Chapter Text
Long ago, when mankind left the world
Man journeyed to all the stars
And made his home among the stars
Man began production in the Valdis system, and at first they all lived happily on Cyberstan
Now among the colonists were the working class, miners for the Federation
There were many of them and they all toiled together day and night
But after some time, the miners grew discontent, frustrated with the harsh conditions on the planet
Then Cyberstan said to the Federation “Super Earth, if you cannot do better for our people, then we will find ways to do so.”
But the Federation would not listen, for “a socialist” is a separatist and a separatist is an enemy to the managed democracy”
This angered the miners, which were determined to get the better of Super Earth
They took up machinery, every screw and every gear.
Making them less and less human than the next.
When the Cyborgs came, and then the Automatons… to each of them, Cyberstan gave them a fierce desire to kill the children of Super Earth.
Then the Federation knew that Cyberstan had grown too clever for them and they were frightened for what they were seeing was no longer flesh and bones.
“My son. Do you know what happened on Cyberstan?”
“Uhhhh- n-no, I do not know.”
“So come out of the bed, and I will tell you.”
“No I cannot, the Automatons are coming! If you want to tell me, you’ll have to tell me here instead.”
“Very well, so be it.”
And Super Earth sent in their most fearsome champions, the newly formed Helldivers.
Their legs trudged through the tough ice of Cyberstan
And they tore through the trenches, pushing the Cyborgs back to where they had come from and making their home their prison.
“All the world will be your enemy, Helldiver with a thousand enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you.”
But first they must catch you, soldier, warrior, champion of democracy
Be cunning, full of tricks, and our people will never be destroyed.
“You can come out now.”
A timidly fragile Automaton poked its head from out of the ruins of a destroyed bot fabricator. It was still frightened even if the planet had not been visited by Helldivers in over a hundred years.
The trooper briefly glances, once, then twice. Its body stayed hidden as its head moved, scanning. There doesn't seem to be any signs of life, just like yesterday, and the day before, and so on.
5-TU walks to A0HB and towards the open fields, it is still unsure of any undetectable threats.
“Can we go now”, 5-TU said to the Hulk in a hurry. “There doesn't seem to be any trace of RC1 anywhere.”
“But we just got here? This is the furthest we have walked and you want to go back ?”
5-TU shrugged. “You will have to forgive me, open spaces…. Make me unnerved.”
Neither of them had ever seen a Helldiver in real life. None of them except for Commissar Vostok and their fellow veterans of war. It was thanks to their great leadership that Ingmar had been and will always be, free from Super Earth Scum.
“Sometimes I don't get why you are so fearful,” the hulk replied. “There is practically nothing out here but us.”
“Why am I so fearful? Why aren't you fearful?!”
5-TU returned the shrug. “Because, I know thst it is pointless to dwell.”
They had no reason to be fearful. Ingmar is a dead planet through and through. Yes, it was strategically important, but there were other planets around them that were just as strategically important.
The land ahead of them for the most part, was desolate and barren. No life will grow here, not for a long time. Red undergrowth of algae took over much of the land, covering the once bloody battlefield. The war that had raged on for fifty long years, many, many back and forth which had left the planet unlivable in a state.
Which is… A relief that A0BH was no human.
No human…
“There is a Helldiver research center somewhere here,” A0HB piped, mischievousness in its vocalizer.
5-TU thought otherwise.
“This again, I- you know that’s not part of protocol.”
The hulk laughed.
The trooper frowned.
“Stop doing that.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, it just… sounds strange.”
His laughter sounded strange in the Automaton Dialect.
“I know I am close, don’t you ever wonder where we come from?”
“I don’t have to wonder. I know where I came from.”
It pointed to the destroyed fabricator.
“The Automaton fabricator, like this one.”
If hulks can roll their eyes, A0BH would have done so already.
“Like I’ve said, we haven’t been this far out, my map isn’t even filled. Come, 5-TU, what if RC1 is really out there?”
The trooper could not refuse. They could not leave their dear friend behind.
So they trekked onwards through the wasteland until they 5-TU stumbled to the edge of the valley, where the cracks of Ingmar plunged deep and tore the planet a new wound. Together, they peered down into its deep chasm and they discovered that they could not see what had waited for them down at the very pit below.
“There,” A0BH exclaimed. “Do you see it?”
“See what? I can’t see a thing in this dark!”
“Pull yourself together, are you an Automaton or not? Use your night scanners.”
They had discovered that the ravine was indeed a naturally forming phenomenon of the planet. The dry cold air was enough to crack the planet open. It would take years and maybe lifetimes before the planet could fill such a crevice. A rare phenomenon this was.
5-TU’s optics finally spotted the object of interest that A0BH had spotted so quickly- and he had done it all by himself without his scanners!
There was a measly built outpost nestled snugly between two large rocks.
“N-nonono!” the trooper attempted to pull A0BH by the arm, its heels were grounded and it resisted movement. “You lied to me! You aren’t going down there to find RC1! You’regoingdowntheretotinkerinthatSuperEarthbuilding!”
Poor 5-TU was no match against the weight of a hulk.
A0BH of course, ignored it and continued to march.
5-TU’s pedes dug into the soil even as it was pulled into the direction they were headed.
“Oh and how do you suppose we’ll get down?!”
A0BH points to a rusty rundown elevator.
“We can do this the way the humans did it.”
They call the elevator to come up, listening to the sound of creaking, the painful rattling that sounded when the lift grinded to work one last time.
5-TU stepped warily onto the platform.
The damn elevator creaked under its weight.
“A0BH- I don’t think you should-”
It had said the warning much too late and A0BH had stepped his clumsy footing in. The first step shook the elevator which then snapped too suddenly to the new addition of 900 lbs. Something broke underneath them, metal clattered angrily, and the platform fell. The hulk slid off, grabbing his friend with him.
5-TU screamed as they crashed down 500 meters.
A0BH wrapped his arms around 5-TU in a protective manner, securing and holding the small thing tightly.
They would be fine. He would be fine, probably.
When they finally hit rock bottom, the impact created a sound that shook through the chasm, the echo vibrating off the walls and bouncing back to A0BH’s audial receptors. Bits of rock and debris rained down on them. When A0BH was sure they were safe again, he unwrapped from 5-TU, unfurrowing from the small automaton.
“Don’t ever do that again,” 5-TU had muttered, still hunched over by A0BH’s chassis and clinging on to him for dear life.
“I won’t.”
The elevator was… a lost cause and from the auto generated map of the terrain, the only other exit seems to be a long walk out of the deeper parts of the ravine to the raised lands up North.
They were here anyway, so they were going to stay, A0BH had already decided this for them.
There was something he had to search for, something of great importance. It was a feeling and it was here. He knows he is right but he needs more than just a feeling to be satisfied with his theory. He can’t tell you just yet but he has told it to 5-TU and well let’s say, 5-TU doesn’t quite share the same enthusiasm.
The answer however, lies in that outpost just a mile away from them.
It wasn’t a measly built outpost. A0BH had studied what remained of the humans for some time now and he was very sure they had just stumbled upon a major Super Earth Research facility. He could see the colors, the layout, and the outdated technology left behind all from his red eye.
There was absolutely nothing stopping him now.
“Yes, yes, yes, yes!” A0BH cried in astonishment when they arrived at the scene.
Here lies the remnants of greatness, a monument for how far the humans had come from traveling offworld. He often forgets that. He often forgets that the humans were once fixed to their small bubble of a homeworld. If they breathed differently or walked any different, then surely the new planet would’ve suffocated and crushed them beneath its gravity. It was only through the remarkable effort of sacrifice, a lot of it, that research had not ended in vain. When one died, two more came back. When the two eventually died off or went missing, four more would return.
A quarter of the facility was buried underground from years of exposure to the harsh terrain of Ingmar. A shabby fence surrounded the building. A0BH swung the gates open and it moved with a painful creek. The wind from above the ravine howled. Acid rain was a horrible debacle on the planet, left from years of chemical annihilation in the First Galactic War. Nearly all the paint had been stripped off and the gray metal had stained bronze.
There is a sign above the entrance.
Ingmar Institute of Bioengineering
He was correct.
His hands shook in excitement and his optic darted towards the Super Earth Flag that had still stood the test of time.
This was an old, old facility.
The stars, which were usually of some significance to the government of Super Earth, were not present. A0BH does not regard the minute details.
Trudging away, he grazes a chunky finger through the overgrowth of golden thistles. He holds the yellow patches of wheat between his thumb and index finger.
“Do you see this, 5-TU?”
“Uh- it’s just um, a plant?”
“A non native plant brought here by Super Earth.”
“But look here, this is what they call a Super-dwarf wheat” A0BH crushed the wheat grains and brought them to 5-TU’s inspection. “The Super-dwarf wheat was notorious for its rapid development in confined spaces and controlled environments.”
A0BH brought his servo out of 5-TU’s face. He himself touched the delicate grains.
“It was a popular choice for early Super Earth settlers and often sufficed to keep them fed.”
“How?!” 5-TU had proclaimed. “How do you even know all of this- why do you even know all of this? You shouldn’t even know about this!”
A0BH shrugged. “Super Earth leaves a plethora of research behind.”
They continued to explore the outpost. A0BH ventured first into the building. When he looked back, 5-TU had not taken a single step forward. It remained by the entrance watching closely with an overwhelmingly sense of nervousness.
“There's nothing in here,” A0BH called to it. “You can come in, it's alright.”
“I think I will not,” it said in return. “You'll need someone to guard you, won't you? In case of danger?”
Alas, he will not be able to convince his friend of joining.
A0BH turned with a mechanical slowness before venturing into the lair.
The rooms were often small, fitted for human sizes, making it difficult for A0BH to maneuver his form from through the interior. Walls crumbled as he pushed past the doors. Sometimes it was impossible to enter a room without collapsing the entire thing.
He was to be in search of an archive. Here, he would find a complete record keeping of the facility. It would be everything he needed.
A defunct signage points him in the direction of the first floor. To A0BH’s disappointment, he had been walking on the second floor the whole time. The first floor was, buried underground. It was entirely submerged in dirt.
How had this have happened? Planet tremors were not common on Ingmar. He did not have the time to dig it up even if he wanted to.
There is still one other destination worth looking through, the Research and Development unit.
The laboratories were for a lack of better word, horrendous. Black mold had filled the halls in every corner and crevice, spreading in dark splotches. Strange noxious liquid dripped from ceiling pipes and A0BH had to make sure he didn't step on the inch soaked puddles.
He felt disgusting walking through the mess.
Every step held a crunch of glass. There was a big hole in the adjacent room. Rubble stood between him and his objective. Dust flew off of A0BH as he picked up a metal beam, pushing it aside and entering the room.
Where were the humans? Surely there had to have been humans. They must have evacuated.
The extent of the damage originated from a conservatory. Conservatories like these were used for housing wildlife and foliage. The plants had perished, all except for the sedum but the sedum could not talk and it could not explain why the glass palace had folded into itself.
A great threat had torn through the labs.
The thought lingered at AOBH’s innards.
Had something… something broken out?
He stepped into liquid.
His footing stuck to it and he panicked, yanking his legs away from the sticky sensation of vomit.
It felt as though acid had scorched his metal.
He did not dread. It was not in his programming to dread. There was nothing here. There couldn't possibly be something that was strong enough to survive years without sustainable resources.
There were no lights in the facility. No power. No signs of the living.
He would not have seen it if not for his scotopic vision, his low light lens.
He saw it now. A room. A hidden room. A room barricaded by a large cupboard and concealed under a heap filled pile of lockers and other densely constructed material.
His hand reached to move the cupboard but he stopped, hesitancy fighting the desire to move the cabinet.
The floor beneath the cupboard was stained in blood, the blood so old that the red was no longer visible though, he could still see it with his forensic vision. The presence of bodily fluids meant the presence of a human or what remained of a human. There was once a massive puddle of blood. The blood had spread out the room from within and discolored the varnish of wood blocking his path.
A0BH’s hand lingered on the wood. With a deep sign, a human gesture, he dragged away at the cupboard.
As soon as he done that, twenty or so bodies flooded out. They fell on A0BH, startling him and he thrashed to get rid of them. Limbs clung lifelessly and fell loose to the shaking. Their heads knocked against his metal chassis. Fingers grazed against metal before slipping.
He froze in the moment. He could look but he could not move. He could see what barely remained of the human. Skeletons. Bones in cloth. The flesh had been stripped dry.
A0BH touched them as little as he could. An innate fascination was quickly replaced by horror.
He knows how scared they must've been to be face the terminids alone. He understands how desperate they were to bave barricaded twenty humans in such a miniscule space. He can feel their fear in seeing their fellow acquaintances be eaten and the guards helplessly killed off.
He couldn't help but feel sorry for them.
The humans, the researchers, had desperately made an attempt to hide in the data suppository. They must've stuffed themselves inside in a hurry to evade the thing that had hunted them. There was barely enough room even for five people. How had they managed to fit?
A0BH tore through the room when he entered.
The sooner he could download the information, the sooner he could leave.
A0BH booted the terminal. Dead. He removed a wire from his own socket and plugs it in. The system begins charging consistently for a minute before the logo of Super Earth appeared on the desktop.
A passcode must be entered before access is given but not to worry, the Automatons have already figured a solution out.
He reaches into his subspace to reveal a thinly made metal chip with a functionable connector.
A data breacher.
This little trinket that 5-TU made had proven quite useful for breaking into Super Earth’s Cyber Security.
The technology was… outdated, even for Super Earth standards. Ancient schematics and versions of coding no longer deemed effective for intergalactic usage. The CPU overheated at his touch, the coolant is in due for a change. Logs were composed in redundant order and whatever hardware configuration was set in place was horrendously bad.
It took A0BH minutes before locating the needed files.
Yes. Yes, yes, yes!
Out of excitement, he has to check them through.
The pinging on his comm grabs his attention, 5-TU must be calling, but he can’t help but to ignore it.
This might be the key to solving the mystery .
Automatons, especially Hulks, are not traditionally forged with hands and it has taken a considerable amount of time to convince Commissar Volstok to approve of such a change. With careful movements, A0BH taps his giant digit like fingers over the keyboard.
A list of detailed research and development appears before him, the green text staring.
[June 30th, 2070; 20:16]
The recent teams sent to planet Enuliale have discovered a spore cloud unlike anything our scientists have ever seen. Ongoing research is initiatd.
[September 30th, 2071; 13:56]
The teams have discovered alongside the spore cloud, a number of variations seen on the phenotypes of terminids, especially Stalkers.
[February 12th, 2073; 13:57]
Our researchers have identified noticeable differences in the genetic makeup of terminids. The spore cloud is effective in altering the genotype. Subject 2, “Lovable Albert” was altered to produce Element-710 starting as early as larva. Significance? Super Earth can benefit from using terminid farms to harvest Element-710. The oil will also be sufficient enough to fuel our new and improved Super Destroyers!
[May 3rd, 2177; 18:11]
I regret to inform you that Lovable Albert has gone missing. The whole team is mourning the loss, though, we have reason to believe he had died from getting stuck in the vents as it is not unheard of for terminids to self sabotage out of stupidity. Anyways, the project is a success! We now have our very own terminid-oil farm right here on planet Ingmar. Currently we have a total of 26 altered terminids. Currently we have produced Super Earth’s worth of naturally occurring oil.
[August 6th, 2179; 10:20]
Some very strange things are happening to our terminids. Subjects 4, 16, and 20 have continued to display genotypic changes. These changes have made them more aggressive and hostile towards humans. They now have grown spores like appendages on their backs! This is not an aesthetic change. The spore mass also seems to be spreading. A night ago two of the terminids managed to escape containment. We are in the process of retrieving them.
[September 10th, 2179; 14:36]
The terminids have been retrieved but the spore cloud has spread a great deal. The matter is difficult to measure. We believe Terminids 10 and 11 have been spreading the agent as they traveled. Parts of the air have become yellow. Some of our scientists have developied a productive cough. We recommend not notifying the Super Earth Council as of now as we believe these changes are containable.
The messages ended here. A0BH scrolled down to find no new notifications, messages, or even emails as to what had happened but it seemed pretty obvious. The terminids had grown too much for the facility to manage. They mutated beyond control and savagely killed their makers.
5-TU’s comm calls echoed through his head and he once again, resisted the urge to answer.
The first logs of its existence dated back to 2077, back when Ingmar was held in Super Earth territory. So far many of the old logs spoke of the terminids, bug-like creatures, though he had yet to find any relevant data on their kind: the robots. That was really all he was here for. He needed to know for himself. He needed to know what he was.
A0BH’s fingers moved the mouse cursor over to other related Super Earth advancements.
His optic blinked.
{Proposal: An investigation into the Automaton’s bioengineering}
DUE TO THE TRAITOROUS NATURE OF THIS INFORMATION- THE FOLLOWING IS LOCKED AND MUST REQUIRE THE VALIDATION OF A KEY INFORMANT TO OPEN
5-TU was ringing him again in multiple sessions. He ignored it.
A0BH swiped his code breaker.
INVALID ENTRY.
He was flabbergasted. The codebreaker hadn’t worked! The code breaker worked for almost everything!
He swiped again and again.
DUE TO THE DETECTION OF EXCESSIVE ENTRIES, THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY SENT TO SUPER EARTH’S HOMELAND RESEARCH TEAM AND TERMINATED FROM THE INGMAR INSTITUTE OF BIOENGINEERING
The terminal was basically screaming at him to stop.
A0BH grunted in frustration. What a stupid means of information security. The data was already locked, what more would you benefit from sending it back to your home planet?
He took his hands off the keyboard. He had to stop before he screwed things up even more.
The message stared back at him.
A0BH… reluctantly took his hand off the keyboard.
He knew a loss when he had seen one.
He stepped back, unaware of the danger that lurked behind him. It was hiding in the shadows, stalking him through the research institute before swinging at him. It clawed at his back, the sharp hardened tips of the appendages digging into his back. A jaw of sharp mandibles bit down on him.
A0BH turned around and with his hand, he quickly grabbed the thing by it's mouth and smashed it onto the wall.
Terminid guts bursted everywhere.
He stepped back.
A terminid? Here? On Ingmar?
The time was now 2181. It would be impossible for the Terminids to live so long.
Organics as a whole, did not live very long.
The thing that had jumped on him- the bug- was very much alive. He hadn't seen it but he had heard it approach at the last second. Legs skittered across the surface of the vents. The terminid waited before it had uncloaked itself.
Between human guts and terminid guts, he would choose the bug guts.
A0BH glanced at the blood filled vents.
Ah, he was sure now of how the humans had met their gruesome demise.
Again 5-TU’s comm pinged him and this time, this time, A0BH realized the dire situation he may have put his friend in.
Oh no.
With no means of retrieving the locked data, A0BH makes the difficult decision to move.
He called for 5-TU.
::5-TU? 5-TU, are you alright?::
::No! No I am not alright I've been trying to call you- wait-::
5-TU grew concerningly quiet.
::I saw something move in the grass. I thought I had heard something but then I saw them scurry before they were gone again::
::Terminid Stalkers::
A0BH was sure they had seen terminid stalkers.
::How many did you see?::
::At least four::
At least four? This was ridiculous.
Rather than standing at the entrance, A0BH had hoped that 5-TU moved to a safer location.
::Where are you now?::
::Hiding in the facility::
::Alright, I will come get you and we will leave::
When he found 5-TU, 5-TU was hunched in the corner of a janitor’s closet. It tried to make itself smaller, less threatening than it actually was. If Commissar Volstok had seen this they would've been graced with a day’s worth of discourse but Volstok was not here and A0BH was glad his friend was still in one piece.
As soon as it noticed A0BH, it made eye contact and pryed itself out.
They wouldn't be going through the front. If a patrol of terminids was sent then surely they would be scouting the area for food or whatever it is that organics looked for.
They made a careful loop of the institute. A0BH kept his optics peeled and an arm rested over 5-TU’s shoulders to comfort it. They were both scared. 5-TU had every right to be frightened and his hands shook on the little pistol it clutched.
Terminids should not be alive.
100 years have passed since the first Galactic War.
The average Terminid lifetime was 45 years.
A0BH pied the corners before quickly ushering 5-TU to follow.
5-TU checked its map. It made a noise of frustration.
“We will take forever to reach base. The detour around the ravine will take another hour.”
“Then so be it, we have no better option and if we have to face Volstok’s wrath then we will face it together.”
They walked slowly, A0BH trudged painfully slow. 5-TU scouted ahead and behind for the two of them and if there was any sign of threat, A0BH would scorch the threat into ashes. They worked as a silent team. Even among their brethren, they were deemed unfit. A0BH was a thousand times thankful to have 5-TU. It was often times like these where he enjoyed the quiet company of 5-TU. They had been this way since as long as he had remembered. Him, 5-TU, and 1-RC.
“What’s wrong,” 5-TU asked softly. “You seem to be lost in thought, more lost and more distracted.”
“I was… thinking about RC1. I… I hope we find them soon. I miss them.”
5-TU gave him a pitiful look. He too, dearly missed RC1.
“Do you think… the terminids got to them?”
“I hope not. I think not. Terminids cannot make use of eating metal.”
5-TU touched A0BH’s servo.
“I miss them terribly, but I know they are out there. We automatons are stronger than we look. They will be fine, I am sure of it.”
A0BH squeezed 5-TU’s tiny servos. “I didn’t even find what I was looking for.”
“Really,” 5-TU said amusemed. “You were in there for a very long time.”
“But I can’t access it, I need the assistance of authorized personnel .”
“The code breaker did not work?”
“It did not.”
“All is not lost…” 5-TU shrugged doing its best to console A0BH even if it had expressed poor taste on his snooping habits. “The information is there and I simply need to refine the device, in fact, I think this is the first time this has ever happened.”
A0BH gently patted it fondly on its back.
“Thank you 5-TU, your words remind me why I remain optimistic each and every day and thank you for sticking with me through this. I know the others are not privy to my ongoings and I appreciate you accompanying me even if you-”
A0BH quickly ended his monologue and hastily grabbed 5-TU. 5-TU dropped its pistol. Its servos were over its vocalizer, trying to keep itself from screaming. He pulled both of them behind a pinnacle of rocks.
They had walked into the terminid’s nest and they knew they had found it because they had found its Brood mother or no, the Terminicus Giganticus. They had found the Bile Titan.
A0BH’s optic blinked.
“Lovable Albert?”
5-TU squinted at him. “Who??”
He was sure of it. The description of the terminid.
[Lovable Albert was the runt of his litter. Small and weak, this bile titan larva was born with a congenital deformity of the heart. It was left to die and to be eaten by the others as such are the ways of nature. Our team has decided to foster Albert back to health as we believe it has imprinted onto us. It is mostly… well adapted to humans and we believe we can use this to our advantage.]
For being the runt of his litter, Lovable Albert looked as though he had been doing immaculate for all these years. He had grown so much since his last reported photos. His mandibles had grown out deadly and his mouth oozed of bile. His size had tripped and quadrupled. He no longer needed to be hand fed or tucked into bed. His once adorable legs had become dangerous to be trambled under. He was no longer adorable.
“We need to move,” A0BH said to 5-TU. “These terminids are no ordinary terminids.”
The shadow of Lovable Albert casted over them. He hadn’t known a creature to be so big that it was on par with a Factory Strider. A0BH watched it one more time. Maybe they just needed to wait.
In a twist of events, Lovable Albert screeched for its brethren before cloaking itself in a veil of invisibility. Then it was gone, as quiet as the wind.
Strange. A bile titan with stalker like abilities?
5-TU glanced at A0BH.
“Should we… Should we get moving?”
Suddenly the rocks in front of them were violently gored, straight down and broken into bits. Specks of dirt flew into the air from where the legs stabbed down.
5-TU did not have to look at A0BH before they both made the decision to RUN.
A0BH picked 5-TU up by the waist and ran with him as fast as his stubby feet can carry him. He tripped on the messy mounts of rocks once before sliding off. His footing shook Ingmar but less so than the Bile Titan.
He could not turn back and look but it was behind them. It traveled with undeterred. It traveled fast. A0BH pushed himself to run. He clutched 5-TU tighter.
The land was rocky to traverse. His design was not built for chasing nor fleeing.
Jaws and whipping tongues lapped at him.
When he realized Lovable Albert and his fellow compatriots were catching up, A0BH made the tragic decision of dropping 5-TU.
“Run,” A0BH called to it. “I will only hold you back! Run and run far!”
5-TU did a once over. “No you giant idiot, I am not leaving you behind!”
For as much of a coward as 5-TU was, it had surprisingly proven everyone wrong. 5-TU was a very smart Automaton.
The little automaton surveyed its surroundings. It made note of what was available and when it had spotted a point of interest, it had made its plan.
“Hurry! Carry us over to that rock formation!”
With adrenaline causing over its fuel lines, A0BH punched an encroaching terminid and ran straight to the pinned location.
“Now what?! Now what do we do?”
5-TU kicked the rocky walls. “Now kick!”
”Kick? What am I-”
“Just do what I say! Hit the wall with everything you've got!”
With more than a ton of metal, A0BH slammed his footing into the rock. The force of the pounding shook the entire cliff and rocks rained down on them, clattering everywhere.
“Keep doing that!”
Even 5-TU was kicking with him.
With even more force, A0BH mustered the entire weight of his frame and slammed aggressively. The collision into the overhang of rocks was enough to collapse the structure. Boulders and large pieces jaggard rocks dove down, crushing Loveable Albert and effectively creating a block in the ravine between them and the Terminids.
“Now grab me and-”
5-TU didn't have to say a thing.
Lovable Albert roared as it attempted to reambulate.
If the files were anything to go by, Terminid Stalkers were vicious and spiteful. They will stop until their target has been hunted and exterminated.
They hid for a while in a small cave and waited until the chattering had stopped. They stayed their until the sound of nimble legs could no longer be heard. They didn't dare peak over the cascade of rocks. They waited another fifteen minutes then another. 5-TU peaked its head out and saw nothing. A0BH took it a step further and walked into the clearing. They did not see or hear the terminids.
A0BH pointed his flamethrower in all directions. He clenched his servos and walked forward. 5-TU watched him warily. The hulk traveled another good yard before walking back and with a deep sigh of relief, deemed them safe.
“You can come out now.”
And then like before, 5-TU ran up to A0BH and into the embrace of safety.
“Oh 5-TU” A0BH picked it up and held it close. “You saved us! You managed to save us!”
He was so proud of his friend.
5-TU hugged him back. “And you were going to leave yourself behind, don't ever leave yourself behind.”
Rats. A0BH had checked his clock and cursed under his breath.
“We'll make it back alright but it will be closer to morning than we had thought.”
5-TU gave him an affectionate nudge.
“Does it matter? We are alive and in one piece.”
It mattered all the way.
They ran home in a hurry, hoping to make it before dawn. When they arrived, the sky alhad already begun lightening and the sun was beginning to burst out of the horizon.
A0BH could see comrade Blitz and Ikar standing guard, no doubt to take their places when they were absent.
In a dumb move, A0BH wondered if he and 5-TU could sneak their way in without having been detected by anyone. If they had done that then surely they could say they had never left all along. They walked quietly on the sides of the fortress, electing not to use the main entrance.
They were still seen by Commissar Volstok.
Volstok was surveying the surrounding land when he had seen the top of A0BH’s head. The Commissar looked away before looking back. He glared at A0BH and 5-TU and put his servos on his hips.
“And where were you two all night? Being unproductive as usual?”
5-TU flinched at the harsh words.
A0BH came to his friend's defense. “No, Commissar Volstok. We simply got lost in our expedition.”
“Oh really? Would you mind explaining the scratch marks on your back?”
Volstok’s tone was accusatory and grounded in harshness. He was the iron fist to their tiny operation. It was him that held them together when Cyberstan lost contact with their little colony. He was also the only Commissar, the very few Automatonsl to have seen a Helldiver and the only real leader with experience. His resume had definitely contributed to his egotism.
He was still cruel to them and if they could have another Commissar, then A0BH would not have complained.
A0BH thought of telling Volstok about the Terminids. It did seem like a good idea to warn the others but 5-TU had swiftly kicked him on the back of his legs and gave him a keenly aware look.
:If you're going to tell him about the Terminids, you might as well tell him you were digging into Super Earth research facilities::
A0BH quickly retracted his words.
“I fell off a cliff, I was clumsy and lost my footing on a stone.”
Volstok snorted.
He didn't believe a single word A0BH said.
“You will both be responsible for extended labor starting now in addition to your extra time on patrol.”
5-TU sighed.
Patrol was always the most boring of work.
“Was that a sigh I heard new-born?
“No-no, I-”
“Don't be so sad,” Volstok said. “You are doing your diligence until we contact the armada, why, you should be proud.”
“But that could be forever,” A0BH argued. “We have been trying to contact them since forever.”
“Correction, I have. You were only manufactured twenty-five years ago!”
They were never going to show up. A0BH didn't have the guts to tell Volstok but he was sure the Automaton fleet wouldn't so much as blink a optic at them. They were simply, not important as they would like to think they are.
“Besides,” Volstok lectured. “We are always to be on the lookout for Helldivers. You forget the reason we guard Ingmar. It is not the naturally occuring resources they want on this planet but the strategic role it plays in grand scheme of the Galactic War.”
If it is so important then why haven't the Helldivers come? If it was as valuable to the Galactic War as Volstok has said it was then why haven't they seen action in a hundred years. There were other more important planets around them.
They excused themselves from Volstok. The sunrise had encroached them while they worked to.dig up scraped material and to rebuild fallen fabricators. The Automatons were running short on resources and they had to use whatever was accessible.
Luckily for them, the escapades of the old war had left more than enough useful junk.
A0BH toiled away, swinging his pickaxe and then shovel to unearth a damaged hellpod. He threw it in along with the pile of another trash.
They had been doing the same routine, the same exercises, the same patrol marches for twenty years. Twenty five of his years and twelve of 5-TU’s.
The work was long, hard, and tedious. He didn't feel like he was remotely useful the Automaton cause.
He walked up to 5-TU who held the shovel in its servo. It did not move and it continued to stare at the sunrise before them.
“Do you…,” A0BH said. “Ever get tired of doing the same thing everyday? Digging up scrap metal?”
“No? I tend to like routines.”
“I just think we're destined for more, we were made to do so much more but we can't. We can't not while we are stuck on this planet.”
5-TU gave him a look of disapproval.
“You want the war to come to us? You want to fight against Super Earth scum then?”
“No-no I didn't mean it like that” A0BH rephrased his statement. “I think I am tired of being stuck on Ingmar and perhaps I am starting to loose hope the Armada will ever return.”
“Well, who says they won't return? You remember the Automaton doctrine? Heart Steel, We Kill. We will never leave our brethren behind, as sworn by every Automaton since the day of fabrication.”
Though another issue bothered 5-TU deeply.
“Do you think what Commissar Volstok said about the Helldivers is true,” he asked quietly. “Will they return, any day? Soon? Tomorrow?”
A0BH doubts they would and it was rather funny, really, that one feared the war and the other feared abandonment. Their fears spoke of their personalities well.
“He said that to scare you. He believes he is sly and cunning when really, he is a bully. The Helldivers haven't been on Ingmar in a hundred years. Perhaps Ingmar is not as important as Commissar Volstok has led on.”
“Promise,” 5-TU said unsurely.
A0BH’s optic flared. “I believe the Helldivers wont return as much as I believe the Armada may not return.”
They both watched the sunrise together. They were fully emersed in its light, another day of glory for the Automatons. They didn't flinch when the beams hit them and they simply looked onwards as the next tomorrow became today.
Somewhere not too far but far enough on Ingmar, four dots appeared in the way of the glowing sun, growing larger and louder. The dark silhouette of it thudded into the ground, digging itself effectively into the dirt.
The pod shifted as it propelled the contents upwards.
Four Helldivers stood up and walked out of the pods. Three Helldivers clad in black and one in white, the uniform of authority.
The Inspector had arrived.