Chapter III: Nest
Their destination proved to be a mountain range so deep in Legion territory that Lena had never seen it on a tactical map. As they approached, Shinrei explained that the Legion had carved their home base into the side of it, hollowing out almost its entirety; and underground, the complex was even deeper than it was tall. The inevitable image this conjured in Lena's mind was that of a vast and monstrous ant mound.
Even from a distance, it was impossible to mistake the Legion presence here. The valley below the mountain was scattered with hundreds of metallic white shapes that gleamed in the sunset light—all of them completely motionless.
As Shinrei led her to and through the maze of once deadly but now inactive machines, Lena's nerves couldn't help but be on edge.
"Are these…?" she began hesitantly, as they passed between Ameise and Löwe units that might as well have been ominous metal sculptures in someone's garden. She was unsure of how to phrase what she really wanted to ask: are these a part of you too?
"Black Sheep," Shinrei said matter-of-factly. "A small number of the thousands that existed, at least… or what's left of them. We've been in the process of dismantling them, but we started with the units farther afield. They didn't possess true consciousness like Shepherds, but they were still tainted with echoes of the dead, which made them…" A heavy pause. "Painful."
The kind of painful that Rei's voice had described helplessly enduring for five madness-inducing years, Lena realized sickly.
"You shut every one of them down?"
"It was… I'm not sure if instinctive is an appropriate word for a machine, but it's the only thing I can compare it to." Shinrei's turret swiveled, taking in the still metal figures all around them. "The moment the Legion's AI became fused with me, I felt them screaming. It was worse than anything Shin ever heard from them in life… and in reaction, my mind lashed out at them. I just wanted them to stop—and so they all did. Not just the Black Sheep, but the White Sheep too… and the Shepherds. Afterward, even with Rei's experience—and even with the ability to think at the speed of a machine—it took some time to understand and begin to adjust, before I could cope with bringing any of them back online."
"Starting with the other members of Spearhead."
"Yes. At first I disabled their links to the Legion's collective consciousness, keeping their minds isolated from each other and myself. They needed time just to accept their new bodies first. I only let them begin to experience any deeper connection when I was sure each of them was prepared to try to handle it. …It was rough anyway, every time. Theo still doesn't deal with it well even now, but the others have gotten used to it."
"And from there, you began looking into the condition of the older Shepherds?"
Shinrei released the sound of a heavy sigh.
"I had to give rest to hundreds. Those whose minds were too full of pain or madness to adapt and survive this way. The ones who cried out to me for release, or had become so warped by the Legion's will that there was nothing left in them but blind violence and rage." The tremor that laced his next words was distinctly more prominent in Shin's voice than Rei's. "It became more clear to me than ever what being the Reaper truly meant."
Lena briefly squeezed her eyes shut. "You never should have had to bear that. You didn't deserve it."
"No." Shin's voice asserted itself even more strongly. "The truth is, I was exactly the right one to bear it. Who better to understand and carry out what had to be done? Only someone who had heard the voices of the Legion long enough to care about their pain, not just the people they could hurt. And after putting bullets in so many comrades while they were still flesh and blood… shutting off machines was at least a much kinder process."
The summation of what Shin had been as the Reaper was taut, unflinching, and absolutely gut-wrenching. Lena shuddered and pressed a fist to her mouth, stifling a whimper of sorrow.
"How many are left?" she whispered, and once again Shinrei's voices fell into balance.
"Counting the others from Spearhead Squadron, but not counting myself as a more complicated case… thirty-seven Shepherds have survived. To be honest, I'm surprised even that many pulled through. As for the White Sheep, we haven't decommissioned any of them yet, because for now they're tools we need to complete our mission. Until we're ready to move, most of them are being held in an offline standby mode within the base—although I am keeping a few hundred Ameise online for reconnaissance and the mock attacks."
"So even while you're talking with me, and communicating with the other Shepherds, you're also aware of every one of those units? You're seeing and hearing everything around them too?" No matter the capabilities of the machine Shinrei's mind inhabited, it staggered Lena to imagine any human consciousness being able to cope with the enormity of that.
"Handling that small number is easy for me now." The faintest trace of a chill crept into Shinrei's voice. "I told you, Captain. We are machines. Our human memories still allow us to relate on your level… but the truth is, our minds operate now in a completely different way that you have no frame of reference for. The artificial neural networks we were transplanted into are made for processing such vast amounts of information. It's just a matter of learning to fully utilize the base programming our new systems possess—or perhaps more accurately, being willing to do so. …We've all had to overcome the fear that accepting what we are, and using our new abilities to their full potential, would diminish whatever humanity we have left."
"I don't believe anything could make your spirits less human," Lena answered softly. "But when you said you are the Legion… you really do mean you can extend yourself throughout all of it simultaneously?"
"I can—because that power became uniquely a part of me with the controlling AI." The pause before his next words felt somehow reluctant. "Although going that far does have drawbacks. The more I thin out my awareness across greater numbers of units, the more I can begin to perceive the Legion collectively as a single larger body to me… and I may tend to lose myself in that broader view. I don't mean that as something dangerous," he asserted quickly, perhaps detecting the alarmed uptick in Lena's pulse. "I won't forget who and what I am. It just gets harder to keep enough of my attention present in this host to interact on an individual level, the way I am with you."
"That still sounds kind of frightening," Lena admitted honestly.
"It should. No single being should possess the amount of power I do now." Shinrei approximated a sigh. "…In any case, by this point most of the Shepherds have learned to control a portion of the White Sheep as well. By sharing the effort, we can bring the entire remaining Legion online without any of us losing our more immediate focus."
Among all the other parts of the concept that were hard to comprehend, the suggestion that Shinrei thought he would need the full Legion to save the Eighty-Six was quietly unnerving. Lena wasn't sure how it fitted with his claim that he intended to cause no loss of life. She trusted him, and was at least willing to hear out his plan; but still, the thought of all the Legion's power marching toward the Gran Mur chilled her heart.
Not that the Republic's generals at least didn't deserve that kind of scare, she freely admitted to herself.
By now the entrance to the Legion's nest loomed ahead, a mammoth trapezoidal portal that was reinforced with thousands of tons of steel. Lena had expected it to be large, but the nearer they came, the more its vastness was put into perspective. Even Shinrei's hundred-ton Dinosauria host looked small when framed by its threshold. That the Legion had needed a doorway of such proportions raised terrifying questions Lena was not ready to ask.
The fact that there were no actual doors to close over that doorway was just as telling. The Legion had been so sure of its invincibility, it saw no reason to seal the entrance to its lair; and on the face of it, that estimation had been true. No human forces could have penetrated deep enough into Legion territory to come near this place, much less survived the outward defenses long enough to enter it. Yet what the Legion had not reckoned on was that it could welcome its own doom into itself, simply by choosing the wrong minds to assimilate: minds with a bond that defied machine logic by being stronger than any programming.
"…So this is home sweet home," Lena murmured feebly in some impulsive attempt at dark humor, and instantly regretted it.
Even so, Shinrei had the kindness to receive the ill-considered joke with a grim chuckle. "Let's just say we still have a lot of redecorating to do."
She couldn't argue with that assessment. The initial chamber they passed into was dimly lit, absolutely cavernous—and empty. A staging area of some kind, and judging by the enormous protrusions of distant equipment far off at the other end, perhaps it was also capable of providing maintenance for whatever it was that had necessitated such a huge entryway.
Lena could only hope that was something else Shinrei had decommissioned, as he put it. Surely there could be no good in preserving any White Sheep so monstrous… and she couldn't imagine a Shepherd in such a form still being anything close to sane.
Thanks to those thoughts, her anxious vital signs must have caught Shinrei's attention again.
"Don't be afraid." That soft and empathetic tone was definitely more Rei than Shin, almost as if Lena was still the child the elder brother once knew. "You'll be safe here. I promise you that."
"I know. It's just…" Lena drew a trembling breath. "I guess you don't have to be Legion to sense the suffering that used to be here."
Slightly ahead of her, Shinrei turned his turret a few degrees, like a man wrestling with an impulse to glance back over his shoulder. Then he slowed even further and walked alongside the cab of the truck, almost close enough for the joints of his limbs to scrape paint off the weathered vehicle. He couldn't offer mortal warmth, but all the same, Lena realized he was trying to reassure her with simple closeness. That gentle intent stirred a tight flutter in her chest.
"The others are ahead of us. One of the storage bays for offline units has become—our gathering place, for lack of a better term. Even if we can always be in contact with one another, I suppose there's still a kind of comfort in sharing the same space together."
Memories of Spearhead Squadron's base came to Lena: the mess hall and rec room, the basketball court, the large empty spaces once filled with bright, tenacious life. They'd all been together so often when she talked to Shin, butting in on conversations with an energy too infectious to be unwelcome. Aloof as he had outwardly been, even Shin was never annoyed by their antics, but rather seemed drawn to stay close to his comrades more often than not. It didn't surprise Lena now that despite being condemned to unfeeling steel bodies, their spirits still craved the psychological anchoring of physical proximity.
Beyond the first staging chamber, Shinrei proceeded to escort Lena down one of several branching corridors. Although the truck's engine was loud and echoing in the seemingly endless passageway, his own steps were eerily silent. Circles of dim red illumination flickered on in succession to light their path, only to fade out just behind them, as motion sensors tracked their movement. It was clearly a system designed for optimum energy efficiency.
Lena's heart skipped a beat as it occurred to her that Legion units functioned primarily on solar-generated power.
"How long can you be active now that the sun is down?" she asked anxiously.
"Don't worry about that. The base's systems do have alternative energy sources, and all of the Shepherds are fully charged. Losing power was only a real concern for the Legion if they engaged in night combat. For us, we don't expend nearly enough energy overnight to hit our limits."
"But you don't… sleep?"
"We could shut down for a period of time if we wanted to, but there's no point. We never tire. Instead, for the most part, our nights since Legionfall have been spent on learning. Exploring the knowledge we've gained, testing what we can do with our new bodies, becoming more familiar with the older Shepherds… and supporting each other." A heavy pause. "Even now, we couldn't stay sane just existing as machines. Our minds still have a need to interact and express ourselves… to hold on to whatever is still human in us."
"That I can understand. But—Legionfall?" Lena repeated, grasping at the ominous passing word.
"The day it happened. The day Spearhead Squadron was assimilated, and I became the Legion's will." Shinrei sounded oddly chagrined. "Go ahead and laugh. The name was my idea."
"Which you? Shin or Rei?"
"Shin, of course," came the prompt assertion—driven clearly and almost gleefully by Rei's voice. "He was always the literary one, after all."
Whether as flesh or steel, it was the first time Lena had ever heard such a genuinely playful note from either of the brothers. Despite the circumstances, it was so unexpected and pleasant that it coaxed a giggle out of her.
"Well, I like it. It's just a shame you didn't put that much effort into naming cats."
The remark earned her a palpable hesitation. "How is he?"
"He's good." Lena's tone softened. "He had some fleas from living at your old base, but I took care of that. He eats well, and he plays a lot."
"Who's looking after him while you're gone?"
Lena froze up at that question. In fact, it was Annette who she had entrusted Spearhead's little mascot to until she returned—but she highly doubted that now was the time to bring up Shin's childhood friend. She could only pray her pulse rate hadn't jumped enough to detect the lie as she answered, "He's with my mother for now. She wouldn't have liked it if I told her where he came from, but she thinks I just picked him up off the street in the Capital."
"I see. That's fine, then."
Floundering for a change of subject, Lena seized upon the realization that she was starting to become a little more physically uncomfortable.
"It's getting a lot warmer in here," she noted, unzipping the coat that had protected her from the freezing cold outdoors, and then struggling to wrestle it off while she held the truck's steering wheel steady with her knee.
"Yes. The amount of machinery that fills this complex produces a tremendous amount of heat. Even with the White Sheep powered down, the internal systems alone are enough to raise the ambient temperature in some areas to well over a hundred degrees Fahrenheit." Shinrei seemed to fret for a brief moment. "Although there are cooling systems to protect the more sensitive electronic components, the Legion was never exactly concerned with creating a comfortable environment for humans… so while I've done what I can, this place may still be a little warm for your liking."
"It's okay." Lena smiled. "Honestly, it might be a nice change from the weather outside for a while."
"We don't feel the heat or cold anymore." A soft pensiveness filled Shinrei's tone. "It's something I'll miss."
Before Lena could voice the condolence that squeezed at her heart, Shinrei halted beside a gaping open doorway. Although nothing like the size of the base's front entrance, it was still far more than large enough to accommodate his huge frame. The light that filtered from the space beyond was dim.
"We're here."
"…Do you always stay in the dark like that?"
"We don't really need light at all most of the time, if we're just standing still with our minds focused on interfacing with each other and the Legion's systems. While you're here with us, I'll bring up the lights to a more comfortable level for human eyes." The illumination beyond the doorway immediately brightened to full daylight level, and Shinrei started to move. "Please follow me."
With a racing heart, Lena slowly steered the truck through the doorway after him. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the much brighter light. As they did, what took shape around her was a vast steel-lined chamber… and the few dozen extraordinary entities that occupied it.
The forms of the Legion units were familiar: Löwe, Ameise, Grauwolf, even a few more Dinosauria the same as Shinrei. All of them were gleaming skeletal things, like giant white insects. They were still as fully armed as he was, bristling with gun barrels that might well have taken human lives in the past, before—or far more tragically, after—they became vessels for imprisoned human souls. The sight of them should have been chilling, even terrifying.
And yet…
These did not feel like the murderous machine Lena had stared up at as a child, in the moment before Rei destroyed it and saved her. Nor did they feel like the swarming drones she had seen remote-surveillance images of, or glimpsed when she looked upon the battlefield through Wehrwolf's eye. Maybe it was something about the posture of them: not standing rigid and uniform, but varied in stance, some crouching or even curled up like cats with their legs tucked underneath them. It was as if they had paused to look up in the middle of movements far more natural than those of mere machines.
Or perhaps they simply felt so unthreatening because, like their leader, each one of them bore a unique painted emblem on its side.
Every one of them had been—and still was—a person.
Lena barely realized she had let the truck slowly roll to a halt beside Shinrei.
"Allow me to introduce Captain Vladilena Milizé of the San Magnolia Republic. As the former Handler of Spearhead Squadron, she fought for our lives to the end—and she's still our valued ally."
