The Awakening

by Kurt Petrey

  She doubled her efforts, needing to make a hole big enough that she could get through to the other side and find the robot. After that, she'd have to figure out how to fix the problem. She glanced down at her display: less than three hours left.

  She froze, hearing something, but the sound didn't come again. She couldn't wait any longer, so she went back to aggressively pulling at the rocks.

  “Chloe! Is that you?”

  “Ian!” She almost laughed at the familiar sound of Ian's voice, muffled by the rocks. “Yes! I’m here. Help!”

  She could hear them, pulling at rocks, grunting with the effort. She kept working, though her fingers were growing tired and bruised from the sharp edges of the stones.

  “Chloe, step back,” Ian said. “We are going to pull a larger rock, which should open up an area. Take a few steps back.”

  She climbed halfway down the hill then waited.

  Then she stopped breathing. A definite clicking or grinding sound was coming from deep within the darkness, and it was swiftly approaching. She knelt behind a large stone and tried to hide, wishing she could disappear into it when a loud crash came from above her. Stones tumbled past, and a light from the other side shined through the shaft.

  She stared, incredulous, as a huge robot stepped through the shaft she'd walked through earlier. It must have been following her. The machine was larger than any man in both height and width, but it still bore the shape of a human, including two arms and two legs. Its metallic head turned smoothly towards her, scanning, shining a red beam over the rocks. She ducked her head behind the large stone, needing to be absolutely still.

  The beam of light played over the rocks. After it passed her, she peeked around the stone to see what the robot was doing. As it scanned to the right, the beam revealed another machine, sitting on a set of tracks which led through the fallen stone. It looked like it was powered off. On the side of this one, a large, scratched up number read 236. She'd found it. This was the robot they needed to get online. But how could she lead the other robot away without her getting killed in the process?

  As if following some silent command, the large, bulking robot turned away and started to walk down the hallway. She sighed in relief.

  “Chloe! The hole is big enough now! Come back up!” Ian shouted.

  The robot turned instantly and started running towards her. Terrified, she started to climb up the hill as fast as she could, needing to reach the opening. In an instant the robot was at the base of the hill. It had leaped halfway up just as she reached the opening. Ian's arm stretched in front of her, reaching to pull her through.

  “Pull me! It’s coming after me!” she screamed.

  She glanced back in time to see the machine leap again, but when it landed on the loose rocks, it slipped and tumbled back to the bottom. Rocks crashed on top of it, but Chloe wasn't fooled. Those rocks wouldn't hold it long. Ian yanked her through the last bit, and Chloe struggled against the rocks to get all the way through. She saw Ian's eyes widen when he saw the robot, free from the rocks and steadily climbing back to the top. Just as he pulled her through, a long metallic arm snaked through the hole, barely missing Chloe’s legs.

  “What is that thing?” Ian asked.

  “That’s what killed Nikolai,” Chloe puffed, out of breath. “Ian, I think I figured out what we have to do. 236 is on the other side. We need to open the tunnel.”

  Ian shook his head violently. “But that thing is on that side!”

  A loud, pounding noise came from the other side, and the top half of the rocks pushed forward. Another pounding from the robot sent more rocks falling down. The thing would break through soon.

  “What are we going to do?” one of the men cried.

  Ian looked around then grabbed a large piece of metal off the floor. At first Chloe wasn't sure he could handle something that big, but he seemed fine. She was impressed.

  “We are going to stop it!” he shouted. That's when she wondered if he was just plain crazy. He planned to fight it? Really?

  The other men collected what tools or objects they thought they might be able to use to defend themselves, but Chloe knew the truth. There was no way they were going to win a fight against that thing. Chloe looked around at all the machines, hoping something would come to her—then she saw it: a piece of machinery designed to pick up material. She ran to it and climbed up the ladder to the cockpit. The seat was large, but she was able to reach all the handles if she stretched, and when she slid her handheld display into the slot, it responded by turning itself on.

  The men turned at the unexpected sound and stared at her.

  “Chloe? What are you doing?” Simmons asked.

  “I have no idea!” she replied, frantically reading through the display.

  She executed a button that read Initialization Phase, and in that second it became operational. Just then, the robot leapt through the top of the pile and landed near Ian. With one swipe of its arm it threw Ian into the air, and he crumpled to the ground fifteen feet away. Chloe stared desperately at the cockpit area of her machine, wishing she knew what she was doing, then she pulled a lever and sent her machine forward a few feet. The robot was walking with determination towards Ian, and Chloe yanked at another lever, dropping the large collection bucket downward. Then she pulled the lever to swing it towards the robot and hit it hard. It crashed to the ground, and she maneuvered the bucket until it hovered directly over it, then she dropped the bucket straight down. The weight of the bucket smashed the robot into the ground, but she lifted the bucket then dropped it again anyway.

  Simmons stepped up to the shattered robot to take a closer look. He turned to the others and said, “I think it’s—”

  Just for good measure, Chloe rammed the arm again, using all its force and smashing the robot into the ground a few more inches.

  “—dead!” Simmons finished.

  Chloe tapped on the communication button and smiled. “I just wanted to make sure.”

  Chapter 13

  Joshua

  Joshua awoke to the quiet sounds of someone working nearby. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Ashley, sitting in the chair with a plate of food on the desk. Everything came back to him all at once: Chloe, the men, the robot … the time limit. He leaped up, and a fresh new wave of pain shot through his body.

  “I passed out!” he cried. “What happened? What's going on? Are they okay? What about Robot 236? Did they figure out the problem?”

  Ashley helped Joshua to his feet. “Everything is okay. They are all right. We are all going to survive. Chloe found Robot 236 and they were able to bring it back online.”

  Relieved, he leaned against the bed, trying to settle his mind, but his heart raced and his breath was labored. Ashley took his hand, and he noticed one of the tubes was attached to him.

  “Lets get you disconnected so you can eat,” she suggested.

  He pulled the tube away then massaged the area around the connector in his arm, “It’s going to take me a while to get used to the idea of connecting to those tubes.”

  Ashley shook her head. “They give you medicine and regulate your sleep so you wake up feeling refreshed. How do you feel? Physically, I mean.”

  Joshua thought about it, slowly scanning through his body. “I feel…” He rolled his shoulders back, shook his legs and arms. “Good. Yea, I feel much better, actually. How long have I been asleep?”

  “Almost eighteen hours actually.” She guided Joshua to a chair near the food. “Your food is already a little cold.”

  “Tell me what's going on. What did I miss? How are things out there?” He swallowed a large bite full of yellow mush that tasted surprisingly good and reached for another. He hadn't realized he was so hungry.

  “Things are better, but they really haven’t changed much. We still don’t know a lot, and the people here need someone who can lead them. Someone willing to push people to do what's right.” She looked at Joshua expectantly. “You know, stand up to peo
ple like Michael and stuff.”

  “Nope,” he said, shaking his head. “No way I’m gonna even try to lead. That is definitely not for me. I’m sure Richard is doing fine.”

  “Well, it's something you should think about. Since you saved our lives, everyone seems to be talking about you.”

  He put his spoon down. “About me? That's crazy. What did I do? Ian and those guys saved us. I was quite safe up here, while they were down there, endangering their lives.” He dropped his gaze to the table. “I certainly didn’t save Nikolai’s life. I sent him down there.”

  “If it weren’t for you, we wouldn't have known what the problem was or where to find it. You were the only one who could have saved us.”

  It didn't really matter how she put it, Joshua couldn't bring himself to see it her way. He decided to change the subject. “How is it that you seem to know everything that goes on around here?”

  She shrugged. “I talk to people. I like to connect. And most people …” She paused for a moment, then continued, her voice decidedly cool. “Most of them seem to want to talk to me.”

  He knew she was talking about him, about the way he wasn't falling for her like everyone else apparently did, but he didn’t want to talk. All he wanted was to think and get a better feel for how things were going. Somehow, it felt like getting the refinery up and running was only the beginning of what would be a long, tough process.

  “And,” she continued, her lips curving into a playful smile. “I usually find a way to get the information I desire … one way or another.”

  Her face. The way she looked in that moment flashed in his memory. Ashley’s face came clearly to him, but she looked different. They were in a different place, too. In his memory, they stood close together, holding hands … then he leaned in and kissed her. He even recalled the tender feel of her lips on his.

  Then the memory was gone.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” she said, concerned. “Are you feeling okay?”

  He looked at her a moment, wondering, wishing he could share the memory, but that made no sense. She'd never believe him. Plus, saying it out loud would definitely change the way she viewed him.

  “Yeah, actually, I’m feeling good,” he said. “Just thinking about something.”

  He was searching for something more to say when Simmons knocked. Joshua got up and tapped on the sphere so that the door slid open.

  “Ian wanted me to check and see if you were awake. How are you feeling?” Simmons asked.

  Joshua nodded, saying he was good.

  “Good. They want to have a meeting about what they learned, and they thought you should be there.”

  “Sure.” Joshua turned to Ashley. “Would you like to join us?”

  ****

  The three of them stepped into the control center, enjoying the unfamiliar quiet of the room. Now that Joshua had inadvertently shut down the loud alarms and now the blinking lights were off with the refinery back in full operating mode, it was nice and peaceful. Almost…normal, whatever that might mean in this place. Inside, Ian was standing near Chloe, his hand on her shoulder. They were studying an object sitting on the large desk at the center of the room. Two men Joshua didn't recognize stood along the other side of the table. Simmons walked over and stood next to them.

  Everyone was smiling and relaxed—the mood was very different from how it had been the first time Joshua had snuck into this room. Ian spotted him in the doorway and gestured for him to come over.

  “Come in,” he said, smiling. He was holding his arm close to his body, like it was injured. He was also limping. “Thanks to you, things are really coming together.”

  Joshua nodded. “Happy to help.” He walked over to Chloe, who beamed at him. “Are you okay?” he asked. Her arms and hands were dark with cuts and bruises, but it was good to see her warm smile.

  “Oh, I’m fine. That robot couldn’t handle me,” she said, her cheeks reddening.

  “I wish I could have been there to help,” he said.

  “Ah. Well, look at my new toy.” She led him to the table and pointed at a large metal item. He leaned in, then jumped back when he realized what it was: the head of a robot. “This is what killed Nikolai.”

  He stared at her. “Why would you bring the head up here?”

  “I want to know why it was programmed to kill,” she explained. “The data storage unit is in its head.”

  Intrigued, Joshua put his hands on the robot's skull. It was made of a strange, smooth metal. Wires hung out of its dented neck. Another device sat near it on the table.

  “What's that?”

  “We don’t know,” Ian said, limping over. “We found it in the corner of the room. We haven’t seen anything like it anywhere else.”

  A gelatinous substance almost entirely covered the unit. A smaller device with a blinking light sat on top of it.

  Ian leaned closer to Joshua. “What do you make of it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  He gestured towards a wall display showing a fully lit, dome-like room. It was like the meeting room but much larger. Machinery moved through the room, transferring material from the shafts to other robots.

  “Chloe was able to connect us with a feed down to the bottom level,” Ian explained.

  Joshua drew closer, wanting to get a better look at the refinery. He pointed at a pile of metal on the ground, just to the side of the shaft opening. “What's that?”

  “That's Chloe’s handiwork. She smashed that thing to nothing and saved our lives in the process.” Ian said.

  Chloe blushed again and shrugged. “I had to do something. It was going to kill us. It almost killed Ian.”

  Joshua was impressed. For such a small woman, she sure had a lot of courage. And intelligence.

  “Do you think that’s the only one down there?” he asked.

  Ian looked back at the video feed. “Yeah. We went back down to get Nickolai once we knew clearing the shaft was going to get everything working. After the robot got out the shaft and delivered its payload, everything started coming to life. We didn’t go through the entire level, but we didn’t run across any other robots, either. The video feed shows that the only movement is from the robots that are bringing in material from the mine shafts.” He nodded, looking satisfied. “I think we got what was causing all our issues.”

  “There are still a lot of questions, though,” Chloe said. “Like why aren’t there any exits? Where are we? Why are we here? Where did the food come from?”

  Ian raised his hands. “Okay, okay. You're right. But for now at least certain death has been dealt with. Can we agree on that?”

  Chloe nodded, smiling. “I'd love to know why we can't remember anything, though.”

  Should he tell them about the memory he'd had of Ashley or of Chloe? Let them know he had flashes of memory once in a while? Probably not. It’s not like a memory of kissing Ashley or of Chloe being older was going to help anyone. For now, he'd keep that to himself. But he was curious. Did anyone else have memories? It didn't sound like it. If he really was the only one, what did that mean?

  “Where is Nikolai’s body?” he asked.

  Ian lowered his head slightly. “We brought him to one of the rooms towards the far side of this hallway. No one comes down here because of lack of access, so we thought it would be better.”

  Joshua turned from the display feed of the refinery and faced the group, but before he could say anything, Ashley spoke up. “The way I see it, we seem to have more questions now then we did before, and they keep piling up. We need to do something soon, give the people direction and purpose, because the group is getting ugly. It won't be long before they start killing each other and us. We need to make this a community rather than segregated groups fending for themselves.”

  Ian opened his mouth to talk, but Ashley raised a hand. “Don’t tell me to talk to Richard, and don't say he is handling things, because he isn’t. You might not believe it, but this is a real problem. It's just as important
as the one you just solved, and it needs to get handled.”

  Her level of confrontation surprised Joshua. He hadn't known she had that in her. Everyone else seemed shocked as well, because no one said a word.

  She stepped towards the center of the group. “I think we should tell the group everything that has happened. Tell them exactly what we are facing, and let everyone vote on who will become the leader. They need a way to express themselves.”

  “That makes sense,” Joshua said. “Now that the immediate danger has been dealt with, we should think about organizing a sort of structured community. That way everyone can be given tasks and know how to contribute.”

  A loud grunt came from near the door, and everyone turned. “That’s really nice. But while you’re playing around with who is in charge, I want to know where all the bodies are.”

  Ian's upper lip curled, as if the air had suddenly filled with a stench. “Cade. What are you doing here? Why aren’t you off dealing with whatever it is you’ve been dealing with while we’ve been saving everyone’s lives?”

  Cade laughed. “Saving everyone's lives, huh? You people have no clue what happened here. The place is falling apart. We are lucky we're still alive.”

  “And you have a clue?” Ian asked.

  “I think so,” Cade said, taking a slow step forward. “I have a better idea than you do.”

  “Then what do you think happened?” Chloe asked.

  Cade approached the device sitting on the desk next to the robot head then walked to the display. After selecting a few options, the facility's updated map came up, and Joshua could see how the building could be in the shape of a dome. Chloe had been right about that, except to Joshua's way of thinking, it was more like the skeleton of a dome. Tunnels and shafts connected the outer circle to the middle cylinder, and large rooms similar to the one in which they now stood were attached to the shafts. To Joshua, it wasn't one large facility, but many smaller buildings connected in a dome-like structure. What surrounded it? Dirt? Stone, like at the bottom level?