Gravewalkers: Dying Time (17 page)

Critias inquired, “What
happened to your last King?”

Jack summoned the elevator
with the press of a button, “The same thing that seems to get
anyone these days. The devil has a key and can always get in.” Once
in the elevator, he pressed another button to get them to King
Louie’s floor. “It’s not a happy topic as you might imagine. He
didn’t go alone or take everyone who would have wished to be with
him.”

The elevator doors opened
to an armed guard that munched on a piece of venison jerky. He eyed
them curiously with more than a hint of suspicion after having
noticed Critias was a stranger. “New arrivals I see,” said the man.
When he examined Carmen, he broke into a smile, “You’re as
beautiful as an angel on Christmas.”

“
You’re so sweet,” she
replied to the compliment with a disarming smile.

“
Hatchet, meet Critias,
and Carmen,” Jack introduced everyone. “I’ve already taken them for
my Foragers. Both of them are the right-stuff with change to
spare.”

Hatchet nodded suitably
impressed already, “I’ll tell Jim you came up.” He walked off down
the hall then knocked on one of the doors. After he spoke quietly
to someone on the other side, he waved for the visitors to come
down and join him.

Critias asked Hatchet, “You
want our guns?”

The man frowned at him,
“Didn’t someone tell you the rules yet? Everyone stays armed,
always. If you so much as walk around without having a bullet
chambered, you will be asking for an ass kicking.”

Critias shrugged, “I was
only thinking of the King’s security.”

Hatchet said, “So are we,”
then he opened the door for them.

The room beyond was an
armory with thousands of guns that lined racks and filled cabinets.
There were tables and equipment for a gunsmith, loading machines
for ammunition casings, and a station for the manufacture of
gunpowder. In the corner near the door was a comfort area with rugs
on the floor, couches, and a wide-screen video display.

Seated on the couch was a
young lad of perhaps sixteen years. He ate a snack and watched a
feature film until they came in, then he turned to see them. The
youth said, “You did a great job out there, Jack. Introduce me to
our new friends. They look like a pair of good ones.”

Jack gestured their way,
“This is Critias and his partner Carmen. They wanted to see you
right away because they have a special gift for you.”

The lad stood up to meet
them, “I apologize if you were expecting a throne room and dancing
girls. This is my first chance to relax since I got up this
morning.”

Critias could not believe
it and thought Jack was playing a prank on him, “You’re King
Louie?”

“
You can call me Jim; the
King Louie stuff is from the old radio show when there were still
other survivors to bring in to join us.” He locked gazes with
Critias then added, “I am King.”

Unforeseen or not, Critias
believed him, “My apologies; you’re just not what I expected.
Before we try to explain who we are and where we come from, I think
you had better first see what we’ve brought for you.”

“
It’s courteous of you to
bring gifts,” Jim complimented him as he studied the mechsuit on
the cart and realized he was in for some surprises. “Is that armor?
I’ve never seen anything like that before. It looks
alive.”

“
That’s my mechsuit,”
Critias explained. “It’s like the skeleton and musculature of an
android that I can wear for combat situations. I thought it best to
keep it close in case I had need of it.”

Jim asked, “By android you
mean a robot?”

“
I don’t mean a robot,”
Critias corrected him. “By android, I mean someone as unbelievable
as Carmen.”

Jim asked, “She’s a
machine? That is unbelievable, and you say I wasn’t what you were
expecting.”

Fat Jack spoke up, “Carmen
is anything but a machine. She’s amazing in so many ways and very
intelligent.”

Jim was curious to see how
human her responses would be, “What are you comprised of,
Carmen?”

“
I’m roughly eighty
percent genetically-engineered neorganic tissue. The rest is
grade-five titanium and imbedded hardware.” She felt pleased to
brag on herself, “I’m an Epsilon series combat model android, the
very best of my kind. I’m like a human in most ways. Aside from the
implants, my brain and other organs are not appreciably different
in function than your own.”

Jim asked Critias, “Can I
see your pistol?” After he held it then turned it over in his
hands, he gave it back. “So where are you two from? Did you escape
from Area Fifty One?”

Carmen suggested, “It might
be best if that is what you told everyone else. I’d prefer they
were not aware I wasn’t human or that we’re from nearly
three-hundred years in your future.”

“
I’m just a marshal where
I come from so I don’t know the science stuff,” Critias told Jim.
“One of our scientists figured out a way to send us here to help
you out and here we are.”

Jim still had his doubts,
“I have seen your equipment, but even so, that’s quite an
unbelievable story.”

“
That’s why I wanted you
to see your new science android I’ve brought for you.” Critias took
up the container with the android’s head then removed the shield so
Jim could see the face, “If this doesn’t convince you, nothing
will.”

It suitably amazed Jim,
“What does he do after you assemble him?”

“
He’s one of the
science-engineering models of my series,” Carmen answered. “He’s
not suited for combat such as I am, but you’ll find his academic
knowledge is far superior to the traditional medicine and
technology of your era.”

One of the other doors in
the room opened then a middle-aged man entered wearing a
watchmaker’s apron and magnifying goggles on his forehead. “What’s
all this talk about an android?” he asked as he cleaned his hands
on a handkerchief. After only a glance at Carmen, he approached her
in delighted amazement. “Magnificent!” he praised her. “Please, my
dear, may I see your hand?” When Carmen offered her hand, he
examined it in detail. “Never have I seen anything more beautiful,”
he didn’t refer to her physical form. He positioned his magnifying
goggles then closely studied her profoundly engineered mechanical
eyes, “Simply fascinating.”

“
I am glad you feel that
way, Bob,” Jim told him. “Your new Brainiac-5 is sitting right
there still in the packaging. Bob, meet Critias and Carmen. They
say they’re from the future and came all this way to give it to
you.”

“
Yes,” said Bob signifying
little, “that would make sense. Such a cataclysmic disaster as ours
has undoubtedly become a thorn in the paw of humanity for many
centuries to come. They very well might see the best way of solving
their problems would be in helping us with ours.”

Bob broke from
contamination protocol just to kiss Carmen’s hand, “This is such an
honor for me, just to see someone so astounding has me
giddy.”

Carmen nearly blushed as
she reveled in the attention, “I’d be delighted to tell you more
about my kind while I assist you in assembling him. I have a
sufficient understanding of the procedure that with your help we
should have no difficulty in getting him operational.”

“
Splendid suggestion,” Bob
agreed. “I’m curious to ask you a great many things. We could start
immediately if you are free.”

Carmen looked to Critias
for permission and after she received his nod, she helped Bob move
the android containers to his adjacent room.

Jim shook Critias’ hand,
“Hatchet will show you to a room where you and Carmen can sleep
until we come up with something better. I’ll send her your way when
she’s finished.”

“
Just so we understand one
another,” Critias told Jim. “I pledge to you my cooperation and
loyalty in all things save her. If anyone harms her claiming she is
an infected or for any other reason, I promise you will find out
why they gave someone like me something as priceless as
her.”

“
Then you offer me much
and ask for very little,” Jim readily agreed to those easy terms to
seal an unplayful bargain. “Feel free to think me young, but not a
fool. Are you so sure I’m the one thinking Carmen is insufficiently
human? I can’t imagine the place you come from, but it has some
strange ideas.”

Critias wanted an example,
“Like?”

“
Slavery,” Jim provided
his answer. “You did just give me one of your best scientists as a
gift, if I am not mistaken. I saw his head in a jar and he didn’t
volunteer himself.”

Critias couldn’t deny the
observation, but he didn’t really care to either, “While Carmen is
here with me like this, she is free to do what she wishes and need
obey no master. It’s my desire to see to it that she doesn’t ever
return to any condition of servitude.”

“
Well then,” Jim smiled in
that they were in perfect agreement. “We desire the same thing. Bob
will be the one who will sanction this new android and you already
saw his opinion on their form of life. I think we can also agree
that Bob will not mistreat either of them.”

Critias took the handle of
his cart to go find his room.

“
Just one more thing,” Jim
said to give him pause. “If you care about Carmen’s wellbeing so
much, are you her benevolent keeper or something more?”

The question made Critias
hesitate long enough that he did it, “Ultimately, no matter how I
might feel, Carmen is my property and she will always remain so.
While she may be strong and intelligent, she’s still only three
months old, and I’m the only person she knows. She is beyond
precious to me. I’m responsible for her and I would never allow her
to fall into the hands of anyone else. She knows what’s in books,
but she’s never done any of those things. She’s never even suffered
a loss great enough that she knows how to cry. Carmen doesn’t
understand life like she believes she does.”

Jim understood his meaning,
“Reading a book about being a king is a far cry from the
experience.”

Critias pledged, “I’ll give
her every gram of freedom I feel it’s safe to bestow upon her, but
it falls upon me to protect her, even from herself. She’s like a
child in many ways and I’m her guardian. If I did some evil to her,
it was bringing her to life under these circumstances in the first
place. I did it and I can’t take it back. All I can do now is to
make good on my responsibility to care for her.”

“
I can’t allow the
practice of slavery here.” Jim gestured toward the room that they
took the new android to for assembly, “You have already placed the
same problem into my lap. If that man is all that you claimed,
we’re desperately in need of his abilities. I won’t prevent them
from assembling him for that reason alone. Like you, I must walk a
very fine line indeed to not end up the villain. If you love Carmen
physically then I want you to assure me that you also love her
emotionally. If she’s your slave, you can’t stay here.”

Critias didn’t think he
could meet that condition, “Where I come from, she’s not the only
android, just the best one. It’s common practice to take your
android to bed. For a real person to love their android is as
mentally stable as marrying a gunship because it has a feminine
voiced talking autopilot. You have my word that her happiness is my
highest priority. I’ll never treat her as my slave in even the
remotest sense.”

Jim liked Critias’ answer
having read more truth into it than had been intended, “Then at
least we won’t have to worry about you getting into any fights over
the other men wanting to win the hand of that extremely desirable
woman, since as you say, who could ever fall in love with a
gunship? Be welcome in my home, Critias, and thank you for your
splendid gift.”

As Critias left, he felt as
though Jim had taken more ground in their discussion than he had.
It gave him a better idea of why they had made him King. It was
only after he was back out in the hallway that Critias realized he
had expected to meet a historical god, a prophet, a king who was
larger than life. The experience had not been a disappointment.
Critias could not solve the riddle if King Louie didn’t deserve his
beatific future reputation or if he did deserve it, but he was also
just a man, albeit a young one. It was a dilemma that Critias just
left unsolved as he went to find his room. He hoped Carmen would
not be too long in catching up with him because he missed her
already.

Chapter 7: Sins of the
Fathers

Hatchet took Critias more
than a few floors down the Tower to show him a small one-room
apartment with some furniture, a functional toilet, and little
more. He gave Critias the key, “This place is all yours. When you
get your stuff unpacked, you should go down to Funland where you
can meet everyone else. You take the elevator down to the lobby and
then the stairs down to the basement. From there, you can ask the
gate guards for directions.”

Critias moved his crates
and armor into the room then departed with the door left locked
behind him. He followed Hatchet’s directions down to the lobby
where he encountered an alert guard who watched the front door and
kept an eye on the occupied quarantine cells. The stairs took him
down into the basement that contained many steel oil-drums and
assorted storage for Forager operations. The only meaningful exit
from the basement was through a jackhammer-carved tunnel that
exited through a wall. That passage had the usual locked gate with
another guard to keep watch over it.