Chapter Sixty-One - KittyKopter

Chapter Sixty-One - KittyKopter

Chapter Sixty-One - KittyKopter

Deadvods are videos, usually uploaded to a site like Youtube or one of its competitors, which features a content creator doing... whatever it is that they normally do.

Game, beauty, movies reviews, commentary on events, creating memes, uploading minidocumentaries... ect. On a mechanical level, theyre not so different from a normal channel.

Except that the creator is dead.Fôll0w current novÊls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m)

The videos are pre-recorded. Often by an ill content creator, or one who is planning on taking their own life. They often make light of their own demise, using it as a macabre punchline which resonates well with an equally dead-inside generation of viewers.

With the advent of greater deepfakes, the number of such videos, even created against the explicit desires of their once-living creators, had increased tremendously.

--On Deathtuber and Deadvods, Mox Article, 2027

***

The runs start was... not exactly textbook.

Or maybe it would be textbook, if someone ever decided to write a book about perfectly mediocre combat manoeuvres that kinda worked but only barely.

The Furys run planted dozens of fiery explosions in a line across the shore, and the follow-up by the rag-tag group of vans elongated that line by... less than wed hoped.

Mostly that was because even with decent tech helping our pilots aim, it didnt ensure that every bomb went off exactly where they were wanted. The line ended up being much thicker and shorter than what wed planned for, mostly so that the small gaps left between explosives were properly covered.

Sucked, but that was how it was going to work out.

We circled the air above the burning patch of coast for a while while Gomorrah and I spent points reloading the bombers and we prepared to come in for a second run. The smoke was going to make organic verification a little hard, but that was fine. The stretch wed bombed was about eighty metres long, which meant... wed be here for a while.

Do you think we should split the bombers up? I asked. Send each one further ahead to create more, smaller blocks?

They need to be within range for reloading. And that would mean that theyll be all spread out if the antithesis decide to show up, Gomorrah said.

I nodded along, not disappointed to have my idea shot down. I wasnt married to it.

Alright, welp, lets keep at it.

I actually had very little to keep at. Gomorrah was the one doing the flying, and I realized that I was mostly just along for the ride at this point. Maybe I could have stayed back in Downtown to put out one or two more fires instead of sitting in the Fury to watch Gomorrah set some non-metaphorical fires alight.

I decided to be at least a little productive. Myalis, do we have much of an idea of where the aliens are in all that water?

Not an exact idea. No. The best I can give you are estimates based on satellite surveillance and observations from climate-change analysis devices in the region. It all points to a rather large hive, but my data could be fooled.

What could do that? I asked, genuinely curious.

Cat, Gomorrah said.

Yeah?

Stop imagining the enemy as cute.

What, its not like I wouldnt shoot them anyway.

The antithesis do have aquatic-specialising models, as well as modifications to existing models that make them more viable for aquatic environments. In this case, however, a large number of model ones could clear out a lake of this size in a few days to hours, depending on the number of them.

Right, the bird-like ones were probably about as big as the average fish.

I sat up straighter as something flew towards the drone. It wasnt creating much turbulence as it moved, but it was probably at least somewhat noticeable.

I checked the controls, found the Evasive Manoeuvres option, and then toggled that on a moment before a model one tried to clamp down on the drone.

Unfortunately for the bird, the drone was faster on the straightaway, and it shot away before it could do anything.

The bombing run ended, and we almost immediately started on the next one. I was barely paying attention to that anymore.

There was more than a single mean alien down here.

The drones sonar fired, revealing a lakefloor hive that stretched on to the very edges of the sonars range. Large roots were all over, with heavy sacs next to them filled with unborn aliens. Corals, like pens for angry cows, held in thousands of smaller models while others moved along the surface of the hive.

I saw a number of them pushing dead meat into bulging organic bags filled with whatever crap the hive was using as digestive juices.

Ah, fuck, I said.

Worse was the large line of aliens slowly walking its way to the shore.

I had the drone follow them, and quickly realized that it stretched almost all the way to the shore.

At the head of the line were several model twenty-twos. Huge mobile hives currently encircled by entire flocks of smaller aliens. They were forcing their way through the water on six massive legs each.

They were a concern all on their own. Any one of them planting themselves close to Downtown could wreck the entire place if left unchecked, spawning a ready-made hive in no time at all.

But the even bigger alien, the one whose model number I didnt even know... yeah, that one had me a lot more worried.

I sent the video I had to Gomorrah and felt her sitting straighter a moment later. Thats going to be a problem, she said.

Were bombing the wrong damned place, I said. And I dont think our bombs are big enough.

That warmech is still within your price range, Catherine.

***