by Gary Naiman
The eye wavered. “Their scientists selected you, 0021.”
Lucinda squeezed the metal hand while glancing at the two arms dangling from the opening. “Get it out, robot. I sense lots of Guardians converging on this place.”
The Meta raised its head, its pale eye gazing at her. “The final truth, 0021. Your nation-state took you from your natural human mother seven years before the Consortium rose to power. They were desperate, 0021. They gritted their teeth and ripped you from your mother’s breast.”
Lucinda collapsed against the railing.
“I am sorry, 0021. Their minions wrested you from your mother’s breast to sup the nipple of a nonhuman.”
Lucinda shook her fist at the dying creature. “What are you? What kind of hell are you?”
The Meta’s eye faded. “And while you supped my mother’s teat, I waited for her nipple to tickle my lips.”
Lucinda couldn’t speak. The Meta’s four hands had grasped her.
“So here we are, 0021. It is only you and me ... and my final words to my sister.”
The Meta’s hands faltered.
“Goodbye my sister. The Guardians will seize you. the Leader will curse you. But fear not my beloved sister for you are the Trident’s finest prong. You are the future, my sister. YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE.”
Gog’s eye blackened and its four metallic arms dropped away.
“Robot!”
There was no response.
“God.” Lucinda stared at the dead Meta and felt a tear trickle down her cheek.
CHAPTER 34
Shock
The inhuman voice startled her.
“We have a Code Five anomaly, Great One.”
The Leader pushed away from her lover and sat up on the Victorian bed, her eyes peering at the throbbing red globe on the pedestal across the room.
“Great One?”
The leader rubbed her forehead. “I am here.”
“The Western Hemisphere Overlord has been apprehended inside the Great Museum.”
The leader stared at the globe in puzzlement. “But he is dead. Tabulek is dead.”
“It is 0021, Great One. We have apprehended the new Overlord.”
The Leader’s eyes widened. She rose to her feet, her naked body glistening in the soft light. “Repeat that.”
She listened to the words and collapsed on the bed.
“What’s wrong?” Federica Alana grasped her lover’s naked breast, but the Leader pushed her hand away. “It can’t be.”
The Leader snatched her violet robe and rushed to the globe. “Clarify... was the apprehended woman alone?”
“No, Great One. We found her with the neutralized Meta.”
“The?”
“The Meta, Great One.”
“But the robot was assigned to guard the Mariana platform?”
“Our sensors indicate the Meta abandoned its post at the Mariana Platform to join 0021 at the Great Museum.”
The Leader’s face twisted in a scowl. “How did they get in? We have Guardians at the Museum?”
“The Meta neutralized the Guardians before succumbing to our superior forces.”
The Leader glared at the throbbing globe. “How far did they get?”
“We apprehended 0021 in the secret vault. The Meta lay beside her.”
The Leader’s face blanched. She felt Alana’s soft hand on her shoulder.
“What’s happened? What are they saying?”
The Leader swept her lover’s hand aside and eyed her gold uniform.
“Your orders, Great One?”
“The Meta is dead?”
“Yes, Great One.”
“Dispatch two Forty-three’s to the platform under my direct command. It is critical we protect the Manna.”
“Done, Great One.”
The Leader stared at the globe. “Bring 0021 to the Reflection Chamber. I do not wish to disturb my colleagues. I will deal with her alone.”
“Yes, Great One. She will await you.”
The Leader melded into her gold uniform while staring at the shaken woman standing beside the bed.
Alana extended her hand in an imploring gesture. “What is it, Sarah? What’s happened?”
The Leader’s emerald eyes locked on her. “You are never to address me by that name. I am your Leader.”
Alana’s blue eyes flickered. “And I am your lover, and scared to death. Now please tell me what’s happened.”
The Leader’s glare softened. “It seems our Anarchist friends are closer than we thought.”
Alana’s eyes widened. “The one called 0021?”
The Leader forced a painful nod. “I honored that little bitch twice and never suspected a thing.”
Alana dropped on the bed. “We should interrogate the little toad. We should singe her flesh with lasers until she talks.”
The Leader smoothed her gold uniform. “Yes … the little urchin will pay with her screams, but first she will feel my wrath. I have never confronted an Anarchist. It is critical I break her.” She pointed a harsh finger at her lover. “I want it recorded for the secret vault. I can’t explain why, but I feel it will be the most important confrontation since 2035.”
Alana nodded and watched her lover exit the sleep chamber.
CHAPTER 35
Swift Justice
The Guardians dragged her into the darkened chamber and shoved her to the floor. The robots were silent, their red eyes glaring at her.
She huddled against the cold wall and stared at the shadowed conference table, its twelve corporate emblems glowing before their empty chairs, and she heard the Meta’s final words —
The Guardians will seize you. The Leader will curse you. But fear not my beloved sister, for you are the Trident’s finest prong. You are the future, my sister. YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE.
She stared at the table and blinked away a tear. “God, is this how it ends?”
A metallic hand seized her shoulder. “That word is forbidden.”
She ignored the pain and felt the anger rise in her gut. Her tirade was unstoppable.
“Karpolov! You went too far! You built robots beyond us! You made us obsolete! We’re finished, you fool! Finished!”
The Guardian’s grip tightened. “SILENCE ... THE LEADER APPROACHES.”
Lucinda’s face was red hot. She swiped a defiant fist at the Guardian and shouted at the top of her lungs. “Go to hell, robot! And take your Consortium with you! All of you ... go to hell!”
A second metallic hand dug into her back and pressed her against the floor. Her ears were ringing. She could feel her spine compressing under the crushing force. Her mouth tasted of blood. The Guardian was squeezing the life out of her.
“Release her.”
The hand pulled away, leaving its victim gasping for breath. The soft voice echoed in her ears.
“And how are we, my dear?”
Lucinda fought the pain and tried to stand, but her legs gave out.
“Help the little toad.”
The Guardians yanked Lucinda to her feet, their metal hands grasping her arms. She focused on the familiar figure seated at the head of the triangular table.
The Leader clasped her hands. “I must admit you look a little frayed, my dear.”
Lucinda’s bloodshot eyes locked on the most powerful force on earth.
The Leader leaned forward. “What’s happened, my dear? You puzzle me. Only a few hours ago, I toasted you. Now … this?”
The voice raged inside her. The same voice that had sustained her through the most horrifying moments a human can endure.
Say something! Forget what has happened and pledge your allegiance to this megalomaniac. Don’t you see? She’s scared... she’s offering you a final chance.
The Leader eyed her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite get that.”
Lucinda felt the Guardians’ fingers compress her arms, and she heard the voice.
Last chance, 0021. You can survive this. Speak the right words and you’ll be
set free.
The chamber fell silent. The two women eyed each other, one struggling to maintain her feet, the other seated in the most powerful chair on Earth.
Lucinda looked down before locking her eyes on the Leader. Her words were calm and direct.
“For twenty-seven years, I have believed in your cause. Ever since that night I saw Philibin’s face in the night sky and heard his words of reassurance.”
The Leader smiled. “I understand, my child. Actually, our interest in you began a bit earlier. Your special talents were recognized by Karpolov seven years before we took power.”
The Leader leaned toward her. “That is what surprises me. How can our most prized warrior suddenly turn against us?” She opened her hands. “How, 0021? How can our most trusted employee betray her Consortium?”
Lucinda looked down.
“Come, my dear. I have asked an important question deserving an honest answer.”
Lucinda stared at her. “If I tell you the truth, will you forgive me?”
“With all my heart, but your answer must be complete.”
“Complete?”
The Leader’s emerald eyes burned into her. “Who are the others?”
“The?”
The Leader rose to her feet. “The others, 0021. The Anarchist pigs that got to you. Give me their identities and I will forgive your transgression.”
Lucinda’s eyes brightened. “You fear them... don’t you?”
The Leader’s face reddened.
“Why fear a bunch of renegade scientists?”
“Not your concern, 0021.”
Lucinda forced a smile. “What happened to ‘my dear?’”
“Enough!” The Leader pointed a trembling finger at her. “I want their names, 0021. I will not ask again.”
Lucinda nodded. “And you will set me free?”
“Of course.”
“Like you freed Tabulek and Karpolov?”
“What?”
“Like you freed the two billion poisoned humans?”
“Shut up, dreg!”
“Like your plans for the five billion starving humans still roaming this planet? Is that how you will set me free?”
The enraged Leader shook her clenched fist, her emerald eyes on fire. Her incensed voice echoed off the chamber’s ceiling. “Robots!”
“Yes, Great One.”
“Is there any reason you will not kill this dreg?”
“No, Great one. Is that your wish?”
The Leader glared at Lucinda. “I want her interrogated first. This dreg is the lowest of low for she has betrayed her Consortium. It is critical her Anarchist cohorts are identified, apprehended, and punished. Do you understand?”
The Guardians eyes flashed red.
The Leader stepped around the table and eased toward her prisoner. She folded her arms, her face twisted in a sneer. “Well, my dear, I guess we will need a new overlord.”
The Leader slapped Lucinda across the face with all her might. She backed away from the woman crumpled at her feet and gestured to the robots. “Take this Anarchist dreg from my sight.”
The Guardians were dragging Lucinda across the floor when she looked back at the silver-haired woman standing at the conference table. Her voice was barely audible. “There is something you should know.”
The Leader’s eyes brightened. “Wait!” She rushed to the woman dangling from the Guardian’s death grips.
The Leader dug her fingers into Lucinda’s matted black hair and snapped her head back. “Second thoughts, my dear?”
Lucinda forced the words through her bloodied mouth. “I will speak.”
The Leader’s hand dug into Lucinda’s hair. “Who are they, 0021? Give me your confession.”
“My?”
“Your confession, 0021.”
“Yes, Great One. My confession...”
The room was silent.
“Fuck you, bitch!” Lucinda’s lightning kick struck the Leader in the groin driving her backward. Lucinda was spitting her blood at the shaken Leader when one of the Guardians slammed its metal fist against her head, knocking her senseless.
The Leader collapsed in one of the vacant chairs, her body hunched over in agony. A quick shot of Oxygenium from one of the Guardians numbed her pain.
The Guardian snapped to attention. “We will interrogate the traitor.”
The Leader glared at the unconscious woman. "No ... it’s a waste of time. This dreg will endure everything we throw at her. I believe she is the Anarchist’s greatest implant. Her death will be a warning to all who threaten the Consortium.”
CHAPTER 36
The Courtyard
They dragged her across the wet grass, their metallic fingers digging into her arms. The Great Palace’s surrounding walls glistened in the hazed moonlight. A light mist was falling, its droplets coating her face. In the distance, Big Ben clanged four a.m.
The Guardians paused while confirming the Leader’s order—
I want her vaporized in the palace courtyard. A Knowledge Cloud sphere will record her execution. There will be no mention of the dreg’s identity. My voiceover will proclaim that we have apprehended an Anarchist infiltrator seconds before she attempted to assassinate me. Her recorded execution will be a warning to all who oppose the Consortium.
The Guardians released their death grips and backed away from their fallen prisoner. Lucinda clutched her forehead and listened to the voice pleading inside her.
Run, woman! Run for your life! They’re going to kill you!
Instinctively, she scrambled to her feet and staggered toward the arch at the far end of the courtyard, but the warning blast stopped her. She dropped on her hands and knees, her eyes gazing at the smoking grass in front of her face. The Guardians’ synched voices rang in her hears.
“PREPARE YOURSELF TRAITOR. YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE.”
Lucinda dug her fingers into the wet grass while trying to fathom the twist of fate that had brought her to this final end. Only twenty-four hours ago, she was escorted across this same grass by the Leader and her eleven cohorts. Now, she was about to die on that grass.
She looked up at the black sky and felt the cold mist on her face. “Mother?”
The Guardian’s synchronized voices were deafening. “THAT WORD IS FORBIDDEN.”
“Mother ... Father ... is this how it was for you?”
“ON YOUR FEET, TRAITOR ... IT IS TIME.”
Lucinda pushed off the grass and turned to face the two Guardians, and still the life force echoed inside her.
Pledge your allegiance to them! Beg the Leader’s forgiveness! You can do it! You’re good enough to pull it off! Lie, beg, cajole ... whatever it takes! Live to fight another day!
The leftmost Guardian advanced, its metal fingers grasping a white cloth. It extended the cloth to her. “You are allowed a blindfold.”
“Blindfold?”
“To shield your eyes from our ruby blasts.”
Lucinda stared at the cloth.
“Your decision?”
Lucinda raised her hand in a blocking gesture. “Burn me, you disgusting hunk of garbage.”
“As you wish.” The Guardian retreated toward its cohort.
“And robot!”
The Guardian halted, its red eyes locked on her.
“How can you kill a human?”
“You are not human.”
“And if I was?”
The robot hesitated. “You are not human. Your question is meaningless.”
Lucinda watched the robot settle beside its clone. She took a deep breath and looked at the red eyes peering at her. For thirty-four years, she had been tormented by her mother’s screams when she was torn from the breast that supped her. For thirty-four years, she had lived an infant’s nightmare while trying to fathom the robot nipple caressing her lips. For twenty-seven years, she had run the gauntlet of brainwashing at the hands of the most powerful force on Earth. For twenty-seven years, she had bonded with robots promising to make her wo
rld better — all of it a bitter lie.
“PREPARE TO DIE.”
She stared at the raised laser arms, their metallic forefingers pointed at her. Lucinda Montavi’s life was over.
She heard the fading voice imploring her to run, and she smiled. “Enough, my friend. I’m tired ... so very tired. Let’s forget this pathetic world and find a better place.”
Her eyes wandered to the Knowledge Cloud sphere hovering above the Guardians, and to the silver-haired woman peering down at her from the palace’s west wall, and she felt the stinging words burst from her gut.
“Well done, Sarah Lingstrom! You and your decrepit colleagues have earned your place in hell!”
“Kill her!”
The night fog flashed red. Lucinda felt the warmth of the incoming laser blasts. She locked her gray eyes on the Guardians and raised a defiant fist. “BE QUICK, DAMN YOU! LIKE THE BLASTS I FIRED AT THOSE PATHETIC HUMANS IN LA!”
Her voice rose to a deafening roar. “ALL THEY WANTED WAS FOOD!”
The Great Palace’s walls rattled from her tirade, and she glared at the incoming ruby blasts. “KILL ME! IT DOESN’T MATTER! YOU’RE ALL GOING TO HELL!”
She raised her hands in a futile defensive gesture and heard another voice surging through her.
I am with you, sister. They cannot defeat us. I was the finest of my kind, but you are the finest of all. We have supped from the same nipple. Our blood and plasma are one. My power is yours. THE NEW WORLD HAS COME.
Lucinda stared at the incoming ruby blasts, and she felt the iridescent blue waves radiating from her body.
“What’s wrong with you? Kill her!”
Lucinda looked at the silver-haired woman shaking her fist from the balcony, and she felt the power surging through her. The Guardians were advancing toward her, their deadly rays spewing from their metallic fingertips — BUT THEIR RAYS COULDN’T TOUCH HER!
Lucinda looked down at her trembling hands. She reeled from a concerted blast of incoming ruby energy, her eyes focused on her fingers. The courtyard was filled with blinding blue and red flashes.
Her eyes were aflame. Instead of retreating she stepped toward the advancing robots, her hands raised, and she felt her words shaking the palace’s walls.