Robotech: Exodus: Meetings and Surprises

When Janna woke up, Adam was already looking at the journal.

“Most of this is known to me.” The robot shook his head. “Some of it is not. The ‘first automated exploration fleet’ was not something I was ever informed of. But there is reference to Base Delta…”

“Yeah, I looked at it. Somewhere in the old Zentraedi zone,” Janna said as she pulled some cereal out and started preparing it as the kids started to move into the main room. “Probably gone by now.”

“Possibly not.” Adam said. “Note the date when the project was cancelled. My creator was very hostile to this and didn’t cooperate.”

“And who cares when it was—‘

“The final order was given the day before the first Robotech Masters’ attack on Earth.” Adam looked at Janna. It is highly likely that decommissioning an already nonoperative base would not be high on their list of priorities.”

“Yeah, but who cares,” Janna said. “I—Mandy, sit down and stop trying to feed the rabbit.”

“It would make a good region to relocate to.” Everyone fell silent at Adam’s words.

“Um, why would we leave?” David asked.

“Because the Invid are going to attack soon.” Everyone fell silent, staring at the robot.

Janna looked at David, then they nodded and turned to the children. “Okay, everyone eat your food. We’re gonna go outside and talk.”

“Are you going to yell at Mr. Robot?” Mandy asked.

“Of course not!” Janna said. “We’re just talking.”

When they were outside, David shook his head. “Don’t talk about the invid in front of the kids.”

“They know of them—“

“But we don’t talk about them!” Janna said. “Some of ‘em are going to have nightmares because you joked—‘

“I did not joke. The Invid will attack soon.”

“Uh… how do you know?” David asked. “You just woke up.”

“They use slave labor for farms, correct?”

“Yeah…”

“And they value protoculture.”

“Yeah.”

“The attack both destroyed the farm and the laborers. If the Invid are to rebuild their farms, they will be seeking an easy source of labor. This settlement is close, at least by flying craft, and provides a source of labor.” Adam paused. “In human history, children as young as five were put to work in the fields.”

“Wait, people had protoculture back then?” David asked.

Adam paused. “They had other crops, not as useful, but just as important.”

“And you want us—“ Janna ran her fingers through her hair. “Are you—that’s hundreds of miles away. Hundreds of miles on the road!”

“And further away from Reflex Point.” Adam didn’t frown, but gave the impression of it. “I reviewed some of your maps and notes while you were sleeping. Not only is Reflex Point dangerous due to the invid, it is likely why the UEG forces attacked. And why more will attack. Destroying farms and other establishments, while odd in isolation, is a common tactic when preparing for a major offensive. It draws off enemy forces, drains their resources by either forcing them to defend or surrender outlying zones.”

Janna opened her mouth when Adam continued. “The counter to this strategy often involves depriving them of possible local assistance by removing local settlements. Forcing you to work as slave laborers would also present the UEG with the dilemma of allowing your presence to shield facilities…or killing you in the process of destroying them.”

“Connerston only got destroyed because they joined up!” Janna said.

“And can you be certain none of your neighbors will join up? The Invid do not appear to be… overly careful about targeting only those who have attacked them.”

“We can’t we don’t have—“

“The truck can carry all the children, supplies and with a trailer, the rest of our material.

“You only just woke up,” David finally said. “Why so concerned.”

“Because I was programmed—developed to be a military AI, but one of my traits that made me more effective than Garm-class units in testing was a… instinct, like humanity. An ability to move beyond certainty and guess. And right now, for lack of a better term, it is informing me that to stay here is death.”

“I can’t—“ Janna broke off and glared at Adam. “We’ve been here for years and nobody’s bothered us.”

“The orphans seem to indicate the opposite.”

“Don’t—you—“

David pulled Janna to the side. “Not the time for the zentraedi temper to come out.”

“What, we’re just supposed to pull up—“ Janna shook her head.

“How about Old Sam?” David asked.

Adam paused and turned to David. “Old Sam?”

“Yeah, he’s a scavenger. Been around here for almost two years, digging up old bases and stuff. He buys stuff and has connections with some people up north. You think the Invid are gonna attack. Janna doesn’t want to leave. But since Old Sam knows people, he could tell us where to go for a few months to be safe—you know, without having to travel too far.”

Janna paused, then nodded. “Yeah… Yeah, that’ll do. I have some stuff to trade, and I’ll just ask him. I’ll go right now, be back soon and then we can start thinking about what you can do on the farm.”

With that, Janna turned and left the clearing, heading towards the garage where her bike was.

David sighed. “Just… don’t do that. Don’t hit her with leaving.”

“It is wise.”

“Yeah, but nobody here is where they started. I guess you don’t know, maybe you didn’t remember, or it’s not something that bothers you, but humans… need a home. We do.”

“Even if it means your death?”

The teen frowned. “No. But right now? If we ran whenever we thought we might be in danger, we’d die of exhaustion. You just can’t live like that.”

“Hmmm…” Adam said. “Would that not be preferable to dying?”

David said nothing.

[hr][/hr]

Janna zipped along the path on her bike, fuming. I wake him up and he immediately decides to run for the hills! Connerston had gotten mixed up with the UEG, and you didn’t need to spin fantasies of the Invid coming for you. Just keep your head down.

Thirty minutes later, and the Invid nowhere to be seen, Janna pulled over by Old Sam’s place. It’d been some kind of bunker like theirs but it was surrounded by junk. “Sam?” Janna called. “You in?”

“Where else would I be, and I don’t need any more conduit.”

“Got something else.” Janna reached into her saddlebag and pulled out some of the food packs the emergency units in the base had. “Genuine Southern Cross survival rations.”

“Got chicken soup?”

“Uh, yeah, and dehydrated egg-salad.”

“Okay, from someone older and wiser? ‘Dehydrated egg-salad’ is like ‘friendly’ Invid. Sure the words fit together, but they don’t make sense.”

“So you don’t want it?”

“Didn’t say that, girl.” He took the packets and looked at her. “Found a wrecked APC?”

“Maybe…” Janna said. This was the game with Old Sam, he’d try to find out where you got stuff and look for it himself. He was especially interested in bunkers. Any kind of bunker.

“But first,” Janna said. “The Invid. How riled up are they?”

“All over the place, girl,” Sam said. “Not just here. Those damned fool… UEGers, stirred them up, just like they always do.” He glared at her. “Stay away from them. They wrecked the earth twice, and went after anyone who didn’t want to live their own life.”

“Weren’t you…”

“Part of that band of bandits? No, I was fighting against them right up until the Invid ended things. Why are you concerned, though?”

“Thinking of leaving,” Janna said. “Finding some other place.”

Old Sam paused. “That might not be a bad idea, Janna. Find some place where the flower doesn’t grow and just stay there. But if you are thinking of moving, why trade food packs… unless you have more than you’re showing?”

“I might…” Janna said. “But I’d need more information… where would be a safe place? You trade further than here.”

“Oh, that’s a hard question. Wastelands have invid patrols, but so long as you don’t bother them, they don’t bother you… except you can’t live in the wasteland. I’d stay away from any big town or city.” He gestured. “Mexico City, still has nearly 40,000 people living there, damn fools… And also not all of them are friendly. Cute kid like you with a bunch of little kids… no stay away from cities., not just because of the Invid. Down further, they got invid farms. But beyond that, down in Brazil? Not so much. The Invid seem to like the jungle, mostly leave it alone.

“I might need a trailer…” Janna said. “Maybe that Southern Cross trailer you have?”

“That’s gonna cost a lot more than food packs.”

Janna grinned. “What about a bunker complex with a computer, still functioning lights…”

“Anything in it?”

“Nah, it’s stripped except for the food. I took that, but you got the lighting fixtures and storage…”

Old Sam looked at her. “Bunker, you say. Where was it?”

Gotcha. ”Zempoala Reserve center.”

“The Invid blew it up, I was there after the invasion, there was nothing.”

“The UEG and the Invid got into a fight, and there was a sealed door. I guess It had been buried and then… maybe a storm, maybe the fight, but I got in there.”

“Buried, that doesn’t make any sense the plans for Zempoala didn’t have a lower…” he paused, and looked at Janna, eyes narrowed. “And nothing was in it. Absolutely nothing.”

“Uh, I mean, no, oh, there was a dead guy…” Why is he so focused on this. Old Sam looked like she’d found a Tristar.

“What was his name?”

Shit, why is he getting weird? Maybe he knew him? “Um, Dr. Willis? That’s what the name card read. Did you know him?”

“Oh him. C’mon, I wanna show you something.”

Janna followed him, feeling a sense of unease come over her. Oh, c’mon, he’s Old Sam. You’ve known him for years, and hell, he helped try to save Kim. He’d driven around the neighborhood, hitting up every old contact for medication… unsuccessfully. Everyone had been sick that year. He’d helped them dig the grave and said words over it.

So don’t be an idiot. She banished the sense of unease.

Outback there was a bike, big, two-wheeled. It was…

“There’s no seat.”

“Nope, there never was. See, the UEG loved the idea of things that could fight for them. So they made robots, smart robots. They were going to equip a fleet of old zentraedi ships with ‘em, send them out to find colony worlds and stuff.” He sighed.

“What happened?”

“People who wanted to breathe free air, tried to help and… I don’t know. The fleet vanished, and the UEG decided they wanted something a little more dependable, a little more… stupid.”

How does he know this…

“But that wasn’t the only one, and when the Robotech Masters hit…” He glanced at her. “A lot of stuff was lost. Everyone dead, no way to find… well, take a look at this.”

He touched a stud, and suddenly Janna’s eyes widened as a compartment in the bike opened up and it was…

Just like the one in the robot where I put Aleph’s brain.

“So, you do know.” Old Sam sounded regretful.

Janna whipped her head around and stared at him, blinking at the small gun he held, as he stepped back, well out of reach.

“Don’t do anything stupid, Janna. Gun vs. Hand goes one way. I’ve been looking for this for… heh, years. But I’m not gonna hurt you. I’m going to call some friends. You’re going to show us what you found and…” he shrugged. “I’ll pay you. My friends can take you to a safe place, part of earth where the Invid don’t go and you can live.”

Janna didn’t say anything. It was hard not to keep staring at the gun.

Years? Who are his friends?