Love in the Robot Dawn

by C. W. Crowe

Was this going to be the way it was? Was I going to hear the voice of Nick Presser whenever I tried to be quiet for a minute?

  It was stupid. No, not that - that wasn't right. It was insane. Yes, that was it. Hearing voices was a sign of insanity and I was hearing voices, so therefore . . .

  I felt my stomach clinch and the taste of the lunch I'd eaten was back in my mouth. Suddenly, I felt cold but at the same time there were droplets of sweat on my hairline. I looked for Lucy, but even though she'd been seated in front of me just a moment ago, I couldn't find her because my vision was spinning.

  *.*.*

  I woke with Lucy pulling me up by my shoulders. "Leo! God Leo, what's wrong?" Her face was six inches above mine.

  She was looking directly down at me like she was up in heaven and I was down on earth. Her noises were the most anguished I'd ever heard from her. But it was her face, her beautiful face, that broke my heart. A streak of tears ran down each of her cheeks as her worry and concern almost overwhelmed her.

  I could not let her be this hurt. I had to make things all right, not just for me, but for her - especially for her.

  I knew it then. I could not let her know that I was probably going crazy. I had to shield her from it at least until I knew how bad it was. Moaning and fainting were signs of weakness and, more importantly, symbols of my own impotence. I would not be that Leo again - not where Lucy could see. I would be her husband for as long as I could.

  "Till death do us part," I thought as I reached up to her and smiled.

  *.*.*

  When we got back to our quarters, we found Karen was waiting for us next door. She'd made dinner - spaghetti. "It was the only thing that I learned to make before the robots came - except smores,” she explained.

  When I'd fainted just as the transport arrived at the staircase that led to the surface, Riley had carried me off it and laid me on the platform until Lucy pushed him aside. They all gathered around to fuss over me, but I insisted I'd just become lightheaded - probably due to the rich food I wasn't used to.

  That was a lie, of course, the first one I'd ever told Lucy. It hurt, but there wasn't anything else I could do.

  I recovered quickly and made a few of my funny jokes as we walked back to our new "home," so when Karen told us about dinner, I smiled and thanked her. She seemed so enthusiastic, so happy to have other humans she could talk to. I'm sure Lucy would have rather gone to our place where she could stare at me and make sure I was normal, but this seemed better because right now I really didn't want to be alone with her.

  Karen's place was exactly like ours. She told us the food would be ready in a few minutes as she went into her bedroom. Cory was in the living room playing with some blocks that one of the soldiers had given him when he was down below.

  Lucy and I sat on the couch across from him. She held my hand with one of hers and then put her other one on my forehead, "You don't feel feverish," she said like she was disappointed.

  Just then, Karen walked in and I was startled in surprise. The only thing I'd ever seen her in was a pair of very tight jeans and a perhaps even tighter sweater. Now she was dressed in hip hugging sweat pants and a crop top that fell to just above her navel. She was barefoot.

  She saw us staring and smiled and twirled like a model. "Like it? It feels so much better. Those old jeans and sweater fit when we came up here from Vegas, but that was almost three years ago. I guess I grew. These feel a lot better. Someone found the clothes and brought them by today - that soldier, Riley. They are really nice here, don't you think?"

  Before I could answer, Karen saw me staring at her hip. There was a thing there. At first I thought it was one of those robot probes like they'd put on Lucy, but then I realized it was a tattoo.

  She pulled down the waistband of her pants so it was fully visible. "It's my lotus! Do you like it? My Dad would have had a cow if he'd known, but I snuck out and got it done anyway. I felt like kind of guilty and told mom and she said it would be all right, but not to get another. She said that on the last day I ever saw her."

  I could hear that the memory of her mother was painful to her. Maybe Lucy sensed it too because she rose and said, "Let's get the spaghetti on the table. Cory, will you help Mama Lucy?"

  "Yes!" he squealed and then jumped up like he had been shot out of a cannon. He ran to Lucy and the two of them set the table.

  *.*.*

  Later that night, Lucy and I lay on our backs, side by side in bed. That was not normal. "Is everything okay?" I asked.

  "No. I'm mad at you."

  Mad at me! What had I done? Sure, I hadn't told her about how Nick had talked to me again and how I was going insane, but she couldn't possibly know any of that - no one did but me.

  And okay, maybe I had, once again, glanced in the general direction of Karen. But we had dinner with her, for God's sake! What was I supposed to do, wear some kind of blinders?

  All that flew through my head along with a few other choice comments, but when I spoke I just asked, "Why?"

  "Because of your fainting spell. Something's not right Leonard. Did they drug you or anything today? Did you black out at any time when they were questioning you?"

  She was worried about me! I wanted to reach for her and tell her I was worried about myself too; that I was likely on the express train to Crazytown.

  But I didn't do that - I couldn't. Not yet anyway. To lay that type of burden on her was unfair. And besides, maybe hearing Nick would become just another strange thing with me like hearing noises from other humans. I'd learned to pretty much live with that; I guessed that it might be possible for me to learn to live with Nick speaking to me too.

  I turned on my left side to face her. At the exact same moment, she did the same thing and then spooned into me. I reached across and put my hand on her stomach. Her skin was so soft.

  "Parker and his people were fine with me today, Lucy. When I told him about your plan in Los Alamos, he even called you an 'extraordinary woman', something I fully agree with."

  I could hear her noises smooth out. "No, it was the trip back. That train thing sways back and forth and the closer we get to the surface, the warmer it gets. I think I just got a little motion sick. I'm sorry to be so weak."

  She pushed even a bit closer. "My husband is maybe the only human in the world to get seasick today and he isn't even close to any sea. That's just my luck."

  Before I could say anything else, she turned around to face me.

  *.*.*

  Somehow, it was easier at night. During the day, hearing Nick Presser speak to me was horribly jarring. But at night, when he spoke to me in a dream, it was easier. At least it was this time.

  "Leo, I was telling you about how Parker organized the study of the aliens. It wasn't easy because they were just so different from us and it was practically impossible to communicate with them in any meaningful way. Imagine trying to ask a spider how it made silk - it was a very difficult task.

  "Scientific communication was easier since they lived with the same laws of physics that we did and Parker and his people had the ship to refer to. That ship has yielded a treasure of important scientific breakthroughs - almost none of which were made public. Only a select few people know this, but three teams of human colonists have been sent to other star systems. With the alien technology, the travel time was cut to ten years or so. When the robots came, we expected some of those humans to return to earth within another fifteen years - to tell us what they had found and to announce, hopefully, that humanity had new homes. Lord knows what they will return to now - maybe a world still overrun with robots."

  Nick paused and I thought he might be done. In my sleep, I felt almost disappointed, but he wasn't finished.

  "Thirty years later, when he first brought me down here, Parker told me how it had soon become obvious that something was wrong with the aliens. There wasn't enough communication for his team to help them so, one by one, they all died within a month of their arrival. His theory was that something had failed
on their ship - something that doomed them so that they had to land. Parker wondered if something on the ship itself killed them.

  "That ship has been tested thousands of times since then and we can't detect anything, and no human has gotten sick or died as far as we know. Still, there is an almost perfectly round container inside that has a crack in it. Parker thought leakage through that crack is what killed the aliens. We don't know exactly what is inside that container - it is made of some very interesting alloy that, even after over fifty years, we still don’t understand.

  "By the time the robots arrived, I was a very senior man - other than Parker, probably the best at alien biology and behavior. Even with dead aliens, we'd learned a lot over all those years.

  "So it was natural for me to get assigned to be the human in charge of our evaluation of the robots. At first, communications were difficult, but the robots soon learned to sign and then speak. I asked for six robot volunteers to accompany me so they could be studied. The robots agreed and we loaded them into a plane in Las Vegas and flew them here.

  "Just as we were preparing to land, the robots all went dead - like someone had turned off their power source. We rushed them underground, but it seemed to be too late. Soon, of course, it became clear that there was something about this spot - something that turned them off.

  "I was the one who figured it out. It was that crack, that tiny crack right at the top of the globe shaped container. Even though we couldn't measure anything being emitted from it, there was something there and it blocked the robot's ability to connect to their constant source of data and power - what they called their Channel. Without that connection, they were just piles of parts.

  "And so Leo, that is what I hope Parker has been doing. I hope he's been trying to find a way to use those emissions to "turn off" the mother ship and therefore turn off all the robots. I pray he's trying to save humanity."

  I sensed this was the end, but not now! Not when there was a question that hadn't been answered, and it was one that had to be answered.

  My dream mind imagined itself asking that question. "Is that why you are telling me this, Nick? Why me? Am I supposed to help Parker defeat the aliens? Is that why I'm here?"

  Apparently all communications from Nick were only one way because by the time Lucy awakened me the next morning, I still hadn't received an answer.

  Chapter Forty-Four: Exam

  Lucy wore a yellow dress today. It, along with a bunch of other clothes had been left in our quarters while we were underground. I knew little about women's fashions, but this was a pretty dress, sleeveless and stylishly short. It was a warm day so it seemed appropriate. We had an appointment for her first checkup with a real doctor.

  The medical clinic in the underground part of Area 51 seemed very large and modern, but the doctor almost apologized as she spoke to us. I was standing holding Lucy’s hand as she sat on the examination table in another hospital gown. The sight of her like that brought back bad memories of our welcome to Los Alamos.

  "I'm sorry, Lucy and Leo. We don't have a real ob/gyn here, but I'll do my best for you. I did graduate medical school and most births happen without complications, so I'm hopeful I'll be able to observe something we haven't seen down here in - well, as far as I know, we've never had a birth down here."

  She'd introduced herself as Doctor Beth Lundgren and asked that we call her Beth. She was about fifty with grey hair and sparkling eyes and with noises that indicated she was satisfied. "Almost all the females down here are older since they had advanced degrees of one type or another before arriving and then most people, once working here, kept at it until they retired, kind of like the post office." She paused and grinned. "But seriously, where else could a scientist work in such a place? The result is that we have an older population. There are a couple of younger female soldiers, but neither has gotten pregnant."

  Beth didn't tell us why and I wondered if it was because they didn't choose to have children in the world the way it was.

  "Anyway, I'm so excited about you two. Now Leo, I examined her and Lucy is strong and fit, but I want you to make sure she isn't unduly stressed out by all that is going on."

  I didn't ask how I could do that since my own stress level was creeping up to eleven. I just nodded my agreement as Lucy smiled at me.

  "Would you like to hear your baby's heartbeat?"

  Both Lucy and I said "Yes" in unison.

  *.*.*

  Beth had finished with Lucy’s exam. Lucy asked her, “Is it a boy or girl? Can you tell?”

  Beth smiled, “Not yet. This lab is completely equipped to study alien anatomy, but not so much for mothers-to-be. We do have extensive ultrasound and MRI capabilities, so we’ll be able to tell a little later.”

  Beth bent down and looked across Lucy’s stomach. “You’re so naturally thin Lucy, but I think I can see a real baby bump getting started there.”

  Now it was my turn to do something as Beth handed me a metal thing. “It’s a microphone. Just move it around until you hear the heartbeat. It’ll be easy to hear, but faster than you’re used to.”

  Lucy was staring daggers at me, daring me to make some joke about her baby bump. I’d seen it for days now, but she’d been stubborn and ready to fight if I mentioned it.

  I put my hand on her stomach and tried the mic. There was nothing from the speaker so I started to move it to a new position when something stopped me. It was the sound - not of the heartbeat of our baby - but of her noises. I could hear her human noises! And I knew she was a girl - females had their own distinct sound.

  I moved the mic around a bit until I could hear her heartbeat. For a few moments, I was hearing a symphony of human life in two part harmony.

  I couldn’t help myself. I kissed Lucy right in front of Beth. At that moment, I didn’t care who saw.

  Beth made a giggling sound and Lucy’s noises were happy.

  *.*.*

  As soon as we were done with the Doctor, Parker had us escorted to his office. It was modern with a cluttered desk and books arranged haphazardly on a shelf behind him. A computer screen glowed, reflecting in his glasses.

  It was the first time I’d seen one in three years and I was shocked - it was like seeing an artifact from another time. “How did you get all the electronics working?” I blurted out before he even told us why we were here.

  He smiled, “We are underground and were a highly secure facility. Most of our electronics were shielded against an EMP attack; that’s why we have trucks and other vehicles down here that still run.”

  So if these people survived, others in similar situations might have too. I started to ask about that, but Parker answered the question before I could ask it. “Yes, Leo, there were places designed to withstand an EMP attack, but even underground, their use of electricity stood out clearly to the robots - it was light little pinpricks of light on a dark world.

  “Soon after their initial attack, they started bombing everywhere that hadn’t gone dark. They even took out Cheyenne Mountain, one of the most secure sites that ever was. We don’t know how many robot bombs it took, but eventually they broke through and destroyed the place. They couldn’t bomb us, of course, because they would stop working if they got close enough. So as of now, we believe we are the only functioning scientific or governmental facility left in the world.”

  Now he leaned back in his chair and studied the screen. "Doctor Lundgren says things are proceeding normally." He was looking at Lucy.

  "I was glad to hear it," said Lucy in reply.

  He nodded. This was obviously small talk - he had something more important on his mind. For the first time since I'd been around him, his noises changed to something almost wary sounding.

  "We are still digesting all the information you gave us yesterday. It was quite a lot and I thank you for sharing it. So far, we have found no areas of appreciable difference in your two stories."

  "Why would you expect to?" I asked.

  "We weren't really expecting it,
Leo. But your relationship with Nick Presser was a red flag. And, of course, your knowledge of our special status - the fact that robots can't come here. Did Nick tell you why? I mean, did he describe why it is that robots become totally non-functional when they get too close to this facility?"

  I'd told Lucy this before, so I knew she'd probably talked to them about it. "It was the ship - the alien ship. Nick said something about it caused the robots to just shut down."

  Parker nodded again and I could swear I heard brittle old bones popping with the effort. "Yes, we know that - but specifically? Did he tell you the exact thing that robbed the robots of their power source?"

  "No, he didn't." That was an easy one - Nick had never told me that when I'd known him. It was what I had stated yesterday so Parker already knew my answer. He was just double checking.

  But now I did know. It was a round globe shaped object with a crack in the top. Nick had told me that too - it had happened just last night while I was dreaming. But this time, Nick was just a voice in my head and there was no way I was telling Parker or Lucy about that.

  *.*.*

  Parker seemed satisfied with my answers and told us to take the next couple of days to recuperate from our travels. He said we were free to roam around topside, but not to leave the base and that we were welcome to have meals in the main cafeteria and we should feel free to use the library or take in a movie. "Just ask Riley. He will look out for you and Ms. Mcmillan."

  I could hear Lucy's approval of that idea. A movie! The idea of seeing one again was almost shocking. I thought about teasing her by yawning and saying I'd like to stay in and get to bed early, but as we walked back to the transport, I formally asked if she'd accompany me to a movie. I told her it would be a date - something neither of us had ever been on.

  She said "Yes," and I could hear her smile even though her back was to me.