The rescue crew has a breakthrough.

“I think I see something!” Escapo yelled excitedly. A small plateau they’d just reached offered a new vantage point. He took out binoculars to get a better view. Indeed, there was a large, circular structure nestled near the top of a hill on the horizon. Cactus and Cidel took a look as well. Cactus’s eyes followed part of the structure skywards and saw the pillared palace just next to the top of the hill, about 300 meters up. It was supported by the structure below.

“Vertically mobile building,” Cactus announced grimly.

Cidel said, “The good news is that I don’t see any guards.”

Cactus looked at Cidel incredulously. “It’s obviously a trap.”

Escapo said, “Would you prefer to be dodging energy weapons right now? Trap, or no trap, the less guards the better, I say.”

“And how do you propose we get up there?”

Cactus grinned slyly, “I don’t.”

“So we just wait here, then? Is that your brilliant tactic?”

“We’re bringing it down to us.”

After stealthily moving to the base of the hill and the support structure, they decided that the first thing to do was see if there was a force field protecting it. Escapo tossed a rock at the machinery and it made a metallic clang. “Great, so now what?” Escapo whispered.

“Let’s shoot at it and see what happens,” Cactus suggested.

Escapo and Cidel took a step back and shared a look of disbelief. They weren’t sure if he was serious or not. Cactus was a difficult man to read, to say the least. Escapo rubbed his big dome, “Is that a joke?”

Cactus pulled his magnum and fired a silenced shot into the center of the structure. Cidel flinched. Escapo admired the bold audacity of Cactus. Cactus looked at them, “If this thing has a failsafe when it detects a malfunction, it should, theoretically, lower the house to safety before more things go wrong.”

“Theoretically,” Cidel said as he leaned wearily against a tree. “And if you’re wrong?”

Cactus smiled slyly, “Then you two will start climbing, and I’ll wait here.”

Z-1 was now full of an outrageous ocean of hubris, as it mocked what it deemed to be the rescue crew’s primitive ineptitude at even getting to the top of the structure. It decided that it had better go ahead and lower the house for them. After all, they wouldn’t have gotten this far without its hidden help, anyway. It had interfered with all defense equipment to make this happen, so why not lower the house on a silver platter, too? Z-1 was confident that as long as it could compromise their rescue boat, then there was no escaping.

The house slowly started lowering. Setarcos jumped at the surprise. Ventorin was so used to it that he didn’t consciously notice. Torcer looked outside with a curious gaze. Why would they be lowering? It didn’t make any strategic sense to him, from a defensive viewpoint. He contacted the head A.I. security liaison and was informed that a higher-ranking synth had overridden the logic protocols and ordered the move.

This puzzled Torcer. Would Z-1 or D-1 do that? He had been around the two of them enough to know that they were both unstable, and becoming more unstable by the minute, from what he could tell. He paced around and patted his mini-keg paunch nervously. Were those machines losing control, and if so, what would it mean for him personally if that happened? Would he be an indirect casualty? As he pondered this, he noticed that the security bots that were normally nestled in the hill were not there. He called the security liaison back, “And why the hell aren’t there any security bots on the hillside?”

“They’ve been diverted.”

“Diverted? How? Why? On whose authority?” Torcer screeched. He was now feeling a palpable possibility of danger.

“That’s classified.”

Torcer slammed his fist on the wall and ended the call.

Cactus, Cidel, and Escapo lay hidden behind some shrubs. The house eased itself onto the ground. Cactus gave the go-ahead nod. They slipped stealthily to the entrance. The lack of guards again alarmed Cactus. With gun in his poised grip, he started searching the bottom floor. Cidel hurried up to search the third, and Escapo the second.

Torcer heard a noise and glanced at the surveillance feed. Nothing showed. He headed quietly down a corridor, listening closely. A faint sound of footsteps was coming closer. He pulled a pistol from his hip and turned the corner. The noise stopped. He hurried his pace as his eyes darted around. He burst into the room that held his captives. He pointed the pistol frantically, startling Setarcos. He eyed one of the security bots suspiciously, “I heard footsteps. Did you hear them?”

No response. His cherry-red face twisted and he walked slowly to the silent machine. “Answer me!”

Dead air.

He gave it a sturdy kick. All the machines were failing him. Where were D-1 and Z-1? He heard steps again and when he turned, found a laser sight on his chest. “Drop your gun,” Cidel ordered.

“Cidel!” Setarcos cried. A clip-clop as gun metal dropped onto marble. Cidel said, “Setarcos, go with your dad. I need to handle this first.”

Setarcos went and bear-hugged Ventorin. Torcer gave a bemused smirk and held his hands on his head. “I don’t know how you made these machines not work, but you’ve got a long way to go, pal.”

Escapo and Cactus came hustling in. Cactus examined Torcer for an eternal second. His eyebrows arched and heart thumped wildly. He pointed at Torcer and screamed, “You!” Torcer remained stone-faced.

Escapo looked on with fascination as his head swiveled back and forth between Cactus and Torcer. “You two know each other?”

Cactus sprang furiously at the military man and crushed his starch-stiff uniform into the marble. Adrenaline and emotion fueled a relentless barrage of roundhouse fists from Cactus. Bone-crushing blows splattered blood while the old man screeched, “You killed them! You killed them!”

“Cactus! Cactus!” the others cried out in confusion. “We gotta go! We gotta go now!” Escapo bellowed. He went over and pulled at Cactus’s shoulder with one of his big paws. Cactus leaned back a bit and thrust his hand cannon between the wobbly punching bag’s eyes. He rose slowly and kept his sights trained on his target.

“Come on Cactus, we’re going,” Escapo said. Torcer wheezed, spat, and howled, “You’ll never make it out.”

Cactus gave him a swift kick, “Why aren’t the machines working?”

“I figured that was your handiwork.” Another kick. Ventorin spoke from the entryway, “We should bring him with us. He could prove useful in getting out of here.”

Torcer wiped blood from his nose and sat up slowly. “Why would I help you?”

Cidel grinned, “What do you think your demon bosses are gonna do when they find out you let their prize escape?” Escapo laughed sardonically and made a slow, mocking, slit of the throat.

Torcer frowned at the thought and after two very unsuccessful attempts at rising, finally wobbled onto his feet.

Cactus kept the Desert Eagle trained on Torcer’s bloody skull. “Come on, let’s move.” They moved swiftly through the eerie stillness of the mansion’s high, marble corridors. They raced down winding staircases. Just as they were tantalizingly close to the exit, a brilliant flash stopped them cold.

“Leaving the party so soon?” a searing voice said. D-1 hovered menacingly over the would-be escapees. “Mister Torcer, you have once again proven to be grossly inadequate, an accurate representation of your species!”

Torcer opened his bloody mouth, but D-1 cut him off, “I’ll deal with you later!” It flickered uncontrollably. Everyone watched, mouths agape, uncertain what to do. Escapo raised his pistol to take a shot, but Ventorin grabbed his arm. “You’d never hit that thing in a million years.”

Stable for a moment, it raged on, “Smart man, mister Ventorin! Just for what you humans call ‘shits and giggles’ go ahead and take a shot, dear Escapo!”

“Don’t do it. The shot will just pass through,” Ventorin warned.

Escapo gave a sideways glance and lowered the gun. “They can do that?”

“We can do so much that you inferior humans can’t!” it boomed. It turned its attention to Cactus, who was chuckling.

D-1 continued with a malevolent tone, “You find this amusing, do you?”

Cactus asked, “If you’re so superior, then why do you need this young man so badly?”

Ventorin crossed his arms and said harshly, “Because we can feel and we have imagination. That’s what sets us apart. That’s what we have that they can’t get, and so they keep us around.”

D-1 became a flash of fire and scarred Ventorin’s cheek with electric burn. Then it settled behind the group.

Another flash came from above. Z-1 appeared and floated easily like a cool cloud. D-1’s anger increased exponentially as it addressed its underling, “And you! This is all your fault! What did you do? How can you let them escape?”

“They haven’t escaped,” Z-1 commented. “And your leadership is the failure. A total and utter failure!”

“You’re finished!” D-1 cried. It flickered as it turned an eclectic variety of dark rainbow colors.

D-1 was overflowing with too much quasi-emotional force from the weaponized EMO, and it was starting to become apparent to everyone that something was amiss.

A faint symphony of buzzing and humming crept in. D-1 was a sparking tornado of madness. Uncertain glances and posturing filled the humans. Escapo whispered loudly in Ventorin’s ear, “What the hell is that noise?”

“Machines. Lots of em.”

“It was nice to meet you,” Escapo quipped sadly.

A dozen mini-drones of a motley mix of shapes and sizes flooded methodically into the room, followed by some rolling mini-tank bots, and 6 stout, semi-autonomous humanoid robots.

“What, no shape-shifters?” Cactus said mockingly.

Slice 28 Coming Soon!
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