by Gini Koch
We avoided the golden river, what looked like a forest of silver trees, a lake of what looked like a sort of silvery-violet substance I couldn’t identify, and more, achieved by the mountain raising itself and us over these things, or by going around them and, in some cases, by the geography flattening until we were past, then reforming itself. We spotted things that looked like metal deer bounding around, and what appeared to be metal birds flew past us.
“I’ve never even imagined anything like this,” Siler said softly.
“I want to play with it,” Charlie said.
“We’ll see.” Hugged him. “We might not be able to.”
“We will,” he said confidently.
We were down the mountain but still flowing along, past rolling hills, more rivers—these possibly of copper—and what looked like rocky grasslands. We also passed some of the orange stuff.
“That looks wrong,” Lizzie said, as we went past a big patch. “It looks too . . . organic.”
“Organic for this world appears to be metal,” I reminded her.
“I get it, but that orange stuff looks off.”
“Can’t argue, since I agree with you. I assume we’ll find out what it is once we get wherever we’re going.”
Where we were going seemed to be a city. And it was both like and completely unlike any city I’d ever seen before.
What was similar was that there were a lot of buildings, streets, and pedestrians. Unlike the geography, the buildings seemed solid. They were rounded, almost like sets of Navaho hogans or Mongolian yurts in various sizes. And there were a lot of them scattered about, many together in large groups, some in smaller groups, a few separate. Couldn’t tell if this meant we were at a spaceport or if that’s what every building on this moon looked like.
What there wasn’t was variety. All the buildings were the same shape, some tiny, some huge, but there was no individuality. There were color differences, but they seemed random, as if that color of metal was what had been there when the building was built so that’s what it was made out of, not as if it was an aesthetic choice. In fact, the only aesthetic was conformity: every building had the same doorways—double doors with no doorknobs—no windows that I could spot, and rounded roofs.
We stopped next to the largest of the buildings, and the portion of the land that had transported us here connected us to it, both via the ground and the roof, but also by covering the doorway with what I thought was a tunnel, thereby creating an airlock. I hoped.
There were streets, but they weren’t stationary. They moved like our part of the mountain had, because that was apparently how the people of this world traveled.
And what people they were.
CHAPTER 58
“LOOK AT THE PRETTY robots, Mommy!” Jamie exclaimed, as a group of Cradus citizens rode the street nearest to where we’d stopped.
That they were robotic seemed likely. They all gleamed, just like their planet did. Could see exposed wiring in some, none in others. And now we had variety, because there were different kinds—larger, smaller, very humanoid, less humanoid, animal-ish. Basically, we’d found Star Wars’ Droid World.
There were males and females, too. At least, I assumed the robots with physical structures that included breasts and wider pelvises were female. Then again, I was prepared to find out that these were just design choices.
“Away team is being formed,” Mother said. “Kitty and Gustav, you are requested back at the command deck.”
Kissed the kids and handed Charlie to Lizzie. “I’ll be back soon. Behave yourselves and no sneaking after us or out onto the planet until we know it’s safe.”
Wasim nodded gravely. “I will explain the risks to the others.”
Lizzie laughed. “He will, I’m sure. He loves doing stuff like that.”
Wasim looked a little crestfallen and as if his feelings were hurt, though he was trying to hide it. Lizzie seemed oblivious. Heaved an internal sigh. This was like watching me and Chuckie from our youth, but from the outside, where I got to see how many times I’d hurt Chuckie’s feelings without realizing it—or realizing that he’d been in love with me. I didn’t for one moment regret marrying Jeff, but I’d seen what Bizarro World Chuckie had been like, and if Lizzie could score with Wasim what Other Me had with Bizarro World Chuckie, there were far worse ways to be happily married.
“It’s tough being the smartest guy in the room, Wasim, but I’m glad you’re willing to be helpful. We can’t afford anyone to be a maverick right now.”
This didn’t seem to cheer him up. Heaved another internal sigh. Maybe I needed to have a Mom Talk with Lizzie.
Who finally noted Wasim’s expression. She nudged him. “Bet you know more about what’s going on than the Martini kids, or any of the rest of the clan. You want to play a trivia game about this while we wait?”
He brightened up. “Certainly, if you’d like to.”
She smiled. “I always like doing fun stuff with you, so yeah.”
“I will moderate the game,” Gadhavi said, presumably offering so that he could assist Wasim in as many ways as possible, most likely in terms of getting game. Gadhavi had a yeoman’s job ahead of him, but I found it rather touching that he, like me, cared enough to keep trying. That even someone who’d been the scariest gangster in the Middle East could have a soft spot for a sweet kid who just needed some help to be cool was proof, to me, that pretty much anyone could be redeemed if they wanted to be. “You go do your jobs.”
“Include Hacker International. We need to be sure they’re occupied, possibly more than the kids.”
“None will leave while on my watch,” Gadhavi said.
Thusly reassured by our resident grizzly, Drax and I left our gigantic posse in the observation lounge, though Mossy came along with us. Hoped we weren’t going to be at the command deck too long, since we were there to choose the away team.
Happily, there wasn’t a lot of argument. It was a given that Jeff and I needed to make the trek along with Team Tinman and, of course, our Guinea pig, aka Wruck. As discussed earlier, the plan had been confirmed—Wruck would go first and, if he was able to handle the suits Fathade had, then the Kristie-Bot would give it a try and so on.
Chuckie and Reader were with us, too, though Tim was staying on the command deck with the remainder of Airborne, just in case we all got into trouble. Drax and Mossy were approved to go as well, since that gave us five different races represented. Tito insisted on coming in case we needed medical and, miraculously, Mother agreed.
We all went to the airlock with Wruck. While on the way, Drax, Mossy, and I shared what we’d seen from the observation lounge, in case those at command had missed it. They’d seen most of it, but hadn’t spotted the people.
“Living robots?” Jeff asked. “That seems . . . far-fetched, and I say that knowing that we have, essentially, living robots with us right now.”
“I get why it seems like that,” Joe said. “This was done to us, we weren’t born this way.”
Resisted the urge to put on Lady Gaga but, as always, it took effort.
Randy shrugged. “It’s a big galaxy, Jeff. I can believe it. I mean, our brains are basically organic circuits. And I mean everyone’s, not just Joe’s and mine.”
“It’s not that much of a leap, honestly,” Reader added. “We have trace metals in us.”
“This is true,” Drax agreed. “Procreation is, at its core, merely the passing along of DNA. All it takes is the right situation for a mass of wiring or a lump of metal to have the correct electrical charge to create life. After that, the evolution begins and, with it, sentience.”
“Which is a simplified explanation,” Chuckie said, looking both interested and excited, “but not wrong at all. Our world is mostly water and we’re mostly water—that’s not a coincidence. This world is mostly metal and so its people are mostly metal. It makes sense.�
�
Jeff nodded. “I suppose it does.”
Knew when Chuckie was gearing up for a fun scientific discussion, and also knew without asking that the others were probably willing to go all in on it, Jeff included. I was not. “It might, but I vote for us meeting these people and finding out how they came to be directly from the animatronic horse’s mouths. If, you know, any of us can survive in their atmosphere.”
Wruck chuckled. “Kitty has a point.”
“Spoilsport,” Chuckie said to me with a grin.
“Guilty as charged. Let’s meet their folks and you can talk to their scientific head AI or whomever. I’d like to get us through the initial ‘hello’ phase, though.”
“That’s what I’m here for,” Wruck said.
“You’re sure you can adapt fast enough?” I asked him.
“I am.” He smiled at me. “It will be fine.”
“We’re sure this isn’t an ambush?” Mossy asked me quietly.
“Nothing in life’s certain other than death, taxes, and that our enemies will always be crazed megalomaniacs. But it seems on the up and up.”
We reached the airlock, which was a very large room—all of us could have fit inside it with plenty of room to spare. Grabbed Wruck and hugged him before he went in, just in case. He hugged me and patted my back. “It will be fine.” Then he went through the door.
This worked pretty much like in the movies—he was in the chamber, we closed and locked the big door that had a window in it large enough for us to watch everything, he hit a button, the room did its thing, three different doors or barriers slid open—one to the right, one to the left, and one going up—then the doors opposite ours opened, and Wruck stepped through.
He altered instantly into a metal man. At least, he looked shiny now where he hadn’t before. He took one more step and waited.
“We can’t close the outer door or open this one until he’s farther,” Drax said worriedly.
“I think he’s waiting for someone.”
“He might be,” Chuckie said. “Fathade did say she’d meet us here.”
“Oh, Fathade’s definitely a female? I wasn’t sure.”
“Honestly, I wasn’t sure, either. So I asked. She is a female. They have male, female, nonbinary, multiple, asexual, and shifting genders. It’s fascinating.”
“Remember that we’re on a mission and we can’t stay here for you to get a Ph.D. in Comparative Robotic Studies.”
“Geez, you take the fun out of everything. Jeff, man, I’m sorry she’s such a downer on this trip.”
Jeff laughed as he put his arm around me and patted Chuckie on the back. “Not to worry, Chuck. You can spend all the time you want learning about these people—if they’re open to it—at least until we figure out where Kreaving is.”
“Someone’s coming,” Reader said. “Look sharp. If we’re going to have issues, we’ll have them here.”
Several metal people arrived. They were mostly silvery, but they all had gold and copper in there somewhere, too. They were also varied in final shapes. One was like C-3PO—mostly metal but with wires connecting the stomach area to the upper torso and hips—two were fully humanoid, one looked very much like a collection of filigree and wires while still clearly being a complete person, and the fifth was a metal skeleton a lot like the Terminator.
Their eyes and teeth and hair, for those who had it, were also metal. The metal in their eyes looked more liquid than the metal on their bodies but basically they looked like there wasn’t anything nonmetallic in any part of them.
However, they didn’t look fake or mechanical. They looked very real and very alive.
The humanoid one that was clearly female bowed to Wruck. He bowed back. They spoke—as near as I could tell, introductions were being made. Took a wild one and assumed the female humanoid one was Fathade.
The metal skeleton one produced a round ball of what looked like gold from somewhere—dude was not wearing clothing so it wasn’t like he had a pocket. Assumed male based on skeletal structure, but was willing to be unsurprised if its gender was different.
Wruck took the golden ball, they spoke some more, then Fathade and her group backed up, and Wruck hit the button to close the airlock door.
Drax hit the intercom button. “John, are you alright?”
“Yes.” Wruck turned to us. “They gave me what they call a Moon Suit. They’ve had a few visitors in the past—the distant past now—and they created something that allowed those visitors to survive and enjoy their world. I’m going to test it and be sure it doesn’t harm me. After that, we’ll test it on Kristie, then John Butler, Cameron, Joe, and Randy. If we’re all okay, then we’ll test on a hybrid, an A-C, and then a human.”
“That’s a lot of testing. I’m not complaining about it, but why?”
Wruck shrugged. “Because what this is supposed to do is cover the wearer in breathable metal. The metal will filter out whatever is toxic to the wearer and alter it into what isn’t. So, for us, it will give us oxygen. Also, the suits protect against Spehidon’s radiation.”
“Just from a small ball of metal?” Jeff asked suspiciously.
“I think it’s gold and I can also believe it.” I could. But then, I knew Algar personally. And others.
“It may be gold,” Jeff said, “but I’m still having an issue with belief.”
Shrugged. “When I was in Bizarro World, the Alfred there had created something very similar. It was about a million times better than Kevlar, as malleable as any fabric, totally breathable, and a little bit covered you from head to toe. I could even put some on a cat.” Took a moment to miss Stripes. I was definitely asking Mother to make a set of three-way mirrors for me sooner as opposed to later. “And on my purse.”
“Oh, well, on your purse,” Reader said. “Well, that sells it for me.”
“Careful, James, you’re close enough for me to kick.”
He flashed the cover boy smile. “Not that you ever would.”
“True . . . true . . .”
“Can you two do me a favor and not try to make me jealous right now?” Jeff asked. “At least not until we’ve seen if this miracle stuff works.”
“Oh, I suppose,” Reader said. “By the way, I’m the human who’ll be doing the test. And, Jeff, before you say a word, you are not the A-C who will be doing the test, and that’s final.”
“Well, we have to either use Paul or Abigail to do the hybrid test,” I pointed out. “Because you’re high if you think any of us are going to let one of the kids do it.”
“Let’s get through John and the rest of us,” the Kristie-Bot said. “Then we can fret about who is or isn’t getting to risk themselves.”
“Oh, sure, go be logical. However, one more thing before you use that, John.”
“What?” Wruck asked.
“What about our eyes, nostrils, and mouths, let alone our internal organs? What I can see of theirs are all metallic and I’m willing to bet that their internal organs are as well. I doubt very much that we can swallow this metal safely, and while you said the metal was breathable, I still object to any of us being blinded. In Bizarro World, Alfred had goggles and we were on Earth, so breathing wasn’t an issue. Here, I’m not as convinced.”
“Fathade said they’ve used these on other oxygen breathers,” Chuckie said calmly.
“Our ears are cavities, too,” Reader countered. “And while I know you questioned her, Chuck, and I’m also tentatively willing to believe they mean us no harm, I’m kind of with Kitty on all of this. Will this work and is it even worth the risk to find out?”
Wruck smiled. “I asked about all of that.”
“And?” Jeff asked.
In reply, Wruck placed the ball of metal against his chest.
Results, as happened so often, were immediate.
CHAPTER 59
THE
METAL SLID OVER WRUCK. It went under his clothes and on top of them, too, as if it was far more liquid than solid, doing its best to cover every part of anything touching him.
It was his face and head I was most worried about. The metal went over him, into his mouth, nose, and ears, and over his eyes.
“Tito, if this goes badly, how are you as an ENT?”
“I do my continuing education at Dulce, Kitty. I’m trained in, literally, everything by now and in things almost no human doctors are. I’m good, and ready, if something goes wrong. Plus, Claudia and Lorraine are on board, so if I need help, two of the best backups are here.”
Heard Randy talking softly to someone. Looked over my shoulder. He was on his phone. Had a feeling he was already calling in our medical backup, just in case.
Sure enough, the girls arrived just as the metal finished attaching to every hair on Wruck’s head. Joe and Randy quietly caught their wives up on what had transpired while the rest of us waited for Wruck to writhe or scream in agony or drop down dead.
None of those things happened. Instead, he nodded to us and hit the button to open the airlock again.
Did the usual wait. As the door opened he looked over his shoulder. “I’m fine. I’m going to test the atmosphere and how well this works.” Then he stepped out to be greeted by Fathade and the others. They all walked off.
“This is going to take forever,” the Kristie-Bot groaned.
“Can’t argue with your assessment. Then again, I don’t want to discover that the magic metal doesn’t work as advertised. Call me a worrywart.” We all leaned against an available wall and hung out, idly chatting. “What were the kids doing when you left?” I asked Lorraine.
“Playing a trivia game. It was getting intense.”
Claudia nodded. “Wasim really knows his stuff. Most of the adults were playing, too.”
“The hackers especially,” Lorraine added. “It was fun, everyone was into it.”