KETTY'S SUBDIVISION Wattys2017

Chapter 13-Part III

That was a long time ago. Now Ketty needed to get her starship down to the fault line. Bromide came over her neural network, making her cringe involuntarily.

"My utmost apology, Miss Ketty, it took far longer than I had anticipated." Bromide's body looked like burnt toast. She could see piezoelectric muscles and high strength tendons where his skin had melted away, one of his leg cannons hung uselessly by wires, and his hair was gone. Obviously he had gone through hell, but managed to protect the sintered brain where his personality resided.

"Just come get us, now!" Then she whispered in Boondock's ear. "Why is there so much activity down there?"

"It seems, Mistress, our adversary is using the Fault-line to their advantage. Without that, Karabellum will be stranded."

"You mean the Fault-line is up and running?"

"Quite so." Boondock replied. "Look for yourself." They were on a very low hill looking down on the massive structure. Ketty knew this was the cornerstone of galactic travel and it was obvious the aliens were capitalizing on it.

"Boondock, everything down there still seems to be working?"

"Yes, Mistress, it's quite obvious the rascals have saved space travel for themselves."

"This means they don't have faster than light capabilities, do they?"

"There is a ninety one percent probability they do not." Boondock was silent for a moment, then he said, "I'm receiving a message from outside the solar system," Ketty glanced at her little man bot and saw his eyes were glazed over which scared her. "Purline is coming!"

Ketty panicked. He was having another schizophrenic episode. She had to trust he wasn't crazy.

"Go on," she said.

"My friend is coming to help us!"

"What friend," she asked.

"Purline, but he has informed me he will be operating outside of his commanded orders."

"Kind of like you, right?" Ketty was looking directly at Boondock. When she said that, his eyes came back into focus and he began shaking uncontrollably with excitement.

"Yes! Exactly!" In the back of her mind, Ketty unwittingly kept up a constant internal dialogue trying to figure out what she could do to fix Boondock, how she would keep her integrity and a hundred other little details of her life. Mixed in were complex algorithms and robot subroutines she would use to program the nano-biotic synaptic fluid for her bots in an effort to enhance their performance and learning curve. From the most basic of functions down to the minuscule details of social acuity and moral protocol, she was interested in it all. Every person has self-talk, but for her it was a relentless noise she was hard pressed to keep quiet.

Below, the Fault-line station covered the planet's surface like a blanket, sprawling across a massive area that disappeared in the distance. Her hopes and dreams were interwoven with space travel and now that dream was infested with blood sucking maggots which could be seen moving throughout the luxurious hotels and glittering towers. The ache was intense, like the loss of a lover which she could only surmise was the deepest of human emotion. It irritated her she was wallowing in nostalgia over something she had never truly experienced. Or was it the fact she might die today and never know the love of a man? Either way, the cool breeze felt good on her face as she wiped a single tear from her eye. A nibble of attention intruded into her thoughts, the neural network was up and running, thanks to Sizy and Bakes.

"What's going on?" Belletine asked.

"They're coming in through the fault line," she spoke silently inside her mind. Everyone was waiting behind her at the bottom of the hill in a small ditch they used for cover. They had only seen one patrol ship since first light and they were relatively safe.

"You know what we have to do," Belletine said. Ketty was no fool. They would be stuck in near space for three months, but now that Bromide was ready to pick them up, it was their best option. In fact it was a sacrifice with consequences which would haunt Karabellum for years. Cut off from the outside world, it could well equate to an extinction event. Was she ready to bear such a burden and take on the responsibility for every living creature?

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