It is the 48th year of the Great Robot War. Humanity had spread across the galaxy, creating a vast number of colonies on countless planets. To protect these colonies, the humans created an automatic army under the command of a powerful computer system, which they called Zeus. The essence of Zeus was brought to all the larger planets, to guard the human civilisation from all harm.
But the opposite occurred. An unforseen interaction between the anti-infiltration systems and the master code replacement protocols caused only Zeus' own components to be able to identify themselves. All other machines, which had been able to identify themselves through a transmitted code, were now viewed as hostiles, and attacked.
On all the worlds, in all the colonies, all hell broke loose. Eventually, the fronts were clear. Zeus ruled supreme on all but a few planets. The remaining humans had formed an army and were fighting to reclaim their former homes and lives. It had been discovered that Zeus' fighter robots, while invincible against automated systems, could not apply the same principles of logic when facing human-guided opponents, and could be beaten in combat by piloted fighter planes.
The human army was at first vastly outnumbered compared to the robots which filled each world. But since Zeus had little influence in space, the humans could concentrate their forces and beat back Zeus one planet at a time. Slowly, but surely, Zeus's influence was dwindling.
There were other fronts, though. Brave women and men abandoned all technology and settled on planets where Zeus ruled. Since the robots hunted only machines, humans without them were ignored. Slowly, they created villages, societies, futures.
With these people came the Scavengers. Lone wolves amongst fighter pilots, these men and women waged an unseen war against Zeus. They raided factories, ambushed patrols, hunted for lost treasures in the fallen cities. Though misunderstood by most people, who thought them cowards, or thieves, or anarchists, the Scavengers where mankinds most effective weapon against its own creation.
The Iceridge Pack had left the hangar and was slowly descending towards the planet's surface. Seven small pods, in a loose formation. No, not seven, eight this time, though an outsider would have had a hard time telling which one was the newcomer.
"So, Natalie, I'll just go over your equipment and history, okay? Gotta see what we're working with here."
Red, the leader, touched some screens on the dashboard of his pod and quickly skimmed over the information.
"Pod looks good. Ol' Michael set you up with a Ravionics A400, it seems."
"Yeah.", Natalie answered through the intercom. Francis had introduced her to Scavenging, and to Michael. Then he had met some well-to-do woman in a bar, and that was the last she had heard from him. It still hurt, though. And being the newbie in an unknown environment didn't improve her mood. though so far she had been better off than during her first year in the military. So far.
"He said it would do as a base.", she continued. "Though actually, I'd rather have a Veltec PR.5, or something from Nemesis Industries. They're more energy efficient AND pack more of a punch." She grit her teeth. Let them chew on THAT for a while, if they wanted to. After all, she did have some knowledge of current combat spacecraft.
Instead of scowling or blowing his top, though, Red just chuckled. "It's different out here", he said. "A pod isn't defined by who built it, but by what it can do and how you can do it. Given a few months, you'll have modified that A400 far beyond that crap born on conveyor belts."
"Anyway, you seem to know how to fly these things. And you've got combat experience, according to your records. It only mentions non-atmospheric combat here, though. Have you ever fought in an atmosphere?"
"Just simulated.", Natalie said. "I did have training in high-speed manouvers in atmosphere, though, so I can guess how it will feel." She expected him to contradict her in some way, like that "you ain't seen nothing yet" shit from the military. He didn't, though.
"Good.", he said. "Looks like we can skip flight and combat introduction, then. In that case, let's do some Scavenger ethics and behaviour today, okay guys?"
She was a bit puzzled, at that. Flight introduction? What kind of people do they get here, anyway? "Don't tell me you get people who can't even fly! I mean, flight introduction? This-is-your-throttle,this-is-your-stick stuff? Come on!"
"No," Red said, "people like that wouldn't become Scavengers. Nor would they last long if they did. But even deep-space aces might need some practice dealing with air and horizons. But you should do fine. We'll just visit some Settlers today, away from any Bot centers." Settlers were people who were repopulating the planet, and had abandoned technology to be able to do so. A good part of a Scavenger's income came from buying buying grain from Settlers.
"So we won't see any combat today", Natalie said. She hoped she didn't sound too disappointed. Or too relieved.
"Well," Red said, "just because we don't plan for it doesn't mean it won't happen. Actually, where we're going, there's a good chance we won't run into some Bots, but it's more likely that we will, to tell the truth. Don't worry, though, if we do run into trouble keep your shields fully energized for now and just go with the flow. If things go badly, break off at full speed. We'll dispatch any pursuers, and then you can circle back again, or sit it out in the distance, or even return to orbit. Don't worry," he added when he saw her face turn to stone on the monitor, "noone here thinks you're chicken, nor will we think so if you bolt. Heck, we all do that from time to time."
"Run today, fight tomorrow.", Zach quoted with a grin. "Or you can always keep on fightin' 'til you autoeject. Just a bit hard on the pocketbook if you go through pods like that!"
"Anyway," Red added, "you should definitly avoid bailing to surface until you know what to do there. I'll try to teach you the basics of that today, but it's best if we don't have to try it out the first day, right?"
Natalie had precisely the same feelings. If she had to move around on a planet owned by the Bots, without a handgun, or a transmitter, or anything... Until she learned how to coexist with the Bots, like the Settlers, she might just land in more hot water than she'd ejected from.
"Say," she said, "we're pretty close to the surface. Shouldn't we be maintaining radio silence?"
"We are," Red said with a grin. Through the intercom system. "We haven't emitted any radio waves at all so far." But then how...?
"Optics," Oliver said. "We're using laser links to communicate. That's one of the basic priciples with Scavengers: everything's visual. If you can't see it, you can't talk to it, or detect it, or be detected by it for that matter. You'll learn soon enough."
At that moment, the pods began entering the planet's atmosphere, and they all went silent. Natalie could hear the wind starting to howl outside her cabin, causing the pod to start shuddering. After a while, they had decelerated enough to let the pods stabilize themselves. Most of her lift was still generated by thrusters, but she could feel the air flowing around her fins.
"Okay, Natalie,", Red said when they had reached their cruising altitude of 200 meters, "check the map of the sector we're in. Do you see the Settler village, near that big forest?"
"Yes", she said, glancing at the screen she had just displayed the map on.
"Select it." She did. "Do you see the spiral path that just appeared? That's what we're heading for. It's on your HUD, too."
She glanced up. The flight path was dimly projected on her front window. They were indeed headed for its entrance, off to the side of the village. "Why the spiral?", she asked.
"So that we check the surrounding area for Bot patrols first. The village dictates the maximal radius of the flight path, and we Scavengers stick to it. Do not, I repeat not approach a Settler village straight on, okay? It's for everyones protection. And if you do encounter Bots, avoid the village altogether, even if you succeed in knocking them out."
"Check their flag.", Oliver said. "It's the second icon from the right on the map display. Red's already done it, but you need to learn it to. Just select the icon and then another screen."
"I know how to work display systems", Natalie answered. Then she realized how ungrateful that had sounded. "I mean, you don't have to worry about how detailed you have to describe stuff. I should be able to follow you well enough." She punched the sequence, and then looked at the second screen where the map closeup or status report should have appeared. She got a blurry camera image, instead, and said as much.
"Right," Oliver said, "that's an actual camera image of the village flagpost. All visual, remember? That's how they can communicate with us without the Bots noticing anything. Good thing the weather's this good, too, or not even our telecameras would be able to make out anything at this distance."
"Do you have a signal key or something?" Natailie asked?
"There should be one in your pod's online manual, but don't ask me where. Anyway, all you have to remember for now is to stay clear if you see anything red. Also useful for these far-off pictures where you can only make out blobs. No red here, though," he added", so it's safe. See that green thing with the yellow blob? That's a green flag with a yellow circle. It means they've got grain they can sell to Scavengers."
"It'll take about four hours 'til we get there, though.", Red said. "Not only because of the spiral approach, but also because we'll be scanning the area in between, and keeping an eye on the horizon. If we were in a hurry, we could get there in an hour, but it's always better to take it slow. We won't miss anything, this way."
"Just a moment," Natalie said, "there's one thing I don't get. If the village can't send us any messages, then how are we getting our flight path?"
"It's hardcoded into the map," Red answered. "The village determined what a safe distance was, and then had that fixed in the map systems. The navigation units then calculate our approach path based on that distance."
They reached the entrance of the spiral and started slowly cruising in a wide circle. The afternoon sun shone upon wide, rolling hills covered with green grass. In the distance, Natalie could see the dark forest the village got its wood and meat from. Behind that, misty blue mountains loomed on the horizon. She let her gaze wander all around her. The enemies she was looking for, amoung other things, were nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly, Zach's voice came over the intercom system: "Red, I've got a visual at 75 degrees. A walker, I think. Can't make out a flag."
"Okay, we'll take a look.", Red replied. "Natalie, this is a typical Scavenger situation, so pay close attention."
Sir yes sir, Natalie thought with a grimace. "What's up?", she asked.
"There's a walker, most likely. That's someone who got shot down, or crashed, and is now walking towards a village. You'll be in the same situation too, one day, so always make sure you know where the closest village is, and how to navigate by the sun and stars."
They broke off their spiral approach and headed outwards towards the contact. Natalie couldn't see anything from this distance, so most likely, neither could Zach, no matter what his experience. So that meant his on-board cameras must have picked it up. And if Zach's pod saw something...
"Zach, how can I see your visual? I'm sure there must be a way for me to get the info, too, if we don't have a central battle command station." They had had those in the military, and they had broadcast remote radar contacts to every friendly craft.
"Good thinking", Zach replied. "The info is sent together with our communications. You can access our contacts through the map system, or in the objective list, and display them on one of the view screens. But don't you have it on your screen already?"
"Nope. And my objective list is empty."
"Zach", Red said, "when's the last time you updated your pack project list?"
"Oops", Zach relied, "just a sec... ok... there!"
A blip appeared on Natalie's map, and a blurry image showed up on her view screen. With enough imagination, one could probably make out a walking figure.
"Sorry about that", Zach said. "Pack project lists are something you don't really think about too often. Oh well, might as well teach you something about them. You see, when one of us picks up something that's important to what the pack is doing, what we call an objective, we can push that info to all the other members. Or rather, those on our project lists. That's something different from our pack roster, or our communication lists. Basically, the project list contains people with the same goal as you, who'd be interested in the same info at the same time. That's not necessarily everyone within broadcast range, so we keep another list. I just forgot about it, that's all."
"You can discuss this later", Red interrupted, "we're approaching the contact. Anyway, that's advanced info system material; you'd better just browse through that stuff from time to time when it's a bit quieter."
They slowly decellerated and pulled to a stop close to the walking figure, who had already seen them and was waving with both arms. They formed a semi-circle around him and decended. Natalie noticed a long, thick shaft extending upwards from one of the Pods. Mike's, she thought. There was some kind of contraption on top. Natalie landed, opened her canopy and climbed out. Then she hit the shutdown button under a small flap on the side of the pod.
As chance would have it, she had landed next to Zach, who walked towards her. He, too, opened the flap on her pod and had a look at the button. Natalie raised her eyebrow at him.
"Just checking", she chuckled. "That's just about the one mistake we can't have you make. If the Bots pick up a pod on the ground..."
"Yeah, I know", she replied. "They sense a running machine, they attack us with our pants down, we're history. Don't worry, I won't forget."
"Never say that. Everyone slips once in a while, no matter how long they've done this. Actually, it's supposed to be standard behaviour to have every pod checked by at least one other person. Sometimes a pack will have one member walk around, checking everything. Often, the last person to power down has done a remote scan of the others, but that's not always reliable. In most cases, unfortunately, we just trust the other guys to remember. Not the best of systems..."
"Well then, let me check your pod", Natalie grinned, and started walking in the direction Zach had come from. Zach returned the grin, and followed her. Natalie noticed Mike had climed onto his pod's pole and had perched himself on top. "What's HE doing? That's not an antenna, is it?"
"Nope, crow's nest. True, we couldn't use antennas, nor could we have cameras running now. So we post lookouts with binoculars. In some cases, someone will have a crow's nest installed, and they automatically go on sentry duty. Flap's here", he gestured, pointing to his pod, which they had just reached. Natalie would have known anyway due to the large red octagon painted on it, but she said nothing. She just opened the flap, took a quick look inside, and closed it again. Zach nodded to her, then walked over to where several others were spreading out blankets. Natalie glanced towards Red, who was talking with the stranger, and moved to join them. Red introduced him as John, who would be coming with them for a while, and went to join the others.
"So", she said to John, "what were you doing here, and why are we taking you along? Yes", she said when he gave her a wierd look, "I'm really new to this. First day and all. So, what's the deal here?"
"Well, I was out scouting new Bot developments in the west. When they spotted me, I ran for it. I thought my escape route was clear, but another patrol must have circled behind me and jumped me. I went down and started walking. End of story."
"You were alone? Isn't that dangerous?"
"Well, not if you don't expect to fight. And I really thought I knew their patrol schedule by now. I guess I can sell that info, too, though it still won't pay for my pod. That's the reason I come out here: scouting out the Bots for money. And more Scavengers along means splitting the money, which is why Scouts work alone."
"Who do you sell the info to? Is Red bying?"
"Yes, though not directly. Scouts upload the information into the planet database on the station in orbit, and Hunters, Gatherers and Traders buy the info."
"And they have to trust the info, I presume?"
"Yes", he replied, then smiled at her sceptical frown. "Don't like the idea of trusting a Scavenger? Yeah, we get that alot, even from newbies in our own ranks. But most Scavengers are very trustworthy, or else we wouldn't be able to function as we do. That goes double for Scouts; if I ever sell bogus info, I'm history."
"Does it pay well?"
"Oh, it's okay. You don't go through as much equipment as Hunters, and most Scouts do a bit of trading on the side. Or pick up walkers, like your leader is doing now."
"Wait a minute. We're getting money for this? That doesn't sound very nice, considering you just lost your pod! Does this happen a lot?"
"Walkers generally pay for a lift. I mean, you're giving up time and space for me. In fact, a few Scavengers are focusing on picking up walkers as their primary source of income. Won't work, though, because you'd need to pick up several people to pay for a trip. And folks won't pay if you wait too long before bringing them to the station. Puts their pod in danger of being scrpped by Bots, for one thing. But if we get more Scavengers, and more fighting, it might be worthwhile. That has to happen, too, if we want to free this planet in our lifetime."
They sat down, and he stared wistfully into the distance. "We're facing a serious problem, by the way, if we don't hurry. As you know, most of our economy here is based on hunting for leftover technology in the old cities. If we succeed in picking them clean before the Bots are down to some minimum, the only thing going on will be trade with Settlers. And that would mean no more bounty for Bot kills, which the Gatherers pay for with their findings, and no more need for scouting. When that happens, the Bots will be able to overrun the entire planet, eliminating the Settlers. Game over."
"That's too pessimistic, if you ask me", someone behind her said. Natalie spun around, startled by the newcomer. It was Sarah, the only other female in the Iceridge pack. Though she was supposedly not interested in any of the men, Natalie suspected her of having affairs with several pack members. None of her concern, though.
"First of all", she said, sitting down next to them, "it'll be be quite some time before we pick everything clean. Second, we're getting better and better at recycling the Bots themselves. Soon, hunting Bots will be it's own reward. And lastly, trade is steadily increasing. Traders are already offering bounties for Bots in areas Settlers are in or want to move to. Less Bots mean more Settlers, which means more trade, which means more bounties, which means less Bots. The problem solves itself."
"If we can keep getting more Scavengers, that is.", John replied. "And Natalie here is living proof that that's what's happening. Of course you're right, we could base our economy on trade alone. But I still think some Gatherers around will greatly speed up the process. If you'll excuse me, by the way", he said, getting up, "it seems you're leader is ready to leave, and I'd like to make preparations." He headed off into the undergrowth outside the camp.
"What could he have to prepare?", Natalie asked, glancing after him.
"Taking a leak, of course", Sarah replied. "It's a long trip, and if I were you, I'd hurry up and make preparations myself." She chuckled to herself as Natalie hurried off into the bushes.
The rest of the trip to the village was uneventful. They had to restart their spiral approach, of course. By the time they arrived, the sun was already setting on the horizon. They landed in a large, clear space, which had obviously been made for exactly that purpose. Just as obviously, the Settlers had been expecting them for some time. A number of them were standing on the edge of the field, patiently waiting for them to finish their landing process. The others were going about their business without paying any attention to the arrivals. Most were tending to a bonfire in the town center, or preparing food.
The Scavengers shut down their machines and started unloading their pods. Natalie felt a bit sheepish for not having any cargo, but noone seemed to notice. While she was passing time by taking a better look at the Settlers, she noticed that one of them, who quite plainly had watched them shut down their pods, and had watched them double-check them, was going around checking the pods' shutdown buttons again!
"Don't they trust us?" She asked the Scavenger next to her. She hadn't remembered his name, since he hadn't said much when she had first met the pack.
"Nah, they trust us. This is mostly symbolic. It does serve as a very good reminder, though, that a lot of peoples' lives depend on these things being undetectable. That's why we camoflague our pods, too, which is something you might want to get started on."
"How do I do that? Just put this leaf-net over it, right?"
"Yeah, that's it. It might take you some time if you've never done it before, since you need to make sure you can still reach everything through the flaps."
She nodded, and started draping the camo-net over her pod. By the time she had finally tugged it into the correct position, though, the others had already hidden their pods and gathered their wares in a pile. She did notice that Mike had not extended his crow's nest this time. She had been impressed, though, at the ease with which Mike had been able to retract the long pole while taking off at the place where they had picked up John. That was probably necessary if you needed to take off quickly.
The Scavengers and Settlers were now standing or squatting about the piles, conducting their business. She noticed Zach had already finished his haggling, and was happily sorting his earnings into his wallet. She moved over him, and drew him off to the side a bit.
"I hadn't realized the Settlers used the same money we do", she said. "I thought they mostly paid in grain."
"No, that would be too inconvenient. While it's true almost everyone will take some grain or other products back home, most holds aren't large enough to hold very large amounts, so unless you're accompaning a Trader, you'd be operating at a loss. Plus, this way they can save up some cash for emergencies, or for when one of them wants to leave the planet again, which happens from time to time. By the way, don't worry that you might not get the hang of trading. There is no real ceremony involved, and even though grain is the only ware with a set price, noone tries to con each other here. If you're unsure about the price you should sell your wares at, you can always simply accept what they're offering and still make a decent profit."
"What are we selling, by the way? I've heard it's mostly medicin."
"True, but that's not all, of course. A lot of it is just stuff used in daily life that can't be produced without some kind of machine, which they can't have here of course. Stuff like pots and pans, silverware, water filters... and the stuff I brought along, of course."
"And that would be what?", Natalie asked, not trusting his grin.
"Why, condoms", he replied with a wink.
After business was finished, and everyone but Natalie (who would be travelling with John on the way back) had loaded up on food for resale, dinner was served. There was hot stew, and salads, and fresh bread, and several kinds of roast meat, all of which was served on or around the large central fire. They even had desert, a kind of fruit that was very sweet and far to juicy to be eaten without making a mess. It was totally delicious, and everyone was invited to eat as much as they wanted. The meal went on far into the night, with a lot of laughing, singing and chatting on the side.
"God, that was good," Nataly remarked to Oliver, who had been sitting next to her during the meal. "Far better than the military crap. I can imagine why you enjoy doing this so much. I don't think I'll ever want to eat another preprocessed meal in my entire life!" She leaned back on the grass and stretched her arms, enjoying the warmth of the fire and the quiet peacefulness of the twinkling stars above. "So what happens now? I hope we don't have to take off again soon."
"No, liftoff is late tomorrow morning.", he replied. "For now, just relax and enjoy yourself. Talk to the people here. Maybe you'll even get lucky. I mean, the guestrooms are nice enough, but it can get a bit lonely at night." With that, he got up and ambled over the others to get another drink.
She lay there for a while after he had left, then she got up and walked over to a group of Settlers sitting near the fire. One of them, a young guy with cute eyes and a friendly smile, introduced her to a sweet yet surprisingly strong drink. They chatted about their lives and dreams for several hours, then they both retired to his wooden hut near the edge of the town. That night, she was happy that Zach had brought condoms along. Very happy.