Authors: Chris Hechtl
The next day he rushed through
the chores as the UAV flew to the Rex kill site. Seeing that they were finally
gone he grabbed a Bushmaster and headed out with the vehicles. He was cautious
near the kill site; there were a few scavengers roaming about, but no sign of
the Rex family. Moving on he arrived at the park. He had been worried about the
park, he had only three robots on security, and they had limited access to
power with only the thirty four cargo pods left. Most of what remained were on
flatbeds, which lacked the large solar panel roofs of the cargo pods. He was
pretty impatient hitching things up, accelerating a bit to get back to the base
and turned around.
An hour later he had arrived at
the base, and set to work on a few chores while waiting on the arrival of the
tractors. The automated dairy machine was almost full; he would need to do
something with all that milk soon. He had the machinery to make dairy products,
butter, cream, yogurt, cheese, etc, but lacked the time to set them up and
figure out how to use them properly. He tapped the tank, filling a couple
plastic containers and then draining them into the troughs for the hogs.
The spider silk milk was a
different story, that protein was not something he wanted to feed to animals.
Fortunately it had a way to go before the tanks were full, maybe another day or
two at the current rate of milking. He had to bump the priority up on setting
up the protein straining module, that protein was just too valuable to dump.
The tractors arrived with the
loads, he watched as the helicopters were towed through the gate area. He had
to redirect the tractors to an airstrip area; it had been on course to the
garage. The garage area was pretty cluttered, the stacks of vehicle parts were
bad enough, but the vehicles themselves really made a mess of things. He had
six quads, two electric bikes; along with the five other hummers, fire truck,
ambulance, construction vehicles, and the two disassembled dune buggies.
He grabbed a sandwich, munching
it as he unhitched the tractors and sent them to return to the park. If he was
lucky he could get most of the gear in before it got dark. He rushed off to the
hummer. The tractors were half way to the park when he passed them, warily he
watched for predator sign, but not finding any he accelerated to the park and
checked the perimeter.
He hitched the first tractor as
it arrived, getting it turned around and on its way just as the second arrived.
By the final one he was tired and sore, but feeling good. He turned and froze,
seeing a Rex looking directly at him from across the field. It was huge,
thrumming quietly and one hell of a monster. He felt the trickle of fear,
smelled his urine and knew real terror for the first time.
One of the security robots, an
ED-209 style robot stomped up. The Rex turned, staring, and then bellowed a
challenge. It clopped its teeth together, and then thrashed the front arms.
Knowing an attack was imminent Mitch cursed leaving the rifle in the truck just
because he thought he was safe. A second Rex joined the first and he knew he
was in serious danger. One was bad enough, but two were probably more than the
robot could handle.
He fumbled with the Bluetooth.
“Security, flash bang ten meters in front of the Threat,” he muttered, trying
to be quiet as he edged to the truck and dubious safety. The juvenile emerged
from the bushes on the other side of the truck, making him freeze once more.
The pop of the mortar made him close his eyes tightly. The flash was bright,
the noise deafening. He opened his eyes to see the Rexes moving off, he assumed
they were making noise, but his ears were still ringing.
“Thank you Bob,” he muttered,
glad Bob had added that feature to the robots. The Rex family was not happy but
that was just too damn bad. He got into the hummer as the shakes hit, he shook
for a moment, trying to take a deep breath and then sighed as the truck moved
off down the trail on its own.
Damn that was close. He vowed
then and there to get the park emptied now. There were a few more loads to get,
plus the robots. Fortunately he had designed the robots to hook onto the
Hummers. He had left three cargo pods and the charging station behind since
they had solar panels and could charge the robots in case he can’t make it back
tonight.
After that encounter he was still
a little shook up he realized, gripping the steering wheel with what he
recognized as a death grip. It was one thing to see a predator on a screen,
another to see it in the theoretically safe confines of a vehicle, and quite
another to be eye to eye with it, with nothing around you but open air. He
wrinkled his nose. “Going to need a fresh set of pants... and clean underwear,”
he muttered, voice slightly hysterical. “Probably going to need to clean the
seat too,” he laughed and then sighed.
He passed the lead tractor just
as it was entering the final stretch before the gate. Getting out inside the
perimeter, he felt the shakes return as his eyes darted nervously around but he
jogged to the mobile home to change and try to force himself to focus. He
wasn’t too keen on sending the rigs out again unguarded, but probably would
have too he realized. He did a quick strip, then swabbed off with a towel and
changed clothes. The hamper was over flowing once more, he bundled a load to
toss them into the laundry machine.
The tractor pulled up at its
designated spot just as he exited. He ordered the hummer to the garage, and
another to replace it. He hit the release for the brake cable, then the lights
and finally the hitch. The tractor pulled forward, and suddenly the load leaned.
Startled he jumped back, just as it settled forward and down with a thump,
listing to the left side. “Damn,” he snarled.
He warily approached, finding one
of the front feet had sunken into a hole. “Great, gophers, just what I didn’t
need.” A spider rat climbed out of the hole and up the leg of the flatbed.
Swearing he swatted at it with his hat, then gave up and turned to the next
truck. He checked the area before unhitching it, which wasted a little time.
Enough for the third and fourth truck to enter the perimeter. Quickly he
unhitched each, and then reluctantly sent all four out to the park. The fifth
and sixth arrived almost together, he unhitched them and then piled into the
truck. He passed them after the exit the gate, and then sped up.
Checking the perimeter security
at the park, he was amused that the encounter with the Rexes was logged, but no
other sign of them had been detected. If he could get in and out, he should be
okay.
This time he vowed to keep the
rifle handy. The Bushmaster was a great rifle, easy to swap parts, folding
stock, and modular, but it didn’t have the kill power he needed. He switched
the Bushmaster for a Barrett. The rifle was a Barrett M107, but the fifty
caliber rounds in the current clip were poison darts. If the massive hydrostatic
shot didn't kill the animal the lethal poison would stop its heart and
autonomic nervous system so it would suffocate. If it had a heart and nervous
system that is.
Topped off with distilled
tropical cone snail venom, each round was guaranteed to drop a charging
elephant with one prick in less than a second. He wasn’t too happy about having
them, playing with poison was just asking for trouble, but having something
that can drop a large animal that fast was just too useful to pass up.
Bob had pointed out that the
hydrostatic shock wave from a fifty caliber bullet would blow a hole through a
Buick he could fit his hand through, but since he wasn’t sure if he could get
clean kill shots, and wasn’t sure what he would run up against, he had ordered the
poison darts as a precaution. When in doubt overkill.
He had standard fifty caliber
rounds for the M82 Barrett, but he was not sure they would drop an animal of
that size with one shot. Besides, if he had kept the pistol, shot gun, or
Bushmaster, it might have just made the Rex mad and its family too. He
seriously didn't need to face a wounded predator nor its angry family. Wryly he
smiled at the thought, and then put it away to focus on the surroundings.
He had toyed with the idea of
launching the micro UAV, but it didn’t have the range or sensor suite to do a
good job. Besides, recovering it could be dangerous, just like that encounter
with the raptors.
He arrived at the park and got a
report that the Rexes had been sighted down river. He checked the area
carefully with the binoculars, but didn’t spot them until one came out of the
river on the opposite embankment. It paused, shaking its feathers and preening
them for a moment, and then stepped into the brush.
The juvenile swam to the shore
and stepped out, dripping water. It preened a bit, not noticing the shape in
the water behind it. Mitch bit his lip, watching to see if he was right about
what was going to happen. Suddenly with a burst of speed the giant croc
attacked, latching onto the rear of the juvenile and tossing it to the side and
back into the river. With a screech of terror the baby flew through the air and
landed with a splash. The parents returned to the embankment, cawing and
thrashing at the croc as it latched onto the juvenile and then sank into the
dark depths of the river. The parents thrashed around for a bit, snuffling at
the embankment, and then moved off back into the brush.
“Computer log giant crocs as
amphibious predators. Threat level red,” Mitch noted, and then turned to the
first tractor. “Showed over, back to work,” he muttered, and noted that, wonder
of wonders the tractor had backed into and hitched up perfectly. He made the
connections, banged on the side, and then sent it on its way. The second
tractor wasn’t so lucky, almost getting caught under the front lip. He had to
drop the back of the tractor to compensate for the trailers front sinking in
the mud, but got it hooked with only a little scraping.
When the final tractor was sent
off he checked the embankment once more. The body of the juvenile was on the surface;
the croc tore into it, and then sank it again. Another croc swam up, and he
muttered about missing the show just as it started while he got into the
hummer. Dark foreboding clouds have been gathering overhead all day, the
distant sky was ominously dark, definitely not a good sign. Vowing to get
everything in tonight damn it! He quickly headed out.
When he arrived he did a quick
turn over and then press ganged the farm tractors and additional hummers into
the convoy to help. Over the next several hours he managed to get three more
loads in. The robots were now on borrowed time; their last solar panel and
charging station were now packed.
He rushed the last unload,
chancing speed against the coming storm. He made it to the park a half hour
before sunset, and swore as he hooked up the trailers one by one. When the last
was off and running he ordered the security robots onto the back of each
hummer. He got in the hummer, felt the thump and weight in the rear as the robot
climbed on and docked. The truck gave him a green light so they head off.
The night drive was scary; he
quickly passed the tractors one by one. With night and a blanket of full
darkness falling around him the vehicle KITT AI programming was severely hampered.
He set them to follow the leader, then took the lead and drove manually just as
the first flash of lightning and peal of thunder echoed across the field they
were crossing. “Perfect, just perfect,” he sighed in exasperation.
The first fat dropped of rain
spatter his windshield half way home. The wipers came on, clearing them away,
but more followed. He felt the urge to pause and wait it out, but the lure of
nearby safety was just too powerful. Besides, he needed to be at camp in case
of lightning strike damage. The turbines were protected, but there were no
surge protectors on the solar panels. Some of the animals were out in this too;
it would be a good idea to check on things.
He made it to the gully, noted
that it was beginning to fill. He splashed across it carefully, and then pulled
to the side and let each vehicle trundle across and beyond without him. He
nervously watched as each passed. Ten to go... five.... The last one got stuck however;
digging into the churned up muddy embankment and it was up to its rims in mud
and muck. Sighing in frustration he sent the robot out to secure the area. When
it gave him the all clear he pulled the hummer nose to a tree and got out.
The wind and rain were brutal,
making it hard to get to the front of the truck and to the winch. He flipped
the winch on and then to neutral with one hand as the other unhitched the clasp
and pulled on it. Cable uncoiled, he pulled it around the tree and then down
the slippery embankment to the floundering truck. He reached up to the Bluetooth.
“Computer tractor six pause program. New program. Rescue mode in progress,” he
ordered through the thunder, and had to repeat it until the computer AI
acknowledged.
The flash of lightning and sudden
peal of thunder let him know the storm was directly overhead. The water was
rising fast, so he flicked the clasp around the frame, and then clasped it to
itself.
He flicked the Bluetooth back on.
“Computer hummer five winch on forward,” he ordered. The winch whined, slack
was taken out of the line, and then slowly it began to tug insistently at the
trapped vehicle. He pulled himself up and out of the way, and then over to the
truck as it began to slide forward. He quickly shut it down, then reaching the
back bumper; he unlocked the rear winch and then uncoiled some of the line to
wind the end around a nearby tree. He locked it shut, and then used the hand
controller to winch it tight.