5.m.
Demand could
barely stand upright. He’d fought off
two more waves of Betty/Jacks and suffered a dozen shallow cuts as well as
something much deeper between the ribs on his left side. He lumbered down the hallway, hand clasped dangerously
close to his heart. Blood seeped between
his fingers.
He opened the
door to an office and sat at a desk. A
weary sigh escaped his lips. He hoped
his lung wasn’t punctured. He was sure
he’d know it if his lung were punctured.
A Jack unit
appeared in the doorway. Its eyes went
wide, its mouth opened, and it emitted a sound something like a modem scream
crossed with a dentist drill.
Demand didn’t
get up. So what if they got to him now
or in a few minutes? He couldn’t last
much longer. Let it end. But when two more Jacks and four Bettys
crowded the doorway Demand sighed, pushed away from the desk, and stood ready.
The screaming
Jack unit lifted its hand and pointed a sharpened finger toward Demand. Behind it, two of the Betty units exploded in
a mess of circuits, wires, and mechanical limbs. Demand had just enough time to flinch and
furrow his brow before another Betty and two Jacks met similar fates.
Corporate Man
dropped into the room from a vague upward direction, his necktie trailing
behind him. Business Woman and Senior
Executive charged through the door and dismantled the remaining robots.
Demand
smiled. Then he slumped over the desk,
bleeding, and lost consciousness.