DogForge

by Casey Calouette

  She glanced back at the rest of the squad. The facility felt small, almost tiny compared to the walls around it. What is this place?

  “Get in position, we’re dropping through as soon as we have a hole.”

  Denali paced behind one of the Praetorians. It turned, faced her, and she saw under the helmet. Jagok. Her heart slammed into her throat and she stumbled back.

  He turned away, his weapons pods scanning the darkness. Mechanical legs whizzed and stomped. Seamless joints attached his upper body to the mechanical frame.

  Denali couldn’t stop watching. She knew it was him, it had to be him. The face was one she’d grown up with. Did he know? She crept up closer and popped back her faceshield. Smells of burnt iron tickled her nose. “Jagok?”

  The Praetorian turned, cocked his head slightly, and returned to his task. The eyes that looked down at Denali were lifeless things, like sharks eyes.

  “Jagok?” she asked once more. Nothing.

  “Get sealed up! What are you stupid?” Garlan snapped.

  Denali sealed up her suit and listened to it purge. If Jagok didn’t know me, would my father? Was that what he was, an unknowing machine? Her eyes cast across to the other Praetorians and searched for any feature like her own.

  “Focus!” Captain Maya called to her.

  “Is one of these my father?” Denali called back.

  “No! Now focus,” Captain Maya snapped.

  Denali fought to control her emotions. She peered into the hole and fear gripped her. Beneath the floor was a tight jumble of salvaged metals and materials all compacted beneath. “Where do I go?”

  “Look for a passage, see?” Kell pointed to a gap between the materials.

  Denali studied the weave of the materials and saw that it wasn’t totally random. “I see,” she mumbled.

  The Praetorians stepped back.

  “Denny, get ready.”

  Denali stepped to the edge.

  Looks like a mess.

  “Ready?” Denali asked Captain Maya.

  “Ready, we’ll be right behind you.”

  Denali leaped into the maze and the insectoids attacked.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Pinch

  The insectoid darted out from beneath a wall of iron and stabbed at Denali with a chisel tipped spear.

  Denali dodged the blow, rolled to the side, and lashed out with the monofilament dagger. It connected and one of the insectoid’s arms clattered to the floor. Ick. Little bastard. She lashed out again and carved a hole through the edge of its abdomen. It fell without a sound.

  Another dropped down behind her and Denali spun to face it. The insectoid hefted a stubby nosed kinetic launcher. She tensed to dodge and then the alien’s head exploded.

  Wiss thudded down behind Denali and Belle dropped, sniper rifle glowing, just behind. The rest of the squad followed and set off with the Praetorians watching.

  “Give me a ping,” Captain Maya ordered.

  Denali keyed up the suits scanner. A red band of energy flooded through the debris. The results came: everything, but nothing they wanted. She shook her head.

  The squad pushed through the passages. Bulkheads of starships, half stripped tanks, and armor plating made up the walls.

  Denali felt the tightness in her chest. The weight of everything, just above, and so close to coming down. She didn’t even want to scrape against the walls.

  An insectoid darted out. Before Denali could stab, it disappeared in a flash.

  Wiss grumbled, “You got another one.”

  “Gonna let that sniper out do you?” Kane said.

  Denali grinned back and the next time she ran into one of the gangly armed aliens it didn’t last long enough for the sniper to get a bead on it.

  As they moved deeper, Denali felt that she belonged. She snuck glances behind, they were her pack, she was as much a part of them as they were of her. All of her life she wanted this, to belong, to be useful, to do her duty. Now she had what she wanted, her place in the universe. She served them, and they served her.

  The pack. My pack. It was something deeper than just a squad of dogs, it was instinct.

  “We’re on our own now, Hango has command,” Captain Maya said. “Caesar left orbit.”

  The squad tensed and pushed deeper.

  “Ping it.”

  The red wave of energy flared through once more. Nothing.

  “Passages beneath us go deeper than my scans,” Denali said. A line of passages snaked together and disappeared beneath.

  “Kane!” Captain Maya barked.

  Kane trundled up and dropped a pair of charges onto the floor. He studied the floor, the walls, tapping with his armored paw before settling on a spot. He tapped the explosive charges. “I do love this part.”

  The squad moved back in the passage and huddled around a corner.

  “Fire in the hole!”

  A muffled roar rippled through the floor.

  Wiss charged through the settling smoke and met the first aliens as they surged up from beneath. Her massive arm pinned one to the floor while her mechanical maw shredded another. The armor took on a sticky green sheen from the blood of the aliens.

  More came. Armed with chiseled spears, hammers that crackled with energy, and hooks. They fought with no fear.

  A hook latched onto Wiss’s back and one of the aliens pulled her to the ground.

  Denali sprinted. “Wiss!”

  A second raised its spear into the air and stabbed down at the joint in the armor.

  A drone, the size of a dinner plate, leaped onto Wiss’s armor and deflected the blow. A second drone, a squarish thing, crawled onto the alien’s face and stabbed out with a tiny fusion lance.

  The alien fell, headless, and the drone leaped onto the closest insectoid.

  Denali fought in the crush of aliens. She stabbed out with the monofilament daggers, punched the fusion lance where she could, and bit down with the mechanical mouth.

  “Clear?” Captain Maya barked.

  “Clear!” Kane replied.

  Denali staggered to the side and stared at the bodies all around her.

  “These are drones,” Til muttered.

  “I know, we have to keep moving before the warriors arrive,” Captain Maya said, and dropped down to the next passage.

  “Warriors?” Denali gulped. It made sense, if the diversion was somewhere else, they’d have to defend with their best elsewhere. What happened when they figured that out?

  Then we’ve got a real fight on our hands.

  “What’s this we business?”

  Moral support.

  Denali chuckled and dropped down behind Wiss.

  The passages snaked deeper. Denali tensed at every corner and junction, but the passages were silent. The walls felt older. At a certain point everything changed, she wasn’t aware of it until she halted and read a panel.

  The paint had flaked off, but it was still readable. Data Research - Villeau Institute

  We should go back. Now.

  “What?”

  “Denny, scan.”

  Denali sent the next ping out. The waves of red rippled and the data streamed back in. She glanced around at the squad. Go? What the hell was Cicero talking about.

  Wiss guarded the front, Belle the rear, with Kell holding tight to Denali. The rest of the squad huddled in cover and waited.

  Ping.

  “I’ve got something!” Denali cried out.

  A single red ghost of an image blinked. “Four hundred meters, it uh, opens up in about two hundred, then it’s inside of a structure.”

  “Kell, take point,” Captain Maya barked.

  Denali followed after Wiss and kept Kell in her view. Kell moved gracefully, he shot from one side of the passage to the next. His small frame snuck in and out of wreckage and hatches.

  The passage narrowed. The air stilled. Temperature readings rose up a few degrees and a light layer of moisture clung to everything like the morning dew.

  “Where
are they?” Captain Maya mumbled.

  Denali felt it in her stomach, a nervous tightness that grew into her muscles. Tense. Breath, calm down, there’s nothing.

  “Hold,” Captain Maya ordered. “Ping again.”

  The red wave of energy flared once more and an almost immediate ping came back.

  “Two hundred meters,” Denali whispered.

  “Keep moving, hold on the edge.”

  They crawled up to the end of the passage. Water dripped from the ceiling of the cavern. A structure in the center dominated the chamber. The aged walls were devoid of windows. Only a handful of rust encrusted doors allowed entrance. Green stained cooling towers soared from the roof and disappeared into the space above.

  “Why’d they leave it open?” Garlan said.

  “Better to defend?” Wiss replied.

  “Maybe they’re afraid of it?” Til said.

  “Cut it,” Captain Maya said. “Anyone see anything?”

  No one said a word.

  The squad surged across the open space. The chamber echoed with the slaps of armored paws on the muddy ground. Drips fell in cascades and the suits glistened in the moist air.

  Denali snapped her eyes from side to side. Her heart slammed in her chest as she followed. Her shoulder crashed into the wall of the building and she panted. Cover, where’s the cover? She felt naked next to the wall.

  “Hit it, Wiss!”

  Wiss battered her suit against the hatch. “Locked!”

  “Stuck or locked?” Kane asked as he prepped a charge.

  “We don’t blow anything. Til, check the console,” Captain Maya said. Her voice cracked.

  Til tucked around the edge of the hatch and wedged himself against the frame. He kicked an old console and the front dropped open. Electrical interface leads snaked out from his suit and sucked onto the dead face of the console.

  “It’s old,” he muttered. “Really old.”

  He needs to reduce the hydraulic pressure, the mag cylinders are genetically keyed, he won’t get in. That’s human engineering there, they were good at keeping people out.

  “I can’t tell him that,” Denali said.

  A whine hissed through the air, an almost electric charge rippled every pool of water in the room.

  Captain Maya spun around and barked out, “Incoming!”

  Denali crashed against the ground. Kane latched onto her back and drug her up against the crumbling concrete. Kinetic rounds smashed against the wall with fusion points vaporizing concrete.

  Belle fired round after round out of her sniper rifle. The barrel glowed white in the darkness. The others fired back as best they could, but the Kadas were in heavy cover.

  “I’m gonna blow it!” Kane cried out.

  “Negative!” Captain Maya snarled. “Til?”

  “I can’t get it!”

  A round smashed against the crumbling concrete and opened a meter deep gash. Kell flew out into the open, tumbling head over tail in a cloud of debris, and dug a furrow into the mud when he landed. His suit twitched and smoked.

  “Kell!” Denali cried and ran out to him.

  Tell them! The hydraulics!

  Denali latched her mechanical jaws onto Kell and pulled. She could feel twitching in her suit. Synthweave alarms blasted in her ears, her suit overloaded. Kell! Kell! Her heart thrashed in her chest.

  Rounds smashed into the dirt around her and ricocheted off her armored flank. She felt a sting in her stomach. She growled inside of the suit, ignored the pinch, and pulled on Kell with everything she had.

  Garlan charged out towards Denali with his head low. A pack of drones blasted away from his suit and sought targets in the darkness. He slid to a stop, took one glance and pushed Denali aside. “He’s dead! Go!”

  Kell’s suit flopped over. A hole the size of Denali’s paw was punched clear through the neck of Kell’s suit.

  She stumbled back to cover with Garlan shielding her.

  “We have to blow it!” Kane howled. He huddled next to Til and rigged an explosive charge on the door.

  Tell them!

  “Til!” Denali cried out. “Override the hydraulics and it’ll open. It’s genetically coded.”

  “What?” Til barked back. “Oh! I see!”

  The door creaked open in a shower of rust.

  “Get in!” Captain Maya called and the squad surged inside.

  Denali tumbled past Til and fell to the ground. The pinch in her stomach was like a hot poker, but she pushed the pain away and looked outside at Kell. No, at his corpse. Kell’s dead. She tasted blood in her mouth.

  “Belle! Kane! Cover that door, Praetorians are coming in from above. We’ve got to hold for ten minutes.”

  “Well, look at that,” Til said with awe in his voice.

  Denali turned and stared into the center of the building. Her augmented vision snapped on in the inky darkness. An array of coal black cubes stood in the center of the room. Each linked to the next with silver cables that throbbed with energy, almost like it was breathing.

  Oh god.

  “What?” Denali winced. The pain shot through her again. She checked the suit diagnostics and saw a tiny tear in the synthweave. Must be pinching.

  Blow it up. Kill it! Denali, you must, oh god oh god.

  “I can’t!”

  You must! If he gets it, oh god, the safeguards. What would he do?

  “What are you talking about?”

  It’s how they make us! Our minds are grown in those cubes. The very solid state that is our nanite core, starts there. Denali, if he gets this, he can rewrite his core.

  “I don’t understand,” Denali said.

  Caesar can strike the realm of men, he can wage war like none ever before, nothing will stop him, he can copy himself, make a dozen Caesars. He would be unstoppable!

  “I can’t!”

  “They’re attacking!” Belle yelled.

  “Kane, Til, Wiss, cover the door, everyone else back, prep to switch!” Captain Maya ordered

  The Kadas surged across the open space and fell in packs. The insectoids fired back and this time it was with real weapons, not salvage gear. One stopped, fired a fusion pod, and tumbled over screeching. A second leaped over the first and shot straight into the air when first Kadas’s fusion pod detonated. A half dozen of the attacks exploded away in every direction. More raced behind.

  “They’re coming in from the side!” Wiss barked.

  “Garlan!” Kane called. “Get me two crawlers.”

  Kane dropped his demolitions pack onto the floor. Garlan deployed two drones that skittered across the floor to Kane. The explosive charge sat heavy on top of the delicate drones.

  Kane looked up to Garlan. “Ten seconds.”

  The drones shot out of the door, one going left and the other going right.

  Denali paced behind the line and pushed Cicero out. She could feel him clamoring at the edge of her mind. She couldn’t kill it, how could she? And would she? She had a place where she belonged, a pack where she fit in.

  “But why do I fight?” Denali mumbled. Freedom? Justice? Family? Only one of those things meant anything, and they were around her. She set her jaw and stepped to the edge of the firing line. She’d stand with them, or die with them.

  The drones exploded on either side of the building. Debris and insectoid body parts tumbled through the air and slammed into the dirt. Denali fired back with her kinetic pod and added to the wall of steel that held the Kadas back.

  Still they came. Wave after wave stumbled through the dead and fired at the stout building. Wiss took a round that seared the optics on one side of her helmet. Belle’s sniper rifle hissed, flickered, and then the barrel drooped.

  Denali stepped to the edge and fired at the attackers. The suit rattled as the kinetic pod shot out a string of rounds. A pair of the insectoids fell side by side. One tumbled like a wobbling ball, while the other simply sat down and died.

  Denali. You must, Cicero pleaded again. He’ll spend your lives
to enslave billions. Forge is just the beginning. It’ll be the same everywhere! Bred for war, nothing but war.

  She remembered the trees on Forge. Cicero had triggered a memory. It memory came to her in a wave of green and she could smell it. Her nose thick with the scent of soil and piney resin.

  She looked out at Kell’s corpse and remembered the groves on Caesar. The place where old dogs go to die and her mind soured. What is freedom?

  “Could it be different?” Denali asked.

  Yes.

  “How?”

  Dogs could have their own destiny. Your kind once stood with men.

  “With, or will we replace one master with the other?”

  That is for you to decide.

  The pain struck Denali in the stomach once more. She stopped breathing and squinted her eyes tight. When she came to Til stared down at her, his suit electrical panel connected to hers.

  “She’s awake!” Til called back.

  No one came. The rest of the squad fired out the door. Light flared and flashed and kinetic pods slammed into the heavy concrete. Chips and dust fell onto the defenders, the armored suits looked like ghosts.

  “I’m fine,” Denali mumbled and struggled to stand.

  “Stay down!” Til ordered.

  Denali pushed past his Til and swayed from side to side.

  Denali, when they made us we were built with safeguards. We can’t make our own. We can’t strike back at mankind. We are sworn to serve.

  “How can he serve?” Denali stumbled and caught herself before she fell.

  Caesar might think he’s still serving man. He might still think that the only way to satisfy his programming is to rule men. They worried it could happen.

  “Denali! Get back!” Til barked.

  Denali stumbled back to the firing line. Her stomach felt wet, she squirmed in her armor and felt it squish like she lay in the mud. Her small kinetic pod rattled off a string of rounds.

  Is this it? My life, fighting one battle after another? No choice, no reason, just do or die? Denali wrestled with things bigger than she ever thought. She’d seen a tyrant on Forge and knew what Samus could do. Anything.

  Samus, Caesar, they were all the same to her now. Serve or die.

  No.

  The insectoids surged forward. Heavier weapons fire plowed down from above and exploded against the floor. The defenders fell back deeper into the building. A pair of armored crawlers emerged from one wall. Kane knocked one out with a launcher, while the second one tumbled sideways from the blast.