Chapter 32: Over the hills and through the woods

Ice looked around. He had been walking for about an hour with 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.  

He was walking around the edge of the forest when the cat drone, he called Leroy, stopped in front of him and stood facing into the woods. The D.O.G was facing that way too 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 although this one appears older and is a different technology. It also appears to be heavily damaged."

Ice followed the D.O.G’s sight line. "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 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 like it was made of brass and it was frozen midswing. It had been there so long, plants had grown into some of the holes in the body. One of the arms lay on the ground nearby. It looked to have been chewed on and then left behind by whatever it had been fighting against.  

He peered inside the holes in the body and saw a great deal of gears and possibly dried up oil. The gears were heavily corroded and pitted with age. Ice didn't know how old the machine was but he guessed the being had stood there a couple hundred years 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.

The small bug 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 catalog however it is not a guarantee. Would you like me to send Scouting Drones around to see if there are more in the area?"

"Yeah, 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 looking 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 distance 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. A little while later 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 slightly glowing. The drone scanned the orb before trundling over to Ice and holding it out 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 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 twenty 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."

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 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 felt like glass but rougher. He looked up at the center of the clearing where the C.A.T was moving around the melted automatons, its metal feet clicking on the material.

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

As Ice approached them, the C.A.T disappeared into the trees, engaging its optical camouflage. Once he got within arms reach of the melted automatons he could see 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 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.

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 vomit 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 came over and sat in his lap, an artificial purring coming from the feline drone as it tried to comfort him. He put a hand on the drones back feeling the sun-warmed metal. It began 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 into the clearing and he still didn't go all the way back to the center. He looked around the area.

"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 slumped down.The adrenaline was wearing off and he felt exhausted. "Raven, you do that. I need to rest a bit. Can you keep watch?" is 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 moved 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 loathed to wake Ice from his much needed rest.

The small industrial drone began to dismantle the automatons, leaving anything that would be disruptive, for after Ice woke up.

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