Immortal (21 page)

As overbearing and asinine as Roger could be,
it was him that had approached his father, the Premier, about
Jillian. And it was his father that had said there might still be
hope. He had told Charles that there was a place, another place
besides New Sebastian, that had made even more advances in unusual
medical issues. And that there might be a possibility to help
Jillian. But to even try this last chance at her survival, she
would have to go there. Forever. She would never be allowed to
return to New Sebastian. When asked, the Premier had said that the
other place had developed some type of contagion that could
devastate the peoples of new Sebastian. Jillian had been reluctant,
to say the least, when she heard this. To this day, some many years
later, he still remembered her last words with him.

“Charles.” She had said weakly, her eyes
barely open but they clearly expressed her pain as her body
continued to shut down. “Come with me.” She had pled.

“Darling.” He said softly, as his hand rested
against her cheek. “You know I cannot.”

“Forget about the Chancellorship!” She said
angrily. “This is our life, we’re talking about.”

“But I cannot forget it, Jillian. You know
that I cannot.” He said softly. She turned away, as her tears
streamed down the splotched skin of her face.

“Let them find some one else to do it!” She
spat out, and cried in sobs now. “I need you!” She yelled, and
turned back to him. “I! Need! You!”

“And I…” His voice broke. “I need you. But I
must stay. You know I must.” He said quietly. She cried quietly for
a bit. He held her. After a moment, she calmed, and pulled herself
up in the bed.

“I know.” She said softly. “You were born for
that responsibility.”

“I love you.” He said, tears in his own
eyes.

“And I, my dearest Charles…I love you.”

He remembered how they had quietly held one
another for hours, as neither of them had said a word. And when the
time came for her to go, they had parted ways with a last hug, a
last kiss, and the last gentle touch of their hands. His eyes still
teared up as he thought of his last glimpse of her. That had been
over twenty years ago, and yet still it tugged at his heart as much
as it had then. Twenty years ago. And even now, he did not know if
she had survived. He would never know. The elevator door slid open,
and startled him from his memories. He stood up straight, took a
breath and exited the elevator into the hallway. His comm unit
vibrated, and he pulled it from his tunic.

“I am at sector two, sir.” Came Amelia’s
voice from the unit.

“As am I.” He said to her. He rounded the
corner and came up behind her as he pocketed the comm unit. She
turned around, and handed him the bright metallic gun. He took it
from her and looked it over. It was not much larger than his hand.
He quickly checked the bright blue meter on the bottom. Satisfied
that it was fully charged, he tucked it away in his tunic. “Follow
me.” He said, and stepped past her to the large doors ahead. They
slid open from a middle seam, and led into a large darkened room.
As they crossed the threshold, the lights came on from within.
There were stacks of boxes throughout the large room, with sizable
aisle ways in between. She followed on his heels.

“Are we going through the tunnel, sir?”

“If they were going to escape, it would be
through here. Contact Guardian control and have a dozen units
dispatched. Have six placed in the warehouse station, and have the
rest sent here. And let them know we’ll come through the tunnel. I
don’t want those damn things to take us out by mistake.”

“Yes, sir.” She said and pulled her comm unit
from her own tunic. She rapidly keyed in the commands, and sent the
message.

They wound their way through aisle after
aisle, until they finally exited the aisle, and came to a large
opening in the center of the room. Huge doors on the far wall
suddenly slid open and a rectangular skid slowly moved into the
room, stacked with the same kind of boxes that filled the room. As
it came to a stop, the mechanical arm came to life overhead, and
began to pick up and move entire stacks of boxes from the skid and
place them into the room. As she saw this for the first time,
Amelia was amazed at the speed and dexterity of the great arm. Huge
stack after stack of boxes were picked up one by one and
meticulously placed within the great room, and never did the
mechanical arm hesitate. Charles saw her amazement, and spoke.

“It’s something else isn’t it?” He asked
her.

“Yes…sir.” She said hesitantly.

“The whole system is completely automated. No
human intervention at all.”

“How does it know where to put the stacks?”
She asked, as her eyes followed the next stack as it swung to the
far edge of the room.

“Damned if I know.” Charles said. “It’s been
running like this for as long as I can remember. We never have to
come in and fix anything. It just keeps running and running.” He
said and shook his head, as he walked up to the skid, and jumped
aboard. He reached down and offered Amelia his hand. She hesitated
briefly, as she watched the great arm as it swung swiftly back
towards the skid, grabbed the next stack in line, and then swung
out into the room, and lowered it down. She took his hand as he
helped her aboard. A few moments later, the skid was empty except
for them. The doors slid back open and it began to move slowly back
into the tunnel. Amelia stumbled slightly, and fought to keep her
balance. Charles stood rock firm, and looked into the tunnel as
they entered. As the skid slipped inside, the doors behind them
slid shut, and darkness engulfed them as the skid picked up speed.
Amelia had almost let fear overtake her, as she felt a brief gust
of wind against her face in the dark. Her heart beat so loud now
that she feared Charles would hear it. Her hands clenched tightly,
her nails dug into her skin, and she fought to maintain control now
that she was submersed in complete darkness.

Jericho leapt from the top of the stack, and
pulled Gabrielle with him, just fractions of a second before the
stack was grabbed and pulled upward by the great machine. Gabrielle
landed squarely on Jericho in the aisle.

“Ow!” He yelled, as he curled into a fetal
position. His control stick clanged on the floor and rolled away.
She rolled to the side, and was quickly on her feet.

“Come on!” She yelled, grabbed his hand, and
pulled him away from where the stack had been. Instinctively they
hid behind the next stack, and tried to catch their breath. A few
moments passed as they began to calm down. Then suddenly, a bright
metallic multi-jointed arm slammed down between them, just inches
from their faces. It quickly gripped the stack, and shot upward.
Both of them nearly fell down as they frantically tried to get away
from it, well after it had gone. They regained their balance and
began to run. Jericho glanced back and saw his control stick as it
still lay on the ground. They quickly ran several rows over, and
hid behind another stack. “Is that thing after us?” She asked, as
she breathed laboriously. He peered around the corner, and watched
as methodically the contraption continued to pick up stack after
stack, and moved them to another location in the room, and then
placed them back down.

“No. I don’t think so.” He turned his back to
her. “It looks like it’s just rearranging the stacks.”

“Then why did it almost kill us?” She asked,
exasperated.

“I think it’s moving those stacks closer to
where that platform was.” He said. “Like it’s getting them ready to
load.” They moved back around the stack, and stepped into the aisle
to get a better look. He pointed as stacks were moved closer, in
neat narrowly spaced rows near where the platform had sat. The
aisle where they had fallen was completely cleared now, and Jericho
walked over and picked up the control stick.

“I’ve got an idea.” Gabrielle said. “What if
we rearrange some of the boxes at the top. You know. Make room
where we can hide in the stack.”

“What? And get picked up by that thing? Are
you crazy?” He asked in disbelief.

“No. But how else are we going to get on that
platform thing.” She said. “That’s the only way I see us being able
to go through that tunnel.” She said as she pointed towards the
opening.

“Gabby, I don’t like it.” He said, as he
shook his head. “We don’t know where that goes.” He said
worriedly.

“Well we’re not going back the way we came.
And we’re not staying here forever. So where else are we going?”
She asked, as she threw her hands out in a questioning gesture.

“Yeah, but-” He began.

“But nothing. You said that’s where we were
going. So that’s where we are going.” She turned and began to walk
away from him. She turned back and realized that he hadn’t budged.
“So…let’s go!” Hesitantly, he began to follow her. The mechanical
device busily moved stacks around the room as they approached the
stacks that had been recently moved near the loading area.
Gabrielle approached one of the back stacks and began to climb up.
Jericho began to climb beside her.

“No.” She said. “Find your own stack.” She
said as she continued to climb.

“We should stay together.” He said.

“Not enough room, Jericho.” She pointed.
“That one. Right in front of this one.” Reluctantly he stepped back
down, and walked to the next stack.

“I sure hope you’re right about this.” He
said, as he began to awkwardly climb up the carefully arranged
boxes. She had made it to the top of her’s, and tossed two boxes
from the middle out into the aisle. They crashed down, and one
spilled its contents. Small semicircular pieces of brown things
where scattered on the floor. She wiggled around in the hole she
had made.

“This is perfect!” She yelled over to him. He
tossed the boxes from the center out of his way, and carefully lay
his control stick down inside the hole. Cautiously, he wriggled
down into place.

“I can’t see anything!” He said.

“That means you can’t be seen either!” She
yelled back. She lifted her head up out of the hole, and saw him as
he stared back at her from his own hole. She saw past him, as the
front edge of the skid appeared from the tunnel and slid into the
room. She quickly made motions with her arms, and waved for him to
get down. They both dropped into their holes and disappeared.

The skid came to a stop and Amelia, once
again had to fight to maintain her balance. Charles stood immobile
for a few seconds, and then jumped down onto the floor. He reached
into his tunic and checked his comm unit. It indicated that the
dispatched Guardians were in the elevator shaft at this moment. He
quickly began to walk in that direction. The great machine overhead
swung into action the second the skid had stopped. It grabbed the
first stack from the floor, swung it overhead, and quickly dropped
down towards the skid. Amelia, a little dazed from the brief
journey, jumped from the skid, just moments before the first stack
slammed down, exactly where she had stood. The sound startled her,
as she spun around to see how close she had come to having been
hurt. She took several steps backward, defensively, and slammed
into a stack behind her. She jumped, and wide eyed headed quickly
after Charles. As the stacks were loaded on the skid, she walked
past row after row of stacks, and briefly looked down each row.
Near the last rows, far down the aisle, she thought she saw several
boxes that lay in the aisle, as if they had been knocked over.

“Amelia.” Charles called from ahead. She
quickened her pace, and approached him in front of the large
elevator. The doors slid apart and three rows of Guardians, four
deep, began to exit in unison. They marched in lockstep, and each
held its own control stick. The center one in the front took one
extra step, and came nearly toe to toe with Charles. It towered
over him by at least a foot.

“Chancellor.” Its metallic voice said.

“You have your orders?” Charles asked, as
Amelia did her best to stay behind Charles. She nervously looked at
the Guardian, as she had never seen one face to face before. Her
duties as the Chancellor’s Assistant included many things, and
though she had seen Guardians before in surveillance videos of the
farm, it had in no way prepared her to see one close up. Their
sheer size struck horror inside her, as she stood there, silent.
Her eyes were wide open with fear and amazement.

“Affirmative.” Answered the lead Guardian,
and with no further word, turned and marched towards the skid. The
next five followed behind. The remaining six began to spread out
through the huge cavern, as one remained near the elevator. Charles
stepped inside, and left Amelia alone as she stared up at the
Guardian next to the elevator.

“Well?” Charles asked. Amelia quickly ran
past the Guardian and into the elevator. The doors slid shut.

The Guardians near the skid began to station
themselves around it, with their backs to the skid even as it was
loaded from overhead. They stood perfectly immobile as they waited.
Their electronic eyes scanned the cavern for movement of any
kind.

The huge machine plunged from above and
slammed into the stack where Jericho hid. His heart thumped in his
chest as the stack was instantly lifted upward, and began its arc
towards the skid. He felt his stomach roll from the motion, as
suddenly he plunged downward, and then with a hard thump, came to a
stop. The machine soared back up without hesitation. He gathered
himself, and moved on to his knees, and slowly peeked up over the
boxes that surrounded him. He saw the machine pick up the stack
where Gabrielle had hidden, and swing it towards the skid. He also
saw the Guardian. And with a quick glance around, he saw several of
them. The skid was surrounded, and he saw others as they walked
through the stacks on the floor. Where had they come from, he
thought to himself. The machine lowered a stack next to him, and
then shot back up.