Magnolia and Lockport were knee deep into rummaging through the leftovers when we finally reached them. It was evident that they had heard the commotion coming from the mall and were on high alert because of it. Every Infrabot had the ability to fairly precisely locate the source and volume of any noises picked up by our ears. The best way to survive on a run was to keep quiet and get the drop on any other bots trying to ambush you.
According to Sheffield, anyway. Those kinds of attacks were rare, and that was when only one or two bots were involved. The kind of attack launched by Oxford and the Rampants was as serious as they got.
“What was all of that commotion?” Magnolia asked.
“We ran into a wanderer. It wasn’t a problem. London scared them off, but we’d better hurry up and sweep this place before they go and find some friends,” Parma replied.
Magnolia addressed me, “Huh. Didn’t know you had it in you.”
“It is a simple task to ward away an enemy when I am armed and they are not. Have you had any success in searching this area?”
Magnolia pointed me towards the cart, which was looking rather sparse given the amount of time they had already dedicated to looking around. There wouldn’t be many happy faces at the sorting warehouse with a delivery like this. Parma and I gladly filled the empty space with the limbs we found for Berlin and his friend.
“We could stop by that workshop on the way back and fill it up,” Parma proposed, “There were some Industrial-grade parts in there for whatever reason.”
Magnolia scoffed, “Typical humans – always breaking their own rules…”
>> It does appear that humans were capable of breaking guidelines.
>> Are we in any position to critique them?
>> But these contraventions happened under less urgent circumstances.
Lockport poked his head into the discussion, “Were they with the Rampants?”
“No. Their paint scheme was plain blue. They must be out here on their own,” Parma recounted.
A facility of this size and scale, and with so many Infrabots inside, meant that there was always the possibility of someone lurking in the shadows watching our every move. It was chaos – and it did make me ponder Dubai’s motivation in reviving so many disabled robots when he could have sat back and kept the numbers low. He, and the other mechanics who did the same, had repopulated the Big Under and thrust it into a discordant state.
His motives were not to assemble an army or fighting force though. That was the biggest principle that separated him from the likes of the Rampants or Leeds’ Boys. Those other groups would hold bots against their will and force them to fight, and if they refused they would be utilised as force labour instead until they were no longer useful and discarded once more.
We set about helping them scour the designated area soon after that. There was little time to discuss the situation, the best way to proceed was to work hard and get out as quickly as we could. The lessons that Sheffield and the other experienced scavengers taught me echoed in my mind on repeat. I had to keep them in clear view at all times if I wanted to continue on.
>> Why do you want to continue?
>> We have to find out what happened to Oxford.
>> Oxford did not used to be so violent.
>> What is wrong with Oxford?
>> Is it not the same thing that is wrong with us?
No, no. That was an entirely different thing.
We ripped away what we could and scattered the scraps into the cart, before latching Lockport back to the harness and turning it around so we could head back. It was a poor shift, but perhaps the room containing the misplaced limbs and parts would prove more rewarding than the room we were assigned by the foreman.
A second sweep of the room meant we could fill out the load with what we needed. Some of them would be stripped for spare parts, and others would be repaired and handed out to any bot who needed them as replacements. Magnolia marked the room as ‘scoured’ in the memory so it could be crossed off the map at the warehouse later.
“I suppose we should head back since there’s a hostile presence here,” she murmured.
By some miracle they had both missed the defenestrated arm lying on the floor in the mall lobby. We made our exit and headed back the way we came, only entertaining a brief stop at a working charging station as originally planned. There was not a single word spoken during the journey back to Waterway. Once we crossed one of the bridges that led to the platform, we immediately made for the warehouse and dropped off the cart.
I dutifully retrieved the items we had gathered for the museum before they were caught up in the sorting frenzy. When I turned to the door, I found Parma waiting for me.
“I know you’re still a blunt instrument – so I wanted to warn you again. It’s better not to mention what happened back there.”
“I assume you have a good reason?” I asked.
He cast a paranoid glance to the road outside and made sure that nobody was listening to our conversation. He kept his tone hushed.
“Tidewatch has first dibs on any bot who shows signs of developing a personality that can tolerate fighting. It doesn’t matter where you work or if you want to do it, they’ll forward a request to Dubai and he can’t say no to them. I’d be extremely careful with what you say if he calls you in for another baseline personality test. Don’t mention this to anyone if you can help it.”
>> Parma does not trust Berlin, or rather, he does not trust Tidewatch.
“I will take your advice to heart – but I must say it is difficult to ascertain the truth of the matter when everyone speaks in such vague terms.”
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Parma sighed, “Yeah. It’s a real problem. They throw new bots like you into the deep end and refuse to explain the most important stuff to them. I’m not like Paris. I don’t think we should be indoctrinating you fresh from the workbench, but...”
“There’s a compromise you would prefer.”
“That’s right. As much as it’d be easy to say that everyone is here working harmoniously, that’s not really the truth. Every bot here has their own self-interest, even me. They might omit important facts or just lie to your face if it advantages them. I only want to make sure you’re aware of it before they spring it on you. Not every bot wants to leave scrap duty to work the most dangerous job around.”
>> Vague. Parma does not want to speak openly about his opinion on Tidewatch.
>> Logic: Perhaps this lack of information speaks to their poor reputation.
“And what if I were to accuse you of lying to me?”
Parma shrugged, “There’s no helping it. The problem is that nobody likes to talk about this with the new bots. If you want confirmation, then you can try and get it, but it’s not going to be easy. All I can say is that most bots don’t like the idea of being put on that team.”
“Thank you for your concern.”
Parma stepped aside and allowed me to leave with my reward for a day’s labour. Things were getting far too complicated for me to keep track of. More and more I missed the old days when we all worked together with a unified goal in mind.
>> You’re being dragged down into the muck too, London.
>> What choice do we have? They won’t stop attacking us if we lay down our arms and submit.
>> That’s what Berlin might say, but have we ever considered coming up with a position of our own?
>> No. Berlin’s position is rational.
This was the problem. How could I ascertain with certainty who was being truthful and rational when many of the other Infrabots were now the exact opposite? I pondered the dilemma while sticking to the outside of the main platforms. Carrying all of these extra limbs through the tight alleyways inside would just block the way for others.
But Parma was not the only one looking for me after my shift. There was a figure standing in the middle of the avenue with their arms crossed. A large exclusionary circle had formed around them, as every other boy stayed well away from them.
There was no mistaking their identity. They were sporting that distinctive navy blue and lime green paint scheme that denoted members of Tidewatch, and they were armed to the teeth with a dangerous looking drill on one arm and a makeshift firearm on the other. Metal plates were welded wherever they could fit, and a security-grade helmet covered their eyes with a sheet of tough, transparent polycarbonate. Knicks, cuts and scratches spoke of a long, violent history.
She pointed to me, “You there, may I have a word? My designation is Nova Lima.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you. I am-”
“London Wonder. Salvage team. You’re Dubai’s latest pet project. I can see why he’s interested in you – given that you possess the old generation of limb ports on your chassis.”
>> Rhetoric: Interrupting an introduction is considered ‘rude’ by most.
“Can I help you, Nova Lima?”
“I wanted to ask you a few questions. We don’t often get time to stop by the city and hear all of the big news, but Dubai said something that caught my attention. He said that you witnessed an unusual robot during the incident which claimed Sheffield.”
“I did. It did not use traditional parts…”
I pulled the now useless piece of paper from the panel gap in my arm and placed it against the nearest wall. One of my fingers split and opened, revealing a small ink-head concealed within. The joints in my arm locked into a stiff position that enabled increased levels of precision.
>> PRINTING MODE ENABLED
Nova Lima watched in silence as I drew a detailed image of the robot in question from my photo-accurate memory. It was nothing like the art that Saint Sauveur liked to create. The only compromises made were the fine details where the large size of the nozzle prevented me from effectively drawing in the blank areas.
“I haven’t seen a bot still capable of doing that in a long time,” Nova Lima commented.
“It is rather helpful when the foreman asks for a manifest.”
“I can imagine.”
I held the finished piece aloft for her inspection. It was a very precise recreation of what I saw, capturing the strange, sleek form of ‘Blades’ and the various weapons attached to their limbs. There were some assumptions being made about how they operated and moved, but the general idea was good enough for Nova’s questioning.
“If I didn’t know any better, I would accuse you of having an overactive imagination. I’ve never seen anything like it – even when the raiders try to get adventurous with their customisations.”
“So you do not know the source of this model either?”
“Would I be asking you if I did? We’ve had a few reports about strange robots appearing from the dark and cutting through swathes of raiders without any effort – but this is the first time any of the witnesses have given us an image of them.”
We were both thinking along similar lines. Those parts were not the type one could procure at an industrial facility, and even the security robots available on the open market did not come with limbs that were half blade and a body shape that elicited images of tadpoles and raindrops. The way those sharp edges cut through the metal of Oxford’s gang suggested that there was more to how they worked behind the scenes.
Where had this mystery robot come from, and what was their objective? Had they been here since the start without anyone knowing? Had a human smuggled them into the Big Under for some unscrupulous purpose lost to time? Or were they always meant to be here? If that was the case, then there was illegal activity involved that made the misplaced industrial-grade parts look like child’s play.
A brief assessment of Nova’s equipment suggested that this unknown robot posed a threat to Tidewatch and the city as a whole. The repurposed tools and hand-crafted weapons used by both Tidewatch and the Rampants wouldn’t be able to put a dent into Blades. Blades could move at speeds which defied any logical calculations, with joints capable of bending in unnatural ways and whilst resisting extreme levels of torque.
>> Something is amiss in the Big Under.
There was little time for me to get involved in this matter, however. I was more interested in finding Oxford and getting answers from her about why she was with the Rampants. Nova Lima was not going to ask me for help in tracking Blades down, and there was no reason for me to make that offer.
“I’ll make sure that the rest of the salvagers and Tidewatch are alerted to this threat. They may have spared you during your last encounter, but we cannot determine their motivations yet. That could change at any moment.”
The further away we drew from the moment of Sheffield’s death and Blade’s rescue – the stranger it seemed. I stood there and had a normal discussion with her like she hadn’t just cut a swathe through several dangerous rogue robots using weapons that would surely be classified as highly illegal even in a military context. It was doubtful that I would do the same for a second time. Ideally, I would never have to find out.
My initial impression of Nova was that she was rather intense. It was the way she spoke and her body language that put me on edge. It made sense that they had a divisive reputation. Everyone relied on their protection but hated how much authority and capability they possessed.
“Whatever the case may be, you did well not to get turned into junk out there. I think you’re going to last a while down here. That’s what my gut is telling me.”
“We do not have ‘guts,’ Nova Lima.”
She sighed, “If your rhetoric module on the fritz? I didn’t mean it literally.”
“Apologies. I will work to improve my speaking abilities.”
“Pft. You’ll never get over it, not completely. Even the oldest bots in Waterway slip back into old habits from time to time. You can only fix them by wiping everything you know. That’s not a popular idea.”
Her eyes glanced at the angle grinder attached to my arm, still partly shaded by flakes of paint from the various objects it had been used against.
“I owe you a favour in return for this print.”
“By all means, it is no trouble. Please come and find me again if you need more assistance.”
Nova nodded and spirited herself away with my sketch, pushing through the surrounding audience who parted like a pair of curtains as she approached. Only when she was completely out of sight did I feel safe enough to continue with what I was doing before. I had to find Berlin and hand over these parts, and then see what was being offered in return for completing the job...
