Gods and Men (Ruins of the Earth Book 2) by Christopher Hopper & J.N. Chaney

Author:Christopher Hopper & J.N. Chaney [Hopper, Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Variant Publications
Published: 2020-11-07T16:00:00+00:00

“They just walk right by us,” Yoshi says, marveling at his newfound robotic superpowers.

“Yeah,” Z-Lo replies. “Check it.” His bot turns around a raises a middle finger to one of the death angels who just walked past our group.”

“Dude, put that down,” Hollywood says. “You’re gonna give us away.”

“I’m just saying—”

“Eyes forward,” I add. “We’re acting like robots, not people.”

In a sharp mechanical voice, Z-Lo says, “I - am - an - alien robot. Take me - to your—”

Bumper smacks the back of Z-Lo’s helmet. “Whoops.”

“Ouch. Dude, really?” After a second, Z-Lo asks, “Why couldn’t we get the assault bots with the rifles? Then we could really do some damage, you know?”

“The weaponized SSA-9001Bs are not allowed in this section,” Insarka informs. “Plus, they are semi-sentient, which makes them much harder to hack.”

“Like me,” Chuck adds. “Only waaaaaay more dimwitted. And far less attractive, I might add. They’re also terrible tippers.”

“Good to know,” I say.

After several eventless minutes of walking through the heart of the DOC’s command and control complex and passing security elements, our augmented reality path indicators bring the team to an armored door. My helmet’s HUD takes a second to visually interpret the Skrawl door label as Archive Vault A, Room 425.

“How do we open it?” I ask Insarka.

“You don’t, Patrick,” Chuck says. “This is where Phantom Lord Extraordinaire comes in, ready to save you all from the merciless hands of your tyrannical overlords and set you free from—”

“Any time now, pal.”

“Ugh. Fine.”

A trill sounds from an access panel beside the door, and the armored partitions separate. Inside is a dimly lit room filled with banks of black server cabinets. Each one is faced with glowing screens and hundreds of LEDs. Thick wire bundles rise above the units and vanish into a high ceiling, while catwalks crisscross the space between.

Once the team is inside, the armored doors close.

“The data terminal you need is to your east,” Insarka says just as a new footpath illuminates. The dashed line extends across several rows and then turns down an aisle.

“I’m on it,” Yoshi says.

“Ghost, go with,” I say. I’m not sure Yoshi actually needs the help, but traveling in pairs is always the right choice.

The two recon bots leave the group and trudge down the footpath.

“So, not to make light of how intense you made this whole thing sound,” Z-Lo says to Insarka. “But the op’s pretty chill. I don’t even see why you needed all of us. Not that this isn’t super sweet, though. I’m still mad stoked about it, you feel me?”

Insarka lets out a low hum. “Hmm. I don’t think I understand all your words. But numbers are needed to ensure Aaron’s survival.”

“If you say so,” the kids replies.

“I’ve got the card,” Yoshi announces. “Coming back to—”

He’s cut off by a klaxon and strobing lights. I turn to the rest of the bots and we all look at one another as naturally as if we were in a real huddle.

“Multiple security forces inbound,” Insarka says.

“So soon?”” Hollywood asks.

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