By David C. Daoust
The hologram was extensive. In fact, it filled much of the lab. Intricate in detail, perfectly proportioned, every aspect seemed totally more important than the next. All of which told Colin Vice, (get ready for it) a whole lot of nothing!
“What is this supposed to be?” Colin finally asked as the gangly scientist, Theobald Gray, looked on awkwardly.
“What do you mean?” Theo visibly deflated, “This is your end…. Your father’s vision.”
Colin was not sure how much longer he was going to be able to keep up this ruse; He had allowed Theo to believe that he was here in his father’s place. The truth was- Colin had no idea where his father was, or what his father may have to do with this ‘Arachnoid’ business. Colin simply wanted to know more about the drones he had inadvertently released upon Twin Crown.
“The Splicer protocols,” Theo explained as he studied Colin’s face for some form of reaction to the cryptic information, “They were your father’s designs. He really is as genius as they say.”
Colin Vice felt a bit taken aback. He never considered that his father was all that smart. He knew his father was good at stuff, like, really good– but a genius? He couldn’t say. Colin had spent most of his adult life waiting on Dutch, chasing the old thug around, getting into all kinds of harebrained schemes, most of which at the behest of his father.
Colin never really got to talk to his father though, not since he was a child.
Bernard Vice was all about business; all about the Organization.
“I mean, I couldn’t even begin to unravel the AI’s, let alone supplant them completely…” Theo said, then tacked on as he studied the hologram, “Nor can I think of anyone else who could…”
Colin didn’t know what any of that meant, after a beat, he was tempted to ask, ‘…the what now?’ yet before he could, Theo pressed…
“Everything is poised and ready to go,” Theo said a bit more aggressively, a bit more expectantly, “Once you do your thing, the Splicers will automatically interface with the city… wait…”
“Ah-ha! Great!” Theobold was suddenly interrupted by something that popped up on the screen in front of him, beaming with joy and relief, he was already plugging away at more keys as he began to say, “There they go… Good work! I am not going to lie, you got one passed me. And I’ll tell you!”
Theo’s praise threw Colin for a loop; he hadn’t actually done anything.
“We got green lights throughout, everything’s being routed” Theo explained excitedly, “The Scarab should run and you’ll be in business, and I’ll be out for good!”
“Looks like the camera feeds are knocked out on that floor, probably safe to assume it’s from you two” Theo said as he used one of the many monitors to call up an image from the server room, “Don’t worry, we’ll be the only ones to witness this feed.”
Colin could tell it was from the server room, because it had a handy sign tacked against one wall, pointing to a room, which read ‘Arachnoid Server Room’. That sign would probably make finding it, short work indeed.
The room was full of guards; two of whom were pounding on a door.
Theo flipped to another camera feed, Colin found Maile Purloin dancing around the room. After a moment Colin realized she wasn’t dancing at all, she was smashing stuff on the ground with the heels of her boots.
“That explains my missing key-card!” Theo suddenly exclaimed as though he was just catching on to all the intricate details of Colin’s ‘prank’, “Boy, you guys are good! And you got an actual celebrity to do the deed! That’ll keep them guessing for weeks!”
Colin didn’t know what to say.
“I really started to doubt you,” Theo said as he stood up much straighter, all the tension visibly flooded from his body, “Like, really– you got me good!”
Colin, still, did not know what to say to the suddenly jubilant scientist.
“Listen, this is going to sound weird, but… I’m not actually here. I figured it would get hairy once we shut down the servers, so, I really didn’t want to be here for that… I’m actually back in my lab, back home, manning this device from afar.” Theo quickly continued before Colin could actually react, “Yeah, I know- It sounds crazy, probably tech you never heard of before, but I didn’t want to freak you out by just shutting this drone down.” After a tick, he bumped his head with the ball of his hand, as though something just occurred to him, “Uhg! I should have though, huh? It would have been a great prank! Totally got you back for letting me sweat it out while Maley, err Maile, did her thing… bah, too late now.” Then muttered, distractedly, “I’m so bad at pranks…”
Colin half expected the man to suddenly collapse into a pile of cloths… Instead, Theobald Gray went rigid, like, surprisingly so, and then pitched back to crash to the ground, solid as a plank. Clearly a robot.
“How quaint,” Colin muttered to himself.
After a moment the robots flesh suddenly bubbled and shifted… the fact that it was ever meant to appear as Theobald Gray was erased completely. In all honesty, he was glad the gangly scientist had skipped out on him, less people to worry about.
Colin could only guess what Maile was thinking. He supposed she had her own reasons for being in the building. He had suspected as much when he found her loitering in front of the building, but when she played along, and accompanied him– he’d not given it another thought.
Colin’s attention returned to the monitors, he watched as Maile pulled her lithe form up into the ceiling. She was in a tight spot and he knew it.
Colin pulled his handgun from its holster, his mind already forming a plan of action. He’d have to make it down to her, get them both out… she probably had her own plans…
All his plans came to a grinding halt, however, once he witnessed on the surveillance monitor before him, her body suddenly drop back down onto the desk below, blackened and smoldering…
“Holy crap!” Colin exclaimed, beyond shocked.
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