KETTY'S SUBDIVISION Wattys2017

Chapter 17-Part II

What seemed like an eternity passed before they were finally at the heart of the Mc'kee farm. After a hundred different starts and stops, security doors, worker bots and maintenance crew, they reached what Max had determined was the source of psychic robot anomalies. Not that he was talking, but Greer had shared his network with Aleece and they could both hear his thought process as he sniffed and probed his way down to the lower levels. Here work forces and complex assembly lines gave way to storage and dusty corners which hadn't seen the light of day in years.

"I still can't fathom how the robot rebellion was used to turn an entire micro-subdivision into one giant robot factory," Greer said over the neural network.

"You think like a man," Aleece smiled. "The question is not how or who, but why." For her, the answer was coming in the form of an emotion. It was too big to wrap her mind around, but in her heart, she knew there was only one person capable of smoothing the way for such an endeavor.

"Mon-catasto?" Greer asked.

"Mon-catasto." Just then they heard noise at the end of the arch shaped hallway. Max's ears were back and they hid behind some boxes which didn't afford much cover. Suddenly, Greer wished he had brought a bigger gun.

"Production is steady," echoed the larger form in a deep baritone he could feel in his chest. The footsteps were solid from that one, unmistakably a bot. "But without the nano-biotic essence from the retarded one, I'm afraid all the units amount to nothing more than a glorified army without heart."

"I'm working on that now," said an all too familiar voice which caused Aleece to choke on her own spit. "I expect to be in possession of the experimental bots within two days. The recall is in place and I have some agents assigned to retrieve them." They sunk into the shadows as Mon-catasto came abreast of their position and stopped with his back turned. Beyond him was a robot unlike any seen in the Subdivision

"How can he be in two places at once?" Aleece asked inside his head.

"This is the real man, the other one was a bot," Greer replied. Now they could see reflected light, or the absence of it, being absorbed into the skin of the robot before them. He was all gunmetal with fire blue eyes and a mask covering his mouth, but there was remnants of a man's face behind that mask. He creaked from the more robust Burnite skin that stacked in layers over each joint, while the back of his sintered brain was open except for the throbbing orange of pure energy that protected the fragile cortex. In his groin, the Collapse-core reactor sizzled from a lack of shielding that left it raw and exposed, yet somehow he had an air of evil dignity.

"The Mc'kee legacy will continue when you bring me what I need," he said, towering over Mon-catasto by a full foot. "But what of our new adversaries?"

"I have arranged for them to pass us by after they cause enough destabilization to warrant the use of our new line of Artificial Intelligence."

"I don't like it one bit, but it is your home not mine, so do as you see fit."

Greer had his blaster out now. When they turned, there was no way he wouldn't be spotted. It was dark here and deep, and there was no help coming. He sent Max down the corridor as a distraction, but just then, Mon-catasto turned the way he had come.

"I must return to the Capital and retrieve the bot, but you will hear from me the instant I have him." Footsteps echoed away in the distance, but the robot remained, attracted by some stray signal. Then he turned, fire red eyes boring down into Greer's soul.

"Run, he screamed inside her head." The bolts of blue plasma found a home at the base of the artificial wizard's head before he took his first step, but the machine had a latent power that allowed him to advance and back hand Greer across the room. When his head hit the wall, blackness clouded in on his vision and he slumped to the ground. But he was awake enough to see horror unfold. In three strides the robot caught up with Aleece, bringing one huge fist high in the air. Even as Greer managed to bring up his gun and fire at the unprotected killer, he knew it was too late. The fist came down on her head, causing bone and skin to rip in an unnatural way. Blood sprayed straight up in a geyser, and he realized the sound would never leave his memory. Only the top of her head remained at shoulder level, pounded down into her chest with a single killing blow.

He was on his feet now, jumping the artificial man in a blinded rage from behind. The robot swung him around wildly, but his knife was out and he managed to slash the beast's arm in one fluid motion. Then he saw stars as he was smashed against the wall with two hundred pounds of solid metal pinning him there in a final squeeze that left him deprived of air. With one last thrust, he pushed his blaster into the open gash and pulled the trigger, sending a hot bolt of plasma surging along the nervous system and directly to the brain. The back of the robot's head exploded in a blue-black mist of burnt nanofluid that covered his face, and nearly blinded him.

He was free, andalive, which was little comfort as the reality of losing Aleece began to sinkin. Max was there, licking the robot blood from his face and whimpering, but thereal Mon-catasto was long gone before he ever knew someone was attacking.

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