Metal and Ash (Apex Trilogy) (9 page)

“Nice,” Grendetti said. “What else does this thing have?”

“RPGs,” Jethro said. “Thirty of them. You also have plenty of flames. This puppy will torch half the wasteland.”

“That it?” Kafar laughed.

“Each seat can lay back and become a bunk,” Jethro said. “You can drive in shifts and no one has to leave the cockpit.”

“What about-?” Grendetti started to ask.

“Shitter is below,” Jethro said. “Next to the cargo bay. There’s also a very small infirmary. Let’s hope not more than two of you get wounded.”

“One can only dream,” Kafar said.

“Driving is easy,” Jethro said. “Two stick system, very retro. Both sticks forward, the Hybrid goes forward. Both sticks hard back and it breaks. Slow back and it goes in reverse. Right forward while left-.”

“Got it,” Grendetti said. “No pedals to push?”

“No, no pedals,” Jethro said. “I’ll guide you out of the hangar.”

The Hybrid began to move and the screens switched from the Hybrid overview to images of the hangar. The screen in front of Grendetti faced forward and the Hybrid easily navigated its way around the mech hangar chaos of repairs and personnel.

“I don’t feel like we’re moving,” Murphy stated.

“Total cockpit stabilization,” Jethro said. “That way you don’t get disoriented if you switch controls from one station to the next.”

“And if the stabilization goes out?” Murphy asked as the Hybrid cleared the hangar and trundled away from the Stronghold.

“Get ready to puke,” Jethro said. “It really throws your shit off.” The Hybrid slowed. “All yours, Grendetti. Try not to break it.”

“I make zero promises,” Grendetti stated as he took hold of the sticks and pressed them forward. The screen lurched slightly, but the cockpit didn’t register it all. “Nice.”

“Good luck, team,” Jethro said. “Coordinates are locked in. I also uploaded the full communication I had with everyone. Plus all info I have on the Great Maker.”

“The what?” Specialist Kafar asked.

“You’ll see,” Jethro said.

Twelve

“So, One Arm,” Masters began. “We aren’t going to be deader food or anything, right?”

“No, Pilot Masters,” One Arm replied as the mech made its way down into the underground caverns that lay below the valley floor. “There is no intention of feeding you to any creature.”

“Good to know,” Masters replied. “So…what are you going to do with us?”

“Enlighten you,” One Arm said.

“Enlighten us?” Bisby snorted. “A dead mech is going to enlighten us? Ha!”

“I do not appreciate your attitude,” One Arm said. “If I did not need you to stabilize my AI while I fully transition then I would eject you from my cockpit, Pilot Bisby.”

“I’d gladly go,” Bisby responded. “I don’t need this crap from a deader.”

“Kids, come on now,” Masters chuckled. “Let’s all play nice.”

“Are you kidding?” Bisby snarled. “This is not what I signed up for.”

“Nor I,” One Arm said.

“So neither of you were prepared,” Masters said. “When it comes to new relationships no one is prepared. You just have to take what you’re given and work with it.”

Bisby and One Arm were silent for a moment.

“What the hell are you babbling about?” Bisby asked.

“I think you have strayed from the issue,” One Arm said.

Masters nodded sagely. “You will learn one day. Pilot and mech. It’s a beautiful thing.”

“Masters, if you don’t shut your hole, I’m…gonna…shut…,” Bisby started. “What the hell?”

“Biz?” Masters asked, looking Bisby over. “You feeling alright?”

“You can’t see what I’m scanning,” Bisby said. “Is this real?”

“Since I can’t see what you’re scanning how can I kno-?”

“I wasn’t talking to you, dipwad,” Bisby said. “I was talking to One Arm. Am I seeing this right?”

“You are,” One Arm replied. “Pilot Masters will be able to see once we get around this curve and go a few meters deeper.”

“See what?” Masters asked as the mech finally approached its destination. “What are you two-? Oh, wow…”

***

The rock gave way, but Harlow kept her footing, as she moved her right hand to a new grip in the cavern wall. The massive space was easy for a giant mech to navigate, but for one solitary mech pilot it wasn’t such smooth going.

“Why the hell did I agree to help Biz take down that mech?” Harlow mused aloud as she moved further down the wall, almost to the cavern floor. Or that part of the cavern, at least. “Should have known the asshole would get us into trouble.”

Harlow jumped the last few feet and took a look about, here halogen lighting up the minerals coating the cavern walls. She walked a few feet and stopped, realizing the climb she just finished was the easy part of her trip. She had a lot more to go.

“Fucking Bisby.”

***

“How many are there?” Masters gasped. “I mean, Jeezus, look at them all.”

“Those are the children,” One Arm said. “Now I may tend to them.”

“You couldn’t before?” Bisby asked as the mech walked towards the rows upon rows of mini-mechs that lined the cavern walls. Most were in various states of disrepair, but many were complete.

“I was not stable before,” One Arm stated. “I was a danger to the children.”

Halogen floodlights turned on One Arm and a shrill alarm sounded.

“Halt, rogue!” a voice boomed. “Approach no further!”

“No need for alarm, Hollow Eye,” One Arm said. “I have rid myself of the putrid thing and attained a new pilot. My AI will become fully stable in only a few hours.”

“You have brought living ones down here?” Hollow Eye asked as he shut off the floodlights. “Living pilots?”

“What is this?” a mech asked as it crawled from under an outcropping in the back of the cavern. “Living? You have brought the living?”

“Living?”

“What living? Pilots?”

“Pilots? Alive?”

AI voices echoed from all directions as mech after mech moved away from their tasks and stations and approached One Arm.

“Oh, not good,” Masters said. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”

***

Harlow stopped in her tracks, puzzled by two things: the light emanating from the main cavern and the obvious sound of mech hydraulics. Lots of mech hydraulics. She knew that her long blades wouldn’t be effective if she was going after metal, so she checked her shotgun and 9mm and held them at the ready.

She took a diving roll into the cavern, coming up on one knee, the shotgun and 9mm held out, ready for action. Her eyes scanned the scene in front of her and she nearly dropped her weapons.

Mechs. Dozens of mechs. And that didn’t count the mini-mechs that lined the cavern.

“What the fuck?” Harlow gasped as the mechs, obviously deaders all, turned to look at her.

“Oooh,” one of the mechs said as it pointed at her. “Cursing is not allowed around the children.”

“Cursing is never allowed,” Hollow Eye stated as he thudded forward. “You would be pilot Harlow?”

“I, uh, yeah,” Harlow stuttered, not sure whether to run or open fire and go out in a blaze of glory.

“Hey, baby!” Master yelled as he stepped out from behind one of the rows of mini-mechs. “Isn’t this place cool? Look at all this metal! There’s a fuc- I, uh, mean freakin’ army of minis!”

“Mitch?” Harlow asked as she slowly, cautiously, got to her feet. “What the fuck is going on?”

“Ooh, baby, watch the language,” Masters said as he came towards her. “The mechs get a little touchy about the potty mouth stuff.”

“This is all an hallucination, right?” Harlow asked. “I’m actually wounded and bleeding out somewhere in the wasteland. That has to be it.”

“No, Pilot Harlow,” One Arm said as he bent low so Bisby could be seen. “This is very real. We are just waiting for an audience.”

“An audience?”

“Yeah,” Masters said. “We’re gonna go see the Great Maker. He’ll grant all of our wishes. I’m gonna wish Bisby had a brain.”

“Knock it off, Mitch,” Bisby warned. “I’d really like to get out of this mech alive. You being an asshole doesn’t help.”

“Language,” half the mechs said at once.

“Nope, not creepy at all,” Masters grinned at Harlow. “So…how are you?”

Harlow’s eyes narrowed. “Why aren’t they trying to eat us?”

“Only the rogues eat human flesh,” Hollow Eye said. “They did not transition properly.”

The mech knelt low so Harlow could see the lack of pilot inside.

“I guess it’s like Shiner,” Masters said. “They only need a human brain for the initial transition. Once their AI adjusts they can compress their storage and live forever.”

“Better hurry up and adjust soon,” Bisby said. “I want out of this deader.”

“The feeling is mutual,” One Arm responded.

***

The surprising part of the side cavern the mech pilots walked into when their audience was granted was the intense lighting. All around the space were large halogen arrays bolted into the walls and ceiling. The lights revealed in bright relief the piles and piles of mech parts that were strewn everywhere. And in the middle of the piles was a man. Or the semblance of.

“Ahhhh, welcome,” Colonel Howard Maker, the Great Maker said as he wiped his hands on his overalls and stepped forward. “A pleasure to meet the latest generation of pilots. Always nice to know that there are those out there willing to lay their lives on the line for a civilization that should have died out centuries ago.”

The glare of the lights made the pilots squint, leaving the Great Maker’s form obscured slightly. But as he neared they could easily see that the man that had spoken to them was not all man. Not at all.

“What the holy exoskeleton?” Masters exclaimed.

The Great Maker looked down at himself and grinned. “Ah, right, my appearance must be shocking.”

“To say the least,” Harlow responded as she studied the braces, cables, wires, struts and hydraulics that framed the man’s body. In place of his eyes were two glowing red sensors. “What are you?”

“Me?” the Great Maker asked, honestly surprised. “Have my friends not informed you? I am the Great Maker.” He spread his arms wide. “Welcome to the Womb where real life is born.” His red eyes narrowed. “
Real
life. Not the fragile flesh held together on your frame by sinew and tendon.”

“Uh…okay,” Masters said.

The Great Maker looked Harlow up and down and she struggled not to step back from the hunger on his face. He watched her closely then smiled, his cheeks looking like they’d rip apart if the smile was too wide.

“Do you fear me?” he asked Harlow.

“Should I?” Harlow countered.

“Yes,” the Great Maker nodded. “Everyone should.”

Thirteen

“Mathew?” Themopolous asked as she gently shook the mech pilot. “Mathew? Wake up.”

Pilot Mathew Jespers stirred and slowly blinked his eyes open. “Huh? Oh, hey Doc. Did I fall asleep again? What time is it?”

“0430,” Themopolous said. “You’ve been here all night.”

Mathew looked about the infirmary, his eyes resting on Rachel’s comatose form briefly. “Where’s the commander? He usually crashes next to her. Something up?”

“I don’t know,” Themopolous replied as she checked Rachel’s vitals. “I haven’t seen him all night.”

“All night?” Mathew asked as he stretched and stood up from the cramped chair he’d slept in. “I thought June had the night shift lately.”

Themopolous just smiled and continued on with her assessment of Rachel’s vital signs.

“Okay,” Mathew said. “I get it. Not my business.”

“Hey Matty?” Jethro asked over the com. “You up for a little deader action?”

Mathew yawned and cracked his back. “Sure. What are we looking at?”

“About three dozen just outside the first perimeter,” Jethro said. “They’ve learned to stay away from the sonic field and are starting to mass just outside its range.”

“Mech or carbine?” Mathew asked as he nodded to Themopolous and headed out of the infirmary.

“Whatever you feel up to,” Jethro said. “They’re a bit outside my gun range without bringing out the hardcore firepower. Otherwise I’d take care of them.”

Mathew thought about it for a minute. “I haven’t had a good deader squashing in my mech in a while. Can you run through the start up?”

“Already done,” Jethro replied. “I had a feeling you’d want to stretch your legs.”

“But the doc just woke me up,” Mathew said. “How would you even know that?”

“Oh, I keep tabs on all of the pilots’ heart rates,” Jethro said. “That way I know who to call on when I need them. As soon as yours was no longer at rest I began the start up on your mech.”

“That’s a little unsettling,” Mathew said. “That means you know when the heart rate is up too high, right? Like when a pilot, or pilots, are involved in some sort of strenuous activity.”

“No comment,” Jethro said.

“Perv,” Mathew laughed.

***

“Where are you headed?” Capreze asked as he walked in from the open hangar door.

“I get to stomp some deaders,” Mathew replied as he grabbed the ladder leading up to his mech cockpit. “What are you doing out there?”

“Clearing my head,” Capreze replied.

“Bad news?”

“Not good. Have you seen Themopolous?”

Mathew studied the commander’s face and quickly realized something more than bad news was on his mind.

“Just left her in the infirmary,” Mathew said. “You feeling okay?”

“It’s not about me,” Capreze said. “You go have fun. Give a couple extra stomps for me.”

“Want to join?” Mathew asked. “May take your mind off your troubles.”

“Can’t. This trouble has to be dealt with right away.”

“Rain check?”

“You bet,” Capreze smiled as he pointed to the cockpit. “Go have fun.”

Mathew watched the commander start to leave the hangar and wondered if he shouldn’t just send some of the Railers out with carbines to take care of the deader issue. He had a feeling something big was about to go down.