Book 6 - Chapter 5 Mechanical Nes (1/2)

Stony Plains. Vast, desolate, broken only by the dagger-like mountains peeking up on the horizon.

Lately there had been more and more mechanical creatures scouring the moors. Back in Greenland’s labs the wealth of samples helped them uncover no fewer than ten types of advance weapons built into their construction. They ranged from low-grade stun prods to laser cannons; from particle shields to force fields. Technology of this grade was confounding to most wasteland scientists.

If they could uncover the mysteries of this technology, it would immediately benefit the Green Alliance in any number of ways, but especially in combat. But right now the priority was discovering who or what was controlling these things.

There were theories being passed around the lab water coolers. It was largely determined that the first attack on the base was a test of the settlers' ability to defend themselves. That first group was the old generation of robots.

Stony Plains definitely had more advanced robots out there. When the second and third waves came for the manufacturing site, the camp’s defenses alone likely wouldn’t be strong enough to protect them.

“Finally finished...”

Bug had been burning the midnight oil, working as hard and as fast as she could to create the tracking beacon Hellflower had ordered.

To make sure that there would be little chance of failure, she made three such transponders and installed them in different robots. Assistants packed the creatures into boxes and Bug personally escorted them through the portal near the God Tree.

Incredible. She didn’t think that moving through dimensions would be so… easy.

Bug couldn’t help but admire leader Cloudhawk’s abilities, but she shook it off and orders her helpers to get to work. A few moments later a group of enormous birds descended upon her party. These were no ordinary birds, of course, but genetically altered wargs who possessed heightened intelligence.

“You are the scientist from Greenland?” The Wendigo King presented himself before Bug. “Where is Hellflower? She is leaving such an important task to some child?”

In the face of the frightening and powerful Wendigo King, Bug couldn’t hide the fear in her face. This was an important and mighty member of their alliance. To Bug, who had no fighting ability to speak of, he was a terrifying presence. However, she did not back down and instead pulled back her shoulders. “I am a junior scientist working for Greenland’s robotics laboratory. I’m no child!”

The Wendigo King scowled. He wasn’t going to waste time on this nonsense. “So what is the next step?”

“We have three robot creatures that have been fitted with transponders. We release them back into the plains. We expect that they will return to wherever it is they go for repairs. In theory we should be able to follow the signal of their transponders to this nest, but our technology is limited. The range of the beacons is not very far and if you let them get away from you, you’ll lose the signal.”

“So what’s the plan?”

“That’s why we’ve prepared three of them. Stony Plains is comprised of flatlands, once the creatures get their bearings they will follow the straightest path to their destination. We release the beasts in different locations and use their trajectory to triangulate where they’re headed.”

Bug punctuated this by producing a map of Stony Plains. She took out a charcoal pencil from her clothing and marked three circles.

“I would like to ask your excellency Wendig King to have our beast friends delivered to these three positions. They should be released at about the same time. The rest, leave to us.”

The Wendigo King regarded the child with new eyes. Not being the chatty type, he waved his hand and ordered his people to begin. The boxes were loaded onto the backs of the birds and strapped in. They then beat their enormous wings and took off toward their destinations.

The wargs dropped off their payloads and vacated the areas.

Timed locks had been installed on the boxes, so after a set period they all released at the same time. The beasts inside were freed and immediately clambered from their prisons.

Each one of the specimens had been badly damaged by fighting. But not bad enough to put them out of commission. Still, the damage was extensive enough that they were no longer a danger. If they weren’t repaired quickly they wouldn’t last long out in the plains. Without even a moment’s hesitation, the creatures set off toward their goal.