Berserker
the preface
…Jenny joined her mother in a light supper of sorts. Nora had soup, buttered toast, and tea. Jenny sipped from the spout of the can of motor oil. They made small talk. Nora about her latest project, an electromechanical card catalogue collator, and her attendance next week at an annual inventors' conference under the Lunar Tycho Crater Biodome.
Jenny talked about the latest plot the Crust cousins had hatched to belittle her; Brittany and Tiffany had mail-ordered a set of nanobots from a student at Polytech High. In revenge for the loss of the Polytech Bulldogs to the Tremorton Quakers in the final game of the football season, the unnamed student had programmed the miniature robots to act as robotic head lice, with the intent of infesting Jenny.
Sheldon had discovered the scheme while logged in on the Ota-Kube, a social network for nerds, geeks, and otaku. The Polytech student was boasting about his exploits, describing the girl of color with the Cleopatra eyes and her cousin with the country western accent.
Sheldon recognized the descriptions of Brit and Tiff at once. Hacking into the Polytech student's computer, he found the schematics for the nanobots. He figured out that the nanobots targeted their quarry by voiceprint, which was very insidious; Jenny's voiceprint was available from a variety of public noncopyrighted sources.
Hacking into the company computers, he found the parcel deliverer's route. He then painstakingly monitored the progress of the package.
Early one morning at Tremorton High, before classes began, Brit and Tiff s surreptitiously approached Jenny's locker. While Brit nonchalantly kept a lookout, Tiff unscrewed a jar lid and held up the jar to the locker vent. She grinned evilly as robots little larger than grains of sand crawled through the vent.
Sheldon was around a corner, unseen, hefting with one hand a rather bulky bazooka-sized firearm on his shoulder. With his free hand, he rapidly punched the keypad on the barrel of the gun near the handgrip. Listening, he could hear Brit's nasal twittering and Tiff's gravely chuckle. As soon as they departed, he stepped out from his concealment. He fired a beam at Jenny's locker. His task done, he too departed.
The school bell rang. Students milled in the hall. Jenny retrieved her books from her locker, chatting happen with Brad Carbuncle. Brit and Tiff stood nearby, stifling their laughter.
Suddenly a swarm of dark particles emerged from Jenny's locker. A girl screamed; "OMG! Bugs!"
Students scampered back. The horde of creatures flowed like grey ink toward…Brit and Tiff.
"Bugs! Crawly! Disgusting! Awful! Get them off!" Shrieking and yelping, the Crust cousins ran down the hall. They beat and slapped themselves frantically, trying to drive the little vermin off them. They ran to the school pool. They emerged some minutes later from the pool, soaked to the skin, glaring and baleful. The little nanobots arced and sparked, their circuits fried.
The student body laughed uproariously and applauded. Principle Skinner called Jenny, Brit, and Tiff to his office and demanded an explanation. Off in a corner, Sheldon smugly folded his arms and smiled a mysterious smile.
After school, Brit and Tiff were in detention. Jenny walked home with Brad, telling him how Sheldon had fired a command signal at the nanobots that reconfigured their programming; they zeroed in on their quarry like missiles to a homing beacon, guided by Brit and Tiff's voiceprints. And Sheldon wandered more or less to his home, in a golden haze. Jenny's lips on his cheek were cool with a metallic temperature. Her appreciation was warm. And her kiss was a hot brand on his soul. For at least the duration, he did not need the physical proximity of his heroine and demigoddess. He still felt her strong hug and he still heard her soft voice. "Thank you, Sheldon. You totally rock." His senses retained his impressions of her as thoroughly as the nanobots retained their programming…
to be continued