It took three minutes to reach the scene with a cybernetic body capable only of cruising at 25 km/h. During that time, the damage had escalated.
The remaining Tech Gobs had been reduced to twenty-four, and the area was littered with corpses as they had been fighting while retreating.
There was no way I’d let them continue. Pulling the coilgun from its holster, I activated the electronic fire-control system.
“Selene, I need your assistance.”
“Roger. I’ll transmit the distance measurement data from above.”
This cybernetic body adheres to Old Earth human standards but is equipped with the minimal mechanization necessary and functions as an adequate combat weapon. At its core is the multi-layered software housed within my brain casing, encompassing my self-awareness.
Muscles tightened reflexively as nerves activated, and the makeshift coilgun, lacking even a proper sight, was carefully aligned according to the “internal control system.” Thanks to the fully integrated Fire Control System (FCS) within the electronics, the gun connects directly via wireless signals to the brain, functioning efficiently even with a toylike appearance. Given sufficient data, it can achieve perfect accuracy with every shot.
“Can’t sit around observing. We don’t know the enemy’s durability. Activate heavy-arming mode, three-round burst.”
“At this distance, there’s no need to account for Coriolis forces or atmospheric pressure. The wind is light, and the bullets should penetrate without issue.”
I aimed at the grotesque hawk circling above, targeting it as it attempted to shoot at the remaining Tech Gobs. As I lined up my sights, numbers rapidly flashed in my vision, updating the hit prediction until every parameter turned green, signifying guaranteed impact, and that’s when I pulled the trigger.
A sharp electromagnetic whine sounded as three bullets, fired in heavy-arming mode, soared at supersonic speeds. A fraction after the metallic click of the trigger, the piercing sound of breaking the sound barrier followed.
Assisted by the FCS and range data, the bullets struck the grotesque hawk soaring 60 meters above at over 200 km/h without deviation. The first bullet hit the beak, the next two successively struck the chest and body, utterly shattering the target.
“Warning, firepower insufficient.”
“Tough bastard.”
I smelled a faint ozone scent and adjusted my aim at the next target. I’d thought something that used organic components would be fragile, yet it maintained its shape as it crashed. Even with heavy-arming mode, it should possess firepower roughly equivalent to ancient firearms — about 3300J of energy from powder-based weapons. Still, it’s no issue if I can just take it down; this magazine wasn’t designed for full ammunition exhaustion but for recharging and reuse. As long as the battery consumption is the only downside and it can still perform takedowns, there’s no problem.
Internally, an electronic trigger activated, and a projectile was accelerated electromagnetically by coils spinning within the pre-heated gun barrel. Despite the short barrel, the projectile gained enough acceleration to burst into the atmosphere. Almost simultaneously with the shockwave of the first target disintegrating, three bullets embedded into the chest of the second hawk-like being.
Damn, “sound” is just too slow. These sensors in this cybernetic body are far too dull; I can’t fully utilize the electronic brain’s processing capabilities. Had I not been used to the “slowness” of bows in Old Earth VR games, I might have missed even with the FCS. Ancient curses like “Kuso Aim Otoko” or being trolled with “You NOOB” would be inescapable.
“Captain! Two units are changing their target to us!”
“If it reduces the Tech Gobs’ damage, good! Priority target is…”
On the other hand, it was pleasant and quick communicating with Selene at speeds of hundreds of meters per second over rapid radio waves. Even with the computer’s clock maxed out, her voice remained in real-time while everything else flowed slowly.
But it was good. I was afraid of confronting these with such a fragile cybernetic body prone to losing function after one hit if they had been tightly info-linked. Otherwise, I would’ve already been surrounded by all the remaining units and unable to fight back.
If they were clearly thinking independently, the response would be simple.
Most importantly, their main weapon is a fixed cannon mounted on their belly, forcing them to align their entire bodies for firing, a cumbersome process even for an aerial bird that can twist mid-air. There’s a significant delay between aiming and firing.
After getting into the sniping position, I had about three precious seconds to evade — not enough to play an Old Earth FPS game decently, but it would suffice.
“Unit on the left! Its gun will be aimed at you in 2.4 seconds!”
“Understood!!”
Bullets were fired the moment her command came. As I smelled the scorched air, I weakened my knees and jumped to the left.
The third grotesque being plummeted just as its electromagnetic cannon fired at where I used to be just fractions of a second ago. The spike-like projectile tore through the air where my body had been and plunged into the ground, sending up large volumes of dirt and debris through the shockwave.
Shit, what kind of power is this? I was considering requesting Selene to design VR-inspired body armor and plate carriers, but they’d only add dead weight.
Still, how can such a small, seemingly power-inefficient cannon deliver this much destruction? The damage far exceeds what its appearance would suggest. While more robust cybernetic bodies or exoskeletons could easily deflect it, this fragile body would shatter upon a single hit anywhere. They need to respect physical constraints more.
While airborne as a result of the dodge, I predicted my landing trajectory, the acceleration, and the enemy’s predicted position to launch the fourth shot. The unusual tactic of placing my aim led the grotesque hawk to plan a hit-and-run move but ended up taking three bullets to the face, exploding mid-air.
The recoil of shooting mid-air threw me slightly backward, but I landed on my back instead of my shoulder. After completing a few rolls to stop the momentum while using it to quickly rise, I stood up covered in mud yet grateful for the swift recovery.
〈Warning: Battery at 0〉
“I know!!”
As I complained, I ejected the magazine and inserted a fresh one. While I’m used to using my left hand, I sorely missed having a secondary arm. If I had that, it would’ve automatically swapped magazines for me just before running out.
Hurry, quicken, speed up. As I fumbled the exchange in a rush, I targeted the hawk that twisted mid-air to attack the Tech Gobs.
The time required from aiming to firing was merely 0.7 seconds in standard scale.
In a FPS game played in Old Earth standards, it would be suspected as cheating, but from an accurate shooting stance with both feet on the ground, it felt too slow.
A better cybernetic body would allow half the time and even enable a full-auto barrage with ease. This was the maximum capability with my current body and gear.
Still, comparatively, considering this is a non-combat frame, it was doing better due to familiarization.
If someone who usually uses Beta or Gamma cybernetic bodies got switched to this dull body suddenly, they would likely go insane from the restricted sensory range.
Compared to being consistently connected to vast communication bands, capturing a radius of several kilometers electronically, this body felt as helpless as having both eyes covered, ears and nose plugged.
The passage of time felt tense. However, as much as tactical clock-speed reduction annoyed me, I had to be patient and not rush into things…
Now! The bullets aimed for the fifth victim as it hovered momentarily due to flight adjustments and were successfully dispatched.
There was no room for wasted shots. The enemy consisted of eight units, and with heavy-arming mode, each magazine only held twelve shots available. Firing three rounds at a time would consume exactly two magazines, leaving no margin for error.
Stress crept in with just three left. However, as I calmed myself, the danger zone highlighted dimly in reddish hues from my passive radar and image analysis shrank slightly.
The Tech Gobs were retaliating against the drones caught off guard by my attacks.
“Warning. Activation of second-class defensive weaponry detected. It’s a charged particle cannon. Estimated output… 50 GigaWatts? Quite low, isn’t it. Still, it shouldn’t be possible to fire such a sizeable device without a fusion reactor.”
The brief illumination came from streaks of charged heavy particles cutting through the air. To help visualize the otherwise invisible rays, the visual correction function in my brain transformed them into visible light beams, yet they lasted only a fraction of a second.
By replaying a few microseconds-old footage from high-altitude drones, I caught a figure in the center of a circle holding a ridiculously large cylindrical machine approximately 30 cm in diameter and 2 meters in length, compared to the others around it.
Propped firmly on tripods, sprouting cables in all directions, and extending unorthodox components in hexagonal shapes, most of the paint was chipped, but the faint grey base clearly hinted at its origins.
Right before shooting… What ritual was that? Other small entities seemed to connect cables to the device themselves in a leaping dance.
Fast-forwarding, the sharp beam of positrons carved diagonally through the air, incinerating two drones. The range was far beyond observation limits — naturally — with an exact diameter of 2.5 meters for the beam.
As Selene had pointed out, it was bizarre. Charged particle cannons are generally mounted as “close-range options” on spaceships or fighter jets designed for space combat. In any military district, ground troops have not adopted them due to atmospheric attenuation issues, the enormous power requirements for particle accelerators, and their susceptibility to magnetic jamming, making them cost inefficient.
As research advanced, defensive measures using condensed light or particle cannons that utilized residual matter in the atmosphere became effective, leading to the modern adoption of physical projectiles based on kinetic energy for close distances.
And yet, there’s no way such a setup should be operational.
Even so, it doesn’t seem newly constructed.
“Nuclear fission?”
“None detected. No thermal nuclear fusion, nor low-temperature fusion.”
So, from where and how are they powering the discharge? With reactors in those small entities? It’s full of oddities.
Selene may call 50GW “low output,” but even that much would be unfeasible for a Gamma cybernetic body.
Could they possibly be generating power through that strange dance?
The performance involving fuses and discharge capsules, along with some cooling mechanisms, didn’t match anything in our military inventory.
It almost seemed like a civilization incapable of producing antimatter warheads was using such a device as a main cannon…
Even so, why is it here?
“Captain, please mind your surroundings.”
“Uh, close call.”
Spending just four seconds pondering unnecessary matters made me an easy target for the surviving enemies. Detecting the pre-signals of a charged gun, I responded accordingly. Even with the ability to see bullets, physical reactions couldn’t keep up, so preemptive evasion was critical.
A single sidestep avoided the attack, which only threw dirt and grass my way, as my final three shots cleanly pierced the target’s midline.
Given that they lacked the ability to predict movement and dodge effectively, they operated within extremely standard human time perception — meaning they weren’t governed by highly advanced computational processing despite their hybrid biomechanical bodies.
After defeating the last one, caution was still necessary. Such large beings could perch on nearby treetops and ambush at will.
I reloaded the magazine, with only enough for two more full bursts, and approached the Tech Gobs cautiously.
Ah, what a shame. Even after rushing to their rescue, the losses were significant; now only eighteen remained. I raised a hand to reassure the alert Tech Gobs as I played the Tech Gob language file from the communication terminal. Using mechanical assistance was necessary since my oral cavity couldn’t accurately produce their language.
The synthesized metallic voice, if heard unaware, projected a threatening aura.
[May the blessing of the reclining Great Mother be upon us]
Upon hearing it, the individual standing at the front holding the spear — indeed the one who also operated the charged particle cannon — slowly lowered the weapon and replied cautiously.
[May the grace of the Great Mother be profound. And who are you?]
Thank goodness, the message got through. While language evolves easily, religious phrases often persist unchanged for hundreds, sometimes thousands of years. Even in space, some ancient religious phrases remain — for instance, “Amen” surviving from Hebrew despite historical wear.
The mutual recognition of this respectful greeting without hostility was genuinely fortunate for building relationships.
[I am a friend of the Rabbits. Seeing you under attack, I couldn’t stay idle and rushed here. I would like to know why you have arrived in such large numbers.]
The respondent, likely the leader judging from the etched wrinkles and quality of the torso armor, suppressed murmurs from his group. Ordering a few to assist the wounded and tidy up, he approached me.
However, coming in groups of four to five but ending up with only eighteen survivors, including the wounded, was devastating. Moreover, half of the remaining were injured, three severely enough that they wouldn’t last until proper treatment.
Such heavy losses. If only we were like us, where damage to the core could be repaired — for these, non-repairable injuries could be fatal…
Ah, no, wait. If that’s the case, why are there entities with injuries who survived? They shouldn’t withstand the kind of firepower I used; they don’t appear to have such resilience.
“Selene, heal?”
“Negative. Their bodily composition is unknown. I do not recommend using the Captain’s repair nanobots.”
Of course. Given their clear difference in physiology, using nanobots designed primarily for maintaining homeostasis would be impractical. In fact, they could potentially worsen the condition.
Damn, this is why species with replaceable bodies always complain during military drills with allies.
“Data on sexes and age groups across 200 individuals for thorough full-body inspections to understand their structure are necessary. Bleeding and fractures are basic enough for treatment, but anything more is risky. Unfortunately, we currently lack facilities for such extensive free research.”
“Understood. No need to go that far. I’ll just ask for their cooperation later.”
Nothing more could be done to physically help them beyond ensuring immediate threats were addressed. Even with a two-limbed and two-legged structure resembling ancient humans, traditional treatments wouldn’t suffice, leaving it rather frustrating.
It’s important to protect intelligent, non-hostile species. That’s a desire embedded in us.
[Untouched by the blessing, gratitude. We are exposed to danger/enemy. We have come to convey a message to the Rabbit settlement.]
While a rough translation, it gets the meaning across well enough. The limited data on the Tisy species suggests infrequent external contact; they were even named as such by the Captain in her notes.
[What message?]
[Rising tides/overflow/reversal are occurring. We need to prepare/train/fortify. Your kind has brought decay/end/death.]
Kin? What does that mean…? As I contemplated, I was pointed at someone lying amongst the injured inside one of their large carts used as cargo carriers.
Is that… wait, what? Did my visual sensors malfunction?
Blinking repeatedly brought only the same message: “Functioning correctly.”
No way, is that… Old Human?
A closer look revealed unmistakable signs of an Old Human — not just by their four limbs but something inherently unmistakable.
What the hell? Far from clarifying any mysteries with this new source of information, there seem to be more questions now.
What exactly were the people who terraformed this planet trying to accomplish? Advanced intelligent creatures, bio-tech hybrids, and now Old Humans?
Instead of unraveling threads, it feels like the storyline’s spiraling out of control. No way to tell which wire connects to what anymore.
So, always tag your wiring with AR!
Joking aside, as I ran off, hoping the Rabbit group, who hastily geared up to follow, would mediate well…
[Supplementary Notes: Exoplanetary Exploration]
Mechanized Humans refer to the Old Humans who did not undergo bodily modifications or genetic engineering at the time of the original Earth’s existence. Such forms of humans continue to reproduce across the universe.
I apologize for the delay.
Updated: July 10, 2024, 18:00 Planned.
Your reviews and feedback are greatly appreciated and would boost my motivation immensely. Thank you for your continued support.
