Project: MI
Chapter 14

Teruopulled himself out from underneath the dumpster and took a look around.

It’s been about an hour since Itried to bust a hole through their defenses, hethought, placing one hand on the brick wall beside him. Maybe I can… Aaah!!!

Bitingdown to keep from crying out from his attempt to stand, he lowered himselfcarefully back down to the ground. Changing his position so that his back wassupported by the wall, he cautiously pulled up his now-grimy pant leg toinspect the damage from his fall. He winced upon spying an expanse dark red andblue bruises rising along his ankle.

That’s…not a good sign. I musthave really messed up my leg worse than I thought. My heroi metabolism hasn’tfixed it yet.

Hewondered what was wrong. Fracture? Completely broken? He resisted the urge totest the bones to see if he could feel anything grinding against each other.Regardless, either type of injury would greatly extend the time required forthe healing process.

At least nothing’s poking out ofthe skin, he thought, grimacing. At least there’s a silver lining I can livewith. I don’t have to deal with any blood.

“Okay,”he breathed. “Let’s…try this again.”

Thistime, using his good leg, he pushed himself up from off the ground. Using thewall to brace himself, he hobbled along toward the edge of the alley. It wasdarker out now. Much darker. This suited him just replace, though he was certainthat the CHC was ready for the loss of visibility. Unfortunately for him…

I can’t track their movementsnow. I’ve got to admit, as far as plans go, blowing up a transformer was not mybest move. I’m crippled and I can’t see anything worth a damn. Finding theentrance to the junkyard is going to be even harder since it’s probably moved…Crud.

Breathingheavily, he dropped back a bit. Blood was pounding through his body at a rapidpace as it worked to fix itself. It made it rather difficult for him toconcentrate and figure out a way around his current predicament.

I wonder if my spider-botsurvived. It should have…shouldn’t it? No… The range from the blast was prettylarge and disabled a ton of Guardian Spheres. There’s no way it could have…

Adjustinghimself to keep from falling, he kicked at a small, spherical device with adead electric eye in its center. Turning toward it, a thought came to mind anda small smile began to draw across his face.

Looks like the CHC missed onewhen they made their initial sweep over the area.Teruo tsked and picked up the sphere. Verycareless you guys… Very, very careless…

DariaFoster looked at the photograph of the ruined hammer transmitted to her byground agents from the scene.

“Sweepshave still turned up nothing?” she asked a tall agent wearing sunglasses on hercomputer screen.

“So far,”the agent replied. “We’re expanding thesearch perimeter, but it’s possible that the spatial warp from the junkyard isinterfering with sensors.”

Darianodded. That was always a possibility. Itgets bigger every year too, she mused. “All right,” she replied. “I’ll haveMallory adjust the long range equipment. Continue the search and report back ifanything turns up.”

“Yes Director.”

Withthat, Daria turned off her computer screen and looked up at Kelly, who stoodacross from her, data pad in hand.

“Ifa kid got into the junkyard during that brief moment, heaven help them,” Kellysaid. “There’s no way that we can expect to go in there right now.”

Darianodded. The spatial warp was known for random bouts of oscillation. While notnecessarily harmful, there were moments where the junkyard would…rearrangeitself. A person could end up in an entirely different and farther off areafrom where they started just by turning a corner. She sighed and massaged hertemples.

“I’vebeen telling the higher ups that we need to increase patrol duties around thatarea and have more staff to monitor the distortion,” Daria said, her tonetired.

“We’vegot it better than other places,” Kelly replied, trying to be helpful. Dariagave her a deadpan expression. She couldn’t fault Kelly for her comment, butthe knowledge that children often attempted to enter the junkyard did not sitwell with her.

I guess I should be grateful thatI wasn’t in charge when that one girl was nearly killed in the place last year,she mused. I just hope that this isn’trelated to the heroi that broke out of there. Which reminds me…

“Isthere anything new to report on the main investigation?”

“Imagesearches give us a ‘best guess’ on the brand of shoes as belonging to eitherZeus or Pro-Athlete. There’s a strong indication that they’re female as well.”Kelly bit on her tongue, not saying what they both were already thinking. “Ifthis is the case,” she continued,” this puts the individual in the upperbracket of economics. It’s not absolutely certain, but it is the most likely.”

Dariaturned around in her chair so that she was looking out the window. Her browfurrowed, not liking this development.

Damn it Amanda,she thought bitterly. Why are you doingthis?

“Verywell,” she said after a moment. “Begin sifting through camera footage from allschools in the area and begin identifying any students that fit thedescription. Have their records ready for me by tomorrow.”

“YesDirector,” Kelly replied, tapping on her data pad.”

Ifthere was ever a moment that Teruo was glad that he took extra effort to makehis Doctor device extra durable, this was one of them. His computer pad wasfried…at least until he could work on it with more equipment than he hadavailable, but the rod that served as his primary general-purpose tool wouldmore than suffice for futzing around with a Guardian ball.

It helps that they tend to bepretty durable themselves, he thought, wires hissing as heprobed the presently open orb. Kind ofsurprised that so many of them got killed like this though. These things arenormally pretty robust…way more than this. I mean, they have to fight heroi after all…

Gearsin his mind turned. Was there something to that thought?

Maybe the manufacturers are justtrying to save money somewhere. I mean, it’s not like everyone expects to havethese things hit by an EMP. I’ll have to ask Kitsune when I get home. He mightknow something.

Anotherspark and the orb began to vibrate to life.

“Okay,”he breathed, licking his lips. Turning the Guardian around, he saw that theblue light was restored to its eye. “Guardian. Identify.”

“Guardian Model CM1440M001.Registration…”

“Enoughof that,” Teruo interrupted. “Do you recognize me?”

“You are…”The Guardian buzzed, searching through its memory. “Teruo Kato, a heroi.”

“Allright. Nice to know that you weren’t seriously damaged from earlier. What’s thedeal with the junkyard?”

“A heroi was spotted leaving thevicinity. The CHC is investigating the grounds.”

“Isthat all?”

TheSphere’s eye dimmed slightly and it stuttered a little.

“F-File corruption. Un-Un-Unableto…”

“Gotit. You are under my command now, understood?”

“Yes.”

“Youare capable of flight as well, correct?”

Inanswer, the Guardian Sphere trembled and then rose into the air. Teruo noddedin appreciation.

“Allright. Here’s what I need you to do. I need you to fly at an altitude of…” hethought for a second. “…thirty meters and seven blocks north of here. Once youget to that distance, begin broadcasting an emergency signal—Gamma status—anderase all memory logs. Then begin a circuitous movement down seven blocks andrepeat while alternating directions at each circuit’s completion, continuing tobroadcast that signal. Got it?”

“Understood.”

Withthat, the Guardian flew off at a rapid speed. Leaning back, Teruo flipped hisDoctor device in his hand and caught it, smirking as he began calculating howlong it would take for the orb to reach its destination.

This might turn out well afterall. Hope they enjoy their little merry-go-round.

Itdidn’t take long for the ruckus to start. Just as he predicted, the alert ofthe orb’s Gamma status signal caused a flurry of activity as troops andvehicles began to storm toward the signal’s location. He didn’t have to seethem; the shouting and sounds of movement were all that he needed to know.Counting to thirty, he staggered to his feet and began to limp toward thejunkyard. It felt as though an eternity passed while he hobbled along, andevery time he heard warbling sounds he became deathly afraid that the CHC sawthrough his trick too soon. In spite of his fears, he arrived at hisdestination, and now stood outside the gate.

“Madeit,” he breathed, resisting the urge to lean on the fence to catch his breath.His leg throbbed painfully, but the shock he’d get would be far worse thanthat. Directional fifteen thousand volt fencewith variable amp control to counter almost any heroi that might try to getover. All controlled by an AI via through either Guardian Spheres or Bob thebot…

He grinned.‘Almost’ being the key word here. Too badBob doesn’t know I’m coming…

“Okay…let’ssee…where…we can get in.”

Thiswas the hard part. He calculated that the entrance point had been right herebefore he left the house, but it tended to wander once given enough time. Hourshad passed since then.

“Ugh…”Picking up a loose piece of gravel he tossed it at the fence. Sure enough, ablast of electricity fried it, sending it smoking back down to the ground.

Well… There goes that hope.Without my computer I can’t properly calculate where the opening went. Allthat’s left is…process of elimination?

Teruo’sface paled at the thought. The fence surrounding the junkyard was too long forhim to try. He’d only be caught later rather than sooner since the Guardian Orbhe sent out could only distract the CHC for so long.

“Okay…”he whispered. “Think. There’s got tobe a better way in. Something… Something… I can’t do the math fast enoughwithout my pad so that leaves me with…”

Alight turned on in his head and he snapped his fingers in realization.

That’s it!

Pickingup the smoking gravel again, he got as close as he could to the fence andclosed his eyes. Tossing it forward, he felt heat wash across his body andlight played against the backs of his eyelids. Quickly opening them, he whippedhis head from one side to the other.

At certain angles, the energydischarge would reveal the distortion for a fraction of a second. That’s kindof how it was discovered in the first place. Of course, the ambient temperatureis a lot cooler, so… There!

Resistingthe urge to whoop with delight, Teruo began to limp toward the corner of thefence where he had seen a ripple manifest, picking up the piece of gravel as hedid so. Upon reaching the corner, he tossed it in, and the gravel passedthrough unharmed, sending waves across the fence.

“Thankgods,” he whispered, saluting the gravel before passing through after it.

Ow…

Teruo limpedthrough the junkyard, now safely on the other side of the fence. One hand wasgrasping his leg, trying to soothe it while simultaneously attempting to keepit from collapsing on him.

I’ve got to do something about this leg. It’s goingto be nothing but a problem for me here and I can’t have anything slowing medown.Taking a look around, he continued onward. Toobad I’m not anywhere in the same league as that Tempest chick from the end ofBronze. I could really use some invulnerability right about now…

He winced aspain lanced up his leg. Rounding a corner he brought himself to rest against anold refrigerator and leaned his head against it, gasping heavily. Not wantingto waste too much time, he shouldered off his bag and withdrew a notebook fromit, flipping it open and going to the latest entry regarding a materials list.There was a lot to go through and he had lost a lot of time now.

I’ll probably be only able to get less than a thirdof what’s on here. Well, if this is the best I can manage, I’ll run with it.

Behind him, heheard the sound of metal clacking. Pin wheeling on his good leg, he foundhimself falling onto his rear, half expecting a massive war bot to crashthrough the pile of junk behind him. Instead, he found…nothing. But the soundpersisted. Frowning, he crawled back to his feet.

“Um…hello?” hebegan cautiously. The clicking increased in speed, and within short order asmall, familiar, spidery-legged machination, barely larger than a coin, hoppedoff from the refrigerator that had been Teruo’s resting place. The boy’s mouthsplit into a wide smile at the sight, and he held out one hand for the machineto hop down to.

“Hey!” heexclaimed happily, as the machine nestled itself in his palms. “I thought… Oh,who cares what I thought? You’re okay! You areokay, right?”

The machine beeped at him and bobbed its smallantennae up and down in affirmation. Teruo laughed lightly.

“Great to hear.Now, while I hate to cut this reunion short, I’ve got a new job for you. I needyou to go through the junkyard and start cataloguing materials. Surface stufffor now.” He raised his notebook and the robot shifted its electric eye to it.“Memorize this and report back to me in this spot in an hour. Oh, and replace Bobwhile you’re at it. He’ll be glad to help out.”

The tiny roboticdevice clicked and hopped off its creator’s hand, quickly scurrying away. Teruowatched it go for a moment before dropping his head back on the refrigeratorwith a hollow bang, breathing a little heavily as pain flared in his leg.

I’ve still got to deal with this problem…

Spying a thinmetal tube—a piece of emt, he believed—he crawled over to it, favoring hisinjured leg and roughly pulled it out. It was a good length of four feet;plenty tall enough for his purposes. Standing it up, he hoisted himself back tohis feet, taking the weight off his injured leg and putting it on his makeshiftcrutch.

“All right,” hebreathed. “Let’s do this.”

It didn’t takelong for the disk robot to locate Bob, though whether it was due to fortune orthe properties of the junkyard was anyone’s guess. Ultimately, Bob was foundface down on the ground, unmoving. Teruo’s robot quickly brought him to thesight, causing him to hitch a sigh.

“Must have beenthe EMP,” he lamented, crouching down next to Bob. Pulling out a screwdriver,he poked Bob’s cranium and flipped open a small hatch. “He’s a little bit moresensitive to this sort of thing.” He scowled at himself as he removed hisDoctor device and poked it into the hatch. “I should have been more careful. IfI killed Bob because of this…”

No. He couldn’tthink like that. He was an expert…a geniuswhen it came to machines. There wasn’t a piece of equipment he couldn’t salvagewith the right tools, and here in the junkyard he had all the tools he wouldneed to get Bob back on his feet.

Wonder if I can replace a welding torch, he thoughtsarcastically, withdrawing the device and pulling out his Avalon Army Knifefrom his backpack.

Teruo poked thescrewdriver tool of his Avalon Army Knife into a mess of wires inside an opencranium belonging to a robot wearing a pair of overalls lying on the ground.

“Okay…” Settinghis knife aside and closing up the robot’s cranium. “All set. Now let’s turnyou back…on.”

Flicking aswitch at the base of the robot’s skull, the machine twitched and sat up.

“Hello,” the robot said, seeing Teruo.

“Helloyourself,” Teruo replied with a nod. “Are you okay?”

“I was hit by an Electromagnetic Pulse, but…” Bob sat up andplaced a hand on his forehead. “I seem tobe operating within normal parameters now.”

“Yeah… You mightwant to get yourself checked out by the custodian just in case. I think thespatial warp shielded you from the worst of the effects, but you never know.”

“Indeed,” Bob replied. “How may I assist you, Teruo? I assume you’re here for more equipment?”

“Yeah,” Teruonodded again. “Hope you don’t mind that this isn’t a social visit.”

“You admire technology, so I would call it a socialvisit by default.”Bob then made a wherping sound thatTeruo had long since come to interpret as laughter.

“Sorry. Um…Okay. To start with, I need a focusing lens. Diamond. And…” He hesitated. “…arethere any remaining transmat platforms in the area?”

“I believe there’s one on the northern end of the junkyard.However, if memory serves, it has a crack on its surface. If you plan toteleport anyone, there is a high degree of likelihood that they will die or beassembled deformed.”

“I can deal withthat when the time comes. I’m also going to need a lot of copper wire and emtpiping. I’d rather have something else, but that’s just about the only thingthat I imagine will be reliable.”

“Electrical equipment is in the highestconcentration in the East section, sector seven.” Bob pointed inthe direction and Teruo smiled and used his pipe to help himself stand up,grimacing as he favored his injured leg. “However,I cannot vouch for the condition of any of the material as the spatial warp isless there than in most areas, leaving it exposed to more regular weatheringeffects.”

“That’s fine byme,” Teruo shrugged. “I’ll live with it, I guess. All right. Well, if you can,when you replace anything let me know and I’ll…hobble my way over there.”

“As you request,” Bob replied. Returning the nod,Teruo began to limp off in the direction Bob had pointed out to him. He alreadyhad a rough idea of where to go. Climbing a mountain of trash, he found himselfenvisioning that he was some kind of grand adventurer, exploring the greatunknown, never knowing what was over the next horizon.

How appropriate, he thought, grinning. Here I am, in a sea of treasure from allacross the ages, Bronze to Gold. I could probably conquer the world with all ofthis at my fingertips.

He passed by agiant robot with a hole in its chest. Well,except for that. I’m pretty sure I can’t get that working again.

Ascending to thetop of the trash heap he wiped his brow and surveyed his surroundings. It washard to believe that there could be so much broken and discarded rubbish in onearea. He remembered the junkyards of other cities, but not a single one of themcompared to this place. Here, it just seemed to go on for miles and miles.

He was alwaysstruck by the beauty of the dump’s sheer size, and the vast amount of historythat lay buried within.

So much that they had to make a singularity just tofit it all in. Imagine that… This place could fit entire countries. He shifted inhis position, contemplating that thought for a moment. Huh. It’s a good thing that the EMP didn’t take out the singularitymachines. Otherwise, all this…would have caused some pretty serious problemsfor the city. I wonder where they’re getting the power for it.

He paused onthat line of thought for a moment longer before shaking his head. He couldn’tafford to waste time thinking about it. He had a job to do.