The internal map revealed that we were approaching the site where Eve was only a few hours after facing the first group of clinks on the highway.
It wasn’t difficult to see that we were at some place of significance as we gazed over the lip on a crater that was kilometers wide and filled with all sort of vegetation and vines inside of it. It was a wonder how anything could’ve survived the surrounding radiation, but had something to do with all of this. She was down there, somewhere in the crater.

“It’s nearly impossible that all of this life survived down there.” Lucy said.

I responded, “Unlike the three of us, tasked with retaining knowledge of the old world, Eve was tasked with retaining knowledge on organic life – she had much time to practice it.”

“Eve.” Was said somewhere nearby, but after a few moments the both of realized it came from behind my back. Henry spoke for the first time since the hangar.

It was a sad sight to see my previous self’s friend become nothing more than a shell– no longer able to function as he once did.

The crater would quickly become a death trap for the three of us if we became surrounded by the oncoming groups of clinks, one of us would have to stay here and provide cover.

“We need to get down there and find Eve as quickly as possible, before the swarms of clinks come over the surrounding lip of the crater.” I said.

Lucy asked, “What do you recommend we do?”

Just as she responded, I placed the railgun in my hand down on the ground next to Lucy and pointed towards the adjacent lip of the crater.

“You are going to need to cover us while I bring Henry down there – then join us once the coast is clear, they will be here any moment.” I said.

It was clear in her expression that she was oppose to this idea – letting the two us head towards the unknown while waves of gunfire erupt around us.

Lucy knelt beside the railgun and put her hand on it.

“Just be quick when you find her, I don’t want to lose you as well.”

The clinks wouldn’t fire upon me with my camouflage on, but they will fire on Henry and most definitely be focused on eliminating Eve once we reached her.

“When we get down there, and if I find Eve, get down there as fast as you can while the coast is clear. There will be an opening after the first wave, but more will be sure to come”

“Nomad…” Lucy said, “Just be careful, alright?”

I nodded my head in agreement and tightened the straps on my back to hold Henry steady.

Before leaving down the lip of the crater – I took one of rifles with me and started to weave my way through the wire and vines that lined the crater’s base. I’d never seen so much organic life in one place before, completely consuming the metallic structure it grew upon.

It wasn’t long until I was able to completely manage my footing on the uneven ground. I stopped to examine the top ledges of the crater and only saw Lucy positioned with the railgun on the opposite end of where I expected the first wave of clinks to come from. She had enough range and cover to be protected from where she was – no need to worry about the clinks engaging her.

“Eve,” the only word that had been coming from Henry’s mechanical voice for the last minutes since we reached the crater. By this point, only his vital functions would be still operating. I could only make a guess as to if he would make it to Eve in time. Part of me felt sorry for him.

As we reached roughly one third of the way to the center of the crater – two things happened. The first thing to happen was that a shape became clear in the center of a crater, like a cocoon of vines resting right in the center of the bowl. The second was the image of multiple shapes appearing over the edge of the gap. My navigation systems were informing me that the cocoon matched the location for where Eve was – meaning that I had to reach before the clinks could see it also.

Lucy did not hesitate to keep the few forming clinks at bay as two shots fired from behind me. A flurry of sparks shot upwards from the adjacent end of the crater where the first and second clink exploded from the beam of the railgun. To suppress an unknown foe – the remaining clinks fired in the direction where the beam came from. As each explosive round hit the floor of the crater – the wire springs were beginning to bounce and make it uneven to keep my footing. This would only get worse.

I was sprinting now – bouncing on every bit of spring I could see under the layer of wire and vine – making it halfway down the slope of the crater before a second group of clinks came from the left side of the lip, not yet focusing their fire on anything.  

Something was going on with my vision – my body seemingly ceased to work properly, and my pace halted to a walk as my mechanical body slowly inched closer to the center of the crater.

Then a voice appeared, not from anything near me.

“Thank you, Norman, for leading everyone here, it’s too bad that my programming hadn’t fully merged with yours – would’ve saved everyone a lot of trouble.”

The rogue AI must’ve installed a backdoor into my OS, waiting until a time like this to reveal itself before I could shut down and try to wipe it. I needed to find another way to gain control.

“Your army won’t win, the clinks will just be canon fodder like all the one’s before it.” I said.

There was a mechanical laughter bouncing around my head – clearly an imitator of human emotion.

“These pawns are simply a distraction – never meant to put an end to the four of you, that’s what you are for Norman.”

By this time, the shape of a humanoid could be seen concealed beneath a layer of vegetation that webbed around it, clearly the epicenter of all the organic life here in the crater. Why was the rogue AI bothering to bring us all together?

When the two reached the bodily figure my off-hand removed the straps from off from my shoulders and placed the remains of Henry’s body next to the shape in the vines. My hand pulled off the foliage off the body beneath the vines and revealed a synthetic being, just as us, who wore the look of a woman. Clearly this was Eve, but it was beginning to alarm me how my other hand did not lose grip of the rifle in it’s hand.

Even though the AI was controlling my actions, I still was able to resist the motions as the rifle was being brought up towards the two shapes in front of me.

“Stop resisting, Norman, this is all about to end shortly.”

Both the torsos of Henry and Eve began to light up through the skin of their synthetic bodies. Henry’s expression of a slight smile changed to closing his eyes and holding his mouth open, just the same as Eve. Both were broadcasting a signal from their mouths towards the sky as they laid there.

The rifle in my hands was now directly aimed towards Eve, but my trigger finger was being held back by whatever control I had left. I only had an inch of space to work with – this would only buy me a few moments from the AI. I needed to alert Lucy somehow…

Something was beginning to happen as I struggled over control with the AI. The ground beneath my feet was beginning to wobble as the vegetation slowly lost it’s grip around the wire of the crater’s base.

Right as my finger began to pull back the trigger of the rifle – the entire base for which I stood up began to shoot up towards the sky. My finger finally pulled the trigger – but the disruption of my balance fired the round somewhere in the air.

“What is happening!?” The voice demanded in my head. I had no clue, but whatever it was just saved us all.

The three of us were now being propelled into the air. The thick vines attached to the platform were slowing down our progress, but I could already see what was happening. The crater itself was a massive satellite dish and at the center of it was the horn, where we were.

My balance had shifted backwards as I steadied myself with one hand while the other still held the rifle. Resisting the AI long enough would give my systems enough time to wipe it, but I had a feeling that it would be able to get another shot off before that would happen. I needed to act fast.

From our height I could see Lucy at the edge of the crater – still engaging the dozens of clinks who formed a half circle on the opposite side of the crater where she was. No doubt that she could see the horn from where it was, but there was no way for her to know what was happening with me- so I raised my rifle.

Lucy was reloading her railgun when she caught sight of me aiming directly towards her – then I fired a few rounds that erupted too close to where she was. The ground around her was blasted into the air in clouds of rubble as she desperately reloaded her weapon.

“Wait, what are you doing?” The rogue AI asked, he was about to find out.

Two more rounds shot from my end – still missing her by a few feet. When her weapon was re-armed, Lucy aimed her railgun directly at me. I could see that she was mouthing the words “no” as she aimed at me, finger on the trigger, head shaking. This was the only way.

“Curse you…” I heard in my head, as the rogue AI admitted it’s defeat.

Right as my finger pulled the trigger once more – so did Lucy. My shot was way off, but that didn’t matter. Within fractions of a second, the beam from the railgun tore through the air towards me. I closed my eyes and tilt my head back – content with what was about to happen.

Everything went black.

Next Chapter: Chapter Twenty: Norman