Book 6 - Book 6, Chapter 6 The Last Humans (1/2)

The nest delved at least eight hundred meters into the metal mountain and had the area of a small city. Its interior was much roomier than expected even though there was no design philosophy to speak of.

Aesthetics were not a concern in the slightest to whoever built this place, nor did it have the same wasteland pragmatism Cloudhawk was accustomed to. The enormous exterior hid a maze of tightly compacted tunnels and chambers within, convoluted enough to make one’s head spin. It was uncomfortable, dizzying and unwelcoming.

Who would build such a place and choose to live in it? It was essentially just an enormous ant hill! Were they only insects and metal facsimiles that occupied this place? It certainly didn’t smack of anything human.

All so strange… in this world that had remained uninhabited for thousands of years, this metal mountain had sprung up seemingly from nowhere. Cloudhawk had no way to explain how this mysterious and towering structure came to be here.

He’d traveled through several worlds thus far and in none of them had he discovered higher intelligence. Rather they were all in various states of decay, or reclaimed by nature. Why was this world different? Where had this structure come from?

Cloudhawk knew the machines didn’t crop up out of thin air. He also believed that everything that existed, existed for a reason. This giant metal mountain had to be here for something specific. The only way to know was to delve deeper.

There was no danger to Cloudhawk, of course. Worst case, he blinked back to safety. How could he comfortably send more settlers here and establish his manufacturing base before discovering what all this was about?

The mountain interior was surprisingly well organized. Thousands – tens of thousands of channels ran every which way and connected with one another like arteries. They were all metal and comprised a twisting labyrinth of pathways that would be practically impossible to escape from without a map. As he continued to poke around Cloudhawk came upon several production areas, yet they were unmanned. Everything was automated.

It was all very sophisticated. Highly precise, super-condensed lasers were laser-printing objects at a rapid pace. The pieces were transported and assembled too quickly to follow with the eye. It was a reflection of manufacturing prowess so advanced it might as well have been magic. And not one single living thing anywhere to be seen.

Cloudhawk was beginning to suspect whatever civilization lived here long ago was nothing like anything he knew. Perhaps this was some super-advanced mechanical society. Perhaps there never had been any living thing guiding them.

Maybe this entire mountain was itself an enormous machine, one of a king, alone in this barren place. To verify the hypothesis, Cloudhawk sent Oddball off to scout ahead. After making a cursory check Oddball revealed that indeed, nothing seemed to be living down here.

But the little bird seemed to awaken something in the mountain, for the ceiling above Cloudhawk opened up revealing a network of black pipes. They emitted a high-pitched squealing alarm before a whole host of giant bee-like machines came pouring forth. Before he knew it the entire hallway was filled with them.

The swarm filled every available space. Had he been discovered?

Cloudhawk had nothing to fear from these insect-like robots, but he wasn’t here to cause problems. He’d come here alone to try and find whoever was in charge, perhaps negotiate a peaceful end to the hostilities. His whole aim was to limit casualties.

The air rippled. As the giant bees were preparing to attack their target vanished from sight. They immediately began to search the premises.

As complicated as the maze was, this had no impact on Cloudhawk. Thanks to his teleportation abilities he could go where he pleased, so he simply folded space to appear five kilometers deeper into the belly of the mountain. After getting his bearings Cloudhawk discovered that while there were no vents, this part of the mountain still had good air flow. The corridors were all well lit; he even saw signposts.

Strange… robots didn’t need air. They didn’t need signs, either. Did that mean deep in the center of the nest there was something else? Cloudhawk was considering the possibility when he heard footsteps approaching from down the hall. Several figures blocked the path forward.

They were not robots. The figures were covered from head to toe in gray protective gear, with helmets that completely covered their faces. In their hands were weapons that looked like rifles with sparks of electricity spouting from two spikes at the end. A single shot from one of these weapons would paralyze its target instantly.

“You’re… you’re human!”

“You doing what here, en!”

More than his shock at finding humans here, Cloudhawk was floored by the fact he understood their language! Their accent was very strange, and their grammar was all off with several sounds he didn’t understand, but he got the gist of what they were saying.

Clearly the root of their language and his own were the same. But how? This was a completely different world, theirs was a completely separate civilization! How could it be possible that they share the same mother tongue?

Cloudhawk spoke to them carefully. “Who are you people?”

The natives also seemed to recognize that Cloudhawk wasn’t one of them. But more importantly, how had he slipped by all their defenses and appeared in their home?

No matter. He was here, and that was a serious problem. He spoke strangely so he was clearly not one of them. They would learn more once he was captured and safely locked away. But as they closed in with their tasers, something unexpected happened.

Cloudhawk gently waved his hand and the four men were thrown backward! The tasers were cast from their hands and spontaneously combusted into sickly green fire. It took only a few moments for them to be melted to slag.

Frowning, Cloudhawk noted how weak the four were. Despite their fancy looking equipment he’d thrown them to the ground with hardly any effort. How were such ineffectual people able to survive out here?