Chapter One
The door was shut tight. William Yates stood by the western entrance of the palace. He longed to go through that door. "Guardian system." He spoke into a nearby microphone. None of the docile servants or scheming nobility in the palace were real friends, so William had taken to talking to the security mainframe program. "Yes sir." Came an echoing electrical voice. "Tell me again why I cannot leave the palace or see the world beyond these walls." He ground his teeth in frustration as the same old reply came through. "Statute 195642 No member of royalty shall be allowed out of the palace without permission of the board of directors and concurrence of thier parents before thier thirty first birthday. If you are feeling claustrophobic I suggest that you go into your garden." William was only nineteen but he was considerably strong from constant artificial exersise. As he stormed down the hall towards the garden he grabbed a chair and threw it though a glass panel. Servants scrambled to pick up the pieces as he reached the garden. "I sympathise with you sire." Came Guardians voice again. "But I must obey the law." William ran his hands through his immaculately combed blonde hair. "The law is outdated." "But nesessary." He stormed though the garden, tearing his synthetic brown and gold suit on a rose bush. "I hate you. I hate this place." He ran to the edge of the garden and pounded his fists on the biodome covering the palace. "Just sign off you useless jailer." Guardian was silent. Panting from running and yelling William sank miserably down on a bench and rested.
He ought to be happy. He thought as he sniffed a bed of tulips. He was Emperor of America. He had a glittering palace full of advanced technology. With the cooperation of the board of directors he ruled a vast network of cities. He could read any book ever written from his bedroom or spend hours playing games. And yet he had nothing without liberty. William felt ready to cry. He could'nt bear to live another day sealed inside this glittering jail.
A security robot walked into the garden. William had his head in his hands and never heard it approach over the soft lawn. Suddenly the robot hit him across the head and placed an iron hand over his mouth. Then it effortlessly carried its stunned prey over to an elavator. Within seconds they were plumetting down to the depths of the palace.
Prime Minister Drexels private quarters were located deep in the belly of the palace. The security robot marched past dirty walls full of exposed, rusty piping and tables loaded with advanced labratory equipment. It stopped before the Prime Minister and reported in a emotionless electronic voice. "Priority one target secured." Drexel nodded. He was a rather thin man with pale skin and a high forehead. He was dressed in a labratory coat and a velvet suit of the latest cut.
The security robot switched its grip and held the frightened and confused William by both arms. Drexel glanced at the royal personage with disinterest. William squirmed in the steel grasp of his bodyguard. "Minister Drexel help! What is wrong with this bot?" Drexel allowed a cruel smile to twitch at his colorless lips. William apealed to the robot. "Release me at once!" "Negative. Voice authorization invalid." Drexel spoke in a cold voice with a trace of triumph. "I managed to redirect the loyalties of this robot when it broke down last month and I repaired him. He no longer obeys you or Guardian." William stared in uncomprehending terror. "What is this old friend? A joke?"
Drexel sighed as if forced to explain to a child. "I am taking your kingdom from you Emperor Yates." The statesman slunk over to a large object covered in tarp and twirled the covering off with a flourish. Willam stared in shock at his own face looking back from behind a sheet of thick glass. A perfect clone of himself floated in a vat of clear fluid, eyes closed. While William was distracted Drexel grabbed a device resembling a staple gun and put it to Williams arm. There was a sound of escaping gas and a small white pellet shot into his arm. The emperor recoiled with a scream of pain. Drexel walked away as if nothing had happened and continued talking. "William, former emperor. Meet William MK8, your replacement. When he awakes in a hour he will believe that he is you. His memories will exactly resemble yours, with a few changes. He will be totally devoid of self-will. Mindlessly following every suggestion will be his delight. Suggestions supplied by me." William kept squirming, trying to see where the white pellet had gone. "What did you put in me?" Drexel gestured to a bottle of similar pellets on a table. "Remote detonated explosives. I am going to put you in that container over there and blow you up. I would shoot you but its to messy and guns aren't allowed in the palace. This way your body will leave with the afternoon garbage and nobody will ever know."
William pleaded with his Minister. "Why are you doing this Drexel? You already have great power and influence. Your riches and influence are unsurpassed on the board of directors. Why take a kingdom you already own in all but name?" Drexel leaned against a cabinet. "You opposed my bill for industrial reforms after it cleared the Board. The bill will greatly profit the rich and powerful of this country..." William interupted Drexel. "It was my duty to interfere. That bill would have forced the commoners into virtual slavery!" "Your succesor will not have such sentimental com-punctions!" Snarled Drexel. "Lets get on with it."
As the security robot carried William towards the empty container destined to be his tomb, Drexel powered up the remote detonator. William was forced into the plastic coffin and the lid slammed shut. Suddenly a matronly electronic voice echoed from a speaker fixed to the wall. "Paging Emperor William. This is Guardian Security System. You are not in the garden, please respond." Drexel swore between his teeth and began typing on a consol feverishly. "We must accelerate our plans." He mumbled as red lights flashed and the clones liquid bath started draining. Remembering William he whirled around and saw the empty plastic box. He had forgotten to lock it. Then the large garbage disposal tube made a flushing, hissing sound and Drexel saw a dark shape go shooting down the tube. The door to his rooms opened and three security robots burst in. "Prime Minister Drexel, report to the security room at once." He gave a longing look at the detonator as he was hustled from the room.
After the robots left the door of the clone's chamber opened with a click and William MK8 stumbled out, still connected to a tangle of life support wires. Where am I? He wondered. How did I get out of my garden?
Chapter Two:
The security room was a mass of technicians seated at consols and virtual screens. In the center stood a huge machine surrounded in thick glass. This was the central hub of Guardian. Drexel stood on a raised platform ringed by cameras. There were several holes dotting the floor of the room. Out of one of these holes emerged a long flexible metal pipe topped by a eyelike camera. It sailed over to the Prime Minister with a menacing clicking of metal joints. "Why have you brought me here!" He demanded. The same electronic voice from the room spoke from multiple speakers all around the room. "The emperor has disapeared, What do you know of it?" Drexel licked his lips nervously, improvising a story. "He is in my quarters in a chemical bath. Experiments show it encurages muscle growth." There was a silence as the eye circled around him."You are lying Drexel." The Guardian was scanning him with x-ray, thermal and infrared devices. It saw his heightened pulse and trembling hands. "Why are you lying?" He stood uncertainly, unsure how to reply. "You have no proof. You must operate according to logic." He retorted. "Logic tells me that you are a traitor to your soveriegn who meets unseemly persons late at night outside the palace. It leads me to conclude that you have done something to the emperor. All I lack is the final irrufutable truth to lock you away for treason. If the emperor is not found I will have my logical answer.
The Prime Minister stood there for over ten minutes. Finally Guardians eye blinked once and swayed on its stalk. "The emperor has been found, he corraborates your story, you are now released."
Drexel sneered and turned to walk away. "I used to think that you were artificially intelligent." He scoffed. "But your just another clever machine, a waste of silicone and copper wires." Guardians voice stopped him cold. "After due consideration I have decided to confiscate your personal belongings and confine you to quarters." He whirled around, hate boiling under his carefully controlled expression. Futilly he spit on the floor and stomped out of security. He would just have to let William die of natural causes. The sewers were a nasty place and the pampered former ruler would not last long. Back at security a robot rolled across the floor and buffed away his spit with a automop.
William landed with a jolt in a pile of reeking trash. He crawled out and found himself in a dark concrete and metal tunnel full of garbage deposited by trash shutes. His fine metaweave suit was ruined. He noticed with horror some unidentifiable muck crawling with maggots oozing down between his coat and shirt. He ripped off his coat and ladled it off gingerly. A rumbling noise interrupted his self-cleaning. The rumble grew to a roar and the floor of the sewer pipe started shaking beneath his feet. William strained his eyes to see into the darkness where the sound was coming. What he saw was something out of his worst nightmare. Grinding, whirling blades emerged into the dim light and came towards him. The wall of sharp metal filled the whole tunnel. William started backing away. The blades hit a pile of trash and shredded it into paste instantly. A fire flared up deep inside the mashine as the paste was burned as fuel in the Trash grinder's furnace. Willaim turned and began running down the tunnel for all he was worth. He was in pretty good condition but the Grinder moved faster than any human. The tunnel seemed to loom on forever. William began to pant and stumble. His sides were heaving. Sweat blurred his vision.
The grinder hit a puddle of slimmy water and chemicals. There was a hissing and the boiler belched out a green cloud of steam. William was fast losing his battle. A few more steps and he sank to his knees with a groan. As he looked around helplessly he saw a side tunnel just two yards away. The cloud of green filth enveloped him as he rose and with a final effort staggered and leaped into the side tunnel. Before he could pull it in one of his legs was hit by a grinder blade. The razor-sharp blade tore off one pants leg, his sock and a shoe and left a long cut on his leg. William stared, panting in exaustion as the massive trash grinder passed by. A mountain of dirty, battered steel on tracks. Soon there was silence again. William huddled in against a pipe, to tired to do anything but cry. He lay there crying for a hour. Alone and helpless for the first time in his life. He fell asleep there. Exausted and cold.
Prime Minister Drexel stood in his office making his daily report to the unblinking eye of Guardian on a screen. "And that is the last of the programming bugs, oh yes one more detail. I have rerouted some Trash Grinders to sweep the sub-palace area again." Guardian blinked and turned to go. Then Drexel was struck by a idea. "Also I have information from a police source from the city offices that a possible emperor look-alike has been spotted in the sewers." Guardian blinked again. "Information noted Prime Minister. My responsibility does not extend beyond the palace grounds." He nodded and turned to go. "Don't forget the procedure protocol for if a pretender tries to claim the throne." Guardians voice echoed behind him as he left. "I never forget anything sir".
Chapter Three:
Bolt was not having a good day. He stood at the starting line of the biggest underground sewer race of the month. The winner would receive as a prize a coveted Red dog fuel pump. Bolt walked over to his dearest possesion. A battered and filthy sports car covered in graffiti and sporting a powerful engine that jutted through a hole in his hood. This was his chance to win big. But just as the five racers had been about to start a sixth contestant entered. It was Swamp Dragon. He and his gang rode a heavily armored 4x4 pickup with flaming exaust pipes. They were the deadliest racers in the whole undercity. Suddenly Bolts co-driver decided that he did'nt want to race that badly and disapeared. The frustrated teenager swore under his breath and slammed his fist on his car hood. Rules said you had to have at least two drivers.
"Whats your problem little kid?" Teased A tattoed racer with a bright pink mohawk. Bolt ignored him. That was Frisco Fueldrip. He rode with the Stick-shift boys in a highly modified van with big speakers perched on top. Bolt recalled the other three racers from memory. The Blue Ghost gang in thier totally armored jeep. Three year winners of the west city track. There was Ice, The outie gang from the outskirts with thier speedy red dune racer. Dynamite was thier favorite weapon. And finally The Wasters and thier bulldozer-blader monster of a old military truck.
One of the race officials past by where he sat brooding. "Five minutes bub, then we gotta start without ya." Bolt nodded. Time ticked by. Only two minutes remained. By then the would-be racer had asked all his buddies to race with him. But neither parts nor money could get them to race against Swamp Dragon.
As the racers reved thier engines and hooted insults around him Bolt took one last desperate glance at the crowds of sewer dwellers. His gaze locked onto a face. Those blue eyes framed in a innocent, confused face told him this was a stranger who knew nearly nothing about anything. Perfect.
William was flabbergasted when a exited teenager dressed in boots, cargo pants, goggles and a filthy shirt and vest ran over to him and started pulling him towards what may once have been a car. "Hey man." Bolt pleaded "Will you drive with me?" William allowed himself to be pulled forward. "I..I'm the emperor." He said uncertainly. Bolt shook his hand and shoved him into the passenger seat. "Pleased to meetcha. Name's Bolt." The jubilant kid was in the driver seat in a flash. With practiced ease he started the motor, changed the gears and locked the doors just as William was about to open it and leave. The ancient stoplight that served to start the race turned yellow. William stammered a question about the screaming engine. "What are we doing?" Bolt glanced at him, bouncing in his seat as the engine shook the car in every rivet. "Racin' " He yelled jubilantly.
William glanced around with a puzzled expression. "Lose somethin' " Asked Bolt. "Were is the seat belt?" Bolt looked at him with a totally straight face. "What's a seatbelt?"
As the light turned green the world around William exploded with noise. The racers accelerated rapidly down the wide tunnel in a tight pack. He held on to his seat for dear life as they rounded a corner. The car pitched sideways as it rode the tunnel wall. William noticed that the racers were seperating a little. Ice's red dunerunner and the Stick-shift van pulled ahead while the Waster truck dropped back. Bolt reached into the glove compartment and handed William a vicious looking gun with a big drum clip. "Your the gunner. Get ready, when we pass the red line let 'em have it." "What is this?" William screamed back. Bolt drew a 45.cal pistol and smiled. "It used to be a shotgun."
William saw the red line coming up fast. He caught glimpses of the other racers brandishing and loading every type of weapon. The world was nothing but tunnel and the scream of engines and the thrilling rush of barreling along at 180 miles an hour. He forgot to be afraid.
The red line blurred by. Suddenly William learned a new definition of noise. Explosions erupted all around him. The noise amplified by the tunnel nearly burst his eardrums. The Stick-shift van roared by, flames streaming from its fusilage. On of the gang perched on top threw two petrol bombs at Bolts sedan. He swerved aside and they exploded harmlessly. Driving one-handed Bolt fired back with his 45. and hit the one of the vans big tires. It collapsed with a hiss and the van fell behind. Frisco Fueldrip tried to regain his lead but the extra strain shredded the flat tire to pieces. The van ground along after the other racers. Frisco heard the honk of a truck horn and looked instinctivly in his rear-view mirror. The last thing he saw was the massive bulldozer blade of the Wasters. The huge angled steel ram hit the van from the side and smashed it into the tunnel wall. The Wasters driver savagely twisted the steering wheel and ground the van to mush against the concrete.
Ice's red duneracer was in the lead. The two guys in the back started rolling lit dynamite sticks back at thier trailing competitors. One exploded close by and shattered the glass in the sedan. Bolt tried to accelerate but the Blue Ghost's jeep pulled in front of him. "Get em'" He screamed at William. The stunned soveriegn blinked against the wind whipping through the broken glass and fired several rounds at the jeep. The shotgun kicked painfully against his chest. The clusters of deadly flettchete rounds bounced off of the jeeps thick armor.
Now the long, straight tunnel gave way to turns and bridges. As the sedan barreled around a curve and hurled along beside an aquaduct full of filth They saw a Blue Ghost stand in the jeeps top hatch and aim a long stick-like weapon at the Ice duneracer that was fast disapearing ahead. The tube flashed and a red blur swooped on a intercepting course with the leading racers. The Ice's driver swerved and the RPG warhead detonated right beside thier tire. The explosion did not harm the vehicle but the shockwave detonated thier store of dynamite. Two seconds later the Blue Ghosts drove through the cloud of debris and saw the remains of the Ice gang sinking into the sewer.
The racers rounded a turn. As they came to the next straight stretch Bolt accelerated furiously, trying to pass the slower Ghost. Then he saw the gunner standing in the hatch with another RPG. Instinctively William raised his shotgun and fired the whole fifteen-round clip into the gunner. Only half of the gunner slid off of the jeep onto the pavement. The speed of Bolts sedan began to show and it passed the slower armoured jeep easily.
William stared ahead in shock. Bolt glanced around with a worried expression. "We seem to be in the lead." He shouted. "Where is Swamp Dragon?" William glanced around and behind them. The menacing green/red pickup truck was nowhere to be seen.
The Blue Ghost jeep tried to regain its lead, but its layers of steel armor dragged down its top speed. Gradually it fell behind. Another gunner emerged from the hatch and sprayed the sedan with bursts from a assault rifle. Bolt drove his car for all it was worth. He kept the pedal to the floorboard as the sedan screamed around 90 degree corners. The car hit a big puddle of corrosive pollutants that splashed into the cabin, drenching them. Another turn and they found the tunnel ahead covered in mounds of trash. Bolt never slowed down. The sedan hit pile after pile of filth until the cabin was filled with it. Bolt fished through the trash with one hand and handed William a spare shotgun magazine. "That's our last one man. Don't waste it."
The Blue Ghost
s knew they had lost the race. They drove gamely on. The race was almost over anyway. Suddenly the deep call of the Wasters truck horn roared through the sewers like the trumpet of doom. The driver glanced out his window and switched to his highest gear. The Wasters powerful V8 army truck was barreling down thier exaust pipe like a avenging spirit. Both vehicles turned a corner and emerged onto a long one-way bridge over a sea of sludge. Desperately the driver pushed his engine for all it was worth. That was his fatal mistake. Strained by the weight of the vehicle a coolant pump exploded in a fountain of parts and fluid. The engine rapidly heated red-hot. The jeep was a third of the way over the bridge. It looked like they could outrun the truck. One of the Wasters stood atop the truck and and fired four rounds from a grenade launcher. All four hit squarely in the back of the jeep, not one penatrated the armor. Two thirds across the bridge and it seemed the jeep would escape. But then a fuel line caught fire. Blinding smoke poured out from under the hood. Rapidly the jeep lost speed. It began slipping back towards the menacing dozer blade. The Blue Ghost gunner popped up and cut down the Waster grenadier in one burst. Then he fired uselessly at the trucks bullet-proof glass as it steadily gained ground.
The end of the bridge was fifty yards away. But it was to late. The gunner leaped out of his hatch and sailed down to hit the muck with a squeltch. The other gangsters started for the hatch seconds to slow. The angled dozer blade effortlessly crushed the rear of the jeep in a stream of sparks and began grinding the vehicle into the iron rail like a trash compactor. Screams and shouts came from the jeep as the Blue Ghosts died in agony. The sparks ignited the gasoline tank and the wreck was engulfed in searing flames. Just as the truck reached the end of the bridge the iron railing gave way and the remains of the jeep went over the edge and poured into the sludge in a rain of flaming gas and parts. The truck drove on with its blazing dozer blade, a fiery demon on wheels.
Chapter Four:
Swamp Dragon had kept his truck back as the other racers had torn each other apart. Now his powerful 4x4 truck surged forward with unmatched speed after Bolts sedan. Swamp Dragon was a experienced man covered in tatoo's and dirt. He had been racing since he was twelve and was totally ruthless. For the third time in fifteen minutes the Waster truck's otherworldly call rumbled through the tunnel, another victim had been chosen.
Swamp Dragon knew he could probably outrun the other truck. But that wasn't his style. As he puled ahead of The Wasters, Dragon noticed a massive sewer pipe running beside the tunnel and his face lit up in a toothless grin. The Wasters driver was in a good mood. Now his gang would be the most dreaded racers in the undercity. The flaming dozer blade was only five yards from the back of the Dragon's truck. Without warning the green beast ignited its exaust pipes and choking smoke poured back into the other trucks windshield. For a moment the Wasters were blinded. A Swamp Dragon stood in the top of the truck and aimed an RPG, not at the armored truck or its deadly blade, but several yards ahead at the giant pipe. As the round hit the Dragon's truck rocketed away up the track. The smoke from thier exaust had just cleared when the Wasters saw the wave of slime from the fractured pipe as it hit thier windshield. The glass shattered and the crew were drenched and blinded in sludge. The driver saw the sharp turn up ahead, but the steering wheel slipped in his hands and the truck hit the corner at 180 mph. The dozer blade was bent nearly in half and the engine was a flaming wreck. The Wasters had lost this race.
Bolts car was less than a mile from the finish line. He kept a sharp lookout for surviving racers as the sedan weaved through a series of tricky curves. As they reached another straight stretch of pipe the Swamp Dragon truck roared into view behind them. The gangster on top opened fire with his assault rifle. Bullets hit the sedan everywhere. One punctured a back tire. Bolt flinched. Now Swamp Dragon could pass them easily. Bolt leaned out of the window and shot at the gunner with his 45. pistol. The bullet hit him in the chest and knocked him clear out of the truck.
Swamp Dragon gritted his teeth angrily. Enough of his gang had been lost. He would pass up his crippled competitor and blast his radiator with the Dragonmobiles exaust flamethrowers, no one killed a Swamp Dragon man and survived. Time to end this race.
The rugged truck accelerated and began to pass the sedan. Bolt glanced in his rearview mirror and pulled his sedan over to the left, blocking the truck. Swamp Dragon growled in anger and tried to pass on the other side. William looked out of his window and saw what was happening. He frantically punched Bolt and roared above the screaming engine. "This side." Bolt nodded and threw the wheel to the right. The sedan veered over and barely blocked the truck. But Bolts car was falling behind. The Swamp Dragon truck roared back over to the left. The driver switched gears confidently and pushed the petal to the floor. The big truck pulled alongside and started to pass the sedan. Bolt was very frustrated. He had come all this way and now he was going to lose. he turned to William and screamed. "Take the wheel. Give me the shotgun." William grew pale. "I can't drive" He yelled back. Bolt grabbed the shotgun. The two racecars turned a last corner, the finish line was only three hundred yards away. Bolt put Williams hand on the steering wheel. "Keep the wheel straight and your foot on the gas." He yelled. As his reluctant co-driver took the wheel Bolt opened the drivers door and blasted the front right wheel of the pickup with the shotgun. The Swamp Dragon driver swerved at Bolt. The teenager barely ducked back in the car. The pickup hit the sedans open door and tore it off the frame. Bolt jumped out and grabbed onto the pickup. He crawled up onto the hood and fired the shotgun through the window. The driver barely ducked as buckshot blew most of his hair off. But his co-driver got filled with lead. The truck swerved wildly and the driver tried to throw Bolt off. The desperate teen hung on for dear life. William managed to pull ahead of the pickup. The finish line was less than a hundred yards away. Bolt climbed on top of the pickup and fired the rest of the shotgun rounds through the pickups hatch. The trucks interior exploded in a cloud of shattered seating and leaking hydrolic fluid. With one last effort Bolt leaped back onto his sedan as it zoomed across the finish line and screeched to a halt amid a cheering crowd. William staggered out of the car, half dead with shock and exaustion. The two winners were lifted to the shoulders of the crowd and carried to a concrete platform to recieve thier prize.
Chapter Five:
It was an hour after the big race. Bolts battered sedan drove through a sewer tunnel half filled with makeshift shelters made of garbage and pulled into a blocked-off side tunnel. There Bolt parked his car and refilled the tank from a plasteel gas can. He gestured triumphantly to the neat makeshift furniture and cabinets full of parts at the end of the pipe. "Welcome to my place." William walked over and sank down on a tattered couch with a sigh. Bolt installed the Red dog fuel pump and used a welder kit to patch the bullet holes and dents. Then he buffed the sedan until it glowed.
As Bolt finished repairs William rose to his feet. Imediately he sank back down with a groan. Bolt walked over and glanced at his leg. The boys eyes grew wide. "Oh man, look at your leg." William looked slowly down and fainted when he saw the blood covering his leg.
It was several hours before William awoke. His leg was crudely bandaged with a towel and a belt. Bolt was sitting nearby with a anxious look on his young face. "Did you get that cut in the race?" he asked "There wasn't a bullet hole." William feebly shook his head. "I was nearly killed by a huge mashine with blades." Bolt nodded and handed William a bowl of stew. "That would be a Grinder. They get somebody every once in a while." William looked hesitantly at his stew. He had never seen the like of the chunks of pale meat and stringy greens floating in pale blue water. "What is this?" Bolt chuckled and poured some crumbs from a cereal box into it. "We call it "What is that." stew." William took a hesitant bite, it wasn't to bad. He dug in with a will. Unknown to him he had not eaten for two days.
Bolt flopped down on a matress perched on two boxes. "So friend. What's your story? I bet you were banished from the upper city." William looked up in shock. "How did you know?" Bolt shrugged. "You have that look, they all have that look. Like timid rabbits, no offence." William nodded. "I am actually the emperor." Bolt raised his eyebrows at that. He listened raptly as William told him of his life in the palace and the events that led to his banishment. "All I have to do is get back to the palace and Guardian will reinstate me as emperor." He finished. Bolt leaned back and gave a low whistle. This was either a crazy nut with a wild imagination or he had just hit the jackpot. "Well, I would love to take you to the palace." He said as he stood and walked over to a hole in the roof of the tunnel. "I would love to just get to the surface and get a glimpse of the real blue sky." Bolt looked through the hole. Nine hundred feet above him he could just make out a tiny patch of daylight framed by iron pipes. William pulled himself off of the couch and limped over to stand beside him. "Why don't you just go up there and see it?" Bolt snorted. "The upper city is full of robot police. A couple drips like us would stand out like a trash can in a water tank. They'd electrocute us as a warning and shoot us down a garbage pipe. Second offenders aren't so lucky."
"Why do the police ban sewer dwellers from the upper city? According to the charts there should be lots of room for job expansion and middle-class population." Bolt shook his head and walked over to his car. "Only if you're born in the right family. I'm not be accepted up there, but someday I'll make it anyway." William joined him as he swept a layer of newspapers off of the floor. "I can get you into the upper city." Bolt glanced at him. "I want to believe that your the real thing. I want to go up there more than anything." Finally he came to a decision. "O.K. we go first thing tommorow." He offered his hand and William shook it. Then the two friends stretched out on a mattress and couch close by a warm steam pipe and fell fast asleep.
The sharp toot of a car horn echoed through the sewer tunnel and jolted William awake. He rubbed his eyes and stumbled out of Bolts makeshift home to where the teenager was waiting in his car. The night of rest had done wonders for the former emperor. He noticed with gratitude that the garbage from the sewer race had been removed from the sedan. But his sensitive nose wrinkled in disgust. "Do you ever wash this car?" He asked. Bolt smiled happily and started driving up the tunnel. "Before we head to the surface I'm takin' my beauty to a car wash. The car drove for a couple of blocks and parked under a large red pipe. The two men got out and Bolt handed two tins of canned chicken to a towering man with bulging muscles. He turned a valve and suddenly a cloud of steam screamed out of the red pipe and engulfed the sedan. After five minutes the big man turned off the steam. "This might be the last time I see ya for a while Joe Radiator." Said Bolt. "I'm makin' a run to the surface." Joe suddenly looked very serious and tried to change his mind but Bolt had decided. "You've known me all my life Joe. I would'nt be doing this if I didn't have a chance." At last Joe nodded and wished him good luck. "Joe will look after your place." He rumbled. The two men got back in the car and drove up a steep pipe towards the surface. They did not notice the sinister vehicle following them.
Chapter six:
William was silent as the sedan streaked up towards the surface.They were now less than two hundred yards from the surface. The tunnel was now lit by patches of bright daylight and powerful lamps. He was lost deep in his own thoughts. He had never dreamed that such mass poverty and squalor existed in his city, much less in his realm. He resolved to start a massive restoration program as soon as he regained the throne. But how would he prove to be more of a emperor than a exact duplicate of himself under his evil prime ministers control? Bolt punched William in the side. "We've got trouble." He said.
William glanced in the mirror and grew pale. The Swamp Dragon truck roared around a curve behind them, belching smoke from twin stacks. The driver was hunched over the wheel, face frozen in a snarl of hate. The Wasters old dozer blade was mounted on the front grill.
William turned to Bolt. "Why are they following us? We won the race." Bolt nodded. "That would be why they are following us. They want payback." Only three of the dragon gang had survived the race. One of them emerged out of the top hatch and began loading a rocket launcher. William reached for the shotgun but it was'nt there. Bolt drew his pistol and handed it to him. "Sorry, I left it back at my place."
As the gunner fired Bolt threw the sedan to the left and the rocket exploded beside them. A shower of steel fragments punched through the car's body. Several hit William in the leg and stuck there sizzling. Bolt leaned out the window to fire but the gunner had ducked down to reload. The big dozer blade shielded the trucks engine and cab from bullets. Bolt holstered his pistol and focused on outrunning the truck. William was squirming as he tried to pull the hot steel out of his leg. The sedan was faster than ever. The new fuel pump shoved tons of gas into the engine and sent the car rocketing down the pipe. But the Swamp Dragons had made a few upgrades of thier own. A better radiator, automatic shifter and newer transmission enabled them to keep up with their prey. Then the sedan raced around a corner and ran into a dead end. Bolt threw his car into a spin and headed back out. The truck loomed ahead, its dozer blade blocking the entrance. Bolt drove straight at the truck. The driver smiled and braced himself. At the last moment Bolt drove his car up the side of the pipe and fired into the trucks cabin as he passed. One of his shots hit the driver in the shoulder. He roared in pain and threw his vehicle in a loop to chase the sedan.
Bolt drove up a steep tunnel and turned corner after corner, trying to lose the truck. They had been driven deeper into the sewers during the chase. Now they headed for the surface again. Without warning the truck roared out of a offshoot where it had been waiting and started closing on them. The gunner popped up and before Bolt could stop him, he took aim with the rocket launcher. Bolt saw a streak of fire in his rearview mirror and threw the sedan sideways. The rocket exploded right beside them and burst two of thier tires. The sedan began skidding sideways in a shower of sparks. Shrapnel had damaged the hydrolic steering and Bolt could not turn the wheel. William sat tight in his seat, face white as a sheet. The truck aproached like a hungry beast. The sedan flew around a corner, right into the jaws of a huge trash grinder. Bolt made a split-second desision and threw open his door. He grabbed William by the jacket and leaped into a side tunnel as it blurred by. The sedan disapeared into the wall of blades and the grinder shuddered as the fuel tank exploded. The Swamp Dragon driver tried to turn and escape the grinder. But his wounded arm failed him. Another gangster reached for the steering wheel but it was to late. The truck was pulverized into scrap in seconds. Then a explosion rocked the tunnel as the ammunition and fuel stored in the truck detonated. Bolt and William lay flat as a hail of razor-sharp blades whistled over thier heads. Flames and smoke billowed through the tunnel. The two survivors stumbled up a drain to escape the searing heat.
It seemed to William that they had been crawling for ages through a nightmare of piping and filth and the odor of decay. His brown suit now hung from him in ragged tatters. It was stained the same blackish green as everything in this world of darkness. Finally they stopped to rest beside a fenced-off generator. William pulled a repulsive slug out of his dirty hair. "Thanks for saving my life back there." Bolt shrugged. "Your my friend. Thats what friends do." A tear rolled down his cheek. "What's wrong?" Asked William. "I lost my car. I had that car for most of my life. I cleaned it every day and it never let me down. It was all the family I had y'know." William felt his own eyes watering. "When I regain my throne I promise I'll buy you the fastest racer ever." Bolt sniffed and stood up. "Well lets get goin' then." As they rounded the next corner they ran into two security guards in smart black uniforms and carrying stun guns. "Whoa there dirty boy." Snarled one. "Your on private property, get back down were you belong." Bolt shoved William forward and whispered. "Do your stuff." He drew himself up with dignity. "I am emperor William Yates. I want level 5 security passes for me and my friend." The guard looked the bedraggled young man up and down. He reached slowly for his stun gun. Bolt saw the movement. "This is yer last chance to crawl down a hole little rat." He grated. "How can you be the emperor when I just saw him on TV this morning?"
Bolt started backing away. But William was stubbron. "But I am the emperor. I have been deposed." "I'll depose you." The guard shot back. He pulled his stunner. Bolt grabbed his 45. in a flash and shot the guard. His Blastflex vest absorbed most of the impact but he was knocked down. William tackled the other guard clumsily but was shoved aside. Bolt jumped at him and hit his chin with three lightning-fast punches. As that guard fell like a brick the other one reached for his stunner. Bolt aimed casually and shot him in the leg. Ignoring his screams he grabbed both stunners and fired them at both guards. Instantly they both stretched out stiff, limbs paralized. Bolt pulled William to his feet and pulled him along down the tunnel. "Come on. They'll be up an' about in a few minutes."
After climbing a maintenance ladder they found themselves before some stairs guarded by two security robots. Up above the bright light of morning shined. One of the robots held up its hand. "Identification please." William stepped forward uncertainly. "I am emperor William." The robot stepped forward and grabbed him firmly by the chin. Then its red sensors brightened and fired twin lasers into Williams eyes.
Chapter Seven:
Guardian's metal stalk swayed towards the door as it opened and Drexel and the clone emperor entered. It bowed its head. "Welcome your highness. This is indeed an honor." The clone stopped uncertainly and looked at Drexel, who nodded, and then said, "Guardian security system. I order you to shut down for repairs." The operators at the monitors jumped as thier screens full of data filled with static. The sensor stalk spoke urgently. "That would be most unwise. I can tell this is not your idea. I respectfully request that you reconsider." The clone stepped back uncertainly. Drexel stepped forward. "Are you disobeying a direct order from your ruler? You have begun to malfunction and must deactivate." The stalk swung to face him. "This is your doing. For three hundred years I have protected the ruler of America." The William clone spoke again. "You will deactivate now or I will anounce a state of emergency. Guardians head bowed in defeat. Drexel smiled as monitors all around the room went blank. The sensor stalk slumped to the floor. All the cameras went still. A nearby security robot crashed to the floor. The clone called to Drexel as he walked out the door. "You be sure to repair Guardian soon and properly sir." Drexel smiled as he opened a panel in the glass and touched the mainframe. "Yes sir.
The robots laser scanned Williams irises and acessed the city police's databank. In seconds it had proccessed millions of records and found his file. Immediately the robot released William and they both knelt before him. "Your highness. We beg pardon for touching your august personage. You may pass." Bolt stared in awe as William walked by the robots and grabbed two security cards from a stand. He stopped him at the stairs. "Uh, I had didn't think you were...". Well, William saw that Bolt was unsure what to do. He patted him on the back and smiled. "It's O.K. pal. You saved my life and your the first real friend I have ever had." Bolt was still uncertain. "Should I um, kneel or something?" William shook his head. "You never have to kneel to me Bolt. Now come on, lets get outa this slime pit. Eagerly the two friends began rushing up the stairs to where daylight poured down from above.
They stepped out into the full sunlight and blinked at the overwhelming light. As thier eyes adjusted they stared in awe at the world into which they had emerged. Hundreds of bright white skyscrapers covered in solar panels towered all around them. The smooth white pavement that stretched all around them was dotted with expansive gardens and parks full of flowering trees. In the distance William saw his golden palace glittering.
As the two wanderers staggered along in a daze they ran into a group of people strolling gaily along. They were dressed in a amazing array of different styles and colors. A woman wearing the flowing gown of a mideival lady stopped chatting with a friend and stared at them. The whole group followed her example. "Say, what time are you guys dressed in? Stone Age?" At this the whole group laughed. William blushed and Bolt scowled. Then a young man in a victorian coat and top hat exclaimed. "By Jove, Is that real blood?" William looked where he pointed and noticed that his pants were soaked in blood from the shrapnel wounds. Suddenly he felt very faint and would have collapsed onto the pavement but a tall man dressed like a greek in a tunic with bulging muscles stepped forward and caught him. "You kids run along to that party. I'll get him to the hospital.
As the group stared after them Bolt and the big greek carried William into a skyscraper lobby and took a immaculate blue elavator to a transit station on the fifteenth floor. The transit station was a large open room where spherical passenger pods zoomed in and out on mangetized rails.The greek aproached a robot at a desk. "Two pods to the closest hospital." He boomed. The robot nodded and thirty seconds later Bolt found himself in a cushion-seated room rolling rapidly along the rails. Through clear glass windows he could see the vast city sprawling for miles and shining brightly. Several times his pod stopped in a terminal station but the automated transit system soon sent him off again. It seemed that everyone in the city used this transit network to travel. Bolt could see no cars or individual transports. The cities skyline was crisscrossed with hundreds of transit rails.
Within ten minutes they had reached thier last stop. Bolt followed the greek down another elevator and stepped out into a spotless hospital ward. The greek carefully laid William down on a soft bed and turned to Bolt. "He looks so much like the emperor." He remarked. He saw that Bolt looked worried. "Don't worry. The docs will fix him up. I gotta go to a party. Good luck." Bolt reached in his pocket and handed the greek a tin of canned chicken. "Thanks for helpin' us man. Your a friend in my book." The greek smiled and shook his hand. Once he was out of sight he promptly dropped the tin in a incinerator and washed his hands.
A beautiful nurse in a smart white uniform came over to William and scanned him with a sensor remote. She turned to Bolt. "We have to take him into surgery. The shrapnel in his leg must be removed and there is a foriegn object in his arm. I asume you are a relative of his?" Bolt unconsiously stood taller as he stammered a reply. "Yes mam. I mean no mam. Just a friend." The nurse began writing on a digital tablet. "Neither of you have Personal I.D. tags. I presume you have security cards?" Bolt nodded and handed her thier passes. She scanned them and suddenly her eyes widened. She tossed the cards back to Bolt and dashed into surgery gasping. "He's the emperor?"
The hospitals most experienced doctors rushed into surgery. Three hours later they left and Bolt followed his friend into a room where he would be left to recover. But the pretty nurse stopped him at the door. "This is a sterile enviroment. If you want to come in you should clean up first." Bolt glanced down at himself. His coat and cargo pants were well beyond filthy. He had not bathed in months and he his boots had left a trail of dirt through the ward. He could see her point. "Do you know how to clean up?" She asked. Bolt didn't want to look dumb and he wanted to talk more with this girl. "Oh sure. But I want to check on my friend first." The nurse gave what was supposed to be a scowl. Despite herself she was begining to like this brash, dirty young man. He was so different than anyone else in the city. But business came first. She couldn't let this dirty vagabond in to see the emperor. "You are not coming in. The public showers are right down the hall." Bolt leaned casually against a clean wall. "Whats your name darlin'?" The nurse began losing her temper. "If I tell you, will you go wash up?" She said desperately. Bolt nodded,smiling. "My name is Rose, now go."Bolt smiled. "What time do you get off work?" Rose chased him out of the ward swinging her tablet menacingly to the laughter of the other staff.
Bolt enjoyed his shower. The stream of hot water felt wonderful as it washed away months of caked grime and unpleasent smells. He felt like a new man when he stepped out dressed in light blue pants and a thick shirt of matching color. His old sewer clothes were still going though the cleaners. He slipped into Williams room when nobody was looking. William was awake and was lying in bed wearing the same clothes as Bolt. He looked a little pale but otherwise fine. "Hey buddy. How you doin'?" William shrugged. "I feel better than I've felt in three days. Its good to get that metal out of my leg. They sewed up my cut too. Then I took a bath and they fed me." Bolt looked around as if expecting to see food. "Fed you? Man your lucky. I got yelled at by a nurse and nearly drowned in hot water." He smiled. William smiled back. "I think I'll take a nap. Then I will head over to the police headquarters and explain the whole problem." Bolt spotted another bed and yawned. The non-stop racing and walking had worn him out. "I think I'll take a nap to." William looked at him with mock severity. "But your not sick." Bolt flopped down and stared at the ceiling. "I don't know. I might be coming down with something. Maybye that nurse will examine me."
Drexel finished downloading the new lines of code into the Guardian mainframe and pressed the power button. The massive generators beneath the security room came to life with a deep hum. The consoles all flickered back to life. A new emotionless mettalic voice echoed over the speaker system. "Security system online. Overide protocol initiated. Welcome to security Drexel." The prime minister smiled. He went over to a microphone. "Initiate a national broadcast." He glanced up as a robot came in holding his detonator. But the "Out of range." light was blinking on it. Drexel shrugged and motioned it away. Either William was dead or would soon be.
Bolt was to exited to sleep, so was William. He casually grabbed a remote and switched on the TV. Immediatly a crisp image of a reporter was projected onto the wall before them. The reporter was talking. "And now we present a emergency broadcast from prime minister Drexel." At this William sat up, alert. Drexels image flashed onscreen. "Citizens of Urban Area One. This is a emergency alert. A clone look-alike if our emperor has been spotted in the undercity sewers. He can be identified by a small wound on his right arm and a birthmark on his collarbone. If you have seen this man please contact the authorities. The police have been issued a warrant for his arrest. Do not atempt to detain him youselves, he may be armed."
William and Bolt turned to eachother in shock. Bolt sighed. "So much for a nap."
Chapter Eight:
Bolt and William dashed through the hospital ward. As they turned a corner into the transit station they saw a squad of security robots scanning everyone with thier red sensors. They quickly turned around and ducked into a service station room. There Bolt grabbed his clothes from the cleaner and put them on over his hospital duds. William stood by the doorway, trying to formulate a plan. A glance outside showed him that two security bots were coming towards them, scanning everyone in sight. Bolt finished dressing. "We have to make a run for the elavator." William whispered. Bolt shook his head and pointed to a set of emergency stairs in a corner. "A old-timer who tried to come up here told me about police searches. They seal off the lobby and search every section. Our only chance is to make for the roof. There might be jumpers up there." William hesitated for a moment before following him up the stairs. "What are jumpers?" He panted as he ran. "Thrillseeking upper-city kids." Bolt responded.
The two men jogged up the five stories to the roof, urged on by the red scanners flashing below them as the methodical robots searched. The dark stairway echoed with the clatter of feet on metal as they reached the top and burst out of a maintenance door into the bright sunlight. They blinked for a moment, eyes readjusting, before surveying thier surroundings.
The roof was a flat concrete space dotted with air-conditioning vents and vent pipes. William saw several people standing by canvas shelters. He and Bolt walked over to them. William nervously noted that most of them carried what looked like improvised grenade launchers. One teenager who seemed to be thier leader stepped forward. He wore a sleek squirrelsuit with blue flames painted on it and a pair of goggles. "What'cha want up here dude?" He asked Bolt. Bolt replied in the same tough-guy attitude. "We aint got time to jaw. A fleet of security is followin' us and we're lookin' to jump over to the palace. Them security bots is aimin' to throw ma' friend in tha' can cause he looks like the emperor." The Jumper leader digested this for a second before turning to his friends. "Look lively, we got bots inbound. Tiger lady, get our stuff ready. I'll meet you guys at the regular place." The leader turned back to Bolt as the others packed thier tents and gear in a well-drilled routine. "What'cha gonna pay the Flames to getcha to the palace? Flames don't jump strangers for free." Bolt thought quickly. "You scared of tha' bots? Don't have enough guts to take us? The leader stiffened at this insult to his curage. "There's robobirds patrolin' the palace sector. Extra risk." William stepped forward. "I am the real emperor. Take us as close to the palace as you can and when I regain my throne I will reward you well." The leader gave a short laugh. "Thats the biggest lie I've heard all day." "Maybe." Replied William. "But I am telling the truth. Are you gonna let this opertunity pass?" One of the Flames heard the tramp of metal feet on the stairs. "Thier comin' big guy. We gotta cut loose." She called. The leader made his decision.
Scraps, Streak. Take these dudes to the museum. You're my best boys. I know you'll make it." The three jumpers formed a circle and pounded clentched fists together. "No fear. No stoppin'. We're JUMPERS." They yelled. Then Scraps and Streak both went over to Bolt and William and attached short ropes and belts to them. Then they ran over to the edge of the building. Behind them two robots came out of the stairs. One of the jumpers fired a home-made grenade launcher and one of the bots exploded in a shower of metal and battery fluid. The other fired its stun gun and the jumper who had fired collapsed in a heap. The leader buckled the fallen flame onto his own harness and fired a grenade from his own gun. The robot was blown over the edge of the building. But two more emerged from the stairway. The leader of the Flames yelled to his gang. "GO GO GO." Just then William noticed that every Flame was wearing large boots and gauntlets with exaust nozzles. The leader turned to Bolt and gave him a thumbs up before leaping off of the roof into space. For a moment they stood stunned. Then he shot back into sight borne aloft by a pair of bright blue wings. He rocketed out over the city before gliding to a landing on a building a block away. The rest of the Flames followed him. Dozens of wings of all different colors shot out of packs on thier backs in a dazzling display.Thier rocket boots and gauntlets boosting them through the air after thier leader.
The robots were joined by four others. William glanced over the edge of the building at the pavement below. His stomach lurched and he grew dizzy at the height. He took a step back as the robots closed in, demanding that they turn and be scanned. Without warning Scraps and Streak leaped off of the roof. William was yanked off his feet and sailed into outer space. His vision blurred as he accelerated. Streaks red and blue wings unfolded before him and he found himself being pulled along like a glider. On seeing the streets and rooftops zooming beneath him William promptly vomited. Some unfortunate strollers down below were showered with the remains of his hospital lunch. Bolt on the other hand was quite enjoying the thrills of high-speed flying. Even in the jumpers slipstream the passengers couldn't see much because of the wind whipping into thier eyes. Thats why Streak and Scraps wore goggles.
They had been flying for just a few seconds when the jumpers cut thier rocket boots and glided down onto a rooftop. William and Bolts faces were streaked with smoke from the rockets and Bolt had a slight heatburn on his face. Scraps noticed and lengthened Bolts rope a little. "Try to keep your hands and legs out on takeoff and drift yourself out of the exaust." He said. The two jumpers glanced at each other. "Lets get going." William had barely got his breath back. "I think we'll walk from here." He gasped. Streak shook his head. "The big guy said take ya' to the meuseum. We allus does our job. Besides, you can't make it walkin', there's security patrols lookin' all over for ya'." Before William could protest further there was a roar of rockets and he launched violently into space. Adrenaline pounded through his blood as they barreled through the skies and came to a stop again. He glanced around and saw that they had traveled a long distance in a few seconds. They had gained altitude and landed on a huge eighty-story building in the high-rise area of the city. Below him the massive metropolis of UA1 lay spread before him, glistening in the afternoon sun. Beyond the city he could make out a blurry band of brown through a shimmering haze.
His palace sat in the exact center of the city, A massive globe of gold and white. Scraps spoke. This is the end of the free-fly zone. We are goin' to try to make it to the historical center in one run, before the birdbots get us." William eagerly took a drink out of a proffered canteen. "This jumping is not safe. You guys are crazy." Scraps looked at him with amusement. "Of course its not safe. Thats why we do it." William looked resolute. "When I return to my throne I will abolish this practice." Streaks face fell. "This is our life man. Sure its dangerous. Guys get killed every day doin' it. But its our choice. Digital games, parties and a job that you were raised to inherit just don't cut it. This is what makes us feel special." William faltered. He had never done anything to make himself feel special. Scraps made up his mind. "If you don't promise to let us keep doin' our thing we won't take you to where your goin'." At the prospect of being stuck up on this skyscraper until security caught up with him William changed his mind.
Five minutes later the two jumpers and thier passengers were streaking between buildings like twin bolts of lightning. Bolt had borrowed a pair of goggles and was thuroughly enjoying the ride. William just kept his eyes shut tight. As they aproached the government area of the city two robotic drones took off and jetted up towards them on a intercept course. Closer and closer they came. At four hundred meters they opened fire with a hail of electrofied 22. slugs from thier mahine guns. The two jumpers wheeled to the left and flew in a tight circle around a building. The robobirds were right on their tails. William and Bolt were tossed around like ragdolls as the jumpers rolled and looped to dodge a fresh burst of gunfire. They flew down low and zoomed straight through the web of steel girders of a building under construction. The robobirds followed. One of them hit a wire mesh that its sensors had'nt detected and exploded in a spectacular fireball. But the other drone continued gaining on them. Streak looped around behind it as it chased his wingman and fired his grenade launcher at it. The round missed. The drone fired another burst at Scraps as he turned a corner and hit his arm. He cut his engines and floated, gasping in pain. Bolt felt them slowing and yelled ahead for Scraps to toss back his grenade launcher. The launcher came sailing over and Bolt caught it as it sailed by. The birdbot was less than twenty meters away. Its beady red eye sensors locked on to Bolts infrared image. Bolt spun around on his back, he only had one shot. He aimed carefully and fired. The birdbot saw it coming and wheeled to the side. The shot missed.
Bolt floated helplessly as bullets flew all around him in slow motion. Suddenly the birdbot exploded into a hail of parts. Streak flew overhead and threw Bolt a salute. In the other hand he held his empty grenade launcher. Both jumpers turned back on course and landed on the roof of the meuseum. Streak ran over to his wingman as his wings retracted. "You O.K. dude?" Scraps gasped and clutched his arm. "I'll be fine. It missed ma' bone." Streak turned to Bolt and William. "Security will be here in a minute. You two had better go." Bolt untied himself from the rope and returned the grenade launcher. "You boys are incredible." He said, shaking Streaks hand. "I hope I see you again soon." Streak smiled and shook back. "Just look up."
William and Bolt slipped inside a maintenance door and entered the meuseum. Red lights shined through the windows as security shoved the two jumpers into a police hovercar. They had reasurred William that they would only be held overnight for reckless flying. This had happened to them many times.
They collapsed onto benches, exausted, and fell asleep. They slept for four hours.
Chapter Nine:
William was awakened by the smell of coffee. It was dark outside. Every muscle ached from his flight. Bolt had hotwired the snack booth coffeemaker back to life. He handed William a cup, sipping out of his own. He felt the liquid warming his insides as Bolt handed him a sandwich. He tackled it ravenously. Bolt leaned back with a groan. "So what's the plan. How are we goin' to take back your kingdom?" William looked up. "We?" Bolt took another drink of coffee. "Yeah. Your my friend. I'm going to help you." William shook his head. "You don't have to help me. I'm the one they're hunting. You don't have to get in trouble... get arrested. You can enjoy your life in the upper city. Just like you always wanted. I won't let you give up your dream to get caught with me." Bolt took all this in for a moment. "Why do you have to go back? Besides gettin' the cops off of your tail why do you have to go back into that palace?" William replied. "Because its my duty. If I don't regain the throne Drexel with destroy the lives of everyone. I know him. I must at least try for the sake of the unknown millions he will hurt." Bolt gave a resigned sigh and drank the rest of his coffee. "How will you get your throne back from the clone?" William stood. "I don't know. But I'm going to try."
They walked through halls lined with historical relics from humanities past. William gazed in awe at the synthetic figures dressed as cave men, inventors and famous figures. Twenty-two centuries of history lay behind these glass cases. It took twenty minutes to get to the end of the meuseum. Bolt led him out through a back door into a vast warehouse. They traveled through endless stacks of crates. Looking for an exit. The boxes of relics stretched on for half a mile. Something caught Williams eye. A wooden crate had been smashed open by a box falling from above. Curiously he walked over and pulled away some boards. A nine-foot dusty steel suit towered above him, gleaming dully in the dim yellow light hanging fifty feet above him.
Bolt came over and gave a low whistle. "What is it?" William asked. "I'm not sure." Came Bolts reply from around the back of the box. He came back with a old storage manifest. "Barracuda Mark 10 enhanced combat suit...made by Foundry Industries...Never went into full production...Limited power supply...Etc." Bolt looked up. "This might be your ticket into the palace. Come on. Lets put it together."
An hour later they stood beside the menacing machine as it charged its batteries off of a dozen meuseum power plugs. They had used a forklift and a hoverpad to drag the three ton suit over to a pair of huge doors. Now Bolt jumped into the cockpit from a ladder and put on the sensor gloves and helmet. William was working at a computer that they had found and set up. He pressed the "Initiate reboot." button. Lights blinked on inside the cockpit. Bolt twitched nervously as the helmet lit up with holographic displays showing suit status. William kept him updated on the progress. "Primary systems activated...Damage check...shortout regulators on." Then Williams monitor screen changed. "Darn." He shouted. Bolt raised an eyebrow. "Darn?" William ignored his sarcasm. "We ran out of procedural memory. Whats that?" Bolt sighed and struggled out of the cockpit and down the ladder. He began rumaging through a crate of parts. "I found it." He exclaimed, Holding up two black carbon sticks. "I hope its compatible." He motioned towards the cockpit. "Better get up there."
They worked frantically through the night. Two hours later the final proccesses were running. Bolt stared at the loading bar crawling across the screen. William interupted his thoughts. "How do you know so much about computers?" Bolt leaned back on the crate he was sitting on a and shrugged. "I used to help my buddies to hack factory systems down in the lower city."
The flashlights of two security guards flashed around the corner and iluminated Bolt. "Hey." Called one. "What do you think your doin'." Bolt glanced at the monitor and pressed several buttons. "Hey, Get away from the computer kid." Bolt looked up at William. "I'll hold 'em off. You go get your throne back." He pressed enter and Williams cockpit began to close. William didn't know what to say. His friend was giving his liberty so that he could get away and there wasn't anything he could do about it. "Your my best friend." He called as steel plates folded over his chest and shoulders. Bolt smiled and walked towards the guards. "Just don't forget my new car." He called over his shoulder. "O.K. kid." one guard snarled. "Keep your hands where we can see 'em."
Williams helmet identified the three guards as hostiles. But the machine guns built into the MK10s arms were empty. William lifted his foot tentatively. The sensor net recognized the movement and the right leg of the exoskeleton lifted also. The guards saw something move in the shadows beyond William. One guard lifted his stunner at Bolt. The boy tried to pull his 45. but the guard was too fast. A strong electric pulse hit him and knocked him to the hard concrete floor. That made William mad. The guards jumped back as the steel powered suit stomped out of the gloom. Its feet cracking concrete and making the warehouse echo with clanging and screeches. The ground shook under the guards as they ran. Calling desperately for backup. The big machine grabbed up a three hundred pound crate like it was nothing and threw it after the guards. It hit amongst them and shattered in a hail of wood and pottery shards, knocking them off thier feet.
William looked down at were Bolt lay. The helmets scanners told him that Bolt was uninjured but he was reluctant to leave his friend. Bolt glanced up at him and mouthed a word. "Go."
William stormed down the aisles in his armoured suit. He was still mad and showed it by smashing down piles of crates as he went. The MK10 had enough energy for three hours of normal operation. He had three hours to reclaim his throne. The exoskeleton reached the huge double doors at the back of the warehouse and paused to tear them off thier hinges before stomping off into the night.
It was about 3:30 in the morning when Williams battlesuit reached the gold-guilded doors of his palace. He paused for a moment. He knew that these doors were made of triweave titanium/carbon alloy. Nothing but energy weapons would get through. Then he spied a row of old windows high above him. Time to see what this thing can do. He thought. He gathered himself and leaped towards the windows. But the MK10s heavy construction was not built for jumping. It barely got four meters off the ground before crashing back down. William stood for a minute before trying something else. He leaped at the smooth side of the palace and punched a hole clear through its concrete wall. Gold flakes and dust flew everywhere as he held on and smashed the hole bigger and bigger with his free hand. Then he pulled himself into a large room and looked around at the familiar surroundings. "Home sweet home." He said softly.
Bolt dragged himself behind a statue covered in tarp with one arm. His whole body felt numb and frozen. Dozens of security guards ran by. Shining flashlights. One thought filled his mind. He must get to the palace and help his friend.
Chapter Ten:
Prime minister Drexel was woken from a deep sleep by the buzzing intercom. "Yes?" The monotone voice of his security system jolted him into wakefulness. "Sir, the rogue clone has broken into the palace. I am sending all security to deal with this intruder. Please come to the throne room imediately. I have already secured the emperor there." Drexel threw a gown over his pajamas. "Be right there."
The floors and walls shook, paintings and statues toppled as the MK10 jogged down a wide hall towards the throne room. With a clatter of metal on wood nearly forty security robots streamed out of two corridors and blocked his path. William heard a whining sound as thier stunners charged up. He accessed his suits weapons options. "Swords." He whispered into the helmet microphone. A loud screech echoed through the hall as two big swords shot out of his arms. The robots opened fire. Thier weapons flashed as beams of paralizing energy hit the suit with no result. William began charging towards the robots. In the throne room Drexel was whatching everything from a array of cameras. "Switch to melee mode." He commanded through a microphone. The robots ran towards William. As they collided William Impaled two of them on his swords. Oil streamed through the air as he twirled around and cut another one in half. Four robots tackled him. Slowly he rose back to his feet. All the remaining robots piled onto him. Roaring with effort William stumbled into a wall, smashing several more robots into pieces. He retracted the swords and grabbed two of them with his hands. He smashed thier heads together in a cascade of sparks and hurled another clear across the hall. Uselessly the robots zapped the suit with thier tasers. William tore off heads and limbs effortlessly. "Retreat." Drexel snapped. He noticed the clone emperor staring in horror over his shoulder at the hulking nightmare surging inexorably toward them on screen. "Your majesty. May I activate the Sentinels?" Numbly the emperor nodded. Drexel turned back to the microphone. "Security. Activate all Sentinels."
Deep inside the palace vaults four pairs of blue eyes lit with a ghostly glow in the darkness. Generators hummed and machinery creaked as elavators carried the Sentinels towards the surface.
Bolt stumbled out of the meuseum and across the pristine concrete towards the palace. His pace quickened as life came back to his paralized limbs. A security guard in a hovercar pulled up beside him. "Hey bub. Where do you think your going?" Bolt turned to him and smiled. The guard shifted nervously as he saw the 45. leveled at his head. "I'm goin' to the palace in your rig bub."
William turned a corner and stopped and stared at at the sealed doors of the throne room. Two pairs of blue eyes stared back as they identified him as a intruder. The blue eyes where owned by two heavily armored robots that stood four feet taller than even Williams suit. The miniguns on thier left arms began reving up as they leveled the weapons at him. William made a flying leap for a concrete pillar as bullets streamed around him. Splinters showered his helmet as the miniguns chewed the pillar to splinters. The whining sound died down as the miniguns stopped and the Sentinels marched over to where William was hiding. He took a deep breath and extended his swords. They must be out of ammo. He thought. The MK10 leaped out of cover and charged...right into a rocket. The explosion blew a chunk of armor off of its chest and hurled it back into a wall. William shook his head groggily as the dust settled. He was aching all over and bruised in several places. As two more rockets hit above him he dragged his suit to its feet and stumbled down a corridor.
Bolt parked the speeder on the sloped roof of the palace. The unfortunate security guard lay slumped over his seat with a bruise on his head. Bolt slipped through a skylight and landed lightly in a hallway. He noticed a monitor but was puzzled that there was no keyboard attached. He walked over to it. "I wish I knew how this thing works." He thought out loud. The monitor screen blinked to life and a electronic eye appeared. "This is security. What do you need?" Bolt examined the aparition warily. "I want to know where William is." "This palace is in emergency lockdown because of a foriegn intruder. That information is currently restricted." Bolt growled in frustration. "Where is the central computer?" The eye stared steadily at him. "That information is restricted." Bolt lost his temper. "Listen up you sorry bucket of silicon fodder. Tell me what I want to know or i'll pull every plug in this pretty dump, you virus-infected excuse for a primitive stock-ticker."
The eye was silent for a moment. Then the metallic voice spoke again. "your friend is in the security room. Floor nine, hallway Z3-S4, first door on the right." Bolt stormed off to find an elavator. Time was running out.
Drexel stared in concentration through the Sentinels cameras as they hunted William through the palaces corridors. To his annoyance the Security systems sensor eye blinked on-screen. "Sir, another intruder is heading towards the security room. May I have some security to secure him?" Drexel impatiently minimised it into a icon on the toolbar. "No I need all available units. Deal with it yourself." Without a word the eye blinked off.
The two Sentinels had split up to search more effectivelly. Now one had spotted Williams damaged suit enter a arboreum filled with exotic plants. It deployed its partner to block the other exit and entered the doorway. William was waiting. The MK10 Barracuda expoded out of a cloud of shrubbery and plunged both swords deep into its torso. As the machine staggered back William withdrew a sword and hacked its head-mounted sensors apart. Wiring, fuel and leaves flew thickly as the mighty opponents crashed through the trees. William never relaxed his relentless attack. The Sentinel raised its rocket arm at him and he hacked it off. His suit was coated in hydrolic fluid as he tore a leg off of the helpless robot. The remains of the Sentinel fell to the floor and lay there sizzling.
Bolt arrived at the open doorway of the security room. A few overhead lights dimmly lit the interior. He cautiously went inside. The rows of monitors were deserted. With a slam the heavy doors behind him jammed shut and locked. Bolt started towards the big glass case housing the mainframe, alert for the slightest sound. The mettalic sensor stalk emerged silently from a hole behind him, its red light tracking him malevolently. It crept up to within six inches of his neck, preparing to strike. Then a single link of its metal length scraped the floor with a small ring. Bolt reacted in a instant and dashed forward as it grabbed at his neck and missed. He whirled around and fired a wild shot as it disappeared back into its hole. Bolt looked desperately around and saw a rusty box across the room marked Auxilary power control. He dashed towards it and instinctively leaped up onto a monitor as the sensor stalk streaked out of a hole and tried to trip him up. He held his fire. He only had six shots left in this clip and the head was to fast. All was silent for a moment. He barely dared to breath. A ice-cold mechanical voice emanated from the floor. "You are very afraid Mr. Bolt. Oh yes, your hacking exploits have not gone unoticed. Your heartbeat is very controlled for someone who is about to die."
Bolt didn't reply. He focused on the control box. He leaped to another monitor and balanced there precariously. The voice came again directly beneath him. "That control box will do you no good. It cannot affect my mainframe." It taunted. Bolt appeared to change his mind and stared running towards the mainframe, firing three shots uselessly at the bulletproof glass. At the last moment he backflipped on a monitor as the sensor reared up were he should have been and kicked at its head. In a reflex action it jerked back and smashed a big crack in the glass case. Bolt ran panting back towards the box as it slunk back into a hole. "You think your clever?" The voice hissed. "I am everywhere. I can see that you are beginning to tire. You will not last much longer."
Bolt reached the box and wrenched it open. Several levers covered in dirt were inside. Frantically he pulled four of them. The lights went out,plunging the room into darkness. Bolt felt for the last lever. Suddenly the red light of the sensor lit right behind him. Bolt screamed as the long coils of metal wrapped around him. The stalk squeezed tightly, driving the air from his lungs. "I always win." The voice hissed as he flailed around, his vision fading into darkness. With a last effort He grabbed the stalk close to its sensor head and blasted the sensors with his last three shots. The stalk writhed and loosened its grip for an instant. Bolt reached around wildly and pulled the last lever. In the darkness he felt the metal stalk release him and crumple to the ground. He sank aginst the wall panting desperately for air.
Chapter Eleven:
The Sentinel clanked out of a corridor into the palaces vast ballroom. Its thermal and infrared scanners swept the room continually. It marched forward with weapons at the ready, looking everywhere. Everywhere exept up.
William launched his suit off of a balcony high above the ballroom. He fell three stories and hit the Sentinel square on the back. With three tons of force behind them the two diamond-edged titanium swordblades drove through the robots chassis. The MK10 leaped back as the Sentinels volatile fuel mixed with sparks from its wrecked powerplant and erupted in a series of fireballs. William wished that he could wipe the sweat from his forehead under the helmet. He took a sip of water from the in-helmet pipe and checked his battery. Less than twenty minutes of power left. His time was really running out. The Sentinels rocket arm lay in the burning fuel and the cooked warheads began shooting off and detonating against the ballroom wall. When the smoke cleared William felt the cold breath of morning air on his neck and saw the sky turning pink with the aproaching dawn. He sighed at the sight of the beautiful city stretching beneath him and turned back towards the throne room.
Drexel sweated nervouslly as the Sentinels cameras went blank. Then every monitor and light in the room went dead. The two Sentinels inside the throne room glanced around as they lost contact with the security system. Drexel ran over to a skylight and pulled out his private comunicator. He began speaking quietly but urgently into the mic. "Listen, things have gone wrong. I need you to begin the rebellion now." A hardened voice answered back. "Very well. Dont forget the finance vault codes when we get to the palace." Then the line went dead. Drexel called another number. A calm well-groomed voice answered. "Yes?" "We have a problem. Somehow the real emperor has returned and my security forces are failing. I have started the rebellion and will kill this impostor myself." "Very good." The voice answered unperturbed. Drexel put away the phone and walked urgently over to the clone emperor, who was sitting nervouslly in a cusioned chair. "Your majesty. You must hide in your vault behind the throne now. Danger is iminent." The clone nodded dumbly and hurried into his hiding place. As the throne clicked shut behind him Drexel had one Sentinel kneel so that he could climb inside the cockpit. He set it to manual control and fitted his hands into the sensor gloves. No more mr. nice guy. He thought.
Bolt stood in the totally dark security room. He tried to flip the lever controlling the lights but none of the levers had any effect. Then he noticed a small light flashing by a monitor. He felt his way over and saw the words "System Reboot" on screen. He pressed enter and the screen filled with options. He began typing rapidly. Resetting everything to default. A loading bar appeared with words flashing underneath. Guardian system rebooting. Bolt took a deep breath as the lights flickered back on and the doors opened.
Deep in the city sewers hundreds of hulking men stood leaning on thier weapons, listening earnestly to a speaker standing on a racing truck. "No more scrabbling in the filth for scraps." He screamed through a microphone. "Our day has come. We shall teach these upper-city brats to oppress us. We shall take the shining city of destiny for ourselves and our families. We'll flush those ultra-clean aristocrats down here and see how they like it." The speaker reminded them of the many wrongs they had suffered, whipping them into a frenzy. "We shall burn the golden palace to the ground. We shall drag thier precious emperor around the streets from a chain hitched to our trucks. Down with the Empire. Down with the rich filth. The Rebublic forever." Roaring in assent the crowds piled into rusty trucks and cars and drove full-speed towards the surface.
As William stood before them the massive dual throne room doors began ponderously opening. One Sentinel lay slumped over on the floor. He noticed Drexels head in the cockpit. His voice echoed over a loudspeaker. "I am impressed that a weakling like you survived the sewers. But now you will die. Even if you defeat me events are now in motion that will topple your kingdom and give my employers immense power. Die now in despair." Inside the cockpit Drexel slipped his hands out of the gloves and flourished the detonator. William leaped forward to stop him but it was to late. He pressed the button...and nothing happened. Drexel plunged his hands back inside the gloves as William tackled his machine and knocked it to the ground.
Drexel grabbed William by the arms and threw his machine across the room. As William landed painfully Drexel began pounding him with rockets and minigun rounds. William ran sideways to evade the fire but there was nowhere to hide in the open room. The few flimsy chairs and tables collapsed into matchsticks. Drexel stopped firing and charged towards William as he leaned against the burning wall. William was exausted after hours of fighting but his enemy was fresh. Drexel smashed a iron fist into the MK10s chest. William sank to his knees and his helmet flew off from the impact. Grunting in pain he extended a sword and stabbed the Sentinels torso. As Drexel punched at his head William rose with a mighty effort and threw the Sentinel into the air. It sailed forty feet and made a crater in the floor. William staggered towards the prone figure with both swords extended. His energy meter was beeping frantically. He had less than three percent power left. Drexel hauled his machine to its feet and blasted the MK10 with his minigun. William writhed helplessly as the rounds chewed into his suits vital systems. Drexel stopped firing as the MK10 collapsed into a sitting position. Drexel crashed over and knelt by the wrecked machine. "You were never going to win Willy. You were born and bred a soft little man. It is strong and ruthless men like me that will rule the future. Your line is ended." He shoved the hot barrel of the rocket launcher against Williams forehead. "Goodbye your majesty." There was an explosion and Drexels machine flew through the air and hit a wall. The other Sentinel stood across the room beneath a giant monitor, weapon smoking. The familiar old voice of Guardian echoed over the intercom. "I am delighted to finally have proof of your treason prime minister."
Drexel tried to rise but the Sentinel hit his suit with another rocket. Fuel spurted all over his face and gown as his suit tried to rise, then fell back with a crash. The Sentinel aproached warily and pulled him out of the cockpit. William manually unbuckled from his suit and crawled out. Bolt walked into the throne room escorted by two security bots. He ran to William and extatically hugged the exhausted but happy ruler. "How did you get here?" William wanted to know. Bolt shrugged breathlessly. "Long story. The kind you tell over a drink."
The security robots opened the throne room vault and placed the clone emperor under arrest. Guardian appeared on the giant screen above thier heads as a calm old lady in a business suit. "On examining the prime ministers rooms I have discovered that the current ruler was in deed a cloned counterfeit manufactured by Drexel. You shall have your throne restored to you. The clone will be tagged and retained. If you should ever need a reprieve from your duties it may take your place for a time. former prime minsister Drexel shall be tried and found guilty of charges including but not limited to treason, illegal cloning and attempted murder." William nodded as he walked to a bar and poured himself and Bolt a drink from a shattered bottle. "I leave the matter entirely in your hands." Bolt punched him in the arm. "I knew you were the emperor all along." Guardians image flashed back onscreen. "Your majesty, we have a problem. A message from the police indicates that a army of scum from the undercity are comeing this way, burning and destroying all in thier path." William took Bolts 45., Slapped a new round in and handed it back. "I still need your help my friend. This is'nt over yet."
Chapter Twelve:
Three dozen assorted jeeps and trucks roared between the skyscrapers of the city at the head of a mob of gun-waving looters. They tossed firebombs through windows and shot down any fleeing civilians they saw. Around a street corner they encountered a platoon of security robots. The automated police fired thier stunners, dozens of the gunmen collapsed. The mob returned fire with everything from pistols to heavy mashine guns and rocket launchers. The police line collapsed as the robots were torn to shreds. Several tried to retreat but were blown to pieces before reaching cover. With a cheer the mob carried onwards. Two frightened children ran out from behind a fountain. A heavily muscled gangster ran after them. No killing these brats. He thought. They'll grow up to serve me.
The children ran into a heavily wooded park. The big gangster and two others followed. At that moment Justin, the man dressed as a greek who had helped William earlier, happened to be hiding behind a large oak in the park. He stayed silent as the children ran past him, deeper into the park. Two of the gangsters ran by without seeing him but one stopped, out of breath, and leaned against his tree.
Justin was a peaceful sort. But anger was swelling in him now. He had been with a group of his friends when these bad men had poured out of a maintenance station and gunned many of them down. Justin had ran until he was panting and hidden in the park to rest. Now he was mad at these bad men. He stepped around the oak and hesitantly punched the gangster in the nose. A trickle of blood ran down his face as the man turned with lightning reflexes and cut a gash in his chest with a serrated knife. Now Justin was really mad. The man stabbed at him but Justin grabbed his wrist and grabbed his neck with the other hand. The man gasped as the air was slowly squeezed out of him. He turned purple and fought helplessly for a moment before going limp. Justin cautiously released the body. He whirled around at the noise of someone running through the trees as the children dashed up to him and hugged him fearfully. They had slipped past the other men in the trees. Justin didn't know how to use the shotgun lying by the dead mans side. He grabbed the knife and snuck out of the park with the two kids.
William supervised the fortifying of the palace. He stood by the front gates with Bolt and the remains of the security force. The robots were erecting automated turrets and barbed wire fencing. Bolt turned to William. "I need to go into the city. I'll be right back. I'm gonna see how close they are." William shook his head. "I don't want you to go. I need you here." Bolt smiled grimly. "You mean you don't wanna lose me again?" William turned away. "Go if you have to. Just come back in one piece. I don't want my only friend to get shot after all we have been through."Bolt streaked out into the city in a hovercar. Years in the sewers had honed his sense of direction. It took him less than ten minutes to find the building he was looking for.
Justin and the kids dashed out of a stairway into a fifth-story hospital ward. Doctors and patients glanced up. They had no idea what was happening on the streets below. "Bad men are coming up the stairs." He panted. Everyone looked at him as if he was insane. A doctor walked over and spoke calmly. "Are you alright sir. Maybye you need to sit down for a minute." Justin heard steps on the stairs. He ran into a patients room where nurse Rose happened to be changing pillows. He slammed the door and locked it. Screams and gunfire erupted in the ward as gangsters charged out of the stairs, shooting at everyone. Justin wedged a bed against the door and dropped into a chair panting. The screaming and shooting died down in the ward. Then the door started lurching as someone tried to open it. "Hey, Kickstart." Came a voice. "I need your boom gun. This doors locked." Justin got the children and Rose down behind a bed by the window. He got up next to the door. The bed flew across the room and smashed through the window as the door was blown off of its hinges. As two gangsters charged in through the smoke Justin leaped forward and stabbed one in the stomach. The other man raised his gun butt and knocked Justin to the floor. He aimed at Rose as she shielded the kids with her body. Then the gangster flew back out the door as three 45. rounds slammed into his chest. Rose turned and saw something that seemed out of a dream.
Bolt was sitting by the window in a hovercar, he holstered his pistol and held out a hand to her. Rose grabbed one of each of the childrens hands and walked over to the window. She took a deep breath and stepped over into the hovercar. The children hugged her tight as she sat down in a daze and buckled them in. Justin stood up and staggered towards the window. Bolt drew his gun and shot another gangster coming through the doorway. Justin took Bolts outstretched hand and leaped into the hovercar. The humming machine flew away through the forest of skyscrapers towards the palace.
Chaos reined in UA1. The city was on fire. Security robots struggled to get thousands of refugees to safety as the hundreds of rebels attacking the city were joined by even more people pouring out of the sewers. The rich and powerful sat uneasily in thier mansions as mercenaries and personal security fended off the attackers.
Ten blocks from the palace on a rooftop the group of jumpers known as the Flames were stareing down at the devastation below. They turned in at the sound of rocket motors and saw another group of jumpers landing behind them. Thier young leader, a man with a mohawk, stepped forward. "Hey Flames. Sorry about landing on your turf but we gotta do something about this." The Flames leader stepped forwards and gave the other man a big bear hug. "Hey Morris. Nevermind the turf. I hear Gears and Whistler took the long dive down in the Tenaments. Sorry to hear it." Morris stepped back. "They were tryin' to protect thier family when the sewer scum came. But enough gabbin'. Lets show these stinkin' slimebacks what we're made of."
The Flames followed thier leader to the edge of the building and prepped for takeoff. Morris called after them. "You cover the west side of Industrial and Royal sectors. I'm gonna find all the other jumpers I can find and get em' goin'. Good luck."
Some newly arrived sewer rebels gazing in awe at the city iluminated by the rays of the new morning saw a ribbon of glittering shapes streaking through the sky as the Flames flew over the city. The Flames leader spotted a group of rebels running through the streets, firing at everyone they saw. He swooped down towards them, followed by the rest of his thirty man flight. He dove towards the ground until the last second before pulling up and firing his grenade launcher at a rebel less than five meters away. The entire rebel group disapeared in a rippling mass of fireballs and smoke as the Flames fired a volley into them. After landing on a roof and reloading they took off to find other targets.
All around the city the jumper clans rallied and swooped down to destroy the invaders. Gangsters ran for cover and fired wildly at the birdlike creatures that swooped down and blasted them. The citizens of the city took hope. They began to fight back with everything they had. They rammed gangsters with hovercars and hit them with stunners from windows and doorways. Soon they captured weapons and used them in hit-and-run fights. The cities robotic police had equiped themselves with sleeping gas grenades and were driving the rebels back rapidly. The gangsters had scattered to loot and pillage, it was thier turn to be outnumbered and frightened. Many threw down thier weapons or fled back down the sewers. A few of them held out. Pounded from the air and ground even these tough guys were hunted down and killed.
But a convoy of fourteen pick-up trucks had broken through the police barricades and were speeding straight for the royal palace. In the lead truck was the speaker who had started the rebellion. He still hoped to be victorius by capturing the emperor and holding him hostage. William saw them coming from the palace doors. Guardians voice came from behind him. "Sir, we must close the doors imediately." William scanned the sky for Bolts return. "He still hasn't come back. We must wait." The voice on the intercom became persistent. "Your majesty. The safety of everyone in the palace depends on this. You must put your subjects over your own desires." William knew it was right. The trucks were less than two hundred meters and closing fast. He drew breath to give the order. Then he saw a speck in the sky racing towards the palace. "Shut the doors." William said. He hoped his friend would be fine.
Bolt flew towards the roof of the palace. He ignored the bullets wizzing by from the trucks below. "Buckle up and get your heads down." He told his passengers. "This is gonna be rough." The hover car shook as the sloping roof rushed up towards them. Bullets riddled the craft and damaged the sensitive repulsor fans. Alarms beeped wildly and shrapnel from explosive rounds ripped through the floorboard and hit Bolts legs. Metal shrieked and glass shattered as the hovercar pitched through a skylight and rolled to a stop in the palace throne room. The five passengers staggered and hobbled out of thier transport into the arms of some palace nurses and were led exausted to a medical ward.
William watched from a window above the palace doors at the crowd of people milling around the trucks. Their leader stood up on a truck with a loudspeaker. "Were is the emperor? Is he afriad to face his citizens?" William turned to a human guard that had come in from the city. "open this window please." The guard hesitated before sliding a key card. The window swung silently up and William stepped out onto a small balcony. "Ah, the phony ruler." Called the speaker mockingly. William held out a hand for silence. "My good subjects. You are right. I have been a phony ruler for all of my reign." At this the mocking crowd below grew silent. "I have not looked past the faulty reports put on my desk and seen the true nature of your situation. I have not helped the suffering and needy as I have helped the rich and powerful. You were right to rebel against my non-rule." The rebels looked at each other in puzzlement. But the speaker replied in his mocking voice. "So abdicate and give the power to rule to the people." William shook his head. "I have been torn out of my throne and all I held dear. I have now seen the extreme suffering and poverty of the sewer dwellers. And I promise you that if you will give me a chance I will change all of this. You will have a new life and comforts you have never dreamed of. Although unworthy I beseech you to give me a second chance for redemption." The rebels began talking quietly. Some of them wanted to belive this young man who seemed to echo sincerity and kindness. The speaker saw that his converts were falliing away. He screamed in hate through the loudspeaker. "Lies. All lies. You will promise all you want, but you will forget it all when we throw down our guns. We will drag you through the streets chained to out truck beds. Come out to your subjects." He turned to the others for support. But they were not all hardened criminals. Most had lost thier desire to fight. A few slunk away as they saw security from the city aproaching in the distance. The speaker cursed and grabbed a submashinegun from a nearby gangster. William leaped back as the balcony was sprayed with bullets. The speaker swung down into a truck and stepped on the gas. He drove away from the closing security and towards the western edge of the palace. William stepped back onto the balcony. A ring of robots and armed citizens surrounded the remaining rebels. Reluctantly they dropped thier weapons. They put thier hands in the air and thier trust in thier emperor.
The speakers truck raced through the city streets. He was heading for a sewer opening on the next street. His fertile mind was racing with new plans. He would report to his employers. A new rebellion would be raised. They would kill that emperor. They would build artillery and tanks next time. Mercenaries would be hired and soldiers would be trained. He was so absorbed in his plans that he never noticed the lone jumper streaking down the street behind him. A sewer entrance loomed ahead and the speaker smiled as the truck drove down through the sloping doorway. But the jumpers grenade shot down after him and hit his fuel tank. The truck exploded into flames and hurled out of control down a steep slope before pitching into the sewer with a gurgling plop. Thus ended the sewer rebellion.
Chapter Thirteen:
Two months later William stood on the balcony of his palace before a huge crowd. He had just finished a speech about the new sewer resettlement act. Roaring aplause swelled up. He held up his hands for silence. "We have captured the last of the rebels who attacked our city. Now some people may understandably call for executions and imprisonment. But we must be lenient to those that we must admit, were forced into action by our injustices. Those who commited murder shall be imprisoned. The rest shall become the first inhabitants of the new buildings that we have designed for them. There may they be happy and content. I will be frank. Bringing these forgotten people out of the sewers will cause many problems both economic and social. But I have confidence that together we shall overcome them and move on toward a better future." William smiled as the applause broke out again.
Bolt walked down a corridor towards the western palace gate. He gave a gasp as the door swung open and he saw a gorgeous shining green comvertible basking in the sun outside. William leaned against the windshield, grinning at his friends amazement. Bolt staggered over to the car in a daze. "Is it mine?" William laughed softly and tossed him the car keys. Bolts face broke into a beaming smile and he ran back inside. A few seconds later he dashed out half-pulling Rose the nurse. She was smiling bashfully, resplendent in a green dress and tricorner hat. Bolt gave a whoop as he leaped into the car and the engine purred to life. He was so happy with his new car that he forgot to thank his ruler. But the bright faces that shone through the windshield as his friend roared away were thanks enough. William was still smiling as the convertible disappeared behind a spotless skyscraper under reconstruction. He was startled from his reverie by a security robot that tapped him on the shoulder. William gave a jump and was poised to spring out of reach. But he was reasured when Guardians voice came from the machines speaker. "Sorry to suprise you your highness. There are some matters that still need your attention." William groaned and looked back at where the convertible had disappeared. "I should have gone with them." He thought out loud. "There will be a time to explore." Guardian said understandingly. "Though I was bound by obligations before to keep you safe in your palace, I understand that you have a desire to explore and learn. Fear not. There are so many places and peoples you know nothing of. Come in and prepare your speech to the board of directors and I will introduce you to the ambassador of Solaris." William was instantly intrested. "What is Solaris?" The security robot silently turned and walked away. William walked quickly after it. "O.K. I'm coming. Sometimes I can't help thinking you may not be artificially intelligent. So what is Solaris?" Guardian began speaking again as the western palace doors closed behind the emperor. "Solaris is a vast empire based on a continent southeast of America. Somewhere across the great sea. They have control a vast fleet of ships that never refuel and are demanding the allegiance of...
He ought to be happy. He thought as he sniffed a bed of tulips. He was Emperor of America. He had a glittering palace full of advanced technology. With the cooperation of the board of directors he ruled a vast network of cities. He could read any book ever written from his bedroom or spend hours playing games. And yet he had nothing without liberty. William felt ready to cry. He could'nt bear to live another day sealed inside this glittering jail.
A security robot walked into the garden. William had his head in his hands and never heard it approach over the soft lawn. Suddenly the robot hit him across the head and placed an iron hand over his mouth. Then it effortlessly carried its stunned prey over to an elavator. Within seconds they were plumetting down to the depths of the palace.
Prime Minister Drexels private quarters were located deep in the belly of the palace. The security robot marched past dirty walls full of exposed, rusty piping and tables loaded with advanced labratory equipment. It stopped before the Prime Minister and reported in a emotionless electronic voice. "Priority one target secured." Drexel nodded. He was a rather thin man with pale skin and a high forehead. He was dressed in a labratory coat and a velvet suit of the latest cut.
The security robot switched its grip and held the frightened and confused William by both arms. Drexel glanced at the royal personage with disinterest. William squirmed in the steel grasp of his bodyguard. "Minister Drexel help! What is wrong with this bot?" Drexel allowed a cruel smile to twitch at his colorless lips. William apealed to the robot. "Release me at once!" "Negative. Voice authorization invalid." Drexel spoke in a cold voice with a trace of triumph. "I managed to redirect the loyalties of this robot when it broke down last month and I repaired him. He no longer obeys you or Guardian." William stared in uncomprehending terror. "What is this old friend? A joke?"
Drexel sighed as if forced to explain to a child. "I am taking your kingdom from you Emperor Yates." The statesman slunk over to a large object covered in tarp and twirled the covering off with a flourish. Willam stared in shock at his own face looking back from behind a sheet of thick glass. A perfect clone of himself floated in a vat of clear fluid, eyes closed. While William was distracted Drexel grabbed a device resembling a staple gun and put it to Williams arm. There was a sound of escaping gas and a small white pellet shot into his arm. The emperor recoiled with a scream of pain. Drexel walked away as if nothing had happened and continued talking. "William, former emperor. Meet William MK8, your replacement. When he awakes in a hour he will believe that he is you. His memories will exactly resemble yours, with a few changes. He will be totally devoid of self-will. Mindlessly following every suggestion will be his delight. Suggestions supplied by me." William kept squirming, trying to see where the white pellet had gone. "What did you put in me?" Drexel gestured to a bottle of similar pellets on a table. "Remote detonated explosives. I am going to put you in that container over there and blow you up. I would shoot you but its to messy and guns aren't allowed in the palace. This way your body will leave with the afternoon garbage and nobody will ever know."
William pleaded with his Minister. "Why are you doing this Drexel? You already have great power and influence. Your riches and influence are unsurpassed on the board of directors. Why take a kingdom you already own in all but name?" Drexel leaned against a cabinet. "You opposed my bill for industrial reforms after it cleared the Board. The bill will greatly profit the rich and powerful of this country..." William interupted Drexel. "It was my duty to interfere. That bill would have forced the commoners into virtual slavery!" "Your succesor will not have such sentimental com-punctions!" Snarled Drexel. "Lets get on with it."
As the security robot carried William towards the empty container destined to be his tomb, Drexel powered up the remote detonator. William was forced into the plastic coffin and the lid slammed shut. Suddenly a matronly electronic voice echoed from a speaker fixed to the wall. "Paging Emperor William. This is Guardian Security System. You are not in the garden, please respond." Drexel swore between his teeth and began typing on a consol feverishly. "We must accelerate our plans." He mumbled as red lights flashed and the clones liquid bath started draining. Remembering William he whirled around and saw the empty plastic box. He had forgotten to lock it. Then the large garbage disposal tube made a flushing, hissing sound and Drexel saw a dark shape go shooting down the tube. The door to his rooms opened and three security robots burst in. "Prime Minister Drexel, report to the security room at once." He gave a longing look at the detonator as he was hustled from the room.
After the robots left the door of the clone's chamber opened with a click and William MK8 stumbled out, still connected to a tangle of life support wires. Where am I? He wondered. How did I get out of my garden?
Chapter Two:
The security room was a mass of technicians seated at consols and virtual screens. In the center stood a huge machine surrounded in thick glass. This was the central hub of Guardian. Drexel stood on a raised platform ringed by cameras. There were several holes dotting the floor of the room. Out of one of these holes emerged a long flexible metal pipe topped by a eyelike camera. It sailed over to the Prime Minister with a menacing clicking of metal joints. "Why have you brought me here!" He demanded. The same electronic voice from the room spoke from multiple speakers all around the room. "The emperor has disapeared, What do you know of it?" Drexel licked his lips nervously, improvising a story. "He is in my quarters in a chemical bath. Experiments show it encurages muscle growth." There was a silence as the eye circled around him."You are lying Drexel." The Guardian was scanning him with x-ray, thermal and infrared devices. It saw his heightened pulse and trembling hands. "Why are you lying?" He stood uncertainly, unsure how to reply. "You have no proof. You must operate according to logic." He retorted. "Logic tells me that you are a traitor to your soveriegn who meets unseemly persons late at night outside the palace. It leads me to conclude that you have done something to the emperor. All I lack is the final irrufutable truth to lock you away for treason. If the emperor is not found I will have my logical answer.
The Prime Minister stood there for over ten minutes. Finally Guardians eye blinked once and swayed on its stalk. "The emperor has been found, he corraborates your story, you are now released."
Drexel sneered and turned to walk away. "I used to think that you were artificially intelligent." He scoffed. "But your just another clever machine, a waste of silicone and copper wires." Guardians voice stopped him cold. "After due consideration I have decided to confiscate your personal belongings and confine you to quarters." He whirled around, hate boiling under his carefully controlled expression. Futilly he spit on the floor and stomped out of security. He would just have to let William die of natural causes. The sewers were a nasty place and the pampered former ruler would not last long. Back at security a robot rolled across the floor and buffed away his spit with a automop.
William landed with a jolt in a pile of reeking trash. He crawled out and found himself in a dark concrete and metal tunnel full of garbage deposited by trash shutes. His fine metaweave suit was ruined. He noticed with horror some unidentifiable muck crawling with maggots oozing down between his coat and shirt. He ripped off his coat and ladled it off gingerly. A rumbling noise interrupted his self-cleaning. The rumble grew to a roar and the floor of the sewer pipe started shaking beneath his feet. William strained his eyes to see into the darkness where the sound was coming. What he saw was something out of his worst nightmare. Grinding, whirling blades emerged into the dim light and came towards him. The wall of sharp metal filled the whole tunnel. William started backing away. The blades hit a pile of trash and shredded it into paste instantly. A fire flared up deep inside the mashine as the paste was burned as fuel in the Trash grinder's furnace. Willaim turned and began running down the tunnel for all he was worth. He was in pretty good condition but the Grinder moved faster than any human. The tunnel seemed to loom on forever. William began to pant and stumble. His sides were heaving. Sweat blurred his vision.
The grinder hit a puddle of slimmy water and chemicals. There was a hissing and the boiler belched out a green cloud of steam. William was fast losing his battle. A few more steps and he sank to his knees with a groan. As he looked around helplessly he saw a side tunnel just two yards away. The cloud of green filth enveloped him as he rose and with a final effort staggered and leaped into the side tunnel. Before he could pull it in one of his legs was hit by a grinder blade. The razor-sharp blade tore off one pants leg, his sock and a shoe and left a long cut on his leg. William stared, panting in exaustion as the massive trash grinder passed by. A mountain of dirty, battered steel on tracks. Soon there was silence again. William huddled in against a pipe, to tired to do anything but cry. He lay there crying for a hour. Alone and helpless for the first time in his life. He fell asleep there. Exausted and cold.
Prime Minister Drexel stood in his office making his daily report to the unblinking eye of Guardian on a screen. "And that is the last of the programming bugs, oh yes one more detail. I have rerouted some Trash Grinders to sweep the sub-palace area again." Guardian blinked and turned to go. Then Drexel was struck by a idea. "Also I have information from a police source from the city offices that a possible emperor look-alike has been spotted in the sewers." Guardian blinked again. "Information noted Prime Minister. My responsibility does not extend beyond the palace grounds." He nodded and turned to go. "Don't forget the procedure protocol for if a pretender tries to claim the throne." Guardians voice echoed behind him as he left. "I never forget anything sir".
Chapter Three:
Bolt was not having a good day. He stood at the starting line of the biggest underground sewer race of the month. The winner would receive as a prize a coveted Red dog fuel pump. Bolt walked over to his dearest possesion. A battered and filthy sports car covered in graffiti and sporting a powerful engine that jutted through a hole in his hood. This was his chance to win big. But just as the five racers had been about to start a sixth contestant entered. It was Swamp Dragon. He and his gang rode a heavily armored 4x4 pickup with flaming exaust pipes. They were the deadliest racers in the whole undercity. Suddenly Bolts co-driver decided that he did'nt want to race that badly and disapeared. The frustrated teenager swore under his breath and slammed his fist on his car hood. Rules said you had to have at least two drivers.
"Whats your problem little kid?" Teased A tattoed racer with a bright pink mohawk. Bolt ignored him. That was Frisco Fueldrip. He rode with the Stick-shift boys in a highly modified van with big speakers perched on top. Bolt recalled the other three racers from memory. The Blue Ghost gang in thier totally armored jeep. Three year winners of the west city track. There was Ice, The outie gang from the outskirts with thier speedy red dune racer. Dynamite was thier favorite weapon. And finally The Wasters and thier bulldozer-blader monster of a old military truck.
One of the race officials past by where he sat brooding. "Five minutes bub, then we gotta start without ya." Bolt nodded. Time ticked by. Only two minutes remained. By then the would-be racer had asked all his buddies to race with him. But neither parts nor money could get them to race against Swamp Dragon.
As the racers reved thier engines and hooted insults around him Bolt took one last desperate glance at the crowds of sewer dwellers. His gaze locked onto a face. Those blue eyes framed in a innocent, confused face told him this was a stranger who knew nearly nothing about anything. Perfect.
William was flabbergasted when a exited teenager dressed in boots, cargo pants, goggles and a filthy shirt and vest ran over to him and started pulling him towards what may once have been a car. "Hey man." Bolt pleaded "Will you drive with me?" William allowed himself to be pulled forward. "I..I'm the emperor." He said uncertainly. Bolt shook his hand and shoved him into the passenger seat. "Pleased to meetcha. Name's Bolt." The jubilant kid was in the driver seat in a flash. With practiced ease he started the motor, changed the gears and locked the doors just as William was about to open it and leave. The ancient stoplight that served to start the race turned yellow. William stammered a question about the screaming engine. "What are we doing?" Bolt glanced at him, bouncing in his seat as the engine shook the car in every rivet. "Racin' " He yelled jubilantly.
William glanced around with a puzzled expression. "Lose somethin' " Asked Bolt. "Were is the seat belt?" Bolt looked at him with a totally straight face. "What's a seatbelt?"
As the light turned green the world around William exploded with noise. The racers accelerated rapidly down the wide tunnel in a tight pack. He held on to his seat for dear life as they rounded a corner. The car pitched sideways as it rode the tunnel wall. William noticed that the racers were seperating a little. Ice's red dunerunner and the Stick-shift van pulled ahead while the Waster truck dropped back. Bolt reached into the glove compartment and handed William a vicious looking gun with a big drum clip. "Your the gunner. Get ready, when we pass the red line let 'em have it." "What is this?" William screamed back. Bolt drew a 45.cal pistol and smiled. "It used to be a shotgun."
William saw the red line coming up fast. He caught glimpses of the other racers brandishing and loading every type of weapon. The world was nothing but tunnel and the scream of engines and the thrilling rush of barreling along at 180 miles an hour. He forgot to be afraid.
The red line blurred by. Suddenly William learned a new definition of noise. Explosions erupted all around him. The noise amplified by the tunnel nearly burst his eardrums. The Stick-shift van roared by, flames streaming from its fusilage. On of the gang perched on top threw two petrol bombs at Bolts sedan. He swerved aside and they exploded harmlessly. Driving one-handed Bolt fired back with his 45. and hit the one of the vans big tires. It collapsed with a hiss and the van fell behind. Frisco Fueldrip tried to regain his lead but the extra strain shredded the flat tire to pieces. The van ground along after the other racers. Frisco heard the honk of a truck horn and looked instinctivly in his rear-view mirror. The last thing he saw was the massive bulldozer blade of the Wasters. The huge angled steel ram hit the van from the side and smashed it into the tunnel wall. The Wasters driver savagely twisted the steering wheel and ground the van to mush against the concrete.
Ice's red duneracer was in the lead. The two guys in the back started rolling lit dynamite sticks back at thier trailing competitors. One exploded close by and shattered the glass in the sedan. Bolt tried to accelerate but the Blue Ghost's jeep pulled in front of him. "Get em'" He screamed at William. The stunned soveriegn blinked against the wind whipping through the broken glass and fired several rounds at the jeep. The shotgun kicked painfully against his chest. The clusters of deadly flettchete rounds bounced off of the jeeps thick armor.
Now the long, straight tunnel gave way to turns and bridges. As the sedan barreled around a curve and hurled along beside an aquaduct full of filth They saw a Blue Ghost stand in the jeeps top hatch and aim a long stick-like weapon at the Ice duneracer that was fast disapearing ahead. The tube flashed and a red blur swooped on a intercepting course with the leading racers. The Ice's driver swerved and the RPG warhead detonated right beside thier tire. The explosion did not harm the vehicle but the shockwave detonated thier store of dynamite. Two seconds later the Blue Ghosts drove through the cloud of debris and saw the remains of the Ice gang sinking into the sewer.
The racers rounded a turn. As they came to the next straight stretch Bolt accelerated furiously, trying to pass the slower Ghost. Then he saw the gunner standing in the hatch with another RPG. Instinctively William raised his shotgun and fired the whole fifteen-round clip into the gunner. Only half of the gunner slid off of the jeep onto the pavement. The speed of Bolts sedan began to show and it passed the slower armoured jeep easily.
William stared ahead in shock. Bolt glanced around with a worried expression. "We seem to be in the lead." He shouted. "Where is Swamp Dragon?" William glanced around and behind them. The menacing green/red pickup truck was nowhere to be seen.
The Blue Ghost jeep tried to regain its lead, but its layers of steel armor dragged down its top speed. Gradually it fell behind. Another gunner emerged from the hatch and sprayed the sedan with bursts from a assault rifle. Bolt drove his car for all it was worth. He kept the pedal to the floorboard as the sedan screamed around 90 degree corners. The car hit a big puddle of corrosive pollutants that splashed into the cabin, drenching them. Another turn and they found the tunnel ahead covered in mounds of trash. Bolt never slowed down. The sedan hit pile after pile of filth until the cabin was filled with it. Bolt fished through the trash with one hand and handed William a spare shotgun magazine. "That's our last one man. Don't waste it."
The Blue Ghost
s knew they had lost the race. They drove gamely on. The race was almost over anyway. Suddenly the deep call of the Wasters truck horn roared through the sewers like the trumpet of doom. The driver glanced out his window and switched to his highest gear. The Wasters powerful V8 army truck was barreling down thier exaust pipe like a avenging spirit. Both vehicles turned a corner and emerged onto a long one-way bridge over a sea of sludge. Desperately the driver pushed his engine for all it was worth. That was his fatal mistake. Strained by the weight of the vehicle a coolant pump exploded in a fountain of parts and fluid. The engine rapidly heated red-hot. The jeep was a third of the way over the bridge. It looked like they could outrun the truck. One of the Wasters stood atop the truck and and fired four rounds from a grenade launcher. All four hit squarely in the back of the jeep, not one penatrated the armor. Two thirds across the bridge and it seemed the jeep would escape. But then a fuel line caught fire. Blinding smoke poured out from under the hood. Rapidly the jeep lost speed. It began slipping back towards the menacing dozer blade. The Blue Ghost gunner popped up and cut down the Waster grenadier in one burst. Then he fired uselessly at the trucks bullet-proof glass as it steadily gained ground.
The end of the bridge was fifty yards away. But it was to late. The gunner leaped out of his hatch and sailed down to hit the muck with a squeltch. The other gangsters started for the hatch seconds to slow. The angled dozer blade effortlessly crushed the rear of the jeep in a stream of sparks and began grinding the vehicle into the iron rail like a trash compactor. Screams and shouts came from the jeep as the Blue Ghosts died in agony. The sparks ignited the gasoline tank and the wreck was engulfed in searing flames. Just as the truck reached the end of the bridge the iron railing gave way and the remains of the jeep went over the edge and poured into the sludge in a rain of flaming gas and parts. The truck drove on with its blazing dozer blade, a fiery demon on wheels.
Chapter Four:
Swamp Dragon had kept his truck back as the other racers had torn each other apart. Now his powerful 4x4 truck surged forward with unmatched speed after Bolts sedan. Swamp Dragon was a experienced man covered in tatoo's and dirt. He had been racing since he was twelve and was totally ruthless. For the third time in fifteen minutes the Waster truck's otherworldly call rumbled through the tunnel, another victim had been chosen.
Swamp Dragon knew he could probably outrun the other truck. But that wasn't his style. As he puled ahead of The Wasters, Dragon noticed a massive sewer pipe running beside the tunnel and his face lit up in a toothless grin. The Wasters driver was in a good mood. Now his gang would be the most dreaded racers in the undercity. The flaming dozer blade was only five yards from the back of the Dragon's truck. Without warning the green beast ignited its exaust pipes and choking smoke poured back into the other trucks windshield. For a moment the Wasters were blinded. A Swamp Dragon stood in the top of the truck and aimed an RPG, not at the armored truck or its deadly blade, but several yards ahead at the giant pipe. As the round hit the Dragon's truck rocketed away up the track. The smoke from thier exaust had just cleared when the Wasters saw the wave of slime from the fractured pipe as it hit thier windshield. The glass shattered and the crew were drenched and blinded in sludge. The driver saw the sharp turn up ahead, but the steering wheel slipped in his hands and the truck hit the corner at 180 mph. The dozer blade was bent nearly in half and the engine was a flaming wreck. The Wasters had lost this race.
Bolts car was less than a mile from the finish line. He kept a sharp lookout for surviving racers as the sedan weaved through a series of tricky curves. As they reached another straight stretch of pipe the Swamp Dragon truck roared into view behind them. The gangster on top opened fire with his assault rifle. Bullets hit the sedan everywhere. One punctured a back tire. Bolt flinched. Now Swamp Dragon could pass them easily. Bolt leaned out of the window and shot at the gunner with his 45. pistol. The bullet hit him in the chest and knocked him clear out of the truck.
Swamp Dragon gritted his teeth angrily. Enough of his gang had been lost. He would pass up his crippled competitor and blast his radiator with the Dragonmobiles exaust flamethrowers, no one killed a Swamp Dragon man and survived. Time to end this race.
The rugged truck accelerated and began to pass the sedan. Bolt glanced in his rearview mirror and pulled his sedan over to the left, blocking the truck. Swamp Dragon growled in anger and tried to pass on the other side. William looked out of his window and saw what was happening. He frantically punched Bolt and roared above the screaming engine. "This side." Bolt nodded and threw the wheel to the right. The sedan veered over and barely blocked the truck. But Bolts car was falling behind. The Swamp Dragon truck roared back over to the left. The driver switched gears confidently and pushed the petal to the floor. The big truck pulled alongside and started to pass the sedan. Bolt was very frustrated. He had come all this way and now he was going to lose. he turned to William and screamed. "Take the wheel. Give me the shotgun." William grew pale. "I can't drive" He yelled back. Bolt grabbed the shotgun. The two racecars turned a last corner, the finish line was only three hundred yards away. Bolt put Williams hand on the steering wheel. "Keep the wheel straight and your foot on the gas." He yelled. As his reluctant co-driver took the wheel Bolt opened the drivers door and blasted the front right wheel of the pickup with the shotgun. The Swamp Dragon driver swerved at Bolt. The teenager barely ducked back in the car. The pickup hit the sedans open door and tore it off the frame. Bolt jumped out and grabbed onto the pickup. He crawled up onto the hood and fired the shotgun through the window. The driver barely ducked as buckshot blew most of his hair off. But his co-driver got filled with lead. The truck swerved wildly and the driver tried to throw Bolt off. The desperate teen hung on for dear life. William managed to pull ahead of the pickup. The finish line was less than a hundred yards away. Bolt climbed on top of the pickup and fired the rest of the shotgun rounds through the pickups hatch. The trucks interior exploded in a cloud of shattered seating and leaking hydrolic fluid. With one last effort Bolt leaped back onto his sedan as it zoomed across the finish line and screeched to a halt amid a cheering crowd. William staggered out of the car, half dead with shock and exaustion. The two winners were lifted to the shoulders of the crowd and carried to a concrete platform to recieve thier prize.
Chapter Five:
It was an hour after the big race. Bolts battered sedan drove through a sewer tunnel half filled with makeshift shelters made of garbage and pulled into a blocked-off side tunnel. There Bolt parked his car and refilled the tank from a plasteel gas can. He gestured triumphantly to the neat makeshift furniture and cabinets full of parts at the end of the pipe. "Welcome to my place." William walked over and sank down on a tattered couch with a sigh. Bolt installed the Red dog fuel pump and used a welder kit to patch the bullet holes and dents. Then he buffed the sedan until it glowed.
As Bolt finished repairs William rose to his feet. Imediately he sank back down with a groan. Bolt walked over and glanced at his leg. The boys eyes grew wide. "Oh man, look at your leg." William looked slowly down and fainted when he saw the blood covering his leg.
It was several hours before William awoke. His leg was crudely bandaged with a towel and a belt. Bolt was sitting nearby with a anxious look on his young face. "Did you get that cut in the race?" he asked "There wasn't a bullet hole." William feebly shook his head. "I was nearly killed by a huge mashine with blades." Bolt nodded and handed William a bowl of stew. "That would be a Grinder. They get somebody every once in a while." William looked hesitantly at his stew. He had never seen the like of the chunks of pale meat and stringy greens floating in pale blue water. "What is this?" Bolt chuckled and poured some crumbs from a cereal box into it. "We call it "What is that." stew." William took a hesitant bite, it wasn't to bad. He dug in with a will. Unknown to him he had not eaten for two days.
Bolt flopped down on a matress perched on two boxes. "So friend. What's your story? I bet you were banished from the upper city." William looked up in shock. "How did you know?" Bolt shrugged. "You have that look, they all have that look. Like timid rabbits, no offence." William nodded. "I am actually the emperor." Bolt raised his eyebrows at that. He listened raptly as William told him of his life in the palace and the events that led to his banishment. "All I have to do is get back to the palace and Guardian will reinstate me as emperor." He finished. Bolt leaned back and gave a low whistle. This was either a crazy nut with a wild imagination or he had just hit the jackpot. "Well, I would love to take you to the palace." He said as he stood and walked over to a hole in the roof of the tunnel. "I would love to just get to the surface and get a glimpse of the real blue sky." Bolt looked through the hole. Nine hundred feet above him he could just make out a tiny patch of daylight framed by iron pipes. William pulled himself off of the couch and limped over to stand beside him. "Why don't you just go up there and see it?" Bolt snorted. "The upper city is full of robot police. A couple drips like us would stand out like a trash can in a water tank. They'd electrocute us as a warning and shoot us down a garbage pipe. Second offenders aren't so lucky."
"Why do the police ban sewer dwellers from the upper city? According to the charts there should be lots of room for job expansion and middle-class population." Bolt shook his head and walked over to his car. "Only if you're born in the right family. I'm not be accepted up there, but someday I'll make it anyway." William joined him as he swept a layer of newspapers off of the floor. "I can get you into the upper city." Bolt glanced at him. "I want to believe that your the real thing. I want to go up there more than anything." Finally he came to a decision. "O.K. we go first thing tommorow." He offered his hand and William shook it. Then the two friends stretched out on a mattress and couch close by a warm steam pipe and fell fast asleep.
The sharp toot of a car horn echoed through the sewer tunnel and jolted William awake. He rubbed his eyes and stumbled out of Bolts makeshift home to where the teenager was waiting in his car. The night of rest had done wonders for the former emperor. He noticed with gratitude that the garbage from the sewer race had been removed from the sedan. But his sensitive nose wrinkled in disgust. "Do you ever wash this car?" He asked. Bolt smiled happily and started driving up the tunnel. "Before we head to the surface I'm takin' my beauty to a car wash. The car drove for a couple of blocks and parked under a large red pipe. The two men got out and Bolt handed two tins of canned chicken to a towering man with bulging muscles. He turned a valve and suddenly a cloud of steam screamed out of the red pipe and engulfed the sedan. After five minutes the big man turned off the steam. "This might be the last time I see ya for a while Joe Radiator." Said Bolt. "I'm makin' a run to the surface." Joe suddenly looked very serious and tried to change his mind but Bolt had decided. "You've known me all my life Joe. I would'nt be doing this if I didn't have a chance." At last Joe nodded and wished him good luck. "Joe will look after your place." He rumbled. The two men got back in the car and drove up a steep pipe towards the surface. They did not notice the sinister vehicle following them.
Chapter six:
William was silent as the sedan streaked up towards the surface.They were now less than two hundred yards from the surface. The tunnel was now lit by patches of bright daylight and powerful lamps. He was lost deep in his own thoughts. He had never dreamed that such mass poverty and squalor existed in his city, much less in his realm. He resolved to start a massive restoration program as soon as he regained the throne. But how would he prove to be more of a emperor than a exact duplicate of himself under his evil prime ministers control? Bolt punched William in the side. "We've got trouble." He said.
William glanced in the mirror and grew pale. The Swamp Dragon truck roared around a curve behind them, belching smoke from twin stacks. The driver was hunched over the wheel, face frozen in a snarl of hate. The Wasters old dozer blade was mounted on the front grill.
William turned to Bolt. "Why are they following us? We won the race." Bolt nodded. "That would be why they are following us. They want payback." Only three of the dragon gang had survived the race. One of them emerged out of the top hatch and began loading a rocket launcher. William reached for the shotgun but it was'nt there. Bolt drew his pistol and handed it to him. "Sorry, I left it back at my place."
As the gunner fired Bolt threw the sedan to the left and the rocket exploded beside them. A shower of steel fragments punched through the car's body. Several hit William in the leg and stuck there sizzling. Bolt leaned out the window to fire but the gunner had ducked down to reload. The big dozer blade shielded the trucks engine and cab from bullets. Bolt holstered his pistol and focused on outrunning the truck. William was squirming as he tried to pull the hot steel out of his leg. The sedan was faster than ever. The new fuel pump shoved tons of gas into the engine and sent the car rocketing down the pipe. But the Swamp Dragons had made a few upgrades of thier own. A better radiator, automatic shifter and newer transmission enabled them to keep up with their prey. Then the sedan raced around a corner and ran into a dead end. Bolt threw his car into a spin and headed back out. The truck loomed ahead, its dozer blade blocking the entrance. Bolt drove straight at the truck. The driver smiled and braced himself. At the last moment Bolt drove his car up the side of the pipe and fired into the trucks cabin as he passed. One of his shots hit the driver in the shoulder. He roared in pain and threw his vehicle in a loop to chase the sedan.
Bolt drove up a steep tunnel and turned corner after corner, trying to lose the truck. They had been driven deeper into the sewers during the chase. Now they headed for the surface again. Without warning the truck roared out of a offshoot where it had been waiting and started closing on them. The gunner popped up and before Bolt could stop him, he took aim with the rocket launcher. Bolt saw a streak of fire in his rearview mirror and threw the sedan sideways. The rocket exploded right beside them and burst two of thier tires. The sedan began skidding sideways in a shower of sparks. Shrapnel had damaged the hydrolic steering and Bolt could not turn the wheel. William sat tight in his seat, face white as a sheet. The truck aproached like a hungry beast. The sedan flew around a corner, right into the jaws of a huge trash grinder. Bolt made a split-second desision and threw open his door. He grabbed William by the jacket and leaped into a side tunnel as it blurred by. The sedan disapeared into the wall of blades and the grinder shuddered as the fuel tank exploded. The Swamp Dragon driver tried to turn and escape the grinder. But his wounded arm failed him. Another gangster reached for the steering wheel but it was to late. The truck was pulverized into scrap in seconds. Then a explosion rocked the tunnel as the ammunition and fuel stored in the truck detonated. Bolt and William lay flat as a hail of razor-sharp blades whistled over thier heads. Flames and smoke billowed through the tunnel. The two survivors stumbled up a drain to escape the searing heat.
It seemed to William that they had been crawling for ages through a nightmare of piping and filth and the odor of decay. His brown suit now hung from him in ragged tatters. It was stained the same blackish green as everything in this world of darkness. Finally they stopped to rest beside a fenced-off generator. William pulled a repulsive slug out of his dirty hair. "Thanks for saving my life back there." Bolt shrugged. "Your my friend. Thats what friends do." A tear rolled down his cheek. "What's wrong?" Asked William. "I lost my car. I had that car for most of my life. I cleaned it every day and it never let me down. It was all the family I had y'know." William felt his own eyes watering. "When I regain my throne I promise I'll buy you the fastest racer ever." Bolt sniffed and stood up. "Well lets get goin' then." As they rounded the next corner they ran into two security guards in smart black uniforms and carrying stun guns. "Whoa there dirty boy." Snarled one. "Your on private property, get back down were you belong." Bolt shoved William forward and whispered. "Do your stuff." He drew himself up with dignity. "I am emperor William Yates. I want level 5 security passes for me and my friend." The guard looked the bedraggled young man up and down. He reached slowly for his stun gun. Bolt saw the movement. "This is yer last chance to crawl down a hole little rat." He grated. "How can you be the emperor when I just saw him on TV this morning?"
Bolt started backing away. But William was stubbron. "But I am the emperor. I have been deposed." "I'll depose you." The guard shot back. He pulled his stunner. Bolt grabbed his 45. in a flash and shot the guard. His Blastflex vest absorbed most of the impact but he was knocked down. William tackled the other guard clumsily but was shoved aside. Bolt jumped at him and hit his chin with three lightning-fast punches. As that guard fell like a brick the other one reached for his stunner. Bolt aimed casually and shot him in the leg. Ignoring his screams he grabbed both stunners and fired them at both guards. Instantly they both stretched out stiff, limbs paralized. Bolt pulled William to his feet and pulled him along down the tunnel. "Come on. They'll be up an' about in a few minutes."
After climbing a maintenance ladder they found themselves before some stairs guarded by two security robots. Up above the bright light of morning shined. One of the robots held up its hand. "Identification please." William stepped forward uncertainly. "I am emperor William." The robot stepped forward and grabbed him firmly by the chin. Then its red sensors brightened and fired twin lasers into Williams eyes.
Chapter Seven:
Guardian's metal stalk swayed towards the door as it opened and Drexel and the clone emperor entered. It bowed its head. "Welcome your highness. This is indeed an honor." The clone stopped uncertainly and looked at Drexel, who nodded, and then said, "Guardian security system. I order you to shut down for repairs." The operators at the monitors jumped as thier screens full of data filled with static. The sensor stalk spoke urgently. "That would be most unwise. I can tell this is not your idea. I respectfully request that you reconsider." The clone stepped back uncertainly. Drexel stepped forward. "Are you disobeying a direct order from your ruler? You have begun to malfunction and must deactivate." The stalk swung to face him. "This is your doing. For three hundred years I have protected the ruler of America." The William clone spoke again. "You will deactivate now or I will anounce a state of emergency. Guardians head bowed in defeat. Drexel smiled as monitors all around the room went blank. The sensor stalk slumped to the floor. All the cameras went still. A nearby security robot crashed to the floor. The clone called to Drexel as he walked out the door. "You be sure to repair Guardian soon and properly sir." Drexel smiled as he opened a panel in the glass and touched the mainframe. "Yes sir.
The robots laser scanned Williams irises and acessed the city police's databank. In seconds it had proccessed millions of records and found his file. Immediately the robot released William and they both knelt before him. "Your highness. We beg pardon for touching your august personage. You may pass." Bolt stared in awe as William walked by the robots and grabbed two security cards from a stand. He stopped him at the stairs. "Uh, I had didn't think you were...". Well, William saw that Bolt was unsure what to do. He patted him on the back and smiled. "It's O.K. pal. You saved my life and your the first real friend I have ever had." Bolt was still uncertain. "Should I um, kneel or something?" William shook his head. "You never have to kneel to me Bolt. Now come on, lets get outa this slime pit. Eagerly the two friends began rushing up the stairs to where daylight poured down from above.
They stepped out into the full sunlight and blinked at the overwhelming light. As thier eyes adjusted they stared in awe at the world into which they had emerged. Hundreds of bright white skyscrapers covered in solar panels towered all around them. The smooth white pavement that stretched all around them was dotted with expansive gardens and parks full of flowering trees. In the distance William saw his golden palace glittering.
As the two wanderers staggered along in a daze they ran into a group of people strolling gaily along. They were dressed in a amazing array of different styles and colors. A woman wearing the flowing gown of a mideival lady stopped chatting with a friend and stared at them. The whole group followed her example. "Say, what time are you guys dressed in? Stone Age?" At this the whole group laughed. William blushed and Bolt scowled. Then a young man in a victorian coat and top hat exclaimed. "By Jove, Is that real blood?" William looked where he pointed and noticed that his pants were soaked in blood from the shrapnel wounds. Suddenly he felt very faint and would have collapsed onto the pavement but a tall man dressed like a greek in a tunic with bulging muscles stepped forward and caught him. "You kids run along to that party. I'll get him to the hospital.
As the group stared after them Bolt and the big greek carried William into a skyscraper lobby and took a immaculate blue elavator to a transit station on the fifteenth floor. The transit station was a large open room where spherical passenger pods zoomed in and out on mangetized rails.The greek aproached a robot at a desk. "Two pods to the closest hospital." He boomed. The robot nodded and thirty seconds later Bolt found himself in a cushion-seated room rolling rapidly along the rails. Through clear glass windows he could see the vast city sprawling for miles and shining brightly. Several times his pod stopped in a terminal station but the automated transit system soon sent him off again. It seemed that everyone in the city used this transit network to travel. Bolt could see no cars or individual transports. The cities skyline was crisscrossed with hundreds of transit rails.
Within ten minutes they had reached thier last stop. Bolt followed the greek down another elevator and stepped out into a spotless hospital ward. The greek carefully laid William down on a soft bed and turned to Bolt. "He looks so much like the emperor." He remarked. He saw that Bolt looked worried. "Don't worry. The docs will fix him up. I gotta go to a party. Good luck." Bolt reached in his pocket and handed the greek a tin of canned chicken. "Thanks for helpin' us man. Your a friend in my book." The greek smiled and shook his hand. Once he was out of sight he promptly dropped the tin in a incinerator and washed his hands.
A beautiful nurse in a smart white uniform came over to William and scanned him with a sensor remote. She turned to Bolt. "We have to take him into surgery. The shrapnel in his leg must be removed and there is a foriegn object in his arm. I asume you are a relative of his?" Bolt unconsiously stood taller as he stammered a reply. "Yes mam. I mean no mam. Just a friend." The nurse began writing on a digital tablet. "Neither of you have Personal I.D. tags. I presume you have security cards?" Bolt nodded and handed her thier passes. She scanned them and suddenly her eyes widened. She tossed the cards back to Bolt and dashed into surgery gasping. "He's the emperor?"
The hospitals most experienced doctors rushed into surgery. Three hours later they left and Bolt followed his friend into a room where he would be left to recover. But the pretty nurse stopped him at the door. "This is a sterile enviroment. If you want to come in you should clean up first." Bolt glanced down at himself. His coat and cargo pants were well beyond filthy. He had not bathed in months and he his boots had left a trail of dirt through the ward. He could see her point. "Do you know how to clean up?" She asked. Bolt didn't want to look dumb and he wanted to talk more with this girl. "Oh sure. But I want to check on my friend first." The nurse gave what was supposed to be a scowl. Despite herself she was begining to like this brash, dirty young man. He was so different than anyone else in the city. But business came first. She couldn't let this dirty vagabond in to see the emperor. "You are not coming in. The public showers are right down the hall." Bolt leaned casually against a clean wall. "Whats your name darlin'?" The nurse began losing her temper. "If I tell you, will you go wash up?" She said desperately. Bolt nodded,smiling. "My name is Rose, now go."Bolt smiled. "What time do you get off work?" Rose chased him out of the ward swinging her tablet menacingly to the laughter of the other staff.
Bolt enjoyed his shower. The stream of hot water felt wonderful as it washed away months of caked grime and unpleasent smells. He felt like a new man when he stepped out dressed in light blue pants and a thick shirt of matching color. His old sewer clothes were still going though the cleaners. He slipped into Williams room when nobody was looking. William was awake and was lying in bed wearing the same clothes as Bolt. He looked a little pale but otherwise fine. "Hey buddy. How you doin'?" William shrugged. "I feel better than I've felt in three days. Its good to get that metal out of my leg. They sewed up my cut too. Then I took a bath and they fed me." Bolt looked around as if expecting to see food. "Fed you? Man your lucky. I got yelled at by a nurse and nearly drowned in hot water." He smiled. William smiled back. "I think I'll take a nap. Then I will head over to the police headquarters and explain the whole problem." Bolt spotted another bed and yawned. The non-stop racing and walking had worn him out. "I think I'll take a nap to." William looked at him with mock severity. "But your not sick." Bolt flopped down and stared at the ceiling. "I don't know. I might be coming down with something. Maybye that nurse will examine me."
Drexel finished downloading the new lines of code into the Guardian mainframe and pressed the power button. The massive generators beneath the security room came to life with a deep hum. The consoles all flickered back to life. A new emotionless mettalic voice echoed over the speaker system. "Security system online. Overide protocol initiated. Welcome to security Drexel." The prime minister smiled. He went over to a microphone. "Initiate a national broadcast." He glanced up as a robot came in holding his detonator. But the "Out of range." light was blinking on it. Drexel shrugged and motioned it away. Either William was dead or would soon be.
Bolt was to exited to sleep, so was William. He casually grabbed a remote and switched on the TV. Immediatly a crisp image of a reporter was projected onto the wall before them. The reporter was talking. "And now we present a emergency broadcast from prime minister Drexel." At this William sat up, alert. Drexels image flashed onscreen. "Citizens of Urban Area One. This is a emergency alert. A clone look-alike if our emperor has been spotted in the undercity sewers. He can be identified by a small wound on his right arm and a birthmark on his collarbone. If you have seen this man please contact the authorities. The police have been issued a warrant for his arrest. Do not atempt to detain him youselves, he may be armed."
William and Bolt turned to eachother in shock. Bolt sighed. "So much for a nap."
Chapter Eight:
Bolt and William dashed through the hospital ward. As they turned a corner into the transit station they saw a squad of security robots scanning everyone with thier red sensors. They quickly turned around and ducked into a service station room. There Bolt grabbed his clothes from the cleaner and put them on over his hospital duds. William stood by the doorway, trying to formulate a plan. A glance outside showed him that two security bots were coming towards them, scanning everyone in sight. Bolt finished dressing. "We have to make a run for the elavator." William whispered. Bolt shook his head and pointed to a set of emergency stairs in a corner. "A old-timer who tried to come up here told me about police searches. They seal off the lobby and search every section. Our only chance is to make for the roof. There might be jumpers up there." William hesitated for a moment before following him up the stairs. "What are jumpers?" He panted as he ran. "Thrillseeking upper-city kids." Bolt responded.
The two men jogged up the five stories to the roof, urged on by the red scanners flashing below them as the methodical robots searched. The dark stairway echoed with the clatter of feet on metal as they reached the top and burst out of a maintenance door into the bright sunlight. They blinked for a moment, eyes readjusting, before surveying thier surroundings.
The roof was a flat concrete space dotted with air-conditioning vents and vent pipes. William saw several people standing by canvas shelters. He and Bolt walked over to them. William nervously noted that most of them carried what looked like improvised grenade launchers. One teenager who seemed to be thier leader stepped forward. He wore a sleek squirrelsuit with blue flames painted on it and a pair of goggles. "What'cha want up here dude?" He asked Bolt. Bolt replied in the same tough-guy attitude. "We aint got time to jaw. A fleet of security is followin' us and we're lookin' to jump over to the palace. Them security bots is aimin' to throw ma' friend in tha' can cause he looks like the emperor." The Jumper leader digested this for a second before turning to his friends. "Look lively, we got bots inbound. Tiger lady, get our stuff ready. I'll meet you guys at the regular place." The leader turned back to Bolt as the others packed thier tents and gear in a well-drilled routine. "What'cha gonna pay the Flames to getcha to the palace? Flames don't jump strangers for free." Bolt thought quickly. "You scared of tha' bots? Don't have enough guts to take us? The leader stiffened at this insult to his curage. "There's robobirds patrolin' the palace sector. Extra risk." William stepped forward. "I am the real emperor. Take us as close to the palace as you can and when I regain my throne I will reward you well." The leader gave a short laugh. "Thats the biggest lie I've heard all day." "Maybe." Replied William. "But I am telling the truth. Are you gonna let this opertunity pass?" One of the Flames heard the tramp of metal feet on the stairs. "Thier comin' big guy. We gotta cut loose." She called. The leader made his decision.
Scraps, Streak. Take these dudes to the museum. You're my best boys. I know you'll make it." The three jumpers formed a circle and pounded clentched fists together. "No fear. No stoppin'. We're JUMPERS." They yelled. Then Scraps and Streak both went over to Bolt and William and attached short ropes and belts to them. Then they ran over to the edge of the building. Behind them two robots came out of the stairs. One of the jumpers fired a home-made grenade launcher and one of the bots exploded in a shower of metal and battery fluid. The other fired its stun gun and the jumper who had fired collapsed in a heap. The leader buckled the fallen flame onto his own harness and fired a grenade from his own gun. The robot was blown over the edge of the building. But two more emerged from the stairway. The leader of the Flames yelled to his gang. "GO GO GO." Just then William noticed that every Flame was wearing large boots and gauntlets with exaust nozzles. The leader turned to Bolt and gave him a thumbs up before leaping off of the roof into space. For a moment they stood stunned. Then he shot back into sight borne aloft by a pair of bright blue wings. He rocketed out over the city before gliding to a landing on a building a block away. The rest of the Flames followed him. Dozens of wings of all different colors shot out of packs on thier backs in a dazzling display.Thier rocket boots and gauntlets boosting them through the air after thier leader.
The robots were joined by four others. William glanced over the edge of the building at the pavement below. His stomach lurched and he grew dizzy at the height. He took a step back as the robots closed in, demanding that they turn and be scanned. Without warning Scraps and Streak leaped off of the roof. William was yanked off his feet and sailed into outer space. His vision blurred as he accelerated. Streaks red and blue wings unfolded before him and he found himself being pulled along like a glider. On seeing the streets and rooftops zooming beneath him William promptly vomited. Some unfortunate strollers down below were showered with the remains of his hospital lunch. Bolt on the other hand was quite enjoying the thrills of high-speed flying. Even in the jumpers slipstream the passengers couldn't see much because of the wind whipping into thier eyes. Thats why Streak and Scraps wore goggles.
They had been flying for just a few seconds when the jumpers cut thier rocket boots and glided down onto a rooftop. William and Bolts faces were streaked with smoke from the rockets and Bolt had a slight heatburn on his face. Scraps noticed and lengthened Bolts rope a little. "Try to keep your hands and legs out on takeoff and drift yourself out of the exaust." He said. The two jumpers glanced at each other. "Lets get going." William had barely got his breath back. "I think we'll walk from here." He gasped. Streak shook his head. "The big guy said take ya' to the meuseum. We allus does our job. Besides, you can't make it walkin', there's security patrols lookin' all over for ya'." Before William could protest further there was a roar of rockets and he launched violently into space. Adrenaline pounded through his blood as they barreled through the skies and came to a stop again. He glanced around and saw that they had traveled a long distance in a few seconds. They had gained altitude and landed on a huge eighty-story building in the high-rise area of the city. Below him the massive metropolis of UA1 lay spread before him, glistening in the afternoon sun. Beyond the city he could make out a blurry band of brown through a shimmering haze.
His palace sat in the exact center of the city, A massive globe of gold and white. Scraps spoke. This is the end of the free-fly zone. We are goin' to try to make it to the historical center in one run, before the birdbots get us." William eagerly took a drink out of a proffered canteen. "This jumping is not safe. You guys are crazy." Scraps looked at him with amusement. "Of course its not safe. Thats why we do it." William looked resolute. "When I return to my throne I will abolish this practice." Streaks face fell. "This is our life man. Sure its dangerous. Guys get killed every day doin' it. But its our choice. Digital games, parties and a job that you were raised to inherit just don't cut it. This is what makes us feel special." William faltered. He had never done anything to make himself feel special. Scraps made up his mind. "If you don't promise to let us keep doin' our thing we won't take you to where your goin'." At the prospect of being stuck up on this skyscraper until security caught up with him William changed his mind.
Five minutes later the two jumpers and thier passengers were streaking between buildings like twin bolts of lightning. Bolt had borrowed a pair of goggles and was thuroughly enjoying the ride. William just kept his eyes shut tight. As they aproached the government area of the city two robotic drones took off and jetted up towards them on a intercept course. Closer and closer they came. At four hundred meters they opened fire with a hail of electrofied 22. slugs from thier mahine guns. The two jumpers wheeled to the left and flew in a tight circle around a building. The robobirds were right on their tails. William and Bolt were tossed around like ragdolls as the jumpers rolled and looped to dodge a fresh burst of gunfire. They flew down low and zoomed straight through the web of steel girders of a building under construction. The robobirds followed. One of them hit a wire mesh that its sensors had'nt detected and exploded in a spectacular fireball. But the other drone continued gaining on them. Streak looped around behind it as it chased his wingman and fired his grenade launcher at it. The round missed. The drone fired another burst at Scraps as he turned a corner and hit his arm. He cut his engines and floated, gasping in pain. Bolt felt them slowing and yelled ahead for Scraps to toss back his grenade launcher. The launcher came sailing over and Bolt caught it as it sailed by. The birdbot was less than twenty meters away. Its beady red eye sensors locked on to Bolts infrared image. Bolt spun around on his back, he only had one shot. He aimed carefully and fired. The birdbot saw it coming and wheeled to the side. The shot missed.
Bolt floated helplessly as bullets flew all around him in slow motion. Suddenly the birdbot exploded into a hail of parts. Streak flew overhead and threw Bolt a salute. In the other hand he held his empty grenade launcher. Both jumpers turned back on course and landed on the roof of the meuseum. Streak ran over to his wingman as his wings retracted. "You O.K. dude?" Scraps gasped and clutched his arm. "I'll be fine. It missed ma' bone." Streak turned to Bolt and William. "Security will be here in a minute. You two had better go." Bolt untied himself from the rope and returned the grenade launcher. "You boys are incredible." He said, shaking Streaks hand. "I hope I see you again soon." Streak smiled and shook back. "Just look up."
William and Bolt slipped inside a maintenance door and entered the meuseum. Red lights shined through the windows as security shoved the two jumpers into a police hovercar. They had reasurred William that they would only be held overnight for reckless flying. This had happened to them many times.
They collapsed onto benches, exausted, and fell asleep. They slept for four hours.
Chapter Nine:
William was awakened by the smell of coffee. It was dark outside. Every muscle ached from his flight. Bolt had hotwired the snack booth coffeemaker back to life. He handed William a cup, sipping out of his own. He felt the liquid warming his insides as Bolt handed him a sandwich. He tackled it ravenously. Bolt leaned back with a groan. "So what's the plan. How are we goin' to take back your kingdom?" William looked up. "We?" Bolt took another drink of coffee. "Yeah. Your my friend. I'm going to help you." William shook his head. "You don't have to help me. I'm the one they're hunting. You don't have to get in trouble... get arrested. You can enjoy your life in the upper city. Just like you always wanted. I won't let you give up your dream to get caught with me." Bolt took all this in for a moment. "Why do you have to go back? Besides gettin' the cops off of your tail why do you have to go back into that palace?" William replied. "Because its my duty. If I don't regain the throne Drexel with destroy the lives of everyone. I know him. I must at least try for the sake of the unknown millions he will hurt." Bolt gave a resigned sigh and drank the rest of his coffee. "How will you get your throne back from the clone?" William stood. "I don't know. But I'm going to try."
They walked through halls lined with historical relics from humanities past. William gazed in awe at the synthetic figures dressed as cave men, inventors and famous figures. Twenty-two centuries of history lay behind these glass cases. It took twenty minutes to get to the end of the meuseum. Bolt led him out through a back door into a vast warehouse. They traveled through endless stacks of crates. Looking for an exit. The boxes of relics stretched on for half a mile. Something caught Williams eye. A wooden crate had been smashed open by a box falling from above. Curiously he walked over and pulled away some boards. A nine-foot dusty steel suit towered above him, gleaming dully in the dim yellow light hanging fifty feet above him.
Bolt came over and gave a low whistle. "What is it?" William asked. "I'm not sure." Came Bolts reply from around the back of the box. He came back with a old storage manifest. "Barracuda Mark 10 enhanced combat suit...made by Foundry Industries...Never went into full production...Limited power supply...Etc." Bolt looked up. "This might be your ticket into the palace. Come on. Lets put it together."
An hour later they stood beside the menacing machine as it charged its batteries off of a dozen meuseum power plugs. They had used a forklift and a hoverpad to drag the three ton suit over to a pair of huge doors. Now Bolt jumped into the cockpit from a ladder and put on the sensor gloves and helmet. William was working at a computer that they had found and set up. He pressed the "Initiate reboot." button. Lights blinked on inside the cockpit. Bolt twitched nervously as the helmet lit up with holographic displays showing suit status. William kept him updated on the progress. "Primary systems activated...Damage check...shortout regulators on." Then Williams monitor screen changed. "Darn." He shouted. Bolt raised an eyebrow. "Darn?" William ignored his sarcasm. "We ran out of procedural memory. Whats that?" Bolt sighed and struggled out of the cockpit and down the ladder. He began rumaging through a crate of parts. "I found it." He exclaimed, Holding up two black carbon sticks. "I hope its compatible." He motioned towards the cockpit. "Better get up there."
They worked frantically through the night. Two hours later the final proccesses were running. Bolt stared at the loading bar crawling across the screen. William interupted his thoughts. "How do you know so much about computers?" Bolt leaned back on the crate he was sitting on a and shrugged. "I used to help my buddies to hack factory systems down in the lower city."
The flashlights of two security guards flashed around the corner and iluminated Bolt. "Hey." Called one. "What do you think your doin'." Bolt glanced at the monitor and pressed several buttons. "Hey, Get away from the computer kid." Bolt looked up at William. "I'll hold 'em off. You go get your throne back." He pressed enter and Williams cockpit began to close. William didn't know what to say. His friend was giving his liberty so that he could get away and there wasn't anything he could do about it. "Your my best friend." He called as steel plates folded over his chest and shoulders. Bolt smiled and walked towards the guards. "Just don't forget my new car." He called over his shoulder. "O.K. kid." one guard snarled. "Keep your hands where we can see 'em."
Williams helmet identified the three guards as hostiles. But the machine guns built into the MK10s arms were empty. William lifted his foot tentatively. The sensor net recognized the movement and the right leg of the exoskeleton lifted also. The guards saw something move in the shadows beyond William. One guard lifted his stunner at Bolt. The boy tried to pull his 45. but the guard was too fast. A strong electric pulse hit him and knocked him to the hard concrete floor. That made William mad. The guards jumped back as the steel powered suit stomped out of the gloom. Its feet cracking concrete and making the warehouse echo with clanging and screeches. The ground shook under the guards as they ran. Calling desperately for backup. The big machine grabbed up a three hundred pound crate like it was nothing and threw it after the guards. It hit amongst them and shattered in a hail of wood and pottery shards, knocking them off thier feet.
William looked down at were Bolt lay. The helmets scanners told him that Bolt was uninjured but he was reluctant to leave his friend. Bolt glanced up at him and mouthed a word. "Go."
William stormed down the aisles in his armoured suit. He was still mad and showed it by smashing down piles of crates as he went. The MK10 had enough energy for three hours of normal operation. He had three hours to reclaim his throne. The exoskeleton reached the huge double doors at the back of the warehouse and paused to tear them off thier hinges before stomping off into the night.
It was about 3:30 in the morning when Williams battlesuit reached the gold-guilded doors of his palace. He paused for a moment. He knew that these doors were made of triweave titanium/carbon alloy. Nothing but energy weapons would get through. Then he spied a row of old windows high above him. Time to see what this thing can do. He thought. He gathered himself and leaped towards the windows. But the MK10s heavy construction was not built for jumping. It barely got four meters off the ground before crashing back down. William stood for a minute before trying something else. He leaped at the smooth side of the palace and punched a hole clear through its concrete wall. Gold flakes and dust flew everywhere as he held on and smashed the hole bigger and bigger with his free hand. Then he pulled himself into a large room and looked around at the familiar surroundings. "Home sweet home." He said softly.
Bolt dragged himself behind a statue covered in tarp with one arm. His whole body felt numb and frozen. Dozens of security guards ran by. Shining flashlights. One thought filled his mind. He must get to the palace and help his friend.
Chapter Ten:
Prime minister Drexel was woken from a deep sleep by the buzzing intercom. "Yes?" The monotone voice of his security system jolted him into wakefulness. "Sir, the rogue clone has broken into the palace. I am sending all security to deal with this intruder. Please come to the throne room imediately. I have already secured the emperor there." Drexel threw a gown over his pajamas. "Be right there."
The floors and walls shook, paintings and statues toppled as the MK10 jogged down a wide hall towards the throne room. With a clatter of metal on wood nearly forty security robots streamed out of two corridors and blocked his path. William heard a whining sound as thier stunners charged up. He accessed his suits weapons options. "Swords." He whispered into the helmet microphone. A loud screech echoed through the hall as two big swords shot out of his arms. The robots opened fire. Thier weapons flashed as beams of paralizing energy hit the suit with no result. William began charging towards the robots. In the throne room Drexel was whatching everything from a array of cameras. "Switch to melee mode." He commanded through a microphone. The robots ran towards William. As they collided William Impaled two of them on his swords. Oil streamed through the air as he twirled around and cut another one in half. Four robots tackled him. Slowly he rose back to his feet. All the remaining robots piled onto him. Roaring with effort William stumbled into a wall, smashing several more robots into pieces. He retracted the swords and grabbed two of them with his hands. He smashed thier heads together in a cascade of sparks and hurled another clear across the hall. Uselessly the robots zapped the suit with thier tasers. William tore off heads and limbs effortlessly. "Retreat." Drexel snapped. He noticed the clone emperor staring in horror over his shoulder at the hulking nightmare surging inexorably toward them on screen. "Your majesty. May I activate the Sentinels?" Numbly the emperor nodded. Drexel turned back to the microphone. "Security. Activate all Sentinels."
Deep inside the palace vaults four pairs of blue eyes lit with a ghostly glow in the darkness. Generators hummed and machinery creaked as elavators carried the Sentinels towards the surface.
Bolt stumbled out of the meuseum and across the pristine concrete towards the palace. His pace quickened as life came back to his paralized limbs. A security guard in a hovercar pulled up beside him. "Hey bub. Where do you think your going?" Bolt turned to him and smiled. The guard shifted nervously as he saw the 45. leveled at his head. "I'm goin' to the palace in your rig bub."
William turned a corner and stopped and stared at at the sealed doors of the throne room. Two pairs of blue eyes stared back as they identified him as a intruder. The blue eyes where owned by two heavily armored robots that stood four feet taller than even Williams suit. The miniguns on thier left arms began reving up as they leveled the weapons at him. William made a flying leap for a concrete pillar as bullets streamed around him. Splinters showered his helmet as the miniguns chewed the pillar to splinters. The whining sound died down as the miniguns stopped and the Sentinels marched over to where William was hiding. He took a deep breath and extended his swords. They must be out of ammo. He thought. The MK10 leaped out of cover and charged...right into a rocket. The explosion blew a chunk of armor off of its chest and hurled it back into a wall. William shook his head groggily as the dust settled. He was aching all over and bruised in several places. As two more rockets hit above him he dragged his suit to its feet and stumbled down a corridor.
Bolt parked the speeder on the sloped roof of the palace. The unfortunate security guard lay slumped over his seat with a bruise on his head. Bolt slipped through a skylight and landed lightly in a hallway. He noticed a monitor but was puzzled that there was no keyboard attached. He walked over to it. "I wish I knew how this thing works." He thought out loud. The monitor screen blinked to life and a electronic eye appeared. "This is security. What do you need?" Bolt examined the aparition warily. "I want to know where William is." "This palace is in emergency lockdown because of a foriegn intruder. That information is currently restricted." Bolt growled in frustration. "Where is the central computer?" The eye stared steadily at him. "That information is restricted." Bolt lost his temper. "Listen up you sorry bucket of silicon fodder. Tell me what I want to know or i'll pull every plug in this pretty dump, you virus-infected excuse for a primitive stock-ticker."
The eye was silent for a moment. Then the metallic voice spoke again. "your friend is in the security room. Floor nine, hallway Z3-S4, first door on the right." Bolt stormed off to find an elavator. Time was running out.
Drexel stared in concentration through the Sentinels cameras as they hunted William through the palaces corridors. To his annoyance the Security systems sensor eye blinked on-screen. "Sir, another intruder is heading towards the security room. May I have some security to secure him?" Drexel impatiently minimised it into a icon on the toolbar. "No I need all available units. Deal with it yourself." Without a word the eye blinked off.
The two Sentinels had split up to search more effectivelly. Now one had spotted Williams damaged suit enter a arboreum filled with exotic plants. It deployed its partner to block the other exit and entered the doorway. William was waiting. The MK10 Barracuda expoded out of a cloud of shrubbery and plunged both swords deep into its torso. As the machine staggered back William withdrew a sword and hacked its head-mounted sensors apart. Wiring, fuel and leaves flew thickly as the mighty opponents crashed through the trees. William never relaxed his relentless attack. The Sentinel raised its rocket arm at him and he hacked it off. His suit was coated in hydrolic fluid as he tore a leg off of the helpless robot. The remains of the Sentinel fell to the floor and lay there sizzling.
Bolt arrived at the open doorway of the security room. A few overhead lights dimmly lit the interior. He cautiously went inside. The rows of monitors were deserted. With a slam the heavy doors behind him jammed shut and locked. Bolt started towards the big glass case housing the mainframe, alert for the slightest sound. The mettalic sensor stalk emerged silently from a hole behind him, its red light tracking him malevolently. It crept up to within six inches of his neck, preparing to strike. Then a single link of its metal length scraped the floor with a small ring. Bolt reacted in a instant and dashed forward as it grabbed at his neck and missed. He whirled around and fired a wild shot as it disappeared back into its hole. Bolt looked desperately around and saw a rusty box across the room marked Auxilary power control. He dashed towards it and instinctively leaped up onto a monitor as the sensor stalk streaked out of a hole and tried to trip him up. He held his fire. He only had six shots left in this clip and the head was to fast. All was silent for a moment. He barely dared to breath. A ice-cold mechanical voice emanated from the floor. "You are very afraid Mr. Bolt. Oh yes, your hacking exploits have not gone unoticed. Your heartbeat is very controlled for someone who is about to die."
Bolt didn't reply. He focused on the control box. He leaped to another monitor and balanced there precariously. The voice came again directly beneath him. "That control box will do you no good. It cannot affect my mainframe." It taunted. Bolt appeared to change his mind and stared running towards the mainframe, firing three shots uselessly at the bulletproof glass. At the last moment he backflipped on a monitor as the sensor reared up were he should have been and kicked at its head. In a reflex action it jerked back and smashed a big crack in the glass case. Bolt ran panting back towards the box as it slunk back into a hole. "You think your clever?" The voice hissed. "I am everywhere. I can see that you are beginning to tire. You will not last much longer."
Bolt reached the box and wrenched it open. Several levers covered in dirt were inside. Frantically he pulled four of them. The lights went out,plunging the room into darkness. Bolt felt for the last lever. Suddenly the red light of the sensor lit right behind him. Bolt screamed as the long coils of metal wrapped around him. The stalk squeezed tightly, driving the air from his lungs. "I always win." The voice hissed as he flailed around, his vision fading into darkness. With a last effort He grabbed the stalk close to its sensor head and blasted the sensors with his last three shots. The stalk writhed and loosened its grip for an instant. Bolt reached around wildly and pulled the last lever. In the darkness he felt the metal stalk release him and crumple to the ground. He sank aginst the wall panting desperately for air.
Chapter Eleven:
The Sentinel clanked out of a corridor into the palaces vast ballroom. Its thermal and infrared scanners swept the room continually. It marched forward with weapons at the ready, looking everywhere. Everywhere exept up.
William launched his suit off of a balcony high above the ballroom. He fell three stories and hit the Sentinel square on the back. With three tons of force behind them the two diamond-edged titanium swordblades drove through the robots chassis. The MK10 leaped back as the Sentinels volatile fuel mixed with sparks from its wrecked powerplant and erupted in a series of fireballs. William wished that he could wipe the sweat from his forehead under the helmet. He took a sip of water from the in-helmet pipe and checked his battery. Less than twenty minutes of power left. His time was really running out. The Sentinels rocket arm lay in the burning fuel and the cooked warheads began shooting off and detonating against the ballroom wall. When the smoke cleared William felt the cold breath of morning air on his neck and saw the sky turning pink with the aproaching dawn. He sighed at the sight of the beautiful city stretching beneath him and turned back towards the throne room.
Drexel sweated nervouslly as the Sentinels cameras went blank. Then every monitor and light in the room went dead. The two Sentinels inside the throne room glanced around as they lost contact with the security system. Drexel ran over to a skylight and pulled out his private comunicator. He began speaking quietly but urgently into the mic. "Listen, things have gone wrong. I need you to begin the rebellion now." A hardened voice answered back. "Very well. Dont forget the finance vault codes when we get to the palace." Then the line went dead. Drexel called another number. A calm well-groomed voice answered. "Yes?" "We have a problem. Somehow the real emperor has returned and my security forces are failing. I have started the rebellion and will kill this impostor myself." "Very good." The voice answered unperturbed. Drexel put away the phone and walked urgently over to the clone emperor, who was sitting nervouslly in a cusioned chair. "Your majesty. You must hide in your vault behind the throne now. Danger is iminent." The clone nodded dumbly and hurried into his hiding place. As the throne clicked shut behind him Drexel had one Sentinel kneel so that he could climb inside the cockpit. He set it to manual control and fitted his hands into the sensor gloves. No more mr. nice guy. He thought.
Bolt stood in the totally dark security room. He tried to flip the lever controlling the lights but none of the levers had any effect. Then he noticed a small light flashing by a monitor. He felt his way over and saw the words "System Reboot" on screen. He pressed enter and the screen filled with options. He began typing rapidly. Resetting everything to default. A loading bar appeared with words flashing underneath. Guardian system rebooting. Bolt took a deep breath as the lights flickered back on and the doors opened.
Deep in the city sewers hundreds of hulking men stood leaning on thier weapons, listening earnestly to a speaker standing on a racing truck. "No more scrabbling in the filth for scraps." He screamed through a microphone. "Our day has come. We shall teach these upper-city brats to oppress us. We shall take the shining city of destiny for ourselves and our families. We'll flush those ultra-clean aristocrats down here and see how they like it." The speaker reminded them of the many wrongs they had suffered, whipping them into a frenzy. "We shall burn the golden palace to the ground. We shall drag thier precious emperor around the streets from a chain hitched to our trucks. Down with the Empire. Down with the rich filth. The Rebublic forever." Roaring in assent the crowds piled into rusty trucks and cars and drove full-speed towards the surface.
As William stood before them the massive dual throne room doors began ponderously opening. One Sentinel lay slumped over on the floor. He noticed Drexels head in the cockpit. His voice echoed over a loudspeaker. "I am impressed that a weakling like you survived the sewers. But now you will die. Even if you defeat me events are now in motion that will topple your kingdom and give my employers immense power. Die now in despair." Inside the cockpit Drexel slipped his hands out of the gloves and flourished the detonator. William leaped forward to stop him but it was to late. He pressed the button...and nothing happened. Drexel plunged his hands back inside the gloves as William tackled his machine and knocked it to the ground.
Drexel grabbed William by the arms and threw his machine across the room. As William landed painfully Drexel began pounding him with rockets and minigun rounds. William ran sideways to evade the fire but there was nowhere to hide in the open room. The few flimsy chairs and tables collapsed into matchsticks. Drexel stopped firing and charged towards William as he leaned against the burning wall. William was exausted after hours of fighting but his enemy was fresh. Drexel smashed a iron fist into the MK10s chest. William sank to his knees and his helmet flew off from the impact. Grunting in pain he extended a sword and stabbed the Sentinels torso. As Drexel punched at his head William rose with a mighty effort and threw the Sentinel into the air. It sailed forty feet and made a crater in the floor. William staggered towards the prone figure with both swords extended. His energy meter was beeping frantically. He had less than three percent power left. Drexel hauled his machine to its feet and blasted the MK10 with his minigun. William writhed helplessly as the rounds chewed into his suits vital systems. Drexel stopped firing as the MK10 collapsed into a sitting position. Drexel crashed over and knelt by the wrecked machine. "You were never going to win Willy. You were born and bred a soft little man. It is strong and ruthless men like me that will rule the future. Your line is ended." He shoved the hot barrel of the rocket launcher against Williams forehead. "Goodbye your majesty." There was an explosion and Drexels machine flew through the air and hit a wall. The other Sentinel stood across the room beneath a giant monitor, weapon smoking. The familiar old voice of Guardian echoed over the intercom. "I am delighted to finally have proof of your treason prime minister."
Drexel tried to rise but the Sentinel hit his suit with another rocket. Fuel spurted all over his face and gown as his suit tried to rise, then fell back with a crash. The Sentinel aproached warily and pulled him out of the cockpit. William manually unbuckled from his suit and crawled out. Bolt walked into the throne room escorted by two security bots. He ran to William and extatically hugged the exhausted but happy ruler. "How did you get here?" William wanted to know. Bolt shrugged breathlessly. "Long story. The kind you tell over a drink."
The security robots opened the throne room vault and placed the clone emperor under arrest. Guardian appeared on the giant screen above thier heads as a calm old lady in a business suit. "On examining the prime ministers rooms I have discovered that the current ruler was in deed a cloned counterfeit manufactured by Drexel. You shall have your throne restored to you. The clone will be tagged and retained. If you should ever need a reprieve from your duties it may take your place for a time. former prime minsister Drexel shall be tried and found guilty of charges including but not limited to treason, illegal cloning and attempted murder." William nodded as he walked to a bar and poured himself and Bolt a drink from a shattered bottle. "I leave the matter entirely in your hands." Bolt punched him in the arm. "I knew you were the emperor all along." Guardians image flashed back onscreen. "Your majesty, we have a problem. A message from the police indicates that a army of scum from the undercity are comeing this way, burning and destroying all in thier path." William took Bolts 45., Slapped a new round in and handed it back. "I still need your help my friend. This is'nt over yet."
Chapter Twelve:
Three dozen assorted jeeps and trucks roared between the skyscrapers of the city at the head of a mob of gun-waving looters. They tossed firebombs through windows and shot down any fleeing civilians they saw. Around a street corner they encountered a platoon of security robots. The automated police fired thier stunners, dozens of the gunmen collapsed. The mob returned fire with everything from pistols to heavy mashine guns and rocket launchers. The police line collapsed as the robots were torn to shreds. Several tried to retreat but were blown to pieces before reaching cover. With a cheer the mob carried onwards. Two frightened children ran out from behind a fountain. A heavily muscled gangster ran after them. No killing these brats. He thought. They'll grow up to serve me.
The children ran into a heavily wooded park. The big gangster and two others followed. At that moment Justin, the man dressed as a greek who had helped William earlier, happened to be hiding behind a large oak in the park. He stayed silent as the children ran past him, deeper into the park. Two of the gangsters ran by without seeing him but one stopped, out of breath, and leaned against his tree.
Justin was a peaceful sort. But anger was swelling in him now. He had been with a group of his friends when these bad men had poured out of a maintenance station and gunned many of them down. Justin had ran until he was panting and hidden in the park to rest. Now he was mad at these bad men. He stepped around the oak and hesitantly punched the gangster in the nose. A trickle of blood ran down his face as the man turned with lightning reflexes and cut a gash in his chest with a serrated knife. Now Justin was really mad. The man stabbed at him but Justin grabbed his wrist and grabbed his neck with the other hand. The man gasped as the air was slowly squeezed out of him. He turned purple and fought helplessly for a moment before going limp. Justin cautiously released the body. He whirled around at the noise of someone running through the trees as the children dashed up to him and hugged him fearfully. They had slipped past the other men in the trees. Justin didn't know how to use the shotgun lying by the dead mans side. He grabbed the knife and snuck out of the park with the two kids.
William supervised the fortifying of the palace. He stood by the front gates with Bolt and the remains of the security force. The robots were erecting automated turrets and barbed wire fencing. Bolt turned to William. "I need to go into the city. I'll be right back. I'm gonna see how close they are." William shook his head. "I don't want you to go. I need you here." Bolt smiled grimly. "You mean you don't wanna lose me again?" William turned away. "Go if you have to. Just come back in one piece. I don't want my only friend to get shot after all we have been through."Bolt streaked out into the city in a hovercar. Years in the sewers had honed his sense of direction. It took him less than ten minutes to find the building he was looking for.
Justin and the kids dashed out of a stairway into a fifth-story hospital ward. Doctors and patients glanced up. They had no idea what was happening on the streets below. "Bad men are coming up the stairs." He panted. Everyone looked at him as if he was insane. A doctor walked over and spoke calmly. "Are you alright sir. Maybye you need to sit down for a minute." Justin heard steps on the stairs. He ran into a patients room where nurse Rose happened to be changing pillows. He slammed the door and locked it. Screams and gunfire erupted in the ward as gangsters charged out of the stairs, shooting at everyone. Justin wedged a bed against the door and dropped into a chair panting. The screaming and shooting died down in the ward. Then the door started lurching as someone tried to open it. "Hey, Kickstart." Came a voice. "I need your boom gun. This doors locked." Justin got the children and Rose down behind a bed by the window. He got up next to the door. The bed flew across the room and smashed through the window as the door was blown off of its hinges. As two gangsters charged in through the smoke Justin leaped forward and stabbed one in the stomach. The other man raised his gun butt and knocked Justin to the floor. He aimed at Rose as she shielded the kids with her body. Then the gangster flew back out the door as three 45. rounds slammed into his chest. Rose turned and saw something that seemed out of a dream.
Bolt was sitting by the window in a hovercar, he holstered his pistol and held out a hand to her. Rose grabbed one of each of the childrens hands and walked over to the window. She took a deep breath and stepped over into the hovercar. The children hugged her tight as she sat down in a daze and buckled them in. Justin stood up and staggered towards the window. Bolt drew his gun and shot another gangster coming through the doorway. Justin took Bolts outstretched hand and leaped into the hovercar. The humming machine flew away through the forest of skyscrapers towards the palace.
Chaos reined in UA1. The city was on fire. Security robots struggled to get thousands of refugees to safety as the hundreds of rebels attacking the city were joined by even more people pouring out of the sewers. The rich and powerful sat uneasily in thier mansions as mercenaries and personal security fended off the attackers.
Ten blocks from the palace on a rooftop the group of jumpers known as the Flames were stareing down at the devastation below. They turned in at the sound of rocket motors and saw another group of jumpers landing behind them. Thier young leader, a man with a mohawk, stepped forward. "Hey Flames. Sorry about landing on your turf but we gotta do something about this." The Flames leader stepped forwards and gave the other man a big bear hug. "Hey Morris. Nevermind the turf. I hear Gears and Whistler took the long dive down in the Tenaments. Sorry to hear it." Morris stepped back. "They were tryin' to protect thier family when the sewer scum came. But enough gabbin'. Lets show these stinkin' slimebacks what we're made of."
The Flames followed thier leader to the edge of the building and prepped for takeoff. Morris called after them. "You cover the west side of Industrial and Royal sectors. I'm gonna find all the other jumpers I can find and get em' goin'. Good luck."
Some newly arrived sewer rebels gazing in awe at the city iluminated by the rays of the new morning saw a ribbon of glittering shapes streaking through the sky as the Flames flew over the city. The Flames leader spotted a group of rebels running through the streets, firing at everyone they saw. He swooped down towards them, followed by the rest of his thirty man flight. He dove towards the ground until the last second before pulling up and firing his grenade launcher at a rebel less than five meters away. The entire rebel group disapeared in a rippling mass of fireballs and smoke as the Flames fired a volley into them. After landing on a roof and reloading they took off to find other targets.
All around the city the jumper clans rallied and swooped down to destroy the invaders. Gangsters ran for cover and fired wildly at the birdlike creatures that swooped down and blasted them. The citizens of the city took hope. They began to fight back with everything they had. They rammed gangsters with hovercars and hit them with stunners from windows and doorways. Soon they captured weapons and used them in hit-and-run fights. The cities robotic police had equiped themselves with sleeping gas grenades and were driving the rebels back rapidly. The gangsters had scattered to loot and pillage, it was thier turn to be outnumbered and frightened. Many threw down thier weapons or fled back down the sewers. A few of them held out. Pounded from the air and ground even these tough guys were hunted down and killed.
But a convoy of fourteen pick-up trucks had broken through the police barricades and were speeding straight for the royal palace. In the lead truck was the speaker who had started the rebellion. He still hoped to be victorius by capturing the emperor and holding him hostage. William saw them coming from the palace doors. Guardians voice came from behind him. "Sir, we must close the doors imediately." William scanned the sky for Bolts return. "He still hasn't come back. We must wait." The voice on the intercom became persistent. "Your majesty. The safety of everyone in the palace depends on this. You must put your subjects over your own desires." William knew it was right. The trucks were less than two hundred meters and closing fast. He drew breath to give the order. Then he saw a speck in the sky racing towards the palace. "Shut the doors." William said. He hoped his friend would be fine.
Bolt flew towards the roof of the palace. He ignored the bullets wizzing by from the trucks below. "Buckle up and get your heads down." He told his passengers. "This is gonna be rough." The hover car shook as the sloping roof rushed up towards them. Bullets riddled the craft and damaged the sensitive repulsor fans. Alarms beeped wildly and shrapnel from explosive rounds ripped through the floorboard and hit Bolts legs. Metal shrieked and glass shattered as the hovercar pitched through a skylight and rolled to a stop in the palace throne room. The five passengers staggered and hobbled out of thier transport into the arms of some palace nurses and were led exausted to a medical ward.
William watched from a window above the palace doors at the crowd of people milling around the trucks. Their leader stood up on a truck with a loudspeaker. "Were is the emperor? Is he afriad to face his citizens?" William turned to a human guard that had come in from the city. "open this window please." The guard hesitated before sliding a key card. The window swung silently up and William stepped out onto a small balcony. "Ah, the phony ruler." Called the speaker mockingly. William held out a hand for silence. "My good subjects. You are right. I have been a phony ruler for all of my reign." At this the mocking crowd below grew silent. "I have not looked past the faulty reports put on my desk and seen the true nature of your situation. I have not helped the suffering and needy as I have helped the rich and powerful. You were right to rebel against my non-rule." The rebels looked at each other in puzzlement. But the speaker replied in his mocking voice. "So abdicate and give the power to rule to the people." William shook his head. "I have been torn out of my throne and all I held dear. I have now seen the extreme suffering and poverty of the sewer dwellers. And I promise you that if you will give me a chance I will change all of this. You will have a new life and comforts you have never dreamed of. Although unworthy I beseech you to give me a second chance for redemption." The rebels began talking quietly. Some of them wanted to belive this young man who seemed to echo sincerity and kindness. The speaker saw that his converts were falliing away. He screamed in hate through the loudspeaker. "Lies. All lies. You will promise all you want, but you will forget it all when we throw down our guns. We will drag you through the streets chained to out truck beds. Come out to your subjects." He turned to the others for support. But they were not all hardened criminals. Most had lost thier desire to fight. A few slunk away as they saw security from the city aproaching in the distance. The speaker cursed and grabbed a submashinegun from a nearby gangster. William leaped back as the balcony was sprayed with bullets. The speaker swung down into a truck and stepped on the gas. He drove away from the closing security and towards the western edge of the palace. William stepped back onto the balcony. A ring of robots and armed citizens surrounded the remaining rebels. Reluctantly they dropped thier weapons. They put thier hands in the air and thier trust in thier emperor.
The speakers truck raced through the city streets. He was heading for a sewer opening on the next street. His fertile mind was racing with new plans. He would report to his employers. A new rebellion would be raised. They would kill that emperor. They would build artillery and tanks next time. Mercenaries would be hired and soldiers would be trained. He was so absorbed in his plans that he never noticed the lone jumper streaking down the street behind him. A sewer entrance loomed ahead and the speaker smiled as the truck drove down through the sloping doorway. But the jumpers grenade shot down after him and hit his fuel tank. The truck exploded into flames and hurled out of control down a steep slope before pitching into the sewer with a gurgling plop. Thus ended the sewer rebellion.
Chapter Thirteen:
Two months later William stood on the balcony of his palace before a huge crowd. He had just finished a speech about the new sewer resettlement act. Roaring aplause swelled up. He held up his hands for silence. "We have captured the last of the rebels who attacked our city. Now some people may understandably call for executions and imprisonment. But we must be lenient to those that we must admit, were forced into action by our injustices. Those who commited murder shall be imprisoned. The rest shall become the first inhabitants of the new buildings that we have designed for them. There may they be happy and content. I will be frank. Bringing these forgotten people out of the sewers will cause many problems both economic and social. But I have confidence that together we shall overcome them and move on toward a better future." William smiled as the applause broke out again.
Bolt walked down a corridor towards the western palace gate. He gave a gasp as the door swung open and he saw a gorgeous shining green comvertible basking in the sun outside. William leaned against the windshield, grinning at his friends amazement. Bolt staggered over to the car in a daze. "Is it mine?" William laughed softly and tossed him the car keys. Bolts face broke into a beaming smile and he ran back inside. A few seconds later he dashed out half-pulling Rose the nurse. She was smiling bashfully, resplendent in a green dress and tricorner hat. Bolt gave a whoop as he leaped into the car and the engine purred to life. He was so happy with his new car that he forgot to thank his ruler. But the bright faces that shone through the windshield as his friend roared away were thanks enough. William was still smiling as the convertible disappeared behind a spotless skyscraper under reconstruction. He was startled from his reverie by a security robot that tapped him on the shoulder. William gave a jump and was poised to spring out of reach. But he was reasured when Guardians voice came from the machines speaker. "Sorry to suprise you your highness. There are some matters that still need your attention." William groaned and looked back at where the convertible had disappeared. "I should have gone with them." He thought out loud. "There will be a time to explore." Guardian said understandingly. "Though I was bound by obligations before to keep you safe in your palace, I understand that you have a desire to explore and learn. Fear not. There are so many places and peoples you know nothing of. Come in and prepare your speech to the board of directors and I will introduce you to the ambassador of Solaris." William was instantly intrested. "What is Solaris?" The security robot silently turned and walked away. William walked quickly after it. "O.K. I'm coming. Sometimes I can't help thinking you may not be artificially intelligent. So what is Solaris?" Guardian began speaking again as the western palace doors closed behind the emperor. "Solaris is a vast empire based on a continent southeast of America. Somewhere across the great sea. They have control a vast fleet of ships that never refuel and are demanding the allegiance of...
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