Chapter 4

"Adam, Adam wake up." I awoke to the sweet sound of Sauli's voice and the view of Sauli's blue eyes glowing as they focused on me. I yawned as I sat up and pulled my hood down.

"Good morning Sauli," I said, "You look well rested."

"Thank you Adam," he replied, "but we're late for the morning food distribution. The buzzer rang 10 minutes ago!"

"Oh no!" I said as I jumped out of my bed and ran to the door. "We have to hurry before anyone notices our absence." Sauli leaped off the bed and followed me out of my quarters. We rushed down the hall and slid around the corner. When we reached the Food Distribution Room, the very last of the androids were getting their capsules. "Oh good," I said, "We still have time to retrieve and consume our capsules." Before I could get into line, Sauli grabbed my arm.

"Adam," he whispered softly, "I don't think you should eat those capsules."

"What are you talking about?" I whispered as I pulled my arm out from Sauli's grip.

"I don't think it's safe," he whispered as his eyes surveyed the area. "I mean, just look at them." Sauli pointed to the other droids. They were sitting and, in unison, swallowed their capsules. It was the same as every morning.

"I don't see what's wrong," I said, "They look perfectly fine. Everything seems to be normal." Sauli moved my face so I was looking at the droids once again.

"Look again." I could see two droids that I didn't recognize fighting. They were grabbing a young female droid. I knew who she was. She had worked across from me in the sanitary department. The 2 droids were grabbing her and holding her mouth open.

"No!" She cried. "I don't want to take them!" She kicked at the smaller droid who was trying to hold her down. The larger droid grabbed her throat and pressed her against the wall. I was in complete shock. This young girl was under attack and no one even noticed. It was if her screams and shrieks for help were silent.

"Why aren't they doing anything?!" I asked Sauli. "Don't they hear her? She needs help! The Superior wouldn't allow this! She…"

"The Superior is the one allowing this to happen," interrupted Sauli, "No one is doing anything because of The Superior is keeping them in a state of bliss. Didn't you notice what those droids are trying to do? They're forcing her to ingest her capsules so that she too will be in The Superior's state of bliss." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It just couldn't be true.

The 2 droids had the girl trapped. The smaller one picked up her capsules and began to push them down her throat.

"Well someone has to help her," I said, and that someone is going to be me." Sauli grabbed my arm once again.

"No Adam!" He said. "It's too dangerous. What if they hurt you?" That made me nervous, but I was much stronger than that female android. They couldn't do worse to me.

"They won't hurt me Sauli," I said, trying to reassure him. "I'll be ok. I have to do this. Let me go." Sauli frowned, shut his eyes, and released my arm. I turned away from him and walked towards the ruckus with my head held high. "Hey!" I shouted to get their attention. "Stop that!" The 2 droids turned and stared at me. Their eyes were a bright red color.

"This doesn't concern you work droid," said the larger droid as he shoved me. "Get back in your place." The female was breathing rapidly and her eyes were focused on me as the men held her arms down and squeezed her throat.

"I said stop it!" I shouted as I pushed the smaller droid off of the girl and down to the ground. The larger droid released his grip on the girl's throat and slowly turned his head to face me. With intense speed, he grabbed my throat and slammed me into the wall.

"You shouldn't have done that, little droid." He was much larger than me. He must've been almost 8 feet tall. He squeezed tighter on my throat. I could see the young female droid, frozen in place. She was free, but in too much shock to move. I clawed at the droid's hands to try and free myself of his grip, but it wasn't working. "You should've just stayed away," he said, "But now, I'm going to teach you a lesson you'll never forget." He pulled out a weapon from behind him. I had never seen a real weapon before. Supposedly, all weapons had been abolished. At the push of the button, sparks were being generated at the weapons tip. He jabbed the weapon into my side. I shrieked in pain. Every part of me felt like it was ablaze with fire. He stopped it for a moment. I felt completely numb and my vision was blurred. The droid laughed at me. "You like that, little droid?"

"Please," I said, electric currents from the weapon still flowing through me. "No more."

"More, you say?" said the droid. "As you wish." He stabbed the weapon deeper into my side. The intense burning was more than I could bear. Then he stopped once more.

"N-No," I stuttered, "P-Please."

"Oh," he said smiling, "What's the matter little droid? Do you have a malfunction in your voice chip? You're stuttering and your voice is changing pitch." He raised the weapon and pointed it toward my neck. "Here, let me help you fix that." He jabbed the weapon into my neck. I could feel the electrical currents flowing through my circuits. I screamed as loud as I could. Suddenly, I heard another voice.

"Get away from him!" It was Sauli. He had jumped onto the large droid and was pulling his hair.

"Sauli!" I said, my voice malfunctioning. Sauli was too busy to respond. The large droid backed into the wall, damaging Sauli. He fell to the ground and tried to get away. The large droid grabbed Sauli's ankle and lifted him upside down.

"You want some too, huh shrimp?" The large droid stabbed Sauli in the leg with the weapon. Sauli shrieked in pain. I couldn't take hearing Sauli in pain. I managed to use whatever strength I had left to stand up. I had to fight for Sauli like he fought for me. The larger droid laughed as Sauli squirmed, trying to break free. "Now," he said, "to finish you." He raised the weapon high in the air and it's dial to High. Sauli closed his eyes, accepting his fate. Before he could stab Sauli once more, I jumped onto the droid's arm and grabbed the weapon. "What the…" But before he could say anything more, I jabbed the weapon into his head. The electricity fried his brain completely. He fell to the ground like a tree that had just been cut. Before Sauli could hit the ground as well, I caught him in my arms.

"Adam," he said, "You saved me." I nodded.

"Saul-li," I struggled to say. My voice chip was practically destroyed.

"Shh," said Sauli, "Don't speak. It'll just damage your voice even more." Sauli stroked my cheek with his fingers. He smiled at me, and for the first time in my existence I smiled back. It was an amazing feeling to smile. No wonder he did it so often.

"Excuse me," came a small voice from behind us. It was the young female droid. "I'm so sorry to interrupt you," she said, "I just wanted to express my gratitude. Thank you so much for saving me from those guards." She looked down and saw Sauli's injured leg. "You're hurt!" she said, concern in her voice. Her eyes darted left and right. "Come with me," she said, "I can fix you right up."