The mechs moved through the ruins of Chic-A-Go, the storm still pelting down fiercely. The rain was relentless, a constant barrage that made visibility difficult and turned the ground into a slippery mess, with mud boiling out of the cracks in the old tech cobble and swirling about in growing puddles. As the day wore on, the rain intensified, joined by bouts of hail that clattered against the mechs’ armor like an erratic drumbeat.
Inside Sir Conrad’s Toxotai, Elli and I lay back, eyes closed, trying to catch glimpses of our surroundings through the occasional mind-connected bursts of attunement. The mech's systems hummed and gurgled softly around us, creating a backdrop that more than once caught me on the edge of sleep. Sir Conrad remained focused through it all, his mouth set in a determined line as he guided the mech through the treacherous terrain with practiced ease.
Suddenly, I got a long look into the outdoors. Through the hazy downpour, I saw the unmistakable silhouette of a towering structure, taller than any of the others. It was a colossus of dark metal and glass, its upper reaches shattered and jagged, covered with ivy. The building’s multiple sections rose in a series of setbacks, giving it an almost stair-like appearance as it reached up towards the stormy sky. Vines and vegetation clung to its sides, attempting to reclaim it piece by piece.
“Look at that,” I said. I felt Elli and Conrad’s attention move to it in awe.
“Wow,” Elli gasped. “What do you think that is? It’s massive.”
“Ah, humans and their penchant for building colossal structures,” CD commented. “Clearly compensating for something, don’t you think?”
Elli smirked.
Sir Conrad coughed, the first sound he’d made in a long while.
“The legendary Willis Sears Tower, or at least what's left of it. Legend has it that the great lord Willis Sears formed the first knightships there, creating a council of their greatest to sit around a large round table to discuss matters of military and governance. They say that it survived the dark times intact and was his capital over the kingdom of Chic-A-Go, after the fall of the Union.”
“The Union?” Elli asked, her curiosity piqued.
“Before the end of old tech, all of this was the State of the Union, also called America. It stretched from Sea to Shining Sea, or so one of the historical records proclaims. Imagine an empire that owned all the land, north, south, east, and west to the very oceans of our world. That was the power of the ancients,” Sir Conrad explained. “That is what was lost by the sins of our ancestors.”
“Damn right,” CD chimed in. “You foolish apelings were too dumb to even rule your own world, so the universe is safe. Isn’t that a relief?”
We ignored CD, unable to respond either way, and continued our journey, the ruins of the city looming around us like a labyrinth of decay. The wind howled loudly through the skeletal remains of buildings, the sound reaching us inside the mech, moaning like the ghosts of the ancient Union. I opened my eyes and saw Elli staring at me, shivering. I took her hand and she smiled appreciatively as the mechs carried us forward. As we moved on, another glimpse of mech-sight showed us that the storm had reached a new level of ferocity, hail now mixed with thunder and lightning that lit up the darkened sky.
The military bunker complex loomed ahead, sprawling, and looking much more intact than any military fortress from those dark times had any right to be. A part of me wondered about it. Did the soldiers here surrender? Surely the city would have fully been wiped out if they had resisted. A foreboding sense of dread began to spark through my body.
“Hey, Sir Conrad, are there any legends about this place? Any words about why it is still so intact?”
“Maybe the knights of the Willis Sears Tower fixed it up?” Elli added hopefully.
Sir Conrad frowned.
“Maybe. Wasn’t really something I thought about before. We best be careful when we head in. Just in case.”
Our attunement link continued as we moved right to the perimeter of the place. High walls topped with rusted barbed wire and guard towers that looked very much like they had seen better days stood before us. Gates the size of our mechs stood shut, and despite their age, they looked well strong enough to resist any mech attempts at forcing them open.
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“We've made it,” Sir Alain's voice crackled over the comms. “Now let’s try to find a way inside.”
Sir Oswald and Sir Conrad dismounted from their mechs, moving cautiously towards the entrance. I followed suit, pulling a rain-soaked cloak tighter around me as I stepped into the deluge. Elli was right behind me, her crossbow at the ready.
Sir Alain examined the gate, his sharp eyes taking in every detail. I saw to its side a port very much like the one Techlock and I had encountered in the bunker.
“We'll need to hack this to gain entrance.”
My eyes widened when he reached into his pack and pulled out the same sort of computer hacking tool that Techlock had used.
“Before the mission, we checked your character files from the coming-of-age examinations. I got training on how to do this, but it’ll take a while. However, I think maybe you, Alaric, can do it better.”
I nodded, taking the hacking tool from his hand.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
As I approached the gate, CD's voice buzzed in my ear again.
“This should be rather easy compared to the bunker. I’m reaching out to the system, but the storm is making my own connection too spotty and tenuous to do it myself. The coding is apish in origin.”
“Ha. Lucky me that humans are so primitive,” I muttered just loudly enough for it to broadcast over the TUNI.
I set to work, the tool's interface lighting up as I connected it to the gate's control panel. The screen displayed a series of alphanumeric codes, with several options to choose from. I selected the “Hack” option, and the screen shifted to a grid of random words.
CD had been right. The software of the tool was able to partially scour the database, selecting words that it found were likely candidates for the password. All I had to do was choose the right one within 3 tries to avoid getting locked out of the system.
Symbols and random letters scrolled through the tool screen and I waited as it found all potential choices. When it finished, it buzzed slightly, and I rolled through my choices, even as the storm raged on around me.
There were 7 choices shown on the display: PLASMA, RADIATION, MUTANT, EXPLODE, RUINS, SHELTER, and CHAOS
I selected the first word, PLASMA, and the system screen rolled through with more random symbols, scanning to try and determine how closely the password had gotten to opening the gates. My heart pounded as I saw that only two letters were correct.
“Not good enough,” I muttered to myself, feeling the pressure as thunder roared overhead.
I moved through the choices, a thought coming to mind. These options; none of them seemed to fit with anything the ancients would have chosen. Their world was different from ours. These words; most of them meant something to me. I thought about it, about what the beings of Chic-A-Go might have changed it to before they died or fled, and I made my second choice. RADIATION.
The tool buzzed, showing three correct letters. I wiped the rain from my forehead, the cold water dripping down my face and mixing with sweat.
“Come on,” I whispered, glancing over my shoulder. The storm was getting worse, and I could feel the urgency from the rest of the team.
“Oh, for all our sakes, ape, 3 correct letters. The answer is MUTANT,” CD snarled, making me jump a little. I smirked, realizing that my nervousness over the idea of getting locked out had indeed made me stupid about it all.
I selected the third word, MUTANT. I held my breath as the system processed. The screen went dark for a moment, and my heart nearly stopped. Just as I began to have doubts, the screen flashed green, and the gate began to whirr and click as it unlocked.
“Got it!” I shouted, relief flooding through me. The gate creaked open, bright lights turning on all over the complex and around the perimeter.
“Not this again,” Sir Alain sighed. “Everyone to the mechs except Alaric and myself. We’ll see if we can get those mech bays open.”
It was at that moment that a low growl echoed from the shadows. I glanced over to the gate, my heart pounding.
From the yard beyond the gates emerged a figure standing seven feet tall, clad in studded leather armor that gleamed wetly in the rain. Its scaled, draconian head was unhelmeted, revealing rows of sharp teeth and malevolent, glowing eyes. It carried a hard plastic shield in one hand and a strange spear in its other, the shaft a dark, shiny material that didn't bend under the pressure of the creature's grip. Its tip held an ominous sheen that suggested it could pierce through anything, a hypothesis that I didn’t care to test out. The rain cascaded off its scales, making it glisten in the intermittent flashes of lightning.
“Hostile!” Sir Conrad shouted, drawing his blade. I cringed, half expecting lightning to come down and strike him, but drew my own saber a moment later, realizing that we’d simply have to take the chance.
The creature advanced with a guttural growl, its claws clicking menacingly against its spear.
“Hrrrugh!” it bellowed from its reptilian jaws. The thing stood a head taller than me, its shoulders broad, and its already battle-footed pace obviously agile. “Waaaar for the waaaar gods!” it screamed into the sky.
And then it charged.
“Elli! Go get Sir Eadric to bring his mech up, just in case we need the support,” Sir Alain yelled. “Sir Oswald, Sir Conrad, Alaric, to me!”
Elli took off immediately, running at a breakneck pace back towards the mechs. Meanwhile, Sir Conrad, Sir Alain, Sir Oswald, and I braced ourselves for the fight.