Rhea glanced at Will and Horatio uncertainly.
“Well, you wanted to come here,” Will said. “This is your show. Lead the way. We’ll back you up as best we can.”
Rhea nodded, unable to help the butterflies she felt in her stomach. It was an illusion of her human mind of course, since she didn’t even have a stomach. Not a real one, anyone.
But just because my stomach is artificial doesn’t make it any less real. Nor make me any less real, overall. The sheriff will take me seriously. I can do this.
Somehow she would convince the sheriff of the coming threat. The city’s residents depended on it.
She approached the entrance door, and it slid aside of its own accord.
She glanced at Will, who raised an eyebrow.
“Never seen an automatic door?” Will quipped.
She smiled sardonically and stepped inside. Horatio and Will joined her.
The cargo container was empty save for a series of chairs—currently empty—that lined three walls. There was a small hatch on the far side that led deeper into the compound.
“Welcome to the sheriff’s office,” a disembodied, friendly female voice said. “Protecting Rust Town from crime and gang warfare since twenty-six-fifteen. How can we help you today?”
“An army of bioweapons is coming to the city,” Rhea said. “We need to evacuate immediately!”
“Please have a seat and the sheriff will attend you momentarily,” the voice said, its tone remaining friendly, and seeming entirely unperturbed.
“I’m not sure you understand the gravity of the situation,” Rhea said. “The city is in extreme danger.”
“The sheriff will attend you momentarily,” the voice said cheerily.
Mouth agape, Rhea stared at the hatch in front of her. Then she glanced at Will, who shrugged.
“Not much more we can do except take a seat, and wait,” Will said.
With a sigh, Rhea sat down with the others. The automatic door closed behind them, sealing them inside.
“Not really a good sign, that no one is here,” Rhea said, observing the empty chairs. “Tells me no one trusts the sheriff’s office enough to report crimes anymore.”
“Or that all complaints are done online…” Horatio said. “And handled by robots dispatched to peoples’ houses.”
“Maybe.” Rhea stared at the opposite hatch, willing it to open.
A minute passed.
Two.
“How long are we going to wait?” Rhea said, shifting restlessly. “Don’t they understand? The city could be attacked at any time!”
She said it mostly for the benefit of the listening AI and wasn’t really expecting a response from anyone. Unsurprisingly, she didn’t get one.
Rhea tapped into Gizmo’s feed. The drone had remained outside, circling far overhead. She saw no sign that anything was amiss—security robots weren’t gathering to ambush them or anything. Still, she felt uneasy, and kept the drone’s feed active in the upper right of her vision.
Finally, fifteen minutes of fidgeting later, a message appeared on her HUD.
Astor (89542) would like access to your augmented reality interface, and requests the following permissions:
- Ability to overlay objects
- Gaze tracking
Allow? (Y/N)
Note: Access can be revoked at any time.
She glanced at Will, who shrugged.
“I’m allowing,” Will said.
She, too, accepted the share request, and a moment later a translucent hologram appeared in the middle of the room. It depicted a man in a gray peacoat, with short cropped, receding hair, and sporting a goatee, handlebar mustache, and thick sideburns. As with all things virtual, she wondered whether the man really looked like this, or if the avatar was merely a digital illusion.
“Sheriff Astor,” the man said curtly. “What can I do for you?”
Rhea took a deep breath.
I can do this.
She spoke.
“The city is in danger. An army of bioweapons is sweeping across the Outlands and heading directly toward Rust Town. We have to evacuate the settlement.”
The sheriff merely stared at her, saying nothing.
“I have video archives I can share,” she continued. “As well as map data, to prove—”
The sheriff raised a dismissive hand. “Don’t need to see them. Map data can be faked. Videos doctored. Not even AIs can tell deepfakes apart from the real thing anymore. But don’t you worry, if there’s something out there, Aradne security will deal with it.”
“Oh really?” Rhea said. “There are bioweapons roaming the ruins outside the settlement as we speak, and I haven’t seen Aradne security do a thing.”
The sheriff shrugged. “Bioweapons occasionally frequent the ruins. If they get too close, they’ll be dealt with. The only people in any danger at the moment are bandits, and other Outlanders such as yourselves. And just because you haven’t personally seen Aradne security, doesn’t mean they aren’t out there, and acting at this moment.”
Rhea studied the hologram. “These aren’t ordinary bioweapons. They’re a new breed, of a type never seen before. Immune to energy weapons.”
Once again, the sheriff appeared unperturbed. “Could be a new design our government is testing. Not all bioweapon species are documented. Some are classified, their knowledge scrubbed from the Net, any whistleblowers shadow-banned.”
“All you have to do is dispatch a few drones to confirm what I’m saying is true,” Rhea said. “You’ll see advance scouts in the ruins, and further to the southwest, the main host, hidden inside a cloud of dust stretching from horizon to horizon and extending as far as the eye can see. An army of bioweapons headed directly for Rust Town, with Aradne security doing nothing to stop them.”
“If they’re immune to energy weapons, I’m not sure there’s anything the hunter killers of Aradne can do,” Horatio interjected.
Rhea glanced at the robot. “Which is exactly why we have to evacuate the slums. Flee
