“Great,” Warren finally smiled into the comm. “Why don’t you spend some time with her this evening. I know it’s been hard with her being so sick and all.” He had to stop himself before he laid it on too thick.
“Yeah, yeah,” Blake nodded. “That sounds like a good idea.”
“Oh, but look, there is one more thing. Monfils has managed to capture a few extra Lowsmiths from the latest attacks and I was thinking we should have them and some prisoners and make a real gesture to the people, like accept them into our city as citizens. It’s not enough to do any real harm, but we can make us look bigger and better if we can do this. It’ll be a good marketing move,” he finished with a carrot that he knew Blake couldn’t refuse.
“What time?” Blake asked.
“I’m thinking it’ll be in about an hour or so,” Warren said. “Does that work for you?”
“I don’t see why not,” Blake shrugged, relieved to have a marketing challenge to think about rather than his enraged wife.
Warren disconnected and found he had an earsplitting smile on his face. Clearly the code he’d had Dustin unwrap in Robin, well, that code was working, too.
Warren glared at them as they walked into command central. Charlie had noticed earlier the interactions between Warren and Jade, so it was a surprise, but by the glare, this time it wasn’t at Jade, it was at him.
“What’s wrong with the code?” He asked
“I forgot a string,” Charlie said.
Warren narrowed his eyes.
“And a wrapper. The time wrapper.” He didn’t think Warren knew anything about code, at least he hoped he didn’t.
“It seems to be working just fine.” Warren exchanged glances with Dustin. Dustin nodded, Warren shrugged.
“Oh yeah, it’s working fine now but, you know, any minute…” Charlie made a symbolic explosion motion with his hands, trying to let them know exactly how bad it was going to be.
Warren and Dustin both looked at Jade.
“He’s lying,” she said.
“I thought as much,” said Dustin. “I checked the code myself.”
“I’m not lying,” Charlie said. “I’m telling you, I messed up the code.”
“You might’ve messed up the code,” Jade said. “But you don’t actually think you did.”
“Why are you doing this?” Charlie hissed at her.
“Because, Charlie,” Warren said, his lip lifting weirdly in the light. “Jade works for me.” He waved his hand towards Jade dismissively. “Report to the Pavilion so you can protect Blake as he meets the rebels.”
“You’re having Blake meet the rebels?” Charlie started.
“Yes. I think it’s rather clever mastermind effort,” Warren said, turning back to the screens that lined the walls from floor to ceiling. “It’s a way to bring the rebels and the citizens of Crowley together.”
Charlie looked at them in horror as Jade slipped out the side door. Warren had masterminded Blake to meet some of the Lowsmiths in the Pavilion.
“The rebels were just attacking the city not more than an hour ago,” Charlie frowned. There was something really wrong about this. He could say they were doing it for peace, but Charlie didn’t buy it. Only one thing was going to happen in the Pavilion today. Someone was going to die.
He stared at the closest screen as it monitored the Pavilion. Rebels grouped on one side of the barricade and hybrids and bots filled up the other side of the square. Charlie hoped beyond any hope he ever had before that the person or the people who were going to die today would not include Jade. He saw Monfils on the side of the Crowley citizens. Maybe this would be a good place for Monfils. Maybe he would protect Jade.
“Why don’t you stay and watch.” Warren invited with a snide smile.
Charlie glanced at the door where Warren’s newest Genesis stood, looking a hell of a lot like the big black genesis monster he had seen when he first met Jade. He certainly wasn’t going to get out of here that way.
His plan was to get to the DarkM’attr machine, but that wasn’t really working so far.
“Are you ready?” Warner asked Dustin.
Charlie look between them. What the hell were they getting ready for? Dustin had a gleeful look on his face that Charlie didn’t like in the slightest. A high-pitched giggle came out of the back of his throat, but he clamped his lips down on it after just a small amount came out.
What the fuck was going on?
Dustin nodded his ponytail bobbed at the back of his head. He and Warren gazed at the screens like it was Christmas morning and they were about to get the best presents ever. Charlie turned to look, too, with the most sickening sinking feeling way down in his stomach. Jade stepped on the platform to one side of Blake. Robin stood to his left, her lips pressed together in a single thin line.
“Why do you have Blake out there on the platform in front of the rebels? Are you crazy?” Charlie asked.
“Don’t you believe Jade can protect him?” Warren asked, with wry amusement slathered all over his face.
“Well of course she can, but what if she gets –”
“Hurt?” Warren asked.
Charlie didn’t respond. His eyes were wide with the realization that this was exactly what Warren was trying to do. They all knew that Jade would stop at nothing to protect Blake.
“You’re trying to get her killed, you bastard.”
Warren tilted his head at Charlie.
“For a genius,” he said, “you sure think small. Why the hell would I care about Jade in the slightest?”
“Because she’s more powerful than you,” Charlie said.
Warren and Dustin both laughed out loud. It kind of creeped Charlie out, but not as much as it made him nervous. These two have done something, something worse than setting up Jade and Blake. But all Charlie’s thoughts came to a standstill as the loudspeakers blared trumpets, of all ludicrous things, across the Pavilion. A representative of the Lowsmiths walked towards Blake.
The Lowsmith had no guns. Blake had no guns. But they both had someone with them. For Blake, it was Jade. For the Lowsmith, it was a massive dark-skinned man who looked like he could crush anyone with a single blow. The guy wasn’t carrying guns, at least not any that were apparent.
As the trumpets died down, Blake spoke loudly and clearly to the gathered masses.
“We welcome you into Crowley. The city my dear wife and I developed and built. We used blood, sweat, and tears, along with technology to improve the life of mankind, and today we want to welcome you as citizens to our fair city.”
“God, I cannot stand it,” Warren said. He looked over at Dustin. “Flip the switch.”
Charlie backed slowly away from them. Everyone was so intent on the screen, this was going to be the best chance to get out of here. Whatever was going on, it was not his problem. Whatever happened in the Pavilion was none of his concern. His had to get the hell back to the DarkM’attr machine. Clearly Warren was trying to create some kind of revolution and there was no way Charlie was going to be able to stop it. There was no way he was going to stand here and watch as Jade died. He needed to get out of here. Get back to the time machine and get home.
Tallahassee and Zeke sat in the shadows of one of Crowley’s high rises, looking down at the Pavilion. They were up on a ledge, which they found was often the safest place to hide from the bots, who seemed programmed to think of the Lowsmiths as being low to the ground and in hiding. For some reason, they always underestimated their ability to escape at a height above ground level.
“They have the prisoners,” Zeke said, pointing at the gray-clad, bedraggled Lowsmiths that were being led into the square.
“There’s no way they’re just going to welcome them in as citizens,” Tallahassee said as he spat over the edge.
They watched the prisoners being lined up with the twenty or so Lowsmiths that had been cornered in the attack on Trenchtown.
“This isn’t going to end well,” Zeke muttered. “How can anyone think Bla
ke is going to welcome them with open arms?”
Charlie slid casually towards the door that lead to the central coding rooms. They had to be still open, and since he made it this far he was sure he could make it all the way down there, and figure a way out of this mess.
Nobody was paying any attention to him now. But as he was about to slip out the door, he realized there was no way he could leave without watching what would happen. Dustin reached his finger toward a CompuVerse of code swirling around in the air. Dustin did a movement Charlie didn’t understand. He had seen the galaxies and solar systems of code that made up the CompuVerse could be manipulated with blinks and eye directions, but that is not what Dustin did now. Instead, he raised his hand into the swirling code and tapped the air in a sequence with three of his fingers.
“Fingerprints approved,” a woman’s voice spoke into the room. “Code recognized.”
“Is it done?” Warren asked.
Charlie leaned towards the screen, trying to see what they were doing, what changes they were making in the lives of everybody in the Pavilion.
“Sequence complete. Updating code.”
It seemed like everybody in the command center was holding their breath. Charlie didn’t even notice that he was too.
“Update complete.” The mechanical woman’s voice said.
“It is now,” smiled Dustin.
And for a second it seemed like nothing happened. Blake was still going on about how he welcomed the rebels and no harm would come to them and what a great step this was towards peace.
But then Charlie saw it. There was a shift in the crowd. Then, about a third of the people on the Crowley side, all of them hybrids, suddenly pulled out weapons and in seconds they were firing on the unarmed rebels.
Charlie stumbled back against the wall as Warren and Dustin together let out a whoop of excitement, as if this was a good thing. As if human massacre was the right thing to do in a situation like this.
Charlie scanned the screens for Jade. She wasn’t hard to find. She was still standing, her body in front of Blake, firing into the crowd of unarmed humans. And standing right next to her, firing with as much focus and determination as Charlie could see on Jade’s face, was Robin, the wife of Blake and the mother of Crowley.
Chapter 26
Charlie slipped into the shadows of the hallway. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust. The lights in the hall seemed to have powered on the moment he entered. He scanned the lights that looked a hell of a lot like the HEL in their guns. Charlie slowed down a bit and bent low, creeping along the wall. The last thing he needed was for all the sconces to turn into blasters and fire at him.
He remembered the way to the code room easily. It was something he was always good at, directions. But even as he went he kept trying to figure out, why the hell am I doing this? I should be heading out the first side door I find but… but… Jade and all the other hybrids, Robin. They were being controlled by Warren. It was starting to make sense to Charlie. Dustin’s glee, his excitement as he was engaging the code. Even the way Dustin was given a medal at the same time Charlie was. Dustin had written some crazy-ass code and he must’ve stuck it in the middle of what Charlie was doing.
Charlie had to fix this.
It was his fault this was happening. And he was sure no one else here knew what to do. Nobody would know how to get into the middle of this code and rip out whatever demonic assassin nonsense Dustin had put in there. If Charlie just left, the future was over. It would become a dictatorship ruled by hybrids and Warren with his hybrid assassins. I mean, he always knew Jade was a bodyguard, but she was no cold-blooded assassin. He was sure of that.
There were surprisingly few hybrids and bots in the hallway leading up to the coding room. Charlie was relieved. There was no way he would be able to hide in this world. He was a public figure. A piece of information that still seems rather strange to him. He turned a corner and froze; there were two bots standing outside the door that lead to the core code room.
Charlie hid in the shadows for a moment, analyzing the situation. These guys probably had lasers that shot out of their eyeballs and could kill him with a single glance. Charlie’s legs trembled.
Save the world. Save the world. Save the world.
He took a deep breath. He had to do this. Even though so much of him wanted to run the other direction and hide under a rock. This wasn’t his RPG. This wasn’t the imaginary world where he could just go in guns blazing and blow up all the robots. He had to sneak by these bots and try not to get killed in the process.
No time like the present. He thought of the words his dad used to tell him. Way back in the day.
Charlie stepped forward and walked slowly out of the shadows as if he was on an afternoon stroll. He walked up to the bots who held their arms across the door as he approached.
“I left my lucky charm in there,” Charlie said. “I just need to get in and grab it. It’ll just take a second.”
Shit. If Jade could tell he was lying, wouldn’t the bots be able to also?
“We are instructed to grant entry to no one,” the silver bot said, its mechanical voice stilted.
Charlie frowned at the bot.
“Is there something wrong with your voice?” He asked
“My voice?” The gray bot repeated. “I don’t think so.” He looked over at the other bot.
The other bot had an orange V on its chest. “You know, I have been thinking it sounded a little bit off lately,” the V-Bot said.
“You see there,” Charlie said pointing at VBot as he glanced over at the silver bot. “You see how his voice has a bit of a trail at the end? How it kind of rolls as if off a tongue? Your voice, not so much.”
“But I thought I had a perfectly fine voice-”
And suddenly the gray bot’s hand flew over where its mouth might’ve been; where the speaker was projecting its voice.
“You heard it,” Charlie said. He desperately wanted to glance at his watch. This was taking too long. But he had to hold cool and steady.
“I can fix it for you,” he said. “No problem.”
“You can?” the silver bot asked.
“Absolutely. I just need to access your control panel.” Charlie stepped forward.
“We’re not allowed to let anyone access our panels,” the bot said doubtfully.
“Of course!” Charlie raised his hands and took a step back. “When I first got here, you know, I’m Charlie Richards, that’s what they told me.”
V-Bot whirred excitedly. “You could get him to work on your code! Can you imagine how awesome that’s going to sound?”
The silver bot tilted sideways as if considering.
But the V-Bot was already sold. “Hey Charlie, could you do something in my code?” he asked.
Charlie smiled. “Absolutely,” he said. Some programmer had given these robots a little bit too much humanity. They were rolling in ego.
“Let me just get behind you guys. Can you pop your panels open for me?” He asked.
“No problem,” V-Bot said, turning around instantly and popping his panel open. Charlie’s eyes widened as he looked at the panel. He had no idea what the hell he was doing, but he now had the opportunity to stop this.
“You, too,” he said casually to the silver bot, not taking his eyes off V-Bot’s panel.
The silver bot paused for a moment before slowly turning his back to Charlie and opening his panel. Charlie now had them both in the palm of his hand. He simply needed to figure out what to do with that. Which he most certainly did not.
Charlie looked at both panels. The glass sheen reflected the sweat that was beading on his forehead. He blinked twice at the panel and the series of numbers glaring on it flickered.
This was his chance. Charlie closed his eyes for a moment and he remembered watching Dustin as he had gotten into the master computer. A series of three blinks, two blinks, and five blinks, with the swipe of his pinky finger to the right. Charlie copied the memory. It worked
on the third try and accessed the core bot code. Now all he had to do was shut it down.
He glanced at the silver bot’s panel and got to its core text as well. All he had to do was dive into the duodenary world of 24th century code and switch the damn thing off for good. They would never reboot.
“Hey guys, can you just hug it out?” Charlie asked.
The bots exchanged a glance, but shrugged and clashed against each other in a metal embrace.
“Hold each other tight now,” Charlie said. He knew the second he shut one down, if the other could move, he’d be a goner. The silver bot gripped tightly so Charlie moved to the back of the V-Bot. He counted rapidly, then moved over and blinked update.
“Hey, what’s happening to him?” asked V-Bot. The silver bot shut down and held its grip firmly around V-Bot. The massive orange bot began to push against him.
“Calm down,” Charlie soothed. “He’s just rebooting.” Charlie slipped behind V-Bot as fast as he could and counted through the system until he could move over to the sixty-fifth galaxy. V-Bot still struggled against the grip of silver bot, but then fell silent. The dead bots hugging looked like some strange modern sculpture ready to be placed in the center of a park.
Charlie turned back towards the doors of the computer lab and did the only thing that made sense to him when they didn’t slide open. He knocked.
The door slid open and there stood the young-programming-Charlie-super-fan, Graham. His face lit up when he saw Charlie.
Charlie was glad to see him as well. Finally, somebody on his side. “Something’s wrong with the hybrids,” he said, moving past the kid and straight towards the master computer. He was desperately trying to remember the kid’s name. “Dustin sent me down here to make some quick repairs. You alone?”
“The others are about to turn up,” the kid said, “but we’ve been, um, told not to not to let you in to do anything.”
Charlie stopped touching the keyboards and turned to look at the kid. Great, even he was against him now. He just couldn’t catch a break.
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