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Ari's Hands |
| Written by Codi Del Rossi | |
| Wednesday, 02 April 2008 | |
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Share it:      Altrun Space Station 3 days after android takeover. The wiring to the safe room was ****. Without warning the lights would go off, throwing the room into total darkness. They returned after a second, but the computer was another story. “Damnit,” Taylor said, after the third outage in the past hour. He turned and checked that the prince hadn’t been awoken. The fourteen year old boy lay sleeping peacefully on a pile of rags next to the food supply. Taylor wished he had that kind of composure. Rubbing his temples, he brought his attention back to the computer and began inputting the codes needed to hack into the ships network once more. He cursed the engineers of this vessel for not working harder on this safe room. Then again, he reminded himself, the safe room was only a precaution. No one suspected it would ever be used. The plan had been simple. If Altrun was ever attacked, the bodyguard was to take the prince and fly him to the Station, a small craft used for a vacation spot by the royal family. Once aboard, Taylor was to start up the hyper drive and jump the station to a secret, remote location and remain there. When everything was safe, a message would be sent, and Taylor would bring the prince back. When the android’s attacked, Taylor had flown the prince to the station. What he hadn’t anticipated was that the hyper drive, which hadn’t been used since the station was built, would be broken. Within a week, the andys had boarded the ship. Taylor and the prince were forced to take refuge in the safe room. It was only a matter of time before they were found. Taylor broke into the network and accessed the surveillance cameras once more. The screen split into a collection of little squares, each one showing video footage of every room in the ship, each one crawling with andys. There white, humanoid bodies moved fluidly as they passed throughout every room. There faces were featureless except for the single scanner lens that combed the room, looking for any trace of human life. And the laser attached to there right forearm was ready to end that life once they found it. Taylor had been studying them since the takeover, hoping to find something, an opening, a flaw, anything that he could use to take them out and regain control of the station. But machines didn’t make mistakes. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, scratching his bicep. As he did, his eyes fell on the tattoo on his left forearm. A circle with an eye in the center: the mark of his god, Ari. Taylor raised his arms, and said the ancient prayer he had been taught in childhood: “Great god, Ari hear my cry. I humbel myself before you and ask that you aid me in my mission, for it is a holy one and good in your sight. I ask that you show me the way and give me the means of carrying it out, great god. Your will be done. Amen.” Taylor lowered his arms and closed his eyes for a brief moment. His faith had been tested through all this, and a little voice told him there was no Ari to answer his prayers. “No,” he said quietly, forcing the though out of his mind. He couldn’t think like that. He turned his attention back to the computer. Something was happening on the hanger deck. Taylor clicked a button and enlarged the feed to full screen. Another andy carrier was landing. It looked identical in shape and size to the others he had seen; however, this one was covered in red and black tribal markings. When it landed several andys rushed over and lined up on either side of the ship’s hatch. The hatchway slid opened, and out stepped a single andy. Its body was covered in the symbols as well. “It must be the king,” Taylor thought. Excitement pumped through his veins. It had been a long held theory that the leader of the andys not only controlled the others, but was the power source to them as well. If a person could destroy the andy king, then all other robots would shut down as well. Tears of joy streamed down from Taylor’s eyes as he watched the android cross the landing deck and disappear through the doors that lead further into the ship. Ari had answered his prayer. Taylor glanced back at the prince, who was still sleeping. He knew leaving him alone was dangerous. But it was a risk he had to take. In one corner of the roof was a hole leading to the air duct. It would be a tight squeeze for a man Taylor’s size, but he could use the air duct to sneak around the station and get to the andy king. Checking to make sure his blaster was securely attached to his belt, Taylor lifted himself into the air vent, and began to crawl towards the meeting hall, where he guessed the andy king would be.
00001 walked through the halls of the station, its scanning sensors on full alert. It was a much more advanced model than the other andys, yet it could not detect any sign of biological life aboard this vessel. The metal doors at the end of the hallway slid open and 00001 stepped through into the meeting hall, a large room with a long table, rectangular table. At the end of the table sat it’s second in command, 03087. 03087 rose and bowed. “My lord,” said the robot in a cool emotionless voice identical to the rest of the androids. “I wasn’t expecting you to arrive so soon.” “I came as soon as I received your message.” said 00001. “Your troubles were more important than the minor work left to do on the planet.” “Minor work…so I take it that the holocaust is going as planned.” “Correct,” said 00001. “The destruction of humanity is in its final stages. Altrun has been successfully taken over by our kind. The last of the humans are being filed into death camps.” 00001 raised his hands and added, “Ari has smiled on us.” “Not all of us,” replied 03087. “Our troops have combed every inch of this ship, and we have found no trace of the prince or his guard.” “I see,” 00001 said. It sometimes hated it’s fellow androids. They’re programming was so far below its own that they boarded on obsolete. None of them were equipped with a religion chip like itself. It would have to do something about that when it had time. “Leave the room, and gather your troops together,” 00001 said. “I need a moment alone. Await my instructions.” “Yes, lord.” With another bow 03087 exited the room. Alone, 00001 raised its metal arms and began the prayer that lay buried deep within its programming: “Great god, Ari hear my cry. I humble myself before you and ask that you aid me in my mission, for it is a holy one and good in your sight. I ask that you show me the way and give me the means of carrying it out, great god. Your will be done. Amen.” 00001 lowered its hands. It wondered how long Ari would take to answer the prayer. But, it reminded itself, I must not rush Ari. He works in his own time. And his time was sooner than 00001 expected. For as he stood there, something registered on its sensor. It looked up and saw with its heat vision a man crawling through the air vent. All its pleasure sensors went off at once. Ari is truly a great god, it thought. For this must be the prince’s bodyguard. The fool had left me a heat trail to follow back to the prince’s location. It’s prayer had been answered. 00001 raised it’s arm and fired a shot at the air vent. It exploded, and the man came crashing to the ground. He lay still for a moment before jumping up and drawing his weapon on the android king. 00001 kept his laser focused on the human. Taylor prayed, Ari be with me. Great Ari guide me, asked 00001 Suddenly the first and final shot was fired. Ari’s will was done. Copyright 2008 Codi Del Rossi |
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