Back to Contents
Previous Submission
The new vehicle from MFC, the Wolverine. Implementing technology from NanoTech laboratories, we at MFC have created the new cyberskin nano-repairing shell. Fed up of having to send your car in to have it repaired after a fender bender? Well, now your car will make those minor cosmetic repairs for itself.
Only...
"What are you watching?" Maxwell asked from across the room.
"Just some adverts," Ada replied from her position in front of the screen. "We should really get one of these vehicles."
"If we need it, we will get it. Can you pass that piece of tinsel, please?"
Ada picked up the long silver decoration and carried it over to where Maxwell was pinning them to the wall.
"Why are you doing this, Max?"
"I don't know. I remember something about it, someone I once knew doing this every year. He was bigger than I was, and I was smaller than now. I think he may have been my father."
"So you do it to remember him?"
"Yes, I have lost so much when they did this to me," he indicated his physicality.
"I'm so sorry I haven't been able to find out who you were. I will try again when I have healed the damage from my incident."
She looked down at her hands where she had connected to the computer. The burns that had manifested were not real, but they hurt still. They had appeared when Babbage had burned his connections, if she had been a normal human then the feedback would have certainly killed her. Remembering this reminded her of something.
"Did you send that package I asked you to?"
Maxwell turned to her. "Yes, I did. It was a foolish thing to do, though; they may be able to find us."
"I know, but he needs to know."
Ada returned to sit in front of the screen as Maxwell started to hum a jolly festive tune. He was just going through the chorus for the second time when he suddenly stopped.
"Turn off the sound!"
"What?"
"The sound, turn it off!"
Click.
He stood, not moving, Ada watching him. Then he moved to a position beside the door. "Get down, now," he said quietly.
A few moments passed and Ada moved to see what was happening. "Wha'..." she started.
The sound of breaking glass was only drowned out by the door being kicked cleanly off its hinges. The lights went out.
Ada heard screams, the sound of gunfire. Flashes of light illuminated bodies as they were tossed across the room. The bestial roar of Maxwell filled her senses and then she had a sense of loss, explosions behind her vision. Then her body cut out, no sensory data.
* * *
The connections had been reconnected. Ada sent power down them and her senses kicked back into life. Pain, a feeling she had only found now she had this remarkable body. She opened her eyes and light flooded in, no sound could be heard. Internal diagnostics revealed that her audio input was at a reduced level. She sat up and immediately found her loss. The technological remains that protuded from her shoulder, wires and connections, told her that her arm had been severed. She looked around to find where she was.
The warehouse was empty except for junk, and another figure lying beside her. It was Maxwell.
After finding that he was breathing, and realising she could do nothing for his wounds in her current state, she lay down beside him and concentrated on getting her senses back online.
Paul Taylor, 13/12/01
Next Submission
Back to Contents
It's not too late to join in! Check out the author page for instructions!
The page is copyright © 2000, Despot_in_Exile
E-mail: despot_in_exile@yahoo.co.uk
| What's new? | Setting | THE STORY | Characters | Author info | Editors | Front page |