Shelby looked down at herself and shook her head. She let out a laugh of her own and raised an arm so she could shake her finger at him. “You’re going to get yourself in a lot of trouble, young man.”
Krys forced a grin on his face and swallowed past the dry lump in his throat.
“Finish up and get to bed,” she said. “That’s an order.”
“I thought you were off duty?”
She grabbed her dry jacket and her cup and said, “I’m never that off duty.”
Krys nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
She smirked and turned away. She walked towards the door and stopped. “Thanks for the shower—I needed it.”
Krys stood mute as she strode back out into the aisle and made her way through the artificial rainfall to the door. She opened it and walked through, leaving Krys staring and gaping at where she’d been.
Chapter 25
Lily stared at the back of the chair in the dimly lit booth and reached out to touch the fabric. The chair was padded but firm. She stepped around it and took in the control panel stretched out in front of the chair. The panel was level but not smooth; different sections had textures raised to help the pilot identify by touch where their fingers were.
She sat down in the seat and saw smaller controls on the arms of the chair, including a green icon that was labeled, “Start.” She pressed it.
The console moved, earning a yelp from her. It slid over her lap and she had to lift her arms to avoid having them pinned. The sliding surface latched onto the arms of her chair and stopped. She felt something bump against her feet but she couldn’t see through the darkness beneath the control panel to figure out what it was. The curved display screen in front of her came to life and showed the interior of a large warehouse.
“Welcome, Miss Lily Strain.”
Lily gasped and glanced around. The voice was pleasant but firm. Feminine, but without any noticeable accent. “Uh, hello?”
“Please refer to the control board in front of you. Since there is no neural link, pedals at your feet control your speed. The blinking control on the board is for determining direction of movement. Please proceed to the garage entrance.”
“Um, okay,” Lily said as she moved her feet and found the pedals. She pressed her foot against one lightly. The display moved and she heard the sound of a large metal foot taking a step. The only problem was that her view had twisted several degrees to the left. Lily pressed her foot against the left pedal and the left foot took a step. Her display swung back around so she was facing the door directly.
“Cool,” she whispered. She studied the control panel, wondering how she could move her arms and turn the body. The biomechs were robots, sure, but she’d seen them move like that and knew it was possible.
“Please proceed to the garage entrance,” the voice repeated.
“Sorry,” Lily said. She pressed both feet against the pedals and felt as though she was moving forward. On the display, the garage door loomed closer and then it was behind her. Bright sunlight streamed down on a dirty world of gray. There were no trees or grass or any sort of vegetation. Just a barren and desolate landscape. She took her feet off the pedals and waited.
“Change heading to zero-niner-three and climb the ridge.”
Lily saw the compass indicator on the panel and feathered the pedals until it read ninety-three. She pressed her feet against both pedals and felt a thrill run through her as the biomech thundered ahead through the desert landscape. Her biomech climbed up a hill, adjusting itself for the incline, and in a few moments she let off the pedals and stared over the lip of the ridge. She waited there and stared at the uneven ground ahead of her.
“Please proceed to the top of the ridge.”
Lily frowned. She was at the ridge already. If she climbed to the top of it, she’d be fully exposed. Wasn’t that dumb? She frowned and throttled ahead until she felt she’d reached the top.
Several red shapes appeared on the display. They highlighted vehicles on the uneven plain in front of her. There was one tank, two trucks, and another biomech. She studied it and recognized it to be a scout class biomech. It made her wonder what model she was piloting.
More controls flared brighter on her display. “Weapon systems engaged,” the voice said. “Use the left pad for controlling the left arm’s optical system and the right pad for the right arm’s primary weapon.”
“What—”
“The weapon your scout class biomech is equipped with is a fifty-millimeter autorifle capable of firing semi-automatically or in three-round bursts. Your ammunition for this exercise is unlimited.”
Lily clamped her mouth shut and bit her lip to keep from smiling. She placed her hand on each slightly depressed circle. Two yellow flashing bars showed at the bottom of her display. She pushed her fingers forward until the bars rose and formed targeting reticles on the screen. She saw the end of the rifle appear at the bottom of her display on the right-hand side.
“Target the truck on the left with the optical weapon.”
Lily moved the left arm until the reticle passed over the red target. It turned orange, indicating a high probability firing solution.
“Discharge the weapon by tapping your thumb against the firing control.”
Lily glanced at the board and saw her thumb was resting on it. She gulped and moved it off. A quick glance at the screen to confirm she was still lined up with the truck and she tapped her thumb against it. For a tiny moment, she thought nothing had happened.
She looked again and saw a blackened section against the truck’s cab where her reticle had pointed. The door and engine compartment looked warped and bowed in while the glowing metal cooled rapidly and darkened. Her orange glowing reticle, now darker as the weapon was recharging, had obscured the damage.
“That was weak,” she muttered.
“Center the primary weapon’s firing reticle on the truck.”
Lily jerked in surprise and brought the weapon across too fast. She had to back it up to confirm a probable firing solution and then waited.
She didn’t wait long. “Fire when ready.”
Lily tapped the firing button on her right pad and heard the loud roar of the fifty-mm cannon go off. It struck the truck in the back of the cab and tore the rear and top of the cab off. Air exploded out of the breached compartment and clouded for a brief instant before being disbursed into the vacuum.
“A moon!” Lily breathed. That explained the lack of vegetation and colors. She wondered which moon the terrain was modeled after. Earth’s Luna or maybe Phobos or Deimos? Heck, for all she knew it could have been one of the moons of Jupiter, Saturn, or even Uranus.
She supposed it didn’t matter. What mattered was that the truck was thoroughly disabled. The cab was smashed open and the storage compartment in the back was rent nearly in half by the powerful shell.
“Target the second truck and aim for the engine.”
Lily swung the rifle over and settled it on the second truck. She had an idea where the engine was, but she wasn’t exactly certain. A schematic flashed on the screen, showing her subsystems of the vehicle. The engine section flashed and just as quickly, a smaller red box appeared on the truck. She positioned her reticle on the box and smiled as it turned orange.
“Fire.”
Lily tapped the button before the voice finished the single syllable. The front of the truck was crushed under the impact of the armor piercing shell. The entire truck shuddered and the cab was wrenched enough that plumes of atmosphere escaped from it.
A new control flared on the board right next to the trigger. “Find the fire selector for the primary weapon. Next to the firing button. Toggle it to burst fire mode.”
Lily did as asked.
“Now target the second truck’s cargo compartment and destroy it.”
Lily watched as the subsystem selector flashed again on the display and then targeted the large cargo compartment of the truck. She moved the reticle over it and pressed the button. The thr
ee successive blasts of the rifle left her lips parted in shock and that was only from the sound that thundered in the booth. The truck itself was torn into pieces of twisted metal that were scattered across the lunar landscape.
“Target the hardened MT-2 light tank.”
Lily targeted the tank and dropped the reticle on the broad sloping front of the tracked vehicle. As soon as the voice told her to fire, she braced herself for the thundering sound and tapped the button. The tank was rocked as three slugs hammered into it. The first left a gouge in the front armor and the second hit just above it, scratching the metal and bouncing off the side of the heavily armored turret. The third armor-piercing round hit the turret and left it dented and gouged, but did not penetrate.
“That’s a light tank?” Lily muttered.
“The tank has not been destroyed. Try again.”
Lily scowled and repositioned the reticle. She was about to fire when another thought came to mind. She glanced down at her board and then put pressure on her right pedal. After the first step, she matched it with the left pedal and moved her biomech several meters to the left. She swung back around and lowered her reticle onto the side of the tank. It was facing her at an angle but given the thickness of the vehicle, she suspected her luck would be better.
Three fifty-mm rounds later, the tank’s track was destroyed and a gaping hole in the side allowed atmosphere to rush out and freeze in the vacuum. Lily grinned and pumped her fist in victory.
Lily’s triumph was short-lived. “Use the optical system to scan the enemy biomech.”
She moved the left arm up and centered it on the biomech. A subset of screens flashed by too quickly for her to be sure, but she thought she’d seen something about selecting scanning options. Half a second later, a report appeared on the display, listing pertinent details of the biomech, including its tonnage, model, armament, and subsystems.
“The enemy biomech is live. Engage.”
Chapter 26
“Engage?” Lily repeated. Her eyes widened and she saw the enemy biomech’s arms move. It had the same weapons she did. She gulped and let her eyes fall on the control panel and then back up to the display. It was turning to face her.
Lily jammed her foot against the left pedal and waited for the biomech to turn itself. She put her weight against the right pedal to send her biomech rushing up the hill at full speed. She saw a gauge on the panel that listed speed. It climbed past forty-five kilometers per hour as she neared the crest of the ridge.
She heard the explosion and resulting plinks of rocks and dirt raining against her biomech as a round missed her. Lily yelped in surprise and spun her arms even as the picture dropped to indicate she’d crested the ridge. She slowed but kept enough pressure to keep her biomech moving. The enemy target was swiveling with its feet planted to face her.
An alarm went off and fresh reports popped up on her screen, alerting her to damage. A cloud of melted armor passed in front of the display. She’d been hit by the other biomech’s laser beam, but she hadn’t noticed anything outside of that. A flaring control on the board showed a flashing outline of her biomech, so she risked reaching up to tap it. Instantly, a 3D holographic image popped into existence above it, showing a rendered image of the small crater on her chest armor where the energy weapon had struck her.
Dirt and rocks exploded from the ridge and showered her biomech. Another round had barely missed. She needed to fight back but she was afraid if she did, she’d expose herself. Then again, she was in a biomech. A machine made for war. It had armor better than a tank’s and she’d seen how hard it was to punch through the armor of the MT-2. She’d had to find a weak spot.
Lily backed away from the ridge a few steps and twisted, reversing her course so her right side faced the ridge. She sped up, moving at just over twenty kilometers per hour, and studied the board, looking for the controls to pull up the subsystems. She cried out as the screen jerked; a loud clap of metal striking metal sounded around her, and her chair shuddered beneath her.
“Did I just get shot?” she wondered aloud. Her eyes flew to the holographic image and she saw the damage to the armor on her biomech’s back, near its left shoulder. She glanced up and saw herself climbing the ridge; the shot had twisted her robot’s path. She clamped her teeth together and worked the pedals to get the biomech back down behind the ridge.
She kept moving once she’d reduced her visibility and sped up a little. “I wish I knew how to fly this thing,” she muttered. She’d jump over it and land behind her opponent. Then she’d see how he liked being shot in the back. More dirt peppered her, reminding her that she’d probably found the worst possible time and place to daydream.
“All right,” she growled before she let off the right pedal and jammed her left pedal down. The biomech twisted towards the ridge and climbed up the incline. She pushed both pedals to maximum speed and brought her arms up. She had her auto rifle ready and fired as soon as it cleared the ridge. The rounds thundered out, the first clipping the ridge and deflecting off into the distance. The second round went high, a failure of Lily’s to take her own upward movement into consideration, but it glanced off the enemy biomech’s head. The third missed.
The biomech she faced took a step back to recover its balance from her glancing blow. Lily found herself moving up and forward longer than she expected and realized the strange sensation she felt came from the lack of hearing her feet vibrating as they struck the ground. She landed a moment later and tipped forward, off balance. The biomech’s balance system tried to compensate but she was moving over a hundred kilometers an hour. She slammed into the ground and grunted as she saw the dirt close enough she could reach out and touch it.
Lily shook her head, feeling like she should be falling out of her chair. The sounds and display were so real, not to mention the vibrations and rumbling she felt in her chair. She worked the pedals, uncertain if it would help, and then used her hands on the control pads to try to do something that would make her biomech climb back up.
Another crash sounded in her ears before it was abruptly shut off. Alarms sounded in the booth and the damage display flashed until the right leg went completely black. A warning appeared on the display, indicating an environmental breach. It took Lily a moment to remember the muscles in the biomechs were real organic tissue. Exposure to a vacuum was lethal. The biomech’s systems were smart enough to seal off the breached area, but in this case she’d lost an entire leg.
The good news was her floundering had picked her up enough she saw the enemy biomech at the top of her display. She centered the yellow reticle on its chest and then realized she probably couldn’t punch through the armor there. She lowered it and fired, sending a burst that ripped into the biomech’s knee joint and lower thigh. It teetered for a moment and collapsed, venting a puff of atmosphere just as she was sure hers had a few moments ago.
Lily switched to single-fire mode and began rhythmically sending massive bullet after bullet into the fallen biomech. It twisted and tried to roll but a second breach sealed its doom. It lay on the lunar ground, one arm as lifeless as its leg. The working parts flailed but her armor-piercing rounds chewed into the armor on its back and climbed up to hammer against its head. The second round cracked it so that air began to leak out, but the third crushed the battered armor and caused the display to go blank.
Lily gasped and leaned back. The lights in the booth powered up and the pedals and control board slid away from her. She gasped and felt her heart hammering in her chest. She’d won! She’d destroyed the enemy biomech! She grinned and hissed, “Yes!” Lily reached up to rub her forehead and realized she was slick with sweat.
“Report to Colonel Rand, Miss Strain,” the voice said as the door behind her popped open with a hiss.
Lily climbed out of her chair and found her body was tight and confused at the same time. She’d been clenching muscles and now she was sore. She kept expecting Palla to greet her but only the lit corridor awaited. She stepped out and turne
d when she heard her name squealed.
Palla slammed into her and hugged her, nearly sending them both crashing to the ground. “You did it!” Palla shrieked in her ear.
Lily grinned in spite of the awkward situation. She managed to extricate herself and nodded. “It was—I don’t even know! Amazing!”
“Come on, the colonel wants to talk to you.”
“That’s what the computer system said,” Lily said. “At least I think it was a computer. It didn’t respond to anything I said or did.”
Palla shrugged. “Does it matter? You’re on your way now, miss! You’re really doing it. Keep this up and your future’s set.”
“Our future,” Lily reminded her and then laughed. “I think you’re really stuck with me now.”
“Wow, you’re right,” Palla admitted. “You know what? I never thought I’d say it, but I can’t think of anyone I’d rather be stuck with!”
Lily felt her face flush and turned to see the colonel and someone else waiting for her down the hallway. She clamped her lips shut and nodded. “Let’s go,” she said. “Our future awaits!”
Chapter 27
“Are you sure you’re the only one?”
Krys looked up from his plate as the lieutenant entered the small house he’d been assigned. “Only one what?”
“Only person hiding in the woods.”
“Um, I’m not hiding in the woods,” he said. “I’m sitting right here.”
“When we found you. Don’t play games with me, Krys. This is important.”
Krys sighed. Shelby deserved the truth, or as much of it as he could give her. She’d treated him better than he deserved without asking for much of anything in return. Sure, there was the constant threat of being sent away for reeducation, but as soon as she’d mention it, she’d twist the conversation to something else. “You only found me because I was the only one to be found. Yes, I ran into other people earlier on, but we split apart.”
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