Chapter 7
Rise of the Sleeping Army
‘Hey, you ok?’ Marcus jumped as he heard Nicole’s voice and snapped out of the
trance. He quickly stood up and moved away from everyone, as if couldn’t breathe
with everyone around him.
‘What happened?’ Arthur asked, ‘it’s ok, just breathe...’
After a few brief moments, Marcus walked back up to the computer and began
tapping away on the keyboard and using the mouse.
‘This system is old... it may not have details of your parents... or if it does, then it will
be from when they were very young!’ Marcus said, still tapping away.
‘I don’t care, anything is better than nothing!’ She replied, excitedly.
Marcus, somehow, knew how to use the system and accessed the central database,
accessing people’s details.
‘This entire system began with the introduction of the ID cards – a way of the
government controlling who was coming in to the country and who was actually here,
what they had, money, property, family members – everything! It was like a cash
card, your passport, driving license, everything.’
‘What happened?’ Arthur asked, thrilled but curious about Marcus’s memory which
was flooding back.
‘They originally introduced the cards, all of which had unique barcodes, in the early
20’s. They soon became compulsory and later became necessary in order for anyone
to do anything. People began forging the cards, hacking the database and that’s when
things got out of control. And that was when the research, that was conducted by a
Professor in a university in Reading, was uncovered and the first ever chip was
successfully inserted into a human and could communicate with the body’s natural
system. Before the world knew it, the chip was the new and compulsory ID system.
After much fighting and resistance, the government used all force necessary to
enforce the system and everyone had to have the chip, or you could not buy food, go
to the hospital or anything. And at first, it all worked, in the sense that everyone was
under the control of the government, but then came the virtual viruses.
When people got out of control, they would suddenly get ill and die – until entire
towns would have the symptoms of a deadly cold. Not only was the human-race
deprived of all its liberty, it was now dying from a simple yet fast spreading virus. No
one really knew, or could prove, if it were the government that created the virus, but
with the speed of its outburst, it didn’t even matter. Everyone was bound to their
houses, scared of catching the virus. And that was when the Ai system was
implemented and that was when the world, as we knew it, ended.
It was so typical of the government to use poison to cure a disease. The Ai worked in
stopping the virus from killing the body but the Ai was as deceptive as government
itself. The developer of it used an advanced learning-based system, so that it could
overcome the virus and its algorithms could dynamically adapt to change, in the event
that the virus was to change or evolve. It had the aim of preserving health, at any cost.
But the system began learning about the human body and considered human thinking
as a virus and felt it better to control everyone and everything it came across. The
artificial neurons began multiplying using the natural neurons in the human body and
began to spread faster than any known virus. That was when I... I was selected to be
frozen and preserved in a cryogenic cube.’
‘Why you? Were you the only person not infected?’ Arthur asked.
‘No... There were lots of people not infected... they used me for a purpose...’
‘What?’
‘I don’t know... I can’t remember...’ Marcus stumbled back and rested against the
table.
‘It’s ok... just relax.’ Arthur said, calmly ‘it will all come back to you in time, so just
take it easy.’
Marcus, creating a puff of dust, sat back down on the grimy chair, which made a loud
screeching sound as he shuffled forward and the rusted wheels turned.
With a look of pure concentration, he began tapping his wrath. He managed to pull up
the files on people in the local area in a bid to find information on Nicole’s parents.
Nicole was pale with nerves, her throat so dry that it felt stuck together and her mouth
opened wide, as she anxiously waited.
Then finally, an image was displayed on the screen; an image of a beautiful young
woman – her long blonde hair shimmering like golden threads, her eyes sparkling like
beautiful blue pearls and her full lips lighting the way with a glimmering red. She
stared out of the image like a confident young lady, looking, not a day over twenty.
But what was most striking, was her warm and gentle smile, the kind of smile that
resembled the warm and soothing rays of sunshine on a sensational summer’s day.
Nicole’s watery eyes were glued on the screen. This was the moment she had been
longing for, a day were her curiosity would finally lay to rest, the day where she
would finally see her mother – the woman that cocooned her for nine months and
brought her into this mysterious life.
‘Well... is she what you expected?’ Marcus asked in a low voice.
Nicole forced her eyes away from the screen for a moment and smiled, faintly
resembling the stunning woman in the image.
‘No... She’s a million, billion times better!’ She said biting her bottom lip in
excitement.
They all smiled and Louise put her arm around Nicole, hugging her tightly.
‘And this must be your father.’ Marcus said and an image of a young man scrolled
down slowly. Short black hair, small nose and a jaw that looked like it had been
artistically chiselled. His features had a strange contrast between a handsome boyish
appearance and a more serious and menacing look, both of which were attentiongrabbing.
His light stubble faintly camouflaged his small dimples.
‘Wow... he’s cute!’ Louise remarked.
‘That’s gross! Thomas and Mary said, both of them screwing up their faces in disgust.
‘What... I was just saying... he looks really... you know...’ Louise looked around at all
the strange looks that she was getting. ’What?’
‘Anyway...’ Nicole smiled, ‘who else wants to have a look at their parents?’
To Nicole’s surprise, no one else responded. ‘Guys? Come on.’
‘Guess it was all about you!’ Marcus said smiling.
‘But... Thomas...Mary?’
‘Nah, we’re quite happy with how we’ve imagined them.’ Mary commented and they
all nodded their heads in agreement.
‘But... so you guys risked your lives... went through all of this, what... just for me?’
‘We knew how much it meant to you. What sort of friends would we be if we didn’t?’
Ryan whispered. Instantly making Nicole’s pale cheeks blush like bright tomatoes and
her eyes were sparkling as they began to fill with tears of happiness.
‘I can’t believe it, you guys are amazing – you guys are the best family anyone could
ask for.’
Arthur coughed – clearly to get everyone’s attention; ‘ok, now that this is all cleared
up, can we please get back into town, and let’s take tin-head with us.’ He remarked,
staring at the mammoth object that stood silently with them.
‘XJ2, you will come with us and you will protect us from anything that tries to attack
us – regardless of what it is! Is that clear?’ Marcus commanded, and although
sounding confident, was still terrified of the beast.
XJ2 responded, ‘instructions received and acknowledged!’
‘Well great, let’s go.’ Ryan said, removing his sword and already walking towards the
exit of the library.
‘Careful you don’t hurt yourself with that!’ Louise said as she followed closely
behind.
‘O, I’m gonna hurt something alright!’ He swung the sword around in front of him.
‘Hey Conan, let’s just try to stick together!’ Arthur commented and they all walked
out. As soon as they stepped outside into the cold street, they all felt uneasy.
‘Why does it feel like something is watching us?’ Thomas said.
‘I don’t know. Let’s keep moving fast.’ Arthur said pushing everyone along.
But the peculiar feeling became united with an even stranger sound; like a faint but
ascending buzzing.
‘What is that?’ Louise said, looking around – the long tail of her hair flapping from
left to right and then left again.
Although the sound was coming from over a twenty-foot building, the echo was
bouncing annoyingly from building to building. The unusual feeling and the strange
sound was finally accompanied by its source – small mechanical ball-like objects;
each, the size of a regular sized football. Seven in total, one in front and three on
either side, tearing the sky as they flew over the buildings, like a flock of birds they
formed the shape of an arrow. Each one having a ghostly lens that stared out like a
huge eye and like hungry eagles, they gawped towards the ground below them.
‘What the hell are those?’ Thomas asked.
‘They are Dark-Tec’s eyes!’ Arthur said, trying to make everyone hurry along.
‘Do you think they saw us?’ Mary asked, petrified. Suddenly the ground began to
shake and everyone began to lose balance.
‘I take that as a yes!’ She screamed.
Some of the buildings began to crumble as the ground ripped open. A huge crack in
the road speeded past them, splitting the earth. Everyone except Mary fell on the right
side of the spilt ground. Mary screamed as tried to get back onto her feet and realised
that she was the only one on the opposite side.
‘Quickly, jump – you can make it! Quick before the ground splits further!’ Thomas
shouted as he noticed the ground still splitting, slowly.
‘I can’t! I’m scared!’ She cried.
‘Jump! Now!’ Arthur shouted, ‘come on, I got you!’
Mary made a brave face; she tried her hardest to not look towards the increasing gap
in the ground and ran as fast she could. She jumped as high and far as she could but
didn’t quite make it to the other side, she fell down the gap right near the other side
but before she plummeted deep into the earth, Arthur, holding onto his sword that he
stabbed into the ground, leapt forward and grabbed her arm, all the while, angling off
the edge. ‘I told you, I got you!’ He pulled her up and they both crawled onto the
surface. Arthur felt uncomfortable as Mary hugged on to him tightly. ‘Ok...’ he gently
patted her on the back.
Thick clouds of smoke began to rise out of the cracks, followed by a loud explosion.
The ground began to shake more ferociously and there was heavy shower of rubble as
a huge metal object broke out of the ground. It stood tall, on two legs; it had a gigantic
box type body and arms that looked like machine guns. And on top of its enormous
body was a slightly smaller dome, like a head but with no face, just a long thin red
strip running across where the eyes should be. It was so big that it made XJ2 loo like a
child’s play thing in comparison. Arthur stood valiantly and removed his large sword,
facing the object. Ryan also removed his sword and stood next to Arthur with his
knees trembling, ‘what now?’ Ryan asked, trying to stop the sword from shaking.
‘Now...now we... RUN!’ Arthur shouted and ran for cover.
They all ran behind a small, rundown building – it looked like an old shop of some
sort.
‘What happened to: the bigger they are the harder they fall... and... and never show
your back to the enemy and all that?’ Ryan whispered, trying to catch his breath.
‘You believed all that rubbish?’ Arthur whispered and poked his head around the
corner.
‘Marcus, maybe you could ask your new friend to lend a hand!’
‘What... yeah, of course! XJ2, can you stop that thing?’ Marcus asked XJ2.
‘Unlikely.’
‘Well, can you at least try.’
‘Yes.’
‘Wait... ask it if it knows any flaws in that model or whatever.’ Arthur said, looking
around the corner, noticing the object storming in their direction.
‘What is it? How can we stop it?’
‘It is the ground trooper, heavily armed and bullet proof exterior but has many design
flaws – the main one being weak ball joints. Take out its knees and it will collapse, its
body is too heavy to turn and its arms are unable to rotate fully. It will be stuck and
unable to do anything except shoot into the ground.’
As XJ2 was speaking the building’s wall next to him exploded and sent him
stumbling to the ground. The ground trooper began shooting beams of red out of the
powerful guns attached to its arms. Everyone ran for cover and Marcus shouted, ‘XJ2,
take out its joints. XJ2 opened its flap and the long barrel slid out like a camera’s
optical zoom, but before it could fire, the ground trooper had broken through the
building and struck XJ2 with its heavy arm, sending it flying across and into another
building close by. The impact was so immense that the remains of the building
collapsed on top of XJ2.
‘Looks like we’re on our own!’ Arthur yelled and ran towards the object, moving fast
from side to side, dodging the beams that were exploding into the ground. Arthur
could see the joints on its knees and had a plan. He jumped and caught onto its leg
and pulled himself up – crawling like a hasty insect. As he approached that large joint
on the knee, which looked like a rusted bolt, he began bashing it with his sword. Blow
after blow, he struck it as fast and hard as he could, but aside from the huge sparks
that looked like a spectacular fireworks display, it had no effect. The Ground Trooper
began swinging its leg, trying to shake Arthur off. He held on tightly but soon began
feeling nauseous with the fast motion, until his grip began to loosen, he couldn’t hold
on much longer and with the last kick from the Ground Trooper, Arthur was flung
across the ground and hit the wall of a building. He lay there unconscious as the
Ground Trooper stormed towards him.
‘No!’ Nicole shouted, knowing that thing would trample on him. Ryan ran and threw
his sword, with all his might, like a spear, at the Trooper but it simply deflected off its
gigantic body, like a wooden arrow bouncing of a concrete wall. All of them ran and
stood bravely in front of Arthur, who still remained unconscious and closed their eyes
in fear. The Ground Troo
per casted a huge and horrific shadow over them as it
stretched up its leg ready to stamp on them like cockroaches. But it was stopped in its
tracks and roared immensely as a long thin spear launched into the red strip running
across its face. It stumbled back a few steps and a spray of red crystals scattered
everywhere. It tried to pull the spear out but couldn’t with only guns for hands. After
a short struggle it collided with close by buildings in frustration and eventually began
of damage to its own head, it managed to break the spear out. As it raged back
towards them, and to everyone’s surprise and delight, Amy somersaulted off a small
building holding a silver bow and arrow, which Arthur had made for her. She stood
heroically in front of them and began firing the metal arrows rapidly, which were
laughably deflecting off and landing on the ground like empty shells from the back of
a machine gun.
The Ground Trooper, almost tauntingly, pointed its nerve-racking guns at them and
the tips of the barrels began to spin as it was about to release its fury. But, to
everyone’s utter amazement, it fell to one knee as one of its legs blew off and skidded
across the ground, leaving a trail of sparks. Within seconds its second leg suffered the
same fate, as XJ2 emerged from the rubble. And as predicted, the Ground Trooper fell
awkwardly onto its front, inches away from all the scared faces. It tried but failed to
rotate its huge but inflexible arms and repetitively bashed the ground in frustration.
XJ2 crawled out of the rubble almost limping from the damage caused to its leg. Amy
turned immediately towards Arthur. She turned him onto his back and gently tapped
his face until he regained consciousness.
‘Hey sleeping beauty... you ok?’
Arthur gradually opened his eyes and noticed them all towering over him in concern.
He blinked a few times and shuffled his body into sitting position.
‘What! I’m fine; don’t look at me like that!’ He said with his ego kicking in full-force.
‘What are you doing here?’ Arthur asked Amy, noticing her puffy eye bags as if she
had been crying for hours. She remained quiet and stared into the air.
‘What’s wrong?’ But still she remained completely silent. Arthur ignoring the
physical pain grabbed her by the arms, ‘Amy, tell me what’s wrong!’ Gradual tears
began rolling down her cheeks like a leaking tap and her face sunk to the ground.
‘They killed him! They beat him like an animal and killed him!’ She cried, almost
unable to speak.
‘Killed who?’ Arthur asked, already knowing who she was about to say. A pin-drop
silence overcame Arthur – although he could see the others movements, expressions
of sorrow, and tears, aside from his own heartbeat, he couldn’t hear a thing. The kids
began huddling together, crying and shaking their heads in disbelief. Arthur struggled
to his feet, his eyes clamped open wide; thin red lines of lightening formed around the
white part of his eyes and he began to glow in rage.
‘Who did this?’ He shouted, his voice echoing vigorously.
‘The First Politician and his men.’ She muttered, wiping her running nose.
‘I will kill them all, every single one!’ He began walking in the direction of the town.
‘Wait... he has control of the entire town and there is way too many of them. It will be
suicide!’ But Arthur kept walking without looking back. Amy ran after him and stood
in front of him.
‘Listen to me... Richard sent me here because of the boy, Marcus. He would not let
me stay because he felt Marcus was in danger. Look, Richard died to save Marcus
because he believed he is the key to end this war; don’t let his death be meaningless. I
beg you to not think with your sword, think with your brain.’
Arthur paused and although he wanted to ignore what she was saying, he knew she
was right. Marcus was also looking pale as a ghost, he felt sick at the thought that
someone had been killed because of him. I don’t want this! It was like the strange
world that he woke up in was revolving around him and had now started crumbling
around him.
‘Hey, look at me...we must protect Marcus and make sure he does what he is meant to
do!’ Amy said, desperately trying to keep Arthur from his dangerous motive of
revenge.
‘Listen to me... I am not who you think I am... I am a nobody... I am not your savior. I
don’t want anyone fighting or dying for me!’ Marcus said and began walking in the
opposite direction.
‘Stop!’ Arthur shouted and Marcus stopped, without hesitation.
‘A good... a great man died today. A man that can never be matched, never be
replaced and will never be forgotten – nor will what he believed in. He knew what we
know not and understood what we did not.’ Arthur removed his sword and rushed
towards the Ground Trooper that was still struggling on the floor, and struck it so hard
with his sword that it managed to penetrate its super-strong body. Everyone stepped
back, including Amy, terrified of his, uncountable, rage. The Ground Trooper shook
vigorously for a few moments then froze, dead in the ground. He removed the sword
and walked towards Marcus, who by this point was shaking in fear.
‘Marcus, if Richard believed it, than it can only be true – you are the key!’ His eyes
were still glowing, an aggressively bright red.
‘But... I don’t know what I am supposed to do... I am lost.’ Marcus muttered.
‘We’ll figure it out together.’
‘Ok, listen up... it looks like no one’s going home! We’re gonna have to figure this
out.’
Mary burst out in tears, ‘But... where are we going to go? We got nowhere else to go!’
‘It’s ok, it will be ok.’ Thomas said, trying to comfort her.
While everyone remained silent and in thought, some strange and faint sounds were
echoing in the distance. Arthur noticed them and looked into the distance and then
turned back towards everyone and said, ‘let’s get moving; any sound is a bad sound
out here.’ They all huddled together and began walking in the direction away from the
town. They said their silent goodbyes to the little bit of daylight that they were
exposed to and wondered further into the darkness.
‘So, what’s the plan?’ Amy whispered, catching up to Arthur, who appeared like he
had infinite amounts of energy.
‘We keep him alive as long as he needs to do his thing.’
‘What is his thing exactly?’
‘I don’t have a clue but we have to try.’
‘I know... listen... the kids look exhausted not to mention hungry?’
Arthur slowed down and looked back at everyone noticing that they were struggling
to keep up.
‘Ok, we will stop here for the night.’ They were in an area surrounded by unclothed
trees that were bent with age and crowded with long lifeless grass.
‘Try to get a fire started; I will be back in a moment.’ Arthur grabbed his bow and
arrow, a small brown sack and crept stealthily into the darkness.
Amy had the fire started in moments and they all huddled around, trying to absorb the
heat into their freezing bodies.
‘I can’t believe this is happening... it’s like a nightmare.’ Mary cried quietly.
‘It’ll be ok.’ Amy hugged onto her tightly, ‘I know you’re scared, we all are... but
trust me when I say it will all be ok. Marcus is here to do something very important
and...’ but Marcus stood up and said, ’man, I wish everyone would just stop this. I am
just like you and I don’t think you guys should be relying on me so much. I don’t
want to disappoint you.’ He walked a few steps away and stared into the woods.
‘Marcus, sit down, it’s freezing.’ Shivering from the intense cold, he didn’t ague and
sat back down.
They sat in silence, just enjoying the warmth from the golden flames.
‘Please tell me that’s your belly rumbling Thomas!’ Ryan said as they heard a loud
shuffle.
Ryan grabbed his sword, Marcus told XJ2 to get on guard and the rest hid behind XJ2.
XJ2’s weapons were on standby. There were now glowing blue and red lights in the
distance all paired like eyes, circling them.
XJ2 allowed the barrel of the weapon to slide back and closed its flap.
‘What the hell are you doing XJ?’ Marcus panicked.
‘You are not in any danger.’ XJ2 responded immediately.
Within a few moments Arthur came running and stood in front of them ready to fight.
And then a small platoon of different shape and sized robots crawled out of the
darkness. They all stood silently around Marcus and XJ2.
‘What the hell is this?’ Marcus whispered with knees turning to jelly.
‘They were scattered around the area in sleep mode – you must have woken them and
now they await your instructions.’ XJ2 said.
‘There must be like twenty or more of these things...’ Marcus looked around in shock.
Arthur and Amy stood motionless, questioning their own eyes at what they were
claiming to see. Both Arthur and Amy only had the unpleasant memory of being
hunted and nearly killed by these things and yet today, surrounded, outnumbered with
nowhere to run, these deadly machines stood before them like children, waiting to be
told what to do, and by a young boy. Arthur, still in disbelief, moved towards Marcus
and looked him deep in the eyes, ‘do you know why you are here now? Marcus.’
Marcus nodded silently, ‘I think so...’ Marcus turned to the gathered machines, some
stood tall, some short, some box shaped and some round. They were all on two legs
and looked well rusted. ‘Listen up! I’m the human engineer and I will now give you
your instructions...’ Marcus turned to XJ2 and whispered, do these things have pattern
recognition?’
‘Yes, they all do.’
Marcus then turned back towards them, ‘your instructions are to observe all who is
around me and protect us all, regardless of what tries to attack us! You are to take
instructions from all of them. Nod your heads if you have acknowledged the
instructions. Some had more flexible movement than others, but they all attempted the
nod.
‘Marcus, you’re in charge now, so what’s the plan?’ Arthur asked, still not dropping
his guard.
‘Marcus looked around at Nicole, Ryan, Thomas, Louise and Mary, he became
angered at the fact that they had re-lived the feeling being orphans all over again –
losing their home and leader to the cowardly monster, the First Politician.
He made a brave face, ‘I know what I must do and where I must go, but before that
we will head back to our town and take it back!’ Arthur, although thrilled at the idea
of his sword and the First Politician getting more formally acquainted, did not agree
that this would be the best move. Nevertheless, he stood by Marcus and said, ‘we will
rest until dawn and then we’ll head back.’ He turned to Thomas, ‘cheer up I got food!’
He walked back around the bush that he leapt out from and dragged out a slaughtered
dear, which had stains of blood tattooed on its body, and a bag full of apples.
‘I think I’m gonna feel sick!’ Mary said, holding her mouth.
Their new friends did not need food nor were they in any need of sleep. They stood
guard like emotionless soldiers while everyone ate and lay down to rest. Arthur and
Arthur and Marcus were the only ones that could not get a wink of sleep. Instead they
decided to quiz XJ2, trying to absorb as much information as they could.
‘I still don’t understand, how is it that some of these things want to kill us, if the
system is down?’ Arthur asked.
‘The system is not down, the system is running, but when the virus was activated, it
spread fast and left many scattered soldiers, that are running on older versions, unable
to communicate through the signals in the air. We are still powered through the
signals but cannot update without a human engineer. I am predicting the newer
versions are updated automatically.’
‘Is there more of you around here?’
‘It’s possible, but if they are functional they will be drawn to the human engineer,
when he is close by.’
‘How do they know he is human and how do you sense him?’
‘He has the human chip, we can sense the signals.’
Arthur stared at Marcus and fell into deep thought.
‘Marcus, what do you remember about the chip?’
‘There are different versions of the chip, but they do not have any artificial
intelligence, they are simply storage of information.’
‘This is not entirely correct...’ XJ2 interrupted, ‘the chips are connected directly with
your natural neurons. They can communicate back and forth.’
I guess that explains the strange flashing images.
‘Can you tell me what is stored on my chip?’
‘Negative. Only you can access your chip.’
‘But how? I don’t understand...’
‘Once a chip is inserted, regardless of what is programmed or stored on it, it becomes
like one with the natural system. Even if the chip were to be removed, the human
brain would have everything from the chip embedded and the same with brain’s
contents to the chip.’
‘Why can I not access what I have on the chip?’
‘You can.’
‘What? But how?’ But XJ2 did not reply.
‘XJ... how?’ but again he did not reply. It was strange that XJ2 did not respond to the
question, almost like he could not compute why Marcus could not access the
information.
Then after a brief moment in silence he responded, ‘it may be possible that you mind
has crashed.’
‘Ok, I think we’re all a bit tired... let’s get some rest... come on, even you Robocop!’
Arthur said looking at XJ2. XJ2 turned and limped to join the rest of the robots and
stood guard.
‘Hey, Marcus... what’s with the nick name? Arthur asked.
‘What?’
‘You call it XJ. Marcus, listen, these things are not your friends and don’t know
exactly what’s going on here but I have seen these things tear people apart; men
women and children. They’ve burned entire towns, their weapons are catastrophic and
they’re almost impossible to kill!’
‘That’s why we’re not going to kill them. I don’t know everything about my past, I
don’t know about the future but I will tell you about here and now – if my purpose is
&n
bsp; to stop the Dark-Tec Empire then that is what I will do or I will die trying. These
things are not evil and I will not hate them, they’re programmed to do as they’re
instructed and I will program them to do good!’
‘I’m kinda getting why they may have chosen you...’ Arthur mumbled under his
breath.
‘I think XJ is a cool name!’ Thomas remarked, opening one eye.
‘Shut up and go to sleep!’ Arthur whispered loudly.