Chapter Eighty-One - Touch ...
"And so we discover that technology is sufficiently advanced, that what we understood was but a re fraction of the whole, and that our instincts are nothing but fumbles in the dark.
What a ti to live in, when there is so much to see in a world where mankind is introduced to the first true light, even if it may be of another's making!"
--Professor Le Guin, 2038
***
I ended up asking the Family if they could spare a ride back to the Big Gun. My ch was loaded onto the carrier, with a bit of difficulty, and sent off towards ho. I'd given the carrier instructions to park itself out on the porch, for ease of access later. I would move the ch into the garage when I got ho and could supervise it a little. Maybe it was ti I bought a chanic's catalogue and a few jacks and... those big fork things that they used to lift cars up, but for chs.
I expected the Family to let ride in one of their quadcopters, but instead they flew over a speedy little APC strapped on with so jet engines. It landed nearby, and I waved goodbye to the troopers still securing the area.
It was back to the Big gun for .
Sitting down in the otherwise empty APC felt strange. I was drained. Maybe it was the adrenaline finally sinking, or the long ass day finally starting to weigh on , but whatever it was, I felt like I hadn't slept in three days.
I wasn't physically tired, just... my brain felt a little buzzed out, but not in a pleasant way.
I stifled a yawn as the APC ca in for a landing and I stood up and grabbed onto an overhead handle for stability.
There was a mont where I got a good view of the Big Gun site from above. The wave of aliens rushing towards us looked like it had petered out to nothing, but not without leaving so signs.
There was a trench of craters and burn scars a few kilotres long reaching out from the base and way out into the countryside. It was filled with small bits and pieces of aliens.
The newbies had been having fun, it seed. A few larger corpses were tossed around there too, but nothing even in the twenties.
The Fury was parked nearby, so the mont the APC set down, I hopped off and started to search. I hadn't thought about what might have happened to Gomorrah, to my friends, while I was busy with that Thirty-Three, but what if it wasn't the only Samurai-killer out there today?
My shoulders slumped a little when I found Gomorrah, mask off, sitting near the Big Gun's command room. She was talking to Emosythe, both of them holding onto paper coffee cups.
"Cat," Gomorrah said when she saw . "You're back late."
"Huh? Oh, yeah," I said. "Did you hear what happened?"
She frowned faintly, then shook her head. "No? I just returned."
"You look like you've seen a ghost," Emoscythe said. How she knew that when I was still wearing a helt, I had no idea.
"I had a close call. Two samurai died to one alien, and a third was ssed up. Got there and, uh, ran into one I'd never seen before."
"Thirties or higher?" Emoscythe asked.
"Fuck , I don't know if I could handle sothing higher than the thirties now," I said honestly.
She shrugged. "Saturation bombardnt cures many ills. What did you run into, exactly?"
"A Model Thirty-Three," I said. "Weird spider-dino looking fucker. It chewed my ch up pretty good. Injured this other samurai I'd never t called Invincible."
"I heard of him," Gomorrah said. "He's Family through and through. I don't think he's from New Montreal. Sowhere further south. New York, maybe."
I shrugged. "He got chewed a little too. But he'll live."
"Close calls happen," Emoscythe said. "It's why we're paid the big bucks. The little Antithesis? Any properly organized army could take care of them. It's the bigger ones that need special attention, and why we're always valuable and tolerated. The praise and fa and such is just good PR on top of that."
"Sure," I said, because who was I to deny her. "How about you?" The last was directed to Gomorrah.
"A few newer samurai needed so help. The larger flying units need special attention to be taken out, sotis. Gear that not everyone has access to yet. In any case, it wasn't anything too bad?" ℞
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"Yeah," I said with a nod.
Gomorrah stared at for a mont. "I've got things here handled, Cat," she said. "Go ho."
"Huh? Nah, I'm sure there's still shit to take care of," I said. I still hadn't gotten any news about Phobos, or, like, the wider situation. What if I was needed on so flank sowhere. Or another an fuck like that Model Thirty-Three showed up?
"It's fine," Gomorrah said. "I've got it handled. Co back in the morning. At a reasonable hour for once, and we'll see what needs to be done. I imagine we're going to need a massive debrief."
"And a funeral," Emoscythe said. "Heroes deserve to be put to rest in glory and with all due honour. And it's just good optics. No one wants to die and be forgotten, even if they're dying for a respectable cause. We'll need a cenotaph worthy of the event."
"Cenotaph?" I repeated.
"An empty tomb," Emoscythe explained. "A monunt for the lost. Sothing physical and tangible, that marks out the space where they were. There are a few dotted across the world now, honouring common people that rose up, soldiers that picked up arms, and samurai who made the final sacrifice in order to keep one more human alive." She smiled. "I always enjoyed them."
"I'm sure they make for great places for a date," I said before I sighed. "Yeah, I uh, I might need a few hours of shut-eye, I think? Been running on fus and not enough sleep and there's been a lot to stress about."
"It should be better now," Gomorrah said. "There isn't a moon being flung our way anymore. Things should be returning to sothing approaching normalcy in the coming weeks."
"The curse of living in interesting tis, eh?"
"You said it," Gomorrah replied.
I patted her on the shoulder, then gestured towards my bike, still parked off in one corner. "I'll get ho then. Call if there's an ergency?"
"I'll do that, don't worry," Gomorrah said.
We didn't exactly say goodbye as I trudged over to my bike and climbed on. I just sat there for a mont, not even turning it on.
Do you want to call ahead to Lucy?
"Huh? No, it's okay," I said. The question was enough to kick into gear. I kicked the bike on, then rose up and over the Big Gun site. I did a quick turn around the space, just making sure, but most of what I saw were soldier types sitting back and resting, so of them shovelling up shell casings and others just laying back on the ground, their fatigues covered in sweat.
I aid south, towards New Montreal, and kicked the throttle down. I made good ti, but it was one of those flights where I soon arrived ho and I wasn't sure if I really registered anything between A and B.
Landing my bike on the top floor landing, I slid in under the awning just as the sky started to open up again with another New Montreal downpour.
I didn't know if that was a good sign or not, but I was too tired to question it as I walked in.
Lucy was by the entrance. She was glaring. "What happened?" she asked.
I shucked my helt off, then tossed my coat onto a rack by the door. My guns and such I dropped nearby. One of the robotic cats showed up and picked them up in its mouth, then wandered off with them... probably for the best that soone was making sure that none of the Kittens got their hands on a rifle.
"Hey," I said at last as I tried on a smile.
Lucy ca closer, got onto the tips of her toes, then gave a kiss. "Hey," she said.
I lted a little, but that was before I noticed that Lucy was holding onto sothing. It was a bottle, with one of those spray nozzle things at the top. "What's that for?" I asked.
"You almost died," she said.
"I was fine," I said.
Lucy raised the spray bottle, and before I could react, spritzed in the face.
"Ah! Lucy, what the fuck?"
"I'm sorry, Cat, but it's for your own good," she said. She legitimately sounded sorry too.
"What's for my own good?" I asked.
"You're point pinching too much, Cat. I won't lose you because you're unable to buy stuff to keep yourself safe."
"I've bought plenty of stu--ah! Stop it!" I squeaked as she spritzed again.
"Not until you take better care of yourself, Cat! It's for your own good!"
Sohow, we ended up on the floor, then in bed, then on the floor again.
***
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