To Outlast

by Camolot the Creator

XVII: Transmission

I folded my arms, frowning. Luna sat besides me, having magically cleared a space from the dust and grime of decades- and the layer of oil beneath that. The object of our focus sat before us, an ancient jeep-like vehicle caked in dust, digital camo paint barely visible beneath the layer of gray-brown, all lights dark, seats moldered beyond use and the obvious heavy weapon mount in the back conspicuously empty.

"The good news is, we do not believe that they would store the weapons too far from the vehicles themselves- perhaps even here, in the same building." Luna said, tail flicking in thought.

I nodded and shrugged. "Yeah, wouldn't make sense if they couldn't quickly deploy vehicle support in the event of an attack. Not that they appeared to have been anyway, given that this vehicle's here and the other is embedded in a building out there, but..."

Luna hummed, then stood and trotted away, rifle sweeping the room with its tac-light. "It may be in a locker along one of the walls. If you would...?"

"Don't worry, I'm on it." I turned and stepped towards the other side of the building, sweeping my own rifle-mounted light over the cobwebs covering the walls, and the mechanical detritus pushed up against them.

There was a surprising amount of junk around, most of which appeared to be sections of old vehicles and bits and pieces shorn off of various things. Some of it was what appeared to be sections of armour, indented or wrecked in some way or another, some even rent by what looked to be claws that left shallow clefts in the thick metal. That was... concerning. My light lingered on it as I put out a finger, feeling the razor-sharp jagged edges and wondering what the hell could have done this to an armoured panel.

"Matt! Over here!"

I turned my head, then hissed as the edge caught my finger, leaving a mark of crimson marring the mottled grey and black of the armour panel.

"Hell." I muttered to myself, holding the finger gently and giving the metal a dirty look. I winced as even that caused a spark of pain, a bit of blood dripping down onto the floor and making a small mark of wet crimson amongst the grey dust.

"Matt! Are you coming!?"

"Coming!" I said. I gave the armour plate another look, then turned away, walking towards where Luna was pointing her rifle at a locker recessed into the wall. "Piece of metal cut me."

"Mm?" she glanced at my fingertip. "Big foal, it is barely noticeable."

Luna looked away, but her horn lit up, and a slight aura of blue appeared around my fingertip. I watched, fascinated, as the little cut zipped itself up, blood drawing itself back into the wound before it sealed, leaving no evidence that it had ever been. I flexed it, running my fingertips across the place where the little cut had just been.

"Neat. Do you perform at parties?"

"Pff... focus, Matt."

I waved my freshly healed hand. "Alright, alright... what do we have here?"

Luna shone her light over the locker, and I got my first good look at it. Hard steel, reinforced with thick welding and bars, made up two segmented sliding doors, held shut at the center with an electronic lock with a small blue light that pulsed gently, though it was nearly invisible in the flashlight's beam. The lock itself had a card reader attached to it, which came for me with some large amount of relief. At least this wouldn't be difficult. Wordlessly, I slid the admin passcard out of my pocket, swiping it through the reader. The lock let out a soft beep and released, the seal letting out a slight hiss of escaping air.

"Thank you," Luna muttered softly, the doors lighting up blue with her magical aura and sliding to both sides, hiding themselves in the walls. "Hopefully, the weapons are not unduly affected by their disuse and neglect."

As the steel slid away, it revealed a number of shining steel barrels and racks of heavy crates- these were true machine guns, barrels as long as my arm. I brushed my finger against one of them, then drew it away, rubbing the tip against my thumb.

"Well, there's no dust... and the seal was holding, if that hiss was any indication. I think they might be okay, though... they might need servicing." I stepped back, wiping my finger on my pants and muttering, "I'm honestly surprised that any of this stuff still works."

Luna frowns in concentration, glancing up and away, trying to dredge up some scrap of memory. "I believe that... perhaps, we may have purposefully designed them with durability and longevity in mind."

"We being...?" I prodded gently. Luna let out a huff of frustration.

"It is certainly not the royal 'we'. I believe that I may have been involved in the design at some juncture, but I do not remember who was involved with the project or why- or even if there indeed was a project, and this was not just a singular effort by myself and no other." Her aura wrapped itself around the sniper rifle still strapped to her back, tugging it and pulling at the woven strap. "However... I believe that I designed this. Custom forged."

I put a comforting hand on her shoulder, which she acknowledged with a flick of her ear, then I leaned down to get a better look at one of the long weapons. "So, what's the deal with these, then? Do you know how to operate one, affix it to the, uh... tripod... thing?" Could never remember what those were called...

"Weapon mount. And yes, we... I do know how to operate it." She floated one out, pulling the bolt back slightly, perhaps to test its movement. "Belt fed heavy machine gun, mark seven of its line. Meant for technicals and light armour vehicles. Compatible with one length ammunition."

"Wait, uh... what length?"

She looked at me in confusion, then realization dawned. "Ah... Equestrian measurements. There are ten lengths in a hoof, thousand hooves to the kilohoof."

"How long's a hoof, then?"

"Mm... about this long." The image of a ruler drew itself in midair.

"Looks like... about, what... half a foot? Yeah, more or less." I frowned as I did some quick arithmetic in my head, then raised my eyes. "A length is a little more than half an inch... that's a big freaking bullet." Luna simply nodded grimly, sliding out one of the boxes slotted between the gun racks. Closer inspection revealed it to be one of the ammo boxes that attach to the sides of belt-fed guns.

"I believe that, on larger armoured vehicles and the occasional APC, they were mounted in pairs. It was... necessary, though I do not remember why."

I sucked in a breath. "That... doesn't sound like good news."

Luna shook her head, looking grim. "No, no it does not." She turned her gaze back to the weapon in her magical grasp as she turned away from the locker, trotting towards the vehicle filling one of the two places for parking in the garage. "Remember that... thing? The, ah, 'tarwolf' as you put it?"

I nodded, covering my mouth. "Durable. Durable as hell. I can just imagine a pack, a swarm..."

Another nod as she lifted the gun into place on its swivel. A number of small clicks sounded from the mount itself as the gun slid down onto it, and a final, solid 'chunk' noise as Luna flicked a mechanical lever that I assume locked the weapon in place. Now firmly settled in its mount, the long-barreled solid piece of steel was intimidating, and strong. And yet, by all evidence, dozens, hundreds, perhaps THOUSANDS of these weapons hadn't been enough to stem the tide.

Suddenly, I was perhaps feeling a little religious.

The hatch on the top of the gun hinged open, Luna lifting an ammunition box into place, pulling out the first round of the belt and slotting it into place. She made a few mechanical checks, which I couldn't make sense of, then closed the hatch and worked the bolt. The mechanism clicked, and she gave a satisfied nod.

"Primed. The only issue with this plan is whether or not the weapon will actually fire, given that the seals were not as good as the others... but I shall simply dump a few assault rifles into the vehicle and make do best as I may, if worst comes to worst."

"Probably for the best..." Luna simply made a sound that I divined as her agreeing with me. "So, gun's mounted, loaded and about as ready as it could be- what's next?"

"Next, I check the engine- the environment this vehicle has been kept in is dubious relative to the practically museum-level preservation that the objects within the facility itself would have been stored in. However, given that the inside of this garage is sealed and at least moderately cool and dry, I am confident that it may be restored to working condition with only some work. If we find ourselves lacking in parts, I have no doubt that repositories exist elsewhere within this facility, and if we are truly desperate for components... well, there is the wreck outside, even if it may be weather worn to a degree."

I hummed. "You know, that's something I've been wondering about."

Luna gave me a glance over her shoulder as she moved towards the front of the vehicle, one eyebrow raised. "Oh? And what would that be, pray tell?" I stepped around the vehicle, following in her hoofsteps, arms folded for lack of anything better to do with them. The gesture earned an uncertain glance from Luna before she turned her attention back to the ground before her.

"Well... Equestria has motor vehicles."

I hesitated a little, uncertain if I should broach the subject of my inexplicable knowledge of the ponies being derived from a show, a work of fiction. I doubted that Luna had actually noticed the couple of comments that didn't quite line up, but I knew that now wasn't exactly the time. We had other things to focus on, and it wasn't as if my show-based knowledge would really assist us, not here in this Equestria that only bore vague similarity to the one of the show. I pursed my lips, then decided to tuck that little bombshell away for the foreseeable future.

"That's rather like my world, in fact, which has vehicles that operate by way of internal combustion engines burning processed liquid fuel. I'm curious how your world might differ."

Her light blue mane swished in the air as she looked back at me, both eyebrows raised this time and curiosity written into her expression. "Truly? Intriguing... liquid fuel was something that was considered, but was, in the end, deemed to not be what we sought."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Mm. The simple fact of the matter was that we had deposits of liquids that had been demonstrated to have the capability of being refined into an array of relatively effective fuels, but in the end it came down to a matter of infrastructure. We were fighting... something, I cannot quite recall it, but we were fighting and we needed vehicles now. We would have to build the infrastructure for such a network of internal combustion vehicles from scratch, and it was deemed to be far too much of an investment of time and resources to be useful. This, however..."

She clopped to a stop, right in front of the front of the car. Magic lit up the latches on either side of the hod, popping them and pulling the sheet of metal up, revealing... I blinked. In the center of the engine area itself, where one would expect the engine block to be on a traditional Earth car, there was instead a circular apparatus that occupied the entirety of the space. It looked rather like what fusion reactors are portrayed as most commonly in science fiction, a circular ribbed tube with fins and small pipes covering the entire piece of metal. The tubes ran to a carburetor at the front, placed right behind a fan obviously meant to circulate air through the front grill, over the carburetor and through the engine area, then vent the heat out.

In the center of the circular divide, there was a bundle of wires and boxes, all surrounding a central lid that was covered with black and yellow hazard markings- DO NOT REMOVE POWER SOURCE DURING MOTION, ENSURE EQUIPMENT IS COMPLETELY INACTIVE BEFORE EJECTING POWER SOURCE, and similar warnings were written along with the markings in small, precise lettering, stamped into the steel itself. Luna depressed a button labelled OPEN CONTAINMENT HATCH, and the circular lid popped open.

"Do you think you could shine the light into the hole? I am afraid that I need to see what is within."

"Oh, uh... sure." I put the rifle on safe, then removed the flashlight attachment from the rail it was clipped to, shining it into the aperture.

Inside was another mess of tangled wires, all poked through what appeared to be some sort of containment vessel made of grey steel. Something seemed to be down there, visible behind a steel handle that was just below the space where the hatch had just been, something that seemed to be a sooty black- though I couldn't properly get a light on it. Luna clicked her tongue in mild aggravation.

"Hm. It certainly does look as if we shall have to remove the power core in order to ascertain its condition."

Without another word, she depressed the other button, labelled EJECT POWER CORE. The engine made a loud CHUNK as the handle that I'd spied through the hole jumped up. Luna's aura surrounded the handle itself, where it seemed to be coated in black rubber specifically, and twisted it ninety degrees until it let out a faint click, and she began drawing the core out. What slid out of the engine was purple crystal, a cylindrical chunk as long as my entire forearm from the tip of my fingers to my elbow, coated in black soot and riddled with cracks. Luna made another clicking sound.

"It is completely fried. The vehicle will not operate, period, until we replace the core and connect it to a power source."

"So, what exactly is this thing, then?"

Luna gently set the 'core' aside, leaving it on a rack obviously meant for specifically that purpose. "The core of a vehicle is where the power is stored. Equestrian vehicles utilize electric motors, one to each wheel- it was judged that this option was the superior choice, due to the fact that we, as a nation, already had highly efficient electrical power generation and transportation built under our hooves. We can thank the crystal dragons for that."

I gestured to the core. "That's something like a battery, then?" Luna nodded.

"More or less. This one, however, has been overloaded and fried- this is what the containment vessel is for. When one of these cores of sufficient size overloads, it releases all the energy it has stored as it shatters, which can cause an explosion. The core containment grabs this energy before it can cause undue mischief, then shunts what it has into banks of supercapacitors that are built into the containment itself for this very situation, then locks down the core to prevent any resulting core shards from injuring any vehicle crew..." She trailed off, then snapped her gaze to me, laser focused. "I worked with Twilight on this."

"Wh-what?"

"Twilight, and I- we designed this together! I remember, we spent long hours in an energy lab with teams of scientists- ah, though Twilight was perhaps more involved in the project than I was, given that I was spending the majority of my time running the nation..." she shook her head. "Regardless, Twilight did much of the work that allowed such a mechanical apparatus to exist. Cadence... Cadence designed the core itself, but Twilight... we made the containment."

I knelt down next to her, placing my hand on her shoulder. "What do you remember, in particular? Images? Smells? Words?"

"I remember... bits and pieces. Enough to know what we were doing, who was doing it, in a general manner... I..." her eyes glazed over, attention focused inwards, no doubt at the fragments of memory drifting through the veil that divided her mind. "She made jokes. She made quite a few jokes, trying to make light of what we were doing and why... I remember that she was so earnest, so much of the time... though she never escaped the same tension we were all under." She blinked, and looked back to me, frowning and looking slightly sad. "That is all I can recall. That, and a feeling of... disquiet."

"Don't worry. It's just another piece of the puzzle, right?" I patted her shoulder gently. "Get enough pieces together... maybe we can start getting the full picture, yeah?"

She nodded back. "I certainly hope so." She leaned on me for a moment, and I felt a twinge of worry for my... friend? Was I being premature in calling her a friend? Bleh, something else to consider later. After a few moments, she sighed, pulling her weight off of me- taking that as my cue, I pulled my arm away and stood. "Regardless of my... continually aggravating memory issues, we must find a replacement core if we wish for this vehicle to operate once again. Once we have a new core, any further problems will be easier to solve with diagnostics equipment."

I stood to my full height once again, brushing some slightly oily dust off of my knees. "Alright, where are we supposed to find something like that?"

"Mmm..." she tilted her head, "Well, vehicle cores have universal compatibility with some emergency power systems- we may have some luck, if there are parts storage closets on the maintenance level. On the other hoof, there may be parts stored on this level, and there is the spare parts storage there." She pointed with a hoof towards a locker in one corner of the large garage, unobtrusive enough that I'd missed it the last few times through here- and it had been on the side of the room that Luna had searched.

"Why not mention that first?" Her ears twitched down towards her head at my words, a grimace twisting her muzzle.

"Simply put, it was raided. The locking mechanism was melted right out of the doors by some high-intensity spell, or perhaps some sort of plasma cutter. I glanced inside when we were searching for the weapons locker, and the interior was entirely torn apart- parts scattered everywhere, and a large amount of things missing. If there are power cores in there, they may be long gone, or buried under all the mess. I would not make a bet either way."

"Ah... we split up, then?"

A nod. "It would be most efficient if I remained here, sorting through the wreckage with telekinesis, while you go down and search maintenance for emergency power cores." A small grin stretched its way across my face, and she turned her eyes on me, narrowed slightly. "What?"

"Oh, nothing, just... why don't we have a little fun? Make a game of it, just to... you know." I wiggled my hand. "I'll bet my next dessert that I find a power core before you do."

She looked contemplative. "Well... I DO like desserts... fine then, Matt, you have a deal." I grinned wider.

"Oh, I can taste that extra dessert ration already!"

"Dork." She paused a moment, considering, then pulled a black square out of her bag and threw it to me. "Here, catch."

I caught the thing in both hands, turning it over and examining it- which revealed it to be a very military-looking radio. A screen on it declared that it was set to channel five, and that it was set to use something called a RCR. The battery icon was at full charge.

"I pulled this and another from the supply room- they are set to use the facility's internal radio communications relay, and thus will continue to function regardless of intervening material between us. Keep it on, and on channel five, and each of us may call the other at any time. If you see anything suspicious, or- Faust forbid- one of those tarwolves-"

I nodded. "Radio you immediately, I get it." I smiled, "don't worry, I have my rifle, and I'm a big, strong manly man! I've got this."

She merely rolled her eyes, taking her own radio out of her bag and clipping it to the strap of her sniper rifle, which went over her shoulder. I waved to her, then retrieved my rifle from where it was leaned against the vehicle, clipping my flashlight back onto the rail it had been on before and shouldering it.

The journey back to the elevator was quick, and as I summoned it and stepped through the opening doors, I found myself in a much better mood than before- most likely because Luna had been. She'd handled this flash of remembrance much better than the others previously, and she'd recovered a whole lot faster. Maybe she was just getting better at reacting well to it, or perhaps my presence was having more of a positive reinforcing effect- either way, I was mostly just happy that she seemed a little more together than yesterday. Good progress, I thought.

The elevator dinged and I stepped through the doors, humming a little ditty under my breath, entirely pleased and in a very good mood, all things considered. I noted with a grin that the PARTS STORAGE sign painted on the water-stained concrete wall was right where it had been when Luna and I had explored this level before, and I was entirely glad to follow its direction to the right and down the hall.

I was halfway to the first turn when the lights flickered.

I glanced at the lights, perturbed- this wasn't the first sign of power failure was it? And then... and then I froze.

My eyes went wide, my breathing shallow, my rifle's strap creaking a little as my hand tightened on it. Something was behind me, I could feel its eyes staring into my back, laser focused and... angry. So angry.

And the lights went out completely.

I couldn't hear anything in the darkness, just my own breathing, my heartbeat- the sense of something, something... there, in the dark with me. Very gently, very slowly, I slid the rifle off of my shoulder, wincing at even the slightest sound that the action made. I didn't know what was here in the dark with me, but whatever it was... I couldn't shake the gut-wrenching feeling that the moment I made too much noise, it would be on me.

It took the barest moment to slide the rifle into my hands, but it felt like eternity and a half just trying to get the thing into place without a sound. My hand fumbled up the barrel, searching for the flashlight I knew was clipped there- where was it, the barrel felt like it was miles long, but my fingers finally brushed against it. I spun in place, facing the creature, flicked the light on-

I caught the barest flash, feathers, blood- white eyes, blank and yet, and yet- the flashlight flicked out.

I screamed. I ran.

The flashlight flickered in and out, I skidded around corners- it had been blocking the way to the elevators, and I needed to find a way around, but the paths led in circles and there were no coloured guiding strips. Pipes and concrete, and splashes of crimson fluid that caught the light for the barest moments as I fled down the corridor, running for all I was worth- and then I tripped.

I rolled on the concrete, making a pained sound as panic burned bright and loud inbetween my ears and in my chest, my heart hammering itself against the inside of my ribs in a frantic attempt to escape, to flee. I struggled to my feet, desperate, rifle pointed down the corridor in the direction of the... the creature.

"The first not First"

The whisper was right into my ear, right next to my head- I screamed again, whipping around, the sound deafening and the light blinding as my rifle fired into the dark at-

"Come in, Matt- I found a power core, seems intact, and I can already taste your dessert! Over."

I glanced down at the radio, then slumped a little and pulled it off my belt. "Gotcha, I'm headed back... jerk. Over."

I glanced down the corridor- the door was only a few steps away. I'd almost made it. Giving a frustrated sigh, I clicked off my taclight and threw the rifle over my shoulder, turning around and walking back towards the elevator through the brightly lit hall.

Something metal pinged off one of my shoes, and I caught a glimpse of brass- but whatever. I was too focused on how I was going to deal with a very smug alicorn.

Author's Note:

Alright, there we go- not a lot of supernatural stuff happening in this one, but you got some answers for some engineering questions answered, so I hope this chapter's okay.

Comments

[Crom251]

Makes me think of The Silence from Doctor Who.

[OlDreaddy]

Spooks.

[Geminii]

9696040
Or the Mome Rath from Worth the Candle. A monster big enough to have its own ecosystem, with Godzilla-breath vision, able to demolish cities with enough time, and knowledge of its existence can't get more than a certain distance (a mile?) from itself. If you call for backup, the reason why you're calling can't make it past that distance (and possibly neither can the call itself).

Get too far away yourself, and you have no idea what wrecked the city. Apparently cities just suddenly fall into total ruin, with enormous loss of life, occasionally.

[6-D Pegasus]

Yesyesyves

[Algedor]

Oof, got the silence in there. Where's Doctor who when you need him.
Thanks for the update!

[Flink]

What the HECK was that!? I’ve been loving this story, but that’s creepy approaching NOPE levels. And I had to re-read it a couple of times to try to figure out if I was missing something! <shudder>.

It’s your story, but <shudder> In hope we’re not going there.

[Silentwoodfire]

Manly Man

Saxton Hale? Is that you?

[Camolot the Creator]

9703386
Gun? Check.
Man? Check.
Manly? More or less, I'm gonna say check.

Unstoppable Australian murder machine/genius bruiser who regularly beats mercenaries with powerful weapons to death with his bare fists and wears nothing but a pair of shorts and a remarkably fashionable hat? Nnnnnnnnnot... quite?

[Silentwoodfire]

9703864
dont forget teh chest hair meticulously shaved into the shape of Australia

[carrs88]

noch, noch, hello ?! hello!? ...... squinting ..... mmmm
Marcus: it seems that no one is there.
Kelly: I tell you I saw someone move in there.
Logan: munch .... munch ... munch, maybe he panic and run; cruunch! or he became a zombie and is waiting for some poor devil to come in and be his dinner.
Kelly: Shut up Logan, you see too much shit on TV.
Logan: hey may be unlikely but not impossible
Marcus: Anyway there seems to be no one at home, let's go back.
Kelly: what are you eating?
Logan: ##### you want? offers the plastic bag
Kelly: Sure! as they go back where they came from ......
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[Holydude]

He sees dead ponies