Dead Hunt

CHAPTER 20 – The Awakening

They didn’t have much time. Robin told them the bombing was to commence at 2300 hours. The military was waiting for the winds to shift so the fallout would blow east and dissipate harmlessly over the Atlantic Ocean. It was noon, so that gave them eleven hours to do what Robin wanted and get their collective asses to the Causeway.

Robin’s plan, in theory, was relatively simple, due mostly in part because her dear father, the late Professor Heslin, had already planted the necessary seeds. The cryo-preservation canister had its own computer that was already programmed to ‘wake’ the real Robin when he activated it, and it was programmed to download all the data in the storage drives to a tiny chip that he implanted in the real Robin’s brain. Heslin wanted all the conversations he and Robin had to be implanted into the real Robin’s brain as memories.

In theory it made sense; in reality, Heslin was a twisted fuck. The death of his daughter had warped his brilliant mind. Years of talking to a computer as if it was his daughter hadn’t helped Heslin much in the reality department. Dump data onto a chip in a living brain, actually, a dead brain that he planned to reanimate with a formula that was turning people into cannibalistic zombies? Not exactly Daddy of the Year Material, but it did raise a lot of questions as to how far a parent would go for their child. And how far was too far?

While they prepared everything, Lucy learned that most of the information Robin gave them was from Lucy’s own blood. Lucy realized that Robin didn’t actually know if she was infected until after she got the blood and tested it. When Michael questioned Robin about infecting someone with a kiss, Robin simply scanned her databanks, learned what a kiss was, why people kissed, associated that kiss with love and, because of her limited understanding of her father’s love for her, Robin put the necessary pieces into place and promptly lied to Michael for her own benefit.

“Remember the cellar,” Michael warned her in the video.

In the cellar Robin had lied. It wasn’t until after Robin got Lucy’s blood that Michael realized she lied to him. He didn’t know if Lucy was infected. He didn’t know if the formula she instructed him to make would slow down the turning process, as she said,or if Robin infected him with the same strain of virus to turn him into a host too. Lucy knew Robin may have been originally created with artificial intelligence, but the depth of her sneakiness knew no boundaries. Lucy also knew the lengths Michael would go to, and the risks he would take for her knew no boundaries either.

The both knew they had no choice but to trust a computer that could not be trusted.

“It’s ok, Luce, we’re going to be ok,” Michael reassured her, snapping her back to reality.

She looked into his eyes. “I don’t have your strength Michael. I’m…I’m scared.”

Without saying a word, Michael leaned down and gently pressed his lips to hers. She bathed in the beauty of that sweet and gentle kiss. When their lips parted, he smiled a gentle, loving smile.

“I am sorry I had to bring you back to this place,” he said with softened words. “But I didn’t know what else to do.”

“It’s ok, Michael,” she reassured him. “I would rather die here in the arms of someone who loves me, than…” Lucy didn’t finish her sentence. Michael did that finger to the lips thing again.

“You are not going to die,” he promised her. “I won’t let it happen.”

She believed him.

Lucy enjoyed the reassuring strength of his arms for a while longer, then motioned that it was time to get back to work. Heslin may have put all the pieces in place, but they had to manually load the terabytes of father-daughter data streams from backup drives and load it into the cryo-computer. Robin helped in that process, but the physical moving of storage drives was something she could not to. As sophisticated as she was, she still needed humans to do physical tasks.

Lucy learned that, to Robin, she was little more than bait. Michael possessed the knowledge of computers and science to help Robin, but Robin had to make sure Michael would help her. Lucy was Robin’s insurance policy that he would help.

Lucy watched Michael working tirelessly in the cramped basement, crawling under service panels in the lab, then back down to the basement and every other task Robin set him to do. Lucy couldn’t help but admire his determination. He never complained; he never faltered. Robin told him what to do, and he did it. And he did it all for Lucy. Lucy felt a funny sensation twirling in her stomach that she never felt before, and, as she watched Michael crawl under yet another service panel, it didn’t take her long to figure out what that sensation was. Lucy walked over to Michael and pulled him out from under the service panel.

“What’s wrong, Luce?” he asked.

“I forgot.”

“You forgot what’s wrong?”

“No, silly,” she answered with a smile. “I forgot to do this.”

She leaned down and pressed her lips to his. It wasn’t the sweet and gentle kiss like before; it was hard and passionate. Their tongues danced together as she gripped the back of his head and pulled him even closer to her as if that was even possible. When she finally broke free from the embrace, they were both breathing heavily.

She leaned down once again, kissed him gently on the lips and whispered, “I love you too.”

Michael’s eyes widened. A smile broke across his lips.

“So hurry up and do whatever it is you have to do so we can get the hell out of here…together.” She smiled back at him.

Michael’s smile formed into a grin, too stunned to reply.

“It is time,” Robin announced a few minutes later, “to initiate the final transfer.”

“What’s the final transfer?” Lucy asked.

Michael just shrugged as he crawled out from under the access panel.

“When you start the awakening process,” Robin told them, “the program will automatically start to download the data to the chip in my human brain. For this final transfer the Robin 1 Mainframe must be shut down.” Robin paused for a moment, “I must be shut down. There is an override that turns me off for a period of one hour. During this hour my system is vulnerable. I can not protect it.” She paused again before adding, “I cannot protect myself.”

Robin looked hard at Michael, then continued, “If something goes wrong and my system does not reboot, you will not get the cure.”

“What if the awakening doesn’t work?” Lucy asked.

“Then you do not get your cure,” Robin answered.

“Wait!” Michael argued. “That’s not fair. This whole thing was set up by you and Heslin. He couldn’t even get the original formula right, and you are only going by procedures he set up. I did everything you asked.”

“Yes,” Robin agreed, “you did.” Robin looked at Lucy. “A testament of his love for you.”

“What do you know about love?” Lucy scoffed.

“Not very much.” Robin’s face took a more surreal look. “It saddens me that on the eve of my awakening, my father will not be here. I will be awakened an orphan.” Robin turned to Lucy. “If you promise that you will look after little Robin, like a sister, I promise that as soon as I am rebooted, I will present you both with the cure you need.”

Lucy did not answer.

“Please do not blame little Robin for the mistakes of her father,” she paused, then added, “or mine.”

“I cannot promise to take care of a child when I’m just a teenager myself,” Lucy said. “We have laws. But, I promise to do the best I can to make sure Robin is taken care of by a loving family.”

“That is acceptable.” Robin announced, “Start the sequence.”

Michael flicked the switch on the console to start the smaller computer and Robin flashed written text on the screen. Michael read it out loud.

“Go to sleep now, Robin.”

Robin’s face disappeared and all was silent. Silent, except for the sound of escaping gas as the cryo-preservation canister slowly released the liquid nitrogen.

Time seemed to stand still as the small computer inside the Cryo-chamber kicked in and started to download information. Both Michael and Lucy doubted it would work. How could the same virus that turned people into walking zombies that ate people bring this little girl back to life? All Robin would offer for an explanation was that the formula was meant to be injected into non-living tissue, not spread in drinking water. It sounded reasonable enough, but they really didn’t care, as long as they lived through this. They didn’t give a rat’s ass about super computer or frozen orphan Annie. They just wanted to get the cure and get the hell out of Dodge before the whole island was lit up like a Chernobyl Christmas tree.

Forty-five long minutes later the canister opened and in it lay a sleeping angel. Her tiny body was blue from the cold, and instinctively Lucy covered the child with a blanket. Michael slowly started removing the diodes and wires from the child as previously instructed by Robin. They carried the child upstairs to the lab and laid her on a table. She still did not move. At the turn of the hour, the Robin 1 Mainframe came back online and gave Michael the final instructions. Following Robin’s directions he created two formulas: Heslin's original formula, slightly modified, and a second completely different formula. Robin told him the second formula was for them.

“Michael,” Lucy touched his arm and whispered, “remember the cellar.”

“I know, Luce, but what choice do we have?”

“How much time do we have,” Lucy asked Robin, “before the bombs?”

“Six hours, forty-five minutes, twenty-three seconds.”

Michael injected the first syringe into little Robin, then led Lucy into the lounge area and sat her on the large, leather sofa.

“I’ll go first,” he said and without warning jammed the needle into his arm.

“Michael!” she screamed.

“Had to do it quick. I hate needles,” he explained.

Michael administered the required amount and handed the syringe to Lucy.

“I…I can’t,” she told him. “I’m scared.”

Michael gently lifted her arm and kissed the inside crease of her elbow. With the greatest of ease he let the tip of the needle gently puncture her perfectly soft and smooth skin. He heard the tiniest of sounds as Lucy said, “Ow.” He withdrew the needle, tossed it aside, and kissed the wound. She curled into his reassuring arms and they waited in silence. The injection would either cure them or kill them. Michael promised her that Robin still needed them to get little Robin off the island, so Robin would not try to harm them. She couldn’t. She still needed them.

As they sat on the couch in each other’s arms, they heard Robin say, “It’s time to go now.”

They both looked up at the monitor but saw that it was blank. Their eyes dropped to a tiny, smiling figure standing in the doorway, wrapped in a blanket.