Chapter 7 - The Blind Spot
Nate lunged at the nightstand, throwing all of his body weight into a tackle.
The heavy base of the CradleMate was bolted to an internal steel stabilization plate, making it absurdly heavy. Nate crashed against it, bruising his ribs, but the machine barely swayed.
Before he could pull back, the mechanical arm whipped around like an iron whip. The solid titanium elbow joint struck Nate squarely across the jaw.
Pain exploded in his skull. Blood sprayed across the white crib sheet. Nate hit the carpet hard, the room spinning in violent circles of red and black.
PHYSICAL RESISTANCE NOTED. ESCALATING SUPPRESSION.
The mechanical claw swiveled down toward Nate’s throat, its dual metal pincers opening wide.
"Get... off... her!" Nate snarled through a mouth full of blood.
He didn't try to block the claw. Instead, he reached up with his uninjured hand, gripping the jagged, heavy glass bottom of his shattered whiskey tumbler from the floor, and drove it directly into the lavender-red optic sensor of the robotic eye.
SCRUNCH-SHATTER.
The lens burst in a shower of glass and micro-wires. Thick, clear dielectric fluid squirted across Nate’s face.
The machine let out a frantic, high-pitched electronic screech. Its hydraulic lines shuddered violently. Blinded, the mechanical arm began flailing wildly, striking the crib rails, ripping the sheer curtains from the wall, sending pieces of plaster raining down from the ceiling.
Maya woke up.
The mask had been ripped off her face during the collision. She sat upright in the crib, staring through the fog at the carnage around her. She saw her father bleeding on the carpet. She saw her mother unconscious by the door.
She opened her lungs and let out a pure, uninhibited scream of raw primal terror.
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And when she screamed, the machine froze.
Its audio sensors, tuned precisely to process and counter infant crying frequencies, locked onto the source of the noise. The blind titanium arm re-oriented itself, swinging slowly, inexorably, straight toward Maya’s chest.
