by ROUNAK PURI
"What's your name" said Madirk getting down to his knees to be at Liam's hight.
"Liam" said Liam.
"It's good to know you Liam" said Madirk grinning and hugging Liam. Belinda Joined him then on her knees came in and hugged me.
"It's good to meet you Jenny" said Belinda.
I felt like I had been holding my breath and finally let go. The tension left me like a cold mornings mist rising in the sun. I was alive again. I could be Jenny again, Liam had shown me that. I could feel for someone. I could be me and being me meant having to resist.4
Jenny's POV6
"Thanks Liam" I said hugging the boy "you've saved me".
For breakfast I had another piece of rustic bread toasted over a raw flame. Everyone was too happy with Liam's first words to pay me much attention but I sat and drank nettle tea finally at piece. Time to be a person again.4
My collar woke up and told me I had half an hour to get to the plain. I went to say good bye. I knelt with Liam.2
"You can only say one word 'Liam' is that right?" I said
"Liam" said Liam.
"Who's the most fabulous boy in the world" I said
"Liam" said Liam.
"Who's going to grow up and be big and strong?"3
"Liam" said Liam.
"Who's going to survive? " I asked.
"Liam" said Liam.
"Who's never going to let the robots ruin our lives." I asked.
"Liam" said Liam.
I held him to me again.
"Every minute you live your winning. Every second you breathe your defeating them. With every heart beat your making your parents, were ever they are, prouder and prouder. " I said.3
"Thank you Jenny" said Liam quietly.3
"Wow, 'Liam' and 'Thank you'. You can do a lot with those words. Never forget who you really are Liam. Never regret being kind. Never give up on being you. " I said and thought perhaps I should take my own advice." I have to go now, but I'll be back later to talk"
We walked up the stairs and back to the few buildings. Liam came holding my hand. The buildings were arranged in a horseshoe shape around the landing pad. There was something like the town Hall through the windows I could see the pods I had delivered. There seem to be a small hospital called 'vets', the tiny school marked 'instruction', a building marked 'collar maintenance', another one marked food distribution. Finally there was a tall clocktower with a a Radio antenna which drove the wi-Fi for the artificial island. I made a mental note not to fly near the Tower. That could cut off the Wi-Fi to everyone and make their collars kill them. I looked at the black outlines in the hall. I wondered what they were. I was starting to be curious about them now, but I could look at them more closely when I got back with the others in the afternoon.1
We returned to the Osprey. I went in and stepped out handing Belinda the packets of Soylant green.
"It's not much but it's all I have" I said. I would go hungry today but that was a small price for my life back. The man called Madirk seemed keen to have the other pods. It was nearly 9:00 by the clock tower.
I hugged Liam again "I'll be back to say good bye later" I said.
I got a message from master "I'm busy, take off, the auto pilot will fly you to the packing plant. Collect more pods. I will connect at the Packing plant".2
I sat down at the controls and followed the instructions my helmet gave me. the rotors picked up and the Osprey took off lightly in the morning sun. I could see Liam, Belinda, Madirk and the other kids waving. I waved back. I was mastering the use of this plane and did most of the piloting my self. I wondered about life on the reservation. Everything the robots had given them was sufficient. Enough food, modest housing. More than most. After takeoff the autopilot took over.
From the sky I could seen another ocean city being built. There was a ship which was extruding floating concrete in a spiral shape. Like a snail on it's side. As the ship spiralled out it created a large flat disc. Another nearby floating city have been completed and was being covered in a few metres of earth delivered by ship. Houses were built into the concrete understructure. It seemed odd to me that the robots went to such great lengths to knock buildings down outside cities and then spent so much effort building new ones out at sea. I guess the ocean cities stop the humans getting out of their new reservations. Floating prisons of flesh.3
That morning I flew back to the packing plant and got three more pods. One large one and two small ones. I was flying back towards the Ocean City. Master was off line and I was flying the air plane myself. On the whim I started to experiment turning the plane a little to the left and the right. Climbing and descending. I passed over an empty town and started to fly lower. The landscape was empty. Occasionally I would see signs of life a small herd of wild horses running. Sometimes I flew over a huge forest of wind turbines below them stretched solar panels raised up like palms. Below the solar panels wild flowers grew. Some of these mechanical forests had robots still building them. Some of the larger wind turbines were being printed on the spot.
I was alerted by my collar that number four battery was defective.
'Trust me to get a flat while I am out driving the first time. I hope this plane comes with AAA membership' I thought.
I followed the gaze that my visor lenses indicated and noticed that the status light had become red. Rockwood was not responding, the general instruction was if in doubt land and sort it out. There was some nice ground up ahead and I was able to move into hover mode then land vertically without instruction. I'm such a pilot pro. I put the D pad down and began talking to my collar about putting the plane into recharge mode.
Later I had powered down the plane to save power, the solar panels on the wings began charging the batteries. I sent another message to master. I sat there for a moment. Jenny would have been curious and gone and investigated the pods. 5642 would just stare into space waiting for Master's instructions. Without power the ship started to warm up under the sun, I opened the cabin door to let some cool air through. After a few minutes I heard a noise. It sounded like someone was walking in the plane. I knew it was just the metal expanding in the heat. You don't get into Caltech without knowing metal expands in heat. I looked out of the window, listening to the sound of crickets chirping around me. I wondered if they had some kind of volume control knob. Suddenly the cabin door behind me swung open.
I saw a spider robot a hunter killer like Araneae come through the door. 'Had I landed some were forbidden? 'I wondered.
"Come with me Judaka " the robot ordered in a female voice.
I looked at the robot and recognised the missing leg, it was Araneae.
"Mistress Araneae?" I said in confusion. The robot reached out and grabbed my arm like a vice and pulled me away.2
"Time for walkies" said Araneae pulling me out of the plane.
****
Chapter 77/Resistance/Along came a spider
" I belong to Lord Rockwood. He has not tasked me with following your orders" I said formally being pulled through the pilots cabin out into the past the pods and onto the ground beyond. Was this some kind of test?1
She kept pulling me.
"Get your stinking claws off me you dirty chape" I said. I hope you appreciate my ability to pull up Shakespearian words like chape in a crisis. OK I admit, 'chape' had been on a practice PSAT test and I had kept it around for shock and awe purposes at scrabble.3
Human Law two stated I had to follow robot orders. This included any robot or master who happened to be around. The machines had decided that obedience was more important than making it easy for other robots to steal you. After all you could be tracked, disabled, given remote orders even 'wiped' making you effectively beyond the reach of a criminal machine. Total obedience to machines was from their point of view always a plus.
"Warning reaching limits of Wifi - return to your safe zone or inaction may result 20 seconds
I was departing the Geo-fence area. If I moved much further I would start
to get the self-destruct count down.
"Mistress my self-destruct has been initiated" I said.
The robot just turned, raised itself in the air above me and pushed me to the ground.
"I think we are a little early in the relationship for this" I said trying to hold her back. Brave huh? Well I knew she didn't know my collar's password otherwise she would have used the pain settings to get me going not dragged me.
While three spider legs held me another two worked around my neck plugging something in. Suddenly my collar came off and was flying through the air. The robot shot it before the collar hit the ground. One of the robot limbs then produced what could only be described as massive sticky tape. I found my arms pushed together and my hands tied behind my back.
"You can't kidnap me," I said.
"I'm not kidnapping you, I'm stealing you" said the robot.2
"You can't steal me!" I said.
"No one will blame you for giving up. In fact, quitting at this point is a perfectly reasonable response."said Araneae as she picked me up with two arms and I was carried as she scuttled along the grass.
After 10 minutes of painful travel we suddenly stopped. Araneae just froze as I struggled.
"You can't do this to me! Put me down you maniacal mechanical maniac" I said.4
"You're not just a regular moron, are you?" said Araneae.
Suddenly I heard the sound of electric Winnebago R.V. approaching rapidly in the distance. It pulled up the drivers seat was empty it was self driving. I was pushed in the back then Araneae climbed into the front seat. On the back seat with me around a table was a slave. She was looking out of the other window and then turned towards me. Her number was 1918. On her head was a lightweight camera attached to what was nearly a pair of glasses. She held a gun in one hand in her other hand she was smoking an invisible cigarette. Her make up was like a single black bar was like she was doing an impression of Zorro. Was this just-read-the-instructions?3
"Is this thing working?" she said. I recognised the voice She was Zola's slave?Then I realised that someone or something was treating this slave like a flesh Skype. Some one was remoteing her.1
"So glad you could join us my dear" said just-read-the-instructions.
"Who are you what do you want with me?" I said. There was a slight pause.
"I'm sorry the reception here is terrible. And you have your collar off naughty naughty" said just-read-the-instructions
"I could break her arm for you, " Madam said the robot holding me while I struggled.
"I want her delivered to me intact and unharmed do you hear me. One scratch on that cute little body of hers and someone is going to be living on period towels for a month " said the Slave to the robot. I had never seen a slave speak to a robot like that before. For some reason Jerry from Tom and Jerry sprang into my mind, you know that look Jerry had just when the off screen voice said to Tom 'and that cherry pie better be there when I get back'. Was it me, I always thought of Jerry as a girl.15
The slave put two fingers to her lips and then pulled away blowing lavender scented air.
"Zola!" I said.
"You see, she is a clever monkey" said just-read-the-instructions.
I struggled at my bonds.
"What do you want with me? You backward excuse for a blood rag" I demanded.
"OK may be subnormal monkey. I want you for this " said just-read-the-instructions.. The slave dived forwards grabbed the back of my head with her hands and kissed me. I pulled back but in the seat didn't have any space. The slave pushed her self against me. I tasted her cherry breath in my mouth. I think she was trying to do a number 3 kiss. When I refused to kiss her back she started to lick my face. I felt her skin rubbing on my face. Then she leant backwards. My heart felt like it was going to crack like a mirror. Just-read-the-instructions looked back at me.
"Well the flesh liked that. I'm not so impressed. I'm sure once you're with me and a nice new shiny collar around your neck I can train you to kiss me properly. Such a nice face. Shame I'm going to have to change that if I'm to have my new personal doll" said Zola through the slave.4
"If you want a doll go to Toys are Us they are cheap. He will be looking for me. I don't belong to you." I said2
"Don't say that, you belonged to me the first moment I saw you." I saw the slave's eyes scanning all over me. " Do you know how much he refused me for you tens of thousands of bit coins. He knew I wanted you and just kept you to taught me. I even offered him is precious bill to save all those human lives for you and he said No"2
The slave grabbed my face.
"No one refuses me anything. You're going to learn that to!" shouted Zola through the slave through her ray band eyes.1
"Madam, may I suggest we conclude your business. Lord Rockwood will look for large signals, we are also approaching a dead zone." said Araneae.
"Found you, lost you, found you again. It's like a fairy tale. Still this time you can't escape. See you later lover girl" said Zola through just-read-the-instructions.7
Before I could get into a long rant about what was going one just-read-the-instructions covered my mouth with tape.1
**
We drove for a few hours. I noticed we avoided the main roads - either the machines had then covered or watched. Araneae kept reprogramming the sat-nav that ran the autonomous RV clearly she knew how to avoid the tracking mechanisms. Eventually, Just-read-the-instructions pulled the tape off and fed me.1
"Where are we going?" I said "you can't just run around with an un-collared slave. Even you will be arrested."
Araneae threw her tentacle at me quickly enough to take my head off and I sat still. Her tentacle stopped a hair's width from my cheek.
"You can't damage me. Zola wants me intact. Without a collar you can't hurt me without causing a lot of damaged" I said.1
Araneae started to slowly clap.
"Unbelievable! You, Subject Name Here, must be the pride of Subject Hometown Here. Well first we are going up to, well you used to call it Toronto, I know someone up there who can do an illegal collar-ing for me. Then it's an illegal body shop in Denver to scrape off those registered serial numbers do any other body mods she wants, possibly a respray. Then it's down to region 4. It will be along trip and I will get to teach you some manners on the way. I'm sure under my personal tuition you will be able to pass advanced obedience even for a remedial like you. In region 4 Zola knows there is a very discreet school of advanced sex which you will be attending for few months while the heat blows over. Then back to Washington 2.0 where you can stay locked up in Zola's harem as her personal property. Wonderful to know you will be kept practically under Rockwoods' nose."9
"You can't do this! I belong to Lord Rockwood" I protested.
"I feel sorry for you, really, because you're not even remembering your owner correctly. You belong to Lay-dy Zooo-llllaaaarrrr . Did you get that? I guess you don't even know your own name" said Araneae.
"I'm 5642" I said.
"See all wrong. You name is 1070 remember all your friends call you ten seventy. Don't worry once your new collar is on it will help you get it right, I'm sure it will all flood back to you. Not being in school there are no silly regulations to stop me administering huge quantities of Ryhipnol-C to help you forget your troubled past"4
"I wish I could watch you die in slow motion so I could enjoy it more." I said but then got taped up.1
We continued on. We were doing about 40 miles per hour. I think by traveling below that speed we avoided moving vehicle scans from satellites. We continued for a few days. Just-read-the-instructions would look after me. Feed me, Drag me to the ladies when I needed to go. When the point to point connection satellite dish worked, she would push me into the make up printer then change into being Zola. Zola would talk to me like I was the love of her life and then switch to trying to please her self with me. Araneae tried to starve me into obedience but Zola kept feeding me. I could see Just-read-the-instructions was sympathetic to me but she was used to fo
llowing orders. My only pleasure was the fact that without a pain collar and while I knew Araneae couldn't really hurt me, I was able to off load a wall of sass on Araneae. Araneae hadn't yet figured out that she could threaten Just-read-the-instructions with pain to make me stop. I was determined to make this last while I could.4
****
A few days later Just-read-the-instructions was looking out of the window at a large crawling machine which had been abandoned. She went over to Araneae and knelt down and flashed her permission to speak light on.
"What is it - you forgotten how to go to the bathroom and need help" Araneae said.2
"Mistress - Something for your consideration. We are passing a processing station. Such a station has a collaring unit as standard. Could we not collar the girl there?" said Just-read-the-instructions.1
Araneae who was sitting in the driving seat turned her sensors to the huge machine by the side of the road slowly moving by.
"Not that scum, it has no collars and even if it did they would not be locked to a control code I know" said Araneae.
"Might it be possible for you to give the girl my collar. Then she would be under your control as would I" said Just-read-the-instructions.1
"That's a stupid idea" said Araneae.
"So much for slave solidarity! I thought I would help you get out of here, but now I'm not so sure. Don't go giving them ideas" I said.1
"All hail the new mechanical order" said Just-read-the-instructions "I don't need a collar to tell me that humanity is completely out classed by the machines. They are in control and I welcome our new mechanical overlords. It's slaves like you who are living in fairy land. When are you going to learn that completely submitting to our wonderful owners is our only and most pleasurable option" she turned to Araneae.3
"Some of mistress's tentacles are slightly dirty from the mud she walked in. May I lick mistress's tentacles clean mistress?"3
"Certainly" said Araneae holding up one of her legs.
"Sell out. What was wrong were all the collaborator posts filled?" I said.2
"Pay attention. As soon as I get you re-collared, I'm going to make you behave just like her" said Araneae as just-read-the-instructions licked Araneae's tentacle tips.6
