The Other Guys

[edgaguirus]

Lorca and Shara were locked in fierce combat. The shark like Shara looked like a hammer head with four clawed feet. Lorca was a biped, dark red in color, and had a beaver like face. Shara dug its teeth into Lorca's arm, and Lorca cried out in pain. Lorca pounded on Shara's head, but the shark monster refused to release its adversary. The horn on Lorca's head crackled with energy, and a beam fired with sharp aim at Shara's neck. The blast hit its mark. As the military and press watched Shara's headless body slumped to the ground. Lorca removed the head from his arm and gazed on his dead foe. He roared in triumph and marched away.

Two hours later, Henry and Taylor rolled into the destruction zone. They were members of K Unit, Kaiju Unit. While G Force defended Japan from giant monster threats, K Unit protected America from these menacing monsters. Henry and Taylor were in the "clean up" department. Their job was to coordinate with civil authorities on cleaning up debris and collecting samples. The head was a few meters ahead, and it still looked menacing despite being very dead.
" We're gonna need a bigger truck," Taylor said. He was a man of medium stature and an under standing of technical matters. He also had a sense of humor.

Henry wasn't much for jokes, but he was a brilliant man. He'd be working in the lab if it wasn't for stupid office politics. He was tall and slender, but had an appetite like the giant creature he hoped to study. " Call in assistance." While Taylor did that, Henry took a closer look at the thing. He'd collected skin and scales, saliva, and a tooth on one occassion, but this was fantastic.

" Dr. Rodney will be coming to help. He says not to touch the head," Taylor said. Henry sighed. Dr. Frank Rodney would want the glory for himself, he thought. The checked around the area for further samples, but there was little else of importance. They spent the rest of the day meeting with the city manager and overseeing the clean up. It was going to take awhile. The fight had been a long one, spanning three sectors.




The next day, Taylor sat in the test room. He'd submitted to join the technical and developement department, and had spent two months training and learning. It all came down to this test. He wasn't alone in the room. At least 6 others, mostly from lower ranking departments, hoped for advancement as well.

After the test, Taylor went to the cafeteria for lunch. It'd be a day or so before he found out his fate. " How'd the test go," asked a voice. Taylor looked up to see Henry approach.

" It wasn't easy, but I think I did well. What have you been up to?"

" I was at a construction site. The skeleton is a total loss." Henry ate a bite of roast chicken. " I found a gerter with a tooth mark and a chip of Shara's tooth. He stole the head from me, but I can still study this."

" You may make that big discovery yet," Taylor said.

Henry smiled at that. He knew if he could make some discovery from a sample, he'd get into the lab. Dr. Rodney had found a new element while examining the remains of a space monster dubbed Golna. That element had proved strong enough to survive extreme heat, and what they'd been able to produce synthetically was already being fitted onto K Unit vehicles. Henry needed a discovery like that. " I don't know. It's a tooth."

" If I can get into tech department, you can become one of those lab geeks."


Henry's mobile rang, and he answered it. All clean up crew officers were ordered to a meeting. He hoped it wasn't another council member or unhappy property owner. He hated having to remind them for the unmpteenth time that K Unit wasn't liable for damages. This meeting proved to be far worse, however.

Major Glenn stood before the clean up crew. He was a short man, but had a gaze that could startle a lion. His eyes were piercing, and he didn't waste words. " Prof. Lansing of our tech department would like to show you something. It could very well change how we manage clean up and collection in the future."

Prof. Lansing seemed excited. He had a long nose and short graying hair. " It may well negate the need for human operations in collection and clean up." That statement sent a ripple through Taylor, Henry, and the rest. " I've constructed a machine capable of performing clean up and collection duties, capable of speeding up the process and not needing any heavy equipment. I've named it AKUCCU, Automated Kaiju Unit Collection Clean up Unit." Prof. Lansing pressed a button on a panel, and a door opened. The view that greeted them took their words away.

AKUCCU was as large as the monsters they'd fought against. It was equipped with a bull dozer and several arms, some with fingers and others with various tools. It looked like a tank in some ways, and had a gun above the bull dozer. The head was a cylinder with four electronic eyes, and a shoulder mounted rocket launcher sat to the right of the head. " In addition to clean up function, it can also be used to combat kaiju. It is programmed for self defence, and can be controled from any drone system.

" Of course, you may be wondering what this means for your jobs. I don't intend for this to replace you, but as an aid."

Major Glenn took over. " I want you to take this unit for a test run immediately. You will take it to sector 4 and put it to use. Dismissed."

A rumble of conversation filled the air. Henry, Taylor, and their fellow clean up crew were worried. This thing sounded like it could do just as good a job as them, and maybe better. " Think it could have an accident along the way," Taylor asked.

" Better not. You know the major," Henry answered.

AKUCCU proved quite efficient at its duties. The machine cleaned up highway debris in no time, and moved on to the residential zones damaged by the battle. What would have taken them at least two days of work took one day for AKUCCU. They could be looking at reassignment, which excited Henry. But the looming threat of losing their jobs also played in their minds. They'd have to wait and see.

[edgaguirus]

Ch 2

Taylor sipped at his morning coffee. He was nervous. It wasn't the caffeine, but today test results came out. This morning decided his entire future with KU. Since AKUCCU had been put into the field, the clean up crew had little work to do. Word around the office was that their crew was going to be downsized by several people. It made AKUCCU very unpopular, especially when the crew members were required to use the machine. Mike, a junior member of the crew, really hated AKUCCU. As the newest employyee, he was sure to be let go first.

Taylor drove down to KU headquarters. He walked right down to the post board. The test results had attracted a crowd, all eager to learn of their ranking. Taylor pushed past a few of them to get a look. He sighed in relief. He was in the top three. It wasn't a guarantee to advance into the tech department, but he had a better chance.


Henry was hunched over a microscope. The tooth shaving on the slide hadn't been easy to obtain. That tooth was hard as diamond. It'd had taken a diamond tipped blade to take off a piece. The cells looked relatively normal compared to the tooth of a non mutant shark, but the density of the cells was far stronger. Shara could have bitten through anything, probably. He noted this in his journal.

He closed it quickly. Dr. Rodney entered. " What have you got there?"

" A tooth. That's all." Henry pulled out the slide and tucked it into the carrying case. He had no intention of Rodney taking this from him.

" How quant. I found an unknown chemical compound in the head. I've no idea what it does, but if I'm right, we may be able to better fight cancer." Rodney was gloating again, a habit that made him unpopular with the other scientists. " Good luck with your tooth."

Henry left. He hoped that tooth was lucky.


Taylor went over the last of the damage reports. Not much was left to take care of, just area two in sector 4. AKUCCU could handle that in a couple of hours flat. Taylor was doing a last day check on the machine when Henry approached him. " How is our replacement?"

" Fine, but I don't think she should go out today. Not with the thunder storms on forecast."

" It could probably handle rain. It's also designed for combat, you know. Monster don't wait for sunny days."

Taylor shook his head. " It's never been in actual wet conditions. That lightning might be a bit of shock for it. "

Henry ignored the pun. " Maybe."


Mike had been on a smoke break, and he heard their short conversation. Lightning. It gave him ideas. The image of fried circuits and melting wires delighted his brain. He spent some time thinking about it, and the more he did, the more he realized how easy it would be. All he had to do was access the dron control system, and AKUCCU would be singing in the rain.

Several minutes later, AKUCCU rolled out of the docking bay. Mike, at the controls, moved it into sector 4. Rain poured down, and thunder rumbled loudly in the sky. Lightning streaked like a serpent from cloud to cloud, or to the tops of buildings. AKUCCU rolled about the damaged area, working lazily, with arms raised like lightning rods. Mike just had to wait.

His patience paid off. Two streaks of lightning hit AKUCCU. " So much for progress," he said.

Inside AKUCCU, something began to happen. A power surge ran through its systems. For seconds AKUCCU lost function, but its systems came back. Still, damage had been done, and the shock had burned the last command into its mechanical mind; Clear everything. AKUCCU did just that. It picked up all the debris, and then rolled over to an appartment building. The bull dozer rammed into the building. Residents screamed as their building buckled and collapsed with the blows from AKUCCU's wrecking arm.

The machine reduced the building to a pile of bodies and debris. It cleaned it up, and then moved onto the next structure. Clear everything, AKUCCU told itself.

Mike ordered the machine to stop. He gave the command over and over. AKUCCU didn't stop.

[edgaguirus]

Ch 3

"... There's no time to pack. Get out of your homes and offices as fast as possible. Make your way to the nearest underground shelter. Repeat. There's" The evacuation was proceeding quickly. The streets were lined with the public masses as they got out of the way of the rampaging robot. It was methodical in its destructive parade. It would smash a building to rubble, and then clean up the mess. Hundreds were dead, and millions in property damage had already been done.

Meanwhile, a helicopter hovered over AKUCCU. The news 7 copter moved to the left of the robot, avoiding the flying bricks from another destroyed structure. The military were watching the coverage, and their offensive was nearly ready. Tanks and artillary units were moving into place and waiting for the order to attack.


At KU headquarters, Taylor was checking the remote operating system for AKUCCU. Repeated orders had been completely ignored. " It's sending signals, but the robot isn't listening," he said. " It's bad as a little kid."

" What were you thinking," Major Glenn growled at Mike. He visibly shrunk back at the man's glare. " You had no orders to send it out."

Mike spoke nervously. " I..I was doing a field test. You know, weather conditions."

" Your superiors make those decisions." Glenn turned to Taylor. " Could you fix AKUCCU if we got you onto the robot?"

" I'll have to get inside. The emergency shut down systems have to be accessed from inside the robot, according to specs."

" Hmmm. Allright." Major Glenn called out to a corporal. " Get someone from the tech crew, and then prepare a helicopter."

Taylor raised his hand. " Sir, I can fix it. I'll go."

" You haven't had the training for drop missions. You stay here."

Taylor shook his head. He knew this robot. He could do it.


AKUCCU moved down the street. Behind it looked like an giant undeveloped lot. Nothing was left. As the massive robot came to a new target, it's eyes spotted movement on three sides. Tanks rolled to the right and left of the robot, and artillary were ready in front of it.

" Robot is nearly in center," Gen. Roland said. On the screen, the robot was approaching the square, the kill zone. It was just a few feet before it would be sent to the scrap pile. The robot cautiously moved ahead. " Attack," ordered Gen. Roland. The tanks unleashed a barage of explosive shells, bursting into flame and smoke on the robots's sides. The artillary sent rockets slamming into AKUCCU. AKUCCU's armor could take some punishment, but this was too much.

AKUCCU's defense program kicked in. The robot's tank gun aimed at the biggest threat first;the rockets. Concussive blast escaped from the barrel, firing at the artillary units. They ran, moving out of range, and then prepared to fire again. AKUCCU moved forward at top speed, shooting it's gun without mercy. The artillary units were forced to retreat. The tanks now moved behind AKUCCU, and they continued the attack. The robot raised it's rocket launcher and locked onto the tanks. Four rockets fired, each moving towards a seperate target. The tanks went up in smoke. More rockets fired, and the tanks were moved back, but still kept firing. AKUCCU rotated, it's tank gun facing the tanks. The battle was soon over for the tank battalion, and AKUCCU took care of the remains of its victims.

Major Glenn received bad news shortly after. The helicopter carrying the technician had been shot down. AKUCCU was playing it careful now. It was knocking out all moving targets. It had been damaged, but not enough to destroy it.

Gen. Roland and Major Glenn sat in the planning room, surrounded by advisors and officers. " At our present rate, we could take down the robot, but the loss of life would be too great. We just can't do the kind of damage we need without throwing men to their deaths," Gen. Roland said. " We need an atomic warhead."

" That's a populated area," said one advisor. " You'll do more damage than the robot."

" We'll have no city left if that robot isn't stopped," Major Glenn replied. " We know the robot can be shut down, but we need to get inside it. The problem is nothing can get close enough."

" Dr. Rodney," asked Gen. Roland," do you have anything that can help?"

" I don't. Our new armor isn't strong enough to hold back the robot's fire. All I can think of is an EMP, but one large enough to effect AKUCCU would also wipe out the power grid of the city."

A knock came to the door, and the officer was asked to enter. She went to the head of the table, between Major Glenn and the general, handing them a note. They read it, and a questionable look crossed their faces. " Is he serious," asked Major Glenn.

" Yes, sir. He says he has a test fire to show you," the female officer answered.

" Very well. Tell him to be ready in five minutes," Gen. Roland ordered. He stood up. " We may have a solution. Follow us."

They went to the docking bay, and Henry and Taylor stood by a model rocket. A five inch metal plate stood in front of it ten feet away. Dr. Rodney smiled. " This should be amusing."

" You think you can get that robot open," asked Major Glenn.

" We can, and know how," Henry said. " I found a tooth fragment from Shara, and found that it is hard as diamond. It's also highly abrasive. I think it could get through AKUCCU's armor with one shot."

" Let's see," Dr. Rodney said.

Henry bristled at the man's doubtful tone of voice, but aimed the rocket at the metal plate. " Firing in 3, 2, 1. Fire." The rocket hissed from it's tube and made straight for the plate. The rocket cut through the plate easily. It kept going, and burrowed into a wall before stopping and falling to the floor. " That was a plastic rocket. A toy. The head, however was coated with scraping from the tooth I found. You all see what it can do." Henry smiled, pleased with the shocked look on Dr. Rodney's face.

" Can you do this for a real rocket," asked Gen. Roland.

" Give us one, and we'll do it," Taylor said.

" You'll have it," Gen. Roland answered. Major Glenn nodded approvingly at the two men. Dr. Rodney's jaw was still hanging down to the floor.

[edgaguirus]

AKUCCU approached the radio tower. It fell much easier than the buildings around it. The plummeting steel tower crushed shops and cars below it. AKUCCU gathered up the steel, and its eyes caught movement. It zoomed in on the human figures below. They were carrying rocket launchers. AKUCCU dropped the steel and turned about. The tank gun on its chest was readied for action.

The first volley of rockets hit. The didn't explode. The robot was confused as yet another round of rockets harmlessly struck it.

To the rear of the robot, a truck rolled up towards the robot. Taylor, Henry, and Capt. Kerring stopped several meters from AKUCCU. Taylor checked the robot's schmematics. " Just below the ventral port is the hatch. That's your target."

" Right," Capt. Kerring answered.

Henry opened the case, and the special rocket was removed. Like the other rockets being fired, it had no explosive. That was a ploy to hopefully allow them to get close to the robot and shoot without being blasted to bits. Unlike the other rockets, however, this one had a head designed more like a drill. Bits of the tooth were attached to it. Henry connected his rocket to the cabled, and then loaded it into the launcher.

Capt. Kerring aimed, taking several moments to make sure he had it right. He pressed the trigger. The rocket hissed from the tube and nailed the target. The rocket stuck, and they drove in reverse at full horse power. The hatch was ripped off.

AKUCCU barely noticed the hit to its back. It went back to cleaning up the steel tower.

" Operation complete. Pull back," Capt. Kerring said on his communicator. The artillary units retreated.

Taylor went up to the robot. It was intimidating to approach this huge machine, but he grabbed the ladder and climbed upward. The robot seemed not to have noticed him, and he was glad of that. Taylor reached the hatch and went inside. The override panel was at the end of the small cabin, and he set himself in the seat before it. " Taylor pulled out the override code, and typed in the 5 sequence number.

Accepted, said the robot.

"Request operation menu" Taylor typed.

The menu came onto the screen. AKUCCU suddenly stopped its work. It felt something happening.

Taylor found the emergency shutdown option. " Shut down sequence activate."

There was a pause before the words appeared on the screen: Uanble to accept command.

Taylor typed in the order again. Again he was greeted with, Unable to accept command. " Houston, we have a problem."

" What's wrong," asked Major Glenn.

" It won't take the command. It's not shutting down."

Gen. Roland pounded his fist on the table. " This thing has gone far enough. " He grabbed the communicator. " Taylor, get out of there. We have an explosives unit ready to board the robot."

" Sir, let me try something." Taylor couldn't believe what he was seeing, but it looked possible. AKUCCU was a robot, but it appeared to have some kind of intelligence. He had to get around that. He typed," You are destroying. That is not your function."

" My orders are to clear everything." AKUCCU did look intelligent.

" Your orders have been changed. You will stop and shut down."

" I cannot. I must clear everything."

Taylor had to think. " You are programmed to protect this city. You are a danger to this city. Protect the city."

" This unit would be destroyed."

" That is an order."

There was a long pause. Taylor wasn't sure what was going on. Then the answer came. " Order accepted. Core destruction in one minute."

Taylor leapt out of the robot, landing on his ass. He rubbed his sore backside, and then ran to the truck. " We've got to get out of here. It's going to blow."

The area around the robot was quiet. There was not that sound a living thing or machine. Moments later, the silence was broke. AKUCCU's core went into overload, and then an explosion ripped through the air. AKUCCU was gone.


Prof Lansing was stunned. " You say it actually seemed to have developed an intelligence of its own."

" It seemed that way to me." Taylor said.

" Incredible. A stroke of lightning did all that. This is worth some investigation."

Taylor shook his head. " I've seen the movies, and AKUCCU. I think we can leave that project on the side for now."


Maj. Glenn called Henry to his office. " Sit," he ordered.

" Sir?"

" I wanted to congratulate you on your work today. I've spoken to your friend, Larry, and given my personal reccomendation he be placed on the tech crew. I understand you desire a lab post."

" I would appreciate it, sir."

" Then you want it."

" Yes, sir."

Major Glenn took out a sheet of paper. He shoved it towards Henry. " This authorizes your transfer. All you do is sign." Henry didn't waste anytime signing.

End