Chapter 5
The army of robots filed into the base and stood at attention as a shiny, white robot came upon the large screen. The Chief had glowing blue eyes just like everyone else but it's metal was well groomed and shined to make every badge welded on its chest was visible, "Good evening, everyone." The Chief greeted the army that was visual in front of it. "Because of each and every one of you, there have been 200 arrests, 20 executions and thousands detained for breaking the law. You all should be proud of yourselves." it congratulated.
The large number of robots applauded themselves for a job well done. "Besides one, who should be ashamed of themselves!" The Chief spat.
Every soldier looked at each other and then to one that seemed to be more fascinated with the flies over his head than what the Chief was saying.
"Number 1111?!" The robot on the screen shouted to get his attention. 1111 stood at attention, startled looking up at the shiny robot above him.
"Yes, Sir?" She robot shook. The rest of the army gasped and 1111 looked around, wondering what he did now. The shiny white machine looked at him angrily, "Do I look like a Sir?!" She screamed in a furious feminine voice. 1111 just ducked and shuddered as if her very voice could hit him in the face with tremendous force.
"1111 how many arrests have you made?" She asked, the whole army watching the scene unfold before their eyes.
"None." He replied. He felt every cold metallic blue eye on him as he spoke up to the Chief.
"And how many executions?" 1111 could tell by her voice that her patience was waning as she kept speaking to him.
"None." he replied, simply.
"Why do you exist?" She asked. 1111 looked at all of the soldiers, afraid to answer to the Chief in front of him. The Chief was the head of every army in Elysium and was in charge of protecting President Spirit. She failed protecting President Spirit, since he had vanished a couple years ago.
"To...keep the city safe?" He replied, looking like a scolded puppy.
"Is that a statement or a question?" She growled, her patience wearing thin with this one.
"A statement?" He tried to reply with courage but the Chief was an intimidating and cold machine. She was not to be crossed.
"Ugh! 1111, you are a useless scrap of metal! Should I arrange the papers to get you incinerated and compressed?" She threatened.
"No! No please. I'll do anything." He pleaded. The shiny robot on the screen looked at him in an upsetting way.
"Anything, I say?" She asked.
"Yes, Chief. I'll do anything to stay." he begged her helplessly.
"Do we have a prisoner on hand?" The Chief asked another soldier.
"Yes, we do." One of the robots spoke up.
"Bring them in here, I want to see what 1111 is capable of." She ordered, keeping her eyes on 1111 who looked at the soldier who fetched the human prisoner.
The robot that spoke to her left the line and brought a human prisoner to the platform where the Chief would've spoken from if she were there in person. The bot dragged the prisoner up to the projection of the Chief and knelt him down in front of her.
"1111 come here, we'll see how true you are to this army." She ordered, her fearsome blue eyes narrowing at 1111 as he came forward. 1111 slowly walked up to the platform, seeing the many faces of his fellow fleet members judgmental faces. Their gazes seemed to feel like fire on his metal shell. He hated being the center of attention.
"If you are willing to do anything, execute this criminal." She ordered. 1111's eyes widened in shock at the order and fear struck through him like a circuit being broken.
"I am not a criminal! I only tried to find medicine for my daughter." the human shouted. The man looked rugged, poor and exhausted. He was worn out from the torture.
"Likely story. You were found in an abandoned hospital without clearance, probably to find some chemicals to make Elate." Chief accused. 1111 looked at the expression of hopelessness on his face and somehow felt sorry for the man. 1111 knelt down and met the mans eyes, "What is your name, Sir?"
The man looked at 1111 as if he were trying to play a demented trick on him, "Why would I give you my name?" he spat in 1111's face. The robot wiped his saliva away and stared at the man.
"What is your name?" He asked again in a gentle voice. The humanity he expressed to the prisoner left the rest of the fleet dumbfounded. The Chief looked on in astonishment, "What is the meaning of this?!" She asked.
"My name is Paul." He confessed. "I am telling you the truth, my daughter is dying." He pleaded.
1111's readings of Paul's speech and body language whirred in his mechanical brain, "He's speaking the truth." 1111 told the Chief. "This man is innocent." 1111 sent the information read from the prisoner to the leader immediately. The information was shown upon the screen for all the fleet to see. The Chief grew livid with 1111 and shouted, "You dare question my authority?!" She screamed.
"No, Ma'am. I am merely telling you the truth." He replied humbly.
"You have no right to make the final judgement, he was stealing from the city!"
"What would you have him do? Let his daughter die?!" 1111 shouted back. "Kill this man and I'll have no choice but to seek out President Spirit himself."
The fleet laughed at him, "The president hasn't been seen for years now. What makes you think that you would be able to find him?" She asked.
"Anything is possible. I refuse to kill an innocent human." He countered, the fear he once had towards the Chief now vanished. The fact that this innocent man was going to die just for protecting his daughter made him sick inside.
Paul looked on in awe, it was unheard of to see a robot grant mercy, what on earth was wrong with this one? 1111 knelt down and met Paul's eyes again, "The name of your child, what is it?" he asked.
"Sisu. Her name is Sisu." He replied, still in shock of what was happening before his eyes.
"I'll do what I can to help her, I have you in my records now. Don't worry about a thing."
"Will you free me?" He asked. 1111's shoulders dropped and he shook his head.
"Unfortunately, sir. I cannot free you, but I choose to not kill you." The look on 1111's face was grim.
"1111 you're such a coward. Execute the prisoner!" She ordered.
"...Kill me instead." 1111 said standing in front of Paul, protectively. The Chief looked perplexed. She wouldn't dare kill her own kind, the army would turn on her for sure. "Kill me in the place of Paul, father of Sisu. At least you'll finally be rid of me."
"You'd risk yourself for a mere human? you must have a virus."
"I mean it. This man has a family, I don't mean anything to you so what would be the difference? you'll have your execution in the end!"
The Chief rolled her eyes and then sneered as if something had come to mind, "Sure, I'll kill you." She told him. "I want to see you at your lowest, 1111. I want you to suffer so badly that one day you will come to me begging for mercy." She stared at him, her fearsome blue eyes glowing with anger. "When that moment comes, I'll take pleasure in tearing you apart piece by piece."
1111 stood tall, waiting for his punishment. He wasn't afraid, this child needed her father more than he needed to live.
"Kill the prisoner!" She suddenly ordered, making 1111 look to Paul, almost jumping in to protect him. "NO!" He shouted back.
The robot that brought Paul up to the platform had enough and shot him point blank into his skull. The lifeless body dropped to the floor, blood pooling onto the stage. 1111 knelt down and closed the glazed eyes of Paul, letting him rest in peace. He turned to see the Chief, clearly amused by his reaction, "You went back on your word!" He shouted at her angrily.
"No I didn't. Since you love humans so much, I had to see the expression on your face." She shrugged. "It was satisfying to me." She sneered an evil sneer.
"There was no need for that." 1111 said forcefully.
"Let me teach you something 1111, mercy is weakness, fear is strength. The people of Elysium need to be led with fear in order for the perfection of the masses. Mercy only gives them the license to do what ever they want. when they do what they please, there is disorder and chaos. Because you granted this man mercy, he thought he could be free and do as he pleased. You killed this man, 1111. You killed him by giving him mercy."
1111's head lowered mournfully, he couldn't help Paul even though he tried. So why did he? What made him even jump to this man's defense so quickly? It was strange, he was always different ever since The Divide and he never understood why.
"I am disgusted by you, 1111. you are stripped of your badge and you are put into exile. I would kill you but in the name of Paul, I'll let you be at the mercy of the people of Desolate. You'll see how much your mercy was worth to them."
The soldiers took him and dragged 1111 from the building. With one good heave, he was thrown into the cold night. 1111's body sparked from the harsh contact with the pavement. If 1111 had any emotions, he would cry. Unfortunately, he had to make do with what he had been dealt. He couldn't stay in the cold, he would freeze and lock up. He wandered and asked door to door if he could stay. He was truly at the mercy of the people of Desolate and he had to go somewhere.
"Get out of here you murderer!" One replied.
"I would never house a Tomper! Go back to where you came from." Was a few of the many insults that he had received as he walked the streets. He didn't blame them, of course they would have harsh feelings towards a Tomper like him.
1111's shoulder's dropped and he wandered the rest of the night, trying to find a place of refuge. 1111 wasn't an ordinary robot, something happened to him when he was first made. His creator didn't make him to be a Police Bot. Before The Divide, he was an artificial lab companion for his creator. He was built completely different than all of the other robots because there was no need for robot soldiers or law enforcement at the time. 1111 was a servant for the man he once worked for, "Master Grim, shall I get the microscope?" He asked.
"Yes please, thank you." The man adjusted his glasses and organized the slides to investigate.
1111 took the microscope from the table and handed it to his master with him taking it gratefully. Grim looked through the lens and observed the slide attentively. "Can you turn on the screen, please?" Grim asked 1111.
"Yes, Sir." He walked over to turn on the T.V. Revealing an awful sight of men and women running for their lives. "Master, Why are they running?"
Nova Grim looked round and witnessed the horrid picture on the screen, "We need to go, pack my things. We're leaving as soon as possible."
"Yes, Master." The robot hurried upstairs and grabbed whatever he could of his creators and stuck it in a suitcase.
"There are no robots in this place!" He heard his master shout from downstairs.
"I am detecting a live mechanical being in this house, we need as many able bodied machines to sufficiently fill the quota." The re-programmed robot told Nova.
"There is no one in this house but me." Grim said frightened.
"Check everywhere. There is a mechanical presence here." The robot ordered the other two that arrived with him.
The robots tore the house to shreds, looking for the servant. It wasn't until 1111 came downstairs that they finally got their answer, "Master, I think I have everything for us to leave-" He looked up at his master and then at the three bots that had been ransacking the place, "What is going on?" He asked.
"You must come with me. You will become part of the army." The robot said as the other two grabbed hold of him.
"No, he's my creation. He must have rights as a household robot. You will have no use for him in the army. Drafting him would be useless. Let him stay with me." Grim pleaded.
"I'm afraid not, the robot comes with us. All robots must be programmed."
"Programmed? To kill and hurt everyone?" 1111 asked. The robot looked at him with a bit of anger in its eyes, "We do not kill, we execute."
"Its the same thing...whoa!" 1111 was dragged out of the house and into the fray. His master looking on in fright, there was nothing he could do, the army had him now.
1111 shook his head from the memories of his master and looked into his records of Paul and his household, he only had a daughter. The poor child only had her father and he was now dead because of him. 1111 rushed to the abandoned hospital and rummaged through the contents of the pharmacy. She needed an antibiotic to take for her lungs, he searched the whole place and found the medicine he was looking for. 1111 grabbed a box and filled it with the bottles of medication that she was in need of.
He headed to the shabby old home, it was small and damp. He carefully entered the home and searched for Paul's daughter. She was in a backroom, "Daddy are you finally home?" She asked joyously, opening the door to find 1111's fearsome face. To the robot's surprise she didn't scream, she cowered and cried in fear as she backed away into a damp corner.
"Sisu, please do not be afraid of me. I come to deliver what your father couldn't give to you." He said gently, kneeling down.
"Where is my Daddy?" She asked, tears ready to fall from her eyes.
"He isn't coming home. You need to take this medicine, I promised your father that I'd get it to you." He placed the box of pills at her feet and backed away, doing his best to keep from looking threatening to her. Sisu cried mournfully, Paul was all that she had. 1111 wanted so much to hold out his hand to her and comfort her but he was a machine, she was terrified of him.
"Did you kill my Daddy?" She asked sadly, tears streaming down her cheeks with such a wide eyed and terrified expression. The only loved one she had in the whole world was never coming home.
"No, Sisu. I didn't kill your father. He loved you very much and he wants you to know that." He tried reassuring her.
Without warning, Sisu embraced the machine and cried on his shoulder. 1111 wasn't sure what to do, he felt the urge to comfort her but feared she would recoil in horror. It was strange to him as much as it was strange to her to seek comfort from a robot. 1111 wrapped his arms around the little girl and hugged her back, he could hear her wheezing helplessly, her lungs struggling to breathe.
"Do you have a name?" She asked.
1111 shook his head, "I have a number. I don't have a name like humans do."
Sisu took her hands and turned his head to see the number etched upon his head, "You need a name, I want to remember you." She said thinking for a second before a name came to her mind. "Gideon." she spoke.
"Gideon?" The robot smiled, he had never been given a name before. "Thank you."
"I'll remember you, Gideon." She looked up at him, reddish orange irises that looked like fire. Her long brown hair was knotted and dirty along with the greasy and shabby clothes she wore. Her face was dirty and her feet were cold and bare.
"Sisu, do you have any water?" he asked. the little one nodded and he left to get her some in a cup. "Can you grab me that bottle in the box?"
Sisu took the bottle and handed it to him, he unscrewed the top and handed her the tiny red pill. "You must trust me this one time, Sisu. Swallow the pill and you'll get better." He told her.
She nodded frightened but she obeyed him and swallowed the pill for him. Gideon told her how to take the medicine everyday and went to leave, a passerby noticed the two and rushed to the girl's aid.
"Get away from her, Tomper!" the passerby was a woman and she picked up Sisu protectively.
"I mean no harm, I'm leaving. make sure she takes that." He pointed to the medication in Sisu's hands. The woman looked at him confused before he left the house, "Wait." Sisu spoke up.
"What is it, child?" He asked.
"Thank you, Gideon." she told him gratefully.
The grateful look upon her face was something he would never forget, not in his whole life. He nodded to her, "I'll remember you, Sisu."