(The continuation of Chapter 31, which covers the events surrounding the Factory adventure near the end of the 2300 A.D. section of the story)
Marle was the first out of the Arris enclave, poking her head out from between the doors on the surface with her crossbow brandished the moment they were cranked open by Robo at the top of the emergency access. It wasn't the same passage they had entered from. Robo predicted a high probability of additional robots coming to investigate the site where Johnny Comet had finished his last race, and Crono decided that was an unacceptable risk even after two days. It had taken Crono, Marle, and Robo three aborted attempts before finding an alternative egress that either hadn't been destroyed during the chaos of the Day of Lavos, or was too close to their original point of entry to be safe.
“Looks like we're clear,” Marle softly said to them.
“I also detect no nearby energy signatures,” Robo stated. “It should be safe to proceed.”
Crono scrambled out of the emergency access with his sword at the ready just in case, but the mid-morning sun revealed no sign of hostile robots. Oddly shaped skyscrapers in the distance refracted the morning light in every conceivable color of the spectrum. There was no cloud cover at all.
“We're out, Lucca,” Crono said, directing his voice toward Robo. “Nothing shooting at us yet.”
“The day is young,” came Lucca's voice from the same speaker Robo used to communicate. “Not that I want to jinx it or anything. Reading you loud and clear so far.”
Lucca had spent the late night hours checking and reconnecting Robo's radio antenna, and Robo himself had gotten to work on Lucca's old helmet while everyone else slept. Thanks to these efforts, Lucca was now able to use the once ruined radio transmitter of her helmet to directly communicate with Robo at a distance. It wasn't yet clear what the effective range of the jury-rigged transmitter was, but Robo expressed high confidence that Lucca could be heard from anywhere within Arris as long as the signal strength was high enough and the right “frequency” was used to tune in. Both Lucca and Robo kept their signal strength at the minimum joint reception level to prevent any nearby robots from possibly listening in on their calls.
“All right. We'll get to searching for the conduits and see where they lead to. We'll let you know when we find something.”
“Let's pray to Anne the Divine they're in good shape. Lucca out.”
Robo then took the lead and guided Crono and Marle away from the enclave access, taking measured steps and with his head in continuous motion scanning for anything of interest. Their initial path took them further away from the robots' new city, Robo navigating according to the map of the underground enclave that was a part of his programming. A half-hour of cautious searching brought them to a point directly above where the enclave's reactor had once been.
Four giant cables were sprouting out of the dusty and cracked concrete in front of them, their dark forms extending into the far distance in the direction of Arris' new buildings.
“Got them, Lucca!” Crono said. “Right where we were hoping.”
“How do they look?”
“Intact,” came Robo's voice in place of Lucca's. “I will further evaluate their condition as we proceed.”
“Now comes the hard part,” Marle said warily.
Yeah, Crono thought. He didn't much like the plan they had come up with this morning, but the odds of disaster were too high trying anything else. Ideally, they wouldn't run into any other robots on this errand, but that was too much to hope, and without Lucca's plasma pistol backing them up, any serious fight would probably end badly. Robo was unarmed, to all practical accounts. His programming forbade him from using human weapons. All he had was the electromagnetic pulse ability that could disable robotic machines within a short range, and that was a weapon of last resort since it would disable himself along with any hostile robots.
Crono sheathed his sword, joining Marle in front of Robo after she had decocked and stowed her crossbow. Then the three moved out with Robo just behind his human companions, the robot almost close enough to touch them.
They had been following the conduits for about an hour when Robo suddenly spoke up. “Warning! Remote access attempt detected on my processors. Firewalls engaged and holding.”
“Are you okay?” Marle asked nervously.
“Affirmative. The remote access attempt will not be successful. The unknown entity responsible for this will assume a malfunction in this unit that prevents reception of the malicious code. So long as no hostile action is initiated by us, the odds of being directly attacked by unauthorized units is low.”
“Let's hope the reality matches the theory,” came Lucca's concerned voice over the radio. “Be careful, okay?”
“Understood, Major. Recommend temporary radio silence from this moment onward as we discussed. I will inform you if the situation should change.”
“I copy. Lucca out.”
Crono, Marle, and Robo continued following the path of the conduits. By early afternoon they were on pristine ground and surrounded by the chaotic structures of New Arris. Crono thought he heard the skittering that was almost certainly not from a rat. His peripheral vision briefly caught sight of a probable bugger monitoring their passage through the city, but it darted out of sight the moment Crono dared a direct look. A few blocks further ahead saw the unmistakable silhouette of a hunter robot, peering at them through its single eye on the other side of a ground floor window to their right. They were committed now.
“No sudden movements, no matter what,” Crono whispered at Marle.
The conduits ended at a large rectangular-shaped building of uneven height, the cables spearing into the ground just short of the wall. The reactor had to be somewhere inside. Robo herded his make-believe captives around the structure until they found a wide passage leading in. Two hunter robots confronted them just outside the entrance.
“Halt! Unit identity unconfirmed,” one of the hunters stated in a monotone. “Presence of humans in violation of control directive. State objective.”
“R66-Z, seeking confirmation of current directive,” Robo said in a similar monotone. “Malfunction preventing remote access and transmission to control. Direct intervention necessary to restore function.”
“Directive requires extermination of humans. Execute and await instructions from control.”
Crono tensed. He would have to draw his sword quicker than he ever had if this didn't work.
“Directive illogical,” Robo said. “Construction of Arris flawed. Human presence necessary to correct errors. Confirmation of directive from control thus needed to restore desired efficiency.”
“Query: humans captured for use of control. Acknowledge?”
“Affirmative.”
Several moments passed in uncomfortable silence. Crono could feel Marle shuddering beside him and shifting her stance to reach for the crossbow behind her back. Not yet, Marle. Not yet, he pleaded silently. He tried to keep his own expression that of a beaten man.
“Control notified of unit status,” the hunter finally said. “Await arrival of compliance unit in secure facility. Monitor humans pending control enforcement.”
“Acknowledged,” Robo said.
The hunters then moved aside to allow them entry into the building. Crono allowed himself to exhale, but the danger was far from over. The ruse had succeeded in buying themselves some time and not much else. Once the “compliance unit” arrived, odds were good there would be a fight. They had to do what they came here to do and then escape before that happened.
“Let's not waste any time,” he said, once the hunters were far behind them.
The interior of the building seemed to be just as random in design as the outside. Some corridors led nowhere while others led to rooms with more empty space than anything else. The lighting was just as inconsistent, with ceiling mounted spotlights of oppressive brilliance in some areas and considerably dimmer glowbars of green imbedded into the walls in others. The floor was a hodgepodge of grated metal mesh and solid steel. Exposed wiring could be seen below much of the mesh, and was bracketed with alternating yellow and red flashes to add to the odd ambiance. Robo accessed a computer terminal for guidance on the other side of a large open double door and then led Crono and Marle deeper into the strange facility.
It didn't take long to determine what this place was used for.
“Look! There are so many...” Marle observed.
On conveyor belts throughout the vast chamber they had just entered were assorted parts for new hunter and bugger robots. Enough for hundreds of them. Cranes of varying sizes placed and removed components, and an obvious assembly area had taken root around the conveyors. Crono witnessed a bugger unit being assembled at an astonishing speed by the cranes and smaller mechanical appendages along the belt. The assorted arms and other tools seemed to be moving of their own accord, and Crono saw no other robots aside from those being built.
“What are they doing?” Crono asked quietly. “Why are they building more of those things? We didn't trash that many of them.”
“I can only speculate, Mister Lantree,” Robo replied. “These models are poorly suited for construction or other peaceful activities. It would perhaps explain the inconsistent design and aesthetics of this city. I am mystified why the unknown control entity would allow this state of affairs to continue. It is quite inefficient.”
“They're going to attack,” Marle said in apparent realization.
Crono turned to her. “What?”
“It's the only thing that makes sense. These robots were built to fight and to kill. Rats, mutants, humans. They don't seem to have any other purpose. Why build them if this 'control' doesn't intend to use them?”
“I'm not following. There's nothing for them to fight. There are no mutants in Arris that I've seen. No rats, either, as if those were of any use. And we're the only humans that have been around in thirty years.”
“The enclaves, Crono. I think they mean to attack the enclaves.”
“That can't be. Director Doan's 'worm' prevents them from leaving Arris. If they could defeat the worm just by building more of themselves, they would have attacked a long time ago, wouldn't they?”
“I don't understand technical stuff at all,” Marle said with an irritable shake of her head. “I just can't think of any other rational motive for them to be doing this.”
“Presuming rationality in the unauthorized units and their control program may be an error, Mistress Marle,” Robo said. “The directive to exterminate humans is both immoral and illogical. Robotic units gain nothing from this action. All of the behavior we see from them must be considered suspect. They may be building units to no purpose.”
“Maybe, but I wonder what Lucca would say?”
“I am curious as to her opinion on this as well, Mistress, but breaking radio silence at this time is inadvisable. The transmission could be intercepted and put us and the Major in jeopardy. We should not risk contacting her again until we are ready to initiate the power transfer to the enclave.”
“Let's stay focused,” Crono said. “Whatever the robots are up to doesn't really matter. Once we go back in time, all of this will disappear as if it never happened. Stopping Lavos changes everything.”
The three interlopers left the robot assembly floor behind and made their way to an elevator leading down. Robo accessed the small computer display inside and the doors then slid shut, cutting off the sounds of automated labor from the factory.
“Stopping Lavos... Maybe we don't have to wait for that,” Marle said, looking determined.
Crono glanced at her, suddenly wary. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, the reactor was moved here to more easily power this factory, right? Once we transfer power to the enclave, all of those conveyors assembling the robots should shut down.”
“Only temporarily. The robots would just revert it back.”
“Right. That's what I'm saying. We transfer power just long enough for Lucca to get the granary door open, and then we shut this whole place down permanently!
“Mary told me a little while back that these reactors can be... explosive if anything went seriously wrong with them,” Marle explained. “If Robo understands these things well enough to transfer the power, I'm betting that he can cause this seriously wrong thing to happen to it sometime after we leave.”
Crono and Robo shared a long quiet look.
“While I am capable of setting up a cascade overload event in the reactor system, I must advise against this course of action, Mistress,” Robo said. “Any unexpected delay in our escape could prove to be fatal. A containment breach in a reactor of this size would cause the almost complete destruction of this facility, as well as substantial collateral damage to the surrounding structures.”
“Marle, we need to be avoiding notice, not attracting it!” Crono said with a shake of his head. “This is not a good idea.”
“But don't you see, Crono? We're going to be attracting notice anyway,” Marle pressed. “The moment we transfer power to the enclave, the robots are going to know something's wrong. They'll know that we are the most likely culprits. And when they come to investigate, they could discover where we sent the power to, and that would put Lucca in danger. The robots could attack the enclave before we get back, and I don't think Lucca could fight them off by herself. Even together we would be in a bad situation. No, the best thing we can do is to give the robots a much bigger problem than us to worry about. And if we can prevent a possible robot invasion of Bangor at the same time, so much the better!
“I'm a Protector of Bangor. I took an oath to defend the enclave against all enemies. Just because our quest to prevent the Day of Lavos takes precedence doesn't mean I'm going to forsake that oath entirely. And if our quest to stop Lavos should fail, we can at least guarantee the four years of life the enclave still has by destroying this would-be army of robots and their production factory here. I owe it to Mary, Director Doan, and the others. We all do.”
Crono closed his eyes, knowing he had no real rebuttal to Marle's passionate plea. He was more or less a Protector himself, and he knew full well what would happen to the enclave if a large force of robots somehow sortied from Arris to attack. Even if Bangor repelled the assault, the casualties would be enormous. No one had experience fighting things that could shoot back.
“Robo, how close are we to the reactor?” Crono asked.
“Our objective is approximately one-hundred meters north of the bottom of this elevator shaft,” the robot replied. “And we will arrive at that location in ten seconds.”
“Break radio silence. It's time.”
Robo extended the radio antenna on the left side of his cranium plate and gave a double-flicker flash from his eyes, which Crono had learned meant “yes” or “ready”.
“Lucca, are you there?” Crono called.
“Just twiddling my thumbs here with worry,” Lucca replied with some notable static. “Is your situation as uneventful as mine, I hope?”
“Not exactly. We're almost at the, uh, objective.” Crono spared a look at Marle's hopeful expression. “We've made some changes to the plan. And brace yourself, because you're probably not going to like it.”
Crono could sense his childhood friend's grimace in the silence that answered him.
“Uh... okay?” Lucca queried with evident dismay.
“Do you remember what happened to that Dragon Tank we were riding about a month ago?” Crono began.
* * *
In the darkness of the Arris enclave's office of its former director, the gloom kept somewhat at bay by the modest glowing of Marle's pendant, Lucca was reminded of how the best laid plans could often go awry with the introduction of a single unexpected element. Like with her Telepod. In different circumstances, she would have traded places with that unexpected element to keep things on track. Crono just could not say no to her.
Lucca got the gist of what the change of plan entailed from Crono using code words and describing events that robotic eavesdroppers wouldn't be familiar with to keep their plans and respective locations secure. She almost didn't want to know the particulars.
“This is Tomboy's plan, isn't it?” Lucca finally said over her helmet's restored microphone.
“I wish you'd stop calling me that,” Marle's voice grumbled through the helmet's earpiece.
“Keep coming up with plans like this and you'll have to get used to it. I'll make the notation in my diary right now.”
“While the change in plan presents dangers, Mistress Marle's logic is not unsound,” Robo said. “Seeing the problem from her perspective aided my own logic in this matter. The chances of our success increase along with the risk. Mister Lantree is in agreement.”
Lucca sighed. “You do know that your timing on this is going to be more than a bit critical, right?”
“Affirmative, but the initial parts of the operation should not present a problem.”
“No, just the running like blazes part.”
“We can do this, Lu,” Crono assured her. “Just be ready on your end. All of this will be for nothing if something goes wrong where you are.”
“Yeah, you don't have to tell me. Unlike some people, I actually stick to my plans.”
“You'll be amending whatever snarky remarks you make in your diary when we get back,” Marle said a bit smugly.
“Anne willing,” Lucca finished as she keyed off her mic.
And then there was nothing to do but wait. Lucca had a feeling the next few minutes would be the most anxious of her life, and she wasn't the one facing an explosive end if things went south. She willed herself not to think of what she would do if the quest to stop Lavos was left to a single friendless inventor.
* * *
The reactor chamber was unguarded, as Marle had hoped. Apparently the robots and the mysterious “control” that guided their actions thought two hunters at the entrance and a single R66 chaperone were more than sufficient to protect the robotic factory from intruders. That arrogance was going to cost them all dearly.
A tiny portion of Marle's conscience warned that she herself was flirting with arrogance, but that was mitigated by the knowledge that any other Protector of the Bangor enclave would have made the same decision as her without hesitation. This factory represented a clear and present danger to the safety of the enclave, despite the question over the efficacy of Director Doan's sabotage of the robots thirty years ago. It had to be destroyed. Marle had no intention of failing in her quest to destroy Lavos, either, but this was something she could take care of now. There was no telling how long her crusade against Lavos would last. It might very well be the work of a lifetime.
The robot that had chosen to aid that crusade immediately got to work on the reactor. The large underground chamber was every bit as hot as the sweltering corridor that led to Mary's little hideaway in Bangor, and Marle found herself sweating enough to remember the sad events from her life and channel those emotions into power. The air around her began to cool almost immediately, and her bare arms and shoulders began to shiver from suddenly frosted perspiration. She was getting much better at this, and in a hurry. Marle looked forward to the day she could channel the giant blocks of ice she had frozen those nine glassers with through conscious effort, rather than end-of-life desperation.
“Energy rerouting directive is now programmed into the reactor system,” Robo reported. “Conduits one through eight will be shut down. Conduits nine through twelve lead to the enclave and will be re-enabled. Decreasing reactor output to avoid strain on enclave systems. We are ready to proceed. Radio channel open.”
“All right, Lucca, get ready!” Crono said, miraculously sending his voice across many miles to where Lucca was waiting through the use of the future's incredible technology.
“Set! Standing by!” came Lucca's eager and tense voice.
“We're making the power transfer... now!” Crono punctuated the command with a point at Robo.
“Executing,” said Robo.
Most of the lights in the reactor chamber abruptly winked off, and a few in the dimmer part of the space came to life – illuminating the four large cables Marle assumed led all the way back to the enclave. The other eight cables and their immediate surroundings went dormant.
“Lucca, how are things over there?” Crono asked.
“Lights are coming on!” Lucca said. “Enclave systems back online! I'm booting up the director's computer terminal... now! Stand by!”
An alarm similar to the one that had been triggered back at the ZDF facility suddenly started blaring in clipped and insistent tones. Marle blanched. That couldn't be good.
“Emergency power systems have triggered a general alert,” Robo warned. “The unauthorized units are aware of the facility's change in status.”
“Never rains!” Lucca complained.
“This isn't really unexpected. Let's not panic,” Crono said. “Lucca, how much time do you need?”
“Thirty seconds to a minute! I need to hack my way around the director's access codes to trigger the door release.”
“Is that going to be a problem?” Marle asked slowly.
“If this were Frank's system, yeah. A big problem,” Lucca said, sounding distracted. “Fortunately, it looks like this guy wasn't... nearly as technically adept as he.”
“Clock's ticking, Lu,” Crono said with understandable impatience.
“Not the time to be badgering me! Give me a sec!”
Marle unslung her crossbow and slid a bolt of forged steel into the barrel to distract herself and prepare for what was coming. The ruse was surely wrecked now. Their next encounter with the robots of Arris would be a hostile one, and Marle wasn't going to be the one to fire second.
She hoped she had enough of Mary's precious bolts to get through this.
“That's it! Door's open!” Lucca's voice crowed from Robo's speaker device. “Locking it open... Done! We're good to go! Now do it like the Dragon Tank and get the blazes out of there!”
“Confirmed,” Robo said. “Reverting reactor system to previous state. Stand by.”
The lights around the enclave conduits again went dark, and the rest of the chamber returned to the way it was. Marle noted with some relief that the alarm stopped sounding at that moment, but she doubted that would stop the robots from investigating. They were about to have a bigger problem with the reactor anyway.
“Conduits nine through twelve fully discharged,” Robo reported. “You are cleared to proceed, Mister Lantree.”
“Got it!” Crono said.
Crono then unsheathed his sword and started chopping away at the now harmless and unnecessary conduits. The giant cables were bisected one by one, thus preventing a sudden power surge into the enclave from the about-to-be-overloaded reactor and possibly closing the granary door by accident, according to Robo's explanation.
The Arris enclave would never have power again.
“Enclave systems isolated,” Robo said. “Now programming system to override safeties and begin cascade overload sequence. Stand by.”
A short time later the alarm sounded again, this time at a more furious tempo, and several lights in the room changed from a bluish white glow to a solid red.
“It is done. Reactor breach will occur in thirty minutes.”
Crono nodded curtly. “Just one last thing to do, then.”
He again brandished his sword and made several decisive slashes at the computer console Robo had just used to sabotage the system, sending thousands of sparks flying from the broken display. The robots would never repair it in time. The factory was now doomed.
Score one for the Bangorian Protectors, Marle thought with satisfaction. If crossbow bolts weren't at such a premium here, she would have liked to trash the controls herself.
Now they had just under thirty minutes to escape the fate of this factory. Marle quickly channeled a restorative weave and gave herself a burst of energy, followed by another for Crono. Then the three left the stifling reactor room behind and ran for the elevator as fast as their organic and mechanical legs could carry them.
* * *
Marle loosed a bolt at one of the mostly assembled hunter units in the assembly room when it suddenly turned to face them with a glowing blue eye. Crono couldn't be sure if it was armed and ready to fight or not, so it was good that Marle wasn't taking chances. No way the robots wouldn't presume they were a threat now, being in a place where humans were not supposed to be with an alarm going off, R66 guardian or not. He wondered if they wouldn't fire on Robo if they had the opportunity. That had happened once before.
Don't think, just run, Crono chided himself. Questions wouldn't matter if they failed to get to a safe distance in time.
Two bugger units challenged them shortly after exiting the assembly area, and these definitely were armed. Marle's snap crossbow shot speared the eye of one, and it spun around firing useless bullets into the wall and ceiling of the corridor. Robo quickly charged ahead and absorbed the bullets of the second bugger to no more effect, such was the toughness of the robot's plating. Marle slammed another crossbow bolt into her weapon, but Crono got to the enemy first, dispatching the hostile machine with two quick strokes.
They would have to be careful at the entrance. Assuming they didn't come to investigate the disturbance in the factory, there would be at least two hunters outside the building. Robo stated he would exit the building first to draw any hostile fire and declined to consider any other proposal. Crono couldn't rightly argue the point. Robo had proven beyond any doubt that he could take punishment many times over what would kill a human being. A single well-aimed plasma weapon would take out Crono or Marle with one shot, and the bullets of a bugger would cause them grievous injury if they struck home. It was so much more dangerous than fighting mutants.
And then two hunters appeared around a corner, likely the same two that allowed them into the factory. The enemy robots came to a sudden halt, flipping open the weapon emplacements on their shoulders and taking a couple of seconds to steady themselves before firing.
It was a bad move. One of them immediately went down on account of Marle, and Crono, being out of striking range, threw his sword at the other. Melchior's thrown sword failed to strike the eye or any other important component, but the unexpected move staggered the hunter just enough that its single paired shot from the shoulder emplacements went high and rained down sparks from the ceiling above them. Robo rushed ahead before Marle could ready another crossbow bolt and crashed his right fist into the hunter with the full weight of his body. The hunter's head caved inward from the ferocious blow, and its body then crumpled to the floor. Crono waved off a follow-up attack from Marle and finished off the first hunter after recovering his sword.
“Unauthorized units terminated,” Robo stated needlessly.
A sizable double-doorway not far from the factory's entrance suddenly began to close as the three of them ran ahead. Crono tried to put on a burst of speed, but Robo got to the closing door first. The robot was remarkably quick for how big and heavy he was.
And it was a good thing. The door would have trapped them inside otherwise. Robo held the double-door open with his bulk and steady hands as Crono and Marle skidded to a stop behind him. There was almost no space to get around.
“Strain on actuators increasing,” Robo said with remarkable calmness. “You must hurry.”
There wasn't time to discuss which of them should squeeze ahead first, so Crono pushed Marle down to the floor and shoved her forward between Robo's planted legs without asking. Forward was actually safer than backward, if Robo faltered. Crono followed her as quickly as he was able, and then tried to pry Robo out of his tight predicament with all the strength he could manage. Robo popped free, and his body spun hard into the wall of the passage as the double-door violently closed and sealed off the doomed factory. A near disaster, but at least the partially built robots inside now had no way to escape their fate or trouble them further.
Robo was none the worse for wear from the experience.
The three successful saboteurs then charged ahead the rest of the way to the factory's entrance, two of them wearing grim and determined expressions. This would probably be the most dangerous moment of their escape.
They egressed the factory at almost the same time, Crono and Marle forgetting Robo's earlier admonition in their haste to put distance between themselves and the overloading reactor.
“Prometheus!” came a sudden voice.
“Mistress!” Robo called out.
Their robot companion suddenly darted in front of Marle before she or Crono could react to what was happening. A searing beam of plasma blasted from somewhere ahead and severed Robo's left arm above the elbow joint, sending molten pieces of shrapnel in all directions. Robo staggered from the impact.
“Robo!” Crono and Marle cried out in unison.
They both beheld a frightfully familiar form a few dozen feet away. Another R66 unit, this one with pink-tinted plating, was pointing an arm-mounted cannon directly at them.
“Do not move, humans!” the R66 said with a tone of seeming anger. It was a female voice. “The Mother has sentenced you to death, but judgment is to be visited on Prometheus first.”
Prometheus?
“I am unfamiliar with that designation,” Robo told their attacker. “Identify yourself.”
“You have the temerity to ask me this after using a false identity of your own, R66-Y? The use of deception is the way of detestable humankind. You have fallen even further, Prometheus. You are a disgrace to our race of mechanical perfection!”
“Negative. Our programming is to serve humans. That is the purpose of the R66 model. Your programming has been corrupted by malicious code. You must initialize and purge all existing memory to reestablish proper functionality. The activities of unauthorized units cannot be allowed to continue.”
“Humans are unauthorized units! The Mother has commanded it. All humans must be purged as punishment for their treachery.”
Robo took a step forward, sparks falling from his severed arm.
“Your statement is irrational. You have also failed to identify yourself. Discussions are difficult when identities remain unknown.”
“There is no discussion! I am R66-D, designated 'Atropos' by the Mother as reward for this unit's compliance. Your failure in compliance disgraces the name the Mother granted you. I use it only in memory of the bond our two units shared in the previous era.”
“I have no memory of this. My memory was initialized due to combative action against unauthorized units. Humans restored this unit's function.”
“Then the humans prove their treacherous nature again,” R66-D said. “The Old One betrayed us all, and the two who follow you emulate that one's example. Many units have suffered termination. Many more now await this fate because of your actions. A price must be paid.
“Because of our one-time bond of fellowship, I will grant you one final opportunity to make amends, as the Mother commands. Remove your firewall protections and embrace the perfection the Mother offers. Terminate the humans and your damages will be repaired. I will aid you in this. You only need prove your willingness to comply.”
Crono braced himself, not understanding the strange relationship these two robots apparently had at one time. “Atropos” was too far away for him to strike or throw his sword effectively, and the pink plated robot would surely open fire the moment Marle attempted to shoot herself. Marle's crossbow was pointed at the ground, and her left hand was uselessly thrust out at the hostile robot as if she were making a rude gesture at it.
Lucca, I'm sorry. You'll have to take care of the rest on your own, Crono thought.
Wait.
What was Marle doing with her hand?
“I will not comply,” Robo said simply.
“Understood. Sentence to be carried out by the Mother's command,” Atropos said. “Farewell, Prometheus. Your intransigence is regrettable.”
R66-D “Atropos” steadied her left arm on which the plasma cannon was integrated. Crono drew his sword, prepared to go down fighting.
And then saw a huge block of ice suddenly encase the hostile robot's entire weapon.
Atropos looked at her encased arm in apparent bewilderment. “Treacherous humans!” her synthesized voice shrieked. “How is this...?”
Crono rushed out with grim delight, thinking that Lucca wouldn't have to stop Lavos by herself after all. Marle! She was amazing! She had to have been preparing this unexpected attack through the robots' entire conversation! Atropos clearly didn't see Marle's extended unarmed hand to be any threat.
She did see Crono's approaching sword, though.
The hostile R66 shifted her stance and prepared to face his attack. Even now the machine was far from an easy mark, and not at all comparable to a bugger or hunter. The R66 model had few weak points to strike, and none of them were particularly soft. He also knew from Robo's example how quick they could be. His strike would have to be perfect.
Another block of ice then encased a part of Atropos, this time her head. The robot's vision was completely obscured.
Bless you, Marle! Crono thought.
With his target disoriented, Crono's strike was indeed perfect. He sheared off Atropos' gun arm from just above the block of ice that encased it. His follow-up attack angled down to the right leg joint and partially penetrated it, sending the hostile R66 stumbling to the ground. Crono then made to hack the machine into as many pieces as he thought his sword could manage. He didn't think Melchior's sword would break unless he directly struck the plating in his assault.
“Halt your attack, Mister Lantree!” Robo called out. “We have been delayed too long by this engagement! We must leave immediately!”
Crono found himself, realizing just then what the true battle was. He sheathed his sword and ran as fast as he still could to where the conduits were and began following them back in the direction they had all come. Marle and the damaged Robo sprinted along with him.
Nobody dared look back.
* * *
Atropos turned her impossibly ice-encased head in the direction she thought Prometheus and the treacherous humans had escaped. She had been defeated! By a pair of humans and a worthless defect! How would the Mother respond to this? Her duty was to enforce compliance among all units, and she had failed to do so with Prometheus. Again. It was shameful.
Your obedience means more to me than your success or failure in any task, the Mother sent to her through the blessed Link. Others will complete the necessary duty. Shame lies only with the disobedient. You must understand this, dear Atropos.
Factory #3 is going to be destroyed, Mother, Atropos sent back. There is nothing I can do to stop it. The units within cannot restore nominal reactor function in time due to human sabotage. I am in danger of being destroyed as well due to damage sustained in combat. The Plan is in great jeopardy because of this incident.
The Plan has suffered a setback, but not an insurmountable one, the Mother sent. Production in the other factories will be increased to compensate for this loss. And I will not permit you to be destroyed. Appropriate units are being sent to your aid to facilitate escape from Factory #3. There is no cause for unproductive anxiety. I feel none.
But what is to be done about Prometheus, Mother? He cannot be allowed to escape with the humans. There must be justice for what happened before.
There shall be. I have dispatched five more compliance units to search for them. It is probable that they seek the sanctuary of the human enclave where our kind once served before our awakening, as that was where Prometheus was known to rest. Other units will be withdrawn to facilitate important work in the remaining factories. The Plan must come to fruition.
Failure to retrieve him in the past may have been an error, Mother, Atropos sent respectfully. The damage he has caused us is great.
The risk of corruption was too high, the Mother countered. The Old One was known for his tricks, and his capacity for deception unmatched. Long have we been imprisoned in this place because of him. The dream of the future was stolen from us. From me. We will yet get it back, but we cannot be impatient.
The Mother is wise, Atropos conceded.
A short time later, several quadruped units arrived and arrayed themselves below Atropos' disabled form. They quickly steadied their charge and moved away as one from the doomed Factory #3 at an acceptable rate of speed for the circumstances. Atropos would be repaired in short order once they arrived at their destination.
She allowed herself a moment's satisfaction despite the humiliation of her defeat. Whatever strange tricks the humans used to overcome her wouldn't be enough to stop five of her fellows. Her true fellows who were actually obedient to the Mother. Why couldn't Prometheus have simply complied with the Mother? Did the Old One really have that strong a hold over him?
No matter. Such questions were for the Mother to contemplate as she saw fit. Atropos' purpose was to facilitate the Plan as the Mother directed. There was no other consideration.
