The midnight streets were filled with light and sound. Electric light, burning flares, the shriek of arc lights all heard over the marching of robots: grey infantryrobots running to their positions; the stamp of Storm Troopers, shouldering all aside as they headed to the front. Only the Scouts passed by unheard, a half-seen flash in the night. The pounding of hammers, the rumble of trains: the city was busy building its defences in readiness for Kavan’s attack.
Susan passed amongst the preparation, lost and uncertain where to go, but always moving. It had been so simple to slip away from the making rooms. It was only when she had done so that she realized she had no further plan. She had no idea where Nettie was or how to find her, but she was nonetheless filled with a determination not to return. She kept to the back streets, the narrow alleys, heading vaguely for the centre of the city.
‘Hello there.’
The robot moved unusually quietly for a Storm Trooper. He towered over Susan, his matt black panelling only half seen in the darkness. His body looked newly made, but Susan sensed the mind that rode it was old, and cynical, and evil.
‘A Turing Citizen, I think,’ he said.
‘I’m a mother of Artemis,’ said Susan.
‘Possibly. You’re certainly dressed that way. Shouldn’t you be down in the making rooms?’
‘That’s none of your business,’ she snapped.
The robot leaned closer to her, the lights of its eyes reflecting from her face. She could feel the current from its strong body.
‘You sound angry, but I sense nervousness. I don’t think you should be here at all.’
He moved so quickly, seizing Susan by the hand before she had a chance to jump back.
‘Let go of me,’ she demanded.
‘No,’ it said. ‘That’s not real anger. Too frightened. You shouldn’t be skulking here, in the back streets, should you? And even if you should, who’s going to miss you? As far as I’m concerned you’re just metal for me to do with as I will.’
Susan grabbed his hand and feebly tried to pry his fingers free. The Storm Trooper laughed.
‘Don’t bother! You’re not as strong as I am!’
She was cleverer, though. She unsnapped her wrist and ran, leaving the big robot holding her hand. Brief laughter sounded behind her, and then the clatter of metal feet on the stones as the Storm Trooper ran after her. Where to? Where to? She veered towards the bright lights of the wide street ahead. She could see robots moving there, grey infantryrobots, marching along in ranks. Something grabbed her foot, she tripped and slid into the light, her body sparking on the stones.
She came to a halt bathed in electric streetlight, the stamp of marching feet all around her, a steady stream of infantryrobots marching past in perfect time. And, in the centre of all that motion, stillness. Five faces looking down at her. Infantryrobots.
The Storm Trooper loomed above her, still holding her hand in his.
‘He tried to rape me,’ said Susan. ‘Help me.’
‘Leave,’ said the Storm Trooper. ‘She’s mine.’
It was the wrong thing to say. Five rifles swung from shoulders and pointed at the black robot.
‘Are you telling us what to do?’ asked one of the infantryrobots. The Storm Trooper raised itself up, then it seemed to notice the faces of the other soldiers. Susan got the impression that these were experienced fighters. Their bodies were well worn, covered in a fine tracery of scratches.
‘What’s a mother of Artemis doing roaming the streets with the city preparing for attack?’ asked the Storm Trooper.
‘I was trying to get back to the making rooms and he captured me,’ lied Susan. ‘He dragged me down there. He took my hand…’
‘Give it back to her,’ said the lead infantryrobot.
‘She’s lying!’ The Storm Trooper seemed more amused than angry.
A rifle pointed directly at his head.
‘Give her back her hand!’
The Storm Trooper dropped the hand to the ground. Susan quickly snapped it back into place.
‘I must get back, right now!’ she said, and before anyone could stop her, she turned and ran up the street, losing herself in the crowd of marching robots.
The Storm Trooper’s voice followed her up the road, deep and growling, it cut through the sound of the marching.
‘I’ll be coming for you…’
Susan ran up the street, dodging through the moving ranks. Ahead of her she saw a black phalanx of Storm Troopers, and she dodged down another side alley. She was quickly lost in darkness, the lights of the city vanishing as the buildings enfolded her.
Where was she? This was like no part of the city she had been to before. It seemed so empty, and it took Susan a moment to realize that the area in which she walked was almost completely devoid of metal. Stone buildings ran in every direction. Tall and short, wide and long, crammed together higgledy-piggledy, they seemed ancient and modern and everything in between.
It seemed so strange, so un-Artemisian, in a city that prized utility above all else. She walked through an area without purpose. The current in her body seemed to pulse. Somewhere behind her was the Storm Trooper. She imagined him looking for her now, creeping through the darkness, reaching out to seize her shoulder…
She spun suddenly around. Nothing. Only darkness. She started at a sudden movement, and then relaxed. Just her hearing and vision turned up full and responding to every stimulus.
She walked carefully on, her path defined by the bright stars above her, irregular patches of light over the dark world.
It was so silent, the sound of the hammering and marching had faded to nothing and for the first time in months Susan felt utterly alone. It was a new sort of fear, different to that instilled by her capture by Artemisian troops. This was the fear of the strange, the unknown. The fear of asymmetric streets under starlight, the fear of empty windows and hollow buildings.
Ahead of her two towers climbed into the night, so tall, their shapes only seen where they occluded the stars. There was something so unsettling about them, she wanted to avoid them, but now all the side roads seem to have vanished. She could either walk towards them, or back into the arms of the Storm Trooper.
The two towers seemed so sinister, but there was nowhere else to go. They rose higher into the sky as she approached them; they loomed over her.
She found herself walking between them.
‘I’m coming…’
The Storm Trooper! It was almost a relief to hear the words, their distant menace a thread of familiarity to lead her from this strange night. Keep away from him, but don’t get lost in this empty, silent place.
She felt the metal door to her side. In the middle of all this stone, its presence seemed amplified. She found herself walking towards it without thinking. It was a stupid thing to do, she realized later. Where else but in here would the Storm Trooper think to look for her? But nonetheless she found herself placing her hand on it, feeling for the catch through the metal, opening it.
She edged into the darkness beyond and pushed the door close, shutting out the city beyond.
As she did so she heard the movement in the room behind her.
She turned around.
Yellow eyes illuminated the darkness.
Wa-Ka-Mo-Do summoned two dressing women and made his way to the Copper Master’s forge. There he stripped away his panelling and allowed the women to clean him, to adjust his electro-muscle, to work smooth the roughened bearings, to gently oil him. Red coal light filled the room, white flame flared, pumped by the leather bellows. There was the gentle knock and clank of metal on metal.
The armourer was summoned; she opened a black metal case before him. Inside was a display of pistols
