bad in their bodies, they can’t omit the flaws when they make themselves, like a robot would.’
‘I know,’ said Kavan. ‘But look at that. How can they be so stupid and so clever at the same time? It’s like they’ve handed us a loaded gun.’
And then the train was upon them. It made far less noise than Kavan had expected, so smoothly did it cut through the air. There was virtually no engine noise, just that shrill whistling.
‘If only I could examine one of those motors,’ said Ada wistfully. ‘It’s impossible to stop one of those trains without destroying it. They move so fast. And as for the fuel it’s carrying…’
There was a zip and the train passed. The engineer followed its course, thinking.
‘No,’ said Ada. ‘We don’t need it. We can make a good enough copy for our own purposes.’
‘Very well,’ said Kavan.
‘Okay, time to get down there.’
Ada and her engineers were up and gone. Four of them ran down the tracks, measuring, touching the rails, looking up at the wires that looped overhead, talking all the while. Calor stalked up and down the gravel nearby, kicking stones, expending the energy that constantly built up within her.
‘Okay!’ called Ada. ‘Bring it down.’
It took four engineers to carry the device down to the tracks. They pointed its nose towards distant Artemis City.
‘Nice and straight,’ said Ada. ‘A good test.’
Twenty minutes until the next train. More than enough time.
‘Do you think it will work?’ called Calor, skittish with underuse.
‘It doesn’t matter what I think,’ said Kavan. ‘I’m not an engineer.’
They looked down at the device Ada and her team had put together. It was about as long as two robots lying end to end, and shaped like the blade of a knife.
‘Ada, I’m impressed,’ said Kavan. ‘Barely two weeks since you first saw a flying machine, and already you’ve built this.’
‘We wondered whether to place the eyes on top or underneath,’ said Ada, modestly, as she lifted a flap and adjusted a lever inside. ‘In the end we put them below. We thought that it could watch the ground, fly closer to it that way.’
Kavan crouched down to look under the machine. He saw two blue eyes there, midway along the smooth underside of the device.
‘The engine design is our own. We tried to copy the animals’ designs, but there are too many unknowns. We can’t make the alloys they can, we can’t refine fuel so well.’
‘Are they cleverer than us, Ada?’
‘I don’t think so. But they’ve had to work harder than we have to stay alive. They’ve needed to develop faster than us: they are such fragile creatures.’
‘Perhaps,’ said Kavan, and he looked once more at the device. ‘Still, you’ve done well. Out here on the plain, constantly moving, and you manage to build this.’
‘That’s the difference between us and the animals,’ said Ada. ‘I’ve been thinking about it. Animals need food and water. They will naturally congregate around sources of both. Rivers, fields. They will stay there, like young robots around the family forge. You’ve heard what the Scouts say. The animals have set up base near Artemis City.’
Kavan said nothing, but he was surprised. It was unusual for an engineer to even notice a Scout, never mind listen to what they had to say. Things were changing…
‘Well, there could be good reasons for that.’
‘Maybe there are, Kavan. You should know, you’re the leader, you’re the strategist. But staying in one place has never been your tactic, has it? You’re constantly on the move, constantly on the attack. If you’d landed on this planet you’d be halfway across the continent by now, making new soldiers as you went.’
‘Maybe…’
‘Look at us! They chased us away from Artemis City. You didn’t make a new base, you spread out your army! All those little cells across the land, planning, moving, waiting for the next assault.’
‘You understand that, Ada?’ said Kavan in surprise. ‘You can see that?’
‘Why not? The animals are here, and there are a whole set of new engineering problems to think about. Isn’t it great?’
Kavan gazed at her. Sometimes he just didn’t know what other robots were thinking.
‘Ten minutes to the train,’ said Calor, still dancing back and forth. Kavan looked at the blunt arrow shape, lying on the tracks. ‘Has your device seen enough?’
‘I think so,’ said Ada.
‘Okay. Let’s go,’ said Kavan. ‘We don’t want the animals to get suspicious. Keep moving, keep preparing.’ He looked at the device.
‘Is it ready? Can we send the plans to the other engineers?’
‘I think so,’ said Ada.
‘Yes!’ shouted Calor, swiping her blades through the air.
‘Take Mivan’s mind,’ said Ada. ‘He’s got as good an understanding as anyone.’
Mivan knelt down and another engineer carefully removed his mind from his blue body. He handed it to Calor, who turned without a word and sped off south, heading to another of the small groups that were dotted around the border of the Artemisian plain.
‘What about Artemis City?’ asked Ada. ‘Are you sure about them?’
‘Oh yes,’ said Kavan, watching Mivan’s former body being disassembled by the other engineers. They stored the parts in the large bags they carried around with them. ‘You know machines, Ada, I know war. There will be many robots in Artemis City who are unhappy about the animals. Some of them will follow us when the time comes.’
‘I hope there will be enough.’
Susan
The sound of stamping feet came closer. Suddenly they halted, and a voice called out.
‘Spoole! We have an order for your arrest, authorized by General Sandale. You are hereby charged with treason against the Artemisian State.’
‘Fools!’ said Spoole. ‘There’s only one way out of this place. They should have waited at the top for us, and then captured us as we left!’
‘What are we to do?’ asked Susan, terrified.
‘Use our minds.’
Spoole was already setting off up the stairs, heading towards the troops.
‘Fools,’ he repeated, eyes glowing with anger. ‘This is what comes of never having fought for yourself!’
Up another flight of steps, the sound of voices and feet coming closer, and then, just when Susan thought she would meet their pursuers, Spoole headed into a side room and descended the steps in there, following a different branch of the binary tree.
‘Quiet!’ he said, holding up a warning finger.
Susan listened as the sound of footsteps came closer.
‘We’re looking for a robot named Nettie!’
She heard the colourless reply. ‘If that robot exists, its record will be down those steps.’
They heard the clattering of footsteps receding.
‘They know about Nettie!’ said Spoole. ‘The Storm Trooper must have overheard us. Now, quietly!’
Susan and Spoole retraced their steps, heading back to the surface, ears turned up full to listen for steps behind them, steps ahead of them. Spoole spoke so softly that Susan only heard the buzzing as she touched his metal shell.
‘So stupid,’ he kept repeating. ‘So, so stupid!’
The unfused robots watched in silence as they passed, their grey eyes showing no interest or curiosity. The brickwork became older as they approached the surface. Spoole paused, listening.
‘No one behind us,’ he said. ‘Only Geraint ahead. Come on.’
He climbed the last set of steps, up to the top. Geraint was waiting, rifle pointed at Spoole.
