by Tara Tyler
“Great. Now I can be in two places at once. We should bring it with us.”
Geri used one of her QV gadgets to demagnetize the straps, and Cooper was free. “Don’t move. We need to wait for Jared’s okay.”
Jared piped up, “That should do it. You have five minutes. Any more than that and you will rouse the Colonel’s suspicion.”
Geri turned off her camo cover and helped Cooper out of the restraints.
“Oh, yeah. It isn’t you.” Cooper sounded disappointed as he stood, rubbing his wrists.
Geri checked the frame of the control room. It showed him sitting there. So far so good, Jared’s hold was working.
“I hope to be back to myself soon. Let’s go!”
Geri grabbed Cooper’s arm and pulled him out of the room.
“So Rajul is here?”
“The Colonel has him locked up in the basement to work on the droids, I guess. Come on!”
They rushed down the stairs. When they reached the operating room door, Geri snapped her fingers. Locked. “Jared, can you unlock the doors in the house?”
“I can try. Hold on.”
After a minute, she heard the door to the operating room click.
Cooper entered first and nodded at his simulation. “Not a bad looking guy. And there’s my QV.” He snatched it from a high shelf and put it on.
Geri shook her head. “Just grab yourself and let’s go!”
“The transport room is on the top floor. Follow me.”
Of course it is. They hurried upstairs with Cooper in the lead, carrying the bulk of his simulation around the waist and Geri behind him, helping with the legs.
“You could stand to lose some weight, you know.”
“What? I’m solid muscle.”
“One minute left!” Hasan shouted in Geri’s ear.
They burst into the transport room. “Let’s pop this guy first.”
While Cooper propped his simulation in the transport dock, Geri jumped behind the transmission controls and plugged in the codes Hasan gave her for the plantation.
Pop! He was gone.
“You’re next,” Geri ordered.
As Cooper climbed into the seat, Geri couldn’t hold back. “So what was that kiss?”
“Is this really the time and place?”
“Avoiding the question?”
“Thirty seconds!” Hasan screeched.
“No. I don’t know. It felt right,” Cooper answered.
“Okay. Ready?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He closed his eyes.
Geri kissed him.
Cooper kept his eyes shut and smiled.
When his readings said he was out, Geri pushed the self-send button inside the dock for him.
Pop!
“Five seconds, Geri!”
Damn it, Hasan! “I know! Shut up!”
As she jumped in and gave herself the shot, a very determined servant droid slammed open the door. He was different from the other droids. He even narrowed his eyes at her.
Geri shut the door and pressed send, hoping to make it to the other side as her consciousness left her.
Norcross, GA
Wednesday, June 24, 2082
olonel Hamilton, how did you get so many reinforcement police droids here so quickly?”
Standing outside the broadcast station, Crews was blinded by the glare of the reporter’s sparkling teeth. He hated the media, but needed it for public visibility. And today’s audience was about to be astounded. Crews had the public’s attention and it was time to drive his point home.
“Well, I’ve had many requests for personal protection droids, so I brought a few extra. I always plan ahead. With that half-cocked agent running around killing people, I’ve been extra cautious protecting Representative Wells. It could’ve been him the other day. He was sitting right next to the Governor. Who knows where she’ll strike next?”
“It’s not an agent! It’s a simulation!” a girl shouted from the crowd.
The Colonel’s cheeks flushed. He had trouble retaining his composure as he responded to the outburst, keeping his eyes glued to the reporter. “What a ridiculous thing to say. Next thing you know, someone will accuse me of being an android.” He chuckled.
The reporters and some of the crowd laughed with him.
“You had her made. And Wells too!” the young woman persisted, and pushed her way through the onlookers. How had she broken through his droid perimeter? She must’ve been part of the human authorities.
The Colonel still refused to acknowledge her. He shook his head at the reporter with a shrug. “Really. Such inane drivel.” It took a great deal of strength not to turn around and give the persistent little gnat a good swat.
To Crews’ relief, the crowd laughed louder at her. But the reporter had the camera get a shot of who was speaking.
“Stand down, Agent Boscowicz.”
Now that’s what Crews had been waiting for. A genuine figure of authority approached. Crews sighed and turned around, finally getting a look at the foolish wench causing the disturbance. He half expected it to be the uncontrollable Lucinda, but she should be out of the country by now, with a little help from his friends at the INS.
A familiar older gentleman stepped up and put a hand on the young woman’s shoulder as she made her way to the Colonel. Luckily, Crews knew the head of Atlanta’s FBI division, Axel Taylor, personally.
Recognizing the girl, the Colonel blinked. She was the secondary agent from Rajul’s garage. This was perfect. He smiled confidently at her, but spoke to Mr. Taylor.
“If you can’t control your agents, my friend, you should consider replacing them with emotionless androids. They never make such impulsive outbursts.”
“I do apologize, Colonel. But we have the situation under control. The rogue agent should be in our hands very soon.”
Crews thoroughly enjoyed the fact his colleague was lying through his teeth, and kept smiling.
“Of course. But just in case, I have some police droids as well as Representative Wells’ protection droids ready to go into action. All you have to do is say the word.”
The police chief, who’d been watching the Colonel warily from the sidelines, stepped over and jumped into the discussion.
“But you’re civilians. There’s protocol, legalities, and liabilities. Procedures you can’t possibly have programmed into them yet.”
“The androids do as they are told. As long as the person in control knows all these rules, they will abide by them. Here, Chief.” Crews handed him a remote fob. “Push this button. You speak, they obey.”
Mr. Taylor scowled. He didn’t like that at all. “This is neither the time nor the place for an experiment or demonstration. We are wasting time. I’m taking…”
Interrupting him, an officer broke through the crowd and shoved her QV at the Chief. “Agent Harper is demanding to speak to you, Chief!”
He leaned back and cleared his throat. “Yes?”
The imager displayed an impatient sim Geri. “I’m done talking and waiting for your next move to smoke me out. I’m going to have a private debate with Representative Wells and Senator Cooper. We’re going for a ride and you better give us lots of room or many civilians will suffer. My men are waiting for a command from me to secure their areas. Maybe a few thousand hostages will motivate you all to make up your minds quicker.”
Off to the side, the Colonel whispered urgently to the Chief, but loud enough for the reporter to catch.
“You have to make a move. That’s my boy up there. Think of all the innocent people!”
The Chief’s face twisted in worry. After glancing from the pleading Colonel to the glaring head of the FBI, he cleared his throat again, firmed his face, and looked sternly at the imager.
“Agent Harper, we are doing our best to contact the officials in Washington who can meet your demands. You must give us more time.”
She sneered. “You’re stalling.”
She electroshot the camera and the feed we
nt blank.
“What’s she doing?”
The officer jumped from frame to frame of the broadcast feeds. Each one blanked out. “She’s shooting all the cameras!”
“I have to send them in!” the Chief shouted.
“Just give them an order, but be very specific.” The Colonel sidled up to the Chief.
“You are not in command here.” Axel poked the Chief in the chest.
The Chief leaned into him. They were eye to eye. “And you think you are?” He turned to the Colonel.
The Colonel nodded, then whispered in his ear, “Their trigger word is PF squad.”
The Chief nodded back. He pushed the button and spoke into the remote. “PF squad, proceed to the 14th floor. Protect Representative Wells and Senator Cooper and subdue Agent Harper. And do not harm any civilians.”
The Colonel smiled at him and gave him a thumbs-up. His command was just vague enough to work. Moving off to the side, he spoke into his tie tack, “Wells, confirm orders.”
Crews almost salivated as he watched his police androids, made in the image of his younger self, stream into the building like a swarm of ants converging to feed on a large beast.
Cooper, Geri, and Jared watched the broadcasts of sim Geri while Hasan piloted his military-style transport helicopter to the station. They couldn’t get there fast enough for any of them. Even Jared had a loved one involved. He found out his wife, Miki was at one of the locations downtown where droids were about to take hostages.
Searching the buildings below, Cooper caught a glimpse of his double and shook his head. He couldn’t help grinning at it. Once they got the thing working, the simulation would be the perfect decoy, if they reached the station in time.
“We’ve lost the news broadcast. Sim Geri shot the cameras!” Jared yelled.
“Peace, brother. We’re almost there.” Flying the helicopter with surprising skill, Hasan calmed down quite a bit once he saw Aimee on the imager and knew she was safe.
“Is that another helicopter?” Geri pointed to the broadcast station roof.
In addition to the doorless helicopter on the roof’s helipad, a huge satellite dish sat in the far corner.
“We won’t fit on there, we’ll have to land one building over. Wait. I see movement. It looks like someone is coming out!”
Cooper willed them to move faster as he watched sim Geri push Wells and Dawson at gun point. She hurried them toward the waiting helicopter with its blades spinning to life.
“Not if I can help it.” Hasan swooped the big whirly-bird and touched down on the next roof. He landed parallel to the other building to give them some cover.
Geri turned on her camo and jumped out first. Firing at the other helicopter, she electroshot the tail blades and shorted them out. They sputtered to a stop.
On the other roof, sim Geri returned fire while Wells and Dawson scooted under the helicopter, hiding from the flying bursts of electricity.
As Hasan unloaded his super droids, sim Geri scored on a couple of them. The super droids were huge and had no skin, just solid steel. Hasan had explained the huge droids absorbed the energy of electroblasts, converting it into more power for them. A brilliant recycling idea, and it appeared to be working.
“Camo up, my Andies,” Hasan commanded once they were in formation.
All twenty-five eight-foot-tall super droids shimmered and vanished.
He pointed across the gap. “Now go get that simulation!”
Cooper and Hasan were outfitted with defensive, shockproof suits. They also wore special goggles so they could see the super droids through their camo cover. Attached to their suits, they had remote fobs to control the mechanical brutes. Using key words, they could command the super droids as a whole or individually.
As the super droids marched to the edge of the roof, Cooper spied around the edge of the helicopter, trying to get a better view of Dawson. Wells had a good grip on his shoulder and shared Dawson’s desperate expression. At least his brother looked unharmed.
With a running start, Geri led the charge across, leaping over the gap between the buildings.
Sim Geri aimed and fired. She struck the real Geri, jolting her and causing her camo cover to malfunction. How did that thing see her?
Rushing over to the edge, Cooper was helpless as Geri blinked in and out of view, flailing her arms, reaching for something to grab onto. But she was halfway between the buildings. She dropped down, down into the depths of the alley, fourteen floors to the bottom.
Cooper flattened himself on the roof, reaching out to her. “No!”
He searched for her in the shadows on the ground, but she disappeared. The camo must’ve kept her invisible. He buried his face in his elbow.
Hasan hit the deck beside Cooper and searched the alley as well. “That simulation must have super heat vision or something.” He called over his shoulder, “Hurry, my droids. Hurry! Take down the simulation she-devil!” Then he turned back to his friend. “Cooper, can you continue?”
Cooper lifted his head but didn’t look at Hasan as tears flooded his eyes. He wiped them away with his fist. “Yeah. I’ll be fine, keep going with the plan. When you get downstairs, see if you can find her.” Peering over the edge one more time, Cooper ached, still seeing no sign of her. His heart was in pieces, but he had to keep going. Dawson was still in trouble over there with that heartless killing machine.
Hasan ran for the roof access door. “You got it. Come with me, Cooper two.” He and sim Cooper entered the building and rushed down to the street.
With the onslaught of giant invisible droids, leaping across five at a time, sim Geri fled for cover behind the huge satellite dish. She couldn’t see them, but knew they were coming for her.
Then the police droids busted onto the roof like bees swarming out to protect their queen. Several were struck down immediately by the landing super droids, but the rest formed a perimeter around the helicopter to protect Wells and Dawson.
Watching the super droids, Cooper thought it would be easy for them to take out the simulation of Geri. But the police droids flocked to her and made a barrier around her, giving the super droids a hard time. With the uniformed androids still spilling out onto the roof, it seemed like an unfair fight. There were already five times as many of the smaller droids and more coming every second.
Cooper called for one of the super droids in the last group to take him over. It picked him up and soared across the gap, setting him gently down when they reached the other side. Cooper was ready to tear that simulation’s head off and nothing was going to get in his way. As he replayed Geri’s fall in his head, he sorely wanted to make the simulation suffer and was very frustrated it wouldn’t. At least he’d show the world she was a simulation. Then he would take out his wrath on the Colonel. That little man better settle matters with his Maker, cause he was about to meet him.
Finding the super droid closest to the roof access door, Cooper gave it a command through his remote. “Andy Twelve, close and barricade that door. All Andies near Andy Twelve, help him.” Cooper hoped that would translate. It wasn’t very specific.
It seemed to work. Andy Twelve, plus two others near it, went to work grabbing police droids and throwing them out of the way like rag dolls. They stopped new ones from coming out, shoving them back down the stairs, and shut the door. Andy Twelve used himself as a barricade to keep it closed.
The majority of the super droids headed for sim Geri at the satellite dish. They electroshot at her, but she deflected their blasts. Some tried real bullets, but those were just as ineffective. They would have to get close to her and rip her apart, but there were too many police droids around her. The bigger droids worked hard plucking the smaller droids out of their way, flinging them off the roof. The smaller ones weren’t very bright. They stood ready, but couldn’t detect the camouflaged attackers until they were right on top of them.
None of the droids, super or small, paid any attention to Cooper. The basic underlying rule for all droi
ds was civilians weren’t to be harmed. When Cooper tried to break through the police droid perimeter around the helicopter to get to Dawson, they pushed him back, but didn’t hurt him.
The fighting among the droids intensified behind him. Wells or the Colonel must’ve told the police droids to go on the offensive because they started shooting randomly. When the super droids were hit by electroshots, their camo cover would blink, exposing them for more shots. The fighting was putting a strain on their invisibility. And even with the flow of police droids stopped, the smaller droids still massively outnumbered the super droids. From the pounding Cooper heard on the access door, more would be coming through soon.
Since he couldn’t get to Dawson, Cooper yelled to him, “You okay?”
“Yeah. Thanks for the heads up.”
“Next time you should listen to me, right?”
“I’ll never doubt you again.”
When Cooper saw a group of police droids climb on a super droid, taking it down, he took cover behind one of the nearby Andies and warned Dawson.
“Hey! You should duck!”
There was an explosion.
Hasan put a last resort feature in the super droids. As soon as one accumulated too much damage or was forced down, it exploded, taking its attackers and anything in a radius of ten feet with it.
Cooper needed to get Dawson out of there. He came up with an idea.
“Hey, Dawson! Can you fly a helicopter?”
The people who had evacuated the station, along with the gathered group of reporters, all moved further away from the building to escape the hailstorm of androids dropping from the sky. With all the news helicopters hovering around the scene, they were able to tune in on their QVs to see what was happening live. There were also two of the Chief’s police choppers. The station manager directed some of his crew to set up a large, portable imager with multiple frames in the parking lot for the crowd to see the action from all angles. The Colonel couldn’t have asked for better coverage.
An electrifying battle raged between the hundreds of police droids and some other, bigger, more powerful droids that flickered in and out of visibility.
