Chapter Seventeen
As the helicopter approached the commune, they saw the damage. The fields, disfigured and spoiled, indubitably by 541588, enraged them.
“Look at what it’s done.”
“That’s horrible.”
“Why would someone do that?”
“I want to destroy it.”
The Grand Master heard their conversations and spoke up, “Remember your orders.”
And the orders were explicit. None were to be harmed. Including 541588. Their weapons were loaded with tranquiliser darts. The extent of any physical force would be nil. The helicopter approached the palace. They had also been ordered to drop the Grand Master off at the palace before engaging with the enemy and subduing 541588, but when they saw their targets cavorting below, it was too good of an opportunity to miss. They asked the Grand Master if he had any objections to them beginning their work. He only had one.
“Don’t hit 541588, I want it to be awake when I speak to it.”
They didn’t question him, despite the statement being ludicrous. Why would the Grand Master need to speak with the enemy? But authority was authority, and they began their work with his words in mind.
One of them opened the door, while another operated the gun. Below, their targets were jogging together in the same direction as the helicopter. There were seventy-three of them; all identical. Without the tracking device they had injected inside 541588 a few months ago, it would have been almost impossible to identify it in the group. But even with the device, the GPS co-ordinates were not precise enough to isolate it. They needed to be dispersed before they could figure out which one was 541588. The gunman motioned to the pilot to slow down before looking down the sight and taking aim at one straggling a few metres behind the main group that they were certain was not the leader. His finger twitched and it fell to the ground as the syringe slammed into its chest and began to pump the toxins through its system. There was no instant reaction in the group however, so he shot again, hit one next to the first target and then they began to move. One made a beeline for a building, and they soon knew from their tracking device that this was 541588. The others turned around and ran in the opposite direction. Now that they had separated them, they could subdue the others freely before apprehending 541588. The helicopter swung around to follow the others, and the gunman stretched his fingers.