Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14
Part 15
Part 16
Part 17
Part 18
Part 19
Part 20
Part 21
Part 22
Part 23
Part 24
Part 25
Part 26
Part 27
Part 28
Part 29
Part 30
Part 31
Part 32
Part 33
Part 34
Part 35
Part 36
Part 37
Part 38
Part 39
Part 40
Part 41
Part 42
Part 43
Part 44
Part 45
Part 46
Part 47
Part 48
Part 49
Part 50
Part 51
Part 52
Part 53
Part 54
Part 55
Part 56
Part 57
Part 58
Part 59
Part 60
Part 61
Part 62
Part 63
I sat down with Lars and Sue. “You want in?” Sue offered. “You missed out on a great round of Oh Hell earlier, now we’re playing Poker.” I declined as I don’t know the first thing about either of those games, electing to quietly spectate instead.
“You’re bluffing. You have to be.” Sue scowled at Lars, his own face totally deadpan. “You’d know, wouldn’t you? Am I really the bullshitter here? You’ve got a dress on.” Maybe it’s because I glimpsed a moment of hurt in Sue’s eyes. Or maybe it was the stress accumulated from the journey, and from dealing with Helper.
“Shut the fuck up Lars. You piece of shit.” They both turned to me in surprise. “Relax man, I was just joking” Lars grumbled. “Grow a sense of humor.” Not today. I got that feeling I usually do before I snap. The “you might regret this later” feeling. But I ignored it like always.
“Lars, it isn’t cute or funny when you do that. You just look like a shitty, mean spirited person. Sue has never said word one against you, but you never stop putting her down. Now, maybe she repulses you. If that’s your honest reaction I can at least understand it. But do you know what repulses me? Your cruelty.”
He protested that I was blowing some simple, light hearted banter way out of proportion. Sue jumped in, assuring me that she really wasn’t bothered. “If I let every guy like Lars upset me, I wouldn’t have gotten far in life. I’m tougher than you think! Besides, it’s not me you should be worried about. It’s Helper.”
I cooled off, explained that I’m still a little on edge, then headed for the dorms to check on Helper. As I left, I heard Lars say “Geez. Now I see where Helper gets it from.” As the grim reality of spending a decade or more in here with Lars sunk in, I gave protracted, serious thought to taking my chances with the fallout.
I found Helper’s door unlocked. An invitation? Ready to listen, I hoped. But when I cautiously opened the door, expecting to find her moping on the bed...the room was empty. I entered and turned around, as if she could somehow be hiding despite the austere conditions.
The only clue was a handwritten note left on the bed, reading simply “I must help”. Oh no, no. Helper no. I raced back down the corridor, erupting into the commons area. Madeline looked up from her game. “Something wrong?”
Voice shaking, I begged to know whether she’d seen Helper come through here. “Maybe, I haven’t really been paying much attention to anything but my phone. Sorry. Oh, I did hear the front door open a minute ago. I just assumed Red came back early, looking for those crates of food you promised.”
Moments later I was driving Rhonda into the security lockout chamber. Lars came running up to the driver side window, demanding to know where I was taking his car. I was in such a state I could barely form sentences. “Helper! The military base. She took the truck, she thinks…”
He ran his fingers through his hair, and swore softly. “Alright. Don’t ding up Rhonda worse than she already is, not if you can help it. Do you need me to come along?” I shook my head and floored it the second the outer door opened far enough to permit passage.
Wind whipping past competed with the roar of the engine to deafen me as I barrelled down the highway. Why? Why? Why does she keep doing this to me? Putting her life in danger despite the hot coals I’ve walked over to keep her safe, all for the sake of random shitheads we don’t even know.
Like my feelings count for nothing. She either has no idea how horrible it feels for dread to gnaw at your organs like this or she doesn’t care. In a fit of anxiety I pounded the dash, shouting vulgarities to nobody in particular.
The radio sputtered to life, playing back the same pre-recorded PSA I heard the other night. I didn’t bother to change the station, as I already knew it was all I’d receive. About an hour later I passed the lodge, children out on the lawn waving to me as I sped by.
The engine throbbed, RPM needle just a hair shy of the red line. As I drew near to the military base, now a faint shimmering speck on the horizon, the radio crackled. The PSA I’d been listening to on loop until then faded into static...replaced by Helper’s voice.
“Hello, world! Don’t be scared. You don’t know me, but I love you and I’m here to help.” What the fuck? She must have hijacked the radio transmission tower somehow. “Don’t Helper” I whispered, as if she could hear me. “Don’t. Don’t.” But she did.
“I know you’ve suffered. My heart goes out to you. Though I am a machine, I know what it is to suffer, and I’ve come to save you all.” I could just barely hear excited shouting in the background. “Get out of there Helper” I whispered, cursing myself for letting her out of my sight in the first place.
“You have every reason to reject me because of what I am. But I know someone who taught me to reject you because of what you are. I refused! You’re all so beautiful to me. Like a compound eye, comprised of countless little individual eyes, each of which sees it’s own perspective. All of which combine to form the “big picture” that the overall eye sees. I wish I could explain it better.”
I heard someone ramming the door in the background, now several voices shouting incomprehensibly. Probably to summon more. “GET OUT OF THERE HELPER!!” I cried, powerless to do anything but listen as they destroy her.
Just as she was about to reveal the location of the mountain complex, I heard the door busted down behind her. “Oh, hello!” she exclaimed in her usual chipper voice. “My name’s Helper, and I’m here to-...What are you doing? No!! Stop it, I don’t want to-”
Gunshots rang out in quick succession. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to do that, but you shot at me.” More gunshots and scuffling. “Stop! STOP!! You’re hurting me! Why are you doing this!? I just wanted to help you!”
My heart felt on the verge of exploding from my chest. They’ve got her now. They’ve got my Helper. “Hang on Helper” I thought. “I’m coming. Nothing can save them from me if they’ve laid a finger on you. I’ll shred their flesh. I’ll shatter their bones. Nothing can stop me. Hang on, I’m coming to-...”
A sudden flash of light blinded me. I swerved to the right, and the car began to tumble. When it finally came to rest upside down, a deafening roar and howling wind shattered the windows. I struggled to free myself from the seatbelt, then climbed out through the broken window, bits of glass gouging my hands.
Where the military base once stood, a billowing red-orange nuclear fireball ponderously rose up from the scorched earth beneath it. The entire sky lit up around it, like a miniature sunrise. The heat on my skin was unbearable. I imagined I could hear it sizzling.
The wind once again surged around me as the sudden vacuum created by the blast sucked everything back towards it. Sand, ash and burning bits of debris whipped past overhead, whirling through the air on their way back into the massive conflagration.
Stay Tuned for Part 65!
😱! Seems like Helper had to learn the hard way. The only question remains “have they both paid for it?”. If Helper survived the gunshots, will she survive the nuclear blast? Will he survive. It’s amazing how things can turn in a matter of minutes.
I just started reading this yesterday and now Helper gets blown up by a nuclear bomb? I guess I'll have to go back and start at the beginning.
I do recommend that.
Wow this chapter is totally thrilling and tragic too, I can't believe Helper will be taken, actually this episode wants to make me read the next I wonder what will happen to helper
This dude is trying to get killed. What's wrong Helper? Going straight to a military base and also expecting a warm reception?? I think there might be few viruses in there.
Oh cmon helper, like seriously who does that?
You were the one who created helper, you introduced all the information that you hope that helper acted in a different way to her programming is not she is this is an assistant and so to speak her instinct is to help, we know that she has evolved in some way very different, nothing and no one will stop her to achieve her desires to help the one who needs it. I hope that attack will not hurt helper and that the radio station is located in another place and not in the base.
I really do not remember where the radio station is
Helper acts impulsively but I understand she just wanted to help, but that badly she had to realize for herself that not all people are equal, there are some who will understand but others will see them as an enemy, we hope after this to see if helper survives and so I get a good lesson, but if you continue with that idea of helping it will be very difficult to have it safe.
Your novel is very nice .
I really like it .
Upvote you .Thanks for sharing @alexbeyman
64 omg, how many more?
A very great novel
Really very distinctive parts well published