Chapter 7 Craze

For two years, I've watched the sky over Hyperion, wondering if the research vessel might return, hoping the Titan was still onboard. For that same time, we have monitored frequencies across the galaxy, searching for a sign our Brothers made it to Ellipsis. But hope has dwindled the longer we go without a sign from either.

I finally told our team about the signals from Pellucid and the trouble I've had dealing with the ambiguity of the images as well as the static of the connection.

We sit in a rocky tunnel, just inside the mouth hidden in the mountains, waiting while Tangle messes with knobs and wires. He built a communications outpost with what we scavenged from Amp's tunnel systems.

"It's not good," Tangle says as he adjusts the headphones over his ears. "Two emissary vessels are due to arrive today along with another small cargo ship. Warden Tav's calling every squad available."

RamBash does pushups on the floor not far from the fire pit to release some pent up energy. "Sounds big."

Tangle stills. His eyes cut to mine. "Telepathic tech."

"Told you we should've blown up the new lab," RamBash remarks.

Macabre flips a knife in the air and then slings it at a wall of roots. The blade buries in a small knot. "Then we'd have no way out of here. We need ships to come. We need them to bring supplies. That is how we build a force strong enough to take them out."

"He's right. As much as I just want to slice and dice—" Axe swipes his arms through the air, turning them into blades. "I know we need to be very deliberate in what risks we take. We can't leave anyone behind. Isn't that right, Craze?"

I rest a hand on Ranger's body. He's hooked up to a small battery and hacked-together nanosolution recirculator. I've mended the mechanical parts I can. Tangle has done the cybernetics work. But something is still wrong with him. I think his ultromotor is broken. And that's beyond anything we can repair here.

"Scout it out?" Axe asks.

Macabre agrees and pockets his knife. "RamBash with Axe, since you two make a good tunneling team. Tangle with me. Craze, do your thing."

I tuck Ranger's body under a rocky shelf of the cavern and hide him beneath boulders. "Usual posts?"

"A-firm." Macabre helps Tangle set the communications device on the ground, the climbs up onto the Tacticat's platform with him. I join them while the others take the hoverdrone.

We follow Axe and RamBash out of the cavern, through our network of passages, and toward the rebuilt plant complex on the other side of the moon. The tunnels are quiet and dark, lit up only by the lights of the hovercrafts and our eyes.

Macabre notices my new weapons harness. "From Amp's stash?"

"Yeah." I look down at the guns, knives, and magazines strapped to my body. I go spelunking in his caves when I get bored with planning meetings.

"Find anything else cool?" Tangle asks as he guides us to the junction. Axe and RamBash veer to the right. We head left. "I could use something to carry my communications equipment."

I did find something. A lot of somethings. But I don't want to talk about it because I can't do anything—yet.

Macabre grips my shoulder. He nearly vanishes in the dark, even with the headlights on.

MacabreCraze: Is this why you've been so quiet lately? You found something bad.

I can't look him in the eyes, so I just play over our local frequency a recording from what I saw.

The Tacticat's pace slows. Tangle and Macabre's eyes gleam with the replaying video feed of rows upon rows of CyberTitan ultromotors and memory cores. I've been slowly packing them into carts and moving them to crates in a larger cavern.

"I was hoping to get Axe and RamBash to cut us a tunnel there once we have a ship." I pat my hands over my new harness' holders to be sure I have the new location of every weapon down so there's no delay on the battlefield. "But I didn't want to say anything unless we had plans to get a ship that had a decent chance."

Macabre squeezes my shoulder. "That is quite the planning for you, Craze. Good thinking, Brother."

Tangle slows beside my drop off point. "That is an honorable thing to do. Brothers belong together."

I walk to the edge of the hoverdrone's platform and swing my rifle around my back. "I don't want to just keep them. I think we can bring them back, something I saw in Amp's notes when we were all there last. We obviously don't have the skills or the materials. Rebel has the skills, and he's on Escepiter. As for the parts, I don't know. But I want to try."

My Brothers give me double-clicks and zoom off down the other tunnel.

The hike to my usual post is short, and I slip out through the overgrown opening and onto a rocky ledge that overlooks the new plant.

I crawl through the bushes, check my surroundings with a rifle sweep, and then inch to the edge where I get a clear look at the bronze and glass tower protruding from the entrails of the old complex.

CrazeLocal: What's the plan?

MacabreLocal: Landing vessel appears to be one of Sevrin's Ravengers. I say we take it out. Spare the creatures inside anymore miserable surgeries. But let's do it quietly until we can't. No matter what, this ship is a threat to us all. Craze, on you.

I get up and slink down the steep hillside, scanning for Solcrue that might be on patrol.

CrazeLocal: Do I have cover?

TangleLocal: Hovering sniper, ready.

I skirt through the sparse trees, too small to hide me completely, and then round a pump house at the edge of the compound's landing zone.

Proximity Alert.

An arrow tells me the direction is behind me, likely from behind the concrete structure. As I wheel around, the hum of a coilgun spooling up reaches my ears.

The Solcrue soldier is young with recently cropped ears but a look of hatred in his green eyes that's been bred into him.

I block the coilgun that he points at me, and we wrestle for control. But I am stronger after years of meat and berries and sunshine. I wrestle the gun until it points at his chest.

His face darkens with the strain. "Coilguns don't work on living things."

"You're so sure it won't target the SA node in your evil little heart."

He curls a lip, but I can see the hesitation in his eyes as I pull the trigger.

The shot snakes through him and out his back. The soldier collapses. I drop the gun and crush it under a boot.

I stay close to the building as I peer around the corner at the ship with cooling engines that billow clouds of steam. The thrusters dim and eventually fall silence.

The ramp cracks open.

CrazeLocal: Transport vulnerable. I'll be inside soon.

But as the ramp drops, I see flashes of gunfire inside.

My ultro ramps up.

CrazeLocal: Internal conflict detected. Hold you positions for more information.

A group of humanoid life forms rush down the platform. I can't tell if their Solcrue or human by the grime on their bodies. My programs scan them but can't identify their species. I have to get closer.

I get a match as a cloaked figure registers on the platform, firing behind her.

Titan Signal: Pellucid

CrazeLocal: Titan on board!

Relief and excitement thrusts energy into me. Pellucid is here, on Hyperion, with us. If I play the situation right, I can get some answers and we can save one of our own.

Two of Warden Tav's squads approach the ramp. The Titan is small and massively outnumbered. Gunfire glitters through the ship. Sealscreens protect those on the ramp.

Winds tousle long strands of jet black hair from the Titan's hood, and I hold my breath.

Titan Pellucid: Female.

The ship thumps and rumbles with battle. The Titan has torn through the vessel like a little tornado to protect a group of humans.

All plans vanish from my vision and only one engages. I'm back in Craze-mode, darting between pallets of goods and parked vehicles, aiming for the innocents under attack.

The conviction in her eyes as she fights back has me more excited than I've been in years. She fires through the fading sealscreen toward Warden Tav before he can even get off his next shot, and I'm instantly hard.

CrazeLocal: It's a female Titan! With legs!

I have to save her. She is the rarest of us all.

Slinging my rifle behind my back, I draw my handguns and pick the path of least vulnerability.

She confronts her end as she stands above her collapsed humans in a display of defiance and self-sacrifice that both turns me on and breaks me inside.

I don't have a choice. I have to be fast enough to reach her.

CrazeLocal: Emergency Rescue! I repeat this is an emergency rescue mission! Take out Tav's squads!

Gunfire slices through the air, whizzing past me, and taking down approaching soldiers.

I run as fast as I can toward the ramp. Hang on, Pellucid. I'm coming for you.