WHEN RESPONSIBILITY SUITS YOU BEST

by Charles Mento

Short Story

Time Frame: Two and a Half Weeks after crash

When Responsibility Suits You Best

by Charles Mento

A sun soaked day as John Danziger, his dirtied vest removed, stalked toward the grounded equipment. He had his Mag-Rifle to protect him. What he was stalking wasn't any danger native to this harsh planet--G889--but a danger that one of their own kind brought with them.

The mechanic hit the switch on his headset to call the other colonist-travelers of the Advance Crew of the Eden Project, "I can see it all right. It looks like Earth type equipment."

Waiting outside a community tent set up complete with table, chairs, and a portable master radio-communicator, the raven haired Devon Adare leaned over to watch his progress on a radar scope attached to the radio. "John, can you make out whether or not it's from our cargo pods."

"Yes..." Yale began, sitting in one of the chairs, "Commander O'Neill said there were 15 or 16 of them scattered all over the planet."

Morgan Martin, in T-shirt and jeans, unceremoniously shuddered, behind both of them, "This is stupid, it could be some kind of weapon..."

Bess, his patient and beautiful brunette wife, put a hand on his shoulder, "Maybe we can use it to try a trade with those lizard things, what did Gaal call them---Grendlers."

Devon heard that and paused from Danziger to lean back to her, "No! No weapons are to be traded!"

Morgan stammered, "Even if it means our life."

Devon sneered, "Lives---plural, Morgan, it's not just your life that's in danger...we start giving weapons to..."

"Uh, hey, folks...anybody remembering me?"

"Sorry Danziger," Devon focused her headset down and her eyes on the radar, "Can you see it more clearly now?"

Morgan began to protest with Bess, who tried to keep him quiet with a whispered, "She's right, Morgan, I never looked at it that way. She's right."

"I can see it. I think it's something we can use."

Yale called from his headset, "What? What is it?"

John moved closer, Walman behind him, "Get Zero in here, I think its an old power battery...it could be leaking."

Morgan moved closer to the radar and radio device, "Is it dangerous?"

Devon looked at him, "Good question. John..."

"I heard...I don't think so but I don't want to take any chances..."

"Zero," Devon called out.

Zero stopped from playing ball with little boy Uly and ten year old daughter of John, True. "I am ready to serve you. I not only can play ball but also am equipped with a variety of locators..."

"Just go to these coordinates and meet up with John and Walman..."

"Yes."

"And Zero..."

"Yes..."

"Thank you."

"You do not need to thank me, Ms. Adare. I am a construction worker robot who..."

Yale turned, snapped, "Zero, get a move on..."

Zero headed out, "Yes, I will."

Devon wanted to laugh but something made her feel very uneasy... something was going to happen. John and Walman could see the square shaped battery.

"Danziger, Zero is on the way out to you. Don't go any closer to it if you think it is leaking."

He began to circle around the device. "No, no, it's not leaking. I can see it better from the left side..."

Uly and True began to follow Zero, unnoticed by any of the adults. Danziger squinted through his glasses, "I can see it. I think the power in it can help us juice up the TransRover some. You see," as he spoke he circled closer, "...these old things didn't use the sun...so while we recharge our solar batteries, this thing can keep us moving no matter what...until it too runs out of power...not much...but it's something that can get us over more ground in a faster time than..."

"Danziger, get back!" Walman shouted as something on the battery flagged upward. A spring of some kind. Zero was on top of them, Uly and True behind him.

"It's gonna blow! Get back!" John jumped for True; Walman for Uly, "Hit the dirt!"

They couldn't get back in time. The device ignited and sparked, finalizing itself in a flare up of explosive fire and flame. It threw all of them to the ground and their faces. The flash over in a few short seconds, all was now quiet. He flinched as something big rolled past his eyes. With relief rising to shock, he realized it was Zero's head.

John helped True up and Walman pulled Uly by the seat of his pants. Danziger yelled, "What are you two doing here?"

True began to spill out some excuse, "Well, you see we were playing with..." She sounded dry and frightened.

"Don't tell me. I oughta whoop you both..."

Devon called frantically, "John! John! Are you all right?"

"Yes, we all are."

"Walman too?"

"Yes, Walman too. And our kids."

Our..." Devon puffed to let off her frustration. She quickly looked over her shoulder to see they were not where they had been playing a moment ago. "They..."

"...r'e all right too," he said. "Just shaken."

"Nothing damaged..." Danziger said.

Uly called out, "Zero's head!"

Zero's voice emanated from it, "Oh, that. That's always happening..."

Walman nodded, "There's a sign on the box...the E-2...that was on Gaal's hand."

"Him again..." John nodded, "I should have killed..." he caught the stares of True and Uly, "...we've only just gotten rid of that monster."

"It looked booby trapped," Zero said as Walman reattached the head to the body John was setting upright. "Obviously, Gaal knew we would come looking for this when we picked up the leak...which is not dangerous at this time. It is, however, not very environmentally sound...for the planet..."

"Okay, okay, Zero," John stopped him, waving a hand, "You saved our lives but we still don't want to hear your rambling."

"Let's take it put it into one of the holding crates...that leak will never destroy that," Walman advised.

"Be sure there are no more traps," Morgan called, snapping up his headset out of his wife's pocket.

*******************

Uly: "Two and a half weeks as we head toward New Pacifica. Machines always seemed to me to be helpful: one kept me alive for my first eight years of life. Yet there was one that almost just killed me. I suppose it evens out since one saved us too--but it's hard to think of Zero as a machine. Now the Immuno Suit was always a machine to me...mom put me in charge of it. For me to do with it what I wanted...it was my responsibility...and I knew what I wanted to do with it..."

******************

Uly looked over his shoulder. Zero was watching him and the wrist locator would let everyone know where he was. They knew Zero was with him. He would be okay. Still, Uly thought, the last time we, the children, were with Zero, we found Gaal. The boy found some flat land with soft, sandy, and lite colored dirt. Perfect. With no shortness of breath--how I've really changed--Uly thought, the boy dug a hole deep enough to bury himself. Noticing this, he realized he had finally had enough room to fit the Immuno Suit into it. Zero came up a hill and over. "You may need the Immuno Suit, Ulysses."

"Shhh, Zero. Mom gave me responsibility over it, so it's mine to do with what I want to."

"A piece of equipment as complex as the Immuno Suit may be needed and used for..."

"Zero, please be quiet," Uly pleaded and waved, "And c'mon, n' put it down." Uly had been Zero hauling the Immuno Suit with him. The robot put it down next to the boy. Uly rolled the suit into the hole. Uly stared at it. In a way, he felt sad. It had helped him but he didn't want it to on this planet---and he had gotten his wish. "I don't need it anymore."

"I suppose that when I am not needed, they will do the same thing to me. Bury me on some hill. No longer able to serve."

Uly implored him as he pushed the dirt into the hole, "Can you serve me now?" Zero helped him push the dirt inside. "Now," he pointed a finger at Zero, "No telling this information to my mom or...anyone else." He stood up and started to walk away. Then he stopped, "And by the way Zero, machines have been really bad to us." Zero stood there, impassive. Uly could swear that the robot was somehow disagreeing with him. Uly put a hand to Zero's leg and patted it, "But I wouldn't let them do that to you."

"Thank you, Uly."

"And thank you." Uly turned, ready to forget the Immuno Suit forever. Zero turned to look at the improper grave they had made. Tell no one.

***********************

Alonzo was trying to sleep. "Hey, pals, I need to sleep sometime, don't ya think?" He rolled over and in his dream--for he realized he was in the dream plain already---he saw a Terrian. "Look, I'm grateful for all you've done for me with Lydia and all, and my friends are too, for helping us get out of that city, but...I need some uninterrupted sleep, okay?" He added another weak, "Okay."

The Terrian looked serious, strange that, Alonzo thought, they always looked serious. No, not serious this time, sad. Suddenly, there was another Terrian popping up out of the ground near a freshly dug hole, no a grave. A grave that reminded him of the deaths of Commander O'Neill.

"Hey, guys what is this?"

Then he saw the new Terrian. It was smaller than the usual Terrian, perhaps their average height being seven to eight feet. This one was a bit shorter. And there in the dark emptiness of night, with only the two moons shining down, it looked different than other Terrians. Suddenly the big one grabbed him by the collar of his black flight jacket and moved him closer.

The alien caught him off guard, he was concentrating on the smaller one. Alonzo didn't resist this time, he let himself be pulled. The Terrian moved him to the smaller one. Now he knew. This one was wearing clothes. All the Terrians they had encountered were always naked. Not that it mattered much---unlike the Grendlers, the Terrians were obviously neither male nor female. "You want clothes from us, is that it?" Alonzo looked at the taller alien. It grabbed his head, seemingly agitated, more than he ever saw a Terrian agitated. It forced his eyes to focus on the clothing the smaller one was wheezing. "An immuno suit!" Alonzo moved closer, daring to touch it. Then he did, "THE immuno suit. Is that? Is that what's here? Did someone steal it? Can you tell me, somehow?"

The smaller Terrian took the Immuno Suit off and laid it on the grave.

"Is Uly going to die? What? What do you know?"

Then they slid back into the ground of G889. And Alonzo was awake. He used his crutches to go to the tent of Devon and Uly and he watched over them as they slept, tempted to wake him. Alonzo turned away, sad. He wanted to do what he had to--now. He almost hoped the Terrians would wake the boy now. He waited. An hour.

Alonzo went back to his tent as a heavier than usual sleep overtook him. He needed his rest.

The next morning as soon as he was awake, even before he had washed, he used his crutches to return to Uly and Devon's tent. Uly was already up, washed, and dressed. Devon was packing up their clothes. "Alonz, ready to leave?"

"I will be once I...take care of things..."

Devon's eyes registered concern, "Things? What things?"

"Devon, it...it's Uly...he..."

"What happened? Alonzo, tell me."

Uly heard them and stopped to listen.

Devon reacted to him, "Uly, honey, why don't you go outside and..."

"No, let him stay, Devon. It's his life..."

"Life? What do you mean? What's happened? Is it---is it that promise we made...do they want to make good on it?"

"Devon..." Alonzo looked as if he wanted to cry, "Devon..."

"Tell me," Devon yelled.

"Mom!"

Devon turned away to Uly, "Uly." She hugged him.

"Devon, I don't know," Alonzo looked and his throat clogged, "Devon."

"He can't..." The thought of Uly dying made them both lose hope. Of all of their number, he was the symbol that they could make it here, that they could survive and live in peace with the Terrians. Hell with all that, Alonzo thought--he was Devon's son. Uly smiled, "Mom, I feel fine."

Alonzo parted mother and son, "Give me some time with him."

Devon looked at him, "Some time? I'm not leaving me son. Not until you tell me what you know."

"Devon, I know nothing. Uly has to tell me what the Terrians meant. All I know is that Uly may want to know this himself before..."

"Alonzo, that is bull! If anything is concerning my son, I want to know it NOW!"

"Mom, it is all right," Uly looked up at her, his big brown eyes, reddish brown hair so child-like, in contrast to his adult sounding manner. "Let Alonzo ask me."

"Its more a matter of...finding something. Uly...do you want your mom to know?"

"Sure, it's fine."

"Okay then, kiddo." Alonzo knelt down, steadying himself on the crutches, "Uly, where is the Immuno Suit?"

Uly looked up at Devon, "I...uh...why?"

"The Immuno Suit?" Devon whirled around to see if it was where Uly had parked it. "Uly, you got rid of it?"

"Well, yeah, I didn't think...I mean I figured I wouldn't need to drag around a bunch of worthless machinery...especially since Gaal's machine-bombs almost killed us."

Alonzo looked up at Devon and back to Uly--it was more comfortable to say what he was next going to while looking at the boy, not at the mother.

"Uly, I saw a grave."

Devon covered her mouth, her eyes watering to tears almost instantly.

Alonzo ignored her, "I thought..." He saw the boy smiling.

"Oh that, I buried it."

Alonzo seemed to relax--the boy wasn't going to die. "Was it near a hill?"

"Yes, in an open area like a field of some kind."

Uly took them to it. He ran ahead, up the hill and over. Devon didn't stop to take in the scenic area. She was much too worried, "Alonzo, why did he bury it?" Alonzo shook his head.

They came down the other side and went closer. Alonzo put a hand on Devon's arm, holding her back. She looked at him. He nodded his head. Uly approached the grave of the Immuno Suit. He started to dig with his hands and he looked back at them, "See, it's here."

Before he could turn back, a Terrian rose up from the grave. Uly looked back at the grave and saw Terrian legs. He jumped back. The creature held out the Immuno Suit to him.

Uly reached up to take it and Devon started forward to help him but Alonzo stopped her. "Let him do it."

Uly took the suit and nodded to the Terrian, clicking in the strange Terrian way. After the Terrian descended back into the ground, Devon and Alonzo joined him. Uly looked up at them, "Mom, I didn't think I'd need it again and I don't."

Devon looked worriedly at Alonzo, "You mean they wanted you to keep it for some other reason?"

Uly nodded, "Yeah, I thought it was the machines that were bad. But really it was Gaal. Machines can't be bad or good. Only the people controlling them."

Devon put her hand in Uly's hair and knelt down to hug him. "Why don't you put it somewhere safe now." She let him go and he started off in a run, heaving the suit with him. "So many times it was as if the suit moved him around. Now, he's moving it around." She reflected, lost in wonder. "They want him to have it. I hope it doesn't mean he'll need..."

"No, but...we don't know much about the Terrians, do we?"

"No," she said, "When will we know? Or have we missed it already..."

"We'll know," Alonzo said. "We'll know...if he needs the suit again."

Devon eyed her son who was off in the distance, on some other hill, making believe the suit was another person in his child play. The Terrians were such a mystery: did they do good in giving him back the Immuno Suit or were they warning the adults to keep their, not their, HER promise or they would take Uly's healing away? It was a dream plain promise she made to the Terrians, one she was glad Alonzo hadn't brought up since their first week here, one she didn't even want to remind herself of. It would have to be kept--by her. She would do anything to keep Uly safe, no matter what the others thought.

***********************

Devon held her head high to the gentle wind as she walked aside the TransRover. "Day 18 as we head toward our destination: New Pacifica...Uly's been coughing all day. We must take care of ourselves on this world...we can't expect the Terrians to heal us every time we fall ill. But Uly's cough is just a cough, I can't jump every time he sneezes or coughs. We just have to be careful. And we are. Somehow, though, I feel the ominous cloud of that promise is catching up to me. To us. And I will deliver the goods with or without the others."

=30=