The Complete Karma Trilogy Read Free Page B

how it was even possible—it looked like an enormous, rotten tomato had exploded. And it was pieces of him.
    It made Will laugh. All in bold caps were his name and the word hero. In the article it mentioned that, for his heroism, he was to be made an officer of the police. “That is me,” he said, as he handed the paper back to the girl. “Would you like to see something else?” he asked. Both of the girls nodded slowly, unsure of what he meant. He pulled up the legs of his pants, to expose his metal lower half. “Those are new.”
    The girls were surprised, and visibly unsettled. “Was it really worth it?” one of them asked, the one that hadn’t spoken yet.
    “I really don’t know yet,” he responded. “But so far looks good. This subway is nice.”
    They laughed, and then the conversation was over. He got off at the stop indicated by his Karma Card, at a place where his training to be an officer was supposed to start. He was genuinely excited to find out what that would be like for him.
    The foyer of the building was much larger than any he had seen before. Real marble ran six feet up the wall, and then the ceiling was another thirty feet above that, at least. A large number of people were going in and out the main doors, and groups were standing in front of all four of the elevators that lined the far wall as he walked in. In the center was a large fountain, in the shape of a hexagon. He followed the map on his Card, which told him to take the first elevator on his right to the ninety-third floor.
    Even though he started out with a large group of people, by the time he got to his floor he was the only one left in the elevator. It was starting to make him feel nervous. It felt like a mistake—he thought that at least one person should have been going to the same place that he was. The door finally opened up into an empty, long hallway, which, following his Card, he took to the end. Then there was a staircase going down into a room, where he found three people, two wearing bullet vests and earpieces, the other wearing a suit and tie, all standing in front of a door. The one with the suit greeted him.
    “Mr. Spector, pleasure to meet you. At the very least, you are prompt, and that’s good to see.”
    “And it’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. …”
    “My apologies, it’s Wake. Edgar Wake.”
    “Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Wake.” After looking around the empty room, Will added, “This isn’t quite what I expected. Is this really where I will be training?”
    The man laughed politely. “No, no, we like to start the first day off specially, to give you a taste of what you will be here for if you make it through training. And it really is a rare opportunity. Chances are that you might never be in this room again. You’re going to talk to Karma.”
    “Talk to Karma? Karma is a machine, isn’t it? What do you mean by that?”
    “You’ll find out on your own,” was Edgar’s reply, and he gestured to the two men that accompanied them. One of them stepped forward to address Will.
    “If you’ll please hand over your Card and the bottle you have in your left pocket.” Will hesitated for a moment, but then set his walking stick aside and did as he was instructed. “And your shoes, please. Safety precautions.” Will had to wonder what was so unsafe about his shoes, but he handed those over too. It left his robotic feet exposed, since he had decided that he was done with socks for life.
    “Is that everything, then?” he asked, as he took his walking stick back in hand.
    “Put that back where it was, please. You’re not allowed to have it in Karma’s room.”
    That frustrated Will, but he did as he was told. He was going to fall over in front of everyone, he was convinced. The other man opened the door they were standing in front of, and waved Will forward. He dragged his feet along the ground to keep stable, and slowly made his way in. The door was shut behind him, leaving him alone.
    The room was