Sarah7

Ch16

Sarah shivered in the cold air that permeated the cave. The dark stone walls closed in much like the metal walls of the ship had done, causing both feelings of odd comfort and residual fear.

She was perched high atop Max’s shoulder as the battle robot stomped carefully down the mine tunnel. Her eyepiece was now linked to Max’s scanners which gave her a rather disconcerting overlay view of the mine’s walls. She could see cracks and fissures all along the stone walls and ceiling, as well as readouts on pressure vectors and rock density.

Sarah bit her lip as she concentrated on guiding Max deeper into the mine.

“Max, can you walk more carefully? Instead of saving these people, we’re going to end up buried in here ourselves!”

Max turned his teardrop shaped head toward Sarah, almost causing her to tumble from his shoulder. They continued to progress down the tunnel, something that reminded just how not human Max was.

“I am built for offense, defense, and patrol, not … mining.”

“Max, did you just make a joke? ” Sarah laughed somewhat nervously.

“If you recall, my personality is based off of engrams from a human male who gave his life to supply intelligence to my line of robots. It is inevitable that some degree of leftover illogic would emerge. Should I run a purging diagnostic?” Max intoned.

Sarah could not tell if he was being sarcastic or sincere, or if either of those things meant anything to a huge battle robot.

“No, no. I like your … illogic. Just - try to walk more carefully?”

Max nodded, again almost knocking Sarah from his shoulder and they slowly ventured further into the mine. Sarah could see via her visor various mining tools lying about, as well as wooden beams placed almost haphazardly along the walls, in attempts to shore up the mine walls in the past.

“How could anyone let adults down here, let alone children?” Sarah said to herself. The sound of her voice echoed hollowly off the cold mine walls.

“Creed explained this to me, Sarah. The family units in this town depend upon all individuals who are capable to contribute to the well being of the town. Even children who are not infants are expected to find roles to play for the survival of all. Children are especially adept at traversing small tunnels and performing repetitive tasks such as hauling rocks and carrying lights for their parents who have made this mine their source of resources and income.”

“When did he tell you all of this? While you were looking for a place to stay in town?”

“He came to speak to me many times while you were ... being repaired. And, I am a good listener.” Max said.

Sarah smiled and patted Max’s metallic head. “Well, Max, perhaps there’s a future for you as a counselor as well as a deadly battle robot.” The sound of her hand hitting the metal sent echoes all around them.

“We are approaching one of the cave-in locations. Please take caution.” Max slowed as Sarah saw the rocks before them highlighted in green in her visor. She could see that the rockfall was pretty unstable and that stress fractures spidered out in all directions in the walls and ceiling.

“I don’t like this. Max, can you scan for any signs of life?” She almost whispered. The cave in had struck in multiple locations. Others were already at other points along the mine - where it was known to have miners at work. Sarah had volunteered to look into one of the lesser travelled tunnels. She found herself breathing quickly - almost as if the air was thinner here, and her heart was beating rapidly in her chest.

“My visor can’t penetrate this rock.” She slid down off the mech’s shoulder and peered around. The intense light from her visor pierced the darkness like a blade, and through the dust she could see that a lot of damage had been done to the tunnel. How could they get through, even if they wanted to?

That’s when she heard something. Very faint, and muffled, but definitely there - a moan!

“Max! Did you hear that? Somebody’s down here!” Sarah took a deep breath. Her skin began tingling all over. Her senses were reaching out - she could almost feel the walls around her.

“Yes, Sarah. Approximately 5 meters ahead. I detect carbon dioxide emissions. I will augment your visor”.

Sarah blinked and immediately before her she could see a digital overlay of a cloud-like formation - it was coming from a crack between two rocks.

“Oh Max, we have to help them! Can you dig?” She quickly walked up to the rubble and began clearing away small rocks.

“Wait. Stand back please.” Max intoned.

The mech turned around and reached for a long piece of metal lying on the ground. It looked like a twisted piece of track that mine cars had been rolling on. His powerful claws bent the metal easily and straightened out the with an ear splitting screech. Quickly, and almost gently, the mech placed the bar against the wall and the ceiling. It reached for another length of track, and again reshaped the twisted metal. Sarah could see he was reinforcing the ceiling with an efficiency only a machine could achieve.

A moment later Max began removing huge boulders. Sarah could hear the servos in his arms whining with the tension - the rocks must have been extremely heavy. The mech twisted his torso and sent the rocks flying back down the way they came. Sarah could feel in her legs the ground shuddering slightly under the impact of the rock on the mine floor.

“Be careful Max, you could bring the whole ceiling down on us as well!”

Within moments, Max had managed to create an opening in the rock pile. He stopped abruptly.

“I cannot remove any more, without causing the structure to collapse. Sarah, if you want to approach, please use caution. ”

Sarah took that as a sign for her to inch forward, with her heightened senses detecting every pebble falling, every small shift in the rocks, and she winced. She hoped that the next sound would not be of thousands of tons of rocks falling on her.

Her light pierced the darkness of the opening and she gasped. There was a little girl lying in the rubble! Somehow the rocks had fallen in a inverted V and had shielded her from the brunt of the cave-in. But she was buried in small rocks and dust, and there was blood flowing freely from a cut on her forehead.

Sarah’s vision reddened on the edges, and instinct took over. She climbed over the rocks like a cat - hardly disturbing the dust, let alone moving a single stone. She balanced over every step with extreme care, and within seconds she was next to the little girl. She dug quickly with now bloodied hands at the sharp stones and rubble.

The girl’s eyes fluttered open, glittering in the sharp light of Sarah’s visor.

“Help..... me...”

“Sarah, you must hurry. I am detecting increasing instability above you. You must get her out now!” Max elevated his speaker volume as he spoke.

Sarah risked a glance upward and heard a deep, tooth rattling CRUNCH as a crack snapped open in the rocks above her head.

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