Shades Of Forever

I lead the charge down the ridge, my rifle shattering the silence by dropping one of the distant violations with a shot to the head. The other thirty-seven visible shapes spin at the noise, then charge at us, more pouring out from around the cruiser wreckage. It's not quite an endless tide, but it feels like one. Pete bounds ahead of me, eager to get into the fray, and my pistol starts adding its own distinctive cracks to the rifle's steady rhythm. Behind me, I can hear Huckens' labored breathing as he tries to keep up, and I force myself to slow a bit so I don't leave him alone and exposed.

A cluster of violations splits off from the main horde, trying to flank us to the right, and I flex a mental muscle.

Executing HipDraw.exe

Spheres of voracious jaws chew a gap out of the world, tombstone teeth gnashing frantically. When they disappear, only a few stragglers remain, limping and furious. My rifle makes short work of them.

Current Energy: 160/210

...careful... with your... energy... Sky... this is only... the start...

"Got it."

Pete leaps into the main mass with an enraged howl, teeth and claws warping to extreme lengths. Violations fall by the dozen, but more stream past his whirling form, coming close enough for my kukri to start engaging them. Behind me, Huckens swears loudly.

"Alright, let's fucking do this!"

A violation slips past me, taking advantage of the other two trying to rip my head off, only to be met with a weighted length of metal that caves in its skull, sending it flopping bonelessly to the ground before fading away. More surge forward.

Executing NothingPersonnel.exe

Current Energy: 146/210

Warped copies of me grinning too-wide smiles below vacant eyes stab downward, felling the closest ranks of nightmares, but it doesn't ease the pressure. Bodies fly into the air a short way off, Pete's angry snarls ripping the air like a buzzsaw, but Huckens and I are in sudden danger of being overwhelmed, both my close-range abilities not yet ready to use again, and I can't dash away without leaving the young engineer to his death.

"Come and get some, then!"

A sledgehammer of force smashes the nearest violations into a fine paste, an infinitely cascading forehead absent any other features descending like a pillar from above.

"And tell yer fucking ma my name is Huckens!"

I look back at a wild-eyed Huckens lashing out with a spanner in each hand at the few violations that managed to avoid the attack, a small trickle of blood flowing down from his hairline, then turn my focus forward. Looks like MacWillie knew what she was talking about.

The next few minutes are a whirl of blood and thunder and inescapable violence, Box and Pete and Huckens and I spinning an ever-widening gyre of death until suddenly we're not. One instant I'm surrounded by oily flesh, the next we're alone amidst the churned up earth. Pete licks halfheartedly at the deep gashes on his flanks, his earlier imposing form shrunk back down to stand only waist-high, then leaps into my shadow.

naptime

Huckens and I heave ragged breaths, still scanning our surroundings with tense fits of motion, but nothing moves aside from the wind through grass.

The current area is clear, Sky. However, we're not done. The inside of the cruiser awaits.

"...wonderful." I wipe some mud away from my cheek, wincing at the slightly gritty feel. "Why didn't whatever's in there attack us?"

The integrators are operating off of standard preservation protocols. They will protect the last environment they recognize as safe until identifiable reinforcements arrive to give them new tasks.

"Are we 'identifiable reinforcements?'"

No. As engineers, neither Huckens nor MacWillie would qualify as such to combat variants, despite being crewmembers. The integrators will definitely attack us, and will attack Huckens if they perceive him as a threat.

"...great."

There is an upside. As long as Huckens refrains from aggressive actions or overt support, they will likely focus on you as a previously recorded target of interest. He should be relatively safe.

"How safe is 'relatively safe?'"

Unless you get into a full-on firefight with multiple integrators, which I would recommend against, he will be fine trailing eleven or more meters behind.

"...okay." I walk over to Huckens, carefully dodging a twitchy swing when I get too close. "Easy there. I'm not a violation." He stares blankly at me, then shakes his head, the light of recognition returning to his eyes.

"...sorry. Sorry. I've only ever really fought beside the Chief before, and always in the engines." He shivers slightly, then wipes away the slowly drying trickle of blood from his forehead. "We're not done yet, are we?"

"Not yet, but Box says you probably won't have to fight in the next part."

"Why is... oh." His expression falls. "It's because we were hunting you, isn't it? The combat integrators are going to target you first."

I take a moment to reconsider Huckens. For all his bumbling callousness, he's not stupid.

"...it's fine. Me and Box can handle it. Just don't get any closer than eleven meters behind us and it should be okay."

He swallows heavily, fidgeting with the long metal tools in his hands.

"...maybe I can scout ahead? If they don't see us working together, they should still think I'm part of the crew."

...that might actually work. Of course, if one of them noticed him fighting with us out here, or catches on inside the ship, he'll be dead before he can blink.

"You don't have to do that, Huckens. I'll be fine."

His fingers tighten around the spanners.

"...no. It makes sense. Besides, I'm not getting out of here without you anyways." He laughs softly. "I didn't notice it until now. I don't think MacWillie even thought about it. Not that it's her fault, she's probably stressing about hitting the big double zero."

"What are you talking about?"

"Look around, Sky," he gestures with one of the spanners. "We're in the middle of bloody nowhere on a planet that eats people and I'm a hundred-"

108.5

"-kilometers from anyone who might give a shit whether or not I die! How am I supposed to get back to your village if you get flatlined by one of the soldier fucks in there?"

I stare at him, my stomach slowly sinking.

He's right. The first time we met, Box said they were likely to perish from exposure if I didn't carry them back to the village, and now I've brought Huckens right back to the same place.

"...I care if you die, Huckens. You don't have to scout ahead."

He turns so I can't see his face.

"Yeah. I do."

"Box-"

My retrieval subroutines are absolute, Sky, and they only include my host. I put Huckens' chances to survive the night should you fall at 11.4%. However-

"No," I yell, "that's not good enough! Tell me how to change them so you can bring him back too."

It's not possible, Sky. However-

"You're a part of reality. Make it possible."

I can't, and if you'd stop interrupting me, I'd tell you there is a possible alternative. You could send your 'cat' to guard him while he's scouting. I'm sure the creature knows how to remain unseen, and it is a potent offensive force.

Relief surges through me. Box is right. With Pete to protect him, Huckens won't be-

no. naptime

...it's a cat, I don't know why I'm surprised. Look, Sky, Huckens is right about this. If you die, his chances for survival plummet, so it makes more sense to take reasonable actions that will ensure your survival without needlessly jeopardizing his own. As long as we take on the initial enemies, he should be safe once we get inside the cruiser.

"...you're sure?"

There are no guarantees in any universe, Sky, but I feel pretty good about the odds on this one. He's a known figure to the integrators, and if they don't witness him doing anything hostile, they will leave him alone. It's how they're programmed.

"Sky? What's going on?"

I return my attention to Huckens, his body facing me once more.

"...Box thinks it will work. Your idea to scout ahead." Huckens gulps, and I continue on in a rush. "But we're not using it until we're well inside the cruiser, in case any of the integrators in there saw you. You stay behind me and stay safe."

"...okay."

"Okay." We nod at each other, and I start walking towards the wreckage of the cruiser's middle third, Huckens carefully following behind at a distance. The silvery metal looms overhead, feeling like a piece of the mountain itself. It's even bigger than the starfly, honeycombed with the same twisted mess of hallways and pipes and wires that light struggles to penetrate.

As I close in on the massive shape, a threat zone suddenly materializes around me, bright crimson piercing through my chest. I dash to the side, getting myself clear, then turn and look back in horror. What if it was aimed at Huckens as well?

Jagged rips of oozing color slice through the space I vacated, an oversaturated abstract thicket that paints itself in and out of reality. My heart calms slightly on seeing Huckens alive and unharmed on the far side of the attack, his eyes widening. Looks like Box was right about the integrators focusing on me.

...sniper... upper... right...

A red outline starts glowing a third of the way up the face of the wreckage, and I scramble forward in a mad rush, shifting side to side to try and make myself as erratic a target as possible. Another lance of deadly hues spears out and I dash again. My rifle starts firing, but doesn't appear to be doing anything to stop the periodic attacks.

...in... cover... get closer... melee...

I clamber up a slope of mangled debris, bounding from one foothold to the next. Loose metal and wires shift beneath my feet but my limbs keep me steady, flicking down in between shots to pull me higher. As I pass an opening to my left leading deeper inside the ship, movement catches the corner of my eye.

fssswhp

Current Life: 637/700

The pulse rifle shot catches me by surprise, slamming into my chestplate and flinging me out into empty air. I flail wildly for a second, Huckens looking fearfully up from below, then dash back towards the steep incline of broken parts. A new red outline appears, lurking just within the cruiser's corpse several meters above me. I resume my upward climb, but this time when I reach the shadowed entrance I'm ready.

fssswhp crack CRACK

Current Life: 598/700

Pain sears across my left thigh, but it's a distant sensation, my focus on closing the gap. The Marauder is still moving, even with half her head missing. She raises the pulse rifle shakily, and then I'm finally close enough for my kukri to finish the job. Her body slumps to the ground, blood pooling underneath, and I try to convince myself she was already dead.

"Sky!"

Another bloom of forking color rips through the air, and I sprint back to the outer slope. Huckens is pressed up against a smaller piece of wreckage at the bottom, a gaping hole blasted through its far edge, and I swear. It looks like that sniper determined he was a threat after all. I need to get its attention back on me.

I dash up the slope, foregoing safety for speed, but it backfires when I reappear and a threat aura lights up my right side. I try to fling myself out of it but I'm not quick enough. My right hand turns blue, fingers alternating between red and black, streaks of malignant orange crawling up my wrist, and I'm filled with a sensation of pain so alien that it almost makes me pass out.

The colors pulse, oversaturating the world into a sickly bruise. My hand explodes in gobbets of flesh and bone.

Current Life: 262/700

I turn away from the sight of my mangled flesh, still trying to claw my way up to the sniper's nest. Box will fix me later. Box will fix me later. The pain will disappear. I draw close enough to hear the rasping movements of armor on metal, the red outline bare meters above me. A collection of coiled tubes wrapped around what looks like a solid piece of pure crystal pokes out from the entrance above, angling down, and another threat aura lights me up.

I don't hesitate, dashing up and through the warped metal, trusting that there will be empty space beyond. I reappear above the upper half of a Marauder, somehow still alive despite being severed at the waist, his hands already swiveling the weapon around.

Executing NothingPersonnel.exe

Current Energy: 137/210

A host of blades stab into his torso and head from multiple angles and he twitches once, then falls still. I quickly scan for any other threats, but nothing moves or attacks.

We're clear for now, Sky. Let's deal with your hand and get Huckens inside.

I stumble, suddenly woozy, trying not to let my trembling knees give out. My hand is... gone, just a ragged stump of torn flesh and splintered bone dripping a steady stream of blood to the plating. Saliva fills my mouth, a growing ball of nausea in my stomach.

It's okay, Sky, we can handle this.

My limbs plunge into the fallen Marauder's half-corpse and there's a sound like someone slurping down thick stew. I giggle uncontrollably at Box's inadvertent pun, trying not to scream. Seconds later, new flesh starts building itself into existence out of my wrist, accompanied by the dull clatter of an empty helmet hitting the floor.

Let's go get the other one.

I avoid looking at my impossibly regrowing hand because I'm pretty sure it'll make me throw up. Instead, I make my way back down the slope towards the other body, reversing my previous ascent. Huckens waves anxiously from below.

"Sky? Is everything okay?"

"It's fine, Huckens," I manage, ignoring the itchy sensation crawling along my right arm. "It doesn't look like there's any other integrators nearby. I'll be down in just a second. Box is giving me a hand with something."

We harvest the second Marauder, and I do my best to ignore the meaty liquid sounds, but they're impossible to shut out completely. After several heaving breaths, I rejoin Huckens at the base of the wreckage. The itchy feeling fades from my right arm, and I smile tiredly.

"See?" I wave at him with both hands. "Ten out of ten."

His eyes widen.

"...uhm, you're missing a couple fingers."

"Eight," I amend, focusing on the blank stumps of my pinky and ring finger. "I'm eight out of ten."