Warehouse

1

“There are no more left in the wild. This is the last specimen.” The mechanical Drone M-19’s voice shivered with life-like anticipation. It held the sacrilegious artifact with arms fully extended, afraid of being burned. A large humanoid shape arose from a La-Z-Boy sofa in the back of the grey-walled penthouse.

“Where did you find it?” Watcher Andvhius whispered, mandibles clicking in the stale air.

“The Sweeps recovered it from a toy chest that belonged to a human girl. They told me it was terrifying, when they saw the gleam. One of ‘em almost fainted right there. To be honest, I can hardly stand to look at it myself. It’s alive, I think.” M-19 turned its eyes from the artifact in disgust.

Andvhius raised a taloned paw to his brow. How had the monsters ever created something so narcissistic, so dangerous? He retracted his hand after realizing the human nature of his gesture.

Andvhius beckoned the electronic servant with the flick of a claw.

“Give it to me,” he commanded.

“I have been programmed to protect you. I must warn you, Andvhius. You know what they said about these things. They have certain properties, like those of the Felis catus, and the Quadrofolium repens. Something in the genes. They called it ‘luck’, good or bad. Please be careful.” M-19 crossed the room on six piston-legs, a look of reproach in its arc-sodium bulbs.

“They have never struck out at any of my kind before. We have no reason to fear. Listen,” he sighed with exasperation, “if their luck is as easy to conquer as their fate, then you must agree.”

He pulled the handle of the relic from the Drone’s hand-clamp and held it above his head, eyeing it with wonder.

“And besides, we had no trouble exterminating the ladders and the umbrellas. There were some casualties with the larger African and Eurasian cats, but just Drone-related casualties, and no curse has blighted our crops. It’s time we say goodbye to vanity.”

There was the faintest strain of fear in his voice. He looked into the strange, reflective surface, and saw himself cloned instantly.

“Savages.” He clicked his jagged beak in an expression of distrust, and threw the mirror to the ground. Andvhius leapt behind the couch, and M-19 curled into an impenetrable lump. There were no sparks or eldritch wails from the shattered glass. The Drone extended an eyestalk and scanned the room for danger and began to unfurl, emitting three sharp blips to signify safety.

Andvhius crept out cautiously and rose to his full height.

“Let’s collect some samples. After that, I think we’re done here. Maybe for good.”

M-19 swept up the shards into a storage compartment in its side, and scuttled towards the door, following Andvhius downstairs to Warehouse 577 of the O.P.S.

2

The warehouse was as chaotic as usual, with hundreds of Drones rushing about in the dark, supplying vital nutrients to the Solitude Chambers. Andvhius and M-19 reached the ground level, and walked along Containment Tract 2, stopping another Drone, 577-XI.

“Let me see one. They had better be in prime condition,” Andvhius snarled.

XI short-circuited with panic for a moment, then extended an arm to press a small green button on the floor at Chamber 48. A pencil-thin camera resembling a metal straw rose from the ground and he peered into the hidden chamber. A small girl of around fifteen sat with an LCD mask wrapped around her features, engaged in an automated language lesson. She had strong arms and the perfect posture. Andvhius was thrilled.

“What is she called?” he asked.

“Sam-Hayes is her name. Are you pleased with the physical development?” XI’s bulbs darted from side to side. “We have updated our Confinement Policy, starting with this warehouse. The arm-holsters and wrist-locks now prevent all sensation of movement, and the muscles are still able to develop with our synthesized growth hormones. She is completely unaware of her body. She has no idea she is human.”

Andvhius nodded with approval. “Send the word to the other warehouses. This is amazing!” The grin of a jackal crept across his face, and he continued his parameter-check of Warehouse 577.

XI’s metallic surface reverberated with nervous energy as the Watcher stalked away. Andvhius had been far too close to its own little “experiment” in Chamber 47. When XI was sure Andvhius was far enough away, it clicked the floor button at Chamber 47. It looked in with wonder at Simon-Greenfield, the first sentient human since the Organization for Perpetual Solitude had been founded. XI thought of him as a son. After all, it was responsible for the “error” in Simon’s indoctrination, and the microcomputer hidden on his 3D Tele-Goggles. The Drone retracted the camera, and quickly moved on to survey further chambers.

* * *

Once the entire inventory had been recorded, Andvhius left M-19 to survey the warehouse, and opened the door to his private quarters. His daughter Khrmak greeted him with a jaw-click and returned her attention to her school-book, On the Human Species: The Rise and Fall. He sat down next to her on a wooden stool.

“Heavy reading?” he joked.

“I’m on Chapter Four. Post-Nuclear Geography. Learning about the Californian Ocean.”

She sounded bored. She never wanted to be a part of the Planetary Diversity Project on Earth. Her father thought it would be an “important cultural experience.”

“Khrmak, we won’t be here much longer. The specimens are almost ready to be released. Then, they will liberate themselves, and eachother. We’ll be leaving soon,” he said, placing his clawed hand on her forehead in a gesture of love.

“Why did we save them in the first place? We knew it was dangerous to preserve them.” Her innocent eyes questioned him.

“The Humans were truly an amazing species, Khrmak, capable of nearly anything. Our scholars realized this. We began our experiments and abductions long before men were capable of what they did. We didn’t know the gametes swimming in our test-tubes were…poison.”

“But what about after Hiroshima? The evidence was there.” She was not convinced.

“We came close to destroying all of our research and samples after the Atomic bomb, you’re right. But we believed they would reach their senses and put the warheads to sleep after the world became nuclearized.” How wrong we were, he thought.

“Mutually-assured destruction. One of my vocabulary phrases.” She glanced up at him with smiling eyes.

“Excellent work Khrmak.” Andvhius stood and paced towards the door. Khrmak hardly seemed to notice.

“And then there was the Six-Hours War. They winked out like a dying star. We were all of a sudden in possession of the only living human tissues. And that, Khrmak, is why we returned the samples. Too much responsibility. We couldn’t risk having anything human on our planet. A particle of human, a microscopic trace attached to a garment of clothing…anything could be enough to promote their survival. We rear them in the place of their origin, so they can finish themselves later, after we have abandoned this planet.” He was in a somber mood now.

“We will be eating shortly. I’ve got to start up the daily processing, but then I’ll be back.”

Khrmak clicked her jaw once more to say goodbye, but kept her face stuck in the text. Andvhius was proud of her interest in humans. As he walked back out the door to the central warehouse, he thought of what a great scholar she would become back home on Vespir.

3

Andvhius made his way through the bustling drones to the far northern side where the Projector had been installed. He flipped a small switch, and a disc the size of a fingernail ejected from an uncovered slot. A growl of frustration escaped his beak. He never understood the human trend of shrinking electronics, and was glad that the Drones had picked up on the primitive machines that were left behind by men enough to set up the network themselves. He slid the disc into the wireless routing machine, and began the daily broadcast.

4

If there was anything truly useful the humans left behind, it was the 3D tele-goggles. The Sweeps discovered them in piles around the wreckages of cities, suburbs, and countryside alike. The level of immersion they encouraged was atrocious, but particularly useful for the indoctrination of many in a short span of time. Andvhius slipped on a pair to view the film.

A violent burst of images assaulted his mind. He saw war atrocities in Iraq, morbidly obese children slamming cheeseburgers down their throats, piles of dollar bills, and slaughtered chickens hanging from metal clamps. Then a slogan floated across the screen - “What is Best for You? A Future of Safety. Defend Yourself at All Costs” - followed by a flashing image of a silverback gorilla’s snarling face. Various bits of footage from Vietnam and the World Trade Center appeared and vanished at subliminal speeds. Another slogan - “ THIS IS THE MAN YOU FEAR” - accompanied by the sounds of artillery fire and babies wailing. Andvhius ripped the tele-goggles from his face.

He called out to the nearest Drone.

“Who is responsible for this video?” His head was still reeling from the spasmodic clips.

“I believe it was Overseer Qu’Ta down south at Warehouse 748,” the Drone responded reluctantly, “Is there a problem with the quality?”

“He is a genius.”

Andvhius was amazed at the visceral quality of the film. He felt a deep gnawing anger after only a twenty second viewing, and could not imagine the effects of a fifteen-year viewing. They would take care of themselves, he reassured himself. And there will be no blood on my hands. Andvhius waved off the Drone and walked back to his quarters, and shared a delicious meal with his daughter.

On the next day, the evacuation of the Vespiri began.

Chapter 1: New Earth

There was a faint buzzing in the warehouse the morning the Vespiri left Earth for the last time. Andvhius had not heard the sound of a Carrier for over a decade, and his parietal nodes perked up in recognition. He rolled off of the mattress and found that Khrmak was nowhere to be found. He figured she was already packed and ready outside the warehouse walls, and carried his few crates of belongings to the entrance of the deserted floor. The Watcher of Warehouse 577 stood silently at the closed front gate, and heard a cacophony from just outside. With a scrape of his talons across the wall, he bid a fond farewell. The gate opened, and the light of the sun splashed around him.

The air was thick with the pollen of new strains of flowers, and the hum of the massive terraformers from the first post-human visit to Earth. They stood, monoliths of advanced alloy, breathing new life into the Earth’s tired atmosphere. Thousands of the dog-like Drones skittered about the windswept grasses with crates of excess nutrient packets and food rations for the Watchers. Companies of the Vespiri from the surrounding warehouses had gathered, and stood in small groups, applauding themselves for the work the terraformers had done in such a short time. He heard conversations about the fifteen year hiatus from Vespir, the bizarre animals that had been seen running about the area, and all the while the buzzing of the Carriers grew louder. Andvhius looked up the jagged stone walls of the Appalachian Ravine, and his beak hung open as the first ship flew into view.

The massive transparent body of the ship descended with a rush of air and gravity beams, and the organic mass within began its metamorphosis. When the area was clear of Drones and Vespiri, the ship pressed down on the surface, and a great hatch crashed open.

* * *

The first process of loading a Vespiri science vessel involved the packing of essential baggage into the large basin at the rear of the ship. After the supplies were loaded, the legions of Drones marched up the ramps and compressed themselves into niches built in the lower walls. Andvhius was nervous when it was the Watchers’ time to board, although he longed to be home after such an extended leave. The glistening inner-organism served as part of the motor and neural network of the vessel, and the Vespiri provided the fuel. One by one, they marched up the transparent metal ramp, and removed their silky overgarments. Along the central bridge, there were hundreds of stalls leading to pockmarks formed in the flesh, and Andvhius crawled inside the space assigned to him. Stingers from the inner-organism pierced his veins and drew a minute amount of blood as he was encompassed inside the folds of organic mass. He was claustrophobic and tense, but he knew it was necessary to drive the vessel. His blood and the blood of the organism mixed, and a natural anaesthetic entered his body. As he floated towards hibernation, he began to feel the others connected to the neural network. They had become the vessel. He closed his eyes and slept.

* * *

His eyes opened. He weighed tons, he was flying. His size was colossal. He felt the strength of an army inside himself. The grassy plains blurred, and he saw other Carriers flying above and below him. He breached the walls of the Ravine and soared across the great flatlands of the East. Thousands of warehouses stretched miles from the coast through the Ravine, and great clouds of Vespiri cheered at the sight of him. He was going home, flying faster and faster, spurred by the gravity beams, until the landscape melted into green and brown ribbons in his new enormous eyes. The warmth of the atmosphere speeding against his skin, the sheer velocity, he was going home at last. Good riddance to this place. Home. He returned to his hibernation.

* * *

Watcher Qu’Ta, the last Vespiri to board the final Carrier, held a small metallic sphere in his palm. With a sharp talon, he depressed the switch. The device began a chain reaction of electronic signals, travelling from warehouse to warehouse, until they had all been reached. A loud groaning of gears rended the air as the ceilings of the Isolation Chambers slid away. The chambers moved upward on tracks until they reached ground level, and the 3D Tele-Goggles dropped from the eyes of the captives. The shackles unhinged. Qu’Ta stepped inside, and walked toward his room aboard the carrier.

* * *

A pasty body flailed around on the grimy floor of warehouse 577. Jasmine-Raynham craned her neck and observed her naked form. With growing terror, she looked down her shoulder, down her arm, down her wrist, to the tell-tale human fingers. She groaned and began to scream, and as more specimens discovered the truth, the cries amplified and filled the warehouse.