"You two aren't ready for the trek."
Eddie and I were in an old supply room, sitting at a big steel table and answering questions that Doc Weld threw our way while he ran diagnostics on the medical casket. Lennox was typing something into a fold-out console on the wall.
The room was a sickly, deep green colour, not helping were the dying fluorescent lights hanging above.
"Well lookie heeeere." Weld said, gesturing at the open circuitry of the casket. Eddie shook his head. Weld seemed to smell it.
Clicking a soldering gun on, he detached a suppressor from the wiring. The sole red light that indicated the power flickered, then turned green. The other two blinked yellow and red.
"Huh." Said Eddie.
"T'wasn't running out of juice, it was saving it." The Doc reached an arm in and felt around. "A-ha! It's got a pair of extra energy cells rigged up in here. He brought his toolbag up, reached his other arm in and after some clicking and buzzing all three lights turned Blue. He turned to me.
"You do this, Nick?" We'd introduced ourselves as soon as he arrived. He was driving what looked like a water ski with wheels, a pair of fans folded at the side and the trailer folded into a cage at the back.
"No, we only found it a little over an hour ago." I said.
"The solder on that was fresh. Now, either your girl fixed this thing up with one hand and managed to close it, or she was lucky enough to find a miraculously jury rigged medical casket close enough for her to crawl to." He sat back, tenting his fingers over his eyes. Well, where I assume his eyes were; Doc Weld wore a patchwork pressurized suit, his head covered by a rectangular breathing mask, 'for th' Dust', he'd explained.
All of it was either dark cloth or stitched leather, with red and white Medical crosses visible from any angle. He kept several tool pouches on his legs and torso, and heaved a backpack with a rebriether and other machines bolted together. I didn't ask how he used the bathroom.
He propped his chin on a fist and extended the other at us, flat.
"I need the whole story. Lennox filled me in best he could over the radio, but details are important." He sat back, arms crossed.
Eddie and I told him, filling in parts the other missed, he didn't stop us until we started explaining the 'streetlight.' and whatever was following us in the garbage that he held up a hand and spoke.
"Did it ever make contact? Left the scrap?"
"No." Eddie said, "We assumed that the 'lights' we saw were for lighting the path when it gets dark, and it never made any appearances. I just saw the trash move when it shouldn't have."
Lennox turned to us, "We can't light the path at night, leads the mals and animals to us."
"Mals?" I said.
"Malfunctions, like the one that TAB 'found'." Weld said, "Lennox, I need to talk to App about this, he might be able to explain it." Lennox nodded.
"I didn't think it was back over here. The Scavs in the East spotted it about five days ago, they said it was heading for the East wall, a dull green light zipping past one of their night watchmen. Apparently it vandalized the Western Anom...Ano--the W.A.T. smelting plant." He gave Eddie and I a look. We exchanged glances. The smelting plant was a hot issue.
"What are you talking about? You know what was following us?" I asked.
"We can't tell you." Weld said, flatly.
"What?" Eddie said, tense.
"We can't tell you what it is." he repeated
"Why the fuck not?" Eddie stood up, fists clenched.
"Sit down, Ed." I said, nervous.
Lennox took a step forward, looking Eddie straight in the eye.
"We don't know what it is. We'd tell you if we knew. It probably wouldn't be an issue if we knew." He stepped back, Eddie sat down, cooling his hands on the table.
"Like he said, The thing's a mystery. It's smart. Not artificially, not programmed," Weld said, turning to me. "And not with any kind of tactical response protocol. It's way too big to have legal sentience, either."
Lennox sat down on a chair in his corner, arms crossed.
"It's never made this many appearances in such a short span." He said.
"How long has it been here?" I asked, degree kicking in.
"We have no idea. There are bigger issues in the C.C.C.S. and most people don't really know about it." Lennox replied.
"What does it do when people do encounter it?"
Weld sat forward. "At first, it was considered a Ben Mal--it would watch people. Just peer out and observe from far away. Not in full view, but just that green light. It was kind of a ghost story, rumors spread of it being a junk monster or somesuch to scare kids into line. This was far from here, on the higher cliffs. Sightings were sporadic."
He sighed, tenting his fingers over the lens on his mask.
"Then, it started moving down. Sightings turned into encounters when it got to the median ridges, which is damn far away from where the first sightings were made, it started attacking people." He sighed.
"Just out of the blue?" Eddie said.
"Just out of the blue. Our only theory why is the Frequency Fairway. It's a facility Northwest of here that pretty much keeps any communication not limited to a hard-line impossible. A scr-"
"That's illegal." Eddie interrupted, not directing it so much as stating it. Doc Weld shook his head. "It's not, and that's just a side effect. Originally it was a powerful telecomm tower, but over the years the wavelength equalization wore off, it turned into a gigantic scrambler, you could say, and we think that once whatever it is got close enough, it just got scrambled."
"Shouldn't it affect The Altar Boy? Or the other robots?" I said.
"It does and it doesn't. Most of the civilian and worker 'bots in the C.C.C.S. get a signal reset done when they arrive, so they just work around it. Even if they don't have it done immediately, it doesn't affect them for a long time, at which point they just report it and get the reset. But when you get a Mal sitting in the junk for god knows how long, then reactivate it, they've been listening to it for months or years on end and they immediately go through an incredibly large packet of raw information, usually that just makes them crash. It's a sensory overload, to be blunt." Doc Weld scratched the chin area of his mask.
"What happens if it doesn't overload them?" I asked.
"You saw it happen." Lennox said.
I let this sink in, Eddie leaned forward and said "So what happens when it attacks?"
Lennox and Weld exchanged glances.
"Well, it's...uh...it's weird." Lennox muttered. Doc shook his head.
"Out of curiosity, did this girl..." Weld said, snapping his fingers.
"Grace."
"Grace. Did she have any artificial limbs? automated arm or leg?" He leaned on a hand, sounding weary.
"Uh, no. She couldn't work at the W.A.T. if she did." I said.
"Why not?" Weld continued.
"It's a safety concern. When you have a bunch of robots sifting through information through tones or wireless, the nervous simulations in a bionic limb cause splits in the data. They have a habit of matching wavelengths momentarily so the message is garbled." I said, paraphrasing.
It was also a vindictive business practice. Bio-amps weren't a strong point in the W.A.T. product line, so superior brands were often used. Having someone in the lab with a big 'AUTOCO' logo on their arm typically meant they were either going to be shuffled into another sector or relocated to the smelting plant. I didn't mention this.
Weld nodded. "Well, this thing tends to attack people with bionic limbs. The worst it's done is outright tear them off, but otherwise it'll just menace. It'll leap out of cover, snap an arm or leg, then get away. We think it can pick up on the neural disruptions and tries to purge them."
"No one's gotten a good look at it, just the occasional flash of a limb. That's probably why the lamp was smashed." Lennox smacked his hand against the table.
Weld stood up, yawning. "This casket can support her for at least a month, Lennox. Tell the old fart that we're in no hurry." He walked out of the room, tools in hand. Lennox cracked his knuckles and rubbed his forehead. "Follow me, guys. There's a few empty rooms you can sleep in, god knows we're not in a rush." Eddie looked like he was about to say something, but clamped his mouth shut and stood up. I walked over to the casket, glancing at the diagnostic board.
STABLE slowly strobed across the bottom, I turned around, following Lennox and Eddie out towards the checkout station. The sky had turned a dark blue and pinpricks of light were scattered throughout the Junkyard, miles away. I stood staring at the strange alien landscape, an odd step above the infinite reach of the land surrounding the pit, cities glowing orange through the night. I could see the W.A.T. barely shining along the northeast ridge, partially out from the eastern cliffs. I wondered how many other people watched this every night, this man made mess trying to brighten itself. I turned, eyes strained, and saw the C.C.C.S. light up like a spiderweb.
"Well, you don't see that everyday." Eddie said, wandering out after me.
"Nope."
"Sleep. Now."
"Yep."
I meandered inside.
__________________
I see you jockin' me.
Last edited by Mac Sirloin; 01-16-2010 at 04:35 PM..
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