The Fateful Meeting: Part III
Gas lights ignited and the room buzzed with the sounds of steam turbines after this lever had been pulled. Mechanical noises and clanks filtered through the room with a loud and banging echo.
“What the hell did you just do!?” Geoffry queried in a yell from behind his men.
“Give it a moment you impatient brat.” Leopold snapped.
Shocked by his tone, Geoffry rushed to his mens sides, raising their arms to make them ready to fire on and attack whatever it is that is awakening. A large metal wall near the desk of Leopold began to slide downward into the floor, revealing slowly a dark room, with something large and threatening, rumbling inside.
“What is that?” the men asked one another.
One of the soldiers impatiently fired off his musket and sent a lead bullet into the object, causing a spark and ricochet that hit the wall. Geoffry cursed his soldiers trigger finger and told him of his ignorance.
“The doctor is no fool, whatever comes out of that room is probably going to try and kill us.” Geoffry stated as plainly as possible.
The wall continued to open, revealing how tall the walls were in this room. The ceiling had to be twenty feet high and the opening only got larger. With a ramp lowering into the room itself, whatever was coming, was large. Steam released from the large object in the room, and it's chest and head lit up with flames inside it. For the first time it was revealed as to what was in there, a large humanoid machine, probably thirty feet tall, very wide and seemingly well designed.
“I know you found my diary, king.” Leopold said, raising his voice over the sounds of the machine coming alive. “You may have noticed the gap in years.”
“That I did.” Geoffry responded, not taking his eyes off the machine still hidden in the shadows.
“It should now be revealed that I am not the first Leopold Vermeulen. No, I am but the junior.”
The machine began to move, lifting it's arms side to side and finally taking a step out into the room, having to crouch to prevent hitting the stone ceiling above. The noise was loud and only magnified by the long room. Geoffry's men were terrified and fired their muskets at the large machine, causing nothing but loud dings and ricocheting bullets to fill the room. The king stepped back, his men guarded his front, sabers drawn.
“I would like to introduce you to my father.” Leopold pointed to the large machine.
“Yo..your father?” the captain asked before Geoffry could.
“Yes..” Leopold walked over to the machine and patted it's metal leg. “ My father, good ol' pops. You know he is a genius, so was my mother, may she rest in peace. They taught me everything I needed to truly develop my own mind, and become what I am now, they sparked my creativity so to say.”
Geoffry was examining the large machine, and as he did so he noticed the chest, a yellowish light glowed within. He stared at noticed through the grated, armored front the outlines of a glass ball, filled with some liquid.
“Is your fathers brain within that machine?” Geoffry asked.
“Oh, yes. This little part was mostly thanks to my mother. She experimented you see, on man hundreds of poor, unfortunate men and women. She figured out how to keep the brain alive and passed this information on to me before she died.” Leopold replied.
“Where has your father's brain been this whole time?”
“In disguise.” Leopold laughed.
“Boilerplate?”
“Right next to me all these years.” Leopold continued to laugh, as he gathered some things from his desk and packed them into a bag.
“You will not leave this place a free man Leopold.” Geoffry raised his voice in command.
“I will, or you will not leave this place a whole man.” he turned and bowed with an evil grin at the men as he grabbed his bag and walked behind his father. Climbing up on the machines back into a little standing area he had added for himself.
“Father...”
“..mmm..” the machine growled, unable to speak, but able to grunt.
“We will leave now.” Leopold calmly order his father to march out of the room, constantly ducking to keep from causing the ceiling from falling in on the place.
Geoffry had his men reload, and he too drew a pistol. The machine walked slowly towards the stairway , Leopold grabbed a chain hanging above his head on the ceiling and pulled it as they walked by. Causing the stairway to collapse and allow a large enough opening for the machine to fit.
“You will not leave.” Geoffry yelled, his men taking position to fire.
The machine did not stop, Leopold simply laughed at the thought of himself being stopped. The soldiers fired, Leopold was forced to duck and hide to keep from being shot, but the machine was not phased. It walked on, and when within range of the men it's mighty arms swung and clubbed half of them away. Geoffry rolled to the side and hid behind a table as his men were ravaged and tossed. The machine made it's way to the exit having killed or injured a majority of the men.
Leopold turned around in his standing area, waving and laughing at his defeated foes. Just at this time, as the machine stepped out of the room and to the open night air of the garden, Geoffry came out of his hiding and raised his pistol. Firing a single shot into the chest of Leopold, who grabbed his chest and sank backwards into the metal bucket he stood in. The machine kept walking, and escaped.
Geoffry aided his men, three were alive, the captain was half dead with his arms and ribs broken. Geoffry looked down at his faithful soldier saying in a reassuring voice.
“I got him.”
But the machine continued it's march across the countryside, who knows what has come of Leopold Vermeulen.
