System 2.0 - Division of Powers

The Old War

The man was almost invisible against the dark forest background. He stood perfectly still, and was dressed in a dark camouflaged uniform. Like the hexapod, Esther had only spotted him because he wanted to be seen.

'Get down!' the man ordered with an accent that sounded all too familiar.

She threw herself to the ground while her companions did the same.

Three similar figures rose up from the dense undergrowth. They were all holding large automatic rifles which they pointed out across the forest. There was a rattle of gunfire as they sprayed bullets into the trees and bushes.

The sound echoed through the valley after the firing had finished. The man then reached down and took Esther's hand.

'Come with me, if you want to live,' he said with the hint of a smile.

She glared at him, feeling both cross and relieved.

'You are joking?' she asked with exasperation.

'A little,' he acknowledged, 'but can you blame me?'

She pulled herself upright.

'It fits the kind of day I've had,' she sighed coldly. 'I'm definitely living through some kind of sick joke.'

The man grinned.

'We're not out of the woods yet,' he said. 'If you don't mind another bad joke. The hexes only have pre-metallic weapons, but they will kill you quite efficiently if they can get close enough. We need to get out of here.'

The men guided Esther, Ami and Marcus away from the path. They were much safer out of plain sight. She quickly realised that the men knew the forest pretty well, and seemed to have their own hidden paths through the ferns and thick bushes.

In some ways she hadn't been surprised to see the blond Purist in the hexapod wood. There was something quite poetic about these two groups continuing their ancient battle in the virtual world of Er'ech ten Gosh.

'Do you come here often?' she asked.

The man laughed wryly at this.

'From time to time,' he said with a grin. 'We like to slip in and keep the bastards on their toes.'

He turned to her companions.

'It's good to see you again, Marcus,' he said. 'It's been a while.'

'Not long enough,' the Martian lawyer replied unhappily.

The man laughed again.

'Marcus and I have history,' he said ambiguously.

'Now there's a surprise!' Esther sighed.

One of the other Purist soldiers gestured for them to keep quiet and stay down, so they crouched under the boughs of a large tree. It wasn't entirely clear what he was watching or listening for. The moment passed and they pressed on again.

'Where are we heading?' she asked.

'We won't be able to reach the main access point, but we do have a secondary hack on the far side of the valley. It'll be a bit of a walk but much safer.'

They were led through a maze of narrow paths and concealed spaces. Esther was getting quite weary of the endless forest, but the men seemed relaxed, if in a constant state of vigilance.

'There's a protected space up ahead,' the blond man said. 'We can rest for a while.'

The sun was setting as they emerged into a clearing and climbed a broken path up to the top of a small hill. A ring of rocks had been pulled together at the top, creating the impression of a small Neolithic hill fort. The ground had recently been disturbed, indicating a previous occupation.