Bot Wars, Line Zero

by J. V. Kade

  That’s where the duct tape will come in handy. I wind a long piece around the crack, making it as tight as I can. When I stand it up again, the base teeters for a second, but evens out. Okay, one thing down.

  The rest of the pieces I’m not sure about. I leave the electrical stuff for Lox because I don’t want to screw something up.

  Another bomb thunders in the distance, but I stay focused. When I’ve duct-tapped everything I possibly can, I move on to the meta-pol. It has a rubbery, gritty feel to it. It makes up most of the back side of the Kaster.

  I set a few pieces on the ground, lining them up as best I can. I flick on the UV light and wave it back and forth over the cracks. The poly heats up and glows like an ember. Within seconds, the gap closes, the poly melting around itself like beads of water forming a bigger puddle.

  I’m halfway through when the frog whipper latches on to the rusted-out remains of an old ladder next to me. The whipper zings as it’s wound up and Vee leaps over the side of the roof.

  “Heard you could use some help.” Her hair is dusty and rust-colored. There’s a smear of something black on her chin. Ash, maybe. I’m so happy to see her, I want to hug her. She tosses the whipper over the edge of the building and shouts down to Lox. “Only press the button once!”

  “Got it!”

  “How can I help?” Vee says.

  “I think I’m missing a piece or two. Can you search the roof?”

  “You got it.”

  Lox climbs onto the roof a few minutes later, breathing heavily. “Butter my gears, that was wrenched. Everything about this girl is awesome. Can you be my girlfriend?”

  “Lox!” Vee and I shout.

  “Get over here and start rewiring this thing!” I add.

  “Okay. Okay! Geez. I can ask a girl out and save the world at the same time, you know.” He takes the Kaster outta my hands and looks over the wiring on top. “Gauze, please.” I hand him the roll. To me, it looks like he’s picking wires at random, but he seems to know exactly what he’s doing. He twists the severed wires back together and then reinforces it with the gauze.

  Vee hands me another shiny black piece for the Kaster’s head. “That’s all I could find.”

  “I think that’ll be enough.”

  “Yo!” someone shouts from the ground.

  Vee pokes her head over the side. “It’s your brother,” she tells me. Then: “We’re almost done.”

  “It’s two fifty-seven! If you don’t get that thing cranking, we’re all dead!”

  My stomach bottoms out. Lox holds the last piece in place and I run over it with the UV light. The poly melts and bends and blends until the gap between the pieces is gone.

  A bomb goes off next door and we all leap back as brick and wood and glass blast our way.

  “Don’t drop the Kaster,” I shout over the trembling of the buildings.

  “I got it,” Lox says. “Something’s not right, though.”

  “Is there power running to it?”

  Another bomb goes off. I flinch. Vee gasps.

  “The power light is on, but it’s not sending out a signal. You can tell by this light in the head whether or not it’s latched on to a ping point, but . . .”

  “It’s not tall enough,” I say. “We’re missing another piece from the base, I bet.”

  “Look,” Vee says. She points to a brick column at the far corner of the building. “Something used to be there. I bet that’s where the Kaster was installed. The bottom is still screwed into the brick.”

  Lox and I run over. I climb up. Lox hands me the Kaster. People shout down below and sirens echo through the streets. The city is filled with smoke and crumbling buildings, but it’s not dead. And I’m not gonna let Beard or the UD destroy it.

  I keep one foot on the column and stretch out, putting my other foot on the edge of the roof. I thrust the Kaster as high as it’ll go, hoping it can find that invisible connection to the satellite in outer space. Vee wraps herself around one of my feet, anchoring me down. Lox does the same on my other foot.

  “Hold still!” Lox says. “It has to find a signal.”

  I freeze. I’m a Popsicle. I won’t move. Can’t move.

  The Kaster whirs to life. A bomb rocks the ground and the vibration goes from the column to my feet to my knees to my brain.

  If this doesn’t work, we’re done for.

  A billboard two blocks to the west flickers, goes dark, then comes on again. The vid plays and there’s Beard, pacing her office. Her voice fills the streets. “They’ll be dead soon, regardless. The attack on Edge Flats, Texas, will commence at three p.m. today as we’ve planned. Let’s hope Robert St. Kroix and his team are there when it happens. Strike first at the police station and then spread the attack outward. When the news broadcast hits, make sure you place the blame on St. Kroix, his brats, and the Meta-Rise.”

  The feed loops back. The streets go silent. People look up toward the remaining billboards as Beard’s confession plays again.

  When the vid crackles out, Po is there, standing against a backdrop of Dekker’s book stacks. His eyes are watery and bloodshot. His shoulders are covered in dust. He licks his lips before speaking. “As many of you know, I’m one of those brats Sandra Hopper was referring to. My name is Mason St. Kroix, but everyone calls me Po ever since I lost my leg in the war.” He snickers to himself. “That’s a long story, and trust me, you don’t want to hear it.”

  “What’s he doing?” Lox says.

  “Shhhh,” I say, trying to stay still.

  Several more bombs go off in the city. Po continues. “This attack on Edge Flats was a cold, calculated move by Congress to get District votes to start another Bot War. Why?”

  Po raises his fingers. “Because of two things: money and fear. The country is broke since the bots fled and left the manufacturing and service industries dead. Why did they flee? Because the UD knew they’d made bots into something more than just cheap labor. They made them into something closer to human.

  “Which brings me to the fear. Once bots started acting human because of the ThinkChip, the UD worried bots would one day evolve into something better than us.”

  Po takes a breath and looks away for a fraction of a second as he gathers his thoughts. “I guess in some ways, I’m afraid of that too, but only because we’ve made a lot of mistakes in the past. Dumb mistakes. We’ve fought a lot of wars. We’ve turned against each other. We’ve made fools of ourselves in a thousand different ways.

  “But you know what? We can learn from them, just like they learn from us. Never, in my life, has a robot intentionally harmed me. And my dad, Robert St. Kroix, he was injured so badly in the war that half his body had to be replaced with bot parts.

  “If I turn my back on machines, I turn my back on my dad.”

  Po shakes his head and exhales. “And I can’t do that. I can’t turn my back on my family. Because isn’t that what it’s all about? Family? Protecting those we love? For the families who owned bots before the wars, how did you feel when the bot was gone? Did you miss him or her? Do you still?

  “We not only made bots more human, we made them family.”

  My eyes sting as Po stares out from the billboard. It’s like he’s looking straight at me.

  “My little brother, Trout, did everything in his power to bring our family back together, and the UD, Sandra Hopper, she wanted to take that away just like they took the bots away.”

  Po grits his teeth and steps closer to the camera. “I’m not going to let that happen. So listen up, Beard.” He grinds out her name like it’s a rotten tomato. “We St. Kroix men, we stick together. Family sticks together. We are the Meta-Rise, and we will fight you with everything we got.”

  Flutter-flies fall from the sky, their wings unmoving. When they reach the streets, they disintegrat
e into ash.

  I’ve been standing still for so long, my knees are numb, but I can’t look away from the billboard and my brother. My stomach is all knotted up inside. I feel like I might burst with pride.

  My brother is totally wrenched.

  “The bombs,” Vee says, letting go of my foot, “they’ve been disengaged!”

  Lox lets out a whoop. My legs start to shake and I lose my stance. The Kaster disconnects and the billboards go dark.

  I strain, listening to the city, worried that the vid didn’t go out to the UD, worried that a bigger bomb is on its way. But nothing comes.

  I leap off the brick column and lunge at Lox. I hug him big in a dude-hug, then turn to Vee, who shrieks and laughs in my face, but I don’t care.

  People cheer from the streets.

  I raise an arm in the air. I feel light all over. Like I’m sailing down the rails. Like I just saved the world.

  And I guess I kinda did.

  THIRTY-NINE

  WHEN WE CLIMB down, we find Dekker and Po in the living room of the fire station cracking open something that looks suspiciously like a beer. The house is a mess, and nothing is in its place. I wonder how long it’ll take Dekker to start straightening things. For his sake, I hope he gets enough time to enjoy our victory.

  Dekker takes a long drink out of his can and then turns to Po. “Dude, I thought we were dying. And no offense, but I don’t know you well enough to die with you.”

  “That’s all right,” Po says. “I’d rather die with someone hot.”

  “Like Mar—” I start to say Like Marsi Olsen, but Po cuts me off with a big-brother scowl.

  Vee collapses onto the couch, pushing her currently blackish silver hair behind her ears. “I think I could sleep for a week.”

  “I think I salt and peppered my underwear,” Lox says.

  Everyone laughs, but when the door bursts open downstairs, we go quiet.

  Po grabs a nearby lamp and wields it like a baseball bat. But when the first person appears at the top of the stairs, it isn’t an enemy.

  “Dad!” I call, and run to him. He wraps me in a hug and lifts me off the floor, and I don’t care at all that my friends are watching. I’m just so glad he’s here and he’s alive and the UD didn’t get him.

  He squeezes, with one bot arm and one human arm, until I feel like I can’t breathe. He doesn’t put me down till he sees Po hovering in the background.

  “Look at you, old man,” Po says as a smile creeps onto his face. “I have to say, the bolt in the neck is a nice addition.”

  Dad half cries, half laughs as he wraps Po in a big hug.

  “I missed you, Dad,” Po says, his voice shaky.

  “I missed you too, boy.”

  Dad pulls away just enough to motion me over. “Come on, group hug.”

  As the shortest St. Kroix, I get smushed between them. I look at Dad and see his heart, or what used to be his heart, glow a constant, steady blue.

  I don’t know what that means, but in my head I tell myself it means he’s happy and proud. And if I had a bot part for a heart, mine would be glowing blue too.

  Someone else comes up the stairs behind us, and Vee shrieks. “Daddy!”

  Lox says to Dekker, “Wanna hug it out too?”

  Dekker chuckles. “Sorry, little hyper dude. Not the hugging type.”

  Dad maneuvers between Po and me, putting his arms around us. I get the bot arm. “I’m glad you two are okay, but if you ever pull a stunt like that, I swear, so help me—”

  “I got it,” I say.

  “Loud and clear, old man,” Po says.

  “All right, boys,” Dad says as he pulls us toward the stairs, “we’ve got a mess to clean up. And Lox, I think it’s time we get you home.”

  “Ahh, come on! I’m having fun!”

  “Lox!” Dad calls.

  “Fine,” he grumbles.

  It’s like nothing’s changed at all.

  • • •

  Dad drives Lox’s mom’s car to the border between Texas and the UD. Po drives one of Dekker’s cars so we have something to return in.

  Lox’s parents meet us on the side of the road. They’re so mad, they’re practically boiling red. But as soon as they see Lox, and see that he’s okay, they melt like ice cream. Lox soaks it up.

  “If anyone asks,” Dad says, after the reunion is over, “tell them Trout stole your car.”

  “What?” I shout. “I didn’t steal—” Dad silences me with a look.

  “I apologize for what my son did,” Dad says. “And he is more than happy to take the blame to cover for Lox.”

  I cross my arms over my chest, but don’t say anything else.

  “I had someone check the vid feed in Brack,” Dad goes on, “and it doesn’t look like they got a good picture of Lox without his disguise. I think he’ll be fine.”

  Lox’s dad, Neil, eyes Dad’s robotic arm before finally looking at his face. “Thank you for returning our son, but I think it’s best if he doesn’t see Aidan for a while—”

  I’m not surprised to hear that, but it still hurts anyway.

  “I understand,” Dad says.

  The trees rustle in the wind on the side of the road. A car slows as it passes us, then speeds up again. Probably someone trying to escape the chaos in Texas. Not like the UD is any better.

  Kim, Lox’s mom, pulls him close to her side. “It’s not that we don’t like you, Aidan,” she says, “but after everything that’s happened in the last twenty-four hours . . .”

  “I know.” I squint up at her. She’s always been nice to me. Like the mom I never had. Mostly I’m sad that I got Lox in trouble.

  “I’m sure it would be all right if you two chatted by vid,” Neil adds. “I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

  “And someday soon I’ll sneak into Bot Territory,” Lox says, “and we can have a slumber party.”

  “Loxley!” his mom says. “You will not be running away to Bot Territory!”

  Lox grins. “Yeah. Okay Mom.” He steps forward and we slap each other in a gear-lock. “Till next time, bolt sniffer.”

  I snicker. “Yeah. All right, drain clogger.”

  When Po turns the car around and heads back toward Dek’s, I wave at Lox one more time before his car zooms outta sight.

  FORTY

  THE DAY AFTER the attack on Edge Flats, President Callo holds an emergency news conference. He announces to the entire nation that Sandra Hopper was working with LT on the plot to attack several cities across the UD and Texas.

  They play footage of her arrest for three days straight.

  I’m glad she’s no longer running any part of the UD government, but we all know the story Callo spun is a lie, and I hate that they used LT to do it. I also can’t help but wonder if Callo was in on it too.

  We found out just after the attack ended that Po’s vid did go out to the entire country and some of the world too. Dekker said Po is turning into a Net star overnight, and Po tries to act like he’s too cool for fame.

  But we both know who was the first famous St. Kroix. That’d be me. FishKid.

  No one heard from Ratch after he turned on us in City Hall. He didn’t go back to the Fort, which is probably good for him. Dad ordered his people to dismantle Ratch the second they set eyes on him.

  I hate that he’s out there somewhere, still free.

  We stick around Dekker’s for the next few days, patching up the fire station as best we can with what we got. Dekker moves around the place readjusting things, lining things up, tapping light switches and cups as he goes.

  Edge Flats fluctuates between celebrating their survival and mourning their injured and dead. Fortunately, there were only seven deaths, and only thirty-two injuries. It could have been a lot
worse.

  On Saturday, the city throws a memorial party in the park and that’s when we sneak back into Bot Territory. When we pop into Scissor’s workshop, I instantly miss LT. It hits me like a heavy weight in the chest. He’s gone because of me and there’s no way the UD will give him back.

  He’s probably in pieces by now. Gone for good.

  Early Sunday morning, I lie awake in bed staring at the ceiling. I can hear Po snoring from his room down the hall. I think about stealing his prosthetic leg for old time’s sake, but before I can, Vee pokes her head in my room.

  “Clanker?” she whispers. “You up?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “Scissor says she’s got something to show us.”

  The sun isn’t up yet, so the city is thick black like licorice. The streets are quiet and still. There isn’t a cloud in the sky.

  “Whatdoya think she’s got?” I say when we hit one of the city’s center squares.

  “I don’t know.” Vee sticks her hands in her sweatshirt pocket. Her hair is twisted up tightly on the top of her head. “Maybe she invented something totally wrenched. Like a jet pack.”

  I snort. “Yeah right. There’d be people crashing into trees all the time.”

  “Well, lucky for you, you’re already a pro at that.”

  “Ha. Ha. Ha.”

  “Oh, hey,” she starts as I open the front door on Scissor’s shop, “my cousin is crossing the border tomorrow. It’s her first time in Bot Territory. Her dad’s worried about her safety in the UD, so she’s coming here for a few months. You wanna help me show her around?”

  “Sure. Where’s she from?”

  “She’s from Fifth District. Maybe you—”

  “I’m in the back!” Scissor calls. “Hurry!”

  We leave the main part of the shop and wind around the maze of tools and parts and worktables in back. We find Scissor leaning over a robot lying on the table. The operating lights are dark. The bot’s front panel is open, revealing the inner workings of his system—wires, gears, and metal bones.