Tera followed close behind but was still taken by surprise when a flash of blue light washed over her field of view. Gauge opened fire on the guards who waited for them inside, and the Council soldiers returned the barrage. She saw one duck behind a make-shift barricade and take aim at her comrade. With a sharp exhale, Tera lined her own blaster up and dropped the target.
“Behind you!” Gauge cried out.
Tera ducked, watching her companion’s expression as he aimed his pulse gun and took a few shots. She turned around to see another Council goon drop to the metal floor.
A dull red light washed over the area as a loud electronic pang emanated from speakers throughout the room. Someone triggered the alarm. The two bodyshells waved their firearms over the room, checking for any stragglers.
“See anyone else?” Gauge asked.
“Negative,” Tera replied, her police training kicking in. “All targets neutralized.”
The rebel I.I. smirked.
“Good,” he said. He looked up at one of the signs over the nearest doorway. “They’ve got to be close.”
He beckoned for Tera to follow him as he went through the entrance to the next chamber. She took one last look over her shoulder to make sure she hadn’t missed anyone, then made her way after him.
The next room was even darker than the entrance chamber they deactivated the bodyshells in. There was a dim green glow radiating from the wall opposite the doorway they walked through.
“Whoa,” Tera said, stopping as she took a look at the room.
It was no larger than a loading dock, but it still housed a considerable number of simpods. The coffin-sized containers lined the wall in short rows, extending up to the ceiling. Almost all of the pods were empty, the interior lights long extinguished. Two were still illuminated, however. They sat on the lowest level, near the center of the row. It was clear they had been placed here for ease of access.
“There they are,” Gauge said. He checked the corners of the room for any remaining guards, but they were alone.
Tera took a step forward and saw the humans within their simpods. She recognized them almost immediately. King Hum and Ethan had their eyes closed as they floated in the snot-green fluid. They were curled up like fetuses in the womb, connected to the contraption by dozens of black wires. If she had flesh-and-blood limbs, they would surely be going cold with horrible anger as she looked at the prisoners. She wanted to go back to the hologram of Councilman Harring and smash the room apart. To find where he was stored and burn the building down around him.
“How do we get them out?” she asked. Her tone was seething.
“We’re gonna need some tools,” Gauge said.
“So, what do we do?” Tera was starting to feel powerless.
“Well, the bad news is that the equipment we need is back at the Furnace and we’re going to have to take the whole simpods there,” Gauge replied.
After a moment of silence, Tera asked, “And the good news?”
Gauge pointed at the wall beside Ethan and King Hum, where a large cluster of deactivated simpods were connected. Tera squinted in the direction of Gauge’s finger, trying to see what he was talking about when she noticed a low hiss coming from behind the wall. Then, with a sudden roar, blue cones of flame melted their way through the thick structure, kicking up white sparks. Tera took a step back as she watched the torches cut a long, jagged line through the wall, tracing out the shape of a large rectangle. Through the glowing hot wounds in the wall, Tera could see the light of day. Someone was cutting through the building from the outside.
“That’s the good news,” Gauge replied.
The flames retreated and vanished. A quiet moment passed before a loud rumble shook the building. With a terrible shriek of metal and concrete, the wall was torn from its frame and the world outside washed into the chamber. Tera needed a moment to adjust to the new light, shielding her eyes from the sun when she saw the figures pouring in through the new opening. As her optical receptors corrected themselves, she realized she recognized the newcomers. It was the men and women of the People’s Union — but they weren’t alone. The loyal soldiers of the Holy Kingdom of Opes were among them. Together, the rebels and Opesians gathered around the simpods and started to unhook them.
Just behind them, a small gunship hovered just above the streets of the Pavilion. Large bolts of green and blue light erupted from it as it opened fire on the Council soldiers, who had just started converging on the building.
Gaslit
Ethan and Taylor’s nineteenth birthday came again — for what felt like the second time to the honored birthday boy. They had perused the massive catalog of online game modes and maps, but nothing they came across gave Ethan that Last Stand vibe he was looking for. Taylor managed to find an impressive looking pirate adventure, however. As the guests of honor, Taylor and Ethan would play the role of pirate captains competing over a golden treasure chest.
Each of them got to design and outfit their own sea-faring vessels. Ethan made his a high-speed junk with fiery orange sails and cannons loaded with grappling hooks. They each made their ships in private, so he had no idea what Taylor was working with. She could be captaining a Man-o-war for all he knew.
Whatever tricks she might have up her sleeve, Ethan still felt confident he had the advantage. He had Sharpe as his right-hand man. He’d take that over any number of cannon decks. Together, Ethan and Sharpe covered the ship in a neon paint job depicting dragons and fire. It looked terrible, like a crayon factory had exploded nearby, but it was certainly distinct.
The goal of the
