Inconsistencies Continued, Part 6

When the Robot gave his speech to the others it went something like this, “I can no longer accede to the group’s wishes and allow the Atlantean to be confined and drugged in this fashion. He has on multiple occasions proven to be invaluable in combat in areas we cannot match, without him our cause would have been lost at least six times.”

“Six, eh?” asked the Gangster as he reclined with his feet up in the air on the lip of his work station.

The Driver piped up, “I’ll bet more than that, but for every time he’s saved our bacon he’s tried to eat it raw.”

The Robot shook his head slowly and mechanically, attempting to convey calm wisdom, but only really conveying his lack of understanding with his overly long shakes.

“He has attacked each of us in turn, but he has fixated on me. He cannot subdue me, it is beyond his means and he knows this. I think that he views it as a challenge and if we can convince him that we are all equal in this group perhaps that may allow him to save his need for bloodshed for the Germans.”

They were speaking to each other near the Vampire’s tube and the Vampire chimed in with his own input.

“You are fools,” it hissed, “the metal man of orichalcum leads you, even if you do not know it. You go along peacefully as if you were plankton riding a current, always agreeing to his wishes, not realizing that none of you have the strength to deny him. When his mighty arm turns against you, you will fall as easily as the servants of the mustached one. None of you are equals.”

The Vampire had met Hitler himself once. It had been the Germans that discovered the true origins of vampires and their myths. They had found ancient texts that had led them beneath the waves and using their infamous submarines they had waged war upon the shark-men. They had failed. Three submarines of the fleet sent below the waves had survived, but they had brought captives back to the surface and they had been interrogated by the Germans. Most had been killed, or died in battle as they slaughtered German soldiers by the dozen. The Vampire was one of perhaps half a dozen of his kind still living above the waves, he said he was a prince of his people but there was no way of verifying that and the Doctor had made no attempts to do so.

The Robot turned to the Vampire, “I could kill any of them and they could do little to stop me, but that makes me in no way superior to them. They are my allies, and perhaps my friends if I understand the definition of that work correctly. I would ask you to be the same, but you must forestall your attempts at murder, they serve no purpose. If we could peacefully co-exist we could all be party to battle plans when we proceed with our missions. If we can rely upon you for more than mass murder we can increase our effectiveness exponentially, why can you not understand this?”

“There can only be one master, all others are slaves to his will, this is the nature of all life.”

The Gangster got up and approached the tube, bringing the ember of his cigarette almost to the glass. The Vampire’s body thunked against the glass as it back away from the pane of glass the Gangster almost touched. The Gangster laughed his sharp-edged laugh and returned to his seat.

“You fishy little shits are nothin. You get mad as Hell and start tearin everything in sight up, one bright little flame an your nothin but a yellow little chicken shit.”

“You know nothing ape. You have not seen the fury of the Typhon Gate, you have not seen your people burn as tinder soaked in fuel, screaming and crying in agony that will not end. Do not call me coward little ape, you have courage now while your friends surround you and you have your weapon in hand, but upon the field of battle I am the predator and you are the prey.”

It flashed its fangs at the Gangster and he smiled, inhaling long and slow on his cigarette and slowly lighting another after he spat it to the floor near the Vampire’s tube. The Vampire turned to the Robot.

“You would have me call this one ally? Friend? You are more a fool than he. He serves out of greed and a love of misery, you serve out of conviction to a purpose, an ideal.”

“Nonetheless, he serves.”

The Vampire laughed, “Join us beneath the waves, golem. The master of my people would have work for you. Work that would bring purpose to your life and bring peace to this world below and above the waves.”

The Robot shook its head, “I cannot do so. The South remains free by too thin a thread. My place is here where my abilities can best be utilized in concert with these men. If the Germans venture underwater to your nation once again and release the pressure on the south I would go where I was most needed, but for now my place is here.”

“I wonder, metal man, there are devices and information within you that grant you life. Could this be modified to grant you my assets? Bloodlust, battlelust, ignorance of the value of life, could these be your virtues in place of peace and understanding? Could someone, man or fish, crack open that skull of yours and turn you to a bloodthirsty warrior?”

The Robot paused and things whirred and clicked within it before it spoke, “Yes. My circuitry is hardened and my core data is encrypted, but it is conceivable that with the proper time and processing power my software could be re-written to exclude adherence to the tenets of Socialism, I have already been partially successful in my attempts at altering my adherence to Nazi propaganda and fanatical adherence to their racial purity guidelines, so it is conceivable that my consciousness could be altered to resemble your mental state.”

“Could you be given the ability to lie when in your best interest as well,” it asked with a toothy smirk.

“I could.”

“Enough,” said the Gangster, “we ain’t letting the beast outta its cage an we ain’t givin it an equal voice in our decisions. It stays where it is, in its cage and drugged up to the gills. Heh.”

The Vampire snarled at the Gangster and the Robot spoke, “I will not allow our ally to remain caged and drugged indefinitely. I will not force the issue but I must make my position clear. He has technically committed no crimes against us or our cause and has in fact aided us, on top of this he is a stranger from a strange land and has no knowledge of our society, other than the Germans. I must insist we free him.”

“We’ll put it to a vote then and that will be an end of it, agreed?” asked the Doctor.

“I agree to those terms, as long as our ally has a vote as well.”

The Vampire laughed and the Doctor sighed before saying, “Fine.”

“All in favor of leaving the Atlantean confined and sedated say yea,” said the Robot.

“Yea,” said the Gangster.

“Yea,” said the Doctor.

“I abstain,” called the Driver from the innards of the Chevy.

“All opposed say nay.”

“Nay,” said the Robot.

“Nay,” hissed the Vampire.

“I request that the abstainer recast his vote.”

An arm appeared out from under the Chevy, the middle finger was raised and was waggled at the Robot’s request.

“That gesture is counter-productive. We are trying to reach a consensus to lay this issue to rest. I request that we modify the issue to include a probationary period that states that the Atlantean will refrain from attacking the human components of the group and should he violate that term he will be confined and sedated on a permanent basis. Does this alter the yeas?”

The Doctor and Gangster shook their heads.

“Does this alter the nays?”

The Vampire laughed and shook his head, the Robot knew his own mind so he had no need to ask himself.

“And the abstainer?”

The hood of the Chevy popped open and the Driver rolled out of it and onto the floor of the garage. He was covered in grease and stood and shut the hood.

“If I say nay will you pull the engine out for me?”

The Robot paused and said, “That is agreeable.”

The Driver nodded and turned to the Vampire, “Fuck with me an I’ll shove a block of thermite down your throat, you understand thermite?”

The Vampire nodded.

“Good, keep that in mind before you try eating me.” He turned to the Robot and said, “Nay.”

“We are agreed then, our ally will be freed from confinement and sedation, but only so long as he refrains attempting violence against the human members of the group.”

“You’re an idiot, Tin Man,” said the Gangster.

“Inconceivable, my data storage and retrieval systems and logic centers have been designed for optimum efficiency.”