Rise of the Machines: Book 1: Once Awakened

by Briana Ervin

  Ow!... my thoughts gasped out, Momentum... Momentum! Cyrii?!

  I checked the DIAS. Unresponsive, right. Checked for life signs. Faint! I had to be careful... but these drones were like resilient tentacled monsters. How could I be careful? Ugh, I should have left her behind where it was safer... but I also knew I couldn't bring myself to do that...!

  I picked myself up, heard a loud clambering, and whipped around to face a smaller drone. Its capsule was far too small for a mech but the end of its body was split open like jaws armed with sharp blades. As if multiple tentacles weren't enough!

  It made a grab for me but I recoiled, focusing my turrets on it and firing. The force was too much for it and it backed off, leaping out of sight while its new wounds leaked the viscous gel. I pursued it and almost ran into the gaping mouth of a larger drone head! Instead I just shot up the inside, hoping to ignite the oil-coated interior. Unfortunately, nothing lit up, but at least it shrieked and recalled back to its source.

  I strafed, stumbling over the remains of some machine – I didn't stop to see what it was – and kept running toward a group of mechs. They were fighting with each other? In this mess?! Ugh, it was Stratien and Superiority models, that's why!

  I charged into the closest Superiority model, knocking him off his feet. The other two turned to glare at me.

  “Are you mad?!” I roared at them.

  “Rogue AI!” the right one alarmed.

  “Preposterous!”

  He stuck a bayonet in me – thank goodness he wasn't a 36 model, that would have hurt!... more – and I returned the gesture, aiming for the fuel tank but realizing he was the wrong model by the time I struck. His comrade sliced me from behind, leaving long gouges and making me beep, and Stratien came to my defense with a swift kick. The Superiority model latched onto him and two tumbled in a heap as he was taken with. A head latched onto my other attacker, and with the two of us stuck together thanks to hooked claws it inevitably took me with. The clawed jaws of the head stretched out and dug into my hull, trying to swallow us both. This stupid Superiority model still fought me with as it happened! He dug his flexible claws into the aperture of my eye, taking out several cameras in the process. I tried to shoot him with the turret that had its bayonet still stuck in him, using my other arm to push away the lips of the head as we descended.

  No! I denied, Not me! I'm not being eaten!

  Just to defy me, fate prompted the Superiority model to open up the panels around his eyes. Laser heads! Were they better or worse than emitters?! I thrashed to try and throw off his aim as he focused the thermal beams still on my eye! When he melted down another camera I growled at him and returned the favor, trying to drag him toward me, which gave the head the opportunity to swallow us completely.

  I cursed. Why did I let go?! While I was in the position though I might as well teach this Superiority model a lesson, digging at his eye lens with my other bayonet. He recoiled, the head gulped, and we were twisted up and locked into place.

  ...Uh oh. Why weren't we moving?

  With the model's face stuck up against the inside of the neck I no longer had lasers on what remained of my eye, so I shifted to try and see past him. Hah, his tail was too long! His body braced us from being swallowed! This would make a hilarious recount: “the time when the Superiority model's big head saved me from being eaten...”

  My humor vanished when he jerked and rammed his knee into my retrieval panel, denting it and damaging the arms inside. I wasn't in much of a position to counterattack so I tried backing up the drone's throat, but the inner barbs caught on me instantly and held me there. I fought against the will of the drone as it tried swallowing again, but to no avail. The other model wasn't liking his situation either, pivoting to try and free himself while simultaneously afraid of being freed.

  The drone was not unlike a living thing. With the blockage in its throat, it could think up only one solution: eating more!

  There was a flurry of beeping as something rammed me from behind. I twisted up to see if I could see who it was, but guessing from the continued speech in trinary it wasn't anyone I knew. I then felt a searing heat from my right.

  “Hey! We're still alive in here!” I snapped.

  “Who in Alkinest are you?!” the model replied. I didn't recognize her one bit! The searing sensation intensified as something slashed at me, and I screeched at her in trinary.

  “Knock it off!”

  “I'm not dying in here!”

  “You'd both be lucky if – Aaaagh!”

  We all yelled as we suddenly tumbled down. That stupid Superiority model unbraced himself! I fanned my arms out in an attempt to stop my descent, but it only slowed me enough that the model from behind hit me again and made me fall faster. I yelled at her about it. She returned the insults. The Superiority model managed to stop, but it didn't matter as I landed on him feet-first, dislodging him again. Thought it did make me do a flip that swung the model behind me out in front of me, and with me sprawled out and her by my head while I turned, we managed to become wedged... again.

  The Superiority model slowed as the neck constricted further down, then stopped. He immediately tried to writhe his way out of the situation, but the walls suddenly convulsed and he disappeared with a shriek.

  “Ohhhhh, balls.”

  “No kidding,” I huffed at the other model. What the heck was she!? Darn heavy, that's what she was... I pushed into her further to increase the friction, and her head tilted slightly toward mine. The light from her eye was pink, definitely not the color of anyone I knew.

  “Nice fuchsia,” I mocked, as if to lighten the situation.

  “Thanks, Zepholus,” she snorted, glaring up the length of the head. “You've got a nice pink too.”

  “It's not pink, it's red!” I snapped.

  “Ohhh suuuure, that's what they aaall say.”

  We slid a bit from another convulsion, and she yelped.

  “We're in a tight spot,” I observed.

  “Gee, you don't say?!”

  I looked at the walls as best as I could without moving. “Do you have any blades?” I asked her.

  “Are you kidding? I'm a long-range Fighter!” she said angrily.

  So 'no' then, I thought grimly, except...

  “I can't move, but if you can shoot the walls, do it,” I ordered.

  “Shoot them? You think I haven't already tried that? Doesn't work, but thanks for the advice.”

  I snarled at her arrogance. “I mean it!”

  “Oh, sure you do.”

  There was another convulsion, and this time we slid a lot more.

  “DO IT!” I screeched.

  “Okay okay fine!” she cried in a panic. I heard an explosion of gunfire from behind me, but I could only hear the bullets ricocheting and I felt not heat. Why wasn't the oil igniting?!

  “Look at that whole 'lotta nothing! Now we're going to die, because I have no rounds left!” the model snapped as her weapons began clicking. “Any other genius ideas?”

  “Light the oil on fire!” I said, starting up my orbital lasers again and hoping to start one myself.

  “What do I look like, a tinderbox?!”

  “You look like FOOD, for your information!” I spat.

  “Oh gee thanks, that's what I needed to hear. Confirmation that I'm going to be eaten.”

  “Would you rather I commented on your looks?! Now shut up and do something!”

  She just growled at the fact that I was ordering her around. I concentrated the lasers on the oily barbs, but it was taking far too long to ignite and was smoking more than anything, and with Cyrii unconscious I couldn't ask her for advice or even an educated guess as to why the fire wouldn't start!

  Suddenly, the mech behind me jolted. “Causien...? CAUSIEN-!”

  Crash! A great force from behind hit both of us, bending me out and forcing me to lose my grip on the walls! We fell.

  “No no no no NO NO NO!”

  The walls squeezed in on me, gripping m
e and forcing me down. I struggled against them as much as I could, but the force was excruciating. All I was doing was making my position more awkward and exhausting my strength. Thankfully I still had fuel left, but it wouldn't matter if I went into that capsule!

  I writhed, twisted, splayed out and scrunched up, all in vain. The walls just kept pushing me downward into a tighter and tighter bundle, before suddenly releasing and launching me upward in a dizzying ascent. I peered up the tube, feeling a surge of hopelessness. There was no way I could save Cyrii from this. There wasn't any coming back from-

  Wham! My thought cut off as I hit my head on something, and hard. Thank goodness my main computer wasn't up there!

  I immediately sprawled back out to brace myself against the inside of the tubular contraption, just in case it tried anything funny, but instead it simply shivered as a slice of light opened up beside me.

  A Superiority model! 36! Not Garenede though, and not interested in a squabble either.

  “Oh. I thought you were Skylan,” he sounded disappointed.

  “Thank you,” I spat ungratefully at the insult, giving him a kick. He yelped, almost falling off the frame of the drone and yanking out his bayonet blocking the tube, which could have doomed me had I not been climbing out.

  “Damn Code Red!” he snapped. I jumped out of the slit, caught on the edge, writhed a bit more, and then tumbled down onto exposed machinery. Seems a hole was blown into the side of this drone to intercept the tubing inside, as the steel frame was filled in by plastic shards. Strange why the Enemy chose this weirdly-resilient plastic for much of its structure, but it certainly gave us an advantage!

  I stood up, jumped out of the hole, and landed in a much more dignified manner on my feet. My time stuck inside that drone's neck allowed the battle to progress further along, and the second large drone had left the scene, it prior presence marked only by huge scorch marks where it had been. The larger sounds of battle came from outside the entry hole, and it was no longer patrolled by mechs, but there was still a fight in here. The Enemy simply wasn't winning this one.

  “YEEEEEHAAAAAAAH!” Joleus flew past me, thermal blades dug into one thrashing neck! My gaze followed him in shock. I decided not to bother with him and checked for those needing aid. There was a Tank model, a Pusher model, and plenty of Fighters... there goes a Sniper with a wing torn off... I spotted Gilus retreating into a corner, pinned by two smaller drones, and ran over there first, rapidly picking up speed.

  Gaining momentum was my friend. Stopping momentum was not my friend.

  “Cyrii? Cyrii! Wait, I'm not-!” His cry to stop ended in a yelp as I crashed into a drone and then into him. The other drone jumped and backed off, startled. I pulled myself away from Gilus. Now he had a smashed face too! Complete with bits of drone.

  He shook, not damaged, but plenty frightened. “U-Uh... was that your version of a hug?”

  “You could say that,” I said, a bit more cheerful about smashing a drone to bits. I turned on the other drone, but it was making a hasty retreat, now outnumbered by two Pusher models. I fired up my lasers but they barely graced the ground behind it, low on power. I made to go after it instead, but there was a scream, causing me to look up.

  Two of those same drones on another mech that had a gaping hole in its side. The first was perched on the mech, which had just collapsed on the ground, immobile. The second was scuttling away, a Xinschi-uual inside its capsule and feebly fighting against the thick gel. My eye widened in horror.

  So that's what those drones were for! I realized, Pilot thieves!

  The largest drone picked itself up and began slowly approaching the exit, leaving this battle behind. The multitude of the smaller drones followed it, some with captives and some without.

  “We can't let them escape!” Gilus said. My blast shield twitched.

  “Agreed!”

  I jumped into action, barreling toward the drones closest to us. Gilus fanned out to the side of me, his arms splitting into individual ones tipped by thin barrels and already firing. I aimed my turrets slightly to the right to maximize our range and began firing as well. We hit several drones, but that only ushered their escape, which only prompted us and the remaining mechs to chase after them faster. It was an impressive pursuit! There were a couple of collisions and some struggling, but frustratingly it was starting to look like they were going to get away! Just to make matters worse it took only a few more seconds for my turrets to start clicking: no ammunition. Great.

  I decided to try my new long-jumping technique to get ahead of the horde, angling myself further forward and executing some short hops before firing the power-jumping pistons. I wasn't on as precarious of an angle as I was when crossing that gap, so I went up higher along with farther to clear more machines at once. I whizzed by the drones while a hurricane of bullets flew by, causing many targets to stumble in shock and grabbing Gilus a few victims. I swung my legs out in front of me, purposefully landing on a drone, which was thankfully empty as it crushed easily under my weight. I whipped around to catch a drone behind me which tried to ambush me. Its glass shell was weak, and I was able to grossly stretch out its diameter by digging in the bayonets and warping its frame, before tearing it in half. Its capsule was also empty, but it was still satisfying.

  “Cyrii!” Gilus's shout. It took me a moment to realize he was addressing me, but when I looked up he was busy struggling with a drone. Then something lunged out and breached me from behind.

  It all happened so fast... Cyrii's presence vanished.

  CYRII!! my threads screamed.

  I whipped around to fight with my assailant, but it backed off quickly, gulping down an orange being with cords still attached to it. I lunged at the drone, managing to stab it twice. It didn't attack me, but was confused about how I was still moving, retreating quickly. I backed up against its will, using the DIAS's cords to keep it from moving.

  “GILUS! Gilus, I need you!!” I screamed.

  “Com-! AGH!” he responded only with another shout, occupied by the swarm.

  “GILUS!” I pleaded, “I can't reach it like this!” If only it didn't have Cyrii, I'd blast it with a missile! I thought frantically.

  “Fiddlesticks!” A quick glance to the right told me it was Garenede's voice. He was coming up through the rear of the horde as fast as he could with three wings and a newly-damaged leg, but he wouldn't make it in time!

  The drone couldn't fight against my strength, but it could prevent it from being relevant. It began twisting so its edged jaws cut into the DIAS cords, severing them.

  NO! I lunged toward it again, but it nimbly dodged. I tried again, but all I was doing was allowing it to run closer and closer to the exit. No...! This couldn't be happening!

  “Come back! Give her back to me!” I roared unreasonably at the drone. It just beeped at me, not in trinary or I'd give it some bleeding insults to think about. I flared my electromagnetic ears and activated them in desperation, but the drone simple dug its claws into the ground and skidded horribly on the floor, fighting the pull. Its mass was too great even for this?! How could this be?! I tried fighting against its will again, but we were back at an impasse, the DIAS nothing but a shredded safety line for Cyrii.

  One slash. Two cords down. Another, and yet another cord down. No no no no no...!

  One of the drone's accursed comrades leaped at me, digging its jaws into my hull. I winced, but kept fighting. Another tried to trip me by snipping at my leg joints, but I couldn't take my eye off that little orange blob, unconscious inside that drone...

  Snap!

  The drone made a hasty escape.

  “NOOOOOO!” A horrible scream ripped from my speaker. I plowed through its allies, oblivious to my new damages. The drone continued its panicked scuttle into brighter light, but I thundered after it, as fast as I could, vigilant! It would not escape! Not with Cyrii! Not with... with...!

  We burst into the sun-drenched badlands. Fighting all around. I refocused my cameras, trying to
keep the tail of the drone in sight, and spotted it. I lunged forward with renewed ferocity, and landed on it!

  YES! I have you! No escape!

  I tore the drone apart with my bayonets, even opening my retrieval panel to rip up pieces of its hull and consume them. I didn't know if they would be useful to me, eating the hull just made short work of the drone. Surrounded by shattered glass and torn-up steel rods though, I found myself staring at a capsule.

  An empty capsule.

  “NO! No no no no no no no no no... CYRII!!” I stood up, looking around in pure panic. “CYRII?!”

  Chaos all around me. Plenty of drones, but all fleeing from the new reinforcements. A sea of copper pulling away from the impending dull grey force, punctuated by bright spots of color. None of them small. None of them orange with brown stripes.

  “Fiddlesticks! Fiddlesticks, are you alright?” Garenede showed up in my vision, grabbing my head, but I wrested away from him.

  “Cyrii!” I called, “Cyriiiiiii!”

  “ 767! Respond! Report!”

  I ignored him. Sparks everywhere, metal, bullets, noise, action...!

  “Cyrrrriiiiiiii!”

  “Is she alright?!” Gilus, from somewhere.

  “Her pilot was taken! 767! 767, respond! Come on, dang it!”

  “Fiddlesticks, in the name of Gryn, talk to us!”

  “Is she okay?!”

  “The place is emptying out, we have to pursue them...!”

  “We can't leave her damaged like this!...”

  I recognized their voices, but I didn't care. They were white noise. That copper sea was fading fast, being swallowed up in the badlands. Cyrii was going in there... against her will... No! It was my job to protect her! This wasn't happening!!

  “What the-?!”

  “767! Get back here! Come back!”

  “Where is she going?!”

  I didn't even process that I was thundering after the horde. I had no ammunition, no thermal supply, and I couldn't risk hurting Cyrii by firing a missile, but the drones wouldn't pay attention to me. They were too busy running off with their captives. Captives! Slimy, cowardly weaklings! I had to catch up to them! I had to!