Ghost in the shell: Equestrian architecture

The warm beams of the sun were reaching over the horizon has the sun was sinking behind the monolithic buildings. The wind blew against the truck´s windows. Behind the window Bulk Biceps sat leaning against the ragged leather seat. The road was scarcely populated with only the occasional passing car and fellow truck.

He took a sip of his coffee. “Fifteen hours of driving.” He sighed calmly. “What´s on the news?” With a callus hand he turned on, the now almost antique radio that was built in to his dashboard. At first the speaker produced only buzz until he turned to the knob.

“…the stock price for Cyberdine united dropped another ten percent.” The voice of a woman speaking with a dry tone said. “Following the continued failures of the negotiates with the Crystal Empire the cybernetic industry is likely to suffer further losses as time goes on.”

“And make jobs even harder to get.” He thought about his nephew, young man with no school graduation and working as a cleaner for a factory producing cyber optics. The kid had some problems with gangs and drugs but managed to dig himself out of that and get a job. “If he losses that job it will be a steep slip slope back to the gangs.” Bulk Biceps knew how easy it could be to fall back into old habits. When he rubbed his right upper arm he felt a cold shiver spreading through his body.

“The prime ministers next public appearance set for tomorrow hopes to improve negotiations with the Crystal Empire going forward. In other news, there was a firefight in the Bukling tunnel involving a civilian dressed cop and multiple gang members last night. Both sides used heavy armaments and multiple cars were damaged in the fire fight. Thankfully there were no casualties and the officer only sustain minor injuries.”

Part of him wanted to smile, other parts of him wanted to grunt. “What a time to be alive.” He turned off the radio and rubbed his forehead.

The last of the sunshine disappeared behind the horizon. Briefly, he glanced up at the picture stuck to the roof of the truck. In it he was standing behind a skinny, timid woman with long pink hair with his muscular arms wrapped around her neck. Booth of them smiled as they looked into the camera. He chuckled and gave the picture another look. “How many years has it been?” He asked himself and tapped a thick finger on the wheel. “Five? No, six.” He shook his head. “No, six. Wonder what she´s up to theses days.”

A white shape appeared in the trucks path.

Bulk Biceps only managed get a quick look but there was no mistaking what it was. A human standing in the middle of the road.
He slammed his foot on the breaks , the truck was going ninety kilometers per hour and the person was less than fifty meters away. There was no stopping it.

The person in the street disappeared under the truck and Bulk Biceps could fell the truck hitting two small bumps as it rushed forward.
He felt cold when the truck stopped. His hands felt like they had been glued to the wheel and he wasn´t sure if he was even breathing. “What happened?” His voice was small and weak. “What did I do?”

It took him a moment to get control back to his body. When he did he jumped out of the truck and rushed back to see if could find whoever he ran over. He looked down the road but there was nothing there. No body, no body parts, not even any blood.

“Where did he go?”

A scraping sound came from underneath the truck´s cargo. He turned on his flashlight and looked underneath it. A pale, white hand reached out from under one of the wheels.

“Oh, god!” He rushed up to the wheel, took the arm in his hand and dragged the whole body out. The body belonged to a naked man. His left arm was missing, a cluster of broken rubber wires hung out of the shoulder socket and a pair of blue, cold, plastic eyes stared at him. The man´s face showed no sign of pain. It didn´t show any emotions at all. “An android?” He drew a slow sigh of relief and stopped himself from falling by resting his hands on his bend knees. “Oh, thank fuck. Wait, what´s it doing in the middle of the road?”

The moment he finished his sentence the android´s face turned to him. It had a plain face with soft cheeks. The lips parted and seemed to want to talk but he couldn´t hear any words.

Bulk Biceps squatted down in front of it. “Can you hear me?”

The lips moved apart and seemed to form some kind of words but the android remained silent.

“What?” He leaned closer and held his hear over the mouth.

The android´s hand slammed into Bulk Bicep´s throat and squeezed. The cold fingers dug into the skin on his neck and wrapped around the adam´s apple.

Bulk Biceps struggled to breath and grabbed the android´s arm in an effort to get it off. The artificial latex skin broke and peeled away. Underneath was a chrome, metallic skeleton with black and red rubber wires. The more of the skin he peeled away the harder the grip seemed to become.

In one hard movement the android twisted around and slammed Bulk Biceps to the ground. He could almost hear something shatter in the back of his head. His limbs flattened out on the pavement and every attempt to move them sent jolting waves of pain through his body. The machine let go of him and for a brief moment, Bulk Biceps could breath. The breath was shallow, coarse and sounded like a hissing whisper.

The android was suddenly on top of him. Bulk Biceps only managed to get a small glimpse of it in the dim light of his truck before the machine put its hand over his mouth. The fingers locked into an iron grip and squeezed. The bones beneath his cheeks cracked and bend inwards as two of the finger pressed down and inwards. Bulk Bicep´s tried to scream but his jaw was locked firmly in place by a cold thump pressing from underneath like a hard hook. The two remaining fingers on the android’s hand rose, hovered over his eyes before pressing down. Warm red streams rushed down his eyes and gathered up in ears as the fingers dug deep into wet eye sockets. He squirmed and struggled but the machine held him firmly in place.

“Correct. Guard.” The android said with a cold voice. It raised Bulk Bicep’s head in its hand and slammed it into the pavement. Bulk Biceps could feel his arms rattling as he hit the ground and something moist and warm touched his neck. The android slammed his head down again. This time he couldn´t feel anything, but something rang in his head and he felt like the world was spinning around him. His stomach revolted.

The android slammed him to the ground.