A Strange Find: Part 1

I floated through the abandoned underwater base. The hissing of my respirator was the only sound, the faint glow of my headlamp the only light. Until then, it wasn’t. I saw a faint light coming from a corridor to my left and grinned. 

“I see something.” I whispered into my helmet’s comms headset. “Some kind of purple glow, but it’s got some ultraviolet light mixed in too. Barely on the visible spectrum.” 

Serga’s voice came crackling down from where she was keeping lookout at the surface. “Probably some surviving equipment, but check your scanner for biorhythms to make sure. And hurry. I spotted a government patrol boat a couple minutes back.” 

“Biorhythms?” I asked. “This water’s so polluted from all the bomb testing, I don’t think anything big enough to be a problem could survive in it.” 

“Just do it.” Serga said. “Humor me.” 

“Okay, okay.” 

I tapped a little glowing icon on the wrist screen built into my dive suit, initiating the scan. And promptly yelped. “I’m seeing a very human-like bio-pattern on the scan. But . . . something’s funny about it.” 

I double-checked the results. My heart skipped a beat. “No breathing. No heartbeat. It’s not moving, either. But the flow of electrical impulses is the same as a sleeping human nervous system. You think they were making zombies down here?” 

No response for a moment, just the weird little lip-smacking sounds Serga makes when she’s thinking. 

Finally, she said, “Head towards it.” 

“Are you crazy? We don’t know what that thing is!” 

“We also don’t have much time. If we want to get anything we can sell out of here, we need to speed up.” 

“Or we could just go home and avoid getting killed.” I grumbled. 

There was a sigh from the other end. “Ivanya . . .” 

“I know, we can’t go home-home anymore. You didn’t need to rub it in. And I’m going, so don’t nag me.” 

I kicked, swimming forward until I could grab onto the edge of a doorway. This room seemed to be the source of the glow. I poked my hand in, checking to make sure the security wasn’t still on. Nothing happened, so then I poked my head in. The glow was brighter than ever, and now I could see the actual source. A glassy sphere about the size of a large armchair, glowing from the surface and the inside with the weird purple light. It sat on a round, flattened base that reminded me of a tiered cake carved out of dark metal.  

“What’s inside it?” Serga demanded after I described what I saw. 

“Can’t tell. The glare from my headlamp’s too strong.” 

“Turn it off.” 

I obeyed, and gasped. Floating inside the sphere, surrounded by viscous fluid that seemed to be emitting the weird light, was a person. I swam closer, almost entranced. Swimming around the sphere to get a better look, I could see it was a young woman, a little older than me and Serga. 

She was naked and curled up in the fetal position, her pale skin broken up by large sections of silvery metal plating. As far as I could tell, it was part of her rather than something she was wearing. Her feet and hands were entirely metal, gracefully jointed and sporting vicious-looking claws. 

Metal wings sprouted from her back and folded along the curve of her spine, and metal fangs showed where her mouth was slightly open in sleep. Her short, choppy white hair floated around in the liquid, mostly obscuring her face. From what I could see, though, she was gorgeous. 

“Soooo?” Serga asked impatiently. “What did you find?” 

“A robot. Or a cyborg at least. Not powered up right now.” 

“Ivanya, this is a government base.” Serga said, like she was talking to a little kid. “Robots have been outlawed since the Android Wars. Why would they break their own rules and make one?” 

“I don’t know, let’s ask her.” 

“It’s a girl?” 

“Yes.” 

“We don’t even know how to communicate with her. Just get her up here without waking her. This could be a windfall if we sell her to the right people.”  

I looked at the girl’s sleeping face. She looked peaceful, innocent. This felt wrong. But I didn’t really have time to get into an ethics debate with my sister right now. So I tapped on the sphere, trying to gauge how much force it would take to break the thing. 

The robot’s eyes snapped open. They were bright purple. She stared at me for a few seconds. Neither of us blinked. 

Then she put her hands flat against the inside of the sphere and pushed, shattering it. The pieces floated away in slow-motion amidst swirls of the glowing fluid. She smiled brightly, showing off her fangs, and held out a hand to me. I shook my head and started to back away, out through the door. 

She followed me, moving so fast she was almost a blur. Apparently the wings worked for swimming too. The moment the robot was outside the doorway, Serga yelped. “Ivanya, there are alarms going off up here. What the hell did you do?” 

“I didn’t do anything!” I snapped. “The robot did!” 

“You woke her up?!” 

“I wasn’t trying to!” 

An exasperated growl from my sister. “Well, both of you get up here. That patrol boat’s coming back and we need to scram.” 

“Oh, now you tell me?!” 

I turned to the robot. She was looking around in confusion. I held out my hand and beckoned to her. She cocked her head at me for a moment, then put her hand on mine and squeezed just a little tighter than was comfortable. She was scared, I realized. I smiled at her and returned the squeeze. My heart was pounding, my brain was racing with horrible death possibilities, but I had the weirdest desire to reassure her. 

“It’s gonna be okay. Come with me.” 

She nodded. I swam back the way I’d come, and the robot quickly took the lead, dragging me along. Pretty soon we were out of the base and rocketing through open water towards the glow of the moon above us. We broke the surface a few yards from the speedboat where Serga and our friend Giji were waiting. Just like Serga had said, alarms on nearby buoys were blaring a shrill, throbbing siren, red lights on top of them flashing. I climbed up first, then grabbed the robot’s hands and hauled her aboard. She immediately curled up again, hands over her ears. I covered her with a blanket and wrestled my helmet off just as the patrol boat came back into view. It wasn’t alone.

“Great.” I muttered. “They brought a whole squad.” 

“Choppers too.” Serga said grimly, nodding to the sky above us. “Giji, get the shields up. Ivanya, step on it.” 

I gave a sarcastic salute, racing to the little boat’s control panel. “Hang on!” 

We rocketed forward, my hands flying over the levers as water sprayed up behind us. The other boats were staying on our tail pretty well, despite all the swerves and dodges I tried. I headed out to sea, away from the distant glow of the city. A roaring whirr sounded above me as the helicopters headed lower, followed by louder rattling bangs as they started firing on us. A bullet streaked towards my face, then flattened out and fell into the sea like it had hit an invisible wall.

I sighed in relief, because technically it had. “Thanks, Giji.” 

“No problemo, Ivy.” My friend said, running a hand through their spiky black hair. 

They were acting pretty normal, but I could see that they looked ashen under their golden-brown skin. They must have worn themself out getting the shields up this fast. Even simple technomancy like force-field shields can take a lot out of you if you don’t prepare beforehand. I tossed them one of the energy drinks I kept in a plastic crate next to the controls.  

“Drink that and sit down.” 

They smirked. “Aw, you care.” 

“Darn right I do. Sit. Now.” 

“Yes, Mother.” 

I snorted. Serga came up next to me. “Think you can lose them in the Keys?” 

“Think you can breathe?” I retorted. “I’m the best raceboat pilot in Allegra for a reason, y’know.” 

“I know. Just don’t get cocky.” 

“You worry too much.” I said. 

“So do you.” 

“Not when I’m doing this.” 

It was true. When I’m on a boat or a hoverbike, speeding along with the wind tearing at my skin, I feel alive. Almost like I’ve left behind all the gnawing anxieties that plague me the rest of the time. I feel like I’m flying. It makes me giddy and okay, I’ll admit it, sometimes reckless. 

I pulled on the wheel, making a sharp turn around a rocky outcropping. “Serga, kill the lights.” 

“You sure?” 

“Just do it!” 

It was much trickier driving blind, but I knew the natural maze that was the Allegran Key Islands like the back of my hand. We headed through a narrow strait between two cliffs, then into a sea cave tunnel. The helicopters couldn’t follow us in here, but the other boats could. I saw lights behind us and growled in frustration. 

“Hurry up!” Serga yelled. “They’re gaining.” 

“I can’t shake them yet.” I said. 

Or maybe I could. I headed into a narrower tunnel. “Somebody dump some oil in the water.” 

“Ivy, this place is polluted enough already. We shouldn’t kill any more fish.” Giji scolded. 

“Apologize to the fish later, after we’re not in mortal danger!” I snapped. 

Grumbling, they headed aft and poured out a can of spare motor oil, leaving a frothy black trail behind us. 

“We need fire.” I said. 

“I can help.” A soft, lightly accented voice said. 

We all jumped. We’d forgotten about our passenger. The robot girl stood up. “Get ready to move fast.” 

“Uh, should we trust her?” Serga asked. 

“Do we have a choice?”

My sister sighed. “Point.” 

The robot leaned over the edge of the boat, brushing her hair out of her face. After a moment, I saw light as white-hot sparks streamed out of her fingertips, setting the oily water on fire. It smelled so nasty I gagged. The other boats came to a stop as a wall of crackling flames filled the tunnel behind us. 

“Go. Before it explodes.” 

“Wait, what?” Serga asked, but I was already speeding out of the tunnel. 

I didn’t stop until we were in open water again, heading for the secret harbor used by Allegra’s smugglers. I heard an ear-shattering boom behind me. A few pieces of red-hot shrapnel bounced off of Giji’s shields as a huge section of the sea caves exploded in flames and smoke. 

We all cursed, except for the robot girl, who was looking a bit too satisfied with herself. 

“They’re gonna see that for miles!” Serga snapped. “We gotta get back to harbor and ditch the boat, now.” 

I nodded, bringing us into a dock near a deserted warehouse. Nobody had seen the explosion yet, or they hadn’t reacted at least. But that wouldn’t last long. We all helped unload anything that might identify us from the boat. 

“Now how do we sink this thing?” I muttered. 

“Let me do it.” The robot girl said.

When we all stared at her, she shook her head. “No explosions this time.” 

I shrugged. “Okay then, but hurry.” 

Her right arm stretched out at an impossible angle, her clawed fingers fusing into what looked like a giant drill bit. It darted out five times with a grinding screech of metal on metal, leaving five ragged holes in the bottom of the boat, which immediately started to sink. The girl tied the blanket I’d given her around herself into a makeshift dress. 

“Thank you for saving me. Will you tell me where we are?” 

“Let’s get somewhere safer first, so we don’t get arrested.” I proposed. 

As we hoisted our packs and walked towards the shed where I’d locked up our hoverbikes, I noticed that the robot girl’s eyes were glowing a soft purple again. 

“Do you have a name?” I asked her. 

She frowned. “I . . . I don’t know. I can’t remember anything before you woke me up.” 

“Do you mind if I call you Violet?” 

“No, that's fine. Does it mean anything?” 

“It’s another word for purple. Like your eyes.” 

“Violet.” She whispered, like she was testing out the word. “Violet. Yes, I like it.” 

Violet gave a soft, slightly lopsided smile. It looked so human that I could hardly believe she wasn’t. 

“I like you too, I think.” 

“Thanks. I’m Ivanya. Ivy.” 

I helped her into the sidecar of my hoverbike and draped my jacket over her shoulders and folded-up wings. 

“Put this on. You’ll freeze otherwise.” 

“Yes, Mother.” Violet said, mimicking Giji’s tone from earlier. 

I glared over at Giji. “You’re teaching her bad habits, dude.” They held up their hands in surrender. “Sorry, sorry.” 

“What are we now, her parents?” Serga grumbled. 

“We’re the closest thing she has.” I argued. “Somebody has to take care of her.” 

“Are you going to take care of me? Or will somebody else do so?” Violet asked. 

“Don’t worry, Violet.” I assured her. “We’ll keep you safe.” 

I glared at my older sister, trying to communicate that I wasn’t going to let her break that promise by selling Violet. Serga stared back levelly, then glanced at Violet’s innocent face and finally nodded. I nodded back, sealing the deal. 

“Okay, can you guys stop the weird sibling telepathy so we can get going?” Giji asked. 

“Party pooper.” I teased. 

As we sped off towards our apartment under the barely visible stars, I let my mind wander. Now that the adrenaline rush from the boat chase was starting to wear off, my thoughts were racing. I wondered where Violet came from, why she had been in that old lab, and why she had no memories. I also wondered if we’d ever answer those questions without getting ourselves killed. But mostly, I just hoped we could keep our promise to keep her safe. 

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