Chapter 42 - What Comes Next

Day 32

Morning

While the day and night were filled with a lot of happy firsts, and lots of enthusiastic consent, the morning brought a more sombre tone. Erin and Sydney had a mission to get underway, and a friend to rescue.

Two days had passed, and their path to the base couldn't be the straightforward process of flying there, grabbing Noah, and flying back. Captain Schofield warned them of a lot of dangers, some on the way there, some at the base itself, some he only had vague information on.

So Erin and Sydney agreed they would travel more cautiously, and Erin insisted they pick a few fights on the way there to gain some experience. It would have the added benefit of clearing out some of the more dangerous creatures, so they didn't wander into Middletown.

While Erin would never prioritize her curiosity at the state of wildlife far beyond her town over Noah's life, circumstance being what they were left Erin an opportunity to indulge that curiosity. It also might give answers as to why Middletown had been relatively safe from the wildlife up to this point.

According to Clint and George, the base had to be fortified in a hurry in order to keep creatures away. They reinforced defenses to keep the base secure, and early on more than a few animals tested those defenses.

When Sydney showed more interest and aptitude for grasping the details, Erin decided she would rely on the woman for that information rather than trying to remember things that refused to stick. That didn't stop her from wondering why the base was a target, but her town was not.

Dressing and leaving straight for the Moon/McGibbons/Jackson residence, Erin and Sydney took off from the balcony, all business. They would both be able to grab a shower, check the packs they left at the house for any additional requirements, and say their goodbyes. The added benefit was that the house was close to the eastern border of town.

Arriving at the house, they were met with mixed stares from several of Clint's soldiers, most of which were currently living out of tents until a more permanent living space could be assigned. None were hostile, but they were cautious. To them, Erin was the most dangerous human they had met. It probably helped that stories of what she did to Zara and the events that led to hostilities ending were making their rounds.

Somewhat surprising was the presence of Middletown residents mingling with the soldiers. Erin didn't expect a quick or smooth welcoming, but she smiled at the sight nonetheless. Barring a major shift in sentiment, these soldiers were here to stay, and Erin didn't think she minded the idea. The more people able to protect Middletown, the safer it would be.

When they entered the house, Erin and Sydney found the living room quite full. Anderson was present with his remaining two tank crew and three soldiers. Clint and Britney were also present, along with a few of his officers, none of whom Erin had met yet. Then there was Ms. Jackson, Eun-ha, and Mrs. McGibbons. Waving to everyone, Eun-ha didn't waste any time coming over to give both women a hug.

As she hugged Sydney, Eun-ha said loud enough for the whole room to hear, "So, can I call you daughter now?"

Sighing, Erin just said, "Eomma!"

Sydney laughed and gave Erin an affectionate smile, then nodded at her, "Only if I get to call you mom." She winked at the older woman.

"I would be offended if you didn't," Eun-ha replied, pulling both of the women into a group hug.

When the hug finally broke, Erin noticed that Brown and Johnson were sitting on the living room floor stuffing supplies into two packs she didn't recall seeing before. Beside them were the packs she and Sydney had prepared the day before, appearing deflated and empty.

"Uhh…boys…what are you doing?" Erin asked, expecting a renewed fight about bringing additional support along.

"Nothing, we swear." Johnson said.

Shaking his head, Brown gave a more complete answer, "What he means to say is we're not prepping packs for ourselves. These are your new packs."

"New packs?"

"Yeah, believe it or not we got a visit from one of Noah's bots this morning. They delivered these two packs and some supplies with a note." Holding up the note, he read it.

Supplies for Erin and Sydney on their trip. Everything is compatible with System inventory.

Bring back my Noah, please.

-Sky

Erin looked around at everyone in the room, seeing what was likely a repeat of their original reaction. Sky skirted the human interaction by sending a note, which wasn't as big of a deal. If anything, the real surprise was her ability to produce things without Noah's approval, and if not that then her possessive inference of Noah.

"Assuming you're all thinking what I'm thinking, do not overreact to this. If something is wrong, we'll have Noah back in no time and he can assess and help if there is a problem." She made eye contact with Anderson and Schofield in particular, "I want to be clear that the word if is doing all of the heavy lifting in that sentence. Don't instigate anything."

They gave crisp nods of agreement, and she left it at that.

Turning back to Brown and Johnson, Erin asked, "Alright, anything we should know about the packs?"

"You know what we know, Erin." Brown replied.

"What else did Sky include in this care package?" Sydney jumped in.

Johnson gave a broad smile as she held up one of the items and yelled, "Panties!"

That got him a smack in the back of the head from his cousin, who also snatched the black undergarment from his grasp and stuffed it in the pack he had been filling.

Laughing, Sydney said, "That's interesting, but why underwear?"

Britney fielded the question, "Turns out they're self-cleaning. Don't even have to take them off."

That perked Erin and Sydney's mood up considerably, and Erin said, "You're kidding, right? I'll take those right now."

Preempting both Johnson and Brown, Britney fished the second pair of underwear plus matching bras from the packs and handed them off to Erin and Sydney.

Looking at each other, the two women nodded as they spoke at the same time, "Shower!" They were up the stairs and around the bend before the two enlisted soldiers could say anything else to earn smacks.

While the shower was shared, it was one of efficiency rather than intimacy. They both scrubbed thoroughly, like it would keep them clean for that extra day or two that would make the difference.

Once they were finished and back downstairs, Britney took the lead on giving them a rundown of everything Sky included. When they were done, Erin and Sydney each grabbed a pack and stored it in inventory, then started their walk with everyone towards the closest town exit.

Erin was more than aware of the crowd that followed at a polite distance, indulging their curiosity, but not attempting to intrude on the moment. Soldiers and civilians alike wanted to observe the women leave.

When they got to the poles bracketing the town exit, There were a lot of hugs, a few handshakes, more than a few tears from Eun-ha, and repeated demands that Erin and Sydney keep each other safe. While Erin was confident in her ability to keep both herself and Sydney safe, she still appreciated her mother's concern.

Finally, after they started to draw a extra crowd of onlookers from nearby houses, Erin and Sydney started their trek into the wild. Both looking back for a moment as they walked hand-in-hand, Eun-ha was visibly crying as she stood there, unwilling to start walking back to the house with the others. They looked at each other, nodded, then took off at super speed down the road out of town.

Noah's Lair

Day 39

Evening

The lair sat, as it had for most of the past week, in relative darkness and silence. Some equipment emitted a gentle glow, and occasionally broke the silence with a whir, buzz, or hum. The space was far more cluttered than when Noah left it, fabs of all sizes aligned in rows.

Noah's terminal, inactive save for a single screen in the bottom left corner, displayed white text scrolling by at an incredibly fast rate. Far too fast for a human eye to glimpse the content, or garner any context.

When it finally stopped scrolling, a series of items displayed, showing a few successive processes and their status.

Download...Successful

Checksum...Successful

Power On Self Test...Successful

Booting...…

The final step continued, adding another period every thirty seconds, seemingly about to drag on forever until finally, the status updated to Successful.

A new sound permeated the lair, foreign even when its master was home. There was a loud thunk as something banged on thick metal. Then a second thunk, louder this time. A straining grunt sounded out as metal flexed a few inches at a time, and then gave way. Words echoed forth in the lair. "Let…me…OUT!" Then one last grunt as a large, curved metal panel fit for some form of pod flew across the large expansive room in a pirouette, bouncing a few times before finally skidding to a stop with a painful screech. The only real damage it reflected, a bench side where it had been peeled like a tin can.

Strolling out of the darkness that shrouded where the metal panel came from was a young woman. She walked with purpose, her Silver hair, straight as an arrow, flowed down her head to her just below her shoulders and sparkled where any source of light found a few strands to illuminate.

As she stepped in front of the terminal and tapped a key, every screen lit up, shining light on her features. In her mid-teens, the girl had full lips, slightly chubby cheeks, a small button nose, and average eyebrows that matched her hair.

Reaching no taller than five foot, six inches, she still had to hunch slightly to interface with the terminal properly. The girl tapped at the keys, running a series of commands, then nodded once at the results on the screen.

Akropolis Command Menu

Protocol Omega

Activate? Y/N

The girl pressed the letter Y and hit enter. Red lights flickered to life on the wall at the top and bottom corners, stretching from one end of the room to the other, and maintaining a steady but gentle glow.

Stepping to the left side of the terminal, the girl lifted a backpack and a futuristic rifle, resting against the computer station as if waiting for her. Staring at the pack, she scrunched her brow for a moment, then smiled when the item disappeared into thin air.

Next, she reached up to her right shoulder, and as if pulling it from her very clothes, a flexible silver metallic rope materialized, following her pinched fingers to the rifle, where she attached it just forward of the butt stock. Repeating the process on her left shoulder, the ropes appeared to meld together an inch back from the pivot point on the rifle.

Once attached, she released the rifle, allowing it to hang on the two-point sling she had just created.

Looking up at the ceiling, the girl located a hole, now blocked from roughly the midpoint to the surface. Positioning herself directly below, she bent at the knees, then shoved upward with enough force to leave divots in the floor.

As she launched upward, hidden ports revealed themselves on the bottom and sides of her boots, firing six foot long trails of some form of chemical reaction. The bottom thrusters pointing straight down, and the side thrusters directed downward at forty-five degree angles.

The combined jump and thruster activation shot the girl upward, into the hole, and straight at the blockage installed several days ago by soldiers. Multiple layers of traditional human-made steel stressed, then bent, then burst in fractions of a second, unable to withstand the girl's onslaught of speed, strength, and durability.

A few seconds later, she burst out of the hole, into the sky, and turned East. Ignoring the soldiers and civilians alike who startled at the breaking steel, then followed the high speed trail of thrusters leaving city limits.

She had one thought on her mind, and as the anger and frustration solidified, she verbalized that thought.

"I'm coming for you."