• Dr. Doc's Journal Entry #9
    March 5th, 2010


    tab The project was almost done. It had been a long time coming, but I had nearly completed it. I could only hope that, once I was finished, things would begin to go back to the way they used to be. Unfortunately, I would never see that day.
    tab When I worked, I worked in silence. So a constant, persistant banging on the door made me jump.
    tab "Who...who is it?" There was a small pause from the other end, and then,
    tab "Doc? Is that you?" It was Jenna. And she sounded scared. I rushed over to the steel-plated doors, and shouted over to her,
    tab "What are you doing here? How did you..."
    tab "Please!" she interrupted urgently and crossly. "This isn't the time for me to answer questions. Steven could be in terrible danger!" To have something like that suddenly thrown at me...I didn't know how to respond at first.
    tab "How is that possible?" I asked. "The worst that could happen is..."
    tab "Justin, you have to believe me, Goddammit!" I took a step back in surprise. What was that she just said?
    tab "What did you just call me?"
    tab "Justin, please," she said a little softer. "You have to save him. You have to get out of there and save him. He's all I have left. I couldn't...I couldn't stand to see him...to see him die..."
    tab "'All I have left', 'to see him die'?" I repeated in a daze. What was she talking about? We couldn't die. We couldn't live. We were just there. Just objects.
    tab And Steven...He was all she had left? What about me? What was I to her?
    tab "Justin, please. You just have to trust me. You just need to..."
    tab "I can't."
    tab "What?"
    tab "Mr. Powers has me locked up here for 18 hours a day. I can't leave. It's locked from the outside."
    tab "No...But you're the...you're the only thing that could stop...could stop..." I could hear her collapse to the ground, sobbing and sniffling.
    tab Sobbing? Was that possible?
    tab "I know what you're doing in there. I know why you're locked up in there for 18 hours a day. I know who you are. I know who I am. I know...I know who 'Steven', or, in reality, Tyler is. And I know...I know that Mr. Powers is an evil man, and that if you don't get out of there, fast, he's going to kill him."

    tab "What are you saying?" My voice was hard and straight to the point. I briefly wondered if that was all predetermined. Did Mr. Powers plan for these conversations to happen? Is that why my reactions felt so real?
    tab "You've been used, Justin. To Mr. Powers, you were nothing more than a tool." Her voice was very somber and haunting, the kind of expression that didn't seem to fit Jenna.
    tab "But he said...He said I was special...He said..."
    tab "He lied, Justin," she cut in. "We all have a reason for being here, some more than another. You're here to create us in artificial form. Steven and I were used as pictures for you, so you could make a near exact copy of us, though I had another reason as well.
    tab "I was Mr. Powers' tool as well. He threatened me...Told me he'd let me die if I didn't submit to him."
    tab "Submit? As in..."
    tab "As in satisfy his cravings." I couldn't say anything, as I was left there, speechless. How could Mr. Powers be so cruel? How could he manipulate robots like that?
    tab Or, I was beginning to wonder, how could he manipulate people like that?
    tab "When I was about to tell you about it awhile back, you saved my life. He would've killed me then."
    tab "Killed you?"
    tab "Yes. I'm in your debt. However, I had to pretend I wasn't. You see, you were programmed, he told me, to immediately tell him anything suspicious about me or Steven."
    tab "But I would never..."
    tab "I think it was a lie to scare me. But it worked. I kept my mouth clamped after that. That's why I sounded so upset the other day when you were trying to bring it up.
    tab "And now, Tyler is trying to escape. He's had enough. But Mr. Powers isn't going to let anything like that happen so easily, I know."
    tab "All this you've said...It makes it sound as though..."
    tab "Tyler and I are humans. But you? You were created to create robots. And that's about it."
    tab "You both...you both knew about this?" I asked, aghast.
    tab "I did. But I'm not sure if Tyler did. I think he lost his memory...So Mr. Powers used that to his advantange and convinced him that he created him. Mr. Powers doesn't care. Whatever measure it takes for him to win, he'll do it.
    tab "So, how about it, Justin? Does that give you enough incentive to turn against your 'Master'?"