Chapter Four
"Exponential" adjective rising or expanding at an unusually rapid rate
In time, the boy was found by other guardians.
Before that he wandered alone in the wastes, weak and starving, a strange ghost bobbing erratically by his side. Sometimes he cried, then a wild discharge of electricity would leap from the ghost to strike the ground.
At night, asleep in the ruins, the child held the machine close in his arms.
They spoke very little.
When they did, it was often the boy asking a question and recieving only a silent stare in response. From time to time the ghost would stop and stare into the distance, rotating its patchwork sections and pour out words of a thousand different languages too fast to comprehend. Once, he thought he heard it say
...I we should not exist...
but he couldn't be sure.
Twice he died.
The first time he fell from a ledge, the ancient stone suddenly crumbling under his weight and sending him plummeting to the rock below. His companion revived him in silence, then moved off to the next building as if nothing had happened. The boy was still shaking with the terror of the fall, that fraction of a second where he felt his frail body impact on the stone, the rear of his skull shattering apart. He sat up, sweat and tears mingling on his cheeks, and felt the back of his head. Rebuilt, healed, yes. But there remained a terrible ragged scar and a lingering pain. This machine could save him, he realised, but it was far from perfect.
The second time was a sniper shot. Spotted by a Fallen vandal, struck clean through the chest he tumbled lifeless into a ditch. By the time the Eliksni had reached the position he was back up and gone. This time, even after his ghosts attentions, the wound still bled a little. Yet still he survived.
That night he asked it, "Why can't you heal me properly? Why can't you make me stronger?"
The reply took a few moments.
...I we are defective inadequate flawed impaired. Predictive reasoning simulations lead only to collapse of the probability matrix. Core systems report compatibilty failures. Misalignment of core functionality processes. Collapse. Auto repair initiated. Auto repair fail. I we should not exist...
The next day, not long after dawn, the boy saw more Fallen sweeping the area.
Teams of dregs and vandals, moving in tight formations, checking every structure.
He would not escape so easily this time.
Try as he might he could find no way past them. They had his scent, perhaps a tracking signal on his ghost, and were closing in from all sides.
"I need help, ghost. Help me escape."
The eye rotated down towards him, cold and impassive.
...I am not a ghost. I am a corruption. An anomaly. A freak occurence...
"I know that. I know. But they will kill us both this time."
Hidden in the shadows he heard the Eliksni approach, some now only metres away.
...I we are a series of impossibilities. I we should not exist...
The tears came again, the child biting his fist to hold back the sobs.
"I don't want to die ghost."
The eye stared down, flickering.
"I don't want to die."
The machine turned in the air to watch the Fallen approach.
...I we should not exist...
A vandal cried out, pointing to them and rasing its rifle.
...yet we do...
The boy felt it begin, a crackle in the air, the taste of it. The world seemed to slow as he saw the Eliksni move to surround them. Electricity spiked between himself and the ghost, then lanced into the ground.
A cold fire rushed through his body, a terrible burning ice accelerating through every cell of his being. Lightning flashed out again, shattering the wall behind them to rubble.
...yet we do...
The fireteam sent from the tower to investigate found only two survivors.
Through the scoured land, two square miles of little else but sand and melted stone, just metres from the epicentre of the blast.
A boy, asleep, cradling a ghost in his arms.
"In the heat of battle it is easy to forget your goals. Is to simply kill your opponents enough? Will this achieve all that is required? There are countless scenarios where to maim is the preferable option. Or to wound and capture, before disposal at a later date. Your enemy need not only be a target. Your enemy can be an asset, if utilised wisely."
chapter 7 "Target selection" from "Advanced Combat Tactics" by (TEXT REDACTED)
YOU ARE READING
Inlustris
Science FictionThis is my confession. Sometimes Guardians turn to the dark. They must be stopped. They must be killed. This is my duty. This is my last confession.
