Mech

by Isaac Hooke

  “Bro, just shut up and let me admire the formations,” Bender said.

  “Admire the formations?” Manic said. “What are you saying, you’re getting turned on by this mountain?”

  “Hey, I’m lightyears from any pussy,” Bender replied. “Not counting our little prudish scientist here. I’ll take anything at this point!”

  “You would,” Fret said.

  “That’s right, team up with the boyfriend,” Bender told him. “Maybe you guys should transfer to the same cockpit, and let off some steam.”

  “I was wondering when he’d throw in the obligatory cockpit joke,” Rex said.

  “Hey, shut up, caterpillar,” Bender said. “There’s a reason why we left the forename out of your callsign. You’re all Rex, and no Tyrannosaurus.”

  “I’m picking up Nemesis signals,” the Anarchist announced.

  “Where?” Rade said.

  “Ahead,” the entity replied. “It’s as if something just crested the mountain range.”

  “Got multiple bogeys, incoming,” Skullcracker confirmed.

  Rade switched to Skullcracker’s point of view and saw several small points of light glinting in the air on the horizon. They were moving swiftly, toward the location of Rade and the others.

  “I think we’ve been detected,” Rade said. “Reposition! I want everyone underneath those rock overhangs, now!”

  Rade and the Brigands dashed to the cliff and spread out in a long line to crouch underneath the rock overhangs. The Anarchist’s mechs did the same.

  Rade had his cobra already swiveled into place on his right arm, but he activated his ballistic shield in his left and used it to cover the exposed portions of his body beneath the overhang. The outer skin of the shield would still mimic the surrounding terrain, at least to a degree—he had received damage to the shield during the last battle, and there were portions of the skin that were offline. Probably looked like a patchwork to external enemies. Because of that, he considered retracting it, but decided the enemy was advanced enough to track his team through other means anyway.

  He slid his cobra into the notch at the top of his shield, and directed it skyward. He switched to the scope’s viewpoint, and zoomed in on the incoming craft.

  The objects were spherical, with thick circular indentations running around the median. Those indentations glowed a bright blue as he watched, and he quickly withdrew his cobra deeper inside, afraid that he was watching a weapon being fired, and not wanting his own to be struck by it.

  “I’m detecting a low concentration of gamma rays scattering from the ground,” Taya said. “Not enough to harm you… we’re being hit by the reflected residuals.”

  “It’s the overhanging rock,” Snakeoil said. “I’m still detecting high levels of lead. It’s protecting us.”

  “Yes,” Taya said. “Without that lead, a concentrated burst of those rays would readily pass through not only the rock, but our hull armor as well, killing you and the other members of your team. But I believe we AI cores would survive.”

  “So Eayan didn’t lie about that, at least,” Rade said.

  “I’m just worried the entire overhang is going to come crashing down on us any moment!” Fret said. “You all saw those cracks further up the wall, didn’t you?”

  “Well, Anarchist,” Bender said. “Now’s your chance to show us how great you are! Hack these alien bitches! Show us why they’re afraid of you!”

  The Anarchist didn’t reply, but its cockpit hatch opened and it deployed a strange object that reminded Rade of a small radio antenna. It pointed the device at the sky.

  “I’m detecting more gamma ray bursts,” Taya said. “These of a different frequency. I believe it’s backscatter from whatever weapon the Anarchist is firing in return.”

  “Not a weapon,” the Anarchist said. “A communication protocol.” The entity paused, then: “I can’t take control!” The Anarchist slid the antenna back inside the cockpit of its Hoplite. “They’ve adapted.”

  “Fool!” Bender said, leaning sideways to fire a burst from his cobra, and then ducking under the overhang once more. “You’re full of shit! Boss, permission to riddle this Anarchist and his friends with new assholios!”

  “What’s an assholio?” Fret asked.

  Taya continued to report stray gamma rays, forcing Rade and the others in Alpha platoon to stay within cover. The Anarchist’s team, however, composed entirely of immune AIs, had no such restrictions—excepting the Anarchist itself, which carried Cynthia. As such, the Titans and Hoplites with the Anarchist began to step out from underneath the overhang. They stood behind their shields, aimed their weapons past the notch on top, and opened fire with their cobras. The Titans also fired the missiles that were remaining to them.

  Three of the incoming targets flashed, exploding. But the surviving four continued to come in. They either dodged the incoming missiles, or unleashed energy bolts, destroying them. When the missiles were gone, the spheres fired the latter weapons again, and Rade watched as four of the mechs—two Hoplites and two Titans—disintegrated before his very eyes.

  The exposed mechs immediately ducked underneath the overhang for cover.

  Chucks of rock disappeared from the ground in front of Rade, and all along the edges of the overhang above him as the incoming bogeys continued to fire their energy weapons.

  It turned out they didn’t have to worry about the wall coming crashing down on them after all, but rather that there wouldn’t be enough of it to protect them…

  “We can’t stay here for much longer!” Tahoe said.

  12

  Rade glanced northward, past the mechs in front of him, and saw that the overhang continued for quite some distance.

  “Forward!” Rade sent. “Stay beneath the overhang!”

  The mechs in front of him advanced, sticking close to the wall, and moving in a single file crouch beneath the overhang.

  More chunks disappeared along the outer edges of the projecting portion of the cliff face above Rade as he moved.

  “Pick up the pace!” he transmitted as he passed a particularly thin section of overhang. A big portion disappeared, and he worried the mechs of Alpha Platoon behind him would be exposed when they reached that section. “Got a thin piece here. Marking it.” He circled it on his HUD so that the position would relay to the other members of the platoon, and they would know to dart across when they reached it.

  Fret was just in front of him, with Bender, Rex and Praxter beyond, but they were restricted in speed by the Hoplites and Titans ahead of them under the Anarchist’s command.

  “Anarchist, what part of ‘pick up the pace’ did you not understand?” Rade asked.

  That did it. Finally, the Hoplites and Titans increased to a trot, allowing Rade and the others to move at a more reasonable speed. Their metallic exteriors bounced around beneath the overhang, their heads scraping the ceiling, their arms and shoulders the wall beside them.

  The alien spheres continued to concentrate their energy weapons on the area the mechs had vacated, apparently not realizing the two platoons were moving forward.

  “Taya, I’ll need you to triangulate a position on those spheres,” Rade said. “Based on their last known coordinates, and the continuing impact damage to the overhang behind us.”

  “Triangulating based on rear camera video feeds, and previous known location of spheres,” Taya said. A moment later: “Got it.”

  Four dots appeared on his overhead map. They were about fifty meters overhead, thirty to the west, and twenty to the south, or behind him.

  He made a quick calculation and determined the aliens were just at the edge of zodiac range. He considered using his missiles instead, but remembered how the four surviving spheres had escape the last round, either by dodging or destroying the missiles, and didn’t want to risk wasting them. His cobra was another option, but he figured the zodiac would pack the most punch, even if the targets were at the extreme end of the range.

  “Brigands, prep
are to combine fire,” Rade said. “There are four targets out there. And fourteen of us. That means three to four zodiacs targeting each of them. Cyclone, assign firing solutions.”

  Tahoe gave Rade the sphere labeled S2 to concentrate his fire upon. Fret and Bender’s callsigns appeared beneath his own, indicating that they too were to target that particular mech.

  He swiveled the zodiac into his weapon mount, and others across the platoon did likewise. He checked the positions of the Anarchist’s mechs on his overhead map; most of them had moved beyond the range of their zodiacs. But they could still fire their heavy lasers.

  “Anarchist, prepare to open fire with cobras!” Rade warned their commander.

  When everyone’s names had been assigned across targets, Rade gave the order: “Switch motive controls to your AIs! Taya, take control of the body.”

  “Piloting body,” Taya said.

  Rade’s legs continued to move up and down as the inner actuators that hugged them mirrored the movements of his mechs legs. It was like sitting on a bicycle whose pedals turned themselves.

  “Aim!” Rade said.

  While Taya handled his movements, he turned his torso to the left and extended his right arm past the overhang. He switched his viewpoint to the zodiac weapon, and lined up the sights with the spheres beyond.

  The alien objects had detected the motion of the emerging weaponry, and swiveled toward the positions of Rade and the others.

  He centered the crosshairs over S2.

  “Fire!”

  Rade activated the zodiac. Bolts of lightning thundered into the air, launched from his electrolasers and those belonging to the Brigands both in front and behind him. Presumably lasers unleashed from the Titans and Hoplites as well, as those mechs had also stabbed their weapons past the edge of the overhang.

  But the spheres reacted with split-second precision, and two managed to veer away from the lightning bolts. As their companions exploded beside them, they veered to the west, and quickly sped away. They dropped low, following close to the horizon.

  “Don’t let them escape!” Rade said.

  He swiveled his cobra into place, and aimed at the rearmost sphere. He released only one shot, but then the target began randomly zig-zagging left and right. The other did the same, both of them changing directions too quickly for the team to target with their lasers.

  “Feces!” Bender said. “Quit moving back and forth, little bobbies!”

  “Feces?” Manic said. “Little bobbies? I think you’ve got your adult filters turned on.”

  “Carnal acts of copulation!” Bender swore. “The AI is playing games with me again!”

  “Taya, take over cobra control,” Rade said. “See if you can hit one. Give me motives.”

  Control of the rest of the mech immediately returned to him, and Rade came to a halt. “Bender, Fret, confirm that the terrain is clear out there.”

  Bender and Fret cautiously left cover, and scanned the surrounding terrain, including the cliff face above them.

  “Clear!” Bender said.

  Taya fired a few more times, then said: “I got in one hit, after ten shots. It didn’t seem to cause much damage. I’d say we’ve lost them.”

  “If we follow them, they might lead us to their base,” Cynthia suggested.

  “Yes, and the reinforcements that they no doubt intend to return with,” Rade said. “Now that they know not to fear the Anarchist, those reinforcements will no doubt be numerous.”

  “I’m not sure they even knew the Anarchist was here,” Cynthia said. “As far as they know, these were just ordinary mechs they faced. I doubt they’re aware he can transfer his consciousness to AI cores.”

  “Maybe not,” Rade said. “But that doesn’t help us.”

  “Actually, it does,” the Anarchist said. “Because they should still fear me. I’m not sure if you noticed, but I deployed my antennae again during the battle, and was attempting to hack them the whole time.”

  “But you didn’t succeed, moron!” Bender said. “So that means diddly-squat!”

  “Sounds like your filters are still active,” Manic said. “Though raised to a slightly higher severity level, maybe.”

  “Darn it!” Bender said. “Rabbity AIs!”

  “Oh, he sounds so cute like this!” Fret said. “Whoever hacked his AI core, please do it more often!”

  “If someone hacked my AI core, there is going to be heck to pay!” Bender said.

  “So, do we pursue them, or not?” Tahoe asked.

  Rade stared at the spheres, which were just glinting dots on the distant horizon at that point.

  “We continue north thirty kilometers, and then head west, in the same direction those alien spheres fled,” Rade said. “With the hope that the Anarchist will detect any signals a base might transmit.”

  “Thirty kilometers…” Snakeoil said. “You’re assuming their search net will be less than that.”

  “That’s my assumption, yes,” Rade said. “If humans were sending a limited number of reinforcements, they’d cast a net about twenty kilometers in either direction, max.”

  “But these aren’t humans,” Snakeoil said. “And they might have more than a limited number of reinforcements to send.”

  “True,” Rade agreed. “If I’m wrong, and we’re caught on the plains, we’ll just have to drop where we are, switch to lower power mode, and hope we blend in.”

  “That didn’t work too well just now,” Rex said. “When those aliens came over the mountain.”

  “No,” Rade said. “They spotted us before we could react.”

  “Hey, Anarchist,” Lui said. “Why did it take you so long to detect their signals? An earlier warning would have been nice.”

  “The mountain was blocking the signal,” the Anarchist said. “As one of the petty officers told your chief, it is partially made of lead.”

  “So, if they came over the mountain, how do we know the base isn’t in the opposite direction?” Kicker said. “To the east, beyond the mountains?”

  “My guess is those scouts have been weaving back and forth over the range, slowly making their way north, searching for us,” Rade said. “They probably arrived shortly after the Draactals chased us through the mountain pass. And they could have come from any direction. So, we can’t really assume their base is to the east.”

  “But maybe they fled west just to mislead us,” Kicker said.

  “Maybe so,” Rade said. “But this is a good start, for now. I still say we head north thirty klicks, then west.”

  “One more question for the Anarchist,” Tahoe said. “These spheres, do you know how were they conveyed here? By shuttles, or starships capable of atmospheric entry?”

  “They don’t have starships capable of atmospheric entry, as far as I know,” the Anarchist said. “So, it would have to be shuttles.”

  “Can these spheres enter the atmosphere on their own?” Tahoe pressed.

  “From what I know from previous encounters on other worlds, no,” the Anarchist said.

  “So, if we can find one or more of these shuttles, then we have our way off this world,” Tahoe said. “And to any starships waiting in orbit.”

  “That is correct,” the Anarchist said.

  “Yeah, but if this Anarchist bitch can’t even hack a little sphere, I somehow doubt it’s going to be able to hack a shuttle, let alone a friggin’ starship waiting in orbit,” Bender said.

  “Bender’s right, we’re screwed,” Fret said. “Literally, figuratively, and in all senses of the word.”

  “If we can capture one of their scouts somewhere along the way,” the Anarchist said, “I’m confident I can reverse engineer the changes they’ve made and apply the knowledge to any future hacks. In fact, before we depart, I’ll need a moment to gather up debris from the alien spheres, so I can examine the wreckages for clues during the journey.”

  “Go ahead,” Rade said.

  The two platoons advanced until they were near the wreckage sites, and t
hen the Anarchist ordered its mechs to fan out and gather the larger pieces of debris. When that was done, Rade and the others continued north at a quick trot, following beneath the overhang. Eventually, the formations receded into the mountain so that the platoons were advancing next to the bare cliff face, which soon gave way to a less sheer, seventy-degree section. He felt exposed, and constantly scanned the rocky terrain around him as well as the sky above.

  Along the way, Rade tapped in Bender and TJ. “Bender, have you tried hacking in to the Titans and Hoplites yet?”

  “Yep,” Bender said.

  Rade waited for him to elucidate, but Bender wasn’t forthcoming. “And?”

  “I hate to admit it, but TJ was right,” Bender said. “They’re locked down tight. I’ve tried fifty different attack vectors so far, basically everything in my hacking arsenal. I’ll keep trying, but I’m not seeing anything obvious. At this point I’m essentially trying to look for my own zero-day exploits, something that can take months, or even years, for even the most seasoned cybersecurity researcher.”

  “What happened to ‘watch and learn from the master?’” TJ asked.

  “Guess I’m eating crow,” Bender said.

  “Well then, I got some fine crows that frequent my backyard back on Earth,” TJ said. “I’ll shoot one of them down and cook it up just for you. I’m looking forward to watching you eat it.”

  “You’re a cruel bastard,” Bender said.

  “Me, cruel?” TJ said. “No, I’d be cruel if I left the feathers on and made you eat it raw. In fact, that’s not a bad idea…”

  “Dude, if you don’t cook the meat, I ain’t eating it,” Bender said.

  “We shall see,” TJ taunted him.

  Rade disconnected.

  As he continued the advance, he couldn’t help the nerves he felt… every muscle in his body was tense. He kept expecting an attack to come at any moment.

  He tried to concentrate on the burn he felt in his muscles, which wasn’t very great, considering his jumpsuit was doing most of the heavy lifting: Rade barely felt any resistance from the inner actuators pressing against his flesh, thanks to the servo-powered exoskeleton of the jumpsuit he wore. He considered dialing down the strength settings of the jumpsuit so the inner actuators would provide more resistance. Another option was ejecting from the cockpit and racing alongside the Brigand in his jumpsuit alone. But not only would that needlessly expose him to potential enemy fire, it would also prematurely tire him out. He’d need his stamina when the next battle came.