If you're wandering in somewhere in the middle here, don't get lost. Head on back to Part One and Part Two for your full enjoyment of this modern-day tiny epic.
***
“Where is Dr. Eames? Come out and face me!” Artie yelled.
Traffic had already noticed the unusual activity, and
motorists politely lined up audience-style, chair to chair in the street, eager
to watch what might happen next. Less interested chairs continued to fly past
them overhead.
“Dr. Eames? That was quite a feat for you to capture my
wife. I’d like her released now.”
“Don’t you mean your partner…in crime?”
A solo man, dressed
neatly in a business suit that strained at his growing frame, levitated forward
from the wide door. His smiling, bearded face that seemed to be almost entirely
obscured with rolls of fat looked over at Mariana, who seemed to stir for the
first time. “As you can see, she’s in a very comfortable place, Dr. Culatio.
You’ll come over to our way of thinking too. Given enough time and leverage.”
“Drop and roll!”
An empty, remote-controlled chair from the north went for
their legs, but Melvin saw it coming. All four of them dropped to the ground
and rolled beneath it, to quickly stand again, still facing in the same
directions, but further away. Slowly they stepped backward until they were all
touching backs again.
“Nailed it. Thanks, Melvin.”
“We can’t keep this up forever, General. You got a plan?”
Artie looked with hope and concern at his wife, and noticed
something he hadn’t seen, or at least hadn’t processed since the shock of first
seeing her.
As she turned her head to see him, he saw the other side of
her head. She wore a sprig of forget-me-nots behind one ear.
His mind flashed back briefly (for any step away from a
dangerous reality had to be brief) of their time out on the lake at White Rock
Park. She’d pulled a forget-me-not out of the flowers he had picked for her in
their wanderings, and she pulled out each leaf in turn.
“One, keep your head about you.”
He watched her, fascinated by the looks she threw him
between each small, soft leaf.
“Two, don’t sacrifice what you can’t afford to lose. Three,
smile. Four, remember why. And five is…”
He smiled and pulled her to him. “What is five?”
“You want to know?”
“I have to know.”
She smiled back and kissed him on the nose. “Five, I love
you. There, five things you have to remember always…”
“Incoming!”
All three men dove for the ground and rolled, but Jiang
wasn’t fast enough. As the chair dipped beneath him, nearly to the ground, and
scooped him up, an automatic seat belt whipped him tightly to the chair. As he
grasped the handles out of self-preservation, silver cuffs wrapped themselves
around his wrists. A gasp arose from the comfortably seated audience.
“Artie! Melvin! Sir, help me!”
His cries grew fainter and fainter as his chair elegantly
whisked him away and around the other side of the building, out of sight. The
remaining three men, breathing hard, scrambled back into formation, back to
back, but less able to see what faced them.
Artie cursed himself for his distraction. His wife still sat
there, no reaction to her long-time friend being taken away.
“You’ve lost, Dr. Culatio. Time to toe the line, in your own
words. Your resistance is insignificant compared to the forces we can amass.
And really, it’s so unnecessary. I provide a public service. You see all these
people?” He gestured to the people seated in rows in the road, a modern Roman
arena. “I don’t see any of them resisting, and why should they? If I didn’t make hoverchairs, they’d be stuck
in cars right now. They’d be sitting in uncomfortable office seats. They’d have
to walk everywhere they’d went.”
Artie walked forward, away from the other two. Walked up to
the chair, hovering safely out of his reach.
“Hey, what’re ya doing, General?”
“Keep watch, Lieutenant – give warning.” Artie pointed at
his wife, now looking at him intently. “I was going to surrender when I came
here. You’ve stolen away everyone who dared to stand up to you, and seduced
them, drugged them – I don’t know what you’ve done. But just because I’m
losing, doesn’t mean I’ve lost.”
“You’ve lost, General. Your pitiful resistance force will
fall, one by one…”
“Jump!”
Without thinking, the three responded to Joe’s call, a new
maneuver to avoid the chairs that flew low enough to scoop up people who’d
dropped to the ground. There were three of them. Artie jumped to avoid one that
swooped in low behind him. He avoided the sides, but touched the metal behind
the backing, and felt the shock.
Joe jumped, but tripped and fell into another
chair waiting behind that one. The silver cuffs caught him and the chair flew
away in the same direction as Jiang’s chair.
Melvin not only jumped, but flipped in mid-air, head over
heels. The crowd cheered, but another chair behind him also flipped and trapped
him in the flip. Before he knew it, he was also sailing through the air,
restrained in comfort and style, following the others.
“General!”
His voice faded. Artie lay on the pavement, his body and
mind shaken by the electric shock delivered by the chair. He struggled to
stand.
“Oh no – don’t get up on my account – “ Artie saw Dr. Eaves gesture
for someone, something, to approach.
Artie could hear the gentle whirring, approaching him slowly
from many sides.
He pulled at the tiny blue flower between his fingers.
One. Keep your head
about you…
***
Oh no! Is it the end for Artie and the Rebel Knees?
Nope, it isn't. Check in tomorrow for the final installment...
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