The little triangular taxi moved in and out of traffic, carefully balanced on three wheels. It was a soft, sky blue, with a white swooping line on each side that started at the front, just behind the single headlight, fairly narrow and widened to take up the middle third of the paintjob at the square back. The robot in the front was obviously artificial, an animatronic driver in a pale blue uniform complete with a cap that had a rictus of a smile on its face at all times.
In the back, passed out, was an entirely disreputable pair. Both male, one thin and dishevelled, the other taller and more muscular but looking more like it had been dragged through a ditch than any lack of real grooming.
One wore a scientist's smock, the other wore a ragged and tattered military uniform. The one in the smock held tight to a tattered canvas bag full of a wide array of battered and worn tools. The one in the military uniform held tight to long item that looked nothing like a proper weapon but still had the aura of one.
The taxi activated the blinker, smoothly moved across three lanes of traffic, and took the off ramp. It navigated through streets that were often lit by fires in barrels, weaving around burnt out or stripped vehicles, many of them siblings to the little cab.
The little cab stopped just in front of a small group of short furry creatures, all bent forward, many with implements of mayhem held in their hands, gathered around two barrels full of burning debris.
The little cab beeped its horn twice.
The group moved up as the passenger door raised up.
They stared at the figure in the tattered, stained, and roughly patched military uniform. The wider end of the object was tucked under its shoulder, the smaller end between its feet, which were adorned with two different types of boots.
The group nudged one another, some chuckling evilly.
It wasn't often that entertainment and a possible payday was delivered straight to them in the heart of their territory.
Gathering up closely, one of the larger ones reached forward and grabbed the soldier's foot, yanking on it to pull the unconscious being out of the taxi for their free beating.
Before anything else the soldier's finger tightened on the trigger.
The weapon went live, loaded a round, and fired within a millisecond.
A loud KA-RACK sounded out as the weapon fired a single solid round.
Pink mist showered out. Gobbets of flesh sailed through the street. Blood sprayed and rained down.
In an arc from the door multiple pairs of legs stood upright for a moment then fell over or the knees and hocks went limp and the legs folded.
Out of nearly a dozen toughs, less than three were standing unharmed. The ones closer to the arc of devestation had bone fragment shrapnel lodged deep in their bodies, or pieces of metal from what the others had been wearing that had punched through them.
The door closed as the soldier sat up. The taxi gave out a friendly series of beeps.
The remaining toughs screamed in abject terror.
The taxi drove off into the night.
The Strevik'al soldier, one Rifleman First Class, retired, Shraku'ur, looked around as he woke up all the way.
The misted blood, splattered chunks, and assorted gore that had backsplashed into the taxi didn't bother him.
He'd seen far far worse.
"Taxi," he said after coughing for a moment.
"Yes?" the animatronic figure spun around to face him, its whiskers quivering.
"How did we get in here?" Shraku'ur asked.
"The door opened and you got in," the animatronic stated.
"Where are we?" Shraku'ur asked. He looked over, saw the scientist, and nudged him several times.
The scientist yawned and looked around, staying still.
"You're in a JNY Taxi Service Mobile Module," the animatronic said.
"What world?" Shraku'ur asked, holding his temper in check.
"Shrevik'al Prime," the animatronic supplied helpfully.
"What city?" Shraku'ur asked.
"Shesska'alik, the Capital of the Strekiv'al Prime and Capital of the Strekiv'al Dominion, currently merging with fast travelway 523," the animatronic said.
The scientist coughed again then looked up, digging in its pockets. "What is the date?"
Shraku'ur, out of habit, pulled a pack of Treana'ad smoke sticks out of his breast pocket, opening it and handing one to the scientist, Taskapak, then lighting them both.
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"It is month 7, Sunhammer, Day 14, Evening, nineteen hours, fifteen minutes, the year 3,803 Current Era," the animatronic supplied helpfully. It made a frown around the permanent smile. "You are current inhaling carcinogenic smoke."
"Yeah," Shraku'ur said. He tapped the controls and the window rolled down.
He could faintly smell the ever-present smell of a large city. Most importantly, a populated large city. The smell of impending or just past rained, the faint smell of a wet animal and rotting garbage, the smell of industrial lubricants, hot metal, cracking ferrocrete, and the ever present scent of meals gone by.
"Where are you taking us?" the scientist, Taskapak, asked, his voice high and nervous.
"To the Dominion Intelligence Services Headquarters," the animatronic said. It turned back around. "We should be arriving in one hour."
Shraku'ur looked at the scientist.
"We have been gone over five years," the scientist squealed. He narrowed his eyes. "We were lost in that terrible place for lifetimes, it seemed."
Sharku'ur nodded, turning to look out the window. "Do you think she has truly released us?"
Taskapak puffed on the cigarette, surrounding himself with a cloud. "She is not here, we are. We are in Dominion space. Evidence states that she has either released us to watch what we do with our false freedom in order to measure and examine our responses or that she has truly freed us from her machinations and we are no longer of interest to her."
Shraku'ur stared at the buildings as they went by, noting how many of them had lit windows, how many windows had shadows that moved across them.
His hands tightened slightly on the Confederacy magnetic accelerator rifle he held in his hands.
"Do you remember where you acquired that weapon, soldier?" Taskapak asked, pointing at the rifle.
Shraku'ur looked down. It felt right in his hands, comfortable, like it had been in his hands and arms for lifetimes.
"No," he said. "But it is familiar to me as if I have always had it."
"I deduce it is the cause of the blood and gore and pink mist within the cabin and coating us," Taskapak said. He looked around. "I deduce another being made the mistake of grabbing on you and you fired before bothering to check your target."
Shraku'ur snorted. "Yes."
The scientist nodded. "A perfectly reasonable reaction, given where we have been for too many time periods."
"You know that Dominion Intelligence is going to tear apart our brains, right?" Shraku'ur said.
Taskapak was silent for a moment. "She put us in here, which means she programmed out destinations. Obviously, your elimination of random beings amused her and put out a notice that incidental casualties is not her concern," he said. He looked up. "But does she actually want us to enter the Dominion Intelligence Facility or does she want us to take another destination?"
"Either way, she learns more about us than we learn about her," Shraku'ur said. He sighed.
"We cannot comprehend her motives, or her technology, so we do not understand or comprehend what science she does upon us," Taskapak agreed.
"I wish I had never even heard of Terros," Shraku'ur said.
Taskapak slapped Shraku'ur's muscular shoulder. "Soldier! Rise from depression! The time for self-pity is passed!"
Shraku'ur took a deep breath, resisting the urge to put a fist in Taskapak's eye. "All right."
"Public conveyance," Taskapak snapped.
The animatronic spun around. "Yes?"
Taskapak spouted off an address. "Take us here."
The animatronic spun back around to face the windshield, which now had rain spattering on it. It activated the wipers, despite not needing them due to the radar and motion sensors in the pointed nose of the taxi.
"Recomputing. Trip will now take 2.5 hours," the taxi said.
Taskapak leaned back, flipping the butt out the window. "Wake me when we get there."
A wave of the hand and the embedded chip paid off the taxi, which hummed as it sped away.
Shraku'ur looked up at the building. It was marred by where fires had stained the ferrocrete, where explosions had blown out windows or sections of the wall. The letters on the front were somewhat disarranged, one hanging from only one support.
Dominion Scientific Inquiry, Investigation, and Experimentation Center 19387 - Secret Facility - Do Not Engage Curiosity.
He shook his head and followed the disheveled Takapak into the building. He had to wait for the smaller scientist to 'do science' on the security of the six entryway blockades, each one involving tearing out twisted together and taped up wires and rearranging them according to patters of lights until the barrier buzzed and unlocked.
Eighteen stories up, the elevator proving to be a death trap and the stairs to be autowalk stairs, and Taskapak led Shraku'ur into a cluttered room that looked like someone had thrown a satchel charge into an electronics reseller's store.
"Sit, sit," Taskapak said, pushing up a conical helmet and brushing off a padded chair.
"What's that?" Shraku'ur asked.
"Brain scanner. Will see if brain has been altered or has anything stuck inside like a bolt or screw from a mis-scienced experiment," Taskapak said.
Shraku'ur sighed and sat down. The helmet was lowered over his head.
Taskapak turned on equipment, spun wheels, slapped consoles, and spent a few seconds kicking an object that lit up with a hum. Finally he moved over to a screen and stared at it. The helmet made Shraku'ur's teeth hurt, then tingle, then made his nose itch.
"Brain looks standard. Would have to dissect to tell better," Taskapak said. He looked at Shraku'ur. "Dissection?"
"No, thanks anyway, I"m good," Shraku'ur said.
He no longer took offense at anything the insane little scientist offered.
After all, if he took that many electric shocks he would probably be just as crazy as the scientist.
Taskapak just nodded and moved over, flapping his hands to encourage Shraku'ur to get up.
They switched positions and Taskapak sat in the chair for a few moments, then got up.
He looked over the scans while Shraku'ur just sat on a box smoking another Treana'ad smoke stick. He vaguely remembered robbing a vending machine for them. An explosion made the room tremble but Shraku'ur could tell it was a fair distance away. Since no alarms started wailing he just ignored the explosion like he was ignoring all the equipment sparking and sizzling around him.
"No difference. Can see the eye implants, connections to nerves and neural tissue, but brain looks no different," Taskapak said. He sat down on a stack of components. Something gave out with a small blue flash and a curl of smoke. "She did science on us but not too much science."
"What kind of science do you think she did?" Shraku'ur asked.
Taskapak sat silently for a long moment. "Dark science."
Shraku'ur nodded and they sat silently for a while. After a bit Shraku'ur hefted the rifle and held it out. "Want to look at this?"
Taskapak shook his head. "No. Not good to do science on Terror war equipment. Made for killing. Will kill those who do science on it. Obvious."
Shraku'ur nodded, getting out the pack of smokes and handing a lit one to Taskapak before lighting one for himself and putting everything away.
"Now what?" Shraku'ur asked.
Taskapak made a motion of uncertainty.
"They'll know we're here soon, if they don't already," Shraku'ur said.
"They will want to do science on us," Taskapak agreed.
"What do you want to do?" Shraku'ur asked.
Taskapak gave a smile.
Shraku'ur just nodded.