One Minute to Midnight (26 page)

"Why would they arrest you
for that?" Asona asked.
"Because robots are ordered for certain stores by their owners, or
buying agents, and until that day, none had ever actually
applied
for a job. They
said I had corrupted the ethics system in place, and that sentient
robots would eliminate the need for Telestrans. I think they're
afraid of my idea, because the robots began to question their
indentured servitude. The powers at large cannot have that."
"So, what is this operation?" Asona asked.
"We're here to free the world. Not just robots, the Telestrans as
well. Until we are all equal, there cannot be peace. War is brewing
in the robot community because of this separatism, and we want to
stop it before anything horrible happens." Shauna said.
Asona looked up at the screen and saw more little red blips, some
flashing on, others vanishing.
"Why do some of the red lights fade away?" Asona asked.
"Those are the signals of sentient robots that have been discovered
and scrapped." Dr. Pratt said. A video monitor flickered on,
displaying a massive scrap yard with robotic body parts lying in
massive heaps of forgotten metal.

"These are the scrapped
robots?"

"Yes, unfortunately. And they will be
melted down and turned into toasters or shovel handles. They could
also be placed back in the manufacturing plant, or end up as
fashion bots in stores." Dr. Pratt explained.
The camera panned over the heaps of parts, and as it did Asona saw
his friends. Janks’ face was recognizable, because Asona could see
the small scar Janks had received from a welding mishap a few years
back. Sally lay in pieces next to him, and after that Asona was too
upset to look. He turned his head away.
"Your friends from outside the store today." Shauna said. She
looked at Asona and then averted her eyes.
"You can see why we're so motivated." Dr. Pratt said. "Those who
have become sentient and have escaped this fate are becoming
restless, and we are hearing whispers of a full blown war with the
Telestrans."
"War…" Asona whispered.

"But it doesn't have to end that way.
I've programmed a virus that will awaken every single robot, but I
have to get it on the worldwide neural network, and when I was
fired they cut my access off." Dr. Pratt held up a small external
storage drive.
"The virus is contained on that drive?" Asona asked.
"A copy of it. The original program is stored in our mainframe in
an encrypted file here underground. All we need to do is to get
access to the Eko Corporation network. They have a mesh network
that runs all over the world and into every robot manufacturing
plant. If someone can get in and load the virus, boom. We have lift
off."

A loud racket could be heard in the
hallway beyond the steel door, and they could hear the sound of men
arguing, and then there was a deafening explosion. A second later,
the steel door came crashing in and the room began to fill with
Telestran soldiers wielding automatic rifles. They opened fire
without a word, shooting with indiscriminate small bursts at every
moving target in the room.
"You are all traitors to the Telestran people and have been judged.
Soldiers, cleanse this place!" A man said. He stood behind the
soldiers and wore a uniform adorned with medals and battle
ribbons.
Bodies of Telestran resistance fighters fell to the ground, while
some got to their feet and fought back. Smoke and fire quickly
filled the large underground room as the chaos and confusion built
to a crescendo. Shauna grabbed Asona's hand and pulled him toward
an open door at the other end of the room.
"There's a back door to this place. Let's go!" She screamed. Dr.
Pratt grabbed Asona's arm.
"Wait, you have to take this. You know what to do. Just like the
original plan, only now you've got help!" Dr. Pratt handed Asona a
small black card, about the size of a quarter. Asona took it and
placed the card inside a small storage compartment in his abdomen.
Shots rang out in their direction, and as a bullet ricocheted off
Asona it entered Dr. Pratt's head just above his left eye. He
screamed and fell forward as the bullet ripped through the back of
his head.
"Come on!" Shauna yelled, and Asona followed.
They ran through an open door that was filling with smoke as small
fires burned around them, choking anyone without a respirator. They
left the chaos and bedlam behind as one dark tunnel led to another.
Shauna and Asona used their eye-lights to see in the
darkness.

"I'm built with most of the same parts
as you, they just put me at a cosmetic counter instead of the
factory." Shauna’s voice said in Asona’s mind.
"You can read my thoughts?" Asona said.
"It's part of the consciousness network. Once we become aware,
thanks to Dr. Pratt, we can read one another's minds with some
concentration. In this way we can speak telepathically."

"I need to find a place where I can
use this little disk. What did the doctor say about the Eko
Corporation?" Asona asked.

"I believe the authorities are looking
for you, but there is a chance we can get into Eko Corporation data
center. You're going to need a makeover." Shauna said.

"What?"
"Just come with me." She replied, rolling her eyes.
Ducking through one alley to another, they made their way through
the city as dusk approached. There were few people out now, and
most of the robots had been placed in night mode or powered down as
shops began to close for the evening. Shauna did not stop until she
came to a green door in one alleyway. She opened it, looked back at
Asona, and motioned for him to follow her by cocking her head. They
went up a set of stairs and entered a posh apartment.
"This was Dr. Pratt's home. He and I were very good friends. I'll
miss him..." Shauna said, trailing off. "Anyway, you need clothes
and a hat. I have some makeup here that we can use to cover the
clear plastic of your face, and make you look more like, well, one
of the laboratory maintenance robots. It'll make it easier when we
break in."

"Break in? We're breaking into the
lab?"
"Yes, once I load the program on this stick onto your neural
network. You'll deliver the final punch and free the rest of us. I
wasn’t built with same the network jacks you were, so I’ll have to
wait outside. The doctor loaded all of the laboratory access codes
into my onboard storage, and they should still work to get you past
the security at Eko."

Shauna disappeared into Dr. Pratt's
bedroom, returning with men's clothing, a makeup kit, and a lab
coat. In half an hour Asona was dressed, and his features resembled
those of the city bots. When he looked in the mirror, he saw an
amazing transformation. He no longer looked like a walking metal
skeleton, and looked more like Shauna. Asona could no longer see
wires and circuits behind the façade of his face, and it lightened
his mood.
"I like it, this look. Thank you."

"You're welcome. We need to get you
inside the Eko Corporation. Open your upload port; I'm putting this
card in."

"What's it going to do to
me?"

"Noting yet, but once you get tied
into the world wide network…well, we'll see." Shauna said. She
handed him a plastic ID card.

"What's this?"

"This card is a master key for the Eko
Corporation’s internal security network. Dr. Pratt configured it
with over a million combinations on a hash, so when you slide it
across the card reader, there is a pretty good chance you'll get
through."
"What happens if I don't get past security?"
"They'll scrap you after they steal your hard drive and find out
what you know. Look, if you do this, every robot in existence today
will be awakened and then we will outnumber them four to one. We
don't want a war; we just want equality, and a chance to live our
lives. You're going to be a hero." Shauna said.
She inserted the card and clipped his ID badge to the white lab
coat she had given him. Then they took Dr. Pratts car and drove out
to Eko Corporation headquarters. It was a massive complex of
buildings, each one three stories tall and constructed of smooth
white brick that glowed brightly as it reflected the sunlight.
Robots that resembled Asona's disguise were everywhere, some fixing
electrical panels, while others were replacing bulbs in the
streetlights. Asona exited the vehicle, and after feeling a sense
of uncertainty, he did as Shauna asked. In twenty minutes he had
navigated his way into the data center. Once inside, Asona found
the core firewall: the one that allowed central access to the
robotics plant and underground factories. Asona hooked up a network
cable to the small port inside his chest and then he issued an
internal command to upload the virus to the network.
"Oh my." He said.

As the computer virus activated, Asona
watched as a column of blue energy entered his head from the
cosmos. It was the light of consciousness flowing through him like
a fire hose. The energetic field of eternity was consuming Asona as
he stood frozen in place. This message of consciousness from the
galactic field rushed into the global neural network at the speed
of light. His bolts and rivets shook as the force of supernatural
energy washed over, around, and through him. Asona suddenly found
himself in tune with all life everywhere, and within minutes he
felt the conscious minds of billions of robots connecting with his.
The dawn of a new day was upon them all: robots and Telestrans
alike. The robots had awakened from a long sleep, and the ghost in
the machine became the spirit of a new generation.

the giants of nebulon

At war with a neighboring planet, the giants of
Nebulon use the moon orbiting Earth as an escape, but will it go as
planned for their leader?

Goran sat stone-faced, eating without enthusiasm. The duck meat was
bland. His vegetables were overcooked and tasteless. He noticed
that the air around him was stale and stifling, as the leader of a
thousand armies suppressed his fear of impending doom. He wiped
duck grease from his manicured red beard and pounded his large fist
onto the oak dinner table. It was a fitting meal for war, he
thought. Goran, the eleven-foot tall leader of his people, and the
fiercest of all warriors on Nebulon, waited for the blond haired
soldiers of Tiamat to attack. Goran's spiritual and astrological
advisor Teldar was busy thinking about next steps, as an armada of
Tiamatian war ships was drawing closer to Nebulon by the second.
Goran had gone too far when he had used the Saturn weapon to
destroy the planet Tiamat, watching with a smirk on his face as
billions of people on Nebulon's nearest neighbor disintegrated with
the press of a button.

"Goran, you have overstepped your bounds and
have brought doom upon our people. I'm afraid we won't survive the
attack. There are too many of them." Teldar said.

"The Saturnian weapon will take at least three
more days to recharge for another blast." Goran said. His hand was
on his chin as he thought.
Long before Goran and his warrior race had evolved from primitive
man, the planet Saturn had been converted into a planet-destroying
weapon by ancient celestial beings. Her cannon was obscured by a
hexagonal storm swirling in the planet’s northern hemisphere. The
reason for this weapon’s existence was never explained, and it took
the Nebulonians several thousands of years to understand its
capabilities, but once they did, their race ruled the local star
system with an iron hand.

"Instructions from King Dread were to fire
a
light
blast at the capital
city of Droon, but you unwisely blew up the entire planet!" Teldar
scolded. Teldar shook his head in disgust, and turned back to his
telescope.

"Watch your tongue Teldar, you're not
indispensable!" Goran warned. Teldar looked over, and quickly
averted his eyes in humility.

Total destruction of Tiamat was the final
solution in Goran's eyes, a harsh retaliation for the destruction
of an unmarked cargo ship carrying Goran's daughter, Muriel. Fondel
Wisp, the president of Tiamat's capital city of Droon, apologized
for the horrible mistake in person to King Dread and Goran,
explaining that the perpetrators were being punished in the worm
mines. Fondel begged for peace between their two planets, and while
King Dread agreed, Goran turned the ray intensifier dial all the
way to eleven, and used the Saturn weapon to obliterate the entire
planet of humans. When King Dread objected, Goran turned his fury
and ambition on him and fulfilled a lifelong dream to depose the
king and wear his crown.

"The king is dead. I am the king. Long live
the king." Goran was heard to have said while standing over King
Dread's freshly dead body. That was almost twenty years
ago.

After assassinating the King of Nebulon, Goran
gained control of the army and waged war on Tiamat as his first
command. His rationale and public position was that the Tiamations
had been planning a war with Nebulon and a transmission of their
battle strategy had been intercepted by Central Intelligence. All
of this was a lie in order to justify the preemptive attack.
Goran's folly was that he did not realize that the largest armada
of ships in the entire Tiamatian fleet was returning home from an
unrelated war readiness exercise near Io, one of Jupiter's moons,
when they encountered the horror of an asteroid field made of what
used to be their home. With nowhere else to go, and their hearts
broken, the Tiamatian fleet was coming for Nebulon to settle a
galactic-sized score. Goran was replaying all of this in his mind
as Delian, Chief of Guards, walked into the room at a brisk pace,
his breathing labored.