Metal and Ash (Apex Trilogy) (14 page)

“You are the smart one, aren’t you?” the Great Maker said. “Why waste your life with a pilot like Mr. Masters?”

“I have been asking myself the same thing for a couple of months now,” Harlow said, her eyes shifting quickly to and away from Masters.

“And your conclusion, Pilot Harlow?” the Great Maker asked with eagerness.

“That depends,” Harlow replied.

“On what?”

“My options.”

Masters looked from Harlow to the Great Maker and back. “Okay, not liking where this convo is going. Think I may go find Biz. I could use some cheering up.”

“Please do, Pilot Masters,” the Great Maker said, his red eyes never leaving Harlow’s. “And let him know that he will be able to separate from One Arm shortly. Then he can see what his options are also.”

“Right,” Masters said as he backed out of the room. “Options. Topic of the day. Options.”

***

“What the heck are you spouting your mouth about, poobrain?” Bisby snapped from the cockpit. “I haven’t eaten diddlycrap in a day and I got to take a whiz, so why should I listen to you right now?”

Masters was doubled up laughing, despite the grave danger they were all in. He just couldn’t help it.

“Oh, man,” Masters said as he wiped his eyes. “Poobrain? Oh, that’s awesome. Diddlycrap? I love you, Biz, I really do.”

“Your comrade is speaking of the Great Maker’s plans to use your bodies for spare parts,” One Arm said. “The Great Maker’s human matrix must be replenished.”

“Yeah, what he said,” Masters said as he got himself under control. “As soon as you and the lopsided mech here are done with your integration then you and I get to be dissected.”

“Then why don’t you get the heck out of here,” Bisby said. “Don’t worry about me.”

“I’d sure asheck like to,” Masters said as he struggled to keep from laughing again. “But maybe you haven’t noticed that the way out is blocked by an army of minis.” Masters frowned and looked back over his shoulder.

“And?” Bisby asked. “Spit it out, Mitch.”

“And my lovely lady Harlow is in there making some kind of deal,” Masters replied, looking back up at Bisby. “Don’t know what, but considering she isn’t my biggest fan I have a feeling it won’t turn out well for me.”

“Well, I haven’t pissed her off lately,” Bisby said. “So maybe I’m safe.”

“Thanks, Biz.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“Her body would not be compatible with the Great Maker’s,” One Arm said. “She is the wrong gender of your species.”

“I don’t think that matters much, One Arm old pal,” Masters said. “But thanks for thinking of us.”

“I was not think-.”

“He’s being a smart ass,” Bisby said. “Ignore him.”

“That can be done easily,” One Arm replied.

“Great, now I get the cold shoulder from a mech too?” Masters complained. “How does a bad ass motherfucker catch a break in this wasteland?”

***

“Intriguing,” the Great Maker said as he looked Harlow up and down. “You would offer yourself in place of the two men out there? Would they do the same for you?”

“Of course,” Harlow said.

“Then why isn’t Masters in here right now fighting for you?”

“Because he knows that that wouldn’t be a good idea,” Harlow replied. “I can take care of myself.”

“Agreed,” the Great Maker said. “So the deal is you let me use what I need of you, replacing the rest so you can be my companion here forever? Is that it?”

“You must get lonely,” Harlow said, stepping towards the Great Maker. “And even with the metal, you are still a man inside, am I right?”

“Oh, I am more man than machine,” the Great Maker said. “You’d be surprised.”

“Would I?”

“But,” the Great Maker sneered. “I do not have cravings of the flesh any longer. Your offer is worthless to me.”

“Oh, well,” Harlow said. “I tried.”

She leapt at him and had her hand around his neck in an instant. She twisted his arm behind him, bending it almost to the breaking point.

“New deal,” Harlow said into the Great Maker’s ear. “We all walk out of here and go our own way.”

“You see, Pilot Harlow,” the Great Maker said as he craned his head around. “This is why I broke with the UDC. The insistence that violence and killing solve everything.” The cyborg’s head continued to turn until it was 180 degrees around and staring right at Harlow. “It only solves part of everything.”

Harlow gasped as the Great Maker slammed his head into hers, knocking her away from him. She was sent sprawling and barely had time to get up before his fist connected with her gut. She doubled over and his mechanical knee impacted with her face. Harlow flew up and onto the worktable.

“Do you smell it, Pilot Harlow?” the Great Maker asked as he took a deep breath through his nose. “That is the smell of me. I am everywhere here. I am the Great Maker. I don’t need the company of a slut mech pilot. I am my own company.” His fist slammed against her nose again and again. “And that is how I like it.”

***

“We have Stomper on the sensors,” Specialist Sol said as the Hybrid galloped across the wasteland. “He’s just over that ridge and down in the valley.”

“Weapons are full and hot,” Specialist Grendetti reported.

“The valley is messed up,” Specialist Kafar stated as he checked his readings. “It’s like a thick crust over a big hole. There’s enough space under there for a thousand deaders.”

“Let’s hope there aren’t any,” Lt. Murphy said as she piloted the Hybrid up over the ridge and down into the valley. “I’d really like this to be an easy extraction.”

“Is there such a thing?” Sol laughed.

“Not in my experience,” Murphy replied. “But I always hope.”

The massive Hill Stomper turned at the sound of the hybrid and stood to its full eight story height.

“Greetings, Special Operations team,” Stomper said. “I am glad to see that you have come to rescue the Harlow and the Masters and the Bisby. Unfortunately, I am too big to follow them.”

“Have you tried?” Grendetti asked.

“Dude, don’t fuck with the big mech,” Sol said. “You’ll hurt its feelings.”

“I will be honest with you,” Stomper responded. “I have not tried. I feared I would collapse the caverns below with my size and crush all of them.”

“Fair enough,” Murphy said. “Where is their entry point?”

“Right where I am standing,” Stomper said as he pointed down at the crevice. “They have been gone for nearly 24 hours. I fear the worst.”

“Can you fear stuff?” Grendetti asked. “I mean look at the size of you, what’s there to fear?”

“Man, you have no shame,” Kafar said.

Stomper didn’t respond, just turned and crouched by the crevice again.

Murphy brought the Hybrid to a stop.

“Gear up, feet on the ground,” she ordered. “No time to take a breather. We go in now.”

“No time for a piss?” Grendetti grinned. “I really gotta go.”

“Piss in your silk panties, boy,” Sol said as he suited up and grabbed is assault rifle. “Time to do what we do best.”

“Rescue mech pilots!” they all shouted at once.

“Oh, I do not think they would be happy to hear that,” Stomper said.

***

“Great Maker?” Hollow Eye asked. “I do not mean to interrupt, but we seem to be under assault.”

The Great Maker stayed the scalpel he was about to apply to Harlow’s scalp. “Assault? Within the cavern?”

“There is a team of humans with the giant mech ready to descend, Great Maker,” Hollow Eye stated.

The Great Maker grumbled and set the scalpel aside. “Do not let them descend, Hollow Eye. Take the fight to them.”

“Yes, Great Maker,” Hollow Eye said. “I will not allow a breach of our hallowed halls.”

“I should hope not.”

***

“Would you look at that?” Masters said as he stood stock still, watching all the mini-mechs turn and activate. “I hope it wasn’t something I said.”

“Did you open your mouth?” Bisby asked. “Then I’m sure it’s your fault.”

“A group of living dare to enter the caverns,” One Arm said. “That is their mistake.”

“Oh, good, so it wasn’t something I did,” Masters said. “That’s a relief. So, One Arm, these living, they wouldn’t happen to be other mech pilots would they?”

“I have seen them before,” One Arm said. “They come from the Stronghold.”

An image flashed in Bisby’s head. “It’s Murphy and her team.”

The mini-mechs started to march, followed by the few full sized mechs that maintained them.

“Heading out for some fresh air?” Masters called after them. “Not up to talking? I understand that. Always good to get your head in the right space before kicking up the boom-boom.”

“Can’t you shut up for five seconds?” Bisby growled.

“I quip therefore I am,” Masters smiled then frowned as One Arm turned and followed the other mechs. “Uh, Biz, where ya going? I was just playin’!”

“One Arm!” Bisby shouted. “Turn your ass around now!”

The shock came hard and strong and Bisby’s conscious mind fled the world.

“Biz!” Masters shouted. “BIZ!”

***

“Hey, folks,” Jethro said over the com. “I can tell by the com chat and your vital signs that you might be heading in to combat.”

“You’re not going to be talking in our ears the whole time are you?” Murphy asked as she and her team prepared to repel into the crevice. “Because that would be what is technically called ‘distracting’.”

“Just hang up here with the big guy and stay off our coms,” Sol said. “We got this.”

The team descended into the darkness below.

“That was not very nice to say,” Stomper stated. “You were just trying to help.”

“I know, right?” Jethro said. “I have skills. I can help coordinate. I can tell if maybe their vital signs are spiking too high. I can analyze what their vid cams are seeing and what their sensors are picking up.”

“You could not do any of that anyway,” Stomper said. “Because of the interference.”

“True,” Jethro said. “ Good point. Thanks, Stomper, that does make me feel a little better. We should hang more.”

“I would like to hang more, Jethro,” Stomper said. “But first I must be ready for battle.”

“Oh, I doubt it will make it all the way up here,” Jethro said. “We are talking about Murphy’s team, Mitch, Harlow and Bisby. I can almost guarantee that the action will stay below.”

“STOMPER!” Murphy called over the com, her voice broken with static. “PULL US UP! DO IT NOW! NOWNOWNOW!”

Stomper grabbed the lines and lifted the team into the air. “Are you being pursued?”

Several RPGS whizzed by Stomper and he ducked low, letting the projectiles fly off and detonate in the valley.

“Get them in the Hybrid!” Jethro ordered. “I’ll take over from here!”

Stomper walked the dangling team over to the Hybrid and set them down gently. They all scurried inside the safety of the metal.

“Get strapped in, people!” Jethro ordered. “I’m eyes, ears and guns. Just do what I say and I’ll get you back to the Stronghold alive!”

Stomper peered over the edge of the crevice, ducking and dodging RPGs as they came at him.

“Whatcha see, Stomper?” Jethro asked.

“Mechs,” Grendetti answered for the mech. “A fuck ton of mechs.”

“Mechs? What the fuck are you-?” Jethro didn’t finish as Stomper jumped back and an army of mini-mechs climbed out of the crevice, half headed for Stomper the other half for the Hybrid.

Then the full sized mechs came up.

“Oh, those mechs,” Jethro said.

***

Masters quickly realized he was all alone. The mechs that were left in the cavern were obviously not operational.

“So what’s a mech pilot to do when he doesn’t have a mech and isn’t sure where his girlfriend is?” Masters asked out loud. He looked about the cavern, found a broken strut that was just the right size, grabbed it and turned back towards the Great Maker’s lab. “Guess I have to go beat the fuck out of one seriously messed up cyborg with a God complex.”

Masters slapped the strut against his palm.

“Ow.”

Eighteen

“I want video now, Jethro!” Capreze called out as he joined Mathew, Jay, Marin, Rachel, June and Themopolous in the command room. “Every angle you have!”

“I have all external cams on the Hybrid operating, of course,” Jethro said as several vid screens came up showing various views of the wasteland valley. “Then I also have what Stomper sees.”

“Hello, everyone,” Stomper said as his cams came online. “I am sorry more of you cannot join in this battle. There will be a lot of action. I believe it will be fun.”

“Spoken like a mech,” Jay said.

“Where did they all come from?” Mathew asked.

“You all have your tablets?” Jethro asked. “Good. Full briefing on what I know about the Great Maker is on there now.”

They all studied the info between glances at the vid screens. It was hard to take in what Jethro was feeding them while the vids showed wave after wave of mini-mechs converge on Stomper and the Hybrid.

“They aren’t gonna make it,” Rachel said solemnly. “They don’t have enough firepower.”

“They have Stomper,” Marin said. “And Jay and I put a lot of work into that Hybrid. It can stand a beating.”

“But they aren’t mech pilots,” Capreze said. “This kind of warfare is different.”

“They have experience taking down deaders without tons of metal around them,” June put in. “They’re a lot tougher than you’re giving them credit for.”

“Right, but fighting mechs, even mini-mechs is-,” Mathew started to say.

“Guys! Shut the fuck up and watch!” Jethro snapped. “Sure I can process trillions and trillions of streams of data at once, but you’re bugging the fuck out of me!”

“Look who’s talking now,” Jay mumbled.

“Numbers?” Capreze asked.

“I thought just a couple dozen mini-mechs, but it looks like more,” Jethro said. “My count is 41 minis and fifteen full sized.”

The group stayed very silent.

“Prayers might help,” Themopolous suggested.