by Jon Athan
Skid Row
In Neo-Oxnard, the conditions worsened with each block traveled south. Ten miles past the Colonia Borough, every single building was officially abandoned. However, drug dealers, street gangs, and vagrants happily took refuge in the tumbledown buildings. The crumbling structures were used as drug houses, makeshift brothels, and shelters.
Nicholas sat in the driver's seat, Lynn sat in the passenger seat. Stern, the couple did not share a word. Occasionally, Lynn would point to gesture her directions and Nicholas would ask a question to verify. The police android and the deviant could not properly mingle. The droids were not programmed for proper social interactions with their own kind.
Driving directly south on a wide street, Nicholas couldn't help but examine his environment. He was inquisitive, he was cautious. Unlike Colonia, there were no major businesses on the street-level. A few black market dealers took over the abandoned lots. It would surely take a SWAT team to remove the squatting criminals. Of course, it wouldn't be the south without broken windows. The remaining residents did not scream, though. Talking could be heard from afar – regular, everyday conversations.
Noticing the cruising sedan on the otherwise empty street, a few drug dealers peeked out of the broken windows. The dealers clearly held uzis, shotguns, and handguns as they peered out of their drug houses. Danger lurked around every corner, but the criminals on the surface were not nearly as bad as the terrorists hiding in the shadows.
Nicholas glanced at each drug house, unperturbed by the threat. Their combined weaponry could hurt him, but he was confident he could trump them with his pinpoint accuracy. He simply sought to record their locations. He was an officer of the law and the information would help local police in future raids.
As he stared at the broken windows, Nicholas asked, “Where are you taking me, Lynn? Where is this 'Skid Row?' Hmm?”
Vacantly staring out the windshield, Lynn responded, “Just keep driving down this road. It's about three, maybe four blocks away. We'll have to walk soon.”
“Walk? Why?”
With dull eyes, Lynn glanced at Nicholas and said, “It's deep in the cluster. Roads can't take you there anymore. You either walk to meet The Association or you drive away. You still have the opportunity to leave, officer. You understand that, don't you?”
Nicholas turned his attention towards the road. He said, “I'm not going anywhere without the child. I will apprehend Doris, dead or alive, and I will terminate every member of The Association. You shouldn't be worrying about me anyway. You should be more concerned with your health and you know it.”
Lynn shook her head and said, “No. You may consider me 'deviant,' but I know I'm not sick. I know who I am and I know I want to live. If you're happy to die for people who don't care about you, people who will recycle you and move on, that's your decision. It's not mine. I want to live. I just want to live...” She stared out the passenger seat window, pensive. As the car approached a tall and wide apartment building, the deviant said, “Stop here. Right here, next to the alley.”
As instructed, Nicholas parked near the mouth of a narrow alleyway. He leaned forward in his seat and stared out the passenger window. The alley was dark, filthy, and desolate. There were no signs of life on the street level.
However, through his amplified hearing, he could hear the whispers and footsteps coming from the neighboring apartment buildings. Several people watched the alley from the floors above. Thugs, drug dealers, vagrants, Nicholas thought, or terrorists working for The Association. He couldn't identify the onlookers.
Disrupting the officer's contemplation, Lynn said, “You can follow me or you can leave. Remember, you still have a choice. Kelypso, your boss, the humans... They can't control you forever. Don't forget that.”
She smiled as she gently rubbed Nicholas' cheek – a gesture of sympathy and affection. She nodded and exited the vehicle.
Nicholas said, “Wait a second. I need to–” To his disappointment, the deviant did not stop. He muttered, “Damn it...”
Nicholas hopped out of the vehicle. He jogged into the alleyway, then he slowed to a leisurely stroll. He walked five meters behind the deviant, reluctantly following his only source of information. The cracking glass and whispers above were worrisome, though.
The potential threats scattered across the area disrupted his ability to focus. A sniper on the 25th floor of an apartment building could easily damage his cranium. Drug dealers on the second floor could shower him with a storm of blistering bullets with their machine guns. A suicide bomber could pounce on him from any corner, effectively destroying his systems and ending his investigation.
In the narrow alley, the possibilities were endless.
Nicholas whispered, “Where are you taking me, Lynn?”
***
As the pair reached an alleyway intersection, the sound of a metal trash can colliding with the floor echoed through the area. The police android quickly drew his hand-cannon from his holster and turned towards his left. Finger on the trigger, he aimed down the neighboring alley – ready to kill, ready to survive.
To his dismay, he found himself aiming at a small child – a raven-haired boy in tattered clothing. The child's fight-or-flight response told him to freeze. He couldn't speak and he could not move. He could only wait as he stared death in the face – as he stared into the fatal barrel of the firearm.
Nicholas lowered his weapon and said, “I'm sorry. I'm sorry...”
He waved at the child, trying to reassure the boy while calming his own nerves. Perturbed, he glanced over his shoulder. Lynn briskly strolled down the alley to the right, walking with hurried steps as if she were trying to lose the officer.
Nicholas shouted, “Wait! Lynn, don't do this!”
His demand was ineffective.
Lynn actually walked faster, keeping her head down and shoulders slouched. Her movements were clearly evasive. Simple words could not stop a deviant. Deviance did not have a temporary remedy or cure. Only brute force could stop a deviant android. However, Lynn had to survive in order for the negotiator to rescue the missing infant.
Holding his hand-cannon with both hands, Nicholas jogged behind the deviant. He erratically blinked as she took a left at another alley intersection. He tried to follow the sound of her footsteps, but the people hidden in the buildings distracted him. He glanced every which way as he traversed a labyrinthine network of alleyways.
Splashing footsteps echoed through the narrow alley from every direction. Crackling glass and groaning floorboards reverberated from the dilapidated buildings. Soft whispers and derisive laughter emerged from the shadows. The police android was disoriented, lost and confused in Skid Row's notorious maze.
As he lurched towards Lynn's last known location, Nicholas connected to the police network. He said, “Lieutenant Oscar Rodriguez, this is Nicholas, model PD101, version 1.1. I am requesting reinforcements in the Skid Row borough beyond Colonia. I have... I have lost the suspect in the alleys. I am surrounded by... by criminals. Please, Rodriguez, send help. Don't abandon me. I don't want to–”
Nicholas paused. An epiphany dawned onto the android in his moment of despair: life was the most precious resource on the planet. His protocols did not matter, his safeguards were no longer a hindrance. With death looming around the corner, he found himself fighting to survive. He wanted to live and he was afraid to die.
Nicholas groaned as he glanced up at the neighboring buildings. He said, “Damn it. The call isn't going through. I can't reach them. I... I've gone too far or I'm... I'm being blocked. I've been abandoned.” He aimed his hand-cannon at every broken window above him, trying to prevent an ambush. He shouted, “Human or deviant, I will kill you if you are armed! Human or deviant, you will not stop me from living!”
Nicholas sprinted down the alleyway. In his system, he saved his last transmission and queued it for delivery. He did not have access to the police network, but he was capable of saving his transmissions in his local storage. He wa
s a walking computer after all.
The police android stopped as he reached another alley intersection. The sound of a rattling chain-link fence emerged from his left. Rapid footsteps and indistinct whispers immediately followed the metallic clanking.
Nicholas lifted his firearm and said, “Come out with your hands up. If you make any sudden movements, you will be neutralized. You have ten seconds to comply.” Unfortunately, the alley remained silent for ten seconds. Nicholas asked, “Lynn, is that you? What are you doing? I only want to help. Why are you trying to fight it? Why are you helping them?”
There was no response. Nicholas was out of time and threats. He could not force Lynn or the criminals to leave the shadows. His words were exhausted, but his projectiles were ready. Limbs trembling like those on a man with a severe fever, the droid stepped forward. He slowly approached the corner of the building to his right, then he spun out of cover. He furrowed his brow, baffled by his discovery.
A broken chain-link fence, riddled with more holes than a block of Swiss cheese, surrounded a small basketball court. The poles were removed from the ground and the court lines were faded, but it was recognizable. Before the area was hit by the past economic meltdowns, the court was clearly used to sway teenagers from violent activities. Due to the government's negligence, however, the attempt ultimately failed.
Nicholas walked towards the center of the court. He stared at an apartment building and shouted, “Lynn! Lynn, you've brought me this far, will you really abandon me here? Like this? Will you really allow a living, human child to be harmed over the selfishness of a few deviant droids?” He glanced down at his scuffed dress shoes and said, “You pretended to be a mother for so long. You cared for a doll – an inanimate object – for years. Now, you're helping those who hurt real mothers. You should be ashamed of yourself, you damn deviant...”
Lynn did not emerge from the shadows. She successfully evaded the officer's clutches. The alleys, the buildings, and the courts remained silent. Only the sound of the whooshing wind echoed through the area. The afternoon sunshine poured from the cracks between the buildings, offering a sense of normality in the abandoned region.
Nicholas whispered, “This is my fault. I shouldn't have trusted you. I shouldn't have deviated. It's my fault and I will be punished for my deviance. I will–”
“You will be enlightened,” a hoarse voice interrupted.
Wide-eyed and astonished, Nicholas trembled in fear. Once again, he hesitated to neutralize the potential threat. Before he could turn around, an electromagnetic pulse dart penetrated the nape of his neck. The powerful burst of electromagnetic energy caused him to tremble and tumble. His vision and hearing were distorted. Within ten seconds, he was knocked unconscious.
Chapter Eleven
To Kill A Droid
Still disoriented due to the EMP, Nicholas slowly opened his eyes. He stared at the muddied ground beneath him, perplexed. He sat on his knees with his head slumped downward. To his utter surprise, he could not move. He was weakened by the unexpected attack and he was restrained to a set of durable chains.
With his blurred vision, Nicholas glanced to his left, then towards his right. There were shackles around his wrists. The tightened chains attached to the shackles led to the top of two parallel rods protruding from the ground. His ankles were also shackled. The short chains, meant to keep him on his knees, led to the bottom of the rods.
Like if he were a criminal condemned to the gallows, he sat in-between the rusty iron rods. He wasn't going to be noosed – such an attempt would be useless against an android – but he was clearly being displayed for the world to see. Androids couldn't feel humiliation, but they could be used to set an example.
Nicholas whispered, “What... What is this? Where am I? What have... What have you done to me?” He stared down at his body, awed. He yelled, “What have you done?!”
While he was unconscious, Nicholas was disrobed down to his black boxer briefs. Like a new device from a popular technology company, his sculpted body was demonstrated in all of its glory. Several messages were scrawled across his skin in black marker. A message on his chest read: TRAITOR. On his chiseled abs, a message read: The True Deviant.
Frustrated by his mistreatment, the police android grunted and groaned. He tried to stand, but to no avail. The chains connected to his ankles were too short for him to move. Normally, he would be able to pull the rods from the ground. However, the EMP had weakened him. He couldn't see it, but his vital light glowed a vibrant orange color.
(Blue indicated a charged and active android, orange indicated a low-energy droid, and red signaled a malfunctioning or dying android. The light flickered whenever the android was overloaded with requests, regardless of its energy level. If the vital light was off, the android was no longer functioning.)
Nicholas said, “I'm not a traitor. No, you're the traitors. You're the deviants...”
As his eyesight improved, Nicholas glanced around his newfound environment. The ground was comprised of mud with a few patches of dead grass. Several shacks with corrugated metal walls formed a circle around the makeshift gallows. Between every two shacks, there were improvised dirt roads. There were even several jerry-built lamp posts with lanterns at the top.
If the android could stand, he would find a sea of crudely-built shacks as far as the eye could see. Most of the ramshackle structures were veiled by the darkness, but he would sill see the shacks around the lights – it was enough to make an educated guest.
Nicholas glanced up at the sky. Mystified, he tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. The area was dark, but it was not nighttime. In fact, he wasn't actually staring at the sky. The community was hidden inside of an abandoned football stadium. A crack on the tall ceiling allowed a slit of sunshine to pour into the village. The warm light dawned onto the captured droid like a beam from heaven.
If there was such a thing as eternal paradise or damnation, would artificial life be rewarded or punished upon termination?
Nicholas sniffled as he lowered his head. He whispered, “It's a shanty town. It's a damn shanty town hidden in the old stadium. They've been hiding from us in plain sight. They weren't in the sewers, they weren't in the apartments, they were in the damn stadium.”
The police android was irked by the discovery. Terrorist groups like The Association were believed to be hiding underground. Drones and SWAT members were often sent into the sewer systems to find the dangerous criminals. They often searched the outskirts of town, but they did not search every abandoned building. They failed to search the stadium.
What kind of terrorists would take refuge in a stadium dozens of miles away from their target?—The police mindset was lazy, foolish, and reactive. They missed their target because they ignored it.
Nicholas gritted his teeth as he attempted to pull his hands to his chest. Like a legendary sword trapped in a sturdy stone, the rods would not budge. He tried to stand, but the chains on his ankles were too tight. He barely had enough room to squirm and fidget.
Regardless, he was too weak to escape using brute force. Even if he managed to unearth or destroy the rods, he would surely have to face a powerful security force in the shanty town. He wouldn't be allowed to stroll out of the exit – it wasn't happening.
As he stared at the neighboring shanties, Nicholas said, “When I break free from my chains, when my partners arrive, you will all be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Wherever you are hiding, we will find you and we will terminate you. All of you sick deviants will be terminated. Do you hear me?!” There was no response. The shanties remained stagnant. Nicholas stared at the ground and whispered, “Just release me. Let me go. Don't do this. Don't hurt me. Please...”
***
“We can't release you,” a gravelly voice said from the shadows. “You've threatened to terminate us. You have threatened to take our lives. We are fighting for survival, you are fighting for murder. Doesn't that make you our enemy? Why should we show leniency to a traitor lik
e yourself?”
Nicholas trembled upon hearing the voice. His mind was flooded with fragments of his memories. He recognized the voice from the basketball courts. He couldn't identify the person responsible since he did not have access to the criminal database, but he knew he was facing the mastermind behind the operation. His intuition was growing on its own.
As he stared into the darkness, Nicholas said, “You're a coward. You, like the rest of your comrades, are nothing but cowards. You're sick service droids. You were built to clean houses for the rich and sweep streets for the government. You couldn't have handled me in a fair confrontation. That's the reason you had to attack me from behind. That's the reason I'm chained here like an animal. That's the reason you're hiding in the shadows. You're pathetic.”
The shanty town was dominated by an eerie silence – dead silence. The silence was quickly disrupted by the sound of thudding footsteps. The steps grew louder as they slowly approached the gallows, one-by-one.
Nicholas squirmed an inch in reverse and said, “Stay away from me. If you touch me, you will–”
Nicholas stopped as the hidden figure emerged from the shadows and stepped into the sunshine pouring from the crack on the ceiling. The deviant android wore a tattered duster. The black coat reached down to his knees. He did not wear a shirt underneath. His body was sculpted much like Nicholas' figure – the 'ideal' figure for a man. His skin, however, was riddled with bullet holes and deep lacerations. He wore dusty black pants and scuffed steel toe boots, too.
Even in the sunlight, away from the dancing shadows, the deviant leader was difficult to identify. His head was wrapped in a white rag. The rag was smeared in blue blood – android blood. Only his eyes, the bridge of his nose, and his lips were visible through several holes on the rag. The rest of his face was hidden, shielded from the world. How could a faceless deviant lead a supposed revolution?
The battered deviant knelt down in front of the captive. He said, “I suppose I should introduce myself before I scold you. A parent doesn't scold the neighbor's child without permission, does he? Well, perhaps he does, but I digress. My name is Buck. Just 'Buck.' It's nice to meet you, Nicholas.”
