Primal Link 2

by L Bowers

  There—the correct building was in front of me. I leaned into the run as I sped up. In a few seconds, the threshold was before me, then behind. I skidded to a stop inside. A pile of bones littered the floor. My assumption was the bones belonged to the aliens that fought and died outside the building so long ago. Out of respect for the dead, I slowed my pace and took carefully placed steps. The hallway wasn’t long, so the delay was brief.

  I found the room with the workstations, but any power they had was long gone, as were the holographic displays. The glass wall remained, but a layer of opaque dust covered it. I went to it and wiped a swath away.

  There it was, floating in the air like when I saw it last. The room contained no dust. The robotic arm sat lifeless next to the armor. Had this been a Gregory Anders adventure, the robotic arm would come to life the moment I breached the room. Fortunately for me, I wasn’t in a movie.

  “How do we get in?” Standish asked.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I never saw anyone go in. As far as I could tell, there is no way.”

  “There is now.” Kopf raised his rifle to his shoulder.

  “Wait!” I shouted. There was a good chance he didn’t hear me as the report of his rifle echoed through the small space.

  I covered my ears as bullets punched neat holes through the glass. Kopf stopped firing, but the wall remained. I dropped my hands, but the ringing in my ears didn’t lessen.

  “What the hell, Kopf!” Standish barked. His words swam through a sea of noise to reach my brain.

  “We need to get in,” Kopf replied.

  “And how did that work out?” Standish snapped. “We’re all half-deaf, and the wall is still here.” He rapped his knuckles against the glass.

  A series of loud cracking sounds came from the wall. Before anyone could react, the wall shattered. Dust filled the air as shards made a tinkling sound. The next sound I heard was that of us coughing.

  When the dust cleared enough to see, I stepped through to where the glass had been. The robot arm didn’t move, so I considered it a win. The armor spun in place. Near as I could figure, the change in air pressure caused the reaction.

  “This thing is amazing,” I said.

  “Looks like more armor to me,” Kopf said. “What makes it so special?”

  “You should have seen how they made it,” I replied while watching the light bounce off the metal. I pointed to the arm. “That thing shaped a lump of metal to create this. It wasn’t forged and built like armor you or I have worn. It’s like this thing was grown.”

  “We going to stand around rubbing our junk all day while watching this thing spin?” Pruise asked as she stepped into the room. “Or do you plan on taking it out of here?”

  She had a point. I reached out, took the suit by the arm, and arrested its spin. The reaction was instant. The metal softened, then flowed up my sleeve. There was enough time for me to open my mouth in preparation for a scream it encapsulated me.

  20

  Goshawk

  Darkness and cool metal shrouded me. There was no sound other than my breathing. I was grateful for the fresh air wherever it came from. That was one less item to be concerned about.

  “Hello!” I shouted. “Can anyone hear me?” I took the lack of a response as a no.

  “Aspen, can you hear me?” I thought.

  “I hear you, Ray. I don’t think you have to worry, though. Relax, and all should be fine. I can’t explain how I know, but I do.”

  “Okay, I trust you. Think you could take us somewhere less…nothing? I could use some light and scenery.

  The dark faded into a blue sky. Clouds rushed by at incredible speed. Looking down, I saw we stood on Aspen’s back, but a much larger version of her.

  “It is not the memory of me that is larger,” Aspen said as she appeared next to me. “I’ve wanted to try this. I made the two of us smaller and used what I know of my coloring and memories of other great birds to create this angle of me from memory. We are flying.”

  “That’s impressive. I don’t think I could put my imagination to use like this.”

  “I believe you could. It’s through our bond that I came up with this. It was something I couldn’t have conceptualized before we joined. Maybe I am borrowing some of your imagination to make it work, or possibly, my mind is expanding as a result of the bond.”

  “That’s fascinating. We’ll discuss that further sometime.”

  “For now, you wish to talk of something else,” Aspen said. “Something related to Reggie’s duplicate in the past?”

  “Yeah.” I looked down as I thought of how to phrase my question. “Is it possible that two versions of Reggie could exist in the same place? Even touch one another without some crazy world-shattering explosion or time unraveling, or some other crazy consequences books and movies have always warned us about?”

  “I think the answer to that is obviously yes. I don’t know about these consequences from movies or books, though.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I want to talk with Reggie as soon as I get a chance. I hope that’s sometime soon.”

  “Sooner than you think,” Aspen said. “We are returning now. There is trouble.”

  Before I could ask about that, Aspen's memory was gone. I stood in the room next to the robotic arm, and I could see. I could also hear, which became evident when I listened to a rifle fire several times.

  “What’s going on?” I shouted, but my words echoed inside my helmet. Was I wearing a helmet?

  I attempted to look around, but my head wouldn’t move. Then I tried to walk, raise my legs, lift an arm, crook a finger, and wiggle my toes. Nothing moved. Something dense had me wrapped so tight that I could barely get a muscle to bulge as it flexed.

  Strange sounds filled my helmet. It was reminiscent of the language Krawtesh spoke. “I don’t understand.” The speech came again, but the words were different. “Yeah, still not comprehending. Try English.”

  “Language extrapolated,” a mechanical female voice said. “Preparing for user calibrations.” A red dot appeared in the center of my field of vision. “Please follow the dot with your eyes.”

  “I don’t have time for this,” I replied. “I need to go now. There is a fight happening, and I need to join it.”

  “Sensors have registered the disturbance. Calibrations have been limited to the bare minimum so that you may join in combat. Please follow the dot.” I did as asked and looked left, then right, up, and finally down. “Raise your right arm as high as you can.” The metal around my right shoulder loosened and I lifted my arm. I tried my left, but it wouldn’t budge. “Please only attempt to move the appendage I ask for. It will make the process go much faster and smoother.”

  “Yeah, sorry.”

  “Lower your right arm and raise your left.” I did as asked. The voice had me do the same with my legs individually, then squat. From there, it instructed me to walk forward, back, and side to side. Once I completed that, I ran and jumped.

  “There are a couple more tests that require you to fire your weapon. I am lifting restrictions so you may join the battle. The last calibrations will run as you engage the enemy. Do not shoot near an ally until I’ve dialed in all targeting systems. Good luck, warrior.”

  My body sagged as all joints were released and control of my movements was mine once more. I took a tentative step expecting the armor to weigh me down. But I felt as light as if I were nude. “Nice.”

  As I made my way to the exit, I reached behind and pulled my rifle from my back. The sling was no longer attached. In its place were metal bands. They were flexible and didn’t hinder my movements, so I filed it away for later.

  None of my Marines occupied the building, so I quickly exited and saw them across the street in the alley firing at a group of machines. Said machines crowded around the mouth of the alley directly between my squad and me. Not one of them noticed me, so I took advantage of the situation.

  I let my rifle drop, then stepped forward and manif
ested my talons. Only they didn’t come. Then I tried wings, and the result was the same. “What gives?”

  “Apologies,” the robotic voice said. “Calibrations must be complete for the dampening field to be deactivated.”

  “What? What the hell must I do to finish calibrations?”

  “Use your weapon. Once completed, the dampening field will shut down and you will be free to utilize all the tools at your disposal.”

  As I grabbed my rifle once more, I growled. “Damn machine voice.”

  Since Plan A was a bust, I backed into the building and stopped inside the doorway. The hall would make a great choke point if the attack shifted toward me. I sighted down the weapon and took my first shot. The bullet punched through the compartment that housed the Lenashal. The blue animal took off and vanished. The machine fell straight down since it no longer had a power source.

  Two of the rearmost machines turned to look at me. One was a familiar dog sentry, and the other resembled a squat bear. The light in the center of the dog sentry’s forehead turned red. Both machines charged at me.

  I took the sentry in the red light with a round, which caused it to stumble and fall. The bear thing took several shots in the face, neck, and legs to get it to stop. It fell and skidded to a halt inside the doorway and at my feet.

  That got the attention of more machines. Before long, half the group had turned my way. The reduced force arrayed against the rest of my squad gave them the edge they needed. The mechanicals still trying to enter the alley died quickly. With the squad’s help, the rest of them went down.

  Angela stepped forward with a smile on her face. Then her eyes went up, and the smile vanished. “Run!”

  I didn’t wait to see what spooked her. I took off and moved as fast as my legs would carry me. A loud crashing noise came from behind me followed by large chunks of debris slamming into me. One big piece hit my upper back and made me stumble, but I managed to stay upright.

  When I reached the alley, Angela grabbed me and pulled me in. “That was close,” she said.

  “Yeah? What hit me?”

  I looked back and saw a machine that towered over the demolished building. It was shaped like a giraffe, if giraffes were ten stories tall. Its legs were thick like an elephant’s, and its head was a long cylinder. It shook as it tried to free its leg from the building.

  “We need to move,” Standish said. “More are coming.”

  “Go,” I replied.

  Standish turned and ran with the rest of the squad at his heels. Angela followed with me in the rear. We made it halfway to the Ground Hog but had to duck into another alley. A group of large cat-like machines slinked between us and the transport.

  “Congratulations,” the voice of my armor said. “You have completed the emergency calibrations sequence. You are now clear to use all the tools at your disposal. Good luck.”

  With the last word, a HUD appeared in my field of vision. It was in the alien language but quickly shifted to English. To the left were all my vitals. On my far right was a weapons status window with ammo count. I was running low and would need a magazine change soon. The bottom had a line with the compass direction. The degrees and letters changed as I turned my head, letting me know which direction I faced. All in all, it was a nice setup.

  “How the hell will we get around all those things to reach the Ground Hog?” Kopf asked.

  “I have an idea.” I manifested my wings. A thought sent green energy shooting down from their folded position, and I rocketed into the air. Once clear of the alley, they spread wide. Doing that gave me better stability and had the added effect of making me go much faster.

  I closed my eyes, wanting to feel the wind in my hair and on my face. But there was nothing since the armor shielded me from the wind. I sighed and opened my eyes. Then I pulled my wings in and changed my orientation from up to down. In a couple of seconds, I reached the battle on the ground.

  Instead of landing, I swept along the top of the mechanicals on my side of the fight. My right wing was a couple of inches from the ground and sliced clean through any machine in my path. It only took three totaled beasts for the rest to get the hint and move.

  In an ideal scenario, they would have all been destroyed in one pass. I didn’t expect that, only hoped for the best. In this case, the best turned out to be me giving my squad a fighting chance.

  They took advantage of the opening and ran. A couple of machines saw them and turned to engage. Those two were quickly riddled with holes and killed. The weapons fire was enough of a distraction for me to do another fly-by slicing.

  It was enough. My squad reached the Ground Hog and climbed in. I landed on the roof and poked my head down in front so the driver could see me. Standish gave me a thumbs-up and put the transport in gear. I spun to watch our six as we drove away.

  The machines gave chase but kept their distance. The farther we drove, the larger the crowd following grew. Once we stopped, we would be in a world of hurt.

  I looked down at my wrist since I wanted to establish comms with my squad. The vehicle was too loud for us to yell, and the armor too thick for sound to travel through. My pad was under the metal that protected my arm and inaccessible.

  As if it read my mind, a simulation of my pad’s screen came to life in my HUD. It then moved away from me to form a holographic version of it. I reached up and touched the home button. Sure enough, the screen shifted, and I saw a collection of apps on the home screen. A moment later, Angela’s voice filled my helmet.

  “Ray?”

  “Hi, Angela,” I replied. “Have you seen the situation behind us?”

  “I haven’t, but Standish said he sees it and has a handle on it. He also says you need to come in so he can take care of them.”

  “How do I do that?”

  A portion of the roof popped up and slid to the side. Angela poked her head through and looked around until she spotted me near the rear. “Through here, I suppose.”

  “Nice.” I made my way to her. She moved back down, and I slid inside. Once I was clear, the hatch closed.

  “Hang on, folks,” Kopf shouted. “Things are about to get bumpy.”

  Standish took that as his cue and stepped on the accelerator. The Ground Hog bucked as its twin turbines spun up to max RPM. Angela and I plopped down in our seats and strapped in.

  “Hey, Sergeant,” Pruise’s voice came over my helmet speakers. Her name also popped up on my HUD, along with a small window showing real-time videos of her from the side of my head. Weird.

  “What’s up?” I asked.

  “You tell me. Where’d you get the fancy new clothes? You going to a party or something?”

  “No, it kinda stuck to me when I touched it.”

  “That sounds like the beginning of a beautiful horror flick,” Kopf said.

  “I have to agree,” Pruise said. “Then again, from what Kopf tells me, every day with you guys is like the beginning of a horror flick. How do we know when it's the day that something strange you guys are messing with takes our faces off?”

  “You’ll know when you feel a pinch and look down to see you’re smiling at yourself,” Standish said. “Now keep the channel clear. I can’t hear myself think with all this crap about horror movies. And Pruise, you might want to make new friends. Kopf is a bad influence.”

  “Ha, ha,” Kopf replied. “Not funny, dickbag. Shouldn’t you do something about the killer robots chasing us?”

  “Yeah,” Standish replied. “Now keep it down so I can concentrate.”

  The radio went dead. Moments later, there was the buzzing sound of a high-powered machine gun. Then came the booms of ground-to-ground rockets firing off. I tapped a few commands in the air and connected the rear feed to all of my Marines. Strange looks in my direction moved down to watch their pads. A window popped up in my HUD that let me see the feed.

  The machines were being ground to a pulp by the miniguns. They scattered, but the explosions from the rockets hit them before they could get
far enough away. Several more launched from the guns, and a couple of missiles later, we saw the end of our pursuers.

  “That one always gets me a little hard,” Kopf said.

  “Only a little?” Pruise asked. “I’ve got full-on lady-wood. Can we do it again? I was close to finishing.”

  “Too much info, Pruise,” Standish growled. “Besides, we’re not out of the woods yet. There are large groups of machines closing in on our flanks. Also another large group to the front, but it's not coming our way.”

  “Let’s go back,” I blurted out before the plan fully formed in my head. “Turn back, since that direction is clear. We can flank the flankers and reduce their numbers.”

  “Not enough ammo for that,” Standish said.

  “Then we need to get away from them and figure out another plan. Buy ourselves time to make a decision.”

  The vehicle dipped hard to the front as the brakes slammed on. Standish performed a wide U-turn, and away we went. He gunned it and hit max speed a few minutes later.

  “Do you have a plan?” Angela asked over our private channel. I was glad to see it still worked.

  “Not really,” I replied. “I hope we can get enough time to come up with something.

  “I’ve been thinking. Maybe we ditch the Ground Hog.”

  “You think that’s a good idea? We’ll be left unprotected out there,” I replied.

  “True, but if we send it off on autopilot, it might draw the machines away. If it works, we go on a nature hike and make our way to Camp Bad Guy. Then we wreck everything and go home. Sounds like a good plan to me.”

  I didn’t have anything better. The more I thought about it, the more I liked it. “Okay. We go with your plan unless someone offers something better.”

  “I don’t think we’re going to get anything better. Not while we're in the middle of shit creek with some mean float heading our way.”

  “That was not an image I wanted in my head,” I said.

  “That’s the beauty of it,” Angela said. “Not only are you picturing it, but it’ll be stuck with you all day.”