“What the hell is that?” I hissed, my ears ringing lightly. There were spots in my eyes from the bright flash of light that’d come from the collision. Where the gates had stood moments ago, there was only destruction and death. Burnt and blasted bodies, mech pieces, and pieces of the gate and wall were all that remained.

Elli held her hands up to her mouth, her head shaking, while CD flashed a different screen for us to view.

“You need to see this, monkeys. I know that you are hurting right now, but read this immediately,” his voice came. The AI sounded even sympathetic in a way, which was a change I liked.

Processed Designation: G-14 Graviton

Variants: MM-7 Terra specified; unique old tech

Mobility and Role:

Siege Artillery Missile

Sub-Orbital Launch Capability with Ground-to-Ground Impact

Max Speed: Unknown; presumed instantaneous terminal phase Designer/Producer: Unknown Ancient Civilization

Range: Estimated up to 50 miles, depending on launch altitude

Warhead Type and Weight:

500kg Graviton Pulse Warhead; utilizes localized gravity distortion for impact

2500kg launch weight including the graviton pulse generator and ancient tech propulsion

Guidance System/Accuracy:

Entanglement Targeting; Near-Perfect Accuracy with Temporal Adjustment Capabilities

Integrated with Old Tech Sensors for live target adjustments

Cruise Altitude: Sub-orbital trajectory with atmospheric re-entry phase

Propellant: Old Tech Propulsion System

IOC/Retirement: Unknown; presumed operational from ancient times until now as a relic

Status/Number of Units: Extremely limited; estimated to be a rare ancient relic

Launch Vehicles:

Mobile Weapons Platforms (Mech)

Fixed Tech Silos (Speculative)

OVERVIEW:

The G-14 Graviton is a ground-to-ground siege artillery missile that was used by the humans of the last great war. It currently stands as a remnant of that civilization's warfare technologies. This missile is characterized by its cylindrical body, marked by human scripts and a propulsion system far advanced beyond current societal capabilities.

The G-14 Graviton's warhead utilizes a graviton pulse generator to create a localized gravity distortion upon impact, enhancing the destructive power beyond the conventional explosive yield. This allows the missile to not only cause physical destruction but also disrupt enemy formations and fortifications by manipulating gravitational forces.

The propulsion system uses reproducible liquid fuel and can adjust its trajectory in real time to strike moving targets or adapt to sudden battlefield changes.

Due to its ancient origin, the number of operational G-14 Gravitons is estimated to be exceedingly low, each unit almost certainly an irreplaceable relic of old human society.

I scanned over the words, then looked to Elli for a possible explanation, as I barely had any idea of what this all meant.

“Missiles,” she whispered. “They were used to wipe out whole cities in the times of old, Al. To kill thousands at the touch of a button.”

“That is what power looks like, apes. That is might. It is how enemies crumble and bake in the wind. And for us, it is an opportunity.”

The two of us turned, staring into the miniature farmer projection as he gesticulated at the gate. He looked back out, watching as farm mechs, cargo mechs, and an assortment of even smaller menial types joined the fighting forces of the city to keep the enemy horde from entering the city.

“All those ripe human targets, clumped together to keep the city safe. The perfect time to strike. And yet, I don’t see any missiles. Because two missiles are already two too many. Pre-sapient simians can’t make any more. That means the missiles are done, the fighting is heavy, and we have ten times the chance we had to get ourselves some prime mech parts and make something powerful. Something akin to the times of old.”

“I’m . . .not following,” I said with a hint of confusion. “You want us to capture that missile mech?”

“No, you mongrel. We need to get back to the city!”

I watched the battle as we packed up CD, tightening my ruck straps as the mechs, monsters, and infantry all shoved and clubbed at each other. Steel clashed against steel, the air a twang of ballista and the occasional crash of a boulder.

We definitely weren’t going to go back the way we’d come, I decided. Finished securing my pack, I grabbed Elli’s shoulder and pointed to an empty side wall. She just nodded and we took off running, tearing through the open field at a breakneck pace, huffing and panting as we made our way back. Time wasn’t on our side, and if even one of the enemy mechs or monsters saw us, we could very well die before we ever had the chance to reach the city.

A motion caught my eye, and I glanced sideways, seeing a trio of stiltwalkers coming for the same section of wall. My guts sank into my feet as I tried to think of a quick solution, but I didn’t have any.

“Damn,” I gasped. “Why the hell isn’t anyone there to defend the walls?”

The first of the stiltwalkers reached the wall, well ahead of us, and was probing the sides with its ballista-clad hands. The second arrived, and the first turned and knelt, giving the second a boost up to the top of the battlements. When it reached the top, it suddenly fell back, a massive ballista bolt stuck in its cockpit.

“An ambush!” Elli exclaimed. “It was a trap!”

The other two mechs scrambled away as the wounded Toxotai from the first fight rose from its hunched position, firing again at the retreating enemy.

I fell to the ground, belly down, and stayed low as the Toxotai fired after the two retreating mechs, hitting the leg of the one that had fallen behind. It tore through with ease, a karmic fate given what they’d done to him previously.

We shot back up to our feet and closed the last hundred yards or so, only to see his head turn in our direction.

“Tech thieves! You’re lucky we’re at war or I’d have your head here and now!” a stern voice crackled through its speakers. “Get in here before I change my mind!”

We shared a disbelieving look as he reached down, letting us climb into his palm, and lifting us up and over the wall. He almost threw us down, not bothering with being too gentle, and then turned back away toward the enemy line.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Thank you!” I yelled at the auxiliary, meaning it. “May you survive the battle, good sir!”

He waved with his free hand, not bothering to grace us with another word.

We hurried down the wall just as he tried to move his mangled leg. A grinding and crackling sound came from the mech, and then a spurt of oily liquid squeezed out in a jet as he moved.

“Mobility kill. I’ll give him a free fix when this is all done. It’s the least I can do,” Elli said.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “I guess less of them are assholes than we thought, huh.”

Just as we reached the bottom, two loud thuds resounded above us as boulders slammed into the wall, and then a shrieking, cracking noise followed. I instinctively ducked forward, slamming into Elli and covering her with my body as the mech fell backward, his leg exploded into plasti-shrapnel, and his chest cratered. The wall itself now held a huge U-shaped hole in it—something that the enemy could easily traverse.

“Shit, sorry,” I cursed, pushing myself back up and giving her a hand.

“You almost killed my boob! Be gentle with a woman, you ass. No wonder you’re still single,” she mock-yelled, rubbing her chest.

“Yeah, well, fuck it, woman. I don’t need no one else to worry about as you’re already more than I can deal with!” I shot back, pulling her up.

We fled from the walls, almost immediately running into a large crowd of fearful citizens who were themselves trying to get out of the way and run back home or to the shelters. It all amounted to the same thing—Alnda was now a scene of chaos and fear, a rumpled panicked mob that crushed and trampled anyone not fast enough to get out of the way.

We ducked into an alleyway, stamping through a pool of stagnant muck and filth to give the next street a try. As Elli and I emerged from the shadow of an alley, we heard the slobbering growls of monsters and turned to see a dozen lightlings, three lizardlike and the others a sort of proto-human monstrosity, tearing into the edges of the civilians. Beyond them, I caught a glimpse of a Stiltwalker walking backward, firing bolts at a Toxotai defender.

“The city has fallen,” cried one man.

“The end is nigh!” cried another.

There was a strong smell of food and gear oil here, and I saw that the usual street carts had been toppled, some of them looted as well. Overhead, the sky, which had been clear moments before, was now marred by growing lines of black smoke billowing from the direction of the destroyed gates.

I looked around frantically, pulling Elli with me as I skirted the crowd to bring us to a house ladder. The area was made up of larger stone homes, a wealthier mercantile district whose many homes ran two stories. It wasn’t at all the sort of roof-jumping I ever wanted to be a part of, but after scanning the crowd and the approaching monsters, I knew we had no choice.

I pushed her up ahead of me and made the mistake of looking over my shoulder. People surged and screamed in a frenzied tide, their faces etched with fear. A mother clutching her two children pushed past, her eyes wide and unseeing. An old man, his gait slow and unsteady, was nearly knocked to the ground as a younger man shoved past him, making for the very ladder that Elli and I were using to get to the rooftop.

I kicked out, my self-preservation instinct kicking in. He was in no state to reason, and I had to protect both CD and Elli, so I did what was necessary. I hurried up the ladder and grabbed onto her hand, allowing her to help pull me up. Cries of pain and those of soldiers barking orders resounded from below. There weren’t many of them, but the soldiers had formed a line, along with a small group of citizens that picked up anything they could use as weapons. Brave, but futile against lightlings in such close quarters.

More monsters surged in from side alleys and streets, but they were being chased by more soldiers and guards, that quickly joined the battle.

Elli squeezed my arm and then nodded toward the adjacent rooftop. I took in a deep breath and stood as she leaped across, almost slipping. I swallowed the lump in my throat and set myself for the jump. Ahead of me, Elli continued, jumping to the next one and the next. I followed suit, my ruck bouncing wildly on my back with each stride.

Strangely, CD wasn’t giving us any stupid remarks and just kept quiet as we tried to navigate the rooftops without slipping and falling to our deaths.

Moving through the city, we had to stop as the building grew smaller, ending our run at a familiar intersection. I noticed the smashed facade of a bakery, the Green-Eyed Pleasures I frequented, its windows blown out, and its once-welcoming door hanging off its hinges. The small, huddled figure of Jennen was trying to salvage what remained inside.

Further down the street, a group of guards were fighting more lightlings, and giving them a reason to regret ever coming. The soldiers were brutes, their core-surgeries showing well as they tore through scaled monster bodies and carapaces with the ease of shredding paper.

“Hey, we need to go,” Elli said, drawing me back to the matter at hand. “They got it. There’s no need for us to die a stupid man’s death, Al. Don’t even think about it.”

“I’m not, it’s just . . .why? Why are they doing this? There’s no way they can take the city without destroying it. There are several other battle groups that haven’t even joined the fighting yet.”

“Because . . .they’re human. Isn’t it in our nature to wage wars and kill one another? Anyway, we can talk about that later. Come on.”

I moved us into an alley, dropping my pack and pulling CD back out. He materialized and started up his scanner, radar pings rolling outwards over the city.

“Techer’s square. Get there, now. A damaged enemy mech is hiding there between several buildings. The majority of the Barbars have been pushed out of the city, proving to be even more simian than you apes.”

“Enough, CD, or I’ll leave you here.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” he said, raising his voice with a hint of incredulity.

“I would. Tell me, what type is it?”

“Ugh. I’ll swallow my pride this once, so listen carefully. It is one of the stiltwalkers, and I have tremendous plans for what to do with it if we can get the mech into your workshop. But you have to get there fast before anyone can see what we’re doing.”

Techer’s square wasn’t far away, just a five-minute run, so we popped him back in the ruck and took off as fast as we could, heading through ravaged and mostly empty streets, before turning a corner and coming into view.

Unlike much of the city, this place stood untouched, a number of the buildings whirring with the sound of electrical arcs and other riot-defense perimeters activated after the alchemi-scientists took their most important possessions and fled.

Here, the cobblestone of the poorer areas was all expensive mid-tech, recreated by the proprietors of the Innovator’s and Inventor’s Guilds, the buildings weathered but expensive granite with timber edging, actual sleek, glass-and-metal windows, and the constant purr of electricity buzzing through the electrical lines that hung between each of the buildings. The air smelled of burning incense, mingled with the sharp tang of hour-old ozone, most assuredly from one of the many scientists' experiments.

On one side, a half-timbered building with leaded glass windows housed an alchemist's den, its open door revealing shelves lined with jars of brightly colored liquids and powders. A cauldron simmered quietly over a fire, bubbles popping to release a fragrance that was at once sweet and acrid.

Just across the way stood a laboratory of steel and glass, its clean lines and minimalist design looking as old-tech as its proprietor could make it. Through the large glass windows, I saw gears and coils surrounding a central table where a device hummed with energy. Sparks leaped from its core to dance along the conduits webbing the ceiling.

And in the heart of the Techer's Square stood a fountain, an intricate sculpture of intertwined dragons and gears, water cascading from their mouths to pool below in a clear, tinkling melody.

Nestled between two buildings off to the right, I noticed the crippled Stiltwalker. It was slumped against the side of the building, sparks of electricity dancing across the pate of its cockpit. The mech was clearly on its last legs. Its frame was heavily battered, its armor pitted and scarred, and one of its arms hung on solely by the heavy tendon-laced rubber-covered wiring that helped run it.

Beside this fallen giant stood its pilot. The man had wild long blond hair that cascaded over the hodgepodge of furs and salvaged plates that made up his uniform. He was heavily bearded, and a sharp diamond of a scar crossed over his right eye. He stared at me, growling, holding tightly to a sharp steel hand ax whose edges glinted in the soot-filtered sunlight.

The barbarian screamed something, a guttural language full of hard k’s and z’s that I couldn’t understand. After a moment, he roared, then charged. Elli and I spread out, me going right while she went left, and the barbarian ignored her, leaping for me and swinging his ax. He was wounded, but not enough to hinder his assault.

I ducked and rolled, feeling the rush of air as the blade missed me by mere inches. Bouncing back to my feet, I saw a snarl on Elli’s bruised face and she made to plant a boot in the barbarian's back. But he dodged, kicking her legs out from under her as he did so. Turning back to me, he pointed and screamed more words before charging again.

I ducked and juked but fell to my side, a sharp pain tearing through my ankle. Cursing, I looked up to see him swinging again and I scrambled back, searching for anything I could use as a weapon. My hand found a loose piece of mid-tech cobble, and I clutched it tightly.

It wasn't the best weapon in the world, but with my enhanced strength, maybe it would be enough. I gazed at his approach, calculating. I figured I’d only have one shot at this, so I held back, staring up at him as he advanced. And I waited.

Stepping forward, the barbarian reared back to swing again, an overhead cleave that would surely end me. I sat up and threw the stone in one motion, striking him in the face.

Bullseye.

He fell back, his ax clattering away and sliding across the cobblestones to rest just out of reach. I noticed that his leg was bleeding just as much as his side, probably from the mech battles he’d fought before, and a plan snapped into place. One that ideally involved ending me eating dinner with Elli that night, and with all of my limbs intact.

“This better work!” I hissed, making a snap decision to lunge for his weapon.

If I was right and he was in worse shape than he looked, I’d get it just in time and could then end his miserable life. I shot forward, and he tried to match but his leg gave out and he collapsed, his bearded chin smashing against the ground before me.

My fingers curled around the ax handle as I stood over him, panting. The Barbar lay below me, dazed and staring at me with a bloodshot eye. Elli lay nearby, blood running from her forehead where she must have hit the cobbled road. There was nothing less that I wanted to do right then, but if I hadn’t gotten to his weapon, it would have been one of us lying on the ground and waiting to be killed. If it came to our lives or someone else's, I would always pick ours, even if it was the end of the world.

“Unlucky mother—” I grumbled, my arm still raised. He squinted his eye and his right arm reached for something on his side. Doing the only thing I could do, I brought the ax down and ended him.