“Are you a true blue American?
Are you a passionate patriot?
Do you want to see those cockroach bastards take over this wonderful country, steal your children and enslave humans?
If you want to help real Americans, buy Samurai Bonds today! A percentage of each bond purchased will go directly into the pockets of our American heroes! "
——Advocacy from Kentucky, Texas and Oklahoma, USA, late 2035
***
I took out my trench machine, just in case.
Eventually it wasn't needed.
The two guns near my head were twitching, each aimed at a target at the far end of the black-green flock. Two flechettes flew out of the gun, and the gunshot sounded more like a pneumatic hose being disconnected than an actual gunshot.
The bird exploded, its feathers ruffled and bloodied.
Just as the model begins to react, the gun begins to twitch, picks out a new target and fires again. There is nearly half a second between selecting a new target and shooting. For model people, that's not enough to do anything.
I looked at a pile of black corpses on the ground, some of them smoking, with fist-sized holes burned into their tiny bodies by explosive flechettes.
"Damn," I said.
Do I believe the display is satisfactory enough?
“Best hundred-plus points I’ve ever spent,” I said. Indeed. If I can get this kind of firepower for less than a hundred points, I can't imagine what the old samurai will be playing in a year or two.
Target eliminated!
Reward... 14 points!
I shrugged. This is something. I won't turn them down. "Mialis, I need something to burn those bodies," I said.
It is a fairly common practice for higher level Vanguards to attempt to starve a fledgling hive. There are a few items in your esoteric disposable bomb catalog that will do the job. I recommend using Ma
k I Flesh Melte
. It took them three points. It's very slow and feels more like a utility tool than an actual weapon.
"Sure, why not."
New purchase: Ma
k I meat melting machine
The score is reduced to... 103
Flesh Melt Mark I look like a soda can. It has a pop-up label on the top and the name and model number with etched numbers on the side. I opened the lid, threw it into the room, and ducked where a wall could block me.
A lot of things didn't happen.
"Um?"
Flesh Melter Ma
k I releases short-lived nanoparticles that can find any organic material and break it down. I recommend not stepping within ten meters of a grenade deployment range.
I trembled, thanking the stars for ducking to the side I had to go down instead of the other side where I would have had to walk through the opening. "Mialis?"
Yes, Catherine?
"Please tell me next time you give me something so stupid and dangerous."
Most of the products you buy so far are extremely lethal to anyone with standard human physiology.
"Yes, but they're not flesh-eating nanobots," I said. I left the vault trembling again.
In the hour or two since I left, the museum had become chaotic. I felt sick to my stomach at the thought of being nailed to the pillars of this room for just a moment.
I shook my head and put the matter aside. The room's glass ceiling also had cracks and stains in several places. Water dripped from a dozen cracks in the glass, and floodwater poured in from the hole where the pod crashed in the distance.
The constant hum of rain hitting the roof clashes with the jingles and announcements on three dozen interactive displays that may be playing on a constant loop.
I licked my lips and stood near the entrance, eyes darting left and right as the gun at my side scanned the room. “So, there’s the big old anti-aircraft gun on the roof,” I said. "That means we need to get to the roof."
I recommend finding the inside passage. While it's possible to climb to the roof from the outside, with any flying counterpart you'll be presented with a fairly obvious and tempting target. Although Model O
e A is easily defended, but the larger Model O
e may pose a greater threat.
"say to me. "So, if I were a...thing that could get onto the roof, where would I hide?"
I started walking across the room, aiming for the entrance, and I vaguely remembered there was a room behind the greeter robot.
Something shifted to the side.
I turned around and saw a hand reaching for my gun, and at the same moment, something large and black suddenly appeared on the monitor, showing a long black trench coat draped over a mannequin.
A Type 3, one of its hind legs crushed and disabled, its eyes fixed on me, its mouth open.
I fumbled to properly grip my gun and find the trigger.
Then the guns hanging on my back fired, one from behind me and the other sticking out above me to get a better angle.
Model No. 3 shook as a dozen projectiles drilled into it. Then it exploded, and the alien fell to the ground, fragments of its flesh raining down around me.
"damn it."
Are you OK?
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." I said. "It's just that I'm almost angry myself."
Please don't do this or it will be embarrassing.
"Shut up." I said weakly.
Target Elimination Rewards...Now
10 O'Clock
Total: 113 points Well, at least there’s that. I swallowed and continued walking forward, but this time the speed was much slower and more steady. Every twitch and moving object around me made me jump until it took me a moment to calm down.
The robot in front, the one that made me so angry, wasn't in good shape. Something gouged out its eyes and chewed at its plastic skin until it peeled away, revealing the hard plastic shell underneath.
I wrinkled my nose, jumped over the counter, took one last look back, and walked into the interior of the museum.
