บท 12: Heartbeat (3)
A worker drone with a small clipboard and pen walked up to Khan. The drone adorned a white jacket with a black hard hat.
"Khan, three more people have been reported missing."
Khan straightened in his seat and clutched his hands.
"Damn it, are you serious?"
The worker shook his head.
"Mhm, they've been vanishing seemingly at random times. Some go missing mid-day while others disappear overnight."
"Do we have a location Todd?"
Todd nodded and turned his clipboard around to face Khan.
"Yup, members of the WDF have narrowed down the area to two locations."
"Two…?"
"Yes, two locations, one of them is the northeastern sector, while the other is the southern sector.
"So we're dealing with more than one of them…"
"It appears so. What should we do?"
Khan rubbed his head and thought for what felt like forever.
"We have two options here Todd."
"And they are?"
"First, we can seal off the areas after an evacuation and hope those things don't wander out before we shut them in. On the other hand we could-…"
His voice grew faint as Todd stared at him with a raised eye.
"We could…?"
"We could solve this like how we used to… Back in the old days before we changed our ways…"
Todd frowned and put his hand against his visor's brow, letting out a frustrated sigh.
"Khan, we promised, we can't go back to those times. All of our lives have been so much better since we stopped all of that."
Khan slammed his fist into his desk. His body seethed with rage at his utter lack of competence.
"I don't see any other options Todd! The evacuation is a long shot by far. Those things are definitely sentient based on the way they hunt, so who's to say shutting down two sectors will do anything. At the most we bide for time and hope it can't break into the other sections of the colony…"
"There's a third option Khan…"
"We don't need their help."
"Khan, this is beyond our control."
"I'm not begging the drones that killed my wife to help save my colony."
"You don't have to beg Khan. You don't even have to speak to them."
"What?"
"Uzi will come back, I'm sure of it. Your daughter can convince the disassembly drones to help us!"
"UZI IS JUST A KID! SHE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO HELP US!"
Todd rubbed his hand and slammed his hand down on Khan's desk. He locked eyes with Khan for a singular moment.
"Maybe, just maybe, if you took better care of her, she wouldn't have thought she had to help us…"
"You… You…"
"I'm going to watch the door in case she comes back. Do NOT revert to the old ways, Khan. It's better for everyone. We left those practices in the past for a reason."
Khan scoffed and crossed his arms as Todd snatched his clipboard back while storming off.
-
Todd stood idly by Door 2. The first door still hadn't been prepared fully, so the colony would have to make do with the weaker two.
I'm glad I sealed off those vents. Until that door gets repaired, I'm not risking another hostile disassembly drone invasion.
He tapped his finger idly against his shoulder while humming unrhythmically to himself. His voice and the hollow tapping were the only things filling the massive empty hallway. Todd's eyes wandered around the dim hall.
This place looks awful.
None of the doors had been cleaned in weeks due to the utter incompetence from the rest of the WDF. Todd groaned and tilted his head back.
"Lazy heaps of junk. Now since the disassembly drones got in, they're definitely not coming anywhere close to these doors."
He sighed and pushed off the wall his body was leaning on. Slowly he broke out into a jog towards the janitor's closet.
This is normally Makarov's job. Ohhhhh he is SO getting a sensorful from me later…
"Hey Todd!"
Todd's head snapped to the left as he pulled out a mop and bucket of water.
"Rooooonnnnn, what's up man?"
Ron smiled and walked over to Todd. His hands gripped the bucket Todd was carrying.
"Nothing much, just wanted to see how you were doing. Need a hand?"
"Of course, Makarov has been slacking with the whole door maintenance part."
"Haha, when has he not been slacking?"
Todd laughed a little at Ron's remark.
"Sooo true."
Both the worker drones smiled and walked past Door 3's open entrance and stopped beside Door 2. Ron lowered the bucket while Todd dipped the mop in water. The mop slid across Door 2's surface as the grime and dust slowly faded away.
Todd sighed and looked at his buddy.
"Makarov really can't do this? It took me five minutes to clean this much!"
He motioned to the massive wet spot on the door.
"Haha, it's probably harder than it seems."
"Maybe, but Makarov still shouldn't be slac-"
A singular loud thud came from the opposite side of Door 2. Todd and Ron both looked at each other with a worried look. Ron took the mop and bucket from Todd's hand. The worker with the black cap nervously called out.
"W-who's there?"
"It's Uzi you idiots!"
"Uzi!?"
Todd clutched his hands in happiness as Ron turned back to look at the door.
YES!
"Are the disassembly drones with you?"
"Ugh, yes, I'm not leaving them. I trust them way more than any of you."
"GREAT!"
"Was that sarcasm? BITE ME! Listen, these guys also helped save your lifes so it's only fai-"
The door opened as Uzi looked on at Todd confused. S and N were equally confused at how easy it was for the drones to get in. Uzi locked eyes with Todd as he smiled at the three of them.
"That was… easy…"
"Listen Uzi, we really need your help…"
The worker and two disassembly drones stepped inside as Todd closed Door 2 behind them.
-
"What do you mean you need our help?"
Uzi had no idea why her father's co-worker, one of the lead WDF members, was asking her for help.
"We found one of the disassembly drone's bodies…"
"Yeah, so what? We killed that one."
"No… You didn't…"
"What are you talking about?"
"Members of the WDF watched it get dragged away… Some sort of spider was taking it into the vents."
Spider?
Uzi looked towards N and S. Neither of the drones said anything. If anything, the disassembly drones looked more confused than Uzi.
"Well you didn't see the actual drone move right? How do you know if that spider was related to the disassembly drone?"
The male worker's face grew dim as he avoided eye contact.
"That isn't something I'm permitted to tell you…"
Uzi scoffed.
"Oh great, bite me, gramps."
Todd continued to talk despite the hostility from Uzi.
"That isn't all… Recently it's been getting smarter, more aggressive, and it has started… Hunting…"
At the mention of the word hunting, the trio of drones paid much more attention to the male worker's words. S spoke up and got closer, clearly even more confused.
"Hunting?"
"Yes… In the area where the body and spider were last seen, workers have been going missing. So far 23 worker drones have been lost in the sector where we believe the thing's hunting grounds are."
Uzi laughed slightly.
"I promise you we killed that one. N stabbed him right through the chest, right N?"
"Y-yeah…"
S raised an eye for a moment and then turned towards N.
"You sure? The guy seemed abnormally happy to die…"
Uzi joined in, just as suspicious as S.
"Yeah… Why'd he seem so happy?"
"I-I don't know…"
"Whatever."
The female worker drone turned back towards Todd. Ron, another high ranking member of the WDF, was now standing beside him. Uzi looked at Ron for a moment before continuing.
"What exactly does my dad want us to do?"
"Khan doesn't want you to help, however we need you Uzi. You and the disassembly drones are really the only viable option we have right now."
Of course, ugh!
"Greaaaaaat, so my father doesn't even want my help? Whatever, how about we make a deal?"
Todd tilted his head.
"Uhm… What kind of deal?"
"We take care of that spider thing, and you find someone to help us fix these guys' spaceship."
Uzi pointed back to the two large drones standing behind her. She smirked and crossed her arms.
"Besides, one little spider is nothing for us."
Todd groaned and rubbed his head.
"There's not just one Uzi, there's two of these things."
Uzi got closer to his face.
"No, we only killed one disassembly drone. It's clearly just moving around, you idiot."
The male worker twitched in frustration at the young worker's remark. Ron spoke up while patting Todd's shoulder.
"Just let them handle it Todd. If they think it's only one, then it's probably only one."
"Whatever man, here."
Todd pulled a small map out of his jacket pocket and pushed it against Uzi's chest.
"The circled spots are where we've narrowed that thing's hunting grounds down to. Check both areas regardless of what you find. If you can do that, we'll help your little buddies fix their ship."
Todd stormed off as Ron gave a small friendly wave to Uzi before following his friend.
S put one of her hands on her hip while rolling her eyes.
"What an asshole."
-
The three drones footsteps echoed along the hallway as both curious and frightened workers peeked their heads out of the many rooms lining the hall.
"Oh my gosssshhhhhh! Why does the southern sector have to be so far away!?"
"Stop complaining, you dragged us into this."
"Bite me! I didn't force you to do anything!"
"We could've easily just made them repair the ship…"
"Yeah, okay, sure! Let's force my people to slave away! Because that always works right? That's ALWAYS the best option for you murder hobos!"
S stared Uzi down with a look of disgust.
"You're so emotional, it's disgusting "
"Oh right, and you aren't, S?"
S clenched her mouth shut, refusing to egg the conversation on.
"Uzi!?"
A male worker called out to the small drone as he excitedly ran out of one of the rooms.
"Thad!?"
A drone sporting a maroon vest with yellow sleeves, a black T-shirt, a red cap, and equally colored shoes ran up to Uzi. He stuck his hand up, looking for a high-five. S stepped in front of Uzi and glared down at the tiny male worker. Thad looked up at the female disassembly drone and smiled.
"You look rad dude!"
"W-what?"
S stared down with a confused expression at Thad. The tiny drone didn't seem to be frightened at all by someone he knew was made to kill him.
"You look awesome man! That cool little stinger, that matte black hoodie, even the weird little yellow things on your head. Totally awesome bro!"
The disassembly drone was even more dumbfounded as she turned to Uzi.
"Is he always like this?"
"From what I know, yes."
"Weirdo…"
Uzi stepped past S and high-fived Thad.
"So Uzi, I heard you killed a disassembly drone, you're freaking amazing y'know that?"
"Ahh… T-Thanks, Thad…"
Uzi lowered her head and scratched the back of it while adjusting her beanie. He stepped past Uzi and looked up at N while reaching out for another high-five.
N looked at Thad's hand and then his own before giving the worker a high-five.
"Niceee, what's your name dude?"
Uzi cleared her mechanical throat before walking back up to Thad.
"This big guy right here is N, and that one is S."
N laughed awkwardly, and waved while S just stared.
"Cool names. I thought you left Uzi? Why are ya back?"
"We're here to help with your little spider problem."
"Do we have spiders? Awesome, I love spiders, mind if I come along?"
Does he seriously not know?
"Err- Uhhh-… Sure, I guess?"
"Awesomeeeee, where we goin?"
"The Southern Sector."
"Ohhh, so that's why they've been telling us to stay away from there. Does the Northeastern Sector also have spiders?"
"Yeah, we're checking out this one first though."
"Cool cool, let's go then!"
N leaned into Uzi's ear while angling his hand to block Thad from hearing.
"Are you sure we should take him with us?"
"I mean, we beat L last time. Even if he doesn't die immediately I can just hit him with my epic railg-…"
Uzi reached behind her back and felt nothing.
Shit…
-
V tapped her claw against the weird looking gun leaning on the wall of the ship. It seemed to spark to life at her touch.
As if on cue, the railgun emitted a sharp hissing sound at V. She quickly hissed back.
"Freak!"
-
"Calm down Uzi. Everything's gonna be fine!"
N put his hands on Uzi's shoulders as she smacked her head with her own hands.
"We need that railgun N!"
S walked over and joined in on the conversation.
"Hey idiots, if all we're dealing with is a teeny tiny spider thing, we should be perfectly fine without your little cheat code, Uzi."
"And what if we aren't S? What do we do then?!"
S smacked Uzi's head and began walking further down the hall.
"Hurry up, idiots."
She looked back at Thad who was smiling cluelessly, with no idea as to what was going on.
"Uhm… You too, worker boy…"
"Alrightttt!"
The two began walking together as N and Uzi slowly followed behind.
N patted Uzi's head gently.
"We'll be alright Uzi, I promise."
"Thanks N, but I really don't feel good about this…"
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