Chapter Thirteen - Flick My Switches


    Chapter Thirteen - Flick My Switches


    "Forest fires are a common occurrence. In some part due to human intervention, but also as a natural-occuring phenomena. Once, we attempted to corral and control them, but now, with the rising risk of antithesis presence in the wilderness and in rural areas, controlling a wild fire is a much greater risk."


    James "Smokey" Silver, Saskatchewan Fire Chief, 2041


    ***


    "You know, this reminds me of the good old days," I said.


    "The good old days?" Gomorrah asked over a more private channel. It was just the two of us, and I supposed our respective AI. I couldn''t imagine Myalis not snooping in.


    "You know, back when it was just you and me, heading out to blow things up and light the world on fire," I said.


    "Catherine, that good old days you''re alluding to was two weeks ago," Gomorrah said.


    I paused in the act of swinging myself into my mech''s cockpit. "Yeah, and?" I asked. "It feels like it was a longer time ago, what with those weeks being pretty busy." I spun around and crashed ass-first into the pilot''s seat, then I reached over and flicked the cockpit closed--which required flipping a small analogue switch which my studies into repairing the mech revealed was only there because flicking switches did something for people.


    I leaned into the seat, then wiggled my flesh and blood fingers, opening and closing them a few times. My skin felt a little... taut? Like it was just a bit too tight, or I was wearing a pair of latex gloves that were too small for me. It wasn''t cutting into my dexterity, but it was noticeable.


    The itch was easier to ignore now, though I felt oddly... dirty? I couldn''t wait to take a shower later.


    "Do you think that our level of business is normal for samurai?" I asked. There were more flicky-switch toggles to click up or down. Some had little plastic covers that had to be pulled up before I could toggle the switch below. They all made very satisfying ''clicks'' as I pressed them.


    "I don''t think so," Gomorrah said. "Atyacus?"


    A rather snooty voice came onto the coms. "Neither of you will be surprised to note that you didn''t break any galactic records for busiest newest-inducted Vanguard. However, you are both in the top percentile for busiest human Vanguard in terms of hours spent fighting the antithesis compared to hours since induction."


    "Huh," I said as I chewed on that for a minute. "Top percentile is good, right? Because the last time I heard the word percentile it was with regards to the quality of the orphanage, and it was followed by ''lowest'' which I think means it was shit."


    "In this case, top percentile is probably not ideal," Gomorrah said. "But I can''t exactly complain, we had some time off. We might have spent it unwisely, but we had it."


    "Yeah," I said with a nod as I settled in, hands touching the control sticks at last. "I''m ready to rock over here," I said. The screens on the inside of the cockpit lit up and I had a one-eighty view of the outside of my mech. A map opened in the corner, and a diagnostics read out popped up in the other with text scrolling through it.


    I actually knew what some of it meant now, which was kind of neat. Until I realized that a lot of it was reminding me that the mech needed servicing.


    The little red light flashing above me, reminding me to put on my harness blinked sarcastically at me.


    We arrived at the point Gomorrah had pointed out soon enough, but by the time we were getting there, the aliens were arriving too.


    The spot was a thicker patch of forest with a few thin ATV roads dug into the dirt criss-crossing through it, just past that was a wide open field. It looked like it hadn''t been cultivated in a while, and was filled with small, thin baby trees that didn''t look too much taller than I was, as well as a fuckload of bushes and flowering plants and tall grass.


    The only reason I knew the aliens were getting close was because my vision, coming from the mech''s head, had a decent amount of height and I could see the grass shifting in waves as they moved through it.


    "Looks like it''s gonna be interesting," I said as I finally buckled in properly.


    "Looks like it. We''re far enough from the nest now that I think we can allow ourselves to... shift the terrain a little. In fact, let me set the stage."


    I followed the Fury as Gomorrah moved up and away. She started to fly in a long, arcing curve that stretched out for a kilometre or two. Tiny glints of light caught something falling from the bottom of her car. Then it reached the end and spun around to retrace its path, only to continue on the other side.


    "What''s that all about?" I muttered.


    "I''m creating a wall," she said. When she returned, I could almost feel the relish in her voice. "Like this."


    Gomorrah triggered something, and there was suddenly fire.


    Huge rising balls of flame roared out, the sky flashed orange, and then a wall of smoke burst out of the expanding fire and into the air. She had created kilometres-long firewall. It curved to the left and right, with only one exit... right where we were sitting.


    "That''ll do it," I said. "Will that burn for long enough?" I asked.


    The fire was settling already, though more smoke was still rising.


    "It''ll last," Gomorrah said. "Did you want me to go over the finer details of how this works? The initial explosion was essentially a flash-fire, to destroy anything nearby that can catch fire. Now the firebombs will just keep a much smaller line of fire going for the next twenty to thirty minutes before extinguishing it. It shouldn''t spread if we''re lucky."


    "And if we''re not feeling particularly lucky?" I asked.


    She sighed wistfully. "Forest fire."


    Sometimes I worried.


    ***