PROTOTYPE 09 By Heck Comments to heck@petermeyer.go-plus.net CHAPTER NINE "I got it!" Rob burst into the common room and flopped onto the couch beside me, looking smugly pleased with himself. I gave him a quizzical look. "Got what?" "The blue ... mmf!" I clapped a hand over his mouth, cutting him off before the bugs heard him. He nodded in answer to my frown, showing he understood the need for silence. I indicated that he should rise, and preceded him to the door. We were pretty sure the bugs were less efficient in the echoing corridor. "You have the blueprints?" I wasn't whispering. I read somewhere that modern listening devices can pick up a whisper more easily than a very quiet voice. He nodded. "Let's get the others". Lucy was in the gym, as usual, playing with the heavy machines that were, to her, mere toys. It was more than two days since we had pushed her to her limits, but her newfound strength was still a novelty to her. She spent most of her time exploring it. Mike was lying on his bunk, reading. We collected them, and all assembled round the computer screen in the lab. "Are you sure this terminal is isolated?" I asked Rob. "Oh, yeah, man. It's cool. They'll think it's just a malfunction". "Won't they come to fix it?" Lucy wondered. "Eventually", Rob said. "But it's due for a service tomorrow, anyway. I doubt they'll come before then". "What have you got?" Mike leaned in close to talk softly, as did we all. Rob's fingers flew over the keyboard. For obvious reasons, he had disabled the voice mode. In a few seconds, the architect's plans of the whole SETI building appeared on the monitor. "Where's this floor?" I jabbed at the screen with an anxious finger. "It doesn't show up on these plans". Rob's fingers flew again. Another screen showed up, demanding a password. "Damn!" Mike cursed. "Password protected!" "Hey, chill". Rob smirked at him as he fished I his pocket. "The Robmeister's on the case". He produced a small device, about the size of a lighter, that he plugged into a USB port on the back of the unit. The screen flickered for a few moments, and then gave us the cheery message, 'Good Morning, Mr Bouvier'. Rob clicked on the 'begin' icon, and pocketed his little gadget. "Never leave home without one, man". "Where did you get that? It has to be illegal." "Eygh", he shrugged. On the screen, a whole new set of plans appeared, this time showing this floor. It took me a few minutes to get my head round them, but as the layout became clear I felt a cloud of dismay fall upon me. "Well, that's it", I sighed, my voice full of gloom. "The only access to this floor is via the elevator. No blocked-off staircases, not even a fire escape, for Chris'sakes. And we don't have a swipe card for the elevator". We all fell silent, mulling over our plight. "Out a window?" Rob suggested, hopefully. "No. You three might squeeze through, but not me". Mike patted his sides, indicating his muscular bulk. "I'd never make it". "I bet we could make one bigger", Rob persisted. "I'm sure we could find something to smash the walls with". "Too noisy". I shook my head. "The guards downstairs would hear us in a flash, and I don't think they've got any orders to avoid deadly force". "So the shaft is the only way out?" Lucy asked. "Seems so". "Why don't we, like, call Charlie-baby, say we want to see him. Then we, like, uh, ambush him or something, soon's he's out of the elevator, man?" "I don't like that idea", Mike objected. "After the time Lucy and Sean gave him last time, he's not likely to come alone and if his guards have guns, even Lucy's not fast enough to dodge bullets". Lucy had been poring over the plans with pursed lips. She held up a finger to attract our attention. "Look here. It looks like the elevator originally serviced all three floors. Here on the second floor looks as though it once had access to it. It's probably boarded up or something. We could climb down the shaft and get out on that floor". Mike shook his head. "We can't open the doors up here". "We could force them". "We could, but it'd take too long, The CCTV would pick us up, and they'd be after us before we could get them open". "I could get them open faster". We stared at her. Using her enormous strength to affect an escape had, stupidly, not occurred to us. Rob spoke up first. "I bet she could, man. She totally could!" Mike and I just stared at each other, nodding our heads in agreement. "I just bet she could", Mike said, but I saw a problem. "But they'll still see us, and as soon as they do, they'll lock down the elevator, or get in it and come up here". "You're forgetting the second floor", Lucy reminded me. "We can get out there. If I can force the elevator doors, I'm sure I can deal with a bit of drywall". All four of us shared a look. The decision was made without a word being spoken. "OK". Lucy had, unofficially and quite unselfconsciously, become the leader of our intrepid band. "You guys go into the common room and look at TV, or make coffee. If you leave the door open, you'll see me and know when to make your move. Let's go". It occurred to me, as we walked down the corridor, that whoever was watching the CCTV monitors would wonder what we had been doing, huddling round the computer and talking in conspiratorially hushed tones. Too late to worry about that, now. We entered the room, and I sat where I could see the elevator out in the corridor, while Mike turned on the TV. Lucy paced up and down outside the elevator, feigning boredom. With a big sigh, she leaned against the doors and pretended to bite her nails. She moved so fast, I never saw it. One second, she was just leaning there, looking fed up. The next, her elbow slammed into the doors, right on the seam, with a loud boom. She spun round, and I just had time to notice that her blow had indented the doors at about head height, just sufficient to part them. She inserted her steely fingers into the tiny gap and her muscles bunched. With a nerve-grinding shriek of tortured metal, she wrenched the doors apart with such force that they slammed back into the rebate and wedged solidly. "Come on!" she yelled. I was out of my chair like a jack-in-a-box and through the door just in time to see Lucy launch herself into the shaft. She grabbed the thick steel hawser and began to shin down. She was still wearing her halter and shorts, and I was concerned that the cable would chafe her inner thighs, but I needn't have worried. She lowered herself down hand over hand, not using her legs at all. I was right behind her, then Mike, then Rob, clambering down the cable like monkeys on a stick. Mike was a big man, tall and powerfully built, but also very heavy. He could have made it, but a man his size has only to make one mistake and gravity takes over. I was concentrating on my own descent when I heard a yell above me, and something hit my shoulder. Something big and heavy, so it was all I could do to hold on. I closed my eyes and waited for the dull thud that would signal his big body hitting the top of the elevator car, twelve metres below. It never came. I opened my eyes, and looked down. She had caught him! Lucy, wonderful Lucy, had caught Mike as he plummeted past on his way to certain death. She had grabbed his thick wrist in her comparatively delicate hand, clinging to the cable with the other, and he dangled in space supported by her phenomenal strength. He must have weighed at least a hundred and thirty kilos, but I knew he'd be safe. Lucy hauled him up, and made sure he had a secure grip on the cable before letting go. I heard his heartfelt thanks whispering in the shaft. Lucy pointed, indicating that he should climb on down. The second floor entrance had not been boarded up with drywall. My heart sank as I realised it had actually been bricked over. Bricks and mortar. Damn! And I didn't know if I could climb back up. Below me, Lucy was glaring at the wall as if she hated it. Soon, she seemed to come to a decision and adjusted her position. I wouldn't have believed what happened next if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. She changed her grip on the cable above her head, and positioned her other hand about a metre below. Then she levered her body out until it was horizontal, at right angles to the hawser. The strength involved in that manoeuvre alone was astonishing enough, and it left her with her feet touching the wall with her knees slightly bent. She brought her knees up to her chest and closed her eyes in concentration. With astounding speed and explosive power, her legs pistoned out and her feet slammed into the wall. The bricks exploded outwards into the corridor beyond and tumbled down the shaft, clanging and crashing onto the roof of the car. When the cloud of powdered mortar cleared. Lucy was still in the horizontal and the bricked up portion of the wall was totally demolished. Even Rob could find nothing to say and, like me, just stared open mouthed. Lucy's arms bent, and she propelled herself across the couple of metre gap to sail through the opening feet first. Her head and shoulders reappeared in a second, making urgent beckoning gestures. Mike managed to climb to short length of cable and she helped him out, doing the same for us in our turn. "Where now?" she asked me, knowing that I knew my way around the building from here on. I pointed down the corridor, past my office, to the enclosed stairwell, and we took off. We ran down the stairs, slowing only when we reached the final turn. Rob crept down the last flight, and stuck his head briefly round the corner. "Two of those black shirted dudes", he reported. "Trying their swipe card on the elevator. Two more in the lobby, a little way back". "Weapons?" "Oh, yeah. They've all got holsters, like, under their arms. One of the dudes in the lobby has a weird looking rifle type thing". "Most important thing", Mike said, "is to get Lucy clear. I think I can take the two by the elevator. Sean, you and Rob can rush the other two and." "Hold on, hold on", Lucy whispered. "Don't get all protective on me. I'm the fastest and strongest. I should go". "You don't seem to realise how important you are". I was afraid for her, all of a sudden. "If you get hurt, or worse, all of this will have been for nothing. We'll ..." She was right there, staring at me with hands on hips and raised eyebrows. Then she was gone. Just like that. We peered round the corner after her, and watched her cover the thirty metres between the stairs and the elevator in about two seconds, her arms and legs a blur. The two heavies waiting by the elevator never even saw her coming. They were both at least as tall as me, so she had to reach up to place her hands on their cheeks and slam their heads together with a loud crack. They crumpled, unconscious, possibly with fractured skulls, and before they hit the ground she was on top of a third man. She twisted on the run, her elbow smashing into the goon's throat even as her foot lashed out at the rifleman. One went down, making a horrible gurgling noise, while the other, propelled by the force of her kick, sat down hard and skidded several metres on the seat of his pants across the polished floor. He was down, but not out. Lucy dived toward him, but he managed to bring up his weapon and fired. It turned out to be a taser, and two tiny darts hit Lucy in the belly, trailing their fine wires behind them. Two hundred and fifty thousand volts coursed through Lucy's body. "No!" I yelled, and sprinted toward her, Mike and Rob on my heels. Time seemed to slow, and I could watch Lucy as I ran. Her body went rigid as the darts hit, and she jerked spasmodically. Her face twitching, she grunted in pain as she reached out and grasped the two leads in her bare hand. Grimacing and twitching, she hauled on the lines, wrenching them free of the weapon. The flow of electricity ceased and she stood panting, glaring at the goon on the floor, hair standing out like a fright wig. The goon, stunned by the fact that his victim was not unconscious and convulsing on the floor, just stood there with eyes agog. Sudden understanding dawned on him, and he scuttled backward before the apparition of Lucy. He turned and ran. Lucy took a step to follow, but I was at her side by then. "Come on!" I yelled, grabbing her arm. "Leave him! We've got to get out!" The big transparent double doors were closed, but should have slid silently open at our approach. Nothing happened. Deactivated by the lockdown sequence. I stood staring about me owlishly, at a loss as to our next move. Mike went to the control panel and started pushing buttons randomly. "What's that made of?" Lucy demanded of me. I just stared. My mind had turned to porridge. "Sean! Come on! Think! What are the doors made of? Glass?" "No". I shook my head. "We don't use much glass, these days. They're made of transparent polymer. Unbreakable". "We'll see about that". Lucy wrapped her arms around her head and charged the door. "Lucy, no!" The doors were unbreakable. Fortunately for us, and for Lucy in particular I guess, the mechanism wasn't. She hit the doors like a runaway train and both tall, clear panels were smashed out of their channels. They sailed away intact, skidding across the tarmac like two giant, see-through surfboards. Lucy's momentum carried her several metres outside. Klaxons began to blare, galvanising we three men into action, and we raced after her. I risked a glance behind, and saw the remaining goon fumbling with his RT unit, obviously seeking instructions. Sprinting across the parking lot, I ripped the bipper from my pocket and aimed it at my old Ford. She had been on charge all this time, and responded by unlocking all her doors and blinking her lights. "There", I shouted to Lucy and the others. "The grey Ford sedan". We all hurtled toward it and all piled in. I entered the start code. "Fasten safety belts", the tinny voice of the onboard computer insisted. The car wouldn't start until everybody was buckled up. "Shit!" I cursed. "Belts, everybody!" Rob was beside me, Mike and Lucy in the back. We clipped our belts tight, and I input the code again. The car hummed to life and I pressed for reverse, squealing out of the bay with spinning tyres. Out of the corner of my eye I glimpsed the last goon, sprinting across the tarmac with a levelled pistol. "Down!" I yelled. "Everybody down!" Only Mike wasn't quick enough. The slug punched a neat hole through the toughened plexiglass window and took him in the temple. Lucy gave a brief scream as he died in her lap. I didn't have time to notice. The goon fired again. His bullet pierced the door skin and buried itself in my seat, right under my butt. I fumbled with the drive, and managed to find forward. I floored it, and the car leapt ahead. Bullets came fast, now, and I wondered just how many his magazine could possibly hold. Worst thing was, to get out of the lot I would have to drive right past him. "Oh, shitshitshit!" Rob chattered. "We're all gonna die, man!" "Shut up!" I snapped. Lucy had propped Mike's body up, and was scrabbling under the front seat. "What're you doing?" I called. It made sense that she was keeping well down, but I didn't understand what she was looking for. "Tyre iron. Anything. Something to throw". I fished in the door pocket. "This any good?" I passed a screwdriver over my shoulder. "Perfect". She took it. "Drive parallel to him". I took instruction well and did as she asked, pulling up sideways-on to the goon as he took careful aim. Lucy opened her door and stood on the sill, with the body of the car between her and the gunman. About fifteen metres separated them. She cocked an arm, and let fly. Propelled by her colossal strength the screwdriver flew straight and true, covering the distance in an eyeblink. The goon had no time to react. The tool pierced his eyesocket and exploded through the back of his head in a spray of blood, bone fragments, and gobbets of grey matter. He fell like a ragdoll as Lucy climbed back in. "All ri-i-ight!!" Rob clapped his hands together, grinning like a loon while I gunned the car out onto the highway. "Great shot!" "Not so great". Lucy sighed. She looked horrified that she had actually killed someone. I thought it would be tasteless to point out that the man whose throat she had crushed earlier was unlikely to survive. "Not a great shot at all. I was aiming for his leg".