Alien Hunter: Underworld by Whitley Strieber Page B

She stretched, leaned her head back, and shook out her hair. “Even your hair is wonderful. And these eyes! They’re way better than ours. I’ve never seen the world like this before, all these colors. It’s just very sweet in this thing.”
    â€œHow many others are here like you?”
    â€œNone, not legally. It’s very strictly regulated.”
    â€œBut there may be criminals doing it?”
    â€œYou need to understand a little better just what you’re dealing with. There is one criminal, or a gang of them, who have taken on human form. They are running the robots you are killing, and probably building them here.”
    â€œThe robots can also make themselves look human. I’ve seen it.”
    â€œThat’s just a skin-deep disguise. Their programming doesn’t change.”
    â€œSo how would I detect one?”
    â€œVicious, paranoid personality, judging from the way the ones your perp is deploying have been programmed.”
    Light glared in the windshield. He hit the horn and swerved onto the shoulder, but it wasn’t out-of-control traffic, it was something else, and the light stayed right with them.
    Geri let out an unearthly wail.
    The truck’s engine screamed as its wheels started to leave the ground. He jammed the gas to the floor, gaining just enough traction to get out of the column of light that was trying to drag them skyward.
    The vehicle bounced as its full weight dropped back onto its shocks. The next second, the light was on them again. Again, he turned out of it, then went caroming across the field he was in with the light following him. Every time it flooded the car, he spun the wheel again, but he knew that he was going to run out of luck sooner or later.
    â€œDo you have any way of dealing with this?” he shouted to Geri above the screaming of the engine.
    â€œWe can deprogram them.”
    â€œHow?”
    The light hit again, and this time he slammed on the brakes, threw it into reverse, floored it, and backed up swerving wildly at the same time.
    â€œYou need their core code, and we’re not going to be able to get that.”
    The light flooded the windshield. It had them now, and it wasn’t going to lose them again.
    He opened his window, drew his gun, and fired upward.
    The wheels left the ground entirely. The engine shrieked so much, he pulled up his foot.
    They were a good four feet off the ground.
    He fired again, two quick shots.
    The light turned blue. The truck lurched.
    He fired again.
    A sheet of flame enveloped the truck, which fell to the ground, hitting with a jaw-snapping crash.
    Once again, he hit the gas and they lunged forward.
    â€œCan they fix whatever I hit?”
    â€œI don’t know.”
    Behind them, he saw a column of orange smoke, glowing from within. “What’s that mean?”
    â€œIt’s on fire, I think.”
    Had he destroyed it? “Are they vulnerable to bullets?”
    â€œNot usually. But that one’s a relic. A real piece of junk. A lucky shot would probably do damage.”
    â€œHow can you tell it’s junk?”
    â€œYou can hear it.”
    Ahead, he saw a familiar berm. “Railroad track,” he said. He drove along beside it until he found a small trestle spanning a draw. He parked the truck under it.
    â€œEver hop a freight, Diana?”
    â€œEvery day.”
    He got out of the truck. “Come on. Lesson one.”
    He led them up onto the track. “This is a main trunk line. There’s trains through here every few hours. Long trains. Slow. We’d hop ’em as kids.” He knelt down and listened to the rail. “Okay, there’s something a few miles out. Don’t know which direction yet. We need to walk a bit, find a place where the berm’s flatter. You need to be able to sprint. Can you sprint, Geri?”
    â€œExcuse me, but what’s a train?”
    â€œOh, God,” Diana said.
    â€œA big engine that