Counter Earth Chronicles Chapter 120: The Chaos Of The Night (Knight Watch Part Four)

Story by Worlds Apart on SoFurry

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#121 of Counter Earth Chronicles

Last Chapter

Alex and Sir Ram investigate the abandoned hover vehicle dealership discovering that a battle had taken place there- a bloody one. But they only find the remains of the silver prototype which later attacks Mara during analysis. That afternoon Alex and the beastial knight resume their patrol in and around World One encountering incident after incident where autonomous vehicles are turning against their operators....


Counter Earth Chronicles

Chapter 120: The Chaos Of The Night (Knight Watch Part Four)

Day 970 (about an hour before curfew)

"So somebody err, I don't know, want to go after that vehicle and perhaps try to stop it?" I said to the two junior knights and senior knight standing next to me.

Sir Ram looked at the cheetah and donkey.

"I guess we should stop that vehicle." The cheetah said to the donkey.

"Right there is no telling what it is going to do next." Coal added.

"I am going to check on that fennec's employees." The beastial scientist said walking back in to the Pleasure Palace.

(Yeah, I am sure he is.)

"Specialist!"

"Right, I will call it in." I said running back to the prototype.

Chemar and Coal jumped on their hover bikes and started after the black and red hatchback that had killed its driver. Meanwhile Sir Ram checked on the unwilling sex employees of the Proprietor. It turned out that they were all under some type of mind control, their free will suppressed- oblivious that they were being used.

Two minutes later a familiar mobile healer arrived to examine the remains of the fennec fox.

"Oh its you." The female penguin said. "Hey you're not going to total my hover van again are you?" She asked me.

"Um, it wasn't totaled- just damaged heavily." I responded as I heard Overwatch laughing in the background.

(Smart ass computer.)

"You shot it's stabilizer, damaged the bumper and then EMP'd it. It was totaled."

"Ah well, sorry about that. Say how is the Proprietor?" I said trying to change the subject.

"Um dead, very dead. I couldn't put that back together if I wanted to- sorry. So how is your partner?"

"He is inside checking on that fennec's staff." I responded.

"No the other one you were with, you know the day you totaled my rescue vehicle."

"Oh she is fine." I responded looking down at the ground. "She still hasn't decided if she wants to be a mother or not though."

"Healer!" The ram said walking out of the building. "There are lot of 'employees' inside that need your attention."

The female penguin placed the remains of the fennec into the back of her rescue vehicle before tending to his unwilling employees.

"She seems to be in good health just hypnotized. I don't know by what." The penguin said examining the naked cheetah that prompted the investigation.

(The Proprietor was right, that chained cheetah did have a nice rack and pert bottom.)

"Penny is it?"

"Yes Sir Ram." The mobile healer responded.

"Stay here and examine each of the employees." The big horned sheep ordered the penguin.

"This is going to take a while." She responded. "I will need to conduct a pregnancy check on the females."

"You will be fine my dear." Sir Ram responded. "You have my permission to break curfew if need be. Specialist!" The beastial warrior said beckoning me to his side.

"Sir Ram?"

"While she is checking on the employees, we should check to see if there are any clients in the building."

(What does he mean?)

There were three floors in the Pleasure Palace. The first floor contained the entrance and waiting room. Toward the rear of the building was where the 'employees' were kept in a hallway and in restraint chambers. Part of the second floor contained additional restraint chambers as well and then there were the posh private rooms where the customers took their purchases to live out their fantasies, as we would soon find out.

As we walked past the restraint chambers Sir Ram and I saw the merchandise that the Proprietor was talking about to Chemar and Coal; the satyr with the large breasts. She did have a lovely face. In the chamber next to her was the beautiful female centaur. Yeah. her breasts were small but wow that butt! We also saw the quarter horse.

"I have never seen a penis that long in my life." I commented to evil beastial.

"Really?" He asked me.

"Really I responded abruptly. Anyway, these look like the pleasure rooms." The ram said pointing to ten doors making up the rest of the darkened nicely carpeted hallway. There were five on each side. "In order to clear the floor we have to check each of these rooms."

Sir Ram overrode the lock from the wrong side of the door to look into each one. Five of them were empty, but to my surprise and shock, the other five were in use- particularly pleasure room number three.

"Sir Ram what is he doing?!"

*AH* *AH* *AH* *AH* *AAAAHHHHHAAA!*

We had opened up the door just in time to see a blond haired skinny man in his twenties ejaculate inside a dazed male centaur. We watched as he pulled out of the beastial's back passage and start oogling and fondling the male centaur's backside- rubbing it, sniffing it and caressing it. It's owner was apparently not aware of what was taking place. The customer then lifted the centaur's tail to the side, gripped his own penis which was becoming erect again and guided it towards its target. Upon entering the centaur again, the blond man draped the beastial's black tail around his waist and through the crease in his own naked behind.

"Fun time is over human." Sir Ram said interrupting the man as he was about to go for another round.

"But I ordered the full service!" He protested.

"Do you know that it is just before curfew?" I asked him.

"Doesn't matter, brown butt here is mine for the ENTIRE night." He said gesturing to the male centaur whose human half was tone and trim, had a slight day's growth of stubble- on his youthful looking face with a brown and white head of hair- but his horse half had a brown pelt with a black tail equally toned and trim.

"That centaur's will is not his own; he is being controlled human. I am going to break that control. If he comes to and finds you inside of him...." The ram started to say.

"It won't go so well... for you." I said completing Sir Ram's sentence. "He will kick you very, very hard."

The blond haired man thought about the repercussions carefully then redoubled his efforts. "I will take that risk. He fits me quite well, takes everything I give him without question and I have yet to fill him completely! He is perfect!"

*UNF* *UNF* *UNF* *UNF* *UNF* *UNF* *UNF*

(Obviously someone had a thing for horse butts.)

The ram and I face palmed at the naked human's admission and decided to move on to pleasure room four where we saw a male panther cleaning a female panther's cub tunnel with his tongue. The female was standing with her back against the wall- a dazed look on her face. It was then that the panther picked her up by her legs and entered her and you guessed it.

*UNF* *UNF* *UNF* *UNF*

(They kind of made a cute couple.)

In pleasure room six a steer had a female dhole bent over a bench. He pounded her while licking the groin of what looked like a female jackal who was lying on the bench just above the dhole.

In pleasure room eight was the ugliest naga I have ever seen, black hair, crooked face, dark eyes with dark grey scales. She had a female Dalmatian bound in her coils and was watching her turn blue. It was obvious someone had an asphyxiation fetish.

In pleasure room nine we found a brown ocelot lying on his back enjoying himself with two of the otters the Proprietor had spoken about. He erupted inside one of them, removed the creature from his penis, replacing it with another and continued to pleasure himself in the otter's space all over again. Oblivious to the dazed looks on the beastial's faces.

In pleasure room ten was an oryx who was enjoying his purchase, two white rabbits who looked like they were mated to each other. The oryx ran his tongue up and down the female rabbit's body- licking her small but cute breasts and then her sex. When he had finished, the oryx moved on to her mate licking him in the same matter and paying special interest to the male rabbit's groin.

(That is one bizarre triad.)

It was sickening but also fascinating to watch. The Proprietor did sell fantasies here. It must have been great to be a customer, to do what you wanted to who ever you wanted no questions asked. But on the other side of the coin, it must have sucked to be an employee here.

In each and every case, Sir Ram told the customers in the five pleasure rooms that their sessions had ended. In each case they argued that they had paid for the FULL SERVICE for the ENTIRE night.

(So much for the curfew. Those here wanted to be stuck here.)

"Any ideas?" I asked the perplexed knight.

The ram grumbled and went to the third floor of the establishment.

Unlike the first and second floors, this floor did not have any restraint chambers or pleasure rooms. Just closets and closets for storage.

"Wow, look at all the 'pleasure toys'. I don't even know what half of these are for." I said peeking into one of the closets.

"Really little human?" The beastial knight asked me.

"What are you insinuating Sir Ram?"

"Oh that you would have learned about some of these during your time at the Maximum." The ram warrior teased.

"No Spirit wasn't into using toys, neither was Bertha, not that there weren't any available..." I said looking up at the evil beastial who was giving me his undivided attention. "And again I said too much..."

We combed the floor closet by closet, room by room looking for something. Sir Ram wasn't too descriptive, but said he would know it when he saw it.

"This looks like it." The ram said staring at a small console inside what must have been the Proprietor's office. It had a paw controlled slider. He moved it to the bottom of the console and instantly there was a flashing and buzzing noise that emanated throughout the building. We heard a commotion, well a lot of commotion coming from the floor below us as the Pleasure Palace's unwilling employees came out of their trances. From the sounds of it, some weren't happy to discover they were 'with' customers.

"Sir Ram, they all snapped out of it." The female penguin said as she found us.

"Definitely mind control." The he beast said as we left to talk to the chained cheetah and the rest of the Proprietor's 'employees'.

"What happened?" The she beast said coming to. "Why am I naked?"

"The knights found you here." The mobile healer said.

"What was the last thing you remember my dear?" Sir Ram said gently.

"I had just walked into my apartment after coming home from work. I made a cup of tea and sat down to relax."

"What the hell?!" One of the otters screamed. "Why is there a cat inside me?! It kind of feels nice though..."

"Relax we will be with you momentarily." I called.

"What happened? Where am I?" A satyr called out.

"I believe you and the others were placed under some type of hypnosis. You came here under a will not your own." Penny penguin said.

"So it was not aliens?" The female cheetah asked.

"No my dear you became a unwilling employee of a sex shop the Pleasure Palace." Sir Ram said.

"Goodness."

"The owner, used all of you to pleasure and please his clientele without your knowledge or consent, then sent you home in the morning to resume your lives without you all being the wiser." The female penguin said.

"So that is why I occasionally found jizz in places I didn't know I had. It was nearly every day too." The female cheetah exclaimed.

"Well, you are quite lovely." I said staring at the naked cheetah. "If not one of the most popular employees here."

"Boy!" The ram said to me.

"Um right, I will see if I can get her and the rest out of their restraints."

"Thanks, can I go home now?" She asked us.

"I am afraid not." The curfew is about to start. "Besides I will need to check all of you out to make sure that each of you didn't catch something you can't throw back." The penguin healer said. "Get comfortable you will be here for a while."

There was a collective grumble from the beastials and humans present. "Well at least can we have back our clothes?" A female mule asked.

"Working on it. They have to be around here somewhere." I said as I started to release the unwilling sex employees from their shackles and restraints. Damn, the Proprietor had quite the collection! Canids, felines, equines, bovines, lapines, rodents the aforementioned satyr and centaur, otters and a few others I didn't recognize. All were naked and ready to be used. I noticed the males had a certain amount of muscle tone and bulk on their frames while the females were nicely proportioned. There was not one ugly one in the bunch; it looked like the Proprietor had been very selective with his employees.

Sir Ram and I spent a good amount of time interviewing the victims after the mobile healer had checked out each one. There were forty 'employees' in all.

Their stories were the same, they were hypnotized into to working for the Proprietor and then returned to their homes in the morning with no memory where they had been. Many awoke from the hypnosis finding that their genitals ached and were sore. Others found jizz all over their bodies. We assured each that apart from some mild embarrassment, they were safe now and that their enslaver had been dealt with; this wouldn't happen again. Well it wouldn't once Sir Ram figured out how they were being controlled, but that would take time.

"I hope Chemar and Coal appreciate that we cleaned up for them while they were off chasing after that Proprietor's vehicle." The big horned sheep said as we were leaving the Pleasure Palace.

I didn't mention it at the time, but there were some fine looking beastials in that operation evening if they were unwilling employees.

Just then Sir Ram's communicator sounded off. It was Chemar and Coal.

"What is your status?" The he beast said asking the junior knights.

"Bad." Coal said. "Very bad."

"You two had one job!" The ram said annoyed.

"We need help!" Chemar said nervously as we heard engines revving in the background.

"On our way." Sir Ram and I said running to the prototype.

*Recognized Sir Ram Knight of Wundagore Senior Grade*

*Recognized Alex Winter Specialist Wundagore Castle*

"Where are you two now?" He asked the donkey.

"The roundabout in the Briar Run neighborhood." Coal answered.

"Ok we are on our way." Sir Ram said ending the call on his communicator.

That was when it all came crashing down.

The monitor in the prototype charged to life with calls from other knights in the field also in need of help.

"This is Springer I have a demonstration in the Spring Hills area that refuses to dissipate and it is after curfew...."

End the curfew! We are not criminals! End the curfew now! We heard the crowd chant.

"This is Stampede I have riot in Clarion area- protestors who are refusing to obey the curfew until the dictator addresses the alien situation."

_There are aliens among us! Among us!! And the dictator won't do anything about it! _ A crowd chanted in the background.

"This is Coal I would like to help, but Chemar and I need it ourselves!"

Then there was the communication that got everyone's attention.

"This is Chase! I escaped but they still have Barran, Rider, Wave and Charger!" The armadillo wheezed.

I looked at Sir Ram as he looked at the monitor.

"Chase where are you?!" I asked.

"It's TRUTH. They ambushed the hunters." The armadillo said as we heard revving engines in the background. "They are coming for all of us! Don't underestimate them!" Just then the communication went dead.

The junior knight had failed to answer my question.

"What do we do?!" I said horrified. It was like World One was coming apart at the seams that evening.

"Don't panic boy." The evil beastial said. "Get the Watch Supervisor NOW."

"Sanda here." A caracal said appearing on the screen.

"Sanda did you get all that?"

"Yes, we are stretched very thin." The caracal said as he tried to prioritize the communications. "There just isn't enough assets!" He growled.

"This Lady Vermin. Lady Ursa is with me. Did you receive Chase's distress call?"

"We all saw it." I said to the rat warrior.

"I think we might know where it originated." My warrior bear said. "We are going there now."

"Just the two of you?" I said.

"We are in the red prototype pet." My pregnant fierce ursine warrior said. "We will be fine."

"Right then we are going to help Coal and Chemar." Sir Ram said.

"Acknowledged. I will send what we have left to assist Springer and Stampede." The caracal said ending the communication.

"Ursa, Vermin...." The big horned sheep said to his colleagues.

"We will be fine. We trust your creation will exceed our expectations." The rat lady said slyly as she ended the communication.

"What is our system status?"

"100% Sir Ram." I said as we sped off to help the cheetah and donkey who sounded like they were in extreme distress.

"How much longer to we get there?" I asked Sir Ram.

"We are about five minutes out." He replied.

That five minutes seemed like an eternity. When we finally arrived we saw two plumes of smoke in the center of a roundabout.

"Oh No!"

"Don't give me that, I want a visual!" The ram growled.

"They are down." I said zooming in on the image from the front camera.

The donkey and cheetah were lying on their sides as we drove up.

"You two it was only a black and red hatchback!" The ram grumbled as he and I stepped out to examine them.

"It took a while to find it." Chemar said. "When we finally cornered it, we were attacked."

"It brought friends!" The donkey bleated.

In the distance we heard revving engines, saw smoke and dust rise in the darkening sky and felt the rumbling of a lot of vehicles headed our way.

I jumped back into the blue coupe.

"I need answers boy." The ram grumbled.

"Right." I said as I activated the copilot monitor and key board.

*Surveillance probe engaged*

"The hell?!" I shouted.

"Overwatch please tell me I am not seeing what I am seeing!"

*Unfortunately you are Mr. Winter. I detect oncoming hover vehicles, automated, driverless and headed towards this direction.*

"How many computer?" The ram asked.

*Forty Five.*

"Sir Ram!" I shouted.

The senior knight of Wundagore headed back to the prototype as the deflector system came on and for good reason too.

*ZAP* *ZAP* *ZAP*

*WUD*

"The hell?" I shouted.

"We are being fired upon!" The he beast said as the prototype took several direct hits.

*It is one of the automated hover vehicles Sir Ram.*

"Which one?"

"I can't tell, it just destroyed the probe." I said staring at our dead view screen.

"Some one is controlling those vehicles- just like the automated personal vehicle and that adolescent's vehicle that hit that shack earlier. Those can't be coincidences." The senior knight of Wundagore said to me.

"And the grey prototype?"

"Some one trying to control that as well!" The evil beastial concluded.

"But how that vehicle isn't automated." I said.

"But the automated attendant is."

"Uh oh. That explains a lot." I said as the blue coupe shook violently from another laser blast. "What are we going to do?" I asked the knight nervously.

*I recommend we protect our injured friends and hold the line...* Overwatch started to say before there was a buzzing noise.

"Overwatch?" I asked. "Overwatch?"

_*DESTROY* *DESTROY* *DESTROY* *DESTROY* *DESTROY* _

"It is happening again just like in the lab!" The ram said.

"How do we shut it down?" I screamed.

"Easy boy we are safe for the moment. But Coal and Chemar...."

_**Side-pods engaged** _

We thought that the blue coupe was going to attack Coal and Chemar, but it decided on the horde of hover vehicles first.

"OMG!" I screamed as Overwatch took control of the blue prototype.

**Static pulse engaged**

The prototype fired six balls of electricity before the EMP generator was exhausted. Disabling six of the forty five marauding vehicles. Some of them looked like they were quite expensive vehicles too.

**Smoke screen engaged**

_**Machine Guns Engaged** _

The smoke screen confused the approaching vehicles for a little bit, but they just kept on coming hitting and tossing aside the ones Overwatch had disabled. The machine guns were great to watch but again they only disabled a few of the approaching automated vehicles.

**Tunnel Missiles Engaged** _ _

Overwatch continued firing destroying twelve more vehicles before realizing it had run out of ammo.

_**Tractor Missiles Engaged** _

(I never quite understood the difference between those two.)

_ _ With that the automated assistant get another twelve vehicles. From what I could tell, they were nice looking vehicles too.

_**Grenade Launcher Engaged** _

The prototype destroyed another nine vehicles with grenades before running out. There were explosions and detonations all around us and the beastial warrior of Wundagore and I watched as did the residents of the neighborhood as Overwatch took down each and ever single one of the attacking vehicles until there were six left amid the burning, torched and wreckage. _ _

"What is our status?" Sir Ram said to me.

_*DESTROY* *DESTROY* *DESTROY* *DESTROY* *DESTROY* _

"We are out of bullets and missiles and the EMP generator is down." I said as the last six vehicles plowed through the wreckage pile toward us.

_**Laser-system Engaged** _

The prototype sliced through the remaining six vehicles splitting them in half.

When Overwatch had finished the city streets were lined with destroyed vehicles. The automated attendant's accuracy was incredible. That was when it set its sites on its next target the wounded donkey and cheetah.

"Deactivate yourself until further notice emergency authorization Sir Ram senior Knight of Wundagore."

*Acknowledged* The computer program said deactivating.

"Impressive." The ram said looking at me.

"You two ok?" I asked getting out.

"That was awesome!" The donkey groaned.

"Yeah we learned how many assailants the prototype can take down at once." I said sheepishly. "So what happened?" I asked.

"The red hatchback led us into this trap. We were shot at and crashed here." The donkey said.

"We only managed to take down a few with the weapons on the bikes." Chemar wheezed.

Sir Ram assessed the junior knight's injuries while I grabbed a medkit from the trunk of the prototype.

"You both have some bumps and bruises. But Chemar's arm is broken as well as several ribs. I can splint your arm but, I can't treat the ribs here." The beastial knight said looking at me.

"Right, I will go call it in."

I updated Sanda with our status. "We are going to need a transport for those two back to the castle."

"It will have to wait Alex, I have no assets available." The caracal said to me. "Every available knight is tied up."

"Acknowledged." I said. "Have Lady Ursa and Lady Vermin reported back?"

"I haven't heard from them either." The Watch Supervisor said. "I have another call coming in. I will talk to you later. Sanda out."

As soon as that call ended there was another.

"Rammy!" A goat lady said as she appeared on the prototype's monitor.

"Um, I will go and get him."

And so...

"I figured out what happened! Hover vehicles with automation are being controlled- remotely."

"You don't say Mara. We were just attacked by forty five of them." I said sarcastically.

"Whoever is doing it gained control of the the silver prototype through the automated assistant." The she beast said to us.

"Impeccable timing my dear. Were you able to isolate the source?" The ram asked his lover.

"No. All I can tell is that it is an localized signal at this time otherwise all the other cities would be experiencing it."

"Keep digging nanny." Ram said ending the call.

As soon as the ram ended the communication with his lover, I attempted to contact mine.

"Alex!" My fierce ursine warrior answered.

"How are you making out?" I asked as I heard laser blasts and explosions in the background.

"It is bad here pet, we are pinned down." Lady Ursa said.

"You can handle a few rebels." I said trying to cheer her up as she and the rat warrior ducked another blast.

"We aren't pinned down by rebels." The rat warrior announced as I heard a whoosh and then an explosion in the background.

"Then by who?"

"It is the prototype! It started attacking us when we stepped out to look for on Chase and the others."

(OH NO!)

*DESTROY* *DESTROY* *DESTROY* *DESTROY* *DESTROY* *DESTROY*

"It engaged its Code Black directive! Can you disable the side-pods?" Sir Ram shouted.

"Negative!" Lady Vermin said.

"Can you disable the auto attendant?" He asked.

"We can't even get near it." My she beast wheezed.

"Give me your location!" The big horned sheep shouted.

The he beast left Coal and Chemar behind while we headed to the coordinates that my mistress had provided- it was a hover vehicle distribution plant on the northwest side.

"I suspect what we went through was just a diversion." The he beast said to me.

Although Sir Ram was pushing the blue coupe hard, it seems like we just couldn't get there fast enough even in hover mode. The plant was rather small, three long rectangular buildings on a moderate parcel of land.

"Lady Ursa status!" The ram said contacting his colleagues.

"The prototype tried to electrocute us several times. I think it burned out the EMP generator." My she beast said.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"The red building at the rear of the plant." Lady Vermin said.

"The boy and I will distract the prototype while you two take out the side-pods and deactivate the automated attendant." Sir Ram ordered.

"Acknowledged." The female warriors said.

"What is our status boy?"

"The prototype is completely out of ammo all we have left are the non-projectiles." I said to the evil beastial.

"We will save the lasers as a last resort." The ram said.

"So what are we going to attack the red prototype with?"

"I have an idea."

Sir Ram landed the blue coupe and drove right through the open door of the red building. Upon our entry we found the red prototype trying to kill two female knights who were pinned behind several unfinished hover vehicles on a assembly line.

**Side-pods engaged**

Sir Ram made his selection from the weapons menu.

**Flame Thrower engaged**

He lined up the crosshairs and took the shot.

**FOWOOSH**

Two lines of flame shot out from both side-pods and hitting the rear of the red prototype. The vehicle took no damage but stopped attacking Lady Ursa and Lady Vermin and turned its attention to us; it flew into reverse firing everything it had.

The blue coupe shook violently as the deflector system protected us from the red prototype's laser, grenades, bullets and missiles. For those of us in the cockpit it was quite unnerving to see that centered right on the windshield.

"Lady Vermin! Lady Ursa! Now!" Sir Ram ordered.

The female knights took positions on each side of the red prototype firing at the vehicle's side-pods. There was a small explosion from each as they were disabled.

Realizing that its weapon's tubules were destroyed the automated attendant tried to get drive away.

"I don't thinks so." The ram hissed as he deactivated the flame thrower and rammed the red prototype which was still trying to back up- both vehicles were at a stalemate one trying to back up while the other trying to prevent it from backing up.

While this struggle was happening, Lady Ursa gained access to the cockpit and disabled the automated attendant bringing the red coupe back under control.

"Sir Ram they regained control." I said. "We can stand down."

"Thanks for the assist Sir Ram." The rat warrior said.

"Mistress!" I said as I ran to hug my pregnant bear.

"That is going to require extensive repairs." The ram said looking at the damaged side-pods.

"Are you two ok?" I asked the female warriors.

"Better than the others." My she beast responded glumly.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"We found Chase and the Rebel Hunters." Lady Vermin said.

Sir Ram and I followed the females to the rear of the complex.

The scene was ghastly. With the exception of Barran (Six) their leader who was conscious, badly wounded- but breathing, the remaining Rebel Hunters were dead. The walrus and seal had received blasts from the electric pulse from the grey prototype, their bodies were fried to a crisp, The panda had been cut in half presumably by the vehicle's lasers and Chase, poor chase, had been on the wrong end of the machine guns.

"How did this happen?" Lady Vermin asked.

"Someone has been taking control of automated vehicles across World One." Sir Ram said. "Including the prototypes."

"How is that possible?" Lady Vermin asked.

"It is through the automated attendant." I replied.

"Those four, didn't die here. Their bodies were placed here for us to find." My she beast said solemnly.

"But we all saw and heard Chase call for help!" I blurted.

"I think the Rebel Hunters were killed by the grey prototype as was Chase when he went to their aid." Lady Vermin said.

"The Rebel Hunters tried to disable the prototype and died in the process." My she beast added.

"That was why their hover bikes took heavy damage." I concluded. "And why we found the silver prototype on its roof."

"But why move their bodies here?" Sir Ram asked.

"It was an ambush." Lady Ursa said.

That thought just made me sick.

It took quite some time for help to arrive, but it did. Chase, Rider, Wave and Charger's remains were taken back to the castle for study. Coal and Chemar had their wounds treated.

Sir Ram determined that the junior knight and three Rebel Hunters were indeed killed by weapons from the silver prototype and someone had fabricated Chase's call for help after he had already died to lure the female knights into a trap.

Mara discovered that someone had sent a small undetected signal to the automated attendants in the prototypes to gain access to the vehicles in an effort to conduct all sorts of mayhem. She suspected the same thing had been done to the other automated vehicles within World One.

Lady Ursa and I made our own discovery as we were winding down for the evening after our shifts back at the lair.

"One thing about working the evening shift, when you finish, there isn't anywhere to go afterwards because everything is closed." I said sitting down on the sectional. "Want to watch anything?"

"Not really pet, I would just prefer we call it a day." My she beast said as she started to head upstairs to her chamber. Probably to reflect on the day's events.

I decided to see what was on the hub, you know, channel surf. At least that was what we called it on Gaia- I guess it was a guy thing. I searched the directory looking for new content and came across a file entitled The Truth. I decided to check it out.

*Do you feel safe? Can your empire protect you from what is to come? What about its ruler? *

The narration was intermixed with footage of Chase and the Rebel Hunter's shootout with the silver prototype at the abandoned hover vehicle dealership, Lady Ursa and Lady Vermin's desperate shootout with the red prototype at the hover vehicle distribution plant and Chemar and Coal's ambush with the forty five automated vehicles and the knight core's attempt to end the protests and riots that took place this evening. Someone had recorded all the encounters in graphic detail and posted it on the hub for everyone to see. I watched as Barran fired at the silver prototype as Chase got riddled with bullets, Charger got sliced in half from a laser and Rider and Wave were electrocuted in graphic detail from the prototype's electric pulse. It was very sickening.

We don't think so either and that is the Truth.

_"_Um, mistress?"

To Be Continued....