Mr. Roboto

Chapter-11 Escape to a Shattered Past

After finding and leaving out the back exit to the museum, Gary found that it was dark in the alleyway outside and as he made it back to the street, many of the shops were closed. Getting ready for the new year. The other streets almost appeared to be empty, alluding to either everyone was away celebrating or gathered in Time's Square. Gary thought that maybe going there would be a good idea, since no one else would have the bragging rights of seeing the end and beginning of a millennium twice. And as far to his knowledge no one else was in his exact situation. Then again his situation was still in question. He hadn't seen Roberto since the confrontation on the roof earlier that day and it appeared he fooled him into thinking he fell off the roof, but something told Gary that Roberto was still on the hunt for him, after all, he was programed to find whoever killed Colbert Roberto.

"He wasn't able to find me early when I was hanging from the building below the cover outlook," Gary thought to himself aloud, "But the only reason Roberto would finish the hunt is if he saw…my lifeless dead body."

With that conclusion, Gary was certain that Roberto was still in Manhattan and still searching for him. And with the empty streets and sidewalks in this area, it was giving him flashbacks and uncomfortable vibes to back when the streets emptied so the Wiseos could commit their heinous acts without witnesses. The perfect conditions for a follower, or in this case a robot would be programmed to strike when the circumstances were similar. Gary now knew he had to find his way off the streets quickly.

Although with Central Park right across the road, Gary would know that it would be easier for Roberto to find him there since there would be fewer people and fewer noises to distract. Not to mention fewer places to hide when he did find him again. Gary had to find his way back inside a building, one that was not an office business or any with security.

A restaurant or bar club is what I need to find, Gary thought vigorously, they would be open at this time and some would be filled with people, but the most populated ones would be right around time's square. I must make it there fast. And darted for Broadway so he could find a hiding place fast.

It didn't take long for him to realize he wasn't in the best physical shape, and could only make it a few blocks before being completely out of energy. However he did make it to the intersection of Broadway, and was still surprised to see there were very few people and traffic on it. Not completely empty like before, but still little enough to make Gary uncomfortable in his current surroundings.

"I remember Teddy telling me the address of the archives, but that's another place that I'm sure is both closed and has security." Gary thought aloud, "I've been around Manhattan some time now, but I still am uncertain about many things. I've got to find a map or phone book with addresses." And so began searching for a phone booth on the street.

With no signs of a map anywhere nearby and the emptiness of the streets continuing to persist, Gary finally found what appeared to be a phone booth a few blocks away. He was now in what appeared to be Lincoln square and after confirming the booth wasn't a suicide booth, walked his way over.

The booth did not however have a pay phone label like ones he remembered seeing before he was frozen. Instead all it had was what looked like an observatory ad on the side. It also did not have any windows so he couldn't see what was inside. He walked up to the door and just as he turned the door nob he could feel a slight vibration on it, and once he pulled the door open he could see smoke coming from the door. As well as hearing some techno music from below the entrance.

It must be an underground party club entrance, Gary thought at little puzzled by the entrance, At least this way I'll be off the streets and harder to find. He then walked inward until he saw that there was a fire pole in the middle of the booth. He then grabbed it and slide down some ways until finding a bar facing him, and looking behind him finding a dance floor with a huge combination of humans, aliens, and robots all dancing together and some with drinks. The music reminded him a lot of songs that clubs played when he was still in college.

Seems like even music hasn't changed all that much, Gary continued to ponder, Still doesn't beat the classics, then again I've never been much of a dancer anyways. Thinking about his time in college that to him ended not that long ago. Even if it's been nearly a millennium in real time. For a moment recalling to his college times and even sometimes in high school. Considering not just the predicament he was in now, but what issues he had growing up then. He never had issues with doing well academically, especially considering his doctorate and pilot license. His biggest issue was honestly friends. There were a few he had starting in middle school and going to high school some. None of which were farmers like his family was nor did they seem to care a whole lot about trying to make a big impression. Living in one of the least populated states didn't help that fact either.

Once he got to college, none of his current friends came with him, and he didn't make anymore during his studies. Even with his large family there was an ever-brewing feeling of isolation and loneliness. One that never felt stronger now that his family was dead and anyone else he knew from his time was long dead. Sure he went to some parties and school dances when he was younger, but there was a point in time when he determined that he wasn't going to these gatherings to have fun nor to escape the daily tasks of reality, but to hide. Hide from this brewing isolation that had been plaguing him for years now. Hide from the fact any friends he could have fun and be with did not exist. And hide from any fears that he believed would come in his way. Ranging from challenges in a career, to finding a woman. Just like how he was hiding at this party here and now.

And just like that I'm counseling myself again, in a public place no less. His thoughts confirmed that what he was doing now he's been doing for years, and for the first time in the future. Just like how the music hasn't changed much, neither had he in this future world. Despite the huge changes to the world around him. Well, this time I should just enjoy myself and put off everything going on. It's New Year's Eve after all. And went over to the bar to try some new drinks.

Back on the surface there were more people walking around and making their way to Time's Square not far away. More people and robots that is to say. Most of these robots where just like the people were making their way to Time's Square for the start of the new millennium. One however had a different motive in mind for being here. Roberto had been searching up 9th Ave for hours now and had found no sign of his target. Earlier he had found heat traces going up 9th until getting to the head museum. But there was nothing after seeing the entrance and there was too much traffic and security to get inside. He determined his target would stay around 9th considering it wasn't far from where their first encounter was, and it led right into Bowman. Where his target came into this time.

One his way back he was just about to start looking in Time's Square despite the heavy crowds, until his heat tracker detected tracks going to a club entrance. One that to his convenience was lenient on security and gave discounts to robots for most of their drinks going to their fuel cells. Know this it was not only the most likely place he'd find his target, but that there would be cheap drinks to recharge on, Roberto opened the entrance to Annhieser's Foundation Club and slid down the pole. Best of all, no metal detectors for Robots.

At the bar which had a much more formal look than what he previously saw at the café 1980s, Gary was looking around at the shelf where he could now get a good look at the brands of today. Many of which seemed very similar yet each brand was new to him, showing evolution but familiarity as well.

"What drinks may I serve you?" Asked the human bartender in the usual New York accent. And dressed in the modern formal attire Gary had noticed all throughout the city.

"First time in the city bar like this," He exaggerated, "What's your popular picks?"

"For the new year's nothing tops our signature tresk, which is snake eye juice diluted with vodka and cotton fruit. Not to mention the classic American pine rotem. Which is just alcoholic pine cider." Just like at the café 1980s a couple days ago, Gary remembered. And this time it's a bar drink. Sounds good for tonight.

"I'll try out the pine rotem."

"First time trying out a classic? No better time to given the upcoming millennium in about two hours." The bartender answered while getting his drink ready. Most of the brands behind the bar counter were different ones from Gary's time, but almost seemed like rip offs of said brands. Especially since the bar tender was pouring from an Aggressively Bruised Crab Orchard bottle and added Cracking Uproots Liquor. Strange names but he's used to seeing it by now.

"And this cider liquor was for…?" And came time again for Gary to use his temporary informal name.

"Mr. Roboto sir." He answered as his drink was handed. "Don't you need an I.D. too?" Gary confirmed.

"How long have you been away from your last bar night? You'd be surprised to find out the national drinking age has been lowered to 19. And you're way older than that by looks alone."

Not sure if that's an insult about my looks or sense of country in me but interesting. The drinking age has been lowered. Gary thought after hearing the bar tender.

"I can't tell you what they were thinking down in Washington six centuries ago, but all I know and agree with is: It's the age when they need it most." He finished has he handed Gary the drink.

"Oh, one other thing Roboto." He paused before Gary turned around, "What's with the large pack?"

Considering the contents of survival gear and live ammunition, Gary had to think of an excuse and one that wouldn't seem out of place. "I'll be camping out at Time's Square after this for the new millennium." The bartender seemed to have bought it given his satisfied and not questioning expression.

"I was just curious," He answered, "It's not often someone comes in here with a large pack. Enjoy your new year night Roboto."

"Happy new year as well to you too." He thanked as he turned to the dancefloor.

Gary was still surprised to find the drinking age had been reduced to 19. Based on his classes, he in a sense could understand that as many youngsters are just starting out college at that age, and would have some high stress times that could need some drinking to ease things out. Of course that also raised the question of were there many young adults more responsible compared to the past millennium? Or was the age reduced more so liquor companies could make more profit from younger ages? Another question to be answered at the archives.

But there would be time for that later, after midnight, after the new millennium had come again, and after he would have a good time in this club. The first classic good time he's had in days to him. With his hard pine rotem in hand, he made his way to the dance floor and for the hour tried not to care about his predicament and enjoy the night like every other human, alien, or robot dancing along to the beat of this new yet familiar music.

Roberto's entrance similar to Gary's didn't cause any attention to the surrounding dancers nor to anyone at the bar; they just kept partying away. He was never much of a drinker aside from his standard yet cheap robot battery fuel source. Nor was that his mission, amongst the crowd of dancers he had his specific target currently hidden within the crowd. His heat scanners before were able to detect just a footprint, but using the image of the footprint he was not only able to tell who the footprint belonged to even with the hundreds of prints on the dancefloor, but he was able to build up the rest of the body and matched the DNA to find his target right in the crowd. Appearing to be just as blissful as all the other dancers with no current worries about his surroundings, Roberto slowly made his way forward; with the loud music able to cover any sounds he would make.

Sure there were some people in the way, but that's what the knife was for. He unsheathed it from his back as he prepared to make his move. He continued walking towards the middle of the dancefloor as he prepared to position himself so he could thrust the knife right into his target. The difficult part would be waiting for the room, but all he needed was just enough space for the blade, and so what if it pierced someone else in the process?

Preparing to find the right position to strike, he knew he couldn't be obvious or there would be panic from the crowd. He was beginning to activate sensors on his hands so he could calculate the right path for the knife to take when he would stab. His left-hand sensor detected a metallic item right next to it and automatically felt what it was to get a grip for support until…

Gary and everyone around him was alerted to an alarm coming from his edge of the dancefloor as all attention looked towards a younger looking fembot with a flashing light on her abdomen segment that flashed: Virgin Alarm.

The young fembot shrieked at the robot wielding the knife and with his other hand close to her skirt. "Get away from me you metallic thug." She tried to shove away from Roberto.

"Oh you'll be getting plenty tonight once I'm through with you." He threatened back. "What's a child like you doing in a club like this? Now do yourself a favor and stay out of an adult robot's life until you've grown some real reservoirs." Causing the young fembot to skitter from the dancefloor and out of Roberto's harm.

The rest of the crowd then gave all their attention to Roberto as his cover was blown and his violent actions to the young fembot just now. Now being right in the center and with the show he just gave there wasn't a chance he could kill his target.

With all the crowd's attention on Roberto and Gary being reviled as the robots moved away from Roberto. He knew he had to escape; Without even a second to spare and seeing Roberto with knife in hand, Gary reached for his belt and threw an EMP right into him. The EMP was at default the lowest setting so it would only push him back similarly to their first encounter, and thankfully it wouldn't hurt the other robots still on the dancefloor.

All the lights and music equipment however were shut down from the EMP, and Gary could now use this darkness to find a way out before not only Roberto got back up, but before the bartender called the police.

He quickly made his way around the room looking for a way out. He couldn't go back up the pole since Roberto could easily follow him that way. It wasn't long before a pair of weaker emergency lights came on and now Gary could see the rest of the club room. In the corners he could see doors marked: Kitchen, and Employees only. However in another corner he saw a door marked: Waste disposal, Authorized personal only. With what appeared to be a lock on the door. The club was still in panic mode as everyone including the staff, had their attention still at the dancefloor where Roberto last was.

The lock was electronic, giving Gary a chance to use his Blackhat PDA. Pointing it at the lock the device instantly recognized it and with the press of a side button the door unlocked. Gary was honestly impressed with how fast and how simple it was to use considering what Mr. Taft told him at the pawn shop. If it could unlock a door that fast, imagine what it could do to a functional robot. After he escaped this was what he would try doing.

The door shut behind him and locked again giving no trace that it was opened, and this way Roberto couldn't follow from behind. "None of my college club sessions ever got this violent." Gary thought aloud and considering his earlier thoughts, was now somewhat relived of his past.

The small room's lights were still active, and it appeared to be for storage as there were several boxes around. It did not appear however that there was a large door for access to this storage room from the outside so there was no way back to the surface from here. There was however on the far side away from Gary a chute that was labeled: Trash to city ruins.

City ruins? Gary thought alarmed, more than he already was. If I'm already underground some 20ft or so and this chute goes even further down, and it leads to ruins? I have to check this out. Not only to find out what this mean, but going down further meant Roberto won't have a trace of his direction.

In order to fit into the chute he had to take his pack off and hold it with one hand. He couldn't drop it down first not knowing what was below, but what was below was even more concerning given the label. He'd imagine there would be lots of trash bags decomposing at the bottom, but what if it led to water? While Gary was sure he could swim if he was thrown into water, he admittedly never learned how to formally.

The amphibiotic gloves could be useful for slowing him down, but he didn't know how long the chute was nor how fast he would go. He could easily break his hand if the glove suddenly attached itself to the tube on the way down. However one would be useful for keeping hold of his pack. The other hand he decided would be best to just use the grapple hook in reverse so he could slow down and pull himself back up in case the chute led to a dangerous spot. After preparing for a minute after getting his glove and grapple cable he moved into the chute entrance and taking one last glace behind him to make sure the door was still shut, he slide down.

The chute slide lasted about 30 seconds before he noticed how it stared to shallow out and his high speed was decreasing. Indicating it wasn't far from the end. He saw light starting to appear more as this was the point to prepare for the exit. The grapple hook beeped telling him it had almost reached the end of its cable length and it slowed him down to keep it from snapping. This way he could reach the end and see what there was.

After slowing to a stop right before the chute ended he took his time to rewind the grapple cable and put his pack back on. From there he saw there was no water below the exit nor were there a lot of trash bags. He then looked out the exit and to his complete shock saw…The remains of old New York?

He climbed out to get a better look, only to see he was on the top balcony of the Worldwide Plaza building. He saw there was a roof some ways above him and that the entirety of Manhattan was underground and in ruins. All the predictions of people saying the world would end he heard in college even wouldn't imagine this sight. All abandoned, yet all empty? Gary had to both find if there were any answers down here and find another way back to the surface. And all before it turned midnight with 96 minutes to go.

Instead of using the grapple to get down the siding since all the rubble on the ground he went inside to look through the building and see if there was anything that would explain the shocking surroundings.

"How can all of the city I saw centuries ago be down here?" He pondered aloud. "The map I saw earlier today wasn't different geographically, and how can there be a foundation strong enough to support the buildings on top if this is all right below it?" Was anyone even able to live down here? If so this would be like a completely different city that all the sci-fi movies predicted long ago.

Despite the huge building the worldwide plaza was, there wasn't anything that would have alluded to what cause old world Manhattan to be underground. Just rubble and strange noises that even the new alien species didn't make.

Upon the exit at ground level between a maze of broken glass and trash bags, he could see there was hardly anything intact. The Plaza was the only large standing structure around going all the way to Time's square. Which instantly reminded him of what a wonderful night that was so long ago; the last great night with his family. There appeared to be taller buildings towards lower Manhattan and what appeared to be spires not there before. "Those could be access tunnels to the surface." He thought. "But why would there need to be access down here if there's nothing here? Anything valuable would've been salvaged or stolen long ago."

He began walking down to lower Manhattan where there would hopefully be more answers and so he could get to the closest access tunnel. He saw the decrepit remains of the Madison Square Garden, various apartment buildings both old and new, and noticed how the ceiling was made of girders and had pipes running through. As well as some other trash chutes that went further down than the one he slid from. He was lucky to have used that one and landed on a building somehow still intact. So the new Manhattan surface had to have been built on top of this and this explained why there was no modern metro system. But this was still the most chilling environment Gary had even been in. And considering all the hunted trips he had back home and even his night after the gunfight. That was saying something for his experience. Even being so paranoid from his new unfamiliar surroundings he Occasionally pulled out his python whenever he heard other strange sounds.

"How could the presidents not tell me about this? They had to have known they were built above what remained of the city?" Unless this was somehow supposed to be secret? Or considering the abandoned state this was the perfect cover for illegal operations. Just like the one he stopped in Bowman not far from where he was.

Although he couldn't see far enough, the underground portion appeared to cover just Manhattan as there didn't appear or sound like there was any water. But then how could this all be underground and not submerged? Especially if Manhattan from maps he saw looked the same as this and how Long Island appeared intact. He was still a ways from Lower Manhattan as he continued to look around at the sight. Nothing so far since his hibernation was as shocking to him. Did this mean other cities around the world were also underground or was it just Manhattan?

The now Everest pile of questions was about to make him go crazy considering his surroundings. This was just another time to add to the events that almost spiraled him into insanity. How was a phycologist supposed to be able to preform his duties if they themselves couldn't keep their own sanity?

"Why can't I just move on and not think about what happened before now?" He said now almost yelling at himself with even some slight echoes from the rubble. "Oh that's right, because I'm all alone in this new confusing world with a robot trying to kill me and some people who are for sure trying to hunt me down because I escaped. Sure I got money and some supplies but no place to live and no job to keep me going. Not to mention all the answers I still need. Answers to what all has changed, answers to what I need to do next, and answers as to where Fry is so I can get this damn letter to him. He awoke from his hibernation and that's when that damn Roberto found me, and we first fought. Why do all my circumstances go beyond my control? Why can't this crazy buffalo chase end where it all…"

In the midst of his minor breakdown, he paused instantly when he saw he was standing right in front of the gas station his family was killed at, exactly where it all…

"Began."

Minus the decayed status that all the buildings had, it appeared the station was repaired since the explosion. But even on the concrete by the street he could see char marks from where the explosion took place. Even some blasted concrete remains from where the grenade launcher hit. All left to rot just like the metropolis that once stood strong around Gary, and there was nothing sadder for him to see than the remains of the last place he was with his family. If only they could've seen coming what happened to them that night.

"Sad scenes like this always leave my prey, WEAK." As Roberto lunged from behind and in the span of milliseconds Gary was able to dodge his attack and pull away. Despite his complete jump scare from Roberto's sneaky entrance.

"How could you possibly know if was down here?" Gary asked puzzled by Roberto's presence below the surface.

"Considering you're a doctor and not a mathematician, I knew you didn't have the time to go back up on the street. And your heat traces went to the door that led down here." Roberto's answer was surprisingly honest. "All I had to do was find another way down. Then with hardly any other intelligent life down here. I could finally take your redneck tradition of hunting and kill after waiting so long." Insulting his heritage once again.

"Well at least when I hunted I didn't have to worry about my target attacking me." Gary snapped back while preparing his weapons. "And it's quite a shame that your achievement of killing the man who destroyed the Wiseos will be unknown to the city. Not to mention you trying to set an example for other thug bots, but just like human thugs, you never learn."

Roberto almost chuckled in his strange metallic cackling sound he made. "Who needs witnesses to your death if it's only I who needs proof? Secondly the sight we're currently seeing is the only achievement I need to know who will finally win." Referring to the gas station behind them.

"Your hero according to your programmers was the monster who killed my family here," Gary answered harshly back at Roberto's comment. "And of course if it wasn't for him doing that, neither of us would be here. I'd be long dead in a graveyard back home in South Dakota and you probably wouldn't even exist. But I lived long passed my prime, while it's you who's grave will remain forgotten. Just like my family's was here all those years ago." Pulling out his Python, and getting ready for the fight of his life.