He had no ego in these matters. What he followed was Nyro’s will. If the moment came, he would resume command of the army.
Wa-Ka-Mo-Do
Wa-Ka-Mo-Do met Rachael as he descended the Street of Becoming. At the time she looked like any other animal; he was not yet at the point where he could identify a young human female of around fourteen or fifteen. She walked with her arms folded around her middle, a look on her face of withering contempt for the world. She was coming up the hill, heading directly for him, and Wa-Ka-Mo-Do realized that she wasn’t going to give way as protocol directed. He signalled to the Copper Guard who flanked him not to intercede.
Her long straight hair was the colour of copper, her eyes like copper sulphate, her skin the colour of titanium dioxide. Her body was not as curved as an adult human female, it more resembled that of a female robot, the same hint of an indentation to the waist that many women built, the same long arms and fingers.
Wa-Ka-Mo-Do stood still, smiling slightly as the girl halted before him. She raised her gaze almost to his, made a loud tutting noise.
‘Excuse me,’ said Wa-Ka-Mo-Do politely, ‘but this is my right of way.’
The girl rolled her eyes and made to walk around him.
‘I know that you can understand me,’ said Wa-Ka-Mo-Do. ‘I see the light flicker on the little device you wear by your ear when I speak.’
The girl rolled her eyes. Wa-Ka-Mo-Do had never seen that before, he struggled not to laugh.
‘I was walking this way first,’ she said.
‘Ah yes, but I’m the commander of this city. Strictly speaking I could have your coil broken for failing to show me respect.’
The girl just rolled her eyes once more and turned her back on him. The Copper Guard saw the slight and began to move forward. Swiftly, Wa-Ka-Mo-Do reached out and seized her arm. It felt softer than he expected, but stronger too. There was a hardness at the centre. The bone, he later discovered.
‘Aaaoow!’ yelped the girl, pulling her arm free. She rounded on him, face flushed with fury. ‘That hurt! What are you playing at?’
‘Saving your life.’ And preventing a diplomatic disaster, he added to himself. ‘Yukawa is a land steeped in tradition, young lady. You should never turn your back on a superior.’
‘Your hand is burning!’ She rubbed her arm. ‘You robots stand in the sun all day and you don’t realize how hot your metal gets.’
‘I didn’t realize,’ said Wa-Ka-Mo-Do. ‘I’ve never touched a human before. I didn’t expect you to be so sensitive.’
‘Sensitive? Look! You made a mark! And I turn my back on who I want. What gives you the right to tell me otherwise?’
‘Four hundred fully armed troops garrisoned within the city,’ replied Wa-Ka-Mo-Do. ‘Plus another two thousand spread across the surrounding land. Plus the fact that I am trained in the seven arts of combat, and the nine arts of weaponry. Oh yes, and the fact that I am the commander of this city, and what I say goes.’
That brought a faint smile to the human’s lips, and Wa-Ka-Mo-Do felt a kindling empathy with this strange creature. She reminded him of his sister, and of Jai-Lyn.
The thought brought a certain symmetry to his life. Three young females.
‘What’s your name, human?’ he asked.
‘Rachael. What’s yours, robot?’
‘Wa-Ka-Mo-Do.’
‘Wa-Ka-Mo-Do. That’s a stupid name.’
‘I think Rachael sounds rather pretty.’
‘Really?’ She gave a smile that vanished as soon as it appeared. Now she just looked bored. ‘Can I go now, or are you going to get your men to cut off my head for showing your name disrespect?’
‘They’re women, actually,’ said Wa-Ka-Mo-Do, gazing at the Copper Guard. ‘You can go in a moment. But first, Rachael, I want to ask you something. You’re the first human I’ve ever spoken to. I want to know, what do you think of Sangrel?’
Rachael stared at him with those copper-sulphate eyes. Two lines of hair like copper wire were stitched above them. From that moment on, Wa-Ka-Mo-Do thought of Rachael as his copper girl.
‘What do I think of Sangrel?’ she said. ‘Do you really want my opinion, or are you just trying to win me over?’
‘Oh, both,’ replied Wa-Ka-Mo-Do. ‘Congratulations, though, for seeing through my strategy.’
‘Now you’re patronizing me.’
‘I wouldn’t dare. Go on, tell me what you think of Sangrel.’
‘I think it’s a lovely place,’ said Rachael, and Wa-Ka-Mo-Do wondered if she was being sarcastic. ‘But I don’t like how you run it. Yukawa is a cruel Empire. Cruel and stupid. You’re selling yourself far too cheaply, you know that?’
‘Selling ourselves too cheaply? What do you mean?’
‘You’ve given away your mines and your land for a song. Now can I go?’
‘For a song? I’m sure the Emperor is being generous to his guests-’
‘Oh, the Emperor! But we have to be nice to him. Look, I’m late. May I go?’
‘You may,’ said Wa-Ka-Mo-Do, thinking about what she had just said. Just in time he remembered the Copper Guard, standing to attention either side of him. ‘But make sure you don’t turn your back to me. I don’t want my Guard to have to kill you.’
Rachael rolled her eyes once more and walked on her way. But she kept her back away from him as she did so.
Ada was a true Artemisian, and a true engineer. Kavan could see it in the way she organized the movement of the Uncertain Army through the mountains. She approached the problem of moving metal from one location to another just as she would any other project, whether it was navigating a railway line or building a bridge.
The robots marched along narrow paths at her guidance, disassembling themselves to be carried by others or even shaping their own bodies into ramps and ladders to enable other robots to climb over them to higher paths, trusting in their fellows to reassemble them afterwards.
She was right, realized Kavan. He had been treating the problem as yet another attack, charging down a path, pushing aside all resistance, but as he climbed from shoulder to shoulder on a pyramid of robots arranged up a rocky slope, he acknowledged that her way of thinking was more appropriate here.
It took them four days to travel the distance to the Northern Road, and often Kavan would look down on a windblown valley, silver and black robots clinging to the sheer sides, body parts being passed hand-to-hand along the edges of ridges. Always there would be blue engineers organizing winches and cranes to collect bodies from the deeper ravines, in order to save the precious metal, and always there was Ada, moving back and forth, organizing and planning and building.
‘Good work,’ he said to her on the evening of the last day. Ada had ordered the robots to remain still at night. Better to lose ten hours’ travel than to waste twenty retrieving broken metal from the foot of a mountain, she had said.
‘I’m impressed. How much further?’
‘You’ll see the Northern Road in the morning,’ said Ada. ‘After that, you only need point your army south.’
‘I want you to remain with me. You’ve proven your worth.’
‘I intend to,’ replied Ada. ‘You’ll need me yet.’
The Northern Road had been impressive enough as they had travelled through the hills of northern Shull. Up here in the mountains it inspired awe in the robots that gazed upon it. Even Kavan found himself wondering at the robots who had imagined it, wondered at the state that had the vision, the planning and the technical proficiency to build it. How would Artemis have fared against them, if they had faced them at the height of their strength?
Kavan was in no doubt, Artemis would have prevailed. Still, the Northern Road was a worthy artefact.
‘I’d say this road even surpasses the railway system of Artemis,’ said Ada, at his shoulder.
The road was built of stone, not metal. Sometimes made of bricks, sometimes of huge boulders, sometimes even carved from the side of the mountains themselves. Seven yards wide and surfaced in cobbles, a low wall on each side, it ran in the shadows of the mountain peaks. Kavan marched amongst the Uncertain Army, part of the metal river that flowed up steep inclines where steps were cut into the road’s surface, a river that ran by the sheets of snow that still lingered up here despite the approach of summer, a river that plunged into the shadows of hanging valleys.