3.
Viveka snoozed loudly on the Presence as we flew to the impacted area. Saraja stared with a distant anger, but like a storm that has passed with no sign of coming back. She punched Viv earlier to stop her from snoring, only to hurt her fist on Viv's shoulder armor. We're probably going to have to leave her on the Presence, I thought to myself. I stared at the city districts beside us as the ship cruised between them. Large industrial city towers all connected and stretching for miles.
It's no wonder a killer robot could get loose here for days. I stared below as the Presence dipped below the traffic skyline. Ships blasted all in one direction like a ancient Earth traffic lane, while another higher "lane" went the opposite way, rinse and repeat miles above us. And where we were going was far below the city industrial towers. I could barely make out the shadowy street below, shrouded by night and rain. The Slums were dark and dreary even in the purple daylight, of course it was.
Saraja cocked her gun and then put it in safety like a nervous habit. "Put that thing away," I told her. We're going to get the details from the Police, not step into a war zone.
"Sorry, I can't help it," She said sarcastically. "We're going to have to track this thing down quick, Yosana."
"Why, got a hot date?" I smirked. "Sorry. This was all my fault, you shouldn't have come."
"But it's my job," Saraja said, hefting the data chip up. The Presence descended to a full landing and the door opened, letting the cold Martian rain splash us in the face. "Our job."
Viveka stirred and cracked one eye open, staring at me. "Ugh, I was hoping this was all a dream."
"Good morning, Sunshine," I gestured her to get up. I took my coat and everything off but my armor. We all did, actually. It was all soaking wet anyways. "Detective Paraaz is waiting for us out there."
And yes she was waiting for us, holding an impressively large laser rifle instead of a clipboard like a usual detective. "Well look who's finally come to join the party," She lifted her helmet's face shield and greeted us.
"I see where you're getting your workouts in, Detective," I told her looking at the gun. Several officers were standing guard around a lot of dead and torn up bodies.
"We got a large mess ahead of us," Detective Paraaz said to me. Viveka rolled her eyes and Saraja put the data chip down on the ground. "Your toy went in there again. Like all the other ones."
"What do you want to do this time, Sara?" I asked. Saraja scanned some of the body parts.
"Seven dead, multiple wounded, bystanders just simply eviscerated near it as it went," Saraja scanned more. "That hand is in a grip, several of them. Actually."
"Reports say that some altercations took place between the robot and several civilians," Paraaz stood stoically as she looked at the unfortunate victims. "The toy–"
"Please, don't call it that," Saraja interrupted the detective, who scoffed.
"The Soulmate was defending itself," Paraaz asserted. "From what the forensic teams can gather, several of the bystanders forced themselves on the toy, I mean Soulmate. Thus, resulting in this."
"The headlines are going to be much worse," Viveka simply stated. "Campus 18 experiment planted a machine to blend in with Society."
"Stop being so dramatic," Paraaz cut me off from saying anything. "We're going to have to round up a team, go in there and recover the droid. And I couldn't think of any team better than you three in your State of the Art armor tech. Right, ladies? You think you can help a helpless detective like me out?"
Saraja glared at her while picking up the data chip, walking away to the sewer entrance. Rain splashed off all of our armor as Paraaz gestured us to follow her to get guns. "Take these."
"I am a scientist," Viveka protested and scoffed as Paraaz tried to hand her a pistol. "Not a soldier. Get that thing away from me."
Paraaz sighed and then handed me and Saraja a pistol. Saraja already had one and waved her off. The detective's voice came through our Casters as she lowered her face shield. "It's to stun the droid if things go bad, older terms might have it be called an 'EMP' burst. I'll be on coms, cleaning up this mess. Stay safe out there."
We came to the entrance of the Sewers, home of all the rogue Soulmates. We theorized the surviving ones were broadcasting a signal for other rogue Soulmates to take refuge in it. Icarus hasn't bothered with any of the City's "civil" problems, a loose robot was just another day for the Great Machine of the Sky. "After you," I let Saraja in first with the data chip.
Several defunct and older Soulmates hid behind sewage pipelines and watched us in fear as we passed them. Water dripped downstream towards their main gathering place. We paid them no mind until we came across a large broken and battered Knight heading towards us, its jaw and arms torn off. Its legs looked like stumps.
"Shaati-7?" I recognized the older model. It was an older combat Knight from Earth, yet extremely dangerous if one threatens the Soulmates in here. Shaati-7 wobbled to us and collapsed, apparently trying to warn us of a danger ahead. I looked to Viveka and Saraja. "I guess this means we're in the right place."
"Yosana," Viveka stopped me from continuing down the halls. "Do you hear that?"
The sounds of machines thrashing at each other echoed faintly in the distance. "They're fighting each other," Saraja gasped. Several non-combat Soulmates were running in the opposite direction, ignoring us. "What did you get us into?"
