§HermioneSims§ Stories: Chapter 10.24: Intruders

From Petra's diary

Dark shadows were lurking in front of our house. Nacho seemed visibly scared of them, but that wasn't enough to stop him from puffing up his fur and hissing at the intruders with a menacing look.

But, alas, I don't think these intruders really had any reason to fear his claws. Why do these absurd situations always end up happening to us, I by the way?

We didn't have time to look at them properly, but they really did look like a group of four or five of those robots I had already met on Sixam.

Did they realize they've been deceived? Is that the reason why they took the trouble to come all the way here?

Robot: It's that fake feline, the one they used to hack us!

At those words, all of Nacho's courage failed him as we saw him run away at top speed. Luckily for him, the robots must have judged the effort needed to catch him as excessive, because they immediately lost interest in him.

But I can't say that the rest of us were as lucky. In fact, a moment later, the robots turned in unison towards me, Techna and Atlas, who had just cautiously left the house. I had quickly put on my robotic suit hoping it could be of some protection, while telling Emy and Hope not to leave the house for any reason.

Robot: You are the accomplices of that fake feline!

Petra: (diplomatically) We apologize for what happened, but we had no idea what that cat was up to. In fact, we didn't even know it was a cyborg.

Robot: But you can't deny that the portal that allowed the fake feline to teleport to Sixam was opened by you, and that you tried to contact us to propose exactly the same deal that cyborg forced on us by manually resetting the Central Network's parameters! It took us months to find the cause of all the bugs it was causing us!

The robots, in particular the ones from Sixam, rarely showed emotions that we could understand, but this robot seemed really angry. And they didn't even seem to have finished speaking.

Robot: The way you have misused our energy resources to get rid of the greenhouse gases that you are now struggling with is unacceptable, and the value of the carbon we are extracting from them is not even remotely comparable to the hours of work you have forced on us. On behalf of the Great Network, we therefore immediately interrupt any CO₂ transfer and conversion, and we also demand the return of the energy we have wasted because of your deception! Furthermore…

As their companions remained motionless, the robot-spokesman then turned with much more vehemence than I would have expected from them, then pointed a finger at Techna and added:

Robot: And don't think we've forgotten about you, 01010100 01100101 01100011 01101000 01101110 01100001. Your refusal to submit to recycling has taken away precious resources from the entire community, don't think you can shirk your responsibilities again!

Techna: …

I know Techna could have electrocuted them if they had wanted to, but instead they preferred to give up. Why, I wonder? They had already run away other times, and here on Earth the strength advantage of those other robots no longer seemed so insurmountable (in particular accounting for my robotic suit and Atlas' help).

Speaking of Atlas, was it them who contacted the robots? Was this their plan to return to Sixam as a hero, or some other stupid idea like this one?

Atlas: (Hopeful) Can I join you now?

Robot: By warning us of the deception, you have done the Great Network a favor of equivalent value to the wrong you committed to facilitate the escape of the Earth invaders, so it has been decreed that—

Petra: Damn, are you joking?! What the heck have you done, Atlas?

Atlas: Don't interfere! By doing so—

Before we could finish that brief exchange, one of the robots that had entered our property, one of those that until then had remained immobile, had started to flash and bip in a worrying way. Thinking about it, it seemed quite strange that none of them had spoken yet, what if only the leading robot of that group was in charge or any verbal communication with us?

Robot: Our time is up, the achieved objectives suffice the minimum set threshold.

This said, a third robot stepped forward, pressed a button on a bulky box they were carrying, and their entire group suddenly disappeared. They had teleported away, and they had taken Techna with them.

----------------------------------------------------------

Hope: Mom Petra, what happened? Are you okay?

Petra: Cover your ears for a second, honey, I have to tell this wreck what a piece of shit they are!

Atlas: What am I supposed to tell you then? It's your fault I'm still stuck here with you!

Emma: (worried) Nacho lost a lot of fur on his back trying to squeeze in through the bathroom window. And where's Techna?

Petra: (angry) Those were Sixam robots, and Atlas called them! They took Techna with them, and of course they understood they've been hacked for the last six months, they got mad and immediately stopped to convert our CO₂!

Emma: (worried) What, are you serious?

Atlas: Are you really this short-sighted? This place is even more doomed than I imagined before I got here, going back to Sixam is the only rational solution to the equation!

Petra: Thinking of someone other than yourself is too difficult, right?

Atlas: Your constant presumption that the way, mind, and morality of humans constitute a universal truth has been the result of so many errors of judgment on your part! Nor me nor the other robots have any reason to care about the collapse of this remote and underdeveloped planet's ecosystems, none!

Ignoring our discussion, which was now going nowhere, Emy had meanwhile signaled Nacho to come closer.

Emma: Do you have any idea, by chance?

I don't know if it was just the result of tiredness, but at that point I had the distinct impression that Nacho shrugged, as if he didn't know what to do either.

And that was all there was to it... How is Techna doing, will we still have time to find and help them? And how are we going to get rid of the excess CO₂ without any outside help? We're screwed, that's what.

As if we didn't feel sufficiently bad about the situation, Atlas had added one last detail, with what I interpreted as malice, before turning off for the night's recharge.

Atlas: By the way, I didn't act alone. I think you should talk to that friend of yours, he might know more than you think.

Why everything keeps getting worse and worse, just why?

---------------------------------------------------------

The next day, Miller's house...

Atlas: What are you doing, still keeping an eye on me?

We didn't have a good night, not at all. I had so much on my mind, all at once, that I couldn't sleep at all. I know that in the long run our biggest headache will be the CO₂ management , but I just couldn't stop thinking about Techna, wondering were they were now, and how they were doing. And I couldn't even get what Atlas had said about Mike out of my head, because that was clearly who they were referring to. What could he possibly have to do with all this? I couldn't suspect my friend too, I didn't want to, and yet...

Michael: Yes, I worked with Atlas for several afternoons. They told me a lot about the society created by the robots on Sixam, it's a hierarchical system closer to Hymenoptera than to us. Not to mention—

Petra: Sorry to interrupt, but it's important. Has anyone already told you about the visit we received from the robots of Sixam last night?

Michael: (worried) No, no one. Why, what happened?

So we had to recount the events of the previous evening, patiently, until we got to the most important point.

Petra: … It was Atlas who contacted them. And, from what he told us, it was you who helped them to do so.

Michael: I see, so that's what they said...

The more time passed without him denying what Atlas had said, the worse I felt. How hard could it be to confirm that that traitorous wreck of a robot had told yet another lie?

Emma: (cautiously) Mike, please don't tell us you really helped them...

Michael: I'd rather call it an exchange of favors. I gave him a hand in accessing an antenna capable of communicating all the way to Sixam we have at our department, and they helped me access a certain other server. That's all.

Petra: (angry) Do you even realize how serious this is? Without the help of robots we are not able to stop climate change at all, and now they are even asking us to give them back the energy they have consumed so far! Not to mention Techna! And then—

I was continuing with my monologue, maybe I just needed to vent after all, but then I noticed Emy's expression. She was staring at Mike without saying anything, but with a completely shocked expression. I had the distinct impression that she had understood something that I still hadn't, so I dropped my scolding to let her speak.

Emma: Wait, what other server did you want to have access to? It's not the hospital's, is it?

Michael: (guilty) You can see how I am doing, it's getting worse and worse. I wanted to be sure I wasn't getting a placebo in the trial, that's all.

Emma: …

We just stood there, staring at each other, without anyone finding the courage to say anything, for I don't know how long. Was Mike really that desperate to try a cure, even with all that happened the last night?

No one had managed to say anything yet, when Nacho jumped on the table, and then meowed vehemently at all three of us.

I think he wanted to remind us that we couldn't afford to waste time on things like this. We no longer have time to think about ourselves, when we could instead think about how to react to the arrival of those damn Sixam robots.

So we moved to the kitchen, to watch the afternoon news together and think.

TV: “... The end of the agreement with the robots marks a complete setback to the processes employed to bring the concentration of CO₂ back to pre-industrial levels in a reasonable time. So far, only 12.3% of the excess CO₂ has been captured and transferred to Sixam, and with the technologies still at our disposal the time needed to reduce the remaining portion has quintupled. Environmental engineers are working hard to find a new solution, but the time required is expected to be long. The foremen at Tech Sixam say that…”

Petra: We need more energy, much more, and it has to be produced from completely renewable sources. How can we solve a problem like this in such a short time, if we barely managed to improve anything all over the last century?

Honestly, today I'm so angry that I struggle to think, and yet I had to grab my overalls and run to the workshop, today more than ever it was essential that I give my best at work.