Read Online Beast Machine by Brad McKinniss - Free Book Online Page A

important.
    Gora pushed her lips to the
right of her mouth. Her nose flared. She had
trepidations.
    “ Vas ist it?” asked Owlbert
as he spread his wings and yawned. His attention was mostly on his
books.
    “ I just don’t think we
should use the term ‘soldier’ since the next beast will have a
personality, memories, their own thoughts – just like you – just
like Hitbear! I have been thinking it over and I just don’t like
the idea of creating soldiers, especially mindless
soldiers.”
    “ Hmm,” said Owlbert. “This
ist different than vas I was researching…” He clawed at a few of
his books lackadaisically, and then he began to swat a few books
away from his sight. He appeared to be searching for a certain
book. Gora looked on with confusion as she watched the owl struggle
with searching through a large pile of books.
    “ Should I help him?”
thought Gora. “Maybe I should have tried to give him another
electronic tablet?”
    “ AH! I found eet!”
exclaimed Owlbert. “This ist thee ein! Du vant personality? Du vant
important memories? Du vant unique thoughts? Right here, Frau
Gora!”
    Owlbert pointed her to a
ragged, large tome at the bottom of the book pile. The spine was
holding onto the rest of the book by the thinnest of margins. This
book had been beaten to hell and back.
    Gora blew the dust off the
book and tried to read the title of the tome. Or what was left of a
title.
    “ There’s a few letters on
the front; an a ,
an r , a t , I think?” said Gora. It
didn’t make any sense. “What is this, Owlbert? I don’t understand!
Are you playing some sort of joke?” Her eyes squinted at the title
again, trying to decipher it.
    “ It ist ein book about zee
Underground Railroad; one of zee most important movements in
American history! Ist not ein real locomotive, but ein movement to
free slaves! Du should know – it’s in your library!” He flung open
his left wing to point at the countless other books remaining in
Gora’s book collection. “It’s also part of American history, your
home nation!”
    “ Well – yes I know about
the Underground Railroad – but what does it say on the front? It’s
scraped away.” More dust fell from the tome. It was a broken piece
of literature among other pristine books found in Gora’s
collection. She couldn’t recollect where she received this book or
how it even came to be in her personal library.
    Owlbert frowned. “Does this
American child really have no idea what this book says,” thought
Owlbert. Owlbert grabbed a nearby ink pen and wrote on a piece of
paper, quite elegantly for an owlbeast, Harriet Tubman then briskly slid the
paper to Gora. He clicked his beak in frustration.
    CLICK, click-click, CLICK,
click-click .
    “ Harriet Tubman, huh?” said
Gora looking at the beautifully written note. She flipped through
the tattered pages. “Her list of achievements is quite incredible
for humankind.” Gora stopped on a page that had a picture of
Harriet Tubman sitting in a wicker chair. “This is who we need to
help us. I can’t believe I didn’t think of her from the beginning.
But I’ll have to see if I can get my hands on a real photograph of
her. This picture in the book may not work correctly.”
    Gora admired the dusty,
dilapidated book for several minutes. She eyed the handful of black
and white photos of Harriet Tubman. She was a sturdy woman that
wore a plain dress and a bandana; she also happened to save many
lives from slavery.
    “ My word,” swooned Gora. “I
am so happy I created you! You knew exactly what we needed!” Gora
gripped Owlbert and hugged him tightly.
    Owlbert squawked and
flapped his wings. “OK! OK! Frau Gora please stop! OK! OK!” laughed
Owlbert, more nervously than happily.
    Gora let go of Owlbert and
began to twirl about the laboratory. She twirled to her tiny radio
in the middle of the laboratory and turned it on. She began to
dance to the pop music seeping out of the speakers.
    “ I am going to get