The Last Place to Stand (18 page)

“You don't think you could be more specific, do you?” Samuel said.

“This happens to be something I know a bit about,” said D1298. “I was on the energy board of the city before we left. On the board there were always different concepts being thrown around for more efficient or more powerful energy sources we could use to power the city. Most were absurd and were thrown out. I remember seeing this one idea that seemed more like a joke than anything serious. It seemed something a science fiction hack had sent us as part of his manuscript because obviously it could never be done. This guy that sent it to us was a total geek and seemed out of touch with reality. You know one time he...”

“Okay, okay, get to the point,” said Samuel.

“Well the concept he had for power included using a small, contained black hole and then harnessing the energy generated by the gravitational force to generate an unheard of amount of energy. This was totally ludicrous because, first of all, he had all kinds of technologies theorized to make it happen which had never been invented yet. Some of which the board decided probably never could be invented. Of course, that wasn’t even the main problem.”

“What was that?” asked Samuel. He could see Samuel’s eyes drooping a little, but he smiled anyway. “What was the problem?”

If a black hole like that were created,” said D1298, “it would probably destroy the planet. Those plans they are holding are the ones I saw but they must have made some additions. You know, it would probably destroy our whole solar system if he doesn’t know what he is doing.”

“That sounds bad enough,” said Samuel.

They looked back out at the men-things. They seemed to have come to some sort of agreement and now were giving orders to various robots stationed nearby. Immediately they began to work, while the others consulted the plans and gave orders.

“Let's go,” said Samuel.

They traveled around more of the perimeter of the city, then headed in. This time they came to a building without all the noise of construction around it. It was white and probably a dozen or so floors were in it with tiny windows all around. On the side of it was an open hangar. There was some activity going on inside. Stealthily the men hid behind some garbage bins and watched. A penetrating bright light came from the hanger in bursts of blue. Samuel took out his electro-binoculars again.

“Take a look at this,” he said.

D1298 took a look through the binoculars. Two silver men dressed in white coats stood behind what looked like an elecron-gun. They were firing a burst of laser that might have cut a building in half, but another one of them stood about fifteen feet away and was holding something up. D1298 turned up the power of the binoculars. The thing they were firing at looked like a blue metallic sheet that appeared to be as thin as paper. The electron-gun could not even penetrate this substance. Then the one closest to the sheet took it in his hands and bent it back and forth testing its flexibility. “That's incredible,” said D1298. “How could such a material even be possible?”

“Let's get out of here,” said Samuel. “I've seen enough for now. Let's take one last look on our way out of the city.”

They headed around the way they came. By the time they got back, the sun was going down. Again, on the edge of the city where they had first seen buildings being torn down there were now a set of machines lined up in a row as far as they could see. These machines were heading steadily outward from the city and as they went they scooped up soil and converted it into a metallic-looking substance and left it in their wake, like asphalt. It was like they were paving the earth with metal. They were tremendously efficient and quick in the conversion process. They took regular land and made it into a perfectly smooth pavement. But it was more than just a road. It was everywhere in all directions. This group of construction robots stretched from one side off the city to the other and consumed the land in front of them..

“Samuel, if they keep heading the way they are going they will reach our village,” said D1298.

“That's what it looks like,” said Samuel.

“If it gets to the village, what do you think they will do when they reach the people?” asked D1298.

“There's only one way to know their intentions toward people,” said Samuel. “This is why I get paid the big bucks.”

“Huh?”

Samuel, without another word began to approach one of the construction robots. The machine made a funny whirring noise and then out of its front a stunner or elecron-gun appeared. Simultaneously a scooping device came out near the bottom. Recognizing the sound of the powering up of an electron-gun, Samuel ran and jumped just as the gun fired. A high energy pulse of electrons, a laser, fired near where he had been, but just missed him. Running toward D1298, he yelled, “We've got our answer. Let's get out of here!”

Both of them ran until they needed to rest. They were not being pursued. They headed toward the village as quickly as they could, knowing it would take them several more hours to get there.

X213 had been awoken in the night to the sounds of people screaming and electron-gun fire. She ran outside of their host's house and tripped over the body of an older woman. She had been seared through the midsection by an electro-gun blast. To her distant right she saw a large procession of robots with guns roaming through the village. They were shooting indiscriminately. They gave no demands, just killed anyone in their way. People ran in all directions, so she put on her shoes and ran away from where most of the robots were concentrated. Once she got outside of the village, she was safe from immediate gunfire, but the robots continued to pursue others. She needed a plan. She heard a sound behind her and she turned, seeing two men coming her way. It was Samuel, and another man whom she did not recognize. As they neared her, they saw what was going on in the village and both ran toward the gunfire.

She remained here where it was safer, hiding herself behind a large gray-green bush. Several minutes later others were crowded around the same bush. Among them was Samuel and the other man again. This time there was a little girl and a woman with them. Not far behind was Zach and some of his men. Even as they came out, another man hobbled out of the noise and dust preceded by four others. This group seemed to assemble around Samuel as he reached X213. “Are you alright?” he asked.

She nodded her head.

“So what's the plan, Captain?” said one of the men.

“Captain,” said another man, “there are robots all over this area. And it’s not just our village. Everywhere we look we see these robots searching us out. No place seems safe.”

“There is one place that's safe,” said Zach.

“Where?” said Samuel.

“Space,” Zach said.

“Be serious,” said Samuel.

“I mean it,” said Zach. “One of my men has been keeping tabs on new developments in another experimental division. He knows about an experimental ship made for space flight.”

“Can people survive in space?” said Samuel.

“Who knows?” said Zach. “But I think we are running out of options.”

“But how do we get there?” asked Samuel. “When D1298 and I arrived there were no robots here, now suddenly we are in danger out here with more robots coming this way from the city.”

“And we saw them manufacturing robots by the thousands,” said D1298. “Soon there will be no place that isn't crawling with them.” U1472 and his daughter, T-5529 stood beside him.

“What we need is fast transportation,” said Samuel.

A friendly looking, but large man stepped forward toward Samuel. “Well that is one area where I might be able to help.”

A few minutes later, on the outskirts of the village, in an area currently clear of robots, all of them assembled around a group of ostriches. “Where are the robots?” said Samuel.

“Where the most people are,” said Sydney. He turned to face the large, intimidating birds. “Okay, here's how this works. I have plenty of ostriches, so everyone can pick one out.” Everyone neared an ostrich. Next, Sydney came around and put a bag around the head of each one. It slid down the neck and gave a better place to sit for the riders. “Now, be careful of the wings as you mount. Since Zach's partner, Prometheus, knows where to go, he should head out first. We will not group together since these birds move fast and can be erratic. Get to the area and get off. I'll warn you again, these birds go like crazy. We have included a steering device by the back of the neck, so that, though they will be fast, at least they will go where you turn them. It will be dangerous, but it's better than being shot, don't you agree? When you get on, tuck your feet under and hold on as though your life depended on it. It does.”

“But what about the children?” said Jane. Lucy and Sam looked up at their mother with worried looks on their faces. “They can’t ride these,” she said, panic in her voice.

“That’s why we’ll come back for you,” said Samuel. “It’s the only way.”

“Then I will stay with them,” said D1298. He had put on a face of bravery, but Samuel could tell he was as scared as the others. Samuel looked at his daughter and his heart ached.

“Yes, we’ll come for you with the ship,” said Sydney. “Now let’s get going.”

Prometheus, a thin man with little muscle, got on. He took off like a rocket, roughly steering his way in the direction of the city. “Don't let him get out of sight,” said Sydney. “One go at a time so we don't collide with each other. I will bring up the rear and help those who get dismounted.”

Samuel took one last look at D1298, his ex-wife, and his daughter and then climbed up on the ostrich. He was off.

Odysseus kissed Jane. “I’ll stay with the kids,” she said.

“Then I’ll be right back.” He hoped he was telling the truth. He looked up toward the highest peak, Mount Tumuleiah, and saw no activity up there. “Go to the mountain,” he said.

“Yes,” she said. He got down on one knee and Lucy and Sam gave him a hug. “See you soon.” Hamlet gave his mom a hug and then got on his own beast.

Jane gave Odysseus one last quick kiss and said, “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he said, trying to keep back his tears. He turned at once and mounted his ostrich and it took off. The transition from the sadness of saying bye to his family to trying to keep on this wild animal was like a slap in the face. The adrenaline rush was intense as scrub brush rushed by. He held on for his life.

A couple more people got on ostriches a few seconds apart, running like crazy. X213 got on hers and she was afraid she was going to die. This creature was so fast and erratic she didn't know how she could hold on. But the fear of getting shot by robots gave her such determination that she stayed on, only falling once at the beginning. Sydney came by and helped her back up. “You'll be sore,” he said, “but you'll be alive.” Then she was off again. There was a moment when she crossed into a section of robots. They shot toward her a few times, but she quickly outdistanced them.

The ground skidded by at a tremendous rate of speed, but she had to admit, it was the most exciting thing she had ever done.

Zosimus let his ostrich run away. It seemed the robots were only trained to seek out people and did not mind animals running loose. Many of the others had already arrived, but they were still waiting for a few who had difficulty steering their ostriches. Sydney was rounding them up now.

“How did you like that little ride of death?” asked Zosimus.

“Well, at least I'll have something to tell my kids,” said Samuel. “That is, if I'll still be able to have kids after that ride.” He felt a surge of pain as he thought of his own daughter waiting for him.

Once off the ostriches, the birds ran away freely and Prometheus led them quickly to an old abandoned looking building. There was an old fashioned lock on the front. “Can someone open this?” said Prometheus.

Sydney opened up a pouch strapped to his chest and pulled out a small black object.

“An electric cutter?” said Prometheus. “I thought we didn’t use modern technology.”

“You want me to use it or not?” said Sydney.

“Go ahead,” said Prometheus. Sydney cut the lock off and they entered.

What they saw was some kind of underground bunker. A ladder led into the darkness. Prometheus pulled out a handlight. “At least here, the robots won’t be able to find us,” said Prometheus. “But we need to hurry for the sake of the kids.”

When the last of the group was assembled, Prometheus found a light switch. “Follow me.” He led them toward the back of the room where he opened up a door in the floor, leading to a set of metal stairs. “This is the back way,” he said. The whole group began to descend. On a lower floor, he turned on the lights again with a switch. This revealed another floor where desks with old-fashioned computers lay huddled together. Antique offices. They were abandoned and terribly outdated. At the end of the room was a door and another set of stairs. They took these going down for several floors. At the bottom they went through a door that led to an even larger room. They found some lights and turned them on revealing an underground hanger. In the middle lay a structure unlike anything any of them had ever seen. A tremendously large, gray disk. It stood on legs extending to the ground. “Hey,” said Zosimus, “this looks like all those UFO pics from past centuries.”

“Yup,” said Prometheus. “That's right. I noticed that as well. Weird, to say the least. It was an abandoned project from years ago. I discovered it just before they shut it down.”

“Does it work?” said Samuel.

“I think so,” said Prometheus. “It was not abandoned because of non-functionality. It was because of a change in direction from the government. The new Director of Operations decided that instead of expanding into space, they would focus on expanding the capacity of humans. He believed once humans were changed, then we could affect the universe much more. Projects like this were from a different administration.”

“Well, if we stay on this rock, we die,” said a community leader. “If we go into space though, we still don't know what our chances might be.”