Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Simon Crusher

Things had been getting progressively worse for Simon Crusher, Philip had been holding back on him, in fact at the race track he got the feeling that there was something going on, Simon couldn’t place it though, was Meyers compromised? The feds maybe? Or was he back to his old trick of squeezing every last nuyen out of the deal. No matter, he was becoming less than useful now and would need to be dealt with.

Arriving at the facility hadn’t improved matters; he had been away for just over two weeks setting up the big play for Dominic and he expected his deputy to keep things on schedule, this was not the case. He learned that the Legion project had suffered four unrecoverable failures because the civilians in the local town were becoming “edgy”. Not only that but last night a snatch had been rammed off the road, and the team were still alive. Simon dispatched the useless deputy with a single bullet, and then instantly rued his short temper, he could have made amends by joining Legion.

Simon handpicked three of those cold ass console soldiers, Perfect Shooter was a stroke of brilliance by Dominic, and sent them into Nixon. The Snatch team would not be able to tell the authorities anything by morning. And then he decided to take the bull by the horns. Jacket off, sleeves up, Simon did a quick tour.

The facility had been running on tick over since he left, the guards were efficient as always, both above and below ground but for some reason the labcoats were on half shifts, it took all of Simons control to not put a bullet into each and every one of them. Their brains were more useful not spread across the back wall he reasoned.

The growth chamber was more pleasing. There were four pillars that ran floor to ceiling, to each of these pillars four growth pods were secured. Eight fully formed husks were ready, and a further eight were close to completion. Each one looked magnificent, trapped from their waist down in their own pods, their arms pulled and locked into the pillar thrusting their naked torso forward.

Each one looked like the visage of Dominic but not quite. Simon was sure Dominic wouldn’t mind that he had spliced in sections of his own code. All sixteen strained at their tethers, mouths biting silently at the air in front of them, their dark eyes focusing on Simon. He knew they wouldn’t be able to understand his words but he found himself taking to them anyway.

Simon’s eyes traced the cables that fed the lifeless husks the essence from the living, up to the ceiling across the humid camber wall and then back down into the unassuming room where four people were slowly dieing. His gaze lingered there for a moment when his eye caught sight of the little red light. How long had the security alarm been triggered? Was this some kind of drill organised by the new deputy in a vain attempt to impress him. Then he heard the gunfire.

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