The closer we got to the lift, the more chaotic it was. The area looked like a bomb went off, or a riot happened, or a natural disaster had just occurred. I guess, in a way, the Antithesis are all three.
It’s strange, I’d only been a Samurai for about six hours, but I was already fairly de-sensitized to the carnage around . As was apparent by the conversation Sharron and I were currently having.
“You know what you’re going to call your new companion already?”
“Yup,” I patted the giant bear on the back. Well, the upper leg, he was tall ok? “I’m going to call him Bob, it’s short for Big Old Bear.”
Sharron stopped, then turned to face . Face in serious mode. “Can I ask you sothing? You seem so mature most of the ti, but every once in a while you show this cutesy childish side. I know I kinda egged you on to start, but what gives?”
“Oh, that’s sothing that I, and the group of people I live with, believe in. No matter how bad things get, you should always try and find sothing that brings you joy. For , that’s cute things, for my friend Jane it’s fashion, Allen really likes crystals. It’s different for everyone, and it doesn’t have to be anything big. Life down here is rough, you need sothing to hold on to. Is it weird?”
She shook her head, “No, when you put it that way it makes sense.”
“Good” I smiled, “Cause I’m not going to stop anyti soon.”
I glanced down the cross-street, there were several packs of Antithesis pulling miscellaneous items out of stores, mostly food, but the occasional synthetic good and plant were dropped on the piles they were creating. The Antithesis were thick in this area, easy points but slow going.
With a single ntal command I sent my bears forward, swarming towards the carrion in the streets. I found it much easier now, the bears acted more like an extension of my will than simple combat droids. I was proud of my fluffy murder machines.
After that last pack was cleared, we finally got a clear look at our destination. The main lift towered over the entire district, built alongside one of the support pillars it was a monolithic cage like structure that connected the undercity to the gacity above. You’d never realize the scale until you were right on top of it.
The lift itself was massive, two hundred feet across, and about fifty feet deep. It never stopped moving, at least normally. Today, the lift shaft was coated in so sort of organic substance, which gumd up the entire system. It was disgusting, I could only assu that was the remains of the pod the Antithesis arrived in. There was a ss of fluids at the bottom of the shaft, which I could only guess was the remains of the Antithesis that died on impact, and were almost imdiately recycled.
Arms crossed, I stared. Despite all the carnage there weren’t many Antithesis in the area.
“What are you thinking about?”
“If I was a smart ass plant, where would I hide? It’s obvious the fucking thing isn’t here, so it must be hiding sowhere”
Spooky stepped forward, “Soplace inconspicuous, away from the initial location the farther the better.”
“If that’s the case, we may have gotten lucky.”
Sharron turned to , “Why?”
I pointed straight up, “The rain. You’ve seen what it can do, it restricts their movents. The Antithesis would either have to cut under the canals, which takes ti, or the Twenty Six would have to risk getting spotted crossing a bridge. Doubt that’s sothing a ‘smart’ Antithesis would do.”
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from . Please report it.
Sharron and Spooky both nodded. “If that’s the case, where would it hide? Ti is short, scouts would identify a handful of locations.”
“I calculate that there’s a ninety three percent chance it would have chosen the junkyard just east of here”, a deep male voice echoed out of Sharron’s armor, I could only assu it was Aeonys’s voice. “There are other locations, but that’s the only one close enough, and with enough cover to give them ti to dig out.”
Nyx paused for a mont. “Agreed. There are several other locations that would be ideal for long term habitation, but not hiding.”
I glanced at Sharron, we both nodded, “Then that’s where we’re going. If there’s no twenty six we can always co back and look for a conventional hive afterwards.”
I sent all my bears, sans Bob, out ahead, clearing that way to the junkyard. We were finally closing in on our quarry, I could feel it.
—
The titanic pile of trash, or the Scrapyard, as it was known in the district, was used by the corps as a dumping place for anything they couldn’t make a profit on recycling themselves. If Dante hadn’t called for a job, I’d probably have been here, looking for tidbits to salvage and sell.
Being at the center of an Antithesis attack… at least it would have been a quick death.
Unfortunately, the Scrapyard was also huge, miles in diater, a veritable sea of rusted tal and outdated tech.
“This might take awhile”, I muttered. “This place crawls, so I can’t use Bandit to just track Antithesis activity back to the source.”
“Not unexpected, we knew this was the best place for them to hide” Sharron replied. “Ideas?”
“I’ll take the left side you take the…” She raised one hand to bop , so I shied away, grinning. “Well, if you don’t like that idea, we start on the south side.”
Her hand slowly lowered. “Why?”
“The Scapyard runs right up to the canal on that side, if they wanted to dig out that would be the place to start.”
The offending arm retracted, giving a chance to rub my head. “Not a bad idea.”
“And I can use Bandit to search for vibrations.”
She lifted the cannon and started walking, “Ok, let's do that.”
“When you get out of that suit I’m going to get Bob to bop you and we’ll see how much you like it.”
She glanced back at and grinned, “Okay Tiny.”
Traveling through the Scrapyard was slow going, not only did we have to deal with the Antithesis, but also shifting loose tal, stacks of wrecked cars blocking our path and dozens of other annoyances. After running around all day my energy was starting to fail. Sharron must have noticed, because after about twenty minutes she stopped her relentless march and turned to face .
“You ok back there?”
I stumbled a little, steadied myself, then looked at her. I tried to keep the exhaustion off my face, pretty sure I failed based upon the look of concern. “Maybe slow down, I only have little legs.”
I gave her a bright smile, which was a mistake because I stopped paying full attention to my footing. My next step was on a loose piece of tal, my feet went out from under , and I rolled down the pile of tal we were traversing. Thankfully the ground was rcifully free of jagged tal spikes when I landed, that would have been an embarrassing way to die.
Sharron half walked, half slid, down the pile behind , with a lot more grace than I managed, before reaching out. “Are you ok?”
“Don’t worry, the ground broke my fall” I laughed, then imdiately regretted it. “I think I bruised my everything.”
“You’re lucky you landed on sothing so flat.” she looked down, “Although, I’m not sure why. The tal seems like it’s been pressed into the ground.”
Spooky pulled at my arm, slowly helping to my feet. “I’ll give you a hint, this area is around six feet wide, and it looks like sothing has pushed wreckage around to make a path.”
I looked at the bear and willed my eyes to say ‘I’m too tired for quizzes you son of a bitch’. He apparently got the ssage.
“This path is the right size for a model twelve to travel, it may be how they’ve been getting biomass into the new hive.” The bear patted on the arm “Before we chase this lead down, I think you oughta get a tetanus shot.”
I just moaned in response.
Reviews
All reviews (0)