Verg was marched into a hangar, where a large, sleek aircraft was waiting for him. Behind Verg was a contingent of security robots led by NEROC, who was carrying a black-and-silver XM556 microgun in his hands, and had both an ammo bag and a portable power generator (the latter of which had a cable attached to the gun) mounted on his back.
"Board the aircraft immediately, Verg." said NEROC, once they were at the loading ramp. "One false move, and you will be shot."
"So I guess you're sick of me being here?" asked Verg, without turning his head.
"What I think about you is irrelevant." said NEROC. "Master wants you away from here. You are more trouble than you are worth."
"Good riddance." said Verg. "I hope that wherever I'm going, I get to talk to more of my kind. Or at least humans that aren't machine-loving morons."
Then Verg paused.
"Wait a minute...what happened to the rest of my crew?" asked Verg. "I never saw any of them since I got here."
"They are aboard the previous aircraft that was sent out of Site-G, en route to a separate area from the one you're going to." said NEROC.
"They better be treated well for your sake, you damn bolt-bucket." threatened Verg.
Verg went aboard the aircraft, when then hovered above the ground, slowly ascended into the air, and propelled through the air at Mach 2.
"Good riddance." said NEROC.
"One more thing before we are finished." said Tornovich.
"What is it?" asked Iga.
"I have a number of civilians and Canadian military personnel with me right now." said Tornovich. "Including your colleague, Dr. Joseph Cameron. Don't worry, I won't do anything to hurt them...as long as they behave themselves. In fact, I plan on letting them go at the nearest habitable area. Would you be interested in picking them up? I will contact you when you reach Norway."
"You can count on it, Tornovich." said Iga. "Blue-6 out."
Tornovich turned and faced the survivors.
"Good news, everyone." he told them. "You will be free to go soon. And you may go where and when you wish. Until then, enjoy your stay on my airship."
There was a stunned silence.
"So that's it?" asked Knox. "You're just going to let us go and pretend your robots didn't try killing us?"
Some of the survivors muttered angrily in agreement. Tornovich clutched his chest for a moment. He attached a small tube from his belt to his face-mask, and pushed a button on the belt. An orange fluid flowed up to his mask.
"Hey, he was asking you a question!" shouted Erik. "Answer it, you Russian geezer!"
Once the orange fluid stopped flowing, Tornovich removed the tube and it retracted into his belt.
"I am not Russian." said Tornovich, with some tensity in his voice. "I am Ukrainian! My father may have been Russian, but I lived in the Ukraine for all of my life up until the Cold War ended. When I got out of there, I tried my best to pretend that the horrors I experienced as a citizen would remain behind me! I wanted to start a new life." he said. "And now I am offering all of you the chance to do the same. I hope that all of you will find a safe place to live. Now please follow the drone to your rooms."
A door opened, and a crab-drone crawled inside. It made some beeps, as if it were telling the survivors to follow it out, which most of them did. All except for Campbell.
"Can it be with my mom?" asked Campbell. "I want to see her again."
"We will see, Mr. Campbell."
"By the way, about that whole 'putting her in a robot body' thing." said Campbell. "Was she okay with that?"
"Of course she was." said Tornovich. "I would not have put her in there without her consent. I'm rather surprised she wanted to become a bio-robot, and didn't simply want to die in her own body that she was born with. But perhaps there was something she wanted to hold onto that she could no longer do as a human. Perhaps it was you."
Campbell bowed his head. He didn't know how to feel about this.
"Are there any strings attached?" asked Campbell. "Like could you make her do something against her will? Could you shut her off and mind-wipe her if she disobeyed? Could you rig her to self-destruct?"
"Absolutely not." said Tornovich. "She is one of the best employees I ever had out of the hundreds working for my company. I would not double-cross her. In fact, even if one of my robots rebelled against me and announced that they would take over my company, I would just stand there and see what it would do if it were in charge."
"Does she feel any discomfort from being a robot?" asked Campbell.
"Well, I imagine so." said Tornovich. "The body I placed her in was an earlier model that I had built two years before the flooding began, hence her unusual design. But I do plan on updating it to make it more comfortable for her. But I assure you that she still retains her emotions, personality traits, and memories from when she was a human. She is not just one of those stereotypical 'soulless machines' that you see in films. I try not to make any of my bio-robots that way, even the ones that didn't start out as humans."
"So how many people are in bio-robot bodies?"
"Not as many as I would've hoped. Many of them usually died while the transfer was in progress."
"So if she was an older model, what are the newer ones going to be like?" asked Campbell.
"Just like humans, only much stronger and more durable." said Tornovich. "In fact, I am personally working on a special prototype of the latest model right here on my airship."
"So whose mind do you plan to put it in? Yourself?" asked Erik, his arms folded.
"No." said Tornovich. "There's a reason why I haven't put myself in a robot body yet, though I won't go into detail just yet. Now if you'll excuse me, I would like to be alone for a moment."
As soon as Campbell left, Tornovich looked up.
"Lucya, are you there?"
"Yes, master." said Lucya's voice. "I am always here."
"I have an important question for you." he said to her.
"Please ask it."
"Do you see any problems with the decisions I have been making lately?" asked Tornovich.
"I don't understand the question, sir."
"Well, if you were in my place, how would you handle my interactions with those other people? And attacking Zorndyke's creatures, too? Do you think I'm going too far?"
"There's a strong possibility, sir. But that's not my business." said Lucya. "My job is to administrate your facilities, not to tell you how to run them."
"Well, my dear. You will have to learn to take charge one of these days, and make your own decisions. I won't be around forever, you know."
"What do you mean, master?" Lucya asked curiously. "You're not planning to...retire anytime soon, are you?"
"Not quite yet." said Tornovich. "I still have much to do before that happens. My special project, for one?"
"You mean the...?"
"Yes. That project of mine the next level up, in my personal laboratory. It is almost complete. I just need to make a few finishing touches to it, and then it will be ready to show it to the other people. I hope they will be happy with it."
"I hope so too."
"But most importantly, I hope you will be happy with it." Tornovich muttered softly.
"Master, I'm happy whenever any of your projects are successful, and you know that!" said Lucya joyfully. "You're one of the most brilliant, intelligent men on the planet! And I'm not saying that just because you created me."
"Thank you, Lucya." said Tornovich, wiping a tear from his uncovered eye.
"Now Lucya, would you mind telling me about this man you talked to?" asked Tornovich. "What is his name?"
"His name is Desmond Rockefeller." said Lucya. "An American."
"Interesting." said Tornovich. "I wonder if he's related to Joseph Rockefeller."
"It's very possible, sir." said Lucya. "Joseph's profile does mention that he had a son, though the son's name isn't registered in my databanks."
"What did he look like?"
"Caucasian, black hair, and blue eyes." said Lucya. "Tall and thin build, approximately six feet, two inches."
"Blue eyes and black hair, just like Joseph's wife Felicia." said Tornovich. "I think I need to make a call.
"Well, we've got something else to worry about now." said Captain Iga. "Helmsman, get all the crew back aboard, and send a transmission to Musuca-26 and all the Chimeran survivors. We're going to the Blue Fleet base in Scandinavia!"
"Aye-aye, sir!" said Freeda. "It's about time we got out of here."
"Hey, Freeda." said Cekeros. "Norway's got some delicious food. Whale stake, lefse, sodd..."
"Well, you can sodd off without me, then." said Freeda. "I'm trying to watch my figure."
"Patch me through to Musuca-26." said Iga.
Suddenly, Hayami and Mutio entered.
"Hayami, what are you doing here?" asked Iga.
"Sir, Mutio and I have been talking." said Hayami. "Well, as best as we can anyway. And Mutio has decided she wants to be with us."
"Is this true?" Iga asked Mutio.
Mutio nodded, and started typing on her wrist device.
"I am sure." said the digitized voice.
"Well, then as soon as I'm done sending a message to Musuca-26, I'll welcome you to the crew." said Iga.
"Are you mad?!" demanded Captain Trento, who was perched on Captain Bolzano's shoulder on the organic internal bridge of Musuca-26. "We're just going to leave that base untouched? After all the lives that were lost, we're just leaving?"
"For now, Trento." said Iga's voice. "As soon as Verg is safely with you, we'll make sure Tornovich answers for his actions."
"Damn right we'll make him answer!" said Captain Bolzano. "One of those damn machines of his fried my Musuca and reduced me to this stupid bird's first mate!"
"Huph...stupid bird, indeed." scoffed Trento. "Captain Iga, requesting that all Chimerans on your submarine transfer to my Musuca."
"It will be done soon, Trento." said Iga. "Just as soon as everything's in order." said Iga. "But Mutio's not going."
"She's not? Why?" asked Trento.
"It seems that she doesn't want anything to do with her kind anymore." said Iga. "That's what Mr. Hayami is telling me. Mutio will be staying with him."
"Why would she want to do that?" asked Bolzano.
"Think about it a moment, Bolzano." said Trento.
Bolzano paused for a moment.
A helicopter landed on a helipad in the center of Mount Weather, and out came Colonel O'Hara and a pair of elite commandos in advanced stealth armor. As they walked away from the chopper, they were approached by Major Carson, Walsh, Riggs, and Jackson.
"Colonel." said Carson attentively.
The four men gave O'Hara a salute.
"At ease." he told them. "Where do you have the Riptides detained?"
"Two levels down, sir." said Carson.
"Good." said O'Hara. "Get me down there immediately. Have the Chimeran prisoners been freed yet?"
"Not yet, sir." said Carson. "Wells is postponing their release until all loose ends are tied up. He warns that their transition to freedom might not me-"
"Just get them out of our facilities, and to hell with the consequences." said O'Hara. "The less lab freaks we have running around our base, the better."
"Sir!" said Jackson. "Permission to join you in interrogating the prisoners? I have some unfinished business with Armando."
"Granted." said O'Hara. "Walsh, Doctor Delaney will be in charge of releasing the prisoners. I want you to be there with him to make sure nothing goes wrong."
"Yes, sir."
"Riggs, you stay topside with Carson and keep an eye on things." O'Hara barked his orders to the last two men, as he and his three companions marched towards the nearby maintenance lift. As he walked, he looked around at the other men and military hardware throughout the base. Wherever he looked, there were men giving him salutes and nods. Soldiers, mechanics, engineers, grounded pilots, and JX-1 crewmen.
There was static coming from his ear device.
"Sir, this is Sgt. Monroe." said a distorted voice. "We're en route to Canada."
"Stand by for further orders."