The V.I.C.I. Diaries: Valley of the Damned (Part 13)

[DukeNukem 2417]

“So, everyone, welcome to my office.” Oberon beamed as the other Field Agents moved past him through the hidden door (formerly concealed behind a bookshelf), ushering them into his heavily-secured private office suite. “Seeing as how we don't exactly want to be caught in the crossfire when Vicki starts beating the scrap out of the fembots---”

A groan cut him off. “'Caught in the crossfire'?” Reaver echoed. “REALLY?! We're all Field Agents here---”

“Except not all of us can be repaired,” Jen interjected. “If you get your kneecaps blown off, you're not exactly going to be able to get replacements installed like I can.”

Reaver nearly yelled at her, but a gesture from Saturn convinced him to keep his mouth shut.

“Jen does have a point,” Oberon agreed. “This room is, quite simply, the fifth most secure in the building---I say 'fifth most secure' because there are a few other chambers in the ALPA HQ that require a bit more security than my office....anyways, we're not in any danger of being crushed by falling debris, drowning, being roasted alive by fire or asphyxiated by smoke. The doors, windows, support structures, lighting fixtures---even the materials used to build this room are among the safest available. Fireproof, waterproof, quakeproof, and, of course, bulletproof---long in a short: we're not going to get killed in here unless the fembots break in.”

A cough from the back of the group broke the momentary silence. “This is the part where you say they can't break in, right?”

“To be honest, Major, I wouldn't concern myself with that possibility.” Oberon grinned again. “In fact---”

“Can they break in,” Major Tom demanded, “or can't they?! Yes or no.”

His annoyance only increased when Oberon grinned. “We'll find out soon enough---”

“I have to take the Starman's side on this one,” Alicia cut in. “Normally, I'm all for riddles and puzzles and the whole Obi-Wan Kenobi gimmick.....but right now, with the fembots on our heels and probably tearing apart half the building to find us---”

Oberon held up a hand. “About that last one.....the whole thing of the fembots ripping the building apart.....” He smiled.

Alicia, not surprisingly, was confused. “What about it?”

“Listen. Just....listen.”

All Field Agents in the room---android/gynoid and human alike---stayed in place where they stood for the better part of three minutes, listening......

“You'd hear it, if they were on the move,” Oberon murmured. “Screams, doors being kicked in, all sorts of horrible sounds.....you'd hear a veritable cacophony of terrible things above and below us.” He paused for a moment, letting the idea sink in....

“...but none of you are hearing that, are you?”

Considering her earlier skepticism, Alicia surprised even herself by replying. “I don't hear anything...well, other than my own voice right now. Nothing above us, or below us, except for some movement and....what I think is just conversation.”

Again, Oberon smiled. “My point exactly.”

“Except that doesn't make any sense,” Major Tom countered. “They have to be active right now---”

“I never said the fembots weren't active, actually. I just said they weren't on the move.” Oberon took his seat at the immaculately-polished mahogany desk, pressing his palm in the center of the blotter pad. “There's actually a very reasonable explanation for it all, even though I'm usually not the type of person who tends to spoil such things...”

Whatever pissed-off reply the Major had ready was silenced by the appearance of a glass sphere being lowered from the ceiling. “Behold the viewing globe,” Oberon intoned, gesturing for the assembled Field Agents to turn their attention to it---quietly adding “Always wanted to say that” as they did so. “As you can see,” he continued, “every single fembot still functioning in this building is now effectively trapped on the ground floor. The elevators are inactive, the stairwells have been locked, and the only way they could even get close to this room through the ventilation shafts would involve dismemberment. Simply put---”

“Why the hell did you lock them all down there?”

Other than an imperceptible twitch of the ALPA Chairman's eyebrow, Reaver's question remained unanswered.

“Eric,” Jen murmured, “now's not the time---”

“Now is exactly the time, Jen!” Reaver shoved his way through the group; “We've got people on every floor who could deal with the fembots,” he growled, “and you decided to lock them all on the ground floor?! What the hell kind of plan is that?! We could've had them all scrapped by now!”

Oberon said nothing.

“And another thing,” Reaver continued, shrugging away from Jen's attempt to guide him away from the desk, “I am SICK of this bullshit with you being all 'mysterious'. Either you tell us what we need to know when we need to know it, or you don't. No more riddles, stupid smiles---”

“Eric,” Jen pleaded, “just---”

“AND I HAVE HAD IT UP TO HERE,” Reaver shouted, “WITH THIS 'RUN AND HIDE' BULLSHIT! ALL OF US ARE TRAINED TO HANDLE THIS KIND OF STUFF ON A DAILY BASIS, AND YOU'VE GOT US ALL LOCKED UP IN HERE---”

Somewhere in the middle of the Field Agent's tirade, Oberon muttered “Enough.”

“---AND IF I HAVE TO SIT HERE FOR ONE MORE FUCKING MINUTE---”

“....I said ENOUGH!”

Oberon's fists slammed into the desktop, splintering the wood on either side of the blotter pad. Jen pulled Reaver (who, by this point, was effectively stunned into silence) back into the group.

“NOW YOU LISTEN TO ME,” the ALPA Chairman thundered, his gaze slowly rising from the ruined desktop to focus on the Field Agents. “ALL OF YOU.” His unrelenting stare swept the Agents, settling on Reaver and Jen. “Everything I have ever done in the ALPA, up to and including this, has been done for very specific reasons. Some of the decisions I've made have been particularly hard, and few of them, if any, have ever been easy....and even though there's no real getting used to that, I have been able to come to terms with it. I've even been able to come to terms with the insistence from every rank-and-file Tom, Dick and Harry who steps through those doors that they know the 'right way' to do things, even when they clearly do not. WHAT I CANNOT COME TO TERMS WITH, however, is the rather annoying habit of the very people I'm trying to help telling me off in front of God, king and country WHEN ALL THE BLOODY HELL I'M TRYING TO DO IS KEEP THEM FROM GETTING THER FUCKING ARSES SHOT TO HELL!”

None of the Field Agents moved from where they stood.

“You lot....you think this is easy?! How many of you here, right now, think that all I've ever done in this job is sit behind a stupid desk and sign my name on every stupid piece of paper that passes through here?” As the group continued to stare in silence, Oberon smashed the In/Out box off the desk, sending it to the floor with an ugly clang. “I've been questioned before,” he muttered, “by everyone from the janitor to the President of the ALPA....and don't think this is me trying to accuse anyone here of being ungrateful sods.....”

His voice lowered to a sob: “...I absolutely hate this bloody job sometimes.”

Silence.

“The photos in the lobby are the worst,” the Chairman muttered. “All they show are the happy moments: a family reunited, a marriage saved, a new life beginning, all that wonderful stuff. Nobody here ever stops to think about the inverse of those things: having to remove a sleeper from a broken home, or barelling through Palo Alto in the middle of the night to bring a gynoid to an ALPA safehouse before her bloody useless spouse got drunk one night and started threatening to throw her in a canal....or burying the relatives of a Stylo-infected android because the intercept team took a wrong turn on the way to the house and got there five minutes too late....nobody ever asks to hear those stories. They just expect things to work, to keep flowing the way they always have....”

Alicia broke from the group to stand by Oberon's side, not saying a word.

“I've had years to figure out how to cope with it,” the white-clad chairman continued. “Some would've turned to drink, others to more destructive methods....I choose to be funny.” He gave a weak smile; “It's worked out fabulously so far,” he added, “and even with the few complaints, I can't say I regret it---”

“Don't.”

He glanced at Alicia. “Don't what?”

“Don't you....don't you DARE start this guilt-trip bullshit.” The blonde gynoid looked as if she were about to scream. “All of us–-even Reaver---appreciate what you've done....and even if we have a few complaints about your method, it's just....we want to win this thing just as much as you do. Not in any mean or military sense---”

“I know.....and thank you.” Oberon smiled again, looking decidedly less depressed this time. “It's just....this whole thing has been absolutely insane ever since Hannsen got out, and I've been on frayed nerves for the past month or so anyways---I've needed to get that stuff off my chest for a good long while now.”

Reaver muttered something that sounded like “srry”, earning him an elbow in the gut from Jen.

“I said sorry,” he clarified. “I'm....this whole thing just pisses me off, and....GOD, this sucks.”

The blonde House gynoid rolled her eyes; “Normally, I'd call that the lamest apology I've heard in my life,” she mused, “but considering our current situaton....I'll let the bossman give the final verdict.” She nodded to Oberon. “Your thoughts?”

To Reaver's surprise (and relief), Oberon chuckled. “My desk seems to have cracked in half, but otherwise...”

Any appreciation for the regained sense of calm was lost as the “viewing globe” lit up once again. “Looks like someone's on their way to the lab,” the Major mused. “Actually, strike that---two individuals are on their way to the lab---and they're not exactly going about it quietly...” He stood aside, allowing the others to see two figures bashing through walls and floors alike on their way to the lab. “I think we're going to need to have a talk with someone about subtlety and restraint when this is all over....”

“Agreed,” Oberon replied, not even trying to hide his smile. “For now....let 'em wreck it.”
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[DollSpace]

Nice allusion at the end... A very quick chapter, so I'm eagerly awaiting the next part!

[Uhoh]

Awfully rare for Oberon to go off like that, but he makes a good point. Great writing , awaiting patiently.