Dead Mech (61 page)

“I repaired my AI and storage while in the
stronghold running diagnostics. There is much you will learn, but
now is not the time.” Shiner opened the cockpit and Mathew felt the
cerebral integration disconnect. “I am sorry for the deceit,
Mathew.”

***

Mathew sprinted towards the stronghold
entrance, dodging mechs, dead and live. He didn’t care about the
fact he was in mortal danger and could be squashed at any moment,
the joy of using his legs again and touching solid ground was
exhilarating.

“Commander? You fucking plan on letting us
all know what is going on?” Mathew shouted, but soon didn’t care
about the answer as a roar behind him made his blood run cold and
he turned to face a dead mech looming, blocking the sun.

“Got him!” the Rookie shouted grabbing the
deader and slamming it to the ground.

***

Stomper/Harlow and the Rookie continued to
wage war as Capreze walked his mech up to Shiner. “You were the
first, right?”

“You know the answer already, Commander,”
Shiner responded.

“You killed my wife,” Capreze growled. “You
killed an entire city/state’s population!”

“I know.”

Capreze raised his plasma cannon and fired
point blank into Shiner’s mid-section, sending the mech flying.

“Commander! What the fuck?!?” Mathew yelled,
watching from the safety of the stronghold entrance.

“Stay out of this Jespers!” Capreze
ordered.

“But sir-!”

“He is correct, Mathew,” Shiner said,
struggling upright. “This is not your fight. Please stay out of
it.”

***

“How many thousands have you killed over the
years?” Capreze snarled, lashing out with his mech’s foot, knocking
Shiner back to the ground. He raised his 50mm, aiming at the mech’s
cockpit then laughed. “Nothing to shoot. No zombie pilot to kill.
Do you even remember your pilot’s name? I do. It was Pilot Yuen
Chow Men. He was a friend and brother to me.”

“I did not kill him, Commander,” Shiner said
weakly. “I was as much a victim as he was.”

“LIAR!” Capreze shouted, pumping a few
thousand 50mm rounds into Shiner’s empty cockpit. “You were a
monster!”

***

“Hey Harlow?” the Rookie called over the
com.

“Yeah, Rookie?” Harlow responded, grabbing
up another dead mech and snapping it in two. “What?”

“Should we do something?” the Rookie asked,
dodging a kick from a pitiful looking deader with only half an arm
left and a zombie pilot that barely had the strength to open and
close its jaws.

“If the Commander needs us, he’ll ask,”
Harlow answered. “Right now, let’s give him his space and work out
whatever the Hell is going on. Just keep any deaders from getting
to him, got it?”

“Okay, but-?”

“Not our fight, Rookie.”

***

Shiner didn’t even bother to block the blows
as Capreze hammered down on the mech with his fists again and
again.

“Sir! You’re killing him!” Mathew called.
“Please, I’d be dead without his help. We’d all be dead without his
help!”

“It is alright, Mathew,” Shiner said weakly.
“I knew this was coming. I have been a monster. I have killed
innocents. I used you as a means to buy time to repair my AI. I
deceived you and your comrades.” Shiner crumpled in a heap as
Capreze’s mech loomed over him, plasma cannon glowing. “Go ahead,
Commander, I’m ready.”

***

Capreze watched as Shiner’s frame shook and
shuddered unexpectedly. He checked his sensors and then lowered his
plasma cannon.

“Looks like your plasma charges are about to
chain react,” Capreze stated. “Any last words, Dead Mech?”

“None that will satisfy you,” Shiner
responded.

An RPG whizzed by Capreze’s cockpit and his
attention was drawn back to the waning battle. He watched
Stomper/Harlow and the Rookie finish off the last of the struggling
dead mechs.

“I hope there’s a digital Hell,” Capreze
said finally, turning back to Shiner. “And I hope you pay.”

“There is Commander and I will,” Shiner
responded.

***

“May I ask for assistance?” Shiner asked
Stomper.

“Of course,” Stomper replied.

“Hey, I kinda need you to focus here,”
Harlow interrupted.

“I apologize,” Shiner said. “But my
hydraulics are not functioning and unfortunately all of my plasma
charges are about to chain react. I would appreciate it if Stomper
could put some distance between myself and any that may be
harmed.”

“I would be honored,” Stomper said, reaching
down and lifting the wounded mech. “Good bye First One.”

“Good Bye Stomper. Please take care of the
Pilots.”

Stomper drew his arm back and threw Shiner
far into the waste.

***

“T MINUS TEN MINUTES UNTIL NUCLEAR
DETONATION”

Themopolous stopped compressing Jethro’s
chest and reached for the portable defibrillator.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” Jay shouted. “He’s
hooked to the fucking mainframe! You’ll fry it all!”

Themopolous tossed the defibrillator on the
ground. “Well what do you want me to do! He’s fucking dead Jay!
I’ve been trying CPR for minutes! His brain is a vegetable by now!”
the Doctor cried, slumping to the ground.

“T MINUS NINE MINUTES UNTIL NUCLEAR
DETONATION”

The Chief Mechanic stopped his hacking, as
did Marin and they joined Bisby at Jethro’s side.

“Goodbye friend,” Jay sniffed.

***

Bisby drew his sidearm and approached
Jethro’s body. Jay stepped in front of him. “What the fuck are you
doing, Biz?”

“You know what I’m doing Jay. Get the fuck
out of my way,” Bisby snarled.

Marin grabbed Jay and tried to pull him
away. “We can’t risk Jethro turning, not while connected to the
mainframe.”

Jay sighed and stepped aside. Bisby put the
gun to Jethro’s temple.

The room went pitch black, all equipment
going dead.

“Um, I haven’t pulled the trigger yet,”
Bisby said.

Everyone clapped their hands over their ears
as Jethro’s voice boomed from the loudspeakers.

***

Everyone in the stronghold’s staging area
cringed as Jethro’s voice raged at full volume. The external
loudspeakers nearly shook from their anchors. The mech pilots
clawed at their ears, trying to pull their coms out before going
deaf.

“HOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYYYY
FUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!” Jethro bellowed then was
silent.

Jay watched as the monitors flickered and
reset and Jethro’s life support beeped back to life, indicating the
mechanic’s body had a pulse again.

“Jethro?” Jay whispered.

“Jeezus fucking Christ! I highly recommend
against a manual reboot when your body is hooked to the thing
you’re rebooting,” Jethro said. “That shit hurts like a bitch!”

***

“Someone care to tell me what the fuck is
going on?” Capreze ordered watching Stomper finish off the last few
crippled dead mechs. “Status report now!”

“Sorry about that, Commander,” Jethro
answered. “I got stuck behind a firewall and couldn’t get free. All
good now.”

“A firewall? What the fuck are you talking
about mechanic?” Capreze asked. “How do you get stuck behind your
own goddamn firewall?”

“Well, sir, that’s the rub,” Jethro
answered. “It wasn’t the mainframe. I was stuck behind something
else.”

“You what?”

“Sir, I think I was in a satellite.”

“WHAT? There aren’t any satellite’s
Jethro!”

***

“Hey. Jenny? Can you hear me?” the Rookie
said, having stepped from his mech onto the train car and knelt
next to the unconscious Railer. “Come on, please wake up girl.”

Jenny stirred and opened her eyes. “Rookie?
What happened? Are we? Did we?” She shut her eyes tight again and
tears squeezed onto her cheeks. “Oh, god. Daddy,” she sobbed.

The Rookie took her gently in his arms and
held her tight as her body shook and hitched. “I’m sorry, Jenny. I
really am.”

Jenny wrapped her arms about the Rookie’s
neck and buried her face in his chest.

***

“Jay? What do you make of this?” Capreze
asked.

“First I’ve heard about, sir,” Jay answered.
“Are you sure Jethro?”

“Pretty fucking sure, Jay,” Jethro answered.
“I had all kinds of foreign code flashing through my brain. The
shit I saw. Holy fuck! It’s going to take me a bit to sort it all
out.”

“Well, that’s going to have to wait until I
am sure you’re physically stable,” Themopolous ordered.

“Doctor, do you understand the
importance-?”

“Medical override, Commander,” Themopolous
stated. “Jethro isn’t doing a fucking thing until I give the go
ahead? Got it?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Capreze replied.

***

“Incoming transport,” Stomper stated.

Everyone on the battlefield turned to see
the mech transport speed towards them and then brake to a halt. The
ramp descended and Masters stepped from the vehicle. “Hey everyone!
What’d I miss?”

“PILOT MASTERS!” Capreze shouted. “GET YOUR
MOTHER FUCKING DESSERTING ASS OVER HERE RIGHT NOW!”

Masters cringed and walked towards the
Commander’s mech. “Now, sir, before you start going all court’s
martial on my ass, you gotta understand-.”

“I don’t gotta understand shit, Pilot
Masters,” Capreze said. “Or should I say Cook Masters?”

Masters blanched. “You wouldn’t?”

“Just did,” the Commander said, stomping
away.

***

“Cook?” Stomper asked. “Will Pilot Masters
no longer be my pilot?”

“Looks that way,” Harlow answered. “He
fucked up pretty bad. He’s gonna be in the dog house for quite a
while.”

“Dog house?”

“It’s an expression. It means he’s in
trouble and will be for a very long time.”

Stomper processed for a moment.

“Who will be my pilot?”

“I guess I can be. You are the biggest,
baddest mech around and I’m the biggest, baddest mech pilot.
Perfect fit, really,” Harlow replied.

Stomper processed again. “So that means I
get a Harlow.”

Harlow chuckled. “I guess you do.”

***

Mathew limped into the stronghold, waving
off the Railer medics that approached him. “I’m fine. Back
off.”

He looked around at all of the wounded and
those attending them.

“She’s over there,” June said stepping up
next to Mathew and pointing at a cot in the corner. “She’s still
unconscious. Sorry.”

Mathew grunted and started towards Rachel,
but stopped and faced June. “Thanks, June. I mean that.”

June nodded as Mathew continued walking to
Rachel’s cot. June felt a small hand in hers and she looked down to
find the Boiler boy. She swept him up and hugged him fiercely.

***

Jenny’s sobs slowed and she pulled her head
back, her bloodshot eyes locking with the Rookie’s. “What’s your
name?”

“Huh? My name?” the Rookie asked, taken
aback.

“Yeah, your real name.”

The Rookie took a deep breath. “Dog.”

Jenny narrowed her eyes. “I’m sorry, did you
say ‘dog’?”

The Rookie smiled weakly. “Unfortunately,
yes. Boiler, remember.”

She laid her head against his chest. “I
think I prefer the Rookie.”

“Yeah, I think I prefer that too,” the
Rookie agreed.

Jenny began to cry again, but softer this
time. The Rookie pressed her into him and rocked her back and
forth.

***

Capreze surveyed the battlefield.

Broken mechs lay everywhere, their parts
littering the ground. He looked at the Railer train with only four
cars intact, seeing Jenny and the Rookie on one of them, a Railer
in a Boiler’s arms.

He watched Stomper lower Harlow to the
ground and Masters run to her. Harlow passed him by, her hand up,
palm out. Masters chased after, and although Capreze couldn’t hear
the words, he was pretty sure Harlow would make Masters repeat them
for a good long while.

Capreze slowly, painfully undid his straps
and sighed, exhausted. “Now the real work begins.”

***

“Jethro? I need an open channel,” Capreze
ordered. “Boost the signal as high as you can. I want anyone still
living and listening out in the wasteland to hear me.”

“Channel open, sir,” Jethro responded.

“This is Commander James Capreze. My pilots
and I have taken the UDC stronghold. Any who would like to join us
may do so and any that oppose us
will
die.” Capreze paused.
“It is time to truly live free not as ghosts of the past, not as
UDC puppets. We live as one or die apart.
I
want to live. Do
you?... Capreze out.”

As soon as Jimmy stopped the mech baby
Rachel began to cry. “Come on Baby Girl, you’re crushing me here,”
He said to his infant daughter. “Papa Bear’s gotta sleep or I’m
gonna crash this hunk of metal.”

As soon as Capreze began walking the mech
further into the wasteland Rachel quieted down. Within a mile she
had fallen back asleep. Capreze wrinkled his nose. “Oh, God! How
can something so foul come out of something so small and
cute?!?”

Capreze shifted Rachel over and dug in the
diaper bag, but with no luck. “Oh, you gotta be shitting me!”

***

Themopolous smiled as the Commander tossed
and turned in the cot next to Rachel’s. “You are the dreamingest
person I’ve ever known,” she whispered while she checked Rachel’s
vital signs.

Everything checked out fine with Rachel,
which is what puzzled the Doctor the most. There was no medical
explanation for why Rachel was still unconscious. It wasn’t even a
true coma, the brain scans showed too much activity.

Themopolous took down Rachel’s empty IV bag.
Mathew came up next to her, handing her a fresh bag. “How’s she
doin’, Doc?”

“The same, which is good, I guess,”
Themopolous answered, hopeful.

***

“Is anyone out there?” a voice echoed in
Jimmy’s head. “Hello? Can anyone read me?”