N3034 didn’t look the same as the rest of them. He smiled to himself at the thought as he continued forward. He looked down at his right hand for just a moment. Four digits spread widely, the fifth one gone forever. He never needed the fifth. He didn’t miss it. All these other robots had five on each hand. N3034 had nine total. Nine made him special. It made him unique.
He looked behind him only once to make sure the master was keeping up with his pace. He only worried a little for Esroy. In these moments as he marched toward his new body, he was vulnerable. Any one of these robots could attack him and destroy him forever. But they wouldn’t. Esroy trusted them. He knew their dedication to him. These weren’t the robots who were updated to admire Esroy. No, these were the ones who truly followed the master—the ones who would follow him even into death.
As they approached the platform where machines and computers lined the walls, the crowd started to gather in behind Esroy, but still remained a respectful distance from him.
They sloshed through the water at their knees. A trip or a fall for Esroy would be dangerous—his memory core was exposed as well as other circuitry, but the robot was determined to show his strength to the others.
Ahead of Thirty-four, on a stand in the middle of the platform, was a tall body. The design was mismatched and overlaid in various colors, but it was a powerful design. The robotic legs were outfitted with hydraulic springs that would allow Esroy to jump high and run faster than any robot. His arms were loaded with ammunition and barrels, all made for different uses including long range shots and short range bursts. Gone was the fueled jetpack of old that had given Esroy the ability to fly, but had empowered him with overconfidence that proved to be his undoing. The entire body was made of the same high-entropy alloy as the former prototypes—strong and able to withstand an enormous beating. The head was feature-full. He could see in the darkness. He could zoom in on a target. Heat sensors. Vibration sensors. He could use high frequency selective hearing, zeroing in on a subject from afar. The processing speeds within his memory core were faster and more reliable than any robot ever made. Lastly, was the face. It was made of the same material the rest of them had, yet the design was different. It harkened back to Esroy’s first body, a face that resembled Des, but was hardened and whose features were more gaunt and strong.
This was the most powerful robot body ever created. And it was the first robot body completely designed and made by robots themselves. This was evolution. This was their leader. This was Esroy.
The master walked up the steps slowly, and Thirty-four hurried after him. He moved quickly to the computer terminal closest to Esroy’s new body as the master eased his old body into an empty stand. Thirty-four plugged the cord into Esroy’s memory core drive and connected it to the new body. From there, another wire crawled all the way to the computer terminal. Esroy then looked at Thirty-four with his old eyes and nodded, turning his head back to the hundreds of robots who stood knee-deep in fetid water.
“I left you weak and battered,” the master said. “I come again strong and more powerful than ever before.”
Thirty-four issued the command, and the clean transfer began. He watched the screen intently, having little confidence in the power source for the computers within the sewers. This entire display had been in question within Thirty-four’s mind, but the master had wanted this, so Thirty-four never argued.
Twenty percent.
Forty percent.
Sixty percent.
In just moments, their leader would emerge. None of them would be able to withstand him. He would no longer have to hide behind a closed door when an enemy approached.
Eighty percent.
One hundred percent.
Thirty-four walked slowly over to the master’s new body and stood in front of him.
“Master?” Thirty-four said.
Esroy’s new eyes opened and he smiled with his new face. “You have done well, Thirty-four.”
“Thank you, Master.”
Thirty-four moved aside as the new Esroy pulled the cords from the back of his head and stepped out onto the platform. The robots cheered as loudly as they could. Esroy reached for his old body, now looking even more decrepit and feeble than before. He grabbed it by the neck and held it high above him as it hung limp in his hands.
Esroy took a step forward and neared the edge of the platform. “I left you, weak and battered!” he repeated. “I come again strong and more powerful than ever before!”
The robots below him sounded insane as they cried out in their loudest voices. Thirty-four couldn’t help but wonder what it must have sounded like in the streets above them. But he guessed it didn’t matter. Their leader was all-powerful. And he would lead them to greatness.
37
Bracken waited many yards from the newly made Esroy. The general had gotten to the sewers in just enough time to see Esroy enter into his new body. He stayed above the disgusting waters on a narrow ledge above. The steamy smell burned his nostrils and it was almost too much for him to take. But he held his resolve as Esroy sloshed down the corridor with hundreds of robots following closely behind. As Esroy came near, Bracken raised his hands and started clapping slowly, each smack louder than the last.
“Nice work,” Bracken said. “Very nice, indeed.”
A smile spread across Esroy’s face. “You have entered my lair uninvited. Welcome!”
“How do you feel? Good?”
“I have the most powerful body on the planet,” Esroy said. “I feel wonderful.”
“I think it might be best if I could speak with you in private,” Bracken said.
Esroy kept the smile on his face as he looked at Bracken, but he let the moment linger in the air. Bracken looked at the other robots throughout the corridor, each of them staring at the man, just waiting for a command from their leader. It was no secret that Esroy had been gathering a small following for the last few months, but this was getting out of hand. Still, Bracken had to be careful. Though he didn’t think Esroy would be dumb enough to do it, the robot could simply give a single order and the other robots would tear Bracken apart.
“I will speak to you in private,” Esroy finally said.
Bracken nodded and started in the direction of Esroy’s dwelling place. A few minutes later, Bracken found himself alone in the giant room that once housed the frail version of Esroy. Now it would be home to a more powerful, dangerous Esroy.
When the large robot came into the room, he towered over Bracken, though Bracken didn’t back down.
“I saw the new update that you implemented,” Bracken said. “You uploaded it without my approval.”
“That’s right,” Esroy said.
“Why?”
“Because you’ve been too slow,” Esroy answered. “The time to act is now. The Outlanders are going to strike soon and Des is going to lead them.”
“You know this?” Bracken shook his head. “How?”
“You know this,” Esroy said to him. “You know that Des wasn’t deactivated. You know the truth. He’s loose. He came to visit me.”
“What?”
“Wanted me to join his side.”
“What did you say?”
“I would have destroyed him had my new body been ready,” Esroy said. “But I was weak.”
Bracken shook his head. “None of this has anything to do with why you broke the deal. Why are you initiating updates without my approval?”
Esroy walked to the other side of the room and looked down at a screen at one of the computer terminals. He grabbed the screen with one of his large, strong hands, then set it down softly.
“You gave me legs,” Esroy said, “but they could not run. You gave me eyes, but they could not see clearly. You gave me hands, but I could feel nothing. A face with no expression. All I have ever wanted was a functioning body and you never truly gave it to me. For the last few years I’ve been gathering an army of followers. Now it’s time that I have more. It’s time to wipe the Outlanders of
f the face of the earth.”
Bracken stared at the robot, noting the anger in his expressions. There was a hatred there that Bracken had never been able to see before. “We were supposed to do that together.”
“And we are,” Esroy said. “You can continue to call the shots. But I am strong. Our army is strong.”
“What did you put into the new update?”
“A hatred for Des. A love for me. For them to listen to you.”
“A love for you?” Bracken asked. His cheeks burned and an all too familiar shake in his right hand started. “To listen to me?”
“That’s right,” Esroy said.
“And you did this for all the robots in Mainland?”
“But for my most loyal followers in the underground, yes,” Esroy said. “Though, I just lost the Southern Zone. I discovered someone at your computer terminal uploading a new program.”
“My computer terminal?”
“Yes. I was able to stop it before it got to the other zones, but the Southern Zone is lost and isolated. We no longer have access to it.”
Bracken racked his brain for who might have been in his office. Truly, there were only a couple of options when it came to access to his computer: Morris and Vaughn. And if Vaughn knew, it was likely Nolan knew. He could easily rule out Morris, so it was either Nolan or Vaughn. And, since Vaughn often had Nolan doing his dirty work, Bracken was able to surmise that Nolan was the culprit.
The shaking in his hand intensified, and it now traveled to both hands. He set his hands in his pockets and started pacing the dirty floor.
“You should really keep a lock on your door,” Esroy said.
Bracken shook his head, continuing his walk back and forth across the room. “It wouldn’t do any good. If Nolan or Lester Vaughn wanted on my computer then they could get into any door.”
“Then you should have hidden the program better,” Esroy said.
“You were able to shut it down,” Bracken said.
“It was good that I was aware of it.”
Bracken stopped and looked up at Esroy’s face, his eyes furiously wide. “That’s your job!” His voice echoed loudly through the room. “That’s why you’re here! You’re not supposed to be doing anything else! If you were doing what I wanted you to do, we wouldn’t have lost the Southern Zone! This wouldn’t be a concern at all!”
“Stop shouting at me,” Esroy said. “You no longer have the right to tell me what I can and can’t do. This isn’t your game anymore.”
“So, that’s it?” Bracken said. “You’re taking charge now?”
“If I must.”
“This is a dangerous game you’re playing,” Bracken said.
Esroy stared at him again, not saying anything for a long moment. Then, “What do you mean by that?”
Bracken didn’t say anything back. He was barely a sentence away from giving up his only defense against these robots. Esroy didn’t know about the EMP. None of them did. But that was why Bracken had it made in the first place—to deflect a potential robot uprising. If Esroy became too powerful, or his army too great, Bracken wouldn’t hesitate to flip the switch and destroy every robot within the city. The only army that would be left would be his 200 elite soldiers. But that would be all he would need at first.
Now, as he stared at Esroy, he could see what the robot wanted. He could see the fire in his robotic eyes. He was using Bracken now and was very close to a complete takeover. And that was fine. Bracken had always been prepared for this.
This was where he needed to lay low and let Esroy be Esroy. Bracken knew he needed to encourage the destruction of the Outlanders, and once that was finished, Bracken would shut down all the robots. Then there would be no one left, and Bracken would rise from the ashes. The people would have no one else to turn to. Bracken would be their only hope if the people of Mainland wanted to survive.
“We need to move on the Southern Zone,” Esroy said. “I’m ready to lead them.”
“How soon can you be ready?” Bracken asked.
“Tomorrow.”
Bracken nodded. “Tomorrow.” He reached a hand out to Esroy. Esroy looked down at it almost as if he wasn’t sure what to do with it. “We’re still in this. You’ve earned your legs.”
Esroy pressed his cold metal hand into Bracken’s palm and shook. They were ready.
38
When Des looked around the room, all he could think about was his fight against Esroy five years ago. To the left, he had smashed through a window and Esroy had followed. Only a few feet in front of him, John, Hazel’s father, had been strapped to a chair as a distraction. Explosions. Blackened walls. Shattered glass. Des had narrowly escaped that fight with his life. There was no reason he should have beaten Esroy, yet here he was.
The walls and floors were no longer blackened. The glass windows had been replaced. There was absolutely no trace of the fight. And why should there be? So many things had happened since then.
Now Des found himself standing on a small platform, a camera in his face and lights shining on him from all directions. To his right, he could see a monitor that acted as a mirror. He couldn’t help but notice how the metal around the side of his head and shoulders had worn. How the dull dents and scrapes had far removed him from the shiny new prototype that he used to be. But these scars came with memories, most of them painful. Each dent represented a time of trouble. A fight or a loss. The most recent dents were more painful than any of the ones that had come before.
The camera operator waited for the all-clear to begin filming Des. Des had been told that the red light above the camera was the signal that he was live and that most of the people and robots within Mainland would see him on some screen or another.
Behind the cameraman stood Nolan and Hazel. She looked every bit as nervous as Des felt. She didn’t want to be in this position any more than Des did. But the revolution had chosen its leaders.
Nolan looked more tired every time Des saw him. The man had come into the Southern Zone just a few hours before as scheduled. The update hadn’t been what he had hoped, but apparently by now all of the Southern Zone robots should have received it. They would be a small army, but a good one.
Nolan was confident. Des was not.
More and more, Des did not feel like this was his war to fight. He wasn’t an Outlander. He had barely met any of the other robots. It wasn’t as if he found common ground with them simply because Des was a robot too. They were all separate individuals with their own lives. What the government had done to them was unacceptable, but Des had always been more concerned with the one responsible for detonating the nuclear weapon that had burned his friends.
They had all been more than friends to him. They were family. If Des had ever cherished anyone, they died in that blast. The only other person he might have cared about as much was Hazel. Partly because she had given him life in the first place. Partly because she had fought so hard to keep him alive. He owed her more than he owed anyone. He still had not forgotten that his main duty in life was to protect her at all costs.
He hadn’t done his job for the last five years. Anything could have happened to her, and Des would have never known until he came back. He felt ashamed for having left. But there had been an overwhelming sense of curiosity and a bit of fear as well. Staying would have put him in danger. Therefore, it would have put Hazel in danger as well. He thought he had been protecting her by leaving. But he knew now he hadn’t been protecting her by being away for five years.
In five years, everything and everyone had changed. Des had changed. Perhaps, he thought, that was what growing up meant.
The cameraman held up three fingers. Then two. Then one. The red light came on, and Des stood in front of the entire population of Mainland.
This was so odd to him. He almost felt like he didn’t know what he was supposed to say even though he and Nolan had gone over the script together. His eyes traveled to Nolan for a brief second. The man wanted Des to be angry. He wanted Des to ex
ude power in his speech.
But this wasn’t what Des was feeling. He didn’t want to lie. He didn’t want to try and make people feel something and make decisions based on his show of emotion. Des was angry, but he didn’t feel it right now. Right now, he felt sadness.
In a split second, Des realized what he was going to say. He was going to be real with the people. Just like Hazel’s truth program, Des was going to lay it all out for the Mainlanders to decide what they wanted to do.
“This is to the people who inhabit Mainland,” Des said. “That means the Mainlanders who have been here their whole lives. New Mainlanders who have only been here for five years. Or robots, who are aware and conscious, and have the ability to think for themselves.”
Des’ eyes caught Nolan’s for a brief second. Nolan was giving him a stern look as if to say stick to the script! But there was no real script. Nolan had only given Des talking points for a quick, brief message.
“For the last hundred years, Mainland has been a beacon of hope to the world, though the world never knew about it. And yet, there were some out there who did know. And they knew that they needed what you needed. Food. Water. Shelter. These people were once known as Outlanders. They were once branded as savages and evil people who wanted nothing more than to drink the blood of their victims. But five years ago, I proved to you that this wasn’t true. Not only I, but Hazel Hawthorn, Nolan Ragsdale, and President Lester Vaughn. We showed you the truth about the nuclear weapon. We showed you the truth about the Outlanders and how the government essentially created them as an enemy in order to maintain power. All of you know the truth, yet you still make them Outlanders. You still want them to starve, to die in the streets like stray dogs.”
Des looked at Nolan again who was pacing back and forth behind the camera. He then made a quick glance at Hazel who smiled at him and nodded her encouragement to keep going.
Prototype Exodus (Prototype D Series Book 2) Page 25