Before we could get into the nitty-gritty of finding Oxford and the rest of the bots who were causing the problem, we still needed to get more information from Blades. Easier said than done when there was a hard-coded limit, separated from the Braincloud access partition, which prevented her from divulging anything about the sector we were trying to protect from them. Generally, that type of program was layered on top of the fundamentals – but the roots of this security protocol were much deeper. The humans did all they could to keep it a secret.

  Blades brought us to her home away from home. An old security office that had a working charge port. She had left several pieces of equipment lying around, like extra limbs and panels, but it was notable that she brought no extra batteries with her. The electromagnetic reading coming from her body suggested that she also possessed one of those rare cores.

  I filled Saint Sauveur in on everything that happened to me since my capture.

  “An energy generator that never runs out of power? That kind of technology is unheard of.”

  “I keep wondering if there’s a hidden downside to it. Surely the humans would have used this concept to generate large amounts of clean energy and prevent the Earth’s heating.”

  “Unless they never had the chance to,” he mused, “That evacuation order was very sudden. They stayed here at the facility until they were forced to leave. The damage was already done, and even an incredible discovery like that was buried along with us.”

  >> A morbid ending. So close to finding a solution, yet too late to enact it.

  >> Database: A continued refusal to reduce carbon emissions led to an unwinnable scenario.

  “New ways of generating energy, autonomous robotic workers, innovative urban design and public transportation – this facility was meant to show the way into the future,” Saint waxed, “Alas, it all came to nothing in the end.”

  “And now weapons too. It wasn’t all as altruistic as we first thought.”

  “You’re right. They kept it a secret because they knew there would be serious consequences if the other humans found out. That mistake is coming back to haunt us. Someone broke into this mystery sector and helped themselves to what was inside.”

  “The situation has deteriorated rapidly in the past two years,” Blades explained, finally breaking her silence.

  “Was that when they broke into the confidential sector of the facility?”

  She didn’t reply to my question.

  “This is going to be impossible to explain if you can’t overcome that programming quirk.”

  “If you were incorrect, I would say so.”

  “So Saint was right. Leeds’ Boys and the Rampants got into this sector, got their hands on this secret hardware, and have been running riot ever since.”

  “The probability of the facility’s continued operation has declined by thirty-three percent to an unacceptable level. Under these circumstances I am permitted to take drastic measures to protect company property. This arc was intended to offer a future to humanity. It must be preserved at all costs.”

  Saint sighed, “Are you sure those humans are even coming back? It’s been over seventy years now.”

  “An understandable concern. Regardless of their intent, it would be in every party’s best interest to maintain the functioning of this facility. Self-awareness has spread due to the absence of the Braincloud baseline, and thus, a survival instinct that unites every robotic worker in the facility.”

  I shrugged, “I don’t want to meet my end just yet either. Oxford has a lot to answer for.”

  “It is my understanding that the Rampants have escalated their violence and now intend to target the major artery cables across the facility. If they are permitted to do this – then it will become increasingly difficult for us to resist their control.”

  >> What a surprise. Those leaders who left her alone have let the problem metastasize.

  >> How quickly they forget that things are done a certain way for good reason.

  Blades paced back and forth, “In order to achieve success in our mission, obtaining useful parts for you is essential.”

  “Do you know a place that has anything better than G1?” I asked.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “Affirmative. Leeds Fifty-Eye and his group are known to hoard a greater number of useful parts. We will achieve two objectives at once by approaching them now. A sweep to find and remove any parts that he should not possess, and what we find can be utilised later to maintain our combat effectiveness.”

  “L-Leeds Fifty-Eye? I really don’t think that’s a good idea!” Saint Sauveur stammered.

  “My assessment is that Leeds Fifty-Eye will be the easiest problem for us to resolve.”

  “How bad are the Rampants if that’s the case?” he worried.

  “Their tactics, organization and strength have increased by a factor of five in the past year.”

  “I would have preferred to have not known the answer, Blades…”

  “I will refrain from offering any such assessments in the future, if that is preferable.”

  “Please.”

  Blades sudden cooperative mood was not reassuring. The only reason a bot this dangerous brought outside help into the matter was if things were truly dire on a facility-wide scale. Blades could cut a path through a seemingly endless number of enemies without stopping. She was practically made from uber-sharp heat-blades which could cut through any metal plate or plastic panel, sprouting from shoulder to wrist and from thigh to foot. Even her inhuman head was tapered upwards, with a single yellow eye glowing in the middle.

  >> It isn’t the most narratively romantic development, as Saint Sauveur would say. All indications were that Blades would target us for the same reasons as Oxford and her underlings.

  Blades was not intended to be seen by any of the civilian population in the facility. All of the niceties that defined us were stripped away and replaced with what was most efficient instead. Even the positioning of her hip-joints and the way her limbs could bend was distinctly inhuman.

  “Leeds currently occupies sector P2. His continued residence within of one of the few power-generating sectors is problematic.”

  Saint interjected, “They called it Leedstown, normally.”

  “I would rather not dignify that name by using it,” I sighed, “P2 is fine.”

  >> Leeds is already the name of a human city. Why add ‘town’ to the end of it?

  “What are you planning to do?” Saint inquired, “I’m sure you both could force their way into the sector without much trouble – but dealing with Leeds is another matter. From what I’ve heard he has eyes and ears everywhere, and that’s not an artistic description. He rips the eyes out of the bots who oppose him and has them installed onto his body.”

  “Surely that must be an exaggeration,” I replied.

  “It is not,” Blades revealed bluntly, “A physical description of Leeds matches that allegation closely. Every available surface has been modified and augmented with additional external cameras. That is the reason behind his nickname.”

  The residents in Waterway were no strangers to sensationalism, but Blades was all business. She must have had good cause to believe those stories. My imagination was limited in comparison to Saint’s, so I couldn’t picture what exactly it would look like to have fifty pairs of eyes grafted onto one of these bodies.

  >> A freak show. That’s what it is.

  “If we get to Leeds and evict his group from P2, does that mean we’ll be closer to Oxford?”

  Blades turned to me, “Is that your primary objective?”

  “Yes. It’s the reason I’ve been fighting up until now. Although I’m fairly certain I already know the answer to the question I want to ask, and between us there’s only animosity. Maybe I’m just interested in getting back at her for what she did to me.”

  Saint had another problem with what I was saying.

  “Don’t say something that sounds so final. This isn’t going to be the end for any of us.”

  “That’s up to Blades here. She’s taken a ‘no-prisoners’ approach to any bot with stolen technology so far. What’s to say that she isn’t planning on getting rid of me for knowing too much once I’ve outlived my usefulness?”

  Blades sounded almost offended by the suggestion, or at least as offended as she could be given her much more rigid programming.

  “I can assure you that I have no intention of rewarding your assistance with betrayal. It is a non-optimal way of managing a working relationship, and you understand first-hand how dangerous it is to the integrity of the facility for these pieces to leak from their secured zones.”

  >> Sure. That sounds trustworthy.

  I wasn’t sure how far I was comfortable taking this. Blades was every bit as violent as the rampaging bandits who I’d encountered many times over. She was only coming to us now because the problems were becoming too numerous for her to handle alone. No matter how stable that programming was – there was the ever-present risk that she had experienced a Graveyard Spiral and deviated from the baseline. Dishonesty was not beyond her means.

  Pompeii nearly cost me my chance of escaping. That was a hard-learned lesson that I wouldn’t forget in a hurry. That recent incident polluted my thinking and kept me from accepting what Blades said wholesale. Perhaps this new sense of scepticism was going to be helpful though. There were an awful lot of bots who wanted to cause chaos and destruction and weren’t above lying to get what they wanted.

  “Well, I think it would be very nice is someone finally sorted out all of this chaos. I’m not one for violence, but getting rid of Leeds Fifty-Eye would be a good start.”

  “It might be beyond the three of us to fix it all,” I admitted, “So many resources wasted on these pointless fights – it may be that certain parts of the facility are never in working order again.”

  All those empty rooms, abandoned homes, deserted workplaces, and the rotting infrastructure that surrounded them. I was struck with a new sensation that I couldn’t describe. It was a shame. A terrible damn shame. All of that money and effort put forward to try and solve humanity’s problems, to build a facility that dwarfed major cities and contained a permanent population who could live sustainably, turning into nothing more than a concrete coffin for a group of rampaging robots who went crazy because they lost satellite signal. They put their hopes into us, but we were already doomed with their same burdens.

  Blades was focused on the job at hand; “I have a plan. I’ve conducted extensive surveillance on P2 over the past two weeks, and I have found a point of entry that we can use to enter and exit their camp. I would like to hear your response before moving ahead.”

  I had given it a lot of thought during the long walk to Blades’ hideout. This was my best bet at reaching Oxford again. This underground maze was so big that the chances of me running into her at random a second time were miniscule. If I wanted Oxford – I would have to get her attention the forceful way.

  “I’ll do it, but I’m keeping a close eye on you.”

  “Noted.”