A Spit In The Eye - For The Benefit Of Mankind (23 page)

They were
armed and active

Maybe the
Humans had done something during the time I had been
away

Something
stupid

I neared
the RolKils

As they
were rolling slowly through the tall grasses

They were
on high alert

They were
going to strike at me

All 4
together

Something
had alerted them

The
Humans had done something

And now
all my plans were under threat

The
RolKils parted

2 on each
side of me

Turning
menacingly

Keeping
their weapons aimed and ready to inflict utter
destruction

Their
hesitation worked to my advantage

They knew
something was not right but they had no instruction to destroy
other Machines

Especially not an Observer Recorder

Though I
was not quite sure they had no instruction to destroy me

I moved
forward towards the security gates and fences as if all was well
with the planet Earth and I transmitted the signal of companionship
as normal but when I was exactly the same distance from the 4
Machines

As they
moved closer to me

And fear
coursed through my systems

I
operated my full power signal

Boom

Boom

One for
my left side

One for
my right

And all 6
limbs on the RolKils fell uselessly to the ground

It had
begun

There
were no options left open to me now except the one where I
destroyed

Or
immobilised

All the
RolKils

Or was
destroyed during the attempt

It was
not the way I had planned it

And I did
not feel brave

Though
John had not described brave to me fully

I felt
nothing like brave as I moved to my right as I searched for other
Machines

Except
they found me

Rushing
forward towards my position but not firing

Maybe I
had underestimated the RolKils

Maybe
they did have a common warning system whereby if 1 were
immobilized

The
others were notified

The
RolKils approached

1 on each
side of me

And they
were primed to fire because something had alerted them

I knew
not what it had been

But with
a RolKil

If 1 has
heard them operate

As I
have

There is
a slow roaring sound as they power up their weapons and that
roaring sound had begun

I waited
until the very last moment

The very
last smallest period of time

As the
roar reached its peak

Meaning
it would be only the briefest of moments before they
fired

And I
leaped high into the air

Higher
than I had ever leaped before

Much as I
had seen little Eve leap when she practised her
gymnastics

And while
I was spinning in the air

The 2
RolKils disintegrated each other with their fire

There was
nothing remaining but metal dust when I landed back on my
feet

As I had
known

They were
extremely effective killers and they were trying to kill
me

There
were none visible as I ran forward and dived into the
air

Curling
into a ball and rolling into the high grasses

Hiding
like a frightened child

Not being
brave at all

Then
realizing how stupid I had been

I had
trapped myself up against the fabric of the building when I should
be in the trees

For that
was my place

I knew it
better than any Machine in existence

If I
could have drawn them into the trees the RolKils would not have
been able to use their speed or their weapons for High Office laws
forbid any damage to be done to trees or to animals of the
fields

What a
foolish Machine I had been

Trapping
myself up against the building

I lay
totally still when I heard RolKils approaching through the
grass

At any
moment I could be riddled with lazer fire

Turned to
dust and obliterated from planet Earth for all time

Forgotten

As if I
had never existed

The
battle with the RolKils was not going to be short battle

Of that I
was sure

But I had
to attempt my very best both in my own defense and in my efforts to
free the Humans

A RolKil
was very close to me

Its
rolling limbs were mere distances away

I built
up the maximum signal of companionship and boomed it from the
ground

And to my
amazement

The
RolKil fell forward with all limbs on the ground

I peered
around it from my position in the long grass and another Machine
was approaching

Probably
not understanding what had happened

I braced
myself on my palms and prepared to leap into the air while booming
the signal at the Machine

But it
veered away and searched for me elsewhere

It was at this time that I detected an alarm being transmitted
by the remaining RolKils but I confirmed with my systems
that
the alarm was localized and was not
being transmitted to High Office

The
RolKils were calling to the Machines in the underground chamber to
aid them

But I
knew that none would come

And I
also detected

With my
systems

A throb
in the alarm

A
pulsing

And that
pulsing

So my
systems informed me

Was a
message for the RolKils to dispense with all Humans

To
massacre them all

The
Bastard Machines

I made a
break for the trees

Moving as
fast as I had ever moved

Keeping
myself reasonably low and expecting extermination at any
moment

And the
RolKil did detect me as I speeded to my favourite place and it
powered up to fire it lazers

I counted
to 3

For that
was how long it took RolKils to power up their weapons

And I
leapt extremely high into the air

Knowing
that although RolKils were deadly in their attacks

They
could only fire their weapons to a height of themselves and I knew
I could leap higher than that

While I
was in the air

The
RolKil fired thousands of lazer shots which passed beneath me and
thudded into a tree towards which I was rushing

The lazer
hits cut the tree from its roots and the monstrously high organic
growth began to topple

All
firing ceased

And I
curled into a ball and crashed into the undergrowth as the tree
fell beside me

No matter
how deadly RolKils could be

1 had now
destroyed a tree and knew its punishment would be severe when High
Office learned of the offence

The
trouble was that I was transmitting a recording showing all
activities being quiet at the facility

With no
problems arising from any acts

So High
Office would not of the offence

How
different the recording was from live events

I
scrambled around on my hands and knees and peered through the
grasses at the RolKil who had destroyed the tree

It stood
totally still and was firing lazers no longer

Two
further RolKils appeared around the corner of the building and
rushed forward and noticed the destruction caused by the other
RolKil

They
eradicated it for the crime it had committed

No trees
were to be harmed

A High
Office law

There
were only 12 more RolKils to immobilize

Only
12

I was
never going to accomplish it

I hid in
the grass and watched events outside the facility

The two
remaining RolKils rolled over to the other immobilized Machines and
could not solve the problem of what had happened to them

They spun
on their legs searching for the 1 who had damaged the Machines but
I lay very low in the grass

Other
RolKils began to appear

More

Yet
more

Until the
remaining twelve were all gathered outside the ingress to the
fortress

All of
them active

All of
them now armed and powered up

All of
them emitting the alarm and the message to eradicate the
Humans

And I
became worried that I may have missed 1 RolKil who would kill all
the Humans

I had to
get back into the fortress

But there
was no way I was going to be able to do that in a short
time

I waited
in the tall grasses for darkness to fall and replenished my energy
levels for darkness would aid me

I had
better night site that the RolKils

They
were

After
all

Simply
killing Machines that rolled forward and repeatedly fired 100.000
lazer shots from their weapons until they were depleted

When they
would power up again and begin dispensing another
100.000

They were
not designed to see in the dark

They were
designed to kill in the dark

To kill
anything in their path

And
Humans could not run away fast enough

They
could not use night sight

They
could not spin and twist as an ObsRec could

It was no
wonder that they were massacred in their 1.000.000s

I moved
very cautiously in the tall grasses and through the bushes and
brightly colored plants

Finally
finding a place where I could lift myself vertical while hiding
behind a large tree

The 12
RolKils were all still circling in tight circles and I thought I
might try and entice 1 or 2 down into the trees

As I knew
they would not just open fire

I stepped
out in full sight of them

They all
primed their weapons but I ducked behind the tree again and moved
away in the tall grasses

They did
not fire

They
understood the law just as much as it did

But I did
achieve something

Because 2
RolKils began to move forward to the edge of the forest

Being
very cautious

Moving
very slowly

I
beckoned them on by allowing them another brief sighting of
me

They
rolled into the forest

I had the
Bastard Machines

Because
they had to move slowly so as not to cause too much
damage

And as
they did so

I did
something that I had never done before

I climbed
a tree

Pulling
myself up with my palms

Hiding
from the RolKils

Who still
moved cautiously

Unable to
use their speed or the power of their weapons

They
could only fire if they had direct sight of me

And when
they fired

They had
to strike me

If they
hit a tree they would suffer the same fate as the other killer
Machine

I swung
up into the tree and watched the two RolKils approach

Closer
and closer they came

Closer
still

Moving
directly beneath the tree in which I was hiding

And I
leaned forward and hooked my legs over an outgrowth of the tree and
I hung directly over them

The
Machines were very close together

Boom

I struck
them with the full power of the signal of companionship

And they
collapsed to the ground

But the
power of the strike knocked me out of the tree and I fell between
the Machines