equals.’
Cho-Lee had a well-made body, reflected Wa-Ka-Mo-Do. Polished and humming with energy. He was a good fighter.
‘Cho-Lee, please remember, I am one of the Eleven. Step aside and allow me to pass. This is the order of the Commander of Sangrel, the ultimate authority in this city.’
Cho-Lee looked down at the smaller robot.
‘You are in charge, Honoured Commander?’
‘Of course I am.’ Wa-Ka-Mo-Do saw Cho-Lee’s expression clear. ‘You know that, Cho-Lee.’
Cho-Lee lowered his sword.
‘Then I apologize for my actions.’
‘Apology accepted. You serve in good faith Cho-Lee. Now, I have new orders for you. No one is to pass these doors while I am in this room. Do you understand, Cho-Lee?’
‘I understand, Honoured Commander.’
The guard drew to one side, and Wa-Ka-Mo-Do pushed open the iron door.
He entered the radio room.
Karel
Karel and Melt were walking south into the summer. The grass was changing, little yellow and white faces emerged from amongst the green stalks. They watched them as they passed by.
‘The mountains look so beautiful in the sun,’ said Karel, deliberately ignoring the organic life.
Melt said nothing. Never the most talkative of robots, he spoke even less as they approached the central mountain range. Karel guessed he was exhausted by his travels. Despite her madness, Levine had done a good job of scraping away metal in that mine up near the village of Klimt, but he was still too big and heavy. Melt had walked nearly five hundred miles. Karel doubted he himself could walk one mile in that heavy body.
‘I last saw these mountains when I was driving a train,’ he continued, pleased by the sterility of the stone ahead. It would be so good to leave behind the feel of soil beneath his feet. ‘Artemis placed my mind inside a locomotive, you know. I could only see straight ahead. It was winter then…’
‘It will be winter somewhere now,’ said Melt. ‘Down in the real south, below the equator. Everything balances out in this world. When summer approaches in the north, winter approaches in the south. When there is happiness in the spring, there is sorrow in autumn.’
Karel was intrigued. Melt rarely admitted to anything.
‘Does it?’ asked Karel. ‘Do you really believe that?’
‘I wish it were true,’ said Melt, sadly.
Karel waited, wondering if Melt would add anything else. Nothing.
‘Have you been to the real south?’ asked Karel. ‘Have you been below the equator?’
‘There’s been fighting ahead,’ said Melt. ‘Look.’
They saw the scars in the ground ahead, ragged gashes of earth amongst the green grass.
‘Kavan,’ said Karel. Their journey to Artemis City was along a path of rumour built on the words exchanged with robots heading north. Those deserters from Spoole’s and Kavan’s armies had told them of this battle, warned them of the destruction, the unexploded shells, the booby traps. Karel and Melt had tried to keep their own company, but more then once they had found themselves hiding with other robots, watching the newly formed militias and bandits that now stamped and bullied their way across the land. Those other lone robots had told them of the little armies and forces that had set up camp in the mountains, each ruling and fighting over their own tiny territories.
Now they were almost there.
‘This must be where Spoole and Kavan faced off, here at the edge of the mountains,’ said Karel, looking up at the distant ledges. They would make a good place to set guns.
‘The road beyond here will be booby trapped,’ said Melt. ‘That’s what I would have done, if I were Spoole, fleeing the battlefield.’
‘And you were a soldier,’ said Karel. ‘So what should we do now, then?’
‘We should leave this path. There are still bodies ahead. So much metal will attract attention, especially in these empty lands.’
Indeed, there was movement in the distance. Peering ahead, between the flanks of the mountains, they saw robots moving about.
‘Why would they bother us, when there is so much metal freely available?’
‘Probably they wouldn’t. But they could capture us, enslave us.’
‘Then we’ll have to fight them. This path is the only one that I know of through these mountains.’
They walked on. Into the battlefield proper. The ground here was torn apart, the earth and vegetation and stones mixed together in an uneven mush. Metal was strewn everywhere. Broken, abandoned. Parts of bodies, some of them covered in a light patina of rust.
‘There must have been so much easy salvage,’ said Melt.
‘These pieces will go too,’ said Karel. ‘These mountains were full of little tribes and kingdoms. They’ll all come creeping back now that Artemis has withdrawn.’
On and on they walked, approaching the pass. They joined the course of a set of railway lines, stepping from sleeper to sleeper.
There was a robot standing in the middle of the tracks. He stood, waiting for them as they approached.
‘Hello,’ he said. ‘My name is Simrock. Which way shall I go?’
‘Whichever way you like,’ said Melt, making to push his way past. Simrock held out his arms.
‘I don’t know which way I like.’
‘You’re Spontaneous, aren’t you?’ said Karel. ‘Where did you come from?’
‘From the mountains. I walked up from the depths, following the paths of those who had gone before me.’
‘Spontaneous?’ said Melt. He seemed angry. ‘There is no such thing!’
‘Of course there is,’ said Karel, puzzled at the big robot’s reaction. ‘I used to work with them, back in Turing City. I was an immigration officer…’
Simrock’s eyes glowed.
‘Turing City,’ he said. ‘Yes. I know about Turing City.’
‘Then you have taken a long time coming to the surface. Turing City was destroyed by Artemis five months ago.’
‘He’s a liar,’ said Melt. ‘How could he know about Turing City, if he was formed deep down?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Karel. ‘They just do. Melt, what is the matter? I’ve never seen you so angry.’
It was true. The leaden man had clenched his fists, such was the power running through him.
‘Nothing. I’m okay. I’m fine.’
‘Very well,’ said Karel, doubtfully. He turned to the other robot. ‘What do you do, Simrock? What’s your purpose?’
‘What do I do? I look for the body of Nicolas the Coward. It will be useful in these times.’
‘Nicolas the Coward was just a story,’ said Karel. ‘If he ever did wear an adamantium body, then it would have been found long ago. Anyway, how did he swap his mind from one body to another without any help?’
Simrock tilted his head. ‘There was more than one person there, obviously. When Nicolas’s wife wove the story into their child, she altered the details.’
Melt tugged at Karel’s arm.
‘Why are we wasting our time with this robot? Come on, your wife is waiting for you.’
‘Hold on, Melt. What’s the matter with you?’
‘I told you, nothing!’
‘I don’t believe you.’
‘Then don’t. But why waste your time with this robot?’
‘Maybe we can help each other. Simrock, do you know a way through the mountains?’
‘He doesn’t even know where he is!’
‘No, he doesn’t know which way to go. There’s a difference. Where are you now, Simrock?’
‘Just north of the central mountain range.’
