Pulse

Chapter 3 - Hybrid

A two year old male pitbull, white with sandy patches and missing most of one ear, lifted his leg and pissed on the wall he'd just finished sniffing. There weren't any other dogs inside the compound enclosure so it was possible that he was answering his own messages just out of habit and for lack of anyone else to talk to in his native language. The dog panted and scratched at the ground happily with all four paws before running back to the prefab shack on bricks that he called home.

Outside the shack, the pitbull barked twice and waited patiently. After a few seconds, the door swung open and a man, six-two, dark skin, bald head, pointy goatee, allowed the dog to waddle inside. The man craned his neck left, then right, beyond the doorframe, then quickly closed the door and triple locked it before saying, "Ya done ya business Billy? That's a good boy. Want something from the fridge? Course ya do."

The woman showering in the next room floated her voice over the airwaves making sure she would be heard above the background noise permeating every corner of the shack; the trundling of a washing machine obediently cycling down, preparing for its rinse and spin phase, and a speaker on the kitchen table spewing the latest SCELEC propaganda.

"You spoil that dog more than you do me, Kal."

The man smiled to himself and boomed back, "I love you too, babe. You know that."

Kalen moved to the giant fridge, almost as tall as himself, lit by the warm afternoon sun drifting in through the skylight. With one hand already on the handle and Billy sitting expectantly at his feet tracking his every move, Kalen froze when he noticed something strange happening to the female avatar on the fridge's infoscreen. The image fizzed and twitched a couple of times, then the woman winked at Kalen and chuckled with the familiarity of an old friend. Startled, Kalen let go of the handle and stepped back shooting a look behind him to make sure his girl was still in the bathroom. Billy tilted his head to one side and whined.

"What the hell?" Kalen tried to keep his voice low but also loud enough to be heard over the radio babble. "You promised not to..."

"I know Mr. Rose, I agree, highly innapropriate, but I'll be brief." The woman on the infoscreen stared directly into Kalen's eyes. "Tonight is a go. Do I have your support?"

Kalen winced and said, "I thought we had another week."

"So did I Mr. Rose, but the enemy does not sleep and is pressing ahead with their next move. Hence the urgency. We need to act now before the window of opportunity closes. There won't be another one I'm afraid. If we fail to act, all will be lost. And the Sentients will have their day in the sun."

"No need to wax poetic o wise one. I get it. I just need to take care of things here and I'll be at the waypoint by dawn. Anything else I should know?" Kalen was still wincing waiting for the next bombshell to drop.

"Just a reminder. Alone. As promised." The Voice was cold, heartless.

Kalen paused, allowing the thoughts bubbling up in his mind to subside, then nodded gently in agreement, "Confirmed. Alone. As promised."

"Who were you talking to?" Maya's voice filled Kalen with dread and jolted him out of the moment he was sharing with his giant fridge. He felt like a gun was pointing at his back, but managed to keep his breath steady as he turned to face his interogator. Maya was standing at the bathroom entrance, gently drying her hair with one towel while another was wrapped around her slender, but well honed form. "I asked you twice to bring my oil. I guess you really do love that mutt more than me."

"Oh... the noise," Kalen stuttered. The wachine machine was spinning full speed now. "I was miles away in my head. You know how I get sometimes."

Maya stopped toweling her hair and her face darkened before saying, "You promised. No more lies."