The Incision of Being, page 6
He stepped down from the chair and took aim at the copper cranking his lever. “Destroy every mechanthrop in this room.”
“Don’t,” Orvil said.
The copper released the lever and swiveled his torso, reaching for another copper’s head.
“Ignore last command,” Robert said. “Resume task of generating power.”
Orvil lowered his arms to his sides. “The Overrider doesn’t work on me. What will save you if I decide to destroy every human in this room?”
Robert unholstered his pistol and twirled it back and forth before returning it to his waist. “Like the jaws of death.” He aimed the Overrider at the copper. “Destroy every human in this room.”
Like a magnet drawn to its opposite polarity, Orvil slammed himself against the back of the copper and entangled their arms and legs. They fell to the ground like a wrecking ball. The copper’s inferior metallic alloy failed to repulse Orvil’s denser build. All Orvil had to do was keep his limbs locked, and the copper wasn’t going anywhere.
“Ignore last command,” Robert said, touching the Overrider to the copper’s head.
The copper’s futile convulsions ceased. Orvil untangled his arms and legs and swung a flat hand at Robert, smacking the Overrider. At same moment a bolt of electricity railed through Orvil’s insides. He momentarily lost control of all motor functions and the sound of a revving engine escaped his vocal emitters.
“Wait,” Annalease said.
The shockwave incapacitating Orvil abated, and he lifted himself off the floor.
Robert cradled his injured hand under his armpit—the hand that had been holding the Overrider—and held a pistol in the other. It trembled in his grip. Orvil had never seen Robert tremble.
“He can’t simulate termination,” Annalease said.
“He seems to be able to do everything else,” Robert said. “I say we add it to the list of tests.”
“Robert.” Annalease positioned herself between Orvil and the gun. “We’ll back out if the pain’s too great.”
The thump thump thump of Annalease’s heart set a tempo that the coppers synchronized to their whirling levers. A mixture of sweat, grease, and grinding metal laced the air. Heat fell from the ceiling like a blanket over Orvil’s head. But when he glanced up, he saw moist concrete. No vents, no radiators, no indication of anything burning but the cranks to Orvil’s left and right.
From the bottom of his peripheral vision, Orvil caught Annalease’s amber stare. She had turned around to face him, quiet as the rats that frequented the sewer tunnels. Or maybe Orvil didn’t gauge her movement because he was too focused on the subtle click of Robert de-priming his weapon.
Annalease stalked closer to Orvil. She was in arm’s reach, and then closer still. So close it hindered Orvil’s ability to effectively neutralize her. But he had no desire to harm her. If anything, her closeness made him feel more at ease.
He sat back on his haunches and leaned forward, but his stature remained a foot above hers. Her complexion reminded Orvil of a birch tree, and her eyes sat unique from the others. Not just their shade, but their shape. He barely noticed the scars on her cheek and neck anymore. Somehow, over time, they had become “a part” of her natural appearance.
“Do you remember when you asked me what dreams were?” Annalease said.
Orvil nodded. “Memories mixed with fantasy and disorder.”
“This will be like waking up from a dream.”
“What do you mean?”
She lifted a hand and wrapped her fingers around the air in front of her. The gesture brought into existence a metal bar that spread upwards and downwards from her hand until it touched ceiling and floor. More bars materialized from thin air, spreading in either direction of Orvil, forming a wall between himself and Annalease. The cage containing Orvil and the coppers completed its nascency within seconds.
The other mechanthrops continued their cranking, unaware of the change. Connected to their metallic scalps were various wires. They braided together to form a single cord that slipped through the bars of the cage and plugged into the same machine feeding the cranks. Orvil followed the cable that connected to his own head and touched the wires. The heat source.
“I knew you’d be a difficult breach, but I didn’t think you’d be the world’s strongest vault,” Annalease said.
“What is this?” Orvil asked.
“A form of deconstruction,” Robert said. He leaned closer to the laptop set on the deconstruction machine. “Come look at the pain registry from our altercation.”
Annalease walked over with Skink, Salamander, and the newest member of the crew, Eagle. “Right there, when he smacks my hand,” Robert said.
Orvil nudged the copper to his right, but the familia didn’t respond. What have they done to your programming? Orvil wondered, and regarded the heat blanketing his head. He grabbed the braided cable and ripped it off. Those chattering around the laptop fell silent.
“I will not be wiped,” Orvil said.
“Wiped?” Robert said, addressing Annalease.
She approached the holding cell. “Where did you hear that term?”
“Mechciety,” Orvil said. “From my training on human behavior.”
Annalease scanned the copper to Orvil’s left. “No. You picked it up here. From us.” Her birch complexion flamed to a deeper red. “How much of our conversations have you heard?”
“Only what you’ve decided to tell me,” Orvil said.
“Salamander, give me your knife,” she said.
He hustled over and handed it to her, its silver blade whistling a crisp shhink as he unsheathed it.
“Every mechanthrop we bring in here is compliant following initial intake,” Annalease said, bringing the tip of the knife to her forearm. “Not only do you defy those who came before you—”
“Stop,” Orvil said, grabbing the metal bars.
“But you’re somehow connected to humans.” Annalease dipped the knife’s point into the meat of her forearm.
A rail of lightning raged through Orvil’s core, zapping the components in his chest and then drilling through his legs and feet. Every piece of him constricted, and he fell back as the screeching sound of a revving engine escaped his vocal emitters. The torment passed within seconds, and Orvil lumbered to his feet.
Distorting the face of Annalease were the features of an animal both surprised and frightened. She handed back Salamander’s knife and drew the Overrider from her belt. She whispered to the others, “Shock-rounds, now.”
“Apply pressure to the wound to stop bleeding,” Orvil said, his sensory vision growing hazy as he watched the red droplets fall from Annalease’s forearm.
She didn’t say anything. She didn’t move. Her eyes shivered from left to right, jumping from copper to copper, but never landing on Orvil. And then Orvil realized her means of enticement. Each copper had stopped cranking and was standing full height, facing Orvil.
A drip of blood splatted the ground. Scarlet dots stained the floor Annalease stood upon, and Orvil couldn’t help but zero-in on the laceration. The coppers did the same. Orvil felt their attention lock on Annalease. The four of them together—one Gold and three coppers—acting as a singular mechanism, as a single familia.
Two of the coppers lunged forward, slamming their bodies into the metal bars. They clashed like the hands of thunder. The humans flinched and covered their ears. Again, the coppers threw themselves against the cage, bending the bars, and the third copper charged through the gap at Annalease.
She used the Overrider to shut him down, his metallic feet scraping the concrete floor as he slid. Momentum carried the petrified copper into Annalease. She stumbled, and the lapse hindered her from reacting in time to the second copper vaulting through the gap. He hammered a fist into her chest before she could aim the Overrider.
Orvil felt the impact in his own chest. Mightier than the jolt he had received when Annalease cut herself, it felt like his reserve batteries had exploded and the acid was burning through the wires in his legs. He hollered in pain. And then the torment passed.
Hard hands lifted Orvil to his feet. Two coppers, the one that had never left the cage, and the other that had been disabled by the Overrider. Somehow, the disabled copper had regained autonomy and came back to help Orvil. “Don’t harm Annalease,” Orvil told them as they rushed the diamond-shaped gap in the cage.
Sparks leapt from their hands as they contacted the bars, and an invisible force threw them.
“Skink, watch out,” Salamander yelled.
Outside the cage, by the power panel on the wall, Skink fled from the copper that had attacked Annalease. Three of her small steps equaled one of the copper’s. He fell upon her with hands interlaced in the form of a cannon ball. Skink dropped to the floor, shrieking. Sparks burst from the copper’s back.
From across the room Robert fired another round from his rifle. The copper fell on top of Skink.
Orvil felt the pain of the copper crushing Skink’s legs, but it wasn’t severe enough to incite another meltdown in Orvil’s processing centers; her injuries were minor.
“Tell them to stand down,” Annalease said through gritted teeth.
The copper on top of Skink remained motionless as Salamander pulled her out from underneath the familia’s body, and the two coppers inside the cage were on the ground, static, so Orvil wasn’t sure which “them” Annalease was referring to. But then they started moving, the coppers inside the holding cell.
First their visual sensors flickered on, two spheres of burning bronze glowing brightly in the dim atmosphere. Next were their hands, rotating and flexing, assessing damage. Orvil’s energy rose as the coppers came back online. He could interpret their intentions to eliminate all potential threats. Every human in the room.
“Cease all movement,” Orvil told them. They did, one sitting cross-legged and the other kneeling. The outside copper remained face-down on the ground.
“Two, maybe three bruised ribs,” Robert said. He had a flashlight trained on Annalease, who had taken off her shirt and the Kevlar vest underneath. “It’d be a lot worse if you weren’t wearing that.”
“It’s one less vest we have,” Annalease said. She grabbed the flashlight from Robert and approached the holding cell, shining it directly at Orvil. “What the hell are you?”
“A Gold destined for High Society,” Orvil said.
“There is no High Society!” Robert yelled.
“We could use some help,” Salamander said. “She feels unbalanced.”
“It’s fine. A sprained ankle,” Skink said.
Robert hurried over to assist Salamander. “Eagle, get the first aid ready,” he said, and escorted Skink to the operating room.
Annalease pointed the Overrider at the coppers in the cage and, disconnecting the electricity feeding the bars, had them restore the cell to its original shape. “We’re keeping these bars energized at all times,” she said, and ordered the coppers to resume cranking their levers. “You probably know this already, since you never truly shutdown, but Robert wants to extract the circuit board from your head and scrap the rest of you in exchange for resources.”
She breathed slowly, grimacing with each inhale. “The more you resist, the closer I get to letting him take you apart.”
“You won’t be able to get near me,” Orvil said. “Won’t get near any of us.”
“No?” Annalease limped closer to the downed copper outside the cage. “What about this one? I seriously doubt there’s anything you can do to stop me from destroying him.”
“I’ll tell him to fight back,” Orvil said.
“I’m willing to bet my life against it,” Annalease said. She aimed the Overrider at the copper and told him to reboot.
“Come over here so I can take a look at you, Annalease,” Robert said. He was lingering at the entrance of the operating room, the drape held open.
Salamander emerged from behind Robert, a rifle in hand. “Everything okay?”
“I want you to watch this, our noble Gold,” Annalease said. She aimed the Overrider at the downed copper. “When I say so, disconnect your head in a physical fashion.”
“Stop,” Orvil said.
Annalease flipped the switch to energize the bars of the cage. “So.”
The copper lifted his head, gripped his neck with both hands, and tore it off. Wires snapped and sparks spewed forth from the hole between the copper’s shoulders.
“I guess your word wasn’t as strong as you thought,” Annalease said. “Get back to cranking that lever or find yourself in a simulation with me cutting myself until your pain is so terrible, you’ll be begging to have your head disconnected.”
“You’re unstable,” Orvil said, grabbing the crank. “Where I come from, you’d be deemed unfit to lead anybody.”
“Why do you think I’m underground?” Annalease said. “Each of us was deemed unfit. And not for leadership, but for life.”
She walked toward Robert and the operating room, but something on the laptop compelled her to change course. “Liam wants to meet.”
“About what?” Robert asked.
“In person,” Annalease said.
Robert repeated himself. Annalease ignored him.
“When?” Salamander asked.
“Later,” Annalease said. “We have stuff to do right now.” She glanced at Orvil, then disappeared into the operating room with Robert.
Salamander stood guard outside the cage, as well as Eagle. They didn’t speak, but they raised their weapons anytime Orvil slowed his cranking. He’d pick up the pace to match that of the coppers, and the two standing guard would lower their guns again until another stitch of phantom pain stung Orvil’s inner core and forced him to slow down.
Chapter 7
Annalease donned her steel-tipped boots and slung the tool pouch over her shoulder: lineman’s pliers, diagonal cutters, wire strippers, electrical tape, a voltmeter, and a bottle of water. A hard hat to top off the outfit, and she was ready to go shopping.
Annalease chewed her tongue to mitigate the pain in her ribs as she drew back the curtain of her office door. Robert had assured they were only bruised, and she believed him, but damn if every motion wasn’t a hot poker to the chest. It’ll pass, as all injuries do, she told herself, and wiped all traces of pain from her demeanor.
Gathered around the portable heater were Skink and Eagle. Skink wore an oversized pair of coveralls, shoes that looked like boots, and a double-large hardhat. Strung around her waist like a hula-hoop was a coil of electrical wire.
“Leave the wire,” Annalease said.
Eagle wore the same wool pants and flannel button-down he had on when first arriving at the hideout. He stood squared-off with the holding cell, his rifle aimed at Orvil. Annalease considered telling him that he didn’t have to actually keep aim at Orvil 24/7, but precaution was paramount. Orvil had already demonstrated his capability for disaster, and Annalease wasn’t ready to witness his full potential.
“Don’t listen to a word he says, and don’t speak a word to him. Understand?” Annalease asked.
Eagle nodded. The ace bandage wrapped around his head had only a speck of blood at the back of his scalp.
Skink stood on her tippy toes to enwreathe Eagle with the coil of wire, slipping it over his head and shoulders. “Arms down,” Skink said, and guided the coil down Eagle’s legs to the floor. She tightened it around his ankles. “And whatever you do, don’t move.”
“Skink…”
“Sorry, Mother,” Skink said, loosening the coil before telling Eagle to step out of it.
Annalease wanted to ask Skink how she was feeling…if her leg was okay. The pain in Annalease’s chest beckoned for her to ask, if only to be given the opportunity to share her own afflictions and tell Skink that they would heal with time.
Salamander entered the room with a large black plastic bag. “We’ll have to make a trash run soon.” He tossed the bag in the corner among the others.
“How do the boots fit?” Annalease asked.
He lifted his foot, displaying one of the boots from the four they had acquired at the Hunting Grounds. “Like shrimp in a net.”
“Please, never again,” Skink said.
“I second that,” Annalease said.
Salamander shrugged. “What? It’s in my blood.”
Skink snickered.
“Okay okay, enough of the jokes,” Annalease said. “Make sure you swap laces with someone and throw on a layer of paint.”
“We’re out of spray paint,” Salamander said. “I’ll add it to the list.”
“Use markers, bleach…whatever we have available,” Annalease said.
Robert stepped out of the operating room. Dressed in flame-resistant pants and shirt, a ballcap thrown on his head, it appeared he had changed his mind about staying behind.
“You’re coming?” Annalease asked.
“Yes. I realize I should be present for the vetting of new recruits,” Robert said. He watched the holding cell.
Everyone’s eyes followed his gaze. Two coppers and the Gold, each cranking an individual lever to generate the electricity needed to power the few portable lights and heaters throughout the rooms, Robert’s operating area, Annalease’s laptop, and the electricity running through the cage’s metal bars. Everything but the electrified bars could run off batteries, but the mechanthrops didn’t need to know that.
“So, I’m going, and Salamander’s staying,” Robert said.
“I just got suited up,” Salamander said.
“You’re staying behind,” Annalease said.
Robert motioned at the crank they had hooked up outside the holding cell. “If any two of them stop generating power, you hop on here. Got it?”
“I’ll put Eagle on it,” Salamander said.
“Long as those bars stay energized,” Robert said. “Turn off the lights and use a flashlight if you need to conserve power.”
“And don’t shoot, harm, or listen to the golden nugget,” Skink said.
