Galois stepped back, pushing Lot away from himself and turned on his heel to leave as well.
Just as the door slid open to release him, Uther called, “If you leave me now, I will count you among Vortigern’s army and no friend of mine. You will be a traitor to Camelot. And to me.”
Galois stopped and stood for one hopeful moment. He turned his head as if to look back at Uther and whispered, “I cannot follow you like this.” His eyes flirted to Lot, but he did not linger.
When he was gone, Uther waited. He prayed Galois would come back in, beg forgiveness. He’d be all too happy to accept it and take back his friend. But the doors didn’t hiss open again. Galois would be gone to Lothian, away from the planet, and perhaps never return to Camelot.
Lot waited transfixed, confused and afraid of where he now stood. “Sir?” he said quietly to Uther.
“You are relieved of your duties, Lot,” Uther sighed, his eyes on the floor and not on the screen where the king had just witnessed his most fantastic blunder and weakness. “Take thirty-two hours then either report back to me or go to Lothian with your fiancé and her family. The choice is yours.”
After Lot left and the men half-heartedly went back to their work, Uther faced Pellinore. “You have seen my weakness,” he said stiffly. “You see how I am. Do you still wish to align yourself with me should this war grow?”
Pellinore’s alien eyes turned down in sadness. “Young Pendragon, your heart is broken I see. By my dead son Aglovale, and my unborn sprig Percival whom my wife carries even now, I swear I will uphold you and council you when I may. No man should have to be king alone.”
Uther bowed a thanks as the screen faded out. He turned to Merlin. “Now, let’s get those Avamechs ready for battle.”
Merlin put up his hand to stop Uther. “What of Galois? What will you do should he come at you with an army of Lothian pirates? Will you fight your friend?”
Uther thought. Yes, of course he’d fight Galois if he had to. He had insulted the memory of Constans. Called him a coward. Doubted him. He’d have to fight him sooner or later if they were to live in the same solar system. Or he could prevent a fight. He could make sure they never fought again. That would be the best thing, but Igrain would be heartbroken. Igrain.
“Merlin,” Uther smiled and began to walk out of the command room. “Tell me more about Avalonian metal and this cloning process you all use for medical purposes.”
7
The Face of a Friend
The suns had set hours ago as Uther stood straight and proud in one of the many sparse, sterile labs under his palace. He had not even tried to talk himself out of the procedure he was about to plan. All around him, D.R.U.I.Ds prepared their instruments and the precision machines they needed to proceed. A soft table covered in white awaited him where a D.R.U.I.D stood, empty eyed and clothed to perform surgery. Merlin entered at last, but with more haste than Uther expected. Something agitated him.
“What is it, Merlin?” he asked lightly as he began to remove his clothes and walked toward the sterilization chamber. “You seem out of sorts. A malfunction?” he smiled.
Merlin humored him with a smirk that was more fake than his android bones. “Sir, are you sure about this? Galois is your friend.”
“I am sure,” Uther said, he slipped his shirt off and stepped into the chamber. The door hissed closed and Vivian entered the lab behind Merlin.
“This will cause the Avamech not to function as it should,” she said quietly. “Excalibur answers to his DNA. If he taints it with the blood of Galois and mixes with Avalonian metal, Excalibur will find out something is wrong. It will reject him and wait for one of pure blood. Uther will be less human after this. Less a Pendragon.”
Merlin clasped his hands behind himself and frowned. “Long have I served the Pendragons, lady. Longer than you know.” A gleam came into his blue eyes. “I am trying to ensure things happen as they were meant to.”
Vivian looked up at Merlin from under her dark lashes. “I have seen our differences, but I do not know what you mean. I have the same knowledge as you. We are not machines; you could not have been programmed. Not written.”
“Not programmed,” he sighed as Uther reemerged from being clean. “I was told to make things right.”
Vivian glared at Merlin as he left her side and said to Uther, “Alright, sir, if you will lie on this table and allow this mask to cover your nose, we will begin. Shall I explain?”
As Uther laid himself down, he only nodded, not daring his voice to speak for fear the tension he now felt would betray him. He could not relax as he caught sight of the laser tools next to him.
“I suppose a detailed explanation should have come first.”
“I understand your fear,” Merlin said. But he still did not seem relaxed either. “After all, this is how we D.R.U.I.Ds were created as well. Made to look more human as it were.” Uther caught the tint of malice in his voice. “First, sir, we shall sedate you. We have Galois’s DNA from the military archives ready and duplicated. Your new skin will take only moments to reconstruct.”
“It takes days,” Uther interrupted.
“Avalonian technology takes days to duplicate Avalonian DNA. Human DNA is far more simplistic. Yours and Galois’s have been mixed to reconstruct your face. Now as Galois is significantly taller and broader than you are, Avalonian metal will be used to reconstruct the bones to more suit his body type.”
Uther paled at this. “Perhaps this is too dangerous?”
“Nonsense, we do it
