Drive Time

by Matt Wilkinson

  “I’m just building a mental picture, no offence, Mastermind. What’s going to suck it in?”

  “Well, that’s the part I’m unsure of. Maybe the scan field could be extended outward.”

  “How about the SARA creates a giant cartoon arm that shoots out, grabs the subject and pulls it through.”

  “Slapstick, but along the right lines.”

  James’ android arrived at the top of the bank and steadily descended to the tracks. He approached slowly with the porta-portal slung over his shoulder, careful to keep his footing and avoid any damage to the equipment. The bank ended in four-foot stone wall, he passed the porta-portal to Zack so that he could drop to track level.

  “Now we’re all here, we’d better make our way into the tunnel before someone reports trespassers on the tracks," Victor suggested.

  They began to approach the darkened stone underpass.

  Chapter 59

  As the group continued to search the length of the tunnel, they realised that there were very few places to hide.

  "I don't know what I was expecting," Victor said. "Doors every few meters, like on a subway?"

  "Yeah, this is just plain rock," Sarah said. "I don't think it's here."

  "This may not be where it is, but it's definitely where it's been," Simon said. "As we were walking, I configured the sensors to pick up animal tracks from the scans. There are databases online that record print configurations, I programmed the recognition software to make comparisons to the database, but it obviously won't find an exact match. It can still make out general animal prints, though. I'll send the results to your displays."

  The group found that it was now able to see highlighted footprint shapes leading through the tunnel to the mouth up ahead and the trail undoubtedly led out into the open.

  "You knocked this up while we were walking?" James asked.

  "Yes, I got quite adept at coding by thought while connected to the computer."

  "Even taking that into account, it's pretty impressive."

  "The androids already had the software in their systems, I just adapted it a little."

  "You're too modest."

  "Let's pick up the pace," Victor requested. "Now we know where it's headed, we need to make sure it hasn’t climbed up the banks into anyone's back garden." The top of each bank had a high wooden fence, breaks should be easy to spot.

  They were able to reach the end of the tunnel much more quickly than their human bodies could have managed, twice as fast as any human could handle. The team were back out in the open in a matter of seconds, as they entered the light, Victor caught sight of something sizable in the distance, following the tracks.

  "I think I see it guys. Time to see what these metal legs are capable of," he suggested.

  They began to increase their running pace, heading toward the distant shape, which grew more readily identifiable as the creature that they were looking for. A more worrying aspect of this was that the group were also catching sight of the train station that the alien was approaching. Boosting their speed any further was not a possibility, the metal legs were moving as fast as their pistons would allow. Moving their limbs at this rate was also a difficulty for their own coordination, humans couldn’t run this fast naturally and — as they had not undergone any physical training for the activity — keeping a steady rhythm was difficult for them to master. They could easily trip over their own feet and send their android into a tumble. They overcame this problem by removing a degree of leg control at higher speeds, the pilot controlled the speed and direction while the android processor handled the movement of the legs with perfect fluidity.

  They were now close enough to see that the station was busy with potential passengers, people whose lives were at risk from the creature barrelling their way. Some of the travellers on the platform had noticed the bear-like animal approaching at speed and were moving into the waiting room. The waiting area was of a standardised build, the entrance had an automatic door, which would fail to hold the bear-thing back unless it was locked. The room might not be the safe haven that they were hoping for and could render them like fish in a barrel. The creature had no experience of humans and, consequently, would have no fear of them, its aggression — rather than its instinct for caution — could also be heightened due to the startling nature of its current surroundings. The remaining passengers on the platform were either too busy trying to figure out what the creature was or whether their vision was failing them to run and hide, others were engrossed in their phones or music, some might be just playing it cool. Whatever their reason for lingering, any one of them could be the first in line to take the brunt the creature’s wrath, it was way too fast to outrun without a head start.

  By the time the thing reached the platform, some of the loiterers were rigid with fear, others were edging along the wall to the exit or the waiting room. Thankfully, the creature couldn't make it up onto the platform immediately, and the last stragglers began to choose escape routes. The animal had its front paws on the platform and was struggling to get its back legs to meet them. Passengers in the waiting room were busy trying to brace the automatic doors, someone had unplugged a vending machine while others helped move it to the door.

  The bear-thing battled with its own ineptitude, giving James enough time to catch up and jump straight on its torso. He held it around the neck and lay on it's back, but the animal was so large that his feet weren't able to touch the ground. His actions did have the desired effect in getting the animal's attention, however, and the thing moved it's muscular body, trying — and succeeding — in throwing him off. He managed to keep a grip on the animal's neck but was now by its side, and the bear-thing was quick to take advantage. The beast swiped at James’ android, whose hold on its neck broke, sending him cartwheeling from the creature and into a heap a few feet away. The bear-thing switched to the offensive, moving to where James had landed so unceremoniously, but now Victor had taken his chance to try and subdue the alien. He could have rendered the animal unconscious, but then they would have to struggle with dragging the creature away while an audience looked on. He waved his android arms at the animal, desperately trying to keep its attention.

  "We have to lure him away," Victor said to the group as he dodged blows.

  "Right, people are going to wonder what the hell they're witnessing right now," Sarah said.

  There were many pairs of eyes on them, and no doubt a camera or two. The animal slashed at the midsection of Victor’s android, tearing through the hoodie and knocking it to the ground. The android’s diamond casing was undamaged, but the strange nature of what lay beneath the tears in the hoodie might spark some interest from the onlookers. The sturdy noise that the claws made on contact with the chassis might also arouse suspicion.

  James had reinitiated his attack the animal, and the rest of the group joined him. They moved to surround the bear, and it became indecisive in the choice of its next victim. It continued to determine its subsequent course of action when there was a sudden pop, followed shortly by a pork chop slamming into its face. It looked bewildered for a moment, and then caught the scent of the meat at its feet; sniffing at the pork chop, the bear-thing gave the treat a lick before grabbing it between its incisors, throwing its head back and swallowing the chop whole. The quick meal seemed to calm its fury partially, and it appeared to be thrown by the sudden change of events, staring in confusion at the group of strange creatures before it. Another loud pop was succeeded by a second pork chop hitting the ground in front of the alien, the meat was immediately inhaled. The creature looked to the direction from which it had observed the appearance of the delicious morsel, which was the same space that Simon's android currently inhabited.

  There was another pop from the drone flying over Simon's shoulder, and another pork chop fell from its underside into Simon's hand. He waved the pork chop at the bear-thing, and it approached him eagerly. Simon walked backwards, and the animal followed. When the creature started to appear annoyed by
the chase, he threw the pork chop to the ground, and the drone popped and dropped again. Simon waved the new pork chop at the thing, and the group followed in procession, checking over their shoulder now and again for observers. There were currently more people on the platform, watching in confusion as the deadly creature walked away with the strange bunch of super hoodies.

  The procession and its pork chop trail slowly moved out of sight, turning a corner at the edge of the station building. Zack placed the porta-portal against the wall out of view, the base of the portal extended outwards from the small package and the first curve of the hoop popped out from the left side, revolving around until it completed the circle and rejoined the base on the right side. The pool-like surface appeared inside the hoop, and Simon made sure that the creature saw the latest pork chop, waving it around before throwing it through the hoop. The animal followed the pork chop and disappeared into the liquid disc.

  Zack tapped buttons on the hoop. "Relinquish control of the androids, and I'll remotely walk them through the portal for recycling. I'll get the porta-portal back to HQ."

  The drone was already returning to base, after having saved the day. Their latest drone model had a small horizontal SARA portal on its underside. It could produce modestly sized objects by pulling in the surrounding air and recycling its particles into the desired item. The resulting vacuum made a pop as the air rushed back in to fill the space. The group had designed the model as a form of emergency supply delivery but didn't think they'd have a chance to use it so soon. Simon had been the first to see its suitability for this situation.

  The group left their avatars and woke up at Zack's house, after straightening out his furniture they used the portal to return to HQ. Ten minutes later, Zack's android walked through the door of HQ with the porta-portal's carry strap slung over his shoulder. He placed the equipment on the ground and walked his android to its parking area before breaking the connection. The real Zack then rejoined the rest of the group via the HQ portal.

  "Well, that worked out better than I expected," he said.

  "Apart from the show we put on for everyone at the station," Sarah said.

  "Yeah, we'll have to check the social networks for mention of that. I don't think it will be long until we start seeing videos of the escapade online." Victor said.

  "I should think we're safe," Simon said. "There's no way that anyone could link what happened to us, people will dismiss the whole event when they realise that they can't explain it."

  "Some of them saw the casing of the android under the shredded hoodie," Victor said.

  "They'll assume it was just a person wearing some kind of protective armour while apprehending an escaped bear."

  “… like they see every day.” Victor added.

  "Mysterious armoured team apprehend strange escaped zoo animal in Harrogate," Zack said.

  "Yes, that will be the headline," Simon said.

  "No, that is the headline. I just brought it up on my workstation. It's on the Harrogate Today site already."

  "There we go then, crisis averted," Simon said with a smile.

  The group looked at each other for signs of agreement.

  "I suppose it could have been worse, we only lost one Simon body," Victor said. Simon didn't seem to care that his body was considered expendable, he smiled at the statement. "I think we deserve a celebratory cup of tea. Isaac!"

  Chapter 60

  The androids had built a suitably protected base of operations on the new, still unnamed, planet within the first twenty-four hours of arrival. All SARA produced building parts were modular, making them easy to position and secure. Now that PRE-Innovations had planted their pioneering place of refuge; they could travel to and from the new planet as they pleased. A wall had been placed around the edges of their planned building area, and androids patrolled the inner territory to ensure that it was safe from any of the more sizable wild animals. The structure was composed of SARA produced steel and would prevent any land-based creature from entering the area, though it would present no problem to flying or burrowing wildlife, so they were hoping there were no pterodactyl-like beasts or giant worms waiting outside the boundary to catch them off guard. Every quarter mile, a pair of portals were embedded into the barrier, so androids could enter and exit at will. When closed, the gates would remain as robust as the wall on which they were stationed, but if any wildlife were to find an open portal and step through, the animal would exit via the adjacent hoop in the opposite direction, always remaining outside of the wall. The team had released their lizard-bear digital captive through one such portal, into the open space outside of the perimeter, once there it had gazed around in confusion for a few minutes, checking the ground for pork chops before eventually moving on. They hoped that the monster wouldn't cause too much harm to the rest of the ecosystem, though they presumed that the creature's home stood outside the wall, as no trace of its lair had been found within the boundaries.

  Occasionally, the eight inceptive colonists would look into the sky, in the approximate direction of Earth, and try and wrap their head around their home being so many light years away and — from their perspective — seven years in the past. Our planet of origin would only be in line-of-sight during the day, though it would not be visible, even through a telescope. Earth would be given the time to adapt to their new technologies before being offered the chance to move to a new planet, they could allow up to seven years for an adjustment period and still enable immigration almost immediately, due to the time differential between worlds.

  As the wall was modular, it could be expanded when new homes were to be built within its perimeter so they could take this world's first family in a day or two. Flattening the land for construction shouldn't affect the environment detrimentally, and it would contribute the needed particles for recycling. They wanted this planet to provide man with a home to coexist with nature, rather than replace it, which would be effortless to achieve now that there was no need for storage or industrial zones.

  Each home would be set among nature, powered by underground cables leading to solar farms in the desert areas of the planet, which had already been scouted out. Storage batteries beneath the solar farms and within the homes would supply more than enough power during darkened hours. Simon had designed a tunnelling drone to lay cabling beneath the earth, the tunneller — like so many of their recent devices — also made use of the SARA technology, taking in dirt and stone from the front of the machine and recycling it into brand new pipes and cabling at the back like an earthworm.

  Raised footpaths would be placed to minimise damage to surrounding wildlife habitats; roads would not be required as — since they were able to start this planet's society from scratch — they would build a teleportation network similar to a phone exchange. Every house would contain a teleportation hoop, and if a citizen wanted to visit a friend or family member, they would tap in the number of the destination gate and, if the sojourn were accepted, both portals would temporarily be paired, allowing instant travel. Public teleporters would be established in or around places of interest and social gathering; distance was no longer an obstacle. Places of communal gathering would be theatres, sports venues, concert halls and such; consumerism was a thing of the past, so no malls or shopping centres were necessary, though restaurants would be available to people who still chose to eat as a community. SARA would also be available in public restaurant locations for diners to select and help themselves to their food, androids would oversee all menial tasks for the building. As citizens would not need to work for a living, many would choose to cook using real meat or vegetables that they had grown on their land. Transport of the goods via teleportation would render the whole farming process pointless since the portal could have produced the items itself and reintegrated food would no longer be the same items. Prototype flying cars existed before PRE-Innovations even began their adventures with time and space so they could reproduce and automate the vehicles for shuttling fresh, non-SARA food if a citi
zen’s hobby had produced more than what could be personally consumed, but doing so would need to be voluntary since they were heading away from trade systems.

  The flying cars could also be utilised for short distance trips, but purely recreationally, as most places of interest would be within walking distance from a portal. Gates would be available at the best hiking spots and nature walks, so people would still be able to enjoy the exercise. Now that all time was free time, citizens could spend it taking in the new planet's natural sights. Beaches might become crowded most days, but there were plenty of other ways to relax in nature.

  The eight current settlers on the new world hoped that the burgeoning society would take care of itself, now that everyone was equal. A governing body would not be required, but a force of peacekeepers to help in keeping the inhabitants from harm would be necessary. This could only be voluntary, so they hoped there would be inhabitants who were interested in the protection of others, android police might be too intimidating. They had no intention of creating their own dictatorship, but they couldn't have complete anarchy either, so any rules they set in place could either be accepted or potential residents could remain on Earth. PRE-Innovations had no doubt in their minds which civilisation the people would rather live in. The group had discussed the need for law, and there was only one steadfast rule they could enforce in a world like this; cause no harm to others. Possession is nine-tenths of the law, but the SARA redefined the word possession, which meant that they only had to worry about the last ten percent of the law. Theoretically, there shouldn't be any demand for protecting people from the unfavourable repercussions of financial envy, but there would still be crimes of passion or even mental illness. They hoped that residents would be able to decide amongst themselves how to deal with those who chose to harm others. The conundrum would be challenging to solve, as a person can't be allowed to get away with murder, but what could you do with them if they did? Banishment to another part of the planet with access to SARA and a new home was a possibility, but not indicative of a redesigned, more caring society. If everyone who broke the golden rule was sent into isolation, how would that affect the environment where they were placed? If a large number were exiled, what if they decided to band together and fight to return to the primary population? Modern-day prisons had never been a satisfactory solution, but asylums for the mentally ill were viable if they could find those kind-hearted enough to spend their days caring for the less fortunate. It wouldn't need to be a twenty-four hour a day task if there were enough volunteers. Teleportation could remove all physical maladies, but no one knew enough about the workings of the human mind to use it for curing mental disorders, though it might be less of a mystery in future. The search for a solution to the reformation conundrum always came back to the final question; what about capital punishment? If there were no threat of repercussion, what is to stop jealous lovers from acting on their rage towards others? Homicide had to be the furthest thing from anyone's mind, so there needed to be a punishment that created enough fear of breaking the rule. Solutions to the final question revolved around removing the rule breaker from existence. They could be painlessly marched through a teleport hoop and not reassembled at any destination, though this seemed barbaric for this new utopian society. The group didn’t linger on capital punishment for long and instead decided upon a much less severe course of action. Breakers of the one rule would have their consciousness digitised and placed into an android; the machine, being programmed with an inability to cause harm to humans, would not allow the residing consciousness to do any more damage, but would be in essence a prison for one. Their original body would be recycled and saved digitally until the punishment was complete and could be reintegrated for the consciousness' return to its natural home. While in an android body, the lawbreaker would not be able to feel a sense of touch, which would be punishment enough for the violator, but they would continue to be a part of the population while ruminating on whatever crimes they had committed. The casing of the android would be clearly marked to be distinguishable from non-sentient androids so that the rest of the population could recognise a convict immediately. The prisoner would feel isolated even when in public, allowing an opportunity for remorse.