Prototype Exodus (Prototype D Series Book 2)

by Jason D. Morrow

  She looked from side-to-side and then finally motioned for Nolan to come into the house. He followed her slowly and when they got inside, she told him to stay as quiet as possible because her dad was sleeping. They sat at the kitchen table across from each other. She offered Nolan water or tea but he refused.

  “I first have to tell you that I’m not doing a single thing for you until you get Des out of Bracken’s custody,” she said.

  “Already done,” Nolan said. “Last night, actually.”

  “Really?” Hazel sat straighter in response, her heartbeat quickening.

  “Yeah. He’s an important part to all of this,” Nolan said.

  “All of what exactly?”

  “The revolution,” Nolan said. “The war.”

  “What war?”

  “The one you helped start five years ago,” Nolan replied. He tapped the table with his index finger and slouched down in his seat. “It never really ended.”

  “Well, the Outlanders never really got to be part of Mainland.”

  “And they’ve been oppressed ever since.”

  “Yeah,” Hazel said.

  There was a long pause between them. Nolan stared at the table, probably wondering if he was wasting his time or if he should have come here at all.

  “You don’t think the Outlanders are the only ones oppressed, do you?” Nolan asked.

  “Why? Do you?”

  He breathed in deeply as he scooted up in his chair. “You know that I don’t put robots on the same level as humans, but I understand that when you give something a full range of emotions they become more than machines.”

  “Is that your way of saying you think the robots have rights?” Hazel asked.

  “I think they deserve to make a choice,” Nolan answered quickly. “I don’t care about them as much as I care about the Outlanders, but they aren’t being treated fairly.”

  “Okay…”

  “Well,” Nolan said, “that’s where you can help me.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “President Vaughn is ready to fight. He’s ready to go against President Morris and General Bracken.”

  “Really?” Hazel didn’t feel as surprised as she sounded.

  “Yeah,” Nolan said. “Thing is, we need a solid team of leaders before we can move forward.”

  “And what does that have to do with me? You have yourself. A president. What do you need me for?”

  Nolan shook his head. “We don’t have a president. He’s not going to survive this. Five years is too long. He hasn’t been able to make headway diplomatically.”

  “He won’t survive this how? Politically?” Hazel asked.

  “That’s right. But hopefully neither will Morris. Lester already knows he won’t be president when this is all over.”

  “Okay, so what about me? Where do I fit in all this?”

  Nolan sighed and continued to stare down at the table. Hazel knew he already feared rejection. She wondered if he could sense that she was already prepared to tell him no. She had never really felt like this was her fight—she felt that she had always been a part of someone else’s war.

  “What if I told you,” Nolan said, “that I could get you access to all the update terminals?” He looked at her as if this was supposed to raise her eyebrows.

  Her eyebrows went nowhere. “I’m sorry, is there more to your question?”

  “I need you to write a program,” Nolan said. “I believe I can get access to the update terminals for each and every robot, so I want to have a program to replace whatever Bracken has been putting into them.”

  “And what do you hope to put into the robots’ minds?” Hazel asked. “They are programmed to serve Bracken. You want me to program them to serve you?”

  “No,” Nolan said. “Just the truth.”

  “The truth?”

  “About everything. About Bracken, the war, the nuke, Des, Esroy…everything. Right now they follow Bracken blindly because he limits their information. What if we gave them all the information, and in their next update, they were given the truth—that their memories have been wiped, that they have been slaves for all this time.”

  “You don’t know what you’re asking for,” Hazel said. “I can give them the standard archived memory that we gave the prototypes, but that’s all I have. They haven’t been updated in five years. It would take me months to write that kind of information.”

  Nolan sat up and leaned in toward Hazel. “What if you had help?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean your programming companion,” Nolan said. “He’s sitting in there, in your computer terminal.”

  Hazel’s eyes narrowed and she shook her head at him. “Are you nuts? You want me to have Esroy help me write a new archived memory? A truth archived memory? He could slip information by me. He could put information within the archived memory that I would never be able to see or know about.”

  “What about creating a new clean copy of Soul?” Nolan asked. “Create a brand new Esroy or Des.”

  “You don’t understand,” Hazel said. “I can’t just use Des or a new version of him because he hasn’t learned how to program that stuff. It would take him less time than a human but there is still a lot of trial and error. Esroy spent two years with me programming. He is an expert.”

  “Is there a way to have him do this and keep him in check?” Nolan asked.

  “I can check his work,” Hazel said. “Des can check his work. I can run keyword searches. Des can search for and through any encrypted or hidden files, but that’s still no guarantee.” She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. “That’s not even to mention that he probably won’t agree to do it. Not after being kept in the computer terminal for so long.”

  “We can negotiate with him,” Nolan said. “What would he want the most?”

  It pained Hazel any time this came up or whenever she thought about it. She always knew what Esroy wanted the most. Ever since she made him, he had desired one thing: freedom. As much as Hazel had always claimed that these machines programmed with Soul were just as much human as humans were, she had never treated Esroy that way. She knew she was to blame for his anger and his hatred of the world. She was to blame for his need, his desire to get into a robot body. The whole Prototype E situation had been her fault. The primary reason there were robots in the street at all was because of Hazel. They oppressed their very creator and they didn’t even know it. Of course, this truth program would clear that part up.

  But catching up an archive memory after years and years would take a lot of work. Text. Pictures. Videos. Copious amounts of data would need to be poured into this program. There was no way she could write it without Esroy’s help.

  “He would want to be free of the computer,” Hazel said. “He would want a body. A good one.”

  “We can do that,” Nolan said.

  “At what cost?” Hazel asked. “You don’t know what Esroy is capable of.”

  “I know it’s dangerous,” Nolan said, “but isn’t this a different Esroy?”

  “He is a copy,” Hazel said. “He is the same Esroy that uploaded himself into Prototype E, minus the lack of fear.”

  “But that was so long ago,” Nolan said. “Is it possible he’s changed?”

  “He hasn’t changed,” she said. “He is nice to me, but only because I am the only contact he has. He’s got no one else. I fear that if we let him have a robot body he will try to connect with the other Esroy that’s out there. Wherever he is.”

  “The jury is still out on that,” Nolan said. “I’ve got Des investigating it.”

  “Des?”

  “That’s right. That’s the team. You, me, and Des. I, of course, would take more of a back seat role. You would be the face of the humans, and Des would be the face of the robots. Together you two would make a great pair.”

  Hazel held up a palm, blinking. “Wait a second. You’re not just saying you want me to write a program, you want me to lead your revolutio
n?”

  “Think about it, Hazel, you’ve already been there. You’ve already led the revolution. You’re the perfect face for the cause. You left the Mainlanders because you saw their evil from the inside!”

  “No, no, no, a thousand times no!” She stood from her chair at the table, one hand on her hip, the other on her forehead. She spun back around to Nolan quickly. “What on earth makes you think that I would do that?”

  “Because Des is going to do it,” Nolan said. Now he was standing. “And you know that Des does what he thinks is right. He does what is best for people. He’s selfless. You taught him to be that way.”

  “No I didn’t,” Hazel said. “I taught him nothing.”

  “You really think that’s true?” Nolan took a step or two toward her, keeping his voice low. “The only reason he helped the Outlanders in the first place was because you chose to. He would have never helped us if it weren’t for you. The Outlanders were starving, Hazel. We never raided Mainland because we wanted power or because we wanted to take it over and make it our own. We raided because we needed food and supplies to survive. If you and Des hadn’t helped us in the first place, there wouldn’t be any of us left.” He took a deep breath and moved toward the kitchen sink on the other side and away from Hazel. He rested his hands on it and stared downward. His next words were low and soft, and he spoke in the way that made Hazel attracted to him in the first place. “You know the ins and outs of the military compound. You know how Bracken thinks. You know how to get the people to follow you.”

  “I don’t know where you get that idea,” Hazel said. “I’ve never led anyone.”

  “I have faith in you,” Nolan said, turning to face her.

  “Then you have more than I do,” she said. She folded her arms across her chest and shook her head slowly. “Listen, I will think about writing the program for you. I will talk to Esroy about it. But I can’t make any promises. If I get even the hint that he might try something, then I’m not going to go through with it.”

  “I understand,” Nolan said.

  “As for the other thing,” she sighed. “I just…I just can’t. You know that. It’s too much. I’ve got my dad to worry about. I don’t know what to do. I barely even know who my enemies are. I don’t know the Outlanders any more than they know me. I think you just have me pegged for something I’m not cut out for.”

  “I disagree with that,” Nolan said. “But you know yourself better than I do. I can try to figure something else out. But don’t forget how good of a team you and Des would make. Together I think you and he would lead the Outlanders to freedom.”

  “That’s a big responsibility for someone who isn’t an Outlander,” Hazel said.

  “You wouldn’t be alone. You would always have support. But you’re wrong. You are an Outlander. You became an Outlander the day you learned the truth about your own government. It’s time you accepted that we are no longer your enemy.” Nolan pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and set it on the table in front of him. “Here’s an address. Be there at six tomorrow evening if you’re interested in helping us. If not, I understand. Personally, I hope to see you there. Not just because of what you can bring to the table, but…well…I like having you around.”

  Normally this would be where Hazel would have said something snarky to him or laughed in his face, but there was a sincerity in Nolan’s eyes that gave Hazel pause. He truly believed she was the right person for the job. Whatever that job really was. She didn’t want to be the face of a revolution. She had already been the face of conflict before. She wasn’t so keen on trying that again.

  “Goodbye, Nolan,” she said. She wasn’t harsh or rude. Just to the point.

  Nolan gave her a disappointed grin and walked past her toward the door. He opened it, and she followed closely behind him. He marched down the stairs as she leaned against the door, staring at him.

  He stopped for a moment and looked back at her. “I know that it’s a scary thing. I know I’m asking you to give up everything you’ve got to do this. But you have to remember that none of us have anything.”

  “I have my family,” she said. “My dad.”

  Nolan nodded. “For a time…”

  Hazel closed the door softly and shut her eyes, letting her forehead rest against the wood as she let out a long breath. She hated this feeling. Whatever it was. She didn’t want to fight. She didn’t want to be a part of this anymore. She had done so much already.

  She tried to think of a moment in time that she could have changed in order for all of this to be different. On one hand, if she had never made the robots, she would be living in peace among the Mainlanders. On the other hand, there would be a starving group of people out in the wilderness who were desperate for someone to help them live. But she wouldn’t know that. She would still think of them as savages who deserved nothing less than to starve in the wilderness. But her eyes had been opened. She knew they were more than that.

  She heard a noise to her left and she looked up to see her dad standing in the doorway to the living room. He waited there, his eyes staring at nothing, but seemingly fixated on the floor in front of him.

  “How much of that did you hear?” Hazel asked, defeated.

  “Just about all of it, I suppose.” He motioned toward the living room. “Sit with me a moment, will you?”

  Hazel took her time making her way toward the couch. Her dad felt his way to his favorite chair and sat across from her.

  “Did I ever tell you why I joined the Mainland military in the first place?” John asked.

  Hazel shook her head. “No.”

  John smiled. “I suppose I only ever told your mother.” He tapped a finger against the arm of the chair.

  Hazel waited patiently. Part of her was anxious to hear it. Part of her didn’t want her father to weigh in on her conversation.

  “Your Uncle Sam and I were crazy when we were kids,” John said. “I wish you could have met him. He could make you laugh in just about any situation. It didn’t matter if I was in trouble, in danger, angry, sad, Sam would always find a way to put a smile on my face.”

  “Seems like a great guy,” Hazel said.

  “He was. He really was. Of course, he died before you were born, oh before I even met your mother.” John sighed. “Anyway, the Outlanders used to have these outposts away from their central location and just a couple of miles from the Mainland border. That was before the Mainlanders blew them up. Sam and I led a group of three of our friends across the border wall. You could do that sort of thing back then. There was a lot less security and a lot less worry. We all thought it would be fun to sneak across and get as close to one of the Outlander posts as possible. Our theory was, whoever was brave enough to get to the outpost was braver and better than anyone else in the group.” John shrugged. “We were young, stupid teenagers. I never said we were a smart bunch.”

  “Doesn’t sound like it,” Hazel said.

  “Yeah, well, we weren’t afraid of anything. We should have been. But we weren’t. We kept our flashlights off the whole way. The closer we got, the more nervous we became. When it was finally in view, every one of us wanted to turn back, but none of us would say it. The outpost was basically a tall wooden tower with a few guards at the top and some soldiers inside. I suppose they were meant for tracking movement of Mainlanders to and from the city. I don’t really know. All I knew back then was that I was going to get closer to the outpost than anyone. I was going to touch it.”

  “Touch it?” Hazel said, shaking her head.

  John nodded. “Touch it, that’s right. Just a light tap with my hand and then I would sprint away.”

  “You really were a stupid teenager, weren’t you?” Hazel said this with a grin on her face, but John didn’t return the smile.

  “Yes I was. I can’t tell you how much I regret that night of my life. It had been Sam’s idea, but I was the older brother. I should have put a stop to it. Instead, I wanted to be the big man. I wanted to show everyone ho
w brave I was.”

  Hazel now saw that this story would not end well, but she wondered what his point was.

  “We crawled in the dark. We made little to no noise. And then we got within a hundred yards of the tower, and everyone stopped. Including me. My brother and I were leading our three friends, so there were five of us in all. By that point I had lost my confidence in myself. All of us could see the guards at the top of the outpost. Their hair was worn all crazy-looking, and they were covered in tattoos and markings. To us they might as well have been aliens. My friends talked of going back.”

  “But you didn’t want to,” Hazel said.

  John nodded. “I didn’t want to. I wanted to show them, I needed to show them that I was the big brother. I was the oldest and certainly not the weakest. So, I decided to move forward. All I had to do was crawl on my belly until I reached the outpost and then crawl back to my friends. We would be out of there in no time and the epic stories would be told of me and no one else.”

  “So, you crawled?”

  “It took me about fifteen minutes. My body was sweating profusely. My limbs were shaking. I felt like turning around and leaving. But I didn’t. To my everlasting regret, I didn’t. Instead, I kept going and one of the Outlanders must have seen me from the tower. They shined a spotlight on me and set off alarms. I got up on my feet and started running away, but it was too late. They got a vehicle and moved in front of me. I threw my hands in the air when they pointed their guns at me. I remember shutting my eyes, waiting for them to blow me to pieces. And that’s when I heard my friends and Sam running toward the truck, screaming and yelling. The Outlanders were no longer looking at me and instead were pointing their guns into the darkness where my friends were. I saw the opportunity and I ran. I don’t even remember which direction. I just ran.”

  Hazel watched her father as the tears started falling down his face. She could see the pain behind his blind eyes. The anger.