Binary

Chapter Three: Outsiders

She kept her hands up, blocking her face, but he was just so much bigger than her that his first swing threw her back, knocking her into the grass. He grabbed her waist and lifted her high over his head to slam her down, but he had inadvertently brought her within striking distance. She threw her shoulders forward, locking the bicep sprockets. Suddenly, a barrage of punches rained his head.

Her first few strikes were sold hits, but then he threw her, and she crashed into the mud of the street.

She rolled over, trying to get to her feet quickly, but he was too fast and kicked her down. The world went into a haze for her at the force of the kick, rolling her over on her back. Before she could regain her senses, a giant foot slammed down across her chest, pushing her down into the mud.

Micha grabbed her arm and pulled, and she felt the searing tug on the cords that ran from her inner torso, up through the arm. The pain was an unfamiliar feeling to a Mechian, and she screamed.

"Let go of the arm, Prognis," breathed Micha angrily, leaning in close to her, she could see his breath coming out of the breathing ports in his forehead, "you brought this on yourself, playing with titan-class mechs, you should have stayed with the common-classes, where you belonged! I don't want to maim you if I don't have to, but someone needs to teach you a lesson!"

The pain was blinding, but Prognis wouldn't let go of the arm. Micha pulled again, and Prognis felt her inner cords strain further. It felt like everything inside of her was about to be sucked out through her shoulder socket. She looked up at his opposing form over her and realized something about the angle he was hunched at.

Suddenly, she swung her leg up, arching over her and catching Micha in the side of the head. Her shin was lined with iron rivets, and the force of the impact knocked a few pins loose from his jaw. The giant metal man was thrown off balance. He stumbled off of her, and she gasped in relief as she felt him release her arm.

She rolled over again, trying to scramble back to her feet through the numbness in her shoulder, but she saw Micha's leg come swinging at her, straight for her head, and suddenly the world went black.

***

When she woke up, it was to a blinding light. She tried to blink and realized that she couldn't. She could tell, even through her splitting headache, that she was no longer laying in the street in front of Micha's house. Her eyelids were gone. She stirred slightly, trying to move, and someone placed an arm on her shoulder and stopped her.

"Easy," said a voice that she vaguely recognized, "you took a pretty serious blow to the head, don't move too much.

"Ehhhhhhh," Prognis tried to ask, but she couldn't form words, she had no lips. A hundred tiny cords flailed uselessly in the air, trying to move a mouth that wasn't there, blink eyes that were gone.

She saw an expertly crafted hand reach across the blinding expanse of the room, and suddenly the light got dimmer. She recognized the craftsmanship of the hand and knew she was at Jacoby's place again.

"You're that girl that came in with the lumber camp," said Jacoby, "weren't you in here just last week for me to check your joints?"

"Mehh," Prognis nodded.

"I took your face off," said Jacoby, holding it over her. Now that he had turned down his lantern, the light wasn't so blinding on her eyes anymore and she could make out the features of the face, "Micha caved in that entire side, probably thought you were dead. I've inspected your cerebral core for cracks, you were lucky there. This was a pretty intricate face, it had a lot of delicate pieces and hollows, when it collapsed it must have cushioned the blow enough to protect the glass of your brain6. You could have been a goner."