Chapter Seven - Proceed With Caution

"Animals aren't creatures of habit, they're creatures of necessity. They don't act the way they do because it's the way they've always acted, that's circular reasoning. A bear will act like a bear even if it's never seen another bear in its life, because that is the only thing it can do. It can only behave like a bear. It can only ever be a bear.

So be wary when you see an animal that isn't acting like itself. Something's fucky."

--Anonymous, survivalist forum, 2029

***

Ash had suggested that if her alien was going to do what we figured he was going to do, we should head to the epicenter of the incursion, where we would be most likely to find the beginnings of a hive. Myalis, literal deus ex machina that she was, already had a better solution.

Her scans of the space cop had isolated energy signatures or something that mostly went over my head, but Apex nodded along to. These were distinct from any other human in the area and were probably residual effects of the teleportation system that brought her to New Montreal, or possibly some frequency difference distinct to her parallel universe.

... Oh, yeah, Ash was from a parallel universe. Pog.

I suppressed a shudder just at that word entering my mind and promptly blamed everything else it had to process in the last few hours. My brain wasn't meant for contemplating the layers of reality or the scientific morality of perfecting humans. Or whole-ass alien civilizations where only shit like deer and squirrels built cities and the scary, cool shit like alligators sulked in their shadows.

No, my brain was meant for contemplating explosions and the contours of a certain fellow orphan that I was finding myself missing more and more the longer I had to think about all of this other stuff.

The point was that, using all the other Vanguards in the region, Myalis could ping that energy signature and triangulate the location of a matching one. Unfortunately, that the epicenter was still the right general direction seemed to confirm our fears, but at least Myalis had saved us a lot of searching.

According to her, the Protectors had issued an official warning about the alien plant-talker to all other Samurai in the area, and if things went to shit, maybe we could get some reinforcements. For now, though, bringing him in was our job.

On the upside, heading into the depths of an incursion's red zone gave me plenty of opportunity to actually see what Apex could do. And yeah, she earned the fucking name. It'd be like not calling my favorite fire nun Gomorrah. The woman was fucking unflappable. She'd just look at a situation and act without any hesitation. After she dropped an entire fucking bridge on a horde of evil plants that had me nearly shitting myself, I decided I was starting to feel bad for the cannibal serial killer she was coming for.

She would have been an absolutely killer Samurai.

Actually ...

"Hey, Myalis, don't suppose the Protectors are thinking of opening up a new interdimensional branch?" I asked as we walked.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

For Ash's convenience, Myalis was still puppeting the scout drone. "The purpose of the Vanguard is to resist the Antithesis," she replied. "There doesn't seem to be any indication the Galactic Union suffers from such incursions."

"Damn, so no becoming a Samurai for Apex?"

"If she wished to stay and serve as a Vanguard, we would welcome her with open arms," the AI replied. "She would require an entirely new augmentation suite for compatibility, but that would be an extremely minor inconvenience at best. The back credit she would be due would easily cover it without losing much."

I glanced over at the space cop who didn't have so much as a surgery scar visible anywhere on her body. "She's actually got augs?"

"The most basic of the basic," Ash answered on my AI's behalf. "Universal translator and an identification interface, stuff you couldn't even start a car without. The Union's got plenty of wetware, but my biology's still enough of a mystery they're careful about what they'll give a green light." She lifted her left arm and wiggled it to emphasize the datapad strapped there. "Gotta go old school for most everything else, that or wear external versions. I've got an eye clip for AR applications like targeting and navigation, but it doesn't work with anything here, so I sent it with my weapons."

I didn't need to ask if she'd be staying. She'd already mentioned friends, a boyfriend, not to mention her work as a Defender. People that were depending on her. There wasn't a cool enough alien planet or parallel universe that could have kept me from choosing to come back to Lucy and the kittens. Still, "How are you getting back?"

"Ah, I sent that with Myalis, too," Ash admitted. "Just in case I'd need the extra help using it. I was given a transponder beacon before I went through the gate. Can't say for sure it'll work across the multiverse, but the way it was explained to me is it's basically one end of a tunnel that's already open?" The way she said it didn't make her sound too certain.

"Close enough," Myalis provided. "The term is quantum entanglement tunneling. Once the matrix inside of your transponder is activated, its counterpart will alter to make a complete circuit between the two points. The Protectors are familiar with the technology, but have never used it across the multiversal threshold. Theoretically, it should function as intended. It is very hard to break entanglement."

"Huh, cool." More stuff to go over my head. I should have expected as much. "You think it'd let us put up something more permanent? We could go visit."

"Perhaps," the AI agreed with a tone that told me it wasn't happening, "but accessing a high enough tech tree in your catalogues to buy a functioning interdimensional transporter would require more points and tokens than you are likely to acquire across a dozen full-scale incursion events."

"Oh ..."

Apex just laughed at my expression. "Ah, don't sweat it. I'm just flattered you're interested in visiting at all. Tell you what, you ever get around to it, I'll give you a proper tour. And maybe raid the armory for a souvenir."

I couldn't help but grin. I did love a good armory raid. "It's a date."

"We are approaching the anomalous signature," Myalis announced. "Large numbers of Antithesis have been detected in our direct path. I do not believe it is coincidental. Three blocks away, they should be visible over this next rise."

Apex and I looked to each other and nodded before I put my helmet back on and we readied our weapons, bodies tensed and ears peeled for whatever we were about to be faced with as we passed over the bridge that would reveal our first sight of the obstacle.

"... Oh fuck."

My gun went slack again as more Antithesis than I had ever seen in one place before filled my vision. There had to be hundreds, no, thousands, all crammed into the opening of a massive tram tunnel. I could pick out most of the models I'd ever seen and a few I hadn't, though nearly all of them were single digits.

Apex tapped my side and motioned up with her head, and I immediately wished she hadn't. Flocks of Model Ones flew in formations above in tandem with a smaller number of Model Elevens, like swarms of fighters escorting flying fortress bombers.

The ones on the ground definitely saw us. Type Threes stomped and scratched at the ground like they wanted to lunge, but none of them did. Every last one held their position.

"All verifiable Antithesis in this area are exhibiting abnormal behavior patterns," Myalis spoke up. "Proceed with caution."

"Yeah, fuck, Myalis," I muttered, "I think we all gathered that much ..."

We started toward the tunnel slowly, unsure how they would respond, but they did nothing, clear up until we were practically in front of them. We were the ones that stopped, partly because we weren't sure how to go any further if they weren't going to act. Partly, at least for me, because watching them all stand there was freaky as hell.

Like being asked to walk up and touch the business end of the world's biggest mulcher under the oath it totally wasn't going to turn on and suck you in, promise.

And then they moved, and that was even worse. Right in front of us, they all started moving to the left and right, spreading their mass out to either side of us to make a tunnel of teeth, claws and tentacles.

"Well, that isn't ominous as shit."

"It seems we are being given a red carpet welcome," Myalis agreed.

Apex said nothing. The laughing face was gone, replaced with an expression of pure, unfeeling steel. She started walking before either of us, right into the tunnel of death incarnate.