Spenser Phoenix watched Ben work in the metal egg. It was a tight fit, as it was built for a robot the size of the Admin. All the controls were miniature, and the space was cramped. But it was the only way to unlock the sealed areas of the facility so that they could procure food, weapons, and tools. “Can you do it?”
Ben prodded a button but cursed when his digit missed and hit one beside it. “I unlocked the main stores, but there are five more rooms with higher clearances. Hand me the admin’s eye.”
Spenser handed the metal orb with a metal coil swinging from it. “How long before the security bots get here?”
Ben held the eye to a blue scan plate. “I don’t know. We haven’t had a communication channel open in thirty years. In fact, the last time we had to contact the regional command node was when I picked you up as a baby. Before that, I just took care of the animals.”
“How long have you been here with the admin?”
“Oh, three hundred years or so.”
Spenser froze, didn’t know what to say. That was a very long time. What did they do for all that time? And it seemed like the Admin meant nothing to Ben, so it must have been like a prison sentence and lonely. “Okay, let’s go take a look at what we’ve got.”
Down in the belly of the facility was a large loading dock room. On one side, a ramp descended to a wide rolling door. On the other was a series of storage rooms. Ben entered a room with emergency printed at the top. “If the facility needs to be evacuated, these supplies keep the Admin, me, and the animals alive. Well, scratch the Admin now. There are blankets and a few simple weapons. Here, take the lightning staff. Projectiles were banned many centuries ago. At least with a lightning staff, one can usually be rebooted.”
Spenser pulled a red cloak from a closet. “Will these keep us warm?”
“Most assuredly. That’s not simple cloth. Any amount of sun will heat it up and possibly keep you alive a night. You’ll be toasty if you have a fire or anything that gives off infrared.”
“Okay, that’ll work. I’m going out on my own. I want to see what’s out there before endangering the others.”
“I don’t recommend it. We’ve reintroduced many megafauna, humanoids, and the Arch knows what else.”
“No, this is the best way. While I’m gone, work on breaking the last layers of security.”
Ben opened the rolling door, and snowflakes burst into the dock room. The frozen landscape had a haze kicked up by the wind. A snow devil meandered past the facility until it spun apart and returned to its ethereal form.
Spenser nodded to Ben, turned, and headed into the white oblivion. The wind assaulted him, and he pulled the hood down and pulled the cloak tight about him. The red fabric really did block the cold. Even just the walk from there into the hills would have caused frostbite without it. But he had no gloves and had to hold the staff with a hand in the sleeve.
He turned back and looked at the facility. The concrete building was about eight stories at the height of the tower. At the base, the compound spread out. As he trekked further, it seemed diminutive in a vale. It was just a lone building in a sea of white. Strangely, it still felt like home.
The lightning staff was made of metal but wasn’t cold. It even hummed slightly. There were parallel spearheads at either end, but it didn’t look like the ends were made for cutting, not razor sharp. Between the spearhead pairs was a muzzle or at least a tube. He should have asked how it worked. There was a switch at the center. He’d find out if he were forced to use it.
Glancing back at the facility for the tenth time, and now everything but the upper tower lay behind the hills, he saw movement. An animal, or something, was behind him. At first, he had no idea what it was or what its intentions were, but soon, he knew he was being followed.
He crested the hilltops and could see into a basin. It must have been fifty miles across or more. He wasn’t practiced at judging distance, but it didn’t matter; it was vast, harsh, and not what he’d hoped to see.
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The hills now concealed whatever stalked him. It was moving faster than he was, so he had to try something. If he couldn’t see it, it couldn’t see him. He crouched behind a boulder and wished the cloak wasn’t red. The snow was powdery. He put his hands into it and shoveled it over himself. The cold caused pain that throbbed in his hands.
He waited. The view framed by an icy hood didn’t change. The wind howled. His nose was cold and dripping.
A shadow lay across the ground, across the boulder. The sound of a beast made hairs stand up at the nape of his neck. It was a deep, throaty breathing. Snow crunched under its heavy steps, in it sniffed.
Spenser tried to breathe noiselessly, taking in air and releasing it in long exhales. The wind was in his face, making it hard to keep the hood down. Then it hit him; He’d been lucky and stupid. He was upwind of his pursuer, which kept his sent from reaching it.
The animal sniffed downslope, a burly cat, megafauna. Its long teeth were like daggers before its steamy breath.
Spenser had to lean at the speed of a snail. Move too fast, make a noise, and those fangs would close around his neck and pinch his head off. So, he gradually kept the boulder between himself and the cat. But when he went to move his boot, the snow compacted audibly.
The sabor tooth’s ears twitched, and its head sank for another sniff at the ground. It looked like a loin that skipped leg day, but it made up for it with powerful front limbs, a considerable body, and, of course, fangs.
Spenser dodged his head behind the boulder to avoid its gaze. He found himself lying on his side and worried he wouldn’t be able to sprint away if it came at him.
The sabertooth snorted and moved away, diagonal through the hills.
Spenser looked at the staff. Should he have tried to fight? After he was sure the cat was long gone, he flipped the switch on the staff. It buzzed, and when he tapped it against the boulder, forks of light spread. It erupted earth and sent chips from the boulder. He switched it off. Well, that was interesting. He could protect himself, after all.
That gave him the courage to continue into the basin. So far, he hadn’t learned much. Not enough to take back to the facility. The information he was looking for was where to go. He didn’t want to take the people in the facility in a random direction. They would be scared, and a plan would go a long way with them.
The sun shone through a threadbare patch of sky, and the snow sparkled. On the ground facing the west, it became slushy. Small patches of grass punctured the white blanket. His shadow grew longer, and he realized he had to turn back soon if he didn’t want to spend the night out here.
The hills looked like mountains on his side, making a steep descent. He found terraces of iced rock that didn’t look worth going down. He looked out and saw steam rising from milky blue lakes. A herd of mammoths walked single file toward the bodies of water.
Pebbles cascaded behind him. Before he could whirl around to face whatever came, he heard a roar very close. Deathly close. He put the staff out to fend off whatever came and then impact… The staff was ripped from his grip. And he tumbled from the terrace.
There was a howl of pain. The sabor tooth had a would on its side, where his staff point had torn skin. So, the spear points were sharp enough to cause wounds. So, it was more like a double-tipped spear than a staff, but he didn’t name it.
The sabor tooth licked the wound but turned its attention back to him. It limped as it stepped to the edge and gazed down the fall.
Spenser ran. He had nowhere to go, but his body told him to go and never to stop. He found himself headed for the hot lakes. Their billows of steam that the wind tore away were the only close landmarks ahead.
His legs felt heavy, and he knew he had slowed, no matter his total commitment to staying alive. The beast would soon be on him. What was his plan anyway? Cats can swim. Perhaps he should just drown himself and save himself the terror of being eaten alive.
His evaluation of the situation was correct. The strange pastel blue lakes were still a hundred yards away, but he could hear the sabor tooth just behind him. It was time to die.
A trumpet sounded, split the air.
Spenser stumbled and rolled. His hood rolled back, and the wind tousled his hair. He tried to understand what he saw.
A mammoth stomped forward like an avalanche, sending the sabor tooth end over end. The cat landed hard but scrambled to its feet to avoid the massive aminal next charge. The cat glanced once at its missed meal and then left.
Spenser regained his feet and hoped he wasn’t about to become a pancake under the charge of one of the herd. But they kept their distance, and some meandered to dip their trunks in the lakes. He walked forward and thanked his savior. It regarded him with a kind eye, not afraid. Why should it be afraid? It just made short work of what was going to eat him. He felt very low on the food chain at that instant,
He took the opportunity to backtrack and retrieve the lightning staff. But he returned to the lakes to warm up and look around. And it's a good thing; he found something unexpected—footprints. Someone had left shooed prints in the snow and mud around the area. Were they like him or Neanderthals? He didn’t know, but he wasn’t returning to the facility tonight, not until he found out who they were.