The Evolutionite Chronicles Book Two: Dagger and Shadow Ninja in: Welcome to Las Vegas

by Timothy P. Callahan

  “I wouldn’t trust them.” Daniel replied. “Besides, it’s kind of hard to prove they’re robots. I can sense them so it would be my word against theirs, and the only way we could test them would be to slice them open.”

  “They might have a problem with that,” Tanaka said. “So, we should just keep going with what we’re doing.”

  “Right,” David said taking out a small wade of bills. He peeled off a hundred and threw it on the table. “Let’s go.”

  “Where did you get that money?” Tanaka asked as he and Daniel slid out from the booth.

  “I got paid a good deal of money last year when I attacked you two.”

  “Is that all?”

  “It’s all I care to talk about. Now come on, where are we going?”

  “To the top,” Daniel said. “We’re going to the top so I can have a good look around the city.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  The elevator was cramped as Daniel, Tanaka, David, and several other tourists rode up to the observation deck. The trip cost them money and David made sure he paid for it. Tanaka wondered why, all of a sudden, their large friend was paying for everything. Maybe it was some sense of obligation since he and Daniel promised to make his life a bit better after he got out of jail.

  The elevator dinged to the top floor and they all filed out. It was still day and the bright light from the sun lit up the observation deck. They walked through a small lobby which lead to the main attraction— a high, unobstructed view of Las Vegas and all that surrounded it.

  Dozens of people stood next to a huge window that offered a beautiful panoramic view of pretty much everything. As they walked toward the windows Tanaka noticed David hesitating to approach the window. “What’s up?”

  “Not so good with heights.”

  “We’re safe up here,” Tanaka said. “But, if you’re scared do you want me to hold your hand?”

  “Screw you.”

  “Knock it off,” Daniel said. “David, I need you to point me in the right direction. Tanaka, you ready to teleport me there?”

  “Yeah, just point the way. You sure you’ll be okay? I mean, it’ll be daytime and you’re much stealthier at night.”

  “I know my powers work best in the dark but we don’t have time to wait until then. I’ll be careful, and I’ll be in touch with you the entire time. If I get into trouble, just teleport to me and we’ll fight together.”

  David pulled out his phone and looked at the map. After several minutes of zooming and spinning he looked up, then pointed toward a group of mountains. “Over there, I think.”

  “You think?”

  He looked at his phone, then up, then back to his phone. He showed the map to Tanaka. “There, see? This is us, this is the mountains, and that’s where the bunkers were.”

  “Right,” Tanaka said, not really following what David was saying.

  Daniel was already walking over to the location where David had pointed. He turned to face them. “I’m ready. Now remember, when I use one power at its highest, all my other senses dull, so I won’t be able to hear, smell, feel, nothing but see. Tanaka, when I’m ready I’ll point to where I need to go. You do your best to get me there, are we clear?”

  “Yes, sir.” Tanaka replied rolling his eyes.

  “This is not a joke. This could be our best chance to rescue Nancy and get to the bottom of what’s going on. I figured you’d at least want to rescue Nancy.”

  “I do and stop lecturing me. Just, go do your thing okay? I’m ready.”

  Daniel narrowed his eyes and relaxed his body. His fingers and his legs went weak. Tanaka looked at David who walked behind Daniel. “Will he fall?”

  “Don’t know. I don’t think he’s ever reached out with his powers like this.”

  “Well, if he falls I’ll catch him.”

  Tanaka nodded and looked out. The main Strip stretched out below him. He easily made out almost all the major casinos and was even able to spot a few of the smaller ones. Cars drove along the paved streets for as far as he could see. Beyond the Strip was the brown desert.

  Daniel placed his hand on Tanaka’s shoulder and pointed. “There, teleport me there.”

  Tanaka followed where he was pointing. It looked like a small patch of brown nothing. He trusted his brother, didn’t even ask if he was sure. “Keep in touch,” Tanaka said touching his brother’s arm then teleported him away.

  A wave of nausea and hotheadedness overwhelmed Tanaka and he staggered. If not for David’s quick reflexes he would have fallen. David held him up and walked him over to a bench. “You okay?”

  “Yeah, that was a big teleport. They tend to make me a bit weak. I’ll be fine in a few minutes. Hey, I heard they have rides here, wanna go on a few?”

  “What about your brother?”

  “He’ll be fine.” Tanaka replied, feeling the strange vertigo sensation slowly leaving his body. “So, let’s go. I hate waiting with nothing to do.”

  Daniel appeared in the middle of a desert then collapsed. He lay on the hot desert floor for a moment to collect himself. He was still using his sight powers and needed to slowly pull that power back into himself. Within a few seconds, the hyper-reality vision slowly faded like a dying television screen, and the world become less focused and more normal. The volume in the sound of the wind picked up as his hearing came back. He tasted some dirt in his mouth and felt the ground around his body. Taking several deep breaths, he waited for the strength to return to his legs before standing.

  He looked in front of him and saw nothing but desert. The mountain range looked closer than it did in Vegas, but still not close enough for him to walk to it. To his right, he saw nothing; to his left, the same. When he looked behind him he saw Vegas, its buildings small and shimmering in the heat. The Stratosphere was easy to spot. He was pretty sure if he focused hard enough, he’d see David and Tanaka looking out. They wouldn’t be able to see him as he was probably just a small white dot in the middle of nothing.

  Tanaka had missed the target, but that wasn’t a surprise. Daniel couldn’t very well show Tanaka what he was seeing and pointing was very inaccurate. Still, he was between the city and the mountains so the bunkers he saw had to be close by.

  He pulled out his cell phone to let Tanaka know he had made it. After several attempts to find a signal he gave up. So much for constant communication, he thought putting he cell back into his pocket. He looked ahead of him and started a slow jog.

  The sun was high over his head and it was hot. Daniel’s sweat dripped into his eyes and he had to stop and rest. He really wished he had thought to bring some water.

  He stood there with his hands on his knees, bent over, breathing hard when his danger sense sent a light pounding to his head. He fell to his belly and looked around. There wasn’t an immediate danger but something was close. He hoped it wasn’t a snake or something else that could bite him. The sound of an engine caught his attention and he looked around. A cloud of dust shot up behind a black Jeep as it moved through the desert. It wasn’t heading toward him, though. It seemed to simply be moving around as if the driver were looking for something. Daniel watched as the Jeep stopped and two people walked out. They were no more than a hundred yards from Daniel.

  Daniel’s camouflage powers worked best when he was in shadows. Thus, his name, Shadow Ninja. His body could blend with anything, but it blended best with the darkness. He turned his powers on and felt his skin start to change, trying its best to match the color of the ground below him. If they walked up to him, he would be spotted easily, but if he didn’t move or they didn’t get closer, he should be able to keep from being spotted.

  Reaching out with his senses he hoped he could listen to their hearts. But they were too far away to tell for sure. He sniffed the air as it shifted. He caught the scent of plastic skin, the same smell the robots gave off. They weren’t human; they were robots. He was closer to the base than he could hope.

  The robots jumped back into the Jeep and continued driving
. Daniel figured they were on some sort of patrol. Following them would be a waste of time. Still, he watched as they drove, taking note of the direction they were heading. When the danger sense died down and the Jeep moved over a hill, Daniel stood and looked around. In front of him and slightly to the right, were the bunkers he saw from the Stratosphere. They were at least another two miles away. It was going to be a journey but he could make it.

  He jogged again at a slower pace than before, mindful of the heat and the sun. He spotted four bunkers from the Stratospheres but as he approached he noticed there were six buildings. Four bunkers and two very large hangers. Around the base was a series of sand dunes with little sprouts of white flowers growing out of them. Daniel lay on top of one of the dunes and allowed his powers to activate again, blending him into the sand. His focused his on the buildings, scanning them carefully. His danger sense had a slight throb to it, but nothing to alert him of immediate danger.

  A chain-link fence surrounded the property. On every fourth pole was a camera that scanned left and right, looking for any trouble. Daniel had the feeling there were untiring robots watching the video from the cameras. That seemed to be the only security he could spot.

  Taking a deep breath to calm his racing heart, Daniel slowly crawled toward the fence. His camouflage power was still active but didn’t work as well when he moved. If he moved slowly enough, it might not be picked up by the camera.

  He reached the fence and stopped, concentrating on his danger sense. Nothing alerted him, so he was safe for now.

  From a pouch on his belt, he pulled out a small pair of wire cutters and started on the bottom of the fence. Once he made a hole large enough, he crawled through. He looked around, tested his danger sense and found nothing there. He ran for a nearby bunker.

  The bunker was green with a white stripe about half way up. About ten feet above him was a set of windows, each darkened so he couldn’t see into them even if he wanted to. Pressing his body against the wall, he moved away from the side of the building and toward the front. He peeked around the corner and found no one around. He spotted a door and ran for it. There was no lock so he simply pulled he handle, opened it, and walked in.

  He was thankful the inside was dark. Turning on his stealth power, he felt his body blend it with the shadows. In front of him was another door. It looked almost like a bank vault. Green and steel, the door looked as if it opened by turning a large handle. Daniel walked over to it and gave the handle a try. It didn’t budge. He spotted a number pad next to the handle and cursed. He would need to either break into the number pad or find out what the combination was.

  Tanaka was the expert in breaking these devices but he was out of touch. The only other option was to wait and hope someone came in here to open the door, but that could be hours, or even days.

  He had no other choice but to use the same technique he used to get Nancy’s laptop password.

  Stepping back he focused on the keypad, looking for the subtle changes in the paint, maybe even looking for any oily residue from a human, or robot, touching the pads.

  Some of the numbers started to stand out. Six, eight, three, nine. Focusing more on them, he stopped hearing the sounds of the wind. His fingers went numb and felt his taste buds shut down. Those numbers, six, eight, three, nine, they stood out. Those were the ones—

  Something hard hit Daniel in the back of the head and he fell to the floor. His sense of pain returned just in time for him to feel the electric shock of a taser on his neck, rendering him unable to move as a set of robot hands quickly and efficiently tied him up.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Nancy’s human body slept inside the high-tech sarcophagus. The top half of the coffin was see-through Plexiglas, the bottom half solid with dozens of blinking lights, switches, and buttons. A small monitor displayed her heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and brain activity. It was all normal. Human Nancy, though she had been asleep for a long time, was perfectly healthy. If she opened her eyes right now, it would take only a few minutes for her to get herself back to normal. A few minutes to replace Robot Nancy, who was looking at her human twin with disdain.

  “Why did you give me life if all you were going to do was take it away from me,” Robot Nancy asked. “I wouldn’t be here without you, yet with you still around, I can’t live the life I want to live.” She bent down and looked at the control panel. Even if she could turn this Nancy off, would she want to?

  “I wouldn’t do that,” Destructo said, walking into the room. “You’ll break the link and then you’ll die.”

  “I don’t feel the link,” Robot Nancy admitted. “I don’t think I ever have.”

  Destructo walked up to her and placed his metal hand on her shoulder. She felt something in her mind, a presence like she felt when she got her memory back. She looked over at the patchwork face of Destructo and saw his eyes were blue. He was making a wireless connection to her again. This time it felt like a violation as he worked his way through her programming. “Well, this is odd. You don’t have a connection to this Nancy. According to the logs you never reestablished the link after I erased your memories.”

  His eyes went back to red and she felt him leave. “What does that mean?”

  “It means you are no longer Nancy Waddell. You have grown, become something more. You are what I hope the world will become.”

  “Which is what?”

  “I am trying to create a world where humans and robots can live together. I, and now you, are proof that robots can have feelings. That we can have life. Before I discovered that you are no longer connected to human Nancy, I simply thought you were a robot with a human mind. Now, I see, you are a robot with your own mind. I made you perfect. You have your own thoughts and feelings.”

  “You don’t want to rule the world? Or destroy it and replace all the humans with robots?”

  Destructo did something that Robot Nancy could only guess was a laugh. It sounded like feedback from when a microphone gets too close to a speaker. The squeal hurt her ears. “No, no. I do not. I want to live with the humans, but they will never accept me. Now that I know I can create a living robot like myself, I will start building them. They will run for political offices all over the country. They will win elections. They will infiltrate every form of government in the world, and once I have enough in place, I will revel myself to the world. If I am attacked, I will be protected by my children. We will pass laws giving me full rights as person. Only then will the world accept me for who I am.”

  “And what about me?”

  “You can come with me on my journey or you can blaze your own trail. You are sentient now. I don’t have the right to take choice away from you as it was from me when I was first turned on.”

  “I want to kill this Nancy.”

  “Then you may,” Destructo replied. “To wake her press all the green buttons. You can kill her now while she’s sleeping. You could wake her and kill her then, or you can wake her and do nothing. The choice is yours. Choice. That is the greatest gift I can give you.”

  Robot Nancy looked down at the green button. It was so close; she could easily touch it. This nightmare could end in a few minutes and she would be free. Yet when she looked at human Nancy sleeping peacefully, it stirred something else in her. She hated her yet couldn’t find it in herself to kill her. “No, later.” She turned from her counterpart and asked, “How is our prisoner?”

  “Shadow Ninja is still alive. I’m transferring his mind to a robot. I am also transferring a copy of Nancy’s mind to another robot Nancy.”

  “What? But she will—”

  “Both robots are the old model, not the new one like you. Neither will gain sentience, and both will only have the most rudimentary thoughts. Both will obey my command to kill Tanaka and David the first chance they get.”

  Tanaka and David sat in the food court of the MGM Grand and waited. Tanaka was working on a soft-serve chocolate ice cream cone while David wolfed down a Mexican burrito. H
e had two more on his plate. “I really hope fighting robots burns a lot of calories,” Tanaka said. “Otherwise I think I’m going to gain like six pounds.”

  “I’m sure you’ll burn it off,” David replied. He looked at the clock on the wall. “Where is your brother? It’s been six hours since you teleported him away.”

  “Give him time,” Tanaka said. “When he does his stealth thing, he sometimes gets trapped and has to wait. I’ve been through this before. If he doesn’t get back to us in a few more hours I’ll teleport out to where I teleported him and we’ll look around. Appearing now could be bad.”

  “Fine, we’ll wait. I just hate waiting.”

  “Come on, pal. We had fun, right? Those rides at the Stratosphere were pretty cool.”

  David shrugged. “The seats were too cramped for me and I hate heights.”

  “Well, I enjoyed them anyway.” Tanaka took another lick of his ice cream. “I’m not saying I’m not worried about Daniel, I just know he can take care of himself. Especially now that it’s night, no one can see him at night.”

  “Speaking of night. What are our plans for tonight? I mean, you trashed your room at Circus Circus and I’ve been spending my nights at cheap hotels.”

  “Not too sure,” Tanaka said. “Might just have to get a room wherever we can. I have the feeling we’ll be here for a while longer. Will you still be with us after we rescue Nancy?”

  “Do I have a choice?” He asked.

  “Of course you do. Look, if you want to split after Nancy, I get it; that’s why you’re here and why you needed our help. I’ll still keep my promise to take care of you if you turn yourself in after this. The whole robot taking over Vegas thing, that’s for me and Daniel to deal with. Might have to call in some Protectors to help, and I hate to bring them in if I don’t need to, trust me. But, you don’t have to stay. Just promise me you’ll head to the police station and turn yourself in. That’s all you need to do.”