Alliance (17 page)

I find that I do not particularly care.
While Reunification has harmed me in worse ways than the
Foundation, my trust for the Foundation is still quite limited.
They have continually refused to tell me all of the facts; I do not
even know why they are fighting Reunification or what they hope to
achieve by doing so. It makes no sense to me to ally with them when
they have not trusted me at all, as if I am a child that cannot be
trusted. I'd rather take my chance with the Delanian public that
thinks I am a murderer than stay with this Foundation that does not
trust me in the least.

Scanners indicate that the temperature is
gradually lowering the further down I climb. There must not be any
central heating down here, which supports my earlier belief that
this place is supposed to be a secret. I make sure my own internal
heating systems are keeping my body at a warm temperature, however,
because I have no interest in freezing down here.

After a couple of minutes of climbing, I
finally see the bottom of the shaft, and in another minute, I rest
my feet on the floor. It is made of old, cracked concrete, which
surprises me because Delanians do not use concrete often in the
construction of their buildings. Then again, the agents who make up
the Foundation hardly seem like typical Delanians to me.

I turn around and see a long hallway
stretching down quite a ways. A corner at the end of the hall turns
out of my sight, but my sensors do not indicate any living
creatures are down here. I appear to be completely alone in this
shaft, but appearances can be deceiving, so I move forward
cautiously, prepared to fight in case something tries to take me by
surprise.

This tunnel is quite plain, perhaps
because it is only meant to be used as an emergency escape route.
Still, Delanian architecture tends to place a heavy emphasis on
symbols and carvings in their buildings, though again, the
Foundation probably does not care about that sort of thing due to
their mysterious nature.

Although I walk cautiously, I also walk
quickly, making my way to the end of the hall as quickly as
possible. After all, my sensors already show me that I am alone
down here, and with no idea about the progress of the battle above,
I cannot waste time in escaping. Whether the Foundation wins or
Reunification wins, I must escape and return to Xeeo, where I will
be safe at last.

When I turn the corner, I discover a
closed metal door a few feet away from me. It is the only exit I
can see, so I walk toward it without hesitation. Before opening the
door, however, I scan it quickly. When the scan reveals nothing out
of the ordinary about this door, I grab the handle and pull it
open.

As soon as I do, I am assaulted by a blast
of cold wind and snow, which briefly obscures my optics before I
wipe it off. I then stick my head outside to look at the
environment I am about to walk into.

It appears that I have emerged into the
Winterlands, because I see snow everywhere, violently whirling
about in the air and making it impossible to see anything except a
wall of white. The sky is dark, partly thanks to the heavy cloud
cover, but also due to the fact that the sun appears to be setting.
My sensors indicate that the temperature is dropping even faster
out here than it is inside, which makes me pull my head back in and
close the door shut.

This is not good. Walking out into this
blizzard will freeze me in my tracks, because even my internal
heating systems are not enough to combat -20 degree (and constantly
lowering) temperatures, at least for very long. There is a high
probability that I will end up freezing out there and being buried
underneath tons of snow, perhaps forever, unless the Foundation
wins this battle and rescues me.

But what else am I supposed to do? I
suppose I can wait in here until the storm dies down, but the
mobile Database's files say that Winterlands blizzards can last for
weeks at a time. I do not have weeks to wait around until this
storm lasts; not even the battle between the Foundation and
Reunification will last that long.

Logically, I have only one choice, which
is to take my chances with the blizzard outside and hope I can find
a cave or some place else to wait out the storm. Then I can figure
out where to go from there.

So, preparing myself for the task ahead, I
raise my internal body temperature up as high as I can without
burning or melting my interior, and then grab the handle. I pull
the door open and immediately dash outside into the blizzard.

-

Visibility is zero out here. As I run, my
optics can see nothing except the white snow that is swirling in
the air and falling like an avalanche. My audio receptors hear
nothing except the howling of the wind, which makes it impossible
to hear anything else that might be nearby.

Not only that, but the snow is quite deep
already. With every step I take, I sink up to my knees, which
always requires a great effort from me to pull my legs out of. This
slows my progress considerably more than I like, although I press
forward nonetheless, occasionally using the jets in my feet to melt
the snow. I try not to do that much in order to conserve my
fuel.

I almost consider flying through this
mess, but then realize that flying through an unknown territory
with zero visibility is an idiotic move. It is better to keep
walking forward with both of my feet on the ground than it is to
fly and possibly crash into a normally easily avoidable rock wall
or mountain peak.

As for my joints, sensors indicate that
snow is starting to find its way into them. My internal heating
system melts the snow, of course, but it is only a matter of time
before I am frozen entirely and buried underneath the tons of snow
pouring from the sky above. I must find shelter quickly.

But I cannot spot any caves or anywhere
else for me to wait out the storm. The snow in the air and the
darkness of the area makes it practically impossible for me to see
my hands in front of my face, much less anything else. Maybe it
would have been better for me to wait back inside the base, but
there is no way I can find my way back there in this weather. I
must instead push forward and hope that I do not walk into
something dangerous. Even my sensors are unable to show what is
ahead of me, mostly because the howling wind and thick snow blocks
it.

And then, when I take another step
forward, my foot does not find any ground and I fall forward over
the edge of a cliff despite my best efforts to catch myself. As I
fall head over heels, the snow swirls around me and my sensors are
unable to tell the difference between up and down and which
direction I am falling in.

I do not scream, nor do I feel any fear;
instead, I activate my rocket boosters in an effort to cushion my
landing. I then shoot through the air and slam face-first into a
solid rock wall that I cannot see in the snow.

The impact of the blow makes me bounce off
the wall, causing me to fall backwards through the air again.
System scanners indicate my optics were slightly damaged in the
collision with the wall, but I have no way to repair them. I
instead activate my boosters again, deciding to focus on repairing
my optics as soon as I leave these mountains.

This time, I adjust the strength of the
boosters so I do not go flying uncontrollably through the air
again. I try to float in the air, try to lower myself to the ground
as carefully as possible, but the air and the snowy conditions make
this difficult. The wind is blowing at 35 miles per hour, while the
poor visibility makes it impossible for me to tell with any
accuracy how far I am above the ground.

As a result, an unusually strong gust of
wind knocks me over and I find myself falling again. This time, I
have no time to activate my boosters again because I land hard on a
thick pile of snow. The impact, while harsh, is not as bad as it
would have been if I had not used my boosters to break my fall or
if I had fallen on the earth.

Even so, system warnings indicate that my
left leg has been damaged by the fall. It is still operational and
should continue to support my weight, but it would be smart for me
to have a qualified J bot technician look it over and make any
adjustments as necessary.

But there are no qualified J bot
technicians nearby, aside from Konoa, and he is nowhere near here.
I will have to avoid putting too much stress on it until I can have
a technician repair it.

I rise to my feet and look around at the
area I have fallen into. It appears I have fallen into some sort of
canyon or gorge, albeit not a wide one, because the wind is not
blowing fiercely down here and the snow is not blowing in my face.
It is still extremely cold, but at least my visibility is no longer
as poor as it once was.

Above, I can see the snow swirling through
the air and hear the howling winds. I can fly up there if I want,
but I decide that it makes more sense to stay down here and wait
out the storm rather than fly back up into that blizzard. While
staying in one place might make it easier for the Foundation or
Reunification to find me, I doubt any of them are planning on
searching for me in this storm. Most likely, they will leave me
alone for now, although I must still find shelter because even down
here, the snow is terrible.

That is when I spot a large cave mouth on
the opposite side of the canyon. An overhanging rock above the cave
mouth appears to keep out most of the snow, so I decide to make
that place my temporary shelter until the storm passes.

I make my way over to the cave without
delay, as the snow down here is not nearly as deep as the snow
above. Although it is slightly slippery, I manage to keep my
balance and avoid falling over on my way over to the cave
mouth.

Ducking to avoid scraping my head against
the overhanging rock, I step into the cave. As soon as I do, the
howling wind outside becomes muted, although the temperature drops
even lower in here, most likely due to its small interior keeping
the cold air in.

Before I go in any deeper, I do a brief
scan of the cave. While it appears uninhabited, I am not in any
mood to stumble upon some dangerous animal in here that will attack
me for invading its territory.

Scan complete. Results: There are no
living creatures in here at the moment, although there are the
unidentifiable bones of some deceased creature—perhaps a dwarf,
based on their thickness, although they are so old and incomplete
that it is hard to tell—toward the back. The scan also reports
dried blood stains on the ceiling and back walls, but again, I do
not know what the blood may have belonged to because it is too old
to determine its original species.

But aside from the bones and the blood,
this cave shows no signs of being the home of any sort of creature.
Therefore, it is safe to use it as shelter until the blizzard
passes.

I walk to the back of the cave, as far
from the howling wind and swirling snow outside as possible, and
then turn and sit against the back wall. Energy levels are at
sixty-nine percent at this point, which is a good energy level,
although it is a reminder that I will need to return to Xeeo as
soon as possible if I do not want to run out of power here in the
middle of nowhere.

Yet I cannot continue my journey with the
snow whirling around outside. Instead, I decide to go into sleep
mode in order to conserve energy. I doubt anything will assault me
here, after all, seeing as nothing lives in this case. I can also
set up my heating systems to keep operating while I rest so my
joints do not freeze due to lack of movement as I rest.

Still, I decide to set a definite time for
me to wake up from sleep mode. Mobile Database records tell me that
Winterlands blizzards can last up to three days, but sometimes can
be as short as eight hours, so I decide to set my alarm for eight
hours. If the blizzard is still raging even after that time, then I
can simply go back to sleep.

Entering sleep mode in five … four … three
… two … one …

-

When I awaken, I notice that my interior
alarm still has at least an hour left on it. That makes me wonder
why I have left sleep mode when I notice something pale-skinned and
winged standing over me, raising its claws above its head like it
is about to attack me.

Without waiting, I raise my right hand and
fire twin finger lightning bolts at the creature. It vanishes into
the shadows before my lightning bolts can hit it, however, and then
reappears several feet away, hissing and growling at me like an
angry bear.

I rise to my feet and observe the creature
as it hisses at me. As I noted before, it is pale and winged, but
also humanoid, with crimson eyes and stained red lips. In addition,
my scan picks up traces of snow bear blood on its lips, which
confirms this creature's identity: It is an arctic vampire.

According to the mobile Database, arctic
vampires are vampires that live primarily in the Delanian
Winterlands and other cold climates. Due to their viciousness
toward outsiders, there is not much information on their language,
customs, or social structures, although it is known that they suck
blood and never show mercy to their prey. It is not known exactly
how they procreate, either, because no infant or youthful arctic
vampires have ever been seen before.

This is the first time I have seen an
arctic vampire in person. Its movements are jerky and unnatural,
which makes it seem more robotic than organic, although I have seen
robots with more life in them than this creature. Still, I am not
fooled; the mobile Database's records state that arctic vampires
are known to be strong enough to tear apart robots with metalligick
plating. Therefore, I cannot let my guard down around this
creature, no matter how pathetic or strange it may look.