The Centauri Conspiracy

by G Russell Peterman

Chapter Thirty-nine

  Mechanical Mary

  Wandering northward through tunnels below the city, Woll and his two bodyguards lead and assist Mary the mechanical, Dee, and the children. For more than an hour and a half they wander through tunnel after tunnel toward the northeast edge of the city. Eight buildings from the edge they stop to look at a portable muted screen Woll has left plugged into an outlet. While they rest on waiting chairs Dee cries as she watches Bakman take his lonely ride in a clear plastic cage of an armored police hover van to the New Dallas Police Station and City Jail with his hands restrained behind him.

  After a three minute rest, Woll looks at Dee, whose cheeks are wet with twin streams of tears, understandingly nods and says softly, "Time to go up."

  The others follow Woll to a ladder and they climb. Up in basement level six of the Soyinka Building they take the building’s freight elevator to the thirteenth floor. Before they step out into public view on the Thirteenth Causeway, Woll takes the baby bag. Outside, they all walk north down the shaded east side of a sparsely peopled Thirteenth Causeway, and in between groups of shoppers as they start to cross over a causeway bridge between buildings Woll dares whisper.

  "At the next corner we turn right three buildings."

  Woll turns his head as he speaks to Dee and back again. In turning his ever vigilant eyes notice in front of them a large hover carrying five black hooded figures moving their way. The hover travels slowly down the causeway crossing a distant bridge only two buildings away from the one they are on.

  A quick glance behind takes in an even closer group, nine black figures in two smaller hovers. Woll points across and shouts, "Run," for on the bridge between buildings they have no place to hide or make a stand.

  Desperately they race forward trying for the next building’s small vacant corner store’s entrance—a single doorway. The instant they run the hovers behind and in front speed up too. Woll spots a second hover in front of them round a corner one building behind the first hover and speed toward them. They now have five more black figures attacking from the front. Ten in front and nine behind means Bakman’s enemies got very lucky or someone talked. Both Woll and Dee know the attackers plan leave them no where to run and kill all of them. Everyone sees the assassins in front and behind them now and run even faster.

  Woll yells at his two men. "Delay those behind us."

  Without hesitation both bodyguards dive to their bellies along the left edge of the causeway bridge with double-ball weapons drawn. Seconds later they open fire at both oncoming hovers, hit and stop both, two fiery explosions, and take return fire from six surviving attackers.

  Two explosions behind them give all three runners a burst of speed. When the doorway is reached Woll's double-ball shoots the lock away. A hard kick to break the last of the lock and a hard push forces the door open. Quickly, Woll pulls them all into temporary safety inside the small vacant store as double-balls suddenly strike and explode on the plastic-limestone facade around the open doorway. Turning to defend them Woll pushes his charges behind him.

  Instead, Mary’s strong hand yanks Woll back. “My job,” she says pushing Baby Mary into Woll’s arms and steps forward to stand in the open doorway. Her purse puffs out automatic double-ball return fire at the two approaching hovers; both explode. Mary’s double ball accurate fire leaves only four black scrambling shapes.

  Across the bridge six remaining black figures run straight at the bridge firing. Two fall. Four continue their zigzagging charge forward firing.

  In the causeway in front of their corner store building dying assassins scream and survivors continue the attack. Mary’s accurate deadly fire leaves two more prone black figures on the causeway before the first double ball hits her in the side. Mary stops firing for an instant as four run zigzagging patterns are still firing.

  Across the bridge four still firing black figures run zigzag patterns at Woll's prone rear guard. Woll’s two men are finally over matched in firepower by four charging attackers, but cut down two more. They rise to retreat and quickly both are cut down. The last two assassins race across the bridge toward Mary who recovers enough to hit one and manages to turn and hit one closer target before her right arm sensors are damaged by a second hit. One lone black figure crosses the bridge to join the other three still running and firing at her. Wounded and barely able to function, Mary’s purse changes hands and firing left-handed leave one more dressed in black figure lying on the causeway. The surviving two still race at Mary zigzagging with double balls puffing and are joined by the lone surviving bridge assassin. The last three charge firing and one falls.

  Carrying Baby Mary and the baby bag Woll races back toward the closed store's freight elevator and catches up with Dee clutching her baby in her arms trotting in front of him. Woll hits the elevator down button repeatedly. As they wait for the freight elevator Dee and Woll see Mary's left arm explode in a spray of green and reddish oily fluids from a double hit. With her left arm gone and spraying fluid from her waist in three places, right shoulder damaged, and right hip and left thigh leaking fluid, Mary’s weakened right arm slaps her purse tight against her chest as a shield over her main motor, computer, and pumps.

  Suddenly, Mary jams her feet sideways against the bottom of the doorjamb and shaking from a shortage of fluid her right hand reaches up to grab the outside doorframe over her head. Her fingers squeeze the top of the door frame with her one barely working hand. Woll and Dee both believe this is Mary’s only way to deny the last two assassins entry into the vacant store—her only way to save them.

  The yellow elevator light blinks on.

  Frantically waiting for the rising freight elevator’s car, Woll’s double ball puffs and carefully he shoots out through the open space on either side of Mary’s waist. His shots put down one. The last one is joined by two slightly wounded attackers and he is hidden from Woll’s fire by being in front of Mary. Both wounded assassins hide behind the wall on either side. All three take shots at Mary from less than three feet avoiding head shots because mechanicals with head damage go rigid.

  Finally, a hopeful sign, the elevator yellow light blinks out and the red light glows. As the elevator doors slides open they watch the attackers’ fire double-ball after double-ball into Mary trying to shoot her out of the doorway. Both hope Mary can last long enough to give her charges time to get away as they hurry into the elevator.

  As the elevator door slides shut, the last three surviving assassins in black try to push and pull Mary out of the doorway. One thin one squeezes halfway past. Surprisingly, Mary turns her head to look back at the closing elevator door as her right arm is shot away, and smiles. Green fluid sprays out of Mary in numerous places mostly at the waist, shoulders, thighs, and hip joints. With only a last small crack left in their closing elevator door, a bright blinding light, instantly followed by a rush of air that pushes them backward against the elevator wall, and an ear hurting boom from a loud explosion.

  Leaning forward again Woll whispers with awe on his face as the elevator plunges downward, "Mary must have been a 243d7 Model? That one is the only one with a program that allows a mechanical to carry an explosive pack. They can only explode it to protect those they serve from death. Either someone talked about our escape route, or four searching teams just got lucky. We have always left the city to the north. They may have figured Bakman would send his family this way. Now that he is a public enemy, they felt free to strike his wife and children."

  Quickly down in the tunnels again, they wander this way and that until Dee has no idea where they are going or been. Woll carries Baby Mary and the baby bag; Dee caries the baby. When Dee is on her last reserves of strength and desperately staggering forward on wobbly legs, Woll points upward.

  On the first level of Auguste Building Woll makes contact with his last backup team of two in room 109. They hand Woll a belt with more than a dozen small pockets bulging with white diamonds that he will sell off as needed during his lifetime to help his people, and
they hand Dee a set of disks and two folders of papers and personal documents. Without time to rest Woll hurries all outside. Woll, Dee and her children are loaded on a stolen hover bus and his two men trot southward. Beyond of the city limits the hover bus is abandoned at a rural crossroad beside a farm machine shed filled with chisel plows, sprayed quickly, and their new hover takes them to a secret hover shuttle. They are quickly airborne for a day and half low level twisting flight to avoid cities and sensors.

  Still in the air the next morning a view-screen has coverage of the start of Bakman’s trial. Two minutes in coverage breaks off for a brief News Bulletin about a gang war in the northeast part of New Dallas. Police footage shows four exploded hovercraft, twenty-one bodies, and one mechanical unit destroyed by an explosive charge. Pictures of the area show two figures on the bridge not in black and Dee sniffles over both bodyguards giving their lives to save them. The talking-head’s voice calls these two innocent bystanders.

  As the view on the screen changes to show a causeway littered with exploded hovercrafts and black clad bodies to end with a view of a corner doorway. One glace and Dee wails, and she starts both children crying too. Where the doorway had been only the bent framing metal of the building and doorway remains in a round black hole, but in that the doorway frame the lower metal skeleton of Mary still stood, burned blackened metal warped and twisted, but still braced against the sides—still denying entry. While Dee bawls and clutches two crying children to her, the bored reporter tells his viewers that his police sources believe the DNA thieves that had been operating throughout the area had a falling out. Suddenly, the view-screen changes to normal programming—Bakman’s trial coverage.

  While Dee and his children under Woll's personal protection are flying across the continent and nearing the mountains, Bakman is standing again in front of a judge. Judge Eric Brockton Rockingham the VI reads aloud from two pieces of paper: One a signed confession by Harry Zeed OpDyke, and the other a confession signed by Duncan Gulihur “Duffy” Bakman. After the reading, Judge Rockingham was puzzled, "Why Sir? Did you give us these confessions and this collection of disks showing every step of your crimes?"

  “Your honor, if you will check the court records of my last trial you will find that I like to accept responsibility for my actions," Bakman replies.

  After that statement, Duffy Bakman would say no more, not even shake or nod his head, even though dozens and dozens of attempts to frighten and shame him were made during more than two hours of questioning by the Judge and though three days questioning by an almost brutal U.N. Prosecutor team lead by brilliantly cruel Lester Haight. At every question Bakman just remained silent, even refused to make a plea. In fact, during his very public four full days, thirty-three total hours on screen time, of his trial those first words to Judge Rockingham the VI were his only ones spoken. His silence frustrated informationalists, the judge, prosecutors, and viewers.

  Just about the time Bakman returned to his cell at the end of his first morning for a noon lunch break wondering where his family was, Woll delivers his charges to Lamborn Fam. After handshakes and a welcome to the Great Basin Clone Colony, Dee hands Lamborn Fam a thick packet of papers. As Lamborn looks at them she explains, "Those are the documents about us. You can see I am the adopted clone daughter of Harry and Mary OpDyke. Well, as close to that as an illegal clone can be. Mary OpDyke gave me her maiden name Iversen and her middle name Dae. The rest are papers on the two children and Duffy. I'm expecting another child."

  While Lamborn thumbs through the pages, he nods, reads, and Dee waits until he finishes. "These will be most helpful in getting your family permanent status here," Lamborn tells her and smiles at Dee when he finishes.

  Dee then hands Lamborn a second thinner packet of papers explaining, "These are the papers for my adopted brother, also a clone, Woll Zeed Iversen."

  Woll has a shocked look on his face and Lamsborn hands him a page of a document signed by Harry and his wife Mary. Staring at it, a tear escapes and rolls down Woll’s cheek to drip on the hand holding the page. Only after his nod of understanding does Dee takes his hand.

  “Sister,” Woll manages to stammer.

  Dee smiles, nods, and kisses his cheek.

  While the Bakman family and Woll Iversen are getting settled in the Clone Colony in apartments across the hallway from each other on the Twenty-first floor of the north building the world outside talks only of the criminal Duncan Bakman. Thousands of Informationalists all over the world are secretly sent boxes of disks. There were 5,218 boxes of disks sent from 1,937 mailing stations. No more than three sets were ever sent from the same station. No one, not the U.N., police, or any Informationalist, ever knew who sent them. The senders were only identified by one initial. That initial was either: A, B, E, G, M, N, P, R, S, T, or W. At first the U. N. tried to collect all the disk sets but fails. The information was on their screens before the orders came to turn them in and strangely copies already had been made. Informationalist sent in the originals to comply and aired copies.

  The police authorities tried to blame former individual employees of the OpDyke and Bakman Corporation. Many local police departments requested a general roundup order. The police had to stop asking when Informationalists pointed out that in Bakman’s employ were more than one hundred and fifty people with some of those letters in their first, last, or middle names. Even more had those letters in their names that did contract work for both criminals. Also, Informationalists pointed out that any number of secret individuals that did not work in the building of for the Company could have been hired in advance to send out the disks for both OpDyke and Bakman. Both had the means to arrange it. The initials they said were merely the way to demonstrate to their employer that they had completed their contract. Screens began to fill with information on the disks Bakman gave the Police. In fairness to the U.N., they did put on its Information Screens each disk in the correct order before and after his trial, but others filled screens with them in a jumbled up mess. Whatever brought in the most advertising dollars?