Chapter 3

Poll Results:

Play Stupid: 1 vote

Tell Norm who he works for: 1 vote

Try to escape WITH the prostitute: 5 votes

Try to escape WITHOUT the prostitute: 2 votes

Detailed torture scene: 1 vote

Phil looked around the room for an escape route. The window toward the top of the wall appeared just large enough for him to fit through but it was behind the two large men and there didn't seem to be a ladder anywhere near to help him get to it. There was a door on the far side of the room on the other side of Norm, who didn't appear to be armed and for all his surprises still probably wasn't much of a fighting champ. Phil looked around the room. Within arms reach there was a chair, a wooden crate, and a table. Phil figured he could probably take Norm out pretty easily with the chair and make a dash for the door but then if the door was locked, there would be more problems and that still didn't account for the prostitute. Her only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time and Phil knew if he left her, they would probably kill her and God knows what else trying to get information. He would have to buy time to make a plan.

"Okay. Okay. Take it easy. Just let her go and I'll tell you everything you need to know."

"We're not letting her go."

"Then you will find me less than cooperative."

"That's a shame. Dorian!" The man holding the prostitute grabbed and twisted one of her arms. She screamed in agony.

"Okay. I'm going to be honest with you, Norm. I work for the FEA. They asked me to watch you, to make sure you didn't screw up the deal." Norm hesitated for a moment. "They didn't trust you. They thought you might try to make off with the money."

"Did they?"

"Yes. It's true." Norm looked thoughtful.

"They sent you to follow me? To make sure I didn't screw up the deal, huh?"

"Yes."

"That's troublesome."

"I understand. I know. They betrayed you, but I can help you. We can take them down together."

"Hm. Dorian... kill her."

"NO!" Phil watched as Dorian knocked the girl into the arms of the other man. She screamed and struggled as he held her. Dorian wrapped his hands around her neck. Phil could hear her shoes banging against the ground in the struggle but she was unable to scream any longer. "STOP! PLEASE!"

"There was no deal, Phil. The FEA didn't send me to get weapons. They sent me to waste your time while they carried out their actual plans."

"STOP HURTING HER!"

"It never even occurred to you? In the ten years they've been operating they've never once been caught and you really believed you had a hot lead?" The prostitute's kicks slowed and became weaker. "Anyway it doesn't matter. Their plans have changed now. They don't just want to blow up portals. They've decided to take on something bigger. And you-"

Suddenly, Phil heard light, high-pitched giggling. The prostitute had stopped struggling. She was laughing. Dorian looked confused. He grabbed her neck tighter. The prostitute laughed harder. "I like it rough" she purred, then reached down and grabbed her thigh, turned it like a key and removed it from her body. She lifted it to reveal a bundle of lights and exposed circuitry before jamming it against Dorian. He went stiff and emitted a high-pitched scream before falling to the ground. She turned on the man who was holding her.

"What the hell is this?" Norm screamed, panicked. Phil ran for the prostitute.

"Put your leg back on. We have to get out of here." He grabbed her by the hand and she quickly reattached her leg. They ran for the door. Phil tried to pry it open but it was locked from the outside. "There's a window."

"No."

"What? Are you crazy? They're going to scrap you for that!"

"I know. That's why we have to kill them before we go."

"What?"

"I'm not running again!" Norm was on the ground, trying to retrieve a blaster from Dorian's coat. The prostitute walked quickly over to him, pressed a spot on her wrist, and placed her hand on Norm's chest. He seized and convulsed for a minute before finally falling limp.

"What did you do?"

"Don't worry. It will look like a heart attack."

"And the other one?"

She grabbed the blaster out of Norm's hand. The man was trying desperately to climb through the window and escape but he was too large to fit. In a quick flash of light, he was dead. The prostitute handed Phil the weapon. "You'll probably need one of these."

"You're one of the Erotik models."

"Version 3.5"

"You're a long way from home."

"I killed a client. They were going to scrap me. I escaped."

"I didn't know cyborgs were capable of thinking for themselves."

She smiled. "I malfunctioned. Please, call me Zim." She climbed on top of the body on the floor and used him as a stool to get to the window and shimmy out. Phil followed. "You're in a lot of trouble if what he said was true."

"Yeah."