by Scott Baron
“What are you doing?” Reggie cried out.
“Buying time.”
“Don’t sacrifice yourself for us. We can do this together!”
“Sacrifice? Jesus, Reggie, seriously? We’re bottle-necked in this little corridor section. I need the rest of you to get to the pod ASAP. I’ve got this.”
“Oh. I thought––”
“Yeah, no. I’m not about to become some mutant’s lunch. I’m going to drop as many as I can when the door opens. It should cause a pile-up and confusion and slow them down, at least for a minute. Just make sure the path behind me is clear and the pod is ready to launch.”
“You got it,” Reggie said. “And, Finn, I’m really sorry about what I said.”
“Dude, you’re getting touchy-feely now? I have no intention of dying in this fucking place, so save it for later. Hopefully you’ll have plenty of time to apologize after we get the hell out of here.”
“Copy that,” Reggie said, then took off at a run for the pod. “Prime for departure!” he called out as he ran.
“What the hell did I get myself into?” Finn berated himself. “Well, no sense prolonging things.”
He let go of the handle and took a dozen quick steps back from the door, then dropped to a kneeling position, rifle held ready, pressed firmly against his shoulder. The door shuddered and the hinges shimmied a moment before the makeshift barricade fell.
“Here goes nothing.”
Finn opened fire as dozens of mutated creatures rushed through the doorway straight at him, the shots uncomfortably loud in the narrow space.
He dropped one after another, quickly blocking the passageway with bodies. He just hoped it would be enough.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
“Did you speak with the others, Maarl?” Craaxit asked the aged Chithiid as he sat down casually beside him.
“Yes, I have done as you asked of me,” the old-timer replied. “But how confident are you in this human? I’ve been here longer than most, and I have not once encountered a specimen as you have described.”
Craaxit looked around the massive housing barracks the hundreds of Chithiid shared. Most bunks were empty, their occupants still away on work shifts. Those who remained were all well out of earshot.
“She is as I have told you, and has given me her word of honor that she will do what she can to help us regain our freedom, and even retake our own world, once we liberate this one from the Ra’az. We might actually have a chance, my friend.”
The old alien got a far-away look in his eyes as he thought of home.
“To see our families again. To know my children and grandchildren are safe. I’ve been shuffled from city to city on this planet longer than most have been alive, Craaxit, and I know a lot of dissatisfied Chithiid well beyond those already committed to our cause. If there is a true chance of this happening, I am confident my friends will join the fight. But it has to be for something with a legitimate chance of success, for if we fail, it will not only be we who are punished, but so too shall our families suffer the consequences.”
“I am well aware, and for that reason, we are devising a means to cut off the Ra’azes' communications network.”
“Preventing them from contacting the homeworld or the fleet? I see where you are going with this, and I approve of the tactics. But what of the loyalists? They will never join in an uprising.”
Craaxit’s face was grim.
“They are Chithiid, yes, but they have lost their way. If the deaths of the loyalists will save billions on our world, then so be it. For the time being, old friend, keep this to yourself. Plans are not yet fully in motion, and if the loyalists realize what is happening, or worse, if they realize that any of the more powerful AI systems are still active and receiving aid from a rebel force, they will inform the Ra’az Hok, and the planet will be once more flooded with fresh waves of attacks, and plague, and virus, and all will be lost.
“I will keep this to myself, sharing with only the closest and most trusted of friends. Believe me, Craaxit, I will be cautious. I am an old man. If this resistance falls, so too does my only hope of seeing my family one last time before my final peace.”
A klaxon sounded, echoing across the facility, rousting the resting workers from their repose.
“Time for another shift, Maarl. Be well, and be safe. Prepare for my call to action, and have your network ready themselves. When I have further details, I will inform you.”
Craaxit rose and walked back to his bunk, where he methodically strapped his tools to his waist, then headed to check out his pulse rifle before venturing into the city for another day’s work.
“You’re a bigot, just admit it,” Tamara said.
“I’m not a bigot,” Daisy replied, watching the walls of the loop tube flash by, wishing they would reach their destination already so the grilling would finally stop.
“So, if you’re not a bigot, what are you, then?”
“Can you give it a rest, Tamara?”
“Sure. Once you tell me what it is you have against us.”
“It’s not you, exactly.” Daisy fought for the right words and came up lacking. “It’s just that, well, you’re not quite human, you know? You have an AI living in you, and that doesn’t seem natural.”
“Well, duh. By definition, metal limbs and AI boosters are not natural.”
“Exactly.”
Tamara pondered for a moment.
“Okay, so you’re not a bigot.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re just prejudiced.”
“Oh, will you give it a rest?”
“Admit it, Daisy. You may not hate retrofitted and modified humans, but you are most definitely uncomfortable around us. So yes, prejudice.”
Daisy considered the fine line between the terms and found, despite her reluctance to admit it, Tamara had made a reasonable case.
“To be fair, I suppose you’re right, to a degree,” she said reluctantly.
“So you admit it?”
“Yeah. I guess after what happened on the Váli, it’s taken me a while to deal with all of that, you know?”
Tamara softened a little.
“Daisy, you found out your boyfriend was sporting a neural-boosting AI when you thought he was actually entirely organic, and that was after losing your best friend––”
“Sister.”
“Right. Sister. To an accident that, I must admit, given the circumstances, looked like it could have been intentional, though we know it wasn’t.”
“It was a bad time,” Daisy said with a tired sigh.
“Yeah, it was.”
The two sat silently, reflecting on the events that had brought them to Earth.
“Tamara,” Daisy said softly, “I’m really, really sorry I blew you out the airlock.”
Tamara quietly absorbed the apology, and this time, it finally felt right.
“I know, Daisy. I forgive you.”
For the rest of the short ride, not another word was said between them, and, for once, that was okay.
The silent ride abruptly ground to a halt just outside of Denver, a high-pitched squeal emitting from the frame of the frontmost pod as its sides grated against the partially collapsed loop tube.
“What the––?” Tamara was just beginning to say when the pod dropped from supersonic transit and slid to a juddering halt in the short span of barely two miles.
There was no fire, but smoke from the friction filled the pod. Out the back window of the connected rear pod, they could see the orange-hot tube floor they had just slid in on.
“Time to bail,” Daisy said to Tamara, nodding to the front window.
The metal-armed woman drew her pistol off-handed and fired a shot through the high-density windscreen. Two more followed in quick succession, creating a spiderweb of crackling glass.
“Give me a hand with this,” she yelled as the first of many kicks landed on the window. Safely wrapped in his Faraday suit, Jonathan lent his robotic heft to the
assault, and within moments the glass finally shattered and fell to the ground.
“Okay, everyone out!” Daisy shouted. “Smoke is behind us, that means there’s only one way we can move. Grab your gear and get a hustle on!”
The team quickly vaulted from the pod into the empty tube. The lights were dim, but mostly functional as far as the eye could see off into the distance. One glance and Daisy knew what had caused their accident.
“Check it,” she said to Tamara, looking up at the roof of the tube.
“Uh-huh,” the burly woman replied. “We must be a good half-mile underground, so whatever they dropped up there must’ve been enormous.”
The buckled roof had withstood the force of whatever attack the Chithiid had leveled upon the outskirts of Denver, absorbing the energy and diverting it, keeping a viable tunnel intact for emergency egress, as designed. Unfortunately, that also meant the tube was utterly useless as a means of high-speed transit.
“I estimate we started to lose tube pressure about twenty miles back,” Daisy calculated. “So, given our speed, where the breach is, and how quickly we were approaching Denver, I’d say we’re probably just a few miles outside the city.”
“That seems to be an accurate assessment,” Jonathan agreed. “And the tube is still intact enough for foot travel. Might I suggest we start walking? The sooner we begin, the sooner we will arrive.”
“I concur,” Anthony, the other cyborg in their group, agreed in his surprising baritone. “I will gladly assist in carrying additional supplies, if that will aid us in a faster evacuation to the surface.”
“Surface?” one of Cal’s people said. “But we were to remain below ground until we reached Colorado Springs.”
“Hate to break it to you, fella, but in case you hadn’t noticed, this whole area looks to have been blown to shit. My guess is, they lay waste to the major networks that connected to that area. Seems to be a tactically wise move,” Tamara said.
“Daze, that’s going to be a hell of a long hike.”
I know, but there’s not much else we can do.
“Think there’ll be any vehicles up top we might commandeer?”
Even if there are, I doubt they’d have enough charge to drive us. In any case, on the grand scale of visitations by Mr. Murphy, this one ranks pretty low, don’t you think?
“I suppose so,” Sarah replied. “Let’s just hope we stay lucky.”
Five miles of hiking later, the team finally arrived at an access station. It was beat up something fierce, and the lifts were damaged beyond repair, but the emergency evac staircase still seemed intact.
“Okay, we don’t know what’s up there, so everyone stay sharp, and stay quiet,” Tamara said, taking point as they began the ascent.
It was slow going, climbing the half-mile up from the damaged tube network, but soon enough, the faintest waft of fresh air reached their sweaty faces. Jonathan and his cybernetic companion put their shoulders to the bent metal of the doorway and pushed as hard as they could. The old metal groaned and creaked until it finally gave way, swinging wide as the group spilled out into the open air.
“Daaaaaang,” Sarah marveled.
You said it, Daisy agreed.
Sprawling before them were the remains of the city of Denver, long ago dismantled, its remnants reclaimed by the Colorado wilderness.
“Looks like that’s one major AI we can cross off the list,” Tamara said with a grunt. “Okay, we are all kinds of exposed out here. I say since the city looks like it was stripped a long time ago, it’s probably safe to cross directly through it. Daisy, what do you think?”
Daisy gave the area a long look. There wasn’t a bit of shining metal exposed anywhere. Whatever stripping the Chithiid had done, it had been carried out ages ago.
“Yeah,” she replied. “That sounds like a solid choice. According to the tube map, there should be another access point to the south of what’s left of the city. If the attack didn’t damage that as well, there is a chance we will be able to find a functional pod to take us the last seventy miles. Even sub-sonic, it will sure beat going on foot.”
“But first, we have to get to the station.”
“Yup. Take five and hydrate, then we’ll get a move on.”
It was going to be a long walk, but the team had little choice. After a brief rest, they shouldered their loads and started moving in the direction they hoped would take them where they needed to go.
They’d been on the move for over two hours when they came upon a surprisingly intact commercial area.
“Looks like they missed a spot,” Tamara joked.
“Yeah, they skipped over this for some reason,” Daisy concurred.
“If I may,” Jonathan interjected. “This appears to be a retail district. Not high priority for the Ra’az.”
“Makes sense,” Daisy agreed.
Far away, a low rumble filtered through the air.
“Daze, you hear that?”
“Sonic boom,” she said aloud. “I don’t see any ships, so who knows what that means for us, but everyone keep sharp.”
They didn’t need to be told twice, and as they moved, the group fell into a comfortable spacing as they stuck to the shadows whenever possible, while ensuring they didn’t bunch up in case of a firefight. Despite the spacing, they made sure to also remain close enough to help one another should the need arise.
“I think this is going to work,” Sarah said a short while later. “Look at the bombing damage. We’re getting close to the junction, and it looks like the attack stopped just south of the city. If that’s the case, there very well may be a functional tube.”
“And if wishes were horses––” Daisy stopped in her tracks. “Shit.”
“What is it?” Tamara asked as she approached. “Oh. Shit,” she agreed when she saw what Daisy had spotted.
It was a wild horse. At least, what was left of one. Recently killed, from the looks of it, great chunks of flesh had been rent from its flanks by massive claws. Judging by the size of the wounds, only one thing could have done that kind of damage.
“Grizzly bear,” Daisy gasped quietly.
“Oh, we are so screwed.”
Not yet, we aren’t.
“Daze, look at the size of those claw marks. That’s no ordinary bear––it’s gotta be massive.”
Indeed, while a normal adult Grizzly could tip the scales at half a ton, whatever had done this was larger than that. A great deal larger.
Tamara quickly scanned the area, eyes sharp and on high-alert.
“We’ve got to get out of here. Now, before it comes back. There’s absolutely no sense engaging one of those things. They’re crazy tough. Hell, if we shoot it, we’d probably just piss it off.”
“Agreed, we need to book out of here,” Daisy concurred. “Okay, people, we’ve got a nasty, furry critter out there that we do not want to meet. Stay quiet, and move fast.” Daisy turned and quickly exited the area, her team close behind her.
“The stores seem to be mostly intact,” Sarah noted.
Jonathan was right. Not worth the effort to strip. These guys are after valuable salvage. My guess is once they gutted the high-worth areas of the city, they just abandoned the rest of it.
“You think there might be some useful gear left behind in one of those warehouses?”
Not worth the risk to check. We can’t afford to––
A blood-curdling scream cut through the air. Daisy spun on her heel and saw what she’d been fearing.
It found us.
The grizzly was massive. Easily a ton and a half, and it had one of Cal’s young men firmly in its jaws. Daisy drew her sword, ready for a fight.
“What are you doing?” Tamara yelled. “He’s a goner, and the mission comes first!”
The man had stopped yelling, flopping like a rag doll in the bear’s mouth.
“But I can take him,” Daisy replied through clenched teeth.
“One, maybe, but there are more. Look!”
Tamara was right. Though not typically social in nature, the grizzly had several friends. Several equally huge friends, and they were quickly bearing down on what they wanted to be their next meal.
“You’re right,” Daisy agreed. “Head for the building!” she shouted, pointing to the nearest intact structure in which they might have some hope of sheltering.
Nearly all of the team took off at a sprint, not needing to be told twice. One, however, remained.
“Leave him alone!” a deep voice yelled.
“What the hell are you doing?” Tamara shouted as the cyborg rushed the massive beast.
“Anthony, do not engage the animal!” Jonathan called after his mechanical brother, but he was already on the attack, doing what he could to save his human teammate.
“Drop him, you hairy monster!” the metal man said as he threw a blindingly quick flurry of punches into the animal’s flank.
“Shit, he’s fast!”
Fast doesn’t mean anything against something like that.
Daisy was correct.
The grizzly tossed the now-dead meat-man aside, focusing its attention on the metal-man instead. Like a cross Wookiee, it ripped the cyborg’s arms from their sockets with ease. It was only then that the artificial man realized the error of his decision. By then, it was too late. His shrieking voice cut out abruptly as the bear’s massive jaws crushed his head into shrapnel.
“The others made it inside that building! Get moving, Daze!”
Daisy turned and bolted across the debris-littered road, the thundering of several grizzly bears’ enormous paws slapping the pavement gaining on her fast.
I’m not going to make it, she realized as she pushed as hard as she could to reach the beckoning door.
A bellowing roar shook her ears, and hot spittle sprayed against her neck, but miraculously, Daisy’s head remained intact. A split-second later, she shouldered the door open, spinning and slamming it shut behind her, awaiting the crashing beast close behind.
The door remained undamaged.
Don’t know what that’s all about, and I don’t much care. Where are the others?