Hacking the Sun [Old Version]

Chapter 18.1 "Listen, Cyberwhore!"

Evening crawled near with their every step into the forest. Gideon kept Jessica's gravity board on his person. She got the flash drive back, but his argument for keeping the rest of her stuff was that he had to inspect everything sinister, even though Danielle had already done as much. Feeling naked, tired, and helpless, all she could do was catch pockets of the leader's conversation with Raptor.

"Glad we got to you when we did," said Dexter's brother.

"Inclined to agree." Gideon snorted then dropped a ball of spit on the ground. "We ain't blind, though. See, only visitors we get are ones lookin' fer trouble. That or a lost lamb, once in a while. The only reason we didn't shoot yer friends is 'cause they're not aliens, far as I can tell."

Jessica steered from the conversation to Shannon. "Where'd you guys leave the car?"

"In a place that's hidden, I hope," she said, and her brow twisted. "Hey... I wanted to stop for you, but my foot was so hard on the gas pedal I didn't even realize you couldn't catch up until grumpy told me we couldn't stop. The only reason we landed is because he said radar would find us. Between you and me, though, I don't think he knows where we're going."

"You'd think oblivion was genetic... And it's okay. We found—well, you found us, and it got us out of a bind." Jessica caught Danielle staring, specifically at her watch.

"Who are these people, anyway?" started Dexter, looking at Valerie next to him.

Her eye cocked. "Hmm? What? You and your brother not talk or something?"

"Talk? Yes. Communicate? Not very much."

"Monarch occasionally sends peeps to trade with these peeps calling themselves Woodsmen. They don't exactly like technology, mmkay? Which means they don't network much, mmkay? We give 'em the supplies and that helps 'em survive, secretly. Even those old-school stockpiles."

"Was wondering why their armor looked familiar..."

"Same Sub Terran-issued Sicario Suit."

"So, I have you to thank for them guns they pointed at me? Thanks," said Jessica.

"In return," Valerie resumed, staring Dexter down, "the Woodsmen feed us intel via morse code... and other shit. Mira, cabrón, I don't know everything."

One Woodsman side-stepped next to Jessica and her friends. Before he could startle them, he spoke spitefully. "It's because we avoid that alien garbage that we've lasted one-hundred years. Ma and Pa didn't need it; Grandma and grandpa didn't need it; I don't need it."

Jessica smirked. "I do applaud your independence, sir. I guess you haven't run out of salt after one-hundred years?"

"No, we haven't."

"Drone!" someone shouted

Gideon hit the floor. "Hide!"

Confused, Jessica faceplanted the dirt. Every other soul flung into cover and camouflage. As they snuck behind bark, shrub, and rock, an oblong machine gravitated through the thickets.  Its shimmering carapace brought a subtle hum in its wake as it waded through the leaves. Easily, it could cut a cavity through them with its sharp trio of arachnid-like arms. Instead, its onboard reticle rolled in a glass eye, surveying the vicinity. Any lower and it might have isolated Gideon's head, underneath. Jess clenched her teeth as it bobbed mid-air, the rolling camera difficult to predict.

Inconspicuously, she illuminated her Vambrace. Violet light ignited from her arm,  inviting the attention of nearby Woodsmen as the drone loomed over Gideon's head. Gideon had his finger on the shotgun trigger.