Nellie and the Nanites- Book Two - Chapter 1

Chapter One

Nightmares and New Starts

Nellie woke with a scream; the lifeless eyes of Tor-Am had chased her through another nightmare. Wiping her eyes as she took a drink of water from the cheap plastic cup next to the camp bed, Nellie wondered if the nightmares would ever end.

At least it was just Tor-Am last night. Those dreams were bad, but the ones where she watched those beams of light from Bartlett’s ship burn through whole families were worse.

Loud thumps sounded from outside the dusty sheet of metal she was using as a door to the office. Swearing swiftly followed.

Nellie smiled and got up, the bad night having left her with no aches or pains to worry about. The nanites swarming through her saw to that. That was also the reason why she didn’t sweat anymore.

Nanites really were marvels, even if she did sometimes wonder how much she was human and how much she was a machine these days. Not that it mattered all that much. It had been this, or dead.

This was better.

Nellie rolled the metal aside, catching Paren with one foot raised to kick the part she had dropped. It looked like another spare she was trying to pilfer to her private stockpile.

“Morning, Paren,” Nellie said with a theatrical yawn, “What are you up to?”

“Nothing!” Paren said innocently, trying to hide the metal lump behind her. It was not a convincing attempt. For starters, it was a lot wider than she was.

“Uh huh,” Nellie winked, “That just dropped off a passing shuttle, right?”

“Ha ha ha!” Paren said sarcastically. “Funny lady.” She seemed to forget about the part for a moment, “You okay?”

“Another bad night,” Nellie admitted. “Just like all the others. I’m going to go check on the other stuff. So I guess that gives you what? Five minutes to hide that before Lucy sees it?”

Paren yelped and scooped it up, putting it over her shoulder as she tried to run for the far end of the yard. It was strange to see someone so small carrying something that large, but there were advantages to being a Drone.

If anyone saw her doing that, they were in trouble. Not that there was any chance of that here. Nellie turned her head, scanning the high dirt walls with her enhanced eyesight. It would block anyone from seeing inside the yard, and there was no chance of anyone seeing anything from above.

A dense cloud hung in the sky above, stretching all the way to the horizon on all sides. Turns out you can’t blast a third of a planet with energy weapons without triggering something close enough to nuclear winter, as made no difference.

If something did manage to see through all that muck, they would hit a subtle scattering field that would nudge any sensors off a little. All they would get would be a blur.

Nellie wasn’t taking any chances anymore.

The entrance to their other workshop was hidden in the side of a junk pile. A true junk pile. Not even Paren could find a use for all this rusted, burnt metal. The rubbish flowed out of her way as she walked down a set of hidden stairs, closing in behind her as soon as she passed.

Dirt gave way to stone that slowly became smooth and polished. Nothing smoothed like a nanite. Nellie ran her hand fondly over the stone, feeling the slight tingle as her fingers brushed over the nanites. As she stepped off the last step, the stones gave off no visible light, but she could see perfectly.

“Morning, Lucy!” She called brightly to the hulking form working over a complex collection of pipes, metalwork, and crystal lattices.

“She’s doing it again,” Lucy sighed.

“Yeah, I caught her at it,” Nellie smiled at her most genuine friend. “I think it was another strut.”

“I swear we should never have given Nu-B to her.” Lucy’s robot head rotated to look back at Nellie. “What are we up to today?”

“Another supply run,” Nellie replied. “The town’s getting pretty desperate with all the refugees.”

“Can I have an hour?” Lucy asked. “I need all my concentration to grow these latices correctly.”

“Sure,” Nellie stretched. “I’ll go check the perimeter again; just let me know when you’re done, okay?”

“Will do.” Lucy waved and returned to her new project. Several completed components were arranged around the underground workshop, along with piles of parts.

Nanites worked away in several areas, breaking the parts down into elements for use in Lucy’s design.

A familiar ooze was dutifully cleaning up any leftovers.

“Hey, Oodles!” Nellie bent down and patted the ooze gently, careful not to end up with her fingers inside it. Oodles chirped happily, the flower it had claimed waving merrily as it continued to thrive despite the lack of light, food, or water. She had no idea how the ooze kept it alive, but the flowers had grown along with it. They were both twice the size they were even a month ago.

It was crazy to think it had been a month already. A month since the sector fell to the Feds. Changes had happened pretty quickly in the days that followed. The Feds had settled themselves into the Hub before the sun rose, and their ships were visible from the surface until the skys closed thanks to the cloud of detritus.

A series of patrols had been sent out to all the settlements, informing them of the change of leadership.

Informing? Yeah, right!

It had been a barely disguised shakedown. They had even taken all the larger ships in the graveyard. Donations to the war effort. Once they had everything of value, they left.

They also cut all the supply lines to the smaller cities and towns. The Forward Exploratory Bases had been looted and blown up, with nothing left but wreckage.

A single ship had flown over since then.

It dropped pamphlets informing everyone to move to the larger cities, or they were on their own. They meant it, too.

Nellie had not seen another craft flying in weeks. What she had seen was towns overrun by some of the more dangerous creatures in the area.

Hence, the patrols.

She walked the walls around the compound, keeping a wary eye on the wide area of cleared ground around it. Their two scouts flew further out, scanning the area for life signs.

The scouts looked like metal jellyfish with large metal circles at the top and lots of dangling arms beneath. They were officially for salvage work, but their sensors were the best nanites could make.

They reported the all-clear, and Nellie dropped from the walls, heading to the cargo shuttle they had refitted.

Time to go visit Duke again.

===<<<>>>===

“How’s it going, Duke?” Nellie smiled at the rough-looking man who stood with his arms crossed on the landing pad.

It would be easy to get the wrong idea when meeting him for the first time. He was a big lad, bald, and had the kind of face not even a mother could love. Duke certainly didn’t help himself in the company he kept. His people looked like every one of them belonged on a wanted poster.

They probably were.

Dirty overalls in red and green couldn’t hide the scars, muscles, or tattoos entirely. In short, they looked like someone you emigrate to avoid.

“Well, if it ain’t the Beacon herself!” The huge brackta laughed, his tail lashing as he pulled her into a hug. “Spoiling us today, ain’t ya?”

“Damn, Duke,” she gasped, “did you get bigger?”

“Sure did!” He laughed. “Oy! Get the stuff loaded, ya bastards!” He roared at his lounging crew. They gave mocking salutes and half-hearted waves, but they did start moving. “You see what I put up with?” He asked, putting her down at last.

“You have met Katie, right?” Nellie laughed. Paren was using Katie as her name until she found one she liked better.

“Oh, come on!” Duke scratched his head. “Princess is a little darling.” He grinned.

Nellie just shook her head. “What did she get out of you this time?”

“It was just a little bit of scrap, really!” Duke protested.

Nellie just smiled. Whatever he looked like, Duke was a soft touch to just about everyone.

“All loaded, boss!” A feral-looking man with a skull tattooed on his face called.

“Oh, hey, Leo!” Nellie waved the man over.

“Did you get it, Bea?” Leo asked eagerly.

Nellie slipped the small ball of fluff from her backpack. She had found it in an abandoned town, and it wasn’t likely anyone would be back for it.

“Thank you,” Leo said, hugging the little stuffed kitten toy to him. “If you find any more, let me know, yeah?”

Nellie promised she would and began the long process of paying.

When the sector fell, most of the credits became useless outside of the main settlements and even in some of them. Barter was the rule of thumb now, which suited Nellie as she didn’t have to worry about too many trails leading things back to her.

Duke mostly wanted things to keep his fields fertilized, parts for his machines, and stuff like that. Simple stuff for her to make with her nanite boosts but difficult for anyone else to get these days.

It gave her buying power, and no one thought it strange since she owned a scrapyard.

A couple of hours later, she was coming in to land at the town she supposed she could call home these days. Not that she lived there, but the yard was technically part of it. People were camped all over the place, with tents and temporary shelters lining the streets.

Everyone stayed inside the walls.

No one was that desperate. Not since the Abomi-Toads passed through here a couple of weeks back. That had been bad.

Molly was waiting for her as soon as the loading ramp dropped. The bartender and Nellie had not gotten off to a great start, but things were changing quickly. For a start, she was now the mayor, the previous one having left with the Feds.

“We can’t pay!” Molly said with a sigh as Nellie pushed her way through the packed hold. “Again.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Nellie shook her head. “I paid for it already.”

Molly looked grateful and guilty all at the same time, her shoulders hunched even as she smiled.

“How many more?” Nellie asked, looking at the packed streets.

“Can we talk?” Molly asked, leading her aside as a group came to start unloading the food and supplies.

“Sure,” Nellie shrugged and followed Molly down the street and into the bar she called both home and office. She wasn’t worried that anyone would steal the ship. It was literally impossible with all the nanite upgrades hidden in it. Lucy would let her know the minute anyone messed around with it.

It had happened before, and Nellie had to step in before the crowd lynched the desperate family trying to abscond.

Sitting at the bar while Molly fussed around behind it, Nellie actually felt quite relaxed. Despite the bad first impression, she liked Molly. The woman was tough but fair. Not to mention, she had stepped up when people needed her. It made it difficult to hold a grudge.

“I don’t like you,” Molly started.

So much for not holding a grudge.

“I don’t,” Molly said again. “Sorry, but it’s just the way it is.”

“Well,” Nellie said drily, “Glad we had a chat, see you.” She pushed away from the bar.

“Wait!” Molly snapped. “I don’t like you, but I do like what you do.”

“I’m touched, really.” Nellie grimaced.

“It’s hard for me, okay?” Molly said. “We can’t survive without you, but I just don’t know you.”

“Is there a point to this?” Nellie sighed. Ostie, what a bitch this woman was.

“I, well,” She fidgeted for a moment before pulling a bundle out from under the bar and pushing it across to Nellie. “Here. You need to keep safe out there.”

Nellie pushed back the cloth to see a worn-looking rifle. It seemed like an energy weapon of some sort and high-end as well.

“What is this?” Nellie asked. “And don’t say it’s a rifle.”

Molly almost smiled at that.

“One of the refugees found it on the way here,” Molly explained. “It’s military-grade, so I guess it came from Bartlett’s ship when it crashed.”

“Where did they find it?” Nellie asked. The last thing she needed was Sector Security people near her yard.

“North of here,” Molly shrugged. “Look, just take it as payment, or thanks, or whatever.” She huffed.

“Why not?” Nellie said, slinging it over one shoulder. She would have Lucy look it over once they got airborne to ensure it had no surprises. “I’ll try and swing back here next week.”

She got a lot of thanks and friendly waves as she walked back to her shuttle. News had spread about the crazy lady who brought food and supplies. That and she had been rounding up refugees as she found them.

Survival times in the wilds of this world were short, so if she saw anyone, they were brought here.

It was one of the things that had earned Nellie the nickname of Beacon; considering she was going by Bea at the moment, it wasn’t a stretch. Someone thought of it, it caught on, and the rest was history.

A gaggle of kids ran by, arguing and fighting. Bless.

One of them tripped the leader, and the rest piled on. Nellie shrugged and turned away. There were plenty of parents around to clear that up.

She slid into the flight chair and lifted off smoothly.

“Check out the gun, will you, Lucy?” Nellie asked as quietly as she could, just in case it was bugged or something. Lucy had been teaching her to sub-vocalise her voice, but it was still difficult for her.

Not as difficult as stopping herself from swearing in French, but close. The habits of a lifetime were hard to break.

“Nanites are infiltrating it now,” Lucy said in her ear. “I believe that was your quietest yet. Good job!”

Nellie smiled and waited for the all clear.

“There was a tracker built in, but I turned it off,” Lucy said over the shuttle speakers, signifying the all-clear to talk aloud.

“Is it any good?” Nellie asked.

“Actually, yes,” Lucy admitted reluctantly. “Inferior to what I could make, but superior to anything else you could use without getting caught.”

“I’ll take it with me tonight,” Nellie confirmed.

“Everything is almost ready to go,” Lucy sighed. “Are you sure about this?”

Nellie didn’t answer, just smiled.

===<<<>>>===

“You are such a drama queen,” Paren laughed as Nellie got ready.

“I am not,” Nellie insisted as she pulled the mask over her face. It was a plain white face shield with a painted-on smile and crosses for eyes, all in red.

Her outfit was completely black, complete with a hood and gloves. Combined with boots up to her knees, it hid all of her modifications, just in case she was seen.

“The sword looks dorky,” Paren pointed out helpfully. “The rifle looks good in black, though.”

“Thanks,” Nellie muttered.

“Sure I can’t come?” Paren asked.

“Very,” Nellie said sternly. “Nu-B, keep an eye on her, okay?”

“Of course!” The little spider bot's voice was bright and clear, like a kid's. That innocence was becoming more of a lie the longer it spent with Paren. The mini AI was nowhere near Lucy’s power, but it was something.

They had given it to Paren to try and give her something to keep her company just after they had converted her into a Drone.

She shook her head and headed out to the little shed in one corner of the yard. Inside was the transport pod that had brought them here. It had undergone some severe modifications in the last month.

Jet black, with small laser cannons in a line under the windscreen, the nanites that covered the hull gave it perfect camouflage, while internal scanners and systems were the best Lucy could build.

Now simply referred to as the ‘Pod,’ it had developed a little bit of a legend of its own in the last few weeks.

The only decoration on it was also on the chest of the jacket she was wearing.

When Nellie had the idea for her nightly jaunts, she knew that a symbol would be needed. She had found hers in a field of flowers that were growing around the outside of a ruined town. If it had even been worthy of the name. It was tiny. Barely a dozen buildings.

It was big enough for the Feds to raid, however. The people had tried to resist. Bodies left where they fell told the story of how bad an idea that was.

The flowers had been a pleasant distraction. Anything was better than seeing the bodies of the dead.

They looked almost identical to flame lilies from Earth. She had picked one and stared at it, remembering stories from home.

As she walked away from the dead town, those stories solidified in her mind. Someone had to do something about the Feds.

Nellie wasn’t crazy enough to think she could take them all on, but she could do something.

Two nights later, a patrol of Feds was found dead, with the flower resting next to their dead bodies.

Nellie climbed into the pod, and it shimmered into invisibility. She guided it out of the little shed and shot off to the north. The nights were even darker now that the stars were blocked, and she was completely invisible with sensors blocked by the nanites.

The Feds used a small camp a few miles north as a resupply. The leader there was worse than most, and tonight, she would pay him a visit.