The engine room was probably the most impressive. The reactor, as Pete called it, could power an entire colony for a lifetime. It looked like it ran on nuclear energy, but the entire topside of the ship also acted as a solar array, harnessing energy and funneling it back into the ship.
Once completed, this thing could self-sustain for decades. Jared knew he had to have this ship.
“I wonder why we’ve never seen one of these before. You’d think if they wanted to catch us, they could’ve sent one to take us out.”
“It’s n-not done?”
“True, but if we randomly stumbled on something like this, wouldn’t it make sense they’d have more?”
Pete shrugged and worked the robot back and forth from the ship to the pile of cargo.
“I think it’s time to cut the robot loose. If we extract him from the hangar now, it’ll raise alarms. Let’s move back to using the sensor probes and find another way to enter the city. Also, is there any way to check for a camera or sensors around this area? If there’s nothing around here, I can go out to explore.”
“That is not a g-good idea. I don’t want to stay b-by myself.”
“What if I stay close? Also, you can just keep one of these sensor probes nearby and let me know if anything moves around. Remember, I can hear your thoughts if you project them forcefully enough.”
“B-but what if that shield p-prevents you from hearing me too?”
“Good point, I didn’t think about that. Okay, let’s get another service bot, and you can work your magic on him.”
Rolling the sensors into the first warehouse, it looked like all the robots were offline.
“I’ll go get one.”
“Jared, I—”
“You’ll be fine, Pete. I’m just going to go grab one quickly and bring it back here.”
He didn’t wait for a response and dashed from the ship. Something flickered at the corner of his vision, but when he turned to look, nothing was there. Frowning, Jared picked up his pace and grabbed the first robot in the room. He slung it over his shoulder and raced back to the ship. Once on board, Jared lay the bot down and motioned for Pete to get working while he watched the view from the sensor probes to make sure nothing came after him.
“All clear.”
Pete didn’t seem at all thrilled, but grudgingly admitted his fear misplaced. Pete finished synching the robot’s camera to the ship and sent it exploring through the rooms. Instead of entering the warehouse, they sent it to check out an adjacent dock that was empty. The platform led to yet more warehouses on the other side which proved much the same as the ones they’d just explored. One hundred service bots lined the walls, and an adjacent warehouse revealed another row of fifty drones with phase rifles.
Feeling a sense of déjà vu, Jared had Pete send the bot down the same series of tunnels that also led into another large hangar with another ship. The difference in this hangar was immediately clear. There were no active robots milling about, only a row of them stood in front of an open ramp leading into a completed ship.
Comparing this to the previous, Jared realized how much work there was yet to go on the first one. This massive behemoth of mechanical engineering was incredible. Sleek, precise, and deadly, the ship sat entombed in the hangar with nowhere to go and no one to witness its beauty.
Their enslaved robot marched into the open room and paused in front of the motionless robots. They didn’t move. Just like the interior of the previous ship, the entire hangar held a solid layer of dust from many, many years.
“Let’s look at the ship.”
The layout was identical, but the interior much more luxurious and fully stocked with all imaginable goods and desires one could want. Fine rugs and tapestries hung from the walls and adorned the common areas and rooms. As the robot walked from room to room, lights winked in and out of existence, illuminating the space.
“Pete, what’s going on here?”
“I d-don’t know.” Pete’s voice held the same note of hysteria reflected in his own.
“Jared? What happened?”
Scarlet’s voice made him jump and sent his heart racing.
“Geez, Scarlet, you scared me half to death.”
“Is everything okay?”
“We’re safe, but there’s something wrong up here. Scarlet, there’s not a single human being around, and the robots here are in a seemingly endless loop. They have massive ships, one of which is complete and sitting in a vacant hangar. Dust covers the ground as if ages passed and no one cared.”
“Maybe they do not need the ships? They have not left the cities in generations.”
“I hope it’s that simple and I’m freaking myself out for no reason.”
“There must be an explanation, but be careful.”
“I will. Another thing that makes little sense is the layout of this place. These hangars should be wide open courtyards with trees and plants on them.”
“Underground?”
“I thought so too, but we can’t tell using the robots to scout for us.”
“Please keep me apprised of the situation and let me know if you need me to come.”
“I will, thanks.”
Jared returned his attention to Pete, who had been muttering something about the controls. Jared didn’t think it was important and shrugged it off. “Hey, Pete, just had a chat with Scarlet. She suggested that maybe the people in the cities don’t need these ships and that’s why they’re empty.”
“M-makes sense I guess, but it seems wasteful.”
“I agree. I think I need to go out there myself and check it out.”
“B-but, if you—”
“I’ll be fine, I promise,” Jared interjected. “We’ve seen enough of this area to know all they have are attack bots. Fifty is a lot, but they are dormant, and as long as I don’t trip an alarm, I’m hoping they stay that way. Even if they activate, there are plenty of places for me to hide around here. I could even try to abscond with that huge ship in there. However, if they do wake up while I’m out there, I want you to take off and head back to Colorado. I’ll find another way off the city.”
Jared didn’t let Pete protest anymore. He stripped off his rags, ripped open one compartment in the ship’s cargo area and pulled out the uniforms he knew lay inside. Finding one his size, Jared donned the outfit, used the holster provided with it and slipped his phase pistols in the belt. Finding a sling for a phase rifle, he also slung that over his back.
Seeing himself on the monitors in the ship, he realized he looked just like the city dweller he’d fought a few weeks ago. If he’d still had his long hair and a beard that wouldn’t be the case, but the cut and shave a few days earlier completed the picture.
Jared paused at the ramp and fixed a stern gaze onto Pete. “I mean it. If I don’t make it back before the attack bots activate and come here, I want you to leave, and don’t look back.”
Pete shakily nodded his head and went back to monitoring the area through the probes and robot eyes.
“Before I go, I’ll bring two more robots in here for you. I want you to gather as much intelligence as possible and two will help you branch out more.”
After laying the robots in the cargo hold, Jared took off toward the hangar with the completed jumbo ship. He passed through the service room with the hundreds of robots, fully expecting them to all come online at the same time and chase after him. They didn’t, and it made the next room even more tense as he passed the fifty attack bots. Again, he made it through the room without incident, Pete’s sensor probe following dutifully behind him until he reached the hallway leading to the hangar.
In the large hangar, Jared followed the footprints from the robot they’d sent through into the ship. He traced its path right into the cockpit of the ship and flicked buttons. He’d seen Pete operate the drop ship and knew what most of the butto
ns did. Sitting in the chair for the pilot, Jared realized they’d designed it for a human rather than a robot. Aside from the ships flown by the humans from the city, most of the drop ships had much smaller, narrower seats to support the frames of the robots.
Diagnostics readouts ran across the screen in front of him and the exterior cameras flicked on. He watched his surroundings for any movement, but the robots stayed offline. One by one, he read through the lines of text and every line signaled readiness and one-hundred percent operational.
Jared couldn’t believe it. How could the city let something so awesome go to waste? The layers of dust suggested this place hadn’t seen use in many years.
“Scarlet! This ship is just sitting here ready to launch and no one around to stop me.”
“Are you inside it?” It was Scarlet’s turn to push a little hysteria through their bond.
Oops.
Jared hadn’t told Scarlet his plan to explore on his own, and he hoped she didn’t make a brash decision and fly up to meet him.
“Sorry, I should’ve told you what I was doing. There was no one around and Pete saw no surveillance to suggest someone watched us and I needed to check this out for myself.”
“Are you sure that is wise?”
“No, but there’s something about all this that just doesn’t make sense and, call it a hunch, but I needed to see with my own eyes.”
“Just be careful and do nothing stupid.”
“All right, you win. I won’t try to take it now, but you can bet I’m coming back for this baby. We can have Pete disable any tracking devices it might have.”
Reluctantly, Jared left the cockpit and continued exploring. He reached the galley as noted on the plaque and found the cafeteria. The kitchen held many non-perishable food options and small packages with tasty looking meals decorating the side. There was a stack of them next to a strange box with only a single button that said start. Curious, Jared placed one package into the box and pressed the button. In only two minutes, a ding sounded through the room. Jared opened the box and found a full meal sitting on a disposable carton inside.
His mouth immediately watered as the smell wafted to his nose. It looked amazing and he couldn’t pass up the chance to see if it was edible. His nanites would protect him from anything spoiled, anyway. Grabbing a fork from a nearby counter, Jared speared a perfectly golden potato and popped it into his mouth. It melted on his tongue. Salt and something sweet filled his mouth, pulling his lips into a smile. It reminded him of his mom’s home-cooked meals, but with a mystery ingredient that amplified the butter and salt fused into the soft potato.
Before anything interrupted him, Jared wolfed down the potatoes, followed by a slab of meat he couldn’t identify. It looked like beef but tasted more gamey, and he couldn’t put a finger on it. A dispenser next to a sink poured out fresh water, and he greedily gulped down the luxurious liquid to cleanse his palate. Thoroughly refreshed from the quick meal, Jared left the galley and the ship altogether. He wanted to find what was beyond the hangar. At first, he couldn’t find a door, but a staircase set into the far wall led up four stories. In the middle of that balcony a pair of double doors led out the other side of the hangar.
“Looks like this place is underground, Scarlet. I still don’t understand how it’s so far down, because I didn’t feel myself descend on the way here. There’s also a pair of doors on the other side of the hangar leading farther into the city.”
“Are you going through?”
“I’m heading up now and will take a quick peek. I don’t think I’ll venture into the city on this scouting mission. We can return later with more people. If there are several more of these huge ships, maybe we commandeer them at the same time and bring the city to its knees.”
“Recon mission now, attack later. That sounds like a good plan.”
Jared bounded up the stairs and paused at the top to admire the ship in front of him. Standing about the same place as the cockpit, he saw the top curve of the sleek ship and all the weapons placements, and realized how powerful this thing really was. The phase cannons mounted on top were triple the size of those on the drop ships and had room for a single person or robot to man them individually. This thing could dish out a lot of firepower, which made him even more confused why they hadn’t sent it after Jared and Scarlet when they took down the other drop ships.
If all the ships they’d encountered so far were part of an automated protocol, how did he explain the humans he’d encountered? There were many puzzles to unravel, but the first of which was the doors in front of him leading into the city itself. Through these doors lay the people responsible for holding the planet hostage. A part of him really hoped to glimpse actual humans, but the rational part of him wanted to stay invisible until they were ready to start the war.
Jared tested the doors and found them unlocked. Breathing deeply, he pushed open the door.
In front of him lay the most beautiful visage he’d ever seen. The grass was a deep shade of green, the blades swaying in the wind. Fields of tulips and roses dotted the courtyard and tall trees provided shade from the sweltering sun. Beyond the courtyard, the towering spires rose high and majestic, sweeping around each other to create a latticework of bridges and walkways.
Not a single piece of garbage or rubble marred the beautiful landscape, and Jared stood for long minutes admiring the peace and tranquility before him.
Even amidst the beauty, a part of his mind radiated alarm. There were no birds, animals of any kind, or insects buzzing about. He saw no people walking the gardens or children playing. In fact, it was empty. As desolate as the nuclear fried wastelands below.
What is going on here?
Jared knew he should turn around and go back to the ship, but he couldn’t. Pushed forward by an unseen force Jared stepped onto the lush grass.
His foot clanged down, and his vision shifted. Shaking his head, Jared blinked the glitch away and took a second step. Again, his foot clanged down. Jared didn’t know what was happening, but nothing made sense. His vision swam again, and he stopped to gather his wits.
Squeezing his eyes together, Jared centered his mind and opened his eyes. The world around him blinked in and out of existence, creating a staccato display of static and fog around him.
Did I finally crack? Am I losing my mind?
Jared took two more steps forward, his mind waging a war with him as his feet clanged against the green grass below him. The moment his second step touched down, the world around him shattered into a million pieces. No longer did he stand in a futuristic world with vibrant greenery around him. There were no spires. The gardens disappeared. As far as he could see there was nothing. He stood on a metal surface that extended to the edges of the island in every direction. Looking behind him, he realized the facility he’d emerged from molded into the contours of the island. This door was one among many lining the circumference of the floating island.
Mounted atop the doors, huge steel beams rose into the sky. They crackled with electricity, and the surrounding air shimmered. It made Jared’s eyes itch watching them.
He didn’t know how to process all this. His mind clamped down, forcefully shoving him from his Clear Mind state.
Nothing made sense.
Where was the city?
Where were all the people?
Jared stumbled back toward the door he’d exited, and his vision shuddered again as the image of perfect beauty once again interposed itself across his vision.
“Jared? What is it? Are you in trouble? Jared!”
“Scarlet, it’s not real.”
“What is not real? What are you talking about?”
“It’s fake. The city? It’s just a hologram. There’s nothing here, Scarlet.”
“What about the ship you found? All the robots?”
“Oh, those are real enough, but the people? There’s
no one here. Not a single living soul in sight. It’s just a giant metal platform with doors leading to more hangars where I found the ship.”
“But we saw—”
“What we saw were attack bots executing stowaways.”
“What about the people you fought a few weeks ago? The human that put a hole in my side?”
“I don’t know what to say, Scarlet. It’s empty. There’s no one here.”
Jared sank to his knees. He didn’t know what to do next.
What is vengeance without people to exact it on?
Who is to blame for my mother’s death?
Who killed Razael and covered it up?
Are the robots in charge?
So many questions, and no answers in sight.
Thank you so much for reading Radioactive Revolution! I hope that you enjoyed the book and would love it if you left a review on Amazon!
If you’d like to keep in touch and follow progress on my next book, join my Newsletter!
Check out my website - https://hummelbooks.com
You can also keep in touch on my Facebook Group, Facebook Page, Discord server, or Twitter.
I want to send out a special thanks to the author community that has been a huge help to me as a new writer. Without fail, there’s always someone in my new circle of friends that has a ready answer for something I’m researching. I really appreciate everyone’s support and continue to lean heavily on people like Dawn Chapman, Dave Willmarth, Steven Rowland, KT Hanna, Bonnie Price, and Nick Kuhns. You folks are awesome and will always hold a special place in my heart.
I’d also like to send a shout to my wonderful editors over at Chimera Editing, Jami Nord, and Evan. They’ve been a tremendous help as I learn the ropes. This time around, the editing pool expanded some and I wanted to give a special thanks to Tamara Mataya for helping me out and providing a ton of feedback during the proofing stage.
Radioactive Revolution: A Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic Adventure Page 42
