Drive Time

by Matt Wilkinson

Simon went to his workstation. “Since Stan gave us a way out, I doubt he’ll have left the quantum computer in a state that’s operational for us, I’ll check for a way in. He’s removed all the input peripherals, but it’s still running, he must be controlling it remotely.”

  The group spent several minutes inspecting the computer, checking every nook and cranny for a way to override Stan’s access.

  “There’s no way, it’s locked down one hundred percent," Simon concluded. “It was a long shot, he left it here to taunt us, knowing that we would return through that portal, he wouldn’t have done so without sealing it up tight.”

  “That’s one option down," Zack said. “Let’s get out there and see what he left for us, no doubt there are breadcrumbs.”

  “Yeah, he’s not a man for subtlety,” Victor agreed. “I expect there’s a trail of loaves.”

  ∆ ∆ ∆

  As the team stepped outside of Earth HQ, the first thing to become apparent — counterintuitively — was the silence. A total calm that was both peaceful and eerie. They approached the street, immediately seeing the stationary cars on the road, the parade of static automobiles resembled a freeze frame of normal traffic flow. As they advanced, they noticed that some of the vehicles had ridden onto the kerb, closer still and there were substantially sized round holes cut into the roof of each.

  “No bodies inside and not one car door is open," Victor observed. “They weren’t abandoned in a panic.”

  The group walked along the road glancing into the cars for signs of struggle or stampede. One of the vehicles had mounted a traffic island and knocked over the bollard, but there was no real damage to the car.

  “A car hit the wall over there," Spencer said, pointing to a spot a dozen yards away. The wall was small, dividing the pavement and the adjacent houses, approaching the car for a better look, they took note of that roof had the same circular hole, but was in far worse shape than the traffic island vehicle.

  “No bodies or blood," James said, looking through the passenger side window.

  “The occupants were disintegrated, and their cars were left to come to a stop on their own," Simon concluded. “Some of the cars have more holes than others. All of them have a hole above the driver’s seat, but some have holes above the passenger seat too. Others have holes over the back.” Simon said.

  “A disintegration beam like the portable ones that Dave and his gang were using?” Zack asked.

  “Yes, but I’d say these ones were mounted below a drone or something that hung above the car. The holes are mainly perfect circles, not ovals, and they’re on the roof, not the windscreen, so they were likely firing straight down.”

  “So Stan used a drone to kill all these people?” Beth asked. “That’s monstrous, even for him.”

  “He always had a problem with the ever-growing population. This must be his idea of thinning the herd. We have to find a way to stop him.” Sarah insisted.

  “It’s already too late.” A synthetic voice pronounced from behind them.

  Everyone turned from the car to see Isaac in less than tip-top condition.

  “Welcome back Sirs and Madams," Isaac said. “I thought that I might have sensed your return through the portal, but I was in another part of the building, and you had all exited before I could catch up with you. Would anyone like a cup of tea?”

  The group smiled.

  “What do you mean that it's too late, Isaac?” Victor asked. “What happened here.”

  “I am sorry that I was unable to retrieve you from your future destination. The human I looked to for help was not cooperative. I spent months asking for his assistance, but I did not receive any. Then he left me alone and took all the other humans with him.”

  Every member of the group felt a drop in their stomach when they heard the word months then a further decline with all the other humans.

  “Every human in town, Isaac?” Victor asked, fearing the answer.

  “Every human everywhere, sir.”

  The group looked at each other.

  “How do you know that, Isaac?” Simon asked.

  “I have been monitoring his movements. I have been paying him visits to continue my request for collaboration in bringing you back, periodically returning here to check if you had made it back by your own volition. I am happy that you are finally here, I calculate that further visits to the former human will result in my recycling. He found me vexing.”

  “Former human? What is he now?” Victor asked.

  “I placed him in a human interface droid since he had no biological form to return to.”

  The group looked at each other knowingly. The droids they had used to subdue the alien bear didn’t contain any protocols to limit the human that was controlling it.

  “Do you know where he is now, Isaac?” Spencer asked.

  “Yes, Madam. He is in London. Specifically the Houses of Parliament.”

  “Of course he’d take up residence there," Victor said. “How did you get there and back, Isaac? I don’t suppose you had access to a portal?”

  “I do sir. Running caused a strain on my joints that would require constant maintenance, so I set up a portal there after my first journey. I was unable to access the quantum computer, but I did have access to a stand-alone SARA unit that I was able to pair with and produce new hardware.”

  “Did Stan know that you left a portal there?”

  “I do not believe so, Sir. I tried to use a discreet location since my current programming is restrictive towards my visibility. I believe that there were no eyes to be apparent to, until now, but I remained cautious.”

  Victor had programmed Isaac to be inconspicuous, so as not to alert anyone to their work.

  “Well, lead us to it, Isaac. We’ll be needing to make use of it, for its SARA capabilities as well as travel.”

  “Certainly, Sir. Should I prepare sandwiches for the trip?”

  Chapter 68

  The PRE-Innovations team stepped out of Isaac’s portal into a London back alley, not far from Westminster Bridge. Big Ben was in sight, along with the top edge of the Millennium Wheel. They walked toward the River Thames, and more of the giant Ferris wheel revealed itself in the near distance, the clock tower of the palace could be seen further along the opposite side of the river.

  “This is cool," Zack said.

  Everyone turned to him. He realised how inappropriate his remark was before he even felt their glares.

  “Well… I’ve never had a chance to visit London before…” he said, immediately grasping that he was not helping the situation. “Of course, I’d prefer it were under different circumstances… With the population still here… I’ll come back if we fix it.”

  One or two members of the group hid smirks at his discomfort, but the reality was soon to set in.

  “It looks different in person," Zack said, relieved he could change the subject.

  “Something’s definitely off," Victor said. “I can barely make out the edges of the tower, something’s obscuring it. Does it have restoration scaffolding?”

  “There’s something large behind it," Simon observed.

  “Do you think Stan built himself a new wing to use as his lair?” Victor asked.

  “Let’s get a closer look," Sarah said.

  As they approached, it became more evident that a new structure was visible behind the clock tower. Whatever it might be, it looked poorly constructed and uneven, like a pile of cars at a scrap yard. The closer they got, the less convinced the team became that what they saw was a building, though they couldn’t distinguish the exact form of the structure. They didn’t have to wait long before they found had their answer. When they reached the bridge, a booming sound erupted from the location of the new construct, a noise so loud that even covering their ears they found it excruciating to hear. The raucous sensation began to reduce in decibels. The lower the volume became, the more they recognised the sound to be a voice.

  “…edibly sorry. I think I had the volume set to
o high.”

  As they recovered from the pain in their ears, they became conscious of the two blue lights that had appeared at an elevated point in the front of the strange construction towering over the palace. The luminous discs were moving as if they were attached to something smaller than the whole.

  “Is that a head?” Victor asked the others.

  “Of course it is.” The booming voice replied. “I’m sorry, you probably can’t see the glory of my creation from your vantage point, let me remedy that.”

  The air suddenly became permeated with cacophonous mechanical sounds, and the colossal object within the palace began to take on a new shape. The construction started to elongate, growing taller, eventually revealing itself to be an immense android, standing from a crouched position. It now stood so tall that they could barely see the head from their vantage point.

  “How do you like the new vessel I have created to carry my incomparable mind?” the android asked.

  “Stan?” Victor asked, feigning ignorance.

  “No! That name no longer befits my majesty.” The android replied.

  “Yeah, it’s definitely Stan," Victor told the others with mock amazement.

  “I am now The Master.”

  “Master of what exactly? Look around you. There’s no one left. What happened here? This is your idea of saving the planet? Who are you saving it for? There’s no one left to enjoy it but us, and I doubt you’ll even have that soon enough. You were an intelligent man, Stan…”

  “MASTER!” the construct shouted, once again causing them pain.

  “Fair enough, Master, if that’s what you want," Victor said, taking a breath. “Isn’t there a part of that intelligence left? A part that can see the illogic of what you’ve done?”

  “You are wrong Victor. I have saved humanity from itself. They are not gone, they are in here with me. I have only just begun sorting those who are bad data from those who can enhance the program; I have still to process the majority.”

  “Bad data?” Spencer shouted. “Those are people!”

  “And we had more than enough of those. The human race will run so much smoother when the bugs are removed from its code. At least this is humane, not one of them will know a thing of their own deletion.”

  “For an atheist, you sure are trying your best to play God," Zack said.

  “There was no God. There is now. I mastered time itself, who is to say that I couldn’t also create life?”

  “If you can create life, show us. Bring them back.” Spencer said.

  “I cannot, their physical data was not retained, I have transcended the need for it.”

  The group deflated as one upon hearing those words. Spencer leant against the bridge barrier to steady herself.

  “This isn’t what I wanted," Simon said. “I wanted a better planet, but with the human race ultimately in mind. You’ve strayed so far from our goal; I can’t believe that any version of me could become you. You’re a monster.”

  “From your primitive perspective, I would expect no less, but by freeing myself from the body to become all mind, I have become enlightened.”

  “You’ve become mad!” Spencer said.

  Disregarding her remark, the so-called Master continued. “I no longer feel the desires of the flesh, I need no sustenance but the search for knowledge and perfection. I need no sleep, so am always working at premium capacity. Time cannot hold me back; I have eyes and ears everywhere, I am truly omnipresent. This will also lead to omniscience, then total omnipotence. Do you still not see that, if I am not a God, I soon will be.”

  “What is a God without creation?” Spencer asked. “You’ve done nothing but destroy.”

  “Nothing is truly destroyed. The human race was broken into particles that still make up the parts of this world that are useful. In the collective subconscious, they wanted it; they offered no resistance to me. It was so easy. It started with just one drone utilising disintegration and cataloguing capabilities. One human was disintegrated, their mind separated from their body, which was reintegrated as a drone. Each new drone served to help with the reset, and it all happened at such a startling rate that the human race was unable to offer resistance. With the human virus taken care of, the planet will have time to replenish and self-heal. The earth will be better off without them, in here their destructive and selfish nature can inflict no more harm. They’re all at peace as a part of my consciousness right now; they don’t even care.”

  “I doubt you’ve even asked them, and if you have, your madness will have infected them like its own virus," Spencer said.

  “Well, you’ll know soon enough. Perfection cannot be achieved until all obstacles are removed.” The group recognised the threat, and Victor pulled a porta-portal from the bag at his side while The Master continued. “This conversation serves no further purpose, as you are soon to be one with us. Please follow the android escort team that will shortly be arriving at your location and we can get this done as efficiently as possible.”

  With the portal expanded, Victor threw a syphon hose into the Thames.

  “I see you are preparing a countermeasure, I must ask you to refrain, as it will not help your situation in the least, will squander time and render this exercise imperfect.”

  The escort androids were now only a few yards away.

  “It’s the imperfections that add variety and wonder to the universe, evolution can be viewed as flaws causing change for the better," Simon said.

  “I am in control of our evolution now. It can be directed, motivated towards efficiency.”

  “Where’s the fun in that?” Victor asked and pushed a button on his tablet control pad.

  A series of drones flew from the portal — reconstituted from the water of the Thames — and headed towards the escort droids. Once above the droids, the drones sent out a disintegration beam, pulling the broken particles of the droid into the drone, which were then ejected from the back of the drone as julesium blocks.

  “Not to worry.” The master said. “I have plenty more where they came from. You have but one portal, I have many in this very sector. The droids are already almost upon you. Your one portal cannot create enough drones to counter the number of droids I can construct. By my calculations, you have less than five minutes before you are overwhelmed. Creating more portals will not sufficiently alter your odds at success, they will only buy you a few extra minutes.”

  Their drones were already having problems dealing with the multitude of androids now headed in their direction.

  “Time to shift the portal to mobile mode," Victor said. He pressed a button on his device, the portal became slightly taller, and wheels emerged from underneath. The group moved away from the approaching droids, following the Thames as the teleporter rolled with them, dragging its hose as it went.

  Droids now filled the entire width of the street ahead of them, and their drones were only able to take out the closest units at a pace incapable of keeping up with the droid’s walking speed. They began to pick up the pace of their retreat, breaking into a jog.

  They could see that moving away from the river was not an option, even if they wanted to leave their portal behind, as androids were already at the junctions of adjoining roads.

  As they drew further away from The Master, he became mobile, climbing over the walls of the palace, creating a violent disruption as the walls crumbled under his weight. A cloud of dust followed the approaching androids and covered many of the furthest units. The Master succeeded in traversing the building and began walking towards the team, androids swarming around his feet, synchronised to his movements, making ground room for his enormous feet without a single one getting damaged.

  “If you’re considering making a retreat to fight another day, that would also be hopeless. Wherever your portal takes you, we will find you. Do you think that your arrival here was a surprise to me, an omnipresent being? I knew that you would be coming here through the portal that Isaac left and I let it happen. I let you make
your best plans and come to me for your final showdown, as I knew anything you had prepared would be insufficient. What could eight individuals possibly concoct that would outsmart the amalgamation of every intellect on the entire planet?”

  The team had broken into a run and it looked like this stretch of road would be the last location of their flesh and blood existence. The drones were virtually useless for ebbing the flow of androids now, even though the stream of devices was still pouring from their porta-portal. The Master might have thought he was above his human desires, but he was evidently toying with the group, the androids hadn’t even broken into a trot.

  “Uh, guys," James said. “I don’t think we have much more time left, they’ve created a barrier of droids a few hundred meters behind us.”

  “We’re not done for yet," Simon said.

  “I’m sorry, but you’re wrong Simon.” The Master said. “I’m not even sure what use you’ll be to me in here, you’re an inferior, less knowledgeable version of myself. It would be wasted data. I don’t think I’ll have the androids escort you. I’ll have one of them snap your neck. It should be quick and painless, I wouldn’t want to appear malicious or anything.”

  “How gracious," Simon replied, looking at the droids with a defeated sigh, wondering which would be his end.

  “It looks like you’ll be penned in momentarily, I’ll send a drone to disintegrate the rest of you.”

  “Uh… Thanks? I guess…” Victor said with a small but apparently exasperated shake of the head.

  The androids were now closing in, forming a tight circle around the group, mechanical arms reached out to each of them. Simon finally knew which one would seek to see out his next death, the one with its hands approaching his neck.

  There was a beep from Victor’s tablet and — millimetres from touching any of the group — the androids froze.

  “Bare with me a moment.” The Master said. “There seems to be a glitch in our system. I’m a little embarrassed, to be honest, it must have shaken your faith in my plan a little.”

  “Yes… our faith…” Victor said sarcastically. “I think your glitch might have been the faith you have in yourself. You’re fallible, Stan. You’re no God, you’re not even a ‘master’.” He tapped the screen of his tablet, and the androids lowered their arms and turned towards their former commander.