Chapter Forty-Nine – Those Who Love Cannons

Chapter Forty-Nine – Those Who Love Cannons

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***

The first thing I did once I was back on the ground floor was to check on the mecha cats. I had a handy app-like bit of software I could tap into that basically gave me a shitty map of the area and showed me where the cat-drones were in relation to me. They were all green, which I figured meant we were safe for the moment.

Then I checked on Grasshopper.

My… friend was leaning up against a wall, legs sprawled out and the nanomachine healing kit sitting on her lap. She had a granola bar in one hand and was chewing it slowly as I approached.

“Hey,” I said. “Feeling better?”

She chewed a few more times, then swallowed. “Yes,” she said. “I suspect I’m dosed with enough painkillers that attempting to operate anything wouldn’t be a wise choice.”

“Yeah, I bet,” I said.

The civilians filed into the area behind me. They were sticking close to each other, like a frightened herd of deer that had just been startled. Their eyes were open the same way, as if the first loud noise they heard would be enough to spook them. Honestly, I couldn’t blame them.

Still, if they were a bit more calm, I’d consider arming them up for their own safety. As it was… that didn’t seem wise.

Grasshopper leaned up so that she could see the civilians better. “There’s… less of them,” she said.

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“Oh.”

It was just one little sound, but the way she said it carried a lot of baggage. I half turned and gestured the civilians away. They were reluctant to move until a few of the cat mechs in the area herded them away.

I knelt down next to Grasshopper. “Are you okay?” I asked.

She considered it, then took a bite of her granola bar and nodded. That was the most I’d get out of her, I figured.

“We need to find a way to get everyone out of here,” I said. “I don’t think we can escort the civvies out to the edge of the city. Not with the wave already on top of us.” I pulled up the Family’s map and winced. They had a separate, more zoomed-in and detailed map of the current area. It was being updated a lot more frequently than their regional map. The wave was already at the space where the wall should have been.

A glance revealed it to be made of hundreds of red pinpricks, some of which winked out. I imagined that the defenders were pretty busy. We were maybe seven hundred metres away from the edge, if we could go in a straight line.

That wouldn’t be possible.

“I’m going to call the Family for backup,” I said. “Bet we can get some mercs to fly a tank over. Then we can load everyone on and send them off to safety.”

“I imagine you’ll want me to go as well?” Grasshopper asked.

“If you think you need it,” I said. “Personally… I don’t know what I’d do. But I’m both stupid and hardheaded, which I’ve been told is about as attractive as it is annoying. You always struck me as being pretty smart. Smarter than I am, so I’m not gonna tell you what to do.”

Grasshopper chuckled. “Thank you, Stray Cat.”

“Just Cat,” I said.

She nodded, plopped the last of her bar into her mouth, then made a shooing gesture at me. “Make that call, Cat,” she said.

I did as she asked, climbing to my feet and walking over to the edge of the room where I pulled up Laserjack’s number. I dialled and hoped he wasn’t so busy that he’d just ignore the call. It rang twice before he picked up.

“Are you going to die in the next ten seconds?” Laserjack said, his voice gruff and not ready to take anyone’s shit.