Prelude to War

Mary stood up with a reserved smile on her face. "Wow. Robert Zinfidel. I must be the luckiest droid in existence."

Mary walked to her mother to check on her progress. Her metallic skin glistened in the light of Paul's ship's interior. As she approached Terrie, Sherrie sat up right and asked, "What happened?"

"Don't you remember?" said Mary as she checked Terrie's vital signs and marked the progress of the picobots.

"Oh. I'm so ashamed. I let my anger get the better of me. Mother told me that I have to seriously learn to control that or I'll have to be destroyed. I've failed her."

Sherrie faced away from Bob and Terrie and as she pivoted she saw them.

"Oh my god! They are already here! How long was I out? Wow, Mom did such a great job on the kill switch!"

Mary stood back from her Mother and said, "Sherrie, Bob here doesn't know about us and we better keep ourselves a secret from him. He'll likely come around a few minutes after Mom so we really should keep a low profile."

"Agreed," said the smooth skinned, white outfitted Sherrie. Then she walked to Rishi and hugged him. Rishi didn't know what to do with himself. He knew he had to stay detached but he didn't want the droids to know he was concerned about them. The only reason he hadn't dismantled Sherrie is his worry about what Mary would do if he did.

He slowly placed his hands on her back feeling the softness of the warmed pseudo flesh under it. He kept in mind that he'd personally designed the heating cells that kept her 98.6 degrees.

"I'm sorry father," whispered Sherrie into his ear.

Paul, who watched this spectacle from the perspective of a manager, asked, "is anyone else weirded out by this?"

Jonny leaped to his father's side and said, "No. I think its kind of cool I have a big sister!" Then he wrapped his arms around Sherrie's waist.

Mary signed and said, "the Picobots are bringing Mom around. We should have time to say hello before Bob wakes up. He has a lot more damage."

Sherrie released her embrace of Rishi as Jonny ran to his mother. Jonny sat down next to her, put his head on her chest, and wrapped his arms around her.

As she woke up she said, "What? What's going on?"

"I love you Mom!"

"I love you too sweetheart."

Terrie looked up at the faces of the droids staring down at her. "Droid One! Droid Two! What are you doing away from the hospital? They are going to miss you!"

Mary said rather mechanically, "Jon Rishi asked us to come check on your vitals Maam. Lucky we came or you could have been degenerated beyond repair."

Mary's blank expression made Terrie nervous. "Is this Mary and Sherrie?" she thought to herself.

Bob Zinfidel woke up at this point and said, "Oh my head!"

Sherrie walked to him and in her robotic voice said, "There should be no more pain sir, the picobots have completely repaired all damage. There are some oddities but after a thorough check of your genetics they determined that the oddities are by design."

"Please take the picobots back."

"They have already shut down," replied Sherrie," and will evacuate your body the next time you urinate."

Bob laughed, "I guess picobot technology has come a long way in twenty years. Wow, so has android technology. You look really human."

Terrie stood up slowly, leaned toward Mary and whispered, "Mary?"

Mary faced away from Bob and winked at her mother. Upon that recognition it took everything Terrie had to not gasp in horror.

Terrie walked to Rishi and tried to give him a hug. He resisted but upon seeing his son's face allowed her into his personal space. She squeezed sincerely and with a lot of force. It really shocked Rishi: it was the most affection he'd ever received from her.

Paul looked hurt for a moment and then covered over the feelings of confusion and loss. "I'm really glad you're okay Terrie."

"Me too!" she replied.

Bob pulled himself into a chair, looked at Sherrie and said, "I feel really good. They didn't reverse age me did they, droid?"

Sherrie smiled and said, "No. They did as Droid Two asked them. They merely repaired all the damage."

Bob closed his eyes and a large smile spread across his mouth. Rishi noticed and knew what Bob was doing.

Bob said something no one expected. "Mary and Sherrie, the two biggest wild cards in the room will you please come and sit in front of me."

Sherrie almost shrieked and Mary almost fell over. Terrie's face read like it had just watched a interstellar Ferry explosion, complete with millions of burning bodies flying by.

Rishi laughed, "I didn't expect them to get anything past you. I doubt any of them have a..."

Bob cut him off and said, "No disclosure. That breaks the vow."

"Ah," said Rishi, "I got you."

Paul and the others were mystified. Paul spoke first, "how do you know about Mary and Sherrie?"

"How I know is not important and I can't explain it to you. Only Rishi understands and if he can't explain it, then I surely can't either."

Paul looked at Rishi. Rishi shook his head and said, "I understand him completely but its only because I spent a year in his cave and ..." Rishi paused and realized he knew the truth. "Its only because I lived there and almost died there that I know his wisdom. You all are just going to have to trust us."

Sherrie and Terri consulted each other via inter-droid communication, decided there was no way Bob could know anything about them and chose to ignore his request.

"Mary and Sherrie," Bob said, "come and sit down in front of me."

Everyone looked at Mary or Sherrie and waited, but the droids did not move."

Then in Sanskrit Rishi said, "I command you to obey me. Sit in front of Bob now!"

Mary and Sherrie's bodies lurched and then against their own will moved in front of Bob and sat.

Mary lost her robotic gaze and with a great deal of confusion asked, "Father, how can you command us like that?"

"Consciousness commands all machinery," replied Bob for Rishi.

Jonny moved and sat in front of Bob next to the left of his sisters, then Terrie moved and stood behind her daughters as a show of support. She had no idea why they were here and how everyone seemed to know about them but she had worked her whole life to create them and wasn't going to give up on them now.

Paul and Rishi stood to the side and watched with a mixture of fear and concern.

Bob studied the bots closely, almost peering through them for a few minutes. The delay caused Sherrie great discomfort. For Mary however it was a fun time to study Bob's face.

Mary spoke first, "You are the great leader of the fundamental change! You are responsible for humanity's great leap into the unknown. You lead them from nothingness to a new found creativity."

"What I did in the past is overblown and isn't important. What matters is here and now. The possibilities laid before us are quite varied. Everything from a droid uprising to the extinction of the human race is possible although thankfully not probable."

Rishi asked, "What's the best outcome?"

"I can't tell. I keep asking and no answer comes. I keep asking for peace and all I see is conflict. I guess it's necessary conflict. I guess its time for humanity to learn more about itself."

Paul said, "So let me get this straight, you can see all the possible futures?"

"Yea," said Jonny, "he can read our paths and help guide us! I finally understand."

"Don't look to me for guidance," said Bob. "I don't know what is best. I made a lot of bad choices before and almost got Terrie and I killed. Now there are too many options. At a minimum I see approximately seventeen to the power of seventy two outcomes."

Bob looked at Sherrie, Mary and Terrie. "You three are the wild cards. You three will determine the fate of humanity."

"Us?" asked Mary as the bright smile faded from her face.

"Yes. You. If the three of you find balance, then the conflict will lead in a healthy direction, if not unhealthy."

"Um," interjected Rishi, "what conflict?"

"The biggest war of human history," replied Bob. "It all starts just after our visit to the galactic president."

"Solar system president, you mean," said Paul.

Bob shook his head. "He's about to declare himself galactic president and move to control all twenty-seven systems. There's nothing we can do to avoid it, however we can help bring about his destruction."

"Rubinic is going to attack the rest of the galaxy?" asked Paul rhetorically. "That's ridiculous. There must be six trillion people out there who will fight him."

Bob frowned and said, "unfortunately most will not even think to fight. Humanity has become lax again. The tragedy that I helped avoid twenty five years ago set us up for this. I didn't know it at the time though so I really can't blame myself."

The ship's computer beeped and a voice sounded, "Xray Seven, this is Moon base seventeen. Assuming everyone is okay, please proceed to the Mars Capital as soon as possible."

"We have to go," said Bob. "My return to reality has Rubinic's paranoia up. You know he was merely an aid when I crashed. He must have pulled some fine stunts to become president."

Paul commanded the ship to move toward Mars at slowest passable speed.

Paul waited and when Rishi didn't speak he said, "Rubinic said you appointed him interim president until your return."

"Oh! And people believed that did they?"

"He built himself up as your closest confidant," said Terrie. "I remember reading an article about your relationship to him after you disappeared."

"I can't see any of that in my mind's eye," mumbled Bob under his breath.

"You are our keys" said Bob looking at Sherrie, Terrie and Mary. "You are the wild cards, the ones who can choose to make a peaceful humanity. If you choose to live healthfully, then humanity will follow."

"How can that be?" asked Sherrie. I didn't even exist a year ago."

"You were always in my heart Sherrie," said Terrie.

The ship slid gracefully in a close orbit toward the sun, slingshot around it and approached Mars. Total trip time: less than fifteen minutes.