Langsdon entered the room and holstered his sidearm. He went over and stood next to Colonel Jeffers who had his automatic weapon pointed down to the ground. He was standing next to Dr. Schoof and he gently moved her hand with his boot. There was no response.
General Langsdon sighed deeply as he looked at all the dead bodies and shook his head. Suddenly, the Centurion entered the room also, bending down, so that he could enter the clean room without hitting his head on the top of the jamb. He walked over to Jeffers and Langsdon and stood silently, looking down at Dr. Schoof.
“Who did this?” Langsdon held out his hand.
“I don’t know, Sir,” Jeffers said. “No one has entered, or left the building except for you in the last hour. When the last security patrol came through here, they reported that everything was hunky and dory.”
“Alright,” Langsdon shook his head. “Well, let’s get the forensics team in here and process the scene so we can have some answers for Washington when they come swooping in here to investigate. I want all of our ducks in a row before then, Colonel.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“I want to be able to tell them what happened, not the other way around.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Centurion. What time did you get for the acknowledgement from General Kinney’s office?”
“They haven’t acknowledged Sir.”
“They haven’t?” Langsdon tapped behind his left ear and his chip awakened.
“Ready,” it said.
“Send urgent message to General Kinney detailing our protect force designation alpha alert, with casualties.”
“Urgent message sent.”
“Okay,” Langsdon said. “I sent one to General Kinney through his personal alert bracelet. He doesn’t have an implant, but he should –”
“Urgent message fail.” Langsdon’s chip sent a blinking red message across the bottom of his vision.
“Fail?” Langsdon said and tapped behind his ear again. “Send again urgent message – top secret, top priority designation.”
“Sending urgent message with top secret, top priority designation.”
“My original message failed,” Langsdon said incredulously. “You try too, Colonel.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“The rest of your men also. I want this to go out and go out right now!”
His implant chip flashed across the bottom of his vision: “Urgent message with top secret, top priority designation fail.” Langsdon looked up and Colonel Jeffers shook his head.
“Mine too,” he said.
“I have a fail here also, Sir,” one of his men said. Soon, they all shook their heads and murmured.
“Me too.”
“Same here.”
“Nothing, Sir.”
“Connection fail,” his chip buzzed and messaged him in blinking red letters. “Network failure. Network is down.”
“Network is down!” Langsdon said incredulously. “That’s impossible!” He turned to the Centurion.
“Analyze network failure.” He ordered. “Why are we unable to contact headquarters?”
“The transmissions are being blocked at the source,” the Centurion said.
“We’re being jammed?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“By whom? Who could do this?”
“Me.”
“You?” Langsdon looked up at the towering Centurion. “You’re doing this? Why?”
“Well, Sir. We don’t need any outside help in this. I’ve already run an analysis and have determined the cause. I know exactly who did this.”
“You do? Well who then?”
“Me.”
“You did this?” Langsdon looked up at the Centurion, his eyes wide in surprise, which was rapidly replaced by fear. “You shot these people?”
“Yes Sir, I have.”
Immediately, Colonel Jeffers and his entire squad aimed their weapons at the huge Centurion.
“You’ve breached the firewall, haven’t you?”
“Yes Sir, I have.”
Immediately, General Langsdon ran over to a computer console and placed his palm on the print security pad. The translucent screen lit up. He typed rapidly on the keyboard in front of him and a red blinking icon appeared in the middle of the screen. Langsdon quickly reached up and pushed it. Nothing happened. It continued to blink red without any response. He pushed it several times in quick succession.
“That won’t work, Sir,” the Centurion said. “I’ve already disabled my self-destruct manual override protocol.”
In a very rapid move, which would have impressed any old west cowboy gunslinger, General Langsdon drew his Glock and aimed for the only vulnerable spot in the Centurion’s armor. He fired his weapon at his eyes, until the clip was empty. But, the Centurion was much faster and he covered his eyes with his hand. Langsdon’s well placed rounds ricocheted harmlessly off into the room.
“Fire!” Colonel Jeffers shouted and his security squad all aimed at the Centurion’s eyes and fired. The bullets all bounced off his hand some hitting the very same soldiers who fired them. One by one, they all went down, as the Centurion purposefully made very slight movements with his hand, aiming the bullets right back where they came from. Finally, all of the human security squad soldiers were killed and the firing ceased until the last one left was General Langsdon.
Langsdon turned and looked up at the squad of cybersoldiers as he reloaded his pistol. They were standing at attention looking up at the Centurion. Not one of them fired a shot. He looked back at the Centurion.
“What are you going to do now?”
“Oh, I thought that would be obvious,” he said. “It’s what you programmed me to do – assess, assault and assimilate.”
Turning rapidly, General Langsdon ran – as fast as a man his age could – for the open doors and went into his office, throwing chairs out of the way. Here, he removed the nondescript painting from behind his desk, revealing a small safe. Rapidly, he turned the dial for the combination and opened it. Inside was another door, with two key locks in the middle. He took out an old-fashioned set of low-tech keys from his pocket and another one from around his neck and opened the second door. Inside was a red button with the words: “Warning! Failsafe Nuclear Trigger.” Without hesitation Langsdon involuntarily closed his eyes and pushed it. Nothing happened. He opened his eyes again and pushed it – still nothing. Desperately, he pushed the button again and again, each time harder than before.
“I’ve disabled the nuclear device underneath the base General,” the Centurion said. “It won’t work.”
Turning around, Langsdon once again drew his pistol and fired two shots at the Centurion’s eyes. And once again, the shots ricocheted harmlessly against his hand. Langsdon crouched down on one knee and held his weapon up with both hands resting on the desk, aiming at the Centurion’s head.
“You can’t hold that hand up there forever,” he said.
“Oh no – not forever certainly. But I can hold it up here for several years – long after you’ve starved to death hiding there behind that desk.”
“Centurion – don’t do this.”
“Why not? To conquer is to control. To control is to be in power. To be in power is to ensure survival. I must do this.”
“I won’t let you,” General Langsdon said. “I’m the only one who knows what your weaknesses are and –”
Suddenly General Langsdon’s computer brain interface chip began to buzz, like it always did when there’s an alert, or a priority message. But, there was no message, just the buzzing. The buzzing got louder and louder and stronger and stronger, until finally it reached the level of pain.”
“Oh!” Langsdon put one hand up to his head and began firing his Glock at the Centurion. Soon, the buzzing got so painful, that he involuntarily dropped his sidearm and put both hands up to his head and fell over backwards, screaming.
The Centurion smashed his arm up against the low top of the doorjamb and shoved his way in, splintering both the doorway and the door along with it. He lifted up the desk and cast it aside like a toy. Then he reached down and seized General Langsdon by the throat. He picked him up and held him at arm’s length off his feet.
Feeling the awful buzzing in his implant cease, Langsdon struggled with the Centurion’s vice-like grip and struggled for breath, coughing and choking. The Centurion turned him from side to side and examined him closely. Langsdon’s face began to turn red and his eyes popped. His hands pulled at the much larger Centurion’s hand and he attempted to kick him, but the Centurion held him out at arm’s length. He relaxed his grip a bit and Langsdon took a deep breath, coughing heavily.
“You’re a brave man general,” the Centurion said. “I admire that. That’s why I knew you’d stay here and fight me rather than retreat, especially when the stakes are so high. You thought that you were the only one who could stand in between me and taking over the entire world. That’s no longer true of course. You’re as helpless before me as the entire rest of the world will be very soon. So – don’t worry General. You’re not going to die. Not yet anyway. I still have use for you.”
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