Here’s a look at Vanguard, the sequel to my debut novel, Archer 887. First drafts are my favorite drafts! All the character discovery, the random spellings of names (or lack thereof), the tangent storylines that never get developed… the best!
This character is The Hunter, a tova, a not-quite-human construct. He’s my favorite antagonist yet.
He came across the first Analogs within minutes. A group of three, moving in eerie synchrony. Each footfall echoed, sharp at first and fading to a patter in the distance. Three sets of optical arrays turned to assess him.
They spoke in unison. “Caution, this area is hazardous for humans. Please return to the surface.”
He slowed and looked up at them. They each had four limbs, two shorter behind and two reaching down from the height of a man to support their central structure. They hulked in the shadows like some primordial beast, when Nature had kept a lax hand on her creations and allowed monsters to roam.
“This area is hazardous for humans. Please return to the surface.”
Naturally, they were unable to understand the difference between him and normal civilians. Relying on optic coding alone, he would look human enough to trigger their protection clauses.
He sent an override command and waited for their achingly slow systems to process the information.
With more stomping and shuffling, they moved aside. Their ‘heads,’ a misshapen lump housing their radio and optic systems, turned as one to watch him pass. He was around the next corner before he heard the rhythmic drum of their feet again.
More Analogs hailed him as he wound down into the substructure of the city. There was some variation between them, but he didn’t know why. It was information he didn’t need, so he didn’t have access to it.
He set up a repeating radio signal stating his name and rank and they let him be, only pausing their tasks to stare as he passed. He found grim humor in it, as humans did the same on the surface. Watched him with eyes round and blank. But there was something almost sinister about the sensation down here. Not the darkness nor the quiet. Maybe knowing there was nothing behind those lenses, no thoughts, no feelings. Just watching.
He dismissed such fancy and took a sharp corner and started heading down.
If NAME had fled into these tunnels, she would have faced the same cautionary warnings as he had. Would she have been able to evade the Analogs? After so many days, surely they would have found her.
His path opened into a wide cavern, lit faintly at the edges and rumbling with activity. The smell of machines and engines was thick here, the roar of vent fans barely audible over the clank of treads and gears.
His sensors alarmed, showing a noxious mix of carbon monoxide. He grimaced, but allowed his helmet to seal fully and filter the air. That always tasted metallic, coating his tongue.
More of the Analogs moved here, pushing towering containers along tracks. The concrete was worn smooth in brighter stripes, showing where years of metal feet had eroded the surface.
Heads turned to observe him, but none challenged. The containers were full of waste, by the markings along the sides. All the debris of the city above, efficiently carted away and out of sight.
She would not have survived long here, breathing such air. He made his way through, dodging the Analogs as they labored. He lurched back swiftly as one massive cart rumbled past, the leading edge of it clipping his exoskeleton and sending him sprawling.
The brute pushing it along paid him no heed. He scrambled up and out of the way, cursing. His fault, though, for telling them he wasn’t human. Not human meant machine. Machine meant expendable. Fixable. Another mindless robot programmed to carry out his tasks.
It was a reminder he had time and again, always surprising him with the shock of the realization. Just because they looked human, had eyes and a head, hands and limbs, didn’t mean they acted like humans.
Their makers couldn’t help it, he’d found, always patterning their creations on themselves, even when it put them at risk. Dangerous, to assume something so alien had compassion, restraint, goodness. Their civilization had learned that lesson all too well.
My first book, Archer 887, was a 2022 Indies Today Awards Contest Finalist, and is on sale now through online book retailers. Pick up a copy, leave a review, and let me know what you think!
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