Sentinels of the Cosmos Trilogy (17 page)

“Having sex, all night like animals,” says Tom.
“Yeah, like rabbits,” says Harry.
“No kidding?” says Juan.
“So what happens when they wake up?” asks Tom.
“Trip wants them for analysis in our labs. He wants to
take one of them apart and see what makes them
tick,” Juan says.
“Cool,” says Harry.
“Yeah, I want to take them apart personally, piece by
piece,” Juan responds.
All of them laugh.
“You really hate these Guards don’t you?” Harry
asks.
“I don’t hate them, but I think they’re dangerous.
They have no free will and are the world’s most lethal
killers. In a world that is already bordering on chaos,
do you think we need weapons like these in the hands
of other human beings?” Juan says.
“How do you plan to stop them?” Tom asks.
“I have a stunner,” Juan says as he takes out a little
black box with a red button.
“How did you get that?” Tom asks.
“I got it; I’ve been tracking these things for years.
This knocks them right out but you need to be close,
within ten feet,” replies Juan.
“Didn’t you tell Sam Nichols that you wouldn’t
destroy them?” Tom asks.
“I did say I wouldn’t destroy Chase and I won’t. It’s
the other one I’m going to take apart piece by piece; I
will keep my word to Sam. I have to do that,” Juan
says.
“Man, you really hate these things,” Harry says.
Juan thinks for a moment and seems to be staring into
space. “No, but I am afraid of them, they could be the
downfall of the human race, maybe they’re even
better than us. Maybe I’m afraid they’re our
replacements.”
After listening to this conversation Chase realized
they had to get out of there and fast. He tried mind
talking to Ally but she seemed to be deeply asleep or
may have shut her mind down to run a diagnostics
program. He thought, “I need to do something that
they will not notice. I know they have cameras on us
from almost every angle. However, one thing that is
really bothering me, Why is Ally in such a deep
sleep? Ever since I had become self-aware I was
almost never in the same kind of deep sleep I had
been before. Was Ally still programmed?”
“I’m not asleep Chase, I’m just quieter than you,
because you’re very restless,” Ally’s’ thoughts
resounded in his head.
“Good, are you always picking at my thoughts?” he
asked.
“I just like to know you’re not thinking of other
women,” she replied.
“Then you know we have to get out of here right
now?”
“I do,” she replied.

In the adjoining hotel room Tom and Harry had their
faces buried into the various monitors; Tom said,
"Well Juan so much for your theory that they can't
mate. These two could be porn stars."
"They’re not human, just machines," Juan spurts out.
"Yeah, yeah, you’re always saying that; then sign me
up for the machine experience." Harry retorts.
"They're probably just programmed to go through the
motions of young people in love," Juan returns
"Really, I know a lot of husbands and wives that
would swear their mates were robots during sex, but
whatever program these two have, I'm ready to
receive it,” Tom says with a sneer.
"You’re disgusting" Juan says and the three of them
look at each other and laugh heartily. At that moment
Trip swoops into the room, face red with anger.
“Those Washington monsters!” he says.
“What’s up?” Juan asks.
“They know we have their Guards and EOJ wants
them back. They went right to the President!”
“Well, we could return one and keep the other, say we
had already taken it apart,” Juan says.
“You know these things are alive, you would
technically be killing a living being, maybe even a
person,” Trip says.
Juan replies, “How do you know? What is wrong with
you people, they’re machines, killer machines!”
“It sounds like it’s a personal vendetta with you. How
do you define life anyway; is a virus really alive?”
Trip says, questioningly.
“No, it’s not personal; it’s about having a conscience
and taking responsibility for your actions. If someone
asked you to kill your mother would you do it? No,
not unless you’re sick! They could, and what if these
things ever got out into society, uncontrolled?” Juan
is finished with his speech.
“Well! I still don’t get why you care. Were Stalin and
Hitler Guards? They had no conscience. Anyway the
robots have to go back to EOJ. I told them to come
and pick up their ‘equipment,’ and you’re not going
to do anything about it, you got that! Let them sleep.
The EOJ are coming and we’re going to cooperate
with them; comprende?” Trip asks.
“Si senor,” Juan replies reluctantly.
Trip looks towards Tom and Harry, saying, “You're
not to move until EOJ arrives and picks up their
hardware, you got that?

“Yes sir,” Tom replies smartly.
As Trip leaves Juan sits down on one of the sofas. He
lays his head back and begins to think.
“Are you alright?” Tom asks.
“Yeah, just give me a minute to calm down,” Juan
replies.
He had to think fast. EOJ was not going to get these
Guards. He was going to personally expose the whole
thing. The public was going to know what these
things are. He knew what he had to do. It could cost
him his career, maybe even his life, but his belief was
so deep he could not stop now. Juan was a devout
Catholic, and believed life was sacred; He also had to
save his family. He was confused, how to get his
mind clear and understand what he had to do? He
even liked Chase and Ally. Maybe he was even a bit
envious. He couldn't quite understand what life
actually was, and what was it anyway? The turmoil
confronted his Christian beliefs. It tortured him; what
was right, what was wrong, what was good and bad,
black and white? The yes and no of life was terribly
confusing. Grey was not Juan's favorite color; he
hated grey! Juan reached for the cross around his
neck and held it tightly. These proceedings
challenged his deepest beliefs. The one person he did
trust was Sam. Why? It was not completely clear to
him, but he had to put his faith somewhere. He got up
from the sofa and asked, “You guys’ want to take a
break before they get here?”
“We can’t do that. Trip told us not to move until the
EOJ came and picked them up,” Harry replied.
“Right,” Juan says.
Juan looks around the room and notices a wooden
African statue around three feet high and a good six
inches in diameter. He picks it up, goes over to Tom
and strikes him on the side of the head knocking him
out cold. Harry goes for his gun, but is not fast
enough and Juan hits him across the head also. He
slumps to the floor. Juan checks the pulse on each of
them to make sure they’re not dead. He then takes out
his black box, unlocks the door to the suite next door
and enters the room. Chase and Ally sit up
immediately in complete unison.
“Get up, we have to get out of here,” Juan tells them.
“We know you want to kill us!” Ally opens.
“Look, friend, I didn’t push the button on the little
black box. We all have to get out of here now, EOJ is
on its way to scoop you both up,” Juan said.
“Why are you going to help us?” Chase asked.
“Because I promised Sam I would,” Juan answered.
“And why would you keep your promise to a man
you hardly knew?
“Because, he pauses, “Sam is my father.”
They are both stunned for a moment.
“Isn’t your name Juan Martinez?” Ally asks.
“My mother was from Colombia,” Juan responds;
Martinez was her maiden name. Juan goes to the
door.
Ally looks at him, saying, "But you're so short."
"My mother was short, thanks for reminding me,"
Juan snaps back.
"Ally look at his eyes," Chase says.
"OK, I see it," she replies.
"See what?" Juan asks.
"You have his eyes, too bad you don't have his soul.
You need to respect that cross around your neck by
not judging others," Chase pauses. "I heard every
word you said in the other room."
"We have to go," said Juan as he opened the door and
pointed down the hall.
“Not that way, we asked for this high room for a
reason,” Chase says and continues, “Ally, find the
parachutes.”
"We don't need them we're only 136 feet off the
ground. We can jump safely," Ally says.
“Jump?” Juan says in horror.
Chase takes out a small laser pointer, draws a large
circle on the window and presses a second button on
the pointer which begins to produce a very high
frequency hum. The glass in the window explodes
outward. Without a moment’s hesitation Ally picks
up Juan as if he was a sack of potatoes and with
Chase close behind, jumps effortlessly through the
window. They sail quietly though the air and then
only 136 feet below they hit the concrete running.
Juan almost has a heart attack.
Charles, Ivan, Trip and two Guards, walked quickly
through the entrance to the Hilton.
“They’d better still be there or I’ll have your career,”
Charles says to Trip.
They walk right into the elevator that is being held by
one of the two Guards as Trip responds, “You’re
going to ruin my career, do you want information on
EOJ splattered all over Washington? I’m telling you
what’s going to happen. You’re going to get your
Guard freaks and get out of here and not say a word.
You say anything and I’ll blow this whole thing wide
open. I suggest you keep it as cat and mouse game;
the FBI secretly knowing all about EOJ; let’s just call
it the ‘new American Cold War,’” Trip explodes at
Charles.
Charles knows he’s right. Ivan's face begins to twitch.
He wants to kill Trip. This would never have
happened in Russia. There is silence as the elevator
ascends, the floors seeming to go by in slow motion.
“Can’t you get this thing to move any faster?”
Charles says, exasperated.
“It’s an elevator Charles, it is what it is,” Trip says.
Speaking of it is what it is, are you ready to tell me if
President Grant is a Guard?”
Charles says, “I’m not ready to respond to that, but
aren’t all politicians puppets?”
"Don't play games with me Charles. I know your
game?" Trip explodes.
"You know nothing. You have a very small view of
the world. You're a piss-ant bureaucrat, a petty
functionary. I am on the other hand a duly elected,
U.S. Congressman and Speaker of the House of
Representatives with enormous power," Charles
returns.
The elevator finally opens on the 81
^st
floor. They get
out and rush to room 8111D, the Guards push the
door open, enter and immediately feel the breeze
from the large round hole in the middle of the
window. The two Guards run to the hole just in time
to see Chase and Ally carrying Juan, running away far
below.
“They jumped,” says one of the Guards.
“What do you mean they jumped?” Charles asks
Ivan goes over to the window and looks down and he
looks back at Charles who is afraid to go near the
window opening because of his fear of falling, saying,
“They jumped,” Ivan smiles ear to ear, he thinks it’s a
hoot!
“Morons, all of you!” Charles yells.
“Do you know where they’re going?” Trip asks.
“How would I know, but it really doesn’t matter
because they’re very easy to track; they have GPS
and a computer in them,” Charles says. “We can track
them easily. As long as they don’t go to the press, I
just want them followed. Trip goes into the other
room and sees Tom and Harry still out cold on the
floor and he goes back into the other room.
“We both have a problem, they’ve taken one of my
men, Juan is with them,” says Trip.
“I wonder why they did that," mumbles Charles.
Joe Davis was sitting behind his desk with a large
grin. Joe was fat and happy, his round, dimpled face
on a squared-off head was ruddy from beer and fast
food. He grabbed his morning coffee with fat stubby
fingers. The middle button on his striped shirt was
open and his belly hairs protruded from the gap in his
shirt.
Ivan was fashionably dressed in his light gray suit and
found Joe’s appearance disgusting. His own finely
chiseled features and slim frame stood in broad
contrast to Joe’s slovenly appearance.
"Ivan you dog, come in," Joe said cheerfully, jumping
up and shaking his hand.
“You've got a real idea here and we want to test it.
The brass upstairs thought it was a terrific product;
addicting the public to paying their bills by making
them want to lick the envelopes - brilliant. They think
I'm a genius. They did point out that not as many
people are paying their bills with checks, they use
computers, but the poorer people still tend to pay by
check or money order." Joe holds up one of the
envelopes. "This stuff tastes like the real thing."
"Yes it does, nothing like taste of fried chicken on
utility bill," Ivan says sarcastically.
"You can tell I never eat fried chicken," Joe laughs
and Ivan snickers back.
"Personally I like the beef and cheese burrito the
best," Joe says.
"Really, I'm so glad," Ivan says.
"So when can we test?" Joe asks.
"Immediately Joe, I wonder, would it be possible to
supply you with envelopes for the bills going out this
month?"
"Sure Ivan, but I would need them immediately," Joe
says.
"We can do. Would end of week work?” Ivan asks.
"You got it, but remember our little deal," Joe winks
at Ivan.
"Deal- oh, the deal, "Ivan says.
"I guess I'll have to walk you down to your car and
give you your new friends," Joe says mawkishly.
“I have new friends, are they pretty?” Ivan asks.
Joe leans over the desk dragging his stomach and
whispers to Ivan “You know, the dogs, you’re going
to buy?”
“Oh, right, yes, dogs,” Ivan says, continuing, "Now
my new American friend, Joe, it is a Russian custom
to exchange gifts. I have brought you a quart of the
beef and cheese flavoring. You can put on everything;
this stuff has very special kick - to die for," Ivan
smiles maliciously.
"Ivan, that's great, thanks a lot." Joe is legitimately
grateful for Ivan's gift. Ivan winks.
"Now, mailing set for two zip codes I requested?"
Ivan asked.
"Yes, 10027 and 10031, one with the fried chicken
and one with beef and cheese burrito, and, oh I almost
forgot, I'm going to need 100,000 printed flyers
advertising the new envelopes."
Ivan opened his brief case and took out a flyer sized
to fit in a #10 envelope and said, "You mean this;
they were delivered this morning to your shipping and
receiving department."
"I'm impressed, you're really together Ivan. Let's see
here... Great, the fried chicken on the front cover,
great lead line Ivan!”