Twisted Metal (48 page)

So who had erected this display, and why? So close to the northern coast of Shull . . .

He looked up to the faded green plastic of the roof. It was old, of course, but plastic did not last that long. That roof had been constructed in the last hundred years or so. The building would be older than that. Much older . . .

He looked closer at the walls further up by the roof. He saw slots there, spaces for beams and supports to be plugged in. This building wasn’t originally a museum, he decided. Had the robot display come later?

He turned around, scanning the walls for more clues, and then he noticed the patterns carved into the wall, opposite the door by which he had entered. They had been there all along, but he had been too taken by the display of robots to notice it. Now he moved back to take in the huge diagram that filled one whole interior wall of the building.

He gazed up at it, trying to make sense of what he saw. Circles, lines, dots, all in a half swirl, engraved into the smooth metal. For a moment, he considered going outside and summoning Eleanor for help, wondered if she might understand, just as she had with the patterns engraved on the building’s exterior, but then, just like that, it all made sense. The pattern revealed itself.

It was an astronomical map. Here, at the side, was the Sun, then the first planet, Siecle, and then Penrose with its two moons, Zuse and Néel. And further out, Bohm with its single ring. All drawn to a larger scale, their position in the galactic map clearly marked. And over here, almost at the centre of the map, another system was marked. This system sat at the centre of a large circle. The Penrose system lay on the circumference of that circle.

Other systems were also marked. Some well within the circle, some beyond. Kavan gazed at them, not recognizing any of them.

Maybe he would return here later with an astronomer.

An astronomer? He gazed back up at the slots incorporated in the facing walls of the building. Now he knew what this building had been originally: an observatory. Those slots had held the mechanism that supported the telescope.

So, the robots at the top of the world had come here to Shull to look at the stars. And this is what they had seen, engraved on one wall of the building. What then? Had they taken down their telescope and installed this exhibit instead? Why? What could they have seen in the stars that would have caused them to do that?

Kavan looked at that plastic roof again. The exhibit had come much later, he was sure of that. This building reminded him of a battleground. A battle between two competing philosophies. Perhaps the robots at the top of the world had built it to perpetuate the myth of the Book of Robots. Perhaps other robots had built it to destroy that myth.

Kavan thought about Eleanor again. He should summon her to the building. Maybe she would spot something that he had missed? But he was unwilling to do so. Eleanor was already too unpredictable. What if she were to see something important and not tell him? Then he noticed something else written on the map wall. Something not so carefully engraved as the galactic map, but something written in a different style, carelessly scratched into the wall at robot height.

The Story of Nicolas the Coward
, he read. And then:

The Story of the Four Blind Horses
.

The Story of Eric and the Mountain
.

And then, finally, in much larger letters:

Zuse! The Night Moon! The robots at the top of the world said it was the proof! Treason! But perhaps the Book exists, after all!

He gazed at the words. He had heard the first story, of course. Everyone had. The second sounded vaguely familiar, too. But the third one, Eric and the Mountain. He was sure that he had never heard of that before.

And as for the last words. The night moon? The robots at the top of the world had come here and had looked at the stars, and had found that Zuse was the proof.

Proof of what? Kavan had looked at the night moon nearly every night of his life. It was just a moon, a perfectly normal part of his existence. What could the robots at the top of the world have seen in the stars that led them to believe that their moon was proof of anything?

Slowly, Kavan looked around the room, taking in the map, the display of the bodies, trying to understand what he was looking at.

For the first time in a life built on certainty, he wondered if there were other answers written before him, answers that he had walked past without noticing their presence.

Eleanor

‘What do you think is over there?’ Eleanor asked Karel, gesturing to the northernmost part of the island. ‘Shall we go and have a look?’

‘What about Kavan?’ asked Karel.

Eleanor laughed. ‘Kavan has led an army that has conquered an entire continent. I’m sure he’ll be okay on his own in some old building for a few minutes.’

She began to walk down the northern slope of the island towards the sea. Pale yellow sun broke through the clouds and bathed her in its light.

She could hear the tread of metal on rock as Karel followed her.

‘I thought as much,’ said Eleanor. ‘Look at that, the way the rock slopes into the sea. Banjo Macrodocious was right. There
is
a road from here to the north, or there was once, anyway. You can see its pattern under the shingle and the shells. It’s been cracked and washed away, but there it goes, heading to the top of the world.’

Karel gazed at it. ‘Do you think we are standing at the beginning or the end?’ he asked.

‘I was wondering exactly the same thing . . .’ she said, and she turned to face him. ‘. . . Brother.’

He gazed back at her, taking in what she had just said.

‘You didn’t really think it was Kavan, did you?’ she said.

‘What are you talking about? I don’t have a sister!’

She looked closer at him, gazed into his yellow eyes. ‘I had wondered. You didn’t even notice that we have the same colour eyes?’

He looked back at her. He knew she was speaking the truth, she realized. Eleanor almost laughed. She knew
exactly
what he was thinking. Of course she did. They both were the same person. Liza had woven them both to be the same, save for that one small variation in the weave . . .

‘I never thought that I was like Kavan,’ said Karel defensively.

‘Yes, you did,’ said Eleanor. ‘You thought that he was your dark side revealed. You thought that you could do all that he has done. You can’t lie to me. I
am
you. Look at me, look at how far I’ve risen within Artemis. All because of the way that our mother wove us. All because some soldier with a gun wanted to know what she really believed. You know what the joke was, though, don’t you? Neither Artemis nor Turing City were what they claimed to be; when it comes to the crunch, hardly any one really believes what they think they believe.’

Karel said nothing.

‘But you and I are different, aren’t we, Brother? Because when that soldier held that gun to Liza’s head he made her do something that neither of them expected . . . You don’t want to believe me, do you? You even hate me a little for what I’m saying. I know why, because I feel it a little myself. Better to be Kavan than to be me. Better the leader than the second-in-command. You’re reduced a little by seeing what you could have become, had you thrown in your lot with Artemis. You’d like to believe you could have gone all the way.’

‘Artemisians are killers. I’d never have supported them.’

‘Yes you would. Look at me: I’m the proof that you would. Come on, Karel, there’s no shame in being second-best. Aren’t you proud of me? Second-in-command isn’t bad. And it helps you to realize just what a genius Kavan is.
We
couldn’t have done what he did. Look at us – we couldn’t even bring ourselves to kill him.’

Karel was whining softly. Eleanor could hear the faintest edge of feedback in the air.

‘You know it’s true, Karel. Think about it, Kavan never knew anything about you. How could he? It was I who told him about the robot with the unknown mind in Turing City. It was I who saved you from your apartment and had you put on that train.’

‘It was you that had Axel killed!’ he shouted.

‘Listen Karel,’ she said, ‘I have no loyalty to your wife or to your child, I only have loyalty to Artemis. And to you. Liza twisted it into me when she made me. Fighting back at her attacker in the only way that she could. That and her little trick with the second child’s sex. How would he tell the difference, until it was too late?’

‘Eleanor?’

They both stopped at the sound of the voice. Kavan had returned.

Karel

Karel and Eleanor turned to gaze at Kavan. How much had he heard?

He didn’t appear to register anything. ‘We return south,’ said Kavan. ‘There is nothing for us here.’

Eleanor and Karel exchanged glances.

‘But what about the Book of Robots?’ asked Karel.

‘The Book of Robots does not exist,’ replied Kavan. ‘There is nothing in that building but what we have always known. Proof of robot evolution.’

‘I don’t believe it,’ said Karel. ‘Let me see.’

‘There is no need to see,’ replied Kavan. ‘I speak the truth. This world is a natural place. There is nothing in that building or anywhere else to suggest otherwise.’

‘Why bring me up here if you’re not going to let me see the building? I have experience of other cultures!’

‘Yes?’ Kavan seemed nonplussed. ‘That experience is valueless. There is only one culture of note, and that is Artemis.’

‘But what about Turing City?’

‘Turing City is no more.’

‘No!’

‘You doubt my word? But you saw what we did there.’ Kavan seemed more confused than annoyed.

‘I want to see what’s in the building!’ repeated Karel.

‘I told you, there is nothing to see. The Book of Robots never existed. It was nothing more than an excuse for subversion, a fairy tale that robots could go beyond the way their wire was twisted by their mothers.’

‘Let me see!’ shouted Karel. Behind him, he was aware of Eleanor, drawing back, bringing them both within the sights of her rifle. Her rifle? He realized at that point he was no longer carrying his own. He had left it lying on the ground, near to the building. He wasn’t a soldier; he wasn’t used to carrying it . . .

Kavan was growing impatient. ‘You will not see the building. We are leaving now.’

‘Nicolas the Coward!’ called Karel, anger rising within him. ‘What is in there that you are hiding?’

‘Nothing. This conversation is at an end.’

The anger that had lain long dormant inside him was surging forth, and it was all the stronger for its slumber.

‘Then what was all this for? You’ve brought us across the continent. You’ve destroyed my city, my life, you killed my child, and for what?’

Kavan stared at him, genuinely puzzled.

‘For what?’ asked Kavan. ‘For Artemis of course.’

Karel kicked at the half-frozen ground. A small stone skittered across the rock.

‘Fight me,’ he said.

‘Karel,’ warned Eleanor. ‘Don’t be silly . . .’

‘Isn’t this what you wanted? For me to kill Kavan for you?’

‘To kill me, Eleanor?’ said Kavan. ‘Don’t you think you can do it yourself?’

‘You know I can’t.’

Karel didn’t care about any of this. ‘Fight me,’ he repeated. ‘Come on. Turing City versus Artemis. We both wear the same bodies, we both believe we’re right. This is about nothing more than our philosophy. This is where we find out which is the stronger.’

Kavan was gazing at Eleanor still. She spoke first. ‘Karel, you’re being ridiculous.’ She drew back further, her gun aimed at the ground. ‘Kavan has worn that body for years. He’s a soldier. You won’t stand a chance.’

‘I don’t care. He killed my son.’

Kavan was growing impatient. ‘This has gone on long enough, Eleanor. Kill him. Or, if you think you can do it, kill me. I’m unarmed. Or if you still consider yourself an Artemisian, follow me.’

At that, Kavan turned and began to walk away southwards.

Eleanor raised her rifle, pointing it first at Kavan, and then at Karel.

‘You coward!’ shouted Karel at the retreating robot’s back. ‘Why won’t you fight me?’ His voice was thick with static.

‘Apologize to him,’ said Eleanor, desperately.

‘Apologize?’ said Karel. ‘For what?’

Kavan had stopped. He turned, impatient.

‘Why do you still waste time? Kill him.’

Eleanor looked down at the rifle she held in her hands like it was the first time she had really noticed it. Dark metal, shining with oil. She had carried it for so long. Now it was as if she was really thinking about what it was for.

‘I . . . I can’t,’ she said. ‘I can’t kill him.’

‘Then give me the rifle and let me do it,’ said Kavan.

The rifle moved ever so slightly in his direction.

‘I can’t do that either, Kavan. He’s my brother. It is woven into my mind to protect him.’