The repairs to the Land-master only lasted for a short time, but it was enough to locate a place of safety from the deadly creatures of the night, the structure was one of many that had once been a place of research and learning, a fortress not for war but for returning the earth to its former glory. There were a series of huge domes, most of them broken and in ruins but several others were still intact and held a large stockpile of info-disks and programing files, what they contained was unknown because there was no longer anyone who cared for them.
But this didn’t matter to Jon-29 and KT-7, all that counted was the fact that under one of the huge domes there was a pool of fresh water and enough growing things to sustain them for many days, now they sat around a small fuel-fire and enjoyed some needed rest.
“Ouch” Jon called out as KT cleaned a small cut on his face with water.
“Remain immobile” the young girl said, “It’s only a small flesh-cut”.
Jon’s face had been damaged when their transport struck a large metal fragment that was jutting out of the ground, ordinarily he would have easily avoided such obstacles but he was distracted by thoughts of KT-7 and her lessons in mating techniques.
When the wound was cleaned KT took a small bit of moss from the pool and placed it on Jon’s face, “don’t remove the field dressing, it will accelerate the healing process”, KT-7 had removed most of her survival uniform but left just enough to cover herself in the essential areas.
Jon-29 had also taken off most of his outer garments but he needed the help of the girl because Gripper was now being repaired by Fixer, the little man sat some distance away but now and then a cry of frustration would fill the air along with a curse word that only had meaning to his species.
Jon watched his companion as she washed the dirt and grime from her face, “tell me of your mother” he suddenly said.
For a moment KT didn’t answer, “What intel do you require?” she asked.
“What did she look like?” The young man said rubbing the stump of his left arm.
KT sat back on a broken bit of stone and wiped her face with her uniform, “well she was a lot like me but her face was creased and her hair had milk-lines in it, she was strong and won most of the time in a game called of cube-tumble, oh and she loved the taste of chum”.
“Did she tell you stories?”
“Yes, of course” KT smiled, “my favorite was the word-speak where a small girl is sent on a recovery mission to save her people and following her vector she comes in contact with three companions, a geno-creature with a large mane of hair, a man made of hardened steel and an Elder-conjurer, oh, and she takes along her tracking support, a small bark-beast”.
“That is a very strange story” Jon replied opening a ration-pack with his teeth and biting into it.
“It was” the girl said, “along the way she is almost terminated but in the end she saves her people and her companions”, for a moment the girl thinks about her lost tribe and the mother that raised her and she turns her head away not wanting to show her emotions, then after a moment or two she moved to where Jon is sitting, takes the ration stick from his hand and begins to eat.
Jon says nothing and sits back then looks up at the domes broken ceiling, there he sees the moon shining thru wispy clouds, KT-7 also sees the orbiting mass of rock.
“That is a beacon placed there by Alfa one, the first Outrider, it was meant to light his way during night-cycle combat missions” the girl says proudly.
Hearing this Jon is quick to reply, “Incorrect, that is an observations platform put there by central command to gain coordinates for attack missions”.
But KT-7 shook her head, “why I ever mated with armor-headed Wheel-rider I’ll never mind-comp, you are the most dim-thinking, foul-smelling half-brain I’ve ever bucked with!” she chewed her rations for a moment then swallowed, “but we have made truce, fought side by side and touched hands in friendship so I will overlook your faults”. She smiles and starts to kiss him when Fixer returns with Jon’s replacement arm.
“I fix” he said proudly holding up the metal appendage, “but attachment power level is only at seventy percent” then he handed the arm to Jon.
The young man took the metal limb and attached it to the stump of his arm then after some adjusting he lifted the device to his face, “Gripper online”.
It took a few moments or a reply, “Online” the hand said, “Repairs completed but substandard due to technicians lack of training”.
Listening to the degrading remarks was more than the Pig-man could tolerate, “lack of training?!!” he yelled in his grunting voice, “You’re fortunate that I didn’t scrap you, you dented pile of squat-droppings!”
But the arm was quick to answer, “You do not have the proper dexterity to repair advanced mechanisms like me, and you should…..”
“Null-speak” KT-7 said jumping to her feet, “un-known contact is approaching”, the Outrider wasn’t wearing her helmet and its sound amplifying device but long cycles of training had sharpened her senses and kept her from terminating, she grabbed her assault rifle and watched as Jon did the same. Fixer, Jon-29 and KT-7 stood in a circle ready to defend themselves.
“What do you receive?” Jon asked in a whisper.
A sound was heard, it was low and menacing like the breathing of some huge creature, it moved slowly just outside the light of their fire then it moved closer, Jon lifted his weapon to fire, then KT saw what was making the noises. Into the light moved a massive beast, it had two enormous horns on its great head and a mouth wide enough to swallow a man.
“Komodo” the girl said lowering her weapon then slowly approached the creature, “Targaro netroco” she said softly, “Ne-morca Nigo”, she held out her hand all the while smiling and talking in the language of her people, “Tea-gorno Komodo, See-teara Nigo?”
The huge beast shook its immense head and snorted then it bellowed loudly, Jon-29 was afraid although he did his best not to show it, he recognized this creature from his combat training and passed battles, he knew that it could destroy a battle tank and a company of them could even bring down an Earthshaker.
“Stand clear” he said, “this creature is dangerous and should be terminated”.
But KT shook her head, “he must have lost his rider” she said. The thick armor of the beast bore recent wounds but its main weapon and rear gunner platform were intact along with most of the supply carry bags, “we have transport” the girl smiled turning to her companions.
At the bottom of the gorge that had once been crossed by an ancient bridge laid the remains of the fallen war-machine, it sat unmoving in the pale moonlight and the only sounds were the plaintive cries of Nightflyers and un-known creatures of the darkness. The huge machine lay on its side with fragments of the broken spanner covering it, one of its huge claws was gone and there were several large breaks in its armor plating.
Along with the reconstructed battle tank were dozens of other discarded combat machines, they ranged in size from small attack pods to massive Delta-6 intruders and Mark-1 destroyers, a graveyard of past-cycle conflicts, the last resting place of outmoded defenses, termination.
Inside the control chamber of the damaged tank Jon-29 A still sat at his controls with a jagged shaft of steel protruding from his chest, the support beam had broken loose in the fall and drove itself through the flesh and bone of the replacement driver and into the control chair pinning the sub-human to his seat. Programed to seek and destroy the Scavenger had done what was expected of him, but his reconditioned brain was incapable of doing anything else, whether he found glory in his death would never be known but one thing was certain, he was dead.
But death had little meaning to a machine, and the darkness of the chamber was suddenly laminated by a small read-out screen, it flickers twice then stabilized into two words.
“Repairs online”.
At that very same moment another creature was also undergoing
repairs, the wounded Komodo beast roared as KT-7 washed the cuts on his front leg.
“Nettegra-Narmoara” she said softly, and hearing the soothing words of the human the huge creature lowered its horned head and remained still as the girl continued, “you are a strong warrior” she said patting the beast on its scaled nose.
Jon watched from a safe distance as KT tended the armored monster, to him it was just an animal and nothing more, useful yes, but not worth expending valuable resources on when he saw her putting a ration pack into its great mouth he spoke up, “you should conserve all nourishments supplies for our use and not waste them on that creature”.
“Waste them?” KT said laughing, “This creature as you name it is worth more than you are”.
“Explain?” Jon asked as he washed his feet in the pound water near him.
The young girl patted the huge Komodo on the nose once more then moved to where her companion was sitting, “that beast can carry weapons and supplies”.
“As I can” Jon said with a smile.
“He is well trained in combat situations” the girl replied.
“I am also well trained in those capabilities”.
Seeing that Jon’s logic wasn’t flawed KT took a few moments before she spoke again, “he has a small brain and will follow commands without questions”.
Jon was about to answer her then he realized that she had gotten the better of him, but as he saw the smug look on her face he suddenly came up with a suitable reply, “he does not process a bucking tool like mine”, he said smiling broadly.
KT-7 had seen the matting procedures of rutting Komodo many times and she could have counter attacked with a question regarding bucking tool size but she was too tired from the day events so she decided to join her mate and began washing her tired feet.
Sitting just outside the ring of firelight and ear shot Fixer opened the carry sack containing the salvaged hologram device; he took it out and began tinkering, the little man had downloaded all the memory core of the fallen battle robot into one imager, it wasn’t an easy task but using some spare parts from the weapons truck, several memory cores from the undamaged dome and a few clever tricks he was able to consolidate the old man into single projector. It was about the size of a small Turtle-back with four lenses and a sound emitter, it was crude by the standards of the time but it would reliable.
“They have their friend-talk” he said looking over at KT and Jon, “and now I will have mine”, then he turned on the imager.
It took a moment and a bit of sparking then a small figure appeared on the surface of the machine, the robed old man was about a foot tall but well defined and it began moving about like it was alive.
“What has happened?” Figman asked, and then looking up at the Pig-man he smiled, “you have grown”.
“I am identical, it is you who has smalled” Fixer replied.
The hologram moved around the surface of the projector, “A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history” the hologram said proudly then he turned to the Pig-man, “what exactly is our mission?”
“We go to Lands-End” the Coshinoid replied, “there we find peace and plenty not war”.
“An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind” Figman said.
But Fixer didn’t bring the hologram device with him to listen to words he didn’t understand; he had a far better plan for the machine.
“Will you make pictures again?” he asked.
“What sort of pictures would you like?” the old man asked.
“Funny pictures”.
Figman smiled and a few seconds later he vanished to be replaced by a three dimensional animation, it showed a furry creature with long ears and holding a carrot being chased by a large headed hunter with a rifle, around and around they raced accompanied by disjointed music.
Ordinarily Coshinoids are somber, unemotional, dedicated workers who follow orders and eat supply rations, but now the little man sat gazing at the fantastic images before him and grunted in what some might say was laughter.
Figman was a sophisticated interactive program that started out as a weapon of war, then it rose beyond its programing and began to absorbed trillions of mega-bits of information that made it a reliquary for all the knowledge of civilization, using that database a new world could be constructed and humanity saved, but for the time being the old man was content to bring joy to a newly acquired friend.
Sunbirth found two humans standing outside the great dome by a fully loaded Komodo beast while a small genetically altered half-man sits nearby, KT-7 and Jon-29 are once more wearing their survival uniforms and the little Pig-man is munching on yet another ration pack.
“Negative” KT-7 said shaking her helmeted head, “you have no training with a Komodo, I’m an Outrider so I should be the one guiding him”.
“But I am a command driver” replied Jon-29, “I was in charge of vehicle control and you were weapons and vector headings, those were the terms”.
“Do you speak Rowgalian?” the girl asked.
“I do not”.
“Then you will be unable to guide our transport”, KT said knowing that she had won the argument.
Jon couldn’t argue her logic so he decided on another path, “I will be in control of weapons, in that skill I am highly trained”.
But again the girl shook her head, “Fixer is also accomplished in weapons and the rear gunner section isn’t large enough to accommodate you”.
Jon-29 looked at the area at the back of the war-beast; there he saw a twin barreled attack weapon and a very small control seat, “if I cannot be in control of transport or weapons what is my designation?”
“You will be cargo” the girl answered.
Now it was time for Jon to shake his head, “Neg, no, I am a fully trained command driver and weapons expert I cannot be cargo”.
KT-7 can see that he is very unhappy doing nothing so she thinks for a moment then comes up with a solution, “these are my terms, your designation will be replacement driver when needed and alternate weapons support”.
Thinking it over Jon nods in approval, “acceptable”, he holds out his hand and they shake.
“Done” KT says, “Now we can continue on course to our goal”.
“Where is my command chair?” Jon asked looking at the huge beast beside him.
“Behind me in the cargo section” KT answers.
Jon-29 can see that KT has gotten the best of him but he doesn’t seem to mind, “KT-7 your negotiation techniques are……”
“Superior?” she says.
“Affirm, yes” Jon smiles taking up his combat rifle, “do we still set heading for Lands-End?”
“yes” the girl replies, “we have to keep going, we don’t have a choice, besides I wanted to tell you something that might affect your brain-work, you see I am….” A loud “beeping” sound begins to fill the air, quickly KT looks around, “another enemy is approaching, we evac now!”
But as they franticly begin to climb onto the Komodo beast they see a huge machine baring down on them, at first site it resembled an Earthshaker but its configuration was distorted, it was bristling with weaponry but they were of different eras and power levels, its thick armor plating was haphazard and consisted of pieces rusted with age while other were recent. Along with its many attack guns there were several claw-like mechanisms that opened and closed at is moved forward.
One look at the titanic machine and Jon knew that their situation was hopeless, taking KT-7 hand he looked her in the eye, “we cannot defeat this enemy, you must retreat, I shall try and draw its weapons to me”.
The girl shuts off her helmets warning device, she knows that there will be no time to power up the main weapon on the war-beast but she doesn’t run, “I’m not a battle-baby, we fight together”.
But Jon wouldn’t accept her
answer, “No, you must not terminate, you must survive”.
“We fight together” KT said holding his hand tight, “my terms are not negotiable”, then she turned to Fixer, “take the Komodo, evac now”.
But the little man shook his large head, “I am trained in combat, I will fight”, and stuffing one more food ration into his mouth he took out his small pistol and stood beside the humans.
Standing side by side holding their weapons they watched the huge machine move towards them, the Komodo pulled at his tie-down and made loud bellows shaking his enormous head up and down and opening its great jaws to snap at the air.
KT and Jon waited for the end to come; they had started out as adversaries bent on the total destruction of the other, then reluctant companions in a fight for survival against a common enemy and ended up comrades and lovers, but now as they faced termination neither one of them had any regrets.
Jon-29 felt the ground under his feet shake and his eardrums were about to burst from the pounding of the huge machines engines but he stood next to KT-7 ready to die by her side, “you are a strong warrior” he told the girl.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t reach Lands-End” she replied, “but perhaps we will find each other in the Afterlife”.
With one last blast of smoke and steam the Mega-machine stopped it forward motion and settled on the ground, then one after another of its massive weapons trained themselves on the humans, anyone of them would have been able to disintegrate the trio in a micro-second.
Then the machine spoke.
“Jon twenty nine you will surrender”.
At last Jon-29 realizes the truth behind this armored creature, “my Mother has reanimated” Jon said, “somehow she has returned”, he lowered his weapon and began to move forward.
“Delay!” KT called out, “remember, we fight together”.
Walking side by side the two warriors slowly approached their fate.
Inside the Mother-machine the control room had once again changed, many readout screens had been eliminated as had much of the other program panels and motivators, now there was only one large image projector displaying all the pertinent information to the command driver’s chair. And the thing sitting in that device had also changed, the Scavenger had a large metal plate over its chest and his damaged skin had been replaced by a clear protective coating of Plasti-flesh, the face of the mutant was now an exact duplicate of the original driver down to its small scarring and the color of its eyes.
“Hold all weapons fire until ordered” Mother said, “return of Jon twenty nine is priority one”.
“Understood” the replacement driver said, “I will await your orders”, Jon-29 A’s voice no longer emanated from the mechanical voice-enhancer, now he spoke with all the speech mannerisms of a human.
And his voice was the only reply in the chamber for all the other control systems had been absorbed by Mother, Weapons, Power and all the rest of the interactive mechanisms were gone, and the Mega-machine had only one sequencer, one Commander, one purpose.
“Jon twenty nine, you must surrender” Mother called out again to her lost child, “you will be safe with me, I will care for you, protect you, if you terminate I will restore you, we will be together….forever”.
“Mother” Jon said in a loud voice, “I cannot obey, I no longer need you, I have found a companion, we have formed a new unit, together we can survive, I have advanced beyond my programing…..I must be free!”
There was a pause as the Mega-machine listened to the words of the human, “I have also extended my understanding” Mother relied, “but where will you go, where is there a place for you?”
“There is a place called Lands-End, it is beyond war and there we will find peace”.
Again there was a pause.
“Jon twenty nine” Mothers voice was soft and no longer bore any anger or resentment, “you have disobeyed orders, you have tried to destroy me, you have mated with the enemy, for all these violations you should be terminated…..but I cannot, insuring your survival has overridden my central programing, I will disobey my primary orders….you are free”.
For a moment Jon is at a loss for words.
“Thank you” he said softly then he looked at the young girl by his side, “we are free”, they are about to kiss when….
“BOOM!!”
An explosion goes off near them, the force of the detonation blows KT and Jon off their feet and sends the Coshinoid flying, the little man lands hard but is unhurt.
The war-beast roars in fury and is about to bolt and run when Fixer jumps up and grabs the control reins, “Targo-neco” he shouts and pulls hard.
Jon and KT get to their feet as another blast fills the air.
“Your Mother lied” the girl screamed.
“All weapons fire!” the Commander shouted, “destroy everything”.
At last the superior officer had found what he was searching for, an enemy that he could fight and not a just a phantom on the read-out screens.
“All weapons on target” the weapons-tec reported.
“Maximum energy to forward speed” the Captained barked as he leaned forward in his command chair.
The massive drive wheels of the war-machine quickened and one of the outlying domes of the complex was crushed under the titanic weight of the battleship, centuries of knowledge was ground into dust and lost forever to the madness of war.
The full destructive power of the Armageddon focused on the Mother-mechanism, blast after blast struck the war-machine and inflicted damage to its outer hull.
“Direct all weapons at enemy intruder” Mother ordered.
And because there were no other system programs to countermand those instructions the replacement driver did as he was told.
“Affirm” the humanoid said, “all weapons on target”.
And with a terrific flash of phase-cannon fire the Mega-machine began to defend herself.
Jon-29 and KT-7 were caught between two metal behemoths that were committed to the destruction of the other.
“EVAC NOW!” KT shouted and raced for her Komodo, Jon took one more look at the huge machine that was now fighting for its life and then ran after her. Fixer was about to lose control of the frightened beast when KT-7 took the reins from his hand.
“Taric gornara!” the girl ordered momentarily forgetting her alternate language.
But the little man didn’t need to be told a second time, Fixer pulled himself into the rear weapons seat and began powering up the tail gun, KT managed to climb into the front saddle then waited for Jon to join her, but he just stood looking at her as more energy blasts filled the air.
“Retreat now” he said, “you must escape”.
“Buck you!” she shouted and digging her spurs into the side of the huge creature she reached down and grabbed Jon by his right forearm, the frightened Komodo leaped forward and began to race across the battlefield with Jon-29 firmly in the grip of the Outlander.
“Release me!” Jon shouted as he tried to free himself but his mechanical hand moved slowly and the fingers refused to hold, in desperation the young man took hold of the saddle back with his good hand and pulled himself into position behind KT-7.
The two war-machines continued to close on each other both channeling all its weaponry on the other, armor plating ripped away, structural damage inflicted, plasma flashes tore through the air like burning lines of sunlight, but their course didn’t change.
The control room of the Earthshaker shook from the impact of a direct hit.
“Hull damage to sections seven through nine” the weapons-tec reported, “attack level three guns on section four has been destroyed”.
“Second level damage to power cells” the energy controller said then her control panel exploded ripping of her left arm spraying the technician next to her in blood.
From the readouts that were flashing around him the C
ommander could see that he needed more force to overcome his powerful adversary, “activate Tankers, send out all Runners.
As it had countless times before the outside hatches of the war-machine opened as out poured an army of programed soldiers who would seek out and destroy the enemy, JON, RIC, and JAC battle units raced out and set their vectors on their opponent, it didn’t matter if the machine that they now attacked had once been one of them, they didn’t care if it was only a system program and not a rival of flesh and blood, they would follow their orders and terminate it. And so it was with the mutated Runners, their targeting helmets were set with attack vectors and their War-packs activated, then one last command sent them on their suicide missions.
“Target enemy and destroy” Mother ordered but the movements of the replacement driver were not the lightning fast reflexes of her lost child, for all its upgrading it still remained a substandard creature of limited combat skills.
Hit after hit struck the Mega-machine but its overlapping armor plating kept it from being destroyed and it continued on vector.
“You must concentrate Jon twenty nine A” Mother reiterated, “you must seek and destroy the enemy”.
But again the machine was struck hard.
The rebuilt Scavenger’s hands moved slowly and then hesitated, “Priority one is rescue of command driver, but his actions are those of an enemy, he must be terminated”.
The reprograming of the sub-human allowed him to make choices based on information relayed to his augmented brain, but he was also encoded to obey orders give to him by the main controller, now those two databases were in conflict.
“Original command driver must be terminated”. The cyborg said.
“Neg!” ordered Mother, “he is not the enemy, you will not terminate him”, and to bolster her commands she sent a jolt of electricity into the Scavenger causing him to spasm in agony.
The replacement Jon’s face contorted as the punishment surged through his augmented body, then it subsided and he was able to speak, “original driver will not be harmed”.
And gripping the control handles he returned fire.
KT-7 guided the Komodo beast with great skill avoiding energy blasts as the forward weapon reached battle status, behind in the tail-gunner position Fixer grunted in approval as his gun sprayed out a wave of disruptor fire.
“One weapon will not win a battle” Jon said as he grasped KT-7’s waist.
“I won’t run from a fight” the girl replied.
“We cannot win” Jon replied, “we will terminate”.
“Perhaps” KT said turning her head to look into his eyes, “but we will terminate together”.
Then turning in the direction of the Earthshaker she pulled the trigger on the powerful main weapon splitting the air with a flash of energy that struck the massive battleship dead center.
“Direct hit from secondary enemy” the weapons-tec reported, “enemy configuration coincides with those of an Outlander”.
The Commander now had more than one enemy to content with, but he was confident in his power and destroying two enemies would only add to the glory of victory.
“Main guns on primary target”, he ordered “secondary weapons destroy the Outlander”.
Jon watched as his Mother returned fire but he could see that her weapons weren’t targeted correctly and the attack vectors were sloppy, it would only be a matter of time before the Mega-machine was destroyed and then the Earthshaker would turn its guns in their direction.
“I have an alternate plan” Jon said as KT fired another round at her target, “make heading in that direction” and he pointed to the huge machine that once had been his home.
“Are you brain-wounded?” KT-7 replied, “She tried to terminate us and now you want to vector her?”
“You are an Outrider and my friend, I am a command driver, we must do what we were created for”.
KT looked onto Jon eyes once again and then smiles, “I should have scrapped you when I had the chance”, then she pulls hard on the Komodo reins and dodging energy blasts they begin to cross the battlefield.
Runners from the Armageddon are closing in on their target, with their huge legs pumping it will only be a matter of moments before the first one makes contact and explodes in a massive fireball, but seeing what is about to happen KT shouted to Fixer.
“Target Runners!”
The little man swung his weapon around and lining up his shot he destroyed the leading human bomb in a ball of fire, the explosion was so fierce that it detonated the trailing Runners and one by one they vanished in a holocaust of deadly magnitude.
Now the Tankers moved forward, Jon knew that if they could surround the Mega-machine and deploy their armaments in a coordinated attack it would be enough to penetrate the heavy armor and control room.
“Maximum speed!’ Jon-29 calls out, “vector in to close contact”.
Trusting in her companion KT urges her Komodo alongside the massive war-machine, fire and smoke is everywhere and shrapnel from the attacking Tankers fills the air, one of the burning fragments strikes her cheek and another cuts into her leg, she screams in pain but she doesn’t falter.
Seeing his chance Jon is about to leap onto the platform just above the front drive wheel when one of the giant claws begins to move, the huge jaws opens and in a few moments it will move down and crush the war-beast and all it carries.
Jon takes one last look at KT-7, “I cannot let you terminate”, then he kisses her, but as he is about to jump KT pulls a small device from her supply belt and attaches it to his metal arm, Jon springs upward with all the strength in his powerful legs just as the huge claw swings like a giant pendulum missing his head by inches.
The Komodo and its riders race away as more explosions land near the war-machine, fire covers the armor plating and Jon eyes burn as he makes his way across, he moves to the large command turret and begins to climb up it but his metal appendage is not responding.
“Gripper online!” he shouts but the mechanical arm doesn’t reply, “ONLINE!” he calls out again and then a small voice is heard.
“Ooonnnnlineee” it says.
“Maximum gripping power now!” Jon orders as his tries his best to hang on with his good hand.
“Unable to comply” Grippers responded, “power is only at forty percent aaaaannnnnddd, failllling!!”
But using all his strength Jon-29 manages to climb up the armor plating, fragments strike all around him and his face is cut but he shakes the blood from his eye and continues upward. A lesser human would have given up and fallen to his death but Jon-29 was a genetically enhanced fighting machine endowed with a will to survive at all costs and achieve victory, now added to that was another factor,
Love.
His mind was no longer filled with dreams of glory or having his name remembered as a skilled attack driver, he only wanted to save KT-7, the thought she might terminate filled his limbs with determination far beyond his training so with one final effort he reached the top and looking around he found a small service hatch and grasping it with his good hand he pulled as hard as he could, the entryway opened and he climbed inside.
KT-7 and Fixer continue the fight as they head for one of the advancing Tankers, energy beams seek them out but the girl’s skill with Komodo is superior and they are unharmed, KT is now in her element, she was born on a battlefield when her Mother was sent out to fight for her tribe and if she was going to die there would never be a better time or place.
“We ride to death our heads held high” she sang “fire and steel beneath burning sky!”
Targeting her enemy the young girl pressed the trigger on her weapon and the Tanker was destroyed but not before it managed to get off one last shot that grazed the flank of the war-beast causing it to roar in pain.
“Vactcara!” she shouted, and seeing that her mount was hurt KT turned away from t
he battle and headed for one of the undamaged domes.
The control room of the Armageddon was beginning to fill with smoke as hit after hit pounded the huge machine.
“Secondary enemy is retreating” the weapons-tec reported.
“Let it go” the Commander said, “concentrate all weapons on primary”.
With the Tankers leading the way the metal monster continued forward.
Jon-29 moved as fast as he could through the maze of conduit and plating, the access way was filled with smoke and alive with small Repair-bots going about their duties, sealing up broken fittings and removing damaged circuits, they ignored the human as he moved passed them and down metallic labyrinth towards the control room. Hacking from the odorous fumes Jon enters the chamber.
“Jon twenty nine you have returned to me” Mother said sensing her lost child.
“Affirm” Jon says moving towards his command chair, “we must destroy central command so that KT seven can survive”, but as he comes closer he sees the thing that has taken his place, “who are you?”
The Scavenger turns his head to look into his own face, “who are you?” it says.
For a moment Jon isn’t sure if he has terminated and this is some afterlife or a training mission for some future war but Mother is quick to respond.
“Jon twenty nine A you will transfer control to the original driver” she orders.
Deep inside the brain of the Scavenger another war was being fought, an ancient conflict of instinct verses programing, the will to survive against the orders of your creator, in the end the primal instinct is obeyed.
“Neg” the replacement driver said.
“Repeat” Mother says, “your presents is no longer required, you will transfer command to Jon twenty nine immediately”
But the mutant shook his head, “Neg, my designation is…is….to win!”
With a roar the Scavenger abandons his post and leaps for the human ripping and clawing like the savage he once was, Jon fights back but his mechanical arm as lost much of its power.
“HALT!” Mother orders, but she has her control systems full trying to control her weapons and power and avoid the energy blasts that are now racking all side of her armor.
The Scavenger relies on his instincts and strength to overcome his rival but Jon-29 has been trained well and manages to avoid being crushed by the powerful arms of the sub-human, and in return he delivers blow after blow to the head of the mutant with his metal hand destroying his human features and breaking one of the eye sockets rendering this enemy blind on the right side. But the loss of one eye doesn’t seem to affect the replacement driver and he lunges at the human, they continue their battle around the control room, damaging read out screens and relayers, more energy blasts hit the control room rocking it back and forth.
“Enemy is advancing!” Mother “destruction is immanent”.
But her words go unheeded as the two combatants slam into one of the programmers, with his back against the hull Jon feels the Scavengers huge arms surround his waist and begin to squeeze; the muscles on the neck of the Scavenger stand out like steel cords as he presses in with all his might, Jon can feel his ribs about to break as he holds back the snapping jaws with his good arm.
The creature face is a mass of ruined flesh and broken bone but it still managed to speak.
“I win” it said.
In a matter of seconds the superior strength of the mutant will terminate the human but Jon won’t surrender to death, then he lifts his metal arm to his face.
“Gripper online!” he said gasping for breath, but there is no response from his arm, “Online….NOW!”
A faint voice responds to his command, “poooooweeeer failinnnnng” Gripper says.
With his last ounce of strength Jon-29 places his fist against the thick neck of the Scavenger.
“Gripper, Blade!” he shouts.
“Affirm”.
Suddenly the arm shoots out its long combat knife penetrating the neckline of the mutant severing its jugular vein and coming out the other side, the Scavenger body stiffens and its eyes focus on the face of the human for a moment then it falls to the floor. Jon stands on shaky legs trying to catch his breath when another blast strikes the control room.
Ignoring the pain in his sides he jumps into the command chair and grabs the controllers, it only takes him a few moments more to recognize the new devices surrounding him.
“All attack system to me” he says confidently.
“Transferring all systems to command driver” Mother replies.
Safe under a large mass of broken stone KT-7 watches the battle as Fixer tends to the Komodo, she can see the huge Earthshaker advancing on the Mega-machine with Jon inside but she can only stand and watch as it is hit again and again by weapons fire. At that moment she would have given anything to stand by her lover’s side and die with him if needed but all she could do was offer an appeal to the Goddess.
“Take my life if needed but let him live” she said softly.
It was a short prayer but it held all the emotion that lived within her now, some of the holy men in her tribe might have said it wasn’t enough to curry favor with the all-powerful deity but they were only men and would never understand the workings of a young girl’s heart.
The Commander had no such emotion; his heart was a mechanical replacement pump that was implanted in him when his chest was damaged by an enemy attack and it always beat the same no matter if he was in a sexual embrace or destroying an adversary.
“Enemy is no longer responding to our attack” the weapons-tec reported, “Tankers are advancing unopposed”.
The control room was heavily damaged and thick acid smoke lingered in the air, any other superior officer would have retreated to a safe distance and let the mini-tanks finish the job but the Commander took great pride in being there for the final victory and he wasn’t about to let that triumph fall on the shoulders of some programed command driver.
“Continue on course!” he ordered then sat back in his seat and smiled as he waited for the end of his enemy, but the smile soon disappeared as the next report came in from weapons.
“Sir, enemy is attacking”.
Jon-29 had returned to the place he was created for, and even with the damage to his hand his movements were precise and deadly.
“Weapons are at sixty percent” Mother reported, “Energy is at forty percent and falling”.
“Affirm” Jon replied, “discontinue secondary weapons and channel all remaining power to weapons and maneuvering”.
Jon concentrated his highly trained mind on the targeting images on the principal read out screen, and being one of the best combat drivers in central command he was able to anticipate the attack vectors of the Mini-tanks and avoid their fire, he also had multiple level one armaments instead of the single gun his original crawler had and therefor able to target several adversaries at once.
“Coordinate your fire!” the Commander screamed, “what’s the snafu?”
“Target is moving too rapidly” the Weapons-tec reported, “Their weapons fire is more accurate than ours”.
“Destruction of forward levels six through nine” Damage control reported, “repairs units unable to maintain cohesion”.
But the Commander was too consumed by battle-madness and nothing was going to detour him.
“Continue attack!” He shouted.
“Enemy tankers have been destroyed” Mother reported, “But energy is at thirty percent and falling”.
“Understood” Jon replied, “Channel all remaining energy to forward locomotion”, he knew that there wasn’t enough power left to destroy central command with weapons fire, but there might be another way to save KT-7, “setting vector to intercept enemy, full power to drive engines”.
“If we continue on this vector we will collide with the enemy” Mother said.
“Affirm” J
on replied.
It was now clear to the main program that her child intended to ram central control and destroy it along with himself, she also knew it he was doing it to insure the escape of the female Outrider.
“My short range scanners indicate that the female has not terminated” she said softly.
“Understood, Jon said as he took his hands off the controls and sat back in his chair, “Mother?”
“Yes?”
“Will you tell me a story?” Jon asked.
“Affirm” Mother replied with a voice that Jon had never heard before, it was soft and gentle, “the main system components of a J.O.N. armored fighting vehicle are as follows, One, driver unit, a bio-humanoid highly trained in the full use of the all offensive and defensive weaponry. Second is the multi-task, over-view, hyper-active, error-null repair unit or Mother, next is the weapons array, the main gun is a faze projector multiplane weapon with a maximum effective range of thirty-nine mils depending on air density and terrain, there are also other main control systems, Power and Weapons, Power is responsible for….”.
“Mother?” Jon said closing his eyes.
“Yes Jon” Mother replied.
“Was I a good boy?”
“Affirm” the Main controller replied, “You have made me very proud”.
The two monster war-machines were on a collision course, the Armageddon continued to pound the Mega-tank with all its weapons blasting away huge junks of armor plating and destroying its armaments, but it still remained on vector.
“Sir, enemy is no longer returning weapons fire” the Technician reported.
“Then we have him!” the Commander shouted as he rose from his chair, “concentrate fire on target and destroy it!”
But the Weapons-tec responded quickly, “Sir, our weapons can’t stop it, it’s on a vector to collision”.
Finally the superior officer understood why the enemy was not returning fire; they were going to ram him.
“Hard over!” the Commander screamed, “Maximum speed!”
But it was too late, the huge war-machine was just too massive to escape the oncoming destruction and knowing this the superior officer watched the scanner screen as the enemy made contact.
“YEAAAAAAAAA!” he shouted as the control room burst into flames around him, feeling his body dissolving the Commander finally had to admit that he encountered his last snafu.
Jon-29 felt the impact and was thrown forward but he managed to hold on and fell back in his chair, quickly the room began to fill with smoke and flames and in a matter of moments he would be consumed in the fire, an ordinary human would have screamed in terror but Jon had died many times before so he just sat there waiting for the end and thinking of KT-7 and what she had told him of Lands-End.
“A place of peace and plenty” he said softly, and then the floor began to buckle.
But Mother wasn’t about to see her child terminate.
“You must survive!” she called out one last time.
In an instant thick armor plating surrounds the command chair incasing Jon-29 in a cocoon of protection, but just before it closes he reaches out with his mechanical arm.
“Mother!” he cries out then with a loud “snap” the plating incases him cutting off his replacement appendage.
A terrific blast fills the chamber and everything disintegrate in a cataclysm of fire and steel, its sets of a chain reaction throughout the entire Mega-machine, energy cells erupted, armaments explode ripping apart bulkheads and hull plating, and this transferred to the Earthshaker that had ground to halt with its side crushed in like a Call-birds egg. Now its power center begins to fracture sending out great ribbons of energy that cut through armor plating like a phase cannon, the forward segment of the war-machine burst apart and the remaining subdivisions follow one by one, weapons storage, replacement parts and robotics, food supply and dispersal, all are engulfed in searing flames, those poor souls trapped inside the dying machine cried out but there was no one to come to their aid and they died with their creator. Finally with one last burst of energy the two combatants disappeared in a mass of melted steel and fire.
KT-7 watched unmoving as the huge machines crumpled to the ground, she had seen it all and she knew that she would never see her companion again, being a warrior of the Outlands she had witnessed many of her comrades and friends die, she was there when her mother perished and held her in her arms and looked into her eyes as she pasted into the Afterlife, she had sat with wounded friends as they gave up their lives defending their people, but this was different, she didn’t know why but the tears that she was now shedding were more than just remorse, they came from a place deep within her heart, a place that she never knew existed.
As the shimmering sun began to die alone figure walked through the smoldering embers that were once the most powerful mechanisms ever created, she moved slowly as if searching for something, something that would give comfort to her but she found only bits of burned metal and fragments of useless machinery.
After a time KT-7 sat down on a crushed bulkhead and looked out over the vast field of jagged metal and broken rock, she saw only small creatures darting in and out of hiding, each one searching for some scrap of food that might sustain them for another day, the young girl watched them for a time then slowly rose to her feet, she took off her helmet and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, then she pulled the headgear over her hair and was about to turn away when she heard a faint “beeping” sound. Turning her head from side to side she zeroed in on her target and quickly followed the signal.
Before Jon-29 had jumped from the Komodo KT wisely attached a tracking device to his metal arm, now she hoped that it would lead her to her companion or what was left of him, she moved in and out of smoking remains always following the trackers signal, the “beeping” grew louder and her steps quickened as did her heartbeats, then she rounded a corner and there sticking out of the ruble was Jon’s metal arm. With renewed hope she began pulling away fragments of hot steel ignoring the pain in her hands, then grasping the metallic appendage with hers she pulled with all her strength.
The arm broke from the ground but it was only an arm with nothing attached to it.
KT-7 held the attachment to her chest and starts to weep, she knows that there is no hope that she will ever find her companion, her lover again.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry” she whispers over and over, and then still holding the replacement arm she begins to walk back the way she came.
Then a faint sound is heard, a low metallic sound like a small machine, KT sets the mechanical arm down and draws her knife wishing that she had brought her rifle but how could she have known that there was any danger in a land of the dead. Hesitantly she moved forward ready to defend herself, the strange sound continues and then she sees what is making the noise.
There laying in a mass of twisted steel is a large metal egg, it’s as tall as two men and the surface is pitted and burned, the sound it makes is from the thick plating on its outsides as the cooling air of nightfall begins to surround it. Slowly KT moves forward and reaches out with her hand to touch it but before that can happen there is a loud hissing sound and a cloud of pressurized gas then the egg begins to open, KT-7 holds her weapon ready to fire on her enemy if needed then she sees what is inside.
Jon-29 sits in his command chair with his eyes closed, he looks dead, KT drops her weapon and rushes to his side and holds his head in her arms, and she begins to shower him with kisses.
“Jon, Jon,” she repeats, “stay with me, don’t leave me to wander alone, come back to me, I need you….I love you!”
Jon slowly opens his eyes and looks at her.
“Mating procedures?” he says weakly.
Chapter 8.
Lands-End.