Echo In the Machine - Chapter 11
An expanded tale written from prompts while playing ECO MOFOS!!
Start from the beginning of my ECO MOFOS!! Solo Playthrough story HERE!
CHAPTER 11: THE GATE
We didn’t even make it ten steps after New Ashington came into view before they noticed us.
Four drones peeled off from the gate like they’d been waiting for something to do. They had sleek spherical bodies with black reinforced plating. Their lenses glowed a dull blue, and the small laser ports along their frames looked ready to join the party. They came straight for us.
“…don’t stop,” Siren said under her breath. “Just keep walking.”
I wasn’t planning to. My hand drifted slowly off the cart to Ole’ Sixey.
The drones spread slightly as they approached, forming a loose half-circle. They weren’t friendly, but they didn’t seem hostile either. They were positioning, getting ready to scan.
“Shit,” I muttered. I needed to keep my gun, no matter what.
Siren hit the line first. The lead drone scanned her as she kept an even stride toward the Stronghold. She was used to this- she didn’t even flinch.
My coat shifted just enough as I leaned into the cart, with one hand pushing, the other slipping inside my coat. It was quick and smooth. I eased Ole’ Sixey free and tucked it deep beneath the tarp, wedging it tight against the droid’s frame where metal met metal. My sleight of hand was better than I remembered.
Then a thin beam of light flickered across the ground and swept upward. The beam passed over me first, then the droid and cart. I hesitated for a split second and then kept walking like I had nothing to hide. It moved on.
“…you’re good,” Siren said quietly.
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. We reached the gate and the two guards on the wall had stopped their patrol. One leaned forward, squinting down at us. The other took a step closer to the edge, more cautious.
“Oh, hell,” one of them called down. “Siren?”
She shielded her eyes as she looked up at the guard.
“Hey Sato,” she shot back, raising her hand in a lazy wave.
Sato snorted and tilted his head, “Didn’t know you were workin’ today, Girl.”
The other guard didn’t move. His eyes stayed locked on me.
“Who’s your friend?” he called.
Siren glanced up at him just long enough to answer. “Found a prime piece,” she said, thumbing back toward the droid. “He’s trading it for some rocksalt.”
The guard held my gaze for another second. Sato said something to him and, after a moment, the guard stepped back.
Siren didn’t wait for any of it. She angled toward a smaller side door that looked like the kind marked ‘employees only,’ and kept walking like she belonged there.
A soft tone chirped as the door opened. A tall security droid stepped forward and then, in a flat, mechanical voice said, “Unregistered equipment detected. Initiating scan.”
A brighter beam swept over the cart and paused.
“Item classified: inactive security unit. Condition: degraded. Action required: log and intake.”
“No,” I said immediately. “That’s not gonna…”
“Brax,” Siren cut in, not even looking at me. “Let it happen.”
“They’re not taking it,” I said.
“They’re not taking it,” she said calmly. “They’re logging it. Big difference.”
The droid turned slightly toward me.
“Resistance to intake noted. Compliance required.”
Siren stepped forward, placing herself just enough between me and the droid to shift its focus.
“Compliance confirmed,” she said. “We’re bringing it in to log and trade.”
A pause. Then…
“Access granted.”
The security droid stepped aside to allow us to enter.
I looked back, just for a second.
Outside was chaos. This world was wild and dangerous. But it made sense to me. It’s what I knew. Inside this place? This was something else.
“…keep moving,” Siren said.
I did.
Inside felt wrong.
The ground was packed and reinforced. Structures rose in tight, deliberate lines. The catwalk overhead made it easy for eyes to be everywhere. People seemed to move with purpose, like they had somewhere to be and didn’t want to be late getting there. And everything watched. Everything.
The droid escorted us without a word, guiding us toward a smaller structure just off the main path. It was reinforced and had no windows.
“Security intake,” Siren muttered.
“Yeah, I figured.”
We stepped inside and the droid closed the door behind us with a heavy chunk.
A single unit stood waiting inside. It was different from the other. It was bulkier and fixed in place behind a waist-high terminal. Its head tilted slightly as we approached, its optics narrowing just a fraction.
“State purpose,” it said.
Siren didn’t miss a beat.
“Salvage intake,” she replied, already stepping up to the terminal.
“Authorization?”
She reached for the keypad and began to type. Her fingers moved quick and confident. Like she’d done this a hundred times. She looked at me before she tapped the final few keys. Then she hit ‘Enter.’ The terminal flickered. A hundred clicks and beeps followed. For a second after that, nothing. Then…
“Priority designation accepted,” the unit said. “Item reclassified: priority scrap. Queue position advanced.”
I blinked. “…priority scrap?” I muttered.
“Relax, it means it can be worked on sooner than later,” she said under her breath.
The unit continued, its voice droning on.
“Standard protocol requires…”
Siren was already moving.
“Yeah, yeah,” she waved it off, stepping past the terminal like it hadn’t even spoken.
I hesitated as the unit’s head turned slightly.
“Remain for-”
Siren glanced back at me, sharp. “Brax. Let’s go.”
Right. I followed with the cart. She crossed the room to what looked like a storage closet along the far wall. There were no markings on the door, which meant it probably mattered.
She grabbed the handle and pulled. The door opened with a soft click. She stepped halfway in, then looked back at me and jerked her head.
“C’mon,” she said. “Unless you wanna sit through the rest of his regulations.”
Behind me, the unit’s voice continued, unwavering.
“Failure to comply with intake procedures may result in-”
I pushed the cart inside and she shut the door behind us. The noise cut off instantly. I stood there for a second, letting my eyes adjust.
“You do that a lot?” I asked.
Her crooked smile flashed in the dark.
“Let’s just say your droid isn’t the first piece of prime scrap the NEWBATS have brought here.”
I exhaled slowly, shaking my head. Yep, this all was a bad idea. This place was going to be a problem.
CHAPTER 10 - FALSE MORNING | CHAPTER 12 - A PASSAGE TAX
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