"You know others wouldn't be looking for the same thing we are. They run away from the flame. We embrace it," said the Flame.
The Flame crossed into the hydroponics and the others followed.
The man scowled down at the map. According to it, this should be the rocket testing facility. It obviously wasn't.
I slammed the doors shut.
"All that burning and not a bright one among you," I announced to the room.
"It's a trap!" said one of the Embers.
"I don't know who you are, but you're making the wrong enemy," said the Flame.
Anna told me, "I hope you kill the fucker. His name is William, he's the one who burned me."
That at least was an interesting tidbit. I could use that.
"You know what this place really needs. A wet Willy," I called, and swiveled one of the water cannons to deliver a punishing blast at the Flame.
The man got knocked off his feet and slammed against a wall by the force of the stream. Perhaps I'd overdone it a bit.
A moment later I lost sight of him behind billows of steam. My thermal sensor picked him up though, his temperature had increased over four hundred percent.
In a normal human body proteins would be breaking down quickly at that temperature. There really was something extraordinarily different at work in their physiology.
I swiveled another cannon to face him. Concentrating two on him, while the other hoses blasted water at the Embers. I aimed for the head, it was the most likely way to disorient and confuse them.
With the thick clouds of steam and the sprays of water my standard cameras were useless and my heat sensors were fading in effectiveness as the temperature of the room continued to rise. I was quickly losing track of what was happening in the chamber.
I tripled the intensity of the cannons. I couldn't keep up at that pace for long, it would drain the water reserves in the tanks, but if I waited any longer I'd not be able to target properly at all.
Perhaps thirty seconds of this and the reserves were finished.
"Did you get them?" Anna asked, leaning forward.
I hadn't gotten them all. I registered a breach in the exit door.
The Flame had earned his name. His tatters of clothing were gone and his entire body was wreathed in fire as he strolled away. He looked a mess, one side of his face was already showing bruises and he walked with a limp, but he was getting way. He was getting away—and I didn't have anything to stop him.
I sent the visuals to the screen so Anna could see.
"I can get him," Anna said.
"Taking many flights of stairs quickly in the shape you're in? I don't think so. It is also going to take about half an hour to cool down hydroponics enough that you wouldn't roast," I said.
Anna fumed, but didn't argue.
When things finally did cool I got to see just what damage I'd done.
I'd hoped to get at least one of the Embers alive, but I hadn't. I may have gone a bit too extreme with the water cannons and all three had drowned.
Well, it still provided me something to dissect and I'd be able to get all the samples I might require.
"This is really bad," Anna said.
"We got some of what we needed, little thanks to you," I said.
"We let one of them get away. They're going to come back and with a lot more power than they did this time. If you couldn't stop them now, how are you going to stop them next time?"
It was a good question, and one I didn't have an answer to. Yet.
6
Before I worried about anything else, I needed to begin research on the specimens I had. I used my drone to drag them down to the testing facility so that I could begin proper dissection.
Research Menu
Embers
Requirement: 3 Ember Bodies
Time: 24 hours
Embers are the lowest order of those who were empowered by a Power core to possess flame abilities. While weak compared to their brethren their physiology is still considerably altered from the human norm.
Do you wish to research?
Well, of course I did. That was the entire point of this little exercise. I began the dissection and sample testing process. It was impressive just how many saws and needles the dissection unit could operate at once, I really did need to figure out a way to incorporate that into a trap.
Then I could kill and start research at the same time. It would be incredibly efficient. I made a note to myself to look further into that.
Once the research had begun I assessed the damage and the state of the base. It wasn't good.
The Flame had melted his way right through a steel door. I wouldn't have thought it possible. That heat also helped to explain why my trap had almost failed to work, they were evaporating the water before it ever reached them.
Speaking of water, the reserve tank was completely drained. I would have to figure out how to restore the supply. If there were more from that gang on the way here, there were still possibilities as to how water could help to take them down.
I set the doors to Hydroponics to repair and began to upgrade others in the base. I couldn't change their melting point, but I could at least make them thicker. If I could re-establish the water supplies, I might also be able to work out some sort of cooling system.
I also had to plot out a plan for the future. I'd made a number of mistakes this time and I realized that now. I'd thought taking them all on at once would be more efficient, and while that was correct, it was also what helped the Flame to escape.
I needed to separate them so their heat couldn't be combined.
Hydroponics was a single chamber which took up a whole level, but the floor below was store rooms—each of which could be cut off and isolated.
If I could rig some sort of pit traps in the Hydroponics floor, I might be able to send them directly into rooms below. I could even fill them water.
I cycled through the list of traps I had available, seeing if I would have anything that would work.
Pit Traps
A section of the floor can be made to look just like the surroundings and respond either to pressure or a remote trigger to drop one into a chamber below. This is popular to pair with spike traps.
I considered the use of spikes. I wasn't fond of the idea. Piercing flesh like that might damage organs I would prefer to study, and given the intense heat generated I wasn't sure spikes would last long enough anyway.
I set several traps to build. It would take two days.
It was time to talk to Anna.
"So, are you prepared to fail at something terribly important?" I asked.
"You'd be the expert on failure, Emma. What do you need?"
Well, that was just mean. I'd neutralized seventy-five percent of the subjects. Anna was quite rude.
"I used up all our water reserves. While I might recycle a little from all that you urinate on the floor, we're going to need more," I said.
"You don't actually do that. Do you? Recycle my urine?" Anna asked, sounding ill.
"I recycle everything. One day I'll get to make a new you and I'll do a much better job."
"What are the cookies made of?"
I had to wonder why she asked such hopelessly rhetorical questions.
"He was dead. You are always hungry," I said.
"Cookies though? You what, thought feeding me a steak would be too obvious?"
"You seemed to be a person would like to eat a lot of cookies. Your morale was of some tiny importance. I provided for your insatiable appetite. You found him delicious," I said.
"I'm going to be sick," Anna said.
"I can recycle that as well."
Anna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "So you need water. What does it have to do with me?"
"You have tools. You have technical expertise. My drone is occupied building the traps. You, on the other hand, are free and disposable. There should be water pumps on the levels below, but they are nonfunctional," I said.