by Vlane Carter
Washington, D.C. 4:40 PM
“...defend the constitution of the United States,” Robinson says while he holds up his right hand in front of congress.
“…in accordance with the twenty-fifth amendment of the constitution; I now pronounce you the forty-seventh President of the United States, President Kevin Robinson,” Chief Justice Marie Taetz says.
South Delaware 5:30 pm
Kim has been driving for over ninety minutes without incident. She drives at a slow speed due to the extra wind in her face. People in other cars have been looking at the Bugattee’s broken windshield. Jaden has been sleeping. They are sitting in traffic at a tunnel entrance. Jaden wakes up and looks around.
“Where are we?” He asks.
“We are in Lewes, Delaware, about to go through a fourteen mile tunnel. They just created this tunnel last year that connects south Delaware to south New Jersey.”
“Cool. Any police or anyone following us?” He asks.
“No. Just a lot of cars sitting on the side of the road and people sleeping in them. I mean like thousands of cars lined up. It looked very awkward,” she says.
“The Nanomoles have their minds in neutral mode. It’s getting worst; we have to get to Manhattan quick. For some reason I feel as if I’m losing some of my memories.”
“There is something else, I was listening to the radio and Vice President Robinson is now the President of the United States. I guess President Paylin is dead or still missing,” Kim says.
“That’s not good. That guy shouldn’t be the President of anything. He is bad news. He was the person trying to kill us the last few days. Listen baby, I had this weird dream just now that I was suppose to kill the President of the United States, Stefanie Paylin. Something was telling me to do it and she was begging for mercy for the human race,” he says.
“What did you do? What happened next?”
“I was hearing voices saying, ‘Finish her! Finish her!’ Then I woke up,” Jaden says.
“Strange,” she says.
“I’m going to try to redial your father, my baby’s mama and Peters again,” Jaden says.
“Okay. We have to stop for gas soon and something to eat. I figured we can stop by Atlantic City.”
“Okay,” he says.
The tollbooth man asks what happened to the windshield.
“I hit a deer and I’m driving to get the windshield fixed at a body shop in Jersey,” Kim yells to the tollbooth man, while handing him twenty dollars.
“Okay, be careful good looking,” the young tollbooth collector says while smiling.
They drive through a long underwater tunnel. Kim’s father and Amy’s cell phones goes straight to voice mail. Peter’s phone rings and then goes to voice mail.
“The tollbooth man just told the other guy in the booth that you look like his uncle’s R.F.E.C.,” Jaden says.
“You and your Superman hearing. Well, I’m the real thing,” she snaps.
“Yes, you are. You are my real thing,” Jaden says while rubbing his hand up and down her leg.
“Behave!”
They drive out on the south New Jersey side and get back onto the highway. A text comes through on the phone.
“James left a text message saying he will meet me in lower Manhattan on 1st Avenue and 9th Street around 7:30,” Jaden says.
“Cool.”
Jaden sits back in the seat and look towards the sky. He sees the sun is heading down over the western sky. They reach Atlantic City and they pull up into a hydrogen and regular gas station with a food mart.
“Fill ‘er up,” Kim says while getting out to walk towards the food mart.
“You have to use the bathroom baby?” Kim asks.
“No, I’m okay.”
A man begins to fills the gas tank up with hydrogen gas while Jaden sits in the passenger seat looking towards the huge casino hotels. He sees the huge windmill on top of the hotel buildings spinning around.
“Damn, I wish I could stop in there for a few minutes,” he says.
‘Jaden, can you hear me?’ AI asks in a low voice.
‘AI? Is that you? Are you okay, buddy?’ He asks.
‘No, I’m not. When the dark material returned around your hands and arms, it damaged many of my systems. I have three major problems. My ability to shrink and expand in size to leave your body is non-functioning. My microscopic thrusters to fly are non-functioning, so I can’t make it back to the Gravhawk if you need help. The ability to communicate with your Nanodrones and navigate the Gravhawk is offline. Everything is out of service for a few days,’ AI says in a low sounding voice.
‘You are more broken down than an American vehicle with 100,000 miles on it. I’m really sorry AI. I feel as if this is all my fault. Can you repair yourself?’
‘It is not really your fault. My older synthetic crystal nanobot system wasn’t made to withstand such a strong unknown energy wave. I might be able to fix the communications in a few days on my own, the rest I’m not too sure about without rebuilding materials,’ AI says.
‘We don’t have a few days. Tonight is doomsday. Have you seen the people in Europe and the zombies walking around?’
‘I need to be in the Gravhawk to repair the rest of my systems which could take days to a week. The main problem is with my communications down I can’t enter the Gravhawk or remote into the Gravhawk. I’m the only one with the code to enter the ship,’ AI says.
‘How are you able to communicate with me now?’ He asks.
‘Communicating with you in your brain only requires a basic chemical message, not a kinetic molecule energy signal. I can read the chemical messages being processed in your brain.’
‘Okay.’
‘I noticed you liked the instrumental soundtracks back in Virginia, when you and Kim were practicing reproducing. I downloaded the top one thousand movie and game instrumentals from the Internet, using a Wi-Fi signal. I think you will enjoy these,’ AI says.
‘Yes, copy them over. It was very interesting to hear music without words. It reminded me of some of the music Bellona was playing for me.’
‘I’m converting it over now and saving it in your memory. You might hear different songs at random.’
‘Cool.’
Kim pays the gas attendant and she gets back into the car with three hot dogs in her one arm. She has a cappuccino and a bottle of water in her other arm.
“Baby, hold this for me,” Kim says while reaching out to Jaden. He grabs the organic hot dogs.
‘You’re saying if we need to get off this planet in an emergency, we are stuck here because all your communications are down?’ Jaden asks.
“Are you hungry? I have two extra hot dogs for you,” Kim says while placing the drinks in cup holders.
“Sure, thanks baby. It’s cool you know exactly what I want on my hot dog. I’m talking to AI now,” Jaden says while Kim drives off and taking a bite of the frank.
“Is he okay?” She asks chewing.
‘Yes, I’m sorry. I guess I’m useless to you now. I’m programmed to destroy myself if I become inoperable longer than twelve hours. The Gravhawk is programmed to destroy itself or return back home if there isn’t communication from me within six Earth days.’
‘Hold on there, no one is destroying themselves. We will figure out something. We came this far, we can’t give up yet,’ Jaden says while biting into the hot dog.
“Is he okay?” She asks again.
“No he isn’t.”
Jaden explains to Kim everything AI just told him. There is a long silence as Kim continues to drive on the highway thinking. They pass a sign saying New York City 140 miles.
“Can AI rest inside of the Bugattee or the cell phone?” Kim asks.
“No, his model needs to be in an organic human or in the Gravhawk,” he explains.
“How about AI go inside o
f me?” She asks in an outburst, “Inside of my body he can repair himself faster and he would be safer.”
“Kim, that isn’t going to work. Your white blood cells will attack AI and you will get sick. Plus there is no way for him to get into your body, he is grounded, remember?” Jaden asks.
‘I’m only counting three Nanoscanners, AI.’
‘The other two were destroyed when you started to change into the energy monster,’ AI says.
‘Don’t say that. I’m not turning into an energy monster or dark energy knight. I’m sure this is a fluke. That sucks the Nanoscanners were destroyed.’
‘They were sucked into your arms, along with other molecules, and destroyed,’ AI says.
“Oh okay. I wouldn’t mind getting sick, if it could help him. He saved our lives by coming back so quickly and helping to get you out of the coma in time,” she says.
‘Oh yeah, thanks for saving me when I was in the coma.’
‘Your welcome, friend,’ AI says.
AI’s words echo in Jaden’s mind.
“I have an idea, baby. Do you remember the movie Innerspace?” Jaden asks.
“No, I think that movie came out before I was born. But I remember bits and pieces of it from your memory,” she says.
“To sum it up, AI can travel to my mouth and I can kiss you, then he can travel into your mouth,” Jaden says.
“Okay, cool.”
‘AI, I’ll have to reprogram a few Nanodrones to escort you from my body to Kim’s. They can fight off and reprogram the white blood cells as they attack. I think this will be best for you, for now, friend,’ Jaden says.
‘That might work, but remember, the Nanodrones’ colonies will need a good explanation as to why some Nanodrones are being used in another body. They sometimes vote on decisions like this. Remember they are only suppose to work in your body and with your DNA,’ AI says.
‘Okay. I’ll give it a try.’
“I have to communicate with the Nanodrones to see if they can do what I’m suggesting.”
The wind continues to blow in Kim and Jaden’s faces. Jaden closes his eyes and communicates with the Nanodrones in his body. He notices there are different levels of the drones. He learns there are millions of supervisors, billions of team leaders and trillions of Nanodrones assigned to various tasks in a community around his body. They take a vote and decide against using Nanodrones in Kim’s body, 1.3 billion to 2.1 quadrillion. Jaden appeals the decision and explains in better details the situation happening around the planet.
‘I know some of you were only created a few days ago, but there is a situation at hand and I need your help. My girlfriend Kim can be trusted, just like I trust you guys. I want to marry this girl one day and she will be a part of me. I know it is against the rules for you to be used in another body, but I need you to trust me on this one. Without AI getting better, we won’t have access to the Gravhawk. I might need the ship to get off this planet if things get out of hand. You have seen what I’ve been up against the last few days. Another one of my unknown energy outbreaks will probably destroy AI. He is your commander and I’m sure you wouldn’t want that to happen. You Nanodrones have done an excellent job with repairing my body and having my weapons ready. The anti-gravity, pro-gravity, cell regenerator, and shield creating Nanodrones have done an excellent job so far. I need you to trust your captain and work with me on the Jaden-enterprise body ship. Help me, to help AI, to help all of us and my planet. It’s not what my body can do for you, it’s what you can do for my body, AI’s and Kim’s. Please revote for me and revote for our future. Get out and vote! Get out and vote!’ Jaden yells while the words scroll across his eye screen.
‘Good speech, sir. It was very convincing. There were many not voting at all. Thanks for giving the extra effort and fighting for me,’ AI says.
‘You’re welcome my friend. That’s what friends are for. Now I know how a politician feels giving speeches like this thousands of times a year.’
His speech is heard by every nanodrone in his body, down to the smallest ones in his cells.
‘The vote is in: 3.9 quadrillion in favor and 598 trillion against. You won the majority of the vote. They agreed to use only 50,000 Nanodrones for fighting off white blood cells and assisting me,’ AI says.
‘Wow, I have democrat and republican Nanodrones in my body. That is great, you have 50,000 Nanodrones to help you!’
‘That isn’t great. Fifty thousand is not much, especially when being attacked by billions of white blood cells.’
‘Maybe the white blood cells won’t attack. Wait a second, I’m looking at the voting results and some of the Nanodrones vote only count as one-third. What is that about?’ Jaden asks.
‘Cell protector Nanodrones’ votes don’t count as much. They don’t do the same job as energy creating Nanodrones or anti-gravity Nanodrones,’ AI says.
‘I don’t like that. Everyone should have a fair vote…’
Kim interrupts, “Jaden, baby, what is the status? Are they going to help AI?”
“Yes, they are. I gave a nice little speech and they agreed to help him.”
“Good baby.”
“Give me a few minutes, they are transporting him now,” Jaden says.
‘Good luck, AI. Can I communicate with you at all?’
‘Yes, the Nanodrones should be able to communicate with each other within twenty feet. But I can’t communicate with you directly yet. Kim will have to relay any messages through the Nanodrones in her body to your Nanodrones. Okay, see you later buddy, good luck with reaching your daughter in time,’ AI says.
‘Okay, buddy, talk to you later. Before you go, why is my nanotime offline?’ He asks.
‘When you went into a coma you destroyed a lot of neurons and cells in your brain. Your brain can’t go into nanotime for a few days, until the high-speed neuron connections are fully healed.’
Kim continues to drive on the highway. The Nanodrones carry AI through some veins in the back of Jaden’s head and through some nerves down to his throat. They come up through the nerves in the bottom of his tooth and into his mouth.
“Okay Kim, you can pull over so I can give you this AI STD or alien virus,” Jaden says while chuckling.
“That is disgusting, why did you have to say it like that,” she says while signaling and slowing down on the shoulder. Jaden opens the door and stretches. Kim gets out and walks around to him.
“Baby, did you grow?” She asks.
“You noticed? Yes I did. I’m 6’2” and a half now.”
“That is amazing you are able to do that,” she says while hugging him and looking up to him.
“Ready?” He asks.
“Yes. How sick do you think I will get?” She asks.
“Depends on how much your body tries to fight it. Remember, it is a foreign object and your white blood cells will attack it. We have to hurry baby,” he says while placing his lips on hers. They exchange saliva and their tongues rub against each other. Cars continue to drive by on the small highway. The sunlight shines between their body as AI travels into Kim’s mouth. Their shadow on the ground look like one shadow united. They unclench and Kim wipes her mouth with her hand with a smile on her face.
“That was good there. You are definitely a good kisser,” she says while opening the passenger door.
“So are you, hot dragon lips,” he says while sitting in the driver’s seat.
Kim sits down and she begins to sneeze. Jaden quickly accelerates.
“God bless you!. Hey, make sure he doesn’t fly back out,” he says while she reaches for some tissues in her bag. She chuckles after sneezing again.
“Very funny. I would love to see these Nanodrones through a microscope,” she says.
Jaden begins to speed on the highway, while Kim closes her eyes. The wind in her face pushes her hair into the air behind the headrest. Twenty minutes pass by.
“Kim are you okay?”
“Yes, I just feel like I’m coming down with a cold. But it feels as if it is going away at the same time, in a weird way. Some Nanodrones created some artificial acetaminophen for me. I’ll be okay. I can hear AI talking to me. He says he is inside of me, just like you were,” she says with a runny nose and coughing.
Jaden laughs and says, “That was funny, that was a good one. At least his artificial sense of humor still works.”
Kim is sleeping and Jaden is driving at a high speed on the New Jersey Turnpike. They continue driving for another hour. The tollbooths are empty as the highway has minimal traffic. More traffic is appearing on the southbound side. He continues driving north on the turnpike. He sees the World Trade Center building across the water. The building has an orange glow from the sun beginning to set in the west. Jaden remembers flying by the old World Trade Center about a month ago. The tall antenna and reflective glass is very dazzling across the river. He thinks about waking her up, but he lets her get her rest. He continues driving another fifteen minutes. He runs into some traffic at the bridge. Jaden sees the toll costs twelve dollars at the George Washington Bridge.
“Shit, twelve dollars to cross a bridge?” Jaden asks. “I’d rather swim across the ocean.”
He drives through the E-ZPass lane and says, “Heroes don’t pay tolls.”
He crosses the bridge and sees so many buildings all over the place. Across the bridge and on the street, he sees a homeless man holding a sign that reads, Why lie? I need a beer.
Jaden chuckles as he pulls up to the man and hands him a dollar.
“Enjoy your last beer!” Jaden yells.
He takes local streets towards downtown Manhattan. Kim opens her eyes and looks around. The streets are mostly clear of people as if it is late at night. They see a few police cars and taxis driving around.
‘Where the hell are we?’ Kim asks herself.
‘We are in Harlem I think. The navigation system says Harlem, but this looks like lower Manhattan to me. I thought Harlem was mostly African Americans?’ Jaden asks Kim telepathically. She looks at him with a surprised face.
‘You can hear me?’ She asks.
‘Yes. The Nanodrones are communicating to each other from our bodies and transmitting our thoughts to each other. You can adjust the telepathic communication settings if you want,’ Jaden says.
“Let’s use voice communications, this is a little creepy. AI is talking to me the same time you are,” Kim says aloud.
“I know how you feel. I had that same creepy feeling a few weeks ago. How are you feeling? You look a lot better.”
“I’m feeling much better. The streets are so deserted,” she says.
“My Nanoscanners show that most people are in their beds sleeping. Something is definitely about to happen.”
“What is AI saying about this area?” Jaden asks.
“He is saying this area is called New Harlem. He is giving me the history of how the population changed in the past twenty years and how the middle class is almost completely gone. He downloaded a lot of information about Manhattan.”
“Cool. Is it me or are some people walking around like zombies?” Jaden asks.
“I think you are right, some people are walking rather odd,” she says.
“This is amazing to me, I was here last year, or in 1995 when I visited New York City on a trip. Everything looks so different, new condos and buildings on every corner,” Jaden says while driving down 8th Avenue.
Jaden sees two Jehovah’s Witnesses women standing on the sidewalk holding up magazines. He zooms in and realizes they are two advanced robotic women. The perfect replica human female on the right is holding a Watchtower magazine that reads in big letters, The end of the world is coming in 2032. The other female’s magazine shows an image of the solar system and Earth is missing in the picture. It reads in small letters, Where would you be?
Jaden stops the car in the middle of the street and a red car behind him honks the horn. He can’t believe what he just saw.
“Kim, do you see what those two robotic women standing on the corner are holding up in their hands?”
“What ladies?” She asks.
Jaden turns around and there isn’t anyone there. He wonders where those two women went and uses a nanoscanner to find them. He doesn’t see them and he continues to drive with a strange look on his face.
“Forget it.”
“You okay baby?” She asks.
“Yes, I just think I’m seeing things.”
“AI says the population is fifty percent Caucasian, twenty percent Asian, fifteen percent African American, ten percent Hispanic and five percent other. He says the middle class has been vanishing for the past fifteen years.”
“Turn right at 125th Street and left on Broadway,” the navigation system says.
“Amazing, times have changed,” Jaden says while turning onto 125th Street.
“Keep driving straight, take the Henry Hudson Parkway downtown, it’s faster,” Kim says.
They continue driving down towards the highway in medium traffic and they reach a traffic light. A man in raggedy clothes jumps out and sprays a liquid where the windshield used to be. It goes directly onto Jaden’s face and clothes. The man tries to squeegee the thin air.
“You dickhead! You got watered down Windex and fruit punch on me,” Jaden yells while opening the door. The light turns green and the cars behind him begin honking their horns. Jaden grabs the man by his shirt collar and looks him in the eyes. The cars go around the Bugattee honking their horns.
“Squeegee, dickhead!”
“I’m sorry man, I’m sorry. I was just trying to make a dollar. I didn’t know you didn’t have a windshield,” the petrified man says.
“Jaden stop, don’t hurt him. He has had a tough life the past six years. He used to own a house in 2008 with his family, until he was laid off during the recession. He couldn’t find work and suffered health problems without health coverage, his medical bills took everything he owned. He lost everything, including his family,” Kim yells nervously while looking at Jaden.
The mysterious black energy returns around Jaden’s hands. The energy dissolves the fabric in the man’s shirt. Jaden watches the man run across the street with half a shirt on.
“Don’t worry about him, sweetie. Try to calm down. I’ll drive, be careful with your hands,” Kim says while opening the passenger door and climbing over to the driver’s seat.
Jaden climbs into the passenger seat with his hands in the air, trying not to touch anything. Kim starts to drive and Jaden looks at his hands. The energy disappears from his hands.
“How did you know all that information about the squeegee man?”
“I don’t know, it came to me randomly. I looked at him and I saw a couple of things from his past. It was really strange. I even heard him thinking stuff.”
‘The Nanodrones are somehow able to detect other peoples’ brain waves since your brain is structured a little different than Jaden’s and your mind has more emotional activity. I’m not sure if it’s with everyone,’ AI says to Kim.
“I have to find out what this is and why this is happening. This is really beginning to creep me out. I’m getting angry so quick, this isn’t like me,” he says while looking at the river on the side of the parkway.
The skin Nanodrones in Jaden’s body are reporting unknown black material spreading inside of his skin and being embedded inside of skin cells.
“AI wanted me to tell you that Earth’s magnetic field is going to reverse in the next twenty years. When he was providing the energy from the magnetosphere, he analyzed the strength and integrity of it. He also analyzed the core of the planet with a Gravhawk nanoscanner. When the magnetic field reverses, there will be a lot of sun radiation hitting the planet’s surface for centuries,” Kim explains.
“That is interesting, I guess sun tanning shops will be the first to go out of business. I think that mi
ght be a good thing for humans, maybe that event will end racism when everyone is the same color,” Jaden says while chuckling.
Kim laughs and says, “Hey, millions will die.”
“I know, I’ll let scientists know when all this is over. If we can’t stop this attack, I’m sure the Darclonians will fix the Earth’s magnetic reversing issue.”
Kim laughs along with Jaden.
1st Avenue 9th street, lower Manhattan 7:32 pm