All Worlds: Fantasy And Science Fiction Series Starters

by Vangjel Canga

  End Kimberly's view...

  The tree like the Lantern Pine created its own light with the help of an extra-genome from a firefly. The light emanated from the maple's trunk and branches. Its leaves grew upside down to gather the light for photosynthesis.

  Kimberly's view...

  Strands of my hair fall in my face as Tainted Rain darkens them, and I rake them behind my ear. I don't know why I followed her. I still need to kill her, but that isn't it. Do I believe that woman can detect the Un-Men beyond the visual plain? My suit jacket soaks through. Hades! I'll catch a cold if I stay out here much longer.

  In the distance, I see that woman pause and the beams of green light hit her. Someone's aiming at her, so I search the park. Gun fire erupts from all around the park, lighting up the bushes and trees with muzzle flashes as I duck into a thicket of trees. I pull my gun from my purse, hearing movement coming from my left and my right. I turn and lean my back against a maple as the area falls silent.

  Are the Un-Men really hunting that woman? Is there a bounty on her head or a more malevolent reason? I remember our conversation from before. That woman said the Council called her the Pandora Project. She also said that they're testing her. I hear more gunfire. What kind of mess did I get myself into by following that woman here?

  Katharine's view...

  I franticly crawl through the small trees deeper into the park and then catch sight of a small tunnel underneath a stone bridge about twenty yards away. I desperately run for it and enter the tunnel, then an Un-Man steps out at the other end and activates my abilities. Over the past year, I've learned many things about myself, about the Pandora Project, and I know my abilities come in levels. The level I just entered is the Beta Phase, and I can't miss any target when I'm in this phase. I quickly aim with my extraordinary gift, fire once, and hit the Un-Man in its kill spot. I start down the tunnel to collect its AK-47 when two more Un-Men appear at the same end as their brethren, and they open fire on me. I scamper back and duck around the outside of the tunnel as bullets spray past me, and a few of them ricochet off the stone wall. My hot moist breath shows up as steam in the brisk October air as I heave from the exertion. I wipe black water from my brow, waiting for the metal barrage to end, then I fire twice around the corner, hit the two Un-Men, and drop them.

  I have one bullet left and there's still three more Un-Men, so I'll have to run for it. I start through the tunnel, hear Kimberly scream, and glance back. Surely she didn't follow me out here. Again a voice deep within me reasons with my heart not to let anyone suffer, and that I need to protect those who need me. I stare at the stone ceiling as the burden of doing what's right weighs on me. I look to the one end of the tunnel that means my freedom and to the other that means confrontation. It would be easier to run, and Kimberly's an assassin; she can take care of herself. I've ignored the pleas to save people before. I don't need to endanger myself for someone who's probably at the park to kill me. I turn as if I can see the Nexus Apartments in the distance. Kimberly won't help me, so why should I help her? I head toward my freedom. She's on her own just like I am.

  Minutes earlier...

  Kimberly's view...

  A gust shakes rain droplets from the maple I'm standing next to and turns my green outfit to the color of oil. The Un-Men haven't spotted me yet, but I know I'm vulnerable here. I look down at my pumps. Hades... I've ruined my shoes coming out in the rain, but I can't worry about them right now. Nexus is about five minutes away if I run for it, so I dash back towards the apartments and near the next large tree when a muscular man steps from the bushes.

  "Team Leader here," the Un-Man relays in a Russian accent. "Civilian encountered." It pauses for a few seconds, then repeats what must be an order, "I will take the civilian as a hostage." The Team Leader aims its AK-47 at me and says, "Stay where you are and you will not be hurt."

  "Right. I'll do that," I tell it as I shoot three times, hitting it in the chest.

  The Team Leader marches towards me like a runaway hover freight train as I fire four more times, empty the gun, eject the magazine, and slide in a new one. I fire twice more before it reaches me, but my attack does nothing to stop it. It hits me across the face with the back of its hand, bruising my cheek, and then it grabs my arm. It squeezes my wrist till I drop the gun and cry out in pain.

  The Team Leader drags me to a clearing and yells, "Pandora, surrender or we will kill the civilian." It scans the area and states, "I detect two of my brethren are still functioning and that you have disabled the other three. Come out now!"

  The Team Leader squeezes my wrist, and I cry out again as I struggle against its hold, trying to free myself from its mechanical grip.

  "Do you really think she's going to come back for me?" I question the tin can. "You're wrong!" I remember how I almost killed her, and I tell it, "We're not the best of friends."

  I punch it in the jaw with my free fist, then shake my hand in pain, realizing that was a stupid move. If I want to stay alive, I have to stay smart.

  "Be still," the Team Leader orders and then shouts, "Pandora, you know we will kill her if you do not surrender."

  "I know," that woman replies as she walks down the path and stops about ten feet away.

  Her eyes blaze like a demon's in the darkness of the late afternoon, and in amazed terror, I gape at her as they burn with blue fire. I shake off my dismay, reverting to the cold calculating mind of a Closer. I have to get a hold of myself, and then I focus on a new realization. That woman actually came back. I thought she'd be long gone by now, but here she is. Surely that woman didn't come back for me. I deny the notion as my confusion over her actions turn to suspicions.

  "Drop your gun," the Team Leader orders her as it pulls me in front of itself and wraps me up in its arms as if we're lovers.

  Katharine's view...

  I glance at my gun and know I don't have a chance with only one bullet. One of us will get hurt if I try to take out the Un-Men. I glare at Kimberly. She probably followed me out to the park to kill me. It was a really bad mistake on her part.

  "Let me go!" Kimberly struggles against the Team Leader again and yells at me, "Shoot it!"

  Kimberly has nothing to do with my problems, so I can't let her get hurt, but I don't want to be captured, not again. I shiver, not only for the cold but in fear of what happened about eight months earlier. The decision to surrender rips at my gut. On one side I fear torture at the hands of the Factory and on the other I can't let someone suffer because of me, even if they're an assassin. I lay the gun on the ground as I feel my Ultra-Epi Light Emissions fade.

  "You!" I yell to get Kimberly's attention. "Once the Un-Man releases you, run and abandon your weapon, and they'll leave you alone." I kneel to the spongy grass and water soaks my pants as my weight forces the liquid to the surface of the green blades. I place my hands on top of my head as the other two Un-Men walk out of the shadows. I feel sick, knowing the pain that waits for me at the Factory, and I yell, "Hurry! Go!"

  The Team Leader throws Kimberly to the side as it states, "Pandora, we finally have you again."

  She stumbles to a tree and runs toward her apartment, glancing over her shoulder. The Un-Men ignore her and focus on me. I notice she ducks into a few bushes after running some distance and then she watches us. I have no idea what she's doing.

  The Team Leader, who is a T-5, relays to the Factory, "Pandora has been secured. Send in a retrieval team." It tells its brethren, "ETA fifteen minutes." It points to a T-3 who's a five foot eleven model with brown hair and orders, "You, secure the area."

  The T-3 nods its understanding and walks off as the Team Leader picks up my weapon and checks its magazine.

  "One bullet. You should have fled, but we were fortunate to find someone strolling the park."

  It pushes the bullet from the magazine, and the 9 mm round falls to the ground, disappearing into the grass. The Team Leader reinserts the mag
azine and tucks the gun in its waistband as I remain silent and search for the weapon Kimberly dropped. I swear no matter what, I won't go back to the Factory.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Zeus Park

  11:16 A.M...

  A round clock sitting on a steel post about a hundred yards down the path ticked away the seconds as a screech owl perched in the maple. The small bird turned its head a hundred and eighty degrees, studying the two Un-Men and the kneeling woman. Mud and oily water soaked Kat's shoes and the shins and knees of her pants. She stared at the ground and shivered, keeping her fingers locked and her hands on her head. There were thirteen minutes left before the retrieval team got there. She wiped the black filmy water from her face on the shoulder of her jacket. Kat had thirteen minutes to change her fate. A Type One model she had dubbed Pretty Boy months ago stood behind her, and its shoulder length bleached blond hair swayed in the breeze and that along with the lanky Un-Man's corky smile gave it the appearance of a surfer even in the business suit. The Pretty Boy kept its AK-47 leveled on her.

  A grenade's throw away, Kim hid in some bushes. She couldn't go back to the apartment, not until she eliminated all the witnesses. Robots or not they saw her with a gun, and they had to be eliminated along with that woman. The only thing Kim had to do was find her weapon.

  The T-3 returned and reported to the Team Leader, "I have secured this side of the park. I will patrol the other half."

  It started off and entered the area Kim took cover in, and after desperately scanning the area, Kim saw a large branch on the ground, grabbed the limb, whacked the T-3 in the face with all her might, and smashed its polarized spectacles. Her attack cut a gash under its right eye, and its shiny metal cheekbone showed through the damaged artificial skin.

  The T-3 removed its broken sun glasses and tossed them to the ground then turned its head, unaffected by the blow. Its sun-blazing dot-light brightened and changed to a deep red as the T-3 said with a British accent, "Poppet, you want to play?"

  She dropped the limb and scurried off toward West 1000 Avenue, realizing the only thing she did was make the robot upset.

  "Do not leave, poppet! The fun is about to start."

  The T-3 opened fire with its AK-47 and wildly shot in her direction.

  Back at Kat's position...

  The Team Leader and Pretty Boy received a message from the T-3.

  "T-3 has again encountered the civilian, and the female has attacked it," the Team Leader stated. "The female is fleeing." It paused. "Transmission garbled. Transmission ended with... kill poppet? I do not understand. Repeat communication." After about ten seconds, the Team Leader said, "T-3 has failed to report, and it may have been damaged." It turned to Pretty Boy. "We may not be able to contain Pandora with only two units, requesting orders from the Factory on how to proceed."

  They turned their heads when they heard gunfire, and with them distracted, Kat seized the opportunity to escape and dashed into the woods, hoping to reach Kim in time. The Team Leader motioned for Pretty Boy to recapture her.

  "Do not destroy Pandora. The Factory wants her functioning."

  "Understood," it stated and rushed into the woods.

  Leaves and twigs brushed by her face as Kat hurried into a clearing. She halted, spotting the rampaging T-3 as it shot up the area, and her Ult L-E produced charged particles and sparked from her eyes as she entered the fray again. The T-3 ran out of ammo, ejected its magazine, and started to place in a new one when Kat ran behind it and jumped on its back. She covered its eyes with her left forearm and grabbed its rifle with her other hand. Kat jerked the AK-47, aiming the weapon at the Pretty Boy as it rushed after her, and several shots hit the Pretty Boy's chest as Kat wrestled with the T-3. The Pretty Boy charged till Kat managed to aim the rifle at its forehead, and then it fell like a tree cut down by a chainsaw. The T-3 grabbed her vest and hurled her from its back. She rolled with the throw and ran for cover behind a large bronze statue of a man wearing a toga and holding a lightning bolt.

  "You want to play too, poppet?" The T-3 cackled as it madly sprayed bullets in the air, and its dot-light burned as if on fire. "My pretty poppet!"

  Kat scanned the area as bullets grazed the bronze Zeus with ringing pings, wondering where Kim went. Kat considered she may have gone after her gun, so she had to go back. When the T-3 paused to put in another magazine, Kat rushed through the trees and bushes and made her way back to where the Team Leader stood, knowing the malfunctioning T-3 would be close behind. She halted and stayed out of sight.

  The Team Leader didn't see Kat and called out over its I-Link, "T-3, report in. What is your status?" It scanned the area, knowing that the Pretty Boy had been incapacitated, so it headed into the trees, searching for its brethren. "T-3 report. Why have you disabled your tracking beacon? Switch it back on."

  In a different area from Kat...

  After the Team Leader left, Kim snuck out of hiding, ran for her PPK, and grabbed it. All she had to do now was get the Hades out of there! She would let the Un-Men kill that woman.

  The Team Leader emerged with the T-3, and the Team Leader shouted, "Halt, civilian. Drop your weapon and you will not be hurt."

  "Hades! Not again," Kim muttered, ducking behind the maple.

  Kat found Kim, but not before the Un-Men had. She needed a plan if she wanted to get both of them out of there alive. Kat watched from the bushes and remembered the wall around the Nexus Apartments. The black spheres on the walls had to bar bio-mechas from entering, and Kim's home also had the Sphinx Corporation Emblem on it, and the Factory and the Council were departments within the Sphinx Corporation. Kim may be an assassin, but she was also important to someone in power and that must be why she lived in an apartment protected by a barrier. Kat made her way around the bushes as her Ult L-E dissipated, praying Kim's safety was more important than her capture, and she stepped from her hiding place, taking a big chance.

  She ordered the Un-Men, "Abort your mission. You've made a tactical error."

  The Team Leader studied her tired expression as it trained its AK-47 on her. "What do you mean?"

  "Do you know who's standing over there?" She pointed to Kim.

  The Team Leader glanced at her. "No."

  Keeping behind the maple, Kim watched that woman. Surely she wasn't going to tell the robots that she was the Phoenix.

  Kat glanced at the T-3 who grinned from ear to ear, and its smirk reminded her of the Rogue's. Something was wrong with that Un-Man. She turned her attention back to the Team Leader and told it, "You have Facial Recognition Software, I suggest you use it."

  The Team Leader scanned Kim's face, and an alarm went off in its processor. "Kimberly Griffin, resident of the Nexus Apartments." It relayed the information to the Factory, its dot-light stopped blinking after the Team Leader received new orders, and it continued, "She is the daughter of Mr. Griffin, the Chairman of the Sphinx Corporation."

  She knew Kim would be someone important, but not someone so close to the top. Kat took a step back, wondering if she had made a mistake. It could be another test, and that would mean Kim lied to her and she actually knew her. Kat noticed her bruised cheek. It was so hard to tell. Kim's battle with the Un-Men seemed so real.

  The Team Leader lifted its rifle. "Hunt terminated. Standing by for pickup." It ordered, "T-3 shut down. Hunt terminated."

  T-3 insisted, "Must not let poppets go."

  "Shut down," the Team Leader commanded, leveling its AK-47 on its brethren. "Hunt terminated. Comply."

  The T-3 screamed, "Must play with pretty poppets!!"

  "Are you malfunctioning?" The Team Leader stepped toward its brethren.

  "Poppets! Poppets! Nice little poppets!" The T-3 headed for Kim as its dot-light radiated abnormally like a red flame. "Kill the poppets!"

  Kat shouted to the Team Leader, "Quick! Disable the T-3 before it goes rogue!"

  "Hades!" Kim uttered as she stepped from
the maple, lifted her gun, and aimed for the rampaging T-3 that headed her way.

  Without a second thought, the Team Leader shot four times, taking down the other Un-Man.

  The T-3 fell back and blankly stared at the Team Leader. Power drained from its body, and its voice slowed as it questioned, "Why?" Its dot-light dimmed. "Why did you shoot me? We... are... bre-th-ren."

  Its dot-light went dark.

  "T-3 terminated. I am shutting down," the Team Leader relayed to the Factory.

  Kat ran to it and took her Beretta from its waistband and its AK-47. She searched it for anymore weapons and ammo.

  With the immediate threat gone, Kim lowered her gun and walked to that woman. Kim held the gun down at her side and said, "And here we are alone at last."

  Kat didn't hide the fact that she was mad with Kim for coming out there and told her, "You should go back to your apartment before the retrieval team arrives." She moved to the T-3 and took its spare magazine. She glanced at Kim's bruised cheek and wrist, and her face softened. "Did the Un-Man hurt you?"

  Kim questioned, "What do you care?"

  "Yeah, what do I care?" Kat whispered, walked back to the bench, and grabbed her backpack. Kim followed her, and after placing the magazines in the backpack, Kat slung the rifle over her shoulder and mumbled, "Room for a few more things but nothing heavy. Got to travel light."

  "Hades!" Kim looked around the park at the metal carnage. "What are you? And why were your eyes glowing? Are you a freak?"

  Kim's words cut at her already wounded self worth as she started to answer, "I..."

  "I suppose you're going to say you don't know," Kim interrupted. "Is that all you have to say? Idiot! You disgust me. You're so helpless and worthless. I've never met someone with such a messed up life!"

  Kat's hurt expression turned to one of anger as she yelled, "What do you care? And why did you come out here?"

  "I..." Kim thought about it. She didn't even know. "I go where I please."

  Still angry, Kat snapped, "Have you changed your mind?"

  "About what?" She raised her PPK. "About killing you?"

  "No." Kat stared at the gun then into her face. "About helping me?"