Gyaros Book One: The Mice Eat Iron (YA 17+ Sci Fi Adventure) (29 page)

“Stand aside please, I need both of you outside until I stabilise the patient.” Miles stood up and began to leave the motel room.

“Don’t worry Lucy, I’ll be just outside, I’m not going anywhere. The Doctor will take care of you now.” Miles smiled as reassuringly as he could and closed the door behind him, the last thing he saw was Doctor Galand wielding a large syringe, presumably a sedative.

Outside on the second floor of the motel Miles slumped to the ground
exhausted beyond belief.

“Hi my name is Adara, Adara Woodward,” said the
attractive blonde lady reaching out a hand to Miles who grasped it and shook.

“Miles Stanton
,” Miles replied without making eye contact.

“What happened to the girl?”
asked Adara with a pained expression.

“We were attacked, in the middle of the night, by cannibal bandits
,” replied Miles.

“Oh
my God, that’s horrible!” she covered her mouth, looking genuinely shocked and sickened, “how did you escape?”

“They separated Lucy and me. I managed to beat the guy holding me, but when I found Lucy it was too late, they already cut off her arm. After that I…” Miles stopped suddenly unsure if he should share what happened next, unsure if it even did happen the way he remembered it!

“I…I killed them, there were two, I shot them and escaped with Lucy. We drove through the night to get here, Guppy told me about Humber Dam and about this motel. I…I didn’t think we’d make it…” Miles broke down in tears, the pent up emotional energy from the past few days finally broke the banks and he wailed and cried like a child. Adara sat next to him and put her arm around his shoulder to comfort him.

“Shhhhhh, it’s ok
ay, Doctor Galand is the best there is. He was once the head surgeon of one of the major hospitals in Elissa, he won’t say which one. All the Syndicates wanted him to work for them but he resisted and has been the resident General Practitioner and surgeon of Humber Dam for the past twenty two years. He’s a brilliant man, if anyone can save Lucy it’s him.”

Miles continued to weep uncontrollably. He had not been able to let his guard down since leaving The Dustbowl, and to a certain extent since arriving on Gyaros. Suddenly in the friendly atmosphere of Humber Dam, surrounded by seemingly kind and decent people Miles let go of every tear and sob he’d held back protecting himself and Lucy over the past while.
And boy were there a lot of them.

Miles woke up what felt like a few hours later, a pillow under his head and a blanket over his torso, still outside the door of room number twelve. He sat up, bleary eyed and squinting, the midday sun beaming down. He stood, shakily and leaned against the railing, looking down to the parking lot and reception area. Through the large glass windows of the reception he could see that Adara was busy dealing with residents, laughing and smiling her beautiful smile. Miles scanned the environment, the suburban houses reminded him of home. Although the décor and architecture was a hundred years older than what he was used to on Carthage, it still had that same, homely vibration. Children were playing with a hose on the front yard of the house directly opposite the motel. A girl around fourteen years of age was spraying her two shirtless brothers who attempted to shield themselves from the cold water using their hands. Their laughter was a tonic to Miles, it soothed his aching heart, and seeped into his flesh, healing the pain there too. He smiled, watching their childish antics and sighed deeply as though he was letting go of all the tension he’d built up living on Gyaros.

Miles heard the door squeak behind him, he turned quickly to see Doctor
Galand drying his hands with a green wash cloth.

“Is she…” Miles couldn’t finish the sentence.

“She’ll live, she’s still under the sedative,” said Galand, “my name is John Galand, I’m sorry we didn’t have time to make proper introductions before.”

“I’m Miles Stanton, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” said Miles shaking Galand’s hand with both of his, while sneaking a look over the Doctor
’s shoulder at Lucy sleeping on a sofa, “I can’t thank you enough for what you did!”

“It’s my job Miles, you don’t need to thank me,” said the older man smiling.

“Now, there are a few things I must ask you Miles,” said Galand turning deadly serious all of a sudden.

“Yes? What would you like to know?”
replied Miles.

“Did you do this to the girl?”

“My God no! Of course not, it was done by a bandit cannibal called Carl and his gang of sick bastards. I-I took care of them and got Lucy here as quickly as possible! I could never hurt her, never!” Miles argued convincingly.

“I see. We are not like The Dustbowl here. We make an effort to retain some semblance of humanity in Humber Dam and I need to know that your relationship with this girl is…appropriate
,” said the doctor looking over his glasses at Miles who was visibly taken aback, but understood Galand’s concern.

“I know it looks bad
Doctor, it’s true that she’s not my daughter, and we are not related. I found her in a crashed Talos shuttle a few days ago and I just couldn’t just let her go off and try to fend for herself in The Dustbowl, it would have been certain death for her, or worse!” Galand continued to stare at Miles looking for any signs of dishonesty. “I was a father back on Carthage, I have a young son, when I found Lucy I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t at least try to get her to safety. I don’t know what more I can say, other than you have my word that I’d die before harming that girl.”

There was silence for a moment and then Galand’s face broke into a smile and he spoke.

“I believe you Miles, we use force when we have to here, to defend what we’ve created, but we don’t like trouble. I think you are a good man Miles. Gyaros will push a man to do some awful things, but you haven’t let it turn you bad, and for that you have my respect.”

Miles breathed a heavy sigh of relief
as Galand smiled.

“Thank you Doctor. I can’t tell you how good it feels to be in the company of decent people again,”
said Miles now grinning as well.

“Come, let’s go to the diner and have a chat. Lucy will be fine, the sedative will last another
twelve hours and Adara will check on her from time to time.”

The two men headed down the metal steps and made their way to the eatery which was adjacent to the reception. They took their seats and ordered some food and coffee from the young waitress.

“Now Miles, there is one other thing we need to talk about,” the waitress brought a steaming pot of coffee and two cups, Galand shook two sachets of sugar, ripped the top off and tipped their contents into his empty cup before pouring in the pitch black coffee, “as I’m sure you noticed, the girl isn’t human, not completely anyway.”

“Yes, I saw the wound, I-I’ve never seen an
ything like it, what…what is she?” asked Miles in a low voice.

“Well I have seen something like this before, not to this extent of course, those wor
king in robots on Carthage have certainly made some strides…”

“Wait, robotics? Are you telling me that Lucy is a…” Miles was turning pale
when Galand interjected.

“Yes a robot, an android if you will,” said the doctor calmly, taking a sip of his black coffee.

“But…but she’s so real, how is this possible?!” Miles looked utterly stunned. Yes he had seen the wires but it was a different story hearing it confirmed by someone so knowledgeable on the subject.

“I don’t know Miles, as I said
, I’ve never seen anything so advanced. Her A.I. programming is the most humanlike I’ve ever seen, and her physical makeup is astonishingly realistic. This is not a robot covered with a prosthetic exterior designed to mimic a person, her exterior is made from living human tissue.”

“So, she’s kind of human? She’d a real girl but with some robotic enhancements?
” asked Miles desperate to find out what Lucy really was.

“Not exactly Miles.
This girl was created, not born, that is for certain. But the technology behind her design is far beyond my knowledge or understanding I’m afraid. Being a doctor I was able to stabilize the biological part of her, but I have no idea what damage has been done to her artificial intelligence module or other mechanical aspects.” The breakfast arrived, the Doctor had a salad, Miles ordered toast, he had very little appetite which would not have surprised anyone given the events of the past twelve hours.

“So she’s part human, she has skin, and blood, and organs and emotions?”
asked Miles as he half-heartedly buttered a piece of toast.

“Well yes,
except that everything is regulated by the reactor located where her heart would be, were she a human girl. She has a power core like all robots which acts as a kind of battery, it keeps the machine running and provides the massive amount of energy required to power the billions of individual computations necessary to run her A.I. and motor functions. The reactor regulates all circulatory functions as well, if she were to lose too much blood her systems would power down. For some reason she also has the capacity to eat and excrete, cry, laugh and so on despite these having no direct benefit to her functions as a robot.”

Miles
furrowed his brow in confusion, forgetting all about his half buttered toast.

“
So you’re saying it’s as if she was designed to act exactly like a human…” Miles said finally.

“Precisely,” said Galand pointing his fork at Miles before stabbing it at his salad
, “she doesn’t require food to run and yet she has been given an artificial stomach and digestive tract.”

“And she
feels hunger too, and tiredness,” started Miles. “Look I’ve been around kids, my own as well as friends and family and little Lucy had me convinced she was just a regular girl. In some ways it wouldn’t matter what you told me about her, I’d still worry and care for her.”

“Hmm,” Galand hummed while munching on a piece of lettuce and then gulping it down
, “the only organisations with the kind of brains and money to put something like that together are The Machine and The Carthage Defence Department. The only reason I can think of to create such a robot would be for infiltration, to lull people into a false sense of security, maybe for spying, maybe sabotage or assassination…”

Miles slammed the table with his hand.
“Lucy is nothing of the sort,” he cried angrily, “I don’t care why she was created, she’s not on any mission, she’s lost, she’s scared and the only person who has kept her alive and safe is me.”

“Calm down Mr Stanton, please,” Miles relaxed his shoulders
, “what do you know about this girl, what has she told you about her past?”

“Well that’s just the thing, she can’t remember, she doesn’t remember anything before landing on Gyaros a few days ago
.”

“Aha,” said the doctor sipping his coffee
, “and how do you know this memory loss isn’t part of her programming? How do you know it’s not part of some deception?” Miles was fuming, but he controlled himself.

“Listen Galand you haven’t seen what I’ve seen, you haven’t been through what I’ve been through with her. I won’t listen to you talk about her like that. I respect you and you have my thanks for saving her life, but please don’t
try to turn me against her, it will be a waste of my time and yours.”

“I’m not trying to turn you against her Miles, I’m simply looking out for the people of Humber Dam. I do not doubt you, but I cannot allow an unknown and potentially dangerous machine to stay in the town. You must understand Miles. Speaking of which, has Lucy displayed any unusual or destructive behaviour?” Galand pulled a pipe from his top pocket and lit it. He once again looked over his spectacles at Miles, studying his face closely. Miles memory darted back in time to when Lucy attempted to strangle him on the floor of Guppy’s Gas n Grub, and then image
s of Carl and Madison exploding into a million pieces flashed before him. Miles gulped and looked down at his cold toast.

“No, nothing at all.”

Galand propped his glasses back up and sighed deeply, as though disappointed that Miles had not been honest with him.

“You may stay until she recovers, then you must leave,” said the doctor dryly
, “that is no more than two nights including tonight, is that understood?”

Miles stood up sending his chair skidding backward.

“No, please Doctor, she needs to be taken care of by a family, by people who can give her the love and affection that every child deserves. I’m heading to New Fortune but it’s too dangerous for her, I promised I’d make her safe, please don’t force me to break that promise. Can’t she stay here, where she can be happy and safe?!” Miles’ face was red, he wasn’t angry, he was desperate. He didn’t want to believe that he had brought Lucy this far only to have to put her in harm’s way once again.

“Please sit down Miles, do not make a scene
.” Miles sat, suddenly aware of the attention he was attracting. “We try to resolve everything through negotiation here, but we will use force if necessary. You and the girl will be on your way by sunrise the day after tomorrow. We cannot have dangerous robots here…”

“But…” began Miles
. Realising his protests were pointless, he took a deep breath and began again.

“I’m sorry for acting the way I did. You took us in and saved Lucy’s life
, you are only looking out for your people, I understand that.” Miles mustered a smile, “we will leave at dawn the day after tomorrow, we’ll pay for your hospitality and we won’t cause you any more trouble.”

“Thank you Miles,” the smile returning to Galand’s face as well
, “I don’t mean to be so harsh, I’m very protective of the people of our town. While you are here you are our guests, and when you leave we will provide whatever provisions we can spare.”

The two men shook hands and finished their meals. Miles spent most of the rest of the day in room eleven. They had moved Lucy into the vacant room next door now that she had stabilized and Miles laid on the soft motel bed drifting in and out of exhausted sleep. It was the most comfortable Miles had felt in a month and the smile never left his face as he soaked up every cosy
second laying there languorously in the, relatively, luxurious double bed. Adara brought food to the room at meal times and Miles ate gratefully. Despite having to leave so soon, he was determined to enjoy the hospitality as much as possible. From time to time Doctor Galand would pop his head in and check on Lucy, adjusting her drips and taking note of her vital signs. After dinner Miles took a shower. It was such a bizarre experience, it felt like a thousand years had passed since Miles washed his own body so thoroughly and felt the sting of fast moving hot water against his skin. ‘My God, I’d completely forgotten how good this feels!’ He soaped up and rinsed off five times in total, that’s what it took to scrub off the grime of Gyaros. By the time he left the shower his fingers and toes were as wrinkled as raisins, another novel sensation he’d not experienced for what felt like an eternity. Miles wrapped a towel around his waist, and using the scissors he found in the cabinet behind the bathroom mirror, he hacked away at his rugged beard, doing his best to look part way civilized.