Chapter 118: (Nemta) (2/2)
”Oh man, still charged. This is delicious,” the human said. He pulled out another battery that was scorched and damaged, putting it in his backpack. ”First battery I've found that the gel hasn't evaporated out of or not been rotted,” the human said.
”Um, congratulations?” Nemta said. The human finally started tearing more pieces out, putting them in the backpack, including the small backup fusion generator that Nemta knew weighed nearly a quarter ton.
”Glad those batteries were there. I couldn't have lifted it so easily,” the human said. The human turned to Nemta, who was staring in shock.
”Let's get back to camp before the Clankers show up,” the human said. ”If you need me to, I can carry you.”
”No, thank you. I will wait with my ship. My emergency beacon will help my people find me,” Nemta said.
”Your emergency beacon is going to bring down some of the bigger Clankers. They'll take the risk of running into me in hopes that you have intact materials,” the human said. ”Disable it before we go or by the time we get back the Clankers will have stripped this thing.”
Nemta sighed. He wasn't sure whether or not to believe the human, but he'd just watched the human eat several handfuls of superconductor wiring, the gel from two batteries, and some heavy metals that the human washed down with organic hydraulic fluid. He climbed up and disconnected the beacon.
”Yeah, I can't hear it now. We'll be good. Follow me, I'll go slow,” the human said. ”You'll need to keep your faceplate closed and run on filtered air till we get to the camp. Trust me.”
Is it just me or is the human bigger somehow? Nemta asked himself.
The human mumbled and hummed to itself as they walked through the chilly night. Nemta noticed a lot of the trees and bushes were short, or looked weird. They began passing disabled Precursor vehicles, damaged Terran vehicles, and destroyed Corporate Security vehicles. Everything was covered in brush and vines.
I don't remember there being any settlements here in the briefing, Nemta thought to himself.
Finally the 'camp' revealed itself to be an entryway between two massive Precursor tanks.
There were a handful of huts around an open fire that had a round object bigger than Nemta or even the human in the middle of the fire. Sitting around the fire were close to two dozen beings.
All of them neo-sapients or Near-Civilized, like Nemta himself.
Except the two little green mantids. One was missing a leg and one antenna, the other was missing a bladearm and an eye.
”Welcome to Camp Dustup,” one of the neo-sapients, a Hamaroosa, said, standing up. It bowed, an odd gesture for it to make. The Hamaroosa looked at the human. ”Does the ship have a jump core?”
The human shook his head, taking the massive backpack off his back. ”No, but I'm going to recover what I can from it. If 821 and 303 will come with me, we can get a lot off of it,” the human looked embarrassed. ”I got really hungry and ate some of it.”
The Hamaroosa nodded slowly, rubbing its tail. ”You have been hungry for a long time, Terry. Was it things we will need?”
The human, Terry, shook his head. ”No. Damaged wiring and batteries and a few swallows of hydraulic fluid.”
One of the others laughed. ”We might bring the ship in just to keep you fed, friend Terry. You look much refreshed.”
The human nodded. He sat down and held his hands out to the fire.
The Hamaroosa moved up to Nemta.
”Welcome to our camp. If you choose to live here, you must abide by the simple rule that we are all in this together,” the Hamaroosa said.
Nemta nodded slowly, looking around. The huts were made of sections of armor carefully welded together.
”How long have you all been here?” Nemta asked.
”Just over a year,” the Hamaroosa said. She smiled widely. ”But, if your ship contains the right parts, say, a working reactor, we may be able to leave soon.”
”How?” Nemta asked.
The Hamaroosa pointed at the big round metal object that fire was built around.
”That. A Terran heavy main battle tank nano-forge,” the Hamaroosa smiled. She pointed at the two green mantis men. ”And them. Terran engineers.”
She pointed at the Terran. ”And Terry.”
The mantid missing a leg came limping up with a set of belts attached to a a case with blinking light on it. Icons flashed above its head as the Hamaroosan looked at it.
”You need to put that on. 303 is right,” the Hamaroosan said.
Nemta picked up it, looking at it. It was heavy and vibrated. ”What is it?”
”It'll jam your life signs, keep the Clankers from detecting you if they get close. It also jams your implant from broadcasting or receiving so they can't find you that way,” the Hamaroosa said. She moved her tunic slightly to show that she was wearing one. ”It's based off of something Terry's got built in.”
”Oh,” Nemta put it on. It felt weird, made his back teeth itch. He yawned and shook his head.
”You are undoubtably tired,” The Hamaroosa said. She pointed at one of the welded together shelters. ”You may have that one. We will build another more suited to you later.”
The two green mantises were climbing up Terry's armored clothing, perching on his back.
Nemta exclaimed in shock when they both slid armor covered bladearms into his back.
The human, Terry, turned around and looked, his right arm coming up and his hand cocking back.
”Easy, easy, friend. Friend Terry has ports in his back just for that. Do not be alarmed,” the Hamaroosa chuckled. ”Warn yourself by the fire if you feel the need.”
Nemta moved over to the fire, feeling more than a little tired. The fight, the landing, all of it had used up a lot of energy and he was starting to feel it.
”Shevassti,” one of the lizard folk around the fire said. ”Welcome to Camp Dustup,” it chuckled. ”Don't worry, you will get used to the strangeness.”
Nemta shook his head as Terry and the two numbered insectoids left the camp. ”I cannot see how.”
”I thought the same thing,” another being said. ”After a year, nothing surprises me any longer.”
”Hopefully we will leave soon,” A third added.
”How? How will we leave?” Nemta asked. He pointed at the round metal object in the middle of the fire. ”And if this is so important, why do you have a fire built around it?”
Shevassti chuckled again, then rubbed his throat over a scar. ”It needs to be heated up. They don't work well if they're cold. It will need power and then to do something that the mantids call 'recycle and deslush' and then we can prepare to leave.”
Nemta shook his head. ”But how?”
Shevassti reached over to the pile of sticks and threw one on the fire.
”It's a nano-forge. The Terrans use them to make things. We're going to use it to get out of here.”
Nemta frowned, staring at the big black metal sphere. ”But how? Are you just going to make a spaceship?”
The beings around the circle laughed, shaking their heads.
”No, friend. We're going to make the parts to make a spaceship,” the Hamaroosa said, limping over to him. ”If we have the power, if Terry and the Mantid friends can find the raw materials, we'll make a countergrav array, a jumpdrive, a jumpcore, and fly to a neutral world.”
Nemta shook his head. ”Jumpdrives and jumpcores require massive factories.”
The Hamaroosa pointed at the sphere. ”That is a Class VIII nano-forge, usually installed in Terran main battle tanks. It is a massive factory.”
”Then why haven't you left already?” Nemta asked.
”It requires a lot of power. More than the small power sources we have found in the wreckage around us,” another being said.
”And we only found Friend Terry and his mantids a month ago,” another said.
One Nemta couldn't see on the other side of the sphere laughed. ”And that was the strangest thing ever. Finding what looked like a Terran mummy and two green mantis engineers wearing emergency stasis belts.”
”No stranger than watching the Mantids shock Friend Terry with a laser cannon capacitor and then having him drink superlubricants and eat superconductors,” another laughed.
”Do all humans do such things?” Nemta asked. ”I saw him eat the gel from a capacitor.”
”Just the ones like Friend Terry,” Another, this one concealed by the fire and smoke, said softly.
”What do you mean?” Nemta asked.
”Friend Terry is a cyborg. What the Terrans call a 'heavy assault infantry - man-size' cyborg,” the Hamaroosa said. She leaned heavily on a stick and sighed in comfort.
”But don't cyborgs go mad? The melding of machine into their nervous system driving them insane with pain and confusion?” Nemta asked.
One of the beings around the fire laughed, others picked it up, and Nemta felt slightly offended.
”What is so funny?” Nemta demanded.
The Hamaroosa leaned on her cane and smiled gently. ”We thought the same until we found Friend Terry. That's when we understood.”
”Understood what?” Nemta asked.
”We all are, the universe is, the Terrans are, all mad,” she paused, her smile changing as she slowly bared her teeth and her eyes got wider. ”Everything is. It's the hidden truth of the universe, and you must be mad to understand it if you wish to survive.”
Nemta felt his blood run cold as he looked around at the other survivors.
Their eyes all glittered and glowed in the firelight.
Nemta was suddenly very much afraid.