THE BUG EATERS

Faina was heading back towards Lamplight at a slow pace, taking periodic sips from her canteen. She didn’t have much to look forward to there, but she thought about getting a big, warm meal at one of the Copper Street diners that Jazael used to frequent. There would be quite a few regulars who’d want to hear about what happened to him, and Tulio would be unlikely to spread the miserable news much further than Crumb. After that, Faina would go to the lockers at Lazyday Hostel and sort out his belongings.

Her plans were interrupted when a strange sight entered her view. It appeared at first to be a small dust cloud spinning wildly around a single point in the otherwise empty desert. The rest of the sand was undisturbed by wind, and there was naught but the faintest breeze on her neck. When she examined the cloud more closely, she realized that it was encircling a small concrete structure. The storm swirled around the site rather than through its broken windows or flimsy wooden door. It was as though its purpose was to protect the building from intruders.

Faina rubbed her eyes and cautiously moved closer. When she was about a meter away from the vortex of sand, she tried to peer through at the building on the other side. At that moment, the swirling abruptly stopped. Sand began to fall to the ground, and it was a matter of seconds before the cloud had dispersed entirely.

A broad-shouldered figure now stood before Faina. She had not seen him emerge from the building; it felt more to her like he had just simply taken the place of the vanished dust cloud. She took a couple of steps back, surprised, and he advanced menacingly towards her.

In his face she saw a young man, an old man, a boy, a girl, a smile, and a frown. She saw him grow and shrink, bulge and shake, and effortlessly blink his entire body across the distance between them. She stared into his blue, green, black, brown, red eyes and felt a wave of fear crash through her. This man did not exist. His existence was not possible.

The man could not have existed, and yet he reached out with an oversized hand and gripped Faina’s shoulder. His grip, at least, did exist. It was a tight grip that dug into her skin and threatened to bruise her, even break her. She imagined herself like one of the porcelain dolls they’d sold to Crumb the day before.

Faina pulled away, turned her body to one side, and then threw a punch at the man’s face. It was a quick and hard jab that should have stunned him, perhaps even knocked him out. Her fist connected, and then a sharp pain shot up through her forearm. The figure did not move even an inch.

“What the hell? Who are you?” Faina gasped as she stumbled backwards.

To her shock, there were now two more figures jittering towards her. They were quickly closing in from the left and right, even though there had only been open wasteland in these directions before. Both of the new assailants were just as ethereal as the first. Their bodies and faces changed as she observed them, making her feel dizzy and nauseous.

The figure to her left pounced, but she managed to swerve away before they could grab her. She knew that fighting the three demons head on was out of the question, so she just had to hope that she could find an opportune moment to make a run for it. Something tripped her up.

It was as though the ground beneath her had shaken and come loose. There was nowhere for her feet to stand, no way to regain her balance, and she fell flat onto her face. Dazed and frightened, Faina waited for her attackers to make their move. She readied herself to grab Jazael’s energy knife and launch a surprise counter with the powered blade.

An attack never came. Faina stood up and the figures were gone. She kept one hand on the hilt of the knife as she started to back away from the building, erratically checking her surroundings for danger. She had no idea what she had just experienced, but it felt too dangerous to stick around and find out.

“Hold up!” a voice shouted from inside the building.

“What?” said Faina, lost for words. “Who the fuck are you? What just happened?”

Out of the house emerged a woman in a rust-coloured jumpsuit with a pair of oversized sand goggles on her forehead. She was about a foot shorter than Faina and significantly less muscular. Her long black hair was tied into a messy bun that looked as though it could fall apart at any moment.

“Who are you?” asked Faina once more, calming down slightly as she assessed that the woman was posing no threat.

“I’m Rayli. I’m sorry if we hurt you at all. We weren’t sure who you were and didn’t want to take any chances. We thought KA had people around here.”

“Why would KA have people skulking about all alone? And who is ‘we’, exactly?”

Faina studied Rayli for clues about her person. She was young, and the jumpsuit could well have been an old PLM mechanic’s uniform with the patches torn off. A conscript turned deserter? It was hard to tell. She didn’t seem like a soldier at least, and the PLM hadn’t been seen in these parts for a couple of months.

Another person stepped out of the building and came to stand a few paces behind Rayli. He was tall, likely in his mid thirties, and had wavy copper hair with messy stubble that made him look goofy rather than rough. He had a lot of gear on him, and it was really high-grade stuff. The body armor covering his chest looked like one of the special models that the militaries of Daybreak only ever offered to their commissars and spec op units, and he had a powerful BLAST-250 revolver holstered on each hip. He gave an awkward smile and waved at Faina.

“Well,” Rayli continued, glancing briefly at her silent companion. “There’s not much to it yet. We’re just scavs, really. Scavs with a dream, I guess. That’s Airam there behind me, and he’s the closest thing we have to a leader, but we like to think we’re pretty democratic. It’s just us two here at the moment.”

“Airam… As in Airam the Adrift?” Faina asked, surprised.

She had never seen him in person before, but Jazael and his friends had mentioned him a few times while trading news and gossip. She knew that he had been born in Lamplight and had a good reputation amongst scavengers there, but that he would often go off the radar for months at a time. If she weren’t so irritated and confused by what she had just experienced then she would have been kind of excited to meet him.

“He sort of hates that nickname, but yeah,” Rayli smirked as Airam let out an exasperated breath behind her.

“Well, I’m Faina, and I’m a scavenger too. I still don’t understand what I just saw. Who were the three people that attacked me? What was up with their faces? Were they with you guys? I couldn’t get a good look at any of them; it was terrifying.”

“They weren’t real people, they were just hardlight constructs. Like I said, it’s only me and Airam here at the moment.”

Faina did not appreciate the abrupt simplicity of Rayli’s explanation. She had no idea what a ‘hardlight construct’ meant and that gave her the immediate impression that she was being toyed with.

“Uh, let me try and explain,” joined Airam. “The ‘people’ you saw were basically physical holograms. Our device can project and shape them, but also imbue them with real force and tactile sensations, within a certain radius.”

“And was the dust cloud a hologram too? It seemed different somehow,” inquired Faina.

“In that case, we were practicing something a little more experimental. I have to say, it went pretty well. While we can’t sustain large constructs very easily with the rusty old generator we have right now, we’re brainstorming ways to use small constructs to large effect. One example of this is using thin threads of hardlight to sweep and throw sand! We also learnt today that this same technique can throw people up into the air, but I feel bad now about testing that out on you.”

“I’m not going to say your experiment didn’t scare the living shit out of me, but I’m unharmed, so I’m not going to hold any grudges. That said, where the hell did you find this ghost projector? I’ve never heard of anything like it, and I’ve heard some tall tales.”

“So, you know that creepy facility to the east of Lamplight? It’s irradiated to hell, I know, but there’s all kinds of high-tech stuff there if you know where to look. We, that was then me and Serdesh, Rayli’s brother, were pretty desperate for a good score when we were tipped off to one of the warehouses there that was supposedly full of equipment and in surprisingly good shape. We’re idiots, so we didn’t think too much about the danger and just set off as soon as we could.

Initially, the plan was to just sell whatever we found. I didn’t expect it to be something so practical. And Serdesh, well, he didn’t make it back to Lamplight, but he was the type of person who always strived to be better, to make the most of his situation, to try. I felt like I owed it to him to be that kind of person too. Do you know that feeling?”

“Sort of,” Faina said. “I know what it’s like to lose someone and I know the feeling of needing to turn that emotion into action. I’m still going through it myself.”

“I’m sorry about that. And I know this might sound kinda crazy, but I think this projector has the potential to make a difference to the war. I don’t think anyone else out there has tech like Phantom Soul.”

“Phantom Soul?”

“Sorry, that’s the hardlight projector. No detailed blueprints, but I found notes on how to use it and that’s what it was called there. Is it too theatrical?” he touched the collar of his shirt nervously.

“It’s fine! And wow, even in campfire rumors, nothing like this exists. The major factions will all want to get their hands on the projector as soon as they learn about it, as will just about every bandit and crook in this broken country and probably far beyond. If you want my advice, you’d probably be better off selling it on than telling strangers in the desert about it.”

“Do you want to see it? It’s inside,” Airam beamed, completely unbothered by Faina’s warning.

“Hm? Well, sure, I’m interested.”

She was surprised that he was letting her get so close to something so valuable. It was a once-in-a-lifetime haul. Rayli and Airam seemed so trusting and open about it, which was not at all what Faina had come to expect from chance meetings in the wastes. The idea that it was some kind of trap crossed her mind, but it seemed too incompatible with their relaxed body language and Airam’s good reputation back in Lamplight. Their guards were down, and she was already emotionally vulnerable from having lost Jazael, so she let down hers too.

They led Faina to the small concrete building and she followed them through the door. There was only room inside the structure, and it didn’t contain much of note. There were shelves with scattered jars, cans, and crates of food and supplies. Then there was a table with a generator beneath it and an odd projector on top. The generator had been turned off but Faina could feel the resonant heat in the room from when it had been last used.

Faina focused on the projector. It had a large blue lens on a bulky metal body, with switches, dials, and datachip ports crowded across its face like a dashboard salvaged from something that had never been a car. She wasn’t techy enough to even begin making logical sense of it, and could only think about how it seemed more excavated than invented.

“Um, so, I actually saw you back in Lamplight,” said Rayli. “You and your friends were leaving Crumb’s place last night. I was there to pick up supplies with another member of our group, Kravitz, who should be here in a bit with a truck. I remembered it because he seemed to know a few things about who you guys were, but I didn’t recognise you until after we dropped you on your face with Phantom Soul.”

“Oh? Sorry, I can’t say I remember seeing you there. I was exhausted yesterday. Are you one of Crumb’s regulars?”

“We’ve dealt with him from time to time. He’s not a bad guy.”

“I wonder how he would react to this ‘Phantom Soul’ you found. If anyone in Lamplight could figure out a good price for it, it would be him.”

“We’re not selling Phantom Soul,” Airam cut in. “We have a mission, a dream, we believe we can actually do something really good with this technology.”

“Like what exactly?” Faina asked.

“A society for people who grew up in the rubble. A society built by scavengers and for other scavengers and their families. A society that can hold its own against the larger factions and carve out a little piece of paradise right here in the middle of Daybreak. There’ll be no more quarrels between the people at the bottom, no more fighting just for the bare minimum standard of living, we’ll be able to rally together for once and actually make something better together.”

Airam’s words just made Faina feel sad. She wanted something better, sure, but what he was promising was too good to be true. Vague ideas about bringing people together weren’t nearly enough, she needed something actionable.

“I think you’re getting ahead of yourself here, Airam. The projector’s pretty rad, but you can’t build a nation with it. Everyone wants to build their own ‘paradise’ but I’ve never seen anyone actually do it, even with the backing of entire armies. It’s a pipe dream.”

Airam shook his head.

“I mentioned before that we’re using a diesel generator to power Phantom Soul. It wasn’t built for that, of course, it’s supposed to be able to take a power core. We’re really not yet seeing the full extent of what the device can do. It’s going to be a superweapon.”

“Okay, sure, but how would you get your hands on a power core? It’s no small hurdle to cross.”

“We’re going to use Phantom Soul to take down a mech!” Rayli blurted out excitedly with a huge grin on her face.

“Seriously? Aren’t mechs pretty much only ever taken down by other mechs? They’re tougher than tanks. It takes some really heavy ordinance to deal any sort of damage to them at all.”

Faina didn’t get an answer. The sound of an engine outside grabbed everybody’s attention. It growled closer to the building and then stopped abruptly.

“That’ll be Kravitz!” said Rayli.

The three of them headed outside and Faina watched a man in full khaki emerge from the driver’s cabin of a small truck painted in an almost identical color. The vehicle itself was old, rusty metal with a tattered canvas tent covering a bed with low sides, but its all-terrain tires were brand new. She noticed a pink plush toy on the dashboard that looked like one she could have owned as a little girl.

The man took off his cap and wiped some sweat from his forehead before greeting them with a toothy smile. Faina didn’t recognise him but thought to herself that he seemed like the kind of guy Lamplight has in spades. He was a 40-something year old man with an average build and an indistinct face. The only notable thing about him was that people out here didn’t usually stay as pale as he was.

“Hey there Airam, Rayli, and you, you’re from Jazael’s group, right? I didn’t know you guys were part of the plan. I’m Kravitz.”

“I’m Faina, and it’s nice to meet you, but I’m not part of any plan. I didn’t know these people until a moment ago. They told me about the projector but what they’re suggesting seems honestly kind of crazy.”

“Do you want to be?” asked Airam. “Do you want to be a part of the plan, I mean, not do you want to be crazy. We really need people on our side. I know it seems like I might be in over my head here, but I really believe we can do it, and I owe it to the world to make the most of the opportunity in front of me with Phantom Soul. You’re a scavenger like us and, my gut tells me, a good person. We’d be happy to have your help and we’ll be able to compensate you for it plenty.”

“Look, I…” Faina trailed off.

The more thought she put into it, their plan just seemed hopeless and ridiculous. Scavengers don’t take down mechs even if their equipment is top-tier. They don’t take down armies. They don’t build real lives. They just survive for as long as they can.

“If you need to get back to your team or discuss it with them, I understand.”

“No.” Faina said, an image of Jazael’s lifeless eyes flashing through her mind like a bullet to her psyche.

“I’m in. I want to be part of whatever you’re doing, even if I think you might have your head in the clouds. Let’s take down a mech!”

The team smiled at her and the nightmare of Jazael melted away in response.