Reborn (The Cartographer Book 2) (31 page)

I looked up into the face of a dwarf. He had so much hair on his face that I wondered if he even had one. His blond beard flowed down to his chest like a waterfall of hair. He had wild eyes which bulged from their sockets. As I stood and brushed myself off I was immediately covered in light when more of the armored strangers approached. The lead soldier removed his helmet. His features were similar to those of a human with the exception of a thick bony ridge which extended from the center of his forehead down to his upper lip. Two small dots above his upper lip flared and I assumed they were his nostrils. I looked toward the stairs to find the shattered, smoking remains of Janero's robots. They were riddled with holes and nearly unrecognizable. The scarlet brightness of their eyes faded until their sockets descended into shadow.

“Hey, I may be small but I'm not invisible,” the dwarf barked. His eyes bulged as he studied me. For a minute I was worried they would drop out of their sockets. A buzzing sound came from behind him and a metal arm slowly emerged from his shoulder blades clutching a small circular object. The disk stopped in front of his left eye and he peered at me through it. “According to my calculations you are at least four hundred yards off course.” He muttered something under his breath before continuing. “Of course I didn't anticipate Janero to cut power to the taxi.” He wore a yellow overcoat which resembled a rain coat with many pockets. He reached into one of the pockets and pulled out a small book. He opened it and a 3-D holographic image popped up. The image looked like a car engine. After twirling the image 180 degrees with his index finger he frowned. His other hand opened and closed rapidly. “I really need to re-examine the Android Neural Inhibitor. I expected the android override to be more effective. My instructions to Thirty-Five were not relayed properly at all.
Not at all
!” He closed the book and shoved it into his pocket.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Clean that up, please.” He turned to the helmet-less soldier and motioned toward the pile of mangled robot carcasses. He nodded and put on the helmet. Turning to me he said, “My name is Grillick. Some people call me The Artificer. Others call me the Tinkerer. Vanth calls me a pain in the ass. But whatever you do, don't call me late for dinner.” He glanced at my handless arm with disdain. “Oh deary-dear. This will not do. Not do at all.”

I held it up. “What's wrong?”

He squinted at me. “Well, for one thing your hand is missing.”

I scowled. “Thanks, Captain Obvious.”

Unperturbed, Grillick continued. “Unfortunately for you, where we are going will require the use of two hands.” He reached into a different pocket and removed a pad. He reached inside the jacket and retrieved a pen. “I am writing you a prescription for a new hand. Please hand this to the desk clerk upon arrival.” He tore the paper from the pad and handed it to me.

I took the piece of paper.
Prescription: Cybernetic Hand Implant, Version 3.1. Please make sure to use the latest revision.

“Are you serious?” I asked incredulously.

He waved his hand dismissively. “There is no time to explain. Janero will come once he finds out he lost his toys.” Grillick cocked his head strangely and stared at the pile of robotic corpses. “Robots he calls them! They are nothing more than mobile rust magnets,” he snorted. He turned around and barked orders to three soldiers standing at attention nearby. “We are going back through the tunnel. Let's go!”

“Wait a minute, do you think that's a good idea?” I argued. “Janero mentioned that there were bad things living beyond the tunnel.”

“To hell with Janero and his bad things,” Grillick sneered. “There are bad things living everywhere. Hell, I have worse things living in the storage compartment of my ship. Did you know I can make the Kessel Run in under five parsecs?”

“What?”

He brayed with laughter. “Oh, you humans and your movies! Star Wars provided me many hours of comedy that I will cherish until the end of time.” He shuffled deeper into the tunnel, choking laughter, as I hesitantly followed.

As we made our way through the tunnel I wondered what these people wanted with me. Grillick was an odd duck but as he guided me safely through the tunnel he didn't seem to have malevolent intentions. My gut told me he was one of the good guys and my gut was the only thing I could trust anymore.

As we progressed through the tunnel, the soldier's lights fell upon the rusted carcass of a train. It had rounded edges like a monorail but was now nothing more than a reminder of what used to be. Even deep within the tunnel, the train wasn't immune to the ivy and vines which surrounded the buildings. The ivy circled the front of the train in a death grip and was about as thick as my leg. Grillick prodded me along before I could admire the scene any further.

We exited and stumbled over the moss-covered tracks the tunnel spit out. On the opposite side was the body of a mutant dog, similar to the one which attacked us earlier except this one had a gaping hole in its torso. We passed it and continued towards the barren wasteland that made up the plains. The ground was cracked with very little vegetation. As we traveled there had been some areas that vomited up a weed or two but mostly cracked earth greeted us. We continued for several hundred yards before a blood-curdling roar in the distance broke the silence. It was guttural and seemed very unhappy.

“What the hell was that?” I asked.

“Bad things,” Grillick muttered sarcastically. I had to resist the urge to slap him in his furry mouth. We walked another hundred yards before coming to a stop.

“Okay, we're here,” Grillick stated.

I looked around. The surrounding landscape was lit up by the soldiers light beams. We were surrounded by nothing but barren plains. My frustration boiled over. “Here? We are in the middle of nowhere!” I shouted irritably

Grillick sighed. “You humans,” he grumbled and shook his head, “always thinking in terms of absolutes.”

Aggravated, I continued walking and smacked my face on something hard. “What the…?” I extended my left hand and it flattened in front of me, as if hitting an invisible wall. Ahead was nothing but the barren environment yet something stopped me from going forward.

“The middle of nowhere, you said?” Grillick asked smugly. He reached into another pocket and retrieved a cylindrical object with a large, glowing red button on top. I found myself wondering how many things Grillick kept in his pockets. He pushed the button and the wall slid upward revealing a large ship.

“Well, that was certainly an interesting bit of camouflage,” I mused.

The top of the ship was round, similar to the Kamilian saucers I witnessed back on Earth. Above the hull were several structures which resembled radio towers. Three long legs extended from the body toward the ground like an oversized tripod. Because of the darkness I had no idea what the overall height of the vessel was but by my estimates it had to have been at least three hundred feet high. A ramp led from the ground to the belly of the ship.

“All aboard,” Grillick squeaked.

The roar we heard earlier got louder. The creature attached to it was getting closer. The soldiers tensed and swept the landscape with their weapons. Grillick hopped on the ramp and called out over his shoulder.

“And might I suggest we hurry.”

The Escape

“Set course for Exorg 1,” Grillick barked.

“Yes sir,” the closest soldier responded before running off.

“Exorg 1?” I asked.

“Yes. That is where Vanth calls his home.” Grillick led me down the hall to an archway with a large sign painted in bright blue letters. “Grog's Bar, Grill and Sundries” was written on the sign. Sitting at a desk underneath the sign was an ornery looking toad. His pale green skin, thick torso and puffy cheeks made him look like Kermit the Frog on steroids. His narrow yellow eyes locked on us as we approached the desk.

“What do you want?” he grumbled.

“His customer service may be lacking, but when it comes to his goods there is no equal in the universe,” Grillick stated. “This is Grog. He is grumpier than a gutter snake, but since I don't see Preek around I could only assume he has pulled desk duty today.”

“You're damn right,” Grog grumped. “He says he doesn't
feel well
today. Maybe he shouldn't have been up all night drinking my stash of Orgellian Ale.”

Grillick let out a long sigh. “Anyway, Nathan, please show him the piece of paper I gave you earlier.”

I reached into my pocket, retrieved the “prescription” and handed it to Grog. He glanced at it with a look of indifference. He eyes went from the paper to me. “Broken, are we?”

“Occasionally,” I muttered.

His hawkish eyes widened and he brayed laughter. It sounded like a cat getting run over by a car. “Grillick, you bagged a funny one, you did.”

He turned to a nearby cabinet. That was when I realized he wasn't sitting to begin with. His torso was that of a toad but his bottom half reminded me of a horse. He had four thick limbs ending in hooves. They sounded like coconut halves slapping against metal. He reached inside the cabinet, retrieved a small, silver box and slapped it down on the desk. “It's the latest, greatest version of cybernetic implants. I designed it myself.”

Grillick cleared his throat.

Grog sighed. “A little fairy helped too.”

Since Grillick was too short to reach the top of the desk, I took the box and handed it to him. He opened it, examined the contents and seemed satisfied with what lay inside.

“Thank you, Grog. Always a pleasure,” Grillick said with a touch of sarcasm.

“While you're here, would you care for a devilfish sandwich or perhaps a grilled sunbird pot pie?” Grog asked.

Grillick placed his hand over his abdomen. “No thanks, my stomach is still trying to process the fried jackalope you made last night.”

Grog grunted and waved us away. “Take a hike then. I need to work on restocking the shelves. Preek decided to neglect those duties as well.” He turned and clomped toward the back room.

Grillick opened the box and inhaled deeply. “Ahhh, I love the smell of invention in the morning.” He closed the lid and handed it to me.

The top of the box was labeled “Cybernetic Hand, Human Model, Rev 3”. I opened it and sure enough there was a hand inside, coated in some kind of dark-colored metallic substance. “What am I supposed to do with this?” I blurted.

“Vanth won't even consider you if you are short a hand,” Grillick explained. “This cybernetic replacement can be attached to your wrist and will function like a real hand.”

I looked at the object with skepticism. “How?”

We stopped in front of a sliding glass door marked “Lab”. “I will attach the hand to your organic tissue via a synthetic neural interface that will allow you to control and use it as if it were the real thing. I will cover the joint with some synthskin and you should be good to go.”

The inside of the lab looked more like a research center. There were several wash basins, stainless steel stools and tables, a bench which connected to an oversized machine which reminded me of a CT scanner, as well as several trays of beakers and vials filled with liquids of various colors. I followed Grillick to a workbench where circuit boards had been tossed in a pile. He pointed to a chair with armrests big enough to fit small tree trunks.

“Sit there.”

I was hesitant at first. I was unsure of Grillick's plans for me. He never told me why he rescued me and I had no idea who this Vanth character was. I sat reluctantly, ready to bolt for the door at the first sign of trouble.

“Put your right arm there,” he motioned to the right armrest and I did as requested. He placed the cybernetic hand about two inches from my wrist and retrieved a syringe from a nearby table. He held it to my neck. “Now this will sting for only a second.”

I watched the needle warily. “What's that for?”

Grillick cleared his throat and uttered a dry chuckle. “The process of attaching a cybernetic appendage to existing flesh is rather…
unpleasant
. This will render you unconscious and allow me to conduct the procedure without you squirming like a stuck fish.”

Being unconscious was really not what I had been planning, but my options were limited. “Okay,” I muttered.

He placed the needle against my neck and depressed the plunger. At first it felt like the normal pinch of a needle but it suddenly became a burning sensation which enveloped the entire right side of my neck. It was as if someone placed a bag of hot coals there. It became nearly unbearable but before I could voice my protest everything went black.

When I woke I felt a tingling sensation radiating from the right side of my body. Grillick was standing on a stool hunched over one of the wash basins. The right side of my mouth felt ten times too heavy and when I spoke it was mostly from the left side. “What happened?”

Grillick jumped. “Holy Griselda and the Seven Isles!” he exclaimed. “Don't scare me like that.”

“What did you do to me?” I cried. “I can hardly feel the right side of my body.” I looked at my right arm and saw the cybernetic hand attached but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't move it or any of the fingers. “The hand doesn't work!”