Learning to Live

Chapter 3: Secrets

Secrets

It was two straight days before Stiletto and I stopped running.  We knew that it would be impossible to avoid detection if we were anywhere close to a populated area.  Only by hiding as deep in the jungle as we could would we be able to avoid satellite imaging.  We came to a rest not far from the foothills of the Himalayans, our paint scuffed and our bodies littered in plant debris. 

I glanced at Stiletto and made a sound similar to a sigh, “If we’re going to keep moving we need to figure out a way to stow those blades of yours.”  I used my teeth to pull a large vine out from between the serrations, “If we don’t you’ll leave a trail all the way over the mountains for them to follow.”

She sighed as well, “I don’t know how I can do that without removing them.  I was never programmed with a non-combat mode.  I’m a Barrage-class wolf and there isn’t anything that can change that.”

I nodded, “We can’t change who you are, Stiletto, but we can change what you can do.  Just because you haven’t been programmed to stow your weapons doesn’t mean it’s impossible.  I was able to do something that no human has been able to accomplish in centuries of technological advancement.  I think stowing a few blades is going to be simple in comparison.”

She smiled, “You always did know how to cheer me up.  Alright, I’ll see what I can do.”

She closed her optics and for the next several minutes we sat in silence.  I was about to ask her what she had tried when one of her saws shifted slightly.  I closed my muzzle as it shifted a bit more, almost as if it was trying to slide into her body.  Stiletto’s face narrowed as she concentrated, and the saw in her left shoulder began to compact, the teeth folding into the blade one at a time as the blade itself compacted into a circle the size of a cereal bowl.  It slid down a bit before shifting back slightly, and Stiletto narrowed her eyes more as the circle slid back down until it came to rest inside her shoulder.  Armor plates shifted one at a time until the gap the blade had once sat in closed up, Stiletto’s eyes opening as she smiled at me.

“Not bad,” I said with a matching smile, “but you still have four more to go.”

She nodded, “Don’t worry.  Now that I know what to do the rest will be done in mere seconds.”  She closed her eyes and all four remaining blades moved as one until her body looked like a red version of my own. 

She opened her eyes again and I nodded, “Now we can get moving.  I want to find a place that we can stay for a while until I can figure out what our next move is.”

Stiletto nodded, “We need to find a cave or something in the high mountains that no person will be able to reach.  They’ll have to come after us with high-altitude choppers if they want to take us out.”

I smiled as we began running again, “It’s nice to see that being on the run hasn’t dampened your spirits in any way.”

She laughed as we jumped over a fallen tree, “To be honest, I never liked doing all that killing.  I know it was in defense of our country but it never truly hit me how much I hated it until you showed me what it was like to feel pain and guilt.  I don’t blame you for opening this door for me, but now I understand why humans will dream of those they have killed, and why they never truly forget what they have done.”