Robots of Avery Five.

Chapter 18

Sadie didn't think she had ever ran so fast in her life. She watched more Aver lizards jump over the trees but the creatures were going in the opposite direction—the place they had left behind.

Something inside her abdomen began to feel heavy and a sharp pain forced her to stop. She held herself between her legs.

"Alex," she panted.

Alex and Cam ran to her. Alex put one arm on her back and slid the other one under her knees.

"We're close to the road," her held her up to his chest.

Cam nodded and put the box under his arm as he followed Alexander out of the woods. The Earthian gasped, looking into the road. There was a small police craft, sitting in the construction site.

The crew of the arrow spaceship was being apprehended.

Alexander controlled his breathing.

"Cam, you drive," Alex bolted toward the police craft.

The robot understood the context of his command as the Earthian carried Sadie into the passenger side. Cam tugged the driver's side open and turned on the wheel hologram.

"Space exploration mode," he spoke into the wheel.

The outer edges of the craft were vacuum sealed and the vehicle hovered off the ground. The officers began running towards it, but Cam put his fist through the wheel and the craft took off.

The robot began to maneuver against gravity and the controls began to rattle. Alex looked back at the lights from the other Federation spaceships flashing and he pulled Sadie closer to him.

"How's he?" He rubbed her abdomen.

"He's better," replied Sadie in a frozen state. She held on to the ceiling.

"We're going to make it," Cam assured her. He pulled the steering wheel up and they escaped the last layer of Avery Five's atmosphere.

Sadie's hair was now floating and their bodies felt weightless.

"The speed broke the gravity setting, but you're both running out of oxygen," Cam smiled at them.

"Oh, yay," Alex shook his head violently.

"How long do we got?" Asked Sadie.

"4 hours," replied Cam.

"We'll have to sneak back into Avery. We won't reach the International Space Station in that time," said Alex.

"Unless we go to Eerie," said Cam. "The Eerie moon is in perigee this time of the year. We can get there in three hours at full speed."

"We have no other choice," Alex and Sadie nodded at him.

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Alex had caught himself staring at Sadie for too long. He couldn’t believe those lips wanted him and pondered how he had talked to her without making a fool of himself. Yet, he didn’t remember a time when he was uncomfortable around her. It was as if they had always belonged together.

Sadie moved down her seat, hugged herself, and tilted her head over the circular window.

“Are you okay?” asked Alex.

“It’s been many years since the last time I was here.” She watched Eerie getting closer from its south pole. “It’s an awful place. It made me hate the rain.”

“Hey,” Alex cuddled her into his arms. “We won’t be there long. I will get us tickets to the space station, then we’ll go to Mars and we’ll have new identities for a while.”

“Mars?”

“I know, sorry. It’s very crowded, but that’s the same reason they won’t catch us there.”

“No, I mean, I like that you’re making plans for us.” She smiled and leaned on him.

Their lips attracted each other with fervor when a shock wave threw their police craft off course. They began whirling in space. The opened ramp of a much bigger spaceship got closer with every spin.

“Cam!” screamed Sadie.

More ships gathered around them. The robot’s hands worked faster on the controls and his head made rapid movements.

“Cam,” Alex’s feet pressed on the back of the driver’s seat.

Both humans became dizzy. One last spin and the Human Federation ship would suction them. Three cylinders came out of the small police craft, emitting shock waves away from them. The three spun toward the Eerie atmosphere.

“We’re entering Eerie sideways,” said Cam. “We’re going to crash.”

Alex’s heart fell down through his seat and came back up. He turned to Sadie, whose eyes were shut tightly while she took short breaths of fear. So, he placed his hand on her jaw and calmed her down with a long kiss on her lips. After a few seconds, she buried herself on his chest and he embraced her for a silent goodbye.

As the ship sliced through a black cloud, Cam climbed between the front seats, bent his knees, and covered the side windows with his hands.

“Thank you, Father.” He kept his eyes opened as metal collided with earth.

As their bodies shook between the robot and the seats, part of the ceiling sank. Slimy silicone bubbles popped from the bottom of the ship and thick black bands flew over the humans, immobilizing them.

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Rain squalled into the roofless remains of unrecognizable pieces of metal. A log had pierced through the floor beneath and had locked itself between Alex’s legs. A metal sheet was slicing down Sadie’s shoulder through her blue jacket. Blood dripped out of her mouth as a rod had perforated her cheek and buried itself into her throat.

Although the black bands had retrieved from his body, seeing the large log in front of him made Alex not want to move. Only his jaw jittered uncontrollably while waiting for something to hurt. He lowered his head with caution, noticing a warm liquid within the freezing raindrops on the fabric of his pants—he had peed himself.

Sadie.

He snapped to his right at a motionless body under wet silver locks.

“No, no.”

He lifted his legs over and around the log and felt her neck. The rod had forced her jaw opened. She was still warm. He observed her wounds, making sure that his actions would not aggravate them. His hand aimed for the metal sheet and the clone girl erected her head.

Sadie’s pupils dilated. Panting and trembling, she moved her fingers slowly toward her face.

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” Alex pushed down on her forearm. “Some of the blood has dried out. The one in your throat is superficial.”

He didn’t know what his mouth was uttering, but it was worse if she died of hypothermia. They needed to get away from the crash site before the Federation found them. Holding his breath, he drew the rod back out of her cheek.

Once out, there was no screaming, only a slow silent crying. She spit more blood and closed her mouth, sobbing.

“I’m sorry.” He spotted the metal sheet in her shoulder again, then he nodded at her wrenched it up with full force.

Her chest inflated as she tossed her head back and screeched louder than the thunder over them. He creased the bottom seam of his t-shirt to make an improvised wrapping around her wounds. But he remembered they had been in a police craft. He tapped under the seats until he found a compartment that contained a first aid kit.

Sadie’s eyes rolled up in agony as she slid off her jacket. Alex plunged his hand into the small bag and clutched a thin plastic tube. He popped off the cap and squirted all its contents into her wounds. The opened tissue began to grow strings, and the strings attached to each other.

“Is that better?” He asked.

She nodded, snatched the tube out of his hands, and sucked on what was left.

Watching the hole in her cheek turn into a dot, he wrapped his arm around her and took her upper lip. The sweetness of her relishing lips hid under the overpowering iron taste of her blood. He didn’t care; he wanted to feel her alive.

It was a kiss that made her forget her pain and where she was. Inside his arms, she was not so cold anymore and most importantly, she felt safe.

His fingers tilted her head up, holding her still against his chest.

“I love you, Sadie.”

Her lips parted with a gasp as the raindrops mixed with her tears. The first day she heard Cam say those same words, it was the best day of her lonely life. But she hadn’t programmed Alexander to say it; somebody loved her and he was human.

“I love you, too, Alex.” She spoke through her crying.

Their bodies shivered now. They hugged each other again when they pulled away.

“Where’s Cam?” Alex scanned the surrounding scraps.

Dr. Monk’s box laid unharmed on the front passenger’s seat. Alex easily picked it up. Its weight was as light as a sponge. Sadie held his hand, and they scavenged the crash site together. The black cloud wasn’t so angry anymore, and it produced a peaceful drizzle.

The couple scavenged in the mud, when Alex found a leg with cables and pieces of synthetic flesh coming out of it. His eyes looked forward and a scalp-less head with part of a torso rested by a tree.

Alex heard a gasp behind him as Sadie spotted the view before he could ease her into it. She ran toward the tree and dropped to her knees. Alex took short and slow steps toward her.

“Please, don’t ask me not to cry. Don’t tell me he was just a robot,” she sniffed.

“I won’t.” Alex held her shoulders. “Sorry, sweetheart.”

“Sadie. Alexander. I thought you’d be sleeping longer.” Cam’s eyes opened, but only his skinless mouth moved.

“Cam, you’re alive,” Sadie caressed his cheek.

“I was never alive, master. I am a robot.”

“Is there anything we can do to help you? Are you able to fix yourself?” Asked Alex.

“No, but it gives me a sense of... happiness—if one can call it that—to know that you want to put me back together. Unfortunately, I am using a backup energy source that only lasts for a short period. Alexander, the only way to defeat the Human Federation is with the contents of the box.” Cam’s voice was rougher.

Alex set the box down on the mud.

“But we need Carter Monk to open it,” replied Alex.

“Unless the message on the box is some kind of riddle,” said Sadie.

“Father did not like riddles,” said Cam. “Like all his creations, the box is also artificial intelligence. He programmed it to recognize the purpose of its carrier.”

“That’s why it was heavy to The Hunters.” Alex lifted the object and felt its weight on his palm.

“Yes, it regulates its true density as needed.”

“Its true density. You said we’d find an armament. If the box can regulate its density, can it also regulate its size?”

“Only the father—” Cam’s jaw moved slower until his eyes closed to never open again.

Sadie took a deep breath, saying goodbye to the only companion she had had for a long time. He had been the only friend who had made her nights in Avery 5 a little better.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

Alexander stood up with the box on his hands. He continued to frown as the box became weightless.

“The box knows the purpose of its carrier, so it should be the lightest when the father has it. Only the father can open this box. Only me.”

The Earthian walked a few feet toward the center of the crash site. He put the box on the ground and smashed it with his foot. The container cracked like an eggshell and a new box grew from its center, except it didn’t stop growing. As the object crushed the aircraft’s remains underneath it, Alex bolted back to Sadie.

“Alex, it’s right behind you,” yelled Sadie.

The Earthian leaped toward her and rolled over the mud. Standing in front of them, there was a 16 feet long by ten feet tall container with a simple door on it.

“Welcome, Dr. Carter Monk,” said a female voice, and the door opened.

Sadie’s fingers clasped Alex’s left hand as if a sudden force would swoosh him away from her. Mud prints contrasted the pristine golden floor of the long shipping container. But the floor went unnoticed as they admired a gleaming catalog in front of them.

They had arrived at a book-less library, which had 8 shelves that grew high to the ceiling and extended to the end of the container. In each compartment, there laid hundreds of ancient weapons like the one Alex had abandoned in the Spongos forest. Some of them were long and gray.

Air escaped their lungs from the mighty sight. The power contained within it made the hairs in their bodies rise. Their legs felt weak, entering with prudence, although there was a slight smile on Alex’s face.

“I don’t know what to say.” Sadie shook her head at the armament.

Hope. It was the first word in Alexander’s mind.

“Our son has a chance.” He jumped over the puddle their dripping clothes had created. “We can hide these in Earth, find more people, start a revolution.”

Something clicked under his foot and he released the sole of his boot. More lights illuminated the surrounding area when a white tube emerged from the floor. Out of its end, a circular tablet unfolded like petals. Then, green lasers shot out of his diameter and met at one point to form a cone.

A soothing female voice spoke in their language.

“Payment required. Cash only.”

“Do you still have the red envelope?” asked Sadie.

Alex instantly understood the voice’s reference. He shoved his hand into his pants pocket and retrieved his grandfather’s gift. He grabbed one American dollar and unfolded the bill in front of the cone. The lasers shone through the paper and disintegrated it.

“Confirmed,” replied the tablet.