Fatal Exception Read online

  As Phin raced down the long corridor, it occurred to him that the sound of the SpidR's footsteps wouldn't carry either, but it was too late. He rounded a corner and came face to face with the robotic monstrosity.

  “Halt. Unauthorized personnel. Initiating disposal protocol.” The SpidR's congenial voice was far too friendly to sound menacing, but the two legs it brought up got the message across.

  * * *

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  * * *

  ANGER BOILED IN ELLIOT STORM'S mind like molten lava. He sat in his office, just waiting. The power was still out, the door was still bolted, and Elliot was still trapped.

  Trapped — just like all the people he'd trapped throughout this building and sent down to the basement . . .

  Elliot gasped. He'd forgotten all about the basement chutes! They weren't wired into the security system or the network — they were just manual devices hidden behind sliding panels. He rushed over to the chute and move the panel aside.

  There it was — his ticket to freedom. And once he got down to the basement, he'd find Phinnaeus Webb, hopefully before it was too late.

  Elliot had never gone down the chutes himself, but he'd seen what sometimes happened on the way down — the test subjects often reached the bottom slightly bruised — but he didn't have a choice. There was no handle (it wasn't designed as a water slide), so Elliot dove in.

  Unlike the gentle slopes in some of the other chutes in the building, the chute from Elliot's office went nearly straight down. He tried to press his feet into the sides, but he was already going too fast. His head whipped backward and slammed into the wall. When he landed on the soft mat at the bottom, Elliot Storm was out cold.

  * * *

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  * * *

  TIFFANY WAS STARTING TO COME back to consciousness. Zook sat in front of her. He reached out and shook her shoulder as soon as she began to stir.

  “Wake up, Tiffany. We have to get out of here.”

  Still groggy from the drug-induced coma, she looked around and rubbed her eyes.

  “Where am I? Zook?”

  “I'm not sure. I think we're somewhere on the Storm campus.”

  “But where?”

  “Some kind of laboratory. I know about as much as you do. I figure we've been out cold for a while.”

  Tiffany lurched forward and Zook caught her.

  “Settle down, kid. Not too fast. Take a minute to get your balance.”

  Tiffany looked over and saw the temps all wired up and stuffed with hoses.

  “Holy shit!”

  “Yeah. Remember how everybody said I was paranoid thinking Elliot Storm was up to no good? I hate to say I told you so, but . . . ”

  “Jesus Christ, what did he do to them?”

  “I don't know, but I figure that's what he has planned for us unless we get out of here.”

  “Is that door locked?”

  Zook walked to the door and tried to pull on it.

  “Not sure. There's a panel here on the wall. I can try something . . . ”

  Zook started punching buttons on the control panel, but to no effect. They were trapped.

  Tiffany, now a little steadier on her feet, started looking around.

  “Find a weapon. Whenever somebody opens that door, we rush 'em and get out of here.”

  Zook motioned toward the unfortunate temps.

  “I think we'll have to leave them here for now.”

  Tiffany thought for a moment.

  “You're right. Once we get out, we can get the cops in here, paramedics, whatever. I bet those machines are keeping them alive.”

  Tiffany unscrewed a heavy metal pipe from one of the restraining platforms.

  “This ought to fuck somebody up.”

  Zook and Tiffany took up positions on either side of the door.

  “Now, we wait.”

  * * *

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  * * *

  DR. REINHART SAT IN THE control room watching the video feed from the SpidR as it made its rounds through all three above-ground floors of the building, but it just kept moving without any intruder alerts. As it reached the third floor, someone flashed onto the screen for a brief moment. Then the video feed cut out.

  Good, Dr. Reinhart thought. He had designed the video feed on the SpidR to cut out whenever the robot went into Attack or Disposal mode. That way, if anyone ever got their hands on the video files, there would be no record of what the robot had done — and, presumably, no way to figure out exactly what the robot had been ordered to do.

  The robot had an on-board tracking device that Reinhart had displayed on a map of the building. He was able to watch the blinking red dot as it made its way back to the service elevator to return to the basement. As ordered, the SpidR would be on its way to the incinerator room to dispose of the intruder.

  “Quite a vicious little thing,” Reinhart said to himself.

  Exactly as expected, the red dot moved down to the basement and then moved down the hall toward the incinerator. After remaining in the incinerator room, the dot returned to the recharge station.

  Satisfied that the threat was now eliminated, Dr. Reinhart left the control room to go get his artificial arms and continue with the work on the remaining subjects.

  * * *

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  * * *

  ELLIOT STORM AWOKE ON THE floor in the basement with a nasty bump on his head. It took him a moment to get his bearings.

  Okay, I was in my office. I got sealed in and the power was cut off, probably by Phinnaeus Webb. I dove down the chute to the basement.

  He looked around. This was the basement alright. Elliot put his hand on the bump on his forehead and pulled it away immediately. He hoped it wasn't serious, but he could tell just by that brief touch that it was quite swollen.

  Elliot stood and exited the room into the hallway, where he saw Dr. Reinhart standing.

  “Doctor — is everything alright?”

  The doctor whirled around.

  “Ja. I sent ze Spider. He took care of ze pest.”

  So much for offering him a position in the company. Elliot hated to see the kid's talent go to waste like that.

  “Where is he now?”

  “In ze incinerator.”

  Too late.

  “What are you doing now, doctor?”

  “Going back to finish preparing ze next subject.”

  “Very well. I'll be in Room 6.”

  The hallway was empty again — except for the pair of eyes peeking through the tiny window in the incinerator room door.

  As Dr. Reinhart entered the operating room, he felt an explosion of pain as a large metal bar came down on his head.

  “Mein Gott!” he screamed as he wheeled himself backwards and swung his robotic arms in all directions.

  “Steve! You hit a cripple!” Tiffany screamed.

  “You said to hit whoever came through the door!” Zook yelled back.

  “Nevermind! Let's get the hell out of here.”

  “Stop! Spider, come here!” the injured doctor bellowed.

  The robotic spider sprang to life and came dashing to the doctor's side.

  “Well kid,” Zook said out the side of his mouth, “it was good knowing you . . . ”

  Chapter 29

  Rewind, Rinse, Repeat

  ON THE THIRD FLOOR OF the Storm Computer Corporation building, Phinnaeus Webb found himself face-to-screen with a giant robotic spider.

  “Halt. Unauthorized personnel. Initiating disposal protocol.”

  The red light on the SpidR's camera turned off, and it raised two of its powerful arms above its screen/head. Phin had just a fraction of a second to act before the robot sunk its sharp blades into his chest.

  “Epsilon Four Two One,” Phin blurted out frantically. The SpidR stopped moving and lowered its feet to the floor.

  “Command code verified. What can I do for you, Phinnae
us?”

  When Phin first ran across the SpidR on the Storm network, he spent hours delving into its source code, implanting the digital equivalent of post-hypnotic suggestions; except, in this case, they weren't merely suggestions. As a robot, the SpidR would be totally and blindly obedient to Phin's orders.

  “Lock out all other users.”

  “Command lockout verified,” the SpidR responded.

  “Play back last issued command not from this user.”

  The SpidR's screen crackled to life with an image of an old man — the same wheelchair-bound man Phin had seen at the press conference.

  “Patrol mode, floors one, two, and three. Unauthorized personnel should be disposed. Understood?”

  “Spider, identify user.”

  “Dr. Klaus Reinhart.”

  “Cross-reference with external sources.”

  “One moment please.”

  Phin thought to himself for a moment that maybe Elliot Storm was onto something with this beastly computer-thing. Being able to just ask it questions and have it provide answers for you from the Internet was, in fact, rather convenient.

  “Answer found. Verbal or display?”

  “Verbal.” Phin's first instinct was to say “please,” but it did no good to say “please” to a robot — it wasn't exactly going to have its feelings hurt by bad manners. Phin knew that the robot was literally all business, and that business was a matter of ones and zeros, yes or no.

  “Doctor Klaus Reinhart is a German expatriate. It is widely believed that he practiced medicine for the Nazi regime. He disappeared from Germany sometime before the Nuremberg trials and is presumed dead.”

  “Well,” Phin said, “I guess those rumors are greatly exaggerated.”

  “Repeat command please,” the SpidR responded.

  “Nevermind. What is your usual course of action when carrying out disposal mode?”

  “Subject is carried to underground level and deposited in the incinerator.”

  “And then?”

  “Then I return to base station for recharge and further orders.”

  “Good. I want you to go to the incinerator room and then return to your base station.”

  “Now, sir?” the SpidR asked.

  “Wait, not yet. Repeat current authorized user list.” “Only current user Phinnaeus Webb is authorized for command functions at this time.”

  “Good. Authorize other regular users for low level commands, but only allow current user for high level commands.”

  “Command function modification complete. Carrying out orders.”

  Tick tick tick tick tick.

  Phin followed close behind the SpidR as it went down the hall back to the elevator. On any other day, Phin might have considered just taking the SpidR home with him — maybe he could program it to do laundry — but the robot was serving a far more important role right now: getting him undetected into the basement level of the building.

  When the elevator carrying the SpidR and Phin reached the basement level, the SpidR continued on its regularly scheduled programming and headed toward the incinerator room, with Phin following fast. This was the one part of the plan Phin hadn't really thought through — if someone had been waiting at the doors, he would have been screwed. But, as things turned out, the corridor through the basement was deserted.

  As he moved down the hall, he studied each door carefully. It looked to be a series of at least a dozen rooms, connected by a single long corridor. He would probably have to check each one in order to find Tiffany.

  The SpidR approached the incinerator room, and the door slid open as it drew near. Phin followed the robot inside and hid beside a wall. The robot stood for a moment next to the incinerator's conveyor belt, then exited the room and headed up the hall. Phin watched through the tiny window as the SpidR reached a small platform in the hallway and crouched down on top of it, rather like a puppy on a big pillow, except this puppy was a 500-pound steel arachnid, and the pillow was its charging station. Even so, maybe the doctor had some sort of pet in mind when he'd designed the SpidR.

  Phin watched the hall for a minute to see what happened. A few moments later, the doctor came rolling out of a room at the end of the hall. Soon afterwards, a door near Phin opened, and Elliot Storm staggered out.

  “How the hell did he get down here?” Phinnaeus whispered to himself.

  Phin watched through the window as the two approached each other and started talking. He couldn't hear anything, but he was able to make out a few words on their lips.

  He saw “spider” and “pest” - must have been talking about him — and “bitch.”

  Phin's eyes widened. Could they be talking about Tiffany? He gave up on the stripper and decided to go fishing in a pond a little closer to home. There was no telling what Elliot was doing to her down here. Phin watched Elliot as he headed into a nearby room, and the doctor went into another room.

  Now he had a good idea of where Tiffany was being held. But what was he going to do, just kick in the door and punch out Elliot? He needed a better plan than that.

  The SpidR!

  He could order it to dispose of Elliot and the good doctor and then he could get Tiffany and everyone else out of there. It was perfect: turn their little toy against them.

  Phin slid open the incinerator room door, but before he could act on his plan, a door from down the hall opened and Doctor Reinhart came rolling out with a pair of big robotic arms swinging wildly.

  “Spider! Come here!” Dr. Reinhart screamed. The SpidR sprang from its base station and went to the doctor's side.

  Two figures erupted from inside the room — it was Tiffany and Zook! Phin started to rush over, but they didn't see him. They were too focused on the robot and the evil German scientist.

  “Spider, dispose of zhese two!” Dr. Reinhart growled.

  Zook and Tiffany both started backing away, but there was nowhere to run — their backs were already against the wall.

  The SpidR, on the other hand, just stood there.

  “Spider! Attack mode! Kill zhem!”

  The SpidR engaged its speech circuits to respond.

  “I'm sorry, the current user is not authorized for high level commands.”

  “Current . . . user? I created you! You vill obey me! Kill zhem!”

  Phin chose this as the proper moment to come out of hiding.

  “Sorry, doctor,” he said “He's been slightly reprogrammed.”

  “Phin!” Tiffany yelled and ran over to him.

  Dr. Reinhart was still very much confused — the SpidR had always obeyed him without delay. “Authorization alpha two two four. Spider, kill all of zhem!”

  “I'm sorry, the current user is not authorized for high level commands.”

  “Get out of here, Tiffany. There's a staircase that way.”

  “I'm not going anywhere without you.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  Zook just stood there trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

  “Spider! Hör mir zu!

  Phin kept one arm around Tiffany as he turned to address the SpidR.

  “Spider, dispose of Dr. Reinhart.”

  “Nein!” the doctor screamed. “Nein nein nein!”

  The SpidR turned around, sank two of its steel legs into Dr. Reinhart's stomach and lifted him out of the wheelchair.

  The doctor coughed and sputtered as the robot carried him down the hall toward the incinerator room. Once the door had slid open, the SpidR deposited the dying doctor on the conveyor belt, which conveniently started up and pushed him into the waiting flames. As the chamber closed and the flames intensified, the SpidR simply walked out of the room and returned to its base station.

  The three techs — Phin, Zook, and Tiffany stood and watched it all in the corridor.

  “Who the hell was that guy, and what the hell is going on here?” Zook asked.

  “It's a pretty long story,” Phin said. “I'll explain it all once we get out of here, but first we need to fin
d Elliot Storm. I know he's got other people locked up around here.”

  “Spider,” Phin said, “Go open all the doors.”

  The SpidR didn't budge. A single tiny wisp of smoke drifted up slowly from a vent on the side of its body. The death of Dr. Reinhart had triggered a final program locked away deep in its firmware. The SpidR had destroyed itself.

  “Guess we're on our own,” Phin said.

  “Good. I didn't like that thing anyway.” Zook said.

  “Tiffany, wait back in that room,” Phin said.

  “Not a chance,” Tiffany responded.

  “Hey, I had to try to be the chivalrous macho type at least once.”

  Phin led the trio around the basement as they systematically opened each door to check for survivors. Most of the rooms seemed to be empty, but they had obviously been used for nefarious purposes. They all had the same metal operating tables, rack space for computer servers, and drain holes in the floors, no doubt for washing away blood.

  All the doors looked alike to Phin, so he couldn't remember exactly which one he'd seen Elliot Storm enter a few moments earlier. Every time they opened a door, Zook stood ready with a metal bar held high above his head, ready to bring it crashing down on Elliot's cranium. It never happened.

  As they neared the end of the hall without having located Elliot, they moved to the last few doors. Phin peeked through the window in one of the doors and saw a woman strapped to a table, stripped naked. She appeared to be unconscious, but she didn't have any of the same tubes and wires as the others.

  “There's someone in there,” Phin whispered. He pressed the button to open the door and found that he was staring down the barrel of a Walther P-38 handgun.

  “Phinnaeus Webb. I thought I told you before to keep away from my girl.”

  “Oh shit,” Zook said, “the girl from the strip club.”

  “Strip club?” Tiffany asked, puzzled despite the man waving a gun in her direction.

  “Come with me, Phin. You two . . . ” Elliot motioned toward Tiffany and Zook “ . . . get in the room.”

  They did so and Elliot pressed the button to shut the door. He entered a quick code, engaging the lock, never removing the muzzle of the pistol from Phin's forehead.