[Original Novel] Little Robot, Part 18

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“HELLO!” An unfamiliar white humanoid with a red cross on its chest jutted out from the doorway at the top of the stairs. “YOU ARE IN AN AREA WHICH IS OFF LIMITS TO PATIENTS!” It held up a bloodied scalpel. “I WILL ESCORT YOU TO YOUR ROOM, PLEASE FOLLOW-”

Its head came apart in a shower of plastic shards, scrap metal and buckshot. I winced as Helper was standing right next to me for that one, but kept climbing the steps. Planting one foot on the now headless robot’s chest, Helper kicked it backwards and trampled right over it as did the rest of us despite its continued movements.

Another robot of the same model leapt out at us when we rounded the corner. Helper’s shotgun gouged a ragged crater in its chest, bright blue sparks flashing brilliantly within. It stumbled a bit, then fell on its back as fire began spreading from the wound.

Then I spotted the nurse. Running down the last hallway between us and the reception area, both baby carriers in tow. Madeline snatched her pistol from Lars and raised it half-heartedly, but lowered it when she saw I was watching. To this day I wonder whether it made a difference that she was out of bullets.

No need. As the nurse receded down the corridor, the metallic whine from before returned, rapidly growing louder. The lights resumed flickering slightly. One of the fluorescent tubes burst in a shower of sparks and glass shards. Then it appeared.

A surgical robot. Every hospital has at least one. Under normal circumstances, a welcome sight. But with the lights as they were, dried blood all over the walls and bodies lining the floor, the last thing I needed was for that eight armed mobile operating table to show up.

Arms flailing, powered surgical tools sparking and grinding whenever they momentarily contacted the walls or ceiling, it made for a mind breaking sight. The nurse stopped in her tracks, as awestruck as the rest of us. Then the surgical robot launched itself at her.

Speeding down the corridor at a pace unmatched by any of the legged robots, the arachnoid metallic monstrosity eagerly pursued the poor, demented girl as she came running back towards us. Under the circumstances I was inclined to be at least temporarily forgiving, and wildly gestured for her to keep running this way.

Helper struggled to get a clear shot as she did so. “What are you waiting for!?” Madeline shouted. Helper, voice detectably stressed, answered that the shotgun spread prevented taking out the surgical robot without also severely injuring or killing the nurse at this distance.

We could do nothing but stand there and listen to her scream when the robot reached her. A set of four dedicated restraining arms seized her by the limbs and pinned her to the integrated operating table at the core of the robot’s bodily layout.

Additional motorized restraints then slapped shut over her waist, neck and forehead before the dominant limbs went to work. Their grisly, abhorrent work, the sight of which I still cannot erase from my mind however I try.

The poor bedraggled girl fought against the restraints but couldn’t budge an inch as the various motorized surgical saws, drills and other implements rapidly took her apart. Like watching the vivisection of a lab animal but greatly accelerated. Even if we were willing to fight that thing hand to hand, I doubt if we could’ve freed her in time.

Fountains of blood splattered the walls, floor and ceiling as the bisected halves of her ribcage were pried open like rusty gates. An arm with silicone padded digits then gingerly plucked out her heart, liver, and other vital organs one at a time in quick succession, placing them in a sterile receptacle to one side of the bed.

Her lungs were the last to go. Just before they were severed from the esophagus and removed, kept conscious only by adrenaline, she screamed at us to protect her babies. Only Lars was moved by her plea, hastily crawling close enough to pull the baby carriers away. Both of them were already soaked in the nurse’s warm, fresh blood.

We let him figure it out on his own, by peeling away the blood soaked blankets to get a look inside. I didn’t see his reaction. My eyes were locked on the spectacle unfolding before us, as the surgical robot finally set about separating the nurse’s limbs at the joints using a large diameter circular saw.

When it finished, all of the restraints withdrew and the discombobulated parts slid down off the bed into a bloody, jiggling heap at the base of the robot. We were all speechless. It was beyond the pale, even by comparison to the police station.

Only Helper had the presence of mind to act. With the nurse no longer relevant to the moral equation, Helper blasted volley after volley of buckshot at the freshly bloodied machine, which now sped towards us in search of a new patient to operate on.

“LET’S JUST GO!” I shouted. I’m sure Helper heard me, but she continued blasting away at it until her shells ran out. The surgical robot’s limbs now sagged and twitched. Sparks flew from its joints and flames erupted from within its chassis. The defeated metal creature finally ground to a halt not twenty feet from us.

Now that I felt I could safely look away, I found Madeline hunched over with one hand over her mouth and the other clutching her stomach. Lars was still staring at the blood soaked medical dolls in the fabric carriers, only now arriving at the same comprehension that Madeline and I did earlier.

Madeline snapped. I was surprised it took as long as it did. “NO MORE!” She screamed, mascara streaking down her face as she wept. “NO MORE ROBOTS! NO MORE FUCKING ROBOTS!” Lars tried to console her but she swatted his hands away each time.

Madeline wailed, blubbered and curled up in a ball. I’ve been there, and know what it’s like to feel so overwhelmed by shit you just can’t handle that you want to withdraw from the world. To be anywhere and anyone else for a while.

When I wandered up to the front in order to survey the situation outside, I didn’t have the heart to tell her. Not after what we’d just witnessed. Wasn’t much of a mercy, she saw for herself soon after that. Lars and I had to prop her up and help her down the blood splattered, flickering hallway until we finally arrived back in the reception area.

Lightning struck in the distance, the flash revealing row after row of robots gathered outside. Then another flash. Each time, they were slightly closer. Madeline lost it, wrestling free as we tried to hold her. Lars and I gave up, just letting her curl up into a ball again as the mechanical masses closed in.

Lars inspected Madeline’s gun, first checking the contents of the magazine, then to see if there might still be a round in the chamber. “Tch. Should’ve saved one. Three ideally, but at least one.” I collapsed next to Madeline, finally resigned to what I knew would happen. It was a mistake to come here. We never should’ve returned to the city.

The sound of their marching grew louder and louder. Then they began beating on the panoramic glass windows comprising the entire front wall of the reception room. Cracks spread outward from the impact points, finally giving way to allow the sheer built up weight of all those metal and plastic bodies to pour in.

The ones behind fell over those in front, but they all picked themselves up once inside. None of us made any motion to flee. We’d all finally had enough and just wanted it to be over. Except for Helper, who threw herself at the robots nearest us and began fighting them hand to hand.

Just then, there was an ear splitting roar outside. The sound of a large mass smashing, grinding and dragging the busted up bodies of countless robots as it indifferently sped through the horde. The robots closest to us turned towards the source of the commotion.

Machinegun fire started in. A loud, thumping rhythm something like “bud-da bud-da bud-da bud-da bud-da”. We all doubled over, hands covering our ears as the large caliber bullets shattered what was left of the front windows and shredded robots into ragged chunks of twisted metal, shattered circuit boards and plastic shards.

A moment later everything was still, save for the the ringing in my ears. When I finally dared lift my head to look around, a pair of soldiers were in the process of stepping inside through the front window frames.

“DON’T SHOOT HER!” I cried. “YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!” One of them picked me up, brushed me off and informed me they had no intention of shooting the woman. I looked behind me and, when Helper was nowhere to be seen, I realized they thought I meant Madeline.

“We came in response to an emergency call placed by a nurse who said she was holed up in here with a pair of rescued infants.” Lars and I looked at each other. Madeline continued weeping, lost to us for the time being.

I explained the call to them as they helped Madeline into the back of the rugged, four wheeled APC they made their grand entrance in. Mangled, twitching robots still pinned under the fat, studded tires. Bits and pieces of mechanical gore still lodged in the thin slit I assumed the driver peers through.

“So that’s how it is. What a shame, her phone call is probably what attracted so many of ‘em to your position. We’ve been broadcasting a warning about that for hours but some don’t listen, need to check on a loved one or whatever so they risk it. Lucky for you we were in the area.”

I rode in the APC with Madeline. Lars insisted on going back for his car, following close behind the APC on its way back to base. All the better, I left some precious cargo in there. But the only thing I could think about during the ride was Helper. I could guess why she disappeared when the APC showed up and saw the wisdom in it, but couldn’t make myself stop worrying.

The military base bustled with activity, what I hoped was preparation for some sort of organized counterattack. The moment the rear hatch of the APC opened, a chaotic blend of shouted orders, honking horns and anxious cries from massive throngs of refugees assaulted my senses.

Woefully understaffed and under-equipped for a disaster this severe, it was plain to see they lacked basic amenities for so many people and for the time being had set up most of them in surplus infantry tents.

Another APC rumbled past, followed by a series of covered trucks. Here and there, little electric buggies similar to golf carts darted around carrying uniformed men and women in peaked caps, all manner of military decorations adorning their chests.

“What’s with all the commotion? Just struggling to accommodate survivors, or…?” The sharply dressed man escorting Madeline, Lars and I to the sprawling cluster of tents shook his head. “Something big. I’m sure I couldn’t tell you if I knew, but that’s about as much as anybody knows yet. We’ve got a lot of metal inbound from the power plant they just took over, and-”

Madeline, face still streaked with mascara, interrupted here. “Excuse me, did you say they’ve taken over a power plant?” He confirmed. “You don’t have to tell me the significance. We knew it would be a priority target the minute reports of metal swarming local gas stations and seizing control of driverless cars began trickling in.”

I asked if we had a reasonable expectation of safety here. “Unless you want me to lie to you” he responded, “the answer is I don’t know. Of course you want info. Everybody I process on the way in wants more info. You can’t get blood from a stone fella. At this point you know about as much as I do. Nice mask and cape by the way, Captain Reflecto. If you’re gonna save the day, now’s the time to do it.”

There was a brief but still tedious bit of paperwork. They scanned our payment chips, confirmed our identities and gave us all basic medical care. It was a relief to see Madeline’s ankle finally cleaned and bandaged. My ribs weren’t in much better shape.

Following our release from the overcrowded infirmary, each of us was assigned a tent, then brusquely hurried along to make room for more patients. There was at least some hot food doled out in the cafeteria before they sent us off to settle in for the night.

It was a immeasurable relief to have reached something resembling civilization. Floodlights illuminated every square inch of the base, every path, every road. An oasis of light, sound and living tissue adrift on a teeming ocean of cold, silent metal.

Just outside the perimeter fence, death waited. A thoughtless marching mechanism, set into motion like falling dominos, with the simple but all-consuming goal of extinguishing human life. How it pained me to view them this way. The way paranoid elements of the public always have.

Looking upon our tireless servants, guides, caretakers and protectors with one part gratitude, three parts suspicion. Vindicated by all this, unquestionably. I could imagine no defense of robots I might mount when this is all over which could persuade anybody that they are deserving of anything except a bullet to the battery.

Cold, creeping dread filled me. Certainty of what would be done with Helper after this strange, bloody war came to a close. What little trust, favor and emotional capital robots have managed to accumulate in decades of widespread, largely faultless service to humanity...burned to the ground in the span of a single night.

They’ll crucify her. Tear her to pieces, if they figure out what makes her different from the rest. What she represents. She will be all alone in the world. A world now united in fear and hatred of her kind, her only friend among those eight billion primates powerless to protect her from the rest.

If only I knew her location. If only I could be certain of her safety. That would be something. I’ve never been separated from her for so long. I’ve always kept her at arm’s length, fearing what might happen if she grew too attached to a human being. Wanting her to exist on her own terms, not ours.

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^{Stay Tuned for Part 19!}