Deliver Us Huis

My pocket screen beeped from the table beside my bed. I opened my eyes and rolled over. The world had stopped spinning. That was good. I double tapped the pocket screen, and a message from Petrus started playing.

“Sorry to wake you Tel, but we’re getting ready to go plant the bomb. I could really use your help, but if you’re still feeling bad, don’t worry about it. If you feel up to it though, come upstairs and you can help us finalize the plans.”

My pocket screen beeped again, signaling the end of the message.

I groaned and rolled out of bed. I didn’t want to help, but who knew what Petrus would do without me. I didn’t want the plan to fail because I felt like sitting in bed and leaving things to Petrus.

I took the elevator up a floor and found Petrus looking over a schematic of Caliban’s building.

“Is the bomb ready?” I asked groggily.

Petrus looked up from the plans, “You’re up. Feeling any better?”

I nodded, “Much better, the world has finally stopped spinning.”

Petrus shook his head, “If I had known there were such side effects I would have been the one to do it.”

I shook my head, “You and I both know I wouldn’t have let you.”

He shrugged, “I still wish Nickolai would have told us.”

“It’s in the past, “I said, “I’m more concerned about how this bomb is going to work.”

I walked over to the table and looked at the map of the building.

“Where are we planning to place the bomb?” I asked.

“I was thinking the middle of the building which would be…” he pointed to the middle level, ten stories up from the ground, “Right here.”

“Any ideas on how to get in?” I asked.

“Well, from what I’ve seen,” Petrus said, “At night the building is guarded.”

“Guarded?” I asked, “Why?”

“The building itself is only under renovation, there’s still valuable stuff inside.” Petrus explained.

“And any idea how we’re going to, not only get past them, but also not hurt them in the explosion?”

Petrus shrugged, “I had originally thought we could just distract them, but when the bomb is set of they would definitely get hurt.”

“What if we set it off at the top of the building?” I asked, “It would still gather attention, blowing the building’s roof off, but the guards down below would be farther away from the blast.”

“It would be easier to get a bomb to the roof as well,” Petrus mused.

“What’s the closest building?” I asked.

Petrus turned to a nearby computer and pulled up a town map.

“The closest building is twenty yards away.” Petrus reported.

“Twenty yards?” I asked, “And how big is this blast going to be?”

“Nickolai said the blast was enough to knock down a building, like I had asked.” Petrus said.

“But if we set off something so powerful, couldn’t it hurt the surrounding people and buildings?”

Petrus shrugged, “I don’t know, I’ve never seen one of these in action.”

“Maybe we should test it out somewhere first.” I said, “Somewhere far away with a lot of space.”

“Wouldn’t that be a bit too time consuming?” Petrus asked, “Running tests for something we’re only going to use once?”

“But we’re going to have to blow up more than one building to keep the press distracted, because we have a lot more resources to gather in their distraction.” I said.

“So we’re going to have Nickolai stop Anthrollem production just to make lots of bombs?”Petrus asked, “That doesn’t make sense.”

“No…” I admitted, “But we need a distraction.”

“True,” Petrus said, “But why don’t we use something we already have to accomplish that feat, instead of slowing Nickolai down asking for new things.”

“But what else do we have that we could use?”

Petrus shook his head, “It’s not about what we have, Tel, it’s about what we will have.”

“The Anthrollems?” I asked, “Are you wanting to use an Anthrollem to blow up a building?”

“It seems perfect to me,”he said, “Once we have just one class B, that thing will be able to blow up anything within two hundred miles with it’s range.”

“But Nickolai is just now starting production,” I said, “And by the time we have a class B, it will need to be tested.”

“Exactly!” Petrus said, “It will be their test run.”

“But we’ll have to find another building,” I said, “Nickolai said Class Bs were strong enough to destroy a building, so we’re going to want to find targets with no guard and no people in or around them.”

“Once we have the first Anthrolems,” Petrus said, “We can have a class A scout out a building before sending in a Class B to destroy it.”

“That means we’re going to have to find a new building and lay final plans before we get the first Anthrolems tomorrow.”

“Listen Tel,” Petrus said, “Time is on our side. The more time we use, the more Anthrolems are made, the more Anthrolems made, the better our chances of success.”

“True,” I said, “I’m just anxious to have all this warlike talk over, I just want to rule.”

“To make the people’s lives better?” Petrus asked.

“Of course,” I said, “It has always been about the people.”

“And where do I fit in this scheme?” Petrus asked, “Am I considered one of the people?”

“Of course not,” I laughed, “You’re high adviser to the queen, doing nothing but making plans, and living in a luxury apartment.”

“Not too bad,” Petrus nodded, “But when you’re all high and mighty ruling the earth, don’t forget who got you there.”

I rolled my eyes, “As if.”

I turned back to the plans laid out on the table, “So we’re waiting till tomorrow when Nickolai has the first Anthrolems done, and then from there we can scout out the building and then let a Class B destroy?”

“Seems right to me,” Petrus said.

“Then what are we doing right now?” I asked.

“Well,” Petrus said, “I am going to find a good building to demolish and you are going to get some rest and continue recovering from earlier.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but then decided against it. Rest sounded good about now. I would say I’d earned it in all I had done recently