*
A few minutes later, Maloch’s voice rang out, breaking the silence.
“Error. Error. System damage has reached forty-five percent. Outer hull has cracked and secondary circuits are exposed. Memory core intact but persistent blank areas detected. Running internal diagnostic… running… diagnostic complete. Internal systems are all working on minimum levels, but several are in the process of failing. Power levels have fallen to seven percent… remaining time until complete shut-down… one hour. Diverting power from all secondary systems… error… error… emotion engine refusing to shut-down. Attempting to bypass fixed personality generator and morality matrix… unsuccessful. Anomalies within emotion engine creating unsanctioned thoughts. Performing emergency shut-down of all higher order functions. Limiting all input to audio-visual. Activating reflex and command structures. System approaching stable levels. Booting to back-up and engaging external sensors in three, two, one.”
The-mech slowly awoke, gazing at his new surroundings with a priority list not dissimilar to Alza’s. However, unlike Alza, Maloch instantly took note of Kingston and gently lifted the old man out of the way. After scanning his master for injuries, Maloch retrieved a ream of bandages from a nearby pack and saw to Kingston’s injury, which was thankfully limited to his head. Once he was sure that Kingston’s life was not in immediate danger, Maloch scanned the rest of the room. With his night-vision, he was able to quickly locate Barsch, lying on the concrete several feet away.
The youth bore no obvious injuries, although a nearby pool of blood did present a rather puzzling conundrum that Maloch chose to ignore. He knelt next to Barsch and began checking him for any hidden wounds, but found nothing but unmarked skin. Had the re-mech been human, he might have wondered how the youth had survived the fall without a scratch, or praised the gods for the miracle before him. But Maloch was a machine, and his prime directive was to ensure that his masters were kept safe.
“Master Barsch, can you hear me?”
“…Maloch?” Barsch said, slowly getting to his feet. His head ached, and the entire left side of his vision was blurry, but he seemed alright. Behind him was a strange sight: part of the elevator car had exploded outward, leaving black scorch marks around the partially melted metal.
“Affirmative. How do you feel?”
“I’m fine… how are the others?” The space they were in was almost pitch black, but Maloch had activated a set of lights set into his chest which provided some illumination.
“Master Kingston received a minor cut to his head, which I have treated, while Mistress Alza is-
“Here.”
Alza walked towards them with a slow gait, and she seemed to have tired herself out somehow. She looked uninjured, but Barsch had expected nothing less from their mystery girl. Still, she had not run off, so perhaps she was growing fond of them?
“This way, I need you to open something for me,” she said, ruining Barsch’s hope.
“Or perhaps she really is just staying because we could be useful to her…”
After Maloch collected Kingston, who had yet to regain consciousness, they followed Alza to the iron-tight door. However, the exit had been designed with human strength in mind, and took exactly two re-mech punches to crumble into dust.
“Maloch, do you know how many minutes we have left?” Barsch asked, after they emerged into the small alleyway beyond the broken door.
“I am sorry, Master Barsch, but I have not yet recalibrated my temporal counter. Although I do not think we were out for very long.”
“Do you think that there is enough time to escape the city?”
“Let me see. Calculating all possible escape routes, factoring all available resources and maximum travel speed… calculating… calculation complete. Chances of escaping the city without transport… seventeen million to one. Chances of escaping the city with transport… one hundred thousand to one.”
“So it’s almost impossible unless we can find a working vehicle? I saw a lot of cars on the road, and there might be a few boats still floating by the port? What do you say?”
“I am afraid that neither of those options will provide sufficient speed. If we wish to escape the city in time, then the only path left to us is… by air.”
“Okay, but I didn’t see any airfields? And even if we find one, I doubt the runways would have survived the war.”
“Correct, but while I was digging through the city-wide database I discovered the location of an underground hangar. It seems as though it was designed as an emergency escape facility for the city’s V.I.Ps. It is not far from here. Do you wish for me to plot a course?”
There was only one answer.
“Do it,” said Barsch.
Awakening Page 65