Page 14 of A Monster's Light
He’d stumbled away when we’d landed too, like he couldn’t get away from me fast enough. I’d thought it was just so he could keep his head clear while we were still escaping, but if he already had someone back home, that would also make sense. I couldn’t be that unlucky, could I?
My musings were rudely interrupted by a mechanical whirring. Where had I heard that sound before?
Gnnar reacted instantly, suddenly on high alert. He said one word in Nova Vitan English, “Harbinger.”
The icy-cold dread that filled me was so visceral that it felt like a stab in the stomach. I’d never seen or heard one of those surgical strike machines in real life before, but Gnnar said it with such conviction that I knew it was true. Of course they would send a Harbinger after us.
Enhanced with augmented facial recognition and heat detection, the flying machine would release a bunch of suicide drones the moment it saw me, drones programmed to fly at my head and explode. The machines were designed so that they could be used both to focus on a single target in a crowded room or to kill indiscriminately.
Was this one after me or Gnnar?
According to what the guard had said back at the transport, Gnnar was worth a lot alive to some doctor. The name had sounded familiar when he’d said it, but I couldn’t recall it right now, not with the sound of the Harbinger drawing nearer. Meanwhile, I was someone they wanted to silence.
“My chip! It’s tracking my chip.”
Gnnar grabbed the chip and placed it on the operating chair before reclining it all the way to a lying down position. Then, he opened up a cupboard and tossed whatever he could find on topof it before draping a sheet and then the jacket that I’d taken off so he could work on my arm over the whole thing.
It looked nothing like a person, but I wondered if it was enough to trick the Harbinger into wasting its drones on that instead. From what I knew, which wasn’t much, the Harbinger drones were not controlled by anyone but instead used artificial intelligence to acquire and lock onto their target. That was the whole selling point; they didn’t need to pay or trust anyone to carry out the orders. Every human component cost credits and was a potential point of failure. AI couldn’t refuse to kill innocent people or sympathize with rebels.
But artificial intelligence did have its foibles. The vaguely humanoid form and the fact that the chair was still warm from when I sat in it, plus the presence of my chip, could fool it for at least long enough to waste a drone or two. It would give us time to escape and get a head start. Without the chip, it would be easier to avoid our pursuers as long as we reached the dark forests or maybe the badlands soon. Those locations would provide plenty of hiding spots, and both landscapes would block the Harbinger’s sensors.
He took me by the hand and together we ran down the corridor. We saw it as we rounded the corner. Gnnar skidded to a halt, tucking me behind him and spreading his wings to block the Harbinger’s view of me just in time. He swooped me up into his arms and ran down the corridor, going back the way we came, but instead of the infirmary, he continued looping around the circular research station back to the front door.
I knew I must be imagining it, but I could swear that he felt stronger and more muscular than he had just an hour ago, almost like some of his muscles had filled out from all the food he’d just recently eaten. But that was impossible. He waswarmer too, and it was a welcome reprieve in the chilled air of the unpowered research station, especially now that my jacket was acting decoy.
I wasn’t sure it would work, but we were just passing the hallway leading to the cafeteria when several loud explosions rattled the station. The drones must’ve found their target. Three explosions meant three fewer murder bots to contend with. If we were really lucky, the Harbinger would return to base, its mission complete, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
The sun was already starting to set when Gnnar stepped out into the desert landscape. No wonder they’d found us; we’d taken longer than expected.
Seconds later, we were in the air again. It couldn’t be my imagination because Gnnar was flying stronger too. All it had taken was some food, water, and rest; granted, it was a shit ton of food. He ate more in one sitting than I could eat in a week. No wonder some mad scientist doctor wanted to get their hands on him!
But it wasn’t long before I saw the Harbinger zooming out from the research center. Instead of flying back to the colony or wherever it had come from, it oriented on us.
“The Harbinger,” I said. “It’s still after us.”
To my surprise, Gnnar landed. But instead of releasing its drones, the killer machine fired several darts at him. He dodged them, moving faster than anything living had the right to. That was new. I hadn’t known they also shot darts.
Grabbing a rock, Gnnar flung it at the machine. It hit its mark, and the machine exploded in mid-air, launching fiery projectiles, remnants of the murder bots, in all directions.
My Kadrixan warrior dove for me, covering my body with his and protecting me from the blast. Heart pounding, I trembled in the cocoon of his body as the world quaked and rumbled around us.
“Gnnar?” I asked after the dust settled and the thundering sound faded into a ringing in my ears, and he still didn’t move. “Gnnar?”
He was still alive because I could hear his heart beating, and his body was still trying to produce calming chemicals for me. But he was unresponsive. A cursory look around found the reason: a piece of shrapnel had hit him on the head. One of his horns was singed, as was the long, wiry hair on that side of his head. The smell of burnt protein stung my nose.
I tried to crawl out from under him, but he was too heavy, and I was trapped. I thought of those videos I’d seen of people showing how to lift and carry someone heavier than yourself out of burning buildings or other situations, then laughed nervously at how utterly useless that information was to me now. There was no way I could roll him into the right position and get my feet under me. I did manage to free my arms and hands.
I cupped his face in my palms. “Gnnar, wake up. Please. We have to go.”
I didn’t know how long we had until they sent a retrieval team, or maybe another Harbinger or one of those robohounds. We needed to get as far away as we could before they arrived.
After a whole lot of begging and pleading, his eyelids finally flickered and his golden eyes opened, meeting mine. He was dazed and more than a little confused.
“Gnnar. We need to go. They’re going to send people after us.”
He blinked back at me like he couldn’t understand what I was saying. Had the blow to his head knocked something loose?
“Gnnar?”
