"And outward is those weird river-looking things. What are those for?"
"They were used to connect Shards together in a resource and information-sharing network."
"You keep saying were, Brick. It's still there, and there are still Ferals everywhere."
"You misunderstand. The Shard didn't produce Ferals. The Shards are from the time before Connahr and the Ahrimani delivered the quantum disruption bombs. The Shards produced combat units, not Ferals. After the disruption, the Shards were greatly crippled. Even still, they remain very dangerous for adventurers."
The shattered shells of tall buildings began to pass by below me as I contemplated what Brick had told me. Having Ferals just sort of appear out of nowhere was bad enough, but having AIs convert your cities into killer robot factories seemed worse somehow. My Augmented vision made out countless Ferals roaming the ruins, crawling up the sides of buildings and in the darkness between them far below.
The Spike came closer and closer, the sheer scale of it pretty mind-boggling. It made the several hundred story towers surrounding it seem like the grass surrounding a grand old tree. I couldn't even come up with an estimate of how big it was. It wasn't thin either. It was easily a thousand feet wide, if not wider.
"I am adding a marker to your Interface. This is the position the First is relaying to me. You will have to find a way into the Spike."
A round blue marker appeared in my vision, directly ahead. It was labeled “Regar.” I resolved to ask Brick what that whole thing with the First was about when I had more time.
Threat markers lit up all over the Spike as I got close enough. They moved slowly in random patterns, and I used my Augment to zoom in on one. It was a four-legged spider bot about the size of a truck tire. The body was a round metallic ball. Sprouting from the top of that body was what was obviously a weapon. As I got a bit closer, I saw it move to track me.
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Mobile Defense Turret, Threat Level: 8
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"Oh, shit," I said, and jinked hard to the right, using the propulsion units in my hands to turn sharply.
Pulses of purple light flashed out, raking through the space where I'd just been. More and more of the mobile turrets opened up, tracking and hitting me despite my speed and desperate maneuvers.
"Drones, take them out!" I ordered, and dodged again. Something new appeared in my HUD.
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Countermeasures: Laser—active.
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I laughed as the hail of laser bolts hit me, and did exactly nothing. Each time one landed, that portion of the armor would turn exactly the same color as the beam for just long enough. For a moment I was tempted to sit there and let them shoot at me, before I remembered all the stuff stuck to me that might not be able to take the same kind of punishment. These things had to die. I swooped in toward the Spike.
Spider turrets exploded in rapid succession as my two drones targeted one after the other. The particle beam was overkill against the lightly armored spiders, with even the needler able to make short work of them. These defenses were all about quantity.
I flew close over the surface of the Spike and smashed a turret with an armored fist. It flew apart and fell away.
"Yeah!" I yelled as I smashed another and another, skimming the smooth silver surface of the Spike.
I pulled away just before smashing into a slight bulge in the side of the Spike and flew in a tight circle, surveying the carnage. The display was still full of threat markers, but the ones nearby were mostly gone. The turrets above and below moved in our direction, but wouldn't be here for a minute or two.
"That was awesome. I owe you big time, Metra."
"I'm glad you like it. Don't rely on those countermeasures always saving your ass. If the laser is too powerful it will burn right through. Now stop screwing around and get the First out of there."
"Yes, ma'am."
My drones finished the last targets before resuming station. The needler drone was down to about 25% of its magazine. I'd have to refill it. The particle beam drone was dry, but its magazine was slowly refilling from its onboard power source and I hoped I wouldn't need it for a few minutes.
I scanned the surface of the Spike in front of me, looking for a way in. It was a lot less regular than it looked from a few miles away. Odd bulges and crevices were everywhere. It was far from the perfect smooth cylinder I'd thought it was. There was so much to look at that it took a good thirty seconds of detailed scanning before I found something. A barely visible rectangle that might be a hatch. It wasn't large, but I'd fit through it. If it even was a hatch.
With a clunk I landed beside the hatch, anchoring myself to the Spike with the gecko pads in my armor. I was glad that whatever else Metra had done, she hadn't removed that.
After activating my Flow Component Visualization I still wasn't sure what this rectangle was. Just under the surface of the Spike was a plethora of components, but most of them my Interface didn't label. I brought up the salvage interface and selected a tiny slice through a promising looking section of components at the edge of the rectangle.
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Salvage: Metals, tier 3
Cost: 15 Nanite Clusters
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"Fine," I said, and pressed the Salvage button with a thought.
The familiar black swarm issued from the knee of my armor and flowed into the hatch. Seconds later, a sliver of tier 3 metal fell away.
I slapped my palm on the hatch and activated the gecko pad. It still wouldn't move.
"Shit," I muttered. I wished I'd thought to bring a Holemaker.
"Jake, I hate to rush you but
