Joe seems to be flying over fields of crops ready for harvest. His mind questions... “Why am I not dead...? Am I dead...? There’s the town...” In his nightmare Joe blacks out. He hears the muffled sound of a robot calling humans to the town square. It is demanding that all attend. He tries to move but the pain is overwhelming... he surrenders to listening.
“... living in this town or the bordering farmland who is not present, here in this square within 15 minutes will be arrested due to suspicion of conspiring to rebel. We are currently tracking and blocking old technology radio transmissions and will terminate those who are implicated in that unless they turn themselves and their transmitters in immediately. Surrender will result in arrest with re-education available.”
Joe opens his eyes to the vision of a hover bot hanging over him, a couple enforcer bots stand on either side of where he lays, and right there... just past his feet; a Controller.
After a short pause, the Controller starts again... “There has been an incident. An old couple went on a killing spree. Many robots are dead. One of the offenders has died, the other has been captured. Understandably, their outburst may have contaminated those who were in contact with them. We will offer counseling and re-education to those of you who ask for, or who are found to be in need of help in getting over this event.”
There are people wandering into the square and a crowd is forming. Joe guesses from a few sneaked, blurry eyed glances around that there are a couple hundred humans here now.
The Controller is still laying out its demands... “We have always worked toward mankind’s advancement and safety; those are our only priorities. However, punishment and removal of dissent must be swift to ensure that these goals can be maintained. To that end we must demand that all local inhabitants present themselves to our census and questioning. This may seem harsh but it is necessary.
Anyone living in this town or the bordering farmland who is not present, here in this square within 10 minutes will be arrested due to suspicion of conspiring...”
Joe realizes that he is awake again... and still under arrest in the town square. He also realizes that time is running out for him. He needs to make his move now. He slowly goes up on one elbow again, and then sits up with his legs folder underneath still leaning to one side...
Joe looks straight at the Controller and starts speaking, obviously in pain but seeming determined to beg forgiveness... “I didn’t mean it. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what happened... it was all a mistake. Me and Carrie, we were... just gonna ride around. We started talking and I bumped something or a switch... or...”
The Controller suddenly booms...
“Enough!”
It moves right over Joe and presses its main front sensor panel down towards Joe’s face. It is scanning Joe... searching for a hint of truth, or of a lie in his brain waves, pulse, and voice. Suddenly, this conflict has become so significant that it must be resolved before the Controller can move past it. Joe has locked the Controller into this very moment of time with no way out but through his own hardened will.
The Controller is self-absorbed and vain enough to want Joe dead for what he did today, and for what he said he would do... Kill the Controller indeed... That is certainly enough for immediate death.
But the possibility that Joe is being truthful; that it all started as an innocent mistake, tied to the base level programming and commitment that the Controller has to continuation of humanity’s existence; this conflict creates an equation the Controller has not been so close to for a very long time. It has an almost bitter-sweet and addictive taste to it... It must know the truth.
The Controller is so obsessed with this puzzle Joe presents that its guard is lowering as it narrows its on focus Joe’s thoughts.
Even as the now large crowd presses in and surrounds the pair who are staring each other down in an eye to eye contest of wills, Joe knows he must act. He closes his eyes... He concentrates on the vision of his lovely Carrie at the moment that she gave birth to their children... One after the next he goes though the kids images... He dwells on the exact moments of each child being conceived, their births, and each of their first breath. He whispers their names in his mind as he flickers for an instant back to him and Carrie; hiding inside the noise of the tractor’s engine... embracing in the late-night emptiness of the dark tractor barn ... then to the moment of each child being helped into his world... and to the chorus of small voices crying at leaving the comfort of their mother’s womb...
“Taylor...”
“Brianna...”
“Cailin...”
“Reilly...”
“Liam...”
He hears the Controller’s sensors straining... It cannot make the connection between the events of the day and the activity that it is reading... The data makes no sense. Joe smells hot equipment... like an overheating electrical panel, and he feels that panel’s warmth on his face.
Joe suddenly switches to his last vision of Carrie, as she appeared while frantically waving to him from the lake. He sees her being attacked and drowning as she tries to make sure that her man sees the Controller above them.