For My Broken Heart - short stories

Artificial Terror

"I believe in you," says Naomi.

A lump forms in my throat. How can they not see that I'm terrified? I don't know what I'm doing, I'm a prisoner like everyone else.

They are asking me to lead. I don't know how far I can take them, but I know they're going to follow me wherever I go.

"Judas!" Naomi and I turn to see Eustice jogging toward us.

"Judas," he repeats through exasperated gulps of air. "They're waiting for your decision."

I look back at Naomi, this time I think she acknowledges the fear in my eyes.

"The resistance is prepared to stand by you no matter what," she says and squeezes my arm. I take a mental picture of her in my head of the way she looks now: I want to remember her innocent smile, her crystal blue eyes and her silky gold hair.

"Bring the Division around the fire," I tell her, the confidence returning to my voice a little. This makes Naomi smile.

With Judas' help, Naomi brings the selected and trained members of our resistance - the Division - around the bonfire in the center of our camp, next to the flag. It's become a kind of sacred place, for we have the water pump, the fire, and the flag with the imagery of a beating human heart. It's a place where we can be reminded that we're still alive, still breathing. Hearts are still beating.

Our friends, family and comrades look at me like a hero or a god. I'm neither of those things, I just want to take the world back from the monsters we created. If we set their evil loose upon the world, then we certainly must have the ability to contain it.

It's time to give them my decision.

"If you're standing here right now, you're about to change the world, no matter what happens," I begin my pep talk. Already they're starting to get riled up and holler.

"Some of you believe that the Androids have human-like emotions and consciousness. That maybe they even deserve human rights. We should peacefully protest and ask that they try to coexist with us."

In the crowd, I see several nods of approval for this course of action from our pacifist soldiers.

"On the other hand," I start again. "Humans have been enslaved by hyper-advanced AI for nearly a decade without mercy. How many loved ones have they taken from you? How many people have you watched die?"

There's a discomfort in the crowd. They're uncomfortable because they know I'm right.

"I've made my final decision. Now, we rest. We leave before the sun rises in the morning. Say goodbye to the loved ones you are leaving behind, for we will show no mercy this time."

The resistance members who want to wreak havoc on the droids (which is a lot of them) cheer and celebrate. I know that they feel like warriors right now, and I'm not going to be the one to break their spirits. Tomorrow they will feel broken.

"Why?" asks a quiet voice in my ear. It's Naomi, and when I look in her eyes I see that they're rimming with tests.

"We aren't prepared for this kind of attack," she says. "All of these people are going to die."

"You asked me to lead, Nay," I remind her scornfulky. I haven't worked this hard to start a real revolution just for her to make me feel guilty about the grittier parts of revolutionizing. This isn't a dystopian story, it's real. This is the life we live.

"Everything I've done here has been for you," I admit, feeling myself becoming angry. "But if you don't appreciate it, you're free to find somewhere else and someone else to live the rest of your days of enslavement with."

Naomi let's out a choked cry, but says nothing more. She runs off in the other direction, weaving though campers and resistance members, presumpresumably heading for her tent.

"I need our first night watcher," I call to the crowd. "Everyone should be preparing for sleep now."

-

"Wake up, genius," someone is poking me with something rough and pointy.

I blink my eyes open. Panic shoots out of my throat in a weird kind of croak.

Not quite someone, but *something*. An ErnieBot, which were small household hoverbots with multiple arm appendages for household chores and upkeep.

This one, obviously rougue, has Naomi clamped in a chokehold with a gun to her head whilst simultaneously pinning me to the dirt.

"It was my watch," Naomi confesses shamefully. "I couldn't see, he put the fire out."

She begins to sob silenty. She's right, it's much darker than usual, because since we took up camp the fire always burns. With it diffused, I feel dramafinally unsafe.

"We know what your plan is," says ErnieBot. "We are assembled already. The second your troops approach you will be exterminated on sight."

"Fuck you," I spit. "We are stronger and smarter when we work together, and we're going to end your species."

The robot laughs an eerie mechanical laugh. I see Naomi crying harder, absolutely petrified.

"I have a deal to offer you," says the bot.

Naomi is shaking her head, but I try to focus on the bot.

"If you come with me without a fight, I can arrange for you and the lady to live in a peaceful sanctuary separate from most people and Androids. In exchange for your troops, the Android Governors would like to offer you all available knowledge and understanding of arifical intelligence. The Androids will work alongside the two of you to create an ideal world for humans and Androids to live side by side.

"What about our friends?" I ask.

"How great of a sacrifice is your cause worth?" is ErnieBot's counter-ask.

I feel a shift in my bones.

"He's going to kill them-!" Naomi's sentence is cut short by a blow to the head with the grip of his pistol.

"If you'd like to die with your friends, we won't stop you," says the bot. "But make a decision."

I look up to the sky for answers.

The flag is flying half-staff.

(To be continued..?)