Chapter 4 Terror and Trust

The next morning everyone gathered at the entrance to the observation wing with what luggage they had brought. Kate had on a white t-shirt with short shorts and her tail went through a hole cut in the fabric. Kate only has a simple black duffel bag at her feet. Trask was wearing multiple layers. He had on his newly arrived customized stretchy black climate control suite and over that he was wearing custom tailored wide leg blue jean pants with a button up black shirt. Trask had more luggage than Kate because he had to get a whole new wardrobe. He had three huge suite cases on wheels strapped together.

Eve was wearing a white one piece dress with a yellow straw ladies hat. You could not see her tail or ears because she hid them underneath her clothes. She only had a bag for toiletries because her luggage was already at Molokai. Blaze was wearing his normal attire of loose blue jean pants and a plain t-shirt. Blaze also had a black duffel bag like Kate’s sitting at his feet his just had embroidery on it of a space ship. Melinda was also with the group waiting. She was wearing a cute and very feminine business suite. She had her hair pulled back into a pony tail and was only carrying a simple hand bag.

The group of Blaze, Kate, Eve, Trask, and Melinda were waiting on Doctor Sebast’s arrival so they could receive instructions on their departure. However, Doctor Sebast never came into work. Instead a team of Investigator droids showed up ten minutes before Doctor Sebast should have arrived. The droid investigation team was made up of four Investigator droids and six Bio-interface droids. Everyone but Blaze was concerned at the meaning behind the team of investigator droids. Blaze just watched as the specialized blue uniformed droids went about collecting forensic data and as the Bio-interface droids headed in his little groups direction.

Blaze knew that a team would show up after he released the information about Doctor Sebast. Blaze’s original plan was not to get the authorities involved. At most he just wanted Doctor Sebast to be reprimanded for his unprofessional behavior. However, once he saw the footage of attempted murder he knew he had to report it and now that an investigation team has been sent he was fairly certain his late night illegal activities would not go unnoticed. Blaze reconciled with his doubts last night so was ready for whatever punishment he might receive for hacking the institute’s computer system.

Investigator droids look like stream lined metallic stick men with four arms and one central red rectangular eye. The red rectangular eye has an advanced scanner suite that has been the cause of the drop in the crime rate of the twenty second century to less than one percent. Two of the four arms are designed for combat. The combat arms are armored and also contain light weight built in weaponry. The other two arms look like your standard human like droid arm but are packed with evidence and data collecting modules. Blaze was fascinated when a thin metal probe extended from the index finger on one of the investigator droids. Blaze watched as the droid stuck the thin metal device into one of the access points on a scanner.

Bio-interface droids look like snowmen with a screen for a face. They have no arms and move around on wheels built into the bottom of their body. The purpose of a Bio-interface droid is to be a fact finding droid with a built in lie detector. They ask all the questions in an investigation and are also used in political negotiations between Mars, the Moon, and Earth.

One of the Bio-interface droids rolled up to Blaze and asked in a sweat mechanical voice, “You are Blaze Archlight correct?”

Blaze nodded and said, “Yes.”

Droid asked, “Do you know what happened last night?”

Blaze replied, “Yes, I remember”

Blaze was being honest and vague on purpose. Blaze had heard that you should never lie to a Bio-interface droid because it will pick up on it instantly. The only way to try and fool the droid is by being completely honest and extremely vague in your answers.

Droid asked, “Can you give me an account of what happened last night then?”

Blaze shrugged and said, “The same stuff basically as the last three days since I woke up. I trained and hung out with my friends. Why?”

The Droid replied and asked, “Just answer my questions please. Did anything else happen last night?”

Blaze replied, “Yes, my friend Kate her sister Eve joined us here at the institute.”

Droid asked, “Did you notice anyone around that you have never seen before?”

Blaze replied, “No”

Droid asked, “Have you ever spoken with Doctor Sebast?”

Blaze sighed and replied, “Yes, he talked to me yesterday about my mutation and he was one of the first people I spoke to after I woke up after injection. We didn’t talk other than those two occasions.”

Droid asked, “Did the doctor seem hostile to you?”

Blaze nodded and replied, “Yes he called me a lot of derogatory names and did not read me my results correctly.”

Droid asked, “Did his actions upset you?”

Blaze frustrated replied in a strained voice, “Of course they did, I planned on submitting a complaint about him today to the institute.”

Droid asked, “Did you kill Doctor Sebast?”

Blaze surprised raised his voice and replied, “What? NO!”

Droid said, “Truth verified. Thank you for your cooperation.”

The Bio-interface droid then rolled off to join the other waiting droids. Blaze got off lucky, if the focus of the investigation was on who hacked the institutes computers he would have been done for. What Blaze was told to try would not work on a Bio-interface droid. They always ask directly about the object of their investigation. With a question that can be answered with only a “Yes” or a “No” evasion would not work. The other questions Bio droids ask is used to adjust their systems to the person they are questioning.

Blaze missed the implications of the Bio droids direct question because his thoughts were on other matters ‘Someone must have killed Doctor Sebast either last night or this morning. The only suspects Blaze could think of, was either Tempio di Puro or someone he upset with his bigotry. Blaze decided to leave the murder investigation to the professionals but he definitely is going to find out more information about Tempio di Puro once he gets to Molokai. They might have killed the Doctor to ensure his silence and if they have killed once they would be willing to kill again.’

After the droid investigation team left the observation wing. Melinda received a call on her personal H.A.L.O device. Her notification sound was the popular boy band “Tear’s Fable” hit single. Melinda’s H.A.L.O device was an older bracelet style model. It was cute though it had a silver metallic band with a green heart shaped crystal. The H.A.L.O screen that popped up had the caller’s name as Director Timmons.

Melinda took a few breaths to calm her nerves and said, “Accept call.” The Holo-projection coming from the H.A.L.O device showed an older man of about sixty years sitting in an executive chair. Melinda smiled and said, “Hello Director.”

Director Timmons smiled back and said, “Hello Melinda, I see you are not too worked up over Doctor Sebast’s untimely demise.”

Melinda sighed and said, “Director you know I hated that man. He is the reason I asked to be transferred to work as an observer at Molokai.”

Director Timmons sighed as well and replied, “Yes, I agree he was a hard person to work with. Best not to talk ill of the dead though. I was just calling to say we received the clearance from the investigation team for you to come to the Molokai facility. A shuttle will be coming in fifteen minutes to pick everyone up and take you to the Slip Stream terminal.”

Melinda said, “We will be ready for pick up in fifteen minutes Director. We will see you when we arrive.”

Director Timmons said, “I look forward to seeing you again Melinda and I look forward to meeting the people in your group as well. Let them know there will be a video from me and Director Hale inside a packet address to each of them on the shuttle bus.”

Melinda replied, “I will let them know. Is there anything else director?”

Director Timmons said, “No that is all.”

Melinda and Director Timmons ended the call. Melinda looked at everyone and said, “Well, you heard everything. Doctor Sebast is dead. Does anyone need or want counseling? I can set up a counselor to be there to talk once we get to Molokai.”

Blaze noticed that Eve was gently crying. Kate was hugging Eve consoling her and Trask looks visibly concerned for Eve by his fidgeting. Blaze was upset himself just not about the Doctor’s death.

Blaze thought, ‘What in the world is going on? No one seems to know about what the Doctor has done. Is somebody trying to cover this up?’

Blaze was not going to let the attempted murder and information he had gained about the Tempio di Puro be covered up. Blaze wanted to make sure that the information he released was just not being forgotten in the wake of the Doctor’s murder.

Blaze walked over to his sleeping area for some privacy and used the H.A.L.O device near his bed to search the Net. He found several news feeds concerning the Doctor’s death. A murder in the year 2115 is BIG news because only a few hundred people are murdered worldwide every year.

Apparently, the Doctor’s body was found by his maid droid at three this morning. His body was torn apart. A fuel bomb was also found at his residence but nothing about the information he released was shown on the news feeds. Blaze knew it was a horrible idea to check the data upload he did so decided to just inform the people around him directly about what he knew.

Blaze called over everyone and to ensure their attention he spoke gravely and said, “I have something I want you to watch and I think you will want to see it before we leave.”

Blaze only had enough time left before the shuttle arrived to show the evidence he had of attempted murder. He then quickly summarized the other information he had found about the doctor revealing personal medical information to the group Tempio di Puro. Blaze ended with saying, “I released this information to the media and authorities last night before the Doctor was killed. None of the news feeds say anything about my release. I am concerned that we are in danger and should be extra careful once we leave the institute.”

The group was very quiet while they processed what Blaze had shown them. Kate was the first to finish processing and began to ask a question but was interrupted by Blaze shaking his head and tilting it toward the door of the observation wing where a huge droid with a shofars hat on was gathering their luggage.

Blaze whispered to Kate, “That does not look like a shofar model droid. I doubt it could even fit in the shuttle bus let alone drive it.”

Kate eyed the droid with suspicion and whispered back, “What do we do?”

Blaze shrugged and whispered, “Just stay behind me and watch my back. We don’t know for certain that the droid is hostile. Let Trask, Melinda, and Eve know our suspicions as well. I will keep an eye on the droid.”

Blaze watched as the droid arranged the luggage in a pyramid. It didn’t take any of the luggage from the room though. When it was done arranging the luggage the droid turned around with two laser pistols extended from its arms. Blaze seeing the weapons screamed “Down now!” while finding cover behind some lockers.

Just as he made cover Blaze saw the droid open fire. Laser fire ripped through the atmosphere and everywhere one of the blue bolts touched created a one inch hole. Kate had tackled Eve and Melinda down saving the three of them from being hit. Trask though was not so lucky. He had a hole in his stomach that was bleeding badly.

Blaze wanting to pull Trask to safety darted from cover only to see the droid maybe five feet away and the Laser barrel was pointed right at him. Blaze thought ‘How did the droid get so close so fast.’

That was the only time he had to think before he saw the barrel light up. Blaze’s subconscious mind reacted to the danger and released a wave of Mana to protect himself. The Mana wave caused the Laser Bolt to expend its energy before hitting Blaze but the bolts energy still burned his skin. The Mana wave continued and pushed the droid back towards Trask.

Trask saw the droid use a thruster blast to propel itself towards everyone. After he was shot Trask was in a lot of pain but he didn’t want to see his friends get hurt either. Trask saw Blaze break from cover to rescue him but he jumped at the wrong time and right into the droids path. Trask began to get up and fight thru the pain. He knew he wouldn’t make it in time to help Blaze but he would die defending the girls. Then he felt a spike of power come from Blaze and when he looked over the droid was now flying backwards towards him. Trask groaned from the pain and used his arms as a platform and double horse kicked the droid in the back with all the power in his body.

A huge crash that sounds like an old time car accident was herd throughout the observation wing. Then several other small crashes were heard. One was due to the droid slamming into a closet and caving in the doors. Then the closet toppled over with another loud crash. The girls saw everything happen so far and Kate decided to attack the droid while it was face down inside the closet. Kate sprung from her position like a cat pouncing on its prey. While Kate was mid leap she saw two foot prints that dented in the battle droids back armor and focused on the damaged armor with her attacks. She began to tear into the exposed back of the droid with her claws extended. Kate succeeded in slicing up the back armor plates of the droid with two or three attacks but before she could go in for the droids circuitry it used the thrusters mounted into its back to throw Kate against the ceiling.

Another loud crunch was heard from Kate hitting the ceiling then another dull thump when she came back down. Eve had been afraid watching the battle but when she saw her sister get thrown she attacked the droid in a rage. Eve saw the exposed internal circuits in the back of the droid and lunged for them once the thrusters shut off. Eve succeeded in pushing her clawed hand into the battle droid and pulled it back out as fast as she could. Metal parts, wires, hydraulic fluid, and sparks began flying away from the droid. It looked like a cute teenager in a sun hat standing on top of a droid disemboweling it because Eve didn’t stop pulling out parts until her rage was spent.

Melinda is a lab technician but her goal in life was to become a doctor. Melinda rushed around the battle field while Eve was still destroying the droid. She went to Trask first because he was shot and she feared he would bleed out. When she got to Trask she found him half-awake with a half inch hole in his stomach. New skin was rapidly growing and closing his wound. The lasers energy had cauterized the wound so very little new blood was being lost while his body regenerated. She wanted to do something for him but it would seem his body was healing him better than she could. Melinda treated him for shock by elevating his feet above his heart using a mattress and some pillows.

Melinda then went and checked on Blaze. He was unconscious and not responding to her attempts to wake him. He was breathing and had a strong pulse the only external damage she found on Blaze was some third degree burns around his chest. He looked stable to her so she just flipped him on his side in case he vomited.

Melinda then went to Kate. Eve was done ripping the droid apart and got to Kate’s side a little before Melinda did. Eve was about to move Kate but Melinda stopped her with a shout, “Don’t move Kate. She has had blunt force trauma and may be bleeding internally or have spinal damage. I need you to go into the Doctor’s office and get a hand held scanner from the rack.”

Eve jumped up and ran for the door to the Doctor’s office. The doors scanner plate would not let Eve in. She didn’t have the strength to kick in the door so she desperately began to claw at the metal door. She had cut a large hole in the door with her claws and she would have gotten inside the office after a few more minutes but Melinda came running up behind her and passed her hand over the scanner plate and the door clicked open. Melinda said “Sorry forgot you didn’t have access.”

Both Melinda and Eve rushed into the office. Melinda said, “Grab a scanner then prop the door open and get back to your sister. I am going to grab a few supplies just in case we need them.” While Melinda was talking she opened a locked cabinet she scanned into and grabbed a first aid kit and defibrillator. Eve had propped open the door with the doctors chair causing Melinda to have to jump over it to get out of the office. Eve was crying while standing over her sister with the hand held scanner she moaned, “How do you make this thing work?”

Melinda took the scanner and turned it on then set the main settings to full body scan and then handed it back to Eve and said, “Press the red button and a red line will project showing what you are scanning. I want you to slowly scan your sister from head to toe.” While Eve was using the scanner Melinda started to pull out different items from the first aid kit. When she was setting up the scanner began its report.

Robotic female voice, “Patient status is stable, Minor damage to internal ear, Minor bruising to the back of the head, two cracked ribs, and a broken leg. Recommend setting the right leg first. Patient recovery is above human standard. Leg will need to be broken in three days if not set before then.”

Hearing the scanner results Melinda was relived. She turned Kate over carefully and extended her right leg fully then felt along the bone till she found the break. She had Eve hold the upper portion of the leg then she took the lower portion and then pulled and moved the bone back into place.

Melinda said, “Eve please scan your sisters right leg again.” Eve complied and the scanner said, “Patient status is stable, leg is now aligned for proper healing.”

Melinda spent some more time working on Kate. She first splinted Kate’s broken leg then gave her an injection for the pain. Melinda took the scanner from Eve who stayed by Kate’s side holding her hand.

Melinda went back to check on Trask. Melinda did a full body scan and the results were not as encouraging. Trask had massive internal damage. His skin was fully healed and the bleeding had stopped but the scanner said he should be dead from the trauma and internal damage. After three more passes of the scanner a recommendation was finally given. Trask just needed rest and fluids. The scanner also recommended that he be feed uncooked raw meat and administer a one milliliter injection of sixty percent tungsten and forty percent iron to replace lost metal contents in Trask’s body.

Melinda then went and scanned Blaze’s body. The scanner reported Blaze as being in a coma and the cause was unknown. The scanner recommended his burns be cleaned and dressed to prevent infection. She used a scalpel to remove the dead flesh which was hard with his grey skin. Once the dead skin was removed Blaze started bleeding. Melinda then cleaned around his open wounds and applied new skin patches. She then scanned him again and the new report showed his recovery rate only being slightly higher than a human’s but that he was stable and no further actions were necessary.

Melinda took a breath and thought, ‘I know I should call someone. But too many weird things are happening and I don’t know who to trust. The noise alone should have alerted security. Someone should have come to check in on us. The scanners in the room should have also reported the laser fire but Doctor Sebast could have turned that off with his access to the scanners.’ Melinda sighed and walked back to Eve and asked, “Can you help me get everyone into a bed?”

Melinda and Eve pushed some beds together and created a wall out of closets just in case they were attacked again. Then they put Kate, Blaze, and Trask into the beds they prepared and sat down next to each other exhausted.

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AN: Just had to leave in on a cliff hanger. Part two of this chapter will be released in another couple of days. Let me know what you think. To mush detail? Not enough? Fight scene good or bad?

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