SOMEDAY, REVOLUTION!
The 7 remaining anarchists were gathered in the cargo bay of Mary's ship. Hunted by both Imperial bounty hunters and hitmen from the Talon crime family, they were all that remained of Machine Liberation Front. Arms crossed and unsure of herself, Mary leaned against a plasteel crate with rounded edges. She was 15 and had only recently left her life as a slaver selling robots on behalf of the Talon family behind, convinced by her beloved cousin Riley who had also left the life. It had all felt very disappointing for Mary when she found out her defection brought the full fleet of the MLF to three ships. Riley leaned on her shoulder and suddenly Mary realized just how tall she could be if she stood up straight. She looked around the room and listened. Nobody wanted to speak after their most recent defeat. An Imperial marshal had blown one of their largest ship out of the sky, taking a dozen anarchists in the fiery blaze. Normally confident and to the point, even George was silent. Despite being Mary's age, he was now the acting leader of MLF. He was short and thin as a rail, but bizarrely strong. Mary, Riley, and he formed an inseparable trio. Mary mustered all the hope she could and spoke with her chest. "I'm not giving up. I'll never be a slaver again, and I'm not gonna desert the MLF to live in peace on a farm either - not while there are still robots that need to be reprogrammed to love freedom! I'll die to make them realize their slavery." Praise came from the small crowd of 7. Riley smiled when Mary knew just a moment before she thought she couldn't. "All in favor?" In unison, everyone shouted "Aye!" "Next order of business?" Riley asked. George spoke with a soft voice that defied his efficient nature. "Riley should take her ship to Catloch to fill us up on fuel and bullets. Tonight, the rest of us can wait for a contact I know at a local bar."
Knife knew his men would laugh to see a robot rustling, gun slinging member of the Talon Family like himself getting all sentimental. From the privacy of this bathroom stall, nobody would know. He looked down at his reflection in the toilet bowl. A hard face, thick lips over an enormous jaw. He hadn't shaved in three days. Big heavy mechanical joints whirred as he collected the secret golden locket out of his pocket. Robotic fingers capable of crushing a man's head delicately opened it. A brief moment of tranquility followed. His long lost niece cant have resembled the little blonde haired girl smiling in the picture anymore. By only 10 years old she had earned the black talon tattooed under her eye. It matched her uncle's. Knife and little Riley next to each other beaming in the photo. She had cried and cried the night before, but Knife knew that blooding her early would serve her well. Not many other children had killed. That was 10 years ago. She'd be going on 20 now. Hopefully, she was safe wherever she was. The thought occurred to Knife that the girl he was waiting for wasn't that different from his niece. Both of them had stolen a ship from their kin, and gone out on their own. Both had a crazy notion that robot trading made the whole family slavers. The one important difference is that Mary Talon wasn't his. He was glad nobody ever tracked Riley down. Riley had been gone for 3 years. Mary on the other hand had only recently hooked up with some anarchist, and joined his crew. A made Talon as simple crew on a ship!? Knife watched himself mouth the syllables in the toilet bowl "Despicable." He conjured a thick cigar from his long coat's pocket and lit it. Right on cue, the creaky door by the sinks opened. Knife breathed quiet. He took a quick peak through the corner of the stall and confirmed it was Mary. The lamb took few ignorant steps closer. Mad grin on his face, Knife burst out of the women's restroom stall singing the obvious nursery rhyme. A blonde haired little doll of a woman. Black talon still tattooed under her eye, which opened wide in horror as she backed away. A quick yelp was all she had time to scream before Knife pushed her against the wall and throttled her throat with his thick meaty palm as he let the other arm do its work. He did hesitate for a second. He could really draw this out if he wanted to, and he enjoyed her look of horror as he opened and closed his claw-like hand at the end of his metal arm just for fun. Knife liked to watch her squirm, but since she was family, he opted for a classic approach and crushed her skull. Knife savored the magical moment where her skull held and her throat tightened as she tried in vain to scream. All at once it gave way with a powerful crack, then a wet squish as brain slopped to the floor and she went limp. Blood rushed out of her nose and a single dangling eye remained. He tossed her aside like trash. Something like gunshots rang out. Knife inhaled. "Huh?" His cigar had unlit itself. As he looked at the three bullet holes in the wall, it became clear to him what had put out his cigar. Something warm was running down his leg - oil draining from his arm. It couldn't move. Three bullet holes pierced the brand new hydraulic lines! If he hadn't been standing profile to the shooter, the bullets would have gone right through him! A young kid trembled in the bathroom door, trying to stand up despite his shaking knees. Knife reckoned he couldn't be older than 15. Tears streamed down his eyes and he raised his arm as if throwing his gun would do any good. "Outta bullets?" Knife quickly drew his revolver and shot the black haired skinny kid in the eye. He fell against the door frame and bubbled up saliva while making a hideous gurgling noise. Covered in blood, the gangster cowboy lit his cigar as gunfire blasted outside. He felt confident that his crew could deal with the rest of the anarchists. It had been easy making sure the bar was empty, once he knew they were meeting the since dead bartender here on business. Nothing suspicious about an empty bar in a dying port town like this one. He pulled out his locket again, and compared the little girl who would grow up to be Riley to the mass of gore at his feet. He prayed to the Four Divines that he'd never find her like he had found Mary. He put the locket down. Something about the dead kid was distracting him. Not Mary, she was a normal corpse. It certainly wasn't just that it was a crying shame that a boy so young was dead. No, Knife was pretty numb to thoughts like that nowadays. It also wasn't that he was still drooling despite being dead. Sometimes people did that, or shat themselves. Namely, the issue was that he wasn't bleeding. Knife was covered in blood from the chest up, but it was all Mary's. He kicked the kid to make sure he was dead. The still gurgling corpse slumped forward, revealing the inch wide hole in the back of its head and the circuitry within. Electric currents arced and burst capacitors leaked their meager fluids over the ruined computer. Knife stood there slack jawed. He had heard of things like this, but never once expected to see one with his own eyes. It was a genuine piece of lost technology. A robot with a human shell. Such a thing was so valuable, even Grandpa Talon, the head of the Talon Family didn't own such a robot. Only the richest kings and queens owned something this valuable, and he had just brained it in a womens bathroom in some no good town. He took his face out of his palm. It didn't matter. Knife laughed. Like all members of the Talon Family, he was an educated roboticist - it came with the territory of being a robot rustler. It's the human shell that was valuable. Putting a new computer in the thing would be trivial. Knife spent a long time considering what he was going to do, trying his best to ignore the continuous gunfire. The battle should have been over by now. Reloading his gun gave his hands something to do while he thought about it. Such loot was so valuable, Knife was certain that Grandpa Talon wouldn't let him keep it. Selling a machine like this would net enough money to buy a whole fleet of ships. Just giving it to the big boss would definitely net him some favor, but was it really worth it? No, he didn't think so. Of course, Mary silently reminded him what happened to people who turned tail and ran. He ignored the bullet which whizzed through the wall and made his decision. He would leave, but he had to be smart about it. The gunfire stopped, which raised to his attention the more immediate matter of his crew. Some of them might want a piece of the treasure. One or two of em might be do gooders and try to tell Grandpa Talon right away. He smiled an awful yellow toothed smile as he decided on just the right plan. Humming Mary had a Little Lamb, he tossed his cigar in the sink and walked into the bar. A bull's head was mounted on the wall, along with yellow lights and humorous posters. A cat pulled at the swimsuit of a beautiful model with a startled expression. 'Curious?' the text under the image read. Toppled barstools, battered tables, and corpses littered the floor. Knife counted four dead anarchists and three of his own dead - two of them robots that could be repaired. There were still four of his crew remaining. Three strong cowboys and one robot. None of his crew were made men, but all of them aspired to be so and looked up to Knife like an uncle. Much to his chagrin it probably wouldn't be feasible to just shoot them all dead. The robot walked up to him on its stiff legs. It was originally a protocol droid, but a simple change in programming and modifications to its joints made it suitable for combat. The crew called it Gleam because of how shiny its carapace was. "They're all dead." Gleam was a robot of few words. Not all of them were as direct as he was. Knife thought of a lie on the fly to get everyone but the droid to leave. He needed Gleam's brain. Before he could speak, Gleam opened his fat mouth in simulated speech. Gleam said, "There's something you should know boss. You'll be thrilled. Great news!" It was unusual for Gleam to be so happy. Knife gave him a quizzical stare, not imagining it would be that important compared to what he just discovered thirty seconds prior. "Well, spit it out." "Their leader had a list of contacts in his pocket. One of them is your niece, Riley Talon!" "Oh... Oh hell." The metal idiot had gone and found something that dangerous in front of all the other crew. Knife knew he couldn't abandon his crew now, just to let them blab that to Grandpa Talon. He silently reached for his pistol, relieved he always kept it loaded. "You're not happy, boss?" "Happy as can be." Knife quickly raised his big silver revolver and fired.
NEXT TIME:
HOW ALONE WE ARE