Artificial Exile

by D S Emerson

  “They’re leaving us!” Abel said to Bek, panicked. “They’ve left us!”

  “Calm down, Abel,” he told him slowly. “They were pushed back. They held out as long as they could.”

  “But they’ve left us here,” Abel continued. “We’re stranded,” he replied anxiously as they continued moving in the direction of the shuttle. Bek was trying to remain calm. The robots didn’t stay around the shuttle landing area, but rather, they followed its direction away from there. They arrived at their initial landing area; hidden behind some rocks, they saw some of their rogue colleagues lying dead, along with a number of disabled robots. Taner and Valeena were not among the dead. They carefully inspected the robots to see if any were still functioning, and quickly gathered any ammo they could from the bodies, along with new shields.

  “Get whatever you can—fast,” Bek told Abel as they searched the area. Bek was moving around among the deactivated robots when he found two of them with Valeena’s Iorine sword plunged into them. He drew it out slowly and placed it on his back.

  “The robots might come back to inspect the area,” Abel said to him sharply as he looked in the direction of where the transport shuttle had left Earth. They hastily fastened the ammo and equipment they had gathered from the area, scanned for any signs of the robot army, and started running away as fast as they could.

  Chapter 12

  They ran among the dead plains and the inactive mining facilities for as long as they could. The ground was decayed as if the planet had been completely drained of anything the robots could use.

  “We need to take a rest. I can’t run anymore,” Abel said, out of breath. He sat down with his hands behind his back, panting heavily. Bek stopped in front of him. He was also breathing heavily from all the running they had done to get away from the robot army. He looked around and saw that nothing was moving. It was as if Earth was dead.

  “Do you think that we are the only humans on Earth?” Bek asked when he had caught his breath.

  “The robots said they were keeping humans to replace us,” Abel replied. “I don’t know where though.” The export center was in the far distance now, and the cloud of Iorine was starting to dissipate as most of it had fallen to the ground.

  “We need to find somewhere to hide,” Bek said. “We can’t be wandering around forever.” Abel agreed, and they took a look around them. They saw a crumbling mining facility nearby that looked deserted.

  “Let’s hide there,” Bek said, and they approached it in haste. The station, with huge pumps going into the ground, was not functioning and didn’t appear to have any robots inside it. They entered carefully and made their way around, checking to see if it looked safe to stay there. After seeing that it was completely abandoned, they agreed to stay put and rest. “I will stay on watch,” Bek said. “Go to sleep. I will sleep later.”

  Abel went over to a wall, removed his equipment and lay on the ground, falling asleep almost instantly. Bek saw him going to sleep, but he knew he couldn’t sleep now. He was worried and needed to keep watch for any robots that might come their way. He moved toward the entrance to the station and looked into the distance. Nothing was moving or approaching them. He held his rifle while patrolling around the inactive mining station, and after some time, he took the sword that Valeena had left behind and started to fiddle with it. He had come to appreciate the fact that the rogues had taken Iorine and made it into weapons to fight the robots.

  Hours passed, and Abel eventually woke up.

  “Any robots approach?” he asked.

  “Nothing passed by here,” Bek told him as he headed off to sleep; he was now getting tired. He went to the place Abel had slept and closed his eyes. As worried as he was, he couldn’t keep them open anymore. Days passed with both of them taking shifts to sleep and going through the supplies they carried with them. Around them they could sometimes hear sporadic sounds of machinery in the distance. They wondered why no continuous sounds of machines could be heard.

  “Maybe we are the last people on Earth,” Abel said when he headed to sleep again in his usual spot.

  “And the robots ran out of energy since we didn’t send to them new shipments after the rogues took the city. Their stored energy here is fried from Iorine.”

  “The whole planet is dead besides us,” Bek replied. “When we die, Earth will be just a rock.” He left Abel sleeping and headed to make some rounds around the facility. The mechanical sounds in the distance were being heard again, but they didn’t stay on for long. He was walking slowly, looking at the sky and then to the horizon when he saw a figure moving, and heading toward them. He equipped his rifle and took cover behind a metal wall on the edge of the mining station while he tried to figure out who or what was approaching. Looking more closely, and now having the approaching figure in his sights, he realized the figure was human. As the person got closer, he observed that it was a woman, limping and having difficulty moving. He rushed back to Abel and pushed him to wake him up.

  “What happened?” Abel asked, shocked as he awoke suddenly. He reached for his rifle.

  “There is a human in the distance, walking towards us,” Bek told him. “A woman. I think we should approach her.” Abel took some time to think. He readied his equipment while Bek kept watch outside. When he was ready, they both headed slowly outside and toward the moving figure. She stopped walking when she saw them approaching her from inside the mining facility. She looked frightened, turned away from them, and tried to run. They both ran toward her, caught up, and Bek grabbed her hand.

  “We are friendly. Wait,” he said to her. She stopped and faced them. It was a young woman who looked surprised to see them.

  “Where…where did you find the weapons that you carry?” she asked them hesitantly.

  “We brought them from the planet where the robots exiled us,” Abel said to her. “We came here to defeat them.”

  “Where did you come from?” Bek asked her.

  “What planet? The one they gathered us to for transport to?” the woman continued asking. “We were in our facilities where we had been living since we were children, but then they gathered us and brought us in this area here, giving us instructions about the new planet to which we would be moving. I was supposed to work in the agricultural center there. That was my training.” Bek realized the robots had started readying people to be moved to Cennan because they believed they would easily eradicate the population already living there.

  “What happened while you were preparing to go to the other planet?” Bek asked.

  “Days ago, the new place they gathered us into went offline. Some of the robots monitoring us started shutting down as well, and people took that opportunity to attack them. When the robots that were still functioning attacked people, everyone started to run away. I was separated from my family while running away.”

  “We destroyed their energy storage, and they didn’t get energy from us for some time before that,” Bek told her. “That’s why the robots started to shut down. They tried to kill us all so you would replace us and work for them.”

  “Can you take us back to the place they were keeping you?” Abel asked.

  “No—I got lost. I can’t find the way back. The bigger robots were shutting off while I was running around,” she answered. “They were making loud noises.”

  “We heard them as well,” Bek told her. “You should stay with us. We have weapons that can damage them.”

  “Where should we go?” she asked them.

  “Let’s just stay together for now, to be safe,” Bek said to her.

  “My name is Ekia. Do you carry water? I am thirsty,” she asked.

  “My name is Bek, and this is Abel. We don’t carry much water, but there is a lake close to the export center,” Bek replied, realizing they would be needing water soon as well.

  “We should head there—cautiously,” Abel said, and all three started to head in the direction of the lake.

  They walked while keeping their weap
ons in hand and looking carefully around them. Loud sounds could be heard in the distance—the sound of metal crashing. Apparently, the robots were running out of energy and simply coming to a halt, falling down. They continued their walk atop the deserted Earth, the lake now within reach in front of them.

  “Be careful,” Bek told them. “The robot army was near the area of the lake where the export center is.”

  All three headed slowly toward the lake. The water had a smooth surface all the way to the far edge of the horizon.

  “I will try it first,” Abel said to them, and he crouched down to drink. He took some sips and turned back toward them. “It tastes all right,” he said, and they began to drink too. “Stay down!” Abel said to them gruffly while he was looking around. “Something is coming.” They lay down at the edge of the lake so as not to be seen. An unknown group was coming, approaching the lake toward the export center. As they neared, it was evident that they were humans, escorted by robot soldiers. “They didn’t see us,” Abel said. “Maybe we should ambush them when they pass us.”

  “It would be better to stay hidden from them, for now,” Bek replied.

  “Those are my parents with them!” Ekia whispered when the group of people came closer. “You must save them!” Bek reconsidered staying hidden. They had come to Earth to fight the robots: they shouldn’t hide from them when it was possible to defeat them.

  “Let them pass, and then we will try to ambush them,” he answered quietly. They waited until the group of people, along with the robots escorting them, passed in front of them, and then he and Abel got up. They equipped their rifles and followed behind, crouching. “I don’t want to risk hitting humans,” Bek told Abel, and so they checked their shields in case the robots opened fire on them. Bek grabbed Valeena’s sword, and Abel took out his baton. They continued following the group, trying not to be detected, until they got closer to them. They increased their pace to catch up with the group, but the four robot soldier escorts heard them, and turned around.

  “Join the rest of the humans,” one of the robots ordered while walking towards them. Bek and Abel remained still.

  “I don’t think so,” Abel replied to them, activating his shield. Bek, next to him, activated his shield as well.

  “Follow our orders!” one of the robots told them as their human captives crouched behind. Suddenly, one of the robots collapsed on the ground, and then another, leaving only two standing.

  “Seems you are running out of time,” Bek replied to the two remaining robots that had started to shake. Bek and Abel used this opportunity to attack the robots with their sword and baton; the Iorine in them made the robots hit the ground, deactivated along with their counterparts.

  “A gift from Cennan,” Abel said to the robots on the ground in front of them.

  Ekia came out of hiding and ran past them to go to her parents, who saw her approaching and went out of the group to embrace her. They were still holding onto one another when Bek and Abel approached them, after checking on the disabled robots.

  “Where were they taking you?” Bek asked. Ekia’s father noticed that Bek and Abel carried weapons.

  “Who are you?” he asked.

  “We’re people from Cennan; we came here to fight the robots,” Bek replied.

  “There are robot patrols out trying to gather people who escaped after the energy ran out in the facilities they had us in,” he answered.

  “Is this group all of the people who existed in the facility you were in?” Bek asked him.

  “No, no, there were many more than the ones here. And I don’t know how many other facilities may exist,” he answered.

  “We think there must be more. You were intended to be shipped to Cennan and run the city there. They need more humans for this,” Abel stepped up and told them. Finishing his sentence, a shuttle in the distant sky caught their attention. It was steadily heading down to Earth.

  “It looks like it’s going down to land,” Bek told Abel. “Do you think it carries humans or robots?”

  “I don’t know,” he responded while both were watching its course. “There is no energy for the robots to spend without reason.”

  “We should head closer to check it. Everyone follow me,” Bek told them, and the group they had picked up—around ten people in number, along with Abel—started heading toward the approaching shuttle in the distance. They reached the end of the lake with the export center to one side, and continued toward the shuttle that was preparing to land. Bek went in front of the group, with Abel in the rear to cover them. They continued walking at a steady pace when they heard loud footsteps approaching from the small hills close to the mountain where they had first landed.

  “What could that be?” Abel said to Bek as they stopped to better hear the sound.

  “Sounds like a bipedal mech approaching,” Ekia told them after listening carefully. “These big mechs were around the facility where we were kept.”

  “Ready your weapons,” Bek said to Abel, and both of them went in front of the group of people and toward the sound that was approaching. Slowly, a big bipedal mech, bigger than the ones that had come to attack Cennan, emerged from the nearest hill. “Stay behind us,” Bek said to the group, while he and Abel activated their shields.

  “I don’t think our shields can hold, facing a big mech,” Abel told him, but they didn’t have any other option. Running away from it would made them an easy target on the plains behind them.

  “Rogue people of Cennan and fugitive people of Earth, stop. This is coordination module version seventy-seven, ordering you to surrender peacefully. No more energy or human material need be wasted,” the bipedal mech approached them while broadcasting its message to them. It came to a stop after coming closer to them and aiming its big weapons at them.

  “Your robots are dying,” Bek replied to it, shouting from behind his activated shield. “Your energy storage is no more. They won’t be sending you new shipments from Cennan.”

  “Our space expeditions didn’t return with findings of energy on other planets. We depend on Cennan,” the coordinator module of the AI on Earth answered them.

  “You made the same mistake as the humans before us,” Bek replied to him. “You were dependent on other species for your survival. The older humans let the robots take over everything. We won’t be making the same mistake again.” Abel then grabbed his rifle and fired while moving away from the group of people so they wouldn’t be caught in the crossfire. The group of humans hit the dirt, facing the ground quickly, and the bipedal mech turned toward him, firing. Abel slipped from the first shots, but the next ones started to hit his shield and weaken it while the shots he fired didn’t damage the mech enough to bring it down.

  Bek, seeing Abel going to the side, rushed the opposite way, not taking any shots to keep it focused away from him while he went behind it. He grabbed Valeena’s sword from his back, approached from behind, and jumped to hit the mech’s rear battery with it. The sword stayed inside the battery pack, and the mech stopped firing toward Abel. It turned around slowly and Bek rushed back as it was turning toward him, ready to fire at him.

  “We defeated you before. We should succeed your species,” the mech transmitted while its legs started to collapse.

  “People adapt. We will reclaim our planet,” Bek said to it while Abel approached the crouching mech from the rear and pushed the Iorine sword deeper to destroy it completely. The mech deactivated and fell completely down without any further response. Abel inspected it as it lay there, deactivated, and drew the sword from it. He approached Bek and gave it to him.

  “Nothing else moves around us now,” Abel said to Bek. “It must have been one of the last robots that remained operational.”

  “And now it’s finished as well,” Bek replied while facing the group of people lying next to them.

  “Stand up,” he said to them. “We must continue to the shuttle. It’s our best hope.” After witnessing the defeat of the mech, everyone got up quickly
. Many wore looks of surprise on their faces, and others wanted to leave the area as fast as they could. Bek led the way, and Abel again stayed at the back, scanning to see if any other threats existed. The shuttle got bigger as it approached the ground. They now saw that it was a transport shuttle—the same they had in Cennan.

  “Do you think they returned for us?” Abel asked Bek as they were walking with the rest of the group.

  “Let’s hope so,” he replied. “When they left, the results of the Iorine explosion must have been visible to them, so they probably thought they could risk returning.” They continued their steady-paced walk as the transport shuttle touched the ground. It landed close to the mountain where they had been before. “We are almost there,” Bek said.

  As they neared the mountain, they encountered another party heading away from the transport shuttle.

  It was Jaina, with Taner and Valeena, followed by other rogues. They saw them heading from the area the transport shuttle had landed, and going toward the export center. Bek and Abel turned to each other. They smiled and continued escorting the people they had found toward the rogues, making themselves visible by waving their hands. The rogues from Cennan saw them and started to run toward them. They all met up, with Bek rushing to hug Jaina, and Abel going over to the rogues to report to them. Jaina couldn’t contain her excitement at seeing Bek again. Bek thought they must have believed he and Abel were dead.

  “You made it!” Jaina said to him.

  “You came for us,” he replied. “We thought we would be abandoned here.”

  “We held them off as long as we could,” Valeena said after checking the group of people they had saved.