OZ

Part One

By Robin

Aegil

The night was silent and still. The stars glistened.

             A meta-wolf howled, breaking the infinite quiet.

            “Aegil. Be Silent,” the Woman said.

            Aegil sat back on his shiny brass haunches, a look of humility etched on his bloodstained muzzle. He hated when the woman Silenced him. He dreamed of a time when he and his brothers hunted in the Emerald city, where their gears turned freely, and they were not controlled by the Woman.

            Meta-wolves were meant to be free, Aegil thought. When the Magictrician created us, we weren’t confined to our wiring. Now, our vocal processors have become rusted, all thanks to the Woman.

            The Woman smiled and clicked Her green-painted nails on the table.

            “That’s better. Tell your brothers to stay Silent, too. If one of them screeches again, the gears in one of your legs will be stripped out,” She said.

            Aegil rose, but he kept his visual scanners on the Her.

            I will tear out your throat, Witch, before you will even touch my leg. 

            He turned and left the eerie white room. He slipped down stairwell and into the Meta-wolf living quarters.

Ligaer raised her silver head.

What happened? You are angry. Her thoughts echoed in his wiring.

Aegil laid down upon the ground. I hate her. The Woman does not respect our kind. She even threatened to strip the gears of my leg.

Ligaer growled mechanically. One day, we will break free of this prison. And you will again become the Alpha of the Meta-wolves.

Aegil nodded, then laid his head down and turned off his processors.           

Dorothy

           

Dorothy looked warily around the military bunker. The other baldheaded women gave her cold stares. A military Gorilla pushed past her. She recognized it as an older model. Maybe made in the year 2634.

She shifted her duffel bag onto her shoulder. The commander had informed her that her bunk was number 170-B. It was all the way at the back.

“Hi,” she said. She walked quickly to her bunk, and stuffed her bag underneath.

She felt the top of her head. Her long brown hair had been shaved only two days ago. It still felt a little weird to the touch. Prickly. The military barber wasn’t very careful. She had a lot of women’s heads to shave.

She flopped down on her bunk. She closed her eyes, and thought about home.

Kansas. She’d lived there all her life with her Aunt Em. When Em had died in the bombs and she lost her own arm, Dorothy decided to join the military.

Aunt Em had been in the military. She fought until she got too old, then moved to Kansas.

“Hey!”

Dorothy’s eyes snapped open. A young girl, probably a teen, was hanging her head down from the top bunk.

“What? Who are you?” Dorothy flustered.

“My name’s Toto. Your new, huh.”

Dorothy nodded.

Toto flipped acrobatically to the floor. Dorothy did a double take. Toto’s legs were mechanical. They whirred and hissed as she wandered in a circle.

She babbled cheerily and endlessly.

“I joined a month ago. I don’t really like the haircuts. The commander lady makes me mad. Where are you from? I’m from New York!”

Dorothy narrowed her eyes.

“Are you trying to humiliate me or something?”

Toto stopped spinning and frowned.

“No,” she said. “Why would I do that?”

“Attention. Popularity,” Dorothy said. “Girls in Kansas used to do this to me all the time.”

Toto smiled.

“Popularity? Nah. These girls don’t like me at all. I don’t care about them. I’m trying to be nice.”

Dorothy flashed an apologetic look. 

Toto laughed.

“You keep looking at my legs. I lost them from one of the training excerises,” she said.

“Oh. Are the training courses that bad?” Dorothy asked worriedly.

“Some people say they’re worse than actual battles.”

Dorothy frowned.

“Wouldn’t it be smarter to just keep us alive so we can fight?”

Toto flipped up onto her bunk, her shiny black hair flashing.

“I think you’re right. I just wish someone had come up with that sooner,” she said. “I used to be so fast—“

And then her voice faltered and she stayed silent.

Dorothy thought Toto was a little ditsy, but she trusted her. She seemed nice. Even the fact that she had made an attempt to befriend Dorothy just seemed sort of accommodating.

Dorothy didn’t sleep too well.

Damn. Why did I do this? What if I end up like Toto?

Her thoughts went in circles in side her head. Eventually, though, she drifted to sleep.

Cold water rushed over Dorothy’s head. 

“Wake up, lame-ass,” said a harsh voice next to my ear. 

Dorothy opened one eye. A huge woman was glaring at me from the side of the bed, holding a dripping water bucket in her hands.

Dorothy shuffled out of bed. The lady was really intimidating. She was almost seven feet tall and three across.

She had a snake tattoo that seemed to wind its way around her scarred features.

“Let’s go. We aren’t here to sleep. We’re here to kill!” she said, slamming her hands down on the bunk for effect.

Wow. Dorothy thought. This lady really needs to rethink what it means to be in the army.

The woman smiled coldly.

“No, I’d say I understand perfectly.”

Dorothy stopped short.

Did she just read my mind?

“Yeah, I did. Got these sensors in my mind, see? An’ that’s how I do it. Now let’s get going.”

Nikki

The Woman clicked Her boots together.

            Nikki could feel it in his gears. He called to his tribe.

            Friends. The Woman calls to us.

            The other Gorillas revved up their jetpacks. Smoke poured from exhaust pipes and gears churned and whizzed as the Gorillas lifted up into the air.

            Only Atikil stayed on the ground with Nikki. Atikil frowned and beat his chest irritably, making a horrible grating sound.

            You talk as if only you can here her call. You talk as if you are her pet! We are all equal in this tribe. You are no better than I am, Atikil whispered in his processors. His voice was heavily coated in venom and static.

            Atikil, I am the Prime Defect. It is my Duty to make sure that the tribe stays together, Nikki whispered back.

            Atikil flashed one last venomous look.

            You will not be Prime for much longer.

            He launched himself off of the Cliffside and soared off to the rest of the tribe.

            Nikki started up his jetpack and took to the sky, but he made an effort to stay far behind the tribe.

            He quietly pondered the most recent events in his tribe’s history. They had all started out as military Gorillas, war machines programmed for nothing but the spilling of blood. They had all lived and trained on Earth.

            But they were kidnapped, stolen away in the middle of the night, by the Woman.

            Oh, the Woman. She was horrible. She’d enslaved them. Taken away their ability to speak out loud. Confined them to they’re own thoughts.

            She had formed them together. They were the Defects.

The Woman had convinced most of the tribe that they were in good hands, but not Nikki. He did not believe Her lies.

Atikil had been difficult. He was the only Gorilla who was happy to be with the Woman. He was quite the kiss-up when he was around Her.

            Nikki knew his place, though. The Woman had great power. Some say she was the best Magictrician alive, melding Magic and Machine to create very powerful creatures and technologies.

            She had the Power to enslave any creature created with Machine. Nikki was shocked to find that his huge, monkey-like body had been imbued with Magic. Magic of the Darkest, Evilest kind.

            Only one of the Defects had escaped. He’d gotten through Her security system by removing his heart circuit.  He was a lumber gorilla not combat grade, which made him smaller and less bulky than the rest of the defects.

            They didn’t know where he was anymore. He’d seemed to just disappear.