Chapter Fifty-Three - Who Let the Worms Out?

"The common nomenclature for Antithesis names follows a simple pattern, one determined by the first responders in the Ohio incursion and which was then adopted globally and refined.

A model's general type will be given a number. Sub-types are given an alphabetical marker.

The common model 3 has sub-types A, B and C, which are all relatively common and also distinguishably still model 3s.

This system is fantastic on paper and for reporting.

It is, unfortunately, less useful when it comes to memorisation, as numbers are harder to retain for most than names.

Still, the plethora of nicknames for the various antithesis models does lead to more confusion than the official nomenclature, and their use is therefore discouraged."

– Mrs. January, licensed educator for teenagers, Jan 2033

***

"So, what's the sitch?" I asked as Gomorrah and I both stepped into the kitchen. Some of the kittens were reclaiming the living room, and none of them wanted to be in the kitchen in case they were bullied into dish-cleaning duty. It made for as good a place to talk as any.

Plus, I was a little thirsty, so I pulled a can of something from the fridge and offered one to Gomorrah who nodded and took off her mask. "The... situation is turning a little rough on the outskirts of the city."

"Really? Damn, I thought we were doing alright."

"New Montreal is one of the safest cities in the world right now," she said. "We were lucky that there was an incursion before this global one. Ironically. And we did a decent job pushing the aliens back and reclaiming territory around the city. The problem is the north."

"The north?"

"South is the old USA. There's plenty of force down there. Burlington might have been in a bad state, but other cities handled themselves better, and were cleared out over the last week. Territory's being reclaimed and hives burned. The issue is that north of New Montreal is a lot of nothing, and that's also a lot of room for hives to grow."

"Right," I said. That made some sense. Even with the winters mellowing out and the northern parts of what was Canada becoming prime real estate, there still wasn't much that way. "So we're gonna get fucked from that way?"

"I wouldn't put it in those terms, exactly," she said. "But we can expect some resistance and some assaults from that direction, yes. And some Samurai, once freed up, might be coming here as a staging ground for the East-coast assault on the far-north."

"More samurai in the city, huh?" I asked. "That's not so bad. Could use a few more."

"There are a few more that we haven't met. But getting samurai to work together can be like--no pun intended--herding cats," Gomorrah said, and I replied with a snort. "There's Battlepoet who's relatively new. She's been around the city for a while, but not in it until recently. This samurai from Calgary, Teddy, sent some mechanised war-bears to help with the push north. There's more."

"It'll be nice to have lots of samurai around all at once," I said. Less work for me.

"Yes, but they're not all willing or able to work right away, and the problems with the infiltrations are problems right now. Especially with the antithesis acting strangely."

"Acting strangely how?" I asked.

"Atyacus suspects that it's a network of model seventeens."

I shrugged. I had no idea what those were. Also, the normal naming convention for antithesis was not doing me any favours. I was bad enough at math as it was without having them all be called numbers all the time.

"They're the models that make model sevens," Gomorrah said. At my incomprehension, she went on. "The zombie worms."

"Oh," I said. I knew those. "Nasty fucks."

"Seventeens are hard-shelled models, small. They lay worms that can control people, but also worms that can control other antithesis. And they can lay out long strings of organic wires that can let a hive communicate over long distances. Atyacus thinks that the way the hive is moving now, tactically, means that we have a few model seventeens playing games just outside of our defences."

"Great," I said as I rubbed my face. "And this is right up against the walls, huh?"

"PMCs can't keep up with shifting battlelines. Not when they're changing approaches and testing different areas this quickly," Gomorrah said.

"And the wall?"

Gomorrah leaned back, two of the legs of the stool she'd taken over tipping back then clunking back down. "It was a good idea, I suppose. And it is working, for the most part. But the wall has gates. And there are a lot of them."

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"When do they need us there?" I asked.

"Ideally, right now?" Gomorrah said. "I think the PMCs in charge want to do a counter-offensive."

"Really? That's ballsy."

"It makes sense."

I frowned at that. Did it? Then again... yeah, I supposed it did; giving the antithesis time to attack meant giving them time to scrounge up more biomass and make more combat models. Time was not on our side.

A big push, a big move to wipe some of the planty fuckers out? That would do more to slow them down than just sitting on our thumbs and waiting.

I sighed. "Alright. I'll come."

"Thank you," Gomorrah said. She stood up, but I waved her down.

"I need to get my gear. Get dressed. Hell, I'd appreciate taking a quick shower." I needed to cool off. And maybe I could convince Lucy to join. "I won't be heading out for another hour, at least. Unless the aliens are literally climbing up the walls right now?"

"I think we can spare an hour or two," Gomorrah said. "Did you want me to wait or..."

"Eh, no, go ahead of me. You can deal with all of the boring logistical shit that I don't want to mess with."

Gomorrah looked unimpressed by that admission, but it wasn't wrong, and she was probably better at dealing with that kind of thing than I was in any case. We both knew it. "Fine. I'll fly over with the Fury. I imagine you'll be leaving the mech behind?"

"For this? Yeah. Are they going to launch that big push overnight?"

She shook her head. "Tomorrow afternoon. Fifteen hundred hours. They want the sun above and well-rested soldiers. And they're bringing in people from elsewhere too. Tanks, special vehicles."

"Ah, alright... so why are we going there tonight?"

"Because someone needs to act as vanguard, and that's literally our job," Gomorrah said. "I'll send your AI my location. See you in about... call it an hour and a half?"

"Damn. Alright," I said.

Gomorrah nodded, then left. I stood there, finishing my drink on my own while thinking to myself for a bit. "Myalis. Get the repair drone on the mech. Sucks to suck, but I might need it tomorrow."

That's understandable. Will you be doing any self-upgrades?

"I'm due, aren't I?" I asked. "Yeah. but not tonight. Let's see what I need overnight, then tomorrow, when we head out with the army, I can do them. Or before bed? Whatever. Just... not right now."

I was always reluctant to go through that kind of thing. But needs must and whatever. I could put it off for a couple more hours.

First, I'd see about that shower.

"Did it go well?" Lucy asked as I found her in our bedroom.

"Well enough," I said. "Gom... the city, kinda needs me. Tonight and probably tomorrow too. I'll be heading out in about an hour."

Lucy nodded. She didn't look surprised. "I've been catching up on the news. Did you know that they're making a big push on Mars tonight?"

"The Mars stuff is public?" I asked.

"Someone had to let people know where all the samurai have gone," Lucy said. "It leaked a while ago, but now it's more official. Anyway, The big push is right now. Things should be heating up a lot soon."

"Damn," I said. "I've been more out of touch than I expected."

"You've been busy... for a vacation," Lucy said.

"I guess so," I said. I started to look for my things. Then Lucy shook her head and started to find my things. They were exactly where I was looking, but somehow she was pulling them out as if I'd missed them, which wasn't possible. I was sure I'd searched.

Frowning at Lucy's magical ability to find stuff, I started to gather all of my things in one place. I'd need to bring my Trench Maker, a Laser Pointer and ammo for both. My undersuit, of course. And if we were venturing out of the city, my good armour.

I had a few loose grenades in our little armoury/Lucy's walk-in closet, those could come as well.

"Are you gearing up now?" Lucy asked.

"Shower first," I said. "Maybe a cold one."

"Cold?" she repeated.

"Someone couldn't keep her hands to herself on the drive over, and now I'm afraid that I'm not in the right state of mind to be shooting aliens."

"Oh," Lucy said. She grinned. "You know, we do have a pretty big shower, and you're not leaving just yet, are you?"

***