Sophie released her grip on the rusted I-beam suspended high in the gloom. Gravity took her, and she fell through the stagnant air until her boots connected with the corrugated roof of a yellow shipping container.
Thud.
She landed softly. Her knees bent to absorb the impact, and she remained in a crouch to maintain stealth. Aidro clung to her shoulder.
Sophie crept to the edge of the container. She peeked over the rim and scanned the area below.
Her target lay amidst a pile of twisted rebar. It was a Ruster mutt, a Class 2 Decayer slightly larger than a grown horse. It appeared to be resting, though its sensor pits flickered with a low, dormant pulse.
Sophie had already surveyed the perimeter to ensure no other monsters lurked nearby. This was a duel, not a brawl.
"Here goes..."
She activated Dream Touch.
The large, jagged spike strapped to her back rattled against her makeshift harness. It lifted into the air and floated around her torso until it positioned itself directly in front of her.
Sophie aimed the tip at the mutt's armored skull. She did not want to damage the core located in the torso, so a headshot was essential.
The moment was tense. The air tasted of copper and dust.
She took a deep breath. A memory surfaced of the Cactupine targeting her with its needles. She channeled that feeling of precision.
Sophie exhaled.
"Fly."
She thrust her hand forward.
Whoosh.
The spike traveled fast. It cut through the air like a missile.
CLANG.
It struck the dog's head with a deafening ring.
Sophie gasped. To her shock, the metal did not impale the skull. It bounced off the thick plating and spun away into the dirt.
"How?"
She stared at the rebounding weapon.
"Is its head that hard? It can't be. Maybe the spike lost momentum the farther it traveled."
She didn't have much time to think.
The dog scrambled to its feet. It let out a mechanical snarl that vibrated through the container walls.
ROAAAR.
Liquid rust drooled from its jaws. It spotted the small intruder on the high ground and dashed up the side of the yellow container. Its claws punched holes in the steel for leverage. It would not let this human rest in peace.
Sophie rolled to the side just as the beast crested the edge and snapped its jaws at her previous position.
"Too slow!"
She ran to the opposite edge. She jumped into the void and grabbed a hanging cable.
She swung across the gap to a lower platform.
Thud.
She landed in a roll and spun around immediately. Her mind reached out to the three thick spikes tucked in her belt.
They floated into the air and hovered around her like satellites.
The dog stood atop the yellow container. It coiled its hydraulic legs to leap.
Sophie waited. She needed it mid-air.
"Aidro! Now!"
She called out to the lizard she had left behind in the shadows of the container.
Just as the dog leaped, a swarm of orange-bellied lizards erupted from the cracks in the metal. They crawled up the beast's hind legs and latched on.
The sudden tug disrupted the dog's trajectory. It flailed.
SLAM.
It crashed into the side of the yellow container instead of landing on the platform. It scrabbled for purchase, momentarily pinned by gravity and the lizard weight.
"Got you."
Sophie thrust both hands forward.
The three spikes shot forward with renewed propulsion force.
THUNK. THUNK. THUNK.
They penetrated the dog's shoulders and midsection. They pinned the beast firmly against the metal wall of the container.
The dog thrashed and snapped, but it was stuck.
Sophie didn't hesitate. She jumped back over to the container. She landed on the beast's chest, avoiding the snapping jaws.
She reached into the open cavity of its stomach.
"Mine."
She ripped out the red Rust Core.
The dog went limp instantly. Its red eyes faded to black.
Aidro dispersed the lizard swarm and jumped down onto Sophie's shoulder.
Sophie held the pulsing red core in one hand. She reached for a sharp shard of scrap metal with the other. She sliced her palm.
Wince.
Blood welled up. It was red and warm.
She squeezed her hand over the core. Droplets of her blood fell onto the buzzing rust.
Hiss.
The reaction began. Sophie stepped back and observed.
Scraps from the floor began to shudder and slide toward her. The core vibrated in her hand. The angry red light flickered, turned purple, and finally settled into a calm, electric blue.
"It worked."
She let go of the core.
It floated from her hand and pulled itself back into the chest cavity of the pinned Ruster.
Sophie used Dream Touch to pull the three spikes loose.
Clatter.
The dog fell to the ground. Immediately, the loose scrap metal in the area flew toward it. The beast rebuilt itself. The jagged iron smoothed out, and blue electricity crackled along its spine.
It stood up. It was massive, easily three times Sophie's height and far bulkier than the camels back at the Biome.
It stared at Sophie. It took a step forward.
Sophie's heart hammered.
"Did it fail? But it changed color, didn't it?"
She backed away until her spine pressed against a cold pipe. She aimed the three spikes at the dog's head, ready to fight for her life again.
The dog stopped. It lowered its massive head. It did not attack.
Sophie lowered her hands slowly. She moved around the dog in a circle. It tracked her with its eyes, but there was no aggression, only waiting.
She reached out and rubbed her hand against its cold, metallic flank.
"You're solid. And you aren't trying to eat me. That is a good start."
She looked up at its towering back.
"You are big. Bigger than a truck."
An idea formed.
"Sit."
The dog's hydraulics hissed. It sat on its haunches like a well-trained pup.
Sophie grinned.
"Rise."
She jumped onto its back and grabbed a protruding sensory spine for a handle.
"Up!"
The dog stood. Sophie felt the surge of altitude.
"Whoa!"
She felt a strange turbulence as the beast moved. It was jerky but powerful.
"Let's go for a ride!"
She guided the beast around the junk area. It bounded over obstacles that Sophie would have had to climb. It crushed debris under its paws.
They entered an area littered with Flak-Crab shells.
"Careful, boy. Don't step on the spicy crabs."
The dog obeyed. It climbed up a stack of shipping containers with surprising grace.
Sophie sat atop the world. She was amazed that she could ride a Ruster.
"What would Divento say if he saw this?"
She imagined the engineer's face, his jaw hitting the floor, his glasses sliding down his nose.
"He would probably scream about contamination protocols and then ask for the schematics. He would be so jealous."
Rattle.
Suddenly, a harsh vibration shook the dog's frame.
Sophie looked down. The core inside the beast sputtered. The blue light flickered violently.
"Hey? What's wrong?"
The dog bucked.
"Aaaah!"
Sophie was thrown off. She tumbled through the air and landed hard on the roof of the container.
She looked up.
The dog's eyes turned red. The core shifted back to the color of dried blood.
ROAR.
The beast became hostile instantly. It lunged at her.
Sophie screamed.
"No!"
She thrust her hands forward in panic.
The large spike she carried on her back shot out.
SHUNK.
It tore the dog's head clean off.
The body collapsed with a heavy crash.
Sophie rushed over. She yanked the red core out of the chest before it could regenerate.
"It changed back. But why?"
She held the core. She tried to cut her palm again to sprinkle more blood. She clawed at her skin with her fingernails.
Scrape. Scrape.
Her skin did not break. It was hard and smooth.
She looked at her hand. The chrome plating had covered her flesh.
"Go away! I need to bleed!"
She became frustrated. Her anger spiked.
The more she stressed, the thicker the armor became. It spread up her arm.
The armor began to glow. It leeched the energy from the core in her hand.
"No! Stop absorbing it!"
It was too late. The essence of the core flowed into her armor. The red stone crumbled to dust.
Sophie threw the dust on the ground.
"Infuriating!"
She stomped her foot.
"I worked so hard for that core! And now it's gone!"
She took a deep breath. The energy coursing through her was invigorating, but it wasn't what she wanted.
"Okay. Calm down, Sophie."
As her heart rate slowed, the chrome receded. Her soft skin returned.
"So that's how it works. When I am tense, the armor appears. It protects me, but it blocks me from using my blood."
She nodded to herself.
"Now that I know, I will try again. I need to figure out what went wrong with the dog. Why did the taming wear off?"
...
An hour later.
Sophie stood over the smoking corpse of another Ruster mutt. Aidro sat nearby, his lizard army dispersing into the shadows.
She reached into the chest cavity and yanked out the core. It pulsed red and angry.
"This time, no absorbing. And no rush."
She did not smear blood on it immediately.
She reached at her waist and unhooked a small plastic paint can she had scavenged earlier from a debris pile.
Pop.
She opened the lid. The inside was filled with a crimson liquid. It wasn't paint. It was her own blood, collected patiently over the last hour by pricking her finger whenever she felt calm.
She dropped the core into the paint can.
Plop.
There were now two cores inside. The can was getting full.
"It's a tight fit."
She closed the lid and gave it a shake.
Slosh.
"I'll let you marinate. Like Divento's pickles."
She had formed a theory. The Galvanizers submerged cores in oil to neutralize them. Perhaps submerging them in her blood for a longer period would create a permanent bond, rewriting the core's nature completely.
"I don't know how long you need to cook. Maybe a day?"
Sophie found a hollowed-out shipping container that smelled relatively clean. She sat inside with the paint can by her side and Aidro guarding the entrance.
"I can't tell time here, Aidro. I don't see the sun. I don't have a watch."
She dragged an old, moldy mattress from a corner.
"I'm just going to sleep. Wake me up after a day has passed. Okay?"
Aidro chirped in agreement.
Sophie lay down. Exhaustion claimed her instantly.
...
A week later
Sophie felt a cold nose nudging her cheek.
She opened her eyes. Aidro stared at her.
"Is it the next day already?"
She sat up and stretched. Her joints popped. She had no concept of how long she had slept. It could have been a few hours; it could have been a day. The darkness of the Rust Bucket was eternal.
She yawned and reached for the paint can.
"Let's see the harvest."
She popped the lid.
The blood was gone. Absorbed completely.
Two cores sat at the bottom. They shone with a brilliant, resplendent blue light. They looked like sapphires cut from electricity.
"Shiny. They look ready."
She stood up and exited the container.
"Let's test it."
She searched the area for the corpses of the Ruster mutts she had defeated before her nap.
She located one near a pile of pipes. A few Flak-Crabs scuttled away as she approached, dipping into their explosive shells to hide.
The mutt was a husk of scrap.
Sophie took one of the blue cores and placed it into the chest cavity.
She stepped back and waited.
Two minutes passed.
Nothing happened. The scrap metal lay still.
Five minutes passed.
"Come on!"
Sophie pulled at her hair in frustration.
"What is wrong? It's blue! Why won't you wake up?"
She grabbed Aidro and shook him gently.
"Think, Aidro! Use your lizard brain! Why isn't it working?"
She yanked the core back out and inspected it closer.
"What is different?"
She closed her eyes and summoned the memory of the first successful taming.
The Cactupine. The first dog.
In her memory, the cores had been throbbing. They were hot. They shimmered with active electricity when she applied the blood.
She looked at the core in her hand. It was beautiful, but it was dormant. It hummed a low, steady note, but it lacked the spark. It was like a battery that was full but cold.
"It needs a jumpstart."
She figured it out.
"I need to shock it."
She placed the core on the ground. She aimed her hand at it and tried to release a magnetic pulse.
Hum.
It was faint. Her control wasn't precise enough yet.
She tried again.
"Zap it!"
She pushed too hard. A wave of force knocked Aidro off her shoulder.
The lizard landed directly on top of the core.
ZZAAP.
Aidro's liquid body merged with the core for a split second, conducting the energy. A massive spark flew.
The core flared to life. It spun wildly.
"Yes!"
Sophie grabbed the active core and stuffed it into the dog's corpse.
Clank. Scrape. Click.
As expected, the parts started to come to life. Metal flew from the surrounding piles. The dog rebuilt itself in seconds. It stood mighty before her, crackling with blue lightning.
A puddle of blue liquid dripped from the core onto the ground. It attracted scraps and reformed into Aidro.
Sophie clapped.
"Good job, Aidro! You are the best jumper cable!"
She observed the dog. It stood still, awaiting orders.
"Now for the real test. Will you stay blue?"
She waited. She watched it for about an hour.
The core remained stable. The blue light did not flicker. The marination had worked. The bond was permanent.
"Perfect."
She climbed onto the dog.
"Let's find the other one."
She raced toward the area where she had left the second corpse.
When she arrived, the ground was empty.
"Gone?"
She frowned.
"Another Ruster must have scavenged it for parts."
She patted the paint can at her waist. She still had one charged core.
"I can't waste this."
A new idea came to her.
"Look at Aidro. He splashes, and he rebuilds from whatever junk is nearby. Maybe these cores can do the same?"
She dashed around the area while riding the dog. She located a large scrap pile in the distance.
"Target sighted."
But the pile wasn't vacant.
Two Decayers were feeding on the metal. They were shaped like giant rats, slightly smaller than her dog but vicious.
"Enemies."
Sophie leaned forward.
"Get 'em, boy!"
Her dog rushed forth. It tackled one of the rats and pinned it to the ground.
Sophie leaped into the air.
"Dream Touch!"
She commanded the five needles in her hair. They unraveled and floated around her.
"Fire!"
She fired the needles into the second rat while she was still mid-air.
Thwip-thwip-thwip-thwip-thwip.
The needles pierced the rat's chassis. One struck the core directly.
The core cracked. The rat tumbled over and rolled down the heap, lifeless.
Sophie landed and dashed over.
"Aw, broken."
She yanked out the shattered pieces.
"Waste not, want not."
She absorbed the residual energy into her body to top off her strength.
She looked over to the other side. Her dog had the other rat pinned. It growled, jaws clamped over the rat's neck.
"Don't kill the core!" Sophie shouted.
She dashed over. She pushed her dog aside and yanked the red core out of the struggling rat.
"Got it."
She quickly pricked her finger and sprinkled some fresh blood on the red core before storing it in her paint can for the next batch.
"Now, what to do with this rat body?"
She held the last blue, marinated core in her hand.
"Hypothesis: If I put a dog core into a rat body, what happens?"
She stuffed the blue core into the rat.
"Aidro, shock it!"
Aidro jumped on the chest.
ZAP.
The rat came alive.
But something unexpected happened.
The machine shivered. It rejected the rat-shaped layout.
Clank-clank-clank.
It started attracting more scraps to its body. It twisted the rat limbs. It elongated the snout. It built itself up until it transformed into a Ruster mutt.
Sophie stared.
"So even though the body was a rat, the core forced it to change into a dog?"
She realized the complexity of the biology.
"These cores aren't just batteries. They have DNA. They have a blueprint imprinted on them."
She wanted to test one last thing.
She pulled the core out of the newly formed dog. The body collapsed into junk.
She tossed the core onto a random pile of scrap nearby.
"Fetch!"
Since the core was already energized, she didn't need Aidro.
The core rolled over the pile.
It activated.
It started attracting parts. But it didn't just grab random metal. It rolled toward the specific parts it had just bonded with. It pulled the dog legs and the dog head across the floor.
"It has a memory of its parts," Sophie noted. "Pre-existent bonding."
She picked up the core again and ran to the far side of the scrap pile, far out of reach of the previous body parts.
She placed the core on the ground.
"New parts only."
She hit it with a low pulse.
Clatter-clatter.
The core attracted the fresh scraps nearby. It built itself a new body from scratch. It became a dog again, though this one looked slightly different, built from more pipes than plates.
"Confirmed. They can build from anything if the old body is out of range."
Sophie stood up and dusted off her hands.
Two mighty dogs with blue Rust Cores stood beside her. Aidro sat on her shoulder.
She looked at her reflection in the chrome flank of one of the beasts. She looked wild, dangerous, and ready.
She smirked.
"Time to go reclaim Mom."
She pointed into the nightmare's den.
"I'm coming for that big spider."