Birth of a Wish

[Chronicron]

“[The Nomads] are opportunistic parasites, not only of human beings, but of technology as well.” - Dr. Kendra Sinclair, 800 A.S.

Though being the bulwark of a Tempest’s integrity, the frontal section of the Pripyat took a significant beating in its confrontation with the Schiller. Many decks lost their pressure and life support, with a lot of crewmen and personnel of the agency getting spaced. They were trained and ready for a scenario like this, but they were never truly prepared.

A white noise static from a wrecked communication device filled Nemezida’s ear. Groaning, slowly coming to her senses, she attempted to gather a picture of what happened. Not too long before she got hit with a piece of armature in the head, she was escorting what she believed to be a gold mine of information for a hypnovirtual interrogation. All the necessary security checks of the subject were performed preliminary. Body scans have revealed no alien organisms within and no signs of exterior tampering or bioengineering. Brain activity has revealed no abnormalities. Clinically, he looked just like a regular human being. She had no clue how he could have been a mole for the Nomads.

The deck around her was wrecked beyond recognition, even if the fire was mostly put out by the automatics. “Overseer to Korbut, come in.” A vain attempt at reaching the commanding officer has made Korbut realise that the device in her ear was nonfunctional and that the static was not from the blunt force trauma. Frustrated, she tore it away from her head and tossed it at Voronin’s corpse. A new course of action had to be planned. She had to warn the others about the newly discovered dangers. If agents of the Nomads have found a way to blend into the crowd without any signs that were easily discernable previously, today the situation has drastically changed.

Though concussed, her limbs still obeyed her command. Each step had to be carefully calculated before her body fully regained consciousness. As she limped through the hall, she took note of her surroundings. At first, she couldn’t really process the conclusion, and after making sure that her hearing was intact, she came to a sudden realization: everything was very, very quiet. No screams, no blaring alarms, no thuds of impacting ammunition. Did they win? Could it be true that they have successfully fended off an assault of an enemy far superior in numbers and coordination? Or was she drifting in a piece of a bulk that somehow still had functioning life support? Or could it be that she already perished and all of this was her final delirium?

A thud. Right ahead of her, around the corner down the hallway. Another piece of bulk collapsing, she thought. Until it repeated. A pattern of thuds began to sound like steps. Rescue? After all, her communication link was busted. Yet the steps sounded too heavy for something human. What else could it be? Robotics? She froze in place, with her sidearm pointed in the direction of noises that were slowly but surely approaching her. The Volgograd Industries PK9M was designed to fend off both organic and inorganic targets, so if that something meant harm to her, she would nonetheless be capable of defending herself.

Yet nothing could prepare her for what was coming. Something akin to a quadrupedal beast fused together out of scrap, bent bars, wires and… something else. And whatever it was, it was heading straight for her. Momentary shock of the sight passed, though not too soon to be replaced by another. What appeared to be the jaw of that thing began to rattle with sounds of screeching, moaning metal. What at first she thought was just noise came to form a pattern.

“Mistress.”

What uttered this word was not even a voice. Collisions and moans of metal formed lifeless vibrations for Nemezida’s brain to discern as something that would be used in spoken communication, except it was devoid of any intonation - organic, synthesized or robotic. She never before heard words uttered through an amalgamation of metallic noises. A series of shots fired from her pistol hit the beast right in its head, making it recoil, though not putting it down.

“Cruel mistress. Why do you despise us?”

The beast stepped forward. Its posture signaled that it was preparing to confront Nemezida. One could only imagine how strong a beast of undead metal would be, so she didn’t take any chances. She had to reach the command centre and the only way to reach it was past that thing. She waited for the right moment.

The beast pounced. Its entire body, from head to tail apart from the limbs, has opened up and formed a giant cylinder, big enough to swallow her whole. Instantly calculating her odds, Nemezida evaded the attempt on her life with a jump, landing precisely on top of the beast’s deformed maw and pushing herself off of it, landing behind it. She ran, picturing the layout of the ship in her head as she did. The adrenaline release in her system kept her at a sprinting pace, yet she knew that the beast would not be far behind. She had to reach the maintenance shafts that were closest to the command center.

Heavy thuds were getting closer. In hopes of gaining some distance, Nemezida used her advantage in dexterity by taking turns through the halls that would be too sharp for the beast of this size and weight. An entrance to the maintenance shafts was just around the next corner. Before she could proceed through them, she knew she had to divert the beast and seal it off. Another turn, this time in the opposite direction of the shafts, towards a different section. Methodically, she slowed down her pace, freezing in her place right in front of a bulk door. The beast pounced, much higher into the air, not letting her jump off of it as she did once before. Pushing herself forward slightly, she slid underneath the beast on her knees, watching it tumble down into the next section. In the same instant, she reached for the door controls, at long last sealing the chaser away, leaving it to scrape at the partition in frustration.

She knew it was just a moment. If the beast found her all the way here, it would definitely find a way around. She had no moment to spare. The command center was just one rough climb away.