LAND of the FREE

by Michael W. Huard

  "You have everything you need from me," he reaffirmed to his wife. "I was able to disable the guards as much as possible, and once I get the signal you are inside, they hopefully will not shoot at any of you, but be ready to fight either way. I'm still shaking my head over this little law the Corporation has instilled."

  Raegan smiled, "So are you saying I'm cute? And that they will realize it and let me do whatever I want in there?"

  Lomax shook his head and pinched her nose. "Oh, you’re cute alright, doing anything you want might be another story."

  Both of them hugged again. "We are ready, hun," Raegan insisted. "We travel at dark. We'll be okay. Do your thing, make it easier for us and when it's all done, we can finally, hopefully, find some peace in all this chaos. I want to give our son that gift!"

  Lomax kissed her on the lips. They held each other for a few more minutes. In time, all last thoughts, ideas, and plans we finalized. It was time to go, and each walked away in their separate directions, then they both stopped to look back at one another, right at the same time. They both smiled, and in a mere moment the couple were gone from sight.

  ***

  Mahira was all packed as she strode up to Raegan in the hallway. "It's time," she said, raising her fist in a salute. "We follow the plan, get close, and lay low. Once we know it's clear, we get in, we move, and we never look back. I will hack that door to pieces if need be," she grinned.

  Raegan nodded her head in agreement, and tossed her own bag over her shoulder. "Let's do it," she said as she and Mahira made their way out of underground Boston. Earlier in the week they had set up a small, temporary dwelling nearby the gates to Old Fenway Park. It would be their little hideout, at least for a short while. This was an all or nothing mission, and both of them knew it.

  ***

  Resin Cador had anxiously awaited the young lawyer, Zaey's arrival. The issues in California had plagued the Corporation for some time now. But CEO Marcou had finally had enough. Hiring the young Aussie girl with wisdom beyond her human years was a good move for the president and his yearning for her companionship, but it was also a decent strategy to teach the west coast bigwigs a lesson. She knew her shit and was good at what she did. It wasn't going to be long until the one he admired, the robotics scientist, Sinaye, would be joining the meetings also. Resin was beyond excited, and actually a bit nervous. His plan had changed several times on the subject matter, but in the end, he had his lawyer and scientist coming in to work for Y-Wood.

  The legal case was one of a bombing in the home state of the suits from California, who were making their way to the large company conference room where Resin was waiting for them. The robots supplied by Y-Wood had failed to detect the bombs. As a result, terrorism had been carried out and the entire ruling council board had been killed. The only remaining council members on the west coast were walking in right now, or were at least being represented.

  The rebellious west coast used false names to try and hide from Corporation eyes in lieu of taxes or accounts unpaid. It didn't matter what the hell they called themselves. He was here to prove Y-Wood was not responsible for the losses they suffered on the day of the bombing. Chancellor Tessa, the firm’s secretary, was present with him, as well as a few robotic guards stationed in the hall near the main meeting room. Inside was one very special bot. It was Omagus, the deadly, high-level creation, and multi-billion dollar machine of the Corporation. His presence could not be missed.

  There were three of them. One guy, perhaps early sixties with silver-gray hair, and another with very little brownish hair, who also had to be pushing sixty. The third was a female. A dyed red-head, perhaps in her late forties. She was quite attractive, definitely breast enhanced, and had bold, wide-rimmed, reddish spectacles over her eyes. She wore the most expensive looking white skirt and jacket combination to the meeting. They had introduced themselves, but Resin had forgotten their names already.

  The lawyer with silver hair was called Brock Jones. He was, at one time, highly regarded in his field worldwide, but now his years were catching up to him. "Good afternoon," spoke Brock. He and his team took seats at a long, brown, recently polished mahogany table and talks began.

  The conversation dragged on. The trio went over the happenings from the day of the bombing and it was nothing Resin had not heard before. Then the lawyer, Zaey, showed up. Resin had a well-kept secret and it almost came undone. His lower body wires nearly set on fire from her sudden appearance. His excitement was growing, quite literally. Sinaye would be next. The top assistant could see why President Marcou was so infatuated with the young lass. "Sorry I'm late," spoke the petite woman, as she dropped her bag on the table and pulled up a chair. The entire table paused.

  She, the one known as Zaey, had a different look about her. She was from down under and looked somewhat mysterious. She wore a gray skirt and red blouse as she sat down in an empty chair. Omagus turned his sleek, metal neck to look at her, and his blue eyes took on a brighter glow. Scanning her mind he found nothing to trigger a response, other than she seemed hurried, a tad stressed, and anxious. She also, he now knew, was fully human. He did not know her pre-programmed resistance to his mind reading ability had just saved her from serious danger.

  Resin welcomed Zaey to the conference, introduced her to all parties present, at least he prompted each to introduce themselves, seen as he had already forgotten their names, and went on to explain everything Mr. Jones had just told them. Zaey interrupted, "Yes, I know all the details, I read the memo. The bombing was certainly a travesty to say the very least. To all of you here, you have my deepest condolences." She then cleared her throat.

  Resin found himself listening to Zaey but not hearing the words, instead he was just admiring how sweet her voice was. He took a sip of water and listened to her go on. "You have to realize, and this is not just an observation, the human brain is just a computer itself. The question here is, were the on duty bots able to think outside the box when the bomb was moved last minute with no time to get to it? Or were they just not qualified enough to have ever been in such a situation in the first place?"

  Resin was impressed, she had done her homework. She looked good too. Smart, sexy, fit, all the things he knew his CEO was very attracted to. He had to make her feel good. She had to win, because then she would be in a great mood. She would take a second job, the modeling one, be made to feel even more special, and then, maybe just then, his boss could have her. He could touch her and feel love. Funny how things are, he himself preferred a much more voluptuous look in a woman. The type just like that robotic scientist, Sinaye, was exactly what drove his mind crazy. Each to his own, but he was still very excited about what was to come.

  Zaey caught him looking at her without taking his eyes away. "Are you okay, Mr. Cador? Is there something you want to say?"

  Resin snapped out of his trance."No. I'm good," he replied.

  The west coast team was not so easily swayed. The mature redhead, Ella Von Stybeck, rubbed her hands together, starting what appeared to be a well-planned out speech. "Y-Wood promised, in fact they outright guaranteed, that these robots would detect bombs and would never miss such an attack. The most influential, and shall I stress, well-to-do citizens on the entire west coast are now dead. This simply should not have happened, and Y-Wood is solely responsible." She clenched her fists after speaking such words.

  Chancellor Tessa looked up from her typing of the meeting log and seemed a bit taken back. She looked at Resin, the assistant to the president of Y-Wood's mega billion dollar company, and could not help but wonder what would come next of this meeting.

  Resin, the handsome lead associate, now pounded on the table "We are here to prove that the bots working on that day did everything in their power to prevent such a devastating explosion! Be it man or machine, no one could have stopped it, given the circumstances. No one wanted this to happen, people!"

  "Then what is the sense of a guarantee?" countered the brown-haired, baldi
ng man, Baron Barnes. He appeared to be more of a note-taker or a male secretary than a lawyer, yet he spoke right up. None of the others seemed to care what he said.

  Zaey, shaking her head, went on. "I figured the guarantee part was the biggest issue in the lawsuit. What I and my colleagues will show you, will actually prove to you that no one, not anyone in the world, could have altered the outcome of the attack on that day."

  Resin chimed in again next. "Tomorrow we have an expert in the field of robotics joining us. A first rate mind of robotic science. She will shed light on why and how this all came about, and the bottom line is to prove there was no due negligence on behalf of Y-Wood industries and this case is simply, shall I say, dead in the water."

  The biggest presence in the room on the opponent’s side was no doubt the Brock fellow with the carefully feathered, grayish-silver hair. Resin sensed it from the beginning. He had won some big cases in the past, had some influential allies, and was a big money man. It came as no surprise when Brock pointed to the corner of the chamber and asked, "Why is he here?" It appeared that the elite machine watching over them had spooked the elder lawyer.

  Resin smiled to make him feel more at ease. "Omagus is a guard. We, here in the Corporation, always keep an eye out for all our guests' safety no matter the circumstances. Have no fear, my friends," added the top-level assistant of the Corporation, "he is here for everyone’s wellbeing."

  The visiting trio twisted their lips in wonder, if not concern, all still somewhat uncomfortable. The talks of the day in question, the logistics, and the promise continued for another hour or so.

  Zaey rose up from her chair and explained that if a member of the council had set a plan in motion on the day of the bombing, with other real bombs in another district of the city, which in turn drew the robot guards to those bombs instead, Y-Wood was not at fault. Zaey continued more aggressively now, "If the robots were sent away by said council in search of these other explosives, how could they have been in two places at once? It states clearly in the paperwork that the bots operate to their fullest capacity within a certain radius. The council, as I see it, was tricked."

  Old Brock was not happy with her sudden outburst. "The absurd amount of money which was paid to get these protector bots to the far coast, not to mention the side favors, certainly demands that they were not tricked, my dear."

  The Stybeck woman dug out some forms from her satchel and held them up. "The contract states if such an explosion occurs, Y-Wood Corporation shall be held fully responsible. These bots do not miss bombs, no terrorism can operate with said bots anywhere in the city, according to this contract! If such an occurrence happens, as is the case, your Corporation, young lady, will be held entirely responsible! I shall say it again; you should offer a full refund."

  At that moment the silver-haired tycoon lawyer brought up a hologram judge who appeared on the wall before the entire conference ensemble. Brock went on to explain, "The contract also states that in such instances where negligence is thought to have occurred, an offhand ruler shall be administered via a third party judge. We have located such," he added, gesturing to the hologram of the overweight man in a judge's black robe and thick glasses.

  Zaey recognized the official. He was the overly fat Tartilla, who she had seen at the meetings during the week of the grand ball and arena fighting a while back. She could not help but wonder who funded these private officials. Then again, it did not really matter. She was here to do her own job; to discover where the security was in this big facility. Later this weekend, her sisters would infiltrate the place, and find out just what lay hidden behind the Corporation's most guarded secrets.

  She cared little for the outcome of this case. In fact, she would rather just get on with the task at hand, which would first involve searching around. She must be patient, now was not the time. She glanced over at the mega powerful robot, who in turn met her stare with suddenly glowing blue eyes. She quickly looked away and found herself hoping Sinaye would get here sooner rather than later.

  Resin now felt a bit flustered, he didn't give a damn about this case. If it were up to him, he would just kill all the west coast lawyers and have done with it. But that would not make Zaey, or anyone else, very happy. His plan did not include bloodshed. He wanted her to win this case and feel good. So he held his tongue. To think the Corporation would actually give these idiots a billion dollar refund; he found himself shaking his head in disbelief. What he hadn't realized, is that Zaey was looking over at him. He quickly recovered his mindset, smiled innocently at her, and felt his cheeks flushing a little.

  The virtual Tartilla judge hologram listened intensely and took in all viewpoints from the entire case. A break in the discussions was finally called for.

  "The Californian guests were not impressed by the vibe of the meeting so far, and they huddled together in a more private conversation. Each voiced their opinion that this Corporation was a shameful outfit indeed. However, none would dare say it out loud beyond their little group. When they spotted the guard robot by the nearby exit, they all tried to remove such thoughts from their minds as quickly as possible.

  After the short resting period, all were back in the conference room.

  The big dog had arrived. President Arn Marcou was a tall, dapper man, with a tremendous presence about him. The entire room fell silent when he spoke. He was dressed in black slacks and a silky, long black coat lined with red velvet. He also brandished small, round spectacles which validated his intelligence. "First off, thank you all for taking the long trip out here. We, here at Y-Wood, value our far coast friends and hope you enjoy your stay. I of course hope this meeting goes well and that we can all come to an agreeable conclusion." With that greeting he turned to look at Zaey. The undercover Q-Jin gave no measure of who she truly was, and as he looked at her, heat rushed to his head. She was everything he remembered and more; so small and tight, yet so intelligent and so special. He was excited for the meeting to continue. This was great fun!

  The talk seemed to repeat itself over and over. The Corporation promised robots which were guaranteed to detect and stop any terrorist bomb attacks within a certain radius. The lawyers for the west coast team simply felt the attack which killed many of their highest councilmen was a failure on the Corporation's part and a refund was due to them by Y-Wood. The tone had improved since the big world leader, Marcou, had been in the room. There was no doubt that they all feared him.

  Zaey continued to fight Y-Wood's corner. She explained the robots were given specific information from an inside source, as it appeared that a series of bombs were going to go off in another sector of the city, and the bots had been instructed to go there immediately.

  Both sides argued their own facts. They deliberated how and why the robots reacted to what they had been told. And by whom were they given such information? President Marcou, at one point, forgot all that was being said and caught himself drifting off, intimately thinking of the little Aussie girl across from him. He snapped back suddenly into the meeting at hand.

  "As far as a robot's state of mind goes," President Marcou spoke out, "our line of protective bots cannot be matched. They’re by far the best in the world. If they were told a threat existed, and it was told to them by someone with the proper authority, they would have taken it very seriously. Therefore, they did the right thing. The main aspect, which all of us must seriously consider, is whether or not you had a trader in your mix." The guests in the room all were taken back by these words. "They had proper clearance, and the bots did what a cleared, high-level figurehead had told them to do. Get that through your heads, people!"

  The CEO of Y-Wood then cracked his long, slender fingers and looked about the room. The fat judge on the wall, whom Marcou paid the salary of, certainly would not argue with his employer, but he still had to make it look good. Marcou looked to the wall, waiting to hear what the law decider had to say.

  The projected hologram began to talk, "We shall need to he
ar from the robotics expert. We need to get a vision of the bots' mindset, and just how much information was available to them at the time they left the area, and at the time the bomb blew up the entirety of the California city leadership."

  Old Brock was not pleased, but it would be interesting to hear what this scientist of robots would bring to the table. "When is she scheduled to arrive, if I may ask?"

  Resin was about to give a time when the elevator rang out in the hall. "I do believe she is here right now," he said, pointing outside the chamber door to the now opening elevator.

  Out stepped the one called Sinaye. Resin, as of late, had studied her more than any other human in existence. She was a dark-haired beauty dressed in skin-tight, gray leather pants and a shiny, white and gray halter blouse. There was no hiding her figure. Resin saw plain as day that this woman had a killer body. She was slim but stacked up top. She made her way inside, and all the attendees briefly rose up from their seats.

  Cador did not hesitate and was first to jump in. "Good evening, it's Sinaye, right? I'm . . . we, are so glad you are here, and just in the nick of time!"

  Sinaye nodded to the entire group, and without much else of a greeting to anyone, even to her fellow sister, Zaey, she found a spot at the table for all her leather bags and dropped herself into a seat. "I had a good flight, and I'm in need of a bloody good drink," she surprised everyone by saying as she adjusted her small body into the high back chair.

  The room, for the first time today, had definitely found something to smile about. Resin called for a serving bot to take drinks orders which were then delivered to the table in no time. Another break in the meeting was due, if only for a few minutes. The entire panel had a cocktail. Resin Cador was infatuated with the ultra-hot scientist and President Marcou marveled at Zaey as they both devoured their long, tall martinis.