Dr Levitz-The Campus is Silent

The campus is silent, dark, and vacant. Except for the personal laboratory of professor Levitz which glows dimly with the sound of tools and mechanical arms buzzing around. A long day turns into a long night, routine for the Professor who have accomplished many breakthroughs in robotics, even won awards for creating true synthetic skin which is already being put to use by so many and helping people like burn victims, even cancer patients with treatments involving cell regeneration. It's hard to say which breakthrough was more important than the other but his portfolio is heavy with accomplishments. Many other scientist often wonder how can he top the last, then he announce the next great thing that seemed impossible to imagine. The Professor is working through the night to try to complete his life's work, something he believes with complete all of his previous accomplishments and will make the world better, an android that can think for itself. The Doctor has come steps closer, his mechanical staff is proof of that. "Hey Dino come give me a hand putting this on the table." Out of the shadow from the other side of the lab movement stirs followed by ...Thud...Thump...thump....a massive dark body hops from its resting place and walked towards the table. Breaking through the light one of the Professors earlier creations standing 7ft tall and what appears to be a robotic gorilla designed for heavy lifting in the lab, walks over and with one swift movement lifted the metal object onto the table gently as if it was light as a feather. "Thanks Dino that's perfect, that will be all"

"You're welcome Professor" auto response of Dino's programmable vocabulary responses as the heavy dark metallic figure returned to its resting place. Sitting in front of the monitor the Professor worked diligently with the numbers and figures that was a foreign language to most. Frustration sets in, something is always missing; just can't quite make that leap from a machine that can only do what it's programmed to do to something more than a machine that can learn and think, strategically with the burden of ensuring it will be good natured and balanced. What type of safe guards can be put in place that wouldn't infringe on free thinking? That in essence derails the freedom of intelligence.

"Professor have you been here all night? It's 5 in the morning!" A young student and assistant to the professor walks in, turning on the bright light flooding the lab with a glare hitting the Professors sleepy eyes.

"I'm too close to think about rest right now Lee. I should've had this figured out by now. The conference is tomorrow."

"Umm actually Professor it's this afternoon, there will be other times to unveil your next great invention." Lee walks over and hands the Professor one of his breakfast sandwiches, he's a stoutly guy that doesn't believe in skipping a meal or working on an empty stomach. Then heads to his station of mechanical body parts to pick up where he last left off.

"Thanks Lee, I better run home and get ready for my first class. I'm giving an exam today so maybe I'll have a chance to sleep with my eyes open." The two laughed as the Professor exited the room.



2



Clouds overtook the landscape on a late autumn afternoon, Dark and ominous, rolling in ever steadily. "Dan it's getting dark and buster isn't back yet, go bring him in the house before the storm."

"Yes ma, he's probably chasing squirrels again near the creek."

"Just hurry up child, both of yall need to be in before dark"

"Yes ma" Dan ran out the back wooden screen door and down the wining wooden stairs of their small home in the back woods of Tennessee. Down the path to the familiar trail Dan ran down the hill into the belt of trees that surrounded their yard. Nearing the opening that led him to the creek, the first wet cold drop fell on his face followed by a steady slow drizzle. "Buster! Buster come here boy" Dan yelled for his dog as done many times before, usually followed with a distant bark. Dan approached the stream and scouted the distance.

"Hmmm where could he be? He usually comes running by now" Dan thought out loud while following the stream deeper into the wilderness past their property line. The stream funneled further into the woods the red and orange canopy of the trees funneling disappearing glimmers of color to the brush but steadily being devoured by the furiously growing cloud cover until all rays of light vanished, leaving in its place a grayscale which made navigating the terrain more difficult. Mama Levitz warned staying out past daylight but Dan pushed further....past even the point of where he was allowed to go for he haven't found Buster yet. Dark grew more bold, "Buster!" Still no answer to the calls Dan grew worried and a bit scared that maybe Buster encountered a bear or got hurt somehow. Then he noticed a low glow of amber through the brush on the other side of the creek, maybe rays of sun were peeking through the clouds, Buster could be around there since that's heading towards the Cunningham and they have goats. "Oh I better get Buster before he stirs up the Cunningham's goats and we get in trouble again." Dan dashes through the creek splashing murky water in all directions then wedging his way through the dense brush. The glow grew brighter, more intense, enough to survey the area, enough to notice a dead Robert of some sort possibly a small brown rabbit shortly followed by a rustle in the brush to the left of him where that light seemed to be coming from. Cautiously Dan grabbed a fallen branch incase this animal wasn't his dog and stood guard, once ready he reluctantly called out "Buster..." The brush moved and parted out rushed a ball of dark fur "Buster it's you!" The dog ran to Dan and jumped on him, knocking the stick out of his hand. "Good boy...or bad boy for being this far from home...what got your attention? " the lights seemed to be coming from a source just throw the trees and brush where buster was lurking, curiosity aroused his senses and so he decided to take a quick peak. He expected to find moonshiners or someone camping but the lights seemed like they were breathing or pulsating. Dan finally broke through the entangled shrubbery to find something he never seen before, not a person in site, just this glowing object in the clearing which would be pretty difficult for most people to even get to unless you cut your way in or flew in. This glowing object hovered above the ground and seemed about 20ft long. Fear overrode curiosity at that point, Dan stayed hidden in the brush for what felt like and eternity. All the movies he seen and the comic books he had read never prepared him for such a discovery, who would believe him? What is it? It can't be!? How would he be able to leave and lead them back here before it was gone? Thoughts and emotions flooded the young boys mind until tear fell down his cheeks, frozen in time like a statue he couldn't bulge. What if it's dangerous!!

This thing hovered silent until a rush of gas spilled from the sides and bottom accompanied by a loud mechanical sound of some sort. Buster started to growl and bark uncontrollably "Shhh Buster no! QUIET!" Fear of being noticed, Dan grabbed Buster and dragged the barking dog back through the thick brush falling along the way, imagining they have been spotted. Finally meeting a clearing they ran towards the creek scared to turn around. "Run buster!" They ran through more brush, then through the creek. Stumbling on the slippery algae covered rock; now soaked, scratched, and bleeding he got back to his feet and ran as fast as he could with the dog a few feet ahead.....then a few feet back....now he's ahead again "what's happening!" Then he didn't see buster but could hear barking in the distance. Dan felt lost and scared in the darkness he didn't know which direction to run...

"Doctor Levitz...Professor?"