“Now, speak.”
Between strokes, he said, “I’m experiencing things that are producing feelings of fright within me.”
“You’re a robot. You don’t have fright or any other feelings. You have programmed reactions that emulate emotions.”
“Yes. My quark circuits confirm it.” He stopped shoveling and turned to Norma. “But something is going on. I view people and things differently. I view myself differently. It’s scaring me.”
Norma motioned toward the hole. J-1 went back to digging. She said, “Damn that Stringer. He must’ve screwed with your processors.”
“I don’t think he’s responsible.” J-1 told her about his ingesting GTS and the dream he had last night.
When he finished, neither one spoke, but he could see by the way Norma stared at him that she was contemplating his words. “You can stop digging,” she replied. Norma took a seat on a large rock and motioned him to sit next to her. When he did, she said, “This woman in your dream. What did she look like?”
J-1 described her. “Beautiful. Long, black hair that glistened in the sun and mocha skin like mine.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes, why?”
Norma locked her hands behind her neck and tilted her head back as if she were searching for an answer in the clouds. “I had a crazy notion that you might’ve been dreaming of Mata, but that isn’t even close to what she looks like.”
There was a rustling noise. Norma sprang to her feet and at the same time unholstered her electro-rod and pointed it in the direction of the sound.
“Whoa, didn’t know anyone was here.” Teague emerged from the brush with hands raised to indicate he meant no harm.
Norma lowered her weapon.
“It’s not an emergency,” Teague said. “I’ll come back later.”
“Stay,” Norma replied. “We can use another set of ears.” She glanced at J-1 for confirmation. He nodded. She told Teague of their conversation and said to him, “I think he’s the one that Mata’s spoken of.”
“According to Mata, he would know her.” He turned to J-1. “Friend, do you know Mata?”
J-1 shook his head.
“Norma,” Teague said in a kindly voice. “You’ve got to stop obsessing over Mata, she’s a—”
“Lunatic?” Norma inserted.
“I didn’t use that word.” He walked up to where she and J-1 were sitting and clutched her hand. “You need to put the past behind you. For the sake of your own sanity.”
Norma’s eyes welled. J-1 furled his brow with puzzlement. He wasn’t sure what had happened to cause that reaction. It was the first of its kind he had seen from Norma.
Teague dropped to his knee. “That was wrong. Forgive me. I’m so sorry.” He brought her hand to his cheek. “You have to focus on today and the day after. Pocketsville needs you. I need you. Mata is leading you down a false path without a future.” He helped her to her feet and guided her away from the latrine.
“Wait,” J-1 said.
“Come along, friend,” Teague replied. “We’re heading back to camp.”
J-1 shook his head. “I have questions.” He grabbed the shovel, plunged the blade into the ground and spoke to Norma. “You said as long as I shoveled, you’d talk with me.”
Norma looked at Teague.
“No,” he said.
Norma shrugged and turned to J-1. “Speak.”
Teague smiled, but by its rigidity J-1 knew it wasn’t a happy smile. “Who is Mata?”
“That depends on who you ask,” Norma said.
“I’m asking you.”
“Friend, for a mechi you’re close to overstepping your bounds.”
Norma raised her hand at Teague, but kept her eyes on J-1. “He’s right. Keep watch over your attitude.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, but he wasn’t, and that within itself was an unknown sensation to him.
“I don’t know if Mata came to us or we came to her,” Norma said, “but she made her presence known long after we discovered that our grand bargain with Ameri-Inc. wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.” She laughed with bitterness. “I don’t entirely blame your masters, automaton. Their lies only worked because of our greed. And you’re looking at the greediest of them all.”
“Norma,” Teague interjected. “This isn’t necessary.”
“I’ve held it in too long,” she said, looking toward her feet for courage. “If I can’t bare my soul to a robot whom can I bare it to?” Norma sat back on the boulder. Teague took a seat on the ground in front of her and stared at the dirt. Norma rubbed her calves for several moments and, as if speaking to them, said, “The warehouse where you worked was built over the mansion where my husband and two daughters were slain.”
J-1’s lower lip dropped. Teague shook his head.
She looked at J-1. “He was a good man. Broderich was his name. Our daughters were Rack and Roneel. It’s important you know their names.”
J-1 understood. They were individuals: living, breathing creatures. He said in a hushed voice, “Broderich, Rack, Roneel.”
“Roneel was a born troublemaker and more stubborn than a tually. She was nine. If there was a broken dish, or scribbling on the table it was her doing, though she’d be loath to admit it. On the other hand, Rack, who was eleven, was as even-keeled as a cruiser on a windless day. Yet, in her own way she was as determined as Roneel. Broderich said Roneel had the heart of a warrior and Rack the soul of a poet. Both girls would have done well for themselves.”
“What did Broderich do for a living?” J-1 asked.
“He was the husband of the governess of our capital city—Backborne. The people had the unfortunate luck of electing me to lead them.” Teague was about to say something, but Norma cut him off with a lifted finger. “Though Backborne was the largest region of our civilization, we were nothing more than a blip compared to provinces in other galaxies. We didn’t even have the resources to know that your initial exploratory machines had landed and taken samples of our soil until the second ship came and told us. The one with the Earthers.”
J-1 was taken aback. Though he had never left the ship, he had supervised the initial, nonhuman exploratory operations.
“When the second ship arrived, the one with the Earthers, we were skeptical of course,” Norma said, “but secretly flattered.” She ran her hand along her thick, brown hair. “Maybe not so secretly. They couldn’t stop praising the beauty of our land and culture. When they proposed a joint venture to transform part of Backborne into the perfect vacation destination, we were delighted beyond all reason.” The irony in her bluish-purple eyes was replaced with sadness.
J-1 studied Norma a moment. “Why were you so pleased with the deal?”
She smiled. “Because we wanted to matter. As naïve as it sounds, we wanted to join the big boys. The Earthers—who we had heard of—promised us that. Because our atmospheres are nearly identical, they showered us with blueprints and glamorous holo-images. One was of a lake to be built. Hugging the lake would be restaurants, luxury hotels, boutique districts and a gambling resort. In exchange for allowing them to build this paradise on our unused land, we were to be fifty-fifty partners. Pretty sweet deal, don’t you agree?”
J-1’s throat clutched. Lake Freeto-Lay, the gambling resort of Apple Metropolis! This was the data fed to me when I took over mining operations. Ameri-Inc. detailed the planet to me just as they did to Norma. Why?
“But there was a complication. The mineral they now called GTS had unusual—that was their term—unusual effects on Earthers. Because of the potential reaction they wanted the rights to clear the region of it entirely before they built the paradise that would make Truatta a major part of the intergalactic community and everyone in Backborne rich. They hoped that would be agreeable.
“I told them it would be the people’s decision. They understood perfectly, but at the same time emphasized that they were on a time schedule and that there were several other planets they were considering. Be
fore leaving, they gifted Rack and Roneel with android Earth dogs. Cocker Spaniels, they called them. Roneel broke hers, Rack taught hers to shake hands and say hello.”
“The Earthers are tradshit,” Teague spewed. “Pure tradshit.”
“We held meetings. Thousands attended. There was support for and against the deal. It was brought before the people to vote upon. You have to understand, automaton, we weren’t a backward people but we weren’t anywhere near the sophis-tication of your masters. One of your business emissaries—” She glanced at Teague. “—his name was Lick?”
“Lipp. Jocsun Lipp.”
“He said Backborne had a quaintness to it that reminded him of something called ‘mid-twentieth century Toledo, Ohio.’ ”
It probably wasn’t meant as a compliment, J-1 thought.
“There was a tremendous push on both sides,” Norma said. “A group of financiers called Deep Truth funded the opposition against the resort. Their arguments were that it would bring in undesirables and that the undesirables would corrupt our society with their foreign ways. They also contended that removing the GTS could potentially harm our environment. It was a strong campaign that was gaining ground, wouldn’t you say, Teague?”
Teague shrugged.
“The opposing side—Equity For All—argued that the wealthy were trying to preserve their own status by preventing the influx of wealth to all people of the province. As for GTS removal, there was an equal amount of evidence to repudiate their claim of environmental problems. Deep Truth, whose leader was savvy, fierce and had the fiscal backing to spearhead his message, was drowning those messages out.
“That’s when I got involved. I had intended to stay impartial, but in my heart I believed this was a golden opportunity for us beyond the superficial reason of playing with the big boys. We could advance our civilization by centuries in a matter of years with the Earther’s technology. With the resort profits, our infrastructure, education and health centers would flourish. I spoke loud and stood tall on the bully pulpit that came with my position. Both sides pushed hard, so damn hard. We were a bitter, divided people.” She lowered her eyes.
J-1 glanced at Teague. He was studying her.
Norma puffed a cheek, looked at J-1 and continued. “The day of voting arrived. It was razor close, wasn’t it Teague?”—Teague said nothing—“In the end Equity For All prevailed. I was overjoyed. The Earthers came quickly with their excavation equipment. Their first order of business was the removal of the mineral with the so-called unusual effect on them.”
“Did you ask what the effect was?”
“Of course. They explained that it did strange things to their bodies, things that re-interpreted the balance of their system. In retrospect we were fools, but we—I—was blinded by the prospect of turning our society into a utopia.”
There was a rumble in the distance. Teague glanced in the direction of the sound. “Storm’s coming. If we’re going to make Pocketsville by nightfall we should move on.”
Norma stood and brushed her knees. “Perhaps you’re right.”
“Forgive me,” J-1 said. “But how does mining GTS cause you to lose Broderich, Rack, and Roneel?”
Norma nodded at J-1 as if to thank him for remembering their names. “Deep Truth was right about the GTS. It was an integral part of our eco system. As it was being mined and removed, our agriculture began to die. We discovered that GTS filtered naturally occurring toxins in our land and converted their chemical makeup to allow plant growth. The mineral-infused food plants prolonged our life cycle. As the mineral was depleted from our soil many of our people literally aged overnight and died.”
J-1 was stunned. “Was Ameri-Inc. aware of this?”
Teague smirked. “They claimed it was a temporary problem related to carbo-oxide storms and the cyclical realignment of our planet’s rotation.”
“I demanded an end to the deal,” Norma said. “Ameri-Inc. was apologetic. Said we would all be compensated. Assured us they would restore everything back as it was. For a time they were true to their word.”
“For a time?”
“Long enough to build an armed military camp around the mines,” Teague said. “They had played us like one of your fiddles.”
“The Earthers did accomplish one good thing. They united our people,” Norma added. “The leader of the Deep Truth campaign and I formed a powerful alliance. We fought back with everything we had. At first we had them on the run because we had the numbers and we knew the lay of the land.”
Teague grunted. “But they were playing a waiting game. They knew something we didn’t.” He spit as if to remove the bile of the words from his tongue.
Norma continued, “What the Earthers were cognizant of was that their mechanical warriors were on the way.”
“WarBots,” J-1 said.
“Yes. When they arrived it was a slaughter field. A quarter of our population had already succumbed to famine or disease. That amount doubled. Things worsened. Broderich, Rack and myself were ill. Roneel was near death from malnutrition. There was only one thing left to do. I sent a message to your masters—we would surrender on the condition that our people were allowed to live in peace on the other side of the planet, away from their mining operations. Ameri-Inc. agreed, and why not? For little cost they would get what they wanted, unlimited access to GTS and at the same time they’d sweep a pesky problem—us—under the rug.”
“Doesn’t the other end of the planet face away from the sun?” J-1’s data indicated that it did, but he didn’t know what to believe anymore regarding this world.
“Yes. Life would be brutal. Dominated by darkness and cold, but there would be enough GTS to sustain us.” Norma shivered as if an imaginary cold swept through her. “Broderich warned me not to trust the Earthers, as did my other advisers. But I had no choice.”
“Norma, please,” Teague said. “Why torture yourself?”
Norma glanced at him with a defiance—or was it release?—in her eyes. Whatever it was, J-1 thought, it was enough to silence Teague. “We set up the meeting. To my joy, I was told that Ameri-Inc.’s chairwoman, Rebeka Takáts, was flying in to inspect the mining operation and would be attending. What no one knew, not even Broderich, was that I intended to plant an explosive device on me. It was my last move to give our people a fighting chance.”
There was another rumble. Closer than the last one. Teague studied the sky, which had darkened. “It may be another ice storm. We need to leave.”
“Gather the others,” Norma answered. “I’ll be there shortly.”
Teague pressed her hand. “Hurry, please.”
J-1 watched Norma watching him leave. “You’re very fond of him.”
“Yes,” she replied. “He’s been a wonderful comfort to me.” She cleared her throat. “But he’s right, it’s time to wrap this up. The day of the meeting arrived. I attended with the former leader of the Deep Truth movement. My alliance with him proved to be—” she glanced at Teague one more time “—a good match.”
J-1 was astounded. Teague was the Deep Truth leader. “Did the Deep Truth leader know about the bomb?”
“I told him on the day of the meeting. I hadn’t planned to, but I had no right to put anyone’s life on the line except my own. I also left a note for Broderich—my husband deserved to know, too. The reaction from the Deep Truth leader was what I expected. He asked to come along and be a part of it.” Norma massaged the front of her neck as if she were gathering her line of thinking. “I agreed. We breezed through the security checkpoint and were ushered into the meeting room. So there we were, myself and—”
“Teague.”
Norma stopped kneading her neck and scrutinized J-1. “Yes, Teague. Besides us there were Madam Takáts and her band of lawyers and military leaders. They were gathered around a large table. I had rigged the explosive to detonate upon my uttering the sentence ‘Let our two worlds live in peace.’ We spent the morning hammering out contract details.”
“Why didn’t y
ou detonate the explosive immediately?”
Norma stared at him a moment. “I wanted the pleasure of prolonging what I knew was going to send every one of those bastards to their demise.”
J-1 wondered if there might have been a second reason: Norma simply was afraid to die.
“Negotiations were finalized and signed. We took pictures. Someone wheeled in a table of what Rebeka Takáts called ‘our finest champagne.’ Glasses were raised. She smiled at me, and said, ‘A toast if you will, Governess.’ I looked at Teague. He nodded. The moment had arrived. My heart slammed against my chest. I lifted my glass and began the words that would trigger the explosive, ‘Let our two worlds—’” Norma chuckled. “I woke up in a small room with Teague. We were battered and bound. Standing over us was a pair of sentries. They rubbed it in our faces that they knew all along about the bomb.”
“How?”
Norma shrugged. “They wouldn’t say. My best guess is they detected it at the security checkpoint. I always thought we got through too easily.”
“If that were the case, why didn’t they stop you there?”
“That, they were happy to reveal. They said they wanted not only the contracts signed giving them total control of the region, but also the PR pics that went along with it.”
Made sense, J-1 reasoned. It was legal backup in the event of government inquiries or interplanetary commerce disputes. “Did they tell you how they knew the phrase that would detonate the explosion?”
She shook her head. “I’ve tried to answer that question a thousand times.”
“Excuse me for asking this,” J-1 said, “but did—”
“No. I never told Teague the code.” Norma mulched her lip a moment. “The only one who knew was my husband, Broderich. I mentioned it in the letter I left him, but he would never reveal it. Never.” Norma took a heavy breath. “I suppose they might’ve figured it out when they first detected the bomb, or by the look on my face or the tremble in my voice when I uttered the first words.”
“That’s a lot of supposing,” J-1 said.
“It didn’t matter anyway because I welcomed being in the hands of the sentries. It meant death. I deserved to die. I had destroyed our entire civilization.”
To Dream Page 17