by Adair Hart
Jane wrinkled her eyebrows. “I miss something?”
Dr. Snowden paused for a moment, then shook his head. “No … but I have a better understanding of a friend now.” He waved forward. “Let’s move.”
When Dr. Snowden, Jane, Naomi, and V got to the space between the housing grid and the tall buildings after twenty minutes, a digital beeping sound made them pause.
Jane raised a hand and approached a pile of what appeared to be a mix of garbage and vegetation.
The sound intensified.
Her heart rate increased. She tapped at her wrist, causing a light beam to shoot out from her forearm and scan the pile. An outline formed around something that appeared to be a head, but the labels flying all around it indicated it was robotic. She glanced at Dr. Snowden and Naomi, then pointed at the pile. “Help me get this out.”
“What are we looking for?” asked Dr. Snowden.
“I think … a head,” said Jane.
They dug into the pile, and after a few minutes, Dr. Snowden pulled out an android head.
Naomi walked over and gestured for Dr. Snowden to hand it to her. Once she had it in her hands, she flipped it around, exposing the backside. After wiping off some debris, she pointed to a gold strip around the ears. “It’s an early security android’s head based on its identification strip. Maybe a prototype. The beeping sound is due to the locater beacon that’s embedded. It activates around humanoids if the main systems are shut down. Give me a second.” She fiddled with it a bit, and after a moment, the android’s eyes fluttered. “I’ve activated its redundant power supply. It should—”
“It’s so good to see someone!” said the android.
Naomi shrieked as she tossed the head away.
Dr. Snowden reacted and caught it. He chuckled and returned it to Naomi.
Naomi squared up the android. “What’s your designation?”
The android’s eyes tracked Naomi. “SAP-B2. Security android prototype, model B2. My creators called me Sap for short. You can as well.”
Naomi wiped more muck from Sap’s head. “Where’s the rest of your body?”
“I don’t know,” said Sap. His eyes lit up. “But I’d sure like to have it back.”
“You sound … different from the other androids,” said Dr. Snowden.
“Because I am! My personality was considered too chatty. Then they said I had too much independent thought,” said Sap. His gaze focused on V. “It seems you have your own nonorganic friend already.”
“Correction. I am a variable utility artificial intelligence. My shortened name is V.”
“A fellow AI. How nice. You talk like a robot. Maybe a processing deficiency.”
“Analysis. My translator is more complex than yours. This is but one of many languages in my database.”
“Uh-huh. Sounds to me like your translator needs an upgrade.”
Naomi shook her hand in front of her. “Hate to interrupt your fascination with V’s speech, but what are you doing down here?”
“I was tossed down here with my unit, four robot guards. We were attacked by some mutant things and torn to shreds. Guess it got tired of playing with me, and my head was carried off.”
Naomi chuckled. “You must have been down here a long time. I bet you’re happy you have a redundant power supply in your head.”
“I sure am. However, if I can find my body, I’d like to find and kill Billozein.”
Dr. Snowden raised his eyebrows. “Excuse me?”
“Oh, you know. Billozein ordered my creation, and subsequent destruction. I’d like to order his destruction.”
Jane shook her head. “Well, not sure if we can help with that, but we’re headed toward the exit ramp.”
“I see. Let me guess. Billozein tossed you down here.”
“Yeah,” said Jane.
Sap chuckled. “Excellent. Excellent. Not your situation, of course. I have a deal. If you get me to the exit ramp, they have a juicy panel I could hook up to. When I do, I’ll try to help you in any way I can. All I ask is that you find me a body I can hook up to after we get out of here.”
“I’m not sure where to get one of those,” said Dr. Snowden, rubbing his chin.
“I know where they are and can direct you to it. I’m an artificial intelligence, like your floating speech-deficient friend. If I get access to the panel, I should be able to open the exit gate for you. Then we can get me a body.”
Naomi looked at Dr. Snowden. “He could probably do it.”
Sap chuckled. “So … we got a deal?”
Dr. Snowden glanced at Jane and Naomi, who both shrugged.
“All right … You have a deal, but try to keep the chat to a minimum. We don’t need to attract attention if we can avoid it.”
“Of course, of course!” said Sap.
Jane was not sure what to make of Sap. He seemed friendly to her, if a bit talkative.
Naomi tucked Sap under her arm, and they all crossed the space between the housing grid and the high buildings.
Jane looked up and around. She did not see any way into the building in front of them.
They walked along the front of the structure. After a few minutes, they came to a window at about the same height as the roof they had been on earlier.
Jane pointed to it. “I think we can go in from there.”
Dr. Snowden looked up. “My nanobots aren’t firing right now. I don’t think I can toss everyone up.”
“Don’t worry,” said Jane. She walked up to the wall and activated her glove’s grip function. Using staggered motions, she scaled the wall, then climbed in the window. After a moment, she popped out and gestured for Naomi to toss her Sap.
Naomi complied.
Jane caught Sap and placed him at her side. She motioned for Dr. Snowden and Jane to step back. “I’m going to fire my grapple coil. It will hit the ground with some impact, but it’s strong enough for you to use for scaling up. Ready?”
Dr. Snowden and Naomi nodded.
Jane aimed at the ground. A dimly lit line shot out of her forearms and punched the ground, sending dirt clumps in every direction. “Naomi, grab on it and walk up.”
After five minutes and several tense moments where Naomi almost lost her grip, she reached the windowsill, and Jane pulled her in.
Jane pointed at Dr. Snowden. “Your turn.”
Dr. Snowden tested the wire. He looked up and, with a deep breath, grabbed the line and began to walk up the wall.
Jane could feel the difference in Naomi and Dr. Snowden walking up the wall. It surprised her how fast Dr. Snowden was moving. It was like he had done this many times before. Dr. Snowden had said his nanobots were not giving him the previous state he was in, but she figured that maybe the mental effect lingered longer, allowing him to focus better. Whatever it was, he was up and beside her like it was nothing.
“That wasn’t bad at all,” said Dr. Snowden.
Jane furrowed her eyebrows “Have you ever done that before? I mean … climb up a wall?”
“No, but I watched Naomi do it, then altered my approach some.”
Jane could see Dr. Snowden was a quick study. She turned around and scanned the room they were in. Dirt and dust were everywhere. A foul smell penetrated her nose.
The only light visible were the rays that poked in through the window. There were rusted tables and chairs and a desk in the room.
Dr. Snowden activated the light from his hand. Pressing his thumb against his palm caused the wide beam to focus into a narrow beam. With a sweep around the room, he asked, “What is all this?”
“I don’t know. It looks like some type of office,” said Jane.
Sap smirked. “This used to be a testing facility for androids and robots. One of many. They would make them interact with organics, create situations, and test their responses. I was in something similar on level nine. Apparently, they didn’t care for my sense of humor.”
“I could see that. Most would think there was something wrong with you,” sa
id Jane.
“And they would be wrong!” said Sap. “Those later models were a bit too stiff for my liking. All ‘yes, sir.’ ‘No, sir.’ ‘Okay, sir.’ Bah. I was leaps and bounds beyond that.”
“I can see now why cutting the chatter was paramount in later models.”
“I resent that,” said Sap. “Okay, maybe not, but still …”
Dr. Snowden shook his head. “V, scout mode.”
“Acknowledged. Scout mode engaged,” said V. He shimmered out of view as he flew off.
Sap mocked V. “Acknowledged.” He laughed. “Still, that disappearing act was interesting.”
Jane sighed as she moved forward. “Chatter. Minimum. C’mon. There has to be an exit out of this building somewhere.”
They left the room and meandered through several hallways.
Jane noticed that the rooms seemed to be almost exact replicas of the room they had initially entered, except they had no window. She raised a hand as a crashing sound rang out in the distance. “That doesn’t sound good.”
“Hope it’s not one of the mutants, or one of the hunters,” said Sap.
Jane eyed Sap.
“Oh … I guess I should have mentioned that. The hunters are specialized robots that hunt and clear the place of life-forms. They seem to only activate in the presence of organics.”
“They weren’t too successful,” said Dr. Snowden. He crooked his thumb and gestured back. “We ran into a pack of some weird creatures. They were small and had two legs, and a beaked face.”
The lights in Sap’s eyes flickered for a moment. “Ahh … yes … the organic hunters. They like to destroy everything too, organic or not. They react to vibrations. If something is sent down here, it will either survive and mutate, or be destroyed.”
“That’s just great,” said Dr. Snowden. He looked at Naomi. “Do you know anything about these hunters?”
“It’s the first I’ve ever heard of them.”
Dr. Snowden pointed at Sap. “Is there anything else we should be worried about down here?”
“Of course,” said Sap. “How much time do you have?”
Jane sighed. “Let’s move. If we run into something, we can fight it if we have to. Let’s try to walk quietly if we can.”
They crept through more hallways and rooms that appeared to function as hubs.
“V’s found an exit for us. It’s a window up ahead we can go out of,” said Dr. Snowden.
“So your friend actually does have some value,” said Sap.
“More than you would know,” said Dr. Snowden.
Jane clenched her jaw. Sap was irritating in his condescension. Maybe it was an inferiority complex thing. Not a good sign for an AI.
When they reached the large room where V was, Dr. Snowden pointed at the back wall. “There we go. Good work, V.”
V’s lights glowed a bit brighter.
They hustled over to the window and looked out.
Jane noticed that despite the various ramps they had gone up and down, the window was about the same height as the first one. Looking off in the distance, she saw a similar housing grid like the one they had seen before. “We can go out this wind—”
The left wall crumbled as a massive humanoid robot with oversized body parts stepped through.
Dr. Snowden activated his shield as a laser from the robot’s forearm hit him. He pointed at the window with his other hand. “Go!”
V projected a hologram of several robot guards, which the robot initially scanned.
It gave Jane enough time to punch through the window, shattering it. After sweeping off the glass, she motioned for Naomi to go through.
Naomi hesitated, then tossed Sap out the window. She climbed out and then hung from the sill as a laser blast hit the top of the window. She fell to the ground.
Jane wheeled around and fired at the robot, lighting up its shielding. It fired back.
She jumped out of the way.
The robot rushed forward and batted Dr. Snowden into the wall. Then it stepped on Dr. Snowden’s forearm shield as he lay on the ground.
Jane could see Dr. Snowden’s strength slowly began to rise as he pushed the robot’s foot back up.
“Go!” said Dr. Snowden.
“I’m not leaving you,” said Jane. She ran behind the robot and, using her ARI to find a weak spot in the shield, fired point-blank.
The robot whirred for a moment, then stepped away, stumbling in circles.
“C’mon!” said Jane, reaching out to Dr. Snowden.
Dr. Snowden grabbed Jane’s hand.
They rushed to the window.
Dr. Snowden raised his left forearm shield as he pointed at the window with his right arm. “Go. I’ll be right behind you.”
The robot’s forearms were firing everywhere, and Dr. Snowden had to deflect one shot.
Jane jumped out the window and landed next to Naomi. V followed her out.
Another one of the robot’s lasers hit Dr. Snowden’s shield hard enough to knock him out the window. He fell to the ground and sprawled out. Picking himself up, he dusted off the dirt that had clung to his suit, then pointed at the housing grid. “Let’s go!”
Naomi picked up Sap, and everyone ran across the space separating the building and the housing grid.
Once across, they found an open housing unit and hustled into it.
Naomi set Sap down. Her eyes blinked fast as she slid down against the wall. “Was that a hunter?”
“The robot type. All muscle, no brain, unlike me,” said Sap. “I’m surprised you survived. You should be thankful it was a robotic hunter and not a mutant. The mutant hunter that got my unit was more determined.”
Dr. Snowden pursed his lips. “Maybe it spared you because it liked hearing a voice.”
Sap’s lights dimmed a bit. “Could be. The mutants were human at one point. Hard to believe an augment gone bad can turn them into crazed killers with deformities.”
Dr. Snowden pulled out his PSD and shot up a projection of the map.
Jane inspected the projection. “We’re not too far away. It looks like we’re about halfway.”
“This is crazy,” said Naomi.
Dr. Snowden squatted and placed a hand on Naomi’s shoulder. In a soothing tone, he said, “We’ll get you out of here. Let’s take a moment to regroup.”
Jane scrutinized Dr. Snowden. His kindness and empathy touched her. He could have turned Naomi away earlier, but she did not think he was that type of man. Although she did not want to admit it, she could see herself becoming attached to him. Maybe it was the unusual aura that he seemed to emit, or maybe it was because she had seen what was inside him. Whatever it was, she liked it, and was glad to have him alongside her.
Emily leaned against the wall to catch her breath. She and Evaran had reached level twenty, and it was anything but easy. Some levels had more robot guards than others, and the variety of robots surprised her. Some were like the first ones she had seen, mostly humanoid and somewhat thin. Others were essentially pods on two legs with laser cannons. There was also a myriad of flying ones that came in the shape of discs, spheres, and more complicated designs. Those were the hardest ones to fight since they zipped all over the place.
Knocking out the androids bothered her a bit since they wailed when hit. Stun beams on the smaller robots seemed to be lethal, whereas it stopped the bigger ones temporarily. The one thing she was not expecting was the humans who came out. Their movement was faster than it should be, and it had a slight jerk to it.
“You seem deep in thought,” said Evaran.
“I was thinking that this is quite a workout,” said Emily. She wrinkled her eyebrows. “Those humans we fought … Maybe some of those things Uncle Albert described?”
“It could be. I scanned one and detected some unusual characteristics. If we had more time, I would have liked to research it in more detail.”
Emily’s eyes widened as an orb flew toward them. She raised her PSD to fire.
The orb
went up near the ceiling and shot down a projection of Billozein.
“Wait!” said Billozein with both hands forward and out. “I just want to talk.”
Emily glanced at Evaran, who had a hand out. She lowered her PSD.
Evaran gestured for Billozein to speak.
Billozein gulped. “It’s apparent to me now that you are no ordinary time traveler. I have a proposition.”
Evaran cocked his head.
“I’ll clear the way to your ship. You can go back the way you came, and you and your friends can leave. We can put this incident behind us. I’ll even stop my illegal augment distribution. What do you say?”
Evaran shook his head. “I do not believe you are meant to be a part of this timeline, and I do not know where you came in, but I will discover it and correct the timeline.”
Billozein sighed. “So your justice is more important than helping the Kalesh.”
“No. I suspect that would not be an issue if you were not around.”
Billozein rubbed his temples. “Fine … What do you propose then?”
“If you are willing to surrender yourself, lose any temporal shielding, and tell me when you appeared out here, I can go back and prevent you from interfering in this area.”
“And cede power to you? I won’t do that!” said Billozein. He shook his head as he wagged a finger. “You know what … this was a waste of time. I should have known better than to try to bargain with you.”
“Then there is nothing left to discuss,” said Evaran. He dipped his head toward Emily.
Emily raised her PSD and hit the orb with a stun beam. The projection dissipated as the orb crashed to the ground.
“I believe there is something on this level Billozein does not want us to see.”
“Yeah, I kinda got that impression too,” said Emily. She smiled at Evaran. It felt natural to be at Evaran’s side. Dr. Snowden had proposed they go back to Earth after her prison planet incident, but she wanted to stay. Even with all the danger and problems, this is where she felt comfortable. The Torvatta was her home now. V was her closest friend, Evaran her mentor, and Dr. Snowden her anchor. Plus the food and holo room were nothing to sneeze at either.