"Eddie! Run!"
Frederick let out an alarmed censor bleep noise as a robotic dog went hurtling straight towards Eddie and lunged at him, slamming into the human and sending him crashing into a thick patch of bushes at the edge of the copse of trees to the left. Cedar boughs dipped and gave way beneath his weight, and, with a shocked cry, he disappeared with a dull thump beneath the crackling, spiky stems. Letting out a howl of joy, the dog reared up on its hind legs, its long lolling out from between its knife-sharp, gleaming fangs, and leaped after him, plunging into the bushes and descending on Eddie with claws whirling and teeth bared, ready to rip and tear.
All around Frederick, furious, defensive, and pained screeches were beginning to rip the air as the other ATIs, Pickering and Darlington mixed, met their vicious attackers head on with clangs of metal against metal and cries of defiance. When Sunshine had discovered the Pickering and Darlington ATIs' meeting on the Whitby-Oshawa city limit to discuss methods of defeating the anti-nuclear activists, she had ordered the robot dogs to attack immediately. Now they were all caught in a whirl of violence and confrontation, and Frederick, leader of the Pickering ATIs, stood frozen with shock as the fight raged around him.
"Darlington ATIs, forward!" Frederick was broken out of his dazed state at the sound of a female ATI screeching determinedly somewhere nearby. He turned to see Florence, leader of the Darlington ATIs, driving a group of terrified looking robot dogs towards the wide gray strip of cement that was Highway 401, while Francis and Brutus followed her with rallying cries. Just a few meters behind them, Crystal, the other ATI that Florence had brought along to the meeting, was fighting to dislodge three furiously snarling robot dogs that were clinging tightly to her pole, scoring their long steel talons across the metal with a sound like a sword being drawn from its sheath. With a threatening growl that was loud enough to have momentarily distracted the three dogs, he hurtled forward and sent one flying helplessly through the air, howling in terror, with a swift forward swipe of his antenna. Crystal shot him a warm look of gratitude, and used her own antenna to scoop up the second dog and raise it into the air, where it whimpered fearfully for a moment before Crystal loosened her grip, sending it plummeting to the ground. It landed with a dull thud and lay stunned for a few moments, before scrambling to its paws and racing away across the grass, disappearing around the side of the Welcome To Oshawa sign with its tail tucked submissively between its hind legs.
The third dog flattened its pointed, triangular ears against its head and stared up at Frederick and Crystal with wide glaring red eyes, claws still gripping Crystal's pole just below her control box. Frederick feared it was bracing itself to attack, until he noticed its intimidated and defeated appearance. Ducking its head, it sheathed its claws and slid slowly down Crystal's pole, turning and darting off after the second dog with not even the slightest glance behind it.
"Thanks," Crystal told him, before whirling around and hurrying off in the direction of where a few of Frederick's own ATIs from Pickering, Axle, Jay, and Candu among them, were surging through the crowd, flinging robot dogs left and right and sending others scurrying away in an attempt to escape.
Frederick was just about to go over and help his comrades when he was interrupted by a furious shriek from behind him. Worse still, it was also filled with a strong sense of frustration and fear. Bracing himself for whatever he was about to see, Frederick turned and immediately felt terror and helplessness come crashing down on him like a huge wave. Not far ahead of him, the robot dogs had somehow managed to launch a fierce enough attack on Florence to knock the sturdy and powerful leader of the Darlington ATIs right over. Now she lay horizontally across Highway 401, fighting in vain to become upright again, but her difficulties were further worsened by the huge crowd of robot dogs thronging around her, leaping over her pole and snapping at her antenna and speaker horns. But the robot dogs mocking Florence like this was nothing compared to what would soon happen to her unless someone helped, and fast.
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City of Pickering
Fiksi UmumWhen a young boy discovers that his beloved town is not what it seems, he is bewildered. But when it falls into his hands to prevent certain disaster from a group of terrorist hippies, his endurance and courage is tested, and he can't help but wonde...
