Alliance by Timothy L. Cerepaka

on his fingers. He looks like
the sort of human who does well as a guard.
    “ What?” says the man,
who has a deep voice. “What's going on in here? How did you escape
the—”
    I do not wait for him to finish. Instead,
I punch him in the gut, which causes him to gasp in pain, and
follow it up by jolting him with electricity. The electric jolt
causes him to collapse to the floor, allowing me to jump over him
as the straps continue to reach for me.
    Landing on the floor, I turn around and
fire my eye lasers at the straps again. The lasers cut through the
straps and cause them to shrink back, perhaps afraid, although I do
not know because I kick the unconscious man into the room and slam
the door closed behind him afterward. I hear the straps beating
against the door, but it is clear that they are not strong enough
to break it down and are therefore not going to be a threat to me
anytime soon.
    Shaking my head, I look around at my
surroundings. It appears I am standing inside the hallway of a
castle. The walls, floor, and ceiling are all cobblestone and
sensors indicate that they are normally very cold. Sensors also
show that the hallway is warmed by some kind of external heat
source, but I am unable to locate it. It is probably magic, but at
the moment I do not need to confirm that. Instead, I need to find
out where I am and how to get out of here and reconnect with the
Database.
    Just as I come to that decision, a voice
shouts, “Hey, what are you doing out here? You're not supposed to
be out!”
    I look in the direction of that voice and
see two elves running toward me. Neither of them have skyras rings,
but they are holding staffs and swords. Old-fashioned weaponry, in
other words, that will be completely ineffective against my
abilities.
    I raise my hand to unleash finger
lightning bolts at the elves, but one of the elves vanishes before
I can do so. My scanners search the hall for the missing elf, but I
cannot find him anywhere, although his friend is still running at
me and is almost within range of hitting me with his weapon.
    So I fire my finger lightning bolts, but
the elf jumps over them and lands in front of me. He swings his
staff at my head, which I catch with no issue.
    “ That was a pathetic
move on your part,” I say, holding back his staff with ease. “I can
sense that you are trying your best, but I am afraid your best is
not enough.”
    Oddly, the elf smirks. “Get 'im,
Garga!”
    I have no idea who 'Garga' is until I hear
something whistling through the air at me.
    Before I can identify the source of that
whistling, something thick and solid slams into the left side of my
head. The blow—while not painful, as I cannot feel pain—completely
disrupts my sensors and sends me staggering to the left, letting go
of the first elf's staff as I do so.
    WARNING! Damage to optics extensive.
Activating auto-repair features.
    I shake my head, however, because I have
no time to let my auto-repair features work. These two elves
require my fullest attention, so I must put deactivate the
auto-repair features until I can find a more convenient time to use
them.
    Besides, my optics appear to be working
fine because I can see the two elves surrounding me, holding their
staffs before them like they intend to beat me to a pulp with them.
Still, my vision is not entirely clear; my left optic is choppy,
forcing me to rely on my right optic more than I usually do.
    “ Stupid machine,” says
the first elf. “We saw you assault the guard. We're not going to
let you walk without first getting permission from the Head, which
we know you don't have, so don't even pretend that you
do.”
    “ I never would have
pretended,” I say. “After all, we J bots are incapable of lying or
deception. All I want to know is where I am and how to get out of
here.”
    “ Not until the Head says
so,” says the second elf, the one named Garga, who has a higher
voice than his friend. “Until then, you have to stay where you're
supposed