The Last Prototype

Prologue

The stench of rotting garbage filled his nostrils. Groaning, he groggily moved through the trash heap he lay on. He opened his eyes wearily and spilled out of the large rubbish container. “Where.?”

Plucking a rotting discarded banana peel off his wild blonde hair, he looked down and examined his jacket. The dark blue jacket hung loosely around the sleeves and snugly around his body. His baggy jeans sported numerous stains from the trash dumpster he awoke on. He looked at his black t-shirt underneath his unzipped jacket- it sported a decal of a large yellow “Z” in a strange stylish font. “Where am I?” he asked himself. Then he froze and asked, “Who am I?”

It was the middle of the night when he finally wandered out of the alley where he found himself. He didn’t know where he was going- he just kept walking. His mind was a dizzy haze of blackened foreign thoughts rushing through his head. He squeezed his eyes tightly as he tried to dig up any familiar memory of his past and identity. He kept walking for hours and could still find no answers to his self-imposed questions. His heavy boots thudded against the pavement of a desolate road as he kept on walking in a semiconscious daze.

Suddenly, the road in front of him lit up. When he realized that the light was coming from behind him he turned around and saw two pairs of bright lights slam into him.

“Oh shit!” A voice screamed as the lights shut off. The large powerful beast that had crashed into him left him lying motionless on the ground a few meters away- a thick streak of red spattered all over his face and the road. A brief clicking and clunking of a machine filled the air as three pairs of feet ran over to his still body.

“You idiot!” One screamed at another, “You’ve killed him!”

“Hey! You’re the one who was driving, bitch!” the other voice shot back at the first.

“fuck, stop it!” the third yelled silencing the other two, “We gotta’ do something about this guy!”

“Well what?” the female second voice snarled, “What the fucking hell was he doing out here anyway? In the middle of the fucking road?”

“What the hell were you looking at? If you were driving you should’ve seen him!” the first voice screamed at the second.

“Look, calm down both of you!” the third shouted.

The three continued their shout-out war- totally unnoticing of their accidental victim who had just moved his face.

“Dude! Did you see that?” The first asked.

“See what? The third asked.

“The guy just moved!”

“No way. He’s gone.”

“I swear I saw him move!”

“You’re too stoned to even see straight.”

“Look! He moved again!”

“Stop fooling around, please!” the second voice pleaded, “We’re in serious trouble!”

“I’m not fucking fooling! Look! He’s alive! . Look! See that? Right there! He moved again!”

“Shit, it’s too dark to see out here,” the third voice grumbled, his footsteps headed straight for their machine, “I’ll turn on the car’s headlights.”

The road was soon illuminated in a faded white glow. His body lay on the road, a pool of blood spreading from his face. The third came back to his side, knelt down and pressed his two fingers to the stranger’s throat. “Nope. He’s gone,” the third muttered.

“I saw him move! He’s alive, I know it!” the first snarled, shoving the third figure out of the way. The first figure held the motionless stranger by his head. “Ewww! Feels like the skin and flesh of this guy’s face scraped off on the pavement.”

Suddenly, the stranger stirred. “See! He’s alive! I told you!” the first shrieked to the others as the stranger gave a loud groan. “ Dude, you alright?”

But to his surprise, the stranger got to his feet and stood up rubbing his face. With his back to the head light’s glow, the three people shivered at the thought of looking at his mangled face should he turn around into the light. And their fear soon came true. “What the fuck are you?” the third trembled.

“I. don’t know.” the stranger replied wearily, rubbing his neck as if nothing at all happened, totally oblivious to the fact that half his face was torn away and squirting blood all over the road.

The three ran back to their car and dove in it. With a loud sputtering of an engine and the squealing of tires, the light that lit up the road faded and disappeared back into the darkness from whence they came. The stranger looked on confused. “What scared them?” he asked himself innocently.

Suddenly, he felt tired. He rubbed his face and his wound. “They were like me,” he murmured, “they knew who they were. so why don’t I?” He sat down on the side of the road on a patch of thin and yellowed grass. Yawning, the stranger fell flat on his back and became still once more.

Chapter 1

The Beginning

When he awoke, the glare of blinding bright lights met his eyes. Squinting, he made out two faces like his own peering down on him. It was then he noticed that something was holding him. He was shackled around his wrists and ankles, resting on a slanted sheet of steel. “Okay, I think he’s awake now,” one voice said in the room. He looked around the small room and found his jacket and shirt draped over the back of a chair. His wounded side of his face was mysteriously almost healed.

“Good morning son,” A tall blocky man in a military uniform said as the lights dimmed, “My name is General Don Lussein. What’s yours?”

The table had rotated and adjusted its angle so that the stranger was looking straight in the face if the man who addressed him. He remained silent- lost for words.

“Your name?” the General asked again- and again receiving no response. Lussein sighed. “Look boy, you see this?” he asked, pointing to a small golden tag on his uniform, “This here is my name. Don Lussein. What’s yours?”

The shackled stranger looked on his muscular torso and found no similar tag like Lussein’s. His eyes quickly darted across the room with his impaired field of vision. Suddenly he laid eyes on a visible tag, pinned on the chest of a nearby woman. “Nikki,” the stranger quickly blurted out.

“Huh?” the dark-haired woman with glasses asked.

“No Nikki, that’s what the guy says his name is. Nicky,” the General said placidly. “So, your name’s Nicky, is it?” Lussein asked. Nicky quickly nodded. “Well then Nick, mind telling us where you came from?”

“I. I don’t know.” the stranger groaned.

“A real piece of work he is,” Lussein groaned as he turned away. “Nikki, keep working on him,” he said as he left the room. Everyone else in the tiny white room left with the General, except for Nikki.

“What- what’s going on?” Nick asked weakly. “Why am I in this trap?”

“Oh, it’s not a trap,” Nikki sighed, “It’s a restraint.”

“Restraint?” Nick asked, “Why am I in it?”

Nikki was unresponsive.

“Can you let me out?”

“Nope. Sorry, I can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“Look, I just can’t. Lussein told me not to.”

“Why do you follow his commands? Is he your leader?”

“Yes, yes you could say that.”

Nick fidgeted uneasily in his shackles. “Can I ask him then?”

“Nope. He won’t let you out either.” Nikki replied, sitting down at a nearby computer desk and plugging away commands.

“Why?” Nick asked innocently.

“Nevermind,” Nikki said bluntly. “Now hold still,” she said as Nick’s restraint table returned to its original slanted position, “If you really can feel touch, this won’t hurt if you don’t move.”

Suddenly, a large mechanical arm reached in front of Nick. Nick’s head darted over his left shoulder to see Nikki still sitting at her computer chair. The arm squeaked, and produced a sharp needle-like object from its tip. “Huh? What’s happening?” Nick asked worried.

“Just a diagnostic procedure,” Nikki hummed, punching more commands into her computer as the arm slowly advanced towards Nick’s neck.

“What- what is that thing? What are you doing?” Nick shrieked.

“Look, just stay still and it won’t hurt at all,” Nikki said.

Nick began to struggle against his restraints.

“Don’t bother, you’ll never break them,” Nikki said calmly as the arm neared Nick’s neck, “Those are state of the art Steetani-”

Her words were cut short, as Nick’s arm violently broke free of its shackle. Nikki jumped out of her chair in shock, and watched Nick grasp the advancing arm and tug it towards him, ripping it from its mount on the ceiling. With more violent jerks, Nick slowly freed himself from his shackles.

Nikki shrieked and flattened herself against the wall. Nick was on his feet again, and walked to the chair and picked up his jacket and shirt. Nick scanned the room. “How do you get out of here?” he asked calmly.

Nikki felt suddenly awkward. “Y-y-you mean. you’re not going to . kill me?” she trembled.

“Kill you?” Nick asked, “Why?”

Nikki breathed a sigh of relief. “So, you’re not dangerous then?”

“Dangerous?” Nick asked confused, “Me?” Nick sighed. “I really wish I knew who I am. [I]what[/I] I am. I’m so confused,” he groaned.

“You don’t know?” she asked.

Nick slowly shook his head.

Nikki took her wheeled computer chair and rolled it towards Nick. “Sit down,” she said leaning up against her desk, “It’s a pretty long story.”

Chapter 2

Enter Seven

“Wait- I don’t get it. What was that part about-”

“Look, it’s quite simple.”

Nikki sighed and adjusted her leaning position against her desk. “You are a robot. You are a robot with anti-gravity generators. You are a robot with internally installed energy-plasma weaponry that has the power of the whole country’s military. You, quite obviously, are a war machine.”

“Oh! And. and since you don’t have me recorded in a “Main Computer”, your military thought I was a war machine from another hostile country?” Nick asked.

Nikki nodded. “That’s why we had you tied down like that.”

“I’m sorry if I caused you trouble,” Nick sighed, “Had I known myself I would have gladly let you examine me.”

“Well, I suppose it’s my fault,” Nikki sighed, “I guess I was a little hasty. I guess I’ve confirmed that you can display emotions anyway.”

“Well, to prevent another incident,” Nick sighed, hopping out of Nikki’s chair and lying back against the restraint table, “examine me.”

“Can’t do,” Nikki groaned, “you wrecked the machine.”

“I- I am truly sorry,” Nick murmured. “I suppose that because I’m a machine is the reason why I am still alive after last night,” Nick sighed, remembering his first unfortunate encounter with humans.

“Oh never mind,” Nikki hummed, I’ll get the hand-tool diagnostics.”

“Who built you?” Nikki asked as she probed Nick all over his forehead with a sharp needle protruding from a handle in her hand.

“I- I can’t remember,” Nick groaned.

“Well, whoever did build you is one hell of a genius,” Nikki sighed, “It would take us decades to duplicate a machine like you. Like your artificial skin, your DNA-enhanced artificial blood and hair- even your self-repair ability- your skin on your face totally regenerated itself!” Nikki looked at the broken shackles around Nick’s wrists, “and your incredible strength- our robots could only dream of having half your power.”

Nick sighed. “I wonder who built me.”

“And those anti-gravity generators in your feet. Those are so powerful they can even lift you- our generators can barely lift one hundred pounds! Speaking of which, your lightweight metal skeleton weighs just the same as a human skeleton- and it’s over twenty-two times stronger!” Nikki said. “I swear, someone really wanted you to blend in.”

Just then, Lussein burst into the room. “Nikki! We’ve got-” Lussein stopped in his tracks when he saw Nick free of his shackles. “How’d he get free? Restrain him!”

“No, it’s okay!” Nikki gasped, “He’s not dangerous!”

“Well, the friend he brought along with him is dangerous!”

Nikki and Nick gasped. “What friend?” they asked surprised in unison.

“The friend that just infiltrated the base, destroying everything in si