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19. The Escape Plan

The sunrise lit up the forest above the underground village, morning being fully installed.

Corby, asleep in bed, still had baggy eyes left over from not getting enough rest. Forest sat near the door that led outside. He had entered standby mode—a state in which some machines could remain half aware of their surroundings while also consuming less power.

Informator burst in slamming the door open, his grinning face glowing bright green. "Wake up, lazy asses!"

Corby shot out of bed and looked around frantically. Forest calmly got up and gave Informator a look of disapproval.

"You almost gave me a heart attack, Informator!" Corby said.

"You flesh creatures are so sensitive," the news robot said. "But now that I got your attention, listen up! Bohr sent us a map of where the Triumvirate's military forces are located today in the city. Now, why do we need this? We need it to rescue two coders: Christopher Jopp, and Fuyumi Hara."

Corby's eyes widened. "Y-you mean we're finally going on a rescue mission?"

"Yes, but first you should eat your breakfast. Shield made vegetable soup for you."

"Really? Thanks."

"You can find the bowl in the kitchen of this house. It's in the room to the right of this one. In the meantime, I'll go prepare the other villagers. I want to know who is coming with me and who's staying here to guard."

Forest raised his right hand. "I'm staying here."

Informator looked at him with a dark red scowl.

"I don't think we stand much of a chance out there," Forest said. "I don't want to be killed by the Triumvirate. I won't give them that satisfaction."

"As you wish," Informator said. Before leaving the room, he ordered, "Go eat your soup, fleshie!"

Corby growled. "Stop calling me that!"

Ora stared into Informator's light-blue eyes, reluctantly listening to what he had to say.

Informator started giving the briefing to her, Eyes, Shield, Charge, Zeke, and Bob. "I have called you all here because Bohr has given us a map of where the Triumvirate's forces are distributed. He will be sending two coders—a normal human and a cyborg—to the western edge of the city. In order for this to not attract Kloyd's attention, Bohr has arranged for a distraction in the eastern side at exactly 8 a.m.. We must control the artificial ground we have here and use it to dig a tunnel all the way to the city so we can help the coders escape."

"The plan appears to be good," Ora said, "but causing artificial ground to burst out of the ground into the city might attract the Triumvirate's attention."

"Yes, that is a risk. Still, if we want to recruit more members, we must take advantage of every opportunity. Bohr is giving us two of the Triumvirate's best coders. This is going to be big!"

"This is going to be a disaster."

"Not if you play your part well," Informator said, pointing at her forehead with his bladed index finger. "Since we won't be able to receive signal from the surface while we'll be under ground, you will have to predict what will happen if we choose to emerge in various points of the city."

"Fine. I will do that, but only if Corby wants me to."

"Oh yes, the fleshie will accompany us. His stable class 9 glow will allow us to reach the city faster than if the natives use it. It will fry his brain some more, but at least it's for a good cause."

"You're going to make Corby hurt himself? I knew you were evil!" Ora said.

Informator's scowl turned dark red. "You have no idea what evil is. The fleshie has expressed his intention of joining us in this operation. We're not forcing him to do anything; he is the one who wants to save two of his own kind."

"That's right!" Corby said, arriving at the scene. "I'll finally get to do something for once!"

Informator crossed his arms and smirked in bright green at him. "I couldn't have said it better myself."

Ora looked at her former friend. "Corby, you do know this mission is very likely to fail, right?"

Corby stared down at her with a calm but chilling expression. "Ora, I don't care if I die right now, as long as I die trying to take down the Triumvirate. This mission is important, because we'll need more people. Preferably, people we can trust."

"I don't trust you fleshies," Informator said, his expression turning yellow. "But I envy your ability to excel in multiple things that you do. We machines are often restricted to being good at one thing, and that thing dictates our entire lives. But at least my affinity for spreading information turned out to be useful in this sneaky battle against the Triumvirate. I wrote a story, put it in the memory of the tiny, remote-controlled machine, then injected the information into the city's internet. It spread like wildfire, surprisingly not because of its anti-establishment message, but because … I refused to give a definite answer to which character ended up in a relationship with which, after teasing so many times of the possibilities. Boy did that break the fandom into so many pieces!" He had a bright green grin on his face at that moment.

Corby pointed at him. "So it was you who wrote that novel! You sneaky asshole!"

"Yes. Yes I did. But it got people talking, so it must have reached some who actually understood it."

"It had reached me as well. It inspired me to start questioning the Triumvirate's way of governing. It also made me look into alternatives to the cyborgification of humans who want to live on the surface. But seriously though, I'm still pissed at you for leaving the romantic subplots of all five of those characters unresolved."

"I'm not an expert in fleshie love, but I knew you creatures are too easy to lure in with that stuff!"

Corby had a vile grin on his face. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. So, are we breaking into the city or what?"

"Definitely!" Informator said, his green expression being that of a noseless jack-o'-lantern again.

To the west of the village, there was a twenty meter long, ten meter wide area of black artificial land. Informator went to its edge and used his green glowanade to raise a tower from a 1 by 1 meter square of the metal plates. The tower was twice as tall as him when he disconnected his wires from it.

"You can do that too, right?" Zeke asked Corby while holding Ora in his arms.

"Yes," Corby said. "I can do that faster, but it also gives me headaches."

Informator waved his right hand at Corby. "Don't worry about that; we'll ask Charge or Shield to drain you. Eyes won't be with us because Eyes decided to stay behind and guard the village."

"Sounds good. I'll control the artificial ground then."

"I hope you won't accidentally crush us with it," Informator said.

"Yeah," Forest added. "You almost hit me with that plane."

Corby showed a grin of confidence. "I've got experience with controlling that ground. I've been doing it to get away from the Triumvirate's forces plenty of times." Then the grin went away. "Hey, Forest, are you sure you don't want to come along?"

Forest shook his head left to right. "I just don't see this mission succeeding. I think you'll be lucky if a few of you survive and make it back here."

"But if we all survive and bring the two new recruits with us, will you be joining us on the next one?"

"Maybe."

"I was hoping for a 'sure'," Corby said, "but I'll take a 'maybe' too."

Forest patted Corby's spiky hair. "Heh. Good luck, kid."

"Time for us to get digging!" Informator said. "Make a tunnel to the east, fleshie!"

"My name is Corby!"

"Whatever, just get us to the city! If we get there too late, our potential recruits could get killed!"

"I'm on it," Corby said, emitting his violet wires from his hands. He sent them into the tower and turned it into an entrance toward a sloped tunnel. "I will need draining while I do this."

"I will help!" Ora said, extending her blue glowanade wires. They were quickly intercepted by white wires that cut them off and drained her. "Why?"

Shield—who could be identified by the lack of a dent in the left antler compared to Charge—had stopped her. Shield stood there between her and Corby.

"I thought we agreed that Shield and Charge will be helping Corby to maintain control," Informator said while poking Ora's head with his forefinger claw.

Ora shook her head in an attempt to get away from the claw. "I made no such agreement!"

"Then agree to it now or else we will leave you behind."

"You can't leave me behind! You need me for your plan to succeed!"

"We don't need you. We could still pull this off, but you're just increasing our chances of success."

"Would you rather lower your chances of succeeding then?"

Corby formed a giant claw out of the artificial ground and sent it toward Ora. It stopped exactly when it touched the button on her forehead. Then he said, "Would you rather have several tons of steel pass through you and die?"

Still holding Ora in his arms, Zeke said, "Wow, Corby, you really hate her with a passion!"

"She's a disgusting piece of trash," Corby said. "Every time someone lays out the rules, she tries to make things go her way. I'm so sick of her that once all of this is over I want to leave her behind and go to Earth. I won't rest until I'll know we're hundreds of light years apart if she is to live."

"But these robots—"

Corby cut Ora off before she could say more. "I don't care what you think about these people. I know they are more trustworthy than you will ever be. Now let's put the plan in action, Shield!"

Shield extended blue glowanade wires from the antlers and sent them into Corby, relieving his brain of the pain. Ora watched as Corby went into the tunnel accompanied by the native automaton. What she felt at that moment was the closest thing to pain a machine could feel. Her companion—the one she had saved from the deadly forces of the Triumvirate—chose a bunch of strangers over her, even though one of those strangers repeatedly called him something he didn't like.

"Here we go!" Zeke said as he carried Ora and followed Corby, Shield, Charge, Informator, and Bob into the tunnel.

The artificial ground tunneled through the natural soil, making way for the automatons and the human. It took about 15 minutes until Informator said, "Stop! We have reached the city's western side."

Corby and Shield stopped using the glowanade, and the artificial ground ceased tunneling.

Informator pointed at the ceiling of the metal tunnel. "It's time for our predictor to tell us the perfect spot where we can create an exit. Corby, decide on where you will send the tip."

"Okay," Corby said. "I'll send it up in front, about ten meters ahead of us. Ora, check the future!"

Ora spread her glowanade wires all over the tunnel. The connectors reached over the entire city and inspected everything they could cover, even reaching around the entire planet in an attempt to give the most accurate prediction. When they returned to her, she said, "The minotaurs will get a clear shot at the coders. I advise you to pick a different location, perhaps a bit to the left."

"I'll try that instead. Do another prediction!"

"But I need a recharge," Ora said.

"No, you don't!" Corby said, holding his right fist in front of his chest. "The glow never gets used up unless it's absorbed! Now follow orders or I'll crush you with this ground!"

"As you wish, Corby." She brought out her blue wires and spread them over the planet again, trying to assess the situation and calculate the future. After retrieving them, she said, "It's too close to the minotaurs. They will hear it and will come to investigate before the coders jump into the hole."

Corby snapped his fingers. "Damn it! Okay, how about we send it through the front gate?"

Informator's expression was replaced by a yellow horizontal line. Zeke giggled. Bob face-palmed. Ora asked, "Corby, how much of your brain is still functional?"

"I see," Corby said. "Bad idea. Hmm … maybe if I aim further to the left ..."

Informator restored his face and it turned light blue. "Ora, prediction, please!"

"I refuse to take requests from you!" she said.

"Do as he says or you're dead!" Corby told her.

Ora checked the possibilities with her glowanade again. "It should work. The opening will appear far away enough from the minotaurs, but close enough for the coders to see it."

"Good," Informator said. "Well, Corby, do what you were going to do."

Corby nodded and brought out his violet wires, then took control over the artificial ground. Shield kept Corby's glowanade under control as agreed.

The artificial ground was sent tunneling up to the surface and opened up right in front of a young blond man who had a mullet, black leather jacket, and black sport pants. Behind him there was a cyborg woman whose armored body was entirely made of black metal while her eyes glowed yellow. Her straight, black hair went a bit past her shoulders. She had a gray backpack on her back.

"This is our chance to get outta here!" the blond man said.

"Aw yeah! Freedom, here we come!" the cyborg woman said, grinning ear to ear with her silver teeth.

They both jumped into the hole and went screaming cheerfully down the slide formed by the artificial ground. After landing on their rears, they got up and faced their rescuers.

"Wow! You really kept your word this time!" the woman said. "Chipper told me you guys let him down the first time he asked you for help."

"Who?" Informator asked.

"She means me," the blond guy said, pointing to himself. "I'm Christopher Jopp. The coder? The guy who gave you what you needed for the pigeons network?"

"Oh, so that's your nickname," Informator said. "Well, we were unable to rescue you back then, but we did it now when the time was right."

"All right then," Christopher said, still looking displeased, "I'll take this as your apology."

Zeke entered the conversation. "So, what's the cyborg lady's story?" He looked at Christopher and her, as if trying to assess something.

"Miss Fuyumi?" Christopher said. "All I know is that she's one of the top coders. I've just met her today."

Fuyumi said, "I'm so glad to be out of that city! I had to hack into my system so the Triumvirate wouldn't know I've been adding serotonin and other hormones to influence my mood and not be an emotionless drone. I've packed a bunch of those in my backpack. I just hope it won't take long until the war ends. I can only cover a year of these."

"With Corby and Ora on our side," Informator said while pointing at the mentioned duo, "along with you and Christopher, I think we could overthrow the government in under one year if all things go according to plan."

Christopher said, "I'll do everything you need. I don't have any family left in Hades, so the Triumvirate can't blackmail me. But I know there are people there who are suffering or have been turned into cyborgs who have forgotten how to live. It has always been my nightmare that I would be doomed to such a life. Fuyumi may have managed to sneakily live what I assume is a good life, but I wouldn't want to have to inject myself with various hormones and measure those doses because … to be honest, I'm kinda lazy."

"Typical coder fleshie," Informator said.

"Hey, we're not all lazy!" Fuyumi said, crossing her arms. "And about family, I have a mother in the city, but I don't even think she deserves that title. She never cared about me. The one who raised me was my dad, and she killed him. The Triumvirate can have her for all I care."

"I'm sorry you went through that," Corby said.

"No need to be sorry for what you had no way of preventing, Corby. All that matters to me is that I'm finally free! Free from my mother, free from the Triumvirate, free from that job of coding for Darienne's stupid interplanetary travel blog!"

Informator had a green smiling face. "Welcome to the team. Now let's close the hole and get back to our hideout before the authorities find us!"

"Got it!" Corby said, taking control of the tunnel as he and the rest of the team headed back to the village.