Defy the Stars - Issue 48: Chaos

Count to five, Noemi decides. If she's cracking up--if the terror of the past few minutes has scrambled her mind to the point where she's hallucinating--then this will all go away in a couple of seconds. If this is for real, the mech will be standing here waiting for orders when she's done. The mech remains still, expression curious and patient. Noemi takes a deep breath. She remains in her crouch, hand clutching her blaster so tightly her fingers have begun to cramp. The mech said its name was Abel. We were taught that there are twenty-five models of mech in the Mansfield Cybernetics line, alphabetical from B to Z. A was for a prototype. Abel's face and posture haven't shifted in the slightest. Would it stand here for an hour? At any rate, it hasn't made any move to get its weapon back. "My friend in the docking bay--she needs medical help, now." I'll bring her to sick bay." Abel takes off down the hallway so quickly that Noemi first thinks it's escaping--but it's apparently following her orders, just like it said it would. Shoving herself to her feet, Noemi runs after the mech, unwilling to let the thing out of her sight even though she knows she can't possibly keep up. From Darius Akide's lectures on mechs, Noemi knows the A model was an experimental model never put into mass production. Could the mech be lying about what it is? Its programming could potentially allow it to lie. But like everyone else on Genesis, she has memorized the faces of every single model of mech. According to her history books, they used to fear infiltration, in the early days of the Liberty War. What if the machines had walked among them, pretending to be human, spying on them all? While the Queens and Charlies are most familiar to her, Noemi could identify any of Mansfield's mechs on sight--and she's never seen this Abel's face before. Okay, you found a prototype. It doesn't matter how it got out here as long as you can use it. Take care of Esther and worry about the rest later. Panting, she stops in the doorway to stare at the scene in front of her. Abel leans over Esther's damaged fighter, gently scooping her into its arms. Esther's head lolls back as she murmurs, "Who--who are--" "It's a mech," Noemi calls as she ditches her nearly dead blaster, then holsters Abel's to her side. "The ship has a fully equipped sick bay.