Act Fifteen - Interlude: A Streak of Luck
'They say the third time's a charm. I wasn't willing to go so far with Beck, but once Alex found out he had been liberated from prison, he decided, rather than to have him buried, to give him what he wanted for the revenge that the thief sought against the Negotiator.'
"So what exactly is this thing?"
"My instructions, Mr. Beck," the deliveryman says, tipping his glasses up and tucking his folder beside himself, "were simply to deliver the package to this address and see that there was a signature made."
"Paradigm wouldn't have sent someone like you to deliver something if it was important."
Four large men in white jump suits get the crate off the truck, he shrugs his shoulders. "Are you going to sign for it or not?"
"Yeah yeah, whatever." He takes the clipboard from me and signs the sheet. After retrieving it, the man turns and heads back to the truck, his men following him.
*
Standing silently in the warehouse of the Paradigm corporation, Angel glances at the outgoing shipments for the day, looking a little disturbed. What had Alex had sent to Beck? How had he even known that Beck was out of prison?
"May the heavens save you from what devil Alex has had delivered to you, Beck. I didn't mean for things to turn out this way," she hands the clipboard back to the shipping supervisor and turns to head back to the elevator.
*
"Bring it inside real careful like, boys."
"Yeah boss."
The two of them with a handtruck move the heavy crate inside, and then pull out the crowbars, opening the front and letting the packing material spill out onto the warehouse floor. "What sort of uh sick game is this?" Beck asks the two goons. "What's that braud tryin' tuh pull with this? I got no use for little Dorothy Waynewright."
"Are you so sure it's that same robot, boss? It looks a little… different."
"I agree," the second of Beck's men says. "There's something off about this one. She don't look nearly as pleasant as that lady android we had kidnapped before."
"Fine, numbskulls, go ahead and turn her on and lets see who we got in thuh box… eh?"
Finding the appropriate switch, the second man turns on the robot.
Immediately, two dark eyes snap open, and a sinister smile curves the pale lips. "Well well. What do we have here?"
"I was wunderin' thuh same thing myself," Beck says. "Just who are you?"
"I am R*D."
The cold, mechanical voice did not so much as disturb Beck as it does chill him, in the same manner it might chill Roger Smith. He recoils, slightly. "R what?"
"You can call me Red, if it makes you more comfortable," the pale skinned robot says, removing herself from the box and brushing off her clothing in a proprietary gesture that echoed of the other android with the same face.
Beck eyes her closely, trying to see what his men had seen in her. "Why'd yuh get sent tuh me?"
"Because, we both want the same thing."
Beck chokes out a laugh. "Like androids can want anything."
"Think what you like," the android says, "but I desire the death of Roger Smith as much as you do. And if we work together, we've got a better chance at getting what we want. That is why I was sent to you."