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Well…they may have been right, then; and judging from how people generally seem respond to the topic these days…they might still be right now.
NOTE ON VIDEO: I thought this was kind of interesting. I'll be adding lots of links to the blog, since there's so much out there, God bless youtube, right? This is titled, "Reverend Barry Dowling: UFOs and Religion."
Getting out of the technician's office only required that I wait for a few minutes until he came back. While I waited, I did some research on the doctor who was working on Justin's case. He was a middle-aged gentleman, Dr. James Peterson, 46, a wife and three children living on the outskirts of the war torn borough of the Bronx. Used as a point of invasion, in the last wars a decade ago, much of the Bronx was still being rebuilt. New tenements sprung up there and privileged members of society were allowed to enjoy those new areas with their better food, water and energy facilities.
The doctor and his family were recently moved out there, almost simultaneously with his appointment here. When I tried to get further information regarding them, I was immediately flagged as requesting classified data. Since most data flags are annoying and can often be wrong, I transmitted information that would reroute that signal to another terminal in the building and continued my investigation. The most damning thing was that the doctor's children did not attend any local schools in the city, anywhere. And when I searched for an occupation for the wife, nothing was listed. So I accessed their shopping lists and noted that no one in their family went outside to shop. Now, unbeknownst most people, every time you leave your home in our illustrious society, something notes your movement, by either an implant or an appliance you wear. The doctor's family did not move. Ever. And had not since they were relocated. That was all I needed to know.
Skipping out between fat boy's legs was easy enough but there was something wrong with him. His heart rate was wrong, highly elevated and irregular. He was pasty and he appeared to be having trouble breathing. After he closed the door, I heard a crash and then no other movement. Normally, I would chalk it up to a bad lifestyle leading up to a bad ending, but there was something wrong with this. Once the door closed, I could not get health information, but I used a medical code override and triggered an alert with this technician's door and zipped down the corridor back to the office I was supposed to be sitting in. Big man was no longer my problem.
I tapped on the door to get Gorgeous Boy to open the door and he looked up, put down his compact and let me back in.
"How did you get out?"
"I walked."
He stood there struck for a moment and then realized, "You are a robot, aren't you? You are realistic looking, I really thought you were a cat."
"Wow, no fooling you, huh? Do you think you could take a look back there and see if my boy is ready?"
Recovering his ennui and trying to look unaffected he said, "Sure thing. Flashing back."
I hate the abuse of the language. But my database included a variety of slangs programmed from modern vids, so that I would be a better communicator with my charge. But Justin did not use much of the modern slang and I was grateful. It was always about being fast or being in sync or being smart and most of the people using it were never any of these things. As he turned away, I immediately followed in his path and as he opened the door into the chamber, I slid in behind him and caused the phone to ring. He reflexively turned around and headed back toward the phone. Never saw me and evidently once he realized no one was on the phone, he forgot my request to see the doctor as well. Short attention span. A wild animal should eat that one to keep him from breeding; never a tiger around when you need one.
Once I entered the doctor's office, I noticed the immensity of the space and could hear Justin talking with the doctor deep in the office behind a series of curtains. I could hear a number of other voices, but most seemed to be coming from displays and were not people. I could only detect two scents in the room, so I knew I had the place to myself. Dropping down, I could see the doctor's feet beneath the curtains and made a path toward them. Justin was lying down on a table and answering questions as the doctor's diagnostic table took sophisticated biometric readings. I decided to take the direct approach. Finding a terminal with a cold beam access, I managed to find the office vox and transmitted my voice from every corner of the office.
"Justin, go outside. Wait for me there." I jumped up on the edge of the table and watched Justin turn and sit up. He remembered our conversation and went outside to wait.
"Doctor Peterson, I presume. I work for the Proctor, just like you do. Actually, not quite like you do. How is the boy's therapy going?"
"Uh, well. The course of therapy is going well and he should be fine in a number of weeks."
"Okay, that was for the listening public. Now cut the crap. What about the real therapy, how long is it going to be? The Proctor is an impatient man and wants to know how long he is going to have to wait." Borrowing the House's fractal attack, I laced the vox output with a signal designed to intimidate and cause a visceral fear reaction. He would not notice it at the audible level, but his level of fear was already off the chart.
"Tell the Proctor everything is according to plan and the subject will be sanctioned within eight to ten weeks."
"So tidy. So clinical. Say the boy's name, Doctor."
"Justin."
"Say it again. This time with some feeling."
"Justin Pennyworth."
"And that is about what he is worth to you, isn't it?"
"What do you want from me? What do you want me to say?"
"I want you to say that you are sorry for doing this."
"Who are you? What do you want?"
"Your family lives in the Bronx. Imprisoned in a new tenement there, isn't that correct?"
"You people said if I did what you wanted you would not hurt them."
"What else did the Proctor promise you?"
"That when the boy was done, I would be able to get my family back."
"That deal is over. This is the new one. Reverse what you have done and I won't kill you and your family, today."
"Excuse me?" The doctor looked visibly shaken. He dropped his diagnostic wand and slumped back into a chair.
"Can you reverse what you have done to the boy? And if you lie to me, I will know."
"Yes, the process required significant setup and he is not past the point where it could not be undone. But if I do that I am dead, and so is my family."
"Doctor, I am not a cat or a toy. I am a sophisticated weapon with only one objective. To protect that boy in there. If you intend to leave this room alive, you will undo what you have done. Wave that scanner in the air and tell me what you detect."
The doctor waved the wand and his face turned completely bone-white.
"I have an antidote. I will administer it only when my boy is safe."
"Why should I? According to you, my family is dead either way."
Turning on a cold beam, I connect to the House and relay the address of the Doctor's family. A few seconds later, his response is what I hoped.
"Your family is secured by electronic systems only. I can arrange for them to be outside of that building in two hours and I have a window of fifteen minutes in which they will appear to all surveillance to be sitting in the house quietly. Be there with a car and disappear. I don't care where you go but know this: You better be right about this being reversible because if you don't I promise you, I will create the most corrosive acid possible and cook the flesh right off the bones of you and your children. And don't think I can't find you. Just like I found your family today, it took me five minutes."
I jump down to the floor and come over to the chair where the doctor is sitting and climb up so that he is looking me directly in my very cold eyes. "You think the Proctor is a monster? I am as close to dying as you have ever been in your life. Now get my boy in here and get it right. Once I am satisfied, you get your family, go into hiding and hope to never see me again. Because if you do, it means you are about to die."
The doctor presses a button on the phone. "Would you send Justin back, please?" He walks to a nearby terminal and begins making a new recombinant viral cocktail. It takes him ten minutes. He walks up to Justin after leaving a synthesis system and loads an air-pistol injector. "He will be slightly feverish and sick while the new viral infection removes the previous transformations. It will pass. Can I go now?"
I run across the room and jump up to the table, and continue my leap onto the doctor and knock him to the floor. I bite him about the neck with my steel teeth and inject him. He screams and writhes in pain. But it is momentary and then he is still. He can hear every word I say.
"What I have injected you with will last about ten minutes and then you will be able to move again. It will also counteract the earlier poison. Can't have you calling anyone. I am a machine of my word. In one hundred and twenty minutes, your family will be able to walk out of that building and no technology will see them. If anything happens to my boy, no technology will be able to hide you. Blink if you understand me." He blinks, with tears in his eyes.
I looked up at Justin and he is already starting to sweat. "Let's go, kid, before you start to get really sick."
"Good luck, Doctor. Pray we never meet again."
MODOC - Part 9 - Public Gatherings
'Metal Organism Designed only for Cuddling' © Thaddeus Howze 2010. All Rights Reserved
Saw this interview of Nichelle Nichols on Tavis Smiley. For those of you who either grew up in a cave or a test tube over the last 40 years, Ms. Nichols played Lt. Uhura on the original "Star Trek" series and in the subsequent theatrical films. One classy lady who paved the way for everyone who came afterwards!
Join Penelope & Otto and ask yourself these few questions to try and decide how righteous or hypocritical you're prone to be. Call in and sound off at 718/508-9683 or join us in the chat room at 9:30pm CST on the 1/15/11 In Like Flynn show!
We look forward to hearing your voice!
I'm currently working on a YA scifi series and frankly am not sue if it is any good. It's a "space opera" I love those, they are just fun to me and I thought I'd post my first chapter, so that I can get some honest feedback. So please everybody, let me know what you think.
One
“Worlds are birthed in coldness, but die in blood and fire.”
-Old Maraudan Proverb.
Harcadia Colony, The Edge
United Republic of Planets
The ash from the burning Bargel colony was falling on the land like a dark, dry rainstorm. Tara was horrified by the images before her and while the sights around her were quickly becoming one horrific blur, she could not tune out the loud shrieks of the human and Bargel colonists who were falling under their attackers’ relentless assault. She tried to raise her body off the ground, but her head was pounding, and her legs no longer seemed to work. Tiny red rocks were grinding into her brown legs as she slowly crawled forward, and for the first time, the deep red sand that sprawled across the Bargel’s half of the planet held no beauty for her. Her braids were sticking to her forehead, but she didn’t seem to have the energy to push them back. She noticed large blotches of blood on her legs and fought back a surge of panic.
Was she hurt? Was the wound fatal?
She traced the path of the blood. Yes, her legs were scared, but the wounds did not seem deep enough to create this type of bleeding. She looked at the blood on her fingers.
Blue?
Human blood was not blue. She rolled over and nearly screamed at the sight of the dead Bargel lying beside her. Its rough, hairless gray skin was soaked in its blood and its legs were clearly broken. A tear escaped her eyes as she realized what had happened. Unlike her and the other humans in the colony, the Bargel were being slaughtered without mercy. She knew though, that he colony had not fallen without a fight. The Bargel were known for their toughness and had been one of the last races of Albys to fall in the Unification War.
The heat was starting to get to Tara as she continued to crawl. The orange sky seemed redder then it ever had, even as the usual afternoon rain shower began to fall. Tara knew at once that it was a sign that Yah was crying for her world.
She let out a disgusted laugh.
When the attacks began, her people fled to this side of the planet in hopes that the savages they mocked and isolated would be able to protect them, but Tara now knew that this part of the planet would hold no salvation for anyone. She was so tired, but she forced herself forward. She had to find a place to hide and some how wait out the attacks. She had only moved a few metrics when she heard a faint cry.
It was an old, human woman.
Her thick braids, more gray then black, were matted across her brown forehead. Tara crawled over to the woman. The old woman was bruised and battered, her clothes were torn and her face was full of terror. Tara wished she could do something, anything to ease the old woman’s suffering, but she knew all she could do was be there.
“Help me,” the old woman whispered, her terrified gaze intensifying with every word. The old woman pleaded for help again, but this time the plea was not to her. Tara looked behind her, frozen in fear, as one of her planet's conquerors advanced towards her. She could see the soldiers now. Their gold chest plates were glistening in the sun and the bare legs that hung out of their navy blue pleated skirts were a dark brown and their hair…Tara let out a loud gasp.
They were bald! They were humans. Maraudans. Her own people were trying to destroy her. The revelation shocked Tara. For some reason she expected these monsters to be Albys.
“Help me,” pleaded the woman again.
“I will,” promised Tara, squeezing her hand. “I’ll get help.”
But before she could move, a dark figure approached. Tara could tell by her strides that she was a woman. The dark figure was wearing the same type of military gear that the soldiers wore, but you could see her long braids coming out of her gold, fitted helmet. She walked like she owned the air, the ground, and the universe. She was the most beautiful thing that Tara had ever seen.
“It looks like we have another wounded animal,” said the Dark One.
“Help me please,” begged the old woman, her voice cracking with every sentence. “My daughter… I need to get to my daughter.”
“I don’t think you’ll have much luck finding your daughter in all this,” the Dark One sneered.
The old woman began to shake. “Please, Your Highness. Please have mercy on me. I have been loyal to my Maraudan heritage and to you. I fought with your father during the Great War. Please command this mighty army…tell them…they can find my daughter...help me.”
The Dark One’s brown eyes hardened. “Alright I’ll help. I always want to help a loyal citizen of the Empire.”
The Dark One moved to her side and produced a blast pistol. Tara couldn’t breathe.
“I’ll help put you out of your misery,” she laughed, firing a ray from her blast pistol into the old woman’s chest.
Tara did not have to look down at her to know that she was dead.
“I just hate to see animals suffer don’t you?” she asked, turning to Tara. “A loyal citizen of the Empire would be in Maraudan space.”
“She was just a poor injured woman,” said Tara, in a courageous tone she didn’t feel.
“She couldn’t have done anything to you.”
“I didn’t say she could.”
The Dark One’s smile chilled Tara’s very soul.
“I suppose you are going to kill me, too.”
“Maybe.”
Tara fought back her fear. She used all the strength inside of her to pull herself up. She was Tara from the House of Yaronn. If she was going to die she was going to meet her fate with dignity.
“Why are you doing this?”
It wasn’t a plea, just a simple question.
The Dark One leaned over Tara and she could feel her breathe in her ear. “I did this to send a message Little One.”
“What message is that?”
The Dark One’s words were slow and deliberate. “That we are back.”
Tara opened her mouth to protest but she felt a burning sensation in her chest. She felt herself drop to her knees and looked up as the Dark One, her queen, walked away from her. She didn’t see the look of small regret that flickered on the young queen’s face, nor did she hear the cries of the wailing baby whose mother had been shot just two metrics away from her. By then, Tara was already gone.
Come through To Lands Far Afield and check out some new post :
- P. Djeli Clark, Sword and Soul, and "The Open Up"
- The Gongberou King: artist Wayne Parker.
And if you haven't done so read and comment, let me know what you think. Honesty is always welcome.
Hey Fam: Here's an interview of me with Authors on the Rise. Check it out when you have a chance -:)
Mocha Memoirs Press is proud to announce the publication of our first science fiction title, PROGRAM COMPLETED.
Our Espresso Shots line are short, intense genre short stories. Our first Espresso Shot is Miriam Ruff's Program ompleted.
If you like thought-provoking science fiction that lingers with you long after you're done reading, try this title today!
Title: Program Completed
Author: Miriam Ruff
Publisher: Mocha Memoirs Press, LLC
Genre: Science Fiction
Release Date: January 7, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-9831934-3-2
Purchase link: http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/program-completed/14449638
Price: $2.25
Blurb: Stationed on the remote Relay 4 asteroid communications station, Devon Fragoza faces a life and death struggle as a collision with a supply ship destroys his life support system. He has only one and a half hours to work with the computer, an artificial intelligence and Fragoza’s closest friend, to find a way to restore the system while at the same time facing the inevitability of his own mortality.
Excerpt
“Warning: Collision alert. Impact in 60 seconds. All interior doors will be sealed automatically in 15 seconds.” Another alarm, this one within the station, blared stridently as Fragoza checked the readouts on his board.
“Confirmed,” he acknowledged then spoke into the comm system. “Relay 4 to Endeavor. Relay 4 to Endeavor, do you read?” After a pause he practically yelled, “Endeavor, what the hell’s going on up there? You’re on a collision course with my station; take evasive action!”
The interior doors to the control deck hissed shut, leaving behind a mechanical clang as they latched into place. “Interior doors are now sealed,” the computer’s voice intoned. “Projections show impact area to be within 100 meters of the pressure dome. Station personnel are advised to take precautionary measures. Impact in 35 seconds.”
Fragoza ignored the computer’s report and continued trying to raise the Endeavor. “Waters! Damnit, man, do something!” he shouted, feeling helpless at his inability to change the situation.
“Endeavor has just launched one escape pod,” the computer informed him. “The ship is still on a collision course. Impact now in 20 seconds . . . 15 seconds . . . 10 seconds . . .”
Fragoza never stopped trying to raise the ship, but he was savvy enough not to ignore the computer’s call for safety. Fingers still flying over his console, he hastily buckled his impact restraints into place. “Bulkheads show secure. Remotes and scanners on automatic.”
“Explosion detected aboard Endeavor in the main engine module,” the computer informed him. “Altitude 120 meters, 70 meters downran—”
Like Waters, the computer never had a chance to complete its sentence. Over the speakers came the roaring thunder of an explosion, and the station rocked as large sections of the dome absorbed the heavy blows of flying shrapnel. The lights flickered, the consoles started shutting down, and most of the nearby machinery came to an abrupt stop.
Join Penelope & Otto as they discuss the incredible case of Kiri Blakeley, Forbes journalist who after 10 years of engagement was infomed by her fiance' that he was gay. How do you manage to trust anyone for the rest of your life when you find out that the person closest to you has lied to your face everyday for the past ten years? Call in and sound off at 718/508-9683 or join us in the chat room at 9:30pm CST on the 12/11/10 In Like Flynn show!
We look forward to hearing your voice!
For all of you who may be interested, listed below is the link to my latest podcast. It's sort of a verbal blog.
I will appreciate any feedback.
Elbert