An excerpt from the Metalface novel "Redemption"
A mad scene of disaster and forthcoming destruction took form in only a few seconds. The observation platforms were hit dead center with a barrage of missiles from the rogue vectoron and they both lunged forth into the street showering sparks and flaming metal into neighboring structures. But they were not yet destroyed. They hung there, screaming with sounds of ripping metal and crushing concrete as humans scattered and servites raced into the scene.
The east platform held a small building while the west platform was directly over a housing row. Servites rushed up and down the row balconies getting people out. Someone accidentally touched one of the dying structures and caused a massive shift in sound and metal, as if a wounded creature were just frightened. Some froze in terror, others ran even more frantically. Some servites activated their loud speakers and were attempting to calm the crowd as they fought to get everyone to safety.
Retro caught a glimpse of a person on the floor as he zipped by a balcony ledge. He angled his sliders back and snapped back to hop over the ledge. His sliders retracted just before his feet hit the floor. He knocked on the glass door to awaken the person but there was no answer. He burst through the glass without a scratch on his metal body, picked up the woman, and jumped back out. He landed his sliders on another balcony ledge and sped along that ledge until he reached a landing just away from the danger and deposited the old woman with a group of other humans.
The east building platform slowly started to topple downward toward the west platform and housing row. A small, red hover-copter flew into the scene and fired a grappling hook at the top of the east building. The copter was pulling the building upward to support it long enough to allow the other servites enough extra time to rescue the people. A sim sparked up Retro’s audio and flashed a small display in his right side vision.
~ RAMIUS to PATROL FORCE: You’ve only got a few more seconds! Hurry it up! Work together!~
Retro looked back and saw that the most of the west was done. A few more servites were carrying off people as he watched. But the east was still being evacuated. There was no way for him to get across the chasm, which separated east and west, so he just watched.
Retro’s audio scanners came alive when he heard the screams of a small girl. He visually swept the area and found the scream coming from a little girl on he ledge he just left. With tears covering her face, she screamed, “Granny!”
Retro looked down at the woman he had just laid down. She was very old and in her bathrobe. He snapped his head back toward the girl and began running toward the row. As he reached the end of the landing, he made a desperate leap for the row. He slipped his sliders out and landed on a soft pocket of thrust. Without an instant of delay, he slid upward the row toward the girl. He was still a long way off when he got the next sim from Ramius.
~ RAMIUS to PATROL FORCE: Clear out! I’m losing it! It’s coming down now! ~
Retro shot his own sim in among the dozens of sims that read “All clear” and “We’re out.”
~ RETRO to RAMIUS: There's a little girl in there! I’m going for her! WAIT! ~
Ramius sent the usual “Hurry up” message but Retro was already moving as fast as he could. He was nearly halfway there when he realized that once he got the girl, he still needed to get her out of the way in time. He knew Ramius was losing the battle, and the sight of the towering metal beasts made his cyberneural heart pound. Ramius maximized thrust and angle and the cable tightened into an almost hair thin wire.
The girl was screaming not only from losing her granny, but also from the darkness and screeching metal that was looming above her. Retro made a desperate prayer, grabbed the rails to flip up and landed right beside the little girl. He paused for only a cybernetic moment as he saw the girl. She reminded him of his own daughter, a memory he left active to remind himself why he does this work. He remembered his accident and transference and how his own daughter, now grown and with daughters of her own, could not bring her self to accept her new t-bot father. He remembered watching surveillance vids of his family enjoying Thanksgiving and opening presents on Christmas morning. He remembered seeing the look of fear and disbelief on his daughter's face as she saw him for the first time as a metalface. He He saw the fear in this little girl's eyes and he remembered more than he wanted.
The little girl screamed even more violently when he grabbed her and jumped over the ledge. He used the ledges as a ski slope, swooping over ledge moguls as he raced down level after level. His descent was angled off to the side so as he got closer to the ground, he also got further from the danger.
Ramus’ cable snapped and the building lunged forward. It slammed into the west platform and the two came crashing down on top of the housing row. Retro shot out from the falling debris and dust like a bolt of lightning and came to a safe halt among the crowds.
A human snatched the small girl away. The girl clung to the human rather than the odd thing that saved her. Retro watched the girl twist in her screams when she looked back at him. He turned his head and he and the other Servites watched on as the destruction settled into a mass of mutilated metal and rock.
A human head member for Genesis was watching and stepped forward. He opened his sim-coder and spoke, “Frank Dennis to CyTech Alliance. Genesis requests the immediate removal of debris and repair of Crystal City Central Zone cross section Gene and Martin.”
Retro overheard the sim and stepped closer, “Sir!” The human turned his head to see him, “Sorry, Sir. But with all due respect, these people have just been through a traumatic experience and a crew of tekkers is not the best idea right now. These people…”
The human looked back at the scene and closed his sim-coder, “THESE people, servite, are under Genesis protection. The best thing for them is to get this mess cleaned up quickly and get them back to their families.” He turned to walk away but paused long enough to remind Retro of his place, “You, mr. metalface, may not remember the importance of families. So just do your job, and let me do mine.” And he walked calmly away.
Retro stood quietly among the settling dust and screams. His robotic face was unable to show emotion; he showed no anger, no contempt was on his face, no scorn cracked through his gleaming metal. He just stood quietly and considered his place in this city. Tekkers began to arrive on the scene in seconds. Repairs began soon after than. Only the memory would remain. A memory Retro could never bring himself to delete.