by C. W. Crowe
Love in the Robot Dawn
A novel by C.W. Crowe
Copyright © 2017 by C.W.Crowe
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing, 2017
Comments? Questions? Movie Deals? [email protected] www.cwcrowe.com
Also by C.W. Crowe:
The World’s End Series
Book One: Dymond’s World
Book Two: Jill’s World
Book Three: Regina’s World
The Alien Revelation Series
Book One: The Appearing
Book Two: The Connection
Book Three: The Combining
Book Four: The Celebration
Book Five: The Invitation
The Reporter, a Kari Mallot Series
Episode One
Episode Two
Episode Three
Contents
Prologue
Part One: Robots
Chapter One: The Walk Home
Chapter Two: Ship
Chapter Three: Dad Speaks
Chapter Four: The Surprise
Chapter Five: The Wrong Thing
Chapter Six: Lucy's Story
Chapter Seven: The Fight
Chapter Eight: Orders Orders
Chapter Nine: Decision Time
Part Two: Humans
Chapter Ten: Sunup
Chapter Eleven: The Gate
Chapter Twelve: Searching
Chapter Thirteen: Trees
Part Three: Travel
Chapter Fourteen: Rescue
Chapter Fifteen: Aftermath
Chapter Sixteen: Lucy's Confession
Chapter Seventeen: Music
Chapter Eighteen: The Message
Chapter Nineteen: A Good Night's Rest
Chapter Twenty: Ceremonies
Chapter Twenty-One: To the Future
Part Four: Los Alamos
Chapter Twenty-Two: Nightfall
Chapter Twenty-Three: Leo's Story
Chapter Twenty-Four: Approach
Chapter Twenty-Five: Capture
Chapter Twenty-Six: New Home
Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Faculty Meeting
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Pillow Talk
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Jobs
Chapter Thirty: Step One
Chapter Thirty-One: The Goodbyes
Chapter Thirty-Two: The Last Night
Chapter Thirty-Three: Recovery
Chapter Thirty-Four: Bodies
Part Five: Robot Dawn
Chapter Thirty-Five: Decision
Chapter Thirty-Six: Barking Dog
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Speed
Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Alien Research Center
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Karen's Story
Chapter Forty: Arrival
Chapter Forty-One: Dreams
Chapter Forty-Two: Questioning
Chapter Forty-Three: Sick at Sea
Chapter Forty-Four: Exam
Chapter Forty-Five: The Unfolding
Chapter Forty-Six: Revelation
Part Six
Chapter Forty-Seven: Logic Can Be Cruel
Chapter Forty-Eight: Learning to Whistle
Chapter Forty-Nine: Falling into Place
Chapter Fifty: Robots Alive
Chapter Fifty-One: Mom
Chapter Fifty-Two: Reflections
Chapter Fifty-Three: The Act
Chapter Fifty-Four: Despair
Chapter Fifty-Five: Deeds
Epilogue
From the Author
To Deb who, like always, kept me between the lines
Special thanks to Sarah K. L. Wilson for her cover design
Prologue
Here they come again.
It’s the same thing every Sunday. Dad and mom walk side by side down the zoo’s main pathway, each holding a hand of a child.
The dad leads the family over to the Velociraptor habitat and faces the bars. He calls out “Here, kitty kitty,” in a singsong voice. The little girl, like always, giggles. The boy holds back, moving closer to his mother.
I watch from my spot behind the chain link fence, again like always. No matter how many times I see it, it’s still amazing.
The underbrush and leaves rustle as an unseen Raptor moves through them like an eel through low grass. It makes an eerie noise, the sound of nearby danger.
Of course, there should be no danger. The bars are thirty feet high and are made of solid steel that gleam gray in the sunshine. No Raptor can get through them or jump high enough to get over them. I remember when the Raptors were put here months ago. Not one has escaped, or even come close.
Even though I know it’s going to happen, I always jump slightly when the creature appears in the clearing right on the other side of the bars from where the family is standing. It’s like one second she’s not there, and the next she is. These things are that fast.
The little girl squeals and the boy further retreats as the dad moves his face within a couple of inches of the bars. The Raptor snorts and moves an equal distance from the bars on her side. Even from my position, I can smell her breath. It smells like they feed them whole pigs.
“Come on, Son. She can’t do anything.” The man makes a face, turns around and wiggles his butt at the bars. The little boy whimpers as a low frequency growl escapes from the Raptor.
The dad turns around and moves even closer. “Let’s play!” he says.
He reaches for his son, who is trying his best to blend into his mother, but she’s no help. “Go on son, play with your dad.” She gives the child a push as the dad takes him by the hand and pulls him up to the bars.
The Raptor watches their every move; her suddenly intelligent yellow eyes unblinking; her mouth open only enough to show a hint of razor sharp teeth. Her whole body is perfectly still except for tiny muscle twitches of anticipation.
Then it happens. The dad reaches right into the cage with his hand like he’s going to pet the creature. The Raptor moves so fast my eyes can’t keep up, but she’s not quite fast enough as the man manages to withdraw his hand. The almost explosive sound of her jaws snapping shut fills the area around the Raptor cage.
The little girl, now beside her mother, squeals, “Yeah!” as he does it again and again. Each time the mouth snaps at the hand and each time it misses by a fraction of an inch.
“See son? It’s not hard. This dinosaur isn’t as fast as she thinks!”
Every time at this point, I see the same thing in the boy’s eyes: relief. The old man has had his fun and now they can move on to see something that’s less scary.
And every time that relief changes to terror as the father says, “You’re old enough, son. You try it.”
The look on the boy’s face makes it obvious that he’s a hair away from breaking into tears. His mother speaks softly, “Time to be a man, son.”
But it’s the little sister who provides the worst blow, “Aw, he’s scared. He’s just a baby.”
The boy can’t take any more. He walks up to the cage and moves his hand slowly forward until just a fingertip is inside the cage. With an explosion of violence, the Raptor lunges at it, and I jump again. The boy gets his hand out just in time.
“See!” said the dad. “You can do it! Try it again!”
The boy actually smiles at this point. I think his relief at surviving gives him confidence. He puts his whole hand in the cage, all the way up to his elbow.
Before he’s even got it all the way in, the Raptor attacks. This time, her massively strong
jaws clamp on the boy’s wrist. The sound of that bite carries through the clearing. She twists her head to try and sever the wrist, but the boy is just flung this way and that outside the bars, slamming into them first to the left and then the right. The Raptor tries a different approach, pulling the boy until his body is straining against the bars. For just an instant, she releases her grip and then bites him again, this time up to the elbow.
There are fresh crunching sounds as the Raptor leaps backwards, at the same time turning her head sharply.
With a snap, the boy’s arm comes off and he falls backwards on the ground, landing on his rear end. The Raptor raises her head into the air, issues a roar of triumph, and swallows the arm whole.
The sister comes over and examines her brother’s now armless shoulder. The visible cluster of wires and synthetic tendons fascinates her. A thick white liquid drains out of the gaping wound. “Cool,” she says.
The father and mother get the boy to his feet. “See son? That’s what happens when you’re not quite fast enough. You’ll get it though. Sooner or later you’ll get it.”
They head off to the aid station to get a new arm. That’s the advantage of being a robot – you can always be rebuilt. It doesn’t matter if you are a robot person or a robot dinosaur in a zoo designed by robots for robots.
I’m not so lucky though. Humans like me are scarce – and like all biologics, we live until we die and that’s it. Sometimes I envy the robots.
I look into the cage and the Raptor is watching me. She looks hungry.
Part One: Robots
Chapter One: The Walk Home
Right on time, my family arrives to get me. For the last twenty-seven Sundays it's been exactly the same thing - they take me with them to the zoo and order me to wait in the human cage while they stroll off. They return exactly two hours and sixteen minutes later, nod at me to follow, and then we go home.
Robots are creatures of habit. They do the same things again and again until some internal mechanism trips and then they ask me for my advice. A bit over nine months ago, they asked me what a family should do on a Sunday and I told them a trip to the zoo would be appropriate.
Since then, rain or shine, that's what we've done.
*.*.*
As we exit the zoo, the thoughts of the other humans who had shared the cage with me faded in my mind. It was like always; I couldn't actually hear their thoughts as words, just a jumble of impressions and noises - an easily manageable jumble.
At first, as a child, I didn't understand that I was abnormal. I thought everyone could hear the noises of other people in their heads. When I started to go to school, it was quite a shock - having dozens of other kids nearby, all making high energy kid sounds was hard to get used to.
That led me to often try to move away from the crowd; to be by myself as much as possible. I always took a desk in the corner and avoided the most crowded table at lunch so that I sometimes ate by myself.
*.*.*
My teacher noticed that I was kind of a loner and called my mother in for a talk about me. I only found out when Mom showed up one day as my school day ended.
The teacher gave me a paper to work on while she sat up front with my mother.
“Leonard is a smart boy, Mrs. Smith. But I’m a bit concerned with his social development. I know he’s new to school and that takes some getting used to, so it’s probably nothing. But I did want to ask if you noticed a tendency to hold himself apart from the others when he’s in a group?”
My Mom glanced at me. “No, not around us.”
The teacher nodded, “Well, then it’s probably nothing to be concerned about. We’ll see how he’s doing in a month.”
Mom frowned, “And then?”
“Well, Mrs. Smith, we may want to refer him to be evaluated for ADHD. It’s very common, especially with boys, and the treatments are very effective if started young.”
My Mom’s voice was cold, “I thought that was for kids who acted out, not those who were simply quiet.”
The teacher smiled and patted my Mom on the hand. “It can be either way, Mrs. Smith. Now don’t worry. It’s like I say - probably nothing. I do appreciate you coming in to see me.
*.*.*
Mom and I walked halfway home in silence. Finally she asked me, “Leo, is she right? Do you try to keep off by yourself?”
“Ah . . . I don’t know. Maybe.” I remember not wanting to get into trouble.
“But why, son? Are the other kids mean to you? Are they bullying?”
Right then, I started to tell her about the noises, about how the sounds coming from groups of people made it hard for me to concentrate. I opened my mouth to explain it all to her, but then I realized I couldn’t tell her that. I didn’t really think much about it; it was just something I couldn’t say.
Instead, I said, “They’re fine. I guess it’s because the class is so big, so many people.”
We finished the walk as I listened to my Mom’s noises - they sounded satisfied.
Chapter Two: Ship
The walk home was exactly the same nine block stroll we took every Sunday after our zoo visit. We always took the bus there, but walked home. I stayed a few steps behind my robot family. It was how they wanted things to be.
As we turned the corner to Maple Street, Jimmy studied his new arm and said, "It feels funny."
"It's not the same color as your other one, either." That was little Elle. She said the same thing every week.
Mom smiled at them. "It'll take a few hours to cure, then it'll be like new."
Dad never said anything, but this was the spot where he kind of skipped because the sidewalk had a big crack in it. Every week, he skipped in exactly the same way and missed the crack by exactly the same amount. I never tried to confirm it, but I'll bet that every single step was identical, week after week.
That was robots for you - always in a loop; always wanting to do the same things, again and again.
Until they didn't. That's where I come in.
*.*.*
I'm human, but I can be a creature of habit myself from time to time. Every week, when I witness Dad skipping over that crack, I wonder at robot behavior and I think of Nick Presser. Nick was the one who told me all about them. At one time, Nick had been the world's greatest expert on the robot visitors, so everything I learned from him was gospel.
One of the first things was about why they were so repetitive. One day, as we huddled with some other kids, he explained it.
"It was their ship . . . their space ship. In order to keep it going, they had to do the same things again and again. They had to replace items on a schedule, work at making replacement parts on a schedule, basically run the whole twenty mile in diameter ship on a schedule."
I felt the confusion in the minds of my fellow humans. "But why? Why just robots on the ship?"
Nick stared into the distance as his eyes became unfocused. "It's the distance they traveled and the time it took. Even though they were on the fringes of our local group of galaxies, it was the only way to explore the universe."
I wasn't sure what he meant, and I could feel confusion in several others too. Nick saw it in their faces.
He smiled and looked around, apparently deciding that we were, for the moment at least, safe.
*.*.*
"The universe is almost unimaginably large, but the speed limits are low. We now know that it's impossible to go faster than the speed of light and so it takes a long, long time to travel across even one galaxy - far longer than any living things could reasonably be expected to survive."
A boy named Crosby spoke up. He was always outgoing. "How do you know it's impossible to go faster than the speed of light? How about worm holes, warp drives that type of thing?"
I'd read my share of science fiction growing up and had seen a lot of movies, so I understood what Crosby was asking.
Nick Presser nodded in acknowledgment, "Those are common themes in fiction and movies, but we've learned that those ideas
are just fantasies because the robot visitors told us so. They have traveled for so long and so far that they would have seen evidence if other civilizations had mastered faster than light travel. All during their journey, they saw nothing like that - they also never even saw any other signs of life."
"How long was their journey?" It was the obvious next question from Crosby.
Nick looked up at the sky. It was nighttime and had been cloudy, but an opening appeared and a few faint stars were visible. "It took a while after their arrival before they learned to actually talk to us. As soon as even rudimentary communications were established, we asked that very question and their answer floored us. They told us that they had been traveling at half the speed of light and that they had traveled a distance of five million light years, only stopping occasionally to mine an asteroid or planet of its metals.
"And even though they traveled an almost unimaginable distance, they covered only the area we refer to as the local group of galaxies. Still, as they passed through or by them, the fact they detected no civilizations or life of any kind is telling. The major thinking today is that humanity is alone or very close to it."
I was feeling even a bit more confused and spoke up which elicited a look of surprise on Nick's face since I was normally the quiet one, "But how does that explain why they do the same things over and over again?"
I was kneeling just to Nick's left. He put his hand on my shoulder. "It's because their ship is basically a robot manned with robots. It's designed to last practically forever. As long as every robot does its job of maintaining the ship, and does it day after day and year after year, the ship should last until . . . well, we don't know."
A little girl who couldn't have been more than twelve asked, "So who made the robots? And why didn't those people just come in the ship?"
Nick smiled again at the girl, "I can answer one of your questions. People . . . or any kind of life, probably couldn't make such a long journey. It makes sense to instead send robots that can live a long, long time. I predicted as much before the robots even arrived. Back then, it was kind of fun; thinking about such things, coming up with wild ideas. At first, I was a little proud to have been proven right."
