A black forest of crumbled building blocks greeted her, but in the middle of the front lawn laid two mutilated bodies with trails of blood where they had been dragged. She approached and saw the guts were strewn everywhere as if some wild animal had been interrupted during a feeding. They were damaged beyond recognition and her heart sank at the thought it was Kato. Her stomach turned in circles and she wanted to puke. Several robots surrounded the bodies in a last line of defense, along with a few knives and large blaster close by. To Ketty it was obvious they had put up one heck of a fight. She looked for a sign if it was Kato, but there was no way to tell, until she saw the hair about ten feet away. She would recognize that hair anywhere and it was definitely not him which brought an unexpected sense of relief. Why was she so happy, his parents were dead? Despite his transgressions, she needed him more than anything now.

Two small rocks sat off to the side of the trail. The blood led to the rocks where their scalps had been carefully laid out. Scalping wasn't even in the dictionary anymore, but the tops of the heads had been sliced carefully away. She knew Kato's mom by the stoic bun, and the other was not her son.

A slight whirring made her turn, until she realized it was Bromide flying in on small fusion motors mounted to his arms and legs. He set down a foot away, with that concerned look. It only took him a second to assess the situation.

"You are in grave danger, I have to take you back to the barn."

"Hold on." She was done being pushed around. "Look!" There among the pools of blood was a distinct footprint. It was the first sign what she had seen last night wasn't a dream. "Do you see the three deep imprints, and there at the back is a forth. It looks like some kind of bird track."

Bromide was analyzing as he spoke. "Except it's bigger than any known species in my data bank."

"Still, something killed them, and it wasn't a bird." By now the sun was up in the nine o'clock sky, and she could feel her skin beginning to burn without her normal protection. Sweat drenched her back, causing her night shirt to stick to her skin. It was one of those moments where she would have been the most beautiful girl in the Subdivision if not for the death surrounding her. She gagged at the stench of blood and puked.

"Miss Ketty, we need to clear out of here."

"Are there any survivors?" She asked.

"Negative, we performed a preliminary search and came up empty handed."

"Master?" Ketty almost jumped from her skin. One of the bots in the circle moved as if the living dead were rising from a grave.

"Stand back." Bromide shoved her to the side and ran to the Stonehenge of bloody robots. He tossed a garden bot aside, and there was Egor.

"Master?" said Egor. Bromide tossed the hunchback on his shoulder and grabbed Ketty, dragging her back to the barn. She was dazed and tired from the sun, unable to put up a fight. His fusion motors were not powerful enough to lift more than twice his weight so they ran back while he carried Egor, who was incapacitated.

When they arrived, Boondock was jumping straight up and down uncontrollably. "I have found a survivor!" He continued spinning as he jumped.

"Ok, calm down, Boondock," said Ketty. She followed him into the bottom hold of the ship, to a small door that was closed.

"Someone is in there, I found her with my sensors." It was locked so Bromide began melting the door.

Inside was a pile of blankets shoved in the corner. They were out of place in the well-kept interior, like some giant rat had built a nest. For the first time she realized the yacht had functioning systems.

"Ughhh. Leave me alone."

"Rayleen!" Ketty yelled as she pulled back the covers. Ketty dove on top of her, so overjoyed she was shaking. "Oh, Rayleen, you're alive!" The puzzled look on her face made Ketty's heart sink."

"I've been locked in here for days, it feels like."

"How did you get here?"

"I convinced my bot to let me spend the night after I left your house, then the lights went out and the door wouldn't open. Do you have any food?" She was clueless to the nightmare she was about to enter. They may well be the last two humans alive on Karabellum, let alone in the Subdivision, and Ketty didn't have the heart to break the news.

"Miss-cordoy, get Rayleen some food and explain our situation." Miss-cordoy was a servant bot, proficient at cleaning and running a household in its entirety. She was perfectly capable of delivering bad news.

Ketty motioned to Bromide, "We need to check out the bridge." The ship was big, but only six decks high so they reached the control center in a matter of minutes. It was a simple layout, with three chairs and a small control stalk. The rest was operated by an Artificial Intelligence computer and holographic display screens. She touched the control stalk and received a courteous warning.

"Un-authorized user. Please enter code."

"What do you think, old boy?" she asked Bromide. Everything seemed in order, but they were locked out.

He touched the control stalk and received the same message. His hand acted as a data port, and after a few seconds he said, "The security protocol is very complex, it could take a few days to override the system." Ketty had to get to the city, she had to find Lindy, and she had to have this ship.

"Stay on the bridge until you have gained control, then come find me." She watched him process the information and run out a thousand scenarios in a second.

"I will stay here, but who will be protecting you, Miss?"

"Sizy and Boondock will help me reach the city, but we have to have this ship. Do you understand?" She manipulated his logic. "We will die without this ship. I'm counting on you." Bromide touched her shoulder, then gave her a mechanical hug.

"I won't let you down." With that he turned and bent to the task at hand while Ketty used her hand held to gather the rest of the bots.

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