The Borg kingdom

“Come back before 9, okay?”

“10…final offer!” I replied, pushing my luck a little.

My mom looked at me for a split second. I thought I was done for. “Okay, but just because it’s your birthday.” she said. I saw a half smile as she turned away.

“Remember to take your sword.”

“Will do!”

“And keep the transponder on you at all times.”

“Okay, Mom! It’s not my first time going out.”

“You’re going with Steve, right?”

“Yes”

“Does he have a car?”

“Of course, mom. He’s 16 already.” I say, exasperated

“Send me his transponder code.” Mom demanded

Sigh. “Okay, I’ll beam it to you.” I quickly find the code on my cuff and send it to her.

*Ping*

“Can I go now?” I say, gesturing towards the door.

Mom checked her cuff to make sure the code was real. “Yes, you can go. But remember the num-”

“Okay, thanks, Mom! See you later”. I dashed past the door and closed it behind me.

If I stayed there, she would’ve gone through the whole conversation again. As you can see, my mom is a little overprotective. I can’t exactly blame her, with the news talking about random attacks in Glow City. It's only about 2 hours away from us.

Apparently, we never used to live like this. Humans lived comfortably without even needing to fight the Borgs. They just went to work in an office and then back home to sleep. I know it was safe and everything, but it sounds boring, honestly.

In school, they told us that our ancestors didn’t have much to fight about, so they used to invent stupid reasons to fight each other, like territory and energy. We were told they could have used the money spent in wars to get things they wanted without bloodshed, but jealousy and greed made them blind to that.

After the Borgs started attacking, the world came together to fight them. There was no talk about territories and power because they all knew that if the Borgs were not stopped, they would have overrun the whole world. The Borg Defence Army (BDA) was created a few years into what could only be called an invasion. The BDA developed new weapons and processes to deal with the Borgs. They proved very useful. Life became semi-peaceful within cities because of the city defence systems, but outside said cities, it was truly the wild.

Borgs often moved in groups, so if you run into them, you’ll most likely be done for.

“Yo, Mike.” My friend pulled up in his beat-up ’44 Toyota.

“Hey, Steve.” I hop into the passenger seat and reach for the belt, only to realise it was missing. “Drag racing again?”

“You know it!” he replied with a big smile. “Forgot to reinstall the belt.” he said matter-of-factly.

“Did you at least win? That way if I end up dead, there would at least be a silver lining to it?”

“Nope,” he said, still smiling. “Came in fourth. Just need to tweak the oxygen intake. It’ll be perfect.”

“You motor junkie.” I say offhandedly.

“Yeah? And what the hell is the difference between that and what you do every chance you get? Ha?”

“Are you serious?!” I turn my head towards Steve in shock. “What I do actually helps people? And the better I get, the better my chances at entering the Academy.”

“Ah, stop bullshitting me.” scoffs Steve. “You’re doing it because you’re bored, just like the rest of us.”

“I’m serious.” I sit up on the seat and face forward. “We were not meant to live like this. We need to take back our lives from these creatures.”

Steve sensed I was being serious now. “Alright, alright.” he waves his arm as if dismissing the awkwardness. “Why do you have to go to that dumbass academy anyway? Everyone says that company is shady as fuck”

I stay silent for a second. I know what people say about Atlas, but I don’t care. I need to get stronger, and that’s the fastest way to do it. “Just drive, man. You know you can’t change my mind.”

“Alright then,” Steve shrugs his shoulders. “Where to today?”

I quickly take out an old map of the region. Because of the ‘safety and security measures’, they don’t allow these maps on our cuffs.

“Sector 76. There were reports of a few AracnaBorgs in that area. Hope you brought the cannons.”

"Yuck,” Steve shivered visibly. “I fucking hate spiders. Any other options on the menu?”

“No. No other reports.”

“Well, sir, I find that very disappointing. 1 star review!”

We both crack up. Steve is always good at lightening the mood.

****

Sector 76

Desolate and cold. An old industrial complex housing multiple metalwork factories. The ArachnaBorgs came and settled here a week earlier. Cyborgs love desolate and metallic spaces, which is the reason these places were abandoned. After this discovery was made public by Atlas, a world-leading defence contractor, many countries began to restructure their cities to minimise the attacks.

As the saying goes, ‘necessity is the mother of all invention’. Within a short 5 years of that information becoming public, researchers in Norway were able to make an alloy that closely resembled steel in properties but was not metallic. Soon, this alloy replaced everything that was previously metal.

Attacks on cities were reduced, but Borgs still roamed occupied cities and abandoned places like this one. The ArachnaBorgs were considered a level 2 Borg threat: they were dangerous but could be defeated via conventional weapons. They liked hovering around places like this that stronger Borgs don’t bother with.

Most of the ArachnaBorgs were inside one of the more metal-rich factories in the complex. They were slouched on metal bars as if bored. It was quiet. One would almost forget these were the enemies of humanity.

Suddenly, all the ArachnaBorgs stood up with attention, all looking at the entrance. Seconds later, a beat-up, rusty pick-up crashed through the glass. Two youngsters can be seen aboard; one was driving manically with a horrified look plastered across his face, while the other had his torso peeking through the open roof and was shooting at the dozen or so ArachnaBorgs following them.

***

“You said A FUCKING FEW!” Steve shouted while frantically trying to manoeuvre around the complex and the endless obstacles.

“A FEW IS SUBJECTIVE, ISN’T IT?” Mike replied, laughing. “JUST KEEP DRIVING. WE’LL BE FINE.” Internally, he was thankful that Steve brought the cannon this time. A little bit of plasma will help here. He couldn’t imagine what would have happened otherwise.

“ARE YOU INSANE! HOW IN THE WORLD ARE WE GONNA BE FI-” Steve squinted his eyes. “FUCK! IT'S A DEAD END.”

Mike quickly turned around to look and then got back to shooting “ITS GLASS. JUST DRIVE THROUGH IT.”

“YOU’RE GONNA PAY FOR THE REPAIRS WITH YOUR SHARE!” Steve bitterly accepted the fact that there was no other way. He gently caressed his dashboard. “Don’t worry, Monique. It’s just gonna hurt a little. I'll fix you up like new as soon as we’re out of here.” he whispered lovingly.

Steve tightened his grip on the steering wheel and vocalised what can only be described as a Viking war cry. He sped up and heroically crashed through the thin glass, driving into the main floor of a factory.

Just as they thought they would be fine as long as they exited on the other side of the building, the all too familiar ticking and metallic taps echoed all around them. ArachnaBorgs were crawling down the metal pillars in droves, heading towards them.

“FUCK! FUCK! FUUUCK!” Steve’s eyes darted left and right, quickly counting the numbers. “THERE’S GOTTA BE AT LEAST 30 OF THEM!”

Mike quickly turned the cannon around and started targeting the ones coming from the front. “HEAD TO YOUR 1 O’CLOCK. I SEE ANOTHER GLASS PANEL THERE”

“FUCK YOU MIKE! FUCK YOU AND YOUR DAMN MAP.” Steve shifted toward the direction Mike told him and hauled ass.

Mike continued shooting the spiders down, but most just kept coming. One managed to climb up the back. “MIKE, DON'T LET IT SCRATCH MY BABY!”.

“STOP CRYING, WILL YOU?”. Mike let go of the cannon and let it rest on its stand, then jumped through the open roof onto the back of the truck. He grabbed his sword and unsheathed it. The edge lit up bright yellow like a heating element, allowing Mike to slice through the ArachnaBorg’s leg. It tried to hang on with the other legs, but quickly lost its balance and fell away from the truck. Mike then grabbed the cannon and resumed shooting the ones in front.

“AHHH! IT SCRATCHED THE BACK! I’M GONNA KILL YOU FOR THIS, MIKE!”

Miraculously, they managed to get out of the factory with minor scratches to the truck, leaving behind a sea of destroyed ArachnaBorgs and some shattered glass.

On the other side of the building, where the truck ended up getting out of the building, was a forest. It was once a national park visited by thousands of people each year. Now, the park benches and hotdog stands are nothing but ancient moss-covered artifacts.

The ArachnaBorgs seemed to stop following them after a few minutes of driving through the forest, so Steve abruptly stopped the truck. “Damn it, Mike.” Steve huffed. “Can you PLEASE double-check the information next time before you turn us into Borg dinner?”

“I know. Sorry about this. I swear I was told there were only around 5 AracnaBorgs.”

“Yeah, whatever. I wasn’t kidding about Monique’s repairs, by the way”. Steve quickly took out a calculator from the glove compartment and started typing. “The repairs will cost around $460 and some change”.

Mike huffed and hung his shoulders low. Steve can pretty much be called an airhead in almost anything. But, when it came to anything mechanic or related to his car, he was a savant. “Alright, alright. We'll lure the remaining ones out, and I’m sure my share of the corpses can cover the costs and more”.

“It better. You have no idea how much I put into this baby.” Steve caressed the side of the truck with his hand. “You know she won last year’s Seattle Wreckball championship? Oh, Mike, you should’ve seen her” Steve’s eye lit up in excitement, almost as if he forgot what happened mere minutes ago “The way she drifted around the track was pure elegance. There was this one fucker who tried t-” suddenly, the earth shook. Massive footsteps sounded and echoed all around them.

“The fuck is it now?!” Steve started turning the ignition and getting ready for whatever was coming next.

“Let’s just leave and not find out, shall we?” Mike started walking towards the back of the truck.

The footsteps started getting louder and closer.

Mike jumped onto the back of the truck and started banging on the roof. “Come one! What’s the hold-up, LET’S GO!”

Steve tried turning the ignition a few times, but it was useless, so he closed his eyes and stopped trying.

“ARE YOU SERIOUS!” Mike shouted, with his eyes bulging.

“Relax, she just needs a little lovin’” Steve opened his eyes, pressed down on the clutch, and turned the key in one swift movement. The car hummed to life and the tires started skidding. They were off.

“FASTER! FASTER! IT’S GAINING ON US!”

“I KNOW! DO YOU THINK I’M NOT TRYING? IT'S ALL MUD OVER HERE” Steve could feel the truck losing traction, but his experience in racing helped him keep control. Keeping control of the car came with the steep price of losing speed, and they couldn’t afford that here.

“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?” Mike could see a metallic sheen coming from between the green behind them. The closer it got, the clearer the picture became. What he was seeing were the legs of whatever was chasing them!

“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING!” Steve could see the same thing on the side mirrors. They have never heard of anything coming close to what they were now seeing in size. Steve couldn’t tear his eyes away from this thing.

Suddenly, the truck seemed to hit a bump on the road, and all the tires were punctured at the same time.

Almost immediately after the truck stopped, around 30 people clad in black came running from the forest. Lights shone brightly onto Mike and Steve, so they could not make out any faces.

The thing following them stopped just behind a couple of tall trees, but they could see that it looked like a gigantic bipedal animal of some kind. One they have never seen before.

“Don’t move! You've intruded onto private property. Come out slowly with your hands up”

Mike was jolted away from the animal. Looks like they got into some kind of trouble. For now, it is best to do what these men are saying.

“NOOO! Monique!”

“Fuck me!” Mike sighed quietly to himself.

“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO HER?” Steve pushed his door open and stepped out in anger. “IMMA KICK YOUR FUC-”

All Mike could remember about what happened was feeling electricity buzzing around his body and then darkness.