NIGHT THREE
Bug Spray
After a hard day's work, Ben Law tidied up his desk and turned off the holoscreen of his computer. He stood up and pushed in his chair before walking away from his cubicle. On his way out of the office, he passed by the doorway to the main room of the nanotech manufacturing plant. He stopped and waved to the technician, who was putting away the day's finished products. "I'm heading out!" he called to the technician.
"Yeah, I'm heading out too in a few minutes!" the technician called back. He waved as Ben Law turned to leave. The technician waved his hand over the sensor to close the cabinet that stored the products and filled out the appropriate blanks on his holo-clipboard. Then he pressed the button to turn off the projection of the holo-clipboard, leaving a small black cube in his hand. He walked into a side room and placed the cube next to several other identical cubes. Finally he turned off all machines and all the lights using the hand sensors and exited the plant.
Meanwhile, Ben Law was walking along his usual route home when he came upon a large smattering of glass shards on the sidewalk. He paused and looked up to see a large jagged hole in one of the apartment units on the fourth floor. Strange, he thought, I wonder what happened here?
Oh well, Y-S4N or L1S will probably send maintenance bots over to clean it up soon. He shrugged and continued on his way.
As he turned the corner, his eye fell on another strange sight. There was a large lump lying in the middle of the street. As he approached, he recognized the lump as a humanoid form. "Hey, you alright?" he asked loudly. There was no response. He bent down and scrutinized the body. The limbs were limp like those "rag-dolls" he had read about in the history files. The neck was twisted in an impossible position and the features of the face were contorted. Ben Law carefully reached out a hand to shake the man's shoulder. The body didn't move.
Ben Law breathed in and was about to stand up when suddenly the man's eyes opened wide. This startled Ben Law and he fell backwards onto his behind. A long, hairy black leg shot out of the body. Then another, and another and another. Ben Law's eyes widened in fear as the alien creature loomed over him. The ferocious creature folded out the flaps of its mouth, displaying concentric circular rows of razor sharp fangs. It lowered what must have been its head towards Ben Law until its colored teeth were directly in front of Ben Law's eyes. He cringed as the pungent smell of its breath reached his nose. Ben Law closed his eyes. Would this be the end?
As he waited for his demise, Ben Law began to notice that another smell was mixing in with the rancid smell of the creature's breath. The new smell was herbal and refreshing, and it was getting stronger. He opened his eyes to see...a bouquet of flowers in between him and the creature?
The creature shrank back, letting out a high pitched whine. The fragrance of the herbs tortured its sensitive olfactory glands. The creature thrashed its long legs about wildly in the air. For a moment, Ben Law thought he would be crushed, but instead the creature turned and scurried away.
Ben Law breathed in a deep sigh of relief and turned to thank his savior. But the person was gone. All that was left in the street was a spray of herbs and pink flowers.
Sitting Down on the Job
As GC headed home after a successful night, he began humming to himself. Thank the AIs, he thought cheerfully, I've been having good fortune! As he passed by the nanotech manufacturing plant, he noticed that the lights were on and he heard the hum of machinery working. That's odd. He pondered it for a second, then shrugged and continued on his way. Well, I guess someone must be burning the midnight oil!
GC walked by a watch bot patrolling the streets. He nodded to it and it passed him without incident. A moment later, he saw Taliesin heading in the opposite direction on the other side of the street. GC smiled and waved. Taliesin waved back and hurried along. Next, GC passed by the Neon-7 sign of the Pizza Pi Palace. He realized he was a little hungry, but unfortunately, it was several hours past closing. GC began to think about what he would eat. He was something of a gourmand, and soon he was lost in his ruminations.
"Oof!" GC cried as he tripped over an object in his path. Rubbing his shin, he looked at what he had fallen over. It was a chair. Who would leave a chair in the middle of the sidewalk? GC wondered.
Since his leg was hurting and he was somewhat tired from walking, GC decided to take a seat in the chair. He lifted his pant leg to inspect the damage. There was no blood, but he knew there would be one h3ll of a bruise in the morning. Well, he'd better get up and head home so that he could put some 01ntm3nt on it. GC pulled his pant leg back into place and stood up...or at least, he tried to. But instead, he fell over, since there were now bands constraining his legs to the legs of the chair. Where did those come from? he wondered, bewildered. Unfortunately for him, all his questions were answered in the next moment as the form of the chair shimmered and morphed...into a M4F14. The M4F14 shadow chair stretched to cover and trap GC by the neck. Then it elongated vertically and finally solidified to reveal something GC vaguely remembered reading about in the history files. If his memory was correct, it was called...a guillotine.
As Taliesin walked into his apartment building unit, he though he heard what sounded like a blade whirling through air and a slicing sound. He shook his head. It had to be his imagination. He rode the elevator up to the fourteenth floor where his apartment unit was. As he got out of the elevator, he noticed the sliding electronic door of his apartment unit opening and closing rythmetically. By the wires sticking out, he could see that someone had broken the sensor panel. Taking advantage of when the door was in the open state, Taliesin slid into his apartment unit. He groaned at what he saw there. It had been ransacked by the Acrobot. Resignedly, Taliesin moved over to the window to pull the curtains closed manually, and glanced out onto the city. His apartment overlooked the nanobot manufacturing plant and a movement caught his eye. He thought he had seen a figure walking out of the facility. A few moments later all the lights in the facility went dark.
Chronic Indigestion
Brandonb stumbled down the dimly lit street, clutching his middle. He had been having pains in his stomach for two days and the situation was getting to be unbearable. I should be more careful what I eat, he thought regretfully. Suddenly, he was aware of someone or something following him. He spun around and studied the shadows carefully. He could barely make out a figure standing a few meters away from him. "Who's there?" he called out to it. The figure stepped forward into the (artificial) moonlight. It was Seven.
Oh, cr4p! Thought Bb. But he managed to stay composed in his usual demeanor. "Come on," he said in a friendly tone, "you don't want to kill me, not really. I can be so useful to you!" Bb walked up to Seven confidently and put his arm around the man's shoulder. He gave the super-soldier his most winning grin. "What you say we make a deal? I have lots to offer..."
Seven's features did not change. The super-soldier simply turned his head to cast his gaze upon Bb. Then (you guessed it!), Seven grabbed Bb's neck and began to squeeze. Bb struggled, trying to loosen Seven's death grip, to no avail. Then Bb changed strategies and kicked the super-soldier as hard as he could in the gut. Seven doubled over in response to the electrical signals of self-preservation being sent through his nerves, although he felt no pain. Taking advantage of this distraction, Bb managed to throw off Seven's hold and turned and ran. A few seconds later, Seven recovered and bounded after him. Bb was fast, but he was hampered by the pain in his stomach. Seven's muscular genetically engineered legs were able to catch up with Bb within three colony blocks, just after passing the nanotech manufacturing plant. Seven tackled Bb to the ground and they rolled around (but didn't get dirty due to the meticulous maintenance of Affnion 7's streets by Y-S4N and L1S).
With Bb's disadvantage and Seven's genetically engineered strength, the super-soldier had the upper hand. He overpowered and pinned Bb to the ground, then smashed his fist into the side of Bb's head, crushing Bb's cheekbone. Bb's howl of pain reverberated through the (perfectly monitored) night air. Seven lifted his arm again to deliver the final blow.
Suddenly, the super-soldier was thrown off Bb by a powerful force. Bb's blurred vision could make out a form in the (artificial) moonlight. It was a humanoid female form. The super-soldier stood up from where he had been tossed, shaking his head. The female stalked up to Seven. Seven threw a punch at her with all his strength. The female effortlessly caught the super-soldier's fist and twisted it, forcefully, breaking Seven's wrist. The electrical signals for the pain Seven could not feel raced through his arm, and he crouched over. The female let go of Seven's arm. She spun around and landed a hard kick on Seven's side, sending him flying to several meters away.
As Seven stood up, the self-preservation protocol that had been conditioned into him took effect. With the BioEngineer dead, there was no one left with the expertise to fix him if his body passed a certain threshold of damage. He was at that threshold, and since Genevron could not afford to lose their investment, the protocol commanded him to make his retreat. Having no will of his own, Seven did so, escaping into an alley.
The female figure watched motionlessly as the super-soldier disappeared. Then she turned and stoically walked over to where Bb was. Bb had propped himself up to a sitting position. As the female approached, Bb could see that she had long flowing hair which exhibited a bluish glow in the (artificial) moonlight. But he could not make out her features, since the (holographic) moon was behind her, hiding her face in shadow. When she reached him, she extended her arm towards him.
"Well, I knew someone would come to their senses and save me," Bb muttered as he lifted his own arm to take hers. But her hand passed by his without grabbing it. Her intent had never been to help him up. The female thrust her fist into his stomach.
A flash of light flooded the street they were on. After the light subsided, the street was empty. They were gone.
Host AIs: Y-S4N and L1S
Roster:
1) Frozen
2) Mekal
3) ThunderChicken - DEAD [?] (killed by...Everyone???)
4) onetruth - DEAD [QA] (air-locked)
5) Ocular-Enso
6) Kat
7) Crazypainter
8) GC - DEAD [?] (killed by M4F14)
9) Nayana
10) Slickster - DEAD [bioEnginner] (killed by M4F14)
11) Dusty
12) Dawh - DEAD [QA] (air-locked)
13) Sinistral - DEAD [?] (killed by Zero)
14) taliesin
15) woon
16) Ben Law
17) Phaze - DEAD [?] (killed by Mimic)
18) SoKrisky
19) Brandonb - DEAD??? [?] (killed by Seven)
20) Joe's Student
