"Not sure, hard to get a reading through this rock."
He aimed his plasma cannons at the opening.
***
Dr. Hecate Themopolous sat in her windowless office,head in her hands. She stared at the piece of paper laid out upon herdesk. Tears welled in her eyes.
She sniffed and wiped at her nose, grabbing up the paperand ripping it to shreds. She tossed the bits and pieces into thetrash, subconsciously wiping her hands on her uniform as if themessage on the paper had somehow dirtied her physically.
Her door chime rang. She stared at the shreds lying atthe bottom of her wire trashcan. The door chimed again. She quicklywiped her eyes.
"Enter."
***
The dead mech burst from the crevice, exploding chunksof rock in its wake. It quickly gained its footing on the valleyfloor, its one arm raised and glowing ready for battle.
"Jeezus … " Stanislaw whispered.
"Stan!" Bisby shouted into his com, powering up hisown weapons, dropping his mech down into the valley. "I'm comingdown! Push it to the left, I'll flank it."
Stanislaw stared at the dead mech, watching its zombiepilot thrash and howl in its cockpit.
"Biz, something's not right … "
"No fucking shit Stan! It's a deader with one arm,that's the definition of ‘not right'!"
***
Masters tried handing Harlow the soap. She fumbledaround, blinded by suds. Masters laughed, gripped her hand with hisand carefully placed the slippery bar into her open palm.
"Thanks baby," she smiled, still blind.
"No problem your Hotness." He turned back to thewater, letting the warm spray beat down on his chest. "You thinkMathew was pissed?"
"Who fucking cares," said Harlow, washing the soapfrom her face. "They're all just jealous cause they ain't gottheir own fuck buddy."
"That all we are?"
Harlow stepped from her stream into Masters'. "No,baby, that's not all we are."
***
Stanislaw piloted his mech into a crouch, setting up theleap and slash move. He waited for his opponent to take the bait.
It didn't.
One Arm waited, watching Stanislaw, calculating thepossible attacks. Coming to a conclusion, One Arm aimed its plasmacannon.
Stanislaw's eyes went wide; he'd never seen a deadmech react this way. His com crackled.
"Get the fuck out of there Stan! He's too close foryou to dodge those blasts!" Bisby screamed into his ear. "I'mtoo far away to take him out!"
Stanislaw knew all of this. And what his fate would be.
***
Capreze stepped next to Jay and appraised theschematics.
"You think this will work?" the Commander asked hisChief Mechanic.
"No, but I plan on putting hundreds of man-hours intoit anyway," Jay sniped, never making eye contact with theCommander.
Capreze grinned and slapped Jay on the back. "That'sthe spirit! You need anything?"
Still not looking away from the schematics, Jay handedCapreze an empty coffee mug. "She makes it every morning and yetI'm always surprised what your girl can do with some ground beansand water."
Capreze laughed, took the mug and headed to the mess.
***
The blasts came hard and fast. Stanislaw dodged thefirst wave, but couldn't side step his mech fast enough to miss thesecond wave. The concussion knocked his mech back 300 yards.
Stanislaw struggled to right his mech.
"Hydraulics on my left leg are out!"
"I'm coming Stan. Hold the fuck on!"
One Arm moved in, firing twice at Stanislaw, thenwhirled around, sending several blasts towards Bisby.
Bisby was far enough away to evade the shots, but itslowed him down, wasting precious time needed to get to Stanislaw.
"Stan! Stan?!? Jeezus fuck, can you hear me?!?"Bisby screamed.
***
"Goddamit Jethro! What did I say about coffee mugs ONthe schematics?!?" Jay barked at his assistant mechanic. "Whatdid I fucking say?!?"
"Don't do it?" Jethro responded sheepishly,grabbing up his mug, leaving a coffee ring behind on the plans.
Jay smacked him upside the head. "Go double checkHarlow's left hydraulics system, I think I heard a hiss when shedocked last night."
"I already checked it," Jethro answered.
"Then go wash the fucking thing!" Jay roared.
"Wash a mech? Really?" Jethro asked. Jay's faceturned beet red. "Okay, okay. Jeezus, calm down." Jethro stompedaway, muttering epithets.
***
One Arm blasted Stanislaw's mech twice more, sendingmechanized limbs flying in all directions. The live mech's torsolay smoldering on the baked earth. One Arm turned its attention onBisby.
Seeing the state of Stanislaw's mech and the deadmech's new tactics, Bisby stopped his mech and set blast anchorsinto the ground. He prepped the machine for full rocket launch,intending on sending the one armed abomination to hell in a milliontiny pieces.
One Arm roared and charged. Bisby's blood ran cold atthe inhuman sound coming from the dead mech's loudspeakers.
"What the fuck … .?" Bisby croaked.
***
"Hey Matty! Come sit here!" June called as Mathewfinished loading his plate from the mess line.
Mathew glanced around, but the mess hall was empty andhe was trapped. He slowly made his way to June's table.
"Mornin'," he nodded, fake smile in place.
"Wow, did you hear Harlow last night?" June askedconspiratorially. "She and Masters were non-stop."
Mathew laughed. "This morning too."
June's eyes widened. "Wow. Must be nice havingsomeone all to yourself like that … "
Mathew kept his eyes down, preferring to look at thepile of yellowish synth-eggs, than to look into June's inquiringeyes.
***
Bisby checked the anchors and set his mech into a squat,bringing its body to a lower center of gravity. He watched the deadmech rage towards him and braced for impact.
Twenty yards out, One Arm leapt, using its mini-rocketboosters on its legs for extra lift. It raised its arm high into theair.
Bisby, realizing what the dead mech was about to do,disengaged his ground anchors, hoping he could side step the fallingmech in time.
Everything slowed. One Arm roaring, Bisby scrambling,Stanislaw dying. It all froze for a split second in the barrenvalley.
***
"Man, I never get over how good this coffee is!"Masters crowed. "I mean, how do you grow something this tasty inthe fucking wasteland?"
He plopped down next to Mathew and June, smelling ofsoap and smiling from ear to ear.
"Hey Baby? Grab me a muffin, will ya?" he calledover his shoulder to Harlow, still in the mess line.
"Will do Sugar Dick!" she called back.
Mathew shook his head, but couldn't help smiling.Masters raised his eyebrows in mock innocence.
"What?" Masters took a sip of coffee. "Can't twobad ass mother fuckers be in love?"
***
Bisby didn't make it out of the way. The impact ofmech on mech was earth shattering. Literally.
One Arm came down just as Bisby had disengaged his lastground anchor and tried to execute a tight side roll. The dead mechsmashed into Bisby's cockpit; putting the two close enough thatBisby could smell the rotted zombie pilot.
A massive crack appeared in the baked earth, opening theworld above to the world below. Both mechs tumbled into the fissure,smashing at each other with iron fists, knees and feet. The darknessswallowed them, their battle echoing, echoing, lost.
***
Dr. Themopolous walked into the mess hall. FindingMathew she quickly moved to his side and bent down close. "May Ispeak with you for a second?"
Mathew looked at the other pilots at the table and thenat the doctor. "Um, sure. I'll see you all in the briefing." Hestood and followed Doctor Themopolous outside the mess.
He raised an inquisitive eyebrow when they were alone.Doctor Themopolous cleared her throat, glancing around to make surethey were unobserved. "You came from Foggy Bottom, right?"
"Yeah … ?"
"Have you heard from anyone there recently? Any newsof any … problems?"
***
Matilda placed a kiss on his cheek. "Bye Daddy!" shesaid, skipping out the back door into the spring rain.
Stanislaw got up from his chair, grabbing an umbrellaand followed his daughter. "Take this baby."
"Awww, Daddy, the rain isn't going to hurt me,"Matilda complained. "It's not like when you were a kid."
Stanislaw smiled. "It'll make your old man feelbetter."
Matilda laughed and reached out. Before she could graspthe umbrella her skin started to melt from her arm. She screamed, sodid Stanislaw.
He was still screaming when he came to in his burningcockpit.
***
"What are you doing?" Jay called up to Jethro.
"I finished washing Harlow's mech and I'm workingon the Rookie's mech. That's what you wanted, right?"
Jayclosed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "No, what Iwanted was for meto work on the Rookie's mech. I'm just going to have to go backover all of your work to make sure it's right."
"Fuck you, Rind," Jethro barked, lowering the liftto the ground. He handed Jay his span-wrench. "You really need tostart sleeping in a bunk. You're a grouchy bitch in the morning."
***