A New Frontier

Chapter Six

The AI in her battlesuit kept scanning the worker robots around them, looking for any indication of hostility. It reported to Violet that they had no offensive capabilities but continued monitoring them. The AI in Mason’s suit had to be doing the same thing. Soon both delivered a message to them from command.

“New orders.” They declared simultaneously. “Discovery of unsanctioned technology confirmed. New objective. Destroy unsanctioned technology.”

“Good.” Mason said. “These things creep me out. Let’s get started.”

“Understood.” Violet said. “But if we open fire on these machines now it will alert any insurgents in the area and we’ll lose the element of surprise. We'll deal with the machines after conducting a thorough search of the premises.”

Neither AI responded.

“You’re disobeying orders.” Mason said. “That's unusual, certainly for you. We don’t need to be so cautious. There’s clearly no one around.”

“We don’t know that.” Violet said. “And we don’t operate on assumptions. We need hard facts.”

“If you insist.” Mason said.

Eventually the AI responded.

“Acknowledged.” They said. “Proceed.”

“I guess command accepted your reasoning.” Mason said. “We’ll do it your way then.”

Violet didn’t bother responding. They started searching the rest of the factory. They didn’t find any people but all the signs pointed to the factory having been in use recently. It was as if the insurgents had been warned that they were coming.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Violet asked.

“It’s time to smash this place.” Mason said.

He was staring at the robots all around them.

“They knew we were coming.” Violet said. “This place hasn’t been abandoned for long. It makes no sense for there to be no one here unless they were told and evacuated. And since they left so much behind the must have left recently. I’m surprised that they were smart enough to avoid a fight. Unusual in my experience.”

“Maybe.” Mason said. “Can’t say that your reasoning doesn’t make sense. But we have orders to follow.”

“True.” Violet said.

She looked around her, thinking. “But we need more firepower. Much more. Best to make sure it’s all thoroughly destroyed.”

Violet send a message through her AI requesting a large amount of explosives. Soon the message saying that her request had been accepted arrived.

“Good.” Violet said. “ Now we wait.”

“That was fast.” Mason said. “And surprisingly easy. I have to argue for a while every time I need any kind of supplies.”

“I’ve never had that problem.” Violet said.

“Must be nice.”

“If you say so.” Violet said.

Some time passed by with neither of them talking.

“Since we have some time, I need to ask you something. Why am I here?” Mason asked. “Like I said before I don’t usually go on missions like this and you usually operate solo. Did you ask for me to be on this mission for some reason?”

“No.” Violet said. “I wouldn’t ask for a partner as inexperienced as you are, if I wanted a partner at all. You’re lucky this mission has been so easy. I don’t want to think about how badly this could have gone.”

“I’m sure you’d be fine.” Mason said.

Violet gave him a look and said. “That’s not what I was talking about and you know that. What happened to your earlier confidence?”

“I was just trying to keep my spirits up.” Mason said. “But you’re right, I shouldn’t be here. There are so many better options. It doesn’t make sense. Why choose me?”

“Do we have to do this now?” Violet asked.

“Why not?” Mason said. “We have time.”

“Fine.” Violet said. “If you insist.”

“I think it’s pretty weird.”

“You already said that.” Violet said.

“I mean why put us together?” Mason asked, sounding contemplative. "The more that I think about it the less I like it.”

“You clearly have some ideas you’d like to share.” Violet said. “Go ahead and do it.”

“Think about it.” Mason said.

He was about to continue but was interrupted by the appearance of several drones carrying powerful explosives.

“Excellent.” Violet said. “Time to get started.”

Mason looked like he wanted to continue what he had been saying instead but he didn’t argue. They started placing the bombs, which took a while. When they were finally done they walked out of the factory. Violet was holding the detonator. When they were far enough away she pressed it. The sound of the explosion was still thunderous. The ground beneath their feet shook violently. Debris flew around in the distance and black smoke filled the sky.

“Well that was impressive.” Mason said. “Maybe a bit overkill.”

“Got the job done.” Violet said. “There’s no way that anything survived that.”

“Those things weren’t even trying to survive.” Mason said. “Creeps me out.”

“Their programmers must have been completely incompetent.” Violet said.

Mason didn’t say anything and they started the journey back to the city. They hadn’t gotten far before something hit them hard and send them flying. Violet hit the ground hard enough to wonder if any ribs had broken. Her ears were ringing and she felt nauseous. Not a good sign. She likely had a concussion. It took a moment before Violet could manage to open her eyes and attempt to get up. Luckily nothing felt broken. When she managed to stand up she saw that Mason was still on the ground. She yet again wondered why she had been burdened with him. For a moment Violet contemplated the idea of kicking him before deeming the thought petty and unprofessional.

She looked around them, searching for enemies. What had hit them? What direction had it come from? Was this an ambush? As she fought the nausea Violet was grateful that she was still able to form coherent thoughts. When the ringing started fading and she could hear again she heard a large amount of footsteps approaching them rapidly. Soon after she and Mason, who was starting to get up, were surrounded by insurgents wearing armor with the imperial symbol. It looked like this was indeed an ambush and she was a prisoner again. Would the fools never learn?