1.12 The Machine 3.0 Part 6

“Hello to you too Sentinel,” replies Oakley, “I came as soon as I received your message about killer alien robots. I assume this wreckage is what is left of them?”

“You would be correct,” I say, “If you don’t mind, Narszara and I are going to take the remains of the big guy so I can study them. You can keep the stuff from the smaller guys.”

“I’m not sure how that fits into the law about collecting evidence,” says Oakley with a shrug, “But I know that all of this way beyond me and my people. We always relied on folks like to deal with abnormal stuff.”

“I assume you won’t mind if I fill a police form later?” I politely inquire, knowing the answer will be yes as always.

“Of course,” answers Oakley with a wave of his hand, “You’ve done this enough times to know the drill. Beside, I’m hoping you deal with this as quickly as possible. While attacks like this are good PR is fended off with nobody hurt and minimal collateral damage, the longer they drag on, the more likely things are going to go sour.”

“No need to tell me about it,” I say, “Anyhow, I should get going before Narszara and I get swamped by the press.”

“Good idea,” agrees Oakley, “I’ll keep them off your backs. Or I’ll try to anyway.”

“Narszara,” I say privately over our League communicators, “Grab the body. I’ll carry the arms.”

Narszara complies as she hefts the Machine’s remains up and holds it over her shoulder. As the gathered media bombards us with questions, I pick up one of the Machine’s arms in each hand. Ignoring the reporters, I ignite my rocket pack and fly into the air.

“Warden,” I say as I call my aunt and she answers, “Narszara and I are on our way now.”

I end the call and look behind me. Narszara is trailing behind me. While the Machine isn’t slowing her down, Narszara’s flight is naturally slower than that of the Sentinel armour.

“Narszara,” I say as we fly in silence, “Why didn’t you tell me you could shapeshift into a dragon?”

“I never came up milord,” replies Narszara.

“Never seemed important at all?” I continue to press her.

“It is an ability I have had all my life and is extremely common amongst my people,” answers Narszara, “It did not seem to be of major significance at any point. It still does not seem to be overly important Verigar.”

“To public and authorities it will be,” I tell her, “It’s a powerful and overt ability. The potential dangers will worry people, especially since they know little about you.”

“I do not care that others worry about me being normal,” says Narszara.

We fall silent again and I go back to my old fall by for when I have to do long flights, thinking about technical problems.

It occurs to me that each time I fought the Machine, I’ve been forced to rely on the more powerful heavy hitters that are Sam and Narszara.

Despite my upgrades to the Sentinel armour, I’ve been growing weaker against the Machine as it continues to upgrade itself while I have only made minor improvements.

If Narszara hadn’t shown up in the nick of time, I would have probably been killed or maimed. When we first encountered the Machine, the majority of the League would have been killed if it weren’t for Sam. And when I encountered the Machine for the second time on Spartan’s carrier, I would have also died if Sam hadn’t saved me. I would have also fallen in battle before Sam arrived if it weren’t for Darrac or Spartan.

Oh Darrac. He’s probably still waiting.

“Janelle?” I call.

“Yes?” replies the AI

“Is Darrac still there?” I inquire in an innocent enough voice.

“Yes,” says Janelle, “I’m assuming you won’t be coming to deal with him anytime soon?”

“Not right now,” I admit, “I got other things to do right now,”

“I’ll inform Darrac,” says Janelle, “He’s willing to wait until you’re free.”

“Let him wait in the base if he wants,” I say.

“I’ll extend your offer to him then,” replies Janelle.

That’s that sorted. But I still need to figure out the latest upgrade the Sentinel armour.

Granddad was always continuously upgrading the Sentinel armour. He never wanted to end up stagnant or outdated, especially when it counted.

Right now, I got several upgrades I have yet to implement. The rocket boots, grappling lines, the magnetic boots and gauntlets. All major upgrades that I come up with, but the Sentinel armour is currently lacking.

Normally I would just add those upgrades to the current set of Sentinel armour, but I’m almost finished putting together a spare set of the Sentinel Mk VII armour.

Right now, I feel that I should just add the upgrades to it to create the Sentinel Mk VIII armour.