Hell on Wheels 7: The Gates of Hell

So far, it has been Hell on Wheels for Joe Smith and the Browns, but what will they face when they enter The Gates of Hell?

 

                Our story so far: It’s been an action-packed, roller-coaster modern tale about Artificial intelligence-controlled Autonomous Operated Vehicles that have gained sentience and are bent, so it seems, on taking over the world.  Joe Smith and his intellectual colleagues travel in Don’s Winnebago RV heading to the National Cybernetics Lab where Joe hopes to connect with his wife, Dr. Joyce Taylor-Smith.  Along the way, Joe had a run in with Stevie Sturdy, a notorious dastardly punk who has had an ongoing industrial conflict with Sal, one of the intellectuals, over the Artificial Intelligence technology. After stealing Joe’s Mandrone, Stevie was left behind hanging in overhead high-tension wires, his fate unknown.  Since then, Joe and crew have managed to disable three AOVs and found that there are Alpha and Drone vehicles and that Joyce’s influence is evident in the rampant AOVs’ programming. 

                On the western flank of this dual-fronted story, the Brown Family has rescued Doctor Joyce Taylor-Smith and her family when the AOVs initially went crazy after a nuclear EMP. Since then, Ted Brown has managed to outmaneuver, outdrive, and outsmart the bellicose hostile AOVs at every turn. But the Browns became caught in an AOV ambush set because the persistent AOVs are after Joyce’s access code to the AI master program. Adding yet other difficulties to this already snag-ridden story, helicopter-borne paramilitary soldiers are trying to kidnap Joyce who happens to be experiencing a severe emotional breakdown due to the tremendous stress and the loss of her meds.  Despite all of this chaos, the Browns have managed to escape the ambush with the help of two Illinois snow-plow drivers, but the menacing helicopters continue to pursue them, hot on their heels or er, wheels. 

Still, still and all, the situation certainly does not look auspicious for our brave protagonists and ultimately, the entire human race. 

 

***

Back on the road again in the Winnebago RV heading toward the Cybernetics Lab, the colleagues settled down from their ordeal with the three AOVs they had attempted to ‘capture.’  Moleman Mike the hacker alternated between frantically working on his laptop to ceiling gazing in deep thought trying to break through the Artificial Intelligence program he managed to download from the Alpha AOV.  Injured and burned Bill blissfully sat cross-legged cradling the AI ‘brain’ he managed to wrestle from the vehicle. Joe and Don share a silent notion that maybe this will satiate Bill’s appetite for stopping, capturing, destroying, or dissecting the AOVs, but they know Bill’s contentedness is most likely a short-lived reprieve.  Sitting down on the floor, Joe takes in Sal’s sullenness over Stevie Sturdy’s outsmarting him in developing and manufacturing the Artificial Intelligence brain for the AOV.

“So Sal, how did Stevie manage to gain the rights to AI Technology without you being aware?”  

“By Sturdy playing on my ignorance and my gullibility,” Sal said, rather emotionless. “For the past two years or so, I was told by my lawyer that the whole business was under litigation and that the government got involved because of pressure from the automotive industry in the name of hastened upgraded safety that AOVs, at least in theory, would provide thus erasing private control of the AI Tech.”  He shook his head. “Yeah, look at the US motoring public now�"real safe in those AOVs, huh? And believe me, my on-the-take lawyer is toast when I catch up with him!”

Bill sympathetically held the AI component out. “Sal, want to take your frustration out on an AI brain manufactured by Stevie Sturdy Industries?”

Sal chuckled glumly. “No, that’s okay, Bill, thanks for the offer.  But if that twerp Sturdy is still somehow alive�",” Sal punched his palm, “I’m gonna’ kill him!” Sal thought a moment. “On second thought, give me that brain, Bill, I’m taking it apart. Maybe we can glean some worthwhile information from the hardware. You never know, between Mike surveying the software and an analysis of the hardware, perhaps we can come up with some sort of countervail to the AI.” Mike glanced up from his laptop for a couple seconds before delving back into his work on the AI software.

“Countervail?” Dennis asked. “I’ve never heard of that term before�"some kind of jamming?”  

“Generally, I suppose it might be a jammer, but in this case it could be any means to interfere or counteract whatever key function keeps these AI thinking and operating. So what I’m saying, we humans must think outside the box so to speak, this box maybe,” he held it up, “for something we may have otherwise overlooked.” Sal gazed aside for a moment with his thoughts before he began taking the cover off the AI component. Brawny Bill settled in as the rapt spectator rubbing his hands together.

Joe’s phone in his pocket rang, announcing Joyce’s call. He whipped it out. “Hey Joyce! How are you? Are you at the lab?” The others watched as Joe’s face went from ecstatic expectation to a deflated downcast.  “Hello? Joyce? Are you there? Joyce?” Dejected, he held the phone out and stared at it. “She was there a second and then all I heard was static like the service went out again.” 

A couple of his colleagues pulled their phones out. “Hmmm, there’s a good signal on my phone,” said Katie.

Joe turned his up again and looked at it. “Well yeah, I have a good signal too, but what happened to the connection? What happened to Joyce?”  Joe said before putting his head in his hands.

***

Meanwhile, the Brown and Smith Families cruised down the interstate probably the safest they’ve been on this momentous journey even though a massive throng of AOVs bore down from behind and the menacing helicopters hovered much too closely overhead. Tucked in-between the two powerful snorting, black smoke-belching diesel-powered plow trucks, there didn’t seem anyway they couldn’t make it to the National Cybernetics Lab.  As they cruised steadily along, every once in a while one or two AOVs got too close, but the Illinois snowplow drivers took them out with their heavy duty reinforced blades. Randy watched engrossed with excitement as the scrapped cars launched and pirouetted like junky ballerinas off to the sides of the highway while Ted just concentrated on his driving, as Marcia bit at her fingernails, and Joyce, well, she alternated between fits of superiority, sobbing despair, and near normalcy despite the abnormal situation.  Little Kim maintained her occasional customary, “Daddy, oh Daddy.”  Mary remained the stoic exemplar attendant for her distressed mother.

“Rando, this is Skyfox,” the CB radio blared. “You must turn Doctor Smith over to us. Are you there Doctor Smith? Are you listening? You do not want us use force and harm your traveling companions and these state drivers. You don’t want that on your conscience, do you?”

Ted glanced back at Joyce who wiped tears off her cheeks. “Joyce, we’re heading to the lab right now, and it appears we’ll get there okay, so why don’t they just leave us the heck alone?”

Joyce sniffed. “They don’t want me to get to the lab. They and their boss want to take me somewhere else.” Ted saw Joyce lift her phone and punched a number. A moment later, he saw her lips move but couldn’t hear her over the trucks, the crashing and crunching, and the helicopters overhead.

With mic in hand, Randy looked from Joyce back to his father. “Dad, what should I tell them?” 

Ted thought a moment and a smile spread across his stubbly face. “Tell ‘em: Ha ha! Go home because you can’t stop us now!”

Randy raised the mic and keyed it, but Marcia stayed his hand. She put a finger to her lips and shook her head. “I don’t think taunting them is a good idea, Randy.”

“You’re probably right, Marsh,” Ted answered seriously. “Like your mother said, Randy, better that you don’t reply.” 

They pressed on and from comparing mileage signs to the road atlas Marcia figured they were a scant fifteen miles to the lab’s entry point. As they drove closer, they noticed the disabled or expired AOVs grew more plentiful with every mile.

Just then, several AOVs that were far from expiring ran up past the rear truck and managed to get beside the Brown’s SUV. One immediately began aggressively ramming into the side of the SUV. Mary and Kim let out surprised shrieks, but everyone else just hung on. With squealing tires, the SUV swerved from side to side with every crunching ram as Ted fought hard to maintain control and keep the SUV going forward. But luckily, Snowman Three in front coordinated with Snowman Four behind and between Three slowing and Four accelerating they crunched the AOVs between them.  In their wake, Ted saw the vehicles swerve, flip, and crash off to the sides of the highway. 

“Sheesh! These guys must have practiced a lot with bumper cars or something like that. Damn effective drivin’,” Ted said. “I think we’re home free, Joyce!” Ted said.

“Ohhh, don’t be so sure Mister Brown those helicopters are still after us.” Joyce whimpered, looking out her window and upward.

“I donno, I think they gave up,” Randy said, peering out the windshield. “At least they don’t seem to be trying so hard to stop us.”

They continued on silently for a couple minutes until Randy exclaimed and pointed, “Holy smokes, Dad! Look at that huge helicopter over there!”

Over the tree line, they saw a massive twin-prop, heavy-lift helicopter heading towards them.  As they watched it grow larger, the CB blared. “Rando, Rando! This is Snowman Three, heads up. We are braking. We have an immovable wall up ahead. Sorry folks, we can’t penetrate this. Over.”

“Roger Snowman, copy!” 

As they slowed, Ted maneuvered out behind the plow truck to take a good look. Up ahead, they saw tractor trailers parked across the highway completely blocking the way. Like before when they had to slow, the AOVs caught up and clustered around their SUV. But suddenly, oddly, the cars backed off and formed a circular empty space. One of the original helicopters circled in, hovered a moment, and came down to land in the space near the SUV. Two soldiers disembarked this time carrying assault rifles. They kneeled down and took aim at the Browns SUV.

“Oh my God, NO!” Marcia shouted. “Get Down!” Ted yelled. “Daddy, oh Daddy!” Kim cried.

                “Don’t worry, they won’t risk hurting me,” Joyce said, sitting stiffly and strangely peaceful, but the Browns thought these menacing soldiers meant to inflict some serious harm on them this time.

               

 ***

“Don, how far to the lab?” Joe asked, forcing himself to think about something other than Joyce’s and his daughters’ fates.

“About eight miles,” Don said, concentrating on his driving. “You know, all of a sudden the AOVs have stopped moving.  Look at them�"like suddenly they just lost their sense of direction or power and coasted to a stop. All of them couldn’t have run out of gas, so what’s going on?”

Joe, who wasn’t watching the highway, now saw what Don talked about as they weaved around the cars. The AOVs were here and there, some on the roadway, some half on the shoulder, while others had driven off the road and into the roadside ditch.

“They received some signal to stop and desist?” Katie asked. “But from where�"how and who would give them that kind of signal?”

“I got it! Maybe�"MAYBE!” Dennis exclaimed. “Our taking out those three AOVs sent a signal to the others telling ‘em that we meant business and that they should just give up! Catastrophe resolved!”

“Grow up, Dennis,” scolded Katie. “Our minor, miniscule interaction wouldn’t mean a damn thing to the what�"number of them�"thousands, millions of self-driving cars? A complete and utter impossibility that what we did registered with any of the other AIs.” Katie turned to Joe and Don who she imagined had some sense. “Clearly, it had to be an overriding command of some sort from a central controlling hub somewhere with a very powerful transmission and coded connection capability.”

Mike looked up from his laptop to consider what she said. “I think they’re readying for an all-out assault on the lab,” he said and then dove back into his work. The others exchanged anxious looks.

“Maybe the Top Dog Alpha car told them to stop bothering him and to shut down,” Bill said, with a shrug. He sheepishly grinned. “You know, one car rose to the top or maybe they elected their numero uno auto, grande jefe dictator-mobile, head honcho vehicle, bossman car, car commander�"”  

“BILL! We get the idea!” Joe shouted exasperated. He felt the stress wondering about Joyce, the giant question mark about the AOVs coupled with the sudden juvenile idiotic comments had put him on a teetering edge. “Sheesh! C’mon you guys, grow up, be serious and think clearly. We all need to take a breath and seriously think this through.” He paused for his own thought collection. “Obviously, there’s more going on with these cars than we’re privy to and that’s not very much.”

Don broke in. “I wish there were some way for us, Sal or Mike especially, to plug one in live so it would communicate with whomever or whatever is communicating with them.”

“Or at least see if it is the AI’s connecting and making decisions among themselves or if they are receiving instructions from humans,” Joe said, still trying hard to convince himself Joyce was okay, but it really didn’t  help for long. “Joyce would know, she would understand how they think, communicate, and form decisions, but I don’t know where she is�"maybe�"hopefully, she’s at the lab.”

“Holy smokes!” Exclaimed Dennis, breaking the silence, looking and pointing out a side window. “Would you look at that�"there’s something you don’t see every day!”

“Not again, Dennis, some more of your hair-brained insight?” Katie said, visibly annoyed. “In this messed up, self-driving cars taking over the country setting? Nothing is enough to surprise me anymore.” She glanced back to Dennis. “So what is it that has you all excited? HOLY SMOKES!”

With that everyone that could move went to that side of the Winnebago which rocked violently from the abrupt weight shift.

“HEY, take it easy back there, would you?  You could roll us over!” Don said, over his shoulder. 

Other than Sal and Mike, the others peered out the window uttering various exclamations of their own.

“So what’s the big deal?” Don asked, checking his mirror at them.

“Two helicopters with another huge one transporting a SUV on a cable,” Joe said. “How bizarre is that?”

Katie looked through the binoculars. “Yeah, that really is something Dennis; sorry I jumped all over you.” 

She passed the binoculars to Joe who studied the SUV and saw that it was all beat up and filthy. Other that the fact that all four corners of the SUV were slung and hooked to the main hoisting cable, he couldn’t make out anything else other than that there were unidentifiable heads inside.

“Why would they haul that old thing around anyway? They being obviously powerful and rich�"and insane,” Dennis said, taking a closer look with binoculars.

‘Powerful and rich’ got Sal’s attention. “Is the copter from the military or are there any other identifying marks?”

“Yeah,” Dennis said, taking a look and turning back to Sal. “You ain’t gonna like it, Sal�"all three copters have ‘SSI’ on them.”

“What the hell is that twerp Sturdy up to now?” Sal said, still sitting on the floor with the AI component’s parts surrounding him. “I had hoped he strangled or got electrocuted back on the wires, but he or someone else is still pulling the crooked strings. No idea what hauling a SUV through the air would possibly get him though.”  

Sal returned to his meticulous work with Bill closely watching over his shoulder. He had disassembled the Artificial Intelligence component piece by piece.  He unplugged another module and turned it over examining it carefully. He set it down next to the other myriad pieces he had already removed.  Sal unplugged, unscrewed, and gingerly lifted the largest module from the Artificial Intelligence component.

“Well, this is it,” Sal said, taking a deep breath. He held the oddly shaped module up for everyone to see. “This is the Bio-cybernetic element of the AI mind. It is what I fought against but lost to in the battle for control of the expanding AI Super-Industry. I lost all because my pure cybernetic brain would cost more and be much larger, so of course they used this abomination against nature that twerp Sturdy proposed.”

“Abomination? Why would you call it that, Sal?” Dennis asked.

“They kept this under wraps because this has lab-grown living biological brain tissue complete with probably three years of amino-acid nourishment.”  Sal glanced to Joe and then Katie who at the moment appeared a bit pale.

“Just long enough for the new car warranty to run out?” Bill innocently asked.

Joe scoffed. “Probably not what the manufacturers intended, Bill, but it does coincide.”

Sal frowned with a tight-lipped stare at Joe. “Joe, did your wife make this happen?”

Joe stared at the strangely shaped metal box while imagining what it held. “Joyce didn’t�"couldn’t tell me much about what she did or reveal any real specifics of the AI program.” He shrugged. “Besides she was only the head psychologist at the lab and most likely not privy to what actually ended up as the hardware or the specifics of the software whatever that may contain.” He turned to Mike who still worked on his laptop.

“That piece may be categorized as software if I understand all this correctly,” Dennis interjected. “Or maybe a hybrid hard slash software sub-component.”

“Which makes this a very scary, brave new world,” Katie whispered.

They motored on for a few more minutes as twilight began settling on the scene.

“Hey!” Don said, over his shoulder. “We just passed the first sign announcing the lab up ahead, and I can see the lights of the lab’s perimeter fence.”

Everyone turned forward or got up on feet or knees to peer out the windshield. The high intensity lights glared at them even though they were still at least a mile away. Piles of destroyed cars they assumed were AOVs that had tried for the lab flanked the highway corridor that led to the lab’s front gate. Don slowed the RV as the colleagues surveyed the devastation. They drove through a canyon of twisted, smashed, and demolished junked�"out vehicles.

“This corridor is barely wide enough for the Winne,” Don commented, gingerly maneuvering the RV. “But we’re committed now because we couldn’t turn around if we had to.”

“What a scrap metal mess this is,” Katie said shaking her head. “They must have had heavy equipment pushing all these AOVs off to the sides of the road, like during a�"a�"I don’t know,” she held her arms out at length, “I’m lost for the words to describe all this complete and utter�"devastation.”

“Auto-Apocalypse,” Bill said plainly.

The others turned to him in surprise with his first sane and sensible utterance. 

***

“GET DOWN!” Ted shouted. Everyone either cried or shrieked except for Joyce who seemed totally out of it sitting squarely, unmoving in the back seat.

The Browns and Smiths ducked and shielded themselves inside the SUV the best they could. All the same, soldiers open fired with their rifles on fully automatic with a rat-a-tat rattling of weapon fire. Cries of despair sprang from the women as they stuck fingers in their ears, but despite the hammering of a multitude of rounds not a single bullet punctured the SUV’s sheet metal. Before the gunfire echoes died down, they heard hissing air and the SUV dropped a few inches before hitting the road surface with four solid thuds. Ted stuck his head up.

“They made sure we weren’t escaping again,” Ted said analytically. “Now, they’re just standing there. What could then be waiting for?” Ted said.

“Rando, Rando! This is Snowman! Were those shots fired? Are you folks alright? Can we assist? OVER!”

Randy glanced at his father who grimly shook his head and gestured that the plow truck drivers should stay away.

“Snowman, Snowman! This is Rando!” Randy answered, but his voice cracked and squeaked. He gulped hard. “We are all right, repeat we are all right. Would advise against assisting us.” He glanced to his mother who whispered something to him. “Thanks for getting us this far, Snowman. Over.”

“Roger that Rando, pleased to help. We are standing by anywho, so if we can assist with these ‘copter guys, give us a jingle, over.”

“Copy Snowman, ‘preciate the offer, over and out.”

The soldiers stood and re-shouldered their weapons. They watched as the heavy helicopter lowered and came closer to the Brown’s SUV. 

“Now what? Are they going to wrestle us out of the car? Crush us? Load us up in that thing or just take Joyce?

“No, Mommy! They won’t take you away! I won’t let them,” Mary cried, breaking her long-held petrified silence. 

Ted nodded to Randy who took a deep breath and keyed the mic. “Skyfox, Skyfox this is Rando.” Randy glanced back to Joyce who let out a whimper. “What are your plans for us now? Over!”

“Rando, we are only complying with Jets’ demands. You are disabled so stand by, stay inside your vehicle, over.”

Ted, Marcia, and Randy all turned to Joyce with a mix of confused, quizzical, and angry expressions. 

Marcia angrily turned to Joyce. “What did you tell them? What were your demands or requests? I saw you on the phone! Tell us what’s going to happen to us, NOW!”

“I didn’t tell them anything!” Joyce pleaded. “I tried to call my husband, but my call was blocked�"probably by them.” She pointed to the helicopter. “I’m just a�"a puppet, a thrall to them�"they controlled me�"they still control me.” Joyce mumbled. “We must submit to them�"we have to!”

“What’s a thrall?” Randy asked.

“A slave,” Joyce answered defeated. “I have to do as I’m told. I was under their complete control, and they want to resume that situation.”

In stunned silence, The Browns exchanged subdued glances between themselves.

“We can still find a way out of here,” Ted exclaimed. “It might look bad, but I know we can prevail against these guys. Maybe the snow plow guys can�"”

“Don’t bother.  There’s no use in trying anymore, Mister Brown,” Joyce said in a daze. “My masters are very powerful with deep pockets and extended reach and influence,” Joyce mumbled into her lap. “There is no use to refuse their requests. Like the AI said, any resistance is futile, so we must give up and do as we’re told.”  She began sobbing again.

“Mommy,” Mary said, holding her mother’s hands in an effort to comfort her. “You are a woman of intelligence and fortitude just like you taught me to be. You have something they want, so they have to do as you say not the other way around. You can’t give in.” Mary picked up Joyce’s head, held her face and looked her straight in the eye. “Mother, you can pull yourself out of this bad mood and help us�"help the world against whoever is causing this mess.”  Mary’s own courage dropped several degrees when she took notice of the soldier’s activity around them and what it might indicate.

The huge helicopter moved closer and hovered just above the front of their SUV. Dirt, dust, gravel and grass whipped around in the vortex of churned air. Craning their necks, the Brown’s watched the helicopter lower a pallet half the size of the SUV to the ground on a heavy cable. The two men ran to the pallet, disconnected the cargo netting, and peeled back the canvas. All they could make out was a pile of chains, cables, and webbing.

“Dad! What is that stuff?” Randy asked.

“I got a feeling�"no, I know what it is, and I don’t like it!” Ted said, with a grit of his teeth. He slammed the SUV into gear, engaged the four-wheel drive, and stomped on the gas.

 

***

Don slowed the Winnebago some more as they spotted uniformed officers up ahead with a pair of huge, imposing bulldozers behind them. At about five hundred yards, the scrapped car corridor widened and a hastily installed sign flanked the road. In a strange, almost impossible to read cursive lettering, the sign read. “Stop here, sound your horn three times and flash your lights twice. If you do not comply your vehicle will be disabled.”

“What the hell is all that about?” Katie asked.

“To prove we’re human,” Joe said. “The AI can’t read that writing, like on websites to clarify it’s not a digital interface reading the site and responding,” Joe said. “It’s one way to sort the humans from the machines.”

Far ahead, the colleagues saw officers who fidgeted and tightened their grips on their strange-looking weapons as they sat there. Don complied with the RV’s horn and headlights. The officers seemingly relaxed and waved them forward. They moved up and the officers split up, one on each side of the Winnebago.  Don opened his window.

“Sir!” Apparently this officer, a sergeant, was in charge. He said tersely. “This is a highly restricted facility and is in total lockdown, we must advise you to turn around and leave at once.”

“Ah sir, sergeant, we are looking for someone�"to see if they made it here,” Don said.

“All right,” the sergeant said. “Could I have your name?”

“Donald Henley,” Don said.

“Mister Henley. Are you piloting said vehicle of your own freewill? Are you under duress?”

“Ah, yes�"no, ah it’s my vehicle, and no I’m not under duress.”

“CRIPE!” Joe said. “I just want to see if my wife is safe�"if she made it here okay.”

“And your name, sir?”

“Joseph R. Smith. I’ve been inside this facility before�"with my wife. She worked here!”

The sergeant pulled a tablet out of his oversized pocket and punched a couple buttons. “Sorry, Mister�"SMITH, you are not authorized to enter.”

“My wife is Doctor Joyce Taylor-Smith,” Joe said. his voice rising. “Has she arrived?”

He touched the tablet a couple more times and looked at the tablet dispassionately.  A spark of apperception crossed his countenance, but he stemmed it. “Sorry, Mister Smith, I cannot reveal that information.”  

“Urrggg! I just want to know if�"” 

“And I cannot tell you,” the sergeant said, interrupting Joe. “Please turn your, ahem, oversized vehicle around and leave. You are blocking this, the main corridor.”

From behind Don and Joe, Sal spoke up. “Officer! I should be on the access list. Salvatore T. Jones.”

Taking an annoyed deep breath, the sergeant checked his tablet. If at all possible, the sergeant’s expression became even stonier and his motions seemingly more controlled and calculated. Slowly, he brought the tablet up so he could look at it while keeping an eye on the RV as he touched the screen. Suddenly, the other officer on the opposite side grabbed the Winnebago’s door, whipped it open and leveled his rifle at the colleagues inside, while the sergeant with the tablet drew his sidearm and pointed it at Sal.

“HANDS UP, ALL OF YOU! NOW!” He shouted. Shocked, the colleagues complied. “All of you, out of there, RIGHT NOW!” He vigorously motioned with his sidearm clearly meaning business.

***

Trying to get away from the men with the rifles, Ted floored the SUV’s accelerator. The engine roared in protest, but they barely budged as smoke spun off the flat tires the metal wheels clanking on the pavement. The SUV jumped, staggered, and bumped about as Ted tried to get it to move away in reverse. Nonchalantly, one of the soldiers peeled his rifle off his shoulder and without aiming fired a single round from his hip into the front of the SUV. They heard a hiss, a squeal, and a loud knocking for a few seconds before the engine roar abruptly stopped with a loud, resounding�"clunk! With a last-gasp wheeze, steam hissed out from under the hood of the trusty, battered, and beat SUV.

“Damn it!” Ted roared. “Now they’ve gone and done it, they’ve killed the car! Now I’m really pissed!”  He grabbed the door handle and started opening it.

The soldier had anticipated his move and with one long stride alongside the SUV, he kicked the door shut with a sharp thump almost taking Ted’s leg off who snatched it inside just in time.

 “Sir! Stay in the car and that’s an order! We will not harm you if you stay in the car, but if you disembark or resist, we have ways of physically restraining or incapacitating you.”

Ted settled down and slowly, silently, and submissively nodded his head in compliance. Like his battered SUV, Ted steamed. “Randy, you wanted to know what they’re going to do to us? We are going to be airlifted.”

“You mean that helicopter�"is going to lift us up?!” Marcia asked in stunned disbelief. “The whole car�"off the ground�"into the air?”

“I think so,” Ted stoically said, nodding his head.

The soldiers had been working at dragging heavy webbing attached to chains and wrapped them around the SUV’s four wheels.  The huge helicopter continued to hover overhead with the engine and prop throbbing noise deafening them inside with the dust and dirt peppering the SUV on all sides, yet the soldiers continued their work unabated. Slowly, the heavy cable from the helicopter slithered over the hood with a grating grind, across the windshield, and then up onto the roof. One by one, the soldiers pulled up the chains and hooked them to the cable. The Browns watched as the soldiers stepped back away and with single fingers pointing upward with quick spins, they signaled the helicopter.

Silently, the Browns and Smiths listened as the cable ground on the roof, and the chains tightened with the links clattering ratchet-like across the roof edges. As they held their breaths, the chains grew taut. Surprisingly gentle-like, the SUV bumped twice and then slid a couple feet sideways before becoming free of earth’s gravity. Like an easygoing kiddie amusement ride, they sensed their lift above the earth as the scene around them dropped beneath their view. Marcia, Mary, and Kim let out terrified shrieks, yet Joyce just sat there without expression or reaction. Ted gripped the steering wheel with anger etched onto his face while Randy gazed about in rapturous awe.

“Daddy, oh Daddy,” Kim cried. “I’m really scared now!”

“I’m getting sick,” Marcia whispered to Ted, appearing a bit green.

Ted tried to see the ground slip beneath them, but couldn’t see much except the very tops of the trees. He adjusted the outside mirror to reflect the ground and saw that besides rising they were beginning to move forward. Just before he lost sight of where they had been lifted from, Ted saw, much to his relief, that the AOVs, both cars and semi-tractors had begun to disperse and the Illinois snow plow drivers were on the move again.

“This is great fun!” Randy excitedly said, but then caught his father’s stern eye.  “It would be great fun if we weren’t in danger from whoever these guys are, and if we knew where they were taking us.” Ted nodded toward the CB. Randy picked up the mic and keyed it. “Skyfox, Skyfox, this is Rando. Ah, hmmmm, where are you taking us? Over.” 

“Rando this is Skyfox. As demanded by Doctor Smith, we are transporting all of you to an undisclosed location where she may perform some of her, ahem, magic. Over.”

“Skyfox, Rando. Then our destination is not the Cybernetic s Lab, so then where to?” Over.”

“Rando, we can only state that our destination is not the Cybernetics Lab, and that we will arrive at the undisclosed location in all due haste, over and out!”

As they picked up speed, the dangling SUV swung like a pendulum forward and back, and from side to side. Ted began looking a bit green himself despite trying to maintain a brave face. The noisy pounding of the helicopter’s engines and props vibrated the SUV and made any conversation difficult.

Without looking, Marcia groped and tugged on Ted’s sleeve to get his attention. “Where do you think we are going, Ted?” Marcia said loudly with closed eyes as she braced herself between the seat and the dashboard.

“Generally, I think we’re going to the northeast, it seems,” Ted said, still gripping the steering wheel. “Like they said, we’re not going to the lab anymore, but where? Ahhhh, I haven’t a clue.” He shrugged without releasing the steering wheel. 

“Chicago,” Joyce said passively. “That’s where his corporate headquarters are.”

Ted glanced to Marcia who still had her eyes closed but neither said a word.

“Do you think they’re going drop us with parachutes onto a building?” Randy asked, losing a bit of his joyous fascination by taking on a guise of apprehension with the considered possibilities.

Ted peered up, but he could only see the very nose of the huge heavy-lift helicopter.  “I don’t think so, Randy,” he frankly said, apparently losing his previous pluck as well. 

They flew along without a word. Ted tried the radio and miraculously it functioned. On every station he found beleaguered announcers fraught with the situation across the country. Apparently, the Artificial Intelligence nightmare had been contained in the US even though there were isolated outbreaks of crazed AOVs around the world. Some of the more radical newscasters said this indicated that it was a plot from aggressive adversarial countries especially considering the North Korean nuclear blast had started it all. In a nutshell, the Browns and the Smiths heard the entire country was under federal martial law and all branches of the military and National Guard had been mobilized. Some populist groups pushed for the impeachment of the president and his entire staffs for letting the catastrophe occur because it was uncovered that the government was in the pocket of the auto industry especially the newly formed AI division. In short, the country was in turmoil. Ted listened intently, but then noticed the expressions on his family’s faces. He punched the radio off. They flew on to the unknown destination.

In about thirty minutes, the flying SUV occupants saw Chicago’s suburbs pass beneath their flat, trussed tires. Ted glanced about to his expressionless, defeated family and friends. He was completely lost for words of encouragement or small talk.

As the city’s buildings grew taller and tighter spaced, Ted turned to look back at Joyce, but she still sat stiffly with Mary holding her arm and leaning into her mother. At that time, the helicopter’s constant noise suddenly changed pitch and level. They could feel them slow and lower. Ted glanced about but being unfamiliar with Chicago could not place their location. He checked his downward facing mirror and saw a flat-topped building growing larger below them. Their forward motion stopped and slowly they lowered. It seemed to take an excessive amount of time, but as they watched the roof come up to meet them, they made a soft, nearly imperceptible landing. Two men trotted over and disconnected the lifting harness and waved off the helicopter that reeled in the cable, increased its power, and choppered away. The two families breathed a collective breath of relief even though they had no idea what lay ahead in their immediate, highly unpredictable future. 

As the Browns got out of the battered, bent, and muddied SUV, they found it difficult to walk for a few unsteady steps because of the stomach-churning, disorienting flight. A block house stood several yards from the landing pad with a chain link fence surrounding it with razor wire on top. Two guards stood at a gate. Two other guards trotted over to the families. One took Joyce by the arm speeding her along ahead while the other fell behind. Ted took Kim’s hand while Marcia took Randy’s and Mary’s seeing her mother was being escorted separately. Ted gave his battle-weary family a tired, grim smile and forced an awkward wink, but without a response, they focused on their destination across the building’s roof.

Joyce up ahead didn’t show emotion or address anyone in particular, but over her shoulder she said, “If anyone ever wanted to see hell, I’m sure you’ll see it inside that gate.”

 

***

Slowly, without a word, the intellectual colleagues disembarked from the RV to comply with the officers. The officers guided them to stand facing the shiny scarred bulldozer blade that was wider than the Winnebago and stood a couple feet above their heads. Calmly, Joe and Don tried to reason with the officers imploring onto them that there had to be a mistake and no one in their group posed any threat. They were harshly shushed.  A couple more officers ran up and immediately went inside the Winnebago.  As the colleagues stood there, they immediately heard banging and smashing inside the RV.

“Cripes! They’re destroying the Winne,” Don tersely whispered.

“QUIET YOU!” The sergeant shouted. Joe saw the muzzle of the gun whip back and forth behind their backs.

“Nothing found in way of arms or munitions on a visual,” the one officer yelled out the window. “Just laptops and it appears they were disassembling an AI component. Not suspicious from my perspek.”

Suddenly, the sergeant’s radio on his hip squawked. “RED ALERT GATE ALPHA! We have five hot vehicles approaching at high speed in a wedge formation. Will attempt to stop!”

The colleagues half turned to see the officers freeze for a moment.  The sergeant whipped out his radio. “Get these people under cover. Ready the tractors!”  The other officers jumped into action only to pause again when they heard several automatic weapons open fire quite some distance up the corridor from where the colleagues had driven in. The giant bulldozers’ engines noisily turned over and started up with rattling roars and lots of black smoke.

“Between and behind the tractors,” the sergeant ordered.  

“NO!” Mike the Moleman shouted in a surprising defiance. “I, we have to get our laptops�"all our research is on them�"”

 He glanced to the sergeant but flicked his attention away when the clatter of weapon fire seemed to escalate. He bolted to the RV, followed by Sal, Dennis, and Bill. The officers raised their weapons, but the sergeant intervened.

“Hold fire!” The Sergeant ordered. “Now, no lollygagging.’ Get their stuff and get ‘em out of the way! MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!” 

Half the colleagues with two officers went back inside the RV and within seconds they were out again with laptops and the pieces of the AI brain.

“Get behind the tractors and proceed to the gate!”

“What about my Winne?” A tense Don said, vacillating on what to do. “I need to get it out of�"”

“Leave it! Now go!” The officers herded the colleagues between the roaring, snorting bulldozers that began moving forward with their giant clanking tracks making a horrendous racket. 

Don glanced back when he heard metallic crunching only to see the bulldozers run into his precious RV like it wasn’t even there. “NO! I JUST PAID IT OFF!” Don shouted, but the officers disregarded him impelling the group forward.

 As Don and the others trotted away, they saw the Winnebago rise up on one side exposing its undercarriage and tip over with a loud crash and glass-shattering smash. With a spine-tingling screeching, the bulldozers commenced to slide it down the corridor on its side.

As the group trotted toward the Cybernetics Lab main gates, herded by one of the officers, they heard multiple automatic weapons open fire with a horrendous clattering and chattering. The officer’s radio squawked.

“Pull back! Pull back! The cars are a decoy! Multiple semi-tractors inbound!”

When the colleagues approached the double-gates, they stopped and turned only to see and hear all types of hell erupt from where they had just been, but they still believed the real hell might be on the other side of the gates.

 

Author's Note

Part 7 took a bit longer than the others. Entirely POOMA from part to part, I have no idea where this story is going before I write each part. Makes writing fun!