Chapter Nine
They had been waiting for a few hours now, and Johnny was growing bored of being bored. Here they were, light years away from the Earth, and he had to stay inside. Not likely, Johnny thought.
“What game did you want play now? How about, we play, I-Spy, again?” Amy suggested.
Johnny groaned. He couldn’t play another game again. He was on an alien world…or moon, whatever, it didn’t matter. He had to get out of there.
“That’s it!” Johnny shouted. He threw his hands in the air, and jumped to his feet. He smiled at Amy, and rushed out the door.
“Where are you going?” Amy asked, as she chased after him. She dashed after Johnny around the halls of the small starship, finally catching up to him in the loading bay, already trying to lower the platform. “You don’t actually think you’re going outside, do you?”
“Of course I do,” Johnny said, repeating the sequence of numbers he witnessed Kenzel enter earlier. The platform started to open and Amy stomped her feet in objection.
“I will not disobey orders, and to be honest, I can’t believe you of all people are going to,” Amy protested.
She was right, after all. Johnny had never disobeyed anyone in his life. He had always tried to be his best for his mother. She worked so hard to support him, working two jobs just to see him have some advantages in life. However, she was not here, and he owed himself this; even if it was just this one time.
Grabbing a radio on his way out, Johnny ran down the platform, to the alien moon below. He felt like Neil Armstrong, walking out on the moon for the first time. If that moon of Neil’s had artificial gravity and breathable air, of course. Nonetheless, it was a pretty big deal to him.
He looked around his surroundings, and mumbled to himself, “not exactly what I was expecting.”
He had seen the most marvelous things in his short stay at the Star Academy. This on the other hand, was less than inspiring.
Beyond the landing pad were many buildings arranged into rows, much like his city streets from downtown Detroit. However, he couldn’t help but notice that even the worst parts of his hometown still looked nicer than this. The buildings were all four stories tall, but all varied in their degree of decay. Trash littered the walkways between the buildings. How was this possible?
Davan had taught him about the difference in classes among the stars. Some people lived luxurious lives while others barely managed to get by. For as highly developed as the Star Alliance was, the same successes and failures that exist on Earth seem to be present across the galaxy.
He walked around for a little bit, down what seemed to be the main street, making sure not to lose sight of the starship. A few more minutes, that’s all he was going to stay.
The buildings were beginning to look dark and ominous to Johnny. The excitement of it all was starting to wear off. It could have been worse he thought, it could have been a giant, metal moon like in the movies. Where was everyone? Kenzel had said over ten thousand people lived on the outpost, yet he had seen no one.
Clank. Johnny turned his head, over towards an alleyway across the street. Clank. There it was again. Johnny’s interest was piqued, and he rushed over to the alleyway.
“You’re one stupid robot,” yelled a small figure from the shadows. He was joined by another small figure, and they looked like they were attacking a small droid with metal pipes. “You shouldn’t have tried to escape.”
They must have been children not much older than Johnny, and they didn’t notice him hiding down the alleyway. He stood out of sight and watched them strike the defenseless droid.
Johnny might have wanted to play the role of space hero, but this was real, and he could get hurt. He wanted to help, but he didn’t know how to move his feet right now, let alone stand up to the two aggressors. Breathing was starting to get hard now, and he felt a panic attack coming on.
“Why, oh why did my Master program me to feel pain?” the droid screamed out in his droning, computerized voice. The children paused for a moment and looked at each other. They didn’t stop for long, and quickly resumed attacking the droid.
“Stop it!” Johnny yelled, jumping from out of the shadows. He couldn’t believe himself, never thinking himself able to do such a thing; but this time he didn’t think, he just reacted. Someone was calling out for help and he acted accordingly. For the first time in his life, he was starting to believe in himself.
The figures turned towards Johnny, and his moment of confidence had come to an end. Red eyes; they had red, intimidating, eyes. He couldn’t stop staring at the eyes. Johnny froze in terror. What were these things?
Clank. The child smacked his pipe against the ground. Clank. He smacked it again, as they started to walk slowly toward Johnny.
He should have stayed on the starship, he thought. To be fair, Johnny wasn’t exactly expecting to find demon children on his first adventure.
“Wait,” the first child said to the other. “He is a Star Knight. Get back. Get back now! Warn the others!”
Just as quickly as it had begun, it was over. The two children turned and ran away. They moved like the wind, something was definitely wrong here. Luckily, he made it through his first hostile encounter intact, and he was not eager to get into another so soon. They believed him to be something that he was not, likely a mistake they would not soon repeat.
“Are you okay?” Johnny asked the droid, hesitantly. The droid had expressed feeling pain; he could never have imagined that being possible. “Do you need any help?”
“Hello? Who is there? I cannot turn around, I cannot see you,” said the droid, as Johnny inched closer to the machine, slowly revealing himself from behind the shadows. The robot was about two feet tall, with a rectangular body running long in height and depth. His head resembled a high tech digital camera. He moved about by way of a single rubber wheel. It seemed to be blown though, as it was deflated. Every few seconds the droid would try to spin his tire to no prevail. If Johnny didn’t know any better, he could swear the droid was panicking, a feeling of he knew rather well.
“It’s okay, I’m here to help,” Johnny assured. He knew the feelings the droid was going through well, and felt a connection to the robot. “What is your name?”
“I have no name, I am service and repair droid zero-five-four,” the droid said. Johnny was close enough now to read the writing on the body of the droid. Crude printing was painted across his body that said, Robby. It must have been the name given to him by the miners.
“Robby?” Johnny asked. “Is that what I can call you?”
“You may call me whatever you wish, I will respond,” Robby replied. “Thank you for your assistance.”
“You mentioned earlier, about being programmed for pain?” Johnny inquired.
“A trick that service and repair droid zero-one-two taught me,” Robby answered. “It works over thirty percent of the time.”
“What about the other times?” Johnny wondered.
“They usually just strike me harder, like you saw,” Robby answered.
Johnny smiled; pretty sure the small droid was now being sarcastic. Robby might not be able to feel pain, but Johnny saw intelligence and emotion in the tiny robot.
“Can you move?” Johnny asked.
“Repairs will take several hours in a repair depot, but I will move again,” Robby replied. Johnny sat down and leaned against the wall.
“So why were those children attacking you, and what was happening to their eyes?” Johnny asked.
“They are not usually this bad,” Robby started. “A week ago, when the Rift opened, chaos engulfed the mining outpost. We service and repair droids were deployed to repair as much damage as possible. How it started I cannot tell you, we service and repair droids are deactivated between operations. As for your question about the red eyes, the population seemed to begin to transform rapidly into beings that my scanners were unable to detect.�
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“That must have been awful,” Johnny stated. “They mentioned that you tried to escape. Escape from what?”
“They started rounding up all the droids,” Robby responded. “My primary role is to service and repair. By rounding me up, they were not allowing me to complete my objective. Therefore, escape was my only option.”
“Glad you managed to get away,” Johnny said. “How long have you—“
“Amy and Johnny, are the two of you hearing this?” Kenzel barked over the radio. As he spoke over the intercom, Johnny could hear gun fire in the background. Someone was in trouble; that much was apparent.
“We’ve got a little situation here,” continued Kenzel, who was seemingly calmer than the situation called for. “We should be back in a few minutes, prepare for takeoff.”
Before Kenzel’s radio cut off, Johnny heard the sound of a blaster striking close to Kenzel’s location. He knew he had to get out of there.
Stopping suddenly, Johnny realized that he could not leave Robby to his fate with these people. He turned back to face Robby, who was still trying to spin his wheel, attempting to manage to move. Sparks started flying everywhere; clearly he was unable to move under his own will.
“Time to be a hero,” said Johnny to himself. Rolling up his sleeves, he ran back over to help the droid. He spread his arms and grabbed on to the frame of Robby. He was heavy; maybe the heaviest thing Johnny had ever tried to lift. “You can do this, Johnny!”
Johnny screamed out in agony as he lifted Robby. No one ever said being a hero was going to be easy, he thought. He held tightly, and rushed out the alleyway. The starship was no more than a block away, but it felt like a mile.
Johnny was not halfway there when a thunderous crash lifted him off his feet. He lost balance, and both of them came crashing to the street. Someone was firing at them, he thought.
“What…is happening?” Johnny asked. He lifted his head from the ground, and slowly got up to his hands and knees.
“My sensors detect artillery fire,” Robby responded as several more shots rang out. That didn’t sound good, Johnny thought. They must have been trying to take out the starship. Getting to his feet, he once again tried to pick up Robby.
“Ah!” Johnny screamed. The small droid felt much heavier this time. That’s when Johnny heard all the voices.
Kenzel, Davan, and Selene had appeared a half mile out, from out of an alleyway. Only they were not alone. Behind them were hundreds of people chasing them; people with those red, menacing eyes. He was in big trouble this time, he thought.
Not today, Johnny decided. Today he wasn’t going to let the fear overcome him. He had his own mission to complete now, and he was going to make sure it happened. Johnny grabbed on to Robby’s tire, and pulled his hardest.
Slowly he moved at first, but the more Johnny tried, the faster he was pulled. Johnny was going to do it, he thought. Just when things were starting to happen for Johnny, it all turned dark.
Another artillery shell landed near, throwing Robby and himself into the air. Johnny refused to let go of Robby, and they landed on the street together. Johnny’s head crashed on the ground, and just like that, everything was over. He sighed as he picked his head up. It was too heavy this time, and he collapsed. Everything was starting to go black.
Jonathan Rush and the Star Academy Page 10
