Chapter 391 - Far Future Ch. 101 – What to do, What to Do... (1/2)
”So... we're going to be mashing on robots, service droids, internal defenses, and death traps, depending on how much shit has been repaired.”
We both looked up and down at the size of this place. If this place had any kind of production tech, and that chances it did not were infinitesimal, that meant unlimited amounts of stuff to fight, as long as its energy held out... which it had for at least six millennia, so it wasn't going to stop any time soon.
”And we don't know where the computer cores are.”
”We don't,” he agreed.
”This is post-TL 10 stuff. The odds of me being able to hack it are nil.”
”Oh, how unexpected that is,” he rolled his eyes.
”On the other hand, there's damage the computer either can't or won't fix. So there's probably a bunch of automated stuff it has lost control over. I imagine the crash didn't help,” I mused thoughtfully.
”Assuming we have a hostile AI, what we want is contact with non-hostiles. Ship's logs, potential psi-records, and the like.” His head tilted up.
”The bridge and officer's quarters, then,” I agreed.
”Bit of a climb,” he noted.
”What, you don't want to set off a hundred alarms by setting off your boots and anti-grav? Come on.” I rapped the side of his breastplate, and he nodded despite himself.
”Techno-Briggs not stupid, arrgh.”
”Not seeing any bots floating, but there's bound to be something gonna wake up.”
”If we get construct-swarmed, I blame you!”
”Hags can shoulder lots of stuff. Blame weighs nothing!”
”Ah, not fearing consequences. You live in a blissful state of mind,” he sighed, but his eyes were gleaming.
”You are only now figuring that out?” I sniffed in return, sliding over to the nearest support beam extending up into a dark spot. ”It's time for a spider monkey impersonation!” My tails rose out of my backside, found holds, and began to lever me upwards weightlessly.
He just laughed, came up the beam after me, and like a big metal-covered ape, swung up after me without much effort. Easier than climbing that cliff, after all...
---------
It was a slog, but we always had stuff to talk about, even if being in this desert was minimizing contact with the outer world. Our relay team was running back and forth, bringing information about the greater conflict going on outside.
So many of them were getting to use Talents that were only applicable or important in war time. It went without saying that a lot of them were having a great time.
Briggs' Gentle Giant technique could have been useful as a Warlord, but the boys had it down, the Sources had their Oaths up and things were lining up against the marauding aliens in a really bad way...
==================
Back in Janus Prime...
Egil Rosenblaum groaned into the darkness.
Crushing weight loomed down on him, and all sensation below his right knee was cut off. Circulating his Vajra, he took stock of the situation with calm irony.
---
Suborned humans, crazed by the psi-virus that had rewritten their brains and turned them into enslaved berserkers, had invaded his blok by surprise, and the alerts sent out in the Markspace had come true.