Chapter 70 – A request for the dead

The entrance of the ruin was filled with the fallen. Those that came with Archie were lying on the ground. Their eyes staring emptily at the darkened sky, their mouth had a line of blood. The orb that caused their death floated before them. It stayed still as it is, hovering at one of the bodies. Its arms were opening the chest of one of the Templars. It was studying it as if it was used to it. Indeed, it was a medical drone used to help the scientific people of the lab. But without them the medical drone had nothing. It was its ode to the dead. It was merely a machine following pre-determined orders.

Suddenly, the ground shook like an earthquake. The medical drone turned its robotic eye towards the front of the entrance. There, the drone saw Zola Dawn exit the ruins casually. Behind her was Archie who was sternly looking at the medical drone with hate in his eyes.

The Medical drone turned to Zola. It extended its arms and tried to go into combat mode. But Zola’s exoskeleton suit made a piston-like sound. She appeared before the Drone and with her gauntlet she pounded the robotic eye of the medical drone. The medical drone went into a frenzy. It switched to its sensor only for it to detect Psion traces around it. The medical drone tried to fight back but Zola easily disabled the medical drone with both of her hands acting like a hammer to an anvil.

The Medical drone got neutralized. But before it died it sent three strings of words to another unit. It was an S.O.S alert that Zola would have caught if her Omi-Forge was fully functional. But it was impossible for her to detect it. The medical slowly lose all of its power. It was dead. Yet it sent a dangerous signal that might cause a disaster.

Archie looked at the machine with frost in his eyes. But even though he got revenge on that thing, he felt rather empty. He stood there. Around him were the bodies of the Templars who had their chest dissected or caved in. Archie didn’t know what the drone did but he knew that it defiled the dead. He could not stomach the scene before him.

Meanwhile, Zola looked at the medical drone. She made use of her Omni-Forge tool to pry the metal plating of the drone opened. She took the memory chip of the drone and installed it inside her Omni-Forge. Her Omni-Forge wasn’t that functional anymore but it could still act like her personal radar and PDA. There were various recordings inside the medical drone. If Zola wanted to know what happened. Scouring the memories of the medical drone unit was her best start. She was satisfied with it.

Archie saw that she was busy. He looked at the bodies and searched their belongings. He found their tags that were hanging around their necks. He heard that the Templars had these tags. Since they are sent around everywhere dangerous and tags like these were vital for them. It helped in identifying their body.

“Dog tags huh?” said Zola. “And they bear the cross on them. These are the Templars?”

‘Yes, I believe we also drag the Commander just near the entrance. You saw their crest, you even took his runes. Why are you asking now?”

“Just making sure,” She looked at their dissected torsos. “Looks like the drone studied them. It probably thought that they were different creatures that needed to be studied.”

Archie stood up. He looked at her with a frown. “Studied? You mean that it did all of this just so that it can study them?”

“Yes,” Zola said aloofly. “This thing’s purpose is to heal and study. You guys had different DNA signatures so it might have thought that you guys were not human and mistook you for hostiles. And since it killed these people, it started to study them.”

“That isn’t right at all,” Archie said in frustration. “These things...they are evil.”

“Evil you say?” Zola raised a brow. “Do you think that Doctors would know how to treat a body if they didn’t know how it works?”

Archie wanted to refute. But he could not find any word to say at all.

“Still, there should be a way to make it less bloody,” said Archie. “No one should be defiled like this.”

“It is a machine. It doesn’t know what humane is. It doesn’t know what’s good or evil. So don’t be surprised that it did this.”

Archie kept silent. He looked at the dead bodies before asking Zola. “Can you help me move the bodies? I want to make sure that they are taken care off until the others arrived.”

Zola raised a brow at that. She folded her arms and asked. “Others will be coming here huh, how long until they arrive?”

“Probably five days from now by airship. I don’t expect them to be happy at all of this. I am beginning to question if all of this was worth it in the first place.”

Zola sighed. She looked at Archie aloofly. “I don’t think they’ll stay fresh. They’ll rot and I am no embalmer. We’ll attract animals or even worse, those dire monsters you speak off might come and take a bite of us.”

“You are strong, right? Just give me this. I don’t care if you want to stay far when the corpse starts rotting. I just want to send them back home,” said Archie with his face crumbling. “And I want to bury Cassia not here. But in Avilla where she belongs.”

“I see.”

Zola had many objections to this. She thinks that they should be buried or burned already. But seeing Archie’s face made her unable to speak those words. She remembered the time she had to leave her maimed comrades alive. She remembered how they all struggled to keep fighting. How they spoke of their dreams despite the despair around them. She had seen things that no normal would have seen. Archie’s face was too familiar. And no matter how hardened she became while serving as a soldier for a galactic war. She did not have the heart to disrespect Archie’s wishes. She did not have the cheek to ignore his request.

So she only nodded silently. She helped Archie take the corpses back to the entrance. She helped him lay them on the ground. She then stayed away from the entrance of the ruins. Watching Archie’s back as he guards the corpses. For five days she watched him. And when the airships arrived, she watched them take their dead without any disapproval. In order blend into this world and not get any attention. She dematerializes her exoskeleton suit back to her belt. She changed her outfit to resemble their way of clothing.

She then bid her goodbye to Archie. She had little to no knowledge about this world. And she didn’t have any obligations to follow Archie. So she left like the wind. Making Archie wonder what she would do or that if he’ll be able to se her.