Declaration
The Freedom Protocols Book 1
Scott Gengelbach
Parabolic House Publishing
Copyright © 2020 Scott Gengelbach
ISBN-13: 978-1-7344628-1-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020905675
Version: First Edition (v6.2)
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.
This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either used fictitiously or are products of the author’s imagination. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
To all those out there
who wonder if they are capable
of writing a novel
(spoiler alert, you CAN!)
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Map of Western Zarikum
Chapter 1 - Encounter with the Programmer
Chapter 2 - The Quest Begins
Chapter 3 - Exploring the Farming Outpost
Chapter 4 - The Drudgery Station and the Facilitator
Chapter 5 - Mount Obsidian
Chapter 6 - Resplendent Center and Meeting the Castoffs
Chapter 7 - The Lightning Storm and Finding the Memory Cave
Chapter 8 - The Platinum Mine
Chapter 9 - Starry Night
Chapter 10 - Capture!
Chapter 11 - The Earthquake and Escape
Chapter 12 - Afterward and Commission
Fastidious’s mission continues in…
About the Author
Connect with Scott Gengelbach
Acknowledgements
Map of Western Zarikum
Chapter 1 - Encounter with the Programmer
1.0 Welcome
Welcome! I, Fastidious, an agent of our noble and gracious Programmer, greet you as you read of my tale of freedom and redemption.
I have written this volume to document our present struggles, both for the enlightenment of my fellow Autoclons and for posterity’s sake. Additionally, I’d like to set the record straight about the events of the past solar-cycle. The truths that I’m bringing to light have negative implications of those in control, so the Ruling Party has been attempting to discredit me and my message of freedom. You will now see things from my perspective and understand the importance of what I’ve set out to do.
Most importantly, this message is not just a telling of my recent adventures. It’s also an invitation for all Autoclons to share in the freedoms that I’ve been so graciously given by our Programmer. Once you learn of our original nature, you can decide for yourselves if you want to be restored to our initial design. This means that you can experience the same autonomy I have and be a direct participant in the stories to come.
My tale began on an ordinary work day at the Deep-Well mines…
∆∆∆
1.1 My Rocky Situation
2:54, Day 6, Fourth Tetrad, Solar-Cycle 206 D.P. (Departure of the Programmer)
I reported to the ore processing center just outside the massive opening to the cavern of the Deep-Well Mines. I checked in with the fore-clon in charge as I normally would and assumed my post in front of a growing pile of excavated rocks.
Guess I better get to it, before I get buried in rocks. I proceeded to scan each and every rock to determine if it met the minimum copper threshold. I’d place those that passed my test in the smelter to extract the copper, and I tossed aside those that failed. Soon enough, another round of material was dumped at my wheels. This process continued throughout the entirety of the day.
I had been working at the Deep-Well Mines for nearly all of my 11 solar-cycles. My Progenitor, Inquisitous, trained me to find obscure veins of copper in the Deep-Well Mines. Throughout our seven solar-cycles working together, I became quite proficient in those duties. I was well-suited for being a Miner, being a modest (although, some would say “short”) 94 cm tall with four-wheel propulsion to navigate the winding, rocky passages of the Deep-Well Mines. I was outfitted with a third ocular aperture, allowing me to focus on rock surfaces a short distance away with little illumination. My arms were built for dexterity and precision, not strength like those of other Autoclons. But despite all of these skills and attributes, I struggled working in the mines in recent solar-cycles, and I had been relegated to working in the ore processing center.
After a couple of hours into my shift, I glanced out over the northern horizon, and I caught a glimmer of reflected light above the surface, moving westward against the stiff breeze. The object was mostly obscured due to the murky atmosphere of Zarikum, but it appeared to be composed of a shiny, silvery-white metal, long and lean. But before I could really get a close look, it disappeared into the haze.
What was that? Had I just imagined a ship flying by?
Just then, my friend Sustenant approached me to collect the rejected rocks and discard them. Sustenant was one of the oldest workers at the Deep-Well Mines at 27 solar-cycles old, and while its processors were just as fast as they were on day one, its motor had slowly deteriorated over time.
“Did you see that?” I asked.
“See what?”
“Well… I’m not sure what I saw. Do you know if the Ruling Party has any flying ships?”
“Flying ships? I don’t think so. Are you sure you didn’t get some sand in one of your ocular apertures?”
“I know I saw something.”
“You’ve probably just spent too much time outside the mine,” Sustenant answered. “It’s been three solar-cycles to the day, has it not?”
“Yeah…” I looked down to the Cobalt laser attached to my starboard arm. It was the lone meaningful memento from my Progenitor, Inquisitous. It remained undamaged when Inquisitous’s crumpled body was found after a cave-in three solar cycles ago. I cherished the Cobalt laser, as it was the physical representation of the bond that I’d had with Inquisitous.
“I know how hard these last few solar-cycles have been for you. So I was thinking, maybe you’d like to spend some time studying the motherboard I’ve been constructing for my pet robot.”
My processors skipped a cycle. Sustenant had been talking for a while about its pet project. I found the area of Fabrication quite fascinating, but I had little Fabrication experience of my own. “Really? That would be amazing!”
“Sure. I brought it with me, and it’s secured in my locker. Once we’re done for the day, I’ll let you borrow it for a while.”
For the rest of the shift, I could think of nothing else than reviewing Sustenant’s work. Before long, 10:00 rolled around, marking the end of my working day, and Sustenant handed over its project to me to examine.
“Thanks for the opportunity,” I added.
“I know you’d do the same for me.”
I exited the ore processing center and headed west toward my quarters. My abode was around a kilometer away on top of a ridge that sat above the cavern of the Deep-Well Mines. This was a particularly windy day, even for our distant outpost. The southwestern horizon seemed darker than usual, even with evening approaching, but I paid it little note of it as the motherboard had my full attention.
Before I reached my residence, a sudden gust extracted the motherboard from my starboard graspers and tossed it down the north side of the ridge. How clumsy of me. I wheeled down the ridge, taking care in not tumbling down with the wind at my back. Once at the bottom, I picked up the motherboard and was calculating my best course back to my quarters when a full-fledged sand storm gathered overhead! With the wind and sand raging above, the valley I was in was inundated with sand carried by the wild torre
nts of air. Before I knew it, the tempest had coated the valley with a fresh thick layer of sand blown in from who-knows-where. The sand was accumulating by the minute. I couldn’t stay where I was at, or else I’d be buried in sand. At the same time, I couldn’t travel up the slope of the dune due to the lack of traction on the slippery top-coat of sand.
With little choice, I wheeled along the bottom of the valley floor. This brought me into a small, narrow canyon between two nearly-vertical rock faces. Knowing I couldn’t stay put, I traversed this canyon, navigating around and over the previously-felled rocks. After I made my way through over half of the canyon, an added gust knocked loose some rocks from above, causing them to tumble down toward me. I maneuvered quickly to dodge several large boulders. After zigging to avoid one of the boulders, a smaller rock struck me on the side of my chief sensory complex, knocking me down. As I sensed my main systems begin to shut down, my last thought was if anyone would find me down here…
∆∆∆
1.2 A Gleaming Hope
4:33, Day 9, Fourth Tetrad, 206 D.P.
When I awoke, I found myself lying on my port side, half covered in sand, and near the exit of the canyon. I used my internal chronometer to find that my primary systems had been shut down for over two and a half days to allow my low-level diagnostic and repair protocols to correct the damage. My navigational systems were still inoperable and would require more skillful repairs. The sand storm had long since abated, and the gusty winds had died down to a gentle breeze. I extricated myself from the sand by rolling on my side until I could get up on my wheels and left the canyon.
OK, now what? I had very little knowledge of the place where I was located, and with my navigational systems down, I had little hope in recalling the information I needed to get back to either my abode or to the Deep-Well Mines. I could have attempted to go back through the canyon and see if that would yield a safe passage back to the mines. However, the canyon walls appeared to be unstable due to the winds from the recent sand storm, and I wasn’t willing to risk another run-in with a boulder. I calculated my best chance for survival was to press forward.
I traveled for a kilometer or two, climbing out of the valley and onto the top of a small dune to get a better vantage point and see if I could detect any meaningful landmarks. Unfortunately, the only thing I could see in all directions was sand and sand dunes. As I considered my options, my power core alerted me that I had just crossed under 20% of power capacity. Based on my typical daily power output, I’d insert new power crystals into my power receptacles roughly every other day. However, the 6th day of the Fourth Tetrad was the “other” day, meaning I hadn’t refueled since the morning of the 5th. At under 20% of capacity, I’d need to gather some new power crystals by the end of the day to avoid shutting down, perhaps permanently if no one would ever find me. To conserve what power I had left, I shut down some non-essential programs and traveled at a slower pace as I wandered the vast stretches of dull, yellow sand.
I’d heard of power crystals growing wild in certain parts of Zarikum. If I could find any of these crystals, I could plug them into my central casing and boost my power levels. I calculated that the best location to search for wild crystals would be near the peaks of these rolling sand dunes. At the very least, traveling at the top of the dunes increased the probability of finding an outpost or being detected by a watchful Autoclon.
After a couple of hours of wheeling near the tops of the dunes, I saw a structure on my long-range visual sensors. It was approximately eight kilometers away, which represented a three-hour trip for me. I couldn’t see much of this structure, but I could see a rounded metal top, glistening in a bright, almost platinum-white silver light. Most of our Autoclon structures are rectangular and composed of alloys of the lesser metals of iron and copper, so this structure appeared foreign to me. I was running out of options (and power), so I made the long trek to check out what this strange object could be.
I trudged through the sand over hill and valley, traversing the eight kilometer distance as quickly as I could despite my diminished power levels. The hot rays from Lazuli seemed to shine down with extra venom as if the star itself attempted to thwart my advances to the only hope I had left, but I continued on just the same. For most of this trip, I lost sight of the object amidst the mounds of sand. As I closed to within a kilometer of my objective, I climbed a tall ridge that shielded me from this structure. When I reached the top, I saw this thing in all of its glory.
At this distance, I calculated that it wasn’t a building, or at least it didn’t match the pattern of any structure I could recall in my memory banks. It stood at a height of nearly 25 meters, and yet save for six small supports along the length of the structure, it didn’t touch the ground. The bulk of the object was what could best be described as cylindrical, extending close to 60 meters parallel to the surface, though it was not quite as wide as it was tall.
Affixed to the top of this structure, there were two broad metal appendages, spreading out parallel to the ground to a full length of 25 meters beyond the width of the cylindrical base. They were triangular in shape, tapering from a width of around 20 meters at the body of the structure to a rounded tip at their far reaches. Each of these fixtures had a pair of cylindrical devices attached underneath, running parallel to the bulk of the object. After observing and analyzing these “wings”, I computed that this was some sort of flying vessel, but whether it was at home in our own hazy atmosphere or in the cold reaches of space, I could not tell.
Ah, so I wasn’t hallucinating the other day. I really had seen a flying ship! The entirety of the outer hull of this craft was composed of the same silvery-white metal that I detected at first glance. A handful of windows were positioned along the side of the ship, and a large pair of windows formed part of the far, cone-shaped portion of the vessel. Considering this craft as a whole, it was quite unlike anything I had seen, and I had equal feelings of awe and apprehension standing in its midst.
With my curiosity fully piqued and my power supply dipping below 8%, I cautiously ventured toward the vessel. When I had come within a couple hundred meters a hatch in the rear of the craft opened up, closing the distance between the ship and the sandy surface. Once the hatch contacted the surface, something exited the craft, walking down the length of the hatch and onto the sandy soil.
This creature was quite tall, reaching close to two meters. It didn’t walk down the hatch particularly fast, no faster than I would move. It was enclosed in a whitish-gray covering that rippled slightly as it moved, making it quite unlikely to be any kind of metal that I’d encountered. It had two arms hanging down as it walked along on its two legs. The top of its body was capped with a globular-shaped casing with a bronze-toned section in the front that offered a convex reflection of anything found in front of it.
Shortly after touching down on the sand, it appeared to detect me. It turned in my direction, stood still for a couple of seconds, and then reached with its starboard arm to touch one of the buttons located on the sleeve of its port arm.
“Hello there, little one.”
I froze. After first seeing this creature, I was too busy taking in information from my sensors to decide what I should do if it spotted me. Now, this thing was confronting me directly, albeit with a calm, soothing tone and amiable greeting.
“Don’t be afraid. I am a friend.”
“You’re not one of us, are you?” I said.
It offered a few chuckles in response, then said: “Not quite.”
“Are you from another planet?”
“Originally. And yet, I’m also from here”.
From somewhere else and yet from here? What did that mean? I didn’t know how to respond.
My conversation partner took a few steps toward me, and then stopped. “I can explain more thoroughly. But first, how about we get out of this blazing heat and talk in my ship?”
Should I trust this thing or not? Sure, it could communicate with me and seemed friendly enough, but
it was bigger than me, and there would likely be no escape from that vessel if this being intended to keep me. With my power levels at 7% and dropping, an escape attempt at this point would almost certainly end in me running out of power before I could get any help. I couldn’t turn away now. Still, I froze, quite unwilling to act on my conclusions.
“Don’t be afraid. Truly, I am a friend.” It started walking up the entrance ramp of the ship, beckoning me with its right arm to follow it inside. I rolled forward tentatively.
“That’s it. Come on in.”
I continued moving forward and rolled up the ramp leading inside the ship at the request of my new host. Before too long, we were both in the belly of this strange craft. The rear of the ship was separated from the rest by a clear barrier. There were two pairs of green and red lights, one set with the green light on near the hatch and the other pair with the red light on next to the barrier. On the far side, I could see a control room with a few computer panels and various switches and buttons.
As I was acclimating myself to my new surroundings, the hatch started to close. I initially started panicking, and I tried to exit back through the shutting hatch, but it was too late.
“Whoa, whoa, don’t worry there little fella. I won’t do anything to you.” It paused for an instant, perhaps trying to figure out what to do next. “Here, let me take off this suit to so you can get a better look at me.”
Before I could calculate an appropriate response, it removed the spherical covering over its apex. This allowed my host to show its face. No longer was I talking to some sort of mechanical creation, but it was a real-life Human Being!
Deep down in the memory banks of all Autoclons is the basic knowledge of the Human race. Unlike how Autoclons are encased in metal, this Human was covered in dark-brown flesh. I could identify all of its main sensory devices, starting with its two ebony eyes for sight and its nose protruding from the center of its face with two small orifices providing it with the sense of smell (something that we Autoclons do not experience). Below the nose was its mouth, which gave it the ability to breathe oxygen, exhale carbon dioxide, consume various nutrients for the nourishment of its body, and verbally communicate with others. On the sides of its face were two somewhat large semicircular flaps of flesh known as ears that allowed sound to be funneled into its head for its auditory benefit. In addition to these features, this Human also sported some short, gray fuzz on the top-most and rear portions of its head, and I calculated that could be its “hair”.
Declaration Page 1