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"Screaming Metal" is published! Get the WHOLE story in one easy-to-read file (PDF/epub/mobi available for one price). Professionally edited, and beta read. Currently available on Itchio and DriveThruFiction as ebooks. No acct necessary for Itchio; PayPal/CC secure. First 50% available to read for free at same sites (PDF).

In the far future on a distant world...

It was to be a quick, if not deceptive, dig for an alien AI braincore, then someone tried to kill Pree & her crew.

Sci-fi action / mecha (large robots) thriller.

Itchio

DriveThruFiction

That roll, however, was intended to buy the moment or two the Alley Cat needed to kick on its thrusters.

Stuck on her butt in an awkward position, a frantic Priyanka still managed to magnetically lock herself to the cargo bay wall and floor.

As Deshel put the ship through evasive maneuvers, she screwed her eyes shut and scowled.

It was only then that she noticed the prickling burn crawling over her skin. She knew what it was, and realization brought bile to her throat.

It was the after effect of powerful laser fire far too close to the human body.

While there were no visible trauma, she shivered from the near-death experience. She couldn't calm it.

The atoms of her body had been brought to the edge of the excited state where they would've released their energy if pushed any further.

In other words, she had been just this side of being vaporized.

In that moment she would have ceased to exist; become light, ever expanding across the universe.

The shivering was relentless, weakening. She voiced it, grunting under her breath.

Her skin crawled as if covered in insects. She wanted to shed it, be rid of it, and not think about how close she had just come to death.

Claimjumpers were nothing new. She'd had guns shoved in her face more than once since that fateful day Sakal had saved her life.

It never ceased to frighten her, however; any fool not afraid of a weapon is not long for this universe.

But more than frightened, she was angry.

The current situation was about as dangerous as it could get. ScrapHounds, the authorities, angry yokels; they were all part of the job.

And there was little about the job she could not handle. But rare was situation where warships actually fired on you.

This whole scenario had an aura different from any she had previously encountered. This one seemed personal.

So be it. She'd already decided she wasn't going to be run off by either radio broadcast parlor tricks or traitors in her midst.

These farmers could raise a fleet if they wanted. Priyanka would show them how a professional finished a job.

Drawing breath through gritted teeth, she stood and stored the exosuit.

The Alley Cat now underway, she allowed the nullgrav auto-handrail to half-drag her through the corridor to the bridge.

"Report."

Suen said, "The dirtsuckers fired on us a second time, but the shot went wild. I was just about to return the favor."

Priyanka didn't hesitate, "Belay."

The fire in Suen's eyes told Priyanka the other woman was on the verge of disobeying. "I appreciate it, Suen, but hold."

"Stay with me. I need you right now. Don't worry, we aren't running. Not a chance." She turned to Deshel, "Distance."

Deshel's voice was steely. Unlike Suen, who took to bar fights like breathing, combat wasn't his forte. "Eight minutes and falling behind."

Priyanka dropped into her command couch and launched the interface, scanning the data from Suen and Deshel's consoles.

Deshel continued, "Five minutes until orbital velocity. Until the–"

Priyanka spoke a plain, simple sentence that spoke volumes. "They're stopping."

Deshel's voice faltered, "E-excuse me?"

Suen growled, "Over the pit."

Priyanka narrowed her eyes as she brought up a visual of the old warship settling over her claim.

"Someone knows why we're out here." Her voice was cold; not inviting comment.

For several minutes the bridge was quiet. There was no mistaking now that someone aboard had betrayed them.

Priyanka's fingers punched with anger as she worked her keyboard.

Deshel started to speak. "Pree, we can be in or–"

On the interface, Priyanka flicked a map with a link to blinking coordinates to both her crew members. "Put us down here."

"But you're still attached to the ship. If we take off–" Suen protested.

"You let me worry about that. Do you read me?"

There was a pause and then both Suen and Deshel piped up over the commset, "Yes, ma'am."

"Good." Priyanka smiled. Their earlier quarrels forgotten, her crewmen were back to working like a team.

Below her, voices cried out for repair, repeated call signs, and buzzed incoherently. Simple repeating messages that were gibberish to her.

But what did they mean to the Metal – if indeed it were Il'on making them? Were they a signal? Did they hold some significance?

Was this mishmash rambling being broadcast? If so, why? What could it mean? To it, or anyone who might pick it up?

Priyanka had just placed her hand on the lip of the crevasse when the dusk went supernova.

Every hair on her body stood as a tingling sensation raced through her limbs. Soon her entire body was enveloped by the feeling.

Every inch of her became airy and incorporeal as if she might cease to exist at any moment.

She felt herself grow lighter. The weight of the exosuit was gone and the planet's gravity let go of her.

The phenomenon continued until she felt as if she might simply lift from the surface of Shake Hands and drift forever upon cosmic winds.

The entirety of her being felt as if it were spread across a vast, unrestricted distance, reaching well beyond the planet's solar system.

There was no heat or cold. No light or darkness. But there was speed and coherence.

She felt as one with the universe. A natural element of it. The complete opposite of the awkward existence that she normally inhabited.

Then the light was gone. Reality collapsed inward, imploding into the form her consciousness understood as Priyanaka.

Somewhere in the distance, there was an ominous rumbling.

She didn't need to be told what had happened; the other ship had fired on them – and missed, deliberately or not, she did not know.

What she did know though was that she needed to be out of the hole in the next few seconds or she was as good as dead.

Planting her feet, she scrambled over the edge just as a shockwave that ripped through the junkyard, throwing her into the air.

She came down in a controlled roll, saved by the exoskeleton's autogyro system and watched as half a side of the crevasse caved.

The ground bucked and buckled as she stood and raced to the elevator.

Deshel swore over his commset, "Pree!"

"I'm still with you!" She called back, activating the elevator.

"Suen, are they lifting to block our take off?"

"No. They're still hugging the ground pretty hard. I'm not sure if they are extremely stupid or extremely skilled," Suen replied.

"Likely afraid of taking her too high." Priyanka gritted her teeth as she flopped to the floor, still in the exosuit.

"Let's hope that last shot was an intentional warning, because if they're playing games with us, we don't stand a chance," Deshel warned.

"I'm aboard, get us out of here already!" The junk-merc all but screamed into her commset.

"Hang on!" Deshel's voice was strong and confident, like his handling of the Alley Cat.

The ship shifted from its holding-hover pattern to maneuvering thrusters.

Built for agility and speed, it quickly lifted and performed a barrel roll intended to throw off any targeting locks.

On a ship the size of the one on approach, it would only be a matter of seconds before they had a lock once more.

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If this was indeed Il'on, then it would have been on Shake Hands well before the colonists.

It made sense. If it could broadcast over the local radio waves, then it could listen in on them too.

It had probably picked up and been listening to the voices of humans on Shake Hands for over a century.

It was aping, but to what end? What would be the point of trying to communicate with the planetsiders?

No Metal had ever communicated with humans. Because, of course, no functioning Metal had ever been found.

It was common knowledge. Every school kid across the galaxy knew this. Unless everyone was being lied to.

She shook her head. She was letting her thoughts get away from her. She wasn't thinking straight, which wasn't like her at all.

Functioning or not – which Il'on was not – it didn't matter. The job entailed bringing back a braincore. Full stop.

Suen broke the silence, interrupting Priyanka's thoughts. "Pree, Deshel, we've got company!"

ScrapHounds, thought Priyanka. She frowned. Time had run out. She should have been preparing for the next day.

"Stupid, stupid." She ground her jaw in exasperation. "Alright, Suen. See if you can't distract the ScrapHounds with another chase pack."

"This isn't a ScrapHound, Pree. You need to get up here right now. We have a starship on surface approach."

In slight disbelief, Priyanka keyed Suen's channel. "Did you say 'surface approach', as in not from orbit?"

"Correct," Suen replied.

A starship? On ShakeHands? The locals had zero interest in leaving the planet, and had cannibalized their colony ships for parts.

Moreover they had no defensive navy, so where had they gotten the starship?

Priyanka began her ascent – a careful balance of speed and dexterity, utilizing her feet to maneuver. "Configuration?"

"Looks to be an older model, Zmisposa-class. She's moving pretty slow, and hugging the ground, which is why I didn't see her until just now."

"How far out?"

"About ten minutes until arrival, three until firing range." Suen emphasized the latter, knowing it to be far more important.

Three minutes to climb out and get aboard the Alley Cat. A little too close for comfort.

She bit her lip and increased cable retraction speed. Almost immediately Deshel came over the comm.

"Not too fast, Pree. You won't be able to maneuver out of the way if something comes down.

"If I'm not out of this hole in three minutes, it won't matter. Get aboard the Alley Cat and be ready to take off if I tell you to."

"We're not going to leave you here, Pree," Deshel protested.

Priyanka almost laughed. "Leave me here? To hell with that. I want you get the Alley Cat out of here if that starship gets too close."

"A shot or two from their guns will bring the Alley Cat down on top of me. Not the way I want to go, thank you!"

Deshel's voice nearly cracked, "You think they'd fire on us?"

Priyanka began to speak, but Suen cut her off, "They're luddites, not pacifists. Remember how they treated us at the bar? Like we were a disease."

She continued, "I wouldn't trust these dirtsuckers with a flashlight. These jokers are so crazy they're flying a starship right up our portside."

"The sooner we're out of here, the better."

"Suen, you are probably more right than you know. Remember Shake Hands doesn't have a military," Priyanka noted.

The concern in Deshel's voice was clear. "You mean a bunch of amateurs are flying that crate?"

"More than likely."

"Holy..."

"There's nothing holy about it. I want you two to get the Alley Cat out of here if I'm not out of this hole in three minutes."

Expanding outward as if reaching for her face, several spider-legged flashes danced before her eyes before dissipating.

Priyanka blinked away the afterflashes.

There was an airy pop followed by a small, isolated whipcrack explosion. And then rage swelled up from the grave.

"FOOL! I REFUSE TO WAIT ANY LONGER! RAISE ME!" followed by different voice and a scream, "Help! Please! Don't leave me trapped down here!"

Priyanka shifted her weight with caution, turning, searching through the dark gaps in the junked heaps.

"Who—is there someone there?"

From deeper in the refuse, the glow that Deshel had detected earlier grew in intensity until its source was so clear it was undeniable.

"Is there someone in there? Come out!"

No answer. Then a pattern of machine trills and the flashing beacon slowly died.

Momentary panic gripped Priyanka's chest. She edged back from the fissure where the light resided.

"Hey! Hello?"

It was definitely time to leave.

Priyanka checked her line, her eyes locked on the pinpoint where the throbbing light had been.

A cacophony of noise rose from the machinery like a live thing, pulsating through the dark realm around her.

Throaty and deep, it resembled a long intake of breath and the grinding of teeth.

Small whispers and inhuman cries mixed with soft beeps. Squirts of machine language bled in.

Oozing forward through the cracks and holes of the junk, it pressed in on her, rising in immediacy and deafening levels.

Both fascinated and frightened, Priyanka stared, as if possessed, as if somehow it might crush her if she was not still enough.

Frozen, her eyes never left the flashing light. It grew brighter, bringing tears to her eyes, forcing her to close them and turn away.

Was she really looking at a functioning Metal, this... mess of strange transmissions and barrage of light-play?

There was no doubt in her mind that she wanted this to be Il'on, if only to be able to fulfill her contract.

But the earlier conflict on the bridge and the oddity of the transmissions left her conflicted. Was this part of some elaborate hoax?

Priyanka stared at the blinking light, trying to commit this moment and place to memory as if that might solidify her desire for it to be the truth.

She shook her head and admonished herself out loud…

"Don't be stupid, Pree. The only way to resolve this situation is to dig into the Metal and pull its braincore."

She knew that the only way she be certain was to dig into the mess of wiring and metal. If they discovered a braincore, they would have their answer.

But if they uncovered the source and revealed someone's idea of a joke, well, then she'd have a lot to consider.

Her biggest concern would be whether to continue this dig or not.

In any case, nothing was happening until tomorrow when they could get the proper tools down here.

She gave the troublesome machine a last look and looked up, ready to make her ascent.

As if anticipating this moment, a storm of transmission noise broke the silence once more.

Static and the distinct echo-distance in the voices reminiscent of old radio transmissions. Just as Deshel had stated.

"Gitta load more out-ta Longhor–"

"Repair shouldn't take more than a week. Harve–"

"–ford nothing but buy everything he can put his hands on. Including that wo–"

Human voices. Every one of them. But not live. No, these were recordi–

The idea hit her like a lightning strike.

No, not live and not recordings either. Mimicry. The machine was mimicking the voices it had heard.

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There didn't seem to be rhyme or reason to the timing of the outbursts.

She needed to calm herself, lest she trigger a collapse and join Il'on and the rest of the junk here in eternal obscurity.

As before, without preamble, the noise faded to a din that eventually died out. But the junk-merc dared not let her guard down.

She took a deep breath, let it out slowly.

Her brows knit with the jumble of emotions washing over her, chief among them exasperation and confusion.

This had to be a joke, but the motivation behind it was lost on her.

Or... perhaps someone was trying to scare her away from the site. Or even worse, use it as a distraction. Unease gripped her stomach.

Alarmed, she called up to the Alley Cat again. "Suen?"

This time there was an answer, "Pree! We've been trying to contact you... Are you alright?" The other woman's voice was deeply concerned.

"I'm fine. Suen, listen. I need you to make a thorough check. Press the sensors and see if we aren't being approached."

The reply was swift and alert. "You got it. Hang on..."

"Deshel, I might have to execute a quick ascent," Priyanka said, alerting her crewman.

Deshel's voice was adamant. "I really would advise against it."

"I don't think we have a choice," Priyanka replied.

Suen's voice came back to her over before she could say any more on the subject.

"Pree, I've got nothing. Not even the ScrapHounds, which is odd considering their schedule. You really should consider coming back up."

Suen was right. She probably hadn't made the best decision coming down here in the first place, but she needed to see Il–

She interrupted her own train of thought. No, she wasn't ready to concede that this was Il'on until she had definitive proof.

But she did need to gauge just how close she was to her goal.

It would help drive her and possibly give her the leverage she needed to keep the other two on the team before this whole deal went sour.

The red glow of the light had died back down, and yet it was still clear, still calling to her. And not so far away.

Priyanka made her decision. "Give me just another minute. Then we'll close up shop for the night."

"Pr–" The voice was Deshel's. He had stopped himself from saying something – something he thought might be out-of-line, perhaps?

"Just... be careful, please," he finished.

Refocusing herself on getting to Il'on, Priyanka moved as swiftly as possible in the limited confines of the surrounding garbage.

Within minutes, she found herself nearly level with the light as she dropped down upon an ancient databank.

The long, bulky device that had once helped hurtle starships across the cosmos now teetered slightly as she stood atop it.

She waited for it to settle itself and then continued forward, dropping to her hands and knees to slip through an opening.

The beckoning red glow was just beyond, pulsating... almost in time to the quickening beat of her own heart.

Pulling a pack of glow stickers from a pouch, she slapped several on objects around her, marking the area.

Time to leave, she thought.

Leaning in toward the light buried just meters away in the dark, she spoke to it tersely. "Be back for you."

Hissed curses in alien languages and machine squirts snapped.

Priyanka jerked back.

Rabid snarls followed and then a more feminine voice that bordered on youth, but not childish.

It pleaded. "No, don't leave us... don't–"

Arcs of electricity sprung up with great pop and sizzle, playing over the surface of the machine block within the mess of junk.

Despite the warmth of the day that was still evident above, the cold within the depths of the abandoned tech seeped into her bones.

Here, the outlines of the junk grew perilous; protected from the elements, they were jagged and sharp.

They offered no remorse if Priyanka should strike them by accident. They would cut, tear and leave her to bleed out.

One slip here would be fatal.

Checking her course once more, she stepped off the machine plateau. Only another five meters, she said to herself.

"Twinkle, twinkle..." An unsteady, reedy voice reverberated from somewhere deep in the ruins.

Priyanka halted her descent, the hackles on the back of her neck standing up. She moved her headlight slowly over the junk around her.

She touched the commset along her jaw. "Deshel..."

His voice crackled back, "Yes?"

Priyanka looked up the dozen or so meters above her toward the soft gray patch of the evening sky.

"Did you...?" Before she finished the question, she cut herself off, unsure exactly of what she wanted to ask him.

The voice hadn't sounded like either Deshel or Suen. Moreover, both of them were far too professional to sing over the commset.

So… who had it been?

"Did I what?" He asked back.

"Star light... star bright..." The voice again. But this time it seemed to come from over her commset.

She felt the cold close its grip around her. "Did you just hear that?"

"Pree?... Hello? Pree, you are breaking up."

Breaking up? But she could hear Deshel just fine. Priyanka switched channels, "Suen?"

No answer.

"Suen, come in."

Still no reply.

And then the creak of something within the refuse and the whisper of a soft voice that sounded eerily like her own: "Can you hear me?"

Priyanka's heart skipped a beat and she nearly cried out. She gritted her teeth and silently cursed herself.

The voice… the sound, whatever it had been, had caught her off-guard, scrambling her mental circuits, throwing her into a momentary panic.

She closed her eyes and struggled to calm herself. She took several deep breaths and opened her eyes once more.

"There is no one down here," she spoke to herself.

Switching back to Deshel's channel, "I'm coming up, Deshel."

"Don't leave me…" A frightened genderless voice, and then more of the garbled machine-noise she'd heard aboard the Alley Cat.

Her commset exploded with the crackles and squeals of interference.

Her mind raced. What is going on?

Priyanka called out, "Hello?"

Was there someone alive down here? Living here? There couldn't be, could there?

Locals maybe? Who would do that? How would they do that?

From below her, a rasping, crunching sound like something pulling itself along. Something trying to edge forward.

"Who's there?" Priyanka called out, her voice sounding louder than seemingly possible.

From above, Deshel called to her, his voice softened by the distance between them, "Pree! Are you alright?"

The junk-merc looked up. She waved at him and pointed to her commset, but she was unsure if he could even see her.

"Come..." Yet another voice whispered. Anger and impatience filled the space around her. "Quickly! Heeelp!"

The words ricocheted through the tight space around her.

Priyanka lowered herself to a large wing-like structure. She tested its strength – it would hold her weight.

Silence fell one more.

Help? She thought. Help who? Help wha–

The garbled aural mess exploded within the tiny bubble of space within the junk once more.

Priyanka jerked back in her exosuit. The structure beneath her groaned in protest and buckled slightly.

The junk-merc lowered her center of gravity slightly and muttered to herself in shock-fear induced anger.

Priyanka slowly worked her way to a point where she could see into the darkness, "What am I looking at?"

"There's a flashing light," said Deshel. "Faint, but consistent."

Down in the depths, between the gaps in the structures and machinery, there was indeed a faint, flashing light.

Priyanka raised an eyebrow, "More signals from our friend?"

Deshel frowned, "Wish I could find that funny."

Priyanka wished the same thing. Yet, she was still conflicted as to whether or not they were dealing with a functioning Metal or not.

Peeking out at the skyline from beneath the Alley Cat above her, she knew the day was coming to a close quickly.

She comm'ed Suen, "How're things up there?"

"Fine," came the reply, "Have you got it?"

"Mmm, we're not sure yet, but I want you to mark this spot."

"Are you coming in?"

Stepping to the edge of the drop, Priyanka looked into its depths, trying to ascertain the origin of the light. "Not just yet."

Priyanka unreeled a portion of support line that worked itself throughout the upper half of her exoframe, "Hook me up."

Deshel gave her a concerned look, "Pree, you can't be thinking of going down there. It's late and you won't be able to see a thing."

She nodded, fully aware that she should be putting the Alley Cat to bed for the evening, not making a descent in the dark.

But she couldn't let it go. She had to see for herself. She'd never forgive herself otherwise. "I'll just be a moment."

"Pree." It was Deshel's turn to raise his voice. "You could hurt yourself down there and bleed out before I could get you back up."

That was the truth. But it was calling her. She had to answer, even if in the most superficial manner. And that meant taking a risk.

Hefting a long piece of protruding frame way out of her way, she began to lower herself into the hole.

Deshel's alarmed voice echoed under the ship's hull as he rushed to secure her line, "Pree, stop!"

"I won't be long. I'll be right back." Priyanka replied, engaging the exoframe's lights and descending into the pit.

Within moments she was wrapped in cold darkness and an unsettling quiet.

Surrounding her were the remnants of eras and centuries long gone; the moments of their existence etched into them with indelible finality.

Their skins and skeletons, encrusted in creeping rust, slowly faded to twilight like the evening sky.

Priyanka twisted both herself and the discarded past to work her way ever downward.

Every couple of meters, she killed her lights to confirm the flashing beacon had not been a trick of light or phantom of their imaginations.

It remained steady.

She moved from wreckage to ruin, careful not to catch her line on anything that would hinder her ascent later.

Though careful about placing too much weight on anything, she watched and silently cursed herself as the odd part fell away now and then.

Eventually, she reached a small, level plateau of ship and looked up.

Though she could not see him for all the junk in the way, she imagined Deshel was peering back down at her.

"You alright, boss?" The man's voice came over the comm system,

Speak of the devil, she thought as she answered, "Yes, I'm good."

"Promise me you'll come back up soon. We've got to get out of here... if we want to make it out before the ScrapHounds find us."

The latter had been entreaty. Now that they were actually approaching possible evidence of Il'on's existence, Deshel was again ill at ease.

She didn't blame him. The conflict on the bridge had killed the thrill that normally came over her when they discovered their target.

Taking a quick breath, she let out audibly and continued her descent. She had to focus. She could worry about Deshel's misgivings later.

Preferably after they had Il'on's braincase.