Ruza didn’t say anything, just dropped face down into the sand.

  Robeep blamed me immediately. “How many sacred arts have been kept from my meatbag eyes?! First wordslaughter and now a technique to incapacitate without any form of telegraph. Susawa, explain yourself. Teach me.”

  “This one isn’t on me, buddy. I think she’s sick.”

  “My name is-”

  “Wordslaughter.”

  “…I see.”

  I turned her over and tried to get a read on things. She had a pulse at least, although the vein on her neck wasn’t quite where expected. Her breaths were shallow and putting my ear to her back failed to produce any useful diagnostics beyond a little shrill and crackly. She wasn’t sweating nor did she appear otherwise unwell. Status showed as unconscious. I even checked her mouth but it was equally mahogany on the inside as out and lacked any obvious discoloration.

  Her odd biology would’ve probably thrown me off anyway. We waited for a while in hopes she’d wake up on her own but to no avail. Squinting while turning a circle sparked further worry. Moonlight illuminated nothing but endless sand dunes speckled with random rusted scrap. I lifted Ruza over my shoulder, gently, and chose a random direction. As always, my prosthetic announced every step.

  The moon had definitely seen civilization once upon a time. Giant worn down constructions crowded its landscape. A particularly large shape distorted the entire contour, giving the round backdrop a square jut. Equidistant pylons rose up to support a metal ring in orbit. Some chunks of metal floated nearby, a scant few others remained attached to what was once presumably a space elevator. Lesser buildings covered every inch of the planetoids surface. At least it reflected light well enough, or I’d be blind once again. My luggage trembled weakly for a few seconds.

  Ruza coughed occasionally, but didn’t deteriorate otherwise. We eventually stopped for a meal and I managed to force some water down her throat. An MRE was too solid and dry to even bother trying. I might have tried to dissolve some and create a broth of sorts, if the morning sun wasn’t slowly cresting the horizon. Heat haze replaced the dark of night and convincing Robeep to satisfy my curiosity under thinly veiled excuses replaced normal conversation.

  “I’ve been wondering, what happened here? There’s all these superstructures and apparently singularity AI’s and pseudo-human races. You mentioned the First Empire before, they behind it all?”

  His response was almost as predictable as the squeaking of my leg. “That information is classified. You will also not make me forget your missed key performance indicators. The deathpits require filling, Susawa. More machine gods await your judgment… somewhere.”

  “And I’ll be happy to deliver it. Anyway, it looks like something killed the world, Robeep. Don’t you think that’s interesting?”

  “You rejected Worldender, therefore you cannot be interested in killing the world. The information is classified and I sense your meatbag deception.”

  “Do you now? I’d almost say you’re getting smarter.”

  “Death must be mastered before it can be delivered.”

  “Then shouldn’t you review the past to better prepare for the future? Something killed the world, something killed the First Empire. I’m sure there’s a lesson there somewhere.”

  “The First Empire killed itself. I will say no more. The information is classified. When will you fix Ruza?”

  “As soon as I can.” Hmm. “Is there anything that isn’t classified about the First Empire?”

  “No.”

  “Where would I go to learn something about it?”

  He stopped and turned his torso towards me. “…If I am to tell you this, you must promise not to go there until I allow it. I do not wish to lose yet another fellow meatbag.” That can’t be good.

  “Fair enough.”

  “Within the desert of glass and ash resides a complex ruled by a machine god. Rumors claim many of the First Empire’s secrets can be found there.”

  “Sounds like a fun place, any reason it hasn’t been picked clean yet?”

  “Behemoths.”

  “What’s a behemoth?”

  “Classified. Enough talk. I desire to have my favorite meatbag returned to me.”

  “Favorite? Really?”

  “Wordslaughter.”

  “Huh. I guess you really are learning.”

  “Of course, my efficiency rates can only be rivaled by my casualty count.”

  My perception ticked up shortly after the conversation ended. A vague outline formed in the distance. Getting closer revealed it as a wall, built out of the same adobe we’d seen all across. Ruza had told me it was a basic building material, created from a mix of powdered sand and water left to dry out on its own. We circled around to find a gate. Tiny tufts of grass and baby cacti along the way promised hope.

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  Not of rescue however, there wasn’t a soul in sight. Only the wind kept us company as we passed the gate, whistling along with the squeaking of my leg. It worried me somewhat, considering we’d just stumbled upon a more or less intact city.

  Sun bleached adobe from every direction greeted our arrival. Twin rows of two-story square shops flanked the main lane, although the signs were too faded to make out. The road led to and circled a central lake around which the entire town had been built. It didn’t look like any catastrophe had occurred here, aside from the passage of time. Occasional creaking leaked from buildings as we passed them by.

  “What do you think, Robeep? Seems awfully quiet.”

  “I find the lack of victims unsettling. There is nowhere to add a touch of brutality.”

  “I thought you’d like it. Wouldn’t all places turn into this if we kill everyone? I figured it’s what you’re working towards.”

  “What we are working towards, Susawa. It is a team effort. But no, there is a distinct difference between silencing the cries of the living until nothing remains and abandonment. There were once people here and they cannot be allowed to escape fate. Their fate is to die. Ha. Ha. Ha.”

  Robeep’s mechanical heart apparently wasn’t in it. “Really? That’s low-effort even for you.”

  “My efforts are none of your concern.”

  “Worried about Ruza, are we?”

  “All meatbags like us are destined to die, but she has been helpful in proliferating our whirlwind of destruction.”

  “It’s okay to say you care, I won’t tell anyone.”

  “I only care about the cessation of all existence.”

  “Sure, buddy.” He didn’t respond, but an electric spark flying away from his head betrayed his annoyance.

  As we walked, sand made way for grass and even mud. Most buildings were either shacks or barracks style housing, reminiscent of apartment blocks. Several round designs broke the monotony, albeit without lightning rod spires. A handful of towers with overlooks populated the skyline instead. They weren’t particularly imposing, maybe five floors high. It was hard to tell since they’d all crumbled away, except for one. Even the wind abandoned us upon venturing deeper.

  Like the moon, this place had seen better days. Junk, dust and rubble cluttered every house. They all smelled of mildew and rot. Still, some had looting potential. We settled on a relatively clean shed near the lakeside. Having lost our fancy bedrolls during the Spinedrinker assault meant Ruza had to rough it on a makeshift bed of the few rolled up leather skins we’d brought along. She coughed more frequently, but nothing else had changed about her condition.

  “Alright, Robeep. Listen to me carefully. I need you to watch over Ruza while I’m out.”

  “Your plan to steal all kills to artificially inflate your statistics is obvious, Susawa. I refuse.”

  “This place is literally abandoned, there’s nothing to kill. Besides, do you want to scrounge for food and water, or lie here in ambush, ready to destroy any predator attracted by helpless Ruza?”

  He moved off to a dark corner of the room. “You make a fair point. Very well, I accept your challenge. Search and destroy versus ambush predation, may the best meatbag win.”

  “Yeah, sure. Just try not to scare Ruza if she wakes up.”

  “I cannot help the sheer intimidation of my presence, Susawa.”

  My first destination was the lake. The water looked clean enough, pristine even. It lacked any odor, so probably fresh too. I cleaned up an ancient bowl from the nearby ruins of a bar, intent on starting the process of soaking half an MRE in it. This combined with the omnipresent poison needle cacti gave me an idea. Upon my return, Robeep nearly clobbered me with Brainseeker.

  “What the hell?”

  “I assumed you were a predator,” he said.

  “You didn’t even shout anything. Anyway, I just came back for Ruza’s sword.”

  “That is highly inappropriate. Stop treating her like she is already gone.”

  “I’m not, need it to get us some more food and maybe help her.”

  After spending half the day sawing off prickly plants, I recruited Robeep into my plans.

  “Look, I need you to carefully pull out the needles but don’t throw them away. With some luck, we can extract the poison out of them. It won’t help us much, but Ruza could benefit from it. You could also try pulping the clean cacti so we don’t have to rely on the MRE paste. We have enough for now but they won’t last for too long.”

  “Finally, you are making sense. I admire your capability to combine life and death into a single purpose. Very well, I will oblige.”

  Experimentally breaking a needle confirmed the tiniest of droplets amongst shattered remains. “Here, you see this? It’s what we want. Prioritize pulling them out and then making mush for Ruza, save this for last, yeah?”

  “Understood. First we must reinforce our numbers, and then maximize our ability to apply them. I am excited to see our enemies shrivel away while we watch and laugh.”

  I still didn’t know what exactly the poison did but coating Ruza’s rebar bolts or wakizashi in it should give us, or rather her, an advantage. Close fighting clearly wasn’t her thing and the rusty sword probably wouldn’t deter a humanoid attacker either, never mind how useless it was against robots. Thinking of enemies sparked some worry, but investigating our perimeter proved fruitless.

  Whatever scared off the locals remained a complete unknown. There were no obvious signs of struggle or anything else to raise concern over. For now it was one of the better places we’d come across. Satisfied, I spent the rest of the day performing minor repairs on Robeep and dragging over pieces of dilapidated sheet metal and rocks to obscure any escaping light.

  “She does not appear to be getting better, Susawa. Make her get better. Our tour of execution must continue unabated.”

  “I’m trying, hopefully this will help. It’s sweet how concerned you are though.”

  “It is not sweet. It is bitter. Like the taste on the fleshy tongues of those who anticipate our coming, once we are whole again. I desire to see the triumvirate of mayhem reformed.”

  “You and me both, buddy. You and me both.”

  Our building exited into an alleyway between it and three others. The idea was to light a fire for Ruza in case it helped somehow without becoming visible from a mile away. My impromptu shielding wasn’t perfect but wandering about confirmed it as good enough. The MRE bread failed to absorb any water yet the green paste seeped out.

  Thus, I got the worst parts of it while Ruza got the best. Slowly but surely, she reflexively swallowed the entire bowls worth and gulped down a full plastic bottle besides before going motionless again. She kept weakly coughing throughout. It had gotten worse, or more frequent at least. Please don’t die on me.

  The long day, carrying Ruza for a good chunk of it and all the physical labor left me exhausted. Despite my worries, I fell asleep like a baby. Robeep even kept the fire going throughout the night, quietly no less. Another worthless check-up and round of feeding in the morning hopefully helped Ruza fight off whatever bothered her.

  Having done what little I could for her, it was now time to find some stuff. With some luck, the results might at least keep her safe someday. Being helpless sucks.