Hammer's War 1: Forging the Hammer (14 page)

Turning to the engineer, Thad said, “So what to do with you?”

The man could not answer because of the tape on his mouth.  All he could manage was a muffed scream, no, no, no,” through the tape.

Thad bent down next to him, “What’s that
?  I can’t hear you.”  He ripped the tape from the man’s mouth.

The Engineer screamed and plead
ed for his life, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, just spare me and I will change!  I swear it.  I will find God.  I will help the poor and the sick, anything.  Just don’t kill me.”

Thad picked up the engineer by his shirt collar.  He looked over at the twins, Fiona turned away showing she didn’t care what Thad did with him.  Freya on the other hand lifted an eyebrow and tilted her head towards the open door. 

Thad nodded, “You want to find God do you?  Then you can start looking out there!”  He tossed the pirate out the door watching as the Engineer tumbled out of sight.  Thad looked back at the Twins, “I guess if God wants him, he’ll save him.  Now let’s get you two some medical attention.  Archie, take us home and Call Doc Burton.  Tell him to bring Doctor Hammer’s body home, oh and also that I have two patients for him to examine.”

Archie
headed back to the bridge. Thad turned to the girls, but before he could say anything, they grabbed and hugged him tight, “Thank you,” they said, and then surprised him by taking turns kissing him.

A little
startled by the affection, Thad asked them, “Are you two going to be okay?”

Freya spoke, “We will be fine, but we miss our parents.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t have the chance to stop him before he murdered your parents,” Thad said, as he pushed the button to close the door.

Fiona spoke, “You saved
us, and for that we will always be in your debt.”

Thad knew the f
eeling, “Don’t worry about it, you ladies have other things to worry about, like what you want to do next.”

They landed the Night Terror on the front lawn of the compound where Doctor Burton was waiting for them.  Thad led them into an examination room.  Eve was there dressed in a nurse’s uniform.  Thad introduced her, “This is Eve.  She will help the Doc give you an examination.”

Eve said to the twins, “You poor things.  Don’t you worry about a
thing.  The Doc and I will have you all taken care of in a jiffy.  Now, please, one at time, step up onto the scanner.  I’m sorry to have to ask this of you, but I need you to disrobe so that I can get an accurate scan.”

“No problem, I hate these anyway
. I look like a little girl trying on my old Nan’s clothes,” Freya said striping off her oversized clothing.  Thad had left them to their business, as he had his own business to handle.  

Freya
was naked when she heard Eve say, “I can’t blame you, they are just awful.  Once I have scanned you, I will have your size and while you are in the shower I will whip up some clothing for both of you,” Eve said, as she flashed-up some clothing choices on the screen.

Freya stepped onto the scanner, “Oh God, a real shower, hot water
.  I have been waiting for so long to scrub this foulness from me.”

The screen changed to a list of scents that could be added to the water, “Here is a list of body scents you can add to your shower.
”  Eve’s voice said, over the speakers.

“Sounds wonderful Eve,” Freya nodded.

Eve explained to Freya that she needed to follow the lights in the wall, which led to the waiting shower.  “I took the liberty of laying out Doctor Hammer’s special skin compound that will heal your bruises and cuts, in hours instead of days.  When you are finished with the shower, rub this lotion into your injured areas and you will feel better right away.”

“
Ah!  Nothing like a woman’s touch, thank you Eve. Now if you don’t mind, I would like to be alone for a while.”  Freya said, as she punched up the heat on the shower control pad.

“I understand.  You will find some new clothes waiting for you on the replicator shelf next to the s
ink when you are done.  Now, I’m off to scan your sister.”

“Thank you Eve,”
Freya said as she stepped into the hot shower.  Finally, she could wash away the stench and filth.  She took a washcloth and began cleansing her skin.  As the hot, scented water ran over her body, washing away the stench of confinement, Freya finally relaxed.  Suddenly the young woman realized, all through their ordeal, she had tried hard to be strong for her sister and herself.  She had never allowed herself to think about the fact she was a human being too, who had suffered a horrible trauma.  The emotion overwhelmed her, and when the tears finally came, it was a half an hour before she could stop weeping.

Thad was in the pirate’s ship looking through the box of his old belongings.  He held
up a lightweight black body suite.  It was a kind of high-end body armor, which somehow felt familiar to him.  He set it aside then he picked up a hat, which he turned over and over in his hands before slipping it onto his head. 
Ah, that felt good,
he thought.  In the bottom of the case were two antique pistols as well as an array of other weapons.  He placed everything back into the case and closed the lid.  Part of him wanted to find out more, but he remembered he promised his father he would live a good life, one dedicated to helping people.  This box could only bring problems and he knew it.  “I have closed the lid on that chapter of my life,” he said out loud.  He picked up the case and gave one more look around. Seeing nothing else of value he left the ship.  He went to the garage to see Rhonda, “Hey Rhonda can you fly this bucket of bolts remotely?”

“Just a second
Hun, let me check” The A.I. blinked out for a few seconds.  “You betcha, it is an old system, no A.I., but enough of the systems are automated, so I can fly it anywhere on the planet.”

“Good
, fly that piece of shit out to the desert somewhere, and overload the power cell.  I want it blown to scrap.”  He said, as he placed the box on a shelf, not intending to open it again. 

“No problem,”
the screen flickered again, and he felt the ground tremble as the Night Terror took off for its final flight.

Back inside the house, Thad found Doc
tor Burton coming out of the surgery, “What’s the skinny, Doc?”

“
I just finished looking over the scans, and I have to say these two are tough kids, for sure.  Freya was badly beaten, but nothing rest and good food can’t fix.  Both of them are malnourished and suffering from dehydration, but they will make a full physical recovery.  However, even though it is not my area of practice, it is the psychological recovery I’m worried about. I’m sure Eve can download counseling programs to help them.”

“Thanks Doc. 
Doctor Hammer would be pleased with your work, I’m sure,” Thad placed a hand on the Doctor's shoulder.

“Thanks Thad.  That means a lot to me.  Speaking of Doctor Hammer,
I had his body moved to your private morgue.”

“Thank you again Doc.  Can I ask Eve to get you anything?  A drink or
maybe something to eat?”  Thad asked.

“
Not tonight,” a tear ran down his cheek.  “I’ll drink to Hammer’s memory some other night.  Tonight I think I would be crying too hard to enjoy it.  So if you have no further need of my services, I’ll make my way back to town.  I’m sure you will need some time alone.”

Thad said nothing, nodded an
d waived farewell to Doc Burton.  He turned and walked to the morgue. 

Doctor Hammer never really used this room for anything other than storing experiments needing low temperatures. 
Nevertheless, he felt every medical facility should have a morgue. “I bet he never thought he would end up in his own,” Thad said quietly, as he pulled the heavy insulated door open.  

Closing
the door behind him, he pulled up a stool and sat down next to Doctor Hammer’s body. It was very cold in there, and not just because of the cooling system.  “It’s done they are all dead, all but one, the one who killed you.  He is with the Sheriff, and I plan to go get him later and turn him over to Eve.  You know she is really torn up about losing you.  I know you would not approve of my kind of justice, or letting Eve hurt any human being, but I feel it is the only way to make it right.  I promise you, I will do no harm to anyone ever again.  I’ll do my best to only do good for mankind.”  He reaffirmed his promise and pulled the sheet up over the body. Thad gently kissed Doctor Hammer’s forehead.  He left the room, after programming the bots in the morgue to clean and prepare the body for burial.

Thad walked into the dining room to find Eve had prepared a fine spread of food for everyone.  He did not feel like eating, but when he saw Fiona and Freya walk into the room wearing matching form-
fitting emerald green silk pajamas, he changed his mind.

“
I’m starving!”  Freya said.  “Look at all that food.  I can’t remember the last time I had a real meal.”  She picked up a plate and started piling it on.

“Hungry I see, do you mind if I join you?
”  Thad said as he picked up his own plate.

She laughed at him.

“What?  Did I say something funny? Do I have something on my nose?  Oh God, don’t let it be something on my nose,” he laughed.

“I’
m sorry. It just struck me as funny, the man who saved me.  My hero, who cares for me and feeds me, has to ask to sit with me.  Of course, you can sit with me.  I would be amiss if you did not.”

Fiona grabbed Thad’s arm, “I’m sorry
, but my sister has a talent for understating, and let me be clear, it is not optional.  You will sit with us.  We wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Thad smiled, “Well okay then.”

They filled their plates and sat down at the table.  The attending bot brought over a tray of drinks.  “What would you like?”  Thad asked, as he passed his hand over the bottles.

“Oh a good red wine please,” Fiona replied.  Freya smiled and nodded her head.

Thad poured out three glasses and over dinner and wine Thad told them about Doctor Hammer. He also related the story of how Red and his crew robbed, beat him, and left him for dead.  They, in turn, told him about themselves and their family. 

The evening was growing late
.  “Well you two won’t have to worry about those guys ever harming anyone again.”  Thad said, refilling his glass. 

“
Thad is it wrong I shot Red, and then watched as you tossed him to his death, and feel no remorse?”  Freya asked as she downed another glass of wine. 

“I’
m not sure I’m the best one to answer that question, but I would say, after what you went through at his hands, if you did feel remorse, I would want to have your head examined.”

Fiona threw her head back
and laughed, “Didn’t you just do that?”

Thad laughed, “I guess
I did.”

They all had a good laugh.  After
dinner, Thad showed them to their rooms and bid them good night.  Neither of the twins would let him go until they gave him a good, long, deep goodnight kiss.  When Thad retired to his room, he laid down on his bed, his head spinning, as he replayed the day’s events in his head.  He was soon asleep.

Eve smiled, “See
Archie, I knew the sleep aid in his food was a good idea.”

The following morning after breakfast Thad left the twins with
Eve for a session of clothing design.  Making his way to the garage, he fired up the sand crawler and headed for town.

Max woke up in jail.  His head felt like someone had stuck it in a vice and spun the handle.  He looked around, but didn’t see anyone.  His mind felt foggy.  His memories of the last night began to return, as well as pain of his shattered teeth, “Shit!  He did it to me again.”  The pirate stood up, but the room started to spin, so he sat back down, “Whoa, not a good idea.”

The heavy metal door separat
ing the cells from the office clanked as the locking bar swung to the open position.  The door opened and the Sheriff entered the holding cell area.

“Hey copper, don’t I get a phone call or something?”
his shortened tongue made it hard for him to talk.

The
Sheriff was carrying a food tray, “Here’s your last meal, I imagine.”

That got Max’s attention, “Last meal
?  What no trial?  Where is my lawyer?  I want a lawyer, damn it!”

The
Sheriff set the tray on the food shelf in the barred door, “Well you are lucky to be alive.  The rest of your crew are already dead.”

“What?  All of them
?  Red?  Everyone?”  Max fired off the questions, but his poor mind was spinning faster than the room was.  “So why am I still alive?”

He pushed the tray through the food
shelf to Max’s side, and shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know, I guess Thad has something special in mind for you.”

“What did I do to piss this guy off so bad?
”  Max was having trouble remembering all the events. 

“
First you and your crew beat him nearly to death and left to die in the desert, but I think the real reason he has it in for you specifically, is that you killed his father.”

Those words hit him like a
sledgehammer, and he remembered the old man he shot yesterday, “Oh shit!”

“Yeah oh shit is right, I am sorry
, but it is about time your type gets what’s coming to you.”

“You can
’t turn me over to that mad man, what about the law?”  Max was on his feet grabbing the bars begging.

The
Sheriff crossed his arms, “I’m just an old drunk, a poor excuse for a law man if you ask me.  I will tell you this, the man you murdered yesterday was loved by everyone on this little moon, and I don’t think you could find a lawyer who would represent you, even if you could find one on this rock.  I doubt you would get anything like a fair trial in any case.  However, more than that, there are times where justice is too slow.  No son, you are going to get justice, swift-frontier style.”

“But you can’t,”
Max cried, with tears in his eyes.

“Oh yes I can, in fact this is me turning my back,”
The Sheriff turned his back on Max and left him to contemplate his fate.

When the
Sheriff returned to the office, he found Thad waiting for him, “So how is your guest?”

“I suppose after our little chat
he’s in there crapping his pants.”

Thad sat down and put his feet up on the desk, “Well then
, let’s let him stew for a while.”

The
Sheriff stepped over to his side of the desk, opened the bottom drawer, and pulled out a bottle and two glasses.  He placed one in front of Thad and poured whiskey into his glass, then held the bottle over the other one.

“Sure what the heck”, Thad held the glass while the
Sheriff poured.

The
Sheriff held up his glass, “To Doctor Hammer, he was a good man.  May he rest in peace.”

They toasted
Doctor Hammer’s memory, “To Doctor Hammer.”

“So, I have to ask, what do you have in store for
Mr. Max in there?”

Thad sat the glass down, “Me, nothing, Eve on the other hand, is pretty pissed and has plans she has not seen fit to share with me
.  She asked that I temporally remove the safety protocols preventing A.I.s from doing harm to humans.”

The
Sheriff leaned across the desk, “Are you really going to do it?”

“It’s already done
.  I just need to deliver him to her in the holo-room.”

“May God have mercy on his
soul. I think it would better you marched in there and offed the bastard right now.”

Thad smiled, “I thought about it.  But I have to live with Eve, and I don’t like the thought of dealing with an upset computer-woman.”

The Sheriff knocked back another glass, “They say there is no fury like a woman scorned.  I wonder what the originator of that would think, if we changed it to nothing like a computer scorned.”

“I don’t know, but I better get him
back to Eve if I don’t want to hear about it forever.  Oh by- the-way, what you are going to do about the others,” he paused.  “You know their bodies and such?  I mean officially?”

The
Sheriff laughed, “What bodies?  No one is going to miss those scumbags.  Anyway, I have already wiped the records at the port.  Officially the Night Terror never landed here, and so far as the bodies you left behind, well they are already in the furnace, should be ashes by now.”

“Thank you,
Sheriff.”  Thad stood up and shook his hand.

“No problem
.  Thad, you would do it for me, so it was no trouble.”  The Sheriff shook his hand in turn.

When Max saw Thad enter the
cellblock he started screaming, “No, don’t let him take me, please!”

Thad held up a gag, “Shut the
Hell up, or I will stuff this in your gob.”

Max spit at Thad, the greenish gob
landing on his shirt. 

“Oh that was a mistake!” the
Sheriff said as Thad’s hand flew through the bars and grabbed Max by the collar.  He pulled Max into the bars with so much force they rang as his skull bounced off them.

The blow ripped open last
night’s wounds, as Max’s nose smashed into one of the bars, blood spurting down his shirtfront.  “You broke my nose again, you ass,” he didn’t finish the sentence.  Thad pulled him into the bars again, but this time he held Max there while he stuck a syringe into the pirate’s neck.  Within seconds Max slumped against the bars, out cold. 

“Told you
that was a mistake,” the Sheriff said as he opened the cell door.

Thad loaded up the unconscious Max and drove off into the desert.  The
Sheriff was watching the dust cloud form behind the old sand crawler when a deputy stepped next to him, “So what do you think his computer woman is going to do to him?”

The
Sheriff lifted up his hat and scratched his head, “I don’t know son, but I bet it will not be pretty.  If the bastard had any sense he will bite the rest of his tongue off and drown in his own blood.”  

Back at the Hammer compound Thad was carrying the unconscious Max when he was met at the door by Fiona, “You know, slipping off like that, was not very nice.
”

“I’
m sorry, but I had one lose end to tie up,” Thad nodded toward the unconscious Max.

“I see
.  What a nice job you have done, tying him up,” she laughed as she pointed to the restraints on Max’s limbs.

Thad shook his head as he walked into the holo-room.  There he found a chair with all
manner of medical equipment attached.  “Gee Eve, that thing looks nasty!  What are those big needle pokey things?”

Eve appeared dressed in a classic, mad scientist, white lab coat, over a black one-piece
dress, which fell just short of her bottom.  A wide black leather belt finished off the top of her outfit.  Below, she wore fishnet stockings with knee-high leather boots, with six-inch heels.  “Oh, those are brain probes.  They will be inserted into key places in his brain, which will allow me to control everything he sees, hears, and feels.  At first, I was just going to physically accost him, but then I thought, by manipulating his brain,  I can kill him a thousand different ways, and it will feel real every time.  The medical equipment is to bring him back, if he actually dies during the process.”

Thad set Max’s body down in the chair, “Wow
!  Eve remind me, never to piss you off.”

She turned and smiled, “Oh honey I could never hurt you, but just in case
, make sure you put the safety protocols back in place after I have finished with Max.”  She winked at him, “And, oh yea, please have me erase this from my memory.  I really don’t want to remember it.”

Thad strapped Max in, “You inspire a lot of confidence there
girl.  I will do as you ask.  Don’t worry!”  He finished strapping Max in and stayed long enough to watch the probes pushed into Max’s head, through his skull, into his brain.  That was enough for him. Thad left Eve to do what she would with the man who killed her creator, and if it is possible for computers to love, her one and only love.

Inside Max’s head he woke up, or at least he thought he was awake, to find
he was in a hotel bed with a beautiful dark haired girl.  No pain, no blood, and no Thad.  He sat up, “Oh thank God, it was all a dream!”

The door exploded inward.  Eve stepped
through shattered remains of the doorway.  Surrounding her body was a blue white flame.  As a blazing angel, she strode up to the bed.  Rising up, off the floor, she opened her mouth and the voice was so loud it was agonizingly painful.  Max held his hands over his ears.  It did him no good, her voice pounded inside his mind, “I am Eve, and you are in my world now!”

Max was stunned at what he was seeing, “Is this for real
?  It can’t be.  It must be the drug that bastard gave me, isn’t it?  That’s it.  It’s the drug!”

“Is it?
”  Eve pointed to the girl in the bed with him.

He turned to look
, but she was no longer a beautiful woman, just a rotting corpse.  He screamed like a little girl.  He tried to back away, but froze as the corpse’s eyes snapped open, revealing empty sockets.  Terrified out of his mind, he sat there screaming endlessly.  The corpse grabbed him, sinking its teeth into his soft fleshy neck.  He felt the flesh being torn from his body; he felt it!  If he had been hallucinating, he would not have felt it. 
Oh God, this is real
, he thought.

Max screamed and tried to fight off the
bloodthirsty zombie girl, but then he found himself sitting on a beach.  The rotting girlfriend was gone, leaving him still pushing at the air.  The wind on his face felt real, the sand under his feet felt real, but none of this made any sense.  Then he saw the woman again, the one who called herself Eve.

She was dressed in
golden plate armor, riding a horse, swinging a large flaming sword in her hand.  Her long black hair flowing behind her as rode straight for him, and she did not look friendly.  He took off running, but he could not outrun the horse.  In abject terror, he felt the blade cut deep into his back.  The blow sent him to the ground face first.  He pushed himself up onto his knees just in time to see her make another pass.  This time, the sword swung low and fast.  

The pain was unlike anything he had ever
experienced, the world was spinning up and down, then it stopped, and he realized why the world was tumbling.  He was looking at his headless body as it kneelt in the sand for a second, before it flopped over, blood spurting from the severed arteries. 
She cut my head off
, he thought, but
how am I still alive?

She t
rotted up to him, dismounted, bent over, and picked up his severed head.  “Confused?  I told you, you are in my world now, and you will die a thousand deaths, or more, before I am done with you.”

“But why
, what did I ever do to you?”  The disembodied head asked.

Doctor Hammer’s image
appeared next to her, “You murdered my love, and that was worst mistake you could have ever made.  You will now know what happens when an AI’s heart is broken.”

“I feel the pain of
loss millions of times a second.  My love programmed me to have a range of human emotions, now I wish he had not.  You took something from me and I was not programmed to deal with the loss of a loved one, so I am going to make you feel the way I feel,” Eve said as she tossed his head into the surf.

The deaths went on and on
, smothered in pig shit, dropped from an aircraft to splatter on the pavement, thrown into the throat of a live volcano, thrust from an airlock into the vacuum of space, with a leaking space suit.  For Max it seemed like a lifetime, but in the real world, it had only been seven days, and finally, on the seventh day Max’s brain couldn’t handle it anymore.  Eve had not only been the first AI to kill a human being, but more than that, she was the first to burn out a human brain.  The energy from the probes, combined with the pain, cooked his brain.  Thad disposed of the body in the desert.  He left the twisted, brain-fried corpse lying on the sand, in the very spot the pirates had left him to die.