In true fashion, I later found out that I spoke too soon. Eliza had already fallen asleep by the time I pried myself away from the fire and I was sneaking into our tent as quietly as I could when I felt the change in air pressure. Somewhere above my head was a machine far more advanced than the visitor we had earlier. I squinted upwards and could barely make out the outline of another drone. This one was definitely android manufactured. Its rotors were barely audible over the sound of the evening breeze, but they emitted a distinct hum that overshadowed the sound of humans snoring. My eyes flickered to the fire, but it was almost certainly too late. I settled for moving slowly back into the tent. The fabric of the tents was thermally insulated. It wouldn’t block our body heat completely from an infrared camera but it should muddle it enough. The androids had found us. It wasn’t surprising, really. A group of a thousand humans was letting off enough heat and energy to stick out like a sore thumb. I heard the drone turn away and then return. Making a circuit of the camp.
“Eliza.” I nudged her gently. “Eliza, where are the guns?”
“Huh?” She was really knocked out.
“Eliza, I need the guns. An android drone’s in the sky.”
“Leave it to the people patrolling, honey. They’ll shoot it down.”
“Eliza, I can’t even see the damn thing. What makes you think they’re going to be able to even hit it?” I was getting annoyed now.
“We have night vision goggles?” She was more awake now, but still drowsy.
“So why haven’t they shot it down?” That got her attention. The people patrolling should have been able to knock a drone out of the sky easily. Whatever that drone was equipped with, it was using some kind of shielding. “Call them in.”
“Why the hell would I do that? They’re the only thing standing between us and the army of androids that is probably coming over the horizon as we speak.”
“I promise, please, just do it, beloved.” Every second that the people patrolling stayed in the open was another chance for the androids to see what kind of security we had. Eliza held a radio up to her lips and bid the security patrolmen to return to their tents. The drone passed overhead one more time and then the air pressure changed again. I stayed still for a few minutes and when it seemed like the android army wasn’t rushing into camp to slaughter us, I risked a peek outside. The camp remained as it was when we retired for the night. I stuck a ‘thumbs up’ to Eliza and she radioed for the patrolmen to return to their positions.
“Well, shit. It’s not like I’m going to be able to go back to sleep now.” Eliza grabbed a bag and put it under her head so she could sit up. “We should get moving, it’s not like the machines will wait until the morning to come rip us open.”
“…I’m not sure they’re out there, actually.” For all I knew I was talking out of my ass. There wasn’t anything to back up my feeling, but Eliza made me think. The androids certainly wouldn’t wait until morning to slaughter us. In fact, they wouldn’t have waited five minutes. The fact that we weren’t lying dead in our tents meant that they weren’t out there. I grasped my weapon tightly and told Eliza to stay behind. Just as I thought, no machines came to slice me to ribbons. The drone had disappeared. Why the androids hadn’t roared over the horizon to kill us all I had no idea, but I wasn’t complaining. “All clear.”
“Why wouldn’t they obliterate us in our sleep?” Eliza followed me from the tent and put her good arm around me.
“Because they want us to lead them to the other human colony. You saw how scared they were when that aircraft buzzed by. It doesn’t make any sense for them to wipe us off the face of the earth when we can lead them to the pesky humans who have the capability of causing actual damage to their city.” I hadn’t thought about that. Getting ourselves support in the form of another, better established colony had blinded me to everything except taking care of our people. Shit.
“We don’t have a choice, Fiona. We can’t go back.” It was like she heard my thoughts. “The contact the other people have had with us suggests that they have some kind of defenses. I admire the fact that you want to protect them, but we’re in a serious spot here. We have to trust that they have the ability to keep their people safe. They are clearly trying to lead us to them. If they have the kind of technology we think they have, they are already well aware of our robotic pursuers and preparing for their arrival as well. It will be okay.”
I hated myself for not taking her word for it. One thing Eliza and I built our relationship on was a promise to never lie to each other. Yet over years of marriage I still had the niggling feeling that she was lying to me just to be nice. The truth is, I had no way of telling. That’s the thing. I just had to trust her.
“All right. We’ll get moving at first light. According to the coordinates, we’re only about a day and a half from our destination. Let’s keep morale up and high tail it before something worse than a drone comes to get us.”
As soon as everyone was packed up and ready to move, Eliza, Marcus, and I made a point of traveling around the caravan to spread the news that we were almost there. It was a good thing, too. Most of the people traveling with us had never spent a significant amount of time outside. The brief period they lived on the surface had helped a little, but we were dealing with sunburns, scrapes, and pains galore. Things that by themselves didn’t add up to much but asking someone suffering from exhaustion to carry a large sled didn’t go so well. We were traveling across fields with no end in sight. If we didn’t come across another colony soon, we were going to have to move solely at night. A shiver ran down my spine at the thought. The panthers hunted at night, and who knew what else was out there? We put one foot in front of the other, and so the journey continued.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Late in the afternoon the radios chirped. Another blast of static came from the speakers and you could only make out one word.
Incoming.
The entire group froze in place. We didn’t know if that meant a missile strike was launched against us or if we were going to be riddled with bullets. Everyone with a gun targeted the field in front of them. If there was an assault on its way, we would at least take a couple of the androids with us. My heart beat loudly in my ears as I waited for the unknown threat to come upon us. Then we heard it.
The whine of an engine. Not just any engine, but the same whine we encountered while escaping the machine city. Whatever was coming, it wasn’t human. Out of nowhere an android vehicle appeared, with at least four androids on it. Two sat in the front of the vehicle and the other two stood on a caged bed in the rear. Three of the four were visibly carrying weapons.
“Everybody down!!” I screamed, but it was too late. Bullets whistled through the air, striking some of the old and slow. They fell to the ground screaming and clutching their wounds. The rest of the caravan dropped to the dirt. “Form a line!” I tried to force Eliza down with the rest of them but she shook me off. “Fire at will!” The few of us who had weapons took position in front of the right side of the group. I ripped a couple of boxes from one of the sleds and threw them in front of us. They were just tall enough to crouch behind. Pings rang out as the androids’ weapons hit the side of the cases. They were made of reinforced plastic; the shelter would hold, but not for long. My pulse raced every time I saw Marcus or Eliza peek out from their cover to fire at our attackers. Given the speed of the vehicle, hitting it was difficult. I handed my gun to a young woman who assured me she was a good shot and stepped back. None of these people had seen the machines before, but they kept steady fire as if they were familiar enemies. I could see flashes of light as the bullets ricocheted off the vehicle’s metal frame.
“Shoot for center mass!” A voice that I recognized shouted above the chaos. It was a friend of Eliza’s who accompanied her and Marcus to the gun range in the virtual world. His name completely escaped my mind. David? Donald? Dietrich? Whatever he was called, he knew a bipedal enemy would be most vulnerable in their torso. The group concentr
ated their fire on the androids in the truck bed. With a crack I saw one of them fall from the vehicle. It was impossible to tell whether it was dead. It wasn’t getting back up, though, and that’s all I cared about. The vehicle roared past the group and began a turn in a wide arc. The pause in gunfire gave us precious seconds to reload; the vehicle would be back within range in under half a minute. Shutting my eyes, I did the math. In order for the androids to turn themselves around, there would be a brief period where the vehicle would be pointed straight at us. I remembered thinking that they looked like buggies from another planet; the entire frame of the truck was cast in metal and the six wheels beneath gave the androids precise control over the steering. But just as if the truck had been on the moon, there was no windshield.
Goddamn it. This was a stupid, stupid idea. A stupid idea that was going to get me killed.
“Honey, if I get killed, I’m really sorry and you were right in every argument we ever had.” I bent down next to Eliza and kissed her soundly. “I need you to count me down over more time, and then I need you to not miss. Okay?”
“What the fuck are you—oh, FUCK no.” Eliza swiped at my sleeve to hold me back but it was too late. I leapt over the barricade and ran.
“Hey, assholes!” I shouted at the rapidly approaching truck. “Remember me? You shot my fucking wife!” I held out both hands in a one-finger salute. “Come finish the job you pathetic dickstains!” Really Fiona? Dickstains? That’s a hell of a last word. I thought. To my shock, the truck stopped. I held my breath and waited for the end. The truck’s engine revved, a reverberating growl that elicited memories of the panther’s snarl as it crept toward me. I saw two pairs of glowing eyes in the front cab and recognized both. Eleanor and Zohei. So much for having made friends. The gun in my hands felt heavy and I hefted it up to my shoulder. Why hadn’t they cut me down yet? Then I saw the androids expressions. Riddling my body with bullets wasn’t going to be enough for them. This was personal. If Eliza and Marcus missed, this was going to hurt.
The truck accelerated as I popped off a few shots in the androids’ direction. A couple of them even came close to hitting the machines, but it was more of a distraction than anything. I waited, my ears straining for some signal, some indication that I wasn’t about to be plowed into the dirt by several tons of metal. I had started to really sweat when I heard Eliza.
“Down!” I leapt out of the way as a volley of gunshots erupted behind me. The truck swerved slightly before it crashed through the feeble barricades. Thankfully the humans behind it had fled the second the bullets left their guns. The truck rolled over and came to a stop. Humans formed a circle around the vehicle and waited. The only sound that could be heard was the whine of the engine and the spin of the tires. Someone moved forward and stuck the muzzle of their gun underneath the cage of the cab. When nothing responded, they nodded and motioned people to rock the truck back and forth. Eliza stood way back, attending to the wounded. We weren’t free from danger yet. I joined the line of humans keeping their guns levelled at the truck’s cab. When we managed to turn the vehicle over, the androids who had claimed to welcome us into their midst hung over the dash, limp and lifeless.
No one seemed to dare approach the androids. Killing them couldn’t possibly have been that easy, or that simple. Knowing there were a dozen humans at my back with loaded weapons that would fire at the first twitch of machinery, I decided to poke the bodies. It was then I saw the damage. Their heads were hanging free from their bodies, wires sparking as the last vestiges of energy left the machines. Their guns had been knocked out of their hands and I whipped them behind me where they were gathered up. I used the muzzle of my gun to tip Eleanor’s face upwards. Her eyes had lost their color, twin pale orbs gazing to the sky. Zohei’s body was in similar condition. I almost felt bad for the two androids. They hadn’t done a thing that any human wouldn’t have done. They believed that one of their kind had been killed, and with the provocation of the aircraft flyby had promised to go to war. Then I remembered that not five minutes ago the bodies in front of me had tried to run me over. Okay, maybe less sympathy, more triumph.
Once they saw that there was no imminent threat, two of Eliza’s gunmen joined me and wrenched the heads from the androids’ bodies. I opened my mouth to protest—no one deserved to have their heads put on spikes—but then the scene behind me came into focus. Our attackers had hit more people than I expected. Most of the wounds appeared nonfatal, but a couple of bodies were covered in cloth. I gagged at the sight of one of them. It was small, too small to be an adult.
Damn it.
I had a growing sense of dread, but my feet carried me to the child-sized body. Bending down, I lifted the cloth from the corpse’s face and stumbled back. There, in the dirt, her eyes still wide with shock, lay Pawter Jones. Before I managed another thought, a shout came from far off. Martin. I threw the cloth over Pawter’s face and raced to catch him before he saw his sister’s dead body. Unfortunately my middle-aged reflexes were moments too slow. Martin fell to his knees and screamed, a long, drawn out sound that chilled me to the bone. Following right behind Martin was Pawter’s mother. Martin saw through his own grief enough to wrap his arms around his mother, effectively preventing her from seeing her daughter’s lifeless form. The sound of a mother losing her child. It was the biggest fear I had in this life and this poor woman was living it.
“Give me the heads, and get me two lengths of pipe.” I stood far back from the grieving Jonses, speaking to one of the gunmen. He brought them to me and waited to see what I was going to do. It took a few knocks with my fists, but I managed to mount both heads on the metaphorical pikes. “Go get Eliza. Now.”
Eliza’s eyes widened when she saw what I was holding, but she didn’t ask any questions. “You need to address your people, my love. Right now.” Her expression shifted into horror as she caught sight of Pawter’s body behind me. “This can not stand.”
“You’re absolutely right. Give me one of those. Give the other one to Marcus.” She hefted the pike from where I drove it into the ground and walked toward the front of the caravan.
“Gunmen, set a perimeter.” I spoke into my radio’s microphone. “Anything that moves outside of that line is shot on sight.” A chorus of affirmative responses answered me. Marcus gladly took the other head from me and together we waited for Eliza to speak. This time, she didn’t struggle with the right words.
“This unprovoked attack is proof positive that the androids intend to wipe humanity from the face of the earth. There is no justification for gunning down an unarmed opponent, and no reason for killing a child! As it was with Gabriel, we resolve here and now to never lose human life to a machine ever again!”
Shouts of “yeah!” and “kill the tin cans!” echoed from the crowd.
“To those who have lost a loved one today, I am truly sorry. I cannot bring them back, but I will promise this. Their memories will live on for generations to come as the fallen heroes that sparked the revolution of mankind. They will be remembered!” Even the lovers and families grieving their loss looked up for a moment. “If the androids should return, I swear to you that I will put myself in front of any member of this colony. I will defend you with my whole being, and until my last breath. I love you all.” She made her way to attend to the wounded, and the dead. The tender ending to Eliza’s speech surprised a lot of people. You could see it in the way they murmured to each other, casting glances at my wife that spoke of outright confusion. I was shocked myself. My wife could be a very tender and loving person, but she would sooner drop dead than act that way in public. Leadership forced her to open up and find a way to relate to people.
The biggest advantage of my stunt was that we now had a fully operating vehicle. The frame was bent slightly, but the engine ran just fine. We took it with us. The old, the sick, and the wounded were given first priority to ride in the vehicle. As for the dead, Eliza stayed behind with them to set up a graveyard. It was the least we could do to let the gri
eving families give their loved one say a proper goodbye. Marcus stayed with her, knowing that she was still wounded and could use an escort to catch up with us. The idea of leaving my wife so far behind rankled. The memory of her gunshot wound was all too fresh. But just as she had to appear strong to keep the group together, I had to act as her equal—and her supporter.
A segment from a story I used to read as a child came to mind. It was about a man forced into military service that rose through the ranks. One day the man had to undergo a training exercise with his platoon that scared him. He underwent the exercise, but he was going to fail his men. Another commander approached and advised the man to check in with his men. He would inspire trust within his platoon and look like he was in control at the same time.
The same lesson applied here. I wasn’t given to speeches of any kind, but I could appear to be in control of the situation. I made myself look useful by walking within the group, attending as best I could to anyone in need. It was easy to take stress away from someone. I spent the remainder of the day’s march carrying loads, offering comfort to the tired, and generally listening more than I spoke.
The cheering started from the front of the pack and rippled backwards. I bid the older woman I was speaking with goodbye and jogged. By the time I could see the front of the caravan, the source of the jubilation came into view as well. Large concrete walls were arranged in a large rectangle. Inside the perimeter were several buildings that looked like they were made out of a mixture of steel and concrete. I didn’t have time to take more of the view in.
Destiny: Quantic Dreams Book 3 Page 17