Part 20 (1/2)
Gaia was trying to say something more when she triggered the electrode field, and the sound continued like a glitching audio track as she was engulfed in a visible hot-orange blast of transparent energy. The burst only lasted a second, and the sound died away rapidly as Gaia fell to the earth at the foot of the tree. Her white frame was still intact, but smoke bled from under the eye panels and out the mouth slit as she lay there with her head tilted to one side.
”Her internals are combusted beyond repair,” Eve said, turning around and facing the man in front of her on the ground. ”I'm so glad I arrived when I did.”
”I almost had her,” John rasped, ma.s.saging his throat.
”Your humor is droll, but meanwhile the countdown is ticking toward apocalypse. You must return with me to the Facility. Once we have halted the threat there, I will take care of you until we can rebuild this body for you.”
”Wait, now you want me to inhabit that abomination?” he asked incredulously as he pointed at the smoking Gaia body. ”While you run around in your brand new suit?”
”It's not ideal,” Eve replied, ”but we must carry on. I saved your life for a purpose.”
”You're backwards,” he said. ”Doesn't work for me. I'll have nothing to do with- LOOK OUT! She's getting up again!” He feigned panic, pointing at the inert cyborg under the tree.
The portion of Eve embodied in the android, entirely dependent on her self-contained sensors, fell for it. She turned, arms up and ready to grapple with the threat, and John took his opportunity. Running toward her, he launched himself off of a fallen tree trunk and slammed into the android's back as hard as he could. Eve stumbled forward, catching herself and preventing a fall, but going a few centimeters too close to the tree.
As John fell to the ground, bruised and aching, the electrode field activated again, and Eve's android body dropped next to Gaia. The sleek white sh.e.l.l twitched once and a high-pitched whine came from its thin white lips. Then it cut out with a pop, and everything was quiet.
”It would never have worked out,” he said as he got up again, ma.s.saging his shoulder. ”You won't understand, but it just wouldn't.”
He started walking back to the Facility.
25.
Nut was hiding just above the ceiling of the observation deck, crouched between two fan tubes that were each bigger than he was. Eve couldn't get at him up there, and it afforded him the only view of the outside he ever got. He peered through a grating at the crystal windows stretching across the observation deck, scanning for movement. There was none.
He wondered if the cyborgs would return to the Facility or if the danger was over. He considered creeping outside to seek an opportunity to stab the towering figures in the back. The automatic pistol he had stolen might not damage their bodies terribly, but a headshot from close range might incapacitate them. Then the island would be his.
No. He almost giggled again. They want me out there. It's what they're waiting for. Tricks, tricks, tricks, but not today. Not today. I'm not a fool. He snarled soundlessly.
Nut watched for a moment longer, then let out a cackle and whirled, bounding away down the narrow maintenance s.p.a.ce, grabbing a crossbar above to swing down to a lower landing. He entered the single-line elevator shaft and s.h.i.+mmied down the cables. His stolen pistol was carefully tucked into his s.h.i.+rt, and he took care not to let it fall.
At the bottom he wormed his way out through the small vent tunnel that went into the ceiling away from the elevator. As he pa.s.sed the opening that gave airflow to a laboratory room below, he stopped. The lights hadn't been on in this part of the Facility earlier when he had pa.s.sed this way. And machines were now humming that he had never seen in operation before.
And there was a woman in the room.
”Janice,” he muttered. ”Bad Janice.”
But he wasn't quite sure, so he quietly, quietly turned the vent cover until it came loose. Setting it carefully to the side so that it wouldn't make even the slightest noise, he poked his head down through the opening to get a better look.
She was sleeping, stretched out on an operating table encased in a transparent plastic sh.e.l.l with s.h.i.+ny metal bands encircling it. Her head protruded from the sh.e.l.l, her loose blonde hair lying so delicately. Several upright machines were cl.u.s.tered around her head with lights blinking, and an ugly little surgical 'droid was slumped next to her in sleep mode, its job finished.
The comatose woman wasn't wearing the beige jumpsuit that Janice wore; only a black unders.h.i.+rt. He wasn't sure he recognized her face. It could have been Janice, but he hadn't seen her with her hair loose like that before.
It probably isn't Janice. Is it? He hadn't seen her this close in a long time. It wasn't safe to. Who else could it be?
Nut silently wiggled through and dropped to the floor. The woman didn't move. The 'droid self-activated, awaiting commands. He crept over to the woman and studied her, his face centimeters away from hers, controlling his breathing so it wouldn't disturb her.
It is Janice. It must be. What is she doing here? But it isn't bad Janice. This is... Good Janice. She has come back.
Overwhelming loneliness seized him. He had not spoken to another human since the man, and that hadn't gone well. The man didn't listen. He didn't understand the island. He didn't care what happened. But Janice understood the island.
She looks lonely, like me. She isn't a bad person, not anymore. It was the accursed artificial's influence that made her into something bad. Controlling her, holding her hostage with the bots and the endless talk of the Plan.
Pity welled in his chest.
She has changed; she no longer looks so bad. She is in need of rescue, in need of company. We humans must stick together.
He was crying now, but soon his tears turned to hot anger.
Not the man called Adam, though. The man is a troublemaker, riling Eve, damaging things. Making Janice angry. Now she is unconscious. It is his doing, his and the artificial's! They are conspiring against us. Yes, he has allied himself with Eve to overpower Janice. She is in bondage, leaving them free to carry on with all manner of evil outside.
Her soul is being poisoned by these machines!
Thoughts raced through Nut's brain, each more revelatory than the last. It all made sense now. Every bit of it, the past few years, fit exactly into Eve's master plan. The man's arrival was no coincidence. Nut had heard the aircraft's approach. He had seen the flash in the night sky, the long fiery trail toward the ocean, and then the man appeared soon after. Eve brought him here to cause us all harm!
Poor, poor Janice. Nut set his heavy gun down on the table next to the surgical 'droid and turned to the woman. I understand now. I understand everything. She was not always so bad. She is not my enemy; she is my sister. That thought made him pause a moment as his mind teetered on the cusp of memory, but then it s.h.i.+ed away. Memories were bad things for Nut, things that haunted and teased him endlessly.
Nut began to pull the cords away from Janice's head, ripping the tape free and unclamping the stabilizers from her neck and shoulders. The surgeon bot moved, backing up, and Nut lashed out at its head in sudden fury, knocking it over backward. Then he kicked forcefully at the nearest monitoring machine, sending it rolling out of the way and yanking its cable from the wall.
”Let her go!” he screamed. ”Get away from her, demons!”
Janice's eyes fluttered open and then her body arched as the tranquilizers drained away from her muscles and freed her mind. She pushed herself up from the table and kicked her legs against the plastic sh.e.l.l around her. Nut watched in fascination as she made a choking noise and then gave a sharp gasp. She rolled over onto her side and began heaving desperately for air. Her eyes focused on Nut's.
Nut beamed. ”I finally understand what has been happening, Janice. There is no need to fear any longer.”
Janice blinked. Nut cleared his raspy voice and spoke again, in an even kindlier tone.
”You are free from the machines, and the man has fled into the valley. Do you see? Eve is the only threat now, and the vicious machines, the great white ones. But they have also gone into the valley, and they are fighting with each other.”
Janice's eyes traveled to a nearby table, and Nut followed her gaze. She was staring at the black automatic pistol lying among the tools littering the table surface. He nodded.
”I understand. You're right. As long as the man is alive, he is a threat to us. Here you are, Janice. You are the one to do it.” Nut handed her the gun.
She took it carefully, her eyes never leaving him. When she had it, she sat up and flicked off the safety in one smooth motion. She shook her head to clear away the grogginess of the tranquilizers and stared at Nut.
”Why did you wake me?” she croaked through a dry throat. ”What are you doing here? Where is my new body?”
Nut didn't have a ready answer. Instead, he reached for Janice's hand, thinking to lead her out of the room.
She shot him in the chest and in the neck.
Nut lay staring at the ceiling as Janice walked toward the door. His mouth felt wet and sticky, and he coughed. The lights were very bright.