Entry 2: Armed Seizure
Author: J. B. Kregg/Embedded Journalist: Area 10 Troop 5
Bob reached his hand out the extended, open window. He felt the pressure of cool fall air as the Cat floated along the long, dusty county road. Summitt was another three miles off… maybe a minute and a half as Bob drove. He knew that was too much time. He added pressure to the accelerator. Selli grew nervous.
The Cat’s engine purred along in the darkness. Even as her body had seen much better days, she was well taken care of. Bob never let a bit of mechanical maintenance slip. It seemed his hands were always covered in her oil and grease. Pieces of her were always strewn here and there in the garage; Bob tinkering, upgrading, and rebuilding her… making her, Her.
The road side “Welcome to Summitt” sign was laying on the ground. Its post was shattered at the base. As the trio neared the square in the center of town they could see what looked like the frame of a high rise building in construction. Sparks flew from the upright posts and high intensity beams of light fused metal to metal. Figures moved around the site in massive numbers. The square was no longer quiet and still as usual. Bob pulled the Cat around the back of the bowling alley and escorted Selli out. Forgetting Leonard, he slammed the passenger door shut.
“Wonderful date this turned out to be.” Selli joked. She was always the best at lightening a severely heavy mood.
Bob laughed as he opened the door again to let his old friend out of the cargo area of the Cat.
“I apologize, Lenny. I forgot you were back there. By the way, thanks for saving us back at the garage. If you hadn’t shattered those robots, who knows what would have happened to us?” Bob was great at praising people when they deserved it. It just took him a while to realize people deserved it.
Lenny chuckled and walked ahead, toward the back corner of the bowling alley. He hated to be praised and didn’t need some kid reminding him of the danger they faced. The group peered around the corner trying to see what had happened to the town square. From where they stood, the view was obscured by trees and buidlings. They had to get much closer.
Bob and Selli moved out around the building first, leaving Lenny to take up the rear, keeping guard of both the Cat and the couple. He was like a father to Bob.
Bob’s hand faded from Selli’s. He crouched behind a brick wall bordering a once lush flower garden. He peeked over the wall and tipped his head to get a good view. Selli peeked too, followed by Lenny. They still couldn’t see well enough to get a clue as to what the construction was all about.
Bob motioned to the group to move around the wall; to the next safe observatory. A dark alley decorated with a paint flaking mural of a huge soda bottle on a deteriorating brick wall was that location. At the end of the alley was a narrow view of the construction zone. Also at the end of the alley was a bright flood light making a lot full of abandoned cars visible in the late evening darkness.
Selli moved down the alley ahead of Bob and Lenny. Bob looked at Lenny, rolled his eyes, smiled a little, and followed behind her. Selli stopped suddenly, alarmed by a sound at the lit end of the alley. She held her hand out to signal her friends to stop. A dim red glow approached the opening. The trio took cover behind a stench-filled, overflowing, rusty dumpster. Bob gagged a little. Selli covered her mouth, muffling laughter.
P1R-7 Robot
A figure appeared in the outlet of the alley-way. It stood silently peering into the narrow darkness. Bob pressed his back against the filthy brick wall. He looked over at Selli who now looked more serious than he had ever seen her. Their hands were unconsciously intertwined again. Lenny leaned out into the alley to get a glimpse of the figure. It looked human, sort of. A bright red glow filled the confined space. Lenny quickly leaned back and bruised his shoulder on the brick behind him. He pressed his lips together as he clenched his jaw.
The figure placed a finger on its hip. A click echoed through the alley. A high pitched hum followed. It pulled a shadow of a form from a holster slung on its side… the origin of the click and hum. A light beam explored the alley, stopping on Bob. The shadowy form pointed directly at the him.
“Human?” rang an eerie, electronic voice. ”Human?” it repeated, slightly agitated, when there was no reply.
Bob squeezed Selli’s hand. ”Don’t move.” he whispered. Bob stood up slowly. ”I’m a human. What, exactly, are you?” Bob greatly enjoyed verbally taunting everything and anything he could.
The figure’s eyes grew bright red. ”I’m P1R-7. Come with me. You should be at the compound.”
P1R-7 placed Bob’s hands in plasma cuffs behind his back and pushed him down the alley toward the construction site.
“Well, that’s one way to get a closer look.” Bob thought to himself as he half fought the robots pull.
Selli stood up and blocked the forward motion of the robot with a metal fence post. She pulled it up over her shoulder like a pro baseball player posing on deck. Her eyebrows tried to cover her eyes and she snarled a little, like a hybrid between Elvis and a rabid dog.
“I don’t think so tin man.” She said as she swung the heavy post from her shoulder. The post snapped like the proverbial toothpick across its face. The robot’s head spun to the side. When it turned back, one eye was no longer glowing and its jaw was hanging from a dented joint. It looked confused. It looked like it must have been in pain, but it surely couldn’t have been. Still, Selli felt a little bad.
“Human?” the robot asked in Selli’s direction. She remained silent.
“HUMAN?!?” the robot repeated, a bit fierce this time.
“Yes. I’m human. Are you going to arrest me too?” she replied with a defiant dignity.
“Come with me.” the robot said in a slightly less tinny voice than before. ”You, old human,” the robot continued toward Lenny, “get that car you came in before you chase down your friends.”
The robot pushed Bob and Selli down the alley, out of sight of Lenny. Lenny ran as fast as he could back to the Hipcat. He turned the key only slightly in the ignition and she burst into a furious rage and sped across the street, bouncing off the cracked concrete sidewalk, through the old parking lot of the Clancy General Store, and through a stockade protecting a huge metal fence at the construction site. That, too, was destroyed by the Cat’s ancient, chrome bumper.
