bayonets; I've learned about their sheathing capability recently, but their existence wasn't new. The EMP and raw trinary emitters; obvious. EMP pulse engine underneath for area permeation; check. Thrusters for airborne capabilities; knew about those too.

  So there was nothing new on the 36 model. It may be an even match if I had to attack Garenede, although maneuvering was out of the question, so my best bet would be to keep him occupied so he couldn't fry me in time. The closer the better, especially with that bayonet length.

  “Now see, that's something worth thinking about,” Cyrii praised. My annoyance dissipated immediately; I didn't expect her approval to make me as happy as it did!

  I focused on the tactical thoughts while the new mech was finalized, layers and layers of plating being placed on it and welded into place. Some of the Pusher model characteristics were now coming through, as Snipers didn't tend to have such thick hulls. This thing was becoming bulky and fast, although it still looked a lot like a Sniper. Maybe this half-finished design would match Krysis perfectly?

  The mentioned Xinschi-uual suddenly realized something. “What are we doing about paint?” he asked.

  “Paint?” Cyrii echoed, “uh...” She pressed my comm button, “Hey Whitestuff. What about paint?”

  Garenede sighed and muttered something nicknames. “What about it?”

  “You know, coatings. Paint. Sealant.”

  “There isn't a coating room here.”

  “I figured, but how are we-?”

  “We won't,” he cut her off, “there's nothing around for that.” He looked at her, or rather, me. “This place is built for designing and testing new models. Paint was the least of their concer
ns.”

  This embittered Krysis. “You mean it'll just be plain old metal?”

  “He can't hear you,” Cyrii pointed out. “Also... yes.”

  Metal is good, I tried to assure him. I like plain metal.

  “You also like scratches,” Cyrii snorted. I jolted in surprise.

  I-I thought you were unconscious when that happened...

  “When what happened?”

  Oh. Never mind, I dismissed it.

  “But I want to know now,” she pressed.

  I like scratches, I ignored her, plain metal is nice.

  “It's not the same,” Krysis sulked.

  “He wants his black camo back,” Cyrii murmured to me. If I had a proper face I would have grinned at her.

  How did you know I liked scratches? I asked.

  “Lucky guess,” she shrugged, as if hiding something.

  That's not true, I teased. She smiled.

  “You're right. It was an educated guess.”

  I was about to reply when my vision began to go dark, the light level dimming: the tools were finishing up! A buffer was still going over the hull to brush away metal filings and burnt scuffs, but it was a brand new mech, ready to be used. All raw grey metal with no coatings or sealant, but fully-functional!

  With it almost done I strafed around it, examining the work. It was finished with only the two weapons in place, so despite it being stocky for a Sniper, it wasn't a very well-armed one. That heavy one-sided barrel must be superb to justify the lack of equipment. Considering this was a beta model though, hopefully it won't explode on the first try...

  “Will that thing be able to stand?” Cyrii wondered cautiously.

  It must be counterbalanced on the lower left side, I decided, considering the model was standing on its own. The complete rifle barrel had a design suggesting it could extend to be a lot longer; was this whole thing just plain inconvenient? Having something stick out even a q beyond your face was difficult to maneuver with.

  On second thought, Snipers are supposed to plant themselves somewhere and stay there. Maneuvering could be a problem and it wouldn't even matter.

  Krysis began to vibrate excitedly as the buffering finished up. Garenede cautiously went around me, but I barely acknowledged him, instead opening my entry panels so Krysis could dart out onto the top of my head. The Xinschi-uual didn't even hesitate to do so.