Dead Mech (48 page)

She counted three then slashed at the safety
line. For a moment she felt the relief of freedom as she was
airborne. But, the relief vanished as only half her body fell into
the cave, the other half dangling 100 feet above ground.

***

Harlow tried to center her breathing as she
kicked her left leg up over the lip of the cave mouth. Her right
leg, useless and hanging like dead weight, bumped the cliff wall
and she gasped.

Harlow focused on the pain, turning it
about, using it to drive her on. “I’m no fucking waster piece of
shit! I’m a Goddamn mech pilot! I eat pain, I shit pain, I fuck
pain!”

She gripped the cave lip with her left thigh
and pushed, lifting her enough to reach out and grasp a handhold on
the cave wall, and pulled herself inside.

***

“Holy God,” Rachel muttered, as her mech
stood at the edge of the drop, looking at the two demolished mechs
below. “Harlow! Harlow! Can you hear me?” she bellowed over her
loudspeaker.

No sooner had the words left her mouth than
the plasma charges detonated, sending a flaming ball of metal and
debris hundreds of feet in the air.

Rachel leapt her mech back as fiery bits of
shrapnel roared up the cliff face right at her. She stood there,
stunned, not wanting to believe what she had just witnessed.

“Hey Papa Bear? I found Harlow’s mech. It’s
not good.”

“Holy shit! Will you look at the carnage!”
Masters said, surveying the scorched and smoldering battlefield as
the giant mech walked away from the Railer train towards the other
mechs and the transport. “You doing okay, Rache?”

“Yeah, Mitch, I’m fine,” she answered
quietly.

“What’s up? Where’s my hottie?”

“Let’s talk, Pilot Masters,” the Commander
interrupted.

“Pilot Masters? What’d I do now? I thought
bringing the cavalry would keep me out of hot water,” Masters said,
gesturing towards Jay’s mech and the train a half mile back,
sitting idle on the tracks. “Are you still mad about that
insubordination thing?”

***

Capreze opened his cockpit, unstrapped and
began to descend. “I need you out of your mech, Masters.”

“Will someone tell me what the fuck is going
on?” Masters said irritated. “Where the fuck is Harlow?”

“We’ll talk about that on the ground,
Pilot,” Capreze insisted. “Exit your cockpit now. That’s an
order.”

Masters took a closer look at the
destruction about him. He didn’t see signs of Harlow’s mech.

“There is smoke coming out of a canyon on
our left,” Stomper observed.

Without a word, Masters/Stomper turned and
clomped towards it.

“Pilot Masters! I gave you an order!”
Capreze yelled.

***

“I’m sorry, Mitch,” Rachel said, walking her
mech towards Masters as he loomed over the canyon, staring at the
still burning wreckage below. “We lost communications with her.
None of us even knew she was in trouble.”

“What do the scanners say?” he asked
calmly.

“Too much interference,” Rachel answered.
“I’m so sorry, Mitch.”

“She is correct,” Stomper said. “I have
tried also.”

“So she’s dead because her com went down,
huh?” Masters inquired menacingly, turning his back on the canyon
and stomping back towards the mech transport. “Where the fuck is
Jethro?”

“It’s not his fault, Mitch,” Rachel
called.

***

“JETHRO!” Masters boomed over his
loudspeaker. “GET YOUR WORTHLESS ASS OUT HERE!”

“Hello Masters, I’m glad you are in one
piece,” Themopolous said over the com. “If you’ll check your vid
feed you’ll see that Jethro is in no condition to go anywhere.”

“Fuck my vid feed! Get that piece of shit
out here so I can stomp him to death!”

“Masters,” Stomper interrupted. “The
mechanic is bleeding from orifices a human should not bleed
from.”

Masters angrily looked at the screen. He
stared for a moment then sighed. “What’s wrong with him, Doc?”

“His brain’s deteriorating,” Themopolous
answered gravely.

***

“It was the Outsider, wasn’t it?” Masters
asked, barely containing his rage.

“It was the broadcast signal to the Reaper
chips that started it,” Themopolous asked. “So if this Outsider is
in control of-”

Masters/Stomper didn’t wait for an answer.
The giant mech burst into a run and was nearly a mile away before
Capreze could protest. “Pilot Masters get you goddamn ass back
here! Pilot Masters!” Only silence.

“He switched his com off,” Jay interrupted.
“I’ve been monitoring. And don’t bother trying to catch him. That
thing can cover some ground.” Jay cleared his throat. “Is Jethro
really dying?”

***

“Yes, Jay. Jethro’s dying,” Themopolous
said.

“Yeah, well, we didn’t sign up for this gig
because of the generous vacation pay,” Jay joked weakly. “Let’s get
you guys on the train so we can get out of here.”

“I think we should slow down and think
first,” Capreze said. “With the base gone we need to regroup.”

“Yeah, well, you can think while we move,”
Jay responded. “’Cause there’s a deader army heading this way.”

“How many?” the Commander asked.

“More than 100,000 easy,” Jay answered.
“Hey, by the way Commander, where’s Biz? And why were you in his
mech?”

***

“You’re sure the Outsider can’t detect us?”
Mathew asked Shiner as they stood on a low ridge over looking the
road leading up to the UDC stronghold. Three layers of fencing
separated the road from an enormous mech sized steel door.

“We are invisible to its sensors,” Shiner
responded. “However, we are not invisible to its vid.”

Mathew looked at the 200 yards or so of open
ground between them and the stronghold entrance. “No way to really
sneak up on them, huh?” he asked.

“Not that I can calculate,” Shiner said.

“What are the defenses?”

“Powerful, armed and ready.”

***

“What is it, Lieutenant?” Specialist Sol
asked, creeping up next to the unit leader.

Lieutenant Nancy L. Murphy, UDC Special Ops
Commander, lowered her binocs and turned to her 2
^nd
in
command. “Not sure. I couldn’t get a good look at the pilot. Looks
like a deader, but it’s not acting like one.”

“It’s not on my scans,” Specialist Ngyuen
added, joining the other two. “Whatever tech it’s using, its
custom.”

Lieutenant Murphy thought for a moment. “If
it’s a deader, we can take it. But, if its not, I don’t know. We’ve
never taken on a live one before.”

***

“We are not alone,” Shiner stated. “The
movement is faint, but there are others around us.”

“Live or dead?” Mathew asked assessing the
sensors. “Those are weird readings.”

“I would say alive. Their movements are
erratic, but I believe this is because they are utilizing some type
of tech that is designed to confuse our sensors.”

“Kinda like our stealth tech?”

“No, not quite. We are invisible to
scanners, they are visible, but only if you are looking for
anomalies, which I am.”

“Doesn’t look like many. Maybe 6. We can
handle that.”

“Yes, but I would rather we didn’t.”

***

Lieutenant Murphy lifted her left hand and
twirled her index and middle finger, ending the motion by pointing
at Shiner/Mathew.

“Are you sure we want to light it up, sir?”
Specialist Sol asked. “The crazy fucker inside’ll know we’re
here.”

“It already does, Specialist,” Murphy
answered. “It has the specs for our armor, it knows how to find
us.”

“Yeah, but without our Reaper chips it can’t
get a lock on us, right?”

Murphy sighed and looked to Specialist
Nguyen. Nguyen cleared his throat. “It doesn’t need to. This close
to the entrance we’re the flies in the spider’s parlor.”

***

Positioned fifteen yards to the right,
concealed by a large rock formation, Specialist Kafar put his RPG
launcher to his shoulder. A targeting image superimposed itself on
his helmet’s visor, showing him distance, wind speed and other
information useful to insure the rocket hit its mark.

“Ready,” he said quietly. “Target is
acquired.”

Crouched directly behind him, Specialist
Austin slapped him on the back. “You have a go.”

Kafar centered the target’s crosshairs
directly on Shiner/Mathew. “Bye bye, you deader fuck,” he
whispered, slowly squeezing the trigger.

There was a loud hiss then the rocket shot
away from the launcher.

***

“We have incoming!” Mathew shouted.

“Yes, if you were paying attention you would
have noticed the target lock acquired on us seconds ago,” Shiner
said.

“Sorry if I’m a bit distracted. I couldn’t
imagine why my mind isn’t multi-tasking right now. Good thing I’ve
got you to look out for me,” Mathew said sarcastically.

“I have apologized several times for not
allowing you to disconnect,” Shiner responded.

“I just want to wash off! I’m sitting in my
own filth for fuck’s sake!” Mathew shouted.

While still arguing, the mech spun about and
discharged its plasma cannon, disintegrating the RPG instantly.

***

Specialist Nguyen’s jaw dropped at the site
of the mech effortlessly defending itself. “Okay, that’s no average
deader,” the Specialist said.

“No, it’s not,” the Lieutenant agreed.

“Attention mystery guests,” Mathew’s voice
boomed over the loudspeaker. “We’ve got you on our scanners and
have a pretty good idea where you’re hiding. How about we cut this
shit out and have a quick chat?”

Murphy lifted her hand again and gave the
okay sign. There was a pause then the sound of a ricochet as a high
caliber rifle round pinged off Shiner/Mathew’s cockpit, leaving a
small crack in the windshield.

***

“Hey! That was just dick!” Mathew yelled.
“Hold your fucking fire! We’d rather not have to retaliate.”
Another bullet hit the windshield in the exact same spot,
increasing the size of the crack.

“Ahhh, come on! That’s really going to make
it hard for me to see. Knock it the fuck off,” Mathew said.

“I do not believe they are open to
negotiations,” Shiner said.

“Yeah, no shit.” Mathew thought for a
moment. “Hey! Guys with guns! If you’re UDC why aren’t you dead?
You do realize that every single UDC trooper is now a walking,
talking deader puppet, right?”

***

“Think that’s true?” Sol asked. “Do you
think Johnson killed everyone?”

Lieutenant Murphy raised her binocs and took
look at Mathew. “I don’t know. It’s possible. Definitely one reason
I had us yank our chips out.” She watched Mathew for a moment.
“What I want to know is why the mech pilot keeps saying ‘we’. You
got anything, Nguyen?”

“Nope. It’s the only thing around us.”

“Whatcha thinkin’, sir?” Sol asked.

“I’m thinkin’ that if we ever plan on
getting back into the stronghold we are going to need some help.
That mech may just be that help,” Murphy answered.

***

Shiner/Mathew watched Lieutenant Murphy step
from behind her cover, hands raised. “I’m unarmed,” she called
out.

“That is not true,” Shiner said to
Mathew.

“Yeah, I see the gun in her belt. Let’s give
her a chance,” Mathew responded. “What the hell is she
wearing?”

Shiner/Mathew scanned the Lieutenant’s
armor. It was full body, black and seamless. She also wore a matte
black helmet that covered her entire head, except for the tinted
face mask, which was flipped up. Whatever material the armor was
made of it continually confused the sensors.

“That’s some sweet gear,” Mathew said over
the loudspeaker.

***

“The armor’s a prototype. Only myself and my
team have them,” Lieutenant Murphy said, arms still raised. “That’s
not a standard mech, is it, Pilot?”

“Nope,” Mathew answered. “It’s one of a
kind.”

Murphy and Mathew stared at each other, the
Special Ops Commander craning her neck to see up into the
cockpit.

“Do you mind coming down out of there so we
can have a chat?” Murphy asked.

“I’d love to, but circumstances are keeping
me in this cockpit,” Mathew answered. “So, any reason you decided
to try to blow us up?”

Murphy looked about. “Who is this ‘us’?”

***

“The ‘us’ would be me and my mech,” Mathew
said to Murphy.

“I do not appreciate being referred to as
‘your’ mech. We have a symbiotic relationship,” Shiner said,
offended.

“Well I wouldn’t exactly call this symbiotic
since I’m trapped right now,” Mathew shot back.

Murphy listened to the two bicker briefly.
“You do realize your loudspeaker is active, right?”

“Fucking nice one! You didn’t turn off the
loudspeaker before talking?” Mathew scolded.

“Technically it is my loudspeaker. I am
entitled to its use as much as you are,” Shiner responded.

“Um, still active,” Lieutenant Murphy said,
lowering her hands.

***

Lieutenant Murphy gave the thumbs up and the
rest of her team joined her. They all stood there listening to the
mech and its pilot.

“I think they’ve gone nuts,” Specialist
Austin whispered.

“I would have to agree,” said Sol. “They
sound like a coupla old ladies.”

“WHATEVER!” Mathew roared. “Just shut up for
five seconds and let me get this figured out.”

Shiner grew silent, refusing to respond.

“That’s better,” Mathew said. “So, why
aren’t you dead?”

Murphy pointed to herself. “Are you talking
to me now?”

“Yeah. Who else would I be talking to?”

“Definitely nuts,” Austin repeated.

***

“Any chance you can kneel down so I don’t
have to destroy my neck looking up at you?” Murphy asked.

“Sure thing,” Mathew said, bringing the mech
as low as possible. The Special Ops team clambered onto a large
boulder which, while not quite eye to eye, brought the conversation
to a more even level. “How’s that?”