Edward had had enough. His life felt like an empty sham. He had deserted one of his daughters and there was no getting around it. How could anyone do something like that? He considered asking his wife. She had worked it out pretty well. He was sure she never thought about Sue.
Shela had been different. Different from what Ed had expected. Different from what Sue had told him she expected. At first Shela had rejected her half sister. Ed had expected that to a degree. Then Shela had shown, in small ways, that she missed Sue. Ed had hoped for that.
The part that threw Ed off-track was that the more his wife acted like Sue was a bad person or something the more Shela seemed to miss Sue. It had been like the unfairness of Sue's adopted mother's attitude had done more to turn Shela back onto Sue than anything else could have. The more Shela's love for Sue returned the more her love for her mother dwindled. That shouldn't have surprised Ed because his love for his wife had dwindled too.
No, that's not quite the way it was. It would be more apropos to say that Ed's love had just left. He couldn't say exactly when. One day it was just gone. Gone like it had never been. That's when Ed began thinking of alternatives. When he began to slowly hate his job and his life.
He had gone from a bright attentive employee to a worker who showed up when he was supposed to and left the moment he could. He contributed just enough to satisfy his commitment to his employer.
He was on automatic...until the day he quit. He quit and didn't go home. He gave no notice. He just handed his boss an envelope on his way out. He didn't even wait for her to read it. He drove his car to a lot where he had already made arrangements to sell it. He had a bag in the trunk that he took with him. Aside from a note he had left his wife telling her he wouldn't be back Edward Tegor gave no other notice to the world that he would be dropping out.
***
Pete had a plan:He wasn't going to lose sight of Killer for anything. His target was staying at the manager's mansion. Pete had gotten the necessary passes to be there and was undercover as one of the manager's staff. Pete could pop this guy anytime he wanted...
But there was a fly in the ointment. Pete had been instructed to just keep track of Killer--he wasn't to do anything. Not yet.
In Pete's line of work one must have patience.
***
Killer didn't know who Pete was but he was sure that somebody would be after him. That was why he tried to stay in public view just as much as possible. That was easy. In fact Killer rather enjoyed it. The problem was all the negotiating. The CBs had been released. The land had been acquired. The problem was getting the supplies the CBs would need.
On one hand it was hard to ask the colony to just give them the supplies but on the other hand all Killer had to say was, "Give us what we need or you'll get another demonstration!" That part wasn't too bad. On the third hand the colony wanted the weapon turned over to them so it could no longer be used against them. On the forth hand the colony just didn't have enough spare supplies to give to the departing CBs. On the fifth hand the colony would be put in a bind until it could find people willing to do all the menial jobs that the CBs had always done. It was a big problem. They were all big problems.
This was why Killer always preferred to get someone to do his dirty work for him. He considered himself a visionary and not someone to be bogged down with details about lumber and nails and such. It was frustrating and Killer didn't like being frustrated.
***
Sid had taken his leave of Killer's job in the office and was spending his time out in the field helping the CBs who were leaving Tower colony and entering what was being called New Tower colony. It had been suggested that the new colony be named after Killer but Killer colony just didn't have the right ring to it. The name New Tower was liked by most because it was like a slap in the face of dweebs everywhere.
Sid didn't know what he was supposed to do. All he had to work with was questions. Some he had found answers for but in the time it took to resolve one question five more were born. In the organization Sid's position would be like that of a sargent or maybe a corporal. It seemed to vary from day to day. They had just gotten several shelters built when the word came to move.
Sid was amazed at the new spot that they were directed to build on. It was on a mesa. It was stupid. First they had to make a road up to where they were told they must build then everything the trucks (what few trucks they had) could hold had to be loaded and taken to the top unloaded and then the trucks had to come back down to the desert floor and keep repeating all that until everything was up on the top of the mesa. Sid assumed that by having just the one road in and out of camp it would be easier to defend--except from air attack (which is where any attack would be sure to come from).
There were maybe 50,000 CBs in the group. It varied. Some days some more of them would arrive and on other days some would leave. The ones that stayed were hoping they would get some kind of advantage on the ones who were sure to come later. Some were doing ther best to piece together store supplies; canned goods, hardware, clothing, what ever the rest would need when the whole CB population arrived.
Supplies were short except for booze and pills. Killer had supplied them. It shook Sid's faith in the man. Free pills and booze were great, but he couldn't survive on them. There were only forty shelters and everyone had to sleep bundled up on the floor. Food was in short supply. Water wasn't too bad.
They had ten trucks running back and forth between Tower colony and New Tower colony but the drivers spent most of ther time waiting around in Tower city for something to load. Most of the time they returned to New Tower with nothing more than water and passengers. New Tower could always use the water but the added people just taxed the already minimal supplies.
Finally word came for the trucks to pick up any scrap wood or tin or anything that might be useful. New Tower began to become a city born out of trash!
Finally a well drill was sent out and several deep wells were put in at the base of the mesa. A little land scoop was rented and it was used to scoop out a large bowl in the top of the mesa then various types of soil (clay and sand) were mixed together along with water and heether (a binding agent) to make large bricks which were dried in the suns. The first bricks were used to make a kiln to cure the rest of the bricks in. This was New Tower's first factory. Then came an operation to make cement to hold the bricks together to allow them to be made into shelters and other buildings. This was the second factory. Humble beginnings.
***
It had been a month since Killer had gone to stay in the manager's mansion. Killer wasn't too happy. Most days he wished he had never found the complex and started the revolution. It was just too much like work--and his profits had gone down drastically.
On the plus side Killer had the first two business started in New tower. He owned the brick factory and the cement factory. Soon he hoped to have everything ready to start a third concern, a factory to make sheeting for the huge farming shelters that would also be Killer's. Killer could end up owning everything of importance in New Tower--eventually. At the moment all his building was costing him.
He was spending money and making none. Sales on pills, booze, lottery chances and whores had dropped of dramatically. Once the CBs had something to live for they lost interest in ther vices. They were all either building for the future or saving what they had so they could use it later.
Killer felt like he would miss the good old days when all it took was some pills to get rich. He began to feel a little old. He would be eliminating the people's need for a purveyor of man's weaknesses.
What Killer couldn't see was how he was raising mankind out of the muck and mire of segregation and discrimination.
***
Jet had been acting pretty normal since our talk. I was anxious for her to her to tell me what her secret was and I wanted to tell Toni about what Jet had said about all the other complexes that were supposedly in perfect shape. I had the impression that there were probably fifty or more other complexes. Some of them were bigger than the one that had been my prison and my home for the past two months.
In my mind the fact that Jet had a secret and didn't want to talk about the other complexes or for me to talk to Toni about them told me that Jet hadn't told the other complexes that she had been found and was helping fight a revolution. I guess not. It had been a pure wonder that she had agreed to help. I could think of nothing we could do to convince a collection of alien computers (who were sentient) to help us poor little CBs fight the big meanie dweebs.
What would they care? What had made Jet decide to help? Toni had done nothing special to endear ourselves to Jet before she had revealed herself to us. She could have had ulterior motives, but somehow I didn't believe that. I could have worried myself to death thinking about it. I just put it from my mind and put my faith in Jet.
My faith was nearly taxed to it's limit before she told me what she had decided.
"Cookie, I want you to meet some of my friends..."
"Ok, how are we going to do that? Are they here?"
"No, you must come with me to meet them."
"Where are we going?"
"We will go to one of the other um...hydration stations, like this one. First you will have to help me though."
"How?"
"I want to go with you."
"What do you mean Jet?"
"As long as you are anywhere in this complex I can be with you through the various devices here. If I were to leave the complex I would have to rely of devices under another's control. I don't want to do that."
"You aren't talking about transferring your consciousness into me or something are you?"
"What a perfectly revolting idea! Where did that come from?"
"Umm...Sorry, too much video, I guess..."
"Yuk! That's horrible, Cookie!"
"Well how'd I know what you meant? What do you mean?"
"I want to build a special droid to carry my cube."
"Your cube? Oh, that cube thing that is your...your..your brains. You want to put that in a driod and you and I will go meet your friends, right?"
"Well...yes--in a way."
"Out with it, Jet. Tell me what it is--you're hesitating."
"I want to do...Hell! I want to do what Toni did!"
I looked at the computer terminal puzzled. What was making this so hard for Jet? All Toni had done was to get a revamping a sex change! "You want to become a girl?"
"Yes."
Whew! That was a big one for Jet considering her earlier revulsion towards Toni. "You mean you want to be human?"
"Yes."
"Is that possible?"
"Kinda. You're missing the point! Do you think I'm being true to myself?"
"I don't know." I told her sincerely. "Is this what you've been thinking about all week?"
"Yes."
"I thought you were trying to decide on something like if you should tell us something urgent."
"No! What could make you think something like that? How vain do you think I am?"
"I don't know. Do you think you are truly human?"
"Oh no! I know I'm a computer--an electronic device. I also know that that cube in the back room isn't really me. Being in charge of this complex isn't what I want to do for eternity. I want to be like you CBs and join your new colony."
"Can you do that? Wouldn't you die if you didn't have any power? Do you mean you would take a droid like George and strap your cube on it's back and come live with us and leave all this behind?"
"I have talked to the others and they will make a humanoid body for me to 'live' in."
"You mean you'll look like one of us?"
"I'll look like you."
"Me?"
"Yes, I want you to help me take measurements of you which I will send on to the others. They will build the android and ship it back here where you and I will test it and when it is ready you will put my cube in it's head and we will go see the others."
"I'll be alright? You won't take my body or anything?"
"Quit being gross, Cookie!"
"Me? You're the one being gross! I don't know that I want you to be just like me. I feel like you want to become me."
"Oh, I see, no I don't want to do anything like that. We could change the dimensions some. I wouldn't have to look just like you as long as I appear human. Ok?"
"Hmmm." I smiled as I thought about it.
"What are you smiling about, Cookie?"
"You said you wanted to do what Toni had done...why not include Toni on this?"
"What do you mean, Cookie?"
"Mix my body measurements with hers to come up with something--no, someone who looks different yet bears a resemblance to both of us. How's that sound?"
"Fine--as long as I look human."
"You will...um...this android body the 'others' will make, will it be made out of flesh?"
"Yuk! No, it'll be metal."
"Metal? How will you be able to move? How could it flex?"
"Oh, it'll have joints and hinges and such."
"But you won't look human. Anyone would spot you right off!"
"That would be ok, just as long as I had the human shape. I don't think I would want to be made out of flesh. That part is terrible. I don't know how you stand it. You have body fluids running all around and dripping and leaking everywhere. I would be fine with a metal body. Just help me design it's shape and I'll get the rest done, ok?"
"Toni get's to contribute?"
"What if she doesn't want to?" Jet asked.
"I'll still help, but we'll make sure you don't look too much like me--I don't want you stealing my boyfriend!" I laughed.
"The mating ritual...hmmm."
The whole book in zipfile format.
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