The Search For WondLa

by DiTerlizzi, Tony

  Room 1: The Control Room. Eva could see the overhead view of herself and Rovender looking at the holo-images.

  Room 2: The Holography Chamber. Eva could see the main projector lying on the scorched floor. Pieces of it were scattered and submerged in puddles from the extinguishers.

  Room 3: The Gymnasium. The exercise equipment was toppled and thrown about. A sizable piece of debris was lying at the bottom of the half-drained wading pool.

  Room 4: The Greenhouse. This was black. The camera must not have been working for this room.

  Room 5: Eva’s Bedroom. This seemed the most damaged of all. Blackened and distorted clumps of the girl’s possessions were melted into a sprawling heap, while cooling pipes bled water everywhere.

  Eva stared at the projection in total shock. Is everything I own gone? She pulled her eyes from the appalling sight and continued her search for Muthr.

  Room 6: The Kitchen. This was also black. Eva assumed the camera was not working here either.

  Room 7: The Supply Room. This was ransacked. All the shelves were toppled, with the goods spilled out onto the floor.

  Room 8: The Generator Room. The other “no access” room was also black. Eva could see that the camera was working, but the lights were off in the room.

  “That’s where I left Muthr,” Eva said, pointing to the blank kitchen screen. “Let’s try there first.” She tapped the green glowing button next to the door, but the door did not open. Eva tapped it again, harder. Nothing.

  “Is it not working? Perhaps there is another way in?” Rovender asked.

  “Let me see if it is damaged.” Eva walked over to the holo-screen for the control room. She attempted to interact with the Sanctuary’s menus, but the Sanctuary would not respond. “That’s weird. It’s not letting me access anything,” she said. Eva looked up and announced in a clear voice, “This is Eva Nine. Are you there, Sanctuary?”

  The familiar calm voice of the Sanctuary replied. However, static was mixed into it, causing it to sound fuzzy and far away. “Earth in Vitro Alpha Nine, to reenter Sanctuary you must proceed with an authorization code.”

  “Code?” Eva looked up at the camera in the ceiling, the Sanctuary’s eyes. “I don’t know any code.”

  “Reentry into HRP underground facility five-seven-three is strictly prohibited without proper authorization,” stated the Sanctuary through the static.

  “Prohibited? I live here. You know that,” Eva said, looking around at the various screens. “Please let me back in. I need to find Muthr.”

  “Multi-Utility Task Help Robot zero-six is unresponsive. Therefore, her location is undetermined. The integrity of said Sanctuary has been compromised. Please return to the surface and send distress signal from Omnipod to HRP underground facility fifty-one,” the Sanctuary stated.

  “I did that already,” Eva replied, her tone stern. She waved the Omnipod at the camera. “But there are no humans out there. Instead there are monsters—giant sand monsters and trees that eat you. I need Muthr’s help. Please let me in so that I can get her.”

  “Multi-Utility Task Help Robot zero-six cannot leave Sanctuary premises, Eva Nine. Please return to the surface and—”

  “I told you I did that already!” Eva’s frustration grew. “You have to let me in!”

  “Terminating communication. Good-bye,” the Sanctuary said. It shut off the holo-puter, causing all the screens to evaporate. The control room went dark.

  “No! No! NO!” Eva yelled. She paced the room, furious.

  Rovender leaned on his stick. “I never trust a talking machine,” he said.

  Eva flopped down at the foot of the stairs and held her Omnipod in both hands. It shone on her furrowed face.

  “It would seem”—Rovender looked around the darkened room—“that you have been presented with a puzzle, Eva Nine.”

  “A puzzle?” She looked up.

  “Yes.” Rovender inspected the door’s manual keypad. “A riddle that you may solve. Now, you can solve this puzzle in a variety of ways. You can solve it with power, like Besteel did, and force this door to open.” Rovender pointed to the scorch marks that pocked the door. He continued, “You can solve it by asking nicely, which you have already done, and received no results.” He approached Eva. “Or you can solve it by answering the query.”

  “The authorization code? But I don’t know that,” Eva whined.

  “So who would?” Rovender asked.

  “Muthr would, but she would never—” Eva paused, a thought flitting through her mind. She recalled the inscription that had been scrawled into her dresser drawer … the one that had allowed her access to the Sanctuary’s secrets.

  “Sanctuary,” Eva said, standing. “This is C-P-zero-one.”

  The Sanctuary was silent for a moment. Won’t it know it’s just me? Eva wondered.

  She picked at the scab on her thumb with her finger.

  “C-P-zero-one,” the Sanctuary responded. “Access password, please.”

  Eva looked over at Rovender. She then glanced up to the unseen camera mounted in the ceiling. “Omniscient,” she said.

  “How may I be of service, Cadmus zero-one?” the Sanctuary asked.

  Rovender looked at Eva. “Who is Cadmus?”

  Eva shrugged her shoulders. “Open control room door and allow Eva Nine and Rovender Kitt access into main hub, please,” Eva commanded.

  With a low grinding sound the door unlocked. It opened only halfway, clearly damaged from Besteel’s siege.

  Before she could enter, Rovender put a hand on Eva’s shoulder. He said, “The real question one should ask when presented with a puzzle is, ‘Should I solve it? Do I really need to know the answer?’”

  “I do. I need to know the answer,” Eva said, and stepped into the burnt remnants of her home.

  CHAPTER 14: ASHES

  She had seen the images, and she knew the place was wrecked. But when Eva Nine stepped out into the main hub of her Sanctuary—her home of twelve years—she went numb. The main hub was now dark, no longer illuminated by the hologram vistas of beautiful landscapes. The holo-projector that had created the vistas now dangled from the ceiling by wires as it spurted sparks like a severed artery.

  Most of the doors, usually hidden behind holograms of mountains and skies, were torched and pried apart. The greenhouse door opened and closed, banging into a watering can lying in the entryway.

  The electronic sounds of birds singing and rivers running were now replaced with the angry hiss of cracked thermal pipes and fractured, bleeding water ventilation ducts.

  “It is unfortunate that all of this is destroyed,” Rovender said, picking up a fork from the debris. “So much can be garnered by simply asking for an invitation.”

  Eva stepped through the precarious damage in the main hub, and headed to the kitchen. She took a deep breath as she crossed the wrecked doorway, using the Omnipod to light the darkened room.

  The refrigeration unit was wide open, disemboweled of all its foodstuffs and shelving. The sink faucets ran like tears onto a heap of broken dishes and utensils. Other dishes were scattered in ivory jagged shards on the countertops and tiled floor. With the light of the Omnipod, Eva peeked over the counter to the front of the stove—but the robot was nowhere to be found. “Muthr?” she whispered, and she peered up the exhaust shaft that had provided her escape. “Muthr, where are you?”

  Eva wandered back out into the main hub, wondering which room to search next. “Rovender?” she called out.

  “Right here, Eva,” he answered as he popped his head out of the supply room.

  “Do you see any sign of her?”

  “I don’t believe so,” he replied. “Though, in truth, I don’t know exactly what your mother robot looks like.”

  “Oh, she looks like this.” Eva turned the Omnipod flat and brought up a projection of Muthr.

  “Can’t your device locate her?” Rovender knelt close to study the hologram.

  “Not if she is off-line, which the Sanctuary
said she was,” Eva said. She pointed to the blown-out entrance of the gymnasium. “Why don’t you check in there, and I’ll try next door?”

  “Okay.” Rovender trotted across the hub toward the gym, his rucksack jingling with every step.

  Eva entered the greenhouse, stepping over the watering can. Inside, the fluorescent grow lights flicked off and on, illuminating the hydroponic irrigation system, which lay in a heap like a pile of broken bones. The carbon dioxide generator hissed at Eva as she searched the aisles of upturned fruit and vegetable plants. Once more there was no sign of Muthr.

  “Eva Nine, come quick!” Rovender shouted.

  Eva dashed back out into the main hub, tripping over the watering can. “Is it Muthr? Did you find her?” she asked.

  Rovender called from the adjacent gymnasium entrance, “This way!”

  As with the rest of the items in the wrecked Sanctuary, the gymnasium’s exercise equipment was bent at odd angles and completely destroyed. The wading pool bottom was somehow cracked, with half of the water drained out. In the deep end of the pool was a familiar cylindrical shape.

  A shape Eva had known since birth.

  Muthr was lying like a dead log at the bottom of a clear chlorinated pond.

  CHAPTER 15: COUNTERCLOCKWISE

  Muthr! Eva screamed, jumping down the steps of the drained pool and scrambling to the deep end. She felt a slight electric shock as she waded into the water and tried to pick the robot up. Eva called out to Rovender, “Help me!” He slid off his rucksack and hopped into the pool, splashing Eva in the process.

  Slowly the two of them rolled the unresponsive robot back to the shallow end. With great effort they then hoisted Muthr up onto the ply-steel deck. Her orblike eyes were glossy black without the slightest hint of an amber electric glow.

  “There was a little light blinking when I first saw her here,” Rovender said, pointing to a light on Muthr’s braincase. “But it has stopped.”

  “She’s got water in her,” Eva said as she ran her fingertips over Muthr’s smooth metallic shell. She stopped at a small plate on the back of the robot’s torso. “One other time, during swimming lessons, moisture got on her power cell. I just need to dry it off and she’ll be fine.” Eva furrowed her brow while she jammed her fingernails at the seam of the closed panel. “Come on!” she grumbled.

  “What is the problem?” Rovender watched Eva scrabble at the closed power cell hatch.

  “I can’t get this open. It’s stuck!”

  “There must be some simple way to—”

  “No!” Eva pounded on the hatch. “Open! Come on! Open!” The force of Eva’s fist unlatched the inner lock, and the small hatch opened. Pool water poured out of it.

  The power cell was missing.

  “What? Where can it be?” Eva sat back, dumbstruck.

  “What is the matter? Has her spirit been stolen?” Rovender asked.

  “I don’t understand. Why is her power cell missing?” Eva said, staring at Muthr. Discolored scorch marks ran down one side of the curvy robot lying motionless on the deck. All of her mechanical arms were drawn into her body like a dead spider’s.

  “Wait!” Eva rummaged through her satchel, and then finally pulled out the power cell that she had found at Besteel’s camp. Eva snapped the dented cell into place and then leaned over to watch the familiar glow return to the robot’s eyes—but they remained black.

  “Oh, no! Why isn’t this working?” Eva swallowed down the coil of panic.

  Rovender placed a hand on her shoulder. “I know this is not what you want, but you should leave soon, Eva Nine. Besteel will return.”

  “Hold on! Maybe that one is just damaged. There are more power cells in the supply room. I’ll be right back!” Eva ran out of the gym, across the hub, and into the supply room. Jumping over the toppled shelves, she scanned the discarded piles of water purification tablets and broken holo-bulbs. Out of breath, Eva asked, “Sanctuary, where are the power cells?”

  “Hello, Cadmus zero-one. May I help you find something?” The static-filled voice of the Sanctuary crackled over the intercom.

  “Who? Oh!” Eva remembered that the Sanctuary thought she was someone else. “What shelf would the power cells be on for Muthr?”

  “T6D9 centurion power cells are in row five, top shelf,” the Sanctuary replied. “However, supplies are exhausted. Acquisition of new cells must be arranged through sibling Sanctuaries.”

  Eva heard a hiss behind her. The door that led to her secret place opened into the darkness beyond.

  “Eva Nine,” Rovender’s voice echoed through the main hub. Eva hopped back out of the supply room and found him rolling Muthr’s rigid body on her wheel through the debris, leaving a watery trail behind them. “The light has started blinking again,” he said. Eva saw a tiny red light on Muthr’s braincase pulse in a steady rhythm.

  Eva addressed the house. “Sanctuary, Muthr has been found but is not responding. Please advise us as to what we should do next.”

  “Bring Multi-Utility Task Help Robot zero-six into the generator room,” the Sanctuary answered. “Access is through the control room.”

  Eva and Rovender wheeled the robot into the control room, where an unseen door slid open next to the stairwell. Eva nodded to her companion, and they pushed Muthr into yet another room that Eva had never been in.

  Overhead, lights flicked on in the solid white room, revealing a wall of glass cabinets that held a variety of petri dishes and test tubes. A squat cylindrical freezer breathed icy fog in the corner, while a series of immaculately clean glass tubs and tanks dominated the opposite wall. Eva shivered as a tingle ran up her spine.

  “Clearly Besteel did not find this room,” Rovender said, viewing a row of widemouthed jars filled with a reddish liquid.

  “This is the generator room? It looks more like a lab,” said Eva.

  “Accessing data banks of Multi-Utility Task Help Robot zero-six. Please stand by,” the Sanctuary announced.

  Eva looked over at Muthr. The light on the robot’s ash-covered head blinked in a rapid pattern. Eva’s eyes traveled down Muthr’s scorched body, and rested on a cluster of worn Beeboo stickers just above the wheel casing. Eva remembered sticking these onto Muthr when she was a toddler. Some of the stickers still worked, dancing and smiling in an animated fashion.

  The Sanctuary instructed Eva, “Carefully remove Muthr zero-six’s head in a counterclockwise direction. When you have done so, place it here.” At this, a large robotic crab-shaped form rose from the seams in the white tiled floor. The form had an empty socket at its center. Eva and Rovender eased Muthr down, laying her face up.

  “You remove it, okay?” Rovender whispered.

  “Okay.” Eva knew that Muthr could come apart; she’d seen her do it once before for a routine cleaning. But Eva hadn’t liked watching—for it had only reminded her that it was just a machine raising her.

  The red light on Muthr’s forehead stopped blinking and she let out a tiny electronic chirp. Eva watched as the clamps that held the head and neck assembly in place unlocked.

  Counterclockwise, counterclockwise, Eva said to herself. She rubbed the sweat off her palms onto her tunic and grabbed the head and turned it—but it did not come off.

  “It’s not working.” An icy chill of nerves coiled in Eva’s stomach. Am I going to fail this exercise too?

  The Sanctuary repeated the instructions, “Carefully remove Muthr’s head in a counterclockwise direction and place it here.”

  “I think, perhaps, you should try turning the other way. It may work better,” Rovender said in a gentle tone.

  Eva exhaled out the iciness that had seized her. Focused, she rotated Muthr’s head in the opposite direction. It turned smoothly and slid out of the torso. Eva stood, wavering at the added weight of the robot’s heavy head, and walked over to the large mechanized crab form. She set the head in the socket at the center of the crab body and locked it into place.

  “Oeeah!” Rovender whistled as
he stood next to Eva. “Do you have to remove your head as well to recharge your spirit?”

  “Rovee! My head doesn’t come off!” Eva giggled, jabbing him playfully.

  “Look!” Rovender pointed.

  A warm amber glow returned to Muthr’s eyes. “Eva Nine!” the robot said. “My child, you are alive.”

  CHAPTER 16: PUZZLE

  I am so glad you escaped successfully,” Muthr said. She had numerous electrodes snaking from her head, giving her the appearance of a wire-haired Medusa. All of the electrodes’ cables were connected to a port on the Sanctuary’s central computer.

  Eva was sitting in one of the empty glass tubs, her bare feet raised and her jackvest balled up behind her head like a pillow. She paused from sipping a container of blue-tinted drink. “What happened to you?” she asked.

  With her new thick crablike appendages, Muthr grasped her headless original body and raised it. “Well, after you were gone, I was able to slip out of the kitchen through the chaos.” A giant plug descended from the ceiling, locked into the neck socket of the old body, and hoisted it up farther. “At that point the entire house was filled with smoke. Half of the Sanctuary caught fire when the holo-projector exploded.”

  Eva watched a bundle of wires snake down from the top of the room, followed by directional lamps, which extended outward on mechanized arms.

  Muthr attached the numerous probes to her old body and continued, “The intruder grabbed me in the haze and I struggled, toppling over the burning rubble. When I righted myself, I realized my cell hatch had popped open and my power cell had fallen out. With little reserve power I tried to get here, to this room. However, I realized I was covered in burning debris and aflame.”

  “So you dove into the gymnasium pool to put the fire out,” Eva concluded. Wall-mounted arms emerged from hidden panels and began servicing Muthr’s original body.

  “Honestly, Eva, the extinguishers here were not designed for such a siege,” Muthr said, watching her old headless body move and jerk back to life. “I needed to douse the flames before I could come in here, and before any of my inner workings were damaged.”