Chapter 46 #2
Ronin brushed the backs of his fingers over her cheek.
She was still recovering, still delicate, and he missed holding her, missed the feeling of her body tucked against him, missed her warmth.
His memories of those feelings were easily accessed, but they could never compare to truly feeling her body against his.
He took her hand in his. Slowly, they walked to the room in which he’d been questioned when they first arrived.
Lara was quiet as they entered the stockade. Though she’d probably never seen anything like it, Ronin got the sense that she knew what the cells were for. She gave them a single glance before diverting her gaze to the concrete floor.
The interrogation room was full when Ronin and Lara walked in. They sat next to each other in the only available seats, which were at the end of the table near the door. The base’s leadership stared at them, Colonel Rodriguez central amongst the group.
Lara didn’t release Ronin’s hand.
“Miss Brooks.” Rodriguez dipped his chin. “I imagine you’re acquainted with everyone here by now.”
Lara glanced around the room. “Yeah. Hi, Newton.” She raised her hand in greeting.
Newton mimicked the gesture, his face plates lifting into a smile. “Lara. You’re looking well.”
Rodriguez cleared his throat. “We’re not here for small talk. You grew up in Cheyenne, Brooks. That means I have questions, and you’re going to answer them.”
“You know, you technically all grew up in Cheyenne, too. So…you can answer them yourself.”
Several of the people around the table grinned, many of them quickly hiding their mouths behind their hands.
Rodriguez’s features darkened. “Stand-up comedy died when the bombs dropped.”
“I don’t know what that is.”
“There used to be individuals called comedians who—” Newton began, but he was silenced by a glare from the Colonel.
That glare didn’t soften as Rodriguez shifted it to Lara. “I’m going to be direct, Miss Brooks. I’d appreciate it if you cut the shit.”
When she opened her mouth to respond, Ronin gave her hand a warning squeeze. He could guess the sorts of words that might’ve come out of her mouth, bristling with ‘f’s and hard consonants.
Lara looked at Ronin, pressed her lips together, and took a slow, deep breath before turning back to Rodriguez. “Ronin already told you more than I ever could about Cheyenne. His mind holds on to every detail. Unless you plan on going after Warlord, I don’t have anything to say to you.”
Multiple conversations began at once.
“Enough!” Rodriguez’s gaze roamed over the others, one at a time. “You’re all here as a formality. This is a matter of security, which by our laws places me in sole command.”
The heavy silence lasted for twenty-two seconds before Rodriguez returned his attention to Lara.
“Warlord has been a potential threat to this facility for decades.” He splayed his hands on the table with deliberate slowness.
“Any information we can gather about him may be vital to our continued safety and functionality. But I am curious, Miss Brooks, as to why you think we’d risk our people to go after him.
He gave up searching this area many years ago, and he hasn’t caused us trouble since. ”
“Why wouldn’t you?” she asked. “If there was a wild dog living next door to you, and every now and then it killed one of your neighbor’s kids, would you just ignore it because it hadn’t done anything to you and your children?”
“Warlord hasn’t killed any of our neigh—”
Lara yanked her hand from Ronin’s and slammed it on the table, pushing herself up. “We’re your fucking neighbors!”
Ronin scanned the others with his optics; their faces bore signs of shock and shame.
“We’ve been your neighbors a long fucking time, and humans and bots are both suffering because of that bastard.” Despite her obvious anger and the pain straining her features, Lara kept her voice steady and her eyes unwavering.
Witnessing such strength in utter defiance of the odds was inspiring, and it made pride flicker across Ronin’s processors.
“Sit down,” Rodriguez said through his teeth.
“Fu—”
“We should hear her out,” William interjected.
Seconds felt like years as Rodriguez and Lara glared at one another across the table. Ronin’s fingers twitched. The tension in the air was nearly thick enough for his dermal sensors to detect.
If it came down to it, he’d fight for her without hesitation, no matter how many soldiers were in this facility.
Rodriguez glanced at the scientist. “I told you, Anderson, you’re here as a formality.”
“We’ve heard stories from our scouts over the years, but they’ve always been just that.” William held out a hand toward Lara, palm-up. “This young lady has experienced it firsthand. She’s suffered because of what our ancestors did.”
“Everyone up there has suffered because of it,” Nancy added.
“I’ve seen with my own optics what he is capable of.
” Newton leaned forward, frowning as he looked at Lara.
“I was sent out there, into that Wasteland, by your forbears to reactivate more of my kind. The goal was to work toward repairing the world, toward rebuilding civilization. You’ve all lost that vision as much as I had.
This woman, who is braver than anyone in this room, has brought us an opportunity to begin what we were always meant to do. ”
Ronin looked at Lara. Her cheeks reddened, and she dropped her gaze as she settled back into her seat. When she took his hand again, her grip was clammy and tight. The outburst had cost her.
“The situation has changed,” said Dave Elliot.
He was the quartermaster, in charge of the provisions within the base.
The man who’d argued Lara was consuming too many resources.
“Maybe a hundred years ago, we could’ve gone out and done something, but we have too many problems of our own now.
We have to worry about our own people before we risk everything for strangers. ”
“Every time I send people out, there’s a strong chance they won’t all come back, and that’s just running for scrap and supplies,” the Colonel said.
Lara stared at him. “So instead, you live in hiding. You cower down here, away from the world, because you’re too afraid to face Warlord.”
Rodriguez surged to his feet and slammed his fists down on the table, making the whole thing rattle.
“Every person we lose under my watch is another weight I have to carry with me forever! It’s already too much to ask them to risk their lives for our own, for our survival, to keep their friends and family safe.
But you expect me to put everyone here at risk to go to war on behalf of strangers? ”
Only the long table separating Lara and the colonel kept Ronin seated in the face of such aggression, though his fingers twitched with the instinct to reach for a firearm he was no longer carrying.
“What will you do when there are too many of you to fit in this place?” Lara asked, surprisingly calm. “When you’re so packed in that you can’t keep up with supplies and food? You’re trapped down here, and he’s as much your ruler as he is Cheyenne’s if you won’t go out and face this.”
Bracing her right hand on the tabletop for support, Lara rose once more, eyes steady on Rodriguez. “Will you deny couples the right to have children and murder their babies? Will you kill anyone who breaks the rules, or refuse to feed people who don’t contribute enough to your cause?”
Nancy turned her head toward Rodriguez. “Our crops are struggling more and more. It’s a miracle they’ve lasted this long. A few more generations, and they won’t be viable.”
“We have other plans in place to—” Dave began.
“It may be decades before we have the breakthroughs to even begin that kind of genetic modification. Our children and grandchildren may not have that much time,” Will said.
“There are resources in Cheyenne,” Ronin offered, not looking away from Rodriguez, who stared down at the table.
“Warlord has kept a number of fields producing crops, in addition to cattle and goats. Plus, there are production facilities on the south side of town that are still in limited operation.”
“With those, we can—”
“Enough,” Rodriguez commanded. The room fell silent again as he lowered himself onto his seat, nostrils flared.
After several moments, Lara sat down with a defeated look on her face.
Seconds ticked away on Ronin’s internal clock, stretching over a minute.
“Is that what he’s doing over there?” Rodriguez finally asked, looking up at Lara.
“What?”
“Killing babies. Murdering anyone that doesn’t obey. Letting people starve. Is that what Warlord is doing in Cheyenne?”
She nodded. “We’re his playthings. He keeps us around until we’re not interesting anymore, or we’re too much trouble.
We need his permission to have children, and if a couple has more than one…
the baby is killed. He doesn’t allow anyone to grow enough food to survive so we’re dependent on him.
The entire settlement has to share a single water pump, and he shuts off the flow at his whim. ”
Lara found Ronin’s hand again, twining their fingers.
“Relationships between humans and bots are forbidden. My sister was taken in by a synth, and when Warlord found out about it, he beat her to death and tore the bot to pieces. He found out about me and Ronin not long after and hunted us across the Dust like animals.” She took a steadying breath and squeezed Ronin’s hand.
“There’s no hope in Cheyenne. Only him.”
“This is not something we have the resources to fix, Jack,” said Dave.
For a long while, Rodriguez scrutinized Lara. “It’s also not something we can afford to ignore for much longer, Dave.”
“They’re already using our resources without any sort of contribution or compensation. Already burdening our people. Now we’re going to risk our lives for them? That’s not the kind of decision that’s going to keep this place running through the years.”
Captain Cooper leaned forward in his seat beside Nancy. “If there’s a viable alternative to this place, it’s something we need to consider. The Andersons say we’re on limited time as it is, and all of us know people aren’t meant to live in holes like this.”
“We need sunlight,” Nancy said. “Even the few of us that go topside don’t get enough. The UV lamps don’t cut it, and they won’t last forever. The elderly are brittle, and too many of the young show signs of rickets.”
“Will your people fight, Miss Brooks? Will they lay down their lives for a chance at being free of Warlord?” Rodriguez asked.
“I can’t speak for them, but I think if they’re given a chance, if they’re given just a little hope...they would. They have nothing else.”
Rodriguez’s eyes flickered to Ronin. “And the bots?”
“I don’t know. Most are what you’d consider civilians, and I cannot guess the nature of their programming. Warlord’s gearheads will fight for him, but beyond that, I cannot say with any degree of certainty. Though…”
Ronin shifted his optics to Newton. The first voice Ronin had heard after reactivation, the source of his oldest uncorrupted memory... “If anyone could convince them, it would be the Prophet.”
The plates over Newton’s optics rose high as the room’s attention fell upon him. There was a faint quiver in his voice as he spoke. “The stories told about me as the Prophet are exaggerated. They border on superstitious nonsense—”
“You’re the one who woke them up,” William said. “As bots have developed emotions over the years, that’s only become more significant to them. Stories are powerful things, whether we’re flesh or metal.”
“But to think that I’d have any special sway over anyone else... I don’t…”
“Brooks, are you willing to speak to your people? To rally as many to the fight as you can?” Rodriguez asked.
“I’ll do everything I can,” Lara said.
He nodded and turned to Newton. “She’s going to risk everything, again, because she thinks this is the right thing to do. What about you? Will you talk to the bots in Cheyenne?”
Newton frowned. “I... Yes. Yes, I will. Illogical as it may be to walk into the den of our enemy, stand up in the middle of the square, and incite a riot, I will.”
Sparks crackled across Ronin’s cheek, compelling him to scratch, but he kept his hands down. “Lara is still wounded, and any gearhead that knows her face will shoot on sight. She can’t go back to Cheyenne.”
Lara turned to him. “I need to do this, Ronin.”
The thought of her going back to that place, back within Warlord’s reach, dragged on Ronin’s processes and threatened to disrupt all his functions. “Somone else can do it, Lara. Anyone else. I need you safe. Need you alive.”
She pulled her hand free of his and cupped his jaw. “I can’t ask these people to sacrifice and not be willing to do the same. I know the people there, and they know me.” Leaning forward, she pressed her forehead to his. “We can’t let Warlord keep getting away with this.”
His processors calculated hundreds, thousands, millions of possibilities. Countless ways in which it could all go wrong, countless ways for him to lose her again. Permanently. But Ronin knew Lara well enough to know he wouldn’t win this fight.
He took her face between his hands and kissed her, shutting down the calculations, pushing aside his worry. There was only her. His Lara.
After pulling away, Ronin faced Rodriguez. “She is to be as far away from any fighting as possible.”
The Colonel nodded. “We’ll plan based on the map you drew for us. For now, I’m sure everyone’s fed up with this meeting. We’ll reconvene tomorrow morning to begin preparations.” Rodriguez raised a hand, silencing Dave Elliot before the man could say a word. “Dismissed.”