Chapter 45 Rosie and the Robot Factory

Rosie glared at John as he strode into a trap, after telling her to stay put. She didn’t wait. Rosie knew this kid wouldn’t be walking out of here without a fight. At least John had the sense to draw the fight to him. Just like Rosie had the sense to call for backup.

She couldn’t connect with Charlie, Matt, or the Velo that had touched down a mile away. Everything had been jammed. Rosie only got in touch to put them on standby, but as soon as Charlie heard small cargo, code for kidnapped child, she and Matt were wheels up in five minutes flat.

Rosie looked out from the rooftop after scrambling up metal stairs and ladders on the outside of the factory. She knew they were out there, but couldn’t tell where. Rosie slipped in through a skylight, landing in an office. She made her way into the corridor and drew her sword. The suit made her invisible to cameras and bots alike, even without the stealth field.

Rosie felt a smile on her face as she padded by server rooms, design offices, almost giddy to be in a real robot factory. Only the thought of a scared child locked away kept her moving, that and she knew the only way John would leave was with the kid.

Clanking from ahead made her take cover. The system didn’t recognise the bots, although Rosie almost did. They were Assaultrons underneath, arms, legs, heads. Yet had none of the characteristics. No chain motors meant no curved chest, no cranial laser meant no face, instead just a blank plate. The only improvement that Rosie could see were the well hidden eyes in the front and rear of the chest. Other than that they were a poor copy. She didn’t think John had anything to worry about.

Rosie pressed on, looking for any sign or clue that the kid might have left. She looked for simple things, footprints, blood trails, crumbs like in the stories, finding none. The lights flickered and buzzed, making the pre-war office corridors look the same. All except one light that stayed steady.

Rosie crept to the door, peering through the narrow pane of reinforced glass. Clever, she thought, then felt an uncommon pang of empathy for the frightened child locked away. He couldn’t have been more than nine or ten, dressed in jeans and a stripy t shirt. Sitting with his knees hugged to his chest and ever so slightly rocking. Rosie made a quick sweep, then separated the visor and pulled down the hood. She forced a smile and ran through what she planned to say, knowing the calmer the kid stayed, the faster they could leave.

Rosie broke the lock with a hard twist of the handle and slipped into the room. The boy shot up and pinned himself against the Faraday cage his captor put him in.

“You’re Wallace right, I’m Rosie, John sent me.”

“Prove it.” They boy shot back.

“Well there’s this.” She ran her finger along the suit under the pipboy screen, turning it see through.

“And he said to tell—”

“You got a wireless four pin right?” The boy cut her off with a specific question and a tone without fear. Rosie nodded. “Good. Get me out of here. John needs my help.” Rosie found herself caught off guard. She'd prepared to coax a scared child to safety, not take orders from a kid.

“Today Dumb Dumb!” Small hands slapped the mesh and Rosie cut it with two swift strikes.

“This way.” Rosie took point and tried to get Wallace back to the skylight.

“No, this way. His...” Rosie saw a flash of fear as the boy thought about his captor. “The control terminal is in here.” The boy led her into a room with banks of screens. She saw a brief glimpse of John, firing and smashing bots.

The boy started typing away at the terminal, keystrokes rattling like gunfire. “We need to get out of here. John can handle himself.” Rosie knew John had been well trained.

“No, I need a wireless four pin.” Rosie tried to think of a way to get the boy out, seeing that his bravery wasn’t a way of coping. “Look, John told me you were smart, maybe even as smart as me, so I’ll give you the time you need to catch up. But right now I need the four pin.” Rosie didn’t know what to say. “Now Dumb Dumb!” Small fingers clicked at her and she handed over the connector.

Maybe I am a Dumb Dumb, Rosie thought as the boy started typing complex code from memory. She saw what he had in mind, and knew that it would work. “We don’t need fifty percent of the bots,” Rosie started uploading her own digital bombs into the network. “We need fifty percent of the firepower.”

“Smart.” Wallace didn’t turn around, but she saw the headers on the screen change, and felt surprisingly pleased with the compliment.

“Make it recursive and I’ll bury it in an update.” Rosie started siphoning the boy’s code into harmless looking updates, while adding a few subroutines of her own.

“Done!” Wallace leapt from the chair and went straight for the steel tube in the corner. He fired off more code into the attached terminal, and within seconds the tube opened and a dull green Assaultron stepped out. Rosie gripped her sword, but didn’t feel alarmed, not with the red light on low.

“Please designate new Admin.”

“Wallace.” The boy stood as the bot angled its head down.

“Confirmed.” The synthesised voice responded.

“Ok, we can leave now.” Wallace smiled, ready to go.

“Are you sure he can’t get access to her?” Rosie asked, not wanting to get a laser blast in the back.

“Yeah, he...stole my code to pull this off.” Wallace looked hurt and guilty. “He wanted me to help him build more bots.”

“He didn’t hurt you did he?” Rosie felt ready to shift from extraction to elimination.

“No, not really.” Wallace looked afraid of something else. Rosie saw confusion in the boy’s face. “I think he wanted to be my friend.” Rosie still wanted to kill whoever took the boy, then felt a hint of pity for the man who made John angrier than she’d ever seen before.

“I don’t know if she will make the climb.” Rosie didn’t think Janey would be able to do it, and she made the dull green counterpart look simple.

“Second floor, there’s a stairwell that leads outside.” Wallace seemed to have planned his own escape.

“Come on,” Rosie held out her hand and the boy took it, squeezing it tight enough to give away his fear. “I’ve got an Assaultron too.” Rosie tried to distract the boy. “Well, she lives with us, we don’t own her.”

“Like a pet.” Wallace clarified.

“No, Janey hates that. And you don’t want to piss off a dominator class.”

“I’ve never seen a dominator class.”

“You will.”

Rosie took point, a small hand held in hers. She felt a tug and saw Wallace point to a red box and the wall, holding a fire axe. She took it for John, and soon found a chance to use it.

“Watch this.” Rosie wanted to show off, pleased to find someone with a similar mind. Two Mr Handy bots hovered by the stairs, able to watch all sides. Their mismatched and poor design made them little more than target practice. Rosie walked right up to them, knowing the metal eyes on stalks saw nothing. She hacked at the bots with the axe, each aimed blow doing damage and taking off the articulated limbs. The final blows to the exposed circuitry brought them crashing to the ground. Rosie left the axe sticking out from the ball shaped body, for John to take, and hopefully use on the coward that kidnapped a child.

Rosie couldn’t resist a glance down to the first floor, watching the crude bots clunk about their task of making more bots. As she ushered Wallace through the power went off.

“Hang on.” Rosie knelt and let the pipboy screen shine to keep the boy calm. She scrolled through half a dozen bot’s eye views, before she found what she wanted. John, laughing. "Stay down." She spoke to John through one of the Sentry bots that answered to her now.

One of the bots took out the machines she didn't need to hack, while she personally opened fire on the coward that took a child from a caring mother. The feed cut out as red light flared. Rosie looked through the remaining bot and saw John had got clear, fast enough that she knew he'd used the dreamlike state. Her last direct command moved the bot to the melted glass so John could climb up it. He’s fine, she thought and got the boy out while the weaponised code turned the combat bots against each other. The boy didn't let go of her hand till they got back to the treeline.

“Put this on.” Rosie threw her hunter’s cloak around the boy, knowing he might be in shock, it reached past his knees. “John will be along soon, then we’ll go home.” Without thinking Rosie called John’s house home. It felt nice.

“I’m ok, you can go back in.” Wallace didn’t look like he meant that.

“No, John can handle it.” She knew he’d be fine, and didn’t want to leave the boy.

A familiar knocking sound caught Rosie’s ear and Charlie appeared from the trees. “Wallace, this is my friend Charlie.”

“Hey kiddo.” Charlie crouched to be on his level. “I’m a doctor, can I give you a quick check?” Wallace nodded. Rosie had looked him over for any sign of visible injury, yet Charlie’s examination seemed more of a pretext for questions. Wallace answered them politely, and Charlie seemed happy that most of the answers were no.

“I’m fine too.” Rosie added sarcastically. “Apart from being called a Dumb Dumb.”

“You called my girl Rosie a Dumb Dumb, to her face?” Charlie winked at the boy. “What’d she do?”

“She went like this!” Wallace pulled an over the top shocked face. They all laughed, keeping the boy calm.

“Hey Wallace, can you do me a favour?” Charlie asked as the boy nodded. “Keep watch for a minute, if you spot a blond man dressed in black like me, before he spots you, he’ll give you a hundred caps.” Wallace nodded and took a few steps away, hiding behind a tree.

“Comms are back up.” Rosie told Charlie. “Is he ok?”

“He needs fluids and rest, but I think he’ll be ok. Keep him distracted till he’s home.” Charlie looked past Rosie to the factory. “You sure John’s got this?”

“I’m sure. I’ve never seen him this angry, he needs this.” Rosie wondered what else might have changed.

“He’s another one that needs food and rest. What’s the place like?” Charlie asked, turning back to the boy.

“It’s actually pretty great. Got our own house.”

“You break in the bed yet?” Charlie teased.

“No. I mean, mind your business.” Rosie got defensive.

“It is my business, got a thousand caps coming my way.” Charlie bumped her playfully, reminding her of the bet that Rosie wouldn’t stay angry at John for long. Charlie started to tease Rosie more but stopped as Wallace came running.

“I saw him, coming east.” Wallace seemed excited.

“He’s on his way out.” Matt confirmed John had made it out.

“This is Wallace.” Rosie introduced the boy who stood tall and put out his hand. Matt shook it and smiled. “He saw you coming.” Rosie added, Matt knew what that meant.

“Nice work kid, here.” He held out a pouch of caps.

“No, it’s ok, it was just a game to keep me busy while the grown ups talked about me.” Wallace refused, and had seen through the distraction.

“Smart one, ain’t he. Take ‘em kid, you earned them. Keeping watch is never a game.” Matt seemed impressed, although Wallace still politely declined. He tossed them to Rosie instead. “We’ll shadow you halfway.” Matt slipped off his pack, handing out foil wrapped sandwiches and water. “Doesn't look like you’ll need it though.” He nodded to the silent, dull green, Assaultron standing guard.

“You have no idea.” Rosie threw Wallace a wink.