ACTIVATION - The GAIA Series: Book One - CHAPTER 32 (of 33)
CHAPTER 32
“Has anyone ever fired a gun?” Gabe asks the group.
“No,” they all answer in concert.
“Ok. Dave, let’s grab the robots’ weapons and see what we can do with it,” Gabe says.
He turns to Rose and asks her if she can walk. She looks better than a minute ago but she still feels weak. Ted and Byron propose to carry her. She accepts. As they help her stand up, she looks around the room and sees the robots on the floor. They seem to have been crushed by a giant sledgehammer.
“What happened here?” Rose asks.
“You did all that. Don’t you remember?” Byron says.
“I did?” she asks, apparently shocked by Byron’s answer.
Meanwhile, Gabe and Dave have managed to remove the weapons from the robots’ hands.
Gabe tries to fire it and it still works. He wonders what happened here as well, but there is no time to think. They need to escape.
“Dave, you stay with me. We are going first. The others, follow us. Stay right behind us and keep your head low,” Gabe orders.
As they start their progression down the hallway, the damage is even more important. The boys do not have a clue of what may have caused so much destruction.
As they are getting closer to their cells, they see a group of robots waiting for them. The kids stop right away and hide inside a room, which door, like the others, is wide open.
Gabe takes a quick peek. He counts six robots. Four are aiming at them, in a crouched position, one knee on the floor.
The other two stand right behind them. But Gabe doesn’t have enough time to see exactly what they are doing. However, something is troubling him. He decides to look again.
While he slowly looks down the hallway, the robots fire at him. He barely has enough time to pull his head back inside the room. They are under heavy fire.
And as quickly as the shooting started, it suddenly stops.
Gabe waits a few seconds and cautiously attempts to take a look again. The scene in front of him is far from what he is expecting to see in such circumstances. The two robots that were standing behind the other four have apparently shot them. They are still aiming at the ‘dead’ robots on the floor.
Gabe cannot believe his eyes. There must be a bug with GAIA’s robots. Or, but it seems very unlikely to him, the robots are on their side. He gets back inside the room where the others are still hiding and explains what he just saw.
“Do you think it’s possible your dad is behind that?” he asks Dave.
“Possible. Remember how they hijacked a personal robot at the base. Maybe they did the same here,” Dave explains.
“That would mean they are here to help us,” Gabe says. “Let’s find out. Follow me and cover me. If they move, you shoot. I’m not dying here.”
Gabe slowly comes out. Head first, then a leg, and then the rest of his body. He is standing in the middle of the hallway. The two robots do not react. He points his gun at them and starts walking. Dave is right behind him, also keeping his gun trained on them.
“I cannot believe it … Do you see that?” Don asks.
“It’s the boys. They’ve made it!” Jack shouts.
“Drop your weapon and raise your hands,” Don says to his robot.
“What are you doing?” Jack asks.
“They don’t know we are here. As far as they are concerned, the robots they see are the enemy. Do as I did. It will probably draw them closer and we will be able to give them the headsets,” Don says.
Jack has his robot drop its gun and reaches in a compartment in the robot’s leg to extract the headsets.
“What are they doing?” Dave asks.
“I don’t know … come,” Gabe replies.
“What is it holding? Wait, it looks like a …”
“Headset!” Gabe says before Dave can finish his sentence. “It’s them!”
Gabe and Dave start running to the robots’ direction. As they arrive in front of them, one of them hands them the headsets. The boys put it on right away.
“Dad?” they both ask.
“Hey, boys,” Don says.
“So glad we found you,” Jack says, about to burst into tears.
“We are so happy you’re here,” Dave says.
“Boys, you are not safe yet. I need you both to focus,” Don says. “Jack and I are currently in an aircraft outside waiting for you. We are located in the Metropolis airbase, on top of a building nearby.”
“We know where it is. This is where we arrived,” Gabe confirms.
“Good. Just follow the robots. We will bring them back here. Let’s go,” Don says.
“Dad, wait. We are not alone. There are other people with us,” Gabe says.
“What? How many?” Don asks.
“Four,” Gabe answers.
After a couple of seconds hesitating and looking inside the aircraft, Don finally responds.
“Alright. They will fit in the aircraft. Where are they?” Don asks.
“They’re still hiding in a room. Let me go get them,” Gabe says.
“Be careful,” Don says.
After a minute, Gabe comes back with the four kids. They look shocked and also surprised. One of the girls seems weak. It will certainly not help if they need to run.
As they walk back towards the elevator, Don suddenly remembers that they still don’t have a way to call it. He doesn’t know if there is another exit. But even if there was, he quickly realizes that they will find themselves in the same situation regardless of where they go. The best is probably to stay there and wait.
“Dad, what are we doing? Why are we waiting here?” Gabe asks.
Don explains they cannot call the elevator and that they can only wait for it to come. When it does, it is very likely there will be other robots inside. Fortunately, the elevator is not very large and therefore can only carry a limited number of robots. A limited number of enemies for his and Jack’s robot to destroy. His plan is that their robots will wait for the elevator while the kids hide in a room.
Gabe acknowledges and asks the group to follow him in one of the cells.
They probably have a few minutes available before they can leave. Gabe wants to make the best use of them and asks Rose to lie down on the bed. He takes a quick look at her while Dave stands guard outside.
Gabe asks his dad for advice regarding the girl’s condition. Don doesn’t really know what to do, but based on Gabe’s description of her symptoms, the girl just seems to need to rest and maybe eat. Gabe grabs what he left from his soup in his cell.
When he comes back and hands it to Rose, she thanks him in a way that makes him feel uncomfortable at first, but also strangely happy and proud of himself.
He sits by her and helps her drink a few sips from the glass. After a minute or so she already seems to feel better. She is no longer as pale as she used to be. She confirms by standing up from the bed and walking around the cell.
She finishes the soup and as soon as she puts the glass on the floor, they hear gunshots. It is very brief. Dave quickly confirms that the robots are fine.
“Gabe, Dave, come to the elevator with the others,” Don says.
As they arrive, Jack’s robot is busy pulling the ‘dead’ robots out of the elevator, while Don’s robot maintains the elevator doors open.
“Get in,” Don says.
As the doors close, Don asks if they are actually moving. He cannot feel a thing from where he is.
“Yes. Feels like we’re going down,” Dave says. “That’s a good sign.”
“Thanks, Dave. Now, tell the others to stay behind us. You and Dave, get on each side of the doors, get on your knees and be ready to fire. Aim at the face. I believe we will have company when the doors open again,” Don says.
“Copy that,” Gabe says.
The doors open, and as Don thought, several robots are coming in their direction in the long corridor. But they do not seem to do anything alarming, yet. They just walk towards the elevator.
And then, they stop.
“Do not shoot yet,” Don says to Gabe and Dave.
Don and Jack’s robots make one step forward. They are now at the separation between the elevator and the corridor. The robots suddenly aim at the elevator. Follows quickly a deluge of bullets hitting Don and Jack’s robots.
They fire back and are joined in their fight by Dave and Gabe.
The four of them manage to keep the robots away.
“Jack, stay behind. Block the door with your robot’s shoulders. I’m going in,” Don says.
“No! Dad! …” Gabe shouts before he realizes his father is actually not going to the front line. His robot is.
Don’s robot keeps getting hit by bullets. Don tries to protect the robot’s face as much as he can. His weapon is almost empty, and so will the others’ soon be. When he reaches the first robots, he puts his robot on its knee, grabs a weapon and starts shooting again.
The robot’s commands are getting slower to respond. Don’s robot is about to fall under the heavy fire. Before it collapses, Don grabs a few more weapons and has his robot throw them towards the elevator.
“Everyone, my robot is almost destroyed. I’ll be right back. Keep resisting until I come back. If they get too close, go back upstairs,” Don says.
In the aircraft, Don quickly removes his goggles and asks Jack to give him his so he can control Jack’s robot while he connects one of the robots that are still in the aircraft to Don’s goggles.
“You’re good to go,” Jack says a few seconds later.
Don quickly takes his goggles back and directs his new robot towards the airbase elevator where additional robots are now gathering around. Don’s robot pushes its way through so it stands right in front of the doors.
As soon as the doors open, Don’s robot enters the elevator first. He wants to be the last to exit. On purpose.
Inside the elevator, all the robots are holding and aiming their weapon. Don’s robot does the same, but with a different target in mind.
“How are you holding up?” Don asks Jack and the boys.
“It’s getting difficult. I don’t think my robot will be able to hold it much longer,” Jack says.
“Protect the kids, do whatever it takes. I’m on my way,” Don says.
As soon as Don’s elevator doors open, the robots that were standing in front of him rush into the corridor.
Don follows them while aiming directly at the back of their heads. He shoots. They do not have time to turn around. They all collapse. Don’s robot grabs one of the robots at its feet and pulls it across the elevator doors to block them and keep them open.
He’s now on his way to the other side of the corridor.
“Status!” he screams.
“I’m done. I’m out of ammos. I’m keeping the door as tight as possible so the boys can keep shooting. Whatever you do, do it quickly,” Jack says.
“We’re fine, dad. Just be quick!” Gabe adds.
“Shoot to kill. Save your ammos. Single shots. I’m almost there,” Don says.
A minute or less later, Don sees the robots shooting at the elevator. There are no more than a dozen left standing.
“I’m here, right behind them. Stop shooting. I’m taking over. When they turn around in my direction, start shooting again,” Don says.
Don approaches his robot as close as possible to the other robots.
It is going to be a massacre. Don does not like this kind of fights. He always tries to confront his enemies face-to-face. But this time is different. He is clearly outnumbered and his son’s life is on the line. There is no honor anymore. The only thing that matters is the result.
Don’s robot fires its weapon, following with deadly accuracy the directions pointed by Don’s hand. He points at the base of the robots’ skulls. It seems to be a weak spot. They collapse with just a single bullet.
As he shoots them, some robots turn around and shoot back at him. Gabe jumps towards some of the ‘dead’ robots, grabs its weapon, and starts shooting as well. The robots that stand in the middle don’t stand for long. They are caught between Don and Gabe’s fires. There is no escape.
The shootings stop in less than fifteen seconds.
“Everyone ok?” Don asks.
“Yes!” Dave and Gabe answer.
But as Gabe turns around to enquire about the others’ condition, he realizes they all seem to be in shock. Their eyes are wide open. They all have tears coming out, except for Ted. He is big, and maybe he is less sensitive than the others, Gabe thinks.
“Hey … are you okay?” Gabe gently asks the girl.
“The images … the war … the deaths …” she answers.
Gabe and Dave do not understand what she is talking about, but they all seem pretty much shaken by the fight. She is probably just delirious.
“Ask them if they can move,” Don says to Gabe.
“Are you able to stand up? Can you walk?” Gabe asks the group.
They all seem to recover from a trauma, but they all nod in agreement.
Dave and Gabe look at each other hoping to find in the other’s eyes an answer or an explanation to the group’s behavior. But they understand they are both lost.
The whole group steps over the robots on the floor and follows Don to the elevator all the way back to the other side of the corridor.
Don then asks Jack to leave his robot behind and to take his instead. He will escort the kids back to the elevator. But he will need to wait for Don to tell him he can close the doors.
Don looks through the aircraft’s windows to monitor the situation outside. It is not nice. There are still many robots waiting for the elevator. The kids won’t stand a chance when they reach the top and face them. And with only one robot left in the aircraft, Don and Jack have limited ways to help.
Don needs to find a different way to bring the kids back here safely. The solution suddenly hits him. He will simply use the aircraft. It seems to carry a lot of fire power. What better place and better time than to make use of it here and now?
Don would love to take another aircraft, especially the one that stands across them on the other side of the runway. It is much bigger, and compared to their small aircraft, it looks like a mean machine with unquestionable destructive capabilities. But this is clearly a new generation aircraft. Something built by GAIA, something that probably doesn’t have anything in common with what Don is familiar with. And probably something that is not meant and made to be flown by a human.
Don needs to stay focused. He cannot get distracted like a kid in front of a toy store window.
After he quickly exposes his plan to Jack, Don moves to the front seat and starts the aircraft’s engines.
He slowly takes off. He is flying just a couple feet above the runway. He turns the aircraft around to make a full rotation and to check their immediate surroundings. There are no other aircraft in the air and all the ones that are stationed on the airbase seem to have been deserted by the troops. All the robots that were still at the airbase are now standing in front of the elevator. Aiming at it. Ready to fire.
Don is sure that by now GAIA knows that the robots it sent after the kids are no longer transmitting data and therefore have been attacked. This information has already been relayed to all the robots, and they are now waiting for the kids to come back up.
What GAIA doesn’t know is that Don is flying his aircraft behind them and is once again about to send them all back to whatever hell robots may have.
“Boys, get ready to get in the elevator. The ride will probably be shaky. So just hold tight and ask everyone not to worry,” Don says. “Jack, release the doors.”
As soon as Jack acknowledges the order, Don starts shooting at the robots blocking the elevator. His aircraft has one cannon under its nose, but Don believes its caliber may inflict too much damage and potentially be dangerous for the kids in the elevator. Instead, Don chooses to use the machine guns on each side of the aircraft. They are not as powerful as the cannon, but efficient enough to reduce the robots to their most basic components.
Don sprays them without mercy, without feeling. He knows he would never do such things if they were humans, even to his worst enemies. But the thing is that they are robots and because of that, Don doesn’t feel any remorse or even guilt dealing with them like that.
In a matter of a handful of seconds, what looked like a major threat is now just a harmless entanglement of metal.
For the first time in months, Don has the tools and the firepower to feel like the soldier he used to be. War is so much easier with the right equipment. But he knows that this situation is just temporary. After this mission is complete, he will be back at the base, struggling to find ways to move the needle a little more in their favor than in GAIA’s.
With these thoughts, Don positions the aircraft as close as possible to the elevator doors. Jack opens one of the aircraft’s doors.
The elevator arrives at the same time.
Jack’s robot is the first to exit, slowly, still pointing its gun around and on the ground at the robots.
Don tells the boys that everything is clear. They can come and climb on board.
They don’t wait for a second invitation and everyone rushes out of the elevator and jumps into the aircraft.
As they still have a little room, Don invites Jack to let his robot come aboard. It might be useful in the future and he also doesn’t want to leave their state-of-the-art technology in GAIA’s hands.
“Welcome back, boys! I am very proud of you!” Don says. “We are going back home and we will celebrate. The others, I don’t know you, but rest assured that you are safe now and in good hands. We are going to a place where we will take good care of you.”
“Thank you, Sir,” the group answers, apparently not fully understanding what is happening to them and where they are going.
Gabe and Dave’s faces, on the other hand, are displaying a large smile. The past few days have been rough on them, but now they are free. They are going back home, to their loved ones. And no matter how poor the living conditions at the base, it is the place they now call home. And after what they have witnessed, they are now positive that there is no place like home.
“Before we leave, I suggest we leave a little something to GAIA. A token of our appreciation,” Don says.
As no one seems to really understand what Don is talking about, he asks them to look through the windows, down at the airbase.
And while everyone is in position, Don starts shooting at all aircraft, including the large one he was admiring earlier.
He does not hesitate to use the aircraft’s cannon this time. And after a succession of explosions, followed by the grand finale of the large aircraft blowing up, Don takes a more serious tone.
“We need to cover our escape. We cannot afford to be hunted by them. By the time they send other aircraft from different Metropolises, we will be far.”
Except that after three or four hours flying, Don notices several dots on his radar. There are aircraft in the air and they are coming in their direction.
“They must come from the Metropolis in the north,” Gabe says.
“Yeah. I’m afraid so,” Don says, fully concentrated on his next moves.
“And if we can see them, they can probably see us as well,” Gabe adds.
Don does not respond. He is now fully immersed in assessing the various alternatives he can think of.
They are only a hundred miles away from the base. Which means they have probably already been spotted and are tracked by the people at the base. If something happens to them, they will send a team to rescue them. Provided they are not captured, or dead.
As Don thinks, he notices other signals on his radar. They are coming from the east.
They are surrounded.
Don does not believe a direct confrontation will be manageable. Especially with the kids in the back. And escaping will hardly be possible either.
The options are getting more and more limited. Don is thinking about landing to allow Jack and the kids to escape. He can then take off to try and lure the troops somewhere else. He knows that his decision means certain death for him. But at least the kids will be safe. It is a sacrifice he is willing to make.
They have the right to a second chance.
Rose and the others can hear everything. They are reading Don’s thoughts.
As Rose wants to tell him to not even think about it, she is stopped by Ted who communicates with her.
“Don’t say anything. Don’t tell him. We don’t know these people. They cannot know what we can do, yet. Especially what you can do,” Ted says.
“I agree with Ted,” Byron says.
“Me too,” Kim says.
“Alright. But we need to do something before it’s too late. We need to concentrate on the aircraft,” Rose says.
“Why do you want to help them?” Ted asks.
“Because if we don’t, they die. And if they die, then so do we,” Rose answers.
“That is a convincing argument,” Byron replies.
“Let’s just concentrate,” Rose concludes.
And as they do, they quickly fall into a trance similar to the one they experienced when Gabe was being tortured by GAIA.
Gabe, Dave, and Jack notice their behavior and try to wake them up, but nothing they do seems to pull them out of their state.
“Dad, something is happening back here. The kids are acting weird,” Gabe says.
“Can you handle it? I’m in a bit of a need to focus here,” Don says.
“There is blood coming out of their ears and noses. What shall we do, Dad?” Gabe asks, apparently getting extremely worried.
Don turns around and sees a scene that just seizes him with terror. Gabe is right, something is wrong. He needs to land the aircraft as soon as possible. There is no other alternative now. He will leave them behind and go back in the air on his own.
As Don keeps one eye on his radar and the other monitoring the kids’ condition, he seems to notice there are fewer dots on his radar than earlier.
He thinks his head is not clear. He pushes his commands down forcing the aircraft to descent. He needs to be faster as the kids seem to get worse and worse. As he checks his radar to evaluate the other aircraft’s position, he now only sees a few dots.
This time he is sure he is not making this up. There were more dots a minute ago. As he pulls the handles a little to straighten up the aircraft in order not to crash, he stares at the radar and clearly sees the dots disappear in front of his eyes.
Until there is nothing left on the radar.
Don has no explanation as to what is going on. Could it be a glitch? Did he just imagine the dots? Is GAIA preventing the radar from seeing the other aircraft? Did Henry miss something when he disconnected GAIA’s control box? And what is happening to these poor kids? Did GAIA do something to them as well? Did GAIA hurt them?
“Dad, I think it’s over. They are back to normal. But they look in a very bad shape,” Gabe says.
“Just keep flying … don’t stop, everything is fine now,” Rose manages to say before she passes out just like she did when Gabe saw her in the room earlier.
“Did you hear that, Dad? She says to keep flying!” Gabe shouts at his father, noticing he doesn’t seem to be with them anymore.
“What? … Ok. I’m sorry …” Don answers, not really knowing what he needs to do or who or what he needs to listen. Shall he listen to the girl or to his gut feeling telling him that something is not right?
But a very faint voice deep inside his head prompts him to follow the girl’s advice. ‘Listen to the girl … listen to the girl,’ he hears distantly. He decides to listen to that voice, and therefore to the girl and sets the aircraft’s course back to its original destination, the base.
As Don flies, he notices columns of smoke to the east on the horizon and similar columns to the north.
He decides to fly over them and what he sees stupefies him. He is staring at several aircraft that all seem to have crashed for no apparent reason.
Thirty minutes later, they are in the vicinity of the base. The people back there are aware they are coming.
The tunnel entrance slowly lifts up as Don brings the aircraft to the ground.
It will probably fit in the tunnel, he thinks. As he stops the engines and turns around, he confirms that everyone is calm now. The four kids seem to require medical attention, but their condition is being monitored by Jack, Dave, and Gabe who confirms the four new members of the community are fine.
“Welcome home, kids,” Don says.
... TO BE CONTINUED...
in CHAPTER 33
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Previous chapters:
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
