The charts quickly lead me out of town, and out on the road to the old substation that the Bots United Towards Tyranny now uses as their main office. This is the first time I travel this road without Shaun. The city gets smaller and the activist headquarters appears over the horizon. Everything near it are the open fields and some trees, but I cannot see any other vehicles nearby.A single person is seen on the parking lot outside, this one runs into the house and brings out ten more people who are now waving at me. When I get closer, I can see that Fred, the two women and Sam stand among seven people that I have only seen in the crowd. I then realize that I do not know how to stop this vehicle. I ask out as loud as I can, and people tell me that I have to step on the right pedal. The engine goes off, and the vehicle rolls lifelessly up next to Sam. Fred and an activist with a blue wool cap help me up, and people start asking me questions.
- Where's Shaun? Fred asks me. He looks serious, but not angry.
- His opinions on robot abuse changed, I explain. People stare at me.
- Changed? What do you mean? The young woman then asks.
- Once he received the money he said they were enough for a new AssaultBot, I explain.
- Oh, he must have been joking, I mean Shaun am I right? she answers.
- He also said that the money was his, because he was the one to compete, I then explain.
- But the whole thing was his idea! she exclaims. That little rat!
Fred then looks at me again, with the same serious look.
- Do you have the money? he asks me. As I hand over the check, he nods stiffly and takes it. Sam looks at me, and starts to smile. We walk down to the storage room in the basement to inform the other robots. The platinum blonde female robot is the one who is most happy about the news, I can tell from her queer smile. The half-face robot is also quite excited.
- It's been a while since I got to see the sunlight. His tone is soft, but his snappy, metallic voice sounds just as ever.
Even the female robot sitting next to the one with half a face gets happy, but she only expresses it with a wide smile. Her simple behaviour makes it seem like she was programmed a whole lot simpler than the other robots, she cannot even rise without without help from the half-face.
Fred comes down and tells us that there is a flight going to Nepal leaving in five hours, and that we should not delay any more than necessary. All of the machines leave the room except MB-344013, which remains completely still on its round metal stool at the end of the room. It is first now that I notice its many wires sticking out of the back, going through five square metres of floor. It does not seem to work, so it does not matter whether it remains or not. Sam sees what I am looking at, and turns back into the room.
- Goodbye, Sam tells the lifeless machine, it does not respond. The members of Bots United Towards Tyranny have gathered to say goodbye to us. Fred explains to the five of us, in the presence of the crowd, that a driver will take the six of us to the airport very soon. Since that we are wanted, it would be best not to have me or Sam visible, especially not me, Fred explains and we agree. A man that I have never met before comes forth and tells us what an honour it is to be a part of our journey. Fred decided to have a driver instead of driving to the airport himself, so that someone can return the van once we have reached our destination. He was indeed standing very close for being a part of the crowd.
I take a step forward, look at all the smiling people and thank them for all their support and their work to help our kind, and the other ones take my lead, even the robot who sat next to the one with half a face gives everyone a few words of gratitude. Applauses and jubilance is spread among the humans, and dominate the air. In these stupefying cheers, I then hear something esle. It is a small, buzzing noise, it sounds inhuman, rash, and bold. As though the source of it duplicates, there are now two buzzing noises.
Through a blurry window, I then see two military drones fly past each other.
"THIS IS HIS MAJESTY'S CIVIL DEFENCE, TURN OVER THE SUPSECT IMMIDIETLY!" a megaphone voice warns.
- Damn it! Hold on. Fred then runs down to the cellar, and claims that he has something urgent to do down there.
The rest of us run away when fifteen black shields are carried in by quick legs dressed in uniforms in the same black shade. The ones who stood on the lofts disappear quickly, but the rest of us who were on the ground go for the stairs. I follow the other robots, who are lead by the one with platinum blonde hair. We duck along the railing as we ahve reached the lowest level of the loft, so do a few people on the other side of the staircase.
- What are we going to do? the female robot who sat next to half-face asks.
- We must get to the van, the other female robot says. Through a big window facing the stairs, I can see how even more shield-armed policemen run out of five heavy vehicles.
- What is it? Sam asks me.
- There is so many of them... I mention.
- They make a total of 35 men, but do not worry, there's surely more coming, the half-face suggests.
- He's upstairs! I hear someone yell.
- Are they talking about any of you? the female robot with platinum hair asks me and Sam.
- Yes, they are talking about me, I answer.
- They want him, so if we hand him over, they may leave the rest of us alone, the half-face suggests.
- I disagree with your suggestion, Sam answers.
- It's a way to not get confiscated, he then explains.
- What do you think, Eve? the female robot who used to sit next to the half-face asks the platinum blonde robot, whose name hence must be 'Eve'. Eve thinks for ten seconds.
- We are not surrendering anyone, I have an idea, she tells us.
- You do? Please, present your idea, the half-face says.
Eve then explains that the other female robot, whom is named Cee will have to misguide 'Her Majesty's Civil Defence' by telling them we are not here. They would recognize me and Sam, so we cannot go. Neither can the half-face, whom has the name Adam, since you can tell he is a robot pretty quickly. Eve then tells Cee what she is going to tell the officers.
-Shouldn't you be the one to talk to them? Sam asks her.
- Why? she asks him.
- You already know what to say, so you wouldn't have to teach anyone, just say it yourself, Sam explains.
Eve ignores the last thing Sam says, and sends out Cee. The rest of us lay low, remaining hidden.
- Oh my! They just ran by... I can hear Cee say. I can hear the clicking sound of a gun, but then someone says "Calm down, it's a civilian". I can then hear Cee trying to convince the officers that the rest of us have all run away from the building.
- Nobody's left the building for three minutes, we're watching the area with drones, one of them explains, one with an older voice than the rest.
- They... Cee turns silent for a short amount of time. They... they... they... jumped out, Cee says and smiles.
- What's happening? Adam asks.
- The officers are a little critical against our alibi, I explain.
Adam looks at me.
- I was not asking you. Eve, what's happening? He is quick to look away as the second sentence begins.
- Well, I am sorry, I say.
- What PD-4001 said is true, Eve means.
- I'll inform you if I see them, Cee says.
- That won't be necessary, we will check the entire building, so it's only a matter of time till we find them, the older chief tells her.
- Okay, Then I will get going... Cee starts.
- I'm afraid you'll have to follow us for an interrogation, The chief explains, and then Eve rises up immediately.
- What are you doing? Sam asks her.
- We cannot let them take her, Eve explains him.
- But if they take her we will have time to run, so the rest of us will be free! Sam suggests.
- We could never do that, Adam says.
I can hear footsteps approach us, ascend through the stairs with careful, easy steps. It is not worth the risk to look who it is, since it is most likely the commander. It is not Cee for sure, she would probably not be able to walk this slowly.
The footsteps continue to draw closer to us, and once I can see the other robots are looking at the source, which is not the commander, I take a look myself. It is the older woman, whom peeks out of a corner. She shushes us, and shows with her hand that we are to follow her. Eve and I nod, and tell those next to us to sneak over to her.
She leads the four of us through the loft, and tells us that our destination is a door that leads to a spiral staircase which will take us to the ground floor.
- What about Cee? Eve asks the woman.
- You're lucky I got yous outta the jam, sorry, she explains. As we pass another crossing corridor, I can hear even more footsteps. These are not shy enough to be other activists here to help us.
- Where did Fred go? Eve asks the older woman.
- Last time we spoke he said had a surprise in the making, the robot is answered.
We finally reach the door that leads to the staircase, and the woman lets us in one by one. Eve is offered to go first, but she lets Adam go before her. I offer Sam to go before me, and he obediently follows the rest. The older woman then looks above my shoulder, and quickly rushes after the robots. I take the door as it falls heavy against my brittle hand palm, but just when I am about to step in I feel someone grabbing my shoulder. "Gotcha, jerkwad!" I hear. It is Chuck, and he looks angrier than ever before. I should be afraid having somone who hates me standing right behind me with a gun, but I have gotten used to encounters with this person by now.
It feels as though he will do something any second now, and hence disrupt this uncanny tranquility between the two of us right now. He chased me with a gun earlier today, and if he shoots me while being this close to me, my scream will surely make him run away with his ears covered.
- Oh gee, have I waited for this the last few days, Chuck begins. You are hereby under arrest, you have the right to remain silent. Everything that you say can and will be used against you in court, he then explains. I now realize that I could have run off while Chuck said this, but mpw I have another idea: I could try to reason with him.
- Come on, Chuck, I did not do anything, I tell him, and this makes him red.
- For the last time, I'm no bloody-sweet-sonna Chuck! The PC in Watrine called me that for some reason! My name is Charles J. Dyer! Did you hear that? CHARLES DYER! NOT CHUCK! While Chuck yelled at me, I took the chance to struggle out of his grip. I push him aside and make a run for the previously passed corridor. From the distance, I can hear him say "Guy's clever, gotta give him that" before shooting at my direction.
- You missed me, I say loudly. There is no reason to be quiet now that I am already found.
- Shut up! he answers. It is first now that I start to consider whether this is funny in any way. Chuck missed me from ten metres. Chuck, haha! For just a moment, I could hear myself laugh inside my head, but it would sound fake if I let it out. My laughter resembles Damian's, a bit choppy and light; "O-ho-ho-ho!" Through I window I observe that Sam, Eve and Adam seek shelter behind the building, but my focus quickly returns to Charles Dyer.
He continues with his frustrated commentary, and as I make a turn into another corridor he starts shooting at me again. When he fires his first bullet, I start running from side to side, so that it gets more difficult for him to hit me. This works out pretty well, and I can soon hear Charles Dyer complain that his magazine is empty. Two more officers all sudden appear at the end of the corridor, so I slide in behind a pillar to hide. They must have seen me due to my slow reaction, and soon I hear their heavy breathing.
I sneak up at one of the officers and try to hit him in the stomach. However, I fail since I cannot throw punches, and the hit is more of a weak slap that hardly even annoys him. Charles Dyer is probably pleased to see how his two butties bring me by, slapping my shoulders as I react either by screaming "Aiee" or saying "Ouch".
I can see in the corner of my eye that Charles follows my escort closely, and soon he runs ahead of us and stand by the loft, where he looks over his fellow officers, wave and point his tounge out. A rather peculiar ritual, seemingly without any obvious point. The activists who were where Charles now stands have disappeared, I hope that they have not gotten caught.
- Look at Charles, one of the many officers says when they see him.
- Oh gosh, they have the terrorist? someone else says. I try to focus on more voices, but I cannot manage to at the moment.
- We got him! Charles yells as we have walked down the stairs.
- Right on, now hurry to the car! someone responds. Charles then goes in front of me, and smiles in a way that makes me feel something heavy and condescending.
- Betcha'll caged up for a long time now, chuck, he says, with a quick-tempered, rash pronounciation of 'chuck'. I do not respond at first, and this seems to annoying him a bit. He is expecting some sort of reaction, possibly even an aggressive one. It would be ironic if I were mad at a human being, but it would still be an interesting phenomenon to observe. Sam was frustrated once, but his reaction was not really angry. Charles does not like it when I call him 'Chuck', but he called me that! I try to mimic his smile, but I can only do a few minor adjustments of my originally programmed smile. Chuck does get annoyed by this, but nothing else really happens.
- Anything funny about that? Well, not really my humour, but whatever.
- I am glad you are glad, I answer impulsively.
Charles looks away, and orders the other two officers to take me away. They were already doing that, but they agree to his order and proceed with me to the car.Nothing can save me now. At least Sam and the ohers get to be free, and luckily enough they have had enough time to go far away from here, perhaps even to the airport. An officer pushes me into a car, where I find Cee sitting next to me.
- Hello, PD-4001, Cee says, and smiles at me. She is acting as though nothing had happened, as though she was still sitting next to Adam in the dark cellar.
- Salutations, Cee, I answer. The officer who forced me into the car must have overheard us, because he says "the Watrine terrorist has the code name Pee-Dee-four-zero, zero-one" in his phone and goes on that "the caught girl is his companion". As someone in uniform sits down by the steering wheel and turns the engine on, I suddenly hear shooting sounds and screams coming from the building.
Cee, the two officers and I look at the building, shocked as well as curious. A group of unarmed officers run out, and then I can see it go after them, much bigger than I first thought it was. It is MB-344013 who smoothly walks out of the building, despite its great mass and weight.
- R...ob...ot... sky- reports for combat, it says, in a voice even scrappier and more cold than Adam's. Nobody tries to stop it as it begins walking over to the car, and then smashes the windshield with probably the strongest punch I have ever witnessed. I am lucky not to be in any kind of antagonism with this machine, because a punch like that would hurt a lot.The guy at the steering wheel is paralyzed by fear, and I can hear him stutter "P...p...lease... d...don't hurt m...me" The mighty war machine ignores this quaking officer, and looks at me specifically. The officer who stood outside the car ran soon as MB-344013 drew close, so the only one around who is armed is the driver, but he does not appear to be in the mental condition for battle.
- Unsafe area, evacuate immediately, it tells me, with heaviness and no emotion.
- Excuse me? I ask it, because I am not sure I fully understand what it is trying to tell me.
- I repeat, all civilians must evacuate, it says. I then understand what it means, Cee and I must leave the car. The doors are still unlocked, so we easily get out. I am escorted once again, but this time by it is MB-344013 who guides me and Cee to safety. A few officers have gathered courage, and are now forming a line against us.
- Incoming threat from; unable to locate, MB-344013 says.
- They are getting close, I mention.
- Yes, they are, Cee agrees.
MB-344013 is the only one who does not slow down by the sight of them. Instead, it runs towards them while making a weird cracking sound.
- What is that noise? I ask Cee, who actually answers to my surprise.
- Fred called that the warcry. I nod, and watch the former military android knock away the gun from an officer's hand, making him scream and run away. It also has to knock down one of the officers who keeps shooting at him, but we can proceed after that.
- Officer down, I repeat, officer down!
The droid turns its head to that same officer, whom narrowly dodges a kick and manage to get away. Five more officers, possibly the last ones, come running with plastic shields covering their faces. MB-344013 tries to penetrate a shield with its fist, but cannot manage to bust a hole through it even with all its power. It thinks fast, and grabs somebody else's shield before throwing it in the head of the only one in the group with a firearm. The other officers flee, but then the drones arrive. They have probably kept distance in order not to injure any human life, but now they are free to use their arms at us... or hopefully only at MB-344013.
Neither me or Cee are interested in taking any chances, so we follow MB-344013 as it starts running along the building and the vehicles parked in front of it. MB-344013 has scared away all the officers, and have only hurt two of them.
- Good job, soldier, I tell MB-344013.
- Rr, ob, ot, sky reports for combat. All civilians must ev... please con... Incoming threat from; unable to locate, the machine responds.
- I think he is trying to thank you, Eve mentions, and then I notice that the rest of the machines have sneaked up on us.
- What are we going to do now? Adam asks Eve.
- We have to reach the van, Sam says, and points at the only vehicle on the parking lot that does not belong to the authorities. There are still two dark blue vans that say "R.C.D" beneath a yellow badge decal, and even a few officers remain, though they choose not to offend us due to the presence of our newly activated defence.
- Incoming threat from; unable to locate, all civilians must evacuate, MB-344013 says. It all sounds like all of it was cut together, like in those poorly edited videos on the internet that Damian could occasionally watch. We get to the van, where we quickly decide to keep Adam and MB-344013 in the back since they both have visible robotic traits.
I think I should be the one driving since I have driven a vehicle before, even though there are differences between a moped and a truck. The basics of handlebars and steering wheels should more or less be the same, so if I learn how to drive this car as fast as I learned to drive the moped things should go fairly well. Sam and Cee sit with the others in the back, since they have been confirmed collaborating with me. This reminds me that I am the one who is wanted the most, and hence Eve should be the one driving. However, she complains that the circuits in her hands are a bit rigid from the time she has spent passive in the cellar, and the others think that my brain part makes me the optimal nominee for driving. Eve still wants to sit next to me, and I have nothing against that. It is not very smart to be close to me without showing any hostile attitude, but this does not matter since we are running away from the city. The guy who was originally going to drive us is gone, along with Fred, the women and everyone else.
The keys are already in, so I start the engine and feel the vehicle beginning to roll backwards. I turn out carefully, and set course to the city. The straight way which I am now travelling for the fourth time is pretty easy, all I have to do is to keep my foot on a pedal and prevent the steering wheel from moving. Things turn way harder when we enter the city streets, and I have to slow down for every turn in order not to cause any injury on people or property. I almost run into a tree when we drive through a park, and once we have gone out through the gate I almost crash into a window.
- What's going on over there?! Adam asks sharply after I accidentally run over a mailbox.