Leviathan Rising: A "Murder Drones" fanfic
by Nightbreaker
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Summary: The alien probe is gone, but the worker drones and their allies are far from safe. Something's coming. Something big.
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Leviathan Rising: A "Murder Drones" fanfic
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Chapter 1: Family Matters
The pod appropriated from the replacement drones, with which they'd originally landed on Copper 9, was making a shaky approach back to that same world to a tentatively identified LZ. Its new crew, consisting of the disassembly drones known as N and V, along with Uzi, (or, as N now called her, "Suzi"), and their human allies, Dr. Mark Vespa and Dr. Cheryl Serniglia, had just dealt with a world-killer probe on the other side of the sun, and felt like they could use a break.
Especially since something had contacted them with the cryptic warning that something called "Leviathan" was "rising." For once, Mark had indicated he'd be completely forthcoming with that information as soon as they made it back to Copper 9 ("It's not even classified," he'd said. "You can find it in any online database." Pause. "It's just not something most people ever think to look for, is all").
Meanwhile, on the ground, watching their approach, Uzi 2.0 waited with a predator's patience behind some boulders she'd rearranged.
On board was the Abomination, the thing that used to be Uzi , and in whose image she was made (well, sort of. Her father had explained that he'd rebuilt and repurposed the body of two fallen disassembly drones and implanted her engram patterns into it, making her, as he'd expressed it, "the new and improved Uzi! Isn't that wonderful?" Uzi, herself, wasn't so sure about that.
On the one hand, she couldn't deny she had powers and abilities she'd never dreamed of before. She also couldn't deny that all that seemed to make her father happy, and, much more importantly, happy with her, for the first time she could remember. She'd long dreamed of somehow earning his love in some way...had she now?
On the other hand, she was now what she had always considered a monster, a creature of darkness that drank the living oil of her fellow-former fellow-worker drones, to live. Had a human being awakened from an auto accident to discover that he or she was now a vampire or werewolf, with no going back, they might have felt similarly.)
Well, she told herself resolutely, ultimately it didn't matter. She had a job to do. She wanted, no, she craved her father's love, and here was the perfect way of doing it. Just eliminate her monstrous predecessor, and he'd have to love her.
There'd be nobody else.
On board the pod: "Mark?" Cheryl Serniglia glanced up at him. They'd been about to make a final approach when he placed his hand over hers, guiding the pod back upward, using up some of the precious fuel they'd scavenged. They'd barely have enough to make a proper landing at this rate.
Uh oh. He had that look in his eyes, that thousand-yard stare. The rest of the inhabitants of the pod, N, V, and Suzi, looked up, sensing something amiss. "Let's...hold off just a moment, okay, Cher?
"Call it a hunch, but...do you see any evidence of activity on the ground, there? Any sort of processing, or attempts to? Anything, at all?"
"Well, it is planetary nighttime here. Uzi-I mean, Suzi-said the workers always holed up during the hours of darkness. And they don't about...recent events." Meaning the destruction of the replacement drones and the reawakening of the memories of Nathan and Vickie, or N and V, respectively. That they weren't a threat anymore.
At least, that last was the presumption, Cheryl reminded herself, not letting her feelings show on her face. The disassembly drones would still need oil; she'd hoped they could come to terms with the surviving workers.
What if they couldn't?
"Call it a hunch," he mused, again, "but that area we've got marked out just seems like a really good spot for an ambush."
"Well, it's the only one we've got that we could land on, that's within anything like walking distance of the drones' hive. N-I mean, Nathan," she said, referring to the disassembly drone's human engram donor's name, "can't carry us all."
"Which means it's about the only place we can land. And...look at those rocks over there. Reminds me of building forts out of sofa cushions when I was a kid. I don't see how that's a natural formation. If I were gonna set up an ambush, that's exactly where I'd do it."
"Get real," said Uzi-or rather, he now remembered, Suzi. He was still trying to puzzle out the relationship there. "No worker drone has it in 'im to even fight, let alone set up any ambush."
"You did." She was silent. That was true. "Uzi...I have to ask you a painful question or two.
"Tell me a little about your father.
"In fact, tell me a lot about him."
...
Uzi 2.0 waited, trying to control her fidgets, while the pod circled overhead. She could see the exhaust sparkling against the protective lacquer lining of the inside of the exhaust tubes, and wondered just how much fuel they were carrying. It surely couldn't be much; this was not, she could tell, a new pod, having only made a one way trip. She couldn't figure out why the disassembly drones controlling it would take off and then return, but then decided it ultimately didn't matter. What mattered was getting in that one, all-important shot. She readied her cutting laser.
...
"You sure this'll work, doc? For that matter, are you sure it's even necessary?" Uzi turned slowly, arms held out to her side, in the chemical shower. Cheryl worked the controls, making sure to get every part of her.
"There's an old saying: better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it."
"Yeah, I...c'n see that."
...
Uzi 2.0's patience was finally rewarded when the landing ramp began to descend to the uneven ground, its forward area reconfiguring to form a better seal. Her oil pump leaped with excitement to see the Abomination itself, the very thing her father had sent her out to kill, walk slowly and hesitatingly down the ramp, looking around at all sides. It glittered in the starlight.
Uzi waited, concealed behind her rock fortress. She knew she'd only get one shot. Oh, she might get more, but only one good shot. Just get this over with, and take the Abomination's head back to daddy. He'd be so proud.
But where were the disassembly drones?
But just as that thought occurred to her, so did the answer: the cowardly things were hiding, and had sent their thrall out to make sure the coast was clear. They couldn't know that was exactly what she wanted.
Okay...make this kill...then what?
She considered ways of destroying the pod. A shot to the fuel tanks?
But no, the fuel in reaction drives was simply heavy water. The exhaust thus produced was coherentized both for maximum
efficiency and double usage: the giant laser it produced served not only to propel the ship as a reaction drive, but, in the deepness of space, could be used for interplanetary communication as
well. Triple usage, actually; it could also serve as a weapon. But, bottom line: nothing volatile to blow up.
Well, she'd figure something out. For right now…
She centered her laser on the Abomination's chest, and triggered the strongest blast she could.
The beam hit Suzi in the middle of her upper chest, the point of impact traveling upward as Uzi 2.0 angled it up towards her head…
To be continued…?