Still Falling: Book 1: Solstice 31 Saga (5 page)

Straight down The Abbey was a perfect circle, almost invisible because of the color of the slate that covered the roofs and capped the walls and walkways all the way around. It was broken up further by the trees growing inside and outside The Abbey. It almost looked intentionally camouflaged.

The BUG was very high now. The status in the window indicated that it was a calm, cool, dry and exceptionally clear day over The Abbey that allowed a view of hundreds of kilometers in every direction.

“Em, what is that?” Barcus indicated smoke on the horizon to the southeast.

“Maximum magnification,” Barcus ordered, but 10x was the best optical zoom on the BUG. Another 100x via digital zoom provided no addition information.

“Can you estimate where that is Em?”

A map popped up on the HUD, showing the basic location of where the fires were.

“Do you have any BUGs near there?” Barcus asked.

“I have some close but still a couple hours away, depending on conditions.”

“Redirect them there, please. We need to know what's going on here. And also move in that direction. Just in case we want to redirect there.”

“Barcus...”

An image came up of a village burned to the ground and still smoldering.

“I thought you said they were a few hours out.”

“This is a different village. One on the way to the smoke.”

The BUG flew closer to the largest ruin. The ashes were full of skeletons and charred remains.

They were herded into there and then burned.

“Head for the smoke, best possible speed.” His voice was flat.

Anger was building.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Fire and Monsters

“Barcus was acting counter to the Emergency Modules (EM) primary mission objectives. It was able to adapt.”

--Solstice 31 Incident Investigation Testimony Transcript: Emergency Module Digital Forensics Report. Independent Tech Analysis Team.

<<<>>>

Em was moving fast, not taking the time to be stealthy. She wasn't trying to hide their tracks. Every step tore great wounds in the forest floor. The constant rhythmic pounding of her feet was like ground thunder.

More BUGs spread out as they ran. Six more freshly burned villages were discovered that day. Each time it was the same, people corralled or piled inside a barn or hall that had been burned.

“There were signs these last two villages fought back - makeshift fortifications and weapons. I think some of the burned remains were of the attackers.” Em was all business. It was unlike her.

“Why are we doing this, Barcus? It's not safe. What will we do if we catch up to them?”

“We will kill them all.” It had been barely a whisper.

“Barcus.”

The main HUD showed a small village under attack. Fires were already burning. Men on horses surrounded the town. They were armed with drawn swords and crossbows. An elderly couple, still in their nightshirts, was being dragged to the crossroads by their hair. None of the villagers were armed in any way. Not even an ax or kitchen knife.

A signal was given, and the people were forced into the blacksmith’s barn on the opposite corner from the Inn at the crossroad. After the villagers were all inside, the doors were nailed shut.

“Em, what is our ETA?”

“Two hours at full speed.”

Fuck.

He clenched his teeth as the barn began to burn.

“Prep the suit, Em. Stop one kilometer out.”

After the barn was fully engulfed, the horsemen started a house-to-house detailed search. Valuables were collected, as well as wagonloads of supplies. It looked like they were planning to bed down there for the night. The barn fire had jumped to the thatched roof of the next building and then on to the next one, downing that section of the village.

It was almost dusk when Em and Barcus stopped and Barcus moved to the suit. As he climbed in he asked, “How many are there?”

Em replied, “I have counted 57 so far.”

“I want them all dead. I don't care how. All. Is that clear, Em?”

“Yes, sir.”

His suit’s HUD had a tactical display of the village and indicated that hundreds of BUGs had already been deployed, and several followed each of the men.

“None of them will survive. There are 59 in total. For now.” Em was chilling in her declaration.

It was full dark, except for the fires when the monsters descended on them. Barcus loomed out of the darkness to grab two men by the necks. In the suit, he was over three meters tall. He lifted them from the ground and got exactly the reaction he wanted. The rest drew their swords and attacked.

The claw-like tools he had selected for this work were effective. He snipped off their heads and tore through the rest of the men. Swords shattered or deflected off his suit. It was better than any armor ever invented for the task. A dozen fell, with missing or crushed heads before they began to run. The suit was faster than any man or even a horse. His feet crushed them to jelly without even missing a stride. They could not hide, either, because the un-noticed BUGs followed them with seemingly supernatural ease.

Barcus saw Em taking them easily. Her two front legs were crushing skulls with ease, keeping them contained in the village. Barcus crashed into the tavern, The Archers Dog, ripping the door off its hinges, and was met by six drunken men in the common room. They all died before they got their swords out of their sheaths. The HUD indicated that three more were in the room above.

The stairs would not have held his weight. Sharp tools protruding at right angles from his forearms gouged into the walls as he climbed, taking some of his weight.

There, more drunken men were desperately trying to put on their clothes and draw weapons. The monster Barcus froze. They had been about to rape a girl on the innkeeper’s bed. She was now balled into a fetal position, eyes wide, staring at the blank black space where his face should have been. There was a plea for help in her eyes. A plea sent to a monster covered in blood and gore already.

The men were all dead an instant later.

Not knowing what to do then, he did nothing, just loomed there over her.

She looked at him and he thought she said in a trembling whispered, “Thank you...” in English.

His HUD said there were six of them left, scattering in all directions. Em was after the three heading roughly the same way. In a single motion, he crashed out the upper story front wall of the tavern and landed lightly on the street, running after the other three. They heard him coming and tried to hide. The first hid under a wagon loaded with supplies. Barcus crushed his head with the same foot that kicked the cart into splinters with one blow. The second climbed a tree. Barcus jumped into the air ten meters, grabbing the man, tossing him down, then landing directly on the man.

The last one was hiding inside a wooden outhouse. With one swing of his tool-bristling arm, he destroyed the outhouse, nearly cutting the man in half.

Barcus paused over the devastation he had created, longing for more targets to be found in his HUD. His thirst for vengeance was not yet quenched. But none appeared. He ordered a full thermal scan of the village and surrounding areas to ensure they didn't miss anyone.

“Barcus. There is one at your feet,” Em said. There was a bit of sadness in her voice.

Barcus looked down, and there was a thermal image of someone below the outhouse floor. He swept the wood aside with a single stroke revealing the midden pit, dug below the outhouse.

There was a boy in the foul wet pool, up to his armpits in fecal matter, shivering.

Barcus knew he must look like a horror backlit by the fire from the village burning behind him, covered in blood and gore. He ordered all the tools in his forearms to retract, large chunks of flesh falling away as they did.

He deployed the fine work hand, one of the suits tools, from the end of his right arm. Slowly he dropped to a knee and then extended that hand to the boy who shrank from it at first, until Barcus made the universal open palm “come here, I won't rip your head off” gesture. With the delicate robot fingers held out to him, the boy placed not one, but both hands in it.

He was easily lifted from the muck and set on clear ground, shaking.

Barcus stood to full height and the boy cringed.

“Barcus. They are all dead. There are just the two survivors. We should go. They have seen too much already.” Em was walking up behind Barcus. The boy’s eyes got wider. Em was also covered in blood, walking easily on six legs. Her two front legs were still held up in an attack ready position, scalps still clinging to them. The utility arms that extended from beneath the front of the Emergency Module were dripping black blood.

They turned in unison and moved away.

“Em, we need to clean up. Is there a lake or river near here?”

They found a waterfall by a mill a few minutes away. It was perfect for cleaning up.

After the suit had most of the blood cleaned, Barcus got out.

“Look, Em. I need to make sure the survivors are okay.”

“They are both together in the courtyard behind the tavern.” A window opened in his HUD. The boy was sobbing uncontrollably as the woman cleaned him with rags and buckets of water from the well.

They didn't see or hear him as he approached from the darkness. The boy was still sobbing as he got dressed. They were both so thin, their skin as thin as paper over bones.

With the fires at his back, he stopped close enough to speak.

“Are you all right? Can I help you?” His hands were open, palms up. He was trying not to frighten them.

They were startled, fear in their eyes.

They fell to their knees and cast their eyes down as if in complete supplication. He was surprised by their reaction.

“My Lord. I know just a little of the high speech. And he none at all,” the woman spoke hesitantly.

“You are safe now. The murderers are all gone,” Barcus said. They remained on their knee with their faces almost on the ground.

“My name is Barcus. You should leave this place. There is another village a day’s ride to the east. They need to be warned of these evil men. There might be more. I have seen many burned villages of late.”

The boy blurted out a series of words Barcus could not understand. When he was done, the woman said, “Olias says there are more, not just men. Horrible monsters. Demons that killed them all. Ate their heads.”

“Olias?” Barcus asked. He stopped babbling.

“Tell him they are gone too. Please, get up.” They were on their knees this whole time.

Em interjected into his head, “
We need to go.”

“Will you be able to get there on your own? Or should I take you there?” Barcus asked.

“
Barcus. I don't like this.”

“We. Will. Manage.” She was reaching for words.

“Take what you need from here, but be gone by morning.”

“
Barcus...”
Em insisted.

The barn that was ablaze behind Barcus began to collapse slowly. As it did, the suit stepped out of the inferno. It had been burning off all the organic matter that the waterfall could not remove. It stood and seemed to stay there as if watching Barcus for a few moments. It slowly turned and walked away.

“I must go,” Barcus said. “You will be safe as you travel. But hurry. Do you understand?”

“Yes, my Lord.”

He turned and began to walk away and then turned back.

“What is your name?” Barcus asked.

“Po, my Lord.” The girl replied.

“Goodbye, Po. Goodbye, Olias.”

He walked into the night.

***

Barcus returned to Em with the suit following on remote. He got in the spider and sat in the driver seat. Em’s avatar was in the other one.

“Are you all right, Barcus? You were...lost.”

“I am fine. I need a tactical update,” he said flatly.

The display in the spider filled with annotated maps and status information. The maps were much more detailed than the last time they were up. Twelve hundred BUGs had been busy.

“I want to keep an eye on Po and Olias.” They appeared in two windows and as new annotations on the maps. They had already gotten cleaned up, dressed and saddled up two horses and had begun to rig a third, a pack horse. Olias was running from body to body, checking pockets and collecting purses. He freed all the animals in the stables. They ran in panic as soon as the doors and gates were opened. Olias was almost run down by the cows he freed from a barn on the edge of town. There, he also found the raiding party’s horses in their picket lines. They were all saddled and calm, even as the fires burned closer.

He started going through the saddle bags but stopped. There were about 50 horses here. Trained, calm, beautiful horses with no brands. Olias had obviously seen this kind of picket before. A long rope, secured only at one end, with loops every six feet, and the horses tied by their reins, alternating on each side.

Olias walked to the post where the rope was tied with a beautiful knot that came free with a simple tug at the right spot. As he began to walk, the horses calmly followed, as if they had done this a thousand times before.

“He is a smart one, Barcus. They will be fine,” Em said.

“Em, where is the suit?” An icon appeared on the map. It was just outside the village. “I want to have it shadow them, but not too close. But first, I want it to ask something of Po while she is still alone.”

Olias was walking the horses back to the center of the village. They all remained calm, despite the fact the fires were so big and so close.

The suit walked directly out of the shadows and paused, facing Po. The fires were so loud now with collapsing timbers, she didn’t hear it approach. She almost walked directly into the suit. It was so black, it reflected almost no light. She stumbled back and almost fell but didn't run.

Barcus ordered, “Em, disguise the voice. I don't want her to know it's me.”

“I will not harm you,” the suit said via its external PA system, in a deep rumbling voice like a cinder block being dragged over cement. At the moment she froze he had a good look at her again. She was not as young as he thought at first. She was about 30 years old he decided and far too thin.

She fell to her knees, visibly trembling.

“Who were these evil men?” the thing asked.

“They are from the Citadel. They carry no livery or other signs.” She was choking the words out. “But I have seen them before. These weapons...” She paused again. “It’s death to carry them if you are not from the Citadel.”

“It's death to carry them if you are.” The suit turned to walk back into the shadows.