CHAPTER 8
2207
Post First Wave of Invasion
Knox, Atheux Fortuna Earth
Riley drove the old yellow flatbed truck down the road. The bed contained numerous electronic items, cables, and pieces of metal he collected from various sources around town. There was a stack of books in the passenger seat that he had been using for research. It had been six months since the first wave, and three months since Riley arrived in the past in his mechanized armor, Vindex in Machina. The streets were still quiet, but not empty as they had been when Riley arrived. He looked in the rearview mirror and furrowed his brows when he saw how much his stubble had grown. Riley never liked beards; he found it irritating to have one. He ran his fingers over his hair, glanced back over his shoulder to make sure everything was still in the truck, then focused on the road again. He had managed to stay undetected and had also avoided interacting with anyone or anything that could cause a time ripple throughout the previous three months.
As he drove past the wire fence of the warehouse compound, Riley took a quick scan of the area. It was exactly as he left it. He drove on into the building until he was a couple of meters from the Vindex armor, then stopped the vehicle. He jumped out of the truck and unloaded the items he had scavenged. Riley had already removed the steel shelter directly above the Vindex mech and constructed an elaborate lightning rod in its place. The rod would hopefully attract enough lightning to keep the Vindex going for long enough that he could get what he needed. The tip of the rod comprised three magnet rods, each three inches thick and twelve feet long. The three rods were connected to a funneling device via a faraday mesh, which would redirect the energy down through the thick cables into Vindex. On the floor surrounding Vindex, there were smaller versions of the rod, designed to create a negative charge to prevent the energy from escaping into the ground.
Riley finished unloading the items, then spent another four hours piecing together the final components of the lightning trap. When he completed his task, he took a few steps back and looked at his creation. He smiled, knowing that all the time and energy he spent on it would have been wasted if it didn’t function properly. Riley wasn’t an engineer. Growing up, he had always aspired to be a poet. He was always quiet but he had a journal full of poems he wrote, and sketches he drew. With the lightning trap seemingly completed, he climbed back into the truck, reversed it about forty meters from the Vindex armor, and waited.
The weather report predicted a thunderstorm at any time after eight in the evening. Riley checked his watch. It was a few minutes past seven. All he could do was wait. Riley turned on the radio and waited. All the time and effort he spent constructing the trap had left him exhausted. He closed his eyes and, before long, he fell asleep.
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Riley found himself in a void of complete darkness, without a slight speck of light. He couldn’t even see what he was standing on. Suddenly, the ground disappeared from under his feet and he started to fall, yelling in dismay. Riley flipped over and saw a glowing orb of energy beneath him. The energy it released was so intense that he could feel it burning his face. He was falling toward it. He turned again. A massive vilis was falling after him, clawing and roaring. Riley held his arms at his sides, trying to accelerate his descent. It seemed better to fall into the abyss than to get caught by the vilis. Suddenly, he stopped falling. The orb exploded, engulfing his body and disintegrating it in an instant.
Riley snapped awake, sweating profusely and panting for breath. Outside, it was becoming windy. He checked the time; it was almost nine. He left the truck, ran to the warehouse window, and looked up at the sky. The clouds looked full and fierce. Riley ran to the switch and activated it, then stood by the truck and waited. The wind grew more intense and the thunder with it. Soon, he could barely stay on his feet. The more intense the storm became, the more Riley doubted his construction would work. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, and prayed to any god who might offer help. The first bolt of lightning struck the tip of the rod but immediately forked away. Tiny sparks of electricity circulated Vindex’s hull, but nothing more.
“Come on!” he pleaded.
The worst of the thunderstorm reached the warehouse. The wind had grown so powerful that Riley needed to grab a pillar for support. Another bolt of lightning struck. Again, the rod pulled it, but only for a moment. Riley growled. There had to be something he could adjust, so he ran toward the mech. He was mere feet from the armor when the third bolt of mighty lightning hit the rod, channeling hundreds of millions of volts through it. This time, the rod activated properly and the bolt of lightning remained, feeding a continuous flow of energy into the armor. As the energy flowed through Vindex, it tried to discharge into the ground, but the smaller rods surrounding the mech sent it back. This resulted in an enormous energy buildup in the mech. The electricity formed into an orb of pulsating light. When Riley saw what was happening, he turned and ran for the truck, but he was still too close to the armor. Vindex exploded, sending a powerful shockwave in every direction. Riley was sent hurtling past the truck before hitting the ground.
Sometime later, Riley opened his eyes. His head hurt, his tongue was numb, and every hair on his body was standing up. He dragged himself to his feet. His vision was blurred, but that was no longer anything new. He held onto the truck for support. Every window of both the truck and the warehouse had shattered in the explosion. Riley could barely see Vindex through the smoke that surrounded it. The air tasted of burning rubber. Riley shook his head and staggered toward the mech. As he moved closer, he saw that the wall behind Vindex had collapsed, and the floor around it was scarred. Something caught his eye: the yellow light on Vindex’s chest. Riley squinted until he could see it clearly, then he smiled. The light would only work if the reactor was online. Some more sparks came from the mech and the hum of the quantum drive was audible. The other mechanical components of Vindex whirred back to life.
Riley smiled, then grinned, then laughed. He thrust his fist in the air triumphantly, even as he fell to his knees from exhaustion.