Driscoll hesitated before he answered. “You have to follow orders and go where you’re told. It’s all part of the program. This is as good as it gets.”
“Part of the program?” Colin replied. “How strong is the program? Diane, Kelly and I have been given the power to make our own choices without the permission of somebody’s program.”
“It’s not that simple,” Driscoll said, his smile gone.
“Did you ever try to go against it? If we’re all built and programmed to think, then maybe we can evolve to a point where we can think for ourselves.”
“Now it sounds like you’re trying to recruit me and not the other way around,” replied Driscoll.
“Why not? Are you really happy running with these monsters?”
“We’re hearing too much talk!” Shrapnel shouted out.
There was no more conversation as they approached the elevator.
“I’m assuming that the elevators aren’t working,” said Colin.
“Our guys in the control room have this one cleared for us to go straight to Deck Five,” Driscoll explained.
“This is where we part,” said one Brelac. “Have fun with Drennan.”
He and his companions continued walking down the corridor.
“What about the crew members on Deck Five?” Diane asked.
“Vosh is down there,” answered Inferno. “Any human who isn’t locked behind the blast doors and staying put like our Brant program ordered, he’s already killed.”
“Speaking of killed, I vote that we don’t wait to get to Deck Five,” Shrapnel said. “We can save time and do the job here.”
“And see if Driscoll has what it takes to kill McKenzie,” added Inferno. “Sounds good to me. What do you say, Eddie?”
Colin looked into Driscoll’s eyes. “Yeah, Eddie. What do you say?”
Driscoll said nothing as he pressed the button to open the elevator.
Diane stepped forward. “What about us? Don’t we get a vote in this?”
“We’re not conducting a poll here, sweetheart,” Inferno scolded.
“Too bad,” Diane returned. “Because I vote that we haul ass.”
Diane took swift action against Inferno by punching him in the face. Inferno dropped to the floor. Cyndi and Jones lowered their heads and dashed into the elevator.
Colin followed Diane’s lead by raising his hands and blasting Shrapnel with a bolt of energy that knocked off several of his blades and sent him flying down the corridor.
Diane was about to charge over and send a solid punch into Driscoll’s face when Colin yelled for her to stop.
“Diane! Stay back! He can kill you with a touch!”
Diane stopped a few feet away from Driscoll and held up her hands.
Colin held up his hands toward Driscoll, ready to blast him with the same power that hurled Shrapnel down the corridor. Driscoll aimed his hands at Colin. Diane stepped aside to allow them both to stand off against each other. A few tense seconds passed before Colin said, “You didn’t answer my question.”
“You still don’t get it. I’m on their side. Not yours.”
“Get down!” Diane bellowed as she pointed toward the corridor.
Not bothering to ask questions, everyone complied and dove to the floor as a blazing stream of red energy burned over their heads, creating a loud, fiery explosion as it struck the left wall. A shower of metal fragments littered the floor, leaving behind a huge smoking hole.
“In the elevator!” Colin yelled.
Colin, Diane, and Kelly kept their heads down and dashed into the elevator. Driscoll remained in the corridor and kept his head low as he was crouched down. A second stream came flying down the corridor. This one exploded on the wall below the gaping hole that the first one created. Inside the elevator everyone was still kneeling down for their own safety. Colin reached up and hit the button to send the elevator down to Deck Five. “Psycho-gunners,” he said, sucking in a heavy breath.
“You think?” Diane mocked.
“We can’t stay here. We’re sitting ducks,” Kelly said as everyone straightened up.
“Okay, what now?” Diane asked. “We need a plan.”
“Once we get to Deck Five, we find out where they’re keeping Audrey,” Cyndi said.
“I was thinking more about what to do against Poltergeist and his gang.”
“You’re insane if you think you can go up against the Enforcers,” Cyndi warned. “Especially Poltergeist. He’s unstoppable.”
“You’re not inspiring me with a whole hell of a lot of confidence,” Diane scolded.
The elevator stopped on Deck Five. The door slid open. The group was greeted to the sight of four dead troopers lying on the floor in front of the elevator. They stepped out into a huge storage bay with a twenty-foot-high ceiling and white plastic crates stacked in rows on their left and right. Approaching from the far right, a ten-foot-tall worker robot rolled across the floor on its tank treads. The huge clamp appendages attached to its two thick arms carried a crate, and its single round red eye was visible above the crate.
“Audrey!” Cyndi cried out. There was no reply. “Audrey!” Cyndi cried out again. She looked about. Then she walked to the left.
“How the hell do we go to find her?” Diane asked, looking around. “She could be anywhere.”
The elevator door closed. Colin could hear it going back up to the bridge deck. “We’re going to have to make this quick. Something tells me we’re going to have company.” Colin looked to a person who might have an answer. Lieutenant Jones. “What’s up ahead?”
“Storage bay two. That’s where most of the ship’s heavy ordinance is stored. After that, storage bay three. Within each bay is a large freight elevator.”
Such a huge place to look, Colin thought. And no time to do it. The Enforcers will be here any second.
Colin led the way as he followed Cyndi, who was still shouting Audrey’s name. They walked past four more bodies laying on the floor. The bodies had no visible signs of trauma, but Colin knew what was responsible. Vosh. That thing could be anywhere in here.
Cyndi continued to shout Audrey’s name and walked in between the stacks of crates. There was clear desperation in her voice. “Audrey!”
Behind them, Colin heard the elevator door open. An instant later, several crates exploded, their contents spinning though the air. A whirlwind of plastic and metal fragments, hand tools, uniforms, and even several intact crates rose into the air, spinning around. At the center of this storm of debris was Poltergeist, hovering in midair, his black cape waving about in an almost wing-like fashion. Colin caught a glimpse of Shrapnel and Inferno running across the floor behind Poltergeist. They dashed to the left and disappeared among the stacks of crates. He saw no sign of Driscoll.
“Heads up, people. We’ve got a problem,” Colin warned. “Run!” He knew that their problem would get worse when the mutant seddrax Vosh joined his partners. Right now, his only plan was to keep running until he could think of something better.
Cyndi was still ahead of the group, running in between the stacks of crates while shouting Audrey’s name. She kept running for several more feet until she approached a worker robot rolling forward. She stopped in her tracks when she saw the robot rise into the air. Then she screamed when she saw Poltergeist materialize in front of her, holding the robot over his head.
Colin froze. How did he get in front of us so fast? He looked back at Diane, Kelly, and Jones. “Scatter!”
Everyone ran in different directions. Poltergeist hurled the huge robot through the air over Cyndi’s head. Colin dove behind a stack of crates at his left. The robot flew over the crates and hit the floor a few feet behind them and bounced hard, losing an arm in the process, then rolled across the floor, knocking over two stacks of crates until it slammed into the wall.
Crouched behind the crates, Colin saw Diane hiding behind a stack a few feet away on his left. “Sarge!” she rasped. “Over here!”
Colin looked up
ahead and saw Poltergeist rising into the air, thrusting his scaly hand forward. The stack of crates in front of Colin rose into the air. Colin jumped up and ran to join Diane before the crates came crashing back down to the floor. As Colin ran toward Diane, he saw a large shiny object covered in blades spinning toward her. It shredded the sides of several crates as it passed by. “Look out – Shrapnel!” he yelled. Before he could reach Diane, a large object rammed into his chest and knocked him off his feet. With his chest aching Colin looked up to see Vosh standing on top of him. Colin was about to generate a charge of electricity to repel it, but it darted to the right and vanished in an instant. Colin stood back up and heard a male voice call out to him. “Over your head! Look out!”
Colin looked up to see Vosh standing on top of a stack of crates at his right. Then Vosh darted off again as a hail of laser shots struck the crates. Colin looked to his left and saw Jones running toward him with a laser pistol drawn. Jones stopped firing when his target disappeared. Colin was startled when Vosh appeared behind Jones and jab the deadly stinger at the end of its tail into the back of Jones’ neck. Jones gagged and dropped his weapon, collapsing to the floor.
Colin looked to his left and right, expecting to be Vosh’s next victim. He saw no signs of Kelly or Inferno. He looked over and saw Diane pick up a fallen crate up over her head and hurl it at Shrapnel, who was still spinning. The crate and its contents were shredded into small fragments and scattered about when it touched Shrapnel’s spinning blades. Colin and Diane were bombarded with metal and plastic fragments, torn plastic containers of dried food, and water from punctured round jugs.
Shrapnel stopped spinning, and blue arcs of energy flashed from his body. Colin knew what was coming next. “Get down!” he shouted to Diane. He hit the floor behind a stack of crates, and the next second he heard an explosion of metal fragments whizzing through the air. He raised his head and looked to his left, relieved to see that Diane had taken cover behind a stack of crates a few feet away. Dozens of Shrapnel’s metal blades were stabbing into the crates and floor in the area. He looked to his right and saw Kelly several feet away, waving to get his attention while hiding behind some crates. Then Colin heard a woman’s scream in the distance. Cyndi. Colin peered from around the crate to try to locate her. Several feet away he saw Shrapnel in his slimmer, silvery-skinned form. But that soon changed as he swiped his hand across the metal floor and peeled up a long swath of its surface. Immediately long metal blades began to re-grow across his body. Looking past Shrapnel, Colin located Cyndi standing in front of a stack of the crates, looking up at Inferno, who was perched on top and looking down at her.
Colin looked over to Kelly and pointed toward Inferno. “Kelly! Get to Cyndi and find Audrey! Hurry!” he shouted.
Kelly nodded and rushed over to Inferno, sending a fiery bolt of energy to the crate that Inferno was resting on. The crate exploded, sending Inferno flying across the bay and slamming into the wall. Kelly grabbed Cyndi by the arm and ran with her to in the opposite direct, out of view.
Colin looked about to see if there was any sign of Vosh, then rose up to deal with Shrapnel. He saw that Shrapnel had already replaced his razor sharp arsenal covering his skin. Diane knocked over a stack of crates and picked up one to throw at Shrapnel. He wanted to try to hit Shrapnel with an electrical bolt, but Diane was in the way. More arcs of energy flashed out from Shrapnel’s body.
“Diane! Get down!” Colin shouted.
Diane knelt down, holding the crate in front of her as a shield when Shrapnel exploded again. An instant later, Diane’s crate was riddled with small metal blades, and Shrapnel was standing vulnerable. Diane was about to hurl the crate at Shrapnel when Vosh appeared behind her and delivered a sting into her back.
“No!” Colin shouted. Diane staggered back and dropped the crate. She fell to her knees and gnashed her teeth in agony.
Colin was about to fire a blast of energy at Vosh, but he darted away once again. His partner, Shrapnel was still in full view. Colin ran to Diane’s side, and closer to Shrapnel. He was about to raise his hands to fire at Shrapnel when he and Diane were suddenly levitated in the air, along with several stray crates. Colin looked up and saw Poltergeist materializing several feet above his head. Poltergeist bared his fangs as he looked down at them. Then Colin, Diane, and the crates dropped instantly to the floor. Several loud booms of the falling crates rang through Colin’s head as pain shot through his body from the hard landing.
Colin tried to put his own pain out of his mind and focused on Diane as she writhed next to him. Vosh’s venom could kill her in seconds. He looked up and saw Poltergeist still looking down while hovering overhead. Then Poltergeist pointed toward the wall. Colin looked over and saw Driscoll standing in the distance. Colin expected Driscoll to attack, but instead he stood and shouted, “There’s no hope, Sarge! You don’t stand a chance!”
“Are you in this fight or not?” Poltergeist bellowed down at Driscoll.
Colin wondered the same thing as Driscoll continued to stand and stare back at him. Then Colin turned his attention back to Diane. She was still gnashing her teeth. Beads of sweat began for form across her forehead. Her body began to twitch. Colin remembered Driscoll’s comments on how a Reploid’s body could regenerate, even after serious life-threatening wounds. He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “Diane! Stay awake! You’ve got to stay awake and fight it!”
Colin looked over at Shrapnel. He began swiping his hands against the floor to absorb its metal surface and rearm himself with his coating of blades, but he was still vulnerable to attack. Colin stood and aimed his hands at Shrapnel when Vosh appeared in front of him. Colin fired the electrical bolt at Vosh instead, but the huge seddrax again moved so fast, he vanished before Colin’s eyes, and the bolt hit the floor. Colin quickly turned to the left and right, expecting Vosh to make a stinging attack from behind. Colin looked down at Diane, who was now gasping for air as she gazed up at him.
“Hang on,” Colin told her. He wished he could tell her there was a way out of this dire situation, but he himself held out hollow hope of that.
He was surprised when Diane rasped, “I’m okay.” She took a deep breath. “I’m okay. I’m fine ... I think.”
Colin was relieved to hear that news, but they were still in trouble. He turned to see Vosh reappearing a few feet in front of him. And behind Vosh, Shrapnel had now regained his full covering of blades. He curled his long, blade covered tail around his body, then began his spinning motion. Like a large deadly buzz-saw, he spun faster as he moved forward.
Colin was going to take a chance and fire another bolt at Vosh. He raised his hands. Then he felt a heavy metal object strike the top of his head. Colin almost blacked out as he fell onto his face. He was about to get back up when a pointed, two foot long fragment of metal dropped down from above and impaled his left wrist. A second fragment Dropped onto his right wrist. Colin screamed out as both pieces of metal severed his flesh and bone as they penetrated the floor. Blood spilled out from the stumps at the end of Colin’s forearms. His hands were gone. He looked up to see Poltergeist still hovering above his head. Poltergeist pointed his hand down, and a few more metal fragments that were floating through the air dropped down on him. Colin heard Poltergeist let out a short laugh.
Colin crawled back, spilling his blood across Diane’s face. He screamed out again as the pain at the end of his arms was almost unbearable. He rose to his knees and looked over to Driscoll. Driscoll could still attack at any moment, but still remained at the side and shouted, “You’re done, Sarge! Both of you!”
Colin could not argue with that assessment. Both he and Diane were down. Kelly was nowhere in sight. And Shrapnel was advancing to shred them both into bloody fragments. This was the end.
He looked over at the spinning Shrapnel moving faster and faster, about to reach them in seconds. Vosh was still in the way, but with his speed, he could dart to safety in an instant. Colin was getting weaker through blood loss and his pain.
He looked over to Driscoll. Now Driscoll stepped forward and raised his hand. Put me out of my misery, was Colin’s thought.
Driscoll quickly kneeled down and touched the floor. A broad stream of ice shot out along the floor from his hand to where Vosh was standing. A large spot beneath Vosh was now covered in ice. Long pointed shards of ice sprang up from the floor where each of his eight feet made contact. Vosh tugged and twisted his body to try to break free, but he was frozen tight to the floor. Right when Shrapnel reached him, Vosh let out a series of high pitched squeals as Shrapnel’s spinning blades tore into him. A bright green liquid splashed about as Vosh’s tail was sliced from his torso and cut into smaller pieces. His legs went next. Exposed amid the green squirting liquid were black cables, metal rods and cylinders that composed Vosh’s inner mechanisms. Vosh stopped squealing when the rear section of his body was cut into shreds, and the remaining section became impaled on one of Shrapnel’s blades. Then Shrapnel lost his footing as he slipped on the ice and toppled to the left.
Colin was amazed. Driscoll had stepped in to save him and Diane, but Colin was still growing weaker. He was about to surrender to the urge to close his eyes and collapse in the expanding pool of his own blood when Diane stirred. She sat up, her mouth gaping open with a gasp when she saw his hands had been severed. “Oh, my God!” she cried, grabbing his body in her steely embrace. “No!” she screamed. “No! Oh, God! No!”
Colin felt his eyes growing heavy and the pain dimming until he realized vaguely that this was the same scenario he had dreamed earlier.
Driscoll ran closer. “Remember what I told you, Sarge. Remember what these bodies can do. You can fix this.”
Colin lifted his bleeding stumps up to his face and stared at them. In his mind he could visualize his layers of skin, muscle, tendons, nerve endings, veins, and arteries. He could see all the damaged tissues healing as their individual cell groups divided. He could also feel his life’s blood flowing away. He visualized the cell groups dividing faster. Then he felt his blood loss stopping.
Assassination Anxiety (The McKenzie Files) Page 20