We carefully advanced from cover to cover. The Spectracopter surveillance did not show any long-range shooters among the Macks, but we still wanted to avoid early detection.
That worked until we were about hundred meters from the first group of Macks, then they rushed us in greater numbers than we had expected. I estimated there were at least hundred enemies of various types, including a dozen Battlecats but no Magical Mack Girls.
I subvocalized: “Elya, the Battlecats are priority targets.”
Said priority targets were already close enough to use the plasma casters in their tails and started shooting. I dived behind a tree, chased by the hellfire the enemy threw at us, while my own Battlecats let loose. From their own gun-tails, hypersonic railgun projectiles lashed out and ripped through the enemy killbots, focusing on the vital parts with lethal accuracy.
Two of the soldiers joined in with heavy sniper rifles they used like battle rifles at the short distance. While their guns were not in the league of the Shiv, they managed to kill one enemy Battlecat each.
As the hail of fire around me receded, I popped up again to add my personal firepower. One of my three Battlecats was out of the fight, both forelimbs half molten and the joints stuck. At least one of its eyes was burnt out as well.
But the enemy had suffered far worse. Between the three of them, my own Battlecats had shot up seven of the enemy ones. The soldiers had gotten two. Now three enemy Battlecats were standing against my remaining two, but I managed to distract them with the Mack-Zapper and one of my Battlecats still had a working gun in its tail.
It was over in seconds - that is, my part of the fight. Some ten meters away, the MGs demonstrated why they were considered the premier fighting force of Haven. Pink Orchid pushed the incoming wave of steel back with her defensive forcefield, and Ladybug unleashed a far stronger attack than I had seen from her before. Her Thunderbolt skill was now a thunderstorm that popped Mack eyes, ripped sparks out of their cabling and left a dozen of the metal pests as smoking ruins.
Dozens of others were spared from the heaviest part of the lightning barrage and rose again like zombies, falling on their nearby comrades and piercing them with blades and spikes.
“Elya?”
Not my doing. But I can detect a highly sophisticated electronic attack coming from B.S.O.D. She does what we do, only better. To emulate that level of effectiveness, you would need better E-war hardware and software. Which can be found in various Class II catalogs.
Of course someone with her code name would have a kind of E-war power. It was a fairly obscure reference though. Around fifty years ago, early versions of Microsoft Windows tended to show a white error code on a blue background when they crashed. And crash they did often. Hence, the “Blue Screen Of Death”.
But my musings were interrupted by a group of Ones and Fours trying to flank the Magical Girl group. My two remaining Battlecats and I circled around the MGs to stifle that attempt. Elya and the Mack-Zapper roasted their circuits, while my Battlecats killed those who did not submit to Elya's not-so-gentle persuasion. The MGs did not even have to break stride while proceeding further towards the base.
By now, I had a small bodyguard of captured Macks again on top of my Battlecats. Only four Ones and three Fours, but better than nothing.
Rounding the next corner, the base entrance was in sight. I also saw two Type 28 Macks, their sniper units, getting into position. It would only take seconds before they opened fire on our team.
I quickly got off a shot at the eye of one Twenty-Eight, and the one Battlecat that still had a working gun fired two rounds at the other. All of the projectiles smashed through the Macks’ eyes and killed them. The HANAF snipers barely managed to lift their guns before the Macks collapsed.
The MGS and I reached the base entrance without further complications, while the HANAF soldiers brought up the rear. The halls seemed deserted except for some maintenance bots, who quickly fell to mine and Elya’s hack-attack.
B.S.O.D. remarked “So that is how you catch functional Macks? It is similar to my powers, if not quite as efficient.”
We passed through a manufacturing and assembly area, where some sort of cannons were built. B.S.O.D. explained “Type Fourteen. A dangerous artillery system.”
I managed to quickly disable the fabbers and hijack the assembly bots in the room.. Hacking these non-combat units was not much of a challenge.
At the far end of that room were two contraptions that looked like teleporting equipment. One seemed to be a receiving unit, like the one I had at Styx base to hijack Mack teleports. The other resembled the broken one in the assembly hall at Styx Base, which seemed to be a teleport sending unit. Only this one was on a giant turntable.
Finally, we arrived at a lab from which faint whimpering emanated. Inside, Shaver Bitch was lying on a metal slab, her head trapped in the cruel grip of a metal vise. It was further immobilized by screws in her skull. Her hands were clamped to the side of the table with a crude kind of handcuffs.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
But the most shocking thing was that the Macks had already cut open her skull. The brainpan had fallen to the floor and one of the hood dryer-like devices I had seen before was sitting on her head instead. Through a gap between hood and head I could see bundles of silvery, hair thin wires embedded in the brain.
Ladybug took a closer look and realized that was what the Omnissiah had planned for her. She went pale as a sheet and stumbled over to the next corner. Loudly retching, she lost her breakfast.
In the meantime I took out my electronic interface kit and plugged it into a port in the device. Elya quickly confirmed what I already suspected.
The device you have connected to is a mind uploading apparatus. The scan is destructive. Stopping it at this point would leave the patient with severe brain damage and an incomplete backup.
I subvocalized back “How much longer would the scan take, and where could we find the upload afterwards?”
Four to five hours, and the upload goes right to a Mack cyberbrain. Look at the top of the uploader.
Looking at the top of the hood, there was indeed a cyberbrain plugged in. Duh.
I relayed the information I had gathered to B.S.O.D. She swallowed and needed a few seconds to compose herself, then she proclaimed:
“As the commander on scene, I decide that we let the upload run its course and then take the copy with us. Miss McCallan, I trust that you will help us with the subsequent interrogation.”
“Of course. While we are waiting, I’d like to go around and plunder the data in the robots and machinery in the base.”
“Suit yourself. I still need to process what is going on here.”
I made the rounds and extracted every piece of useful information. Complete blueprints of the types 14 and 21. Blueprints I did not have yet for various maintenance and assembly drones, even a large excavator drone.
Last but not least, blueprints for the teleport equipment. I would not need to painstakingly reverse engineer the teleporter wreckage at Styx Base anymore.
Once I was satisfied with stealing the data, I proceeded to steal as much hardware as I could. In a tunnel that led to the surface, I found a specimen of the big excavator drone, still dirty from building the base. I quickly programmed it to collect the scrap from the battlefield, Battlecats first.
Then I called Wendy. “Hi Wendy, I think we have an opportunity to plunder the Mack base I’m in. Could you collect the guard and proceed with Herbie to the ACF?”
“Sure.”
While Wendy got ready, I browsed the available materials. The most juicy bit of hardware goodness was a big crate, still half full with twenty-eight of the energy sources used in the Battlecats. I had one of the assembly bots grab it and carry it to the teleport sending unit, then I pointed the sender towards Styx Base and called Wendy again.
“Hi Wendy, I have the first item to try and teleport. It is a big crate with equipment, and I’d love to receive it intactly at Styx Base. When it is there, please take it out of the teleporter gently and set it aside. After that, there might be a bunch of drones and scrap I manage to collect.”
With some guidance by Elya, Wendy and I safely transferred the crate. Over the next two hours, I sent a bunch of drones from the manufacturing area and three tons of scrap, including all of the busted Battlecats.
Eventually, the stream of recovered materials became a trickle and I called it a day with the looting. I thanked Wendy for her trouble and returned to the lab.
Uploading Shaver Bitch would take another ninety minutes, so B.S.O.D. and I had time to talk. She started with inquiring about Elya. “How come you are so knowledgeable about all the esoteric Mack technology? And have the means to control it? I’m suspecting that your “Little Aug” is even more than you let on so far.”
Damn these overly smart Magical Girls. But then again, B.S.O.D. was considered their master strategist. It was hardly surprising that she would notice. Once again, I had to choose between honesty and dissembling. Once again, I figured that the time for playing dumb was over. So I replied “You are right. I was trying to keep a low profile.”
“You did a very bad job at it.”
“I guess so. The fact is that Little Aug is a quite capable AI in her own right. She is behind a lot of the seemingly implausible things I can do. And she has a real name. Elya.”
“She? You are speaking about Elya like she is a person.”
“She may well be one. I consider her a full blown AGI, perhaps even sapient.”
You finally acknowledge me in front of others. That is so sweet.
B.S.O.D. exclaimed: “Oh fuck. And the other tech, how much of that have you been keeping from us?”
“Not all that much, as I have to earn access myself first. Elya is also the gatekeeper for new blueprints and software. By fighting the Macks and presumably by refraining from bad actions, I can demonstrate that I am a faithful protector of Mankind and earn access. The whole thing is quantified in a point score for killing Macks, and I can spend those points for technological upgrades.
“But for technology I acquire otherwise, there is no point cost. That is why I’m always eager to plunder Mack tech.”
“And today? Was today lucrative?”
“Quite. Blueprints for the types fourteen and twenty-one, Mack teleport systems and various maintenance and assembly drones.”
B.S.O.D. fell silent after that, apparently thinking about the ramifications.
Eventually, uploading Shaver Bitch was done. As we were deliberating what to do with her still living body, the upload device switched off and she stopped breathing. In silent agreement, we did not bother to try and revive her. B.S.O.D. took the electronic brain.
Eventually, we made our way back to the remaining helicopter and the Explorer. I loaded up my equipment, stacking it into a corner so Ladybug and Pink Orchid had room to squeeze in. B.S.O.D. joined me in front and we were off towards Victoria. Similarly laden to the brim, the surviving helicopter followed us.