The view of Pacific City spread out before him in a green hue. Thomas Lansing leaned back in his chair as he stared at the screen, his eyes darting to the data scrolling across the top and then back to the view.

Three crosshairs popped on the screen with numbers just beneath them.

Suddenly the view began to move, closing in on the crosshairs, the numbers ticking down.

"What have you got?" asked Richard Siefret as he sat next to Lansing.

"It looks like three hostile IDs," Lansing said, reaching out and pressing a few more buttons.

The view on the screen changed from a green tint to red, the crosshairs now surrounding blobs of red fading to white shapes of people.

"Christ," said Siefret, pointing at one of the figures that shined through the infrared, "that guy's practically nova."

"He's definitely running hot," said Lansing. "Ninety seconds to complete identification. Richard, make a note that we have to speed that up."

"Check," said Siefret, grabbing a clipboard.

Lansing leaned forward and pressed another button, a box popping up in the corner of the screen with a map of Pacific City, three red dots clustered as a fourth green dot closed in on them, faint lines trailing behind them to signify their paths.

"Targets are moving north by northwest from Main and Twenty First. Any idea on possible targets?"

Siefret looked up for a moment, mumbling to himself as he thought.

"Pacific City First Bank, main branch, 2205 Main," said Siefret, looking back to his clipboard and continuing to write.

Suddenly one of the figures seemed to stretch out, a white streak exploding from it and into the dark red of a building.

"Flare up," said Lansing. Siefret threw his clipboard down and looked up.

"Shit, a pyro?"

"Looks like we'll get to test the insulation on this thing. Police band signal sent," said Lansing as the data scrolled across the top of the screen. "Perfect."

Lansing pressed a button and the view changed again, this time to a simple starlight view that showed the scene as clear as day. The numbers on the crosshairs ticked down as it closed in.

"Five hundred meters to engagement," said Lansing with a smile.

"Three hundred."

"Two hundred."

"One hundred."

"Engage."

Anthology Two Presents

Lansing
"Words"
Presentation Part One
By Jason S. Kenney

His name was Plurality and for good reason. His body split into its three clones before the machine hit the ground and all scattering to try and fend this thing off.

The machine slowly stood upright from the crouched position it landed in, it's arms unfolding and bringing its armament to bear on the clones.

Its brain processed the scene, tagging each of Plurality's bodies their movements. Data flowed through its system, identity, strengths, weaknesses.

"Henry Kline," spoke the machine in a metallic voice, "you are under arrest."

The machine reached up a clawed hand and grabbed the first Plurality that leapt at it, quickly throwing him to the side. Two others came at the machine. It crouched and then pushed up, leaping into the air and twisting as it flew over the Pluralities.

It processed the four men, their locations, and listened. A heartbeat called out from one as the machine landed. Its target.

Plurality's clones were known to not feel pain unless that pain was directed on the original.

The machine reached up and pointed at a Plurality, a dart firing from one of its forearms and leaving a trail of wire still attached to the machine.

Plurality shouted as the dart struck him in the thigh but soon was screaming from the electrical charge that flowed into his body.

The machine did not wait to see the other three Plurality's fall to the ground in pain, instead turning towards another target.

Two more men were processed through its brain, one inside the building identified as Pacific City First Bank, the other standing a hundred meters to the south. After a quick assessment it started towards the bank.

The second target ran from its position and leapt into the air, trying to grab at the machine. It simply turned and reached out, catching the man by his leg in mid-air and holding him up, leaving him dangling upside down.

"Michael Quinn," it said to the man it held, "you are under arrest."

"Please," replied the man, a smirk across his face, "in the field it is Thinker." Thinker moved to grab the machine's arm but it swat his arms away, then tossing Thinker off to the side.

Thinker anticipated this, his mind working quick to evaluate all possible outcomes of any given event, and twisted his body around as he flew through the air, hitting the wall with his feet and pushing out and into a roll as he hit the ground, coming to his feet. He smiled as the machine came near him, assessing his enemy and it's obvious weaknesses. He figured he had three seconds to move to get to the trash can eight meters to his right and toss it towards the machine's head, either distracting it so he could quickly jump in and reach into the possible power source and remove it or not distracting it in which case he would step back and leap up and kick the garbage can out of the air and at the machine, thus occupying it long enough for him to devise many more schemes.

His mind worked fast.

He knew just want to anticipate.

Only, he didn't anticipate the machine suddenly jumping backwards into the air to dodge a fireball that came at it from behind, nor did Thinker expect to be left in the path of said fireball and to be engulfed in flames.

The machine came down behind the source of the fire as one crosshair crossed out as Thinker burned to death. It had picked up on the man leaving the bank, processing his location and the sudden explosion of heat from his body.

It didn't bother to move from the second fireball, instead allowing itself to be immersed in the flames.

Running Hot smiled as he watched the machine burn. He hoisted the bag of money on his shoulder and turned to run, only to be stopped by voice calling out to him by his real name.

"Gregory Rubin," said the machine as it stepped from the fire, "you are under arrest."

"Like hell," said Running Hot, reaching out and firing yet another fireball at the machine. The machine quickly reacted, leaping into the air and turning to dodge Running Hot's flame that followed. It reached out an open hand and its palm suddenly flashed a bright light, burning Running Hot's eyes and sending the man to the ground, clawing at his face.

It landed hard and stepped towards Running Hot, stopping as sirens sounded out down the road.

It processed the arrival time of the police, compared it with the recuperation time of its targets and, satisfied that the police would be there in time, leapt into the air and onto a rooftop, leaving the scene and returning to base.

***

"Thoughts?"

Richard Siefret sat to Thomas Lansing's right and shuffled through his papers as Lansing leaned back in his chair and looked to the others. Lisa Shelby sat across from him, reading the data report from the latest test, her face stern as she studied the results. Fred Cooper was to Lansing's left, leaning back, staring at the ceiling.

"You did say something about process time, right?" asked Fred, keeping his stare up.

"Yes," Lansing said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table. "It took ninety seconds for it to get a full identification on three people who were already in the database. Better than previous tests, but I want fifteen to twenty seconds max on each ID."

"Heat levels were awkward," said Richard as he held one page out to Lansing. "Not only did it get a little too warm inside the system but the amount of heat getting through varied at certain joints."

Lansing looked at the page and nodded.

"Not good," Lansing said, handing the page back.

"Problem is," said Richard as he looked at the page again, "we can't further insulate without increasing the thickness of the area which may impede mobility."

"What was the outside to inside ratio?" asked Lisa, still reading the report.

"About 293 Centigrade outside, 71 on the inside," said Richard.

"How quickly did it heat up?" asked Fred.

"Well, it instantaneously leapt to 93 inside before the coolant brought it down, it only took three seconds for that to kick in though. It took about ten more seconds for the system to cool back to 25 after leaving the fire."

"93?" Lansing asked. "Christ, yeah, that won't do. Fred, I need you to talk to Will, see if you can get me some info on when that new coolant will be ready to test. Richard, let's try and insulate better at the joints and see how badly that effects performance. Perhaps we can compensate.

"I also want to reevaluate the instant reaction system. Kinda tone it down."

"Why?" asked Richard, looking from his papers to Lansing. "It worked perfectly."

"A little too perfect," Lansing said. "It put other lives at risk."

"No innocents were harmed in the run," said Lisa, looking up as well.

"But we did have one casualty," said Fred, still staring at the ceiling.

"Exactly."

"Wait," said Richard, setting down his papers, "Thinker? He was a bad guy. He was far from innocent and his loss was unavoidable."

"The loss was avoidable," Lansing said, "and innocent or no we can not have people dying on this."

"So you're willing to allow the unit to risk itself in the defense of villains?" asked Lisa.

"I just want the unit to better calculate risk factors to itself as well as any surrounding areas before reacting. Look, we're trying to sell this to the public as well as the police and military. We can not excuse unnecessary deaths simply because the person is bad at the moment."

"Or you're no better than Millennium Man," said Fred.

"That hack?" said Richard, looking to Fred and then back to me.

"He is a science hero," Lansing responded, leaning back, "and he and his kind are who we are in direct competition with. His 'outburst' that killed a man is what has provided us this opportunity. I will not allow this operation to be jeopardized by failing to learn from his mistakes. I want it played with and corrected, understood?"

Both Lisa and Richard nodded and mumbled affirmatives.

"Good. Anything else?"

"You have a three thirty appointment this afternoon," said Lisa. "Commissioner Jordan is coming for a presentation of the latest trial."

"Good," Lansing said. Perhaps we can make a sale to Pacific City and be done with it. Lisa, I want your notes on that last test on my desk by noon. Richard, look into the instant reaction system for me, get me notes on that as soon as possible. Fred..."

"I'll have a coolant report on your desk by noon," said Fred, still looking at the ceiling.

"Great," Lansing said, clapping his hands and standing up. "I'm going to take a nap."

***

"Commissioner Jordan, a pleasure to see you again."

"Likewise, Mister Lansing," said Commissioner Jordan, shaking Thomas Lansing's hand. "Let me introduce Mayor Cliff Jerrod." He gestured to the man to his right.

"Mayor Jerrod," Lansing said, shaking his hand, "what a pleasant surprise."

"Mister Lansing," said Mayor Jerrod with a smile that surely helped him get into office.

Lansing returned the smile. "Right this way, gentlemen."

He led Jordan, Jerrod and their entourage down the long, well lit hallway that led to the conference room. The double doors opened automatically as they approached, Lisa Shelby and Richard Siefret standing up from their places by the head of the dark oak table as everyone entered the room.

"Gentlemen, my assistant Lisa Shelby and head engineer on the project Richard Siefret," said Lansing.

They exchanged hellos as the group sat down, a few of them picking up the booklets in front of them and leafing through.

"At each seat there is a book with much of the same information I am going to give you all here today," Lansing said, walking around to the head of the table and standing behind his seat. "Specs of the Siege Engine Mark One as well as progress reports and the results of our thorough testing.

"What the book will not give you is this."

He picked a remote up off the table and turned to the back wall. With a press of a button the lights dimmed and the wall slid open to reveal a television screen that came to life.

"What you are seeing here is the view from the Siege Engine during one of our recent tests. This is the world exactly as the engine sees it as well as how it shows on the viewing screen of the Remote Assistance Station, or the RAS. The RAS provides tactical support through direct communication with satellites as well as mobile camera."

Lansing pulled a second remote from his suit coat and pressed a button. The air quivered behind him and then split, the Siege Engine suit appearing upright. There was a slight murmur from a couple men at the table, which brought a satisfied smile to Lansing's face.

It stood over two meters tall, it's shoulders bulging above it's elongated arms that ended in claws. Grey armor shined all over its body from head to toe, its featureless head simply reflecting the table and people before it.

"As you can see, one neat feature is a cloak," he said to small laughter. "The cloak allows the suit to maneuver into a position from which is can better assess and enter a situation. Unfortunately, due to power constraints, it cannot remain cloaked when using its armament. While it is something we are attempting to resolve, currently the drain on the battery has proven to be too great."

"Can the suit enter physical combat when cloaked?" asked Mayor Jerrod.

"Of course," Lansing said. "Also, the suit is also much smaller and lighter than the original proposed design, allowing it greater mobility and flexibility without sacrificing any of the armament or armor of the original design.

"This is achieved by a thin kevlar mesh with titanium weaved through for strength, all layered over titanium plates. Fireproof, bulletproof, waterproof, electricity-proof, and even radiation-proof. Just under the titanium plates is a coolant system used to keep the unit from overheating as well as provide variable pressure for use underwater or in high-pressure situations. Should the suit be breached, the coolant also acts as a sealant that, once it touches the open air, becomes almost as strong as the suit itself. The cooling system changes its flow to compensate for the breach and to ensure continued protection.

"The head contains all necessary equipment for visuals as well as communication with a back up provided in the chest," Lansing said, pointing to the head and then a spot on the Engine's chest. "Should the head somehow become inoperative, the suit will continue to operate and the RAS will work off of visuals provided from the unit's chest."

Lansing pressed play on the tape and the television came to life. The view started moving as the suit moved through warehouses near Pacific Harbour.

"The view is currently in regular starlight mode, pulling as much light as it can to view the area." Lansing tracked a laser pointer across the top of the screen. "Here we have a live data feed as provided by the suit's own memory system and supplemented by the RAS. The suit's databases store enough information to continue should its connection with the RAS be terminated.

"On the bottom right here is an outline providing information on the suit's condition, external and internal damage as well as external and internal temperature. This area can be toggled to show a map of the area as well," said Lansing as the box changed to show a grid of the city's streets.

The screen suddenly gained a green tint, the view becoming more detailed in its outlines but losing their color.

"A straight forward use of the night vision system."

The screen changed colors again, shades of red coloring the view and outlines across the screen.

"Infrared."

The screen went back to a normal view of the warehouses of the harbour.

"How exactly does the view change?" asked Mayor Jerrod.

"It's automatic for the engine, it processes all views at once, we do it manually in the RAS with the default being what the system feels is best to view the area in."

"What kind of armament are we looking at?" asked Commission Jordan.

"The armament varies for the mission you send it on," said Lansing. "Typical non-lethal use has a retractable dart from each forearm capable of delivering up to 150000 volts of electricity to a target. Varying strength stun explosions released from the palm of either hand, allowing the unit to go from temporarily blinding a target to giving it second-degree burns. More lethal equipment includes a variety of weapons from sharpened claws all the way up to a multiple-targeting missile system."

"How would you say this suit measures up to the capabilities of the police department?" asked Mayor Jerrod, leaning forward as Commissioner Jordan shifted uncomfortably.

"Well," started Lansing, "for starters, the Siege Engine is not designed as a replacement. It is a supplement, another weapon in the arsenal, as it were. While it does not replace any officers of the police department, it would provide them means to combat science heroes or villains far beyond what they currently employ.

"Gentlemen," Lansing said, leaning forward and resting his hands on the table, "we have become complacent in our personal defense. We have come to rely on science heroes to protect us from science villains when recent events have shown us that we must also have the means to protect ourselves from the heroes. This suit is a factory built science hero, providing all of the practical advantages a science hero does but ensuring that these advantages are used to better us."

"Has it been tested against science powers?" asked Lewis Sommers as he flipped through the booklet on the table.

"Of course," Lansing said, standing back upright. "All of the tests are detailed in the booklet in your hands, Mister Sommers. We have tested it in controlled and live experiments over the last few months to great success."

"How does this engine perform without RAS support?" asked Mayor Jerrod.

"The engine continues to perform as it would with RAS support," said Lansing. "The RAS simply provides additional support to the unit that could not be fit on it such as an expanded and ever updating database of identifications."

"Can the unit be piloted?" asked Jordan.

"Yes," Lansing said. "At any time manual control of the Siege Engine can be gained through the RAS or a remote unit available. All attempts at manual control require security codes and voice recognition as well as many other security devices."

"How thoroughly have you tested the unit?" asked Jerrod, standing up and walking towards the Siege Engine.

"At least twenty five controlled tests of the current unit," said Siefret. "Many more through its various design specs, but what you see here has been tested at least twenty five times."

"Controlled, you said?" asked Jerrod as he stopped and looked the suit up and down.

"Yes, sir," said Siefret, looking to Lansing.

"How many live tests have you conducted with the Siege Engine?" asked Jerrod.

"Outside of the lab?" asked Siefret.

"Yes."

"Only a handful, sir."

"How many exactly, Mister Siefret?" said Jerrod, looking to Siefret.

"Three," said Richard.

Mayor Jerrod nodded and looked to Commissioner Jordan.

"I'm afraid that before we can commit we will need more data," said Jordan, looking to Lansing.

"Of course," Lansing said, a smile breaking across his face. "And that is why we have prepared a demonstration for you all so you can see the capabilities yourself."

"Prepared?" asked Sommers.

"Mister Lansing," said Jerrod as he walked around to Commissioner Jordan and took a folder from him, "we need a live demonstration before we can consider the Siege Engine. A personal observation of its abilities as well as how it handles itself in a real combat." He held the folder out to me. "A live hunt, as it were."

Lansing looked to Richard and Lisa who just sat and stared.

Lansing took the folder.

"Of course, Mayor Jerrod," he said. "It would be my pleasure."