“Common where are you, you bastard?”
There was no reply, hissing Laura re settled, trying to find a position that had slightly less water running down her back
CLANG
Laura jolted awake, blinking in the darkness as she tried to get her bearings
CLANG
“Alan?”
“What? Ahh.” Laura hissed as Seven jolted to life and lifted itself off her, bracing itself to lend her a hand in turn. Now on her feet again, Laura turned her attention to the knocking.
“Alan, what have you got?”
< Two fabricators plus the special unit have been dispatched to your location>
“Fucking Excellent. Hey, I don’t suppose you know if I can survive this deep?”
The AI replied far to nonchalantly. “Unknown. Proceeding to test.”
There was a low hissing and Laura stiffened as the wall began to vibrate. for several seconds the only change was that the hum was growing steadily in pitch.
As the metal walls began to buckle and groan, Laura raised her arms and held her breath. The wall of the pod disappeared, and Laura was nocked backward by the onrush of water.
Slamming back against the wall Laura fought to hold her breath and stay conscious, thrashing for a few seconds, she kicked off the back wall and made for the hole, following the dim glow of the night sky above. Emerging into the muddy water, Laura blinked at the blurred shapes that stood around her, their eyes glowing blue. A stream of bubbles spilled out of Laura’s mouth, prompting her to start kicking up. Fighting against the weight of her metallic arm, Laura made a break for the surface, the pressure a stabbing pain in her ears. There was a tug and Laura was yanked to a stop. Laura kicked, trying to fight of the unyielding object. In a panic, Laura caught sight of the hulking figure in the darkness, and she calmed her conscious mind, though her lizard brain continued to yammer in panic. Fighting the overwhelming urge to push for the surface, Laura turned back, the figure releasing her leg as it did. Crawling along its side she reached the back, watching as the back opened up, unfurling like a flower. With her lungs burning, Laura quickly scrambled into the space, the hatch closing behind her. With the water steadily draining away, Laura maneuvererd herself into the pilot’s seat. Feeling the straps lock her into her seat while multiple cables merged with her metallic arm.
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Laura grinned as the cockpit lit up, holograms and screens flickering to life.
“Hell yeah.”
Kaylee slumped down into the gass, hissing slowly as she pressed an arm against her side, looking around she watched as the last of the robots was dragged to the ground and ripped apart. Breathing hard through the pain, Kaylee reached out for the hive mind:
“Its done, now let me fuckin go.”
DEFENSE. Kaylee snarled.
“I fuckin defended your stupid cave, the bots are dead, what the hell else do you want of me?!”
Continue.
“But there aren’t any bots.”
Wrong. The single worded reply coincided with the arrival of scores more of the bugs began to spill out of tunnel.
“Oooh for fuck’s sake.” Kaylee growled as she felt the whispers of at least a hundred more minds connecting to her own. Settling in amongst the increasingly familiar mass of chittering bugs, Kaylee reached into the noosphere and once again began to scan the battlefield for her foe.
Nidi sat back in the seat, idly wondering if perhaps this deal had been a mistake. For one these ‘humans’ were obsessive, agonising over every single word of her explanations, no matter how insignificant.
“No we do not want you in our war, we do not intend to use your planet as a base of operations. I am only here because the machine took me and the hive followed.” Letting out a sigh, Nidi sank even further into the chair, not that it achieved much due to her being a head taller then everyone at the table. One of the damnable ‘scientists’ chose to speak.
“What is important is how are they going to get reinforcements, they must have some ability to communicate with their homeworld?”
“Reinforcements will not be forthcoming, at least not in your lifetimes.” Nidi replied, her tone bored. “they are as limited as the light of the stars and have many other more active fronts to occupy them. Ones that pose real capabilities to resist. The machine will not send more forces.” That explanation seemed to calm the scientist somewhat, though the officer didn’t seem to cool down at all.
“Well isn’t that wonderful, now how can we kill them?”
Nidi shifted slightly, hoping that this was signalling the end of questioning.
“Destroy the Commander and the machines will be left without direction.”
The general nodded. “In that case we need to…” His sentence was cut off by a low rumble and a shudder that sent pieces of concrete raining down. A moment later the alarms sounded, a repetitive piercing howl that drowned out almost everything else. As Nidi leapt from her seat a voice crackled over the intercom.
“Multiple Explosions near the tower, all combat personnel are to report to their stations. All other” *click” the orders were cut short as another, significantly louder rumble shook the facility, the lights went out. For a moment Nidi was left in pitch black darkness. Moments later red emergency lights lit up the room.