Guiding star: The die is cast (Part 10)
You can read the previous part here.
There was still a disgusting smell of burnt flesh, mixed with the stench of melted metal and burnt rubber over the remains of the destroyed convoy. Looking at the remains of the destroyed cars, Ochre pulled her hood deeper on her head and shievered, even though the sun was burning mercilessly from the cloudless skies. As she sat down beside one of the cars, she carefully ran her gloved fingers along the edges of the huge breach in the hull, trying to ignore what was left of the driver and passengers.
— Yes, without a doubt, it’s the work of energy weapons again… The metal... melted and leaked in a certain way, puncturing holes.
Muttering to herself, the woman was gathering information in equal measure and trying to distract herself from all the horror of the picture of devastation that had forced her and Foxy to cancel their journey home. Thinking about the reasons for stopping the ship, she involuntarily turned her thoughts on what her friend was doing at the moment.
— Ochre! Ochre! There’s a survivor! Help me, quick!
Hearing this scream, the Seeker jumped up and rushed from the place so quickly that the hood flew off her head. Raising clouds of dust with her boots and trying not to get caught on any debris, Ochre slid between the car wrecks and finally found Foxy... trying to pull a man who was bleeding and grunting from under an overturned vehicle. After a quick exchange of glances, they joined forces and were able to free the wounded from the iron trap. The pile of metal settled on the ground with a terrible rumble.
It was enough for Ochre to take one look at the clothes of the rescued man, pierced with bullets in many places and smeared with soot and blood, and his face white as a sheet of paper, to know that he is not going to make it. Foxy began to scour her waist in search of the first aid kit, but her partner’s negative gesture made her realize that it was futile. The girl kicked one of the destroyed cars with anger and turned away, stroking the invisible rat sitting on her shoulder and trying to calm down. Ochre sat down next to the wounded and looked him straight in the eyes.
— What happened here, fighter? You were ambushed by the Ravagers?
The man, having heard the question, tried to focus his gaze on the Seeker’s face, and then suddenly laughed. His laughter almost immediately turned into a tearing cough, and blood spurted from his mouth onto his already soiled clothes.
— Ambushed? It wasn’t an ambush... The iron beasts came at us so quickly, and there were so many of them... And there were cars of these... Syndicate. But… something... strange about them…
The speech of the wounded became more and more incoherent. Ochre unfastened the flask with water from her belt and, unscrewing the cap, brought the neck to the man’s lips. He took a few greedy sips and coughed again.
— There was no ambush, girl. They were just... going about their business... and then we turned up. And they, they didn’t… stop… crushed us like flies…
With each word, the man’s voice weakened until it became completely silent. His head fell on his chest and blood gushed from the corners of his mouth, which was frozen in a grim smile. Ochre twisted her shoulders and gently slid her hand over the face of the deceased, lowering her eyelids to the eyes that had stopped seeing anything.
— May the Supreme Explorer accept you, survivor... We’ll get revenge. I promise.
The prayer was interrupted by Foxy’s gloomy voice:
— So now what? It’s easy to promise, but what are we going to do?
The Seeker turned to her partner and, frowning, circled the carnage around her with her hand.
— For both the Syndicate and Lloyd, we are nothing more than insects. Some of them study us, tingle us on pins and expand their collections, while others simply crush us when we get under their feet. And it won’t end until the survivors fight back — together. I don’t know what we’re going to do. But we have to do something, or soon the whole Valley will look like this.
Ochre waved her hand in anger and turned away from the corpse that had just been a living person, whose hopes and desires — like so many others — had been ruthlessly destroyed by indifferent machines.
— We’re going back to the ship. We saw everything we could here.
There was a surprise waiting for the girls on the bridge — a flashing signal of an incoming call. Looking at Foxy, Ochre pressed the response button — and flinched, hearing Cash’s distorted, but recognizable voice.
— Seeker...
The old hunter’s voice completely dissipated among the interference. And Ochre turned to Foxy in shock, stunned, frozen with a hand reaching out to pet Bunny.
— That’s where the Ravagers are rushing to! We’ll have to split up. We must immediately notify the survivors — and, most importantly, the Engineers! They contacted you just recently about fixing your car, right? I’ll drop you off at the rendezvous point, and you’ll switch to your armoured car there. And I’ll be on my way to the Order. I have no right to decide such matters by myself.
Foxy tried to say a word, but the Seeker didn’t even let her open her mouth, cutting the air firmly with her hand.
— We must act neutral, but the Engineers can act, and they can act now! Tell them everything we’ve learned about the Ravagers, the Syndicate’s treachery,about how great the threat is. And… Yes, give them this!
Without giving Foxy or, most importantly, herself any time to reflect and change her mind, Ochre poked the flash drive into the hands of her partner, which she took reflexively.
— This is all the data Cash has gathered on the Ravagers. It includes the coordinates of their base — if there’s a place where you can find the missing parts of the puzzle, then it’s there. I hope this is enough.
Foxy shook her head and sadly grinned.
— I knew that you would find an excuse to evade the drinks in the “Keyhole”. Aren’t you going to get in trouble for that? You Seekers seem to have no right to interfere with the matters of other survivors, and this is exactly what you’re doing…
Ochre only laughed in response, but tried not to look her friend in the eyes.
— Don’t worry, I just passed the information of one survivor to another survivor. And who will know about this? You and I are going to celebrate the happy end of this story!