Alliance (13 page)

System scan complete. Report indicates
that nothing vital was destroyed or irreparably damaged by the
lizard humanoid's claw, but I still need to have a certified J bot
technician repair what was damaged as quickly as possible. My legs
are still in working condition, so I stand up, but as soon as I do
so, I hear something coming behind me.

Turning around, I see that it is another
lizard humanoid, this one with blood covering its face (unable to
ascertain whether that is its blood or the blood of one of the
Foundation agents), as it charges me even faster than its brethren.
I aim my fingers to shoot lightning bolts at it, but the lizard
humanoid is faster than I can shoot.

It slams headfirst into my abdomen,
causing me to stagger backwards. I trip over the lizard humanoid I
killed and fall on my behind, but I take advantage of the fall and
roll backwards out of the range of the lizard humanoid that had
slammed into me.

Rising back to my feet, I aim my fingers
at the creature again, but then it breathes a stream of fire at me.
I jump aside to avoid being melted by the flames and then shoot my
finger lightning bolts at the lizard humanoid.

The bolts strike the lizard humanoid dead
on, causing it to collapse immediately. And a quick scan of its
corpse tells me that it is indeed dead.

I glance around the area, but I do not see
any other immediate threats nearby. Almost all of the lizard
humanoids are dead now, having been slaughtered by the Foundation
agents, while the surviving handful have been captured with thick
steel chains around their wrists and ankles, their mouths shut
tight with metal muzzles (though I am not sure where they got those
muzzles).

As for the Foundation agents themselves,
they do not seem to have suffered as many casualties as the lizard
humanoids have. Some of the agents are dead—for example, a dwarf
whose face is now little more than burnt meat—but the rest are
alive, albeit wounded or injured in many ways. Still, it seems like
the wounded will survive, especially now that the enemy is
defeated.

The surviving lizard humanoids are dragged
out of the room by some of the Foundation agents, while the rest
stay behind to clean up the corpses of the ones they killed. They
are far more efficient and quick than I expected them to be,
because the agents waste no time in gathering the corpses into one
large pile near the right side of the room, away from the corpses
of their fallen fellow Foundation agents.

As they clean up the corpses, Konoa walks
up to me. He still wields that short sword from before, although it
is now covered in blood and his sweaty face is covered in
scratches. His shirt has been ripped down the front, partially
revealing his chest, but he looks better than I expected him to
look after fighting so many of those vicious beasts.

“
Thanks for destroying
the Portal, J997,” says Konoa. He nods at the broken Portal,
although it is a tired nod. “If you had not destroyed the Portal
like that, we probably would have been completely overrun by those
monsters.”

I nod. “It is nothing. I only did what I
had to do.”

Then I gesture at the surviving monsters
that are being hauled out of the room. “What will happen to the
survivors?”

“
That is information I
am not at liberty to disclose to you,” says Konoa. He shrugs
sheepishly. “I mean, I would like to, since I think you deserve to
know it after all of the help you've given us, but you are still
technically not an agent, so I can't tell you that.”

I nod, partly because I understand the
need to keep certain things secret from outsiders, and partly
because I suspect that the creatures are going to be dissected and
examined by the Foundation's resident scientists. Or, since this is
Dela, by their resident wizards and witches, although I do not know
if they have any wizards or witches who specialize in dissecting
living creatures.

So, changing the subject, I point at one
of the dead agents, the dwarf from before, and ask, “And the dead
agents? What will be done with them?”

“
All of them will be
given proper funerals, naturally enough,” says Konoa. His shoulders
slump and he sighs. “But that will have to be for later. Right now,
the Head needs to know about our victory over the intruders, if she
doesn't already. I also need to find out what her next orders for
us are.”

“
By 'us,' are you
including me as well?” I ask. I point at the floor. “Or am I
supposed to return to my room several floors below?”

Konoa strokes his chin in thought. “Well,
that depends mostly on what the Head wants, but I think it is
likely that you will be returned to your room, yes.”

“
Even after I helped
save your base from being overrun by these monsters?” I
ask.

“
Well, as I said, it
really depends on what the Head wants,” Konoa says. “Normal
protocol is that visitors—when we
have
visitors, which we
rarely do—usually aren't even
allowed
to wander around the
base, much less help us fend off an unexpected enemy invasion. So I
do not know for sure what the Head will have you do.”

“
But you think it is
more likely that she will return me to my room,” I say. “At least
until this situation with Reunification is taken care of,
yes?”

Konoa nods. “That is probably what she
will tell us to do with you, yes.”

I nod. “I understand. But first, I must
tell you something, Konoa.”

Konoa frowns and folds his arms across his
chest. “And what is that?”

I lash out, punching Konoa in the face.
The blow knocks Konoa off his feet, but I catch him before he can
fall to the floor and then turn him around to face the other
agents, who now notice me holding their fellow agent against his
will.

Just as I expected, the agents are not
happy about my actions. Ignoring the corpses of the lizard
humanoids that they have yet to clean up, they begin to advance on
me, but they stop when I wrap one of my hands around Konoa's
throat. Konoa makes a gulping sound, but my scanners indicate that
he is too afraid of what I might do to him to act.

“
Machine, what are you
doing to Konoa?” Rozan asks. The hems of his robes are burnt black,
likely from the fire breath of the lizard humanoids, and there is a
bad gash on his left arm, although he appears to be well besides
that. “Why are you holding him like you're taking him
hostage?”

“
I do not mean to cause
anyone harm,” I say, twisting Konoa's left arm behind his back as
uncomfortably as possible. “But the fact is, I am not an agent of
this 'Foundation' and I have no interest in staying here or helping
you in whatever it is you are doing. As a law enforcer of Xeeon, I
must return to Xeeo immediately to reconnect with the Database and
inform my fellow officers of my status. I do not wish to spend an
indefinite period of time locked away in that tiny room
again.”

“
Why'd you take Konoa as
a hostage, then?” says Rozan. He rubs his forehead in exasperation.
“Do you have a screw loose or something?”

“
None of my screws are
loose,” I say. “And while it normally goes against my programming
to hold innocents hostage, I know you will not let me leave of my
own free will even if I ask politely; hence, why I will let Konoa
go only if I am allowed to leave freely.”

“
By Waran-Una's name,”
says Rozan. He shakes his head. “This is why I don't trust robots.
They pull stuff like this at the last minute, completely out of the
blue. Palos should have left you to be destroyed by Jornan back
there.”

“
I am sorry you think I
am not a good example of robots in general, but I do not care to be
though of as a well-behaved robot right now,” I say. “Now, if you
would all move out of the way and let me leave this room, then I
will let Konoa free without harming him, as I said
before.”

Scanners indicate that the agents before
me—by my count, 40 in all—are confused and angry, though mostly
angry. While most of their anger seems to stem from my taking Konoa
hostage, I also believe they are worn out from battling and killing
the lizard humanoids, which is probably contributing to their bad
moods. Many of them wield swords or other weapons, which are
covered in blood from the earlier battle.

But I do not care if they are angry,
confused, or happy. What matters is whether they will agree to my
offer. I do not intend to murder Konoa—my programming specifically
forbids me from murdering innocents or individuals who do not pose
a threat to my safety or the safety of others—but I will harm him
if necessary. The only question is whether the agents will agree to
my offer or not. I am not certain what I will do if they refuse,
but I will figure it out if that happens.

Then Rozan chuckles. He gestures at his
fellow agents, saying, “Lower your weapons, boys. I think this
robot made a reasonable request.”

“
Rozan?” says Konoa. His
voice trembles. “Why are you—”

“
Because we don't
need
the robot around here anymore,” says Rozan. He wipes
some blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. “He can go and
find his way back to Xeeo all on his own. No one will believe him
if he tries to tell them about us; what's the harm?”

To say I am suspicious of Rozan's sudden
change in attitude is an understatement. I do a quick scan to see
if Rozan is lying, but his body does not display any of the typical
symptoms of a liar. For whatever reason, Rozan genuinely appears to
want to let me go.

“
What's the harm?” says
Konoa. He grimaces, likely due to the pressure I am putting on his
left arm. “Rozan, you of all people should know what the harm is in
letting J997 go.”

“
All I know is that
clickers like him can be ridiculously hard to stop, even with forty
Foundation agents working together to take him down,” says Rozan.
“So why waste precious time keeping him here when we could use that
same time figuring out what Reunification's next move will
be?”

“
What about the Head?”
asks Konoa. “Did you speak with her about this?”

Rozan scowls. “Look, it doesn't matter.
Rina, why don't you teleport our guest out of here? No need to
delay, after all.”

That is when I notice Rina, the witch from
before. She is not standing with the other agents; instead, she is
standing twelve feet to my right. She does not appear to have been
in the battle at all, as I see no scars on her or wounds. Even her
clothes appear to be in perfect condition, although I do not recall
seeing her during the battle.

Before I can react, Rina raises her hand
and snaps her fingers.

As soon as she does, I feel Konoa slip out
of my fingers, while the world around me turns black for a split
second.

The next moment, I find myself standing in
the middle of a wintery, snowy landscape, with no sign of the
Foundation or any sort of Delanian civilization for as far as my
optics can see.

***

Chapter
7

S
canners indicate that the
temperature of the environment around me is below 10 degrees. While
I am not in danger of freezing thanks to my internal heating
systems, it is still not good for me to be out here in this weather
for a prolonged period of time.

Snow is falling from the sky; not very
heavily, but my interior weather forecast system suggests that a
heavy snowstorm is on its way here and that I should look for
shelter right away. Although I may be a strong robot lacking the
usual weaknesses of most organics, it will not be wise for me to
stay out here in the middle of a blizzard. There is a high chance I
will be frozen and buried in snow, and with the apparent lack of
civilization for as far as my optics can see, there is no guarantee
at all that anyone will find and dig me out of the snow, should
that happen.

Where, exactly, have I ended up? Aside
from the heavy snowfall everywhere, mountain peaks tower around me,
and the ground is rocky and uneven under my feet. I appear to have
landed in some kind of frozen mountains, possibly the Winterlands,
the coldest place on Dela. The pictures of the Winterlands in the
mobile Database resemble what I am currently seeing, although there
are no trees within my vision and there does not seem to be any
sign of life at all.

I also wonder why Rina the witch
teleported me out here in the middle of the Winterlands. Is the
Foundation's Delanian branch located in the Winterlands? That is a
possibility, as long-range teleportation is not easy for most
wizards and witches to accomplish (according to the mobile
Database's files on the subject, anyway). If so, then their
headquarters is probably somewhere nearby, although with all of the
snow piled everywhere, I cannot locate it even with my
scanners.

But I do not need to. I am now free from
that place. All I need to do now is find a nearby village or town
whose inhabitants can point me in the direction of the nearest
Portal to Xeeo and then I will hopefully be able to reestablish
contact with the Database in a few days or weeks. According to the
mobile Database, most of the Winterlands' settlements—including the
large city of Delig—are located on the southern end of the
mountains, where it is warmer and easier to live.

The problem is that I do not know my exact
location, so I have no idea which way is south. Nor can I connect
with any satellites in the sky above to aid me, as the Delanians do
not use satellites and have forbidden several Xeeonite companies in
the past from establishing satellites in Dela's orbit.

Then again, this may be for the best. If
the Foundation's agents told me the truth earlier, then I am a
wanted criminal in Dela. If I reconnect with civilization, then I
run the risk of being arrested and possibly even destroyed. That is
not an exaggeration; I know how well the Knights of Se-Dela are
respected, even outside of their home country, and so if everyone
believes that I murdered them, then only the cruelest punishment
awaits me, especially if I run into more Knights.