4
The tinkers construct
"Mac wait up," called Nero. Nero chased Mac down the corridor into his tool room. Mac flipped a switch and the room lit up in a brilliant white light. There were tools and bits of machines as far as the eye could see. In the centre of the room on some kind of pedestal was a hulk of metal. "Mac what's up?" asked Nero. Mac continued to ignore him. Mac went over to a table with some circuit boards. He started soldering bits to the and connecting cables. "No matter how many times I've been in here this place still amazes me," Nero said.
"Can you just leave me alone to do some more work," moaned Mac.
"That's what I followed you about," replied Nero "I managed to get an energy core for you,"
"Really?" Asked Mac "thank you, now I can actually finish this pile of scrap," he gestures towards the pedestal in the middle. "I'll go get it for you," Nero chuckled. With that he left the room to get the energy crystal for the scruffy engineer. Mac went over to the machine. "Won't be long till we get you working now," Mac whispered. Smiling to himself he didn't notice Maia walk in. "Why did you say that," Maia moaned making Mac jump. "You know just as well as I do why we went after him,"
"He a wuss, if you are going to take him out there someone's going to get hurt or worse," Mac snapped back. "Get out I'm busy,"
"You always tinkering with that stupid machine," Maia complained "you can't power it,"
Nero walked back in a saw the Maia and Mac arguing. "Will you too stop trying to kill each other all the time!" He shouted. He put the crystal down on the table and walked over to them both. "Maia get out this room," Nero snapped "Mac try to actually get on with someone," Maia stormed out of the room without a word. "How long till it's finished?" Nero asked. "Should be ready tomorrow morning," replied Mac. He went over to the energy crystal and started putting it inside the machine. "See you in the morning," Nero said. Mac nodded in acknowledgement while he franticly worked on the machine.
Mark woke up to another nightmare. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't sleep that night. He got up out of his bed and walked to the door of his room. As he opened it he saw Maia walk by his room. She was head for the exit. "Where are you going?" Questioned Mark.
"Mark," jumped Maia "I didn't see you there," she turns around and checked to see if anyone else was with him. "I'm going outside," whispered Maia "want to join me?"
"Sure," replied Mark. Maia pulled open the door and started walking up a set of stairs. Mark followed her, closing the door behind him. When he got to the top he saw Maia sat under a tree starring at the moon. He walked over to the tree and sat down next to her. "Nice night isn't it?" Maia asked.
"Yeah," Mark replied.
"Being stuck in that bunker all the time is really annoying," Maia muttered "so I sneak out here at night to get away from it all," Mark looked down from the moon to see its light reflecting from a lake. "Out here I feel free, in there I just feel like I'm in a prison," whispered Maia "please don't tell Nero, we would kill me if he found out,"
"I won't say a word," Mark replied.
"So how come your not in asleep?" Maia asked
"I keep getting nightmares about those machines," replied Mark
"You will get used to them," Maia responded "I get them too, that's another reason I come out here," Maia got out and walked over to the lake. "How's your shoulder?" Maia asked.
"I completely forgot about it," Mark replied "must be fine if it hasn't been hurting,"
Maia started picking up stones and throwing them in the lake. Each one make a calming sploosh sound. "You want to go back inside?" Maia asked.
"I think I'm going to stay out here a while longer," replied Mark. Maia walked back over to the tree and sat down. After a short amount of time Mark and Maia both fell asleep under the tree.
5
Training
Mark woke up to a beautiful sunny morning. He stood up and stretched before looking around. He saw Maia asleep on the ground. He walked over to her and tried to wake her up. "Maia wake up," Mark whispered. After a few attempts he managed to wake her up. "Where am I?" Maia asked. Before Mark could answer she got up and ran for the entrance. "Quick before Nero finds out we are missing," Maia shouted. Mark and Maia rushed down the stairs making sure that the entrance was hidden. When they got to the their rooms they parted ways. Mark sat down on his bed and waited for a few minutes then left his room. He walked into the main room where Nero was making breakfast. "Morning Mark," Nero called "sleep well?"
"Yeah I did," replied Mark. Nero brought over a plate with some sausages, an egg and some beans on it. "Morning Nero, morning Mark," chimed Maia. Maia took a seat next to Mark. Nero brought over a plate for Maia with the same food on it then brought his own over and sat opposite to Mark. "Where's Mac?" asked Mark.
"He got his breakfast an hour ago," Nero replied "he worked most of the night, apparently he saw you too asleep outside," Mark looked over too Maia, Maia looked at Nero. Before anyone could say anything Mac burst into the room. "It's ready," Mac screamed "it's finally ready," Mac ran to the table like an exited child.
"Give us a minute to finish our food Mac," said Nero. Mac took a seat at the end of the table tapping the desk till they were done. "So where is it," asked Maia
"In my workshop," replied Mac. Mac ran down the corridor and the others got up to follow. When they walked in the room they saw Mac standing next to a hunk of metal. With a big grin Mac pressed a small button on the machine and it's eyes began to glow. "So what can it do?" Asked Nero.
"I'll show you what it can do," replied Mac. He pressed another button but the machine sat stationary. He pressed the same button a few more time and nothing happened still. He kicked the machine and gave a sharp yelp. "It has no programming does it?" Mark asked.
"Oh..." Mac replied "I thought I forgot something," disappointed and embarrassed sat down on the machine and turned it off. "So it's a waste of time then," Nero muttered.
"Not necessarily," Mark pointed out. Nero and Mac both turntable towards him.
"If you know something then tell us," Mac said.
"If we went back to London and get to my house," Mark responded "I have a laptop in my room with some programming software on it," Mac face lit up with renewed hope.
"If you are all willing to take the risk then I will plan a route to your house," Nero announced
"I'm willing to," Maia replied. Mark nodded in agreement and Macs grin got bigger.
"In that case your have to teach Mark to shoot while I plan the route," Nero pointed out.
"This armour is surprisingly light," Mark said. Mark was stood under a tree waiting for Maia to set up the targets. "Yeah, Nero designed it a few years ago," Maia replied "he was a scientist before this," Maia struggled to put put up the last target and fell over when she did.
"How did you have armour that fits me perfectly?" Asked Mark.
"Got lucky I guess," replied Maia "do you know how to fire a crossbow?"
"Yeah," Mark replied "take aim and pull the trigger," Mark lined up his first shot and fired, hitting the closest target in the centre. "Nice shot," Maia cheered "but it was only at close range," the auto loader on the crossbow loaded the next shot before Mark had time to aim. Mark fired his next shot but missed quite badly. "Try using your other arm to stabilise the shot," Maia suggested. This time when Mark aimed he stablished the shot, he hit the target right at the back a few inches from the centre. "Nice," Maia cheered. Mark practiced for an hour straight, he didn't miss a shot now that he learnt to stabilise his aim. "One those machine it doesn't matter where you hit them," Maia pointed out "the bolts will disable them," Mark nodded and took of his helmet and headed back inside. After putting their armour back on the stands Mark and Maia headed back to the main room. Nero was sat at the end of the table, illuminated by a faint fire. "I have a route," Nero announced "now all we have to do is wait till tomorrow," Nero spent an hour explaining the route and all the risks. The sudden amount of risks started putting doubts in everybody's minds. Mark was the first to go back to his bed, followed by Nero. Maia went outside to clear her head again. After a few minutes she turned to back inside. As she went in a faint clunking began in the distance.
6
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7
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Duis quis purus adipiscing mi sceler-isque dictum quis vel eros. Nullam eu tempor purus. Nunc a leo magna, sit amet consequat risus. Etiam faucibus tortor a ipsum vehicula sed hendrerit eros suscipit.Nunc tempor luctus inter-dum. Duis libero leo, consequat ut ac-cumsan eu, viverra et erat. Nunc rhon-cus tellus in ipsum molestie et gravida tortor dignissim. Donec nec lorem et tellus mollis lobortis. Integer sed dolor
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2 inMagazine/January, 2012