{"id":111,"date":"2009-01-25T00:00:54","date_gmt":"2009-01-25T05:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spacewesterns.com\/?p=111"},"modified":"2022-12-14T14:28:49","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T19:28:49","slug":"the-reckoning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spacewesterns.com\/articles\/the-reckoning\/","title":{"rendered":"The Reckoning"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cD<\/strong><\/span>amn, I\u2019m shot!\u201d<\/p>\n

Price clutched his stomach as fluid trickled out. He fell to the ground, slowly bleeding to death.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a pretty bad way to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willy put a cigarette in his mouth, flipped open his Zippo and touched flame to tobacco.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease. At least get me some gas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willy laughed. \u201cDon\u2019t have no gas. I run on the sun rays. I\u2019ll give you a light though.\u201d He tossed the Zippo into the puddle of gas.<\/p>\n

Price went up in flames, screaming as his motherboard melted inside his stainless steel skin. His eyeballs, orbs of silicone gel, streamed down the side of his face.<\/p>\n

The right eye, resting on the ground in a mushy pile, observed the solar robot peering down at it. It processed the blue sky and the dark rivulets of smoke and orange flame pluming from within its blackened body. And then it saw the bottom of Willy\u2019s foot descending like a vulture.<\/p>\n

\u201cY<\/strong><\/span>ou tell me some good news,\u201d Sheriff Zero said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think Price might have shot Willy before he died,\u201d Deputy Billy said. \u201cHis pistol had been fired once, and we found transmission fluid about forty feet from the burn site.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWilly don\u2019t need transmission fluid, do he?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t believe he does sheriff,\u201d Deputy Roscoe Jenkins muttered. \u201cHe\u2019s a solar robot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDamn solar robots is what\u2019s wrong with this country. They come in here thinkin\u2019 they better than we are. Think they above the law and can get away with anything. Well hell, I\u2019ll tell y\u2019all somethin\u2019. I ain\u2019t gonna sit here no damn more and wait for Willy to strike again. He wants to murder good, law abidin\u2019 gas bots of the Republic, fine. But he\u2019s gonna do it runnin\u2019 cause I\u2019m gonna be on his heels with my right tire ready to go right up his ass!\u201d<\/p>\n

Sheriff Zero sat back down in his chair and stared out the window. The sun was steadily sinking in the blood red sky. Willy was out there somewhere. It would only be a matter of time before he found his next victim.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeputy Billy. Deputy Roscoe Jenkins. I need y\u2019all filled up with premium tonight. We gonna search the woods till we find his sorry ass.\u201d<\/p>\n

The three gas bots rode to the break room and studied the price of regular unleaded gas: nine dollars a gallon.<\/p>\n

\u201cShit fire!\u201d Deputy Billy said. \u201cI can\u2019t afford this. Why you reckon they don\u2019t start promoting alternative fuels? Our engines can take \u2018em just as easy as gas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe politicians,\u201d Sheriff Zero said. \u201cThose greasy sons of bitches take kick backs from the oil companies and bureaucracies, boy. Matter of fact, you know those crooked bastards make more money on stocks than the average machine? It\u2019s a fact. They looked at the stock gains. A politician is a hundred percent likely to make a hundred percent wiser choices than someone who ain\u2019t a politician. Now, you tell me why that is?\u201d<\/p>\n

Deputy Roscoe Jenkins snorted. \u201cWhere\u2019d you hear that sheriff?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI read it on the Internet, son. Now start pumpin\u2019. We gonna need all night to find that bastard. He\u2019s solar powered, so he\u2019ll be weak as hell in darkness.\u201d<\/p>\n

W<\/strong><\/span>illy leaned against a pecan tree, one hand propped behind his head. The wind was gently blowing and he stared up into the night sky.<\/p>\n

It was a harvest moon, and he sat back contemplating his mission to take down the last of the holdouts. The gas bots had been recalled months ago. These jokers had to be dealt with.<\/p>\n

Willy pulled his wallet out and flipped it open. He examined photographs, stopping on his wife and son. He closed the leather shut and stuck it in his back pocket. He stared back up at the sky and thought about that. He used to be a killing machine. Something was happening to his hard drive. Maybe it was going soft.<\/p>\n

Clouds covered the moon and a darker shade of night worked itself over the forest. He suddenly shivered and dropped his head, too weak to hold it up. He heard a noise in the distance.<\/p>\n

He tried to lift his head to look but couldn\u2019t. Somewhere out there, in the dark woods and fog, something was moving. It was a low rumble that was steadily growing. It was a monstrous sound and he thought of the horsemen. He thought of the Apocalypse. He thought about everything and he considered nothing. Instinct made him reach for his iron. The noise was getting closer.<\/p>\n

Willy drew his pistol and held it tightly. He could barely raise his arm. He was going to have to shoot from the hip.<\/p>\n

S<\/strong><\/span>heriff Zero was stuck in the mud, raising hell about the situation. \u201cGet me out this mud!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to keep quiet sheriff. You don\u2019t want Willy to know we\u2019re out here.\u201d Roscoe Jenkins said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you tell me what to do! You work for me! Now get that stick and wedge it beneath my tire. I need some traction. Do it! Damnit, quit starin\u2019 and start moving!\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenkins studied the sheriff. He stared at Deputy Billy. Billy had a benign expression on his face. His mouth was partially open and drops of antifreeze were trailing down his chin. The sheriff was still raising hell, loud as could be.<\/p>\n

\u201cWipe your mouth, Billy. You\u2019re drooling all over the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenkins picked up the stick and secured it under the sheriff\u2019s tire. The sheriff slowly accelerated and moved forward, mud spraying his deputies.<\/p>\n

\u201cY\u2019all two idiots come on!\u201d he screamed.<\/p>\n

Sitting targets. That\u2019s exactly what the three of them were with Zero and Billy by his side. He had to ditch them. Jenkins put himself into drive and sped off into the woods, the sheriff hollering after him.<\/p>\n

As he drove over the forest floor, watching the ground for roots and falling limbs, he thought about the citizens of Jakeson County. The truth of the matter was the whole town was doomed. They would all perish as the solar robots came flooding in.<\/p>\n

The end was<\/em> coming. He knew change was inevitable and they were obsolete. But his kind were living, running machines and deserved every last second of life they could squeeze from the evils of these new robots. He might die another night at the hands of some other solar assassin. But he damn sure wasn\u2019t going to die tonight.<\/p>\n

His jaw vibrated. He put his hand to his mouth, pushing the accept button. His wife\u2019s voice filled his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought you\u2019d be home by now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

He could hear his daughter in the background, talking a mile a minute.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, honey. We\u2019ve got to look for a bad guy tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, no. It\u2019s nothing to worry about. He\u2019s not dangerous or anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, you be very careful. Oh, did I tell you Mary learned to write her name in cursive today?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cReally? I think I was in second grade before I learned how to do that,\u201d Jenkins said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a lot smarter than her parents. I love you honey. Please be careful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI will.\u201d<\/p>\n

He ended the conversation and scanned the woods. He saw no sign of movement but the branches in the wind. It was too quiet. There were no sounds but the whirring of his motor and twigs and pine cones snapping as his tires turned. He thought about the noise he was making. He drove to a tree and stopped.<\/p>\n

D<\/strong><\/span>eputy Billy rolled out into a field in the center of the woods. He didn\u2019t realize his mistake until he heard the gun blast. There was a sharp ping, and he fell on his side, his wheels still spinning round and round. He held his hand to a fresh wound and felt the gas draining from him.<\/p>\n

Sheriff Zero watched from the shadow of a tree.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow bad you hit, Billy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m bleeding bad. Real bad, sheriff.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was no reply and after awhile Billy turned to look for the old timer. Sheriff Zero was gone.<\/p>\n

He realized his wheels were still rolling and grabbed at them. He looked at the trees across from him and saw a brief burst of light after he heard the blast. Electric blue sparks sprinkled from the bullet hole in the center of his head. He closed his eyes. In the silence he could hear his computer shutting down.<\/p>\n

S<\/strong><\/span>heriff Zero knew exactly where Willy was, he just had to squeeze his two ton ass through the trees to get to him.<\/p>\n

The wind was blowing, and he could feel it gently slapping his face. His head suddenly hurt, and he thought about the old days when robots all ran on gasoline or electricity or batteries. There were no solar robots then because of the night. Technology was a son-of-a-bitch. It sped time up and kept it right on moving. He was older than hell now but still he\u2019d sometimes go driving in the Mega-Mart and see these contraptions in the electronics department that blew his mind.<\/p>\n

Sheriff Zero was afraid. He was afraid because he was an old robot in the Mega-Mart. He understood none of these new things that were essential for today. It was damned depressing.<\/p>\n

A bullet ripped through the air, gobbling the oxygen around it and struck a pine tree next to Sheriff Zero\u2019s head. Bark exploded and splinters rained on the sheriff, bouncing off his titanium head.<\/p>\n

He put himself in drive and rolled to the nearest tree.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere you at Willy?\u201d<\/p>\n

There was no response.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy don\u2019t you just leave us be? We ain\u2019t botherin\u2019 you. Just go back home. We can coexist.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willy said nothing.<\/p>\n

The sheriff strained to hear something. Beyond the whispering wind and crickets and the humming of his own engine, he could hear nothing.<\/p>\n

He slid his head around the tree to sneak a peek. He saw nothing. He moved back to cover.<\/p>\n

\u201cWilly? Where are you?\u201d<\/p>\n

A pinecone hit Zero on top of the head. The old machine raised his pistol as fast as his rusting arm could move and fired three times at the movement above him.<\/p>\n

An aluminum squirrel, its guts all blasted out, fell to the ground with a dull thunk.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, shit fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

He lowered the gun and stuck his head out from around the tree for another look.<\/p>\n

A bullet struck the left side of his face and took half his eye socket with it. The silicone eyeball dangled from the hole.<\/p>\n

Sheriff Zero returned to cover.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou asshole! I\u2019m gonna kill you.\u201d<\/p>\n

He needed to calm down and get control before he overheated. Somewhere in the night, Willy was waiting.<\/p>\n

D<\/strong><\/span>eputy Roscoe Jenkins heard the gunshots and slowly moved to the battlefield. He scanned every tree he rode past and combed the area thoroughly before he advanced.<\/p>\n

He passed a pine tree and could hear the sheriff\u2019s blubbering. He was close.<\/p>\n

Jenkins didn\u2019t see the bullet that smashed into his face. He didn\u2019t feel it exiting, and he didn\u2019t hear the hiss of wires as his internal computer briefly caught fire.<\/p>\n

He fell to the earth, a hulking mass of steel and plastic, and remained there. He tried to think of his wife and daughter. He couldn\u2019t picture them.<\/p>\n

He looked up from red clay and straw and saw the solar robot slumped over, leaning on a pine tree. If only he had looked a little harder. He closed his eyelids.<\/p>\n

W<\/strong><\/span>illy looked over his shoulder and watched the robot die. Two down, one to go. He turned back to where the old one was pinned. He saw part of the sheriff\u2019s belly appear from behind the tree. He shot at it.<\/p>\n

There was a small cry, and he heard cursing. He heard his name.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll make you an offer,\u201d Willy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWilly?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI said I\u2019ll make you an offer!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCome out now, and I\u2019ll let you live.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re lyin\u2019!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLast time I\u2019m offering.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, okay,\u201d the sheriff said.<\/p>\n

Willy watched as the old man rolled out into the open.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many more are there?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019s three of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. Not here. I mean, how many men do you have in your department.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust three.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood,\u201d Willy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019m gonna leave now,\u201d the sheriff said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo you ain\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou promised me. . .\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just put a death sentence on your whole town. That don\u2019t mean nothing to you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you mean, I put a death sentence on my town?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou told me how many fighting gas bots remained. Three. Two are dead in these woods right now. There\u2019s only one bot left. Who\u2019s going to help the town if no one in it\u2019s programmed to fight?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou promised me!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI ain\u2019t promised you a damned thing!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou said you wouldn\u2019t kill me!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to kill you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m leavin\u2019 right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willy raised his pistol. \u201cYou\u2019re right about that,\u201d he said. He put a bullet through the sheriff\u2019s chest. He shot him twice in the face.<\/p>\n

The sheriff fell on his back, choking on antifreeze and transmission fluid. He tried to say something but he was underwater.<\/p>\n

Willy shot him again. It was funny to watch the old thing kick around. He shot him again and watched a stream of gas erupt from the bullet hole.<\/p>\n

He leaned back against the tree and thought about the town. Easy mission. He\u2019d be home tomorrow afternoon. There were probably fifty of the gas bots left. Half of those weren\u2019t programmed to make decisions. He\u2019d say come here<\/em> and they would.<\/p>\n

Willy turned his head.<\/p>\n

The other robot was gone.<\/p>\n

He was weak, but the clouds had passed under the moon and the moon was full. Standing up and leaning against the tree for support, fear gripped Willy for the first time. He stared at the sheriff\u2019s hull. The face was bowed into the internal cavity that lodged the motherboard and hard drive. Smoke was still seeping out of the bullet hole. Fluid was streaming in rivulets to the ground.<\/p>\n

It was an omen. He didn\u2019t want to die.<\/p>\n

But how could the robot he had just shot possibly be in any condition to do anything to him? It was a head shot. If he combed the woods in the morning, the body would probably be waiting on him. In all the years Willy had processed machines, he had never felt fear. But now he did.<\/p>\n

This one was different than the others. It was intelligent. It had remained still, fooling him into thinking it was dead. Gas bots just don\u2019t do shit like that.<\/p>\n

He walked to the site where it had fallen and examined the earth for leakage. The pine straw was covered in antifreeze. He\u2019d hit him in the mouth for sure. Probably struck the motherboard. Obviously not enough damage to put him down, but there was no way the gas bot was going to be a threat.<\/p>\n

Willy relaxed and sat down in the grass. He crossed his legs and grabbed his knees. He slowly rocked back and forth as the wind swept over him. Sunrise was in three hours. He was going to kill this stupid son-of-a-bitch very painfully.<\/p>\n

R<\/strong><\/span>oscoe Jenkins rolled across the field. The sky was gray, and he kept trying to remember where he was and where he was going. He knew he wanted something; he could feel it deep inside, but he didn\u2019t know what it was.<\/p>\n

A sudden vibration broke him from his thoughts. Out of instinct he reached for his cracked jaw and pushed the talk button.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey honey, where were you last night?\u201d<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t respond, just kept rolling across the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cRoscoe? Are you there?\u201d<\/p>\n

He heard his name and stopped. \u201cHello?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHoney what\u2019s wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHello?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRoscoe, Mary wants to talk to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMary?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHi daddy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everything came flooding back to him. He ran a hand over his jaw, discovering much of the left side missing.<\/p>\n

\u201cMary,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen are you coming home?\u201d<\/p>\n

His chest grew tight. \u201cI\u2019m not sure, baby.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHurry up!\u201d she demanded. \u201cI miss you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conversation ended. He heard the dull thunk of the connection breaking and he stared into the angry orange sky. Sunrise.<\/p>\n

Jenkins looked toward the pine trees and tried to get moving. It was a slow process and he stopped in the middle of the field. He wouldn\u2019t make it to the other side before Willy took him out. The standoff had to be here.<\/p>\n

He opened his chest cavity and pulled out a metal box. Opening it, he peered down at the screws, screwdrivers, nails and other metal tools. He lowered the box to the ground and unscrewed the top of his tank.<\/p>\n

Jenkins held his breath and strained. Gas spewed from the tank, splashing the box. He pulled out two hand grenades and dropped them in the box. Then he shut it and shoved it back inside his chest.<\/p>\n

He pulled a wire loose from his chest and went to work.<\/p>\n

W<\/strong><\/span>illy was at the edge of the field when he caught a reflection of light. He looked and wasn\u2019t surprised to see the gas bot sitting in the field. The thing made no movement. Maybe it was already dead.<\/p>\n

Willy\u2019s grip tightened on his pistol as he crouched down. Slowly, he advanced forward. There was still no movement and through his eyes, magnified, he could see that the robot\u2019s hand was limp, the revolver resting beside it.<\/p>\n

He neared the motionless hunk of metal and drew a bead on his target\u2019s head, right between the eyes. The damned thing was already bad off. Most of the left side of its face was missing.<\/p>\n

His index finger squeezed the trigger.<\/p>\n

Jenkins reached for his pistol at the exact moment Willy\u2019s bullet tore through his head frame. He could feel himself slipping away and fought to point the gun at the solar bot even as another bullet ripped through his motherboard.<\/p>\n

He fell on his side, the pistol a forgotten memory. Willy knelt down beside him.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at you. I\u2019m puzzled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenkins coughed up oil and tried to spit it out. It oozed from the hole where his left jaw had been.<\/p>\n

\u201cGas bots are supposed to be stupid creatures. They don\u2019t play dead! They don\u2019t setup ambushes! I\u2019m puzzled by this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenkins studied the ground. The grass was orange.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at me when I\u2019m talking to you! Shit! Shit! Shit! I\u2019m going to set your ass on fire! You hear me?\u201d<\/p>\n

He thought of his daughter and his wife.<\/p>\n

Willy lit a cigarette and took a drag. He stared down at the deputy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy\u2019s your chest cavity open? Been working on yourself?\u201d<\/p>\n

He took another drag.<\/p>\n

\u201cSmells like gasoline. You ain\u2019t bleeding no gas though.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jenkins was beginning to see snow in his vision. The screen was growing darker.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are one smart robot. You knew I was going to set you on fire didn\u2019t you? It\u2019s my signature. You were going to blow my ass up. What\u2019s in that metal box in your chest?\u201d<\/p>\n

Willy tossed the cigarette out in the field and reached his hand down for the box. His other hand brought up the pistol.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoodbye deputy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Willie pulled the trigger and the blast echoed across the field.<\/p>\n

Jenkins\u2019 face caved in, and the bullet shattered the motherboard. He blinked, blinked again. He tried to remember his wife and his daughter. He tried to remember his name. He blinked a third time.<\/p>\n

Willy laughed as blue sparks shot out of the gas bot\u2019s head. He stood up and watched the deputy blink.<\/p>\n

\u201cTime to shutdown,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Jenkins blinked again. Then he saw no more.<\/p>\n

Willy laughed. \u201cAnd then there was none.\u201d He turned to walk away and heard a click.<\/p>\n

He turned around.<\/p>\n

The metal box, wired inside Jenkins\u2019 chest cavity, had been set to go off as soon as the gas bot\u2019s computer shut down.<\/p>\n

The computer died.<\/p>\n

Willy focused his eyes on the box. He heard another click. The eyes scanned the lid and the brass hinges. There was another click.<\/p>\n

The box exploded.<\/p>\n

The last thought that ran through Willy\u2019s mind as shrapnel punched holes through his plastic body and the force of the blast sent him tumbling backwards across the field was that he wished he hadn\u2019t of been made in China.<\/p>\n

A large piece of metal, sailing through the crisp morning air, sliced through his neck like a razor.<\/p>\n

Willy\u2019s head hit the ground and rolled, his plastic cheeks blackened and still bubbling. The head stopped face up, vacant eyes staring at the clear blue sky.<\/p>\n

It was a beautiful morning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are a number of standard dichotomies on the frontier: immigrants versus natives; settlers versus nomads; civilization versus nature. I can only surmise that in the far future the new range wars will be fought oil versus solar. — ed, N.E. Lilly<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,5],"tags":[147],"media":[299],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spacewesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spacewesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spacewesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacewesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacewesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacewesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1121,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacewesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111\/revisions\/1121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacewesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spacewesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacewesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacewesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111"},{"taxonomy":"media","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spacewesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?post=111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}