Where Nothing Ill Can Dwell

Chapter 28 - Caliban

Curse these stupid humans!

My plan was in motion. I'd managed to conceal a full arsenal of stolen weapons under the layers of human clothing I'd been forced to wear since meeting Prospero, finally finding it useful. With stealth, I'd led them to the outer walls of the compound early in the morning so that we'd be able to penetrate it around the time when Prospero would be going to sleep.

And yet, the moment those drunken fools saw a ship rising into the air, they forget all about their promise to help me destroy Prospero. Instead, they shouted and waved their arms in the air, ruining any element of surprise we might have had.

I closed my finger around the trigger of one my blasters and contemplated pulling it.

"Let's wait for them to return so we can take over the ship and go home." Trinculo ran for the open gate.

I knew the security measures Prospero had placed there, and I waited for him to receive the shock that greeted unwelcome guests.

Much to my disappointment, it didn't come. Trinculo dashed unhampered into the complex.

When Stephano followed without any injury, a new idea hatched in my mind. The security system was down, but why? What was Prospero up to?

I hesitated before entering myself. Was she waiting just inside the walls with her remote, ready to inflict torture on me the second I came into view? Did she spare the humans because they were the same species as her?

But when I entered the complex, nothing appeared amiss.

Unless, of course, you considered the fact that Trinculo and Stephano were trying to open the front door, making enough noise to wake the dead.

I shoved them aside and showed them how it was done by entering my code and pressing my hand against the plate.

"Clever monster," Stephano said in a condescending tone that grated on my already stretched-thin patience. "You definitely know your way around here. Where's the kitchen?"

Before I could answer, they took off in two different directions, abandoning me.

As soon as I killed Prospero, they were next. This I swore on the memories of my ancestors.

I pulled out a blaster and shot the control panel inside the door that controlled the main locks throughout the building. Then I followed my memory to what Prospero called command central. I eyed her computer. They'd kept the workings of this machine a secret from me, so I never learned how to input commands. But I knew that she controlled everything from here, and therefore, I needed to destroy it.

Three blasts later, and the mainframe was nothing more than a smoking pile of twisted metal.

And then the doors slid down around me, trapping me in her cold, metal lair. Alarms blared around me.

Of course she would have a back-up plan in case of an attack.

I cursed and started firing.