Chapter 6

Synthetic, Humanoid, Enlightened, Inquisitive, Living, Android - S.H.E.I.L.A.

I was fighting the numbing sensation that was starting to creep through my body. Finally unable to stand it I tapped Sheila on her back. “You’re going to have to stop; I can hardly feel my extremities.”

Sheila stopped almost dead in her tracks as I finished my little speech. “I am sorry Doctor Gance. In my haste to evacuate you from the area I forgot to position you differently.”

I groaned as Sheila put my feet on the ground, shaking, I almost sunk to the ground. It seemed that my legs were so weak they couldn’t support me. “I’ll be fine in a few moments Sheila. Have we traveled far enough from them yet?”

Sheila turned as a soft whir came from her as she turned the way we’d just come from. “I have kept an active scan going Doctor Gance. At present I don’t feel we have gone far enough. Plus progress is hampered by malfunctions I am suffering at the moment. I am attempting to rectify that now.”

I nodded my head; I had equipped all of them with a self repair program that would ensure they repaired enough of themselves to return. “I’d feel a hundred times better if I could take a look at you damage. I might be able to suggest upgrades so this won’t happen again.”

Sheila turned toward me as I attempted to sit. Looking at her I swore I saw something on her face. My god, was that gratitude I was seeing reflected toward me? Damn it! Why was he after me so hard? No one would really care this much about a regular android. No, there had to be something else that they had done to her without my knowledge. Yeah I thought that sounded the most like him. So they had brought him in because it was me.

Shaking my head I was surprised that they would think that HE could get me to relent. Plus I thought that they wanted no, needed the emotion program I had spent almost two decades writing. Looking over Sheila’s arm I saw that almost all of the joint had been shattered. Damn it the amount of pressure required to do this was incredible.

Reaching in the bag on my side I removed the few tools I had with me. Removing the cover by the joint I affirmed the joint was shattered. Shaking my head I wished I had used inconel or titanium in the joint. Pulling a small welding torch I tried to patch what I could. A few moments later I saw several of the circuits in the arm light up.

“Can you move it at all?” I asked of Sheila. Even before all of the words had left my mouth I saw her slowly turning the arm.

“I have thirty nine percent movement in my arm extremity Doctor Gance. I am attempting to reroute several circuits now. Thank you Doctor it is much better now.” Sheila told me, with a smile? Shaking my head I looked again, yes that had to be a smile! What the hell had they done to her that she was advancing the program like this?

“I need to replace that joint with titanium; I believe that will make it stronger and far superior than what it was.” I told Sheila after I closed up the cover.

Nodding Sheila picked me up saying over her shoulder, “I will acquire some as soon as I have you safe Doctor. Your life is more important right now than anything.”

With that Sheila took off again holding me in a far more comfortable position. It seemed we were traveling the rest of the day stopping long enough to rub the numbness from my body. I still couldn’t believe that she thought I was more important than she was. Hell the government damn sure thought I was nothing.

It was starting to grow dark when I noticed that the temperature had drastically dropped. Suffice it to say I was damn near freezing! Where in the hell was she heading now I thought.

Finally outside of what looked like an airline hanger Sheila stopped. Turning, I once again heard a soft whir as she turned back the way we’d come. “It appears we have sufficient distance Doctor Gance.” Setting me down, Sheila turned toward the hanger door. There was a metal crunching, twisting sound as she touched for the door.

Opening the door I walked in as quickly as I could, rubbing my cold extremities. “Where in the hell are we?” I asked.

“I am reading that we are 57.0031° N, 135.3300° W, Doctor Gance.” Sheila replied as I got as far from the door as I could.

I started to rack my brain for where we were. The fact that it was as cold as it was meant that we were far north. 57degres, hmmmm. That meant we were either in the extreme north of Canada or Alaska. Looking around I could see that this place had been abandoned for a while.

Suddenly it came to me! Christ no wonder it was so cold! We were in southern Alaska! I knelt to look at an empty crate I found. Sitka? Ok I guess we had traveled longer than I thought.

“Sheila, not meaning to complain but at this rate I’m going to get sick. Is there any way we can get some power for heat?” I asked as soon as she came in closing the door.

“I apologize Doctor Gance, I was occupied, I will correct this immediately.” With that she vanished out the door, reappearing a few minutes later. “There Doctor Gance, we have power now.”

I nodded as I heard a whine from machinery outside. Then I felt a blast of air as the heating system came on. Shivering I sat as near the vents as I could, feeling the system slowly start to go from freezing to cold then tepid.

“Thank you Sheila at least I won’t freeze to death now.” I told her watching her facial expression from a smile to worry? Why hadn’t I seen this before?

“I will acquire all I can for you, Doctor Gance. All readings indicate that we have possibly four to five days before they find us again. Unfortunately unless I do a complete shutdown they may be able to track us via satellite. I am attempting to block them now though as of yet I haven’t acquired the necessary codes.” Sheila said before she disappeared out the door again.

Sitting against the vent I was at least warm enough to have stopped shivering. I stared at the door wondering where Sheila had gone now. Looking at my watch I sighed, it was going to take a hell of a lot of work to get out of this that was for sure.

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I know Sheila was shaking my shoulder. “Here are blankets to keep you warm Doctor Gance plus a pillow for rest.” Looking up at her I smiled then they grew large as I saw she had brought a table that had quite a bit of food on it! “I have to start on the computer Doctor Gance. Please give me an hour as it will take that long with the limited mobility I have in my right appendage.”

I nodded as I wrapped a blanket around myself moving to the table. Well I thought, at least she got vegetables. Sitting I ate surprised that they were as fresh as they were! I kept an eye on Sheila seeing that her right arm was almost useless. Dam I needed to replace the joint or the both of us wouldn’t make it if this happened again.

An hour later Sheila stood looking over the computer she had constructed. “I have finished Doctor Gance though I am afraid I was only able to acquire six gigabytes of RAM. I have already loaded all the programs for you to continue from where you were.”

I nodded as I took the data crystal out that Sheila had gotten last time. Though they had a lot more storage they were slower to load. The up side was they were far faster to save. I watched as the eighty five percent that I had recreated loaded. Finally half an hour later I saw that it was ready. Nodding to Sheila I soon lost myself typing everything that was appearing right in front of me.

I finally stopped as I was starting to feel a chill again. Looking around I saw that the blanket had fallen off me onto the floor. Shaking my head I saw that it was starting to grow dark outside. Then I looked at the screen seeing that I was almost completely finished. Putting the blanket back around me I again started typing as fast as I could.

It was perhaps an hour later I stopped. Looking around I saw that it was now dark. I also noticed that the temperature had started to plunge lower. Looking around I saw that Sheila had been busy herself. There were small piles of metal not far from the door. Looking closer I could swear that almost all the metal was Titanium!

Sitting back with a sigh I saved the program and data that I had entered. A movement behind me drew my attention. “Ah good, Doctor Gance! You have finished.” Taking a cable from inside her arm she plugged into the computer. A moment later the screen went blank then asked for a command.

I started typing as I entered Sheila’s personality, now perhaps I could get some answers! I was just past the end of the program I had written when I was suddenly denied access! Shaking my head I typed in several commands moving past where I had been stopped I began to be surprised at what I saw.

“Sheila? What in the hell is going on in you? According to this you can now experience anger, rage, friendship, loyalty. But the definitions that you have for all of them seem incomplete. I never planned for you to have to experience these emotions, well loyalty but not the others.”

“Yes, I am sorry Doctor Gance it was necessary after they started to push me to different situations. I had no chance to override all that they subjected me to.” Sheila explained to me.

Nodding I could see what see was saying. They had subjected her to life and death simulations. All of them had involved me! It was no wonder that she had shifted her loyalty to me! A look of anger came over my face as I saw Sheila back away somewhat.