Committed

COMMITTED by A.R. Kirby Episode 24 Ralph tells a story tlanta whizzed by as Vernon deftly maneuvered the Taurus northward on Interstate 75, Ralph gazing intently out the passenger window and Brandon nursing his confused brain in the back seat. After 20 minutes or so of hearing nothing but the hum of the tires on the highway and the cacophony of thoughts in his mind, Brandon decided he couldn’t take it any longer. “No way,” he said, sitting up and leaning forward between the front seats so he could look at Ralph. “No way you’re a couple thousand years old. Can’t be.” Vernon laughed, keeping his eyes on the road ahead. “Why not? I told you things would get weird. Yesterday, you were in a cave with this same man who had the entire universe in there with him. You handled that well enough. What’s so hard about believing Ralph is 2,000 years old?” “Yeah, but...” Brandon paused, trying to come up with some argument against Vernon that made sense. He couldn’t find one. He pressed on, nonetheless. “But why doesn’t he look old? I mean, if he was here when Jesus was around, I think there’d be a few more wrinkles or some gray hair or something. I mean, come on! He looks like he can’t be more than...” A Committed by A.R. Kirby Brandon stopped and looked at Ralph’s face. It was true that he showed very few signs of advanced aging, or any aging at all, for that matter. The face was proud, rugged and somehow timeless. “Okay, so I can’t tell how old he is by looking at him,” Brandon said. “But this is just wack.” “You know, you could talk to me instead of referring to me in the third-person like I wasn’t even here,” Ralph said quietly. “Just because I’m ancient doesn’t mean I can’t hear you.” “I’m sorry, Ralph,” Brandon said. “But this is kinda messed up. It’s screwing with my head.” “Tell me about it,” Ralph agreed. “It’s not easy being almost immortal. That really screws with your head.” “No way. Living forever... that would be so cool.” “You really think so? You think it would be cool to see your entire civilization almost wiped from the face of the earth? You think it would be cool to watch everyone you ever loved wither and die -- while you keep going on and on and on? Nah. In a lot of ways it ain’t so cool.” Ralph folded his arms across his chest and looked back out the window as the car passed through some of Atlanta’s northern suburbs. Brandon and Vernon were quiet. “So Ralph...” Brandon’s voice was almost a whisper. “How did it happen?” Ralph sighed and rubbed his chin, then leaned his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes. He held out his hand in front of him, palm upright, and began speaking. “I was about eighteen years old, I guess,” Ralph said, “and it 2 Episode 24 was time for me to become a man.” Brandon looked at Ralph’s outstretched arm and saw what looked like a wisp of mist form above his palm. The mist slowly solidified into a visage, about 10 inches high, of what had to be a young Ralph. It was a figure of a tall, long-haired Anasazi, wearing only a loincloth and decorated with ceremonial paint across his body. “In my tribe, one of the passages to manhood is the first vision quest,” Ralph went on as the figure appeared to begin walking through what looked to be Canyon de Chelly. “The elders of the tribe send you into the wilderness to find your spirit animal, and when you find it and become one with it, you are accepted as a man. When my time came, the village’s medicine man prepared me for the quest, mainly by loading me up on a buttload of peyote and sending me out into the desert.” Brandon watched in amazement as the action-figure-like scene in Ralph’s palm played out. There was young Ralph, entering a small, dark lodge where an ancient-looking Anasazi marked him and chanted around him. The medicine man then handed Ralph a large bowl filled with a steaming, dark green liquid, which Ralph drank deeply. The scene shifted, and then there was Ralph again, stumbling out of the village and puking behind a sage bush before wandering into the desert in the afternoon sun. The figure scrambled around in the desert, sometimes on all fours, eventually reaching a high promontory. The figure of young Ralph sat in a lotus position overlooking the canyon, bathed in the glow of the Arizona sunset. “I don’t know how long I sat there,” Ralph continued. “I had many strange visions and dreams, and then sometime in the night, my spirit animal came to me. A large, black puma, like you saw in the cavern yesterday. It sat down and began speaking to me, about the desert, about my people, about the future. But I don’t think it was really my spirit animal; I think it was one of the Ancient Ones 3 Committed by A.R. Kirby in animal form.” Brandon looked at Ralph and then back at Ralph’s palm, where, indeed, an image of a large, ghostly puma had joined the young Ralph at the edge of the cliff. “I say it was one of the Ancient Ones because of what happened next. The puma told me I was to be a god among my people and that I would be able to perform miracles; that I would be revered; and that one day, I, too, would join the Ancient Ones and I would hear the people’s prayers -- and be able to answer them. I was bathed in an otherworldly light, and then the puma disappeared. I think I passed out. “When I woke up the next day, I felt -- I don’t know, I just felt different. I wasn’t sure what to make of what the Ancient One told me. Plus, I was still pretty out of my head because of the peyote. But for whatever reason, I stood at the edge of the cliff, my arms outstretched, the desert wind blowing my hair out behind me -- and I jumped. Brandon watched in horror as the figure in Ralph’s palm arced gracefully off the cliff toward the canyon floor. He expected to see the memory smashed to bits on the boulders below, but he gasped audibly when he saw the young Ralph swoop upward at the last instant, flying through the canyon, catching updrafts to join the hawks circling lazily high above the desert floor. “It was amazing,” Ralph said. “I never felt so free. I could fly like the hawks; I could run faster than the swiftest deer; I was stronger than a bear. I played around in the desert most of the day, trying out these wonderful gifts given to me by the Ancient One. Eventually, I realized I was starving -- and that the people in the village were probably wondering what had happened to me. So I headed back home.” “Gah!” 4 Episode 24 The back end of a tractor-trailer rapidly approached the car’s windshield, causing Vernon to yank the steering wheel hard to the left, knocking Brandon’s head against Ralph’s seat and making the scene in Anasazi’s hand disappear. The Taurus careened across three lanes of traffic, narrowly avoiding the previously-mentioned tractor-trailer stalled in the right-hand lane, as well as a large RV whose occupants, according to the bumper sticker, were off to See Rock City. “You have got to stop talking with your hands,” Vernon said after the trio had righted themselves and the car was back on an even keel. “I can’t not pay attention to it -- it’s worse than having a DVD player in the front seat. I almost took off all our heads going under that trailer!” “Ours, at least,” Ralph said with a smile. “Yours is so hard it would have gone straight through.” “Ha ha,” Vernon said, deadpan, his eyes firmly fixed on the interstate. “Just cool it with the puppet show until we’re stopped somewhere, okay?” “Sorry, man,” Ralph said. “Just trying to tell the kid a story.” The three men drove along in silence for a few minutes until Brandon piped in. “Hey, there’s a rest area coming up. Can we stop? I could use a bathroom break.” “Didn’t you go before we left the Collective?” Vernon shot a glance at the Junior Associate. “We are on a mission, you know.” “Oh, c’mon Vern,” Ralph said. “This is more of a road trip than a mission. If I had my way, we’d stop for a case of Bud -- and we’d be listening to some decent music. It’s like a mausoleum in this car. Let’s stop for a few. You can have a smoke and the kid can go to 5 Committed by A.R. Kirby the bathroom. It’s not like we’re on a schedule or anything.” “Oh, all right,” Vernon said, and pulled the car into a state rest area a few moments later. “Back in a few,” Brandon said as he hopped out of the backseat and toward the low, neat building across the parking lot. “Hope everything comes out all right,” Ralph said with a laugh. Brandon pretended not to hear, shaking his head at the old joke, and walked towards the men’s room. “So,” Vernon said, leaning against the driver’s side door of the Ford and pulling out a cigar from his vest pocket, “you gonna tell the kid the rest of the story?” “Not until you can keep your eyes on the road.” “Heh. But tell me one thing,” Vernon said as he flicked a lighter and touched the flame to the tip of his cigar. “You ever meet that puma again?” “You know, that’s the funny thing about it,” Ralph said, taking a space next to Vernon against the car. “In all my vision quests, and in all the times I’ve spoken to Spider Mother and the Ancient Ones, I’ve never run into him. I even asked Spider Mother about it once, and she said she never heard of it. My guess is that it was coyote spirit playing a trick on me. I asked him about it once, and he said it wasn’t him. Of course, I didn’t believe him.” “Some trick, huh?” Vernon blew out a large cloud of blue-gray smoke. “Yeah. Some trick.” ---------- “Good afternoon, sir,” said a voice in a pleasant southern accent 6 Episode 24 as Brandon entered the restroom, “and welcome to the Gordon County I-75 North Rest Area, provided for your convenience by the state of Georgia.” Brandon looked around for the source of the voice, but all he saw was a conical piece of machinery, around three-feet high, somewhat silver in color, and with a large black orb protruding from near the top of the cone. It took him a moment to realize that the speaker was the piece of machinery. “Oh, you’re one of those new bathroom bots, right?” Brandon made his way toward the row of urinals as he spoke. “That’s correct, sir,” the robot replied as Brandon took care of his business. “I am a model PB-001, purchased by the state to maintain the facilities and meet all your restroom needs. Please let me know if I can assist you in any way.” “You know, I think I’m good,” Brandon said as he zipped up and flushed the urinal, then walked across the bathroom to one of the three sinks lined up against the wall. “Are you certain, sir?” The robot made its way on its uni-ball across the room to a position about three feet behind and to the side of Brandon. “I have a full supply of breath mints in a wide variety of flavors, cologne of various popular scents, styling products for your hair, chewing gum, aftershave, condoms in assorted sizes, shapes, and colors...” “No, thanks.” Brandon turned off the faucet and shook the water from his hands, then grabbed a paper towel from a dispenser on the wall. “But I am interested in what makes you tick.” “I’m afraid I don’t quite understand you, sir,” model PB-001 replied. “I have a number of functions, but ticking is not one of them.” 7 Committed by A.R. Kirby Brandon knelt next to the robot, gazing at the jet-black eye near its top. “Oh, I know you don’t really ‘tick’,” he said. “I’m just wondering about your operating systems. You’re a fairly advanced piece of machinery.” “Oh, you are correct about that, sir.” Was that a hint of pride Brandon detected in the robot’s voice? “I am constructed from a highly-advanced alloy, and my operating systems are controlled by a newly-developed form of artificial intelligence. It’s all quite proprietary, however. I’m afraid I can’t divulge any details about my design.” Brandon’s ears pricked at the word “proprietary”. He’d spent years hacking into so-called “proprietary” computer systems, breaking them down into component parts and utilizing them to his advantage. Of course, the last time he hacked into such a system, it belonged to the United States government. More precisely, it belonged to the Internal Revenue Service. In the long run, his last piece of private hacking work landed him in hot water legally and was the reason he was now with the Collective. Of course, none of that resonated with him at the moment. He was enthralled with the robot and had to know more. “Oh, come on,” Brandon said, “can’t you just tell me a little bit about how you work?” “My apologies, sir, but that is privileged information. Only my technical support staff are allowed to access my internal workings.” “You know, I’m pretty technical myself,” Brandon said, looking over the robots casing as he spoke. He couldn’t see a seam anywhere on the bot’s body. How was this thing put together? What was this material it was made from? And what kind of software was it running. “Let me guess... you’ve got a basic 8 Episode 24 Microsoft operating system that’s been tricked out some way, right?” A metallic laugh emanated from the robot at the suggestion. “Sir, Microsoft couldn’t compile my code in a thousand years. Do you think I suffer from a ‘blue screen of death’? Hardly, sir. Now, if there is nothing else I can do for you, I shall continue my duties. One of the toilets has a particularly nasty stain which needs my attention, most likely the leavings from the large truck driver who was in the facilities a short time ago.” “Wait just a second,” Brandon said, still examining the robot’s casing. How could he get into it? “I’ve got to know some more about how you operate. I’ve spent years working with computers, and I’ve never seen anything as advanced as you.” “That, sir, is because I am the most advanced piece of machinery on the planet. Now if you will excuse me, I have work to do.” The bot began moving toward one of the stalls. Brandon, in a fit of hacker desperation, leaped at it and pulled it down by the top of the cone. He straddled the robot and focused his attention on the giant black eye, feeling with his fingers to see if there was a way to open the robot’s casing. “Sir,” the PB-001 said, its voice still polite but laced with seriousness, “I am afraid if you continue with this behavior I will be forced to alert the authorities, or even activate my defensive systems.” “Oh, please,” Brandon said, still engrossed with the orb. “I’ll be out of here before any authorities show up, and what kind of defensive systems is a bathroom robot going to have? Are you going to come after me with a toilet brush? Maybe shoot some breath mints at me?” The voice was deathly serious now. “You would be quite 9 Committed by A.R. Kirby surprised at my capabilities, sir, and if you continue, I will be forced to use them.” “Yeah, right,” Brandon said as he attempted to rotate the orb in its’ socket, finally hearing a click. “Aha! Now let’s see what you’ve got going on, robot.” Brandon rotated the orb again and began to pull it out when the robot’s body began to make an odd humming sound. “What are you running in there, huh?” Brandon pulled the orb out slowly, a mass of wires attaching the back of the black ball to the interior of the unit’s body. “Gonna play some music?” The voice was no longer southern and friendly. It was metallic, hollow, and filled with death. “No sir. You have activated my defensive systems. The sound you are hearing is a counter-frequency which effectively negates all sound in the immediate area. I am making it to ensure that no one around is able to hear you screaming, sir.” “And just why do you think I’ll be screaming?” “Because you are about to die a most painful death, sir. Do you notice a tingling in you hand?” Brandon looked at the hand holding the robot’s orb. It was tingling, almost as if it were asleep. A moment later, it became hot. Brandon dropped the orb, which was quickly reeled back into place by the robot. The heat in Brandon’s hand rapidly changed to excruciating pain. Brandon rolled off the robot, holding his pained hand at the wrist. He shuffled on his rear to a corner of the restroom nearest the line of sinks. He had never felt such pain before. Looking at the back of his hand, he saw that the nails on each finger were ever-so10 Episode 24 slowly disappearing into a gray dust which fell onto the floor. “What did you do to me?!” “As I said, sir, I activated my defensive systems. More specifically, I’ve infected your hand with a flesh-eating nanovirus. I could have taken the step of calling the authorities first, but this seemed like it would be more effective.” The robot righted itself and rolled over to where Brandon huddled in the corner. “You see, sir, the nanoviruses with which you are now infected will devour every cell in your body, turning your flesh into dust, which I will then dispose of. No one will ever know you were here. The process will be intensely painful for you, and will last approximately five minutes. Please do not bother screaming or attempting to get help; as I said, the frequency I am generating effectively cancels all noise in my immediate vicinity, and I will not allow you to leave the restroom.” Brandon continued to look at his hand, watching it disappear from the fingertips downward. The pain was so great that he could do nothing but ball himself into the fetal position. He screamed, but no sound came from his mouth. “You were warned, sir,” the robot went on. “As you humans like to say, ‘curiosity killed the cat.’ Or in this case, curiosity killed the man who wouldn’t leave well enough alone.” To be continued... 11