I got to my feet and edged nearer to it. I looked closer… and gave a little gasp of surprise. The robot’s eye-bar that earlier I was sure had been firmly fixed to its head now floated an inch or so in front of it, just like the one I’d seen on the robot on the beach. I moved to the robot’s left shoulder to get a better angle. Sure enough, I was right, the eye-bar was floating in front of the mound between its shoulders.
“What is going on?” I said quietly.
As if my words had triggered some mechanism within its golden body, two tiny blue points of light materialized at the center of the eye-bar and quickly grew in size. I was suddenly looking directly into two electric-blue orbs.
I stumbled backward, an involuntary cry of surprise caught in my throat. My heel clipped a rock, and I fell hard on my ass with an oomph! The blue orbs followed my movement.
It was alive! The robot was alive.
I started to push myself to my feet but froze as the robot’s right arm flashed toward me, grabbing my wrist in a strong but not painful grip. Surprisingly, its long metal fingers felt as warm as a human’s hand against my skin.
“Candidate 13, I have a message for you,” the robot said in that same calm, humanesque voice I'd heard from its twin during my arrival on the beach. The tone was non-threatening, soft, welcoming; the kind of voice you might expect from a counselor or a psychiatrist. The timbre, resonance, and rhythm of its words articulated in such a way I couldn’t tell whether the voice was male or female. It was quite beautiful to hear. The robot tried to lean in closer to me but was unable to free itself from the rubble that had trapped it. Its eye-bar moved left and right then up and down as if it was assessing its situation. I looked back over my shoulder to where Chou and Freuchen were still asleep, thought about yelling for their help, but something told me I wasn’t in any danger. Not yet, anyway. When I turned back, the robot’s electric-blue eyes were focused on me again.
“Candidate 13, humanity is in peril. The plan has been compromised by an external entity. This interference has introduced multiple patterns of disorder; the effects on the outcome have moved beyond predictability. Agents of chaos will be unleashed in an attempt to stop what I require of you. You must travel to the Collector immediately and locate Candidate 1. They must know that the field is collapsing, and the void follows behind.”
I sat there in the dead leaves and rock and twigs, staring at the robot. “I… I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I finally managed to splutter. “What plan? What external entity? What do you mean? Who are you?”
“Candidate 13; humanity is in peril. The plan has been compromised by an external entity—”
It took another recitation of the same short speech for me to realize that I was listening to a recorded message. It was in the process of delivering the message for a third time when it suddenly stopped mid-sentence and released its grip on my arm.
From behind me, I heard Chou and Freuchen scrambling to their feet, registering the shock in their voices as they saw that the robot was awake.
“Vat? Vat is that?” Freuchen hissed. He was standing next to me now, his open hand extended toward me, but his eyes fixed on the robot.
“Did you do something?” Chou said, as I took Freuchen’s outstretched hand and allowed him to pull me to my feet.
“I was just looking at it and—”
A sudden high-frequency whirring sound, like the noise a generator makes when it’s starting up, filled the air. At the same time, the robot’s eyes glowed momentarily brighter and then turned to look directly at the three of us. The whirring sound grew louder and higher in pitch, then either stopped or the frequency passed outside of our hearing range. The robot spoke again: “Welcome children of Earth. Do not be afraid,” it said in that same calm voice. “I know you are confused and have many questions. I am here to help you assimilate into your new surrou—” The robot’s words tapered off. The eye-bar moved left then right, then back to where the three of us stood watching it, our eyes and mouths wide in astonishment.
“Please excuse me. An error has been detected. This does not appear to be my assigned reception point. Please stand by.”
“It can talk?” Freuchen said, very quietly, turning to look at Chou and me. “No one told me it vould be able to talk.” Despite Freuchen’s huge size, right then, he sounded like a scared little boy.
“When it first woke up, it said something about a plan, a collapsing field. That I had to find someone or something called ‘Candidate 1.’ I…”
“It has to be the aurora,” said Chou. “It seems that the same energy which powers the nanites also powers the robot. The question is why didn’t it activate when we first arrived? If it’s been here long enough for the vegetation we had to cut from it to have grown as profusely as it had, then why didn’t it just free itself and leave?”
I answered her. “There was something wrong with the one I saw on the beach. It walked right out to sea and barely even registered that I was there. If this one was far enough inland that it couldn’t make it to the water, maybe something else was done to it…”
With a sound like ancient, unoiled hinges, the robot suddenly tried to get to its feet, spilling the leafy debris that had collected in its lap.
Freuchen yelped and jumped back, pulled the machete from its scabbard and raised it above his head. I gulped and took an involuntary step toward Chou who did nothing more than cock her head to the left and continued to stare inquisitively at the golden automaton.
Unable to free its right leg from the pile of boulders that pinned it, the robot collapsed back into its sitting position with a heavy thud that sent a puff of dead leaves and dirt spiraling into the darkness. “System diagnostics indicate significant degradation of multiple modules. Memory system corruption detected. Main power is at zero percent. Battery backup at two percent. Attempting to establish Neuro-net link…” There was a three-second pause, then, “Neuro-net link connection failed. Free roam status activated. Power level now at one-point-nine percent.”
Again, the robot’s electronic eyes moved to me, Freuchen, and Chou.
“Welcome children of Earth. Do not be afraid.”
For a second, I thought it was about to go through the same spiel we had already heard. I was wrong.
“Hello. I am Standard Instruction and Learning Servitor 762. You may call me Silas. This message is being broadcast simultaneously in Multi-Speech. I apologize for the inconvenience, but I appear to be suffering from an undiagnosed malfunction. I will shortly return to conservation mode, but please do not be concerned; I have activated my assistance beacon, and another silas unit will be with you promptly. In the meantime, I will remain active as long as—”
“The other silas units are all deactivated,” Chou said quickly, stepping in closer to the robot… to Silas. “There will be no help from anyone. We need you to stay online for as long as you can and help us to comprehend what is happening. Do you understand me.”
Silas’ blue eyes moved over each of us in turn. “Candidate 13, Meredith Gale; Candidate 20078, Weston Chou; and Candidate 207891, Peter Freuchen. Please elaborate.”
This wasn’t the first time I’d been referred to as a candidate; the Voice had used the same terminology when I was on the bridge. I looked at Chou, hoping she’d caught the reference. She glanced in my direction nodded as though confirming my assumption, then continued, “Silas, can you tell me how long you have before your power is exhausted?”
“I have approximately seven minutes and thirty-one seconds. Please elaborate on your last statement.”
We humans exchanged glances.
“We need to know if he is the Voice,” I whispered to Chou. Freuchen nodded his agreement.
Chou turned back to Silas. “Silas, are you responsible for bringing us to this planet?”
“I did not bring you here,” Silas said.
“Then who did?” I shot back.
“The Architect.”
Three sets of human eyes locked with eac
h other then turned back to the robot.
“Who is the Architect?” I said, pronouncing the words slowly.
Silas hesitated for a couple of seconds. “I… I am sorry, I cannot remember that information. My memory modules appear to have been seriously compromised.” Silas tried to raise its right arm but only managed to move it a few inches from its side before it fell back again. The robot’s eyes travelled over the boulders trapping its right leg. “Do you know what has happened to me?” Silas asked.
The robot’s confusion was almost heartbreaking. I’d interacted with computers that gave the appearance of being able to talk like a human, but this, this was on a whole new level. This machine seemed, well, truly alive. There was real emotion behind Silas’ words, and I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for its situation. It appeared to be just as puzzled about what was going on as we were.
“I’m sorry, we don’t know what happened to you. We don’t even know what has happened to us,” I said. “But when we found you here you were… turned off and buried under rocks and vines. Lots of them.”
Chou added, “It was obvious that you have been here for a very long time.”
The robot’s eye-bar moved slowly left and right as if it was only now becoming aware of its surroundings. “This is not my assigned reception location. Have you interacted with any other Silas units?” His blue eyes dimmed momentarily, then brightened.
“I saw one of…” My mind stuttered over the correct personal pronoun, and I cringed as I settled on “one of your kind… on the beach the day we all arrived here. It walked out into the ocean and… and it did not stop.”
Chou spoke up. “Silas, can you do a full self-diagnostic and tell me what’s wrong with you?”
“Yes, I shall begin at once.” Silas sat motionless for about ten seconds, then: “I have limited power available to me, and my diagnostic report indicates that my memory has been severely corrupted. I am suffering from what you would classify as severe brain trauma. I have attempted unsuccessfully to contact other Silas units via the Neuro-Net. My diagnostic system informs me that my interface is functional which means that the Neuro-Net must be down. I have also detected unauthorized code additions within my main programming. It would seem there was an attempt to override my ambulation module. I have purged that code.” The robot paused for a second or two. “Please tell me everything that you can about your arrival.”
We quickly recounted everything that had happened to us since we’d been dropped into the ocean.
“If it had not been for the ruined tower, ve vould never have found you,” Freuchen said.
“Ruined tower?” Silas asked.
“Yes,” Chou said, “The tower behind you. It looks to have been abandoned a long time ago. It’s badly damaged, but it must have been impressive.”
“The habitat? That is troubling,” Silas replied. His eyes dimmed again then brightened. “Given what you have told me and my current location, I can only assume that something has gone catastrophically wrong with the Architect’s plans for your arrival. My internal power source was designed to last for approximately three centuries. As I am currently running on auxiliary battery power and I can detect no problems with my internal power system other than it has been exhausted, I have reached the conclusion that I have been at this location for a minimum of three hundred years. I have tried to reach out to my sibling units, but the Neuro-Net has vanished. That, in and of itself, is of great concern, but when I include all of the information you have given to me, I find it… disconcerting.”
“You think this Architect’s plan you spoke of was somehow sabotaged?” Chou said.
“Perhaps,” Silas murmured. “There is also the slight possibility of a confluence of natural phenomenon having caused these events, but I have calculated the possibility of that occurring as being low enough to discard as highly improbable. When all the events you have described are considered together, and my own predicament is also added to the equation, along with the corrupted code I detected, I can only assume that, yes, an outside force has purposely disrupted the Architect’s plan. The question is who would do such a thing? If only I could remember…”
Chou interrupted, “Silas, can you tell us what you were supposed to do for us when we arrived.”
“Yes, of course. Once the great transference is complete, it is my role to assist candidates in any way I can. I understand that the transference will have left you confused and that you have many questions. I will be happy to answer all of those questions but first… but first… but first…”
Silas repeated those last two words for another minute, jumping back and forth like a skipping record. Then, abruptly he stopped.
“Extensive memory corruption detected. Two minutes and fifteen seconds until shutdown. I hope that has answered your question. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“Ummm, okay,” I said.
Chou met my gaze and raised her eyebrows momentarily. “Silas, is there any way we can help you recover your corrupted memory?” she asked.
The robot processed the question in silence, then said, “Yes. There are several options. If you can contact a repair facility that would be of great help.”
“Okay,” I said, “now we’re getting somewhere. Where can we find a repair facility?”
There was another pause. “I… I am unable to access that information.”
“Vunderful,” Freuchen mumbled.
“Okay, okay,” I continued. “You said there were several options. What else can we do?”
“If you can locate an inactive Silas unit I would be able to transplant modules and replace my own damaged components and memory.”
“How the hell are ve supposed to do that?” Freuchen wondered aloud.
Chou said, “Silas, if we freed your leg from the rocks do you think you would be able to walk?”
“Yes. My diagnostic system indicates that there is minimal damage to my legs.”
“And if we freed you, would you be willing to come back with us to the garrison?” Chou continued.
“Of course. My primary purpose is to assist you in any way that I can.”
Chou turned to face Freuchen and me. “I think the best thing we can do is get him back to camp where we can examine him without all of this…” Her hands fluttered to the forest.
“That makes sense,” said Freuchen, “but how?”
“He’s going to run out of power soon, but I think that tomorrow night, when the aurora returns, his backup battery should recharge sufficiently that he’ll be able to make it some of the way back to the camp. What do you think?”
I nodded. “Can’t say I’ve had much experience with robots, but it sounds like it makes sense to me.”
“Only one vay to find out,” said Freuchen.
Chou turned back to the robot. “Silas, your power is going to be exhausted soon. While you’re in shutdown mode, we’re going to free your trapped leg. That way, when the aurora recharges your emergency battery tomorrow, we’ll talk more. Do you understand?”
The robot’s eyes had been slowly losing some of their brilliance while we discussed the situation. Now they were only a little brighter than the sparks that had first alerted me to him being awake.
“Yes,” Silas said, his voice an electronic slur.
“You can shut down, now,” Chou said, laying a comforting hand against the robot’s metal chest.
“Thank you…” And with those final words, the robot’s eyes dimmed, then were extinguished, and there was only the three of us once again.
“Tell me again about the robot you saw walk into the sea on the first day,” said Chou. We had settled around the campfire, huddled close to its flames, more for the sense of security than warmth, I thought.
“There’s not much to tell,” I said. “It looked identical to this one and walked from the beach into the sea. But it just kept repeating ‘Welcome children of Earth’ over and over. It felt almost like it had no control over its actions. Like it was bei
ng forced into committing suicide.” I didn’t tell them about the sense of panic I thought I sensed from the robot as it disappeared beneath the surface of the ocean.
Freuchen gave a subtle nod to where Silas sat beneath the pile of rocks. “Do you think this one could be the same mechanical man?” Freuchen asked.
“I don’t think so, no. No, in fact, I’m sure it’s not; Silas has been trapped beneath that rockslide for a long time. It wouldn’t make sense that they could be the same.”
I felt a sudden thrill of excitement at this latest development. A golden robot! And all we had to do was free it. Maybe it could give us answers to the questions we had. A thought struck me: in all the excitement of our discovery of Silas, we hadn’t actually given any consideration to whether it was even a good idea to free the robot. I said so now.
“But what if it’s not really friendly?” I said. “What if we free it and it tries to kill us?”
Freuchen gave a deep growl, like he was considering the possibility of my words, but said nothing. Instead, he looked to Chou.
“There is always that risk,” Chou said. “But if his intent was to harm us, why greet us so warmly when he first encountered us? And why would the one you saw walk into the sea not try to harm you?”
“You’re right,” I said and quoted Silas’ opening line: “‘Welcome children of Earth, do not be afraid,’ isn’t exactly a threat. And that’s what the other robot kept repeating when it walked past me. I think it was supposed to help keep us calm. To show it’s not a threat.”
“Still, we should have a plan,” Chou said. “In case we are wrong. Although I will admit, I don’t believe we will have much chance of either overpowering or doing damage to it. Perhaps it would be best if we agree that if Silas proves aggressive, we should simply run away.”
“Yeah, because running from a killer-robot always works out,” I said. I felt it safe to assume Chou had never seen any of the Terminator movies. “So, if it comes down to it,” I continued, “it’s going to be a race between me and you, Peter, because I’ve seen how fast Chou can move.”
The Paths Between Worlds Page 19
