Beast Machine
humanity. These monsters want to
control humans like rats. You may be the last hope humanity has to
save itself.”
    The man’s eyes widened like
his mother’s once did in a moment of terror and sorrow.
    “ Why can’t we do this
together?” said the son as tears dribbled down his cheeks. “Why are
you telling me this so abruptly?”
    “ They have keyed in on me
and I am weak. Once all the safehouses I’ve propped up around the
country have been searched, they will come here. It will only be a
matter of days. I don’t want them to get you too. My only source of
information has confirmed that The Flagship will come for me and he
has refused to relay information to me. Completely cut me off. My
time is dwindling and nearly done.”
    The smoke billowing out of
the broken stack was slowly falling to the ground, surrounding the
house in a fog of misery.
    “ No! I am staying here!”
screamed the son. “How can you do this to me? How is this fair to
my life?”
    “ You’re going to my
brother’s home in Arkansas and will be raised there with his
children and family. He never wanted to help me with this endeavor
but I can’t blame him.”
    The son sat down on the
floor and covered his face with his hands. He cried silently into
his hands. His simple life in his simple home was over. The boy
knew he would have to transform his childish ways into a stern
manhood quickly – unfairly as it was for his father to do this to
him he knew this would be his life until this mission was
accomplished.
    “ Please, don’t do this,”
whimpered the boy in a last ditch effort. “I love you,
father.”
    “ Please keep those notes
safe, and read from it daily,” said the father, crying with his
son. “Once you get to my brother’s home you will assume his changed
last name.” The man knelt down and put his hand on his child’s
back. “I love you so much, son.”
    The two left the rickety
house at dawn the next day. They travelled by foot to the nearby
town, roughly an hour away, where the man’s brother would be
waiting. No words were spoken, just deep sighs and heartbreak. Once
in the town, they sat on a bench next to the only stoplight. None
of the residents of the town were awake just yet.
    A brown sedan pulled up to
the stoplight and honked three times. Gaston looked at his father
one last time and his father nodded.
    Gaston quickly walked over
to the brown sedan and entered it. The driver drove off as soon as
the door slammed shut. Gaston took his final look at his broken
father sitting on a bench.
    The driver quickly uttered
to Gaston, “You will no longer go by Gaston. You will now be known
as Huxley Obelis. No more talking.”

Chapter 7
    She’s Daunting
    “Hitbear, what continent do
you believe we should make our moves on first?” asked Gora as she
slid off-brand wheat bread into her mouth. No butter, no jam – just
bread. The lack of a topping mildly repulsed Hitbear, a beast that
often splattered his meals all over his furry chest even when
trying to be delicate. Crumbs fell all over Gora’s body.
    “ Well, considering we’re
already in North America, we should begin here,” stated Hitbear
while still intensely studying the maps. Gora tried to introduce
digital maps to her strategist but he broke the computer screen
when he placed a thumbtack into a location. Even with information
uploaded into Hitbear during his creation in the Beast Machine, the
application of that information proved more difficult.
    “ I won’t break another
screen I promise!” said Hitbear after breaking the screen, but Gora
wouldn’t let him touch any parts of the computer for some
time.
    “ No computer until you
learn to fully control your body,” relayed Gora.
    Owlbert had the same
troubles with technology. Gora gave the owl an electronic tablet to
look through various libraries to find books that he may need to
read, but Gora neglected to think about how an owl with sharp
talons would even begin to meddle with an electronic

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