by R E Kearney
Grabbing his collar, Rube yanks Robert to his feet. “What’s going on here? Is somebody in your head spying on me…listening to me? Who’s in there? Who’s in your head?”
Robert shakes off Rube’s hold. Rube raises his pistol toward Robert’s chest. He tilts the pistol up and down, signaling Robert to talk.
“My children! Ok? My thirteen transhuman children. The can hear everything…every word that I hear. They can also see all that I see. Like your truck. They think it is pretty.” Robert lies. “They like you…really like you…call you grandpa.”
Rube’s tough look begins melting. He lowers his pistol. “Grandpa? Really? Grandpa? You ain’t lying to me are you? Grandpa?”
“No, Rube, I wouldn’t lie to you.” Robert shakes his head reassuringly.
“You’re lying to him. We don’t have a grandpa. Why are you lying to him? That’s bad.” Aethon scolds.
Seeing how captivated Rube is, Robert feeds his needs. “You know, there’s an old Chinese proverb that says that a family with an old person has a living treasure of gold. So, I’m going to officially add you as our family’s old person and treasure of gold. Ok? And, I’ll just call you grandpa, because I think it fits you. Like that?”
Rube backs away from Robert, until he is standing directly in front of him. His face is one wide smile. “This is great. You know, I always wanted a family… wanted children…really wanted a son or two. Just couldn’t get any woman to stay with me out on the farm. One woman did stay six months. I think she was pregnant when she ran off, so I may have a kid…maybe a son. Don’t know. Now, I’m too old for kids. But, I’ll take grandchildren. Yeah, grandchildren are good.”
“Well, say hello to them, then.” Ignoring Aethon’s complaint, Robert continues encouraging Rube to indulge in his familial fantasy.
Loudly humming a tune, Robert does not recognize, Rube begins to shuffle his feet from side to side. In synch with his feet, he swings his arms back and forth in front of his upper chest. He twirls, stumbles and almost falls.
Regaining his balance, he straightens and breaks into song. His voice is scratchy and he lacks rhythm, but he sings from his heart. “Just to see you smile. I'd do anything. That you wanted me to. And all is said and done. I'd never count the cost. It's worth all that's lost. Just to see you smile. That’s an old Tim McGraw song. Do you think they liked…”
“What was that?! What are you doing?! “Immediately assailing Rube, Rele arrives with CRAGI. CRAGI is carrying him like a small child.
“What are you doing?” Robert asks with a frown.
“He could no longer walk. It is my responsibility to assist all humans.” CRAGI explains to Robert.
“Put me down.” Rele snarls.
CRAGI releases Rele. He drops onto his back on the ground covering himself with a mixture of ash and dust. Coughing and choking, he struggles to his feet. Angrily, he spits at CRAGI’s foot.
“Hey, Rele, I have grandchildren.” Rube bubbles.” Well, they’re not really my grandchildren, but Robert says…”
Rele limps to the truck roaring. “Grandchildren! You don’t have any grandchildren. Just get into the truck and drive us to Fort Morghan, you stupid, old fool.”
NO DISHONOR
Swimming in waves of sweltering heat, Fort Morghan is a scab on the scarred wastedlands. Rube celebrates his return. Robert chokes on the stench of the rotted, trash heap. Rele squirms in anticipation. CRAGI scrutinizes and transmits JPEGs and videos to the SPEA drone.
“Stealth, surveillance drone circling fifteen hundred meters overhead. SPEA security force in assault position. Perimeter secured without incident. Fifty-seven prisoners.” AGI confides.
“Understood. Hold position. Maintain silent surveillance.” Robert orders.
“So, this is that shire courthouse, you told me about.” Robert nods toward the courthouse building, as Rube slows his truck to a halt in the parking lot. “The operational heart of Sheriff’s empire, eh. Isn’t that what you told me Rube? Now, where exactly is your Sat-com room, Rele?”
Rele jerks. Spasms shake him. Screaming, he lunges at Rube. “What did you tell him, old man?! What did you tell him?!”
Rube leaps from his truck, an instant before Rele can grab his throat. He halts his escape ten feet in front of the truck. “Bring me my seed, Robert.”
“I’ll give the idiot his seeds.” Rele snarls shoving Robert’s hand away from Rube’s seed pack.
“Advance security force to secure courthouse area. Hold fire. Prepare for exploitation and extraction.” Robert directs AGI.
Pointing at Rube, Rele commands Robert and CRAGI. “Get out you two and go stand by that moron!”
Aiming his E-M-P with his right hand, while holding Rube’s seed pack in his left, Rele confronts the trio. “I’m taking back our world today. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for…planning for…working for. I am going to destroy you! Your unnatural, corporate Elite dictatorship is over. This is your end!”
Rube reaches for his seed pack. Rele yanks the pack back out of Rube’s reach. Again, Rube stretches forward attempting to grab his seeds from Rele. Rele scowls at him, sneers then slams his seed pack against the pavement. He stomps Rube’s pack with his foot. Whoomp! The pack explodes spraying Rube’s seed into the wind. Seeds fly into the sky and disappear.
“My seed! My seed!” What am I going to do without my seed? I failed…failed Sheriff.” Rube wails as he chases the rising cloud of seeds desperately attempting to catch a few.
“Oh shut up! Stop your ridiculous whining.” Rele kicks the empty seed pack into the wind. “You rural relic! I can’t imagine that you still believe Sheriff ever planned to let you farm. Never! You’re never going to farm again. You are nothing! Just the bait for my trap to catch the only person who could ever stop us. Now, we have him. I have Robert. Capturing him and bringing him back here for termination is what this whole thing was about. Not seeds! Never seeds! Now, I don’t need you anymore. Sheriff doesn’t need you. It’s done. Our trap is sprung. You’re useless!”
Using Rele and Rube’s argument as distractive cover, the SPEA security force slips into the parking lot. Silently, they form an armed perimeter, encircling the quartet. As soon as he knows they are ready, Robert nods his head signaling them to make their move.
“Put your weapon on the pavement!” Demands the SPEA security force commander. “We have you surrounded!”
Rele immediately slides close to Robert. “Form a triangle around me. Now! Don’t look at me. Face them. You’re my hostages…my shield. Be smart. Don’t try anything.”
“Who are these guys? What do they want?” Trembling, Rube nervously studies the twenty security specialists pointing their lasers at him.
“They’re my people, Rube. But, you don’t need to worry. They aren’t here to hurt you. They’re here to apprehend Rele and Sheriff. Stop them from destroying more food…starving more children. Break up their gang.” Robert explains in a low reassuring voice.
Robert points across his chest toward the courthouse while directing his security force. “Access and secure the courthouse. Detain everyone inside. Lock down the Sat-com room. Hold Sheriff Rechtsbrecher for interrogation.”
Still the blindly loyal vassal, Rube draws his pistol from his pocket and waves it at Robert. “Leave Sheriff alone! Don’t you hurt her!”
Swinging his left hand at Rube’s revolver, Rele screams. “No! Don’t shoot him! Robert’s mine! He’s going to suffer, like he’s making me suffer. Lose everything…his family…his freak children.”
Robert twists to face Rube. “I’m not going to hurt Sheriff, Rube. I’m protecting her…saving her from him…from Rele. When he’s done with me, Rele plans to kill Sheriff…take over. He’s going to kill you, too.”
“Shut up! Your days of interfering…stopping us from destroying the Elites and taking back our world are over. With you gone, there’s nobody who can stop us. No obstacles remain in our way. The world will be mi
ne.” Rele jerks his E-M-P toward Robert’s skull.
CRAGI jumps. Shoves Robert away. Rele pulls the E-M-P trigger. The E-M-P pulse blasts deep into CRAGI’s circuits. Her AGI brain explodes. CRAGI collapses onto the pavement.
“You killed her!” Rube yells.
Rele shoves his E-M-P against Robert’s temple. “No, I didn’t kill it. I fried it. Just like I’m going to fry him…him and his thirteen unhuman creatures. Turn them into harmless husks. I am going to blow their minds!”
“Think of your grandchildren, Rube!” Robert shouts. “If he fries me, he fries them too. Think of your loving grandchildren!”
“No!” Rube yanks his pistol up and fires.
Rele grabs his chest. He crashes to the pavement. His legs shake. He coughs. He is dead.
Rube stares at Rele’s body. He turns his attention to his pistol. “I killed him. I did wrong. I violated Sheriff’s code.
Robert extends his hand. “Give me your pistol, Rube. Give me the gun. With Rele and Sheriff gone, SPEA is the law out here now. Corporate rule. We’re in charge, now. Just hand your gun to me. I can make it ok for you. I can make it all go away.”
“No! My time is over, Robert. I’m done.” Rube pushes his pistol barrel against the bottom of his jaw. His finger slowly squeezes the trigger…tighter…tighter. “Nothing remains in this world for me and my kind. My life is gone. I cannot live now. I’m out of my time.”
“No, Rube!” Robert lunges for the pistol.
“Death before dishonor. Dead before dishonor.” Rube is done.
“Can you commit suicide if you have no life left?” Rube’s final thought rides the bullet through his brain.
About the Author
“The best way to predict your future is to create it,” Abraham Lincoln said and as bestselling author, entrepreneur and agent of change Seth Godin wrote, “If you are deliberately trying to create a future that feels safe, you will willfully ignore the future that is likely.” Now, you may ask why I am beginning this semi-biographical discussion with these two quotes. I am beginning with these two quotes because they represent the type of thinking that shapes my reasoning and my writing.
I am not a scientist. I am a future fanatic. As far back as I am still capable of remembering, I have always been interested in what is next, what is over the horizon, what will be the next innovation or invention and how it will change the world. So, I adopt, adapt and employ inventions and innovations in my efforts as a writer to investigate, consider and discuss what the future may hold for the world. I don’t know what I don’t know I admit, but I am always ready and excited to learn something I didn’t know and then to share that information with others. For as Charles F. Kettering said, “My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.” So, I hope you will join me as I look around and ask, “What if?”
Connect with R. E. Kearney
Website: http://www.rekearney.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RE-Kearney-956373567787029/?ref=bookmarks
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/rekearney
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