NOTES: This is a highly experimental fic, that’s been in the works for a while.  I’ll tell you up front that there is really only a mention of one character from the movie AI, but this story is set in the AI universe, and it certainly deals with some of the themes in the movie.  Who knows, maybe a few more familiar characters will work their way in.  Let me know what you think; if there’s interest, maybe I’ll continue this one.  And yes, I know Haushinka is a peculiar name; it says so right in the first line of the song.

DISCLAIMER: The premise of this story and the characters of AI belong to Steven Spielberg and Warner Bros.  The character of Haushinka is mine, but the name might belong to Green Day or something like that.  In short, please don’t sue me; you won’t get anything good anyway.  I would also like to say that I got a lot of the inspiration for this one from the ALF, because any sentient being who is being exploited deserves a hero.

Haushinka

By Castashadow

Haushinka crouched behind a bush; maybe it afforded a little camouflage, but it provided no relief from the bitterly cold wind.  She crept forward a few feet, then froze, body pressed close to the ground, eyes darting about, ears keen to every sound.  Admittedly, she couldn’t hear much over the piercing guitar riffs and the screaming of the band that played in the stadium one hundred yards away, but she paused, straining for any sort of recognition, any hint that she had been spotted.  The pause lasted only a few seconds; that was all the time she could afford on these pitch-black freezing nights where every second counted, where the whole night was darkness mixed with dazzlingly bright light, where the ear-splitting music and the grinding machinery and the pounding of her own heart raced through her head over and over in that terrifying sprint through the woods.

            Stay in the moment.  She darted forward again, moving quickly but keeping low, then threw herself flat on the ground behind the next bush, the tools of her trade digging painfully into her body.  Lying still, she listened again, this time trying to pick out the individual sounds from the noisy spectacle that lay before her.  She heard the band of course, but she directed her focus beyond that…nothing, specifically, none of the whirring, clanking noises that meant the machinery had been started.  Good.  Suddenly the music died away, and she heard the voice, the voice that made the hairs on her neck stand on end, the voice that filled her both with dread and with a kind of excitement, an anticipation of what was to come- his voice.

            “Ladies and Gentlemen…”

            Shit!  Shit!  Shit!  I’ve waited too long!  Haushinka, giving up on the stealth factor, sprang to her feet and tore towards the stadium.  Her heart was racing, blood pounding in her ears, adrenaline pumping in her veins, as she ran, tripping, tumbling down an embankment, landing hard at the bottom- a cracking sound, a blinding pain in her side.  Shit!  That’d better not be broken!  She was up and running in the same instant, the pain reduced to a dull ache by her body’s natural endorphins.  She sprinted the last few yards, then disappeared into the shadows underneath the stadium’s seating.

            Which way now?  Her mind raced as her eyes scanned the unfamiliar territory.  Lord Johnson-Johnson’s voice wasn’t helping.  It bored into her skull, invading every thought, telling her to give up, to turn back.  No!  Dammit!  I’m doing what I came here to do!  In a decisive movement she shot off to the left, working her way around the stadium as quickly and stealthily as possible.

            “What about us?” screamed the crowd over and over again.  Haushinka tried to shut the noise out, but it was still there, tugging at the edge of her mind.  What about you?  You’re all sick, sadistic bastards anyway.  She came to the cage then, approaching the darkest corner, one that was almost totally hidden by the seats above it.  She took a quick inventory of the mecha in the cage.  One or two construction workers, the usual assortment of lover models, but none of the really old machines; Thank god for that!  At least all of them will be able to run.  She started towards the bars, then dove back into the shadows almost instantly as she caught sight of the bulls approaching the cage.  Shit!  They opened the gate and grabbed one of the lover mecha.  The mecha was really little more than a few scraps of clothing and synthetic flesh clinging to a metal skeleton, and, true to her nature, she did not resist the hands that dragged her to her doom. 

Those seconds add up!  Why wasn’t I faster?  They were walking back towards the door of the cage.  Oh god, why wasn’t I faster?  Oh shit!  I’m going to be sick.  No, stop it!  Focus on the moment!  Don’t watch it happen; don’t think about it; just act…One of the bulls slammed the cage door closed behind them…Now! 

She darted forward and went to work; her knife, heated by laser, made short work of the cage bars.  The mecha were completely oblivious to her presence; they were fixated on the horrible spectacle that was about to take place out in the arena, the same spectacle she was trying so hard to shut out of her consciousness.  She’d just finished cutting out enough bars to make a decent sized hole when she heard the creaking and groaning of the propeller.  The burst of excitement in the crowd took her anxiety to a new level.  Keep it together.  Don’t panic. 

“Hey!”  She called out to the mecha nearest her.  Damn, that was loud.  A furtive glance over her shoulder reassured her that no one had heard.  Stupid propeller!  Try again.

 “Hey!” louder this time, over the propeller noise; the mecha spun around, looking thoroughly bewildered at both her and the hole in the cage.

“Ok, look, I need you to exit the cage very calmly, one at a time, and-” Oh shit!  The first mecha had already started gesturing to the others.  Why does this one-at-a-time thing never work? All of the mecha swarmed towards the hole.  Haushinka jumped back, taking, as a final precaution, a quick count of the mecha.  Eight.  Remember that.  The last mecha was out of the cage, and the pack had taken off through the forest.  Haushinka dashed after them.  “Follow me!” she shouted, taking the lead and making a hard right turn. 

They ran in terrified silence. Oh god, please don’t let them send the hounds out; it’s too far- we’ll never make it!  Stop it!  You know you’ve got to try anyway!  The branches whipped at her face.  Her side was throbbing again, but she ignored it.  Just keep running.  A little further…In the distance she heard sounds of confusion, of an unsatisfied audience, of a desperate Lord Johnson-Johnson.  Almost there…

They burst out of the forest into a small clearing where an old white van was parked.  It didn’t look like much; it was hard to believe that it had carried so many mecha to safety.  Keys!  Where the hell are my keys?  After fumbling in her pocket for a few seconds, Haushinka produced the key and unlocked the van.  Unhesitatingly, the mecha climbed in.  Slamming the door, she sprinted to the driver’s door, yanked it open, and leapt into the seat.  Keys in the ignition, then the engine roared to life; she took a quick look in the rear view mirror.  Eight.  Flicking on the headlights, she turned the wheel hard to the left and stomped on the accelerator.  

A tense silence hung in the van as they raced through the forest.  No hounds so far; that’s good.  Please, just let us get away.  Please…Then, one of the lover mecha spoke.  His voice was calm and measured, but there was a distinctly human quality to it. 

“Why are you doing this?”  A simple question, a predictable question- So why do I never have an answer for it? 

After a long pause, “Because I know injustice when I see it.” 

The van sped through the night.