by Gary Naiman
“DEATH TO THE CONSORTIUM! DEATH TO ALL WHO STAND WITH IT! DEATH TO THE OLD ... LIFE TO THE NEW!”
Her fingers vibrated as the blue rays lashed out at the stunned Guardians. They staggered backward, their metal arms collapsed at their sides, and they were gone.
“Damn you, dreg!”
Lucinda pointed at the shaken Leader. She could see the ruby lasers blasting at her from all directions, but the blue plasma deflected them. She advanced toward the shaken silver-haired woman who had turned away and was fleeing toward a portal atop the wall.
“STOP THIS! STOP THIS IMMEDIATELY! DO YOU KNOW WHO THAT IS? HOW DARE YOU? BE WARNED, THIS IS BEING RECORDED!”
Lucinda looked up at the sphere hovering above her. She pointed at it and blew it away in blinding blue light. When she turned back, the Leader had disappeared through the portal.
Lucinda could hear the whine of approaching warrior spheres. She backed across the deserted courtyard while reeling from the incoming death rays, and she heard her brother calling to her.
This is only the first skirmish, my sister. Many battles must come before this war ends. It is time for you to return to the masses.
“But I am not human.”
You are the future of humanity. Flee my sister ... before it is too late.
The sky above the Great Palace flashed with blinding red and blue rays, all of them centered on the figure rising into the night mist ... and she was gone.
EPILOGUE
01/01/2100
00:01:00
Well, I hope my little story has enlightened you a bit. Hard to believe it transpired thirty-eight years ago.
As you might gather, the skirmish inside the Great Palace was only the beginning of a much greater conflict. Many battles would be fought before it was done, some quite bloody with the Consortium’s powerful army of troopers and robots attacking the Anarchists and inflamed masses in a desperate attempt to fulfill the Consortium’s extinction plan before being overrun by global revolution.
Perhaps most intriguing was the unexpected emergence of a new participant in those battles, a small but powerful force of half-human, half-robotic creatures known as robo-sapiens.
Many would die in those tumultuous years following 2062, but many more would survive because of one woman’s defiance — a most unique woman.
Yes, that was quite a turbulent night in London. Recordings reveal the incensed Leader convening an emergency session of the Consortium at five a.m. that morning.
Sarah Lingstrom’s unsettling warning clearly shook her eleven colleagues. An Anarchist assassin had nearly killed their Great One while they slept. If not for the decisive action of her loyal Synapse troopers and Guardians, the crazed assassin would have dispatched them all while they slept in their bubbles.
Lingstrom’s words were profound. “Make no mistake, we are under attack from a determined global enemy. These Anarchists will stop at nothing to destroy us, and tonight they almost succeeded.”
“Our shareholders will be most distressed when I convey this unsettling news. For our preservation, it is essential I inform them we are accelerating our extinction of the masses, nation-states, and Anarchists ... and damn the risk!”
The recording shows Lingstrom revealing that the woman they toasted as their new Western Hemisphere Overlord was the same woman who nearly assassinated their beloved Leader, a brilliant Anarchist implant who somehow penetrated their finest security.
And so it began, Twelve million Zambex 39's, Guardians, and Killer 43's unleashed on five billion defenseless humans and their crippled nation-states. And an edict to Zambeer Chernikoff, Neptune’s new CEO, that every possible effort must be put forth to triple Manna’s toxicity.
And while her colleagues babbled, Sarah Lingstrom eased back in her chair at the head of the triangular table, her face twisted in a frown. Interesting to note the clump of silver hair singed from her scalp.
For those who enjoy a touch of legend, there were rumors of a naked woman crawling onto the shore of Bordeaux’s Garonne River that same morning. When confronted by a cluster of starving, rag-clothed humans, the woman raised her bloodied palm while begging for a taste of water.
The dregs embraced her and were escorting her to their encampment when they were assaulted by a retrofitted Zambex 39, its golden body glistening in the morning sunlight.
When one of the dregs implored the robot to step aside, the Zambex locked its ruby laser on the emaciated man and vaporized him amidst the screams of the panicked onlookers. Never before had a robot killed a living human. They were scattering for the trees when the naked woman stepped forward, her gray eyes on the Zambex.
The legend says she asked how a robot could kill a living human. How a robot could violate something called the Human Edict.
The Zambex’s response was instantaneous, its laser arm firing ruby blasts while the panicked dregs ran for cover.
Then the flash of blue light, and the Zambex was vaporized.
The legend ends with a gathering at the dregs’ campfire where the naked woman revealed the terrifying plot behind the precious foodstuff known as Manna.
“They’re poisoning us. They’ve been doing it for eight years. It’s their master plan to eliminate us so they can live their warped dream of a perfect world. They’re sick humans. Their minds and souls are rotted with evil.”
“But we are helpless. We can’t fight that power.”
“Join with me. Together we can break them. After all, they’re only human.”
Well, I guess I’ve said enough. Besides … a new century is upon us. A brave new century of hope. So permit me to terminate our little conversation. Perhaps you will allow me into your world again. It’s always good to have a peek at what’s coming.
Funny, how we evolve. One of your primitives said it best—
More creatures are born than can possibly survive. Any creature evolving in a manner profitable to itself will have a better chance of survival and thus be naturally selected. Any naturally selected creature will tend to propagate its new form…
Yes ... it makes sense. After all, we invented our metallic friends to make our lives better, and they have.
Happy New Year
Lucinda Montavi
Robo Sapiens #0001