Chapter 15

Sam did realize a small conundrum now as she walked out of the room.  She didn’t have a smart phone, or any phone for that matter, to access any maps to look up what was nearby.  She either had to look for an unattended computer or borrow someone’s phone.  This was going to be frustrating.  She leaned against the wall to think for a few minutes and look around to see if anything strikes inspiration.

“Why don’t you sit down?  There is a chair right there.”  It didn’t even take a minute before she was interrupted.  This person, a rather large man in more ways than one, pointed to the chair that was two feet away from Sam.

“I can’t sit in chairs like that.  My tail gets in the way.”

“What, it doesn’t bend?  It should be able to bend out of the way.”

“Sorry, furry logic doesn’t apply to real life.  My tail is built for support.  It won’t bend that far.  Hell, I can barely wag it.  Plus the base is really thick.”

“Oh, come on.  Just loosen an attachment point or something so you can sit.”

“Why don’t you sit down?  You look like you’re sweating a bit.  I think you need the rest more than me.”

“I’m not sweating.  Just a little tired.  It’s been a long few days.”

“Either way.  Come over here and sit down.”

“Ugh.  If I sit, I may not get back up.  I should probably get back to my room.”

“Hang on.  Something isn’t right.”  Sam walked closer to the big man and leaned in close.  He seemed annoyed and leaned back as she looked into his eyes closely.  “You aren’t human.  You’re an android.”

“What? What are you talking about?  You’re crazy.”  He tried to move away quickly but dropped down to a knee with a hard thud.  He sat there prone for a bit before trying to get back up but couldn’t muster the strength to stand back up.  Sam walked over to stand next to him.

“You know, I can hear the servos struggling now that I’m listening for it.  You don’t need to run away.  I’m an alien, it’s not like I can judge.”

“I’m not an android.  This is a suit… and now I’m stuck in this hallway because I haven’t had a chance to plug in and charge in days.”

“I hope you aren’t blaming me for that.  It’s not my fault you let your batteries die.  Question: Do you have the plug on you?”

“Yeah.  It’s in my back.  What are you planning?”

“Come on.  I know of a panel room that isn’t occupied for the rest of the day.  We can hide in there for a while.  If it’s locked then I can just spin the handle.”

“Okay that’s all fine and dandy, but how am I gettin there?  This is an 800 pound suit.”

“Do you want me to carry you?  I can get under a shoulder or completely carry you.  Your choice.”

“H-how?  You’re tiny!”

“Small package, big power.  Now, come on.  Let’s get you to that room.”  Sam wedged herself under the big arm and hefted the heavy body up.  It didn’t take her much effort but she also couldn’t get his whole body up onto his feet since she was quite a bit shorter than he was.  He at least got his feet back under him and just leaned on Sam to take some of the stress of walking off his frame.  The room wasn’t too far away much to their relief.  There weren’t many people in this wing of the convention but they still didn’t want to attract too much attention.  It was bad enough that Sam had to support the guy to walk around.

“This the room?”

“I believe so.  Can you stand on your own?”

“Yeah.  Standing isn’t a big deal.  It’s the walking that is a problem at this point.  Thank you for helping me walk.  It’s still surprising to see someone of your stature able to hold up this size of a suit without trouble.  I can’t wait to get this thing plugged in and step out so I can get a good look at you.  I can’t see squat through these blurry lenses.”

Sam tried the door and thankfully it was unlocked from the last seminar still so they stepped in.  Sam locked the door behind them and helped him walk over to an outlet on the wall that was clear of obstacles so it wasn’t obvious that someone was in the room after they left.  She eased him down to the ground next to the outlet and stood back as he finally relaxed.  It was unnerving to see the eyes go black as the arms lifted the shirt up.  The abdomen opened up from a couple double doors on it covered in padding and revealed the most surprising sight to Sam.

“Fenneko?”

“Oh god! No!  I hate that show!  Why would you say that?  I am a fennec as they are called on this planet, yes, but no!  Not that horrid character!  Ugh.”

Sam smiled as the three foot fennec girl with thick black eyeliner and a skimpy baby blue bikini on stepped from inside the robot.  Then it occured to Sam.  This was a girl in a guy robot.

“Wait.  You’re a girl.  Why the behemoth guy robot?”

“What?  I am my own boyfriend and girlfriend.  I even have a remote control so I can have sex if I want.  What else would I want?”

“I don’t know.  Cuddles, romance, companionship?”

“Nah.  Not worth it.  Got all I’ll ever need right here.  Don’t want kids, strings, or romance.  Want to give it a try once it charges?”

“Nah, I’m good.  Way too sensitive to give penetration a try.  I stick to light touches and tongues for now.  I don’t feel like passing out.”

“Your loss.  So what’s your story anyways?  Not that often someone who isn’t human in appearance gets away from the feds for long.  I’ve been hiding for a year now but I’ve had this since I got here.”

“Chemical accident that awakened dormant alien DNA and changed me from human to alien five years ago.  I have the benefit of being able to fly for long distances, though, so they haven’t been able to catch me.  But I’m turning myself in in a few days to go off world.  Something about a vision I had and needing to save the world.  You know, normal crap.”

“Oooh, rough.  I was born here on Earth years ago, actually.  I found my way back.  I hate it off world.  Creatures my size and strength are practically stepped on or eaten.  We have our own world but it wasn’t worth it.  Poverty wracked world.  Might as well have been living on the African plains.  Which I did for a little while.  It wasn’t very fun.  Everything either wanted to squish you or eat you.”

They chatted a bit longer about less interesting topics to pass the time and got to know each other a bit better.  The robot really was a great piece of equipment and was actually pretty light and efficient under all the padding to make it look like a large man.  Well, light was relative, it was still over 700 pounds but for it being as strong as it was it was like a feather.  If she hadn’t gone four days without charging then she would have been fine in it.  Even at nearly dead batteries it only took three hours to fully charge, which was astounding to Sam.  Here it took almost three hours just to charge a phone and this robot charged in that time and could last for days on that charge.  Things like this made Sam think about what the technology gap must be between this world and others.

Sam offered her (him?) to come out to dinner with them but they had prior engagements to get to so the pair parted ways and went their separate ways.  By this point she figured that Kyle and Anna must be closing up the photo room and headed in that direction.  There must have been an event going on because there weren’t many people in the halls.  Sam didn’t think anything of it and headed through the convention back to the other side to meet up with her friends.  Finally Sam noticed that the farther along she got the more nervous that people seemed.  Something wasn’t right.  

As if on cue, her new fennec friend came running down the hall followed by a couple militia cyborgs.  Her arm was ripped showing the metal underneath and fake blood dripped from the wound.

“Run while you can!  There is a whole squad of them here!  They rounded up most of the convention into a couple of the rooms!”  She ran past Sam with a glance back but kept going, fearing for her life.

It was obvious Sam was an alien and one of the cyborgs detoured to Sam while the other one tried to run past her.  She lashed out, tripping the one trying to pass her before throwing him into the other one that slowed to go straight for her.  HWP, Home World Purity, was a plague that Sam despised, and they had it emblazoned all over their gear.

As they disentangled themselves from each other, Sam stepped over and kicked one in the head, flipping him over from the impact.  The other lunged to grab her as he was getting up and she hit him in the chest with a focused punch.  He flew back a good fifteen feet before coming to a stop on the ground.  Sam paused for a minute and looked at the two men.  The first had his skull caved in from the blow.  Sam could see splintered metal sticking out of his forehead where she kicked him.  The sight had her gagging and ready to puke.

She walked farther down the hall in the direction the men had come and where the other was lying motionless in the hallway.  As Sam got closer, she realized the man was certainly dead.  His rib cage had a collapsed in pocket over his heart from where she had punched him.  His heart was likely destroyed from the blow.  She thought she had been holding back with these two.  She hadn’t hit any harder than she had with the guards sparring at the temple and yet these two had been killed so easily with one shot.  How little force must she use if she only wanted to knock them unconscious?  Her head was swimming and she had to kneel on the floor to keep from falling over from the overload.

Sam calmed down.  She knew they were both gone and headed off down the hall at a run for the rest of the squad.  Sam slowed when she heard scared voices and walked into a room that had six more of the cyborg men sorting and scanning all of the attendees they had cornered in the room.

“Hey, shit for brains!  Leave them alone!  You’re here for me, not them.”

All six of them turned to Sam.  The smallest of the group started issuing orders too low for Sam to pick up from across the room as she advanced on their position at a walk.  They converged on her at a jog and formed a crescent around her to box her in.  Sam thought they seemed awfully confident for her having just walked in here just now.  Then again she wasn’t feeling very confident herself.  Not that she didn’t think she could stop them, but that she didn’t think she could stop herself.

“Units 3 and 7 are not responding.  How should we proceed captain?”  Sam heard that from the smaller of the group and figured he was indeed the leader, though what that meant was up for debate at this moment.  Sam stood at the ready though and prepared for anything.

“All units subdue.  Maximum non lethal damage allowed.”

That was the cue Sam was listening for as they converged on her as one.  Sam did a roundhouse kick, hitting the man to her right in the arm where he was cyborg instead of human.  The blow still shattered his arm and sent the shrapnel into his body as well as his bulk careening through the rest of his comrades on that side of Sam.  The next closest she grabbed by the arm, anchored her body on the ground, and spun around to crash him over and down onto more of the men coming for her.

With two completely out and three more injured in less than four seconds, the remaining one paused for a second and pulled out weapons.  He wielded a shock baton and knife, ready to use them in any way he could to take down Sam.  He leaped, swinging the baton overhead at her but she deflected it to the side.  He came up from the other side with his knife to get her just above the wing joint but she stopped his advance instead of deflecting.  He realized quickly her strength and jumped back, dropping the baton for a gun at his hip.  He drew it quickly and fired as he pulled it out without aiming.

Out came a dart that Sam tried to avoid but it stuck in the side of her hip.  Immediately she felt the area going numb and realized it was a nerve poison, pulling out the dart and throwing it back at the man with the gun.  It stuck him in the chest and the little bit in the vial left had him convulsing on the ground in seconds.

“Oh, that’s not good.”  Her leg was starting to go numb now and it was starting to feel weak.  This really wasn’t good!  Sam limped off to where she thought Kyle and Anna would be in hope she could at least say goodbye and maybe steal a phone.

They were just leaving the photo room hand in hand when Sam limped over, “Anna!  I need to steal your phone.  Here is a couple hundred to get a new one.  No arguing, I need to leave!  I’m so sorry to bail on you two like this but I have to.  HWP attacked and I got hit with something.  I need to contact the Feds.  I may not see you two again after this.  Give me a hug, I’m going to miss you guys!  Don’t go that way!  The grunts are over there!”

They were both confused and speechless but Anna handed over her phone as Sam pushed a few hundred dollars into her hand.  They hugged for a while, Sam not wanting to let go but knowing she needed to.  The toxin was starting to come up from her leg into her side and she was starting to lose feeling in too much of her side.  She needed to fly still.

Sam turned and hobbled out the emergency door near where they were.  She couldn’t afford to go all the way to the main doors.  On top of that she was sure the place was probably crawling with police by now anyways.  Particularly with at least two dead bodies currently in the convention space that Sam left there.

She jumped up into the air once she was outside and started flying North.  She didn’t really have much of a direction she could go but she needed to leave.  Anna’s phone was a flip phone so she popped it open and dialed the number she had gotten from Terry years ago.  Hopefully Anna had enough minutes left to get through to him and tell him what was going on.

“Terry!  It’s Sam.  HWP attacked a convention.  I stopped them but I got hit with something.  Nerve agent.  Im slowly going numb.  It put one of their people in convulsions.  I’m headed North.  East?  Thats towards the coast though.  Alright, I hope I can get to you, it’s getting close to my flight muscles.  As in I lose the ability to fly and I’ll be stuck in one spot on the ground.  I sure hope you have that helicopter gassed and ready to go because I hear one coming up behind me!”

That was when the phone chimed saying minutes were used up.  Sam cursed and shoved it in her bag in case Terry could track the GPS on it or something.  She looked back and saw the helicopter was a fast travel type and was coming up from above her.  If she wasn’t staying low in case she lost function of her wing then she would have just gone above the helicopters range but falling from 40,000 feet was probably fatal.  Then, just her luck, she heard the distortion of an object flying through the air past her head.  She didn’t hear a bang though so it was probably a dart gun, which meant the same shit they already hit her with once.

She started to sway side to side randomly to make herself a harder target.  It slowed her down a little but she would rather not get hit with another dart right now.  That first one was already being a serious problem right now.  The smell of coastal air and the sight of the shore cliffs in the distance got her excited and she faltered in her weaving for just a second too much.  A sharp pain hit her shoulder and she felt the numbness start spreading there as well as at her hip.  The numbness was wrapping around her wing joint now and she couldn’t keep up the flying anymore.  She angled down and glided down into a clearing, trying her best to keep the wing straight but it was losing strength fast.  When she was fifty feet from the ground her wing completely gave out and she dropped like a rock into the clearing.

She hit hard, barely tumbling.  It was painful and embarrassing but she couldn’t help it with her wing being bum now.  She also couldn’t move much since her whole leg was completely dead now too.  The helicopter that had shot at her circled around and hovered over the clearing.  The shot to her shoulder was spreading to her neck and chest making it hard to hold her head up and breathe.  A woman in a red dress hung out the side of the helicopter as it lowered down closer to the ground, keeping a rifle trained on Sam, not that she could have moved enough to do much unless the woman came down next to her.  

The sound of another helicopter filled the air and the woman quickly ducked back into their craft and took off at high speeds as a big bulky craft came over the trees.  This craft had a couple rocket launchers on the side and a Gatling gun on the front that was likely attached to a visor on the pilot but Sam also noticed it also had an open bay as it turned sideways to hover over her.  Terry looked over the side down at her and she tried to give a thumbs up but she lost feeling in her whole body.  Everything went limp.  She couldn’t even tell if she was breathing or if her heart was still beating.  A couple guys repelled down ropes to get to Sam but then her hearing went and she couldn’t hear what they were saying any more.  They were sending down a basket to pick her up when her vision went and she was plunged into darkness.

Outside of Sam’s head, Terry was directing people to pick her up and get her into the helicopter to leave.  He knew she was still alive because he could feel her mental resistance even now with her limp on the ground.  Once she was in the craft they hightailed it out of there back to the carrier they were traveling on.  He called ahead to make sure there was a med team waiting and warned them that the patient was hit with neurotoxins and would need assisted breathing.  

Terry was hit with a vision he could tell was from Sam when they got close to the carrier.  It was of Sam but she was much larger and radiated a golden light.  The vision faded as abruptly as it started and left him looking at Sam near death next to him and wondering what she was.  

When they landed, the medical team took over and pushed everyone away as they hauled Sam away to be treated.  Terry and a couple of the crew watched her go into the belly of the ship, them out of curiosity at never seeing one like Sam.  Terry on the other hand wondered what was in store for her and for them as well.  If he was having a vision about her then there couldn’t be anything good about it.