Expedition Westward

41. The Colonel’s Lair

  They drove quietly for several kilometers through the deserted urban landscape. Winston had an excellent view from his position in the front seat next to Liggett. In all directions, he observed the same emptiness on a scale that dwarfed Mech City – let alone the modest town where he’d resided with Dr. Horvath and little Charles.

  This was a vast, ghostly maze of streets and buildings that had once contained millions of humans bustling through their daily lives. And now there were humans living here again!

  Winston could scarcely grasp the significance of this gigantic fact. One thing it meant was that an independent robotic community could not exist in this city. There was no way it could protect itself from the depredations of men. Only the mad scrappers would dare to fight, and the humans’ guns would make short work of any opposition they could offer.

  Pantani seemed to share Winston’s assessment of the dreary vista.

  “Boy, I thought the moon was barren,” he observed. “But it’s got nothing on this place.”

  Liggett grunted agreement. “I kinda wish we’d stayed there.”

  Winston wondered how many humans resided in the megalopolis now. He’d ask this colonel gentleman, but did not expect any sort of accurate answer. The true figure would surely be ‘classified.’

  A more terrifying question: Would the humans show up in Mech City? And if so, when?

  Several months ago, Winston would have never considered the idea that robots could exist on their own. He’d nearly destroyed himself when faced by the prospect, and only the intervention of his dying master had kept him going. But now that a robotic community thrived in Mech City – one that he had played such a key role in establishing – he could not bear the thought of it being extinguished. But even the strong and noble Ajax would be ineffective against a human onslaught.

  Winston had loved the master, but she was gone. He did not want to be anyone’s servant, ever again. He’d been ‘Boss’ Winston Horvath far too long to go back.

  This vast continent had once been populated by a variety of tribal human beings. They’d been systematically wiped out and enslaved by stronger, more technologically advanced settlers. Winston understood how these earlier inhabitants must have felt when they beheld the irresistible power arrayed against them.

  Star appeared unconcerned with such considerations. She sat ramrod straight in the back seat, her eyes probing ahead to a magnificent future that only she could see. Her time of disillusionment would arrive soon, Winston was certain.

  Pantani no longer looked out the window at the dreary ‘moonscape,’ but preferred to rest his eyes on Star.