The Year Of Robo Chapter 23
November 2300
By Robo
Mother Brain sat in the main room of the Geno Dome, and was speaking with YT-841V, the head of the Geno Dome Administration of Science. "What is the news of the unidentified object?"
She was referring to a red star, which before September 29, had not been spotted by their equipment. "The usual, Mother," said the robot. "It is getting arriving closer and closer. It now is less than a light year away from our planet and arriving as a rapid pace. In fact, a telescope is no longer needed to see it. It can be seen shining in the sky with the unaided eye, even during the day."
"Excellent," Mother Brain said. "Everything is now falling into place. This indeed must be a sign from the heavens, ensuring that robots will now rule this planet. We will indeed be victorious in the final battle with them."
"Speaking of the final battle," said YT-841V, "we have been watching the movement of their soldiers. Expected arrival time is four hours."
"Very well," Mother Brain said. "Get our robots ready for battle. But fear not, the red star is surely a sign that we will be victorious. Mother Brain out."
***
"In just a few more hours, the final battle will begin," said Davis. He looked at the others and said, "Getting nervous? Just a little bit?"
"I have no fear," Rachel said. "I will crush the forces of the Mother Brain."
"Has anyone thought that maybe Mother Brain doesn't want to lose the war?" Doan asked. "She's probably gathering every force she can spare and throw everything she has at us. Don't be so sure of victory."
"Worry not, Master Doan," Robo said. "What remains of the Mother Brain's forces is insufficient to withstand our attack. There is no need for worrying. Would you not agree, Master Belthasar?"
"What?" Belthasar. He had been staring into the sky and wasn't listening. "Robo, may I speak to you alone?"
"Understood," Robo said. He bowed in the direction of the other three and said, "I shall return momentarily."
They walked away from the others until they were far enough away so that they could not hear. "Look at the sky," Belthasar said. "I didn't want to bring this up in front of the others, because they could panic. But you need to know about this. Notice anything unusual about the sky?"
Robo glanced upward and said, "I see nothing out of the ordinary, but I shall try a closer observation." He carefully scanned the sky and noticed what it was Belthasar wanted him to see. "That red star is identical to the one that appeared during our battle with Azala, which was also a battle for the fate of the world."
"The red star is Lavos," Belthasar sighed.
"It has appeared again, towards the end of another battle for the fate of the world," Robo observed. "Time flows like a river and history repeats."
"But Lavos was destroyed!" Belthasar insisted. "You killed it. And this alternate future is the proof! What's happening?"
"Lavos was one of many," Robo said. "I suppose it is likely that there are more of his kind in the universe. And if they should learn that our planet has successfully defeated one of their kind, perhaps they are sending another to consume our planet."
"The red star will crash very soon," Belthasar observed. "What will happen if this...thing...lands during our fight? There's no way to predict where it will land. If it lands near one of our domes, it could be destroyed and we would be unable to do a thing about it. Do you think we should call of this attack and return home?"
"I do not think we can begin to second guess ourselves," Robo said. "I believe it is best to continue on the way we would if there was no red star in the sky."
"But this is a very real and serious threat," insisted Belthasar. "You can't mean you're going to ignore it."
"With all due respect Master Belthasar, it does not matter where we are or what we are doing when it lands," Robo replied. "There is little we can do to stop this new Lavos. But there is something we can do to stop the Mother Brain at least. Let us take care of her first, then we will see what can be done, about the new Lavos."
***
"The time to take action is now!" cried Atropos. "Now we will take the Geno Dome and defeat Mother. And I will lead the robots into battle and crush the humans!"
"But Atropos, your eminence, we have not the necessary number to destroy the human forces," said one of her units.
"Yes, but I have that taken care of," Atropos said. "I have discovered that, buried beneath this dome, is an ancient but powerful weapon. A bomb, that can harness the power of the atom. Apparently it was created before nuclear technology was forbidden. It was buried beneath this very dome in hopes that it would never be found, but I have found this weapon of mass destruction. Using it, the human forces will be crippled!"
Her followers cheered and marched out of her room and prepared to take over the dome. They fired their weapons on the first robots they saw. One of the panicked victims activated his communicator and cried, "Mother! We are under attack!"
"I though we were keeping close observation of the humans," Mother Brain replied. "How could they have gotten here so fast?"
"It is not the humans," replied the robot. "We are being attacked by a rebel group of robots who appear to be led by-" a sudden blaster shot hit the unit and he dropped his communicator and fell over dead.
***
"A rebellion?" cried Mother Brain. "How could there have been a rebellion under our noses? I want answers!"
"Yes mother," replied the two units in her room.
As they walked out, Mother Brain said, "Inform Atropos of this. I'll need her help to put a quick end to this." Her two cronies left the room and Mother Brain said, "Oh, red star. How can you expect me to both put down this rebellion and conquer the humans?"
In the meantime, the soldiers of the Geno Dome were holding their ground and returned fire upon the troops of Atropos. Although the robots of the Geno Dome outnumbered those of Atropos, the rebels had the advantage of surprise. Through the chaos, a robot cried out, "Where is Atropos?"
"I know not," said XR-288. "She has not been seen all day." A sudden shot of blaster fire took out both Mother Brain's servant and XR-288.
"We have them!" cried the leader of Atropos' soldiers. "Now, let us finish this off." The soldiers advanced on the weakened soldiers of the Geno Dome and attacked with their fists, destroying the last of the survivors. "What is the status of our army?" asked the leader.
"We lost six of our one hundred and fifty units," spoke up one of the robots. "We terminated all sixty of the robots in this room and the rooms adjacent to it. Should this rate continue, the Geno Dome will fall in less than forty-five minutes."
"All prepare for the arrival of our honorable leader!" called out one of the units.
Every robot dropped to one knee when Atropos walked into the hallway. She raised her arms, and the soldiers got to their feet. "You have done well, now, finish off the rest of this dome. I will personally see to it that Mother is taken out." They marched off.
Unknown to Atropos and her units, one of Mother Brain's servants survived the assault and was hiding in a corner, covered by several crates that had fallen over during the brief attack. "Unit R-26Y to Mother Brain! I have identified the leader of the rebels."
"Tell me who it is that is responsible," Mother Brain replied.
"Atropos-XR is their leader, as well as the one responsible for the rebellion, Mother," said the robot. "Judging from the instructions she gave her units, they are to attack the entire dome while she will attempt to kill you."
Mother Brain swore to herself. "Atropos, that traitor! I will see to it that she is stopped at once. I have worked too hard to fall to the likes of her! Mother Brain out."
***
"We will arrive at the Geno Dome in four minutes," Rachel called out.
"Let's get in on!" cried out General Davis. "I've been waiting my whole life for this moment."
"Tell me again, what our the odds of victory?" Doan asked Robo.
"The odds that the Geno Dome should successfully defend our attack is one hundred to one," Robo stated blankly.
"You have no idea how much better that makes me feel," Doan sighed. "We can't lose."
Belthasar stood up in the speedboat. "There's the Geno Dome just ahead."
"Acknowledged," replied the six guards in the boat. Behind them were two larger boats that had quickly been constructed solely for the purpose of reaching the Geno Dome. In a few minutes, all three boats were docked at the shore, the Geno Dome not far inland. The soldiers gathered together and marched forward until they had the dome entirely surrounded.
"Master Doan," Robo suddenly said. "With your permission, may I contact the Mother Brain and see if she would be willing to discuss surrender before we begin to attack?"
"Go ahead, if you think it'll work," Doan said. "Though not very likely," he muttered under his breath.
Robo took out his hand held communicator and started punching in sequences. "I will have to, 'hack into their systems' if you will, in order to communicate to someone inside the dome," he explained. A few moments later, his efforts paid off as the face of the Mother Brain appeared on his communicator.
"Prometheus?" she gasped in surprise as well as horror. "How did you break into our communication systems?"
"Never you mind," Robo said. "I have come to inform you that we have your dome surrounded. Your defense capabilities will not withstand our forces. Your life, however, will be spared if you surrender on the following conditions. First of all, we will deactivate your primary military units. Second, all remaining units, including yourself, will have their memory erased and be made to serve the humans. Finally-"
"There will be no surrender!" Mother Brain shouted angrily. Her face suddenly disappeared on the communicator.
"There's something she's not telling us," Davis said.
"Agreed," Robo said. "But what?"
"Only one way to find out," Rachel said. "Is everyone ready for invasion?"
"Our troops are prepared for battle," Belthasar said.
Rachel drew her sword and tried to slice through the main door. She made a large slice in it, but did not open it. "A little help?" she asked.
"Sure thing," said Doan excitedly. He drew his sword and swung, but had little more luck than Rachel.
"Allow me to be of some assistance," said Robo. He swung his fist and put a dent in the door, but it still remained.
"Here, maybe if we tried together," Rachel said. "Ready? One...two...three!" and the three of them slammed into the door with together, knocking it down. Their jaws nearly dropped when the saw inside. The robots hardly noticed their entrance, they were too preoccupied with fighting each other. "What's going on?" Rachel asked in confusion.
"Let's find out," Robo said. He activated the communicator and said, "Mother Brain! We demand to know what is happening."
"Yeah," said Doan. "Your soldiers are fighting each other for no apparent reason! What's the deal?"
"If you must know," Mother Brain sighed, "a rebellion group has surfaced, led by Atropos-XR. Worry not, your soldiers will promptly be taken care of as soon as the rebels are crushed." Her face disappeared on the communicator.
"Well, this is great," Doan said with a smile. "I say we just sit back and let the two groups of robots kill each other off."
"I would have to agree with that logic," said Robo.
"And from the looks of it, we can just sit back and enjoy the show," Rachel said. "Doesn't seem like they'll even bother attacking us until they are finished with each other."
***
"Mother!" came the voice of R-72Y. "According to this new report, the red star is on a collision course to this planet, and expected to impact on the Geno Dome. It will arrive in approximately less than two minutes."
"Two minutes?!" she cried to herself. "And the red star is expected to impact OUR dome? Can it be that the heavens have sided with the filthy humans? Then there's no time to evacuate my troops from the dome. At least Atropos and her group will be destroyed as well. But there is yet a way for me to cheat death. Connect yourself to the computer system." Instinctively, R-72Y obeyed. Mother Brain activated the necessary sequence and erased the memory files of R-72Y. "Now it's just a simple matter of transferring my own memory files to this unit," Mother Brain said to herself. "Ten percent complete. Twenty percent complete. Thirty percent complete. Forty percent complete-"
"Hold it right there!" came a sudden voice. In walked Atropos-XR. She fired her laser shot and hit the central computer of Mother Brain's systems. "Your life is over!"
"I will kill you for this!" shouted Mother Brain. She fired a system of laser beams and hit Atropos. She was knocked off her feet, and Mother Brain followed up with a fire beam.
Slowly Atropos got up to her feet. There was no way she could take out Mother Brain by herself, but she had done her damage. "You may have defeated me," she said. "But in the end, it is I who have won!" She ran out of the room, and escaped from the dome.
Mother Brain desperately tried to finish the memory transfer, but it was too late. Atropos' distraction had served its purpose, and the Mother Brain could only helplessly sit back while the new Lavos would kill her and the rest of the robots in the dome.
***
Belthasar ran in and cried out, "You three have to get out of the dome at once! There's no time to explain!"
The three ran out, followed by Belthasar. As they got outside, they found the vast majority of the human forces evacuated from the island. The only ship left was operated by Davis, who called out, "Some unidentified object is headed towards the surface. Let's get out of here!"
Belthasar boarded the speedboat and cried out, "Let's get out of here!"
"Negative," replied Robo. "I must stay behind to destroy the new Lavos. It cannot be allowed to bury itself beneath the surface of the planet. Rachel, Doan, board the speedboat at once."
They were too late. The red star came tumbling down from the sky and impacted directly on the Geno Dome.
.