Beast Machine (30 page)

“
Thane,” called Silva
softly. “Are you ready to meet our first local Arkansan
practitioner?” Silva turned his head slightly, awaiting a response
from Chairman Obelis’ one-man, brute-force security
team.

“
Of course,” replied Thane
plainly. His skin hadn’t shone for several days now and it began to
worry the pure white fleshed giant. He had tremendous enthusiasm
for his shining skin; he took pride in it when he was able to
shine. Thane rarely expressed his internal emotions out loud,
frankly, because he rarely had them, so he decided to keep this
worry about his skin to himself as well. “No reason to express
myself now to this fat doctor,” he thought.

“
Good,” said Silva. He
gripped the handles of the white leather chair and rubbed his
fingers over the leather. His eyes closed and he breathed in
deeply. The leather was just so wonderful.

The odd couple of Doctor
Silva and Thane were at one of Chairman Obelis’ many houses in
Arkansas. “The amount of homes Obelis has in the state of Arkansas
is absurd – hell, the total amount of homes he possesses has to be
unreal,” thought Silva. The house Silva and Thane were currently at
was tucked into a dense forest off of a seldom used country road
near a rural village of 200 people, give or take a few people. A
person would have to know exactly where the home was to even come
close to finding it.

“
You have the necessary
tools to incapacitate the first individual? This will be our first
test of implanting the Carda Implant on a doctor, and we’ll have to
use force or other methods to incapacitate him.” Silva held a voice
of confidence and strength, the near opposite of his pathetic voice
just a few short months ago when he defecated himself.

“
Yes. I am no fool.” Thane
severely disliked being associated with stupidity or idiocy. He
would often be called a ‘dumbass’ or ‘fuck head’ or ‘mongoloid’ by
foster parents because he often would not understand their orders
or he just wouldn’t talk. He never settled in a permanent family so
Thane often returned to orphanages where he would face the same
verbal torment he faced in foster homes.

Thane rarely acted
violently, only in self-defense or if ordered to do so, as he had
become fond of the works and methods of Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Mahatma Gandhi and Aldous Huxley at a young age. His acts of
pacifism drew the ire of his peers too as they kept trying to goad
him into fighting, but the taunts faded once Thane grew into his
adult body quicker than the other children.

“
Violence is only to be
used in emergencies and when I tell you to use it,” Chairman Obelis
would tell Thane time and time again. Thane held true to these
words, but would often use the idea of his strength to intimidate
individuals.

“
I’m just making sure we
are prepared,” reassured Silva to the giant man. “We are now
associates, my friend, and I wouldn’t dare disrespect you, Chairman
Obelis or this grand plan of his!” Silva still held quite the
disdain for Thane. Silva had been planning revenge on Thane since
that night they met, but those plans had to be shelved for the time
being.

Silva would sort out his
revenge once he had enough power in his hands. He had held no more
animosity toward Chairman Obelis, or his little worm Jeffrey,
because of the opportunity he gave Silva.

“
I am sure,” said Thane.
“Let us get this over with. I do not want to keep Chairman Obelis
waiting any longer than he has to be waiting.”

“
Yes. Let’s get this over
with, my friend.” Silva arose from his luxuriously comfortable
leather chair. He walked toward the nearby door, the exit. “Are you
coming, Thane?” Silva tilted his head slightly to look behind
himself.

“
Do not screw this up,
Silva,” said Thane, staring down through Silva’s soul. “I will do
more than just cause you to shit yourself if this fails. Trust
me.”

Petrified but holding it
together, Silva replied, “I would never think of ruining this for
the world. Heh.” Silva laughed nervously. He pushed the door open
and smiled widely at Thane.

-----

Thane drove a black SUV to
the home of the first doctor on their list, while Silva inspected
the file of the doctor. A “Bertrand Bertram” was the first medical
doctor they would be visiting. Bertrand Bertram was a single man in
his late 40s and enjoyed himself several beers a night. His file
was pretty short on details but was enough to give Silva an idea of
how the man lived.

“
Hm, maybe the Carda
Implant will actually help this man out, huh Thane?” asked Silva.
Silva was trying to be as genial as possible, albeit plastic
sounding, to his giant companion.

Thane looked over stiffly
at Silva and then returned to looking forward at the vacant county
road.

“
Guess not,” whispered
Silva. He kept looking through the small file on Doctor Bertrand
Bertram. Doctor Bertrand Bertram not only liked to drink several
beers a night, he also liked to frequent local establishments that
offered all-you-can-eat buffet dinners. Part of Doctor Bertrand
Bertram’s file read:

“Doctor Bertrand Bertram
has been forcibly removed from eleven separate dining
establishments after he had eaten the establishment’s entire stock
of food. He was given disorderly conduct fines for each of the
eleven removals, but was legally allowed back into the
establishments as he had not broken any laws. The establishments,
however, refused the doctor service after he kept eating their
entire stock of food. Eventually, the doctor and the local eateries
agreed to a max of three entrees per visit and no more than four
visits per day. A contract was drawn up by a local lawyer in the
town and was notarized by a Margaret Hill.

This doctor was likely just
as portly as Silva, possibly even fatter, and definitely
uglier.

“
When does he find time to
see his patients?” said Silva. “Even I don’t gorge myself this
often!” Silva shook his gut with his right hand. “Need to lose this
somehow. Haha, Thane, maybe I should put the Carda Implant in
myself as motivation so I lose weight, huh?”

Thane kept his eyes on the
road and his hands firmly on the wheel.

“
Prick,” whispered
Silva.

-----

“
We are here,” said Thane
as he pulled into a driveway. There was a maroon pickup truck with
one door opened parked in the driveway close to the house. No
lights were on in the house and there weren’t any street lights on
the road.

“
Is that him right there?”
asked Silva. Thane stopped the vehicle at the end of the driveway
and turned the engine off. There was a slumbering man in the front
yard with beer bottles and food wrappers spread all around him.
“That can’t be him. What a mess!”

Thane and Silva exited the
vehicle. Thane walked toward the slumbering man, Silva gawked
around to see if any of Doctor Bertrand Bertram’s neighbors were
awake or watching. Silva did his best to move cautiously and prowl
about the yard whilst looking about, but looked ridiculous. He
walked like if a large man tried to walk a tightrope with a
pineapple up his ass.

“
Must be a constant
occurrence,” said Silva, still looking around, “because there isn’t
a light on or a pair of eyes glaring. I’m not sure if anyone is
home in those other houses, though.” He stopped prowling and stood
up straight. “This guy is a train wreck. We’re effectively saving
his life, Thane! Thane…?”

While Silva had been
gawking around, Thane had loaded up the fat Doctor Bertrand Bertram
into the SUV. A loud
THUD
was heard when Thane tossed the man in the backend
of the SUV, and another loud
THUD
was heard when he shut the trunk.

“
Be quiet!” whispered Silva
loudly. He looked around cautiously.

“
Get back in the vehicle,
Doctor Silva,” commanded Thane. Thane walked to the driver’s side
door and entered the vehicle.

“
But… that’s it?” asked
Silva as he rushed back to the SUV, causing his portly stature to
shake and bounce and shake some more. His breaths were slow and
gasp-filled as he approached the SUV. He wasn’t quite sure what had
just happened and why it was so damn easy.

Silva entered the passenger
side door and immediately turned his attention to the passed out
Doctor Bertrand Bertram in the backend of the SUV. This other fat
doctor was much fatter than Silva, so fat that it seemed impossible
that even Thane could lift him into the SUV. There was an
impressive tilt to the car too, despite Silva and Thane sitting in
the frontend of the SUV.

“
If he vomits,” said Thane
as he backed out of the driveway, “you are the one that has to
clean it up.”

“
That’s absurd!” replied
Silva to the giant man. “I’m a doctor for God’s sake, man! We do
not do the work of custodians or peasants!”

“
That obese human in the
backend of this SUV is a doctor as well. What is your point?” said
Thane flatly.

Silva, confounded by that
statement, crossed his arms like an angsty teenager and pouted the
rest of the drive back to the densely forested home of Chairman
Obelis. Thane was pleased by the silence.

-----

A rudimentary, but
sufficient, operating room had been prepped in the house, ready to
be used to perform the necessary surgery for the Carda Implant. No
one was really concerned if Doctor Bertrand Bertram got an
infection during the procedure as the only sterile items were the
surgical tools. Chairman Obelis just wanted the Carda implants in
the doctors as soon as possible. He decided to forego his ‘hurt no
innocent humans’ mantra for this part of his grand plan.

Thane carried the
disgustingly obese doctor into the house with relative ease. Silva
was amazed by the amount of strength Thane possessed. Not to
mention the finesse demonstrated whilst carrying the hefty Bertrand
Bertram.

“
Surely, even carrying a
man of this size has to put some strain on your body?” asked Silva.
He walked beside Thane and then behind him into the house, watching
every move Thane took.

Thane ignored Silva’s
question and plopped Doctor Bertrand Bertram onto the operating
table causing the table to fall to the lowest possible setting: the
floor.
CRRIIINKKK! BOOM!
went the operating table. Screws, bolts and other
small parts of the table scrambled across the room.

“
What the fuck, Thane?”
Silva said rushing in and checking the doctor’s pulse. A few fast
food wrappers had stuck to Doctor Bertrand Bertram’s stomach. “He’s
still alive but luckily still incapacitated, no thanks to you.”
Silva glared at Thane and was returned with a look of
apathy.

“
Do you need help with this
man or should I go fetch the next doctor?” said Thane flatly. Silva
pondered for a moment. “Please answer quickly.”

“
Well, I,” said Silva as he
scratched his head. “Go on, get the next one. I’ll make do with
this set up. Go, shoo, go!” He motioned Thane to leave. “Don’t get
caught!”

“
Okay.” Thane left the
house and reentered the SUV. He drove off into the night to fetch
the next doctor, one that wouldn’t be passed out in front of a
house.

“
This is going to be a long
fucking night,” sighed Silva loudly. He pulled out another device –
a circular tablet – and pressed his forefinger on the screen. He
swiped his finger several directions and then stated, “I’m home!”
loudly at the tablet.

A woman’s voice came
through the speakers, “Hello, my dear! It’s been a while, I’ve
missed you. It’s lonely in the facility.”

“
As I have missed you,” he
said to the tablet. “Will you keep me company while I operate on
this piece of human trash?” He placed the tablet on the floor next
to Doctor Bertrand Bertram’s body.

“
Of course, my dear, of
course,” said the woman, Silva’s former lover Chelsey.

Strange blue lights shot up
from the tablet and the body of a tall, slender woman appeared. She
bent down next to Silva, inspecting Doctor Bertrand Bertram’s body
too.

Silva turned toward the
blue-ethereal woman and smiled, “I love you so much.”

“
And I love you, my dear.
Will you be gutting this man like the others?”

“
Oh no, sweetheart, this
man is a doctor and I need to put the Carda implant in
him!”

Though Chelsey was merely
blue light and artificial intelligence, her facial features and
reactions were absolutely real. Her features and reactions were all
her own too, as Doctor Silva had made sure of that when Jeffrey
helped create the hologram of Chelsey. “Doctor? This pig of pigs is
a doctor?” Her face winced at the thought of this fat doctor giving
instructions on trying to become healthy. Her body was humanlike,
expectedly, but she lacked clothes, hair, nails, beauty marks and
physical sexual organs, such as labia, clitoris and vagina. Aside
from her head, she was basically see-through and had the body of a
nippleless mannequin.

“
Yes, I know, I know. He
doesn’t appear to be much more than the town drunk, but he is one
of only two medical doctors that tend to the citizens of a small
area. Plus, the ones I gutted were orphans and I used them
to
make
the Carda
Implants! No one will care about those orphans, but people will
wonder where the town drunk is, despite him being a waste of
life.”