Archeia's Atheneum (The First Shift)

Episode Twenty-Three: The Second Battle of St. Lucia

55 AA3

Hicks had found a small microphone wedged between the bricks of his fireplace. He'd been enjoying a brandy by the fire, on arm resting on the warm mantle. As the orange light danced on his face, the Doctor had a morose pang of dread ripple through his being; things were falling apart. If only he knew how fast. He was cursing himself when he caught the piece of hardware in his peripheral, asking himself what the use of being a sixth-density incarnate was if he could only use a fraction of the power. Whatever betterment he experienced was quickly replaced by rage as Hicks plucked the mic from the stone. He crushed it on the mantle with a slam before storming off to the S.O.C.

***

Up here, up high on the mountain--the night skies are black. If one stands at a cliff all of Lillum, especially Lillum Country, can be seen emitting an orange halo--from the street lights mostly. It represents a paradoxically grim hope. Petra has seen the halo. Offten, she would sit at the edge of a slope and meditate in the dark. She would always feel amiss in her dwelling. It would take many years for her to discover she was feeling lonely.

Petra returned to the facility at eleven-eleven and sought immediately to fill her belly. She paused at the doors of the cafeteria, her red eye darting from corner to corner. The automated staff was gone, though not for long; as the food (which was prepared round the clock) was still fresh. Petra surmised that they'd only been gone roughly two minutes. But why were they gone? She walked hurriedly to the serving counter and started piling mashed potatoes, corned beef, buttered biscuits, mini tuna sandwiches, rice cakes, grilled chicken, and burger patties on her a plate. She wasn't about to find out what happened or deal with it on an empty stomach. Petra strode through the halls, nibbling from her selection as she neared the Doctor's office.

The Doctor wasn't there. Faust decided to wait for him until he returned. She went to sit in his chair at his desk, the last of a grilled chicken strip in her mouth. With her food placed on the right-hand side of the desk, Petra's unmitigated curiosity had her rummaging around the desk. She pried open one of the drawers to see Hicks had left behind his notebook. This was a clear sign to her that the Doctor was anxious if not downright fearful; because he always had his notebook on him. One might, in fact, call it his prized possession. Surely he will come for it soon, Faust thought. And without thinking, she opened the book up and began scanning the pages. She'd expected the book to be written neatly, organized as such--but even for doctor's handwriting, this was unruly. Faust imagined Hicks doing a psychoanalysis of his own penmanship. She could no doubt see him condemning the author as a madman. The black words were misspelled, jagged, scribbled out, or just plain unrecognizable. There were parts which seemed to be scribed in another dialect altogether. Petra finished her last tuna sandwich while reading about a supposed "being of supreme positivity" which Hicks described as being an eight-foot-tall avian-humanoid with glowing green eyes and jet black feathers.

Robert Oaks opened the door having brought Dr. Hicks his midnight tea and scone. He hesitated when he saw Petra in the Doctor's seat, but smiled and went to her. "It is growing late, even for you Lady Faust." Petra said nothing but offered a quick smile/grin to show Robert he was welcome; it was the most anyone got from her. Mr. Oaks took Petra's now empty plate and replaced it with the Doctor's tea and scone, "Would Percy appreciate you looking through his things?" asked Robert.

"Nein."

"Shall we put his notebook away?"

Petra looked up at Mr. Oaks but went back to the notebook and began drawing a happy face on the front page. "Vhere es the Doctor?"

"I was wondering the same thing," said Oaks, seeing the crushed machinery on the mantle. Petra closed Percival's notebook. Then she ate his scone.

***

"I think about smuggling the kids out of here sometimes," said Esther as she pulled a cigarette from her pack. She held it out to Jennifer, "Want one?"

"Why don't you? Smuggle them out, I mean," Jennifer asked. She took a smoke and Esther produced Playboy lighter.

"I imagine it wouldn't matter; innocence is fleeting and momentary. Maybe it's better to get past it as soon as possible. What better way to do that than by staying here." Esther lit what Jennifer quickly discovered was a finely rolled joint.

<cough, hack, cough> "Fuck!" <heavy cough> "Didn't expect that-" <cough>

Esther casually lit her own and snickered. "When was the last time you had some of that?"

"Ha...junior high," Jennifer said as she massaged her temples. "I'd get 'em out if I had an opportunity."

"What would be the point? The CMC would just snatch them up again. They'd probably kill you after."

Jennifer shivered slightly and shook her head. "I died when I was a little girl, wouldn't matter if I died now. Done enough bad shit over the years. I know some people make it, some can make a life out'ah this hell. I'd give 'em a shot; would've liked if someone gave me a shot."

Esther watched the stars while she took a drag. She was about to say something but was distracted when she saw Jennifer point at the sky. Esther followed her finger and nearly pissed herself. There was a craft approaching; a Paragon battlecruiser. "What the fuck is that?"

Jennifer grabbed Esther's shoulders, "Get inside. Gather the kids, make sure they're safe. No time for self-pity now." And with that Jennifer tossed her joint into the grass, running off full-tilt.

***

Josephine Ridley thrust open the front doors and trotted down St. Lucia's outside steps. Behind her marched an army. Ridley had accessed the main computers which directly controlled the Bio-Mech algorithms. She'd switched them from standard function to sentinel function. Thusly, each unit took up arms and armor each wearing a CMC Omni-suit helm and toting an MP5K. In addition, Ridley decided to include the Black-Eyed Children in the mutiny. These were the next gen Bio-Mechs. Dr. Hicks was tasked with engineering a new legion of men-in-black, and the Children were but the first stage of that project. They trailed behind the Automated soldiers, grim and murderous little smiles on their faces.

Above, the gargantuan dark trigonal halted it's decent, hovering soundlessly in the air. Then a smaller dark triangle craft separated from it and landed in front of Ridley. An opening gave way to a ramp whilst it made contact with the earth. Ridley stood at the ready beside the ramp as her "soulless" band took their spots on either side of the S.I.N. Carrier. In one collective march, all the Bio-Mechs turned and faced St. Lucia's direction. Six Spec-Officers in full red Omni-Suit uniform followed Francis Leelind as he exited the craft. Josephine shadowed his trip to the front of the troop.

"Where's Marvin?" she asked.

"On his way with Lord Sathanus," Leelind responded. "Are we prepared?"

"The central computer is locked down. All functioning weapons are in our hands. Beelzebub is at the ready inside."

"All 'functioning' weapons?"

"There's a selection of saser weapons, but they're not approved for combat."

Could the A.I. not see a desperate human picking one up anyway? Leelind enjoyed operating in the machine's blind spots but understood Leviathan's lack of trust in them for that reason. "And the personnel?"

"We'll have to watch for an Ex-Officer Shore, and of course, there's Hicks. Other than that, there's just a bunch of vegetables and some kids."

"What about the girl? Why didn't you tell me about her sooner?"

Ridley glared at Francis, "I wasn't an issue until now." Leelind wanted to argue that, but there was little time debate.

"Our primary objective is to secure the Cask. Wipeout anything that breaths in the meantime."