by Isaac Hooke
“Screw that!” Jason said. “I’m no more original than you are. We all have the same value here!”
“Sorry,” Jerry said.
Jason glanced at the Damage Reports on his HUD and saw that Xin had taken heavy damage to her right side. She had stopped glowing brightly a few moments ago, and only sparingly fired the plasma beam from her eyes, presumably because her charge was extremely low.
“Xin, at least swap with me,” Jason said.
“No,” Xin said.
Frustrated, Jason turned his attention on the tank that was next to Xin, and fired at a turret on it. In truth, there was no room really to switch places… the only way to do it would be for Xin to drop, and for Jason to crawl over her. Even then, it would be difficult.
A notification flashed on his display, and he quickly dismissed it. He didn’t have time for alerts in the middle of battle.
But the notification popped up again, persistent.
Growing irritated, Jason dialed up his time sense to process it. Apparently, he had received a file request from someone.
Who the hell would be sending a file in the middle of a fight?
He enlarged the notification.
Lori-2 would like to send you a file: Weak Point Of Big Bad Tank. Accept? (Y/N)
Jason immediately suspected trickery. The file was probably a virus.
But there was also a sub-header attached to the message. It read: Got some kick ass umami here.
It had to be Lori. No one else talked like that. Then again, if Bokerov had broken her and taken her private keys, he would have access to all of her memories, and complete speech patterns.
Why would Bokerov bother to send a virus in the middle of a battle he was going to win? Then again, that would be just like Bokerov. Jason had sworn not to underestimate him.
But there didn’t seem to be any other path to victory at the moment. Bokerov’s tanks were slowly wearing the team down. They wouldn’t last for more than a few more minutes, if that.
Jason decided to take the chance.
He accepted.
The file contained a blueprint that seemed to match up with the design of the tanks the team was facing. A small section was highlighted near the top. Written beside it were the hand-scribbled words: open latch, fire lightning bolt into charging port, disable tank.
The location was a bit problematic: situated behind the central, dorsal turrets on top of the tanks, the latches were unreachable. Aria would have to reach over, open the latch, and then jam her lightning weapon into the port and fire. Her front side would be exposed to the rest of the turrets the whole while.
Not necessarily.
“Aria...” Jason sent the file to her. Since he maintained his heightened time sense, when Aria heard his voice, she would automatically switch to the same level of Bullet Time, thanks to the header information in the data packet.
“Well, well, well,” Aria said. “You think it’s legit?”
“Has to be,” Jason said. “Jerry told us Lori-2 was captured. If he tethered to her AI core, in theory she might have been able to hack into some of his subsystems, and get those blueprints.”
“Yes, it’s a good theory,” Aria said. She hesitated, then: “I’m going to assume it’s real. It’s all we have, after all.”
“Good,” Jason said. “So what do you think? Can you reach over the top, rip open the latch, and shove your lightning weapon into the port. And most importantly, do you still have enough charge to fire that weapon?”
“I have enough charge left for seven strikes, yes,” Aria said. “Enough for each tank. The reaching part, well, that’s going to be tricky, as my chest assembly will be partially exposed, considering that my ballistic shield is pocked full of more holes than Swiss cheese. So I’ll be taking some point-blank damage to my hull armor.”
“Will it hold up?” Jason asked.
“It’ll have to,” Aria said.
Aria held her shield in front of her and slammed it into the closest tank. The turrets opened fire, causing red spots to appear on the insides of that shield; plasma bolts passed through the open areas, and slammed into her hull.
She ignored the blows and reached over the top of the tank; Jason and the others fired at the closest tanks, doing their best to draw their fire so that her exposed arm didn’t take too many hits. In the meantime, Sophie formed a makeshift ballistic shield with her micro machines around the uncovered sections of Aria, and patched her shield with said machines as well.
Aria ripped away the panel on the dorsal section of the tank, as indicated on the blueprints, then tilted forward.
“Going to need a boost,” Aria said. “The firing angle is no good.”
Jason knelt; he grabbed her by the legs, tilting her forward along the fulcrum the tank formed underneath her shield.
He heard thunder, followed by a sizzling sound, and then the tank underneath Aria ceased firing.
“Got it,” Aria said.
In the same manner they proceeded to take down the next five tanks, which attempted to fire all the more frantically at Aria as more of them fell. But the team used their bodies to shield her.
Finally, when only the red tank was left, the unit began to retreat.
“Oh no you don’t!” Aria said. Her shield was reduced to almost nothing by then, and was in dire need of repair, but she leaped onto him anyway. Ignoring the plasma and energy bolts that tore into her chest assembly, she reached over, ripped away the panel, and then attempted to swing her lightning weapon into place. Jason and Jerry grabbed one leg each and, taking impacts from the tank’s weapons, tilted her upward to give her the favorable firing angle she needed. They had to run forward as they did so, because Bokerov’s tank was still backing up.
Jason heard the characteristic thunder followed by sizzling, and then the treads ceased their rotations. The red tank came to a halt.
Aria slid off the tank, and swiveled around to drop, seemingly exhausted, to the ground. She leaned against the tank, her chest piece full of fresh craters that spewed smoke.
“Well, that was fun,” Aria said, panting as if out of breath. She wasn’t, of course, she had no pulmonary system after all, but that didn’t stop her psychological subroutines from reacting to the damage she’d taken.
Jason immediately summoned his repair swarm, and the drones emerged from the storage area on his leg and began to initiate repairs.
He summoned his Explorer and sent it deeper into the base. He rounded a bend up ahead, and had to pull it back when a defense platform embedded in the far wall opened fire.
“Damn it,” Jason said. “Nothing is ever easy. Lori, do you have enough power to become invisible?”
“Negative,” Lori said. She was almost as beat up as Aria. In fact, everyone was. Most of them had already activated their repair drones. Jason was in the best condition of all of them, due to their insistence on protecting him.
He regarded the fallen tanks around him. “Is there a way we can leech the power from their batteries? For a quick boost?”
“Not these tanks,” Aria said. “The batteries are toast.”
“We don’t really have time to dally in the sun.” Jason glanced toward the blast door, and the wreckage of the four cloned mechs the team had put down before the tanks arrived. “What about them?”
“Our ports are definitely compatible with ourselves,” Tara said.
“Unless Bokerov changed the design,” Xin said.
Tara walked to the fallen Vulture. “Ports are fine.”
She opened her storage compartment and plugged in. Lori and Xin did likewise. The fourth mech had taken damage in the port area, and the team would have to wait until it was repaired before attempting a power transfer.
“All right,” Lori said a minute later. “I have enough power to become invisible for ten minutes.”
“Tara?” Jason asked.
“I can teleport two times now,” Tara said.
“That should do,” Jason said. “I want the two of y
ou to proceed. Avoid or eliminate any defenses in your way. Find where Bokerov is keeping the AI cores, and return as fast as possible. If you encounter overwhelming resistance, don’t fight, but call us for help.”
“You got it Babe.” Lori promptly became invisible. Jason still “saw” her, thanks to the signal transmitted on his overhead map, and he watched Tara follow her into the adjacent corridor.
Tara stopped near the edge, letting Lori go forward on her own.
Jason switched to Lori’s point of view, and watched as she approached the defense turret embedded in the far wall. She walked right up to it, and stood off to the side, then fired her plasma bolt three times. The first two times she hit an energy shield, and the final time the bolt passed through, destroying the turret.
“Clear,” she transmitted. Tara stepped into the corridor and joined her.
Lori and Tara encounters minimal resistance to the server room—more defense turrets, and a few easily handled robots. Inside, they found five AI cores marked with Aria’s signature “Minerva Solutions” logo, and fit the cylinders into their storage compartments.
Then they returned. All in all, they’d taken half an hour in total. It was enough for the rest of the team to make major repairs, and to leech more charge from the downed mechs.
Aria’s chest assembly was still pocked, but Jason could no longer see into the insides of her mech, so that was good.
“All right, recall your swarms,” Jason said. “We’ve stayed here long enough. I don’t want to be here when Bokerov’s main force gets back. Cataphracts could still be coming. Maybe another round of bombers.”
Aria stood, and scooped up a small piece of hull section that had broken away from the red tank. “I’ll have to study this. I suspect Bokerov is using alien technology to reinforce his armor. Either that, or it’s just really thick.”
“Okay, I want each of you to pick one of the mech clones to drag,” Jason said. “They need maybe half a day of repairs to get back into working order.”
“Better than building them from scratch,” Aria agreed.
Jason grabbed the fallen Vulture by the ankles, and headed toward the entrance.
“Not that one,” Aria said immediately.
Jason glanced at the Vulture.
“What do you mean?” Jason asked.
“It’s damaged beyond repair,” Aria said. “Look at it. The red Bokerov rolled over it while fleeing. It’s completely crushed.”
Jason examined the wreckage. It wasn’t “beyond” repair, but it would probably take a good amount of time to fix. Maybe three or four days.
“How many AI cores did we collect?” Jason asked.
“Five,” Lori said.
“And we have six mechs,” Jason said. “All right, this one stays. We don’t need it.”
Sophie, Tara, and Xin grabbed the three remaining mech clones by the ankles and dragged them along behind them.
At the entrance, the dust cloud had cleared. Jason sent the Explorer out to search for signs of hidden attackers. There were none. And no bombers were incoming, either. Good.
The team rounded the series of blast craters that pocked the entrance; Lori and Aria collected the remaining mech clones that had fallen near the solar panels on either side, and then the War Forgers proceeded onto the barren plains, heading toward the valley where they’d left the Rex Wolves, and their own tanks.
It was a long walk.
What a day.
16
Jason kept an eye on the sky during the retreat, and he did spot some A-22 bombers passing by in the distance. As soon as he saw them, he had everyone drop, but the bombers apparently hadn’t detected them, because they continued along their course, skirting across the horizon.
There were no rifts, or signs of alien technology. Apparently Bokerov and the aliens had struck a deal that this territory—his territory—was to remain untouched. There were also no mutants: Bokerov had done a bang-up job of clearing the area around his mountain lair of the lingering bioweapons.
The team members activated their repair swarms along the way to the valley, and finished most repairs by the time they arrived. They placed the wreckages of the five clones in the middle of the valley, and then had the drones work on them, next.
The Rex Wolves were happy to see them. Shaggy was trying to break free of his leash, and was leaping into the air, pulling the rope taut. When Jason came within range, the big mutant vaulted onto Jason’s chest and licked his metallic chin happily.
“Hey Shaggy,” Jason said. “Wait a second, you’re reaching up to my head?” He glanced at Tara’s mech. “Is it just me, or are the Rex Wolves a lot bigger than I remember them?”
“It’s not just you,” Tara said. “They are bigger. They’re growing. They’re not pups anymore. I’m not sure how big they’re going to get, but we might want to consider bringing them along for some of the next battles.”
“I’ll think about it, “Jason said.
“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to see them hurt any more than you do,” Tara said. “But they were originally bred to kill. And the mutations over the years have only enhanced that killer instinct. If we were organic, they’d be tearing us apart right now.”
“That’s a good point,” Jason said.
Shaggy went down, and he studied the mutant in a new light. Tara was right. These were more than simple pets. They were killing machines on par with the mechs. He’d have to seriously considering bringing them to whatever battles awaited next.
He released Shaggy so that the dog could lounge on the edge of the valley and keep watch. Tara had trained Shaggy and the other Rex Wolves to do that, using the crater formed by the ravine of their original base.
“How long do you want to stay here?” Jerry asked on a private line.
“I want to leave soon,” Jason replied. “When Bokerov reaches the base and sees that we’ve fled, he’s going to send out search parties looking for us.”
“Won’t most of those search parties be air-based?” Jerry said. “If we move out onto the plains, we’ll be exposed. At least here, we can dig up the rocks, and bury ourselves, masking our thermal signatures.”
“What about the thermo signatures of the Rex Wolves?” Jason said. “We can’t bury the dogs.”
“Why not?” Jerry said. “Leave their snouts free, but bury the rest of their bodies.”
Jason considered his argument. “It might be safer to stay here and lay low for a few days. Wait for any of Bokerov’s patrols to pass by. Wait for him to tire of the search.”
“I think so,” Jerry said.
Jason switched to the general comm. “All right. I want mech-sized holes dug. We’re going to be burying ourselves here for a few days. Include extra plots for the tanks, and our mech friends currently under repair, and some for the Rex Wolves.”
“We can’t bury the kids!” Tara said.
“We’ll only do it when aircraft are detected in the distance,” Jason said. “We’ll dig them up as soon as the patrols pass by. Obviously we won’t bury their muzzles.”
“Assuming there’s time,” Tara said. “If Bokerov has fighter jets, by the time we spot the craft on the horizon, we’ll have only a few moments to bury them.”
“We’ll just have to hope he doesn’t,” Jason said.
“And how long do you plan to stay here?” Sophie asked.
“A few days,” Jason replied. “Until Bokerov gives up searching for us. At least here we have a chance of hiding. On the plains, we have none at all.”
“We could destroy any aircraft we spot…” Xin said.
“Yes,” Jason said. “But then that would give away our positions. And he’d send his entire air force at us shortly thereafter, most likely.”
“He might also send ground-based patrols to explore the nearby valleys and basins,” Aria said. “Like this one.”
“There’s a chance he might, yes,” Jason said. “We’ll deal with the changing battle space as it comes. If we’re detected
, we’ll destroy any patrol, and flee.”
“Battle space,” Tara said. “You’ve been reading the tactics manual included with your database again, haven’t you?”
“No,” Jason said. “I just have an extremely good memory at the moment. No doubt because my mind has been installed inside a machine.”
“That would do it,” Tara said.
And so they prepared the different plots, digging up the soil and then pulverizing through the bedrock at the base of the valley. Aria drove her tanks inside five of them, and Jason and the others buried them. Then one by one Jason buried the remaining team members, save for those currently under repair. He left a small spot unburied near the leg area of each unit, so that the repair drones could return to the mech they were associated with when done working on the clones.
The Rex Wolves remained watching the different approaches, as did Jason’s Explorer. Aria also had spare repair drones quickly print up some security cameras, and she deposited them on the four exterior walls of the valley. Jason set the cameras to trigger motion alerts that would be sent directly to their AI cores. He also placed a final camera pointing down into the valley itself, just in case something managed to evade the other cameras, and the dogs.
By then the repair swarms had completed their restorations on the clones. The drones began to create extra versions of themselves, from the pulverized rock Jason had prepared, to top up any drones that were missing in the storage compartments of the clones.
While the drones did that, Jason went to the recovered AI cores that the team had set aside. Beside them were the discarded AI cores that the team had removed from the clones. Lori had accessed those devices and discovered they weren’t true AI cores, but rather surrogates for Bokerov to control remotely. As such, there was no real data of interest.
Jason accessed the remote interface of each recovered core, determining who it belonged to so that he could match up the different girls with their usual mechs. There was Lori 5 and Aria 5 from Jerry’s War Forgers, and Sophie 4, Xin 4 and Tara 4 from Jake’s party. He wondered how the latter would take the loss of Jake.
He also wondered if any of them had been driven insane.