I point forward, and then look at Eve. She does not move from the spot. So I pat her shoulder, and then nod. She does not do anything now either. As if it would not bad enough that she is unable to communicate, she cannot comprehend means of communication either. I grab her hand, and lead her back into the lair. Damian, whom ran away, is probably hiding somewhere around here. Now I know that he is afraid of us, because otherwise why would he run off when he had the upper hand? One thing is sure, he is not as tough now as he was back in the mansion.
Once we reach the staircase I realize how difficult it may be to lead Eve down, so I decide to just leave her here and go on my own. I push her down on the terrace, in a corner near the staircase. I then continue down the stairs all by myself. I try to hurry in order not to fall, even if that makes me a bit noisier. If I fall through these stairs, I will not be able to get back to Eve, or out of this place. When I have come halfway, I hear footsteps. I crouch down as fast as I can and try to see who it is. I cannot see anyone at the bottom floor, but when I dare to look upwards I am startled by a human face. Fortunately, it belongs to Eve. She must have thought that I should not walk alone, and I appreciate her way of thinking. I would really love to wait for Eve, but I do really not want put too much pressure on the plank I am standing on. Though I try to slow down a bit to give her a chance to catch up. When I am five steps from the bottom, Eve has gotten really close. Eve slips a little all of sudden, and falls forward. I grab her as soon as I can, but when I do, I fall backwards and almost break my neck. When I try to rise myself along with Eve, she begins to struggle and kick her legs around. I consider telling her to calm down, but then I remember that she can no longer understand me. Instead, I let her get up by herself. It works, though it takes a while.
We sneak through the walls and shelves of the dark maze. Suddenly, Damian appears at a junction. I start to screaming out of the shock, and Damian starts screaming as well. He runs away, we are headed for the opposite side. We are forced to take a detour, but it should hopefully be safe. We do not know the way to or from the balcony, since we have only jumped from it. However, Eve seems to understand where we are going, because she is currently on the lookout for a way there. She finds something interesting after five minutes, and brings me to an elevator basket. It appears very worn-down, and everything but safe. I decide to walk up the stairs next to the elevator, and either Eve shares my opinion or she is just following me. We soon reach a room without anything else than three metallic boards. These must be the boards that Eve, Sam and I were bound to when we woke up here. Damian has put up a tent and a sleeping bag in a corner. For some reason, I kick his tent down. But why? How does it help me? Maybe he will have to put it back up again, and then we will have more time to get out of here.
Anyhow, we should hurry as much as we can, since Damian might have the courage to shoot us next time we see him. I step out on the balcony, with Eve close behind me. All the instruments of torture are still here, and so is Sam, thankfully. To be honest, I was a little worried that Damian might have hidden Sam, but this would mean Damian would somehow be able to anticipate our plan and hence his own failure. He does probably not know where we are, so he is still wandering about the maze and fearing for his life.
Sam lies on the floor with his eyes wide open, and stares into the thin air. It looks quite horrible, so I use my fingers to close his eyes. Eve squeezes his neck, but nothing happens. He is truly completely broken, so we are justified to tear him apart to take the communication system which we need. Okay... Eve was shot in the left side of her head, where the communication system broke. I touch Sam's scalp carefully to sense where the communication system is. However, us AssaultBots have a skull of metal or hard plastic which protects all the hardware. I look around on the shelf with the instruments of torture, and find a small yet quite sharp knife. Maybe it will be enough to cut Sam's head open? I return to my friend's inanimate body, but then Eve stops me. Spontaneously, it could seem like she does not understand what we are doing here, but maybe she is just afraid that I will destroy the communication system? She takes the knife, and cuts some skin off. She then throws it away, and begins to slowly cut the metal-coloured plastic. The material of the knife is not as hard as the skull however, so the knife is eventually rendered useless. I try with another, bigger knife that feels way heavier. I give it to Eve, whom cuts out a line on Sam's head.
Slowly but steadily, she carves a hole, asymmetrical but almost big enough to fit a hand through. I push one of my hands into the head, and it hurts. I quickly pull my hand out and take a peek inside, but find nothing that would be sharp enough to cut my hand. I put my hand back in, and now it hurts so much that I almost start to scream. Once again I pull my hand out, but find nothing sharp when inspecting the interior of the skull. I make a third attempt, but this time I am way more careful. It still hurts, but now I am just trying to ignore it. I feel something that could be the hard drive, but I ignore it. We are in a hurry, so we are just taking what we came here for. I find a loose chunk to the left, and form a hard grip around it. I then pull it out as fast as I can, so that I will not have to feel the mysterious pain. Once I begin to pull my wrist out, I realize that it is the corner of the skull that has cut my arm all the time. I get the piece out, which is labelled "LX 2.1.102450 COMMUNICATION SYSTEM 3.0". This must be the right thing. I hand it over to Eve, but she does not seem to know what to do with it either, she just stares at it. I was hoping that it would come to her naturally once she had the system. I look at the hole in her head, then at my knife and then at the metallic boards. Maybe I can install it?
I bring Eve to one of the boards, and I tell her to lay down. She does not understand my demand, so I have to force her down in order to fasten her.
I do my best to carefully expand the hole with the knife, and it works out pretty well. Eve then suddenly hits me, probably believing that I am attacking her, or torturing her. She then kicks me in the stomach with the leg I did not bind, and grabs my knife. Eve seems to think that I am betraying her, and I cannot explain myself in any way. The only thing I can really do is to turn off Eve, whom is armed with a knife, and has the ability to fight. I tackle Eve as soon as she has risen from the board. We fall to the floor, before she holds the knife up. I decide to let Eve cut me, which is the least I can let her do in return for what I am about to do.
She cuts me, and it hurts a lot. It hurts even more than it did when Damian cut me, and it hurts in a different way. It hurts in the way similiar to when I shoved my hand into Sam's head, only worse. I fall backwards, and then Eve kicks me, as her eyes are on the exit. I must shut her down before she runs away, because if catching two robots is hard for Damian, then how difficult would a single robot prove to be, unless Damian shoots her before I catch up with her. She puts me in a stranglehold, and now she has to take a step closer in order to lift me up. During this step forward, I quickly push her neck with both my hands. Eve looks at me, through eyes that probably hide both fear and despise, before letting go of me. I have done it, all I have to do now is to give her the communication system.
I find the knife on the floor, and consider it still being in the condition to use. I make the hole in Eve's head a little bigger. I cannot make it too big, because then it will expose Eve's hardware to the outside world. I fit two fingers into the hole, and use them to tear out the dysfunctional communication system. This piece of hardware is approximately the same size as the one we took from Sam. The bullet went straight through the communication system, so no wonder it does not work anymore. I have no idea how I am to install the communication system, so I just take my chances and put it in the place of the old one. Otherwise, all I can do is hope it works.
I hold my knife at the ready in case she still cannot understand me. She is active, it looks good so far. She is not broken, though she seem a bit confused. Eve looks at me, and directly prepares to attack me. I try to sound as calm as I can, which requires quite some effort.
- I am really sorry, but I had no idea how to plant the communication system, I explain to Eve, whom ceases her attack in an instant.
- It is okay. Thank you. I am okay, Eve answers, and falls to the board, relaxed. That is when I react to her voice.
- Eve, can you say something? I ask her.
- Like what? she asks, in the same new voice.
- Your voice... it is different, I explain to Eve.
- Wait, you are right! she confesses.
- Could it perhaps be some kind of execution error in the communication system? I suggest.
- Pardon? Eve asks me, and then I instantly recognize the voice. Eve has gotten the voice of Sam!
Eve figures this out herself, and she actually laughs a little about it. I did not think our voices would be in the communication system, but it makes sense if the designer would like to compromise everything. Now, Eve has inherited the voice, all the phrases and all the gestures Sam had. However, her personality should remain the same.
- We should leave before Damian returns, Eve suggests in her new, familiar voice.
- Okay, I respond, and once again it is Eve who leads us forth now that everything is almost as usual. Damian is walking around with his torch, which he seems to have given new batteries. We have to be really careful not to get noticed by him now that we are a spare part shorter, and he still wields a loaded gun. Getting out of here will be a problem as well, since we can simply not just open the exit door. Suddenly, Damian's light appears in front of us, and Eve pushes me aside hoping that Damian still has not detected us yet. I cannot see him from here, but I can hear him walk a bit slower than before. His aged, unkempt face wanders by without taking a look around, and along with the sight of Damian vanishes the light of the torch from our faces. I gesticulate to Eve that I am going to attack Damian, but she does not understand before I have whispered the word "attack". She is quick shake her head, but I take the initiative to attack the human anyway. He has something that we need, and I am going to get it.
I jump at Damian from behind, and he shoots at the roof by surprise. I instantly grab his gun, even though I am powerless to take it, I turn the barrel to Damian, in order to keep him from firing it. Damian waves his vacant arm around at random in attempt to grab me. However, he does not even get close, so I can really say I am in the superior position. I quickly think of what to do before I decide to punch Damian in the head. He falls down, but Eve catches his body before it hits the ground. Now that he is in a harmless state, I can see how truly frail his body is. Damian should not be older than fifty according to my calculations, but he looks way older. His worn-down face spreads a feeling of sadness all over the body, which save its width lacks any characteristics whatsoever. His grey, messy hair makes it obvious that he cares very little about his own appearance. He is not wear the old vest however, but a new, dark brown, which is really the only cosmetic improvement to be implied on my owner ever since I ran away from him. This new vest looks even more expensive than the old one. The leather seems more processed.
I wonder if he is still alive, because I did not hit him that hard. He is not moving, in any case. If he really is dead, then has justice been served for everything he has put us through?
- Do you think he is alive? I ask Eve, whom looks down at Damian for a while.
- I'm not sure. Though we should hurry in case wakes up, Sam answers... or Eve does, actually.
I dig through his pockets to find a cellular phone, a thin wallet, a pack of chewing gum, a pair of stress balls, a receipt for a six cans of Jolly Lemon Sugar-free in Thai and a keyring carrying a card and an old, rusty metal key. I only take the keyring, because taking anything else would be unnecessary theft if it turns out that he is still alive. If he would be dead, then his inheritors would be the ones to split these items between themselves. What if I am his inheritor? No, that is impossible. Firstly, Damian hates me and second, I am not legally a person, so I cannot own anything, not even myself. In any case, we only need one thing, and it us attached to the keyring. Since that we do not know whether it is the card or the key that opens the door, we bring the whole thing. Taking the flashlight would be unnecessary, partly because our vision in the dark is far superior to that of humans, and partly due to any delay night blindness would cause being insignificant now that Damian lies either knocked out or dead.
It hardly takes any time at all to reach the staircase, and we climb much faster than last time. We then sprint to the door, carrying the key to our freedom. Now we will be able to roam the world freely, and no one will be able to stop us. If anybody tries, we will always have the possibility to challenge them. We will find the Guys Against Sadism, and together we will strengthen the global campaign to ban all assault on machines. Though most of us are not around to witness it, at least Eve and I remain to witness this bright future.
I try to put the key in the keyhole first, and it works, the door is pushed open almost directly by my weight. The door leads us out to a rising cave whence a gate of thin metal bars serves as the only barrier us and the outside world between. The gate is already opened, so we can easily push it up slightly and pass through it. In front of us awaits a a tall, worn-down wooden door. A narrow beam of sunlight finds its way through a crack on one of the door's two halves. Eve and I have trouble deciding which half to open at first, even though they are right next to each other and virtually identical. Eve wants to go for the left, and I want to go for the right. However, Eve gives in soon enough and we help giving the right half a push. It does not work, and the door hardly moves even though we use all our power. Eve then starts to pull the door, and it works better. At least, we manage to open the door, and the first thing I see is the blue sky, and its clouds that reflect the light of the sun. Then I see the rocky terrain beneath the sky. We are in the middle of a mountain range.
Eve walks out, and I follow her, into the new secure, independent way of life.
I look back at the huge wooden gate, and notice that it is built into the mountain. The mountain itself is quite tall, but kind of blunt at the top. Once we have gotten a bit further, I discover something else. The mountain continues upwards a bit after what I perceived as the peak. The flat top is not the actual top, which goes on a little further, but then ends in a blunt plateau.
That is when I notice a third thing; There is a building on the mountain. It is a small house made out of wood with an orange roof and a wooden statue of a lily on top of it. I recognize it... as the Lily temple! That means this mountain is Mount Grim, and the place we just fled from is the Miserable stronghold! How can Damian access the Miserable stronghold? Honestly, it does not matter to us, as long as we are not trapped in there with him. Since we were bought "free" by Damian, the armies of the world will no longer look for us. We are totally free to roam the world now!
However, we are still not free in ourselves, but under Damian, so he could still contact the authorities regarding us as long as he is alive. We better seek protection somewhere, we must hide away from the world.
- What now? Eve asks me, a question that feels very unlikely to be asked by Eve.
- Is there not a village nearby? We could move there and live in exile, I suggest.
- But do you not want to meet the Guys Against Sadism? Eve asks me, and I actually feel kind of stupid for not considering the fact that we are, along with the Guys Against Sadism going to demand global robot rights. I guess I just tend to be blinded by cowardice.
- There is surely some kind of device, like a computer, in the village that we can use to contact them, I explain to Eve, whom agrees that is sounds fair enough. The worst possible outcome is that we have to ride the train somewhere else and steal a computer there. I do not recognize our current location at all, even though in theory we should have passed by this place when we escaped from the village. I then look forward, at the wide forest, and I remember that time when we ran through it. I had to go back and get Sam, whom had gone hiding for some reason.
It is strange that we missed the big gate of dark-brown, timeworn wood when we ran through the sparse forest, but I suppose we were too busy not getting caught to notice a samll, peculiar detail. It does not really blend into the rest of the environment, so we would likely notice it if we had more time. Eve suggests that we should walk around mountains a bit away so that we can make sure we are not followed, and I think that sounds like a good idea. If Eve and I took the mountain pass beyond the forest then we would be out of sight for Damian or any other eventual entity in the valley.
Walking through the forest in daylight feels different somehow. However, I recognize the bush that Sam hid in, and I have no doubts it is the right one. It feels quite nostalgic, to be honest. It feels like an eternity has passed by, but it was really just three days ago we fled through the woods. The day before the day before yesterday, though it feels like more time has gone by. In fact, this entire journey feels way longer than it has actually been.
Twelve days, I assume, has felt like my entire life while the whole month I spent at Damian's mansion only feels like a very short period of time. This is probably because I have had much more to write about in my journal during these last days than I had back then, when I only wrote occasional observations of things Damian said and did, and all the pain I felt. There have been a greater variation in the activity of the world around me, to put it simply, and my time perception is partly based on the entries in the journal.
The forest ends, rocks and gravel are now carrying us to the diverting detour through the mountains. The railway should be around eleven kilometres from our current location, and if we walked fast we would get there within a day. However, it will probably take longer due to the rough terrain around the mountains.