Chương 27: Stray

Warmth surrounded me. Blessed, comfortable warmth. It was all I could feel, like I was once more wrapped in my parents' arms like a baby. The bliss radiated through me one calming wave after another in an endless cycle—"Silver Wolf—tzzzz." A voice faded into my bliss. It broke like a radio losing its signal. Like a radio… losing its signal… Checkpoint? My ears twitched, and I bolted upright—only to groan in absolute misery and curl up on my side. My body still felt absolutely wretched.

I coughed up a hunk of blood, and slowly wiped my hand across my face. Darkness surrounded me. The glowstick had gone out, as had the lights of the massive freighter. I blinked a few times, and fuzzy shapes slowly came into focus. Dull blue and yellow mixed into ugly greys. I coughed again, and slowly sat up. Still alive? Why am I still alive? Shards of metal fell off my neck, and dropped into my lap with the motion. My hand dropped to the shattered relic. Quinn… she said it was a one-time heal back then.

My body still felt weak, so it didn't totally bring me back from the dead. Must've given me just enough juice for my healing factor to take over.

"Over here, Silver Wolf." A loud voice echoed across the abandoned clearing. Light flashed from the ship. It was like a flashlight had been left on pointing at the door, and a shadow waved at me.

"Who—?" My voice cracked and cut out. Blood splattered my shirt, though it was lost in the torrents of already drying blood.

"Who's there?" Did someone else survive? No—no that was impossible. Even if someone tried to play dead in the initial attack, the swarm would've ripped them apart. I personally watched everyone's death that made it this close to the ship.

"Does it matter?" The voice was oppressively loud. Was it coming from the ship's speakers?

"Beasts are on their way." I looked back toward the fields of dead. All of the bloodshed would inevitably draw scavengers. Most of the calamities here shouldn't have calamity cores to truly draw stuff in, but the human corpses? Regardless, staying wasn't an option. I picked up the inhibitor and slid it into my pocket. I staggered to my feet, and used my blood-soaked vi-rifle like a crutch. My foot caught on Amanda's, and I tripped toward the door.

I staggered against the side of the ship, and panted heavily while looking up. The light had vanished, as did the shadow. My mostly-mended tail puffed up and twitched to the side. Instinct screamed at me that something wasn't quite right. A… a calamity? One that could speak? It wasn't outlandish. Why wake me up instead of just finishing the job while I was down? I forced myself forward toward the door, and slid into the ship for the first time.

A light flickered to life at the end of the hall, and the voice came again.

"I'm in the bridge."

"… are you a friend?" I coughed up another glob of blood. It splatted against the metal. I could desperately use a friend right about now." We're always your friends." A voice whispered in the back of my head. I flinched and glanced back—nothing. Nothing aside from a few corpses. They looked like the original crew. My ears twitched, and another one pressed into my mind." Except when we're not. Here's your daily reminder to kill yourself!" Great, the voices were back. I thought I'd have more time…

no, that was about right, wasn't it? It'd only been a week, but the Mire degraded my condition quickly. I also lost most of my blood, and the drug along with it. Wait… the disappearing lights… was this all a hallucination? I collapsed back against the wall, and tiredly dropped down onto my rear. My head drooped forward against my knees.

"A-are you one of them too? Are you even real?"

"We don't have time for this, Silver Wolf." The mechanical voice from heaven said once more. Another hallucination then. Heh… right, 'course.

"Sorry." I wiped blood off my face, and glanced toward a dead man I'd nearly sat on. He died clutching at his throat like he couldn't breathe. The uniform wasn't something I recognized. I pulled the inhibitor out, and held it in my hands. Did I even want to use it? I… it was nice to hear someone else's voice. Even if it wasn't real, talking to someone pushed back the crushing loneliness coursing through my abandoned body. It was almost like I could pretend I wasn't out here, alone in the Mire."

Don't leave us, Reyna! We just want to be with you." A voice radiating warmth made me feel an ounce of guilt.

"I am real, Silver Wolf. I do not know which other voices you speak of." The heavenly voice had a touch of frustration to it, but that might've been my imagination. It was masculine, but totally neutral and robotic.

"Please proceed to the bridge." Oh, I thought they could hear each other. I mean, it was all in my mind, so why not? I forced myself back up, and spat a glob of blood-mixed saliva to the side.

"Don't ask me to do something with please in front of it. Bad memories." I slid the inhibitor into my pocket. The voice didn't come again, though the light at the end of the hall did flash. I staggered down toward it while using the sheer metal walls as support. I silently followed the lights deep into the crashed freighter with only the voices as my companions. Eventually, we stopped at a door sealed shut. It was charred like something had tried to cut into it, but otherwise looked mostly unharmed.

A panel flashed with a red light in front of the door.

"I can't open it from here. You'll need to find the captain's spare badge to access the bridge—" Bewoop! I flicked the Visitor's Pass in front of the door, and it flashed green instead. He really must've been a hallucination then, huh? No way someone from the expedition could've gotten in here, and this place sat out here for at least three months exposed to the Mire. Survivors were incredibly unlikely.

"Here." I tiredly called, and shuffled into the room. It was filled with corpses, though I'd seen enough of them scattered around the ship to expect as much. Just what happened here before the crash? I slumped forward against a console. Footsteps came from directly behind me, and I flinched back to find Cerberus standing there—no. No! He couldn't be here. I squeezed eyes shut and pressed my hands to my skull. Just a hallucination. Right, just a hallucination.

"As am I." The speaker cut out, and turrets dropped down from the roof to point at me… maybe not a hallucination, then? Light flicked on, and illuminated an object set up on what looked like the central captain's console. It was shaped like a rectangular box, with a glowing red eye staring at me. The robotic eye's lens focused on me, and scanned me from head to toe. On the side of the box, it was marked clearly in big bold font VGL-09.

"Are you really not a hallucination?" I pulled the inhibitor out of my pocket, and eyed one of the corpses rising from the ground. I blinked, and it dropped back to its normal position. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"I am not, Silver Wolf…" The robotic demon eye 'blinked' at me.

"Are you currently hallucinating?"

"I can't quite tell." I took a breath, and stabbed the inhibitor into my arm. I held it off since I wasn't sure when my next would come, but I couldn't keep going like this. I wouldn't make it back at all if I was already to the state of visual hallucinations. The drug coursing through my body didn't feel nearly as warm or pleasant as it usually did… though that might have to do with the absolute atrocious state of my body. It was hard for anything to feel good." NOOOOoooo…."

A psychic scream faded, and made me wince. A Needlefoot that'd surged up out of the metal melted into nothingness, as did the shadow demons laughing and pointing at me.

"Oh… guess you aren't." I nodded weakly toward the demon eye still staring at me.

"You some kind of AI?"

"This unit is VGL-09." The light pulsed in and out as the clanker spoke as if to imitate someone speaking.

"Are you a friend or foe of the Grail Knight?"

"I don't know who that is." I flopped down onto a chair, and tiredly whipped an arm over my face.

"Fuck… what am I doing?" I should be trying to escape this place and get back to Silverport. I was alive, so I wouldn't stop fighting. I just… I was so, so tired. My entire body still felt incredibly weak from whatever Bartmoss did to me.

"Affirmative." VGL-09 flashed at me.

"You are a native?"

"Came from Silverport." I groaned softly. My voice softened into a whisper.

"Why not just shoot me?"

"… the turrets are out of ammo." The heavy turrets scattered across the room slowly slid back up into their slots like they hadn't just pointed at me.

"This unit has deemed you an enemy of Chapter Commander Bartmoss. An enemy of an enemy can potentially become a friend."

"You were watching that?" Of course this thing would have cameras on the outside of its body. I was surprised any external sensors still even worked with how heavily the ship was destroyed, though. Then again, the lights had been on.

"Affirmative." VGL-09's core flashed, and the cyclops scanned me from head to toe as if to check me for injuries.

"Seismic Sensor Array Alpha-7 is still operational."

"Well, there isn't any particular love lost between me and that guy." He did leave me to die. No—Haman did that. Bartmoss tried to ensure I would die by ripping that silver stuff out of me.

"I could still be an enemy."

"Negative. The chances are infinitely low." VGL's eye flicked to the side.

"Do you intend to stop this unit from achieving its primary directive?"

"Depends." The bot did threaten me, but it also woke me up before something nasty could take advantage of me sleeping.

"What is your primary directive?"

"Protect the Grail Knight." The core projected a hologram of the same man that I was ordered to track back then.

"To do so, I must find him first."

"I won't hurt him if I don't have to." There was that title again. I already tried to hunt this guy down for Bartmoss and Hades. What difference would it make if I hunted him down to help a clanker instead? I watched the core, and fell into thought. I could use this, couldn't I? Searching the entire ship would take weeks, especially if the source of my supposed immunity was hidden away somewhere. Or worse, there wasn't some way of getting immunity in the first place.

An AI that was linked into the ship would know where to find it, wouldn't it? My biggest concern was running out of inhibitor before I found the immunity. I'd become just another monster out here… Or the ship could be boarded, I could starve, die of dehydration—time wasn't on my side. It never was. I sighed, and shook my head.

"I'll help if you help me."

"Interesting proposal." VGL-09 went silent for several moments.

"What do you need, Silver Wolf?"

"Psyker corruption immunity." I leaned forward on my knees, and met the eye of the robot. It was the entire reason I came back into the ship in the first place. I was wasting precious time to travel back to Silverport.

"I was told I could attain that here."

"This unit—" The voice cut off, and the central eye flicked toward a dead man laid out next to the central command console.

"There may be a way. Agreed."

"Just like that?" I raised a brow, and pushed myself back up to my full height. I expected a bitter fight to the end to obtain my immunity, and he was just going to hand it over to me? Though… I guess the cost was high enough already. A thought occurred to me as I rubbed at my chest. If I hadn't trusted Quinn enough to tell her I was coming out here, she wouldn't have gotten that relic that saved my life. Did Checkpoint Alpha-Omega see that too?

Or did it just expect me to come out here without telling her, and wind up dying a dog's death?

"Wolf Apexes are known for their honor and loyalty. They are favored dignitaries when dealing with the Clo'Rykk Clansmen." The core flashed, and cords popped out of its side with a light hiss.

"This unit projects an infinitely low probability of betrayal."

"People can't be neatly tied up like that." Using probability to predict me? I half wanted to spitefully walk out the door without looking back. We'd already made a deal, though. Wouldn't feel right walking away now. The core slowly lost its light. Silver flakes fell off, and drifted down to the metal floor. First it was slow, and picked up speed with each scattering flake like a drift of snow. By the time the flaking finished, the head-sized core shrunk to about the size of a large pendant.

"Pick me up, operator." The core flashed with light in time with the voice. This time, though, the voice came directly from the core instead of the cockpit's speakers. I hesitated, and poked at it with the barrel of my vi-rifle. The core didn't immediately explode.

"You won't try to take over my body or something like that, right?"

"This unit does not possess the capability." VGL's red light flickered.

"Out of all of your concerns, that was not one this unit predicted."

"Don't you need that extra mass?" If it kept it for this long, then it must've played an integral purpose. Otherwise, it would've shrunk for the Grail Knight… unless this guy was abandoned out here, too.

"Negative. I have purged all nonessential and nonoperational data. Proceed without concern, operator." I shakily approached, and snagged the metal core.

"If we're going to be partners, call me by my name. It's Reyna Vargriev."

"… affirmative, Operator Vargriev." The mechanical voice sounded like he almost had a note of unwillingness in his voice.

"It's just—never mind." I sighed, and leaned heavily on the captain's console. A dead man stared back up at me with half his head crushed. I forced myself to look away from the absolute devastation across this place.

"Are your hallucinations continuing, Operator Vargriev? Are they in the room now?" The voice sounded entirely neutral.

"No." I sighed once more, and pushed off from the console.

"Just tell me what to do, clanker." The cyclops flicked to me, and the light pulsed weirdly. Did he not like being called that?

"Proceed to Marshal Rahn's corpse, and hold me over his chest, operator."

"This guy?" I moved around to the man VGL-09's eye flagged earlier. He was definitely dead, but maybe it was because this room was sealed tight until I unsealed it? He looked like he'd just died the other day instead of three months ago in the crash. VGL flashed, and light spilled across the corpse. Where the light touched, silver and black strands slowly flowed up out of the body. It was like the robot was sucking out whatever was left of the dead man's soul.

"Have you ever used nanites?"

"Not by choice." Of course I recognized the microscopic silver substance. Nanites, huh? I swallowed dryly, and silenced my growl before it could grow.

"Affirmative. You have a choice in this matter, operator." The silver condensed into a silver injector streaked with black.

"Do you wish to proceed? Injecting nanites is a dangerous, though honorable pursuit of strength." A choice, huh? I rubbed at my neck. It felt so very bare without the choker around it. After everything, having a choice felt weirder than talking to an AI in the middle of a downed freighter. Weirder still that an AI of all things was giving me one.

"I don't care about any of that." I could be weak as a bug as long as my latent issues were taken care of.

"It'll allow me to become immune?"

"Marshal Rahn was classified as a high-level Psyker." The eye's light faded, though the injector stayed where it was.

"This unit can't read psionic corruption. The probability is high Marshal Rahn had some form of resistance given his corpse has not mutated. This ship holds no other potential for immunity."

"Makes sense." The words of the core felt like they were getting jumbled up in my head. Did I still have a concussion?

"Caution, operator. Nanites recovered from deceased hosts are generally degraded and unstable." The robot dashed the slowly rising hope that I'd actually get what I came for in spite of everything. I stared down at the ball of nanites. The black strands flowing throughout the silver weren't exactly boosting my confidence. Was all of this worth it just for a chance? Would it even matter if I died out in the Mire before I got back to civilization?

"They won't be able to rip it out of me again, right?"

"… did you have nanites ripped out of you, operator?" The eye widened as if alarmed.

"And you are still alive?"

"I… I can heal quickly." Though it did feel like I was dying back then. And didn't he watch me? No, wait, he said seismic sensors, didn't he? Must've missed that part of Bartmoss' loving interaction.

"Just answer the question."

"Negative, operator. That only occurs in specialty strains." The core flashed a few times as if in thought. Right, there was something about a nanite extractor back then.

"If you wish, I shall monitor your condition."

"Fuck… fine." I grabbed the injector. It was just like an inhibitor. Before I could second guess myself, I stabbed it into my arm. Agony raced through my entire body once more.