by Tony Teora
Kiya knew Ace’s instincts were that of a super human warrior, but something told her he’d be in deep trouble. Somehow, she found herself falling for the lovable man of steel. “Be careful,” said Kiya in a soft, almost scared voice.
“I’ll be fine. I have an hour to get outta here before Karr drops nukes on this place. You get outta here on the shuttle and we’ll meet up on the Aurora. That’s an order.”
“Okay. But don’t take any unnecessary risks. I sense a lot of danger over there.”
“Danger’s my middle name. Ace Archer out.”
Kiya quickly rushed back to the team and walked solemnly in front. Janice walked up to Kiya and smiled. “You really like him, don’t you? I can see it on your face.”
Kiya had heard rumors that Ace was seeing Janice but wasn’t sure of the seriousness. She’d also head the Ace was seeing Monica, too, so he was obviously getting a little variety in his life. “I’m not trying to steal him from anyone, if that’s what you think. I’m just concerned.”
Janice laughed. “Steal him? That boy is just out to have fun. I doubt any woman could tie him down. I have to admit, I do like him. But it was just for fun. He’s a great guy, funny, smart, strong, and would make the right woman a great man, but he’s not my type.”
Kiya frowned. “Why’s that?”
Janice looked over at Kiya’s attractive almond eyes and smiled, almost seductively. “I prefer dating something a little more complicated, like women. That’s my type. Ace was … well, frankly speaking, a Big Gun ‘boy toy’ for a few weeks for me and Monica. Don’t get me wrong, I really like him, but he’s not a long-term thing for me and Monica, and I think it’s probably a mutual feeling with Ace.”
Kiya didn’t know what to say, but she at least knew she wasn’t going to break any hearts if she and Ace ever got together. No, that was nuts, she thought. Why get yourself hooked up with a man whose job has the average lifespan of Cocker Spaniel crossing a super highway? Or maybe, in this case, a radioactive fruit fly?
But he could quit after any mission … maybe he would do it for the right woman? Oh that’s just insanity! He was a “boy toy” for a few weeks; that was all. A boy toy with two sexy women. What kind of man is this Ace Archer? How can any woman even think she could match up to two women?
Somehow, Kiya didn’t care. She felt she had something more to offer than just sex. Yes, there was something more, but first she had to make sure Ace didn’t get killed, or she’d never see that fruit fly again. She would not allow him to become a hero. Although she knew she was compromised … over love, she couldn’t help herself. She made a decision.
As they approached the shuttle doors, Kiya looked over to Janice. “Janice, I think Ace and Ivan will need me. I’m going back to GEN-6.”
“I know why you’re going back. You should come with us, it’s too dangerous. Ace is a strong guy, believe me. He can take care of himself.”
“It’s not just muscle that wins these things. I think there’s something going on that isn’t right. I can see something almost evil being built back there. I can’t explain it … but I can’t get on the shuttle. You and the scientists head back to the Aurora. I’m going back to Ace.” Kiya looked over to the pilot. “Go ahead, get outta here!”
With that, Kiya closed the shuttle door, locked it from the outside, and turned. She started to jog back to GEN-6.
The scientists and Janice sat down and put on their seat belts. The EyeStar shuttle lifted off and headed back to the Aurora. As it flew up into the sky, a particle beam flashed from the GEN-6 facility. The shuttle exploded into a midair, fiery ball of light. All scientists and crew were cremated.
Kiya looked up after seeing a light flash in the sky, the sound erupting and rattling off the mountains. Oh my God! Oh my God! What the hell?
Kiya watched as the burning EyeStar and its ashes dropped from the deep blue sky.
Hu-mans, listen to me. Due to an error in calculation, there are still a few of you left.
— Robot Monster (movie | 1953)
15
_________
Dream World
Ace and Ivan crouched low in a hallway off the main south side tunnel, barely hiding from view of the crazies. The dim, flickering backup hallway lights reduced visibility, but the security cameras might still be on, and that concerned Ace.
Five meters up ahead was a window that allowed them to view inside a laboratory. In the corner of the laboratory sat Chip Tucker. Tucker was strapped up in a chair that looked like it belonged in a dentist’s surgery. He was talking like an unhappy patient—actually, begging—to a few zombie-eyed scientists who looked at each other with blank, lobotomized expressions before leaving the room. Once the zombie doctors exited through another hallway hatch, Ace and Ivan headed into the laboratory, trying to avoid the door’s security camera.
Ace walked up to Tucker and frowned. “Tucker, what the fuck you up to?”
Tucker sucked in oxygen like he was getting ready for a deep dive, smiled brightly, and expelling air saying, “Boy, am I glad to see you guys!”
Ace inspected Tucker’s bloody crew cut and laughed. “Nice haircut, Tucker. You do it yourself?”
“Very funny. Very fuckin’ funny.”
“So, um … why’d you come down here to the barber without telling us? You hiding something?”
“Look, I got lost and these maniacs tied me up in this chair. They’re gonna come back any minute. Now let me out!”
Ace walked around the chair in a full circle, stopping to look at him face-to-face. He put his head inches away from Tucker and spoke slowly. “You know, I have a good mind to leave you in this chair so your stylist can finish the job. Ya see, I’m looking for a suitcase filled with those nasty infectious virus worms that I think some idiot was going to sneak back to Earth. And I’m also looking for a secret shuttle parked out here somewhere. Do you know anything about that?”
“Listen, these crazies are coming back. They’ve got the suitcase and they want to infect me! I stalled them by giving them the suitcase … and I kinda told them about the shuttle you’re talking about.”
“Oh, so you do have a secret shuttle after all. And you did what? You told them about it? I assume it was to save your ass, just like you’re trying to do now.”
“I needed to give them something or they were gonna load me up with the virus. I warned them that if they did that, I’d lose my memory. So I stalled them. They’re coming back with more questions and I think they’re eventually going to infect me, so I just kept tellin’ ’em … stuff.”
“Boy, you’d make a great spy. No cyanide tooth to crush, just spill your beans to save your ugly ass.”
“Fuck you, Ace! This ain’t some fuckin’ cheap science fiction B movie you’re watching where the hero holds out. This is life. You’d do the same thing!”
“Hero? No—that’s the difference between you and me. I wouldn’t do the same thing, and neither would my team. Jimbo lost his life saving us on this fucked-up mission. Your mission was to steal the virus and get it back to BOT. You don’t give a shit about the rest of us, so don’t give me any of this bull crap. You’re either gonna tell me where that BOT shuttle’s hidden or I’m leaving you here—end of story.”
“I’m sorry about Jimbo—what happened?” Tucker gave sympathetic look but he seemed impatient and scared.
“Don’t give me any bullshit pity, just tell me where the fuck you’re hiding the shuttle and virus and I’ll work on getting you outta that chair. Time’s running out.”
“Okay, okay—it’s located on the Nomad side inside a small valley surrounded by mountains. I’ll show you where it is. I’ve got the e-map in one of my back pockets. As for the virus, I really don’t know where it is— honestly, they took it from me—I swear. You can see that I don’t have it here. Please, let me outta this chair before they come back. Please!”
Ace reached into Tucker’s back pocket and pulled out the map. He nodded his head for Ivan to cut the straps. As
Ivan sliced the leather straps, he slightly cut into Tucker’s leg.
“Ouch, watch what you’re doing, you fuckin’ Russian idiot! You nicked me. That fuckin’ hurts!”
“It will match your haircut,” said Ivan.
When Tucker’s last leather strap was cut, he stood up with his fists tight and stared down the shorter but much stockier Ivan.
Ivan slowly put away his knife and looked up at Tucker with bloodshot eyes. “You want to wrestle to death? It’s fun Russian game. One person gets a long sleep.”
Tucker shook his head and resigned to looking for a Band-Aid.
Ace ignored the two men and inspected the e-paper map. It was more detailed than those given to the team. It had the location of all exit doors, internal vents, some secret BOT laboratories, and plumbing and electrical. BOT must have used GEN-6 as its own personal R&D facility under the cover of Earth Command. Being so far away, it was a good choice, as missions were few and far between at this remote location. Ace looked for a reasonably safe way out. “Okay, the shortest way out of here is through the storage and receiving room.”
As Ace finished his sentence, the doors opened and with two crazies entered. One was a tall man who looked and smelt like he’d shitted his pants days ago. The other was a short, skinny, nerdy-looking woman with a hypodermic needle attached to her pants like a side arm. When they saw Ace and Ivan, the women raised the hypo needle and charged. Ivan casually pulled his Sig Auto20 and shot the woman dead in the head with two shots. Mr. Shitty Pants grabbed a long medical knife and ran toward Ace. Ivan shot him with multiple rounds to the chest and head.
“Nice shootin’, Ivan,” said Ace, holding his machine gun tightly.
“We gotta get outta here, more will come,” said Tucker.
“I know,” said Ace, pointing at the map. “Okay, everyone follow me … and Tucker, you do anything that looks funny and I’ll fuckin’ shoot you and leave you here so another hair stylist can work you over. And Ivan, if Yogi says shoot Tucker, fuckin’ shoot him.”
Ace walked over and pulled Tucker’s side arm and threw it on the floor. Ace then headed out the back door, leading the way down a hallway. Alarms went off. Ace looked at his e-paper map and ran up to an air vent. He ripped open the panel.
“Get in!” ordered Ace.
“What? We don’t know where that goes,” said Tucker.
“Get in or I’ll fuckin’ knock you out and leave you here. Now!”
Tucker rushed in, followed by Ivan. Ace got in last and quickly pulled up the vent panel. He shut it just in time, as a group of zombified men and women walked in the hallway, scanning the area. Ace and the team sat dead quiet and motionless. A small, half-inch spider crawled on Ace’s face. He kept calm, and as soon as the crazies left the hallway, he allowed the spider to walk onto his hand. He then gently put his hand near the vent, allowing the spider to walk out to freedom.
“You could have gotten bit,” said Tucker.
“I only kill when it’s necessary—so don’t make it necessary. Get crawling down the vent, and try to stay quiet.”
Fifteen minutes later, Ace, Ivan and Tucker finally exited the vent in a small, dusty storage area of GEN-6. It was filled with metal boxes, some open and showing medical and electronic equipment. They could hear muffled sounds of construction work, jack hammers and drills that intermittently shook the ground.
Ace walked up to a dirty window and rubbed away a spot to look out. He put one of his eyes up to the window and inspected the situation outside. A truck filled with red dirt drove out of an underground tunnel. A group of five metallic men walked on a path near the entrance to the tunnel. They appeared to be guarding the entrance. “Something’s wrong,” said Ace.
“What’s wrong?” asked Tucker.
“There’s more men here than what’s listed on the mission analysis briefing I’d read on the Aurora.”
In the distance, some kind of laser like weapon shot into the sky. The intense light forced Ace’s ocular implants to adjust to the flash. A few seconds later, a secondary explosion erupted in the sky. “Shit! I hope the shuttle stays out of range of that weapon. We need to warn the team.” Ace hit his comm. “This is Ace—Kiya, Janice, EyeStar, can any of you guys hear me?”
Ace checked the comm signal strength. There was a strong signal, but it showed “no connect.” Comm signals were blocked for both the EyeStar and Aurora “Dammit! Someone put another jammer in place! What the fuck’s going on here, Tucker?”
Ace moved away from the window and gave Tucker a tiger-like stare. “I know you BOT motherfuckers have something to do with this. What else is going on here that you didn’t tell us? Something shot a laser beam into the sky, and you better pray it didn’t blow up EyeStar.”
“Ace, I don’t know—I swear. I don’t run BOT. I was told to bring back the virus or risk getting removed from the team—and in case you don’t know, that’s usually a death sentence. It’s why I lied to you guys … so, in case you wanna know, you’re bringing back a dead man.”
Ace believed Tucker. It made sense. “Look, we’re all gonna get back to the Aurora. I’m gonna have Captain Karr figure this shit out. BOT has got something going on underground. But I need to know, is there anything else BOT’s doing on this base?”
“I’m not sure, but I heard through the grapevine that we were building an off-Earth base called ‘Dream World’.” Tucker looked out of the window at the metal-suited men and construction. “There was some rumor on the hill that BOT was building a top secret off-Earth base. It was supposed to be a level 6, i.e., only alien-type technologies. The rumor I heard was that we were working on some new propulsion technologies. It’s above my clearance and was supposed to be top, top secret … but I think this is the base, and I think those crazies have got a hold of it.”
“And what about that laser cannon out there?” asked Ace.
“I think it’s a new particle weapon we were testing for Earth Command. If this is Dream World, God only knows what’s here.”
Ace walked in a circle, thinking, shaking his head. “And now all that new technology is in the hands of those crazies … or infected aliens or whatever. No wonder orders were to destroy this place.” Ace looked at his comm. “We only have one hour to get the fuck out of here before the reactor blows from the C4 we put there.”
“One hour? C4 on a nuclear reactor?”
“Yes, Tucker, one hour to get out of here, so I advise that you show us the quickest route to your escape vehicle.”
“I got a BoeingBus FalconX shuttle. Small, fast, and can carry five. It’s not far, about three kilometers away. It’s behind a rocky hill, in a flat area. BOT put it in between some hills to hide it. We’ll need to climb up and walk around a line of trees. We can be there in thirty minutes or less … that assumes that none of those crazies spot us.”
“I’ll take care of that, just give me a few seconds of quiet time.” Ace stood still and closed his eyes. He used his internal sensors to try to call and wake up his two sleeping DAVs. Fortunately, the jammer had not picked up his secondary weapons comm channel, but it if did, it would be too late.
Ace remotely patched into DAV-2 and DAV-3 via a secure wireless channel and ordered them to operate on internal auto-pilot mode. This was safer, as Ace would be on the move and the aliens or crazies might start jamming. The DAVs instructions were to proceed to near the warehouse and start taking out anyone not on a specific route.
Ace looked at Tucker’s map and set in coordinates. Anyone off the path without an Earth Comm transceiver would be shot and killed. The instructions were put in place and the DAVs were free to fire at will.
“Okay, when we start to hear explosions, we’ll head out. I see a bridge to the left of the tunnel that should get us around most of those metalized men and into the clear. Then we can cross through some brush-woods up ahead. That should give us some cover—oh, and don’t anyone alter their path from my instructions, as I’m not sure our FOF transceivers are working. If they aren’t
and we get off the path, the DAVs I sent in will kill us.”
Tucker frowned. “What? You sent in fuckin’ DAVs on auto-kill? Are you nuts?”
“Hey, just follow me and you’ll keep your head attached. We need to wait for the diversion.” As Ace finished his sentence, a round of shots from the DAV started to take out metalized men and some scientists carrying supplies. A group of Nomads picked up guns from a vehicle and shot wildly into the sky. Some type of fuel tank nearby exploded and broke a row of nearby glass windows.
“Yogi say we need to go,” said Ivan.
“I agree with Yogi,” said Ace. “Let’s get the fuck outta here. Follow me!”
Ace opened a door and ran toward the left side of the warehouse, making quick time toward a shiny, aluminum-alloy bridge glistening in the distance. The bridge ran fifty or so meters across a deep rocky ravine. He jumped across to a small bridge platform. Ivan and Tucker followed close behind.
Ace checked his pre-programmed exit path, one where the DAVs would not fire on them, but there was a problem: a piece of the bridge was missing near the middle. It had been disassembled to allow for another underground tunnel. Ace’s super-enhanced legs could make the ten meter jump across, but there was no way Ivan or Tucker could do it.
Shit! How am I gonna get these guys across? Ace looked over at Ivan. “Ivan, you need to throw away your pack and equipment. Just keep your gun. I’m gonna jump across and throw you guys a rope. You’re gonna need to jump as far as you can and then I’ll pull you up one by one, but we’re gonna have to hurry. We’re in plain sight here. Oh, and don’t drop the grenade I’m attaching to the end of the rope for weight … that could cause an issue.”
