Memory (sequel to robots)

Chapter 3

The Canadian boarder was packed as far as the eye could see. It increased the sense of hopelessness that had already settled in the pit of his stomach. If he had a stomach. The line was slow and unmoving. Mark clutched onto the steering wheel trying to calm himself down. He felt so nervous and aggravated at the same time. It didn't help that for some reason his joints were getting harder to move. He couldn't figure out why. It agitated him further, digging around in his mind to think of a reason why.
"FUCK" he screamed out, feeling that it might help alleviate the feeling resonating inside him. All it did was make the people in the car next to him stare.
When he finally got up to the boarder, the officer checking his passport seemingly took forever. He tapped is fingers on his lap, wishing that they would hurry up.
"And what might you be doing with your stay in Canada?" The officer asked. Mark had to stop himself from completely spilling the beans.
"Visiting a friend" he attempted to not let the pain seep into his voice.
"Alright everything seems to be in order. Have a nice stay" she waved him off. Mark sped off, not wanting to interact with another person until he got to Matthias. He was his only hope if he were to find out where Sean is.
The next couple hours of driving felt like centuries. His world spun around him as he found his way back to the place he swore he would never return to. It felt like a taboo. He sunk in his seat when he saw the large shop alongside the road. He pulled up to the building, hesitant to step out of his car.
"Oh Sean. What am I supposed to do here? You always knew what to do" Mark leaned his head against the steering wheel. He felt the black ooze drip down his face as he sobbed. His whimpers were stopped by a knock on his window. Mark gasped, twisting around to see who it was. He was greeted by a pair of pink glowing eyes filled with pity. Her brown curly hair flowed from her shoulders, wrapping around her round face. Mark remembered her, she was there on the battlefield when they fought the Woman in Red. He cracked the window open.
"Are you alright, Mark?" She asked. Mark wiped the ooze off his face nodding.
"Um yeah, I think I'm okay" he opened the door. She backed away, letting him out.
"Well you were just crying. I seriously doubt you're okay. And where's Sean?" She looked in the car. Mark flinched at the sound of his name.
"He's uh, not here" the girl clasped her hands over her mouth.
"He didn't..."
"No. At least not that I know of"
"Then I assume you need to talk to Matthias. He's busy right now, but I'll keep you company and get you some more hydraulic oil. You seem a bit stiff" she grabbed Mark's arm, taking him inside the building. It was empty and deserted, so much unlike the last time when he was here. It was busy, swarming with others. Now, nothing. Mark waited as the girl ran to a pile of jugs, picking one up before running back towards Mark. He looked up the stairs to his left, seeing Matthias talking in his office, not paying attention to what was happening down below.
"Here. It will help" she handed the jug to Mark. He had no idea what to do with it. He'd never had to deal with it before.
"What am I supposed to do?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Oh! You drink it. Don't worry though, we can't taste anything. Just feels a bit odd" She explained. Mark nodded, twisting the cap off. He looking in to see an awful, slimey liquid. He crinkled his nose as he drank some. She was right, it felt awful. It slimed its way down his throat and he could feel it slink its way through his body. He pulled it away from his lips, not wanting to do that ever again.
"That's fucking disgusting" he gurgled, still having the last of it drip its way through his body.
"Yeah I know, but without it, you can't move a whole lot" she took the jug from him, dropping it on the ground.
"Since when? I never had to take it before"
"Oh yeah! You were like the first one he made right? Yeah his first model didn't need that stuff, until he found out we were stronger with hydraulics"
"He needed everyone stronger than I already was? Fuck" Mark wiped a bit of oil that remained on his lips.
"Crazy what happened really. Oh by the way, my name is Alex" she smiled.
"Good to know"
"ALEX! Who's that?" Matthias yelled, making Mark jump.
"It's Mark!" Alex yelled back, rolling her eyes.
"Really! Where's Sean? I assumed he would tag along"
"That's the reason why I'm here. Sean's gone" Matthias came down the stairs.
"Gone!? How!?"
"I thought you might be able to help with that" Mark subconsciously grabbed Sean's bracelet that hung from his wrist.
"How would I do that? I've lost all trackers from all my bots. I believe you were the one to do that"
"Please Matthias, do you know who might have taken him?" At this point Mark would go on his knees begging Matthias if he needed.
"I'm sorry but I don't know who would've taken him. It couldn't be the Woman in Red, we destroyed her" Matthias took Mark up to his tracking room. It was covered from floor to ceiling with various computers all with different words and screens.
"Is there anyone else that would want to get hold of your bots? I need him, Matthias. If we can't find him, I may as well die too." Mark slumped down.
"Alright alright. I might, might be able to create a sort of tracking algorithm, but I'm not promising that it will work, or if that we'll be able to find him"
"So what, you track what on him?" Mark needed to keep talking. He needed to stop himself from crying.
"His brain waves. Each one of you have a different one. It's just a series of things I designed to each individual robot. It's going to take a few days to make it however." Matthias was already madly taping away on the keyboard.
"His brain waves. Okay" Mark felt he was being lied to at some point of this.
"Yes Mark. Well I shouldn't say brain waves, just a weird signal emitted by the chips within his head"
"Shouldn't a brain actually be in there though?"
"Not one piece of it is actually brain. It would rot. It's just a few chips mimicking an actual brain. And the chips really aren't even up there. There down with the rest of the controls. Not that difficult to replicate. Just have each chip do what each part of the brain does. So really your head is just an empty shell. Now excuse me, I have some serious business to attend to now. Alex, get him out of here and make sure he's comfortable" Mark had barely noticed Alex had followed them.
"Yes sir" she took Mark down to the hallways that the robots used to lay in.
"You're not locking me in?" He stopped as she went down one.
"What? Oh! No no no! I thought we could do something fun! It's a thing I've been working on for a while since the place is just an empty wasteland" Alex walked into a room and plucked the mattress off the cot. She went to the next, repeating it.
"What's this about?"
"Again, wasteland. I'm not allowed out so I do what I can. I take these mattresses and bring them all the way through the tunnels to that huge room. The one with the two hour walk. Keeps my mind off things, so I'm sure it'll do the same for you"
"You walk that just for mattresses?" Mark blinked, thinking she was insane.
"Oh god no. I have this super rigged up golf cart that Matthias made" she laughed. Mark then followed her lead, plucking mattresses with her. He managed to get a good five or six in his arms before Alex turned to leave.
"I thought there were only a couple hundred robots" Mark had noticed the plentiful amount of rooms that seemed way more than two hundred.
"There's at least a thousand here. If he could, he would've filled 'em all up" Alex brought Mark to a golf cart with a wagon behind it. The two flung the mattresses in the wagon, getting into the golf cart. Alex looked over at Mark with a glisten in her eyes. Mark spotted her staring and frowned. She shook her head. "Hold on" Alex smirked, turning on the engine. It roared to life, echoing up and down the tunnel. She stepped on the gas, speeding down the tunnel. In no time they were going 40 miles an hour.
"How long does it take for you to reach the end at this speed?" Mark shouted over all the noise.
"I'd say five ten minutes! Not entirely long!" Alex yelled back. She was right. Within that time frame they ended up in the huge room. It was already half covered in mattresses. She turned off the engine, grabbing the mattresses they just brought and flung them to the ground next to the others. Mark watched her as she arranged them all to be flat.
Alex then flung off her shoes and began jumping on all the beds. Mark seemed surprised.
"Cmon Mark! Get your mind of things for a while!" She took a huge jump, landing herself three or four mattresses over. For some reason Mark felt childish if he were to jump on the mattresses. He shook the feeling off, deciding he should try to get a few things off his mind.
He jumped with Alex for a while, still feeling the sensation lingering. The one that scratched at the back of his mind repeating 'he's gone. You'll never get him back. He's gone for good '
It seemed to ruin the fun. Mark stopped, sitting on the edge.
"What's wrong?" Alex plopped herself beside him.
"I guess I'm just not okay with being happy just yet. I feel like I can't do that without Sean"