Chapter Two

 

 

Ai was the first bot to the rest stop, and Xaia was exhausted. “That was intense.”

“You did very well. Now you need to rest for an hour and have something to eat. Based on your bio signals, you haven’t eaten in nearly twelve hours. You won’t make it to the city if you don’t take care of yourself.”

Xaia looked around and felt the restriction on her neck. “Great, how do I get out of here?”

“Lean forward and apply the headset. It will keep us linked together and allow me to move enough to raise and lower you from my front port.”

“Your what?”

Ai laughed. “I have a front entry for just this kind of purpose. It will open, you step out and onto my hand, and I lower you to the ground.”

“You will have to be kneeling for that to work.”

“I shall be.”

Without using her control, he bent and went down on one knee. “There.”

The headset descended from the wires above, and when he released her limbs, she set the single lens over one eye and the wiring wrapped around to the back of her neck. There was a small click, and the probes at her neck released just enough for the headset to slip into place and seal the breech.

She was free. She carefully stepped out of the cradle. Her legs wobbled, but she managed to stand. There was a whirring to the left, and she looked in time to see the chest cavity swing open and a shining hand lift to offer its use as a platform.

“I can really just go out and come back?”

“You can. The headset will let you see what my lenses see, just as you do while connected.”

“Okay, well, I will see you in an hour then, Ai. Don’t do anything silly.”

“Silly is not in my repertoire.”

She smirked and headed for the door. The palm was waiting for her.

Stepping onto the palm of the bot was weird, but having him bend slightly and set the back of his hand flat on the ground was an exercise in balance.

Xaia walked to the edge, sat down, and then, she hopped to the ground. It was going to be hard to get back onto his hand, but that was something she would worry about later. For now, she was going to get the meal ready.

The nearest bot was just thundering to a halt. Cio’s head bowed toward her, and he settled into the same posture as Ai.

Xaia knew that it would be a few minutes before Lido appeared, so in the meantime, she went to the station and opened the storage lockers, getting out the heating units and carrying enough food for six to the large table under the metal awning.

She lit the heaters and set the meal packs in place. She had been on the placement team, so she knew that they were recent and relatively tasty.

It seemed strange to her that it had felt far less natural driving out on a team than it did riding in Ai all that distance. They were halfway to the city, and from there, they would be able to hand the bots over to the proper pilots.

Xaia watched the temperature sensors on the packets slowly begin to glow as they heated.

When Cio held his hand out, it contained Lido, and she had opted to sit for the journey to the ground.

Xaia waved at her and then turned to get the beverage packs from storage.

She returned to the table and dropped the packs just as the meals finished heating. The others were being lowered to the ground with the exception of Hima.

Lido headed straight for the restroom. Xaia laughed. “I should have thought of that.”

“You can take a number.”

Xaia snickered, and she pulled the packs from the heat, turning off the flames of the warmers.

Corbyn sat at the table, inclined her head in thanks and tore into a pack with her teeth, pulling the meal out piece by piece. It was very obvious that she had been on desert manoeuvres before.

Xaia took her turn in the restroom, and when she came out, everyone was sitting with the exception of Duel and the missing Hima. “Where is Hima?”

Duel grabbed two packs of food and drink. “She twisted her hip getting into Len. I will bring her food to her.”

Xaia frowned. “Is she all right?”

“She managed to get him here in good order. She just can’t run around easily without him.” Duel grinned, saluted as best she could with full hands, and she headed to Hima’s bot, Len.

Xaia watched Len kneel and lift the other engineer into his housing.

Kab didn’t seem to have a problem with it, so Xaia got into her own meal pack.

Everyone around her had their heads down, and they were consuming their meals with intense focus. The chasm was in front of them, and if they weren’t rested and ready, it could go very badly.

Xaia looked over to Nyvett, who was holding up very well for a bureaucrat. “How are you doing with Iff?”

Nyvett smiled a little tiredly. “He is a little heavier than I was expecting. It’s wearing on the legs.”

“Ai is the same. Considering that they can move as long as we are hooked up, it is amazing that it takes us so much effort to get them going.”

Corbyn piped in, “I like to think that it will be easier on the pilots. Mind you, they have been training.”

Nyvett snorted. “Let’s hope. The city isn’t exactly forthcoming on the status of their fighters.”

Corbyn blinked. “You think they won’t be ready?”

Lido was worried. “How will we know?”

Xaia looked to Nyvett and said, “We will find out when we get there. It is only a few hours away.”

Corbyn looked toward the city. “It is going to be a long two hours.”

 

* * * *

 

It felt weird to be standing on Len’s palm, but she remained balanced as he lifted her up toward the hatch in his chest.

The dinners were hot against her chest, but she kept them secure as she walked into the command deck of the other bot.

“Hi, Hima.”

Hima waved from the pilot’s cradle. “I am feeling quite a bit better.”

“Good. This should keep you in the right direction.”

Hima looked at the packs. “Stew?”

“Yes.”

“What kind?”

Duel opened the corner of the pack with her teeth and held it out to Hima. The exchange was quick. “You tell me.”

Duel sat on the deck next to Hima and ate her own meal. It was good, and it was a flavour she hadn’t had since she was a teen.

Hima took a few bites and chuckled. “Bee stew.”

Duel nodded. “You got it. All the protein, vitamins, and acids we need to keep going.”

“And three thousand calories a pack.”

Duel laughed. “That too.” She finished her pack and opened Hima’s drink, handing it up to her and collecting her empty ration bag at the same time.

Duel should have winced at the juice, but it was standard for this kind of mission away from home. She just sucked the fluid in as fast as she could without tasting it.

Hima shuddered. “Yeah, that’s about right.”

“Do you often drink jelly?”

“I sometimes have to help the moms give it to the babies if they aren’t sucking. Not too much, but enough to make them hungry and alert.”

“Right. Do you like working with the babies?”

“I love it. I love being there when they press their messy way into the world. They are so small, so delicate, and have all the potential in the world.”

Duel sighed and leaned her head against the framework around Hima’s cradle. Her vision through her lens told her that everything was still silent in the desert and there was no movement in the skies above.

“It may sound weird, but that would overwhelm me. I like to be with them as they fade or after they pass. I can see their lives, the friends and family that gather around them, and I can see loss in their eyes.”

“You think that’s a good thing?”

“Without loss, we can’t know how sweet life is. If we don’t know there is an end, we can’t fully enjoy the moment.”

Hima was silent for a moment.

“That... is a very good point. I see their little faces and know that they are going to grow and live. I am thinking that in my mind, I know that there is an end to it. It spurs my enthusiasm for life itself.”

“It is a strange realization but knowing that everything ends is going to make me fight like hell to get Kab into a position where a proper pilot can take him over. That is my fight.”

“I am going to fight to get Len to where he can do the most good.”

Duel smiled, and they sat, talking softly about life and death. They learned the particulars of the other’s occupation, and an appreciation of the distraction took over. Anything was better than their current reality.