The world rang in her skull like a cracked bell
The Fox limped down the shattered corridor, half-dragging the sparking stump where one of her legs had been. The other broken limb clattered uselessly against the ground with every step.
[Fox] "M.A.R.S.?"
She swallowed, her voice raw.
[Fox] "Route me to first aid. Anything. Please."
[M.A.R.S.]
"Nearest intact medical supplies: two hundred thirteen meters north, third sub-level. Structural hazard probability: seventy-two percent. Entry is not advised."
[Fox] "When are they ever advised with you?"
The AI made a sound almost like a sigh.
[M.A.R.S.]
"Adjusting route."
She pushed forward.
_________________________________________________________________________
The path wound through the skeleton metal and choking dist. Reinforced pillars had collapsed long ago, their wires spilling like the veins of dead beast. Her remaining limbs whirred and clicked out of sync, four arms on one side, two on the other, all working overtime to keep her upright.
[M.A.R.S.]
"You are slowing,"
[Fox] "No shit."
[M.A.R.S.]
"Your chance of losing consciousness is rising."
[Fox] "Then calculate a better route."
[M.A.R.S.]
"Evidence does not—"
[Fox] "Just do it."
A beat. Then the HUD's glowing line shifted.
_________________________________________________________________________
The sub-level entrance was half-crushed, marked by the rusted corpse of a turret and a warning display that flickered with the last breath of leftover battery. She crouched painfully and dragged herself beneath the debris until she found a narrow maintainance door still intact.
Inside, the room smelled like old dust and forgotten emergencies.
[M.A.R.S.]
"There should be a locker on the far wall,"
She found it. A miracle: supplies still inside. Biofoam, sealing wrap, a cauterizer barely holding a charge.
[Fox] "Look at that, for once, the world gives me a break."
She dropped to the ground and plastered all her open wounds with the biofoam. Frosty polymer hissed as it formed a temporary seal.
The result wasn't stable. But she was alive.
That was enough.
Her limb pack hissed as she unhooked the clasps. What once held eight mechanical limbs now folds into a simple backpack. She unclips the dangling arms one by one.
[M.A.R.S.]
"Detatchment will reduce your mobility by approximately seventeen percent."
[Fox] "It'll reduce me falling on my ass by a hundred percent, so I'm calling it a win."
_________________________________________________________________________
[M.A.R.S.]
"You are injured beyond safe mobility, you should rest."
[Fox] "Can't"
Her HUD flickered, not from M.A.R.S., but from her own manual override. A new waypoint appeared. A blank circle in the city map. No networks. No signals.
A Deadzone.
M.A.R.S.'s tone tightened.
[M.A.R.S.]
"Fox. That region is outside my reach."
[Fox] "Exactly."
[M.A.R.S.]
"You are in no condition to fight. If danger shows, I wouldn't know. Your vitals—"
[Fox] "I know."
[M.A.R.S.]
"You are making an error."
[Fox] "Good thing I'm good at those."
And she limped toward it.
_________________________________________________________________________
She found a broken transport chassis and sat on the slab beside it, wincing. From her backpack, she pulled a battered laptop held together with tape and stubbornness.
The pendrive in her pocket pulsed faintly blue. Alive, but too quiet.
"Alright," she whispered. "Let's see what you can do."
She plugged it in.
The laptop whirred awake, running on internal power. Windows opened by themselves, scripts she had prepared in secret, never daring to run them under M.A.R.S.'s gaze.
She begins typing quietly. Its nothing obvious, nothing even useful on its own. Just small fragments of code, placeholder lines, little tests. Things only suspocious if someone stares long enough to wonder why she wrote them.
A few stray lines appear:
________________________________________________________________________
//handshake bypass test
if(signal==null) mask();
seed=random()^0xBEE;
log(silent.killer())
________________________________________________________________________
@sigil.define silent.killer() {
if(MARS.signal.detect()) {
scramble_echo(0x7F);}
override_route(ROUTE_INTERNAL);
}
________________________________________________________________________
Her heart beat too fast.
Too loud.
She hit execute.
The pendrive pulsed, once, twice, then in rhythmic heartbeat of cold blue light.
Something unseen stirred.
A triumphant grin sneaked onto her face.
[ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO KILL THE RUNNING PROGRAM?]
________________________________________________________________________
The Fox emerged from the deadzone, her terminal lights stabilizing as connection returned. The city's usual background hum resumed, metallic birdsong of machine life.
M.A.R.S. snapped back into her ear, sharp with static
[M.A.R.S.]
"Fox. Your signals vanished. Explain the purpose of your excursion."
[Fox] "No worries, just scouting."
[M.A.R.S.]
"Those zones are unpredictable. Hazardous. I cannot protect you there."
[Fox] "You don't have to. You just have to keep guiding."
A long unreadable pause.
[M.A.R.S.]
"...Of course."
She tightened her backpack straps and stepped forward, leaving behind the six limbs like shed skin.
"Alright," she said, voice steady. "Let's move."
As they continued, the soft blue pulse of the pendrive echoed faintly through her pack, unseen.
Silent.
Waiting.