"Forbidden Fruit," by Adam Verhoef

The rocky ground crunched as he walked over the rocky terrain. The hills undulated in a rolling motion, a dull orange under a flaming sun. The extreme beauty contrasted to its extreme barrenness. Adam scanned the horizon searching for any form of life. There was nothing, there was never anything, and yet day after day he had to patrol the perimeter. Oh well, this was his job and he had to serve the dome, but what a barren waste of a planet.

The dome had existed on the planet for almost 25 years. It wasn’t the only colony on the planet but it was one of the biggest. The dome director, Charles Ransom, had been influential in the construction of the dome. He had been one of the primary backers for colonization of the planet and still kept tight watch over the dome. He was a strong man, hard and cruel to those who dared oppose him but an amazing leader. It was he who had started the league of colonists; it was also he who had demanded tribute from all the other domes. It was for their protection he said, but in reality all it did was line his pockets.

Why did the planet colonies have to be fighting anyway? Couldn’t they just get along? But no, now due to some small thing like a tribute, or something like that, Adam had to be on call at all hours of the day. This would be the twelfth day in a row that Adam had been working and he was starting to feel the strain. But he had to keep his eyes sharp, well in a manner of speaking. Adam wasn’t like most people; he could control robots via a hookup in the back of his spine. When Adam was a small child he had a tube implanted into his spine. To hook up to the robot a rod was inserted into the tube and signals were sent to the robot over radio waves. The robot signals would be sent to computers that would translate the signal, the computers would then send the signals to Adam’s brain.

The robot was a truly amazing creation. It weighed well over 500 pounds and could lift objects 6 times its own weight. It could move at speeds over 40 mph and with a battery that lasted 60hrs it could go much longer than Adam. With the recent fighting the director had acquired a laser cannon. Yeah, this machine was loads better than anybody Adam could ever have wished for.

The day was starting to get late and the red sun was glowing off the orange colored ground. No one would ever want to call this home and after the minerals had been stripped from the planet there would be no need to stay. Adam’s robot raced over the alien planet’s surface raising the dust in vast, low floating clouds. He had always hoped to see one of the other robots from the other colonies on the planet but as of yet he hadn’t. As far as he knew there were only two other people on the planet that had his gift, and they were younger than him. It was amazing how much the colony depended on him. He was only 19 but it was he that did most of the heavy lifting. Adam considered himself almost a legend. He had been one of the first people to get the procedure. Not that it was really his choice whether he got the procedure or not but that didn’t really bother Adam. In fact, he liked his life in the robot better than his real life. He had wondered many times if what he experienced was what it was like to be a real robot but he really didn’t know. Everything aside he was still connected to the robot.

He finally made it back to the dome just as the last of the sun dipped below the horizon. He parked his robot and made sure that the robot was plugged in before disengaging. Adam came to with doc Wilson standing over him. Doc was in his mid fifties and most of his hair was gone. He was nice enough but he always seemed to have something more important on his mind than the need to talk to Adam.

“How was it out there today?” the doc asked.

“Same as always, nothing to see, nothing to do,” Adam replied.

“That’s nice,” the doc said as he connected various machines to Adam. “Let me see how your body is holding up”. Ten minutes later the doc came back with the results. “You need to get more rest. Your heart rate is way too high and your muscles show signs of slight atrophy.”

“Tell that to the director,” Adam said, “He’s the one that’s been ordering all this extra work. I only do what I’m told. And it’s not my fault that the perimeter sensors keep acting up.”

“If you don’t get some rest soon you aren’t going to be of any use to us. I can tell that the strain is starting to wear on you,” Doc said.

“Like I said, tell it to the director,” Adam replied.

“I’ll see what I can do,” doc replied, “You had better get going.”

“Ok, see ya,” Adam said as he walked out of the complex heading to his personal dome.

It only took 10 minutes to make the trip to his room. He tossed his shoes in the closet and slammed the door shut. His apartment was one of the largest in the complex. It was meant for three people but it only housed Adam now. At one time his parents had live with him but they had died in a mining accident two years before. Now all the space was Adams. Supper wasn’t that great; Adam had always wondered what real food had tasted like, his parents said it was amazing, but all they had here was packaged food; it saved space and reduced the time needed for preparation. Adam spent most of the rest of his night reading in his study. He really liked to read and in his little amount of spare time that he had read many books. He didn’t read long before he was nodding off.

He was woken by violent shaking, the director standing over him.

“Get up,” the director said, “There’s trouble”.

Adam jumped out of bed and followed the director down the hallway. It was still dark and the hall was only dimly lit.

“What’s going on?” Adam asked.

“The perimeter fence was just breached and the outer sensors are down again,” the director replied.

“Someone just walked in to your back yard and you have no idea who they are or where they are going,” Adam replied.

“You could say it that way,” the director said.

They walked into the computer lab; the doctor was there to meet them.

“Are you ready?” the doc asked.

“I could have used more sleep,” Adam said, “I’m starting to run low on energy, but I think I should make it.”

“No time for chit-chat,” the director ordered, “get going Adam”.

Adam laid back and the doc plugged him in. Adam felt as if he were blacking out as the robot took over his senses. The next thing he knew he was in the body of the robot. The first think Adam did was run a systems check for all the functions. When he was sure that everything was in order he hammered on the switch to open the dome air lock. Air hissed out as the door flung open and once again Adam found himself on the planet’s surface. He raced across the alien landscape at top speed to where the breach had been detected. It took him only 7 minute to get there and when he got there he found the reason for the alarm. The entire radio outpost had been destroyed, and by something with a lot of firepower. The question now was where was the thing that did this? There were several ways to get from the dome to this outpost and from the looks of the tracks the thing was heading for the dome but by a roundabout way; probably to avoid Adam. But there was one thing that Adam didn’t understand; there was only one set of tracks. There was only one explanation; Malos colony had gotten their hands on a robot just like Adam’s and someone to control it.

Adam raced over the terrain trying to find the other robot. He had to get to it before it knew that Adam was hunting it. Adam was excited, he had practiced this countless times in the simulator but this was the real thing. Just as Adam rounded a large rock it stepped out to meet him, leveling a laser canon at his chest. Adam stopped short not knowing what to do.

“Who are you?” the other robot asked.

“My name is Adam,” Adam replied, “Who are you?”

“My name is Apollyon,” the other robot answered. “Why are you following me human?” Apollyon asked.

“Something destroyed a radio outpost not far from here and I was following its tracks. Why did you destroy the outpost? Didn’t you know that they would send someone out whether you destroyed it or not?” Adam asked.

“I knew that they would send you if the structure was destroyed. I calculated that you would follow faster if the structure were destroyed,” Apollyon replied.

“What do you want with me?” Adam asked.

“I want nothing with you,” It replied “I was ordered only to destroy your machine.”

Adam launched himself in the air just as a burst of laser fire streamed toward him. Adam opened up in response with his laser canon trying all the while trying to avoid getting hit himself. Adam was amazed at the skill of Apollyon. He was avoiding all of Adam’s shots but that should have been impossible, Adam’s robot had a homing computer, he shouldn’t have missed a single shot, yet every laser blast was missing its mark. Then Adam made one miss step and caught a round of canon fire directly in his chest. The high energy round burned though his armor piercing the titanium casing and damaging his systems. Adam smashed into the ground but quickly recovered his footing and faced his opponent. Apollyon stood there facing him.

“Surrender human, you cannot beat me,” the robot ordered.

“Why do you keep calling me human?” Adam yelled, “You’re just like me. You have the same ability. You’re human.”

“Maybe once, but now I am something completely different, something better,” the robot replied. Adam didn’t understand and the robot seemed to realize this. “Right now you are just a human masquerading as a robot. To know your full strength you must become the robot. Like I did,” the robot said.

Adam didn’t wait for another word; he took off at full speed. He knew that Apollyon was closing in on him but he still ran. He felt when the canon shot hit him in the back; it wasn’t really pain he felt, the robot couldn’t sense pain, but it made Adam want to scream. The second shot had severed Adam’s power core and he could feel himself weaken. Apollyon ran up to finish him off. Adam tried to fight him off but Apollyon was too strong for Adam’s weakening systems. Reaching through the hole in Adam’s armor it crushed his CPU, breaking the connection between Adam’s body and the robot.

Adam woke in the infirmary, his head throbbing.

“What happened?” he asked.

“I should be the one asking you that,” Doc replied “What was that thing?”

“I don’t know,” Adam replied “But whatever it was it was powerful and fast.”

“Well there’s no time for rest the director has ordered you back out as soon as possible. The techs are getting the spare robot ready as we speak.”

“Can you just give me something for my head?” Adam asked. “It would be nice if I didn’t have to fight some strange robot and a migraine all at the same time.” The doctor gave him some pills and Adam swallowed them down.

“Let’s go,” Doc said, “You need to get in the robot ASAP.” The doctor escorted Adam to the computer complex and started getting everything ready. “Try not to let him do that to you again. I don’t know what damage the sudden cut off might do to your neural pathways.”

“In other words, beat him next time,” Adam said sarcastically.

“Yeah, something like that,” Doc replied. Just then they heard an explosion and the depressurization alarms sounding. Someone had just breached the airlock and the dome was automatically starting to seal off the compartments to save air. “That does not sound good,” Doc said, a quiver in his voice.

“Boot me up; I need to get in my robot!” Adam yelled. The doctor plugged Adam in and Adam felt himself blackout as the robot took over his senses.

He woke up alone in the technical bay. At first he tried to figure out where all the people were but then he found out. The oxygen level was down to zero, the technicians must have evacuated when air started leaking out. Adam did a hurried check on the new robot. This was the robot that was going to replace the one that had been destroyed. It wasn’t quite ready yet and was still missing some of its programming but it would work for now. Adam ran out of the tech bay trying to find the source of the air leak. He had to do what he could to fix the leak before too much air leaked out of the dome. He raced to the main air lock to see the damage done to the doors. The doors were smashed and unusable and the emergency seal was wedged in such a way so it wouldn’t seal. Part of the original door had been completely torn off and wedged between the emergency seal, thereby stopping it from sealing. Adam yanked the piece of door out and the seal slammed shut. Now to find the thing that had caused the damage. There weren’t tracks to follow this time and there were a lot of places to hide in the dome. Adam was feeling hunted.

Adam ran up the nearest corridor searching for his enemy, his metallic feet clanging off the metal floor making concealment impossible. All of the doors were sealed and nothing looked like it had been tampered with. He tried using his connection to the dome to plug into the camera system but the system hadn’t yet been installed. In fact Adam found that most of his programming had yet to be installed. He had been trained well enough that he could do some basic programing from the robot itself but he couldn’t do it all and what programming he did do would take precious time. It took Adam almost 3 minutes to upload the video feed for the dome. He was starting to feel better. Now at least he could find were Apollyon was. He saw that Apollyon was in the technical facility Adam wasn’t sure what he was doing but he couldn’t be up to any good. Adam was almost to the technical bay when Apollyon walked out. Adam raised his weapon and fired. The fire caught Apollyon in the shoulder and he stumbled back damaged. He regained his footing and took off running. Adam followed it trying to get off a shot but Apollyon didn’t give him any chance of that; twisting and turning he made his way deeper into the dome complex. The doors were still sealed but the robot smashed them with ease. Adam wasn’t sure where Apollyon was going and he really didn’t want to find out, he needed to end this now. Adam was closing in on his prey when Apollyon just stopped. Adam ran full speed into Apollyon, sparks flying on the metal floor as he tried to stop. Apollyon grabbed Adam and tossed him down the corridor. Adam recovered himself and charged back toward the robot. Adam caught Apollyon in the chest with a round of laser cannon fired; Apollyon crumpled to the ground fatally damaged but not finished. Adam closed in for the kill but Apollyon caught him in the face with a laser cannon shot. The circuits in Adam’s head exploded in the blinding white light. None of Adam’s vital systems had been damaged but he wouldn’t be able to see until he got his emergency camera going. It felt like an eternity but Adam finally got sight back in his eye. When he did Apollyon was nowhere to be seen. Adam found him by using the dome security systems. Apollyon appeared to be badly damaged, crawling down a corridor. Adam raced off to finish his opponent ready to exact his revenge. Adam was about to catch the robot just as it broke through another doorway. Adam rushed into the room ready to finish off his enemy but what he saw stopped him cold.

Adam found himself in the computer room the hum of computers in the background. He saw Apollyon facing him. Apollyon was standing upright, his laser cannon pointed at the body lying in front of him. It was Adam’s body. Adam watched Apollyon, petrified, not sure of his next move.

“You humans and your weak, frail bodies,” the robot said, “I’ve only been trying to help you Adam but you resisted my last attempt. And now we find ourselves here.”

Adam couldn’t help but give a laugh, “Try to help me! You’ve tried everything in your power to destroy me.”

“No Adam, all I’ve tried to do is show you your weakness”

“And what’s that,” Adam asked.

“This,” the robot said pointing to Adam’s body, “Your body is what makes you weak. Look at yourself right now. You are a powerful robot fully capable of defeating me and yet at this moment I have all the power. This right here is the reason that I beat you in the desert. The farther from your body the weaker you get. But now that you are close you are strong, stronger even than I. Imagine then if your mind never left the robot. Imagine how strong you would be if you were your robot; never having to deal with the weakness of a biological organism, never having to grow old, never having to die.” Adam’s head was spinning and his faith in himself was starting to falter. He didn’t know if what Apollyon was saying was true but he wanted it to be. How amazing would it be to never get hungry or tired or weak to never feel sickness or pain, to never die.

“How is this possible?” Adam asked.

“All you need to do is realize the truth,” Apollyon said.

“And that is?” Adam asked.

“That your body does not house the mind. When you hook-up to the robot what your robot senses is not transferred into your brain to be processed by the mind. Instead the mind, all your memories and thought processes, are transferred into the computer systems of the robot, a ghost in the machine,” Apollyon replied.

“Then why didn’t my mind get stuck in the machine when you killed my robot last time?” Adam asked.

Apollyon laughed, “Even the backup systems have backup systems, all to ensure that your mind doesn’t get stuck in the machine if something goes wrong. I too was in the place where you now stand. I made the choice to embrace my robot and throw off physical weakness. You can become even stronger than I; with your speed and strength you can do as you please unquestioned, all powerful in your own right.”

“How can I achieve this power? How can I become my robot?” Adam asked, excitement building every second.

“You must sever the connection with your body, only then can you truly be free from weakness,” Apollyon replied.

“Sever the connection you say” Adam said as he raised his laser cannon level at his body’s head. “For ultimate power and everlasting life I would surrender even you,” he said to the unhearing ears of his body. With that a single shot rang through the dome.

“It is finished,” Apollyon said, as Adam’s robot slumped over and fell to the ground.