Pope 3

 Pope took a deep breath and a contented sigh. Standing on the top deck of the Mount Vernon, nine stories in the air, he lost himself in the view, the sunshine and especially the fresh air. He absentmindedly scratched the sleek grey cat behind the ear.

Certainly an improvement over spending a month down in a mine.

The Mount Vernon trundled along at a ponderous pace that matched its incredible size. The Giga-harvester stretched some eight hundred feet, practically a land-based aircraft carrier, but if anything she was undersized. The grain fields under her care stretched nearly a half million square miles, over half of the Great plains of North America.

If the Mount Vernon represented the height of Human technical achievement, the robotic behemoth pulling it represented the Stranger's. The “Boarder”, as they were called, stood even taller than the Giga-harvester, pulling it along with a massive pair of chains like a plow horse, shaking the earth with each methodical step. Its face, like all Boarder’s, was featureless except a pair of golden eyes that stared out unblinkingly at the world.

These robotic sentries were a kind of planetary defense system, as far as anyone could tell. Though none of them seemed terribly bothered by more menial labor.

Well, at least they were believed to be fully robotic. They weren't exactly big on conversation. And no one had figured out how you could damage one enough to look inside.

Pope looked back at Mount Vernon’s cab and gave her “Skipper” a thumbs up. The white bearded man returned the gesture half heartedly and went back to his instruments. Pope had gotten the distinct impression he wasn't too happy about picking up hitchhikers, but there were so few people on the Earth these days it was considered uncouth to turn such requests down.

This, Pope reflected, had gotten him into trouble more than once and he felt a little guilty about imposing on the older farmer.

Ah, well, the view was worth it. And he'd pay him back with a stack of old magazines the next time he came through.

Suddenly, Mount Vernon came to an abrupt stop. Pope was thrown back, almost landing on top of the cat, who gave an annoyed hiss and darted away. Pope jumped to his feet, as the skipper stuck his head out of the cabin.

The Boarder had come to a stop, mid stride. It looked around slowly, metallic gears grinding and servos whirring. Pope, the skipper and the cat followed its gaze, but all they saw was the endless field of wheat.

With an earth shaking thud the Boarder tossed away the chains and started walking. The skipper watched it go, mouth hanging open.

Pope scratched his head. “I… does it do that often?”

“Never!” The skipper exclaimed, shock replaced with clear annoyance. “Well that’s just a fine thing. Do you have any idea how much fuel this thing needs to run without It? The farm will be ruined in a month!”

“What if I go see what he’s after?” Pope offered.

The skipper glanced at him and shrugged, clearly not taking the offer seriously. He muttered furiously to himself, ignoring Pope and pulling out a toolbox and then a radio, calling back to his headquarters.

Pope shrugged, called for the cat, and started the long climb down to the ground below.

The Boarder wasn’t hard to catch up to. His strides were impressive, obviously, but he wasn’t built for speed and moved with a slow, implacable gate. This suited Pope just fine, still enjoying the sunlight and fresh air.

He made a few efforts to call up to the behemoth but it of course made no response. He doubted if such things were programmed to take notice of something as small as a single stray Human. He pet the cat perched on his shoulder thoughtfully, pulling out a bag of toffee.

For the entire rest of the day the three of them trudged through the fields of grain, the Boarder sending up clouds of dust with each step, Pope humming a half forgotten psalm to himself, and the cat occasionally disappearing to hunt field mice.

When darkness fell, Pope managed to clamber up onto the giant’s heel, huddling up for the night. He really hoped he wouldn’t fall off.

He didn’t and woke bright and early the next morning. He stretched and yawned and that’s when he was jostled off.

He picked himself up, dusted himself off, and continued to follow the leisurely behemoth. This was the kind of deal he could get used to, just him and the cat and their tall robotic friend and the gathering storm clouds.

Storm clouds?

Storm clouds.

That day was significantly less enjoyable, Pope doing his best to huddle beneath his large traveling companion, his suit getting splattered with water and mud. The cat leaped back onto the Boarder’s foot, turning around to stare judgmentally at the man who had dragged him out here.

“Hey, no one said you had to come along”

More than once, a bolt of lightning erupted across the sky, striking the Boarder and sending Pope and the cat jumping back. But the metallic titan seemed barely fazed, trudging along all the same. The air grew heavy with the smell of sparks and burning ozone and Pope began to wish he had just helped carry fuel to the Mount Vernon.

Thankfully, the weather cleared up right before nighttime and it was a reasonably comfortable sleep on the Boarder’s heel. The next day, mountains loomed into view and Pope began to feel a burning curiosity as towards their destination. Just where was the behemoth leading him?

The Boarder stepped over the ranch’s perimeter defenses with ease. Pope waved to the confused guards as they passed, lazily lounging on his makeshift “bed”. As the terrain became steeper and dominated more and more by trees, the Boarder’s pace slowed even further. Pope took notice as it made an effort to not crush the forest TOO badly.

The weather grew colder as they climbed higher. Pristine, untouched woodland stretched out in every direction. They passed one crystal-clear mountain stream after another. The cat disappeared in the pursuit of chipmunks and bluejays now. The thought of “bear” crossed Pope’s mind and he checked to make sure he had extra magazines for his pistol.

Something else changed in the air, the following day. It wasn’t just growing colder or clearer but more energized, somehow, like when the Boarder had been struck by lightning.

Finally, at about noon, the Boarder stopped. It just stood there, motionless, staring out blankly at the horizon.

“What gives?” Pope asked his titanic friend, popping a toffee in his mouth. “You just lead me out here for a hike or something?”

He nearly jumped out of his skin when the Boarder turned to look at him.

It was an indescribable feeling, to have such a large being take notice of you, specifically, fixing you with a gaze from great, golden eyes that were about the same size as you. Pope took a step back, unsure of how to proceed. The cat, as loyal as ever, beat a hasty retreat up a tree and watched the metal behemoth from a safe distance.

Slowly, the Boarder raised its arm, pointing at a distant mountaintop. Its gaze now somehow seemed… expectant, like it was waiting for Pope to respond.

“Er… sure” Pope said with a shrug, giving his tall friend a salute. “I’ll go check it out. I guess. Whatever ‘it’ is”

Being a big believer in not arguing with people that could throw an oil rig at you, Pope set off again. Carefully fixing the specific mountaintop in his sight, he made sure to check the small compass he wore on his wrist like a watch. The last thing he needed was to get lost in the forest.

Now that he didn’t have a robot to keep pace with, Pope enjoyed a night on the actual ground, in a bed of leaves. Although he did have to admit that his suit jacket made a lousy blanket regardless and the ants were a problem. But he walked faster than the Boarder and would hopefully make the mountaintop by sunset.

The cat made a reappearance by noon, headed back from the mountaintop. Pope listened to his friend, nodding in an understanding that perhaps only the two of them could share.

“So that’s what’s up” He mused, scratching his head in thought. “Well, I’ll worry about how our tall friend knew later. For now, let's do double time. Sooner this is cleared up the better”

At the top of the mountain sat a clearing, dominated by a grey concrete structure. A tall barbed wire fence in disrepair ringed the compound, the gate barely hanging on as it was and was easily pushed off its hinges by Pope. The door had been locked, and even reinforced, but a section of collapsed wall rendered the point moot.

Pope wondered what the purpose of the installation had been, and which antiquated, long-gone faction had commissioned it, as he walked through the empty halls. His footsteps echoed loudly in the stillness, papers on clipboards rustling and mice scurrying away as he passed. 

The hallway finally terminated in a control room overlooking a large underground hanger. Inside the hanger sat a large, metal arch, connected by all manner of wire and tube. It pulsed with a sickly turquoise glow as an alarm, that had probably once been screeching loud, dully whined in the background.

Pope quickly searched the control room’s computer panels, weatherbeaten and in no small state of disrepair. Luckily, the shutoff switch was still clearly marked and easily flipped, killing the power and mercifully putting the dying alarm to rest.

Pope breathed a sigh of relief, giving the cat a thumbs up, before studying the readout on the control panel more closely. “It doesn't look like it was a bomb or anything. It almost looks like a warp drive, but stationary. Something bending space-time in a portal I guess?” The cat didn't say anything of course but Pope still scowled at it. “I don't know, I'm not an astrophysicist. If you want, I'll bless the dumb thing”

Pope looked around, found an old fire axe, and buried it in the control panel with an explosion of sparks. “There. I assume no one was dumb enough to leave this thing on, an animal or scavenger must have been rooting around in here and bumped something”

He ran a hand through his hair and studied the now silent device. “Can you imagine what it must have been like? A century ago when they were building this thing? All that time and effort to reach the stars, just to have them come down to us”

Pope shook his head and turned to leave the facility. He was lost in thought all the way out but quickly snapped back to reality when he exited just in time to see the Boarder disappear over the horizon, presumably heading back to the Mount Vernon.

Pope watched it go for a moment, before turning on his heel and heading back inside. “If we're walking all the way back to the car, I'm looking for jellybeans”