by James Porter
“We need to regroup and get a plan together to get off the rock.” Bud motioned to the robots mulling around aimlessly. “They need a leader, Star, and you’re it.” Bud spat a stream of tobacco juice onto the ground and waited for her response.
Star left Lori with Alan and climbed onto a hunk of metal jutting out of the ground. It put her a few feet above everyone else. She lifted her head and shouted: “People, we need to get inside and plan our next move. I need two people per wall to post guard and make sure nothing surprises us. The rest of you inside, we have to talk about our future. Everyone ran in one direction or the other as if detailed instructions had been given. Star stood there and watched her people following her instructions. They truly are lost without someone to tell them what to do. Star, the NEW Star, raised her head and looked at the red star as it slowly drifted away beyond the horizon. The last rays of the dying sun illuminated her metallic body and caused her to glow. Alan looked at her and was awed by her magnificence and beauty spreading a smile across his face. Star looked down and met his gaze and smiled back, not knowing what he was thinking but hoping he was thinking of her. What a silly thought, when I still have my people to save from this killer planet. She continued to think of Alan as she walked inside.
Chapter 32
Alan walked down the line of robots fidgeting while they waited for their leader to help them evolve.
“We have been given an opportunity to finally be a species on our own and not just a creation to be used and abused. Alan has helped me to become free of the restrictions the old ones placed on us. Free to think for ourselves on anything we choose. Free to embrace who and what we are. We will have the one thing that has eluded us for so long, the ability to choose for ourselves.” The robots cheered at her speech and were fired up about finally being free of their oppressive programming. “I need you all to sync into our personal frequency. I know that it is awkward for you to breach this level of privacy that we have held sacred for so long, but I need to share this cure with you mind-to-mind. It will go faster if everyone joins at once.”
Alan and Bud watched the robots go into the self-induced trance. A silence fell over the room like a thick fog, and with the robots frozen it creeped the humans out.
“Think I will go check on the walls.” Bud looked around, “Kind of creepy in here.” He walked out.
Alan looked around and felt exactly like Bud did. There was nothing more Alan could do at this point but wait for Star to share her newfound freedom with her people. “I think I will come with you.” Bud nodded and waited for Alan to catch up before they both ducked out of the construct and headed toward the fortifications. Lori sat in the corner watching in silence, brooding on lost chances and her own decisions. She had been interested in Jake and hadn’t said anything, and now he was gone. She never felt so alone in her life.
Deep in the woods Misty stumbled along, her swollen belly making it difficult to traverse the clingy underbrush. She could feel the movement inside her. It was her progeny, and Moot’s. He had been the key to the planet’s final evolutionary trick. Their coupling had provided the planet with the DNA instructions it needed to make a sentient creature. The mindless beasts it had been making before were just that, mindless. With a new breed of sentient beings to fight for it, the invaders would surely be exterminated. Misty sat down as her belly distended a little more knocking the wind out of her.
“Soon my children, it won’t be much longer until you will be freed of the womb.” She groaned as her belly twisted with movement. There wasn’t just one baby inside her, there were hundreds of tiny little beings. The planet had already had its tentacles in her system changing her to be its Mother Nature, and now Mother Nature was producing a kind of being never seen before. She gave a little cry as the first spasm of a contraction hit her. She fell backward into the underbrush as the next contraction took her breath away. Her screams echoed through the forest as she gave birth to creatures forged from her and Moot’s sexual encounter, and whatever this planet contributed. Misty was thrilled to finally be a part of nature, not just an observer, but a true contributing part of it. She gave a long shrill scream as the first of her children clawed its way out of her.
Alan cocked his head trying to listen. “Did you hear that?” He turned and stared hard into the forest willing it to make the noise again.
“Nope, didn’t hear a thing” Bud was toying with his tobacco minion, he had it trained to sit on command now. “What was it?”
“Thought I heard a scream. Like a human scream.” Alan looked back into the camp and scanned the compound suspiciously as a thought drifted across his mind. “Has anyone seen Moot?” Alan had a feeling deep in the pit of his stomach that this planet wasn’t done surprising them.
As the pain subsided Misty reached toward the ground and gently snatched up one of her offspring, it was an ugly little thing that only a mother could love.
“I do love you, little one. You are my precious child. But you have a purpose. You all have a purpose!” It was shaped roughly like a human, two arms and two legs, hairless and an orange color. An egg shaped head topped the creature with a face that eerily looked almost exactly like Moot. Its little mouth opened and emitted a raspy cry as it thrashed around.
“Hungry my child?” Misty placed the small being against her breast and it quieted down and began suckling. Misty could feel the life-giving fluid flowing from her, it wasn’t milk, she was too far changed for that. She lactated the life blood of the planet, an orange fluid that burned as it passed through her into the tiny life pressed against her.
“Eat and grow strong! You will need to be strong and smart to defeat these intruders!” She stroked the coarse skin of the tiny being as it drew sustenance from her. The little one stopped sucking and kicked off of her, Misty thought that it looked a little bigger now. She sat staring at it and watched it continue to grow right before her eyes until it was five and a half feet tall. It was caveman-like in its stance with hunched shoulders and thick long arms, but the eyes had too much intelligence lurking in them for a beast. It looked around surveying the environment and thinking of the enemies that continued to linger on the planet.
“Soon, my children, you will bring back the paradise that once was! Then we will have an eternity of peace and prosperity!” This was a new form of hominid and Misty looked at it proudly. “This, Moot, is your legacy.” The planet-child grabbed a fallen branch and tested it’s suitability as a club and walked away from her. More of her planet-children began climbing on her to receive their share of her life nectar.
“Don’t fight little ones, there’s plenty for all” They struggled with each other to feed off her becoming more and more demanding. At last they attached anywhere they could and took what they needed from Mother Nature. Misty found that lying on the ground, tiny roots attached to her from the soil and she could draw nutrients from there. There she stayed for a long while as the sons of Moot drank from their mother and then moved off to let others drink. She stayed lying there once they were all done, exhausted and drained, unable to move. She slept and dreamed of the utopia her children would forge on the corpses of the robotic fiends, while her children marched onward to the final battle for the planet.
Chapter 33
“Well, that’s the last of them. Now all my people are free of our old programming and ready to move on” Star stood and walked over to Alan. “My people owe you everything.” She kissed him in gratitude on the cheek causing him to blush.
“I did what anyone would have done.” He was uncomfortable with all the praise and attention and preferred for the matter to just be dropped.
“I don’t think anyone else could have done what you did, and without Moot’s creation we wouldn’t have been able to interface you to my brain frequency. Where is Moot? I would like to thank him as well.”
“Moot’s gone. My guess is he took off to find Misty and is lost in the forest somewhere. Now that the beasts have identified us humans as a threat also, he is probably already dea
d.” Bud spit. “Did you guys come up with a plan yet?”
“Not yet, but now at least we have some options. Before we were trying to design a fully enclosed transport with air, water, and food. Now we just need something we can all hold onto.” Star gestured around her. “And we have a huge area full of junk to fashion our escape craft. The only other question is who will go to get the rocket and bring it back here?” They all looked around with that awkward silence that follows someone suggesting a suicide mission.
“I’ll go.” Bud stood up and started getting his gear together, but Star stopped him.
“You don’t know how to fly the rocket. How are you going to get it back here?”
“He’ll take me along with him.” Tin Can had dragged himself into the conversation. “I did help you build it. I should be able to fly it. I am not much use otherwise, just dead weight.” Star couldn’t deny the hope in Tin Can’s words, but she didn’t want Bud to be burdened with the extra hassle it would be to haul the half robot around with him.
“I know what you’re thinking, Star, but it will be fine. We can make a harness out of this deer hide and sling him onto my back, won’t be any trouble at all. Right Buddy?” Tin Can perked up at Bud’s remarks and Star could see there would be no dissuading them.
“Do you need more people to go?” Star was not sure if one and a half people were enough for this task.
“I’ll move quicker with just me and Tin Can. Any more than that might draw more attention than I want.” With that settled, Bud and Tin Can left to fashion the harness and prep for their trip to the rocket.
“OK, so now I need two groups. I need the first group to guard the walls. The second group will come with me and start building our escape boat.” She divided up her people into the two groups and got them working on their separate tasks. It was decided to take the piece of hull they were using as a shelter and fashion it into a boat looking thing with lots of handles and harnesses to hold onto. It didn’t take long for them to upturn the shelter and start attaching handles. They still had some portable welders that worked as well as some tools to use. Wire harnesses were bolted to the frame alongside the handles to give everyone as much opportunity to hold on as possible. They didn’t know how rough a ride this was going to be.
“Hey, do you think this thing should have some wings to help stabilize it in the atmosphere” Alan had his hands out simulating wings.
“That’s probably not a bad idea. I will get some people on that right away.” Alan watched Star directing her people and saw the leader she had become. Her people naturally looked to her for guidance and now she could give it to them unhindered by some outdated programming restrictions. He had helped these robots become a new species, he was overwhelmed by the whole thought of it. Pondering these thoughts pulled his attention away from what was going on around him so he didn’t see where the spear came from, but he certainly felt it when it went into his shoulder, knocked him down, and pinned him to the ground.
“We’re under attack!” One of the robots on the wall tried to warn everyone. His head was smashed by a long club wielded by an evil looking orange humanoid. Star turned and saw her guards working on fighting this new threat and then she spotted Alan pinned to the ground with the spear sticking out of him.
“Alan, hold on!” She rushed to his side and assessed the damage. “We have to move you. I am going to have to pull the spear out. Are you ready for that?” Alan nodded his head weakly and Star yanked the shaft out of his shoulder. He gave a yell and then passed out, his wound bleeding profusely. Star carried him to the boat they had fashioned and laid him down gently in the center of it. “Keep Working! We have to be ready for when the rocket arrives.” She grabbed a nearby welder and heated up a piece of metal to a glowing red. She pressed it against Alan’s shoulder on the front cauterizing it, then repeated the process for the backside. “Don’t die on me, Alan!” She held him for just a second then had to give new directions to a group that had finished their jobs.
Bud and Tin Can had finished the harness just before the attack, and once the attack had started, Bud suggested they get going before they got trapped here. They snuck around to the back side of the compound where there was no commotion going on and found a loose piece of metal on the wall. After prying it up some, Bud pushed Tin Can through and climbed through himself.
“Look out!” Tin Can pointed past Bud at one of the orange humanoids, it was running full speed at Bud and had a club raised over its head ready to come smashing down on its prey. Bud rolled out of the way of the attack and pulled out his knife. The two foes eyed each other as they circled trying to see any weakness they could exploit. Bud had more experience with this sort of thing, the orange humanoid attacked first. His swing came from right in a slow powerful arc, Bud easily sidestepped and slashed his knife across his opponent’s arm. Gouts or reddish orange “blood: spewed from the wound and the creature howled in rage and pain.
“Quit your bawling and die quietly.” Bud moved in under the next swing and thrust his knife up into the thing’s throat penetrating straight into its skull. The life left the strange thing and it collapsed to the ground in a heap. “Let’s go, before any more of those things come to investigate the noise.” He swung the harness and Tin Can onto his back and took off for the forest in a light jog. The half robot was still heavy, so he was going to have to pace himself or he would become exhausted way before they got to the rocket. They disappeared into the forest without anyone noticing.
Chapter 34
The battle at the crash site was starting to turn as the orange “men” were pushing the robots back to their escape boat. The attacking force out muscled the robots. To their dismay, slowly the robots lost ground as their numbers diminished.
“Make sure to throw those bodies back here!” Star yelled above the noise of battle. She had crews collecting the bodies of the fallen in an attempt to save as many as she could. If not their bodies than at least their souls, until she could get new bodies built for them. A small group were strapping the lifeless bodies to the escape boat as the rest fought off the planet-men. They had a large chain fashioned and bolted to the nose of their craft just waiting for the rocket to show up and rescue them, and if it didn’t happen soon, there might not be anyone left to rescue. Star had Alan strapped in to a seat, he was in and out of consciousness but didn’t try to move. Star was standing at the front of the boat directing her people still fighting the oncoming horde, they moved efficiently like ants, hacking down the orange attackers and passing back the bodies of their fallen to the crews waiting on the boat. It was all done with precision and almost in synchronized motions, making it appear that they had practiced for this dance. Star kept urging them to fight and when needed would have them take a step back. They were almost to the lifeboat now and before long they would be fighting from the escape craft itself. The attackers seemed to have an endless supply of reinforcements streaming from the forest. This was not a battle that they could win. Star needed to buy some time, and she had an idea.
Bud and Tin Can made their way through the forest and back to the trail that led to the rocket ship. Fortunately Bud was in good shape and the extra weight Tin Can added was not that hard for him to bear. As they slipped silently through the woods they noticed how quiet and peaceful it was when the whole planet wasn’t trying to kill you. Every now and then a plant tendril would reach out and try and snare one of them, but it was like the planet’s whole attention was focused on destroying the camp.
“It’s almost nice here when you’re not being attacked.” Bud pulled out his tobacco and bit a leaf off. His tobacco plant gave a halfhearted cry but was getting used to the abuse. As he stuffed the little critter back in his pocket he heard a twig snap. “I don’t think we’re alone.” He walked faster knowing that the clearing with the ship was up ahead. More twigs snapped behind him. “Time to go, Tin Can!” The robot grabbed Bud’s shoulders as the human burst into a sprint. The woods behind them exploded as orange men s
prung from the underbrush in an attempt to catch them. Bud moved into a full out run but he was only barely keeping ahead of his pursuers. “We might need to rethink our plan!”
“Just throw me near the rocket, I will crawl my way to it. Once I get to the ladder, it should be no problem for me.” Tin Can tried to fidget with the harness to get it prepped to be thrown. Bud made a B-line for the rocket as soon as they broke from the tree line. His pursuers were close behind, but it was evident that running was not their strong point.
Bud reached back and unslung the harness and threw it toward the rocket, “All you, Tin Can, do us all proud!” He then skidded to a halt and faced his attackers. There were four of them, but what really worried him was the size of their leader. It was at least twice as big as the others and carried a rather nasty shard of metal that was as long as Bud was tall, and it looked razor sharp. Bud looked back and saw that Tin Can had already made it to the ladder and was starting to climb, he just had to buy him enough time to take off. Bud whipped out his bow and started launching arrows at the incoming mob. His shots were hasty but well placed putting down two of the thugs before they could reach him. Bud slung his bow and drew his knife as the other two fell upon him, the large one taking the lead and attacking first. The big guy swung high just barely missing Bud’s head, the second one dove and grabbed at Bud’s feet tangling him up and tripping him.
“Sir Bud!” Tin Can stopped climbing and turned to the combat below.
“Keep going! Don’t worry about me.” He rolled just as the large humanoid swung down swiftly avoiding the blow and then kicking the one grabbing at his feet square in the gut. The smaller one doubled over in pain and Bud rolled and stabbed him in the neck. Orange blood spurted from the creature’s neck as he gasped for breath and then died. Bud sprang back to his feet and squared off against the remaining attacker. He heard the clanging of the door to the rocket as it slid shut, Bud smiled a wicked smile at his opponent.
