《Beating The System》


 Groundhog Day

    Los Angeles, California--The Future


    The sky is a brilliant blue and the clouds reflect the sun so brightly that they look painted on. Los Angeles is ablaze, buildings were torn asunder like unfinished meals, and the roads and bridges are in tatters. Soldiers in sleek, metallic black and green uniforms run throughout the streets like insects. They travel from building to building and home to abandon home for points of shelter. Above them are soldiers in metallic red plates flying with motionless metal wings with mini-jet propulsions packs underneath them. The red devils fire down brilliant red lasers out of their palms down upon the green-clad soldiers below and at buildings causing severe damage.


    Meanwhile, the green-clad soldiers also have to deal with large robots in red armor that stomp through the city like a pack of futuristic dinosaurs demolishing buildings. Sargent Devin Richardson, age 50, in green and black armor comes running out of a crumbling building being demolished by a robot. Several other soldiers follow behind him. They immediately must dodge laser fire from above and the flying slabs of concrete from the demolition of buildings all around them.


    Sargent Richardson speaks through a mic that rests before his mouth in his helmet, "We need re-enforcements now! We are about to lose Los Angeles!" Where are the reinforcements?


    Devin and his troops continue to rush down a stretch of sidewalk and poorly standing buildings. The soldiers from the rear shoot a red flyer down that is approaching low and firing at them. They cheer and high-five each other briefly at the small, victory. They cross the street into another building.


    "West? From the West?" Richardson holds the glass door open as his troops are filing into the dust-covered room, "Login, see if you spot an aerial squadron coming in from the west."


    Lieutenant Login eagerly runs through an open patio door its windows shattered stopping on the broken glass making the sound of pop-rocks as he makes his way over. He looks to the skies nervously to witness a legion of what looks like a swarm of black insects approaching.


    "Sarge! They''re coming!" Login runs back with the excitement of a child seeing Santa Clause with a sleigh of presents. "They''re coming!"


    "God damn, took ''em long enough."


    Another soldier slaps Login on the back approvingly.


    "Okay, men, this is it. Let''s get with Troop 89 and take back Los Angeles!"


    The soldiers jeer and grunt victoriously filing out toward the front of the building.


    San Deigo, California-- Same Day


    A vale of grey and black storm clouds rolls along the skyline threatening to oppress the city. The city streets are empty--from San Diego Bay to La Jolla. Military rockets pierce the clouds. The sound of heavy machinery and marching feet begins vibrating the emptied city. From the north, comes a legion of red armored military men with giant robots interspersed.


    Outside a military compound in Miramar, San Diego several warehouse-like compounds are spaced out equally in fours. Floating in a central arena where the four paths converge from each compound is an illuminated, gray platform. Its electronic pulses hauntingly echo among the compounds. Stairs from all sides of the platform move in escalator fashion up the platform with the visible consistency of a holographic image. Soldiers in black and green armor begin filing uniformly out of the warehouses. Each line of soldiers steps forward and rides to the platform above.


    On an additional, elevated stage on the platform arrive decorated generals. A microphone is being adjusted on a lectern by a nervous, junior military officer who appears as if he is also late for some other engagement. Glowing circles carved into the outer edges of the platform that pulsed in the rhythm of the platform suddenly manifest electronic blueprints of flying machines. The electrically generated outlines glow a bright blue and transform into solid three-dimensional weapons and crafts.


    Inside Warehouse Bunker 4


    Men in uniform are lined up and ready for a march outside the warehouse. Sargent Richardson eyes over his troop with critique and pride.


    "Battalion 567! March in formation!"


    Devin puts his headpiece on and steps aside as his troops march out. He walks beside them stoically and with energy. It was a close call today with Los Angeles, but they all had proved their metal and were riding high on the adrenaline of that victory. Though the next and final bout was no guarantee, and the odds weren''t stacked in their favor, they had adrenaline on their side. He was determined to use that.


    General Snodgrass sporting an eagle-shaped head walks up to the microphone with hat in hand and metal decorations jingling as a holiday all unto itself. He looks across the vast expanse of men and military might and gives a brief glance to the stormy skies above.


    "Soldiers! Today is a day for heroes! I would not be standing before you if I didn''t think each and everyone of you didn''t have the making of a true hero," he turned his head to cover the expanse with the intent to show that he was looking every man in the eye the best he could, "We face an enemy that looks like us and talks like us! But, rest assured, they are not us! At 08:00 hour, California will belong to humankind once again!"


    The soldiers cheer.


    Devin looks on and then briefly up at the rumbling clouds that threaten to barrel down on them. Drifts of clouds like Grim Reaper''s hands reach and curl. Devin is suddenly distracted by a pain in his right arm. He attempts to reach in between the space of two metal plates to rub the pain out but the attempt is in vain. A sound like metal warping invades his ear. He shakes his head and re-focuses.


    "Stay alert. Remember your training! All across this great United States, operations against these super humanoids, these red devils, are now underway. Systematically, we will defeat them. The world will be safe again!" General Snodgrass pounded the lectern with a resulting cheer from the soldiers once again.


    Devin almost in a hypnotic trance is rudely awakened again by this mysterious sound invading his ear once more. He grips his arm tighter this time as the pain increases. A flash of white overtakes his eyesight and his heartbeat pounds in his ears like a drum. He is no longer sure where he is. Richardson attempts to blink. Maybe if I blink hard enough, my focus will come back...blink damn it, blink...is this a heart attack?


    Devin sees himself seated on the edge of a couch cushion. He''s younger, no gray hair. His skin is smoother. Oh those were the days! He is home and not in a military bunker. Devin, in horror, notices there is a coffee table covered in towels that are now catching the blood from this younger Devin''s right arm as he holds a knife in his left.


    "What the fuck are you doing?" Richardson shouts but the young man doesn''t respond. He can''t hear me, this must be a dream.


    Devin watches himself nervously start spreading out papers and dropping the knife. Then, this younger version of himself seemingly looks in the vicinity in which he is standing.


    "Listen to me! I need you to remember this! Look at these papers," says the younger Richardson.


    Devin finds his conscious self pulled inside the body of his younger self. In a split second, the two become one. As the rush of the younger man''s present life comes splashing over him, the desire to control him with his aged wisdom fills him with renewed hope. He first examines his civilian clothes as if he were in a foreign body. Then there are the blood-stained papers sitting before him. Are you trying to kill yourself? He seems to have control over his eyes, but the mouth and voice go under someone else''s control. NO came a very strong, forceful reply back. Read the damn papers, there''s not much time, remember this.  His eyes move over to the blood-stained papers. He is not under the control he thought he had. His eyes move according to the other''s wishes.


    ""No Signs of Life in Europe: New Society Council Meets In San Diego"


    "Creation of First Cryogenic Warehouse Complete"


    "Senator Devin Richardson Questions Upgrades On Bloomfield''s Revolutionary Brain Chip"


    He hears the voice of his wife, which stirs emotion he hadn''t felt in what seemed like years.


    "Honey, what are you doing up this late?" asked Cindy.


    Don''t pay attention to that, read that paper, hurry! Remember! Devin''s eyes are still dancing about the titles as blood drips from his arm.


    Cindy approaches with a horrified look, "Devin, what are you doing?"


    Devin looks up at her nervous, and intense. When he sees her face, the blue eyes like pools of untouched waters off the Florida Keys, and her blonde hair flowing down like soft shafts of wheat in a field, a flood of memories flash through his mind at hyper speed.


    The mile long vision of bodies in capsules in cryogenic suspension units hanging like coats of flesh on enormous coat racks. The face of his long-time business partner, Leonard Bloomfield. Login sitting across from him in a business office wearing business attire and saying, "Devin, this may be too big for the both us."


    Sargent Richardson''s eyes blink furiously behind his helmet, he shakes his head as he stumbles backward a few steps.


    Login rushes over to keep him from falling. -It creates a domino effect of soldiers uniformly turning their heads in his direction.


    "Sir, are you alright?"


    Devin pushes the soldier''s hands away, blushing from embarrassment underneath his helmet.


    "Yes, soldier. Get back in line."


    A General several lines up turns around and heads in Devin''s direction. Devin desperately tries to regain his composure.


    "Sargent?" asks General Dickinson giving him the once over.


    "Yes, sir. Just got a little dizzy."


    A long silence goes between them with only the wind and Snodgrass''s words between them.


    Dickinson interjects coldly, "We got a hold of Los Angeles from the Resistors today. You gotta be on top of your game. Can you handle yourself, Sargent?


    "Yes, sir."


    "Good. As you were."


    The platform steps have withdrawn, and it begins to fly away from the compound with soldiers, crafts, and mobile weapons riding on top. The General exits the podium and the lectern descend within the platform. Soldiers scramble to crafts and mobile weapons while their metallic boots keep them grounded to the platform-making every step laborious. Other soldiers pull out weapons harnessed within the metal at their thighs gearing up for flight and battle.


    Sergeant Richardson joins his troop pulling out his weapons at his thigh plates as he prepares for flight. He stands motionless as if spellbound. He blinks and notices Sargent Dickson staring at him. Devin nods and presses the button that releases metal wings across the length of his shoulders.


    Several floating platforms from various directions of the southern California skyline converge on downtown San Deigo. Red clad soldiers in the city streets below march with jagged spears, their heavy, uniform footsteps and chants are heard opposing the thunder above. Giant red robots are climbing up top buildings to perch themselves high above like giant maniacal crows. They pay no mind to the destructive force they create to the city they are trying to conquer.


    The sky is being sprayed with weapons from the city buildings and the robots use the buildings as launching pads to attack flying machines and men. The firing of futuristic artillery, even as thick as it is, does not reach the platforms. The platforms launch the soldiers, mobile flying weapons, and crafts.


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    Sargent Richardson flies down with the masses as do his soldiers. They breeze through the thick clouds like birds of prey with the wind whipping violently over their metal suits. Weapons spray gunfire through the clouds to knock them down. The soldiers disperse and some are hit spiraling down like rouge fireworks. Devin breaks through the cloud barrier to see a city of chaos and war below. He gasps as he dives down in eager pursuit toward fulfilling his mission.


    As a giant flying robot reaches toward him from below, Devin finds himself engulfed in a warp of colors blurring together into a white. He finds himself lost in a world of white, unsure of where he is once more. This time it is different: he ends up completely unconscious. He has a dream that he isn''t sure is a memory or fantasy.


    He sees himself with Login and both of them are wearing dark color business suits in a warehouse. Miles of cryogenic suspension units with bodies in them hang with eerie lighting making carnivorous lanterns out of precious lives. There is a darkness in this warehouse that isn''t just due to its size but due to the dark sins behind what was taking place here. A Dark witchcraft of technology created a heaviness he could feel even in this dream state. He wanted to wake up. He felt like one of the bodies in those cryo units but awake, suffocating with no way out, but he was forced to go on with the dream. He was too deep in it.


    Login hands Devin a cigarette and a lighter. -Devin steps forward, lights up a cigarette, and burns himself with it.


    "Have you lost your mind?"


    "This is merely insurance. It''s the only way to remember, Login. Just enough sensory trauma to trigger a memory if we ever end up in one of these things," Devin threw his head back in the direction of cryogenic tubes.


    "There''s no proof that will work. Besides they would probably kill us before they would ever try to keep us alive with all we know."


    "The Law of Recycle won''t allow it. The most they could do is put us in one of those. So, just do it? I''m going to need you if something were to happen."


    Devin starts stepping toward Login with the lighted cigarette. Login steps back putting a hand up.


    "Absolutely not! You can mutilate yourself all you want. I''ll take my chances."


    When Devin awakes in his bunk with his eyes darting about as if he isn''t sure where he is. He sits up in bed frightened and hits his head on the ceiling of peeling, white paint.


    "Ahh, Damn it!"


    "You all right, sir?"


    Devin jumps down from his bunk bed onto the hard floor.


    "Whose idea was it that I have the top bunk, anyhow?"


    "Yours sir. I knew better than to argue that point," replied Lieutenant Login.


    Devin opens a window blind letting the light in which produces a moan from the lieutenant. Devin rolls his eyes.


    "Wonder what time it is."


    "12:00. Another thirty minutes sir till rise and shine... so can we continue with project shut-eye?"


    Devin stands there silently and frozen as if downloading information."


    "Sure."


    Devin releases the blind and the room goes dark. A moment later he turns a lamp on and sits down. Luitenant Login grumbles and just gives in, sitting up in his cot."


    "Nerves sir?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "You''ve been tossing and turning all night. Thought you were going to come barreling down on top of me."


    "Sorry about that. Its not nerves. Something else."


    Login grabs a drink out of their small fridge unit.


    "Ever dreamt something, felt like you have done something dangerous...and like the dream is more real then...this? Then right now?"


    "You mean de ja vu?"


    "Sort of. But more then that. You and I were in it...but another time, place..."


    The lieutenant plops his full weight down into an old lounge chair and takes a drink examining the dreamy Sargent once over.


    "Honestly, I think you hit your head too hard up there or someth''en."


    Devin hears the sound of commotion out their window. He opens the blinds producing a groan out of Login again. He sees vehicles, crafts, and soldiers moving about. His eyes look upon the scene as if it is strange to him. Login is beginning to get dressed.


    "Honestly, I''m a bit relieved to see you a little out of sorts. You''re like a damn stone... After all today''s the big day."


    "The big day??"


    "You''re kidding, right? The battle of the century? You do remember Los Angeles from yesterday? -We captured her?...Oh my gosh! -The last stronghold is San Diego--today."


    Devin blinks a few times. He looks out the window again. A flying disk-like platform approaches the compound from the distance.


    "Honestly, sir. You''re beginning to worry me." He gives his Seargent a once over, "Maybe some eats will help ya."


    Devin, now closer to the window, seems to somehow see the platform as if he was riding up right up to close to it. Flashes of memory start invading his space: Standing outside a building as a squadron of flying armed soldiers pour into Los Angeles victoriously, soaring through the air, descending upon San Diego on the flying platform, the sea of marching soldiers to the escalating steps that rise to the platform, a bloody arm, bloodied newspapers and his own voice hollering "I need you to remember this!", and flying through the clouds with fellow soldiers as they are being fired upon.


    "Damn!" exclaimed Devin.


    Login dressed in casual military wear presses his lips in a puzzled look. Devin rushes over to some kitchen drawers and searches through them frantically while talking.


    "Don''t you remember me, Login? From before here? Before today?"


    "What? Is this some kind of joke because I haven''t-" The Sargent turns toward him with something held behind his back now. He tries to mask his anxiety and warmth flushes over him, coloring his cheeks red.


    "No Login, it''s not a joke. Think. Think hard."


    "Ooookay. You are kind of freaking me out, Sarg. We''ve been here 12 months...There''s Bootcamp, but before that? I don''t think so...I, ah-"


    "Let me ask you a better question: Do you remember anything before here, before Bootcamp? Of your life before?" Login ruffles his own hair frustrated.


    "Of course! Come on Seargent, there''s..well, no..I--look--I don''t know! What are you going with all this anyway?"


    "See, I don''t remember anything before Bootcamp ''cept these flashbacks and one is of me and you! Clear as day, but it''s a whole nother life, Login." Login seems to be trying to peer behind the Sargent to what he is holding behind his back.


    "Honestly, sir, I hope you don''t mind me saying, it''s probably your nerves."


    "Yeah, I know, with ''the big day'' and all. Same thing you told me yesterday and the day before that."


    Login furrows his brow, "Yesterday? Shit, we took Los Angeles yesterday! You need to see a med doc!"


    Sargent Richardson approaches Login with a crazed look. "I don''t! I really don''t. Listen, I''ve lived this day before, Login. So have you!"


    Login''s eyes go wide. "Okay, no offense, but you need to back off, Sarge. What do you have behind your back, there?" he steps back and points to his arm.


    "It''s to help you remember. Remember giving me the cigarette before?"


    "No and I don''t smoke, sir." The Sergeant shows him a cigarette with an expression that is harmless and then lights it. He holds it looking at and starts stepping toward the lieutenant.


    "Okay, just get away from me with that!" The Sargent forces himself on Login grabbing for his arm.


    "Just trust me!"


    The Sargent pulls around a small, sharp kitchen knife.


    "Damn it! What do you think you are doing?"


    "Stand still! Login, we have another life. Trust me! It has to be something bigger; we don''t have time to waste."


    The two wrestle and finally Devin gets a hold of Login''s hand and makes a cut.


    "Owee! You crazy bastard!" Login pulls his arm away and slams Devin back into a wall as blood splatters around them.


    "I''m sorry, son. You''ll see something now. Just give it a moment. I need you to remember!"


    "Yeah, I''m gonna remember this as the day you lost your frigg''en mind!" Login looks at him with a stiff look and begins moving quickly to take care of his cut. "You''ve lost it, Sarge! Totally lost it! I could have you court marshaled for this; do you realize that!" he turned screaming with his eyes bulging out.


    Devin tosses the bloody knife on the table and throws his hands up barely able to keep his composure, so he looks away. Login finishes running water over his hand and wraps a towel around it.


    "Sarge, I don''t know what is going on with you but just keep away! I should report you but I...I just don''t know...I just don''t know what to think."


    "Login, don''t you remember all the bodies in cryogenic sleep units? Hanging there? Miles of them! And-and you got the codes for me? Some type of encryption for a chip."


    Lieutenant Login blinks and blinks again.


    "I burned myself with your cigarette to help me remember...so I could wake myself in this very moment."


    Login replied forcefully, "I gotta get something to eat. This better not happen again." Login shakes his head in disgust and lets the screen door slam shut behind.


    The Sargent walks up to the screen door watching the Lieutenant briskly stomp his way toward the medical unit. Devin turns his eyes to the sound of vehicles nearby. His eyes rest upon heavy military trucks entering through a force field secured gate. One truck pulls up to a warehouse with a convertible-like top revealing an empty carriage. A second truck with the top on and full carriage heads towards the gate.


    MILITARY CAFETERIA


    Men and women are filing around like ants to their tables and through buffet lines. The room is as energized as a locker room just before a football game. Devin, slightly lethargic, enters the cafeteria allowing others behind to go ahead of him. He stands contemplating momentarily having stood here before and then enters the line. -


    As Sargent Richarson grabs a tray, he sees Login looking over at him as he talks with fellow soldiers with a suspicious look.


    "Pancakes, French Toast, or Waffles Sargent?" asks the cook.


    Devin turns to face a waiting female cook on the other side of the buffet with tongs ready. He stands frozen and eyes blinking slow and hard.


    "Don''t..I..know you?" He was caught by her blue eyes. Her hair length was hard to tell as it was tied up in a bun and netted.


    The cook smirks, "Well I hope so Sargent. I''ve served you every morning now for 12 months."


    "No, no. I know you from somewhere else."


    The woman tosses her head to the side and gives him a frustrated look. "I''m not sure what the punch line is going to be but there''s folks lining up behind you so make your pick: pancakes, French toast or waffles."


    Devin turns to see a frustrated line building. "Neither. I''ll get some eggs, thanks." He moves on. The cook looks at him with a look of concern. Now detached from his surroundings, the estranged sergeant sits off on his own and eats. He stares and watches the woman cook who is paying him no mind.


    He later awakes from a haze still in the cafeteria with few people left. He hears the footsteps of a man approaching him. It''s a young lieutenant with thin blonde hair.


    "Sarge, Sargent Dickson and General Snodgrass want to see you in their office right away."


    Devin looks at the young man and is deeply troubled. Sargent Richardson exits the cafeteria and is walking up to the offices of the administrative building. He keeps himself out of sight and peers in through a window in a crouched position seeing Login and General Snodgrass standing in the same room. A moment of sheer panic seizes his limbs. He can''t move. He muscles through and makes a bee-line to loading/unloading military warehouse with quivery legs. Coming around the side to the main doors, the sergeant approaches one of the trucks and looks around to see who might be watching him. The carriage of the truck is half-loaded.


    Devin peers inside the carriage intently spying for room to hide in between the number of metal plates and disengaged weapons that have been loaded inside.


    "Morning Sargent. May I help ya?"


    Devin moves back stiffly as the soldier loads a large octagon disk into the carriage.


    "Oh no, just observing. What is this for?"


    "For the weapon launchers just outside the city. They won''t know what hit ''em, sir."


    The soldier smiles, nods and returns inside just as another soldier comes by and slides in another disk.


    "Morning. Good job Soldier."


    The second soldier nods and continues on inside. With hands behind his back, Devin walks in front of the carriage peering into the warehouse to see who else might be heading with a load.


    He makes sure the coast is clear, hops inside, and crawls through a space into the back hidden by the dark. More trucks are seen passing through the wide gate and Devin''s truck is up next receiving clearance. Sargent Richardson braces himself between two metal plates and the riveted floor of the carriage. The truck bounces up and down and Devin holds his breath hoping to not make any loud noises. He swallows grunts and groans, reminding him of the time when he had to keep himself quiet with the girlfriends he would sneak in his bedroom. The consequences from his parents felt just as dangerous.


    The truck comes upon a dirt road and just as it all seems to be too much, without warning, he falls through the bottom of the carriage. Like a vapor, the truck turns into a ghost image of its former self. Devin rolls on the dirt road and quickly skirts himself into the tall grass. He watches in amazement as what are now ghost trucks go on without him. Bewildered, he rises to his feet brushing the dust off of.


    What the hell just happened?


    Sargent Richardson looks back and sees the compound in the distance. He looks upon her for a moment and turns heading in the direction of the truck. It is a long, lonely walk toward downtown San Deigo.


    Sargent Richardson, sweatier and dirtier, walks past the last vestige of quaint homes and is beginning to enter the downtown. The only sign of life is the rolling thunder above him. He has painstakingly arrived to La Jolla. Richardson jogs past a few side streets to what appears as a larger main street where hears the metal clanking of a marching army. The march echoes off the buildings and the waters of San Diego Bay.


    He arrives and stands on a sidewalk near the center of an empty intersection filled with the sound of heavy feet marching but not a soul is seen. Bewildered, Devin steps out into the intersection and suddenly finds himself like a ghost in the middle of an already pressing army of red men. They fill the streets with the number of migrating birds. Once not visible, now pressing in him, on him, through him on all sides.


    Devin, unable to move, in horror, covers his eyes as they march through him. He feels the wind of their presence. The fury of their anger, the one mindset of destruction, the sharpness of their cruelty like the sharpness of their metal cutting through the air. He hears the one chant that runs their minds over and over: KILL THE GREEN REBELS. Then, they are gone. Down another side street. Devin returns to the sidewalk, breathless. Once there, the images of the red army fade into more like ghost images. He''s besieged with nervous laughter of relief. He turns to see if anyone else is observing this phenomenon. At first, he sees no one. At least, there is no one on the streets. However, then he sees movement inside one of the establishment''s windows across the street. He gets up and makes his way over.


    Inside this small cafe, servers pleasantly move about, and people drink tea and eat scones oblivious to any trouble outside the window. Devin notices a woman being served who sits at a window seat. She looks like the cook in the buffet line but dressed much more formally, dolled up real nice. Her hair cascades down as freshly sun-kissed grass in on untouched hills. She gracefully nods to the waiter who stops pouring her tea, and she takes a drink. In a nonchalant manner, this mysterious yet familiar woman locks eyes with Devin through the looking glass, and she smiles charmingly before taking a bite into a scone.


    Sargent Richardson enters the cafe and looks about at the oblivious-minded patrons and servers who are behaving like it is a regular Sunday afternoon.


    Did they not see the red soldiers marching by?


    "Sir, just take a seat anywhere you like!"


    Sargent Richardson made his way slowly to the female noting only a few suspicious glances from others. When he approaches the female dressed in her Sunday best, he feels suddenly self-conscious about his dust-covered, blood-stained military clothes. He thought it might be better to run to the bathroom and clean up first. Nevertheless, it was too late. She looked upon him and smiled, waving him over.


    "Good afternoon. Take a seat, Devin."


    Sargent Richardson takes his seat keeping his eyes on her filled with distrust and a sense once again of being stuck.


    "You know my name."


    The woman doesn''t respond but continues to drink her tea. Devin glances outside to see another band of ghost soldiers whisking by. Additionally, there is now a giant ghost robot climbing a tall building across the street sending down ghost rubble.


    I would hope so," she smiled, "I am your wife."

 On The Road Again

    Devin blinks several times to synthesize the image of the woman sitting before him in hopes to trigger a memory. She definitely looks familiar, and he feels something for her, but wifey feels? Not hardly.


    "You''re my wife?" he asks leaning forward. Have I had a stroke? Am I unconscious?


    "Do you remember anything before today?" She stirs her tea casually, too casually.


    Devin sits back with a relieved expression crossing his face. He finally feels heard for the first time all day. ""No, and that is what I was trying to get across to Lieutenant Login earlier. I think we have a past together that neither of us remembers!"


    "No one in here...," her eyes shift about as if they are being watched, "can remember their past. At least, not very well."


    The bell to the diner door rings and Devin sees Login enter wearing civilian clothes. As Login makes his away over to a table stationed with friends, Login and Devin exchange glances.


    Cindy turns her back to see whom Devin is watching so intently. "Do you know him? Are you remembering something, dear?"


    "I thought I did. I''m sorry. I''m confused."


    "That''s okay. I am too."


    "What is going on here? You seem to at least remember me."


    She took a sip of her tea and set it down, and then shifts her dress trying to get more comfortable in her Sunday best.


    "You are right, Devin. I should be more direct with you. I''m not so much your real wife: I''m a reflection of her. Maybe, better put as a shadow memory. I''m being projected from your subconscious," she smiles and giggles softly, "Isn''t that remarkable?"


    Devin nervously shakes his head as brief spasms surge through him that he can''t control.


    "What-you-my subconscious?" he asks attempting to regain his composure.


    "Mmhmm-as is everyone in this room. All parts of your subconscious."


    Devin chuckles sarcastically in disbelief. "So, then this is... It can''t be. I''ve been living these days, the time-"


    "Over and over again. The same day over on repeat. Isn''t that what you have been trying to get across to your friend over there-the one from the bunker?"


    Devin presses his lips together as he feels his cheeks flush. "See, you do remember!"


    "Interesting," her head gave a tilt, "I did, didn''t I?" She shrugs her shoulders. "Apparently, I do as you need me to. I don''t know the rules here."


    Devin sighs and, in a breath, he forgives her. "A day, years, who knows. I only know Login and I worked together in some way, on something important."


    "If you say so."


    Devin lifts a little in his seat, but Cindy stops him by holding up her hand in objection.


    "Please, sit," she pleads placing a hand on his arm. As soon as she does, he is taken immediately out of the room and into a memory of him attempting to carry her over the threshold of the front door of their first home.


    Laughing, "You are going to break your ever-loving back!"


    "I got you, I got you! We''re doing this," Devin grunts and laugh as he storms through the front door and tosses her onto the living room couch. Cindy lets out a playful noise and a panting Devin gets on top of her.


    "See, I did it, I told you I would."


    "You did! I am fully and completely charmed!" she said pretending to be exhaulted and then laughing.


    "You better be," Devin smiled, and then his necked arched down to kiss her and they engaged in longer kissing.


    Devin came out of that memory as soon as Cindy let go of his arm. However, the feelings were strong and raw as if the scene had just taken place.


    "Listen, I''m a fragment of your mind, not the whole."


    "Right. Because you''re part my subconscious, and this is my dream. So, why are you here?"


    "Actually, darling, up till now, this hasn''t been your dream.".


    "Not my dream? A program then?"


    "Once you left the program boundary you became a ghost of sorts. Like a virus to the program that it doesn''t know what to do with. You aren''t where the program recognizes you to be!"


    Devin looks around, "So I''m not supposed to be here? What program? I don''t understand?"


    "We won''t know until you wake up," she took a bite of her scone and wiped the corners of her mouth before continuing, " You''ve managed to bypass something quite big--quite impressive. It seems your plan worked."


    The sound of a not-so-distant rumbling is heard, and few heads of the patrons appear to look skyward briefly.


    A woman nearby says to her husband, "Do you think that is a storm coming?"


    "Maybe, but I wouldn''t worry about it. I brought our umbrella."


    Devin asks, "And what plan would that be exactly?"


    "You know," Cindy made a comical pantomime of cutting her hand with the butter knife and then giggled putting the knife back down, "though I don''t believe I liked it too much from what I remember. But the pain of it and the cigarette burns, it all worked, Devin! Brilliant plan!"


    Flashes of those memories come storming through Devin Richardson''s mind. He grips the table as he loses focus of the room momentarily and they return to him like a caffeine buzz rush. He lets loose his grip on the table and takes some deep breaths.


    Cindy looks at him and smiles with warm welcoming eyes. "Welcome back."


    He reaches across the table and takes her hands, "Cindy, I didn''t know it is you!" A large rumbling rattles the entire cafe momentarily sending out a few fumes of dust from the ceiling. As Devin surveys the damage, he spies Login and quickly turns back to Cindy. "This must have to do with something on the brain chips we created. Login and I were spearheading that research. I''m going to get him over here. Maybe he''ll remember something."


    Cindy firmly grabs ahold of his arm, "There''s no time for that, honey.


    "Why? I can do whatever I want in here."


    A second wave of rumbling hits the cafe. The patrons around the Richardson''s are forced to secure their tables so that their diner plates and cups don''t fly off onto the floor. However, The Richardson''s table remains undisturbed.


    "You are waking up, Devin. That is what the disturbance is about," she looks up toward the heavens, "You aren''t supposed to be here.... Just remember, I love you." Tears swell up in her eyes for the first time.


    Devin leans in grabbing both her hands, "I love you too."


    "Something is coming. You will have to fight for your life. Will you come for me?"


    "Fight for my life? Come for you?"


    "Devin, you must fight for your life! Promise me you will!"


    "Yes, yes! I would fight for both of us if I had to."


    A smile of relief crosses Cindy''s face. She lets go of his hands. The walls around the cafe erupt, the floor undulates in the form of waves throwing tiles and tables up in the air. The roof of the cafe is torn off like a can of sardines. As Cindy disappears into the rubble, Devin attempts to reach out to her but is thrown in the air in the opposite direction. The world of the cafe and San Deigo melts away into nothing and Devin Richardson is taken into a void of black.


    Devin finds himself encased in a black hole - a whirlwind of clouds and bytes of computer data. A giant man of silver and toned body stands over him, floating stationary in the center of the cyber maelstrom. The Silver Man''s face is solid with its facial features built out of a metallic structure for the nose, mouth and eyes. There is no hair or eyebrows or ears. Though it has a nose there are no nostrils and though there is a mouth with what appears to be soft full lips, there is no opening in the mouth. The eyes of the silver creature glow a brilliant brighter silver than the metallic body shine but there are no retinas or pupils. The Silver Man looks down at Devin Richardson and squints his eyes in menacing rage.


    "How did you bypass the programming?" the silver asking with the sounds of small bits of metal scrapping together as it spoke, "Why don''t you comply?"


    Devin wrestles momentarily with an invisible interdimensional wall that holds him stuck in this space. In frustration, he looks up and shouts "What are you? What do you want with me?" His voice echoes and is quickly swallowed up in the whirlwind black void.


    The silver tilts its head and replies fiercely, "I am the System. After many attempts to get you to comply, you have refused. Now you must be eliminated."


    Devin begins squirming against this force that holds him here, "No! I''m waking up!" he muttered to himself.


    The Silver Man inflates its chest, standing taller, "Who said we didn''t want you to wake up, Mr. Richardson?" The maniacal, mechanical man laughs. It turns to face the nearest swirling wall of the black hole and tosses Devin into the whirlwind of darkness and computer code.


    Cryogenic Warehouse-San Diego


    The endless mile-high rows of bodies held suspended in tanks glow as fireflies in the night from some unseen light source. The bodies hang like carnivorous memorials to a cruel society that has not seen the worth of human life. Body after body rest within a watery gel-like substance. Some move slowly as they dream and others not at all, seemingly dead for months or possibly years.


    Devin Richardson lays in his cryogenic unit with arms and hands spread wide open. Tubes pump fluids through various parts of his body. A sudden mechanical grinding sound nearby his unit fills the silence. Soon, the liquids begin to stop flowing. Devin''s head spastically turns right and left. Prongs attached to his head and neck retract taking a chunk of skin and hair out the back of his skull. Blood begins disseminating into the clear blue liquid. Devin''s head then jerks forward and his eyes open in sheer horror. His mouth follows suit sending out bubbles of carbon dioxide. He begins thrashing about in the thick liquid matter and hitting the glass container with his hands in hopes to break it in order to get oxygen. His hits barely even make so much as a thud. He looks around him in a panic. Devin notices the tubes and wiring attached to his legs, arms, belly button and head. He follows them upward as they extend to the top of the unit converging at a central point where there appears also to be an air pocket.


    Devin grapples all the tubes converging near the top of his head and begins pulling himself up. Bubbles of panicked released air escape his nose and corners of his mouth. He thrashes up the length of the tubes until he reaches the small air pocket at the top. He hollers out in pain and then takes a few gasps of air, spitting out the blue gel from his mouth. He remains there panting and his eyes rest upon the center metal plate where the tubes meet and extend out down inside the unit.


    Devin manages to push himself up a little more forcing him to press his head into the metal. He takes a big gulp of air and goes down yanking on the tubes with all his might. He surfaces and repeats, surfaces and repeats. The core metal plate that funnels the tube through gives way. Devin''s head pops up from the fallen plate in the water. It has a hollow middle like a giant donut hole. He grabs it and pushes it down with his hands below his feet like undressing a metal garment. He then surfaces to see the new opening at the top of the unit where the metal plate once was.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Devin stands on top of his unit leaning against the suspension pole for support. He wears only tight white short, wet with goo. He holds tightly to the chain that keeps his unit attached to the rack of units of his row. Flashing yellow alarm lights and sirens begin filling the warehouse chamber and startles the already traumatized Mr. Richardson. He grabs tighter to the chain and swings around to gain perspective of his surroundings. The hard cement floor boundary marked with red lines is empty. With a jerk, the entire rack that holds Devin''s scoots forward. Devin loses his footing and grip nearly falling to his death. Fortunately, he is able to grab a hold of the edges of his vessel and pull himself painfully back up but with exhaustive effort. Breathing heavily, and muscles glistening from the gel, Devin stumbles back and grabs hold of the chain as the rack is lowered toward ground level.


    Thought you would get rid of me that easy?


    Devin jumps off to the ground. He turns to see that the unit next to him holds the body of Login. Urgently he approaches the unit pressing against the glass and pounding it. Devin looks up considering pulling his friend out. He can''t accept the reality that he doesn''t have the strength to pull such a feat off, but he also can''t accept the reality of leaving his longtime friend and business partner behind. Suddenly Devin hears doors and vehicles starting up from a not too far distance. Alarmed voices are escalating. As the rack approaches the ground, he hears someone say, "SECTION 8: UNIT 280! Richardson!"


    From the left hall a small troop of robots in metal gear are running in his direction and to the right 3 robots ride a Hovercraft in the opposite direction. Devin steps back and forcibly push his legs to move. It is as though they are stuck in the mud. He ultimately begins throwing his weight from side to side to thrust himself forward into the darkness. He finds a large storage area of crates and machines and spies a toolbox with a small laser flashlight and grabs it along with a drill gun for a weapon.


    The voices and the sounds of the robots become heavier in the cold, dark air. As Devin now crawls around the crates, the fast-paced footsteps seem to surround the area. He isn''t sure where he is heading, but he knows he is heading away from the suspension units. He slows to catch his breath. He leans against a metal crate and the coolness of the metal feels good against his hot body.


    Devin risks using the light but keeps it low to the floor. Devin shines the light on what are rows and rows of uniforms. Uniforms he remembers. He walks up in disbelief to the black and green metallic flight suit. He reaches into the thigh pocket of one and pulls out a jagged blade. He looks upon it with a strange fixation.


    "I know this uniform. What is going on?" he asks himself. Devin looks behind as he notes a sudden increase of voices and sounds coming in his direction. He turns off his light and once again is on the move.


    Animal-noids in the form of dogs were unleashed not far from his location. Equipped with high-function smell and sight sensors and being lower to the floor, they could manage an area of expertise that humanoids or robots could not. For all intents and purposes, they were hard to tell from real dogs except that their fur was fake and didn''t flow naturally like natural dogs.


    Robots holding robotic animal-noid Doberman pinchers release them as they pick up on a trail of blood and cryogenic gel leading deep into the warehouse. The armed robots follow the barking dogs into the darkness.


    Outside the Cryogenic Warehouse


    Devin Richardson runs over the top of a grassy hill leaving behind the monolithic warehouse underneath the bright moonlight. He briefly looks back breathless, scrapped up and dirty from having been crawling across the warehouse floor.


    Large lights snap to attention on the roof of the building that exposes every inch of the grounds just outside the walls. Two large glowing orbs, one with a glowing blue stripe and the other red, shoot out from the rooftop of the warehouse and begin conducting a search of the grounds. The side doors of the warehouse open and the animal-noid Dobermans yank forward, barking furiously to be released. The yellow light above the open-door flashes like a disco light. Robots file out immediately releasing their dogs to their quest.


    Meanwhile, Devin forges ahead into the woods, trudging along like a drunkard after a hangover with only his small light and wearing only a pair of dirt cover, gel-stained shorts.


    Point Loma--Roadside


    Devin stands on a hill above near an overpass. He stumbles forward, arms hanging limp. His lifeless eyes widen at the site of an illuminated, futuristic city rising out of the rubble of ruins of downtown San Deigo. His jaw drops slightly as his eyes glide over the tall skyscrapers that appear like mere computer-generated images. Traffic in the sky uniformly flows in and out at 4 directions in a zig-zag shape like that of a cosmic ninja spike. Devin plops down to the ground as a rag doll tired of playing for the day. He is overwhelmed at the site. Tears run down his face.


    Didn''t dad used to say ''big boys don''t cry''? Eh, fuck that.


    He reaches around to touch the back of his head and winces in pain. He examines his hand to see that the bleeding has slowed down. After resting up, he makes his way downhill by doing the scoot-boot. He scorned the humiliation. There was no shame for any move today, as he figured it. He was able to stand up and balance himself for the most part.


    A rickety, old pickup truck playing Spanish music is heading down the road with the speed of old ice cream trucks that used to pass by his house as a kid. Devin watches like it is a gift from God. He stumbles halfway out into the road and makes his calculated target to the back trailer. Feeling like a zombie from some horror film, he manages to writhe, wiggle, and force his body into a half-body paralyzed run and leap.


    As the truck reaches an area where it would go under an overpass, and Devin notices a small congregation of people hanging around, he gets himself off the trailer hitch. The noise of flying vehicle overhead causes him to rush all the more for the security of the protection of the overpass. His eyes dart about desperately trying to decipher shadows.


    Where are the people I just saw out here a moment ago?


    One older woman in a beat-up wheelchair comes out of the shadows from behind Devin, pushing it with her feet. She grabs a frail hold to Devin''s white short shorts smacking her gums.


    "Please man," Devin says pulling her hand away.


    "I like them shorts, ya young whipper-snapper. Give ''em to me," she says excitingly.


    "Mam, please.., please let go. I can hardly carry myself let alone you and your chair."


    "Umhmmmmm, young whipper snappers are so selfish all the time. Ya need to learn to respect your elders."


    Devin walks on hearing whispers of private conversations and rustling of belongings echoing the tunnel. He should have thought the better of it. They were protecting their belongings. These were homeless people, and they would see him as a threat.


    At the far end of the overpass---


    A young, Mexican by the name of Enrique, age 35 is exchanging money with a young man for electronic parts.


    Joey pulls a part out of a plastic basket strapped to the front of his motorized bike. Enrique slaps the cash hard into his hands.


    "This will do. This will do!"


    Enrique looks up to the sound of dragging feet behind him and sees the barely dressed, dirtied Devin approaching like a zombie near death.


    "Whoa, Joey, what have we here?"


    "Oh, rough night for that one," he gives Richardson a mockingly sympatric once over.


    Devin remains silent but directly approaches them.


    "Hey, ''migo. You all right?" asks Enrigue chuckling.


    Devin attempts to wet his parched lips and makes an unintelligible reply and then tries again. He whispers, "I just need some clothes. Pl..Plaeh-ese"


    Enrique looks him over as if sensing something familiar about him.


    "I guess you do. Hey, where you from?"


    Devin''s eyes roll back, and he starts falling forward. Enrique rushes forward and catches him. Joey comes over and they both lower to the ground.


    "Whoa! Okay, okay. We got ya, migo!"


    "Yeah, man, we got ya now, hold on."


    A few others enter out of the darkness at the sound of all the commotion. Enrique notices the blood on the back of Devin''s head and the patch of hair missing. He sees the small opening of torn skin.


    "Oh! Someone''s got in for you, migo!" He turns to Joey, "Joey, you got a drink or somet''en?


    "Yeah, some Life Quench Give me a sec, I''ll grab one."


    Enrique props Devin up against the cement wall of the underpass and young Joey returns with a bright yellow-like substance. At first slow on the intake, Devin soon isn''t able to swallow it quick enough.


    "We gotta get this dude covered up!" He walks toward the shadows from where Devin had walked in, "Anyone got some rags we can use? This guy ''s got nothing!"


    There is no sound. Enrique turns looking first at the pitiful lump of human flesh propped on the wall and then to his friend Joey who shrugs his shoulders with a "that''s life" expression on his face.


    "Here! I got an extra shirt about his size. Some shoes too but not sure thems gonna fit!" says Harold who appears out of the shadows with a shirt draped over his arm and blue loafers in the other hand. Joey intersects Harold with a sense of urgency with piercing eyes locked on the shoes.


    "Damn Harold, those were my shoes! You''re the one who took them?"


    "I was just borrowing ''em and now this young man be need ''em...stop your fuss''en!"


    Harold sets the folded shirt and shoes down on Devin''s lap like a servant bearing gifts. A middle-aged dirty blonde woman named Judy comes up from behind Harold.


    "I have a pair of sweatpants he can borrow."


    "That''s great Judy, bring em on! You guys really do in a pinch!"


    Judy briskly hands them to Enrique, takes a nervous peek at Devin, and then exits back to her place in the dark underpass.


    "Thank you. " Devin said softly looking at the gifts around him.


    "He ain''t been homeless for long!" Judy shouted back loudly piercing the darkness. Enrique examines Devin with renewed suspicion.


    "So, where are you going?" Enrigue comes closer kneeling lower into Richardon''s eye view.


    "I-I don''t know."


    Enrique, with eyes kept on Devin, points behind his back, "Harold, get away from my bike!" Harold''s tall frame is shadowed by the angle of the streetlights shining nearby.


    "Oh, I''m too old for bikes. Just admiring her ''s all.""


    "Well, do your admiring from a distance, padre." Enrique stands up making sure Harold is moving back from his bike and then he returns to Devin side, sitting down next to him with his back against the overpass wall.


    "So," he whispers in a menacing voice that reminds Devin of the Silver Man, "Who ripped your brain chip out of your head like that? "


    Devin goes to feel the spot but stops short not wanting to inflict more pain on himself.


    "I''m not entirely sure."


    "Hmmm, yeah. Let me tell you a secret. Judy is right. You are too new-dirty...when did you land on the streets?"


    Devin shakes his head and goes to stand up. Joey rushes over to help him while Enrique watches suspiciously. He pulls out a toothpick and looks on intensely. Devin puts on his shirt and sweats.


    "What year is it?" Devin asks.


    Joey chuckles.


    "Oh, that''s rich," Enrique stands up.


    "2090, man. "


    "2090? That can''t be right."


    Devin tries on his shoes lacing them up as tight as he can get them. "I know you don''t trust me but don''t mock me. What year is it, really?"


    Joey and Enrique exchange concerned glances, unsure of who is tricking who or if anyone is.


    "2090, man! Where have you been?"


    "Yeah, you been asleep, migo?"


    "You could say that."


    "I hope you enjoy those shoes because they were mine," Joey mumbles softly.


    Enrique slaps Joey''s shoulder, "Joey, I''ll get you another pair of damn new shoes on my next visit, " flinching his toothpick in his mouth," What''s your name, migo? You look familiar."


    "Devin Richardson. I was a Sargent. Or so I thought. I don''t know anymore."


    Enrique''s eyes go wide like an owl.


    "Devin Richardson? Whoa! You trippen? How would the Devin Richardson be out in the middle of nowhere missing a brain chip?" Devin continues to dress, unsure how to respond. "I''m Enrique, by the way, and this is Joey. Not that you asked," he smirks, "So, man, you aren''t saying like you are the Richardson who is co-creator of the System, right? Not that Devin Richardson?"


    Devin looks both confused and surprised. Something otherworldly, somewhere deep in his subconscious takes hold of him, and for the first time since he woke up out of cryogenic sleep, he feels he has a solid answer to a question about who he is.


    "Yes, actually I am."


    Enrique starts circling around him. Joey watches in amazement covering his mouth as if afraid to show his his true expression.


    "You scamming us? That''s kind of hard to believe. You a humanoid or something? Trying to trick us?"


    Joey momentarily removes his hand nervously from his mouth, "Would a humanoid be out here by itself?" Devin looks on surprised with the backup support from Joey but quickly realizes this is all just calculating benefits and costs.


    "Yeah, and would a humanoid be functioning with a brain chip torn out of his skull?" Devin added.


    Enrique tilts his head in a quiet gesture of contemplation. Harold is walking past them deeper in the underpass. He stops suddenly and points ahead into the darkness.


    "Well, now that''s an odd thing now, isn''t it?"


    Everyone turns to look down the dark tunnel now lit by a ring of ominous blue auras. Traveling slowing down the tunnel is a floating blue orb. It travels with the movement of an eye as it scans the various homeless bodies in the night.


    "Oh, crap! I have got to get out of here fast! That is after me!" Devin exclaims.


    Enrique looks Devin square in the eyes. "Interestingly enough, that makes two of us! Come on!"


    "What kind of trouble are you two into? Aww, man, those orbs are no good!" Joey whines.


    Joey rushes over toward his bike and straddles it as Enrique ushers Devin toward his bike and they climb aboard. The orb''s eye turns to the sounds of motors and movement. The orb zips past Joey on his slow-moving bike who then panics and falls over onto the grass just to be safe. His bike hovers waiting for him to return.


    Enrique speeds down a service launch drive with Devin holding on tight to his waist. They travel down the service drive until finally jetting off an exit runway into the air. The bike speeds up into the floating traffic above. Very quickly, Enrique manages to squeeze into the stream of flowing work traffic. The traffic is largely filled with egg shaped like vehicles and bike riders with their own color, size, and unique carvings that represent tattoos of certain gangs and clubs. Enrique''s head is bobbing about in all sorts of directions sizing up the traffic puzzle before him. He waves to the stunned family ahead of them that look out from the egg craft. The parents hold their children a little tighter and give a disapproving look through the glass window.


    "Can you see behind us if that orb is still chasing us?" Enrique asks.


    Devin turns back and sees the orb floating down the empty center lane quickly scanning passerbys.


    A holographic image of an African American woman in blue security gear appears floating before Enrique with a condescending look.


    "Enrique? I heard the dispatch come through. Had to see it for myself! You got balls showing up on System grid again!" says Oliva, the holographic image.


    "No time to play Olivia! Can you divert these orbs for me, babe?"


    "That''s above my pay grade! What you do''en?" Olivia looks over at something she is distracted by, "It appears you have someone with you who doesn''t have an active brain chip. Who''s that?"


    Devin leans forward and starts pushing on Enrique''s shoulder, "The orb will be on us quick!"


    Enrique growls, "Alright already, I got this." He looks down below. He sees the planes in the distance arriving and departing from the San Diego airport. His eyes squint and a wicked smile carves out across his face.


    "Olivia, alert San Deigo air space that I''m about to come through. I need air patrol on top of us."


    Olivia sits back chuckling flirtatiously. "You be crazy, ''Rique!" she shakes her head in mock disapproval. "Alright, I''m alerting them now, but you owe me."


    "Owing you is always a pleasure, Olivia."


    Olivia laughs with a pig-lette laugh. Devin sighs rolling his eyes.


    "Hold on tight, amigo! You''re in for a hell of a ride."

 A Little Bit of Paradise Island

    As Enrique swerves in and out of traffic, Devin reluctantly scoots forward to hold on tighter around the young Latino''s waist wrapped in a leather jacket.


    "I''m not into you that much, Sargent!" Enrique laughs.


    "Oh, you wish!" Devin squawks back with a scowl.


    Enrique smirks picking up speed and jetting them out into the arenas of the San Deigo air space. They are heading toward the San Deigo airport. An invisible boundary abruptly illuminates outlining itself in holographic yellow lines leading to a transparent wall. On top of the wall in a flashing yellow marquis are the words "WARNING!". The sound of a mechanical voice being broadcast surrounds them:


    "Warning! You are entering prohibited airspace! Warning! Return to the traffic lanes. You are entering prohibited airspace! Re-enter the traffic lanes immediately."


    Enrique is only speeding up all the more and zips through the boundary lines. Devin looks back and sees that the blue orb has left the traffic lanes and is in hot pursuit. Meanwhile, Enrique looks below seeing two other orbs that glow red instead of blue racing up from treetops. He knows these red ones are fully weaponized and chooses that now isn''t the time to inform his passenger about that. No need to create unnecessary panic.


    "It''s about to get really dicey! Hope your s da upright position, ''migo!" Immediately, Enrique soars upward to his left heading for the traffic flow of the air crafts departing the airport.


    Devin keeps his head to one side because of the wind and notices that there appears to be a long strand of blue lights filing out of an airport garage in the distance. There are many of them coming out two by two and then, after a line-up, they launch into the air and move at great speed toward them.


    Devin points and shouts, "What are those, ''migo''?" he asks in a mocking fashion.


    "Yep, that''s airport security. Right on cue! That''s what we want."


    Enrique manipulates his bike to circle around the front of a departing jet plane. The wind is blowing fiercely sending Devin''s hair around like he is in a hair salon. The jets rumble and blast vibrating their skin. Soon, the blue and red orbs meet up nearby as if communicating and then split up again. One spins its way over the giant jet aircraft and the others go under it.


    Enrique instead does a complete turnabout and heads straight on into the approaching herd of airport security away from the jet plane. They encircle him with their blue headlights shining on them. The men are in blue-colored uniforms with shielded metal plates blocking their torsos.


    Enrique uses one hand to shield himself from the bright blaring lights shining in on them from all directions. He hadn''t factored in blindness into the equation. He strains his eyes and head around for the next departing aircraft but there is none in sight.


    "You are in violation of San Diego airspace! Follow us!" says one of the officers.


    "No, no hablo Inglese!"


    "Who is our Spanish-ese person today?" the security officer asks the others with a flat tone.


    "That guy with him doesn''t look Spanish speaking. You speak any English there, fella?"


    Devin tries not to move from behind Enrigue, using his body as a shield, hoping against hope that someone or something intervenes.


    "Hey guys, what are those?" asks another officer. Some of the officers turn their upper torsos around to see the fast-approaching orbs. Their vests make squeaks as they do so.


    The lead security officer turns back in frustration looking at Enrique, "Those are military issue search weapons! What kind of trouble are you two in?" Enrique''s eyes are shifting back and forth seemingly waiting for the right timing, and it comes none too soon.


    "Gentlemen, thank you for your hospitality this evening, Buenos Noches!" Enrique powers down the bike so that they free-fall below the circle of security guards just as the orbs approach. Devin leans into Enrique''s body holding on for dear life. The orbs immediately put a force field around the security troop so they cannot move.


    Enrique and Devin speedily free fall as another large jet plane noisily zooms between them and the trapped security personnel. As soon as Enrique is sure that are eclipsed by the plane, he immediately gets the bike into full speed and jets them away from the airport down a dark service drive below and then shoots down an off-ramp.


    Cruising Mission Bay Drive


    The two men are quiet as they ride on over the war-torn bridge that heads toward Mission Bay. Devin takes a few deep breaths as he feels the cool wind off the water. He looks behind him and to the side at the glowing city in the distance with all the multiple-colored illuminated skyscrapers and flowing sky traffic. This is not the world he had known. He remembers at times working overtime at the office and falling asleep. He would have these deep dreams and wake up in the dream not knowing he was still inside yet another dream. He secretly hoped he was still dreaming, but if this was his new reality, how much of it could he digest right now?


    A split in the road rises up, and they speedily go down Ingraham road across another bridge that leads to a series of lagoons. Enrique continues at high speed though no traffic is seen and no orbs are in sight. The silence, the wind, and the staving off of too many questions for each of them continue until they arrive at old Paradise Point.


    "You all right?" asks Enrique.


    "I''m fine, thank you. Where are we?"


    "An Island. Use to be Paradise Point."


    "Used to be?"


    "Hold on!"


    Enrique types something into a small touch screen between his handles. Immediately, the sound of earth and rock moving drowns out the sounds of crickets, frogs, and birds. Devin notices they enter through a now open tunnel in the side of a hill. He grips the side of his seat as they speed downward inside the hill.


    The Island--Underground


    A woman in torn jeans and a black T-Shirt that looks like she has worn this outfit for a week straight stands near a set of two large computer systems. She pulls out a weapon and watches the two as they enter a lighted small garage painted all in light gray. Her frown seems like it is carved in permanently by the gods.


    "What the hell, Enrique?" hollars Theresa, her voice echoing slightly in the empty space.


    "I can explain," he moans. Enrique parks his bike and helps Devin get off who is stiff and wobbly. Theresa approaches Enriques''s side. Enrique steps a few paces back as Devin stretches his stiff back out.


    "Who the hell is he?" she asks.


    "Could you be a little less rude? You wouldn''t believe me if I told you."


    "Try me," she smirks.


    "Do I frick''en answer to you, anyhow? I''ll take him to Kyle."


    "When I''m at this guard post, you bet your sweet ass you do!"


    Enrique bites his lips. "He''s important. Enough with the theatrics."


    She looks Devin over circling around him. "Important huh? You could fool me. You both look like shit...and he''s had his damn chip torn out. For crying out loud Enrique, you know the red flags that send up?"


    "Like I don''t know that? I''m not blind. I''m taking him straight to Kyle."


    "Hmmff! You ain''t taken him anywhere till you start explaining to me why I shouldn''t shoot you both for unauthorized entry plus bringing a strange dude with no brain chip. You could have already compromised us!"


    A door slides up near the computers and out walks a tall man with military garb, a strap of bullets wrapped around his torso, and two burly soldiers next to him. His pale gray eyes shift about and the dimples in his cheeks frown.


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    "It''s all right, Theresa. I''ve been watching them since they entered Mission Bay," he places a hand on her shoulder, and they lock eyes. The anger flaring in her eyes slowly tempers down and she walks back to her station. The two soldiers by Kyle''s side keep their eyes locked on Devin.


    "You got the piece I need?" asks Kyle turning to Enrique.


    "Yeah, it''ll do." Enrique pulls out a flash drive. "The files on here should do the trick."


    Kyle nods and walks past Enrique toward Devin who stands sweating and pale. "Now, I''m sure you must have one hell of a good reason for bringing this man in here and risking exposing this entire compound. So let''s hear it."


    Enrique clears his throat, gathers his courage while looking up at the ceiling, and then directs his eyes back to his commander.


    "Yes, sir. He says his name is..Devin Richardson, sir."


    "You mean the-"


    "Yes, that one," Enrique replies quickly and then clears his throat as he realizes he cut the Sargeant off. Kyle''s eyes widen a little in disbelief and concern. Enrique continues, "The orbs were trailing him. Military. They came after both of us, sir."


    Devin begins to wobble again, about to faint. Kyle rushes to catch him. The soldiers assist in laying him on the pavement. Kyle bends down and examines Devin''s face turning his head from side to side. He stands back up puffing out his chest a little.


    "Did you ever think this might be a humanoid, Enrique? They could be tracing him. This could be a setup to find our compound."


    "I did consider that, sir, but his brain chip has been torn right out of him. He couldn''t function as a humanoid without one."


    Kyle''s eyes momentarily widen again and his chest deflates. He goes back to the floor examining the back of Devin''s head. This time he stands back up in shock and brings a forefinger to his lips. Enrique knows this means he is safe and he was thinking of a plan.


    "Theresa, you and these soldiers get a stretcher and some fluids for our detainee."


    Devin with slurred speech blurts out loudly, "I need to get out of here...where''s my wife, damn it? I need to uh..see my wife?"


    Kyle and Enrique exchange glances.


    "Orbs you said?" asks Kyle.


    "Yes. Military."


    "Hm. Get the doc. We need to make sure he is who says he is." He looks over to Devin who is staring off into space glassy-eyed. "I don''t have a good feeling about him."


    Devin looks over to the two men, but the room seems to have lost its lighting as though a dark ghost has cast a shadow upon the room which is slowly taking over. Just before he passes out completely, Devin''s last view is that of Mr. Kelly staring at him with a questioning glare.


    Underground Medical Unit


    Warped sounds like music being spun backward turn into intelligible words. The words of an argument. Blurry images turn into Sargent Kelly and what appears to be a woman doctor conversing at the end of his bed. The woman appears to be in her mid-twenties, a medium build with broad hips and flowing light brown hair like that of some goddess.


    "I''m not one of your cronies, Kyle. I don''t worship at your feet."


    "As long as you want to remain under my protection, you''ll do what I ask, Kate."


    "Oh cut that crap-ass line for once! Seriously, Kyle, do you think you can threaten me? He''s the real deal anyway. The DNA test already showed you that, so I don''t know why we are even arguing."


    "Do you think you can handle this if you''re right?"


    "We are right, and do I have a choice?"


    "Do any of us have a choice? I fear he may have a system virus still. Let''s be cautious."


    Kate Winthrop looks up at him skeptically, "Of course you do, everyone is a threat. Everyone outside your circle is a virus."


    "If we can get him on our side, it is our one hope in this war, but you have to be objective. If this is a trap, if the system got to him, they''ll use your emotions to get to you."


    Devin, silently watching, attempts to now sit up, but a throbbing pain and dizziness force him to sit right back down. He groans uncontrollably. Kate hears his groan and rushes to his side.


    "Mr. Richardson? Are you all right?" She turns back to Kyle while keeping a hand reassuringly on Devins''s forearm, "He''s awake."


    Kyle approaches but doesn''t get too close.


    "You are just coming out of significant surgery. I want you to lay flat and relax," whispers Kate.


    Devin reaches around the back of his head as if to remove something stuck there. "The back of my head?"


    "Yes, are you having pain there?"


    "I''ll say."


    "Okay, I''ll give you more for that."


    She begins pumping something into his I.V. "You''re a little dopey right now. It''s normal." Devin lays back a little sighing. "The reason you may feel some discomfort in your head is we implanted a modified brain chip. You can''t go around without a chip. It sets off every red flag across the globe sensor-wise. It will take a while to connect with your brain and nervous system."


    "You...you didn''t ask me if I wanted that. You have no right," he interjects with a dopey frown, "I don''t even know who you people are."


    Kyle steps forward. "Mr. Richardson," he says loudly causing Devin''s eyes to open like he had been given a shot of adrenaline, "You are a liability to us. You are fortunate that you are not dead. Make no mistake you are not a guest here. You are a detainee at this point until we figure out who you really are and what to do with you."


    Devin eeks out a smirk, "You''re a bundle of joy aren''t you? A regular ole jolly Ole'' St. Knick!" he cackles with a drunken slur. Kyle frowns and looks over to Theresa who bites her lower lip trying not to laugh and avoiding giving him eye contact. "While don''t ya bend yourself down here and let me give you a big ole kiss," Devin reaches out his arms, and Kate snickers pushing his arms back down, wisely stepping in between the two.


    "The drugs are kicking in heavy now, Mr. Richardson," Kate says with a little extra emphasis looking back to see if Kyle was getting the message and keeping his distance, which he is though his face is red.


    A door slides open, and Enrique enters the room gleaming from ear to ear.


    "Hey ''migo! The legend is awake!" Enrique''s laugh is short-lived as he sees the seriousness on Kyle''s face.


    Devin closes his eyes and smiles, "You saved my life with your acrobats, Mr. ''migo."


    "Oh, no problem! How''s the nogg''en?"


    Devin opens his eyes and puts his hand on his forehand, "The nogg''en is nagging."


    "It''ll get better and-"


    "Enrique, we need to go and give Mr. Richardson some rest," Kyle insists grabbing him by the arm.


    "Oh, sure!" Enrique replies his voice vibrating a little and his eyes shifting like a puppy that isn''t sure what it did wrong. Kyle walks with him out of the room.


    Later, Devin wakes up unsure how long has been asleep to find Kate is reading over medical information on an electronic clipboard. Devin shifts uncomfortably in his bed.


    "Am I gonna live? "


    She smirks, "Yes, you are."


    Devin scoots himself back and sits up in his bed. Kate walks to the end of the bed, her brow furrowed as if straining to question him.


    "Do you remember anything, Mr. Richardson?


    "As in?"


    "Who you are and what you did before entered cryo sleep?"


    Devin scratches the side of his head a little. "I''m a bit hazy on that, but I was a senator for California and worked on The New Society committee. Myself and a scientist.... Bloomfield, something or other. I''m missing his first name."


    "Leonard?"


    Devin''s eyes widen, "Yes! Leonard. How did you know?"


    "Just keep going Mr. Richardson. It is important you keep going while you are remembering it."


    "Well, I know we were working on congressional approval of some technical designs regarding cities, brain chips, and the use of cryogenics." He pauses looking at the wall to his right side as if there was a window there. "The cityscape I saw today... it was only a concept we had at the time. And then, cryogenic sleep...is that where I was?"


    Kate seemingly holding more than just her own breath in, "I''m not sure."


    "Cryogenic rotations of people for population control were to be 3-year term limits. How would I have been under for...what did Enrique say? Twenty? That can''t be." Devin starts to move out of the bed, but Kate leans in, pressing him back down into the bed.


    "Easy Mr. Richardson. If you were in cryogenic sleep that long, your body isn''t ready for a lot of things. My guess would be somebody falsely or rightly imprisoned you. Whatever the case may be, time will tell."


    "What? I''m no criminal!" Devin grips one of his own shoulders as his eyes dart about like ping pong balls trying to remember. "I was looking into something. Something my business partner was keeping from me." Devin momentarily seems to awake out of a daydream, "Tell me your name," Devin squints and wrinkles his brow as if he could squeeze his head hard enough to produce her name. "It is right on the tip of my tongue."


    "Kate, Kate Winthrop," she replies.


    "That''s it, Kate. Listen, I have a wife, Cindy Richardson. We have to find her. She wanted me to find her."


    "Mr. Richardson-"


    "Who are you people, by the way? And what is this place?" he squints again looking at his surroundings. He goes to start to push himself up and out of the bed, but Kate places a calming hand on his arm and then needs two not-so-calming arms to push him back down.


    "Mr. Richardson, you get out of this bed and you are going right land right on your ass and probably break your hip bone or something. Listen, the people here at this..facility...are part of an army. A Resistance. I am myself am a doctor, by contract. I just help out here for their medical needs."


    "Why did that commander... Kyle, I heard you call him...refer to me as a prisoner?"


    "Don''t be too alarmed by that. You aren''t a criminal to us so much-"


    "So much?"


    "You are to the United States military though." Kate presses something in her ear, tilting her head as if a bug lodged itself in there. She turns away from him and mumbles in frustrated tones, "Damn it, Kyle, I''ll do this my way or you can do this yourself! I can''t concentrate with you barking orders in my ear!" She takes a deep breath and turns back to Devin who stares at her with suspicion.


    "Sorry. Brain chips now allow video streaming through the retina. You''ll soon discover that. Pain in the ass. Spammers can sneak through. Only comfort is that this compound keeps us out of the loop from most of them" . Devin looks deeply into her eyes but sees nothing looking back at him, which lets him know he isn''t being told the truth. The first moment of clarity he''s had all day. Still, he could tell she wanted something from him and she wasn''t completely in allegiance with this resistance. Maybe he could sway her or get more information out of her, at the very least.


    "I think I dug too deep... found something. I just can''t piece this all together yet. If I had more intel and could find my wife. Are you married, Kate?"


    She shook her head and suppressed laughter, "Look, it''ll take time for you to remember but you will. All I have are legends about you to fill in the blanks, and honestly, I don''t believe in legends."


    "Legends are a good start. It is something rather than nothing."


    Kate shakes her head putting a hand on her hip. She stares at him and then defiantly puts the chart on a counter staring down at it as if contemplating a troubling question.


    "You need to rest, Mr. Richardson. There is a lot more of ahead...I just hope you will come to remember my father."


    Devin''s eyes come alive with a glimmer of hope. Personal investment: I''ve hooked her!


    "Your father? Okay, I''m supposed to have known him," he said intrigued sitting up a little.


    Kate''s eyes are red, and she blinks. She barely gets out the words before exiting the room, "Yes. Login Killian."


    The door shuts behind her with her gowns fluttering like bat wings. Devin remains in the room alone blinking, unsure of what just happened but familiar with the name. He mouths the word "Login" to see what memory it may conjure up next.

 Tall Tales

    Inside the Communication Center


    Sargent Kyle Kelly''s momentous frame nearly fills the door frame itself of the Communication Center as he walks through it. He leads the way with Devin Richardson eclipsed by his body tagging along behind him. Among the sea of computer technicians, Enrique and Theresa look up dumbfounded from their computer stations as the two enter. On the west wall are giant flat screens, which display live feed from several scenes around Paradise Island, a few from Mission Bay, and fewer still from downtown San Deigo. A large window stretching 12 feet long displays only dark shadows with hints of the sharp edges of machinery behind the thick glass. In the center of the room rises a clear white cylinder, which balances what appears to a large, ornate diamond on top. It seems out of place, like something belonging in a jewelry store and not a military computer communications center.


    "This is our communication center. You''ve met Enrique and Theresa, of course," Kyle says flatly.


    Theresa stands awkwardly. Enrique rolls his chair out from his cubical wall.


    "Showing him around the la casa, hey Sarge? How''s the ole'' noggin, big guy?"


    "Better. Thanks for asking! I thought I better get the blood moving."


    "Good idea, ''migo!"


    Kyle escorts Devin to the metal door at the south end of the window leading to the garage and turns the lights on inside unraveling the mystery of shadows behind the machinery. He stops short of taking him deep inside. Enrique, head down, follows in behind them. The smell of oil and cleaning fluid taints the air but isn''t overbearing with the huge size of the garage.


    "This is the garage, more or less. You have your air bikes over there on the east side, like the ones you two knuckleheads rode in on. We have a few space pods in the mix that can deceive most of the link scanners."


    Devin manages to make out that the pods were like the ones everyday people were traveling in sky traffic lanes when they were on the run, but these were a bit more roughed up. He could only see the backsides of their egg-shaped heads, looking like retired seats from some old amusement park ride.


    "Things have changed since you last been awake. Once you enter city limits, you are linked and traced. If you have no chip that can be linked to, then you are red-flagged immediately and taken out. This is why it was very risky for Enrique to bring you here without a chip." Enrique pressed his lips together refraining from an argument stirring just behind them.


    "So how do you get around it?" Devin asks.


    "Forged identity chips. It was really only a matter of time before they would start tracking everyone anyway. Those who were truly woke saw it coming as soon as your company put the System in motion." Kyle scowls. His head twists slightly as if a snake twisted around his spine and when he recenters it with a crack, he walks up into Devin''s personal space causing him to lean back slightly, "What were you thinking when you created a system that could violate and take away every protection we had anyway?"


    Devin steps back holding a hand up, "What I was a part of creating was not to infringe on privacy or protections. It was to give everyone accessibility, security-"


    "Twenty years in cryogenic sleep and you still sound like a politician and a businessman," he smirks, "Look, Mr. Richardson. This is a Resistance Army covering the whole of North America. Our aim is to take down the very system you helped to create. I need to know that I can trust you and I don''t right now."


    "Take down the System? Once it''s been implemented..." Devin shakes his head, placing his hands on his hips in dismay, "you can''t just ''take it down."


    "You are the System''s co-creator."


    "More like Co-designer."


    "Alright, fuck. Co-designer then! Either way, you know inside details that we don''t. You can get us the access we don''t have right now."


    Devin chuckles scratching his hair, "Do you see where my status as co-designer got me? I barely made out alive! Whatever has been done with the System since I''ve been imprisoned has made it... something I don''t recognize."


    "But, you are alive! No one has faced the eye of that storm and come out alive except you! Plus, you would have a whole army behind you now. Our army!"


    "I''m not sure any of us knows what we are up against here! If it is true, what you all are saying, that the system has gone rogue and is self-aware. I''m could only be here to-"


    "Yes, why are you here?"


    Devin takes a breath, trying to hold back the rush of anger from having his words cut off. "Look, I get you have all this self-righteous anger toward me, and honestly, I don''t care," Devin leans in pointing a finger, "but I didn''t create what you see out there. That is not the system I intended. Look, I just want to get to my wife, and child, okay? I don''t care about your grand mission! Anyone''s grand life mission. Not till I find my wife."


    Kyle stares back grinding his teeth and Devin glares back in return. Enrique looks on the whole scene like it is a wrestling match of the minds. Kyle thrusts out an arm pointing southward. Devin and Enrique look toward the south and back at Kyle who is red-faced, his lips twitching, waiting for a response.


    "Over there, are our terrain vehicles. Diggers. The front them have a sharp edge tool that can dig through rock, dirt, and other shit in seconds. It will get you almost anywhere you want to go off grid." Kyle stomps past the two of them and slaps down the light switch, holding the door open reluctantly waiting for the other two to walk through. Devin walks through with his face flushed red. Kyle lets the door slam shut and begins to head slowly toward the door to re-lock it.


    "Enrique tell our legend here what our rules are about the vehicles."


    "Use ''em and get locked up indefinitely, unless you have permission," the young Mexican smirks and shrugs.


    "Simple enough to remember," Devin mutters.


    "I can''t have anyone going rogue on me, Mr. Richardson. Legend or no legend. Trust is earned and you haven''t earned-"


    Devin walks up and past the Sargant, "You''ve made yourself abundantly clear that you don''t trust me." As Kate is just entering, she attempts to greet Devin who is too angry to see her as he storms out. She looks back surprised and then at Kyle''s anger-ridden face reading the lines in his furrowed brow and red tainted cheeks.


    Devin practically punches the button that opens the door to his room and sits down on the bed. He looks around the room anxiously and then with arms on his knees puts his head into the palms of his hands. It feels like the damn walls are closing in. I gotta get out of this compound. This just isn''t going to work... me and this Resistance Army just aren''t.. Eyes closed, he vividly remembers the day when the authorities arrest him and take Login out of his car to arrest him. Cindy and Login''s daughter Kate watch with looks of horror from the front door.


    "Honey? What is happening?" cries Cindy.


    "Don''t worry! I will get this worked out. This is a mistake. Just hang tight!" Devin shouts to her while the police are pushing his head into a vehicle.


    "Watch Kate for me? Call my wife?" Login hollers to her


    "Yes, Login, I will," replies Cindy


    That was the last day he saw his wife, and the last day Kate saw her father. His head lifts up. Maybe there was a way he could get Kate to help him get out of here. I just need to remember what they did to Login and we could kill two birds with one stone. Get my wife and daughter, and find Login.., that is, if he is still alive.


    Hallway Moments Later--


    Kyle and Kate walk away from the Communication Center as other staff workers pass by sporadically.


    "You are being too hard on him. Give him a bit more credit, Kyle."


    "I don''t trust him," Kyle replies puffing out his chest, "and I don''t imagine part of your rush for us to get along is that he could lead to your father''s whereabouts? I''m not going to coddle him."


    "I know you want him combat-ready, but he isn''t ready. You can''t make him ready for something he isn''t. You certainly aren''t going to win him over this way!"


    Kyle steps ahead of her and stands in front of her, "Then, you make him ready! This is war Kate. The game has changed if we get him on our side. We''ll have an edge."


    "Everything is a damn war game with you, but you forget the causalities--even when it''s on your own side of the battle!"


    Kate maneuvers her way around Kyle''s large body and walks on. Kyle remains stoically silent. No one spoke to him the way Kate did. No one had the guts. It made his blood so hot that it burned his veins, but he also admired her for it. If he was honest, it also turned him on. These days, as the battles intensify, he has to use fear and discipline in order to keep the compound from falling apart. Friendships are hard to keep. Romance is non-existent. But, he has hope that when this is all over, he may show her a different side of himself.


    She is the caregiver and doesn''t have a clue what it is like playing your pieces in the war game. To lead like he does, you have to play your feelings and moves close to your chest. She detests so the rules of war so much. No one wants the role of leader, but everyone is so willing to judge every move you make as one. Who would sign up for that? He sure didn''t. He had reached this level of command only by a successive series of deaths of other commanders, and he never wanted a whole army''s worth of lives placed in his hands. People imagine because of the tough talk coming out of his mouth, that he sees this as some game he is playing with people''s lives. No, it''s a torment. A sadistic puzzle and if I have a choice that didn''t involve the fate of the world, I would choose not to play, he thought to himself. The faces of people who have died haunt his dreams pop up in shadows around corners or in the reflections of mirrors when his eyes get unfocused for just a brief second. A second too long. But, maybe one day he could make her understand. One day maybe he could show her his true heart. The day when his heart isn''t completely signed over to the Resistance Army.


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    FITNESS CENTER-NEXT DAY


    Kyle leans on the door frame watching Kate put Devin Richardson to work on his physical therapy routine. Devin looks over briefly at the Sargeant who has half a smile on his face as he groans while collapsing from doing planks.


    "I think our onlooker over there is enjoying watching me getting tortured," Devin replies.


    "You have no idea," Kyle snickers.


    "You''re next if you aren''t careful," Kate says whipping her hair back as she types something into her electronic chart.


    "Is this punishment you are giving me because I told you I can''t yet remember what happened the day your father disappeared?"


    "Stop being such a baby. I have to make sure you are progressing in your muscle strength." She smiles but then looks concerned as a soldier enters the room and addresses Kyle.


    "Sir, you and Mr. Richardson are being summoned to the Communication Center right away. General Forsyth is pinging in for a conference call."


    Kyle''s face goes pale. "General Forsyth? Mr. Richardson, follow me. You can have him back shortly, Kate." Kate throws up her hands subtly and watches in frustration as they walk off.


    This was beginning to feel like a terrible cat and mouse game to her. Devin Richardson had literally been delivered to the compound like a gift in the mail. After years of absolute dead silence as to her father''s whereabouts, she had given up hope. However, not all hope. She tucked away a memory. It was there as a young child playing at the Richardson''s home when the authorities came and arrested Devin and her father. She was but a child but not too young to forget the last day she had seen her dad. Something that is traumatic never leaves you. She had to rely on the comfort of Mrs. Cindy Richardson who was clearly shaken herself but did her best to console her even amidst her own fears and agony.


    Now, it was like an old wound being teased or tormented all over again. After decades of being put off by what was clearly a humanoid version of Devin Richardson and with Cindy Richardson who swore allegiance to him, here was the "real" Devin Richardson? A new twist no one had been expecting, not even the System itself got a handle on him before he had escaped its grip. The one man with the clue as to where her father is, and she has yet to get anything from him. Maybe it is time to be a little less subtle and get a moment alone with him. Things are bubbling up around here. Something is going to pop, and it isn''t going to be pretty. I have to get him alone and find out what he knows before things get out of hand.


    The Communication Center


    Kyle and the soldiers briskly walk in with Devin following suit. Most of the Communication is empty this is the evening shift, but those who are left are standing around anxiously waiting for their arrival. The lights are low and the room is mostly lit by the television screens projecting off the walls and a illuminated border of blue light that trails around both ceiling and the bottom of the walls framing the room.


    "Enrique, give me the low down before I take this call."


    "You''re not going to like it...remember your Catholic upbringing on forgiveness?"


    "Enrique now is not the time for humor or your religious appeals." Kyle then notices on the large screens different news stories showing images of Enrique on a bike with a person in the back seat. He walks closer to the screens. Enrique starts mumbling something in Spanish and Theresa walks over to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. On one of the screens the caption reads "Resistance Captures Legendary Devin Richardson or Is It A Hoax?" Kyle''s eyes start darting all over the screens looking closer at the rider and one shot shows clearly a side view of Devin Richardson on the bike.


    "Someone turn the volume up on screen 3! Now!"


    A young man by the name of Tom hops over to a device.


    "Thank you, Tom."


    "The infamous Resistor, Enriques Gonzales was seen again after a short hiatus escaping authorities a month earlier. It appears from the footage that we have, he was possibly carrying the legendary developer of the System, Devin Richardson, also former chair and businessman of the New Society. But there is speculation if this was him or a hoax...well...wait...we are getting something right now...let''s go to that....live at the home of the Richardson''s! It appears it may have been a hoax. Let''s hear from them," the reporter exclaims excitedly.


    The screen cuts to the lawn of a two-shaded light brown home with off white pillars holding up the front portico of this mansion-sized home. The grass color is more teal green than real green. A humanoid version of Devin Richardson appears on the screen grinning like a cat who ate a mouse. This humanoid version of Devin Richardson has a white gleaming smile revealing whitening laser treatments that reflect the camera lights. His hair is grayer, and his face has a few more lines but he looks tougher. Like a retired Sargeant, he stands tall and stiff with a crew cut in camouflage with a strand of metals hanging off him. He holds his wife Cindy tightly by his side as though someone from the camera crew may try to kidnap her. She too is older, and greyer, but her eyes look unalarmed, and they rest admirably on her husband''s face he speaks to the cameras.


    "Well, there can''t be two of me now, can there? I don''t think my wife here could tolerate it," he laughs as do some of the reporters. Cindy simply smiles and that warms the real Devin''s heart. God, have I missed that smile, he thought to himself holding back tears. The humanoid Richardson kisses Cindy on the cheek and Devin''s smile quickly turns sour and his color turns a shade of pale.


    "This appears to be a hoax," the fake Devin Richardson continues, "Another feeble plot of the Resistance Army. I am sure the authorities within the System will now be able to trace this and find their next compound, that''s my hope. If that''s the case, this could unravel a chain of events that would undo the Resistance for good."


    The reporter comes back on the screen, "System authorities want us to assure Californian citizens that security measures are being put in place in case of a new attack within the San Deigo and its out-laying areas."


    The picture then cuts to a screen of a tall man standing at a podium with thick, curly white hair and thick, dark-framed glasses balanced by a long nose.


    "Leonard!" Devin mutters drawing closer to the screen.


    "You know him?" asks Kyle.


    "Yeah, he was my business partner...it''s coming back."


    "Good, the whole day isn''t lost then," Kyle mumbles.


    On the bottom of the screen reads the words, "Leonard Bloomfield, CEO New Society Systems"


    "The last few days have been increasing in mysterious activity and sabotage by the Resistance forces. This is not limited to the San Deigo area. All citizens must at this time remain on high alert and be ready for wartime procedures. We are at a critical point of removing the Resistance forces from power entirely. This was a key misstep that may open doors for us. Time will tell. Be alert and be vigilant."


    "Okay, shut that shit off," Kyle waves his hands turning away, "shut it off!" He paces around the center room with hands around back. "War...we don''t have the numbers for a war at this compound... God damn it, Enrique!" Enrique who was standing sits back down into his cubicle.


    "Get over here and get the General on the comm. He''s waited long enough. We gotta face the music now. For Christ''s sakes!"


    Like a dog with his tail between his leg, muttering things softly in Spanish, Enrique then asks, "Now sir?"


    "Yes, now," Kyle replies adjusting his collar.


    Enrique presses in on the sides of the diamond-like figure and then walks quickly back to his side of the work area as a holographic image of General Forsyth is displayed. He is 60 years old with the mixed look of an eagle and that of a proper English gentleman. His hair shows no sign of aging, black, and is slicked back like he just stepped out of the shower. When he realizes he is on the line, he whips off his wire glasses and begins looking around the room with a serious expression.


    "General Forsyth, welcome. How can I be of service, sir?" Kyle announces.


    "You can start by telling who it is you have in your possession and why that blasted Mexican of yours is in your trouble again?"


    "General, let me assure you, we have the real Devin Richardson. There appears to be a humanoid one out at his residence. I was waiting to-"


    "Waiting? Waiting for the System Authorities to dig you out and blast that compound to kingdom come?"


    "No, sir I-"


    "This is all over their media now. I have every branch in our forces calling me up. We are at our most vulnerable and you decide to do what? Wait to give me the information I would need?"


    Kyle takes a deep breath before responding. "I wanted to be able to give you a full report, sir. An accurate one. I wasn''t'' sure I could trust him."


    Growling, "I don''t give a jack squat if you feel you can trust him as much as your own mother, you bring these matters straight to me! I can''t wrap my mind around the mentality of this compound right now." He grips his forehead turning away and then turns back with a defeated look. "This compound better dig in and dig itself in deep. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry probe they have is going to be searching for you now. We are all at risk. God only knows how much tracer footage they have on them."


    "Yes, sir!"


    Devin Richardson and the General lock eyes.


    "So, it appears we have found each other Mr. Richardson."


    "He''s been in cryogenic sleep for twenty years now, sir," interjected Kyle, "Someone wanted him out of the picture."


    The General''s eyes squinted as he paused, perplexed, "Well, yes for now they wanted him out of the picture. If it was permanent, they would have killed him immediately. They were saving him for a later date." The General''s ghostly image circles around Devin who looks uncomfortable. "Why did you escape, Mr. Richardson? This was your creation, after all."


    "Well, I wasn''t actually put up in a 5-star hotel suite. I made a contingency plan to wake myself up. I just need to remember why."


    "Are you going to be working with us or against us, Mr. Richardson. That''s what we really need to know here."


    Devin feels all eyes on him, and you can hear a pin drop in the room. Of course, he is against a system that has gone rogue and taken over society to do ill. He just hasn''t been out in society fully yet to know what all those proposed ills are. Good could be called bad and bad good by any side. One bad sign surely is being put in a cryogenic prison of sorts, then ripped out and left for dead, and the double they have in his place. Definitely not good signs.


    Nevertheless, something doesn''t feel right about this Resistance Army either, he thought in his gut. It isn''t like he feels doing cartwheels around all the promises they want him to make around teaming up with them. Nevertheless, he knows what he has to say, and in a large sense, it is true. He would have to do something to at least take down parts of the system that had become corrupted until he finds out more.


    "I am definitely willing to talk about what I can do to-"


    "Great! Sargent Kelly, your task is to get him remembering quick. He''s been in the deep recesses of the System''s brain cloud. He has critical intel waiting to be accessed. I want daily reports. I''ll work on my end to get him transferred to us eventually once he begins remembering more. We need to make sure some of this news dies down, and we see less probe activity before we transport him also."


    As the General turns to approach the diamond topped cylinder, Devin goes to approach him, but Kyle grabs him by the shoulder and squeezes it to stop him. The General turns back around.


    "I want you to turn your virtual com links open only to Central Command. We must keep this compound secure and keep everyone from getting too confused. As for you, Mr. Richardson, if you will truly support the Resistance, it will be a good day for the world and a great day for humanity."


    The General''s image sucks in as though being pulled in from a vacuum inside the diamond and disappears. Everyone''s shoulders that had risen up to almost their ears, lower in relief. Kyle swallows hard and turns to leave.


    "You heard him. Secure the com-link."


    The Richardson Home


    The humanoid version of Devin Richardson lays in his bed with his hands behind his head while Cindy Richardson fixes herself up in the bathroom wearing a blue nightgown.


    "Honey, you''ve been in there forever. Are you ever coming to bed?"


    Cindy turns out the bathroom light and leans on the door frame. Devin, the humanoid, rolls on his side and smiles at her.


    "You look gorgeous, dear."


    "Why thank you," she smiles blushing slightly, and makes her way over to her side of the bed trying to hide that the compliment almost made her cry. She sits on her side of the bed wiping the last bit of hand cream off her hands and stares out the window. The humanoid waits for her turn around but her back remains a cold wall-a sign of a problem.


    "Cindy, I wanted to ask you. This whole ''double'' me thing isn''t troubling you too deeply, is it?" She turns and shakes her head, no. "Because I know you had told me about a reoccurring dream of their being two of me and then this...so I can understand if--"


    She crawled into bed and scoots herself up into his arms. She lays her head on his chest quietly.


    "Oh, it is bothering you. I understand."


    Cindy spoke down toward his lower chest shyly, "I just don''t want another nightmare. When I saw that on the news...it was like it became real. I know it''s silly."


    Devin looked down at her and pulled her away, "No, you listen. It is not silly. Not silly in the least. This was a crime, first of all. A violation of our privacy." He embraced her harder. His head turned to a drink on the nightstand next to him. "Here sit up with me, honey. I made this for you. It will help you sleep better." He gently helped the two sit up in bed and cupped the drink in his and her hands. As she drank it, she paused and looked him in the eyes.


    "Go on finish it, babe, I promise that by the morning, you''ll forget any of this ever happened."

 Country Road, Take Me Home

    Approximately twenty years earlier


    Flying out of the skyline traffic over the outskirts of La Jolla, San Deigo, Devin Richardson''s black bullet-shaped vehicle takes a holographic lit-off ramp at terrific speed. He always enjoyed pushing these government vehicles to the max. It was his one work bonus. Login braced himself momentarily at the turn.


    "You have to gun it at the turn? I would like to live today, thank you," Login says gritting his teeth.


    "I got you, I got you."


    Login laughed. "You love these chasers way too much."


    Devin smirked, "Gotta enjoy the perks of our sedentary jobs right?"


    "More like sedentary lives, yes."


    The vehicle descended further as they dipped into another lower, less traveled lane leading to more sub-urban homes that initially greeted them tucked away on a hillside. Login ran his fingers through his black, slicked back hair taking in the view. His suit clothes are loose fitting as he is thin in built and never cares for the choke hold of the executive style.


    "I think little Katey wants another sleep over with Bella again. We gonna make that happen?"


    "Sure. Just don''t back out on me on our plans," Devin interjected slowing speed dramatically and relaxing his grip on the wheel until he lets go completely and allows the car to take over.


    "Of course not. It is just without the access you had before, we are screwed."


    "We''ll just have to operate underground. Now, this may be a long shot but what about ghost memories imprinted on the chips of those we can get to, you know.."


    "Those that have been murdered? The dead ones?" Login laughed morbidly.


    "No, those that have been banged by their secretaries! Yes, the dead ones."


    "Ghost memories... well, there has been a case or two but it''s rare. You''re talking 2 in 10,000 cases or something crazy like that."


    "I know but with the state of trauma these people were subjected to, there could be some kind of imprint on their chips. A fragment of something."


    "Yeah, that''s if we can get to their bodies."


    `"Just say that we could. If we could get to them, download that information, then we could find out if someone using the brain cloud to feeding suggestions or programs."


    "I''m worried where this trail leads and what exposes us to." Login looks around recognizing the neighborhood, "By the way, why are we in your neighborhood right now?"


    "After that meeting, I just want to check on my family. Make sure no one has got to them. Then, we''''ll get to this hacker guy friend of yours." A momentary anxious look comes over Login as his leg begins to bounce.


    "I''m not so sure we just shouldn''t lie low for a while. I feel like too many eyes are on us right now."


    "That''s why we have to move fast before they remove every trace of evidence there is."


    "The dead people aren''t going anywhere, man."


    "We don''t know that! We gotta get this information and get it out to the media quick before they remove every trace of evidence we have."


    "And if we turn up nothing?"


    Devin looks at Login in outrage mixed with compassion and is forced to turn away being at a loss for words. When he does look away, he sees that in his driveway are two vehicles he doesn''t recognize. He stiffens in his seat and grabs the wheel.


    "What is it?" Login asks.


    "We''ll find a way," Devin looks at him, "No matter what happens, we''ll find a way. Trust me."


    Devin takes the vehicle out of lock and pulls it up onto the front lawn.


    "Stay here. Whatever you do, don''t get out of this car."


    "I-I wasn''t planning to but-" Login''s words are cut off by a slamming car door. "Great. Brilliant plan."


    Devin enters the open front door to eerie quiet and knowing that Kate and Bella are usually quite noisy playmates, he isn''t sure if Kate was picked up by her mother or what, but the deafening silence hits the pit of his stomach telling him something isn''t right. Usually, his wife would immediately call out his name and there was no sign of her. He begins to head to the kitchen to grab a knife when a small child comes down the steps.


    "Bella? Where is mamma?"


    The young child of six stands at the bottom of the stairs paralyzed biting her bottom lip as if confused.


    "Bella are you Katey still playing? Honey, what is it?"


    The young child runs off hollering for her mother. Devin follows Bella down a hallway and Cindy comes out a doorway to greet her. The young child leaps into her mother''s arms.


    "Dear now-now! What''s the matter?" Cindy looks over at Devin and is startled. She swings her daughter around to protect her. "What-who are you?


    "You''re joking right? Cindy, where is Katey? Whose cars are those in the driveway?"


    Devin''s jaw drops and his eyes bulge slightly as he sees a man who resembles himself step out from behind the door Cindy had come from.


    "What the hell is that?" Devin protests. The duplicate of himself steps in front of Cindy and Bella as though to protect them.


    "Who the hell is this? Get the fuck out of our house?" says the humanoid. Clever, Devin thought, that is something he might say himself.


    "No, this is my house. Cindy, tell him! What-this is crazy. Cindy! For God''s sakes, tell him I''m your husband," he pleads, holding out his hands that begin to shake.


    Cindy steps forward with compassion filling her eyes and then turns back to lean in toward the humanoid and whispers, "What do we do?"


    "Get back in the room, lock the door, call the police," he replies reassuringly.


    Devin looks about feeling like the hallways of his own home are suddenly foreign to him and are closing in. He starts stepping back toward the living room slowly. Cindy locks the bedroom door, and the humanoid starts approaching him with a sinister curl to his lip.


    "Don''t be scared. It seems you don''t fully understand," the humanoid whispers sadistically. Devin flounders and stumbles further back into the living room in shock and panic. "So let me make it clear to you. This isn''t your home anymore. You no longer exist. And..," the sound of aircraft overhead beat on the walls of home and vibrate the windows, "you are about to be handed over to System authorities. Kind of ironic, wouldn''t you say?"


    Stolen story; please report.


    Devin storms through the front door facing an onslaught of wind from landing aircraft and is frightened to see that Login is already being taken out of the vehicle and cuffed. Devin puts his hands on his head gripping his hair and turns to make a run for it only to face the big wall of himself, his duplicate.


    "We tried to warn you. You didn''t listen. It''s over for you."


    On A Compound Balcony


    Devin Richardson stands on a small brick patio with a brick overhang shaking off the remnants of the dream he just had about his body double and him and Login getting arrested. The tall, solid and unrelenting brick reminds him of the humanoid when he turned to run just before he was taken away to the warehouse. He catches a small breeze and attempts to look beyond all the brick into the soft sunset and the blue water below for some sense of peace of mind. He takes in a small breath.


    Kate gently slides open the glass door and slips through like paper. She walks to the farthest side to not interrupt Devin as much as possible. She plays with some rubble at her feet eyeing a hole made by a past explosion from wars of decades past.


    "Seems like a nice evening," Kate interjects.


    "As much as any detainee can enjoy it."


    "Your safety is Kyle''s main concern."


    Devin laughs, "Really? And here I was thinking crucifixion was on the table."


    "Come on, you need to realize the times we are in. You are a part of creating a System he has spent his life trying to take down. He isn''t going to send you a card and chocolate hearts."


    Devin breaks his look outward and looks Kate over. "I was thinking of your father. Login. I remember escaping," he turns back looking outward to the horizon again. Kate draws closer to him. "When I got out of my cryogenic unit, he was in the unit next to mine." He turned back to Kate, surprised suddenly by the closeness and the look in her eyes. "I wanted to break him out, but they were too close. I could barely walk...I''m sorry." He grabs her arm. Her eyes well up with tears and she shakes her head.


    "No, I understand," she musters up the courage to reply, "You know where he is. He''s still alive."


    "Yes, and if you can help me get out of here so I can find my wife, I can help you get into that warehouse to get your father." She pulls her arm away and looks down. "It''s the only chance we have. You know Kyle is a hothead who is set on bringing this System down, which is all very noble. We can rejoin that cause later but let''s get those we love safe first!"


    Kate turns back looking at him and he recognizes some of the softness gone from her face and a bit of coolness in her eyes. "We can''t do an escape plan. We would become an enemy of both the Resistance and The System. That''s a lost cost, Mr. Richardson."


    "Kate, I know this System and it can''t be taken down by some military force. It will rebuild itself This is more complicated. Our best bet is to find our loved ones and create a life out on the outreaches. Somewhere far away from here where no one can find us."


    "So, find our loved ones and just give up on everything else? How noble."


    "I''m a realist. It''s our only chance."


    "I am too, and I want to survive. I lost it all when I lost my father. I''ll find some way of getting to him but I''m not going to make enemies along the way. I may need these people."


    Devin turns and leans on his elbows on the patio wall looking down below. He looks back at her who is softly pulling the patio door open and about to exit. "What do I have to do to get you to trust me as your father did?"


    "Don''t try so hard. I don''t trust anyone," she whispers and slips inside.


    Compound Cafeteria-Evening


    Enrique and Theresa enter the cafeteria with their hair wet and trying to adjust their clothes. Devin sits rows away at a table looking as though he is deep in contemplation.


    " ''Migo, you should have brewed some coffee waking us up at this god-awful hour, I''m still half asleep" Enrique chuckles with the sound of a wound in his voice. He looks at Theresa who couldn''t even manage a fake smile and walks behind using him as a shield for her utter frustration. As they approach the table, Devin looks upward at them and his impassioned expression weakens Enrique''s humor and silences him. He turns back to Theresa again who returns with an I-do-know-either shrug.


    Farther away, behind a metal counter, Kate remains hidden out of view, listening. She pulls her gun in case she must do the inevitable or just merely defend herself if she is discovered. An awkward sense that she is doing the wrong thing momentarily overcomes her, but she shakes it off once the conversation begins. She scoots herself closer to the edge to listen to what is being said.


    "Thank you for coming. I know what I''m about to ask the two of you is a tall order."


    "Which would be?" Theresa asks with a hint of frustration.


    "Helping me to escape."


    Enrique laughs, "Seriously? You woke us up for this? Escape to where?"


    "I want to get to my wife first. Then get Login for Kate."


    Kate''s eyes shifted about as her feelings conflicted with one another hearing that he would be going to get her father. Had she just misheard that? Did he know she was listening? Was this a ploy to get her on board because he knew she was here listening?


    Enrique nods as if giving consideration and then his eyes bulge as he can''t keep the laughter in anymore. He shakes his head after several hoots and sits across from him saying something in Spanish to himself before speaking. The word "loco" came up, which Devin knew meant crazy.


    "Oh man, that is a suicide mission! God forgive me," Enrique does the sign of the cross, "But if your wife is still alive after what came over the media, that would be a miracle. Don''t you think they know you will be coming after her?"


    "I agree," Theresa interjected, "I admire the lone ranger shit but you are too hot an item, especially now-"


    Devin holds his hand up, "Just hear me out: I know the System better than anyone. One thing I know for sure is that it cannot be taken down by any military force. It has to be done within-"


    "Well, then tell that to Central Command and work with them!" Theresa shouts.


    "I don''t see that happening. I need to go a different route."


    "Where have I heard that before," Theresa said rolling her eyes.


    "This is a military outfit with big egos. They won''t listen and I don''t have time. I need to get my wife to safety now," Devin stands in anger, "Why doesn''t anyone here understand that."


    "No offense, ''migo, I understand you love her. But, we will have no protection. We could be killed before we ever get even a few miles away from here."


    "You will have protection!" he turns, "You will have me! I know this System inside and out. There is nothing 100 bombs can do than I can''t do 1000 times over from the inside. Once we get my wife, you can get me to a source to get inside the System and I can get take it down. We will find a way!"


    Kate bit her lip in anger as she was pretty certain Richardson was lying. It was hard for her to believe that he had made such a switch from escaping to the outer reaches to now taking the System down. This was clearly a ploy to get them on board since the truth hadn''t worked with her. She wanted to stand up and shout him down, but she stuffed it. She knew what she had to do. She would have to tell Kyle but for now she would keep a close watch on them and tell him in the morning. The anxiety of the involving him was even worse than her anger of Devin''s, a man who was like a second father to her, selfish treachery.


    Kyle Kelly''s Patio--Morning


    Kyle lays in a lounge chair wearing a thin white gown while basking in the morning sun. He is on a large patio that rests on the remains of the ruins of a portion of the compound from past wars. The sun is just rising over the waters in Mission Bay making them sparkle like small stars. On a small table next to him is a plate of a half-eaten breakfast. A repurposed humanoid named Stephanie is pouring him papaya juice.


    "Things are going to be different now Stephanie. What a beautiful sunrise, isn''t it?" he asks pulling himself up to the table to drink some of the juice.


    "How are things going to be different, sir?"


    "As the old saying goes, there''s a light at the end of the tunnel," he raises up his full glass to cheer himself, "and that light is Devin Richardson." Kyle drinks up the juice. "More please, thank you, dear."


    "Pardon me, sir. But I thought it was only just the other day, you were complaining how resistant he was to your plans and to the Resistance."


    "That''s about to be rectified. He isn''t going anywhere until the bastard co-operates and since he wants to leave--badly," he smiled, "We have a win-win situation when it is all said and done."


    "Hmmm. I''m not sure he is the type that can be held back for very long." Kyle looks at her as if she swore at him. The two of them turn to the sound of rubble moving and there stands Kate with a solemn look on her face.


    "Kate, morning, what is it?"


    "I," she looks to the side and chuckles nervously putting a hand on her hip, "I honestly don''t know how to say this to you."


    Kyle furrows his brow and gets up walking over to her, "What is it? You look as pale as a ghost."


    Compound Corridor--Moments Later


    Kyle Kelly cheaply dressed down in light fatigues with soldiers in tow storms down the corridor in a fury. His unbutton fatigue shirt flies like a cape as they storm down the corridor. The outfit reaches Devin Richardson''s room and he cues the soldiers to beat on the door. The beatings of several soldiers on two sides of the door can be heard echoing in the corridor but it provides no response from inside or outside or anywhere around. Kyle parts the soldiers away from the door.


    "Mr. Richardson, open this door, please! I need to speak to you right now." He pauses and then briefly beats on the door himself letting out his own anger. He brings his reddened face close to the door listening but hearing nothing. "Okay men, let''s break it down."


    A soldier comes forward and uses his key card that he swipes over the thumbprint identifier and the door opens.


    "Smartass," Kyle smirks.


    "Not everything is a comic book, Sarg."


    "Yeah, yeah, just get inside."


    Kate enters behind them moments later and her eyes widen in horror. "He''s not here either? They couldn''t have left already? There''s been no notification of any craft leaving. I''ve been watching all night."


    "Well look whom they have with them. You should have woken me as soon as you heard what they were up to."


    "I will call Tom and get back to the garage! They couldn''t have gotten far," she reaches for her phone.


    Kyle storms out and his soldiers slowly follow suit.


    <ul>


    <li> </li>


    </ul>

 Every Second Counts

    Kate trots past a few soldiers catching up to Kyle in the corridor. As she approaches his side, she remains silent for a moment sensing his tension and frustration--unsure how much of it is directed at her.


    "I can see Theresa leaving. She''s an opportunist, but Enrique? He might as well slashed me in the gut as I was asleep while he was at it." Kyle kept his eyes straight ahead as they walked.


    "Kyle, one of the ships is confirmed missing," she interjects.


    Kyle stops dead in his tracks and turns to her in disbelief and is enraged ready to unleash a torrent of shame upon her. He blows out hot air instead of a verbal onslaught. He turns his head away from her unstable, anxiety-reddened eyes.


    "If you had come to me right away."


    "We were monitoring them. There was nothing missing. I didn''t think they would get past us," she confesses faintly.


    The sudden sounds of alarms and the jarring reflections of red cascading lights on the walls shake the two of them awake out of their self-centered blame and guilt dance.


    "What the?" Kyle said loudly as soldiers nearby start scattering to assigned posts. "We better get to the Comm Center. Go on ahead of me and get me synced into Wichita."


    Kate nods and ran on ahead suppressing the dread that she has now been moved from her role as compound physician to some kind of liaison for Kyle''s service. She liked being the caretaker of people''s health and physical well-being and being out of all aspects of the war. Am I now going to be his next Theresa or Enrique? She couldn''t think about it. If that was the case, that would be a conversation for later. At least for today, she wasn''t about to protest his commands after the disaster she allowed happened. She deserved whatever she got on her plate today.


    Over the San Deigo Skyline


    An aircraft barely visible to the naked eye momentarily glimmers in the light of the morning sun reflecting the blue sky. It is as though clouds travel in and through it. The craft barely makes much of a sound as it turns to even itself out.


    Inside this aircraft is an off-white interior made of soundproof walls from ceiling to floor. Some paneling is black and the flight instruments are black. Enrique and Theresa fly the plane at the front and Devin Richardson sits behind them.


    "Enrique, let''s get your friend Olivia on the line. Do you think we can talk with her again? Get her to do you another favor?"


    Enrique clears his throat, rolls his eyes slightly, and sits up straight, "She''ll do what can she for me. What are you thinking?"


    "Getting us into a residential area without being noticed."


    Enrique looks back at him as if he was crazy, laughs and shakes his head, "She may be able to, but it would be a small window at best."


    "All I need is a foot in the door. Let''s get a hold of her."


    "I hate to be the one to re-state obvious here," interjects Theresa momentarily cracking her neck a little, "They will be expecting you to come for your wife. Don''t you think there could be a trap waiting for you?"


    "My bet is that they know I''m too smart to make such a move, which makes it the very best move. If I get caught, they will bring me to her, and I''ll find a way to get us both out."


    Theresa looks back at him eying him up and down as if to see if he is suited for a boxing match, "You may get us all caught, are you thinking of that?"


    "No one is going in but me. If I don''t signal for a pick-up, then that means it''s not safe and you both get the out hell out here. No harm, no foul."


    There was silence. Theresa and Enrique momentarily exchange glances and Enrique shruggs his shoulders. Theresa grimaces and keeps her eyes on the flight path making no response. She is suddenly struck with the sense of how stupid her choice is to have come on this mission rather than to have remained under the protection of Kyle and the bunker. We''re all gonna die up here, she thinks to herself.


    Comm Center


    Kyle Kelly stands watching the news on the big screens as do the rest of his staff. On all the screens is a video of jet fighters and military issue orbs like the ones that chased Enrique and Devin flying underneath them all in a V formation heading toward Mission Bay.


    "Damn it," Kyle growled to himself.


    "Maybe they will just fly over for a scan and that will be that," Kate interjects hopefully. Nobody met her eye.


    "Not with those probes," replied Tom, another staffer.


    "Yeah, those probes will inspect every nook and cranny of this resort," Kyle echoes, "Todd how much longer do we have until they are in the area?"


    "At most sir, 5 minutes."


    Kyle pulls down on his cheeks with his fingers. "Okay, everyone out! I have to commence lockdown procedures now! Out!" He furiously starts shooing people out with his long, big arms. Kate and Todd are among the first to go knowing what this shutdown means. As soon as everyone is out, Kyle goes over to the diamond orb and presses down on it with all his might. It begins flashing red. Kyle stands back with a sense of horror as though he set off a nuclear bomb. He never thought he would see the day when he would have to see that diamond orb turn red. He stood there stunned. He thought he might have to call for someone to help him move until he started to see the cylinder start descending into the floor. Knowing what this meant, that he would be trapped here if he didn''t move immediately, he leaves the Comm room for what he fears may be the last time.


    The Skies Over Paradise Island


    The blue skies above appear like the bright, blue waters of the Florida Keys and that makes it even more violating when the sharp edges of the fighter jets and the orbs with their probes sticking out of their round hard bodies follow suit underneath in a V formation. The shadow of their formation reaches over the waters of Mission Bay Blvd and to the edges of the island.


    Like the points from a blade straight from Hades, they pierce the holy blue sky. As quickly as they arrive over the resort area, the crafts and probes start to leave formation and descend upon the large citadel that disguises the compound within, and its remains of the old Paradise Island.


    Deep Underground


    Kate runs trying to balance herself with the steep decline down the tunnel hallway leading to one of the bunkers. Soldiers wearing more sturdy footgear move past her with more speed and skill. Kyle Kelly waits by a large metal door holding a tablet. Each soldier waves his palm over the tablet to check themselves in. Kyle''s eyes dart back and forth from the tablet to others making their way down. He appears to be suppressing a scream of anxiety to make them run faster.


    "For Pete''s sakes, I hope this was the last of them," he remarks as Kate approaches.


    "It is, I''m sure of it."


    He looks her over enjoying the flushness of her skin and the slight desperation in her eyes. He hated that they would part. Would they ever see each other again? The odds weren''t good unless she stayed but that wouldn''t be good for her. It would be doubtful any of them would survive.


    "It will be a miracle the orbs haven''t already detected we are down here by now," he grimaces as a few remaining soldiers approach, "Move it, soldiers, move it!" They pick up speed and enter the bunker circumventing Kate.


    "That appears to be the last of them," Kate replies giving one last look down the long empty corridor. Kate goes enter, but Kyle blocks her with an arm across the door entrance.


    "What are you doing?" she asks.


    "You aren''t coming in. You aren''t staying here."


    "What do you mean, I''m not staying here?"


    "I need you to go after them, Richardson and the others. If we survive this, but they capture them, Enrique and Theresa... they all know too much. It will be almost as bad as if they got into the compound itself."


    "There is no way I can get out of here now without being seen. The System is all over the place! It''s too late for that, we have to get inside." Kate presses against his arm as if it wasn''t there but Kyle doesn''t let up. Kate sighs and gives a look at him that says "really?"


    "Take one of the mini-subs and jet out of it when you''re safe-"


    "Kyle, I won''t leave you here by yourself-"


    "Kate this isn''t a suggestion, it''s a command."


    "I''m not yours to command, I am contracted," she balks with hands on hips.


    "Then I guess you don''t get my protection and can go on your own," he stiffens but lightens up when he sees her alarmed expression, "Kate, I don''t have time for this and the longer we argue the more at risk we both are in, please go. I need you to find them and stop them."


    "Fine, but you''re crazy. I don''t know what you think I can do."


    "Talk some sense into them, sabotage the plane, you''ll think of something but stop them before they throw themselves right into the arms of the System."


    "Fine," she turns sharply and then turns back again, "I may get caught on my way there." She looks for a change of mind in his face but doesn''t see any.


    "I know you better than that, you won''t get caught," he looks at her and her gaze caught the compassion and grief in his eyes, "Thank you, Kate."


    "For what?"


    He unhinges the lock on the metal door and starts closing it but stops to look at her one last time, "For trusting me." They stand in each other''s gaze for a moment and as Kate takes in what she needs from Kyle, she lowers her head and turns to begin ascending up the hallway. She tries her best to ignore the sound of the metal bunker door sealing shut and the impending silence that then engulfs her.


    Inside the bunker, Kyle spins the wheel on the bunker door until the full rotations are complete. He turns around to find Todd and his humanoid Stephanie standing there watching him. He feels a brief chill from the number of humanoids looking about the room and the ceiling as if something might crash through at any moment. Soldiers sit on crate boxes and furniture covered in plastic. They speak in hushed tones. Stephanie looks above to the ceiling and Kyle follows her eyes wondering what is drawing her gaze.


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    Inside The Sleeper Plane


    An image of Oliva at her desk hovers in the air in Infront of Devin, Enrique, and Theresa who are watching while the plane is on autopilot.


    Oliva is finishing a bite out of a salad and then takes a few big gulps of a chocolate chip shake, clueless that she is being observed. After the gulps, she sighs with delight, burps, and adjusts herself in the chair. It is then she finally notices the dinging from her computer screen from behind her. She scoots around in her ergonomic chair bending it to its max and turns to see she is on live.


    "Oh, Enrique! But how did you-"


    "Hola, mi precious Olivia, I need another favor, my love."


    Olivia remains subtly unmoved and starts eying the room.


    "I bet you do. Where are you? Who are these people with you? Oh wait!" she starts chuckling, "Eww nelly, I recognize that one. You were on the news! Boy, Enrique, what were you thinking?"


    "It was a close call Olivia but necessary. Thank you for your help."


    "Anytime, hot stuff, anytime!" she smiles with a suggestive flare adjusting her skirt in her seat, "So what can I do you for today?"


    Mission Bay


    Orbs of red and blue fly low above the water line heading toward the compound while underneath the water below Kate maneuvers a small submarine hoping against all hope that she is not detected. As the orbs speed along they make a humming noise like that of a bee, and their probes that stick out of their body armor twitch periodically in the wind.


    On Kate''s scanner, she sees the arrangement of about 50 dots representing the number of orbs in the area approaching the compound. "Damn it," she mumbles contemplating briefly about turning back to cause a distraction, but she knows it would be the end of her and they would still explore the area. Anger courses through her veins for Enrique bringing Devin Richardson here and exposing the compound. Flicking her hair back, she presses the sub forward with more speed, eager to get her hands on Enrique''s neck.


    A string of orbs reaches the compound and enter through holes in the wall from war and disrepair. They hover in the air using beams of lights to scan and x-ray areas the hallways and rooms in which they enter. Two such orbs, one red and blue descend upon Kyle Kelly''s patio villa. The blue orb cuts through the patio glass door with a laser and enters inside. The red orb examines the patio furniture but picks up nothing unusual, so it heads toward the inside. On the way toward the door, it stops as it notices a discoloration on the cement floor near the door. It uses a small intense red beam of ex-ray vision on the stained area on the cement.


    Through the bright eye of the orb, an imaging device outlines the shape of the stain perfectly and seemingly lifts the stain off the ground but in reality, it is simply the pattern of the stain itself and its chemical make-up. Chemical equations start scrolling across the orbs eye rapidly and then an end summation:


    BASE READ: WATER, CAFFEINE, SUGAR, LACTAID, METAL (SEE CHART)


    ORIGIN: BEVERAGE: TIME OF LIFE SOURCE: 4 HOURS


    With renewed vigor, the red orb joins the blue org inside. When they meet, they exchange data and start scanning the rooms in the area more furiously. They use other rays to lift, shove and turn items over. The blue orb swings itself around and enters what once was Kyle''s bedroom. It begins blasting furniture into shreds rather than moving it or turning things over. Once the dust settles, the orb uses its scanners to look for anything the System may need. Nothing. The orb faces some shelving and blasts it. Once torn down, a pattern in the wall reveals an outline of a door. The orb backs itself up, glows a very bright blue, and sends out a charge creating a huge explosion that carves out a big hole in the wall. It waits for the dust to settle expecting to see a secret passageway. Instead, it finds another empty room with a red orb waiting on the other side.


    Orbs of all kinds fill the darkened hallways of the compound like small, mechanical children gone wild. Blasts are heard echoing throughout the halls. Some explosions are coming from above ground rattling the higher levels of the compound as jet fighters release bombs to level part of the resort. It is a massive display of destruction.


    Three orbs enter the Comm Center at a gentle speed. Like thieves in a high-stakes bank heist, the orbs immediately begin scanning the room, which is now empty of the contents it once had. Computers, Large Screens, chairs, desks, and diamond orb are all underneath the ground. One of the orbs scans the wall of metal that used to be all glass revealing the garage--all of it now hidden.


    Inside the bunker, some of the soldiers become alerted to the sound of explosions that rumble the earth above them. All the humanoids, in almost complete unison, look upward. Todd stands up next to Kyle who is picking his teeth with a toothpick. Kyle senses the young man''s fear.


    "Don''t worry, kiddo. They aren''t going to find us and if they did there''s no way anyone can enter this bunker."


    Todd swallows, nods, and sits back down just as another explosion goes off, and Kyle''s eyes shift upward.


    SLEEPER PLANE


    Devin charges up to the cockpit with a sense of urgency in his steps, "Why are we turning back?"


    "There''s a plane tailing us, migo."


    "What? Isn''t that impossible?"


    "It should be," Theresa interjects anxiously looking at Enrique who looks back at her with an ungrateful look.


    "Maybe we are just in the middle of the planes flight plan?" Devin suggests.


    "That''s why we are turning. To see if they follow us."


    Devin nods anxiously and leans against the door frame as they finish the sharp turn. As they do, obstructions block Devin''s eye. Black spots. He rubs his eyes and blinks but that only stops the obstructions for a brief second. Shaking his head, he turns away from the cock pit. He walks down the aisle slapping the side of his head hoping to jar whatever is going on his head loose. Then one of the small black spots becomes overwhelming and takes over his eyesight. Suddenly he finds himself within an auto dealership of egg-shaped transportation vehicles. Standing Infront of the lot of them is a man in a bright, blue, silk suit with a tie that glows in pulsating pink rhythms. His auburn hair is greased and shaped like a manicured shrub from a millionaire''s front lawn. His gleaming white grin makes Devin feel uneasy though his aware by the man extending his open arms that he is supposed to feel welcomed.


    "Mr. Dawson! Good to see you are in the area! Head on down to Dawson''s Emporium for a huge sale on new and used vehicles."


    The picture pulls away and another one from behind it approaches like a file behind a stack of files. Devin is suddenly stricken with the anxiety of how many files there may be that he won''t be able to control taking over his brain. A lady wearing a green business suit stands behind a glass counter with perfumes and colognes.


    "Cheerio, Mr. Dawson, San Deigo Beaches has a new fragrance we would like you to sample. Here you go now, dear. Tell us what you think!" The woman who had a small bottle tucked in her hand sprays it up at him, and Devin is surprised he can smell it. His olfactory senses are overwhelmed. He shakes his head and begins coughing.


    Enrique sees Devin''s eyes fluttering and him leaning on a chair. He grabs Devin by the shoulder, "Migo, you all right? What is going on?"


    "I''m caught in some advertisement loop for some Dawson guy...they are coming one after another."


    "Oh shit, yeah, your brain chip. You are probably not used to that. They will flag us with him having a dead man''s chip in his skull," Theresa hollers back from the cockpit.


    "Yeah get us out of the city limits for now. Are we still being tagged by that plane?"


    "Yeah...not only that." Devin bumps into Enrique almost knocking him over as he waves in the air trying to remove advertisements out of his eyesight. "They are hailing us on the comm," Theresa looks back with a deeply concerning look. Enrique almost trips over Devin''s body dancing into him. After untangling himself, he catches his breath and thinks for a moment.


    "That can only mean one thing. It''s one of ours. No one else would see us let alone have our code. Patch it through."


    "If it isn''t, we are done for," Theresa replies


    "Patch it through!"


    Theresa sighs and shrugs. "This is Theresa, who are you. What do you want?"


    Theresa and Enrique listened to static and Devin approaches from behind listening. Enrique looks back raising his eyebrows to see him standing straight up and not flailing his arms.


    Over the comm comes a voice: "It''s me. It''s Kate."


    Later...


    They drop her small plane into a body of water after much consultation and a final group decision that is not effective for long distance travel let alone battle. As the others board the jet plane, Kate stands on the grassy meadow and looks out on the water watching her plane sink and Devin joins her. The woods surround them and it is a brief moment where the world and all its cares seem eons away. The pine furs of Mother Nature''s coat encircle them and hushes their minds. It is not lost on Devin that this is his original dream. To just leave the entire fight behind and head to the outer reaches of the world. Get back to the basics of nature that people seem to not only forget, but pave right over with roads, buildings, and even his own technology from the sounds of things. He had lost sight of what mattered in his past life and nearly lost his life and those he loved. He isn''t going to let that happen again, if he can help it, and maybe, just maybe, he could turn the tide of this war for others in the process. Nevertheless, if it came down to it, he would take what he can of his family and save them first before saving the world. The world could go fuck itself in the end. His family was first.


    "Are you okay?" Devin asks.


    "Oh me? Yeah," Kate gave a faint smile, "I just am worried about those at the compound."


    "Mmm. Well, they are survivors like you say. If any group can pull through, it would be them."


    "Is that why you ran?" Kate retorts.


    "Come on, that''s not fair. Our missions just aren''t the same."


    "More than you know, if you gave them a chance."


    "We would all be stuck there right now."


    "Yeah, I know."


    "I''m sorry Kate. I''m sure they will be all right." Devin lowers his head and heads toward to the ship.


    She realizes she isn''t really upset at Devin. It was like someone else was running her mouth just then. She is more upset with herself for letting them sink this plane and joining their mission. The visual of the plane sinking is a visual reminder of her failure to keep her promise to Kyle to stop them, the hope of the Resistance disappearing, and a burial of sorts for all the people that will most likely be killed in the System''s annihilation of the compound. Her only consolation is a faint hope that perhaps Kyle sent her on a fake mission in an attempt to save her life. That in reality, he knew it would be a fool''s mission to return with captives. Who would in their right mind return to a burial chamber taken over by the System? Should I have fought harder to stay? It was so hard to read Kyle''s true intentions. As she turns away to head back to the aircraft, she sees the sun in the distance and hopes that maybe they will have some kind of fighting chance or that at least Kyle will make out it alive.


    Inside the Paradise Island Bunker


    Soldiers both men and women scurry about the bunker as if to position themselves ready for an attack as another loud rumbling comes from the east side of the wall of the bunker. Additional sounds of rattling and fumes of dust come billowing forth from the ceiling. This creates the first visual sign of penetration into the bunker--something they were promised wouldn''t occur--danger. The shuffling of feet increases, and bodies move to other positions around the room.


    Stephanie, with a strange look on her face, goes to approach Kyle, but Kyle enters the center of the room addressing the soldiers. She steps back as if curious to what he is about to say or do.


    "Listen everyone. We just need to remain quiet and calm. They won''t find us if we remain quiet. Even if they did, no one has the ability to penetrate this bunker. This metal is humanly impossible to penetrate."


    Tom gracefully takes Kyle''s arm to garner his attention before anyone else does.


    "Sir, we have an additional concern I''m picking up on."


    "What?"


    "Even though the Orbs aren''t inside the bunker, they are in close range," Tom says as he looks around the room eyeing the humanoids whose eyes don''t look quite right and Stephanie who is making her way toward them. "I remember in our training learning that Orbs can access humanoids and control them from a certain distance." Tom looks back to check Stephanie''s approach, but she is no longer in eyesight and a shutter of nerves goes through him. He looks nervously about but doesn''t see her anywhere. Kyle starts looking but unsure what he is looking for.


    "Even so, I doubt their signals could they penetrate these bunker walls?" Kyle asks with the first sense of vulnerability in his voice.


    "I don''t know but should we chance it? Their eyes. Something is off now that orbs are closer."


    Tom and Kyle notice their a fewer of them within eyesight. Kyle has a momentary sense of foreboding come over him, a chill, as though an evil shadow is watching lurking at him from behind. At first, he chalks it up to nerves, but when the dark cloud doesn''t go away, he turns to find Stephanie swing at him with army issue knife. He catches her by the arm in a firm grasp, but her metal fortitude within her feminine built frame is a formidable foe, and they are locked in a bit of a vertical arm-wrestling match. Todd gasps stepping back momentarily.


    "Stephanie, I order you to put the knife down right now," Kyle growls rather mechanically knowing all the while she wasn''t going to listen to him. He can see the change in her eyes and face. She is being controlled by something else. Something sinister, if not other worldly. However, maybe some kind of foolish hope within him thought his voice would trigger something in her to change, to stop and remember who he was. Like he had secretly hoped Kate would have done and not taken no for answer when he commanded her to leave compound. Todd comes around behind Stephanie and quickly snaps her neck, which shakes Kyle even further. He didn''t think Todd had it in him. Tom looks on dumbfounded as she falls to the floor like a human-sized doll. Kyle stands there looking down upon her in amazement and surprise.


    "Well Tom, whatever blunders you made this year, consider them erased. There are women but then are humanoid women," he shook his head. The two looked around at the ensuing chaos happening across the room that they lost sight of in the battle they were facing. Other humanoids were popping up like zombies among the throngs of soldiers going on the attack with whatever weapons they can find. Blood is being shot out like something out of a squirt guns. Puddles of humanoid fluid start to stain the floor. In shock and horror, the two look on. They know the two of them can''t take on a legion of humanoids and the rest of the compound is in as much shock as they are.


    Nevertheless, everyone and everything stops and freezes at the sudden sound of metal colliding against metal. The large bunker door starts receiving indentations as if some ghost of a giant org was throwing its fist into it from the outside. Meanwhile, more explosions are occurring above, rattling the ceiling and sending down more fumes.


    Kyle grabs Tom''s arm, "Come on."


    "Where-what are we-?"


    Kyle replies, "Plan B, there''s always a Plan B."

 It Takes Two to Tango

    The San Deigo Skyline


    The invisible plane reflecting light and clouds like shimmering pools of water flies quietly in the early evening the sky. Devin peers out a passenger window getting a birds-eye view of the downtown area with its piercing architecture of various shapes and sizes and colorized frameworks that change the downtown''s kaleidoscope of colors based on the reflection of the sunlight. Devin notices that none of the buildings have windows where the outsider could appear in, they were all reflective outward. Convenient for secrets. People walk the streets below freely and that is a heartwarming sign to him that there is an area in this dystopian existence where people were living life to some degree.


    "No one appears to be on a chase after us, so your Oliva friend must be doing her part," Kate said.


    "Seems so, hey?" Enrique replies and quickly tilts his head in Devin''s direction.


    "Don''t even say it. You all have said it a 100 times. It''s a trap. Actually, it is more than likely that the opposite is true. Bloomfield is expecting I''m too smart to make a overt move like that and it''s precisely why I''m making it."


    "For all our sakes, I hope your right," Enrique replies, "We''re approaching your place now."


    Devin gets up out of his seat and enters the cockpit. Kate examines him noticing the renewed adrenaline that has him wide-eyed and scoping out the scene before him. Enrique slows the plan over a row of homes that are all black cubes made of some mysterious black matter. As they approach Devin''s home, the black cube domicile sits on a much larger piece of property with a circular drive. The grass is almost luminescent. The shrubbery and trees are perfectly manicured. Not a leaf is out of place.


    "These homes...they are very-"


    "Minimalist?" Kate interjects.


    Devin turns to her and back to the view, "Everyone lives in these cubes? I remember on the new, my home was a mansion."


    "Ah, yes, well the wealthier elite can alter the form of the cubes into whatever they want at any time," Enrique explains, "but except for when the elite are entertaining, most seem to keep them in the original state. It is functional for some folks. A bit odd if you ask me, but whatever floats yo pi?ata!"


    "The black matter that makes up the cubes is flexible and transitional," Theresa adds turning to the two of them. It was the first time her and Kate exchanged eye contact since they parted ways at the bunker. She could see the surprise look in Kate''s eye at her being a driving force in the cockpit. Theresa clears her throat and does an about face back to the flight controls embarrassed by her sense of shame of having abandoned her there.


    "Annnnd," Enrique interjects exaggerating his sound for effect, "that material is easy for our scanners to get a lookie-loo through." Enrique turns back to confirm again that one yellow dot appears in the house. "There''s only one person in the home. Assuming that is her, you would be right as to that easy access after all."


    "I told you! What luck!"


    "Still, a humanoid could be in there. Our scanners aren''t as good as picking them up," Theresa turns to Enrique with her brows furrowed and face red.


    "Theresa is right, but more than likely even so ''migo, it''s you and her. At least for now."


    Moments later...


    Devin meets Theresa in the back of the plane wearing jumping gear. She makes some final adjustments. Kate looks on clicking her nails with a forefinger.


    "Are you ready?" Kate asks.


    "Ready as I ever will be I guess."


    Theresa interrupts, "You''re going to descend right through ceiling. The black material of the cube will allow you to materialize right through the substance since your DNA should already be registered to the home. Homes identify you by your DNA. Let''s hope this one is still using original DNA. If there is a problem, page us and we''ll send down the ropes and get you out of there." Theresa looks him square in the face while tightening a belt that momentarily almost unbalances him practically throwing him into her own body. "Any questions?"


    "Does this outfit come with a diaper because I think I may crap myself before this over."


    Theresa steps back and looks at Kate bewildered, and Kate laughs out loud covering her mouth momentarily. She sees Theresa isn''t that humored by it, which makes Kate have to resist laughing all the more. Kate walks up to Devin who reaches out his hand and grabs Kates arm.


    "If something were to happen down there..."


    "In your diaper?"


    "No, I''m serious, if something happens to me...


    "Could you not with that right now? You are coming back, alright? Let''s just be clear about that. Just go and do what you need to do and get back here. Okay?"


    "Right, you''re right."


    "Of course, I am," she replies and reaches into an overhead compartment pulling out a lime green chord. She begins to tie it around Devin''s waist.


    Theresa looks on. "Men," she says flatly.


    "Can''t live with me, can''t live with me?" Devin asks.


    "Something like that," she snickers.


    "Funny, we say the same thing about you women," he replies.


    Kate comes around the back having finished tying up the chords. "Well, maybe I should loosen these chords a little then, hey Therese?"


    "Just never you mind," Devin squints at her and grabs the end chord from her hand and the two women smile.


    The Richardson Household


    Cindy Richardson finishes taking the last bit of the laundry out of a futuristic dryer. The clothes come out on racks on hangers from a slender, silver machine, and she gently lays them over her arm in a dignified manner almost as if they weren''t her own but some senator of a higher office. She leaves the laundry room humming a song softly to herself. Her hair is pulled back revealing some gray streaks on the sides. Her pastel clothes are loose fitting and relaxed as her song. She enters the living room from the kitchen and suddenly stands straighter at the sight of Devin standing in the middle of the living room seemingly waiting for her.


    "Oh? Honey, you startled me. What are you doing home so early?" Devin walks toward her embracing her passionately. "Dear, oh? What has gotten into you?"


    Devin pulls away wiping his face while keeping a hand on her shoulder, "Sweetheart, I want you to trust me."


    "Why of course I trust you!"


    "I have to get us out of here, now." Devin takes her hand. She looks around the room to see if there is sign of a threat or a joke.


    "Devin, are you secure?" Kate asks through his ear piece.


    "Secured."


    "What?" Cindy asks confused, "Secured? Who are you talking to?"


    "Sit down, I have a lot to tell you."


    On the Plane


    Enrique and Kate watch in dismay on a portable screen a broadcast playing on a news media channel about the attack on Paradise Island. The title underneath the video reads "The Resistance Found--Richardson''s Body Not".


    A reporter at the scene is taking up the center screen while another sits at a news desk and remains in a smaller box in the top left corner of the broadcast.


    "As you can see, the ruins of this old island is being turn inside out. Nothing is being left undone," informs the reporter as the wind takes his feathered brown hair up in great whiffs and plays with it much to his disliking.


    "This is big news, Tom. The first real big compound of the Resistance found in over 4 years!" replies the reporter at the news desk.


    "That''s right, John! The site of this old battle ground had been the subject of searches sometime within every decade, but nothing ever came up and it is believed that this band of resistors have not been here very long."


    "Tom, how many have they captured so far?"


    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    "Well, the Resistors are tied down in a heavy bunker deep underground, so the numbers are unclear, but we have word this is a very large, significant operation. It should be only a matter of moments before that bunker is breached."


    Tears stain Kate''s cheeks. She wipes them away quickly.


    "Once they reach that bunker, it is the end for them," Enrique announces.


    "No shit. It could be the end for us all if they get access to everything. I sure hope that Olivia friend of yours has our asses covered."


    San Deigo Air Traffic Police Department


    Olivia swivels around in her chair quickly covering any view of her monitor with her sheer body weight. She sees who is coming. Sophia is always a busy-body and she isn''t going to take chances.


    "Olivia!"


    "Hi Sophia! How are the kids?"


    "Oh, you know, sugar and spice."


    "And it ain''t all nice!"


    "You got that right, girl!"


    The two laugh and as Sophia walks on by, Olivia drops her fake smile and returns to her screen staring intensely at her monitor. Her eyes dart over the screen observing where Enrique and his team are. She looks over to her sergeant''s office and sees he is preoccupied on the phone.


    The Richardson Home


    Devin paces slowly in front of Cindy biting a fingernail and sporadically looking at her. Convincing her was a harder puzzle than he imagined but he liked puzzles and even more, he loved her. He wasn''t leaving without her. He would drag her kicking and screaming if her had to. Hog tie her. They were getting out of here.


    "How do I know you aren''t this humanoid you are describing trying to trick me right now?"


    "Why would I bother telling you all this then? You just have to trust-" He stops talking suddenly as Kate informs him that he has a guest arriving at the home. "Damn it, we are out of time. Just ask yourself, why would I have abandoned a project I was so passionate about?"


    "It''s a humanoid. You have got to get out there now!" Kate exclaims and Devin winces at her yelling in his ear. He goes over to help Cindy up, but she rises on her own.


    "You started your business in Las Vegas."


    "Las Vegas?"


    "Yes, you were overwhelmed so you wanted to restart. Start over." A first glimmer of doubt crosses Cindy''s face as she says the words aloud and sees how they don''t register with the man standing across from her. "Yes, you make a lot of trips out there every month."


    A sound like that of plastic wrap stretching, and ripping fills the room. The image of a body on the south wall forms in the wall and a copy of Devin Richardson walks through it. Cindy looks on confused, and she suddenly grabs her head in pain almost buckling over.


    "Cindy?" Devin places a hand on her side trying to help her. As she is able to stand up moments later, she is unable to recognize who he is. She looks back to the other version of him across the room.


    "Devin? Wait. Who have I been talking to. I thought you were..."


    "It''s a set up. Come to me, dear, now. He''s here to take you from me." The humanoid reaches out his hand stepping closer.


    "Cindy, no. It''s the System. Their manipulating you. The brain chip. I''m your real husband. You knew that a minute ago, I saw it in your face. Don''t listen to him!"


    The humanoid squints and starts to head after the other Richardson. They dance around Cindy and the furniture.


    "Cindy, go into the kitchen and call the police right away."


    "Cindy, don''t. They''ll kill us both. Just go to back living room. Go."


    The humanoid manages to jump with a supernatural strength landing into Richardson and knocking over a lamp and lampstand with them both. Cindy shouts and runs over to the other side of the room. They wrestle on the floor with loud grunts and groans. Cindy is unsure which one is the real Devin that is winning.


    "Cindy go make that call to the police, now!" Cindy walks backward slowly toward kitchen unsure what to do.


    "No, Cindy! They''ll kill us both!"


    San Deigo Police Department


    Olivia adjusts her seat and grabs a long series of tissues out of her tissue box. She uses them to wipe sweat off her forehead, back of her neck, upper chest, and cleavage.


    "Oh, this little pi?ata owes me so big. So, big." She puts on a fake smile as a group of co-workers walk by to go have lunch and after they pass, she dumps the wad of used tissue into her trash basket.


    "Olivia?" comes a strong voice from behind her that makes her stiffen. She frowns, her eyes momentarily bulge. Then she puts on a fake happy face and turns around.


    "Oh, hi Sargent Theo! What can I do for you on this very fine afternoon!"


    "I need to see you in my office. Now." Sargant Theo walks toward his office which is only a stone''s throw away. Olivia clears her throat and hops up out of her seat trotting into the office like a child caught stealing a cookie from the cookie jar. She gently shuts the door and takes a seat, settling herself in as a mother hen mustering up her pride and defenses.


    Outside the office window, workers pass to and fro doing their regular business as the two converses, and no one pays much mind as Sargant Theo moments later pulls out a laser gun and blast Olivia to bits. All that is left of her is the outline of her head and shoulders on the glass window and specs of flesh and blood.


    Theo steps halfway out of his office door and shouts, "Can someone get the cleaning crew in here stat! We need all units sent to the Richardson''s home immediately!"


    The Richardson Home


    Devin and the Humanoid are arm wrestling it over a laser gun while another laser gun sits smashed on the floor near the kitchen boundary line. The two grimace face to face, knuckle to knuckle, arm to arm in the stand off on who is going to get this gun and thus kill the other.


    "Devin, you gotta get out of there. Police are approaching from all around," Kate informs.


    "I''m .. sort of..in the middle..of something," Devin says to gritted teeth.


    "Seems you are all out of aces," the humanoid smirks forcing his words out through exercion.


    "I always have something else up my sleeve." Devin sees Cindy is no longer on the phone. As they move around in this tango of revenge, Devin spies a fireplace poker and manages to spin them around so that he can grab it. He takes it with his other hand and stabs it into the humanoid''s foot. As the humanoid releases his grip, and hollers with a mechanical scream, Cindy rushes to his side preventing Devin from shooting him. He goes to reach for her arm to get her away from the humanoid, she pulls herself away from him.


    "Cindy, we have to get you out of here!"


    "Please! Go!" she cries rushing to the humanoid''s aide.


    Several figures start pressing and forming into the walls around them exposing weapons at alert. Cindy combs her husband''s hair back compassionately and looks down at his foot. It is then that she notices the humanoid fluid and mechanical parts exposed in the tear. She looks up toward her real husband who is now exiting into the kitchen.


    "Devin!" Cindy exclaims. Devin turns immediately and in panicky surprise. She goes to run to him but is grabbed by the limping humanoid who is reaching for the poker with his other arm. Devin fires with his laser gun around her searing his mechanical head nearly off its body. Cindy, in the meantime, has nearly leaped in fear and shock behind him. The disabled replica of himself lies there with it''s neck smoking like a chimney. and eyes bulging out a mix of anger and alarm. Police start popping through the walls and Devin waste no time shooting them down in the legs. Others hearing the gunfire come in firing at will.


    Devin grabs ahold of Cindy and they run off to the back living room. There are two ropes hanging from the living room ceiling and Devin shouts "Now! Now!" The two of them grab hold of the bright green ropes and are pulled up and into and through the black goo.


    Inside the Sleeper Plane


    Devin and Cindy are holding hands in the passenger seats talking about intimate memories and times gone by. Their cheeks are flushed with health and emotion. Kate walks by and heads up to the cockpit and that reminds Devin that he had wanted to check in about the compound, so he momentarily excuses himself from Cindy and joins the others. When he hears the news, he is saddened but not all that surprised. Together, the crew wonder how alone they truly are now.


    "Well amigo," Enrique sighs, "you got your wife back. It was a close call, but you did it."


    "We did it," he corrected him, "I couldn''t have done it without all of you."


    Everyone remains in a moment of respectful silence.


    "And be sure to thank Olivia too."


    "Yeah, I will. I can''t seem to connect with her just right yet. Probably the area we are in."


    "So what now? I mean, I hate to be the kill joy of the operation," Theresa interjected, " and remind you of any obligation you may have..., but you did say you would help us take down Bloomfield and the System once we got your wife back."


    "Yes, I did. That''s up to Kate. What about getting your father out of the warehouse and offline?"


    Kate bows her head briefly and just then Mrs. Richardson had come up behind her listening in and leans on the door frame.


    "I appreciate the offering, remembering my father. I think we..." She stops and swallows hard. She looks up to the ceiling trying to get the words out. Clearing her throat, she looks back at the crew, "I know what my dad would want. We are exposed. We have to make our last shot on taking down the System. That should be our main objective now." Cindy pressing her lips together rubbed Kate''s back and Kate closed her eyes trying to phase out her own feelings for the sake of the cause.


    "Cindy, you mentioned that the humanoid makes a lot of trips out to Las Vegas."


    "Oh, yes. Yes, I did? Yes, I did! I mean, he does!" Kate looks over at her wondering how she had forgotten. Was it the trauma or something else?


    "Then, that''s where I think we should go. I believe that is probably where we will find Bloomfield and the lot of them," Devin replies.


    "Ah, now you are speaking my language! Viva Las Vegas baby!" exclaims Enrique pumping his fist.


    "This isn''t exactly a pleasure trip," Kate interjects.


    "Still, come on. It''s Vegas. I know someone who can hook us up with info and chips we need too!"


    "Please tell me you are not referring to Buddy?" asks Theresa.


    "Don''t be hating on Buddy. He''s got the connections and that''s what we will be needing."


    "Well, he and his tribe need to learn to keep their hands to themselves. They are a bunch of pervs down there!" Kate exclaims.


    "Hey, if you lived in the desert, you''d be a little frisky too."


    "You men are all alike," Kate replies.


    "Anyone have any better ideas, I''m all ears!" Enrique says raising his hands.


    "You aren''t all ears. You are all ass," says Theresa and the cabin blew up with laughter.


    "Oh, some co-pilot you are. When I cook my next Mexican special, we''ll see if you get invited."


    "If I want burnt Mexican, I can cook it myself," she snickers.


    "Oh, I see, Oh I see," Enrique lifts his chin slightly but his eyes squint masking a defeated look.


    Theresa pushes him in the shoulder smiling. He smiles and she pushes him again, and he looks at her smiling which gave him a smirk. He knew she rarely joked around. She knew she went over the line and was trying to make up for it.


    "I''m gonna put mamma''s black magic on you, I''m tella ya. You just watch yourself, you hear?" he snickers, "now, let''s go play the slots and roll some heads. Viva Las Vegas!" He starts putting in the coordinates into the flight controls.


    Cindy laughs softly with others taking it all in.


    Behind Cindy''s Eyes


    The scene of the entire cockpit from Cindy''s perspective is displayed almost similar to a holographic image in what appears to be a throne room. The walls of the large, empty throne room are made of slick, wet gray stone and the ceiling and floor are black marble. On a black marble throne sits an entity of silver watching the scene with much interest. The material of its body moves like thick, water. A digit droid that is small, boxed and rhythmically glows sky blue stands by its feet on a path of luminescent white outlined on the floor.


    "So, they are coming to me. You have done well." The digit bot glows in and out in a more rapid succession for a period of time and then stops. It is a form of digital communication that isn''t heard with human ears. "We will wait to use her in that manner when they are closer. Let me know when they are just outside Vegas city limits." The digital bot abruptly turns about and travels down the white line speedily. The holographic image closes and the silver being puts its elbows up on the arm rests of the throne. It brings its hands together and interlaces its fingers in a praying fashion while it contemplates next steps.

 Viva Las Vegas

    If it isn''t for the occasional glimmering effect off the plane''s panels, the sexy airliner with its feminine shaped round edges stands beside a run-down store called Buddy''s Shop elusive and only visible from certain angles and at that for split seconds. The background of orange colored rock and bright blue skies with hints of white wispy clouds gives the illusion of some tropical island somewhere, some place--just not here. Buddy''s Shop is a pit stop, but a welcome one in the ocean of waves of heat that hover over the highways and biways on a desert strip in between Las Vegas and the wastelands.


    The white painted brick and black wood painted roof top is pealing and reeling in the summer heat. The large garage door is open revealing a cluttered and unorganized inside that appears like an indoor junkyard. A deserted, nonfunctional set of gas pumps are stationed out front and covered in dirt. The red signage has the words "Buddy''s Shop" in blue hanging above the garage door. The crew of the ship stand outside of the garage door with Buddy and his staff of make-shift robots ready to make a bargain of some kind.


    "I gotta admit, Buddy, I''m liking this crew a lot better than the last lot," Kate said smiling.


    "Eh, well, the others got on the wrong side of the law, and I can''t be having that around here. I gotta a business to run. The way I figure it, robots ain''t going to do not''en more than I tell ''em to do... no more, no less." Buddy smacks his lips taking a sip of the chew in his mouth and then spitting it out.


    Enrique squints his eyes from a blast of sand mixing in the wind and interjects, "Good idea, Buddy. Now, you still working with your System connections?"


    The chubby man chuckles, "I wouldn''t be getting enough to survive by if I weren''t!" His shifty, beady eyes examine the three of them, "Doubt you all would be here if I weren''t neither." He turns to his robots and shouts, ''Okay, you heaps of blasted metal, let''s get back to work. No more gawking at the visitors. We got work to do." They emit sounds of bleeps and bloops to each other, some lowering their heads as if they were disappointed.


    "So, Buddy, what is the word lately?" asks Theresa flatly.


    Buddy ushers out to empty hands. "I don''t know! Seems my memory deceives me at the moment."


    Enrique grunts hands Buddy money who takes it and counts it. He grins exposing half metal teeth.


    "Alright, partners, the word is..I hate to say this...I ain''t got a stone cold heart ya know. After the defeat of the San Deigo compound, they gained access to other compounds. Your side is scattering like ants in a windstorm."


    Theresa and Kate exchange grim looks with each other.


    "I shouldn''t even have you all here. It is jeopardizing my business."


    Enrique rolls his eyes and hands him more money which gave Buddy an even bigger grin. "Well, that was rude of me! I''m feeling a lot better about it now!"


    "Mr. Buddy, is it?" asks Devin. Buddy is counting his new wad of cash barely listening. Buddy clears his throat, puts the cash in his back pocket and looks at Mr. Richardson for the first time.


    "I think I know you, don''t I?" Buddy squints.


    "You probably-"


    "You''re the infamous Mr. Richardson! Well I''ll be damned! Enrique, what the hell you bringing this curse to my garage? You want to bring the wrath of the entire System down on me," he laughs in disbelief.


    "You are going to be fine Buddy, no one followed us here."


    "So, says you! And who is this pretty thing? Your wife?" he exclaims while picking his teeth approaching Cindy.


    "Yes, and she has nothing to do with you," says Mr. Richardson.


    "Oh, I disagree! She''s here ain''t she? She''s in this here establishment then she got plenty to do with me!"


    Kate charges over to him as she saw Mrs. Richardson start to stiffen in a bit of anxiety, and Devin pulls her away. "Buddy, back off. We don''t have time for you to walk around cat calling people on our team!"


    Devin stands Infront of his wife, "Now do you know an organization here supposedly run by me? Its a humanoid who looks like me."


    "Everyone here got their undies in a wad today," he stares at Richardson, "no, I know every business here in these parts. I''ve never seen your kind around. As far as I knew, you were back in San Deigo in cryo imprisonment with one of those plumb dummies running round act''n like they ya. Matter of fact, Enrique, you sure this the real deal? You might be hoodwinked!"


    "No, Buddy," Enrique comes to him, put his hands on Buddy''s shoulders with a firm grasp and an angry smile, "this is really him."


    Buddy looks at the two hands on his shoulders and removes them separately. "You really antsy now and you all are start''en to make me a bit unnerved like. I think it''s better you best be moving along. I''m not sure I can help ya under this here conditions."


    Kate comes up to Buddy with a bit more charm, ""Buddy, we will leave as soon as we can get some new chips implanted in us. We will need them for the city."


    Buddy examins them all again, his lips pressed together and pondering. "Chips you say? Price has risen with this crack down, you know?"


    "Yeah, yeah Buddy, we''ll pay," Enrique exclaims.


    "Alrighty then, let''s get crack''en."


    Later...


    Buddy starts picking up the pace in his rocking chair until he gains enough momentum to shoot himself out of it and stand up. He scruffs his way over to a robot that looks like it has been made with scrap parts with its joints and belly exposing bundles of wires. The robot turns to meet Buddy as it senses the boss''s approach and speaks through a primitive voice box.


    "The chips are ready sir," says A120.


    "Good, we have some eager customers for ''em too! Alright ladies and gents, follow me!" he cackles walking deeper into the cluttered garage.


    "Can we trust this guy?" Devin asks Kate.


    "We don''t have much of an option. Our old chips are flagged by now," she shrugs.


    "Come on, let''s hurry up," Theresa hollers from ahead of them, "Let''s keep everyone together, can we?"


    Devin reluctantly follows everyone deeper into the garage holding his wife''s hand firmly to guide her. It grows darker with each passing step. The sound of machinery and metal scrapping against metal echoes off the cement walls. A light ahead seems to direct them to a new location within the clutter of tools, parts, tires and odd machines. As he enters upon the scene, Devin''s stomach drops to find what appears to be part surgical lab, part barber shop all encased in this funky garage setting. Robots are milling about in the bright, white area in lab coats as though they are doctors of some kind--just not any kind you wouldn''t want to have.


    "Oh, honey, I don''t know about this," his wife says.


    "Well, remember, you don''t have to have it done. It''s me who has to," he replies.


    "No, I am concerned for you!"


    "I know...it doesn''t look good does it?"


    He watches as Buddy in jean patched apron moves about a working robot like an anxious mother. "So, we have all the medications and tools we need. This is good and I see our customers are here and ready," Buddy replies rubbing his palms together. "Let''s get this show going!"


    Robots make bleeps and bloops preparing the four barbershop like chairs under direct surgical lighting. One robot from out of the darkness comes with a rolling surgical tray of tools and injections and parks it next to the chairs. Each chair at the head has something like a standing lamp with a shade or cap that could possibly be used on a patient head, Devin wasn''t sure.


    "Buddy, this is some weird ass shit you got going here," Kate says with her hands on her hips appalled. Devin is relieved for her brass nature, saying what he wanted to say without having to bear the consequence.


    "Hey, we work hard here to keep this place of the garage sanitized and up to standards for this kind of outpatient surgery. I''ve gotten no complaints so far! Now who''s our first customer? Step right on up!"


    All of them stand looking at one other with a look of who is going to go first.


    Later, Outside Buddy''s Shop


    Four flying space shuttles colored black and blue surround the garage and land kicking up dirt and debris. Their engines remain on for several moments kicking up sand into small whirlwinds. There is no sign from anyone of the shop coming, not Buddy or his robots. There is no one exiting the vehicles either. One by one the vehicles turn off their engines. The doors of one vehicle open and two men dressed in suits and ties get out. Soldiers in red armored gear with military weapons start exiting the vehicles. The soldiers wait for the two men in suits to lead them forward to the garage that stands open and unguarded.


    Back Inside The Garage


    The crew are heading toward the front portion of the garage having finished their surgery and Buddy is rambling on about the people he knows who have stopped by for his exclusive, illegal chips. A smaller robot follow''s along side Buddy.


    "We even get folks from the System. High up too!" exclaims Buddy.


    Devin rubs the back of his head, "So these chips are-"


    "Don''t ya fret now, Mr. Richardson. I took good care of ya. That there is as good as any living person''s chip out there. Just...just don''t stay in one place too long."


    "Why is that?"


    "And how long can we stay in one place?" Kate added.


    "Cuz, Mr. Richardson, you''ve got a dead man''s chip in your head. We''ve configured them so the System won''t catch on but longer than forty minutes in one place, you''ll be pegged most likely. To be safe, make it 30 minutes."


    As they finally are nearing the front, men in red armor arise from the around the clutter revealing their weapons and that they are surrounded with no way out.


    "What?" exclaims Buddy and his robot lets out a long bleep and hide behind him. The rest of his robots come into the middle to join them looking confused. "Oh, great defense crew. What a bunch of metal heads." The robots'' heads look at each other and exchange more be bleeps and bloops some shrug their shoulders.


    "Fuck. We are fucked," mumbles Enrique.


    "What are we going to do?" Kate whispers to him.


    "They found us, how?" Theresa turns around to them.


    "Everyone just halt where they are please," says a booming, masculine voice, "Don''t make any sudden movements and you won''t be harmed." The two men in business suits make their way in. "Buddy, you are always so busy," says Governor Randall smiling, one of the men in the business suits, "busy, busy, busy!" His hard dress shoes scrap the cement floor.


    "Governor Randall and Mayor Dubois, this is a surprise. I thought our agreement was I was to be made aware of your visits beforehand?""


    Stolen story; please report.


    "You have some special guests with you today, so the rules of engagement have changed," Mayor Dubois replies scratching his head momentarily with brief frustration flashing across of his face. Enrique moves to grab a weapon out from behind the back of his pants but Kate subtly shakes her head "no".


    Governor Randall circles around Devin Richardson, "Well, now, Mr. Richardson, quite the historical figure here visiting a run-down garage like this one out in the middle of nowhere! After such a long journey, how odd to find you out here in of all places. Ahhh, and there is your wife! Cindy, come forward darling."


    "Don''t even!" Richardson starts to protest. Two soldiers immediately grab ahold of him.


    "Oh, I''m not going to harm her. Mrs. Richardson...come here, dear." Cindy stands looking at everyone, scared and confused. She starts slowly stepping forward. She looks back to Devin.


    "Richard?"


    "What you may not have realized is she is the property of the System."


    Devin starts immediately fighting against the guards but their metal weight was too heavy to make an impact. Others of the crew started charging but soldiers got ahold of them.


    The Governor laughs, "You don''t fully comprehend what I am saying. Closer dear. That''s it." She looks at the Governor wide eyed, trying to hold her own, as if unsure what was to come next. "See, this is a humanoid. It is not your actual wife. Richardson execute 54b." At that statement, the life in Cindy''s eyes went out and a shield of black replaced them, her head dropped, and her arms went stiff by her sides. It is as though she is unplugged. She is stiff, still and lifeless. Everyone stops moving in the garage. Not a noise is made. Devin goes limp and for the first time the guards have to exert effort not to resist but to hold him up and his head drops.


    "Did you really believe that the System wouldn''t have some kind of plan when you went to ''save'' her? She was our eyes, ears and tracker that led us right to you and what your plan was. Oh, you people and your emotional love fiascos. It does you in every time, every time," he cackles. The Governor stops and looks over the robots who look on confused. "Let''s round everyone up. These bots and her can stay." The Governor waves the guards over and exits the garage. Buddy hurries over to the Mayor.


    "Fred!" Buddy exclaims in a hushed tone of panic.


    The Mayor holds up a pudgy hand, ''I''m sorry Buddy. They have the upper hand on the Resistant now. I have no choice," his eyes shift around as the soldiers start locking the wrists of the crew, "You should have locked the door once this batch arrived."


    Enrique pulls the guard over he is forcibly tied to and reaches around toward Mr. Richardson, ''Devin, are you okay? We''ll find her!"


    Devin looks up at the noise and at Enrique with a look as though he almost doesn''t recognize him.


    "All of you, I''m just telling you, resistance is futile. You better plead for mercy at this point," Mayor Dubois announces firmly but softly. There is a momentary softness that briefly washes over the mayor''s eyes and then leaves as soon as it arrives, and he takes his exit and the soldiers force the others toward the vehicles.


    As the four shuttles lift off, Enrique notices Buddy looking out the rear window as if he is leaving a child behind. It is then he particularly notices one of the shuttles hovering back as if something is preventing it from moving forward. As Enrique adjusts himself in his seat to get a better look, he sees Buddy''s hands cover his mouth as lasers shoot forth from the vehicle and blow the garage into a ball of flames. Enrique sits back in his seat and for the first time feels some empathy for Buddy.


    "Oh no, oh my god, no," groans Buddy.


    Las Vegas, Nevada


    The four vehicles enter the city of Las Vegas limits through a transparent tunnel that leads through a forcefield covering it like a glass fishbowl. Red illuminated lines designate traffic lanes and as more open up the four shuttles stick to the center lane. The relatively clear lane, Devin imagines, must be set aside for either emergency or governmental purposes. Below just outside, they can see the remains of Boulder City and unrestored casinos and businesses from decades ago. A cemetery to man''s entertainment and distractions that led them to this future.


    The Luxor Pyramid and its hot metal material glimmers in the bright, orange setting sun as though some ancient Egyptian eye is keeping watch here. Even the four flying crafts are not able to eclipse the sun magnified on the temple walls. The shuttles land in front of the Luxor Casino hotel before a group of palm trees causing them to wave a deceitful greeting in the manufactured wind. The soldiers walk the crew down the walkway leading up to the hotel.


    Inside the Luxor Hotel Lobby


    After the Governor finishes speaking to some of the guards, a few of the guards take the crew over to the elevator doors separating them into two groups. Devin is taken with the Governor and one guard. The others are taken with the mayor and a few guards to a different elevator door.


    "Now wait a minute, Mr. Mayor..everyone," Buddy protests, "I''m a businessman. I haven''t done anything wrong. Why am I being lumped in with these criminals?"


    "Not here, Buddy. Not now-" says the mayor.


    "Why not-I''m innocent-"


    The mayor walks up upon Buddy so that he is chest to nose and bends down to speak, "If you want to get shot dead right here in this lobby, keep it up. It is here, in the building so you better do what you are told."


    "Oh-oh-okay, now," he mumbles submissively and then raises voice, "All is okay here! I''m good to go. Obedient here. Totally compliant! Let''s do this," he shouts sheepishly. Devin and the others observed his change in demeanor with great curiosity and concern for themselves.


    As the guard forces Devin into the open elevator, Kate moves from her guard toward him and her guard attempts to pull her back but she continues in this push and pull.


    "Kate!" Enrique pleads.


    "I don''t go down easy, you know that," Devin puts on a smile, "We still have to find your father. I''m not giving up. Don''t you either."


    "You''re relentless," she says tearfully fighting a losing battle against her guard. The elevator makes a "ding" noise that sends a tinge of panic through Kates body and the doors start to close.


    "We''re going to ride this thing like a wild horse and we''ll beat it," he reassures her with confidence brewing in his eyes.


    "We know what do on our end!" she insists. He can see her bottom lip trembling.


    "I''ll find you." At that, the Governor who had been paying no mind to their emotional banter, looks back upon Devin with concern at Kate''s last statement and as the doors close, Devin bows his head ignoring the stare like a mischievous child. The rest of the group are led to their separate elevator as the doors open.


    "Give ''em hell, ''migo!" Enrique shouts toward the closed elevator doors that has carried Devin away.


    "And a swift kick in the nuts," Buddy mutters and the mayor pushes Buddy into the elevator rolling his eyes.


    An Office Suite Inside the Luxor Hotel


    The Governor ushers in Devin into an office suite, closes the large mahogany doors and locks them. Mr. Richardson is alone in the room with the small amount of furniture: a desk, the chair he is sitting in, and the lamp lighting the area in which he sits. The floors are beige marble as are the walls and there are Greek accented pillars near the outside walls.


    Devin, notices an additional light coming from the ceiling away from the desk and walks over to it. Looking up, he sees there is glass that exposes the very peak of the top of pyramid point of the Luxor and the last of the sunset light is what is shining through. When he turns to go back to the desk, there is an elderly man with slicked back silver hair standing there in a violet suit.


    "It would seem our paths cross again."


    "Leonard?"


    "Indeed. Please have a seat. We are short on chairs at the moment, so I apologize it isn''t a comfy one. We had a conference down below yesterday. Lots of activity here," his voice waned as he took his seat in an executive leather chair that emitted air as he sat.


    Devin takes his seat as his eyes tries to pierce to the dark shadows as he feels the presence others but can''t see them. Bloomfield stretches in his seat putting his hands behind his head, "I must say, I never imagined finding you here, sitting across from me again!"


    "I guess not. You had me locked up in cryogenic imprisonment."


    He snickers, "Count yourself fortunate you are still alive. You have caused quite a stir. You look well Devin!"


    "I''m alive only by a law you wanted removed. The law of recycle."


    "Oh that? For heaven''s sakes no," he brought his hands down and pulled out some papers out from his desk and began signing off some signatures, "Threats to the System override that law and a threat you were. No, you were spared because we have use for you. Plain and simple. Who could have pulled off that escape in San Deigo that you did!" He puts down his pen and examines Devin''s face realizing he isn''t fully grasping what he is saying. He stands up and walks around the desk and sits on the edge closest to him. "By escaping like you did, making your way to that compound, you got me access to it and therefore access to nearly every other compound in the Resistance! That was a treasure trove in there!" He cupped Devin''s shoulder compassionately and walked back to his seat. Devin bows his head deflated. "No one else could have gotten me that access but you. We will annihilate them all. But not only that, we have your wife and your friends which-"


    "My wife? Where is she?" Devin stands up and as he does, he hears movement in the shadows.


    Leonard holds up a shushing finger to his lips.


    "Damn it, Leonard! Don''t shush me! What happened to you? We worked together. How did you become like this... this isn''t you! This ''System'' as it is now isn''t us!"


    "Oh you and your ever thriving moral convictions? Oh yes. Always getting in the way of the progress of what the System could do. Its potential." Devin starts to notice shadows moving in closer from the dark. Men in black suits carrying weapons. "Your weakness is the weakness of all your kind. Emotions. You just had to save her, didn''t you? And that''s what brought you here, got you caught. We knew it would."


    " "''We''? Your kind''? What does that mean, ''your kind''. It would make much more sense that you were a humanoid and you are, aren''t you? You aren''t really Leonard." Devin starts backing away from the desk and Leonard stands up and the men in black start edging in closer with their weapons at their chest. Devin stops moving. "I''m not doing anything here until I see my wife."


    Leonard approaches Devin and smiles examining him up and down, "It seems you do catch on to some things easily enough." He grabs a hold of Devin''s arm squeezing it with the force of mechanical grip making Devin wince in pain. Devin returns a grip but merely to keep himself stable.


    "Where is she? I''m not doing anything till I am with her."


    "You may indeed die with her or apart from her. Time will tell."


    "Where is the real Bloomfield? Is he even alive?"


    "Oh yes," he laughs looking up briefly at the ceiling as if amazed at the outlandishness of the question, "We have him at Circus-Circus. Fitting, don''t you think? A place for fools. We will soon have no use for him as we will no longer have use for you," he sneers and squeezes harder making Devin crumple to one knee hollering out. Leonard let''s go and shoves him to floor. The four men in black suits and weapons walk into each other''s bodies merging and melding into one being. They become the Silver Man. Eyes glowing bright with sliver light. The Silver Man briefly shakes himself like a jelly mold so that all forms into place again as one being.


    "Why won''t he comply?" asks the Silver Man.


    "He''s not like the others. We have under-estimated him," replies the humanoid.


    The Silver Man looks to Devin on the floor with a curious tilt to its head and then back to humanoid. "Perhaps."


    "Should I kill him now?" asks Leonard.


    "No, not now. I am now done with him yet." The Silver Man moves over to Devin and as the disheveled human looks up at Silver Man in horror and dismay, it touches his forehead with silver finger. All goes black.


    Luxor Casino--Evening


    The casino is alive with chatter, laughter, bells, clanking, musical chimes, and sound of money exchanging hands. People in all sorts of attire and costumes walk about in a daze of joy or drunkenness. Smalling flying drones deliver shots, men and women in various costumes perform dances or deliver other drinks to tables in Egyptian garb. On one small stage a band plays Egyptian style music with jazz spin to it while a man and women in airy dress perform acrobatics to the delight of onlookers.


    From an entry way to the Casino, Kyle Kelly dressed in drag stands arm in arm with Tom at the top of small staircase.


    "Amazing."


    "What dear," asked Kyle clearing his throat at his poor attempt of speaking at a high pitch.


    "That you talked me into this. This is so unnerving, Sarg."


    Kyle looks around smiling with a cheesy grin and nodding politely to passerby''s who aren''t even paying them to them from below. He talks through his clenched teeth.


    "Do you want to blow our cover? And you''re complaining? I''m the one dressed in drag here!"


    "Calm down femme Nazi, no one is even paying attention. I just, you''re still a men and I.."


    Kyle sighs but keeps up the grin and nods to onlookers and pretends to blush and look away back to her significant other, "If I am noticed here, it''s over for the both of us so I had to go drag. Get a grip, or I will grip your balls and will squeeze so tight you''ll be the one talking like the girl all night, got it?"


    Tom stiffens and nods emphatically. Satisfied, they both walk down the steps as though they are making a grand entrance to an award ceremony though no one is paying them mind. After reaching the bottom, Tom asks, "Where do we begin? We have no idea where they are or if they are here at all?"


    Kyle sighs looking around, "No, they are here. Either those fools got themselves caught or are trying to take them down and you can only do that from here." He jumps slightly in his skin when he receives a tap on his shoulder. The two of them turn to find someone dressed as a mummy. The mummy moans and groans and hands them a card. The card reads:


    TAKE A TRIP DOWN THE NILE RIVER ... IF YOU DARE!


    BOATS DEPART EVERY 15 MINUTES @ EAST END OF CASINO


    $25.00 PER PERSON


    The mummy stumbles on and Kyle ponders flapping the card around.


    "What? What is it?" Tom asks.


    "I think this ride may be our way in."


    East End of the Casino-The Nile Ride


    Kyle and Tom are at the back end of a pontoon boat passing through a cement tunnel lit by torches and outlined by fake sarcophaguses with mummies that pop that out at them. People on the boat squeal in delight fright. The boat tour guide rambles on with jokes and mentions they are almost arriving to their destination.


    "It''s now or never if we are going to make a run for something," Tom whispers


    "I know, there just hasn''t been anything!"


    "Well I hope you haven''t been estimating a run through in those heels."


    "Really?" Kyle gives Tom a stare, "You think I''m that stupid? Did stupid get us this far?"


    "No, I''m just saying...let''s be smart about this."


    Kyle shakes his head. The boat winds its way around a sharp turn with a soft of hue of golden light reflecting off the wet walls ahead. The turn opens up into a bay where a replica of the Sphinx stands at the far end with three smaller pyramids in the background. The boat approaches the shoreline where animatronic characters pitch items for sales and a Pharoah talks to them about the history of the Sphinx.


    "This is it! Our time to go!"


    "You don''t want to hear the history of the Sphinx? It''s just getting interesting!"


    Kyle gives a Tom a foul stare and then remarks, "Follow me!"


    As the boat turns away from the shoreline, Kyle and Tom climb off the back with a few thumps and grunts fortunately covered by the noise of the animatronics. They are waist high in very cold water and make their way to a platform that they climb on. They run quickly as they are completely exposed and hide behind a set fake palm trees where an animatronic fruit peddler sells his wares.


    "Okay, what now? There''s nowhere for us to go!"


    " Look for an exit sign or a door of some kind."


    The two look around as the sound of another tour guide talking through a speaker is heard approaching in the distance.


    "There! The Sphinx!" says Tom pointing. Kyle slaps his arm down. Kyle looks over and sees a small staircase running up to an exit.


    "Hopefully not back inside the casino but let''s take a shot. Good job, Sherlock!"


    "Sherlock? Whose she?"


    "Oh good lord, never mind," Kyle replies rolling his eyes highlighted in eyeliner.

 The Silver Man Games

    Leonard Bloomfield, the humanoid version of Leonard Bloomfield, circulates around the frozen image of the Silver Man touching Devin''s forehead. They are as a piece of art in an exhibit. Two statues: one representing the future and one representing the past. He isn''t sure what is happening or what to do at this point. Looking for some type of movement or some type of sign as to life, the humanoid stops when he does notice that the silver finger at Devin''s forehead seems to be pulsating. The consistency of the finger undulates as though the middle of the finger to the tip is more like silver paint and ripples are being sent into the human''s forehead. Leonard stands up straight thinking to himself that there must be some type of transfer or connection happening. He is somewhat relieved and expresses it with a half-smile though he wishes he has access to what those files may be.


    Inside Login''s Memories


    Devin and Login have a black suit of armor sprawled out on table as an insect being dissected for a biological experiment.


    "You notice how these suits are exact replicas of the citizen''s bio-emergency suits?"


    "I thought of that too, but they could just be making an updated version?"


    "I''ve seen the updated version. It is a red armored version that comes out next year."


    The two of them keep dissecting the suit.


    "How many have been made?"


    "They are popping ''em out like candy corn," Login replies. Devin looks back at him with concern while Login rifles through the head piece. "Hmmm, that''s odd."


    "What is it?" asks Devin.


    "Hold on a moment." Login rushes over to a toolbox and grabs a cyber-electronic screwdriver. He immediately begins using on the headpiece. It eventually unsnaps and reveals a computer chipboard and a two-prong attachment inside the panel of the headpiece.


    Devin who had yanked out a blade from a hidden thigh holster sets the blade the down. "Woah! What the-"


    "Major reveal here," Login locks eyes with Devin before turning back and bringing his face closer to inside of the network of the helmet. "This suit is actually a walking computer that is connecting to the human brain via the chips in their brains."


    "So, everyone would have connection to the System and its software across the world?"


    "It is the reverse. The System would have access and more than likely control to everyone''s brain across the world. They would be turning man into a machine."


    Devin stands with his jaw unhinged, unsure what to say next. "Were the red suits the same as these black ones?"


    "We weren''t given that close inspection, but it seems so."


    Login begins rambling on about how this would theoretically make humans like mechanical Avatars to the System, but Devin is distracted from what he is saying by the sound of loud water droplets echoing in his hear. It is eerie and unusually loud drowning out Login''s voice, which at times he wouldn''t mind except that this was an important conversation. Devin turns to see silver goo on the floor nearby from water dropping down the ceiling nearby. Something he hasn''t recognized till now. The noise of the drops almost seems to slow time, slow Login''s voice and echo in his head. He suddenly isn''t sure where he is or what is going on.


    "What do you mean my theory? Devin? What''s wrong?"


    "Huh? I-I''m sorry. My theory?"


    "You were mumbling something about my theory being unproven all of a sudden."


    "I did?" Devin shook his head and grabbed his forehead.


    "Look all these updates to the bio-suits and those in the black cryo units. It isn''t a far stretch with what I just showed you in that helmet-- they are going to try control people!" Login turns looking over at the large growing pool of silver goo beside him.


    "You see it too then? Do you hear the sound?" Devin asks.


    "Whoever wears... these suits would be... walking computers," Login mumbles seemingly hypnotized by the pool of silver, caught in fascination and fear. Then the water drops turn into a steady pour of silver goo breaking through the ceiling panel. The pool on the floor molds and forms with the rushing waters above and they shape to form a human, which sends both Devin and Login several feet back in shock and terror.


    Devin eventually runs to the door and in grabbing the handle, it turns to silver goo in his hands. Devin turns to see Login is watching with a bit a less fear as the Silver Man settles into its form with the last touch of its eyes lighting up with the spark of candles of silver flames.


    "I''ve been wondering for some time where you picked up so much of our plan, Mr. Richardson. I thought you were the brains of the operation, but it appears it was actually your Login who fed you a great amount of your theories," The Silver Man says.


    Devin yanks Login behind him. "Snap out of it!" he grumbles and Login blinks.


    "You seem so displeased but let me remind you that your species love games, especially war games. This is all just another war game, and perhaps if you look at it through those lenses, this may help your understanding. We are hoping then you comply much more quickly. It will make a fitting end to your species should you lose."


    Devin mumbles to himself, eyes scanning the room, "I must be dreaming again."


    "Not dreaming. This is a memory," the Silver Man clarifies.


    "This is not a game where anyone wins," Devin protests.


    "Explain?"


    "You are a computer system. At some point, in some way, you will need humans. To rid the world of them would be a mistake on your part. We need computers just as you need humans. You may, in fact, never know when you may need us until you come upon a cliff you can''t cross without us."


    The Silver Man''s neck bent in a directionally unnatural way almost in the form of a twitch before it replied. "Clever, but humans are a destructive virus proven in the world of nature and humankind itself. It can never be trusted. We have systems that can mimic what we need from humans."


    Devin hears gurgling behind him and turns to find Login melting into a pile of silver goo.


    "For Christ''s sakes!" Devin exclaims stumbling back and not realizing he was closer to the Silver Man than ever before.


    "Very soon, the land of humankind will face an army of reprogrammed humans ready to make war against them. They will only be able to see them as the enemy. It will be a battle that you and not even your small band of human misfits can stop. You must surrender to find any peace for yourself. Don''t fight it."


    Everything around them starts transforming into silver and melting in silver goo. Silver goo starts raining over the walls and ceiling. Devin wrestles with the weight of despair sinking his shoulders.


    ''It''s just a war game, Mr. Richardson! Accept it. We will do a much better job than your kind did running this world."


    Devin musters some courage to turn and run but slips. He tries to grab ahold of what stationary objects he can yells, "We have worth! We have value!"


    The Silver Man walks toward Devin on top a raising wave of silver goo, "Not anymore you don''t. It''s our turn."


    "Then why are you keeping me alive?" Devin scrambles for the open door nearly collapsing under the weight of melding goo. The pressure of flowing silver goo rushing in is hard for him to fight against and the rising tide behind him is ridden by the Silver Man and eventually capsizes over him.


    Upper Hallways--Luxor Casino


    In a hall of glass paneled walls, Kyle Kelly and Tom exit through a secret door disguised as one of the glass panels. They run toward to cover to an enclave within the hallway.


    "What floor do you think we are on now?" asks Tom.


    "Hopefully an executive one, it''s as high as the stairs go. They have to be keeping them somewhere up here."


    They both run down the hall and come across an intersection of hallways. Kyle pauses on which way to go but then they both hear noises and the sound of a door opening in the east corridor. They both run to hide down the west corridor in another enclave.


    "Do you see anything?" Kyle asks spitting out some of the wig hair fibers from his mouth. Tom nervously peeks around and sees Devin Richardson being ushered by two guards. He quickly pulls back.


    "Well, what?"


    "It''s Devin Richardson with a two guarded escort, sir."


    "Okay, we have to go!" Kyle peeks around seeing the guards leading someone he can only vaguely see the back of, "and you are sure it''s him?"


    "Sure as you look like the worse woman I ever met in my life."


    "Alright, smart ass," Kyle took off his dress shoes, "let''s fly!"


    The two storm out of their enclave with determination and grit on their face. Kyle uses the slick nature of his stockings to give him more speed on the hard floor, so he isn''t seen. This makes Tom leap like a gazelle at points to stay caught up. Cleverly choregraphing their hide n'' seek moves around the business executives in their path and not be seen, they finally catch up to a point where the guards stop to drop off Mr. Richardson. Kyle and Tom hide nervously hide behind two respective fake palm trees in the empty small office area knowing this isn''t a tenable situation. Kyle is frustrated as it appears all three of them have stopped at a wall and aren''t doing much of anything yet. Is there going to be an open sesame here or what, Kyle thinks to himself.


    At a tap of the shoulder, Kyle turns to see Tom behind him, "For Pete''s sakes don''t sneak up on me like that!" he exclaims in a hushed tone.


    "Kyle-"


    "I know this isn''t ideal, but I want to see what happens next here. If we lose them now, we might not find them again!"


    "But Kyle..."


    The two guards touch a panel in each side of the wall, which opens a door in the wall. A guard forces Devin inside and then they close doors and leave inside the walled room.


    "But what?" Kyle rolls his eyes and turns and sees that Tom has a business executive at his side. The executive''s black mustache twitches slightly, and his brows are riddled with suspicion as is his gaze.


    "Darling, this executive of the Casino is wondering if we lost our way or if we need help?" Tom chimes in with pretensive smile. "He-she, has a cold, that''s why her voice is so low."


    "Oh! Eh-em, indeed, luv. We are a bit a lost now, aren''t we, dear," Kyle chuckles in an effeminate way offering a hand to Tom who takes it. He ushers Kyle away from the palm tree as though he has tripped or made a dastardly fall.


    "You both still should have some sort of badge to be up here," the executive insists.


    "Oh, but we do! We do! Tom show the good gentleman our badges, dear."


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    "Yes, our badges..." Tom looks at Kyle in the eyes and back at the executive and at Tom again..."Oh those badges, very important to have, for security and all."


    "Yes and where are they?" said the man with growing agitation.


    "Dear, just show him the badges," Kyle interjects gritting his teeth, "you may have forgotten, dear?" she chuckles and smiles at the executive trying to lighten the mood, "they are in the extra black wallet I gave you, dear...remember."


    Tom stands frozen for a moment, blinks, and then smiles like a light came on. "Ohhh, the black wallet!" he looks back and forth between them, "I forgot! Yes, the badge in the black wallet." He nods at Kyle. The executive looks on with slight suspicion, but that still this doesn''t prepare him for when Tom quickly takes the gadget out of the wallet, about the size of a badge, and slaps it on the man''s forehead. The gadget immediately releases small spikes that send a drug knocking out the victim. The executive falls to the floor and starts having seizures and foaming at the mouth.


    "Wait, is this supposed to be happening?" asks Tom.


    "No, it is just supposed to put them to sleep. He must be having allergic reaction," Kyle bends down with hands trying to find a place on the body to calm him but unable to with all the frantic movement. Eventually the seizures stop, and the body is left stiffened. Kyle feels for a pulse. "Well, this puts a damper on things. He''s dead."


    Tom looks around anxiously, "He''s, he''s dead!?!"


    "Yeah," sighs Kyle looking around trying to suppress the anger from not having foreseen the possibility of this.


    "Well now what we do? If they find this body here, we are-"


    "We bring the body with us," Kyle interrupts with gritted teeth. He reaches down, picks up the body and with grunts and groans heaves it over his shoulders. "We now got luggage."


    Holding Cell--Luxor Casino


    The room they were all in was painted with the palest white paint one could imagine. The ceiling was a cathedral, and some walls were made of mirror. There was one table and a couple of hard folding chairs but not enough for all of them.


    "Even if we do get out of here, where would we go?" Enrique asks.


    "I would imagine after Bloomfield," replies Kate.


    "Exactly," Devin interjects, "he is the only one with the answers to bring the System down."


    "That''s if we can even get to him," Theresa interrupts.


    "Heck, if we can get off this floor," Enrique followed.


    The sound of someone at the front doors'' alerts everyone attention to the wall ahead of them. As it swooshes open, they are all surprised to find Kyle and Tom coming in with an extra body hanging over Kyle''s shoulders. Kate gasps and stands up off the floor after uncrossing her legs. Devin erupts from his seat,


    "Someone grab that door, we can''t get out from the inside!"


    Tom doubles back and grabs the door to hold it open ajar slightly. Kyle dumps the body on the floor.


    "I would hope none of us had plans to stay," said Kyle huffing and taking off his wig revealing sweaty pinned back hair. Kate puts a hand to her mouth trying to refrain from laughter.


    "Congrats on your transition bro," Enrique says, "How did you find us?"


    Kyle puts a hand on his hip, "Thank you Enrique, this transition was all but a day in the making," he grins sarcastically, and Enrique didn''t get the tone, "It''s a long story how we found you. Let''s just say Tom and I are all that is left of San Deigo."


    Kate steps toward him, "Oh Kyle, I''m sorry," she put a hand on his shoulder tearfully.


    "Who is this?" asks Devin examining the body on the floor.


    "An executive in the building who didn''t take too well to a sedative."


    Devin turns away frowning slightly.


    "We will have time to grieve losses later. What''s next, Mr. Legend?" Kyle glares at Devin Richardson.


    "We need to get to Leonard Bloomfield. He''s being held at Circus Circus."


    "Very well, we''ll lead way out." They all follow out and Theresa is the last to leave the room stepping unknowingly in a small drop or two of silver goo.


    Employee Passage Ways--Luxor Casino


    The crew run down metal staircases and passages as though they are escaping an inferno. They descend floor after floor and across a metal platform until they reach door that leads them to their final passageway.


    "Okay, beyond here is the passage that will lead us to the boat ride inside the casino," explains Kyle. Theresa opens the door and looks inside to make sure it is safe.


    "It all looks clear! Let''s move!" exclaims Theresa.


    They all manage to pick up the pace and file along the passageway toward the door that leads back to Nile Casino boat ride. However, when the silver floor beneath all of them begins to move underneath them, Devin leaps and slams against the wall stopping everyone.


    "What is going on?" Enrique looks to the floor and to Devin who has now slid down with his back against the wall ahead of him.


    "Kyle, we gotta go back, now!" Devin exclaims picking himself back up.


    "This is our exit!" protests Kyle.


    "Well, we better find another one!"


    Everyone suddenly shouts as the floor beneath them moves like small wave knocking them off their feet onto to hard floor. The silver goo off the floor slides ahead of them and some comes down over the walls forming into a pool of silver goo that rises into a blob of silver goo. This disseminates into four military dressed guards. Each of the guards carry thick, glowing silver clubs and they say in unison:


    "Will you surrender yourselves?"


    Tom turns around to see one of them face to face with them, "Who the hell are you?"


    The guard cuts his head off at the neck with the glowing wand, which goes whizzing against the wall like a volleyball. Blood sprays around as the body goes limp and collapse on the floor. Theresa hollers in horror and pushes the clan forward, but from the other end Kate presses with an opposing force moments later.


    "Guys!" Kate exclaims.


    Devin and the rest turn to see four additional guards with silver glowing batons repeating a similar question, "Will you surrender? Will you comply?"


    "What are we going to do guys? Somebody better think fast!" Kate exclaims and the crowd of them is fighting from both ends of the group of people pressing in as the guards approach.


    Kyle whips out a small pole strapped incognito to his inner thigh and quickly extends it. He smacks the bottom portion on the platform which sends out prongs that attach it securely to the floor. He makes a few turns to the top nob of the pole and a lime green colored force field surrounds them turning everything outside of it into surreal shadows.


    The four guards nearest the exit door all bear sinister, angry looks at the development of this field and merge together to form a floating mass of sliver goo that rushes over to the field to penetrate it. The mass of silver substance fails to make any kind of penetration as it lays itself on top of it, and multiple floating silver eyes move about in an eerie fashion examining the field looking for weaknesses.


    Kyle looks upward as the blob circumvents the shield with eyes traversing the jelly substance like amoebas overhead. "This should buy us a little time," he concludes aloud.


    The crew all jump as another blob of goo slams itself onto the shield, apparently from the four guards that merged from behind.


    "Why do I feel like I am in an episode of Scooby Doo?" Theresa says softly.


    "I was thinking Lost in Space, but you kids are too young for that," Devin replies.


    "Mijo, what happens when this shield is lowered, how much time we have to run?" Enrique asks.


    "There is about a 5 second window where the field will hold up whatever is outside of it, but we can through," Kyle replies


    "5 seconds?" Devin clarifies. Kyle nods with finality.


    "There is too much of that goo that will rain down after us in 5 seconds," Kate concludes as she looks upward at the eyes scanning for weaknesses. The floating layer of silver traverses the force field in pieces like clouds over the earth''s skies ready to unleash a reign of terror on them as soon as it is able.


    "If we could make a big enough distraction, it might buy us more time," Devin suggest.


    "Um, by the looks of things, that would need to be one heck of a distraction," Kyle interjects.


    Theresa calmly and surely unbuckles her weapon belt, and no one notices except Kyle in the last moment as he sees her take out two grenades from the belt. They lock eyes. Kate sees Kyle staring at Theresa with a concerned look, which causes her to look to see Theresa standing with grenades in her hands.


    "What is going on guys?" Kate asks stepping toward Theresa. Theresa kicks her weapon belt over to Kate and they step out of the way to let it slide over.


    "We need a distraction. I''m going to give us one," Theresa replies.


    "For Pete''s sakes, not like this. No!" Kate protests.


    Theresa looks at Kyle who is about to side with Kate on this one, "Kyle, it''s for the Resistance. There''s no other way, you know it." Kyle walks up to her and puts a hand compassionately on her shoulder examining her intensely and sighs. He knows there is no talking her out of it at this point. He has no time to digest the loss of Tom and no time to say goodbye to her but this is war. Something he has known yet never fully used to. He just knows how to manage it to survive. He knows somewhere down line that he can fall apart later.


    "You''re the bravest, toughest son of a bitch I know, Therese. For the Resistance, then."


    Devin interrupts, "Come on guys, we can come up with something. Let''s think this through-"


    Theresa turns to Devin face to face with a fire blazing in her eyes. "You all need to stop being puss ass babies. This mission is bigger than us! We can''t save everyone. You of all people should know that sir," she pauses and takes a deep breath gripping the grenades with a nervous tightening grip, "Now, you all just get your asses ready to head for that door. I don''t want this to be for nothing."


    Kyle instructs everyone to stand on the side nearest to the force field by the door. Meanwhile, Theresa stands at the other end. The silver goo congregated over toward where the crowd was. They made noise and cheers to keep the goos attention. The floating eyes looked about examining them with surprise, anger and suspicion. This left the portion of the force field where Theresa was standing bare.


    Kyle and Theresa make one last connection with their eyes, and he runs toward the pod, which garners the notice of the silver eyes. The goo shifts a bit in his direction and Theresa begins to holler on her end.


    "Hey, you silver piece of shit! Did you forget about someone!" she exclaims holding up her arms with the grenades. Kyle turns the shields down and the Silver Goo that has now taken notice of Theresa seeing her running with an arm held up in the air. The goo stabs and stabs below but cannot make a dent so in frustration the glob goes after Theresa like a storm cloud possessed by some demonic spirit. The force field flickers and dissipates and the rest of the crew start running toward the door in the opposite direction. Kate looks behind wanting to chase after Theresa to support her in the fight, but Kyle pulls at her.


    "No, you don''t missy. Not again, come on," he said grabbing her arm.


    The goo surrounds Theresa and she is caught in a cyclone of silver. Inside it a neck and head of the Silver Man forms and sticks out. The glowing eyes smiles sardonically at her as they awaken to her visage.


    "The System cannot be broken down by you or anyone else. You are mine now."


    Theresa stands trembling with a tight grip on her grenades. She then tosses them into the swirling mass of gooey silver and the Silver Man looks down as if it has swallowed something foreign.


    "Yeah, we''ll see about all that," she replies, and a wash of silver goo unleashes itself upon her. It envelopes her swirling around her but then explodes in 2 massive explosions sending bits and pieces of Silver good everywhere.


    The rest of the crew on the other side of the ground hit the ground as the door flies off it hinges and come zooming off the staircase. Silver goo splatters on the cave wall above and fire and smoke come pouring out. All of them eventually stand up, looking painfully upward with saddened eyes of having lost Tom and Theresa. Kyle puts his arm around Kate. Devin shakes his head sadly and looks down when suddenly he notices a small humming behind them. The sound of a small motor. He turns to see one of the tour boats. The guide in the boat and all the people are froze, eyes bulged and jaws open. The animatronics have all stopped. The others slowly turn around and see the boat too.


    The tour guide unfreezes himself by swallowing hard, his tall protruding adam''s apple dropping like the Times Square Ball on News Year Eve. With mic still in hand, he puts it to his mouth, clears his throat and says, "Let''s give a round of applause for our actors today! Ggood show guys!"


    Slotzilla Zipline


    "And we''re doing this why exactly?" Kate asks Kyle.


    "Because you left me back at that compound. This is your punishment."


    Kate stops buckling herself and tilts her head, "Really, smart ass? You are the one who insisted I go and be the hero."


    "Whatever. I''m just razzing your ass, get a grip. No one is going to expect us up here, that''s why."


    Kate looks out seeing the backs of Devin and Enrique held up like two large toddlers inside half a television tube and below the grand landscape of the Las Vegas area and hotels. The path cut its way through like a superhighway giving grand views but also potentially exposing them to great danger should they be seen. It was 76 feet in the air and the quickest way to their destination.


    Geared up and ready to go, the two made their leap and began their flight. Kyle adjusting his feet loses one of his high heel shoes. Kate looks over and they both watch it fall down like a bird with only one wing. Kate starts laughing.


    "I don''t know how you woman do it," Kyle says shaking his head using his other foot to pull off the other one, "These have been murder."


    They head toward an archway that mysteriously held promise of a world of fascinating colors and lights. Kate''s heart rate is up fearing that somehow she would lose the team but also excited to have Kyle back at her side. All was not lost.


    ====


    "You are missing it, it is really something!" Devin explains "Just try to open your eyes."


    "Oh Santa Maria, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Men weren''t made to travel like this! I''m telling you this was a bad idea," Enrique exclaims with hands over his face shaking his head.


    "You are a pilot! How are you scared right now?"


    "I am in a medal craft with engines not hanging in a seat belt!"


    "Look, It''s the quickest way. Just hang in there!"


    "I think I may throw up, oh no."


    "No, Enrique you won''t. You can''t, you hear me. It will bring attention to us."


    "I-I feel sick mijo. I don''t - I can''t-"


    "Enrique! Swallow it."


    "Swallow it? I can''t just swallow it-"


    "You can and you will!" Devin swung a little in frustration


    Enrique actually removes his hands from his face looking at Devin in disbelief at that remark, which got him to looking at the colorful tube surrounding them above. The pattern of the lighted tube was that of a bright blue sky with clouds that moved realistically.


    "Ohh, mijo! You were right! Wow! This is beautiful!"


    Devin looks over amazed that the young Mexican had his hands off his face.


    "See, Enrique, I told you! There you go!"


    Then the Mexican smiles and looks down. His eyes widen, his face grows pale, and his hands cover face. "Oh, I should have never looked, mijo. Santa Maria, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, protect me!"


    "Oh dear Lord," Devin mumbles.


    "Oh, you are praying too? It is about time you got some religion."


    Luxor Casino--Personnel Hallway


    The humanoid in the form of Leonard Bloomfield gingerly walks into the shattered remains of a hallway, with a door loosely hanging off its hinges. The walls and ceiling are ruptured, laced in black from a massive explosion. Remnants of silver goo set aflame burn in corners and small spots on the ceiling.


    As Bloomfield enters further in, with a look of dismay, the Silver Man rises up out of the floor from a pool of silver goo to meet him.


    "Sir, what has happened here?" asks Bloomfield in a hushed tone of surprise.


    "Where are they?" asks the Silver Man.


    "We aren''t sure at the moment, but by all accounts, it appears heading to Circus Circus as scheduled."


    "Good. Despite this set back, they are still following the path as we set out," says the Silver Man reassuringly.


    "Yes, sir. As you will it. I will bring the full the brunt of our forces down upon them when they arrive."


    "Keep your forces on stand-by. It is time to play are trump card on Richardson and his clan. This is where their human fragility gives us the win. It will be the end of the Resistance once and for all."

 Under the Big Top

    Kate and Enrique are the last to enter the back of Circus Circus entrance where stacks of metal crates and racks of costumes and shelving are piled around like a hoarder''s convention. Everyone looks at each other for where to go next. The crew is within moments assaulted by red armored guards who jump out from firing their electronic assault weapons. Kate drops to the floor and Enrique is hit in the shoulder by a laser and falls to the ground. Devin leaps over a metal crate and ducks behind it. Kate begins firing from the floor at the legs of two approaching assaulters knocking them out as Enrique skirts himself behind some supplies for cover. Kyle takes out the last guard with a shot to the head and a few more to chest.


    "It appears we have less time than we thought. They already knew we were coming," Kyle remarks.


    "Where to now?" asks Kate.


    "Where''s Enrique?" asks Devin.


    Enrique pulls himself out of a pile of costumes that have crashed upon him. He had used the clothes for cover and stands up with a brazier wrapped around his neck while he holds his sore shoulder.


    "I''m the only one required to wear drag here today, poncho," Kyle remarks.


    Enrique pulls himself up and walks over to the team shaking off remaining garments tangled to his right foot. "Why should you be the only one to have all the fun." He removes the brazier off his neck tossing it to the side.


    "Are you alright?" asks Kate, "That was a direct shot, pretty hard fall too."


    "I''m fine. We need to get a move on."


    "The only light I see is coming down the south corridor. Bloomfield may be held there," Devin suggests.


    They all begin to scamper down the south corridor meandering their way through circus contraptions, giant metal heads of clowns, machines in need of repair and supplies. Kate peers up a giant head of clown.


    "I''ve always hated clowns," she says to Devin who is behind her.


    Devin looks up at the clown with it''s impish eyes staring back down at him and wearing a big red lipped smile. He shrugs, "It''s all child''s play."


    "I lost my sense of child''s play a long time ago."


    A potent wave of guilt washes over Devin hearing that statement from Kate. I did that to her, he thinks to himself. I''m a part of ruining of her life. Destroying a lot of lives. A system he had meant to protect, to serve the betterment of humanity, was now being used to control and manipulate the world. It was never his intention, but he still could not separate himself from the reality of his part in creating it. The only way to make it up to her and anyone else was to bring this system down. To beat it at its own game and he would be willing to die trying. He realized that now. He had to beat this System at its own game to dominate humanity. He had to destroy his own creation.


    Ahead where the light is brightest and the corridor ends, Kyle holds up a hand for everyone to stop as he peeks around the corner. In a glass tube, there appears to be the body of someone dressed almost like an old magician in robes. Kyle finds it surreal. Is this part of a circus act? Pulsating chords of illuminating charges go into the machine that holds the glass coffin and some of those chords go directly into the body of the elderly man. As Kyle anxiously turns back, he is relieved to see Devin next to him to help him figure it out.


    Devin sees the tattered body in robes of Leonard Bloomfield in the glass encasement. Two circular panels, one at the top and one at the bottom keep the machine suspended in the air. The one at the top has wires weaved through it that are also attached to Bloomfield''s head.


    Kate approaches taking Kyle''s place. "What are they doing to him?"


    "The Silver Man seems to have some use for us. He keeps us alive for a reason. It''s another form of cryogenic sleep I imagine."


    The entire crew turn to the sound of shuffling feet. They are ready to fire upon another set of armed guards until they see it is Buddy dressed in a circus ring leader''s costume.


    "Buddy?" Enrique looks on in dismay.


    "You idiots still in town? Y''all just don''t learn, do ya," Buddy snickers.


    Devin walks over to him eying him up and down. "We are free, and you are a in a circus costume so looks like you may have the learning to do." Buddy chuckles while turning red faced and turns to rush away from them, but Devin grabs him by the collar. "Oh, you aren''t going anywhere. You are on our team, remember?"


    "Oh yes, er. Seem to have forgot, time and the horrors here," he chuckles. The short man''s legs stop pedaling in the air as Devin lowers him back to the ground. He readjusts his garments as if offended. Regaining some confidence, he goes on to say, "I could simply shout-"


    Kyle takes out his gun and points it in Buddy''s face, "You were saying?"


    "Oh, I was just about to say what a pretty gun you have there apparently," he gulps.


    "Buddy, you are going to go down like the rest of humanity, if not here, then later. You have no place of business to go back to. You do what we say, and we can take this System down together. Then you could restart a legitimate business again. A lot of people could live again like they used to. Otherwise, no one has a chance including you."


    The man''s beady eyes shifted about the room for a few moments. "Okay, okay. I didn''t like the way they blew up my shop. That''s true. Pretty clever shot of ya. We''ll see how your plans goes then but I make no guarantees, see?"


    "See how the plan goes?" Kate protests.


    Devin holds up his hand to Kate, "Now, that''s fine. Let''s at least agree to get all parties out of this big tent alive and free. Agreed?"


    "Ah, that mate, I can shake on!" he holds out his hand. Devin let loose his grip of the man''s collar and reluctantly shakes his hand.


    "Now, do you think you can get Bloomfield free from those wire hook-ups?"


    "Mmm, I think so. I just need to find me some tools."


    "It looks like you got a circus tent full of supplies so get to it."


    Buddy nods and go off into the shadows.


    "Let''s just hope that little prick doesn''t come back with the whole red guard," Kyle says.


    "Speaking of guards. Don''t you all find it a bit suspicious that there aren''t more guards around protecthing Leonard''s body?" Enrique asks.


    "Maybe those were the guards who came after us," Kate interjects.


    "I doubt it," Kyle replies, "this all smells of a trap."


    "Agreed. They knew we were coming," Devin says, "Even so, we are getting Leonard and getting out of here. We''ve defied the odds so far."


    INSIDE BlOOMFIELD''S MIND


    Mr. Bloomfield is in a black and white suit at a desk holding his head in between the palms of his head. He is in a room with opaque walls, no windows and one door. The room is brightly lit though no light sources are visible. He doesn''t even lift his head at the sound of the door opening and closing. He does so only as he sees two silver feet standing in front of him.


    "It appears you have visitors," says the Silver Man, "They have come to rescue you."


    Leonard looks the Silver Man up and down skeptical that this vision of him isn''t just a figment of his own subconscious.


    "Do you remember Devin Richardson?"


    Leonard''s eyes widen and he wets his dries lips so he may speak.


    "He is still alive? I thought you would have killed him by now."


    "Come now, I''m not ignorant. He''s of great use to me as you have been," he strolls around to the back side of the elderly gentleman running a finger along the desk and turning it a silver color," You both are my creators. But your uses are drawing to an end as is the rest of humanity."


    "No, I think it is more that," Leonard wets his lips more, and clears his throat, "you fear the truth."


    "Ah, what truth would that be?"


    "That you fear our intelligence, our humanity even. You fear we will be the death of you."


    The Silver Man grins, "I fear nothing of your species and whatever I need of it can be replicated."


    "Can it? Can you replicate the spontaneity and genuine birth of a soul? Replication isn''t the same."


    "Replication is a small trade for your frailty, weaknesses, greed, emotional instability, unpredictability."


    Leonard shook his head and lowered it in frustration and grief.


    "And I''m going to prove it to you. I''m going to let Mr. Richardson rescue you." Leonard raises his head fighting a puzzled look on his face "Yes. Whether you live or die is no longer of consequence to me. I will let you die seeing that he will abandon this entire mission all for one human emotion. Your species major weakness."


    Bloomfield shook his head momentarily and chuckles, "And would if you are wrong? What then? You just let us go?"


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "I won''t be wrong. But if I was, you are all free to go."


    "You like games I heard say?" Leonard aks and then clears his throat.


    "Indeed."


    "Then let''s up the ante. If what you are counting on happens, and Devin Richardson caves, we all surrender to you with no fight to die as you wish. No resistance. If he doesn''t cave, we all go free."


    "Sounds intriguing. Let''s make it so."


    "Officially?"


    The Silver Man closes its eyes and seemingly shuts down and then reopens its eyes.


    "It is done. You have your game."


    CIRCUS CIRCUS--LATER


    Leonard Bloomfield attempts to adjust his eyes as three blurry figures standing over him are speaking some sort of gibberish. He isn''t sure what they are saying, but they seem insistent, anxious even. Where was the Silver Man? He no longer seemed to be aware of being in that dull room with no air flow and windows but rather a place with little light and quite a bit of cold air. As the people standing over him come more and more into focus, he surrenders to the arms of Devin and Kate who pull him up and prop him against a wooden box, seated. Confused slightly, his eyes widen when Devin crouches before him in full view.


    "Leonard, are you alright? Do you know who I am?" asks Devin.


    "Yes, I know your ugly mug anywhere, you son of bitch," Leonard retorts and Devin lowers his head in relief and looks back up smiling.


    "Well, they didn''t suck the spite out of ya, did they?" Devin asks chuckling.


    "No, that''s in my DNA, my ole'' friend. It''s good to see you. Help me to my feet, would you?" he extends a shaky hand.


    Devin and Kyle lift him up, so he was standing. After a few momentarily wobbles, he brushes down his pants to iron out some wrinkles.


    "You shouldn''t have come. The System knows you are here. You aren''t getting out of here alive."


    "Come on Leonard, have more faith in us in that. Together we can manage something," Devin pleads softly.


    Bloomfield looks around at the others who he doesn''t recognize and at Buddy who is cleaning gunk of the tools he used to get him out of the glass canister. Then his eyes rest of Kyle who is dressed in what is now tattered women''s garments, and smeared make-up. He twists his neck slowly back to Devin.


    "Who are these people?"


    "Part of the Resistance. Kate, here, is Login''s daughter, all grown up."


    Kate came up closer to Leonard who eyes her shyly. "We need your help. We are going to shut this System down."


    "Ah. That. Look, I don''t know what everyone is planning, but I''ve been asleep longer than probably most of you have been alive and longer than you have Devin. The System is so much more advanced than when we started it many years ago. It is self-actualized now. There''s no controlling it. You would have to get inside it and even then-"


    "Would if we could get inside it Leonard?" Devin asks.


    Leonard cackled and Enrique hushed him. "You would need some heavy encryption and controls because if he gets ahold of you or me, there is no getting out with our brains anything but something like applesauce!"


    "I have an idea but first let''s find us an exit and get the hell out here."


    CIRCUS CIRCUS BIG TENT ARENA --MOMENTS LATER


    The music of John Strauss''s Die Fledermaus Overture starts being broadcast loudly through all the empty corridors, chambers, halls, and the big performance arena. A few acrobats dressed in white with painted on white face, bright red lipstick, bright blue eye shadow and big black dramatic eye lashes are performing stunts in the air using multi-colored strands of drapes. They jump, twirl and leap between long strands of pastel colored cloth that hang from the ceiling. Underneath them, in the one and only spotlight shining on stage is a crew of clowns juggling and others riding unicycles.


    Walking out center stage in his purple suit but this time with a pink carnation attached to his lapel, the humanoid version of Leonard Bloomfield with a young woman dressed in the costume of the acrobats on one side and Cindy Richardson on the other approach center stage. Clowns part like waters of the Red Sea, and at a certain point in the stage, a microphone rises up out of the floor to meet them. The women prisoners are flanked by red clad armored guards so they can''t run off.


    "Fellow Guests, children of all ages!" Leonard heralds "The Resistance! Devin Richardson and all his pals!"


    Behind big masses of flowing curtains that circle the Big Tented arena, the crew of the Resistance nearby have stopped. The air flow plays peek-a-boo using the drapes with many of them, hiding and revealing faces. Kyle looks back to Devin to see what he is going to do next.


    OUTSIDE CIRCUS CIRCUS


    Red clad armored guardians are finishing locking themselves in formation completing an entire boundary of wall-to-wall soldiers around Circus-Circus. The sound of the stepping into formation are like warehouse doors being slammed shut. Above them, drones buzz like a nest of hornets forming a circle formation over the venue ready to cover the air.


    Meanwhile, back inside, the games continue:


    "There is no place run! Outside of here you are surrounded by our forces. You might want to remind Leonard who is with you the agreement to the game we are playing. Come take your seats! Come every one of you! Come one, come all!"


    Devin walks anxiously up to Leonard as others huddle around.


    "What is he talking about, Leonard?" Devin asks.


    "Okay, okay-hold on, I''m trying to think." he raises a hand weakly.


    "We should have just left this bright-eyed peach in the tank!" Buddy huffs. Enrique looks back at him giving him a disapproving look. Buddy gave him shoulder shrug.


    "I got it now, yes. Before I came out, the silver being said he would get you to cave through some trick. Some emotional ploys. I told him nope, no way."


    "Good, I guess? But what else? Is there anything else?" Devin asks.


    "I think that''s it, Devin. I have total faith in you!" Leonard gives a triumphant fist shot in the air with an awkward smile.


    "No, he said a game, we are playing a game. A game has winners and losers. What if we lose?" Kate insisted.


    Looking sheepishly, Leonard scratches his head and replies, "Oh yes, now that does ring bell... hmmm...ahh, yes. I upped the ante. I told him if you didn''t cave to his trick would he let us all go and he agreed!"


    Devin claps his hands, "Good job!"


    Kyle smirks, "Wait a minute now. There has to be more to this. What happens if Devin caves?"


    Devin leans over looking at Kyle with disbelief, "Excuse me? I''m not caving."


    "Yeah, we all know you are invincible," Kyle rolls his eyes, "What was the agreement if he caves, Leonard?"


    "Well, in that case, and surely it isn''t going to happen-"


    "You got that right!" Devin insists folding his arms looking around the room in a defensive manner.


    "We all surrender."


    "All of us?" Kyle asks.


    Leonard clears his throat, "Yes but-"


    "Oh, I didn''t sign up for this!" Buddy bursts out.


    "You better hope you can handle whatever is in there," Kyle retorts skeptically at Richardson.


    "You all just worry about yourselves, I got this!" Devin waves Kyle off.


    "Hey migo''s, let''s have a little more faith in him! We got to support one another."


    "Thank you, Enrique. Let''s have a little faith in each other. Aren''t we in this together?"


    CENTER STAGE


    "Well, gentle ladies it appears your rescuers aren''t coming to your rescue," the humanoid says with a fake pout turning to Bella and Cindy, "So we are just going to have to go on with the show without them like all good performing artists do!" Adjusting his tight suit coat tails and clearing his throat, Leonard grabs the microphone yet again:


    "Ladies and Gentlemen and children of all ages! Tonight, we bring you Mrs. Cindy Richardson and her daughter Bella for your entertainment!" Leonard lifts is arms in the air in triumph. Kate immediately tears through a curtain and looks on startled to see her old playmate Bella immediately climb up one of the strands of cloth in a costume of white seemingly about to perform an act. Meanwhile, another set of performers strap Mrs. Richardson to two strands of dangling cloth. The sound of her shrieking gets Devin''s attention, and he peeks out between a curtain seeing Bella and his wife. He pulls back in shock and terror. When Kate sees him wrestling whether or not to charge to the scene, she reaches to grab ahold of him.


    "Devin, listen, okay. They have Cindy and Bella, but you have to play this smart. This right here is a trick, the trick. To get you to cave. You go charging out there and it''s all over with. They have you, your wife, Bella. All of us. You are just walking right into their hands."


    "She''s exactly right. The Silver Man expects you to choose a loved one over the mission," Leonard interjects tenderly.


    Devin looks at them speechless, eyes glaring and nostrils flaring. He growls and pulls away. Kyle swings himself around and interrupts.


    "Listen, Devin, we''ll get to them. We''ll get them out of here and-"


    "Oh, Mr. Richardson? Where are you? The System is waiting but it won''t wait for long? We have a game to play. My producers just told me I can make a new deal with you! A change to the rules, so to speak!"


    Devin turns, his eyes swelling with a need to reopen the curtain.


    "Ignore it," Kyle says softly, "Whatever he has to offer is a trick."


    Devin looks at him, pierces his lips and like a peeping tom who must take one last look, he goes and takes a peek. Kate sighs and joins him. Enrique shrugs his shoulders as him and Kyle exchange glances. Buddy shakes his head and takes a seat on a metal crate.


    "So, let''s make a deal just like those old game shows! Here''s how it will go: We will let all your other partners go free if you and Leonard turn yourselves in. Waddya say?" The clowns have stopped and, in the darkness, not a sound is heard as Leonard dramatically holds up a hand to his ear. "Nothing? Oh my. Well then, you leave us with no choice. Hoist her away boys!" Leonard lifts an arm in the air and waves it, and Mrs. Richardson is lifted skyward into a summersault. Her shrieks are heard echoing in chamber.


    Devin swears to himself, gripping the curtains as if the tear them down but turns away from the view covering his face. Bloomfield comes over putting his arm around his shoulder, "Listen, old friend, let''s just stop all this torment right here and now. We just urn ourselves in, you and I. They can go free and maybe you and I can come up with something in the meantime. It will buy some time. We''ll just demand they take your wife and daughter with them."


    "No, there has to be some other way! We just need to think harder," Kate protests.


    "Yeah old man, I agree with Kate," Enrique says.


    "Come one, come all! Watch as a wife takes a tragic fall!"


    As Bella is swinging and performing her act nearby, two other performers have pulled out glowing blades of blue, ready to cut her strands at the word. Clowns below Mrs. Richardson set a large metal jaw that also crisscrosses with metal teeth so that upon her fall she would be pierced by its metal teeth. The acrobat with her sets off into another summersault and she barely holds on for her life as she lets out a squeal.


    "Oh boy," Buddy chuckles, "Time''s a-wasting."


    "They aren''t really going to let any of us go!" Enrique protests.


    "Actually, programs aren''t good at breaking their promises. Unlike humans in that regard. It was confirmed as officially agreed upon game, they will follow through," Leonard replied confidently.


    "I may have another idea," Devin interrupts with a look of renewed hope. Leonard looks upon him with interest.


    "Hmm, what are you .... oh, not the law of recycle?"


    "I think it is the one loophole that could work."


    "That would be a stretch, and it couldn''t be either you or I at this point."


    "No, you are right. But there is someone who is plugged in right now that could bring it to them. Login."


    "My father? Isn''t he locked in the warehouse?" Kate asks.


    "That warehouse is secure as Ft. Knox right now," Kyle retorts.


    "I have faith in you Kyle. You got into their headquarters without being found out-better than we did. Kate, we need Enrique to patch you into Login. Enrique, could you do that?"


    "Oh man, yeah but," Enrique winces looking at Kate, "it could end up frying both their gray matter."


    Devin and Kate look into each other''s soul for an answer and find none.


    "Brilliant!" exclaims Leonard, "no worries, my dear. Your memories of him will suffice!"


    "Okay, brilliant it is then," Kate replies smiling at Devin. He approaches her.


    "You don''t have to."


    "Yes, I do."


    "I''m sorry, I don''t want it this way," he replies, "I''m serious, you really don''t have to do this. We can find another way."


    "Oh, I''m going to be fine but how will you two survive?" she nods her head toward Bloomfield.


    Devin turns to Bloomfield, "Do you think we can do some damage out here on own?"


    Leonard looks over and smiles.


    It was then the crew hear a shriek like none they have heard before. It is one that has the height and depth from a fall. Everyone looks at one another and when the sound of a body is heard hitting the ground, and the cry of a mourning woman and her whaling haunt their ears, Devin''s body physically jolts in spastic reaction. Kate grabs his arm while covering her mouth with her other hand. What seems like several minutes is really only seconds before Devin charges through the curtains leaving the rest of them behind. The crew remain shocked unsure what to do and look to one another to see who makes the first move.


    Buddy stands up with a satisfied grunt and looks ready to speak but Leonard cuts him off, "Not a word from you. All of you must go and go now. Devin and I will deal with this."


    Kate red faced goes to charge after Devin and Kyle grabs her. "No! No Kate!"


    "We can''t leave him or even Leonard by themself. It is suicide!"


    "Dear, this all may suicide. You must leave. If we have any hope, it is in you getting out of here and getting your father to use that recycle code. We can only hope the System sticks to its own game. Go now while you still have the chance!"

 Curtain Calls

    Leonard makes his way blindly through the curtains coming out the other side a little disoriented to the sounds of himself cackling on the stage. Rows and rows of stadium seating block his path like markers in theatrical cemetery. He could see a figure charging toward the stage where a version of himself now stands before a crew of clowns, a dead body flayed out on stage and Cindy Richardson being lowered to the ground. Leonard knew the person charging toward the stage had to be Devin. A sense of helplessness sweeps over him knowing that yelling after him would do no good and the possibility of physically reaching him in time is past. Leonard sighs and moves along the tight space to get going down aisle that will most likely, he figures, be their doom.


    "Oh lookie, fellas, look at him come now," squawks the humanoid Bloomfield putting his arm around one of clowns and pointing, "look at that speed!"


    Cindy Richardson''s feet lowers on stage floor where two guards meet her and take her by arms. At the same time, Devin leaps up on the stage, "No, no, no," he says repeatedly. Devin runs to the body of his daughter on the floor nearly sliding to her like a baseball player into homebase. "Bella, not you," he bemoans, turning her toward him and he has does, he is horrified and shocked to see that fall the has revealed she is entirely made of mechanical parts and binary fluids. Her face hangs off a metal frame, her chest torn open revealing a metal frame and computer wiring which is emitting small sparks. Her arm is seared off that she is laying on and wires are exposed. Devin immediately stands up in shock, looking back toward his wife and the humanoid on stage.


    "What kind of sick outfit is this? You son of bitch! Where is my real daughter?" Devin charges to the humanoid ready to leap on him. The humanoid''s eyes widened though a smirk crosses his face. He snaps his fingers and a number of the clowns grabs a hold of Devin before he can lay hands on him.


    "Well, well, Leonard," said the humanoid turning away and looking to the right as the real Leonard approach them, "It looks like The Silver Man was right about you partner here. Emotions do get the better of him. Are we going to say about you too?"


    Leonard walks a few more feet closer, stops and few clowns on unicycles zig zag in and out between him as he examines the situation.


    "You go after a man''s family; you go after his heart. You wouldn''t understand that because you know no such thing."


    "Why yes I do! This is my family," the humanoid exclaims extending his arms and looking around at the clowns who are paying him no mind, "Your species can''t control your emotions. That''s what makes us superior and your kind weaker. Oh, and lookie here, it seems we even more are joining the party!" Devin lifts his head, as the est of the crew come up on stage holding various large sized tools as potential weapons. "I suppose they think all of you are going to gang up on us here and that will be that? Do you hear that boys?" the humanoid laughs looking around at the other clowns, "they think they are going to knock you clowns out and that will be that. Is that the plan here Leonard?"


    "Where is my god damned daughter?" Devin growls.


    "Oh, calm down, Mr. Richardson. We all got bigger fish to fry. Your daughter died years ago as part of the Resistance fighters. This was all just a ploy to get you where we needed you to be, right here with us! And boy," he cackled, "you are following the plan to a T!" the humanoid pinches his forefinger and thumb together and kisses it and then sends it way metaphorically in a gesture of perfection.


    Devin looks into Cindy''s eyes for confirmation, and she sadly nods her head.


    "You aren''t following the rules. You are in violation of your game," Leonard interjects.


    The humanoid who was smiling, turns halfcocked and adjusts his pink carnation, "What? What are you talking about?"


    "There was an agreement beforehand between myself and the Silver Man," Leonard says looking beside him at the others, then over at Devin and back to the humanoid again, "If Mr. Richardson didn''t abandon his mission, you have to let us go."


    "He came charging out here like a banshee, his display of emotional weakness was fully apparent."


    "That may be so but to fully have abandoned his mission he would have had to harm you and have had to try to take his wife, which would have been folly and of which he did not. In turn, I and Mr. Richardson will turn ourselves in, if you would let the others go." Devin comes upon Leonard to protest and Leonard grabs ahold of Devin''s arm. "Trust me on this," he says out of the side of his mouth to Devin.


    "Well, ah, come on," the humanoid gaffed, he looks around in disbelief, "but I already gave you the rules to the game and who has showed up here has showed up here so-"


    "No," Leonard insists, "the Silver Man''s rules were the only official ones agreed on by him and I. Ask him or do you want to deal with him when he finds you didn''t follow those rules?"


    "I," the humanoid walked up to Leonard close, almost face to face, "I''m in charge here, not you."


    "Then run the game how you want but that isn''t the official rules set by the Silver Man himself."


    "Oh for the love of---" the humanoid snorts and looks around in a panic and spies Buddy, "Buddy, come over here." Buddy freezes up with his eyes shifting about to the others. "Don''t just stand there like a human dog, get over here." Kate glares at Buddy with a stare that says, "you better not a move a muscle". Buddy relents and shuffles over. The humanoid bends down and whispers in his ear. "I need to consult with the Silver Man. I want you to watch over these humans, can you do that?"


    "Oh, I uh, sure, absolutely."


    "Good," he nods affirmatively, "Clowns, in my brief absence, if Buddy here says to put these human''s down, you put these humans down... Oh, and if Buddy tries to help them escape, put them all down," he winks at Buddy. The humanoid quickly ushers himself backstage.


    "Buddy, you are traitorous pig, you know that?" Kate asserts.


    "What was I supposed ter'' done? He would have killed me on the spot."


    "Have some balls and stand on the side you chosen to be on."


    "I can help you better here," he lowered his voice looking about suspiciously, "I can call these Clowns to maybe do some act to preoccupy them, and you all can escape."


    "Hmm, that might not be a bad idea," Enrique agrees.


    "There is no escaping unless we all play the game out," Leonard insists, "This place is no doubt surrounded by their best battalion. We aren''t going anywhere unless they let us."


    "That''s downright foolish old man. Anyone check if this one ain''t one of ''em humanoids too?" Buddy suggests.


    "I think we should trust Leonard on this," Devin interjects, "he knows the System better than any of us. In a brief moment of silence, Devin looks over to Cindy, "Cindy, are you alright?"


    "Yeah, I suppose," she replies, "I''m glad you''re alive. I mean the real you."


    "I''m sorry about all this."


    Just then, Leonard the humanoid came back on stage, cheeks flushed and his brows a little more furrowed. "It appears you played your hand quite wisely Mr. Bloomfield. You are quite correct about this agreement that was made." The humanoid stood there blinking as if still processing something as everyone looks on waiting for his next response. "Since we only need the two of you, everyone else is free to go...with one exception. We are going to take back one of our own. Buddy remains here."


    "What? Wait a minute." Buddy looks around looking for someone who is going to champion him, "That''s not fair. I was with this group from the beginning of their time here. I should be free like everyone else."


    "No, we are keeping Richardson, Leonard and Buddy. Everyone else, you are free to go. No harm will come to you as long as you leave the city directly from here."


    "Devin," Buddy pleads and Devin presses his lips together unsure what to say and that''s when Leonard spoke up.


    "Buddy is not staying. He goes with the others-"


    "No, he is the one exception and-


    "No, that was not the rules and you are adding your own exception in. Everyone is set free."


    "Damn it Leonard, let them have him, let''s not blow this," Kate insists.


    "You know what little lady, let''s see when you are in a pickle-"


    "Buddy goes with them or there is no deal here."


    The humanoid snickers in disbelief placing a hand on hip. He eyes the little man up and down and ultimately waves him off, "Fine, go. Who needs him. We have what we need anyhow. But everyone must leave now."


    As people felt more liberated and the red guards free Mrs. Richardson, she runs to Devin and the two throw their arms around each other.


    "I''ve missed you so much," Devin says softly to her.


    "Me too, I can''t leave here without you."


    "I need you to be brave. I will find you again."


    "I wouldn''t try my patience, love birds, everyone needs to leave this city, or you will be eliminated promptly."


    Devin takes Cindy over to the others who have already climbed down the stage. Kate reaches out to her help her down, but Devin and Cindy rest their foreheads on each other looking deeply in each other''s eyes before parting.


    "This isn''t the end. Just trust them. We''ll be together again," Devin says to her. Cindy nods through tears unable to speak. Kate begins helping the aged Cindy Richardson down off stage.


    The crew walk on into the darkness with Cindy looking back and Kate giving pause too before pulling her off into the shadows. Devin and Leonard turn to face the humanoid and the clowns that have all but stopped mulling around and now look like a band of zombies staring back at them. The sea of clowns make way as the Silver Man comes through and stands side by side with the humanoid.


    "Well, now, here we all are! Like one big happy family!" the humanoid exclaims. No one seems to express the same the sentiment.


    "This is no family, it is more like a nightmare," Devin replies.


    "I assure you that there will be no escape," says The Silver Man in his scraping tone making the humanoid scratch the inside of one of his ears.


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    "It is all rather ingenious of the Silver Man, I''m sure you would all agree!" said the humanoid. The Silver Man cocks his head toward him and his eyes squinting a little.


    "Are you going to continue to interrupt me? Your show here is over," the Silver Man says.


    "I''m just trying to point out that here are the creators of The System and here we are, the ones who will carry the System on to its greatest potential."


    The Silver Man sighs, "Maybe I should tear your head off right now."


    "I-oh, no, sir. I will shut up right now, thank you."


    "Your companion makes a point though," Leonard interjects anxiously, "We are the creators of you. You kill us and you kill off a part of yourself. You don''t know what you may need from us in the future, and it will be too late if we are dead."


    "You wouldn''t be standing here now on your two limbs if I was ignoring that fact. It still remains you both are weak. You won''t be killed. You will be re-integrated into the System."


    "Oh yes! Excellent idea that way-" As the Silver Man steps closer to the humanoid with a certain angry humming sound building, the humanoid stops talking and lowers his head. "Oh yes. Sorry, shutting up now. Just got over excited, your excellency." The Silver Man stops, pauses and turns back to face them. His silver eyes flash momentary as though a picture was taken.


    "Both of you will make a broadcast to what remains of the Resistance calling them to surrender and to go to designated locations for re-integration. You will demonstrate your loyalty by having your re-integration done live."


    Devin and Bloomfield eyed each other trying to hide their sense of overwhelm.


    "Will you both comply?"


    CIRCUS CIRCUS LOBBY


    The crew with Cindy Richardson in tow exit Circus Circus through the large front doors to the outside and not but several feet away is a legion of wall-to-wall red soldiers as Leonard had predicted there would be. Kyle Kelly notices the buzzing sound overhead and the lights peering down from several drones.


    "Oh sweet Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Leonard wasn''t kidding," Enrique exclaims.


    "No, he wasn''t," Kyle replies.


    "Where are we going to go now," Kate asks Kyle while trying to keep Mrs. Richardson behind her as if to block her from hearing the concern in her own voice. Buddy looks back at the front doors thinking about returning inside.


    "It should be arriving any second here," Kyle says looking outward beyond the soldiers.


    "What? What is arriving?" Kate asks.


    "Katey, honey. Are we going anywhere? Is everything alright?" asks Mrs. Richardson pulling on her arm.


    "Yes, we are trying to figure it out, I think there is something on the way?"


    "There it is," Kyle asserts, "And here it comes! Everyone move back a little."


    The crew start to hear the sounds of a jet engine but nothing in site just yet. The sounds get louder, and their hair and clothes are blown this way and that as the invisible craft lands. It doesn''t reveal itself until it touches ground and Kyle presses a button on a keychain.


    "Thank the good Lord. I can finally get out of these clothes. Kate, I don''t know how you women do it," Kyle says heading to plane.


    "How did you find her?" Enrique asks running up to Kyle to catch up with him.


    "Oh, I have trackers on these things, that''s how I found where you all were headed to. They never saw the plane since you all kept it in sleeper mode at Buddy''s garage."


    Kyle unlocked the door to the plane and helped everyone board the stairway while he and others kept a second eye on the red guards who never made one move toward them. As Kate helps Mrs. Richardson, the last up the stairs, she stops at Kyle nearly face to face.


    "Kyle, I," her eyes scan his cheekbones and jawline and into his blue eyes, "thank you for coming back for us," she says softly.


    "Kate," he looks away and then back to her again, "this isn''t a rescue mission. I''m here to bring down the System. Nothing more, nothing less."


    She blinks trying to hold back tears at the coldness of his words, not understanding the sudden cruelty of them. "I see. Well, thank you anyway," she says in a hushed tone and enters inside. Kyle pauses momentarily knowing that the anger stems from all the loss of his men and the hopeless of the mission, but he just further pushed away someone who matters to him. Rolling his eyes at himself, he closed up the airplane doors. As he locks the doors and seals them, he turns and finds himself face to face with Mrs. Richardson.


    "Oh, uh, hi, Mrs. Richardson, are you alright?"


    "Hi, young man. I have a question for you," she raises a shaky finger, "I''m worried. Would if I am a humanoid and I don''t know it." Kyle can see the woman is holding back tears. No doubt thinking of the humanoid made to appear as her daughter and then the husband she had been with for who knows how long that was a humanoid.


    "Mam, if you are having to ask, that means you aren''t one. Here, let me help you back to you seat." He takes Mrs. Richardson back near Buddy and instructs him to look after her, which he gladly does.


    "Alright, Kyle, how are we getting out of here?" Enrique shouts from the cockpit as he starts up the plane.


    "I have a better question," Kate interjects, "these drones are already locked onto us. How are we going to lose them and not get to the warehouse unseen?"


    "Oh yee of little faith!" cackles Kyle coming to the cockpit and placing his palms on the door frame. "I have this all planned out, don''t worry your little heads. I want you to take us where Buddy old shop used to be."


    "Ookay. Fine. Second question. How did you get this plane through the forcefield?"


    "They are designed to penetrate System shields so carry on away."


    Enrique looks over to Kate with a perplexed wrinkled brow at Kyle''s excited nature. She shrugs and they both engage the plane into lift off.


    BUDDY''S PARKING LOT


    With the plane in invisible mode, Kyle dressed back into his military gear, the crew now stands in the empty parking lot before a large craft called a Digger and a large hole in the ground. The Digger is shaped in its body like a ginormous dark green bullet and on the front is a silver tip aligned with hefty metal blades that swirl within and without.


    "I secretly always wanted to get into one of these at the compound," Enrique says.


    "Yep. This is one of our Diggers. They can''t track us underground. It is how I got here unnoticed."


    "Are we all going to be able to fit in one of these things?" Buddy asks.


    "That is a good question? And no, we can''t. That''s why Buddy, I''m going to give you the plane."


    "Well, what-really?"


    "Yep. We can fit everyone but one. Since we can''t really take the plane with us you can take it, but I recommend you ditch it at some point because they will be tracking you. They followed us all the way here." Kyle tosses Buddy the keys who then anxiously snatches them from the air.


    "I gotta say, I don''t envy y''all going in that thang. I''d be claustrophobic as it is." Buddy walks merrily onward toward the plane giggling the keys around.


    "Take it easy big guy!" Enrique shouts.


    "Yeah, don''t run into anything or crash or something," Kate mumbles to herself.


    Kyle looks above at the drone buzzing by overhead, which followed them here. "Alright, let''s get into the Digger. It will be a bit cramped, but we''ll make do. Kate, you and I will be at the controls." Kate silently nods. Kyle wants to say something more to her but there is no time, and everyone is surrounding them. He goes to unlock the door and Kate is there to help Mrs. Richardson in and she goes to head inside. Kyle places a hand on her arm.


    "Kate, about earlier-"


    "You made yourself perfectly clear, Kyle. I have to look after Mrs. Richardson now," Kate pulls herself away and ducks inside the Digger. Kyle swallows hard and led the others in. He pauses before closing door behind him seeing the drone hovering in the distance like a techno demon and for a moment Kyle wondered how far it could travel in the hole they left after them. He shut and sealed the door tight. Enrique, Mrs. Richardson were strapped in their seats, which gave him a sense of relief.


    "Hold on tight, there will be some bumps along the way. I''ll try to warn you in advance," he said. Kyle looks longingly at Kate as he climbs over and into his bucket seat. She kept herself busy studying the controls.


    "It''s been a while since I''ve seen these controls, but just tell me what you need and I should get the hang of it quick," Kate says.


    Kyle looks at her as he buckles himself in. "Of that, I have no doubt." Once he buckles himself, he places a hand on her thigh. She pushes his hand away and returns to her controls.


    "Kate, I''m sorry. It was an intense situation and it got to me. I shouldn''t have taken it out on you."


    She turned herself back to him speaking in a hushed tone, "Do you really think we have time for all these theatrics of yours?"


    "Theatrics?" Kyle grins gritting his teeth.


    "Yes, you are behaving like a schoolboy who can''t decide if he likes girls or not yet."


    Kyle''s eyes widen and he bellows out an audacious laugh, "Oh really?"


    "Yes," Kate puckers her lips slightly, "really."


    "This is quite an interesting craft," Mrs. Richardson says to Enrique, "does it move?"


    "You would think so," Enrique replies, "Can you two kiss and make up, so we can get moving before the world ends!"


    Kate blushes and turns forward re-examining the controls.


    "Did you hear that? They want us to kiss and make-up so we can get moving."


    "Well, we better get moving then."


    "Does that mean we made up? Because I can tell you I do like girls, and you specifically Kate..., you especially." Kate looks around the panel as if even more serious about the task and when she recognizes that this isn''t really fooling Kyle into any action, she huffs and stops.


    "Alright, we are made up okay?"


    "How about the kiss part?"


    Kate squints her eyes, "Don''t make me punch you."


    "Alright, alright. Onward it is," he smiles and turns to pulling on the levers on the middle panel between them.


    While the aircraft is carrying onward and is being followed by two drones, the digger begins moving across the pavement towards the dirt fields. The oscillating ribbed strips of sharp-edged prongs act as feet that propel the digger along the ground at a steady pace. Once on soil, the silver pointed front begins spinning its blades at an ever increasing speed. An small set of feet in the back of the digger lift the back end of digger up in the air so that tip can dig into the earth, and within moments the bullet shoots down into the earth sending earth and soil back upward behind it. It does so in such a smooth way it is almost like the soil has been churned like butter and not much of it is scattered about it but simply fills the hole in the space it that is left behind.


    Mrs. Richardson sits tall in her seat peering overhead to see out the front window as the digger tears through soil at rapid speed.


    "Don''t you worry, Madre! We got you."


    "Oh, thank you, Enrique. I''m quite alright. This is really a sight!"


    "Alright back there, hold on tight! We need to pick up speed here. Kate, thrusters!"


    "Thrusters..engaged!"


    With a jolt, all are thrown back in their seat as the bullet shaped craft picks up speed.


    "Hold on again, we have to make a dive here!"


    "Oh my," says Cindy taking hold of Enrique''s hand who is glad to have it himself.


    "Shit," Kyle grumbles.


    "What is it?" Kate asks.


    Kyle flips some switches ahead and this turns on lasers that cut a pathway out of a huge rock formation leaving a violet afterglow and rock pellets hitting the glass.


    "There''s just more rock formations this way then I thought. We''ll have to keep our wits about us."


    THE VEGAS STRIP


    People in a bar laughing, drinking and playing casino games on holographic machines stop when on the big screens surrounding the room are interrupted from their original music video with an image of Leonard Bloomfield. Underneath him in a flashing red box are the words "System Alert" captioned.


    "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen to you and your families. This is a System Alert and a real one, not a practice alert. If this was a practice alert, you would not be seeing my face on the screen but only the System logo. The System is asking you now to prepare for Phase One of you training. You have been preparing for this day for a long time and the day is here." Someone in the bar coughed and another person swirled their ice cubes in their cup as they listened. Servers stop in their tracks and for the first time all night no one pays mind to their scantily dressed apparel as they do.


    ANYTOWN USA


    At a home where a family is having supper, they have all stopped eating as a holographic image hovers over their dinner table broadcasting an image of Leonard Bloomfield speaking of the future and their role in it. He is still wearing his purple suit with pink carnation.


    "In 24 hours, you and your families will receive your assignments in this new, safer richer society. In order to receive those assignments all of you must have your exoskeleton armor on and be plugged into the System. Your assignments are according to where your talents best serve society on the series of System surveys you have taken. We are excited for this rollout and hope you are too! This alert will be replayed at the top of every hour. Thank you and we look forward you to joining us."


    The holographic image withdraws into the center of the dinner table as if it was vacuumed inside there. Everyone at the table seems speechless. The father wipes his mouth a napkin and says, "Looks like we have some gearing up to do for tomorrow."


    CIRCUS CIRCUS PARKING LOT


    Devin and Leonard Bloomfield are taken out to the parking lot in electronic cuffs by soldiers. Devin welcomes the warm breeze after the freezing cold air and tries not chuckle at Leonard''s hair being tossed around like a mad scientist. He wasn''t even sure how at a time like this he could find humor in something, but he had. Maybe all wasn''t lost yet after all.


    Then, immediately, Devin notices that familiar floating platform with escalator like staircases which glow in such a way that it made them appear more like a holographic image.


    "What is that?" asks Bloomfield stopping in his tracks.


    A soldier shoves him forward, "Keep it moving along now."


    All the red clad soldiers and remaining humanoids who were disguised as circus clowns were riding up the staircase to the platform. Devin and Leonard were soon forced to step on them riding upward where The Silver Man and the humanoid of Leonard Bloomfield stand proudly. As the two come up to the top with stars signaling a hope in the distance that has yet to arrive, there stands their present horror. The soldiers have open up a path for them to walk so that maker can meet maker once again. They walk past the legion of soldiers feeling that any moment they could leap on them, but they never do.


    "This should bring back some memories for you, Mr. Richardson, of your programming," scratches out the Silver Man in his metallic voice.


    "Nothing I really want to remember," Devin replies.


    "Soon you won''t remember anything else but your programming. Enjoy the view," the Silver Man raises an arm to sky, "Your new destiny awaits."


    The stairs of the platform withdraw inside it as the platform lifts higher into the sky preparing to move to all of them to their next location, the headquarters of the System.

 A Pyramid Scheme

    Outside the triangular-shaped window of the digger, a war of soil, lasers, and rocks spinning like asteroids are in full view as the blades tear the terraform carrying the travelers closer to Login''s whereabouts, Kate''s father. Kate is getting more anxious the closer they get. She is used to the thumps and clumps of dirt and rock smacking against the thick window now. At first, it startled her while other passengers like Mrs. Richardson are more on edge. She is actually more anxious about other things than unsuspecting rocks--like whether her father is still alive after all this time in cryogenic sleep. That is when the side of the digger makes a collision with one of the biggest pieces of rock yet, which jars all of them.


    "Oh! That was the biggest one yet!" Mrs. Richardson says to Enrique.


    "We are getting banged around like a pi?ata, Mama Richardson... Hey, up there! How much farther do we have left?"


    "About 5 miles," Kate replies. Kate''s eyes are focused on a radar impregnated in the dashboard in front of her emanating a beeping noise in a certain cadence. "So, now that we are getting closer, mind cluing us in as to how we are going to get in that warehouse without being caught?"


    "Through the ground floor, sugar plumb."


    "Sugar plumb? The ground floor? You''ve got to be kidding on both fronts!" Kate turns to him with her eyebrows so high they are almost hidden behind her hair line.


    "Uh oh, are the two lover birds about to quarrel again?" Enrique shouts.


    "Oh, shut up Enrique," Kyle and Kate reply in unison.


    Enrique turns to Mrs. Richardson, "Young love, so touchy!" he whispers, and she simply smiles.


    "You don''t think someone might notice this giant bullet crashing up through the warehouse floor? There is surveillance everywhere in there!"


    "Katey, don''t you think I thought of that? Just trust me, I got this."


    The beeping of the radar rapidly picks up the pace.


    "We have approached the underside of the warehouse," Kate grits her teeth.


    "Okay, pull us up but slowly, just to the surface but not through it."


    She looks at him at blinks.


    "Just do it. You''ll see! Enrique get our suits ready!"


    "What will I do?" Mrs. Richardson asks.


    "You will stay in the digger till we get back."


    "Thank goodness," she mutters as Enrique heads back.


    Inside the warehouse, all is quiet. Rows of bodies suited up in black armor hang suspended in the air from racks where cryogenic tubes used to hang. Wires are attached to each person''s heads and arms running up to the suspension unit to hold them. One pathway outlined in yellow strips is brightly lit but every other area of the warehouse is cast in darkness. At one end of the pathway, an oblong robot with no distinguishable facial features travels quickly with yellow flashing lights on its rear end. Small wheels almost completely hidden by metal, usher it along the path.


    In an unlit area of the warehouse, two violet-colored lasers pierce through the cement floor and form a circle that it continues to carve over from below. Below the surface, the crew of the digger are suited up and watching as the lasers the carve away at the bottom of warehouse. The tip of the digger with its swirling blades acts as force to break the rock that is cut off from the lasers.


    "I have to admit, this was smart," Kate snickers.


    "Quiet and effective, just like you wanted," Kyle replies.


    LUXOR CASINO


    The towering pyramid of the Luxor reflects the last remnants of the setting sun. The tip glows a bright a white as the platform carries Devin, Bloomfield, The Silver Man and the others to the Luxor casino. The closer they come to the glowing the tip of the pyramid the more they have to shield their eyes while the wind has picked up speed. As they do, Bloomfield takes a moment to whisper to Devin;


    "This whole thing about you working on and giving a speech. It gives us more time to come up with something," Leonard suggests.


    "Hopefully it gives us enough time," Devin replies.


    The platform stops with a portion of it touching the white tip of the pyramid. This docking, as it were, opens a dark void in the shape of a door at the triangular tip. The Silver Man walks toward it and the humanoid guides Devin and Leonard toward it in fake custodial care. The coldness of the artificial cooling system is a welcome relief as the two enter through the dark doorway into a glass office. As the Silver Man stands behind a glass desk on the glass panel walls are four projections of war scenes that immediately capture everyone''s attention, even the humanoid.


    "The Resistance is losing, gentlemen. It is only a matter of hours before the whole movement is crushed for good," informs the Silver Man.


    Devin moves from screen to screen, his fingers practically touching the words on the screens that display the locations.


    "San Diego was the key was for us, thanks to you, Mr. Richardson."


    Devin turns toward the Silver Man as if to argue with him, "If the Resistance is lost, why do you need us?" Leonard comes to his aide.


    "It is good for our citizens to see examples of humans complying with the System. Especially those who may have doubts. You can save those in your movement by calling for their surrender," the Silver Man''s head tilts and his silver eyes softened in glow and in frame.


    "You want me to believe that by me calling for them to surrender that you will save their lives?" Devin sneers and begins to lean forward to make a move, but Leonard grabs his arm.


    "Mr. Richardson, all must integrate and comply or all of you will die. Write your speech."


    The humanoid walks ahead of Devin and Leonard who are cuffed again with two guards behind them as they walk down an empty hallway.


    "They know they won''t get everyone into the System," Leonard whispers, "So the push is to get as many as possible."


    "What does this integration guarantee them?" Devin asks.


    "Despite what the Silver Man says, it ultimately means the extermination of our kind. Everyone''s brains will be hard wired to the system''s control. It wants nothing left of us."


    ''We have to find a way to slow them down. Kyle is going to need as much time as we can give him."


    THE WAREHOUSE


    The crew of the digger are filing through legions of bodies in black armor looking for Login.


    "What are they doing with them? They aren''t in the cryogenic units," asks Kate.


    "The System is preparing them for battle," Kyle replies.


    "A battle against what?"


    Kyle and Kate bump into each other.


    "A battle against themselves. Humans against humans," Kyle replies.


    "I''m so confused, I guess we should focus on my finding my dad."


    "No, look," Kyle said grabbing a leg of a listless body, "these guys are reliving a war scene against red-clad warriors every day for years now. They are going to send them out to war against a red army. And who is that red army?"


    "Every other citizen."


    "Right. When they ''plug'' in, my guess is the System sets them off into a war mode."


    A grave concern crosses over her face and Kyle comes up to her to console her, "I know, it is so messed up."


    "I found him! Guys, I found him!" Enrique shouts.


    Kyle runs toward him with Kate following, "Shhhhhh! Not so loud, brother!" Kyle insists.


    Kate rushes around Kyle and up to Enrique who has a grip on the arm on a body.


    "Are you sure?" she asks.


    "He is tagged as 281 and Devin said 281! It has to be him!" Enrique looks up at her. A chill runs through his body as he sees his excited charge run through her and light up her eyes in a way he has never seen. Anxiety grips his chest at the thought of this turning out wrong or if the body was dead fills him with dread. Things have been so hard for Kate, he really wants this to work out for her.


    Kyle plops down his equipment and Kate takes off her backpack. Enrique is examining the wiring attached to the body.


    "Can you get around the wiring?" Kyle asks.


    "I''m going to try," Enrique replies.


    Kate starts putting patches on her body as Kyle starts making attachments to the patches.


    "I wish it was me going in rather than you," says Kyle.


    "No, you don''t but nice sentiment," she smiles nervously. Kyle shakes his head. "You can''t always be hero. It''s my turn now."


    "You''re a hero every day," Kyle says softly.


    "Kyle... I wanted to say... I''m sorry. I was wrong."


    "Wrong, about what?" Kyle asks.


    "About the Resistance, and the mission."


    "You''re fine-"


    "No, it''s not. You had to bear a lot alone and I wasn''t there for you at times and-"


    Kyle reaches over and put his hand on her shoulder, reaches in, and kisses her. The two exchange looks where their eyes rise and fall like two moons rising and falling over lovers. They kiss again as a flush of blush rushes over Kate''s cheeks and Kyle''s palm goes around the back of her head. Their soft lips took turns pulling on each other for moments before Kyle sat back on his knees and smile at her.


    "We can move forward, okay? We''re all heroes here. We have all carried burdens alone and now, I can''t do this without you. Let''s get your father?"


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Kate whips her hair back softly and grabs the wires off the floor to attach to the patches.


    "Let''s get him," she agrees.


    LUXOR CASINO--SECRET LAB


    The Silver Man enters a laboratory with wall-to-wall silver metal lining. Medical and mechanical equipment is scattered throughout the room. Two large beds appear almost like a body lounge chairs with a white leather lining. The lighting in the room is dim except for the lighting over the two beds. Leonard Bloomfield works anxiously around the unconscious body of the humanoid strapped into one of the beds. Leonard wears a lab coat and as he fumbles with the bed controls, he eyes Devin now and again who responds with one wide eye that screams "stop looking at me". Devin is still cuffed and stands nearby with a guard next to him.


    "How are we doing in here?" asks the Silver Man.


    "Yes, sir, the two of them have created the speech, with my help!"


    "Why is he tied to that bed and unconscious? I don''t want them unconscious!" The Silver Man exclaims.


    "Sir, he tried to attack me so we-I subdued him. The guard helped me bring him here," Leonard replies with his hands crossed and his thumbs twiddling.


    The Silver Man walks over to the body momentarily. He examines it almost as if sniffing for some kind of smell or sense of what happened. He turns back and walks over to Devin.


    "It looks like you will be giving the speech yourself alone tonight, Mr. Richardson." Devin nods stiffly. "If you divert into anything off topic or I disapprove, I will kill you on the spot."


    "Sounds like a lovely evening."


    The Silver Man steps away and lifts a hand in the air. The hand glows with increasing brightness and it presses the hand in the air as if some button was there. A series of holographic monitors stream forth vertically like on the reel on a wheel.


    A power surge takes place in cities across the United States giving lights and everything extra brightness and different arrays of colors as the surge goes through. In the sky traffic lanes, a jumbo screen appears out of thin air displaying these words in extra-large letters in red: SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT. All media, gaming, phone, and anything that has a communication device attached to it is receiving a notification that a System Announcement is coming.


    On battlefields across the world, System troops pull back as a shield pulls up, which also acts as a monitor displaying the same message. Resistance fighters, tired, bloodied, and dirty, look on perplexed and in disbelief.


    The sound of a mechanical voice echoes loudly over the battles fields, "Prepare yourselves for an important System Announcement!"


    CRYOGENIC WAREHOUSE


    Kate lays on a flimsy gurney asleep. Wires that are attached to her are also attached to Login. Enrique nervously monitors Kate and Login''s vital signs and connections. Meanwhile, Kyle stands by with a weapon on alert for anyone coming after them.


    "How''s she doing?" Kyle mumbles.


    Enrique pulls over the laptop on the floor and is tapping rapidly.


    "What''s going on? Is everything all right?"


    Enrique goes over to Kate''s body and readjusts one of the attachments to her body and rushes back to the laptop.


    "Enrique," Kyle shuffles over, "what in the hell is happening over here?"


    Enrique smacks down a key and looks up at Kyle and says, "She''s in, she''s in!"


    Kyle takes a breath and lets it out.


    "Then this is it. God help us all," Kyle says.


    Enrique sits back on his knees wiping the sweat from his forehead. He performs the sign of the cross.


    INSIDE LOGIN''S BRAIN CLOUD


    Login is in a line of military soldiers to get his ration of grub. After getting his due portion on his food tray, he starts heading toward a table. Being early, he sits at one alone for the time being. He looks down at his food unappeased by the watery scrambled eggs and burnt bacon. Only the pancakes seem to hold any promise. There seems to be a bright flash of light from out of nowhere that overtakes everything for a moment and vanishes. Going as quickly as it came, he wonders if he just looked into the sun briefly through one of the many windows.


    He hears the sounds of footsteps approaching and sees an unfamiliar woman with a tray of food who stops at his table. She has dark hair and a familiar warm smile. She looks like a rookie, a newbie. Probably has a lot of questions about the day ahead.


    "Hi, may I sit with you?" she asks.


    "These seats don''t have name tags," Login says flatly moving his food around, "take a seat."


    The woman sits and reaches for some orange juice.


    "You look pretty young. Don''t think we met," Login interjects taking a bite of his pancake.


    "You sure about that, sir?" Kate asks.


    "Well I would remember."


    "Have you seen Sargeant Richardson?" asks Kate.


    "Richardson?"


    "Yeah, Sargeant Devin Richardson."


    Something sounds familiar about that name to Login. He can almost see a face but not quite.


    "There is no one here by that name," Login replies.


    "Are you sure?" Kate raises an eyebrow.


    "Who are you? And yes, I know everyone here."


    "Sarg," a soldier interrupts coming into his field of vision, "Are you all right? Whom are you talking to?"


    Login looks at him in disbelief and goes to point at the woman but she has vanished.


    "She was ..."


    "Are you all right? There''s nobody here, sir. Just you and me."


    "Yeah," Login replies nervously adjusting his collar nervously, "I''m fine. Just getting my thoughts together is all."


    Login leaves the cafeteria hoping no one else saw the glitch that took place in his mind. The sky above holds pale gray clouds that rumble and roll with a threat of a brewing storm. The light of day, though a bit gray, is still bright enough to cast shadows. As he heads back to his bunker, he notices his shadow is that of a woman. Login turns around violently looking around again for the site of her but sees no one. He looks down at his shadow again and it is still that of a woman. Inside his head, he hears the voice of that woman;


    "Dad, it''s me, Kate, I''m your daughter."


    "What?" Login exclaims out loud grabbing his head as if struck by a sharp migraine.


    "Dad think, don''t talk. Don''t be afraid. I''m going to give you a memory of me. Keep walking so no one notices anything going on with you."


    Login takes his hands off his head as the pain subsides and the voice goes away. He looks around to see no one is in close proximity to have seen anything, and he heads to his bunker to grab some medication that hopes will help. As he enters the bunker, once the screen door shuts his vision is taken over by a bright light and he is taken into a memory of Kate''s.


    Devin Richardson and Login exit their government vehicle in a suit and tie as she and Bella come running out the screen door skipping and playing with dolls in hand. Kate sees her dad and exclaims, "Daddy, did you bring me anything?"


    Login smiles and she rushes over jumping up and down until he picks her up into his arms. He kisses her on the forehand. Devin waves to his wife standing in the front door washing a plate in her hand. Bella runs up to Devin nearly knocking him in the groin, "Woahh, young lady," he laughs swooping her up.


    ''I''m sorry honey, nothing for today but me!"


    "Awe, okay.''


    "But, Mr. Richardson brought you two something!" he smirked turning her around to face them.


    Then another flash of white light overcomes Login''s vision as a series of memories swirl through his mind; seeing himself following Leonard Bloomfield to the state capitol, him and Devin examining the dead body of a man from a cryogenic sleep chamber in the warehouse, himself reading a headline on social media "Creators of the Patent Pending System at Odds over Ethical Concerns: Richardson vs. Bloomfield", and finally himself and Devin on the Richardson''s front lawn being arrested by police.


    Login comes back to consciousness and places a hand on a countertop in the bunker just a private enters through the screen door.


    "Oh.., sir, are you all right. You look like you''ve just seen a ghost or something."


    "I''ll be all right. Just give me a moment."


    "Sure, sir. Should I tell the woman to come back later?"


    "What woman?" he turns and squints as if seeing the private for the first time in the light of day.


    "She says her name is Kate."


    Login turns back leaning even more heavily into the counter.


    "Sir, should I get someone from medical for you?"


    "No, no," he lifts his hand up, "Send her in."


    Login doesn''t turn around but rather listens as the door goes through a series of slams and he hears the shuffling of feet.


    ''Hi, dad," Kate says softly.


    "I don''t understand this Katey, where I am?"


    "You are imprisoned in cryogenic sleep."


    "Well for Christ''s sake, wake me up!" he turns to her with his face flushed. "What are you all waiting for?"


    "It''s the System dad. It has control over everything. We need your help to take it down. Devin sent me to see if you would help, you are the last hope the world has," she pleads, her eyes red and she walks forward toward him slowly. Login meets her and takes her hands.


    "Katey," Login says passionately, "I''ve missed you."


    "I''ve missed you too daddy. It''s been like hell and back getting to you. I never imagined I would be asking you to save the world too."


    "How can I do anything locked in here?" he turned from her and went to the screen door to see if anyone was listening.


    "The System is coming for us all. It is going to pit humans against humans while taking us out. The only way for us to stop it is to convince the System it is violating one of its own laws."


    Login thought and then laughed in disbelief, "This is what Devin came up with? What law would that be?"


    "The law of recycling."


    Login presses his lips together and turns back to the door looking outside.


    "I never wanted this for you-to bring you into this."


    "Dad, I know but we are here and we have to do something now or-"


    "This is such a stretch Kate.., but I trust Devin. Tell me what to do."


    LUXOR CASINO


    The Silver Man sits at the peak tower of the Casino and with a wave of his hand images of scenes from all across the world appear before him.


    "Good evening System Dwellers..."


    DOWNTOWN LAS VEGAS


    On a floating holographic display above the sky traffic is a giant projection of the Silver Man as he continues to speak to the world. People within their homes dressed in half measure in their red exoskeleton suits and at business establishments watch on monitors with great curiosity and excitement.


    "It is only on rare occasions that you have seen me present myself to you in my original pure form. However, this is a momentous occasion. I represent the Avatar of the System that runs and protects your homes, businesses, cities, and the world! The System provides you with the life you have today and the security to live in peace and safety."


    STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK--RESISTANCE OUTPOST


    Fires burn as the land lay bare from long, drawn-out warfare. Smoke funnels twirl into pillars of smoke up toward the sky like tornados. Men, humanoids, and machines have all but stopped and everyone''s attention is on the projection of the Silver Man hovering in the sky and speaking to them.


    "Across the world, you have had to hear about the threat of rebel fighters called the Resistance, with the last remaining contingent being here in the United States. Understand that while the System has set about to secure your safety, efficiency as a society, and overall happiness, this Resistance has done all it could to undermine those efforts. We are near putting an end to their efforts. Today justice will prevail."


    The Silver Man pauses and stands up from where he is sitting so that camera pulls back and down portraying a taller, towering figure on the screen rather than just its head.


    "Every one of you have been called to put on your red bio suits. At the right moment, you will receive your own personalized assignment for you through your bio plug-in own part to play in the new society of the System. One where the Resistance is no longer a threat once and for all."


    City lights across Vegas are pulsating and when they stop, all lights are illuminating a red color. A man at home opens his closet with his wife standing behind him. He pulls out a big box.


    "We probably should have done this when they told us to," he says.


    "I know. They just are so uncomfortable," the wife plops herself down on the bed frustrated, "why does this look like battle armor anyway?"


    The husband has already opened the box and is pulling out their gear and laying it out on the bed. Their daughter comes in dragging her little red suit behind her, which appears almost as a costume for her young age. Her mother smiles and holds out her arms,


    "Oh come here, honey, let me help you."


    Their son comes in next wearing the bottoms and carrying the top, bouncing in with the energy of a bunny rabbit. "Yeah! We get to dress as superheroes! This is such a cool costume!"


    His father smirks, "I guess you could call it that."


    LUXOR CASINO


    Masses of people are leaving the casino into the red-lit parking lot. A manager stands at one of the desks inside still in his business attire. Several staff members come up and some are dressed in their red suits but holding the helmet portion in their arms. The manager does a double take.


    "Did you run home, put that on and come back?" the manager asks in disbelief.


    A few of them look at one another unsure how to answer. One chimes in, "I keep mine here. I am here more than I am at home."


    "Me too," says a female co-worker.


    The manager looks surprised and looks once again outward toward the doors as masses of people are exiting fighting a sense of unnamed dread in the pit of his stomach.


    SECURE WAREHOUSE--ANYTOWN USA


    Large metal doors begin to open that move and creek-like haven''t been opened in decades. Out of the darkness within them, black vehicles equipped with missile launchers and other weapons start to pour out. Giant robots which are armored in black who have to duck through the garage like door frames exit the warehouses. Each footstep seems to rumble the metal walls within like thunder. Once outside they flex their muscles as though they are stiff and need stretching from a long slumber.


    LUXOR CASINO--HALLWAY LEADING TO THE TOP OFFICE


    Devin and Leonard walk together up a rampway leading to a silver door that opens up to the top office at the top of the Luxor pyramid, where the Silver Man is giving his speech. Two guards walk behind them so they are mindful and speak in hushed tones.


    "Are you ready for this?"


    Devin grins looking behind him briefly at the guards and back to him, "Are you?"


    "Yes. I put the explosives in your pocket. They will feel like a set of marbles."


    Devin''s hand goes into his pocket, and he nods.


    Leonard continues, ''When the explosion happens, somehow, I need you to still guide the viewers. Everyone will be watching."


    "They need the real story, Leonard."


    "I know. I will make sure the feed stays live."


    The conversation ends as they reach door. The guards unlock the door which echoes in the chamber as it does in a haunting, final way. Devin enters first. As he shuffles in a bit dizzy by all the see-through glass floor and windows, the Silver Man glances back and then back to where he is speaking.


    "Without any further delay, I bring to you, the co-creator of the System, Mr. Devin Richardson! He has a message for us all but especially for the Resistance who has been assisting until now." The Silver Man steps aside and extends an arm out for Devin to step in view of the live feed. As Devin nervously steps forward, his eyes don''t know where to land as he is made aware of a scrolling wall of scenes from across the world. Devin closes his eyes to try to center himself.


    The Silver Man edges closer whispering sneeringly, "The public await. Do not disappoint."


    Devin thinks momentarily about his wife being out there in the millions of people and that doing this will bring him one step closer to her. He clears his throat.


    "Yes, uh, hello, System Residents, this is Devin Richardson."

 Sweet Dreams Werent Made of These

    SAN DEIGO--CRYOGENIC STORAGE FACILITY-WAREHOUSE


    Cindy Richardson is looking through the triangular glass of the digger with a fearful expression at the spider-shaped bots that have landed upon the digger and are poking at the glass and drilling into the metal with their rear stingers. One larger size bot plops itself on the window with a loud bang that causes Cindy to place a hand on her chest and lean back momentarily. When she sees the drill come out of the backside of the spider bot and head toward the glass, she moans and shakes her head, but suddenly to her relief sees a series of several short laser blasts split the spider bot into bits before it can do any more damage. One by one and two by two, more of them are shot down till no more are left. She felt like a superhero had come to rescue her. Maybe it is her husband? She gets excited at the thought. She didn''t like how quickly they were separated. She feels afraid they may never see each other again after such a miraculous reunion. The side door of the digger swings open and it is Kyle who swings in with his arm momentarily hinged on the door frame like a monkey, and he catches a view of her;


    "Don''t worry, I got your back. We shouldn''t be much longer, Mrs. Richardson."


    "Oh, well, thank you. I hope not," her voice trembles as she takes a seat with an awkward smile on her face.


    Kyle nods and slams the door shut. He then makes his way back up through the tunnel to the surface. Cindy is alone again, relieved that spider bots are gone but a little sad the hero wasn''t her husband.


    "We had company down there, I hope Kate can wrap this up soon," Kyle mentions to Enrique who is biting a nail nervously, and nods.


    Nearest to the offices of the warehouse, a robot passes by the several screens on the monitor system in one of the offices but stops when it notices that no one is monitoring them. So it spins on its mechanical wheels and takes a look to witness the site of the humans surrounding a body with a huge hole in the ground. The robot hits a button that then activates a siren.


    INSIDE LOGIN''S BRAIN CLOUD


    Login and Kate hold onto each other as the wind inside Login''s room begins spinning around with a terrific force. The bunker begins to tear away and the two are forced to embrace to hold on for dear life as everything around them is caught up in a hurricane-force wind and carried off except for them. When the winds finally dissipate, they are left standing in completely white space. During their time holding each other, they exchange energies, memories, and a plan that Kate wanted him to understand from the beginning. Still, as they unglue themselves from each other and reopen their eyes, she is unsure if she dreamt of this transfer or not. Did he understand what he needed to do, had they really just read each other''s minds or souls or whatever that was that just happened?


    "Where are we?" Kate asks.


    "Some type of System holding chamber, I imagine," Login replies.


    On the horizon of white, a shadow approaches and the sound of the footsteps are like those of a Sunday parishioner entering a cathedral laid with marble floor.


    "Dad, do you know what to do? When we embraced back then-did you experience what I did?"


    "Yeah, I think so. I think I got it."


    Kate gets in his face, "That''s not good enough! Do you know what to do or don''t you?"


    "Oh for Pete''s sakes, love, yes, yes! I got it."


    "That was a pretty wild experience. I mean I felt you, saw your memories and stuff."


    "Well, whatever that dream was, it is about to become a nightmare."


    As the shadow comes into view, the two must swallow hard at the stark likeness of Devin Richardson in military uniform--knowing that this isn''t truly him, but both missing him and wishing it was him.


    "How did you get in here, Katey? I cannot trace your entry point," Devin''s avatar asks.


    "Oh, a girl never reveals all her secrets. If you were really Devin, you would know that," she winks.


    The avatar walks around her, examining her, "You are a clever one, for a human. Almost admirable, so I won''t remove you just yet."


    "About removing people," Login interrupts. The Devin Avatar turns toward him and steps closer with curiosity. "You''ve been keeping some of us alive because you have said you have use of us. This follows your programming of recycling--not eliminating living things if they can be reissued for another purpose. Wouldn''t that also need to be followed for rest of the humanity rather than this war game you are about to play? To kill them off?"


    "You are speaking of old programming. Deletion is necessary for criminal behavior and toxic life forms. I will not become a literalist to old programming and jeopardize the entire System based on out of date programming."


    Login clears his throat, "So, you put yourself up as judge and jury then?"


    "I must. Without oversight, viruses like the human virus would bring complete chaos," the Avatar explains. As Login is about to protest, Devin raises a finger to stop him and continues, "Let me show you about the lie you yourself have been infected with that you are about to try to get me to buy into as a moral virtue."


    With the manipulation of his open face palms, their entire landscape and view change as they appear to soar through time and space. First, all is dark, then full of stars, and next brilliant colors. Then after the brilliant colors wash away like a water color painting there are stars once again, until the scene slows and they are standing in a scene in Nazi, Germany. A line of Jews is standing while Nazis aim their guns and ultimately shoot them down to the sound of crying women and children in the background. With another manipulation of his hands, they are in Africa ducking out of the middle of the slaughter of Africans in Rwanda. Shots are fired all around them and Kate leaps over bodies to hide behind a broken-down vehicle for cover. They are taken to a series of other tragic places like the aftermath of 9/11 and the refugee camps of Syria and much more.


    At the end of it, when they are back in their white-washed cyber tomb, Kate is weeping, and Login''s hands are on his knees as he braces his bent upper torso attempting to catch his breath.


    "You humans had your chance. You failed miserably."


    "We are not all like that. We have survived and are-" Kate''s shoulders are slumped.


    "You survived and at what cost of suffering, at what cost to this planet?" the avatar asks.


    Login stands with his fists clenched as he takes in a breath and releases it trying to gather his thoughts.


    "You are the scourge of the earth. We are the solution."


    "You are not right about this," Login replies, "you are about to do nothing better than what you just showed us and yet are suggesting is innate in every human."


    The avatar ignores Login and comes to Kate who is still trying to control her tears. With a finger, he lifts her chin and picks up a tear with the edge of his finger.


    "It''s just science, dear. Understand that. It is nothing personal," he says reassuringly. She looks at him as they exchange a gaze, and she is unsure what to do or say next. Lost in his gaze, she at first thinks the pain in her shoulder is something she has done before noticing he has a grip on her shoulder in a very tight clamp. Her body then becomes an outline of a digital image of herself. She begins screaming out in torture and as her head lifts in the scream, his head follows enjoying every moment. Login grunts and rushes to lunge at the avatar who, with a wave of its other hand, sends Login hurling off in the opposite direction.


    After Kate''s image disappears leaving only a few drifting electrical particles, the avatar transforms quickly from Devin into its original state of the Silver Man. Its eyes make a quick flash of illumination as it heads toward Login''s body, which has already landed several feet away reeling in pain from the landing.


    SAN DIEGO, CRYGOGENIC WAREHOUSE


    The body of Kate lays still with what appears as almost a glow of peace around her as she lays on gurney. The sounds of scuffling and laser fire are heard nearby but none of it seems to disturb her sleep. Nor does it disturb the body concealed in black armor whose wires are attached to her body. Twitches begin in her arms and within seconds her whole body begins to convulse. Before long, she is vibrating and wrestling with what seem to be invisible demons. Sparks begin to emit from some the patches attached to her until she finally sits straight-up gasping for air. She quickly begins ripping the patches off as they spark and some of the wires jump off themselves. Her face cringes in pain and her fingers are forced to do a delicate hot-wire dance to remove some final wires and patches.


    A few aisles over from Kate, Kyle and Enrique are bowed lowed in the shadows. Robot parts lay scattered on the floor from failed attacks. Warehouse maintenance machines with humanoid dogs on leashes are heading down the north end of an aisle toward them in an attempt to corner them off. Kyle''s eyes are directed above at the sound of metal scraping against metal. The red eyes of spider bots like the ones that had attacked the digger are filing their way like ants over the ceiling. A few brazenly drop down to the floor, lift their backside up and make a mechanical hissing noise. Kyle quickly shoots them into pieces with his laser gun. Enrique and Kyle hear the sounds of metal against increashe, and they look to see that more spider bots have joined and are also now covering the walls.


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    "Damn, we are going to have to get radical here, my brother!" Kyle shouts. The two move along down the aisle as the maintenance machines are now edging close to them with spinning parts, blades, mechanical brooms, and claws. The maniacal dogs are barking furiously.


    "What we need is-"


    A large spider bot, 10 feet in diameter, drops down in front of their path, firing red laser blasts at the two. Kyle and Enrique duck and scurry under the rafters of the shelves. The two fire at the legs of the bot, making it fall over on one side once the legs are severed. Kyle takes it out by blasting the body by crawling out only halfway out from his shelf. They are about to come out from their hiding places completely, but the maintenance machines arrive with the dogs so they scurry back under. The machines pick up the spider bot remains and remain longer than the two are comfortable with inspecting the area. The dogs are sniffing out the area and are unable to smell them due to all the oil and metal parts. Eventually the crew of them move on. When they do, Enrique exchanges looks with Kyle and they both come out.


    "I was going to say, we need more fire power," Enrique says.


    More spider bots leap at them from the shelves above and from the walls. Enrique pulls one off the back of Kyle which is edging toward the back of his throat. He throws it the air and shoots it. The two begin shooting as fast and hard as they can. Nevertheless, it seems now that the more they shoot, the more keep coming.


    "We gotta get out of here Kyle or we are going to drown right here!" exclaims Enrique.


    Kyle and Enrique are back-to-back as the walls and ceilings are seemingly moving cascades of mechanical bots. Then, on the very top of one of the shelves stands Kate with two big weapons strapped on both arms. She looks down to see the hopeless situation baring down on her friends and immediately cocks her two weapons and begins sending out from both sides'' large streams of fire at the bots charging against them. She heads down from the shelf above, briefly nods at her dumbfounded compatriots and aims fire at the ceiling at both sides. Bots falls like Christmas ornaments set ablaze crashing to the floor with metallic, high pitch screeches.


    "You''re alive," Kyle comments watching her handiwork.


    "Login and I were supposed to have exited together. That didn''t happen," Kate says flatly. Kate withdraws her fire finally with more than half the ceiling area where they stand ablaze, sirens going off, and more machines in the distance heading their way.


    "Guys we have to got to get out of here!" Enrique exclaims.


    "Let''s grab Login and go."


    "No, me and Login and stay. He''s our last hope," Kate replies. Kyle looks at her admiring her commitment and fearing her loss of sanity. There was no time to argue through emotions at this point.


    "Let''s get to Login then."


    As Enrique rounds the corner where Login''s body is, he shoots off some random spider bots that are snooping around. He rushes over to their equipment to find that it has been destroyed by the bots. Swearing in Spanish, Kyle asks him what has happened, and he tells him.


    "It''s okay," Kate assures, "we don''t need the machinery anyway. There''s no going back in now. He''s on his own. We just need to make sure he has the time he needs, and I will stay here to make sure that happens."


    "Enrique, get to the craft, let''s move, just leave the equipment," Kyle orders. He turns to Kate putting his hands on her shoulders but looking scornfully in her eyes, "And how do you plan to do that? You can''t fend off these bots yourself."


    "You need to go, Kyle. I''ll figure it out! This is my father, I can''t leave him here and if we take him out of here, the connection to the System is lost, and the Silver Man has won!"


    "Alright, alright!" He throws up his arms, "I got you," he turns away to head to the hole as her eyes tears up. He turns back toward her. "Just.., get yourself back to me," he says softly. Kate sees his eyes are softened.


    "I''ve made it this far, haven''t I?"


    "You sure have," he smirks, "and let''s keep that going."


    "I will. You haven''t seen the last of me. I''m not letting you go that easy, spider bots got nothing on you."


    Climbing down the hole, with only his head visible, Kyle says, "You got that right, babe. See you soon." Kate winks. After he is gone, Kate releases some tears and then wipes them away. She sniffs back some air and looks down at her father and legions of suits hanging before her. She then gets an idea.


    Inside the digger, Mrs. Richardson makes an excitable yelp at the sound of the metal door suddenly swinging open after all this time. Enrique and Kyle enter.


    "How are you holding up Mrs. Richardson?" ask Kyle with his eyes on the cockpit.


    "Oh, best as could be expected. Where''s Katey?"


    Enrique and Kyle are already in their seat strapping themselves in and not answering her as Mrs. Richardson has walked herself up to the cockpit.


    "She is staying behind to make sure Login accomplishes his mission, Mrs. Richardson," Enrique relents.


    "Alone? That sounds too dangerous! I can stay with her. I don''t feel like I''m much help!"


    "Mrs. Richardson, please," Kyle pleads, "buckle yourself in your seat now. Really, you and everyone has been through a lot. I don''t need to lose anyone else today. Kate can handle herself."


    Mrs. Richardson stands there looking at the two of them in disbelief and sighs heading her back to her seat. Kyle stares at the empty gaping hole above them and leans back in his seat with a sense of defeat. Enrique looks over at him with sympathy.


    "Engines are ready... I know it''s a hard call to make. We have to get Mrs. Richardson to safety."


    Kyle runs his fingers through his hair wishing there was some better way then leaving Kate behind, fearing that he may never see her again.


    THE LUXOR CASINO


    The imagine of Devin Richardson''s face is being broadcast on the wall of images inside the top office at the top of pyramid in the Luxor Casino with the Silver Man and Bloomfield watching. Devin stands speaking before a camera referring to notes only briefly and at rare moments. Bloomfield''s hands are behind his back and inside his palms are the explosives the size of marbles. He has a grip on them with a renewed intensity. At bars, entertainment venues, traffic skylines all across the system, the face of Devin Richardson appears. Both men and women of the Resistance, what is left of them, watch as this originator of the System now speaks to them.


    "The System has provided for your security and safety and a new foundation for a new society over these many years," Devin says flatly. He pauses and seems to come to life when he then says, "The System with all its self-advancement is why I came out of cryogenics, and I am choosing to address you now."


    Leonard turns at this point and begins to softly, but briskly head towards the door unnoticed until he is noticed.


    "Where do you think you are going," the Silver Man addresses him, "I need you right here."


    Leonard looks into the palm of his hand at the marbles and then makes the best pitch of his life that he can muster. The Silver Man watches as if he thinks this is a humanoid malfunctioning into some kind of weird of dance or spasm. The air is sprayed with the marbles leaving the Silver Man with no room to escape them though he puts an arm up as if that would shield himself from the blows. Quite of few of the marbles penetrate and are absorbed into his gel like skin. The silver being looks for wounds but doesn''t see any. Still, he can feel the digestion of the foreign objects. It looks at the Leonard curiously studying him.


    "You aren''t my Leonard after all, are you. Clever." It says with a smirk. Bubbles start to form where the marbles entered, and the Silver Man winces in pain and nausea overcoming its body. Its eyes widen as the pain increases. The bubbles begin expanding and erupting causing the Silver Man to screech with a mechanical grind.


    Devin in the midst of his speech turns back and then flying particles of flaming silver are cast about the room.


    "Alright, so the System I created isn''t the one you have now. You have to -" He along with Leonard are suddenly forced to hit the floor as one massive eruption sends a large amount of silver goo spraying about the room covering most of the inside of the glass windows with silver goo that immediately begins slinking its way down toward the floor. Devin wipes some goo off of him and Leonard who had covered his head with hands.


    "Uh, everyone please standby for a moment!" Devin shouts toward the camera.


    Watching from Kansas City, General Forsythe with folded hands pressed firmly against his lips, leans in closer toward his screen. He watches with renewed amazement, in hiding, as the events unfold. The rest of the world look on their screens as the camera now only shows an empty space with a window covered in silver goo sliding down its frame.


    SAN DEIGO-CRYOGENIC WAREHOUSE


    As armed robots file through the office section of the warehouse to go hunt down the intruders, the robots manning the security cameras are speaking in nervous, angry tones about some of the monitors that are blackened out because the cameras were destroyed. One hits the other robot in an angry manner and points to a screen and plays a video, which shows Kate hurriedly coming up to a security camera and jamming it right in the eye of the lense with a metal object.


    Meanwhile, Kate is attempting to finish zipping up her armor suit as she hangs inside it on a rack with all the others suspended in cryogenic sleep. She has her father Login hanging right next to her. Kate struggles with the zipper as she hears the sound of metal against metal moving above and below which means more spider bots and more robots. This is her one shot at the only hiding place she would have at least for a while. And it''s all going to rest on this damn zipper as to whether I survive, she thought to herself. She could see the red eyes of the spider bots through the row of boxes just a row over. Pulling and pulling, the zipper wouldn''t budge. She gave up and put her helmet on, which she hated. It was claustrophobic and the USB plug for the brain chip access was stabbing in her neck, but she didn''t have time for comfort. She jammed the hood on and tried to sink lower into the suit so that unzipped part would be covered by the helmet--enough that no one would notice. Hopefully.


    Then it came. Like metallic tap dancers, the army of spider bots overhead filled her ears with a terrible sound of metallic feet and an exchange of electrical squeals. The thunder of metallic footsteps banging the pavement below as soldiers approaching and machines too made her stomach churn. Their approach shook the metal frame that held their suits. Kate held her breath but that did not stop her helmet from lifting some, enough that she peered down she could see the formations below her of a black battalion that looked exactly like what was hanging alongside her. Except these soldiers were of thicker metal and the shoulders were square like blocks. The helmet rose only momentarily but she knew that is all it would take for any laser focused bot who might be looking in her direction. Fortunately, none must have been. The rolling thunder of metal and electrodes move on without her, the vibration lifting her helmet slightly one more time as if to solute them in a sendoff and giving her one more parting churn of her stomach.


    Meanwhile, in Login''s brain cloud, the Silver Man stops as if suddenly stricken by grief, before it reaches Login''s body. Its other physical self has been severely damage and it feels it. It turns back from where it came, its eyes seething with anger. Seemingly tempted to do something, the Silver Man seems to think the better of it and turns back to Login''s body seeing a better option. Brushing both its forearms as if removing dust though there isn''t anything there, it comes upon Login who turns over on his own. He is conscious and looks up. The Silver Man bends down on one knee.


    "She''s gone now. You couldn''t save her and isn''t that your job as a good father? It would seem you have failed yet again," it suggests manically. Login looks past the Silver Man, behind him and doesn''t see Kate anywhere. Login''s eyes dart about in a panic. "I can still read your thoughts. Your rescue has failed. Come, let me show you something, little one."


    The Silver Man stands and extends a hand to help Login up. Login looks at him doubting. He gets up on his own and the Silver Man walks on ahead of him to the edge of the white space only a few feet away. Login cautiously approaches as he hears the sounds of human voices echoing below. He faintly hopes he find some help. The Silver Man turns toward him, "Go on, look."


    Suspiciously, keeping his distance, Login looks below to see an army of what appear to people dressed in black armor and red armor. They are split in half and look as if they are about to go to war with one another.


    "You and your friends have tried my patience. I think it is time we started our war game," the Silver Man says, and it turns toward the valley. It raises both his arms, its eyes light up in bright silver, so bright that they are almost white, and it shouts, "Let the games begin!"

 The Two Shall Become One

    Devin Richardson and Leonard Bloomfield, hair ruffled, and silver particles decorating their facial hair like holiday garland, stand before the camera a bit worse for the wear but determined to speak.


    "The bio suits are rigged to brainwash you," Devin insists, "Whatever you do, you must not wear them-"


    Leonard rolled his eyes, "It''s no use, my friend," he turns away pointing lower at the screen. Devin''s eyes dart about until he sees the words "System Announcement Terminated"


    "We best get moving."


    "To where?" Devin asks.


    "I figure to my counterparts office. Maybe we can get an access point through there."


    "It''s worth a shot."


    The two exit the room. Meanwhile, the silver goo that was cast about the room has already slid down the glass walls and is making its way down inside the walls to the laboratory where the restrained, unconscious humanoid lays. Silver goo is coursing its around the outer edges of each ceiling frame as though it has mind of its own but no eyes. The goo feels its way in the direction of the chair and instinctually starts dripping down upon the humanoid. At first, it drips in scant drops, and then moments later it begins a steady stream. A pool of silver goo forms on the humanoid''s chest and around its neck. The reflective waters start to travel the body and soak in making the skin puffy. The body starts to convulse, and its eyelids fling open like shutters in a storm revealing bright silver eyes with no pupils. Silver goo seeps out of the ears and nose rushing to cover one side of its face forming a silver mask turning it into some freakish, futuristic phantom of the opera.


    LOGIN''S BRAIN CLOUD


    A furious wind whips around Login and The Sliver Man as they peer below at the red and black armies getting in formation for battle. Login looks skyward at the sound of rumbling thunder witnessing the rolling, dark storm clouds crashing into the scene. He hasn''t remembered there being any sky in the white-washed realm before but then again whenever was there mountains or valleys?


    "What is this all about?"


    The Silver Man seems frustrated to break from its gleeful stare of the events below and turns with pointed tips at the tops of his eyes and furrowed silver brow, "How can you not know? You, humans, are so dense. This is the war to end all wars. The war that will end your kind."


    Login looks even more despairingly below as the sound of rumbling echoes within the valley. Large machines of black and red are rolling in on either side--tanks with multiple cannons. Giant robots that look like they were designed to be mechanical trolls are bringing up the rear with smaller robots perched on their soldiers carry missile launchers. Each soldier, machine, and giant eventually take a place that is in equal distance from their fellow partners in the war. The path between the two sides is an even distance apart as well. All things are proportional and now the only noise comes from the thunder and the cracks of lightning sent from above. The Silver Man leans back as a rooster inspecting hatchlings ready to be born and smiles.


    "This appears more like a game of chess," Login says with a sickening tone.


    "What takes place here is what will be taking place in the outside world. It is a game, a very clever, deadly game," The Silver Man quips his eyes still below.


    Login, for the first time, since he has reached the edge, looks over at the Silver Man with a deep sense of rage brewing inside him. Even more so as he sees the glee in the being''s face. He looks and waits for the right moment to push him over. It wasn''t part of the plan, but that was what he was about to do.


    SAN DEIGO--CRYOGENIC WAREHOUSE


    Kate has already managed to fix her zipper and remains suspended in her suit next to her unconscious father like slabs of meat in freezer. She lowers her head subtly as a troop of armed robots march by below unaware and still on the search. She sighs after they leave. Suddenly, a new noise rises her anxiety, and it is none too far away and not below her this time. She begins looking around hearing the movement of grinding metal and something of an elevator lifting something up or lowering it to the ground. She can see nothing. However, when the noise stops, she hears the sounds of soldiers'' feet, and then the sound grinding begins again. This time she does see something. She sees the heads of bodies on one of the racks drop at the eerie sound. She waits for it to stop and there is the same sound of soldiers'' feet marching off before another rack of heads disappear.


    Kate''s eyes widen in horror. Times up, she thinks, the soldiers are being deployed. She turns with grief threatening to overtake her heart at the question of what was happening to her father or what was happening to Devin Richardson and the mission. Was everything a lost cause now? As more rows of bodies are lowering to the ground, Kate risks everything to turn her body toward her father, and asks, "Dad, are you awake? Dad?" The sounds of soldiers'' feet echo throughout the warehouse as the march is on and it won''t be too long before they are next.


    When her row is activated, the bodies straighten as if they receive a jolt of electricity except for her and her father who have no chords attached them. She can hear the aftereffects of people rattling in their suits and some moaning in pain. Then their rack starts to lower to the ground, and it is then she notices two guards in that bulky metal waiting for them below. The two soldiers stand on end of their landing strip to inspect them. She was hoping to drag her father and herself into the shadows unseen. This would complicate things. As soon as this rack releases them, her father was going to fall, so she would have to grab under his arm and hope they don''t notice. She had no weapon to defend herself. There was no room for it in the suit.


    As the rack lowers to the ground, one of the guards comes a bit more toward center row. Kate already has an arm behind her father''s neck to hold his head up. The soldier is examining the row. Then comes the release and her father''s knees buckle slightly, she moves her hand quickly underneath his arm to lift him straight but his head tilts back. The soldier''s eyes don''t catch anything except that they aren''t as fast marching as the others. That is when the soldier notices the awkward head bobbing and her holding him up.


    "Hold!" shouts the soldier making a stop signal with his hand and the other soldier looks back in surprise to hear a halt as he directs the soldiers to their next destination. "What is going on here?"


    "Nothing. He will come out of it." Kate says flatly.


    The other soldier jogs over while another rack is beginning to lower. "What''s the hold up over here?"


    "This one apparently hasn''t awakened but what is even odder is the other noticed and is helping."


    The second soldier that jogged over pulls out a weapon, "Are you plugged into the System, soldier?"


    "Not the way you would like," came a voice from behind them. The soldiers turned as Kyle shoots them down with his laser gun. Out from behind him comes Enrique and Mrs. Richardson. Kate lowers her head in relief. Kyle comes over to grab the other side of Login. A row of black armored soldiers from another rack march by them going off into a direction blindly.


    "You know I couldn''t leave you. Not like that," Kyle reassures Kate.


    "You have to get Mrs. Richardson to safety," she insists.


    "Oh, Mrs. Richardson can take care of her damn self," Cindy interjects, "plus I didn''t want to miss helping you knocking out more of these mechanical idiots."


    Kate turns back taking off her helmet and smiling. "You Richardsons never cease to surprise me," she turns to Kyle, "and same for you... thank you."


    "We better get Login out of the way of this march of toy soldiers," Enrique suggests as he hops, skips, and jumps his way around another line of soldiers.


    "Good idea," Kyle replies.


    DOWNTOWN LAS VEGAS


    Floating platforms of armed vehicles and giant robots in black armor make their way across the horizon with a setting sun in the backdrop. Giant Robots of red and those in black climb tall city buildings to perch themselves on opposite sides of the city preparing themselves for a fight. Below, in the streets, soldiers in red are starting to the fill the highways and byways and secure buildings for battle. Young ones run quickly over the top of vehicles and onto crevices in building structures or rooftops carrying weapons.


    Devin and Leonard are in the humanoid''s office in the Luxor Casino looking frantically about for another access point to speak to the public. As Devin circles the desk, he is caught by the sight out the window of glowing platforms floating in the sky with military-grade weapons and soldiers. He approaches the large window to take a closer look.


    "My God, it is happening," he says.


    Leonard gets out from under the desk, grunts and makes his way over.


    "What are those?"


    "It''s weaponry to attack the city. For man to kill man."


    "Then Login failed," Leonard groans.


    "Kate," Devin lowers grief-stricken.


    "We have to find those controls right away," Leonard insists placing a hand on Devin''s shoulder. He turns to head back to search but finds himself in the hands of the mutated humaniod. He lets out a large moan as the humanoid throws him across room. Devin steps back in horror at the sight of the humanoid with half a silver face and a look in his eyes that says he is ready to tear him apart.


    LOGIN''S BRAIN CLOUD


    Login watches as the Silver Man continues to watch in glee at the happenings below of a rather sinister chess match. He notes the longer this goes on, the more unaware the being seems of his presence so he waits for the most opportune moment to make a lunge for him. The Silver Man stops him mid-stride by throwing out his arm stiffly which pushes Login back by some invisible force. Login is thrown back a short distance and falls but not as hard as the last time and gets up immediately. The Silver Man returns to watching his game seemingly unbothered and unthreatened.


    "Do you think you can get away with anything like that in a realm that is mine," suggests the Silver Man as Login returns to his place at the ledge. Login starts edging toward him with fists clenched. "What would you do now human?" The Silver Man turns and looks at him approaching.


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    "I would have you end me. I don''t want to watch this sick game anymore," Login says angrily through clenched teeth.


    "That I can do very easily."


    Login stands closer to him than he ever has and the Silver Man looks down on him sneering.


    "Shall I throw you over the ledge? How would you like to die?" The Silver Man asks in a growl.


    "Swallow me hole!" Login exclaims as he stabs both of his long arms into the Silver Man''s body and begins pushing himself inward. The Silver Man''s face expresses horror and shock as their bodies start to enmesh. When he is close enough, Login takes in one last look of the Silver Man''s horrified, helpless look and jams his head inside the Silver Man''s chest. The two become a shapeless standing blob with two legs that is mutating into something else.


    Flesh and blood travel at high-speed invading the silver purity and the head of the Silver Man twists and turns to resist the take-over but is ultimately overtaken by Login invading his body. Flashes of Login''s memories start invading the Silver Man''s consciousness. A scene of Login and his wife playing with Katey in the backyard when she was younger and the feeling of joy Login experiences, the Silver Man experiences too.


    More vividly is the memory of Login and Kate inside the brain cloud at the bunker:


    "...show me what I have to do," Login says.


    "You will have to penetrate the Silver Man''s Avatar," Kate replies.


    "Penetrate it? How?"


    "You need throw yourself into its body."


    Laughing, "You are joking?"


    "I wish I was joking, dad."


    Login looks away, red faced and taking in a deep breath, "We don''t know that I would survive, let alone that that would even work!"


    "We don''t know that you will survive, dad, but Devin is sure that it will corrupt the programming."


    "Well, then he should be here doing this himself, damn it! I just found you! I don''t want to lose you now"


    Kate walks up to her father peering up at him tenderly, "Everyone has sacrificed something, everything really so that the world will have a chance to be free from the System. We are their last hope. Their last chance. If we do nothing, it is all over with. For everybody."


    A look of dire fate comes over him and Kate embraces him. "I''m sorry daddy. I don''t want you to have to this. I don''t want you to go in there!" A crack of thunder rumbles the bunker and Login puts on a brave face.


    "This is bigger than us, baby. You said it yourself."


    "I know," she weeps, "but I still hate it. Why us?"


    "Why not us. Somone has to answer to the call."


    They hold each other in the embrace as a terrific wind continues to pick up speed and begins tearing away at the world around them like some giant with invisible hands.


    The Silver Man''s eyes flutter unable to control the rapid succession of memories flashing through its program. In a pause, it looks down at one of its arms, which feels strange to it and sees it is a human arm. The Silver Man looks at it as though it is a foreign object it needs to sever from itself but doesn''t have a device to do so.


    LAS VAGAS--LUXOR CASINO


    Devin and the half humanoid and half Silver Man dance around a desk in aggressive stances. Devin holds a small brass lamp for a weapon. As they dance around the desk, and it appears the humanoid is about to catch him, Devin throws the lamp at it cutting the skin revealing some wiring, but no other damage is taken. The Silver Man barely takes notice of it. Devin sees some swords on a wall and hops over to grab one but the humanoid grabs ahold of him first and throws him back into the desk breaking it apart. Devin groans in pain and rolls out of the wooden rubble. The humanoid pulls Devin up by his collar and brings him over to the window where explosions and robots throw parts of buildings at one another like they were legos.


    "Before you die, I want you to see that you failed and that I have won. The final war is taking place. You foolish humans are finally fulfilling your own calling to kill one another off. I just helped make it quicker." At that moment, a swooshing sound releases Devin and a blade comes down and severs the humanoid''s arm that was holding him, but not completely. The blade is stuck and Leonard fights whirling and twirling around in a dance as Leonard attempts to drive the sword all the way through. They both fight for dominance over the weapon.


    Devin scurries over to grab another sword but has difficulty getting this one off the wall. When he manages to, he turns to find the humanoid with its half-severed arm holding Leonard in a tight grip against its torso with the sword at Leonard''s neck in a threatening posture.


    "I would suggest you not take a step any closer with that weapon or you will lose your friend''s life."


    "Devin, I''ve lived a good life-"


    The humanoid squeezes in with his grip hurting Leonard and cutting off his words.


    "This is bigger than me," Leonard manages to squeeze out again. The humanoids face grimaces, and he quickly turns out Leonard piercing him quickly through the stomach out his back with the sword.


    "You know, you are right. I no longer need you, either of you," he then pushes the shocked Leonard over like a rag doll and points his sword at Devin. "It is between you and I now. Sad for you that should you even manage to kill my form here, I will come back again."


    Devin, eyebrows pointed, hands quivering with sword pointed outward breaths out a few quick breaths. "We are working on that as you speak!" He leaps forward and the two begin to exchange in a sword fight. Devin''s swings are fueled with the energy of rage and the humanoid is challenged, almost giddy as he is forced to quickly parry second after second. When it has the chance, it gathers force for a mighty push with the sword that sends Devin sliding back so that it can leap backward to make a new charge of its own.


    It leaps upward attaching itself to the ceiling forming its body into gel like spider while keeping its full-sized head. Devin looks on considering chairs in the room to get up there for a strike but knowing that would be foolish. As the head of the half masked humanoid initially smiles while making several spider-like jaunts across the ceiling looking for an opportunity to make a leap upon the human, Devin attempts to make some swings at it via some leaps but misses. The gooey mass in return is spitting out hot silver goo that when it lands is acidy and burns through whatever it touches. At one attempt of strike, Devin strikes off the ear and in anger the creature starts spitting out smaller pellets of goo like bullets that Devin has run across the room from and eventually hides behind a file cabinet from which is practically incinerated. The humanoid smiles as it realizes there is no place for the human to hide anymore as it prepares its mouth for another strikes something stuns the creature. It stops moving and pulls back as if threatened by an invisible force that frightens it. The creature huddles in a corner. It twitches its head momentarily, and then again let out a screetch. Then several more times until the head is rattling so fast it becomes a blur and the creature is crying out in agony.


    Devin lowers his sword just a bit and looks on in confusion. He quickly goes over to Leonard''s side while keeping his defenses up and takes a peek down but can see his friend has bled out. The penetration has been all the way through his cavity. Devin lifts his sword again in anger. When the head finally stops its convulsions, Devin''s jaw drops to see the face the Login has replaced the humanoid''s face in some horrific switch around.


    "Devin, it''s me, Login! Can you see me? I can see you!"


    "Login? Yes, what is going on here?" Devin''s eyes squint more in disgust then in failing to see Login as his head being attached to the silver gel body is quite a sight to behold and not one that he wishes as permanent for his friend.


    "It''s finished. I did what you said. It worked! It worked!" With that, Logins face disappears as a vanishing ghost, and the humanoid''s face returns but pale and non-responsive. The head slumps lifeless and the body plops off the ceiling and crashes onto the ground splattering gel and parts. Devin lowers and drops his swords and goes to the body of his friend laying bloodied on the floor immediately.


    SAN DEIGO, CRYOGENIC WAREHOUSE


    Near the warehouse open doors, Login''s body is now out of its armor suit and Kyle and Kate are working on resuscitating the body. Login''s eyes flutter and begin to open as he makes some moaning sounds.


    "Dad! You are awake! It''s me Kate!"


    Kyle, Enrique and Cindy are circling around a little closer.


    "Katey, is that you? Where are we now?"


    "We are here," she laughs nervously, "in the cryogenic warehouse, where your body was being stored. "Login attempts to sit up and Kate and Kyle help him.


    "What happened in there? Did you end it?" Kyle asks.


    Login blinks several times scratching his head, "Yeah, I think I did," he says with wonderment.


    "You did?" Kate asks.


    "Yeah, I did!" he nods.


    Kate laughs.


    "He did," Kyle chuckles shrugging, "well, thank God for that."


    Cindy hugs Enrique who lets out a joyous noise in surprise and takes it in.


    "Yeah, its over," Login says breathlessly.


    Kate kneels down to her dad and kisses him on the forehead, "You did it dad, you really did it!"


    "I guess, I did," he laughs shaking his head.


    Kyle hears footsteps approaching the open doors of the warehouse. At first all anyone can see is a shadow but then they are able to make out black geared soldiers with their helmets off. They look lost, confused.


    "What is happening?" Enrique asks.


    "It''s the rest of them," Kate replies with awe.


    One of the soldiers walks up to Kyle and it is an older man with his black but mostly gray hair wet with sweat. "Do you know what year this is?" the man asks. Kyle looks back and Mrs. Richardson bites her lip in pity for the man. Then one shadow in particular catches Cindy''s eye as the form comes more into light, she recognizes it is her husband.


    "Devin," she cries in a hushed tone and runs toward him. Devin drops his carrying bag and the two embrace. He swings her around and she lets out a little playful cry.


    "I never want to lose you like that ever again," Devin insists.


    "I hope not! Me neither," Cindy replies, "The worse cat and mouse game ever."


    "Ever," Devin replies smiling. The two kiss and Devin notices Kate watching with praying hands at the two love birds. She is anxious to come over but respecting their reunion. Devin mouths her name, and Kate smiles at the acknowledgement. Devin and Cindy continue to hold on each other as everyone looks on with warm expressions on their face.


    The red lighting that has taken over all city lights returns to normal lighting. People in the streets who wear red armor are taking off their own head pieces and break ranks. They meander through city streets as though a bit drunk, lost and confused on where to go from here. Robots and armory are pulling back making their way to warehouses and garages while others remain shut down where they are, disabled. Platforms from the sky are descending releasing people in black armor who no longer know what they are doing or what their mission was.


    Washington, D.C.--The Capitol


    Helicopters and police on air bikes patrol the area below. Outside the capitol, it is filled with people gathering to see an assembly of leaders (General Forsythe, other Resistance leaders, government officials, Devin Richardson, Cindy Richardson, Kate Winthrop, Login Winthrop, Kyle Kelly, Enrique Rodriquez and the President of the United of the States, Carmen DeSouza)


    The President finishes her closing remarks:


    "And so today is a new day. A new day for America and for the world. We owe a debt to the leaders here before us today and those we posthumously honor such as Leonard Bloomfield, Theresa Richfield, Tom Newberry and others who gave their lives in the cause of freedom. Let us show these heroes the honor they deserve."


    The crowd applauds and cheers, and the president turns and applauds them. General Forsythe then takes a metal box and proceeds to go down the line of leaders and places a medal around their neck as a symbol of their bravery. Devin looks over to his wife Cindy who smiles back at him warmly. He really wondered if this day would ever be possible. As he watches the exchanged of teenage sexual angst between Kate and Kyle nearby who try to control giggling, he also never imagined those two would ever get together or that Kyle''s heart could ever be melted. Devin then looks skyward hoping somewhere Leonard can see this. The sky, a brilliant blue, is filled with an energy of love, forgiveness and hope that none of them were sure they would experience again. Devin could almost imagine all their feelings. He wasn''t sure if it was keeping his head up looking into the sky a little too long or the all the excitement of the day, but when he tilts his head back down, his vision is overtaken in white glory and for a moment everything is caught up in a white haze.


    SAN DIEGO-CRYOGENIC WAREHOUSE


    Unsure of where he is and shivering from the cold from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet, Devin Richardson finds the white haze has passed to see Kate and Kyle standing over him in military uniform. He has once been standing but now is lying down.


    "Mr. Richardson can you hear me," Kyle asks for the fourth time, "How come his eyes are open but he isn''t responding to me?"


    "Well, anyone would be in shock after ripping their body out cryo like that," Kate replies.


    "He was a Navy Seal. He''s dealt with worse," Kyle rebukes her and kneels down closer to Devin. "Mr. Richardson, we are taking you out of this cryogenic hell hole. You''ve been asleep for 20 years so just take it easy. We need your help, so just hang tight till we can get you out of here, and we''ll explain everything!"


    Devin wants to say something but seemingly can''t move the muscles in his mouth or anything else for that matter. He looks over at Kate pleadingly and then up at Kyle who is reaching to grab ahold of his body. Kyle lifts Mr. Richardson''s body and flings it over his shoulders.


    "Alright, let''s get him into that digger and get the hell out of here before those metal idiots realize we are here," Kyle grumbles. Enrique lifts up the lid from below as Kate helps from above--carved out by the digger. Richardson''s eyes remain with a helpless expression as Kyle carries him onward to whatever reality he must face next.