BENNY’S CONFLICT

So Benny and Shana have now successfullymade theirway down to the level where Carlos is fighting off hundreds of security bots. Unfortunately, the bots are now aware that Benny is down there with them, and are focusing their attention, and lasers, on him.

WHEN they all started firing it happened to suddenly that Benny and Shana barely had the time to react. Milliseconds before the lasers decimated the area they were standing in, they pulled themselves into the doorway of the stairwell. After a few seconds of an excruciatingly loud inferno of lasers, the 76th floor of the stairwell resembled the inside of a volcano. But Benny and Shana were thankfully unharmed.

Before they peeked back round the corner, another equally loud explosion shook the entire planet, and Benny looked over to see the bots reduced to a smoking mess, and Carlos holding a huge laser. Benny couldn’t fathom where he got it from, but they needed to go before more bots arrived.

Already, more metallic feet could be heard, so Benny quickly attached himself to the zipwire, and Shana did the same. Carlos piggybacked on Benny’s back, and with that they prepared to zoom back up the stairwell. They would have done it, if the bot in the lead hadn’t turned the corner towards the room and shot Benny in the back, causing him to let go of the zip wire, as Shana was dragged up towards the top floor.

Carlos and Benny fell to the cold ground, as the rest of the security bot squadron marched into the stairwell and booted up their lasers. Benny was fine thanks to his armour, but he was still very scared.

Many times now throughout his adventure Benny was sure he was a dead man. But now he knew he was doomed. Just before the lasers destroyed that floor for a second time, his life flashed before his eyes. It was a confusing, contradictory life, a life of twists and double-crossings, and maybe not a good life, but he didn’t want it to end. He wanted his life to end in a better place, when he was sure of his path and secure in his beliefs, not cowering in a stairwell after facing a lifechanging mental conflict.

However, the bots did not share his views, and each one’s lasers fired down at the space he was recoiling with

Carlos. After a few seconds of firing, Benny was amazed by the fact he was not dead. In fact, he had never felt so alive. His heart was racing, he was breathing like he’d run a marathon and he was so sweaty he felt like he’d been swimming underwater. As he turned to look, he saw the smoking wreckage of a security bot, the Freedom Cube somehow intact in the back of its head.

For a few seconds, Benny was confused, but then he realised the hacked bot must have used itself as

a shield against the heavy fire, sacrificing itself to ensure his survival. He was thankful, but he didn’t know why it did that. Was Shana so good at hacking that the bot had its own free will? He would have to figure that out later, though, as the non-hacked bots were booting up their lasers yet again. He grabbed Carlos, the huge laser and the Freedom Cube and sprinted up the stairs.

The next few minutes were complete madness, sprinting and avoiding laser fire from bots below, but Benny and Carlos ran fast when they were scared, despite the heavy load. Eventually, they managed to put some distance between them and the bots, which they used as an opportunity to catch their breath. After another few flights, the metallic feet were behind, but not far behind.

At the top of the stairs, they pelted down towards The Golden Dawn, where Shana had already booted up the engines to prepare for take-off. After they jumped inside, it shut and began to fly out.

At least, it tried to fly out. But the hatch that let ships in or out was firmly shut.