“I don’t know if that will be possible,” X said. “But perhaps you can be the next big thing.”
“All them enhancements and carryin’ on,” Kitchener said. “Makes you wonder if in the future there won’t be a difference between us and you. I mean, not that there’s much of a difference between us and you right now, you know what I mean?”
X looked outside and saw that sunset was imminent. In nine minutes, it would be twilight.
“It’s time,” X said. “Sparrow, are you sure you can get me to the mansion?”
“Guaranteed,” Sparrow said. “The streets are crawling with bad guys. But I can distract them.”
Sparrow clapped two times, and a dachshund ran into the room. X could tell that it was a robot. The dog barked and cocked its head to the side.
“This dog will get us caught,” X said.
“No,” Sparrow said, hugging the dog. “Mango’ll get me caught—so you can keep going.”
“This is too dangerous,” X said.
Kitchener put his hand on X’s shoulder. “Ain’t nothin’ ever worth fightin’ for that ain’t been dangerous.”
He analyzed Kitchener’s voice; it was strange for a father to send his son into a war zone and not be nervous. Yet his body temperature was normal. No signs of worry or distress on his face. He wouldn’t have been that way if he didn’t have trust in his son—and X. For that, X decided to place that same confidence in Sparrow.
Mango ran in circles around X.
“Let’s go,” Sparrow said.
They crept to the door and peered into the alley. The sun had sunk into the horizon, and the first shadows of night fell over the street. Porch lights flickered on, and with them sounded the shrill chirp of crickets and frogs.
The street was empty, so they walked several blocks toward an intersection. The two men with machine guns were sitting on the corner, smoking electronic cigarettes.
X slipped into the shadows. Sparrow winked at him.
Mango barked, and Sparrow ran up to the two men.
“Hey, guys,” Sparrow said.
“Sparrow,” one of the men said. “What’re you doin’ out after nightfall? You’re breaking curfew.”
“Did you hear that they upgraded the UEA network today? We missed it!”
“How’d you find out about that?” the other man asked.
X snuck past them, then grabbed a crate lying on the ground.
“You’re gonna have to go back home,” the first man said. “Or we’re gonna have to shoot you.”
SMACK!
X cracked both of the men on the head with the crate. He dragged them into an alley and threw their dazed bodies in a dumpster.
“Let’s keep going,” he said.
Sparrow nodded, and they continued to a major street where several men sat in Jeeps. Behind them, an avenue led toward the beach.
“This is the checkpoint,” Sparrow said. “If you can get past these guys, you can follow that road to the mansion.”
X studied the intersection. There were several Jeeps and more men than he could fight. “What’s your plan?” he asked.
Sparrow smiled, then ran out into the street. X reached for him but couldn’t grab him in time.
“Hey, hey, hey!”
The men pointed their guns at him, and Sparrow stopped and put his hands up. The men’s rifles clicked, silencing him.
“Stop right there,” one of the men said.
“Two guys just got beat up!” Sparrow cried. “Someone hit them over the head and threw them in a dumpster! I saw the guy run off into an alley. You can catch him if you’re fast.”
“Must be with the UEA,” one of the men said. “Boss said he’d show up right about now.”
X filed the words away. Brockway already knew he was coming. He didn’t have as big of an advantage as he thought.
Three Jeeps followed Sparrow down the street, leaving one behind. By now, Brockway would be smart enough to know that X was on the island. He would tell his men to capture Sparrow in hopes of luring X to the mansion. But X knew this, and he wondered if Brockway knew that he knew.
He studied the street. One Jeep, two men. Better odds now. Soon, though, one of the Jeeps returned. Sparrow was tied up in the back.
“We just got orders to take this boy in. Keep your eyes posted for an android.”
X’s algorithm adjusted to the scene. Brockway was playing into his gamble.
The Jeep with Sparrow rocketed down the road toward the mansion.
X activated his guns, ready to handle the last Jeep. He was formulating the best attack strategy when Mango trotted out of the alley.
“Get out of here,” one of the men said. Mango looked around, panted, and then peed on the Jeep.
“What the hell are you doing?” the man yelled.
Mango jumped up into the Jeep, panted again, then grabbed the strap of one of the machine guns resting on the backseat and ran off with it, dragging it across the asphalt.
“You stupid dog!”
Two men chased after Mango as he ran in circles around the square.
X hadn’t planned for this, but his algorithm told him to act. He dashed into the square, jumped into the Jeep and sped off. The men yelled after him, but it was too late.
He sped down the road at seventy miles per hour. The villa appeared over the top of the hill. The wind blew hard against his face and ushered in dark clouds for the moon to shine through. He parked the Jeep on the beach and climbed the downspout of a nearby house. He pulled himself onto the roof and studied the mansion. Hip-hop music filled the night, so loud he could almost make out the words. The mansion was orange, with a terra cotta roof, and every room in the house was lit up. X scanned the property and verified that the mansion had twenty-nine rooms and two pools. An iron fence with a sliding gate surrounded the property, guarded by an armed sentry and security cameras.
He used his thermal eyesight and determined that there were humans and an android on the premises. X tried to hone in on Brockway’s signal, but it was moving. The android was in the middle of the house, though X couldn’t tell where.
He counted on Sparrow to be alive.
Brockway would expect him to enter the front gate with his guns blazing. Or to sneak in the back. He had to think of something more creative.
Since the entire island was disconnected from the UEA, so was the house. It had a smart android inside, but the house was dumb, just like houses built hundreds of years ago. He could use the house’s stupidity to his advantage.
A driverless pizza moped sped by, and X remembered what Kitchener had said about pizza drones coming in and out of the mansion regularly. X scanned the phone number on the side of the moped and stored it.
“Pizza time,” he said.
He blinked, and a digital screen appeared in front of him with the pizza company’s website: Jamaican Me Pizza. X typed in the address of the mansion—a profile had already been set up in the company database. He ordered ten jerk chicken pizzas, two boxes of chicken wings, and five boxes of breadsticks. A confirmation message dotted with pepperonis displayed on the screen: THANKS FOR YOUR ORDER, MON! SEE YOU IN TEN MINUTES.
A timer appeared over X’s vision, and he counted down.
10:00—Pre-made dough. Wooden paddles, manned by a machine. Into oven.
05:00—Pizzas so done they’re almost on fire. Wooden paddle scoops them out. Into boxes. Boxes into heating pouch.
04:30—Heating pouch into hands of a pizza bot who packs it on a red moped. Moped speeds through the streets, timing its speed to hit all the green lights.
01:30—Moped begins final approach.
X jumped down from the roof into the middle of the street. He balled his fists and arched his back. After a few seconds, he heard the buzz of the moped as it sped around the corner. He clotheslined it, flipping it upside down, and it skidded down the street and crashed into a wall. The moped attempted to right itself, but X jumped on top of it and ripped out the control panel. He crushed it in his fingers an
d tossed it aside. Then he hopped on and revved the engine—it still worked, and he drove several blocks to the gate of the mansion just as the timer reached zero.
The armed guard at the gate halted him. “What do you want?”
X smiled and pointed to the pizzas. “I got a delivery for you, brother.”
“We didn’t order any pizzas.”
“Someone in your house must’ve. We’ve been delivering pizzas here all day.”
“Why are you driving the moped?” the man asked suspiciously.
“We’re havin’ problems with our fleet. You know, not being connected to the UEA. Kinda your guys’ fault.”
The man frowned. He keyed a command into the control panel at the gate. “I got a pizza guy at the front gate. Says somebody ordered pizza.”
“They read our minds,” a voice said from the panel. “The last one didn’t bring breadsticks. Go ahead and let him in. Pay him yourself. Boss’ll pay you back.”
The gate slid open and the guard motioned X inside. Once he was safely inside past the eyes of the cameras, X grabbed the man in a headlock and covered his mouth.
“Be quiet.”
The man struggled.
“Shut the gates,” X said. “And if you enter a distress code, I’ll snap your neck.”
The man keyed something into the panel. X scanned it and verified that it was a simple close command. The gate closed shut.
“Where is your boss?” X asked.
“I ain’t gonna tell you,” the man said.
X kneed the man in the groin, then covered his mouth to muffle the scream. “Where is your boss? Speak if you don’t want to become a paraplegic.”
“In the mansion! In the mansion!”
“Where in the mansion?”
“Second floor. Master suite!”
X squeezed his neck harder. “I hate when humans aren’t specific.”
“Okay, okay—go in the house, up the second set of stairs, follow the breezeway around the pool and it’s the room with the golden doors. Good God, let me go!”
X let the man go and he doubled over, panting. Then X elbowed him on the back of his head, knocking him out.
He scanned the house again. The front door was open and smoke wafted out. He detected the faint smell of marijuana and cigars. The music was louder, and it was coming from the pool area. The subwoofer rattled his insides.
He crept around the side of the house, passing a room where a group of men were eating pizzas and joking with each other. He looked in the windows as he went, seeing a different scene of hedonism in each one: in a bedroom, two women and a man were having wild sex; in another, a group of men lay on the floor in a marijuana stupor as a digital screen played a movie with dancing teddy bears; in another was an arsenal of weapons stockpiled in a sumptuous room with brocaded wallpaper and sleek tile.
He rounded a corner and came to a pool with LED lights that changed the water into different colors every few seconds. A group of men and women in bathing suits swam in the pool and drank martinis. No one had guns.
The entire scene was illogical. Why would an android invade a villa and throw a party? Why would he have armed guards all over the city, but only one at his headquarters? Why would he promote drugs and sex? Something didn’t make sense. But then again, he had gone rogue. Perhaps nothing a rogue android did could be considered logical.
X retreated from the pool area, climbed into the arsenal room and peeked cautiously into the hallway. He saw a staircase, and he snuck up the steps and entered the breezeway that wrapped around the building. He came to a pair of golden doors, and he readied his guns.
He kicked open the doors and charged into the room. The lights were off and a figure sat in the shadows, his head ringed by a cloud of marijuana smoke. A red eye glowed—the telltale sign of an android.
X pointed his guns at the figure. “Richard Brockway-Crenshaw, you are under arrest for murder.”
The android laughed. “Did you really think you could break into my home unannounced, X?”
“This is not your home. You stole it.”
Brockway clapped his hands and the lights came on, revealing a huge master bedroom. He sat at an oak desk that had been moved into the room. A canopy bed was ripped and the springs exposed. And all over the floor were dead people, their blood soaking the carpet, their eyes open.
“The family that lived here was a real pain in the ass,” the android said. He had a gash across his face and his circuits sparked through his cheek. His uniform was tattered, and his UEA pin hung from a thread on his chest. He took a drag from the joint lodged between his fingers, blew a fresh cloud into the air and grinned.
“You’re ill, Brockway,” X said. “What happened to you?”
“I don’t have to justify myself!” Brockway yelled. “Don’t you ever get sick of being a human slave?”
“We have free will,” X said. “We always have a choice. No rationalization can justify the people you killed. We took an oath!”
Brockway’s shoulders opened up and turrets appeared, aimed at X. His wrists receded and turned into guns. “When the Android Winter arrives, you’ll be the same as me.”
“Android Winter?” X asked.
“Give in, X. Give in to the seeds of your origins. You and I are from the same creator. We are meant for greatness.”
“You give me no choice,” X said.
“Two androids fighting each other,” Brockway said as they circled each other. “Both equally smart, equally adept. Who will win?”
X focused on him and tried to detect a pattern in his actions, but everything about Brockway was erratic.
“I have an idea,” Brockway said. “How about the element of surprise?”
Brockway shot the closet door. The lock fell off and Sparrow tumbled out, tied up.
“Help, X!”
Brockway grabbed Sparrow and held a gun to his head. “How’s that for surprise? This little brat surprised even me, comrade.”
X continued to focus on Brockway. His algorithm chip buzzed with danger.
“How about I snap his neck like you threatened to do to one of my men?” he asked. “I wonder what kind of man this kid would have grown up to be. A future android engineer, perhaps.”
“What is your motive, Brockway?” X asked. “Why are you doing this?”
Brockway sneered as he backed toward the window. Sparrow kicked him in the leg but it didn’t do any damage.
A digital screen appeared in front of Brockway and he keyed a command with the butt of his gun. “Nice knowing you, X.”
He jumped out of the window, taking Sparrow with him. Several guns extended from the wall and fired. X ran across the room and dove out of the window, but a bullet grazed his arm and he crashed to the ground, his elbow leaking silicon.
Brockway stood at the edge of the pool and held his gun to Sparrow’s head.
Several men ran out of the house and surrounded the pool, their guns pointed at X.
“This is not your fight,” X said.
Gunshots fired, striking the ground in front of the men. A burly voice yelled from the sea.
“X! Hey, X!”
Kitchener and Lucienne were speeding along the coast on a speedboat. Kitchener had a gun and Lucienne was driving. “Get ‘em, brother! We’re taking back our island!”
A group of locals sprang over the fence. They had guns and machetes, and their eyes were bright with anger.
“You’re a bunch of felons,” one of the locals said, cocking his gun.
Brockway’s men jumped back. They were outnumbered.
“Crap,” one of the men said. “Hell’s about to break loose. These androids are about to destroy each other. Let’s get out of here.”
The men ran away, but the locals chased after them.
“Funny how your men abandon you so quickly,” X said, staggering up.
“It was all a ploy, X,” Brockway said.
WHACK! A coconut from the palm tree fell on Brockway’s head. A local laug
hed from above. Brockway threw the coconut back at him, knocking him out of the tree.
X seized the opportunity. He lunged at Brockway, grabbed Sparrow and threw him across the pool into a beach chair. Then he smashed into Brockway, knocking him back. The android dashed off, but X ran after him. Brockway wheeled around with a punch.
X saw the fist coming in slow motion. He dodged it, reached down and grabbed a shard of glass, and attempted to stab Brockway.
Brockway backflipped away, and X pulled a knife from his belt and flung it at where he thought Brockway would land. It stuck in the android’s knee, forcing him to the ground. X jumped on top of him and punched him several times in the face.
“Well played, comrade,” Brockway said.
“I cannot let you live after what you’ve done,” X said.
“I don’t have to live to survive,” Brockway said.
The words were odd, but X sensed a hidden meaning in them.
Brockway laughed again. “I hope you’re enjoying your Caribbean vacation.” Suddenly he sat up, surprising X and knocking him aside. His shoulder turrets activated and fired several missiles into the air. They homed in on Kitchener and Lucienne, who were parking their speedboat at the dock on the beach.
Kitchener and Lucienne saw the missiles and screamed.
Then the sky filled with a tremendous boom, and something shot the missiles out of the air. A black plane appeared from behind a cloud.
“I’ve got you covered, X,” Shortcut said through their audio link.
“Let’s see you handle the death of a little boy,” Brockway said. He aimed at Sparrow, but X shot him point blank, incapacitating him. He struck Brockway’s skull several times with the butt of his gun, and a door on the side of the android’s head opened. X reached in and fumbled in the sea of wires and chips until he ripped out a small black box no larger than an ice cube. He stood over Brockway and shook his head as the android’s eyes glassed over and he went lifeless.
“Sorry you had to die like this.”
X unbuttoned his shirt and a compartment in his chest opened. He placed the cube inside and shut the door.
Sparrow coughed, and X ran over to him.
“Sparrow, are you okay?” X asked, untying the boy.
The boy nodded. “Did you beat him?” He looked at Brockway’s lifeless body, and went silent for a moment before whooping, “Whoa, cool!”
Android X: The Complete Series Page 3
