Chapter Thirty-One – The Bigger They Are

Chapter Thirty-One – The Bigger They Are

“They say they want to uplift humanity. Yeah, okay. Sure. That’s nice. And how do they go about this? Give randos some space guns?

It’s all connecting, can’t you see? They don’t want to uplift us, they want to see what we do with their toys! And then they’re gonna steal our memes!”

–4Chan comment on the /ET/ board, 2021

***

There was no time like the present, but there was also something to say about being ready.

I made sure my Trench Maker was tucked up tight in the back of my pants, that the bulkier Sparrow was ready and had its safety off, and that the four grenades I’d bought (at five points each, they’d flung my point count down to fifty) were bulging out of my pocket.

When I’d asked for something that could break the bridge off the side of the building, Myalis had suggested something called a Spatially-Locked Graphene Garrot. It looked like a little cylindre with a thick black band around it, and, according to my AI friend, it would absolutely fuck up the local architecture without actually exploding.

I had other toys. One was a little two-point thing that looked like a ping-pong ball designed by Salvador Dhali. It had a pretty red button on top, the sort that screamed ‘press me’ without needing any labels.

My thumb squeezed the top of the ball and it started to vibrate in little bursts, once a second, then twice, and shaking faster. A silent countdown.

I flung the ball as hard as I could towards the far end of the cafeteria.

It bounced off the ground once, then skid across the floor under it stopped next to one of those wooden boxes used to hide trash cans.

The ball glowed a deep red, then began to hiss. “Oh no, Sally, your leg! — It’s okay! We can make it! Help me up. — You’re bleeding out. What if they come?”

I blinked as I listened to the terribly scripted discussion coming from the ball.

“What?” I asked as I dipped back down.

The Mark I Audio-Scent Lure is meant to attract all sorts of Antithesis, including those intelligent enough to parse basic human speech.

Well, that was fucking terrifying.

A Model Three rushed over to the trash can and started sniffing around, then a few more joined it. One of the Model Fours carrying a body dropped it and came closer too.

It was working. Not perfectly. Some of the models were coming closer but didn’t join the huddle, others just eyed things from afar.

That was good enough for me. I just needed them distracted for a moment.

Reaching into a back pocket, I pulled out a grenade. It was small, just a ball with a tab above it. Myalis called it a Directed Chemical Laser Grenade, It was silent, which is what mattered to me.

The grenade bounced and rolled, then slid off to the side when one of the Model Threes stepped next to it.

I ducked down and waited. The room lit up as if someone had just turned on the edgiest disco ball ever for a couple of seconds. No sound came, but the floor bounced and the faint scent of burning Antithesis flesh wafted by.

Now I just needed to finish the rest off. The Sparrow landed atop the counter with a clunk. One of the nearest Model Threes turned to stare my way.