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.
‘You summoned them,’ said Spoole. He sounded more disappointed than anything else.
‘Sorry, Spoole. I was ordered to report if you ever came here.’
‘Do you know what they’re doing, Geraint? They are weaving robot minds to serve the animals. They are weaving minds that do not follow Nyro!’
Geraint hesitated.
‘It’s true,’ said Susan. ‘Go downstairs and ask the robot!’
‘I’m sorry, Spoole. I am woven to be loyal to Nyro.’
‘Loyal to Nyro, or loyal to the leaders of Artemis?’
Geraint thought about it.
‘The second one.’
‘That was a mistake.’ Spoole looked at Susan. ‘We have got things so badly wrong.’ He turned back to the Storm Trooper, powerful black hands gripping the rifle. The bullet in there would pierce his skull and expand inside his mind, melting the wire as it tore it apart. ‘What are your orders, Geraint?’
‘Arrest you. If you resist arrest, I’m to kill you.’
‘No, I can’t let you do that! Come with me, Geraint, and hear the truth.’
‘I’m sorry, Spoole.’
Geraint raised the gun.
‘Your leaders never fought in battles, Geraint, you know that?’
‘That doesn’t matter.’
‘It does, Geraint. They’d have known never to give a robot a rifle in room as small as this.’
Spoole simply stepped forward, within the length of the barrel.
‘I’m still stronger than you, Spoole.’
‘But I was made to fight, as well as lead.’ He slammed a hand forward into Geraint’s chest, slammed the other up under the robot’s chin. ‘Knock your gyros out of sync for a moment,’ he said, as Geraint wobbled unsteadily on his feet, and he snatched the rifle from his hands, placed the stock on the floor, the barrel pointing up beneath Geraint’s chin, and fired. Blue wire expanded, slippery and sparking. Susan felt the percussion of the shot rattling inside her head: her ears were still turned up to their fullest extent.
‘Sorry, Geraint,’ said Spoole. Below them they could hear the pounding of feet. The other soldiers were coming towards them.
‘Now what?’ said Susan. Spoole told her what to do.
Susan flung open the door to the database. Three infantry-robots waited outside under the bright stars.
‘This way!’ she called.
The infantryrobots saw her grey body, saw she was one of their own, and ran into the building.