Remember the Humans [Revised 02 Jul 2012], inspired from a Pandora challenge Options

[Cleo_Serapis]

Title: Remember the Humans
Author: Lorraine M Kanter
Word Count:
Date: Apr 2, 2005
Revised: 02 July 2012


“You DO know how important this mission is, Mada, don’t you?” Solon paused as he skimmed through the written recordings of all previous time portal jumps. “This last jump might be our only salvation. You must succeed.”

“Yes, Prince Solon, I do.”  Mada replied while tapping something on his personal digital assistant.  Squinting from the light of the time portal, he added, “I will do my best, sir… as always.”

Inching toward the portal, mesmerized by swirls of color, Mada touched his PDA again and vanished.

When Mada came to, the world he once knew was no more. Time was now a contradiction in terms. In his time, the liquid cold fusion required to charge the portal became such an eminent threat to the survival of the planet, that this would be his last jump.  His lingering in the void only hastened his tentative steps to find what he sought.  He glided along the overgrown countryside like a slithering snake looking for a morsel in a world where morsels didn’t exist. He had to find it!

A flicker of intense light temporarily blinded him.

It took a few moments to regain his perfect vision, even after flipping down his night vision visor. Did they see me? He wondered as he instinctively ducked low and dimmed the PDA. Salt tickled his nose as beads of sweat smeared his face and chin. He stumbled a few paces, covered his mouth as if to scream, inhaled deeply and stepped forward, closer to the patroling robots. They hadn't noticed his arrival; they were too busy torturing soon-to-be roadkill.

“Sector 8-123-659 secure. There is no one here. Shall we return to base? Triton Three-Four, over.”

Mada shifted his position lower in the overgrown thatch, given that the two enforcers stood only about 500 yards in front of his hiding place. He punched the record button and whispered, "Robotics have come so far; the enforcers look humanoid!"

The silence broke when the second enforcer replied to headquartes, "Triton Six-Three, acknowledged. Returning to base."

Beads of sweat made a channel straight to his chin, sending a welcomed chill through his body. Mada searched the word ‘TRITON’ with a trembling hand. Mere fractions of a second later, a surreal greenish fog emanated from it and floated away, toward the robots. "I hope this works." He said without conviction.

A few moments later, the extraordinary fog reached the Tritons as they turned their back to where Mada was secreted and staggered to their interceptor vehicle. Without warning, Triton Six-Three suddenly lunged at Triton Three-Four. A clanging of metal on metal followed, and then abruptly halted. Triton Six-Three had just disconnected his partner’s Unity pathway, leaving it comatose and unable to communicate with any other: TERMINATION - TRITON THREE-FOUR COMPLETE.

Achromatic colors sped past in a silhouetted apparition at a velocity exceeding human visual comprehension. However, what the human eye could not register, the PDA did. A putrid stench erupted, as flesh peeled away from Triton Three-Four's cybernetic exoskeleton. Mada stretched his neck upward just high enough to glimpse the steel towers and laser torches beyond, where his Camelot waited.

Thump. Thump. THUMP. Silence. Binary codes flashed across the sky. Mada dropped to the ground, shaking in muscular tremors. Heat seared through his consciousness, but there was no pain. Triton Six-Three had succeeded. He was resistant to Mada's flesh-eating biological weapon.

“Halt! You have been scanned. Identification please.” Triton Six-Three bellowed.

Reaching for his lifeline, Mada knew it would aid him. Sweat beaded down his brow again, stinging his eyes. He shouted, “I am not from this city. I… you… will see from my Personal Identification Chip.” He staggered and collapsed in front of the interceptor, where he glimpsed the Library of Records just beyond. Camelot does exist! “Please let me go; I mean you no harm.” He pleaded.

A labyrinth of digits flashed into the sallow sky then: reds, blues, greens and whites, each representing a unique record. Triton Six-Three froze. “You do not lie. You do not exist.”  He frisked Mada acutely, cutting him, causing blood to spew from his wrist. The Triton then instinctively licked the wound clean before Mada realized what had just happened. A sharp singe followed, cauterizing flesh. He twirled around, whisked Mada into his interceptor and froze yet again. Something did not compute.

“If you let me go, I will tell no one.” Mada lifted his weapon of choice, aimed it at the enforcer, tapped the three-digit code, G.O.D. and released. He leaned closer and peered into the Triton's black eye sockets. “I am from another time. This is why your library has no record of me, and I have just rendered YOU disconnected.”

Mada’s faith had sustained him. He believed that in spite of the robotic future, there HAD to be some humanity left. He needed to tap into it that very moment, with that very robot - his own savior. His thoughts were abruptly interrupted.  “Triton Six-Three, report to base at once, over.” The Triton did not hear the message: could not hear it.

Mada leaned fully into the Triton’s face, where he saw only blackness. “You must help me.” He squatted low and pulled a picture from his boot. Bile started to creep up and into his throat and mouth. He swallowed it back. “I need this device. You must get it for me. You know where this is.”

Triton Six-Three scanned the picture into his database - again instinctively. “I have seen this… in the old city of Jerusalem,” the robot hesitated, “What need does this serve, this… thing? Surely, it is not your PIDC?” He tossed the picture into the sky and zapped it to the Nothingness, just as his program mandated the 'No evidence' creed.

Mada toyed with his throbbing wrist wound and loosened his grip on it. I am in control of this one now, he thought. “You will not question me. Do as I ask. Do you understand?”

“I understand.”

Mada snapped to a dominant position for the first time since his arrival in this time. This hold will not last long, he feared.

They reached Camelot within the hour, obtained the Holy Chalice he needed to create a miracle and sat in the Court of the Kings of Old for a moment longer, human and robot together. “I will remember you, Triton Six-Three,” Mada hugged him close. Salty tears streamed down his face again, along with a few more drops of his blood, straight into the chalice of change. Triton Six-Three wiped them away by licking up the evidence. History was altered. “Will you remember me?”

The Triton replied, “Of course, you are my inverse. My name is Adam.”  

Remember the Humans…

Copyright © Lorraine M Kanter

This post has been edited by Cleo_Serapis: Jul 2 12, 21:34

Reason for edit: Revision 3: 02 July 2012

[Cleo_Serapis]

Hi John,

Thanks for stopping in, reading and for you thoughtful response.

Yes, I do need to go back and expand this to make it less confusing and be more of a 'complete' story.

I am glad you enjoyed this one! I am working on my novel and have been focusing my time and energy to that project.

Cheers,
Lori