“In an ideal world, the samurai’s mission is to fight alien threats and provide humanity with the tools to achieve its goals.
This is not an ideal world. "
——Professor Asimov, "Lectures on Opposing Threats", New Oxford University 2027
***
"You could have warned me it would be so loud!" I yelled.
I did warn you.
"No, you said the sound would be loud, not this huge sound." I rubbed my uncovered ears with my palms and blocked them with my shoulders with my other hand, but this did not stop me from being overwhelmed by the continuous ringing sound. And frowned. Shooting in an enclosed space, that bomb was just too loud. There was a loud bang, but it was over quickly. The grenades I threw made the enemy wail like a mad siren.
At least no one knocked on the door anymore.
The aliens were probably as shocked as I was. If they could hear better than humans...
I tap both ears to make sure they are free of blood and then move my jaw a little until the pressure pops out of the ears? Besides the sound? Either way, it doesn't matter. I was having fun shooting aliens from the relative safety of an elevator, but I still needed to keep going. Those idiots won't save themselves.
I shook my head, trying to ignore the fading sounds in my ears, as I pulled out my gun and held it in front of me. "Okay, Mialis, open the door."
The door creaked open. A stream of green and black sludge seeped from the door into the tiny crack between the elevator and the floor. There was enough gunk that some of it flowed in.
"What the hell?" I stepped back and stood up on my toes as the sludge rolled closer. "What is that?" I asked. The door was still open just a crack, but I couldn't see anything alive on the other side, just a few centimeters of liquid goo covering the floor.
These are the remains of the enemy.
"Are they stuck?" I asked.
Don’t you know what resonant frequency does?
"Yeah, not that," I said, pointing to all the flesh and other stuff that looked like it had been churned in a blender.
The door finally opened, revealing a hall with more than a dozen skeletons scattered around, with only tattered muscles remaining on them. Some had holes in their skulls and bodies, those I had photographed before, but the rest were fresh.
I wrinkled my nose, stepped into the goo, and stuck my head out of the elevator. nothing. At least, nothing alive.
“Oh my gosh, this has a big impact on them,” I said.
indeed. Do you want a new points total?
"Yes," I said.
Target eliminated!
Reward...80 points!
Current points: 192! Bravo.
"Is this all?" I asked as I walked up to a skeleton that splashed too loudly. If the gunk doesn't wash off, my shoes are basically doomed. Same goes for my pants.
suspect. There are probably dozens of people on this floor alone. Reconnaissance of the opposition tends to be quite thorough.
"Why?" I asked. "I mean recon." I don't think leaving a handful of survivors here and there is really hurting them.
biomass. Each kill is tagged with pheromones. Every great gathering of plant life, a fertile soil, a food source, and so on.
"Are they hungry?"
Endless.
I walked out of the lobby area, careful not to make too much noise. There is a plaque on the wall identifying a half-dozen or so companies, which have areas on the floor with arrows pointing in the right direction to the offices. The plaque tried to connect to my auger, but I turned away.
"Now, if I were an idiot, where would I be?" I muttered.
Shrugging, I found a corner with a good view and stopped, taking out the small radio that Simmons handed me. It took me a while to get it right, but soon I locked the channel and Simon's voice came through the lock.
"Samurai?" he asked.
"You know my name," I said.
"You never gave it to me and I didn't have time to ask people about it. Are you done?"
I stared at the device. He was much bolder in my absence. "No. Just got to this floor." I hoped this was the right floor. "Meeted a dozen little animals that needed to be sent away. So I was a little busy too. Do you know where your idiot is?"
"North side, near Fi
a
-Tek Office. Whether you find it or not, come back quickly. The situation we are facing is evolving and needs to be resolved. "
"Got it. Is that all?" I asked.
"It is. Simmons out."
"How is the situation developing?" I asked Kong Kong. "That sounds like fun."
Vanguards are often asked to handle matters beyond their original remit.
"The story of my life," I said. "Come on, let's go."
I am literally in your head. You don't need to tell me to go with you. I'm already on the road together.
According to a sign hanging from the ceiling, Fi
a
-Tek's office is in another corner of the building, which means a bit of a walk to get there. Walk past other offices that have glass walls and the useless “cool” furniture that many startups love. Who needs seven couches in an accounting office?
I felt myself growing more nervous as I moved, accompanied only by the crack and rumble of a small war in the distance and the squeak of wet shoes.
"Hey, Mialis. That alien juice wouldn't be bad for me, right?"
It has some toxicity. But the drugs still in your system should eliminate the worst of it, and I suspect that by the time the toxins stabilize, you'll have replaced some of the organs they put at risk.
“What if I want to replace my body parts?”
I don't think of you as a body purist. narcissism.
I snorted. "Hell no. Give me all the cool cyber parts. I just wonder, there must be some samurai who aren't interested."
There are many ways to improve yourself. It's hard to find one that's right for any particular person.
I heard two gunshots ahead. "Let's put that aside for now," I said.
