Trapped: Chapter 13

About four months after his adoption, Dr. Hiems came into Ivan's room to find the boy. "Ivan, could you come here a moment? I need your help with something in the testing facility," Dr. Hiems asked the light haired boy.

Expecting to be carrying boxes or handing tools to scientists while they tinkered with chips and wires, Ivan readily replied, "Sure, lead the way." Following Dr. Hiems into the testing lab, Ivan was surprised when he saw a lab table with straps on it. It was as if they were going to restrain something. Next to it was a cylindrical robot, white in color and with a small screen. It seemed to be almost finished.

"Hey, why are there straps here? Are you using a live specimen today, Father?" Ivan asked, curiously looking up at Dr. Hiems.

"Yes, Ivan," the scientist responded, a blank look on his face, "And the specimen is you. Now, men!" Three other scientists proceed to hold down the flabbergasted young boy who was thrashing about. Dr. Hiems pressed a white cloth to Ivan's face. Though the boy held his breath for as long as he could, he eventually succumbed to the sweet smell and fell unconscious.

As he closed his eyes, a faint whisper escaped his lips. "Why?"

"Because if I do this, I can go back home sooner, away from this idiotic place," Dr. Hiems replied coldly.

~~~

Ivan saw a light ahead of him. It was warming, comforting, and a kind woman's voice called to him. He reached out toward it, but an invisible chain kept him from moving from his position. Ivan screamed unintelligible words to the voice to let him move, but instead the chains began pulling him backwards. Backwards into the dark. Backwards into the cold. Again.

Ivan awoke on a table under a bright light. He attempted to stand, but found that he had no legs. Looking at himself, he realized in horror what had happened.

Dr. Hiems had transferred his consciousness into the robot he had been working on all these months. He had never loved him; he only needed a gullible child to sacrifice. Ivan would have cried, but he no longer had eyes. He only had a pink screen that glowed softly in melancholy and rage.

Calming himself, he scanned the room. He was still in the testing facility, and it seemed that whoever was in charge of looking after him was out of the room. He saw a bag in the corner of the room that was stained with dried blood. From what he could tell, it had taken him some time to wake up since his body was…used. Next to him was a blueprint of the robot he was inside. Apparently Dr. Hiems wasn't very creative, as it was named 1-V4N after the boy used in the experiment.

Wanting to explore more of the room while no one was watching, Ivan carefully rolled himself off the table and positioned himself upright. Discovering he could move on wheels installed at his bottom, he practiced rolling around and turning for a little while before noticing something forgotten on a lab table. Two blowtorches were hanging off the table. Ivan had an idea.

He retrieved one of the blowtorches with one of his new robotic arms and looked around until he found a can of motor oil. Ivan then proceeded to topple it, causing the oil to spread all over the floor. The robot then lighted the torch, and tossed it onto the puddle. A great fire began burning, and was fed by the various papers left strewn all over the lab. Though the fire alarm went off and water began to come down, it wasn't enough to quench the now humongous fire.

Almost all the scientists rushed out of the lab. Some tried to fight the fire, and once they opened the door, they were burned by the ever growing fire. Ivan, on the opposite side of the room from the fire, watched the scientists attempt to reach him. However, in their eyes he only saw one goal. "I want to save the data I've been working on, that's the only way I can finally leave this stupid place and go home.  I don't want to stay here for years more."

The majority of them were burned to death in the attempt to retrieve Ivan. The few who managed to reach him were burned by the blowtorch he wielded. After almost all of the scientists had died, Dr. Hiems rushed in with a fire extinguisher. He quickly put out the fire before it could do any more harm.

Slowly, the old scientist walked toward Ivan, then confiscated the blowtorch. "Such a brat," he remarked, a scowl on his face.

This eradicated the last of Ivan's hope that Dr. Hiems actually cared for him. The scientist began to walk out of the room, and muttered something unintelligible. Now void of any caring feeling toward the older man, Ivan retrieved the second torch and quietly approached Dr. Hiems. As the man turned around to see what was behind him, Ivan lit the torch and set all of the scientist's clothes on fire.

Screaming in pain, Dr. Hiems fell to the ground. Ivan stared at the man who he once admired, who he once respected, who he once loved, and said, "Bye bye."

After the old man finally stopped shrieking and closed his eyes, he was dead. Ivan laughed as he surveyed the man's burnt corpse. "If I remember correctly, "Ira" means "wrath" in Latin. How very fitting."

~~~

Though months and months passed, none of the other scientists ever returned. Ivan was left alone with the dead bodies in Ira Laboratories. Though he had gotten his revenge, he felt cold and unfulfilled. The bot wondered why.

One day, he heard a large crash and a string of curses from one of the basement rooms. Curious if anyone had returned, Ivan rolled quickly toward the source. As he arrived, the door opened to reveal a young man with golden hair and violet eyes that looked rather flustered.

"Welcome to Ira Laboratory," Ivan said sweetly.

~~~

Awaking from his reverie, Ivan looked back at Matthew and felt a little sorrow. The man had trusted him so faithfully the whole time. He even had said he liked Ivan. Matthew…was a friend.

The reason why I'm keeping him here like this…what is it? It's…It's because I was lonely? Because I wanted a friend? What point is there in keeping him if he's going to hate me when he wakes up though…? The robot dwelled on this for a moment, and then came to a conclusion. He pulled Matthew's unconscious body to the exit, taking care to not wake him up.

Matthew began to stir as Ivan removed his chains by the exit. Ivan began to work quickly, so that he could leave without the Canadian seeing him. After he finished, the robot said quietly, "Goodbye my only friend," and briskly rolled back into the darkness of Ira Laboratories.

Matthew's eyes fluttered open as he murmured, "I'm your friend, 1-V4N?" However, the bot was too far away to hear the Canadian anymore.