A Spit In The Eye - For The Benefit Of Mankind (25 page)

Wherever
they may be

Through
my rear eye I saw the 3 remaining RolKils speed around the edge of
the building and they immediately began to fire

I threw
my hands into the air and my left hand took a direct hit from 1
lazer beam and my hand disintegrated

Leaving
wires dangling

All other
lazer shots passed beneath me

And I
curled into a ball

Hit the
ground

Rolled to
the edge of the building again

And
leaped to my feet as I cleared it

Speeding
off along the shorter length of this side

Because
we were all moving so quickly

The
RolKils were not closing the gap on me as much as I may have
expected

Maybe my
speed was equal to theirs after all

But I
didn’t have a single weapon

The only
immobilizing device I had was the overpowered signal of
companionship

It was
all I had

My rear
camera showed them speeding around the edge of the building behind
me

And they
had closed the gap between themselves and me just a
little

But they
began to fire the moment the appeared

There was
only one thing I could try

I ran at
the fabric of the building and I ran up it diagonally

Using my
speeded motion to keep me above the firing line of the
RolKils

The lazer
hits took massive chunks out of the fabric but they were all below
me

As I
arced higher and higher

Knowing
that my forward trajectory would eventually cause me return to the
surface Earth

But I was
very close to another edge of the building

Though
the RolKils were closer because of my diversion up the side of the
facility

I began
to return back down the building and lazer hits came closer to my
feet

But I
made the edge with 1 last effort

And threw
myself into the air

Landing

And
racing down the hill away from the fortress

Curving
my run so that I speeded into the forest

Not only
into it

But
deeply into it

Leaving
the RolKils to return to their light fire of burning of the bushes
and grasses

They had
a certain determination to drive me out of the forest

Except I
kept going

Through
the forest

Until I
emerged from the other side

Speeding
back up the hill and curving around the forest closest to the
fortress

I seemed
to be determined to get myself eliminated for

As I
curved around the forest

At full
speed

The
RolKils still burning bushes and grasses

I speeded
down the hill where they were stood

All
facing into the forest

Boom

Boom

And I
carried on speeding down the hill

With
feelings of great excitement rushing through my systems

Only 1
remaining

Only 1
RolKil to immobilize

The
RolKils had never been defeated in any action

Except
during the early days of the wars with the Humans

Once
developed

They were
indestructible

But
I

A
little

Though
determined

Observer
Recorder was defeating them

I
realized there was only 20 of them to begin with

But they
were all capable of firing lazers at 100.000 per minute

And 20
multiplied by 100.00 was quite a significant number

From my
rear camera

I espied
the remaining RolKil racing down the hill after me

Rolling
along on its long limbs as if working beyond its limits

There was
no turning back into the forest

I had to
keep speeding along the great plain

The
RolKil barely catching me

Though
its determination to obliterate me was so intense that it wasn’t
even bothering to fire its lazers

It wanted
close contact

It wanted
to

As the
Machine saw it

Gaze into
my eyes and see the fear in them before it obliterated
me

But I had
a plan too

And when
I arrived at the lake

I dropped
my shutters and raced into the water

Submerging myself

Going
down as far as I could

Then
stopping to lie on my back and stare up at the surface while
animals moved all around me

I had no
idea if the RolKil would enter the water or roll across its
surface

In either
case I was ready for it

If it
chose to enter the water I would stir up the base of the lake which
caused great gloom and I would push for the surface and try and
immobilize it with a boom of the signal

As it
was

The
RolKil chose to roll along the surface which was its last great
error

As it
searched for me

Ready to
eradicate me with a violent burst of lazer fire

As it
passed over me

And I lay
on the bottom

Half
covered by the dirtiness of the base of the lake

Watching
its progress across the surface

I pushed
off and exited the water with some speed high into the
air

And I
continually boomed the signal of companionship at full power at the
Machine until all six limbs fell forward and became still and began
to sink slowly beneath the surface

I sank
down to the bottom too

But once
my feet hit the bottom I moved out of the water just in time to see
the central core of the RolKil disappear

That was
some war

I
considered

One that
I had been extremely fortunate to gain victory in

It had
been a close call

And I had
lost my left hand in the process

Once
clear of the water I did something I had never done
before

I fell on
to my back in amongst the colorful grasses and I stared up at the
pinpricks of light and the silver satellite that was in full
roundness

As they
shone in the darkened skies

This
Earth

I
thought

Was a
place of some myth and wonder

The only
inhabited planet in the whole Universe

If
teachings from High Office were to be believed

And it
deserved to be saved from Machines

My own
species

Humans
deserved to inherit it again

And I was
doing my best

I had
just fought a war that

In the
histories of the world

Could be
described as tiny

No other
Machine

No other
Human

Would
ever know that I had fought it

My Humans
would know but they would not appreciate the effort
required

They
would never know how close they had come to having to find their
own way out of the fortress

I lay in
the grasses and replenished my energy levels again as I watched the
solar orb rise up into the skies and a period of light
begin

And I
watched the transmissions of calmness and order that I was sending
to High Office

How very
different from the actuality of the situation I had so recently
been involved in

Who would
have considered that an unarmed Observer Recorder could ever have
overcome 20 deadly RolKils

I

For
1

Would
never have considered it

If I had
not been driven on by the sense of mission that I held in my
core

For
little Eve

And her
papa

I would
never have succeeded

And
finally

I was
almost ready to meet the Humans in the caves

**

**

Section 15

**

Internal
Transmission

*

I jumped
to my feet and stretched my arms wide

It seemed
to me to be a wonderful time to exist

My plans
had come to fruition and I was in a position to free the Humans
from their prison

After 100
years or longer

I began
to move back towards the facility

Taking my
time

Enjoying
the rising solar orb

Turning
my head to look at it

Taking in
the full glory of the sight

Receiving
much joy from it

I desired
nothing more than that little Eve could have survived to see
it

She would
have been thrilled

She would
have run through the high grasses laughing and making joyful
sounds

Dragging
her hands along the tops of the grass

And the
animals of the fields would have crowded around her

So joyful
would they have been to see 1 so much in touch with the
Earth

I felt
greatly saddened at the thought that she would never see this
sight

But then
I was lifted when I considered that the other boys and girls would
be able to take benefit of it

For
Humans could live in this part of Gland without fear when I finally
took it upon myself to dispense with the GunTans

Who still
stood

Sentinel
like

Overlooking the great plain

Though
there was a safe route for the Humans to take to the cave that
wouldn’t be overseen by them

I made my
way through the forest

Through
the scorched bushes and grasses where the RolKils had attempted to
deprive me of cover

A
strategy that I much admired

And when
I stepped from the trees I halted for a brief passage of time to
stare at the building

That no
longer seemed to be so forbidding

No longer
such an impenetrable fortress

Now

Simply a
containment area for free Humans

Immobilized RolKils stood uselessly all around and I passed
them by

Through
all the security gates and fences and I lay my right palm against
the security device that allowed me entrance

And I
entered

Passing
the two immobile and dead Defgars

And it
was as I passed them that anger began to grow inside me

What did
the Humans do to make the RolKils prepare for action

To
prepare to disintegrate me

What
happened while I was away the dark period before last

Immediately

Though

I needed
a DocTech so that I could acquire a new hand

I found
one working in the general area and

Soundlessly

I held
out my left hand to it

The
DocTech stared at the damage

Then at
me

Though of
course

We had no
way of communicating

And he
turned and moved away and I followed and the DocTech moved to a
separate room where all manner of instruments lay around

The
DocTech moved to a large facility from which it pulled a spare
hand

Though
this 1 was silver colored

Not
yellow as the remainder of me was

The
DocTech began work on my hand and in a very short period of time I
had a perfectly serviceable working left hand again

I moved
away from the DocTech

Recovered
the LazExt from where I had laid it when I exited the fortress some
long time ago

And I
moved to the passage where only the fence separated Humans from
me

I stood
and waited to be espied by Eves papa

Who came
across immediately to stand on the other side

He began
making sound instantly