Cryo-Man (Cryo-Man series, #1) (19 page)

“I don’t want to fight anyone, I just want to pass through your city,” I call up to him.

I consider leaping up to the roof but the guard begins to raise his gun. Before he can shoot, I leap through the hole in the side of the building. Traces of electrical pulse remain and for a moment I feel my systems flicker. But I never lose power and land inside a surprisingly nice bedroom. I’m surprised to see the lights shining, the electricity still working here. My heavy footsteps shake the floor, knocking a lamp off a nearby table. I head for the bedroom door and into a hallway, where a woman sees me and begins to scream. I don’t bother telling her that I’m not what she thinks.

“Everyone run and hide!” she yells.

She rushes down the hallway and I follow, not because I’m trying to stop her but because she must be rushing toward the exit. The hallway opens into a living room, where the woman herds several children into a nearby closet, yelling at them to keep their heads down and hide. Two of the kids don’t appear much older than my Henry had been; it’s hard to see them without thinking of him, though now clearly isn’t the time for reminiscing.

The oldest child, a boy no more than ten or eleven, stops in front of the closet and stares at me. He doesn’t look frightened but watches me with curiosity. A large red burn mark lines his forehead and I find myself wondering what happened to him.

“Are you hurt?” I ask. His only response is a raised eyebrow. “I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.”

“Get in here!” the woman yells, grabbing the older boy and pulling him in the closet with the rest of his siblings. She turns and looks at me, not nearly as frightened once her kids are safer. She begins to throw things at me but the nearest objects are pillows and stuffed animals, which obviously do nothing to bother me. “Leave us alone!”

“How do I leave?” I ask her.

She seems taken aback by the question; I’m guessing not many humans around here ever had a conversation with a robot. She points to a door on the other side of the room but I no sooner take a step toward it when there’s heavy knocking.

“Your Highness, there’s a robot on the loose. Are you and the children safe?” someone yells from outside.

She looks from me to the door and back at me again. I begin to shake my head to keep her silent but she’s already made her decision.

“It’s in here, help!”

A pair of guards bursts through the front door with guns raised. The woman and children are right behind me, the only thing that stops the men from firing. I could attack since they won’t shoot so close to the kids but I don’t take that chance. I kick a nearby couch, which soars across the room and bowls them over. The guards fall and their guns clatter to the floor though the couch blocks the open doorway.

I run and hurl myself through the wall that leads to the outside hallway. Plaster and sheetrock and cinderblock dissolve under the force of my weight but plenty of dust gets into my eyes, impairing my vision. I suddenly miss my glass dome, especially since it’s not easy rubbing my eyes with metallic fingers.

“It’s on the queen’s floor!” someone cries from the end of the hallway.

Footsteps pound toward me and my vision clears in time to spot a bright blue light racing toward me. I turn and smash through another door on the opposite side of the hallway, the electric pulse speeding through the spot where I stood just seconds before. I’m in another apartment, this one also containing several women and children that scream and scatter at the sight of me. My options for escape aren’t so good and I’m not sure how many more electrical pulses I can dodge.

On the far side of the room, curtains open to a large window. Through the glass I see the side of the building next door. An insane idea flashes in my mind. Crazy or not, it’s the only option I have that doesn’t include being zapped by a pulsing ball of blue.

I sprint through the living room, crossing it in a few steps as I reach top speed. I dive through the window. The screams of humans are replaced by crashing glass, followed by the whoosh of speeding air in the silence of night.

The distance between buildings must be close to a hundred feet but I’ve barely begun to fall when I smash against the brick wall. At the last moment I twist my body so my shoulder takes the brunt of impact. I expect to feel a jolt but instead the bricks crumble beneath my massive weight. I hit them and immediately begin to climb, digging my hands and feet into bricks as I scale the wall. I know how high up I must be but refuse to look down. Yelling permeates the quiet of night and several shots are fired at me from the other building. But I climb so quickly that nothing hits me or even comes close enough to disturb my circuitry. Within seconds I reach the roof and run to the far end of it, putting as much distance as possible between me and the humans.

I’m not so confident to think my escape is complete. The city humans have proven to be surprisingly worthy foes. I’m beginning to understand how these people survived when so many others across the country haven’t. I don’t know if anyone lives in this building but I’m not taking the risk of looking for a way down while the guards still know where I am. I run across the roof and leap when I reach the edge, landing atop the next building over.

I’m not exactly quiet as I run and leap from building top to building top. I’m sure anyone inside hears my pounding footsteps. Some of the jumps span hundreds of feet; some require that I climb even higher, others see me plunging several stories. Several times I don’t think I’ll possibly survive impact but my metallic frame is strong and durable and takes a lot of punishment without failing me once. My first few leaps are terrifying but it’s not long before I’m thrilled each time I sprint across a roof and reach the ledge. The wind whips in my face, my few remaining strands of hair blowing in the breeze; this is the most alive I’ve felt since coming back to life.

             
While my robotic feet crash into plenty of concrete roofs – leaving giant potholes along my path – I find rows of wooden boxes atop many of the buildings. They’re a blur as I run by them – I even crush a few that I mistakenly tread on – but my brain sees enough to register them as plants; more specifically, I think these are gardens. I hadn’t considered how the humans had enough supplies to endure the robotic siege but this certainly answers that question. No wonder the guards on the ground continue to chase me, though their few electric vehicles quickly fall behind at street level.

             
I’m surprised to find so many lights on within the different buildings. But as my rooftop dash takes me farther from downtown, the city grows darker once again. Had I known how populated this area was, I would’ve stayed near the outskirts. Now that I head toward the darker parts of the city, I slow down, hopeful that the craziest part of the chase is over. I also need to start conserving energy; I entered the city with a diminished power supply and everything that’s happened since has drained my reserves. Ideally, I would find a dark corner in an abandoned building to hide out for a while and get a full recharge, though I can’t possibly take that risk.

             
The GPS in my mind tells me I’m approaching the city’s limits. I wish the GPS could tell me the name of this city – or if it used to exist in the time I was from – but it only lists numbers and coordinates, not names. I know it’s located somewhere near the middle of the country but I doubt it was the same large metropolis when I lived in the 21
st
Century.

The buildings I approach are severely damaged, many of them hollowed-out shells that look like they belong in the Concrete Wasteland outside CIFPOL. The robots might be on the other side of the river but major battles obviously took place here at some point. The water looms just ahead. I don’t know how I’m getting back across but I’m glad to be away from the humans. I stop at the final intact building, about to look for a way to climb down when several flashes of movement speed up from ground level. I hear pings against my metallic limbs before I realize bullets are being fired at me.

Though escape from the city is just a few hundred feet in front of me, I turn back and run the other way. I leap onto the side of another building. As I climb it, I look back to see the blurs of movement racing toward me. Tiny flashes of white light flicker from the speeding blurs and bricks explode along the wall around me. They’re shooting at me. I’m so surprised that I hang onto the wall, frozen, for several long seconds, just enough time to see that the blurs are actually humans wearing some sort of flying contraptions strapped to their backs.

I climb to the roof, amazed to still be in one piece. The humans fly fast but not as fast as I can run. I leap off one building, down to the next, bullets nipping at my heels. Luckily, the humans have a tough time speeding through the sky while simultaneously aiming their shots at me.

To avoid making myself an easier target, I abruptly turn and run to the side instead of moving in a straight line. The humans zip by me like speeding missiles and have to execute a wide turn to aim in my direction again. But the humans learn quickly and split up their pursuit, cutting off my escape from the city. I leap to several more buildings before realizing they’re once again shepherding me toward the downtown area and larger numbers of guards.

I stop at the edge of a rooftop, knowing I shouldn’t travel any farther from the river. One of the humans turns and speeds toward me. I remain still, even as the bullets crash into the building’s façade in front of me. I must be insane, standing there, waiting for him to get closer, a crazy game of chicken twenty stories above ground. The human never diverts off course, seemingly willing to crash into me though it would mean his certain demise. I’m beginning to understand the level of human hatred for robots, a fact that’s probably kept them alive, kept their city well defended for so long after the rest of the country fell.

At the last second, I deny this human his chance to die in a blaze of glory. I step off the building and plunge straight down. Halfway down, I turn my body and jam my hands into the crumbling wall, deep enough to slow my fall but not so deep that I’d stop. I slide down the wall, tearing apart concrete and brick along the way. I glance up to check if the humans have followed but I can’t see beyond the falling debris that whacks my face and head. Next time, a
metal
dome over my head might be a better idea.

Near the bottom, I dig my hands in even deeper to slow my descent. My feet smash into the ground, busting the concrete, sending a loud boom echoing down the alley. I try to dive quickly away from the falling debris but the ground has collapsed all the way down to my knees. By the time I pull myself free and jump aside, fragments of brick and concrete strike my back. I feel an uncomfortable pulling sensation atop my head that reminds me of when E worked on my brain.

I try to rush out of the alley before the flying humans – or any ground-based humans near enough to hear me smash down – have a chance to locate me. But my movements are slow, sluggish, like I’m still stuck in concrete. Something’s not right in my brain and I don’t mean my personality. I reach back and feel one of my wires loosened. I’d be hesitant to touch any of the wires under ideal conditions let alone in the dark while being chased. But I have no choice. I slowly move my pincers along the length of wire until I feel the back of my skull. I push in the wire as far as it will go, not knowing if doing so will make things better or worse.

One of the flying humans suddenly swoops down into the alley, speeding through the tight confines as recklessly as if he had all the room in the sky to maneuver. I doubt it’ll be much of a chase but then I feel an explosion of energy in my body. Whatever I did to the wire fixed something, even though I still feel my power core quickly draining.
I sprint out of one alley, cross a destroyed street and enter another alley, this one even darker and tighter than the last. I consider sticking to the streets – thus avoiding another dead end – but I don’t want to make myself an easier target for the other humans flying around.

My body begins to slow but not from loose wiring. I don’t know how much longer I can avoid shutting down and I pray I make it a little farther. The GPS in my mind tells me the river is just ahead but a quick glance behind shows the flying human even closer. He’ll undoubtedly reach me before I reach the water. He fires a few shots in my direction but nothing comes close to hitting me; I guess he’s concentrating too much on not smashing into surrounding walls.

I’ve done all I can to avoid hurting anyone but I’m left with no other choice. Before I reach the end of an alley, I stop suddenly and grab a heavily dented Dumpster; it’s about to suffer a lot more damage. I spin and hurl it with ease, not attempting to hit the flyer but trying to get it close enough so he’ll have to turn up and end his pursuit.

That doesn’t happen. The man tries to swerve around the Dumpster and while he’s able to avoid it, he can’t avoid clipping the alley wall. In an instant he loses control. When he tries to level out, he shoots across to the other side of the alley, striking that wall before plunging to the ground. The man lands on his back. The loud metallic thud of his jetpack echoes across the night sky. For once, I’m not making that noise.

Parts of the jetpack disintegrate as the man skids down the alley, finally somersaulting until he comes to a stop. I know this is my best chance to escape but I can’t bring myself to leave without checking on him. I hurry over to his fallen form, dreading what I’ll find; I can’t imagine anyone surviving such a crash.

I’m relieved to hear his groans and see him squirming on the ground. He was lucky the jetpack took the worst of the fall, though I see that he wears a thick suit of heavy leather that’s mostly shredded but still intact. When the man sees me, he sneers through the blood covering his face. He still tries to crawl toward me. It’s pathetic. I put my foot atop the mangled jetpack on his back, not putting enough weight down to hurt him, just enough to keep him pinned down and unable to move.

“Go ahead, do your worst,” the man says.

“Maybe I should,” I snap.

The man’s sneer disappears and he suddenly looks concerned. He shakes his head and stops squirming.

“Please, I got kids,” he says. “Not that you bucket of bolts know what having children is like.”

“Actually,
I
do,” I say. “And I just wanted to get through your city so I could learn more about mine.”

I clench the toes of my robotic foot and finish crushing the jetpack. There’s no way this man is flying any time soon.

“Leave me alone and I’ll let you live,” I say.

The man nods before I turn around and run off. Hopefully news of my mercy will spread, though that might not be such a good thing. I don’t plan to return to this city so the humans won’t want to think twice before destroying any
other
robotic intruders that cross the river into their territory.

I make my final run toward the water, crossing a large concrete slab that was probably once a port. I see no sign of the second flying human or other patrolling guards. It’s a good thing, too. My energy supply is nearly non-existent and the debris wall on this side of the city is taller and thicker than the section from where I entered. I tell myself it’s an easy jump to get over it but I’ve slowed to a plodding jog and couldn’t jump over a chair let alone the wall.

I try to will myself to leap but I barely make it a few feet off the ground before smashing into the wall. I climb slowly, pulling my heavy frame hand over hand, concentrating on keeping my grip on the debris so I won’t fall back. I somehow manage to reach the top and look out across the river. It’s wider than the other side of the city, or maybe it just
seems
that way now that I have no strength. There’s no way I’ll make it across in my current condition.

             
The debris wall starts to shift beneath me. Though the wall is larger on this side of the city, it’s not nearly as stable. I see several places that seem hastily rebuilt, stained with heavy black scorch marks. With a large portion of the robot army on the other side of this river, it’s not hard to imagine them launching salvos at humans from across the water. That makes me even more nervous at the prospect of shutting down here but I have no other choice, especially when I hear the approach of electric vehicles in the distance.

             
Before the debris can crumble around me, I leap down to the small strip of concrete between the water and the wall. Being on this side shields me from the humans but I can’t risk them sending over their guards to search for me. With my last bit of power, I push aside some scrap metal along the wall and squeeze my way into the debris, knowing I’m not completely hidden but hoping I blend in enough to avoid detection. The least I can do is hide my head and the bag tied to my shoulder, hope that’s good enough to survive until my core recharges. As my bodily systems turn off – starting with my ability to move, then my hearing and finally my vision – I think about how this isn’t the first time I’ve needed to shut down while hiding in debris to avoid robots and humans alike…