Neal Barrett - Judge Dredd

“Look at them, Joseph, your brothers. In a few hours they’ll be born. An endless supply of perfection. Now we have a choice: to create a race of robots like Fido out there or a race of free-thinking people and call them humans.”

“You’re diseased,” Dredd said. “You couldn’t control yourself; what makes you think you can control them?”

Rico studied him a long moment, then looked away, up toward the swarm of glittering lights overhead.

“Why did you do it, Joseph? I’ve thought about it all these years. Why? Why did you judge me?”

“I didn’t have a choice. You killed innocent people.”

“Only as a means to an end, brother. You’re forgetting that.”

“That’s a lie you tell yourself. It was a massacre. Murder. You can’t call it anything else. You betrayed the Law.”

Rico laughed. “I was your blood, your brother. The only family you ever had. You sent me to my death and you talk to me about betrayal?” He jabbed his finger at Dredd. “You are the traitor, brother, not me! Do you want to be a slave all your life, do what you’re told to do, Joseph? You have the choice now. Them… or me!”

“You haven’t given me any choice. I have to stop you, Rico. If you want to stop me, you’ll have to kill me.”

Rico looked sad, then let his expression slide into a grin. “Well, I can certainly accomodate you, brother. But there’s no hurry, is there? Fido…” Rico looked past Dredd, through the great door of the Janus lab. “Bring Judge Hershey in here, then tear the bitch’s arms and legs off.”

Dredd didn’t move. “Don’t do it, Rico.”

“Or you’ll what, Joseph? Arrest me?” Rico’s eyes blazed. “Take this one too, Fido. Crush them. Let’s make some Judge soup!”

“Rico…” Ilsa stepped toward him.

“Stay away from me. Do as I say, Ilsa.”

Rico’s voice was calm, almost a gentle whisper. It scared the hell out of Ilsa.

The giant robot clanged through the doorway, scraping its metal hide. It dragged its bad foot. One red eye looked off a good twenty degrees.

Dredd saw Hershey in its grip. Hershey looked down. He tried to read her eyes. Something… not the way it ought to be.

“Take him,” Rico said. “Do it now.”

The robot stopped, whirred. Its blunt head swiveled on its hydraulic neck. A heavy foot stomped against the floor. It turned, then, dropped Hershey from its grasp, raised its hand and slammed Rico in the chest.

Rico cried out in surprise, staggered back, and fell. Ilsa ran to him. The robot moved in a blur, plucked her off the floor and threw her to the ground.

The robot turned on one heel, its broad back to Dredd. Dredd stared. Fergie was hanging on the monster’s metal back, his hands buried in an open slot. Dredd caught a glimpse of the controls—blinking lights, tangled coils of wire.

“Dredd, over here!”

Hershey tossed him the Remington. Dredd racked a shell in the chamber, turned and fired at Rico.

The weapon’s blast echoed through the domed room. Rico darted for cover, grabbed his Lawgiver and squeezed off half a dozen shots at Dredd on the run. Dredd went to his knees, aimed at Rico and fired. Rico disappeared in the maze of blue pods.

From the corner of his eye, Dredd saw the robot lurch, run headlong into a solid wall.

“Fergie, what the hell are you doing!”

“I’m not doing—anything,” Fergie cried out. “This—damn—thing—wants to drive by itself!”

The robot staggered, beat on the wall with its head. It stumbled, clattered dizzily across the room, reached up to slap the tormenter off its back.

“No way, you tin-headed freak!”

Fergie thrust his whole arm into the robot’s back, jerked out a tangle of flashing wires. The robot went berserk. It’s head turned completely around. Blue fire sparked from its eyes and ears. It bashed itself against the wall, ripping Fergie loose. Fergie yelled and hit the ground hard. The robot took two jerky steps and toppled on its face. Smoke billowed from its chest.

“Watch it, Dredd!” Hershey called from the shadows by the big door. “The woman’s off to the right, by the wall somewhere. Rico’s back there.”

Dredd saw her, bent low near the tall accelerator. She nodded toward the forest of blue fluorescent pods.

Hiding with your brothers… yours, not mine.

Dredd kept low, moving quickly behind the fallen robot. Fergie was on his back. He looked up and offered Dredd a weary smile.

“You okay, Ferguson? Take it easy, now.”

“I’m—I don’t think I’m too good…”

“You’re going to be fine, all right?” Dredd looked at his face, at the blood soaking the front of his shirt. Ferguson was right: he wasn’t too good at all.

“You—never got to say it, Dredd.”

“Never got to say what?”

“Hey, you know, man.”

“Yeah, I do.” Dredd drew in a breath. “I… I made a mistake. I’m sorry I misjudged you, Ferguson.”

“And you’ll never arrest me again.”

“I’ll—okay, I’ll never arrest you again.”

Fergie grinned. “All right, man.”

“Take it easy.”

“I’ll do that, Dredd. What I think I’ll do, I think I’ll just—sorta…”

Fergie closed his eyes.

Dredd grabbed his shoulders. “Ferguson? FERGUSON, YOU TALK TO ME, DAMN YOU!”

Dredd let him go. He clenched his fists until blood came to his palms, felt the fury begin deep in his belly, felt the fire race through his veins.

“RIIIIIICO!”

He screamed out the name, grabbed the Remington, came to his feet and ran toward the blue pods.

“Come out of there. Come out of there, Rico!”

He was driven by a rage he could scarcely contain, an anger that blinded him to caution and reason, a hatred that could only focus on Rico’s face, Rico’s laughter, Rico’s silver eyes.

He stalked through the eerie blue light, through the maze of glowing pods. Rico’s spawn surrounded him, a company of ghosts, their coral lips open, their flesh unearthly white. A man, slim and unborn. He lifted pale arms above his colorless flesh, and seemed to mock him with a smile.

“Rico!”

Dredd squeezed off two shots. A crystal pod shattered, the clone blew apart in a blossom of pink and white.

“Rico, I’m coming for you. I’m coming…”

A hail of gunfire came at him from the dark. Dredd turned, went to his knees, firing back in a wicked arc. Incubators shattered, spilling slippery flesh to the floor. One of Dredd’s shots hit a tall accelerator, a black-and-silver column at the heart of the Janus lab. Lightning crackled along the tower, snaked to the top, then exploded in a blinding fireball, showering the pods with comets of molten steel.

The incubators cracked. A flood of thick amniotic fluid hissed in the terrible heat.

Dredd saw him, then, as the computer burst into flame. Rico ran. Dredd fired, blowing a hole in the console, blinding a thousand red eyes.

The fire would keep Rico busy a minute, a minute and a half. Dredd broke into the open, keeping low, heading straight for Rico’s hiding place. Rico caught him there, raised up and raked his path with automatic fire. Dredd cursed and scrambled for cover, lead tearing the heel off his boot.

Where the hell was Hershey? She had gone after Ilsa hours — no, only minutes ago. Time was playing its tricks again.

Another incubator exploded. Blue fire webbed the walls, sizzled the concrete floor. Dredd saw the flames beginning to burst from the equipment on the far side of the lab. Getting hot in here. Going to get a hell of a lot worse…

Rico laughed, a high-pitched, grating sound that set Dredd’s nerves on edge.