Somnus Deus Ex - Chapter Three

It only took her a few moments to realise that she had no idea of what to do. Fortunately, that was easily remedied. "Hey, Lynus. Where's the biggest source of trouble?"

I don't have access to direct communications to any satellite network, or to any non-public network systems. But, from the heatmaps available on open news websites, your home is on the outer edge of the orange zone. There are reports on social media of small groups of antithesis penetrating local mega buildings.

"Yeah, but I'm looking for big numbers," Daisy said. She had an eye up to the sky, where a drizzle of rain was starting to fall. She wasn't sure it would do anything for the massive fires further in.

Perhaps smaller numbers are what you should aim for, at least for the moment.

She shook her head, tucking her Pillowfriend's stock against her shoulder. "I don't do things by halves," she said.

I see. In that case, ground level is where you'll find most adversaries. Head north and east, towards the fires.

"Easy enough," she said. It really wasn't all that easy to get to the ground floor, but she did manage it, taking some emergency exits without a care for the alarms she set off, then crossing over to a smaller building via sky bridge. That building was a commercial centre, no housing, plenty of stores and offices. It had a lot more walkability than her home building, and that made it all the easier to get down to the ground.

The streets were a mess. They'd always been a mess, but right then it was worse than usual. Cars were parked along the sides of the road, moved there automatically by their auto-drivers to make room for emergency vehicles to take over the middle of the street.

She saw APCs rushing by, mostly heading in the same direction as her. Ambulances were rushing the other way, lights and sirens blaring.

The few people she saw out were running, heads low as if that would help them any.

Two blocks until you're at the cordon around the red zone.

"Cordon?" she asked.

Incursion cordons are a standard operating procedure. A cordon is created around the centre of an incursion and lined with inwards-pointing defences. It keeps the incursion contained.

"Ah, alright," Daisy said. She supposed that made sense.

The first she saw of the cordon wasn't the cordon itself, but the road leading up to it. Forklifts were grabbing cars, lifting them up, and pulling them away. It cleared room on the road for the massive tents and temporary buildings going up all along the road. APCs were emptying out troops all over, and the air above was filled with hovering drones.

There was a non-stop cackle of loudspeakers as troops talked between each other and orders were relayed. It was chaotic, but chaos that was at once contained and somewhat orderly. Distant cracks of gunshots lead her deeper in.

Daisy walked as if she was allowed to be there, and as long as she didn't step into the way of a tank, she figured she'd be getting pretty far in before things became troublesome.

That's how she found the wall.

It was a temporary thing, obviously. An entire movable wall that had been moved on the back of a pair of semis that were shoved off to one side. The wall had a large gate in its middle, and two stubby towers on the ends. It was some five metres tall, all metal, with a walkway near the top, and a second perimeter made of freshly crushed cars right behind it.

Surprisingly, no one stopped her as she made her way up to the wall, then climbed it. The people manning the guns on the tower were shooting in long bursts, and the tracers were lighting up the buildings all around in flashes of green.

It wasn't until she was halfway up that someone noticed her on the wall and ran over. "Hey! You can't be here!"

"Yeah, obviously I can," Daisy shouted back. The noise of so many guns going off was almost deafening. She made a mental note to replace her ears first thing.

The soldier grabbed her by the arm, or tried to. Daisy juked to the side, then stepped past them. She was faster than someone wearing full kit. It was only normal, the soldiers out here were wearing camo gambesons, thickly padded suits probably designed to resist the bites of antithesis. It made them move slowly, and made them look incredibly chubby.

Daisy scurried to the very top, then finally took in the red zone.

It was a mess. Lithium batteries were burning in cars, buildings had been smashed by countless missed shots. Glass had come down from some skyscrapers and now carpeted the ground, thick enough to blanket the road in some places.

And then there were the aliens. Dead and dying, some rushing further in, where the spotlights didn't quite illuminate. It made every shadow look like it was alive.

Daisy moves along the wall, slipping between soldiers to keep away from the one still chasing her.

She came to a small space where no one was standing, placed her feet, and brought her gun up. "Fifty shots, huh," she muttered.

She waited. It didn't take long for the antithesis to test the wall again. A small flood of them rushing out of the dark, flowing around burning cars and over alien corpses.

The machine guns opened up, and so did Daisy.

Her Pillowfriend had no kick, and no real sound to it either. It made up for it with a light show, bright, searing red beams that cut across the distance in a blank, outshining the tracers.

"Oh, shit," someone said.

Daisy pulled her gun back and up. "How many points was that?" she asked.

Twenty.

"That's it?" she asked.

You only scored two kills. Seven hits. Two misses, but your grouping is improving.

"The glow makes it easy to walk your shots," she said. "So, you weren't lying when you said it doesn't have a lot of punch."

"Hey!"

Daisy blinked, then turned to a soldier who was eyeing her through a full-faced helmet. "Are you a samurai? If so, you need to report to--"

Daisy tuned them out, as she did anyone that didn't matter. "Lynus, I don't think I have what I need to stand down there. Flexible or not, there's too many."

What are you looking for?

"I'm going to need armour. Better gear." She loked her jaws, then suppressed a winced at a few more gunshots going off nearby. "New ears too. Make self-augmentation a priority, I don't need tinnitus."

"Ma'am," the soldier said.

Daisy blinked at them, finally sparing some attention for the soldier. "What?"

"We insist that new samurai stay away from the front lines. Please. There are people here to assist you an--"

"I don't need people," Daisy said. She walked past the soldier, starting for the next set of stairs down from the wall. She only paused when she noticed another wave coming. This time she scored three quick kills. It still wasn't enough, but it was better than nothing.

Some assistance might not hurt.

"Having to deal with people will," Daisy said. She considered staying on the wall. It seemed relatively safe for the moment. In fact, she paused by the stairs and turned back only to march up to the soldier. "Get me an extension."

"What?"

"An extension cord. A wire? Something to plug things into? You know what I mean?"

The soldier hesitated, then nodded and ran off.

Are you going to get help after all?

"No. I'm going to make enough points here to get some basics. Then I'm going to head off on my own. How many full-power shots do I have left?"

Nineteen.

She nodded. "I'm going to need a better gun, too. This one will serve as a holdout in the meantime, I guess."

She eyed the space on the other side of the wall. There were people over there. This was a huge chunk of the city that was being cordoned off. Which meant that they were probably only dealing with the few, weaker aliens making it to the edges still.

If she wanted the big points, she'd need to dive in deeper.

The soldier returned with an extension cable just as Daisy's gun was running on fumes. She plugged it in to recharge, then appropriated another soldier's rifle. An hour of this, she decided. She'd hold this wall, upgrade herself and her kit for one hour.

And then she'd be moving out, past the cordite-filled air and into the ruins.

If she absolutely had to do some work, then she'd do it right.

***