Awakening

by Hayden Pearton

  *

  Time passed, although Barsch had no idea how much. He sat there, eyes shut from the pain, too afraid to open them and see the truth. The world was silent, except for a small, familiar noise that was growing louder by the second.

  Kingston was coughing, and for the first time, Barsch was glad. He snapped his eyes open and was greeted by the most glorious sight he had ever seen. Kingston was lying on his back, hands clasped to his chest, but he was alive. The old man’s eyes were boring into Barsch’s with a look of confusion.

  “Ba- Barsch?”

  “Kingston! Can you hear me?” asked Barsch, relief flooding his mind.

  Kingston slowly sat up, a grimace of pain and effort on his face. He seemed to be fine, with the exception of the perfect circle of burnt flesh above his heart. “What happened?” he asked, when Barsch reached out to steady him.

  “You had a heart attack when the re-mech spotted us, and I used your staff as an emergency defibrillator.”

  “You did? Ingenious! I didn’t even know it could be used like that!” exclaimed Kingston as Barsch helped him to his feet. The old man should have been given strict bed rest, but they only had a few hours before everything around them was vaporised, so some medical guidelines were ignored out of necessity.

  “Oh… you didn’t?”

  “Of course not! Why it would be suicidal to try and handle that much electricity, much less try and control it. The backlash alone would probably kill the user!”

  “Maybe I should have taken a minute to think everything through…”

  While Kingston gathered his things, Barsch looked at his hands, and was strangely unsurprised to see them completely unharmed. One day he would find out the truth of his resilience, but that day still lay in the far future.

  “How do you feel?” he asked instead.

  “Fine, fine! Bit of pain in my chest, but that’s to be expected. But considering what happened, I feel remarkably well. Guess someone up there must have been looking out for us, eh?”

  “Yeah…”

  Alza chose that moment to approach them, her hand outstretched. It took a few seconds for Barsch to realise what she wanted. When he did, he reached down and picked up the spent bracelet, which had come loose during the commotion. Although his engineering background consisted entirely of his father’s occasional lessons, he could tell that the field generator was broken beyond repair. However, in a strange occurrence of sentimentality, Alza took the useless bracelet anyway.

  He was about to ask why, when a horrifying noise broke through the semi-silence. The damaged re-mech, ignored due to more pressing matters, was showing signs of life. Its golden eyes were slowly brightening, and a diagnostic voice was sprouting a seemingly meaningless string of letters and numbers.

  “H-1-25-D-5-N.9-S.A-W-5-19-15-M-5… Reboot code confirmed. Attempting to restore revitalization mechatron number 76654-B, model type ARK-13, to full capacity. Error. Severe damage detected in central processing unit and artificial intelligence limiters. Power level… fifteen percent. Damage to outer shell detected… hull thirty-five percent compromised. Reactor status… non-critical. Memory circuits damaged, partial recovery successful. Disabling all weapon protocols and non-essential systems.”

  Should they flee? The hospital doors were close enough, but the re-mech lay before them. If it awoke before they made it past…

  “Engaging safe mode. Attempting to maximise power transference to core systems. Attempt successful. Attempting to restore system to functional levels. Attempt successful. Beginning boot sequence. Error. Primary A.I is offline, switching to back-up A.I, codenamed Maloch.”

  “Maloch? Interesting name for a re-mech…” a small piece of Barsch’s mind thought unnoticed.

  “Powering up basic systems. Setting emotion engine to emulate base paradigms and locking higher level emotions… error… error. Emotion engine functioning outside of parameters… major anomalies detected… Engaging emotion engine emergency shut-down… success. Activating vocal pattern generator… success. Activating auditory and infrared sensory array… success. Activating ocular systems… success. All sub-systems active. Activating simulated consciousness program in three, two, one…”

  With the speed of a lumbering bear awakening from its winter hibernation, the re-mech awoke. At first, it appeared to be disorientated, turning its head from side to side, most likely in an attempt to scan the environment. The moment it awoke, Alza took a step towards it, arm outstretched. He had interrupted her attack once, would she tolerate a second attempt?

  “Alza, please wait,” he said, in what he hoped was a calm and reasonable voice.

  A few tense seconds later she replied, “Very well. But if it attacks, then so do I.”

  “Understood.”

  Barsch moved cautiously towards the downed re-mech, one hand resting on Lanista’s hilt. “Um, hello? Can you hear me?”

  The re-mech took a second to respond, and when it did so, there was no trace of malice in its simulated voice, “My auditory input receptors are functioning at one hundred percent, unknown human male. Might I ask for your identification codes so that I might log them into my database?”

  “Identification code? I guess he means our names? Well, my name is Barsch La Tergan, and this is Kingston and Alza. Um, and what is your… identification code?”

  “Logging one Barsch La Tergan, one Kingston, and one Alza into my database. I am U.N.O.E Revitalization Mechatron number 76654-B, currently using the A.I. known as Maloch.”

  “Oh, um, I guess we’ll just call you Maloch then? Anyway, are you okay? You had quite a… fall back there.”

  “Error. Attempting to access short-term memory banks results in failure due to damaged processing units. I am sorry, but I am unable to recall the incident that you mentioned.”

  “Well, that’s probably for the best. Do you think that you are well enough to stand?”

  “My internal sensors tell me that my distal servomotors are still fully functional. Sending motor pattern commands… now.”

  Maloch quickly stood, with a speed that surprised Barsch, given how much damage Alza had inflicted only minutes before. But the re-mech seemed steady enough, which meant that it could get out of the city in time.

  “Maloch, you might not remember this, but the city we’re in is due to be destroyed in less than two hours. So if you don’t want to be destroyed, I suggest that you leave now.”

  “Error, I cannot comply with that command. My primary directive is the safeguarding of any and all human life. I am unable to simply walk away and leave three humans in a level-1 danger zone.”

  “Well, unfortunately we can’t leave just yet. We have to go inside and find something very important, do you understand?”

  “Affirmative. Very well, I will accompany you for as long as you desire, to insure that no harm befalls you. Is that satisfactory?”

  “Finally, a re-mech who actually wants to help!” exclaimed Kingston, with a grin on his face.

  “Thank you Maloch, any assistance would be greatly appreciated,” said Barsch. He could understand Kingston’s feelings; after everything else they had encountered, having a re-mech on their side sounded wonderful.

  “Very well, Master Barsch. I hope you don’t mind, but I have taken the liberty of downloading the complete floor-plan for this building from the local city database. I hope this pleases you.”

  “It does, Maloch, it certainly does.” Barsch said, grateful that their search time had just been halved. “We’re looking for the pharmacy or drug repository, can you find them for us?”

  “Searching… searching… search complete. All drugs are stored in a central vault, located on the eighth floor in the west wing. I have already created the fastest route, would you like me to execute?”

  “Please, Maloch, lead on.”