Larox followed Horst’s lead and raised his hands in the air, he didn’t have a weapon anyway, “C’mon now, you guys aren’t seriously gonna go there? We just saved your lives.”
The click of CS2s followed the inquiry as Lavinia remained seated on the floor with her forehead pressed against the metal bench. She was still steaming and still coughed little chunks of black against her hands. Horst glanced from Lavinia, to Larox, and back to Jack Gonzales.
But when ye come,
And all the flowers are dyin…
Zrrrrrrrrrp!
The music on the loudspeaker stopped suddenly. Then it cut off completely. Everyone breathed. A sound of tapping and clicking came from the radio. Jack signaled one of his team to check.
“Something huge is clinging to the central spire. I repeat, something huge has reached the central spire. Gunfire heard from the higher floors. Delant junior is suspected KIA.”
Only one head turned away from extraction team at the news that young Delant might be dead, the rest of the crew kept their weapons trained. Jack ran fingers through his dark curly hair and lowered his gun.
“No reason to target them, we’ll be keeping an eye on her though. Sure, she’s helped us so far, but for all we know she’s just another one of those things waiting to happen. Horst, what can you do for us? Delant may be finished, but I feel like we have worse problems on our hands.”
“I can get the camera feeds back online, the turrets under control, and this hanger ready for operation so long as power remains up and you’re not threatening my friends. I might even be able to get the data access restored.”
“Get it done then, but I’m assigning two guards to your pet. If she so much as twitches the wrong way, they’ll scrub her with so much dissonant charge there won’t be a stain left. However, if she’s helpful, maybe we’ll see the value of keeping her around.”
Horst gathered some solder gear and canned air as Larox slowly put his hands down. The underside of the console was littered with dust and pieces of board. He hoped he didn’t need an entire new board or two to make a difference. Meanwhile, Lavinia closed her eyes and rested as two soldiers flanked her. Instead of their Ak47s they brandished old model EMP guns used for cleaning the airship after excursions. Bullets weren’t too effective on silhouettes.
Larox gently approached the guards, “Do you mind if I sit with her, I’m kind of useless when not in the air. I don’t have Horst’s skill set.”
The guard nodded, so Larox plopped besides Lavinia. He reached over to poke her on the cheek, “They’ll see that you’re no threat after a little bit. We trust you, okay?”
He turned to Horst’s boots from where they stuck out from under the console, “How long do you think it’s gonna take to get the systems up and running?”
“Once I repair this console, I can work on the software. It’s going to take time, maybe more, maybe less. Most likely more. I’d say a good five hours work, three if I get really lucky.”
About an hour of silent waiting passed. Lavinia didn’t feel up for conversation, so Larox sat beside her silently. There were rumblings from outside, and smacks that sounded like explosions. Horst continued working quietly. Jack stayed by the radio but helped himself to a jar of preserved potatoes. He passed the jar between his crew, each one using the same fork.
The men began to collect and pass out the preserved vegetables used in making slurry. Anything that could be useful if they had to escape found itself piled in a few storage crates near the blimp cabin’s entrance. Once finished moving inventory, some of the soldiers moved to the balcony to smoke.
“The giant tendril connected to the central tower is falling!”
A cheer went up from the building as Jack whispered into the radio while leaning over the desk. Once finished, he stood up and pressed his gun against his chest. He whistled and the unit formed ranks with the exception of the lookouts and the two watching Lavinia.
“Delant is dead, whatever hit the central spire killed him and massacred the elite guard units holding it. Emp handled the remains of the silhouette incursion. Scrubbers have been dispatched to clean the leftover mess. Looks like our enemies destroyed each other.”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
A cheer went through the hanger. The crew pumped their fists and one or two soldiers threw their helmets.
Horst pulled himself out from under the console, his shirt and forehead a bit sweaty as he wiped himself down with a small towel.
Lavinia stood and looked down disdainfully at the scrubbing guns clicking in front of her chest, “A copy of my little sister is here and if she wasn’t I’d know it. The biggest threat to this place is still out there!”
Jack looked away from the assemblage, into the control room, through the broken glass, past the two guardians and directly into Lavinia’s glowing blue eyes. She stood so still and stared so thoroughly he shuddered inside. He stood his ground and assessed her.
“And what actionable intelligence do you have on this sister of yours? If she’s out there and is a threat, where is she going to go and what is she going to do? You don’t have to know anything for certain, just stop being so quiet and give us your ideas.”
Horst and Larox looked toward Lavina, Horst went back under the console to continue working as Larox got back to his feet standing behind Lavinia.
“The central spire was linked to a feeder vein. So that’s were she started. And if she started there, she has a goal to achieve there. What do you have near the central tower that she would want? Is there anything that would open the base to further attack?”
Jack Gonzales turned pale in front of his crew, so much so that several of his people turned pale watching him. He broke his gaze from Lavina and turned to the radio. Horst shifted his legs from under the console. The sound of tinkering became more urgent.
Larox put a hand on Lavinia’s shoulder, “But that’s the last place a silhouette would go, they’d get fried by the constant protective EMP pulse coming direct out of power distribution.”
“You’re thinking of an ordinary attack, a mindless attack. Nyx has a strong mind. She knows that if the frequencies resonate the EMP effect can actually be made beneficial. Instead of deactivating her MER, they’ll be energized by them.”
Larox backed up slightly, “There’s no way she can make it that far and survive, right? Even you said she’s just a copy.”
“Don’t underestimate Nyx,” Lavinia shuddered, “She always gets what she wants, eventually.”
“And what exactly does she want?”
“Me.”
Sergeant Jack Gonzales cringed a bit overhearing this conversation. The small group of soldiers waited for some news on what would happen next. He tuned the radio frequency to that of the team responsible for the central tower. Since the crew looked anxious, he decided to put the communication on the speakers and invited them to listen. They huddled about the radio.
“Central, please come in Central, this is Hangar group reporting from Clinker-21. Airship and hangar still intact and no hostiles. Please report your situation.”
The radio hung in between static and silence. Jack repeated himself and waited. Finally, something clicked, but then nothing. He checked the frequency and repeated himself more firmly, urgency in his voice.
Finally, a firm commanding voice answered, “This is Captain Gerrid, what do you have for me Sergeant?”
“We have a report that a highly intelligent hostile may be on the loose in the central tower with the first electrical distribution center as its target. Be on the lookout.”
The radio crackled.
“Funny you should mention it. There was a vein that tried to reach there, but it’s deactivated. Scrubbing has just reported complete success in cleaning up a few entities that almost made it to the station. Seems they hit the generators but got blasted before they could do more harm. Kind of a poor tactic, it’d be easier to target the windmills top side if they wanted to stop the power.”
“I’m glad to hear that, so the attack exhausted itself.”
“Here comes the scrubbing team now! All cleaned up guys!? Wait a min-”
The sound of gunfire registered in the radio before the signal clicked off. Jack turned white again and pressed the send button, “Do you hear me!? Central do you hear me? This is the Hangar team based at Clinker-21. Come in! Come in! I repeat, do you hear me?”
Horst rolled out from under the console and stood; he tapped Larox on the shoulder to indicate that the hardware repairs were done. Larox assisted by helping him clean up and move supplies out of the way. They had to boot up the computer quickly.
The sound came back to the radio after a minute of pleading. This time it was a soft and playful voice, “Heeello? This is scrubbing. It’s all clear here. No more big bad monsters made of tar and malfunctioning robots. Just stay there, don’t do anything okay. We’ll come for you later. Kay?”
Lavinia squinted and made fists; a slight blue electricity crackled that she suppressed when she heard the sounds of EMP guns raising against her. Jack took a deep breath and pressed the transmission button.
“We know who you are, Nyx!”
The radio squelched, “Oh, the little bug knows my name. How quaint.”
“What do you want, we can negotiate.”
Lavinia put a lone index finger against her lips as her one and only warning.
“We could negotiate, but I’m rather annoyed. Who taught you, my name? Was it Helen, or possibly Io? Lucretia isn’t around anymore so it certainly wasn’t her. Or perhaps it was the eldest, dear sweet Lavinia. Lavinia dearest, are you out there? Are you listening? Did you forget to tell you your little friends that you bring death and destruction wherever you go? Don’t be so shy. It’s your little sister. I just want to be together with all my family. Together. Forever. You and me…
Together
Forever
Consumption to tether,
you and me
as one
Forever
Together,
In Symbiosis,
Together Forever.”
A loud bang and screeching crackle interrupted the transmission, and then there was nothing from that frequency.