Thus she headed toward the western gate, which she had used to enter the city. That particular entrance opened deep into the outlying ruins and was located directly in the path of the coming bioweapons, at least based on the original trajectory she’d calculated for the dust cloud. Plus, she’d seen the Hydra scouts lingering on the route to that gate, so it was a safe assumption that the bioweapons would hit there first.
From beneath the tight confines of her hood, she studied the few human passersby she saw along the way, trying to decide who she was going to save. Maybe she didn’t have to die. Maybe she could choose someone, maybe two people, to rescue and lead to safety. That was an option.
Well, she’d have to wait until the attack came before she attempted such an endeavor, because she doubted anyone would follow her willingly at the moment. And if she tried to snatch up someone against their will, no doubt they’d scream and yell until she let them go, bringing down the wrath of their fellow residents upon her. Maybe the security forces would finally come out of the woodwork and arrest her as well. Just what she needed.
She reached the western gate only to discover the robot sentries conspicuously absent from their posts. The gate remained open, however, with two of the Texas barriers turned sideways and offering an unobstructed path into the ruins beyond. Interesting.
She wasn’t sure if the sentries had abandoned their posts or been destroyed. Either option meant the bioweapons wouldn’t be long now.
She warily made her way toward the gap. When she reached it, she peered past the edge of the closest barrier and zoomed in, focusing on the intersection set among the ruins ahead. The final pike-wielding sentry should have stood on the corner of that intersection, but that robot was gone, too.
She continued to scan the street for signs of Hydras. She also gazed upon the partially collapsed buildings that lined the road, and their jagged rooftops, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. The way seemed clear.
Her eyes dropped to the long, sealed bin that rested on the asphalt just outside the Texas barriers. Having no sentries meant she had her pick of the weapons confiscated from the travelers at the gate. Assuming, of course, that the robots hadn’t cleaned out the weapons before they departed, which was possible, given the firearm situation in the city.
She did a quick Net lookup on these types of machines, hoping to figure out how they worked, or at the very least find a diagram of some kind, but got no related results. She assumed the knowledge had been suppressed, which wasn’t entirely surprising.
Guess I’ll have to do this the hard way.
She cautiously emerged from the barrier and tiptoed her way to the bin. Small noises probably wouldn’t matter, given the general background din from the city, but she felt the need for extreme caution at the moment.
When she reached the bin, she latched her robotic fingers around the handle in the lid and pulled. It was locked, of course. She exerted more force and cringed at the noise produced as her arm servos whirred in complaint. After quite some effort she finally managed to tear free the lid. She flinched anew as a rather loud ripping sound filled the air, and then she remained motionless, holding her breath as she waited for bioweapons to appear in droves. When nothing bad happened, she gently lowered the lid to the asphalt.
She had revealed a cavity filled with fresh liquid—no doubt waiting to receive the next weapon to freeze. There was no way to move it, at least not without placing her fingers in the liquid. Not something she was keen on.
She glanced farther down the bin and decided to pry open the metal casing somewhere closer to the middle.
She repositioned, dug the fingers of both hands into the metallic shell, and peeled it open with difficulty. She cringed once again at the noise, and when she was done, she waited, glancing around expectantly, but the street remained dead quiet.
She was relieved to find a block of ice waiting inside. She could see two rifles frozen together near the bottom. In their bid to disarm Rust Town, the rulers of Aradne had forgotten these weapons after all. Or maybe the sentries had simply succumbed to Hydras.
Whatever the case, she was happy to relieve the bin of its burden. The only problem now was getting the weapons out of the blocks. But shattering ice would be a lot easier than tearing metal. A bit loud to her liking, but nothing she could do about that.
She removed the block and held it over her head, ready to break it against the fragmented asphalt that paved the external streets. But before she could do so, she felt water trickling onto her head. The drips came so fast they were almost a gush.
She lowered the block and to her delight, the ice melted right in front of her, so that in under thirty seconds she was cradling the two rifles it contained.
She lowered them to the asphalt and turned her attention to the bin once more.
I want them all.
Not that it would do any good against these Hydras, she reminded herself. Still, it would make her feel better.
She considered ripping the container wider, but that seemed a bit counterproductive to her. Not to mention loud.
She quietly padded over to one of the bordering buildings and grabbed several broken bricks from in front of it. She stowed them in her pack. Then she returned to the bin and tossed one of the bricks into the waiting liquid. She wasn’t sure this would work—if the bin was equipped with a scanner, it might reject the brick for not being a
