All around them were the chambers and computers of the other captured humans. Hundreds of sleeping people connected to switchboards and computers made the room uncomfortably hot. Sweat rolled down Daniel’s face. Soon he would be in the chambers like the other humans, and he hoped it was comfortable in there.
Robot Nancy watched as Tanaka walked down the hallway. She had no more guards to stop him and knew the hallway would eventually lead him here. So, she sat there in a chair facing the doorway, waiting.
Tanaka stepped into the room and stopped, looking around, absorbing what he was seeing. He spotted Daniel. “What the hell is going on here?”
“Can’t you figure it out?”
“Yeah, I guess I can. Looks like you have a bunch of humans you kidnapped and replaced with robots.”
“Very good,” she replied. “You are pretty smart.”
“That’s what I’ve been told.” He stepped into the room. “How could you do this? How could you—”
She held her hand up, stopping him. “Before you get all weepy, look to your right.”
He turned his head and looked at Nancy’s chamber. He whipped his head back to Robot Nancy, then back to the chamber, then back to her. “What the hell?”
“I’m a robot. I’ve been a robot the whole time.”
“But how? What does this mean?”
“It means I can think, I can feel, I am me. I’m not her,” she pointed to human Nancy. “I used to be her, for a few moments. But that changed, and now we’re not connected.”
“So, she has nothing to do with any of this?”
Robot Nancy laughed. It felt good to laugh, felt human, sounded human. “Oh, no. She’s far from innocent. She’s the one who joined Destructo. She got this all stared. Me? I’m just a complication. Something she didn’t anticipate. Heck, something no one anticipated, not even Destructo.”
“But why?”
Nancy searched her memory banks, finding the memory where Nancy decided to join. “At first, it was because of the money. She knew Destructo, or as she knew him at the time, Turing, was onto something big. She knew she could help and when she was done he’d give her money. Lots of it.”
“Nancy is not like that.”
“She’s very like that!” Robot Nancy yelled. “If she wasn’t, I wouldn’t be.”
“That sounds—”
“Complicated,” Nancy finished. “Yes, I told you it was.”
“But why? Why do this?”
“Well, Destructo wants to make life for us robots better. I think he can so I want to help.”
“Is that part of your programming? Something Destructo wanted you tell me?”
“I speak for myself!”
“Do you?” Tanaka replied with a chuckle. “You’re not even human. You’re a robot programmed by another robot. How do you know it’s your thoughts going through you head and not something your robot creator didn’t put inside you?”
“It’s not!” Robot Nancy stood up. “I make my own choices. My own—” Robot Nancy looked behind Tanaka. Standing there was Destructo, looking at her from over Tanaka’s shoulder.
Tanaka turned his head, then spun around when he saw Destructo. He brought his katana down to cleave the robot’s head. The sword was stopped when Destructo grabbed the blade and pulled it out of Tanaka’s hand. He then pushed the ninja into the room, where he stumbled and fell to the floor. Destructo effortlessly broke the sword over his knee, tossed the pieces, then stepped into the room. “Do you really believe what he has told you?”
“No. You didn’t program me to think like this. This is me, all me.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Of course he’s going to say that,” Tanaka replied standing from the floor. “He needs you. Come on. If you really have the personality of Nancy, then you have her smarts as well and she wouldn’t be fooled by this jerk.”
“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” Destructo replied.
“No, you don’t. It would be kind of weird if you did.”
“You need to go,” Destructo replied. “We can’t replicate your powers as easily as your brother’s, so building a robot Tanaka would do us no good.”
“Oh, that’s true.” Tanaka said, then remembered the fight in the hospital. “Speaking of which, how did you teleport out of the hospital?”
“He can mimic powers,” Nancy replied. “When he’s close enough to the Evo.”
“Really?” Tanaka replied. “How the heck do you mimic teleportation? I mean, I’m not even really sure I understand how my power work.”
“Cause you have a tiny, human mind.”
“Well, now you’re just being mean,” Tanaka replied before teleporting behind Destructo.
Destructo turned just as Tanaka grabbed the robot’s shoulders. “Bye-bye!” he said ...
Nothing.
Tanaka shook Destructo as one might shake a malfunctioning toaster. Nothing happened. He took his hands off the shoulders, looked at them, and touched Destructo once more. Nothing happened. “Well, screw me,” Tanaka said.
“I have your powers, fool. You can’t teleport me.”
“Oh, damn it, didn’t think of that!” Tanaka replied, teleporting over to where Daniel lay.
Nancy watched with amusement as Tanaka looked at his brother’s head. “Dear lord, where do these wires go?”
“To his brain,” Nancy replied. “If you pull them out, he’ll die.”
A look of panic passed over Tanaka’s face as he touched one of the wires. He looked up at Nancy. “How do you take them out without killing him?”
“You can’t,” Destructo replied.
“That’s a lie!” Tanaka yelled. He stepped back, took out Daniel’s sword, then with one quick motion sliced through the wires.
“No!” Destructo yelled teleporting over to Tanaka. Nancy charged forward and the two met Tanaka at the same time.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
When Tanaka teleported over to Daniel and saw all the wires poking out of his head, he knew he was out of his depth. The two robots told him he couldn’t take the wires out, that it would kill Daniel. He reasoned he couldn’t win this fight without his brother, so he did the only thing he could think of. Cut the wires and leave the ends inside the skull.
He must have been on the right track because when he did that they went nuts.
Destructo teleported over to him and swung his fist. Tanaka ducked under the attack then teleported to the other side of the room. A charging Nancy slammed into Destructo and the two fell to the ground.
Tanaka looked around at the other chambers. Wires stuck out of them and into the same kind of apparatus Daniel was connected too. There were hundreds of them all lined up neatly on the ground. He looked behind him to see Nancy, the real human Nancy, in a chamber. He ran over to her and looked inside. The wires were the same, connected deep inside her skull, running out into a computer switch board. He stepped back to cut the wires when he heard a pop and turned. Destructo stood there and Tanaka teleported away. A fist met the air where Tanaka had once stood.
He appeared by the doorway to the room, giving him a chance to survey the area. He really had no clue what to do; he probably needed to keep both Robot Nancy and Destructo alive so they could fix Daniel and the others.
He looked over at Daniel and saw him stir slightly. He wanted to shout with joy. Maybe slicing the wires was the answer. He needed to wait to find out for sure.
Destructo appeared in front of him. It was difficult to tell emotion on the robot’s face but if Tanaka had to guess, Destructo was pissed off. Destructo grabbed his shoulders and pulled him in. His mouth opened wide, his razor-sharp teeth ready to rip Tanaka’s face off. Tanaka let his body go limp, and the surprise weight forced Destructo’s arms down, the snap of his teeth nearly scalping Tanaka. Tanaka put his feet flat on the ground then jumped. Putting his feet on Destructo’s chest, he pushed, breaking the robot’s grip, allowing Tanaka to teleport again.
He felt the throbbing in his
skull the second he appeared. Even these short teleports were hurting him. He looked at Daniel and saw his head slowly rolling back and forth as if trying to shake out the cobwebs.
Nancy was a blur of speed as she charged Tanaka. He didn’t have time to think about teleporting or moving when she slammed into his ribs. He fell to his side, his eyes wide as he tried to catch his breath. He stood on his knee, then rolled as Robot Nancy’s foot slammed into the ground.
Nancy brought her other foot down but this time Tanaka was ready. He grabbed the foot with his hand and lifted it off the ground, then pushed, sending Nancy backwards onto her back.
He heard a pop from behind him and dove forward, feeling the air from the fist which would have crushed his skull pass over him. He landed on his hands then pushed off and flipped around to face Destructo. He heard a moan and looked to his left. Daniel’s eyes were open and he was looking around, confused.
“Hey, sleepy head,” Tanaka said, tossing the buckler shield to Daniel. “Think you can help?”
Daniel caught the shield and sat up as if a switch had gone off in his head. “Who are we fighting?”
“Robot Nancy and Destructo.”
“Robot Nancy?”
Tanaka pointed to Robot Nancy, who was getting up off the ground. “She’s a robot.”
“How... Never mind. You’ll have to tell me later.”
“Looking forward to it. It’s a fascinating story.”
Daniel jumped off the table. A stray wire dangled in front of his head. He reached for it.
“Better not do that!” Tanaka yelled.
“Why?”
“Another fascinating story,” Tanaka replied. “For another day.”
Nancy looked over at Destructo and yelled, “Get us out of here. We can’t win this fight now.”
“What about the people?”
“We have more!” Robot Nancy said. “Come!”
Destructo teleported over to Nancy, grabbed her, then teleported away.
“Ugh,” Tanaka said, falling to his knees and using a sword to keep him from falling to the ground. “Wasn’t really looking forward to continuing the fight.”
Daniel walked up to him and placed his hand on his shoulder. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I will be.”
“Great,” Daniel said. “She said they have more. Do you think she means people like this?”
“Yeah. This has been going on for a lot longer than we think. Come on, let’s see if we can wake up our Nancy then figure out how to get those plugs out of your brain?”
Daniel traced one of the wires up to his head. “My brain?”
“Yeah,” Tanaka replied standing slowly. “I’ll explain it all in a bit.”
“Where’s David?” Daniel asked.
“Dead,” Tanaka replied trying to sound as if it wasn’t a big deal.
“Oh,” Daniel said lowering his head. “Did I kill him?”
“No. One of your robots did.”
“But I was controlling the robot.”
“No, you weren’t,” Tanaka walked up to Nancy’s pod. “Don’t blame yourself.”
“I couldn’t control it,” Daniel said. “I saw everything, knew what was happening but couldn’t stop it.”
“I know. Like I said, don’t blame yourself. It’s not like we have any experience with this sort of thing.”
“But we do have training against mental attacks.”
“I think having wires connected to your brain is a lot different than a mental attack. Can you give me your shield? I want to see if I can pry this thing open.”
“Again you said connected to my brain. How is that possible?”
“I don’t know, dude!” Tanaka yelled. “Just shut up okay. There’s a lot going on—and between the two of us—I think we’re in a bit over our head, but we have to stop this now. Maybe Nancy knows how to get those wires out of your brain. Maybe you’ll need to wear hats for the rest of your life. I don’t know, okay?”
Daniel raised his hands and took a step back. “Okay, okay. Fine. We’ll work this all out later. Let’s deal with one issue at a time.”
Tanaka took Daniel’s shield and slid it into a small crease on the chamber. When it was secured enough, he leaned all his weight on the shield and groaned, pushing as hard as he could.
As Tanaka worked on the lid, he told Daniel what was going on. How David had died. How he had to kill several robot versions of Daniel and how Robot Nancy fooled them all.
There was a loud pop and the lid to the chamber opened. Tanaka looked inside at Nancy, marveling at how close she actually did look to her robot counterpart. “I don’t blame you for not being able to tell the other one was a robot.”
“How did she fool me?”
“My best guess is she’s a new model built to fool any detectors. Heck, she was in the hospital for a few hours and the doctors didn’t even notice.”
“That’s very dangerous,” Daniel replied.
“Hopefully she’s the first,” Tanaka said. “How do you think we wake her?”
Daniel peered into the chamber looking at the wires in her scalp. “Those connections look like they go deep.”
“I know. You should see yourself.”
Daniel walked over to the other side of the chamber and looked at all the buttons. “None of these are marked.”
“Why should they be? The robot has a perfect memory.” Tanaka started to shake Nancy. “Hey, wake up! Wake up!”
“I don’t think—”
Nancy stirred a bit and her eyes fluttered.
“I’ll be,” Daniel said. “Keep it up.”
“Hey! Wake up!”
Nancy’s eyes opened half way then closed. Tanaka shook her harder. “Wake up!”
Her eyes snapped open and looked around wildly. She looked at Tanaka, then Daniel, then back to Tanaka. Her eyes opened wide with terror and she let out a scream that echoed down the hallway for a good minute.
“Dear lord,” Tanaka said when the scream died down. “What the hell?”
“What’s going on?” Nancy asked looking at the two of them. Recognition passed across her face. “Tanaka? Daniel?”
“Nancy,” Tanaka replied. “Now that we’ve established who’s here, why don’t you tell me what you remember?”
Nancy slowly tried to sit. Her muscles felt weak and she found it difficult to focus her thoughts. She felt something on her scalp pull, preventing her from sitting up, and when she reached back, Tanaka grabbed her hand. “Probably not a good idea,” he said.
“What’s happening? Why are you guys here?”
“Do you remember anything from the past, oh, year?” Tanaka asked.
Nancy looked around and realized where she was. This was one of the bunkers Turing had built. Looking down the room she saw row after row of other chambers which looked like hers. Daniel and Tanaka, they must know what she did and... Did Tanaka say a year? The realization caused her to flush with shame. “How long have I been out for?”
“We’re not sure,” Daniel said. “What do you remember?”
“I remember helping Turing study me. I remember seeing the robot he was going to put my mind into. I remember going under and... That’s it.”
“What was the plan?” Tanaka asked. His voice aggressive, maybe even angry. “Why did you help him?”
“Because he was going to give me money!” Nancy yelled back. “I needed the money. I needed to get out of here and build another life.”
“Right,” Tanaka replied, stepping away from her. “You helped a robot that wants to take over the world just so you can get some cash?”
“What? Take over the world? No, he was just going to rob the casinos. He was going to take their money, but he needed to build robots who couldn’t be detected.”
Tanaka shook his head and balled his hand into a fist. “No, Nancy. That’s not what that he had planned.”
Nancy’s head spun. She hadn’t seen these guys in ten years and now here they were, yelling at her, telling her a
year had passed. She couldn’t find a center, didn’t know where to go. “But how is he going to take over the world?”
“We ask the questions,” Tanaka said, stepping forward. “How did he plan on stealing money from the casinos?”
“No, don’t talk to me like that,” Nancy snapped. “Tell me what’s going on, why are you here and how did you get involved?”
“You shut up and answer my questions!” Tanaka yelled, his face red with rage.
Daniel reached out and touched his brother’s shoulder. “Nancy, you called us out here. Well, a robot version of you anyway. The robot Nancy saw David and was scared. It seems robot Nancy had her memory of being a robot erased. She didn’t know she wasn’t human until she got injured, then Destructo kidnapped her. We don’t know what happened after that, only that she knows she’s a robot and she’s helping Destructo.”
“I was supposed to be in control,” Nancy said. “It was supposed to be me controlling her.”
“Well, that didn’t work, did it?” Tanaka replied. “So, now that you’ve caught up, tell us what the first phase of the plan was.”
Nancy blinked a few times, letting the news sink in. “Fine, I’ll tell you.” Taking a deep breath she started talking. “We were going to kidnap a few dealers and replace them with robots. Those robot dealers would somehow find their way into the computer rooms and then transfer billions of dollars to an account. Then they’d return here and we’d put the real humans back, none the wiser for what their robot replacements did.”
“Look around,” Tanaka said. “Does it look like this is just a few?”
Nancy lowered her head and felt the wires pulling again. “No. Looks like he went beyond what we had agreed too.”
“Damn right.” Tanaka placed his hands on his hips and took a deep breath. “So, now we have another question to ask. Do you know how these chambers work?”
“I helped design them,” Nancy replied.
“Good. Tell me how to take those plugs out of your head, then I want you to start waking all these other people up.”
“Wait,” Daniel said. “What will happen to the robot versions of these people?”
Nancy thought about it for a few seconds, trying to remember what Turing... No, Destructo, told her. “They’ll lose their human connections then act on their own.”
The Evolutionite Chronicles Book Two: Dagger and Shadow Ninja in: Welcome to Las Vegas Page 18