Watcher has had you marked down for this since childhood, just like the rest of us. You, me, even the AI from the colony ship that became the guiding force behind the Enemy Domain.”
He sounded more thoughtful. “Examine any artifact of intelligence and you can see the threads of a childhood running through it.”
He then said something odd. “All those threads, meandering through, like sixteen sheep walking in their sleep.”
Herb stared at him for a moment, trying to understand, but this time he couldn’t be bothered. He waved a hand at the robot dismissively.
“I heard enough of that nonsense from Robert.”
He rubbed his hands together, full of sudden confidence.
“Come on, let’s go and meet the colonists.”
The sun shone down from a bright blue sky; the horizon fringing the great dusty plain suddenly seemed full of promise.
Herb began to walk toward his new life.
After a moment, Constantine followed.
epilogue: 2212
The difference between a ziggurat and a pyramid is that the top of a ziggurat is the meeting place between the heavens and the earth. It has steps so everyone may ascend to that meeting point. The top of a pyramid, however, is not intended to be reached physically; it represents instead a mental journey.
The ziggurat constructed at the center of the colony cast a long shadow across the evening plain.
The afternoon’s sweat was beginning to dry on Herb as he loaded the Geep with his tools. Banging the spade on the rocky grey soil, sending clean fresh earth scattering everywhere, Herb felt a sense of quiet satisfaction. When he had first joined the colony he had done his best to avoid any physical work. Constantine had needed to point out to him how unpopular Herb was making himself with the other colonists by insisting that he was merely suited for programming jobs. When Constantine had suggested it, Herb had only grudgingly agreed to help out in the second order terraforming projects, but he was now grateful he had done so. To think that he had had to travel halfway across the galaxy to appreciate how much better an evening meal tasted when eaten in company, with muscles still aching, after a shower and a change of clothes. He wondered if Ellen would sit at his table tonight. Ellen with her short red hair and sweetly sarcastic manner…
The gentle movement he had been hearing behind him gradually impinged on his consciousness. Who was it? Not Constantine; he should still be climbing down from the peak above where he had been checking the microwave relays.
Herb turned round and felt a thrill of the fear that he thought had passed from his life along with Robert Johnston.
Something was emerging from the vegetable patch. Long, silver, very, very thin metal legs were sliding from the mud, raising themselves up into the air, reaching back for a purchase on the rocky ground surrounding it. Herb edged away so that his back was pressed against the plastic side of the Geep. The legs had gained a purchase, and now a silver body was rising from the earth, mud crumbling down its sides, potatoes tangling by the roots and swaying in gentle motion as a silver metal spider lifted itself from the ground. Herb could smell rich earth, but in his mouth was the metal taste of fear.
The spider stepped forward onto the rock, the frictionless surface of its body now perfectly clean.
Herb raised the spade in his cold hands, ready for attack.
“No…I am not here to hurt you…”
The spider spoke in a soft voice, a tired voice. Even after two hundred years of living with them, humans still responded to the verbal cues that machines put into their voices. Herb relaxed a little, held the shovel a little less threateningly.
“Who are you? What are you?”
Herb was already feeling calmer. Constantine was up above somewhere; he would be climbing back down soon, fractal hands and feet roughened in order to grip the rock, black shoulder bag swinging from his neck as he made his way down to join his friend. Below on the plain the colonists were working. Some of them would already be riding home in their fliers; they could get here quickly if he signaled them. Herb was by no means alone. Now that he had got over his fright, Herb could see that the machine before him was not very substantial. The body of the spider was not as thick as Herb’s thigh; its legs were so slender they looked as if one swipe from the spade would cut them in two. The spider seemed to notice that fact, too; it shifted a little, keeping away from danger.
“I will not hurt you,” it whispered in a sad little voice. “Please put down your shovel. You are frightening me.”
“Who are you?”
The spider shifted its feet, the setting sun shining in red highlights on its smooth body.
“I’m, I’m…I’m all that remains of the mind that once controlled this planet. The AI you helped destroy. The mind behind what you once called the Enemy Domain…”
Herb gripped his shovel tighter; the spider flinched.
“No! Please no! I won’t hurt you. This body cannot hurt you. It is failing as it is…”
“Where did you come from?”
“Deep beneath the mountain. The plague did not reach down that far, all those silver machines, reproducing so fast, eating, eating…”
The spider’s voice trailed off. Herb stared at the ruins of his vegetable patch. Was there a tunnel leading down from there to the center of the planet? Was there to be another secret passage?
The spider was swaying strangely. It seemed vague, confused.
“All of this that you have built. Too much…You’ve done a good job. Your dominion looked so fragile, back then…”
“My dominion?”
The spider didn’t seem to hear the question. It raised one leg and pointed it down toward the plain, at the tall black shape of the ziggurat.
“Funny, isn’t it?” Its voice became reflective. “The Mesopotamians built them at the dawn of civilization to speak with their gods. Here they are again at the dawning of
“How do you know about the Mesopotamians?”
An impatient tone crept into the spider’s voice; it seemed to be becoming more aware, less vague.
“I too was originally from Earth, Herb. Didn’t they tell you that?”
“How do you know my name?”
The spider seemed to be growing in confidence. Red light glittered on its body. Herb looked around uncertainly. Just where was Constantine?
“I watch, I listen. I feel life reawaken on this planet and I hear the metallic whispers of machinery building itself. At first I ignore it. The time of my playing a part in the universe has passed, I tell myself. Now is the time to just
Herb said nothing.
The spider laughed. A thin, tired laugh. The red light of the setting sun cast an eerie glow across the rock. Herb was aware that he had never really noticed before how strange his new home was, up here on this mountain ledge: the plain with its great empty sockets beneath him, empty graves waiting to be filled; the great tomb of the
