Unity by Carl Stubblefield (epub read online books TXT) 📕

to a stop by BoJack’s side and bit the corner off of a gel, then squished the gooey contents in his slack mouth. He looked worse than Gus had ever seen him: blanched like a drowning victim but shriveled instead of bloated. The only hint that he was alive were the sunken eyes slowly turning to Gus in recognition. With one gel in, Gus gently closed BoJack’s mouth and massaged his throat, hoping that it would go down the right tube and BoJack wouldn’t choke.

When nothing apparent happened, Gus ripped into another gel and force-fed it to BoJack.

He gripped Gus’ hand with a weak hand and moaned, “Worth it…” in a voice that sounded like dust escaping a sealed tomb, before his head fell back.

Chapter Eighty-Seven

Take What You Want

Gus held his mentor, lying limp in his trembling hands. Why was he shaking? He noticed the movement coming from BoJack.

“I had you all there, didn’t I?” the corpse-like man rasped, his laugh turning into a hacking cough.

Yuki gave him a light punch on the shoulder.

“You’re a real bastard, you know that?!” Anastasia spat, throwing her head back and stomping off. This only made BoJack laugh all the more.

Gus fed BoJack the last gel and he was able to chew it himself. Color started to flood back into his cheeks. His hair was still sweaty and slicked back, but as everyone removed their hands, the cuts were already nothing more than red scratches that faded to pink and smoothed out before their eyes.

“Glad you’re back, buddy.” Gus clapped BoJack on the shoulder and then cast his eyes around the room. He flipped the cart and took out the small bin that held the gels inside. After making the rounds, everyone was out of immediate danger and BoJack saw to everyone’s injuries and was able to reverse any damage utilizing the surgical instruments that were readily available. Soon everyone was back to 100% and searching the room for any loot they could find.

The Vault was a treasure trove. Aurora had found two tool benches and was organizing her kit, taking and cataloging all the parts like a kid sorting their Halloween hoard. Component after component dropped into her well organized kit composed of many zippered pockets.

“Mind if I keep a lot of this?” BoJack held up one of the handheld devices to Gus. “These would cost mega credits to buy. I doubt even large hospitals would have the budget for most of this.”

“Take it all; I don’t care if I ever see this place again,” Gus said, looking back towards the lab where Mengele had worked on him and shuddering a bit.

“Um, about that…” Yuki tiptoed forward. “It might be a really good idea to claim this base as our own. You know, hack in and change the accesses so Mengele can’t get back in here after we leave.”

“You sure he wouldn’t have some kind of backdoor?” Darik asked.

“You wound me, Darik. Have you been sleeping this whole time? I can do it.”

“Let’s clear off one of these recovery beds, so you can access the system and hack in.” Gus turned to drag one from the neighboring operating rooms.

Yuki grabbed his arm to stop him. “Yeah. If I do it, I’m going to take the long way. It’ll take a lot longer, but it’s also safer. I’ve had enough excitement for just a little bit.”

“Go ahead, Yuki, I like ‘safe’ once in a while,” Gus agreed. “How long do you think it will take?”

“I won’t know until I get in, but I guesstimate two hours. Give me two hours. If it’s too much, I’ll drop a worm in to ruin all of the computers here. Without something to manage the heat down here, I guess the whole place will break down pretty quickly, and Mengele will be hard pressed to salvage anything. Is that enough time for you?”

“The sooner we’re out of here the better, as far as I’m concerned.”

Sanura removed her helmet and preened her fur a bit to tame it, waiting patiently for Gus to finish. When Gus’ attention was free, she addressed him. “Forgive me, I’ve got to get back. I have a date with my daughter. There should be something in the hangar I could use. I will join you all back at the manor when I get her. I may even bring her there to meet you.”

“Why don’t you take my skip-jump? I’ll send you the coordinates.” Gus reviewed his logs and slid over the information.

“Thank you, that will save me some time.” Prime bowed slightly and ran toward the exit.

Grimdark sat near Harmony. She still had a drawn expression, staring straight ahead, mumbling as Grimdark spoke with her.

“Is she going to be okay, BoJack? Did you find anything when you checked her out?”

“No mental damage, but she said something about how Mengele turned her ability back onto her. She said it was… ‘invasive,’ but wouldn’t go into much detail. I think she just needs some time. What about you, Gus? How are you doing?”

“I… I’m not ready to talk about what went on here. Just know that it was horrible. Give her some space too. Nothing good comes from brushing up against that man.”

“That reminds me, I have something to show you that I think you’ll be interested in. Follow me.” BoJack gestured to a display case filled with vials.

There was no room to move in the small porta-potty-sized ship as it flew along its preprogrammed trajectory to Mengele’s closest base. In truth, they were designed to ship specimens, not people, but it worked in a pinch.

There was little to occupy his mind, so he retreated to his memory palace and ruminated on the battle. Partitioning his mind, he reviewed different aspects. One raged with the bitterness of failure and loss of his materials. The utter waste galled him. He finally understood why others put self-destructs into their bases. Better that no one gain access to his hard-earned assets than they fall into