Brian looked at the assembly line, and he was shocked to see what appeared to be a skeletal structure composed of car parts starting to form as the mechanical arms of the assembly line continued to build the mystery machine. Brian ran up to his office overlooking the assembly line floor where he had direct access to the plant’s mainframe. It took Brian several attempts to log onto his computer, and after he was able to access his PC, it took nearly twenty minutes for the computer to connect to the factory’s mainframe.
As soon as Brian was able to access the mainframe and see the commands running through the assembly line system, he was immediately able to determine that it had been hacked. The level of intrusion that had occurred to the assembly line program was far greater than anything Brian had ever seen. Brian had graduated in the top third of his class from MIT. He knew what he was doing when it came to securing a computer network. When he had first been hired at Ford a few months ago, he had installed state-of-the-art firewalls into the factory’s system, and while no system was completely secure, he couldn’t understand how the person who had hacked the system had managed to do it so completely. The firewalls that he had erected were not just circumvented, they were completely destroyed!
He was even more shocked by the fact that whoever had shattered his firewalls had completely taken over the system! Even more astounding was that they had reprogrammed it to the point where the assembly had not only stopped making cars, but they had entered commands to have the robotic arms construct something that physically they should not have been able to make!
Brian’s mind was racing. The level of incursion that had occurred to the system was something new that no one had ever seen before. This was not just the type of thing where he would have to inform the heads of the company of what had occurred, but he would also have to inform the NSA and the FBI cyber division. What Brian was looking at could only have been the work of some new tech terrorist or a foreign nation. Brian was doing his best not to panic at the magnitude of what was occurring. Instead, he focused on taking as much data as he could on the hack in order to pass it on to the authorities.
He looked over his computer at the construct which was quickly forming on the assembly line. The skeletal structure that was being constructed out of car parts was growing to an enormous size. The arms of the assembly line were starting to add layers onto the frame they had constructed, and it was then that Brian realized what the assembly line was building. Brian was watching the construction of some form of giant robot. He shook his head in disbelief then he swallowed the saliva that was building up in his mouth as a metaphor to himself for swallowing his fear. He once again tried to focus on obtaining data.
Brian looked toward the floor workers who were still watching the assembly line construct the robot. The floor workers clearly had no idea of the severity of the situation before them. Brian decided to keep the men in the dark as to the complexity of what was occurring because if they knew what was truly happening, it was likely that they would panic. Brian needed as much information as he could to send to NSA and the FBI and panicking workers would not be able to help him.
He called out to the men, “I need measurements of the size the thing that the line is making as well as your best observations of what that thing is composed of.”
Two men quickly grabbed measuring tape. They placed the tape at the end of what was starting to look like a foot. They ran out the tape as far as it would go, made a mark, and then repeated the process. While two of the men were measuring the robot, the rest of the crew circled around the assembly line and took notes of what they could see of the machine that was now almost as large as the line itself. Brian watched as the assembly line’s robotic arms lifted several of the onboard computers that were installed into the company’s newest cars and placed them in the robot’s chest.
The workers who were measuring the robot yelled out from next to a huge head that the assembly line’s robotic arms had just placed on the construct’s shoulders, “This freaking thing is two hundred and nineteen feet tall!” He then used the measuring tape to check the width of the robot. After marking and moving his tape measure a second time, he yelled out to Brian, “This thing also measures seventy-two feet wide.” The man’s eyes looked up from the robot’s back to its chest. Then he yelled at Brian, “I don’t think I can measure its depth without the cherry picker.”
Brian nodded in reply as one of the workers starting yelling up to him what he could make out of the robot’s composition, “It looks like most of the frame is made out of steel with aluminum composing the rest of its body. It has several exhaust ports at the bottom of its feet and the line keeps putting more and more onboard computers into its chest.” The man looked overhead as the assembly line arms lifted several tires into the robot’s chest and began placing them around the onboard computer system. He shook his head and then yelled again, “Now it’s putting tires in there? Just what in the hell is the assembly line doing?”
Brian ignored the man’s question as he entered the data he had into the computer and quickly used his tablet to take a picture of what was a nearly complete giant robot. He took a quick look at the picture he had taken. The robot had an overall humanoid form with a head, torso, arms, legs, and feet. The robot was a multitude of colors, as if whoever was constructing the machine was more concerned with getting the robot together quickly as opposed to having it appear ascetically pleasing. Brian had been hoping that whoever had taken over the assembly line was just some sort of really smart teenager who had hacked the system and was using it to make a copy of his favorite Power Rangers Zord. As Brian looked at the robot, it was clear that the automaton was no joke.
Brian saw a large canister being lifted off the factory floor that was also placed within in the robot’s chest. He yelled to the men on the floor, “Was that one of the liquid nitrogen canisters that we are going to test on the new cars?” A man on the floor quickly replied that it was indeed one of the canisters. Brian became even more concerned at seeing the liquid nitrogen being loaded into the robot. The chemical was being used by the military, car manufacturers, and locomotive builders as a potential clean source of energy. The liquid nitrogen vehicles would be able to power themselves far longer than even a fully charged electric plug-in car. In fact, some estimates suggested the car could operate for up to six months on only a single canister.
Brian compiled all of his information into a single file and then he attempted to email it to the NSA and the FBI. He hit the send button on his email, but his screen flashed a warning indicating that his file had not been sent. Brian tried to send the file again only to have the server rebuff his request a second time. He was trying to figure out what to do next when the robot’s hand slid off the assembly line and clanged loudly on the concrete floor. Then, like the Frankenstein Monster in the old Universal Movies, the robot’s hand lifted itself into the air. The floor workers stared in awe as the robot sat up and turned its head toward them. Brian watched in horror as the mech lifted its giant metal hand into the air and then brought it crashing down on at least a dozen workers whose bodies were crushed into a mixed puddle of blood, bones, and organs. The remaining floor workers screamed and began rushing for the exit. The robot then stood up, causing its head and shoulders to smash through the roof of the building.
The robot then started walking forward. Its thick metal chest cut through the roof of the building as easily as a human’s chest would cut through water in a pool. As the robot walked, it crushed people beneath the massive weight of its feet while others were pinned to the floor by the chunks of roof debris that fell upon them. Brian looked behind him to see people from the offices connected to the factory running in to see what was going on. He jumped out of his chair and pulled the fire alarm in hopes that he would get some people out of the building before they were crushed to death.
Brian grabbed his tablet as he ran to the nearest exit. He reached the door at the exact moment that the robot smashed through the south wall of the
factory floor. Brian screamed and tears filled his eyes as he watched dozens more people crushed to death beneath the robot’s feet. He was shaking his head, and in his mind, he was asking God why this was happening when he heard a ping on his computer. He looked down to see that he had received an email from some group called the Horsemen. He opened the email and read a message that would change his life.
We are the Horsemen. Most of the computer and internet services that we rely on have been permanently corrupted or shut down. We are maintaining a small bit of communications through a Dark Web that we have created which is temporarily secure. Use this link to connect to it and to keep us aware of the robot’s position. Help is on the way.
Brian couldn’t believe everything that was happening. First a giant robot, and now an email from some group called the Horsemen! These Horsemen obviously had some pretty impressive programming skills if they were able to bypass whatever was keeping him from reaching the NSA. For all that Brian knew, these people were the ones who had high-jacked his system and had used it to make the robot. Brian heard a loud crash then he looked at where the south wall of the plant used to be. Through the now-crushed wall, he saw the robot plowing through buildings as if they were made of cardboard and killing hundreds of people in the process.
Brian didn’t know who the Horsemen were. Maybe they were the people who were controlling the robot and maybe they weren’t. The only thing that he did know is that people were dying, and if there was anything that he could do to save some of their lives, he was going to try and do it. He figured if nothing else, that he would at least have a clear conscious knowing that he accepted an offer to try and help save lives. Brian connected his tablet to the link that the Horsemen had provided and then he began to type in as much information as he could about what the robot was doing and where it was in the city.
He was about to run after the robot when he heard the sound of the assembly line turning on again behind him. He spun around to see the arms of the assembly line gathering more car parts and fusing them together. Brian quickly typed a message to the mysterious Horsemen.
The assembly line is building another robot!
Brian dashed out of the building before the new robot was completed. He stayed a safe distance behind the first robot and he followed its path of destruction through the city. He saw a group of people run out of the building in front of the robot and Brian expected to see the robot step on them but instead the robot did something completely unexpected. It bent down and sprayed a white mist over the people that Brian was able to recognize as liquid nitrogen. Brian watched as the people that the robot sprayed were instantly frozen solid. The robot then reached down, picked up the frozen people, and loaded them into a compartment in its back. Brian quickly typed into his computer.
The robots are not just using the liquid nitrogen to power themselves! They are killing some of the people here, but they appear to be freezing other people and storing them for later usage. Whatever help is coming, please hurry!
Chapter 5
Catskill Mountains Horsemen Facility
Nick was totally exhausted as he made his way through the hallway toward Hangar 18. It took a lot out of him to change into his Leviathan form and then back into a human. He had nearly completed the process when the alarm went off and sent a surge of adrenaline running through his system. The surge nearly triggered the change into Leviathan, and it took all of Nick’s will power and energy to keep the change from occurring within his quarters. He needed to meditate for several minutes to get his body under control. When Nick was finally in total control of his body, he started making his way toward the ominous Hangar 18.
When he entered the hangar, he saw Jerome and Miki already standing in one of the few illuminated spots inside of the empty structure. Hangar 18 looked like any typical aircraft hangar with the exception that it was four times larger than any other hangar in the world. While Nick had never been in this hangar, he a good idea of what capabilities the hangar possessed. He assumed that like all of the other hangars in the Horsemen’s facilities, the walls and the ceilings also doubled as monitors where the Instructors could upload news feeds and information from around the world. During previous training missions, the Kaiju Corps had met in hangars like this one, and when they were ready, the Instructors would show them their current mission on one of the walls or the ceiling. Usually though, the entire hangar was at least lit up when they entered it. The fact that only a few lights were on in the hangar only added to the tension that Nick was feeling for being called into actual action.
Nick saw his friends staring at him and gesturing for him to come over to them. He nodded and then jogged over to Jerome and Miki.
Jerome had a look of mixed excitement and apprehension on his face. He shrugged and smiled as he took a step toward Nick. “Hangar 18. Whatever is happening, it’s real, and it’s serious.”
Nick gave a nervous laugh. “Any idea about what’s going on?
Jerome shook his head. “No, the television in my room isn’t working and the computer systems have all been blocked out.”
Nick looked around the room. “Where is Michelle? She is usually the first to show up for a drill. I figured she would have run here the minute that they said Hangar 18 over the intercom.”
Miki walked over to them. Nick noticed that she had her arms wrapped around her body almost as if she was hugging herself. She was shaking and Nick could see that she was scared by the thought of whatever was going to happen. She tried to smile. “Michelle is still out on a training mission. She is on her way back, but I get the feeling that we are going to have to start this mission without her.”
Nick knew what was bothering Miki. All of them had been trained since birth to be warriors and to be ready to face threats beyond the scope of what the mind could conceive. They were the Kaiju Corps. They were the giants who would protect civilization from potential apocalyptic events. They were soldiers who were ready to do their duty, but they were also soldiers who had never seen real combat. Like any soldiers preparing for their first actual mission, they were beyond nervous. Especially because unlike typical soldiers, they had no idea where they were going or what they were going to fight. This feeling was further exasperated by the fact that Michelle/Bearadon was not with them. Jerome was their leader and they trusted him in that role, but Michelle was the backbone of their group. During their training exercises, there were times when all three of them felt fear or a lack of confidence in their abilities, but Michelle never showed any of these emotions. Michelle was not the type of person to give a rousing speech or to crack a joke to break the tension, but when they needed strength from one of their teammates, they could always look to her. Michelle’s aura of fearlessness was even more exemplified when she was in her Bearadon form. Nick, Jerome, and Miki were all ready to perform their duties as best they could, but without Michelle with them, they were missing the support that her demeanor provided.
Nick found it hard to take his eyes off Miki. He was struggling internally with the feelings that he had for her. His life was far from normal, but he knew that he was attracted to Miki. What he didn’t know was that if it was appropriate for him to have these feelings. The Instructors had always spoken of Jerome in terms of being his brother, and he knew that Miki and Michelle were encouraged to look at each other as sisters, despite the fact that none of the four of them shared any genetic background.
What was never clearly defined was the relationship between the males and females. They were always taught that they were teammates and soldiers, but otherwise, their relationship was never discussed. At one point, Nick had tried to approach Timothy to discuss these feelings that he was developing toward Miki. In all of the times that Nick had approached Timothy with personal questions, it was the only time that he declined to discuss the situation with him. As Nick was standing in Hangar 18 and awaiting the first real mission of his life, part of him regretted never talking to Miki about his feelings because now there was no guarante
e that he would ever have the chance to again.
More of the lights in the hangar started to switch on and illuminate the room, forcing Nick’s thoughts away from Miki and back to his surroundings. The other hangars that the Kaiju Corps team members had seen were predominantly empty. They had observation decks and the occasional small transport or forklift, but this hangar was full of weapons and aircraft that they had never seen before. As the lights came on, five or six aircraft came into view that looked like large black triangles.
Nick shook his head in surprise when he saw them. The Horsemen kept Nick and the other members of the team unaware of the other projects that they were working on outside of the Kaiju Corps. Nick had taken up an interest in fringe elements of science and science fiction during his free time. He knew that he had been created to battle potential threats such as alien invasion, and he looked up UFO sightings in his free time to get a better idea of what he might be facing some day. In addition to helping him gather potential intelligence on a threat, it also helped him to feel more normal. For one thing, he was engaging in activities that many other people did on a regular basis, and while the Instructors monitored everything he did on the internet, they allowed him to engage in conversation in UFO forums, as the people in those groups were likely not to be taken seriously by the majority of the population anyway.
Kaiju Corps Page 3