Prodigy Returns (book 3)

Chapter Fifty-Six

Alex and Zeus retraced their steps, winding back through the underground labyrinth beneath the city streets and eventually popping up several blocks away from the battle zone. Now on the street level, Zeus followed Alex as she cautiously made her way through the organized grid of buildings.

'My father should be near,' she said.

'I'll scan for them,' Zeus said.

'No use, they're wearing stones. You won't be able to pick them up or communicate with them him using this technology.'

'Maybe the bots on this planet cannot see them, but the sensors on my equipment are from Earth. They shouldn't have the same issue.'

'If you say so.'

Zeus scanned the buildings and picked up two heat signatures about a block away. 'Over there,' Zeus said.

Alex and Zeus picked up the pace and found Maxim walking with a much older man.

"Dad!" Alex called out, running toward him.

"Alex, it's so good to see you!"

The two embraced in a hug. Maxim picked up his daughter and spun her around in his arms. On the final twirl he set her down, that's when he noticed a familiar looking robot.

"Who is this with you?" Maxim asked.

"Remember Zeus?"

"You mean that little pygmy jerboa we got for Olivia on her birthday?" Maxim asked reluctantly.

"Well, he's not so little anymore," Alex said with a smile.

"I don't understand."

"He's inside the RT, piloting it with an external brain transmitter."

"How on Earth... you know what I mean?"

"It gets even stranger than that," Alex said. "Monk is not who you think he is."

"Don't tell me he turned evil?"

"No no," Alex laughed. "He was... or is a scientist... he's also Zeus. They're the same."

"Alex, what are you talking about? You're not making any sense."

"Come on, I'll explain everything on the walk home."

"Ms. Gray, it's good to see you again," Archimedes said.

"You too," Alex said with an insincere smile.

The four walked together without as much as a care of being found by the bots. Each of them had stones with them, and Zeus was immune to detection by virtue of him being a small animal inside of a machine.

"So, Alex," Maxim said. "Start over. What are you saying about Monk and Zeus?"

"Monk didn't always look the way he does now. He was formerly a brilliant scientist of a people called the Enkaras. That's also the name of this planet by the way."

"I prefer Titan," Maxim said.

"Titan?" Archimedes exclaimed. "Is that what you called it?"

"Yeah, why? What did you call it?"

"I didn't call it anything. I haven't talked to anyone in a very long time so I had no need to name it."

"We have names for all kinds of things, don't we, Alex?"

"It's true."

"When you think you're the last person alive on an alien planet, you tend not to bother naming things," Archimedes said.

"Very well then. Alex, please continue."

"So these bots do not have artificial intelligence. They are programmed to kill beings that fit a certain profile. They wiped out everything on the planet and serve no other function other that exterminators."

"I guess human beings fall within that spectrum."

"Exactly. That's why Monk and Zeus are fine to walk around without fear of being attacked by the bots."

"What about these stones we carry around. What do they do?"

"The Enkaras called them Achaia. It's a type of stone that emits an energy that scrambles the frequency of anything it comes into contact with it."

"And it glows," Maxim added.

"Yes, that too. The Enkaras used them for other purposes, mostly decoration and jewelry."

"You were saying the bots were programmed to exterminate a type of species. Why?"

"The motives are not clear."

"Wait, how do you know all this?"

"Monk told me."

"He told you?"

"He brought me back to his lab and uploaded the Karja language patch into my brain. Now we can communicate using our minds."

"Incredible," Maxim said.

"Do you want to know how to say that in Karja?"

"Maybe later, I'm still trying to wrap my head around all this."

"I know, right?"

"So Monk is not a beast, he's a scientist, or was a scientist. He has a lab, which for some reason he only tells you about."

"That's not true actually," Alex interrupted. "Olivia was there too."

"Oh my gosh, where is Olivia?" Maxim said, just realizing he left Alex in charge of her.

"Olivia is fine. She's back at the cave with Monk. I thought Kyodin mentioned it to you."

"He must have forgot."

"Speaking of which, have you heard from him lately?"

"No, I'll try him now."

Maxim attempted to reach Kyodin, but the call went unanswered.

"These things don't have a very long range," he said. "I'm sure he's fine."

"I hope so."

"Getting back to your story. Monk brought you to his lab and uploaded a language patch into your brain."

"Yes. He also uploaded the entire Enkara history."

"You know the entire history?" Maxim asked in astonishment.

"I do, but obviously a condensed version. There's no way I would be able to fit over ten thousand years of history into my brain."

"Hey, you never know."