Chapter 8: Still Got Legs (And There's an Awful Lot of Running to do)
The Colony Maker was waiting for me towards the middle of the restaurant and seemingly understood my intentions the moment that I grabbed her and started pulling her towards the kitchens. We cut through them and once we were in the alley behind the pub, she sends me a questioning look and I shake my head, "Let's just, let's just get out of here. We're blitzing the border now."
Well, at least my terror's kicked in properly now, considering the fact that I feel like I'm going to puke.
"Query: why-"
"Listen, we can talk later, so just quiet down and let's. Go!" I'm practically shouting at the Star-vader, and I can't help but feel a bit sorry for her, even if I'm not actually hurting her feelings. I turn in what I know to be the general direction of the border between the Dragon Empire and the Dark Zone, and start into a jog.
As I start to pick up speed, I hear the Colony Maker speak before she follows, "…understood."
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In the end, running helps clear my head a bit, and think through what I did in that town.
How could I have been so stupid?!
Shouting at Vowing Saber like that will only draw attention to me in the long run, not mention what implications it could have further down the road.
What if Vowing Saber and Garmore don't face off?
Will the Eradicator remain a puppet of Chaos Breaker's?
Will someone else defeat him and free him from Яeverse?
Will he remain an unchecked terror until late in the war?
Damn it, damn it, damn it all! I just wanted to help Cray win the war, and here I am possibly changing things!
Still, I can't focus on that for the entire run, even if I'm still freaking out over it. Though another point in the favour of these cyberoid bodies is that they don't fatigue like a human body would, or at all.
The Colony Maker and I've been running full sprint for over an hour now, and I'm not feeling tired in any way, nor am I feeling out of breath. I don't know if we've passed the border yet, but I know that there will be a point in time where we'll have to angle either west or north-west in order to make for the ruins.
…everything's not going as I'd planned.
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We'd eventually reach a town that, because of the flag I'd caught sight of, we know is in the Dark Zone.
Once we had used a decent chunk of our remaining credits to rent a room in a decent motel, did we actually speak for the first time in hours, the Colony Maker asking, "Query: why did you engage the Eradicator, Vowing Saber Dragon Яeverse in such a manner? Did you not say that we were to be covert?"
"That… I suppose the best way to put it is that I was pissed off by what happened to him and what he was doing as a result. I'll be the first to admit that my morals are loose and easily compromised, but to be forced into a situation and to act in a certain way without a choice or one's input… it isn't something I can abide by," I explain, feeling a bit of my anger from earlier return from the thought of why I had been so outraged. I shake my head before I start down memory lane, and continue, "As for trying to be stealthy, well I wanted to be, but I seem to have fucked that part up. Hopefully, we'll stay under the radar for the rest of our journey."
"Query: why were you so incensed? It doesn't fit with established behaviours, and thus should be dealt with," This Star-vader… doesn't she have any sense of letting things drop?
I clench my fists tightly as I answer, "That's none of your business, so just leave it be."
"…understood."
Even if that's all she had to say, I was starting to feel a bit heated again, and the fact that I was covered in dust and dirt as I hadn't had a chance to clean up since the village where I'd had my run in with Vowing Saber, and that had been about two days ago, so feeling dirty in my own skin probably wasn't helping. Walking over to the small bathroom, I paused, "I'm going to take a shower and then sleep till tomorrow morning, feel free to do what you want so long as you stay in the room."
After finishing my shower and throwing on a pair of pants, I stepped out into the main room and quickly shuffled into the bed in the room. Seeing as I was the only one of the two of us that actually slept, I didn't think the Star-vader would mind if I took the bed.
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The next morning found us sitting in a greasy-spoon type restaurant, brunch having been served to us, a stack of pancakes, some home fries and bacon for me; while the Colony Maker had gotten a plate of eggs, sausages and toast which I was surprised to see her eating.
The trip to the restaurant had been interesting, with there being a few objects of interest during the trip, including a notice about taxes apparently from the House of Amon and a disturbingly gaudy flyer for the Pale Moon Circus, whom I actually forgot hid the fact that they're assassins up until then. I even saw a hotel adapted for larger visitors like dragons or giants, which honestly makes sense given how this is essentially a border town.
Still, as the Star-vader and I ate, what looked to be an enchanted mirror or incredibly thin flatscreen TV was showing the news. It had been showing a sports match when we'd first arrived, but it had been called when the Dudleys somehow managed to cripple the majority of the opposing team halfway through the game.
Naturally, the Dudleys were awarded the win.
The game's actually called Gallowsball, not Bloodball as I'd originally thought. It's sadly lacking in dwarves driving around bulldozers.
As for the news, it was showing the current state of the war, which was apparently not considered too important to the Dark Zone.
Oh, if only they knew what was going on. Then again, it could be propaganda from either the House of Amon or even his rivals in the Dark Irregulars, like the Bladewings, Schaharot, or even the residents of Nightmareland.
Well, it's probably from Amon's group as the other factions would have more to gain from revealing that Amon had made a deal with Chaos Breaker, Яeversing himself for more power.
But just over the news, I heard someone from a nearby booth mutter to their companion, "They say we're not going to be seeing any of the action from the invasion, but my brother works near the northern border and he says that apparently the Gold Paladins have been sniffing around both their and our borders with the Dragon Empire."
"Yeah, well, it's not like we'll really have anywhere to go if we do get dragged into this whole thing, better just to rest up and prepare in case we have to evacuate somewhere," The person's companion replied, seemingly not too worried about the state of Cray.
How are these people so blasé about this entire situation?
After our empty plates had been taken away and the bill had been settled, The Colony Maker looked at me as she remarked, "Statement: The meal was… good. How was yours?"
"I quite enjoyed it," I reply almost immediately, ingrained politeness kicking in before I take notice of the fact that not only did she compliment the food, but she hadn't predicated her question in her usual idiom. Thinking back on it, I can't believe that she's been dropping the predicates since we got to this town.
Good job, Trent.
Agh, but what does it mean? Is it some sort of evolution of her AI? Is she developing emotions like the robots in my video games and Japanese animes? Does this have some far reaching consequences? What am I goi-
"Statement: Should we not be leaving?"
