CHAPTER 2: TECH MEDIC

Everyone nearby snapped their head towards the somehow distant yet far to close sound of the explosion. No one made a noise. Silent as a grave except for the flow of the wind carrying the distant scent of smoke.

Then there was a pitter patter of feet turning and running away and like it was some sort of signal everything happened all at once. Some people screamed and tried to run. Others turned and started to push through the crowd to get away, their calm faces belied by their hurried movements. And through all of this I was pushed up against Diala who hadn’t yet looked away from the distant origin of the explosion, and in the distance you could just see tendrils of smoke curling over the rooftops like the fingers of some dark god.

“That was the Mech Rights branch.” I heard Diala mutter quietly, almost too quiet for me to hear. “That's the AI Rights branch!” She then shouted almost hysterically. She frantically turned her head to Diego then for some reason to me. “We have to help them!”

Diego didn’t hesitate, just dropping the tools he was holding onto his cart and turning off the heater before shooting off towards the source of the distant explosion. Diala followed close behind grabbing my arm and dragging me along with her.

We bumped into others trying to pass us. The crowds seemed to come in waves. Sometimes we made it through with barely a bump into others, other times Diego had to use his hulking frame in order to clear a path for us to follow him behind. Eventually though we made it to the site of the explosion.

The street with the victimized building was filled with slowly clearing dust. There were chunks of limestone strewn across the street, the rocks scorched and blackened from the blast. Luckily there was very little fire as there was little to catch. The streamers had long since turned to char and the rest of the flammable things from inside the building were in the process of being put out by good samaritans that had formed bucket lines and artifacts with some sort of water generation.

That was about where the last of the good news was thought. People had been flung around the area like the toys of a bored toddler. Flesh and blood and metal and circuitry both. Some seemed mostly fine, just minor injuries here and there. Most did not.

Diala let go of my arm as we neared the site and ran towards a robot. I froze where I stood. ‘Why was I here?’ I thought in a daze. ‘What do I even do!?’

Diala knelt down next to a humanoid mech's body, looking over its damage. When she seemed done with her seeming inspection - ‘What does she even need to look at it for? It lost half of both of its legs! Not to mention the scorching!’ - She turned towards me and noticed me working myself up into a panic.

“Aria,” she said with a calm that seemed to cut through the haze around my mind, “You’re a repair mech, I built you to help me with repairs. We might not be able to help the organic, but we can help the mechanical.” She looked into my eyes with calm determination. “Will you help me?”

I didn’t know what else to do. I nodded.

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The work was painful and fulfilling; grueling and easy in equal measure. I hated it as much as I loved it. I loved being useful and able to help. I loved bringing those that we thought lost back from the brink of powering down for good. Most of all I loved the reactions of the loved ones of those we saved. The gratefulness and tears of joy of those hugging someone they thought lost.

I hated being helpless in saving those who were too damaged. Whether their memory banks were destroyed or they were just scattered around as scrap. I hated seeing those we thought we could save slowly but surely lose the light in what passed for their eyes. Most of all I hated the reaction of the loved ones who held hope that their loved ones might make it out, only to see it dashed against the rocks. The rage and tears of sorrow as they held the bodies of those they knew were forever gone.

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I toiled over mech after mech with Diala, handing her parts that I could synthesize while eating a constant buffet of metal scraps and magitech in order to make more. I made absolutely sure I only ate artifacts and not the…. alternative.

After finishing up on the current mech - Another loss - I looked around the makeshift workshop/medical field trying to find the next person to help. Several minutes passed before my fuzzy consciousness realized there were no more. All were either alive or not.

I felt a large hand fall down on my shoulder. I turned around and looked up into Diego's pitying brown eyes with my own bleary blue ones. He had been the brawn in the operation. Carrying heavy objects, whether they be people to bring to the medical field or large rocks to get to more people. He was covered in dust and soot and looked exhausted, like he had just gotten into a fight with an angry building. ‘Not too far from the truth.’ I thought glumly.

“It's done kid,” he said in his comforting baritone, “We got them all. As much as we could at least.” With a careful yet swift movement he hoisted me up to my feet and helped me stumble along to find Diala. Looking around in search of her I noticed several things I hadn’t before. There was another expanse of flat ground being used as a medical field. One that was filled with organics. Looking around I noticed many more crying families, and many more shrouds than on my mech side. So many more dead.

“IT’S THEIR FAULT!” I heard a sudden shrill scream coming from one of the mourning families. I turned to the voice to notice in surprise that the red and tear streaked faced lady who had screamed it was pointing at me. “They’re the ones constantly making a nuisance of themselves! Just seeking attention under the guise of ‘protests’.” she spat the last word out like it was cursed. “Not like the dead can't be rebuilt anyways.” she venomously muttered

“Hey! We lost people too!” people who had been on the mech field shouted back.

“My brother is dead!”

“We can’t rebuild them you racist asshole!”

“At least you organics can make more of yourselves without the yoke of law around your necks!”

“CALM DOWN!” yelled a familiar voice over the growing din. Diala strode in between the crowds, her hand held out at her sides as if to ward off the approaching fight. “A great tragedy has just occured. We are all scared, confused, and angry. You are right to want to find who did this. However,” she said that word with a glare at both sides, “That does not give you the right to hurl whatever insults or accusations you think of. Grab your fallen. Go home. Mourn.”

Much of the crowd looked ashamed and followed Diala’s advice. They found their dead and carried them off to who knows where.

There were a few however who looked furious, and couldn’t stop throwing suspicious glances over at the other side. They all brought their dead with them though, and didn’t start anything.

Diala looked over at me and walked over, smiling tiredly. “Hey kid,” she ruffled my light brown hair, “You did good. Sorry you had to deal with this on your first day.”

I shot over to her and folded my arms around her waist “‘S ok.” I said, my sniffling muffled by her shirt.

The hand still ruffling my hair lightly tugged my head back a bit. Just enough to see her sad smile. “No it’s not kid.”

I just nodded.

Diala and Diego talked for a little while about things I didn’t care about enough to listen in on. Eventually Diala began to walk away and I begrudgingly stopped hugging her, and instead transferred one of my hands into hers.

We made our way back slowly to Diala’s workshop. She opened the front door and led me down the hallway, past the room I had been born in, and to another door that she opened and let me into. A room that was evidently her bedroom.

She pointed towards the bed, with its inviting sheets and small size. “Here, you can sleep on the bed. I’ll sleep on the couch.” she gestured towards a ratty thing in desperate need of either a reupholstery or cleansing fire. “I forgot to get furniture for you. We’ll pick it up tomorrow.”

I was still stuck on the couch. Now, that obviously wouldn’t do. I firmed my grip on her hand and dragged the both of us into the bed that we could barely both fit into. I pulled the sheets over us and Diala’s protests, then firmly snuggled into her. My arms wrapped around her and my head rested on her shoulder. Diala sighed in amusement and wrapped her arm around me.

Today had been great and awful in equal measure, but this moment made it all worthwhile.