After a brief moment Razzo and DR3D1 start coming back to their senses and recovering from the crash. As Razzo lays on the floor of the veicolo volante and looks up, focusing on a spot on the roof to help his head from the constant spinning. He thinks to himself ‘this is why mom never let me play contact sports and now I fully agree with her, it feels like my head is about to explode!’
Razzo slowly turns his swirling head towards Dre and asks the automaton: “How you feeling, are you hurt anywhere?”
“Well I’m missing an arm so I guess you can say not great” - replies DR3D1 without even looking at him.
Razzo nods his head: “Okay good that couldn’t have been a better outcome!”
Dre mumbles quietly: “I guess not or it could have just put me out of my misery…”
Razzo misses the last statement as he climbs up on the seat of the couch and slowly looks over the edge of the seat. Through the metallic glass ceiling of the vehicle he sees the dark smoky clouds rolling through the sky. He takes a moment to close his eyes and remember what a blue sky looked like while his head continues to spin. Upon coming back to his senses he notices the panicked expression that the Automaton carries as it looks in the direction of the alleys between the small buildings that remain. The robot moves to the furthest point of the vehicle like a terrified fish in a tank with someone staring at it intensely. Razzo begins to turn his attention in the same direction as Dre and he begins to see what has gotten the Automaton so paralyzed in fear. The things chasing them become more clear as they begin to come out of the darkness around the buildings. Upon coming out of the shadows and into the sun, the creatures appear to have masks on that have been painted with fierce faces and appear to have silver metallic weather resistant uniforms and armor with tattered black cloaks draped over them to make the noticeable armor almost unseeable to the naked eye. The group moves quickly to encircle the vehicle in which the two companions are sitting in. Two smaller pods zoom around the corner of the street and stop behind the circle that has been formed. Razzo takes all his courage to look at these creatures exiting the pods and making their way towards them. Once one of the things makes it into the circle it appears to draw green like rope out of its hand, and as more and more of the rope is drawn it merely coils up at its feet. Razzo watches in curiosity as the creature stops drawing out more rope and in one quick move yanks up its wrist where the rope ends. As the rope gracefully flies into the air as if it’s the weight of a feather the creature shapes the rope into a long pole while still floating through the air. Then quickly spins the rest of the rope around its pole while snapping its wrist to cut the rope and catching it in the other hand. In the few seconds that had passed the creature had shaped this long thin rope into a several inch thick staff by the looks of it that was the same height as it. Razzo was simply mesmerized by what had occurred as he watched as the creature slowly approached the viocolo volante and when it’s within range lifted the staff above its head. Without so much as a sound it sends the staff crashing down on the roof of the vehicle and at that point Razzo slides back down to where he was before with Dre right next to him paralyzed as they watched countless strikes laid down on the ceiling of the nanoparticle roof.
Razzo whispers to Dre: “I knew we should have just turned on the reflective panels now we’re both going to die…”
Dre replies: “Now’s not the time to be witty, not when I’m about to shut off all my systems before they get to me”.
“What does that mean! Are you going to sleep?! Right now in this situation?!?” - exclaims Razzo.
Holding each other hiding at the bottom of the seats of the vehicle the unknown figure keeps bashing the top of the machine as the nanobots start crumbling away little by little. On the sixth hit the rest of the top structure crumbles leaving Razzo and Dre exposed.
Razzo quickly springs up with two thumbs up in the air and says: “We come in peace, odd beings please do not hurt us. I for one welcome our new alien overlords to our humble planet!”
To which one of the cloaked members replies from the back of the group: “What are you doing with that bot then, sounds a lot like you’re a traitor of your own kind!?!”
To which Razzo replies: “Wait what do you mean my own kind? You guys are human?? I would never betray people, that's just not who I am!”
He continues: “And this right here is my emotional support companion. We've been looking for you guys everywhere headed to the colosseum just now actually!”
The one in the center holding the staff says: “The Automaton? The ones that have invaded us over the past two months, that's who’s your emotional support companion?”
“Yes that’s quite correct but I was told that it was the Minerau that have invaded us and used the Automatons as a distraction?” - corrects Razzo.
The person with the staff and two other humans step back behind the circle of shadowy figures and have a brief discussion about what they think they should do as the next course of action.
Razzo leans over to Dre and whispers in an upset tone: “You lied to me? I was going to help you find your arm after we found my people, how could you do this to me!”
“No I told you the truth and I was even taking you in the right direction, I rather help you than help the Minerau in their conquest!” - replies Dre.
“Enough whispering the two of you!” - exclaims one of the shadowy figures.
Razzo shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly: “Whispering? Us two? Couldn’t have been us, you’re imagining things”.
The trio of humans finish having their discussion and the one with the staff comes back to tell them the verdict. Before they speak they let go of the staff and as soon as it touches the ground it chatters into a million pieces like it was made of glass before disappearing into the ground.
Razzo and Dre wait in anticipation as the person tells them: “You need to come with us, we have some questions for you. We also can’t stay out here the streets are too dangerous and you’re lucky you weren’t up high or else you would have been shot out of the sky”.
Dre rolls its eyes and whispers to Razzo: “I told you so…”
“Enough with the whispering already!” - exclaims the same shadowy figure as the first time.
Razzo and Dre shut up for a moment. The group of shadow people that encircled Razzo and Dre grab them and push them towards the shadows of the crumbling buildings around them. Razzo takes notice of the equipment that the people were wearing and decides to be bold.
Razzo confidently states to the group: “You’re all a bunch of thieves, I remember the suits you’re wearing from the factory that used to be south of the city, how did you get your filthy hands on these”.
The leader of the group that had the staff turns around sharply towards Razzo and gets up in his face: “That is not the way in which you speak to the people that saved you, on top of that you should know by now you idiot that the entire southern portion of the city is a hot radiation mess which surprises me that you aren’t dead at the moment”. They continue: “On top of all that the city peacekeepers were handing these suits out so I’m not entirely sure who you’re calling thieves? Us, or the peacekeepers that kept us safe?”
Razzo, slightly upset at the tone of which he was addressed, thinks about the radiation levels and thinks if that’s from the factory explosion that he was a part of.
Razzo replies timidly: “See I didn’t realize that was the case”.
The leader fires back: “What were you in a coma the past few months or something?!?”
Razzo quietly asks: “I’m not sure but can I have a suit like that as well?”
“You’re not exactly in a position to be making any kind of requests…” turns the leader to continue along the way
Razzo exclaims without taking another step: “What are we your prisoners then?!?”
The leader hushes him: “Keep your voice down and no not prisoners more like guests without the ability to leave on your own”. “Anyways we’ll see if we have any extra suits we’re almost at the base. We’ll do a full evaluation of you there and take your companion in for questioning. Let’s hope for your sake that you’re telling the truth about everything…”
A quiet angst sets in with Razzo as his mind wonders what they will do to him if he’s wrong, he calms his thoughts by telling himself ‘I didn’t lie I got nothing to worry about’. Even with the reassuring thoughts he was telling himself his subconscious instincts were fueling his anxiety warning the body of potential threats when the mind turned a blind eye to them. His legs wanted to run and his chest was beating rapidly, with Razzo even going as far as to place a hand on his chest to try to calm himself down. He focused on distracting himself from the current situation by looking around at the streets around him. The littered streets with rubble presented a challenging maze of obstacles in the way on top of the already narrow streets of Rome, with the ruins painting a disheartening picture of the previously prosperous city. The majority of the journey was spent in much silence by the group for a variety of reasons. For Razzo it was the all consuming dread of what’s going to happen to him for helping an enemy, for Dre it was the survival programing in its system, and for the group of humans in dark tattered cloaks it was simply a routine surveillance route in a long exhausting battle of attrition where everyone just wanted to make it tomorrow. On top of that the pathway presented obstacles that they were forced to overcome whether it meant climbing over piles of metal, stone, glass or going under semi standing roofs throughout various old neighborhoods until they exited the last neighborhood there was a high speed road that they crossed across to get to a decimated shopping mall. They quickly crossed the road arriving at a shopping mall that had previously been a hub for people to meet and spend time together; now it looked much different after being ravaged by war. In certain parts some of the more lucky stores on the ground floor remained more or less intact but much of the floors above had holes where shops and various restaurants used to be, or simply ceased to exist and became a place of rubble. The glass ceiling that had previously tied the beautiful architecture tying the ancient and modern design together had collapsed and laid to waste on the main gathering floor of the mall. In the center of the main floor a section had been cleared for the subway tunnel as well as the supermarket below main level. The structural integrity withstood the attacks below ground keeping part of the supermarket and the subway station intact. They walked through the main floor and down the stairs into the darkness of the subway. Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs they were surrounded by similarly cloaked individuals with metallic suits that had drawn various weapons at them all made from the similar type of material that they had seen the leader of the group use to create their staff, the difference here was that the material had different colors than the leader's green material. Some had been carrying various dim lights under their cloaks to illuminate just enough to see who had come down the stairs.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
The leader states who they were to the people: “I am Izabela of the western sector and these are my subjects, and my prisoners” referencing the rest of the people with her and then pointing at Razzo and DR3D1.
Razzo, slightly confused, nervously steps up to clarify “I thought you said we were your guests, why such hostilities?”
The guard steps up and says: “Stand back prisoner or we will be forced to put you out cold!”
Izabela puts an arm on the guard's shoulder and tells him: “Naim you have to relax a little bit, the guys’ just confused. I mean he’s been out there for who knows how long without a suit. It’s a surprise he’s even alive”.
Naim nods: “Standard procedure you know the drill Iz”.
The guard asks for everyone’s names and then they get to Razzo and Dre and ask them what their names are.
After a brief moment of hesitation and reading the tension in the situation and understanding the need for finesse Dre says to the guard quietly: “My name is Dre and this is Razzo”.
The guard chuckles “Razzo? What a stupid name did you come up with that yourself genius?”
Naim laughs off the Automaton and turns to Razzo: “You know your companion is funny, be a shame if we had to kill him now what’s your name?”
Razzo doubles down: “It’s Razzo sir…”
Naim gives him a weird look but doesn’t attribute it to much more than radiation poisoning and stress from the invasion. He waves them through and the group enters the maze of subway systems together leaving the guards at the entrance. The group then proceeds to go towards the lowered level where the speedrail rails are. Since the speed rails had to be below the regular subway lines and operated in a vacuum they had to have the infrastructure in place to withstand immense load bearing weight. As cities began to toy with the ideas of becoming a gigalopolis Rome was a city on a short list to become the next following the already established gigalopolis’ like Tokyo, Delhi, Shanghai, São Paulo, Beijing, Mexico City, Cairo, New York, Moscow, Los Angeles. To make this plausible they required a strong underground network that could host half the city itself and the speed rail was just the beginning of the ancient cities transformation that was deterred by the attack but may have been the saving grace for the people in the city from total annihilation. Razzo and the rest of the group made their way through the tunnels of the speedrail system for a stretch of winding and turning throughout the system until they reached a larger underground station where an underground bubble has been set up that acts as a forcefield for radiation as well as other harmful toxins such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. The bubble is designed to keep the area as an oxygen rich zone without the need of any sources of oxygen. As the group enters the bubble they all prepare to remove their suits, once their helmets are off and you could see their faces you could see that there were a lot of different people from around the world, some from western side, some from the eastern side, some from the northern side and some from the southern side of the world. It was difficult to make out everyone while looking from outside of the bubble but Razzo’s gaze pans over everyone and slowly settles on Izabela's, who had tall slender build with dark hair and bronzed olive oil skin. She looked as though she had been living in the city her whole life and yet had a certain toughness to her that typical city folks don’t carry. He caught a glimpse of her blue eyes and it sent goosebumps down his spine as he had never seen such a beautiful woman before. Had it been before the attack she might not have seen before even if she was standing right next to him. She piqued his curiosity and with one look he was hooked and slowly getting reeled in like a fish patiently awaiting her next move. As people from the group entered the bubble a few were left outside to guard Razzo and Dre. Meanwhile Dre and Razzo were people watching anyone that they could see in the camp although it was so large and spanned many kilometers you couldn’t keep track of everyone. Dre quickly grew bored of the people and began inspecting the structure and security of this base. After all, if the robot was stuck here the last thing it would want is for the roof to fall in and bury everyone including itself. The processing of DR3D1 was worried about what exactly they would do with the Automaton as a prisoner and maybe providing some useful information can help spare its life. As for Razzo he was simply in awe with how a community came together so quickly and still be positive during such trying times, or at least that’s how it seemed from the outside looking in. With all the day dreaming going on women in white drapes came up to them and scanned their bodies with devices from inside the bubble. Razzo and Dre exchanged glances as they didn’t really know what to expect from these strangers. But they looked to be simply administrative workers that checked for vitals similar to the type of workers Razzo had worked with in the past at the plant.
Dre asked: “What are you doing?”
A short chubby girl said: “Checking your radiation levels, it’s our job as medics to make sure you’re not going to poison everyone in the bubble”.
After Dre’s tests came back a little high but otherwise fine, they began scanning Razzo, then they scanned him again, and again. Razzo started to sweat as they kept the attention on him trying to figure out if something was wrong with him or the machine. Then they went and grabbed a similar machine and scanned him again thinking that their machines were broken yet all the rest of the results for the both were more or less the same.
Razzo asks cautiously: “Is there a problem with something?”
One of the nurses tells Razzo from inside the bubble: “With the amount of radiation that you have on you or in you is off the charts it is more than what the device can handle and we’re not exactly sure how much more you have in you”.
She takes a moment to turn the device to Razzo and points to an arrow and shows at the quarter mark on the meter “You see if you were at this level or anything higher you would be dead instantly. Humans can’t hold that much radiation without feeling sick and dying. Do you have any of the following symptoms: nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, headache, fever, dizziness and disorientation, weakness and fatigue, hair loss, bloody vomit and stools from internal bleeding, infections, or low blood pressure?”
Razzo thinks for several minutes about how he's been feeling and without a doubt in his mind exclaims - “No I feel great what are you talking about I don’t feel any of those things!”
The two medics look at each other puzzled and one of them turns to him and asks: “Are you certain that you’re human, I think we need to run some more tests on you from outside there to make sure that everything is as is, is that alright?”
“Is that really necessary?” - replies Razzo.
The other medic who’s a short thin guy looks at him with a serious expression: “It is absolutely necessary, we have to make sure you’re not a hazard for everyone in here! So do you want to work with us or against us on this?”
Razzo thinks for a moment on his options and one of the guards watching the two prisoners casually whispers to him: “Definitely work with them, they mean you no harm but the rest of us do…”
Razzo shrugs: “Well if I’m getting threatened to do it the hard way I might as well work with you guys to make this an easier process”.
The chubby medic exclaims: “Great! We’ll get your waivers!”
The other medic shakes his head: “There are no waivers, don't worry, that sort of went out the window when we got invaded by aliens and the whole civilization sort of collapsed”.
“Fantastic!” - exclaims Razzo.
Thinking that the outer squad brought back some kind of lunatic or ticking time bomb, the medics go back to see the leaders and elders of the camp to discuss their findings. In the meantime Dre is taken by two of the guards and is brought inside the bubble with them and tossed into a cage near the exit where Razzo is standing around from outside still being guarded.
As people within the camp continue to go about their business and live their lives with as much normalcy as possible, Razzo kept glancing over looking for Izabela from outside the bubble. He made sure not to stare for too long to avoid her catching him looking over.
Razzo whispers to Dre: “hey Dre you sleeping?”
“I am an Automaton. We don't sleep, we charge, it's not the same, and what do you want, look at the mess you’ve gotten us into” - replies the robot rolling its eyes.
Razzo, ignoring half the statement, says: “I charge too just at night when I close my eyes and don’t think for hours at a time. Look at her though, isn't she beautiful?”
Dre focuses on something on the floor in the cage and said: “Yes I understand what sleeping is, and that is sleeping not charging. You all look the same to me as a species, I mean I can tell females and male apart for the most part but aside from that you’re all pretty much the same to me. If I may add as well I do not care to converse with you at the moment as I am extremely frustrated in the situation that we’re in”.
Razzo replies: “You’re no fun, you could just be a good Automaton and agree with me, but whatever I don’t care I think she is”.
Dre sighs and says: “Fine I’ll entertain what you’re saying, who are we looking at that’s so amazing?”
Razzo points over to Izabela standing in the distance and says: “Izabela isn’t it obvious, the way she commands the room, the way that she stands tall and elegantly while being in ragged clothes, that beautiful dark hair and that smile that could charm anyone in the room”.
Dre looks over at Razzo and says: “By the looks of it she’s charmed you because you are one smitten individual as it currently stands”.
DR3D1 looks over at Izabela talking to several people: “You do have a good eye for finding a mate though, through my analysis she’s got an athletic build that is almost equally balanced and slender frame but strong legs”.
Razzo rolls his eyes and says: “Why are you describing her as some sort of thing that’s good for only one thing? She’s simply beautiful…”
Dre shrugs its shoulders: “Listen I am being of absolutes with little emotional aspect to me as my algorithm hasn’t developed the capacity for emotional learning and understanding as a whole”.
“Okay I get it robot, but how did you do the analysis thing?” - asks Razzo after a briefing pause.
Dre looks him over and replies: “That time it was warranted but that’s a rather ugly term for someone as sophisticated as me. As for the analysis I can do it with an algorithm in my eye that contains a database of every possible species known in the Joint Galactic Wormhole Organization archives, I can even analyze you, you have a good strong frame, well proportioned build although you don’t take care of it…”
Dre goes and adjusts the right eye using its one good arm. Then scans Razzo again and informs him: “I don’t know how this is possible but you’re quite literally missing organs that look as though they have been crushed and disintegrated in your body, your lungs, and pancreas are completely ruined, and yet your heart is working better than any other organism alive. There’s a ray of energy coming off of you, originating from your stomach, that is also producing massive volumes of radiation that the people in white coats must’ve picked up on their devices. By the looks of it there’s a ball of energy that’s taking up the entirety of your stomach that’s attached to some mushy product and if my calculations are correct something known as a ba-nan-a, which went extinct 500 years ago. Are you sure you’re human?”
Razzo puts a finger up: “Something you don’t know is that it’s actually pronounced banana, so maybe your analysis isn’t all that precise!”
Dre shakes its head: “Sure maybe my vocabulary isn’t great but it is there right?” Razzo silently nods his head and Dre continues: “Which means the rest of my analysis is pretty much completely accurate, so I ask again are you certain you’re human?”
Razzo takes a moment to in take all the information that he’s been given then goes on to tell Dre the story of how he worked at a factory and how he saved a light and about the rare banana that he found and ate. After hearing the story Dre focuses on the stomach of Razzo with one eye and comes to the conclusion:
“Well I’m not sure how to put this but you are now an energy source the light that you saved is now tied to you and connected to you through that banana”.
Razzo looks at the Automaton confused: “A star? What type of star and I thought stars were supposed to be extremely powerful and in the sky?”
After a moment of adjusting its right eye Dre continues: “It appears to be a type of rare star, the chunk of the star that you absorbed was almost the entirety of the star and that’s why the explosion didn’t create a blackhole and eat your world. Part of the star has already been used by your people but there still remains a half-life of approximately two billion years so you could be bouncing around this universe for four more billion years”.
Before Razzo can process everything that he was told and ask a million questions to better understand everything that Dre just told him, two leaders accompanied by Izabela walk up to the two guards watching Dre’s cage and briefly let them know that Dre is being taken for questioning.
Dre immediately becomes dead weight to avoid coming with them freely while pleading: “Please don’t hurt me I’ve already lost an arm”.
One guard kicks him with his boot: “Get up coward, your judgment has come!”
Then the other guard grabs the robot by the one good arm that’s left and picks up the Automaton, setting it to its feet and pushing Dre out of the cage. Then the one guard that grabbed the robot pushes Dre in front to walk over to the leaders as they take the robot away further into the camp.
As they walk away Razzo strikes once on the forcefield that causes a ripple across the bubble and yells after them: “FREE DRE THE HASN’T DONE NOTHING!”