Freedom by William Stiles (best classic novels .TXT) 📕

Machine Turning Against Mankind?

The next morning was bright and sunny like it was in the afternoon around lunch time. He saw that Henry was already there and working harder than ever. Then he noticed that Sage was there too and also working harder than ever. Then he saw it: The demands had sky-rocketed to being in the millions. He immediately got to work while only wearing a night gown from 2012, which was a tad too short so his thighs were visible. This didn't disturb any of them because they were too caught up in work. They worked for three days straight with only two hours of sleep each day. On the third day, Charles realized that two more years had passed since the friendship with Henry had started.

"Henry, have you realized what year it is?" Charles asked curiously.

"No. I haven't Charles," Henry answered. "By the way, what year IS it?"

"It's March 3, 2042," answered Charles. "It's been two years since our friendship began."

Weoh, beep, weoh, beep. The alarms for Drone 87 were going off more than they usually did. This sent Charles off to find the problem and fix it before they lost control of Drone 87 and it went against all mankind. But it was too late. Before he knew it, he was on the ground, unable to get up and listening to the screams of his friends being dragged away. All of a sudden, there was blackness. Charles woke up to see the basement completely destroyed and all of the drones and Drone 87 gone, even his friends were gone. He tried to get up, but realized that his left leg was broken. He dragged himself to the chair across the room and built an upgraded leg cast for his left leg. He limped to the door only to see a dog lying on the ground, barely alive, missing a leg and bleeding out. Charles had to act fast and opened the door and limped to the dog. He bent over and picked up the poor dog and took it into the basement, where he made a robotic leg, just in time to save the dog's life. With that, he and the dog were bonded forever. He decided to name the dog Faithful, because he was a faithful and trusting companion. They roamed the streets for days, looking for stuff like food and weapons. They had to hide from the drones that roamed the streets looking for him.

It was a hot, dry day and Charles had come across the SMG that he was working on, and they stopped for the night, staying out of sight while he finished the upgrades. By 9:00 the next morning, Charles had made the SMG the ultimate gun besides the drone's guns. They were ready to set off to their search for friends and other humans that were running from the drones and knew the location of the others. They were not half a mile away when they ran into one of the drones.

"Halt! You are hereby arrested for treason and assault against Drone 87!" said the drone copy.

"Run Faithful! Run!" Charles screamed as the drone started fire upon him. But the dog held its ground for the dog was faithful.

Charles pulled out the SMG and started to fire upon the drone. The first two shots missed, but the second two hit the head directly between the eyes. The drone continues to fire but was soon brought down by the SMG. Charles went over to check for more. Luckily, the fires didn't attract any attention. Charles dragged the drone's destroyed body to an alley way that was well hidden from the rest of the world. He then started to conduct diagnostics on the drone's main control panel. He then found that a virus had gotten through the drone's main frame and had completely turned it against them. Charles created an anti-virus to fight against it and destroy it once and for all.

They then set off for their journey and were finally ready to face Drone 87 and finally knew what was wrong wtih the drones. They fought throught all the drones that got in their way and finally made it to Drone 87.

The Final Battle Between Man and Machine

They fought through the drones until they got to Drone 87, which had upgraded itself to have the capabilities for war too. Charles pulled out the SMG as he and Faithful walked in through the doors of the offices of an apartment building. Then Charles heard the call out to him from Drone 87.

"Charles, I presume. I have been expecting you for a while now. I have to say though, you took a little longer than I thought you would have," said Drone 87 with no feeling or expression in its voice.

"Really? I knew you would have been because I created you, Drone 87," answered Charles from behind the desk.

"Okay. But I will be the one to stop you today on the morning of Christmas 2042, the end of Charles' existence and the end of freedom for all mankind," Drone 87 said, unfolding a gun from within its arm.

"Well, I have heard enough talking. Let's do this!" replied Charles with confidence.

They were both on opposite sides of the room when Drone 87 shot the first shot, missing Charles. Then, all of a sudden, there were fires everywhere, even Faithful was fighting with Charles. Charles suddenly got hit in the left side then the right arm. Drone 87 also got hit in the right arm and the left side of his face. It was finally the last shot that Charles could take. He made a run for Drone 87 while taking 3 more hits. He jumped and shoved a flash card into Drone 87's head and Drone 87 fell to the ground with a THUD.Charles, too, landed with a THUD but still pushed himself to free the men and women. But he had pushed himself too far and could not save himself from death. He died in the arms of Sage.

Three more hours had passed and they made a grave for Charles. As they stood there, an eagle flew down and landed on the head stone of Charles' grave. This made everyone there feel happy, even Faithful, for they knew Charles was in peace and also the eagle represented their new-found freedom!

Text: William Stiles
Images: William Stiles
Editing: Kayla Stiles
Publication Date: 05-10-2014

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