I am Automaton 3: Shadow of the Automaton

by Edward P. Cardillo

  The carny pulled Petrela off the bench and the four men slowly backed out of the tent.

  “Be sure to tell Kojic that his wife is better at jumping around on a stage than a trained poodle,” Kafka called after them.

  They exited the tent and Kafka was left alone with Marina, who was still twirling around on the stage, nearly toppling herself over.

  “You know you can stop that now.” Marina stopped dead and stared at him with that vacant expression that the undead wear perennially.

  Kafka called her over, and she hung on him like the head cheerleader on a quarterback. “I have plans for you, my pretty. What do you say to a little makeover?”

  ***

  12:47 HRS

  Marcy’s Father’s Residence

  “So there’s closed airspace above Area 51 monitored by radar,” said Betancourt. “Groom Lake abuts one side, which is why it has the codename Groom Lake in some communiques.”

  “I’ve heard it referred to as Dreamland.”

  “That’s in reference to all of the classified research projects that supposedly go on there.”

  “Supposedly,” said Peter, shooting Betancourt a ‘you’ve got to be kidding’ look.

  “There are armed guards around the perimeter in roving white jeeps. Once you’ve passed the point of no return, they shoot to kill. You’ll see plenty of signage to that effect, but there’s something else.”

  “Of course there is.”

  “The military has been running statistics on the amount of deaths in combat since the new, fractal camouflage was instituted. There’s been a marked increase. So, in response a private consulting group has been experimenting with a material that naturally bends light.”

  “Great. Invisible guards.”

  “That’s right. This new camo is one of the Dreamland projects. Now, just imagine if Kafka converts all of those guards with his portable RGT.”

  “Invisible zombies. Jesus Christ, this just keeps getting better.”

  Suddenly they heard the crackle of a bullhorn outside. Peter and Betancourt looked at each other.

  This is the U.S. Army. We have the house surrounded. Exit the facility unarmed with your hands in the air. Failure to comply will result in the use of deadly force.

  “What the…”

  “How?” asked Peter.

  “Where’s Brittany?” asked Betancourt.

  Peter ran into the living room and pulled back the curtain to the bay window. “MP’s, and lots of them!”

  Elicia ran into the house from the back yard. “Colonel…”

  “I know. Where’s your sister?”

  They heard footfalls down the steps. It was Brittany. “There’s a bunch of army guys outside…”

  “Brittany, what were you just doing?” asked Elicia, now in the living room with Peter and Colonel Betancourt.

  “There’s nothing to do around here. I was just watching a little TV in the bedroom.”

  “You mean it was watching you,” said Betancourt.

  “Great,” said Peter, “just great.”

  “She didn’t know,” snapped Elicia. “We never really explained it to her.”

  “Know what?” asked Brittany.

  There was the breaking of glass and two canisters of tear gas began to spew on the living room rug.

  “Everyone to the back of the house!” shouted Betancourt. They all ran into the kitchen with their hands trying to cover their face.

  “Why didn’t I sense them?” muttered Peter, cursing himself under his breath.

  “You were a little preoccupied,” said Betancourt. “No time for blame.”

  A tear gas canister crashed into the screen door and dropped, sending the tear gas into the kitchen with the breeze.

  “Close the sliding door,” shouted Betancourt.

  The front door crashed in as several MP’s wearing gas masks in column formation breached the house and stormed into the kitchen. Peter saw MP’s breaching the back fence and crossing the back yard. Everything was happening so fast.

  “They followed the breadcrumbs,” Peter said to Elicia.

  “Hands up! Back away! Hands up!” shouted the MP’s.

  Everyone backed against the kitchen counter by the sink and put their hands up. The soldiers grabbed them and dragged them out into the back yard. Peter, Betancourt, Elicia, and Brittany were all choking, gagging, and frantically wiping their eyes.

  Peter and Betancourt heard a familiar voice.

  “Really, I didn’t think it would be this easy. I’m disappointed, Colonel Betancourt.” It was Assistant Director Wolff. “You, Birdsall, and the infamous hacker, Tronika, all in one place. It must be Christmas.”

  Peter thought he heard an excited clicking coming from the man. “Screw you, Wolff.”

  “No thanks,” replied Wolff icily. “Cuff them and load them up into the ASV.”

  “Jesus, an ASV for little ol’ us?” quipped Betancourt.

  “For the murderers of a four-star general and a cyber-terrorist,” corrected Wolff, “I’m taking no chances.”

  “I’m no cyber terrorist,” protested Elicia.

  “Tell it to the judge,” said Wolff. “I really don’t give a shit. This is going to look great on TV. Three baddies in one sweep. A tribute to interdepartmental cooperation.”

  The MP Lieutenant rolled his eyes behind Wolff’s back.

  “Let my sister go. She had nothing to do with this,” demanded Elicia.

  “Aiding and abetting three fugitives. I’d say she has plenty to do with this.”

  “You bastard,” hissed Peter.

  “Okay, let’s go,” said the MP Lieutenant.

  Peter, Betancourt, Elicia, and Brittany were all led out front, where several Humvees were parked on the front lawn and street, and placed into the ASV before all of the prying eyes of the neighborhood. And wouldn’t you know it, as if by design, the press was there and documenting it all like sharks at a feeding frenzy. Wolff probably chummed the water ahead of time.

  The four prisoners sat side-by-side inside the ASV on the floor.

  “What are we going to do now?” asked Elicia in a hushed tone.

  “I don’t know,” said Betancourt. “I didn’t see this coming. I just don’t know.”

  Brittany began to sob. “I didn’t know. I didn’t know.”

  “It doesn’t matter now,” said Betancourt. “This is what Kafka wanted all along. To keep us out of the way.”

  “Looks like he succeeded,” said Peter reaching out with his senses. “Wolff is the only infected one. The MP’s are all human.”

  “They’re innocents following orders,” said Betancourt. “They have no idea what is going on.”

  “A lot of atrocities were committed by those just following orders,” said Elicia thoughtfully.

  ***

  New OIL Safehouse

  12:30 HRS

  “I told you,” said Kojic, “your men would not return. Kafka is not one of us.”

  “So it is true,” said Bushaj looking away. “It has all happened as you said.”

  “So now you see that we are with you?” asked Ehsan.

  “How could your cell have allowed this monster to take over?” asked Murati. It was an accusation more than a question.

  “We told you,” said Kojic, “He was accepted by Simon Belmont. They worked very closely together. Kafka was his lieutenant.”

  “Belmont didn’t see the monster in Kafka until it was too late. Are you accusing him of being stupid?” asked Adnon. It was also an accusation more than a question.

  Bushaj put his hand on Murati’s arm to silence him. “Simon Belmont was a great man. A real visionary. No one is accusing him of anything. This Kafka must be really clever.”

  “He found your men at the carnival rather easily,” said Kojic pointedly.

  “Yes,” said Bushaj contemplatively, “yes, he did.”

  “So what do we do?” asked Ehsan.

  “We know where Kafka is. We strike back,” said Murati poundin
g his fist on the table in emphasis.

  “He will have cleared out by now,” said Kojic. “He will attempt to infiltrate Area 51. It is his obvious move. We should intercept him there.”

  “There is no way he’s getting into Area 51,” said Murati dismissively. “We get him where he lives.”

  “You are not listening,” said Kojic. “This man led a successful assault on Guantanamo Bay. He is always one-step ahead of everyone. Our obvious move would be to attack him at his hideout. He’ll be prepared for that.”

  “He thinks he frightened us away,” said Bushaj. “He will not think we will come get him.”

  “He may already be heading to Area 51,” said Ehsan. “All he would need to do is use this portable RGT device and he could walk right through the front gate.”

  “We have not seen this portable RGT device that you speak of,” said Murati. “How do we know it exists?”

  “How do we know it exists?” Kojic stood up in outrage. “Haven’t I been right about everything so far? Why would you now doubt me on this?”

  “I say we hit his hideout,” said Murati to Bushaj, ignoring Kojic’s outburst.

  Bushaj sighed deeply. “Kojic, we know you are our brother and we will take you in to our cell, but I think Murati is right. We hit him where he lives. He wanted a war, he’ll get a war.”

  “We came to your cell because ours was compromised and we needed help to fight Kafka,” said Adnon.

  “We will help you,” said Bushaj. “We are taking the fight to Kafka.”

  “You will have your revenge in good time,” said Kojic, “but right now, we need to stop Kafka from carrying out his plan. He means to infect us all, even true believers. He is the ultimate enemy.”

  Petrela came running into the room. “It’s all over the news. The army captured Kafka’s army brother, another officer—the ones who murdered that general—and some cyber-terrorist girl.”

  “Where?” asked Kojic.

  “Mathis. They’re going to be transporting them back to Fort Bliss.”

  “Bushaj,” said Kojic, “my two friends and I request a fast vehicle and weapons.” Ehsan and Adnon looked at him questioningly.

  “Why? To what purpose?” asked Bushaj.

  “You are attacking Kafka’s hideout. I want to get his brother.”

  “His brother? Why?” asked Murati.

  “For leverage. He’s kept his brother alive for some reason. If we have him, then we have leverage over Kafka.”

  “What makes you think Kafka will care if we have his brother?” asked Murati.

  “He’s right,” said Bushaj officiously. “We cannot waste resources on a fool errand. We need you with us.”

  “Bushaj, please,” implored Kojic. “We came to you and told you the truth about everything. We tried to warn you about Kafka. All I ask in return is that you grant me this. Please, Bushaj.”

  Bushaj waved a hand at Kojic. “Take it. You’ll only be in our way anyway. Petrela, give them some weapons and the key to the 2021 Mustang.”

  “Yes,” said Petrela, and he left the room.

  “Good luck with your wild duck chase,” said Bushaj. “Murati, round up the men.”

  Murati nodded and both men left the room leaving Kojic with Ehsan and Adnon.

  “What are you thinking?” asked Adnon. “Why are we going after Kafka’s brother? He probably doesn’t care about him.”

  “You are probably wrong about that, Adnon, but that is not why we are going after his brother.”

  “Well, then why are we doing it?” asked Ehsan.

  “I overheard Kafka talking to the NSA man,” said Kojic. “He instructed him to hunt his brother and keep him occupied.”

  “Yeah, so?” said Adnon.

  “If he wants his brother out of the way, then his brother must be trying to stop him,” said Ehsan.

  “Right,” said Kojic. “We came to this cell for help, but help has left us. Kafka’s brother is like us. He’s infected. He’s worth at least twenty of these idiots here.”

  “What makes you think he’ll help us?” asked Adnon.

  “We’ll be rescuing him for one,” said Kojic. “We all want to stop Kafka from carrying out his plan.”

  “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” said Ehsan.

  “Exactly.”

  “What about the officer and the girl?” asked Ehsan.

  “Maybe we kill them,” said Adnon.

  “A computer hacker might prove useful,” said Ehsan.

  “How?” asked Adnon.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Ehsan is right,” said Kojic. “We need every soldier we can get on our side. Besides, if we kill the officer and the girl, then Kafka’s brother may not want to help us.”

  “What makes you think that the three of us can pull this off?” asked Ehsan.

  It was time. No more secrets.

  “Have you been feeling the changes? Since the dream?” asked Kojic.

  Both Ehsan and Adnon nodded.

  “I don’t know about you, but I feel…different. Stronger, faster.”

  “It’s the infection,” said Ehsan. “I feel it too.”

  “Me, too,” said Adnon.

  “It’s a good seven hour drive,” said Ehsan consulting his mini-com’s navigation app. “They’ll be sticking to the main highway, Interstate 37. We can take a short cut and catch them if we leave now.”

  “We can do this,” said Kojic. He thought about what Petrela said. He thought about Kafka’s remark about Marina. His blood boiled just thinking about it, and he had revenge on his mind.

  “We have to do this.”

  ***

  15:57 HRS

  Interstate 37

  “I’m sorry you got dragged into this,” said Peter to Elicia.

  She regarded him with a weary look. The nonstop chases since she left Fort Bliss had taken their toll on her. Her sister sat with her face buried in her hands. She might have been sleeping.

  “I dragged myself into this. I never was super serious about the whole hacker thing. I had a lot of free time on my hands, and I was pissed off at the system.”

  “Did anyone ever get hurt from one of your hacks?”

  “No. Never,” she answered quickly. “I never stole money or data or crashed anyone’s system. I infiltrated systems and left my calling card, just to see if I could do it, but I never did any of that Black Hat stuff.”

  “Black Hat?”

  “Illegal, criminal stuff. Stealing, damaging. I wanted out. I tried to stop, especially when the FBI was getting close on campus, but it was too late.”

  “Yeah, too late,” said Peter pensively.

  “Not that it matters much now,” said Betancourt. “If Kafka succeeds, we won’t live to see a trial. This is just to get us out of the way.”

  “Do you have a boyfriend?” asked Peter. That particular question out of left field took Elicia off guard. “You know, somebody to warn? Some other hacker?”

  Elicia blushed and sighed deeply. “No boyfriend, I’m afraid. Hackers don’t make a habit of communicating with each other offline. Safety precautions.”

  “Right.”

  “Never really met anyone that interesting anyway. Just a bunch of frat boys at school.”

  “I think I’m pretty interesting,” quipped Peter, smirking.

  “I make a habit of not dating half-aliens,” said Elicia wryly. “It’s kind of a deal-breaker for me.”

  Brittany looked up rolling her eyes, her eye makeup smeared all over her face. “Oh, will you can it, Elicia?”

  Elicia looked stunned. “What?”

  “You finally meet a good guy whose life just might be more fucked up than yours, and you push him away?”

  “I was only kidding, Brit. Jesus. We’re all going to die soon in a zombie apocalypse anyway.”

  “I didn’t take any offense,” assured Peter.

  “No,” said Brittany adamantly. “She always does this and I’m tired of watching it. Elicia, you always accused
me of not trying to understand you, but I get you just fine. You don’t understand yourself.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Elicia defensively.

  “Of course you don’t. You are so damned insecure that you look for any excuse to push guys away so you don’t have to stick your neck out there. Yeah, we’re going to die, so why not go out going against your nature and be adventurous?”

  “Come on, Brit. What are we going to have our first date at the jail in the military base?”

  “Major,” said Betancourt.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Do you see how they’re discussing you right in front of you, as if you aren’t here?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “That’s what my ex-wife used to do.”

  “Which one, sir?”

  “Both of them. You should see when they imitate you. They use this weird voice, like you’re John Travolta.”

  “Who, sir?”

  “It’s never too late, Elicia,” continued Brittany. “For once, I’d just like to see you connect with someone. I want you to be happy.”

  “Kinda hard to be happy when we’re in a military police vehicle on our way to prison to await a death sentence brought on by an alien invasion.”

  “Your sister has a point there,” said Peter to Brittany.

  “You stay out of this,” snapped Brittany.

  “I don’t need you to defend me,” snapped Elicia.

  “Just don’t get involved,” said Betancourt. “Trust me, it’s safer that way.”

  Adnon had the pedal to the metal, engine roaring, and was tearing down I37. “There they are.”

  They saw an ASV surrounded by what looked like six Humvees. Three in a vee formation in front and three in reverse vee formation in the back.

  “What do we do?” asked Ehsan from the back seat.“Pull up close to the rear vehicle,” said Kojic. “Real close. And be careful.”

  Adnon shot him a nervous look, but he pushed forward towards the rear vehicle. Kojic slung an Uzi over his shoulder and lowered his passenger side window.