Random Story :
Welcome To The Hotel Kraken
Carmina Claypool didn’t look much like a madam. She looked …
Stealing Someone New
Author: CB Droege
Tamilla moves carefully and silently through the dark fairground. She knows it’s only minimally guarded, and that the CCTV isn’t being monitored at night, but she’s learned to take every job seriously.
Upon reaching the carousel, she checks the photo to confirm the target and pulls a battery-powered saw from her pack. The thin, oscillating blade makes little noise as it bites into the horse’s neck, and it makes quick work of the fiberglass. She tucks the stiff cerulean mane into her satchel, sparing a moment to pity the scalped stallion.
—
When a client hires her to steal a massive gemstone or a famous painting, there isn’t anything to wonder about. Tonight, she can’t help but be curious as she approaches the meeting place, an old electronics warehouse. She pushes open the unlocked door, expecting to meet an eccentric collector. She freezes.
There are dozens of people there.
After a moment of panic, she realizes the others are not police, she recognizes most as fellow burglars. They’re scattered about an otherwise empty truck dock in various states of relaxation and boredom. Who would hire so many thieves in one night?
“Now we can get started!” an excited voice says from a PA. Some criminals look over at her, but most are looking around to find the source of the voice. “In turn, I’ll give you each simple instructions, then you may go. Gerard Harris?” A man looks up in surprise. Tamilla knows him. She worked with Gerard on a jewel heist back in 2032, during the great flood. “Place your acquisition on the floor.”
Gerard places what looks like a steel bowling ball on the dock. When no further orders come, he heads out the door, giving Tamilla a tiny nod as he passes.
The voice calls one after another. There are metal plates, gears, pistons, rubber parts, and bits of circuitry. Each with quick, clear instructions for attachment. They are building a machine. Soon it becomes obvious the form is humanoid. Theft isn’t the most illegal thing they’re all doing tonight.
Penultimately, A large man tasked with fitting brass plates onto the bottoms of the feet, also stands the machine upright. Face grim, he goes out the same way all the others have, leaving her alone with the android.
“Tamilla Clarke…” The machine is slightly taller than her. Where its face would be is a smooth brushed-steel surface. She shudders as she approaches. She doesn’t wait for instructions but lifts the mane and snaps it neatly into a bracket. The fiberglass blends naturally into the look of the android, a blue mohawk atop a creature which is anti-authority in aesthetic and in its very existence.
The machine’s weight shifts. Tamilla gasps and steps back. “I apologize,” the voice is clearer now, and coming from the machine. “I didn’t mean to startle you.” It extends a hand toward her in greeting. Tentatively, she takes the cold metal hand. Its grip is handshake ideal. “This is all very new to me.”