Exodus: Tales of The Empire: Book 2: Beasts of the Frontier. (13 page)

Not that
these robots are likely to rip themselves out of the floor and grow the
processing power to be a threat
, thought Cornelius as he reported to his
booth, nodding at the guy they had hired to take Parker’s place. 
Not his
fault
, he thought of the new guy, who just seemed happy to have a job. 
Still, Cornelius couldn’t help but feel some resentment for the replacement who
had taken the place of his old friend.

Cornelius sat at
his station and started up his board.  The ticker said he still had five
minutes before his lines started up.  He was in charge of the same two robots
today that he was every day, something that made the job a little boring.  His
would nanoweld and connect the control runs to the lift fans that the newbie’s
robots would lower into place.  He just had to make sure that the robots were
running within parameters, and watch that no mistakes got through his part of
the lines.

The buzzer
beeped and the line started up.  He could look forward to ten hours of watching
aircars rotate in front of him, of his robots performing the same tasks over
and over.  Three days a week he sat here, eating his lunch at the board, not
even taking bathroom breaks, as his nanites were programed to delay bladder
fill while he was at work, only allowing enough fluid out that he could take
care of in his two ten minute breaks.  It was monotonous.  Or it should have
been, except when the bot on the three line started to overheat, and stopped
making all the proper connections.

“Shit,” said
Cornelius, hitting the button that shut down the entire line.  That was
considered  serious action, but he had been at the job long enough to feel
confident that when he did it, it needed to be done.  He shunted his other
robot off to the newbie, whose name he couldn’t even remember.  It was no use
shutting down both lines, and the newbie could watch two robots on line four
while Cornelius looked into the situation.

First he checked
the computer readout for the robot, which told him absolutely nothing about why
it was malfunctioning, other than that the actuator of one of the arms was
hot.  There was nothing for it but to go on the line and give the unit a look. 
If he could fix it he would.  If not, he would call in those who could.

The line was
always noisy.  It was easy to forget while sitting in the insulated booths, but
this was heavy machinery, lifting large parts into place while assembling
vehicles.  It could also be dangerous.  The three line, the one he was
approaching, was still, but he had to walk over the four line to get to it. 
Cornelius could see why robots frightened some people, tales of the revolt
centuries before notwithstanding.  The robots of four line were moving quickly,
and even with built in fail safes they could still snag the unwary.

Cornelius kept a
close eye on four line while he walked three.  Vehicles were still being put
together over there, and the line would assemble hundreds of them in a day. 
Three line was a row of unfinished vehicles that were not going anywhere at the
moment.  He stopped in front of the recalcitrant machine and put his hand on
the arm in question.  It was hot to the touch, and he noticed that a thin line
of smoke was rising from a port.  He stuck a multitool into the port and turned
it, and the arm opened up along the seam that appeared.   And more smoke poured
out of the opening, along with a lick of flames.

What the hell
,
thought the man as he saw what looked like an oily rag burning.  With a thought
he tapped into the factory com system and sent a situation report to
management. 
It doesn’t look like this problem is going to be easily solved
,
he thought.  They could clean up the rag easily, and replace whatever parts
were damaged by the fire.  But this looked like something deliberate, and that
meant this would be investigated, with all the hassle that entailed. 
So
much for a quiet day at work
, thought Cornelius, knowing that he would be
investigated as well.

*    
*     *

“Would Milady
like another cup of tea?” asked Katlyn, holding a tray with pot, sugar and
cream.  The woman she was questioning, a guest of the Baroness, performed the
difficult task of looking up and looking down her nose at the servant at the
same time.

“Yes, I think I
will,” answered the woman, holding up her cup.

Katlyn put the
tray on the table and picked up the teapot to pour, her eyes glancing at the
baby in the lap of another guest.  The little girl was smiling and laughing,
and waving her pudgy little arms. 
And why can’t I have one like you to hold
,
thought Katlyn as she poured the tea.  The baby was distracting, and she wasn’t
paying attention to what she was doing.

“You stupid
little whore,” yelled the well-dressed guest as hot tea spilled onto her dress.

Katlyn looked
down in horror, dropping the teapot to land on the carpet.  She scrambled to
get to her knees and picked up the pot, watching the darkening stain of liquid
spread across the fabric.

“I am so sorry,
Marta,” said the Baroness, her cold eyes glaring at the servant who had burned
her guest.

“I am sorry,
ma’am,” said Katlyn, putting the pot back on the tray, then snatching up a
cloth and moving to wipe down the woman’s dress.

“You stay away
from me,” said Marta, knocking Katlyn’s hand away.

“Leave us,
Katlyn,” said the Baroness, pointing at the door to the kitchen.  “Wait for me,
and I will be in to talk to you shortly.  And send Kimberly out to serve us.”

“Yes, ma’am,”
said a dejected Katlyn, picking up the tray and carrying it to the kitchen,
listening as the women talked about how clumsy and stupid she was.  She was
near to tears as she entered the kitchen, but remembered to send a com call to
Kimberly, summoning her to the kitchen.

“What’s wrong?”
asked the other servant as she entered the kitchen and saw the tears on Katlyn’s
face.

“I screwed up,
Kimberly,” said Katlyn, feeling a sense of almost hysteria coming over her.  “I
was paying attention to the baby, and not to what I should be doing, and poured
hot tea on one of the Baroness’ guests.”

“It will be
alright,” said the other woman, putting together another tray.  “Just calm
down, and it will be OK.”

Katlyn could
tell from the expression on Kimberly’s face that the other woman didn’t think
it would be OK.  She was just saying words she thought might calm Katlyn.

Kimberly came in
and out of the kitchen several times over the next hour, while Katlyn sat in a
chair and waited to hear the verdict from the woman who employed her.  It
seemed to take hours, but eventually the Baroness came into the kitchen, her
cold blue eyes fixed on Katlyn like lasers.

“How dare you
injure one of my guests,” she said, walking over to the quickly standing young
woman.

“Was she burned
badly?” asked Katlyn in a panicked voice.

“Nothing that
nanites can’t take care of,” said the Baroness, putting her hands on her hips. 
“That’s not the point, you little common born trash.  You caused distress to my
guests, and I will not have that.  You are no longer in my employ.  You will
leave this house immediately, never to return.”

“Please,” said
Katlyn, dropping to her knees and grasping at the employer’s dress.  “No.  It
won’t happen again.”

“No,” said the
Baroness, taking a step back and glaring down at the girl.  “It will not.  At
least not by you.  There are a thousand girls out there waiting for your position. 
And one of them will have it.  Now leave, before I call security to escort you
out.”   The woman turned and started to walk away, then spun back around on her
heel.  “On second thought, I don’t want you absconding with any of the
silverware.”

A few moments
later a large man in the uniform of a liveried security appeared and dragged a
shocked Katlyn off, adding insult to injury.  She walked in staggering steps to
the nearest bus line and caught the next one to the central station.  She
stared straight ahead the entire trip, not even taking in the scenery from on
high like she normally did. 
What am I going to tell Cornelius?
she
thought.  They would still do well enough on his income, but she wanted to feel
like she was contributing to their progress up the financial ladder.  Now she
was to be relegated to the role of stay at home housewife, and without even any
children to look after.  She cried her way to the central station, and then on
the elevated train home, where she sat in the living room and cried some more,
waiting for her husband to come back from work.

*    
*     *

“And then they
escorted me from the manor like a common criminal,” stammered a crying Katlyn
as Cornelius held her in his arms.

Bastards
,
he thought of the people who had caused her such trauma.  And all because she
made a simple mistake, spilling some tea on her betters. 
Betters
, he
thought with a flare of anger. 
As if any of those people are actually
better than we are.
  Cornelius knew he had above average intelligence.  He had
been tested back in primary school.  But a commoner needed much more than above
average to compete with the nobles for the slots needed for higher education,
at least on New Detroit. 
Maybe if we were on Jewel, or a University rich
planet like Avalon
.  It was said that even those with slightly above
average intelligence scores could attend a University on those planets, if they
had the proper work ethic.

He wiped a tear
away from Katlyn’s face, looking into the eyes of the woman he loved. 
So
she’s not as bright as some
, he thought, studying her classically beautiful
features. 
That’s alright.  I’m here to do the thinking for us. 
“Look. 
I’ll talk to my father and see what he can do.  He has the ear of the Duke,
after all.  So what’s the word of some damned Baroness?”

“You really
think he’ll be able to do anything?” she asked, sniffling.

Hell no
,
thought her husband, nodding his head. 
You’re not important enough. 
“Of
course.  Look what he did for me.”

Katlyn’s eyes
unfocused for a moment, the sign that she was accessing some information. “Your
sister will be here in an hour
,
” she said, standing up from the couch. 
“And I don’t have anything prepared.”

“You get cleaned
up,” said Cornelius, giving her a quick hug.  “I’ll order a delivery.”  As the
last word left his mouth he jacked into the local net and looked over the menus
of the local delivery joints.  With another thought he ordered Chinese and
authorized a debit from his account.

“You look
beautiful,” he told his sister as she walked in the doorway with her husband an
hour later.  Natasha did look beautiful, with a glow to her face he had never
before seen.  Her husband, Larry, alternated between smiles and an expression
of worry.

Natasha took off
her coat, and even in the baggy clothing she was wearing it was obvious that
she had gained weight, most of it…

“Are you
pregnant?” asked Katlyn after hugging Natasha, then holding her back with hands
on the other woman’s arms.

“I am,” said
Natasha with a smile, her eyes taking on the worried look of a caged animal.

“How did you
guys get a reproduction license?” asked Cornelius, suspicion raising its ugly
head.  “You’re younger than I am, Larry, and I’m looking at slim to none
chances.”

“We, we didn’t
get a license,” said Larry in a hushed voice, as if afraid that he would be
overheard.  “I had a friend who reprogramed our nanites.  Made us both
fertile.  And then, it was just God’s will, and nature.”

“Are you fucking
crazy?” yelled Walborski, fear and anger warring with each other in his
feelings.  “How in the hell did you expect to get away with that?  What were
you thinking?”

“We wanted a
baby,” said Natasha, as if that answered everything.

“We decided to
trust in God,” said Larry, looking upwards.  “He will see us through this.”

“Christ,” cursed
Cornelius, looking at the idiot his sister had married.  He turned his glare on
his sister. “And how is God going to hide the fact that you are pregnant?  Or
the child, after you give birth, if it goes that far?”

“God will
protect us,” said Larry, trying to smile.

And you’re
still freaked out about what’s going to happen
, thought Cornelius. 
Despite
your assurances that your God will take care of you.

“Why don’t we
eat?” said Katlyn, gesturing toward the dining room, where the Chinese delivery
was laid out.

Yeah, why don’t
we,
thought Cornelius. 
A last good meal for my sister and
brother-in-law.

The meal was
mostly eaten in silence.  Cornelius kept staring at Larry, blaming him for
everything that was about to happen to his sister. 
If they’re lucky they’ll
just get a forced abortion, and a maybe some incarceration time in a work
camp. 
That didn’t happen very often.  There was always the possibility of
mind wipe, and his sister would not know him, and he would really not know her,
only her physical appearance.

“How in the hell
could they do that?” he complained to Katlyn after their guests had left. 
“What were they thinking?”

“That they
wanted a child,” said Katlyn with a faraway look.  “Just like most of us.”

“It’s against
the law.  We are living on a population controlled planet.  People just can’t
have unlimited children, unless we want the overcrowding they were said to have
had on old Earth.  I for one like some wilderness area to roam around in.”

“And you only
get that because of your father,” said Katlyn in an angry voice.  “The rest of
us have to make do with the parklands they allow us common folk to use.”