Chapter 1

"Monsters"

"Demolition in thirty seconds, clear the blast area! Clear the blast area," came the calm voice of one of the construction workers. Several robots zoomed overhead, carrying tool boxes and unused detonators. A tram went by, carrying the human part of the demolition team, as well as several of the heavier robots.

"Fifteen seconds!"

The demolition team began closing the blast shutters on the rather crude bunkers, old and modified cargo containers, covering ears or shutting down audio receptors. The tram continued past the bunkers, looking for shelter in the lee of a building.

"Five…four…three…two…one! Blast initiated," said the worker, and pressed the detonator button. Five seconds later, there was a string of precise explosions that blew the remains of the crumpled skyscraper into smaller bits of rubble. The building had collapsed somewhere in the region of three hundred years before the landing of the Axiom. In the process, it had blocked off a major thoroughfare and knocked several sections of the defunct power grid, but there were hopes that once the tower was removed, that maintenance teams could actually get to the grid and even repair it. There was much crossing of fingers, human and mechanical.

The blast was something of a success. The tower could now be effectively pulled apart and anything valuable reused. As soon as the dust cleared, the removal teams moved, the massive Wall-A units at the fore. There was one unexpected result.

One charge had caused a minor tremor to move along a small fault line, pushing a tremor thirty miles into the wasteland around the New Hope colony. This ended up hitting a small crack This eventually turned into a piece of concrete becoming loose, which then fell from the ceiling of a cavern. This then clanged against the head of a robot, the echoes filling the cave.. There was silence in the cavern for a while. Another piece of concrete fell, slightly larger than the first. It was caught in mid air.

The robot considered the piece of age worn concrete. It had been a long time since it had moved. All around it there were groans of metal limb unfolding, generators powering up, the click-clack of metal feet on concrete. Lights came on, and a holographic projector started, a flickering BNL logo hovering in mid air. The logo was then replaced by a spectrographical analysis of the tremor, and where it had come from. The robot noticed a red dot had begun to flash in the center of the abandoned city to the north. The hologram projector chittered something in a series of beeps and whistles.

The first robot turned its head, and said something in machine code. There was a murmur of replies in the same way. The hologram shut down, duty done The first robot began to move for the exit, feet clicking omn the ground

It passed through giant airlocks. It moved past sections of walls where an underground river, feet splashing through viscous polluted water. At another, it pulled itself through a hole in a roof collapse, crawling through pockets of rubble. At the very end it stopped and sat on its haunches, steel scraping the ground. It sat in silence for a second.

Then there was a hum, which permeated everything, shaking the entire room at a near microscopic level. A small port opened up on the robot's back with a scrape. From the roof, a long robotic arm mounted on a rail, extended down. It held a glowing red rod. It inserted the rod into the port. The port closed. The robot's eyes glowed red for a moment, then darkened to a purple. What had once been red and black painted steel, faded to a rust red, flecked with orange. The robot shuddered and moved forward as the final air lock opened. It walked into a rough hewn cave, moisture condensing on the walls

It disappeared into the darkness. The air lock closed quietly behind it.

The more Jan Brenner thought about it, the more she was sure wasn't crazy. She had seen something move through the garbage stacks around the demolition site. She flicked her flash light over a mound of old tires, which stayed comfortably still. A Steward bot, called Ed, was hovering beside her, and it was also becoming more cautious. There wasn't really any moon to see by, but it wasn't pitch dark at all. Several work lights were still up, a few robots doing site preps for secondary demolitions the next day.

She had at first supposed it was some other night watchmen moving along his or her route. But the lack of light had made her worry. Even the most advanced robots gave off some kind of light, even if only a bit from the eyes. But no one moved through New Hope at night without some form of light. And then as she caught the flicker of movement in the corner of her eye, she realized she was quite possibly being followed. She had put it at the back of her mind till she'd caught sight of a rounded head poking over the top of a pile of broken televisions.

She didn't really like guard duty. There was nothing to guard. No valuables to steal, no enemy to creep up on them and attack them in the night. It was just site security, make sure kids didn't wander into a demolition site in the dead of night and get caught in a blast the next day. Ed hovered quietely around a corner, warning lights on.

Kids. There were a few running around now, in their early teens at the oldest. There was a kind of melancholy about them. Ten years out of space and they were adapting to earth well. They were living in a messed up world, free of the Axiom and its constraints. Funny how the Axiom was the bad place, and this was the future. Some rubble slithered to the ground.

There was a horrible scream in the toneless voice of machine code. She could tell there was horror in that voice, even if it was only a rapid, climbing series of beeps. It echoed through the city, rebounding between the stacks of trash and building. She saw a group of robots heading her way from the demolition site. Jan realized where the cry had come from. Ed was still screaming, though weakly. She ran, slipped on a piece of trash, recovered, and came around the corner the steward had disappeared behind. She played her flashlight over the scene before here. A robot, easily ten feet tall, was cradling the steward one handed, the steward's bottom resting on the ground. A thick download cable had been forced into Ed's chest, which connected to the new robot's skull.

The robot that had captured Ed was an orangish color, not a single identification number or letter. Its legs looked like a pair of great mechanical scissors, though they were nearly two feet thick, and ended in thick pairs of hooks. Its arms almost mimicked those of a human, though they were much larger, ending in hands big enough to enfold the average human head. The fingers were small by comparison, stubby things, ending in a series of manipulators, each capped by a thick steel talon. The creature looked right at Jan when the light came across its face. The face was like that of some ancient knight's helmet, but with a pair of circular purple eyes set in a small face where the visor should have been.

It pulled the cable from the steward, setting it carefully on the ground. It moved over to Jan, eyes wide. It walked like a big predatory cat, knuckles used to help balance itself as it moved, shoulders moving up and down with each step. It paused right in front of Jan, and almost acted liked it was sniffing her. The head was right in her face, balanced on a disjointed neck. A small scanning field projected from one eye, and played across her body. It paused for a few moments, head tilting to one side. Jan closed her eyes, knowing it could snap her in half in a second. She heard a creak of steel. Then there was a crash. She opened her eyes.

Three stewards were blasting the thing with containment fields. They couldn't contain the whole thing, the size of the robot preventing them from fully stopping it. The thing actually roared in response, a deep throated roar of some primeval beast. The stewards pushed it back again. The robot reached out with a clawed hand, smashing one of the stewards from the air. The steward was reducedto a bunch of sparking pieces. The remaining stewards backed up slightly. That was all the robot needed.

It leapt through the air, right over Jan, crashing into the rubble ten feet behind her. It jumped again, and hit the side of a building. Impossibly, its claws dug into the concrete, and the robot began to run across the face of the building. It leapt again, crashing into a pile of wrecked cars. Within a second, it was moving again, a blur of motion in the night. Jan weakly touched the transmit button on the intercom she carried. The two stewards went after it

"Axiom, this is Jan… yo-u've got something coming your way."

"Repeat that, Jan. we lost you momentarily," said Captain McCrea. There was another hiss of static, and McCrea sighed. Communications in New hope fluctuated in quality from day to day. Every sandstorm blacked out the communicators for days, weeks at the weeks. Even on a good clear day, any intercom unit was likely to be unreachable from the Axiom, or at least so badly distorted that communication would be impractical. Another thing that needed to be fixed.

The list of problems was still growing, even after a decade. Housing was fine, but maintenance and new construction was taking more and more labor time. The robots had their own special set of needs, new parts, repairs, diagnostics, and recharge stations. Add in the crops having trouble growing from seven century old seeds and DNA samples, they were still relying on food from the Axiom about fifty percent of the time. Maintenance of the ship itself, even after the closing of most nonessential areas, still took more people then he really wanted.

"Come in, Jan. Please repeat."

"Some-…-ming your way," came Jan's reply.

"Could you clarify, Jan?" McCrea asked. He wasn't sure, but Jan almost sounded like she was scared.

"It too-…-wo stewards. We need a -…–air team out here now," came back another hazy response.

McCrea straightened in his seat. He turned and spoke to the robot to his left, the TYP-R unit.

"Check for any missing or damaged stewards. Make sure it accounts for all those outside the ship as well."

The robot beeped twice, and typed a few buttons on the control panel in front. A holo-screen came up. The list showed dozens of designation numbers, each one a steward unit. Most were in shutdown for the night, a few more were either designated on patrol. There were a few anomalies. Two stewards had (PRST) registered as their current activity, meaning they were following something. Two more stewards were marked in red. One was marked (DMGD), the other marked (DOA). McCrea stifled a little gasp.

Since landing they had encountered nothing more dangerous then the average cockroach. There were accidents but deaths were low, and only a handful of robots had been lost. McCrea moved the destroyed robots into the "dead" column in his mind. Most robots had developed a personality of sorts. Ever since Wall-E had shown up ten years ago, it wasn't uncommon to see robots adapting their own little eccentricies, or even names. To lose two stewards in such a short time meant something was wrong.

"TYP-R, sound the alarm."

Most people were still active around night fall. There was still maintenance work to do inside, and the odd project which needed a moving team or a specialist. There were people who just met to talk and discuss the day, their families, or share stories. There were lights on in most windows, people just getting back from the demolition site or one of the other projects. Robots were also conversing amongst themselves, some with humans or in their own groups.

The apartment blocks were all clustered around the main causeway and tram routes. The main road left the city, and ended at the remains of a destroyed bridge. Near the very end of the bridge, a derelict truck sat, more of a tank than anything else. The rear ramp was open, light pouring out of the opening. Several robots were clustered in small groups around the exit. One was, as to be expected, Wall-E. Hovering next to him was Eve, both in discussion with the rather small Mo. They laughed at an old joke.

Wall-E's truck had become kind of the unofficial meeting place for the original rogue robots. They met every few weeks, just to talk, reminisce and laugh. They were a kind of celebrity to the group. Even as they went about their days, they were treated with a bit of deference, especially by the robots. Most robots stayed away from the truck, primarily just to give the group their privacy. But there we're a few who had joined over time, either just showing up or being invited. There were about thirty robots now, each one odd in their own way.

The discussion that night, as it did every few meetings, turned to the events that had brought the Axiom to Earth, as well as stories of the first few days of just trying to survive. There was a ripple of machine code laughter as Burn-e described being trapped outside the Axiom the day Wall-E showed up. Wall-e and Even laughed too, especially since the welder droid had been locked outside because of them.

Then the sandstorm sirens started to blow, harsh in the night air. The robots began to look around for the oncoming storm, all the while moving toward the shelter of the truck. Wall-E looked around quizzically, his own alarm silent. This caused a few moments of confusion, everyone looking at Wall-E, chattering distractedly, looking back towards the main residential blocks, where storm shutters were blocking out the lights. The intercom, a portable unit the size of a small piece of luggage, buzzed into life.

"This is Captain McCrea. All stewards and EVE probes report to the southern edge of the residential area, and be on the look out for…well anything out of the ordinary. Engage anything that attempts to pass you, if its not one of ours."

Eve readied her ion cannon, the barrel and targeter sliding seamlessly from her right arm. Wall-e sighed and held up his hand, spreading the shovel fingers out. Without a second thought, Eve slid her fingers between his. The other robots began to busily stare at the odds and ends that sat in nearly every shelf in Wall-E's truck. Then with a sigh, they both let go, and Eve flew into the air, heading toward the southern edge of the residential zone. Wall-E watched her go, watching till she was out of sight. As the other robots discussed what could be going on, Wall-E stared off into the night.

As Eve flew through the city streets, she saw dozens of stewards moving. Each one was lit up, lights flashing, taking up blocking positions every thirty feet, ten stewards standing three feet apart. The next line of stewards would pass through each established line, and then set up in the next open position. Every apartment building had an at least twenty stewards in positions in the lobby, or on the first floor. The sirens still screamed their warning, making every movement silent by comparison.

Eve was still new to the idea that there was a threat. Besides the sirens, it was actually a quiet night. There was chatter in the intercom, steward bots reporting in that they were in position, or giving a status report. There were the softer machine code reports of the other EVE probes, each one tracking for targets, each one finding nothing. McCrea was supervising from the Axiom, making sure everyone was in shelter or at the very least very close to some. He was also feeding status reports on the two pursuing stewards.

"STU-ARD 115, the runners heading your way. Make sure your ready. EVE probe 007, 008 and 010, I need your support behind them," the captain said, voice firm and in control. The steward and the three EVE probes beeped an affirmative.

For a few more minutes, there was nothing to be heard but the sirens and the late, dry night wind. Eve did another loop over her assigned position, seeing nothing but the occasional shutter open, allowing some frightened faces to look out. Eve waved at a few, people she recognized. They seemed to be calmed by her appearance, and the shutters closed quickly. Eve returned her eyes to the streets below. The stewards were waiting in their orderly lines.

Then there was a stream of targeting info, contact reports from a group of stewards. Over the intercom, there was the sound of charging containment fields, and the click clack of a readying ion cannon. McCrea spoke over the comm.

"Hold firm, it's almost here. Stead- what the hell is that thing?"

There was a crash, and the buzz of several containment fields being used at the same time. A chattering started almost immediately. A voice warbled something in machine code, before being cut off suddenly. An ion cannon fired, and there was a flash of blue light a few streets away. The chattering continued unfazed, followed by more sounds of crashing. There was another wave of alerts, and more warbles in machine code.

"Everyone respond. All defense units close in on the disturbance," said McCrea as another explosion went off, "move now, folks!"

Eve vectored her body over a building, as several scores of stewards powered through the street below. Another EVE probe flashed by her, ion cannon ready. She flew around a pile of collapsing garbage, shaken loose by the explosion. A tracer round flew through the air, ricocheting off a wall. Eve flew around the corner of the final building. The street below was in complete chaos

Dozens of stewards were pushing forward, containment fields firing. They were in a rough circle around the… Eve didn't know what it was. It was a blur of motion, one second a clawed hand striking out and breaking a steward in half, the next a multi-barreled machine cannon blasting several more robots apart from a gun mount on its back. The stewards had several limbs bound, but the thing moved nearly by sheer force of will, the whine of servos audible over the explosions. There was a roar, something that Eve couldn't associate with a robot. Eve saw one of her "sisters" make an attack run.

She couldn't place the probe, but it was a brave one. It was flying a few feet above the concrete, ion cannon aimed straight ahead. Eve caught an expression of fixed determination on the face screen. The probe fired an ion blast right into the flailing robot. There was an explosion of blue fire, hiding the rampaging robot for a blinding second. Then a clawed foot shot out and grabbed the probe by the head as it shot by, and smashed it into the ground. There was a second of resistance, and then Eve saw the face plate crack, and finally shatter as the foot pressed down. With a speed that should have been beyond its size, the robot flung the dead probe into a group of stewards, knocking them over.

Eve was moving before it made sense. She was vectoring right at the robot, ion cannon momentarily forgotten. She slammed into the robot like a missile, just as its foot began to touch the ground. The robot tumbled to the ground, limbs flailing. Eve pressed the ion cannon against the steel carapace of the robot and fired. The ion blast blasted ash in her face, and the other robot was knocked back a meter. Eve fired again. The robot was sent rolling across the ground, armor plates red hot. Another shot blew one of the arms at the elbow, causing hydraulic fluid to splash out as the hydraulic system exploded. Eve fired one more time at full power, the shot catching the robot square in the chest. It was thrown against a building with a crash, cracks spreading out across the concrete from the impact point.

The barrel of the ion cannon was white hot. Eve slowly folded the gun back into her arm. She whimpered slightly, the heat nearly unbearable. The arm was barely moving, circuits fried because of the heat, and she sagged in the air slightly, energy drained. She slowly turned away from the robot, floating slowly away. Another probe, one that called itself Ariel, landed beside here, offering an arm. Eve took it, sagging even more. Ariel boosted her anti grav unit more, taking the weight.

There was a click, a buzz, and then Even felt herself fall. She looked down. The lower quarter of her body was missing, a straight line carved from side to side. Everything slowed down as her power core desperately tried to save what little energy remained. She fell to the ground. Ariel's arm was still clutching to her, Ariel screaming a wordless cry of pain, a neat round hole cut through one of the arm connectors, the connector unit simply annihilated. Eve turned her head slightly. The robot was still crumpled against the wall, but it had raised its remaining arm and head, servo motors straining. A small laser had folded out of the back of the hand, still buzzing slightly, a laser beam burning through the air . At least two dozen stewards were closing in on all sides, containment fields forcing the robot to the ground. Then it all went dark for Eve.