Colt stormed across the room.
His jaw was clenched, he started to roll up his sleeves.
"I'm gonna shove that update up your ass." Colt said.
Kevin moved quick, like he'd decided leaving was easier than getting hit. Metal feet tapped the floor in a short run.
"Oh hell no." Colt snapped. "Get your ass back here."
Kevin stopped in the middle of the room.
Colt rushed him, hands reaching out.
The light on Kevin's face flared.
It hit Colt right in the eyes, bright as staring into the sun off water. Colt threw his forearm up, but it was too late. His eyes watered hard and he staggered sideways, blind.
His hip clipped the corner of the bed. Pain jumped up his side and he went down, shoulder first, then ribs. He rolled on the floor with his boots scraping, trying to get his bearings back.
"Hey—Kev—" Colt coughed, blinking at nothing. "Ahh, damn it, man."
"I was detecting hostility." Kevin said. "My defense protocol became active."
"Ah, fuck." Colt said.
He lay there a second with his forearm over his eyes, breathing hard. He blinked and blinked until the room stopped swimming so bad.
"God." Colt muttered. "All right. All right."
He pushed up to his knees, one hand on the floor, the other rubbing at his eyes. He wiped his forehead with his sleeve like he could wipe the light off him.
He looked up at Kevin's metal head and that one glowing eye.
"I wasn't really gonna hurt you. I was mad, that's all."
"I detected hostility," Kevin said. "Non-lethal force was applied.”
Colt let out a sharp breath. "Yeah, well.”
He rubbed his eyes again and shook his head once, trying to clear it.
"It's just—" Colt started, then had to swallow. "I don't think you understand."
"Clarify.” Kevin said.
Colt's hands curled into fists on his thighs. "Clay's my brother." he said. "We grew up together. Same house. Same table. Same chores. Same fights. Same everything."
His throat tightened and he had to clear it.
"He's family." Colt said.
He stared at Kevin like that ought to be enough, then kept talking because the words had nowhere else to go.
"We were runnin'." Colt said. "Arrows hittin' trees all around us. He got hit and he still told me to go. He pushed me away like I was a kid."
Colt's jaw worked. "So yeah, I'm mad. I'm scared. Call it whatever you want."
He jabbed a finger at the floor between them. "But I ain't tryin' to fight you for fun. I'm tryin' to get back to him."
Kevin stayed still. The light didn't flicker.
Colt's voice came out rough again. "Do you have a brain in there, Kev? A heart? A soul?"
"Perhaps we should start over," Kevin said. He raised his hand. "You are specifically designed not only to save Clay. You are designed to save the world as you know it. You are designed to preserve existence itself."
Colt froze on his knees.
His mouth dropped open. The words hit him like a mule kick to the chest, too big to make sense of. Save the world? Preserve existence? He was eighteen years old. Up until he plugged that thing into his wrist he could barely read. He'd never been past the mountains. He didn't even know what half the words on that screen meant.
Kevin didn't talk like a man trying to be funny. Kevin didn't talk like a man at all.
Colt swallowed once and forced his jaw shut.
"What?" Colt said, because it was all he had.
"All we need to do is apply the update." Kevin said. "Then you may go and save Clay."
Colt got up fast. He stepped in close and held his wrist out like a dare.
He peeled the skin flap back with two fingers.
The metal hole stared back at him.
Colt thrust it toward Kevin. His hand shook a little, but he kept it there.
"Stick me, Kev." Colt said. "Now."
Kevin didn't wait.
He held his hand out and that finger split open again. The plug slid forward.
"I can only upload a small percentage of Project Last Stand at a time," Kevin said. "Too much at once risks corruption. Too much power at once is not optimal.”
That clicked in a way Colt could understand. Like a hundred-pound lady trying to fire a twelve gauge.
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Colt looked at Kevin and nodded once.
"Fine." Colt said. "Just do it."
Kevin stepped in and drove the plug straight into the socket in Colt's wrist.
Colt sucked in a breath…
And everything went black, it felt like he was floating on his back.
Words snapped into the dark in front of his eyes.
INSTALLING PROJECT LAST STAND v1.01...
Under it sat a long empty box.
A thin strip of light started filling it from the left, creeping forward a little at a time.
Colt couldn't feel the room anymore. He couldn't feel the floor or the air. All he had was that bar moving, and the thought of Clay somewhere out there bleeding while he stood here staring at a box.
The box kept filling.
Then it stopped.
The words stayed up top.
INSTALLING PROJECT LAST STAND v1.01...
A new line showed under it.
SCANNING DNA...
More lines followed, one at a time.
1 LINEAGE FOUND... 50%
2 LINEAGE FOUND... 30%
3 LINEAGE CORRUPT... 20%
Colt tried to swallow, but he couldn't feel his throat.
Three lineages. Two found, one corrupt. He didn't know what that meant. Three though? And what did corrupt mean? Was something wrong with him? Was part of him broken?
He wanted to ask, but he couldn't speak in here. Couldn't do anything but watch.
Another line flashed under the scan.
OPTIMIZING SOFTWARE FOR PRIMARY LINEAGE...
The loading bar jumped again.
The thin strip of light started moving faster now, pushing past the halfway mark and filling the rest in a rush.
The dark peeled away.
Colt opened his eyes.
For a second his vision was blurry, like he'd been dunked under water and dragged back up. He blinked hard and sucked in a breath.
He smelled smoke.
The room around him looked different. Rough boards instead of smooth walls. A low ceiling. A stink under everything like a hog lot.
Colt stiffened and turned his head.
Kevin stood by the bed.
Only Kevin wasn't metal. He looked like he'd been carved out of wood, wearing little cloth clothes and a stupid little hat.
Colt stared.
"What the hell, Kevin."
"Perception overlay active." Kevin said. "Calming profile applied."
Smoke hung in the air with pig shit sitting under it.
Colt stared at Kevin's wooden face and that dumb little hat like he was waiting for it to blink and turn back into metal.
He waved a hand in front of his nose. "You had to add pig shit?"
Kevin's head angled a notch. "That profile tested highest for compliance and reduced panic response."
Colt frowned. "Tested where."
"Prior data." Kevin said.
Colt blew air out his nose. He didn't have time to argue about smells. He looked himself over.
His shirt sat better on his shoulders. His belt was in the right spot. Even his boots felt tighter.
"There was only enough shinki stored in the reserves for a basic Frontier Operative load out." Kevin said.
Shinki? Colt thought.
In the corner of his vision, the words had changed.
PROJECT: LAST STAND v1.01
Colt blinked. They stayed.
"What else changed." he thought.
He focused on the words in the corner.
"Yes."
A square dropped into his sight and moved with his eyes.
PROJECT: LAST STAND
Stats
Status
Map
Armory
Module Bay: LOCKED
Skills: LOCKED
Help
?????
?????
?????
Colt's eyes went straight to Armory.
It wasn't locked.
He looked at it and the word thickened and lit up.
"Yes." Colt said.
The menu shifted.
FRONTIER OPERATIVE
?????
?????
Colt looked at FRONTIER OPERATIVE.
"Yes." he said.
"P.L.S two-six-five." Kevin said, cutting in, "you are not required to say yes. You only require the intent."
Colt lifted one finger at him without looking away. "Yeah. I heard you."
A new list dropped under.
FRONTIER OPERATIVE
Utilities
Melee
Sidearms
Range
Colt's chest felt tight, but this tight was different. This was focus.
He looked at
Utilities:
Matches
Rope
He shifted to.
Melee:
Bowie
Colt nodded once.
Then
Sidearms:
Colt Single Action Army — .45
He stared at it, then let out a short laugh. "Hell yeah…”
He let the list hang there a second longer, then looked away.
As soon as he wanted, the square folded up and sank back into that little line in the corner of his vision.
PROJECT: LAST STAND v1.01
He looked around the room again. Smoke in the air, pig shit under it. His nose wrinkled and his mouth pulled into a hard line. He waved a hand in front of his face.
"Nah, Kev." Colt said. "Change it back."
Kevin's head turned a fraction. "Excuse me."
"Yeah. Change it back." Colt said. "That damn pig shit. I don't need that. Whoever thought pig shit was calming us stupid.”
"Perception overlay can be disabled." Kevin said.
"Do it."
A flash hit the room, bright for a second, then gone.
The rough boards and low ceiling vanished.
The pale walls came back. The cold floor. The metal shelves. The black cords on the ground.
Kevin stood by the bed again the way he really was, metal plates, that single light where eyes ought to be.
Colt exhaled and rubbed his nose with the back of his hand.
"Much better," he said.
"My stuff." he said. "Where is it."
"The Armory." Kevin said.
Kevin lifted one hand and pointed at the smaller door.
Colt didn't ask twice. He marched to it and grabbed the handle.
The door swung open.
That same white room was there, smooth walls with bare shelves running the sides. Only it wasn't empty anymore.
On the wall straight ahead, hung like it belonged there, a long brown leather trench coat , along with utility belt. Set with a holster and a sheath.
He grabbed the belt and slung it around his waist and strapped it tight.
Next, Colt grabbed the coat, put one arm through, then the next. Moved his shoulders, then his elbows. Perfect fit.
To his left. A gun.
Colt went right to it. He wrapped his fingers around the grip.
It felt perfectly balanced. Worn where it should be worn. The grip fit his hand like it had been waiting for him.
He turned it in his hand, checking it. He thumbed the cylinder. He sighted down the barrel for half a second, then lowered it.
A Colt Single Action Army.
His Colt.
Something in his chest loosened. For the first time since he woke up in this place, he felt like himself again. Not a kid lost in a metal room full of words he didn't understand. A man with a gun in his hand.
He slid it into his holster and felt his shoulders drop a notch.
Further down the wall sat his knife. A big bowie, Colt took it off the mount, rolled it in his palm, then shoved it in his sheath.
Next was a coil of rope. He lifted it and draped it over his shoulder.
In the corner, on a little shelf, sat a small box of matches.
Colt grabbed them and shoved them into his pocket.
He stepped back out into the main room and shut the door behind him.
"Alright, Kev." Colt said. "Now what."
"The teleportation module is now compatible with your current software." Kevin said.
Colt nodded once.
He crossed the room and went to the teleport door. He stepped inside and onto the square.
"Now what?" Colt said.
"You will have approximately ten seconds before time syncs," Kevin said.
Colt's jaw clenched. "What's that mean? There's like six of those ninjas that's gonna be waitin' for me."
"You will have approximately ten seconds to dispatch the ninjas." Kevin pointed at the post in the middle of the square. "Place your hand on the button and press it."
Colt looked at the post. Looked at the red button.
"That's it."
Kevin's head angled. "Affirmative."
Colt shook his body loose.
he thought about being ripped apart and put back together.
“Those damn mole…cues?” Colt muttered.
“I’m comin’ Clay.”
He put his hand on the button and pressed it.
