Chapter III – Catastrophe

Through the window I saw Pedro walk out of the palace. He’s framing me, but why? Well, too late for apologies. I hope this doesn’t break too many bones. Nah! Landing on that asshole will damper my fall. Footstep started to arise outside. Officers shouted outside. It’s do or die.

“Stop!” The woman behind me said. “Hands in the air Cane!”

“Sure thing” I said.

I slowly put my hands in the air and… then quickly I jumped out of the windows.

“Geronimo!” I yelled.

While I was falling/laughing the officers started shooting towards me. Like a rock I free fall down on top of Pedro. He shouted in pain. I just sighed and held tight at Pedro. Then I began to roll down the stairs with him. Every step made him groan hard. Bullets landed next to us. Finally the steps ended. We lay down, catching our breath. Suddenly a voice shouted up from the stairs. The female voice sounded very familiar. I looked up and saw a robot running.

“Well” I said. “We’re fucked”.

Pedro sat up.

“I think you mean” Pedro said. “You’re fucked”.

The laughing Pedro kept on laughing. I sighed and pointed at the blimp in the air. How the hell did this anyway happen? The cops really likes to connect dots, even if they are kind of unrelated to each other… just kind of.

Pedro stopped laughing and started to stare at me.

“Is this you’re doing?!” Pedro said seriously.

I shrugged.

“It’s not my blimp” I said. “I don’t even own a car. You know, janitor salary.”

“Cane!” The running robot shouted.

Can’t I for once be a free man? Can’t just the women latch on someone else for once? It’s probably too much to ask for. She came closer and closer while more and more cops started to show up. The blimps had wanted posters of… *sigh*… me and my accomplice Pedro. England is really my city.

She tackled me down to the ground when I was just about to stand up.

“Stand down Cane!” She shouted.

“Hey Cindy!” I said. “The party is not until evening, but I appreciate the hug”.

Pedro chuckled while he slowly walked away. “As expected” I thought. “Leaving me behind, it’s not like I’ve already labeled you as a traitor”. Cindy held tight around me and then pulled a gun. She aimed at Pedro.

“Freeze Pedro!” She shouted.

“Yeah!” I said. “Go Cindy! Show him whose boss!”

Slowly Pedro raised his hands in the air. She gave out commands to Pedro. He followed them like a suave criminal. He must have an ace up his sleeve. Well, I have one too.

“Isn’t there a tickle spot somewhere on you” I said to myself. “Everyone has a tickle spot”.

Quick like a lightning Pedro pulled his gun and shot at Cindy. But Cindy was quick at the trigger. The lady landed the bullet in his stomach. In that moment everything stood still. Cindy shut down, and Pedro lay bleeding on the ground. I just watch the incapacitated Pedro on the ground. He spit out blood and lay down on his back, staring up in the sky. Then I came back to reality.

I pushed Cindy’s turned off corpse. A reboot and she’s back up again. With my best effort I tried to stand up. But I fell. “Ah!” my thoughts shouted. “Damn body! Move your ass!” Next try went better. I was able to pull myself up and walk towards Pedro.

“I guess” I began. “You really was an asshole”.

“You’re done for, Cane” Pedro whispered. “The cops have you cornered”

In relief I looked around. The cops really had arrived late. But Pedro was right. This will be a hard get away. Slowly I reached in Pedro’s pockets. I picked up the keychain. Pedro coughed and glanced at me furiously.

“Oh my” I said. “See what I found”.

The bloody keys dangled over him. He chuckled.

“You’ll be dead by then” Pedro said.

“Nah” I said. “I think I will be fine. You should worry more about yourself”.

Then I began walking away from them. Cindy, a very cute girl. It such shame that she is an emotionless creature. No love from the people around her. Someday maybe catastrophe will arise again. It’s not like Terminator is an inaccurate representation.

Heh, oh Pedro. The Brazilian general. It was fun hanging out. We are so much alike. Except you’re a human and I’m a so called “cat”. Why do humans fight each other anyway? It’s not like you ever known the queen personally dude. I have known her almost my whole life and she had her flaws. I admit that when I was thrown in jail because of her, I hated her. Well, I guess we both hate her, heh?

Suddenly I heard Pedro shout in joy. How he have saved his people. Well, your people almost killed us all when almost the whole rainforest was cut down. No, it wasn’t your people. Your people can I not throw under the bus for what your kind is responsible for. People who only cares about themselves and judge others. We still live on this planet together, let’s share it.

The Zodiac people come here. Over the “space border”. Should we not welcome them instead of being hostile towards our differences? Life is life, judgment is not life. Making these borders of judgment just worsen our relationship.

All borders are temporary. Both sides are guilty to these borders. If it is a nationality or if it is culture difference, we’re much alike in many other ways. I don’t know if the world will ever change. I’ll probably just stay the same anyway. Hiding, drinking until I’m eventually dead. I only have one year at max left to live, probably.

I glanced one last time back at Pedro and Cindy. The cops was all over them. Pedro handcuffed and Cindy rebooted, there’s not much left for me to do in this catastrophe but run away in Pedro’s car. Oh, a beer! Don’t mind if I do.