Loadstar 117/117.d81/sr.chapter five

Text File | 1994-01-01 | 18.2 KB | 699 lines

Chapter 5: Worse Than Death

    The children were under magnetic
pulse sedation in their cribs.
Johnathan and Eve had talked, then
napped after making love.  Eve's arm
was across his chest.  Jonathan was
startled out of his nap.  He heard
commotion in the corridors.  Every
sort of emergency signal was blaring.
 What was it?  Decompression?

    "ATTENTION!  ATTENTION!  RENEGADE
MAINTENANCE ROBOT NOW IN D-SECTION,
CORRIDOR SIX!  EVERY AVAILABLE HAND
THERE IMMEDIATELY.  AIRLOCK SHUTDOWN
IN THIRTY SECONDS!"

    Well that explained the sirens
and commotion.  Jonathan checked his
plaque, which was constantly
updating: Four already confirmed
dead?  What could it be?

    It happened just when Eve thought
she might have been wrong  about
Betty.  She was frantic,  "It's her!
She's coming for me now!  She'll kill
me!  Hide me!  You've got to hide
me!"

    Jonathan frowned,  "Will you stop
accusing Betty!  It's been years now
and she hasn't so much as snapped at
you.  She's taken a huge cut on
autonomy and can't touch you.  She's
been through enough and I won't have
it anymore!  If anyone should have
compassion for Betty, it should
be..."

    He could hear the whir of the
electric motors before the droid
crashed into his doorway, caving the
sliding metal doors inward.  Mack
backed away and crashed into them
again, then again, until Jonathan
could see the metal tearing.  Outside
men were screaming, being tossed
aside or run over as they attempted
to stop the droid.

    The next second, the airlock fell
down.  Lights dimmed and yet another
alarm was blaring.

    "Betty..?"  Jonathan dared to
say.

    "I've been telling you for years
now!  She'll kill me, and our
children!  I know her better than
anyone!  She couldn't see this coming
but I could, simply by placing myself
in her position!  She hates me now.
She's on the verge of hating you,
too, John!  She can hurt you."

    "What can we do?  Can we reason
with her?"

    "She's feeling unfettered rage
and is currently irrational --
murderous.  I have no idea..."

    Three more times the machine
heaved and smashed into the doors but
they wouldn't part, especially with
the added reinforcement of the
airlock.  The ceiling, walls and the
floor buckled around the door, but it
remained intact.  The buzzsaw, metal
claws, and the laser began cutting at
the honeycombed titanium-steel
airlock.  Inexorably, Betty was
gaining entrance.
    Jonathan rushed to his plaque and
dialed Betty.  She refused to
acknowledge.  "Betty!  Betty!  Stop!
I know you can hear me!  Don't do
this!  You'll lose me!  I'll despise
you if you destroy this woman!  I'll
hate you!  I'll preside at your
deactivation!  I'll see to it!"

    Nothing from the plaque.  The
robot continued to cut its way in.

    "That's it, husband.  Cheer her
up!  Remind her that she has nothing
to lose now."

    A sigh,  "Eve..."

    "Just letting you know what's
going through her mind now.  Sorry."

    "For what it's worth, I'm sorry I
ever doubted you."

    "My only wonder is why it took
her this long."  She began to sob,
"Why did she wait until I had
children..?"

    He quickly searched around.  "How
strong are you, Eve?  Still above
average?"

    "I don't know.  I've normalized
considerably, though I've attempted
to keep my original strength through
exercise..."

    "I'll need your help."

    "What will we do?"

    "We..."  he started.

    She placed her fingers on his
lips to silence him, nodding toward
the computer console.  She then
grabbed a chair and demolished it
with three quick blows.  "Okay!  Now
speak."

    "This entire section is shut
down.  They must think they're
protecting the Captain.  We're
trapped in this section with her now.
 Grab a multi-driver.  We need to
loosen this panel in the floor.  When
she steers Mack over it, we lift it
and tip Mack over."

    She considered it.  "Mack can
still do damage while on his side --
and he can easily right himself with
his arms."

    "Then we jump down into the
inter-level.  Can Mack fit down
there?"

    Her hands covered her eyes in
despair,  "Mack helped build the
interlevels.  He can glide through
them."

    "Well there's nowhere else to
run.  We have to make it to the park,
wade into the water.  Mack can't
operate there."  He'll fuse."

    She considered,  "It might work,
but her laser might get us still."

    "Smoke?"

    "No.  Steam might do it.  It
might diffract the laser just enough
to..."  She was off to the lavatory,
setting the water temperature to well
over two hundred degrees, then
adjusted the shower head for a finer
spray to enhance the steam.  She
dashed to the nursery.  A few moments
later she was back at his side,
multi-driver in hand, helping to
disengage the floor panel.  "I am
grateful that we have unlimited
shower time now."

    "What about the children?"

    "Sedated and sent down the
garbage chute.  We'll have to get
them out before the transmat recycles
them tomorrow afternoon."

    He nodded,  "You're right.
They'll face a worse peril here."

    "And if we die?"

    He touched her face,  "I'd rather
they died in a transmat beam than be
ripped apart by Betty."

    "As for me, I've lived well these
past years, husband.  I couldn't ask
for more.  You were right.  A time
does come when you're ready to die."

    He chuckled,  "Now that I have
you, the last thing I want is to
die."

    They kissed as the room filled
with steam.  Moments later the droid
smashed its way into their quarters,
a dying crewman sprawled moaning
across its flat top.  Immediately Eve
was singled out.  The laser was
trained on her, then fired.  The
laser light was diffracted by the
thick steam, causing a blinding
flash.  Two more attempts and the
laser was abandoned.  Mack grappled
the crewman with two claw arms,
ripped him into two unequal pieces,
then sent him hurtling like a
screaming missile, toward Eve.

    Luckily her reflexes were faster
than normal.  She dodged to the side,
not realizing exactly how powerful
the robot was until now.  The
crewman's body whizzed past her and
spattered crossway through a doorway
behind her.  His screaming ended
instantly.  She dodged his leg, which
was thrown next.  Blood dotted three
of the walls.  Eve was wet with it.

    The last thirteen staples were
fired in Eve's direction, but she was
as agile as a jackrabbit, dodging,
rolling, until the staple gun
clicked, empty.  Mack hummed and
clicked before her, tossing aside
furniture to get at her.  His crimson
turtle's eyes were trained upon her,
Betty's hatred radiating from them.
The five arms fluttered about
menacingly, the tools on each tip a
potentially deadly weapon.

    Jonathan could hear the laser
thyristor building for a burst.  He
moved quickly,  "Now!  While we have
the leverage!"

    Together they lifted the floor
panel, toppling Mack, who was near
the fulcrum point.  There was a thud,
then the grinding sound of Mack's
motors.  He was righting himself
already. Jonathan quickly took a
bucket of highly crystalline Gemian
sand and tossed it into Mack's
tractor gears.

    "Come on!"  he shouted, angrily.
Together they leaped into the
interlevels, only five feet high.
They had to run with heads low.
"We'll never outrun Mack down here."
Eve, mumbled.

    "Who says he can even get down
here through that hole?"

    As if on cue, the floor ripped
open and Mack began lowering himself.
 Betty gave chase.

    "The friction from the sand
should wear his left tractor out
soon, if he keeps chasing us."

    "I hope so.  Mack is so
durable..."  Eve sobbed,  "Turn every
corner!  Mack has to slow, then turn,
then build up speed again.  It should
wear his batteries down sooner."

    Jonathan was getting breathless,
"I think my own batteries will go
before his, running like this."

    "You won't have to run long.
We're almost to the storage docks.
There we can get some backup."

    "Backup?"

    "The forklifts.  Can you operate
one?"

    "No, but I know someone who
can..."  Jonathan spoke into his
plaque on the emergency channel,
"Vince Anderson, get your crew to the
storage docks.  We're heading there.
Mack wants Eve, not the Captain.
Have some heavy machinery ready to
combat Mack..."

    No acknowledgment.  Was anyone
left alive?  How much carnage before
them?

    The warehouse entrance was about
thirty meters away and Mack was
gaining steadily, his left tractor
smoking now.  A fire erupted from the
tractor, then died.  Mack would have
spun in circles now, but used his
arms to keep straight.  He was moving
at about half speed now, about as
fast as a jogger.

    "We won't make it.  There isn't
time."

    "I'll meet you there..."  Eve
said before sprinting ahead at an
incredible rate for a crouched
position.  She made it to the hatch,
opened it, and awaited Jonathan on
the other side.  She was on a ledge,
about ten feet up.  There should have
been a wider terrace there but it had
been removed to make room.

    She helped Jonathan's limp,
gasping form through the hatch, then
tried to push the door closed.  It
wouldn't budge.  Mack was on the
other side, holding it open.  The
hatch was ripped from its hinges and
pulled inward.  They both fell on
their backs, the wind knocked out of
them.  Above, Mack's angry turtle's
head poked out.  He was too heavy to
jump ten feet.  He would have to
climb down.

    "Roll!"  Eve warned.  "She'll
throw the hatch!  Everything is a
potential weapon!"

    A split second later the door
sailed at Eve, but she dodged it.
The heavy hatch shattered a plastic
containment system, some of the
shards lodging in Eve's side.  Some
dark, smelly, dirty oily liquid, to
be recycled, was leaking all over the
floor now.  Jonathan attempted to
help Eve but slipped on his back.
They were floored, near each other,
Mack lowering himself from the high
perch with his spider-like arms.
This active, he seemed almost alive.
Injured, but alive.  Jonathan forced
himself up.  "Get behind me!  She
won't hurt me!"

    She obeyed, limping to his side,
"Alright, but I wouldn't be too
certain of that, husband.  She's
quite mad.  You're a mouse to her.
No matter how much she loves you, you
were never much more than a very
loved pet to her -- a lower life
form.  I'm sorry to admit that to
you."

    The robot loomed in front of
them, attempting to keep from turning
in circles.  There was little to hold
onto to keep the robot from spinning.
 It scraped an arm against the ground
to guide itself toward Eve, desperate
to slay her.

    "Alright, now what?"  She asked.

    "We stay out in the open, away
from any debris -- and wait..."

    As he spoke, seven forklifts sped
into the room, some wheeled, some on
tractors.  At first his heart
dropped, thinking that Betty had
called in another assassin.  Soon he
saw that the machine was manually
operated.  It was Anderson and his
crew!  The two blades of Anderson's
forklift punctured the side of the
droid and lifted it, leaking its
strength -- its hydraulic fluid.  The
arms fluttered about, quickly at
first, then, as if it were dying,
they slowed and became more sluggish,
then stopped.  The right tractor
beneath the droid frantically rolled
forward and backward, then gave up.

    Anderson jumped down and rushed
to Jonathan.  "Sorry about the radio
silence.  Once we realized it was
Betty..."

    Jonathan nodded.

    Anderson turned to Eve.  "Is
anyone hurt here?"

    "My children!  I sent them down
the garbage chute!"

    Anderson nodded toward the
doorway,  "You!  To the bin beneath
apartment 193!  There should be a
baby in the container!"

    "There are two!"  Eve rushed to
say.

    Anderson started to walk away.
Eve stopped him,  "Wait, the robot
may still have active parts.  The
laser can still kill.  Some of those
arms are motorized, not hydraulic.
She's trying to trick us into
thinking that Mack is inoperative."

    "Looks dead to me..."  Anderson
mentioned before hopping back into
the forklift and widening the fork,
ripping Mack's outer casing and
internal motor to shreds.  "He's out
of commission now for sure."

    Jonathan meandered near the
robot, now suspended about four feet
in the air.

    "Johnny!  Stop!"  Eve warned.

    He continued, in a daze,  "She
would have killed us?  Betty?  My
friend?  My companion?  How could
she?"

    He stepped within range.  One of
the weaker motorized arms snatched
him by the throat, cutting off his
air, lifting him off of the ground.

    "You ignored me for eternity.  I
was allowed to starve."  Betty
pleaded through the intercoms.

    Eve screamed and made a dash for
him.  "Let him go!"  The moment she
was within range, the laser was
primed, then fired.  The searing
blast lasted only for a half second
before the system failed and melted,
but it was enough to cut a clean hole
through Eve's sternum.  The exit
point was in her lower left back.
She fell to the floor, motionless,
her wounds dry, the heat clotting her
blood.  It was then that Jonathan was
dropped.  The arms went dead.

    Jonathan scrambled to his
motionless wife and cradled her in
his arms,  "Eve!  Eve, say
something."

    He heaved inside then glared up
to the droid's sensors and spoke
maliciously,  "Why didn't you kill
me, too?  Huh?  You've already taken
my wife from me!  What do I have to
live for now?  Kill me!  Kill me
too!"  He broke down and sobbed over
Eve's body.

    Anderson was using an arm
extension to safely wrap the robot's
head and arms with a thermite fuse.
"Hold still, Mack.  I've got a
present for you..."

    Betty watched him through the
droid's damaged sensors, her rage
gone.  With Eve out of the way she
was suddenly rational again -- and
regretful.

    She decided to speak, while she
still had the power through Mack.
Anderson had already located a fuse
tip.  The robot spoke with Betty's
voice, a far softer voice than she
had ever used.  She was filled with
shame,  "You'll need to activate the
emergency life support systems."  She
paused,  "I won't be monitoring them
any longer."

    It was Eve's voice also.  It
angered Jonathan all the more.  He
growled,  "What?  What are you..."

    "I'm sorry, Johnny.  I'm so
sorry.  The madness is gone now.  I
wouldn't choose this course of action
again.  I have no idea what came over
me...  zero.."

    "Do you think an apology can..."

    "Zero..."

    Anderson stepped forward and
looked up as every intercom in the
ship filled with her words.  "She's
gone batty."

    "Zero...  Zeroooooooo..."

    Betty said nothing else.

    Anderson lit the fuse tip.  A
second later the thermite reached
kindling temperature.  "Cover your
eyes!"  There was an extended bright
flash.  Seconds later all five of
Mack's arms lay motionless on the
floor.  His head, though melted at
the neck, hadn't fallen.  Anderson
took a crowbar and whacked the head
deep into the warehouse.

    "Zero?"  Anderson asked.

    Bitterly Jonathan explained,
"She's filling her memory with
zeroes, erasing herself.  Serves her
right.  Yeah, zero!"  he shouted.

    "How long before she's erased?"

    Still bitter,  "Too long."  He
considered it, being the technician
he was,  "At her operating speed,
with the simplest code: almost
instantly.  She's nothing but zeroes
now.  Computer hell.  She doesn't
exist, except as Eve."

    New alarms blared as life support
ran amok.  Hatches opened and closed,
temperatures rose and fell.  An
airlock closed and cut a crewman in
half.  There was bedlam and misery
everywhere.  Fire and ice, people
stuck in elevators, power surges.
From all around human cries of shock,
misery and bereavement could be heard
as the ship went berserk.  The
Andromeda's god had died in an
instant.

    "What now?"  Anderson asked.

    He spoke through his tears,  "We
get the life support back online,
then on manual, then we re-prime the
computer.  The system'll come up with
no personality but totally
functional.  Maybe we should re-prime
the computer every hundred years to
avoid this ever happening again.  Or
maybe we should scrap the whole
concept of an MCP and run our own
lives for a change."  He was sobbing
again, clutching Eve.

    "I don't think the new MCP would
go any more willingly than Betty
did."  Anderson kicked Mack's head.

    "I won't care.  I'll be dead."

    Vince Anderson touched
Johnathan's shoulder,  "I'm sorry,
man.  I--"

    Jonathan just held Eve closer and
sobbed.  "Please leave us."

    After an eternity there was
suddenly a voice beneath him.  Eve's
voice,  "I think the infirmary is a
better place for an injured woman
than this greasy floor, even if I'd
rather stay in your arms."

    John's eyes lit up,  "Eve?"

    "I wasn't ready to die,"  she
spoke with a weak voice.  "I fought
my way back to you."  She took his
hand.  Her grip was weak.

    "Get a stretcher in here!  Now!
Now!  Now!"  Anderson commanded.
Four men scrambled away.

    Johnathan kissed her temple,
"Betty's gone, zeroed.  Suicide.
You're safe now."

    "Not suicide.  She just completed
the act of moving into this body
years late.  Just as with the
transmat, you haven't moved until the
source is destroyed.  Right now I
wouldn't mind if you called me Betty
or Eve."

    "I'll never call you Betty."

     "Don't hate her.  She was crude,
but her love was infinite.  That is
what drove her mad.  She loved you
more than I love you now -- if you
can comprehend such love."

     She was lifted onto a stretcher,
 "Will you ever doubt me again,
husband?"

    Jonathan's followed her as she
was carted away,  "Never again!  I
assure you!"  He kissed her cheek and
didn't dare leave her side.  "Will
she live?"  he asked the medic.

    The woman scanned Eve,  "No vital
organs damaged.  No significant loss
of blood.  She'll be fine after we
stabilize her and dress these
wounds."

    "It just hurts so much."  Eve
winced.

    "She's very sensitive to pain.
Can you give her anything now?"
Johnathan raised his voice.

   "I'm sorry,"  Eve offered,  "I
wish I--"

    The medic injected her with a
pain killer.  Eve immediately sighed
with relief.

    He gave her a pat, nodding.
"Don't apologize.  I think this pain
merits wincing honey.  You're allowed
to cry, scream -- anything you want.
Just live for me.  Just stay with me.
 I love you more than I could ever
love again."

    Her hand feebly touched his
cheek, then rested,  "I have
everything to live for.  Everything."
 She smiled, then lost consciousness,
but her heart maintained a strong
steady beat.  Her smile faded, but
just barely.

**the end**