Reborn (The Cartographer Book 2) (27 page)

I slid into the vehicle and rubbed my eyes in disbelief. “Well, I am ready to go in my 1950s New York
conveyance
.” I laughed in spite of the absurdity of it all. The robot closed the door left. I looked at the front seat and noticed that there was no driver. With the exception of a large metal plate embedded in the driver seat, the cab was empty.

“Um, who the hell is driving this thing?” I turned to the window but the robot was gone.

“Manny, driver number four-oh-four, at your service,” a voice boomed from the front of the cab.

Where there was once an empty plate there was now a holographic projection of a driver. “Manny” was a human hologram with shoulder-length white hair and wild eyes. His appearance reminded me of Doc from
Back to The Future
. His attire consisted of a yellow cap with a black brim, a yellow tuxedo and black bowtie. He started the car and looked at me through the rear view mirror.

“We are now departing for the Temple.”

The ride to the Temple was smooth which I supposed should be expected from a car that floated above ground. He guided the car through the wooded area with relative ease. As for me, it was so dark I couldn't see anything except what the headlights illuminated ahead.

“So what brings you to Gorganna today sir,” Manny asked pleasantly.

I had been so wrapped up with the concept of a floating car that thoughts of escape never crossed my mind. After the question, however, I found myself wondering what my chances were. Instead of bursting out of the car like a kidnap victim, I decided to let fate play its hand. “Well, Manny, I was kidnapped and forcefully brought to Gorganna.”

He kept his eyes fixed on the road ahead. “That is indeed unfortunate,” he said stoically. “Perhaps Janero can assist you with your predicament.”

“Janero?” I repeated.

“Yes sir. Janero lives at the Temple. He is the creator and author of our history.”

With a frown I stared out the window. Trees reflected by the vehicle's lights whizzed by. Once or twice I thought I saw something pop their head out of the brush but it could have been a trick of the lights or simply exhaustion messing with my mind. “So Janero is God?” I asked.

“God?” Manny asked with confusion. “I don't think so. Janero is Janero. I don't know anyone named God, sir.”

“Never mind.” I continued to stare out the window.

Manny slowed the vehicle as we came to an obstacle in the road. “This was supposed to be a short cut. I apologize for this inconvenience.”

When I looked out the front window I had to blink to make sure my eyes were working correctly. A boat lay across the roadway. It was one of the last things I would have expected in the middle of a forest. It had a flat design like a pontoon boat but it was cracked in half over a fallen tree so it formed an inverted V. The rear half of the boat was the part that was blocking our path.

“Hold tight, sir,” Manny stated. “I believe I can navigate over the obstacle. I have conducted a six foot vertical push before with this vehicle but I don't like doing it.” He offered me a friendly smile.

I felt like I was inside an elevator as the car ascended. Eventually we cleared the boat's height and Manny steered the vehicle over the obstruction and onto the clear road ahead. Manny smiled in the rear view mirror once we were over it.

“See, that was a piece of pie.”

“Um, I think you mean 'piece of cake',” I corrected.

Manny scrunched his face in confusion. “Cake?” He scratched his head. “No that can't be right, I'm sure it's pie.”

I rolled my eyes and looked out the window. The trees gave way to a clearing and I swore I saw charred remains of an aircraft but couldn't be certain in the surrounding gloom.

“You know, you never forget your first fare,” Manny said. “You may forget their name, what they looked like or what they were wearing, but you never forget that they were your first.”

“What?” I asked.

Manny laughed. “Sorry I was just passing the time sir.

“Oh,” I responded. I was amazed at how realistic he was and wondered if this Janero character was his creator.

“You know, the guy before you had a hard time figuring out the seatbelt mechanism,” Manny said.

I cocked an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

“Yeah,” he responded. “But then it clicked.”

Manny stared at me through the rear view window with a deadpan expression. I scratched my head.
Did a hologram just make a joke?

Manny remained silent for the remainder of the trip, which lasted about twenty minutes. He brought the vehicle to a stop in front of large white building that resembled a church. Spotlights surrounded the building and highlighted the front of the structure. Large steeples stabbed the night sky. Small angular windows surrounded the building while golden light filtered out to illuminate what wasn't covered by the spotlights.

“We have reached our destination,” Manny announced. “Please make sure to keep all arms and legs inside the vehicle until we come to a complete stop.” He exploded with laughter.

“Where are we?” I pressed my face against the glass and studied the Temple as his laughter died down. It had to have been the biggest church I had ever seen. The spotlights couldn't even cover every corner of the massive structure. After several moments passed and Manny didn't answer I turned toward the front seat. He was gone.

I moved to open the door, but a face stared at me through the window. “Whoa!” I exclaimed and fell back against the seat.

It was another robot, similar to the first. He held his hands up apologetically. “
I am sorry sir for startling you
.” He opened the door and I tumbled out onto the pavement. “
I am Model 35. Please identify yourself.
”

“My name is Nathan Chambers,” I replied.

His eyes changed. They went from a dark red to pale green before returning to red again. It happened quickly but I caught it. “
Welcome to the Temple, Nathan Chambers. Please follow me
.”

A pad was on the wall beside the Temple door. It was one large square which contained four smaller, colored squares—purple, orange, green and blue. The robot stood in front of the pad and hesitated.

After several seconds I asked, “Are you okay?”

The robot turned to me and his eyes changed colors again. “
Remain calm, sir. I was just trying to remember the passcode
.”

He pushed the smaller squares and they lit up in sequence with their particular color. The first time he did it an alarm sounded.

Braaaaaaaaaa
!

I thought I heard the robot growl in frustration but wasn't sure if it was my imagination. He balled his fist in irritation. “
Damn it
.” He furiously punched the buttons again. This time, instead of an error alarm, a voice boomed from the speaker. “Welcome to the Temple.”

The door swung inward and the bottom of the door scraped against the floor, creating sparks. The door looked wooden but when I ran my hand across it felt more like metal.

We stepped into an immense hall illuminated by flame. Blazing torches adorned the walls and flames filled a large hearth at the center of the room. Instead of pews, several leather-bound chairs had been placed around it. Even though the hearth raged with flame the room was unusually cool. At first glance I thought the room was empty but then I spied the top of someone's head poking from behind one of the chairs.

“
You guest has arrived
,” the robot stated.

The man in the chair stood and turned. The flames filled the room with ominous shadows that seemed to swirl around him, but even in the gloom I still recognized him.

“Corvus,” I spat.

He gestured to the chair next to him. “Please sit down, Nathan,” he said, matching my anger with pleasantness. “We have a lot to discuss.”

Despite my anger I was torn I really wanted to hear what he had to say but I also wanted to throttle him for sending Shai after me. Eventually I slumped into the nearest chair. While shifting in the seat to get comfortable I observed Corvus looking at my handless arm.

“How did that happen?” He curled his lip with a mix of surprise and revulsion.

“Don't you know?” I responded harshly. “Your pal did this. Shai tortured me and blamed me for what the Consortium did to his people.”

“Did he?” He responded with bewilderment. “If that's true than I offer my deepest apologies. I realize it has been a long trip and surely you are exhausted. Our host had a room prepared for your arrival.”

“My last host 'prepared' a room for me too.” I complained.

The flames in the hearth crackled and danced, casting eerie shadows across Corvus' face. “I'm sorry for what happened to you, Nathan. I truly am.” He ran his hand through his snowy hair. “I assure you the room is comfortable and we are confident you shall find it to your liking.”

“What do you want with me?” I briefly wondered what my chances of escape were. I grimly realized that my chances weren't very high

He folded his hands, smiled and leaned back in the seat. “Right to the point. I like that.” He crossed his legs and drew a deep breath before continuing. “I suppose the simple answer would be that I would like the Insurgents to join us.”

I laughed dryly. “Join you?” I sat up and stabbed a finger at him. “
You
are the reason for this entire conflict in the first place.”

Corvus held up a hand. “Wait a minute. It was the Consortium who started it. Their constant meddling in our affairs is the reason I am here. I am trying to preserve our race!”

“Preserve our race?” I mocked. “Those events are from another time period. Your fight doesn't belong here.”

It was Corvus' turn to laugh. “I am human, am I not?” He pounded his chest for emphasis. “Earth needs defending, I agree. The Consortium had established themselves as the defenders of the universe. But who would have defended Earth against its 'defenders'?”

“Did it need defending?” I asked incredulously. “It seemed fine to me before you came.”

His face darkened. “Don't fool yourself. Things are not
fine
!” He stood up angrily.

“Settle down, Corvus,” a voice from the shadow purred.

From behind a pillar stepped a man. He was pale, almost a light green. I wasn't sure if that was his actual skin color or the flames playing tricks on my mind. He stood about three inches taller than me and wore a faded black t-shirt, cargo pants and combat boots. The entire left side of his face bore burn scars which had healed to an angry red. He was missing most of his hair on that side of his head. What was left was black lined with streaks of gray. The burn scars ran to the top of his head, covering most of the spots which must have contained hair at one time. Despite the room being dimly lit, he wore aviator goggles with dark lenses. He was unarmed but when he moved closer two robots accompanied him.

“Janero.” Corvus relaxed when the man emerged from the shadow. “I was just attempting to correct some misconceptions by our young friend here.”

Janero took a seat and both robots moved into a flanking position behind him. I didn't need to look at them to feel their scarlet eyes boring into me. “Misconceptions?” Janero sounded surprised. “The entire universe is made up of misconceptions so why waste his time? Our friend here has traveled far and must be exhausted.” When he saw that my right hand was gone he cocked his head curiously. “Old war wound?” he asked.

“Not old,” I replied and tossed a sour look toward Corvus.

Janero caught the glance. “Unfortunate.” He turned to one of his guards. “Tell Thirty-Five that I require him to accompany our guest to his chamber.” The guard nodded curtly and left. Turning back to me he said, “Get some rest. I had your room stocked with food and water. I apologize if it seems meager, but harvest was weak this season.”

My stomach grumbled at the mention of food and I realized it had been quite some time since my last meal. Thirty-Five entered the room. He was my red eye-green eye companion from earlier. I stood and yawned as exhaustion settled in.

“Thirty-Five, please show our guest to his room,” Janero commanded.

With a nod the robot motioned toward the door. “
Follow me please
.”

I followed him down a narrow, stone hallway. Square light fixtures were fastened to the tops of the walls in rows of three which kept the hallway well lit, despite the lack of electricity in the main room. The walls had been constructed from some type of bare cobblestone that reminded me of the inside of a castle.

“Do you know what they plan to do with me?” I asked.

He turned to look at me. “
They do not plan to do anything
—” He stopped and his eyes changed from red to green once again. He stopped walking and grabbed my elbow. His voice changed. It morphed from a mechanical dryness to a melodic sense of urgency. “
Nothing good I'm afraid. Stay vigilant. We will come
.”

Before I had a chance to ask him to clarify his statement, his eyes returned to their original color. A confused expression crossed his face and he shook his head. “
I'm sorry about that. I must have experienced a slight malfunction in my neural processor. Initial diagnosis detects no long term damage
.” He let go of my arm and continued walking. “
What were you saying
?”

“Um, never mind.” I followed him along the hallway until we came upon a thick wooden door painted white. Thirty-Five turned the doorknob, opened the door and motioned me inside.

“
Welcome to your quarters
.” He flipped a switch on the wall and the room lit up.

Once inside I saw that Janero took great pains in setting up the room. A chest of drawers sat in a corner beneath a large stained glass window. A large round chair with a cushion about 12 inches thick stood in the center of the room. A king-size bed was tucked in another corner of the room. Next to the round chair was a stone table that looked as if it had been carved by hand. On top of the table were three plastic tubs and two large gallon jugs of a clear liquid which I assumed was water.

I strolled over to the table and looked inside the tubs. Inside the first one was a stack of paper plates and cantaloupe-sized fruit that resembled oranges. Inside the second tub were bags of maroon, shelled objects that resembled some sort of oversized nut.