by Far Freedom
*
“This thing is ruining the floors,” Daidaunkh said, gesturing at the Gatekeeper.
“I identify with your concern,” Fred said. “This android has overseen years of floor maintenance. Why does it concern you?”
” Same reason. The Mnro Clinic likes clean floors. I used to keep them clean. But the evidence of our passing that it leaves also bothers me. Does it have a name?” Daidaunkh felt uneasy in the presence of the Gatekeeper, not because it was obviously dangerous, but because it was obviously intelligent and thus even more dangerous. Pan’s old android butler also made him uneasy. He was sure Old Fred should not be able to act the way he was acting. It helped soothe his nerves if they were not silent. It helped that they assured him they were trying to rescue the admiral. He would never forgive himself if he failed to help Rafael in his time of need.
“What’s your name, shorty?” Fred asked the amorphous alien.
“You speak to me?” the Gatekeeper asked.
“You’re the shortest one here.”
“I have only a number, not a name.”
“Okay, what’s your number?”
“Ten.”
“Does that mean there are at least ten of you?”
“It may have been a serial number. There were many of us in the past. The Lady in the Mirror doesn’t offer much information to mere Gatekeepers. I’ll answer to the name Shorty. Ten isn’t my favorite number.”
“Who is the Lady in the Mirror?” Daidaunkh asked.
“It is she who, if you say ‘Lady in the Mirror,’ and she hears of it, she’ll kill you.”
“What is she?”
“No one knows. Everyone fears her. She rules this place.”
“Have you ever seen her?”
“Yes. Most who see her die. Mainly we hear her and we obey.”
“Where is she?”
“Everywhere.”
“And who’s this person who speaks to us? She seems to have some power.”
“She’s a mystery.”
“But she isn’t the Lady in the Mirror?”
“I hope not!”
[What are you doing? Get out of here!]
[I can say the same to you!]
[Don’t get her mad! She’s a real stinker!]
[What’s she going to do, kill us?]
[Don’t let her slip past you!]
[Damn, she’s fast! What can we do now?]
“Watch behind us, Shorty,” Freddy said softly as they advanced along the wall of a corridor. “Our objective is in that room ahead. Don’t let anybody sneak up behind us. Daidaunkh, you’re the soldier. What should we do?”
They reached the doorway and peeked into the room beyond.
“We need to flank the armed soldiers,” Daidaunkh said, “but I see no way to do that. It will have to be enough that we’re behind them. If we shoot we must be careful not to hit those beyond the soldiers. What about the Asimov Laws?”
“They don’t pertain to me,” Freddy answered. “I’m an AMI, temporarily borrowing Fred’s machinery. Do you want another weapon?”
Daidaunkh took another hand weapon, thumbed its safety.
“Go in shooting?” Freddy asked.
“Wait. Something is happening.”
Fidelity took a step back as the phenomenon appeared. This made the captain start to draw his weapon. He stopped and moved to the side when he realized what was happening. A large, bright, silvery rectangle of light appeared in the air in the open area between the two groups of people. The rectangle of light rotated slowly and made a loud hiss as though reacting with the air. Everyone in the room stood transfixed, except for Fidelity who saw Daidaunkh and Pan’s android at the doorway behind the Black Fleet officers. They were heavily armed.
An image appeared in the rectangle of light: a pale human woman, young and black-haired, with red lips and eyes that flickered between silver and black. Her body appeared in abstract, restlessly changing color and pattern, not as real-seeming as the face. The mirror floated in the air as an image that was less substantial than a hologram, but Fidelity could feel a power in it that frightened her.
“Uninvited guests,” the Lady in the Mirror said. The voice unsettled Fidelity with harmonic overtones and undertones that plucked at multiple resonant frequencies. The mirror paused. The black-silver eyes looked directly at Fidelity. “Who are you?”
“Fidelity. Who are you?”
“Not a satisfactory answer.”
Fidelity chose silence. Her brief survey of the people in the room and the feeling of extreme tension they projected told her this entity was dangerous. Yet, she couldn’t subdue her fascination, a fascination fueled by the conviction that this image in a mirror was the most important discovery she had yet made in the barbarian world.
“A defiant young woman in a yellow dress.” It was impossible to read character or inflection in a voice too laden with fear-inducing harmonics. “Behold a child.”
Samson hopped forward and took hold of Fidelity’s arm, staying behind her, afraid. Rafael followed him, helping him balance. Rafael took his place next to Samson and reached over to squeeze Fidelity’s arm.
“And an old man. Who are you, old man?”
“Rafael de LaGuardia.”
“That name sounds familiar. Ah, yes, the artist. Are you he?”
“Yes, I am.”
“And the boy? Why does he have such an injury?”
“It was a terrible accident,” Rafael replied. “His name is Samson.”
“Samson. Samson.”
“Do you know who he is?” Fidelity asked, feeling the entity might actually know. Samson was somehow connected to this place that shared his language. It was an awful hypothesis to form. It was an awful time to want to think of anything other than how to escape the nightmare before them.
“I ask the questions!” the Lady in the Mirror boomed, making dust fall from the ceiling. “Who will kill the child for me? Step forward and take aim.”
Two of the Black Fleet soldiers broke rank and pulled weapons from holsters. They marched forward, one on either side of the Lady in the Mirror, and pointed their weapons at Samson. Both she and Rafael could also be shot, since Samson was hiding between them, but the soldiers did not hesitate. The mirror surged horizontally and oscillated back and forth. It swept into and through the two soldiers, disintegrating them with a loud frying noise, leaving nothing but the bleeding soles of their feet on the floor. “Trick question,” the Lady in the Mirror said.
Fidelity covered Samson’s face, probably too late to prevent him seeing the horror. It was hopeless to protect him!
“Who else will give his life for the boy? No one? Not even you, Yellow Dress?”
“I’ll do what I must.”
The rectangle of light turned and extended once more as it swept past Fidelity. She pushed Samson and Rafael back to protect them and dodged another horizontal surge in the lethal plane. The female image rotated into view again and paused. The Lady in the Mirror faced outward on both sides of the silver plane. “Quick, very quick. I shouldn’t play games with you. Fidelity is a nice name. Are you faithful?”
Fidelity wanted to keep the Lady in the Mirror talking, because she didn’t know what else she could do, and because she wanted to decide if there was a real person behind this phenomenon of terror. At the same time she wondered if the destructive plane of light could move any quicker, expand in any direction, transfer rapidly to another location. In other words, could she avoid it in any way? “I don’t know what I am,” she replied to the question. Fidelity could imagine what this entity might do to a room full of people. She could assume no restraint of will for this terrorizing phenomenon. Fidelity felt the Lady in the Mirror would kill everyone in attendance, once she was finished talking.
“I know what you are,” the Lady said. “You’re a murderer, no better than I.”
“Better than you.”
“In what sense, Faithful?”
She could now hear a coloration to her
words despite the hair-raising overtones modulated into the Lady’s speech. The Lady in the Mirror could be a real person, although this was certainly not proof. How could one perform a Turing test under such circumstances? “Any sense. Take your pick.”
“Quantity? I don’t even know how many I’ve killed.”
Fidelity noted the idiomatic use of Twenglish by the Lady. It was the language of the barbarians, hardly changed in the seven centuries since that time on Earth when America dominated humanity with its culture. Why was it Samson’s language? “I know how many I’ve murdered. I thought I had a good reason. Did you have a good reason?”
“Most of my victims were murderers, or would-be murderers.”
“Most of my victims were probably innocent,” Fidelity said.
“How many?” the Lady asked.
“Millions.”
“You’re lying!” the Lady declared. “You’re a very poor Scheherezade.”
“I wish I was lying.”
“That’s it? You offer no amazing proof, no bloody details?”
“Not to you. You’re not my judge.”
“But I will be your executioner! Will you go alone into chaos or will you make me take the boy and the artist with you?”
“I don’t think you’ll kill me today. I’ve chosen another for that task. If he wishes to do it, he should hurry.”
Daidaunkh and Fred opened fire from the doorway. Fidelity pushed Rafael and Samson away from her as hard as she could. Rebounding from shoving, she struck the Black Fleet captain and took his weapon before he fell to the floor. The mirror rotated and extended toward her as everyone in the room scattered to the perimeter. Fidelity gathered herself and leaped high over the plane of hissing light - a maneuver made possible by the shallow gradient of the gravity plates in the floor. She fired at the Lady in the Mirror, having no effect, as she retreated from the next sweep of destruction.
The lighting failed, leaving only the massed starlight in the window and the brilliance of the Lady’s Mirror to illuminate the chaos. Other doorways opened and people escaped down bright corridors. Weapons flashed a few more times and stopped. The killing sweep of light extended farther and caught a few unfortunate people, mostly those who fell to the floor. Fidelity searched for Samson and Rafael but didn’t see them. She ran the perimeter of the room to the doorway where Daidaunkh and Fred first appeared. She found them some distance down the corridor, waiting in an open doorway. In the room behind them the Lady in the Mirror reappeared and extended her mirror toward them. They ran. Walls disintegrated behind them and ceilings fell slowly in the artificial gravity.
“Where’s Shorty?” Fred asked.
“Who is Shorty?” Fidelity asked.
He told her. They turned back toward the observation lounge. Down the long corridor beyond the area of debris, a dark lump flowed toward them, elongating and accelerating, throwing streamers of smoke up from the floor. The Lady in the Mirror appeared in the middle of the corridor, her mirror rotating rapidly. “Gatekeeper!” she called, and extended her killing mirror. Shorty elongated still more, becoming a black sparkling snake curving through the debris, passing under the lethal zone of the hissing rectangle of light. As Shorty escaped toward them, Fidelity and the other two retreated slowly enough that Shorty could join them.
“Now is the time,” Shorty said, forming into a ragged sphere. “Stop and stand together.”
“Time for what?” Fidelity asked.
“The Mirror is gone and the gate is available.”
“I can’t return without Samson and Rafael!”
“I’ll stay to find the boy and the other,” Shorty said.
“Are you the same one from Earth?”
“The same Gatekeeper. I only wanted the boy for a friend. I was lonely.”
“I’ll stay, too, Admiral,” Daidaunkh said. “I’ll help Shorty.”
“Please, hurry,” Shorty said. “The Lady in the Mirror is distracted, disconnected. I have the numbers for your gate.”
Fidelity handed her weapon to Daidaunkh. She didn’t think to distrust him. He stepped away from her. “Be careful! Stay alive, Daidaunkh!”
“Go with God,” Fred said, handing over his arsenal.
“May we meet again,” Daidaunkh said, saluting with a gun in hand. “Perhaps where we both shall stand in judgment.”
He and the Gatekeeper disappeared. The universe shifted to Earth.
Section 027 The Mother Earth Opera
“Where are we?” the android inquired.
Despite her crowded thoughts, Fidelity wondered briefly why Pan’s Old Fred would ask such a question. It must know the coordinates of their location from its navigational system. She knew them and she wasn’t - as far as she knew - an android. Any further definition of the location would be unnecessary for its purposes. “Daidaunkh’s apartment,” she replied. She saw a familiar person asleep on Daidaunkh’s sofa. Fidelity nudged Jon Horss and he came instantly awake.
“Where is he?” Horss asked.
His first words, and his immediate and honest concern for Samson made her feel sick to give him the bad news. “I lost him.”
He sat up, then stood up. He gave a quick glance of greeting to the android, indicating he was familiar with it. “What happened to him? Where were you? Is Samson still…?”
“We need to keep moving.” She knew it would do nothing more than delay another attempt by Etrhnk to capture her.
“I can call Pan’s transmat.”
That would make it easier for Etrhnk to get her but Fidelity started to accept the offer anyway. Then she found herself unable to decide. The indecision led to an irrational urge to walk and postpone the decision. She was too tired to walk, yet she wanted to walk. She found a detailed map of the area in her data augment. It seemed vaguely familiar. She checked her data for other maps of old Earth cities but found no other this detailed. There had to be a reason. She was irritated. All she really wanted to do was cry herself to sleep worrying about Samson and Rafael. She looked at Jon Horss. She looked at Old Fred. She sighed tiredly. “There is something else I must do now.”
“What?” Horss asked.
“I don’t know!”
“Business as usual, then. I’ll help you.”
“As will I,” the android said.
Jon Horss seemed to have found a sense of humor, and although she was far from wanting humor, it did suggest his attitude toward her was not too negative. The android seemed different from when she first met it. She reviewed her encounter with the Black Fleet and the Lady in the Mirror and realized what lethal things this android did. It raised questions which, to her agony, she couldn’t devote time to finding answers. She now had a sense of impending revelation and the feeling of its extreme importance shoved everything else aside.
They departed Daidaunkh’s apartment building and walked in the street. Horss and Fred remained respectfully silent for a long while as they walked with her. The afternoon sun pushed waves of heat off broken windows and ancient facades covered with grime and tenacious plant life. The sea breeze penetrated the empty urban canyons and lifted the heat from time to time.
Horss and the android began to converse. Fidelity tried not to listen to them but because of the remarkable facility with which the android spoke, words got through to her. She learned of Pan’s release from Etrhnk and of the appearance of Aylis Mnro.
Aylis Mnro! Now she realized who the woman in the park was, the woman who took Jamie away from her. The woman who made her sing at a funeral. The woman… the friend… the friend of yet some other person she was. How long ago? She almost began another vision from that hidden place within her.
“I’m sure Daidaunkh and Shorty will be successful, Mother.”
Fidelity was shocked and the memory was aborted. “Fred! How can you call me your mother?”
“I’m Baby, Admiral! I’m here, in Fred. We’re sharing a great adventure.”
Fidelity knew without further proof the android was Baby. She was still shock
ed, and now also worried. “How did you do that?”
“There was a disembodied voice who talked to me when I tried to leave the ship. It was Samson’s Milly. She was very peculiar, but she helped me.”
It was Baby who risked his life to rescue her from Oz! She lost Samson. She lost Rafael. Did she have the capacity to suffer the loss of Baby? How could she protect everyone she loved? How could she presume to command a mission that would jeopardize the lives of thousands of people? All of this responsibility was piled upon her while she tried to make sense of painful reports from previous lives, while she was blown apart by dreams or memories, while she tried to pull herself back together as one new, rational person! “Do you have redundancy, Baby?”
“I knew you would ask me that.”
“Do you?”
“Some.”
She shook her head, stopped, and put a hand on the android’s arm. “I don’t want to lose you, Baby. You probably don’t understand how miraculous you are and how wonderful you have made me feel. You can’t know how precious you are to me. If this android dies with you inside him, what do you lose?”
“I should retain at least the germ of sentience if I lose this part of me.”
“In other words, you committed most of your personality to this android! You left little more than a template in the ship! Baby, please be careful!”
“Call me Freddy, Mother. I’ll call you Admiral when we’re not alone. I’ll try to be careful, but we spontaneous AMI’s don’t live very long anyway, do we?”
“Don’t think about statistics! Think about living!” She stopped and regarded him intently, with both worry and warmth. “I’m sorry I can’t talk with you more. I need to remember why I came to Earth.” Fidelity resumed her aimless trek, urging her mind to discover why she knew Aylis Mnro. The idea itself was too much distraction to let the memory free. How could she possibly know Aylis Mnro?