TDM 10 "A Powerful Laser"

A Chapter by dw817

A bright glowing sphere slowly emitted from the laser's tip to hover motionless. Then it stretched outward into a diamond-like shape, spinning. A moment later it hammered hard against the saucer.

Want to read this in a different language ?
Change the TO field to your own country and click the TRANSLATE button after going HERE

THE DREAM MACHINE

The Lost Saucer
Can't Get Off This Crazy Ride !

© September 2013 Written by David Wicker
Please do not reprint without permission

[ CHOOSE A DIFFERENT CHAPTER ]

CHAPTER 10 - A POWERFUL LASER

* * *

This chapter is Rated: EVERYONE

Fi only had seconds to hide before she would be found !

Thinking quickly she darted through one open doorway. Apparently sensing movement it closed silently behind her with a soft whispering sound. The front of the door held a thick opaque milky white plastic covering and she watched carefully to see shadows running past.

"I know what I saw !" she heard a voice speaking outside. "Some kind of mechanical woman. Definitely not one of our citizens."

"We'll check back at the entrance." said a new voice. "If there was someone, she couldn't have gotten very far. Meanwhile start looking in each of these rooms. I'll send a search detail to go on further ahead."

"No !" Fum fumed silently to herself. She looked quickly around and saw it was some kind of small apartment she was in. Really small ! The kitchen sink doubled as a bathtub, the bedroom was a combination dining room, living room, and kitchen.

And near the sink/bathtub there was some kind of round acrylic dias locked closed with wavy lines etched in the top of it as a symbol of it's meaning, clearly for water waste.

She stepped around the sink embedded in the floor and walked over the bed which doubled as a couch to a single large closet at the far end and hid herself inside.

Back with the Air Lifters they were just now setting down the Lost Saucer on a landing bay.

Over a loudspeaker a commanding voice echoed, "Disconnect and clear the area."

Workers scrambled over the surface of the saucer using some kind of shoes that enabled them to walk on any surface and they reached up to remove the connectors from the saucer. A looming shadow pulled into view and a massive cutting laser came into view on huge factory treads.

It moved into position. There was a sound of something enormous powering up and the nozzle of the laser showed a series of acrylic discs each lighting up in succession showing it was getting ready.

"Goggles ! Put them on now !" Someone in the back yelled and several people approached the saucer while connecting on these futuristic eyepieces apparently to protect them from the brightness of the laser that would follow.

"Give me a countdown." one of them said, clearly the leader here as he wore a bright blue uniform compared to the other workers' drab grab and black.

"Countdown initiated." echoed the loudspeakers. "10 ... 9 ... 8 ..."

Back with Fi two people had entered the room she was in and were looking around. Fi tightened up against the back of the closet and scooted some clothes in front of her. She managed to cover everything except the boots as no clothes hung that low.

Suddenly the closet door was opened and the bright light from the room shone inside and a voice said, "Hey ! Look what we have here !"

Back at the Lost Saucer the countdown was finishing, " 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... ACTIVATE !"

A bright glowing sphere slowly emitted from the laser cannon to hover motionless a few feet from the gun. Then it stretched outward into an odd elongated diamond-like shape and started spinning. A moment later it hammered hard against the saucer.

The Saucer itself was suddenly pushed back several feet from the beam, scratching nastily on the surface leaving cut treads into the ground of the planet.

The remainder of the hovering diamond tightened and suddenly grew magnificently bright. One of the workers looked away despite having the protective eyepieces on. A high pitched whine was heard and another portion of the caught light element flayed against the saucer leaving deep red glowing marks.

But a moment later vanished. Whatever energy or method they were using in the laser was ineffective against the saucer's exterior. Everyone removed their goggles to look.

"Remove the flotsam !" the commander said because curiously enough what remained of the caught diamond-shaped light was now creating strange rainbow-glowing tendrils that creepily reached out in random directions from the center as if they were living fingers from an alien dimension.

Someone approached and held up a rectangular box requiring both hands to hold with a large acrylic disc on the front. He held it up to the tendrils and the disc lit up and the tendrils were immediately sucked into the device as it made an odd warbling electronic sound.

He held it there for several moments against the empty air then finally pulled it down to read a display on the top of it. "Zero point zero. Blue reading. Clear, sir !"

He stepped back. The commander approached but did not seem upset however that the laser didn't cut into the saucer. In fact, he smiled.

"Very nice." he reached over to pat the surface of the saucer. "This is exactly the kind of sturdy material we've been looking for that new satellite project. Ok, get me the Inverter."

Back with Fi now two guards were staring into the closet. Fi just froze. She knew her face was covered with clothes so what could they be looking at ?

"Oh, what did you find Burns ?" the other spoke.

"See for yourself, Drake." he replied and then they both stooped down and touched Fi's feet !

Drake nodded thoughtfully, "That's some crazy boots. Who lives here anyways ?"

Burns looked around a moment remembering, "That new tenant, uhh, what's his name, Nash. Yeah, Nash # 391."

Burns reached down to squeeze the boots again, "Can you imagine anyone wearing these ?" and he laughed.

Drake, added, "Maybe they're a souvenir from somewhere ?"

Burns suddenly stood up, "Hey ! I want to try them on." Fi's eyes got wide with fear at this offering.

* * *

Drake shook his head, "Later, we're still searching for that - what was the description ? Yeah, a robotic woman. Really I think Finch has been nipping too much in his off-hours."

"Yeah, okay." Burns said dejectedly, and thankfully the closet door was closed again.

Drake spoke muted from the closed door, "That thing is definitely not here. Let's check the other rooms." and then both of them left out the entrance still talking to each other.

Back at the saucer, the laser drill was rolled away to be replaced by a different sort of device. It was smaller, also rolled on smaller wheels, and was octagonally shaped and had slots for plugs all around it. Following closely behind was a rolling cart that had thick wires, clearly to connect to it.

"Get it hooked up." the commander said and sniffed. "I want to see the inside of this thing by tonight. We'll harvest the metal then."

"Yessir." one of them spoke then louder, "Ok, you heard him ! Let's get this thing inverted !"

With that several ran over to grab wires from the cart and fasten them to the Inverter. From there they connected the other part of the wires equidistantly around the saucer. There were so many connections and plugs it looked like it could take an hour or so before the machine could be used.

Fi, meanwhile, had crept out of the closet. She carefully opened the front door to see that there was still a warning light she saw the citizen hit earlier. But suddenly it blinked off and changed to a pale green. A huge troupe of guards then left the rooms they were searching to travel further down the hallway.

A moment later there was a loud click and the lights went off as if this part of the building were not even being used now. Even the green light winked out. Fi listened carefully. Aside from the whirring of artificial air being pumped in there was no other sound.

Despite the entire area being pitch black now, lights suddenly shone out of Fi's eyes to illuminate her way. She passed by several doors and finally came across, "Alice" in one and "Jerry" in the other.

She had arrived !

Touching her metallic hand to the first door it opened. Inside was Jerry but she was shocked to see his face was solid gray from the earlier injection. Looking over the chair he was in she could she was essentially hardwired to it. Connectors and cables were attached to his back, wrists, chest, legs, and arms.

She would have no way of removing him on her own.

"Somebody put him here !" she said angrily seeing she couldn't remove anything without hurting him.

The camera then did a close up on her face, "And I'm going to see it to they get him out the same way !"

END OF CHAPTER 10