Roach Hotel viewers around the world quietly listened to Addy and Parker's exchange. They now no longer knew what to think about themselves, their enemies, and more importantly, the game. They, in turn, watched the video with baited breath as Parker and Addy made their way through the building toward the exit. Would the pair make it out a live? Would Millipede get them?
Then it happened.
<<*>>
"NO!!! Not Parker's kitty!" cried a girl's voice from the dimly lit, very stunned audience. "Oh my God, no!"
The screens mounted throughout the studio all displayed the moving images of Millipede slamming its stompers down in the street; not once, but twice...the second time in slow motion with the kitten disappearing beneath the machine's foot. The action shook the camera feed.
Several screams erupted from the rows of people.
"NO!!! BOOO!"
Ronald and Diane flinched at the roar of the youthful crowd as the mob stood and began shouting in unison. As the luminance of the studio lights increased over them, the two hosts could see the angry faces now looking at them in anger. Fans, once cheering the machine on, had now turned. They were throwing insults at Ronald and Diane with their accusing fingers pointed the pair's way.
Ronald stood from his seat with his hands raised in surrender. "Hey, wait! It was an accident!"
"Shut it off before there's another one!" shouted a young woman with a bright green Mohawk. She stood and glared at the two hosts on the stage. With a matching neon green fingernail, she pointed up at the video monitor. "He's not an Agent, damn you! Just look at him!"
On the video screen, the cameras mounted on the outer housing of the killing machine, Millipede, were focused on the clearly upset Parker.
"Yeah, turn off Millipede!" yelled another audience member. "NOW!"
Diane stood to help Ronald still the enraged studio audience. "Please, listen, you all have to calm down! The U.N. will send in crowd control teams if you don't!"
"Let them!" a young man in a Roach Hotel shirt shouted. "This is wrong!"
"You heard what that 'brid' Addy said. Humans started this!"
Ronald appeared confused. "That's the enemy, people! They're lying! This has never been a problem before...now, Millipede smashes a stupid cat and..."
Diane's mouth fell open. "Oh, shit!" she muttered.
A teenage boy with long hair, wearing ripped jeans and a tie-dyed shirt, jumped the barricade and strode up to Ronald to jam a finger in the host's face. The studio cameras all swung around and followed the boy's progress toward the stage. "Stupid cat? That was his friend! Agents don't have friends. They damn well don't have kittens for pets!!!"
"Yeah, Parker's different! Addy's different!"
"Shut it off," yelled the teenage boy and threw his hands in the air to encourage the rest of the viewers. "Come on! Shut...it ...off!" he yelled running up and down the length of the rows of seats.
"Shut it off! Shut it off!" chanted the audience.
"No, Parker, don't! Stop!" A woman screamed and all heads turned toward the screens.
<<*>>
Parker felt as if his world had just caved in. He understood it was only a cat, but he had already lost so many loves in his life, this tiny animal was the latest and it was the last innocent straw. Maybe it was the effects of his many shifts making him nuts? At this point, he no longer cared. He was over it. What was the point of doing what he was doing if the people he was trying to help were no better than the enemy he was fighting?
"What are you doing!?!! Get back in here!" Addy yelled at the rising dark figure of Parker standing from the sidewalk. "No, don't! Stop!"
"Hey, asshole!" Parker said and stepped out further into the street. He held his middle finger up at the menacing machine. "Come'n get me!"
Millipede lowered its head toward its target and generated its signature rippling electronic cry.
"Let's just get it over with! Let this whole damn Multiverse burn! I don't care anymore!"
"Dammit!" Addy exclaimed and ran toward the door. "Stupid martyr!"
The killing machine encircled Parker and hissed.
Parker closed his own eyes as Millipede's huge visual input orbs appeared in front of his face. He could feel the heat from the exhaust vents on the side of the monster's head blowing heated air over him.
Addy stopped on the sidewalk and let her shoulders slump as Millipede wrapped itself around Parker. She was too late.
<<*>>
Diane moved toward the podium to press the remote 'kill' switch so she could shut down Millipede but stopped at the familiar sound of a voice from overhead.
"Diane, do not turn that machine off!" the director said over the studio speakers. "The audience needs to return to their seats. I have direct orders from UNAGADD to shut this insurrection down peacefully. If they do not comply, riot control will be sent in!"
"Studio audience, you heard the man! Back to your seats!" Ronald commanded. However, it was all to no avail; his words were drowned out by the mob's repetitive chanting.
"Shut it off! Shut it off!"
"Stay in your seats!" Diane yelled as she backed from the podium and moved behind her sofa. She prepared to dash for the exit at the rear of the stage. "Ronald! Come on, you need to get back!"
The angry audience surged over the railing just as the studio's double door exits on each side of the building burst open. Daylight flooded in followed by smoke grenades.
The coughing mob collided with the incoming soldiers adorned in black riot gear and gas masks.
Someone discharged a firearm.
The sputter of a machine gun followed in response and people began screaming.
YOU ARE READING
Voynich Shift - Season One (COMPLETED)
Science FictionParker Raymond recently inherited his estranged grandfather's large plantation home in Savannah, Georgia. The Spanish Moss hanging from the estate's large oaks, its massive gardens, and a near endless bank account were, in the end, not what captured...
