by Tim O'Rourke
The Bot reached the vehicle and darted through the blistering hot smoke and flames. The Bot felt no pain. The seething heat meant nothing to it. Curling its chrome fingers around the door handle, it pulled the door off its hinges. It then tossed the car door away into the night, and it spun through the air like a giant Frisbee. With smoke and flame consuming the car, the Bot reached inside for Karl Potter. After closing its arms around the unconscious man, the Bot hoisted him free of the burning car. The Bot carried Karl in its arms and away from the burning wreck. It held the young man tight, protecting him with its chrome body as the car exploded into a ball of seething flame behind them.
Once the Bot had carried Karl a safe distance from the smouldering patrol car, it hoisted Karl over its shoulder. The Bot looked in the direction of Outpost 71 before setting off toward it. As it moved swiftly across the vast flat plain, light began to shine from its unnaturally big, black eyes. The flickering light that seeped from them began to radiate outwards as if forming a helmet of light around its smooth and featureless skull. The light began to bleed down until it had completely immersed the Bot from head to toe. The light took on shapes—shapes that became solid, like real flesh, hair, and clothes. Looking like Annora Snow once more, the Bot continued onwards back toward Outpost 71 with Karl Potter slumped over its shoulder.
***
The Bot knew how to find its way back to the Night Diner. And even if it hadn’t, it would have been able to follow the dull thud of music that bled from it. Still carrying Karl over its shoulder, the Bot stepped out of the rubble that stood as tall as hills on all sides of the Night Diner. As usual, for such a late hour, a crowd of drunks had gathered outside. They argued and fought amongst themselves. Unseen by them, the Bot carried Karl around the side of the building. It passed a man leaning back against the side wall, eyes closed as a scantily dressed and undernourished-looking woman knelt before him, his cock in her mouth. The Bot’s sensors informed it that the man who was being pleasured was human and that the female was vampire.
As the Bot reached the end of the wall and headed round back, she heard the vampire snap her jaws shut like a vice.
The male screamed in pain. “You fucking bitch…!”
The Bot knew that would be the last words the human male would ever utter.
The Bot, still looking identical to Annora Snow, began to climb the fire escape at the back of the building. Karl hung over the Bot’s shoulder, his arms swinging like pendulums down the length of its back. At the top of the fire escape, the Bot kicked open a fire door with its foot. The door shuddered and rattled in its frame. The Bot carried Karl down the dimly lit corridor to his room. Its sensitive hearing picked up the sounds of arguing, screwing, and killing coming from behind the doors that it passed. The sound of a human male begging not to have his throat ripped open meant nothing to the Bot. The Bot was indifferent to the sounds it heard.
It pushed open Karl’s bedroom door and carried him inside. The Bot crossed the room and set Karl down on the bed before heading back to the door and shutting it tight. Alone with Karl once more, it went to him. With fingers working nimbly, it removed his uniform until he was lying in nothing more than his boxer shorts. The Bot glanced down at his pale yet muscular body. It glanced at him from head to toe. There were no obvious injuries that the Bot could see. Content that it had brought Karl to safety, the Bot crossed the room once more and sat in the chair by the window, where it intended to stay until daybreak.
Not a minute had passed before Karl released a low groan. He turned over onto his side. The Bot sat unmoving and watched as Karl’s eyes flickered open. Looking somewhat dazed and confused, he stared across the room at it.
“Annora?” he whispered, his voice little more than a faint croak.
There was a long pause. It was as if the Bot wasn’t sure how to answer him.
“Is that really you?” Karl asked as he headed toward unconsciousness once more.
“Yes, it’s really me,” the Bot eventually said.
Weakly, he raised one hand. He beckoned the Bot toward him. “Then come and lay with me,” he whispered. “I don’t want to be alone anymore.”
Very slowly, the Bot got up out of the chair. It crossed the room, coming to stop beside the bed. Karl closed his fingers around the Bot’s hand. To him, the skin felt warm, soft, and human-like. It felt like Annora’s hand. The Bot climbed onto the bed, and then lay down next to him.
With his eyes closed once more, he pulled who he believed to be Annora Snow close into his arms. His lips brushed against hers. He gently kissed her.
“I love you, Snow,” he whispered before sliding once more into darkness.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The year 2067
Annora Snow woke with a start. Bleary-eyed, she peered around the room that she now found herself in. And as Annora slowly came awake, she realised that she was in the room that Kiera Hudson had led her to after the events that had taken place inside the crater. Awakening the magic inside of her had left Annora feeling exhausted and weak. So Kiera had led Annora to one of the underground rooms set in the mountainside. Kiera had told her to get some rest. She had promised to return later, so they could talk. But as Annora sat on the bed and peered around the room, she could see no sign of Kiera. The room was small and poky, and was lit with a warm glow from two lanterns which were attached to the wall. The bed she had been lying on was comfortable, the pillows soft and the mattress springy. There was an armchair, with a small table set before it. Placed on the table was a stack of books. There was an electric heater and it blew warm air into the cosy dwelling. It was the kind of room that Annora had always imagined that Badger from The Wind in the Willows would have lived in. It had been her favourite book as a child, and she could now clearly remember her parents reading that book to her at night, just before she’d settled down to sleep.
But Annora now wasn’t so sure that those two people who had read her that book were truly her parents. She had rejected the notion when it had first been mentioned by Kiera and the others. But now she was beginning to wonder whether they hadn’t been telling her the truth all along. Annora saw little point in deluding herself any further. She knew now that she wasn’t entirely human. And somewhere deep inside lay magic and possibly a wolf, too. Jake Stranger had told her that whoever her true parents were, they would be just like him and her. Annora hadn’t wanted to believe that at first—and who could blame her for that? It wasn’t an easy thing to come to terms with, discovering that not only were the people you called Mum and Dad not your real parents, but you were also not the person you believed yourself to be.
As Annora had made her way back from the crater, she could remember Kiera telling her that she understood exactly how Annora now felt. And that was the reason why Kiera had promised to return to her room later, so they might talk and Annora might grow a greater understanding of who and what she truly was.
Feeling better for having had some sleep, Annora got up from off the bed. She pulled on her boots, and then her jacket, which hung over the back of the nearby chair. She left the room and made her way back into the passageway. She headed into the main circular chamber, but she could see no sign of Kiera or any of the others. Perhaps they were all asleep? Being underground, Annora had no idea of what the time was or how long she had slept for. One thing she did know was her throat felt parched, so she crossed the room to the sink. She poured herself a glass of water and gulped half straight down. She heard the sound of a raised voice. Annora thought that it was Potter. Was he rowing with someone? When wasn’t he?
Setting the glass down, Annora left the circular room and headed into the passageway where she’d heard the voice come from. Halfway along it, she stopped outside the door, which she knew would lead into the room with the TV monitors. Annora placed her ear to the door. She could hear Potter cursing and swearing on the other side of it. When she was about to creep away, she heard Potter call out.
“Stop creeping around out there and come i
n. I don’t bite, you know.”
Annora took a deep breath before placing her fingertips against the door and gently easing it open. She peered through the gap. Potter was sitting before the bank of TV monitors and the desk with the keyboard on it.
He glanced back at her, a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth. “Are you going to come in and park your butt, or stand there gawping all night long?”
“You said you don’t bite, but that didn’t stop you from stabbing me with your claws earlier,” Annora reminded him.
“You’re still alive, aren’t you?” Potter said, swivelling his seat and facing the bank of TV monitors once more.
And however much Annora thought Potter’s attitude sucked, he was right, she was still alive. She hadn’t died from the wound he had caused. She slipped one hand beneath her coat and felt her stomach. She felt no pain there, and no wound. Another reminder of what Potter and the others had said about her was true. She was not entirely human—but something else altogether.
Very slowly, Annora stepped into the room. The door swung shut behind her. She crossed the room and gingerly sat down on the seat next to Potter. She glanced up at the bank of TV screens. At first she wondered whether perhaps he was playing some kind of advanced computer game. On one of the screens Potter was staring up at, Annora could see what looked like some kind of silver gleaming android racing across some vast and barren wasteland.
“Is that a game?” she asked Potter.
“No, it’s not a fucking game,” he growled. “This is real life. I’m trying to save my son’s life. If I don’t get the Bot to him in time, it really will be game over for him and me. Kiera really would kill me if she thought I’d let our son die.”
Annora continued to stare up at the screen. “I’m not sure I understand.”
“You don’t understand much,” Potter said.
Annora pushed back the chair and stood up. “If you’re going to continue to be a dick-head, I’m leaving.”
“Stop being so fucking touchy the whole time and sit down, will ya,” Potter said, his voice softening a little and wondering if perhaps he was being too hard on the young girl.
Without saying a word, Annora sat down once more beside him. She watched Potter’s thick fingers pound the keyboard in front of him. While he worked the keyboard, he continued to stare up at the monitors. Annora watched the chrome-looking robot race toward a car that appeared to be on fire in the distance. It seemed that Potter was somehow controlling the human-like robot via the keyboard.
With her curiosity getting the better of her, Annora finally said, “So what’s that robot thing?”
“It’s a Sex Bot,” Potter said, not daring to take his eyes of the monitor for one second. Smoke streamed up from the end of the cigarette that continued to dangle from the corner of his mouth.
“I’m not sure I understand,” Annora said. “Isn’t a sexpot someone or something that likes to have lots of… erm…lots of…”
“Sex?” Potter said, glancing at her briefly, before staring once more up at the screens.
“Well, yes.” Annora frowned.
“I said Sex Bot, not sexpot,” Potter said, the cigarette bobbing up and down between his lips as he spoke. He took a deep breath before squirting blue jets of smoke out of his nostrils.
“Is there a difference?” Annora asked, trying to make sense of what Potter was telling her.
“How should I know?” Potter shrugged. “I’m not into shagging robots.”
Feeling somewhat exasperated, and wondering whether Potter was not being an arsehole again, Annora said, “But you’re controlling that robot or whatever it is, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” Potter said, pounding the keyboard once more with his fingers.
“Why?” Annora asked.
“Like I’ve already said, I’m trying to keep Karl alive, and he’s in the shit right now.”
Staring up at the monitors, Annora could see the silver robot approach the burning car. She watched it reach inside. It was then, as the robot reappeared through the flames, she understood what Potter was talking about. The man draped over the robot’s arms was Karl Potter. She recognised him from the video footage she had earlier watched of him and her together in the patrol car before the accident. She remembered him from the vivid memories and images she had seen in her head when she had been lying on the floor of the crater. And once more, the feelings of love and affection that she had for him came flooding back to the surface. She suddenly felt panicked and anxious as she feared for Karl’s safety. She didn’t want anything bad to happen to Karl. She didn’t want the man she once loved—still loved—to come to any harm.
Dumbstruck, she sat and watched the robot carry Karl away from the burning car wreckage. “It this happening right now?” Annora asked, when she had finally found her voice again.
Potter nodded his head. He tapped a few keys on the keyboard once more and the robot on the screen started to change appearance. If Annora had been shocked by everything she had seen so far, she hadn’t quite seen everything yet. The robot’s eyes were black and unnaturally large. Out of these, rays of light started to appear. As Annora continued to watch the monitors open-mouthed, she saw the light begin to take shape around the dome-shaped skull of the robot. Her jaw nearly hit the floor when she saw that light take on her own appearance.
“What the…?” She gasped as if unable to breathe.
Potter laughed. Now that the Bot had carried Karl far enough away from the car to be no longer in danger, Potter started to relax a little. “It’s great, don’t you think?”
“What, that the robot looks like me?” Annora said, eyes wide and unable to stop staring up at the monitor. “How is it possible?”
“The lights that radiate from the Bot’s eyes create a hologram—an illusion—that looks just like you.”
“But how?”
“Karl showed it a picture of you, and thanks to me sitting in this tiny room hour upon hour, I stored that picture in the Bot’s memory banks so it can only ever look like you,” Potter explained.
“But why would you want to do that?”
“Because we didn’t want Karl to forget you,” Potter said. “We knew that after the accident, that you had reset time. Eventually, Karl would forget that you existed. We don’t have time to start from scratch again. We knew Noah would push you back into this year, and we hoped we would be able to slip you back into Karl’s life.”
“But he thinks I’m dead, doesn’t he?” Annora frowned. “I died in that car crash, remember?”
“All right, Miss Marple,” Potter said, “stop trying to find holes in my plan.”
“But that’s a pretty big hole, don’t you think?”
As Potter continued to control the Bot on the screen, he glanced at Annora. “It’s not perfect, I admit, but since the car crash, our plans have somewhat changed. When you head back into Karl’s life, we’re hoping by that time, our enemies might have shown themselves. We can then re-enter our son’s life, too.”
“But Karl thinks you and Kiera are dead, right?” she reminded him. “Isn’t Karl going to be just a little bit pissed off—”
“Yeah, he’ll be pissed off,” Potter cut in. “But I think he’d be more pissed off if he was dead. Because if we had stayed a part of his life, that’s what would’ve happened. He’ll understand, I’m sure of it.”
“And what if he doesn’t?”
Potter narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re one of those people, aren’t you?”
“What people?”
“A fucking know it all!” Potter shot back.
“I’m just saying that was all.”
“Well, don’t,” Potter said. “I don’t want to hear it. I have everything under control.”
Realising that Potter was too pig-headed to argue with, Annora stared up at the TV monitor again. As if being able to see through the Bot’s eyes, Annora was able to tell that Karl was being carried back across the wasteland and to Outpost 71. The outpost
twinkled like a mountain of lights in the distance.
The silence between Potter and Annora had become deafening and uncomfortable, but she wanted to hang around to see what happened next on the screen. Unable to bear the silence any longer, Annora eventually spoke. “You said that you’ve been using that Bot to help protect Karl. How so?”
“I’m not so sure I should tell you now,” Potter said haughtily. “I’m scared that as soon as I open my mouth, you’ll start picking apart and dissecting my plans.”
“Don’t be like that,” Annora said. “Please tell me, I really want to know. Believe it or not, I do care for Karl. Some of the feelings that I had for him are beginning to return.”
Potter took the smouldering cigarette from the corner of his mouth and ground it out in a nearby ashtray. He then shot Annora a sideways glance. “Like I said, we didn’t want Karl to forget you, either. If you really wanna know the truth, I knew how much my son loved you. I knew how much it would break his heart knowing that you were dead. I didn’t want him to forget the happiness you brought into his life.”
Hearing this made her smile.
“What are you grinning at?” Potter asked. “You look like a fucking simpleton.”
“Kiera was right about you, you do have a big heart,” Annora told him.
“Kiera said that about me?” Potter said, raising both eyebrows.
“Yes, she did.”
“She’s talking shit,” Potter said, looking away and staring up at the monitor once more. But as he did so, Annora couldn’t help but notice the slight smile that was pulling up his lips.