![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aaaaaaaagh_skyThe horrified murmur died down; the Prince shook his head. "Paladin," he said, "I gotta say- you've come a real long way just to commit suicide."
The National Guard Armory, Ellen remembered, had been so full of robots and automated defense systems that no one had successfully penetrated it and come out alive in two hundred years. And that was just an armory. General Atomics was a source for robots. American manufacturers had been paranoid about espionage and sabotage before the War; no doubt the robots had been put into defense mode, and were probably still carrying out their last commands…
She kept it off her face, though, and managed an expression of polite puzzlement. "Bad part of town?" she said.
"Naw, the neighborhood's fine, it's the plant we don't fuck with," said the Prince. "Every couple months some wizwit can't hack it on the ice, so he tries to crack GA instead. Figures he'll come out with enough old world tech to compensate. Story is, the robots report to a central brain or something, and if you can get all the way in you can get them to obey. It's bullshit if you ask me. All's I know is, they go over the wall, they get past a robot or two, and they go down. The lucky ones get ashed on the spot."
"And the unlucky ones?"
The Prince shrugged. "I can't prove anything, but seems like the day after these guys go in, if you look over the wall, there's damn near always a new robot rolling around with one of those glowing brain domes on top."
Ellen shuddered.
"Yeah. Now, I'm not saying these guys have your kind of gear." He gestured towards Kang and Conklin, who were as heavily armored as Ellen, and armed with plasma weapons. "Most of them scrape together about what you'd need to last a season on the ice, maybe get themselves a couple of good guns. I dunno, maybe you three would last longer. But I'll tell you what, even if you had a full top line to go with your defense team, you'd still be outnumbered by every single failure who ever went over those walls plus all the old robots besides. You can't last forever, not against that kind of numbers. You want to die? Take my advice. Turn around and go the way you came. I'll give you a map to Charm City. Just walk into the EZ and wait. It'll hurt less."
He seemed, Ellen thought, to mean well. She'd heard plenty of disparaging and hostile voices in her life. There'd been enough threats from the Talons, enough condescension from a dozen other quarters- this didn't sound like that. Maybe it really was as dangerous as he said.
Too bad.
She drew herself up as straight and tall as anyone five feet two inches tall could manage in the face of a room full of armored heavyweight warriors. "Sir," she said evenly, "I appreciate the warning. Unfortunately, I've still got orders."
"Orders don't mean a whole lot when the man giving 'em doesn't know what he's sending you into," the Prince pointed out.
( you don't fucking crucify yourself to save a goddamn VIP, Ellen )
"No, that's true, but it's a little different when he knows what he's sending," Ellen said. "I'm not planning on fighting those robots. Not yet. Elder Lyons sent me as a scout who knows how not to be seen. My mission is to find out what's in there, and get out alive with the information. Not to fight those things, or- or take anything with me. Those young men who go in there are trying to prove something and make a name for themselves. I'm not. I know better than to make that mistake."
"Hnnf." The Prince crossed his arms over his chest. "Still think you're gonna die."
"Maybe, sir, but I've been to a lot of places where I was supposed to die and made it out alive anyway. I'd like permission to take that chance."
"Permission?" That got a look of disbelief. "Shit, you don't need my permission to go out there and die. You come out of GA alive, now, we're gonna talk about permission. I'm not gonna waste my time thinking about shit that I know's not gonna happen." He jerked his chin at Painless. "You. You're the guide? You go ahead and take these four up to GA. If they don't live long enough to pay you, I will. I don't want one of my people losing out because of a bunch of clueless outsiders."
He turned to one of the orange-daubed gangers nearby, muttering something; the audience was over. Ellen let out a sigh and looked to Painless, who shrugged.
Well, it could have gone worse.
The National Guard Armory, Ellen remembered, had been so full of robots and automated defense systems that no one had successfully penetrated it and come out alive in two hundred years. And that was just an armory. General Atomics was a source for robots. American manufacturers had been paranoid about espionage and sabotage before the War; no doubt the robots had been put into defense mode, and were probably still carrying out their last commands…
She kept it off her face, though, and managed an expression of polite puzzlement. "Bad part of town?" she said.
"Naw, the neighborhood's fine, it's the plant we don't fuck with," said the Prince. "Every couple months some wizwit can't hack it on the ice, so he tries to crack GA instead. Figures he'll come out with enough old world tech to compensate. Story is, the robots report to a central brain or something, and if you can get all the way in you can get them to obey. It's bullshit if you ask me. All's I know is, they go over the wall, they get past a robot or two, and they go down. The lucky ones get ashed on the spot."
"And the unlucky ones?"
The Prince shrugged. "I can't prove anything, but seems like the day after these guys go in, if you look over the wall, there's damn near always a new robot rolling around with one of those glowing brain domes on top."
Ellen shuddered.
"Yeah. Now, I'm not saying these guys have your kind of gear." He gestured towards Kang and Conklin, who were as heavily armored as Ellen, and armed with plasma weapons. "Most of them scrape together about what you'd need to last a season on the ice, maybe get themselves a couple of good guns. I dunno, maybe you three would last longer. But I'll tell you what, even if you had a full top line to go with your defense team, you'd still be outnumbered by every single failure who ever went over those walls plus all the old robots besides. You can't last forever, not against that kind of numbers. You want to die? Take my advice. Turn around and go the way you came. I'll give you a map to Charm City. Just walk into the EZ and wait. It'll hurt less."
He seemed, Ellen thought, to mean well. She'd heard plenty of disparaging and hostile voices in her life. There'd been enough threats from the Talons, enough condescension from a dozen other quarters- this didn't sound like that. Maybe it really was as dangerous as he said.
Too bad.
She drew herself up as straight and tall as anyone five feet two inches tall could manage in the face of a room full of armored heavyweight warriors. "Sir," she said evenly, "I appreciate the warning. Unfortunately, I've still got orders."
"Orders don't mean a whole lot when the man giving 'em doesn't know what he's sending you into," the Prince pointed out.
( you don't fucking crucify yourself to save a goddamn VIP, Ellen )
"No, that's true, but it's a little different when he knows what he's sending," Ellen said. "I'm not planning on fighting those robots. Not yet. Elder Lyons sent me as a scout who knows how not to be seen. My mission is to find out what's in there, and get out alive with the information. Not to fight those things, or- or take anything with me. Those young men who go in there are trying to prove something and make a name for themselves. I'm not. I know better than to make that mistake."
"Hnnf." The Prince crossed his arms over his chest. "Still think you're gonna die."
"Maybe, sir, but I've been to a lot of places where I was supposed to die and made it out alive anyway. I'd like permission to take that chance."
"Permission?" That got a look of disbelief. "Shit, you don't need my permission to go out there and die. You come out of GA alive, now, we're gonna talk about permission. I'm not gonna waste my time thinking about shit that I know's not gonna happen." He jerked his chin at Painless. "You. You're the guide? You go ahead and take these four up to GA. If they don't live long enough to pay you, I will. I don't want one of my people losing out because of a bunch of clueless outsiders."
He turned to one of the orange-daubed gangers nearby, muttering something; the audience was over. Ellen let out a sigh and looked to Painless, who shrugged.
Well, it could have gone worse.