Something
was wrong. A light was burning at three in the morning in the office complex.
Ross got out of his security car and scanned the empty building. Procedure dictated
he signal the home office when he stopped to investigate, but he hesitated not
wanting to trigger paperwork.
Ignoring
protocol, Ross went to the entrance and tried the door. Surprisingly it opened
and he stepped inside the dimly lit hallway. At the end he could see a light
burning in an office on the right. The hairs on his neck stood and a chill ran
down his back as he heard noises. He took a breath and then made his way down
the hall.
As he approached the lighted office, a head poked out and a comely, young woman
gasped and widened her eyes at the unexpected intruder. "I’m
security and saw the light.” Ross explained.
He followed the young woman who had introduced herself as Linda into the office
and saw it was a break room, replete with vending machines and a coffee maker. Linda was fixing a cup of coffee and she
offered Ross one. “We’re DARPA” she said, “a new culling outpost in Northern
Arizona.”
Linda
led the way to a corner table and they sat facing each other. Ross relaxed
enjoying the easy company of the young woman, slender with shoulder-length hair
and captivating blue eyes. Not having called the office allowed Ross to dally
with Linda and savor his cup of coffee.
A
figure appeared in the doorway, big and bulky, with a large head. Ross was
stunned to see the figure had no eyes, just holes and what looked like tiny
lens where eyes should be. “Bruno,
go back to the lab.” Linda ordered.
“But
the stranger?” Bruno responded. “No visitors after hours.”
Linda
left the table and put her hand on his shoulder, whispering. Bruno swiveled his
eyeless head in Ross’s direction, then turned and left. “Bruno’s my guard when
I work late. He’s a collector.”
“His
face?” Ross questioned. “What’s wrong with his eyes?” And Linda
explained that Bruno was a facsimile, an advanced experimental robot. His long-distance
vision was invaluable in the forests and mountains looking for runaways trying
to avoid collection.
“My
wife was collected a month ago.” Ross said glumly. “She was a cripple, a lame
leg. The people spoke when we had the referendum---the elderly, the infirm, the
crippled, and the challenged had to go to the energy center for vaporization.”
Linda
looked at him and shook her head. “I should weep for you, but I’m a cousin.” She
said, using the euphemism for the newly introduced humanoids that were hard to
distinguish from normal people.
Ross went
still; taken aback that Linda was not human. She was so natural, sitting there
sipping coffee. He listened as she went on to confess that they had
tinkered with the referendum. Actually, people had voted no on the collection
system.
When
Ross did not comment, Linda went on to say that the energy centers were still
in development and that currently the collected were taken to a holding camp,
given a sedative, and then loaded on a conveyor that took them to furnaces
hidden in the mountains.
“Dust
to dust.” She murmured.
Thinking
of his beloved wife, Ross clenched his fist. Linda had revealed that the
referendum was a hoax and the vaporization centers were nothing more than
belching smoke stacks. How could the people have been so foolish, so idiotic to
turn over civilization to the artificial intelligent humanoids?
Ross
stood holding up his empty coffee cup. Linda nodded and he started toward the
coffee pot. Linda’s back was to him and he paused. Ross was not allowed to
carry a weapon, but he always had his switchblade with him, which he quietly
opened.
“I’m
happy to know you.” Linda said, sipping her coffee. “I hope we can be friends.”
Ross
plunged the 5” blade into Linda’s right ear. Machinery whirred and clicked and she
collapsed face first on the desk, smoke trickling out of her ear. A final clack
and Linda was still, disconnected.
The
war with the cousins had begun
