Chapter 2

Brazil: The Village

     Allan Barnes slowly drove up to the edge of the village on the dirt road in his light brown jeep.  Allan was in his mid thirties, about 5’9, 160 pounds.  He had thick, curly black hair.  He had a funny, square shaped face with somewhat beady brown eyes and thin lips.  He was wearing a black polo shirt with the San Francisco Giants logo on the left breast, and a faded pair of blue jeans.
     Drew had been awaiting his arrival at the side of the road.  “Hey Allan, long time, huh?”
     “Yer damn straight it’s been a long time.  Boy, what a lousy friend you are.”  Allen replied.
     “Huh?”  Drew was a bit confused.
     “Well, you run off to this little village here in Brazil, for some long term research, or so you say.  No one hears from you for two years until you call a few days ago and tell me that you’ve stumbled upon the greatest technological advance, ever.”
     “Well, I’m sorry.”  Drew said, sincerely.  “As you can see, communications isn’t a strong point here.”
     “Aw, I’m kidding!”  Allan exclaimed.  “So, where’s this project of yours, y’know, the one you say would make every engineer jealous of me?”
     Drew smiled.  “Right this way.  Did you bring everything I asked for?”
     Allan jumped out of the jeep.  He took a tote bag from the passenger seat and slung it over his shoulder.  “Yep, it’s all back there.  Now, lead the way!  I’ve been dying of curiosity ever since I got on the plane over here!”
     Drew slowly took Allan to his house.  Allan looked around eagerly, absorbing the environment around him.
     “It’s right through here.”  Drew said, walking into his house.  He slowly made his way towards the back of the house, with Allan following his every move.  Allan curiously looked around at the small mud house.
     “Geez, you’re living here?!”  Allan said, in disbelief.  “Won’t this place melt next time it rains?”
     “Actually, this dried mud is very strong.  I’d trust it before I’d trust half the buildings in America.”
     “I think you’ve been out here way too long.”  Allan shot back.  He followed Drew into a large room, where there was a strange black figure lying on the table.  “Who is that?”  The engineer asked.
     “Not who, but what.”  Drew said, with a smile.  “That is what I brought you here to see.  Go take a look.”
     Allan gave Drew a strange look before dropping the bag on his shoulder and wandering over to the table.  He examined it for a few seconds before dropping his jaw in shock.
     “Oh my God!  Is this what I think it is?”  Allan exclaimed.
     “Yup.”  Drew said, calmly.  “A fully functional robot.  Not just any robot, mind you.  But one who can move as if it were human.  It has what looks like a human anatomy system; except it’s made out of metal.  There are a ton of other systems I can’t made heads nor tails out of.  That’s why I called you.”
     “Wow......”  Allan said, still in shock.  “I’ve never seen a configuration like this.....these power relays....they must have large conversion rates.....what’s the power source, do you know?”
     “Like I said, I couldn’t figure anything out.  It’s all yours to play with.”
     “Cool!”  Allan exclaimed.  “I have to set up all my stuff; I’ll be right back!”  He spun around and ran out of the room, and subsequently, the house.  Drew watched him leave, then smiled.
     “Drew!  Drew!”  A female voice called out.  Drew turned around.  A young girl entered the room.  She was Brazilian; about 5’7, a slender, athletic 120 lbs.  She had long black hair which tricked down her back.  She had thin, green eyes, a thin, triangular face, and full red lips; truly an exotic beauty.  She wore a simple black dress with red flower decorations.  In her right hand, she carried a brown clay pitcher full of water.
     “Oh, Anna, come in please.”  Drew said.  “What brings you here?”
     “Well doctor, you missed breakfast this morning.  I thought that maybe you forgot again, so I was going to at least bring you some water.”
     “Sorry ‘bout that, but I was waiting for a friend to arrive.”
     “Was that him who just ran out a second ago?”
     “Yes, it was.  His name is Allan, and he’s an engineer from America.”
     “Oh, I see.”  Anna smiled, then began taking a false look around, eventually settling her eyes on the black figure on the table.
     “Aha, I see now.”  Drew said.  “You wanted to take a look at the robot, didn’t you?”
     Anna smiled again.  “Forgive me doctor, curiosity got the best of me.”
     Drew laughed.  “Well, while you’re here, you may as well take a good look.”
     Anna slowly began to approach the table.  “Is it.....alive?”
     “Not yet.  Don’t worry, it’s not going to hurt you.”
     “’Not yet?’”
     “Well......I guess you can say curiosity got the best of me too.  We’re going to try to activate it.”
     Anna continued to look around at the black mass.  “It looks so.....human.”
     “Yeah, you should see the inside too.  Metal bones, wires for veins, the attention to detail is amazing.  We even found it wearing clothes, too.  Over there.”  Drew pointed to the chair in which the jumpsuit had been thrown.
     Anna turned to look at it.  She picked it up and felt it in her hands.  “Strange material.....I’ve never felt anything like this before.  Wow....and it’s ripped too.  Wait, not ripped.....cut.  What happened?”
     “We don’t know.  We’re hoping that when we activate the robot, it’ll be able to tell us.  Try to rip that jumpsuit, right from where it’s already been torn.”
     Anna looked at Drew for a moment, then tried to pull the jumpsuit apart.  She couldn’t even get a single fiber to tear.  She gave it a few more attempts, then gave up.
     “I couldn’t rip it, neither could Ricki, or several other of the village men.”  Drew said.  “That material is extremely tough.  Fire retardant, too.  I’ve never seen anything like it either.”
     Anna played with the jumpsuit in her hands for a few moments, then looked up at Drew.
     “I was wondering doctor.....do you need this jumpsuit?”
     “Not really, no.”
     “Well, maybe can I take it, and sew this cut?”
     Drew raised an eyebrow.  “Huh?  Why would you want to do that?”
     “Like you said, this is an interesting material.  Besides, when you activate your robot, he may want it back.”
     Drew pretended to think it over.  “Hmm.  I don’t see any harm in it.  Go ahead, knock yourself out.”
     Anna bowed.  “Thank you.”  She turned around and left, just as Allan reentered the room, carrying an armful of computer equipment.  He carefully dumped it on the ground.
     “There’s more where that came from.”  Allan said.  He spun and left the room.
     Drew sighed, and sat in the chair vacated by the jumpsuit.  “I have a feeling that this is the start of something big.  Really, really, big.”

That Evening

     “My simple little study room has mutated into an engineering research lab.”  Drew said, somewhat exhausted.
     He was sitting in the same chair he had been earlier.  However, everything around him had changed.  The black robot was still lying on the table in the center of the room.  Around the perimeter of the room were computers.  They stood by themselves, the monitor on top of a three foot mainframe, the interface jutting out about a foot away, under the monitor.  Every other monitor was positioned to face straight out; the others were tilted upwards to accommodate a standing user.  A few blue office chairs were scattered around the room.  Above the table in the center of the room, a ceiling light dangled from a fixture.  There were two more computers, on both sides of the table.  There were many wires coming from the robot to the computers.  A smaller table had been positioned at the end of the table, where there were a lot of engineering hand tools.  At one of the computers around the table, Allan feverishly worked.  He was still buzzing with energy.
     “Wow, I can’t believe I got all this up within a day!”  Allan exclaimed.
     “Neither can I.”  Drew said, somewhat unenthusiastically.
     “Just a few more calibrations on these diagnostic machines and we can actually start work on fixing this ‘bot!  Isn’t that great?”
     “Swell.”  Drew said, once again unenthusiastically.
     Allan caught Drew’s attitude.  “You’re tired, aren’t you.  Don’t feel obligated to stick around here and help me.  You can go on to bed if you like.  Me, I’m on too much of a high.  I think I’m going to go ahead and get started.”
     “Don't have to ask me twice.”  Drew said, vacating the chair.  “Hold all calls until nine hours from now.”
     Allan laughed to himself.  He looked down at the black robot in front of him.  “I’ll figure out just what you are and how to turn you on.”  He said.  “Just give me a little time.”
 
 

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