27 January 2106 by Pete III
"Once again, if that wasn't a cloaking field how were you invisible to us just now?"
"It's, uh, t-trade secret, but I'll tell you!" I think my voice cracked. Yes, I must be coming across as a bit cowardly, but Sharon 360s have the ability to tear one's head off at a range of three meters. I have not had such a close view of one before that night, either. "It's called Reflective Light Shielding. Or ReLiS. Big 'R' little 'e' big 'L' little 'i' big 'S'."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah--how's it work, short-eyes?"
Yes, these men--or at least this one--were definitely from New Columbia. Only brutes like these refer to tech-jockeys like Ken as 'short-eyes'. Bleeding barbarians...
"It's an EM field that is projected by emitters in the ceiling to block visible light from reflecting off of the objects in a room. I'm an inventor, you see." I tried to smile.
"An inventor? This is supposed to be a government agent's safehouse."
I laughed. "Not a very safe house if someone like yourself is aware of it."
Condo pushed his weapon harder against my jaw. "I'm sure, it's just the wrong address. Should you try next door, perhaps?"
"Sir, I just picked something in the room to the left." It was Collins talking.
"Right--what was that? Who's in there, short-eyes?"
"Em..." I had to think fast. "My... robot."
"Is he armed?"
"NO!" I realized I reacted to dramatically for having a gun to my jaw. "I mean, I'm sorry... no--it's not armed."
"Oh yeah? We'll do a scan on it. Get it out here."
I looked at Condo and tried to look stern. "Do you really have to hold that thing so close to me? I know you could cut me in half with it!"
"Tsallright, Condo. He knows he's covered." Allbrecht seemed a reasonable man--be he was definitely from the east coast--only east coasters rolled their T and their S together like that. "Now get your damn 'bot out here."
"Right," I said, looking to the door to Ken's bedroom. "Ken 5000, come here!"
"Why do you keep a robot in a bedroom?" Collins asked.
I didn't answer as the door opened with Ken appearing from behind it. "Hello, Ken 5000. Please show these men that you are not armed."
Ken moved a bit too human-ly into the center of the room to where his coffee table once sat and then held his arms parallel to the floor. In his right hand was a small dev.
"Collins, scan it." Allbrecht said. "Very realistic robot you've got here. Of course it's yellow because you are."
I was right--barbarians. Since when are Asians called 'yellow' anymore?
"Hey," Condo said, "why does your 'bot need a dev?"
"Oh, I--" before I could finish my statement, Ken aimed his dev at Condo. Instantly, a series of convex flaps of Plecksi flipped up, creating a hemispherical reflector and flashed. As Condo fell backwards, Ken aimed the dev at the other two and before I could fully register what had happened they were on their way to the floor as well.
"Banzai! Sugoi!" Ken smiled, looking at his dev. He then looked to me "Ken 5000, Pito?"
"What? It was all I could come up with," I said as he shook his head and then looked to his dev again.
"Sugoi," he said, confidently. That word means 'incredible' or something similar.
"Uh, nandeska?" I asked him "what is that" in his native language.
"That was some trick!" Hu said exiting the other bedroom. "I don't remember seeing that feature in the dev commercial!"
"It's not a dev--it's an EMPulser," Ken said pronouncing it 'ehmpulser.'
"EM? You mean 'E-M'? Electro-Magnetic? Is that what I think it sounds like?"
"So des." Over the past few days I've noticed when ever Ken gets excited he speaks Japanese. Luckily, I know a few words so when my dev isn't translating I still know what he means.
"It is? Well, why don't you explain it to me anyway."
"It sends out a pulse of electro-magnetic energy and disrupts any electrical fields. I got the idea from the nuclear weapons countries used to threaten each other with back in the Twenty-First. Seconds before the nuclear missile would hit, it would send out an EM pulse that would shut down all electrical devices."
"Yes, yes..." Hu began, "but Ken-san--by all electrical fields, do you mean your device also disrupts brainwaves?"
"Unfortunately, yes. As you can see, these three are quite out of commission."
"You've fried their nervous systems, Ken!" Hu said moving to the bodies of Collins and Allbrecht.
"They were going to kill us, Hu."
"That doesn't mean you had to kill them does it?"
"Well, I--"
"You what?"
"I hadn't thought of it."
"Surely with all of your wonderful gadgetry you could have developed a non-lethal weapon?"
"I work for the Body Government. The thought hadn't occurred to me, Doctor."
Hu took a deep breath and seemed to suppress a curled upper lip.
"You've got to go lightly on him Ken, he took that oath doctors used to take about doing no harm or some such thing."
"How... unique, Hu. I'm impressed."
"Morals, Ken, are not so unique in our little group, I should hope."
"Just 'Ken'? Am I not honorable to you anymore, Hu-san?"
Hu took another deep breath. That's when I interrupted. "Gentlemen, please--I..."
"You?" Ken asked.
"Think it's time." I paused for dramatic effect adding, "I am sensing my directions to the rendezvous point with Ryca."
Hu stood and joined Ken's stare--both were fascinated by what I had just admitted. The chemcoding was working...
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