Goddard, Come Home

by Gary D. Snyder

Part 9:

Although Jimmy's words filled her with dread Cindy couldn't understand why. "So…he explodes," she finally said. "So what? He's exploded before. He does that whenever you tell him to play dead and he just puts himself back together again. It doesn't really seem to hurt him."

"That's different," Jimmy replied harshly. "Those explosions disassemble him but don't destroy the integrity of his systems. That's why it's just 'playing dead' to him. This explosion really will destroy him."

"I still don't see the problem. You can just build him again. You could even put in some state-of-the-art improvements and make him better."

"Mechanically, maybe. But not his neural net. Don't you understand? His programming would be gone."

"Well, you programmed him the first time. So why couldn't you just re-program him again?"

"Because I didn't program him!" Even though she and Jimmy were not actually face-to-face Cindy took a step backward at this outburst. Reining in his temper and frustration Jimmy went on more quietly. "I wasn't the one who programmed him."

"But you…he's your…" Cindy stammered in confusion. "If you didn't program him, who did?"

Jimmy slumped to the ground in resignation. "I did." Before Cindy could respond to that he went on. "And you. And Carl, Sheen, my mom, my dad, Miss Fowl, Nick, Humphrey…everyone and everything he's ever encountered since I first activated him. Every experience he's ever had, everything he's ever learned, and every memory he's ever stored has been his programming. All I did was put in his basic behavioral and system management processes to start him off. Everything else is what he's developed on his own." His voice grew very quiet and Cindy could barely hear his next words. "It's what makes him who he is. If that's gone, he'll be gone, too. Forever." Jimmy fell silent, but around them his voice rumbled, "Please…don't let me lose him."

Cindy didn't know what to say to this. She had always thought of Goddard as just another of Jimmy's sophisticated inventions, but after hearing his words she thought that she began to better understand what Goddard meant to Jimmy. And maybe Jimmy as well, she added to herself. She winced as the words echoed around the two of them but Jimmy made no sign that he had heard or that she had moved to stand beside him until she laid a hand on his shoulder. "Then I guess," she said gently, "we'll have to make sure that doesn't happen." She looked around. "Which way to the exit?"

"- gyp," concluded Sheen in the lab. Then, seeing Cindy open her eyes, he asked, "Hey, Cindy! What happened? Didn't it work?"

Cindy looked over at the display screen which read 20:03, about the same time as when she the mind link had been initiated. Apparently mind-to-mind communications was nearly instantaneous, as it had seemed much longer to her. "It worked," she answered. "Now get me out of this. We don't have much time."

For the next few minutes Cindy worked frantically to distill the necessary DNA while simultaneously answering various questions put to her by Libby, Sheen, and Carl. "Yes, Libby, we could actually hear each other's thoughts. Yes, Sheen, I suppose it would be a useful power for Ultra Lord to have. No, Carl, we weren't thinking anything about llamas. And for the umpteenth time, it was a totally disgusting experience."

"Actually, I don't think anyone asked whether it was disgusting or not," Sheen pointed out.

"Well it was, so don't ever ask me again," Cindy snapped as she removed a vial containing a clear viscous liquid from the Genetic Manipulator. "Done," she announced. "According to Jimmy, this should reverse the effects of the mutated DNA. Then we can start looking for Goddard." Carefully she inserted the vial into the chamber of the pneumatic hypogun Jimmy had described to her, pressed the nozzle against his arm, and pulled the trigger. There was a long hiss as the DNA was injected into Jimmy's system, and then Cindy put the gun down with a sigh. "It's just a question of time now."

"While we're waiting, can't we try to find Goddard?" Libby suggested.

"Good idea," replied Cindy. "What's the best way to do that?"

"Doesn't Goddard have a homing beacon or something?" asked Carl. "Maybe Vox can tell us where he is."

Cindy shook her head. "I don't think Vox will obey anyone but Jimmy."

"That's not true," countered Sheen. "Vox will do what Carl and I say."

"Sometimes," added Carl. "As long as it's not dangerous or complicated or illegal or –"

"What can you get Vox to do?" Cindy interrupted.

"Let us watch TV or play video games," Sheen admitted.

"Pretty much," agreed Carl.

Cindy snorted in disgust. "That's useful."

"Hey! Don't knock it until you've tried it!" Sheen said defensively. "Vox! TV!"

"Please specify channel or frequency," Vox replied.

"Anything with information about dogs in Retroville."

"Or llamas," added Carl, as Sheen glared at him.

Instantly the video screen changed from the countdown (which now read 17:49) to a picture of a man in a suit and tie in what appeared to be a newsroom. "…reports of a dog terrorizing citizens of Retroville continue to come in."

"Boring," said Sheen. "Let's watch something else."

"Shh!" Cindy and Libby shushed franticly.

"Exact details are sketchy, but the dog appears to be attacking people at random in the vicinity of a city park near Lindbergh Elementary School using some sort of heat weapon." He broke off and placed a hand over one ear. "I'm receiving a message now saying we have an exclusive visual representation of the attacks and will show that now. Viewers are warned that the following scenes may be graphic and may not be suitable for young children."

Instantly the scene of a large fire-breathing lizard igniting several nearby skyscrapers replaced the image of the newscaster. Sheen was outraged.

"Hey, wait a minute!" he cried. "That's from Bonzilla Unleashed! That was in Yokohama, not Retroville!"

The newscaster reappeared with a flustered look on his face. Attempting to regain his composure, he announced, "That is clearly not what is actually happening in Retroville, as the picture was obviously not that of a dog, nor of Retroville." He glared off-screen at some unseen person. "Since we don't have an actual video clip, perhaps our graphics department has some artwork to more accurately represent the situation. Especially if they expect to work here tomorrow."

After a few seconds the newscaster again disappeared to be replaced by a rough hand-drawn picture a house with flames rising from the roof. On one side of the house was the crude rendering of a dog, larger than the house, with "Woof!" scrawled in a word balloon above its head. On the other side several stick figures were running away, with the word "Help!" in word balloons above their heads. After a moment the picture disappeared and the angry newscaster reappeared.

"To summarize," he said in a very tight voice, "there are reports of a dog terrorizing Retroville citizens in the vicinity of the park near Lindbergh Elementary School. Residents are cautioned to remain indoors while the military responds to the situation. And now back to our regularly scheduled programming." As the scene faded the newscaster's voice could be hear saying, "I don't care how short the notice on this item was. These people are supposed to be professionals…"

The screen went blank and was replaced with the countdown, which now read 15:08. "No further transmissions meeting search criteria found," Vox informed them in a pleasant voice.

"So Goddard is in the park by school and attacking people?" Cindy remarked to no one in particular. She shook her head. "It doesn't sound like him."

"No, it doesn't," agreed Libby. "I don't think I've ever seen Goddard attack anyone without provocation before."

"That may be a side effect of his power system failing. In any case, this is our only lead."

"Then let's get going," someone said a faintly. The others turned in the direction of the voice to see Jimmy conscious, still lying on the table and looking weak. "We've got less than 15 minutes left."

End of Part 9.