All Humans to the Tunnels

by Camie Elias

  Carbon tried to hand the badge to Scars, but the robot turned around and started walking to one of the doorways—one with green glass doors. It didn't take him long to open it.

  “Outside; sunlight,” said the robot.

  Carbon could see a large room beyond the doorway.

  “Outside; sunlight,” insisted the robot.

  Carbon suddenly understood what Scars was trying to tell her. She took the inanimate fox in her arms and ran toward the open passage.

  Chapter 13: A Way Out

  "Are you sure you know where we're going?" asked Carbon.

  After roaming through an endless series of large and small rooms, the robot had stopped at a large indoor plaza. The place reminded Carbon of the hall with the Massive Teleport Tunnels, mainly because it was as large as that other space, but the room itself couldn't have been more different. There were planters next to benches, garden tables and chairs, and what looked like kiosks. Carbon inspected one of those huts: there were food and drink synthesizers inside it. Another big difference was the fact that there was no other way out of that place — except for the one that they had used to enter it.

  She glanced worriedly at Sentient, still inanimate in her arms, and reproached Scars:

  "Why did you bring us here? This is a food plaza, and a dead-end," she told the robot. "I'm not hungry, and there's nothing in this place that can help Sentient. We're losing time."

  "Sunlight," answered the robot.

  "Yes, Scars. Sentient needs sunlight. You have to find a way out of here."

  Scars turned around and walked straight into a wall decorated with a large mural depicting a beach, with palm trees and parasols, under a bright yellow sun.

  "Sunlight," said the robot.

  "No, no, no," cried Carbon. "That's not real sunlight! That's a picture of the sun. It's not the same thing!"

  She carefully placed Sentient on a bench and checked her teleport badge.

  "Still not working. Why is this thing still not working?" the girl asked herself with a desperate voice.

  Carbon's attention was caught by a sudden sharp noise. Her heart skipped a beat. More scorpion-guards? She looked up and noticed there was something different about the mural. A piece of it was missing — and so was Scars.

  Carbon ran to the hole in the mural and peered inside. Scars was there, standing next to a metal ladder.

  "Outside," said the robot. "Sunlight."

  "That ladder leads to the outside of the building? Is that what you're trying to tell me?"

  Carbon passed through the opening and entered the small room behind the mural. The metal ladder seemed to go on forever.

  "Are you sure this ladder leads to the outside of the building?"

  "Sunlight. Outside."

  Carbon nodded and went out, back to the plaza, to fetch Sentient. She held him in her arms but placed him back on the bench almost immediately.

  "I can't hold you and climb that ladder," she said to the inert fox. "Oh, Sentient, what shall I do? I can't leave you here. You would know what to do, wouldn't you? You're so clever. You would come up with something smart like… Something like... A sling! I can try to make a sling with my shirt!"

  Carbon took off her long sleeve shirt and inspected it. She tied the two sleeves together with a firm knot, put the shirt around her neck and shoulder, and then carefully placed Sentient inside the improvised sling, adjusting the position of his body until she felt the fox could be safely carried that way.

  "I think this might work. Don't you think this might work?" she asked the fox.

  There was no answer, of course. Staring at Sentient's closed eyes made Carbon want to cry, so she took a deep breath and walked to the hole in the mural.

  "Are you sure this ladder leads to the exterior of the building?"

  "Outside. Sunlight."

  Carbon looked up to the point where the ladder seemed to disappear and said:

  "I really hope you're right. Very well, let's do this."

  She started climbing the ladder, often stopping to make sure the fox was not slipping from the sling. Scars followed closely, using nothing but his metal arms to move up the ladder.

  Tiredness soon followed as well. Pulling herself and Sentient up the ladder became almost impossible.

  "I should have eaten something at that food plaza," said Carbon. "And water. I should have had some water."

  She was talking to Sentient, though she knew only the robot could hear her. None of them replied to her lamentations.

  Chapter 14: No Human Left Behind

  Relief came in the form of a metal landing at the very top of the ladder. Unfortunately, it seemed to lead nowhere. Carbon sat on the floor, panting, and carefully placed Sentient close to her. Scars pulled himself onto the landing and stood next to them.

  "Now what?" asked Carbon, looking around the poorly lit landing. "There's nothing here besides walls and a metal grid ceiling."

  As soon as Carbon said those three words, she realized their importance.

  "Is the exit through that metal grid?"

  Carbon stood up and tried to reach it, without success.

  "Outside," said the robot.

  "Yes, I understand. Only I can't reach it. See? My arms won't stretch that far."

  Scars moved to the center of the landing and held his arms up high, extending them further and further, until his metal hands touched the ceiling. He kept pressing the metal grid. Soon, there was a loud noise, and Carbon noticed the robot had cracked open the grid and was pushing it to one side of the ceiling. A gust of cold air invaded the landing.

  "Well done, Scars," exclaimed Carbon. "How did you know where to go, how to get out of the building, all this?"

  "Equanimity," the robot replied.

  Carbon smiled, staring tenderly at the inanimate fox, and said: "Hang on, Sentient. We're getting out of here."

  Then it dawned on her that she couldn't reach the opening either. She thought about it for a while.

  "Can you get up there?" she finally asked the robot.

  Scars answered Carbon by using his arms to hoist himself and disappearing through the opening on the ceiling. He reappeared seconds later, and proclaimed: "Outside."

  "Yes, perfect, Scars!"

  Carbon then took Sentient from the floor, raised him inside the sling she had improvised, and told the robot: "I need you to take Sentient outside. Can you extend one of your arms and pull him up?"

  "Human," said the robot.

  "The fox first," insisted the girl. "New directive: this human needs you to take the fox and expose him to sunlight. Lots of sunlight."

  "Energy."

  "Yes. That's it: energy. You need to take Sentient outside."

  The robot stretched one arm and grabbed the sling.

  "Please, come back to me," Carbon whispered to the fox, before letting him go.

  "Carefully," recommended the girl, anxiously looking up as Sentient was raised and the sling disappeared through the opening.

  "Fox outside," informed the robot.

  "Good! Now take him to where there's lots of sunlight."

  The robot didn't move.

  "Go," shouted Carbon.

  "Human outside," said Scars.

  "You can come back for me later, with Sentient. Go! Go now!"

  Instead of obeying her order, the robot started extending his arm until it was close enough for Carbon to grab his hand.

  "Human outside," he maintained.

  "Are you sure I'm not too heavy for you to pull up?"

  "Human outside."

  Carbon stopped arguing and held on to the robot's arm with both hands, closing her eyes as he pulled her up and through the opening on the ceiling.

  Chapter 15: Seer In The Sky

  Outside the Massive Teleport Tunnels complex, it was still night. Carbon could feel the salty cold breeze coming from the sea and hear the waves breaking close by. Millions of stars lit the moonless sky, while scattered outdoor floor lamps prevented the ground on Torrent Is
land from being immersed in total darkness. It was soothing and terrible at the same time.

  "We need to find sunlight," she told the robot, then carefully put Sentient on the sand and tried her teleport badge one more time. "Why is this thing still not working? We're outside!"

  "If it's sunlight you want, you'll need to travel east. The sun is shining on the eastern isles."

  Carbon started, tripped on the robot's feet, and almost fell backward. The voice that had pronounced those words did not belong to Scars.

  "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," said the same feminine voice. "My name is Seer."

  A figure flew toward them and perched on the closest lamp: it was a large synthetic owl.

  "My name is Carbon," muttered the girl, still rattled by the sudden appearance of a massive bird out of nowhere.

  "Carbon, the girl. Of course."

  "And this is…" tried to say Carbon, kneeling next to the fox.

  "Sentient, yes. I know who the fox is."

  "And that is…"

  "An Equanimity robot agent. How interesting."

  "Scars. His name is Scars," declared Carbon, happy to finally prove she knew more than the large bird standing before her.

  "His name?" questioned Seer.

  "He does have a serial number, but he calls himself Scars," revealed the girl.

  "He calls himself? I see. How interesting," retorted the owl. She tilted her head and asked: "What's happened to Sentient? He doesn't look very well."

  "He had to fight three scorpion-guards."

  "The Triplets?"

  "Yes! They're terrible, aren't they? Sentient defeated them."

  "He defeated the Triplets? How interesting."

  The owl flew down and landed close to Sentient.

  "What are you doing?" cried Carbon.

  "Merely conducting a quick scan," stated Seer.

  "Leave him alone. He's just resting."

  The owl shook her head.

  "Just resting? He's depleted almost every energy cell in his body. If he doesn't recharge soon…"

  "He's just tired," objected Carbon. "Scars told me Sentient is resting. We were underground for a long time, and he had to fight three scorpion-guards at the same time. So he's tired. Of course, he's tired. What he did was amazing! He is amazing!"

  "Well, yes, I'm sure he is," accepted the owl. "But, as I was saying, if he doesn't recharge soon, I'm afraid he might stop being... well, amazing... for a long time. A very long time."

  "I'm sure the sun will rise soon," said Carbon — and she looked to the horizon, hoping the sky would prove her words right.

  "Not soon enough, I'm afraid. If you want to help the fox, you need to take him east, where the sun is already shining."

  "I know. I know… It's just… My teleport badge isn't working — and I can't fly, you know?"

  "Of course you can't fly. That would be quite unnatural. You can walk, though, can't you?"

  "Of course, I can walk."

  "Excellent. Can you walk half a mile to the peer?"

  "There's a peer?"

  "Yes — and a boat that can take you east. Or we can go to my home. It's closer — and although the sun is not shining there yet, I do have an energy bank that can help Sentient recharge."

  "Your home?"

  "I call it my home now. It's on one of the other invisible islands — the place where Sentient and I were created."

  "You and Sentient?"

  "Sentient never told you anything about me, did he? Of course, he didn't. Why would he?"

  "Can that energy bank really help Sentient recharge?"

  "Yes."

  "Promise."

  "You do know synthetics can't lie, don't you?"

  "Yes — but you can manage information."

  "What?"

  "Sentient said he could suppress data."

  "I promise you I am not suppressing any data or managing information — whatever Sentient meant by that — about the existence of an energy bank at the place I call home. I do want to help him. He needs to recharge as soon as possible, and we're losing valuable time talking about irrelevant matters. My offer stands: Sentient can use the energy bank to recharge."

  Carbon pondered for a moment.

  "How do we get to your place?" she finally asked the owl. "By boat?"

  "Teleporting you there will be better, don't you think?"

  "You can teleport all of us to your place?" questioned Carbon.

  "Of course."

  "I don't understand. My teleport badge isn't working, and Sentient's teleport cell wasn't working either. Yours is? How?"

  "Being an active member of the Scientific High Council has its advantages," was the owl's enigmatic reply.

  Seer then flew up and began to glow — though not as brightly as Sentient when he had faced the scorpion-guards. It was a softer gleam, powerful enough to make the bird visible in the dark.

  "Step closer," commanded the owl, hovering above their heads. "We must teleport all at once."

  Carbon put Sentient back inside the sling, stood up, and moved under the shimmering owl, with Scars clanging close behind her.

  "Stay there now," instructed the owl. "And don't move."

  Seer's gleam suddenly became stronger. A tunnel of bright white light enveloped Carbon, Sentient, and Scars. There was a soft sound of feathers rustling above, and the island around them disappeared.

  Chapter 16: The Truth About Sentient

  Carbon looked around the chamber the owl had teleported them to. Shiny white walls were partly covered with screens running code in a language the girl couldn't read. At the center of the room, there was a one-legged white table with tiny yellow lights flickering dimly around it.

  "What is this place?"

  "The energy bank I told you about, of course," answered Seer. "Please, place Sentient on the table."

  Carbon held Sentient closer.

  "Will this work?" she questioned, anxiously.

  "It won't work unless you place the fox on the table," maintained the owl.

  The girl looked at the robot standing close to her, hoping he could say something reassuring. Even a word like Equanimity would be nice. However, Scars seemed to be focusing on something happening beyond the walls.

  "Shutters off," commanded Seer.

  Several walls around them turned to glass, revealing a pink sky over a large park lit by street lamps. The shapes of trees and scattered buildings were emerging from darkness.

  "The sun is rising," shouted Carbon.

  "Yes," agreed Seer. "But it will be better for Sentient to recharge using the energy bank. It'll work faster."

  The girl looked at the owl.

  "I do want to help him," said Seer.

  There was something in the way the owl said those words that made Carbon finally remove Sentient from the sling and place him on the table.

  Lying on that white surface, the fox appeared even more lifeless than before.

  "Promise me this will work," asked the girl.

  "It will work," the owl vowed. She then hovered above the table and ordered: "Initiate recharging sequence."

  The lights around the table began to flicker brighter and more rapidly. A soft humming sound invaded the chamber. Sentient's body started to levitate a few inches above the surface.

  "What's happening?"

  "That's perfectly normal," assured the owl, landing close to Carbon. "His body is just reacting to the sudden influx of energy."

  "But he still looks…" Carbon couldn't finish the sentence.

  "Dead?"

  "No! How can you say that?" objected the girl. "I meant asleep. Why won't he open his eyes?"

  "It'll take some time before Sentient becomes fully functional again. Waiting is all we can do now. What about you? Don't you need energy? Food? Water, surely. You don't want to dehydrate. You would stop functioning as well."

  A faint ray of sunshine entered the room. Carbon turned around and peered through the large window close to where she was standing. T
here were already all sorts of robots everywhere going about their business: mowing the lawn, trimming hedges, collecting fallen leaves from ponds and walkways, cleaning outdoor furniture and street lamps, walking in and out of buildings with evident purpose.

  "What is this place?" she asked the owl for a second time. "Where are we?"

  "We're at Cardinal Island, headquarters of the Scientific High Council," Seer declared.

  "I don't understand."

  "What don't you understand?"

  "I thought there was no Scientific High Council."

  "I'm the last active councilor," admitted the owl.

  "And Sentient?" asked Carbon, looking back at the levitating fox.

  "Did he tell you he was a councilor?"

  "No. It was Scars. He called him Sentient High Councilor Fox."

  "The robot, yes. How interesting," commented the owl. "The Scientific High Council only ever had two synthetic members: Sentient and myself. Sentient is an expert botanist."

  "Oh, yes, he loves trees," joyfully corroborated Carbon. "All kinds of plants, really."

  "Yes, he does, doesn't he?"

  "And looking at food. He loves looking at beautiful food."

  "He still does that, does he? Silly little fox." The owl's voice was full of tenderness.

  "Were all the other members of the High Council human?" asked Carbon.

  "Yes."

  "And they all teleported to Safe Home, the place that was hit by a piece of Nemesis?"

  "I'm afraid so. Sentient told you about that? Interesting."

  "I don't think he wanted to tell me, but we were at the tunnels. He had to say something."

  "Yes, of course, you went to the MTT facility. Why did he take you there?"

  "Sentient didn't want us to go there. I was the one who wouldn't let go. I can be very stubborn, you know? And, then, the triplets appeared, and we couldn't teleport out of there..."

  "I see."

  "Sentient was so brave! He saved me. I wonder why he never told me he was a member of the Scientific High Council."

  "Well, maybe he didn't tell you because he isn't a High Councilor. Not anymore."

  "He's not? What happened?"

  "Unfortunately, Sentient was expelled from the Scientific High Council."

  "Expelled? Why?"