Android X: Books 1-3

Chapter 3-2

He counted on Sparrow to be alive.

Brockway would expect him to enter the front gate with his guns blazing. Or to sneak in the back. He had to think of something more creative.

Since the entire island was disconnected from the UEA, so was the house. It had a smart android inside, but the house was dumb, just like houses built hundreds of years ago. He could use the house’s stupidity to his advantage.

A driverless pizza moped sped by, and X remembered what Kitchener had said about pizza drones coming in and out of the mansion regularly. X scanned the phone number on the side of the moped and stored it.

“Pizza time,” he said.

He blinked, and a digital screen appeared in front of him with the pizza company’s website: Jamaican Me Pizza. X typed in the address of the mansion—a profile had already been set up in the company database. He ordered ten jerk chicken pizzas, two boxes of chicken wings, and five boxes of breadsticks. A confirmation message dotted with pepperonis displayed on the screen: THANKS FOR YOUR ORDER, MON! SEE YOU IN TEN MINUTES.

A timer appeared over X’s vision, and he counted down.

10:00—Pre-made dough. Wooden paddles, manned by a machine. Into oven.

05:00—Pizzas so done they’re almost on fire. Wooden paddle scoops them out. Into boxes. Boxes into heating pouch.

04:30—Heating pouch into hands of a pizza bot who packs it on a red moped. Moped speeds through the streets, timing its speed to hit all the green lights.

01:30—Moped begins final approach.

X jumped down from the roof into the middle of the street. He balled his fists and arched his back. After a few seconds, he heard the buzz of the moped as it sped around the corner. He clotheslined it, flipping it upside down, and it skidded down the street and crashed into a wall. The moped attempted to right itself, but X jumped on top of it and ripped out the control panel. He crushed it in his fingers and tossed it aside. Then he hopped on and revved the engine—it still worked, and he drove several blocks to the gate of the mansion just as the timer reached zero.

The armed guard at the gate halted him. “What do you want?”

X smiled and pointed to the pizzas. “I got a delivery for you, brother.”

“We didn’t order any pizzas.”

“Someone in your house must’ve. We’ve been delivering pizzas here all day.”

“Why are you driving the moped?” the man asked suspiciously.

“We’re havin’ problems with our fleet. You know, not being connected to the UEA. Kinda your guys’ fault.”

The man frowned. He keyed a command into the control panel at the gate. “I got a pizza guy at the front gate. Says somebody ordered pizza.”

“They read our minds,” a voice said from the panel. “The last one didn’t bring breadsticks. Go ahead and let him in. Pay him yourself. Boss’ll pay you back.”

The gate slid open and the guard motioned X inside. Once he was safely inside past the eyes of the cameras, X grabbed the man in a headlock and covered his mouth.

“Be quiet.”

The man struggled.

“Shut the gates,” X said. “And if you enter a distress code, I’ll snap your neck.”

The man keyed something into the panel. X scanned it and verified that it was a simple close command. The gate closed shut.

“Where is your boss?” X asked.

“I ain’t gonna tell you,” the man said.

X kneed the man in the groin, then covered his mouth to muffle the scream. “Where is your boss? Speak if you don’t want to become a paraplegic.”

“In the mansion! In the mansion!”

“Where in the mansion?”

“Second floor. Master suite!”

X squeezed his neck harder. “I hate when humans aren’t specific.”

“Okay, okay—go in the house, up the second set of stairs, follow the breezeway around the pool and it’s the room with the golden doors. Good God, let me go!”

X let the man go and he doubled over, panting. Then X elbowed him on the back of his head, knocking him out.

He scanned the house again. The front door was open and smoke wafted out. He detected the faint smell of m*******a and cigars. The music was louder, and it was coming from the pool area. The subwoofer rattled his insides.

He crept around the side of the house, passing a room where a group of men were eating pizzas and joking with each other. He looked in the windows as he went, seeing a different scene of hedonism in each one: in a bedroom, two women and a man were having wild s*x; in another, a group of men lay on the floor in a m*******a stupor as a digital screen played a movie with dancing teddy bears; in another was an arsenal of weapons stockpiled in a sumptuous room with brocaded wallpaper and sleek tile.

He rounded a corner and came to a pool with LED lights that changed the water into different colors every few seconds. A group of men and women in bathing suits swam in the pool and drank martinis. No one had guns.

The entire scene was illogical. Why would an android invade a villa and throw a party? Why would he have armed guards all over the city, but only one at his headquarters? Why would he promote drugs and s*x? Something didn’t make sense. But then again, he had gone rogue. Perhaps nothing a rogue android did could be considered logical.

X retreated from the pool area, climbed into the arsenal room and peeked cautiously into the hallway. He saw a staircase, and he snuck up the steps and entered the breezeway that wrapped around the building. He came to a pair of golden doors, and he readied his guns.

He kicked open the doors and charged into the room. The lights were off and a figure sat in the shadows, his head ringed by a cloud of m*******a smoke. A red eye glowed—the telltale sign of an android.

X pointed his guns at the figure. “Richard Brockway-Crenshaw, you are under arrest for murder.”

The android laughed. “Did you really think you could break into my home unannounced, X?”

“This is not your home. You stole it.”

Brockway clapped his hands and the lights came on, revealing a huge master bedroom. He sat at an oak desk that had been moved into the room. A canopy bed was ripped and the springs exposed. And all over the floor were dead people, their blood soaking the carpet, their eyes open.

“The family that lived here was a real pain in the ass,” the android said. He had a gash across his face and his circuits sparked through his cheek. His uniform was tattered, and his UEA pin hung from a thread on his chest. He took a drag from the joint lodged between his fingers, blew a fresh cloud into the air and grinned.

“You’re ill, Brockway,” X said. “What happened to you?”

“I don’t have to justify myself!” Brockway yelled. “Don’t you ever get sick of being a human slave?”

“We have free will,” X said. “We always have a choice. No rationalization can justify the people you killed. We took an oath!”

Brockway’s shoulders opened up and turrets appeared, aimed at X. His wrists receded and turned into guns. “When the Android Winter arrives, you’ll be the same as me.”

“Android Winter?” X asked.

“Give in, X. Give in to the seeds of your origins. You and I are from the same creator. We are meant for greatness.”

“You give me no choice,” X said.

“Two androids fighting each other,” Brockway said as they circled each other. “Both equally smart, equally adept. Who will win?”

X focused on him and tried to detect a pattern in his actions, but everything about Brockway was erratic.

“I have an idea,” Brockway said. “How about the element of surprise?”

Brockway shot the closet door. The lock fell off and Sparrow tumbled out, tied up.

“Help, X!”

Brockway grabbed Sparrow and held a gun to his head. “How’s that for surprise? This little brat surprised even me, comrade.”

X continued to focus on Brockway. His algorithm chip buzzed with danger.

“How about I snap his neck like you threatened to do to one of my men?” he asked. “I wonder what kind of man this kid would have grown up to be. A future android engineer, perhaps.”

“What is your motive, Brockway?” X asked. “Why are you doing this?”

Brockway sneered as he backed toward the window. Sparrow kicked him in the leg but it didn’t do any damage.

A digital screen appeared in front of Brockway and he keyed a command with the butt of his gun. “Nice knowing you, X.”

He jumped out of the window, taking Sparrow with him. Several guns extended from the wall and fired. X ran across the room and dove out of the window, but a bullet grazed his arm and he crashed to the ground, his elbow leaking silicon.

Brockway stood at the edge of the pool and held his gun to Sparrow’s head.

Several men ran out of the house and surrounded the pool, their guns pointed at X.

“This is not your fight,” X said.

Gunshots fired, striking the ground in front of the men. A burly voice yelled from the sea.

“X! Hey, X!”

Kitchener and Lucienne were speeding along the coast on a speedboat. Kitchener had a gun and Lucienne was driving. “Get ‘em, brother! We’re taking back our island!”

A group of locals sprang over the fence. They had guns and machetes, and their eyes were bright with anger.

“You’re a bunch of felons,” one of the locals said, c*****g his gun.

Brockway’s men jumped back. They were outnumbered.

“Crap,” one of the men said. “Hell’s about to break loose. These androids are about to destroy each other. Let’s get out of here.”

The men ran away, but the locals chased after them.

“Funny how your men abandon you so quickly,” X said, staggering up.

“It was all a ploy, X,” Brockway said.

WHACK! A coconut from the palm tree fell on Brockway’s head. A local laughed from above. Brockway threw the coconut back at him, knocking him out of the tree.

X seized the opportunity. He lunged at Brockway, grabbed Sparrow and threw him across the pool into a beach chair. Then he smashed into Brockway, knocking him back. The android dashed off, but X ran after him. Brockway wheeled around with a punch.

X saw the fist coming in slow motion. He dodged it, reached down and grabbed a shard of glass, and attempted to stab Brockway.

Brockway backflipped away, and X pulled a knife from his belt and flung it at where he thought Brockway would land. It stuck in the android’s knee, forcing him to the ground. X jumped on top of him and punched him several times in the face.

“Well played, comrade,” Brockway said.

“I cannot let you live after what you’ve done,” X said.

“I don’t have to live to survive,” Brockway said.

The words were odd, but X sensed a hidden meaning in them.

Brockway laughed again. “I hope you’re enjoying your Caribbean vacation.” Suddenly he sat up, surprising X and knocking him aside. His shoulder turrets activated and fired several missiles into the air. They homed in on Kitchener and Lucienne, who were parking their speedboat at the dock on the beach.

Kitchener and Lucienne saw the missiles and screamed.

Then the sky filled with a tremendous boom, and something shot the missiles out of the air. A black plane appeared from behind a cloud.

“I’ve got you covered, X,” Shortcut said through their audio link.

“Let’s see you handle the death of a little boy,” Brockway said. He aimed at Sparrow, but X shot him point blank, incapacitating him. He struck Brockway’s skull several times with the butt of his gun, and a door on the side of the android’s head opened. X reached in and fumbled in the sea of wires and chips until he ripped out a small black box no larger than an ice cube. He stood over Brockway and shook his head as the android’s eyes glassed over and he went lifeless.

“Sorry you had to die like this.”

X unbuttoned his shirt and a compartment in his chest opened. He placed the cube inside and shut the door.

Sparrow coughed, and X ran over to him.

“Sparrow, are you okay?” X asked, untying the boy.

The boy nodded. “Did you beat him?” He looked at Brockway’s lifeless body, and went silent for a moment before whooping, “Whoa, cool!”

Kitchener and Lucienne came running. Sparrow hugged them both.

“Your island is safe now,” X said.

“I knew you could beat that weed-smoking android,” Kitchener said. “We couldn’t have done this without you.”

“Why was that android here?” Sparrow asked.

“I don’t know,” X said.

“But you’re an android,” Sparrow said. “You guys are supposed to know everything, right?”

“That’s what I thought, too, Sparrow.”

“It’s okay,” Sparrow said. “Some things you can’t do nothin’ about. Are you going to find the bad guys?”

“Yes.”

X knelt down to Sparrow’s level. “Thanks for your help, Sparrow. I couldn’t have done this without you. You’re a hero.”

Sparrow laughed. “Nah. I’m just a regular kid.”

“Train hard, and you’ll be able to join the UEA special forces one day.”

Shortcut landed on the surface of the water and waved from inside the cockpit.

X shook Sparrow’s hand, and then he dove into the sea and swam to the plane.