Sera walked slowly by my side, looking around. I couldn’t read her expression, and I was surprised by my own reactions. Here and there, I spotted an arm with rotting cables or a robot head with the jaw hanging by a wire. My collar activated, and I made it shut up while Charlie’s algorithm diagnosed me with a case of melancholy.
Memento mori, Dean. Remember that everybody dies, it said ominously, adding a smiling emoji at the end.
“How the hell are we supposed to find what we need?” Sera asked, her voice hushed. “This place freaks me out. It’s like a cemetery.”
“Memento mori,” I said solemnly.
She snorted weakly. “How could I forget?”
A sharp whistle came from above. I looked up just when a shadow fell on me. A shape resembling a large dragonfly circled overhead, but it was not an insect. It dove down, landing right in front of us, followed by another.
My collar pinged with alarm even before I noticed the rage burning through my circuits.
All I saw was the gun, and where it was pointed—at Sera’s chest.
Chapter 18
Sera
Dean dropped his backpack, making a low, growling sound that was shocking to hear from a non-organic. I grabbed his hand on instinct.
“This doesn’t look lethal,” I whispered, eyeing the clear plastic weapon in the tanuki’s hand. “Relax.”
“Yes, relax,” said the gun-wielding tanuki in fluent Japanese that was slightly accented because of his muzzle. “And explain why you’re trespassing on our land. You have nine… eight…”
Dean jolted ahead, standing right between me and the gun. I put my hand on his forearm, hoping it would keep him from attacking our, well, attackers. We needed their help if this was their land.
“Stop and let me think,” I gritted out, cold sweat drenching my top.
“Seven… six… And you should know the charge is strong enough to fry your robot’s circuits. Five… four…”
My stomach iced over with fear for Dean. “We’re building a Trojan horse!” I exploded, helplessly trying to walk around him and cover him with my body. Dean held me back with just one arm.
The tanuki made a low sound of curiosity and stopped counting. I sighed in relief and craned my neck around Dean to look at him. The tanuki was maybe a head shorter than me, wearing a dark brown leather vest and leather trousers with many straps and belts on his thighs and waist. Various tools were attached to them, hanging around his hips and down his outer thighs. The other tanuki was a bit taller and had shapely breasts pushing against her denim vest. She wore a similar setup around her hips and legs, laden with tools. Her fur was a lighter shade of rust than his.
Each of them had a set of wide dragonfly-shaped wings attached to their backs. They vibrated gently even as the tanuki stood firmly on their feet.
“Get behind me!” Dean barked, pulling me close until I was plastered to his back and unable to move.
“Just… No! Let… Go…” I fought with his grip, both of his arms engaged to keep me just behind him. It was ludicrous.
“Funny,” the male tanuki said in a bland voice that made it clear he wasn’t amused. “Don’t you know the charge will fry you both if you hold her like that? VerdeLumen are supposed to be smart.”
“Stupid… clanker…” I hissed, trying to kick Dean, but all of my efforts were for nothing. He didn’t budge.
The tanuki whistled, and his companion laughed out loud. She had a deep, uninhibited laugh that would sound pleasant under other circumstances.
“Clanker? Really?” the male asked. “Is this some sort of degradation dynamic? He’s the brat and you tell him off? Fuck, there’s a first for everything, isn’t there, Motori?”
It sounded like it was an English-derived name. I translated it in my head.Motley.
“You like it when I threaten you with a piece of pipe,” she said, snickering. “Don’t judge.”
“Look here,clanker,” the male tanuki said. “I’m going to lower the gun but if you attack us, both you and your lady friend will be fried by those two.”
I couldn’t see him, since I was still stupidly pressed to Clanker’s back, but I spied movement to my left. An old but evidently functional robot came out from behind a pile of rusting metal, pointing a shoddy-looking gun at us. Its face was the classic robot one since before the companies gave their models human features. It had a horizontal slash for a mouth, two lights for eyes, and no nose. A short antenna crowned its metal head.
Another advanced from the other side.
