"Become?" Maxwell pulled up a monitoring program wirelessly connected to a small satellite dish. "You make it sound like they're alive and that they're evolving." He grabbed the dish with one hand and exited the van.
"Isn't that what we're doing? Aren't we trying to create a better killing machine?" Peters placed his glasses back on and got out of his partner's way. "Isn't that evolution?"
Maxwell climbed a ladder on the back of the van and fastened the satellite dish to the top of the vehicle. "Remember they're only machines; they're things trapped within the parameter of their program." He turned to his partner. "I wouldn't worry. All that's happened is someone has tampered with the T-3's programming, and no one has stumbled across the implanted code." Maxwell grinned mischievously. "Or maybe we're dealing with a ghost in the machine."
"Don't joke about something like that! You know I freak out easily." Peters watched as his partner climbed back down. "Whatever it might be, I'm glad the Factory decommissioned all of them. I could swear some of the other T-3s were looking at me the same way as the malfunctioning one. They were looking at me with disgust, and they kept talking to each other like they were planning something on their own."
Back down on the sidewalk, Maxwell focused more on the mission ahead. "Whatever you say. Let's get this job done. I'm starved and want to go eat at Joe's Diner." He moved to the Un-Men. "Team Leader take your unit in."
It looked to Etna Toys, honing in on Pandora's tracking beacon. "I comply."
The six Un-Men marched toward her position as if they were one creature bent on destruction.
Inside the warehouse...
Kat hurried and put her Ravlek Vest on, wondering how they kept finding her. Cobalt current flashed from her eyes as she placed her handgun in the backpack, and then she slung the AK-47 over her shoulder and grabbed the backpack by the top handle. Kat ran for the center of five boxing machines in the middle of the warehouse, slid to a stop, and took cover behind one of the conveyor belts. The first two Un-Men entered the warehouse through the front door; they were Pretty Boys. Kat fired twice with the AK-47, hitting each in the forehead, and they fell as two large muscular T-5s entered behind them.
The Un-Men kept filing in the front, and she wondered if they were decoys. She had sensed there were two more, but she wasn't sure where they were. Kat calmed herself, so she could use her ability. It was a little hard since she still hadn't come down from her last fight with the Un-Men. She managed to sense one as the fifth Un-Man entered from the side door; it was a T-2. Kat caught a glimpse of a rocket launcher before the T-2 lifted it and aimed it for her. She fled from her position as it fired, and the rocket flew, hit a large boxing machine, and blew it apart. Kat fired the last round of the AK-47 into the T-2, removed a partial magazine from her thigh pocket, and placed in the last of her ammo.
Her final enemy entered through the front door and walked over its fallen brethren, wielding its own rocket launcher; it was the Team Leader. The Team Leader paused and fired as Kat dove to the floor, and the rocket whooshed by her, blowing up a boxing machine near the cot. She panicked, realizing the note and music box were still there and rushed to the fire. Kat watched in horror as the flames devoured the note. She didn't have time to mourn its loss, not when she could still save the other item. She dropped the rifle, quickly reached her left hand into the fire, snatched the music box from the small inferno, and the lid seared her palm. She gently tossed the glowing red music box across the floor to safety and shook her hand in pain. Kat knew she didn't have time to focus on the burn, grabbed the rifle, and turned in the direction of her enemy. The Team Leader retreated before she could fire at it. Seconds later, her heart stopped beating the bio-mecha warning, and the Ult L-E dimmed. She glanced at her throbbing left palm and saw a star shaped burn as her hand smoldered as if she held a hot ember. She spit in her hand, and the smoke dissipated, but the scorching pang remained. Kat ignored the pain as something more pressing drew her attention, and she turned back to the fire. The note was no more than ash; it had been destroyed along with a little part of herself, and only one of her hopes remained. She walked to the music box and sat crossed leg in front of the ashen chest, afraid to pick it up. Kat didn't know what she would do if it no longer played. She rubbed her temples again as her Ultra-Epi induced headache worsened. She couldn't worry about the skull-splitting migraine; she had to know if it still worked. Using the sleeve of her jacket as a mitten, she picked up the hot music box, carefully wiped the soot from it, and opened the lid. A mountain of relief washed over her as Unfinished Melody played as clear as the first day she heard it, and her body relaxed. She thought about closing the lid and prevent herself from entering the trance, but that thought and her fears faded along with everything else as Kat entered the Drifting Time. Her anxiety and headache vanished as the tune reestablished the electrical balance of her body and made her vulnerable to attack.
Outside, the Team Leader headed back to Maxwell and Peters to receive its next orders, and soon it would return with more of its brethren.
Chapter Twenty-three
The Return
Katharine's view...
The three o'clock hour tolls outside Etna Toys, pulling me from my induced sleep, and delirious with fear, I search the warehouse and find that I'm alone, at least for the moment. How could I be so stupid as to allow myself to fall asleep? Did I want to die?
The fires caused by the rocket have burn themselves out, pockets of smoke fill the large building, and the temperature has dropped at least ten degrees. A cold front must have moved into the area. I close the music box, stand, cough a little for the smoke, and shiver. My headache and anxiety are gone, but my upper left palm still throbs where the raw skin has blistered from the burn, and I grimace for the searing sensation.
In an area still smoldering with light gray smoke, I spot an elevator that I never noticed before. I move toward it, realizing cardboard boxes had been stacked in front of it, and when the fire destroyed them, it revealed the elevator. I walk over the smoking cardboard ash, stop in front of the cab doors, and look for a call button; there isn't one. I examine the elevator and notice it looks like no one has used it in ages. I stare a little longer, hoping to find something, and when I don't find anything, I move to the Un-Men to recover weapons. I quicken my pace as I search their pockets twice and find no magazines. I run my hand through my hair. Dried Tainted Rain cakes it and my clothes and reeks of petroleum. The Factory's purposely leaving me without ammo, but that must mean they'll attack again.
I stretch out my senses, finding the one remaining Un-Man has moved back to the front sidewalk, so I'm safe for now. The Factory will wait on reinforcements before trying to kill me again, so I need to hurry. I check the AK-47 and find four rounds left. I go to the dust covered front window, peer outside, and notice two more vans pull in as the other two leave. The one surviving Un-Man has gone and six more have shown up; I don't have much time before they send them in. I glance around. There has to be something here I can use as a weapon. I explore the warehouse and find two screwdrivers, a lead pipe, and a metal chain. Right next to the boxing machine closest to the front door, I make a barricade with old crates, set up my little fort beside the machine's conveyer belt, and then wait. The fourth hour tolls on the clock outside, and the chimes startle me in the otherwise silent warehouse.
lub-DUB... lub-DUB...
My heart pounds so hard it resonates through my body and triggers the adrenal gland to produce the souped up epinephrine. I feel the Ult L-E surge as I tense, waiting for the Un-Men to enter the warehouse.
Will my bleak existence ever end or will it only stop with my death? I'm so tired of it, so freaking tired! Do they think I'm some sort of bio-mecha? Do they think I don't have a breaking point or is that it? Are they looking for the point I'll give up or make a game ending mistake?
I realize I'm doing it again; I'm letting them beat me in my mind. I c
an't think that way. It won't help. I need to calm down and focus on surviving. I can't let them win the battle before it has started.
End Katharine's view...
A half dozen T-5s stormed in, and in unison, they shot at her position as their ORATT reflected the burst of gunfire. She ducked behind the crates as bullets splintered boards, creating shrapnel. Kat shielded her face with her arm and stayed hidden till she heard the Un-Men's metal magazines hit the concrete floor. She stood, fired twice, and disabled two of them. She leaped over the crates, finding cover on the other side of the conveyer belt. Four T-5s moved toward her, releasing another barrage, and bullets ricocheted off the metal machine and shredded the conveyer belt. She dropped to the floor, rolled on her back, aimed, and shot two more of them. The AK-47 was out of ammo, so she placed it on the floor, opened the backpack, and retrieved the metal chain and one of the screwdrivers. She slung the backpack over her shoulder and dashed across the warehouse. The T-5s released an onslaught, and one bullet grazed her cheek and another struck the back of her vest. She fell to the floor with the impact, scampered back to her feet in agony, and scurried across the floor. Kat ducked behind a metal support beam and waited as the two remaining T-5s looked at each other and calculated their next move, and once they received their orders from the Factory, they nodded in agreement, and one of them headed out the front door while the second marched toward the support beam. The second T-5 charged around, expecting to find her, but she wasn't there. It searched for her tracking beacon and discovered she had come up behind it. The T-5 turned as she charged with the chain. Kat kicked its gun from its hand and rammed into the T-5; it was like hitting a truck, but she managed to knock it back. She twirled the metal chain over her head, swung, and wrapped it around the second T-5 and the beam. She took the long screwdriver, rushed around to the back of the beam, pushed it through the links, and trapped the T-5, but it wouldn't hold for long. Kat grabbed its gun and checked the chamber and magazine; it was empty. She tossed the weapon, removed her backpack, and examined the lead pipe and the other screwdriver, then rushed back to the boxing machine in the front, and laid the bag and lead pipe beside it. She gripped the screwdriver and waited for an opportunity. Kat rubbed her sore shoulder where she rammed into the T-5 and ignored the throbbing welt on her back.
The other T-5 entered from the side door and noticed its brethren trying to squirm free from the chain. The other T-5 scanned the warehouse, finding her tracking beacon and moved toward her position. She climbed on the conveyer belt, ran across it, and leaped for the T-5. It raised its gun and fired three times; two bullets hit her in the vest and the third nicked the top of her head. She winced as she landed on top of the T-5 and quickly stabbed the screwdriver through its forehead, and the T-5 stumbled back, swinging its arms wildly. She released the screwdriver, awkwardly jumped off, and landed flat out on the concrete floor. The T-5 collapsed, its body contorted in the last moments of mechanized life, and it ceased functioning. Kat held her chest where the two bullets struck her vest. They hurt worse than the one that had hit her back, and through the agony, she sat up, crawled to its gun, reached for the weapon, and heard someone step through the front entrance and move toward her. Kat sensed only six Un-Men and panicked, thinking she had missed one.
Katharine's view...
I whirl with the Un-Man's gun, train the weapon on the figure, and press my finger against the trigger. My vision blurs as blood trickles in my eyes from the small wound on top of my head, and it forces me to pause and make sure of my aim. A white knuckle second passes before I realize the figure isn't an Un-Man. I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand to make sure I'm not seeing things. It is Kimberly, and I almost killed her!
I lower the gun and stretch out my ability, searching for bio-mechas. There are no other Un-Men besides the one I chained up, so for now we're safe. I exhale, releasing some of the tension in my shoulders. What was Kimberly thinking stepping into the middle of a battle? I know she didn't come to help, so did she come to kill me?
Chapter Twenty-four
The Music Box
Minutes earlier...
Kim pulled her car into the overgrown back parking lot of Etna Toys Plant and Warehouse. She stepped from the vehicle, noticing two vans parked at the front curb and knew it was a good sign the Pandora Project was there; she might yet get the music box. She rushed to the front. Kim hoped if they had killed that woman, maybe the music box was still on her corpse, so she entered the door and spotted that woman running across a conveyer belt and lunging for an Un-Man. The Un-Man shot three times before that woman ended its existence and fell herself to the floor. Kim wasn't sure if that woman was dead until she heard that woman moan. She watched her sit up, crawl to the Un-Man, and retrieve its gun. Kim moved toward her, disappointed she would have to finish the job herself. Still lying on the ground, that woman turned the gun on Kim before she had a chance to react, and that woman stared at her as blood trickled down her brow. That woman wiped the plasma from her eyes and stood as her optics flamed with glimmering sapphire. Kim took a step back from her, and it was like she was standing before the Mistress of the Underworld who had come to claim her soul.
Katharine's view...
I stare at Kimberly for a long time. I've seen that look before and know Kimberly's afraid of me. Is the light that my eyes produce that scary? Or is she seeing something else in me? Something I can't or I refuse to see in me?
I also know that she doesn't want to help me, so why can't she leave me alone? Is she trying to taunt me or only prolong my torment? I ask with a heavy heart, "Have you come to kill me?"
Kimberly's view...
I can't get past how her eyes glow and don't answer her at first. What kind of monstrosity is she? I regain my composure and finally answer, "No, I haven't come to kill you. I decided it would be too much of a hassle." I glance around the warehouse. "I wouldn't even be here if you didn't have something I want."
Katharine's view...
Wondering what I could possibly have that she wants, I stare at her a second longer, lower the gun, and rub the vest where the bullets struck me. Kimberly is here to taunt me. Doesn't she have anything better to do?
I question, "What do you want?"
Kimberly's view...
"I want..." I catch a glimpse of a shadow moving toward us, and I step back, put some distance between myself and that woman, and remove my PPK from my purse.
Katharine's view...
I notice Kimberly's attention diverts slightly, turn, and see that the last T-5 released itself. Crap! I let myself get distracted, and I never sensed it moved.
End Katharine's view...
"Target acquired," the T-5 stated. "Moving forward with capture." The T-5 was unarmed and tried to grab Kat.
Kat ran from its grasp as she lifted the gun and pulled the trigger. Click. She stared at the gun; it was also empty! She turned to Kim and shouted, "Shoot it!"
Unsure what to do, Kim turned to the T-5, who observed her hesitation.
It scanned her face. "Kimberly Griffin, daughter of the Chairman. Identity confirmed. Stay out of this Ms. Griffin, and you will not be hurt."
Kim nodded, lifted her gun, and took a few more steps back.
"What are you doing?" Kat shouted. "Shoot it!"
"Please don't tell me I have to explain it again," Kim said. "You're on your own."
Anger and confusion poured over Kat, and then she threw the empty gun at the T-5. It smacked the weapon away as Kat bolted for the lead pipe she'd laid by one of the boxing machines. She ducked under the conveyer belt, grabbed the pipe, and continued under the machine to the safety of the other side, and before the T-5 locked on her with its targeting program, Kat ran around the machine and whacked it in the head. It stumbled back as she continued her assault. Kat raised the weapon over her head and hammered its metal skull over and over, and she continued striking the T-5 even when it ceased moving. She
turned to Kim and glared at her with her light splintering eyes. They were filled with fury and hurt, and a surge of purple flared in the blue Ult L-E.
Kim raised her gun and prepared to defend herself incase that woman came at her.
Kat's face softened when she saw the look of fear in her eyes. The surge of purple faded, leaving the blue, and Kat breathed deeply and dropped the pipe as her heart quieted. The clang of metal resonated across the warehouse.
Kimberly's view...
How long have I been standing here gawking at that woman? I don't know, but I was so sure she'd come at me when she glared at me with those seething purple eyes. When she doesn't attack, I point my gun up and no longer aim at her. I focus on the smashed head of the T-5 and smart off to her by saying, "I see you have issues you're dealing with. Ever thought of seeing a shrink?"
Katharine's view...
Deeply upset with Kimberly over her indifference, I walk over to her, point at the Un-Man, and ask, "Why didn't you shoot it?"
I want to understand why she didn't help me; she should have helped me, so I point to myself and yell, "It was going to kill me."
Kimberly puts a hand on her hip and says, "That's my problem how? Idiot... Why do you insist I care?"
"You keep showing up! If you don't want to help me and you're not going to kill me, why do you keep showing up?" I feel my eyes return to normal as I tell her, "I don't understand."
"Like I said, that's my problem how?"
"Don't tell me then!" I shout, stomp over to the T-5 with the screwdriver in its forehead, and pull out the tool. Electrical snaps fire from its head as I wipe the black ooze covering the screwdriver on its suit. I snap at her like some child, "Keep showing up like a stalker and see if I care!"
All Worlds: Fantasy And Science Fiction Series Starters Page 30
