After a brief glimpse at the body on the gurney, Charles had left the room and entered another down the hall. Amelia had almost passed out when the realization dawned on her of who the body belonged to, and she was thankful to leave that room. She steadied herself, as she placed her hand against the hallway wall, and slowly followed him into the next room. Here, she also had to place her hand against the wall to steady herself, and then she noticed the hulking scarred Guardian that lay on the floor. It might have been the acrid stench in the room that kept her conscious. She didn’t know, but she was thankful that she did not fall to the floor next to the huge metallic thing. Charles completely ignored her, and focused his attention on the Guardian on the floor. He did not even notice when another looming Guardian walked by out in the hallway, as it pushed the blood stained gurney from the other room. She however, did jumped when an arm fell loose from the bed, and swung down as the Guardian passed the open doorway. Charles continued to examine the Guardian, and opened an access panel on its chest. He repeatedly typed commands on his comm unit, until suddenly, a light flickered on within the access hatch.
“There we go.” He rose up and stepped over beside her. “Let’s see what we have.” He said, and showed her the display panel of his comm unit as a video began to play. She was able to see the image quite clearly on the small screen, and watched in amazement as the image showed, evidently from the Guardian’s viewpoint, the young woman as she was strapped down. The machine over the bed had began to move, and then things became a blur as images shifted and then swept by. She could no longer tell what she saw, but Charles seemed to understand. At the end, his mouth gaped open.
“How in the hell…” He had began, but stopped and replayed the video again. “Here.” He said, as he pointed to the device. “I’ve slowed this down. Tell me what you see.” She watched as the video played, slow enough now that she could clearly see the young man’s face, pursed in the perfect poise of hatred and anger. The Guardian’s arm shot into the image, through the med-bots manipulator arms. The control stick was extended, and headed straight for the young man’s torso. Then suddenly, as if there were frames of the video missing, he had moved. The Guardian’s arm slammed into the med-bots manipulators, and as she watched, Amelia saw the young man reach out and grab the end of the control stick. The image instantly went black.
“He grabbed it.” She said in disbelief.
“Exactly.” Charles said. He pocketed the comm unit. “So the question is, if he grabbed it, where is he.”
“Maybe he recovered before any of the other units arrived?” She asked.
“Not a chance.” He said, as he shook his head. “There was no time based on the data. How could he have not been controlled?” He asked, and looked closely at the machine for some solution. “It doesn’t matter, really.” He said, as he eyed the char marks where it had been struck repeatedly by the Guardian’s control stick.
“Sir?” she asked.
“It doesn’t change anything. We still have to find them and eradicate them. Check with Guardian control and see if they have any updates.” He said and turned away from her. She pulled her comm unit from her tunic and tapped in a few commands.
“Sir!” She said excitedly.
“What?” He said as he turned to her.
“They’ve found something, sir.” She said as he walked closer to her.
“What? He asked.
“Unauthorized personnel, sir.”
“Who?” He asked.
“They don’t know, sir.” She replied.
Where?” He asked impatiently.
“Sector two, sir.” She replied. His expression went from relief, to disbelief, and then to anger.
“Sector two?” He asked, enraged. “Have you lost your mind, woman?” He yelled. “That’s where the hell we came from!” He yelled, and stormed out of the room into the hallway. She followed, even as she still stared at her screen.
“The Guardian’s dispatched there reported a human male in the transport station sir, but they could not identify if it was the specimen or not, sir.” She yelled ahead to him as she followed.
“Have they captured it?” He asked, as the anger fumed across his face.
“No, sir. He got away, and disabled the exit door, sir.”
“Disabled?” He asked in disbelief. “Disabled?” He asked again. “It has to be them!” He said as he turned and walked briskly down the hallway. She ran to follow. “It has to be them!” He stopped suddenly and turned around to her. “There has never been a door disabled in all of New Sebastian history, do you hear me?” He said, as he shook his finger at her. “Never!” he yelled. “And today, we’ve got doors disabled everywhere? You have got to be kidding me!” He turned and broke into a trot and ran down the hallway. He pulled his comm unit from his tunic, keyed a button, and brought it to his mouth.
“Premier.” He said, breathless as he ran down the steps into the warehouse, and took them two at a time.
“Yes, Charles.” Roger said calmly. “Is it done?” He asked
“Not exactly, sir.” Charles said reluctantly, as he bound down the steps into the warehouse. Amelia was close at his rear.
“What do you mean, not exactly?” Roger asked, as impatience bled into his voice.
“We believe they just left sector two, sir.”
“What?” Yelled Roger. “Sector two? That means…that means they are here. Here in New Sebastian?” He said, as anger shifted to concern. “I must have misunderstood you, Charles.” He said, as his voice rose in pitch slightly. “Am I to understand you? That the specimens are now here? Here in New Sebastian?” Roger asked, as he held his comm unit in front of him, and looked at it in utter disbelief.
“Yes, sir. That is what I said.” Charles’ voice responded from the device. Moments of silence passed as Roger tried to digest the information as he sat at his ornate desk in his massive office. He ignored the intricate glamorous artworks that littered the space. His anger fumed at the ridiculous ineptitude of his Chancellor. His heart raced with the ramifications of what would occur if the specimens made contact with the citizenry.
“Activate the Guardian defensive squad.” Roger said decidedly.
“We already have Guardians in sector two sir. There are six there now, and I’ll have another six there in a few minutes.” Charles responded.
“Charles?” Roger asked, as he shook his head.
“Sir?” Charles responded through the comm unit.
“Did I ask if you had any Guardians here?” After a moments hesitation, Charles’s breathless voice responded.
“No, sir.” He said.
“That!” Yelled Roger. “Is! Because! I don’t care!” He said defiantly. “Now where was I…oh…yes. Charles? Are you there?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Can you hear me quite plain, Charles?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Activate the squad!” The Premier yelled, and slammed his comm unit onto his desk, and he knocked over the lamp in the process. It crashed to the floor, blinked out, and left him in the darkness in the vast room. He sat there silently in the dark for a moment. “Idiot.” He said under his breath.
Chapter 30
Immortal Page 29