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Chapter 4

On my third day, Sami deemed it was time I undertook my first solo patrol of the perimeter around Deep Below. I had already walked it with Vinny as well as checking Level Five above us and Level Seven that lay beneath, noting the potential ambush points that needed inspection. Vinny had wanted me armed with a Guard Standard assault rifle, identical to the one I used to carry, however Sami over-ruled him. She did not think the locals were ready to see me stomping around with a military grade weapon in hand, so she went for something a little less threatening.

It was a refurbished Shock Rod, also called a Stun Baton in the Police Auxiliary. I was not aware of what the criminal underworld referred to them as since this data was missing from my patchy files that remained. I did know it could deliver crippling electrical discharges on contact, able to take down any Organic and most mechanicals in close quarters. The internal batteries held enough charge for a half dozen solid strikes and when they were done the weapon still functioned as a heavy duty truncheon.

My external chassis already had a mounting point to carry the weapon since these were a common piece of equipment for all Sentinels. I snapped it into place and let Sami and Vinny give me a final look over before heading out. One final thought did occur to me though.

"How will I contact you if there is a situation in the outer tunnels?" I asked.

"Oh, you can call me on my phone" Vinny suggested brightly. "We installed repeaters around the town and closest tunnels so the signals can be received here"

"Yes, but my internal communications array was destroyed in the first EMP attack" I explained. "Otherwise I probably would have been sent a recall command by now"

Sami and Vinny both instinctively looked upwards to the distant City that lay above us, as if they could see the Police Auxiliary controllers anxiously awaiting my return.

"Err yeah, I guess that's true" Vinny conceded sheepishly. "I kinda forgot you used to be a Police mechanical" He cast about the Security Office and I saw him snatch up a communications headset with glee, one that was used by Asimov to keep in touch with his fellow town councillors when he was manning the security station. Since that was now my primary role, Vinny decided I could have the headset. He plugged the unit into one of my external jacks, duct taped the receiver and battery pack behind my right shoulder and stood back to admire his work.

"Give it a test, David" he insisted so I linked to the device from my internal processor. Luckily that connection still worked and I called Vinny's phone. It rang instantly in his vest pocket and he drew it out eagerly to answer.

<HELLO VINNY, IT'S DAVID> I transmitted into the communicator. On cue my synthesised voice came out of Vinny's phone. It was nearly identical to my own voice as the Vocoder software used the same tone and inflections as the phone program. I hadn't thought about it before, but all Sentinels must sound exactly the same whenever they spoke.

By my appearance and my spoken word, there was no way to tell me apart from any other identical Sentinel. Only my actions and the context of what I said set me apart from my mechanical brethren. Maybe that is how all sentient beings should be judged, rather than by how they looked or sounded.

"You're all set, Sheriff" Sami declared at last. It was the first time she had addressed me that way and I felt a small emotion pass through me. I was not sure exactly how to describe it and the closest thing would be pride or perhaps joy.

"Copy that, Mayor" I replied and gave her a whip-fast salute, my right hand quivering at my brow for just a second before dropping smartly back to my side.

"Yeah, you can cut that shit out right now!" she snapped and stalked off, saying she had work to do. Vinny just laughed and slapped a friendly hand across my Ceramite plated shoulder.