Dori vs. The Cyborg Menace

Beck, sitting in the control seat of Big B, grinned at Dori, who smiled back. Big B, too, was in a good mood. He liked his new weaponry: the toe caps and kneecaps. He was sure they'd be effective, and they would be funny as well. Especially the kneecaps! They were the best joke ever. Today was shakedown day, with live-firing exercises.

The humor Big B was referring to went over Dori's head, but she was happy. It always felt good when the three of them were together, and for one reason or another, they hadn't spent much time with Big B recently. That would soon change.

They were in Hangar B7, the most remote of Beck's hideouts, in an uninhabited region of sand dunes. Nearby were some large, beached ships that would make interesting targets.

Dori wished the probe-cable adapter was ready, but Beck had run into some unexpected snags. Normally, a Class M android had to wait until after her android adolescence before daring to use the probe cables. In any event, the temporary circuitry in her skull blocked access to the probe-cable sockets.

Beck had concocted yet another forehead-mounted adapter to allow Dori to use the probe cables anyway. It was a tricky piece of circuitry, though, because the probe cables were dangerous to the immature android mind, capable of overwhelming it, or worse.

Beck figured that by blocking some signals and attenuating others, this problem could be avoided, and he he'd built in some ingenious fail-safes and fuses to provide an extra safety margin. But half the fuses had blown for no apparent reason the first time Dori had put the adapter on, and none of Big B's probe cables had been anywhere near her. So the project was on hold for the moment. Maybe in a few days ...

Big B approached one of the beached ships. Beck stopped him a couple of hundred yards way.

Beck said, "We'll start with the left foot, Dori, and fire every fourth charge."

Dori nodded. She was just a bystander without the probe cables, but she could watch and learn.

Big B raised his left foot a few feet off the ground. The new toe caps snapped open. Beck flipped a series of switches to arm the charges, then pressed the red firing button.

There was a dull explosion, not loud at all up here on the command deck, as the four clusters of claymore mines fired at once. Thousands of hardened steel ball bearings, half an inch across, hurled through the air a few feet above the ground. They hit the side of the beached ship with a tremendous din and clatter, penetrating the hull plates where they were particularly rusty and bouncing off everywhere else.

Beck whooped. "That'll learn 'em!"

Beck continued his tests, alternating between the left foot and the right, practicing his aim for targets both at and above ground level. Everything worked perfectly.

"Now the kneecaps," said Beck. He walked Big B right up to the ship. He flipped a switch and the kneecap flipped aside. He flipped another, arming the shaped charge.

Beck shouted, "Take that!" as Big B kneed the side of the ship hard with his right knee. There was a terrific explosion as the impact fired the shaped charge. Big B staggered backwards and almost fell over. The ship did fall over, a huge hole blown through its steel hull.

Beck threw back his head and crowed his horrible laugh. Dori didn't complain. He'd earned his fun.

Beck said, "Okay, Big B, see what we want to do next time? We'll clutch onto our target with both hands if we can, or even a bear hug. That'll keep us from falling on our ass and ought to give us better contact as well."

The concept of the kneecap charges was to destroy an enemy Megadeus at a single low blow. It was hardly the weapon of a gentleman. This fact filled Beck with delight. Beck's concepts of class, style, and fair play were quite different from, say, Roger Smith's. He liked it that way; he reveled in it. He'd explained to Dori, "It's not about taking out your enemies the right way. It's about taking out the right enemies."

Dori approved, mostly. She and Beck did things their own way. Big B, too. They had to. She'd already figured out that being a good girl wasn't good enough. She'd have to do better than that. And for that there were no rules.

Beck, satisfied with the day's carnage, took Big B back to Hanger B7 to rearm, keeping up an intermittent monolog on the way. Life was good. Those cyborgs wouldn't stand a chance when he appeared unexpectedly and gave Roger Smith a hand. He was afraid there might be too many of the damned cyborgs for Big O to handle alone, and there was Dorothy to think of. After he rearmed Big B, they'd move to Hangar B3, which was closest to the action.

Not that he'd heard from Dorothy. What the hell was taking her so long? He'd expected her to call hours ago.

A little after noon, the workshop extension in Hangar B3 rang while Beck had both hands busy with a difficult subassembly. He called, "Get that, will you, Dori?"

Dori crossed to the phone. The number was unfamiliar. Using her telephone voice, she said, "Hello?"

"I'd like to speak to Beck, please," said a calm woman's voice."

It was Dorothy! "One moment," said Dori. She set the phone down and crossed to Beck. She whispered, "Dorothy."

Beck looked nervous. He looked at her, looked at his subassembly, and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I can handle it, Jason," she assured him. Earlier, he worried out loud that was almost as bad at communicating with Dorothy as he was with Roger.

Beck looked relieved for a moment, then his subassembly, apparently waiting for just such an opportunity, sprang apart, with three tiny springs leaping high into the air and vanishing, who knows where.

Dori picked up the phone again. "Mr. Beck is not available at the moment. He asks me to take a message."

Dorothy paused, then said, "This is R. Dorothy Wayneright. Tell Beck that we accept all his terms. Also, tell him that I ..." There was a long pause, then Dorothy said, "Tell him that I ..." Another pause, even longer. Finally, "Tell him thank you. From me. The truce is a very good idea."

Dori desperately wanted to blow her cover, to tell Dorothy everything. From the acoustics, Dori knew that Dorothy was alone in a room. No one would overhear. She wanted so badly to talk to Dorothy!

Summoning all her willpower, Dori said, "I understand. I'll tell him right away. Good-bye." She hung up.

She walked back to where Beck was searching for the last missing spring on hands and knees. He found it as she approached and got to his feet in triumph.

Dori said, "They accept our terms. Dorothy also sends this message: Thank you. From her. The truce is a very good idea."

To her amazement, Beck's face lost all expression, as if he'd received a shock. Tears started coursing down his cheeks. Then Dori understood. Dorothy had thanked him, had expressed words of gratitude. It was close, very close, to being forgiven.

A little before nine that evening, Dori sat on a packing crate in the Hangar B3 workshop while Beck paced up and down, talking to himself. He was on edge, frustrated. When were the Military Police going to move against the cyborgs? He needed to know! His contacts claimed they hadn't heard anything, but promised would call the instant there was news.

Dori was reading a romance novel. She usually listened to Beck with half an ear when he was in this mood, but the book had her full attention. She was only halfway through, and the hero's shirt had already been torn three times and ripped from his body once.

The workshop extension rang. Dori jumped up. She didn't recognize the number, so she picked it up and said, "Hello?"

"Hi, it's Angel. Let me talk to Beck."

"Hello, Angel. One moment, please." She handed the receiver to Beck.

"Angel! Hey, it's good to hear from you. How's tricks?"

"Things are going pretty well, believe it or not. But I need to talk to you about a couple of things."

"Shoot."

"First off, I was at the Speakeasy last night with Dorothy ..."

"What?"

Angel said. "Dorothy. You know, R. Dorothy Wayneright? Maybe you don't remember her."

Beck said, "Wait, wait, I remember now. Isn't she that little redheaded squirt with the big grin? Never stops talking? Lives with some guy in a mortician suit?"

"That's the one. She talked to a machinist named Tony who let slip that he was working on a job for you at Boulton's. She may have passed that information along before she got your letter, so maybe the Military Police know by now. I wanted to warn you."

Dori expected Beck to become angry, but he just looked thoughtful. "Huh. Thanks, Angel. You're a brick. Damn, I could run out of machine shops if this keeps up. Did you hear that All-Alloys got flattened during that Megadeus battle a few days ago?

"No, I didn't."

"Did you hear what All-Alloys was making for me?"

"Not a clue, Beck. How secret is it?"

"How secret is what?"

Angel chuckled and said, "My other piece of news ... I don't know if you care or not, but that information you handed over was the real deal, and if the timing of the response is of any use to you ... "

"I suppose anything is possible."

"Beck, I want you to understand that three ... two people I care about will be there. Do you know where 'there' is?

"The address was right there in the papers I gave Dorothy, Angel."

"So it was. Beck, I need to hear you say this. Tell me the truth. Are you on the level?"

"I'm on the level, Angel."

"Are you hoping Roger or ... or Dan Dastun will get hurt?

"No! Geez Louise, Angel!" Beck was struck by a thought. He asked slyly, "Dan Dastun? General Dan Dastun of the Military Police? Is Dastun your new special friend?"

Angel sighed. "Probably not. It'll never work. But I like him, Beck. You need to consider him off-limits."

Beck grinned. "For you, Angel, anything. I'll make sure he looks both ways before crossing the street, always has a clean handkerchief when he leaves the house, and doesn't become collateral damage in any of my dastardly schemes."

"Well, in that case, I can tell you. The compound will be attacked at dawn tomorrow by Military Police armored vehicles. Big O will be there as backup.

"Good," said Beck. "Not that I care."

"Of course not."

"It's nothing to me."

"That goes without saying."

Beck hesitated, then said, "Hey, Angel?"

"Yeah?"

"You okay?"

Angel sighed. "I'm hanging in there. Actually, I wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

"The truce idea. It defused a dangerous situation. I was so relieved when Dorothy read out the terms! And so was she. More than she lets on, I think."

"Good. Hey, when can we get together? My girlfriend keeps bugging me. She's never met a lady spy before."

"I'm a retired spy now, Beck. I want to meet her, too. I don't know anything about her except her excellent taste in books and her lousy taste in men, but that's a good start. But I still need you to stop playing blind man's buff with the Union first. Their intelligence is too damned good for us to be seen together."

"I'll see what I can do, Angel. Not that I have any idea what you're talking about. But soon."

"Thanks, Beck, and say hi to your mysterious girlfriend for me. Norman's going to announce the after-dinner cocktail hour any minute."

"Must be rough."

"Oh, it is," she said bitterly. "Fine liquor, luxurious surroundings, polite conversation, two lovebirds who have to leave the room suddenly if they hold eye contact too long ... what could be better? Whoops, there's Norman. Good-bye, Beck."

"See ya, Angel."

Beck replaced the receiver and turned to Dori. "Tomorrow at dawn."

Dori said, "I want to come with you."

Without a word, Beck walked out of the workshop and onto the main floor of the hanger, gesturing for Dori to accompany him. Beck looked up at Big B's impassive face for a long time, then turned back to Dori. "Okay," he said. He was unusually still, unusually serious. "Soon you'll be with me every time, Dori. Whenever I put myself at risk, I put you at risk, too."

She put an arm around him. "It's what I want, Jason."

"I can't hold back, Dori. I'll never be able to pull my punches to protect you."

"Of course not, Jason. I am your android; you are my Dominus; Big B is our Megadeus. All of us answered the call."

"I set you up, Dori. You didn't have a choice."

Dori looked up at him, smiling faintly. "Do you really believe that?"

Beck looked troubled. "I don't know."

"I do."

"That's just your conditioning talking."

Dori shook her head, still smiling. "We belong together. You found a way to make it happen. Thank you, Jason."

They were interrupted by the telephone. It was one of Beck's contacts in Military Police headquarters, repeating Angel's news: tomorrow at dawn.

Dori climbed the emergency ladder, emerging on Big B's command deck. Beck was in the cockpit, dozing in the command seat. He woke when Dori closed the companionway hatch.

"It's fine, Jason," she reported. "The pumps are almost keeping up with the leakage, and the water levels won't damage anything for hours."

She wasn't happy with how Beck looked: he was exhausted and sleep-deprived. She tried her best to get him relaxed enough to drop off and get a few hours' sleep before they left Hangar B3. It had been a memorable effort; she smiled inwardly in recollection. But Beck hadn't managed more than a fitful doze.

Big B was submerged in the river within sight of where the dawn attack would take place. Beck's new electronically enhanced periscope/snorkel was keeping an eye on things. Not that there was anything to watch yet.

Tonight she was glad the probe-cable adapter wasn't finished. After confessing that she had no confidence that she wouldn't reveal herself to Roger and Dorothy at the first opportunity, Beck was leery about bringing her into proximity with them. But without the probe-cable adapter, she had no way of communicating with them, not from inside Big B. Beck had resolved to maintain radio silence so she couldn't impulsively break into any of his conversations, either.

A light came on, followed by a chime. Big B had detected something. Dori and Beck peered at the periscope screen. Even in night mode, it was mostly dark, but they could just make out a line of Military Police armored cars and light tanks approaching with their lights off. Then they saw another line approaching from the opposite direction.

Beck asked, "Where's Big O?"

As if in answer, Big O rose up out of the river, half a mile downstream. He walked to the shore, then stopped.

Another chime, and one of Big B's monitors depicted Big O with the label "FRIEND" over it. Dori knew, somehow, that Big O had just told Roger the same thing about Big B. How had this been determined? Dori felt that on some level she knew, but the details proved elusive. She let it go.

The armored vehicles entered the compound, breaking down the gate of the chain-link fence in the process. In was getting lighter, and she could make out Military Police insignia painted on the vehicles.

Big O moved to a new position, angering Beck. He shook his fist at the screen and yelled, "Don't get between the compound and that other warehouse, you idiot! It's abandoned! There's probably tunnels from the compound!"

Beck leaned forward for a better view of the screen, looking grim. Dan Dastun was standing in front of the lead tank, shouting something through a megaphone. No response. He tried again. No response. Dastun waved a hand and a squad of police started walking towards the little office building in front of the target warehouse.

As this was going on, four giant cyborgs, fifty feet tall, trotted out of the open door of the abandoned warehouse.

Dori was alarmed. There were only supposed to be one or two of these! What else had her information been wrong about?

Beck shouted, "Big B! Action!" He urged Big B into motion, not that Big B needed encouragement. He was eager to come to grips with the enemy, to help his comrade Big O, to make Beck and Dori proud.

Beck had Big B crouch, bending almost double, so his back was the first part of him to emerge from the river. A port opened across his back.

Meanwhile, the four cyborgs had hurled themselves at Big O, each going for an arm or a leg. Big O grabbed one with his left hand and hurled him through the air. The cyborg did a roll and landed on its feet.

"Give him the net!" Beck cried, hitting the appropriate buttons. The rocket-propelled, steel-cabled net whirled out of the port in Big B's back. Beck guided it to the cyborg. The net wrapped around the cyborg and knocked it off its feet. Beck stabbed the "electrify" button and sparks and lightning sizzled all over the cyborg, which went into frightful convulsions. But when the net ran out of charge a few seconds later, the cyborg leaped to its feet as if nothing had happened.

"Oh, no, you don't!" shouted Beck, as Big B strode quickly to the cyborg. Beck extended the plasma lance in Big B's right hand, and snatched the cyborg with his left, grabbing it by the head. Lifting the wildly struggling cyborg into the air, Beck severed its neck with the plasma lance. The headless body fell to the ground, its neck smoking.

Beck started laughing maniacally, then suddenly stopped. "No!" he said in a conversational voice. "That's the old Beck." He looked over at Dori and winked.

They looked around for more targets. Dori pointed. Big O had been knocked off his feet and two cyborgs were holding him down. The third cyborg was nowhere in sight.

"Behind you!" came Dorothy's voice over the radio.

Beck spun Big B around. There it was, rushing them. Beck flipped one of the new switches, snapping the left kneecap cover aside. He flipped another switch, arming the charge. When the cyborg came within arm's reach, Big B's left arm grabbed it in a headlock.

"Time for a tummy ache!" shouted Beck as Big B jammed his knee into the cyborg's abdomen. The shaped charge fired, blowing the cyborg to pieces.

Big B spun around once more and advanced on the two cyborgs attacking Big O. Beck wanted to extend Big B's left-hand cannon, but he was still holding the severed head of the first cyborg. They flung it hard at one of the surviving cyborgs, but missed. Big B began extending the left-hand cannon.

Meanwhile, Big O raked one of the cyborgs with his eye lasers. The cyborg suddenly exploded. Then Big O used his arm pistons to catapult himself to his feet. The last cyborg jumped aside, but Big O ensnared it with his hip chains and reeled it in, hand over hand, until he could grab it by one arm. Big O raised the cyborg off the ground and hit it with a roundhouse punch. The cyborg shattered into pieces. Beck cheered.

Beck and Dori looked around for more targets. Dori pointed. A swarm of much smaller cyborgs, little more than man-sized, were swarming over the Military Police vehicles.

Beck swore. "Damn it to hell! These guys don't know when to quit. Well, I hope you've got some anti-personnel weapons, Roger old pal, because your usual stock in trade isn't going to help here."

Big B strode confidently to within a hundred yards of the armored vehicles. They were all buttoned up: good. The Military Police didn't seem to be hitting anything with their artillery, and their machine guns didn't seem to be having much effect.

Beck flipped more of the new switches. Big B's toecaps slid aside. "Fire in the hole!" called Beck. Taking careful aim, he hit the firing buttons. Thousands of hardened steel ball bearings scythed through the air, just a few feet off the ground, shredding most of the cyborgs. Some of the vehicles didn't look so good, either, but their armor looked battered, not penetrated.

Meanwhile, Big O was picking off cyborgs one by one with his eye lasers.

Beck turned to Dori and said in awe, "How does he do that? I don't have anywhere near that kind of accuracy."

Dori didn't reply, but it was true. Roger Smith was amazing.

Soon it was all over. Not a single cyborg was still alive, and none had escaped.

Dastun resumed his operations with barely a pause, putting his vehicles in a new formation and sending officers inside to search the premises. The two Megadeuses awaited developments. They were too tall to enter the buildings.

There was a chime over one of the screens, and a light lit up. Roger Smith was calling.

Beck said, "Refuse the call, Big B. I don't have anything to say to him."

The screen lit. Beck's microphone and camera were off, but Roger was transmitting anyway. R. Dorothy Wayneright stood behind the cockpit, looking serene in her black dress. Eight probe cables radiated from the slot in her forehead.

"You idiot, Roger!" shouted Beck. "You need to keep her a secret!" Few people knew anything about Class M androids, even other Megadeus pilots. They had been entirely forgotten. None had existed for a long, long time, and even now no one suspected their full capabilities. Beck wanted to keep these secrets as long as possible.

Roger smiled and said, "Thanks for the help, stranger. I hope to see you around sometime. If you ever need anything, just give me a call. I'm in the book."

Beck started to cackle, then stopped. Dori was right: it was a bad habit. He looked over at her, then said to the monitor, "If only you knew, Roger old buddy. If only you knew. Hero by day, master criminal by night. Can it get any better than this?" He yawned and stretched, adding, "Of course, it doesn't leave much time for sleep."

Then, just for a moment, Dorothy looked straight out of the image. Dori saw Beck shudder. He muttered to himself. "The camera's off. It's off! I know it's off." He shuddered again and added, "I'm not scared of her, anyway."

The video image vanished. Beck sagged with relief. After a moment he raised the cockpit dome, lowered the front console, and stood. Dori was in his arms a moment later.

She looked up at him adoringly and said, "My hero!"

"What?"

She batted her eyelashes. "My hero! You saved me!"

Beck laughed. "Okay, I'll play along. What does the hero say now?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Because he can't." She kissed him hard.

Extricating himself with difficulty a moment later, he turned Big B around and they disappeared into the river. Dastun would figure out a way of following them if he had time to think about it.

Dori whispered "my hero" and "you saved me" at intervals during the journey home, using various tones of voice. Beck laughed until his sides ached, especially when she started throwing in, "you have such big muscles" for good measure.

Beck was sleeping peacefully as Dori got up and slipped out of the bedroom, closing the door behind her. It was 3:00 AM.

She went to the kitchen and put her hand on the phone. After a long pause she nodded slightly and picked up the receiver. She dialed the number for Beck's phone relay, which would prevent the call from being traced, then dialed the number for Smith Manor.

The phone rang four times, then was picked up. Dorothy's voice said, "Hello?"

Using her own voice, not her telephone voice, Dori asked, "Is this R. Dorothy Wayneright?"

"Speaking."

"I am also R. Dorothy Wayneright."

There was a pause, then Dorothy said, "Go on."

"First of all, I'm all right. I'm safe and I'm loved and I'm very well cared for."

Dorothy made a sound that was almost like sob.

Dori said, "Everything's going to be all right, Dorothy."

Dorothy said, "I ... I want to believe you." After a moment, she said, "I ... Please. I must see you. Tonight?"

Dori was touched by her sister's ... distress? Anxiety, anyway. She hadn't expected such a reaction. Then she understood. R.D.'s activation had been beyond nightmarish. And if Father's notes were anything to go by, Dorothy's own activation had been traumatic. Poor Dorothy! Sadly, Dori said, "Not tonight. I want to meet you, too. Of course I do. You are my sister and I love you."

There was another silence at the other end of the line, and Dori almost whispered, "Don't cry, Dorothy."

After a moment, Dorothy asked, "What about the others?"

"We don't know. Just about you and me and our poor sister R.D."

In sudden realization, Dorothy said, "You put the flowers on her coffin."

Dori said, "After we gathered up what was left of her. It was very sad."

Dorothy said, "You truly are my sister. I love you, too, Dorothy."

Dori tried to reply, but no words came out. After a few seconds she managed, "Thank you. I'm calling myself Dori now. R. Dori Wayneright."

"Dori. It suits you."

"Shall I tell you about myself?"

"Yes," said Dorothy.

"I was awakened just a few weeks ago. My boyfriend has Father's complete notes. He's very skilled. He knew which ones not to follow."

"Boyfriend?"

"He's also my lover, of course."

"Tell me about him."

"I can't; not yet. He loves me."

"Does he know you're calling?"

"He's asleep."

Dorothy didn't like the sound of this. "Dori, are you truly safe?"

Dori said earnestly, "I'm fine, Dorothy. Everything will be all right."

Dorothy said, "Android adolescence is dangerous."

"I know. We're being careful."

"I'm so glad," Dorothy said.

From the bedroom, Dori heard Beck say, a little sleepily, "Dori? I just had an idea."

Dori told Dorothy, "I'm glad, too. I ... I need to hang up now. I'm sorry. I'll call again, maybe tomorrow night. Good-bye."

Dori hung up the phone. She'd never been so happy. Dorothy loved her! The world was a wonderful place.

She went into the bedroom to hear all about Beck's new idea. It was sure to be a good one.

[To be continued]