Abs retrieves her knife and then helps Bill up from the floor. “We are all getting out of here, but first we need to fix the elevator. On the way down here, I found a makeshift ladder, so we need to remove it. Volunteers?”
Bill is the first to step forward. “I’ll help. It would be good to get out of here for a change.”
Turning back to the room, Abs asks, “Any others?”
“Yeah, I’ll come,” Jimmy replies as he gets up from the floor, the flow of blood now stopped.
“Okay then, but I don’t want any crap from you. Understood?” The big guy, now looking more embarrassed than angry, nods his agreement.
Facing the wall, Abs asks for a route to security via the main elevator. Moments later a corridor opens up as the lights illuminate into the distance.
“Keep your eyes peeled, guys. The power might be up, but there could always be some freakers lurking about,” Abs says and then heads down the corridor, Bill and Jimmy following at a discreet distance.
The corridor twists and turns as the system chooses the best path around the other rooms back toward the center of the facility, finally ending at an empty elevator shaft. Walking into the shaft, Abs looks up into the darkness. This is where she climbed down a few hours earlier.
“It looks clear, but we should still be careful. The professor said he’s removed the walls, but I know there’s a ladder blocking the shaft above.”
Jimmy is the first to answer as he and Bill enter the elevator shaft. “Not a problem. We should be able to get it done, won’t we, Billy boy?”
Jimmy turns Bill around and then boosts him up through the darkened ceiling. Moments later Bill shouts out, “I can see it. Some kind of ladder has been fixed to the shaft. A little higher and forward a bit, Jimmy, and I should—”
Bill stops suddenly as he seems to stagger backward while still being held firm by Jimmy. Then Bill drops down to his side as both his arms and legs begin to spasm. This is followed by a shower of blood that rains down onto the floor below, and then a thud as Bill’s head lands next to Abs, who has already moved to the side and adopted a crouching posture.
Jimmy, taking a moment or two longer to realize what has happened, cusses and dumps Bill’s body down next to Abs and backs into the corridor. “I’m going to mess you up!” The rest of what Jimmy the Fist says is indistinguishable as he backs down the corridor.
Then, with almost no sound at all, the leader of the freakers drops down into the shaft next to Abs, a broad grin over his face as he peers down the corridor toward Jimmy. He holds a wicked-looking, blood-covered machete in his left hand.
“Oh, such a big sack of meat and bones to play with. I have been looking forward to feasting on you.”
The freaker moves into the corridor as Abs stands and quietly follows, readying her knife. She starts to move, but a call from Jimmy stops her in her tracks. “He’s mine, girl. He’s mine.”
The leader lets out a maddening giggle and replies, “This is going to be fun!”
The two men are similar in build, but Jimmy is slightly taller. He starts to walk toward the freaker, his face boiling with anger as he closes the gap. The freaker starts to jeer and make ape noises as he moves his left hand back, readying a swing.
Jimmy puts his fists up in a boxing stance and rushes the last few steps to the freaker, who seems to be waiting for this last-second charge and swings high, aiming to take Jimmy’s head off. At the last moment, Jimmy ducks and leans down and through the freaker’s swing, which passes harmlessly over his head. Then with devastating power, he turns his attack into an uppercut that connects with a loud crunching sound, taking the freaker by surprise and breaking his jaw in the process. The effect of this is that the leader of the freakers is taken off his feet and thrown backward down the corridor, landing at Abs’s feet.
Abs, now rather surprised, hesitates for a fraction of a second as Jimmy calls out again, “He’s mine!” She takes a step backward, it taking all her will not to stab down with her knife into the freaker’s forehead.
Jimmy, already rushing after the freaker, his own determination building with his early feeling of superiority, reaches down for a foot to twist and wrench backward, but with great strength himself, the freaker pulls his leg back, bringing his knee to his chest and causing Jimmy to fall forward off balance, forcing him to come crashing down upon the freaker’s other leg. The freaker, wasting no time, pulls himself up using Jimmy’s weight as a counter and plunges the machete deep into Jimmy’s back as Jimmy screams in pain. Jimmy’s powerful arms reach up with all the determination he has left, and he wraps his big, powerful hands around the freaker’s throat and starts to squeeze. The freaker withdraws his blade and stabs it sideways into Jimmy’s waist as his eyes begin to bulge and Jimmy screams out in agony.
Abs look on, horrified, at the scene unfolding. She steps forward, unable to refrain from interfering any longer, and makes an upward thrust with her knife from the nape of the freaker’s neck, penetrating through his skull and out through his forehead. The freaker freezes and slumps down dead as Jimmy grunts out a final “He’s mine, girl” and slumps down as his life blood streams from his body.
I arrive at Frank’s room, where the system has taken me after I asked to be taken to him. I call out, “Hi, Frank. It’s Sam. I need your help with a job.”
Silence, and then the system replies, “Frank was asleep but is responding. He will be with you shortly.”
The doorway opens, and Frank groggily stumbles out. “What’s up, matey?” Frank, as always, looks massive. Even with just one hand—the other side now healed to a clean stump—he looks dangerous.
“Hi, Frank. Sorry for getting you up, but we have managed to get access to level one, only there’s some kind of obstruction. I need your help, buddy.”
Frank’s eyes narrow, and his facial expression hardens. “Not gonna be any damn freakers, are there?”
Understanding his dislike of the freakers due to what has happened to him in the past, I say, “Well, the power’s up, so they should all be away, but I won’t lie to you, I can’t guarantee it. Abs is down there, though, and she might need our help.”
Mentioning Abs seems to bring the big man back from his fear, which is replaced with a big smile, “Hey, why didn’t ya tell me? If the little lady needs our help, count me in.”
I stand there and smile at his reaction. “You know she is some kind of deadly ninja. She could most likely kill us both with her small pinky.”
Frank laughs before replying, “Yeah, but I would die in total bliss.”
Now laughing as well, I reply, “You’re nuts, Frank, but good nuts. Come on, she really might need us.”
We take the lift down to the second level, and I instruct the system to stop the elevator four feet from the floor. “Professor Brookes told me that he’s dropped the walls around the shaft, so we should be able to examine the shaft.”
Frank nods his understanding and follows me out of the lift. Dropping down, I crouch and tentatively lean forward, placing my head through the wall. I’m astonished at the view. I can see the layout of the facility and am amazed how high the real ceilings are. Then I look down and see the shaft drop forty feet to the first floor. I jump slightly as Frank’s head appears next to me. He mumbles under his breath, seeing the view for the first time. I continue to peer down and spot a ladder, this one made from scraps of salvaged components and somehow fixed to the wall with some kind of manmade resin.
Looking farther down, I freeze as I spot the blood and a headless body. “Hey, Frank, stay here and see if you can figure out how to get that ladder from the wall.” Frank nods, and I carefully descend into the shaft.
The makeshift ladder is made from all kinds of recycled parts of the facility with what could be human hair or skin cured and used as rope. The last few feet down the shaft, the facility has its own inset ladder that runs down the inner side of the elevator shaft next to the central core of the station.
Carefully stepping down into l
evel one, I spot the owner of the headless body, a young kid, and then turning my attention to the corridor, I stare into a scene of mayhem. Candles and plastic sheeting line the way, and two large men lie in a pool of blood a few yards from the elevator shaft, with a third learning over the one farthest from me, the first and closest being a freaker. As I take a few steps down the corridor, I realize it’s Abs bending over the second man.
Then as I stare trying to understand what’s happening, the freaker begins to move, his left hand lifting something heavy within its grasp. I shout out a warning as the freaker attacks with terrifying speed.
Abs twists her knife and pulls sharply backward to retrieve her blade. Quickly wiping the mess from her knife, she rushes over to Jimmy and cuts away several lengths of material from his jumpsuit. “You better not die, Jimmy,” Abs says as she tries to tend his wounds, but there’s so much blood already. Rolling up a section of cloth, Abs holds it against his waist and applies a length all the way around, tying it as tightly as she can. Jimmy is now looking pale as his heart rate races and his breathing becomes rapid. Appling more rolled-up cloth to his back to try and slow the bleeding, she leans over him to pull another length of cloth around to tie into place. Then a shout from the direction of the elevator shaft alerts her to sudden movement.
Lightning fast Abs’s attacker lunges with his machete. If it wasn’t for the shout, the machete would have likely hit her in the head, but as she rolls sideways off of Jimmy, the machete makes another deep wound in his body.
“Oh, poor old Jimmy. That’s going to leave a mark,” the freaker says. He chuckles as he lunges again toward Abs.
Abs rolls again, this time to her feet. She goes for her knife and realizes she’s left it next to Jimmy, who’s now bleeding again, which is sort of a good sign, but it won’t be for long. Then she feels the pain and the sensation of blood running down her back. Not fast enough, it would seem.
The freaker grins. “I’m not that easy to kill, you sack of meat, but it looks like you won’t be caring about that soon.” The freaker leaps again, this time with a flurry of slashes and cuts. Abs ducks the first, dodges the next, and blocks another, but he’s ready for that. He slashes her arm as he pulls back and immediately slashes for her midriff and draws more blood. Abs ducks again and dives past, but with another fast slash, the freaker cuts her across both calf muscles. Her dermal chain protects her from serious tendon damage.
Abs, now seeing Sam standing there and realizing he had giving her the warning, shouts at him to run. Sam knows not to be told again, and he turns and heads back to the elevator shaft. Abs, meanwhile, stoops to pick up her knife and follows shortly behind.
The freaker stops and slowly turns. “There is nowhere to run, little piggies. It’s bleeding time at the slaughterhouse.”
Sam reaches the shaft as a cracking noise is heard from above, shortly followed by a warning shout, “Watch out below!” Moments later the bottom end of the forty-foot ladder comes crashing down into the small, circular shaft, barely missing Abs and causing the freaker to bellow with evil laughter.
Abs reaches Sam and shoves him to the ladder, but it’s Sam who pushes Abs to the rungs. “No, you must climb it. Trust me. Now go!” Abs resists momentarily but then begins to climb.
The freaker walks into the shaft directly toward Sam. “Sneaky little piggies.” The leader of the freakers raises his machete to end Sam’s life.
Sam watches Abs move up through the darkness of the ceiling and out of sight. Then he turns his attention back to the freaker. “Hey, wait. Your boss Samael won’t like you killing me. He still needs me.”
The freaker slashes downward but moves the blade at the last moment when he hears Samael’s name. The tip of the machete still slashes a long gash down Sam’s chest. “Now who’s a clever little piggy? Maybe you are right, but mostly he hates Jessica, so you can live for now, but I’m sure he won’t mind you being a little broken.” The freaker then smacks the handle end of the machete into Sam’s face. Sam goes sprawling backward, and the freaker turns back to the ladder and starts to climb.
Sam’s world seems to crash down around him. First there’s the burning pain from his chest and then the flash of stars from the blow to his face. Only the intervention of Sam’s bionanites prevents him from passing out. They’ve been lying dormant up until recently but now active to come to the aid of their host.
Sam looks upward, hearing the freaker call out to Abs, “I see you, little piggy. Now come back down and face me like a good little piggy.” The freaker’s head and shoulders pass through the darkened ceiling as he taunts his prey.
The pain in Sam’s head is now starting to ease, and he calls out, “Professor, I hope you are monitoring us! Turn the elevator walls back on now!”
The freaker, hearing Sam’s call, stops suddenly as his chest disappears through the ceiling. He then turns and leaps.
Sam watches with apprehension, hoping that the professor heard him, but as the leader of the freakers lands surprisingly lightly, Sam realizes he did not. “Naughty little sack of meat.” The freaker takes a step toward Sam as blood begins to trickle down the freaker’s face. The leader of the freakers is now unsteady upon his feet but still deadly.
Abs climbs up the ladder feeling annoyed. Stupid rookie mistake, not checking the body…but she realizes that there is much more going on here than anyone could have possibly guessed. She passes through the ceiling and looks upward, already understanding that there is nowhere to go. Forty feet up, and the ladder ends some ten feet short of the next floor, but she continues to climb, knowing who’s going to be following her.
Then the taunting starts as the freaker appears from below through the floor. More of the piggy shit, which is really starting to piss her off. Abs takes only a few more steps and turns around. Time to end this now one way or another. Then there’s a shout from below as Sam calls out to the professor to turn the elevator walls back on. The freaker’s obviously no fool, and he turns and leaps from the ladder.
The freaker drops back through the floor, leaving just the very top of his skull behind. The professor was too slow and but not altogether too late. “Professor, turn the elevator walls back off now!” Abs steps from the ladder and drops toward the floor, hoping this time he’s faster.
Sam looks up at the freaker as he looms over him, seeing that a slice of the top of his head is missing. Blood continues to pour down the freaker’s face as he lifts up his machete to end Sam’s life. Just then, Abs drops through the ceiling, her own knife in hand and right on target. She plunges her blade into the top of the freaker’s head, driving it hilt deep as she lands with agility and grace. The freaker staggers under the sudden blow and takes another menacing step closer, but that’s it. Almost as if someone has just cut the power, the leader of the freakers crumples to the floor as his grip loosens upon his weapon and it clatters to the floor.
Abs bends down to pick up the machete and ensures that the freaker can never get one on her ever again. After she’s done, she throws the freaker’s head down the corridor past Jimmy the Fist, who has now stopped bleeding.
11
Prototype, Phantom
Federation year 2370
When the original concept was presented to the Inner Worlds Federation Council, Project Phantom was rejected by all twenty-four elected inner-world representatives. The Inner Worlds Council would never permit the go-ahead on a weapon with first-strike capabilities fully controlled and piloted by an artificial intelligence. Having an AI in control and making decisions regarding life-and-death situations should never be condoned or even considered.
It wasn’t until three decades later that Project Phantom was presented to the twenty-four members of the council again. This time there’d been a breakthrough in neural mapping, allowing a human mind to be overlapped onto an AI neural network. The result was called Arden, and the AI effectively became human, with human traits and a human personality. But they did not stop there. They then added a symbiotic relation
ship between the original Arden and the new AI Arden. The result was that a man with a healthy 140 IQ had his IQ boosted by a factor of five once he merged with the AI, but he retained the basics of human social interactions, including common sense. But this benefit went both ways, as the AI acted and thought like the human counterpart. As an additional precaution, the AI, regardless of how human it behaved, could not act autonomously unless it was ordered to do so by its human pilot, meaning it could not arbitrarily decide to attack anything.
This time the council accepted the research proposal and Project Phantom was sanctioned, with a further proposal of the facility being expanded to accommodate up to twenty-four similar ships.
Federation year 2419
Start of system logs.
Year 0 systems log.
Neural mapping process: 2% complete.
The Phantom’s core AI watched Sam leave. His last command was still being analyzed within the central core of its developing neural network. “Don’t do anything I would not do,” a common phrase in human society, but not one that Phantom had ever been given before, and as such, this command needed to be analyzed fully.
While this was being considered, the hangar where Sam had taken the prototype was missing various vital components for the basic needs of the ship, the first being a lack of any compatible power coupling for recharging. This was important mainly as the ship itself could not generate energy. Second, there was no obvious way to receive supplies or make repairs. In general, the hangar was severely inadequate for this ship’s needs. There would need to be a discussion regarding the ship’s needs upon Sam’s return.
The next item to investigate was the new pilot, Sam McCall. Accessing the encrypted data terminal within the hangar made this task rather simple, and once this information was compared with his last command, it became very clear that Sam was not your typical law-abiding citizen. This meant that the list of things he would do was massively larger than the list of things he would not do.
Prototype: The Lost and Forgotten Series Page 18