The officer landed the hover bike on the roof of the Tech Center at the University. The bike hadn't settled yet before Beta and I jumped from the seats. Beta carried Alpha inside. I turned back to Dad. "Go," he said. "We'll talk later."
"Can you look for Omega?"
"I'll have the sergeant here get on it."
"Yes, sir," the officer said, and he didn't sound happy about it.
"Thanks, Dad." They lifted off and I followed Beta inside.
Two floors down, I scanned my palm and my retina to gain access to my lab. The door slid open, Beta carried Alpha to one of the empty tables and set him down. I examined the large tear in his side, the huge chunk of his abdomen that was missing. It looked like the nanobots were already hard at work repairing him, but it was a slow process without materials to use. They nanobots were pulling matter from the air to rebuild him. I searched the bin for scrap pieces I could put in place, found a couple good sized ones, and laid them across the gaping wound. The nanobots began disassembling the scrap pieces to their atomic components and the wound began "healing" at a much faster rate.
That started, I turned to work on Alpha's AI brain. I grabbed Alpha's data pad and booted it up. When the screen came online, I connected wirelessly to Alpha's brain. Everything seemed to be intact with only some minor damage. That was a relief. Most of the damage he sustained was the physical rend across his midsection. Powered down to conserve energy, it gave the nanobots more power to rebuild him quicker.
Knowing he was now on the road to recovery, I turned to Beta.
"Talk to me," I said. I understood the irony that the robot I needed to say something was the most reticent of the trio, but he was also the only one awake and aware and knew what happened.
"Alpha used magnetometer on the Orb, and it... lashed out."
"How do you mean?"
"It shot green beam straight down, causing earthquake. Alpha tried picking up the Orb and it shot him in the gut. A tree started growing inside him, which is what caused the hole."
I looked at Alpha and could imagine a tree in the damaged space. I turned my attention back to Beta. "Continue," I said.
"I grabbed and dragged him from the lab just as more trees started coming up. I carried him out, and flew straight up as it was the quickest. Orb punched hole through to the sky. Once everything stopped, I landed in tree and waited. Ran out of fuel."
"Okay," I said. "All right." I paused, thinking. "Do you think the Orb is still there?"
"Yes," he said. "It is down in the middle of the growth."
"Okay, once we find Omega, and Alpha is repaired, we'll go look for it."
"No."
I looked at Beta a minute, shocked, unsure about what I heard. "Did you just tell me 'no'?"
"I did."
"Why?"
"The Orb was stolen from Amazons. We stole it. It should go to them."
"Do you know what they plan to do with it?"
"No. Not the point."
"That is the point. The Orb was placed in that chamber for a reason, so that no other Amazon could get to it. It wasn't until Anza pulled her little power play that they decided to use it again."
Beta didn't respond.
"I bet you that Anza plans on doing to the entirety of Arcadia Station what Alpha here did accidentally to my private lab."
Beta looked from me to Alpha and back to me.
"Possibly."
"And highly probable too, right?"
He thought some more. "Agreed."
"Can you go look for Omega with my father while I monitor Alpha's progress?"
With only a nod, Beta left. Damn him. That's what I get for putting a strong moral code in him. It was to keep him from doing things he shouldn't while spying, but this time it's come around to bite me, no pun intended. I hope I had him on the right path again.
Thirty minutes later, Alpha began to stir. I had added three more scrap pieces of metal in addition to the first ones, and the wound was almost healed.
His eye lights turned on, his ears turned sideways and back, his right arm lifted to his side.
"Don't sit up," I said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "The nanobots are still repairing your side."
"The Orb..." he said. "Where...?"
"Beta is looking for Omega, and once they return, and your repairs are complete, we can go get it."
"Alice, you don't know it's power."
"I have an inkling," I said. "My lab and about three square blocks around it are destroyed."
"It's not just that..." He went to sit up and winced.
"Easy, Alpha, you're still repairing."
"No, I must..." He sat up all the way.
I picked up the tablet connected to him and ran a quick diagnostic. Nanobots were about 92% complete. Estimated finish time was fifteen more minutes.
"What is so important, Alpha? You got about fifteen minutes left."
"The Orb, in the hands of the Amazons, could destroy Arcadia Station."
"I guessed as much, which is why Queen Anza wants it so bad."
"But you don't know how she can do it. Arrrgh!" He doubled over in pain. I programmed the sensations of pain into the boys so they could locate the exact locations of physical damage, but I would never put in something that would cause them actual pain like what Alpha was exhibiting.
"Alpha, what's wrong?" I grabbed the data pad and saw the screen glitching. "What the--?"
Alpha stopped moaning in pain, straightened up and looked at me with glowing green eyes. The same shade of green as the Forest Orb. Uh oh.
"Alice, I don't know how long I can fight this. Some of the Orb's magic has taken over part of my systems. It's attempting to force me to destroy parts of the city, and kill anyone who stands against me."
"Alpha..." I said. "What can I..." The data pad. Glitching, but only half the screen, the one showing processing data. I still had commands available. I tried the auto shutdown.
"Alice," Alpha said. "Please help."
The auto shutdown wasn't working. Time for the last ditch emergency kill switch. I opened the app on the data pad. It asked for passcode. I got four of the five characters in when Alpha grabbed my arm.
"Alice, it's getting worse. Run!" He released me. "Run!"
I stumbled away from him, punched in the last character. He jumped down from the table and knocked it aside, pulling the bolts from the floor without effort. His eyes glowed with an intense green.
I glanced at the data pad. It wanted my thumbprint. I fumbled with it, my hands shaking. Alpha stalked towards me with menace. My thumb found the scanner just he crouched to leap at me. He extended out in the start of a leap, when the green light disappeared from his eyes and he dropped to the floor, arms extended towards me.
When I got my breathing and heart rate under control, I checked the datapad in my hands. I almost cracked the screen I had squeezed it so hard, but it was working fine now. I set it up to run a full diagnostic on Alpha.
Beta and Omega walked in minutes later as I was trying to roll Alpha over. "Good timing, boys. Beta can you put Alpha back on the table once Omega and I get it upright again?"