(Since no one has been reading it but I still wanted to finish it up! :))
I now take another look at this terribly strange world. The first thing I notice that I did not before is the smell of this place. Unlike the wet, fishy smell from back home, it smells like cheap air freshener, as if someone constantly walked around spraying. I guessed it made sense, because with no humans or animals, how could smells be created? The robots seem to be acting for themselves, and they must be, because the ground around them seems to be terribly treated. There is no grass or shrubbery anywhere, which is why when I fell I landed on a pile of rough dirt. I remember my grandmother telling me that long ago, people had started experimenting with building robots. They were fascinated with making life easier and easier, until humans had little to do anymore. In fact, the little robotic dog my sister is probably holding right now was made during this time, when humans innocently played with the idea of artificial intelligence being fun for children and helpful for adults. But it is clear in this strange world that the development continued. I cannot help but wonder where the humans are that created these robot creatures? And how did this island even come to be? Part of my answer comes almost immediately.
I see a girl walk out from behind a restaurant selling sushi (how they got fish up here, I do not know), and she is pushing a large garbage can. She is wearing a clean name tag that says Czara. It’s quite a common name. Apart from the clean nametag, however, Czara is covered in dirt and garbage. Her hair seems unbrushed and she seems disheveled. She turns to look at me for a fraction of a second, and her eyes lock with mine. We almost seem to share a mind-reading moment. Her eyes tell me I don’t want to be here, please help me get out. Then, a robot fiercely grabs Czara and pulls her back behind a restaurant. I cannot help but follow them. The robot turns to face Czara. “I have told you to not become distracted while you work. You are only here to do one job,” he says, with a choppy but almost human-sounding voice that startles me. Czara seems terrified by these words, and I can understand why when the robot’s arm extends to reveal a sleek device that he uses to hit Czara swiftly on her back. She flinches, but makes no sound.
As soon as the robot disappears, I call for Czara to join me behind the pile of dirt I fell on. “Hey, Czara?” I say, and she nods. “What’s going on on this island? I still live on Earth, I came up here to get supplies to build a new home for my family.” Czara almost bursts into tears when I say this.
“I-I decided to come here when all of my family died from the flooding. But I would rather die than be up here.” Czara says, and I notice that she has a perfect whisper that I can barely hear. She must have perfected that whisper from her time up here.
“How long have you been here?” I am still so curious. I know I should ask her to help me, but first I want to make sure she is willing to help.
“I-I am actually not sure. What year is it?” This alarms me incredibly, and for a few seconds, I imagine what it would be like to not know where you are or how long you’ve been there. I’ve only ever thought of that in a nightmare.
“It’s 2200 about, you don’t have clocks up here?” I ask incredulously. I later realized this was a question with an obvious answer, so I don’t wait until she responds. “Well, would you like to help me? It doesn’t seem to be great up here…” At this, Czara smiles and it almost appears to strain her face, making me wonder how long its been since she hasn’t been morose. I immediately stand up from this, and she pulls me right back down so I land on my butt again.
“Wait… what’s your name?” She asks, and I respond promptly, wondering what she’ll say next. I’m already excited about this, though I can’t fathom a way to get supplies in the first place. “Ok, Adryn, I know a robot who might want to help us. His name’s Bob… I think he’s the only one of them who doesn’t think they’re above us humans.” I am confused about whether a robot could express his own thoughts, but I don’t want to question Czara.
“Ok, so first we need to get Bob,” I say, still confused. It is almost like I summoned him, because a robot identical to the one that hurt Czara rolls up to us. However, instead of reprimanding us, he sticks out his metal arm. I hold out my hand to shake his limb, and his cold “fingers” close on mine and then gently release.
I can almost feel him smile as he says in a computed voice, “Hello, I am Bob. How may I be of assistance today, Czara?” Ah, I think to myself. Czara must be friends with Bob already.
“Well, this is Adryn… and he wants to build an island. We need your help to get supplies, then get the heck out of here.” Czara says, shivering with her last words. Czara gets straight to the point, a trait I’d always admired in my mother. This thought brings debilitating pain to my chest, and for a few seconds all I can think about is my family back home. Eventually, my thoughts drift back to the conversation.
“Why, I would be very happy to help. I know of a scrapyard within a corporate building here. We could use metal to begin building up.” Bob says. I knew robots had all the information in the world in them, but I was not expecting to get help this quickly!
Czara doesn’t hesitate for a millisecond before she leaps up and begins to run towards a tall silver building. I am quick on my feet, though, and have to stop here. “We have to wait until sunset,” I whisper. Czara sighs.
By the time the sun is setting, my entire backside is sore from hiding behind a pile of garbage and dust for hours. However, I feel protected by Bob and Czara’s presence, somehow. When the sky is dark and the stars are shining, we finally stand up. I notice the stars feel closer here. I suddenly feel that I am in the sky, that I am a part of it now. I want to forget my life on Earth and live up here, where I don’t have to worry about my family dying anymore. This gives me enough courage to start walking with Czara and Bob towards the towering building. I look up at it. Previously, I had seen pictures of places like New York City and Hong Kong, but I had never stood below a structure so modern and elegant. Back home, people had tried to build up, but it was always easier to stay close to ground and hope for the best. Czara enters the building without hesitation, using Bob’s identification card in a scanner.
I don’t have much time to admire the marble floors and incredibly tall windows before we enter a gigantic warehouse-type room. I almost fall to the floor when I see a robot standing in the corner.
“Do not worry,” Bob says, “He is shut down, see, his light is not blinking.” My comfort lasts while Czara and Bob have gathered teeming amounts of metal into gigantic dumpsters. I am apprehensive about getting this all out, but I am reassured by the fact that Bob seems infinitely strong. He lifts the dumpster as easily as I would balance a basketball on my index finger.
My confidence and happiness leave me as soon as we leave the building, Czara and I smiling at the simplicity of our heist. There are at least a hundred robots surrounding the building, all facing directly at us.
I had always been a reactive person, but for some reason, now I simply could not move. Czara takes initiative, and it seems the first thing she thinks of doing is to drop everything and run. She leaves both me and Bob behind. But she doesn’t make it far before she is stopped. Then, everything plays out like an action movie. I watch in awe as she grabs the heaviest piece of scrap metal she can find and hurls it at the robot that is staring at her, and it seems to be in slow motion. Her leap of merely six inches as the runs towards him looks like it is canvassing ten feet. I watch as the robot’s thin metal head crumbles like a piece of paper in a fire, and his sensor begins to blink, slower and slower until it comes to a stop. I think that he has died.
This small victory for Czara only angers all of the other robots, and their eyes show bright red target icons on them now. It does not take long before we realize what this means, and our best option right now is to run as fast as we possibly can. Czara drops everything she was triumphantly holding before, and runs faster than I’ve seen any human run towards where I had dropped down from the wall only hours later. I don’t even look to see if Bob is behind me as I follow her. I had never been skilled at running, but now I had no choice. I run as fast as my legs can carry me, and when I think I have made it far enough, I turn around. This was a terrible mistake. The robots cannot be more than mere feet away from me. I consider giving up, letting them put me in servitude for the rest of my life. But then I think of Czara. Of all the other people who must be up here, waiting for some brave person to build another island to get them out of here. Of my family. Then, I hurl a rock in the middle of the robot crowd and catch up with Czara, scale the wall while barely thinking about it, and jump over to land in a soft patch of dry grass. Czara’s face is bright red, and I see tears dripping from her chin. I now know that those tall walls are not meant to keep people out, but to keep servants in.
“Bob is still back there. I can’t imagine what they’re doing to him.” I can almost see the flashbacks Czara might be having right now. I wonder if she was hurt everyday by those robots. I wonder how the people on this island survive, with their little supplies and emaciated bodies, at the expense of some robots who have no feelings at all. “Those robots built this island promising to help us. I just can’t believe this is happening…” I put my hand on Czara’s shoulder.
“We’re out of there now. I’m sure we can get down safely, then maybe you can live with my family until we hopefully can live as long as possible.” Czara smiles slightly, but her smile turns into a jubilant grin as both of us see Bob, dumpster over his head, quietly reach the patch of grass where we are sitting.
“Hello. I hope I did not keep you waiting,” Bob says, with an almost chuckle in his voice. Czara and I are so happy we can hardly speak as we descend back to Earth in that terrible pod I came up here. Now, it does not feel as foreboding as it did before. When we reach Earth, I introduce Czara and Bob to my mother and Journee.
“Hi Czara, are you going to help my brother build an island? What was it like up there? Was it fun?” I shush Journee, because it seems her questions are flustering Czara. However, I’m glad everyone’s on board to start building.
Only one day later, we head to the edge of the land. Bob starts by attaching hundreds of sheets of thick metal with bolts. Czara and I talk as he begins this process, and I find that Czara is a very nice person. I think what was going on up there broke her down little by little, but now she seems buoyant, and I barely see her frown anymore.
Sonya
I call one of my servants over to my desk. This is an urgent issue, and I surely cannot deal with it on my own. Ivan arrives promptly, as I always instructed him to. “Miss Sonya, how may I help you today,” Ivan says to me with a monotonous voice. I say nothing, instead pointing him to my binoculars. What Ivan seems rightfully shocked him. Earlier today, I had seen two young people, a male and a female, along with a robot, building what seems to be their own island. Only the previous day I had seen them descend from our neighbor island, clearly shaken. They were the perfect targets for my plan. I had been waiting years for something like this to happen.
“What do you think, Ivan? There are two options: stop them and kill them, or recruit them to our island.” I smirk. He knows I’m not truly asking for his opinion. I had been chosen to lead this community, as it had been my idea to start it in the first place. Everyday, I leave my home and am very pleased with the world I created. I see people clearly happy, smiling all in the same fashion as they head to their workplaces at 8:00 AM every morning. They eat with their assigned companions at lunch every day in our designated cafe’s. It truly is a beautiful town, and I am certain those two teens will be very happy up here, if we can pull them in.
I act on my plan just after I finish my lunch of a cucumber and tomato salad. I assign Ivan to go down to Earth and give those children a complimentary lunch, filled with something special.
Adryn
We accept the salad lunch from the man that walks towards us. I have never seen him before, but I assume I can trust him because he could not possibly be from the islands above. He is clean, wearing a white shirt and pants that fit nicely. He could not possibly be from that oppressive island, as I remember what Czara looked like when I first saw her.
As we are eating, I notice I am not feeling quite right. I turn to Czara, and her eyes seem to be losing focus. “Is there something in the food?” I say softly, but it makes no difference because the mysterious man has already left. Before I can make sense of this, I feel a strong urge to go to the island up above. The other one, not the one we had escaped from. “Czara?” I ask, and my word comes out slurred, and I feel for some reason that I cannot control it anymore. “Would you like to check out that island?”
Czara nods, and we start walking towards another gleaming, white pod. While in the pod, I look up as I did for the other island, but this time, I see hope and promise above. I know I will love it here much more than I would have loved living with my family. What use would my family be here, where only the elite live?
We reach the island, and a lady with a navy blue suit and blue eyes reaches out to shake my hand. Her laminated name tag reads Sonya. “Hello, future citizens. I am Sonya, and I will be your guide and trainer. Welcome to the best place above Earth!” Sonya has faith in me, I can tell. I look at Czara, and she looks pleased as well. We smile at each other, and walk into a tall building with windows that look out into the clean, perfect city. I look out the window and see the Earth down below, but Sonya pulls me away, with a tight smile. “There is no need to look down upon your past. Simply imagine your future!” It sounds like a wonderful slogan. I am seated at a desk next to Czara, and a familiar man called “Ivan” asks me if I would like a cucumber and tofu sandwich.
While Journee and her mother are sleeping, a cold surge of water enters the house. Journee wakes up with water almost up to her neck, and she floats, petrified as the sea swirls around her face. She looks up at the ceiling, towards where her brother is, in the sky. “Adryn?” She cries, as her face sinks deeper and deeper into the frigid, murky water. Her mother swims through the wreckage in the home and opens the door to Journee’s bedroom. But by the time she reaches her, Journee is floating in the water, clutching her now mutilated robot puppy with her brother's name on her lips.
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