Mary

First Written    Tue Nov 26 00:16:25 2019
File Modified    Wed Feb 14 18:32:26 2024
Latest Upload    Thu Sep 19 03:09:54 2024

Written April 2019, moved to /Shorts November 2019

Mary marched into the observer station, red Martian soil from her boots following her into the previously immaculate room.

"I should be dead. A Neumannoid electro-laser should have stopped my heart. But I'm not. And I need to know what the fuck is going on."

"I'm sorry, Supervisor. I'm afraid we don't have a hypothesis yet."

Juniper was a Mechanical. Her voice sung with concern, as though she was examining a puzzle only to find it had no solution.

"It might have been a malfunction. Or a choice to conserve power to spare for future reinforcements maybe," suggested Kate, a Human.

"Bullshit. I've seen their guns break before. If they can spin, they fire. This one just... stopped. Right after blasting three of my best men. Either I get a real answer or I'm having the lot of you shipped back to Earth on the next flight home."

Juniper felt the hum of Mary's shields grow louder, their electric fields mistakenly readying for battle in anticipation of the Supervisor's rising adrenaline levels. It always unnerved her when the nuclear reactor in her chest wasn't the loudest signal in the room. She looked at her colleagues one by one.

"I have a hunch," remarked Dan.

Mary's flesh eyes met Dan's optic implants with a glare.

"Supervisor, you're 150 centimetres tall."

"Excuse me?!"

"You're the shortest Human on the base, Supervisor. And, well, we found something after the last skirmish. Another 'defender' variant, with the larger body and flat pleopods."

"Legs," Kate interjected.

"Swimming legs," Dan continued, "We've dissected defenders variants before, but this one was different. We found embryos in its carapace."

"Get to the point, Dan."

"Defenders are misnamed. They're mothers. Neumannoids reproduce biologically, like us. They have children."

"You're suggesting they think I look like a kid," forced Mary through grit teeth, "No, worse. You're suggesting these butchers have compassion."

"Supervisor Mary, all I'm suggesting is that they might have taboos. Rules, ethics maybe. We know they're not mindless monsters. Mere animals don't build interplanetary vessels. If we could reason with them,-"

Mary's forearm shields deployed with a quick roar of unfolding metal, echoing what their wearer was ready to unleash on the scientists before her. Burnt flesh covered them both, obscuring the silhouettes of the Earth on their surfaces.

"Vanguard soldiers, Dan. Do you know what that smell is? Have you ever smelled a thousand volt barbecue before?"

Dan backed up, knocking over the contents of a lab table. He looked like he was about to vomit as Mary walked towards him.

"It's a useful weakness!" yelled Kate in an attempt to take the Supervisor's attention, "We could set up small decoys, or use child soldiers. Fake ones, of course! It's something we can exploit!"

"It's also a line we now know not to cross when it's our turn," Juniper whispered, already regretting the words though she could not repress them.

"When it's our turn, Juniper," uttered Mary, mimicking the Mechanical's tone, "I will find where these invaders raise their hellspawn, and I will bomb it. I will have the ascendants sterilize their waters with heat and then I will dirty bomb their nurseries with radioactive salts."

Mary retracted her shields as she headed for the door. Kate rushed to steady Dan before he stumbled over trying to pick up scattered data sheets. Juniper stood still on her supporting props and spoke out.

"My heart bleeds for you, Supervisor."

"Good," replied Mary, "More ammunition for my bombers."