Blood and Iron

by Tony Ballantyne

  ‘That was Presper Boole,’ said Banjo Macrodocious. ‘Across the way you can see Blaize.’

  Karel looked across the water and saw the other town. It looked much bigger than Presper Boole, and better constructed. The buildings rose higher, they were squarer and topped by spires and towers that gleamed white even under the dull skies.

  ‘Blaize must have been quite impressive in its day,’ he ventured.

  ‘Both cities were,’ said Banjo Macrodocious. ‘I have the memory of them woven into my mind. They were built of the riches that flowed down from the Top of the World.’

  Seeing the spectacular remains of the two cities there, Karel almost believed it was true. That there really were robots at the Top of the World.

  ‘Greetings, Karel.’

  The voice came from somewhere to his side. Karel turned to gaze at the strangest robot he had ever seen. Everything about it was different. The proportions of its body were all wrong: its arms far too long and jointless, they waved and rippled like snakes. Its head was the shape of a droplet of water turned upside down, rounded at the top and then curving inwards and downwards to meet at a sharp point well below its neck. It had two large black hemispheres for eyes, set wide apart, so that Karel gained the impression it could see behind as well as in front. It had a fat body, like a light bulb, bulging at the top and pinched in where the short legs joined on. It didn’t have feet as such, instead four rods curved out from its ankles like blunt claws. They pierced the grass as it walked towards Karel, making him feel deeply uneasy. He quelled the feeling.

  ‘Greetings,’ replied Karel. ‘You must be Morphobia Alligator.’

  Morphobia Alligator bowed in a complicated movement that made Karel’s gyros wobble. The other robot seemed to have joints in all the wrong places.

  ‘You are Karel, yes, yes? Formerly of Turing City, now stateless since the fall of the Northern Kingdom.’

  ‘Were you there?’ asked Karel.

  ‘No, no. But Banjo Macrodocious was. All of them were. When that place was on the brink of collapse, they were sent out to find safer lands so that the knowledge they held in their minds would be preserved. Some of them found me. Strange how old enemies work together in these times.’

  ‘Banjo Macrodocious is your enemy? You don’t believe in the Book of Robots?’

  ‘Oh, we believe what it says is the truth. Oh yes, yes! But that misses the point.’ His eyes brightened, and Karel sensed he was amused. ‘Anyway, I was told that you were nearby. I asked them to bring you to see me.’

  Karel was confused. The robot’s words made little sense. Even its voice sounded wrong, like it was being modulated in a different way. And then Karel noticed the strangest thing about the robot.

  ‘Your body. That metal, what is it?’

  ‘Aluminium,’ said Morphobia Alligator.

  ‘The mythical element?’

  ‘Obviously not a myth.’

  ‘Where are you from?’ Karel looked aghast as realization dawned. ‘You’re from the Top of the World!’

  Wa-Ka-Mo-Do

  They glided on in silence, gazing from the windows. The vast patches of churned brown earth had given way to something even more disturbing.

  ‘Warrior, I have never left the Silent City before. Surely these plants are not natural?’

  ‘They are not,’ replied Wa-Ka-Mo-Do. ‘Not natural to Pen-rose, anyway.’

  The plants were tall as robots, straight green stalks swelling to a cylindrical bulge at the top. They were planted in staggered rows that allowed long views along the green lines as the train rolled past. Wa-Ka-Mo-Do had never seen anything so alien.

  ‘Do you think that the Emperor is aware of what the animals are doing in his kingdom?’ murmured Jai-Lyn in a voice that hummed with static.

  ‘Be quiet, Jai-Lyn,’ warned Wa-Ka-Mo-Do, glancing around the otherwise empty compartment. ‘I am sure the Emperor is aware of all that happens in Yukawa.’

  ‘Then how could he permit this? Those plants should not be here! They look so wrong!’

  Wa-Ka-Mo-Do gazed again at the long rows of green stalks. Some of the bulging tops had peeled back to reveal the yellow segmented fruit that lay inside.

  ‘The rumours are true . . .’ said Jai-Lyn, softly.

  ‘What rumours?’ asked Wa-Ka-Mo-Do.

  Jai-Lyn lowered her eyes, well aware she had said too much.

  ‘Jai-Lyn. What are the rumours?’

  ‘Oh my master! I should not have spoken.’

  ‘But you have. Tell me, Jai-Lyn, what have you heard?’

  Green speckled with yellow flickered by the window. Jai-Lyn stared at his feet as she spoke.

  ‘Oh my master, back in the Silent City, some of the women would service the Emperor’s messengers. Robots who had been the length and breadth of the Empire. They would remove their plating for polishing, they would dip their electromuscle in fine oil and reweave it, they would listen for the singing of the current in the wire, all to ensure the smooth running of the messengers. And sometimes, as they did this, the messengers would speak of what they had seen on their travels.’

  ‘What did they say?’

  ‘What we have seen, warrior. The messengers who had been to the south spoke of whole swathes of land given over to the animals that they might grow crops for themselves.’

  ‘Well, it is true. We can see that for ourselves!’

  Jai-Lyn wore only cheap metal, and yet she moved with an elegant grace. Even looking at the floor, her hands pressed together so nervously, she looked so pretty.

  ‘There was worse, my master,’ continued Jai-Lyn, miserably. ‘For what is land to a robot but a luxury? Crops and cattle help one to live a more comfortable life, but they are not essential.’ She looked around again, to see if anyone was listening. ‘I . . .’

  ‘Go on, Jai-Lyn,’ urged Wa-Ka-Mo-Do.

  ‘I . . . Oh, my master, it cannot be true, but I also heard it rumoured that the animals were to be given mining rights. That the Emperor had granted them leave to take coal and ore from his mines. Oh, I am sorry.’

  She lowered her head now so that it touched her chest. Silence descended, underscored by the sound of the wheels on the track.

  ‘Be very careful that you do not speak these words outside this carriage, Jai-Lyn,’ warned Wa-Ka-Mo-Do. ‘They are highest treason. The Emperor would never allow what you say to be.’

  ‘I know it is true, but that is what I heard, warrior. And it troubled me, for I also heard that the animals had no use for the robots who worked in the mines.’

  ‘No use for them?’ said Wa-Ka-Mo-Do. But he knew what she meant. He had seen the silver machines in the fields. If the animals could make a machine that would plant and tend crops, then surely they could make one that would mine for ore.

  ‘No use, my master. The robots of the mines were cast out to walk the land, with access to neither fire nor forge until their bodies fell apart and they were left broken and unmoving.’

  ‘Be silent, Jai-Lyn!’ He hadn’t meant to shout, but he was rattled by her words. He already nursed doubts about this command; this news only unsettled him further.

  Jai-Lyn had fallen to her hands and knees, her face close to the floor.

  Wa-Ka-Mo-Do centred himself. ‘Be silent,’ he repeated, though more softly. ‘Such things cannot be true. The Emperor is just and wise. He would never countenance such actions.’

  Wa-Ka-Mo-Do had met the Emperor, and had seen him to be neither wise nor just. Surely, though, he would not contemplate this? To give metal to animals?

  ‘Warrior?’ said Jai-Lyn, face still turned to the ground. ‘I’m sorry.’

  Look at me, thought Wa-Ka-Mo-Do. One of the Eleven, taking out his anger on a young unarmed woman. What would those robots of the Imperial Guard think if they were to see me now? They were right. I am uncultured.

  ‘Jai-Lyn. Please get up. I’m sorry I shouted. Here.’

  He bent down and held out his hand, helped her to her feet. He smiled in apology.
r />   ‘Jai-Lyn, will you forgive me?’

  ‘I have nothing to forgive you for, warrior. I shouldn’t have spoken as I did.’

  ‘No. The fault is mine. I commanded you to speak. Please, forgive me.’

  She looked at him hesitantly; more than ever she reminded him of La-Cor, his sister.

  ‘I forgive you,’ she said. ‘Warrior, may I ask you a question?’

  ‘Of course you may.’

  ‘Warrior. You are to command the warriors of Sangrel, are you not?’

  ‘I am.’

  And that feeling of unease returned to Wa-Ka-Mo-Do. Just why was he being sent to command the city?

  ‘Warrior, if you saw injustice in Sangrel, you would address it, would you not?’

  ‘Of course I would,’ answered Wa-Ka-Mo-Do. He felt more confident now. This he was sure of.

  ‘Then I am pleased,’ replied Jai-Lyn. ‘For I know that I can trust you. Look, we are approaching Sangrel . . .’

  She pointed out of the window. Over the high heads of the crops, Wa-Ka-Mo-Do saw the hilltop town of Sangrel. Old stone and iron buildings clustered within walls that gathered the town to safety at the top of the steep slopes and cliffs of Sangrel Mound. The town commanded a view for miles around, and in turn it commanded respect of those who looked up at it.

  ‘It has been a pleasure to travel with you, warrior.’

  Wa-Ka-Mo-Do looked down at the young robot, at her cheap but beautiful body, and worried at how she would fare in the city of Ka with its predominantly male population. All those whalers with their thick metal bodies, all that current surging within them, looking for release . . .

  ‘It has been a pleasure to travel with you too, Jai-Lyn,’ he said, and he took her hand. ‘Remember, you have a friend in Sangrel. If you ever find yourself in need whilst in Ka, just mention that you know the commander of Sangrel.’ He gripped her hand all the tighter as he spoke.

  ‘No one would ever believe me,’ laughed Jai-Lyn, gently disengaging her hand. ‘And besides, your duty will lie elsewhere.’

  ‘Perhaps,’ said Wa-Ka-Mo-Do. ‘But, for friendship’s sake, if nothing else, if there is ever a need, you will promise to send me a message?’

  He felt the surge of electricity in her hand.

  ‘Friendship? Oh my master, thank you!’

  ‘Then you promise?’

  ‘I promise.’

  Wa-Ka-Mo-Do felt a little happier.

  ‘Then I vow that I will do what I can to aid you.’

  ‘Don’t make such a vow, warrior!’

  ‘It is done.’

  She gazed at him, golden eyes shining.

  ‘Thank you,’ said Jai-Lyn. ‘Thank you, my master.’

  The note of the engine changed. The train was decelerating, magnetic motors slowing it rapidly to a halt.

  Wa-Ka-Mo-Do was approaching his command.

  Karel

  Morphobia Alligator might have been smiling at Karel, but Karel couldn’t tell. If Morphobia Alligator did have a mouth, it was hidden behind the long tapering point that extended down from his head like an elongated chin.

  ‘You think I’m from the Top of the World?’ he was saying, and there was something about the timbre of his voice that wasn’t quite normal. ‘Yes, yes, that is right. You would think that, of course. You see the aluminium in my body and so you naturally assume that’s where I would come from.’ He held his arms wide as he spoke, each of them twice as long as he was tall. He shook them, sending a sine wave sinuating to each hand and back again to his body. ‘No, No. I’m not from the Top of the World.’

  ‘Then where did you find aluminium?’ asked Karel. ‘There is no such metal anywhere else in the whole of Shull!’

  ‘Karel, Karel! Shull is riddled with it! Yes, Yes! I noted limestone hills to the south of here that are doubtless full of aluminium, but the quantities therein will be too diffuse to be mined! The same is true of the lands around your former home. What they lack, though, is this hot, wet climate that will lead to the chemical weathering, which concentrates the metal as stone erodes. The central coast of Yukawa is rich in aluminium! It has such a climate! Yes, Yes!’

  ‘Yukawa? I’ve never heard of it.’

  ‘Yukawa is probably the most advanced state on Penrose,’ said Morphobia Alligator. ‘They have certainly heard of Shull, yes, yes!’

  ‘Are you from Yukawa then? Do all the robots in Yukawa look like you?’

  ‘No, No! I’m not from Yukawa, Karel. No land can lay claim to a pilgrim.’

  Karel felt the familiar anger rising within him.

  ‘Don’t play games with me, pilgrim. I have just learned that my wife is a prisoner, way south of here in Artemis City. Why am I wasting my time with you?’

  Morphobia Alligator shook his arms again in that sine wave pattern. Karel wondered if he was being laughed at.

  ‘Why are you here, Karel? Why are you here? Because if you’re left to your own devices you will rush towards Artemis City in such a great temper and you will probably get yourself killed or captured in the process. Yes, yes! It’s true, isn’t it, yes, yes? I’m right!’

  Karel calmed himself. Morphobia Alligator was speaking the truth, and they both knew it. A long arm snaked around his shoulder and gently turned him.

  ‘Come, look out over this seascape with me, Karel. Though you do not have the mental capacity, the senses, the learning to enjoy it as I do, you may still gain some small measure of peace as we speak.’

  ‘I don’t want to gaze at the scenery, I want to see my wife.’

  ‘But which way would you go, Karel? South, straight into Kavan’s arms, or west to Presper Boole and the Northern Road? Or maybe north, to where the past lies?’

  Karel pushed the arm from his shoulder. He looked out across the grey waters.

  ‘I don’t know, Morphobia Alligator. You tell me, which way should I go?’

  ‘Ah! A pilgrim would not presume to tell you what to do, Karel. No, no! Your mind is a special thing; it is free to make its own decisions. Not many robots on this planet could say the same.’

  ‘So I’ve heard. I have free will, and what difference has that made to me? My child is dead and my wife a prisoner. I was captured by Artemis and forced up here to the top of Shull, where I watched as two armies destroyed each other, and then I was abandoned to my own devices. Believe me, my life these past few months has not been of my choosing. Free will has made precious little difference to my circumstances, Morphobia Alligator. Dare you say any different?’

  He gazed at the other robot in challenge, noted the odd glow to his eyes. Was there any part of Morphobia Alligator that was normal? The other robot answered in that strange voice.

  ‘Dare I say any different? Long ago we won a battle and lost a war over robots like you. But Penrose is changing. For centuries the robots on this planet have woven the minds of their children to believe definite things and to possess definite skills. Some patterns of mind were more appropriate to the world than others, and those robots and their descendants prospered, so that now this world is a suitable place for robots with certain mindsets to live.’

  What Morphobia Alligator said was true. Karel thought of Artemis, and how their state of mind had enabled the conquest of Shull.

  ‘But all of that is changing,’ continued the other robot. ‘A new species has arrived on Penrose. Animals! They stand like robots, they walk and think and talk like robots, but they are animals!’

  ‘Animals?’ said Karel, disbelievingly.

  ‘Yes, yes! Animals! I speak the truth, Karel. Animals! They have not yet visited Shull, but they will. They are clever, these creatures. They build ships to bring them here, ships that carry them across the stars from their own planet, many, many miles away. They use materials that we have never seen, plastics and alloys manufactured by processes we cannot begin to guess at! These animals are rich in knowledge and learning and metal. They have strong machinery that rips apart the land and rocks without effort, they have delicate devices that ca
n change the passage of a breeze, machines so large you could build a city inside them, and devices so small you could hold one in your hand, balance it on a finger tip; devices so fast they fly across this land in minutes—’

  ‘What are they doing here?’ interrupted Karel. A sudden suspicion seized him. ‘If they exist at all, of course.’

  ‘Oh, they exist, Karel. Yes, yes they exist! You will see them soon. As to why they are here, well, they have come to trade, or so they say. The Emperor of Yukawa has granted them land to grow their crops, given them mines so that they may own metal—’

  ‘Crops?’ asked Karel.

  Morphobia Alligator tilted his head, and then his eyes glowed with understanding.

  ‘Of course, you’re from Turing City! You don’t know that the robots of Yukawa have not sterilized their land like the robots of southern Shull. You don’t realize that in Yukawa they still plant crops and farm animals, harvesting the oil and skin and bone that they produce! Yes, yes? And so the animals, presumably seeing these crops and farms as they approached Penrose from space, have landed in Yukawa and have begun trade with the robots there. They take metal and work it to make wondrous devices that they give as presents to the Emperor in order to flatter him. The animals are skilled in agriculture – a Tokvah word relating to the growing of crops, Karel, and they are teaching the Emperor this lore.’

  Karel looked around at the shiny grass, blown in patterns of light green and dark green by the fresh sea breeze. He found the sight vaguely unpleasant. Now he imagined the whole of the continent covered in the same vegetation, farmed by the animals. The thought made his gyros spin. It was obscene!

  ‘But what has all this to do with me?’ he asked.

  Morphobia Alligator turned his head towards the silver sea, a strange movement given his odd body.