Authors: Ryan Schneider
A nearby Pagaz returned fire, shattering a drone within range of the parked aircraft.
Gali slid her finger up the screen on the laptop and increased the throttle.
The copter took to the air.
A live feed appeared in the eyes of Danny, Rory, Tim, Maggie, and the others, real-time video captured by the copter and relayed to the contact lenses in their eyes.
Gali piloted the quadrocopter over their heads, then climbed vertically. The increased altitude provided a live shot of what was coming down the hill toward them: an armada of drones.
“We are so dead,” said Atom.
“There’s just too many,” said Rukara.
“What do we do now?” Susannah asked.
“We need backup.” Danny keyed his radio. “Egg Roll, this is Viper. You read?”
“Loud and clear, Viper. Go ahead.”
“Have you got eyes on us, and on what’s coming toward us?”
“Affirmative, Viper. We are inbound. Hold your position.”
The distant whine of jet engines became audible.
“Here comes the cavalry,” said Blendo.
“Death from above,” Oberon added.
Dragon jets appeared. Danny counted eight in all, spread over two formations. The jets hovered overhead.
All eight jets opened up with their Vulcan cannons. Streams of bullets washed over the advancing army of drones. Green tracer rounds lit up the night. The drones were cut down.
Yet on and on the drones came.
“You kids might want to plug your ears,” radioed Egg Roll.
Scores of missiles fired from the jets and streaked toward the oncoming drones.
“Oh yeah,” said Egg Roll, “duck.”
Everyone knelt behind the row of Pagaz units.
The scores of missiles broke apart. Each projectile became dozens. And each smaller missile zinged to the ground and hit a drone. The noise was like ten thousand fire crackers exploding in a blinding sea of sparks.
When the fire and smoke and noise cleared, the hillside was covered with pieces of robots. Ultraviolet hydraulic fluid and glowing green electro-coolant were splattered everywhere. It flowed from the felled drones, and ran downhill over the ground.
“You’re all clear, Viper,” radioed Egg Roll. He saluted from inside his jet.
Danny returned the salute. “Tim, have the girls send the eye in the sky up ahead. Hopefully we can reach the house without any more surprises. Alright, let’s move out. Senator, if you’ll do the honors.”
Tim relayed the order to the girls while everyone gathered their weapons and ammunition. Senator Stein issued the advance order to the Pagaz units. Everyone moved up the hill at a trot.
When they reached the house, it was much larger than it had looked from the airfield.
“This place is huge,” said Delilah.
“Yeah, man,” said Zammy. “Your woman could be anywhere in there.”
“Then we’ll just have to check every room,” said Danny.
“Right,” said Rory. “There’s the door. Let’s get ready to move.”
“Dad, wait,” radioed Turing. “Gali says the sensors indicate explosives on the doors, called Anfo. What’s Anfo?”
“Anfo is a type of explosive used for its powerful shockwave,” said Rukara. “With the amount of Anfo on that door, if it goes off, it’ll blow us all from here to San Diego.”
“That won’t do at all,” said Helen.
“So how are we going to disable it?” asked Whitey.
Rukara gathered his coat about him. “Leave that to me.” He extracted a hood from inside the collar and pulled it over his head and face. He tapped a small control panel on the coat. A moment later, he vanished.
“Cool,” said Blackie.
“Totally,” added VanCat.
“Let’s not start jerkin’ ourselves off just yet,” said Floyd. “Mister Invisible still has to disarm the charges.”
“Right,” said Rukara.
“Can you see through that thing?” Rony asked.
“Sort of,” said Rukara. “I should’ve made the eye holes bigger. Too late now.” Judging by the sound of his voice, he was already moving toward the door. “If I don’t come back, somebody better at least name their first kid after me.”
Danny held his breath while Rukara worked. No one spoke.
“Okay, that should do it,” Rukara called at last. “Who wants to walk over here and see if they get blown up?”
“I’ll go,” said Danny.
“You can’t go,” said Rory. “You have to make it inside so you can kick the shit out of Les Grossman and rescue your lady-fair.”
“I quite agree,” said Tikva. “Moshe and I will go.”
“No, I will go,” said Bernard.
“I need you to help me fly home,” said Howard. “We shall go together.”
“No, I will go,” said Sparky.
“Oh, Sparky, how romantic,” Helen cooed.
Poo laughed. “Goddamn robots arguing over who gets to save the humans. We really are a pathetic race.”
“Not at all, Master Poo,” said Howard. “For it was yourselves who created us.”
“Exactly,” said Poo. “If I make it through this, I really am going to kick my shoes off in a fit of joy.” Poo ran for the door.
After a handful of strides, he arrived.
Rukara smiled. “See? Told you there was nothing to worry about.”
A powerful explosion knocked everyone flat. The wide double doors disintegrated in the blast.
Through the smoke and dust Bella called out, “What the fuck, Rukara?”
Rukara picked himself up off the ground and threw himself flat against the wall. “It wasn’t me! Something’s coming.” He grabbed Poo and pulled him to his feet, then hurriedly confirmed his weapon was chambered.
A loud, sequential pounding filled the air and vibrated the ground.
“Anybody have eyes on target?” Danny called. Dust and debris from the explosion hung in the air and obscured what was left of the doorway.
“Negative,” called Rukara.
Even the live feed from the quadrocopter hovering overhead provided little assistance, showing only smoke as thick as fog.
Danny crouched low and ran to the doorway. Poo stood beside Rukara on the opposite side of the door.
“You guys hear footsteps?” Danny asked.
“Hear and feel,” said Poo.
Gali switched the quadrocopter to infrared thermograph, enabling a look through the smoke and dust. “Dad, something’s coming. Something big.”
“Look sharp, people,” Canary called.
Through the smoke came a massive metal figure, a robot at least fifteen feet tall, easily twice as tall as the Pagaz. It bore a grayish camouflaged exterior that shifted and changed hue and color as the smoke dissipated.
“Show time, boys,” said Kong. He took two steps forward and squeezed the trigger on his gatling gun. The weapon fired a barrage of bullets fed from Kong’s backpack. The noise was frightening, part buzz saw and part jet engine.
Blackie, Whitey, and VanCat joined Kong. Together they unleashed a torrent of gunfire.
Danny, Poo, and Rukara opened fire from the doorway.
Atom, Blendo, Rony, Bella, Zammy, and Delilah attacked, along with Floyd and Susannah, Oberon and Romeo.
They were joined by Canary and Laura, Tim, Maggie, Isaac, Nik, Howard, Bernard, Moshe and Tikva, Helen and Sparky, and Senator Stein.
The big robot merely stood there, taking the punishment. The bullets bounced off. It stared down with lifeless black eyes.
That was it.
“Shoot for the eyes!” shouted Danny.
His words were lost amid the gunfire.
Danny inserted a new clip into his rifle. He fired a burst at the robot and ran to Bella and Rony, who were blazing away. Danny tapped Bella on the shoulder and leaned in close.
“The EYES! Shoot for the eyes!”
Bella shook his head in confusion.
Danny pointed to his eyes, and then pointed at the robot.
Bella chambered a round, aimed, and fired the big .50 caliber rifle.
One of the robot’s black eyes exploded in its head.
Bella chambered another round and fired.
The robot’s remaining eye disappeared in a shower of sparks.
Kong concentrated his fire on the robot’s head. Rounds dug into its eye sockets and shredded the top half of its metal cranium. The tall robot fell backward and lay still.
Everyone waited.
When the robot didn’t move, they slowly gathered around it.
“Nice shootin’, Tex,” said Rukara.
“Thanks,” Bella and Kong replied in unison.
“What is this thing?” Laura asked.
“It’s called a Guardian,” said Canary. “We had plans for them about twenty-five years ago. The field of robotics wasn’t as advanced as it is today. Internal components were big. So the robot had to be big, too. But their sheer size made them impractical. So we only built a handful of them.”
“What’s it doing here?” Maggie asked.
“Guarding the threshold,” said Floyd.
“Harley must’ve dug it out of the basement storage facility and brought it here,” said Canary.
“I’d love to have a few of these at the Palace,” said Zammy.
“Let’s keep moving,” said Danny. “Senator, post a couple of Pagaz units here to watch our six.”
Senator Stein placed one Pagaz near the door, and a second hidden in a nearby shadow. The group then pressed on, into the house.
Tim radioed Turing and instructed her to keep the quadrocopter in the air over the house, and to let him know if anything changed.
“Good luck, dad,” said Copper.
“Yeah,” said Turing, “good luck daddy. Keep mommy safe.”
Tim assured the girls that he and Isaac and Nik would do so.
The Guardian robot was left behind in the massive foyer.
~
The interior of the house was dark.
Danny flipped a light switch on the wall. Nothing happened. “Power’s off. Son a bitch knew we were coming.”
Everyone activated the mini-LED torches mounted on their rifles or body armor.
The sweep of the beams of light only increased the ominous atmosphere.
“This place gives me the creeps,” said Rony.
They entered a large room. A long table flanked by myriad chairs occupied the center. Ornate tapestries and large oil paintings hung on the walls. They depicted bizarre scenes. A robot screaming while humans pulled out its wires like intestines. A robot in the woods being hunted by men on horses. A robot with one body and two heads. A robot wearing a straight jacket and locked in a dark room.
“I think somebody has a severe hatred of robots,” said Delilah.
Large chandeliers hung from the ceiling, each filled with stubby white candles topped by black, burned wicks. Cobwebs covered the chandeliers and the high, shadowy corners.
“It looks like a haunted house,” said Rony. “Smells like one, too.”
“What does a haunted house smell like?” asked Atom.
“Damp and old and musty,” said Rony. “Like this place.”
“I thought you didn’t believe in ghosts,” said Blendo.
“I didn’t,” said Rony. “Until now.”
“It appears this place is haunted by the spirits of dead robots,” said Blendo. “And robots don’t have spirits or souls because they’re not alive. They’re just machines. Therefore, there’s nothing to be afraid of.” Blendo stood with his assault rifle in one hand, muzzle toward the ceiling, replete in his body armor and black fatigues. His beret was a perfect touch.
“Are you sure about that?” Danny asked.
“Dead sure,” said Blendo.
Howard, Bernard, Moshe, Tikva, Romeo, and Sparky all stood staring at Blendo. Their red eyes glowed in the darkness.
Danny couldn’t say why, but something about Blendo’s statement bothered him. He caught Howard, Bernard, Moshe, Tikva, Romeo, and Sparky exchanging glances.
“Besides,” said Blendo, “just look around at the firepower. Look at these guys.” He motioned to Blackie, Whitey, Kong, and VanCat, clad in body armor and holding impressive guns. Black cammo paint covered their faces. Their red eyes gleamed. “I don’t know about you but I’d hate to meet these guys in a dark alley.”
“I’d love to meet these guys in a dark alley,” said Romeo. “Especially
Monsieur Vingt-Quatre ici. Bon soir, mon petite chou
.”
“What does that mean, dear?” Helen asked.
“It means Good evening, my little cabbage.” Romeo batted his electronic eyelashes at VanCat.
VanCat shrugged. “What can I say, I’ve always been popular with the gaybots.”
“I prefer the term polyamourous mechanical being, sweetie,” said Romeo.
“Gotcha,” said VanCat.
“Let’s move out,” said Danny.
The team advanced down a long hallway and into the next room.
This room was smaller than the dining room. A chair constructed of strips of iron sat near a fireplace. A second chair of similar design had silver spikes protruding from it.