by Craig Gaydas
“Run.”
I didn't bother to ask questions. I sprang from the bed, rushed past him and into the hallway. In my haste I nearly tripped over the decimated remains of the two guards. They had been pummeled into piles of unrecognizable slag. I hesitated and wondered how one of their own could take out two armed guards with such ferocity. I didn't get the chance to ponder the question for too long when the booming voice of Thirty-Five resonated from inside the room. “GO!”
I did as commanded. I ran out the door, through the hallway, past the main chamber and out the front door. Outside the starless sky blanketed everything in darkness with the exception of Manny's taxi which remained outside with its lights on. When I hopped into the back seat I heard the shouts coming from inside the building as Janero's guards searched for me. I ducked down in the back seat and heard Manny's voice.
“Where to, kid?”
I peered over the seat. “Anywhere but here,” I shouted.
Manny turned around. “Sorry pal I need a point of reference. Anywhere but here means everywhere with the exception of here.”
I frantically surveyed my surroundings, expecting robot guards to come pouring out of the building at any moment. I needed to think fast. “Take me to the landing zone.”
Manny scrunched his face in confusion. “The landing zone?”
“Yes!” My voice became more frenzied by the minute. “Wherever the hell you picked me up from.”
A smile crossed Manny's face. “Ah, you mean the airport!”
I smacked my forehead on the seat cushion as Manny threw the vehicle in drive. In the dust cloud we left behind I saw four of Janero's guards burst out the door. They pointed their fingers at the cab but before they could fire, Janero ran out behind them with a robe wrapped around him. Even in the dark I could his face reflected in the church light. His face was a mix of anger and disappointment. He shouted something and they put their hands down. I turned around and slumped in the seat. I contemplated my next move and realized I had no next move. Where the hell would I go on a barren planet filled with nightmarish monsters?
About halfway down the road the vehicle came to a stop. When the holographic image of Manny vanished I realized that the vehicle died. Everything in the vehicle went out, leaving me surrounded by darkness.
“What the hell?” Frantic, I turned and looked out the back window. There was no sign of Janero or his robots. I drew a deep breath and tried to figure out my next move. The taxi stopped about 30 yards from the train station and I remembered Janero's warning. Terrible things live beyond the tunnel. I was unarmed, short one hand and alone. My current predicament did not exactly fill me with hope. I jumped in the front seat but the console was devoid of any type controls. Although there was a steering wheel there was no accelerator, brake, or light switch. The entire car had been controlled by Manny.
“Damn it!” I banged my left fist on the steering wheel but it was my right wrist that throbbed in response. Where the hell am I supposed to go? A little more information from Thirty-Five would have been useful but he was gone. I started to think the entire situation was some sort of trap. After all, it was one of Janero's personal robots who freed me. Was Shai behind this? I was aware of the “games” he liked to play.
I heard the clank of metal against pavement and saw Janero's robots in the distance, approaching fast. They were about a hundred yards away. I did the only thing I thought of at that moment. I left the cab and ran for the train station. Once I was inside the station I realized the folly of my actions. The darkness was only kept at bay by a single emergency floodlight outside. As I continued further into the station, the gloom eventually took over and I ran around like a headless chicken. I heard Janero's robots as they closed in. I changed direction and ran toward the tunnel. I took the stairs two at a time. By the time I reached the bottom it was so dark I practically fell down the final stair. I was blanketed in murky blackness. Even though there was oxygen down there I found it difficult to breathe. The air tasted old and stale, as if I just strolled into an old basement. I heard my pursuers muffled footsteps upstairs. I fumbled in the darkness for a light switch but felt nothing but cold steel walls. I fell back against the wall in resignation.
“Maybe this wasn't such a good idea,” I muttered to myself.
I heard the robots scurrying around at the top of the stairs. Flashlight beams rolled over the floor at the bottom of the stairs only twenty feet away. “Do you have him?” Janero asked. The beams grew larger as the robots descended the stairs.
“No sir, he escaped from the vehicle,” one of them replied. “We are currently pursuing into the tunnels.”
“No damn it!” Janero's agitated voice boomed over the communicator. “Get him before he reaches the end of the tunnel. He's dead if we don't stop him.”
The end of the tunnel? I asked myself. I can't even find my hand in front of my face down here. I definitely had no urge to find out what lurked beyond the tunnel but the robots were coming. I slid along the wall, deeper into the tunnel. I froze when I heard a noise up ahead. It sounded like someone dropped a roll of quarters on the ground. I held my breath and listened. After a moment of silence I continued, but thought my lungs would explode. Only then did I realize I was holding my breath anxiously. I took one step forward and another sound from inside the tunnel caused me to freeze. This time it sounded like someone kicked an aluminum can against the wall. I strained my eyes in the hopes that I would see any sign of the source, but my eyes couldn't grow accustomed to such enveloping darkness. There would be no way I could continue through the tunnel without some source of light. I was trapped between the known threat of Janero and the unknown threat lurking in the gloom.
I stopped and tried to measure my options when two globes of blue suddenly pierced the dark. They began as no bigger than a pen tip but increased in size as they approached. The unknown threat was coming toward me! I turned and looked behind me and saw that the robots had reached the bottom stair. The first robot turned and held out his hand, palm open, as a white beam of light pierced the darkness.
The known or the unknown? I struggled with the path I should take. The blue light was almost upon me. It was larger than a quarter now and bright enough to illuminate the area around it. Behind the light I saw another larger blue light as big as a softball. Suddenly I was covered in white light as Janero's robots trained their lights on me.
“We found him!” one of them shouted.
Their lights shone past me, illuminating the blue orbs in front of me. They revealed a person donned in silver and black armor with a helmet to match. The softball size blue orb was actually a light in the center of its helmet. The quarter size light encircled the barrel of the pistol currently pointed at my face.
“Get down!” the newcomer growled.
Without hesitation I fell to the floor. Sparks fell on me as the weapon roared to life. I placed my arms over my head and buried my face in the ground. I stayed that way until silence filled the tunnel.
“Oh, get up off the ground,” a mousy voice squeaked. “Do you humans always lie down on the job?”
I looked up into the face of a dwarf. He had so much hair on his face that I wondered if he even had one. His blond beard flowed down to his chest like a waterfall of hair. He had wild eyes which bulged from their sockets. As I stood and brushed myself off I was immediately covered in light when more of the armored strangers approached. The lead soldier removed his helmet. His features were similar to those of a human with the exception of a thick bony ridge which extended from the center of his forehead down to his upper lip. Two small dots above his upper lip flared and I assumed they were his nostrils. I looked toward the stairs to find the shattered, smoking remains of Janero's robots. They were riddled with holes and nearly unrecognizable. The scarlet brightness of their eyes faded until their sockets descended into shadow.
“Hey, I may be small but I'm not invisible,” the dwarf barked. His eyes bulged as he studied me. For a minute I was worried they wo
uld drop out of their sockets. A buzzing sound came from behind him and a metal arm slowly emerged from his shoulder blades clutching a small circular object. The disk stopped in front of his left eye and he peered at me through it. “According to my calculations you are at least four hundred yards off course.” He muttered something under his breath before continuing. “Of course I didn't anticipate Janero to cut power to the taxi.” He wore a yellow overcoat which resembled a rain coat with many pockets. He reached into one of the pockets and pulled out a small book. He opened it and a 3-D holographic image popped up. The image looked like a car engine. After twirling the image 180 degrees with his index finger he frowned. His other hand opened and closed rapidly. “I really need to re-examine the Android Neural Inhibitor. I expected the android override to be more effective. My instructions to Thirty-Five were not relayed properly at all. Not at all!” He closed the book and shoved it into his pocket.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Clean that up, please.” He turned to the helmet-less soldier and motioned toward the pile of mangled robot carcasses. He nodded and put on the helmet. Turning to me he said, “My name is Grillick. Some people call me The Artificer. Others call me the Tinkerer. Vanth calls me a pain in the ass. But whatever you do, don't call me late for dinner.” He glanced at my handless arm with disdain. “Oh deary-dear. This will not do. Not do at all.”
I held it up. “What's wrong?”
He squinted at me. “Well, for one thing your hand is missing.”
I scowled. “Thanks, Captain Obvious.”
Unperturbed, Grillick continued. “Unfortunately for you, where we are going will require the use of two hands.” He reached into a different pocket and removed a pad. He reached inside the jacket and retrieved a pen. “I am writing you a prescription for a new hand. Please hand this to the desk clerk upon arrival.” He tore the paper from the pad and handed it to me.
I took the piece of paper. Prescription: Cybernetic Hand Implant, Version 3.1. Please make sure to use the latest revision.
“Are you serious?” I asked incredulously.
He waved his hand dismissively. “There is no time to explain. Janero will come once he finds out he lost his toys.” Grillick cocked his head strangely and stared at the pile of robotic corpses. “Robots he calls them! They are nothing more than mobile rust magnets,” he snorted. He turned around and barked orders to three soldiers standing at attention nearby. “We are going back through the tunnel. Let's go!”
“Wait a minute, do you think that's a good idea?” I argued. “Janero mentioned that there were bad things living beyond the tunnel.”
“To hell with Janero and his bad things,” Grillick sneered. “There are bad things living everywhere. Hell, I have worse things living in the storage compartment of my ship. Did you know I can make the Kessel Run in under five parsecs?”
“What?”
He brayed with laughter. “Oh, you humans and your movies! Star Wars provided me many hours of comedy that I will cherish until the end of time.” He shuffled deeper into the tunnel, choking laughter, as I hesitantly followed.
As we made our way through the tunnel I wondered what these people wanted with me. Grillick was an odd duck but as he guided me safely through the tunnel he didn't seem to have malevolent intentions. My gut told me he was one of the good guys and my gut was the only thing I could trust anymore.
As we progressed through the tunnel, the soldier's lights fell upon the rusted carcass of a train. It had rounded edges like a monorail but was now nothing more than a reminder of what used to be. Even deep within the tunnel, the train wasn't immune to the ivy and vines which surrounded the buildings. The ivy circled the front of the train in a death grip and was about as thick as my leg. Grillick prodded me along before I could admire the scene any further.
We exited and stumbled over the moss-covered tracks the tunnel spit out. On the opposite side was the body of a mutant dog, similar to the one which attacked us earlier except this one had a gaping hole in its torso. We passed it and continued towards the barren wasteland that made up the plains. The ground was cracked with very little vegetation. As we traveled there had been some areas that vomited up a weed or two but mostly cracked earth greeted us. We continued for several hundred yards before a blood-curdling roar in the distance broke the silence. It was guttural and seemed very unhappy.
“What the hell was that?” I asked.
“Bad things,” Grillick muttered sarcastically. I had to resist the urge to slap him in his furry mouth. We walked another hundred yards before coming to a stop.
“Okay, we're here,” Grillick stated.
I looked around. The surrounding landscape was lit up by the soldiers light beams. We were surrounded by nothing but barren plains. My frustration boiled over. “Here? We are in the middle of nowhere!” I shouted irritably
Grillick sighed. “You humans,” he grumbled and shook his head, “always thinking in terms of absolutes.”
Aggravated, I continued walking and smacked my face on something hard. “What the…?” I extended my left hand and it flattened in front of me, as if hitting an invisible wall. Ahead was nothing but the barren environment yet something stopped me from going forward.
“The middle of nowhere, you said?” Grillick asked smugly. He reached into another pocket and retrieved a cylindrical object with a large, glowing red button on top. I found myself wondering how many things Grillick kept in his pockets. He pushed the button and the wall slid upward revealing a large ship.
“Well, that was certainly an interesting bit of camouflage,” I mused.
The top of the ship was round, similar to the Kamilian saucers I witnessed back on Earth. Above the hull were several structures which resembled radio towers. Three long legs extended from the body toward the ground like an oversized tripod. Because of the darkness I had no idea what the overall height of the vessel was but by my estimates it had to have been at least three hundred feet high. A ramp led from the ground to the belly of the ship.
“All aboard,” Grillick squeaked.
The roar we heard earlier got louder. The creature attached to it was getting closer. The soldiers tensed and swept the landscape with their weapons. Grillick hopped on the ramp and called out over his shoulder.
“And might I suggest we hurry.”
The Escape
“Set course for Exorg 1,” Grillick barked.
“Yes sir,” the closest soldier responded before running off.
“Exorg 1?” I asked.
“Yes. That is where Vanth calls his home.” Grillick led me down the hall to an archway with a large sign painted in bright blue letters. “Grog's Bar, Grill and Sundries” was written on the sign. Sitting at a desk underneath the sign was an ornery looking toad. His pale green skin, thick torso and puffy cheeks made him look like Kermit the Frog on steroids. His narrow yellow eyes locked on us as we approached the desk.
“What do you want?” he grumbled.
“His customer service may be lacking, but when it comes to his goods there is no equal in the universe,” Grillick stated. “This is Grog. He is grumpier than a gutter snake, but since I don't see Preek around I could only assume he has pulled desk duty today.”
“You're damn right,” Grog grumped. “He says he doesn't feel well today. Maybe he shouldn't have been up all night drinking my stash of Orgellian Ale.”
Grillick let out a long sigh. “Anyway, Nathan, please show him the piece of paper I gave you earlier.”
I reached into my pocket, retrieved the “prescription” and handed it to Grog. He glanced at it with a look of indifference. He eyes went from the paper to me. “Broken, are we?”
“Occasionally,” I muttered.
His hawkish eyes widened and he brayed laughter. It sounded like a cat getting run over by a car. “Grillick, you bagged a funny one, you did.”
He turned to a nearby cabinet. That was when I realized he wasn't sitting to begin with. His torso was that of a toad but his bottom h
alf reminded me of a horse. He had four thick limbs ending in hooves. They sounded like coconut halves slapping against metal. He reached inside the cabinet, retrieved a small, silver box and slapped it down on the desk. “It's the latest, greatest version of cybernetic implants. I designed it myself.”
Grillick cleared his throat.
Grog sighed. “A little fairy helped too.”
Since Grillick was too short to reach the top of the desk, I took the box and handed it to him. He opened it, examined the contents and seemed satisfied with what lay inside.
“Thank you, Grog. Always a pleasure,” Grillick said with a touch of sarcasm.
“While you're here, would you care for a devilfish sandwich or perhaps a grilled sunbird pot pie?” Grog asked.
Grillick placed his hand over his abdomen. “No thanks, my stomach is still trying to process the fried jackalope you made last night.”
Grog grunted and waved us away. “Take a hike then. I need to work on restocking the shelves. Preek decided to neglect those duties as well.” He turned and clomped toward the back room.
Grillick opened the box and inhaled deeply. “Ahhh, I love the smell of invention in the morning.” He closed the lid and handed it to me.
The top of the box was labeled “Cybernetic Hand, Human Model, Rev 3”. I opened it and sure enough there was a hand inside, coated in some kind of dark-colored metallic substance. “What am I supposed to do with this?” I blurted.
“Vanth won't even consider you if you are short a hand,” Grillick explained. “This cybernetic replacement can be attached to your wrist and will function like a real hand.”
I looked at the object with skepticism. “How?”
We stopped in front of a sliding glass door marked “Lab”. “I will attach the hand to your organic tissue via a synthetic neural interface that will allow you to control and use it as if it were the real thing. I will cover the joint with some synthskin and you should be good to go.”
The inside of the lab looked more like a research center. There were several wash basins, stainless steel stools and tables, a bench which connected to an oversized machine which reminded me of a CT scanner, as well as several trays of beakers and vials filled with liquids of various colors. I followed Grillick to a workbench where circuit boards had been tossed in a pile. He pointed to a chair with armrests big enough to fit small tree trunks.
