I am Automaton 3: Shadow of the Automaton

by Edward P. Cardillo

  “I am. I opened up my ephemeral port and have activated my fourth bot. I figure four should do it.”

  “Hey, you’re the expert. I’m just your goddamned chuffer. I really wish you’d get on with it.”

  Elicia’s fingers were like lightning on the keyboard inside the ASV. “Patience, Colonel. Genius takes time.”

  She was thankful that they decided to drop Brittany off before continuing. It was her idea, actually, but the Colonel didn’t protest. Less dead weight.

  Elicia remembered the exchange between them when Elicia said goodbye to her sister.

  “Trust me, Brit, you’ll be safer this way. Just tell the police that you were taken hostage. They’ll realize you had nothing to do with all of this.”

  “Elicia, you don’t have to do this.”

  “I don’t expect you to understand, but I do. If not, there won’t be anything left.”

  “But why you? Why can’t the Colonel do it?”

  “Because he doesn’t know how.”

  Brittany stood outside the ASV awkwardly, tears welling up in her eyes. “I don’t know what to say.”

  Elicia hugged her big sister.

  “I know I haven’t always been there for you…”

  Elicia shook her head. “Don’t, Brit. I wasn’t exactly the most normal little sister.”

  “You’re a lot braver than me,” said Brittany, wiping her eyes, smearing the faded makeup even more. She looked like a raccoon.

  Elicia smirked. “You know, you look like one of the zombies. You’d better clean up before the police accidentally shoot you.”

  Brittany laughed, slurping up the snot dripping from her nose most unattractively. “You be careful.”

  Elicia nodded. “I always am.”

  They held hands for a brief moment. Betancourt cleared his throat rather loudly, and Elicia took the hint. “Goodbye, Brit.”

  “Don’t say it like that. I’ll see you later.”

  Elicia smiled. “I’ll see you later.” She knew it was a lie, but her big sister needed that lie right now. She got back onto the ASV, and Betancourt pulled away.

  Elicia retrieved her virus code and custom made rootkit from her online safe deposit box. She activated the rootkit and entered the mobile firmware update system.

  A small dialogue box with a red exclamation point appeared on the top left of the screen. “Shit.”

  “What?” asked Betancourt. “Is everything okay?”

  “They found my first bot.”

  “That was fast. Should I be worried?”

  Elicia began to upload the virus code as she launched the rootkit to cover her tracks. “Not yet. They only found the first…”

  Another dialogue box with a red exclamation point.

  “Double shit.”

  “What now?”

  “They discovered bot number two.”

  “So quickly?”

  “That’s fast,” said Elicia, impressed. “That’s real fast.”

  “Is it supposed to be that fast, or are they really good?”

  “They are really good.” The virus code uploaded. “I’ve uploaded the virus. We’re in business.” Her fingers moved quickly across the keyboard as she began to download the virus into the mobile firmware update system. Two percent…five percent…

  Another dialogue box popped up. This time it had a message. I know what you’re doing, and it won’t work.

  “He just found bot number three.”

  …eight percent…eleven percent…

  “He?” asked Betancourt, looking quizzically over his right shoulder while trying to steer the ASV in the desert.

  “It’s Kafka. He left me a message. He knows what I’m up to, or so he says.”

  …thirteen percent…fifteen percent…

  “How do you know it’s him?”

  “I don’t think the government would send me a message saying they know what I’m up to.”

  …eighteen percent…twenty-two percent…

  “You’re probably right.”

  …twenty-six percent…twenty-nine percent…

  “Shit, he’s found us.”

  “What do you think he’ll do? We’re out here in the middle of nowhere. He’s probably miles away,” said Betancourt, trying to reassure himself.

  …thirty-three percent…thirty-five percent…

  “How much longer kid?”

  “We are a third of the way through the download.”

  …thirty-seven percent…forty percent…

  “How much longer?”

  “I don’t know. Soon.”

  “How soon?” pressed Betancourt.

  …forty-three percent…forty-six percent…

  “Asking me repeatedly won’t speed it up any,” Elicia snapped.

  …forty-nine percent…fifty-one percent…

  “We just passed fifty percent,” she announced as they both heard a screeching sound in the distance carried to them on the desert wind.

  …fifty-four percent…

  Elicia looked up at the closed hatch of the ASV. “What the hell was that?”

  …fifty-seven percent…

  “That’s an aerial drone,” answered Betancourt.

  …sixty percent…

  “That can’t be for us,” said Elicia.

  “We’re out here in the middle of nowhere. Who else can it be for? Kafka sent it in.”

  …sixty-four percent…sixty-seven percent…

  Betancourt looked at the sky out of his front window as something soared overhead. “Elicia, take the wheel.”

  She nodded and got up from her seat, making her way up front. Betancourt slipped out of the driver seat and guided her into it.

  “Keep it steady. If you see it approach, start to zigzag,” he instructed her.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to try to shoot it out of the sky.”

  …seventy-two percent…seventy-five percent…

  Betancourt made his way to the gun turret controls.

  …seventy-seven percent…seventy-nine percent…

  “I think I see it,” shouted Elicia, terrified. “It’s coming real fast.”

  Betancourt scanned the sky until he saw it. “Hold her steady!”

  …eighty-four percent…eighty-seven percent…

  “I thought you told me to zigzag!”

  “Hold her steady, dammit!”

  He got a lock on the zooming bird and got tone as it began to open fire on the ASV. Elicia braced herself as bolts of light flew at the ASV, bullets pelting the armor…

  …ninety-one percent…ninety four percent…

  A few of the bullets took out the front tires, pulling the ASV to the right until the front axle grinded to a halt, and some others penetrated the armor, lighting up the inside cabin.

  …ninety-six percent…ninety-six percent…

  Betancourt got a shot off as he fell to the floor clutching the rather large hole in his upper right thigh, but the aerial drone exploded above them.

  …ninety-six percent…ninety-six percent…

  Elicia slid out of the driver’s seat and crawled over to where Betancourt lay bleeding all over the floor. They heard a helicopter approaching.

  Elicia pulled off her belt and wrapped it around Betancourt’s thigh above the wound. He pulled it tight and slipped the prong in the hole, grunting in pain.

  He looked at her gravely. “You know that’s him.”

  Elicia nodded. “Can’t be. How would he get here so fast?”

  “What about the virus? Did we do it?”

  She crawled over to the computer on her hands and knees and hoisted herself up to look at the monitor.

  …ninety-six percent…ninety-six percent…

  She started punching away at the keyboard. “Shit.” She slammed both hands down on it.

  “What?” asked Betancourt, already knowing they failed.

  “The drone knocked out our communications, our wireless capability. It’s frozen at ninety-six pe
rcent. The connection was severed.”

  The helicopter was getting closer. It sounded like it was right next to the ASV.

  “Help me up,” said Betancourt. “I’ll blast him with our canon.”

  Elicia looked over at the controls. “The equipment’s Swiss cheese.”

  Betancourt nodded and pulled his handgun.

  “What are you going to do with that?”

  “I can do us both. So we don’t have to become monsters.”

  “He’ll take us alive,” insisted Elicia, wide-eyed at Betancourt’s intention.

  “What makes you say that?” Betancourt was looking pale.

  “He stopped the virus download. If he just wanted us out of the way, he’d be high-tailing it to Area 51, but he’s come to take us hostage.”

  “To use us as leverage against Peter,” said Betancourt, finishing her line of thought. “I can’t allow that.”

  Betancourt aimed the handgun at Elicia. “I’m sorry, Dear. You remind me of my daughter, but I can’t let him take you.”

  Elicia shuddered at the sight of the gun being pointed at her and the conviction in his words. She closed her eyes, forcing tears out of them, and prepared herself to accept her fate.

  She knew the Colonel was right, but she still wanted to live. She became desperate, squirming as she sat on her heels, choking back sobs. She heard the Colonel let out a stifled cry as he pulled back the hammer on his gun.

  She could’ve sworn she heard his hand trembling. His conviction eroding, his ambivalence made the moment all the more unbearable for her, an unwanted eternity that she wished would end with the bang of a gunshot.

  There was a tone from above, the hatch opened, and Betancourt hesitated for a moment, looking up out of reflex as sunlight was cast down upon him in a column, like the tractor beam of an alien spaceship.

  Elicia opened her eyes and saw his tears reflecting the light, like shimmering diamonds in his eyes, and a bullet from above tore through his skull, putting out his lights permanently.

  Kafka slipped into the cabin and blinked at her with all four eyes. “So you’re the one causing me all of this trouble.”

  He looked over and saw the virus download on the computer monitor stuck on ninety-six percent. He shot out the monitor and then the computer, causing Elicia to jump.

  “You’re very talented. I could use someone like you.”

  “If you’re here, then who was on the other end…”

  Before she could finish her thought, he was upon her, taking her into a forceful embrace as his fangs extended on queue. He sunk his teeth into her neck and infected her with his gift, his curse.

  Elicia fought at first, but after a moment, she became slack. She was exhausted. She was exhausted from running. She was exhausted from being chased all over God’s green earth by government, aliens, and monsters. She was tired of fighting.

  No more fighting.

  As her head sagged loosely on her shoulders, she caught a glimpse of the poor Colonel lying still on the floor of the cabin, tears streaming down his face mixed with his own blood.

  The fight was now Peter’s.

  Chapter 16

  Area 51

  Groom Lake, Nevada

  The Next Day

  Peter, Kojic, and Ehsan were sitting in their little car just outside the perimeter of Area 51. Peter was relieved to have been minus Bobby; they dropped him off at a pediatrician’s office in some small town along the way. They would see to it that he was taken care of properly.

  No more distractions. It was back to business.

  The three men sat there awkwardly, unsure of their next move. It was Ehsan who broke the tense silence.

  “What do we do now?” His question was directed solely to Kojic, which irritated Peter.

  “How do we know if he’s in there?” asked Kojic.

  “There are supposed to be a roving patrol of white jeeps,” said Peter, looking up at a rather severe warning sign promising draconian consequences for passing it. “If we go much further, they would normally intercept us.”

  “So you are saying we have to risk getting caught by the authorities to see if Kafka is inside?” asked Ehsan, his tone indicating that he thought the idea was ridiculous.

  He doesn’t trust you, Peter. He’s afraid of you, and that makes him dangerous.

  “It’s not so crazy,” assured Peter. “If we are detained, all we have to do is wait. When Kafka comes, we’ll know it.”

  “And if he doesn’t come, we’ll be detained and at the mercy of the U.S. Government,” Kojic warned.

  “He’ll come,” said Peter, reaching out as far as he could into the compound, feeling for his brother. Nothing. “He’ll come.”

  “I don’t know about this,” said Ehsan. “What if they shoot us?”

  The terrorist doesn’t understand your plan. He’s weak and stupid.

  Peter sighed. “First of all, brain-o, bullets cannot kill us. Only dismemberment can, and my people aren’t accustomed to doing such things.”

  “You’d be surprised the kind of things your people are accustomed to,” snapped Ehsan.

  Kill him. Do it now before he kills you.

  “All right, that is enough,” admonished Kojic. “Our fight is with Kafka, not each other. Right?”

  Neither Peter nor Ehsan acknowledged his sentiment, but neither refuted it. There was reluctant agreement through silence.

  “What if the American let himself get captured and we wait?” suggested Ehsan, once again like Peter wasn’t in the car with them.

  They’re plotting against you, even now.

  “Oh no,” said Peter, “I’m not letting you two out of my sight.”

  “You said so yourself,” said Kojic, “he will come. So what is there to worry about?”

  “I’m a fugitive like you two, wanted for the murder of a four-star general.”

  “But he will come, as you say, so there is nothing to fear.”

  “Then why don’t you come with me, if you are so certain,” insisted Peter.

  Do yourself a favor, Peter. Kill them both. You don’t need them. They’ll only slow you down.

  The voice inside his head was distracting and this argument was going around in circles. Peter was regretting his tenuous alliance with these terrorists.

  “If for some reason he does not come, we will come for you,” said Kojic, eliciting a dubious look from Ehsan. Kojic’s vitals were steady, meaning he was well intentioned…or a good liar. Ehsan’s fluttered.

  “Your partner doesn’t share your sentiment, Kojic.”

  “Ehsan will do as he’s told.”

  “What assurance do I have of that?”

  “None. You’ll have to trust me.”

  “That, my friend, is a risky proposition.”

  “Think about it. It’s not good tactics for all of us to be in the same place.”

  “So why don’t you get caught, and I’ll remain behind with your buddy, Ehsan, here,” said Peter.

  Ehsan sucked his teeth at the suggestion.

  “If it would make you more comfortable, then yes,” said Kojic to both Peter’s and Ehsan’s surprise.

  “Luka, no,” protested Ehsan.

  Kojic looked Peter in his eyes. “The both of you will see that I am rescued. Yes?”

  Peter looked back into his eyes. “Yes.”

  Kojic got out of the car. Peter rolled down the window. “No weapons. They won’t shoot if you are unarmed.”

  “What if he is already here and they are zombies. I’ll need to be armed.”

  Peter reached out with his senses. “I’m not picking up any sign of zombies or Kafka.”

  “You can sense that?”

  “I can, too,” said Ehsan.

  Kojic nodded in awe of his two comrades’ ability, one he had not yet mastered. He handed his gun inside the car to Peter.

  “Good luck,” said Peter.

  Kojic nodded. He put his hand on Ehsan’s shoulder, and Ehsan nodded. It was then that Peter realiz
ed that these two terrorists had prior military training. This was how soldiers said goodbye. No words, no tears. Just an understanding.

  Kojic began to walk down the dirt road past all of the signs intended to frighten emboldened tourists away, as Ehsan backed the car down the road in the opposite direction.

  Kojic walked on for what must have been fifteen minutes or so, hopeful that the guard had already been turned. He didn’t want to be detained by American soldiers. He preferred to deal with zombies. He tried to reach out with his senses, but he wasn’t very good at it.

  He was startled when he heard the roar of the engine of a white jeep, just as the American described. He stopped in the middle of the road and put his hands up in the air.

  The jeep closed in on him and stopped. Two soldiers in full camo jumped out, rifles trained on him.

  “Keep your hands in the air,” one of them commanded. Kojic complied.

  The other soldier shouldered his rifle and approached Kojic, turning him around and pulling his hands down, placing his hands behind his back.

  “What are you doing here? Couldn’t you read the signs?” asked the soldier, as he bound Kojic’s wrists together with a plastic tie.

  Kojic responded in Serbian.

  “He’s a foreigner,” said the soldier with the rifle trained on Kojic.

  “What’s he doing out here?” asked the other, thinking out loud. He turned Kojic around so they were face-to-face. “Are you here alone?”

  Kojic again responded in Serbian.

  “What language is that?”

  “I don’t know. We better take him in. I get the feeling he’s illegal.”

  Kojic smiled to himself. Illegal. They had no idea. He was one of the world’s most talented cyber terrorists, and he had committed many crimes ranging from espionage to sabotage.

  The soldier who bound him talked into his military-issue mini-com multi-tasker, “Attention base, we have a wanderer in custody and are bringing him in.”

  “Roger that,” crackled a voice on the other end.

  Kojic went quietly as they put him on the back of the white jeep and drove back into the compound.

  “I don’t like this one bit,” said Ehsan bitterly in the car, watching a Janet plane approaching the compound. “He was taken.”