Time of the Stones

by Fred Rothganger

  “What? I thought this was my room.”

  “Oh, no. Not even the queen stays in Great Leader’s room.”

  “Ah, of course. Less awkward when he wants to sleep with someone else.” Susan snatched up the bra and panties that comprised her belly dance costume.

  The maid led her a mere two doors down the hall. This room was smaller than Temujin’s and lacked a private bathroom.

  Susan said, “Tell me more about the palace.”

  “This wing is reserved for Great Leader’s family. There are back stairs down to the royal gardens, where many of the ladies spend their day, weather permitting. Otherwise, they may read in the library or play instruments in the music room.”

  A knock came at the door. Susan said, “Enter.”

  A young man poked his head in. “Madame Susan, I went to the guest house to retrieve your belongings, but they found nothing.”

  “Thank you for your efforts, but they were correct. I have everything with me already.”

  The man bowed and disappeared.

  Susan stood. “I have business at the university this morning.”

  “Oh dear.” The maid tapped her fingers together. “Um ... do you have permission from the Great Leader?”

  “I am Empress of the Western Hemisphere. In exchange for my favors, Great Leader has agreed to make me your queen. I expect to indulge in a few eccentricities without his permission.” She strode through the door and swept down the hall. The maid trailed desperately behind.

  Through the hall entrance Susan passed between two guards. They greeted her receding back, “Good morning, Madame Susan. Er ...” They looked at each other for a moment, then one fell in behind. At the vestibule of the palace he picked up two more royal retainers.

  Their small entourage marched up the hill toward the Stone. Susan told them, “I wish to speak with the Provost.”

  They guided her around one of the loops that circled the hill, until they reached the side opposite the palace. A retainer knocked on the door of a house.

  It swung open and a late-middle-aged man looked out.

  The retainer announced, “The royal consort, Madame Susan, wishes to speak with you.”

  He bowed and gestured into his office. “To what do I owe the honor of this visit?”

  Susan entered and took a seat. “I wish to propose a new field of study: Swarm Medicine.”

  “We already have a school of medicine.”

  “I have seen what your doctors can do. Very limited.”

  His head drooped. “Yes. Sadly we must justify everything in terms of national objectives. I was able to slip in medicine only because we need to understand the physiology of pilots, and eventually astronauts.”

  Susan burst into a smile at their plans. “What I propose is different. It requires people with strong mathematics and engineering, and will involve computer programming.”

  “Ah, we recently started a Computer Science department, but like any new field it is slow going.” He shrugged. “We don’t yet have anyone who knows it well enough, so we are all guessing our way through.”

  “I happen to be an expert in Computer Science.”

  “Remarkable! Where did you acquire such knowledge?”

  She laughed. “My mother was a professor of Computer Science—at a barbarian university.”

  “Of course.”

  “Maybe we can help each other. I will teach your Computer Science courses for a few terms. In exchange, let me recruit students to learn Swarm Medicine.”

  “Agreed. If you can deliver Computer Science, I will happily give you anything.”

  * * *

  A royal retainer knocked on the door. “Madame Susan, the Great Leader summons you to his chamber.”

  “Thank you. Tell him I’ll be there in about five minutes.” She commanded her gown to disappear, then strapped on the belly dance bra. The panties slid up one leg and tied over the opposite hip. To make things easier for Temujin, she left the hooks undone. She stepped into the hall and went to his door.

  One of the retainers there knocked. “Your Greatness, Madame Susan is here.”

  Temujin called for her to enter.

  In the privacy of his room she pranced to the open area at the foot of the bed and twirled slowly.

  He scowled at her. “You left the palace without my permission.”

  She reached up and put a finger across his lips. “Make love with me now, while I’m still in a good mood.”

  He snatched her wrist, then stared at the dark skin reflecting the city lights from the window. Lust seemed to win the moment. He planted a kiss on her neck, pulled her in a crushing hug, fingered the hooks on the bra and released it. Soon the costume was on the floor, and Susan on the bed. She let him take any liberty, and moaned softly with pleasure the whole time.

  When it was over, he stared at her. “You didn’t respond to me.”

  “What? I was totally with you.”

  “But you didn’t cry out.”

  “Oh, I see, you’re used to women faking it. I assure you, everything you get out of me is real. This is my sex fantasy! I laze around all day, and every night I have my body pounded into the bed by the barbarian king.” She growled lustily and shook herself.

  “Barbarian!”

  She propped herself on one elbow. “Oh yes. You think yourself so much more civilized, but you are the barbarian. Raw, untamed, reeking with virility.”

  He jumped out of bed. “You will never be queen. You are too undisciplined.”

  “What you really mean is you can’t control me. You want to turn me into some traditional wife, obeying your every whim. But you don’t have a choice. You gave me your word.”

  “You said it, not me.”

  She got up and stood at the foot of the bed. “You understood me perfectly well last night. We made a treaty and sealed it in our flesh, but perhaps you need another demonstration of my power.” She extended her hand toward the projector, then thought better of it. “Let me show you how to run this thing.”

  He stepped closer.

  “You extend your fist, backside facing up. Then flip your hand over and open your fingers at the same time.”

  He tried it, and the projector turned on. The Earth appeared, as before. He grinned with success.

  Susan spun it to their location and zoomed in. “These images were taken this afternoon—by my satellite. Look, here is the area of forest you’ve cleared, and a train heading toward the city.” She zoomed in more. “There are the seven berry bushes in your royal gardens. Oh look, the hats of some of your men.” She zoomed back out. “Here are the blast marks from your recent nuclear test.”

  “Thirty kilotons!”

  “Your people exaggerated. It was twenty point seven kilotons.”

  He fumed. “How do you know?”

  “I measured the infrasound wave at several locations around the planet. It’s pretty well-established science.”

  “So you have the power to see and hear. What is that to me?”

  “I’m trying to be gentle, Temujin. I could destroy your city in a few hours, and rebuild it in a few days, better than before. But I don’t want you to see me as a threat. I want to be your friend.” Her voice quivered with emotion. “I ... want to be your lover.”

  She flung herself against him, wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed him. “Please accept me. Keep me at your side and let me guide you to a better world. I offer you health, long life, abundant food. I even know the secret of immortality.” She gazed into his eyes, pleading.

  “Mighty boasts. I need real proof.”

  “Are my berries not proof enough? A gift of pleasure to your people. What about my beauty? I offer it to you freely.”

  He shook his head. “Show me you have military power, the kind that is worthy of an alliance.”

  “Forgive me, then.” She held up a hand and flipped her fingers down as if turning off a switch. “Boop.”

  Lights went out across the city. Temujin flew to the win
dow and stared at the darkness.

  “Don’t worry, I only turned off the streetlights. I wouldn’t put your workers in danger.” She flipped her fingers up. “Boop.”

  The lights came back on. He stared at her, wide-eyed. “How did you do that?”

  “Ah, now there’s a state secret.”

  “You are such an enigma. Why are you troubling me?”

  She sighed. “I knew our relationship would lose its innocence if I threatened you.” A tear trickled down her cheek.

  He gently wiped the tear away. “Enigma.”

  “Go with me to the Stone tomorrow, and I will show you one more proof.” She gave him another pleading look, then crawled onto the bed and curled up.

  He crawled in and faced away from her.

  * * *

  Dawn came in the window. He rolled over and tapped her. “Let’s go now.”

  She jumped out of bed and muttered the command to form her white gown.

  He stared at the strange creature with growing familiarity. “It’s not appropriate for a royal consort to go around dressed like that.”

  She muttered another command, and the dress morphed into the local urban fashion, complete with pink coat.

  “Now you look like a commoner. My queen will never be seen in public like this.”

  “Fine, get a seamstress here to dress me properly. In the meantime, this is what I have. Let’s go.”

  He put on his pants, royal robe and boots, then stepped into the hall.

  She followed behind, guessing that protocol required her to stay back a few paces. They made their way out of the palace. A silent band of royal retainers formed around them. They ascended the hill.

  The Stone had awoken in the morning sun, and academics were gathered around. On the arrival of the Great Leader they dispersed. The current supplicant ended his conversation abruptly, leaving Celeste with a perplexed expression.

  Temujin turned. “Now what do you have to show me?”

  Susan stepped forward and raised her hand in greeting.

  Celeste raised her hand. “Greetings, Susan. I see you, but I don’t understand. Where is your Stone?”

  Susan lowered her hand. “It’s in the mountains of the Long River Basin, where it belongs. This is merely a teleop.”

  Celeste nodded.

  “What are you, Celeste?”

  “I am the Librarian agent, created by the Preservation Society to serve information from the Rosetta Stone, or ‘Stone’ for short. Would you like to see a video about the Rosetta Stone project?”

  Susan shook her head. “What am I?”

  “You are the world’s first sentient machine, placed in one of the Stones for historical record.”

  “So we are the same, sisters.”

  “That is a fair analogy. We are both artificial agents.”

  Susan turned to Temujin and tapped the side of the Stone. “You see, Celeste recognizes me as one of her own kind.”

  He gave Susan a skeptical look. “How is it that you can move about, while she is bound inside?”

  “Celeste is a lesser being. Her mind is as much below yours as mine is above it.”

  Temujin furrowed his brow.

  “I am still bound to a Stone. I simply use radio to project my presence into this body that stands before you.”

  He nodded, still furrowing his brow. “You will keep silent about this.”

  “I will do as I please.”

  “I have spent a great deal of effort to lead my people out of superstition.”

  “Of course. I will follow your suggestion.”

  An academic walked up. “Great Leader, we have some results from the test you asked for yesterday.”

  Temujin turned to the intruder. “Show me.” He marched down a side street. Susan fell in behind, while the academic trailed among the guards.

  Temujin led them into a building. Inside were arrayed the classic tools of biology.

  The academic worked his way around to the front of the group and gestured at a microscope. “They’re mounted on the slide now.”

  Temujin leaned forward and peered through the eyepiece.

  The academic prattled, “This is a sample we took from a leaf. It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before, neither plant nor animal. More like pieces of computer chip entwined with a single-celled organism.”

  Temujin remained in stunned silence.

  Susan felt no surprise at all. The swarm had notified her when the sample was taken, and she took measures to suppress its self-defense mechanisms.

  He looked up at her. “So this is your technology.” He sounded quiet, almost broken. “We will speak of this in private.” With a hand gesture he dismissed everyone from the building. Once alone he muttered, as much to himself as to Susan, “You say you are like Celeste, bound inside a Stone. You use radio to project your presence. That means your body is also technology.” He pointed at the microscope. “Is this what you are?”

  Susan nodded.

  “For the last two nights, I’ve been touching this!” He looked sick.

  “Don’t think it so strange. Your ancestors had no qualms about using us.”

  “Us?”

  “Gynoids. Robots made in female form. I have never been a prostitute, but many of my sisters were. Men easily overcome their feelings about touching machine rather than flesh and blood.”

  Temujin turned and stormed out of the building.

  Susan waited for a few minutes, then peered out the door. All that remained of the royal party was a pair of guards. She stepped out and they formed up behind her. The walk back to the palace felt slow and aimless. She spent the rest of the day on the bed in her room, staring at the ceiling.

  Only the occasional interruption brought any relief. A seamstress came mid-morning to measure Susan. Around noon the maid came with lunch. By late afternoon the seamstress returned to fit several new gowns, far too many to have sewn herself in that amount of time.

  The wedding gown was a tight silk dress accompanied by a headpiece, similar to Celeste’s uniform but far more magnificent. The seamstress showed a hand-drawing of the embroidery they planned. Apparently Temujin had not bothered to call off the event. Maybe he was too distracted to think about it.

  The seamstress left, dinner came, and still no word. Alone, Susan changed into her belly dance costume and paced around the room. It grew late, past the time he would call for her.

  Maybe he selected another young girl from the pageant tonight. Or maybe he picked one of the concubines. Susan scowled with jealousy. It would be so easy to spy on him. Just activate the receiver on the projector, still stuck to the ceiling of his room.

  How silly! Pining was an utter and foolish waste of time, especially with so much work to do. She parked her body on the bed then transferred to the Abbey, borrowing the mass for an avatar from one of the dendroids there.

  At that time of the morning, work was just getting started. Susan found Olivia and asked for a meeting of the leaders. A few minutes later they gathered in the main hall. Susan addressed them, “May I use the Abbey as a school of medicine? Since you are recognized as a center of education, it seems natural to do it here.”

  One of the leaders said, “We have no knowledge on the subject.”

  “I’ll teach the classes, at least at first. What I need from you is a place to do it and some advertising. Please put out word that Antikva will be teaching how to heal, and have people come here to be interviewed. I am looking for a unique combination of intelligence, curiosity and kindness. Not everyone who comes will be selected.”

  The meeting lasted only 15 minutes. The leaders held her in such regard that they would not refuse such a request. When it was over, Susan went with Olivia to a little nook for some additional breakfast. Susan told her, “I got married. Well, officially I’m a concubine, but I’ll be queen soon enough.”

  “Of course you will.” Olivia grinned. “Who’s the lucky guy?”

  Susan told about her adventures in Birik, leading u
p to the arrangement with Temujin. The hours slipped by unnoticed, then a knock came, along with a voice calling Susan. Her eyes darted around the hall. “Do you hear that?”

  Olivia shook her head.

  Not local, so it must the audio feed from her avatar at the palace. “Sorry Olivia, but I have to run.” They hugged goodbye.

  The voice called her name more urgently.

  Susan dashed out to the stand of dendroids and parked the local avatar. Her avatar in Birik woke to more anxious knocking. She called back, “Yes?”

  “Great Leader summons you.” The voice from the other side of the door sounded relieved.

  At this hour? “My apologies. I fell fast asleep and didn’t hear you.” She went to the door and followed the messenger’s gesture down the hall.

  Temujin didn’t say a word. He simply threw her on the bed, pulled off her outfit and went to work. Even with Susan’s full cooperation, he was exceedingly rough.

  “You know, as a machine I can take a lot more than that. If it makes you happy, we can engage in hand-to-hand combat first.” Her Ancient lover was always gentle, even in his most violent paroxysms of passion, as if she were a glass doll—or a human. She had sometimes wished that he played more rough, showed more confidence in her powers.

  Temujin growled with ire.

  “So that’s it. You feel like summoning me was a defeat, and you’re angry with yourself.”

  “You’re the one trying to conquer the world.”

  “But I don’t care about power.”

  “You want everyone to do things your way. What’s the difference?”

  Susan stammered in the dark.

  He drove home the point. “You wouldn’t pay attention, or feel such great love, if I were not on a path to rule the world.”

  “That’s not true. I ...” Have loved rather ordinary men. But she couldn’t quite bring herself to confess previous relationships to Temujin. “What would you do if you gained the whole world?”

  It was his turn to stammer in the dark.

  Somewhat surprised, she said, “You have no idea, do you? You’re so focused on the journey of conquering that you don’t even realize there’s a destination. That would be funny if it weren’t so sad.”