Chapter Eight
By GlitterRock
"What the--?"
"Dammit, Xigeous, I can’t see a blasted thing!"
"Whose hand is THAT??"
"Sorry, Lianna!"
"Xigeous! When this clears, I’m gonna kick your—"
Slowly, the thick cloud cleared, and the people looked about. There was a large hole in the wall, which was closed off by a thick-blast shield. Lanzman looked about, pointing at the wall. "CyberBeast must be on the other side of that!"
Gray Zombie said, "Hey, that Enapov is gone."
"Never mind about that!" Xigeous said, eyes darting around nervously. "Where’s Aileen Quinn??"
*
CyberBeast yelled out as he hit the shield a final time with his metallic hand. His enhanced strength didn’t even make a dent on it! Then, he remembered Xigeous and his weaponry… especially the XIG-Gun at his hip. He rose the ray gun and aimed it at the blast shield, pulling the trigger.
POOP POOP POOP
The light balls left the barrel and struck the surface of the shield. The impact spread and throbbed, but slowly died away. He went forward, giving the wall another thump, but it remained as strong and impenetrable as before.
"Durasteel," he muttered to himself. He couldn’t wait to tell Xigeous that his precious XIG weapon was useless against it, and to see the look on his face! But that pleasure would have to wait. He had to get back to the others first. He looked about, his cybernetic eye magnifying what little light there was. It looked like he was in a ventilation system. There was an airduct facing him, which looked big enough to fit him. He pulled off the grate, and climbed in.
*
Lanzman looked at Lianna. He said to the blonde, "Don’t worry. I’ll protect you from Aileen Quinn." He missed seeing the steely stare that Gray Zombie gave him behind his back.
Lianna chuckled; she, of course, had seen Zombie’s look. "I think I can take care of myself against some little Broadway bippie, Lanzmanelli. But thanks."
The door to the room slid open, and Enapov walked back in. She smiled pleasantly as she looked at the others. Xigeous snapped at her (while at the same time protecting himself behind the strong frame of Lanzman), "What’s going on here?"
"Dr. Xigeous, that’s a very complex question. Do you mean philosophically or scientifically?"
Xigeous sniffed. "Don’t try to act superior to me, my dear! I’ve stood brain to brain with the best and always walked away the victor."
"Victor?" Instantly alert, Gray Zombie asked, "Like in Vic Tayback??"
Lianna sighed, rolling her eyes. "Will you shut up about the Vic Tayback thing! Or better yet – stow it!" Gray Zombie glared at her.
"I’ve just spoke to my employer." Enapov said, the smile still on her face. "He’s asked me to ask you if you’d like to join him for coffee and chocolate fingers."
Lanzman looked at Enapov. "He’s asked you… to ask us… uh… should I be taking notes, doc?" Xigeous hushed him up by tugging on his cape.
"Your employer?" Xigeous asked, "And he’ll explain everything to us?"
Enapov laughed. "It’s only Chapter 8, silly! You don’t give everything away this early. No, not everything. But just enough to make it interesting. Please, follow me." She turned and left the room. The others followed her, Gray Zombie taking the lead. Enapov led them through the complex, until she opened a door, and motioned for them to enter. They did so, cautiously.
In the room beyond it was a lavishly decorated library, like something from a Sherlock Holmes episode of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. Books lined the shelves, a fire crackled in the fireplace, and a man stood at the large picture window staring out into the blue sky. Enapov cleared her throat slightly, and the man turned to look at the group. He had a pleasant face, and brown hair. A pair of glasses was worn over his blue eyes. He had an air of power about him, but without any sort of sexual appeal whatsoever. He smiled at them. "Ach, welcome!" He spoke with a heavy Scottish accent. "Allow muh to introduce muhself. I’m Angus Glitterroch." He pronounced his last name like "loch," and the resonance he left on the r’s lingered in the air for seconds afterwards. "Please, have ah seat. Enapov, lass… fetch thuh coffee an’ chocolate fingers for 'em." Enapov smiled as she nodded and left.
Lianna leveled her eyes at Glitterroch, smiling. "You have a very interesting hospitality for your guests, Mr. Glitterroch. Threats of death… sudden isolation. You really should advertise. I’m sure the German tourist trade alone would make you rich!"
Glitterroch laughed. "Ach, I’m already rich, lassie! I will admit, though, I’m surprised that America sent ye all so fast to muh little island, here."
"Your island?" Xigeous said, "You mean… you own it?"
"Oh yeah! An’ I don’t really consider it an island so much as an, ah… prototype." He smiled.
Gray Zombie looked about the room. He saw on one of the bookshelves a section with a small computer screen on it. There was a schematic of the island on it. Immediately, he wondered about whether he might use that to find the First Lady’s plane. But how… how to find out without tipping the others off to his secret mission? "Say, Glitterroch, could that be used to find a plane that crashed here?" There. Nice and subtle. No way he could suspect.
Glitterroch smiled at him and walked over to the computer. "Nae, Mr. Zombie. All this is good fer is this… " He tapped a few buttons on the control console, and pressed "enter."
There was a rumbling, and the others all tried to keep their balance. "An earthquake?" Lanzman called out.
"Look!" Xigeous pointed at the window, and they all did as he instructed, and did, indeed, look.
The sky was moving ever so slowly. But as the others soon realized, it wasn’t the sky that was moving…
… it was the island!!
INTERLUDE 1:
Whatever happened to Buck Fifty?
Buck thrashed in his restraints as a shrill voice sung out, "It’s a hard knock life… for us! It’s a hard knock life… "
"Arrrrrrgh!"
INTERLUDE 2:
What happens when a five hundred pound cybernetically enhanced soldier tries to climb through an ventiliation system?
CyberBeast felt the thin metallic airduct beneath him buckle and creak.
"Oh boy…"
There was a ripping sound, and the airduct tore open, sending CyberBeast falling down into….
... TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER NINE!
