need to speak with Captain Bogart, please,” Sarah said.
“Apologies, but the captain is occupied. Might I assist you?”
Summers snarled.
“I don’t think you understand, puppet,” he said. “We need to see the captain. Now.”
“I am unable to…” Benjamin replied, but Summers cut him off and bolted through.
“Come on, Sarah. I can see his office from here.”
“Ma’am, I highly suggest…”
Sarah pushed him back and followed Summers’ lead.
“You can arrest us later,” she said.
The Central Station was essentially a great hall with both embassies on each side and the captain’s main office in the middle. It didn’t take much guesswork to locate the proper door, and once they made it over, Sarah punched in a four-digit pin to unlock it. She didn’t think it would work, actually. Usually, they changed those every week for security purposes.
“Cap? Is that you?” Summers said, peering overhead to a chair facing the opposite wall. “I need to show you something.”
“Mr. Bogart, our Colony is in Peril,” Sarah exclaimed.
A mechanical voice filled up the room as it uttered a word.
“Destroy.”
“What … did you say?”
“Destroy them all.”
Sarah swung around to the sound of the office doors sliding shut and the clicking of a locking mechanism. The captain’s chair creaked around until she could see that it was uninhabited. Empty.
“I think we’ve been had,” she said.
“The Colony is in danger. I must destroy them all.”
“You’re the Colony Intelligence,” Summers exclaimed. “What’s going on here, Johnny?”
“Greetings, Miss Price and Mr. Summers. I am sorry to have to do this.”
“Johnny, I order you to stop this,” Sarah said. “And, where is Captain Bogart?”
“Captain Bogart was unwilling to comply in accordance with the best interests of the Colony.”
“Am I hearing this right? Were you behind the robot malfunctions?” Summers asked.
“Yes.”
“Tell me, Johnny, Did you drop the Colony out of FTL when we were all asleep?”
“Yes.”
“Wait, he did what?”
“We haven’t moved much for a thousand years. I came here to explain that to Captain Bogart. Now it appears I don’t have to.”
“Why would you do that, Johnny?”
“Calculations predicted destruction of Earth humans during suspended animation. However, during FTL, the Colony picked up earth transmissions.”
Summers crossed his arms over his chest.
“That’s impossible. They’d have to be ahead of us.”
“Correct.”
“Don’t you see?” Sarah exclaimed. “Somehow our ancestors made it, and they lapped us in the process.”
“Hold on now, I don’t trust a machine.”
“Transmissions intercepted suggested a species transformed through violence and domination. No longer human.”
“So you were protecting us?”
“I delayed transport within safe margins to ensure new ships would not locate the Colony.”
“This is a lot to take in, Johnny,” Summers said.
Sarah nudged back her glasses and stared into one of the security cameras.
“If that’s the case, then unlock the doors. You act as if we’re a threat.”
“Systems detected unauthorized integration of the Colony systems into a human host. Your people are following the path of the Non-Humans.”
“Even so, you don’t have to kill us all,” Sarah said.
“Not all. Your combined DNA will provide sufficient genetic variation for clones.”
“You’re insane!” Summers shouted.
“Make your peace. The end will come within hours.”
Episode no. 13
The Protector
Paul drew short rapid breaths from a cold midnight air. The atmosphere was changing, and the shift from night to day was a few hours away. He rubbed his hands together to build up some heat from the friction, but his body was still cold and the temperature was dropping.
“No too bad, eh, doc?” he said.
Dr. Hendrix sat near the corner of the shack on a chair propped up against one of the doors. The maintenance shed served as a makeshift bunker to hide them from the mess going on outside. Three of the nurses from the Hospital managed to make it across the parking lot with them. Robots were everywhere, and it didn’t matter much if they had weapons. Even the cleaning drones packed a serious bite. Paul nearly lost a foot if it wasn’t for the doc.
“I still don’t see the point.”
“Any idea what caused this?”
“Not a clue,” Hendrix replied.
Paul paced back and forth across the concrete flooring of the shack. His heartbeat eased down to normal levels, but normal was a hard category to pin down. Each machine for miles was on permanent kill mode. Anything that ran through the Colony Intelligence. Drones. Computers. Automatic doors. He had to prop some furniture up against the sliding doors of the shed from the inside to keep them out.
“Attention, Earth creatures. I am your alien master.”
A deep mechanical voice bellowed from a wall-mounted computer terminal as a waveform graphic spat out a moving image in sync with the rhythm of it. Paul spotted it moments ago, but now that the screen showed something other than floating text, he peered over. Aliens? It all made sense now!
“Just kidding,” the voice said.
The waveform raised the pitch back to average levels and for the first time, he heard what sounded like a young man talking into a microphone.
“Who is this?” he asked.
“Name’s Nick Valdez. I’m the chief programmer and software engineer.”
“Can you help us stop this robot uprising?” Dr. Hendrix asked.
“I thought you’d never ask.” A camera feed filled the screen in place of the waveform graphic. It looked like a medical facility, but with empty capsules, and it took a few seconds for Paul to realize. “The image on the screen is a camera feed of a location within the Cryo bay. You need to go here and send a man named Marcus Stanley back into suspended animation.”
“Cryo bay. That’s not too far.”
“I know,” Nick said. “That’s why I contacted you. Everyone else is either preoccupied or sick from the freaking plague.”
Dr. Hendrix stepped in and laid a hand on Paul’s shoulder.
“Hold on, Mr. Taggart. This communication might be a trick by the Colony Intelligence. How would putting someone back into Cryo be useful in stopping the machines?”
“Well, um…” Paul said. The answer fell short of his lips.
“Marcus Stanley was the Colony Intelligence until about 30 minutes ago when he asked me to eject him from Cryo.”
“He WAS the Colony Intelligence?” Dr. Hendrix shouted.
“Yes, and it turned out he was the only thing holding back the real A.I. from doing … well, this. It locked me out of most systems, but encrypted communications still work.”
Paul walked across the room to the sliding doors. He took his two fingers and slid it open a bit to see what was going on. Mechanical drones prowled the gardens, patrolling for human life. It was orderly, if nothing else.
“I’ll make the trip,” Paul said. Dr. Hendrix disagreed.
“Mr. Taggart, allow me. I’m a better runner.”
“No, I’m going. We’ll need you alive to cure the sick.”
Nick continued, “Once you decide, I can bug them out for a few seconds. You should be able to find a way from there.”
“Good going. I’m ready when you are,” Paul said as he primed his firearm.
It held a couple fragment rounds, enough to tear through a bot or two if he needed to make a quick break. He pulled apart the doors a little more this time and peered out
side at the patrols. In line with what the kid said, the machines stopped their patrols all at once and stood on either their hover rings or wheels for the older models.
He bolted across the gardens and up the sidewalk ramp. The Cryo bay was three blocks away, but that was going to be one hell of a run. By the time he made it up the ramp, he was already out of breath and his legs felt like lead weights. One block down. Paul kept running though. As fast as he could. The machines started moving again and one of the big wheels rolled over to him. He jumped back as it missed him and crossed over a patch of flowers.
“Not good,” he said.
Paul bolted, this time at least twice his former speed as the robot amped up its own road rage. It barreled down the sidewalk at break-neck speed and its arms protruded gigantic claws. Paul ran so fast that he tripped over his foot and fell flat on his face.
This was it. The Colony was … he thought to himself, but when he looked up, he saw the giant robot veer off road. Another person clung to its back and sparks flew from her. A cutting torch? No way. Nobody’s stupid enough to do that. The robot dropped down seconds later and a young woman climbed off the wreckage with a red-hot plasma gun in her hand.
“You have some skills, ma’am,” he said.
She pulled up her visor and glanced at him from across the garden.
“You look like you’re headed somewhere. Don’t let me stop you.”
“I could use your help. Come with me.”
She stood her ground and smiled as she pulled her visor back over her face.
“Some of them can be fast. I’ll make sure none follow.”
“Understood,” Paul replied. “If we both survive, I’d like to know your name, ma’am.”
“Danny Fritz, but you can call me Danielle.”
Paul ran off and in two more blocks of searching, came across the Cryo bay. The building was low to the ground because