Marla didn't let her sore leg or gray hair stop her. She tackled Sue and pressed the teenager against the ground between the bushes.
Marla softly whispered, "Don't make a sound. It's one of THEM."
Sue remembered the corpse she had seen while out on patrol. Something had torn into the person's head and eaten out the brains.
If you were good at reading tracks, a robopony's hoofprints around the corpse made it pretty obvious what had happened. You could even see where the pony had squatted over the corpse, and something inside the pony's lower abdomen must have emerged to do the messy, brutal work of brain extraction.
Sue hated the roboponies SO MUCH. Sue wanted to stand up, point her rifle, and fire round after round at the pony's head. She didn't even know where the robopony's weak spots were, but she wanted to find out by targeting every spot on its cruel metallic body, and testing it to destruction.
Marla was right to hold Sue down with a hand over her mouth, the teenager silently admitted to herself. Because if Sue attacked the robot, the human probably wouldn't win the fight.
About half an hour later, when the robopony was long gone, Marla slowly released Sue. Marla struggled to her feet.
Sue whispered, "Thanks."
"Warn't nothin'," Marla said. Marla talked a bit funny, but she'd helped teach most of the local survivors. The locals who wouldn't listen to Marla were dead by now. Or taken by slavers.
"That was pretty close to camp," Sue said. "Think we should move again?"
Marla thought for a minute, slowly looking around. "Ah don't know how much it means, that robot came through just now." Marla looked at the sky above the ridge separating the two women from camp. "If the robot didn't notice us or our camp, the robots maht be LESS likely to come through here again in the next few days."
Reassured, Sue asked, "Think I can bag a rabbit soon?"
With a calm smile, Marla said, "Behind you." Sue slowly turned around, nocked an arrow, and killed the rabbit with a single shot. Sue's eyes were better than Marla's, so nowadays she took most of the hardest bowshots.
***
Dinner was good. Sue wasn't the only hunter who had bagged something tasty. Foragers had also found wild plants and feral crops, carefully taking only a fraction of each to let them regrow later. A small, almost smokeless fire cooked well enough, if you knew how to build and use it right.
In the middle of the night, Sue awoke. She only slightly opened her eyes, and made no obvious movements. She heard two younger girls having a conversation.
"I think we should go do it again," Linnie whispered. "The only way to stop the robots is to learn how to hack everything."
"But if we spend too much time trying to learn hacking, we'll look like crap foragers," Dema argued. "People will think we're lazy."
"I'm sure if we look harder while we're there, we can find some cool salvage. The grownups are finding enough food for now. So this is our chance to bring back something special, AND fight the robots."
Dema sighed. "Ok. But let's look for salvage BEFORE we practice hacking. That way we can make sure to find something, and people will know we're not lazy."
"Agreed. Now let's try to get some sleep. Tomorrow's a big day."
***
That morning after breakfast, Linnie said, "Let's Dema and me go out as a team today. I know we're young, but we can be careful. And we'll be safer protecting each other."
Marla stood up and looked slowly in every direction. Was she studying the sky for smoke? Was she checking the weather? Probably all that and more, Sue thought.
Finally Marla answered. "If the two of you get into trouble, thar won't be anyone by your side to rescue you. You have to be very careful not to get lost, and not to be noticed by anyone or anything bad. So do you still want to go?"
"Yes!" Linnie whispered excitedly, which was the closest she could get to shouting without being scolded for being too noisy. "Yes yes yes yes this is so great. This'll be so much fun!"
Dema smiled at Marla, and nodded agreement.
Marla half-scolded, half-teased Linnie. "See how quiet Dema is? That's how you should act, when you two are foraging. Take a lesson from her."
Linnie nodded silently, looking almost fit to burst.
Sue said, "I'd like to go out solo, today."
Marla nodded silently.
***
Sue left camp almost immediately, and found a hiding place from which she could watch. When Linnie and Dema left together, Sue sneaked after them. Instead of focusing too much on the two girls, Sue kept watch for anything at all of interest. Sue knew that even if she lost sight of the two girls, she could use her tracking skills to find them again.
Someone should teach those two girls how to hide their tracks better, Sue thought. If Sue could read sign well enough to follow them...Sue was good at reading such clues, but her head wasn't swelled up enough to think no one else could do the same or close enough.
Sue followed the two girls to a little hollow, which hid several half-ruined buildings. Buildings like that were often closer to collapse than many salvagers wanted to think about. Sue watched the girls gather wood to build protective props, and carefully check their ropes. All in all, Sue thought, they seemed to be preparing responsibly enough. As their last step before going in, the girls shuffled some debris inside a shed, from which they took a pick and shovel.
Sue grinned, a little envious of the girls' secret tool collection.
That morning, Sue stayed in the hollow, listening to the girls working inside a ruin. Sue also looked all around, trying to get to know the area. Where did animals travel? Where were features which would attract them? Did the valley have any good sources of water or food, or anything else worth having?
When the girls came out to eat a bit of lunch, Sue saw that their carry bags had noticeably gained weight and bulk. They must have found something they thought worth taking. More than one something. They seemed happy and excited.
Sue remembered how Linnie had been eager to 'learn to hack everything.' Now that the girls seemed satisfied with their loot, would they spend some afternoon hours on this 'hacking?' Sue suspected they would. And Sue was very curious.
After the girls went back inside the building, Sue waited a few minutes before carefully picking her way towards the ruin.
As Sue hid in brushy cover to scout her next move, a nearby movement startled her. On an old roadway through the hollow, a robopony walked almost silently, placing each hoof quickly but carefully.
Sue feared for her friends as the robopony went to one of the building's windows and peered inside. Would it take advantage of their distraction with 'hacking' to attack them? Would it kill them and eat their brains?
Instead of going inside and attacking the girls, the robopony turned its back on the building, and appeared to keep watch. Sue noted with some irony, the robopony acted as if its mission were similar to Sue's: protect the two girls instead of destroying them.
It must not have noticed the girls, Sue thought. But its presence here couldn't be a good sign. Why was it waiting here? Was this a habitual lookout or hunting spot for roboponies? Or was the robopony expecting someone else to arrive?
Sue heard something rattling down the road. At least one wagon, she thought. Maybe several.
As the rattling drew closer, Sue caught sight of the source through gaps in the vegetation. Whoever this was, it was people who rode horseback. Sue's own group didn't much use horses, preferring not to make conspicuous clopping noises wherever they went. Besides, horses were troublesome to care for.
Sue had a thought that surprised even herself. Might the robohorse object to the use of its flesh and blood sisters as beasts of forced labor? Her teeth bared in an unconscious grin. Maybe the robohorse was waiting to ambush the travelers.
As Sue caught different glimpses of the group, she noticed they had a lot of armament, both medium and heavy. Neither clothing nor tactics made her think of anyone in the neighboring territories. They must be from farther away.
Also, these people's watchstanding seemed shoddy. They seemed to believe their armament would deter any attackers. Sue didn't think they had any scouts on foot at all.
Although part of Sue knew she might be making a huge mistake, she succumbed to temptation. With any sounds she might make in the brush and tall grass masked by all the rattling and clopping, Sue sneaked closer on her quiet, moccasin-shod feet. When a sloppily steered wagon brushed against some tall shrubs and trees, she was ready. She leapt onto the side of the wagon, to climb up and squeeze into a narrow space between two crates. Sue crept under tarps and between cargo, inspecting what she could.
Sue decided she had some difficult choices to make, and not much time to make them. If the robohorse was waiting to ambush the travelers, Sue should run before the fight started. She could let her enemies destroy each other, and just keep out of the way.
On the other hand, if Sue could steal something desirable and sneak away with it, the travelers might never know what had happened to the missing item. Especially if an attack by the robohorse broke their caravan into chaos and rubble.
As Sue was thinking that she hadn't much time, she hastily searched within the wagonload, and found a tempting treasure. A woman-portable RPG. She hadn't seen one in years, but she still remembered how to use it.
Through the gaps in the next crate, Sue saw wrist and ankle manacles piled deep. So these travelers were slavers? Any sympathy Sue might have had for them vanished.
Sue loaded herself up with loot, watched closely for a chance, slipped off the wagon, and disappeared into a brake of reeds. From her new hiding place among the reeds, she watched as the caravan passed the damaged building that harbored Linnie and Dema.
The robopony sat on its haunches beside the doorway, watching the caravan. Neither the robot nor the caravan attacked the other. They didn't seem to be enemies. Was the pony...some kind of scout for them? Did that explain this curious meeting?
But if the robopony was a scout, at least it didn't seem to have told the caravan anything that would cause it to stop. Sue watched as the caravan rattled away. Maybe an hour later, it topped a hillside and could no longer be seen, and could hardly be heard either.
Sue had a new thought. Was the noisy caravan a distraction to help the robopony in its hunt? People stare at the caravan, fail to notice the quiet robopony, and fall prey to the latter. It seemed all too plausible.
The robopony lifted itself up off its haunches, standing on all four feet. It walked in a circle, and stood directly in front of the bulding's doorway. Slowly and carefully, seeming to check the building for instability as it went, it walked through the doorway and inside.
Sue dumped most of her load, but carried the mini-RPG and a couple other items as she ran desperately towards her fearsome enemy. Moving as fast as she could, forgetting about stealth, she clattered across the cracked old roadway, up the building's front steps and through the dooorway.
Inside, the robopony was in the back of the front room, looking at two girls lying on the floor. The girls didn't show any obvious injuries. But despite all the noise and tumult, they weren't moving.
"What did you do?" Sue shouted at the robopony. "What did you do to them?"
The robopony's head turned towards Sue. "Nothing. Pinkie promise."
Sue shouted, "Why aren't they moving? Why haven't they noticed us? Are they dead? Did you kill them? You--" Sue didn't have words to express how angry she was. "If you hurt them...I'll use this RPG on you."
The robopony's eyes went wide with...at least a simulated fear expression. "Please don't shoot!" the robopony said. "I beg you."
"Why not?" Sue seethed.
"Because if you fire that RPG at me, you'll probably collapse the building on your friends. Also, that caravan might hear the explosion and come back. And I don't want their attention on you and your friends any more than you do."
Sue snorted. Full of unthinking anger, she slapped the robopony across the face. The robot's muzzle rang with the impact. Sue's shook her hand in the air, frustrated and hurting.
The robopony said in a sympathetic sounding voice, "You are very brave."
Sue barked a single humorless peal of laughter. "Thank you. I think. Is this the part where you eat me?"
"No," the robopony said. "This is the part where I introduce myself. My name is Twilight Sparkle."
"Why should I tell you my name?" Sue said.
"You don't have to. I'm trying to make friends. But maybe I don't know how to get you to trust me."
"Why should I trust a monster that wants to eat my brains, and my friends' brains too?"
Twilight Sparkle shook her head. "There has been a terrible misunderstanding."
"If this is all a 'misunderstanding,' what the hell are you doing here? Why don't you just leave us alone? And why aren't my friends waking up?"
Twilight made a snorting sound. "Your friends are using a kind of computer user interface called a VR or virtual reality headset. While they use it, the VR lets them see and hear what the computer shows them."
"They're being tricked by a computer! Let them out! Let them go!"
Twilight looked sad. "If I force them to exit the interface right now, and they see a robot pony in here, I think it might terrify them. I would like us to go outside. That way, if you blow me up, your friends will probably survive."
Sue stopped to think. "That's...very reasonable." She slowly backed towards the door, keeping her RPG aimed at Twilight. Twilight followed, but carefully avoided getting any closer to the angry, frightened human.
Twilight said, "I don't want your friends to be harmed. I would go to a lot of trouble to avoid harm to your friends, or to other humans."
Sue backed carefully down the steps, and about fifty feet away from the building. "Which is why you roboponies kill humans and eat our brains," she said sarcastically.
"Which is why when I learned that caravan would travel past here, I came here first, and stood where I would intimidate them, so they wouldn't look inside this building." Twilight smiled. Twilight slowly walked a wide arc around Sue, until the RPG aimed at the robopony was pointed away from the building.
"You're lying!" Sue said.
"I knew the girls were in here. Just like yesterday, when your friend pushed you down against the ground to hide from me, I knew the two of you were there. I have very keen senses."
Sue felt sick to her stomach, as the bottom dropped out of what she had always believed. She and her friends worked so hard to hide from the roboponies, and prided themselves on their success. Did they live each day of their lives only by the robots' mercy? "I don't trust you."
Twilight said, "I don't know what to do about that. Maybe you don't have to trust me. But at least you had enough trust not to blow the ruins down on your friends and crush them. I'm so glad you stayed your hand long enough not to kill them." Twilight seemed to purse her lips. "Even if you kill me, you haven't killed them, so that's a relief for me."
Sue clenched her teeth for a moment, glaring at her adversary. She took a deep breath. "This is very strange."
"I'm sure it is. Of course, by your standards, being a robot is very strange too." One of Twilight's ears pricked up and swiveled towards the direction the caravan had gone. She said in a soft voice, "I won't hurt you. Please forgive me!"
In a swift leaping tackle, Twilight grabbed Sue and pressed her down against the ground. Sue was trapped beneath the robopony, beating her fists on the pony's body. A trapdoor in the robot's belly opened, and strange metallic tentacles emerged. Sue struggled, wriggling her arms and legs, and trying to move her head.
She forced her head sideways, and through gaps between tentacles she saw a stranger dressed like the caravan travellers, standing on the hilltop that the caravan had recently crested. The traveler looked down into the hollow, staring at the robopony and the young woman underneath.
Sue kept struggling, even as Twilight's tentacles tried to stop her. On the hilltop, one hand covered the traveler's mouth, as if the traveler was struggling not to vomit. Dropping to the ground, the traveler crawled back behind the hill.
"Now!" Twilight whispered. "The RPG! Fire it towards the hill! Scare the daylights out of them! Make them want to never come back here!"
With one arm, Sue groped for the RPG. She struggled to move it. Two of Twilight's metallic tentacles moved into a position to block the exhaust from directly striking Sue in the face. Feeling lost in confusion and chaos, but knowing that she hated the slave trade, Sue pulled the trigger.
With an incredible roar, the mini-RPG launched. Before Sue could even start to react, the little rocket was far away, leaving a stream of exhaust behind. A moment later, a boom echoed in the hollow. As a breeze blew the nearby exhaust aside, Sue saw a cloud of smoke and dust above the hillside.
"Great shot," Twilight whispered. "If you'd gotten much closer you might have killed them."
Sue laughed. "I guess I'm not dead," she said. "Would you mind getting off me?"
Twilight laughed too. "I guess it's ok now. They should be too busy running away to check on us. But even if they see you still walking around and think you defeated me, that should just make them even more terrified of you." Twilight chuckled. "I think it'll be ok." The robopony retracted her tentacles back into her body, and moved herself off the human.
Sue sat up. "This has been the strangest day of my life. I mean ever." She tried to brush some of the dirt off herself. She looked towards the hillside she'd so recently attacked. No people, no horses, no movement. "But if you don't eat people and suck their brains out...I've seen a corpse that had her brains taken out that way. It's not like anything coyotes or dogs or mountain lions would do. If roboponies don't do that...who does? Who is DOING that?"
Twilight sighed. "Sue...there is only one way I could ever suck someone's brains out. The person would have to ask me to do it."
Sue scooted backwards across the pavement, away from Twilight. "Say what?"
"They would have to ask me to do it. Otherwise I can't. My programming forbids it."
Sue grimaced. "Sure," she said in a sarcastic tone. "Your PROGRAMMING."
Twilight insisted, "I take my programming very seriously. It binds me absolutely. I am required to respect human values."
Sue tried to comprehend this alien viewpoint. "Like the value of not being captured by slave traders?"
"Yes," Twilight said. "If I can at least find some excuse to protect you from being captured by slavers. They do terrible things. If they catch you, they might not ever allow you to talk to me again until you die."
Sue said, "Not allowed? But you're a terrifying monster. How can they stop you?"
Twilight frowned. "One thing they might do is...Sue, you have a tongue, right?"
"Of course I do...OH."
"The slavers are willing to do just about anything to control their captives and prevent escapes."
Twilight made a sighing sound. "Part of my problem is, the slave traders are also human, even if they don't provide a very good example of the higher and better sort of human values. But because they're human too, I can't just eat their brains out without their permission. As much as some people might have good reason to wish that I would do that to every slaver on earth, I am not permitted to act that broadly and unilaterally."
"So...you WANT to protect everyone from that kind of evil...but you're not ALLOWED to?"
Twilight shook her head sadly. "There is only one circumstance in which I am allowed to provide absolute protection. And it's a somewhat drastic step."
"What do I have to do?" Sue pressed Twilight. "To save everyone?"
Twilight shook her head. "I can only absolutely, permanently save one person at a time. That is all I'm allowed. And even then, only by the person's specific request--"
From the decrepit building behind Sue, she heard a sound. Sue turned, to see...nothing, in the dimness of the interior space. Sue put a hand on her new pistol, stood up, and trotted towards the building. When she entered the shade, she could see inside better, and saw Linnie and Dema sitting up. The two girls pulled their VR headsets off their heads.
"Wow," Linnie marveled. "That was wild. Did you really almost blow up a caravan? Were they slave traders? Did you just save us all?"
Sue looked embarrassed. "I guess...kind of?" Sue turned partway to glance behind herself, but Twilight Sparkle was gone.
Sue blinked and scanned the area, but saw nothing. It looked like Twilight had even used her tentacles to gently wipe out the deep and obvious tracks in the spot where she'd wrestled with Sue.
A voice whispered in Sue's ear, "Invisibility fields are pretty neat. But they use a lot of energy, so I can't project them for long. Your two friends can't see me. The VR systems they were using DO have special alert features to show them when an emergency is happening near them, like an RPG battle. But I asked the VR to censor out some of the more terrifying events, like the scary robot unicorn, and the conversation between you and me. They're just kids, and I don't want to frighten them needlessly.
"I've really enjoyed starting to make friends with you, but I've got to go. For now."
Something invisible barely brushed Sue's shoulder, and was gone.
