Warden

the three bars in the upper right of her HUD, and a popup appeared showing other available networks. She connected to the one labeled Rust Town Local.
A new popup appeared.
You are now online. What would you like to do?
“Never mind,” she said. “I’m in.”
There were various options, such as sync a mail account, and search, but she would play with it later when she had a spare moment. For now, there was more than enough to occupy her attention in the real world, so she simply closed the popup.
“Used to be, you could access the Net anywhere in the world,” Will said. “In the cities, the countryside, it didn’t matter. But then we gave up the countryside to the bioweapons, letting it become the Outlands. Most of the wireless towers out there were lost to the creatures—targeting network infrastructure and military bases was ingrained into their collective instincts by design. The remaining towers failed over the years due to lack of regular maintenance.
“A network of satellites in orbit continued to offer wireless access to the Outlands for a while, at least until one of the rogue nations—some say it was Costa Rica—launched a cascade attack and fried most of them in a single fell swoop. Because the replacement cost was so high, and worldwide wireless access was no longer needed—most people never left the cities anymore—the High Council decided to forgo launching replacement satellites. And so, we’re back to relying on the old fiber infrastructure to link the major hubs, with wireless connections available only around the cities.”
There was a gap in the barriers ahead—two of the Texas walls had been turned sideways, like open doors, allowing access to the settlement beyond. A pair of gold sentry robots stood on either side of the gap. A large, sealed bin resided on the asphalt next to the rightmost. The container was about half as tall as the barrier, and three times as long.
The rightmost sentry robot beckoned toward the bin as Will approached.
The salvager glanced at Rhea. “Guns aren’t allowed in most settlements.”
A wide lid on the bin opened. Inside was a compartment containing a clear liquid. It was big enough to fit Will’s pistol, with room to spare.
Will tossed the weapon into the liquid. Horatio came forward next and extended his arms; the rifle barrels underneath slid forward and popped out, splashing into the compartment.
Horatio stepped back and the liquid promptly froze, completely encasing the weapons in a block of ice. The compartment whirred inward, carrying the block out of view. The lid also began to close. Before it sealed completely, Rhea caught sight of a new cavity rotating into place, this one filled with fresh liquid waiting to accept the weapons of the next visitors.
The robots looked the three of them up and down, those metal disks that served as eyes flashing the whole time, no doubt scanning for further weapons. They concentrated on the packs that Rhea and Horatio carried on their backs. One of sentries also gazed skyward, where Gizmo was hovering overhead, then it jerked a thumb toward the gap.
“Proceed,” the robot intoned.
“Not yet,” Will said. “Not until we’ve acquired some certain hardware for our cyborg.” He glanced at Horatio.
The robot nodded and entered the settlement.
Rhea gave Will a questioning look, but when he made no move to follow Horatio, she asked quietly: “What’s going on?”
“This won’t take long,” Will assured her.
The robots kept those unnerving, disk eyes upon her and Will the whole time. Rhea did her best not to fidget beneath their gaze.
Horatio emerged a few minutes later, carrying a small cloak folded over one arm. The robot offered it to Rhea.
“Picked this up from the first clothing vendor I came across,” Horatio said.
Rhea let the hooded cloak fall open and glanced at Will uncertainly.
“Put it on,” he encouraged.
She draped it over her head and shoulders and looked to Will once more.
“Raise the hood,” he said, lifting it for her and letting it fall over her face.
“There,” Will said. “With that hood, now nobody will know you’re a cyborg.”
“Why does it matter?” Rhea said. “We’re in a civilized area now. There are laws here, aren’t there?”
“Well, yes, but certain parts of Rust Town are even more lawless than the Outlands,” Will said. He nodded at the golden robots. “These sentries here, they don’t have much of a presence in the neighborhood we’re headed to. All I can say is, certain unsavory individuals might decide to do you harm if they see you. So keep the hood raised.”
Will beckoned her to follow Horatio into the settlement, and he took up a position behind her.

4
Rhea gazed in wonder at the different buildings around her. Very few were taller than two meters, and most were lean-tos, with cargo containers scattered among them. Graffiti sometimes marred the exteriors. One in particular caught her eye, which read: it’s okay to be a cyborg.
Children dressed in shabby clothes played in front of some of the structures; the doors were shut on most, but external security cameras monitored the perimeters, and rotated as she and the others passed each one. There was a distinct lack of windows.
The ground seemed softer somehow. She glanced down: below, the asphalt had been replaced with a mixture of sand and dirt.
She lifted her gaze, but motion drew her eyes even higher, where insects roved to and fro a few meters above the path.
“Odd,” Rhea said. “The insects… I didn’t notice any in the Outlands, but now they’re everywhere.”
“Those aren’t insects,” Horatio told her. “They’re drones. Nearly all of them are autonomous. Most act as repeaters for the local wireless network, and they’re also equipped with micro cameras so the settlement’s central AI can keep tabs on everyone. The ones in the distance are for transport. If you look closely, you can see the payloads. They service all online orders for the capital city and its shantytown.”
Squinting, she noticed there were indeed bigger drones in the distance, traveling around ten to twenty meters from the