David Ring III - Stanley Duncan's Robot

“Get off of me.” The protester beat at his legs, but the onslaught was too much. He screamed, stripping off his clothes and rolling around in the snow. He slapped and stomped for several minutes before putting his clothes back on.

Stanley laughed, resisting the urge to save the audio and video feed — the drones had done enough of that. Considering the deputy was out to get him, it was best to not leave any evidence behind on his home computer. Hundreds of spiders remained on the protester. Stanley gave the command to disengage — save for three mechanical spiders. They would continue to serve as his spies.

The protester took off in a Fermi and made a phone call. Stanley was able to hear only the audio from the protester’s side.

“He sent spiders after me.”

“Of course, we need to stop them.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes.”

“Right. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Stanley’s face glowed with his victory. There would be more problems to come, but he had proven to himself that he had the gumption to deal with them. He spent the next hour scouring the web for open-source code, piecing together everything he needed to give the mechanical spiders fuse-injecting capabilities. All that was left was to test it out.

The phone rang.

He asked with unwonted aplomb, “Who is it, Leticia?”

“Dan Duncan.”

“Answer.”

Heavy breathing filled the room.

“Dan, are you okay?”

No response.

The first thought that crossed Stanley’s mind was that Dan was in trouble. But, given the protest, the drones, the prank calls, the harassment on social media, the eggs thrown on his window, and the mechanical spiders, he felt strongly that someone had spoofed Dan’s number and was harassing him. “Whoever’s doing this, stop. I’ve done nothing wrong to you.”

The breathing continued.

His sanctuary had been violated, and he was tired of feeling like a prisoner. “I’m Stanley Duncan, one of the world’s greatest programmers. I’m not going to let someone bully me in my own household.” Stanley disconnected the phone and went over to the computer. After coding all the complicated algorithms in Dan’s code, tracing a spoofed number would be child’s play.

The crowd at the Coliseum was growing. Everyone seemed to be drinking heavily. Music flooded the large room, speckled by colorful beams of light. Men and women of all ages danced inside the blood-stained ring.

Shannon loved it. This was going to make it so much easier to nurse Larry back to health and disappear. She poured a small amount of fuse into a glass. “It’ll help with the withdrawal.”

“Thanks.” Larry downed it. “I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”

She shrugged. There were so many questions she wanted to ask him.

His eyes narrowed.

“I’ve never heard of anyone coming out of fuse before. What happened?” She wondered if he was the exception, or if everything she had heard about recovering from fuse had been a lie, an insidious ploy to stop the patients from waking up.

Slowly turning to her, his eyes half shut, he said, “Somehow, I knew—”

He collapsed into the chair.

Shannon knew he would be out for a while but didn’t know what she would do with him after he woke up. Or with herself. She needed to escape, forget about Marshfield and its horrors, and get as far away from here as possible.

A charged conversation between Brad and Cratos drew her to a concealed location on the other side of the bar. If she really wanted to leave, then why did she care so much about what they said?

A foreboding sign greeted Dan along the walkway to Teddy’s house — blood. The door was unlocked. Dan walked in and saw the chaos. Madness splattered across the walls and surfaces, an obsession to kill. “Teddy?”

The trail of blood ran along the carpet. Dan surveyed the area, ready for battle but no longer feeling like he was walking into a trap. Clearly something violent had taken place. A gruesome site awaited him around the corner. On the floor next to the radiator was a pair of burned-off bionic arms. Teddy’s arms.

He called Stanley, who answered in the most peculiar way. “I told you to stop messing with me.”

“Stanley? What’s wrong?”

“I said stop messing with me!”

“I’m coming home.” Teddy was in trouble but likely still alive, since his body hadn’t been discarded here. There was a possibility that he had gone to a hospital, but, more than likely, he had been captured. Stanley needed him now, and Dan knew exactly where he was. Dan also needed to get back and prepare for the press release.

“Wait — Dan? It’s you? It’s really you?”

“Yeah, who else would it be?” Dan traced his finger around the letters carved into the table. He had a strong sense that Sergeant Wilcox had something to do with this.

“I’ve been getting spoofed calls all day. Threats online. Everything’s a mess.”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Oh, no. No, you can’t. An army of reporters are outside. They’ll rip you apart.”

“What am I supposed to do — never come home?” Dan was so sick and tired of Stanley not trusting him. What did he need to do to prove himself?

“For right now — yes. Go straight to the high school. Did you bring your suit?”

“No, I didn’t.” He looked at the charred clothes on the severed arm in front of him. Worrying about looking nice seemed wrong.

“What were you thinking?”

“Why would I bring it on a distress call?”

“Because of something like this happening.”

“You’re being inane.”

“I’m not insane!”

“That’s it — I’m coming back.”

“Don’t. Wait until the media storm has cleared outside.”

“You think it’ll be better after the press release?” Dan picked up one of Teddy’s arms. They were taking a major risk today, and it wasn’t going to get any easier. Stanley was going to need round-the-clock protection, and the only way to do that was with the Peacekeepers. According to the scenarios he had run, there was more than a ninety-percent probability of resistance from the police and other unknown forces. Only a war would bring about peace.

“Let’s worry about that when the time comes. I’ve got your location. I’ll send you a package via drone. Stay out of sight as much as you can. I feel like the police are planning something big against us.”

“Because of the reporters? You’ve performed a miracle, and the world is excited to learn about it.” Dan saw the calculations running through his mind. It was almost a one-hundred-percent chance that the police were going to do something today. Yet all he could offer Stanley were words to calm him down. This was just like what Stanley had done to him, keeping the threats and problems to himself. It didn’t make sense — not by his calculations — and yet he did it anyway.

“I’m worried about you.”

“Don’t be. I’ll be fine.” He wanted to track down Teddy, but there wasn’t enough time. All he could do now was to present his message to America’s future leaders.

“I’ll watch the press release from here.”

“I know you will.” He took one look at the crime scene and shuddered. “I want you to protect yourself. There is a chance that someone might try to hurt you.”

Stanley laughed. “I’ve been preparing myself with a few tricks.”

“I really don’t think you’re cut out for combat.” The last time Stanley tried to defend himself, he got tortured by Sergeant Wilcox. “What sort of tricks?”