Lake Tanna - Ballad of Ruby

by Neil Leckman

At that moment the door, glass and my gun, seemed to be very inferior to the task at hand. It rapidly ran over and struck the glass with one of its stingers, which penetrated the shatterproof glass. The tip of the stinger fell off on the floor and reformed into another Ruby. I fired the gun at it and it dissolved, it emitted a tone warning me that the battery was low, and was good for maybe one more shot. The green light on top of the battery case was blinking yellow, not a good thing.

  Lifting up the gun, I fired at the thing through the door. The gun only gave a minimal vibration and stopped the light on top turning red.

  “Damn, it needs to be charged again!!” I said as I frantically looked around for an outlet.

  Outside the creature blurred as the weakened pulse hit it, and the surface flowed as it fell to the ground, partially destroyed.

  “What voltage is the battery?” Douglas asked.

  “Twelve volts, why?”

  He nodded towards the door, “Got any jumper cables in that car?”

  “Huh?” then it hit me, “Yeah, I’m pretty sure there’s a set in the trunk.”

  “I suggest we make a run for the car and use them, it would take too long to recharge.”

  I grabbed the door and threw it open. In front of me, the creature was twitching as the portions that I had killed sloughed away from the part that was still functional. We both ran around it as it convulsed there. The trunk was still open from when we took the gun out, so I ran over and lifted the cover to the tool compartment, and there, gleaming in the setting sun, were jumper cables. Douglas grabbed them and tossed them to me.

  “I’ll pop the hood for you and you hook them up.”

  I ran to the front of the car glancing back towards the building where that thing was still struggling to separate itself from the dead part. I set the battery on the ground while I unplugged the gun and looked at the wires that went to it. No time to strip them so I clamped the cable and twisted each one hard until the teeth went through the wire’s insulation. I heard the hood latch pop and turned to open it, as I did I realize that the monster behind me noticed it as well. It thrashed on the ground with renewed fury. Popping the hood open I set the support to keep it that way as I grabbed the jumper cables and snapped them on the car’s battery terminals. Behind me whatever was coming was making a lot of noise, turning I fired without looking. Then I saw it, much smaller than before, like a hydra with multiple snakeheads hissing as it crawled rapidly forward on three short legs. It blurred as the pulse hit it and dissolved into a puddle of steaming genetic material, with swirls of silver running through it.

  At that moment, a civilian helicopter flew over the top of the building and hovered directly overhead. Slowly it settled down in the street and after the rotors, stopped spinning a very unusual man stepped out, or maybe stepped isn’t an accurate description. The man was hooked into some type of mechanical apparatus that seemed to be designed to help handicapped people to walk around, very advanced technology. Then it dawned on me, I knew this man, his face had appeared on People magazine and a host of others in recent months, the world’s richest man Wallace Hart!!

  He walked over to Douglas, “Dr. Douglas sorry I haven’t taken the opportunity to come and meet you sooner, Wallace Hart,” reaching out he shook his hand. He turned towards me, “I’ve wanted to meet you since I hired you.”

  “I’m sorry I was hired by a man named Timothy, he never mentioned you Mr. Hart”

  “Oh yes, Timothy,” reaching into his pocket he pulled out a cell phone which he set on the ground, “Timothy, would you present yourself please?”

  Inside the phone were advanced pico projectors that allowed his hologram to appear, shimmering in the air in front of me. He turned and looked at me, “Ah yes, Randle Strickling, the man who created the microwave pulse gun. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

  “I’m not sure, after what has just happened here, that I will be a good fit with your company. In fact I don’t want to have anything to do with you,” I pointed at the morass that was the remains of the thing that had just tried to kill me, “Not if that is the kinds of things your company is working on.”

  Timothy shrunk down and vanished.

  “Mr. Strickling, my apologies for recent events. I owe you a debt of gratitude for destroying that thing and saving Dr. Douglas. You will be amply compensated for doing so; he’s a very valuable employee. Behind me, I heard a quiet buzzing and the other Ruby came around the corner of the building, and was promptly attacked by the first gen Ruby. They hovered in circles and then they both flew to attack. Each movement was mirrored exactly as they tumbled to the ground locked in combat, rolling towards the bushes. Since the new Ruby was smaller than the first gen Ruby, it was only a matter of time before she won, and the other flopped on its side motionless.

  In the bushes, the scorpion hand watched, and in silence snuck away, small wings forming as it did.

  Timothy reappeared, “Major we have a situation!! There is a problem at the Lake Tanna research facility. We’re going to need Dr. Douglas and Mr. Strickling to help us, it involves the Ruby project,” he faded away again.

  “Major?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure why he calls me that and I haven’t been able to make him accept the fact that I’m not military. Tim is an acronym for Technical Interface Method; it allows me to stay in touch with all of my businesses through a central mainframe.”

  Ruby flew over and hovered in front of him.

  “Ah Ruby, I’ve wanted to meet you for some time. We have always known of her existence, Dr. Douglas, in fact that was a motivating factor in hiring you. I also know about what happened to you years ago,” Tapping his metal legs, “Seems we both are not quite human,” turning to me he asked, “Will you help us?”

  “If I do it’s gonna cost you.”

  Hart just laughed, “I think I can afford you. Dr. Douglas, what about you?”

  “Well sir, I’m already on the payroll.”

  Picking up his phone Hart headed back towards the helicopter, then turned when we didn’t move, “Well c’mon, we’re going to have to get there quickly!!”

  That was how we all came together, and it was the beginning of the Lake Tanna files. Our problems had just begun…

  The End of the beginning!!