The Quiet God (Earth Exiles Book 4)

by Mark Harritt

  The sound of rifles firing to his left and right brought him out of it. He raised his rifle, realizing that while he was lost in thought, the smaller ones had recovered, and now that Jennifer wasn’t actively trying to bar their path, they had unfettered access to Mike and his team. Unfortunately, the concussion grenade hadn’t taken out enough of them, and Mike was facing double digits. They engaged the closer ones, trying to repeat their strategy from the last wave, but they were suddenly overcome by events as Jennifer ran forward to deal with the larger threat.

  The sound of the mech and the robot colliding was deafening. They sounded like two trains colliding, solid masses of metal and armor trying to destroy each other. Mike chided himself for taking his eyes off of his own targets. Robots were getting closer, and it was beginning to look like they would be testing their body armor against the tearing jaws and claws of the hunter/killers.

  Then, out of the corner of his eye, Mike suddenly realized they were in danger from more than the hunter/killers. Mike turned and started to run, cursing at the top of his lungs, trying to get himself and the rest of the team out of the way of the mountain of iron that was about to land on top of them. Luckily Mike had seen what Jennifer was about to do, recognizing the move from the many practices they’d done in their makeshift dojos.

  The hunter/killers suddenly realized that there weren’t any bullets flying at them, and they strained as they tried to reach Mike’s team, not realizing that their destruction wasn’t coming from in front of them, but from above instead.

  The body of the robot slammed into the ground with enough force that Mike was thrown from his feet. Dirt and dust filled the air as the giant robot slammed into, and then bounced off of, the floor of the canyon. The flattened bodies of crushed hunter/killers had been smashed into the ground so hard that they were embedded into the dirt and gravel. The team recovered and started shooting again. Many of the hunter/killers were destroyed, but some of them were still semi functional.

  Mike heard a tearing noise, as if someone was ripping metal apart. He looked across the giant robot, worried that something had happened to Jennifer. He was awed as he saw her take the arm that she’d just ripped off the downed robot and started beating it with its own arm. He watched as she tried to shoot the head of the robot off, and he could only be thankful that Bobby had put in additional safety features once they’d started working infantry in around the giant mechs.

  He yelled at her, “You’ve got friendlies in the way, Jen! You can’t engage with the railgun. You have to use your pulse laser!”

  The smell of burning electronics and metal filled the air of the canyon. Then Mike saw another one of the robots coming out of the fog and smoke behind her, “Jen, you have another one coming at you!”

  The other robot slammed into the back of the mech. Mike watched as Jen allowed her mech to go with the momentum provided by the huge robot’s hit. Jen had realized the problem, and came up with the perfect solution for her situation, not necessarily so for the team. The downed robot was shaking like something was coming loose inside, but was still stable enough that her mech rolled across the back with no problem.

  Mike turned and started running, hoping that everyone else was following. He didn’t have time to yell anything, knowing that time was of the essence if he didn’t want to be crushed by his wife and her mech.

  The feet of the mech came down close, too close to Mike for his own comfort. “About ten feet, maybe ten feet,” he thought. If Mike hadn’t turned and ran when he did, he’d be paste on the bottom of the mech’s foot right now.

  “Fuck Jen! You need to warn us!”

  “I don’t have time!”

  He realized the truth in that statement. The vagaries of the timing of combat could get a man killed. Many an infantry man had been trampled by the hooves of friendly horses or the tracks of friendly armor.

  Jen’s railgun buzzed as she targeted the face of the giant robot. Mike gasped as he realized what she was going to do next. The mech ran up the inclined back of the downed robot, leaping into the air, arms spread wide, the knees up, looking like the karate kid. The mech’s knees slammed into the body of the robot, and it went down, Jennifer riding it all the way to the ground.

  Other than the sound of Jen’s pulse laser killing the robot, there was utter silence in the canyon. Nobody spoke, overwhelmed by what they’d just seen. The other robot wasn’t finished, crawling up the body of its comrade, only to be given the coup de grace by Jen.

  Now, two burning heaps of dying robot lay at Jennifer’s feet. Jen stepped around the smoldering heap of dead robots, walking over the crushed h/k mechanical bodies through the billowing smoke, and stood in front of Mike and his crew.

  The two dead dreadnaughts were surrounded by the slagged, crushed heaps of the smaller hunter/killers. The destruction of the robots was complete. There was nothing left.

  Mike looked up at her, the flickering fires of the burning robots she’d just killed backlighting the outline of the mech she was riding, “Jennifer, baby, you are one bad ass bitch. You’re the sexiest woman on this planet, now and then, and I want to ravish you right now.”

  Jennifer felt her cheeks warm from embarrassment, “Mike! You’re on an open frequency!”

  Mike doubled down, “I don’t care. You’re like some warrior goddess.”

  Craig whispered in hushed tones, “That . . . was . . . fucking . . . awesome.”

  Fervently, Ken said, “I pray to God that somebody got that on film.”

  Jennifer spoke with an icy edge to her voice, trying to exert control, “Mike, this isn’t over. We still have hostiles inbound.”

  Mike switched to his professional voice, suddenly realizing that maybe, just maybe, he’d overstepped, “Roger that mech leader.” Then, in a more contrite voice, he apologized, “Sorry.”

  Jennifer smiled. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate what he’d just told her, it was the timing. She switched her attention back to the battle. Something wasn’t right. There had been ten of the large hostiles, and she’d only seen two of them, “Luis, where are the other hostiles. You said there were ten of the big ones.”

  It wasn’t Luis that answered, it was Murph, “Uh, mech leader, we’ve got a problem. I think I know where the other robots are. They’re coming toward us.”

  ----------------------------------------------------

  Murph didn’t like what he saw. For a little bit, he’d thought that they were getting off easy. They’d had some of the smaller hunter/killers come at them, but there weren’t many. Which was good, because this canyon was substantially wider than the other two. If the hunter/killers came at them, there was no way that Keisha could have blocked them all. The hunter/killers would have swarmed right around her and headed toward him and his team.

  As it was, there were maybe forty of them that came through the canyon. Keisha had been able to engage the majority of them with her railgun. Still, eleven or twelve had gotten past her, but Murph and the team had enough standoff distance that they’d been able to engage and take them down before they got to the security team.

  But then, he saw why there hadn’t been as many of the hunter/killers. What he saw made him wish they’d had more of the smaller h/k’s. Since this canyon was wider, he watched as two of the robots appeared walking side by side, skirting around a bulge in the rock face. Then there was another one right behind them. As soon as it cleared the bulge, another one joined it. They strode toward Keisha and her mech.

  Murph waited for the sound of the railgun. He grew nervous when he didn’t hear it. The robots kept advancing toward them.

  “Keisha, are you going to shoot?”

  She didn’t reply.

  “Keisha? Keisha, say something. What the hell’s going on?”

  Something that Murph said must have snapped her back into reality.

  “They’re . . . they’re so big.”

  Murph didn’t like what he was hearing. Keisha had never been the most aggressive security
guard he’d ever met. She had always been more useful in the office than out dealing with actual security at the DARPA facility. Still, she’d never been a problem in the mech suit before. A few lapses in her military bearing, yes, but nothing like this. Earlier though, she’d been a little squirrelly when she realized how many hostiles were in front of them.

  “Keisha, you need to wake up! Shoot them!” he bellowed.

  Her voice cracked. She was panicked, afraid, “They’re . . . They’re too many of them. I’m out numbered. I can’t stay here. They’re going to get me!”

  He watched as the robots advanced. They were getting close, too close, “Keisha! You’ve got to do something! You have to shoot! Fucking shoot them!”

  Then, the worst possible thing that could have happened, did happen. Keisha’s mech turned away from the towering robots. As soon as she turned, Murph knew she’d lost her nerve. She was in full panic mode now. Murph heard panting on the open channel. He knew what that was. That was the sound of Keisha’s terror, complete and utter terror. Fear had gripped Keisha’s heart, and it wasn’t going to let go.

  “Shit! Shit, shit, shit!”

  “Murph, what’s going on over there?” Luis asked.

  “Keisha’s running.”

  “What?” Luis yelled.

  “We’ve got six of the big robots bearing down on our position, and she just turned. I don’t think she’s going to make it!”

  The mech was moving erratically as Keisha tried to get away from the robots.

  “I can’t . . . I can’t. The mech’s not working. I can’t get it to work!”

  Luis spoke slowly, trying to get through to her, “Keisha, you have to calm down. You can do it. Just calm down! Your adrenalin spike is messing with the A.I.”

  Murph grunted. Keisha’s terror was interfering with the A.I. interface that allowed her to operate the mech. It wasn’t surprising, considering that the A.I. had never had a chance to experience one of its human drivers under similar circumstances. The new emotions must be confusing the A.I.’s programming; and it couldn’t have possibly happened at a worst time.

  The mech staggered to one side and hit the wall of the canyon, bouncing back toward the center. The friction of the impact decreased the momentum and speed of the mech. The two robots behind the mech caught it. Punches from the robots drove the mech forward, reeling in a drunken fashion. The mech was stiff. Everything Keisha had learned about driving the mech was gone as her fear caused her mind to shut down. The A.I. couldn’t cope with the conflicting input it was getting. The mech was completely off balance now, and it turned sideways, tripped over its own feet, and slammed into the ground.

  It felt like an earthquake as the mech hit the ground. The sound reverberated down the canyon. The two robots dropped onto the mech, and started delivering devastating punches to the armor and frame. The mech was damned near indestructible, but only if the driver kept it moving. The robots were tearing into the mech like two hammers on an anvil. The noise was deafening.

  The other robots towered behind the two punching the mech. Murph could hear Keisha screaming over the open mike. There wasn’t anything else to do. Murph raised his rifle and started firing at the robots. Bullets whined as they skipped off the armor and ricocheted down the walls of the canyon.

  One of the robots looked up from pounding the mech. It slowly maneuvered to its feet and started walking toward Murph and his crew. Behind it, the third one, and then the fourth fell onto the supine form of the mech

  “Luis, are you there?”

  “Yeah, what’s up Murph?”

  “Keisha’s mech is down. She’s got three robots on top of her, trying to play can opener. I have one more headed my way. We need back up.”

  “Roger Murph. Michelle, Diane, you’re up. Get down there and plug that hole. The robots have heavy armor, but if you target the sensors on the heads, you put them at a pretty big disadvantage. The joints are arranged like human joints for the most part, so you can use judo and Aikido techniques to disable. Those techniques worked for Rita and Jennifer. Plus, the robots don’t seem to have any weapons.”

  Michelle was lead, so she answered, “We’re on it. Murph, we’re headed your way.”

  Murph was happy that the reserves were coming toward him, but it seemed that the robot was going to get to them quicker. Keisha kept screaming, and it looked like the combined strength of the robots was going crack the shell that was keeping her safe. Thing were not looking good.

  “You better get here quick. That mech is starting to crack. They’re going to get Keisha out pretty quick.”

  Murph turned to his team, “Well, you heard Jen. Shoot at the damned thing’s eyes. Maybe we can keep it off of us.”

  They started shooting at the robot. Murph knew they were hitting it, but it didn’t seem to be slowing. Murph was so intent on shooting the robot, that he didn’t immediately notice that Keisha had stopped screaming. Instead, now, there was a low moaning.

  “Oh God, Oh God, Oh God. They’re coming in, they’re coming in.”

  Murph started forward, knowing that it was certain death, but John Daughtry grabbed him, “You can’t go. You’ll never make it Murph.”

  Murph stared at him, “I have to. I can’t just leave her out there.”

  The choice was taken from Murph as they heard a loud pop reverberate off the cliffs. Keisha started yelling, “no, no, no, no, nooooooooo,” which turned into a long drawn out scream that suddenly stopped. Her icon turned black on the head’s up.

  “Keisha? Keisha, are you there? Girl, are you there?” Murph asked. She didn’t answer, and he asked again, “Keisha, if you’re there, you need to answer me!”

  John shook his head, “She’s gone. And we’ve got to go.”

  Murph looked up to see that the robot was getting closer and moving quickly. It was way too close for comfort.

  He knew, in his heart, that Keisha was probably dead. Still, if the electronics in the mech failed, she might still be alive. If the electronics weren’t working, then it wouldn’t transmit her vitals. He’d heard Hank and Will talk about how strong the main chamber of the mechs’ were. He knew what he had to do, but, he couldn’t allow his men to stay here and die too. He pushed John back toward the other direction, back toward the junction, “We can’t stay here, go!”

  “Murph, I ain’t going back without you!”

  Murph nodded, seemingly giving in, “Okay, okay, I’m going too.”

  John stared at Murph, not trusting him. Then he relented, pointing his finger at Murph, “Okay, you better stay right with me.” With that, he turned and started running. Murph started pushing the others as well. He was running behind them when he slowly started to drop back. He slowed more as they pulled away. He turned and looked at the robot. He turned and started running back toward Keisha. He knew that she was probably dead, but he wasn’t going to leave her out there if there was any hope she was still alive.

  He heard John yelling, “Murph, you lied to me!”

  “Forgive me, John. She’s my responsibility. I can’t just leave her there.”

  Murph ran toward the robot, then dodged as it punched down at him, the blow impacting five feet away, scree and debris flying through the air. He danced between the legs of the robot, graceful for such a large man. The robot didn’t turn around. Instead, it went after the other figures retreating in front of it.

  Murph was grateful that it didn’t turn back. That was one less robot that he’d have to dodge. He kept running, thankful that he’d lost weight and spent so much time running with Joseph back at the compound. The stray thought of his erstwhile friend sent pangs of anger and hurt into his heart. The thoughts didn’t slow him, though. He was going to save Keisha if there was anyway possible that he could do so.

  Before him was a nightmare tableau. Pieces of the mech were scattered across the floor of the canyon. The torso of the mech lay by itself, the legs and arms crushed, mangled and ripped from the body. More ominous though, the three robots that
had battered the body into the twisted mass were starting to rise from the hulking remains. Behind them, the other two stood motionless. The robots started moving toward him. They were quick, but he was more agile, dodging around them, between them. Sure, these big machines might be able to take out a mech, but it was another thing completely for them to try and grab one man on the ground.

  Fists pounded into the ground, making him stumble as he moved between them, always with one goal on his mind. Murph kept the mech’s torso in sight, knowing that she’d be there if she was anywhere. Maybe, just maybe, he thought, she could still be alive. And if she was, then he’d get her out of there and get her back where it was safe.

  “Keisha, I’m coming to get you, girl!” he yelled.

  He got close to the torso, looking around for anything that would indicate that she was dead. He didn’t see anything, no blood, no gore, nothing at all. Then, suddenly, he was right there, right next to the torso of the mech. He ran around it, trying to find the section that they’d broken open to get to her. It was at that moment he realized just how well engineered the torso was. The robots hadn’t been able to get it opened at all. Keisha was safe inside her cocoon of titanium and graphene armor.

  Murph broadcast the news, “Keisha’s okay, she’s still inside the . . .”

  The hand slammed down next to him, knocking him off balance. He pitched into the side of the mech and bounced off. He fell, sprawling across the ground. The next punch came down on his ankle and foot. He screamed as bone snapped and his foot was pulped. He tried to crawl under the mech torso, but he wasn’t able to move fast enough to get away. The robot grabbed him, trapping one arm against his side. He was lifted into the air, and he started to scream as the pressure increased. Bones shattered, ripping into his heart and lungs. The robot let him drop, and he hit the ground hard, making him scream again, which came out as a whisper because of his shredded lungs. He could feel his body going into shock as he died. He groaned, gore from his broken body splattering from his mouth, then slowing as his blood drained. His vision grew dim, and his world turned black.