Chapter 30: The Rogue Cyborg

Private Bingham and Corporal Teddingham were playing a game of cards to pass the time. It was ten o’clock at night and some of their comrades were asleep in their quarters. As usual the Corporal suspected his subordinate of cheating and wasn’t shy about saying so.

Both Army officers had four years of experience behind them. They were stationed at Camp Hambrington in the heart of America. The army base was quite large, with about two thousand officers stationed there. The base itself was in existence for five years and was far superior in living standards to what both officers had experienced in their short careers.

Both Corporal Teddingham and Private Bingham had known each other from the very start of their stint in the army. They weren’t the best of friends but neither were they the worst of enemies. They did however have common interests and that was important in any friendship.

“You have to be cheating,” Corporal Teddingham declared, “you’ve won six games in a row.”

“You’re just rubbish, that’s all. Besides, it’s not as if we’re playing for real money. I’ve got twenty bottle caps to your two,” Private Bingham retorted. “If the Sargent catches us, I’ll be in more trouble than you.”

“I couldn’t afford to play poker for real.” the Corporal responded, as if he was about to tell his sad and depressing life story. “I earn peanuts as it is.”

“You’re right there. You couldn’t play poker for real,” Private Bingham replied without breaking into a smile. “Even my Gran would take the shirt off your back.”

“Enough of that. Who’s the higher ranking officer in here any how?” the Corporal asked in an effort to re-establish his authority. “I’ll get you to do five hundred push ups in the morning.”

“What’s that noise?” the Private asked as he put his hand to his ear.

“It’s you trying to dodge two thousand press ups,” the inept poker player responded.

“No, I heard something,” the Junior officer said in a concerned tone.

“Go take a look. I won’t check your hand,” Corporal Teddingham responded as he reached his hand out. “I promise.”

Private Bingham turned his neck around and stood up. The noise appeared to be getting louder and louder. He couldn’t quite place the sound. It was a little like a hammer tapping gently against a nail only it seemed to be getting closer. There was something at the door, he thought to himself. Slowly and cautiously he approached the door, but before he did the door opened. It was a heavily armoured robot, that stood six foot tall.

“Oh, that’s one of them billion dollar robots,” the corporal informed him. “I wonder what it’s doing here?”

“Probably heard you’re rubbish at poker and wanted to earn some bottle caps,” the Private replied. “I hear they go mad for bottle caps.”

The robot was armed with a machine gun. Corporal Teddingham saw it raising the weapon and pointing it in their general direction. “Oh shit,” he said out loud, before it started firing at them. In a matter of seconds, Private Bingham, Corporal Teddingham and their fellow soldiers were all dead.

The robot left their quarters and checked some of the other rooms in the same building. Although many of the other soldiers were pre-warned because of the sound of gunfire, they could do very little about it. The robot was virtually indestructible. A handful of them managed to escape by climbing out windows, but most were not so lucky.

One of the army officers, Private Barnham managed to escape. He ran to Colonel Beshoff’s quarters and informed him that there was a heavily armoured robot on the loose, killing dozens of soldiers.

“What should we do, Colonel?” the frightened Private asked.

Initially the Colonel was upset at being disturbed but quickly realised the gravity of the situation. He could hear the sound of gunfire in the background. “The only thing for it, is to blow something like that up,” the higher ranking officer declared as he proceeded to get dressed. “It’s the only way you can stop it. We’ll need grenades Private. Go get some.”

The low ranking army man felt nervous and scared. He had adrenaline pumping in his veins. He didn’t join the army to be a hero but now he knew he had to destroy the machine for his own safety or it would kill anything that moved.

The private ran to the artillery room where some soldiers were already arming themselves. “Grenades,” the Private suggested. “We’ll need grenades.”

“I’ve got something better than that,” Private Grant declared. “A bloody Bazooka.” “Isn’t that a bit dangerous,” Private Barnham speculated. “Have you used one of those things before?”

“No time like the present,” his colleague responded. “I’m going to get this fecker.”

Private Barnham grabbed a grenade belt and obtained as many grenades as it was safe to hold.

By the time he left the artillery room, the armed robot was outside the main building and walking in his general direction. The private hid around the corner of a building for cover. At the same time Private Grant was ready to fire the bazooka he was holding. “Watch this,” he said aloud as he took aim and fired. Inexperienced as he was, there was a kickback from the bazooka that Private Grant was not prepared for. The Bazooka went beyond the robot and blew up Colonel Shariff’s offices. “Thank god, there was no one in there,” Private Grant declared, “or then he’d really be pissed.” Private Grant dropped the unloaded Bazooka and ran.

Private Barnham took a quick look around the corner. The robot was thirty yards away. He unpinned a grenade and tossed it in the assailant’s general direction. It wasn’t a direct hit and the robot was now unharmed and twenty yards away. In quick succession Private Barnham unpinned four grenades and tossed them around the corner. Fearing that the robot was still progressing. He picked up the Bazooka and ran in the opposite direction under cover of the building. The robot was still moving but had been damaged in the blast. Having rounded another corner of the same building, Private Barnham decided to try his hand with the bazooka. He proceeded to arm it and peered around the corner again. The robot was heading in his direction and was only twenty-five yards away. Worse still, the robots entire focus appeared to be on the young army officer. The army Private lent the bazooka against the corner of the building and quickly took aim and fired. It was a direct hit, but in the process the young soldier was shot three times. All three injuries were to his left arm. It was painful but probably not life threatening. The robot was continuing to move although it wasn’t functioning properly. He unpinned another grenade, tossed it in the direction of the robot and ran to the next corner of the building. All the while the robot continued to shoot in his general direction. Before he could get some cover he was shot in the back, close to the side of his body, six inches below his shoulder.

The robot was still moving and shooting albeit at a slower pace. There were other army officers shooting at it, but this did not have the same impact as the grenades or the bazooka. Every now and then the robot would turn around and shoot at its attackers.

Private Barnham threw his last three remaining grenades. As he did so, he was shot twice in his left leg. The robot was barely able to move now, but try, as he did, the army Private could not walk either. He was in too much pain. The army recruit was afraid that if he didn’t get treatment soon he would bleed to death from his injuries. As the robot approached however, his existing wounds were the least of his worries. He managed to move for four yards before falling to the ground in agony. He could hear the robot now, slowly coming towards him. It made a loud noise with each step. Eventually it came into view, with its gun pointed directly at the Private. The young man lay on his back, praying to God to spare his life. The Private was breathing anxiously. Any second now the robot would pull the trigger.

For a brief moment the Army Private thought of his girlfriend and the life he planned in his future. His girlfriend and himself did not agree on everything, particularly with the financial pressure they were under but he longed to see her again. He thought of his family and friends and all the happy experiences he had in his life. Desperately, he did not want to die.

Suddenly an army officer appeared with a sledge hammer and battered the robot in the head. The robot turned around again. This time the army officer battered the gun from the robot’s hand and followed this with blow after blow until the robot could not move.

“Are you alright mate?” the other Soldier asked Private Barnham.

Private Barnham was losing blood and in great pain. He had just gone through the most frightening experience of his life. “Yeah, I’m alright,” he responded.

He tried to get up, for a brief moment before resisting the temptation. Suddenly the robot blurted out an unintelligible phrase or two and fell on top of him. The man with the sledgehammer threw it off him. “Don’t worry, Private,” he said, “there will be an ambulance along here in a minute or two.”

Those words seemed to echo in the mind of the injured army officer. Private Barnham didn’t know if he could last another two minutes but he would fight with all his being to find out.