TITLE:A DARK VISION OF THE FUTURE - CHAPTER 6 - By TRID. K. and MOP PALETTE:0333 0889 0b9a 06ac 3 CHAPTER VI "My folks are HUMAN... They'll die out soon, like the dinosaurs did, and have no idea why." 2 - J.I. Dr. Abraham Seydlitz was very worried as he thought about the meeting he had to hold with Mc. Trampler. He was thinking about the anarchistic ideals this cold but sharp man had. Mc. Trampler had asked him to support ARES with their scientists. As the elected Governor of ISAAC ASIMOV, the biggest research centre the humans ever created, he was expected to support Mc. Trampler. Mc. Trampler offered 30 Million Dollars in ca$h, so the whole population promptly agreed with this cooperation! On the other hand, his secret identity as leader of the RESISTANCE, made him refuse any support. But he also didn't want to rise any suspects on himself! Furthermore he knew that Mc. Trampler would surely find a good way to dispose of him if he would not sign the agreement. This left a bad taste in Dr. Seydlitz`s mouth. Was there no one willing to stop Mc. Trampler? It was very clear that Mc. Trampler wanted to CONTROL all the colonies. But if he, Dr. A. Seydlitz, accepted the contract, then with the research- base and scientists Mc. Trampler would have all the power to execute his plans. Mc. Trampler was a cruel man, and he would eliminate everybody who dares to stand in his way... Mutant or not! Otherwise he wouldn't have said that there are many ways to get ISAAC ASIMOV under HIS control. If only FISH comes back from FORTRESS in time, maybe there would be some possibilities to do something against this disaster. Seydlitz had left almost the whole Resistance organisation in FISH hands, only because of his Governor duties. Unfortunately Dr. Seydlitz had only two days left to think about Mc. Trampler's proposals. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In a dark corner, near the building where Mock's clinic had been installed up to a few days ago, a dark figure was sitting besides a hovership. He activated the small TransPuter he was holding in his hands. The Morning News was on, reporting another heavy accident on FORTRESS. Again a report about an explosion. "Was it really an ACCIDENT", the reporter demanded to a Firefighter? This topic was of no interested to him, as it seemed that he knew better. He threw the TransPuter against a wall, with such a power that it cracked immediately. Then he stood up and boarded his Hover to check his internal system. A round scar in his head was irritating him. He activated his BioGenetic regeneration Programme which also reported all the current damage. Only his left Cyber eye, which enabled him to sense Heat Signals, had a malfunction. He made a careful scan of the whole building complex. It looked as if the whole clinic had moved away, leaving no detectable traces behind. His enhanced equipment now seemed to be of no help! He grabbed his Mossberg and quickly shot the control panel. sparks and smoke came out. Then he picked up a small black backpack and went out, leaving a small grenade on the driver's seat. "These bastards became too careful! Too bad..." That made him angry! Dealing with a "normal" Razorguy is deadly... To deal with an angry one is... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A shuttle was silently drifting away from FORTRESS heading down for KEID 1. It was only Transporting Spare parts, tools and other supplies for the miners on KEID. The pilot checked the cargo bay again. A small display showed that the cargo hold weighted 321 tons... but the cargo weight was only 308,25 tons. "Henson", the pilot said to his navigator. "go and check the cargo, there is a weight difference" "Hey, that's not my job, Roy!", answered Henson. "THEY explicitly said that we should check out everything! maybe soon it`s no more your job to breath! But that will be your problem..." Henson stood up, and was off. He thought about his current job, but there was no other job for him. He tried his best to get back his former job in the fleet. But his mother was not a NORM. Life is hard sometimes... Henson opened the door and went into the cargo bay. He walked along the cargo boxes and checked them carefully. Five minutes later he reached an opened but empty Cargo Box. As he was going to turn around a sweet voice said, "Keep quite, or I kill you!". He stared at a fair haired girl with that dark and brutal gun in her right hand. Behind him he sensed another person, but he didn't dare to look. The next thing he remembered was a fast shock wave running through his head followed by silence and deep darkness. "Well done LADY!", said Sven softly. Joy promptly signalled to Sven to shut up. He then moved quietly towards the cargo bay door, and stepped into the pilot cabin. He went near the pilot, and peeped from behind him, at the navigation status on the main pilot board. The automatic route mode was on. "Is everything in order, Henson?" Roy slowly turned round, and as he saw that intruder standing behind him, he promptly tried to reach for his gun. But Joy was too fast and with a sharp blow, knocked him down. Moments later Sven and LADY came into the pilot cabin. Joy was messing around with the controls. He was checking the alert status at the KEID docks. The little display on the right hand side started to flash. A red alert was in course. It seemed that the guardians were after 2 fugitive mutants. "Shit! They're already after us", screamed Joy. "Check out the other docks, Joy!", replied LADY. It was now clear that Mc. Trampler was after them again. All Docks were in Red Alert. But the three mutants looked at each other and smiled. "We shouldn't have any major troubles, unless we carry any weapons. We have clear passes and we are in three!", said Sven. They could now safely drift to KEID 1, where they would pass unnoticed through all the security. Then it would be just a matter of contacting the rest of the resistance, and start the main physical assault to the HUMANIS HQ on the MOON. Meanwhile Mock should have already set up his Net, and start the final rundown on all HUNANIS nets. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- People went in and out the Spaceport Terminal hall on FORTRESS. Heavily armed Security Guardians were everywhere. But this time they were not here to protect the citizens from another bomb alert, but to find two fugitive mutants. The directives indicated that the mutants had stolen some expensive CyberWare. They had also destroyed some hoverships in their escape. Mr. Jenkins went towards one of the desks to get a pass to SISTER ONE. Sweat ran down his neck when he passed near the guardians, but they didn't even look at him, because they were after MUTANTS. Indeed he was a Mutant too, or he has BEEN one, a long time ago. But then he met Dr. Stooner who also recruited him for the RESISTANCE. Now he looks like a human NORM again. Mr. Jenkins had to reach ISAAC ASIMOV, but before he had to visit SISTER ONE because there were no direct flights to ISAAC. At the research station he had to meet with DR. SEYDLITZ. Thinking of Seydlitz, old memories came back. SEYDLITZ was not his real name. Jenkins remembered again the time when Mc. Trampler was very near to the point to almost wipe out the whole resistance organisation. Many years ago, just sometime after Jenkins joined the resistance, Mc. Trampler had arranged an assault. It remained a mystery how Mc. Trampler got the information where to attack. Unfortunately, one of the resistance Deckers was captured and tortured to death. Mc. Trampler managed to get some vital information from this Decker's CyberDeck, and so found out the identity of the RESISTANCE leader. Now, Dr. Stooner had to hide his identity, so a fake deadly accident was arranged. Mc. Trampler must have been very happy to hear the news of a hovership that ran directly into a cargo truck, which was carrying a lethal acid container. From the remaining body parts the Identification Squad said that the hover driver was surely Dr. Stooner. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The scanner started a wild bleeping. It seemed that he had finally found his long fetched for target! A brutal smile ran across his lips. He slowly moved his hover towards the parking area. As soon as he popped out of his hover, he hurriedly moved towards the hotel. He stood still near the main entrance and looked up. Then, he entered, ordered a single room and moved to the 12th floor, although his just ordered room was not situated on that floor. Moving closer to one of the rooms, he carefully scanned that little area for any possible firearms. The scanner reported a living presence and a small Taser... nothing to care about. It seemed that the one he had just found in that lousy hotel was one of those Mutants who had shot him. It would be a very quick and silent job. Furthermore the Hotel manager would never talk to anyone about his short visit simply because dead people don't talk too much. looking carefully at both ends of the long corridor, he grabbed his Mossberg. Then he crashed the door with his massive body. He looked around this small room and could only see the Heat trace of a Human-like body, sitting or kneeling on the bed. Hearing all that noise, Slicer jumped out of his bed. "Hey who the hell are you?". It was very clear that the boy had some sight problems! "I've come to send you into the dead lands of nowhere, sucker!" Slicer was irritated! That voice, he had already heard that voice before! Anywhere he had heard that voice, it was so Familiar... famili... family! "Father?", Slicer asked slowly. But how could it be? He couldn't believe that his father was still alive. He was there when they killed him! But that voice! If only he could see that figure, who was standing before him. The Razorguy stood there, motionless. Father? A long time ago there was a small thing calling him FATHER. It now seemed that something had clicked inside him. That must have been before the deep darkness and pain. A pain lasting for 10 years now. Father? His enhancements had blocked all his emotions. Or did someone try to block them on purpose? He now remembered how they had filled him up with aggressive drugs, so as to try to erase all his human feelings. Everything was getting so damned clear now. They were using him to kill his own race! He was a Human, and not a machine. But in the same time he wasn't so sure about this any more. All the Steel and Plastic they had built into his body, really made him believe that he was just a machine. Again the target cried, "Father... Father! Can't you hear me?" The Razorguy was still shocked! His human emotions tried to break free, but the drugs had done a very good job. He felt all his chips getting hotter, and it looked as if they would slowly burn out! For the first time in his life as a machine, he was totally confused. These irresistible emotions... all the TARGETs he had killed... all his ideals. He was now wondering if they had really been his OWN ideals. "Yes... my son?", the man replied. "Where have you been all the years? I can't see any more dad!", the boy cried again. "I'm sure you wouldn't be happy if you could see... me", the man answered again. Slicer stood up slowly. He took out a dirty Grenade from his jacket. "Father, you... seem to be no longer... you...". The boy started to cry softly. Now he knew that all that LADY used to tell him about ARES methods was the plain truth. But IT was his father, not her`s. "No boy! There is only one way to end it up now. If they know that I missed you, they will come and get you alive. They will reprogramme me, and use stronger drugs to wash away all my emotions. There will be no hope! You know it? We must precede them and wipe them out ourselves!" "Yes, but why couldn't we live in peace? Why... please tell me... what have i done? Dad, when did they kill you?" "I can't remember. They cut off some of my memories, or locked them up with heavy Cyberware. I don't know. You know that all this chrome kills your humanity. But time is running out real fast! And if they manage to get you alive, they will surely gather some important information from you." "Dad... I love you..." The Razorguy moved towards Slicer and held him tight between his hands. They both cried. "Now boy, we don't have any time to waste. My hovership is not very far away from here, so we would better move out immediately. We can then use my Net system and operate from there." "Yes dad, you may be right, but I cannot see any more" "But I can..." Two figures were seen running out of the hotel. A few moments later, an alert burst out. Another explosion was reported on the 12th floor...