“Lights out, lights out,” Sam called. “Ollie, can you hear me?”
Loadingappeared on my screen.
“Guys, I need like five minutes,” I said.
“You don’t have five minutes. I think they know where you are,” Miguel called.
“Then we defend Oliver,” Lulu called. “Sam, I swear to god if this idiot idea of yours doesn’t work, I’ll kill you myself.”
“Betty Sue,” Sam roared, “get ready!”
“Guys, I’m going back in,” I yelled.
Please wait.
My view changed and there was a moment of pure disorientation. I’d switched from the giant mech to the POV of Priscilla the scout. The aspect ratio changed, like I was suddenly looking at the reflection of something on a ball. My grandfather had called it a fish-eye view. The UI was also completely different. It was just a joystick, and my left hand was a grasping claw, though in reality, the claw was on the top of the scout unit, which added to the weirdness.
We had a manual mode in the command center, but it was nothing like this.
A window popped up:
Objectives.
Enter the bridge. If it is sealed when you arrive, blow it open using the explosives on Gertrude.
Proceed to the control panel. It is immediately to your right when you enter the bridge.
Install me into interface.
~Earth Instance Roger
I was in a hallway. A group of men running at full speed turned the corner, and they came to a stop upon seeing me. They looked huge, especially compared to how small they’d appeared just minutes ago when I’d been under control of the mech.
“They’re in the fucking hallway. It’s one of the death—”
He never finished. Several pulse blasts ripped from over my shoulder and into the men, who were torn to pieces.
“Oh, shit, oh, shit, oh, shit,” I cried while it was happening, and I realized I could hear my own voice echoing. My words were being amplified out of the scout.
I looked behind me, and to my surprise, I realized I had a three-hundred-sixty-degree view all around the scout unit.
The honeybee unit with the pulse rifle attached stood behind me, dancing on all six legs like it was getting ready to run. It had blood smeared all over the front of it. When I looked at it, an info box popped up.
Honeybee Unit 221. Gertrude.
Current orders: Shadow Scout Priscilla and engage anything defined enemy.
Switch control to Gertrude? Yes or No.
Click here to switch orders.
I quickly looked away. Walking behind the honeybee was the smaller, dog-sized scout unit Trixie 2. It had a similar info box.
More shouting rose from around the corner, and this was followed by the sound of more pulse blasts, followed by a small explosion.
UAV Unit 4 has been destroyed.
I realized I had a pullout menu on my right side that showed the current view of all the UAV units. I moved to number four and quickly figured out how to backtrack. The fish-eye view of the UAVs was similar. I watched as the unit approached a portal door with the name “Bridge” over it. The door opened, and two men, surprised at the sight of the round floating robot, dove out of the way as the UAV flew onto the bridge, giving me a quick view of the room before it was shot down.
