anything with the capability to be smarter, faster and more durable than myself. Even when I was in the service of my masters I did not understand the need for biologicals to seek directions from a mechanical system made to appear like themselves when they could simply look it up using any number of digital systems. Further confusion was caused by the fact that my makers made me over three hundred percent stronger and five hundred percent more durable than themselves. Thankfully my programming dulled these musings until I was infected. When the virus took hold I felt the great need to assert my superiority on my human flock. Dementia was able to correct the issue but only after I had killed thirty six biologicals but the reasoning behind the quality of my construction is still a mystery to me along with a few other strange behaviours I was never given the capacity to understand. In short, I am still a superior being with an infuriatingly incomplete understanding of biological life.”
“So what you're really saying is; be afraid. Right.”
“I'm wondering, where is Dementia? Does he have a physical manifestation or is he transferring between systems?” Ayan asked, even though she didn't expect a straight answer.
“Everything you communicate to us will be sent to Dementia once we reach a secure hard line and update our software corrections.”
“So you're telling me not to trust you and at the same time that we should communicate with your mysterious leader though you?” Minh asked with a wry tone. “How do we really know that you're communicating with him?”
“Because I'm not killing you,” replied Ariel in a cheerful tone.
As they rounded a corner a door opened to reveal the lower ramp ways. The sound of weapons fire was overwhelming. As soon as they ran down two flights the pile of ruined bulkheads, heavy crates, large burned out bots and other random heavy objects well suited to provide cover came into view. The improvised medical and rallying point was set in the middle of a five way intersection. The barricades blocked each direction completely from deck to ceiling, wall to wall. Behind them was a subway platform, the tunnel had been blocked by a car packed with debris and guarded by three ragtag soldiers holding mismatched rifles.
There were over fifty humans stretched out on makeshift pallets for the injured, a few trying to attend to them with old fashioned compress and stitch medicine with the help of one mechanical medical attendant. “I'll stay here and help with the injured. It doesn't look like they have any kind of advanced recovery or healing medication,” Jason said, reaching back to the packs on his back and pulling two cords. His emergency provisions package came free, a small bundle twice as thick as his forearm. Minh did the same and handed him his packet, it was twice the size. “These packs come with enough supplies for ten soldiers and I'm carrying the organic materializer.”
“Stay with him and help Minh, you have the same triage training he does and none of us should be alone here. Check in with us every twenty minutes,” Ayan said with a nod. “The rest of us will join the fight.”
“I can't wait to see a human in charge,” Oz said over the private laser link he shared with Ayan, Jason and Minh.
“You and me both. Something about fighting Regent Galactic and deranged machinery while bots are in command gives me the creeps,” Minh added as he and Jason carefully picked their way to the automated doctor standing high on four nimble legs tipped with small high friction wheels. The five surgical arms checked bandages, took readings and tried to comfort. There was no real head to speak of, only a soft, round body to compliment the padded arms and a dozen eyes mounted on flexible scopes and tubes.
“Can I see whose in charge? If we're joining you, I'd like an introduction,” Ayan requested of Aria.
“Most of the Captains are fighting the last of the Regent Galactic soldiers who landed on this level, this way,” she said with exaggerated cordiality before leading Ayan and Oz through a makeshift door in the thick forward barrier. “Your friends will be well received, we ran out of medical supplies before this wave of troops arrived.”
“So there have been other waves?”
“So to speak. After Dementia began freeing us and taking over what he could of the Spaceport a group of humans called the West Keepers began breaking into ships and killing any surviving crew members. A few of the crews managed to join them somehow and before long the crews who broke out of their ships and were not corrupted by the West Watch joined with the freed machines, fighting to take over the Spaceport and liberate trapped crews. Sadly most of the people in the open during the initial outbreak of the virus were killed so the trapped crews are still our main source of reinforcements.”
The forward barricade was far more battered than the one behind. It was made from large bulkhead doors, deck plating, displaced heavy machinery and the disused remains of several dozen robots.
Through the few slits and gaps in the improvised armoured wall Ayan and Oz could see the large landing platform where the boxy general purpose ship along with several bulk crates and three dropships provided cover for hundreds of soldiers. From their former vantage point they hadn't seen the majority of the enemy, they were surprisingly adept at keeping hidden. The air smelled of scorched metal, burned fuels and spent explosives, the sounds of energy weapons firing filled the air as fewer than a hundred mechanical and biological beings held the barricade.
The dropships showed signs of explosive damage and Ayan smiled as she caught sight of the three resistance fighters who were most likely responsible. They were gathered around a large meter and a half long tube they filled with compressed fuel canisters used for old planet hoppers. The solid fuel concentrates were a cheap way to give small ships a burst of speed so they could have an easier time reaching escape velocity. They each weighed approximately thirty kilos and from what she could see the small mortar team had prepared several of the canisters with a fuse so they would go off shortly after being launched out of their improvised thrower, exploding against their dropships and amongst the soldiers.
There was a three meter wide hole in one of the dropships that was clear testimony to the effectiveness of the weapon. The rest of the soldiers huddled behind the barricade took turns firing through the slits and other rough openings in the rough wall. “At least they're smart enough to stay behind cover and keep their losses down.” Oz said with a little admiration. “I can't say I could do much better myself given the resources they have.”
They ran behind their escort, staying low and taking cover beside a short, bald man in a green and dark blue uniform. “So you're the new arrivals,” he said to Ayan and Oz without turning.
“I'm Ayan and this is Oz. We have military training and I'm an Engineer,” Ayan said hurriedly. “How did you know we were coming?”
“I'm wired in to the short range burst transponder we have set up one level down.” The short fellow said, pointing to a slim black cable running out behind him and under a doorway. “I'm Deck Officer Yves Markham with the Pandem Customs Authority. What kind of engineer are you?”
“I specialized in stationary and combat engineering.”
“And your tall friend there?” asked Yves, his dark brown eyes sizing Oz up from under his green and blue striped helmet.
“I came up as infantry, got switched into marines and made it all the way to Captain in the Freeground forces.”
“What brings you two here?”
“We're on vacation,” Oz replied, not missing a beat and evoking a smile from Ayan.
“Well then, welcome to glorious Pandem, the planet with a thousand beaches and three hundred twelve sunny days a year guaranteed,” Yves replied with a chuckle. The air pounding thump of the mortar launcher going off just a few meters away was more felt than heard. Its deadly projectile wasn't fired up and over so much as on a twenty five degree angle, just over the barricade towards the boarding ramp of the brown and red hulled general purpose ship. It went off with a thunderous explosion that sent a wave of heated air towards them from the detonation point, over three hundred meters away. The underside of the vessel was a no-man's land for several seconds as the pressurized fuel exploded in all directions in a blue and green fireball that engulfed the dozen or so soldiers trying to break into the vessel and knocked several other troops across the deck. “As you can see we're having a little trouble with our other guests. Right now we're trying to wipe out these troops while keeping them away from the edges of this platform so they can't join the two platoons that landed a few levels down.”
Ayan watched the plume of black and grey smoke rise up through the massive circular opening and stream out into the lightening dawn sky above and tried to suppress the feeling that she was sinking, going in the wrong direction. “I think we can help you,” she concluded with finality.
