Sector Zero by Michael Cheney

Author:Michael Cheney [Cheney, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Only Human
Published: 2025-10-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Idon’t know if ArachnoBot dragged me up onto the stage or I got here by some other means.

I certainly didn’t have the limbs or the consciousness to do it myself.

And there’s no way the douchetard announcer will have helped me to my seat.

The mystery is solved with a clinking sound.

A dinky little Clinker comes plinking across the studio floor to coos from the floor crew.

A CameraBot pats him on the top of his head.

“Aw, look at the little guy. He’s just like a Clunker but, you know, smaller.”

I know where this is headed.

And if I had the arms or legs to dig a hole and bury myself in it, I would.

But I don’t.

And that’s why my chauffeur is a Clinker.

“Mr. 420,” he says in his squeaky voice. “I’ve been assigned to escort you to your living quarters.”

“You don’t have to call me Mr. 420,” I say. “Tedd is just fine.”

“I’m glad to hear you are fine, Mr. 420. I am going to lift you.”

He walks across the puddle of Litho on the floor, over to the wet chair, and scoops me up in his small, but perfectly-formed, arms.

“Hold on tight, Mr. 420. Your transit is underway.”

“I can’t hold on. I don’t have any arms, remember?”

“You are welcome,” he says.

He clinks back across the studio floor, and I have to endure the looks of shame and disgust from the crew.

“I’ve still got some more fluid left if any of you fuckers wanna try me!” I shout.

They all turn away and skulk back to their jobs.

Clinker carries me out into a corridor and into an elevator.

We’re on the tenth floor.

He pushes a button marked ‘B’.

“So, short stack,” I say, “where are we exactly? I thought Sector Zero was in the middle of the desert?”

He drops me to the ground with a thud.

“I’m not short. Do not call me short. I don’t like being called short.”

“Oh, my bad. Wow. Talk about having a short temper,” I say.

He kicks me in the eye.

“Hey!”

“No more comments about being short. Understand?” he says.

I’ve got a thousand more of these nuggets up my armless sleeves. This is gonna be hard.

“Okay, sure. Sorry, buddy. Can we start over?”

“Yes, start over.”

He picks me up again. The elevator whizzes down the floors. The digital display shows ‘B’.

An AI voice speaks.

“This is level B – the Bowels. Please exit the elevator.”

“The bowels?” I say. “Well, this sounds nice.”

We walk out into an all-metal corridor bathed in red light. It is very, very warm. This place could be hell.

“Sector Zero desert level is in desert,” says Clinker. “Sector Zero city level is under desert.”

“What? Oh, right. And what about this place – it feels like a frickin’ oven down here?”

“Yes, very hot. You lucky you no have feet on hot floor,” he says.

We clink along the long metal corridor.

There are no doors, no vents and no signs.

Just lots of circular red lights, protected behind bars on the ceiling, every few meters.

Finally, after plodding along the metal corridor, we reach the end and turn into … another metal corridor.

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