Dynamo (Mech Wars Book 2)

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Dynamo (Mech Wars Book 2) Page 17

by Scott Bartlett


  It was Peter Price. He had appeared in front of Jake, alongside Bronson.

  Jake looked from Peter to Bronson and back again. He shook his head to clear it, but his father remained.

  “How…how are you here?” he asked.

  “What are you talking about?” Peter said.

  Then, Jake recognized Bronson’s strange expression for what it was. Guilt.

  “I did that,” Bronson said. He hesitated, then spoke all in a rush: “I manipulated your lucid dream to simulate your father dying.”

  Peter stared at Bronson, looking aghast, and Jake did too, though the others couldn’t see the expression he wore. If Bronson could have seen it, he would have felt very lucky that Jake was paralyzed from the EMP.

  Because Jake felt like taking apart the man’s warship, piece by piece.

  “You monster,” he managed at last, from inside his immobile mech. “You bastard.”

  “I’m sorry, Jake,” Bronson said. “I had no choice.”

  But Jake had no more words for the man. He waited for them to release him from his metal prison, and he mulled over what he would do next.

  Chapter 53

  Subsumed

  Yes.

  The way he bonded with the whispers, now…it reminded him of how he’d once bonded with his fellow Quatro. The way he’d shared in their fortune and misfortune, in their happiness and grief. All of the Quatro bound up together, as one drift, all progressing in the same direction.

  Those days were past. Wound saw them for what they really were: an illusion.

  And just look at the evidence.

  The way even the Quatro in battle suits had fallen to the humans…that had been the universe administering justice to them, for their multifarious shortcomings.

  There’s only one Quatro I care for, anymore.

  Wound did not even want to consider the four Quatro in battle suits who had fled and not returned. They were not worthy of having any thought devoted to them at all.

  I do not care. Wound was digging toward the only Quatro he ever wanted to associate with again. They still had her inside the walls of Ingress; he was sure of it. The whispers had told him, and he believed everything those whispers said, because they would not lie to him. They were him.

  The humans could seal off this tunnel if they wanted. Or, if they realized he was still here, they could come in to face him and he would kill them.

  I will kill them all, for my mate. Even my own kind, if it comes to that.

  Wound scraped a metal paw over the tunnel floor, wanting to spit. They are my own kind no longer.

  He continued digging.

  There was one who worried him…who he was not confident he could defeat. The human who had taken control of the bipedal mech that resembled Wound’s own battle suit…the one who had led the four Quatro in battle suits away from the tunnel mouth…

  That would be a fight Wound might not emerge from victorious, or at all.

  Fear not that one, the whispers told him. He will join us once we are through with him. A human subject merely needs more time.

  “More time…” Wound muttered.

  More time. To join our drift. Our special drift. The true drift.

  “Yes…”

  The Quatro are used to considering themselves part of a larger whole, which is why you were…subsumed…so quickly.

  “Yes!” Wound roared, then stopped, suddenly afraid those aboveground would hear him.

  He continued digging. No more distractions. He’d keep working, keep digging, until he entered the city.

  Nothing would stop him. He would be with his mate, then.

  And together, they would slaughter everything that lived.

  Epilogue

  Progenitor

  Bronson set his implant to “Do Not Disturb” mode and entered his office, making sure to lock the hatch behind him.

  Only then did he permit himself to let loose the ragged sigh that had been waiting to come out ever since Jake Price had learned the truth of what Bronson had done.

  The boy had taken it harder than even Bronson had expected. His people were in the shuttle bay now, extracting Price so that they could repair and reactivate his MIMAS. Bronson did not look forward to facing the boy, and he had no intention of being around him while he was piloting his mech. Not for a while, anyway. Bronson didn’t actually think the boy would do anything to him, but he also wasn’t an idiot.

  A notification appeared in his implant’s HUD—one that made his breath catch in his throat.

  The Progenitors wanted to speak with him.

  Well, he had a few things to say to them, in light of what had just happened.

  He strode across his office, used his implant to open a panel concealed in the bulkhead, then slapped it with his palm. It registered his biometrics, causing the entire bulkhead to slide aside to reveal a robot that towered over Bronson by two feet.

  He made it back to his desk chair before the thing activated, stepping out from its enclosure to tower over Bronson’s desk. The machine was made of interwoven plates of silver- and gold-colored metal. It had no weapons, though Bronson felt sure there was power in those hands. Power enough to strangle him, probably, if it wanted.

  You can tell by the way it moves.

  But the robot wasn’t here to strangle him. It was a telepresence robot, which the Progenitors used to interact with Bronson without actually having to be here. There was never any lag in their communications, as if the creature controlling the robot was somewhere on Bronson’s ship, though he knew that was impossible.

  As always, the Progenitor waited for Bronson to speak first.

  “My sensor operator saw more of those little killers leaving other comets,” he said. “All headed toward Eresos. What do you know about them?”

  “They are ours,” the Progenitor said. Its voice was baritone, though every word seemed to individually echo, or maybe stutter was the right word. Bronson wondered whether that was what the alien actually sounded like. Probably, the robot altered the controller’s voice. For some reason, Bronson got the sense that it didn’t want him to know anything about its actual appearance.

  “Yours?” Bronson said. “They’re under your control, then?”

  “They are under the control of the directives with which we installed them. We left them behind, for the function you are about to witness them perform.”

  “They seem to be attacking Eresos,” Bronson said, anger creeping into his voice.

  “That is correct.”

  “What the hell, then!” Bronson yelled, jumping up from his seat, hands curled at his sides. “You assured me human settlements would only be threatened enough to drive contracts, not to endanger their very existence! The Quatro have already unwittingly created a boom for Darkstream. There’s no need to send these robots!”

  The Progenitor made its own fist, using it to lean on the desk and lower its head closer to Bronson’s. “Have your profits not steadily risen? Has our arrangement not proved incredibly lucrative to you? Have you not built your entire society on the yield of our machines?”

  “Well, yes…”

  “Then you will continue to conduct wholesale surveillance of your population, and you will continue to give the data to us, wholly unfiltered. I advise you review the incredible dividends you are reaping as a direct result of our relationship, at such minimal cost to you.”

  Bronson’s hands shook with impotent rage. “Do I have your assurance that human settlements will be left intact?”

  “I assure you that our arrangement has not changed.”

  “Very well,” Bronson spat.

  Apparently finished with their conversation, the Progenitor returned to its alcove, which closed behind it.

  Bronson sat back down at his desk, covering his face with his hands.

  Thank you for reading!

  Sign up for the mailing list and read Onslaught for free, the prequel to Powered.

  Onslaught is exclusive to mailing list subscribe
rs - only you get to read it. It reveals a shocking secret from Chief Roach’s past, when Darkstream first conquered Eresos.

  You’ll also be the first to know when Meltdown comes out - that’s book 3 in the Mech Wars series!

  Dedication

  To my mother, Valerie.

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you to Jeff Rudolph for offering insightful editorial input and helping to make this book as strong as it could be.

  Thank you to Tom Edwards for creating such stunning cover art.

  Thank you to my family - your support means everything.

  Thank you to Cecily, my heart.

  Thank you to the people who read my stories, write reviews, and help spread the word. I couldn’t do this without you.

  I hope you’ll consider giving some feedback :)

  One of the best parts of being an author is hearing what my readers thought of my book. Would you consider leaving a review for Dynamo?

  Of course I’ll leave a review!

  Table of Contents

  Contents

  Copyright

  Onslaught

  Chapter 1: Into the Shadows

  Chapter 2: Quads

  Chapter 3: Classic Conspiracy Theorist

  Chapter 4: Valiant

  Chapter 5: Two-Legged Murderers

  Chapter 6: Mating Ritual Initiated

  Chapter 7: Fury and Justice

  Chapter 8: Adventurous Benders

  Chapter 9: Act like a Soldier

  Chapter 10: Played

  Chapter 11: Vaguely Humanoid

  Chapter 12: Militia

  Chapter 13: Not Just a War of Expansion

  Chapter 14: Extermination Is Also Acceptable

  Chapter 15: Operational Details

  Chapter 16: Eyes Aglow

  Chapter 17: Feedback Mechanism

  Chapter 18: Creative Karma

  Chapter 19: Sucker for Punishment

  Chapter 20: Alliance

  Chapter 21: Infiltration

  Chapter 22: Imminent Danger

  Chapter 23: Back in Business

  Chapter 24: On Patrol

  Chapter 25: Security Station

  Chapter 26: If I Bleed, I Bleed

  Chapter 27: A Lot to Answer For

  Chapter 28: Contract Violation

  Chapter 29: Significant Deviations

  Chapter 30: Jump

  Chapter 31: This Thing Is Moving

  Chapter 32: Coma

  Chapter 33: That Which Nullifies

  Chapter 34: Try Something Else

  Chapter 35: All the Cards

  Chapter 36: Oxygen

  Chapter 37: Billy's Bunker

  Chapter 38: Slave State

  Chapter 39: Play with Explosives

  Chapter 40: More Hectic than Expected

  Chapter 41: Paste

  Chapter 42: Nature's Original Shape

  Chapter 43: Our Best Idea

  Chapter 44: Training

  Chapter 45: A Monster or a Coward

  Chapter 46: Supposed to Be the Best

  Chapter 47: Defensive Formation

  Chapter 48: The Long-Term Doesn't Matter

  Chapter 49: Lay Down Your Guns

  Chapter 50: Payload

  Chapter 51: Dynamo

  Chapter 52: No Choice

  Chapter 53: Subsumed

  Epilogue: Progenitor

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Thank You!

 

 

 


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