The Complete Clockwork Chimera Saga

by Scott Baron

  “Hey, guys! This is gonna be so cool!” Arlo called out to them, beside himself with anticipation when he saw them approaching. “You got everything you need?”

  “Yep, we’re all packed up and ready to rock,” Vince exclaimed, slapping the kid a high-five as he boarded the ship.

  “You two are ridiculous,” Daisy said with a laugh, following them aboard.

  She had been inside the ship a few times, but it still struck her how similar, yet different Marty’s design was to Freya. The fact that the secret lab on the moon hadn’t been the only place the stealthy materials were being designed was something of a revelation. One that made her wonder just who else might have escaped the Ra’az, only to be lurking around out in the depths of space.

  “Okay, you guys, buckle up. It’s time to boogie!”

  “Arlo, you know my gravity dampers will make this a smooth ride,” Marty noted.

  “Well, yeah, dude. But don’t spoil my fun. Jeez.”

  “Sorry. It was just kinda ridiculous, is all.”

  “Fine. Whatever,” Arlo sulked. “Just get us to LA, then.”

  “Will do, boss-man,” the odd AI said with a little laugh.

  Those two are something else.

  “Yeah, two flavors of ridiculous.”

  But highly competent ridiculous.

  “There is that, yeah.”

  And now we’ll be getting into some real action. Time to see if this kid lives up to his bravado.

  Marty flew a quick loop of the base before making a bee-line for a quick burn into Earth’s atmosphere. The angle of entry was fairly shallow, and the bumps were kept to a minimum, as he had promised. A very short time later, they settled down in LA to meet with their Chithiid contact.

  “So, this is the famous East LA,” Vince noted as they walked the streets with their squad of Chithiid, humans, and a few cyborgs. All were well-armed, and all were on alert as they strolled between the oddly interspersed buildings. A Ra’az had been sighted the previous day. Caution was paramount.

  East Los Angeles had been one of the long-time holdout neighborhoods, with families whose histories there spanned back centuries, the proud residents blocking gentrification and overdevelopment time and again.

  When the inevitable land-grabs finally succeeded, the buildings that sprang up were forced to do so around the small parcels that simply refused to give up their roots.

  The result was one of the more fascinating parts of the city, architecturally.

  “George would have loved this place,” Daisy mused as they passed the seamless blending of old world Spanish and Craftsman with futuristic high-rise. “Such unusual architecture, and all crammed in a few square miles.”

  Arlo had trotted up ahead with the expedition’s Chithiid leader, offering to take point as they followed a lead on a potential Ra’az hideout. The alien had politely declined, instead sending the overzealous youth to run reconnaissance on their left flank.

  “You think we’ll actually catch any this time?” Vince asked as their boots crunched over broken concrete. “Last time was a total bust.”

  “I know, but most of the Ra’az are dead or have fled the planet in whatever ships they managed to steal before the Chithiid closed that shit down on them. The others are simply not willing to surrender,” Daisy said.

  “Yeah, but they’re massively outnumbered at this point,” he countered. “I mean, even if their loyalists were still by their sides, they still wouldn’t stand a chance.”

  “But a cornered animal is a dangerous one,” Daisy shot back. “And the Ra’az are particularly difficult adversaries when thrown on the defensive.”

  “This is why we carry the taser-nets you designed,” a lean human said, overhearing their discussion. “We have found them to be quite useful for not just Ra’az, but also anything else we wish to stun and capture.”

  “Glad it’s coming in handy,” Daisy replied.

  “Nice. Your modified little toy from Billings seems to be a hit, Daze.”

  And rightly so. Not much can take a Ra’az down, you know.

  “Except a massive jolt to the noggin, perhaps,” Sarah said with obvious amusement. “I only hope we hit pay dirt today. Last time was a bit of a letdown.”

  “Tell me,” Daisy said to the nearest Chithiid, “how has it been, discovering and removing loyalists trying to hide among your people?”

  “A good question,” he said, stroking his chin with one hand. “With their self-inflicted branding, many of the most devoted were easy to weed out. It is hard to cover their brand, as you know.”

  “Of course. But some opted to not bear that mark.”

  “True. And those we are still working to remove from our ranks. The others, however, are not much of a problem. That is, except for the ones going to extreme lengths to hide their allegiances.”

  “Extreme? How so?” Daisy asked, her curiosity piqued.

  “Some cut the flesh from their shoulder, hoping the resulting scar will eventually help them avoid scrutiny. It will not.”

  “I wouldn’t think so,” Daisy mused.

  “Mad as it sounds, I have heard talk of a loyalist in the city of Detroit who faked a gruesome accident, severing his own limb from his body in the armature of a massive machine to provide a believable cause for the missing flesh.”

  “He basically chopped off his own arm to avoid being caught? Damn, that’s intense.”

  “Yes. But unlike humans, he still had three arms left, so in some regards, his decision was understandable. Nevertheless, he suffered all of that pain and blood loss for nothing.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yes. When the biological waste clean-up crew was collecting the destroyed remains of his arm, by a fluke of bad fortune, a scrap of his shoulder had survived the trauma intact.”

  Daisy could see where this was going.

  “And that piece of skin was the bit with the brand on it.”

  “Precisely. Our people apprehended him as he was receiving medical care, much to his surprise.”

  “It looks like Murphy visits aliens sometimes too,” Daisy said with a hearty laugh.

  “What is a ‘Murphy’?”

  “Uh, Murphy is a person, sort of. The saying actually refers to Murphy’s Law, which states that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.”

  “Aah, Garzool,” he said, with a knowing smile.

  “Who is Garzool?” she asked.

  “Garzool’s Adage. It is said that if the hypothetical outcome of an event can be bad, you may rest assured that the actual outcome will be worse.”

  “It sounds like this Garzool person is the Chithiid cousin of our Murphy.”

  “Indeed, it does,” he agreed, sharing a friendly chuckle.

  A crashing commotion broke the mood as sounds of a fight reached their ears from up ahead. A guttural bellow shook the air.

  “Ra’az, Daze.”

  I know.

  “Vince, on my six,” Daisy shouted. “Sounds like a Ra’az.”

  “I’m with you. Let’s move!” he replied.

  They ran fast and reached the intersection ahead. From that vantage point, they saw another hunting squad racing toward them several blocks away. Leading the charge was an enormous Ra’az, flinging its human and Chithiid attackers aside with ease.

  “Shit, their stun net got taken out. Prep ours for deployment!” she called to their team.

  The Chithiid pursuing the Ra’az powered up their power whips and lashed out at the Ra’az, but the surprisingly agile beast ducked aside, then pressed a remote tucked in its belt. The Chithiids' whips fizzled out instantly.

  “Sonofabitch. He’s got a remote deactivation switch.”

  Just what we were afraid of.

  Daisy tried to activate her Ra’az power whip, but her adrenaline was high, and the device was conflicted by the reversal switch Freya had installed trying to read her will through her shifting emotions.

  “Not working, Daze.”

  I noticed.

&nbs
p; “No time to fiddle with it. Switch to your other toys. He’s gonna be on us any second.”

  The Ra’az turned and looked at his stymied pursuers and laughed. His eyes shifted as they caught sight of the second hunting party closing in. Without hesitation, he changed course, darting to his left.

  “Come on, he’s going to get away!” Daisy shouted.

  A steady power whip beam snapped out from the shadows of a ruined building, wrapping the Ra’az's legs, sending him tumbling to the hard pavement. He rolled, trying to disengage from the beam as his hands dug into his belt. Triumphantly, he held up his remote deactivation unit and depressed the button.

  The power whip stayed active.

  Confusion set in as he pressed the button again and again, but to no avail.

  Slowly reeling in the whip as she stepped from the shadows was Tamara, pulling the beastly creature off-balance every time it tried to rise to its feet.

  “Of course. You gave her your old whip.”

  Yeah. And I had it before they installed the kill switches, Daisy noted, a victorious grin appearing on her face.

  Tamara pulled a vicious, pronged device from her belt and gave the whip a final yank, dragging the hulking Ra’az right to her feet. Before it could react, she gleefully leapt in the air, landing firmly atop its back as she drove the charged spikes into its neck.

  Millions of volts of electricity surged into the Ra’az's body, and a mere second later, it had been rendered unconscious.

  “Looks like the joke’s on you, fucker!” she said, laughing at the inert creature laying beneath her.

  Tamara heard the rapidly approaching footsteps and turned to see her friends drawing near.

  “Oh, hi, Daisy!” she said with a disturbingly cheerful grin. “Hey, Vince! Will ya look at the size of this one! I bet it’s the biggest we’ve caught yet!”

  Vince looked at Daisy, both amused and mildly disturbed.

  “Damn. She’s really enjoying this isn’t she?”

  “You could say that,” Daisy agreed.

  “Daze?”

  Yeah?

  “I’m starting to wonder if you should have given her that thing after all,” Sarah said with a chuckle.

  At least she’s on our side.

  “Thank God,” Sarah agreed. “I almost pity those poor bastards,” she added. “Almost.”

  Tamara’s squad mates quickly trussed up the unconscious Ra’az and loaded it onto a cart to wheel back to their holding area to await trial.

  “I’ll catch up with you guys back in town,” she called out to Daisy as she walked off with her new teammates, all of whom were cheerfully patting each other’s backs after the well-won victory.

  “So, do we head back?” Vince asked.

  “I don’t know. Hang on a sec.”

  She turned to their companions.

  “What’s the plan now?” she asked their Chithiid mission leader.

  “There were also loyalists spotted with the Ra’az. We continue on.”

  “Homeboy here says we keep going,” Daisy replied.

  “Homeboy?”

  “Hey, we’re in East LA,” she chuckled.

  Not more than ten minutes had passed when multiple calls of “Contact!” rang out from the scouts.

  The team broke into two smaller groups and split up to pursue their targets.

  Daisy and Vince took the lead of the team veering to the right, following their scout’s directions toward a moderate-height residential tower. The old building had been destroyed, not by combat, but rather, by the elements over the years. As was often the case, the quality of materials employed by the land-grab developers had been subpar.

  A pair of dusty tracks led straight into the vacant structure.

  “Okay, it’s gonna be tight in there, so let’s spread out, but stay within earshot,” Daisy said. “I’ll head up to the tenth and start working down. Vince, you take the middle floors. The rest of you seal off the ground and work upward so it can’t escape. We good?”

  A chorus of affirmation met her ears, once when she told them the plan in English, and again when she translated to Chithiid. Without further hesitation, they plunged into the building, making for the stairs and exits, blocking their quarry’s routes of escape.

  Daisy had cleared the tenth floor and was halfway through the ninth when a faint grinding sound caught her ear.

  You hear that, Sarah?

  “Yeah. Sounded like debris shifting.”

  Shifting under someone’s foot.

  “Yep. Down the left-hand hallway, toward the central column.”

  I’m on it. Keep your eyes and ears open.

  “I always do.”

  Daisy quietly pulled the spiked stun probe from her pack and snuck down the hallway, careful to avoid the crumbling bits of floor and miscellaneous debris that had fallen there over the decades.

  She was close. Only a few paces to the corner behind which something was waiting for her. The only question was whether she would take it by surprise or if there would be a fight.

  Murphy answered that question for her when four powerful arms suddenly wrapped around her from behind, squeezing so tight she couldn’t even breathe, let alone call for help.

  “Shit! Ambush!”

  No shit, Sarah. How do we get out of this?

  “Looking.”

  Hurry. I can’t breathe, Daisy said as spots began floating before her eyes.

  “Stay awake, Daze!” Sarah shouted in her head.

  The powerful Chithiid had hoisted her from the ground and was carrying her somewhere. Where, was the question.

  She felt her anger rising as her consciousness was fading. The Ra’az power whip on her wrist engaged, a light hum sounding as a few inches of beam slid forward.

  “Daisy, stay awake!”

  She shook her head, trying to fight the iron grip, but the alien had wrapped its own arms across her body, creating a near-unbreakable restraint of sinewy muscle.

  Oh shit, Daisy managed, when she realized where she was being carried. He’s taking me to the elevator shaft. Sarah, he’s going to drop me.

  The long-dead elevator car had broken free and fallen to the bottom of the shaft decades prior. All that remained nine stories below was a jagged pile of wrecked metal that was about to be Daisy’s final resting place.

  Air unexpectedly rushed into her lungs as the arms holding her so tightly abruptly let go as the Chithiid fell to the ground. Daisy, likewise, slumped to the floor just short of the gaping elevator doors, sucking in gasping lungfuls of air.

  Did you hear a clang? Daisy asked, her head still fuzzy from oxygen deprivation.

  “Like a bell. Yeah, I did.”

  What the hell was that? Daisy wondered as her vision returned.

  The answer was soon made clear.

  Standing over her, Arlo looked down on the prone alien with an expression of pure hatred, a dripping smear of blood staining the steel pipe in his trembling hand.

  “Y-you saved me,” Daisy croaked. “But how did you––?”

  “Sneak up on it?” he finished her sentence as she sucked in another breath. “I tell ya, it’s not easy. With four eyes, you’ve gotta get right behind them. It’s their only blind spot.”

  “No, not that,” she said, her respirations slowly returning to normal. “How did you find me?”

  “Oh, that. I heard what sounded like a power whip charging up. It wasn’t the usual Chithiid kind, so I thought there might be a Ra’az up here. Then I saw that Chithiid had you all wrapped up, so I grabbed this pipe and brained it.”

  He looked down on the inert alien. All four eyes were open, but unseeing.

  “I guess I hit it a little too hard,” he said, not an ounce of regret in his voice. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.”

  Arlo helped Daisy to her feet, then they headed for the stairwell. On the seventh floor they ran into Vince.

  “Arlo, buddy, what are you doing here?” he asked. His face turned serious when he saw the scuffs
on Daisy. “What happened? Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I am now. There was a loyalist on the ninth floor. He got the drop on me, wrapped me up so tight I couldn’t breathe. Then he was going to actually drop me, literally, right down the elevator shaft. If Arlo hadn’t come along––”

  Vince pulled the teen in, hugging him tight.

  “Thank you,” he said when he loosened his arms. “I cannot thank you enough.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s okay,” Arlo said, obviously uncomfortable.

  “It’s more than okay,” Vince replied. “I owe you one, man. Anytime, anywhere, you need me, I’ll be there.”

  Arlo sized him up a moment and smiled.

  “I know you will,” he said, shaking his hand firmly. “Now, let’s get the hell out of here. That thing’s dead, and I could really use a drink.”

  “Cocoa?” Daisy joked.

  “I was thinking whiskey,” Arlo said.

  “Dude, you’re what, seventeen?” Vince added.

  “Hey, what happened to ‘anytime, anywhere’?”

  “Oh, that offer’s still good,” he said with a laugh. “As for drinks, however, cocoa it is.”

  Several hours, a decent shower, and a hot cup of cocoa later, Daisy sat on the bank of the LA River as the sun began to sink lower in the sky.

  The Ra’az Tamara had captured was imprisoned with the others rounded up thus far, though the other Chithiid loyalist had gotten away. In any case, the Ra’az would face justice before the mixed species tribunal in the morning, the same as was happening daily across the globe.

  Interestingly, despite their years upon years of slavery, it was the Chithiid who had insisted on holding hearings for the aliens and their supporters, while it was the humans who seemed to prefer the more direct, and more violent option.

  Maarl had been among the Chithiid elders who had, with the translation aid of the AI network, made the point that justice and mercy were the traits of an evolved race, and no matter what the Ra’az had done to either of their planets, their people’s actions upon retaking their freedom, more than their circumstance and history, was what would define them.

  Ultimately, justice would be served, one way or another.

  For now, however, Daisy was simply enjoying the fresh air as she watched Vince and Arlo fishing by the water’s edge.