‘I told you, there is nothing to see. The Book of Robots never existed. It was nothing more than an excuse for subversion, a fairy tale that robots could go beyond the way their wire was twisted by their mothers.’
‘Let me see!’ shouted Karel. Behind him, he was aware of Eleanor, drawing back, bringing them both within the sights of her rifle. Her rifle? He realized at that point he was no longer carrying his own. He had left it lying on the ground, near to the building. He wasn’t a soldier; he wasn’t used to carrying it…
Kavan was growing impatient. ‘You will not see the building. We are leaving now.’
‘Nicolas the Coward!’ called Karel, anger rising within him. ‘What is in there that you are hiding?’
‘Nothing. This conversation is at an end.’
The anger that had lain long dormant inside him was surging forth, and it was all the stronger for its slumber.
‘Then what was all this for? You’ve brought us across the continent. You’ve destroyed my city, my life, you killed my child, and for what?’
Kavan stared at him, genuinely puzzled.
‘For what?’ asked Kavan. ‘For Artemis of course.’
Karel kicked at the half-frozen ground. A small stone skittered across the rock.
‘Fight me,’ he said.
‘Karel,’ warned Eleanor. ‘Don’t be silly…’
‘Isn’t this what you wanted? For me to kill Kavan for you?’
‘To kill me, Eleanor?’ said Kavan. ‘Don’t you think you can do it yourself?’
‘You know I can’t.’
Karel didn’t care about any of this. ‘Fight me,’ he repeated. ‘Come on. Turing City versus Artemis. We both wear the same bodies, we both believe we’re right. This is about nothing more than our philosophy. This is where we find out which is the stronger.’
Kavan was gazing at Eleanor still. She spoke first. ‘Karel, you’re being ridiculous.’ She drew back further, her gun aimed at the ground. ‘Kavan has worn that body for years. He’s a soldier. You won’t stand a chance.’
‘I don’t care. He killed my son.’
Kavan was growing impatient. ‘This has gone on long enough, Eleanor. Kill him. Or, if you think you can do it, kill me. I’m unarmed. Or if you still consider yourself an Artemisian, follow me.’
At that, Kavan turned and began to walk away southwards.
Eleanor raised her rifle, pointing it first at Kavan, and then at Karel.
‘You coward!’ shouted Karel at the retreating robot’s back. ‘Why won’t you fight me?’ His voice was thick with static.
‘Apologize to him,’ said Eleanor, desperately.
‘Apologize?’ said Karel. ‘For what?’
Kavan had stopped. He turned, impatient.
‘Why do you still waste time? Kill him.’
Eleanor looked down at the rifle she held in her hands like it was the first time she had really noticed it. Dark metal, shining with oil. She had carried it for so long. Now it was as if she was really thinking about what it was for.
‘I… I can’t,’ she said. ‘I can’t kill him.’
‘Then give me the rifle and let me do it,’ said Kavan.
The rifle moved ever so slightly in his direction.
‘I can’t do that either, Kavan. He’s my brother. It is woven into my mind to protect him.’
Kavan looked from her to Karel.
‘Well, that explains something. I wondered why she insisted you accompany her here.’ He looked impatient now. ‘Time presses on. We shall leave him here. Will your mind allow you to do that?’
‘Yes. I think so.’
‘Come on, then.’
He turned and resumed his walk south. After a moment’s hesitation, Eleanor followed him.
Karel watched them go. And then the anger arose in his mind for the last time.
He charged after Kavan, feet pounding on the half-frozen ground, spraying flashing jewels of shining snowmelt. Kavan still had his back to him. He let out an electronic roar of hate and flung himself forward. The other robot turned, grabbed his hand, and, seemingly without effort, pulled so that Karel tumbled forward, head over heels, landing on the stony ground with a crash that rattled through his body.
Karel pushed himself up, his right leg bent out of shape. There was the sound of gunshot, and he turned to see Kavan had kicked at the barrel of Eleanor’s rifle, bending it.
‘Are you with me or against me, Eleanor?’ called Kavan.
‘I don’t know.’ Eleanor looked down at the broken rifle in her hands. She ran a hand along it, feeling the twist in the metal. ‘I’m lost, Kavan.’
‘Then find yourself,’ said Kavan, and at that he turned and lashed out at Karel.
Karel jumped back, found himself crouching, steadying himself, raising his hands at the ready. Kavan’s expression was cold, empty of heat. The Artemisian feinted with his left hand and then he kicked out, landing a blow right on Karel’s damaged knee. It gave way, and his body fell forward into the path of Kavan’s follow-up punch, aimed right at the back of the neck, right at the spot where the coil was attached to the body. Karel’s hand lashed back, smashing into Kavan’s wrist, Karel kicked back at Kavan’s knee. Kavan rolled forward, body crashing on the stony ground in harsh percussion.
Karel drew back, the current surging through his electromuscle. He was astonished at what he had just done.
Kavan rose up, gazing at him with new respect.
‘So fast, Turing City. If only the rest of your state had shown such spirit. Or was it your state? Who are you really, Kavan? What is there woven into your mind?’
Karel looked at Eleanor. Eleanor who had flourished in Artemis. Eleanor who wasn’t helping him, but who wasn’t helping Kavan either. Eleanor, the woman who had killed his child. Eleanor, his sister.
Just what was woven into his own mind? Certainly he never realized he could move so fast. Maybe the potential had always been there, it just needed the right circumstances to unlock it.
‘Turing City is gone, Karel,’ said Kavan. ‘I don’t think you were ever part of it. Look at Eleanor. She’s so much an Artemisian that she can’t kill me. Is that the answer, Karel? Did your mother make you an Artemisian after all?’
‘I’m not what you are, Kavan.’
‘Are you sure of that? Stop the fight now. Turn around and walk away. I wish to rejoin my army as quickly as possible. We march on Artemis itself. For the moment, I have no quarrel with you.’
‘Fight me!’
‘You’re not fighting me, Karel. You’re fighting yourself. You’re trying to prove to yourself that you are different to me. But it’s not true, is it? Look at your sister.’
Why is he talking to me? The thought came to Karel at the same time as Kavan thrust forward a hand, and Karel’s body surged with the shriek of feedback that screeched through his body. He couldn’t feel anything below his waist, just a wall of agony, a break in the circuit. He was dimly aware of Eleanor shouting, somewhere in the distance.
‘No, Kavan, pull it out of him!’
Kavan had stabbed him with a knife. Shorted out a circuit. Where? Karel didn’t know this new body. He had hardly had any time to repair it since Eleanor had plugged his mind into it, let alone to examine it in detail. And yet Kavan had worn bodies such as this nearly all his life. He knew all their vulnerabilities. The fizzing charge of electricity was rising within his body now. He needed to pull out the blade, and yet he couldn’t. He had felt the crack as Kavan had bent the knife, breaking off the handle, leaving the knife-edge lodged in his body.
Feebly he tugged at the stomach panelling on his body, trying to pull it free, trying to get at the knife lodged in his body. Where was Kavan? Why hadn’t he attacked yet?
To the side, he was dimly aware of Eleanor struggling with Kavan, keeping him away, preventing him from striking the final blow.
Finally, the stomach panelling came loose. Karel tossed it to clatter across the rock. Moving his arms now felt as if he was thrusting them into the crackling current. Fighting through the pain, he fumbled at the broken knife blade.
He heard a clatter, a fall. Eleanor lay slumped on the ground, the metal at the back of her neck torn open. And Kavan was running towards him again.