Bleaker

by Jacqueline Druga

  “No,” Tucker replied. “I’m sorry, Commander. I won’t do it. We worked for a really long time on it.”

  “I don’t care,” Finch said. “I am still commander and I am telling you to take it apart.”

  Sam stepped forward. “Can I ask why?”

  “Why?”

  “Yeah, Finch,” Nate said calmly. “Why?”

  “Because it’s unnatural,” Finch replied. “And it’s…it’s freaky looking.”

  “Freaky looking?” Nate asked, then shook his head. “Honestly, Finch, in all the years I have known you that is the most unintelligent explanation you have ever given. Try again. I’m sure if you give a good reason, they’ll be happy to take it apart.”

  “Well…” Tucker said.

  “Happy,” Nate reiterated, “to take it apart. What is the reason? Other than freaky looking.”

  “Sir,” Buster said. “If this in reference to my physical disability, I assure you Tucker Freeman will be working on a solution today.”

  “That,” Finch replied. “He understands everything. And…Tucker, for crying out loud, you’re running around here claiming robots destroyed all life and you build one?”

  “This one is different,” Tucker said. “I think it’s a different model.”

  “And you know this how?” Finch asked.

  “I know, I think, yeah, I know, it’s not a killer.”

  “Commander Finch,” said Buster. “I can assure you I am not programed to do any harm. You may look at my coding for reassurance. I am designed to help not harm.”

  “I don’t care,” Finch said.

  “You seem to be agitated,” Buster commented. “Can I offer you a mood stabilizer.”

  Rey laughed and when Finch gave her a scolding look, she instantly turned serious.

  “How about this,” Nate said. “How about we go to that farm today. If someone is alive there, surely they’ll know about this…model or robot, we hope. At the very least, they’re only around thirty miles out, they’ll know what happened here. Why don’t we leave it until we know if Tucker’s theory is correct. If it is and Buster is harmful, they’ll take care of it.”

  “If it helps,” Sam said, “he has nothing in him that is remotely like a gun. Although I think he has a laser.”

  “Oh, oh, a laser,” Finch said with sarcasm. “That’s not dangerous.”

  “It is not,” Buster replied. “It will be most useful if surgery is needed.”

  Finch breathed outward sounding frustrated. “We need to eat, pack up, and head out. What do you suppose we do with that while we’re gone? I don’t want it having access to anything on this ship.”

  “Commander Finch, do not worry about me,” Buster said. “I can reorganize the medical bay, prepare it for mission, and see if there are items we would need to retrieve from a local medical facility.”

  “No,” Finch told it. “I’m sorry but I am not letting you have access to anything onboard if one of us isn’t here.” He winced. “Oh my God, I’m talking to it.”

  Sam, with a slight chuckle, lifted his hand. “I will put Buster in rest and reserve mode. Okay? I want to try to get him to full power. He’ll be outside the ship to do so.”

  “That’s fine. I’ll accept that as long as you assure me he won’t wake up and destroy things.”

  “He won’t,” Sam replied.

  “Then that will work.”

  “Commander Finch,” Buster said. “If you change your mind about the mood stabilizer, just let me know.”

  Finch grumbled, swiped his mug of coffee, turned, and walked over to the ship.

  Rey gave it a moment and followed.

  Finch had pulled up a chair from the firepit area and sat down with his back to the ship.

  Rey joined him. “Hey.”

  “Hey.”

  “For what it’s worth, I don’t think you need a mood stabilizer.” She sat down.

  “That’s not funny,” Finch said. “Do you think I overreacted?”

  “Not at all. You’re the leader, you have taken on the responsibility for everyone’s well-being. Even though you don’t have to, you feel responsible.”

  “I do. I just…it surprises me you’re good with this?”

  “Remember I was up all night. I woke up hearing them talking to it. I wasn’t at first. I was freaked out. It scared me. But the more I learned about it last night, the less I feared it.”

  “What the hell was something like that doing in this town and at an urgent care? I wonder if there are more—are they all through the hospital?”

  “From what I learned last night,” Rey said, “and we are still learning, if there are, they are probably just waiting for patients. That’s all this thing does. For now.”

  “What do you mean for now?”

  “You really think Sam is gonna let it only be a doctor?” Rey asked. “And trust me, it only does medical. It insisted on examining me last night. Apparently”—she lifted her bent arm, aiming her elbow at Finch—“I have a small benign cyst right here. Strange. He offered to remove it.”

  “I don’t know, Rey.” Finch shook his head. “Something doesn’t feel about right it.”

  “It’s going to be hard to feel right about anything if we don’t find out exactly what happened to this town.”

  “Agreed,” Finch said. “And hopefully it won’t be long before we know those answers.”

  <><><><>

  Nate didn’t want to be a pessimist, so he didn’t say anything. They left Fort Collins and things felt bleak as they drove north to find the town. He hoped that he would have seen signs of a quarantine, something to indicate a plague swept through town, but there was nothing.

  He wanted to stop at the medical center, but Finch and the others brought up the point that they’d waited long enough to search out that farm. Answers could be there.

  He didn’t think so, he really didn’t.

  As they left Fort Collins they saw no more signs of life in the outlying areas than they had in the town.

  Untouched by nature’s fury, there was no damage that he could see.

  Each mile they drove, the roads grew worse. The blacktop cracked with weeds that grew as tall as garden hedges in some areas. Everything on the sides of the road was growing quick and out of control. Too fast for the number of years that had passed.

  Branches of trees reached across the road as if trying to touch something on the other side. Grass and ragweed grew wild.

  It became thicker and thicker each moment they were on that road.

  The farm, in his mind, would be a fluke, something nature had protected for some strange reason.

  Until they emerged.

  Suddenly they went from apocalypse world into what seemed like normality.

  The brush, weeds, overgrown trees, even the wildlife growing from the concrete…stopped.

  And like a light at the end of a tunnel, they saw what looked like a farm in the distance. Green rolling hills, a patch of bright in a world so dismal. On the right side of the road, there wasn’t any overgrowth or brown dead grass, just a huge field of growing corn stalks.

  Finch slowed down the buggy then stopped.

  Nate looked at him. “What’s wrong?”

  Finch looked behind him. “I wonder if all that overgrowth was on purpose.”

  “Like they’re hiding?” Nate asked.

  “Exactly.”

  “From what?”

  “Maybe,” Tucker suggested. “And this is just coming from a man that grew up on a farm, maybe they already have their hands full with the farm, and they stop taking care of the land wherever the farmland stops.”

  “That’s an even better possibility.” Finch began to drive again.

  A mile down the highway there was a dirt road that seemed to head in the direction of the farm property. A worn wooden gate crossed the road. It wasn’t open and wasn’t a means of protection at all.

  Tucker jumped from the buggy and opened it so they could pass through. The dirt road wound
up a slight hill and it turned into a gravel road at the top.

  When they reached the top and stopped, Nate saw the house. And set back a couple hundred yards on the property stood a barn.

  Nate wanted to stand up, take it all in. He grabbed onto the bar above his head and that was when he saw him.

  A man on a horse.

  He moved at a slow pace, until it looked like he saw them, and then began moving with the speed of a thoroughbred on a racetrack. He bulleted his way to the buggy.

  The horse had barely stopped when an older man dismounted with the agility of a young person.

  He looked about seventy, but it was hard to tell. He wore a button-down shirt, jeans, and hat. His excitement turned to stunned and he froze not far from his horse.

  “Well,” Tucker said, as he got out of the buggy. “This certainly feels like home to me.”

  He waited for the others and they walked to the man.

  “Sir,” Finch said, hands raised. “We mean you no harm.”

  “Oh, I know that,” he said, walking to them. “Pardon my being stunned. Genesis or Omni-4?”

  “Omni-4,” Finch replied with almost confusion to his tone.

  “Omni-4.” The man extended his hand. “Welcome back.”

  TWENTY-FOUR

  Tucker felt like he was home. Not home like in his Earth time, but back to a time when life was simpler. When he lived on his grandfather’s farm and would sit in the large country-style kitchen at table big enough for ten. A homemade table with bench seating.

  Conrad was the farmer’s name, and he poured what looked like lemonade from a pitcher into each of their glasses.

  “I’m afraid I can’t offer you anything you haven’t had in a long time.” Conrad said. “It’s a simple life here.”

  “Do you live here alone, sir?” Finch asked.

  “In the house?” Conrad shook his head. “My son and his two children live here. On the property, heaven’s no. We have a hundred and twelve people living on the land. Each has their little patch they take care of and everyone helps with the big stuff. Heck, that’s how we eat.”

  “I need to know,” Rey said, “do you know how long it’s been since we left?”

  “Let me think,” Conrad said. “I wasn’t born when the Omni left. I came three years later, so…seventy-five years.”

  Finch looked at Rey. “You guessed it. And Conrad, how long have you lived here?”

  “All my life.”

  “And the others?” Finch asked.

  “Twenty…” Conrad paused to think. “Twenty-two years, maybe twenty-three, they all retreated here slowly.”

  Tucker asked, “Retreated?”

  “They had to; it was the only way. People fought hard…”

  “In Fort Collins?” Nate questioned.

  “My guess everywhere. It was worse here when the Risers attacked.”

  “Oh my God,” Rey gasped. “Zombies?”

  “Huh?” Conrad asked. “What are you talking about? There’s no such thing as zombies. No, the Risers.” He looked at their confused faces. “Follow me.”

  Conrad led them back down the dirt road to the main highway where they went north another three miles.

  The area wasn’t as overgrown, some brush, but not much.

  They parked the buggy and tied the horse to it and Tucker brought them further off the road to where there was a trench.

  “This was the final revolt,” Conrad explained. “I’m sure there are a few stragglers left, but not in the area. Then again, this is the first time I’ve been off the farm in years.”

  In the trench were hundreds, if not a thousand of mechanical parts that were at time robots. Arms, heads, limbs, and torsos scattered about. The trench had grown over quite a bit but they still could be seen. They weren’t like Buster, they were all metal. Some silver, some red.

  “I told you guys,” Tucker said. “See, Sam, this wasn’t some sci-fi theory, this is real.” He walked closer to get a better look. When he did, there was an electronic grinding sound. Then some of the parts began to move.

  Tucker stepped back. “I thought they were dismantled.”

  “They are,” Conrad said. “They can’t put themselves back together, but the only way to really shut them down is to remove their power source, but quite frankly we just wanted them out of commission. Strange the reaction…I know this is going to sound foreign to you, but by chance did one of you pick up a black bracelet, kinda hard plastic with three green lights.”

  Everyone looked at Tucker.

  “Oh, you?” Conrad asked. “That’s the reason. They’re drawn to them. Programed to find them.”

  Tucker stepped back farther and they stopped moving. “Who programmed them?”

  Conrad shrugged. “No one knows. And it’s possible that it was no one at all. That they evolved. They were given a type of AI that continuously learns and adapts. Why don’t we go back to the house and I’ll explain it all.”

  Everyone seemed to immediately agree with that and followed Conrad back to the buggy. Except Tucker, he stayed a few more minutes and looked at that pit.

  Even though he wanted to know more, he was in awe of it and couldn’t pull himself away just yet.

  <><><><>

  “A few years after the Genesis,” Conrad explained when they returned, “they started moving people from the north, south, and east, even west. It was done in lottery style, much like with the ARCs. Only people wanted to move instead, they didn’t want to get on the ARCs.”

  “Why?” asked Finch.

  “Uncertainty. They knew they weren’t going to some far-off planet, they were going to a future Earth and they just didn’t want to chance it.”

  “They knew?” Finch asked. “When did that become common knowledge?”

  Conrad shook his head. “Oh, I don’t know. I knew my whole life, since I was a boy. I was happy to stay here and when I found out it was safe, well, bingo, I hit the jackpot. But others wanted a piece and it could have worked. The bots were moving everyone efficiently. Folks out this way were not happy though. If you had an extra room, you had to take in people. Just the way it was.”

  “You mention bots,” Sam said. “You mean Risers?”

  “No. Risers are a whole different make. Heck, there were all kinds of bots,” Conrad said. “Teacher bots, doctor bots, emergency workers, you name it. The Risers were the enforcers, they pretty much replaced the police and military. They got the name Riser because they rose up and thought for themselves. At one point, early on, they were doing good. Weren’t harmful. But what they had in AI, they lacked in durability. They weren’t built to withstand the elements, and the storms and everything else started wiping out the Risers and every other type of bot outside this area. Only the builder bots were durable for weather.”

  Nate asked, “Builder bots?”

  “Yes, the ones building the ARCs,” Conrad explained. “Conditions worsened with disasters, and the amount of people migrating out here dwindled, so they started moving the bots as well. That is when I think things started to unwind.”

  Nate shook his head. “I was convinced there was a plague of some sorts.”

  “Oh, there was, a bad one,” Conrad stated. “It went on for years. They developed a vaccine and focused it in the safe zone. But it didn’t help that much. In fact, the sickness was the trigger that started it. The Risers started killing anyone with a symptom. Didn’t matter what it was. Those bracelets gave your health status and transmitted it to the bots. They took you out. Of course, they started taking everything out. Including the medical bots. Especially them because they were trying to help people. Strange.”

  “They took the people out,” Finch said. “We saw bullet holes but no blood, at least any remaining.”

  “There wouldn’t have been any blood,” Conrad replied. “The bullets were from humans fighting. The Risers took you out by sending an electrical charge into the bracelet.”

  Rey looked at Tucker. “Get rid of those bracelets.”r />
  Conrad chuckled. “No, you have to be wearing it to work. Has to be touching the skin. And again, I haven’t seen a Riser for a while.”

  “How did you stay alive? I mean, how did they not kill you here?” Finch asked.

  “Easy. We didn’t have any bracelets,” Conrad replied. “That is how they track and see you. You don’t wear one, they don’t see you. Not sure how that works. Like I said, people fought their way out. I know this, though, the moment you snap that thing off or unhook it, you better run. They knew you’d removed it. They’re on you in a minute.”

  Finch sat back taking it in. “How long had the bots been around?”

  “Hmm.” Conrad partially whistled as he exhaled. “My whole life. I know my father had several farm bots when I was a kid. Older models from when he was a kid. I don’t know for sure. They evolved so much. I thought you guys had one, but maybe I’m wrong. It was before my time. Not sure if the ARCs did. Then again, they left ahead of schedule.”

  Nate leaned into the table with folded hands. “The ARCs left early?”

  “They did. I guess with the disasters increasing and the plague just starting, they took their chances and waited in space for the wormhole to open. I don’t even think they were full. Like I said they had a hard time getting people to leave, and they were forcing them. They left ten years early…I remember seeing it in the sky. Of course, I remember them coming back as well. That wasn’t too long ago, though. Five years.”

  “What?” Sam asked in shock. “The ARCs came back? Then they didn’t go through the Androski?”

  “At least one of them didn’t,” Conrad said. “I saw it. It flew overhead. I don’t know where it landed, though. Too far for us to look and they never came here.” He shrugged. “You know what?” He snapped his finger. “One of my farmers, Mr. Lane, he may know. He took a horse and went to the highest point. He may have a good idea where they went.” Conrad stood. “Why don’t I go fetch him for you.”

  “That would be fantastic,” Finch told him. “Thank you.”

  “I hope you folks will stay for a meal,” Conrad said. “I know people here will be excited to meet you. They used to tell us every twenty-five years, look up, one of them might come through. And…here you are. Gosh darn, they were right.” He scratched his head. “Although I can’t tell you who told us that. I’ll be right back.” He walked to the kitchen door and left.