The desert looked smaller now.Not because it changed, but because I had.
The hum of my new power core sat warm and steady under my ribs, like someone swapped my heart for a contained supernova and trusted me not to sneeze.
Cadence hovered at my side in full hologram form, arms behind her back like she was supervising a toddler with access to heavy machinery.
"Iris," she said, "please remember to conduct stress tests away from fragile structures."
"Cadence," I said, "we're in the middle of the wasteland. The nearest fragile structure is me."
"And yet you routinely demonstrate that is incorrect."
I found a large chunk of rusted metal half-buried in the sand, probably a door, or a wall, or the remains of someone's bad architectural choices, and lifted it with one hand.
I blinked. "Okay. That's… new."
"Strength baseline ten," Cadence said. "You are now twice as likely to cause property damage."
"Just twice?"
"Statistically rounded."
I shifted my weight, wound up like I'd seen human athletes do long ago, and hurled the metal slab.
It sailed.
It didn't arc like a thrown object. It launched, whistling through the air so quickly it kicked up a sonic hiss. The thing became a shrinking speck, then vanished entirely into the horizon somewhere between "far" and "illegal."
Cadence watched it go.
"That," she said calmly, "was unnecessary."
"You didn't think that was impressive?"
"It was unnecessary and impressive."
"I'll take the second part."
"It was also concerning."
"Okay, now you're just being fussy."
"No," she said. "You are simply not accustomed to your own absurdity."
I brushed sand off my palms. "What do you think, discus? Javelin? Shot put? I feel like I could join whatever's left of the Olympics."
"Iris," she said, "the Olympics ended several hundred years ago."
"So I'd win?"
"By default, it's no longer practiced."
"Perfect."
I started jogging toward the ridge line where the desert began sloping into the cracked earth ahead.
The jogging lasted approximately 3 to 4 seconds.
A plume of dust exploded behind me, rolled forward, overtook me, and slapped me in the face like an offended cloud.
I staggered, coughing. "Gah! Cadence ..."
"Yes," she said. "You outran your own dust."
"That shouldn't be possible."
"And yet. "She gestured to the air, which was currently trying to sandblast my eyeballs. "Would you like protective goggles?"
"No," I grumbled. Then paused."…Maybe."
Cadence smirked. Holographically. The worst kind of smirk.
"Iris," she said, "I will add goggles to the list of things you inevitably forget to acquire."
"Add it under 'try not to blind self.'"
"It is already there."
We continued walking south.
The desert slowly traded dunes for cracked plates of rock, the ground shifting underfoot with the stiffness of long-dead stone. Scraggly patches of dry vegetation clung to life in places, as though embarrassed to still exist.
"Terrain changing," Cadence noted. "We are approaching the outer ridges of the dead mountains."
"Dead mountains. Great. Very inviting name. I wonder what it scored on recent trip advisor."
"It is descriptive."
"It's also depressing."
"That too."
The ridgeline ahead rose sharply, jagged and black against the sky. If we went around, it would add 2 days to the trip.
Cadence projected the map overlay. "There is a cavern system that will cut the time to 12 hours."
"12 hours?"
"Yes."
"At my new full speed?"
"Four."
"Sold to the glowing silhouette of irony."
"Predictable," Cadence said.
We reached the cavern mouth, a wide split in the mountain, tall enough for three Iris-sized nightmares to walk through stacked on top of each other.
It breathed cold air. Actual breath. Deep, steady drafts that rolled across my skin like the mountain was sighing at me being there.
"Oh good," I said. "Atmosphere."
"Caution recommended."
"Has that ever worked on me?"
"No!" Uttered cadence.
I stepped inside.
Darkness swallowed everything after a few meters.
"Night vision," I said.
"Level 1 Visual enhancement engaged engaged."
"Can we not just call it night vision"
"Noted"
The world snapped into a green and silver clarity .Glittering minerals. Long rock curtains hanging from the ceiling. Pools reflecting faint flickers of luminescent growth.
Cadence drifted beside me, hands clasped behind her. "Iris, your gait is unnecessarily loud."
"I'm trying to walk like a normal person."
"You are failing."
"Let me have this."
Drips echoed down long tunnels, each sound bouncing back delayed and distorted. Every few steps, the cavern flexed with distant groans ... tectonic shifts or old bones, impossible to tell.
Cadence paused. "Life signature detected."
"Human?"
"Incorrect."
"Oh great. More scavs?"
"Incorrect again."
"Cadence. Use fewer syllables."
She scanned the tunnel ahead. Her hologram flickered into a cautionary yellow.
"Iris… this reading is biological."
"…Okay."
"Large."
"Less okay."
"Very large."
"Cadence."
She turned toward one of the branching tunnels. "The signal is approaching. Rapidly."
A deep tremor rolled under my feet.
Small stones danced.
Dust shivered down the cavern walls.
I whispered, "I hate when things foreshadow themselves."
The shadows ahead thickened. Then split.
Something stepped into the edge of my night-vision cone.
At first I thought it was a moving boulder. Then it raised its head.
A massive creature, taller than me by several feet, its silhouette all jagged spine and dense muscle.
Its fur was coarse, stone-coloured, mottled with hardened ridges like natural armour. Forelimbs thick as tree trunks. Claws curved and metallic. Eyes glowing with a predatory, knowing intelligence.
It inhaled. A long, slow, resonant breath that shook the cavern dust.
Cadence spoke in a whisper even though whispering was pointless for an AI.
"Iris… that is not a scav."
"No," I said quietly. "I did notice that."
"Apex fauna," she murmured. "Evolved. Adapted. Very territorial."
"Does it know we're not here for dinner reservations?"
The creatures gaze locked on me. Its lips peeled back. Teeth like stone blades glinted.
Cadence: "Iris… I strongly advise we retreat."
The creature took one heavy step forward the sound deep enough to vibrate in my sternum. Lowered its head and charged ...