Foundry of the Gods (Corrosive Knights Book 6)

by E. R. Torre

  Next to the toilet was a small window. It was cracked open.

  Laverna looked through the crack. The street outside the bar was covered in darkness. Laverna checked her watch.

  0549.

  The sun wouldn’t rise for at least another forty-five minutes. While the interior of the bar was changed, what she saw of the town beyond the window remained the same, least as far as she could tell.

  Laverna left the bathroom and exited the small office. She was back in what had been Max’s Bar. She walked to and stopped before the door leading outside and cracked it open just enough to get a better look at the street. It was very dark and none of the street lights were on. The brightest illumination came from the moon above.

  She thought of the stranger and the drink he gave her and wondered what was in it.

  Fear and anger filled her to the point she could barely contain herself.

  You have to cool it. You have to think.

  She again stared at the street before her.

  There was no one outside but given the early morning hour, that wasn’t unexpected.

  She eyed the buildings around the bar. They were the residences and hourly rental lofts she passed many dozen times before. They were…

  Laverna frowned.

  Though at first they looked the same, she realized they too were changed.

  Most of their glass fronts were broken or had missing panels. Thick layers of desert sand lined their base and the streets. The town looked abandoned and in the process of being buried.

  You need to move.

  Now.

  The voice in her head grew very urgent. It was no longer part of a vaguely remembered dream. It was as if… as if someone was sending this message directly into Laverna’s head.

  She spotted her hovercycle and for the moment was relieved.

  The vehicle was parked where she left it before coming to the bar and, unlike everything else around her, the desert sands hadn’t covered it.

  I’ve still got my ride, she thought.

  Laverna would take her hovercycle and go…

  Where?

  She didn’t know. She could try returning to her camp but the hovercycle’s power cell was too low to make the complete trip.

  The winds picked up. They pierced the bar’s many cracks.

  I should wait for daylight, she thought. Traveling in darkness and on a hovercycle was dangerous.

  What if daylight never comes back again?

  Laverna shook her head.

  She reached for the bar’s door and flung it open. She then ran down the walkway and to her hovercycle.

  35

  The outside darkness and near complete silence were eerie.

  A light wind blew at Laverna and the air, always so heavily polluted, smelled surprisingly clean.

  In seconds Laverna was at her hovercycle’s side. As she approached it, she realized it too looked different.

  While it had the same heavily modified body and metal frame, almost all the marks of use were gone. The hovercycle’s engine, mostly hidden behind metal plates, looked new. So too did its body.

  Laverna ran her fingers over parts of the hovercycle she remembered had scuff marks and grease stains. They were gone.

  Laverna fought off another wave of chills. She was no longer sure this was her vehicle at all.

  You need to move. Now.

  Laverna reached for her helmet. When she picked it up, she found it too was missing telltale wear.

  “Hades,” she muttered. She nonetheless put it on.

  Laverna reached into the saddlebag and was relieved to find her jacket and gloves were there. She put them on and mounted the bike. When she reached for the ignition, she abruptly stopped.

  The control panel had a new set of buttons.

  Though they bore no identification, Laverna somehow knew what they were for.

  She ran her hands over her jacket and found a second set of very similar controls embedded on it. She then felt around her helmet and discovered it too had similar control buttons.

  “Since when…?” she whispered.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by a flickering light which appeared a few blocks away. After it appeared she heard the sound of a distant engine. She recognized it. It belonged to a heavy military transport.

  Laverna hurriedly pressed one of the old switches on her dashboard. The hovercycle’s security was still on and, for a moment, Laverna worried it wouldn’t recognize her. It did and the hovercycle’s security was disabled. Now recognized, Laverna reached for one of the new buttons on her dashboard.

  They are what I think they are.

  She hit the new button.

  As expected, a low hum came from both her vehicle and riding suit. She looked down, at the hovercycle’s controls, and found the entire vehicle had blurred. It was still there, of course, but it now looked as if it were under water. She examined her gloved hands and found they too, along with her arms and legs, had the same blurred look.

  The military grade Camouflage Unit worked as expected though she couldn’t explain how she knew that’s what it was.

  In this darkness, the Camouflage unit not only blurred her and her vehicle’s appearance, it also diffused heat and infra-red signatures. The unit was far from perfect but it would help her get away from…

  …from whatever in Hades was coming.

  The sound of the approaching transport grew louder.

  Its roar sent chills across Laverna’s spine.

  It’s a Pandergrass Model II Transport, she realized.

  Such vehicles were heavily fortified and designed to carry soldiers into and out of hot conflict zones.

  Don’t think. Move!

  Laverna reached for the hovercycle’s ignition and the cycle’s turbines came online and revved at full force. Beyond full force. They were more alive than ever before. Laverna relished this newfound power.

  She cranked the throttle, perhaps more than she should, then scolded herself for doing so.

  Don’t burn the engine out before you’ve taken it for its first ride.

  “First ride,” Laverna sarcastically muttered.

  She activated her in-helmet display and checked her hovercycle’s power cell charge. It was at a little less than twenty five percent, exactly where it was when she parked it in front of the bar.

  Of all the things to remain the same, she thought.

  The sound of the approaching transport grew even louder.

  “Time to go,” she muttered.

  Laverna backed out of her parking space and pulled onto the dusty street. She flew down its length while keeping to the edges of the road. She rode quickly yet cautiously, making sure, even with the camouflage distortion, to stick to the darkest areas she could find.

  As she moved, the sound of the transport faded along with her internal tension.

  I need to figure this out, she thought.

  She pressed down on the accelerator and, with the extra speed, she hoped to do just that.

  For though she had no idea what happened to her between the time she entered the Bar’s bathroom and now, she knew her life was in great danger.

  36

  Laverna’s hovercycle rounded the corner of Grait Avenue. The place was so familiar to her but now looked like something out of a long passed apocalypse.

  The paved street was covered with inches of uneven desert sand which flew in all directions as she passed. The buildings on either side were deserted and dark, their windows for the most part gone.

  Laverna headed for the Power Cell Station, but even from the end of the block she realized the building was gone. All that remained was an empty lot.

  Laverna swore.

  She wouldn’t be able to get her power cell replaced.

  Beyond that empty lot was the Credit Exchange. Laverna slowed as she approached it.

  She visited the Exchange less than eight hours before to trade in Carson’s equipment. At that time, the store was open and in operation.

&nb
sp; Now, the building was a burnt out shell.

  Its walls were charred and her roof collapsed. A thick pile of rubble rested in what was left of its inner area. Based on the sand covering her remains, a strong, uncontrolled blaze ate the structure a very long time ago.

  Despite her urgency to leave, Laverna stopped the hovercycle. She hesitated a moment before getting off.

  The Camouflage Unit remained active even as she was away from her hovercycle. Both the vehicle and her body blurred as she headed up the debris strewn walkway and to the Exchange’s heavy metal door. The door was charred and barely hung in place.

  Laverna had to see what lay beyond.

  She placed her hand flat against the door. It was cool to the touch and flimsier than it looked. A large piece broke off and fell to the ground.

  What remained of the door groaned before it too fell from its degraded hinges.

  Its crash echoed through the streets and for several long seconds Laverna stood frozen in place.

  She expected to hear the roar of the transport as it rounded the corner and a squad of heavily armed soldiers jumped from it, their weapons aimed directly at her.

  Several seconds passed. Nothing happened.

  The wind kicked up and the sands continued their lazy drift.

  Satisfy your curiosity and get the hell out of here.

  Laverna entered the Exchange.

  Beyond the fallen door was a charred skeletal structure. The buildings on either side of the Exchange were also charred but survived because of the distance between them. Strangely, Laverna could find no sign anyone fought the fire when it occurred. It was as if it stopped only after burning itself out.

  Heat resistant tubes lined the shell of the building. Within them were fire neutralizing chemicals. Their caps were burned but hadn’t ruptured. The system was deactivated.

  Why? Laverna wondered. Even if someone shut the system off, where was the fire department? Or the store’s owners or—

  Laverna shook her head.

  How could Bordertown’s people ignore a fire and just let it burn?

  Then another thought:

  Where were they? Where is everyone?

  For what felt like the first time, Laverna took a hard look at the streets around her and only now realized just how deserted they were. Though it was early morning and Bordertown didn’t have a huge population, there were always a handful of people walking around here or there and at least a couple of stray lights on.

  There was no one at all to be seen.

  There wasn’t a single light coming from any of the buildings.

  Not one.

  Laverna’s feet crunched against glass and charred wood.

  She approached an overturned metal file cabinet and grabbed at its scorched handle. The drawer let out a noisy squeal before sliding open.

  Within were crumpled papers. Laverna grabbed a handful and glanced through them.

  One was a memorandum to the Exchange’s employees. It was dated two months before. Several others were reports on the Exchange’s activities and inventory. They were presented in chronological order.

  Laverna shuffled through the pages, moving chronologically closer and closer to…

  “It can’t be,” she said.

  The final page in the file cabinet was dated to the day before. The yellowing paper was almost eaten up with age. On it were several notes. They described in detail the sale of several pieces of scavenger equipment. Laverna recognized the gear sold. It was Carson’s gear.

  She looked down, at the seller’s name.

  “No,” she muttered.

  The person who sold the gear was Carson himself. There was no mention at all of Laverna on the sale.

  Laverna angrily threw the paper away. She tried to remember specific days she stopped by the Exchange to sell her own wares. She searched for and found sales slips from those dates, but could find no mention of her wares. Other scavengers were listed, many of them familiar to her. But no Laverna DeCastillo.

  I was there. I sold things on those dates. Why am I not listed?

  Laverna swore and opened another cabinet drawer. Then another. She tore through the pages, quickly checking every listing. She no longer cared about dates or items sold. She just wanted to find some mention –any mention– of her trips to Bordertown.

  There were none.

  “I exist,” Laverna said. “I am.”

  How do you prove it?

  A thought occurred to her. She reached for her recorder.

  “Please work,” she said as she activated it. She accessed the last recording she made only a couple of days before and pressed play.

  “The files you seek do not exist,” the machine said. An error message appeared on the recorder’s screen.

  Laverna pressed another button and brought up the recorder’s menu. She checked for any and all recordings.

  There were none.

  “The files you seek do not exist,” the machine repeated.

  Laverna stepped back.

  “I’m losing my mind,” she said. “How can any of this—”

  She stopped talking and her head came up.

  In the distance, she heard the sound of the military transport.

  You have to move. Now.

  Laverna’s muscles tensed. Something was about to happen.

  She heard another sound. It came from this very block.

  It was a scraping sound, like a metal tube dragged across concrete. Someone moved in her direction.

  Laverna hurried back to her vehicle.

  37

  Laverna mounted her hovercycle.

  From the corner of her eye she spotted a shadowy form. Something was out there.

  Near.

  Laverna felt it.

  How?

  She wasn’t sure but knew it was searching. Searching for…

  Me.

  Laverna struggled to focus.

  How long can I stay hidden?

  Laverna frowned.

  As long as the cell lasts.

  She reached for the vehicle’s ignition and it came to life.

  Laverna looked down the street while her senses pleaded for her to move. This thing, whatever it was, was so near. As much as she wanted to move, she didn’t. She had to know what—

  There!

  Her eyes locked on the shadowy form. It moved quickly toward the side of a building. Once it did, it leaped up. Impossibly sharp claws emerged from the creature’s hands and feet and gripped the building’s steel and concrete structure. With superhuman speed it climbed the side of the building until it reached its roof. Despite its human form, the thing could not be human.

  Could it be a soldier in an enhanced suit?

  Even after so many years outside the military, Laverna doubted Phaecian scientists could develop a skin tight suit capable of what she just witnessed.

  Once on the roof, the creature moved along its edge. It didn’t slow. It neared the end of the roof and, instead of stopping, leaped into the air. It landed in total silence on the next building’s roof and all that much closer to Laverna.

  You’ve got to move. Now.

  Laverna wanted to, but another instinct countered that need. She kept perfectly still with her hands locked on the hovercycle’s controls. In an instant she would have the turbines at full.

  The figure reached the second building’s roof’s edge and stopped. Its head swiveling back and forth, examining everything around it. It again leaped, this time landing on the building directly across from Laverna. It walked to that building’s roof edge and looked down at the street and at Laverna herself.

  Despite a rising panic, Laverna didn’t hit the thrusters. Somehow she knew it was too late to do so anyway. Her only hope was that the Camouflage Unit and the darkness were enough to hide her in plain sight.

  The creature kept still, as if a statue on the building’s side. Long seconds passed.

  The clouds in the sky broke and the creature was lit up by moonlight.

 
It was the best view Laverna had of it yet.

  The creature appeared human, male. It had the body of a long distance runner and carried no noticeable augmentations or clothing. Its body was dark, perhaps metallic, and it had no facial features. Sleek metal joints were separated with dull black filaments.

  Laverna felt more tension.

  Did it see me?

  She heard a scrape and spun around.

  Three more of those creatures moved along the shadows to her south.

  They too were coming toward her.

  Other than the one small scraping sound, absolute silence surrounded Laverna.

  The military transport had either moved away or come to a complete stop. The three creatures down the road continued their slow approach while the creature above her remained still. Then its head slowly moved back and forth with mechanical precision.

  It moves like a machine, Laverna thought. She shook her head. Of course it does. It is a machine. They all are.

  Machines unlike any Laverna had ever seen before.

  “No,” she whispered. “That’s not true.”

  She was startled by this realization.

  Where did I see…?

  She tried to remember but couldn’t. The memories were buried deep within her, so very deep…

  They’re dangerous. That much I know.

  The voice in her head, the one that implored her to move, was back.

  You were right to keep still. Continue doing so.

  Though the source of the words remained a mystery, they offered comfort. Laverna checked the hovercycle’s power cell readings on her helmet display. The gauge slipped to eighteen percent. She had at best an hour left of continuous power.

  Abruptly, the creature on the roof moved. It leaped from its perch and fell straight down, slamming against the ground with incredible force and causing sand to fly and tarmac to crack.

  The fall would have killed an ordinary person, but the machine man was instantly up. It was but twenty feet from Laverna and its head continued swiveling back and forth, its eyeless face searching for prey.

  Behind her, the three creatures on the street continued their advance. Their heads, like the creature directly before her, also swiveled.