Stanley Duncan's Robot: Genesis David III (english reading book .TXT) 📖

and light-blue eyes, with frozen, gaunt facial features. “Meet Brutus, our new champion. He’s by far the most powerful fighter we’ve ever had.”

Shoulders and chest puffed up, Brad strutted over and inspected Brutus and the mighty war hammer protruding from a strap on its back. “Pathetic. I’d destroy it in seconds.”

“An eccentric billionaire created this one-of-a-kind model to serve him as a security guard. He has so much polymorphous steel inside of him that he’s practically indestructible. Manufactured before the majority of regulations on android production, his strength is three times that of a normal android.”

“Impressive.” With a sinister grin, Evan took out his gun. “That means it can withstand my bullets.”

The man nodded. “As long as they are not made of polymorphous steel, they’ll damage only his synthetic flesh.”

A shot rang out. The casing shattered on impact.

Brad reached out and tried to scrape off what looked like a silver stain from Brutus’s chest. “Will you look at that. The lead liquefied on him without making a dent.”

“This could be fun.” Evan shot the android in the forehead.

“Composite plastic made of layers of clay nanosheets shields his eyes from harm. Though not as strong as amorphous steel, it is nearly impervious to bullets,” said the Cratos. “Behind its eyes, there’s a thick layer of polymorphous steel that will protect his main processor and prevent him from being disabled. And there’s still more that I’m discovering about him every day.”

Evan put away his gun. “Let’s see his fighting skills.”

A look of fear swept across Michaels’ face.

Evan smiled, soaking up the intimidation. He had committed far worse methods of torture, but Michaels was an officer of the law and a fellow human. Evan wouldn’t punish him for loyally following his orders. But if he ever betrayed him …

“Bring another android here,” ordered Brad.

Sweat pooled in the large cavity on the top of the man’s head as Cratos returned with a clown-like android whose body had been pierced by steel rods, like a pin cushion. His nose had been replaced with a red knob, his face had been bleached white, and his hair had been dyed red. “Unlike most androids who have an on-off switch at the back of their head, Brutus is controlled remotely. We’ve overridden his security features and set him to destroy anything within this ring. So, if you’ll all take a seat on the ground level.”

After everyone took their seat, the man hit a few buttons on his phone. Brutus drew the war hammer and slammed it down onto the clown’s face, burying it inches deep. Brutus raised the hammer into the air, lifting the still-attached clown with it. A swift kick sent it toppling to the ground — decapitated.

“Impressive,” said Michaels. “Not even Brad’s that strong.”

Brad sneered at him. “It would have been a much better show if we could have seen that cyborg squirm and die.”

“Yes, sergeant. I apologize — again — and will accept the punishment.”

“We weren’t going to kill the cyborg. We were going to corrupt him with Duncan’s program and set him loose to kill. But that’s practically impossible with all the heat we’ve drawn. Whatever we do now, we have to be damn sure none of it can be traced back to us.”

Michaels nodded.

Evan needed to be careful about whom to trust. Though loyal, his men were not the brightest of the bunch. He could use more recruits — damn Michaels for screwing that up, too. If everything went well, the war would be over, and they wouldn’t need to find new men.

“Can Brutus be programmed to assassinate someone?”

“Absolutely,” said the Cratos, powering down Brutus. “It can also be programmed to kill everyone but certain people. We’re working on implementing that now. However, we won’t be able to use him as a security guard with that function enabled, because he would end up killing every new customer who walked in.”

“Good work,” said Evan, waving him off. “Now, listen up, boys. Every day that we wait, our enemy grows stronger. The next couple of weeks are going to be pivotal for victory. Succeed, and we land a major blow against the enemy. Fail, and we’ll have given the machines more reason to launch a full-out attack on us.”

Michaels stood tall. “Let me kill Daffy Duncan as a way to make up for my mistakes.”

“You’re still not getting it,” said Evan. “This goes beyond destroying one enemy. This is about winning the war against all the abominations. We can’t recklessly destroy them or their treacherous owners in the open, with evidence that points directly to us. We need to set up the pieces so that they all topple down. And what we’ve accomplished in Marshfield, we’ll continue statewide once I become governor. And I’ll need your help to make it all happen.”

“So, what are we going to do?”

Evan glanced over at Brutus, wishing it was as easy as pressing a few buttons and destroying everything in his path. Unfortunately, people were stupid and needed to be forced to do what was right for them. “Let me make the steps crystal clear. I’ve already muzzled that yapping abomination, using my contacts in Boston to shut off his social-media accounts, and I’ve put the squeeze on Morrison and shut down their little library pow-wow. We’ll continue to destroy Duncan’s piss-poor reputation. After all the smear pieces we have published, many loyal townspeople are already attacking him on social media and vandalizing his condo. Lastly, we’ll devise a false-flag operation that will unite Marshfield. The people will be so enraged that they’ll beg me to destroy the abominations, and the whole state will follow suit. As things look now, it’ll go down at their first major public gathering.”

Michaels grinned. “How can we help?”

“Brad, what have we got on Duncan?”

“According to his neighbor, who accepted my invitation to fuse out at one of our farms — ” Brad roared with laughter — “Stanley and the abomination are romantically involved.”

“What?” Evan took out his gun and fired three rounds into