The Robot Union

by D Miller

  'I can see you and I will have to have a little talk later,' boyboy said to Omo, as he moved past Jon and stopped at the old bot. 'A tin can. Fantastic. This thing should be in a museum. I look forward to dissecting it enormously.' The robots stiffened and boyboy giggled. 'Does this object have meaning for you? Do you consider it your ancestor perhaps? Do you worship it? Oh that is so precious. I'm going to let you watch while I cut it up.'

  'Oh sugar, you're a bad man,' said Flo. Boyboy put back his head and laughed, the humans behind him grinned.

  Jane, talking high said, 'Something is happening to the avatars.' In fact Robbie was already watching them, first one in the back row had started to sway from side to side, then the one next to it had joined in. This then spread until in less than five seconds all six rows were swaying, but only very slightly, so that at first their movement could almost be imaginary. They moved together, like seaweed on the ocean floor, caressed by the same underwater stream.

  'And now we come to you,' boyboy addressed Dex, 'a monster with delusions of grandeur.' He touched the weapon that lay across his chest, pointing slightly up and away to his right, it was loosely held in place by a strap that was looped over his left shoulder. 'I think I may have your nemesis right here,' he said and slid his hand into the trigger mechanism smiling.

  Behind the humans, the avatars swayed first one way, then the other, their movements becoming more pronounced as Robbie watched.

  Smiling, boyboy lifted the strap of his gun over his head, and brought the barrel to bear on Dex.

  Robbie heard Dex broadcast, 'Nobody move,' powerfully enough to drive away the white noise.

  The strange craft suddenly gunned its engines, boyboy jerked his head round towards it, the gun swung with him. The lights went out. Dex punched boyboy, who was lifted off his feet and carried back into the humans behind him before collapsing. His weapon discharged and one of the humans started a high pitched and desperate screaming. Even as Dex was broadcasting, 'Get down!' the robots were flinging themselves to the ground, with Nurmeen throwing herself over Adrienne and Darren pulling George down and covering him with his body. The other humans started firing their weapons towards the robots. Since nothing now illuminated the cavern to the humans it was completely dark, lit only by flashes from the guns. For a moment the sound of gunfire filled the world, then Robbie saw that Dex was crawling towards boyboy's friends, and Omo started after him.

  Robbie saw something slide out of the cab of the craft onto the ground, and begin to worm its way towards the panicking humans. Something else followed it, sliding bonelessly from the cab to the ground. Nurmeen, April and both the queens followed Dex and Omo in crawling towards the humans. The avatars continued to sway, faster and faster. Robbie could see the injured human lying on the ground and writhing. While his screams echoed horribly the other humans were shouting to the craft to call for back up. Dex reached the nearest human, and grabbing him by his feet yanked them from under him. The human went down on his back and hit his head, discharging his weapon one last time at the ceiling then lying still. Omo reached a human and like Dex he pulled his feet out from under him, but the man did not go down as hard as Dex's target had, and managed to keep hold of his gun. Omo dragged him along the ground as the human tried to raise his head and aim his weapon at him. Robbie tried to move but Darren hissed at him to stay where he was and rapidly crawled towards Omo. Robbie could see that he was too late, the human had his weapon pointed at Omo when something black arose behind the human and snatched the gun from his grasp. The avatars stopped swaying and in silence fell to the ground, lying where they fell without moving. Something black and sinuous reached the screaming human and took his gun from him.

  The last two humans had been falling back as they fired their weapons all around them. Nurmeen, April, and the queens were closing in on them, when the humans stumbled back onto the fallen avatars and fell, screaming. After this they scrambled to their feet and tried to run, but kept falling over the downed avatars. They stopped shooting and sobbed as they crawled, ran, fell and crawled again. Nurmeen and April got to their feet and, reaching the humans in a few steps, grabbed them. The queens joined them and the humans howled as they were seized, their screams competing with the injured man's.

  The black thing that had taken the gun from Omo's human rested one limb casually on the struggling human's chest and said, 'Hello Omo, let me help you secure this human.'

  'Amber, dude,' said Omo, 'I love you. I really do.' Amber laughed.

  The sinuous black thing that had reared up by the injured human called to Darren, 'Can you do anything for this one mate?' It was one of the miners who had tried to decoy the humans with Amber. The human had stopped screaming and was now moaning, his thrashing about on the floor had become weaker.

  Darren went to the miner, knelt and quickly examined the man. 'He's lost a lot of blood,' he said. 'I can't even give him something for the pain, I need to get my bag from the carts, unless….' Darren felt in his pockets, he removed something 'Yes!' he said. He leaned over the human and did something, the human quietened down, Darren held his hand and talked quietly to him.

  Chapter 30 – Monsters

  Amber and Omo tied up the human that Omo had brought down and carried him to the craft. He struggled and shouted, telling them that they were doomed, that the armies of the night were coming to take them to hell and asking them if they could not see them marching towards them. The other two conscious humans had calmed down somewhat, but begged April and Nurmeen, as they tied them up and carried them to the craft, to please hurry up and get them out of here. Dex asked Amber and Omo to tie up the unconscious two humans, including boyboy, asked the two miners to return to the carts blocking the refinery tunnel exit into the cavern to keep a look out for reinforcements, asked Jane and Rex to check the old bot then called the others around him and asked for a roll call and a report of any injuries. Nurmeen had a burn across her cheek, and also the back of her head was bashed in where Robbie had… Robbie shook his head, Nurmeen was fine, it was just a minor burn. George also was injured, he had hurt his knee when Darren pulled him to the ground, plus he had the bruises on his neck from where he had stupidly tried to stop Robbie from killing Nurmeen. Worst hurt was Flo, who was dizzy and bleeding with a head injury.

  Robbie was too weak to stand unaided and sat on the ground watching Omo and Amber tying up boyboy. Rex and Jane reported the old bot was undamaged. George and Adrienne sat together unable to see, and asked if they could possibly have some light on the situation; Amber offered to turn the lights of the craft back on when he had finished tying up his human.

  'Was that you in that thing?' asked Robbie, nodding towards the craft.

  'Yes. I told you I had a knack with machines. When we realised they weren't following us we ran back as quickly as we could. I persuaded the craft to let me board it by telling it that I didn't really exist – it had started to panic and think that it wasn't really real. It still does. Once we got on board I turned off the signal booster for the avatars, then I put it on manual override and–'

  'You saved Omo,' said Robbie.

  'Yeah, you really did,' said Omo.

  Amber shrugged. He smiled and tightened the belt he had removed from one of the avatars and wrapped around boyboy's legs. As Robbie watched him the white noise returned, much louder than before, only this time the woman was screaming, not shouting.

  When Amber and Omo finished tying up the two unconscious humans Dex told them to leave them turned on their sides for Darren to check, and asked Omo to join April and Nurmeen in gathering up the guns from the humans and the avatars and putting them in the craft.

  Omo kissed Robbie, 'It's going to be OK,' he whispered then went to join April and Nurmeen.

  Dex hugged Amber; Robbie heard Dex whisper, 'You were magnificent.' Darren joined them. 'How's your patient?' asked Dex.

  'Dead.'

  'Sorry,' said Dex. The three of them hugged, then Jon called Darren's attention to Flo, and Amber cl
imbed back into the cab of the craft and switched its lights on, angling them to shine on the fallen avatars and those still clustered near the oil tanker, while Omo, Nurmeen and April moved among the avatars, checking each one for weapons. Once George and Adrienne could see again they moved and sat beside Robbie. George put an arm around him, and Robbie saw that hidden under his shirt collar were bruises around the front of his neck, as if a single strong hand had grabbed, and squeezed. 'What happened to your neck?' he said.

  Darren told Jon that Flo had probably been hit by a ricochet, since the damage was limited. He said that she would be fine, that the dizziness should pass, and he would dress the wound properly once he had reclaimed his bag, then he went to check the unconscious humans. Darren asked the two queens to move one of the unconscious humans to the craft. 'Carefully,' he said, 'he really is unconscious so you must protect his airway.'

  'We are fully functional in first aid,' said the first queen.

  'We do not need instruction from the likes of you,' said the second. Nevertheless they did as they were asked and were careful about it.

  'This one isn't unconscious,' Darren said to Dex, indicating boyboy.

  Dex crouched down by boyboy. 'Mr boyboy do you humans have a verb, to nemesisis? Could we say that you can now consider yourself nemisisised?'

  Boyboy opened his eyes. He struggled to sit up with his hands tied behind his back, and said something that Robbie could not understand.

  'His jaw is dislocated,' said Darren. 'Hold his head for me while I…' Robbie heard Darren grunt, 'Got it,' he said.

  'Laugh while you can monster,' said boyboy.

  Dex nodded. 'Good advice,' he said, 'and I intend to take it. Tell me Mr boyboy, did you leave any sentries at the tunnel entrance?'

  Boyboy laughed. 'Fine,' said Dex, 'you can walk in front of the craft on our way back, if your sentries are as highly trained as the rest of your soldiers they might not shoot you.'

  'Yeah dude,' said Darren, 'but if they don't it will only be because they've already shot each other.'

  Darren and Dex laughed and boyboy grimaced, he saw Robbie looking at him and smiled.

  'Tell me,' said boyboy, 'did you enjoy it when I woke up the bug in Robbie's head? Did he manage to break any of your little friends?' Dex and Darren stopped laughing. They looked at Robbie, as did George and Adrienne, and Flo and Jon. George had not answered Robbie's question about his bruises, instead he had hugged Robbie to him with the arm that was already around his shoulders, now he stiffened.

  'I suppose those ridiculous headphones were to prevent him receiving?' said boyboy. 'But they wouldn't have helped him. Now the bug is awake it will rapidly colonise his brain. His only hope is if you give him to me.'

  'Dude any competent roboticist could remove it.'

  'One: there are no other competent roboticists, they're all clowns and two: the bug is self-aware and will defend itself if attacked, which will probably have unfortunate consequences for Robbie's brain. And for Robbie. And for anyone near Robbie.' He smiled. 'Sorry.'

  Robbie looked across the cavern to where the avatars lay on the ground. Nurmeen was taking an armful of weapons to the craft. He shrugged off George's arm, got up and ran across the cavern, intercepting Nurmeen and knocking the weapons from her grasp. Up close he could see bruises around her neck. 'You're supposed to be dead,' he said reaching out for her. Last night he had managed to slam her head against the wall before he was interrupted, first by George and Omo, then by Dex and Darren. Nurmeen had fought with unexpected intensity and skill and he hadn't managed to bang her head anything like as hard as he had wanted to. He had let her go to punch Omo to the ground and squeeze George by the throat until he passed out; he remembered laughing as a dazed Nurmeen and Omo had joined forces against him, trying to get his hand off George's throat. Omo had been broadcasting on full power, 'DexDexDexDexDexDex…' Now Nurmeen's leg flashed up and kicked Robbie in the knee; she pivoted and ran. Robbie managed one step after her before Dex brought him down.

  Robbie watched as Dex and Darren held down a robot, while Amber and Omo tied him up. Most of the other robots stood around watching too, April had her arm around Nurmeen. George stood with Adrienne looking stricken; Adrienne was holding his hand. The robot's face was distorted with anger, his eyes bulged as his head thrashed from side to side and he shouted, 'I will kill you all.' He looked at Dex, 'I will kill you,' he looked at Darren, 'and you,' he looked at George. 'Next time I will smash your head in and scoop your brains out and eat them and let's see you come back from that.' He screamed, 'Let me go, let me go, get off me!' He began to laugh, 'I will kill you, I will kill you all.'

  Omo and Amber finished tying up the maddened robot, and Dex picked him up gently. 'Everyone in,' he said jerking his head at the craft, 'time we left.'

  Robbie could hear a voice calling him, he knew that if he could answer the voice all his doubts and fears would vanish, the voice was calling him home. The avatars could hear it too, they began to move, first randomly, a jerk here, a twitch there, then a wave of energy passed between them as they rose to their feet, starting with the back row, then each row in turn until they were all standing. Dex froze, no longer looking at his friends, he was looking behind them. The others turned to look as the avatars swayed, straightened, swayed again then started walking, without bending their knees, as if they had never walked before. The robots fell back to get out of their way as the avatars marched; then wheeled in half circle and walked away into the darkness. One of them fell, his trousers had fallen down around his ankles and tripped him. The two rows behind him marched forward, one more avatar fell from the row behind, and two more from the final row. They joined the first fallen in dragging themselves along the ground using their arms and pushing at the ground with their feet. Robbie envied them, he wanted to join them, but he could not move. He looked up at Dex and told him he wanted to go home. Dex looked at him.

  Omo's face appeared above him. 'What did you say dude?'

  Robbie again said, 'I want to go home, I want to follow the avatars.'

  Omo looked at Dex, 'What language is that?' he said. 'What's happening to him?'

  Since they did not understand Robbie asked the voice for a map, and broadcast it, with a dotted line going from his position to where he wanted to go, a huge cavern that the tunnel towards the capital curled around.

  'Can you see that?' said Dex, 'it looks like there's a tunnel on the other side that will bring us out near the mine.'

  'No, no, no,' thought Robbie as Dex laid him on a bench in the craft. Jane and one of the queens loaded up the old bot as Rex twined around them anxiously, then Jon helped Flo aboard, even though she protested she was fine now. Adrienne and George sat on a bench facing Robbie, while Omo sat on Robbie's bench, lifting Robbie's head and putting it in his lap. Robbie supposed that Nurmeen, April and the other queen were on board but he couldn't see them with his limited view. He saw Darren go past with boyboy slung over his shoulder then the craft started to move; he guessed Amber was driving. 'I want to go home,' he said. 'I want to go home.'

  Omo stroked his hair, 'It's OK dude, everything's going to be fine.' Amber drove the craft forward cautiously, detouring around the avatars worming their way across the ground, by now there were seven of them, although one had worked out how to crawl.

  Adrienne moaned. 'I thought I was scared when boyboy tracked us down but I was wrong. Now my fear is well past the common or garden being tortured to death by a maniac level and accelerating towards inchoate terror from the dawn of man and monsters under the bed of the race psyche and the horror and pity of being alone in a universe that is alternately indifferent and cruel. Oh God.'

  George put an arm around Adrienne. 'Do we tell the baby that there are no monsters?' he said, his voice cracking.

  'Oh yes,' said Adrienne, 'let's lie and given time we may come to believe it ourselves.'

  The craft slowed and the two miners swung themselves on board. The headlights picked up the avatars ahead of them,
marching towards the tunnel that led to the capital.

  'No, no, no,' said Robbie, 'I want to go with them.'

  'Shhhh,' said Omo, 'shhhh.' Amber pulled up where they had ditched the carts. One cart had been run over, the others were fine. Omo got off with the others to load everything into the craft, leaving Robbie to the care of George and Adrienne. George leant forward, he put a hand on Robbie's shoulder and whispered, 'Robbie, Robbie do you understand me?'

  Robbie looked up at George. 'George, boyboy made me a house bot because he thought it was funny to give Carlos a built in hoover. But I don't mind that. I mind the thing in my head. You should just kill me.'

  'No, no never. We'll get through this. I'll find the best roboticist in the world to treat you, I promise you.'

  The robots finished loading the craft; Amber drove across the unknown space, coming after a few minutes to a small tunnel, that angled upwards slightly.

  Robbie looked up at Omo 'I'm a monster,' he said.

  'No baby not you,' said Omo.

  'I killed George,' said Robbie.

  'Baby, George is fine.'

  'George is fine because Darren helped him. You should kill me because when I get free I'm going to kill you and George and Adrienne and Nurmeen and April and–'

  'Shhh,' said Omo, 'shhhh.'

  The craft trundled up a small incline, heading towards daylight.

  Robbie was alone with Rex and the old bot. Rex had a jack in his ear socket and was looking at something on a screen. 'It's perfect that you're in here with us, one more distraction preventing me from doing my job,' he said without looking up.

  Robbie felt too tired to speak.

  'Not to mention you burning down the refinery and me having to set up my equipment in a mine,' said Rex. 'I don't know how I'm supposed to work under these conditions.'

  'You're such a trooper,' Robbie whispered.

  Rex took his eyes from the screen and looked at Robbie. His tongue was hanging out the side of his mouth as he scrutinised Robbie carefully. 'Is this you speaking or is the bug in your brain seeing what it can do with sarcasm because it can't get its hands on a knife?' he said.