Bionica: The War

The Hub

Rose sat in a strange building, clutching a mug of something warm with a blanket around her shoulders. People were kind to her, but she wished she was back on the streets. Dodging the robots with Riley, getting warm food from that old sap who owned the bakery on 34th, being poor but happy; those were the days she wished for.

The girl who had rescued her sat by her. The two were about the same height, but this girl had much darker, curlier hair than Rose's, which was blonde and wavy. Her skin was also much lighter than the mystery girl's. And this girl's eyes were like black holes, sucking one in with their intensity.

"You can talk to me, you know," said the girl. Rose looked surprised. "I don't bite. My name's Eclipse."

Rose gave Eclipse an odd look. "That's a weird name. Oh, well. My name-"

Eclipse stopped her. "Don't tell me. Here, we use nicknames. This way, if any of us get captured by the government, we can honestly say we've never heard the name before. You know how they have lie detectors and stuff like that. So give yourself a nickname you like."

Nicknames. The thought never occurred to Rose. She looked around for inspiration, devoid of ideas at the moment. She looked at the floor. Metal wouldn't be a good name, and Tin just sounded stupid. She looked at the window. Glass was fine, but did she want to live with that for the rest of her life? Window wasn't very good either. She looked out the window. The moon shone brightly on the compound, in a shape that Rose had seen countless times. It was her favorite part of the month when the moon made that shape; she thought it was beautiful and mysterious. She smiled.

"Crescent," she said. "I'm Crescent."

Eclipse smiled. As they shook hands, Riley walked out of a medical examination room. "They told me I'm fine," she said to Rose. "We can stay here as long as we need to."

"Great," said Rose. "This is Eclipse. She just told me how they all give each other nicknames here. You should pick one."

Rose could see the gears in Riley's head starting to turn, but Eclipse stopped her. "Do you mind if I put something in?" she asked. Riley nodded. "I heard you singing back in the wasteland. It was beautiful. Y'know, back when the world was normal, we had a legend about these creatures called Sirens that sang a song so beautiful, men crashed their ships and drowned trying to swim to them. I think that'd be a good name for you. Siren."

Riley thought about it. "Siren. I like it."

Rose stood up. "I'm gonna have to get used to calling you that. Mine's Crescent."

"All right, then," said Eclipse. "I'm guessing you both want the grand tour?" The twins nodded, and Eclipse beckoned them down the hallway.

"This place is called the Hub," said Eclipse, motioning to the vast building. "It's the center for all communication between the rebel forces."

The hallway alone was enough to take Rose's breath away. More people than she'd ever seen in her life walked from point a to point b dressed in blacks, browns, and army greens. Some carried stacks of papers, others had guns slung across their backs, and still others carried huge tubs full of scrap metal and wires. Everyone had a purpose and a place to be. Rose loved it.

A pair of automatic sliding doors opened to reveal an enormous room scattered with tables and chairs. "This is the mess hall," said Eclipse. "If you want something to eat, this is where you go."

The tour continued. They saw the training facilities, the practice arena, and the room Riley and Rose would share. Then a special set of doors opened.

And Rose's eyes bugged out of her head.

"Crescent?" said Eclipse. "You all right?"

Rose didn't move her head at all. "What is this place?"

Hordes of people ran around, each wearing some kind of safety gear: gloves, goggles, thick aprons, and the like. Bins of spare parts sat at every desk. Unfinished projects littered the room.

"This?" Eclipse said. "This is the tech lab. Most people here just call it the Den, though. It's where our resident techies build everything we need. Most of them do weapons work, but a few of them build robotics in case of injuries."

Rose was curious. "How does that work?"

"Well, just say a fighter loses a leg in battle. Our robotics team can build them a new one so they can keep fighting for us. That way, we don't lose as many men."

Rose looked at Riley, fire in her eyes. "I have to do this! Wouldn't it be so cool to build robots for a living? And if it's against the government, it'll be even better!"

Eclipse walked up to them. "We can train you if you like. Everyone here needs a job. You'll learn some basic combat, but after that it's all building. You sure this is what you want to do?"

"More than anything!"

Without another word, Eclipse put her arm around Rose and turned her towards the mass of people. "Everyone listen up!" People stopped what they were doing to listen. "This is Crescent. She's a new recruit, and she's going to start learning robotics."

Rose's heart soared. She finally had a place again.