by Clayborn, JJ
“I was kind of hoping that you knew,” James replied, not taking his eyes from the road.
Elvin gave a scared chuckle and shook his head. “No idea.”
“I guess the plan is to not die.” James delivered it with such a deadpan expression that no one could tell if he was being serious.
George nodded. “That’s a good plan. I like that plan.”
James shrugged. “In all seriousness though, we need to capture one alive. Our guns aren’t very effective against it unless we shoot it in the face, but that’s counterproductive for our needs. We need to disable it. Specifically, we need to disable its legs. If it can’t run or walk, it can’t escape.”
Elvin and George looked at each other and nodded. “Makes sense to us, Ranger,” Elvin said. “And I suppose that you have an idea on how to accomplish this?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.” James flashed them the briefest smile before turning his gaze back to the road.
George spoke up. “You know, something about the way you smiled just now doesn’t make me feel very comfortable about this plan.”
James laughed. “Don’t worry, everything should work out fine… probably.” James gave a dramatic pause. “You’re going to be the bait.”
Awkward silence filled the small cab of the truck. “You’re not serious?” Elvin asked.
“Dead serious,” James stated.
“You know, that’s probably a poor choice of words, considering,” Elvin suggested. “And I agree with George, I’m not liking this plan very much at all.”
James shrugged. “Look, it’s not an ideal plan, but it’s the only one we have. We need to capture it alive…er, operational. Or whatever you want to call it. We need to take out its legs and we need it fairly close to the truck. The plan will probably work, but we’ve only got one chance.”
Elvin shook his head and George contemplated the whole scenario in silence. “I’ll bite, what is the actual plan, Ranger?” Elvin asked.
James flashed another grin. “You know that Chiu and Sheriff Long were old military buddies, right?”
“Yes,” Elvin nodded. “Everyone knows that.”
“And you know that sometimes soldiers send home things that they technically aren’t supposed to have?” James continued.
Elvin nodded again. “Yes, it happens from time to time.”
“Well, Chiu was one of those soldiers. He had something that he wasn’t supposed to, but in this case it’s very helpful for us,” James explained.
“Well,” George jumped in. “What did he have?”
“Very carefully, reach under the passenger seat there,” James instructed.
George bent forward and tentatively stuck a hand under the seat. He wasn’t sure what to expect but was not surprised to find something cool and hard. He picked it up and pulled it out into the cab. “A landmine?!” he cried, almost dropping it.
“Are you insane?” Elvin shouted. “We’ve been driving around with a landmine in the cab with us?”
James shook his head. “No.”
“That,” Elvin pointed angrily at the device, “is very clearly a landmine!”
“Yes, it is,” James agreed.
“Then why did you say no?” George asked.
“Because we’ve been driving around with three landmines,” James calmly explained.
George tried to climb out of the seat, but the seatbelt foiled his attempted.
Elvin squirmed about uncomfortably. “Are you trying to get us killed? I mean, there’s a strong chance that the alien space robots will do that for us, but I’d like to at least put up a fight.”
James shook his head. “Relax, both of you. The landmines aren’t armed yet. They can be safely handled and transported while disarmed like this. Once they are armed simply jostling them around won’t set them off either, it takes a very specific type of pressure on the pressure switch to do that.”
There were a few moments of silence while the gravity of the situation sunk in. No one talked. James kept his eyes on the road; they were approaching the forest now. George and Elvin stared at the landmine.
“So what’s the plan?” Elvin finally asked.
“We’ll be on site in 5 minutes, and then I’ll explain it to everyone.” The rest of the short trip was silent. James pulled the truck into a clearing and got out, making sure to leave the keys in the ignition as Larry had done, just in case. The others piled out of the truck and gathered around James.
He spoke quietly, but with purpose. “If I’ve mapped it out right, we should be right at the edge of the affected area. I’m hoping that they have a patrol, and I’m hoping that the patrol isn’t more than one robot.”
The others exchanged worried looks. “Isn’t that a lot a hoping?” one of the others asked.
“It is,” James nodded in agreement. “But it’s all we have right now.” James continued, pointing off in the distance. “The plan is to activate and bury the landmines that Chiu had in his shop between us and the crash site. Then we’ll hide and George and Elvin will act as bait.”
James gave them a second to process the instructions before continuing. “We must make sure that the robot crosses the land mines. It is imperative that it steps on one. If the robot goes around them, the plan is shot and we’re probably dead. We must do whatever it takes to get it onto the landmine.”
“And then what?” One of the other survivors, Cornelius Warren, asked.
“Then comes the truly dangerous part, assuming that the blast doesn’t completely obliterate it,” James said. He pulled a large hunting knife from his belt. “I remember seeing wires or cables or something on the underside of the robot’s arms.” James lifted his arm and pointed the area in his armpit where the Axilliary Artery ran along the underside of his arm. “If we can sever those cables, it should disable the arms. The problem is that the area isn’t very exposed. It’s a small opening, and if that robot survives the blast, it’s a fair bet that it’ll be moving about.”
The other member of their group, David Koloman, spoke up. “So that’s the plan; lure it onto a landmine, and as the dust settles rush in and cut the arm cables.”
James nodded. “Yes, and throw this bomb blanket on top of it to dampen any signals it might be sending.”
David thought it over and shrugged, looking at the others. “Seems reasonable, all things considered.”
Elvin chimed in, “I guess we don’t have much of a choice.”
“I can’t think of a better plan,” Cornelius added. He shrugged, “not that I’m saying that I think this is going work, because I don’t. We’ll probably all die …but this is the best plan I can think of.”
“All right, let’s get to work then,” James said, handing out some shovels and providing direction.
Ten minutes later the landmines were set and armed. Everyone took up positions. James grabbed the bomb blanket and hid behind the truck. Elvin, David, and Cornelius hid behind nearby trees with knives at the ready. George stood out in the field, alone.
George paced around the field. He could feel his pulse quicken and his palms get sweaty. He felt hot and sweat started to bead on his forehead. He had to fight the strong instinct to run. The oppressive quiet of the forest weighed on him, making him even more nervous. For a brief moment he wondered if this is what a deer felt like when it knew there was a hunter nearby.
Just as his self-induced panic was reaching its peak, a twig snapped in the distance. George turned and looked wide eyed in the direction of the sound. Less than a football field away was a robot. The sunlight glinted off of the shiny metallic surfaces. Its bright red eyes were transfixed on George.
The world seemed to freeze. George was in a panic. They came to find a robot, and now they had. But the robot was out of position. He was behind the mine field. He needed to think fast.
“Here robot,” George called out. He wanted to get the robot’s attention, but also alert the rest of his team that they were not alone. “Come on boy,” he said, clicking his
tongue and whistling as if calling a dog. He stepped slowly backward.
The robot turned to face him squarely.
“That’s it. Good boy,” George taunted, backing up. “Come on boy, over here.”
The robot took a few steps forward and George took a step back. The robot suddenly burst into a full sprint and closed the gap faster than George had anticipated.
George estimated the robot was running close to 30 miles per hour. He was already halfway there, so George turned and ran toward the mines. He didn’t dare look back. He pulse was pounding in his ear. The salty sweat from his forehead dripped into his eyes. He could feel the robot closing in on him. That’s when he heard it.
CLICK.
The robot armed the mine. Incredibly it seemed to recognize a trap and stopped immediately, frozen in place.
The others peered out from behind their hiding places as George stumbled to a stop.
“Fuck! Now what?” George yelled.
“We’ve got to get him off that detonator so that the mine will explode, but we don’t want it to kill us in the process,” James said.
The robot scanned around slowly. It made no noise, but its glowing red eyes passed slowly over every inch of the environment, stopping to fixate momentarily on each member of the team.
“Use the bomb blanket and push it!” Elvin yelled.
James raised the blanket and looked at the robot. He started to go, but stopped. “I can try that, but if this blanket gets damaged in the process then we won’t be able to stop it from broadcasting and this whole trip will be for nothing.”
“God Dammit!” shouted David.
George straightened up his posture and stared hard at the robot. He cracked his neck side to side as he spoke. “You better find a way to defeat these assholes,” he said.
“What do you mean?” Elvin asked.
George sprinted full bore at the robot and ducked low at the last second. He threw his full weight into the robot hitting it in a football tackle. The robot barely moved. But it moved enough; a couple of inches backward, just enough for its foot to slip off of the trigger.
There was a moment of silence as George and the robot seemed to freeze. The whole area lit up violently by the deafening blast. The team turned away from the heat and the light and shielded themselves. A small piece of shrapnel tore into Cornelius’ exposed calf. Several more pieces embedded themselves into the side of the truck.
James and the others peered out from behind their hiding places with knots in their stomachs. The robot lay flat on its back. Its legs had been severed at knees. One arm had been blown apart and the hand that was attached to it was now missing. The other arm was trying to stand the robot up. The entire surface of the robot was covered in thick, bloody stains. George had been completely blown apart in the blast. Some small pieces of his bones were stuck to the robot, held in place by his blood. David threw up behind the tree.
Elvin and Cornelius leapt forward and rushed the robot. Elvin grabbed the robotic hand and used a wrestling move to get it into an arm bar, exposing the vulnerable spot for Cornelius, who quickly made the cut.
David stepped out from behind the tree as James was rushing forward with the bomb blanket. James was a few feet from the robot when he cried out and fell to the ground, clutching his head. David swooped in and snatched up the blanket, throwing it over the robot.
After a few seconds James began to recover and sat up. The others looked at him with concern, but no one spoke.
“I’m okay,” James offered. “I just got a sudden piercing headache and felt very dizzy.”
“Maybe you were still processing what happened to George,” David suggested. “We all deal with grief in our own way.”
James nodded. “That must be it.” He pointed at the blanket. “Let’s get that thing loaded and back to town.”
Elvin backed the truck up to the robot. It took all four men to lift the remains of the robot into the bed of the truck. David and Cornelius sat in the back to monitor things. Elvin climbed in the driver’s seat and drove back to Chiu’s. James said nothing the entire trip; he simply stared blankly out the window. He felt guilty about what happened to George. Knowing what was lurking out in the woods was even more unnerving than not knowing. He was almost certain that Professor Jackson and the other researchers were dead. But the robots didn’t kill everyone. They let Edgar go for some reason. He wondered if they were controlling Edgar with an implant. The truck pulling into the parking lot at Chiu’s snapped him out of it.
Fifty people were gathered in the parking lot. Most of them were armed with some kind of rifle or shotgun. James rolled the window down and sat on the door, halfway out of the car. He waved and shouted to the crowd. “We need to move to the Sheriff’s Office, follow us!”
It took a while for the whole procession to migrate the few miles down the street. Mary left a note on the door at Chiu’s directing any newcomers to the Sheriff’s Office.
The posse found a large supply cart and wheeled it to the truck. With great effort, they moved the alien robot onto the cart and took it the deepest part of the basement, in a bomb shelter behind steel doors.
The entire group piled into the bomb shelter to see what they were dealing with. Once the door was closed, James removed the bomb blanket and the crowd let out a collective gasp. The robot was curled into a fetal position, rocking itself back and forth. It made a noise that sounded like crying. After a moment, it became aware that the blanket was removed and straightened out. The robot’s glowing eyes accentuated the bloody remains that were still stuck to it.
James moved closer and the robot twitched. He winced and put his hand to his head, stopping where he was. He talked loud enough for everyone to hear. “Do you understand me?”
The robot stopped moving and turned its head slowly, affixing James with an unflinching stare.
James asked again. “I said, do you understand me?”
The robot replied a voice that sounded perfectly human. “Yes, I understand you.” The crowd gasped. Several people backed away.
“Why have you come to Here?” James asked.
“Because this is where humans are,” the robot said, somewhat annoyed. “Why have you attacked me?” it asked, indignantly.
“I’ll ask the questions here,” James said. “Why are you here?”
“Because you brought me to this place,” the robot said with a hint of bewilderment.
James shook his head angrily. “No, don’t play games with me! I mean, why are all of you here, on this planet?”
The robot was silent for a second. “You should know …you must know.”
James shook his head. “Humor me.”
“We are here because humans are here,” the robot said.
James sighed and wondered how he could torture a robot. “Okay, what do you want with humans?”
“Why are you asking me these questions? How do you not know?” The robot asked, incredulously. “Unit Malfunction,” it said, talking to the ceiling.
“Your friends can’t hear you down here,” Cornelius said. “No one is coming to save you.”
The robot turned and stared at him. “Not me.”
“Just answer my damned question,” James shouted.
The robot looked a James for a moment. “We want to become them.”
A stunned silence filled the room. “What do you mean?”
The robot repeated itself. “We want to become humans.”
James shook his head and held out his hands in frustration. “What do you mean, become them?”
The robot responded calmly. “We want to become humans. This is our entire reason. I cannot explain further that which you already know. Why have you attacked me?”
“That should be obvious!” James yelled. “What do you mean become human?”
The robot was silent. It offered up no more clues.
James continued. “Very well, have it your way. We won’t let you become human. If you won’t tell us what you mean, we’ll f
ight you. We’ll resist you. And you’re going to help us by giving us a way to defeat you.”
The robot sounded sad. “Why? Why are you resisting me? Why have you betrayed me?”
James shook his head. “Shut up, just shut up. For a robot you aren’t very smart.”
James left a handful of people with the robot to begin experimenting with how they could find a weakness. The robot made no more noise after that point.
Inspired by James’ speech, the posse began calling themselves “the resistance”.
Tuesday, November 18th
People continued to flock to James and his crew. The resistance had grown to about 250 people. James routinely sent requests to the National Guard and the US Army to get involved, but his requests went unanswered.
Mary was easily the most important person in the resistance. Armed with her phone and access to the newspaper’s website she quickly became a voice for the resistance. She posted the gruesome photos of the robot after it was put into the bomb shelter. The photos drew national attention and the numbers grew.
Mary also had the foresight to record James’ interrogation of the robot. This video made its way to the public and soon the Resistance membership swelled. Elvin, David, and Cornelius were all promoted to “Captains of the Resistance” and tasked with training new fighting teams and teaching them what they knew about the robots.
Several new members of the Resistance were quickly placed into key positions. Susan White was a 911 operator, but now she worked on helping the resistance build a communications network and helped to route and organize calls and information.
Jose Lamb worked as a bailiff for the court. Given his background he was quickly brought up to speed. He was also promoted to a Captain of the Resistance and tasked with training new members.
Sean Herbert was crucial in getting the resistance supplied and fell into the role of quartermaster for the resistance. He worked as a material mover and had access to large equipment that was capable of moving just about anything.
Arguably, the most important newcomer was Dr. Sabina Kosnick. She was a theoretical mathematician who taught at Harvard. She was one of the first people in academia to believe the accounts of the robots. She argued that she was uniquely qualified to help – mathematics is a universal language and the primary language of robotics. “If these alien robots have a language, I should be able to decipher it,” she argued. James put her in charge of the research division.
