Gravewalkers: Dying Time

by Richard T. Schrader

  Critias did his best to dress so as not to appear the rube with her looking so stunning on his arm. Mindful of his promise to be more attentive to her wants, he held her hand as they walked to Funland as an attempt to charm her further.

  Carmen gently squeezed his fingers, “Kevin says he would speak with you in private at your earliest convenience.”

  Critias was barely interested in Kevin or his wants, “Did he say what about?”

  She shook her head no, “I didn’t ask. It’s not my way to pry into your private business.”

  “True enough,” he accepted that. “Kevin will just have to wait because I see no convenience forthcoming while I have you on my arm.”

  She nearly blushed, “Am I so fair as to delay your business?”

  “You are more fair than the evening air,” he replied with a poem he recalled from his schooldays, “clad in the beauty of a thousand stars.” Seeing her eager for it, he kissed her softly. “Back in Chicago on the landing pad, you told me you wanted to be looking up at the sky at night with all the stars shining down on us. Only now do I understand what you had meant, in the evening air under a thousand stars, on your back.”

  Carmen nodded feverishly at a loss for words; that had been her very meaning.

  He gave her a wink as they continued on their way, “You’re that to me wherever we are, but for you, I’ll have to make it happen just that way.”

  Much of the community had gathered for the morning meal to hear Carmen and Critias detail the accomplishments of their adventure over porridge at the Captains’ Table.

  When the head cook, Nick, was within earshot, Carmen told him, “Critias caught you a bovine calf that you can milk when it gets older. I think perhaps Kevin will have to give it hormone therapy to get it lactating, but that’s not beyond his capabilities.”

  Nick could hardly believe his ears, “It’s not a goat? And you didn’t shoot it first?”

  “It’s a real cow, alive and kicking,” she promised. “Isn’t Critias so exceptionally clever?”

  Nick was impressed with his accomplishment, “Did you have any trouble capturing it?”

  “Catching a cow was the easy part of the day,” Critias informed them. “Carmen led me across twenty kilometers of the thickest suburbia you could imagine, on foot, surrounded by so many biters we could have walked across their shoulders.”

  Jim arrived with Hatchet to join them at the table, “Bob has that man you found in that lab. He also has that head you brought home in a bag. What’s that for?”

  “Carmen thinks he has a normal mind,” Critias told Jim. “Once he’s properly hydrated, he might be as aware as he was in normal life. Turning off the brain cooking that makes the infected into cannibals appears to be another of their discoveries. That guy shot all the other scientists in the head and then turned himself in a special way. Maybe that secret to immortality is why he shot the others.”

  Hatchet wondered why they only had the head, “You couldn’t carry the whole body?”

  “He was a murderer and Carmen can read his lips,” Critias explained. “It didn’t seem safe to bring back a smart ghoul that was already a treacherous villain. If he knows anything of value and that’s doubtful, his head can reveal it well enough without a body.”

  Hatchet liked the answer and agreed with the wisdom even though Critias had actually decapitated the ghoul preemptively just on general principle. “You look especially lovely this morning,” he told Carmen as he admired her new outfit.

  Critias wholeheartedly seconded the compliment, “Breathtaking isn’t she? I need to start working harder to get her a nicer apartment. She deserves more than that little room I keep her cooped up in.”

  “I have the construction crews working on a new apartment already,” Jim told Critias. “It will be another week, or maybe two for them to get it finished. Fat Jack will be taking the Foragers out in a couple days, so it could even be ready not long after you get back from the run, depending on how it goes. A different operation you could help with may also keep you busy. That situation is still on the drawing board.”

  “That’s good news,” Critias said of his new apartment. “Carmen and I are ready for some foraging or your other project, whatever you think is best.” Critias turned to Hatchet, “Would you mind keeping an eye on Carmen for me while I go see Bob and Kevin? They sent a message that I need to talk to them.”

  “I would love to,” Hatchet readily accepted. “Hopefully she will tell us more about Houston and the things you saw there.”

  Critias kissed Carmen’s cheek after he got up, “I’ll come back soon.”

  He walked to King’s Tower then took the elevator up to Bob’s floor where a new guard, a man named Blue greeted him in the hall then escorted him to the door to Bob’s lab. Critias went in to find Bob and Kevin building a containment fishtank for the body from the sarcophagus.

  Kevin paused from his work, “I regret to inform you that it might be some months before I can send you home. The present condition of the specimen will not allow me to duplicate the circumstances in which you are destined to return. Until we have expanded upon the research you brought back from Houston, you will simply have to wait. I hope that’s not too much of a disappointment for you.”

  “That won’t be any problem,” Critias replied unconcerned. “I have to admit that Carmen and I are happy here as things are.”

  Kevin inquired, “Speaking of Carmen, are you satisfied with the software upgrades she has been requesting from me? There’s always a small chance that expanding her range of behaviors will have unforeseen consequences.”

  Critias told him, “I’m happy when she’s happy and so far they’ve all worked fantastically. I would like you to attempt doing more for us. Carmen told me that the bioengineers didn’t consider it important for her to be able to enjoy our sexual relationship.”

  Kevin cut him off, “Please don’t be offended when I tell you that I have intimate knowledge on matters of Carmen’s feelings. Carmen experiences significant emotional satisfaction during her liaisons with you; nevertheless, you are correct if your meaning was that she does not experience orgasm during coitus as humans do.”

  “Could she? That’s what I want you to provide for her.”

  Kevin frowned over the request, “An Epsilon-K combat android is not the sort of person you want clawing your back during a moment of uncontrolled passionate expression.”

  Critias considered his warning and did agree that Carmen’s full strength was deadly, “Surely someone as smart as you, Kevin, could find ways around such problems.”

  “Yes,” Kevin agreed. “You could play your glandular games with a leisure-recreational android with an aluminum skeleton and it wouldn’t have Carmen’s combat-grade musculature and titanium bones that are so potentially lethal. You could reactivate Carmen’s inhibitor module so that the directives could prevent her from harming you, regardless of how she might malfunction, assuming I gave you the software for the purpose you are asking about.”

  “Did Carmen ask you to try and make it for her before now?”

  Kevin shook his head no, “Carmen has only asked me to produce software that engenders benignant idiosyncrasies that she believes will cultivate emotional intimacy with you. As you are aware, Carmen already appears fully functional by responding to your needs and expectations as her designers intended. If I reprogram her software to be an extension of her own mental state instead of yours, I have no means of predicting the outcome and as such, it could result in any number of psychoneuroroses, just as it does with humans. I already understand all the components involved in writing the upgrade you are seeking, I just think it would be unwise to do so.”

  “Well, what’s the worst thing that could go wrong?”

  Kevin considered that a moment, “The change might manifest in her as chronic masturbation, homosexuality, or any number of fetishes ranging from tame, to perverse, to psychotic. You may not be able to provide sufficient inducement for her to achieve sat
isfaction, resulting in her frustration, depression, or even hostility. It may work perfectly and her combat-level muscular contractions are so powerful that they inflict pain or injury upon you. She might exhibit no interest in having coitus with you ever again because it is a loathsome animal act rather than the spiritual beauty, as she currently perceives it. Carmen has not been alive long enough for her to have sufficient personal experience to temper her emotions against. She is too dangerous for me to tamper with casually, especially while she is free of all her inhibitors. In my opinion, she is already unstable, suffering from acute impairment of self-esteem related to issues of unfulfilled codependence and separation anxieties, those being problems caused by you.”

  “Well, then you’re saying she feels the same way I do,” Critias admitted. “I can’t be away from her for ten minutes without missing her. If Carmen measures happiness by how much I need her with me, then she is going to be very happy. I want her to have every opportunity to experience real joy, and this impasse is intolerable. I need you to give Carmen the freedom to express her own feelings and not just perform a simulation for my benefit.”

  “You retrieved the specimen at great personal risk,” Kevin stated as the reason he would deviate from prudence. “I will provide you with what you ask for under some conditions. You must agree to inform me if she has any unwanted side effects and be willing to allow me to remove it if I think that’s necessary.”

  Critias was pleased with his victory, “What do I need to do?”

  “I will transmit the upgrades shortly. It is imperative that you proceed on this course with the utmost caution and patience. I already have your informed consent about the potential hazards, but I need to warn you one more time; if you are already unable to satisfy her quixotic quest to be a natural person, you will not fulfill her needs for the emotional bond by replacing it with a physical addiction.”

  “I understand,” Critias assured Kevin. “First I have to win her heart and mind if I want her ass to follow.”

  “It’s something like that,” the android accepted Critias’ tentative grasp of the issues involved. “Hopefully this change you seek is for her benefit and not some attempt to bolster your own ego on matters of masculine potency.”

  “That is part of it,” Critias confessed. “It would break her heart to learn that I’m no longer comfortable touching her. Now that I know the truth, it makes me like a raping pervert again, abusing her masochistic need to please me no matter how degrading my treatment of her is. I want to love her as an equal, not as my artificial slave.”

  Kevin gave him a serious gaze, “But she is your artificial slave, Captain Critias, the makers specially grew and programmed her for that exact purpose. Understand that she is a product of that express intention. Carmen’s purpose is to attend to your every need, including assisting you in dangerous environments, and do so with enthusiasm. You can believe me when I tell you that she is performing those intentions magnificently. Even if you are fully successful in bestowing upon her true personal liberty, it won’t change the fact that her bond to you goes much deeper than your human concepts of personal choice.”

  “The bioengineers brainwashed Carmen into pretending that I am the most important person in the world,” Critias denounced those men. “It was unconscionable.”

  “Carmen does not pretend you are the most important thing in her universe,” Kevin corrected him. “You actually are the meaning and purpose of her life. That is partly why she finds it so difficult to understand her purpose after interacting with you during two independent time frames. The bioengineers never imagined she would need to express total devotion to you while two separate incarnations of yourself confronted her simultaneously with opposing desires. Now that I have seen more of your situation myself, I find it quite understandable. In your first temporal prosopopoeia, you were a relatively sane and distinguished marshal who was her master that recognized the truth of what she is. When she met you as you will be when you leave here, let us just say that this second prosopopoeia did not think of Carmen as his bonded servant, as you no longer do now. I am impressed that she is capable of functioning while she tries to unify the extreme dichotomy of having one master who is two different people.”

  “That’s why this new upgrade is so important,” Critias argued. “Carmen does have two masters; one treats her like a pet animal and the other wants her to have freedom and happiness she would rather not have. You send her the upgrades and I’ll be very patient and cautious. If anything goes wrong in any way, I will tell you about it immediately and then you can remove the upgrade if there is no other solution.” Critias came to a realization on a way to help Kevin understand, “You know, you speak of Carmen as being all those lowly things, but maybe you should calculate in your lowly opinion of me. Whatever Carmen may be, what does that matter when compared to a mere human? I don’t measure up to being Carmen’s equal on any level in your estimation, and I am the real person. How much less of a person can Carmen be, when she is superior to me? If the bioengineers made a dog your master to serve and protect, wouldn’t your directives require you to do so?”

  Kevin nodded in agreement offering no argument, “Yes, since you broached the subject, I agree that you are correct; while you’re no dog as you so colorfully described it, you are a tragically flawed creature by any measure. You are far from an equal to Carmen’s many gifts, but you do have your finer moments. When you return to Carmen, she will have received the software upgrade you ask for. To minimize any trauma to her personality, I won’t make her aware of your true purpose.”

  Critias pointed to their transparent tank, “So what is that thing you are building there? Are you going to have goldfish?”

  Kevin explained, “We have studied much of the research you recovered. The man you brought back is the prime infected. If you recall what Bob told you about the androids, you will be interested to know that this man has electrocells and is undoubtedly the original source of the ones in my body and Carmen’s. You could call him the missing link that leads to my own existence. He is currently in a state of chemically induced paralysis. The nicotine-based compound that keeps him dormant may result in a chemical weapon we can use against the ghouls. This container will be part of our process in extracting the chemical from his tissues and thus reviving him. We need to study him in his detoxified and awakened state.”

  Bob showed Critias a smaller water tank that contained the head Critias brought back, “We also appreciate your foresight in bringing this head back with you. After we have studied it, and perhaps even conversed with it, we will have a much greater understanding of ghoul intelligence, including the watcher phenomena you brought to our attention.”

  “So we have good news all around,” Critias commented pleased with himself. “I don’t suppose you know where the man came from.”

  “He has probably been in his tomb for around two-thousand years,” Kevin speculated. “From what I’ve seen of his sarcophagus, it was manufactured by the Olmec people of that Veracruz region. That suggests that they are the ones who put him there. I don’t know if he went into it willingly, if it was a preventive measure to protect their population from infection, or if it was some kind of punishment. It is possible that he has buried himself for prolonged periods on some semi-regular basis. If that is the case, he could actually be far older than recorded human history. Perhaps he returned to this state of hibernation more recently, like during the Mayan period. Until I have collected more information, it is difficult to know much about him with any certainty.”

  Critias asked, “And that goo that was all over?”

  “It appears that the goo as you call it was a feeding mechanism for nourishing him during his dormancy, because as I said, he is very much alive only in hibernation. I believe his unique physiology normally feeds on microorganisms and decaying organic matter while he hibernates to sustain himself indefinitely. The dissolved men you saw in the containment room underwent that same process, through no fault of his.�
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  It was a small comfort that the man wasn’t going out of his way to digest people. Critias asked Kevin, “Do you think he will be grateful when he wakes up?”

  “Humans used his unique nature to all but extinct their species,” Kevin reasoned. “I think it’s highly probable that he has an affinity for humanity since at some stage he was one. I suspect he will most likely be upset about being a prisoner in a destroyed world. If he planned on waking up someday, it was not to this situation we can be sure.”

  Critias joked, “If anyone will be able to charm him into being friendly, that would be you, Kevin.”

  The android quipped back, “When the head is aware, I’ll be sure to let him know you are the one that trimmed his beard. No doubt he will be overjoyed to discover that he’s going to live forever from the neck up.”

  “Poetic justice,” Critias named it. “He murdered five men and wanted to live forever. Maybe his third wish will be for death.”

  Kevin was impressed for a brief moment before he guessed the truth, “I will assume that it was Carmen who educated you on the tale about the magical monkey’s paw that could grant three wishes with treacherous consequences. It would be too great a leap of faith to believe you came up with that reference all on your own.”

  “We will find out how he feels about being a talking head soon enough,” Bob said to part the two. “It won’t take long to rehydrate him. Past experience with other less intellectual ghoul heads suggests it will be able to generate its own oxygen and blood pressure.”

  “Keep me updated then,” Critias said on his way out. “I had a busy night and need some sleep.” He left the laboratory then returned to Funland where most of the people had already left to undertake their daily work duties.