stars.
‘Why am I here?’
‘Commander?’
‘All that is happening in Sangrel at the moment. In Yukawa… What’s that?’
It took a moment longer for the captain and the rest of the army to hear it: a thrumming, drumming noise.
‘It sounds like an army attacking the sky with their swords,’ said Wa-Ka-Mo-Do.
A low droning sounded, and then a pattern of lights awoke in the night.
‘Human machines,’ said the captain. ‘I’ve seen them before, in the distance.’
The noise grew louder, Wa-Ka-Mo-Do’s body reverberated to it.
‘They’re coming towards us.’
‘Not us,’ said Wa-Ka-Mo-Do. ‘They’re heading for Sangrel.’
Now he could make out dark shapes against the bright stars. Lumpy objects that hung sullenly in the sky, bristling with spikes.
‘They’re carrying guns,’ he realized. ‘Have these craft ever been seen around Sangrel before?’
‘No,’ said the captain.
‘You know,’ mused Wa-Ka-Mo-Do out loud. ‘All is harmony in the Empire…’ He knew it was a lie, but he wanted to follow this thought to the end. ‘But there are other lands on Penrose. Primitive, backward lands. Each inhabited by their own race of robots.’
‘Yes, Honoured Commander?’
They watched as the craft droned slowly past. The cockpits were illuminated by faint light, and they could just make out the shape of the animals sitting in there.
‘Even in the Empire there are those robots who dissent,’ continued Wa-Ka-Mo-Do. ‘Look at the events this night. The humans arrived here and we naturally assumed they are all of one tribe. But why should they be any different to us?’
He almost had it. The answer was almost there. The thought of Ell sprang into his mind, of the train taken over by the Silent Wind. What did the Emperor know that he wasn’t telling? It was obvious now.
‘What if there are several tribes of humans here?’
As he spoke, five flares lit themselves at the same time, five streaks of flame leaped from the flying craft, streaking forward towards the illuminated city on the mound to the north.
‘What are they?’ asked the captain. But they both knew the answer. Five explosions rumbled in the distance.
‘They’re attacking Sangrel,’ said Wa-Ka-Mo-Do.
Artemis City sat in the middle of the wide plain of Artemis. The city was visible from miles away, its great bulk a brooding presence in the distance, a constant reminder of the ultimate power on the continent of Shull.
There was no avoiding the fact of its existence. By day, the sunlight reflected on the windows of the Centre City, black streamers of smoke pumped from the chimneys of the forges trailed across the sky. By night the lights of its streets sparkled like a diadem around the red and gold flames of the fires that burned hot in the brick foundries.
Artemis City, the biggest concentration of power and metal and force on the entire continent.
It seemed that most of the robots of Shull were converging on it, marching by day and night.
The city had become the target for every grievance, grudge and dream on the continent. Even the railway lines seemed affected: where once they had seemed to spread across the land, carrying Artemis across the continent, now they seemed to converge upon the city.
Kavan had divided the Uncertain Army into two wide columns. It had been his original intention to plunge the army straight into the heart of the city, but, in consultation with Ada, that plan had changed. Calor and the other Scouts had brought him word of other troops, also marching. There were robots heading towards the city from all directions. The remnants of Stark, armoured divisions who had long waged guerrilla war against Artemis from the central mountain range, were approaching the city from the west. A company had emerged from the sea near Turing City State and were marching north. And then there was Goeppert and the robots who had joined them from Raman and Born. ..
Kavan spoke a lot with Goeppert and Ada as they marched south, the Uncertain Army raising trails of dust into the bright sky. They were discussing tactics, constantly updating their plans on the basis of information brought to them by Calor and the rest.
It looked like it was going to be a siege, not that Kavan should have expected anything else from Spoole and the Generals. Actually, it was a sensible tactic on their part. They held the advantage. This land had long been stripped almost bare by Artemis. The little metal that remained was now being removed too. Kavan saw the last trains retreating ahead of them, loaded up with coal and ore and the disassembled parts of the few scattered forges and factories that had lain on this plain. After they had passed by, the railway lines themselves were taken up and pulled back into the city.
‘How much further?’ Kavan asked Calor.
‘One day’s travel. You’ll be there tonight.’
‘What will I find?’
‘There are three huge moats dug around the city, one inside the other. They have left troops marooned on the banks of the trenches, conscripts mostly.’
‘Good. If we lay bridges to them, then they will join us.’
‘There are Storm Troopers amongst them, Kavan. They will make them fight to the death, one way or another.’
‘Is there no way around the moats?’
‘None. The city is completely isolated. Beyond the trenches, they have built a wall of iron. One hundred feet high and twenty feet thick.’
‘It won’t be solid iron,’ laughed Ada. ‘That would be ten and a half million cubic feet of iron per mile!’
Calor glanced at Ada and buzzed in frustration.
‘Go on, Calor,’ said Kavan.
She turned back to Kavan. ‘Every three hundred feet there is a guard tower, and on each tower there are cannons.’
‘I wonder how the people within the city feel about that? They will know that hiding behind walls is not Nyro’s way.’
The morning was bright and still cold from the night. It felt good to march across the flat plain, electromuscles pleasantly cool, the ground firm beneath his feet. Despite the fact he had rarely been there, Kavan felt as if he was coming home. The other robots felt it too, he was sure. There were so many of them, they were marching with a purpose towards Artemis City. They could see it in the distance, like a ship sailing across a calm sea, trailing smoke behind it.
‘There are already soldiers taking up positions around the city,’ said Calor.
‘Where have they come from?’
‘Some of them are your own troops, Kavan. Scouts and infantry-robots who have gone ahead of the pack. Some of them have just turned up on their own.’
‘And what have the people in the city done?’
‘Nothing, as yet. A few stray shots, the odd canon shell.’
‘Then they’ve lost already,’ said Kavan. ‘If I were in that city I would have sent out a party of soldiers to wipe out small concentrations of the enemy before they had a chance to set up their positions. Why make things easy for them?’
‘They can’t come out,’ said Calor. ‘They are trapped behind their own moats.’
‘There are no drawbridges?’
‘There isn’t even a gate in their iron wall.’
‘Then they’ve not only locked us out, they’ve locked their own robots in.’
