Part 3 - Part 07

“Done as you ordered, Sir… Can I have some rakia now… I’m starting to feel pain again.”

“Daf, please bring us some rakia and bring some food with it, I don’t want you getting drunk.”

“Yes Sir, but I’m not having any rakia. No thank you.”

After Vel and I had some Daf changed her mind and poured herself some, looked at me and smiled.

“You have the right to change your mind,” I said. “But it’ll cost you.”

“It will cost me what, Sir?”

“You’ll have to sing us a song…” I said and began to laugh.

After a few gulps on an empty stomach Vel began to laugh and sing.

“Vel, open the universal channel and leave it open.”

“Not until you tell me why, Sir. Everything we say is recorded in the logs when we have a channel open and I don’t want to be made fun of unless it’s for a good reason.”

“Vel, you two are going to pretend to be a couple of drunken pirates delivering prisoners. You’ll sing like pirates, swear like pirates and keep blaming one another for being lost in space. Vel, you’ll complain about the outpost beacon not working and no one answering your calls. You’ll swear at Daf and blame her for everything. Got it?”

“Yes Sir,” said Vel, “I can do that. I’d love to do that but I’ll need more rakia.”

“No more rakia, I don’t want you passing out. And you Daf, you play the victim and complain about being blamed for everything that went wrong on this flight, okay?”

“Yes Sir, whatever it is you’re doing, I hope it works.”

“Okay then, let’s set the speed to shuttle speed and keep your eyes open.”

And with those words I punched the autopilot and off we went towards the centre planet.

As Vel was singing Daf went silent for a while so I gave her a swift kick on the side of her butt and she yelled out in their language, “Ouch, stop kicking me! Why did you kick me?”

Vel then fell into the act and said, “For getting us lost, you so and so…” (This was all they were willing to translate for me from the logs. I guess they were embarrassed to tell me what they called each other and said to each other during their twenty minute raunchy, improvised yelling match.)

This went on for about twenty minutes before we got a response on the same channel. The girls were so deep into their act they literally cheered when they heard the voice instructing them to remain on this trajectory and follow the beacons to a landing site on the planet. They were also told to close the channel and wash their mouths.

“I guess we were too vulgar for them, eh Sir,” said Vel.

“Don’t include me in this, you’re the vulgar one,” said Daf.

“That was not a robot, dear ladies,” I said. “It appears someone who speaks your language is working for the robots. How much do you want to wager it’s one of those technicians Ukasnek spoke about.”

“I agree Sir,” said Daf.

“You always agree with him,” said Vel and asked for more rakia.

“Give her some more, she earned it,” I said.

“But Sir, she’ll pass out again.”

“How long do we have to our destination at this speed?” I asked.

“About eight hours before we reach the centre planet, Sir.”

“We have plenty of time, give her more rakia and let her get good and drunk. I think I might do the same and get some sleep.”

After she handed me my cup I noticed Daf pouring herself another.

“Can you handle drinking two of those? I want you alert while we sleep, okay?”

“I’ll stay alert for you, Sir!” Vel said and passed out dropping her empty cup on the floor.

Daf and I looked at each other and we both laughed.

Daf said, “Don’t worry about me, I’ll sip my drink very slowly. You can count on me to be awake, Sir.”

I looked at her and said, “Yeah right,” then gulped down my rakia, put my empty cup in the holder, pushed my chair back and closed my eyes.

About eight hours later I heard a beep. The ship had stopped before entering the planet’s atmosphere on account that it was going too fast and didn’t know what to do. I looked at the girls and they were both sleeping on their chairs.

I kicked Daf on the side of her butt and said, “Wake up!”

“I’m awake, Sir!” she said.

“Now you’re awake, how long were you asleep?”

“Probably four to six hours, Sir. I guess I drank the rakia quicker than I thought.”

“Good thing the ship has safety features… Now calculate the maximum speed we can fly in this atmosphere and give it to me. I’m sure we’re being watched and those watching us are laughing their asses off at our incompetence.”

“That’s good, Sir, isn’t it?”

“Yes it is… being laughed at for being drunk and asleep at the wheel,” I mumbled.

After she gave me the number for the speed I punched it into the computer and told her to wake Vel. Moments later we were flying inside the atmosphere and heading to our destination.

“Hello sleepy head, it’s time to do battle. Are you up to it?” I asked Vel.

Vel gave me a look and said something in her language which, according to Daf’s expression, wasn’t very nice. But, given that I was possibly taking her to her death I said, “I love you too sweetheart.”

I looked at Daf, she was snickering. “Is that the best you two can do, Sir? We could get killed any minute, you know?” Daf said making fun of me.

“Oh shut up Daf, I have a huge headache and my hip is killing me and all you want me to do is show respect for him? Why?”

“Because you’re in love with him and you can’t handle it,” replied Daf.

Vel looked at her with a shocked look on her face.

“Shut up the both of you and pay attention. Daf, have a look at my viewer. What the hell is that?”

She came over, looked and said, “Those are the beacons we’re supposed to follow to the landing site.”

At that point I took the ship off autopilot, lowered it to surface level and flew slowly, following the arrows displayed on my screen.

Moments later we could see the great big facility in front of us. It was a huge place. Hundreds of large transport ships were parked in the valley in a straight line to where the arrows were pointing. There were thousands of people, looking like dots, lined up climbing up a long ramp on the right of the huge building that curved to the left as it rose up several floors.

“They’re our soldiers,” yelled Daf with excitement.

“How can you tell, they look like dots from here,” I said.

She jumped out of her seat like a gymnast, pushed a few buttons on my viewer and showed me the Macedonian star on their dirty uniforms.

“This ship has a magnifier?” I asked.

“Yes, but never mind that now Sir, we need to save our soldiers. What should we do?”

“Daf, first stop panicking,” I said and slowed the ship down to a crawl.

“Now listen to me carefully and do what I tell you,” I said explaining that we needed to scan the area and look for energy cannons, especially in the area at the side of the building where the lead robot was situated. We couldn’t go off course to do the scanning, I was pretty sure they would fire on us. And, if they started firing chances were many people would be killed. So we needed to do something different.

So, this is how it went after Vel opened the universal channel.

“Hey voice… Hello voice… Are you there voice…? Where are we supposed to land, voice?” Vel asked.

“Behind those ships, you idiot, where else?” said Daf.

“Hello voice, I need help here… Don’t tell me what to do and don’t call me names. You’re the idiot.”

“Land here!”

“No, I’m not landing here, it’s too far, I have to walk to the top of the ramp to get my money and I don’t want to walk. I want to get paid now and do you think they’ll pay me now if I land at the end of the line? I have to go to the top of the ramp to get paid. Besides, compared to those big ships, this is a small shuttle and we can land at the front of the line. Look, up there, there’s space up there… all we have to do is move those people out of the way,” complained Vel.

“Land here you drunken bitch before you get us both in trouble!” yelled Daf.

After almost landing at the back of the line I continued flying over the ships and part way up the ramp the voice came on and said, “Go back and land at the back of the line.”

“No, I don’t want to! I don’t, want to walk for kilometres…” yelled Vel.

“Go back or you don’t get paid. And shut your foul mouths,” said the voice.

Before closing the channel we heard one of them say, “What kind of a shit ship are these pirates flying…?” Another one said, “Greedy bitches, they’ll do anything for money!”

“Okay, Sir, okay, sorry…” said Vel and closed the channel.

I slowly turned the ship around in a wide jerky circle and flew above the crowd which was going nuts, attracting the attention of the robots.

“What’s wrong with these people,” I said.

“They must have recognized our ship and figure we’re here to rescue them, Sir,” said Vel.

“Fat chance,” I said, “all these little ships look alike from the bottom.”

“No Sir, not the ship, the symbol painted underneath it. The Macedonian star which they wear on their uniforms,” said Daf.

“Oh, crap,” I said.

They both looked at me.

“I forgot about that. We could be in big trouble. If the soldiers saw the symbol chances are the robots on the ground saw it too and if they make the connection we’ll be in big trouble. Here’s what I want you to do,” I said. “I want you to go out there and tell your soldiers to calm down, stop running, and pass the word around to everyone that when the shooting starts they should run and hide inside the ships. You should find pilots for each ship and stand by to fly the ships out on my command. Daf, you fly in the lead ship and guide the ships back to your planet. Vel you fly in the last ship and make sure everyone is on them, including any other people outside of your people. Take your arms, take several pistols. Take extra communicators with you and let me know if you get into any trouble. The moment I see a clear shot at the lead robot I’ll take it. Keep your channels open at all times.”

Just as I landed my ship I opened the hatch and Vel and Daf began to walk out. Daf dashed back and gave me a kiss and began to cry. Vel limped back and also kissed me, smiled, winked at me and said, “See you at Ostikon.”

Just as I closed the hatch I could see a wave of people running towards us.

“We’re in position, Sir,” said Vel on her communicator. “But I have been informed that a large number of our soldiers aren’t here. They’re in the green valley working on the farms. What are we going to do about them, Sir?”

“Send people to get them, bring them here and start loading them on the ships.”

“Sir, I’ve been informed that an armed robot is guarding them in the valley and any unauthorized person who goes to the farms will be shot on sight. Should I go, Sir?”

“No Vel! You stay here. Find a few of your elite soldiers, give them a communicator and guns and send them. Tell them to approach the robot from multiple directions and fire at it all at the same time.”

“I understand, Sir.”

“You’d better hurry, I see a bunch of robots coming down the ramp and heading this way. I’m going after them,” I said.

I quickly powered up everything. When the engines came on line I pushed the joystick up and forward. At the same time I fired all four of my cannons, one after another, and quickly turned away with a hard right and went down under the ramp. I saw flashes firing above my ship as I flew back to take another run. On my way back I saw people running down the ramp trying to get away. They were being fired on by energy cannons from the top of the building. It was probably the same cannons that had fired at me. I saw no robots on top of the ramp; I must have wiped them out. But I did see a big gaping hole. The ramp was cut in half.

My priority was to destroy the lead robot but I realized that in addition to killing many soldiers the energy cannons on top of the building were in a position where they could fire at the transport ships on the ground, and without them we couldn’t escape. So, instead of flying up the ramp like I was planning to, I turned around,

flew over the parked ships and attacked the cannons from the side. They were three and I took out all three of them, one by one, one shot each. I was now free to attack the lead robot.

I turned the ship around and went back and followed the ramp up like I’d planned to do earlier. The coast was clear and there was no one at the top of the ramp so all I had to do was take a sharp left when I reached the top and I would be face to face with my adversary. But then I thought, what if my adversary expects me to do just that and is waiting to ambush me?

I slowly following the ramp, slow enough so that I could make the sharp left turn, then, instead of going all the way up to the top, I quickly flew off the ramp and under it. When I arrived at the far side of the building I fired one of my cannons up at the underside of the ramp and poked a hole in it. I flew away to the right when debris began to fall and came face to face with three energy cannons. The one good thing about this was that I’d destroyed their equipment used to turn people into super soldiers and, at the same time, cut off all escape routes down the ramp. Unfortunately I had no idea what was inside the building and if the robots could escape a different way. So, to entice them to stay and fight I began to bob my ship up and down pretending I was hit and disabled. I kept bobbing closer to the building and going lower and lower towards the ground.

Before I hit the ground I looked up and saw the robots looking down at me from the top of the ramp. At that moment I raised my ship up and as I pulled away from the building I fired a cannon shot at them. The ramp broke off and the robots started to tumble down. At that moment I fired another shot and flattened them against the building. There was a huge explosion. I assume the lead robot blew up. The explosion pushed my ship back and sent it out of control. I was now in range of the big cannons situated on top of the building.

As soon as I regained control my ship was hit. This was the first time I had been hit by a large energy cannon. It felt like someone had hit me on the head with a baseball bat while I was wearing a motorcycle helmet.

I quickly pushed my joystick forward towards the building to avoid being hit again. There was a huge hole in the wall where the robot had blown up. Inside the building I could see huge men and women getting dressed and preparing for something; probably for an attack on the people and ships outside.

The sight of the super soldiers frightened me but my fear quickly turned to anger. I was tempted to fire a torpedo inside the hole but I figured that would cause a huge explosion and blow up the building, which would destroy the transport ships parked next to it and kill a lot of people. Instead of firing a torpedo, I pushed my ship to the limit climbing straight up close to the building’s wall and fired at the cannons. I missed all three of them. The angle of approach was too steep, I barely grazed them. In my anger I flew straight up into the sky, turned around and dropped a torpedo on the top of the building. It took out three floors including all the cannons but also tossed a lot of debris on the people and the ships parked beside it.

I flew around the building looking for more defenses but I didn’t see any. I then noticed a large green window. There was motion behind it.

“So, this is where the ‘voice’ is coming from,” I guessed. I had mixed feelings about what to do but, in the end, I decided to fire a blast of energy and destroyed it. This, I figured, was payback for the crimes these people had committed against humanity.

For a moment there I put myself in their position and wondered when my turn was going to be to pay for the crimes I had committed against humanity. Perhaps never… if I won.

I again contemplated blowing up the entire building with the super soldiers in it but I again figured the explosion would damage the transport ships. This would have to wait until the ships were out of the way.

The immediate problem facing me at the moment was the super soldiers and how to deal with them when they came out. There was also the problem of dealing with an aerial attack when it materialized. How was I going to handle both of them if they

occurred at the same time? I figured it was a matter of time before reinforcements were sent to blow up the transport ships, not only on the ground but up in the sky too. I would need to provide air support for them.

I landed my ship on the bottom of the ramp in front of the transport ships to provide cover for them and to watch for the super soldiers.

As soon as I landed I made contact with the girls.

“Well, little sisters, what’s happening out there?” I said.

“You gave us quite a show, Sir,” replied Vel. “You’re a hero now and if we make it home, there’ll be statues of you in every tube station.”

“Thank you my dear Vel, and statues of you two holding my hand,” I replied.

She didn’t say anything.

“And how is my other little sister?” I asked.

“Fine Sir, thank you. I found pilots for all our ships but it’ll take us a long time before we get all the people on the ships. These people have a lot of horror stories to tell and they all thank you for coming to save them. Some estimate that there are about eight-hundred-thousand of them, which means we lost about two hundred thousand, Sir.”

“Please Daf, hurry and get them on the ships and no ship leaves until everyone is on board. You hear me? All the ships have to leave at the same time. That’s the only way I can protect them from attacks, okay?”

“Okay, Sir, I’ve got it.”

“Vel, how did you deal with the robot in the green valley?”

“I told the soldiers what to do and they got the robot. Only one of them got shot but it wasn’t fatal. He’ll live and will be a hero at home… and will get all the women he wants… that’s what I told him.”

“Vel, please hurry and get everyone on board, I had a look at the super soldiers and they scare me.”

“I’m doing what I can, Sir. There’s almost a million people here and we need more time.”

I was feeling very anxious and didn’t know what to do. I wanted to go outside but I couldn’t risk it. I wanted to talk to someone, but there was no one to talk to. I wanted to drink but that too was risky at a moment like this. I was going out of my mind.

I decided to fly around just to keep busy so I lifted off and flew up the ramp, surveying the damage. Then, suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a line of super soldiers on the floor at the top of the ramp ready to fire on the transport ships.

They saw me fly by but ignored me. I turned the ship around, pointed my cannons at them and nothing, they again ignored me. “They’re zombies, they’re completely oblivious to my presence,” I thought but then I remembered they had no mind of their own and were totally under someone else’s control. They were also oblivious to danger.

I felt sorry for them as I fired one of my energy cannons at maximum strength and obliterated them. After I sighed deeply I figured there had to be someone who was still in control of them but where could they be? Could it be the other robot? I could only speculate.

I contacted the girls again and told them what I had seen and to hurry up. They were doing their best and were determined to save everyone.

“Some of these men are rotting from sores Sir, they need medical attention,” said Daf.

“I’m sorry Daf, there’s nothing I can do. Get help to wash their sores before they board the ships and hope for the best. I’m so sorry to have to put you through this.”

“That’s okay, Sir.”

I continued to fly around and look for movements inside the building and above in the sky. It was getting late in the evening and dark outside. More people came to Vel and Daf’s aid and brought water and food for the long trek back home.

By early morning the next day all the ships were loaded and ready to take off. All the dead who’d died of exhaustion, dehydration and malnutrition were properly buried and we were ready to leave the planet.

The girls wanted to come back to my ship but I said no. They would need to take their people home while I stayed behind and tackled the other problem; the second robot.

Just as the sun began to rise, the ships, one by one, lifted off and flew up into the sky.

When the last ship lifted off I was just about ready to go back to the facilities and level them to the ground, when I got an urgent call from Daf.

“We’re about to be attacked by three attack ships, the kind we encountered before. They’re asking us to turn back or they’ll fire on us. What shall we do, Sir?”

“Tell them you’ll comply and stall them until I get there,” I said.

“I’ll be back for you,” I said to the building and pushed my ship up at top speed passing over the other ships in an attempt to catch up with the lead transport ship.

“We see you Sir,” I heard Daf say.

“I made an attempt to open a channel but I had no idea how to contact the attack ships. I then realized I also didn’t speak their language.

“Daf, I don’t know how to contact them,” I said. “Please contact them for me and asked them for the coordinates where they want you to land and tell them I will escort you there. Then get the pilot in the lead ship to follow those coordinates.”

“Are you nuts, Sir?”

“Trust me Daf.”

“Okay, Sir.”

Moments later the lead transport ship turned around and began to descend. The first attack ship broke formation and began to follow. The moment it came into my range I fired and destroyed it. I then went full speed after the other two and turned away before I was in their range of fire. The moment I had a chance I contacted Daf and told her to turn around and resume course for Ostikon. The attack ships went after me and stayed in formation chasing me, one on each of my flanks. I figured I could outrun them but then I figured they would turn around and attack the transport ships. I couldn’t shoot them without risking being shot.

I decided to play a trick on them. I slowed down a bit until they caught up to me and then pushed my joystick forward hard and shut the engines off. My ship suddenly shot forwards and quickly stalled. I powered up the engines again and stalled them again. I did that several times to make sure they thought I was having engine problems. Then, when they came within firing range, I fired my retrorockets which sent me backwards and behind them. Both attack ships fired their cannons at me but missed. By the time they turned around I had a fix on one and shot it. It became disabled. I ran after the other one and blasted it out of existence. On the way back I finished off the first one and resumed my course back.

Unfortunately, without a navigator I had no idea where back was.

Just before I entered the planet’s atmosphere I got a call from Vel who said, “Nice shooting, Sir. I’m sure that stunt you pulled with be named after you. They’ll call it the ‘Otsiron maneuver’ and it’ll be taught to every cadet in the academy.”

“Thank you Vel, I’m so glad you appreciate my skills.”

“I sure do, now go back down and finish the job Sir. We’ll manage from here, the last ship has just left the galaxy trader outpost. See you back home!”

When Vel said finish the job it reminded me of where I had left off. I needed to go back and blow up the facilities but how was I going to find them without a navigator?

I then remembered the last entry in the navigation computer was the facilities. I was there in five minutes.

The ruins were still standing but looked dead. I got the urge to go closer and investigate but I had the feeling that the building might be booby trapped so I fired a torpedo from the distance into the hole of the bottom floor. There was a tremendous explosion that could have destroyed half the parked ships had I done this before.

Seconds later there were more explosions underground which caused huge craters that thrust dust and debris into the sky above, seeding it in the green valley.

I wondered what was under there and if it was toxic to the environment. I also wondered how many thousands of people I’d killed and if any of them were from Ostikon. I figured I’d best not distract myself with this. I had a job to do.

As I began to move away I could see more flashes coming from underground and black smoke rising up into the air and particles dropping in the green valley below.

I flew low and took my time. I was worried about being shot from the ground, but more worried about being shot from the sky. There was the matter of the galaxy trader destroyers which would be

unstoppable in the hands of the robots. I had to anticipate many things before I went into battle again, including safeguarding my robots. I didn’t want them falling into enemy hands. So, the next thing I did was disable my guards through the “guards deactivation” command.

I also didn’t want my ship to fall into enemy hands. I would destroy it before I let them have it. But, outside of flying it onto a big rock, I had no idea how to destroy it. Anyway, that wasn’t important at the moment. My first priority was to find the location of the second robot. I knew the coordinates were entered somewhere in the navigation computer, but I didn’t know which ones they were. I didn’t know how to read their language. The only thing I knew how to read was the numbers. That’s the only thing I learned in Ostikon. And that was thanks to Voskot who insisted that I learn the numbers.

As I scrolled through the screens in the navigation computer I realized that each line was a command or an instruction for the ship to follow. The lines were in three colours, yellow, green and white. The symbols in most lines were yellow. This told me that they had already been used. I also knew the first line on top of the display was the last path we had followed to the facilities I’d just blown up. I saw Daf enter the coordinates as given to her from Ukasnek’s ship, and knew they were in the computer but had never been used. I traced back to the last green line and executed it. I then punched the autopilot.

I took a chance that those were the right coordinates. It was better than flying for hours and hours looking for the place and being attacked by ground fire or aerial attacks.

I flew low and for the first time I got the chance to look at this beautiful planet. The terrain was beautiful but completely deserted. I wondered where the people had gone. I didn’t see any big cities, only small settlements, but they were all empty. I refused to believe that all the people had been captured and turned into zombies. It was impossible to transform all these people into super soldiers. Or maybe I didn’t want to believe it. I believed a lot, the vast majority of the people had left the planet, just like Captain Orihci. They must have abandoned their homes and flown to other planets to save

themselves… and they were going to come back when this was all over.

Was this an agricultural planet? Because all I saw were beautiful green valleys. It all began to make sense to me. The brothers set up shop here in this secluded place to conduct their experiments to avoid the authorities because they were doing illegal stuff. Unfortunately something went horribly wrong and Ostikon was now paying the price…

The ride was very peaceful and took approximately twenty minutes. My tranquility unfortunately was shattered by a barrage of cannon fire that repeatedly hit my ship, driving it closer and closer to the ground.

The only thing I could think about at that very moment was the horrible pain I was experiencing from being beaten down. The cannons kept pounding my ship nonstop until it hit the ground.

The moment the ship hit the ground the cannons stopped pounding. I was surprised the ship was still intact. The hull wasn’t damaged at all.

I turned off everything on the ship, closed the visor over the windshield, opened the hatch and stepped outside with my hands up. I then closed the hatch and threw my badge in the rubble next to the ship and waited. There was no point in struggling I figured. The only thing struggling would do was cause me more pain. There was nothing I could do against the robots that grabbed me.

I was ready to face my fate. I was glad the girls weren’t with me. At least they were safe.

The final battle

As I relaxed my arms the two robots holding me let go of me and began to walk ahead. I followed. Following behind me were two more robots holding energy spears pointed at me. I only stopped for a second to look away when I felt a jab on the right side of my back. The pain was excruciating. I fell flat on my face. The other robot that followed behind was about to jab me again but I quickly jumped to my feet and resumed walking up the ramp. I looked away to my left where people were standing in line and was about to be jabbed again but I quickly turned away and looked ahead.

I was sure I was being escorted to see the lead robot. And given the trouble I’d caused, I was sure I was going to be tortured. They would make an example of me. They would torture me until they broke me and it would be very painful and humiliating, I thought.

I wasn’t sure how much pain I could endure before I’d start screaming and that would be humiliating in front of all these people. But it wouldn’t matter. They would all be turned into zombies soon. I was sure by now every person in the line knew who I was and the damage I had caused. Some may have even hoped that I would rescue them. Or no one knew who I was or cared. Everyone had their own problems.

I looked at them again. They looked so weak and worn out. Their clothes were filthy.

It was disgraceful for me the way they had captured me… the way I gave up without a fight. Perhaps that’s the way it was meant to be. Would any of them have any faith in me after I gave up on them like this? I must be a total disappointment to them. Or, like I said, maybe no one knows anything about me and they figure I’m just another victim of misfortune. But the robots must know who I am and that’s why they want to torture me.

As we climbed higher and higher up the ramp I looked to my right and noticed how high we had climbed. One could easily get killed if they fell off the ramp from here. I wondered how many had jumped

to save themselves from being turned into zombies. Would they have known that they would be turned into zombies?

I contemplated jumping for a moment and then remembered that there was a way to beat the pain. All I had to do was drink the firewater I was carrying in my left breast pocket.

As I wiped the sweat off my face with my right hand I slipped my fingers inside my left breast pocket, pulled out a vial and popped it into my mouth. I clamped down on it with my teeth and it popped open. After I drank the liquid and felt its effects I pulled the empty vile out of my mouth and put it back in the same pocket. I don’t think anyone saw me, not even the robots escorting me.

About two minutes after I drank the firewater I was standing in front of the lead robot. It spoke to me, how, I don’t know. I had no idea robots could speak. None of my robots spoke, not even my guards.

I looked at the robot with a surprised look and in Macedonian said, “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

I looked around and saw the first man in the line behind me motioning to me to sit. I sat down on the ground. The robot again said something. I stood up. The man behind me motioned again and when I didn’t understand he bowed and showed me how to do it.

“I understand,” I said in Macedonian. “But I’m not bowing to a robot!”

The robot didn’t understand me. I looked up to where its head was supposed to be but I couldn’t see any eyes. I had no idea where its eyes were. I motioned “NO!” in the Ostikon language; something I had picked up in my travels.

There was no reaction from the robot. I thought maybe it didn’t understand me so I said “NO!” in the Ostikon language, one of the few words I had learned.

The moment I said “no” I felt two jabs in the small of my back. It was very painful but I didn’t flinch. I got very angry and felt like

grabbing the two robots behind me and smashing them against one another but I remembered what had happened to me when I tried to lift the tank back on earth. Besides, I didn’t want to take chances. The lead robot could have shot me with its energy rifle if I made a sudden move.

The robots jabbed me a second time and a third but I wouldn’t flinch. Fortunately for me these were energy spears and not real spears. If they were real spears I would have been dead.

Failing to make me bow to the lead robot, the two robots grabbed me by my arms, turned me around, took me back, sat me on the conveyer belt chair, buckled my seat belt and strapped my arms and legs tight on the chair. I didn’t struggle.

When I was taken back I looked around at the crowd and noticed everyone looking at me. I’m sure everyone knew what a jab with an energy spear felt like.

Seconds after the conveyer belt started moving I arrived at the first processing station. This, according to Ukasnek, was the place where my brain was going to be fried with chemicals and my memory wiped with energy. The conveyer belt stopped and a crown tied to a chain with many wires attached to it began to descend towards my head. A needle was about to jab me so I wiggled my body and it missed me. I then moved by head back and forth refusing to allow the crown to land on it. After the crown was raised and lowered several times unsuccessfully, a robot came over and forced it on my head. I moved violently from front to back and from side to side to dislodge it but I couldn’t.

Then, suddenly, there was a small energy blast from the right side of the ramp. It hit a metallic sphere on the left side just inside the building. The blast came from a tiny ship that had risen up from the outside of the ramp and dropped down again. I momentarily saw it from the corner of my eyes.

The robots ran to the edge of the ramp but by then the little ship had disappeared.

When the electrical sparks on the metallic sphere stopped flickering the crown came off my head and the conveyer belt advanced to the next processing station. I felt no pain and no memory loss. The attack on the metallic sphere definitely wasn’t part of the process so I figured someone didn’t want me to lose my memory.

The conveyor belt stopped again. I looked up. A number of robotic arms with needles connected to hoses began to descend. This must be the hormone injection station I figured, from what Ukasnek had told us. I looked to my right waiting for the little ship to appear, and it did, but this time the robots were prepared for it. The moment it fired, its energy was deflected by an energy dome, a shield of sorts. It became visible when the energy fired by the little ship hit it. I also noticed a delayed reaction from the robots. They didn’t fire at the ship until the energy shield dissipated. By then it was too late. The little ship had disappeared again.

While I was distracted looking at the ship and the robots, the robot arms poked me several times on my shoulders and back. When the poking was done the contraption retracted up. I didn’t feel any pain or discomfort. I figured I was still under the influence of the firewater.

The conveyer belt started moving again and stopped at the third processing station. This was where I was going to be “chipped”, according to Ukasnek. I waited with anticipation to see what the little ship was going to do this time but again, to my disappointment, it was unable to do anything. When it popped up it began to fire indiscriminately all over the place, activating the protective shield each time. But instead of dropping down and disappearing, the ship hovered around for a while. What was it waiting for?

The robots couldn’t resist the chance to shoot at it so they lowered the shield and fired at it. It received a direct hit.

When it was hit something metallic fell off it and landed near me. I thought a part had broken off it when it was shot. The ship then dropped down and disappeared, looking like it had crashed.

I looked hard to see what had dropped and to my surprise it was a gun. It was a long rifle that shot bullets. It was weird looking and had a long barrel. The robots didn’t seem to react to it or recognize it. I wondered why the little ship would drop a gun like that just beside me. Was I expected to do something with it? But what, shoot the robot with it?

At that very moment I felt a strong jab at the back of my neck which momentarily blinded me. I guessed that that was the chip stuck in the back of my neck. I immediately went blind. All I could see was static like the type we used to see on the old televisions back on earth when there was no signal on the channel.

I heard the robots moving around me but I couldn’t see them unbuckling me and moving me off the conveyer belt. I couldn’t see them place me in front of the lead robot. I was aware that I was being moved but I couldn’t see where.

Moments later someone spoke to me and my sight began to come back. When my sight was completely restored the first thing I saw was the lead robot. It spoke to me and I actually understood what it said even though it wasn’t in my language and was without words. In other words I understood its thoughts. I looked at the robot from top to bottom. My eyesight was very clear, much clearer than it had ever been. The robot looked very friendly, I felt very close to it and comfortable. My anxiety died completely, I had none.

I felt like I was in heaven and the robot was making that happen for me. It asked me to bow down and I gladly did. I gladly went down on my knees and bowed my head. I kept looking at the gun but didn’t know what to do with it.

As I looked down at it I heard energy guns firing. I felt they had nothing to do with me. I was safe, the robot kept reassuring me. I took the gun in my hand and stood up. What was I suppose to do with it?

The ship kept popping up and disappearing, firing at the lead robot and popping down under the ramp. I watched the shield come on

and off as the shooting continued. I looked up on the wall and saw a red light flicker on and off as the shield came on and off.

I didn’t like the red light, it disturbed me. I began to feel uncomfortable as my own mind began to assert itself over the robot. Something told me to shoot the red light. I did and hit it several times. The lead robot came at me. I shot at him too but the bullets just fell off. They hit the robot, flattened and fell to the ground like coins.

Suddenly the robot turned its gun on me, shot me in the gut and knocked me off the ramp.

I felt great pain and passed out as I fell down three or four stories.

Moments or maybe hours later I felt someone slapping my face.

“Stop, stop it,” I said in Macedonian. At that moment I wasn’t sure who I was or where I was. I kept passing in and out of consciousness like I existed in two different worlds. I wondered what was happening to me. I tried to move but felt excruciating pain in my abdomen.

The man who slapped me was hovering over me and putting cool mud on my gut. He kept saying something but I didn’t understand what he was saying. He looked like he was panicking and in distress.

He slapped me again, several times, and when I looked at him he clenched his fists and made a face. He looked like he was constipated. What was he trying to tell me?

After slapping me a few more times he grabbed my hands and tried to stand me up. I again felt excruciating pain emanating from my gut. I looked up at him. He was panicking. I passed out for a moment and fell down again. I felt wonderful while I was passed out. I could hear the soothing voice of the robot talking to me, trying to summon me to go to it. It had a wonderful voice.

The man slapped me again, this time hard. I grabbed his arm by the wrist. I saw fear in his eyes. I felt sorry for him so I let him go. I didn’t know what to do.

The man again made a constipated gesture and, after looking at my blank stare, shook his head and grabbed his face with both hands. I felt like passing out again but resisted.

Perhaps the man wanted me to resist passing out, I thought. That’s it he wants me to resist passing out, that’s what the constipated look was for, to let me know to resist… to resist the robot.

I tried getting up on my own. I again felt excruciating pain. Then I remembered; it was the robot that had done this to me; it had shot me in the gut… that bastard.

When the man realized that I understood what he was trying to tell me he came back again and tried to help me up… but I couldn’t get up. He shook his head and couldn’t understand why. Then I remembered. He must have seen me getting zapped by the energy spears and I hadn’t flinched. He saw me getting shot in the abdomen by a powerful energy weapon and I was still alive. He must have thought I was some kind of super being. And now he couldn’t understand why I just couldn’t get up.

What the man didn’t know was that at that time I was under the influence of firewater, a very powerful drug.

While the man looked away fretting, I reached into my left shirt pocket and popped some more firewater in my mouth. Seconds later I was on my feet. I startled the man when he saw me up.

We sat in the sand and I kept looking at my gut wondering if the mud the man put on me was there to hold my intestines from flopping out. At the moment I felt no pain as I watched him draw a cannon in the sand with an energy blast in front of it. He then drew two cannons side by side like the ones in my ship each firing at the same time creating a spiral blast. I immediately understood what he was trying to tell me; two energy cannons firing at the same time might be a way to destroy the robot.

When he drew a shape of the robot in front of the cannons firing, I was sure of it. Only my powerful cannons could penetrate the robot’s defense shield and destroy it but they’d have to be fired simultaneously.

When I shook my head motioning that I understood he escorted me to his ship and flew us to a grove just opposite the facilities.

The facilities were again in full operation.

I looked down the hill and saw my ship sitting there like a green dog taking a dump. It was guarded by two robots, one on each side. I guess after I was shot the robots must have looked for my body and when they couldn’t find it they figured I was still alive and was bound to return to my ship. But the idiots were in full view. Maybe they wanted me to see them. Maybe the idea was for me not to get access to my ship. I don’t know; I figured my friend here would know what to do.

While we sat hiding in the grove I had a chance to look around. This facility looked identical to the other one. Transport ships were parked to its side and people climbed up the ramp to be processed and turned into super soldiers.

It was nice and peaceful up here but I was hungry as a dog. I looked at the man and, for the first time, noticed how short and skinny he was. His skin was thin and dark, burned by the sun. I then looked at the sun and noticed that it was going to set in a short while.