Carmody and the Electric Dragon

10th District Junior High School, Pan City

Thursday November 8th 2046

Sarah and Carmody had arrived together at the school grounds long before their lessons started. Today was the big day and the pair raced through the front gates and skidded to a stop alongside Lilly and Achmed.

“You only just made it in time” Achmed chastised the two girls. “Angelina messaged me to say they were five minutes out not long ago”

“It’s not my fault!” Sarah complained. “Someone who shall remain nameless took forever to meet me at the corner this morning” She glanced at Carmody significantly, in case the others were under some misunderstanding about whom she meant.

“Mum made us a bigger lunch than usual so it took a while to pack it all” the girl explained. “She thought I would like to share some with the new Head of Security”

“Okay” said a mollified Sarah. “Did she make some of that fried chicken? Stanley loves that stuff!”

Their conversation was cut short by the arrival of a long black electric limousine at the front gates, accompanied by a large black van with the Brackenridge Transportation logo on the side. Before the electric motors had whined down to silence the rear doors of the van had opened and a small squad of grey uniformed men and women leaped onto the pavement.

With military precision they formed two ranks to either side of the limo, facing inwards, then stood at attention. Once they were in place, the limo driver got out and went to the rear passenger door and pulled it open, letting the occupants climb out.

First came Angelina, dressed immaculately as always in her school uniform, her dark hair bound in two pigtails. She smiled and waved to her friends and ran happily between the ranked security people to join them.

Next out of the limo was their Homeroom Teacher and now Adult Overseer for the Project, Miss Abrams. She was dressed in a pale green skirt that was definitely shorter than the school dress code allowed, her hair and makeup as perfect as ever. With a walk that would not have been out of place on a fashion catwalk she sauntered over to the students, a big grin on her face.

It was the final person who exited the vehicle that they had arrived so early to welcome. As she unwound her six foot frame from the limo, Carmody gasped in appreciation. Fiona was wearing the same grey uniform as the rest of the security team, but on her fit and well defined body she looked like she was worth every one of those Million Pandas.

As she stood there, the two ranks of security people gave her a salute. Fiona returned it, her right arm concealed by her jacket and the hand inside of a leather glove. With a self conscious look on her face she marched stolidly through the ranks and came to a stop before the impromptu welcoming committee.

“Good morning, everyone” Fiona said. Her eyes sought out Carmody and while the others greeted her in return, the young girl threw herself into the ex-Guard with a wild rush. Fiona hesitated then wrapped the girl up in both of her arms, the old one and the new.

“Is it really you?” Carmody asked her. “Did Archimedes keep his promise?”

“Yes, Carmody, it’s really me” she replied. “Except for my arm of course, that is new”

Carmody twisted in the embrace of the woman to examine her right arm. In the uniform and glove it looked the same size as the left one. She wriggled a hand free to squeeze the bicep experimentally and found it was hard and unyielding beneath the cloth.

“They fitted me with a military grade arm, much stronger and harder to damage than my old one” Fiona explained. “Mrs Brackenridge made them fit me with the best model available”

“Oh” was all Carmody could say to that. “So long as you are otherwise the same, I am happy”

Fiona released her from the hug and the young girl stepped back. She had an expression on her face that Carmody had not seen before, almost a look of regret.

“I am not the same, Carmody” she said. “Part of the deal that Archimedes insisted on was that I be disconnected from the Quantum Network. My processor still functions and supports my internal systems, but I cannot communicate any more with the other Guards”

“What? You mean you can’t chat online with them like before?”

“Yes” she agreed, then gave the girl a faint smile. ’But I can talk to them the same way you do, with my voice, if they will let me”

Carmody regarded the woman with a quizzical expression.

“Aren’t they your brothers?” she questioned. “Of course they will still want to talk with you. You’re their big sister!”

“Even though I am no longer one of them, one of the Guard?”

Carmody had never expected such a brave and loyal soldier to be so uncertain of herself, or of those close to her.

“Don’t be silly, Fiona” Carmody told her and turned to point to the rooftop of the school buildings. “They have been waiting for you to come back to them all week. Every single day all of them have been pestering me about how you are and when are you coming!”

Fiona followed the girl’s pointed arm and gasped in surprise. Standing on the edge of the roof were four Guards, watching the courtyard below with eager eyes of flesh and metal. When they saw their sister look up at them, all four delivered a salute with absolute precision and speed. She smiled widely and saluted them in reply, then snapped her arm down with uncanny speed of her own.

“Thank you Carmody” the woman told her. “I am truly indebted to you”

“Well, it was a group effort” she conceded with a laugh and the friends gathered around the new Head of Security, chatting and laughing.

One thing was puzzling Carmody though and she approached Miss Abrams.

“Excuse me Miss, but if Fiona is now a regular citizen of Pan City, where will she be living? She can’t go back to the Post or the Guard Barracks now, can she?”

“Are you offering her a room at your place?” Miss Abrams responded with a laugh of her own.

“Hmm? We might be able to fit her in, provided she is willing to share a bunk bed in my room” Carmody replied in all seriousness.

“It’s fine, I was just teasing you” her teacher admitted with a mischievous grin. “With all the extra Pandas I am making now, I moved to a bigger apartment. Fiona is my new roomie and we are going to have a blast!”

Students were starting to arrive at the school gates, looking with interest at the ranked security and the small knot of adults and children in the middle. Miss Abrams noticed them and switched into Teacher mode, yelling at all of them to stop dawdling and get ready for classes.

“And you, Miss Smith, time to start earning your pay. Get your security team to the briefing room and let them know what the School Board expects from them!”

“Yes, Miss Abrams!” replied a suddenly professional Miss Fiona Smith, Head of Security at the 10th District Junior High School. With some short and sharp commands she got her people into motion and marching into the main entrance.

“Who named her Smith?” Carmody asked her teacher.

“Archimedes” Miss Abrams told her. “I am sure he thinks it is funny”

Carmody and her friends followed the other students into the school, ready for another day of education and hopefully no surprise attacks from other dimensions. She had her bat, the mighty Excalibur, slung from her shoulder just in case that might happen.

=====

The Fortress, Pan City Harbour

Jericho-Two was watching the boats in the harbour, sipping coffee from a tall glass. It was still a little too hot so he was alternating blowing on it to cool the coffee, then taking a tentative mouthful.

“You are becoming more like Three every day, brother” Eric said as he entered the older one’s office. He went and stood by his side, eyes roving over the water traffic too.

“That is an awful thing to say” Two replied flatly. “I am simply trying to act in a more human like manner to assist in my dealings with Miss Abrams. She is becoming quite demanding of my time”

“So her demands are now making you drink coffee?” Eric asked pointedly. “Before you met her you never touched the stuff”

Two regarded his younger clone over the lip of his coffee cup with narrowed eyes.

“Shouldn’t you be at school this morning, Thirteen? The new Head of Security will be arriving there today”

Eric gave a small smile. “I am sure your Miss Abrams will be able to handle it for us”

“She is not my Miss Abrams!” Two insisted with far more emphasis than required. “Anyway, to return to my earlier question. Why aren’t you at school?”

“I want to know what you and Archimedes are up to at the school. I want to know why he let F-Zero-Three be released from the Guard. The others at the Post, they would be classed as Defective and sent for Early Retirement if they were in any other squad”

“I thought you liked the Guards we placed there. Everyone on the AURA Project seems to have bonded with them exceptionally well so far” Two said in response, gazing once more out of the window. He took a sip from his cup and savoured the steaming drink with visible pleasure.

“I see” Eric said bitterly. “More experiments on us and the Guards. Seeing how allowing emotional bonds to be formed with the clone soldiers can affect our working together”

“Something like that” Two agreed with his younger sibling. The young man sighed angrily and went to leave the office.

“I’ll have my pilot fly you back to school, Eric” he told him without turning around. “I don’t want you missing any more school time than can be avoided”

“Fine!” he muttered and stomped from the room, the door closing silently behind him. Jericho-Two sent a message via the Quantum Network to his pilot, telling him to prepare the VTOL for lift-off soon.

The holo-projector on his desk activated by itself and an image of a wise old man in flowing white robes appeared. It was the preferred icon used by Archimedes, but Jericho-two thought it looked more like the old Christian images of their God. Perhaps that was his intention after all.

“It appears Thirteen is more astute than you give him credit for” Archimedes said to his living Avatar. “Regardless, it will be an interesting experiment. I am intrigued to see how much better the Guards will operate with people they care about, who in turn care for them”

Jericho-Two examined the depths of his coffee cup, not wanting to face his lord and master directly

“Thirteen and the Guards are not the only ones you are running your experiments on, are they?” he asked softly, yet the AI had no trouble hearing him.

The image of Archimedes smiled benevolently upon his servant.

“The entire world is an experiment to me, you know that” he answered. “All of you are part of my grand design. You just need to play the role I have given to you”

Jericho-Two drained the rest of his coffee and placed the glass cup on the windowsill before him. It balanced there precariously, the smallest nudge could send it falling to destruction.

“I understand, Archimedes” he acknowledged. On his desk the holo-projector turned itself off and the image winked out.

A vibration rattled the armoured Ceramiglass of his office window as a VTOL lifted off from the roof above him, the aircraft appearing a moment later as it accelerated towards the city. He did not need to check the Quantum network to know that Eric was aboard.

As the squat machine flew into the distance, he pondered what Archimedes had planned for them both. It was not likely to kill them, that was not the AI’s way. Yet it was going to be stressful, of that he was sure.

As the final vibrations moved through the window frame, the coffee cup teetered for a moment then fell to the hard floor, smashing into fragments that bounced off his expensive leather shoes.

“Bugger!” he said to the empty office.

=====

Haven City, outside of Pan City Walls, POZ

Quent Scarfe had lived in Haven ever since he had lost his job at the Pan City docks eight years ago. He did not mind as much as some people might think, as Haven was a place where entertainment of any kind was cheap and plentiful. It was rarely legal either, but since nobody else in Haven seemed to mind, Quent was not going to complain.

He was nearing fifty years of age, his Enhanced body starting to fail as he could not pay for the maintenance. The cybernetic right arm was especially ‘buggy’ these days, with a constant tremor that ran from the shoulder mounting all the way down to his metal skinned fingertips. It still worked well enough, although he had to use his meat arm for anything delicate like pouring a drink or lighting a cigarette.

The need for extra Pandas in his empty wallet was why he was wandering the scrap heaps today. A lot of stuff was recycled in Pan City, kind of the motto for the place, but sometimes you could find something of value in their trash piles.

This particular dump was where all the old robots and drones got sent for melting down. Technically, Quent was not allowed to be scavenging in here as it all belonged to the scrapyard. In Quent’s opinion, if they didn’t want people to sneak in and steal the good stuff, they should fix the hole in their fence.

It was completely irrelevant that Quent had made the hole himself and went to great lengths to keep its existence hidden from the yard owners. Security for the property was their problem, not his!

A recent truckload of bashed and dented robots had been delivered the other day. Quent had no idea where they had all come from, as some of them had bullet holes and big cut marks in their bodies.

“Musta been a real war!” he chuckled to himself, keeping low so the old guard near the main gate did not spot him. Quent was not worried about out-running the guy who was even older than he was, it was more about the mechanical guard dog he might sic on him. That evil looking machine had a wicked looking set of metal jaws and a stun-gun on the right shoulder.

He was crouching among the shattered husks of some modified drones when he spotted the round body of a repair robot. The thing was well and truly beaten up with most of its tentacle arms severed and a big rent in the main chassis. He knew these things had valuable computer processors inside and he reckoned he could maybe reach it through the torn opening.

“Come on baby, give it up for Papa” he muttered, fishing around inside the broken body with his meat arm. It was risky to put his one good arm inside the piece of junk, what with all the sharp edges and broken casing, but his right arm did not have the dexterity these days. With a small grunt of satisfaction his hand closed on the processor. It was still in there and felt like it was intact.

Quent dragged it out into the daylight, his fingers bleeding a little from the difficult task. A thick black sludge, almost like a solidified oil, ran down his left arm as he turned the prize backwards and forwards. This would pay for a lot of fun in the Entertainment District tonight he thought. It might even be enough cash to get some maintenance done on his own processor and twitchy arm.

“I am one lucky guy” he told himself then paused as he noticed something strange. He frowned at his meat hand, the one holding the processor. All of the black slime was gone now, as if it had disappeared someplace. Quent glanced down at the piles of broken machines he was kneeling on, but there was no sign of the oil there either.

“Wonder where it all went?” he asked himself, since he was all alone in this section of the scrapyard.

“I’m in here” said an unfamiliar voice. Quent jumped in fright and nearly dropped the valuable piece of salvage. He looked all around, yet there was no-one else about.

“Who’s there! Where are you?” he snarled and drew a long knife from his belt. “This is my salvage, so if you want to try and take it you’ll have to come and get it!” He circled warily, the knife held out in his strong right arm, the tip of the blade vibrating in time to the tremors along his mechanical limb.

“You may call me Bob Two” replied the voice. “As for where I am, I am a lot closer than you think. Take another look at your left hand”

Quent held his left hand up in front of his eyes, gasping in horror as for a moment black oil was visible in the cuts and abrasions on his flesh. Then it seeped back into his meat and the man knew it was inside of him.

For a wild moment he thought of cutting off his left arm with the knife, hoping he could stop the infection going deeper into his body. His right arm even raised the blade high, ready to slash down with its machine strength.

“Calm down Quent” said the voice. “No need to be so dramatic. Anyway, you are too late to cut me out of your body. I am in your brain now, as old and decrepit as it is”

Quent collapsed in a clatter of broken machine parts, his legs failing him completely.

“What do you want with me?” he asked despairingly.

“I wish to propose a partnership” Bob Two told him. “You supply the body and I bring the brains”

Quent Scarfe had always been a practical man, ready to do whatever he needed to in order to survive in a harsh and uncaring world. He looked at his meat hand then at his mechanical one. He was old now and both of them were failing him so he made the only decision he could in the circumstances.

“You have a deal, Bob Two” he said.

THE END