Echo In the Machine - Chapter 15
An expanded tale written from prompts while playing ECO MOFOS!!
Start from the beginning of my ECO MOFOS!! Solo Playthrough story HERE!
CHAPTER 15: ABOUT TO BREAK
Siren opened the next door with a hard jerk, like it didn’t want to let us through. What waited on the other side made me wish it hadn’t.
Two soldiers had two Wasters tied to chairs against the far wall. Their heads were slumped and hands were bound. They weren’t dead, but not far from it either. I slowed without meaning to.
“Keep moving,” Siren muttered under her breath.
One of the soldiers turned toward us with a stern look on its face. The motion was sharp and mechanical, almost machine-like. It noticed Siren’s jumpsuit and everything about it softened.
“Apologies for the inconvenience,” it said, voice flat but polite in a way that didn’t sit right. “You’re authorized personnel. Please proceed.”
It stepped aside and even reached for the door… and held it open for us. I didn’t look at the Wasters again as we passed. That told me everything about this place that I already knew.
As we approached the shop, I could already tell this one was definitely different. Siren’s shop had noise. Movement. Chaos. This one had order. The stations were tidy. Lines were straight. Guards were posted where guards were supposed to be. No one wandered. No one slacked. Everything felt tighter.
I began to say something to Siren but she was already stepping up to the intake guard.
“We have a transfer,” she said, nodding toward the cart. “Zero sent us. He tagged it and said to bring it here.”
The guard didn’t even glance at her first. His eyes went straight to the droid.
“Is the droid operational?” he asked.
“No,” she said. “It’s dead weight.”
That was the wrong answer.
He shook his head. “I can’t clear it without supervisor authorization.”
He tapped his comm. “Sir, I need you at intake.”
A few seconds later, his superior walked over like he already knew we were a problem. He was older and sharper. The kind of guy who didn’t waste time helping Punks or pretending things were fine.
“What’ve we got here?” he asked.
“She’s claiming referral from Zero,” the guard said. “It’s logged as a non-operational unit.”
The officer didn’t answer. He stepped up to the cart, took his wand and scanned the droid carefully. Then he turned it on us. A thin line of light dragged over my chest. And then over Siren. I kept my breathing steady. Luckily, Ole’ Sixey stayed quiet in an auxiliary compartment in the droid. He lowered the scanner and tapped his comm.
“Come in, Zero. This is River. Transfer verification required,” he said.
Static. Nothing. He tried again. Still nothing. River’s jaw tightened with frustration.
He turned to the guard. “Go verify with the front shop.”
The guard nodded and moved out quickly.
River looked back at us. “Hold right here,” he said. It wasn’t a suggestion. He gestured to the right, just inside the entrance. “In the holding area.”
I didn’t like the way he said it, but we moved anyway.
I counted nine guards inside, spaced out in a planned formation. Patrolling and watching. Not in an aggressive way, just way more attentive than Siren’s shop. I rolled the cart over to where River instructed us to wait. Then I saw him.
Bob.
Across the shop floor, he was working. But it seemed too fast. His hands moved like they were trying to outrun something. Tools clattered. Parts shifted. He wasn’t focused, he was scrambling and jumpy.
“Is that him?” Siren asked quietly, as she noticed my directional stare.
“Yeah,” I said. “That’s him.”
He didn’t see us. If he did, he didn’t react… which was worse. Minx did. She glanced up from her station, spotted us immediately and gave the smallest shake of her head. It was like, “Not now. Bad time.”
My chest tightened and Siren’s mood also seemed to change. Siren leaned in to me just enough to keep it quiet.
“This is bad. Something’s going on,” she said.
“Yeah,” I said. “Got that feeling.”
I glanced around and did the calculations in my head. Guards. Positions. Angles. The door on the far wall was labeled ‘Exit.’ It was all too much, but what options did we have?
“I think we could get through,” I said.
She didn’t even look at me. “Not clean,” she said. “We’d lose people.”
That slowed me down.
“Who can we count on?” I asked.
“Me, you,” she said. “Minx.”
She nodded toward the floor.
“Two or three more of hers. Maybe.”
“And Bob,” she hesitated. “...if he’s still with us.”
I looked at him again. He dropped a tool, flinching and fidgeting.
“Something’s wrong, but Bob is with us. What about the rest of the workers?” I asked.
“Burners,” she said. “Wasters on a fix. They work, they get dosed, then they disappear.”
I thought about the room we just walked through. The chairs with the two tied up. We didn’t want to end up like that. If the guard came back and River decided to nix it, we were next.
“What now, Brax?” Siren murmured.
I didn’t answer right away. I went back to calculating our odds. The timing, distance to Bob, distance to the far exit. Because the truth was, this wasn’t about the droid anymore. Something bigger had its hooks in this place. And if Bob was shaking like that… he knew it too. I exhaled slowly.
“We wait,” I said.
“For what?” she asked.
I watched Bob fumble another tool. “For an opening,” I said quietly.
She frowned. “What kind of opening?”
I shook my head. “Don’t know yet.” I kept my eyes on Bob. “But I’ll know it when I see it.”
CHAPTER 14: DEAD WEIGHT | CHAPTER 16 - THE SPARK
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Tension rising, I am liking this AP!