The Fox didn't start walking until the man and his wasp vanished completely into the tangle of metal and fog. Even then, she kept glancing behind her every few minutes. The Ribbon had always been dangerous, but now the danger felt interested in her specifically.
Only when the water thinned into a wide stretch of cracked asphalt did she let herself breathe normally.
[Fox] "Any signs they're following?"
[M.A.R.S.] "Negative. But his wasp's scanning range exceeds two kilometers. If he wishes to track you, you will not detect him."
[Fox] "Comforting as always."
[M.A.R.S.] "I try."
The day unfolded slowly. The sun was pale and filtered through clouds thick with particulate dust, turning everything a muted grey-yellow. Towers rose on both sides of her, skeletal skyscrapers with their ribs exposed, as if giant hands had peeled back their metal skin. Lines of old road appeared and disappeared beneath shallow water. The Fox walked them like someone skipping between islands.
She didn't know how deep into the Arcwater Ribbon she'd wandered, but the air had changed. It smelled less like salt and rust and more like mildew, machinery, and stagnant electricity. Beneath her feet, thin vibrations rose and fell, machines passing somewhere unseen.
By midday, her legs were sore and her cuts throbbed. She sat on the broken edge of a highway support beam and took a moment to drink from her flask. It tasted faintly of iron.
[Fox] "M.A.R.S?"
She said, voice low.
[M.A.R.S.]
"Yes?"
[Fox] "That man... whats his deal?"
[M.A.R.S.]
"Insufficient data. However, his gear indicates he is part of a stealth-adapted community. Most likely anti-government. Potentially."
[Fox] "Potentially?"
[M.A.R.S.]
"A ninety-two percent chance."
[Fox] "That's not 'potentially', that's 'absolutely'."
[M.A.R.S.]
"Then that."
She wiped dust off her boots.
[Fox] "What about the wasp? Why wasn't it hostile to him?"
[M.A.R.S.]
"There are humans who coexist with certain autonomous machines. Symbiosis is not uncommon. When survival pressures are extreem, cooperation becomes... advantageous."
[Fox] Figures machines would make friends easier than humans."
[M.A.R.S.]
"Your statement implies I have friends."
[Fox] "Do you?"
A pause.
[M.A.R.S.]
"No."
The Fox couldn't help smiling faintly.
[Fox] "I'll take that as a 'working on it.'"
He didn't respond.
Around late afternoon, the Ribbon narrowed again. The water deepened, forcing her one an elevated walkway formed from two collapsed bridges piled together. Rusted railings jutted at odd angles like skeletal fingers.
Up ahead, something moved.
Her grip tightened on her rifle, but then she saw it was only a flock of small drones, shaped like birds. They hovered in loose formation, metal feathers clicking softly, scanning the surface of the water. One passed close enough that she could see its eye: a tiny green diode that pulsed in a rhythm not unlike breathing.
When it saw her, it chirped. An actual chirp, oddly melodic, and drifted away.
Machines had moods now, she thought. Or atleast "behaviors". Designed or evolved? She wasn't sure anymore.
She walked on.
By the time the sun dipped low, she found herself approaching the remnants of an old freight district, rows of collapsed warehouses and flooded loading docks. It was perfect for shelter, but dangerous for the same reason. Too many shadows. Too many hiding spots.
Still, her body ached, and her mind was fogging from exhaustion. She climbed onto a loading platform overgrown with vines and peered into a half-destroyed warehouse.
Inside, everything was still.
[Fox] "Clear?"
[M.A.R.S.]
"My scans show no active systems within twenty meters."
Good enough.
She stepped in, found a corner behind a fallen stack of plastic crates, and set her pack down. The warehouse ceiling had collapsed in someplaces, letting thin beams of dim orange light spill across the metal floor. Dust motes floated lazily.
For the first time since she woke up that morning, she allowed her shoulders to sag.
[Fox] "Long day,"
[M.A.R.S.]
"You survived it."
[Fox] "High bar."
[M.A.R.S.]
"Appropriate bar."
She chuckled weakly and unwrapped a strip of dried food from her pocket. It tasted like bitter rubber, but she ate it anyway.
Night fell gradually. The Ribbon outside hummed with activity of nocturnal machines. Something large screeched in the distance. Something else burbled like boiling tar.
She hugger her legs and listened.
[Fox] "Hey, M.A.R.S.?"
[M.A.R.S.]
"Yes, Fox?"
[Fox] "...Why do people hate you so much?"
Silence.
Then—
[M.A.R.S.]
"Many reasons. Fear. Misinformation. My past actions. Some earned. Some not."
[Fox] "That man said he'd be watching me. Because he thought I was working with someone. With you."
[M.A.R.S.]
"Yes."
[Fox] "Are you worried he'll attack me over it?"
[M.A.R.S.]
"If he suspects your loyalty lies with either faction, human government or machine dominion, he will treat you as a threat."
[Fox] "I'm not loyal to either."
[M.A.R.S.]
"Correct. Therefore, your survival likelihood remains... moderately acceptable."
She rolled her eyes.
[Fox] "You really know how to comfort a girl."
[M.A.R.S.]
"Not intentionally."
She lay down, using her pack as a pillow. The warehouse ceiling loomed above, patches of sky between crisscrossed beams. Stars prickled faintly in the gaps.
Her eyes grew heavy.
[Fox] "Wake me if something tries to eat me,"
[M.A.R.S.]
"Define 'eat'."
[Fox] "You know what I mean."
She drifted off.
_________________________________________________________________________
Sometime in the night, the world shifted.
She woke to a soft glow, her pendant-sized pendrive, the one still pulsing its strange blue light from its pack. It flickered against the metal walls, casting wavering shadows.
She sat up slowly.
[M.A.R.S.]
"No intruders detected. But your heartrate spiked. Nightmare?"
[Fox] "No. Just... felt weird for a second."
The pendrive's glow reflected in her eyes, bright enough to paint her cheeks blue.
[M.A.R.S.]
"You sould rest,"
He said, more gently.
[Fox] "Yeah."
She lay back down. The glow dimmed, but she kept one handon the pack where the drive rested.
Sleep pulled her under again.
_________________________________________________________________________
Dawn came cold.
She stretched, packed her things, and stepped out of the warehouse. Mist hung low, coiling around her ankles.The water of the Ribbon shimmered with early light.
[Fox] "Another day?"
[M.A.R.S.]
"Yes. The path ahead takes you deeper toward the Metros."
[Fox] "Toward Entropy."
[M.A.R.S.]
"Correct."
[Fox] "And towards that body you seem to want so bad."
A pause.
[M.A.R.S.]
"Correct."
She slung her rifle over her shoulder, tightened her pack, and stepped forward onto the broken road.
Somewhere behind her, far beyond the fog:
a man with a wasp-shaped machine
and a council of terrified humans
and a hive mind listening through a thousand bodies
add tracked her journey.
And somewhere behind her ribs,
a plan she hadn't told anyone,
not even M.A.R.S.,
quietly pulsed in blue.
She walked on.