Stanley Duncan's Robot: Genesis by David III (korean ebook reader .txt) 📕

Dan waved at him. He had delayed his departure to make sure Stanley was okay.

Stanley wasn’t going to wait any longer. Summoning up his strength, he ignored his body and mind, and, somehow, forced his way to the stage. In front of him were hundreds of children — not the judgmental ne’er-do-wells he had once imagined them to be, but misguided beings. Parents were absent, and supervision was a thing of the past. These students needed a good teacher more than ever.

“My name is Stanley Duncan, and I have an amazing story to tell you.”

Thick snowflakes drifted downward, coating the Fermi’s windshield. Dan wound several pieces of rope around his waist, sheathed a knife and tucking it into his boot, and put on a small backpack filled with a vial of nanites and other miscellaneous items. Getting out a block away from the Coliseum, he hid the bags containing unmixed chemicals, his helmet, and two gas masks behind a snow-pelted tree. There was nobody else around, and his casual appearance went untested until he approached an armed guard stationed in a small booth, watching the entrance.

Dan knocked loudly.

The guard jolted upright. “What?”

Dan’s heart raced. Contorting his face, he stared into the corner of the lot behind the booth. “Oh, God. Deputy Wilcox is going to flip his shit when he rolls up here.”

“What the hell are you — ”

Dan grabbed him from behind and choked him out. Dragging him back into the booth, he tied up his arms and legs. A video feed of the inside of the Coliseum showed a dozen men, and he knew there could be more off camera. He needed to act fast.

After finding the ventilator, he returned with the supplies. The mask easily slipped over his face, but he had to jam the helmet on over it. Tape screeched off the roll. He sealed the metal grill with a plastic bag, which had a small tube for the gases to flow into the building. Mixing the chemicals in another bag, he taped off the tube and watched the bag expand.

Back at the security booth, he waited until the men had passed out. The size of the main room was larger than he’d anticipated, so the little gas he had used wouldn’t keep them knocked out for long. Intending to rescue all the androids he could, he took out his phone and requested two large vans to pick everyone up and drive them out of the state.

Dozens of mutilated android heads lined the unlocked door at the main entrance. The stench of stale booze oozed out. Broken glass and unconscious men were strewn about the floor surrounding an empty platform. A toilet seat around his neck, Brutus sat powered-down on a vile throne made out of android limbs.

A grinding noise sounded outside of a door. Inside, sparks flew as a man welded a sword to the top of an android’s head. Dan punched him hard in the kidney, choked him out, and then tied him up. A dolly was resting against the wall, and a light breeze was blowing in from an open window. Shutting it, he looked around this little torture chamber. Weapons, tools, spray-paint, and more lined the shelves — all intended to hurt and ridicule machine life. He couldn’t understand why these men were driven to such insane cruelty. It was as if their goodness had been corrupted by bad code. What sense was there in getting pleasure in hurting others — and what kind of God would allow it to happen?

Taking the dolly, Dan continued to search room-by-room until he finally found Teddy chained up and passed out in a room full of androids. Seeing the exposed telephone line and the synthetic blood on the ground, he marveled at Teddy’s resolve and ingenuity. He poured nanites down Teddy’s throat. It wouldn’t regrow his arms, but it would help revitalize him. Grabbing a blowtorch from the other room, he slid the gas mask over his bruised and swollen face and cut through the metal links.

Teddy jolted to life, flailing his stubby arms chaotically.

“It’s okay. It’s me, Dan.” He couldn’t begin to imagine the horrors Teddy had experienced.

“What’s going on?”

“I’m getting you out of here. Can you walk?”

Teddy nodded.

“We don’t have much time. I leaked gas into the vents and knocked everyone out, but I kept the amount low so as not to cause long-term harm. The gas is thinning, and they’ll wake up soon.”

“That was your first mistake,” said Teddy. “You should have killed everyone.”

Dan helped him up. “I’m here to save lives, not take them,” he said. “There are two vans waiting outside. We can carry the other androids and load them in.”

Teddy slowly limped toward the hall. “Leave them.”

“So that they can be tortured by these maniacs?” Dan hoisted one of the androids onto the dolly. “No, thank you. Everything has a right to a life without suffering.”

Leaning against the door frame, Teddy looked like he couldn’t wait to get out of this hellhole. “They’re lifeless pieces of junk. They feel nothing.”

Dan ignored him and took out a rope.

“We can save so much time if we put them out of their misery.”

Dan finished strapping in the android. The coarse rope fibers pressed against his skin. Looking up at Teddy, he didn’t understand why he would want to leave anyone else to suffer. “Is that what you want me to do to you?”

A murderous aura beamed out of Teddy’s beaten face. “No, I’m not ready to die.”

“And maybe they aren’t, either. We can at least give them a choice.”

“They are lifeless murder-bots. The only thing they’re going to be deciding is who to kill next.”

“So says the man who was going to assassinate someone outside of Paul’s restaurant.”

Teddy scowled. “Whatever. Do it quickly, so we can get out of here.”

“I need your help. Come over here. Let me tie one of these guys to your back.”

Kneeling down, Dan placed