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Chapter 9

"On the left!"
Taro swung his weapon towards the approaching slaughterbot. A rifle burst collapsed the machine into a flailing wreck a few meters from his feet. The water recycling facility teemed with hostiles. Second and Third Squads were so badly chewed up that First had to form half of the hasty perimeter as enemies poured into the level from every corridor. He pulled back towards Fatima's position to cover her. She wrangled with an underslung grenade launcher.
"Need help?"
"I got it! I got it!" Fatima sent a high explosive charge hurtling against the room's far wall. It went wide and struck a support beam sending shrapnel back at them.
"Shit," Fatima realized her mistake. Remembering her training, she broke open the launcher to load another grenade.
Maza keyed his microphone, "Don't sweat it, mind the defilade behind the water tanks." Maza designated fields of fire, translucent lines dividing up the squad's HUDs, while piercing targets with the team's railgun "Keep up the heat Bravo Team."
Taro winced at Maza's use of the term "defilade." No need to show off one's military jargon when "cover" would suffice.
Kapoc's voice came over the net, the serenity of his tone incongruous with the hectic surroundings. "Five militiamen have expired, three require extraction."
The text, "Medevac Request Sent" blinked across Taro's HUD. He turned just in time to see a projectile smack into Fatima's helmet. She went limp. Taro uttered a stream of panicked expletives as he checked Fatima's wounds.
Zu scrambled over, panting with worry, "Help me carry." Taro grabbed her feet as they dragged her towards the center of the platoon's defensive ring of fire.
They reached Kapoc tending to the wounded, when the two were sent sprawling by a blow from above. For a moment, Taro thought the ceiling had collapsed but when he looked up, a slaughterbot stood pulverizing Kapoc's body frame. Zu dropped his auto-shotgun and leapt onto the slaughterbot's back. He tried wrenching a sensor module from the killing machine's neck stalk with his bare hands. Taro aimed his weapon but the twirling mass of flesh and metal made a clear shot impossible. More slaughterbots dropped inside of the perimeter as their defenses buckled despite orders from LT Khanna for second squad to shift fire upwards. Taro chambered another magazine as a slaugherbot reeled back a bladed arm when everything froze. The words "ENDEX-ENDEX-ENDEX" pulsed in bright read across Taro's HUD. The world shrank around Taro coming to a bright point before expanding into the battalion's Virch Interface Center. The VIC, tomb-like during the simulation, hummed to life as militiamen swiveled away the booms suspending their dummy weapons. Tar pulled off his headset, adjusting to that odd sensation of reorientation to the real, then removed the gloves and sensor bands on his limbs. Having died several minutes earlier, Fatima was already standing free of her restraints.
Taro slid out of his virch port's recliner, "You ok?" Even though it had been just a simulation, the image of Fatima's shattered face stuck in his mind's eye.
Fatima yanked her RDF jacket's zipper up over her tank top. "Just great."
"You did good Fatima, you'll get the hang of it," Maza encouraged.
"Alright, bring it in First Platoon." LT Khanna stood in the middle of the center aisle, her small frame overshadowed by the height of the surrounding virch ports. "Let's get this after-action review started- get to where you can hear me and see a monitor." Red Militiaman pressed around, standing on the cable-matted floor. Others posted up on the machinery to get a better view.
"Specialist Ensley, start us from insertion." In the corner of the room, a young woman sitting behind an elaborate glass console brought up video of the simulation. Though visored, Taro recognized her as Maza's friend Laura. On the monitors, footage of the platoon's mission played back. Khanna would periodically freeze the images to allow further discussion. The squad leaders took turns highlighting positive points to sustain, and failings to improve. Towards the end, after the engagement at the water recycling center was well underway, Khanna directed the screens to zoom in on first squad's sector.
Jeong turned to Taro, "Hashimoto, good to see that you finally got a kill."
Taro hesitated for a moment, not sure if the comment was yet another dig about the fiasco in the metro station or merely Jeong's usual sarcasm, "um… thanks."
"But seriously, you covered Akmal while she was reloading her launcher. That's what's supposed to happen." Jeong's words were of little comfort to Taro as he had to watch his friends get killed.
The review resumed before stopping on an image of Zupong whaling on the slaughterbot. Jeong straightened the new sergeant stripes on his uniform's velcro. "I'm glad you're feeling up for it Zupong but remember to try your weapon first before ditching it and going ape shit." Muffled laughter rippled across the room. Taro thought Jeong's terminology slightly speciesist, but if Zupong minded it did not show.
Platoon Sergeant Stach interrupted, his jaguar-like spots wet with perspiration, "Remember everyone, you got to watch the ceiling. Also, just 'cause someone goes down doesn't mean you leave the perimeter. We've been through this, a gap in the firing line gets everyone killed."
Khanna made a few additional points, including praising Kapoc's performance as a stand-in after the medic went down. Fatima whispered into Taro's ear, "I can't believe they let Kay play doctor. He's thrilled. We're never going to hear the end of it."
"Uh-huh." Taro understood that Kapoc, old model vec that he is, would prioritize his utility to the group over his own survival. Although Kapoc had assured Taro once that an encoded sense of self-preservation would prevent him from assuming any undue risks, Taro doubted that Kapoc fully realized his desire to be useful.
Khanna talked for a couple more minutes, "Don't get down First Platoon, that iteration was better. Best we've done in the last week." Then turned over the meeting to Stach to close.
The tall splice stepped forward, the exoskeletal braces on his legs clanking against the floor, "Alright that'll do it for now. Sanitize your straps and ports, then grab some chow. Next hit time's in an hour."
The platoon dispersed and started cleaning the virch equipment. Laura came over to Maza, handing him a packet of disinfecting wipes. They chatted the way close friends do during a chance encounter.
Though not finished with her virch port, Fatima walked up beside Maza placing a hand on his shoulder, "Hey Team Leader, we should get some food 'fore they run out."
"Yeah, good point. Nice seeing ya Laura, don't let 'em work you too hard down here."
Laura swept her brown hair over an ear, "Isn't much worse than on Houston Station."
"That's right," added Maza with a smile.
"Have you eaten? You should come with us," asked Taro, having to raise his voice over the hum of servers.
Laura gave Taro a quick look over, "Yeah, why not. Next sims not till 1900… 7:00 pm. Jesus, I'm getting institutionalized already."
"Of course, come with us," added Maza.
The group walked down the barricaded street, past the pallets of gear and supplies to the makeshift mess. The former cantina was more crowded than normal with most of the other companies back from missions. At Otto's, they filed through the small serving line. Under the EuroFed, Aachen City was known for its old Earth high cuisine, but since getting to the surface the food Taro had seen in Aachen City was strictly old-school Martian, single bowl dishes heavy on grains and vegetables. Taro was used to it of course. Watkins Station 's eateries and dispensaries carried much the same fare but of higher quality. Today's meal of quinoa, spinach, and beans in a curry sauce was better than most.
They found a table with enough space for everyone. Fatima sat next to Maza. Laura, Taro, and Zupong scrunched in on the other bench. Kapoc was already seated there. He was busy advocating for a certain pronunciation of the battalion's city-street turned base of operations.
"They would have pronounced Kohlstrasse as coal-strass-ah. In the halcyon days before the Technocalypse, the Aachen citizens went to great lengths to maintain cultural ties with old Europe. Giving their streets and avenues names that hearken back to Earth was just one of the ways they did this."
Fatima stirred her curry without looking up, "Fascinating stuff Kay."
Zupong gave a low guttural chuckle.
Taro came to Kapoc's defense, "Well, some of us actually like history. I think it's interesting. Wonder if the Republic is going to change all these EuroFed names?"
"They can rename the whole place as far as I'm concerned," said Maza. "Krisna Nur Nnamdi City's got a nice ring to it."
Laura interjected, "I don't think Chao Fillopav's gonna let that happen."
"You got that right. Y'all been watching the news feeds? He's been blasting the administration over the handling of things down here. They're gaining support too."
"Well, things did sure go to hell," Taro noted.
"I never liked that guy," said Fatima her mouth full with food.
"I'm not saying I'm for him, but he did warn against Nnandi's reclamation plan for the surface, and the administration's insistence on taking in so many Earth evacuees."
"Can't expect Blondie here to be against him, his family stretches back to First Landing."
"No, they don't" Fatima's charge, though technically inaccurate, wasn't far off the mark. The Hashimotos, by no means Japanese Martian royalty, were longstanding members member of the Kaseihito community. "Your family aren't exactly refugees either."
"It's called sympathy. Your family doesn't have to be refugees to feel for them."
Maza waved his spoon at no one in particular, "If Nnamdi and the Forward Together Coalition lose control in the Assembly we're screwed."
The conversation on factional politics continued for some time. Taro thought it odd to talk about such things when elsewhere in the city untold thousands of hunter-killer robots were trying their best to massacre everyone- natives and newcomers alike.
As the others talked, Laura touched Taro on the forearm, "Not exactly Trinh House is it?" referring to the food.
"No, no it isn't."
"Yeah, I still can't wrap my head around it. A few weeks ago I working I'm working a nine to five on a one gee orbital, then getting wined and dined on Judian, now I'm here a kilometer under the surface putting people through combat sims."
"Feels like we've been here for years. Were you born on Earth?" Taro asked.
"No, on the transport over. My parents were though. They…"
Taro did not hear the rest of Laura's comment. Across the table Fatima brushed off a piece of quinoa from Maza's chin. He was processing the implications of such an intimate gesture when Stach interrupted with a whistle.
"Change of plans First Platoon, grab your kit and head to the briefing room. We're going back out."

That sinking feeling returned to Taro even before Alpha Company had crossed the line of departure. It grew stronger as they weaved their way through the labyrinthine neighborhood they had been sent to protect. Muffled concussions in the distance shook loose rust-colored clouds of dirt and dust from the low ceiling.
Fatima opened a direct channel, "Blondie, what do you think this place was?"
Taro studied the dark stalls on either side of the narrow street, "I dunno. Looks like these might a been some kind of slum or maybe a low-rent market. It's a mess, even for ruins."
"It's a fuckin maze, is what it is."
Unlike the boulevards surrounding their Kohlstrasse barracks, this section of Aachen City had received only a perfunctory refurbishment of lighting and ventilation. It was older and more impoverished, its paths larger than a ship's corridor but smaller than a proper road. Fortunately, if any civilians had been resettled here, they were gone now.
Sergeant Jeong came on over the squad net, "Stagger the column best you can First Squad. We…" An explosion and the clatter of gunfire some ways ahead interrupted his transmission. "Hold one."
Lieutenant Khanna keyed her microphone, "Third Platoon's made contact up ahead. We're gonna push up on the left to protect their flank."
Taro thought Khanna sounded too calm, as if ordering the platoon around during an exercise. The images of Fatima and Kapoc's corpses from yesterday's virch still plagued his thoughts and he shuddered despite fully realization that it had only been a simulation.
Maza turned towards the rest of the team, ordering "Form a file behind me," while making the appropriate hand signal with his weapon-free arm.
They snaked their way around the derelict kiosks and push carts that clogged the walkways. The interval between explosions shortened as the platoon moved into an irregularly shaped intersection with paths radiating away in various directions.
On Taro's HUD, Maza emplaced a marker for his team to cover one of the larger approaches. Word came down to throw up barricades. Zupong pushed the wreck of a street cleaning bot on its flat tires to the center of the lane, then with Fatima heaved it over on its side. Towards the center of the intersection, Kapoc was busy with a torch, cutting stretches of metal from a storefront to add to the pile.
Senior Sergeant Stach's voice overrode all the other communications, "Look alert First Platoon, sensor drones got movement, eleven-o'clock 200 meters."
Taro stood to the right of Fatima and Zupong, his rifle rested across the side of the street cleaning bot. Maza, crouched behind a recycler.
"100 meters" Stach's voice notably louder.
"50 meters, guns up!"
A noise arose, not unlike the sound of air rushing through ductwork. It grew louder, then turned into a screech as two slaughterbots skidded around the corner no more than a dozen meters away. Maza shot first, drilling one of the hunter-killers with his rail gun. Taro squeezed the trigger sending a fusillade of armor piercing rounds down the alley. A grenade from Fatima's launcher exploded a meter or so behind the slaughterbots, engulfing the machines in a cloud of smoke and dust.
The ensuing silence was broken by the sound of empty magazines hitting the ground. Reloaded, they peered at the lingering haze, waiting. Taro smiled and allowed himself to hope that perhaps that would be the worst of it today before the sound of another squad opening fire erupted behind him. Instinctively, he turned to look.
"Watch it!" Zupong yelled.
To their front, three spheres rolled out from around the corner. Zupong fired his auto-shotgun, a slug striking one of the spheres. It exploded, thick trails of smoke spewing forth. The other two balls sped forward, striking the chassis of the overturned street cleaner. There were two distinct explosions but Taro's mind merged them into one. He and the rest of the team were blown back as the barricade disintegrated.
On his back, the warning "GAS-GAS-GAS" flashed across Taro's eyes as thick gray smoke filled the intersection. His suit's diagnostic reported only minor damage with no ruptures. Taro struggled to his feet. His visor switched to a different projection using a portion of the EM spectrum able to see through the obscuring haze.
Stach sprinted over, "Close the gap!" and dragged Taro back towards the perimeter by his backpack.
Zupong helped Fatima sit up, the wind knocked out of her. Struggling to breathe, Fatima chocked out "Where's…Maza…"
"I have him," radioed Kapoc. "He has a slight breach. I am sealing it now."
The gunfire and explosions grew continuous, with ricochets and shrapnel permeating the poisoned air. Sergeant Jeong redeployed the squad's autocannon. Its operator, a militiaman cyborg named Drosten, piloted the weapon's robotic bipedal mount to what remained of the street cleaner. As more hunter-killers swarmed up the alley, its rotary barrels belched a torrent of fire. Taro sprayed another magazine at the tangled mass of machinery as a new wave of slaughterbots broke against their defenses.
Out of the heap of wreckage, an enemy loosed a projectile that snapped one of the autocannons legs. Drosten struggled to keep it righted as the stream of bullets veered, chewing up the wall. With the fire slackened, a damaged slaughterbot lurched down the corridor. Drosten managed to swivel the weapon just as the attacker stuck a blade through his neck guard, releasing a jet of dark red blood. The pair collapsed together, the autocannon's barrels swirling to a stop.
Stach broadcast on the platoon net, "First's autocannon is down, Drosten KIA, northside of perimeter failing. Request support…"
"Negative, we're pullin back." Lieutenant Khanna's voice now laced with concerned. "Third Squad, you're rearguard. First and Second fall back to the last rally point,"
"Got it Ma'am." Jeong responded.
Fatima pumped more grenades down the narrow approaches, as Taro bounded back to the center of the intersection. Militiamen from the other squads streamed past.
Kapoc was loading Maza onto a stretcher bot. He was awake but dazed.
Opening a direct channel to Taro, Maza muttered, "I… I… sent you the waypoints… back" before slipping unconscious again.
The vec cinched the stretcher's restraints tight then sent it galloping to the rear.
Maza's instructions blinked in Taro's HUD. Taro deleted it. He was not sure exactly why he did it. Perhaps it was the adrenaline pumping through his system, or maybe he thought he could lead them out better himself, or perhaps it was just plain resentment.
Fatima sprinted over to Taro and Kapoc. Zupong followed close behind, "Gotta go!"
The withdrawal devolved into a rout. The squads became intermixed with some stopping to return fire or grab a comrade while others just ran. Jeong and the rest of First Squad were far behind. They could all see the rally point on their HUD, but there was no clear path on how to pick their way through the congested alleyways as their original path was compromised.
In front of them, a slaughterbot burst from a storefront onto a vec militiaman from Third Squad, snapping them in half.
Taro took the lead. The four ran down a rampway into a service tunnel. Taro could tell from his HUD that they were heading away from the rally point at ninety degrees, but he hoped that it would turn south at some point. The tunnel dead-ended at a rusted wire mesh door. With two on either side they pulled the doors apart. They ran into a small room, pressing against the far wall as if looking for a secret exit. The floor creaked and swayed under their feet. Taro's heart sank when they realized what it was. A freight elevator…a freight elevator that had not moved in over sixty years. Above them some five meters, past the grid of metal beams that served as the elevator cage's ceiling, the cables looped around a wheel fixed to the top of the shaft.
Down the corridor, four slaughterbots appeared, with more coming in behind them. A cacophony of loud scrapping noises issued as they struggled against each other down the tunnel.
Tears streaked Fatima's checks as she punched the lift's inoperative controls. "I'm out of grenades. Oh God, we're fucked!"
Zupong stood facing the door, reloading his shotgun, "No good, no good, no good."
Taro looked up through the ceiling to the drive hoist, "Kapoc, cut the cable."
"What!" Fatima exclaimed.
"Do it!"
Kapoc stretched his torch bearing arm up. A blazing blue light and the cable snapped. Darkness engulfed the car as it plunged down the shaft. No one had time to scream.
A light shone in Taro's eyes traversing from side to side.
"Taro, can you hear me? Try and speak."
The darkness swirled around the nauseating light. Taro struggled to sit up, trying to keep his balance. "What…What's going…?"
"You are likely suffering from a concussion. Do not attempt to stand," Kapoc said.
Taro's back and left elbow throbbed. Slouched against a wall he stared at a large gray door blocking one end of the hallway. He heard gagging. Fatima was on her hands and knees retching, her helmet off. Zupong stood by her side, a hand on her back.
Taro touched a gloved hand to his mouth, surprised that his helmet was off as well. His nose and checks tingled in the cold air. Taro's rifle lay on the ground. He reached for its sling strap, but Kapoc moved it out of reach.
"You should not handle a weapon in your condition."
Taro thought for the first time about the slaughterbots. "Where are we? What about…what about the slaughter…?"
"There is currently no sign of the hunter-killers. I dropped the blast door behind us after I pulled you from the elevator car."
Zupong stood facing the door, his cracked helmet under an arm. "Should move. Slaughterbots may find 'nother way down."
Fatima staggered to her feet. "That's right," she said wiping away traces of vomit with the back of her hand. "We should get the fuck outta here."
Where's here?" Taro's voice produced small clouds of vapor in the cold. "
"My best estimate is that we descended several hundred meters down the shaft," replied Kapoc.
Taro cautiously tried extended his left arm through the pain. "How'd we live through that?"
"Some of the emergency brakes on the elevator engaged before it impacted the bottom." Kapoc limped as he moved.
"You're hurt Kay." Fatima said.
"My knee joint was damaged in the crash. I can manage until it can be repaired."
Taro leaned against the dust covered wall. "Any word from the unit?"
"Well, there's nearly a klick of planet between us and the nearest RDF receiver, so no, I wouldn't count on hearing from them," Fatima said before gagging again.
Zupong grasped Fatima's arm to steady her. "Time to go find place to hold up."
The four gathered their gear and donned their helmets. They moved down the hexagonal hallway, Kapoc assisting Taro and Zupong Fatima. Every surface, including the ceiling, was covered in thick pale-red dust. It reminded Taro of an Egyptian tomb he had navigated once in a virch, though the sulfuric smell of Martian regolith and the dangling wires from darkened electronics tarnished the illusion. The corridor turned and branched off at intersections then stopped at an airlock door. An attempt to pull the door open failed.
"Get me to the vent," Zupong said.
Kapoc hoisted him up to a small grate above the door. Zupong knocked the covering loose with the butt of his shotgun and squeezed into the crawlspace. A minute passed in silence until a low metallic clunk signaled the lock was disengaged. Ratcheting of the emergency release produced only a narrow crack in the door. It took all four working with their hands and weapons to pry the door open wide enough to slide through.
On the other side, the four stood in dumbstruck silence. Before them a darkened cityscape stretched into the distance.
Fatima leaned against the walkway railing adjusting the night vision zoom on her visor. "There's like a whole other city down here."
The area was different from what Taro had seen before. It was more diverse than the refurbished streets around Kohlstrasse. The buildings mirrored the towers on the crater's surface. Looking up, the cavernous ceiling was smooth in the glare of their lights, with missing tiles spoiling its monochromatic appearance, no doubt the remains of what was once a real-sky projection.
"This must be the Unterville region of Aachen," said Taro. "I read about this place. Hasn't been reclaimed yet."
Zupong pointed down toward the streets. "Need to go, too exposed here."
A flight of metal stairs led down to ground level. Piles of rubble lined the pockmarked roads.
"This should suffice," Kapoc said gesturing to a shop with a depiction of a four-armed bot over its entrance.
Their boots crunched glass underfoot as they moved through the abandoned storefront to one of the back rooms, carefully closing each door behind them. Zupong helped Fatima slump down against a wall. Kapoc and Taro slid a work bench to bar the door. Fatima removed her helmet, using its light as an ersatz lantern.
"We should take stock of our supplies," Taro said, a tip he had picked up from survival virches. The inventory did not take long; one day's food and water, two G71 assault rifles, an underslung grenade launcher, shotgun, and med kit. Rifle ammunition was minimal and they were out of grenades.
The four debated their next move. The lack of water was going to become an issue soon enough but it was decided to lay low for the next few hours in case any slaughterbots were scanning the area near the elevator. Kapoc gave Fatima an injection to help with the nausea. She laid her head on Zupong's lap and within minutes had gone to sleep. Kapoc moved to the far side of the room to repair his damaged limb. The sparks from his soldering iron accenting the low light from the helmet. Taro watched Zupong stroke Fatima's scalp with a finger. It was more than a friendly stroke but the caress and look on his face seemed devoid of any romanticism.
"How'd you two meet?" asked Taro.
Zupong did not look up and continued to brush Fatima's stubble. "Few years ago."
"Yeah, but how?"
"Fatima's family sponsored to stay on Watkins."
"Where were you before that?"
Zupong paused for a moment. "Kalimantan Station."
Taro had not heard of Kalimantan before. "Which is… where?"
"Was Earth—Luna L1"
"What a… what happened. Technocalypse?"
Zupong continued to look at Fatima but his expression had changed. Even in the dim lighting, the sadness in his pale brown eyes was clear. "Yeah."
Normally Taro would have left it at that. Perhaps it was the idea that he knew so little about Zupong's history and that there was a better than not chance of dying down here or perhaps it was the head injury but Taro decided to press further. "Did you lose anyone?"
Zupong looked up and stared at Taro. The sparks from Kapoc's repairs reflecting in his moist eyes.
Taro was about to apologize for asking when Zupong finally whispered a name.
"Cahaya"
"Was she your wife?"
"Little girl."
The two sat in silence. The only sound the hiss and pop of the soldering iron.
"I'm sorry Zu."
Zupong looked back down at Fatima and resumed stroking her head. "Yeah."
After a few hours of sleep, the four decided that it was safe enough to venture out of their hiding spot. They collected their gear and stepped out onto the rubble-"strewn street.
Taro looked up at the skyline, "We need to find a way back up to one of the inhabited levels."
"We ain't getting into any fucking elevators," said Fatima.
"I doubt that they would be operational," Kapoc added.
Zupong pointed towards one the spindle-like buildings in the distance that reached from the floor to the ceiling hundreds of meters above. "Stairs then."
They moved down the road, the skyscrapers on either side forming a metal canyon around them. To Taro's surprise, they weren't completely dark. Here and there, small lights could be seen. Usually no more than an amber indicator dot on some piece of forlorn machinery. He was amazed that anything could still be powered after all these years.
Zupong insisted on taking point despite having to cock his head from side to side in order to look around the crack in his visor. The rest formed a loose wedge behind him.
Taro hated being exposed out on the street like this but he knew that trying to pick their way through the buildings without navigation would be all but impossible. Plus, as Fatima had said, "If there're slaughterbots down here they'd have found and killed us by now." Taro was not so sure. Even if there were no hunter-killers operating at these depths who knew what could still be lurking down here. For all they knew, this could be the biggest site of the slaughterbot assemblers and nanoforges in the entire crater.
Their progress towards the tower was slow at first, with frequent stops anytime someone thought they saw something. It was deathly quiet, but occasionally a sound of falling masonry or ding of metal on metal would echo in the distance. Despite his nerves, Taro was entranced by what he saw. Wide streets and sidewalks inlaid with mosaics. Intricately carved arches passed overhead with beautiful, if not now-tarnished, freestanding art on every corner. Untouched for more than half a century, he marveled at the city's wonders of the Nanotech Age, that belle epoque before the Technocaylpse. Wrecked longevity clinics, reality rooms, and gengineering parlors lined the streets. Baroque bots lay overturned and frozen with no one to serve, their Generation Omega masters either long dead, or aged and fled. No doubt many of these amenities back in the day could have been accessed effortlessly through direct neural interfaces, or better yet, been automated by superturing grade systems.
The street ended at a low walled dirt enclosure. Several sculptures and small ice-filled pools dotted the landscape.
"This must have been a park," Kapoc said.
Taro could see it now. The foliage having long rotted away left the area a desert. At the center of the park, stood a large silver monument to a spacecraft. Taro could tell from the ship's odd bell-shaped drives that this was a representation of a double-Daedalus type interstellar transport.
"It is the Carter." Kapoc said looking at the plaque at the base of the statue.
"Thought as much," added Taro.
Kapoc continued reading, "Launched in 2473 CE, a crew of brave minds set forth for Epsilon Eradani. Their courage and fortitude an everlasting tribute to the nations and peoples of Mars."
"You think they'll make it?" asked Zupong.
"Don't know." Fatima leaned against the short fence at the monument's base looking down at the frozen reflecting pool. "They'd have arrived by now, right?"
"Unless compromised, the craft should have arrived in system over a decade ago," said Kapoc.
"Bet they're glad they go out of Solsys before the T happened," said Fatima.
"I bet the Republic wished they had access to the Carter's anti-matter." Taro snapped some photographs of the monument with his helmet's camera. "The Genetekkers and Cis-lunar Alliance sent their own missions there, didn't they Kapoc?"
"That is correct."
"They had the right idea, get the hell… outta… here." Fatima jumped over the barrier onto the ice. "Wish I could've gone with them."
Zupong followed her on to the ice. "Take me there too?"
"Of course, Zu. We'll start somewhere anew under a different a sun.""
"You sound like an old immigration ad. Why are you always trying to leave? It's not so bad here."
Fatima looked at Taro, motioning around her incredulously.
"Ok, it's bad here. But I mean, Watkins Station isn't so bad."
"Maybe not for your family."
He was unsure exactly what Fatima meant by that, but before he could ask a follow up, Zupong struck the ice with the butt of his shotgun.
"What're you doing?" ask Taro.
"Gonna need water."
Zupong chipped off several chunks of clouded ice. Fatima stowed them in her rucksack, before the group resumed their trek to the tower.
They reached the base of the spiral on the other side of the park. It was hourglass shaped, thinning towards the middle then flaring out again as it reached the monochromatic ceiling. The glass at the street level windows was all busted out leaving dark cave-like holes.
The entrance lobby was as still as it was ornate. Display panels and hologram projectors sat dark, the armchairs covered in dust like everything else. "There has to be a stairwell around here somewhere." Taro said to no one in particular. He ran his hand over a rococo chaise lounge so intricate it seemed to be jeweled. "What do you think this is?"
"I know what this is." Fatima said walking over to the remains of a bar in the far corner. It was large with seating for at least twenty patrons. Like the rest of the lobby it was in poor shape with broken bottles littering the area. A sign reading Café de Marielle hung overhead. She took off her helmet placing it on the counter. Her breath making thick vapor clouds as she exhaled. Fatima rummaged through the bar's glass cabinets
"Keep it down will ya," said Taro.
Kapoc took the pieces of ice from Fatima's rucksack. "We have been walking for hours. It is not a bad idea to rest before ascending the spire." He placed the ice chunks in a wide metal bowl. Using his welding torch, he heated them into liquid.
Zupong sipped form the basin. "Not bad."
"For pond water." Taro smiled and took the bowl for a drink. "This will work. We can melt some more to fill our suit's bladders."
Fatima bent low under a sink. "Aha! Knew there had to be some vodka around here. And good news, it isn't frozen." She took a swig straight from the bottle.
"Not sure how this'll pair with our combat rations." said Taro taking a drink in turn.
Fatima moved down towards the other end of the bar. "Fancy place like this, there's got to be some proper glasses somewhere." She stepped behind a sleek marble podium.
A projection of a man suddenly appeared speaking loudly. He wore a tuxedo and sported a thin mustache. The shock of the hologram's apparition and noise sent them all reeling back. Fatima smacked into the shelves behind her, sending a slew of bottles crashing down..
"Bienvenue au Café de Marielle. Que désirez-vous? Bienvenue au Café de Marielle. Que désirez-vous?" The hologram repeated over and over flickering in and out of existence.
"Turn off!" yelled Zupong. Pulses from the image illuminating his wide eyes.
Taro rushed towards the image trying to silence it. They smashed the podium's projectors but the sound continued repeating.
"We need to leave," said Taro. "Now!"
They scrambled to grab their weapons and helmets. Sprinting across the rest of the lobby, they headed down a high ceilinged concourse.
Kapoc brought up the rear. "Which direction are we going?"
"Away from here," replied Fatima.
After running for several minutes, the four hid behind a kiosk in one of the spire's dim ruined atriums to catch their breath. As Taro sat on the ground, he studied the trail of footprints they had left in the grime. Some meters distant a dark smear ran across the floor before disappearing over a wide staircase. Curious, he shifted to look down over the edge as the other's talked in labored whispers.
Taro was petrified by what he saw. At the base of the stairs a carpet of frosted skeletons stretched across the ground. At the far end, the corpses lay in a heap piled against a pair of closed metal doors.
"Guys?"
The other three pressed around him, staring at the near mummified bodies.
"oh no, no, no…" Fatima muttered.
Taro swallowed hard. "We need to keep moving."
As they hurried in the opposite direction a distant clang stopped them dead in their tracks. With weapons raised, they crouched in silence. Kapoc started to speak before he was pulled into the darkness by an unseen assailant. Taro spun around to fire, but a whip-like metal tentacle snatched the rifle from his hand. More tentacles seemed to shoot out from nowhere. They coiled around his legs flinging him flat on his back. Taro cursed and screamed as they were all dragged towards an opening in the wall, before a surge of electricity caused his muscles to spasm then plunged him into blackness.

Chapter 10

Taro startled awake, instinctively thrashing against whatever had grabbed him.
Zupong's furry arms held Taro's shoulders to steady him. "It okay, It okay."
The room was warm and softly lit. None of them were wearing their RDF suits. There was no sign of their weapons or gear.
"What's this place? How'd we get here?"
Fatima sat on the ground rubbing her temples. "Not sure, those things knocked me out,".
Kapoc inspected the seams on the wall. Looking for a door. "My sensory functions were disrupted as well."
"Anyone hurt?" Taro received a chorus of noes in reply.
Unlike the ruins of the past days, this room was pristine without a trace of dust. A number of low wooden tables surrounded by cushions filled the space. Cubist paintings hung on the walls. Gone was the sulfuric regolith smell of the city.
"Welcome." The voice seemed to come from all directions, as if the person was standing there with them. "Apologies for your apprehension. I take security quite seriously. I'm sure you can appreciate that."
"What the hell was that? What were those slaughterbots that grabbed us?" Fatima asked.
"Again sorry, they were not slaughterbots, merely agents of mine. They meant you no harm."
"Bullshit," Fatima muttered.
Taro cleared his throat. "And who are you?"
"Little more than a caretaker nowadays. You can call me Marius." The voice oozed with sophistication. Calm and steady, it seemed neither pleased nor angry with their presence.
Kapoc stepped back towards the other three in the center of the room. "A caretaker of what?"
"At one time the teaming populace of Aachen City. Now mostly the city's begrimed vestiges."
Taro was utterly confused. "Where are we?"
"Someplace safe. This is a reception area for guests who journey this far down into the crater."
"Are you with the Republic?" asked Taro.
Marius made a slight chuckle. "No, my superiors were from the European Federation."
"EuroFed's gone." said Zupong."
"So I deduced. All contact was severed during the disasters of the 2530s." Marius redirected, "You are with the Republican Defense Force." The four didn't reply, unsure whether it was a question or a statement and unsure how the voice would react to their answer, before Marius added, "Your suit insignia identified you as such. I've seen the Red Militia evolve through several incarnations."
Taro's confusion deepened. How long had this man been down here?
"You must be hungry. I have prepared some refreshments." A wide section of the wall slid upwards revealing another room. The room had similar décor, but contained a single long table with five chairs, four places neatly set with food. The lights dimmed in the sitting room, ushering them towards the dining area. The four moved cautiously around to their chairs on either side. No one sat.
"I will join you now." A section of wall at the head of the table lifted. A man stepped forward. Tall and pale he was dressed in an immaculate copper colored pinstriped suit. It was of the old western style with wingtip collar, necktie, and waistcoat. His brown hair was slicked back and parted. "Please sit down."
Seeing little alternative the four took their seats. Kapoc took the place without any food.
"By all means, eat while we talk. It must have been awhile since you've had something other than combat rations."
Taro eyed his plate. The steaming vegetables and poultry were as appealing as the array of cutlery seemed daunting. However, all hesitated to touch their food.
"I think you will agree that if I intended to harm you, I had ample opportunity to have done so by now." as if sensing his thoughts.
The surrealness of the setting and Marius's appearance, more cultivated than anything Taro had ever seen outside of a virch, was overwhelming.
Kapoc was as blunt as usual. "What are you?"
Marius cocked his head to the side. "Of course. If you're asking about this body that sits before you, it's a bio-android that serves as an avatar.
"An avatar for what?" asked Taro
"Aachen City's Municipal Administrative Resource-Infrastructure-Utility System.
Fatima finally grabbed one of the rolls off the table. "You were the city's admin system?"
"I prefer Marius."
"What do you want from us?" asked Taro.
"Well at first I simply wanted to ascertain who you are. We don't get many visitors down here as of late."
"Who's we?" Fatima interrupted.
Marius ignored the question, "I'll get to the point. The recent troubles towards the surface has become an intolerable threat to my interests."
Fatima chewed with her mouth open. "You must know this crater better than anyone. Why can't you help the Republic handle this slaughterbot outbreak?
"But that's just it. This isn't some mere outbreak of slaughterbots, some vestigial malware from the Technocalypse. Someone's orchestrating it."
"Who?" Taro and Fatima blurted in unison.
Marius leaned back in his chair and formed an arch with his fingers. "Not sure exactly, but that's where I believe we can be of mutual assistance."
Kapoc broke the moment of stunned silence around the table, "How do you know there is a someone controlling the slaughterbots?"
Marius leaned forward, " I've been operating in this city for quite some time, from the city's belle epoch to its regrettable current state. I've witnessed it all, malware attacks, bots hacked and reprogrammed to kill their masters, but this is different. These slaughterbots are striking with a curious precision. Best I can tell, they're destroying certain targets while ignoring others, easier more available targets."
"And why is it that you can't tell who's behind it?" Taro asked.
Marius tugged on his suit's cuff "There was a day when little happened in this city without me knowing about it. Alas, times have changed. Surviving necessitated me vastly curtailing my sensor network long ago. It is… incomplete, to say the least."
Zupong munched on the vegetables from his plate, "And how we help with this?"
"Your provolve friend gets to the point. Undoubtedly, the Red Militia and its civilian masters must have established an extensive sensory network throughout the crater. I need access. The arrangement is this: after you have rested up, I will ensure your safe return to the levels above." Marius opened up a hand, revealing a small data drive. "In exchange, you will upload this to your side's central net. That's all, the program will do the rest."
"And if we don't?" Fatima chewed with her elbows on the table.
"You're not my prisoners, you are free to go at any time, but good luck finding your way back towards the surface without encountering the hunter-killers or terror-drones or whatever name you call them."
"That doesn't sound like a choice at all," replied Taro.
"Unfortunately, those are the terms for my assistance."
Another round of angry questions ensued but Marius held his ground. "Believe me I do understand your hesitation." He stood, "You all must be exhausted. I'll give you time to rest and think over the proposal." A panel in the dining room wall slid open to reveal to another suite of rooms. "We'll reconvene in the morning."
These rooms were as ornate as the last. A central sitting area with individual rooms radiating off. All had painted art on the walls and rich carpets on the floor. Each bedroom boasted an expansive bathroom. Taro thought the accommodations grander than those of Trinh House on Judian. The group's dirty appearance, made foul after days of wandering sealed in their militia suits, stood in sharp contrast with the new immaculate setting.
The four huddled around a piece of plush furniture in the middle of the room. Soft music of the western classical variety played in the background. Taro looked around, as if to make sure no one was eavesdropping on them from behind a sofa. "What do you guys think about this, about Marius's offer?"
Fatima ran a grimy hand over the front of her shirt. "I think if we refuse, this thing will kill us and drop our bodies down a recycler. But if we get caught uploading God knows what to an RDF network, the Red Militia will kill us and drop our bodies down a recycler."
"Yeah, I'm in no rush to face a firing squad. For all we know this thing is the one controlling the slaughterbots."
"That possibility cannot be ruled out, but I estimate our chances of successfully navigating back to Republican lines from this depth to be approaching zero." Kapoc said.
Zupong sat cross-legged on an ottoman, "Why not say we gonna do it, and then not?"
"It stands to reason that this Marius has already thought of that possibility. A system of his sophistication can likely tell if you bionts are lying just by monitoring your breathing and heart rate."
Two low chimes interrupted the conversation. A short service bot with rose colored plating wheeled into the room. "Excuse me, Marius would like me to show you some of the suites' amenities." The bot highlighted various comforts including showers, a sauna, and a well-stocked bar. Everything seemed tailor-made for them, including a vec specific room for Kapoc. Taro thought about how long it had been since visitors had been here. Had this bot sat idle for decades, waiting to give this tour? Zupong made an embarrassing inquiry as to the function of the bidet in his bathroom which the service bot was more than happy to explain. The machine concluded, "Unfortunately Marius instructed me to deny laundry services for your existing garments, but you will find clothing already printed in your size in your rooms."
As soon as the bot had departed, Fatima left for her room, declaring she was taking a shower. Granted it had been days since they last bathed and were all filthy, but Taro was amazed that despite Fatima's innate skepticism of Marius and his motives she could so easily accept his hospitality.
"Kapoc, what d'you make of all of this?" Taro asked. He spoke in a hushed tone, though he understood that if so inclined Marius could listen in on every word of their conversation.
The vec sat ramrod straight on a high legged chair "Marius is a system of apparent great ability and resilience to have survived all these years."
"Do you think he's behind the slaughterbot outbreak?"
"It is unclear, he does not seem to be malfunctioning or blighted. However, the risk of possibly infecting the Republican net with whatever advanced malware Marius is capable of creating is enormous"
Taro scratched the back of his disheveled hair, "What about you Zu?"
"Think he gonna kill us, he done it by now. Don't know 'bout controlling slaughterbots"
The three continued to debate whether Marius could be trusted, circling back on the same points again and again.
Fatima stood in her doorway wrapped in a towel. "These showers are amazing, you gotta try 'em." A minute later she reemerged into the sitting room wearing the provided clothing, shorts and a tank top of pristine white fabric. Unsurprisingly she was the first to open the drinks cabinet.
"Inebriation will not improve our situation," Kapoc said.
Fatima uncorked a glass of wine, "Speak for yourself Kay. This stuff's 90 years old."
They passed the bottle around a few times before Taro found what he thought to be the appropriate glasses. The mood lightened as the alcohol took effect, a welcome reprieve after days of tension and fear. They polished off the wine and the better part of a bottle of gin before turning in to their respective rooms.
The shower was every bit as nice as Fatima had described. In clean clothes, Taro relished lying in bed, his first real bed since getting on world. His thoughts drifted to Fatima in her towel. He toyed with the notion of slipping over to her room, but somehow the presumption that Marius would be watching the activities he had in mind made him think otherwise. Taro's head swam with booze and thoughts of sex. Sleep had nearly come when he was awakened by a knock on the door.
A smile crept over Taro's face. Fatima must have had the same idea he had. He pulled his t-shirt down as he approached the door, reminding himself to play it cool. The door slid open. Instead of a scantily clad Fatima, there stood Marius, pale and besuited. For a moment the avatar's presence startled Taro, but that sensation was soon replaced by an acute sense of disappointment.
"Good evening Mr. Hashimoto. Apologies for calling on you at this hour, but I think it would be useful if we spoke."
"Just… just me?"
Marius stepped back and motioned down the hall, "Yes, if you don't mind accompanying me."
Taro thought for a moment about what choice he had, "Where are we going?"
"It'll be easier to show you than describe it."
Marius's answer did not fill Taro with confidence. Donning slippers, he followed Marius through the sitting room and down a corridor. With Marius in his pinstripes, Taro felt oddly self-conscious in his white shorts and shirt.
As they walked, Marius made small talk. He asked questions about Taro's studies and his family. Taro told him about how his ancestors once lived in Aachen City, and how after the stunt with the flag during Republic Day he and his friend got selected got selected to come to the surface. They entered an elevator. How far are we going? Taro wondered. He knew that if Marius intended to harm him there was little to nothing he could do about it. However, Taro decided that if it did come to that he would not go down without a fight. He might not know where Marius's CPU and databanks were, but with the aid of his mil-grade steroid induced muscles, he felt confident that he could do some damage to the flesh and blood avatar.
Marius stopped at a large metal door. With a wave of the hand, it glided open in a smooth deliberate movement. "Please, after you."
Taro entered. It was a dark expansive space, bathed in a soft blue light. Cold air pricked the exposed skin on his legs and arms. Row upon row of glass capsules, three meters tall and nearly half as wide, stretched towards an unseen far wall. In each, a human figure stood suspended in ice blue liquid. Taro stepped forward to a metal railing. Looking up and down he saw that there were tiers of other floors all filled with capsules.
"What… what is this. Who are they?"
"My charges, citizens of the on late-great metropolis of Aachen." Marius placed his hands on the railing next to Taro, "Protected. Suspended in animation for the decades since the surface fell."
Taro exhaled, thinking about how many people there must be in cryostasis. "I thought all the city's inhabitants either fled or were killed during the Technocalypse?"
"You were misinformed." Marius cocked his head to side, "Would you like to see them?"
"Um..., what d'you mean, how?"
"The usual way a biont like yourself would enter a simverse of course." Marius led Taro to a corner of the room. There stood several docking stations, not dissimilar from those in the RDF virch room. Taro decided that if Marius simply wished to hurt him, then this was a most elaborate ruse. A few months earlier, he would have been terrified to strap into an unverified virch port. But the harrowing experiences since planetfall had steeled his nerve. After a moment's hesitation, he sat and slid the virch connectors on.
A flash of white light filled Taro's field of view, accompanied by the familiar virch sensation of spatial reorientation. As the virchworld came into focus, Taro rubbed his eyes from the bright sunlight. The sound of laughter, men and women talking, and children playing filled his ears. He stood in a park of sorts with lush green grass beneath his feet. Nearby, kids kicked a ball between two goals and a group of women lay topless on blankets sunbathing. In the distance loomed colorful skyscrapers with drones and passenger craft buzzing between them. Taro stood amazed at what he saw, marveling at the beauty and detail of the simulation.
"Recognize where we are?" Marius asked.
The smooth voice half jolted Taro from his admiration filled daze. He turned to see Marius standing behind him. Taro looked around again until he noticed a large silver statue in the middle of a fountain. "That's the monument to the Carter. It's the park, the park we stopped at in the city."
"A recreation, yes. All of Aachen City is replicated here, from the peak of the Acropolis to the depths of Unterville. If you would follow me." The pair strolled through the park. The happy people seemingly oblivious to their presence.
"Can they see us?"
"Not at the moment. We are mere spectators. A visitor's presence could be quite unsettling after all these years. They'd have a lot of questions, don't you think?"
They continued on, passing other groups and individuals enjoying the park. "Why are you showing me this?" asked Taro.
Marius stopped by a manicured cypress. "When the city founders brought me online, they instilled in me a core program to protect the citizens. That's what I've done here, and that's what I'll continue to do until I go offline. I know you and your friends have your doubts as to my motives. My hope is that by showing you the lengths I go to, building this world and keeping it running all these years, I can convince you that I am no malefactor."
"What about the rest of us? Why aren't you showing this to them?"
"I have my reasons Mr. Hashimoto," Marius smiled. "And even if I intended otherwise the vec is unable to access the virch due to safeguards and the provolve and woman are currently passed out drunk. The fact remains, I need you to help gain access to your side's sensor network."
Taro rubbed the back of his head, unsure what to say.
"I'm not asking you to do this for me. Do it for these people. My defenses have their limits, and if the slaughterbots manage to find their way down here, they'll shred their bodies and destroy the servers." Marius paused waiting for a reaction. "At the very the least, do it for her." Marius stepped aside revealing a young woman with Asian features sitting cross-legged next to the cypress.
"Who's this suppose to be?"
"Don't you recognize her?" asked Marius. "She's Hashimoto Moriko, your grandmother."
Taro studied the woman. It was here. He photo had been a constant presence growing up in his father's apartment. She sat utterly unaware of them; her nose buried in a book. He searched her face, trying to find a resemblance.
"Can I speak with her?"
"I'm afraid not. It would prove… problematic."
"If I can't talk with her, why did …"
Marius interrupted, "To show you that these people are real. Someone's grandmother, someone's grandfather. They're mothers, fathers, and children. To show you that there is more at stake here than just you and your friends Hashimoto."
Taro shifted his feet, weighing the situation. "Alright, I get it. You've made your point Marius." Taro looked back at the woman. Was this really his grandmother? What his father would give to be able to talk to her. For a minute or so, Taro starred off into the park, focusing on nothing in particular, "We done here?"
Marius took Taro back to his room. Despite his exhaustion, Taro tossed and turned thinking about all he had seen in the virch. When sleep finally did come his dreams were a jumbled mess of slaughterbot attacks, failing his history thesis and, on a more pleasant note, an erotic fantasy involving Fatima in his old room on Watkins Station. The smell of coffee brewing awoke him after a few hours. In the sitting room he found Zupong preparing a plate of fresh pastries and fruit.
Zupong slide the food over to Fatima, ""Eat."
She sat with her elbows on the table, nursing a small porcelain mug cup of espresso. Fatima rubbed her face, "Thanks Zu."
Kapoc stood facing a picture on the wall, his eyes a foot away from the canvas. The painting showed a young woman in industrial age costume, standing behind a bar covered in bottles along with a glass bowl filled with oranges. Her gaze was fixed directly on the viewer. "That is interesting," he said.
"What is?" asked Taro.
The paint on this artwork is oil-based, but made from organic compounds I have not seen used on other pieces."
"That's because it's from Earth."
They all turned to find Marius standing on the far side of the room.
"19th Century." Marius walked to an armchair in the center of the room. He sat, legs crossed, "Have you come to a decision about my proposal?"
No one spoke for some time. The four had not had time to come to an agreement. Leaning against a table, Fatima broke the silence "If... we do it, we can't tell anybody about this."
"Why? What's with the secrecy?" asked Taro.
Fatima pointed a finger at Marius, "You know what they'll do if we tell them we've been the houseguest of this thing." If Marius was offended by Fatima's tone he did not show it, instead gently nodding in agreement. Fatima continued, "You want to spend the next month getting disinfected and debriefed?
"Well, we will have to tell them something," said Kapoc.
"I can help with that," said Marius. "The footage from the cameras on your suits should be easy enough to alter. I can mock up a few days of you wandering around some nondescript tunnels. That should be enough to fool a cursory look."
Although there was never a definitive answer to his question, Marius did not press the matter, content to let it lay where it did. "You'll be preparing for departure then," he said then turned them over to the rose-colored bot and left the room.
The bot led them to a bare locker room-like space with four tables. On them lay their gear, weapons, and armor still tinted red and gray with dust. They first pulled on their RDF uniforms. They were stiff with dirt and dried sweat.
"Stinks," said Zupong.
"I get why Marius didn't wash'em for us. We can't smell like a flower hydroponic if we're supposed to have been sneaking around in tunnels for the better part of a week."
As they finished dressing, Marius entered. "You'll find your equipment just as you left it. The exception being, some combat rations which I've taken the liberty of disposing of and, as we've discussed, the altered footage from your cameras. All for appearance sake of course" Marius paused for a second, clasping his hands behind his back. Leaning forward ever so slightly, he said in a sentimental tone " I obviously can't control what you do when you leave here. You'll either tell your superiors about me and this place or you won't, and you'll honor our agreement or you won't. But for what it's worth, believe it or not, I've enjoyed your company. I may be a program, but as a social being, its been… difficult these last few decades."
The four stood mute starring at Marius, until Kapoc chimed in "Thank you, for your hospitality."
Marius waved off the comment as if embarrassed. "This bot here will take you close to your lines. Bon voyage, mes amis," he said and exited the room.
The four suited up. Taro wondered how the wheeled service-bot was going to traverse the cityscape back to Republican territory, until a black bipedal exoskeleton entered the room and seated the bot in its torso.
"Follow me, please," the bot said, then walked them through a series of lifts and hallways until they reached the city streets. Stepping onto the debris-strewn roadway, Fatima racked a round into the chamber. Taro and Zupong followed suit. There, waiting for them, hovered a maglev cart. The bot straddled the driver's seat, while the four sat on the flatbed, their feet dangling, weapons point out.
They clipped along through the streets, past ashen storefronts and residential towers. They drove for nearly an hour, twisting through alleys and down boulevards, until they reached the city's far side. Taro looked up trying to follow the wall as it curved back towards the center of the cavernous dome. Entering a tunnel, the bot led them on foot through a warren of passages.
"We'd have never found our way through this," Taro muttered.
Zupong grunted in agreement.
The bot eventually stopped and turned to face them. Taro, found himself tightening his grip on his rifle. "This is as far as I can take you. Travel straight for 900 meters, then take a right, half a kilometer more and another right, and you will encounter friendly forces." The bot repeated itself, then ended with a curt "Goodbye" and strode back down the tunnel.
The four looked at each other. "Alright, lets get on with it," Taro said and took point.
As they approached the end of their directions, their radios began to crackle with static, then garbled voices. Taro eventually made contact with someone.
"I've got four militiamen from the 303rd RDF coming in, we've been outta comms for days."
"This is Lieutenant Johnson of the 513th. Holy shit, we've been lookin for you guys."

Chapter 11

Taro sat down next to his friends, his tray joining theirs on one of Otto's steel tables.
Fatima looked up from her plate and mouthed a barely audible, "We made it."
Taro raised and lowered his eyebrows in agreement. They had spent the last thirty-six hours isolated under quarantine, the monotony punctuated only by boring debriefings led by the battalion's intelligence officer. Masked by the table, Taro touched the identification tags in his pocket. They were there, the chain looped through a belt loop to secure them. Marius had disguised the data drive as one of his dog tags, believing them to be the only personal item that would survive decontamination.
While they had been gone, someone had taken the trouble to install a screen on the far wall of the former cantina. A Republican newsfeed with a uniformed reporter droned on about political news and battlefield updates. They sat in silence, watching as they chewed couscous and vegetables. From what Taro could make out, the fight against the slaughterbots was turning around. The reporter announced that since Legate Fillopav and his Pure Mars allies in the legislature had secured control of certain ministries, reinforcements were pouring into Aachen City, most trekking overland from Choctaw Crater to the south. The reporter also made several digs against Krisna Nur Nnamdi's administration.
"With the situation improving, perhaps, we need not go through with the plan?" Kapoc said a little too loudly for Taro's taste.
Zupong spooned a heap of grains into his mouth, "Things can change, not out of woods yet."
"What'ya gonna do Blondie?" asked Fatima.
Taro sat mute for a moment, fingering his ID tags. Maybe it was the thought of all those people in Marius' virch, or maybe it was the hope, however remote, of reuniting his father and grandmother but something was making him want to do it. "I'm going to go down to S6, and try to upload it."
The four finished eating and walked out onto the Kohlstraße pavement.
Fatima lit a cigarette, "You be careful, ok."
"I will. I'll see you all back at the platoon bay." Taro picked his way around the pallets of supplies littering the street. Crossing under the Republican flag, he was surprised to find himself filled more with determination than fear. "I can do this," he thought. He entered the battalion's communication section. A placard reading S6 was tacked up over the narrow door covering the original sign for a karaoke parlor.
Inside, a vec with four spindly arms looked up from a workbench, "Can I help you Militiaman?"
"Yeah, I'm looking for Laura?"
"Specialist Ensley is in the back." The vec resumed soldering.
Taro moved between the tall server racks and shelves of spare parts. At the back of the room, he found Laura kneeling, her back to him. Bent over, her wide hips filled out the baggy RDF trousers as she rummaged through a large plastic box.
"'Scuse me, Laura?"
Half startled Laura turned to look over her shoulder. She smiled, "Hey Taro! How are you? Maza told me y'all made it back."
"I'm good, good. Just came by to see if any of our equipment has come back from getting sterilized?"
"No, not yet. To be honest, I'd be surprised if it did anytime soon. They're big sticklers on that." Laura motioned for Taro to take a seat on a crate. "So tell me all about it. What happened? What was it like?" The running electronics in S6 had turned the air hot, and not wearing a jacket, beads of sweat rolled down Laura's neck and shoulders.
"Not much to tell really." Taro spun a tale for Laura of how after they escaped the slaughterbots, they had crept along through tunnels and passageways under the city.
She hung on his words, reaching out to touch his knee at the end of the story, "That's crazy, I'm so glad you made it."
"Thanks, me too." Taro swallowed, "Well, I've never actually been in the S6 before, why don't you show me around?"
"Sure, follow me." Laura toured Taro around the cramped confines of the communications section. Every now and then, she stopped to explain some of the major systems, including the battalion's central commo array.
"Is this the sort of thing you did back on Houston Station?" Taro asked.
Laura smiled at Taro remembering her home orbital, "Yeah, I was one of the communication techs. I was taking classes to become a manager though. Of course, that had to take a hiatus with all this going on."
"I bet. How do you like working in the S6?"
"It's not bad, my boss is a bit of a weirdo though." Laura pointed to a far corner. In a low voice she described how early one morning last week she had walked in on the officer in charge looking at pornography on a terminal.
Taro grimaced, "That couldn't have been pretty."
"It certainly wasn't. You should have heard that guy try and explain himself, 'Uh…I was just…uh.' He got outta here so fast, he nearly tripped out of the door buttoning his pants. Needless to say, I haven't seen him around here much during my shifts since."
They laughed, but the vec's voice from the front of the building cut them off, "Specialist Ensley?"
"Coming." Laura touched Taro's arm, "I'll be back in a minute."
Alone, Taro realized this was his chance. He pulled the disguised data drive from his pocket. Sliding behind the communications array he searched for a place to insert the device. He found a row of drive slots. He jerked the ID tag apart, and slid it in. Taro watched as the drive seemed to meld into the available space, as if it turned to liquid before reforming. He had not seen technology like this before, but it made sense that Marius would possess such Pre-Technocalypse wonders. Taro stopped for a moment to listen. No alarms sounded as the array hummed along. He extricated himself, and moved to the other side of the room, pretending to peruse the readouts on a screen.
Laura hurried back, "Hey Taro, looks like Charlie Company's net just took a nosedive, so I'm gonna have to go."
"I get it, no problem. Thanks for the tour."
Laura zipped up her jacket. "Yeah, it was great talking to you. Come back sometime."
Walking back to the barracks, Taro wiped the sweat from his forehead, not sure if it was the heat of the S6 office or his nerves from the risk of getting caught. Alright Marius, Taro thought, it's up to you now.

Chapter 12

In Kohlstrasse, Captain Beason mounted a makeshift platform made of crates under the Republican flag. "Fallout and gather around me, Bravo Company. Platoon leaders come down front." With a helmet tucked under one arm, Beason used his teeth to pull the glove off his free hand and wipe the sweat from his forehead. "Alright, first I gotta say excellent job out there. Lieutenant Colonel Nasratullah said that Bravo did great during our last OP. We destroyed more slaughterbots than any other company in the battalion." The militiamen crowding around let out a rumble of grunts and muffled cheers. "That doesn't mean it didn't come at a cost though. As you know we lost some of our…" Captain Beason stopped for a moment, trying to hold back tears. "Some of our team these last few missions. Sadly, Sergeant Jeong from first platoon, wasn't able to be saved." A smattering of gasps and grumbles trickled out of the crowd. A female NCO in third squad wept quietly. Taro studied Kapoc. The vec's synthetic face muscles barely twitched, but Kapoc's hand tightened around the strap of his blood-stained med kit. "The brigade staff might call it 'attrition' and the news feeds may call them heroes, which they are, but for us that knew them they were our brothers and sisters. We're gonna mourn and we're gonna keep going." Beason stopped, looking down again to collect himself. "We're gonna need to make a number of battlefield promotions and lateral transfers to cover down. First platoon?" Lieutenant Khanna stepped forward and turned to face the crowd. "Sergeant Jeong is not easily replaced and is going to be missed . Lucky for first platoon, we got a man who's made a name for himself these last few weeks. He bounced back quick after the scrap in the slum market, and has done a bang-up job as team leader ever since. Maza?
"Yes ma'am."
"You're the new acting second squad leader."
"Hashimoto?"
Taro straightened to attention "Here ma'am."
"You're taking over as lead for Bravo Team, got that?"
"Roger… uh, yes ma'am."
"Don't get lost this time." Scattered laughter from the company lightened the tension.
Beason wiped his face again. "Thanks LT. More changes to follow for the other platoons. I need squad leaders and up on me after this. Bravo Company dismissed."
The company dispersed into small groups, all chattering noisily as they headed for the squad bays and a needed shower. Taro stood there processing the news of being made Bravo Team leader.
Fatima whacked the buttstock of her grenade launcher into Taro's side. "I guess it's official now, huh Blondie?"
Taro rubbed his side, smiling. "Yeah, guess so."
Fatima smiled back, "Alright then, look at you."
"Sucks about Jeong though." "That's fucking right," replied Fatima. "I liked him."
"Bad business," Zupong said, shaking his head. "Let's get clean, grab chow."
Fatima tousled the fur on the provolve's scalp. "Sounds good Zu."
Taro scanned the street for Kapoc. "I'll catch up with you two in a minute." The tall vec was easy to spot. Taro sprinted over to catch Kapoc before he entered the vecary.
"Hey, wait up." He cornered Kapoc, between two long containers.
"Congratulations on being made Team Leader, Taro."
"Yeah, thanks." Taro caught his breath. "Hey, I just wanted to say, there was nothing you could have done to save Jeong."
Kapoc stared a Taro, a blank expression on his pale features. "A newer vec, one more advanced or templated for this type of role, would have been better suited for the task."
"Look, you're not obsolete, Kapoc, you're doing great stuff here, for the unit, for us."
"I am not confident that is the case, but I thank you for your consideration."
"Come on Kapoc, don't be like that."
"I am not being like anything. Excuse me."
"Kapoc, it's not…," but Taro failed to find the words before Kapoc disappeared into the vecary.

From behind a man's voice startled Taro. "Hello, Mr. Hashimoto."

Taro spun around. There stood Marius, impeccably dressed as ever in a brown suit. Taro's jaw dropped. "What're you doing? You can't be here."
"I'm not Mr. Hashimoto. I admit it wasn't the easiest feat to find you but fear not, no one else can see me. I am but a specter in your optical lenses, a voice in your ear piece.
Taro checked down each opening from the containers to make sure no one was around. "That's mil-grade tech, how did you get…"
"With difficulty, Mr. Hashimoto. But one does develop some skills over the centuries.
"Did you find out who's behind the slaughterbots?"
Marius looked down at his fingernails, a strange affectation for the digital projection of a synthetic being, Taro thought. "Not yet. Determining the source of orchestration is proving difficult. Their cyber defenses are more… advanced than I would have predicted."
This did not fill Taro with confidence. "How long is it going to take?"
"Hopefully not long, a breach in their firewalls should come forthwith."
"So why are you telling me this?"
Marius smirk faded "I am informing you because there is a non-zero chance that my efforts could be detected, and accordingly it is theoretically possible that it could be traced back to you.
"Non-zero chance? Theoretically possible! You said we'd have nothing to worry about once it was uploaded."
Marius held up his palms in placation. "I don't expect it to be a problem, but I thought that you should at least be aware."
"Shit. Okay, fine, I got it. Can you leave, please?"
The smirk returned. "Stay safe Mr. Hashimoto." And with that, Marius blinked out of existence.
A second later, Taro turned to face the sound of throat clearing.
Maza stood with a furled brow on his bearded face. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I was uh…"
"Talking to yourself?"
Taro paused trying to think of an appropriate cover story. Failing to come up with something suitable he replied a belated "Yeah."
Maza stared blankly at him for a moment. "Listen Taro, I just wanted to say you've been doing good out there on mission. You and the team."
Taro scratched behind an ear. "Thanks," he said, correctly expecting a mitigating comment to follow.
"We really haven't had time to talk since y'all got back, and I ain't trying to make a big deal out of it, but I know you ignored the evacuation waypoints. The waypoints I sent after getting wounded during the evacuation from the fight in the slums."
Taro shifted his weight on his feet. He had thought Maza had forgotten the matter, even the debriefers upon their return seemed little concerned with it. "Well, things looked different on the ground, and I made a decision."
"You could have gotten people killed Taro. I'm gonna need the best from you, we all are. Something big is about to go down."
While accurate, Taro resented Maza's comments. The burly Terran, only a few years older than himself, seemed a little too confident in his role. Taro's mind raced with possible retorts or explanations, but the last thing Maza had said caught his attention. "Big like what?"
"Nothing official yet, but Captain Beason thinks we're getting ready to retake the Acropolis."

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