Mark nodded, "Aside from a few things, there's not much we can salvage. It's all decayed. We’ve been gone a while; everything is rusted, brittle or dust. We're not going to get the lights back on anytime soon. The ceiling is caving in at some points.”
She nodded her head, “Agreed.”
“On the upside,” Mark said, “We have some food, though. The community garden seems to have seeded most of the area with potatoes. There are some onions. The occasional carrot, and some out of season tomatoes. A lot of what we planted to be growing wild in the area. Not much else aside from the apple trees.”
“Baked potatoes,” she shrugged.
“Better than green apples,” Mark laughed.
Dana saw a glint of metal flicker in the treeline. Her stomach sank thinking of the battlefield of violent deaths they had just been cleaning up. She considered how quickly that she could get everyone inside to cover. They were unprepared for an attack by the defective AI's that she had been warned about.
“Get everyone--” her panicked words paused as she saw their robotic friend step through the tree line. She recognized the rusting right arm. The trees behind him rustled and cracked, More AI's stepped out of the tree line, and an ancient green cargo container slid into view.
“Is that who I think it is?” Mark asked.
Dana nodded, “He brought one with them.” She smiled as it came to a stand still.
“What is it?”
“It's a micro factor. It makes the bodies for the Sentient Machines. When the war started, the military dropped them along the west coast as the last ditch civil defense method. If there were no people left in an area, the machines could stand a chance in the radiation, and in theory aid in rebuilding. It was slapped together at the last minute and more of a 'Hail Mary' play than an actual working project. It was never expected to work.” Dana laughed and jogged towards their new friends.
The unit she had repaired raised his hand again and waved.
Dana waved back. They would work together to rebuild.
As long as they did this together, they could make things right.
About the Author
I was born in British Columbia, Canada and grew up in the rockies before traveling to see the world. I’ve been writing Science Fiction and Fantasy for more than a decade, but only recently have decided to share my work through eBooks.
Currently I have a backlog of novels that I am editing and publishing on various platforms.
I write the type of Science Fiction and Fantasy that I enjoy reading. Most of my work takes place in the same ‘universe’ with subtle crossovers that allow fans of my work to pick up on the nuances, while new readers don’t have to play catch up.
Please feel free to leave a review, I always love hearing from readers.
If you want to chat, you can find me on twitter @NeilMosspark or email [email protected].
Thanks for reading!
Read more at www.NeilMosspark.com
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