Erik Otto - Detonation

The beholder had moved beyond Owen’s line of sight. He heard gunfire for a moment, then only pounding and tearing as the beholder went about its business on the hill.

Owen’s attention returned to the scene in front of him. Benjamin stood beside him, a rifle in his hand pointed toward Preston. The weapon must have dropped when the beholder collected the nearby enforcers.

Beatrice was also standing across from them, looking sheepish.

Preston had moved and was now standing behind one of the electric cars. He was looking off into the distance, slowly coming out of the spell of the beholder. He lifted a hand up in the air. In it was a metallic device with wires that trailed into the car in front of him. “Nobody move,” he said, “in my hand I have a detonator. There are enough explosives in this car to blow us all up.”

Owen looked at Benjamin, back to Preston, and then shrugged his shoulders. “There’s nowhere to go, Preston. Even if you were to get away from us, the beholder will stop you.” While he was talking, Owen picked up another rifle that was on the ground.

Preston looked indecisive, as if he was contemplating his options, but still he held his hand up high, wielding the detonator threateningly.

Owen heard additional noises above them on the hill. Two Yorktown men were making their way down to them. Madison was behind them, awkwardly poking her cane through the thin skin of snow to help her balance. A Yorktown man came from behind to help her.

“I finally found a use for our empty basement bunker,” Madison called down. “It’s a great prison for guardians.”

“Don’t come too close,” Owen said, “Preston says he has a bomb in the car.”

Madison and the Yorktown men stopped about twenty yards up the hill.

“What’s the situation in Monticello?” Benjamin called up to them.

“Most of the enforcers are fleeing through the woods,” Madison said. “Any others have given up or are stuck in a tree.”

One of the men with Madison threw Owen a communicator. Owen snatched it out of the air and fastened it to his ear.

“This is Owen here,” he said, keeping an eye on Preston. “I’m back on line. Sentinel, are you okay? What’s your situation?”

“The situation is fluid, Owen, but we have a decisive advantage in the Barnyard area, as well as at Monticello. My redundant operations centers are running well.”

“Good, Sentinel. Glad to hear it.”

“What are you going to do?” Preston asked, leaning on the car, his knuckles white around the detonator.

“Well Preston, we could use your help,” Owen said. “You know more about Gail than anyone. You could tell us where she has hidden bunkers, or what she has managed to obtain from those many scouting forays. We will need track down every bunker, every scrap of metal that she touched.”

Preston’s face sneered in mockery. “Don’t be a fool. Gail is the only thing that can stop us from another Detonation. And yes I know about your friend the Sentinel. Gail told me about it. It’s one of the reasons why Gail had to flee in the Old World. This Sentinel allied with a greedy Old World corporation to destroy everything.”

Owen tried to calm himself. Preston’s inability to see the truth about Gail was unnerving. Yet, despite all that had happened, perhaps he could make him see the light. Maybe, just maybe, he could bring his friend back.

“Please try to listen Preston,” Owen said. “Please try to think objectively. Gail was the Detonation. I know it sounds hard to believe, but she wanted to turn the planet into a bicycle factory, and we were in her way. We are still in her way. It wasn’t any corporation or country, it was Gail and only Gail.”

Preston looked at the men and women around him with a snarky look on his face. “Do you people really believe that? Gail is whip-smart, that’s true, but she’s just a computer program. What’s your proof, anyway? Old World history books say nothing about smart computers taking over. Nothing like that has ever happened.”

“Excuse me,” the Sentinel chirped in Owen’s ear. “Everyone please pay attention, this is the Sentinel. There are about a hundred drones loose in the city. I have learned that they have begun releasing lethal doses of nerve gas. These doses are being released on everyone alive, no matter their allegiance, even woman and children.”

A sinking feeling corrupted Owen. It seemed like the death and destruction would never end. But it wasn’t a surprise. Now that Gail no longer had the advantage, she wouldn’t want anyone to live to tell the tale. She would try to start again with some other unsuspecting group of people. It would be much easier do so if anyone who knew about her previous attempt had been eliminated.

Owen tried to stem his frustration. He said, “Preston, the reason we don’t know about Gail now, or that she isn’t in history books, is because Gail didn’t want anyone to know about her.”

“ Zut alors ,” Cecile chirped in Owen’s ear. “We only have a few gas masks with us.”

“Find whatever masks you can and get out of the city,” Owen responded.

“I have refocused priorities toward destroying the drones,” the Sentinel said.

Preston had a wry look on his face. “You may have won the day, but this isn’t over. Gail has too many safeguards in place, too many redundancies. She will rise again. The nerve gas is just one example. When they rid the city of your men and the Essentialists, we will find a way of defeating these monsters, and we will take it all back.”

Owen didn’t know what to say. He looked up at Madison, who shook her head.

Madison said, “We should get back to the house. A drone could be here any minute, and they need help in the city.” She began walking up the hill. She hesitated a moment, then turned back around. “All of you can come with us, even Beatrice. We need to start with a clean slate here.”

“I’m so… I’m really sorry,” Beatrice said eagerly. She looked genuine enough. Her eyes were red.

The Yorktown men started to peel away, as did Beatrice. Benjamin nodded to Owen, then turned away as well.

For some reason Owen couldn’t bring himself to leave Preston. It still ate at him that Preston was so misled.

Madison stopped a little farther up the hill, seeing that Owen still lingered. She looked sad and tired, her eyelids heavy, her shoulders rounded over her cane. She called out, “He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors.”

Then she turned and headed back up the hill.

She might be right, but he had to try. Owen turned back to Preston, hoping to see some form of contrition, hoping to at least foster some regret for all that had happened.

Preston’s expression remained defiant and smug. He still held the detonator in his hand.

Owen sighed and said, “Preston, the drones are killing everyone . Not just us. Enforcers, railroad people, woman and children—everyone.”

Preston shook his head. “That’s bullshit. You’re such a terrible liar. More than that, you’re weak, Owen. You’ve always been weak. You killed your own father through your incompetence, and it has eaten you up inside. Now you can’t stand that I was the one who found Gail, that I was the one to bring Seeville a better future.”

“A better future? Preston, look around you. Is this the future you were hoping for? Look above you.” They both glanced toward the sky. Flakes of snow swirled in eddies, their dancing superimposed on billowing alabaster clouds. But one cloud, in particular, would occasionally light up with yellow and red hues.

“The Sentinel’s satellites are attacking Gail’s ship now,” Owen explained. “Yes, we will need to root out all the guardians. We will need to destroy all the infrastructure Gail has created. We may have to span the globe fighting her. And maybe there’s another spaceship tucked away behind a moon somewhere. But at least now we can fight back. At least now we have a chance of stopping Gail.”