Carmody and the Electric Dragon

10th District Junior High School, Pan City

It was already late, way past the time she should have been home, yet Carmody knew she could not put this off any longer. The elevator doors opened onto the rooftop and she walked out like a condemned prisoner. With a silent grumble she wished she had been quicker to speak up at lunch and let Sarah tell Eric the news.

“Good evening, Miss Brentwood” said F-Thirteen, standing on sentry duty near the elevators. She found she could tell the Jacks apart these days without looking at the ID tags on their chests. As always the Jack was in his dark blue uniform, peaked cap and armoured vest, rifle held at the ready position. She knew most people found the Guard intimidating, scary even, yet now she found their quiet presence a comfort.

“Hi, F-Thirteen” she greeted the clone, giving him a big smile. “Is Eric still in the Project house?”

“Yes, Miss. He has been here most of the day, installing and testing new equipment”

“Thanks. I have some news to tell him. I’ll see you later” she said and began to walk towards the structure Stanley lived in.

“Ah, Miss Brentwood, before you go may I ask you for a favour?” asked F-Thirteen, sounding almost embarrassed if that were possible. Carmody stopped walking and turned to face him, adjusting the school bag and cricket bat slung over her shoulders.

“Sure, anything for you guys” she replied easily.

“Miss, would you please give me a name?”

“Oh crap!” she blurted out, then hastily waved her arms and added “Sorry, that is not your name!” as she saw the face of the clone fall. “Give me a moment here, please”

The clone soldier watched her expectantly as she tried to get her thoughts in order. There was no denying she should have prepared for this she mentally chastised herself. Then she considered his designation number, Thirteen. Everyone considered that to be an unlucky number to be associated with, yet F-Thirteen was surely not like that.

“How about I call you Lucky?” she proposed.

The Jack considered this for a moment and then nodded to the girl.

“Thank you, Miss Brentwood, I am honoured by the name you have given me” said Lucky and bowed to her.

“You are welcome, Lucky!” she answered and turned on her heel and headed to the Project House. Three down, two to go she thought to herself. She was definitely getting better at this!

=====

’Whatcha doing?” Carmody asked as she entered the main living space of Stanley’s house. Eric looked up from the device he was working on, his face set in a flat, emotionless void until he saw the girl. Then his eyes and mouth lifted and he smiled at her, sending a flood of warmth into Carmody’s chest.

“It is a communication device for Stanley” the boy told her. “Hopefully it will allow the rest of the AURA team to communicate with him when you or Sarah aren’t around”

“That is a great idea!” Carmody said with enthusiasm. “Actually, where is Stanley?” she asked as she looked around the room.

“Isn’t he here?” wondered Eric. “I really can’t tell, although I am beginning to see vague outlines or dark shapes sometimes, like my brain is starting to recognise him”

“I guess it can work like that” Carmody mused. “If you associate with him enough, your subconscious mind must begin to accept he is real. The conscious part certainly has to know he exists, because he affects the world around him”

“Indeed, that is how Achmed and I thought up this system of communication” Eric agreed. “Stanley still affects the environment around him, even if we can’t perceive him ourselves”

“Well, I can see him” Carmody corrected the boy, who gave her an exasperated sigh.

“What I meant was, changes he makes in the environment can be seen by regular people, not just the Dracoris types like you and Sarah. If he opens a door, we can see the door is open. If he breaks a coffee mug, we can spot the broken pieces even when he tries to hide them behind a lounge chair”

“Is that last example something you need to get off your chest?” Carmody asked with gentle humour.

“The mug is not important” Eric said snarkily, “Even if it was given to me by someone special. What matters is that we just needed something mechanical that could react to his actions yet be visible to the rest of us”

“So, like a giant typewriter from the old days? Those ones with buttons and levers that print a letter on a piece of paper? Did they even make typewriters that big, because he has really long claws?”

“You are on the right track. That is the same inspiration that Achmed had and we worked out the design between us. Go stand over where Stanley normally sits, you will see a big board on the wall”

Carmody duly went and stood in the designated spot, observing a large board fitted with buttons of various sizes, all big enough to be easily tapped by a dragon sized claw. Some of the buttons had simple words on them, like YES, NO, MAYBE, STOP and GO. Then there was a whole alphabet and numbers from zero to ten. Lastly were some more buttons with days of the week and months of the year.

“Wow, you guys really put some thought into this” she told Eric.

“Yes we did. And whatever he pushes is sent via a simple electrical signal to this display screen” Eric held up the device he had been working on as she entered and she could see the cables running to the board in front of her..

“Okay, let’s give this a go” he announced, “Stanley, can you hear me?”

Carmody promptly pushed the NO button. Eric turned his head and regarded her with a flat expression.

“Well, Stanley isn’t here so he can’t hear you” she explained deadpan.

“Okay, thanks Carmody, I will wait until Stanley is here to try this out” Eric said with resignation.

“Wait a minute Eric, I am sorry for messing about. Let me try and send another message to you” She applied herself to the board and tapped out a message and it appeared on the screen in front of the boy.

CAN WE ADD SOMEONE TO THE AURA PROJECT?

“Like who?” Eric asked the girl.

A FRIEND. SHE HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE EVENTS SINCE THEY BEGAN

“This is a highly restricted project, Carmody. I can’t allow anyone in just because they are a friend. Who is it you want to join the team”

ANGELINA

“Hang on, do you mean Angelina Brackenridge, from the Brackenridge Transportation family?”

YES

Eric got out of his seat and walked urgently across the room, taking Carmody by the shoulders. His face was intense and Carmody quailed under his regard, feeling his strong hands gripping tightly into her flesh.

“She’s dangerous, Carmody. You know that. I can’t allow someone like her to be part of this team”

“Angelina is my best friend and I trust her with my life” she said defiantly to Eric. “She has great Telekinetic skills and the others like her”

“There is more to her and her family than you know, Carmody. I won’t allow her to be part of this project and I know my brother would refuse as well”

Carmody looked at Eric and she could see the stern resolve in him. He was not going to change his mind, she was certain of that.

“Then I guess I don’t want to be part of this team anymore” she said quietly.

“What are you talking about, Carmody? This team needs you, you can’t leave”

She felt something twist inside of her and it hurt.

“The team doesn’t need me. You have Sarah to talk with Stanley, I am just an extra”. She pulled her arms free from Eric’s grip and went to the table, picking up her bags and bat.

“What about me, Carmody?” Eric asked her, unmoving from where she had left him.

“Like I said, you don’t need me. You have Sarah”

Before he could say any more, she dashed out of the house and ran to the elevators. Lucky was there as she approached and he noted her wet eyes.

“Are you alright, Miss Brentwood?” he asked her and Carmody felt the tears well up from inside of her. She fell against his solid, armoured body and sobbed, her tears falling on his arms as he awkwardly tried to console her.

A pair of strong arms touched her back and for a moment she thought it was Eric. She turned and saw it was Fiona, her face a mask of concern. The clone woman was in just her uniform, no armour or cap. She folded the girl in her arms and carried her to their Guard Post and Carmody could feel the warmth of her body through the cloth.

“It will be Okay, Carmody” Fiona assured her, yet the girl knew it wouldn’t be alright. Something had been broken this evening and she wondered if it could ever be mended.

=====

10th District Maintenance Tunnels, Pan City

Hud Dawes was a Wall Runner, a career choice that was a lot less glamorous than it sounded. Currently he was wading through evil smelling water, his cargo pack perched high on his back and his route illuminated by a fading waterproof headlamp

“Knew I should have recharged the damned batteries before this run” he muttered to himself but pressed on. It was a tunnel he had used many times in the past to sneak under the Guard patrols so he did not need a light to find his way. Not that he was worried about Guards right now, as the word among the Runners was that all the patrols had been suspended in the tunnel network.

Nobody knew for sure why that was, but Hud was not going to let this chance slip through his fingers. He had some dealers eagerly awaiting this latest shipment and he was not going to let them down. Those wads of Pandas were in his hands already, just another five hundred meters to the surface shaft and it was Payday!

A ripple ran through the water ahead of him, cutting a V-line into the surface. His light was failing rapidly, but he had seen that kind of stuff many times before. Rats and even snakes used the water filled tunnels as often as he did. Most surface dwellers would be freaked out, terrified by the idea of one of the tunnel critters touching them, even biting them.

Hud wore a heavy duty coverall, waterproof from his toes to his neck and impervious to any vermin that might try and take a bite out of him. He forged ahead confidently and did not even bat an eyelid when he felt the sinuous touch of something against his legs.

“Rack off you filth” he said to the dark waters around him and stepped confidently forwards. A sudden pain came from his submerged leg, as if a sharp blade had been thrust into his calf. He grunted in pain and reach down to feel around his injured leg.

“What the hell?” he gasped as he felt something wrap around his arm, trying to pull him under the waist high water. His headlamp reflected his own panicked eyes as the dark water became like a mirror and he was dragged towards the surface. He jerked and thrashed, trying to free himself from the grip of whatever was down there.

His face was pulled under the water and he saw his attacker at last. A spherical robot, its long tentacle like arms reaching for him, entwining themselves all over his body. Air bubbled from his lungs as he tried to scream, but there was no-one there to heed his cries.

Soon the water stopped boiling and Hud Dawes floated still and silent in the gentle current. There was hardly any blood to attract the rats to the free meal, as that had been stolen away already. His pale, drained body would eventually float into a grate and cause a blockage that needed to be manually cleared.

Then he would be found and the mystery of his disappearance solved for his grieving family. However that would occur in some days time, far too late to have any effect on the events to come.