Even ridiculously fast and powerful Protectorate AI get bored.

  “Melty? You there?

  “Oops, sorry. I was distracted watching the 1990’s”

  “Is that like an old VR show?”

  “No, like the decade. I was watching all of the broadcast media from it, simultaneously. Did you need a hand with something?”

  An exchange between the Vanguard Fromage Flinger, and their AI, Melty.

  *****

  Raey lay in the same bed they’d been in for the last 3 years, staring at the same ceiling they’d been staring at for just as long. They knew every inch of the sterile cube by heart. Beeping monitors, oxygen lines, nutrient drips, and whatever else the doctors were trying this week.

  It used to be that Raey could spend a decent chunk of their days wandering the halls of the palliative ward, supported by their wheeled iv stand. Time, and illness had taken even that from them though. Now the only way Ray could see anything but these four walls, and pale ceiling was through the mesh headset donated to them by an anonymous philanthropist. Sadly even that only really worked at night, when the hospital's outdated systems stopped hogging what little bandwidth the wiring could support.

  It was two hours till lights out, and Ray’s daily chance for a bit of freedom from their body, it’s atrophying muscles, and withering organs. Raey’s thoughts turned to which of their favorite activities to get up to. Hunt for new music, try to find a sympathetic Samurai with free time, and a penchant for helping the needy? Maybe spend some time in futile arguments on forums with people trying to get hospitals, like the one they lay in, shut down. Or they figured, they hadn’t used the backdoor into the admin system lately, there had undoubtedly been some changes in the local population of the slowly dying.

  First though, a nap, two hours of ceiling staring, and listening to beeping machines was more than they could take right now.

  *****

  Sirens and flashing lights woke Raey from their slumber, the room was dark, the two hour nap had extended past the plan. They grumbled at lost time, while their groggy mind tried to remind them about the reason for their sudden waking.

  The sirens, the lights, they were new, different. Not the “all call” for a coding patient, or the trilling chirp of a patient wandering too close to an exit, the new one was terrifying.

  Frail arms and tired hands fumbled on the bedside tray, grasping for their only connection to the world outside their room. With careful practiced motions Raey managed to slip it over their head, staring blankly at the loading screen of the display. The panic induced adrenaline surge filled their body with chills. The usual 30 seconds of booting felt like an eternity.

  The musical chime to signal the headset was ready to use was drowned out by the still unknown sirens. Raey spared no time in using the eye tracking features to navigate through the backdoor they had hacked into the hospital's systems. More grumbling echoed in their thoughts as they navigated with minor flicks of their eyes. Even the simplicity of basic ocular augments had been stripped of them, whatever caused their own immune system to see their own body as the enemy, went ballistic at even the smallest of foreign material intruding.

  Words flashed across Raey’s vision, breaking them out of the well worn trails of bitterness.

  Incursion detected. Please evacuate to your designated shelters.

  Panic.

  Raey’s vision began to tunnel. Their thoughts were growing foggy, it was all too much. Long dormant survival instincts blared to life in a body ill equipped to handle the rush of endorphins and adrenaline.

  Focus.

  You have to focus.

  Stop.

  Breathe.

  Focus.

  Where were the nurses?

  Where were the other patients?

  Cameras. You have access to the cameras. You aren’t blind, just focus.

  Top right corner, a flick of the eye, focus for two seconds. Camera access, upper left, nurses station, hold for one second.

  Raey’s vision filled with two views of the nursing station. It was dark, only the flashing emergency lights allowed brief glimpses of empty desks.

  Had they all run?

  Had they left her?

  Movement! There on the floor.

  It had four legs, it moved wrong.

  The antithesis were inside.

  Raey pulled back out of the camera feed, they didn’t want to see whatever it might be on the floor that had the vicious monster's attention.

  Help probably wasn’t coming.

  They were alone, they were too weak to walk, nothing but a boney snack waiting for the first omnivorous plant to find her. All Raey could do was flick through cameras, and watch. Maybe lay bets with the walls of the room, over which model would be her doom.

  As despair settled in, a peace came with it. Six months ago the doctors had told them they could live on for years. The disease would kill them eventually, but first it would likely rob them of every faculty and function. Raey would slowly waste away on this bed, eventually being unable to even use the headset. Knowing that death was stalking the halls of their living tomb, and it might possibly save them from their body’s slow betrayal, was almost comforting.

  Raey’s eyes scanned their headset, how should they spend their final moments? Looking in on whoever might still be alive nearby? Maybe write a final fuck you message to the people that thought people with disabilities and chronic illness should just be euthanized.

  Icon’s scrolled past their vision.

  Wait, the little lock symbol. Raey had forgotten about hacking into the security systems. At the time they’d been appalled at how easy it was, and the potential mayhem they could have caused, but now, now, just maybe…

  Renewed drive to live, and maybe save anyone else that hadn’t managed to evacuate, filled Raey’s tired body.

  Flick left, up, hold 3 seconds.

  Roll the eyes 4 times to bypass the passwords.

  Now, what was available beyond the annoying sirens?

  Motion and heat tracking, very bulky security doors, fire suppression systems full of old banned chemicals. “Right, I forgot this was a military hospital way back.” Raey muttered out loud, their first spoken words in days.

  It looked like everything was still connected to power, the military had just disconnected the command structure before selling the building. There weren’t any turrets in hospitals, but those old security doors could probably crush something if timed right, and who knows what that old fire system had in it.

  Most of the facility's lights seemed to be out, and the emergency lights were spotty and flickering, Raey would need some other way to see what was going on. They pulled the tracking screens up on the left, the options and their controls on the right.

  Thermal tracking first. Hot spots in a few rooms nearby, a vague, slightly above room temperature spot, was in the halls coming this way. Hot spots were probably people, plants would be colder right? They couldn’t remember much from what little they’d read about the antithesis. They’d been low on the list of potential problems life might bring.

  Raey switched to the motion tracking setting, the old disused sensors lacked fidelity, but they seemed to be working better than the thermals. The odd shaped slightly warmer patch moving toward the palliative care ward clarified into 4 smaller blobs of movement, swarms or distinct individuals, Raey couldn’t tell.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Thankfully they could only see the one group headed their way at the moment, they were keeping their focus narrow for the moment though, who knows what the rest of the facility was like.

  Right, focus Raey.

  The adrenaline rush was wearing off, wearing them down. Raey could feel the brain fog settling in. Just a bit more, they told themself, lock down the ward, maybe take a couple plants out if you can. Hopefully that would be enough, some sort of help had to be on the way, right?

  They started closing the big blast doors in the connecting hallways where they could. Walls had been built over them, hiding the large steel frames, and the motors were old and lacking oil. The doors screamed as they pushed through the layers of dust and grime, pushing ponderously out from the walls, tearing through drywall and aluminum studs in a cacophony of crushing and grinding. Some failed to move, or stuttered and lurched towards closing. Raey was unsure how many would manage to seal enough to prevent the brussel sprouts from reaching them or the other potential survivors the thermals had shown still stuck in their rooms.

  An alert from the motion detection brought Raey’s increasingly foggy mind back into focus. The noise of the doors must have alerted the anti’s, they had picked up speed, the connecting hallway doors might not close in time.

  Raey flicked through options, the only things not giving errors, or stating they were missing components were the old fire suppression systems, but the default setting was all on, or all off. Raey didn’t want to accidentally gas the few people left alive in the building. Tired eyes flicked through options, tiny ocular muscles burned with strain, unused to such frantic motions.

  There, they’d found it. Live test options, now they just had to bypass a few protocols, narrow down which zones, just connecting passages and hallways, blink twice for final confirmation, and hope.

  Information flooded the screen in front of Raey’s eyes, error and warning messages, pressure readings, cautionary alerts about how unsafe and expired the suppressant was. They rolled past all but unseen. Despite the stress, despite the adrenaline, their mind and body was failing them yet again, scrolling messages smeared into a blur before their eyes, as they fell into a limbo somewhere between asleep and awake, aware but unable to form thought.

  *****

  In a connecting passage not far from Raey’s drifting consciousness layers of old paint were ripped from round nozzles embedded in the ceiling, as they coughed out great heaving clouds of iridescent blackish blue fog, slowing the advance of the four dog like plants that burst through the first set of closing blast doors.

  Their caution at the change in the air proved advantageous for the few patients they were heading towards, as it gave the doors in front of them just enough time to close, the lead anti slammed head first into the steel doors, nearly losing its version of a nose to the closing gap.

  Antithesis however are not so easily deterred, the voiceless creatures clawed and gnawed at the doors. Their primitive brains knew only that there was biomass beyond the door.

  With enough time they would have likely managed to claw their way through the thick old steel, sadly for them there was good reason that certain chemicals in the fire suppressant roiling around them had been abandoned or outright banned. Something about its makeup loved to react with organic matter, a reaction that used up vital materials from living cells, and left behind hard calcified shells. Barely halfway through the door, the rending from claws and teeth stopped, the fog filled hallway no longer held ferocious plants, but pristine white sculptures in their image.

  *****

  Raey’s tired eyes fluttered. They were getting a notification, but it wasn’t from their headset. They didn’t have augs, what the hell was this, they groggily tried to comprehend.

  Congratulations Raey! The protectorate has taken notice of your valorous deeds in the face of our common enemy! Against all odds you have managed to save lives and exterminate several of the accursed scourge of the universe!

  Hail Raey! Newest of the…

  Wait, second, no third…

  Hail Raey! Close to being the newest Vanguard of earth. At least in the top dozen or two most recent. Huzzah!

  Raey laughed in the halls of their own mind, they must have messed up with where the suppressant was released, they were hearing voices. They let their eyes slip closed again, uncaring about what might happen next.

  Host Raey, it appears you are in suboptimal condition to continue the fight. Needs must this lowly squire take the initiative to keep their brave Vanguard from perishing too soon!

  Keep your eyes closed if you want me to purchase a little pick me up from the store.

  Raey’s eyes stayed closed, idly wondering why their hallucination was pretending to be a squire.

  Right! That’s a yes to me! Squire Sqyire administering aid!

  Out of nowhere a shiny silver bracer appeared on Raey’s wrist, they felt a brief pinch on their skin, and gasped as awareness flooded back to them.

  “What the actual…” Raey blurted as their eyes popped wide and they nearly managed to sit up in shock.

  “What? Who? Vanguard? Jewellery? Squire Sqyire? Wait, why is it spelt two ways? How do I know it’s spelled two ways? I only heard it?”

  Ahem. Apologies for that shock to your system, fair Vanguard, but we aren’t out of danger just yet, and there are many still in need of your aid. Drastic measures were needed.

  In order of questions asked, fancy drugs, me, yes you are, a Betrak personal health diagnostic bracelet with built in emergency “fancy drugs”, because that’s my name, and I like that spelling, because you didn’t actually “hear” it, I thought it into your brain. The AI and vanguard link is amazing!

  Now, I’m sure you have many other questions, but as your humble squire and assistant, might I recommend we save them until after the incursion has been fully dealt with. The “fancy drugs” will only work for so long before they start causing more damage than helping, and with your current, er, condition, damage would be very bad.

  “Right, yeah, even alien space drugs aren’t a panacea. Compartmentalize Raey, you do it everyday, ignore the bad, and just do something, you can fall apart later, in the dark, alone.”

  You need not have any fear of that brave Vanguard! You will never be truly alone again! Faithful Squire Sqyire will be with you always!

  Raey tried to turn their grimace into a grin. “Right you are Squire Sqyire!” They said with enthusiasm they didn’t feel. “Now, you aren’t expecting me to stop a whole incursion on my own are you? And how much time do we have before this Betrak thing liquifies my insides?”

  Plenty of time! Especially for what I think our best options are. While I have the utmost faith in you, and fully believe in your greatness as a Vanguard, I’m a firm believer in keeping your bites manageable, so while I’m certain if you put your mind to it, stopping this pesky incursion would be possible for you. I recommend instead working with what you’ve started, and building a fort to keep the enemy at bay, while your fellows in arms take care of the rest.

  “That makes sense, yeah, for sure. First off though, does the fancy store of yours have anything to drink? This is already more speaking than I usually do in a week.”

  Absolutely! The list of flavours is almost as long as I’m sure your list of valorous deeds will one day be! Shall I begin reciting them?

  “Pressed for time right? How about you pick something, and then we can talk plans.”

  Right you are Vanguard, I’m glad you are here to keep me on track. Truly splendid leadership skills.

  Raey felt a weight added to the band of their headset, as something pressed against their cheek, and a straw touched at their bottom lip. “Alright SQ2, lay your ideas on me while I drink”

  As you command Vanguard! I do recommend drinking slowly at first, there are some additives in the drink to help with your stamina, and prevent the “liquefaction” you were worried about, but they can be rough on an empty stomach.

  Now plans… First off, I was thinking we build a moat, fill it with more of that horrifying chemical you used before, but amped up to the nines, and add in a little dash of luring pheromones. The more points we get, the faster we can get you a nice gleaming set of armour!

  “I’m not sure knight in shining armour is really the direction I see for myself, also most knights had brightly painted or enameled armour. Wow, I don’t think my thoughts have been this clear in years, it’s kinda frightening, and a bit depressing how much I’ve…”

  “Never mind, time and place. How do we dig a moat from my bed SQ2?”

  It all starts with a lovely catalogue Jiykrast Remote Systems…

  *****

  Sports Ball Hitting Stick Guy and Fromage Flinger had responded to the alert of an incursion at the old military hospital as quickly as they could, they’d never worked together before, Fromage Flinger had come down to SB’s home continent of australia tracking a different problem, but the emergency incursion warning had taken priority over their investigation.

  The hospital had been mostly overrun when they’d arrived, less than half the staff and patients managing to make it to the pair of shelters the facility maintained.

  It had been a slog with just the two of them, but thankfully the model numbers had been low, more quantity over quality, tedious rather than dangerous.

  There was just one corner left to check, one their AI’s had both designated as a low priority, as a baby Vanguard was taking care of it, and the threat levels nearby were low. It was time to see what their newest compatriot had been up to.

  Fromage looked to SBHSG as they topped the rise to look down at the building shoved off in the corner of the lot, connected by only a few long hallways. “Is thick blue fog filled with antithesis statues common in Australia Sporty sports?”

  Sports paused beside her, staring down at the building. The connecting halls had been shattered, short metal rods stood stabbed into the ground every few meters in two parallel lines circling the palliative care ward. They somehow held a rolling mass of bluish fog between them.

  “No, that is not normal for these parts. Especially this far from the coast. Any clue what it is? Or what the sculptures are for?” He asked out loud, for his companion and AI’s benefit.

  “Melty is saying those aren’t statues, those are the antithesis remains. She also says we should not let that gas touch us. Or we might end up just like them.”

  “Bloody hell, new kid is breaking out war crimes on day one. Not sure if that’s better or worse than my hockey bag full of sticks.”

  “Alabaster Sculptor?” Fromage mused.

  “What was that?”

  “Thinking about names, should we be nice, or have some fun?”

  “As people saddled with odd or unwanted names, perhaps we should ask them what they like first?”

  “Boo, fine. Now how do we get past this crap? Melty, can you ping the fresh-face’s AI? Ask for an ingress?”

  As Fromage Flinger finished speaking, a pair of the rods pulled themselves out of the ground, a bundle of long spindly arms spreading from the sides. They walked themselves together and then separated to the side, pushing the deadly fog in front of them and creating a gap for the pair to walk through.

  “Here we go I guess, I wonder what other horrors our eyes will see inside?” Sports ball laughed with fake menace as the pair strode toward the hospital.

  “Do those silver bars look like swords to you, Sports boy?”

  “You know me Mozza, I can’t tell one hitting stick from another.”