by Isaac Hooke
Rade momentarily switched to the viewpoint of one of the overhead HS3s assigned to the company. From that bird’s eye perspective, the buildings seemed to continue without end.
“Sheesh,” Manic said. “This place is frickin’ huge. I thought Braggs pegged the pre-invasion population at only fifty thousand?”
“He did,” Facehopper said. “But apparently most of these buildings only housed one or two settlers at most. If there’s one thing to be said about the FIs, they do like their space. Oh and, you do know that the fifty thousand count only referred to the human population, right? The AIs, on the other hand...”
“The AIs lived in the apartments,” Harlequin said. “Judging from the records. And the poor.”
“The joys of living on the minimum guaranteed income,” Fret said.
The damage Rade witnessed alternated between moderate and extreme. In the former occurrences, the marble structures and parked rotorcraft bore some laser marks or missile cavities, with most of the buildings relatively intact. In the latter cases, the damage proved breathtaking: He would be walking his Zeus across a seemingly ordinary road when the buildings to his left or right would abruptly fall away in ruin, revealing homes and offices torn apart for as far as the eye could see, the street littered with blast craters and steeped in a layer of smashed travertine, rebar, clothes, vehicles, mattresses and other furniture. There would inevitably be a few severely charred forms barely recognizable as bodies in the rubble. And if you couldn’t pick out the corpses at first glance, all you had to do was look for the black flies that usually swarmed in sickly clouds above the dead.
There’s no radiance left here, not anymore, Rade thought after one particularly disturbing street. Fret was right, we may as well have nuked the place.
The brigades began to split apart, taking different sections of the city. The battalions within those brigades separated as well, so that there were only two others accompanying the 2nd Assault Battalion. The units paused occasionally to allow the HS3s to complete their scouting of a new area.
Rade felt exposed, even though the digital camouflage of the Zeus mechs changed coloration in realtime to match the surrounding terrain. He continuously scanned the New Baroque style buildings around him, and the rubble. He didn’t entirely trust the results reported by the HS3s. While some of the specialized units possessed X-Ray payloads that allowed them to peer through walls at close range, that didn’t mean a foe wasn’t hiding in the rubble, buried just beyond detection range. And while the X-Rays could readily distinguish organics, machines were harder to discern, especially when powered down. Rade remembered well the giant, mech-like robots he had fought on 11-Aquarii III. If those things hid in the ruins of Radiance, the X-Ray units would be hard-pressed to find them.
“Does anyone else have the feeling we’re being watched?” Fret said.
“All in your head,” Mauler replied. Though judging from his tone, it sounded like he believed the same thing as Fret.
“In virtual reality games,” Manic said. “Whenever someone is walking through a spooky area, and says ‘man oh man, feels like we’re being watched,’ or complains about it being ‘too quiet out here,’ that’s when the enemies attack. So please, bro, keep the comments to yourself. Don’t jinx us.”
“Just saying,” Fret replied.
“Look sharp people,” Rade said. “Don’t assume the HS3s have detected everything. Chief, can we get permission to manually clear a few of these buildings?”
The chief paused. “The Major says we can go right ahead. Just as long as we don’t delay the HQ company behind us. Handle it.”
“Thank you, Chief,” Rade said. “TJ, Manic, Lui, Grappler, clear the home on the right. Cyclone, Mauler, Bomb, Keelhaul, do the same on the left. Be as thorough as you can, but make it quick. Everyone else, hold up.”
The platoon paused while the designated fire teams moved into their respective buildings.
“Kind of polar opposites, aren’t they?” TJ said at one point. “Make it quick, but be as thorough as you can...”
“I think the order is clear,” Tahoe aka Cyclone replied.
Thank you, my friend.
Up ahead, the armored carriers continued to advance. Behind Alpha Platoon, the headquarters company slowly closed the distance, though it was still half a klick away.
“Clear!” TJ sent a moment later.
“Clear!” Tahoe echoed a few seconds after.
The fire teams jogged back into place.
“Advance!” Facehopper sent. “Full sprint.”
When they closed with D Company once more, Facehopper had the platoon return to its previous marching pace.
Rade continued to randomly search buildings like that during the advance, but his teams never found anything.
Eventually the second battalion separated from the others and proceeded alone through the rubble. Shortly thereafter, C Company split off to search a side road, with plans to rendezvous with D Company—and Alpha Platoon—at the next avenue.
Ahead, D Company led the way, turning on to a roadway of blue-veined marble. Fluted columns lined the street; the capitals were carved with vines so lifelike Rade could have almost believed they were real. A drained fountain resided in the center of the path. In the middle of the fountain was carved a white dove, its wings spread wide.
The fluted columns gave way to the rubble of the buildings that had collapsed on either side. The treads of the armored carriers ground loudly over the sharp stones.
“Company, halt!” Major Walters said over the comm.
The armored units ground to a stop.
Rade glanced at the overhead map. D Company was waiting for the HS3s to mark the street ahead as clear.
Rade used the opportunity to dispatch two more fire teams into intact homes nearby.
Switching to the point of view of the scope inside the cobra laser of his left arm, he scanned the rubble beside him from right to left. He narrowed his eyes, zooming in on a few of the gaps between toppled pieces of marble, searching for anything out of the ordinary. Nothing stood out.
When he reached the far end of the ruins, something made him repeat the scan. The whole area was marked green by the HS3s of course, but his subconscious told him there was something off about the place, something he couldn’t quite place. As he retread his sights across that rubble, he paused, then slid the scope back a few millimeters.
There. Was that what he thought it was?
He zoomed in.
The hairs at the nape of his neck stood up.
Buried there in the rubble was a glowing red light, hidden between the crevice formed by two fragments of travertine.
It might be nothing.
But then again, it might be what they were all dreading.
“Chief—!” Rade said.
“What is it?” Facehopper transmitted.
Rade kept the scope of his laser pointed at that red glow. “Found something the HS3s might have missed. Check my scope POV. Sky, highlight.” A bright green square abruptly overlaid his vision, centered around that glow; it would show up on Facehopper’s augmented reality display.
“I see it,” the chief responded. “Bender, Snakeoil, investigate.”
The Zeus units of Bender and Snakeoil moved into place. Bender took up a position close to Rade, and aimed both his cobra and his lightning weapon at the target.
“Go ahead, Snakeoil,” Bender said. When Snakeoil didn’t move, Bender added. “What? You think I’m going to check that shit? You’re mistaken.”
Snakeoil hesitated a moment longer, then activated the shield on his left arm. He held it in front of him as he advanced, and kept the electrolaser weapon in his right hand firmly pointed at the rubble the whole time.
Snakeoil stumbled a few times on some of the loose debris, and nearly lost his balance once, but he always kept his weapon on target.
He arrived at the crevice and bent down. He retracted the electrolaser so that his hand was free, and he reached toward the ope
ning...
He gripped the topmost piece of rubble and tossed it aside. He cleared away the adjacent debris. Then he picked up the glowing unit. A long cord trailed from it into the rubble.
Snakeoil turned his mech toward Rade. “It’s just the HLED brake light of some personal rotorcraft buried in the rubble. Still connected to the battery.” Snakeoil yanked the cord from the light and the red glow faded. “Piece of junk.” He tossed the unit aside and it landed with the sharp crack of breaking glass.
“For MOTHs, you boys sure spook easily,” someone in D Company sent.
“Company, resume!” Major Walters said over the comm.
Rade glanced at the overhead map. Once again, the HS3s had marked the next street as clear. Throughout the city, so far every explored area was similarly labelled. That didn’t ring quite right with Rade.
“Clear!” TJ reported in from the house he had been assigned to search.
“Clear!” Tahoe said a moment later from the other house.
Before Rade could give the recall order, the rubble exploded around him and all hell broke loose.
six
Debris struck Rade’s mech, littering the ground around him as a giant robotic figure emerged from the ruins. It towered seven meters tall, twice the size of his own mech. Like the Zeus, the color of it’s metallic skin changed to match the terrain behind it in realtime; that blending was so perfect, so seamless, that Rade almost couldn’t see the thing—if his HUD hadn’t outlined the tango in red, he might not have noticed it at all. There were no obvious weapon mounts, but that could have been because of the camouflage.
And then its chest piece spiraled open.
Instinctively Rade dove to the side.
A red spectrum laser erupted from the focusing mirror situated inside the torso. It cut clean through a fluted column behind Rade: the structure toppled a moment later.
Rade clambered to his feet but before he could react something struck him in the chest and he was sent hurtling backward. He crashed into the fountain set into the middle of the path. He broke through its outer rim, colliding with the dove of peace, which finally arrested his momentum. The base cracked and the statue tumbled to the ground beside him. It crumbled upon impact.
On the diagnostics display, Rade noticed an obvious dent marring the chest region of his Zeus.
“What the hell hit us?” Rade said, starting to get up.
“The robot,” Sky responded. “It’s fist, more precisely.”
“Taking fire!” Fret’s urgent voice came over the line.
From his position several meters away, Rade watched as the robot attacked his brothers.
Rade started to get up, but thick tentacles abruptly enwrapped him from behind, pulling him tight against the cracked base of the fountain. He struggled, but was pinned.
Fortunately one of his arms was free. He lifted the fist toward the black tentacles and activated the incendiary nozzle above the knuckles.
Flames seared into that slimy skin, and the tentacles abruptly whipped free. A terrible squeal came from behind him.
Staying low so that he could use the base of the fountain as cover, he turned around.
Four meters away, lurking at the heart of those tentacles, was a maw possessing large, serrated teeth. Rade was reminded of an enormous squid, minus the body, because besides that mouth it was all tentacles. Like a kraken from the deep.
Green slime suddenly spewed from the maw, forming a large stream that struck Rade. His vision went dark.
The wipers and defoggers activated on the camera lenses and vision returned a moment later.
He aimed a Hellfire from his right shoulder mount directly into the heart of that tentacled nightmare and fired.
The kraken exploded in a surprisingly satisfying mess of gore: tentacles and teeth flew outward in all directions. Blue blood smeared the pavement of the nearby walkway.
One of the flying tentacles landed on Rade’s Zeus, slinging over one shoulder. He swiped it off.
Weapons were going off all around him. His platoon members had taken cover behind whatever was available—columns, debris, buildings. They fended off more giant robots and krakens.
Rade glanced at his overhead map. Red dots representing enemy units had sprung up all over the city, next to the various companies. And more of those dots were appearing all the time. Alpha Platoon and D Company weren’t the only ones under attack. No, it was a coordinated, citywide ambush, launched from those places the HS3s had previously marked as “clear.” And it wasn’t something the division could simply call in an airstrike for: the attackers were too close, the collateral damage far too easy to inflict. But while “precision” bombing might be out of the question, the Raptors were no doubt providing air support with their long range cobras as the opportunities presented themselves. Rade just hoped the drones wouldn’t be shot down.
He returned his attention to the fighting at hand but before he could select his next target, the AI spoke.
“Rage?” Sky said. “Our external hull layer is melting.”
“What?” Rade dropped to the very bottom of the fountain, taking cover behind the remnants of the rim. “A laser attack?” But if that was the case, why hadn’t the AI automatically moved him out of harm’s way?
“No,” Sky said. “It appears the slime coughed up by our tentacled friend is acidic. Some of it, anyway. Specifically, the slime that struck our torso region.”
“Shit.” Rade glanced at his body. Smoke was rising from the armor of his chest area. He tried wiping it off with his arms, but he succeeded only in smearing the acid.
“How long until the hull is breached?” Rade asked.
“Fifty seconds,” Sky answered.
He checked his overhead map and spotted a potential out.
He clambered over the rim of the fountain and raced across the battlefield.
“Rade, where you going?” the chief sent.
“I’ll be right back!” Rade said.
A kraken tried to intercept him.
He fired at it with his cobra, slicing off three of the tentacles. Ribbons of blue blood spurted from the stumps. As he passed the creature, he shot his fist outward and smashed the thing into one of the nearby columns.
Smoke continued to rise from his mech.
“Forty seconds.”
He leaped onto the rooftop of a nearby house. His arm abruptly bent inward, and he knew Sky was maneuvering it away from a laser blast.
He hurried to the other side and leaped across to the next building. Three rooftops later he reached the adjacent street, where C Company was fully engaged—Bravo Platoon fought alongside them. Some of the troops had piled out of their armored carriers, taking cover in the rubble around them. Others fought from inside the vehicles, using the weapons turrets.
“Bravo, could use some covering fire,” he sent their chief, one Scott Ryerson. “This is my intended path.”
“Roger that,” Ryerson returned when he received the data. “We’re occupied here, but I’m getting Major Rao to redirect some of his robots.”
The armored carrier closest to Rade was surrounded by a platoon of robot soldiers dug into the rubble: they were the Marine versions of Centurions. From their various hides they concentrated laser fire on targets within line of sight of Rade’s route, forcing the enemy into cover.
Rade leaped down from the rooftop and hurried into the fray. He fired his zodiac at a three-meter tall robot that was hidden behind a nearby concrete barrier. The resultant plasma channel caused a sonic boom that shook the air; the electrical bolts struck the robot and sent it hurtling backward.
Incredibly, it started to get up again. The impact should have disabled it entirely, but apparently the lightning had only sheared one of its arms clean off. An unlucky shot.
He fired a missile at it and kept running.
“Are you through?” the chief asked.
“Not yet.” Rade scaled the rubble of a nearby house, finally reaching the ornamental lake he sought. �
��I’m through.”
“Five seconds,” Sky said.
He dove into the water.
“Tell me that worked, Sky,” Rade said as he sunk to the bottom. He was ready to abandon the mech if he needed to.
“That worked,” the AI returned.
He exhaled in relief. He wouldn’t have to lose the Zeus after all.
“How brittle is our front armor?” he asked.
“I recommend deploying the shield until further notice,” Sky said. “Try not to take too many direct hits to the torso. None would be best.”
Rade trudged through the clinging branches of the plant life that lined the bottom of the lake. He kept expecting one of those kraken to attack, but eventually he pulled himself unmolested onto the beach.
Right at that moment a tentacle wrapped around his leg. The source: the water behind him. He fired his laser at the tentacle, and when the slimy limb tore free he swiveled around and launched a missile into the lake. The surface erupted in blue blood and black tentacles.
He activated the body-length shield on his left arm as he returned to the street where C Company and Bravo Platoon were pinned.
Staying ducked behind the ruins of a wall, he fired at a robot he spotted crouching inside the window of a house across the street. He terminated another he picked out on a nearby rooftop. As he downed a third robot, he began to grow antsy: while he wanted to help C Company and Bravo Platoon, he wished to return to his brothers as soon as possible. He could hear the terse communications exchanged by members of Alpha Platoon crystal clear over the private band, thanks to the multitude of repeaters in the area. And while Chief Facehopper was doing a hell of a job leading the men, Rade felt his place was with his brothers at the moment.