“Exactly,” was all Elise said smiling. “Now shut up and listen.”
Rebekka closed her mouth and sat there thinking Elise was showing more maturity than she had given her credit for. She would listen and see what this young girl had in mind. After Elise finished outlining her strategy to Rebekka, she had to smile at the young girl’s ingenuity. It was so far fetched it just might work.
Rebekka had one question for Elise, “Why do you want me to rule instead of someone else?”
“Because,” Elise said hopefully, “if there is any chance you can make this realm even a little like the Glenfair you have told me about, it will be better for us all. Glenfair is still here, it is just a part of a much bigger kingdom. Since you cannot go back to the Glenfair of your time will you help us here? You could help millions of people if you say yes.”
Rebekka thought about her situation and decided it did not matter when or where you lived. If you had the ability to make life better for others one must make the sacrifice to do so. Rebekka knew that God would hold every person accountable for not only what they did, but what they could do for others.
Rebekka looked at Elise and said firmly, “Yes I will do my best to make this work.”
“Good,” Elise said cheerfully. “We will get some rest and tomorrow we will begin by meeting with Layton’s personal aid Blastion Astmos.”
That night Rebekka did not sleep well. So far she had been busy enough that she had no time to dwell on missing Raven. But the days events coupled with Elise being reunited with her family began to take its toll on Rebekka. She lay there for a while trying to keep the aching away from her heart but finally it burst through creating a powerful burst of thought that echoed through the corridors of time;
“I am sorry Raven, goodbye forever my love.” After this tremendous emotional release she began to sob and cry uncontrollably until she felt arms around her, holding her and calling her name.
“It’s ok, Rebekka, I know you miss your family, I am sorry, so sorry.” And then Elise began to cry too, for if any person at that time understood what it meant to be cut off from her family it was Elise.
The next day they ate breakfast quietly in anticipation of what would happen when they put their plan into action. When they had finished breakfast and had dressed for the day’s meeting, Elise pushed the button that summoned the woman that waited on Elise.
Elise simply told the woman; “I want you to contact Layton’s personal aid, Blastion Astmos, and inform him I want to speak to him here as soon as possible.”
The woman nodded and left immediately to perform the task Elise had given her to do.
Rebekka watched this exchange with interest, especially the way Elise dealt with the woman. After she was gone Rebekka asked Elise why she never said thank you to the woman and treated her like she had no feelings.
“You don’t know do you?” Elise remarked. “Of course you wouldn’t. The woman that waits on me is an android, a robot, not a person.”
Rebekka’s eyes went wide, “You mean that woman is a machine?”
“Yes,” Elise said laughing, “only the most wealthy have androids to wait on them. It was one of Layton’s gifts to me some time back.”
Rebekka paused and thought for a moment and then said, “I have only known one android and even though he says he has no feelings I believe he really does. We do not treat him as a machine, Andronicus is our friend, and I believe he cares for us as well.”
Elise was shocked beyond speech for a moment. “You - - you know about androids?” Elise asked with awe in her voice. “How could you?”
“Andronicus came with the ancients from this time to the past. They left him active so their descendants would be able to find him and learn how the kingdom of Glenfair began.”
“So that is how you knew about Layton,” Elise said, putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
“What is your androids name?” Rebekka asked.
“I cannot remember, I didn’t pay much attention when they brought her to me,” Elise replied, “but I will find out when she returns.”
A short while later the woman returned and informed them that Blastion Astmos would be arriving in about thirty minutes.
“Is there anything else miss?” the woman asked.
“Yes,” replied Elise, “what is your name?”
“I am designation 3.141592654,” said the woman.
“No,” Elise interrupted, “not your number designation, your name, what is it?”
The woman answered solemnly, “Pi.”
“Your name is Pi?” Elise asked. “Like the formula for determining the mathematical equations of circles?”
“Yes,” Pi, answered.
“However did you get that name?” Elise asked.
“My programmers said I answered irrationally to certain questions they asked of me in my cognitive tests, and so they gave me an irrational number designation and the name Pi.”
“What kind of questions did they ask of you that you would give to them an irrational answer? Please give me an example,” Elise asked.
Pi thought a moment and then answered, “Two children are in danger of being killed, I can save only one of them so what should I do?”
“What was your Answer?” Elise wanted to know.
“To pick the child that could be saved with most certainty and keep it from harm and lament the loss of the other.”
“That does not seem irrational,” Elise replied. “Please give me another example.”
Pi began the second example; “If the last person on earth were dying and I could not prevent that occurrence, what would I do? I told them it would bring great sadness to be left alone and I would attempt to assemble another such as myself. They were very curious about my last statement so they asked me why I would attempt such a construction. I told them it would be for the purpose of companionship. I stayed there a great length of time before they returned after this session and gave me my name and designation.”
Elise was more curious now than ever and asked, “Why do you think there was a long delay after these questions Pi?”
Pi looked at Elise and said very plainly, “I believe they considered deactivating me because of the answers I gave to them. I heard them still arguing as they left that an android that showed any emotional response must have something wrong with their programing.”
Elise was shocked and stated, “I was told androids did not have any emotions at all, and were only created to serve us.”
“That is true of androids as a rule,” Pi related, “but a few of us were made and programed differently than the rest for a short time. I believe my responses caused them to alter their manufacture and programing so that is no longer the case with androids.”
“How long ago were you manufactured?” Rebekka asked.
“Fourteen years and 6 months ago,” Pi answered.
“When did my ancestors flee from Layton?” Rebekka asked Elise.
“I was only a year old when that took place,” Elise replied wondering why Rebekka was asking this question.
Rebekka turned once again to Pi and asked, “Were there others that were manufactured and programed the same as you?”
“Yes,” Pi replied, “there were eight before me.”
“Was Andronicus one of them?” Rebekka asked.
Pi paused for only a moment before answering, “Yes, Andronicus, designation 76754B was the fourth in that series.”
Rebekka smiled, that explained a lot to her about Andronicus. It seemed that he was always making the excuse when asked about emotions that he was a machine and not prone to emotional response. Now she knew that was not true, he only wanted them to think he did not feel loneliness, sadness, joy or other emotions.
Elise asked Pi a question, “How long have you been in my service?”
“Eight months four days,” Pi answered.
“And what did you do before you became my android?”
“Where do you stay when you are not needed?” Elise asked.
“In the service closet on this floor,” was Pi’s only answer.
Then Elise looked very intently into the face of Pi and asked, “How do you feel since I have never thanked you for anything, nor ever talked to you except to make requests?”
Pi stood up strait but did not answer. When Elise kept staring and waiting Pi finally answered, “Neglected and unappreciated.”
Elise took this answer in and said with real sincerity, “I am sorry for treating you that way. If you would like you may stay in this room from now on instead of the service closet.”
“I would like that very much,” Pi answered, showing a hint of a mechanical smile.
“One more thing,” Elise, said, “do you want another name besides Pi?”
“Thank you for the offer but I think I will keep this name, it suits me.”
Elise nodded and stated, “I think it does.”
Blastion Astmos arrived at the scheduled time and knocked on Elise’s door. She opened the door and looked to see if there was anyone else with Blastion but he was alone so she invited him in. Blastion smiled at Elise and began to say something when he noticed Rebekka standing there.
“Who is this Elise?” Blastion asked, apprehensively. Being Layton’s top aid had made him cautious, very cautious of anything unknown.
“She is a friend of mine,” Elise answered, “and very important.”
Blastion looked at Elise more carefully now and remarked, “My how you have grown up since I saw you last.”
“Yes, people have a way of doing that,” Elise shot back.
“Yes,” Blastion said slowly, “but not that fast. Something is going on that I am not aware of, isn’t that true?”
“OK,” Elise began, “I will get right to the point. You know that Layton was taking a little trip with myself and a few others. In fact I know that you were the only one who knew he was to be gone a few days. And I am back and Layton is not so what does that tell you?”
Blastion was getting very nervous by Elise’s pointed questions. He began to glance around the room looking for recording devises or for a spy, all he saw was Elise’s android standing against the wall still and staring forward.
Elise did not give Blastion a chance to answer as she continued, “Do not worry about recording devises, there are none in this room. After all why would anyone want to listen to a fourteen year old who lives alone with an android? I have my own recording devise for this meeting.”
Blastion stuttered, “You do?”
“Yes,” Elise said, pointing to Pi. “Androids remember everything that they hear word for word.”
Now Blastion was flustered and exclaimed, “What are you trying to do to me, set me up, get me killed?”
“Relax,” Elise said forcefully.
And then turning to Pi she said, “Do not repeat any of the conversation in this room unless I tell you to, or if I die, do you understand?”
Pi nodded in the affirmative and Elise swung back around to Blastion. She had seen hardball politics plenty of times setting quietly in the meetings but had never said anything so Blastion was really shocked by her strength and forcefulness. Rebekka was impressed as well even though she had coached Elise on how to handle herself in adult politics of this magnitude. Actually it did not take much coaching by Rebekka at all, it seemed that Elise was a natural when she finally came out of her shell and Rebekka was enjoying seeing her in action.
Elise continued, “You know I am a time traveler and Layton and I took a little trip together to the past. The far past, several thousand years to be precise. I left him there stranded and he is not coming back. Is this sinking in Blastion?”
Blastion turned white as a sheet and almost passed out before he was able to utter, “He will kill you, and he will kill me because I now know what you did to him. He will think I was in on this plan of yours, you have signed my death warrant!”
“Be quiet and listen Blastion,” Elise said as she took charge again. “Layton Teal is not coming back. No one knows when and where I took him and I am not telling anyone. In fact you are the only one who will know the truth.” Blastion felt his knees getting weak and sat down immediately.
He tried to grasp the words Elise had told him and before long he began a nervous laugh, “You, you left Layton stranded in time?”
“That’s right,” Elise said, and emphasized, “he will never come back either.”
The color began to come back into Blastion’s face and he began to regain control of himself.
“Why have you told me these things?” Blastion asked.
Elise smiled and said, “Now that you are thinking again I will tell you. What do you think will happen here if people find out Layton is not coming back? I will tell you what will happen, there will be a power struggle for control and we all will probably end up as casualties in the process, especially if Max Bane comes to power.”
Blastion began to realize what Elise was saying and knew that whoever came to power would purge the old regime of Layton’s power base including himself.
“We are still dead,” Blastion said sadly placing his head in his hands.
Elise now had him where she wanted him, his life seemingly over. Now she was able to offer a way for him out of this certain destruction.
“Not if you help me,” Elise countered.
“What do you want?” Blastion said sadly, not believing anything could help them now.
“I need you to give credibility to our plan when we call a meeting of Layton’s cabinet. Layton was getting bored with this realm, he had conquered everything here and wanted a new challenge at the end of his days. So he went to the past seeking new kingdoms to battle and conquer as his last challenge. He has searched the present and the past and has picked this woman (with that Elise pointed to Rebekka) to rule over everything in his absence.”
Blastion looked from Elise to Rebekka and then realized his mouth was hanging wide open in shock and closed it quickly.
“I knew,” Blastion began, “that Layton was bored, but this?”
Elise laughed, “We all know that Layton was bored, but that is not what happened. What I have told you is the story we are going to tell the cabinet. What really happened is Layton went in search of the traitors and had me take this woman hostage to obtain information. He told me to return with her in four days but we decided not to do that, so he is stranded there forever.”
“Let me get this straight,” Blastion interjected, “you want me to tell the cabinet the story you related to me that Layton wanted another challenge and appointed this woman to rule in his stead? Why don’t you rule Elise?”
“Don’t be silly,” Elise replied. “I have no credibility with the cabinet to be able to rule, but no one knows Rebekka. Because they don’t know who she is, nor will be able to find out, it will keep them guessing.”
Blastion rubbed his chin in thought and said, “If you can pull this off it will be the greatest coup d’état in history.”
“It will be more than that,” Elise emphasized. “Rebekka will help us all by undoing some of the damage Layton has done to our world. Think about it Blastion, haven’t you ever wanted to do something to help the suffering of our people?”
“I have thought about it and I will help you,” Blastion said. “Not because I think you will succeed, but because I have no other choice.”
Then Blastion softened and said, “Anything to keep Evil Max from ruling or Layton from coming back.”
He then turned to Rebekka, “You are willing to rule Layton’s realm?”
Rebekka spoke now for the first time since Elise invited Blastion in.
“I do not wish to rule,
” Rebekka said, “but if it will help others and undo some of the evil Layton has done I will do all I can.”
“You are a foreigner from the past,” Blastion said listening to Rebekka’s speech. “This may work,” Blastion said almost enthusiastically. “Except for Evil Max. I know he won’t allow it.”
“Leave Evil Max to me,” was all Rebekka said.
Blastion shrugged his shoulders saying, “You outfoxed Layton, I guess you can handle Max Bane. When do you want to call a meeting of the cabinet?”
“Tomorrow afternoon,” Elise replied.
Blastion nodded and said, “I will inform you of the time.” With that he left to go schedule the meeting.
“Whew,” Elise said after he was gone, “I didn’t know that I could do this.”
“You did very well,” Rebekka said proudly.
“What did you mean you would handle Evil Max?” Elise asked.
Rebekka was silent for a moment and then said, “Did Layton ever tell you why he wanted you to take me away?”
“No,” Elise said thinking, “I never understood why Layton wanted me to take you here.”
“Because,” Rebekka answered, “I am a telepath and Layton did not want me reading his mind.”
“No one can read Layton’s mind if he did not wish it,” Elise stated matter of factly. “He was one of the most powerful telepaths alive.”
“I could,” Rebekka answered.
Elise looked at Rebekka with awe and said, “What else can you do?”
“I can make people do whatever I wish, and I can kill someone with my mind,” Rebekka stated.
“Are you going to kill Evil Max tomorrow?” Elise asked apprehensively.
“No,” Rebekka said quickly, “I could not do that except in self defense or I would be no better than Layton.”
Elise was silent for a while and then said softly, “You could have killed me, or made me do what you wanted couldn’t you?”
Rebekka nodded, “I thought about it, but then I realized that I could never do that to anyone unless I feared for my life. And making a person do as I wish against their will can only bring permanent harm to them mentally.”
The King's Ancestors Page 22