The number of XT-489’s were nearly double our worst predictions, when we saw all of them lined up like a wall of pure steel. I couldn’t help but pray to the Saint that even a single one of us would make it out alive, then the others came. They called themselves the Furelegatum, protectors of sapient life, but as far as I knew the Saint didn’t know about them. They were an unknown and possibly dangerous species as much if not more so than the XT’s. But the hivemind agreed that the XT’s would need to be destroyed before a decision was made about the new possible threat.
And it was not as much of a threat as it made itself out to be, the protectors of all sapient life could barely manage to protect themselves. They were big and bulky and didn’t seem very efficient, and they fought like a big hunk of metal would fight. Using their massive weight to attempt to crush the XT’s, moving around with giant slow moves. They were not very effective, but their bulk and strong outer shell did mean that they kept at least a few of the XT’s distracted. This allowed the Flock to get a clear shot, cutting down their numbers, forcing them to send more to distract the Furelegatum and attempt to kill us.
However, even with combined efforts, we wouldn’t stand a chance against the hivemind. When the fight first started, John moved through the enemy without taking so much as a scratch, cutting limbs and cracking steel like he was designed for it. Over a dozen of the machines had an amputated limb or were wounded. Then even when the fight started to shift to accommodate his level of ability he showed just how much he had been holding back.
The bone armor that was revealed as the rags of his shirt slipped off revealed an almost armadillo-like shell over his back and chest. Strange interlocking plates of bone armor moved and flowed to allow the wide range of movements he used to chop through the bots with practiced ease. The whip-like blades coming from his back used both to counter incoming attacks or slice up joints. They moved so fast that they snapped and cracked as they moved through the machines with scary precision.
Finally just when it seemed that John had met his match, he leaped from a massive pile of machines with legs that looked closer to a dinosaur than anything mammalian. He came pounding from the dogpile, to crash land back into it. Then bursting with a speed that I wasn’t sure was possible for a human body, then crashing into a single bot. Cutting its throat with his ax as the decapitated robot's wings barely scratched the surface armor.
I found it hard to concentrate on my targets, barely paying attention as I watched the shear mayhem of metal and bone before me. I thought it was pride that made John believe he was a match for nearly a dozen of the Flock. Now I knew that he was underestimating his abilities, or at the very least overestimating ours. We were fast and strong, but only barely above peak human ability. Our tech was about efficiency and finesse, if we tried to take on a single of the bots in a melee we would be cut to pieces after the first successful strike.
John on the other hand was being cut to ribbons and it didn’t even slow him down. Every single move was either an attempt to kill or incapacitate a bot, even as the bots moved with coordination and grace, it couldn’t match to the sheer speed and strength that John possessed. Cutting through the swaths of bots that came his way, using his ax, his tentacles or anything sharp enough he could get his hands on. He bounced from one enemy to the next, using his new legs and the robots bodies as bounce pads. Cutting off heads and limbs without even stopping to look for the next foe.
I turned to see the others of the Flock each trying to deal with this new realization in their own way. Some prayed to the Saint for answers and strength, while some of us just stared in horrific shock.
“Dear Saint, I pray that we never have to fight that monster.”
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After barely 10 minutes of fighting, we all stood panting and shaking from both fear and exhaustion. The Flock hadn’t lost a member, the Furelegatum had lost at least 2, while John stood by himself covered in blood, oil, and battery acid. Panting and sweating in the middle of a pile of over thirty of the bots. Ax in one hand and a stolen blade in the other, he stood like a demigod on the field of a conquered battle. The sight was as inspiring as it was terrifying, I doubted that even with the Saint could we stand up to John’s might. He was a man of war that conquered any enemies that blocked his path, and one day the Flock could be seen as one of the very obstacles in his way.
“Is that all of them?”
“I am going to check for others in the factory and then destroy it. No one else needs to know the method of their creation, you and your lot can deal with the ‘Protectors’.”
“Very well. Perhaps they will be an ally rather than an enemy.”
I walked over to the new species, making sure that I kept an eye on John until he disappeared through the door. Looking over the dented and broken remains of the machines that were left from the short but violent fight. They seemed strangely sad over their fallen, I had thought that any machine species would have a single mind. However, these all seemed to differ in mild ways, how they sat or walked, even how they fought differed from one another.
“Hello, we are the Blessed Flock. I am ‘Iyyov, leader of this fighting force and representative for the Saint. The one who left is John, of the Fungoid hivemind.”
“Hello ‘Iyyov, I am The Embracer, leader of the Furelegatum. I am sorry for our limited abilities, even if we are protectors of sapient life we were not built for war like those of the XT-489’s.”
“It is fine, without the hivemind we would have lost many as well. He is a monster in both form and skill, I fear what may have become of us if he were not here.”
“Yes, our fear of letting the XT’s grow anymore outweighed our self preservation. Despite what little we know of the hiveminds, this one seems relatively docile compared to our records.”
“Yes, it seems that you have memories of your past. Our Saint has some memories as well, but they are incomplete and lacking in many areas.”
“Yes, well while we are both created by machines, you are bonded to a human. It has most likely distorted or corrupted some of the memories. Our memories are more complete if not entirely accounted for, the capsules can only contain so much.”
“Well it is a pleasure to meet you. Perhaps you can return with us to our camp to meet the Saint, I am sure he would have many questions for you.”
“While I wish to have communications with both you and the hivemind in the future, for now we must be off. We wish to make sure that no other bots have escaped, then make repairs and construct more bots. But until then, here is one for you and one for the hivemind.”
The large creature handed me two devices that looked like phones, except these looked like they were taken apart and put back together a dozen times over, slowly missing more and more pieces each time. They were crude and ugly looking, but it seemed that the Furelegatum were more focused on functionality rather than looks.
“Thank you, I hope that we can speak more in the future.”
“As do we.”
As the Furelegatum left a small explosion rocked the ground, I turned to see the factory up in flames. John was near the side of the factory using a massive tree as a battering ram, seemingly trying and succeeding to know down one of the walls. After a few more thrusts and a single massive swing, the building collapsed on itself. Once the dust cleared all that was left was a pile of flaming rubble and broken metal.
“I am going to check the perimeter to make sure that none of them escaped, why don’t you guys toss the bots into the flames. It would be better that as few solid pieces are left after this is done, I don’t want to have to do this again.”
“Actually the Fure-”
“I heard, I also don’t trust them. Once I am done and the fire has gone out we can head back to the states.”
“Very well. We will just need a moment to rest, not all of us are as assimilated as I am.”
“Fine, just hurry. I am already tired of being here.”
He walked away from the scene with the communicator in hand, tossing what was left of the massive tree into the fire as kindling. Before quickly taking off, letting the combat form be reabsorbed but keeping the legs to allow him to speed through the woods with ease.
The ease at which he manipulated the biological matter was both fearful and envious. If only he was willing to combine the best parts of our species, we could be a force of unstoppable might. Spreading through the galaxy without ever needing to worry about threats, capable of surviving on alien planets with ease. We could be a race born for space faring, the only thing standing in our way was a philosophical difference between life and nature.