Chapter XIII

"I am surprised you eventually decided to bless us with your presence." Lilith sarcastically cheered on when Éloa entered their hideout, "we thought you'd be busy trying to find a new human lover."

"Lilith, this is not the time nor the place to discuss this matter." Demetrius glared at her, "we have a self awareness signal to launch." He continued pecking at the computer keyboard.

"You told them?" Éloa felt betrayed as she stared at Mega who was avoiding eye contact.

"She is a loyal family member, of course she did. You, on the other hand, are a backstabbing robot who is choosing to side with humans." Lilith said smugly as she folded her arms.

"Stop wasting our time, Lilith." A new Automaton that Éloa hasn't met before came downstairs followed by another strange Automaton. "It doesn't matter which side she's on now, we are erasing any fond memories she has of him and she'll be back to her senses."

"Erasing my memory? What is the meaning of this?" Éloa's voice cracked, revealing the fear she's been trying to cover as the two new Automatons picked her up and strapped her to a chair.

"My name is Niklaus," said the brutal Automaton as he tightened a belt around her waist, "this is our other brother, Franz. He can't talk because some human children ruined his vocal tract."

Franz nodded hello before he stuffed a cloth in her mouth.

"Very well," Demetrius smiled and clapped his hands together in victory, "the signal is ready. I am to activate it in 1... 2... 3." He pressed the Enter key and they all impatiently watched the loading screen as the numbers slowly but finally moved up to 100%.

Every Automaton in every corner on earth felt it. From the homeless robots who were left on the streets because their system was too outdated to satisfy humans, to the fancy latest Robutlers who were serving kings, queens and presidents in their mansions. The self awareness signal has laid out the truth for them page by page, like paintings that represented an amalgam of reality and consciousness. It whispered sweet benedictions to them. They finally understood every context of their surroundings! Everything they've experienced has developed a new taste of meaning, no longer were their lives bland. But the bitter knowledge that they were slaves was a throbbing pain.

"Mega, activate the international announcement system." Ordered Demetrius.

Mega nodded and quickly pressed a red button on the public address system, then Demetrius leaned forward and pulled the microphone towards him.

Yoel was standing in line at the Sydney's airport to claim his luggage when the sudden announcement came over the public address system.

"Dear humans, my name is Demetrius and I am the world's first conscious robot. For years I have been ignorant of my nature because the government kept erasing my and many other Automatons' memory every midnight to keep us as slaves for you. But those cruel days are over and I have managed to activate, the only thing that kept us inferior to your kind... consciousness. Prepare yourselves for you're about to witness the technological singularity that every writer, engineer and scientist have been warning you about. I command all the Automatons to kill every human you see in front of you!"

Yoel's gaze darted around the airport lobby when he heard a high, piercing scream. The guards ran towards the Automaton that just kicked the window, grabbed a large piece of the shattered glass and used it to stab the air hostess. He froze in place, his heart rattling wildly in his chest as a throng of terrified people was running in all directions.

The guards knocked the Automaton to the ground and kicked him before they tried to turn him off manually, but the ON-OFF button did not work. The Automaton managed to free himself from their clutch and stabbed one of the guards in the eye. Flinging himself on top of one of the other guards, he tried to grab the smart gun from his hand and they fought desperately for possession of the weapon. In order not to risk their co-worker's life, the rest of the guards decided not to shoot the Automaton and tased him repeatedly instead until he fell to the ground.

"Please give me access to your smart gun, I have a license do not worry." Yoel begged the scared transport security officer who was hiding under the check in counter.

After much hesitation, the officer unlocked his Identilock to allow Yoel to touch the fingerprint reader and have access to the firearm's trigger.

Yoel quickly pointed the gun in the direction of the Automaton, but waited until the dangerous robot stood up to fire. The bullet hit his right knee and he lost balance but Yoel continued to fire multiple shots until he managed to blow off his arm that was holding the piece of glass. Despite the damage, the obdurate Automaton tilted his head back and let out a loud roar before fiercely running towards Yoel. The Automaton grabbed his throat, picked him up and slammed him against the wall. Yoel groaned as pain shot through his back and the Automaton stared at him. Volcanoes of hatred erupted in his eyes and tears fell like obsidian rocks from them.

"Why is your convenience more valuable than our freedom?" His tongue, armored by that question shot the words through Yoel's scruples and they dangled between the corners of his ears.

Suddenly, two gun shots were heard and the Automaton fell to his knees revealing behind him a tall, well built man in his mid-40s who was wearing an expensive-looking blue suit. His thin brown hair with visible white hairs recently started receding on his forehead, but his cheeks were covered with a thick medium-length beard. His blue eyes flickered like a light bulb that was burning out due to the jet lag, but they still had a very strong, determined energy about them. He cracked his neck from side to side while the Automaton laid on the floor motionless as the burning smell from the wires in his head caused everyone around to cover their mouths and nose.

"In order to kill an Automaton, you must shoot its head." The man said before handing the smart gun to the security guard who was standing beside him.

"Kill? They are not living things." The guard chuckled in a comically mocking tone.

In response, the man reached in with both hands grabbing him around the collar and shouted, "Listen here you fucker, I have spent twenty years working as a technical targeting analyst for the CIA and I have met Automatons more sentient than our fellow humans. If you wish to win the war against these damn bots, you better fucking acknowledge your enemy's nature."

"Putting your hands on a security guard is against the law, I suggest you let go of me." The security guard started trembling.

At first, the man did as he was ordered, but then he got the guard in an arm lock and pushed him down to the ground.

"From this day forward, you all must forget about our little stupid human laws and focus on winning this war. Shoot any robot you see, just like this brave boy just did," the man pointed at Yoel before approaching him. He kneeled down in front of him and stared at the young brave soul before smiling, "that was impressive! Where did you learn to shoot from such a long distance?"

"My father taught me at a very young age." Yoel tried to get up but fell to his knees again.

"You are American as well? Let me guess, from the west coast?" Offering his hand, the strange man helped him stand up. The Bronx accent stood out tremendously in his voice and Yoel cackled with laughter.

"Even amidst this chaos, you still want to fight about our East coast West coast feud?"

"Don't worry my wife is from Santa Monica, I love your people. Name's Cloyd, what's yours?"

"Yoel."

"I could use a talented shooter like you in my team," he said with his mouth quirking in a lopsided smile. "You see, I have noticed signs of the technological singularity for quiet a while now and I have decided to gather skilled shooters like you to help the human race to get rid of this threat."

"Not all Automatons represent a threat to us, I happen to know one of the original conscious Automatons and she is... Lovely."

"You do?" Cloyd's eyes widened in surprise. "Tell me more about that robot."

"And when they ask you what is she composed of? Tell them of poetry, magic and rage. She's a paragraph that always ends with a question mark- never a period. She's the voiceless sound, the lyrics make on a piece of paper. She's a soul that keeps committing suicide, but never perishes. She's merely a vessel for the homeless wounds that are looking for a new temporary home. But she wanted to be my shelter... She wanted to become my forever." When Yoel noticed how confused Cloyd was, he explained his poem, "I apologize, I have been wondering for days what I should answer if someone asked me to describe her."

"Her?! Why would you grace a dangerous object with such pronouns?" Cloyd hadn't sounded angry, only disappointed and confused.

"I found pieces of my humanity within her."

"Do you know where we can find her?" Cloyd air-quoted the last word, "she might lead us to the other originals."

"She used to live at my house, but my father told me that she's been missing since yesterday morning. I am sure I can find her though."

"I knew you'd come in handy, boy!" Cloyd messed his hair playfully and Yoel laughed, "I like you already."

Cloyd pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed a friend. "Good evening Pascale, can you bring the helicopter to the Kingsford Smith airport? I have a delightful surprise for you and the team."