Part 8 - The Fight

The world before me was illuminated with a brilliant light, a light emanating solely from the chest cradled in Gibbs’ rubber hands. The goggles were allowing me to see its contents, and it was all as beautiful as it was mysterious. The Benefactor was right, I thought to myself. He is inside the chest. I couldn’t fully explain what I was seeing, but I knew that I was seeing it with perfect clarity.

As my gaze turned to Gibbs and the boy, I realized that the goggles’ majestic power didn’t end with the chest, and I found myself completely unprepared for what I witnessed next. Gibbs is a machine. Through the goggles, I unblinkingly stared into the core of a massive, intricate robot, a robot that I had previously considered a human being. Instead of muscle and tissue, I saw only wires and hard drives. Instead of a brain or a heart, I saw only servers and processors, whirring and blinking under Gibbs’ synthetic human flesh. The entire spectacle was disgusting, and I then became acutely aware of the source of Gibbs’ unnatural strength and cunning. Who had built him, and for what purpose?

My gaze turned next to the boy Sweeney. The goggles revealed not an awesome machine, or some divine light, but simply a tummy filled with macaroni and hot pockets. I became filled with rage as I wondered why the boy’s palate wasn’t more mature. Just like his filthy uncle Rory, I thought.

Gibbs’ discomfort with my penetrating stare had reached its zenith, and in an instant, he made his move. He handed the chest to Sweeney, entrusting him to begin flying the helicopter. Gibbs’ charge seemed sluggish, and I realized that wearing his goggles had put me on an equal plane. I am prepared to fight you now.

“I calculate that you have only a 16 percent chance of beating me,” Gibbs shrieked.

A giant pair of mechanical wings grew out of his back. Like a giant, goggled hawk, he leapt into the air and circled the Sweeney property a few times. I dug my feet into the dirt, preparing for the inevitable aerial attack. How does he digest his food, I found myself wondering. Can robots love? These were questions for another time. Gibbs swooped down at me with incredible speed, even through the goggles. I caught a piece of his wing in my hand, and I used the unexpected leverage to drive him into the earth.

I pinned him down. I could see the light of a computer monitor beneath his wetsuit. I had been away from my own personal computer for a while, and would use this opportunity to check my Facebook. I peeled back the rubber wetsuit, unmasking his true nature. I had many friend requests to accept, and Gibbs was forced to struggle beneath my newfound power.

I was nearing the fast money round of an online Family Feud game when Gibbs escaped my hold, spiraling back into the night sky. Proving himself inept at piloting aircraft, Sweeney unsurprisingly collided with the robot midair, and both fell to the earth under a mess of destroyed helicopter, flames and smoke.

I sprinted over to the smoldering rubble, causally tossing Sweeney’s limp body aside so that I could grab what rightfully belonged to The Benefactor. The chest felt warm to the touch, and I cherished the fact that I would be the one to deliver it. My birth name, Abdul-Mannan, meant ‘Servant of the Benefactor’. Tonight, I would do honor to my name. I would fulfill my purpose, my entire reason for being.

Across the yard, Gibbs was floating face down in the pool of a fountain, the water shorting his many circuits. He won’t be a problem any longer, I thought. It was time to deliver the chest.