Bootstrap Colony by Chris Hechtl Read Free Book Online Page A

arrived with the
loads, he watched as the helicopters were towed through the gate area. He had
to redirect the tractors to an airstrip area; it had been on course to the
garage. The garage area was pretty cluttered, the stacks of vehicle parts were
bad enough, but the vehicles themselves really made a mess of things. He had
six quads, two electric bikes; along with the five other hummers, fire truck,
ambulance, construction vehicles, and the two disassembled dune buggies.
    He grabbed a sandwich, munching
it as he unhitched the tractors and sent them to return to the park. If he was
lucky he could get most of the gear in before it got dark. He rushed off to the
hummer. The tractors were half way to the park when he passed them, warily he
watched for predator sign, but not finding any he accelerated to the park and
checked the perimeter.
    He hitched the first tractor as
it arrived, getting it turned around and on its way just as the second arrived.
By the final one he was tired and sore, but feeling good. He turned and froze,
seeing a Rex looking directly at him from across the field. It was huge,
thrumming quietly and one hell of a monster. He felt the trickle of fear,
smelled his urine and knew real terror for the first time.
    One of the security robots, an
ED-209 style robot stomped up. The Rex turned, staring, and then bellowed a
challenge. It clopped its teeth together, and then thrashed the front arms.
Knowing an attack was imminent Mitch cursed leaving the rifle in the truck just
because he thought he was safe. A second Rex joined the first and he knew he
was in serious danger. One was bad enough, but two were probably more than the
robot could handle.
    He fumbled with the Bluetooth.
“Security, flash bang ten meters in front of the Threat,” he muttered, trying
to be quiet as he edged to the truck and dubious safety. The juvenile emerged
from the bushes on the other side of the truck, making him freeze once more.
The pop of the mortar made him close his eyes tightly. The flash was bright,
the noise deafening. He opened his eyes to see the Rexes moving off, he assumed
they were making noise, but his ears were still ringing.
    “Thank you Bob,” he muttered,
glad Bob had added that feature to the robots. The Rex family was not happy but
that was just too damn bad. He got into the hummer as the shakes hit, he shook
for a moment, trying to take a deep breath and then sighed as the truck moved
off down the trail on its own.
    Damn that was close. He vowed
then and there to get the park emptied now. There were a few more loads to get,
plus the robots. Fortunately he had designed the robots to hook onto the
Hummers. He had left three cargo pods and the charging station behind since
they had solar panels and could charge the robots in case he can’t make it back
tonight.
    After that encounter he was still
a little shook up he realized, gripping the steering wheel with what he
recognized as a death grip. It was one thing to see a predator on a screen,
another to see it in the theoretically safe confines of a vehicle, and quite
another to be eye to eye with it, with nothing around you but open air. He
wrinkled his nose. “Going to need a fresh set of pants... and clean underwear,”
he muttered, voice slightly hysterical. “Probably going to need to clean the
seat too,” he laughed and then sighed.
    He passed the lead tractor just
as it was entering the final stretch before the gate. Getting out inside the
perimeter, he felt the shakes return as his eyes darted nervously around but he
jogged to the mobile home to change and try to force himself to focus. He
wasn’t too keen on sending the rigs out again unguarded, but probably would
have too he realized. He did a quick strip, then swabbed off with a towel and
changed clothes. The hamper was over flowing once more, he bundled a load to
toss them into the laundry machine.
    The tractor pulled up at its
designated spot just as he exited. He ordered the hummer to the garage,