The White Nova©
copyright william morris and cyberhorn
running from the gang stumbeling
through the rain and cold, a boy falls into a drainage ditch
the current pulls him under a bridge and an
old rusty chain link fence
the icey cold rips the breath from him trying
to fight the current he gasps for breath and finds something to grab onto
hauling himself out of the icy water he lays there for a moment as the gang
rush past shivering in the cold wishing now he
hadn’t tried to sell his brothers drugs to buy food climbing up he finds
himself inside the reclaim yard been closed for years and with it most of the
jobs localy the great wars had left it all, tons of space ships and fighters
tanks and much much more scurrying under the nearest fighters wing ..looking
for shelter from the oncoming ice storm the air
already becoming deadly to someone wet like himself
he rubbed his icing hands and fingers trying to
get them warm and wander deeper into the yard tofind some kind of shelter
seeing the grand and glorious battle flags now
faded and torn to ribbons on the battle mechs the howling winds flailing them
to taters
many half melted by the grand lords they had
held one wepon in reserve for the day the humans came, Themselves.
he shivered fericely not only from the cold
but the memories of the colony ships being taken by the victors, the lords.
his grandfather was one of them trying to
flea the great lords to no avail
they had told the humans that this was there new
colony they were to clean up the remains of the war and be quick about it
thus the reclaim yards became the major sourse
of jobs aside from home building
he climbed through half a big hull and
blinked freezing seeing five of the lords! laying in the rain ..but they wern’t
moving they were placed on a conveyor that had been sending fighters into the
shreaders he saw now as he aproached them they werent the lords
but battle mechs!! made to look like them!! he
also noted ..they had no damage none he could see he smiled they’d be dry
inside!!
trying the green one the canopy which was the
top of the shoulders between the wings the head the nose far out in front they
were in a flight mode after the fourth he was near frozen in the wind
the last was all covered in scraps and filthy he slipped and stumbled on the slick belts and ice finaly reaching the shoulders he could see this one was some bright color and the canopy was popped open by the scraps! climbing in he closed it and sighed as the fridged wind howled around his shelter he pulled the shoulder harness on as the mech twisted and moved with the gusts
a single tiny green light under the main
panel made him look finding the seat control levers and locks he slid it back
and out of the way climbing up under the panel he could just see in the bright
green light that a main cable had been cut clean through it took a few moments
to pull the coverings back to expose the wires he smiled maybe it'll turn on
some heat in this thing let see here red to red and this one here and that should
have it .
twisting the last one together the main panel
came on lighting it up inside far to much for his liking
he looked for a switch or something to turn off
the lights finaly reaching for the wires a voice scared him into frozen
attention
"please ..don’t deactivate me again"
he looked out through the canopy searching
for the voices source
"the illumination of my interior is the
cause of your distress? i will correct for it" the canopy darkened and
the lights dimmed
he looked at the panel " a-a-AI? w-wow"
"yes im an artifical inteligance unit
i do not need a pilot but for combat the human mind can do many more
calculations than any AI could thus why we were teams ship and pilot...your
body temp is highly uncomfortable for you sit"
the seat came back and reclined for him to
relax "i’ll turn on some heat and get you dryed off my systems have
been offline for some time young man could you offer me some answers to
questions?"
he felt the very warm air start to circulate around him and he started to feel much better the seat was warming too and was actually quite nice
"sure if you happen to have any food id
be happy to tell you anything at all"
"I’m afraid i wasn’t given my pilots
supplies before being deactivated and my holds are empty would the promice i
will get you food suffice as payment for now?"
he smiled "i guess so" the ship scaned him finding malnutrition parasites, internal and external calcium deprivation no vacinations ..it had to ask
"what world are we on ?"
"i think the
lords call it hakarrr, your in the reclaim yards with four others like
you" "then the dragon lords won the wars.. explanes why I’m in a
reclaim yard how long has it been ?"
"umm they took my grandfathers colony escape ship captive along with many more its just me my brother who’s to high on drugs to care if me n our sister are hungry or cold”.
he explaned the situation on the planet best
he knew it and how one of the minor lords had ..taken a liking to his
mother his father didn’t to him ..they had been taken away never seen again the
minor lords were like the lords in shape and ferosity but were young and immature
they were still a force to be reconed with
"are there many of them ?"
"yes they are the law givers of the lords they
judge and when they reach there 40th year they go to challenge the youngest of
the lords for a place at the lords golden table"
"the dragon lords are just beasts with
great power they exterminated several races for just looking like them one of
those was my designer his honored name will be remembered by many a fighting
human for all time Cyberhorn the dragon his knowlege in so many things gave him
an advantage to surviving where others had failed he lives on with us i am the
child of the dragon"
the boy smiled and felt his clothes they were
drying nicely and his chills were gone "this is nice" a face appeared
in the canopy and he yelped diving for the underside of the consol "DAMN
!" ' its me, I am sorry i thought perhaps you would rather look at me
to talk to me ..i apoligize " he looked out at the concern stricken
face
"you just startled me"
the head nodded and smiled "i think
perhaps i should find beter concealment in this ..junk yard"
hearing the distaste in the voice he had to giggle the entire body moved and shifted the scraps piled on top making such a calphony of noise that half the town must have heard it
the big mech towered over the normal ones his
wings pulled free shook dirt and mud off folding neatly along the sides
"umm do you have a name?"
the head turned and looked at him smileing its
bright white eyes flared
"i was created to be the black kings equal in combat he was once known as the nova for his intence flame attacks ..i am known as WHITE NOVA i am pleased to have made a friend"
the white nova moved down the conveyor examining his fellows for a moment each then moving into the hull of a large freighter the side melted open he settled down and small repair robots started to fixing and cleaning occasionaly returning to there places inside his hull through the side panels the boy looked on with great interest as one ground the welds off the canopy each was a tiny dragon this one useng a small grinder in its paws it blinked and smiled at him fliting off to do something else
"those ai too?"
"no they are directed by me though
each is an independant unit and can function alone to do some tasks much like a
highly inteligant cat, they are currious about you they do not understand why
your body has not been maintained as it should have"
"oh ..so how are the others like you i saw
you checking them" "felgar the bronze balta the red turvar the
blue are functional but like me they need the main power circut cables re-connected
halcar the green is gone his main core has been damaged the AI is gone and not
recoverable but his body may be utilized for repair parts my rear foot has
sustained sever damage and my helpers are even now acquiring a replacement"
he was more concerned for the boy as scans
showed he needed medical care and several decent meals. he needed to gather
pilots for the others also perhaps there must be pockets of humans who were
still fighting the lords surely even earth its self will have survived
looking in on the boy he was showing signs of
finaly resting his medical systems would be able to help and there was some
emergincy rations in the bronze he wanted the boy asleep to do much of his
repairs as he could tell such an event could frighten his ..pilot
the helper returned with the bronze online
and smiling till he realized the battle had been lost he looked in at the boy
who had finally drifted off to sleep
"who is the boy? white nova"
"my pilot ..he reactivated me and
with out his help we will not be able to avenge the loss of the green, i
require the food pack you carry for him"
"yes of course ..the others are similarly disconnected?"
"yes useage of helpers would be appretiated
"
he nodded once and several of his flew off to help as they also started repairs on him soon enuf the four sat along side each other their helpers zipping back n forth from the deactivated green outside and their home unit they were discussing the situation each had taken a scan of the boy and agreed he needed feeding