Chapter 17: Over the hills and through the woods

Ice looked around.  He had been walking for about an hour with the drones following him.  He was determined to find the right place for his base.  With water and resources nearby.  After all, in every RTS he had played, it was all about location.

He had thought about putting it between the beach and the forest.  He quickly changed his mind after realizing there was no fresh water nearby.  

He was walking around the edge of the forest when the cat drone he called Leroy stopped in front of him and stood there facing into the woods.  The D.O.G was facing that way as well and the C.A.T was of course nowhere to be seen but Ice was fairly sure it was nearby.

"Raven? What's the problem? What are they looking at?" Ice asked the question softly.

"The C.A.T has seen what appears to be a ruined synthetic being.  Much like your drones altho this one appears older and is a different technology.  It also appears heavily damaged."

Ice looked the way the D.O.G was facing.  "Is it safe to go take a look at…. The synthetic being?"

"I can find no recent signs of Theriope in the area.  It should be reasonably safe."

Ice hesitated for a few minutes before turning and walking off into the trees, Leroy leading the way and the D.O.G walking close to him.

After a short walk Ice came upon a humanoid form.  It looked to be made of brass and it was frozen midswing.  It had been there so long that the nearby plants had grown into some of the holes in the body.  One of the arms lay on the ground nearby.  It looked like it had been chewed on and then left behind by whatever the thing had been fighting against.  

He peered inside the holes in the body and saw a great deal of gears and what looked like ancient dried up oil.  The gears were heavily corroded and pitted with age.  Ice didn't know how old the machine was but he guessed it was at least a couple hundred years that it had stood there. Unmoving against the river of time.  

"Raven, uhm, this looks like a clockwork from my world from like the 1800s or so. But ours were never this advanced that I know of.  How did it get here?" Ice questioned his AI even as he put one finger on a gear visible on the chest of the Clockwork and tried to turn it.  It was completely seized up and didn't move so much as a centimeter.

The small bug like drone trundled up slowly.  Before scanning the automaton blue light reflecting off its glass eyes for a moment.

"I am reading system enhanced materials inside the body.  But they are very old.  I am surprised this type of machine would last this long.  It must be from another User at some point."  The AI sounded puzzled at first but her voice grew in confidence with each word.

Ice perked up as he heard this.  "So you're saying there might be people somewhere?"

"It is possible if the system user purchased a life extension technology catalogue however it is not a guarantee.  Would you like me to send the Scouting drones around to see if there are more of these in the area?"

"Yea go ahead I think I'll look around as well.  Do we have any use for this thing?" Ice asked, gesturing towards the automaton.

Instead of an answer the small bug like drone begins to disassemble the automaton quickly and efficiently.

Ice watched for a moment before moving off the D.O.G following him, its head turning constantly as it kept watch.

A short ways away he found trees with shrapnel embedded in them.  He was sure the damage was old but it was so large that even after all this time the trees hadn't been able to fully recover.  Some of the holes were as big around as his head.  

After examining the trees for a few minutes Ice shrugged and kept looking around the area.  After a short time he heard a sound like metal being crushed behind him.  Turning around he saw that the industrial drone had pulled the head off the automaton and was pulling out a small orb that was glowing just slightly.  It scanned the orb before trundling over to Ice and holding it out on one manipulating arm for him to take.

"It's a point storage device.  For when a system user's creations can't be close enough to measure point gain." His AI informed him helpfully.

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Ice reached out and took the marble sized orb turning it this way and that curiously.  It was perfectly round and glowed slightly but that was all.  He stuck it in his pocket after looking it over.

"The C.A.T has found another damaged automaton.  In fact it has found a number of them clustered together.  Would you like me to lead you to them?  They are a 20 minute walk at the rate you walk."

Ice rolled his eyes.  "I am not in a hurry.  Haven't you ever heard that slow is smooth, smooth is fast?"

"Your illogical sayings have nothing to do with the fact you walk slowly.  Don't try to justify how out of shape you are with them."

Ice did not respond to that, just turning to follow the D.O.G as it trotted off.  The industrial drone followed them about a quarter of its compartments on the sides were full.

After a short walk that left Ice breathing hard, they came to a large clearing.  The trees just stopped at the edge of it in fact all vegetation just stopped.  Leaving nothing but an uneven ring of  black glossy soil.  In the center were eight of the automatons.  These were damaged but instead of holes or ripped off limbs they looked… melted.

After catching his breath Ice kneeled down to look at the soil at the edge of the clearing.  Pressing on it lightly with one finger he found it hard and inflexible it didn't move at all. It almost felt like glass but rougher.  He looked at the center of the clearing where the C.A.T was moving around the melted automatons into metal feet clicking on the material.

"Is this glass? How hot would something have to be to turn dirt into glass…" Ice muttered aloud to himself.

He stared at it for a few minutes more trying to think of what could have caused the effect.  Finally he shook his head and stepped out onto the blackened ground walking towards the automatons in the center of the clearing.  

As Ice approached the automatons, the C.A.T moved off into the trees disappearing as it engaged its optical camouflage once more.  Once he got within arms reach of the melted automatons he made out more details.  They had been damaged before being melted or so the jagged holes indicated. In the middle of the small ring of a dozen or so automatons he could see blackened bones.  He stared at them for a second before turning and running out of the clearing.  Once he was back in the trees he threw up into a bush at the base of a tree.

Ice heaved a few more times. Finally he managed to recover and stood up straight wiping his mouth.  The smell and taste of bile almost made him throw up again.  He could feel his heart pounding in his chest each thump loud and distinct.  He was having a difficult time breathing, his chest felt extremely tight. He purposefully avoided looking at the clearing while he calmed down walking to a different tree and sitting down.  

Leroy the drone came over and sat in his lap an artificial purring noise coming from the feline camouflaged drone as it tried to comfort him.  He put a hand on the drones back feeling the sun warmed metal under his hand.  It seemed to steady him, his breathing slowly evening out.

It was still a solid ten minutes before he was able to stand up and look at the clearing again.  And another ten minutes before he was able to walk back into the clearing and he still didn't go all the way to the center.  He looked around the clearing from his position about halfway between the trees and the automatons.  

"Raven, what… What could do this?" He gestured to the destruction around him.  

"I am not sure,  Ice.  But we should continue looking for more automatons and we should have the industrial drone gather up any usable material."  The AI said after some hesitation.

Ice nodded and walked back into the trees finding a comfortable spot to lean against a tree.  He sat down. The adrenaline was wearing off and he felt exhausted. "Raven, you do that.  I need to rest a bit. Can you keep watch?" As Ice said this his eyes closed almost involuntarily and before he got an answer he was already snoring lightly. 

Raven gathered all the drones besides the industrial drones nearby to keep watch.  The C.A.T moving around quietly while the D.O.G stood near Ice, its head scanning the surroundings constantly.  

Leroy didn't move from under his hand.  Raven didn't want to wake Ice unnecessarily.

The small industrial drone quietly began to dismantle the automatons leaving anything loud for after Ice woke up.