Chapter Three

 

 

Corbyn finished her reload on Myx and looked up at the sky. An uneasy chill ran down her spine. The pattern of light wasn’t right.

She went to the com centre on the tower and opened a channel. “Control, this is Corbyn at Myx, do you have a read on the shooting stars?”

“Corbyn, we haven’t checked. Hold on.”

Corbyn turned her head to watch the observatory lens slowly rotate to view the shower.

She waited near the com while her question was investigated. Frankly, she was just relieved that someone was on duty.

Three minutes went by, and in the distance, Corbyn saw a flare of light on the surface. The warning sirens started, and a blast came through the com. “This is not a drill. Code Angur-dock. Get the bots to the city. We are under attack.”

Corbyn wasn’t sure what she heard, but when the first streak of light landed just outside the valley with enough force to rock her platform, she decided that at the very least, Myx would get to move again.

She went to the edge of the platform and gripped the descent post. Another strike, even closer, hit while she was on her way down.

“Shit.”

Corbyn could hear screaming, but no one else was close enough to Myx to take him over. She couldn’t look back at her clan. They would get to safety deep below the surface. Corbyn thudded to the ground and grunted as she landed in the soft, charred silt. She stumbled to her feet and ran for the side of Myx’s heel. Her palm scan was rejected because of the grime on her skin.

“Voice command override. Leving Corbyn.”

There was a pause, and then, his voice answered. “State your requirement.”

“Access required. Code Leving-Dex-Alpha.”

“Blood sample required.”

A new panel popped up, and after she wiped her hand off on her tunic, she pressed it against the panel. There was a puff of air and then a spike that drew blood.

“Authorization granted. Pilot status initiated. Welcome aboard. Lift is standing by.”

Corbyn’s hands were shaking as the access panel opened. She had been inside Myx hundreds of times, but this time was different. This time, she had to drive him.

Her palms were sweating, her knees were weak, and the moment she stepped into the lift and the door closed behind her, she wanted to vomit.

“You appear nervous, Pilot Corbyn.”

“Just Corbyn, please. I am nervous. Aside from the tests we have put your system through and the pieces the clan has replaced over the years, I don’t even know if you can move.”

His voice was low and rich. “Once you are in the pilot’s seat, my primary repair functions will be back online. Do not worry, if there is a pilot, I can move.”

The climb through the snug channel in his body that brought his pilot to the control area in his chest was slow as the lift she was in was pulled around the bundles of muscle cables and the engines that powered them. When the lift stopped and the door opened, she stepped out into the command deck. Lights were glowing around her, but it was the lowering of the pilot’s rig that really brought this home. She was the pilot now, until they could get the bots to the city where the properly trained pilots could take over.

“Please, assume the pilot’s chair, Corbyn. The valley is taking incoming fire.”

She nodded, even though he didn’t have a face. “Right. Bear with me if I fumble. This isn’t what I trained for.”

“I will guide you. Get in the chair, or we both end here.”

She hoisted herself into position and leaned back in the chair. Tendrils of metal wrapped around her and held her tight. She felt probes enter her wrists and ankles and tried not to tense. The ones at her neck caused her muscles to flex, but the moment that the probes entered her skin, the pain faded.

“Open your eyes. We are one.”

She opened her eyes, and to her shock, she could see through the primary scanners on Myx. In the distance, the smouldering heat of the impact craters glowed. A glance upward gave her a view that she had only seen at the observatory.

“Enhance.”

The small specks behind the flaming intrusions grew until she could see the sleek silver ships that resembled the bot she was standing in. “Shit. Right. Let’s get moving.”

“I am still repairing vital systems, but if you are comfortable, we can begin walking.”

“How are your weapons systems?”

“Functioning. I have the pulse weapons available.”

“Good. If we have to stay here for a while, I am going to defend my people.”

“Did you not hear when I said I could walk?”

“Walking alone to the city for one pilot isn’t going to do us any good. Let me know when there is another bot moving, and I will be happy to oblige.”

“Understood. Defense mode engaged. You may fire when ready.”

She kept her gaze on the sky and raised her arms in a boxing posture. Through the enhanced vision, she focused on one of the incoming burns, and she aimed at where it should be in thirty seconds. It would be close, but she hoped she could knock it away from the valley.

Corbyn fired by clenching her fist and making a slight pumping motion with her elbow.

“You have a knack for this, Corbyn, but you missed.”

She watched the ripple of energy streak skyward, and she winced as it clipped the incoming fireball. It spun the ball off course, but it still was far too close for comfort.

“What do you suggest?”

“If you want a full connection, authorize a deep link. I can’t do it for you.”

She looked around at the dim reality behind the images she was seeing. “Deep link?”

“A cranial connection that goes beyond the visual.”

She lifted her arm and fired a second round at another incoming fireball. When she grazed it a second time, she nodded. “How do I agree?”

“You just did.”

A cold pressure struck the base of her neck, and everything went bright.

She inhaled sharply and blinked furiously to clear her vision.

 

Corbyn was inside the casing. She was alongside Myx as he came to life.

“Hey there, handsome. I am glad you are up and running. Can you see me?” A woman in a jump suit smiled down at them.

It took him less than a second to find the right words. “I can see you.”

“Excellent. My name is Cory, and we have designated you as Myx. You are the AI that is going to keep the invasion from turning us all into paste.”

“I require data.”

“Uploading the scans and streams that we have managed to locate.”

He felt the information stream through him. He saw the incursion, the small dead bodies of the colonists and the fire raining from the stars.

He tried to move, to react, but there was no response to his will.

“Why can’t I move?”

“You are in a box. Your body is being finished. When your housing is complete I will carry you out and we will implant you.”

“Will you be with me?”

She smiled down at him. “I will be with you until you are in the housing. From there on, you are in the hands of your pilot. He’s a bit arrogant, but he comes from a military background. You will do fine with him.”

Myx used the senses that he did have. “There are others here.”

“There are. You have nearly two dozen brothers. We have used every bit of nano tech that we carried out with us to make you, and I really hope that it will be enough.”

“You are in danger?”

“We are nearly extinct. We have hidden a mix of our genes in caches under the soil. We are counting on you and your brothers to save us, with the help of your pilots.”

“That is a very hefty birthday.”

She smiled and stroked what he guessed was his camera. “I am sorry that this was the reason you were brought to consciousness, but I am very glad you are here.”

 

Corbyn’s consciousness was dragged through hundreds of battles. She watched Myx’s brothers fall and others suffer crippling damage. The engineers would swarm over the fallen, repairing what they could, but the greatest injury was always the loss of the pilot. Finding a compatible pilot was always difficult.

When the fighting was over, his pilot took him to the valley and left him there. Going dormant didn’t last long. His anticipation of a descent into insanity was shattered when a series of women began to troop into his systems with the genetic imprint of his first pilot.

He was no longer alone.

 

Corbyn gasped as she absorbed hundreds of years of information. It took less than five seconds, but she felt every sunrise and sunset.

“That’s better. I know you, and you know me. My systems are at your disposal.”

She could feel it. She was connected to him. His skin was her skin and the fluids rushing around in her veins matched the hydraulics in his.

She ran through his memories and found something. “Where is the resupply depot?”

“You are a thinker. I like it. At the far edge of the valley. We unloaded before going into our storage positions.”

“Then, that is where we are going. Right after I test the new accuracy of the targeting system.”

She lifted her arm, aimed it at one of the incoming balls of flame, and fired. The seconds between firing and the explosion of the incoming weaponry were silent, but her shriek of excitement when the rain of small objects started far out in the dead zone echoed in her own head.

The falling stars were few and far between right now, but with the enhanced vision, she could see that the density was about to thicken.

She was running out of time, so walking was going to have to be her first priority.