Zero Time

by M. P. Swinnerton

  In fact, the Robomix professor had, over the space of a few days, succeeded in programming and training his robotic army to force the Zelites now under his domination to create and plan a huge protected camp in the center of Chicago where he and his army would be safe from attack by the Zelites. They had also managed to create and build a massive defensive bubble to enclose their newly founded ‘State’, which the Robomix named the ‘Superior State’.

  The Robomix had designed and ordered to be erected lots of stations containing attack weapons, knowing full well that Zon would not allow him to continue in this opposition without some kind of retaliation. The knowledge that he had accumulated when he was studying physics had given the professor a vast knowledge of attack rays and missiles. He had become quite confident that nobody could now stand in the way of him attaining the position of the new Planet Leader.

  Naturally Zon did not share this view and when he eventually decided it was time to bring down this pretentious upstart, he called in Zenith and his brothers and explained that as there were so many imprisoned Zelites caught in this trap, they must be very wary and careful so as to avoid any harm coming to these people.

  Initially Zon had decided to launch an aerial attack on Superior State, but Zenith pointed out that this could involve the death of the imprisoned Zelites involved in the mad professor's mélange and suggested that perhaps they could work out a way of re-taking the robots by using the electronic transmission service.

  A plan was evolved to program a contingency of Zelite robots to fight and destroy the Superior State robots, but first a way had to be found to enable the Zelite robots to take over possession of the enemy robots once they had been scanned and transmitted to Superior State. It was obvious that the Superior State robots would have already been programmed to be anti–Zelite by the professor and it was now up to the Zelites to somehow cancel these logged-in programs.

  Zon's siblings and advisers gave many unproductive suggestions, but eventually Zenith managed to come up with a potential answer to solve the problem. He was to travel incognito to the outskirts of Superior State and try to test the material from which the protective bubble was constructed, and once he had the formula for breaking into even a minute area of the bubble, they could then create an entry and send in their Robot Army to overcome the troublesome Superior Robots and arrest the delinquent professor.

  The professor was only too aware that a weak spot in his protective bubble would lose him the battle, so he ordered strict surveillance to be kept at all times on the perimeter walls of the bubble, and infrared alarm systems were installed to ensure that any intruders would be spotted and caught and also to make sure that his hostage Zelites could not escape through the perimeter bubble.

  Zenith was swiftly dispatched to the outskirts of Chicago and deftly made his way incognito to the perimeter boundary of Superior State. He had to be very careful not to set off any of the alarms placed around the perimeter, but being so astute and clever, he was quickly able to calculate exactly where the infrared beams were in position. Very soon he managed to find a safe section of the bubble and commenced scraping out a tiny sample of the material that the professor had used to build this security canopy around his newly founded State. During the whole of this dangerous operation, Zenith kept in close contact with Zon, and when Zenith finally secured the important piece of material from the bubble, Zon exclaimed, “Great! Zenith you are fantastic. Now get back here as quickly as possible!”

  It was not long before the top Zelite scientists were able to define the character and composition of the Superior State protective bubble and an annihilation substance was created to destroy the bubble.

  Zon was only too well aware that this would be just the start of the problem; his robots would still have to fight their way through the many defensive sites that the professor had installed randomly throughout Superior State. However, he was quietly confident that Zenith and his top scientists would soon calculate the distances between each site and would be able to ensure the combat robots had sufficient anti-missile shields to repel any attacks on them. The robots were also equipped with multi antidotes to protect them against poisonous or biological fumes and any other treacherous ray weapons.

  The attack on Superior State was launched at 2300 hours. This was on the advice of the Zelite Intelligence Service who had learned that during the night-time period Robomix and most of his robots were at their most vulnerable and weakest as it was in these hours that they chose to rest and restore any worn parts.

  The attack came as a complete surprise to Robomix and although his warning system worked adequately, he was actually in the process of having his robotic body parts serviced, which automatically left him in a state of immobility just at the time the attack was launched. The professor heard the warning sirens, but his defense robots would take no action until they received instructions from him.

  He vainly tried to extricate himself from the Servicing Machine, but instead managed to get himself jammed completely in the mechanism. The more he wriggled and moved in the Service Machine, the more he became blocked by its hoses and wires. He tried yelling to his robots, but to his dismay they were not able to act to his screaming tone, as they were only programmed to his normal speaking voice.

  When he eventually realized what the problem was, he calmed down and spoke in a controlled voice to the nearest robot and managed to get the machine to release him. However, it was too late for the professor to stop the impending attack by the Zelite robots and though he tried to flee from the liberating army, he was soon taken captive and escorted back to Washington.

  The mad professor was made to stand trial for war crimes against the Zelites and his punishment consisted of being released from his Robomix state and turned back into a normal Zelite. He was then escorted to a rocket base and sent off into space with sufficient food and drink to last him for a year. If he was lucky enough, the rocket could land on some obscure planet, but as was most likely, he would remain in space until the rocket's fuel ran out and then he would drift until his demise.

  Zon ensured that all the captive Zelites were returned to their own homes and were given complete medical checks to make sure they were healthy and well. The robots that had been taken over and trained in combat by the Robomix were annihilated and the other robots were brain-cell-cleansed and re-programmed to return to their regular robotic state.

  The Planet Leader gave instructions that no scientists or professors were to be allowed to operate on their own in future, and that they all had to have at least three other Zelite personnel with them at all times, except when they were sleeping. This, Zon estimated, would avoid any problems of this nature taking place in the future.

  CHAPTER 10

  Another strange thing to happen was that after the incidence of the Robomix, a new phase of robot domination almost cropped up. The reason why this happened was due to the fact that every time a robot hosted a Zelite reproduction, a miniscule fraction of the guest Zelite's brain always remained deposited and mixed with the receiving robot's own tiny essential cells. The Zelites were quite unaware that this gradual build-up of knowledge was occurring in the receiving robots.

  Robo.373 was the first robot to accumulate sufficient brain matter to be able to deduce ways and means of evading the tasks given it by the Zelites by avoiding the queues of robots lining up to be taken over by a Zelite guest. This Robot, like all the other teleportation robots, was extremely lazy. This laziness had happened because of an error made when these robots were initially programmed for teleportation purposes. Robo.373 by all accounts should not have had the knowledge even to know what slacking meant, and its predisposition to laziness was not discovered until it gained the added intelligence.

  The newly intellectual robot was not, however, clever enough to realize that by avoiding mundane tasks such as being teleported by a visiting Zelite, this caused Robo.373 to lapse into a state of laziness. Moreover, it did not advance any further with its brain power beca
use it was avoiding having any additional cells deposited in its own small brain by the very fact that it had now just enough intellect to avoid work and consequently was not receiving any more donated brain cells. Slowly and very imperceptibly, all of the robots used for the task of hosting a provider, i.e. the robots that were used by the Zelites when they wanted to visit distant towns or countries and did not wish to travel physically in their own bodies, became very lethargic and gradually, and almost indiscernibly, they seemed to become few and far between when it came to pre-ordering a robot to meet a Zelite teleportation.

  It took a little while for the Zelites to realize what was happening and it was not until Zeter, Zon's youngest brother, had programmed himself to be scanned to Rome and had placed a requisition for a robot to be his host, that Zeter had his suspicions that something was radically wrong when, after trying to scan himself for over five minutes, he still could not get an acceptance acknowledgement from a robot host.

  He did manage to get a response eventually, but on his return he got in touch with Zon and complained about the delay. Zon, in turn, contacted Zenith to investigate the problem and sort it out. After some probing into the situation, Zenith soon discovered what the problem was and after discussing the matter briefly with Zon, who asked Zenith to deal with it, a decision was made that there was no other alternative but to make sure that all the host robots had brain-cleansing operations at least once a week to ensure that they could not accumulate any additional cells other than the minimum allowed them to function properly.

  One day while chatting with his brothers, Zon remarked, “I honestly am beginning to wonder whether it pays to keep these robots, they seem to be more trouble than they are worth sometimes”. His brother Zerek laughed at him remarking “We must remember all the good uses that the robots are capable of and really it is just a matter of keeping an eye on them and ensuring that they cannot not gain any extraneous powers to enable them to become uncontrollable.”

  Zon nodded his head in agreement, saying, “I guess you are right, it would indeed be fairly difficult for us to manage a lot of the hard and dangerous work that these robots carry out, but I do wish that this case had not arisen because I shall definitely feel uncomfortable from now on whenever I have to use one of these machine men for teleportation functions. We must insist that a zealous check be kept on them. I think we should appoint a special team of GMs to keep control of all the robots. I know that it will be an expensive operation, but we just cannot risk any such thing happening in future. It could lead to a disaster.”

  Accordingly, arrangements were made for this special team to be organized and also quite a few of the robots were eliminated, leaving only the highly essential machines in operation so as to avoid any possibility of a slip being made in controlling them.

  CHAPTER 11

  The GM people who lived in the western coastal section were quite a happy band and very often in their free time they would meet at one or the other's living quarters to get together for a little party or barbecue.

  All the pure Zelites treated the GMs with great respect and very few contretemps happened between the two races. If an emergency happened with a Zelite group, the GMs would be there instantly to help them, and likewise, the Zelites would always lend a helping hand to any GM person finding himself or herself in any difficulty. However, regardless of this friendly atmosphere between the two sections of the population, the Zelites and the GM people still preferred to live in their own separate environments. Needless to say, the GMs sometimes found they did not have the same safety facilities that were automatically installed in the Zelite living zones. This was not a deliberate act on the part of the Zelites, but was rather a bit of lax planning on the part of the GM local population.

  One day, groups of GMs were having a sociable afternoon playing tennis and chatting about something or nothing when one of the GM men noticed a very strange thing happening. The canopy that covered their tennis courts was becoming enveloped with a billowing mist. It appeared to be rolling in off the ocean. Normally nobody would have taken any notice of this sea mist, but there was something very unusual about this fog: it was carrying clumps of slimy seaweed, much of which was being deposited on the overhead protective canopy.

  There was an automatic cleaning device for clearing debris from these canopies and one of the GM men routinely threw the switch to commence the operation of this device. The GMs carried on with their socializing until one of the men noticed that although the cleansing device was operating at full capacity, the canopy appeared to be getting more and more loaded up with algae. The lighting was turned on to full power to enable the GMs to see what they were doing and suddenly, to their horror, a massive claw loomed across the canopy.

  “Oh Jeez,’ shouted one of the men, ‘that looks very much like the claw of a ginormous crab”.

  The GM females started screaming and running towards the exit tunnels away from this supernatural crustacean, and it was not long before the men quickly decided it was time for them to leave as well, and very swiftly, a mass exodus took place.

  One of the men had the sense to call on his mobile to the Zelites’ local Sheriff ’s Office and described what was happening. He was instructed to evacuate the area whilst trying not to panic anyone, and then the Zelite man assured him that it was probably a residue of the long since closed Disney Theme Park that had been lifted up by the winds and blown way out to the coast during the time of the meteor impact. He went on to explain how parts of it were still quite often being washed ashore by the rough seas. He laughingly described how much of the Disney attractions had been comprised of huge unusual working replicas of animals and amphibian creatures.

  However, the concerned Zelite immediately contacted the local coastal protection division and a couple of units were sent in to try and establish what the problem was.

  When the units arrived at the Tennis Court area, their immediate reaction was to turn and run. The whole canopied area of the seafront was alive with huge giant-sized crabs. There were hundreds of these creatures, and the fear was that the sheer weight of the creatures would bring the canopies down. These canopies were very strong, but were constructed mainly to keep out air pollution and not exactly made to combat heavy-duty creatures like these crustaceans.

  The leader of the Units told the men to retreat to a safe area and he would get instructions from Zon about what to do. The men had to contact Zon via the GM leader Zenith and, as soon as Zenith heard of the problem, he arranged for a fleet of low-flying space machines to be sent in to gas and immobilize these creatures. Later, he would find out what Zon wanted them to do with these peculiar crabs.

  The description Zenith received of these creatures definitely ruled out any debris of the Theme Park, and he knew it was more likely to be something to do with the movement of the nearby tectonic rift. He knew that strange prehistoric mammoth-like sea creatures had been appearing along these plates in other parts of the planet, and he guessed that here again some interference with nature had occurred. He realized that with all their intelligence and the resources available to them, the GM people still lacked a lot of foresight in planning their own safety protection systems, and he made up his mind to give instructions for the appropriate Zelite units to check all the GM areas for correct safety installations. As it turned out, it was quite simple to rid the area of these crustaceans, but, as a safety precaution, Zenith instructed the local GM sheriff to keep a watchful eye out for any future invasion of similar creatures. He advised the sheriff to arrange for a satellite camera to be installed covering the whole of their territory, and Zenith also advised the GM sheriff to get in touch with him immediately, should anything like that happen again in the future.

  As a result of the scare they had received, a lot of the GM people were too wary to use that area for socializing any more, and moved further inland to be on the safe side. Very quickly their territory became desolate and neglected as the last of the population moved inland.

 
Zenith became aware of this wilderness developing and asked Zon his opinion of the best solution on how to use this deserted area.

  “Zenith, I guess there really is not a lot we can do and I am of the opinion that as we do not need this area for anything ourselves, let us leave it to become barren land and if in the future you can think of any use that it can be put to, then let me know and I will consider it then.”

  CHAPTER 12

  Most of the Zelites paired up with their partners permanently. There was no such thing as a legally binding marriage any more, but they were normally extremely fond of their own specific partners and usually lived together and shared everything. However, the actual act of lovemaking with the same partner had, understandably, lacked its luster over so many years, so Zon had come up with the concept of modifying the Pleasure Domes to allow freedom in this respect without anyone being accused of adultery.

  These Pleasure Domes were initially set up to overcome any undesired boredom on the part of the Zelites and were fantastically organized by computer programs to suit the needs of any request that was made. For example, if a man wanted to participate in a ball game, he just logged on at the Dome and he was then transported mentally to take an active part in what appeared to be a live game. He could pick which position he wanted to play, and as far as his brain was concerned, he actually did take a live and active part in the game. He would even feel the physical impact on his body even after he had returned to a state of ‘compos mentis’.

  There were many activities that could be run. Any game such as golf, tennis, volleyball, etc. was available and, apart from sport, one could take part in a debate, fly out in the atmosphere with no wings, and just about anything one could visualize in one's imagination was there to be had.