You Can Call Me Al

by Crimson Cloak Publishing

  The rebot had snuck into this area and turned on the timepiece. It came during the graveyard shift so that any sudden work stoppages wouldn’t be noticed by the upper management. Standing motionless, Al watched the rebot on a mezzanine as it was taking pictures with its photographic eye, pictures of the specifications and production data that had been compiled detailing the methods of robotic manufacturing.

  Being an android, Al could move ten times faster then a normal human. Al noticed an overhead crane just above him with a cantilever arm. Al moved quickly up the mezzanine and grabbed the crane’s control box, which was suspended by a cable from above. Using the controls, he lowered the arm and swung it around, knocking the rebot off balance. The timepiece was jarred loose from the rebot and clattered to the floor.

  The rebot spotted the movement of the android and did a quick summersault. The rebot’s dexterity and coordination was astounding. The rebot charged Al and its left arm changed into a sharp long rapier as it thrust it towards Al’s midsection. Al barely avoided the fatal strike as he rolled away. The rebot turned the rapier into a curved cutlass and thrashed wickedly at the retreating android causing a gash on Al’s left leg. Clear body fluid gushed forth from the wound. Al tumbled near a cylinder of flammable gas with a hose extending from the top and a cutting torch at its end.

  There was a hand valve on top of the cylinder: Al desperately hoped that it was turned on. Al seized the cutting torch, pointed it at the rebot and depressed the hand lever. A narrow flame shot out hitting the rebot in its face plate. It staggered back, swiveling its head in confusion: Al leaped up and using his legs and feet, implanted a double kick onto the rebot’s chest. Al had struck the rebot with so much force that it was propelled backwards, where it smashed through some safety handrails and tumbled into a vat of molten steel below.

  “Whew, that was close,” Al thought, thankfully.

  Al had good recuperative powers. The gash on his leg quickly stopped emitting fluid, and then turned into a slight scar before disappearing completely. A more major wound could have caused him serious problems.

  Al returned the second timepiece to Roberterian, then came back to this realm to pursue the other rebot. Al was also instructed to make contact with Johnny, and later bring him to Roberterian so he could communicate with him.

  The second rebot was being more cautious because it had not heard from its cohort for a while. It took weeks to track it down. During that time Al also made his initial contact with Johnny in the Earth realm.

  The other rebot had entered a major monetary center during off hours. It was presently at a computer monitor, manipulating financial records. The rebot had turned on the timepiece just in case a janitor or security person happened by. It had laid the timepiece on a desk beside the monitor: robots were not uncommon in this realm, but they weren’t permitted to have access to financial records. Somehow this robot (rebot) had got into the database; it was illegally transferring funds into a dummy account which would enable it to withdraw assets anonymously.

  Al had picked a door lock after disabling its alarm; the rebot must have done the same to another doorway. Al entered through a back entrance and hid in the shadows, carefully watching the rebot. It would have to move further away from the timepiece before Al could act, robots could also move very swiftly despite their bulk.

  ‘Come on! Come on! Give me an opening,’ Al thought, anxiously.

  The rebot stayed at the monitor, completely focused on causing the illegal transfer of funds it was presently transacting.

  Al couldn’t wait any longer; he used his ventriloquism to create a noise from a short distance away and from behind the rebot.

  The rebot bolted from its seat and whirled towards the direction of the sound.

  “Now is my chance,” Al thought.

  Using the desk and the back of the monitor as cover, Al moved speedily and quietly towards the timepiece.

  He was not fast enough; the rebot had spotted him from its rear vision.

  Al used his telekinesis to lift and bring the timepiece into his grasp. He then dove onto the floor barely avoiding the telescoping extending arms of the rebot, arms that ended in deadly pincers.

  Al raced out of the building with the rebot close behind. Al needed to get out of this realm and into one where the rebot would stand out like a sore thumb. Al discovered during his flight that the pathway to Roberterian was blocked for some reason. He managed to return to the earth realm scarcely in time before the rebot closed on him. Nonetheless the rebot followed him there, staying out of sight but always moving in closer.

  The Earth realm was still in the Stone Age as far as robotic development was concerned,

  so all Al had to do was to stay in open populated areas to avoid capture.

  The rebot was handicapped by the fact that it couldn’t move openly in this realm without attracting too much attention, but Al was still having trouble eluding this determined machine.

  The rebot was persistent and highly creative. It would just miss apprehending Al in an isolated place, just by a minute, then just by a second. It was only a matter of time; Al had to get rid of the timepiece.

  Al had superior strength compared to an average human, but he would be no match for a robot in a close quarters contest.

  The rebot finally cornered Al in a dark unpopulated corner, Al ran down a corridor that terminated in a dead end: he was trapped.

  “Soooooo Android, I assume that is what you are, you will now meet your end at last.”

  The rebot’s voice was like a deep scraping reverberation, similar to a piece of metal being grated against a super hard perforated surface.

  Al looked around and spotted a large metal refuse bin. Using his telekinesis power again he lifted it and slammed it into the rebot. The rebot was knocked down, and was befuddled for a moment.

  Al took this time to navigate around the rebot and back into a somewhat populated thoroughfare. The rebot had been stunned but not seriously damaged. It wasn’t long before it resumed its concealed pursuit of Al.

  Al had to thwart this relentless chase.

  “I can give the timepiece to Johnny,” he thought. “This rebot would not expect me to do that, it wouldn’t think I would give it to an adolescent human. Then I could lead it astray, if it caught me at least it wouldn’t get the timepiece back.”

  Al made up his mind; he knew what he had to do.

  Chapter 3

  “But Mom, I don’t want to go to summer camp this year. I’m too old for that, that camp is for little kids.”

  “There will be some kids there which are your own age; besides I can’t have you hanging around the apartment all by yourself while I am away.”

  “Well, why can’t you take me with you?”

  “Johnny, adults need time by themselves every once in a while. Alice and I have been saving up for this cruise all year.”

  “So you would rather take your lady friend instead of me. Well, I’m almost an adult.”

  “Johnny, you are being selfish. The camp only lasts two weeks. Then we will both be back home and I promise I will then take you to someplace special of your own choosing; or instead of camp, you can stay with your Aunt Martha.”

  “Aunt Martha!” Johnny yelled. “I would rather eat out of a garbage can then eat her cooking.”

  “Okay, so now go and get packed for camp.”

  Johnny grudgingly started packing his clothes and other assorted things that he would need for his two week camp excursion.

  “At least they feed you well at camp,” Johnny thought. “They’ll have barbecued chicken and ribs, and even steaks. Last year we also roasted hot dogs and marshmallows in the camp fire and one night cooked some nice thick juicy burgers on the grills at the campsite.”

  Every year the YMCA chartered a bus for this trip. He would be leaving tomorrow morning.

  The next day his Mom dropped him off at the YMCA and Johnny boarded the bus to Camp Yellowclover. It would be about a 60 minute ride. Johnny sat in
the very back of the bus by himself; some of the kids he knew motioned to him to come over and sit by them, but Johnny just waved them off. He was in a cloudy mood.

  “Not looking forward to going to camp this year?”

  Johnny eyes got as big as saucers. Al was suddenly sitting next to him.

  “Al!”

  “Shhhhh, keep your voice down or the other children will think you are talking to yourself again.”

  “What are you doing here?” Johnny whispered incredulously.

  “I have something to show you later,” Al replied.

  “Show me what? The last time I saw you, you were at our last softball game. You were standing in the outfield, but then you vanished again.”

  “Yes, I was watching the game and nudging the ball in your direction so you could get some hits and make some key plays.”

  “I thought something a little strange was going on, how could you do that?”

  “Telekinesis, Johnny.”

  “Tele- what?”

  “Never mind that for now, I really can’t describe what I have to show you. You will have to see it for yourself. Wait till everyone is asleep tonight at the camp, and then sneak out, I will meet you behind your cabin.”

  “Why should I? Who are you anyway?”

  “Here, take this and I will see you tonight; after that, all your questions will be answered.”

  Al handed Johnny what appeared to be a hand watch. It looked like an old time piece that his Grandfather used to carry in his vest pocket.

  “There is a button on top of this watch piece. Don’t press it under any circumstances, disastrous things could result. Just put it in your pocket and I will see you later.”

  Johnny glanced down at the timepiece. It looked like a regular face of a watch, with a small hand and a large hand and numbers around its circular face. It indicated that the time was 9:30. “That makes sense,” Johnny thought. “We boarded the bus at 9 am and we have been on the road for about a half of an hour.”

  Johnny looked up, but once again Al was gone.

  “I wish he would quit doing that,” Johnny thought apprehensively. He was starting to get scared; glancing at the timepiece again he decided to slip it into his pocket as instructed.

  As the bus traveled on, Johnny’s curiosity got the best of him. He took out the timepiece and looked at it eagerly. “It is only something that keeps time,” he thought. The button on top of the watch was glowing with a green radiance. Johnny pressed the button and then released it. The button popped back up, but this time it was glowing red.

  Suddenly the bus became as quiet as a tomb. All the kids were motionless; they had stopped talking in mid-sentence, the bus started to go off of the road and onto the shoulder, it started to shake under the uneven surface.

  Johnny was panic stricken: “Oh my God, what have I done?”

  The bus driver was also motionless, like he was frozen in time. Johnny, with extreme anguish, hoped that he could alleviate this situation by pressing the button on the time piece again: as he did so, it popped back up, glowing green again.

  The conversation resumed on the bus as if nothing had happened; the bus driver had to turn his wheel quickly however to avoid going into a ditch on the side of the road. The bus bounced irregularly then the driver was able to return it into the highway.

  “Hey!” one of the kids sitting up front yelled. “This bus driver doesn’t want us to fall asleep.”

  There was some nervous laughter.

  The timepiece seemed to speed up for a moment before establishing its normal recording of time.

  Johnny put the hand watch back in his pocket once again. “I am not going to mess with this thing again,” he thought fearfully.

  They arrived at the camp area, cabins were assigned, and then Johnny helped put up a volleyball net. They were given a box lunch, one of the camp counselors then took them on a hike along a nature trail. Later they built a bonfire when it started to grow dark. A cauldron of chili was cooking on a gas grill. After dinner they told stories by the fire, then retired to their respective cabins for the night. Johnny was assigned to a cabin with three other boys, they told jokes and laughed for a while before drifting off to sleep.

  Johnny tossed and turned. The events that occurred when that man named ‘Al’ was around kept replaying in his mind.

  After a while and against his better judgment, he finally got up quietly, turned on his flashlight, put on his shorts, tee shirt, and sneakers. The timepiece that Al had given him was in his left pocket, he softly left the cabin and precariously went around to the rear of the little building carrying his flashlight in front of him.

  Johnny waved his flashlight around and saw nothing but a group of trees in the distance behind his cabin, and heard the rustling of a small creek.

  “You don’t follow directions very well do you?”

  Johnny jumped like he had been bitten by a snake, he whirled his flashlight around towards the sound of the voice.

  “You!” he shouted.

  “Keep your voice down, Johnny, must I always tell you that? Do you want to wake up everybody at this campsite?” Al scolded him.

  “Please tell me what you want or just leave me alone,” Johnny whined.

  “I told you that I had something important to show you, but you need to be able to listen and obey essential instructions. I told you not to press that button on the timepiece I gave you, now didn’t I?”

  “Well if you didn’t want me to fool with it, why did you give it to me in the first place?”

  “To see if you could follow instructions, Johnny, didn’t I just make that obvious?”

  “Well you can have the damn’ thing back if you want: and I really don’t care what you have to show me, you are giving me the creeps.” Johnny took the timepiece out of his pocket and looked at it nervously.

  “As you wish, Johnny, give me back the timepiece and I will bother you no more. I will leave and you will never see me again.”

  Johnny hesitated, not knowing what to do. He didn’t trust this man who called himself ‘Al’ but he felt that he would be missing out on something, perhaps something a lot more interesting than this camp would have to offer.

  “Okay, what do you want to show me?” he said weakly. “Does it have something to do with this timepiece you gave me?” Johnny gazed upon it again in the palm of his hand. “It frightened me to death.”

  “Put it back in your pocket and I will tell you about it later. Now watch, I am going to open a portal to another realm.”

  “Another what?”

  “Just watch, Johnny; and extinguish that light.”

  Johnny switched his flash light off; he put the timepiece back in this left pocket and his flashlight in his right. He could always run away and yell for help if he got too scared.

  Al produced a small cone shaped object from somewhere on his person. He depressed a button on its narrow end and directed the wide end out and away from the rear of the cabin. A thin jagged edged red circular outline appeared six feet away. It was about eight feet in diameter. The air inside its boundary seemed to shimmer and then turned into bright shifting patterns of colors, orange, yellow, and blue. Johnny felt like he was looking into a kaleidoscope.

  “Is that the portal you mentioned?” he said, surprised. “Yes it is, Johnny. We are going to enter this portal. There is someone who wants to speak with you. This is the only way we can get to him.”

  “Just who is this person that wants to speak with me?” Johnny said uneasily.

  “Your father, Johnny,” Al replied quietly.

  “My Father?” Johnny was stunned. “I never knew my father; my Mom told me he left right after I was born.”

  “He has always checked up on you, Johnny, without you knowing it, of course. He had to wait until you were older before he could reveal himself to you. That was necessary so you would be able to better understand what and who he is,” Al explained.

  “You talk like he is some kind of alien or something
: are you a friend of his?”

  “Yes, in a way, Johnny; and no, he is not an alien, just a little different than most fathers.”

  “What makes you think that I would want to speak with him? He abandoned me and my Mom for all these years. A good father never would have done that,” Johnny said defiantly.

  “Once you talk with him, I think you will have a better understanding of why he had to act the way he did,” Al answered consolingly.

  “I don’t understand what is going on, and I really don’t want to go in there,” Johnny said as he pointed towards the portal. “Why should I trust you, anyway?”

  “I trusted you with the timepiece, didn’t I, Johnny?”

  Before Johnny could reply Al held up his hand, motioning Johnny to be silent.

  “Johnny, I can’t stay here all night trying to convince you to come with me. I certainly don’t want you to do anything that is against your will. Now, sooner or later someone is going to wake up and hear us talking and come back here to see what is going on. When that happens, the deal is off, we must go now if we are going to go at all, or you can go back to bed and forever live in doubt of what could have been,” Al continued.

  Johnny felt like there was a lump in his throat. He swallowed hard and said worriedly “How long will we be gone? If I’m not back here in the morning, the camp counselors are going to think I ran away, and then I am going to be in big trouble.”

  “For every day that passes where we will be going, only one minute of time will have passed here. I will get you back before anyone realizes you were gone.”

  Johnny was dumbfounded, not knowing what to say to that.

  “Are we going or not?” Al persisted.

  “Will it hurt when we walk through that thing?” Johnny said, casting a fearful eye at the portal.

  “Not physically, Johnny, you might feel a little mental anguish thinking your senses are playing tricks on you, but it will pass.”

  “Okay, let’s go before I change my mind,” Johnny said, trying unsuccessfully to keep the quiver out of his voice.