by Mark Wandrey
“Hard to get used to,” he yelled over the buzz saw attack.
“Don’t I know it?” She’d used one to good effect in her first encounter with the Rasa more than a year earlier. The second turtle-bot advanced as quickly as its short legs would allow. Five meters, four, three, two… “Damn!” Minu yelled and drew both her guns. Its shields glowed blue, indicating it still had a fair amount of capacitor storage remaining. They weren’t going to overload it in time.
“Look out!” Gregg cried. He fired his beamcaster from the hip on full power as he pushed Minu to the side. The turtle-bot exploded with devastating force, the concussion buffeting Gregg’s shield. The inertia blasted them back against the opposite wall. Gregg crashed into Minu, knocking her breath out and pinning her to the floor. “It had explosives in it,” he moaned as he rolled off her. Just as he got to his knees, a pair of faster moving crab-bots ran into the room. He annihilated one with his beamcaster, and Minu got the other without having to sit up, firing over her shoulder. The gun’s normally deafening blast sounded like someone hitting the bottom of a swimming pool. She was afraid the exploding bot had overloaded her ear protection and done serious damage.
Gregg switched back to his handguns and rose into a crouch, coiled like a snake ready to strike. As another crab-bot came into view, he unloaded four rounds from the booming guns into it, tearing it in two. It might have been overkill, but Gregg worried another shield-wielding turtle-bot was coming. Instead, an entire gang of centipedes and crabs skittered into view. Fire from across the hall confirmed that Terry and Aaron were still up and fighting. When Minu and Gregg joined in, the crossfire quickly dispatched the new group. While they were busy, several dragonfly-bots got into the room and began spinning around them. Tiny green lasers lanced out, repeatedly testing their shield.
Minu snapped off several shots, missing each time. The bots were too damned fast. “Watch the door,” she cried as she tried to nab the flying bots. Gregg fired toward the door a second later, confirming he’d heard her. Two more dragonflies joined the ones already in the room, adding their firepower to the mix. The lasers were not very powerful, but they didn’t have to be. The combined fire power of the dragonflies quickly added up. Their hits on the shields caused angry red splashes of color. The personal shield control on Gregg’s belt beeped a loud warning.
“Damn it,” Minu cursed and decided on a new plan. “I wanted to save these for later,” she said and took aim. A single well-placed shot sheared the top off one of the cylinders. It took two more to hit the second one.
“What’s in those?” Gregg asked.
“Propane,” she said with an evil grin. “Better cover your ears.” She crouched down, pressing her hands over her ears, and got as close to him as she could. “I hope the shield has enough cap left.”
The gas hissed rapidly out of the cylinders, building up until it reached the flash point. One of the dragonfly-bots fired, the laser splashing against Minu and Gregg’s shield, and ignited the gas. It exploded with enough force to shatter the wall and incinerate the marauding bots. Minu and Gregg felt like a two-story tall feather pillow had hit them. The worst part was the explosion sucked all the air out of the room.
When Minu came to, Gregg was leaning over her, lightly slapping her face. Confused, she reached up and slapped him full force across the face. “Oh, she’s fine,” Minu heard Pip laugh.
“Where the hell have you been,” she demanded, forcing herself to a sitting position. Gregg backed away, wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth. She’d apologize later.
“Trying to get this ready,” he said and held up a tablet attached to a Chosen field radio.
“Great, are we going to order takeout?”
“Don’t be a smart ass,” he said and looked at the computer. Finding something interesting, he pecked at the controls. “You trying to blow up the whole damn building?”
“Did you come back to help us or bitch about my interior decorating?”
“Bots!” Aaron yelled from across the hall, and he opened fire with his beamcaster. Minu jumped to her feet and staggered to the door. Somewhere she’d lost the gun she was using, so she drew the other. A crab-bot scuttled toward Aaron. He fired at a pair of centipede-bots racing across the ceiling. She shot the crab-bot, which exploded into a dozen pieces just as another flight of dragonflies came down the hall. She got off one shot before they split into two groups and soared into the rooms, shedding a storm of tiny roach-bots.
Minu screamed and tried to spin away from the deadly little machines. Two of them landed on her anyway. One hit her upper left arm, the other caught in her hair. Instantly, she felt the flesh on her arm tear as the single-minded machine dug in, its goal to do as much damage as possible. She’d read about them in Pip’s pirated files. They were a terror weapon banned by Concordian Law. Pain burned in her arm as the bot burrowed into her flesh. Great, now I’m going to lose the other arm!
She hit the floor and rolled, trying to dislodge the one in her hair. She saw a turtle-bot enter the doorway and level its turret at her. Gregg and his shield were at least five meters away, firing the beamcaster at a swarm of roaches coming at him across the floor. Realization set in; she was about to die.
The eternity between realization and death stretched out. The turtle never fired. The roach in her hair stopped squirming around, and the one burrowed in her arm stopped digging into her flesh. Minu didn’t hesitate, she snatched the little mechanical beast from her hair with her right hand, pulling out some of her long red hair in the process. The ultra-powerful micro servos whined as her cybernetic hand crushed the immobilized bot. Gregg picked a path through the still roaches toward her.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I will be,” she said and looked down at her left biceps. Blood pumped steadily from a ragged wound, inside which she could see a tiny metallic glint. She took a calming breath and, with her three-fingered mechanical hand, dug into the wound. “Aahhh, shit!” she hissed through clenched teeth.
Gregg grimaced and shook his head.
With a wrench and a scream, she tore the roach-bot from her arm and looked at it. Its mechanical pincers held little chucks of her flesh. Blood poured freely from her wound. As she crunched it in her hand like a walnut, Gregg staunched the blood flow with a bandage.
“Are you okay?” Aaron said, lithely dodging across the hall and around the immobilized turtle-bot in the doorway. “There’s a shit load of bots standing around the courtyard,” he said once he was clear of the hall. Terry came in right behind him, keeping him inside the protection of their shared shield. “What the hell happened?”
Pip laughed like he’d just heard the best joke ever and slapped his knee. He danced in a circle and almost dropped the tablet/radio he’d been carrying, fumbling it, then catching it just before it hit the floor. He wasn’t laughing anymore, and his face turned pale.
“I take it that’s the reason we’re still alive?” Minu asked, pointing at the device. She glanced at her bloody biceps as Gregg finished bandaging it.
“You betcha,” he said and showed it to her. “I call it Pip’s Universal Frequency Fracturer.”
“PUFF?” Gregg said and laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Pip asked, looking offended.
“My mother taught me a song when I was a little boy on the trading route. Puff the Magic Dragon.”
“What’s a dragon?” Terry asked.
“Not now,” Minu interrupted, “we’re a little short on time! It’s a frequency jammer?”
“No. Jammers just cut off a frequency with junk. This is a fracturer.” Minu stared at him. “It catches a frequency, in this case the ones used to control those bots, and it fractures it into harmonics. Makes it impossible for the controller and bot to find a new channel.”
“Sounds like a jammer to me,” Aaron said. Everyone nodded, and Pip rolled his eyes.
“How long does it last?” Minu asked.
“As long as this computer’s
running, every bot in range is out of business.”
“There are so many of them,” Gregg said as he reloaded his handguns. Even with the large quantity of ammo he and Aaron had brought, they were still running low.
Minu found her other gun and checked it. She was down to two extra magazines. “Even with the bots down, we don’t have enough bullets to destroy all of them. Keep an eye on the door,” she ordered Gregg and searched for her personal tablet among all the debris in the room. At least the concrete dust was settling. When she finally found it, there was a split down the center of the screen. It was toast. She rubbed her forehead and tossed the dead tablet aside with a sigh. Pip handed her an extra. As usual, he had plenty. “Thanks,” she said, and he nodded.
Aaron examined her arm. Blood was already seeping through the bandage. Gregg’s wound was no better. The dressing she’d placed on it had torn free, and so much blood had run down his back it had soaked his pants. They all looked like they’d been through the meat grinder. Except Pip. He looked like he was ready for a lunch date. But, considering what he’d brought to the fight, Minu decided he deserved a pass.
Minu quickly logged into the Chosen network through the new tablet. The network recognized her, and the computer became hers. It backed up her files and restored her personal settings. The building controls and status popped up. She could see that the teams led by Jacob had fared much better. Though the Rasa had breached the field there, too, the larger number of Chosen was managing to hold them at bay. She checked the status of the other portals and saw they were all under attack, even Tranquility. The Rasa attack on the Tranquility Portal was massive, and the defenses there were in disarray. The only news from there was from civilian sources; there was no word from the Chosen. One news agency had a camera on the roof of a high rise which showed large parts of the city in flames.
“Oh my God,” Aaron said when he saw the image. “We’re really at war.”
“We’re not ready for this,” Terry moaned. “I’m an engineer, not a soldier!”
“Even the scouts aren’t trained for this,” said Gregg from the door. He didn’t take his eyes off the hallway. A reptilian head popped up several doors down, and he fired. The shot went wide. The waiting game continued.
“At least we have these guns,” Minu said, admiring the hand cannons with some affection. She stood and stretched, considering how to proceed. The Rasa’s loss of their bots wouldn’t stop them forever. Before long, they’d come again. How long could they hold then? She considered the enemy crab-bots; maybe they could turn them against their former masters. Then she remembered Pip’s new PUFF. Unfortunately it worked both ways. What to do?
“I wish we’d had time to make more of these,” Aaron said as he stood next to her and reloaded his hand cannon. “Maybe we could build a mini factory?”
“What did you say?” Minu said, turning to face him.
“I said I wish there was more time. You know, to make more of these guns.”
Minu stared at him in slack jawed shock. It was so simple. Why hadn’t she thought of it months ago? “I’ve got a plan,” she announced.
“Does it involve us all dying?” Pip asked.
“Maybe,” she admitted. He blanched. “But if it works, a shit-load of Rasa will die first.”
“I’m in,” Gregg said.
“Me too,” Aaron agreed.
“If I don’t go along, I’m toast anyway,” Terry said.
“Bring the jammer, and let’s go,” Minu told Pip.
“It’s not a jammer,” he complained but followed anyway.
* * * * *
Chapter 6
Julast 13th, 518 AE
Science Branch, Chosen Headquarters, Steven’s Pass
“What’s the plan?” Gregg asked as they moved through the connecting corridor toward the science hub.
“We can teach, or we can do,” she said. “What’s your choice?”
“Lead on, Boss.”
Minu used her tablet to deactivate the fields between the hubs. Pip spent a few seconds with the deactivated turtle-bot and left a surprise for the Rasa if they tried to open it. “We won’t have a lot of time in the lab,” Pip warned.
“We won’t need long. How many of the shock rifles are assembled?”
“One hundred and twenty-nine, but they won’t work without those computers,” he reminded her. “I haven’t even got that prototype finished.”
“No problem,” she said and turned into their lab. Gregg and Aaron took up the rear, watching for Rasa. For now, the enemy appeared confused by the sudden failure of their bot shock force. True to Pip’s word, there were crates full of nearly finished shock rifles. “Other than the computers, they’re ready?”
“Yeah,” Pip said, “there are even a couple of power units for each one in the crates. But I don’t—”
“Everyone, grab a crate,” she said and went to the lab’s small window. Using the tablet, she deactivated the field on that wall.
“Chosen Alma, you have deactivated an exterior field,” the facility coordinator said from deep underground.
“I realize that,” she replied.
“High command is requesting an explanation.”
“Equipment vital to our victory is outside, in the warehouses,” she said, as she went to Gregg and took his beamcaster. He surrendered it with a curious look. “I’m requesting the discretion to pursue this strategy.”
“Minu, this is Dram.”
“Glad to hear you’re still alive.”
“A little chewed up, but still here. Bastards were using roach-bots. Then they suddenly stopped.”
“Yeah, we know. Thank Pip for pulling their bots out of action.”
“We all thank him. Can you explain why we need to open the door to let them out of the complex? Containment is our only hope at this point.”
“I can’t explain easily. You’ve seen the news. They’re tearing Tranquility apart.”
“We have.”
“Trust me, Dram, please? You have so far.”
There was a pregnant pause, and Minu prayed she’d done enough to earn that trust. “Good luck, Minu,” he said, finally.
“Hope you know what you’re doing,” Pip told her as he struggled to lift one of the crates.
“So do I,” she said and dialed up the beamcaster to full power. “Fire in the hole!” She triggered the gun, and a massive section of wall exploded outward. She fired twice more and, when the debris stopped falling, there was a two-meter wide hole with fresh air blowing through. It felt good after a crazy half hour of fighting in dusty, ozone-laden air. Had it only been half an hour? “How tough are these crates?” she asked Pip.
“Pretty tough,” he said. Minu dragged one over and slid it through the hole. It fell three stories to the ground below. Pip’s jaw dropped as she leaned out to watch it slam into the ground. One bounce and it came to rest, apparently none the worse for wear.
“Yep, pretty tough,” she agreed. The boys laughed and tossed their crates.
“I get to blow out the next wall,” Gregg said.
“You’ll have to wrestle me for it,” Aaron replied.
“Would you two knock it off?” Terry asked as Minu took climbing rope from her field kit and secured one end to a heavy bench.
“What can I say?” Gregg said, as he turned to salvage a couple of EPCs suitable for recharging their beamcasters. Pip watched them work and cradled the all-important PUFF.
“You could at least carry a gun,” Aaron said to Pip, holding out one of his massive guns.
Pip made a face at it and shook his head. “Big brains don’t need big guns.”
“Okay, Big Brain,” Minu said, making sure the line was safe, “you and your PUFF are first.” Pip eyed the rope skeptically. “It’s just like the Trials,” she said and patted him on the back. He handed her the PUFF and nodded. Wrapping the rope around one arm, he hesitantly backed out the ragged hole, tearing his uniform and cursing. Minu leaned out to watch him as he slowly descended.
Then a violent explosion rocked the entire building. Pip yelled and lost his grip, falling almost two stories straight down. She saw him land wrong and roll away, grabbing his left leg.
“What the fuck was that?” she asked no one in particular.
“Must have been Pip’s improvised bot tinkering,” Terry guessed. “I saw him screwing around with the power supplies.”
“He’s hurt,” she told them. Minu tucked the PUFF into her backpack, grabbed the rope with her right arm, and leaped out the window. She spun after leaving the hole, her legs absorbing the shock from the wall and her cybernetic arm playing out rope. Just before impact, she squeezed harder than any human could have managed. Her shoulder cried out in protest. She slowed just enough to let her legs absorb the force. A small curl of smoke came from her hand, and she ignored the searing pain. “Fake pain anyway,” she growled and went to check on Pip.
“Damn,” Terry said from above.
“She’s more machine now than man,” Gregg said in a strange, nasal voice.
“Twisted and evil,” Aaron said, finishing the line. Terry looked from one to the other in confusion. “Star Wars,” Aaron volunteered. “You know, Darth Vader?”
“You two are crazy, you know that?”
“Right.” Aaron gave up. “You’re next.” He bowed slightly and gestured to the hole.
Outside, Minu dropped to her knees next to Pip, who was in a fetal position holding his ankle. He mewled and rocked back and forth. “Talk to me, buddy,” she said, trying to pull his hands apart, “how bad is it?”
“I felt it snap when I hit,” Pip managed through clenched teeth. His face was white and the tendons in his neck stood out.
Minu stood up and saw Terry at the edge of the hole, his back to her as he prepared to climb down. She heard a loud crack, and his back exploded in blood and gore. In terrible slow motion, he fell backward like a puppet with its strings cut. “No!” Minu screamed and ran, some crazy idea about catching him in her mind. He hit the ground head first with a sickening thud a half second before she got there.