Sarah7

Ch27

“You are very close now, Sarah. I can sense your presence.” Orna said clearly and calmly in Sarah’s earpiece.

They had been travelling for a day and a half, almost non-stop the whole time. Sarah was growing increasingly excited as she watched the distance between her and Orna shrink in her eyepiece overlay. No stranger to physical activity, both Creed and Captain Danner had been forced to physically stop Sarah from continuing on after they had stopped for a break several times.

Sarah didn’t know how to process what she was feeling now. Excitement, anxiety, fear. She hardly talked to anyone else now, except for Orna. Max had become almost completely silent, and virtually ignored Creed and Captain Danner when they asked him to scout about the terrain as they progressed to the site of the Last Battle.

It was not all trees and wilderness. They passed through several long abandoned towns. The roads were mere remnants, as nature had methodically cracked, worn away, or burst through the concrete with trees and weeds. Houses were also barely recognizable - being mostly collapsed square enclosures most of the time, with an occasional well preserved building standing out like a lone sentinel of the past - daring them to enter and gain some measure of knowledge of the terrible disaster that had befallen the planet.

“Why is there nobody here?” Sarah had asked.

“The Vixen harvested everyone from this area long ago. Nobody in their right mind would come here now.” Captain Danner had replied. Creed had exchanged a significant glance with Captain Danner before moving on.

Sara had stumbled across a stuffed animal - a small child’s stuffed bear - with one eye missing and most of its stuffing lost to a gaping hole in its side. For some reason, Sarah couldn’t put it down after she found it. The thoughts of the small child that must have held it close when the end came had given her nightmares later that night.

They were coming to a city that had been called Kansas City. The initial attack of the Vixen had taken out most of the major cities of the world in just a few hours. Smaller cities had served as sanctuaries, at least until the final battle had ended the war, and led humanity to slavery and slow death. Creed passed the time talking to Sarah about the wars, with Captain Danner filling in details as they went.

Sarah only half listened to their conversations. She had thoughts only of Orna. She had gone from feeling powerless and alone in this world to having a glimmer of hope that she dared not acknowledge consciously.

“How will I see you, Orna? Are you buried somewhere? Why has no one come to get you?” Sarah said into her mouthpiece.

Creed stared at the back of Sarah’s head as they travelled. He was worried about her. She had visibly lost weight over the past few days, and her eyes were wrinkled and puffy from apparently crying at night. Creed and Captain Danner kept watch, although Max could handle just about any wild animal or other trouble. Creed couldn’t bring himself to depend too closely on the mech.

“Sarah.” Orna seemed to sigh into her earpiece. “You will have no trouble finding me.” Then a long pause. “I miss you so.”

Sarah wondered why Orna said those things. How could Orna miss her? They had never met before now, and if what Max had said was true, Orna was simply an artificial intelligence embedded in the device that housed The Weapon. But she knew why. Orna was not a machine. Somehow, deep within her, there was a stirring. Something she knew was not some result of genetic conditioning, or artificial memories. Something else. She had no frame of reference. But she just KNEW Orna was ... alive.

Sarah shuddered. “We’re coming soon. We may have to make camp again before a final push to see you. Can you wait?”

“Oh Sarah, I have been waiting centuries. A few hours is both nothing and an eternity. You must come, Sarah. I need you. And, you need me.” Orna said breathily into her earpiece.

“Hey! Sarah!” Creed called.

Sarah yelped and turned toward Creed with irritation.

“What?” she snapped.

“If you are done having your little chat with your magical weapon, you might want to think twice about taking that next step.” Creed retorted dryly.

Sarah turned back around and gaped. She had been looking at the ground as she walked and had missed the expanse that had opened up before her. They were cresting the top of a hill overlooking Kansas City. Or a better description would be of what used to be Kansas City.

Just a few feet from where Sarah was standing the ground just ... stopped. Before them yawned what could only be desribed as a 10 mile wide crater. A circular expanse of nothingness greeted their eyes.

“Damn. What could have caused this?” Captain Danner said as he caught up with the rest of the party.

Max stepped to the edge and pointed a claw toward the center of the crater. “Orna. The Weapon.”

Sarah shuddered again and swallowed hard. What was she getting herself into? She suddenly began to have second thoughts about rushing headlong into discovering a device that could cause such mind boggling devastation. She wanted to save the planet, not destroy it.

“Sarah. I can see you. You must come. I miss you so.” Orna said plaintively into her earpiece.

Sarah bit her lip.

“Listen, Orna. We are going to set up camp here on the edge of the crater. It’s going to be a hard march to get to you and we’re tired. Is that ok with you?” Sarah said, with a bit of quaver in her voice.

“Do not be afraid Sarah. You must come. Please hurry.”

Creed touched Sarah’s arm.

“Sarah, do you know what you are doing? What the hell is that thing?” Creed asked.

“I don’t know.” she answered as she gazed across the immense crater. Her sensitive vision could pick up nothing in the distance, but she could FEEL Orna out there. It would not be hard to find her. Whatever she was.

-------------------------------------------------------

As the sun rose on the next morning, they made their way down the crater wall. Sarah yelped as soon as her feet touched the black surface of the crater, as her bodysuit slid up and over her mouth and nose to form an air filter. Max cautioned the others to get cloths to cover their faces. The dark powdery surface was infused with glass particles that could cut their lungs to ribbons.

After sliding down, down, and still further down they finally made it to the floor of the crater. Their feet made crunching sounds as they broke through the thin surface of glass that lie just beneath the black powdery surface. There was nothing alive here. The ground was smooth and featureless, but wind blew dust around in little tornados that were more deadly than they seemed, due to the glass infused within the dust.

Creed gestured for Sarah to stand by her. “We need to get in and out quickly Sarah. There’s a storm coming from the west. If we are caught in here during a storm, it would probably kill us.” His eyes were filled with worry, and more than a bit of fear. He pointed to the dark clouds in the distance.

Sarah nodded and turned to Max. “Max, can you take me there quickly? Creed, you and Captain Danner go back and wait outside the crater. I can travel with Max more safely.”

“Yes, Sarah. Of course.” Max sounded very reluctant, but nevertheless crouched down and released the hatch in his back compartment.

Creed pulled Sarah close gently and looked into her eyes. “Be careful, Sarah.”

She nodded and gave Creed a small hug before clambering up into the compartment.

That same feeling of claustrophobia followed by a strange release - and then a double awareness of herself, and Max - almost as one - threatened to overwhelm her senses again. But this time she knew a bit more of what to expect, and she gritted her teeth to avoid losing herself again.

Sarah/Max turned and waved to Creed and Captain Danner, then carefully trod forward towards the center of the crater. Picking up speed as they left the two men behind and taking less care given that the dust had no effect on Max’s tough exterior.

“Oh Sarah. You are almost here. It is so good to see you. Please hurry.” Orna said into her earpiece.

“Max, do you hear Orna, too?” She asked.

“Yes, Sarah. I do.” He replied.

“Orna, do you know Max? He’s my friend.” Sarah asked. They were travelling very fast now as Max’s legs dug deeply into the flat dead landscape and churned up a huge dust cloud behind them.

“Yes. Sarah. I know Max. He does not like me.” Orna said. She had an odd tone in her voice. Almost as a child might speak of an angry uncle, or a teacher that had scolded her once.

“Oh, why is that?” Sarah asked.

“He is afraid of me.” Orna said.

Sarah continued on silently. She wondered if Max would volunteer any information, but that hope was short lived when Sarah saw that she had arrived.

The sight that met her eyes left her speechless. They had reached the center of the crater, there was no doubt in her mind. There were no other features for miles, except before her was a slightly raised mound. Her fusion with Max revealed it was pure glass, and it was the top of a pillar of glass that stretched downward for miles underground .

Atop this mound was something that her eyes could only describe as a sword. If one had made a sword for a small giant, and covered it with all manner of lights, intricate lattice workings of circuitry, and dull, burnished metal.

Abruptly, Max spoke to Sarah.

“I’m sorry Sarah. I’m very sorry.”

“Stop it. I don’t know why you have been in some weird mood for all this time, but I need you. I need you to help me. I can’t do this alone.”

“I know.” Max replied.

Sarah made the mental shift that signaled that she wanted to exit.

Wires disengaged, her body suit again moved to cover her nose and mouth. She rolled backwards out of Max and landed deftly on her feet in a short somersault.

“Sarah. Oh it has been so long. Why? Why did you leave me? I have missed you so.” Orna said.

Sarah started. Orna’s voice was no longer in her earpiece, but coming from the large metal device protruding from the ground. The wind was picking up. The storm in the distance was closing rapidly. Sarah heard the distant rumbling of thunder.

“What - what are you? ” Sarah shouted into the wind. Her mask muffled the sound slightly.

“I am Orna. Your sword.”

Sarah gasped. There was a large handle - like a sword hilt at the top of the device, and something was grasping that hilt.

Realization came over her like a cold terror down her spine. All at once she knew what had happened on that terrible day. The last battle.

Tears ran down her face freely, as she walked up to the device and carefully released the skeletal hand that still held the ‘sword’ firmly. That hand was attached to an arm, and that arm to a torso. That torso was covered by the windblown and tattered remains of a bodysuit. One just like hers.

“It’s Sarah 6, isn’t it Max? ” She wasn’t asking.

“Yes, Sarah. It is” Max replied.

The wind was picking up. Sarah’s hair whipped back and forth under the wind’s increasing fury.

“Why?” She yelled.

“What is wrong Sarah? Are you mad at me? Please don’t leave me again.” Orna’s voice was pleading.

“She was trying to save you. To buy time. She was trying to stop the war.” Max said into her earpiece.

Sarah’s lips quivered in emotion as she put the tattered remains of Sarah 6 on the ground. The stuffed bear she had tied to her belt flapped back and forth in the wind. She reached down and unclasped it carefully, then placed it atop Sarah 6′s remains. She fastened it firmly to the bodysuit.

“She was trying to stop the Vixen.” Max said.

Sarah closed her eyes and clenched her fists. Sarah 6 had not asked for this, had not wanted to die. But she had sacrificed herself for HER. She was not going to let her death be meaningless. Not now. Not ever.

Abruptly, she stood up and grasped the handle of the giant sword. Lightning played across the sky and the first drops of rain began to fall.

Something pierced her hand and she gasped in pain.

‘DNA sample complete. Confirm user Sarah. Mark 7. Initiate transport mode.’ A strange voice sounded in her head. It was not from her earpiece.

Suddenly the sword came free from its glassy anchor. The top of the mound cracked with a report like a gunshot, and the sword came free in her hand. It felt light, airy. Almost -

Alive?

Sarah lifted the sword above her head and felt a power well within her like nothing she had felt before. This was not a power like a gun, or her merging with Max. This was something different. Like tapping into the ocean. Like knowing the darkness between the stars was not emptiness but instead an immense sea of energy, and light, and life.

“Orna, my sword. My weapon. I have returned for you. I also have missed you.” Sarah said as she held the sword high. It was impossibly large. But somehow built into the device must be some form of antigravity....

The red lights all across the Weapon changed from angry red to placid blue. “I am ready Sarah. ” Orna said.

“So. Am. I.” Sarah said as rain flowed freely down the salty traces of her cheeks, and lightning chased the angry clouds across the grey sky.

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