We were sitting on the floor with are legs crossed in front of us and ours hands pinned behind us. The cops had finally noticed that Jet had a metal body. At first they acted like they thought she was wearing armor or something. How stupid can you get? Hell, like somebody would be walking around like that. That's crazy--that's cops.
They finally assured themselves that it was safe to be around her and that she was as helpless as Toni and myself. There had been many cops running in and out of the complex but when they found the machine somebody had ordered them all out--all but two who were left behind to guard the three of us.
I guess it had been about five minutes all told (though at the time it felt like more) when I saw Killer come stumbling up the hall. At first I was glad to see him (I'm not sure why), but then I saw the blood and the two men with him. One of the men had a gun out.
Killer's whole leg was soaked in blood. It looked like it had been coming from his knee. He had a bandage on but it was dripping blood. I felt sorry for him. It was apparent to me that he had been shot in the knee on purpose, to make him talk. I looked at my own knees for a moment. To protect them I guess I would have said anything or answered any question that had been put to me.
The cause was lost. It was just a matter of cleaning up the loose ends. Killer fell heavily and landed at my feet. He looked at me and our eyes met. I saw something there. It was like he was trying to apologize to me and the others. Then he saw Jet. His lips pursed to make the 'W' in 'Who' but he wasn't given the time to get the word out.
One of the men spoke. He was the colony manager. I recognized his face from the video. "What is that?" He wanted to know, indicating Jet.
"I am called 'Jet'. You are trespassers here."
"You're not real, are you?"
"I am an android."
"Whoee! How ironic! The soulless CBs being led by a machine!" the manager laughed and put his hand on the shoulder of the man with the gun. It was aimed at Killer. The man with the gun laughed slightly with the manager.
"Where'd you get a body like that? Is that how the aliens looked?"
Jet didn't answer.
"We helped her design it. The aliens looked a little like lizards." Toni responded. "You'd better let us go--there are more of us back in the complex!"
"It's been checked. There's just you three here. So you were Killer's army. That's rich. I don't know what I was thinking of. I should have had Killer's knee cap blown off the first day. I should have never let you play around with me. Tell me about your android friend here. How'd it learn our language?"
Toni was silent. She had her jaw set and her lower lip stuck out. I knew she wouldn't say another word to him.
"You've got knees too. If you don't want to end up like your friend here you'd better talk!"
Toni remained silent. I saw the man with the gun point it at her. "Wait! I'll tell you what you want to know! It learned to talk from listening to our radio."
The manager turned his attention towards me. "What's your name?"
"Cookie."
"Cute. Ok Cookie, where are the weapons?"
I didn't like the way he said my name.
I wanted to cooperate but how could I without telling him about the others? If we had one chance of getting out of this they were it. I tried to think. I saw the gun pointed at my leg. I couldn't speak then even if I had figured out something to say.
"There are no weapons!" Jet shrilled just in time to keep me from being shot. "All we have is the rain-making machine. This is all that is left of the culture that made me. I alone have survived. The man here, the one you call Killer found me. I didn't know who or what he was. I couldn't communicate with him. He sent Cookie and Toni here to try to talk to me. They brought a radio. I would turn it on and listen to it all night while they were in sleep-cycle. Finally from what I heard and what I saw them do I was able to learn your language.
"I learned about CBs and dweebs. I learned the dweebs are bad. Killer decided to use the rain-maker as a weapon."
"Hmmm....You didn't always look like that did you? You had never seen a human before Killer arrived."
"No. These two helped me make this body."
"Here?"
I waited for Jet to make the mistake of saying 'no'. That would tell him that there were other complexes. To be frank I was impressed with Jet's ability to lie.
"Of course here! Weren't you listening? I told you this is all that remains of the old culture."
"What did you look like before?"
"Cookie said the old ones looked like lizards to her. Does that have meaning for you?"
"Yes. I am surprised that you could build something as complicated as an android body. Where do you get your power from, for this installation?"
"Ummm...it comes from underground. You must release me and my friends..or I will not share the wonders I have with you."
"Really? What wonders do you have to offer?"
"What do you want? Would making power from underground interest you?"
"Let's say it would--what would I have to do to learn how to do that?"
"Simple. Let us and all the CBs go."
"That's how Killer lost his knee. Would you care for some of the same?"
"It does not matter. I do not feel pain."
"Hmmm...Cookie here does. You probably wouldn't like for her to lose her knee would you?"
"It does not matter to me."
"Yes it does! You've already shown me that. You will quit playing games with me right now. If I was sure I had more time I would be willing to take chances. As it is it could be important that I know everything immediately. That's all I'm trying to find out: how much danger am I in and how much danger is the colony in. You must admit it is not the act of a sane person to try to take over a government that has stood for over 700 years."
Silence. What should we have said? I was looking at my knees trying to remember them as they were. They were shaking and I couldn't stop them.
"Let's start over again....My name is Brad and I am the colony manager. These people, the ones who found you, have been trying to take over the colony, Tower colony. I guess they have told you a bunch of lies to make you want to help them. All I'm asking for is a chance to explain my side of the story. Will you give me that? Jet?"
"I have seen your video. On it I have seen the people you call CBs mistreated. You make them live like animals while you, who are called either real people (that is what you call yourselves) or dweebs (that is what the CBs call you), live much better lives. Have I made a mistake in how I depict you? I have seen you on the video many many times, Mr. Manager. You constantly downplay the CBs by telling them they have no, what you call, souls. That is atrocious!"
I had never known the colony manager's first name before. Brad! It didn't fit yet it did. It was like sheep's clothing over a wolf. He started to continue with his nice-guy act then thought better of it. It was obvious that Jet wasn't buying any of it.
"I don't have time for this! You! Get up!" he said indicating Jet. "You will show me where the power comes from, where you make android bodies, how the machine works, and you'll do it now!"
She just looked at him.
Suddenly he made a lunge at her. He grabbed her by the front of her jacket and stood her up. "You will cooperate with me or I will have you all put to death right now starting with Killer! Pete! If she doesn't start telling me anything useful then shoot Killer!"
The other man pointed the gun at Killer's head. I didn't know how long he planned to wait before he shot him. Killer looked at me and I saw his eyes again. I didn't want to look. In a moment he would be shot in the head and killed. I didn't want to be looking in his eyes when that happened. Killer held my eyes captive with his.
We are all children. Our bodies grow up and so do we--to some extent. The act of killing another is the act of a spoiled child. No adult should ever think, even for a moment, that he or she has the right to kill another. It is wrong.
"I will show you..." Jet told Brad.
"Good, let's go." he said gloating. He had found how to manipulate Jet. She turned and started to walk towards the cavern. Brad stopped her. He pointed at the two policemen. "You two stay here and guard the girls! Pete, you bring along Killer here in case it changes it's mind!"
Pete tried to haul Killer to his feet but he found that Killer was unconscious. "This one's zonked out on us." Pete told the manager.
"Take the girl, Cookie!"
I was pulled to my feet and shoved in the direction they wanted me to go in.
The procession headed towards the cavern. I wondered what Jet was up to. She had been lying like crazy to keep them from finding out about the others. The power didn't come from underground. The way she had lied about that I had thought it was transparent what she was doing, but they had bought it anyway. Hell, I had bought it when I first came to the complex. You see the lights on so any explanation is good enough--until it becomes critical.
I was not in a good spot. Jet had been lying and now was being forced to prove her lies, which she couldn't, and when she was found out I would be the one who would get shot. It was obvious to me that the man behind me with his gun in my back would not hesitate to shoot me. It was just a matter of time. I was shaking so bad I could barely walk. My knees felt so weak I barely kept myself from falling. I took fortitude from the fact that soon it would all be over and I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.
***
We were in one of the many compartments around the base of the machine. It was full of equipment. Jet was telling Brad that this was the control room for the generators. I knew that had to be a lie though I began to wonder. I could see many heavy-duty power lead-ins. Could Jet have lied to us?
"How does it work?" Brad insisted.
"There are huge metal plates that were shoved deep into the rock. The temperature down there is much hotter than the surface. There is a difference. Anytime there is any kind of a difference of pressure or temperature or anything then there is the potential to generate power. If you will free my hands I can bring up a diagram on the computer terminal here and you will see how simple it is..."
I was wondering why Jet wanted to use the keyboard. All I had ever had to do was just tell her what I wanted to see. Then it dawned on me that Jet was no longer in the computer, but then she could have told Seventeen. Seventeen had been strangely quiet all during the takeover of the complex. I wondered if it even knew what was transpiring. Knowing Seventeen it could have all it's cameras off and be completely unaware of what was happening. If Seventeen had been a person instead of a computer it would have been sleeping all the time.
They had freed Jets hands long enough for her to get them in front of her then they had chained them again. She had her fingers on the buttons that served as the keyboard and was rapidly inputting instructions.
Pete pushed me up against the wall and stepped inside the compartment so he could watch. My back was against the wall and his gun was in my belly. "Sir! Stop her! She may be trying to send a message to someone!"
"Stop!" Brad ordered Jet.
She kept typing.
"Shoot her!" Brad ordered Pete.
I thought he meant me. I shut my eyes hard and waited for the pain to start. The gun was removed from my stomach then I think the lights went out. I heard a muffled bang sound as I opened my eyes and I saw a bright flash of light. There was a man crying out in pain then the sound of something heavy made out of metal hitting the floor. For a moment I thought it was Jet, but then I realized it sounded too small to be her.
The lights came back on and I saw Brad slumped over Jet. She was trying to get him off of her. Pete was trying to get his hands free from some kind of metal rods. I realized that the rods were appendages from a droid that was on the floor. Jet had used the computer to summon and program a droid and turned off the lights, I decided. The sound I had heard was Pete dropping his gun either after he realized he had shot the colony manager or the droid may have knocked it out of his hand. I don't know which. All that mattered was he didn't have his gun anymore.
I dove forward and knocked Pete off-balance with my shoulder. He, I, and the droid landed in a heap. "Get the gun! Get the gun!" I shouted frantically to Jet.
She got it and stuck it in Pete's face. For a moment I thought she was going to shoot him. I realized she was just mimicking what she had seen him do. She probably had no idea how to make it fire.
"We've got to get the key to the handcuffs. Where is it?" I asked.
"The other one put it in his coat pocket!" Jet shouted back as excited as me.
We still weren't out of it. The manager was dead, I was sure of that. The problem was Pete. It didn't look to me like the droid would be able to hold onto his hands much longer. It just wasn't big enough for the task. I think Pete knew that if he could get his hands free that Jet wouldn't be able to shoot the gun so he was struggling as hard as he could. We needed to get our hands free so we could do something.
"Quick! Sit on him!" I told Jet. "Sit on his hands so he can't fight!"
She put her hip right over his hands and put all of her weight on them. That helped. While he was trying to get her and the droid off his chest I pulled the manager's body down on top of me from where it had been slumped over the back of the chair Jet had been sitting in. The body landed across my legs and I had a heck of a time getting the key out of the coat pocket. I had the key but couldn't free myself and Jet had the gun but didn't know how to use it and Pete was squirming out from under us.
It was a case of do-or-die.
"Here!" I told Jet as I extended the key to her from behind me. "Take the key, but give me the gun!"
I felt her take the key from my hands and press the gun into them. I got it turned around and got my hand on the handle. I shoved it down into Pete's body under me. It turned out I had shoved it into his crotch. I put my finger on the trigger and told him. "D-d-d-don't m-m-move! Quit moving o-o-o-or I'll s-s-s-shoot!" I think the way my voice quaked scared him as much as anything. I was desperate and it showed. He quit struggling.
"Jet! Use the key to free my hands!"
"How does it work?"
I nearly laughed. Instead I explained to her how to use a key and guided her through the steps necessary to get my hands free. A little bit of theory then some practice...
***
Once Jet had feed my hands and I had freed hers we used a set of handcuffs to tie the remaining man's hands behind him. I held the gun to his head, ready to do the unthinkable if he tried to escape, while Jet secured his hands. I stood up and relaxed for a moment.
Then I remembered the two cops guarding Toni and Killer. That's not to mention the regiment of cops waiting in the cave. Suddenly I felt very tired. We had already done the impossible so that meant we still had to do it another two times!
We didn't need the man for anything so we used the other pair of handcuffs to anchor him to a brace near the floor. He was begging us to try to help the colony manager. I looked at Brad or what was left of him. Fully a quarter of his head had been blown away. There was no doubt, he was dead. The man who had shot him began to weep. It was sickening. Either of them would have been willing to kill any or all of us.
I kicked the man--hard!
Jet and I went out of the compartment and closed the man inside so that he couldn't call out to the cops above us. We had been lucky the gun had a silencer on it.
The whole book in zipfile format.
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