He noticed Jackie was now awake, looking at him. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“Trying to move that chain, on the other side of the room, with my mind.”
“Seriously? Why would you want to do that?”
“Because of something I did… back in the house. It’s hard to explain. Can you do something for me?”
Jackie almost smiled. “There’s not much I can do for you, or anyone, in my current predicament.”
“Can you… kinda just talk to me? Um… like tell me I can do it? That you believe in me. Or something like that?”
“I guess… sure, why not!”
Cuddy, focusing, brought his full attention back to the hanging chain and waited. “Okay… go ahead.”
“You can do this, Cuddy. You can do anything you set your mind to. I believe in you, Cuddy.”
Cuddy liked the sound of her voice. That she no longer spoke to him like he was plain stupid. As his mind began to wander a bit, he quickly reined his thoughts back in, concentrating on the distant, four-to-five-foot-long chain. Then, as if he were extending an invisible hand across space, he gave it a little push. The chain visibly began to sway back and forth. It wasn’t as dramatic as making an alien’s hand burst into a mist of blood and gore, but still, it was something. Yes, I can do it!
“Look Cuddy! Do you see that? The chain… it’s moving,” Jackie exclaimed excitedly.
“Oh for fuck’s sake… they’re all moving. Get real, retard,” Tony Bone said.
The truth was, all the chains seemed to be swaying somewhat. Perhaps Tony was right. That it was simply wishful thinking on his part.
“Don’t call him that, Tony!” Kyle ordered.
Cuddy noticed that those hanging were all wide-awake now, except for Officer Plumkin, who was snoring loudly. A large wet spot darkened his crotch area where he’d peed himself. Soon Cuddy felt he would do the same, as he needed to urinate pretty badly. Not something he would want Jackie to ever witness.
Holg, the Howsh captain, still wearing the red sash, entered the compartment and headed directly for Cuddy, his teeth bared. Evidently, something unlikely had occurred since he was last pulled away. The painful claw marks on Cuddy’s cheek began to burn in anticipation of what he knew was coming.
Holg came to a stop directly in front of Cuddy. Pent up anger permeated the air around him like a bad smell. Cuddy hadn’t noticed, until they were practically on top of him, that the two furry robots were there as well. Then two mechanical arms came around him and gripped him tight, below his shoulders and around his chest, in a vise-like hold that made it nearly impossible to breathe. The second robot released Cuddy’s bound hands from behind his back, but the relief he suddenly felt was short-lived.
“Let him go! He doesn’t know anything!” Kyle yelled.
Cuddy then felt his arm grasped in two places—above the wrist and just below the elbow.
Jackie said, “Stop! I know where it is. I’ve been to the ship. I’ll tell you if you stop!”
The tension on Cuddy’s arm grew steadily—its radius and ulna bones beginning to bow and flex. Cuddy screamed out in agony.
Captain Holg, his interest now piqued, turned his head back toward Jackie, silently waiting for her to continue. But with the passing of every second—every microsecond—Cuddy’s pain level steadily multiplied. His screams filled the compartment, his arm on the verge of breaking in two. Through Cuddy’s tear-filled eyes, Captain Holg’s furry form was barely a blur, as was the hovering black object that suddenly appeared next to his head. Cuddy, fast blinking away tears, could now see the glowing blue light at the object’s center. Its two clawed, articulating arms, on either side of the large football-shaped construction, left little doubt that the AI orb had indeed returned.
Mere inches away, the orb’s point-blank firing of its arms’ plasma weapons eviscerated the Howsh captain’s head. Even before his lifeless body dropped to the deck, the orb was moving about, firing on the two robots.
While the tension and pain in Cuddy’s arm abated some, the orb and both robots battled on. Though they’d previously seemed somewhat meandering and clumsy in their movements, the robots now moved with the same lightning speed as the orb. Armed with their own integrated plasma weaponry, they were firing indiscriminately—red energy bolts coursed through the air. Cuddy heard Jackie scream out something. She was no longer in his field of vision, but he knew she’d been hit. He flinched as a series of plasma fire whizzed by him, inches from his own face.
The two robots, effectively working together, maneuvered the AI orb into the far back corner of the compartment. Managing as well as it could—dodging this way and that—the orb was clearly losing the battle. Never designed or intended for war, it was clearly outmatched.
In the short period of time Cuddy and the orb had interacted, he’d formed a bond of sorts with it. Now, for the second time, he helplessly watched as the orb selflessly fought on in his, and the others’, behalf. It wouldn’t be long now.
Chapter 30
The AI orb had been driven down—now hovering close to the deck. Less and less it was firing back and the two Howsh robots moved in closer for the kill.
Cuddy wanted to look away. Didn’t want to watch as the inevitable ensued.
When Tow entered the compartment, it took Cuddy several moments for the realization to set in that he was actually there. He moved slowly but with purpose. For a moment Cuddy wondered if being a pacifist carried over to such things as fighting robots. But the question was quickly moot.
Tow used his two hands to direct his kinetic energy. Still firing, one of the robots rose up from the deck and hovered there a moment—then it was careening across the compartment while picking up more and more speed along its trajectory. By the time it careened into the farthest bulkhead, it was a blur of motion. It hit with enough force to shake the entire ship—enough inertia for the robot’s mechanical limbs to separate from its torso. For all of its intelligent processes to forever be quelled.
Tow brought his attention back to the other robot who, seeming distracted by the demise of his brethren bot, had stopped firing on the AI orb. With his hands raised higher now—fingers outstretched—Tow quickly pulled his arms apart in separate directions. The robot dismantled into a thousand pieces—like junkyard scrap metal—components pulled away—to eventually fall harmlessly to the deck.
Tow slumped down to one knee, clearly drained to the point of exhaustion.
“What the hell did I just see?” Tony Bone said.
Cuddy continued to stare at Tow. Miraculously, he’d rescued them. Saved their lives. But now he was terribly weak—was struggling. He tried to reach for him to somehow comfort his ailing friend. He felt so useless. Cuddy’s thoughts turned to Jackie… He’d heard her scream. Desperately, now able to use his arms, he swung his body around until her hanging form came into view. She was alive. Alive and rubbing a blackened scorch mark on her upper shoulder. With a furrowed brow, she gave an I’ll live… smile.
Surprisingly, the AI orb, with the exception of numerous plasma blast marks, was still fully operational. Cuddy had been the first to be freed. He made the process go faster with the others by lifting them up and relieving the tension of the chain so the orb could undo the attaching clasps.