Part 1: The Bright Rebellion
Ashr
“They got Drick.” There is fear in Rippr’s eyes as he says it. Fear of my anger or the mechs, I’m not sure.
I raise my eyes from the scarce provisions on the table our runner Drick had sent over the day before. Some bottled water, MREs, a couple of old phaser guns badly in need of repair. Despite their age, the metal still gleamed in the meager ray of sunlight that struggled in through the filthy windows.
I rub my neck, trying to ease the tension that had permanently settled there since waking up from the Big Sleep. “Fuck. Did you find where he was hiding out? We really needed those bombs.”
“Yeah. They left his body but took everything else. So, no bombs or even materials.”
“Jesus. What about Cryo and Juggernaut? Any word from them?” I walk back into my makeshift office, what was once the supervisor’s office for whatever they used to store in this logistics warehouse.
“We sent two scouts out to look for them, but nothing yet. Also, Ashr…the new intel says that NeuroSym HQ has dispatched their new squadrons to Earth. They’ve even built living quarters for these things in just a little over a week! The mechs will live better than us and they aren’t even human.” Rippr sits on my desk, sighing. “I can’t believe how much has changed since the Big Sleep. I never expected 50 years to pass…”
My head jerks up upon hearing this news. “Wait, what? New squadrons? You mean the TRA-9000s? Our intel said it wouldn’t be for another six months!” I punch the wall and instantly regret it, cursing and rubbing my hand.
Rippr leans back, my raised voice warning him of a meltdown, during which I usually throw things. Was I always this angry? Honestly, I couldn’t remember much before the Big Sleep.
“I know, it’s much faster than we expected. But our intel saw the living quarters being made. Not just mech storage, actual living quarters. We knew we couldn’t stay hidden from their scanners forever. We lack the tech to disrupt those devices. Rippr strokes his long dreadlocs, what he always does when he’s deep in thought.
I sigh and walk outside, taking a deep breath. In the vacant lot between warehouses, adults are training preteens and teenagers on how to shoot blasters at makeshift targets. Another group is teaching self-defense moves to some refugees we found squatting in the Bounds, trying to make their way to us.
Living underground for so long has left them scared, weak, and pale.
“Look at this shit, Rippr. Look what those fucking mechs reduced us to. Training children to be weapons. How to defend themselves. They shouldn’t have to worry about this. They’re kids!” Some days scenes such as these were normal, other days, I stepped outside myself and marveled that the world was now this steaming pile of shit.
I hear a commotion coming from inside the warehouse. Rippr and I run into the sleeping quarters, a vast room lined with filthy old mattresses, where Juggernaut’s dark skin was almost a pale gray color, a growing pool of blood under his torso, spreading out on the grimy concrete floor. I can tell he is already in the late stages of shock.
“What happened?” I demand, running over to him, where our resident medic is trying to staunch the blood. He’d been gut shot. There is no surviving this, not here, not now. Meager supplies, no hospitals. And Juggernaut was one our best. Intel, bombs, weapons, supplies, you name it, and he did it exceedingly well. The Bright would suffer a great loss.
“One of those new fucking Biomechs! It registered as a human on our scanners! HUMAN!!” Cryo wails, digging through the med pack. “He was on us before we knew anything, quiet as a mouse! We saw a human imprint on the thermal scanners, so we thought it was one of
ours, you know? She looked so human…” She holds back a sob and finds a morphine syringe.
The medic, Zephr, snatches it from her hand. “Don’t waste morphine on a dead man!” she hisses, throwing it back into the med bag. “He’s lost too much blood. It’s only a matter of time.”
Cryo lets out a sob and takes Juggernaut’s hand, who is now unconscious. Her head drops on his chest, all the while mumbling, “No, no, no, no…”
I kneel beside her and put my arm around her shoulder. “I’m so sorry about your brother, Cryo. We’ll get them, I promise. Every last one.”
She sits up, wiping her nose. Does it help him right now, though?
I express my frustration with a sigh. We knew this life wouldn’t be easy. The life of renegades, mercenaries, rebels. Living like refugees on our own home planet, now being occupied by mechs. We just had to hang on a little longer, at least until we could get to New Tropos. We’d be safe once we left this system. It was just a matter of getting there.
“Consider the impact he’s made for our cause, Cryo. He was one of the best of the Bright. His death won’t be in vain, I promise.” I give her one last hug and gesture to the others who had gathered to help to leave the room. Cryo needed to say her goodbyes without an audience.
Rippr and I walk back outside to the lot, where the children stand with haunted, silent eyes. They already know the value of lying low. The smallest watch the door of the warehouse with mouths agape, wondering what is happening.
“Get back to work, everyone!” Rippr shouts, and the children turn back to their original tasks.
“Rippr, the new BioMechs show up as human on scanners now. What the actual FUCK? What will we do now?” I close my eyes, feeling defeated, especially with Juggernaut’s death.
“We’ll get Cyphr to tinker with the tech we have, see if there’s anything we can do.” Rippr claps me on the back, leads me back inside.
“We’ve got to get some bombs made, and fast. With these new 9000s, we’ll be dead within a week.”
I wasn’t ready for the Bright to go dark. Not just yet.
Part 2: A Discovery
Ashr
Cryo stands at her brother’s grave, silently wiping her tears. I put my arms around her, and she sinks into me, sobbing. All I can do is hold her. An engine sputters and dies in the background. Cypher, working on an abandoned speeder we’d found.
“I can’t believe it’s been three months already.” She pulls away, wiping her nose on her sleeve. “It still feels so raw, like it happened yesterday.”
I nod, a breeze wrapping us in a momentary embrace. I have no idea what season it is.
Seasons don’t seem to exist here much anymore. It just seems to be warmth and more warmth. “It is still new, Cryo. Losing a brother isn’t something you get over overnight. Or ever, honestly.”
She takes a deep breath as if trying to shake off her grief. “So Rippr says he and Cyphr found a warehouse full of MREs,” she says in an attempt to change the subject.
“Yeah, we’re going over there once it’s dark. Why don’t you go with us? Take a break from training the kids. It’ll be good to do something different. It is a pretty long walk, though.”
When night falls, the four of us don the old radiation coveralls we stumbled upon while settling into the warehouse. The coveralls helped hide our heat sig on the thermal scanners, so we felt safe enough to weave between the maze of warehouses to bring back a load of MREs.
Finally, we reach the warehouse Rippr and Cypher found on their earlier scout. We hadn’t been in this section of the Outskirts for long, and there was still much to explore. I had even found an old map of this vast warehouse district, but it was 50 years old by now, at least. This warehouse was not labeled as food storage on this map, for instance, yet here it was, full of MREs and bottled water.
As we busy ourselves stuffing backpacks with the meal packs, I keep looking around uneasily. I sense eyes upon me. I grab a few more packs and drop them in the bag when I see movement from the corner of my eye.
Dropping my bag, I head to the adjoining room where I thought I saw movement. A scared human might hide here, trying to get to the Bright.
Rows and rows of empty shelving line the room, another maze of nothingness, like the warehouse district itself.
“Help me!”
I gasp, spinning around.
In the meager beam of light from Cypher’s improvised flashlight, a grimy hand emerges. Then another.
Suddenly, a woman with blue hair is lying at my feet, with a halo of red quickly growing around her leg.
“Oh my god!” I choke the words out, dropping to my knees. “What happened to you? The mechs?”
The woman, pale and clammy, nods between clenched teeth. “My-my leg…they got…my leg.” I can barely hear her weak voice.
A mech’s blaster has indeed shot her leg. The wound is deep, and the bleeding profuse.
I’ll tie a tourniquet on your leg and take you to our medic, alright? We’re going to do everything we can for you. You’re safe now.”
Part 3: Status Report
Terra
I can’t believe she didn’t bleed out on the way here!
A woman’s voice, hushed but emphatic.
“…but you’re positive she’s human, right? Not one of those…BioMechs?” A man’s voice now, deep and rumbling like quiet thunder.
“…see, she bled. Even one of the new mechs won’t be able to bleed! That is beyond even NeuroSym’s tech. She’s stable, for now, at least.”
The morphine has taken effect, catching me off guard. Just like I was caught off guard by the searing pain of being shot with an old mech’s blaster. I’ve never needed drugs like these. The world spins and melts all at once. I take a chance cracking my eyelids open.
A man with long blonde hair and a blonde beard hovers near a woman with flame-red hair, piled on top of her head.
The man sees me, his countenance brightens, seeing my eyes open. He rushes over, sky-blue eyes laced with concern. “You’re awake! Are you feeling any pain?”
The woman appears on my right, gently taking my hand and resting her fingers on my wrist. “Hey, Ashr, that’s what I’m supposed to ask, I’m the medic!” She looks back down at me, smiling. Her eyes are warm and bright. They remind me of emeralds wrapped in slightly crinkled paper when she smiles. “Your pulse is still weak, but you seem to be out of immediate danger.”
“Thank you,” I utter, my throat dry and flaming. The medic hands me a plastic bottle of water and I drink it gratefully. “I’ve never been thirsty like this before,” I say between gulps.
“You poor thing. You aren’t showing signs of dehydration, though, so that’s a good sign.” The medic places her hand on mine, lowering the bottle from my mouth. “Slow down, you don’t want to make yourself sick.”
I nod and look over at the blonde man. Worry lines crease his forehead despite looking young otherwise. His clear blue eyes hold a depth and weight that instantly tell me he’s the leader of this faction.
“And thank you, for saving me. I didn’t mean to cause you any trouble — ”
The man puts up his hand, stopping me midsentence. “Please don’t apologize. This is what our cause is all about. Saving our kind from the synthetic monsters.”
“I’m very grateful,” I say as the medic places another bottle of water next to my cot. I seem to be in some sort of makeshift infirmary, with a few cots lining the wall, a few medical supplies neatly stacked on a shelf. Precious commodities they seem to be very short on.
“I’m Ashr, and this our medic, Zephyr. What shall we call you?”
“Terra.”
“Terra. Well, we will leave you to rest for now. Then we’ll begin introducing you to everyone else around here once you feel up to it. They’re all eager to meet you.” Ashr turns to leave, but a burning question flies out of my mouth like a missile from its cradle.
“How many of you are here?”
Ashr stops, pondering. Scratches his chin. “Uh…about 50 I think. A group of refugees
from the Bounds joined us recently, so that really grew our numbers.”
“Wow, so many! That is so wonderful to hear! I’ve been searching for a human camp for so long. That’s how that old mech got me. I was trying to find you all. I had heard rumors you were in this district.” This was even better than I could have hoped for. I felt a rush of gratitude for Ashr for saving me and bringing me here.
“Well, Terra, we’re going to go. Get some rest. Just yell if you need anything. We’ll be outside. Come on, Ashr, you can talk to her later.” The medic takes the blonde man’s muscular arm and guides him out of the room.
I give them a few minutes until they go outside. I lie back and nestle into the scratchy blanket, swiping my eyes right. A message screen pops up in my vision. I thought-transmit my report.
TRA-9087 Status Report, Earth, 22:07 Day 109
I am wounded (self-inflicted) but stable. No damage to neural systems. I have located a rather large human camp in the warehouse district in the old city of Nebulae Falls. Sending coordinates.
I smile as I dismiss the screen.
It’s about time for the Bright to go dark.
Previous Publication
*First published in The Kraken Lore, February 2024
Follow and Connect with H.R. Parker
About
H.R. Parker is an author, poet, and editor who hails from the coastal plains of Georgia. She has had over one hundred poems and short stories featured in print and digital literary magazines and online publications such as AntipodeanSF, Nightingale & Sparrow Magazine, Ghostwatch Paranormal Zine, and Writerly Magazine. When she’s not reading or writing, she’s haunting graveyards with her hubby, cuddling cute, furry animals, or embracing her hobbit DNA and eating po-tay-toes.
Find her work at www.authorhrparker.com and connect with her on IG and Threads: @authorhrparker
Leave a comment