West of Nothing

55. The Weakest Link

"Point that a little more over here," HotDamn said as he fidgeted with the dials atop the oxygen tank.

Apparently, Mason's flashlight-pointing skills were not quite up to snuff.

"This is some bad human interface design right here," HotDamn said. "If you hit the release lever before you seal the valve, it vents pure oxygen. Then all it takes is a spark and you've got yourself your own personal jetpack."

That was HotDamn for you. Within five minutes of working with an object, he would be telling you the million ways it could be improved. Mason's eyes kept wandering up to the luminous band of the Milky Way overhead. There was hardly any light pollution from the main complex which was some distance away with its amber light-cones aimed at the ground. Mason was no astronomer, but he was pretty sure the two brightest points in the sky were Jupiter and Mars. Lower on the horizon was the turquoise wisp of a comet.

"Eyes on me," HotDamn said. "Unless you want to take a nozzle in the snozzle. I'm going to tip it back now. Easy does it."

They lowered the oxygen tank out of its mounting. It was shoulder high and nearly two feet in diameter, weighing in at just under two hundred pounds, definitely a two person job. Mason was impressed a single tank contained enough oxygen to supply the entire Hab for more than a day.

Their chaperone guard was over conversing with a pair of other guards that stood post at the Hab, which loomed like a smooth hill in front of them.

"I've been meaning to have a few words with you," HotDamn said. "You know we took a vote to decide whether you should stay on the team? I voted against you. I thought you were a weak link. But if we were to take that vote now, I think I'd cast mine differently."

"What changed your mind?"

"I still think you're the weakest link. It's just that sometimes chains are meant to be broken, if you know what I mean."

Mason had no idea what he meant. They dragged the cylinder over the sandy ground toward the waiting dolly where they gently lowered it down next to the full replacement tank. HotDamn set about securing it in place with straps.

"Listen, Peeper," HotDamn spoke in a low voice. "I told a little fib back there on the Bridge when I was telling about Alpha putting together its own sentences."

"You mean it really didn't say that stuff about the snake and the butterfly?"

"All of that was true. I just didn't tell the entire truth. Remember when it said 'Where human go?'"

"Of course." Mason had found those words both disturbing and reassuring somehow. All this time they had been observing the X-Bot, it had been observing them right back.

"Alpha had a little more to say after that. It also said, 'I want no dead. I want free. Time go.'"

Mason felt a tingle at the base of his spine. Not fright. Some other sensation he didn't have a name for. "Say that again."

HotDamn did.

Mason thought this over while they propped the new oxygen tank upright and maneuvered it between them. It was noticeably heavier than the first and sweat made his hands slippery. Carefully, they began to drag it along in the groove they had already made in the ground.

"It knows it's trapped like a bird in a cage and it doesn't want to end up like that dead butterfly," Mason said. "But what about that 'time go' part?"