Page 68 of Nolan
“Hurry!”
My infrared is useless. Everything is searing hot, and temperatures are climbing. My internal sensors are already blinking a yellow triangle in the corner of my optics.
Warning: Environment unsafe.
“Yeah, no shit.” For several minutes, I swiftly search the area for signs of him, covering as much ground as I can, my optics zooming across the landscape, when I finally find him lying unconscious on the ground beneath blazing trees.
I quickly lift him and drape him over my shoulder, then race to the pickup zone to the helicopter. His team reaches for him, taking him out of my hands carefully.
But just as he’s secure in the arms of his brothers, the helicopter begins to lift.
Without me.
I reach for a rope, but it slips out of my grasp before I can grip it tight. The crew shouts, reaching for me—one of them yells and gestures to the pilot—but they’re already up in the air, out of my reach, watching helplessly as they fly farther and farther away. Smoke overwhelms the sky. And the fire rages on.
Warning: approaching 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
My synthetic body can’t withstand more than that. My mainframe, twelve-hundred degrees Fahrenheit.
I try to convince myself I’m safe. Mostly. Maybe. Hopefully. But harnessing my own desire to panic is difficult. The pilot couldn’t wait anymore. It was get into the air fast or lose everyone. I wasn’t fast enough. And I’m not human.
I’m expendable.
Left alone, surrounded by an ever-burning inferno, I have no one. No brothers.
Warning: Environment maximum reached. Synthetic appendages may melt. Find safety immediately.
There is no safety. And there’s no maybe. Already, my skin and hair soften and turn to a thick liquid. Bit by bit, the flesh of my arms sloughs away, revealing my black steel exoskeleton beneath. “No, no, no, no.”
I try to call Apollo, but I can’t get a signal. The Weekenders are probably still asleep. I try activating my location beacon.
Searching for signal. Please wait.
“Come on, come on!” I mutter. Mustering what bravery I have left, I try to make sense of my surroundings, using my internal location device to determine the basics: which directions are north and south. Where the hell am I?
I’m completely surrounded. I only have two choices. I can stay here, or I can brave the fire and try to make my way back.
Warning: Environment approaching 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit.
The heat keeps climbing. Guess that means my two choices are down to one.
Keeping my head is key. I ignore the warnings, the blinking notices across my screen, reminding me my steel skeleton is exposed. As if I need reminding.
I start moving south, the Cal Fire staging point my objective, which is the same direction the fire is traveling. At first, I walk. Then I run as fast as my limbs will carry me, sending up dirt behind me.
Warning: Environment approaching 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit.
I dismiss it with a command, only to be faced with another dilemma. The heat around me is affecting my operating systems, and what’s worse, my battery.
Warning: Battery level at 20%. Low battery mode engaged.
“Fuck!” I shout as my limbs grow heavier. I stumble and fall. I can’t move as fast. Angrily, I try to override my programming, but I can’t. Everything within me is operating in full survival mode.
I can’t outrun this fire. Not before running out of battery and powering down.
When I’m powered down, I can’t protect myself from the heat.
And if it reaches above twenty-three hundred degrees, my exoskeleton will melt. and I’ll die.
