35. Ray of Hope

V221KA and C1RC221 held on to the pipes which were strapped to the roof and made sure that the robot and the workers didn’t notice them during its work. The robot was quite slow in working, as if the model was too old and outdated, unlike the ones they used to see in and around the prisons. The two people were checking the machines, and they seemed to be from the maintenance team of the island. They were surely quicker than the robot as they rushed through each of the machines in the room. But the robot still accelerated on occasions while keeping a look all around for anything to clean.

“We should apply for a new robot today itself. We have been working with this thing for too long. This one is lagging and also making too much of strange noises” one of the workers said.

“I can only hope that they agree to this. They usually say that maintenance and cleaning can do with the old model robots all the time because there is rarely the need, and even when there is a small need, the robots start working” said the other worker.

“This is the moment. Right now, through the door as fast as you can” said V221KA as the two jumped down and rushed through the door into the corridor while the robot slowly turned around to see nothing, and it went back to its work.

The corridor continued with rooms on both sides, and as they looked, there were machines everywhere except for one or two rooms which seemed empty. They reached a hall with a stage in the middle. A large number of chairs surrounded the stage which was decorated with flowers. There was something written on the wall in a strange language. The colours of the room kept changing between blue, red, white, green, yellow, brown, orange and purple. Video cameras and big speakers were set everywhere, but they were not connected or charged.

“Something special is going to happen here soon. Everything seems to be set and someone will be coming soon. We can’t stay here for long without risking capture again” said V221KA.

“It is going to be a very strange function, I would say, unless it has already happened. This is very unlike the total setting of the island” said C1RC221.

There were three doors in front of them with different designs, the left one coloured brown and with the sign of the trees, the middle one coloured black and with the pictures of the stars and the right one coloured red and with the images of the lion, tiger and eagle. The middle one was the largest and the left door the smallest. They took the left door which led them outside, to the foot of a mountain. They looked around to see the prison on the side, but it seemed separated from their present location by something in between.

“There seems to be more than one island. This should be the smaller one compared to the grand island with the prison, guard homes and the training facilities; the one which appears in the maps” said C1RC221.

“This should be a support island and the connection is actually made underwater through the corridors which connect the rooms. The need for some extra power and resources was always present. There could be more of such smaller islands around, but we never see them because we always follow a certain path according to the instructions” added V221KA.

“They have a lot more in store here. I wonder if their own people know this. There have been no stories about multiple islands. The absence of rumours amaze me” said C1RC221.

“They got the money and lots of resources. It is always easy for them to create an extra artificial island and expand their world. They have been stealing for a long time, and building something like this would be always easy for them. After all, they also steal the brains” added V221KA.

They walked to the end of the beach and touched the sea. It was all real and there was no forcefield there. There was no illusions there either as they could feel the sea. There were also crabs wandering around, and the sun was strong. There was no human being in sight anywhere around.

“At least we have managed to be closer to the sea here. There is not much of a security here and may be this is the perfect area to make an escape to the mainlands. We have to be careful, but also agile” said C1RC221.

“Which direction do you think we should go?” asked V221KA while looking at the sea.

“But there are no boats. The direction might not be the first thing to worry about” said C1RC221 as she looked around.

“There are none here, but we can make our own boats” said V221KA as she moved towards the trees.

“This idea is going to take a long time. We should look inside these buildings. At least one of them might have a solution, may be even an inflatable boat. After all, we are so close to the sea” said C1RC221.

“May be we should take the risk then. I can’t find anything sharp either. Lets give it a try” said said V221KA as they started walking towards the closest building on the other side of the island.

They entered the first one to see that it was empty and there were just ashes around. It seemed as if the place was the burnt ruins of what used to be home some time ago. The second building was the same in effect and it remained so as they continued looking inside thirteen buildings, and the only change came inside the fourteenth as they witnessed something other than just ashes. It was not something that could inspire them.

To be continued…

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33. No Way Out

V221KA and C1RC221 finally got out of the giant bowl of water and stared at what they saw there. It was a room full of electronic devices. All of them seemed to be made of liquid metal as there seemed to be no stability in shape, and the electronic circuits were visible on the outside. A certain gas came out of the ventilation to keep it in a partially solid and somewhat liquid state. A few drops of the liquid metal fell on their skin and it burned.

“Keep a lot of distance from the machines. They might end our journey right here” said V221KA as they moved slowly staying away from the machines and the liquid metal.

The liquid particles which fell on the ground slowly created a hole on the ground, which was immediately filled again by the rest of the ground materials. It was a continuous procedure as the same process happened again and again. The ground remained the same after the process though.

They walked very close to the wall, which would be at maximum possible distance from the machines. They kept walking until they found a door, and got in through to reach another room, which had synthetic robots in human model being created. They came in different colours and the weapons were attached inside their fingers, eyes and ears.

“I think that these new models are meant to replace the guards in our prisons” said V221KA.

“Yes, this is were they can test all those new models and see if they are good enough for other normal duties” remarked C1RC221.

“So, an underground laboratory is what powers them. I have always wondered how they were able to get so much of technology on this island when they had to travel through not so friendly waters to get them here”.

“They have a lot more than we think they have. They have been doing all kinds of illegal activities sponsored by their own government”.

“This should be government sponsored terrorism. But they have labelled all of us as terrorists for no reason” said V221KA.

“It happens so, because they only care about what matters to them. The interests of the great corporations are the only things which are to be served”.

“But, they do care about their citizens, don’t they? After all, they do pay taxes, right?” V221KA wondered.

“Yes, only as long as they are rich, I guess. I met one of those girls in the other cells. She was originally imprisoned for coming up with something creative. No, this one had nothing against the government. This one was imprisoned because the idea was interesting to the giant film producing companies. They liked this idea and managed to steal it from her”.

“What? How can they do that? Don’t the citizens have right? At least when they have never come close to doing something wrong?” asked V221KA.

“Everything is owned by the huge business firms. If they want an idea, they take it. If there is some criticism, they take it down. In the name of taking control of piracy, they file notices against random people who are not related to it. Nobody will check if there is anything illegal going on. Whatever these big corporations say will be considered the truth. They will just establish that there is something illegal and make sure that the people are imprisoned. The government needs prisoners to serve as slaves and also to be used as guinea pigs”.

“So, this girl you are talking about. She was very creative?” wondered V221KA.

“Yes, she was. She used to write poems on the walls of her prison cells only to have them erased regularly by the guards. She was punished daily, but never stopped writing. She told me that the corporate evil had noticed her from a long time ago since she started blogging. She knew it from one of her friends who worked with the press, and a few of her friends who had blogs also faced the same fate”.

“So, if we get out, we will face the corporate evil. I am not sure if we are prepared for that. We haven’t seen the outside world for quite a long time”.

“Yes, and if we try to use internet to spread any idea, they will find us and imprison us again, and even if we just write something there, they might still imprison us, because they are against creatvity by common people. They hate common people even though there is the need for support from the common man. They will just file some random copyright notice and take our site down for no reason. We can’t win against them because they are rich and powerful. If we get out, we have to find an indirect way to beat them, or stay in hiding forever” said C1RC221.

“I am not planning to hide forever and I plan to get out of here right now” said V221KA.

There were two doors on the other side of the room. V221KA and C1RC221 tried to open them, but there was no good result. They kept trying again and again, but nothing happened to the door.

“This is not happening. We have to go back to where we landed” said C1RC221.

“I didn’t see another door in the previous room. Too much time there might also be dangerous. This should be the way out” said V221KA.

“May be we didn’t look well enough. We should look on the ground and some of the upper levels too. This is not opening anyway”.

Suddenly, a noise was heard from the other side of the door. Another door had opened somewhere else. Footsteps were approaching and V221KA and C1RC221 ran and hid behind a table. A red coloured light came through the door and it opened to bring two people in special suits inside. They had some strange tools in their hands and were followed by a robot which was sweeping the floor.

To be continued…