Counterattack

by Sigmund Brouwer

  The soldiers ahead stepped aside. One of them began to open the door. They too were Terratakers who had infiltrated the Federation army!

  A deep voice reached us. I recognized it. It belonged to the old man I’d met in prison. The man my father had been holding at knife-point in the cell. The man I’d found out later was the supreme governor, with the most political power in the world. From where I was in the hallway, I could see his distinguished features at a podium as he spoke into a microphone.

  No! I wanted to shout in frustration. In 30 more seconds, the triangulation would be complete, the transmitting satellite disabled. But Kurt was almost through the doorway, ready to toss the smoke bomb that would lead to the deaths of all these governors. We wouldn’t get those seconds!

  “Aaaaagh!”

  In my panic, I’d forgotten I was still clutching Stronsky by the neck. As my frustration and panic grew, I’d accidentally begun to squeeze harder.

  I dropped him. He fell like a sack of dirt.

  “You’ll never stop us,” he said. “No matter how badly you might defeat us here.”

  I wasn’t worried at this point about the long-term defeat of the Terratakers. Just about saving the lives of the governors in the room beyond.

  I scanned the hallway, desperate for something, anything, that might delay us.

  Two things grabbed my attention.

  One I was familiar with.

  The other I only knew because of what I was able to read in white letters against a red background. It was a lever. And the instructions plainly told me to: Pull in case of fire.

  Kurt was a few feet from the door. He lifted his robot arm to toss the smoke bomb. When the supreme governor saw the motion, he stopped speaking.

  Once Cannon’s observer in the room noticed the robot at the door, Cannon would begin unplugging them!

  I was down to less than 10 seconds. Spinning over to the side of the wall, I pulled as instructed.

  Immediately a loud clanging echoed through the building. So loud I could barely hear Ashley. That was good. It meant that anyone trying to get a message to Cannon wouldn’t be heard either.

  But it was also bad. Because if Cannon didn’t pull the plugs, these robots would begin killing the governors who were fighting so hard to help the Earth survive its population explosion.

  So I had to stop the robots myself.

  But I already had a plan for that. Because of the other fire-related thing that had grabbed my attention. I knew exactly what it would do, because it looked just like the ones at the dome. And I knew exactly what it would do to a robot, because once I’d been beneath one at the wrong time.

  “Where’s the fire?” Ashley shouted.

  I pointed at the ceiling. “There!” Aiming my laser, I shouted the mental command, Kill!

  An almost invisible red flash of light fired from my finger and burned a hole in the ceiling. I kept firing, and almost instantly the ceiling burst into flame.

  I knew what to expect, so I had already pulled Ashley toward a table at the side of the hallway.

  “Help me lift!” I shouted above the clanging of the fire alarm. We needed to keep our transmission going so the triangulation could finish. “And stand beneath it with me! This is our umbrella!”

  The fire in the ceiling triggered the sprinkler system.

  Water burst out of the pipes. And as the liquid hit the robot bodies below, they began to topple. The water caused their electric currents to short-circuit. When it had happened to me, back on Mars, I’d awakened with nothing worse than a horrible headache. And that was sure better than brain damage.

  Water continued to gush downward, pouring off the table Ashley and I used to protect our robot bodies.

  The last of the other robots fell around us.

  “It’s finished,” I said to Ashley. “At least for now.”

  CHAPTER 23

  Cannon snapped his cell phone shut and turned to me. “They’ve got Stronsky, but no sign of Dr. Jordan.”

  “Jordan had been communicating with Stronsky by audio,” I said. “Even though he left when the countdown was at 15 minutes, if he was in a car he could have been miles away while Stronsky led the robots to the summit.”

  “Miles away?” Cannon shook his head. “More if he’d left in a helicopter. By the time we got it all cleaned up, he could have made it to a space shuttle and been halfway into orbit. He was like a ghost commander. Untouchable while he sent his army in.”

  It had only been eight hours since the robot attack in New York City. Already, it seemed to me like it had never happened. I was in my wheelchair, here in the desert mountains of Parker, Arizona, under a clear blue afternoon sky. It was a world away from the noise and pollution of New York City, where the Combat Force was loading the robot bodies into a truck.

  “There’s going to be a lot to clean up back there,” Cannon said, as if he were reading my thoughts. “Including the Terratakers’ penetration of the World United Federation. We knew that some soldiers had turned against us, but all those guards …”

  I heard Cannon’s words, but I was only half listening. My attention had turned to the kids now stepping out into the sunlight. Nate and Ashley had been helping them out of the jelly cylinders while I gave my report to Cannon.

  The kids were dressed in clothes that Ashley had found in one of the rooms down a hallway in the Institute. They staggered slightly as they followed Ashley toward the helicopter. I understood why they staggered. I remembered the headache I’d had when my own robot was doused with water back on Mars. And they were probably weak, too, since they’d been in the jelly cylinders for six days, unable to use their own muscles.

  Some of the smaller kids, though, found the energy to run and giggle as they pointed to the sky. That, too, I understood. They were free. From their jelly cylinder prison and from Jordan’s manipulation.

  “Tyce,” Cannon began, then stopped as his cell phone rang. “Hang on.” He answered.

  I waved at Ashley.

  She waved back. One of the bigger kids tapped her on the shoulder. She nodded at him and pointed at me. They both walked straight toward me as Cannon stepped away to speak on his cell phone.

  “Tyce,” Ashley said as she and the kid neared me in my wheelchair, “this is Kurt.”

  Kurt smiled, showing straight rows of strong, white teeth. He was much taller than Ashley. With his blond hair smoothed back, he looked like a young movie star. That made me dislike him even more.

  “Hey,” he said kindly. “Glad to meet you. Ashley tells me it’s true. You were born on Mars.” He stuck his hand out to shake mine.

  I ignored it.

  “Tyce?” Ashley frowned. “Don’t be like that. Kurt was just trying to protect the other kids. He really couldn’t know we were telling the truth when he got them all to unhook our robot computers.”

  Kurt held his hand out, keeping his smile in place.

  “I’ve got no problem with that,” I snapped back. “But ask him about his little deal with Dr. Jordan.”

  “Deal?” Kurt arranged his face into a puzzled expression.

  “Helping out Dr. Jordan so you could be released earlier.”

  “I doubt it,” Kurt said. But his smile now became uncertain.

  “I don’t.”

  “Tyce,” Ashley said soothingly, “are you sure? You two didn’t get off to the best of starts and—” She stopped.

  My face felt like it was set in stone as I stared at her. She saw the anger in my eyes. She knew I was telling the truth. I’d tell her all of it later.

  “Oh,” she said. She took a small step away from Kurt and a step closer to me. She rested her hand on my arm as I continued to speak.

  “The triangulation worked,” I said. “It located 10 other pods, and the Federation immediately sent jets with soldiers to each location. From what I’ve learned from Cannon, there has been no resistance. All the kids are being rescued as we speak.”

  “That’s good news,” Kurt said, trying to get bac
k into the conversation. “Boy, if it wasn’t for you …”

  He didn’t notice that Ashley was looking at him as if he were covered with dead skunk.

  “What I’m getting at,” I continued, speaking to Ashley, “is that the general has already talked about letting the kids spend a few months with their parents, then sending any of the families who volunteer to Mars. For two reasons. Once all of this makes the news, people on Earth will see them as the soldiers that Dr. Jordan tried to make them. And with all of us able to work our robots on the surface of Mars, we can speed up the settlement project by decades.”

  “Good, good,” Kurt said smoothly. “Count me in.”

  “Not a chance,” I retorted. I turned my head and spoke to Ashley. “The general has already asked me if I’ll take a leadership position among all of us who can handle robots. Which I’ve accepted. And that means my first request is that Kurt does not go to Mars. In fact, when I told the general about Kurt and Dr. Jordan, Cannon said he’d make sure that Kurt never handles another robot as long as he lives.”

  Finally Kurt’s smile faltered. He tried to speak, but Cannon interrupted. “Tyce, Ashley.”

  I rolled away, and Ashley followed.

  “All of the units have reported successful missions,” Cannon said. “Out of the 10 pods, 9 were similar to this. Kids in jelly cylinders.”

  “The tenth?” I asked.

  “Empty,” Cannon said. He let out a breath. “And they still haven’t found Chad. Or Brian. They’re somewhere, with that missing pod.” He put his hand on Ashley’s shoulder. “We’re going to do our best to find your parents for you. And the same with Tyce’s father. But I may need your help over the next few weeks. Both of you.”

  “Sir?” I said. All I wanted was to find my father.

  “Early indications have given us a hint of where that pod might be.” He paused. “Will the two of you go to the Moon?”

  SCIENCE AND GOD

  You’ve probably noticed that the question of God’s existence comes up in Robot Wars.

  It’s no accident, of course. I think this is one of the most important questions that we need to decide for ourselves. If God created the universe and there is more to life than what we can see, hear, taste, smell, or touch, that means we have to think of our own lives as more than just the time we spend on Earth.

  On the other hand, if this universe was not created and God does not exist, then that might really change how you view your existence and how you live.

  Sometimes science is presented in such a way that it suggests there is no God. To make any decision, it helps to know as much about the situation as possible. As you decide for yourself, I’d like to show in the Robot Wars series that many, many people—including famous scientists—don’t see science this way.

  As you might guess, I’ve spent a lot of time wondering about science and God, and I’ve spent a lot of time reading about what scientists have learned and concluded. Because of this, I wrote a nonfiction book called Who Made The Moon? and you can find information about it at www.whomadethemoon.com. If you ever read it, you’ll see why science does not need to keep anyone away from God.

  With that in mind, I’ve added a little bit more to this book—a couple of essays about the science in journals one and two of Robot Wars, based on what you can find in Who Made The Moon?

  Sigmund Brouwer

  www.whomadethemoon.com

  JOURNAL ONE

  ARE YOU AN ALIEN?

  Q: Are you an alien?

  A: That’s exactly how Tyce feels. After all, he’s spent his entire life on Mars—weird as it sounds—and has never seen Earth before. When he arrives on Earth, he’s in awe. Just think of never having seen a yellow sun, white clouds, and a blue sky before, and then seeing them for the first time. Then add to that lots of other sights, like dogs, palm trees, tall grass, a variety of flowers. Sounds, like birds chirping, trucks on an interstate, and the roar of a male gator. Smells, like fish frying and the musty dampness of the Everglades. Surrounded by all these things you’d never experienced, your mouth would probably drop open too! You’d be overwhelmed. And who could blame you?

  It wouldn’t help, either, if somebody made fun of you, even in a teasing way, like Wild Man did to Tyce. “Where exactly are you from? Mars or something?” Little did Wild Man know how much his teasing bugged Tyce. How it hit home and made Tyce feel even more lonely and afraid. Because he is from another planet. And worse, he’s the only true “Martian” on Earth. He’s 50 million miles from his home—and everything he knows!

  It’s no wonder that all of a sudden the dome on Mars looks less scary. Even with all its regulations, like only getting a shower twice a month. Even with all its crises, such as the oxygen leak, a hostile takeover, and almost getting blown up by a black box. Why? Because Earth, as beautiful as it is, will never be Tyce’s real home.

  Q: Is Earth your true home?

  A: All of us have an emptiness that needs to be filled. Some people try to fill it with money or the pursuit of fun. This emptiness truly can make us feel like an alien; some people have described the emptiness as being “homesick for a place you’ve never been.”

  Where is that place, the place that lies beyond our life on Earth? Because of his growing faith in God, Tyce has discovered there’s more to life than what meets the eye. Than what we can see and touch. He believes that neither Earth nor Mars is his final destination. Instead, someday he’ll take an incredible flight to a place called heaven, where he’ll live forever with God.

  But that doesn’t mean we take this beautiful Earth for granted. God wants us to enjoy it. So why not, for the next few days, pretend you’re seeing everything on Earth for the first time? Like it’s “one giant candy store,” as Wild Man said. From plants to insects to reptiles and birds, explore how life swarms this world, cramming each nook and corner. Then you, too, might agree with Nate—that it takes more faith to deny the existence of God than to see a Creator behind all of this.

  And then you’ll also find it easier to see beyond this Earth to God’s ultimate plan for us—to be with him in heaven someday.

  JOURNAL TWO

  IS IT RIGHT TO MANIPULATE LIFE?

  Q: Is it right to manipulate life?

  A: That’s the very question Tyce Sanders has been asking himself all through this mission. After all, the evil Dr. Jordan is totally controlling the jelly kids’ lives, treating them as his slaves. He considers them valuable only because they are part of a very expensive experiment.

  Even more, Tyce discovers that Cannon has manipulated his life too. The general is the guy who pushed for the funds that caused Tyce’s surgery as a baby. The surgery that went wrong and caused his legs to be useless. Tyce is angry—and he has reason to be.

  Is it right to manipulate life?

  Although Robot Wars is set in the future, we need to ask ourselves that question now. You don’t have to look much farther than the headlines of your newspaper to find out that life is being manipulated today. It all started by genetically manipulating things like corn and beans to give farmers better crops. Then scientists figured out the technology to clone sheep (the first one’s name was Dolly), and the genetic material from a jellyfish was successfully implanted into a monkey.

  All these things may sound cool, but they could lead to scary places in the future. Like what’s happening at the Institute on Earth in A.D. 2040, where defenseless kids are being implanted with spinal plugs so they can control robots.

  In short, scientists are rapidly becoming more and more able to manipulate the building blocks of life. But the debates on whether this is right or wrong and how far we should go lag far behind the scientific advances. In other words, we as humans are learning how to do many things before we as a society are able to decide whether we should do them.

  Is it right to manipulate life? Is it okay for Dr. Jordan to use the jelly kids as an experiment?

  The Terratakers are like those who believe that humans consist of nothing more t
han complicated arrangements of protein and water. To the Terratakers, then, humans are in control, and they have the right to decide who should live and who should die. Following this philosophy means to people like Dr. Jordan that the “powerful” people can use the “less powerful” people as their slaves. And that the “powerful” people have more value to society than the “less powerful” people, like the jelly kids.

  But that’s not what Tyce, his parents, Ashley, Nate, and Rawling believe. As Christians, they believe that God created the world. That he created each human being uniquely, and that all human beings are equally valuable in his eyes. And as the one who created us, he and only he should have power over our life and death. Not people like Dr. Jordan, who threaten to use death chips to manipulate others through fear.

  When you believe in God, you also have to believe that every life—including your own—is valuable. And that it deserves to be treated with respect.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Sigmund Brouwer, his wife, recording artist Cindy Morgan, and their daughters split living between Red Deer, Alberta, Canada, and Nashville, Tennessee. He has written several series of juvenile fiction and eight novels. Sigmund loves sports and plays golf and hockey. He also enjoys visiting schools to talk about books. He welcomes visitors to his Web site at www.coolreading.com.