by C. W Tickner
‘Been a pleasure,’ Damen said.
Troy stared at Dana’s limp body. ‘Should we run?’ he said.
‘We’d never make it,’ Kane said.
Dana opened her eyes. Troy smiled and tried to kiss her but she gently slapped him away and pointed up. ‘Sky,’ she said.
‘Obviously,’ Troy said then glanced up.
Harl looked up expecting to see the barrel above them burst into white light but the Aylen was no longer staring down at them.
The surrounding Aylen were looking over their shoulders as a series of deep booms echoed through the tide of machines, as if far off, another target had been found. Had the Aylen caught the teams they’d sent first or had the army turned on itself.
A speck crested the Aylen’s shoulder and swooped down around its neck.
Troy’s eyes widened as he caught sight of Sky on the back of Flick, her giant tawny bird.
She drove the bird hard up at the Aylen’s cheeks, it razor sharp claws ripping streaks across the taught grey skin. Even above the distant booming Harl could hear her whooping as she banked around again for another gouging strike.
Dana managed to stand as if ready for another fight.
Damen had forced open a battered box that had somehow been wedged under the rail during the crash. He took out a rifle for himself and slid one across the platform to her. Harl and gold took one each as the Aylen over them bellowed in rage at the new attacker, and moved the barrel away to stand.
‘Is she going to take it on one on one?’ Kane said.
‘We should help her,’ Dana said.
‘Aim between the plates of the legs,’ Damen called and raised his rifle. ‘Fire on!’
A second bird crested the shoulder and a moment later hundreds of birds blotted the sky. Each supported a man or woman, bedecked in leaf capes and clothing that looked like it had been grown like a leaf on a tree. As Sky dropped down towards them, one of the birdmen let out a howling call, and as one, the birds flocked together, arcing in a line to claw the Aylen’s exposed head and neck. It swiped its huge arms through the mass of the feathery assault, battering the birds aside so their riders performed a death spiral to the ground but more and more flew down until the Aylen was swamped in a storm of feather and claws.
‘Hey y’all,’ Sky called out. Flick’s talons screeched as it landed the armoured spine beside the platform.
‘We’re glad to see you,’ Damen said, gazing up at the winged legions. Her cheeks flushed pink but Damen was too preoccupied watching the flock above to notice.
‘What’s happening?’ Harl called out over the combined roars of the closest Aylen and the sharp shrieks the birds let out as they savaged any exposed flesh.
‘Brought back up,’ she said, running a hand through her short spiked hair. It looked even more windswept than usual.
‘The ones that threw rocks at my ship?’ Kane said.
She nodded. ‘Seems they came to their senses with the passing of-’ she flinched away as the Aylen above opened fire, blasting holes in the ground and along the back of the fallen mech as it tried in vain to stop attacking birds.
The riders plucked rough serrated spears from woven leaf baskets that hung on the side of the birds and hurled them at the Aylen.
‘The ships coming,’ Sky called as dirt rained down around her. Kane smiled and gave up trying to fix the platform, jumping out of the seat.
Sky tried to calm Flick as one of the bullets struck the armour nearby. ‘Tess will fly down when the factions get close,’ she said. ‘So hold on.’ She tucked her toes behind Flick’s wings and made a clicking sound in the back of her throat. The bird’s wings beat the air and it rose up to join the swirl of birds above.
‘What factions?’ Kane called up but the heavy flap of Flick’s wings and the whistle of bullets drowned out the question.
‘We’ve got the whole bloody world coming to the rescue!’
Chapter 54
I have finished the Artificial intelligence program and it is my crowning achievement. The program is simple and can only do the simplest of tasks but with one major difference, it can learn. It is a baby waiting to grow up.
Damen hopped down and ran to where the control box had landed in the mud. He snatched it up, ran back and tossed the control box to Dana. She had found her flyer and with perfect balance she caught the box and sped off as the mech knelt to avoid the birds and painful spears. The grey face scowled as it spotted their group and punched its fist down at them.
Harl dropped the rifle and threw himself aside as the platform was crushed into a hundred small fragments.
The others had managed to get clear and stared up in horror as the fist came down a second time, the metal plated knuckles lined up with Kane and Damen.
Dana glided across the face of the Aylen and dropped the control box onto the shoulder plate. It was sucked onto the metal as the magnets found purchase and the descending fist froze.
Damen grinned up at the face as Dana signalled some remaining bronze soldiers who were caught up in the bird storm to take their flyers down to the ground.
Harl stared in astonishment as Damen did one thing he’d never expected. He punched himself in the face.
The Aylen in the mech suit looked down at them and bellowed in fury as the solid metal that covered its hand crumpled into the soft flesh of its face.
Damen laughed in derision and continued the self harming until a trickle of crimson ran from his nose into his beard.
‘Thug,’ Kane said, stepping away from Damen as if he wanted nothing to do with such madness.
Most of the birdmen had been dispersed by the Aylen’s flailing arms and moved on to other targets.
Damen gave up the self mutilation as more mechs pushed past, knowing the humans were close. They had expected to find hopeless humans waiting to be crushed underfoot, instead they found themselves face to face with a crazed, screaming Aylen that seemed to be fighting against them after punching itself in the face.
Damen roared and threw himself at them, wrestling thin air on top of the spine. The feet of the controlled mech stomped in the ground around them, thundering into the mud while above them its fists slammed into any nearby Aylen.
‘Form up!’ Gold shouted at the men who had seen Dana’s signal and joined them.
Troy was rummaging in the wreckage of the platform, pulling free rifles from a spare crate, half buried in the debris and was handing them out as dozens of men left their flyers on the ground and formed up around Gold.
Harl knew if Damen fell they’d all be finished and he fired relentlessly at any Aylen that got too close before Damen could spin and engage them.
‘Behind!’ Dana called and Damen shoved the mech he was punching away from him and pivoted to face the newcomer. The new arrival raised his gun to the head of the Aylen inside Damen’s mech and shot point blank into the thick skull.
Harl craned his neck up and could just make out the torrent of yellow blood draining down the front of the dead Aylen. The blood became a rain and splatters fell on them, coating them in golden viscous droplets.
It didn’t matter the Aylen was dead, the control box was still in place but to the eye of the stunned newcomer it must have looked like the mech was being controlled by a corpse.
Damen took advantage of the shock to launch himself at the Aylen. The soldiers Gold had formed up shifted back as he performed his dance with an invisible partner. Fallen birdmen who had lost their mounts, fell in with the bronze army survivors and sought protection from the strangers.
Just as a second Aylen teamed up to grapple against Damen, a white panelled shuttle slipped between the titans. It was followed by a large group of men on flyers led by Uman. They were attempting to get past the scrapping mechs to reach them.
The ship fired and a cluster of rockets burst from new attachments on the side.
‘She added rockets?’ Kane said.
The missiles soared in front of a trail of smoke and struck a power box that
most mechs had on their legs. One of the mechs fighting Damen slowed giving the ship time to get close to the ground and hone in on them.
As the ship dropped to ten metres above them, one of the side doors hinged up and Sonora leant out, her hair billowing in the wind as a stiff ladder descended, unfolding in sections one under another until it hovered at chest height. Harl waved and realised how absurd the gesture was among the crashing titans overhead, but she returned the wave as the first men around Damen began to scramble up.
They hauled themselves through the door as the whole ship wobbled and when the last few used the remaining flyers to get inside it was only Harl and Damen left. The hunter was staring down at the screen, grinning like a madman but struggling to fight off three mechs at the same time.
‘Let’s go,’ Harl called and he stamped a boot on the first rung then clutched another, trying to fight off the nausea from the swaying ladder.
The three Aylen were locked onto Damen’s mech, pinning him it place. As soon as he let go, they would batter the transport ship as they collided or collapsed on top of it. All it would take was a stray foot of an attacker or the fall of the controlled mech.
‘Can’t,’ Damen said, turning red with effort. Harl felt a pang of conflicting feelings. He looked up to see Sonora leaning out.
‘Hurry!’ she called, the wind whipping her hair in the maelstrom.
‘Look after the little ones for me, Harl,’ Damen cried. ‘Let them grow old with Elo and the other-’ his voice broke as he roared with effort and shoved harder against the invisible strain. Damen’s legs were shaking and buckling from holding the same position for too long while concentrating on the battle through the screen. ‘Go!’ he yelled when Harl didn’t climb.
Harl turned and clambered up as his tears fell to the floor.
‘He can’t stay,’ Sonora shouted, offering Harl a hand as his head crested the bottom of the doorway. ‘They’re going to bomb the whole area once we’re out.’
Harl put his left hand out but didn’t let her pull him up. ‘Take off the armour,’ he said, raising his voice to be heard over the creaking strain of metal above. She didn’t hesitate and tugged the black durium gauntlet off. ‘Let it drop,’ he said and used the free hand to unclip as much armour as he could before letting it tumble to where Damen was below.
The ship started to move away and although it was too late he fumbled to find the clasp along the spine and release the chest piece. When his fingers found the latch he pulled at it and watched as it bounced to the metal floor ten metres from Damen. The ship’s engines roared at full power as an Aylen fired at them. Bullets shot past the rising ship but Damen’s mech grasped the weapon hand and forced it aside but opened himself up to attack.
Sonora heaved Harl in and he rolled inside as she levered the door down.
‘Idiot,’ Harl said, but he knew the Aylen would have destroyed them long before they could fly free. Damen had given them time to get away.
‘A brave idiot,’ Sonora said, hugging him as he stood.
‘I was too late to give him the armour,’ Harl said.
He cursed again, realising he still had on the durium gauntlet on the hand that had held the ladder. The same was true for his right foot and lower leg section. He yanked them off and ran to the nearest window, barging past the press of weary people staring out at the raging battle.
As the ship manoeuvred up and away from the crush of fighting mechs, Damen’s machine lashed out then buckled. The steel skeleton was pushed down by the force of the mechs around it and together they crumpled in to a heap and slammed down on top of Damen.
Chapter 55
A sad day. Motley has passed away and I’m devastated. I’ve no idea how old he was when I woke him but he has been a true friend. I will bury him in the soil under the vegetable patch once I have pulled the last crops.
Harl didn’t try to hold back the tears. Damen had been the first person he’d met when he and Sonora had escaped the tanks in the Aylen shop. The hunter had never grown up surrounded by the walls of captivity and something about that intrigue had drawn Harl to like him. Over time he’d become Harl’s closest ally and had shared in every high point and low ebb ever since.
‘Bloody waste,’ Troy said, stepping over an injured man Sonora was trying to help and stood beside him.
The ship gained height, leaving the tight press of machines and giving them a view of the epic battle all about them. A few of the mechs around Damen’s last position swatted at the hundreds of birds still soaring around their heads but beyond that press, small skirmishes were taking place along the furthest edge of the army.
Kane took them higher still and a bigger picture emerged from the chaos. The Harvest Ten army had surrounded their headquarters in a circle and dotted around the outside of the circle was their artillery batteries. The battle was like a moving mass of metal mountains interspersed with explosions and gunfire.
At regular intervals around the outside of the battle, columns of Aylen, some in mech suits and some without, were fighting their way towards the building. They were trying to force a path through the lines into the besiegers and in one column Harl recognised the look of the Banker faction. Their gaudy mechs were easiest to spot looking more delicate than the heavy titans used by Harvest Ten.
Tess came into the room to help Sonora with the wounded. She unravelled her tatty medical bag in one swift movement then began checking pulses and setting to work.
‘What has happened?’ Harl asked. He knew she was busy but he had to take his mind off Damen’s death. He truly wanted to help but to do that he needed to know what was going on.
‘The factions united to stop Harvest Ten and Grakka,’ Tess said.
‘We’re free, Harl,’ Sonora said, looking up from a patient and beaming at him. ‘The appeal worked at the all world meeting. We left before the minor factions overruled the decision by the major faction.’
‘It’s a first time apparently,’ Tess said, shoving a wad of bandage against a man’s lacerated arm and ordering him to hold it in place until they get back. ‘We came to get you as soon as possible. It was chaos getting the factions organised but Taal, the overseer ordered an emergency meeting when Veel went to see her. Did you know they’re sisters?’
An explosion rattled the ship.
‘Nothing to worry about!’ Kane called through the open door to the cockpit.
‘Taal refused at first,’ Tess went on. ‘She said it wasn’t worth putting alliances and the potential new reactor at risk but Veel said something about taking her place if she didn’t act and Taal seemed to lose her colour for a moment. Something was going on inside their heads I’m sure of it. Once it was over, Taal gathered the factions together.’
‘They’ve been working together ever since,’ Sonora said, ‘Even the smaller factions banded together to stop Harvest Ten, sending reinforcements and citing it was essential for the survival of the planet.’
‘There are Aylen females in the building,’ Harl said, remembering they did not know about Sine and the other captives.
‘Incoming!’ Kane yelled.
Harl scrambled to a window and watched thick smoky trails, like charcoal lines, streak the sky straight from the artillery barrels jutting into the air.
The enemy mechs crowding around where Damen had been, tried in vain to scramble away at the whistling sound as it screeched in Harl’s ears, even through the thick cabin walls.
Troy shielded his eyes from the glaring sun. ‘They don’t look like they’re going to come close enough to-’
A torrent of one hundred metre cylinders crashed down into the tangle of mechs and fallen Aylen. For a second it seemed the bombs must have been duds then a pure white flash lit the window. Harl turned away to avoid the blindness and grabbed the top of the nearest seat as the ship shuddered violently in the blast wave. Troy fell into Sonora and only a quick hand from Dana saved them toppling over the wounded, writhing on the floor.
Harl glanced across at the
far window and saw a burning birdman fly straight into a cliff of metal armour and realised the ship was about to hit it as well. The impact threw all of them against the rows of seats or the doorway on the opposite side of the cabin.
An injured man threw up as the ship twisted into a spin. Dana kept hold of Kane and Sonora. Slowly though, Kane managed to fight the turn and level the ship out again. The factions on their side had taken control of the artillery and were using the battery to bombard the Harvest Ten soldiers. More flashes further off lit up the windows and the thunder shook the cabin as the artillery systematically began to fire into the thickest grouping of the mechs.
It didn’t take long before the remaining wounded Aylen started to step out of their suits and surrender as the factions that had attacked on all sides met at the building, having secured the perimeter.
It was over. They had won their freedom, but the cost was too high for Harl.
Chapter 56
The best place to store my work is inside the maintenance bot. I have placed strict limits on its code. It may only stray within the confines of the core and its main task is to maintain the ecosystem. It is not allowed to interact with the ship for any reason.
Smoke drifted in clouds across the battlefield of broken mechs and bodies as the winning factions wandered between what was left of the besieging force.
The building’s exterior was in ruins. Instead of silver grey the walls were charred and blackened. Holes had been torn in the steel and all the windows on the top floor had been shattered coating the ground below in three metre thick shards.
Kane brought the ship to a stop at the entrance. The frame was pitted with bullet damage and the broken door was still lying on the floor from when Damen had kicked it down.
Veel strode through the crowd to meet with other Aylen dignitaries in front of the main entrance.
The six Aylen females emerged into the sun, seeming unsure of the military force arrayed in front of them. But when they saw Veel they bowed their heads in respect.