Archive Ch.14

Nic’s stomach lurched sharply as he went over the edge, mind rushing as many thoughts collided at once. Blind panic chief among them, mixed with no shortage of fear and worry, mostly for himself but also for Jordi. Some part of him thought to try and reach out for the shelf, arrest his fall before it could begin but to no avail. His flailing hands were only able to brush the edge with his fingertips before he began to plummet in earnest.

For a handful of terrifying seconds, he was in freefall. Blood beat in his ears, any action he might have taken a pure hypothetical as body and intent no longer followed one another. All he could do was fall and flail, wondering in terror just what it was he might be landing on down below.

Though the last of those was just as sharply cut off when, in stark defiance of all logic, the direction of up changed. One minute he was falling, the next he was slamming into the shelf next to him, not gently but far less violent than the alternative. He didn’t even get the wind knocked out of him, allowing Nic to collect himself enough to take stock of his situation.

Though that in turn was largely guesswork. The question of how he was walking on the wall was answered easily enough by remembering this place was fond of unconventional physics. Another gravitational anomaly seemed more than likely, given how he was lying on the wall, though he had no idea where it had come from. A mild concern for the moment, eclipsed completely by the rather pressing question of what it was that had attacked him.

The answer to which, unfortunately, came to him as the sounds of scraping metal broke through his daze. A bot hung in the space above him, a boxy construct supported by a nest of mechanical arms that clung to both shelves like the legs of an enormous spider. Nic recognized it instantly as a CAT, albeit one far larger than Dewey, its central body alone was large enough that multiple people could have comfortably fit inside with room to spare. Rugged was the word that occurred to Nic as he started at it, a machine meant for tough jobs and built to do them well.

Though even such a machine couldn’t fight off wear and tear forever and this thing was no exception. It looked to have gone through multiple hells, casing tarnished and dented, deep scratches cut along the sides. Several arms had been snapped off, leaving the stubs flailing uselessly as they tried to grab with hands that no longer existed.  The most severe damage was along its left flank, where an entire panel had been torn away, revealing worn and ragged circuitry beneath.

The bot shifted, turning its full attention to the young techne where he lay against the wall. Though it lacked eyes, Nic could feel its gaze boring into him not with the cold detachment of a machine but instead a very deliberate intent. What that intent was Nic couldn’t tell but he suspected it wasn’t a positive one.

With a sound somewhere between roar and mechanical grinding, the CAT’s cargo hatches flew open and began to disgorge the familiar shape of flying books. Dozens of them in every shape and size, flapping their pages as they began to circle the bot in a loose swarm. More and more joined by the second, not just from within but from the surrounding shelves as well. The metal limbs plucking books at random, its long claws wrenching them free and tossing them up into the air, each one springing to life as they fell. In second the swarm had almost doubled in size and was only growing larger by the second.

“Nic, move!”

The voice cut through the air like a knife, drawing Nic’s attention back to the moment. He turned to find Jordi sprinting up the aisle towards him, green light already glowing along his arms as he prepared to leap into the fray.

Not giving himself time to think twice, Nic pushed himself up and sprinted away, doing his best to push through the surreal angle everything was at. The CAT didn’t take kindly to that, surging forward behind him as it struck out with its many grasping arms. The first of them missed, falling too short to threaten him, though he still stumbled at the force of the impact. The second barrage was much closer, Nic having to throw himself forward to avoid them. It kept him safe but left him prone once again, unprepared for the next barrage.

Flipping over on his back he scooted away, dodging limbs as they fell upon him like a hail of spikes. Several of them came uncomfortably close to taking bits off, a cry escaping his lips as one got close enough to brush against his calf. Pain bloomed instantly, leaving him off guard and unprepared for the follow up, a second clawed limb descending with lethal intent.

Before it could finish the job, something grabbed Nic around the middle and sharply pulled him clear, the claws meant for him instead sinking deep into the books. What relief he felt was quickly overshadowed by a fresh lurching sensation as suddenly the floor decided it was the floor again. Nic barely had time to process he was falling before he was already about to hit the ground. This too was suddenly ended by a familiar green glow that appeared to leave him suspended in mid-air.

“You alright?” Jordi asked, appearing from nowhere at Nic’s side.

“The hells is that thing!?” Nic replied.

“Bad!” Jordi grabbed him by the front and bodily hauled Nic to his feet as if he weighed nothing. “Now move!”

His tone bore no argument and Nic offered none, following at his heel as Jordi turned and sprinted away down the aisle. He wasn’t quite running but Nic struggled to keep pace, Jordi apparently very serious about their being somewhere else.

They didn’t make it far. Another metallic roar sounded, followed by the sharp fluttering of paper as all around them books sprang to life. Dozens of them quite literally flew off the shelves in a great surge, so thickly they obstructed one another. Many fell to the ground, loose pages, and dust wafting through the air as they tore into one another. This did nothing to reduce their numbers, the overlapping tomes like a flowing wall on the air before them.

Stopping short, Nic raised his hand to crack off a spell, briefly remembering and promptly ignoring Jordi’s insistence not to damage the books. Though the delver seemed unbothered, raising his own hand and the two of them cast at almost the same time. Nic a simple blast of wind and Jordi the green force burst he was so fond of. Both spells made it only scant inches from their fingertips before they twisted back in on themselves, swirling together into a chaotic vortex before vanishing completely.

“Well,” Jordi said, turning to look back at their pursuer. “That’s unfortunate.”

Nic turned to look as well. The strange bot hadn’t moved far, still hanging between the shelves up near the alcove. The fresh influx of books had joined their kin around it, forming a cloud so thick that the bot’s main body could barely be seen at the center. All the same, Nic had little doubt that it was looking directly at them, watching them with the cool, overwhelming confidence of a predator that had its prey firmly cornered.

“What do we do?” Nic asked.

“Power core,” Jordi replied. “Mid-back under a clasped panel. Get that out, it should shut down.”

“Should?”

“Never seen a geisted CAT before.”

That was about the last thing Nic wanted to hear but he pushed it aside. He could panic later, right now he needed to focus.

“Magic?”

“Ward isn’t instant. Anything point-blank should get through.” He paused, lowering himself a little as he prepared to spring forward. “Ready?”

Nic took a long breath, somehow managing to center himself despite the haunted killer robot above them. Opening his eyes to glance over at Jordi, finding the delver looking back, his face a grim mask, though a flash of that eager smile shining through in the eyes. Nic found it strangely comforting and returned the gesture with a nod.

“Right behind you.”

Jordi said nothing, simply turning back to face the bot with all the focus of a laser. He held, one breath, two, and then on three he was gone, sprinting down the aisle like a shot, trailing green light in his wake. Nic followed a half second later, summoning every scrap of courage and magic he still possessed.     

Then, with a roar of metal and fury, the bot was upon them.

*

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