The rain in Sector 0 was different. It wasn't like the city chemical mix or the upper levels' filtered water. This stuff was thick, black, and tasted like you were licking a rusty pipe. It slammed against the tons of scrap metals around us, creating a symphony of cling, clang, and thuds that echoed endlessly in the fog.
I stood on our escape shuttle wreckage, looking at our new Kingdom.
In the north, i saw a range of crushed cars piled three hundred feet high, that has rusted together over decades. In the east, i saw a lake of oily rainbow-colored stuff, with droid corpses floating in it.
This place is a wasteland, Sarah said, climbing up next to me, she was helping Maya who still looked hazy from the shock of the neural feedback.
Nah, I said. It's a buffet.
I jumped down, my boots crunching on carpet of shattered glass. And my ribs were killing me from the crash, but the energy here was soothing. I could feel a low level hum vibrating in the ground. Every old battery, Every capacitor, and every microchip buried in this pile of junks still had a little energy in them.
Glitch, do you have any information, I asked.
Glitch was sitting on a rusty bumper, trying to tape his datapad back together.
Well the good news is, the Corporation is off our tail, he said. But the bad news is we got no food, no water, or shelter, and it's getting dark. And the things that come out at night here... they're bad news!.
"Things"? Maya whispered, looking at her human arm and rubbing it nervously.
Yes, things. There are scavengers, Glitch said. Wrecked droids, that were dumped here 'because they malfunctioned. Their brain core degraded, Now they just hunt power cells to keep themselves running. They're like.... Metal zombies.
We need a base quick, Sarah said, sounding like her old self again. This acid rain will eat through our suits in few hours, if we don't get shelter.
I looked around. My Network Sense was going wild here. It was really overwhelming. In the city the signals were organized. But down here it was just noise, of dying signals screaming for help.
They were all emitting signals saying:
ERROR. LOW BATTERY.
SYSTEM FAILURE.
HELP ME.
But under all that, I felt something else. A big, steady pulse. Like a heartbeat buried under the trash.
This way, I said, pointing.
Why? Glitch asked, limping after me.
Something big is over there, I said. And it's still running.
So we started walking towards it.
The Rust Sea was a nightmare. The ground was uneven and sharp. Every step we took was a risk to slice our boots open. We had to climb over piles of washing machines, crawled through old buses, and waded through radioactive green streams.
Maya was having a hard time walking.
I can't, she said, falling to her knees on a pile of copper wire. Just go. I'm slowing you guys down.
"Get up", I said, offering her a hand.
Why bother? she said, slapping my hand away. You are just going to use me. Like Malachi. And like everyone else.
I crouched down and looked her in the eye.
I don't use people, I said quietly. I eat machines. There's a difference.
I grabbed her robot arm. It was dead weight.
Skill: Overcharge.
I sent a little energy into it, just enough to reboot the servos, but it was not enough to turn on the comms.
Whirr.
The arm jerked. Maya gasped, flexing her metal fingers.
You have a weapon as an arm, I told her. Stop acting helpless. You're a survivor. Now get up.
She stared at me, scared and angry. But she grabbed my hand and stood up.
You're an asshole, she said.
I'm a level 8 assholes, I corrected. Move it.
We walked for another hour. The light began to fade, and the sky started turning purple. The Shadows got long and weirder.
CRUNCH.
The sound came from behind us.
I stopped and held up a hand.
Did you ear that? Sarah said, grabbing a piece of scrap metal for a weapon.
CRUNCH. HISS.
It's closer now. It sounded like metal grinding on bones.
Glitch, scan The area, I said.
I can't! Glitch said. There is too much interference. The magnetic field here is messing with my sensors.
I closed my eyes, and activated my Network Sense.
I pushed my mind out into the darkness.
I felt them.
Five signals out there. They were Fast. Messed up. And they weren't human. They codes were filled with errors and corruption.
TARGET: SCRAP-STALKER (LEVEL 6).
STATUS: HOSTILE / HUNGRY.
Heads up! I yelled, spinning around.
A thing jumped off from the pile of crushed cars.
It looked like a wolf made of knives. It body parts was from different machine parts. It had sensor cluster for a head, with one flickering yellow eye. It jaws was made of industrial clamps.
It howled, and went for Glitch.
I moved fast.
Skill: Shadow-Weave Activate.
My armor shimmered. And i jumped in front of Glitch.
The Stalker hit me in the chest. And Its clamp-jaws snapped on my armor.
WARNING. ARMOR INTEGRITY: 90%.
It was heavy, And it was trying to rip me apart.
Get off me! I yelled.
I wrapped my arms around it jagged metal body, ignoring the blades cutting through my suit. I pressed my chest against its power core.
Skill: Energy Siphon.
DRAIN.
The Stalker screamed as I sucked its energy. I could feel the corrupted energy of the battery flowing into me. It's tasted like rust and pain, but it was power.
XP GAINED: 50.
Its eye flickered out. The clamp jaws opened let go of me. And It died( ran out of energy).
One down! I yelled, shoving the dead machine aside. Four more!
The other Stalkers came out of the shadows, circling us.
Pack hunters, Sarah said, backing up against a wall of tires.
Maya, get behind me, I said.
No way, Maya said.
She stepped forward. And her robot arm spun up, extending the blade I saw before.
I can fight, she said. The Warden made me fight in his arena, for his amusement.
One of the Stalkers jumped at her.
Maya didn't even flinch. She just stepped aside quickly. So as the thing flew past, she swung her metal arm.
SLASH.
The blade cut through the Stalker's neck. Sparks sprayed like blood. And it crashed into the mud, twitching.
Nice one! Glitch cheered.
The three left standing hesitated. They looked at me, glowing with energy. They looked at Maya and her blade dripping with oil.
They did some math.
Threat Level: High.
They turned and ran back into the darkness.
They're gone, Sarah said.
Good, I said. Let them spread the word. They is a new boss in town.
We continued on our path.
Up ahead, was the source of the pulse I felt.
It wasn't a building.
It was a Titan.
A huge war robots machine from the Corporate Wars, it was twenty stories tall. It was half-buried in the ground, kneeling like it was praying. It was rusted, covered in moss and copper wire. It Head was facing the ground, And the control room was dark.
But deep inside it, a blue light was pulsing. Thump-thump.
What is that? Glitch asked. Is that an Atlas-Class destroy? They were decommissioned years ago.
Not this one, I said, walking toward its foot. It's sleeping.
I place my hand on the titan leg.
Network Sense.
I felt it. The connections were huge. This wasn't just a robot, but a fortress. It had Barracks inside it, a fusion reactor, weapon systems, and constructed bays.
It was empty.
"This is it", I said to the others. This is our base.
You want to live inside a giant robot? Maya asked.
I don't want to live in it, I said. I want to wake it up.
I looked up at the Titan's face visor.
If we can fix this thing... And get the reactor online... we don't just have a home. But also a weapon.
My wrist-comp beeped.
QUEST COMPLETE: FIND A BASE.
REWARD: 1000 XP.
LEVEL UP!
NOW LEVEL 9.
NEW QUEST: AWAKEN THE TITAN.
OBJECTIVE: FIX THE FUSION CORE.
Glitch, I said. "Open the hatch".
Glitch looked at the machine, and said. It will take me ten minutes,... and get me a paperclip also.
Get to it, I said.
The rain kept coming down, but it didn't feel so cold anymore. We weren't just refugee in a junkyard. We were the Titan's crew.