by S. D. Stuart
Munch ran out and faced the West Marshal. “I am not afraid of you.”
The West Marshal laughed. “You should be.”
He turned to Dorothy. “Don’t do it. OZ was split into four zones to keep any one Marshal from having too much power.”
“But she can take me home.”
“She will kill you as soon as you give her that shield. She will kill all of us.”
“Don’t listen to them, Dot. They are all criminals. I am the law.”
Dorothy took a step backward. “They are not criminals. And my name is not Dot.”
She placed the shield back onto her corset. “It’s Dorothy. And as long as I wear this shield, I am the law here.”
The West Marshal pointed a sharp finger at her. “You have made the biggest mistake of your life, girly, as short as it will be.”
She spun around and stomped back to the armored carriage. She hopped effortlessly to the top of the carriage and looked back at Dorothy. “No little girl playing house with mutants will keep me from what is rightfully mine.”
She dropped out of sight and slammed the hatch closed. The carriage spun around on metal covered wheels and disappeared through the hole in the stone wall.
Munch wiped the sweat off his brow. “That went better than expected.”
Dorothy spun on her heels to look at him. “How did you expect it to go?”
Munch shrugged again. “We thought she would kill you.”
Her mouth gaped open. “You thought …”
“It was a long shot, but it worked. For now.”
“What do you mean ‘for now’?”
“She will be back and then she will most certainly kill you.”
“Oh my God, I have to get out of here. Which way to the Wizard?”
“You will be safer here with us.”
“I’ve tried to be patient with you guys, but I’m not staying.”
“If we tell you where to find the Wizard and he cannot help you, will you return and be our Marshal?”
She squeezed her eyes tightly. “Yes. If the Wizard cannot help me, I will come back.”
The tiny men all cheered. Dorothy held her arms up to quiet them. “That is a big if.”
Munch patted her on the lower back. “Even the faintest glimmer of light can pierce the darkness of the deepest canyon. You have given us a hope that never existed before you freed us from the death-grip of the Marshal before you.”
“Great.”
“You cannot travel alone. The Woodsmen will surely kill you.”
“Woodsmen? What are the Woodsmen?”
“They are judge, jury and executioner for the East Marshal.”
“You said that I am the East Marshal.”
“They are still following the programmed instructions of your predecessor. Any infraction of the long list of rules will get you put on trial and put to death within seconds of the guilty verdict. They are deadlier than anything else in the Eastern Territories.”
Dorothy held up her hands to stop him. “Programmed instructions? You mean the Woodsmen are automatons?”
Munch shrugged his shoulders. “Of course.”
“I thought automatons were illegal?”
“Just like me and my brothers, everything illegal is sent here.”
She sighed. “Okay, so which of you brave warriors will accompany me on my quest?”
“We have never gone beyond the stone wall. We cannot join you.”
“Is this some form of catch 22? I can’t travel alone, but none of you will go with me.”
“I just meant you need protection. My brother owns an automaton repair shop. He will have exactly what you need.”
Dorothy ducked low to get through the doorway into the tiny shop. Munch darted around her and walked up to another clone of himself behind the counter.
“Hey brother.”
The little man behind the counter looked up and smiled. “Munch. What brings you here?” He looked past Munch and saw Dorothy. He immediately jumped down from his stool and bowed before her. “My apologies Marshal, I did not see you enter.”
Munch lifted the shopkeeper’s head. “It is okay. She is our new Marshal.”
The shopkeeper’s eyes glistened. “It is a wonderful day indeed. What is it you require of me and my humble shop?”
“She is going to see the Wizard.”
The shopkeeper looked startled. “No.”
“She needs one of your automatons to keep her safe.”
“None of my automatons are armed. Most of them are broken and barely work. They could never make the journey to Center City.”
“My brother mentioned they brought a new automaton to you this morning.”
“He’s just a scarecrow.”
Dorothy interrupted them. “A what?”
The shopkeeper turned from his brother. He motioned for them to follow as he led them into the back of his shop. He spoke as if giving a tour. “An automaton must be programmed to perform specific tasks. The one they brought in this morning is blank. It only has the basic programming to take verbal instruction and respond to questions.”
He stopped in front of a human looking automaton that leaned against the wall with its eyes closed.
The shopkeeper pointed at the automaton. “In this state it is only good for propping up on a stick and scaring the crows out of a field. It can’t do anything yet.”
Munch stared at the automaton leaning on the wall. “Can it make the journey?”
The shopkeeper took off his glasses and wiped them on his dirty shirt. It seemed to smear the greasy lenses worse than before. “It looks like it was just built, which is most unusual here in OZ. I’m guessing it could make the trip to Center City and back again a hundred times over. But without programming, it still can’t do anything.”
Dorothy felt her heart pound faster. “Turn it on. Let’s see what it can do.”
The shopkeeper reached behind the automaton and pushed a pressure panel on its back.
The automaton stood up from against the wall, a faint glow emanating from its amber eyes. “Ready for programming.”
The shopkeeper shook his head. “It’s like I told you. It cannot do anything yet and I do not have a programming machine. But I’ll bet it will make the best darn scarecrow you ever did see.”
Dorothy remembered something her father had done once when she was little. She stepped forward and spoke to the automaton. “Initiate adaptive programming.”
The automaton’s eyes flashed. “Program initiated. Begin instruction.”
She turned to Munch. “I can get him anywhere he needs to be just by talking to him. Do you know anyone who can program him with self defense or hand-to-hand combat?”
Munch shot a look at Dorothy. “Him?”
“I don’t feel right about calling him an it.”
One of Munch’s other brothers spoke up. “They battle with automatons at the coliseum. I bet they could program him.”
Munch stared hard at him. He raised his hands in defense. “I heard it from a guy that I trade butter for eggs with on the outside.” Munch stared even harder at him. He pointed at Munch. “Don’t look at me like that. You love my omelets.”
She smiled at Munch’s brother. “It sounds like I found a way to program my own protection for the journey.” She looked at the automaton. “But first, he needs a name.”
The shopkeeper snickered. “How about Scarecrow?”
Dorothy inspected the automaton. “I can’t think of anything better. Scarecrow it is.”
Scarecrow looked around at the people gathered around him. “My name is Scarecrow.”
Dorothy smiled. “That settles it. He can learn.”
The shopkeeper looked expectantly at Dorothy. “What do you want to teach him?”
Dorothy looked into the blank stare of the Scarecrow. “He needs to learn how to fight.”
Chapter 10
Dorothy climbed the only tower in the walled city that Munch and his clones called home.
This didn’t look like any prison she had envisioned. In fact, looking in every direction into a vast expanse dotted with small towns, rolling hills, forests and the tell-tale signs of larger cities in the distance, this didn’t look like a prison at all.
It looked like home. Not specifically her home on the farm, but everywhere she had ever been. Every city she had visited. Every forest she had played in. Everywhere she had traveled looked exactly like what she was looking at now.
Only this was a prison.
She had expected it to look like the vision of a prison in her head. Large cement walls, individual cells for the prisoners, and guards stationed all around to keep the peace.
She never expected it to not look like a prison.
She glanced down at the hole in the wall. Munch’s brothers were gathering materials to seal it up as quickly as possible.
What were they so afraid of that they sealed themselves up in a prison within a prison? Not only were they cut off from the outside world by being sent to OZ. They also cut themselves off from the world within OZ.
If I were planning to stay, she thought, I would want to find the answer to that question. But I don’t plan to be here for very long.
“A shilling for your thoughts?”
She turned around to see Munch. In the short time she had been there, she could see the slight differences in dress and demeanor between Munch and the rest of his clones.
“What?”
He smiled. His bottom teeth looked yellower in the harsh sun than when she first saw them. “It hardly seemed fair to offer a sixpenny for one of the East Marshal’s thoughts.”
She turned back to the hole in the wall. “I was just thinking about how much this place looks like anywhere else in the world.”
Munch stood next to her and looked out over the horizon. “Most people don’t take advantage of the fact that they can travel freely from the place they call home.”
He turned back to her. “What about you? What made you travel from your home?”
She didn’t look at him and hugged herself tight against the cooling breeze. “I came to New Kansas with my mom and dad. Given everything that’s happened, I wish we had stayed in America.”
“There, see? Given the choice, you would never have ventured very far from your home. OZ is big enough that we can travel for several days via airship to visit far off lands. All within the confines of the Australis Penal Colony, of course. If you don’t think about it too hard, you don’t miss the lack of freedom. There’s plenty of freedom to go around OZ without having to leave it.”
She turned to face him. “Then why the wall?”
He looked out into OZ. “There is still a large element of the criminally insane running around OZ. They are mostly in the Eastern Territories. It looks peaceful out there now …”
His voice trailed off and he remained silent for a few moments before he turned to face her. “Me and my brothers? Let’s face it; we would be eaten alive out there. We’re not big, we’re not strong. I would even go as far to say we’re not very brave.”
“I saw how you stood up to the West Marshal. That seemed pretty brave to me.”
He smiled. “That’s because I knew the law would prevent her from doing anything. It seemed a pretty safe thing to do at the time. So no, I’m still not very brave.”
They both turned back to stare out over the expanse of OZ for several minutes.
Munch was the first to break the silence. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay?”
She half smiled. “I’m sorry, Munch. I have to try and get home so I can find my father.”
“In that case I found someone who can take your automaton for combat training.”
“You did? See? I knew there was someone brave among you.”
“He’s from outside the wall. I guess the curiosity of the secrets we keep inside these walls got the better of him. My brothers had him tied up by the time I got there and he was trying to negotiate his release.”
“What secrets do you keep in here?”
“None. But since we never leave and nobody ever comes in, he thought we had secrets.”
“You said he can help?”
“Before he was discovered, he overheard a couple of my brothers discussing how to teach your automaton how to fight. He promised to take your automaton to the casino and get him trained by the best. He said he knows the man who owns the casino.”
She had been in OZ for two days already, and she was further than ever before from finding her father. Every time she took a step, she was forced to take two more steps in the opposite direction. All she wanted to do was get to the Wizard and figure out a way out of OZ. But in order to do that, she had to train scarecrow how to fight just so she wouldn’t be killed on her way to Center City.
She had to put her life into the hands of strangers to carry out her goal. And now the strangers had found a new stranger. But if he was willing to help, she would gladly accept it.
“Take me to him.”
Dorothy looked into the dark hole in the stone wall. She looked at Munch.
“Why aren’t we at a gate?”
“We don’t have a gate. Nobody here wants to get out, and we don’t want anyone out there getting in. As soon as you leave, we are sealing the hole.”
“Where is the man you told me about?”
“He went back through to pack for his journey. He promised to return within the hour.”
“And you believed him?”
“What benefit would he receive by lying to me?”
“How about you letting him go?”
“He gave us his assurance he would be back within an hour. I had no reason to doubt him.”
She looked at Munch. He was so trusting, even inside the world’s largest prison he took people at their word. Maybe it would do him some good to get out of his little secluded haven and meet some real people.
“You sure you don’t want to come with me?”
Munch held up his stubby arms. “Look at me. I wouldn’t last an hour outside.”
Dorothy looked at the little men all standing in the town square. “Your prison within a prison.”
Munch smiled. “Such as it is. Ah, here is your escort.”
Dorothy looked in to the darkness of the hole. She heard the sound of scuffling feet and watched as a young boy stepped out into the light. She didn’t know what to expect, but it wasn’t this. “He’s just a boy.”
The boy looked at Dorothy. “And you’re just a girl. Now that we have figured out our genders, how about names? Mine’s Jasper.”
“Doro …”
Munch interrupted her. “She’s the East Marshal. You will be very wise to do as she says.”
The boy looked her up and down as if he were appraising a prize cow. “Looks kinda young to be the East Marshal.”
She stuck her chin up at him. “You look too young to …” Her voice trailed off, unsure of what to say next. She was never one for the snappy comebacks, and it always put her at a disadvantage back at the farm.
That same easy smile spread across his lips. “Right then. We should get going now if we plan to make it to the casino before dark. As it is, we’re cutting it awful close.”
Dorothy was still in shock that a boy was in the Outcast Zone. She never heard anything about children being sent to the penal colony. “What did you do to get sent to OZ?”
He shrugged. “Nothing. I was born here.”
It was unnerving how nonchalant everyone was. If she ever found herself in the Outcast Zone … What was she thinking? She was in the Outcast Zone.
Jasper pointed at Scarecrow. “That can’t go with us.”
Dorothy snapped out of her downward spiraling thoughts. “He’s why you’re here. He has to go with us.”
Jasper shook his head. “Nobody said anything about a human form automaton. They are forbidden.” He inspected
Scarecrow closer. “Looks new. Where did you get it?”
Munch stepped forward. “We found him this morning lying in a field.”
“And you didn’t wonder where it came from?”
Munch shrugged again. “Things show up all the time inside the wall. We never question our good fortune.”
Jasper spun and headed for the hole in the wall. “If that thing is coming along, I can’t help you.”
Dorothy ran to catch up with him. “He has to come.”
He spun back around to face her. “Why?”
She stammered. “I need him for protection.”
“What can it do to protect you?”
“Well, nothing yet. That is why you’re here. To take him somewhere he can be trained to fight.”
He motioned to Scarecrow. “It can’t go looking like that. You will need to dress it up. If anyone notices it’s not human, we will have more trouble than any of us can handle.”
Munch placed the top hat on Scarecrow’s head and stepped back to regard his handiwork.
“It looks like a robot pimp,” Jasper exclaimed.
Scarecrow, dressed in a floor length brown leather duster, leather gloves and black wig supplemented his look with a long cane that also provided a visual cover for the noise his metallic feet made as he walked.
Munch held his hands out in apology. “It was the only thing I had on hand. The previous Marshal had requested it for a friend of hers.”
“Then I guess we know what kind of people she associated with,” Jasper remarked.
“But will it work?” Dorothy asked.
Jasper stroked a chin that still had a few years to go before any hair would start growing. “If we cover up those glowing eyes with some goggles, it should pass a quick glance. Nobody really looks too long at anybody else here in OZ. It’s a sure sign you want to fight. And you never know what the other guy has up his sleeve.”
He glanced at a pocket watch before tucking it back into his vest. “We better get going. Trust me when I say we don’t want to find ourselves outside the casino come nightfall.”