––––––––
Senlar's face left no room for doubt; what he had found in that place was horrifying. Denn could only attempt to imagine the things that he had seen. Although he was not pleased that his friend had had to go through that, at least now he believed him.
"Where is this place, Senlar?"
"Far away... Luckily. I wouldn't want anybody to come across such a graveyard."
"The device with the videos and photographs that you found; can I see it?"
"I wasn't able to bring it with me. It's horrible."
"I need you to take me there. I have to see with my own eyes."
"Not so fast, Denn; it might well be that I now believe what you said about the Colonisers, but even so, I still can't make my mind up about you. I don't know what to do; you lied to me. I came to consider you as a friend, but now I'm no longer sure."
"Senlar, make no mistake; I am your friend. I never wanted all this to happen. I've been feeling so guilty, and that's why I ended up confessing the truth to you. Please take that into account."
"I've considered everything. I myself have born witness during this whole time to the help and the effort you put into protecting these people. I don't know if you were sincere, or whether you were trying to cover up what you had done, but it's clear that you haven't tried to hurt anybody since I met you on S4-07. I've decided to keep all of this secret; the people don't need something else to worry about. I only hope that you're not hiding anything else from me."
"I'm not, Senlar, I give you my word. I've told you everything."
"Neil told me that they're planning to carry on tomorrow with the installation of the turrets. As we’ve collected enough food, there's no reason for us to go out for the rest of the week. We'll stay here working on the fort."
"What about that place you found? When are you going to take me?"
"To tell the truth, I don't have much desire to go back there."
"I have to see it, Senlar.”
“There’ll be time enough for that. I'll give you back the diary," he said to him, and handed him the notebook. "Now I'm going to rest; it's been a long day."
Denn watched as Senlar walked away, leaving him alone with his thoughts. He sat down once more on a rock in front of the river to watch the movement of the current. After a while, the sound of the water began to relax him. He could understand why Neil liked sitting there so much; it was perfect for immersing oneself in one’s own mind. It had been a highly stressful day for him, but now it seemed that the worst was over.
After a while, he returned to his cabin, where C0-UN1 was waiting for him.
"Hello, Denn," greeted the robot.
Denn went in and collapsed on his bed.
"I'm exhausted, C0."
"Have you worked a lot?"
"It's not that, C0. I've told Senlar everything."
"Everything?"
"About the hijacking of the station."
"Are we in trouble?" asked the robot, worried.
"No. I don't know... Senlar is not going to tell anyone for the moment. He thinks it would only achieve making people worried. Only we know... And Neil."
"Neil? Neil knows? Isn't that going to be a problem?"
"Perhaps we misjudged him, C0. He spoke in my favour."
"Seriously? Neil?"
"It sounds weird, I know, but he supported me. I suppose he wasn't as bad as we thought."
"Do you really believe we'll be okay?"
"Who knows, C0, but I couldn't keep hiding the truth from Senlar. He's my friend. The guilt was killing me."
"I feel the same, Denn; they're all here because of us."
It had not dawned on Denn until that moment. His friend had been suffering the same as him, and he hadn't even considered it; he had forgotten that he was not dealing with a normal robot.
"I'm sorry, C0, I hadn't thought about what you would be feeling. None of this is your fault. I'm the only one responsible."
"But you were trying to save me. If I'd stayed on Earth, they were going to destroy me."
"It's time for you to know everything, C0. You are also my friend, and I don't want to hide anything from you ever again. There is something I've still not told you."
"What are you referring to, Denn?"
"When I took you out of Earth, I told you that if someone from The Union found you, they were going to destroy you. I said that you had to come with me, or it could be the end of you. I didn't lie; if they found you, they surely were going to destroy you, but I wasn't thinking about your well-being."
"I do not understand."
"Now I know you, C0, I know that you wouldn't hurt anybody. You help everyone without any prejudice. I had planned to tell you the truth at the right time, because I needed you, but now is the right time. You've become my friend, and I am not going to use you. I only wish that, once I tell you everything, you think very hard about what you're going to do about it."
C0-UN1 did not say anything, he just remained there, standing, looking at him in silence. There was no way of deciphering what sort of emotion he was feeling.
"There are some very special robots," continued Denn. "They are like humans in many ways. They were created to help us, but something turned out badly, and they ended up rebelling."
"The Colonisers? Qein told me all about them."
"You are one of those robots, C0."
"Me? I do not understand, Denn. Qein told me what they were like, it's obvious they are different from me."
"You were the first of all the Colonisers. A proto-type. Your creator went along improving the design, and that is why the final result is somewhat different from you. But your brain works in the same way as theirs."
C0-UN1 waited a moment before speaking. He was still doubtful of what Denn was telling him.
"Maybe you’re mistaken, Denn. Otherwise, why was I not with them when they left the Solar System?"
"After Helagar deactivated you, he created the improved models; there was no reason for him to activate you again. That is why they left you in that laboratory."
"Then, does that mean that I am evil?”
“No, not at all. You have never hurt anyone."
"But if I am a Coloniser, it is only a question of time before I do."
"I know it's not, C0; you won't. I think that the Colonisers are not evil by nature. Just the same as with humans, there are good and bad, it all depends on the circumstances of their life. I don't know what will have brought them to rebel, but that will not happen with you. You are lucky, you have friends who care about you."
"Why did you take me from the Earth, Denn?"
"The Colonisers have the intention of destroying the human race. They were going to use you as their infiltrator on Earth so that you would kill many people. They had planned for you to facilitate their return to the Solar System. I could not allow that to happen."
"Then, why did you not destroy me?"
"I'd like to say that in that moment I was worried about you, but that would not be true. If I had destroyed you, I would have achieved nothing. They are going to attack one way or another. I was planning on using you to find them, and as such try to foil their plans. You share some connection with them, and perhaps I was going to be able to take advantage of that."
"You were just going to use me?"
"Yes, I confess, but everything is different now. I want to stop the Colonisers with your help, but only if you decide to. You're my friend, I would like for us to do this together. The humans deserve to be saved. You’ve verified it for yourself; you've known good people in this place. I feel that you could be the only salvation for the human race. I hope you can forgive me."
"After being with a person for a long time, I am capable of deciphering whether or not they are telling the truth; I am convinced that you are not lying to me, Denn. When you came searching for me, you were not doing so to save me, and now that I think of it, there was no reason for you to be concerned for me. I understand everything you did... Now you say that we are friends, and that is the only thing that matters to me. I have nothing to forgive."
Denn felt an enormous sense of happiness. He felt a genuine affection for his robot friend, and now that he had confessed the truth, he felt calmer.
"Thank you, C0, I'm glad you're not angry. I'm going to tell you the whole thing... everything I know. But now there is something that you must know immediately. At some point, the Colonisers were on this planet... I have something that perhaps you might want to read," he said to him, anxious, and handed him the diary that he had found weeks earlier. "We found this note book which belonged to one of them. Read it, you might find it interesting.”
“But, Denn, can we really afford to not worry?”
“Everything will be okay, C0."
An alert on his eye device interrupted the conversation. It was a message from Senlar, he was telling him to meet with him and Neil in the surveillance centre in the fort, before dinner with everybody else, as was the norm. 'There's something we need to see', said one part of the message.
"I'll see you at dinner time, C0," he said to his friend, who usually joined them in the tradition, "I'm going to meet with Senlar now."
"I'll go for Wallace and Olyr," said the robot. "He told me to fetch him before going to dinner."
Denn left without wasting time, anxious to find out why they were calling him. Perhaps Neil had proof of the robots' plans, or maybe Senlar had decided to take them to the place he had found.
Denn arrived at the indicated place and knocked on the door. 'Come in', he heard. It was a place set out to serve as a surveillance centre, with holographic screens that displayed the signal from the cameras positioned around the wall, in addition to controlling the systems they had been implementing in the fort. Inside were Senlar and Neil.
"I'm here."
"Neil says he wants to show us something," said Senlar.
Denn looked at them inquisitively, he wanted to work out what was happening. However, the expressions on their faces did not tell him anything. Senlar was looking very serious, and Neil was showing his particular face of anger.
"I was already getting impatient, Bornew," said Neil. "There’s something I can’t wait to try."
"What thing?" asked Denn.
"It's about those animals that look like giant wolves. I want to test something out."
"What are you talking about, Neil?" intervened Senlar.
"We know that those animals are highly resistant," began Neil, "right? When they are shot at with a laser pistol, which would normally be capable of causing a huge amount of pain in any animal, the only thing it actually achieves is enraging them. It requires many shots to shoo them away."
"Yes, that is true," said Senlar, without understanding where Neil was going with this. “What is your point?"
"None," replied Neil, "I'm only remembering facts. Those turrets that we installed at the entrance, they're surely not capable of doing great harm to those animals either, or are they?"
"You want to test the turrets on those wolves?" asked Denn, and he pointed to the holographic image that was displaying the images from the camera on the entrance, showing the animals that, as usual, were approaching the fort, attracted by the aroma of the dinner that was about to be served in the dining hall.
"Something like that." Senlar and Denn began to look disconcerted; what Neil was saying did not seem to be making sense. They were definitely confused. "... It's just that those enormous animals make me think... How dangerous are they really? That is to say, they always come and stop by the walls. They're surely wishing to come in and try our dinner."
"I don't understand, Neil," said Senlar, pointedly, “what does that matter? Those wolves are not capable of jumping the walls."
"That is true," said Neil, and he walked up to the controls of the Surveillance Centre and began to type a few commands into the screens.
“What are you doing?" asked Senlar, startled.
"You two took the leadership. Denn above me, even when I was the Second in Station, even when I'm an earthling... someone superior. When I heard what Bornew said about having hijacked S4-07, I thought that if I told everyone about it, I would be able to get him out of my way, but getting rid of Bornew wouldn’t have got me anywhere; you would still be here, Senlar. So I reconsidered."
"What are you doing?" asked Denn, nervous at seeing the strange tone the conversation had taken.
"I'm resetting the system to open the doors to the fort. I want the wolves to come in."
Senlar got him off the controls immediately.
"What's the matter with you?!" he yelled at him. But Neil had already finished manipulating the systems. The holographic image was proof of that. The doors began to open, and the wolves began to approach.
"How do I close them?" asked Senlar in desperation. Denn rushed up to the screens, trying to help him.
"Don't bother," said Neil in a dark tone, "you're not going to be able to close them. We are about to discover whether these turrets are capable of scaring away those wolves, or whether it will only manage to annoy them."
Senlar and Denn did not have time to think about anything, they watched on powerlessly at the images. The soldiers controlling the turrets, shocked at seeing the enormous animals enter the fort, fired their weapons. The rays hit the target, right on the head of the first beast, who emitted a shocking roar; the only thing it managed to do was anger it. The animal came running into the fort, and its pack, of some fifteen strong, followed it inside. The soldiers turned around to shoot at the wolves that were now inside. One moment later, chaos erupted.
“What have you done?" cried Senlar as he watched the horrible images.
Neil came up to him from behind, and took hold of him, putting a knife to his throat. He had been so quick that Senlar had no time to react.
"Yes, I'll reconsider it," said Neil. "That would not have been of any use to me. But this... This will serve me for getting rid of both of you."
With dizzying movement, he cut Senlar's throat from one side to the other. An instant later, he dropped the knife and took a few steps backwards.
Denn looked in horror as his friend held his throat, trying to stop the blood that was flowing out profusely. Senlar fell to his knees, and Denn lunged forward towards him, in order to catch him.
"Don't move," Denn said to him, and laid him down on the floor. "Help!" he cried desperately, at seeing his friend dying. "Help! Please!"
Denn shouted another time, and another after that. He begged for help for his friend, but nobody would answer his pleas; the large beasts that Neil had invited in destroyed everything in their passage. The screams were heard in the night, announcing the terror. In the fort, the fight for survival had begun.