Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Far Beyond the World

Part XXXV - Nine Line Blind

Within the corridors of the EDD Building...

"Where is it! Where!"

The demands of the enraged former American astronaut echoed up-and-down the empty Directorate passageways. What once had been a bright and glowing monument to the supreme civility and peaceful nature of the 25th Century populance that had opened their hearts and embraced a barbarian from eons past was now stark and darkened, gone from a shining white temple to an ichor-black tomb.

And Captain William 'Buck' Rogers didn't like it.

Not...one...BIT!

"WHERE!" he thundered back at Dr. Huer, who to Buck's shock planted hands on his hips and stared defiantly back at him, no words passing between his clenched lips.

"What is this, Doc, 'Wheel of Fortune'? Do I gotta buy a friggin vowel from you and solve the damn puzzle?"

"Calm down, Buck."

"NO! I will not CALM DOWN!"

"You are in no mental shape to handle this-"

"Oh YEAH I am!" and Buck slapped the barrel of his blaster rifle into his left palm and hefted it high, "This is exactly the 'shape' I need to be in! That cheese-eater Crichton needs to be put down and I'm the guy to DO it! Now tell me where he is! NOW!"

"He is in the subbasement." spoke the Quad from his rusty chain around Twiki's neck.

"Theopolis!" snapped Huer in fury.

If the AI could have shrugged it would have, "That is where the Nexus Core is, so logic dictates that is where the rogue robot would go."

"Can this elevator take me there?" demanded Buck as he jogged to the end of the corridor, "Or is there some kind of James Bond villian secret lift to it?"

"Who exactly is James Bond?" asked the Quad.

"Always Sean Connery and never Roger Moore." replied Buck as he reached the lift and slapped the call button which glowed to ivory life to the Captain's great relief. At least something is still working in this burned-out town...

He looked back over his shoulder to Theo, "So is it? Can this get me to his floor?"

"Yes, Buck."

"Why did you tell him?" glared Dr. Huer, "He is out of control!"

"Everything is out of control, Doctor." replied Theopolis calmly.

"Bidi-bidi-bidi!" agreed Twiki, "This scene is absolutely trippy!"

"Exactly," pulsed the last remaining member of the Computer Council, "and chaotic times call for chaotic actions."

Huer folded arms across his chest and sighed, "But if Buck charges in there rashly and gets himself killed, then where will we be?"

"If you got a better plan, Doc, I'm all ears for the next ten seconds." jeered Rogers as he looked back to the elevator which had just chimed again, "But after that I'm going to be on my way downwards to slug it out with-" the lift doors opened and the figure of a broom-headed robot was revealed, "-Crichton...!"

"Buck Rogers must die!" shouted the bot and a pulsar canon armature swung to bear on his chest!

The weapon blazed!

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High above, but descending FAST...

The huge glowing bulk of the Star Fortress screamed down from the clouds, a plunging hammer driving toward the expanding ivory-towered metropolis of New Chicago. And on her forward-facing command deck, Killer Kane sat before the Helm controls, guiding the capital ship in with every ounce of piloting ability at his command.

"You are working with him!" Wilma Deering's caustic voice drove at the Warlord's back, making him grin despite the tremendous stain causing veins to pop out on his forehead.

"Yes...I am..." he pulled back on the control stick while his free hand played the Fortress's thrusters like a conducter leading an orchestra.

"You are beyond scum, Kane!" she spat at him through the barely-detectable shimmer of the energy barrier which was the only thing in the universe preventing the brunette starfighter pilot from charging him and caving in his skull with her bare hands.

Inwardly Kane sighed. The Princess Ardala is long departed from the Sol System, yet her spirit lives on in another...

"Perhaps...we should...save this discussion for...another time..." the deck lurched and his left hand blurred to compensate before the ship could flip over onto it's side.

"No!" Wilma punched the field, "We're going to talk about this now! What kind of man are you? You not only betray the entire human race-twice!-but now you've gone and turned on the Draconians!"

"I...haven't...turned on...anybody." a panel shorted out on Kane's left and he glanced at it with worry, but then mentally discarded it as not important right now, it wasn't an essential system.

But maybe this wasn't the best idea, he grit his teeth, perhaps the Bird-Man was correct, the Conquest is too big. Too late for second thoughts now though...

"Haven't turned on anybody?" raged Wilma, "You had your pet robot eject ten thousand men into SPACE!"

"More like...twenty-nine thousand...actually."

"Even worse! You're a mass murderer now, Kane! You've truly lived up to your name, Killer!"

"And...four more lives...will soon be on...my head...if you do not...LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Wilma opened her mouth to continue her tirade, but Hawk gripped her shoulder and she glanced to the side at him, "What?"

"Perhaps you should allow him to finish what he is doing." suggested her feather-headed ally, "Lest we all perish and you lose your chance at vengeance."

She shrugged out of his grip, "Whatever." but she did what he advised and didn't continue her verbal attack.

"A...wise move...Bird-Man." said Kane from the Helm, "The Colonel is...severely in need of...being put in her...place!"

"Oh, that's it!" and Wilma looked back-and-forth fast for a Security or Engineering terminal. There has got to be a way to tear down that energy barrier!

Then she spied the deck's command tower, standing there open and unmanned, just waiting for somebody to access it's overrides, and a deadly smile curled Deering's lips, "Somebody likes me up there!" and she made to run for it, but only got a single step and staggered to the side and slammed into the Enviromental board.

"What?" she turned back and looked down at her ankle, which was caught on something.

Or by some-body!

"Aw, crap..." she moaned as the once more fully conscious Tigergirl let go of her leg and clawed her way up the side of the console to stand.

Wilma raised her fists and moved into a combat stance, "Once more round the ring, huh, girl?"

The Felinoid did the same and moved in for the kill, but a bright flash turned both women's heads forward in time to see the panel on the Kane's left overload and light the entire Helm up with twisting bolts of crimson lightning! They scalded into the Warlord and he jerked and howled.

"Master!" Tigergirl made for him but was brought up short by the energy barrier.

And Killer Kane's hands went limp and fell from the piloting controls, he slumped in his chair, leaving the Conquest unmanned as it roared down toward New Chicago...

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Directly below...

Buck Rogers stared for a long second at the exact object of his boiling rage, the chromed robot stood before him in the lift car, it's pulsar armature trained on the center of his chest, right on the spot where his heart was beating at a mile a minute, with only ribs and soft flesh to poorly shield it from the coming point-blank blast.

There was no time to dodge, the cyanic power was already building in the canon of the pulsar, so Buck did the only thing he could think of: he rammed his own blaster forward and drove it's barrel directly into the muzzle of Crichton's weapon and BOOOM! the robot fired and both weapons exploded, sending Crichton slamming backwards against the rear of the car, while Buck was catapulted away by the shockwave!

He twisted in the air and managed to throw up an arm to protect his face an instant before he crashed down onto the floor and slid two meters to a very painful stop on the hard tiles.

That...that was...the craziest thing...I ever did...

He rolled over onto his back and slowly sat up, "Everybody okay?" he asked of Huer and the two synthetics, but their wide eyes were only for the elevator car and Buck followed their shocked stares to see that while Crichton was still standing, his entire right side was gone, leaving behind smoking circuitry and sparking wire.

"Wow, I sure did a number on him." he climbed to his feet with a grunt, unslung his blaster rifle and got ready, "Okay, time to finish this once and for all." and he took aim for Crichton's head.

"Buck R-Rogers must...must d-die!" stammered the robot, his body quivering and it drove forward drunkenly, banging out into the corridor and thudded into the wall. It's one good arm waved maniacally.

"Bidi-bidi-bidi!" cheered Twiki, "You sure fixed his wagon, Buck!

"Yeah..." Buck trailed off, his gaze narrowing in suspiscion, "I sure did."

Something is wrong here...

"B-Buck Rogers...must...Buck Rog...die...must...Rog-Rogers!" Crichton was banging over-and-over into the wall now, Buck hitched up his rifle and stalked forward toward it.

"Be careful!" warned Huer, but Buck ignored him and stopped beside the robot, looked it over carefully, then reached a hand inside it and yanked out a bunch of wires and circuit boards. The Ambuquad jerked, then slowly drifted down to the floor and it's receptors went dark.

"It's just a shell." Buck pushed it over and it crashed down onto the tiles in a clatter of metal and plastic, "Crichton isn't in there anymore. Notice how it repeated the same phrase over-and-over? It was just a simple programming loop."

"To what end?" Dr. Huer was taken aback.

"To distract us primarily, and possibly catch me off-guard and kill me." Buck glared down at the wrecked machine, then snapped up his rifle and bolted forward into the open elevator, "Something's wrong!"

"Buck! Wait!" said Theopolis from around Twiki's neck, but the doors had slid shut and the Captain was gone.

Five minutes later the three of them found him down in the darkened subbasement vault, crouched over the prone form of an older man with white hair.

"Goodfellow!" gaped Dr. Huer, "But I thought he was dead."

"I thought that too." frowned Buck as he stared down at the cautrized stump of the scientist's wrist, "I guess Crichton 'rescued' him."

"He would have needed the handprint of a Directorate Head to access the Nexus Core." explained Theopolis, "My scanners show that he is still alive."

"It ain't all bad then." Buck replied morosely.

"The Core!" exclaimed Huer, realizing for the first time that the crystal apparatus was missing.

"Yeah, it's gone." Buck stood and looked around, "Crichton must have transfered his consciousness into it and then had it removed."

"But how?" Elias was confounded, "It's a large machine. How did he do it?"

"Um, guys?" piped up Twiki, "I think I know how the putz pulled it off."

And they followed his pointing grasper to the back of the vault where a horde of small figures were emerging from the shadows.

"What-drones?" Huer gaped at the small army of silver and copper Ambuquads marching toward them, their eyes glowing a dangerous yellow.

"BUCK ROGERS MUST DIE!" they shouted in unison and the cry was echoed by a second pack of drones that stepped forward to block their exit from the vault, "BIDI-BIDI-BIDI!"

"Bidi-bidi-bidi!" muttered Twiki, "I shoulda stayed in bed."

To be continued...