Jeurridam Ch. 13: The Acid Swamps

Everything I did had reverberating side effects. The nanites, coursing through Zanir's blood gave him powers I never could have imagined when I put that brain implant in his head! Everything that he endured was brought upon him because of my selfishness... Him walking out on me the way he did was completely understandable! I didn't let him live the life a twenty one year old would want to live! No, I forced upon him this grand mission to save this sorry world that I didn't consider he may not have wanted to be apart of. That was my error!

All I could do was just stand there and look at the mess I made. I destroyed the manticore mech that probably had extreme sentimental value to Zanir because I was angry. I also wrecked the power cell construction Zanir was overseeing. Immediate guilt forced me to begin reconstructing the frame. I was so wrong to have destroyed it!

These were impulses I hadn't felt in a long while. It probably had something to do with Zanir ending his command protocol over my systems. I rendered the pulse cannons placing them under the lowest power settings. I began re-welding the tall steel struts of the frame back to the large base built by these talented young people.

"That's a monster..." I heard someone say. It was upsetting to hear, but I continued to rebuild the structure for them. I was, truly a monster! I created such terrible killing machines and now I had become one.

"He called us worthless..." Another said. Truly, I had said some quite hurtful things to these kids but worthless they were not! It was only to undermine Zanir' efforts to get him to see my views. It was wrong, but it seemed to be the only way to get to him. Indeed it did get to him and it forced him to leave. I was such a terrible father...

"Oh, so now he's helping us?" Someone asked, skeptically. It didn't deter me from attempting to finish fixing what I had ruined. It was the same type of determination I had instilled in Zanir. It was wrong of me to use it against him the way I did!

As I moved on to the last strut, Basil stared at me angrily, arms folded, huffing and puffing. All kinds of eyes stared at me as I fixed the last strut, even the Leer. It bugaled at me loudly. It stomped its cybernetic hooves trying to get my attention. Basil slowly looked at the electronic elk, wondering why it was making the siren-like calls. He was unaware of the form of communication it and I shared, a wireless short wave radio system of commands and prompts.

"They're fighting!" The Leer said.

"What?" I responded, having to stop what I was doing. The whirring my broken voice modulator did caused everyone to look at me intently.

"There's a battle!" The Leer responded. If I had a heart, it would have sank to my stomach! I rushed past all the kids in the hangar, the kids scrambling a safe distance away. The Leer was right beside me as I took off, flying high above the base.

The gravity repelling wings carried me at near supersonic speeds, the Leer somehow keeping pace on the ground. We arrived at Jeurridam in a matter of minutes. The sight was horrific! The flying vessels the Revivalists flew in on, were downed, going up in fiery explosions left and right.

Numerous Merchant Clan buggies charged forward towards the much bigger cicada tanks! The impossibly small buggies fearlessly engaged the tanks! Their wheel base spread out, the axles of the buggies rearranging so the drivetrain could still power the wheels. The axles themselves were able to pivot two hundred seventy degrees, allowing the buggies to be extremely agile compared to slow tanks.

The buggies outflanked the slow shooting, slow moving tanks, firing their anti-tank weapons in rapid succession. Tank after tank was destroyed with minimal casualties to the buggies. Had things have gone in the favor of the Revivalists, I wouldn't have been surprised! They had numbers and firepower on their side! However, the Merchant Clan were decimating the tanks which left me damn stupefied!

Smaller racers, began to engage the buggies, firing their cannons at them. Many buggies

were ripped apart by the thirty millimeter cannons. Now with the speedy racers running circuits around the buggies in the same way the buggies outflanked the tanks, the remaining tanks took aim, firing on many of the buggies. The explosive rounds sent the lean and fragile buggies into ricocheting fragments across the dunes.

Just as the balance was beginning to swing, over a dozen winged turrets came flying in! Much like the Big Daddy suit, they had four gravity repelling wings! They latched onto random locations in Old Vegas, taking aim at the insurgents miles away. A barrage of long range pulse beams came from the north, many speeders and tanks continuing to be decimated.

There were only forty tanks remaining and a few hundred racers as well! The Merchant Clan still had hundreds of their nimble digitally powered buggies, only a tenth of their force being destroyed. With the numbers shifting, the tanks began to retreat northeastward towards the dam. The Merchant Clan kept the heat on them.

My optics zeroed in on this yellow buggy, dodging the flare-like cannon rounds of the tank as they came down in fiery explosions like the wrath of God! The buggy retaliated by firing repeatedly at the tank! The rounds expelled from the little yellow buggy burst mid flight, sending a web of gelatinous goop containing a powerful depth charge! Upon impact with the tank, the charge exploded, igniting the strange gelatinous goop.

The explosions knocked legs and armor off the tanks, damaging them badly. The little yellow buggy came darting in at impressive speed! It's anti-tank cannon reverted back to the much smaller fifty millimeter cannon. As the buggy drove by, it fired at the tank's cockpit, blood splattering everywhere!

The buggy kept on trucking, targeting another tank! As it did, a swarm of racers came in to take care of the threat. Now being pursued, the buggy charged through Henderson at an extreme speed. The pilot, threw impressive turns as the much faster racers closed in.

"Guys, I need help!" He said, as the fire of thirty millimeter cannons began to rip through his buggy.

"On it!" Another buggy pilot responded.

A buggy came riding across rooftops, it's advanced magnetic suspension allowing it to make daring leaps as it closed in on the racers pursuing the yellow buggy. It made one last leap from a fuel depot roof, landing on the fragile physique of a racer, firing at the remaining number of racers. The buggy began to make quick work of the racers with it's very own thirty millimeter cannon.

"You alright boss?" The pilot asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine! We gotta keep pushing them back!" The yellow buggy pilot responded before making radio contact with someone else, "June, their falling back to the dam! Get out of there!"

"I can't! Zanir and the prisoners are still in there!" June responded back over the air.

This alarmed me to the very core! The Leer and I looked at each other, quite shocked! This was all some reaux to get Zanir within the dam to rescue the assets being imprisoned! That boy had no fear at all!

"Well they're coming!" The yellow buggy pilot said back.

"I'm doing the best I can down here, Sandles..." June said, growing frustrated.

"Zanir better hurry it..." Julio said, quite worried as well.

I looked at the Leer, both of us quite consumed with worry as well.

"Come on!" I whirred! It followed, both of us heading to a hilly outcrop overlooking the dam! The sight was shocking! Julio and June's analog buggies were suspended sixty feet above the base of the dam. Between the two buggies, a tiny hole was drilled! Hovering just outside the hole was Orb, ready to provide supporting fire for anything that threatened the two buggies hanging on the side of the dam. So this was how Zanir penetrated the facility! The boy was a genius yet still unbelievably stupid!

"I can't believe it..." I murmurred.

"Look!" The Leer murmurred! He pointed towards the numerous racers speeding through Henderson towards the dam. Not long after, the Tanks had arrived. The racers and Tanks began to fire at the buggies hanging on the dam! Orb took off, doing the best she could to alleviate the pressure from the buggies! She fired her thirty millimeter pulse cannons at the tanks and racers. The energy pulses destroyed the racers but did nothing but bounce off the densely armored cicada tanks. Still though, the persistent little mech made countless high speed passes on the tanks, only to be ignored by the resilient machines.

June's buggy moved in close to the hole bored into the side of the dam, bunkering down tightly! The buggy popped open the rear compartment! Numerous people began to pour out of the hole into the rear of the buggy.

"Julio, provide us support, will ya?" June asked.

"Sure thing!" Julio responded. The turret on the back of the buggy began to turn. It took aim at the tanks lining the canyon wall. It fired powerful shot after shot, piercing the canopy of several of the tanks! Blood splattered all over the glass of the tanks' cockpits. The boy was quite a lethal shot!

"Go ahead and get out of here!" Julio said as the rear compartment of the buggy closed.

"I'm not leaving you with those things." June said, "Now, get into position! I don't have any more room! I'll provide support this time!"

"Okay..." Julio responded, wheeling the side of the buggy up to the hole. He popped open the door, waiting for more people to come out.

Julio's buggy began firing the same large vacuum inducing, anti-personnel rounds at the tanks. Tank after tank began to drop! Orb, steadily mowed down numerous racers, some managing to make it to the other side of the dam to surround the tanks.

"Fuck, we're surrounded!" June growled.

"Come on Zanir..." Julio said, quite ansty for the boy's arrival, "What's taking him so long?"

"I don't know..." June responded, "But, Heaven's running out of ammo up there..."
"Shit." Julio said, growing more and more worried!

Suddenly, a tiny head appeared out of the tunnel bored into the dam wall. It wasn't Zanir's but Ezekiel's.

"ZEEK!" Beth screamed. The thin boy leapt into the buggy, the door closing behind him. The two buggies waited a little longer for Zanir but the pressure from the tanks were proving to be too much. He wasn't coming out!

Seconds later, the two buggies made a speedy getaway up the near vertical face of the dam. Both leapt high into the air before hitting dense ground hard! The powerful suspension of the buggies cushioned the blow, as the two speed towards A99. Still though, racers were in hot pursuit. Orb came swooping in, getting the pursuers off of the buggies.

"All forces withdraw," Alistair said in a mass OTA wave, "I repeat all forces withdraw and disperse... Do not go back to the City of Rust, I repeat do not go back to the City of Rust! You are ordered to stay away from Jeurridam! Retreat to the mountains."

This was sad! Allistair's entire empire crumbled at that very moment! Allistair was a genius, the very man who designed those buggies that dominated the Revivalists. However, this was only a tiny fraction of the Revivalists total force. The man knew better than to stay a unified mass after such a daring attack. He had to break up and separate all of his own or risk complete and total annihilation when the Revivalists came back to retaliate. It was a wise decision.

However, that had little significance to me! My son was still inside that dam and there was little I could do about it! Considering I was incredibly outgunned by the Revivalists, I couldn't just go in guns blazing and expect a decent outcome. No, Zanir was on his own unless there was something I could do, some way... just something! Afterall, Zanir did have valuable information within that brain implant in his skull and the Revivalists would stop at nothing to get it. They would destroy him to get to it!

I had no choice but to return back to Area 51 with what felt as close to a broken heart as I could remember. My return was not well received. I entered the hangar, balling up tightly on the wall. I wanted to cry but in this big clunky mechanized form, there was no way I could do so. My son was gone because I pushed him away! Surely if I would have assisted him in this daring rescue, he maybe could have possibly walked away this.

The pitter patter of human feet entering the hangar made me look up. It was Basil. The boy was so upset that I had returned, fumes of hatred spewed off of him!

"You're not welcome here..." He said through the grit of his teeth. My head slowly slumped back down between my knees as the sensation of crying built from within but no tears could come from this form, "I'm serious," Basil started back up, "LEAVE!" I looked at the boy, seeing his face was red. I got up not wanting to anger him or hurt anyone else further.

Strange murmuring sounds came from a remote corner of the Hangar. It sounded like odd weeping. Even Basil and the people within the scrap hangar had to turn their heads. The Leer's senses were tuned into the strange weeps as well.

"What is that?" I whirred.

"It sounds like," The Leer began, running it through the numerous databases within his systems, "The manticore!!!"

"What? I'm possible! I destroyed it!" I said back, having to go forth to truly see.

"HEY!!!!" Basil said, rushing after me! He truly wanted me gone, "I SAID LEAVE!!!"

I climbed over the heap of junk, finding the manticore mech lying in an isolated corner where a number of workers dragged it. It's wind bladder expanded and contracted showing that it still was breathing. As I crept closer, nanites were refusing it's head back together! This was utterly insane! This had to be a side effect of Zanir's engineering.

The machine cried out, obviously in great agony! It seemed to be low on circulatory fluid, not even able to lift it's head off the ground! The few remaining nanites it had were trying to repair the wounds I had inflicted upon it. Tiny microscopic robots, welded away as they fused with one another to form a new face for the machine.

These were the few resources the machine had left and it had to use them to sustain itself for however many few hours it had left. It was dying from cybertronic anemia, a terrible way to die for a machine! I remember how it felt when I had very little circulatory fluid flowing through my mechanical veins. Since I had caused this, since Zanir had such an attachment to this mech, the least I could do was try and save it before it inevitably died! It'd be a little piece of Zanir I had left after this tragic day.

I scooped up the two ton mech in my arms, carrying it out of the Hangar. It's long tail, trailed behind, scraping against the tarmac. Basil, quite confused now, was right behind me.

"What are you doing?" He asked. It wasn't like I could respond. I simply nodded, spreading my wings and taking off with the manticore in my arms.

The Leer was right behind me as we made our way south through the sunset. We arrived in the City of Rust, entering the Acid Swamps which now was empty. The noisy place once teamed with big, loud and obnoxious plate mechs. Now it was silent, filled with carcasses of those very same plate mechs. I placed the manticore down, approaching one of the plate mechs. Surely one had to have some circulatory fluid left in it. They were big machines, incredibly so!

I pried apart the plate mechs internals, searching their complex bodies for any chambers containing their precious circulatory fluid. Even their glottal bladders were drained dry. This was incredibly discouraging. Still though, I continued to search, searching more and more mechs. The search turned up empty. The poor manticore mech now seemed doomed.

"I remember," The Leer began, "Zanir and Galveston talking about those tubular grasses... It was something about how their beet like roots excrete the acid the plate mechs used to survive."

"Yeah, I remember them mentioning it a few times..." I responded thinking back to it.

"What if you found a way to juice the grass roots and put the acid within one of the glottal bladders of the plate mechs? Maybe you could refill the manticore then?" The Leer suggested.

"It's worth a shot..." I sighed.

The Leer and I walked over to the thicker pastures of tubular grass. I began to pull up the plants by the roots. The roots looked quite juicy, dripping none other than cytotrolic acid! The little Leer was right! If I could find a way to put the acid within a glottal bladder of a plate mech, then maybe I could revive the manticore. It was a stretch, but the Leer and I tried it regardless.

Carefully, I cut the glottal bladder of a plate mech away from it's frame. The Leer pulled up numerous tubular grass roots so they'd be ready by the time I got the bladder away from the frame. It was a delicate process, requiring the most sensitive welding hand. Once freed, I wasted no time in rushing over to the roots.

I stretched open the bladder, placing the root in the opening. I began to squeeze with all my might. Juices began to pour down into the bottom of the bladder. I repeated the process, filling up the bladder with hundreds of gallons of cytotrolic acid. Zanir was right! These plants were an easy way of synthesizing cytotrolic acid and my foolishness prohibited him from doing further research to find this out! This was quite a discovery, something I wish he would have made! I was way past my prime! The boy truly could do wonders with this!

The Leer and I arrived back to the manticore. It was just in time too! The mech seemed to be in utter agony, barely clinging on to life.

"Hold the sack..." I said to the Leer.

"Sure." He said taking the bladder in his mouth. I got on my hands and knees holding the manticore's head up. It's optics were clenched tight, as it cringed in pain.

"I know it hurts," I said truly empathizing with the machine, "But we're trying to help!" I extending out my hand to the Leer. He handed me the bladder.

The large balloon-like structure dragged on the ground as I placed it's spout into the manticore's mouth. I pushed the spout as far down it's throat as it could fit. The manticore was too weak to even resist. The life giving acid began to pour into its systems! It was hard to juggle the extremely heavy bladder and keeping the manticore's head elevated. I didn't want the manticore to choke on the very life giving fluid we were using to try and save it.

Half of the contents of the bladder were consumed by the manticore before it coughed up the spout. I laid the mech back on the ground to rest. It continued to give weak coughs as it eventually fell into torpor. It's body then began to repair all damage done! The revitalization worked! However, to see the benefits of it would take time.

"Is he gonna be alright?" The Leer asked.

"I think so! His nanites work fast... very fast..." I responded.

"Can he talk like us?" The Leer continued.

"I'm not quite sure if Zanir gave him the same firmware as us." I said back.

"I have the OTA but have no way of broadcasting it." The Leer sighed.

"Maybe Beth can help?" I asked.

"Why not go and find Zanir?" The Leer asked back.

"Zanir's gone, I'm afraid." I sighed, hating the truth.

"But he's your human offspring! I thought humans stopped at nothing to protect their own! Zanir did it! He did it selflessly!" The Leer countered.

"Yeah, but I'm only a tiny damaged fragment of a human... I can't blindly rush into things like I used to. That's how I ended up like I am now. And besides, I must keep you safe." I explained.

"Oh..." The Leer said taking a seat beside the manticore. He placed his head on the ground, ready to enter torpor. He seemed to have silent judgements but said nothing.