There is no hope of driving around them and through the creek. It is too deep at this point, the banks too steep. Koda brakes the pickup halfway between the woods and the barricade. She waits

One of the figures has a bullhorn. The voice that comes through has no human tone, only the flat, tinny quality of the amplifier. “You in the truck. Get out slowly with your hands on top of your head.!”

There are three possibilities. These soldiers may be not be human. They may be marauders set loose by the spreading chaos. Or they may be what they seem.

Deliberately, keeping her right hand in full view through the windshield, Koda slides out, placing both hands firmly on the crown of her Stetson and keeping the door between herself and the soldiers.

“Stand clear of the vehicle!”

Koda hesitates for a heartbeat. Once she is in the open, the Uzi will be in full view. She calculates the odds that she can reach it and take a few of these bastards, if bastards they are, with her before they shoot her down.

Another of the figures steps forward, arm raised. There is a grenade in its hand. “Stand clear NOW!”

The voice is female, deep and furry in the way of the Louisiana bayous. Almost certainly it belongs to a human. Between the soldier’s cap and the high collar that conceals most of her face, Koda can just make out the glint of dark eyes. Warily, stepping sideways, she comes out from behind the door.

She shouts, “You guys wanna introduce yourselves?” just as one exclaims, “Shit! He has a gun!”

The figure with the grenade takes a step forward. “Keep your hands away from your weapon!”

“They are away! Who the fuck are you?”

“We’re the free people of the United States! Take your left hand off your head and unbutton your coat and shirt! Let us see your throat!”

“After you!”

“Do it! Or I’ll frag your truck and incinerate you along with it!”

Non-negotiable. No more time to decide.

The woman brings her hands forward to pull the pin. Before she can reach it, a hawk plunges toward her out of the sky, screaming. It hurtles downward to within inches of her face, pulling up nanoseconds short of collision, talons outstretched to strike. Then it shoots upward again at an almost vertical angle. The woman yells, recoils , waivers and topples backward into the snow, the grenade disappearing somewhere in the drift.

Laughter catches in Koda’s throat as one of the other soldiers raises a gun to shoot at the bird. “No!” she shouts, pulling furiously at the collar of her coat with her right hand, raising her left in a fist. She whistles loud, piercingly. “Wiyo! Wiyo Cetan!”

She whistles three times. At the third, the hawk hovers briefly at her zenith, then stoops again, making straight for Koda. Koda whistles a fourth time, at a lower pitch, and the hawk’s body swings forward. Great wings backing air, it comes to light gently, almost delicately, on her fist. Then, mantling and hissing at the dumbstruck soldiers, it sidesteps its way up her arm to her shoulder. One of its wings strikes Koda’s hat, knocking it off her head, and her hair comes tumbling down. The hawk settles, glaring.

The leader has regained her feet. A wide grin splits her dark face as she opens her own collar, showing unmarked human flesh. “Colonel Margaret Allen, United States Air Force. Pleased to meet you.”

“Dakota Rivers. Lakota Nation.”

The Colonel offers her hand to shake, and Koda takes it. “You a vet?”

“Yeah.”

“I saw your license plate.” Koda follows her gaze back to her truck, where the registration numbers are split by a caduceus overlaying a V. “Figured you were human, but we’re not taking any chances.”

“You from the base?”

The Colonel grimaces. “What’s left of it.” Then, “What are you doing out on the road? You have people in the city?”

Koda shakes her head. “Scouting.”

“With a hawk? That’s a red-tail, isn’t it?”

“Not it. She.”

Another of the soldiers has gotten himself sufficiently together to approach. Koda stares at him. He is the first living man she has seen in three days who is not her kin. Her right hand drops to her waist, near the Uzi. He follows her gaze, then opens the throat of his coat.. “I’m real, too. August Schimmel. That’s a hell of a pet you’ve got there.”

Wiyo mantles again, and Koda smiles. It is not a particularly reassuring smile. “Not a pet. A friend.”

Colonel Allen bends down and retrieves Koda’s hat, hands it to her. “Come on over to one of the carriers where it’s warm. We need to talk.”

Koda nods. As she follows the other woman toward the dark olive trucks, Wiyo leaves her shoulder with a hiss and rises to settle in a bare sycamore by the bridge. The small flicker of hope that had gone out when she found the Hurleys massacred rekindles itself in a far corner of Koda’s mind. There are other people alive, and fighting. She is not alone.

CHAPTER THREE

“I read the news today, oh boy…”

1

ADVISORS AXE ANDROIDS, Heckle Hoaxer

New York (New York Post) The Chairman of the newly developed President’s Committee on Robotics, Howard Mexenbaum, issued a press release today stating that Peter Westerhaus’ revolutionary invention is no more revolutionary “than a child’s Halloween costume.” Mr. Mexenbaum is quoted as saying that “it’s obvious to anyone with two eyes in their head that this android business is a hoax of the highest order. George Lucas showed more ingenuity in stuffing that little man into his R2D2 costume than Westerhaus has yet shown the American people.”

When asked, in a private interview, whether Mr. Mexenbaum had actually seen the android in question, he stated that he had not, but that he had heard reports and that those reports were “virtually unanimous” in their disparagement of Westerhaus’ “invention”.

The press release went on to say that the Committee was drafting a letter to the President asking that the FBI and possibly the CIA open up preliminary investigations on this “modern day P.T. Barnum.”

::flip::

President is “Utterly Convinced”

Washington DC (AP) In a Press Conference in the Rose Garden today, President Hillary Clinton stated that she is “utterly convinced” that Peter Westerhaus’ android inventions are, in fact, “the genuine article.”

In a private meeting with the President earlier today, Westerhaus unveiled two prototypes of his androids, affectionately named C4PO and R2D3 in a sarcastic reply to Howard Mexenbaum’s earlier accusations of huckstering. The President reportedly stood by in awe as the androids walked up to her, shook her hand, greeted her by name, and returned to the side of their inventor. One of the androids apparently asked Ms. President if she would like him to fix the squeaky hinge in the door leading to the Oval Office. It is unknown how she replied.

When asked if she would be the first in line to purchase one of the androids when they became commercially available, the President smiled and said “no, that’s why I have Bill.”

::flip::

Westerhaus Announces Household Robot

New York (AP) Westerhaus Inc. announced today the unveiling of its new home robot, the revolutionary Maid Marian. “We are pleased to offer American householders the greatest time- and labor-saving device since the introduction of the automatic washing machine,” company spokesperson Melinda Deliganis said, “The Maid Marian is a highly programmable model that can take over such tedious jobs as cleaning, cooking and even a limited amount of routine errand-running, such as picking up parcels. She can walk at a maximum speed of 4 miles per hour, and her feet will never get tired!”

Deliganis characterized Microsoft’s crash program to develop a competing product as “irrelevant.” “We have the patents and the proprietary technology. While it is true that the first Maid Marians will be priced in the high-ticket range, we expect demand to be high enough to support a mass-market version within eighteen months.”

::flip::

Bishop Says There Are No Religious Implications

Washington (MSNBC) In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews yesterday, the Right Reverend William S. MacDermott, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States stated flatly that the introduction of android robots “does not pose any theological questions. Does your car pose a theological question?” the Bishop asked rhetorically. “Does your alarm clock? A robot is a machine, property that can be bought and sold. Nuts and bolts and printed circuits. Nothing more.”

Asked to respond to Televangelist Pat Robertson’s claim that the robots are “the work of the devil,” the Bishop referred Matthews to his previous response. “I’ll be surprised if the Rev. Robertson doesn’t have one mowing his lawn by the Fourth of July,” he quipped.

::flip::

Royals to Replace Staff with Bots?

London (Reuters) A spokesperson for Queen Camilla today declined to confirm or deny that Palace maids and other maintenance personnel will be replaced with androids. “Her Majesty welcomes technological change, and as you know has sponsored several scholarships for promising computer-technical students. This has nothing to do with the current nationwide shortage of domestic employees.’

In a related story (A 14) the Palace had “no comment” to Tonight Show host Jay Leno’s remark that His Majesty King Charles is an early, unmarketable Westerhaus test model.

::flip::

Phelps Campaign Interrupts Commendation Ceremony

Minneapolis (CNN) Jedadiah Phelps, the grandson of Fred Phelps, the late Minister of the Westboro Baptist Church, gathered his faithful flock in protest of a commendation ceremony held in Minneapolis today.

Holding handmade signs and shouting “God Hates Droids!”, the group of twenty managed to disrupt the proceedings at least twice before police clad in riot gear ushered them from the premises.

The ceremony, presided over by Mayor Tim “The Rule Man” Taylor, was to commemorate and commend the heroic actions of Android 77-EDY-823 (Eddie) during the recent bout of arson-related fires in the city. Firedroid Eddie, it will be remembered, managed a rescue total of twenty three humans, five dogs, seventeen cats, two birds and one chinchilla during the three day siege.

The mayor….

::flip::

Defense Secretary Announces Android Soldiers

Washington (AP) Secretary of Defense Humberto X. Palacios today announced that initial tests of android infantry soldiers have been “a stunning success. These new models, co-developed by Westerhaus and Boeing Defense Industries, have exceeded all expectations in target recognition, accuracy, versatility in weapons usage and deployment capability. The day is coming when no young American soldier will ever again have to face enemy fire head-on.” Palacios indicated that if these new models perform well in further tests which more closely match actual battlefield conditions, initial deployment could take place as soon as next year.

When asked if these new military androids could pose a danger to the American people, Palacios replied, “These androids will be deployed under very strict, very controlled military situations and will never come into contact with American civilians.”

Dr. Kirsten King, the Government’s top expert in robotics and a noted skeptic of the current “android rage” was unavailable for comment.

::flip::

Android Troops to be Deployed in Gulf

Camp David (Reuters) The Guardian has learned today that President Clinton will order the first deployment of android infantry to the Gulf theater next week. “I inherited this war, as you know,” Ms. Clinton said. “Now I mean to put a stop to it.”

::flip::

Loser Demands Gold Medalist Step Down

Copenhagen (Reuters) Ekaterina Petrovna Schevaryedna, Silver Medalist in the 2012 Winter Olympics, has filed a complaint alleging that Britney Chung, the U. S. skater who glided to a stunning upset over the top-rated Russian in the Women’s Figure Skating last night, should be disqualified. Schevaryedna alleges that her competitor is “not a human at all. She is a robot!”

Olympic officials here issued a brief statement this morning, saying only that Chung has consented to undergo X-ray examination and to submit blood samples. Off the record, one Commissioner quipped, “At least this is easier to deal with than crooked judges.”

::flip::

Android Involved in Assault on Driver

Kalamazoo (MSNBC) Today an android allegedly assaulted the driver of a vehicle which struck it as it was crossing the street in this Midwestern city. Neither the name of the driver nor the model of the android was made public. Details remain spotty.