The Fable of Marcus

by Sajjad Tameez

  Chapter 10

  The Rocky Road

  Marcus and Churchill set and configured four other vehicles, two the same size as

  their one and two thrice the size.

  ‘Now listen up men, you do not need to touch the controls! The vehicle will be in

  auto-drive and we will all reconvene at the main hall. All you need to do is get in and

  say, ‘car destination High Street,’ nothing else!’ Churchill ordered, so excited that he

  looked psychotic. ‘Well what the hell are you waiting for? Get in the cars and be

  careful with my things!’ The men, tempted to tie him up and lock him up in the boot

  of one of the cars, frowned and got on the cars. Churchill jumped in the car with

  Marcus and rubbed his hands together anxiously.

  ‘Where did you learn so much about all this kind of stuff?’ Marcus asked before

  instructing the vehicle to go to the High Street. All the vehicles began making light

  hisses and their suspension rose. The tyres began inflating automatically, raising the

  vehicle even more, the head and tail lights shone a beam, cutting through the dust

  floating in the air and sounds of churning metal and rubber began bouncing off the

  walls as the vehicles set in motion.

  ‘Churchill?’ Marcus called.

  ‘What!’

  ‘Where did you learn so much about all this kind of stuff?’

  But Churchill just kept muttering to himself, ‘wait a minute... yes! Just as I suspected,

  the vehicles are built with some type of sensor system!’

  ‘Yes an agent-based system, it perceives the environment and with the help of sound

  and visual recognition, it can avoid collision, even at extremely fast speeds.’

  ‘Outstanding!’ Churchill sat marvelling at hearing answers to answers to questions

  that haunted him and kept him awake for many nights. ‘I gathered a lot from books

  that, back when things weren’t so dreadful, I managed to get from the great library...

  for years I tried to get back there but it was no use! No one could get there!’ Marcus

  stayed quiet and decided not to mention that they went there, as he thought it might

  tease him, and especially as they didn’t even look at any books, let alone take any.

  ‘I have so many questions...’ Churchill said.

  I am afraid I don’t have all the answers... I know about this system, from using it – it

  feels like my mind keeps going in out of different worlds!’

  ‘You are a remarkable young boy and I am sure that you will figure it out.’

  ‘Thanks!’

  ‘And then you will tell me all about it!’

  Marcus smiled, ‘of course.’

  The people gathered outside the hall were astonished to see the vehicles racing

  towards them and the robots running alongside. People began cheering and clapping.

  It was a sight that although they hoped and dreamt about, never thought they would

  live to see. Some people pinched themselves, to make sure that they wouldn’t wake

  back up in the dystopia that they had always known. But this was real – realer than

  anything else, they all knew that the road that lay ahead would be far from straight

  and their journey agonising, but it didn’t matter – nothing did except this boy and

  what needed to do. And as it happened, they were not the only people that felt like

  this. When the vehicle carrying Marcus stopped and he leapt out, all the robots got on

  alert as the ground began to tremble with thuds, gallops the loud sounds of roaring

  engines.

  Marcus ordered the robots to stand down as herds of people came storming onto the

  High Street. Word of Marcus had spread and people who believed had been waiting,

  waiting for something they knew, like the way they knew the ground beneath them,

  was true and this war was inevitable. The newcomers were astonished to see the

  robots, more so, that the robots weren’t trying to kill them.

  ‘So it is true!’ A strong looking woman climbed off her white horse. She was over

  six-foot and her black coat was dragging behind her as she approached Arthur, who

  was on guard, and looked back at Marcus every few seconds, making sure he was ok.

  ‘Relax friend. We have travelled from far to fight alongside you.’ She removed the

  large gun that was strapped on her back and threw it behind her. ‘My name is Karina,

  please let us see him... we are here to help.’

  ‘How do we know that you are?’ But Arthur was interrupted by a voice, a familiar

  voice, one that he didn’t like very much. And from among the crowd Hex limped out,

  still heavily bruised.

  ‘Back off, all of you! Arthur raised his sword in anger.

  ‘Wait...’ Hex struggled forward, arms lifted and with no weapons, ‘Arthur listen... I

  was wrong. For so many years I fought for something I didn’t even understand, and

  when I fought with you I realised, I was fighting for something wrong... I can’t expect

  you or anyone else to forgive me, but give me a chance to make things right. Please...

  I owe you, I owe everyone.’

  ‘Enough! What do you take me for, you think you can trick me, is this how desperate

  you have gotten!’ Arthur rushed towards him.

  ‘Stop!’ Marcus shouted and walked towards them, the lady stared at Marcus and her

  face began to glow, as did all the newcomers.

  ‘Stop...’ Marcus looked at Hex and smiled lightly, ‘what happened to your friends?’

  ‘I told them how I felt and that what we were doing was wrong, I guess Arthur

  beating me, woke me up. Naturally, they tried to kill me, but I escaped.’

  ‘And you told all these people and brought them here?’

  ‘Yes... I want to make things right.’

  ‘That couldn’t have been easy... you will get your chance.’

  ‘Thank you. I will not let you down.’

  Arthur was furious, ‘but...’

  ‘Arthur please... you’re just going to have to trust me.’

  Arthur nodded and remained quiet, a silence that screamed a thousand unpleasant

  words. Marcus was now convinced in what he had to do, and although not clear on

  how he was going to do it, he was ready. He climbed up on XJ2, who had become his

  pulpit from where he delivered the plans. As he stood high, he looked at the few

  hundred excited people gathered, men, women and some young boys. And their eyes

  were glued at the living myth that stood before them, talking with passion and honour.

  ‘People, since I have been here, I have not believed in myself – I am not the boy that

  you have been talking about for so many years and I don’t know if I do even now! But

  what I do believe in is that everyone has the right to be free. I don’t know why I don’t

  have this thing around my wrist, how I can control these robots or how I even got

  here! But I believe in humanity – we have the right to live and live free we shall! I am

  not your leader nor will I command you, I am going to the Dark-Tec empires and I

  will not leave until they crumble and those of you that choose to can follow!’

  There was a loud cheer from the crowds of people, some applauded, some even

  saluted but all shared the same warm feeling hope.

  ‘What’s the plan now?’ Arthur asked, not seeming too happy.

  ‘The people look tired and hungry, we rest a little longer and share with them the food

  we have left.’

  ‘But... the Dark-Tec empire will have f
ull knowledge of us now and they are probably

  getting ready. We should move.’

  ‘You’re right, but let’s not forget that this entire fight is about those people – the ones

  that have travelled blindly, to fight alongside us. Let them rest and eat... please.’

  ‘Yes ok, but it will get dark soon, are you sure you want to be travelling at night?’

  ‘Arthur, since you have known me, have I been sure about anything?’

  ‘Good point.’

  Whether he wanted it or not, believed it or not, Marcus had become the leader and a

  noble one at that.

  The people rested, and although the newcomers had transport of their own, Churchill

  and few men went and got ten more vehicles going. Arthur still sceptical, kept a close

  eye on Hex and instructed Amy, Khan and Elaina to do the same.

  ‘Marcus, I want you to go in here,’ Arthur pointed to an open door inside the hall,

  ‘you’ll be safe here. Nicole, Ryan and Louise followed him in.

  Arthur stepped out and shut the door, asking a few people he knew really well to

  stand guard. With so many people, especially so many that he didn’t know, he

  couldn’t trust anyone.

  Marcus sat quietly in the corner of the room and had lost his appetite. Ryan and

  Louise were lost in an ego-driven debate, but kept their voices at a reasonable level.

  ‘Hey,’ Nicole smiled her usual and warm smile.

  ‘Hey,’ but Marcus found it hard to smile; he feelt sick with nerves and didn’t have a

  clue what he was doing.

  ‘You haven’t touched anything... you got to eat!’

  ‘I can’t... I’ve tried, I just can’t do this!’

  ‘It’s just bread and water...’ Marcus stood up, ignoring the fact that Nicole missed that

  he wasn’t referring to the food.

  ‘They think I’m something I’m not! I am not a leader and I can’t do this. I am gonna

  get everyone killed. I have to stop this now, before...’

  ‘Before what Marcus?’ Nicole raised her voice, making Ryan and Louise stop dead in

  their tracks.

  ‘You say getting everyone killed, but like this, we are already dead! I don’t know if

  you are the boy from our stories but don’t you get it? You have given everyone

  something to live for!’ Everyone stood silently, no one had seen Nicole this serious.

  ‘Now everyone just eat your food!’

  ‘Yes mother!’ Louise remarked and after a few seconds, everyone, including Nicole

  burst out laughing.

  Ryan and Louise began their battle of wits again and Marcus sat down and began

  nibbling on the bread and sipping on the water, still not really hungry.

  ‘Thank you!’

  ‘For what?’

  ‘For what you just said...’

  ‘Oh that, nah I just don’t like seeing good food go to waste!’ She smiled cheekily.

  ‘So Marcus...’ Louise turned to Marcus, feeling satisfied that she landed on top in her

  verbal battle with Ryan, ‘how you gonna get us out of here?’

  ‘I thought you would never ask!’ He smiled, ‘the larger vehicles have huge luggage

  compartments, you guys are gonna hide in there until we’re too far to turn back.’

  ‘It’s hardly first class!’ She huffed.

  ‘Your hardly first class!’ Ryan grinned, ‘ha... gotcha!’

  ‘Whatever!’ Louise stuck her tongue out. And within seconds they were at each

  other’s throats.

  ‘It must be love!’ Nicole giggled with Marcus.

  There was a loud and frantic banging on the door, and Churchill came barging in. He

  looked his confused and anxious self. The tall man carrying his stuff, dropped his

  bags and escaped back out of the door. ‘Marcus... Marcus... there you are Marcus,’ he

  huffed, as if he had been running. ‘Our new friends have some extraordinary vehicles

  – they run on fuel! This means they have access to petroleum!’

  ‘Ok... that’s good...’ Marcus remarked, obviously not seeing the picture that was in

  Churchill’s head.

  ‘Marcus... don’t you get it? We could use all the means of transport with petroleum!

  This means we could even fly!’ He rummaged recklessly through his stuff and

  removed a tatty old book. Flicking through the pages like a raging monster, ‘ah, here,

  look at this...’ there were pages on pages of illustrations and details on aircrafts.

  ‘That’s great, it really is... but we don’t have any.’ Marcus said.

  ‘Yes I know that but you and me, Marcus, we can build it – we can build it and we

  can fly, free like a bird – imagine it, cutting through the sky, coming to par with the

  birds, feeling the clouds and with the worries of this miserable world way below us!’

  His eyes were like a hungry lion’s, his mouth watering like a child in a sweet shop

  and his face twitching uncontrollably.

  ‘Ok... Einstein, let’s just take a deep breath.’ Louise remarked sarcastically but

  actually a little worried that he may have a seizure.

  ‘Churchill, it’s a wonderful idea but here on earth we have a few issues with time at

  the moment! You know the Dark-Tec army, probably planning on killing us and all

  that kinda stuff!’ Ryan said, trying to snap him out of it.

  ‘Yes... I know but think of the possibilities...’

  ‘Churchill, it really is a good idea but we just don’t have the time to do it!’ Marcus

  interrupted.

  ‘You’re right but can you get me access to the vehicles and borrow some petroleum

  from our guests? Please?’

  ‘I’ll see what I can do.’ Marcus smiled. Churchill nodded in appreciation and walked

  out of the room, shouting, ‘well! Is someone going to get my stuff?’

  Marcus sat crouched into the corner of the room, lost in deep thought.

  ‘You ok?’ Nicole asked.

  ‘What... yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘I don’t know, I don’t...’ He stood up and looked around and piece of chalk and began

  scribbling. Like a mad scientist, he scraped the powdery whiteness all across the

  wooden floor and brick walls. Nicole moved out of the way as his thoughts began to

  flourish. When he finally stopped, he stood back and they looked at the formulas and

  diagrams.

  ‘What is it?’ Nicole stared, baffled.

  ‘It’s... the plans for making aircrafts. The book he showed had a small but vital error

  that would prevent it from flying! Maybe it was missing a few pages or something.’

  ‘What the hell have you got in that head of yours?’ Ryan asked.

  ‘It’s a brain! But you wouldn’t know anything about that!’ Louise sneered, ‘How’d

  you like me now? Fish face!’ They all giggled, except Marcus, who looked lost.

  ‘Cheer up!’ Nicole said, hoping Marcus would cheer up.

  ‘Sorry....’ Marcus looked petrified, ‘I just I need some air.’ He slowly walked out of

  the room. Louise and Ryan continued talking like normal but Nicole was overcome

  with a feeling of sadness. She and Marcus had formed a close friendship and it was

  hard for her to see him like this. The thought of running after him and telling it will all

  be ok, drilled on her mind over and over but yet she couldn’t bring herself to move.

  She couldn’t work out whether it was because maybe he really needed the space and

  she would make it worse or maybe she was not really convinced that it would actually

 
be ok. Either way, she felt it best to leave him be.

  A brief moment later, Arthur and Elaina barged in, ‘where’s Marcus?’ Arthur, looking

  annoyed.

  ‘He said he needed some air...’ Ryan said, knowing that he’s probably due for an ear

  bashing.

  ‘...And ...you just let him go?’ Arthur kicked the door and looked at the two men

  guarding the door in rage. They stopped their conversation and looked pale as

  Arthur’s eyes began to glow.

  ‘Why do I even bother?’ He stormed out and began looking for Marcus. Amy noticed

  the panic in Arthur’s face and rushed up to him, ‘hey what’s wrong and where have

  you been? I’ve been looking everywhere for you!’ She said with her eyes spitefully

  staring at Elaina. She didn’t even know why she was behaving so weird, Elaina

  seemed great and Arthur seemed very fond of her but Amy had become extremely

  overprotective and didn’t want to see him hurt.

  ‘Keep it quiet, I can’t seem to find Marcus, I don’t want everyone knowing he’s on

  own!’

  ‘He couldn’t have got far, he only left a few minutes ago.’ Arthur rushed out and

  looked around, but couldn’t see Marcus anywhere. He turned to the robot guards and

  shouted, ‘where is Marcus?’ He left and walked down the alleyway.

  ‘And you didn’t stop him or XJ, you didn’t go with him!’ Arthur yelled.

  ‘He instructed us to remain here and stay on guard.’

  ‘For artificial intelligence, you’re about as thick as these lot!’ He stared angrily at

  Ryan, Louise, Nicole and the men who were guarding the door. Arthur ran towards

  the alleyway but paused as it got there. He held out his arms, indicating everyone that

  was running behind him to stop. He could see Marcus in the alleyway, he had chalk in

  his hand and was scribbling all across the ground, on the walls and couldn’t stop.

  Arthur approached him slowly, mystified with all the scribble, ‘hey, Marcus... what’s

  going on?’

  ‘I... got all this stuff in my head and it won’t let me think! And what’s worse is that

  I’m beginning to understand it!’

  ‘How is that a bad thing?’

  ‘You don’t get it... I am in control of these robots because they are offline – the entire

  system is offline, once it is all activated... and everything is back online, then... the

  robots will get there instructions from the system!’

  ‘You mean they will be against us?’

  ‘Precisely! The irony is without them we are doomed and with them we’re doomed!`

  ‘But what about XJ2 and those robots? I thought they were like too old, or

  something.’

  ‘Yes, but compare XJ2 to the new ones and you can imagine what’s going to be

  against us! Plus even the old ones might get out of our control.’

  ‘So what do we do?’

  ‘I... don’t know exactly.’

  ‘Marcus, we have to do something!’

  ‘Look, I am not who everyone thinks I am! I can’t do this. I just can’t!’

  ‘Listen to me!’ Arthur’s tone was becoming aggressive, ‘we didn’t come this far to

  back down, besides, they will come for you – we have to fight!’

  ‘Yes I know... that’s why I have decided I will go alone.’ Everyone’s expressions

  dropped and they couldn’t bear the thought of what would happen to him if he were to

  go alone.

  ‘There’s absolutely no chance that’s gonna happen, so get it out of your head!’

  ‘What choice do we have? They’re already on their way – I can feel it. Because of me

  you will all get killed! If I go now, you guys have got a chance.’

  ‘Marcus... no, I can’t let you do this. I will come with you!’

  ‘Me too!’ Amy said.

  ‘Count me in!’ Elaina said. One by one, they all said they were coming along – no

  negotiating. Marcus was overwhelmed that they would stand by him but held his guns

  and said no.

  ‘I am not giving you a choice!’ Arthur said.

  ‘I had a feeling you might say that! I want to get back and tell the rest what I’ve

  decided.’ As they hurried back, the robots they had grown to like and rely on didn’t

  have the same appeal. It was hard to look at them as friends but even harder to look at

  them as enemies.

  ‘As Marcus walked past XJ2 he asked him, ‘once the system is online, will you and

  your friends accept the new instructions?’

  ‘Most of the robots you see here are manually overridden.’

  ‘What does that mean?’ Marcus asked.

  ‘Human engineer instructions take precedence over transmitted instructions.’

  ‘What about the others?’

  ‘The other versions take transmitted instructions and they update automatically,

  regardless of human engineer.’

  ‘So if instructed, they’ll turn against us?’

  ‘Correct.’

  ‘How many are there?’

  ‘Ten in total – all new and more developed models.’

  ‘Great! Is there anything that can be done to stop them?’

  ‘It would be a better strategy to destroy them now. If they are instructed to destroy

  you then the ten of them will be equivalent to twenty normal robots.’

  ‘Now that sounds like a good idea!’ Arthur said, already thinking of how to destroy

  them.

  ‘No... we will not destroy them.’

  ‘But... didn’t you hear that? They’ll turn!’ Arthur stressed.

  ‘There must be another way. If we destroy them, we won’t stand a chance against

  what is coming for us!’

  ‘If we don’t, then we’ll be giving them more of an army!’

  ‘No... there must be another way...’ Marcus thought silently for a few minutes, and

  then his eyes brightened up, ‘XJ, could we remove their Wi-Fi chip?’

  ‘Yes you could, however this will result in the robot not functioning at all.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘They were designed like that – the Wi-Fi and a few other components are configured

  to be non removable – for security reasons.’

  ‘There must be another way! XJ, how else can we stop them from transmitting and

  receiving?’

  ‘The only way that this could be possible is through, a memory flash and

  reprogramming. But they are configured with a robust security system and it will be

  difficult to do this task.’

  ‘Ah, you said difficult, not impossible!’ Marcus smiled.

  ‘It is possible. If you could hack into the system, bypass the Intrusion Detection

  System, impersonate the administrator, you could then run a script and reprogram the

  entire system to not accept air transmissions.’

  ‘Ok...’ Marcus in deep thought.

  ‘The only issue with that is the robots are powered through the Wi-Fi. Disabling the

  Wi-Fi will disable the power, so it will only function as far as the internal battery will

  take it.’

  ‘How long will it last?’

  ‘Approximately twenty-four-hours.’

  ‘Ok.’

  ‘Marcus, even if we can do all that rubbish that he just said, after twenty-four-hours

  their dead! There’s no point wasting the time!’ Arthur said.

  ‘He’s right.’ Elaina stepped forward.

  ‘No, we have to try. Arthur, tell everyone the situation – make sure they are clear on

  how dangerous this is and try to persuade them to stay. XJ, show me
to the robots.’

  As Marcus walked towards the robots, Churchill barged out, ‘Marcus!’ He shouted.

  ‘Marcus... I just read all your notes on the floor and on the walls and your right, this is

  amazing, I can make it... I know I can!’

  ‘That’s great, I’ll leave that with you. I am glad I ran into you... follow me.’

  Arthur told everyone the situation and how Marcus felt, but as he expected, no one

  was backing down. He had never seen so many people, knowing the dangers yet still

  so eager to fight. They stood facing forward like valiant gladiators in an arena full of

  super killing machines, ready to battle an enemy they knew that they had no chance of

  defeating – but they were all ready to die trying.

  ‘So is there a plan?’ Khan asked Arthur, who was getting his weapons ready.

  ‘Ok, the vehicles are ready, so while we wait for Marcus, we need to prepare the

  troops.’

  ‘My men are ready!’

  ‘Really? Show me.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Get them all ready and outside in ten minutes.’ So Khan ordered his men to get

  ready, while Arthur instructed Amy to continue preparing everyone else.

  After ten minutes Khan’s men were gathered outside, geared up with different type of

  weapons. Arthur strolled out, biting on a half eaten apple. He stood in front of Khan

  and the men and began chewing faster, as he thought about what he was going to say,

  ‘you guys look great, I mean, the muscles, the clothes, the weapons – you definitely

  look the part. But what can you do? Can you fight?’

  ‘Yes sir!’ They all shouted in perfect synchronisation.

  ‘Good, show me...’ they all looked at one another, confused.

  ‘Khan, pull forward four of your best fighters!’

  Khan nodded at four strong men standing at the front and asked them to step forward.

  Although they were brave men, they had all heard about Arthur.

  ‘Now attack me?’

  ‘But sir...’ one of the men said

  ‘Are you scared?’

  ‘No sir... it’s just that there are four of us and we’re all bigger than you.’

  ‘Do you think that your number or size is going to defeat me... now are we going to

  dance or are we still getting to know one another?’ The men edged forward but threw

  their weapons behind them to make it fair. The first man ran towards Arthur and

  swung a punch, Arthur ducked down and watched him stumble and fall.

  ‘Aggressive! I like it but there’s something missing. The second and third man rushed

  towards him and one grabbed him from behind, his arm tightly wrapped around his

  neck, as the other man went to strike him, Arthur sprung and almost ran up his

  attacker’s body and slid out of the lock, flipped over and landed behind them. He

  pushed the man from the back really hard and he collided into the other and they both

  stumbled to the ground. The fourth man’s loud growl made the other men move back.

  He was considerably bigger than the other three and looked twice as intimidating,

  especially as he taunted by tensing his muscles. Arthur looked unruffled; he waited

  until the man came close before he even looked at him. The large man swung a few

  punches but Arthur evaded the blows, swiftly moving, dodging and diving. This

  continued for a minute or so before the man began to wear out – he began to resemble

  a huge engine almost out of steam. It got to a point where the man could not move

  and the raging bull bent down holding his knees.

  ‘Your size is your strength and your weakness! Use it wisely.’ He walked forward,

  scratch-less and not having broken a sweat. ‘All of you listen up and listen good!’ By

  now a lot of the men that came with Karina had stood around watching what was

  happening.

  ‘What just happened? These men made two huge mistakes: number one, they relied

  on their muscles and size. Number two, they dropped their weapons! We are going to

  war with something that will do anything to destroy you! They will be much bigger

  than you and better than you and there will be more of them! And if you rage at them

  recklessly, they will squash you like bugs! People, we don’t have room for screw-ups,

  and believe me there will be no second chances. I have faced these things before, they

  will not hesitate, they will not show you mercy and they are not taking prisoners!’ No

  one else challenged Arthur and they all gathered how he earned his reputation. He

  was strong, wise, and fearless – his confidence was concrete.

  Arthur spent the next three hours training and mentoring the men that were gathered,

  teaching them to use their strengths and cloaking their weakness. Everyone took his

  advice and followed his guidance and practiced harder than they had ever done – nor

  would Arthur accept anything less.