‘If they are loyal to Spoole they will shoot you!’
‘Then I will fight them.’
At that Calor looked up along the top of the rocky slope, looked back behind them. She laughed.
‘Ah. I begin to understand. Kavan, the master tactician. You have more troops, more weapons. Hidden just out of sight.’
Kavan halted so suddenly that Calor almost tripped over him. She watched, puzzled, as he squatted down by the stream that ran alongside the path. He dipped his hand into the water, it looked blue as he felt for the rounded pebbles on the bed. The plastic grips at the end of his fingers were worn, he had to scrabble in the churning water for a handful, but finally he seized them and held them out for Calor to see, water draining from the dents in his panelling.
‘Your claws and a handful of pebbles. These are the only weapons I command now. You are my army.’
Calor nervously extended the blades at her hands and feet once more.
‘But there are only two of us!’ she said. ‘There are hundreds, thousands of soldiers, combing these hills, looking for you. They will kill you if you resist them. Why should I get myself killed too?’
Kavan leaned closer, and she saw the golden glow in his eyes.
‘Why?’ he said softly. ‘Because you know that I am right. Artemis is not a place, Artemis just is. How did your mother weave your mind, Calor? Was she an Artemisian?’
‘Yes!’
‘Then this is where you learn the truth about yourself.’
‘I could kill you now,’ said Calor, a hiss of static in her words. She was moving her bladed hands through the killing pattern. ‘You wear the body of an infantryrobot. I could slice through you before you have a chance to move. I could disable you and carry your mind back to Spoole.’
‘Then why haven’t you done so already?’ asked Kavan. ‘There are many robots who claim to be Artemisians, but their mothers wove their minds to think more of themselves than of the state itself. Are you one of those robots? Some live a long time before they find this out about themselves. You will find out today.’
Calor stilled her killing dance, wondering about what Kavan had said. He stared at her with those golden eyes. Then, slowly, the blades at her hands and feet withdrew.
‘It will be my death, but I will follow you, Kavan.’
‘Arm yourself, then,’ he said, and he handed her a pebble.
How sweetly bloomed the railway station outside the Silent City.
Cherry blossom fluttered down from the branches woven amongst the metal arches of the roof, or was it the metal that was woven around the branches? Wood and metal sprouted from the ground, twisting around each other to form the living canopy of the station. The metal feet of the robots stirred pink petals on the platforms.
Everything looked so normal, so unchanged. It was odd to think that outsiders now walked upon Yukawan soil. And not just outsiders, but animals. Animals that walked upright, like robots. Animals that, if stories were to be believed, had hands and faces. Animals that could think and bend metal to make tools and machines. It was said they had been here for nearly a year, and yet it was odd that so few people had actually seen them. Perhaps they were shy, reflected Wa-Ka-Mo-Do. Perhaps they were embarrassed by the richness and culture of the Empire.
A Shinkansen entered the station in a silent wave of blossom, a white needle threading the living cloth. Petals stuck to the metal shells of the waiting passengers; they slowly fluttered to the ground as the train drew to a halt.
Wa-Ka-Mo-Do opened the door of a carriage for the pretty young female who stood by him on the platform. There was something about the line of her body, the way she had forged simple metals into a harmonious whole.
‘Thank you, warrior,’ she said, eyes lowered. ‘My name is Jai-Lyn.’
‘I am Wa-Ka-Mo-Do.’ He followed her into the corridor. ‘Where do you travel to?’ he asked.
‘Ka. They have need of young women there who can twist children.’
Ka was on the west coast, two hundred miles or so from the High Spires of Wa-Ka-Mo-Do’s home. A whaling city inhabited mainly by the men who followed the steps down from the city to the sea bottom, there to walk the sea bed, hunting the whales, firing their harpoons up at the great creatures as they passed by overhead. They would wrestle with them for hours, tiring them out before dragging the spent bodies down to their waiting awls and cutters. It was tough, dangerous work for strong robots with plenty of lifeforce. Women who could spin new minds were in short supply.
Wa-Ka-Mo-Do found himself and Jai-Lyn an empty compartment. The seats were of carved and varnished wood set with a chevron pattern of rubber grips to stop metal bodies slipping when the train slowed to a halt. Wa-Ka-Mo-Do waited for the young woman to sit down first, admiring her movement as she did so.
‘That’s a well-built body,’ observed Wa-Ka-Mo-Do. ‘You have some ability.’
‘Thank you, warrior.’
‘You will do well in the city.’
She looked pleased at that, smiled such a pretty smile. ‘Do you really think so? I’ve never left the Silent City before. Still, I follow the Emperor’s will.’
A shadow fell across the doorway, and a clear voice sounded out.
‘Clear this compartment for the Emperor’s Warriors, Dar-Ell-Ji-Larriah and Har-Ka-Bee-Parolyn and their wives.’
Jai-Lyn was already rising to her feet, her head lowered so she did not meet the eyes of the great warrior who stood by the door. Wa-Ka-Mo-Do remained seated.
‘This compartment is already occupied by Wa-Ka-Mo-Do of Ko, and his travelling companion Jai-Lyn,’ he said smoothly. He waved a hand to the spare seats. ‘Though you are welcome to join us.’
One warrior gazed at Wa-Ka-Mo-Do in amusement.
‘Wa-Ka-Mo-Do?’ he said. ‘What sort of a name is that?’
‘A warrior’s name,’ replied Wa-Ka-Mo-Do, without heat. ‘Know that I am one of the Eleven sent to the Emperor by the state of Ekrano, newly appointed Commander of the Emperor’s Army of Sangrel, travelling there to take up that position.’ He looked up politely at the tall robot who stood in the doorway. ‘And you are?’
‘Dar-Ell-Ji-Larriah, Warrior of the Silent City.’
With that Dar-Ell-Ji-Larriah stepped into the compartment, and allowed Wa-Ka-Mo-Do and Jai-Lyn to look upon his wonderful body, forged of the finest metal by the craftsrobots of the Silent City. There wasn’t a straight line on him, every curve that made up his perfectly balanced frame would have been patiently formed by the heating and folding and cooling of metal until his body was strong but sprung. His electromuscles would have been knit from the finest wire, his eyes ground by the most skilled lensmen. It was said that the Vestal Virgins modified the minds of the Warriors of the Silent City, tuning them to make faster and better fighters, but Wa-Ka-Mo-Do suspected that to be nothing more than rumour.
‘Did you make that body yourself?’ asked Dar-Ell-Ji-Larriah, insulting Wa-Ka-Mo-Do in the politest of tones.
‘I did,’ replied Wa-Ka-Mo-Do, equally politely. He waved a hand again to the free seats. ‘Now, will you join us? For we are both of equal rank and protocol suggests that it would be unbecoming for warriors to fight so close to the Silent City, particularly on a day such as this when the cherry blossom is so beautiful.’
Dar-Ell-Ji-Larriah laughed as he turned to his companion in the corridor.
‘The cherry blossom is indeed beautiful! And it is also said that the Eleven Warriors place greater value on poetry than they do on fighting!’
‘No,’ said Wa-Ka-Mo-Do. ‘Equal value.’
A look of anger flickered across Dar-Ell-Ji-Larriah’s face.
‘I wonder if it is appropriate for you to contradict me before an inferior?’
‘Jai-Lyn is my travelling companion, and therefore our equal, at least for the length of the journey.’
Jai-Lyn looked frightened.