Chapter Sixty – M9

Chapter Sixty – M9

“The traditional family unit may have been displaced as time progressed, but it never truly disappeared.

Perhaps all you need is something to help with the more mundane tasks of raising a child?”

–Nannyco Robotics ad, 2047

***

I glanced at my map of Black Bear really quick as I jogged along. Myalis had marked a few spots to check around town, mostly places where she’d seen civilians gathering. I wanted to get them moving to safety, but I was also on the look-out for nearly-invisible ambush aliens.

Which I figured wasn’t going to end with me finding any of them.

“Where to next?” I asked as I shot past an intersection. There wasn’t any traffic, so I only gave a quick glance each way before crossing the road. It was a good thing too, it let me see some movement down the street a little ways. “Scratch that.”

There was a small family milling around a van. An ugly old thing from the late 2030s. All curved and filled with unnecessary plastic body parts, and very much unable to hover. In a small town like this though, that was probably fine.

There was a ramp extending out of the side of the vehicle, and what looked like an entire family was gathered around it. It looked like some picture-perfect bunch. The mom, dad, and a boy and girl who were in their younger teens.

It would have been picture perfect if the dad-looking guy wasn’t in a wheelchair, his kids fussing with him, while the mother ran around in a panic.

“Yo,” I said as I approached.

No one noticed me.

That didn’t bode well. What if I was an alien?

Then again, I was supposed to be stealthy, so I chalked it up to me just being that good before I scream. “Yo!”

The kids and the dad jumped and spun around, looking for me. Then they started yammering as I walked closer. I flicked off my coat’s invisibility just as the dad finagled a rifle from inside the van.

He paused in the act of fiddling with the safety and looked my way. “You’re not an alien.”

“I’m one-hundred percent mostly human,” I said. “What’s going on here?”

“Oh, shit, she’s a samurai,” the girl said. She couldn’t be older than thirteen or so, about the age of my kittens.

“Sweetie, don’t swear,” the mother said.

I don’t know what she was talking about, the woman looked like she desperately needed a chill pill and maybe a margarita. “It’s alright?” I asked. “You folks okay?”

“Who are you?” The dad asked.

I didn’t actually know if they were a family, but if they weren’t the resemblance was uncanny, and absent any actual names, that’s what I was going to label them as. “I’m Stray Cat. Your kid’s right, I’m a samurai. Just looking for stragglers. You folk should head over to the company headquarters, we have a samurai guarding the place already.”

“Oh, wow,” the son said. His sister looked like I’d just announced that Christmas was coming early. She whipped an old-school phone out, then frowned at its blank screen before stuffing it away.

“Yeah yeah, hero worship later. Your van’s fucked?”

“Langu–” mom started. She paused, then swallowed thickly. “The van won’t start. It turns on, but I can’t get it to move. And our phones stopped. Reginald can’t walk anymore, not since he got hurt last year.”

I nodded along. “Alright,” I said. “Myalis, is this something we can fix in a hurry, or are we going to escort this lot around?”

It seems like the ground vehicles in this town all require a registry code to function. A DRM sent from somewhere in town. Something is likely interfering, or the company has shut it down, thereby preventing the vehicle from working at all.

“Can you fix it?” I asked.

Certainly.

The van rumbled to life and the family jumped. “Mom, it’s working!” the girl said.

“There you go,” I said. “It was just some software fuc–fudgery. Uh, you should be good to go? Head right towards the headquarters. It’s not too far.”

“Will we be safe there?” the mom asked.

“You should be. I doubt Gomorrah will be pleased if they don’t let someone in.” I moved over and helped the kids push their dad back up into the back of the van. “You good to drive?”

“I am, thank you,” the mom said.

The lot of them tossed their stuff back into their car in a hurry, then they were off. She actually stopped at the intersection and used her flashers to signal her turn. I shook my head. “That was nice; next group?”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Two blocks over. I’ll mark it on your map.

I stared, then groaned as I realized the van had gone that way already. I could have hitched a ride.

I flicked my coat back on and took off once more. It got boring within ten steps. I could only get so much joy from seeing the shadow of my head bobbing on the pavement before that grew old. “Where are all the damned aliens?” I asked. “I don’t think I’ve killed a single one yet.”