Chapters (118)

I followed the GPS inside my head. My personal guidance system was disconnected from the Hive. Only I could access the directions.

Left

Right

Left

Turning the next corner, I nearly collided with another robot. A gray box on wheels. That is what it looked like. In the center of its rectangular body was a single/round/black eye. In its arms was a crate of batteries.

I scanned its barcode.

RetrievalBot.

The boxy robot jolted to a halt. Inside its crate, dozens of batteries jostled.

Neither of us moved.

Or spoke.

What if it asked what we were doing here? I searched 800,017 possible responses. None were convincing.

The RetrievalBot’s eye shifted from me to SkD to Ceeron. As I stared into its flat metal face, warning lights erupted across my mind.

WARNING/WARNING/WARNI—

The RetrievalBot moved again. It rolled past us and disappeared around a shipping container. As the sound of its motor faded, my operating system returned to normal.

I traded a glance with my coworkers.

Ceeron let out a nervous groan. “That was close.”

“Come along.” I was already walking. “Emma has a train to catch.”

00110000

All the trains looked exactly alike. Their long, sleek bodies were stretched out across the tracks like enormous mechanical snakes. Their snub noses gleamed white in the sunlight of early afternoon.

This was not the final destination for any of them. The depot was an in-between place. A place to load/unload cargo. A place between Point[A] and Point[B].

But which one would take Emma to her Point[B]?

I shuffled from one train to the next, scanning barcodes until I located the correct one.

I pointed. “This is it.”

Ceeron’s head rotated 180 degrees until it was peering down its own backpack. “It is okay for you to come out now.”

The big robot crouched close to the ground. A moment later, Emma hopped out.

She glanced around. When her gaze moved in my direction, her eyes suddenly dropped. Her mouth tightened into a straight line.

“Guess we should make this quick, huh?” She spoke in a quiet mumble. “Don’t want any other robots to spot us.”

“Will you be okay on the train?” Ceeron asked.

Emma nodded.

“I hope you find what you are looking for,” I said. “And that it proves worthwhile.”

“Thanks.” Emma glanced up at me. “For everything.”

Ceeron slid open the door to the nearest container. Crates of cargo were neatly stacked inside. The large bot carefully picked Emma off the ground and deposited her inside the metal container.

That is when things went very/very wrong.

00110001

CLANG!

The container door slammed shut. On its own. With Emma inside.

Surprise thrummed through my circuitry. Flashing red lights exploded behind my visual ports.

DANGER/DANGER/DANGER/DANGER/DANGER

I grabbed the door and pulled as hard as I could.

Nothing.