The Ring Makers: Chapter 93

Ellie looked at Jazarah with both awe and pity. She had known who she was on sight. Jordan’s conversation with the man Ajit had mentioned her, and of the people fleeing across the snow, Jazarah had stood out.

 

Something in Jazarah felt strong. Even so, Ellie was nearly pissing herself as their snowcat rumbled toward the Giant. Fucking. Robot.

 

The Middle aged Korean man Hyong worried her. Ellie thought he looked distraught, like death was not the worst thing he saw in the approaching bombers.

 

The snowcat stopped. Ellie looked up. Behind the looming robot, the Ring began to flicker.

Chapter 92

Chapter 94

The Ring Makers: Chapter 92

Hyong gripped the microphone. “Run! He will execute you.”

 

Before Ryu answered, the shelter door opened and the drone of the approaching bombers became suddenly louder. Captain Kim raised his weapon at the interlopers.

 

Two Americans, a man and a woman, and an African woman entered wearing desperate expressions. Hyong motioned Kim to stand down. “Who are you?” he asked.

 

“I am Jazarah,” the African said in English. “I must speak with the Inquisitor.”

 

Hyong’s eyes widened.

 

“She knows how to talk to it,” said the American woman. “We don’t have time!”

 

Kim looked at him. Hyong nodded. “Yes. Quickly.”

Chapter 91

Chapter 93

The Ring Makers: Chapter 91

Jazarah staggered through the snow. People ran in all directions, unsure of where to go but knowing the approaching planes could only promise doom.

 

She saw tents and shelters and launched herself toward them in deliberate if shaking steps. Her loose desert robes were useless against the cold, however, and she fell.

 

A moment later an arm scooped her up. It belonged to a big, mustachioed American. A woman with him said in English, “Come on. We’ve got you.”

 

She pointed at the tents with her blackened fingers.

 

“We’re going there, too,” the woman said and they carried her forward.

Chapter 90

Chapter 92

The Ring Makers: Chapter 90

Ellie stood, dumbfounded: so many machines, so many people, all in the shadow of the biggest Ring she could imagine. Also, a Giant Fucking Robot.

 

Her own name yelled on the freezing wind grabbed her attention. She turned and was tackled “Holy shit, Ellie!” cried Hutch.

 

“I thought you were dead,” she bawled, hugging him.

 

“I thought I was dead!”

 

“What the hell is going on?”

 

“Damned if I know. I was in a big tube with others and—”

 

The way he stopped scared her. She followed his gaze to the sky and saw the planes coming. Big ones. Bombers.

Chapter 89

Chapter 91

The Ring Makers: Chapter 89

The darkness split open. White light and freezing air rushed in. Eberardo gasped and threw himself into the light.

 

He landed on a great snowy plain among thousands of other machines, also ejecting people. Some singly, others by pairs or even dozens.

 

“Lajos!” he yelled, searching. “Where are you?”

 

His eyes landed on the Ring. It was immense compared to his own. It was not quite complete.

 

A rumbling sound made him turn. Others turned too. Many gasped or cried and some even ran. All he saw were three black smudges that grew larger as the rumbling sound grew louder.

Chapter 88

Chapter 90

The Ring Makers: Chapter 88

“You can’t!” screamed Miss Ryu.

 

General Namgung frowned, stepped forward and swung his fist. She blocked it but the power of the blow knocked her down anyway.

 

“There is no choice,” he sneered.

 

“You will kill them all,” she said, standing.

 

“No sacrifice is too great,” he said. Then to the guards: “Arrest her.”

 

“You can’t kill the machines! All you have done is kill people.” She let them lead her away.

 

“All bombers to the north Ring,” ordered General Namgung. “Leave nothing standing.”

 

Down the hall, Ryu kicked, chopped and punched. The guards unconscious, she ran  for Hyong’s lab.

Chapter 87

Chapter 89

The Ring Makers: Chapter 87

Jazarah clung to the shell of the machine and pressed herself low to hide from the biting wind. Every part of her ached and she was sure she would lose at least two of her fingers to frostbite.

 

The machine rolled to a stop. Disoriented, she lifted her head and saw a great snowy plain. Domes and tents and tracked vehicles formed an active camp. Surrounding that camp were thousands of alien machines, hers among them.

 

Beyond the camp loomed a massive humanoid machine, and beyond it a Ring that dwarfed the one that had brought her to this world.

Chapter 86

Chapter 88

The Ring Makers: Chapter 86

Ellie did not like riding inside the machine. It was cramped and dark and she had no control over what was happening or where she was going. But the message had been clear: the machines were not the enemy.

 

When she had stood out in the open field, weaponless and alone, she nearly panicked. When the heptahedron had rolled at her, she nearly shit. But she stayed.

 

Now she was moving northward, toward the “others” as the last cryptic message had put it. In the close darkness she prayed a little, despite being a very long way from Sunday School.

Chapter 85

Chapter 87

The Ring Makers: Chapter 85

Captain Kim  said, “Multiple contacts are incoming.”

 

“How many?” asked Hyong.

 

“Hundreds. Thousands, maybe.”

 

The makeshift base was at full alert and consumed in the chaos of panic. Soldiers ran out of the shelters while scientists ran into them. Searchlights scoured the camp and approach.

 

“Do not escalate the situation, Captain,” said Hyong irritably. “They will not attack, and if they did your weapons would do no good.”

 

Kim snapped, “How could you know?”

 

“Twice now General Namgung has deployed our greatest weapons, yet we still live.”

 

“Hold your fire,” said Kim over the radio as hundreds of machines arrived.

Chapter 84

Chapter 86

The Ring Makers: Chapter 84

Jazarah stood on blasted earth next to Ajit’s body. Their worm-like conveyance, having disgorged them, undulated northward. More rolled, flew and trundled past her.

 

She realized she was sweating. The ground radiated heat and likely something worse. The sky was pale blue. The bomb had not created a mushroom cloud or even smoke. It had simply turned the trees to ash.

 

She was too shocked even to weep. Alone in a  desolate waste, if she did not succumb to radiation poisoning she would die of exposure.

 

She glanced at Ajit’s slowly cooking corpse, then ran to intercept one straggling machine.

Chapter 83

Chapter 85