Chapter 8

What Just Happened?

The high-pitched sound of a squeal of surprise was what finally shook me from my silent contemplation outside the store. The noise resounded deeply in my audio units, playing back to me several times to get it into my A.I. matrix so that I could formulate a proper response. As to what that response became, well, turning my head and staring at the inside of the building seemed like the best plan that my mind could come up with. My eyes became wide, as I heard another shriek, this one much more recognizable than the original sound. This one was that of my close friend, which had just moments before promised to take a look at the machine Selena had inside.The next sound that came, was that of a gunshot.

The initial registration errors of what was going on immediately became apparent, and in the freight train of information slamming my matrix, I could finally hasten myself to action. Getting to my hooves, I began to move towards the door; however I came to a startled halt as I watched Selena and Serenity together running from the store. Mors was nowhere to be seen, and both of the two crashed into me and nearly knocked me over as they scrambled to get away.

"T...Th....The Ma-" Serenity began, before the sound of thunderous steps began to echo and reach my audio units and caused her to stutter into silence.

"Tampering with military property is an offense punishable by Death." A powerful, static-filled voice barked from the inside of the darkened store. "System analysis indicates heavy damage. Damage appears to be caused by possible Chinese Communist Aggressors. Communism will NOT be tolerated. Use of lethal force is authorized."

After the voice concluded the strange speech, I watched as a bright light, resembling the shape of a visor, flash on and cut back the shadows of the inside. The light was a bright blue hue, and it seemed focused intensely on us as it started walking towards us again. Serenity I heard was fumbling around in her tool bag, and within moments my logic engines determined that she was reaching for her newly bought gun.

"Your puny weapons are ineffective against the Armor that is Democracy, filthy Communists." The machine spoke, as it emerged into the light, spewing it's visor upon us and revealing to me for the first time its true appearance.

As it basked in the light of day, I looked on and observed what might well be as Mors had described it. Not of this world. The heavily rusted monstrosity which stared us down was twice our height, standing up on two legs only that were armored. It bore a mostly flat chest and body, also armored in a similar fashion, but the paint which remained was a deep green with white accents at its centre which resembled remnants of a star. The forelegs which it had bore thick pauldrons; and all along its forelegs it was incredibly thickly covered. The forelegs ended in what I could only describe as talons without claws. Where the visor was, I saw a distorted, sparking visage which seemed to fizzle and crackle as if damaged. Tubes ran around the base of what appeared to be its helmet, and a circular mouthpiece was in between these tubes at the front of the helmet.

Serenity began to raise her pistol by now, shaking like a leaf, but I intervened and stood up. "I'll try and stop him. You two need to get out of here.

I...I' not lea-"

"THIS IS NOT FOR DISCUSSION!" I yelled, making her and Selena jump. "GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!"

"Come on Miss, we need to go." Selena said, placing a hoof on my friend's shoulder and starting to drag her away.

As the two tried to leave, the machine raised one of its talons, revealing that it carried some strange piece of metal which my sensor array identified as a ranged weapon. The caliber was a forty-five, and it resembled a pistol in shape. "Communism will not escape the righteous wrath of Democracy."

Without a thought to any other course of action, I charged forward, seeking to distract this crazy, assuredly alien machine from trying to kill my friends. It was initially caught by surprise, as I rammed straight into its stomach and sent it keeling over somewhat, knocking off its aim just as it had pulled the trigger. The round went haywire, bouncing around after pinging off a nearby building before hitting an old streetlamp and smashing the light to bits.

The machine though, seemed to react much faster than even I could, rolling with the shock of my attack, and landing on the ground, its free talon locking around my throat and holding me tightly to its chest. I could feel the damage already occurring, it continued to tighten its grip; the metal plating around my throat began to buckle and groan, and innumerable parts inside crumpled and cracked under the stress. My visual units began to go blurry once more, and spots formed on the edges of my eyes that encroached by the second, as more and more of my systems were damaged by his horrifyingly powerful grip. I felt his pistol grip slam against my forehead, causing immense internal damage to my A.I. and other systems.

As my audio units began to sever, I heard the sounds of thunderous footsteps ahead of us, followed by several gunshots aimed at the noise's direction. Before my body initiated a force-shutdown, and my vision left me completely, I watched a flash of grey leap over me before hearing a loud clang.

Then, there was silence. I could feel the ever so strong grip on my throat withdraw, and this freedom left me gasping for 'breath' before I rolled off the machine's chest and vomited enough part lubrication fluids to make a small puddle around me.

"Son, get her, thine mother, and her friend inside now. We shalt attend to this machine." The voice, I barely could recognize, sounded just like Mors; but deeper, more ancient, more powerful and commanding.

My audio units were mostly producing static at this point, and my visual sensors seemed to nearly be broken entirely; but I still heard Serenity's voice as she raced to my side. My body's sense of touch was still functional, although every part of me screamed of damage which made even her most gently of touches agonizingly painful as she tried to help me up and to the building. The only sounds I seemed to produce now were low whines and static-filled moans; and all I could hear was her choking back her sobs.

"Allow me to aid ye, young Miss." Mors said, appearing suddenly beside me.

Using his shoulder as a prop up, he alone, surprisingly, lifted me up higher than even Serenity could, and marched me inside the building without so much as a grunt or complaint of weight. By now, I was slipping in and out of full-shutdown and consciousness. I had the vaguest sense of being taken through some sort of back door, into a room that had a few lights on which only blurred my visual units even more.

The sensation of being set down on what felt like a plush chair was the only thing that didn't make me feel immediate agony through my scrambled sensors, and I did my best to hold on to that feeling before the reality of how damaged I had become returned and slapped me in the face with only a few words register in my A.I. matrix itself.

System analysis indicates all sensor arrays too heavily damaged. Initiating shutdown procedures until repairs have been made. As much as I tried to fight this from happening, I knew it was inevitable. My A.I. had been designed for such contingencies, should I suffer enough wear and tear, my systems, to save themselves from total destruction due to continued usage in their damaged state would simply shut down.

"S...Serenity...I'm sorr-" Was all I could say, before my body slumped, and I felt the impending darkness begin to creep over my mind as I laid there in the chair, completely gone to the world around me.

Author's Note

Hello once again audience, this is author Derpyness Maximus here. I'm just checking in with you all to see how you feel about both chapter eight and the story thus far. Did you enjoy it? Did you dislike it? Are you somewhat in the middle? Either way, would you kindly leave me a comment or even P.M. me about your thoughts if you'd like; and remember to thumbs up or down the story. Also, I'd be interested to hear from those who do dislike the story especially, more so for their reasons of dislike and to see if I can change to become better at what I do.

As always, I give thanks to my unnamed proofreader friend whom catches most of my errors before publishing.

This is author Derpyness Maximus, signing off for now.