Margo studied the cube in her hands. Rotating it as it sat between her thumb and middle finger. “Well… yeah, that’s true.”
“Just take it as a memento. ZiP won’t notice and I won’t tell.”
“Yeah!” She put the cube in her pack. “HQ can’t be real, can it?”
“I find the possibility of a human being lasting as long as ZiP to be impossible. I think HQ is a creation of his singular mission and loneliness.”
“That’s a bad sign.”
“Indeed.”
Chapter 12- Violent delights
“The Zenith, lady and gentlemachine.” Streaks of glinting metal caked in rust shined out from the gaps in the stone and green foliage that grew around and through the downed behemoth. Standing at its base, the 1200-meter-long ship poked out of the ground like a javelin that was left forgotten in a field. The clearing gave the artificial mountain an even more grand presence as it was the tallest standing object next to the cliff walls that encased the valley. “Home to over 8,000 crew and a payload of a small planet.”
“It’s… big.”
“Pride of the fleet, until she was downed by the dirty, rotten Rys.” ZiP motioned in a following manner and pointed toward a square hole in the side. “That’ll give us access to the maintenance deck which connects easily with the hangar bay. Once we’re there, we’ll have all the parts we need to finish the repairs.”
As the group approached the ancient ship, ZiP pulled a grappling hook out of his pack, while Margo attached Catcher’s case to the her shoulder strap fo her pack. “You’re sure this contraption will hold us?”
The robot studied the hefty looking piece of equipment that had incurred dents and scuffs from its years of use. “It’s hauled my metal butt up a variety of obstacles, so you two won’t add much strain to it.” Raising the grappling hook, he took aim, and fired the hook into the blackness of the door. Checking to make sure it caught, he tugged on the metal fiber rope, and motioned toward Margo. “I won’t drop ya, promise.”
With a not-tiny amount of trepidation, she allowed the robot to wrap his arm around her waist, and as ZiP’s arm joints spun into a locked position Margo looked up at their entry point. “You’re sure?”
“Don’t you fly?”
“Yeah, but this is different...”
“Then you have nothing to worry about.” His finger pulled the trigger on the grappling hook, engaging the pulley, and starting their ascent.
“How far away are the hangars?”
“Hangars were in the aft section, which is why when she fell, she landed engine side down.”
Rivets and steel slid past the group’s climb. The wall of rotting steel seemed to go on forever. “Remarkable…”
“At one point, she was.”
“The fact that something so large could even be built. It must have taken… decades.”
ZiP’s head pivoted toward the A.I. “Actually, this beaut only took a year.”
“What?”
“Wait, you’re joking, right?”
“Nope, manufacturing could punch out just about anything in no time flat.”
“How do you even know this?”
“Eh, lots of time alone plus lots of manuals, magazines and books equals random knowledge. I enjoyed some of it so much, I haven’t deleted it for space yet! We’re here.” ZiP slowed as they approached the entrance. “Be careful inside, she’s sitting at a 21-degree angle.” Unlocking his joints, he pivoted Margo and Catcher onto the lip of the entrance, and then swung himself inside.
She took in the view; even being just 50 meters off the ground made all the difference. Glancing over the valley, a wind swept through the treetops, which at this height made it look as if the ground was shifting; like it was alive. Leaning on the steel doorway, the cold wind and steel made a shiver shoot up her spine. “Dad would have loved to see this place.”
“Indeed, next time let’s not get shot down and break the imcap.”
“You’re not going to let that go, are you?”
“Not today. Not yet.”
She leaned against the rotting ship and tapped it. “The fact that those from the old were able to make something like this so quickly… it’s astounding.”
“And yet, they’re gone.”
“What could have even stopped a people such as this?” She turned away from the flat white light of the valley, turned on her orange lantern, and peered into the darkness. The light from her lantern latched onto the rustcicles hanging from the ceiling and the rot growing along the inside of the ship’s walls like cancer. “Oh boy.”
One of the ports on the side of ZiP’s head opened and a white light shined out of it. “Follow me. This place can be a maze and a lot of the decks are rotted through.”
“Any chance we could poke-around?”
“Nope.”
~~~
After zig-zagging, sliding, tip-toeing, shimmying, and climbing their way down the rotting innards of The Zenith the group finally arrived at a doorway, halfway up the side of a large open-ended room. A rickety narrow catwalk was now disconnected from the doorway to which it was once attached, but still appeared to be the only way forward. “This is hangar bay 4. It’ll have the parts we need.”
Margo’s arms and legs were spotted with smears of rust and grime. Her pants and boots were caked in unknown substances that would more than likely not wash. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, all worries about her clothes faded away as she peered up and down into the massive space. A space so large that it looked as if clouds were forming along the ceiling due to the moisture in the air. Toward the back of the space on the ground lay a variety of metallic mounds that glinted as ZiP’s powerful spotlight passed over. “This is a big room.”
“According to my scans… yes, it is.”
“Better be, this area held all dropships, in-atmo vehicles, and ammunition. Thankfully they were disarmed when we crashed, otherwise, this valley wouldn’t exist.” Margo began to lean out from the doorway and inch toward the catwalk but was stopped as ZiP placed his hand out to blocked her progress. “No go, civilian.”
A look of surprise and shock popped on to Margo’s face. “Excuse me?”
“Give me Catcher and we’ll head down and look at the parts available. He’ll know the specs.”
“Actually Mar…”
“I know Pipsqueak just as well as he does.”
“I’m sure you do, but you weigh a bit more than he does and I only need one of you”
“If you knew that I wasn’t going to go into the hanger, why even bring me along?”
“Because I figured it was better to have you nearby in-case we needed assistance rather than having you outside the ship.”
“Margo, he’s right.”
“Come’on Catcher..”
“No, ZiP’s right, if something were to happen, you could be our lifeline out of that massive pit. I’ll go with ZiP. I know the specs and can scan the quality of each part we need.” Margo unclipped the blue case from her backpack and looked at the lens. Her face read of annoyance. “I know you hate standing by, but you have hands, I don’t.”
Margo could feel Brie laughing at her. Her morphed and highly stylized voice squeaking away in her imagination saying, “You go against the Eight, you prove the map is real, but you didn’t explore a hangar filled with wonders? What kind of a…” She stopped the mockery before her own imagination made her too angry to not hand off Catcher carefully to ZiP. “I am so tired of being worried about.”
The robot almost fumbled the handoff as the A.I. watched his ward swing through the doorway and onto the rotting catwalk. “Margo! Stop!”
“No, I am tired of being worried over. I’ve been cautious the entire time we’ve been in the valley.” Her feet could feel the vibration of the metal straining against the added weight. “If ZiP was going to jump on this thing, then it sure can hold me.”
“But, I wasn’t going to use the catwalk.”
Margo’s green eyes shot toward her
mechanical guide with a look of confusion. “What?”
“That thing’s rotten all the way through. I was just going to jump.”
ZiP clipped Catcher to his right strap as the A.I. stuttered, “Ju, jump?”
“And a 1. And a 2. And a…” And with a smooth motion he threw himself through the doorway, over the catwalk rail, and shot the grappling hook that wrapped around a girder in the ceiling. A mild squeak was heard as the grapple’s motor spun to slow the pair’s descent toward the moss-covered steel floor. Contacting the floor with a resonating thud, ZiP looked up at Margo who was keeping her balance on the catwalk and yelled, “Good speech about being worried, now grab hold of the line.”
An annoyed sigh exited her lungs as she leaned for the cable and wrapped her gloved hands around it. As Margo made her slow descent toward the ground, she felt her pack begin to pull at her shoulders. At first, it was an annoyance she thought as a sign she needed to work on her climbing skills; but as the strength of the pulling began to grow she felt it was pulling her away from the cable. Panic began to creep up in her voice as her words tumbled out of her mouth with the ever growing strength of the backpack’s pull away from the cable, “Gu, guys, what is happening!”
Catcher and ZiP yelled, “Drop the bag!”
The pull was strong enough that it stopped her descent as her body was pulled further away from the cable. Feeling her grip beginning to weaken, Margo nodded as a plan formed in her head. Letting go of the cable, she quickly shrugged the bag from her shoulders, and as her hands began to return toward the cable, a shoulder strap caught on her upturned leg.
She shot across the hangar toward the upturned pile of equipment and vehicles. Her short flight ended with a resonating thud that swallowed her among the mess of steel.
ZiP began sprinting toward the pile, jostling the grappling hook loose, and hooking it to his side in one smooth motion, as Catcher shouted, “Why didn’t you start running earlier?”
“My ability to fly was never installed. Better to see where she landed than miss her in flight.”
“Margo!”
Margo’s eyes gained focus, showing her the mess of steel she had nearly missed. The sting from her arm and the torn sleeve of her green shirt told her that she had been grazed in her landing. She then heard Catcher’s voice echo through the thorn bush of steel yelling her name. She stood, grabbing her arm, and yelled, “I’m okay!”
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know. It’s like a bush made of metal.”
“I got a read on your section, we’ll find you.”
“Okay!” She turned back toward her backpack but it wouldn’t budge, it was as if it was pinned to the metal itself. Opening the pack, she sifted through the contents inside, and found the black cube she had taken from Outpost 521 was the cause. “What are you little guy?” She gripped the cube, causing it to pulse with yellow light, and releasing a low ring. The metal pile she was standing on rippled outward from the soundwave like a pixelated pond of water. Margo tried to move out of the way, only to find the hard surface beneath her had turned into metallic quicksand. A hint of panic flew out of her mind and manifested itself in her throat as she shouted, “Guys!”
ZiP and Catcher popped into view just in time to see Margo was now elbow deep in the metal pond. The soldier’s voice whispered, “Talos…”
Annoyed, Catcher yelled, “ZiP, why aren’t we moving?”
Margo’s head darted toward the noise. “Thank the Eight!”
“I could pull at her…”
The metal pond had claimed her shoulders as the panic from her mind had leaked onto her face and strangled her voice. She barely managed to squeeze out, “Catcher.”
“ZiP!”
“I could pull at her, but Talos is stronger, she would be damaged.” The robot pivoted and began running down the metal pile and shouted, “Close your eyes before you go below the surface!”
“You damnable coward! Get back there and help her!”
“We are helping her!” ZiP pulled the grappling hook from his side, shot it toward the ceiling, and began to retract himself and Catcher toward the dark rafters.
Her eyes flashing wild in fear, Margo shut them before the pixelated black metal pond consumed her totally. Once she had disappeared, a low and powerful electronic ping bolted through the hangar; shaking the rust that had clung to the metal innards of The Zenith. After a moment of silence, the metal pile began to shift and move as a massive metallic hand broke through the surface.
Chapter 13- Best laid plans
The mound of vehicles and gear that had settled at the bottom of the hanger tore away like wrapping paper as a mass of earth stood up and collided with the ceiling of the ancient ship. Shafts of light tore through the ancient steel of The Zenith and with each collision, more earth fell away and revealed Talos. The giant walking tank pressed against the ceiling, trying to extend its legs, creating a storm of detritus that had clung to it during its hundreds of years’ sleep. The softened material began to peel open like a tin of canned fish as its giant left-hand cut through the ceiling. Talos stood in the muted light of the valley, its organically covered exterior falling off in chunks to reveal the rusting heavy armor that lay beneath it.
“Margo…” Catcher’s tone was one filled with awe. “We have to get her out of there!”
“Did Margo take anything from the camp?”
“Well..”
ZiP unclipped Catcher and stared at his case lens. “Did she take Mendez’ sunset key from his bag? A black box with writing on it?
“Yes, but I thought it was an insignificant cube and therefore harmless!”
“Nothing is harmless in this valley you idiot. That’s why when I say don’t touch anything, I mean it!”
“It’s just that…”
Talos began to extend its legs and step outside of the hangar. The Zenith was beginning to fall apart as the violent movements of the giant proved to be too much. ZiP clipped Catcher back on his pack strap and began to effortlessly leap over downed girders and climb over destroyed vehicles. Even with his speed to clear the obstacles, the robot wasn’t fast enough to catch up to Talos as the giant’s footsteps increased the distance in its stride faster than the soldier could close it, scurrying up the pile of rubble and toward the torn open roof.
“What exactly is that thing?”
“Talos was built as a last resort by the geniuses at ArmorForce Industries. It’s a leviathan class walking tank of destruction and a bringer of death that will leave your opponents crying...until they are dead!”
“That’s rather dramatic.”
“I read it off the manufacturer's brochure in the Captain’s quarters.” He raised his fingers to the side of his head and said, “HQ, HQ, this is ZiP, Talos is on the move and has a civilian onboard, need some help here.” After a few moments of silence he tried again. “HQ isn’t responding to the emergency burst.”
Just as ZiP finished his sentence a bright beam of light swarmed at the base of the rubble field that extended out of The Zenith. As the light dissipated, Margo they spotted lying on the grassy floor. Catcher yelled, “Margo!”
ZiP glided down the metallic incline and slid to a stop next to her. Her eyes fluttered as she unconsciously placed her hand on her head. “That hurts a bit.”
“Margo, are you alright? You came out of a ball of light.”
“I’m, I dunno.. Yes? What happened?”
“You came out of a ball of light!” Catcher’s voice was a mixture of disbelief and awe as his crystal core tried to process what he had just witnessed.
Still confused, Margo glanced around slowly and responded, “What?”
“You came out of a ball of light.
“I...I did?” She looked at both of the artificial lifeforms as a look of awe and sheer relief grew. “I came out of a ball of light!”
“That is something that I’ve haven’t seen, ever!”
“The particle decontractor mobility device is a thing of…�
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“What is it called?”
A harsh bite entered the robot’s voice as he said, “It’s a long name, point is, it isn’t anything…”
“I have that on record so now no one can say it didn’t happen.”
“What… what do we do now? Do we send it to the 8?”
“Hey! Can we focus on the monster slowly making its way across the valley?
Catcher whispered, “You came out of a ball of light…”
ZiP aggressively jabbed at the clipped on A.I. chip and said, “Get it together crystal Jeb, we were all there, we know. Stop.” He then pointed at the frazzled teen who was just struggling to her feet. “And you, when you’re around military equipment and someone says don’t touch anything and they’re in the military, don’t, touch, anything.”
“How is it moving without a someone at the controls?”
“Talos doesn’t need a pilot, it just needed a human to start it, that human being was you.”
“Wow…”
“Who would make something with such a potential for violence and make the human optional?!”
“I dunno Tatcher, my educated guess would be the geniuses at ArmorForce Industries. I didn’t make the blasted thing!”
“Where is it going?”
“According my calculations, it’s heading toward where we started in the valley.”
“Why go there?”
ZiP turned to his companions. “What do you remember from your time inside?”
She thought for a moment and answered, “I felt like my mind was really frazzled. Lots of bright lights…”
His servos whirled as he began pacing. “Oh boy oh boy oh boy, you got probed by the Mindreader FTC designed by the geniuses at ArmorForce Industries.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
He stopped walking and faced his audience. “It means it wanted more information…”
“What for?”
“We need to stop it.”
“Besides it being big and the marketing for it very vibrant, is that Talos actually a danger?”
ZiP pointed at the walking steel mountain and said, “This thing is a wonderous thing and beautiful and I am so glad to see a piece of the republic walking around, but it has to die. It is far too dangerous to the population in this valley and…” He pointed at Margo. “If it decides to strike a target, nothing will stop it, and what it carries is pure death. Nothing will survive, not even the Rys cur living at the top of the cliff. And I will not have my mission completed by another or have the squirrel commission’s plans destroyed or watch as some benignly stupid friends do nothing as their home is destroyed.”
Margo Flint and the Last Soldier Page 8