Jeurridam Ch. 13: The Acid Swamps

I had to come out of the sentry form, returning to the towering, thirteen foot tall monster Big Daddy was meant to be.

"WHAT?" I whirred. Zeek backed away, fearing my wrath.

"Shhhhhhh, shhhhh," Beth said, tryinh to calm me before turning to her brother, "Zeek, why...? You idiot!!!!"

"Because, we had both lost someone just too close to us... We knew that it would make Jeurridam a better place if we just took them out... I didn't want Da Lagon to do to another soul what they did to me!" Zeek said.

"Please tell me you're lying..." Beth said, having to massage her temples.

"I'm not, but that's not my point! My point is that Zanir withholds information! There easily could be something he's not telling us! I'm also pretty sure there are things you have trusted Zanir to keep that none of us in our inner circle know! With all that being said, Zanir was telling me not to look back, to keep looking ahead! After a while, I did that, thinking he was right right behind me! When I finally made it to the buggy, he wasn't there! I, as a person who's always up to something and can tell when someone else is up to something, know that Zanir was up to something! We'd be damned fools to count him out so early. Give it a minute..." Zeek clarified.

"True..." I responded, having to calm myself, "If it wasn't for the Leer, there'd be some things I just wouldn't know... Zanir even withheld information from me..." It was a shock to Beth.

"Seriously? I thought you and his relationship was good!" Beth said back.

"No, he stopped trusting me when he learned the manticores were my design... after that, he started putting stricter controls on me that got more and more strict the more time went on. We pretty much just stopped communicating... It was such a blow when he went on that trip to the wastelands and left me behind... If he would have brought me along, Galveston and Swish would still be alive, Zanir never would have gotten hurt that badly and this whole thing with the Revivalists never would have happened..." I sighed.

"I wouldn't be so sure... The Revivalists came because their mechs were all shut down in The City of Rust... I mean that also was Zanir's doing, a preset he and Galveston made, but still..." Beth said back.

"You're right." I said.

"You said you had a favor to ask?" Beth remembered.

"Yes, I..."
"We're ready!!!!" Dale said, coming down the veranda. Alistair was close behind. I shrunk back down to sentry mode, taking off towards them.

"I'll explain later." I said back to Beth.

Both Dale and Alistair looked at me, quite confused. All they could see was a levitating barrel with two laser pointers on a stick.

"Why the hell are you balled up like this?" Alistair asked. I spread my wings, flexing them back and forth, hoping they'd get what I wanted them to do. Finally, Beth came over to translate for the two confused men.

"Okay, he's saying grab ahold of each wing. In this form, he can get you there much, much faster." Beth said.

"Can you just fly us there in the sentinel form?" Alistair asked, not quite sure about this smaller form.

"He say's he's pressed for time." Beth shrugged.

"Okay..." Alistair sighed, grabbing on to a wing. Dale was a bit more reluctant, but he did so.

The flight there in the pitch black of the night was brisk. We covered the hundred mile distance in a little over twenty minutes. I shined my light on the area we were about to land so the two men could find their footing. Upon landing, neither men could stand.

"I'm getting so old..." Alistair said.

"Never that shit again! Make sure that ride is coming to pick us up..." Dale said, on his hands and knees. The two men looked at each other with the strangest of energies. Something long ago had brewed between them but the history seemed long, twisted and upsetting...

"He will." Alistair said.

We all looked at the outpost. It was pretty large, covering about two soccer fields. Most of the buildings had fallen apart due to age but this one was okay. The giant broadcasting tower was still intact as well. The equipment around it wasn't as pristeen.

"This won't be a cakewalk..." Alistair sighed.

"Tough it up, big boy..." Dale said back, as he walked towards the tower. His remark warranted a strange look from Alistair. Yeah, there was definitely some history between these two. It was now time to make myself seem scarce... so I could eavesdrop...

The two began the repair work for the tower. It was long and silent before Dale broke it.

"You remember that ship ride to Jeurridam where we first met?" He asked. Alistair paused to look at him.

"Don't remind me..." He sighed.

"Seriously though, don't you miss how simple those times were, when it was just us and our dreams?" Dale persisted. Alistair looked at him, wishing he'd just stop.

"We both had incredibly un-idealistic views of what we thought Jeurridam would be like. When we got here it was such a rude wake up call..." Alistair said back, hoping to spoil the conversation.

"I mean even then, I couldn't complain much. I was happy then. I haven't really been happy since those days..." He sighed.

"Oh really?" Alistair asked, Dale's reflections on the past striking a nerve.

"Yeah I miss what we had... seeing you finally after all these years reminded me of it." He said. Alistair had to stop his repair work to face Dale.

"But you weren't the one who was heartbroken when you learned the man you love had a wife and two year old twins and left you as soon as she returned home... You fucking played me like a fiddle Dale, and you knew it..." Alistair said back.

"It's good to hear you're still not over that even after twenty four years..." Dale teased.

"Fuck you, Dale..." Alistair sighed. Dale just chuckled, happy to get that reaction from Alistair.

"And you've been single for all these years? You must still have been holding out for me?" Dale continued to tease.

"No," Alistair said back, resuming his work, "When you have a child to raise while building an empire, love just escapes you... especially when all damn men are the FUCKING same... Say they love one minute and say they can't be with you the next!"

"You know why I did that... I had a family to raise! How would it have looked if I left my wife... for a man! It arguably was a big mistake.... I haven't been happy since the day twenty four years ago when I left you... I truly feel like I've been trudging ever since... I forgot what it feels like to be happy. But, it was something I felt like I had to do." Dale said.

"Like I said before, Dale... FUCK YOU!!!!!" Alistair snarled, warranting a laugh from Dale.

"You know, you built one hell of an empire... Those buggies just kept getting better every single year!" Dale said, still trying to pry for a reaction out of Alistair.

"So now you finally admitted it... After all these damn years... First you were so in love with me then you became my biggest, most cutthroat competition..." Alistair said, not gratified by this long awaited confession.

"You can't hold that against me! I was still a kid my damn self." Dale laughed.

"And so was I but you didn't see me coming for blood!" Alistair said back.

"Oh really, you didn't come for blood?" Dale challenged.

"I never was the start to any conflict your gang brought upon itself... you were! When you realized how much of a juggernaut my clan was becoming, you stopped with that whole bullshit, family destroys faggots backwash and had to back off..." Alistair recalled.

"Don't come for my views on family..." Dale said, growing defensive.

"Dale, you dismissed my entire reason for running away, said it was childish!" Alistair quickly retorted.

"You had a family that loved you but you ripped it apart! I didn't... All my family was dead and all I had left was a girl I loved and the two kids I got her pregnant with..." Dale said, feeling he was justified.

"It's not making sense to me. How the hell are you gonna hold against me my choice to better my own life?" Alistair asked.

"Like I said, I was a stupid kid! I was jealous of the very fact that you had a family and you ran from them... You had a wife, just like me but instead of doing what you need to do to support her and your kid, you stole your very own kid from her and abandoned her... I felt like that was a sleazy move!"

"BUT YOU KNOW WHAT MY FUCKING FAMILY FORCED ME TO DO... I didn't want to get married!" Alistair said, Dale obviously striking a sensitive nerve.

"I know, I know! I said I was a stupid kid! I didn't know right from wrong, didn't have anyone to teach me. I thought I was always right and everyone else was wrong... It was just me alone for a long time..." Dale pleaded, not trying to upset Alistair any further.

"Is this your attempt at an apology?" Alistair asked plainly.

"It kind of is... Is it too late for a sorry?" Dale asked back.

"Well let's see... I've lost my city, my business, my empire, my gang is spread all over the Mojave and my son, the one I made sure never had to chip a nail, is now dead... Considering I have nothing left, a long awaited sorry does make a little bit of a difference, so no... I guess it's not too late..." Alistair responded, accepting the apology in all fairness.

I couldn't stomach it any longer. The two most powerful men in the Mojave had a love affair and neither man was over it. Wow, you'd think a mad scientist couldn't be mind boggled anymore but I was fucking mind blown. Nevertheless I flew back to A99 where Beth was waiting patiently on my return. She watched as I came in for a landing.

"Has Orb found anything?" I asked.

"No not yet... But what favor did you wanna ask me?" Beth responded.

"I wanted to ask you can you send the updated firmware to the manticore mech." I said back. It left Beth baffled.

"I thought you destroyed it!" She said.

"I did, well I thought I did. That thing was trying to heal itself in the back of the scrap hangar where Basil's boys dumped it. I gave it some fresh circulatory fluid and its regenerating... It almost died from cybertronic anemia which I knew must had been dreadful..." I responded.

"Wow..." Beth said, at a loss for words, "Sure... I'll help... can I ask why?"

"Because it was the last thing Zanir told me he wanted completed and I need to do it so I can feel like I have a piece of him..." I said.

"Then most definitely!" She smiled.

I flew her to The Acid Swamps, the Leer detecting us long before we got there. He was standing, waiting for us to land.

"It took you long enough!" He bugled.

"Sorry, got side tracked." I said back, placing Beth on the ground. She opened her laptop, quick to get to work.

"Let's see..." She said, stroking her chin. The laptop connected with the Manticore's wireless feeds. Adding the new firmware was a simple drag and drop process. However, the uploading and rebooting process would take a bit of a while. Beth just stared at the Manticore.

"How'd you fix him?" She asked.

"We used the glottal bladder from a plate mech to absorb cytotrolic then fed it down his throat." I said back, perplexing her.

"Where'd you get that much acid from?" She asked, confused. I spread my arms, twirling around.

"EVERYWHERE! The tubular grasses growing beside the pools of acid convert the caustic acid into cyotrolic acid, some kind of way. I pulled up the roots which are saturated with the acid, like sugar beets are with their natural juices." I said.

"Wait, so how do these plants withstand such powerful acid? How do they convert it?" Beth asked, truly mind boggled.

"That is what I'm trying to figure out. It could be a variety of things, from electrolysis to chemosynthesis of some kind... These plants may have a catalyzing agent that rips the caustic acid apart and produces a byproduct. Cytotrolic acid is one of those byproducts. This kind of changes everything! I came to Jeurridam thirty years ago to find a new source for cytotrolic acid but instead found gravitanium which was how the UCAC started! I didn't even know that cytotrolic acid was organic... Zanir's haunch was right... I should have listened to him when he said he was on the brink of discovering something new about cytotrolic acid!" I said back.

"You can't beat yourself up like this. You do realize that you're a human at core and humans do make mistakes, right?" Beth asked me.

"I know but still..." I said back, "That's my son..."

Suddenly, the most painful wailing erupted out. It was the manticore! He was getting to his feet, trembling from weakness. He started walking eastward, startling both Beth and I.

"Zanir..." It called out.

"Wait!" I said... The large, powerful mech didn't stop. It kept trudging forth, picking up speed! I rushed in front of it trying to get it to stop, "Wait!!!!"

With one if it's hands, it flung me out of the way, sending me tumbling across the fields of tube grass. Seeing this, the Leer came sprinting forth, keeping just in front of the manticore.

"Stop... Stop, just relax...." He said to the disoriented mech.

"No... Zanir's in danger!" The manticore responded.

"Hey," Beth said to the mech, causing it to turn to look at her, "Zanir's gone... He's not with us anymore..." The manticore shook it's head in disagreement, it's dense armor rattling.

"I feel him!" The manticore responded, taking off in a searing sprint!

I got to my feet, picking Beth up in my hands. The Leer just stood there shocked.

"Come on!" I said to him. We both followed the manticore as it ran towards the dam.

"What's it trying to do?" Beth asked.

"I don't know!" I said back.

The manticore lept from the high valley down to the base of the dam where Zanir drilled the hole. The giant mech somehow managed to squirm its way within it, disappearing from sight. I had to land after seeing something so trippy!

"Wow..." I said. The Leer looked at me, confusion written all across his face.

"Did that really just happen?" He asked.

"It did... It definitely did." I said, scratching my head, "Beth, I'm gonna take you home... If that mech which is four my size can fit into that man hole... so can I..."

"You're gonna need support... Let me help you." Beth said.

"Okay." I responded, taking her back to A99.

There, June, Heaven and Zeek were worried sick. They looked on with mixed satisfaction as I landed. Before they could even utter a word, Beth began:

"Guys, you will never believe what happened! The manticore sprung back to life and entered the dam where Zanir bored the hole!" She said.

"That big ass thing managed to fit in that tiny ass hole?" June asked, so surprised!

"Manticore... what's that?" Zeek asked.

"It's a big, biiiiiiiiggg mech!" June said, demonstrating with his hands.

"Yeah, but.... Big Daddy's gonna try and enter the dam too and get Zanir out of there. He could use the support." Beth said.

"I'm low on ammo." Julio said, really wanting to help but not willing to push it.

"Me too but if he's still in there this is so worth it..." June said.

"I know my way around it. I can help you!" Zeek said, walking over to Big Daddy. I shook my head, not approving of him coming along.

"I'll find him. The closer I get to him, the more his vital meter will spike." I said back, Beth translating.

"Okay..." He said, a bit disappointed but understanding.

"What are you all doing? Curfew!" Miguel said, coming from the house.

"Curfew? The fuck?" June asked, not liking this at all. Beth slowly turned to him.

"Now you see why I left..." She said, hugging him.

"It's okay baby. We're gonna get far the fuck away from here when this shit's over..." June said, cringing. The idea of a curfew to such a wild and carefree boy was just disgusting! Beth chuckled.

"I'm serious... You all get inside!" Miguel said.

"Sorry, uncle but we got to go!" Beth said, taking off towards the nearest buggy.

"BETH!!!!" Miguel shouted, only shocked to see Zeek, Heaven, June and Julio run after her. Miguel then looked at me, knowing I was somehow responsible. This was worth a laugh but I couldn't with this stupid contraption's limitations.

June and Julio made their way to the dam. Julio was quite confused as to why support was needed.

"So what are we gonna do once we get to the dam? Sit there like before?" He asked.

"Pretty much... Big Daddy's gonna get in and get out." Beth said.

"It's pretty horrible in there! They had me hooked up to this machine called a BrainEngine and it made everything a nightmare... everything felt so real. I hope Zanir's brain implant makes him impervious to it!" Zeek said, deeply worried.

"BrainEngine?" I asked, "A FUCKING BRAINENGINE?"

"Easy big guy, what's the problem?" Beth asked.

"A BrainEngine is one of my designs! Its for transferring consciousness from one host to the next! What possibly could they have done with it...?" I said back, Beth reading it aloud.

"They used it to interrogate me, to prod my memories. It was like they were trying to provoke me into revealing something while hooked up to it... thankfully the machine overheated before things could get worse. God, it felt so real." Zeek said, shaking his head.

"What all happened there?" Beth asked, quite concerned.

"Let's see, they made me deal with incredible silence, made me think I was getting raped by a Mer," June cracked up at the very thought, "Made me relive a whole bunch of shit I did and confronted me with the thought of Zanir not being able to forgive me..." Zeek summed.

"You got to get rid of that self guilt!" Beth advised.

"Yeah, that's how they almost made me crack..." Zeek said.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Ezekiel! The BrainEngine was never meant to be used that way. It was meant to be used only for transferring the consciousness of one person to a clone, or copy. How the hell did these people even get ahold of these blueprints?" I said, Beth translating.

"It's okay big bro... It was not the worst thing I've been through... No, not at all..." Zeek smiled warranting a firled eyebrow from everyone in the buggy.

We arrived at the dam, June and Julio whipping the buggies into position around the opening. Heaven and Julio took the turrets while Beth took over controlling Julio's buggy.

"Make it fast," Julio began, "We don't have an army to protect us this time!"

"I will..." I said back, folding down into sentry mode.

"Wait!" Beth said, typing one handed on her computer, "I'm establishing a connection with you via audio portal so we can be in communication."
"Okay." I responded, the laptop stating out everything I said.

It was now time to enter the dam. I floated through the narrow opening Zanir bored through the wall, entering a large underwater base. It had long, interconnected corridors that could easily make a person lost. I sent pulses of sound waves which bounced back, allowing for a basic three dimensionally rendered map to be made. This place seemed deserted, at least on this stretch. Red emergency lights were flashing. Then the distinct reverberations of Zanir's vitals pinged out.

"I found Zanir's ping... I'm heading up to it..." I said.

"Good but, we got a problem..." Beth said back, "Water is cascading down over the dam..."

"What?" I said, as I began to hover, not under my own control. Things not bolted to the ground also began to rise. Suddenly, loud cracks rang through the depths of the vault matrix! This was a field of low gravitational pressure! I turned back, seeing the field was spreading closer to the wall, "Beth, June... Get out of here! Low pressure gravity field!"

"On it!" June said back, whipping the buggy into drive! Beth did the same, following him closely.

The entire dam began to tremble as I flew back towards the exit. Soon, it became clear what these loud cracks were! The dam was fracturing! The two buggies had just made it off the the dam, speeding back to A99! As they did, big soccer field size chunks of the dam began to separate from the base, rising high above the ground. Lake Mead came cascading down to the lower Colorado basin. The huge base consisting of the Vault Matrix, the Brain Engine and the Dredging Facilities all began to rip apart, rising up as well.