City of the Cyborgs (11 page)

“I said, when are we going to go somewhere?”

“Go somewhere?” The Peacemaker had almost forgotten his name, Makor, but since his marriage to this beautiful woman he was beginning to remember it again. “Why would we want to go anywhere, Cybil? We have everything right here.”

“Everything!” Cybil turned up her nose and
sniffed. “As long as we stay in our quarters, we do. But I can’t stay locked up here forever!”

“Where would you want to go?” The Peacemaker was genuinely confused. He had paid this girl’s family an enormous price for her, promising that she would be queen of a kingdom. At first she had been thrilled with the luxuries in their tower apartment. But that had soon faded, and dissatisfaction was on her face as she came and sat beside him. “Makor, we’ve
got
to get out of this place! At least for a trip.”

“You just don’t know the world, my dear. You’ve been protected,” he said soothingly. “You are safer here.”

“I don’t have anyone to talk to!”

“You have me, and we have wonderful times together.”

Discontent made itself even more evident in the face of the girl. “You’re always gone working in your laboratory. I see you hardly at all.”

The Peacemaker was baffled. He had thought that by surrounding his bride with luxuries she would be happy. He looked at the gems on her fingers, the necklace that glittered under the lights. He looked at the beautiful gown and knew that there were many more of them. He had spared no expense for clothing, or jewelry, or food, or furniture, but all seemed to have been in vain.

“My dear,” he said, “it’s a terrible world out there. You would get badly hurt.”

“I’m bored to death, Makor! I want to talk to someone!”

Again he said, “But
we
talk.”

“I want to talk to other women,” Cybil said. “I want to go to parties. All I have to talk to around here are these dreadful cyborgs!”

“You don’t understand, my dear.” He had gone over this before, but he explained again. His family had gotten rid of crime and poverty and injustice in their land. “We have no problems.”

Cybil suddenly grew angry. “Well, you have one problem, my dear husband.”

“Problem! What problem?”

“Your wife is
bored
, and if you want me to be happy, you will do something about it.”

“Do what?”

“That is your problem. I will not be made a prisoner in this place any longer. I cannot live a life like this! I am going to my rooms, and you will not be welcome there.”

The door closed behind Cybil, and Makor got to his feet astonished. He had been in control of situations so long that he could not imagine anyone’s crossing his will. Now a situation had arisen that he could not resolve as simply as if a cyborg had rebelled.

“I wish I’d never seen her,” he muttered. Then he knew instantly that was not true. He was deeply in love with the girl. He knew also that she was very willful and that what she had said she would do. He must take her on a journey or bring in visitors—or something!

He left their luxurious quarters and went at once to Central, where all of the devices that controlled the city were housed. Still angry and upset, he walked over to a cyborg. “What is this?” he said, looking at a glowing light.

“6r9g is not sane yet. She still wants to be Sarah.”

“Has she revealed the location of her companions?”

“No, Peacemaker. Not yet.”

“I can’t understand it. We questioned her, and we’ve applied persuasion. She still won’t talk!”

For a time he studied the board, then said, “What is the pain level on 6r9g?”

“Level eight.”

“Raise it to ten.”

Cyborgs did not usually protest, and there was no emotion in the voice, but the cyborg worker said, “It may kill her, Peacemaker.”

“Do as I say!”

Leaning toward the controls, he watched the cyborg change the setting. Then he punched the communication button and said, “All annihilators. Insane units are hidden in our city. Search for any units without antennas. Capture any units that do not have antennas and bring them to me. At once.”

D
on’t you understand, Cee Dee? People are supposed to make their own decisions.”

Seated cross-legged across from Abbey, Cee Dee stared at her intently. She had been listening carefully, but a puzzled expression was on her face, and she shook her head. “I don’t see how I could do that. How would I know what would be the right thing? How could I know what to do?”

Abbey smiled, understanding. “You won’t always make the right decision,” she said. “You’ll make mistakes—but that’s OK. Everyone does.”

“But I don’t want to do that. I am afraid.”

“Afraid of what?”

“I don’t know,” Cee Dee confessed. “I’m just afraid to become what you want me to be. Who knows what might happen to me? I might even die.”

Abbey said quickly, “Cee Dee, nothing that could happen to you could be worse than what’s
already
happened. Believe me, there are all kinds of imprisonments. I’ve been in a few jails and dungeons since the seven of us came from Oldworld. Some of them were pretty bad. There were rats and fleas sometimes, and you know how much I hate dirt and like to have everything neat. But that’s not the worst kind of imprisonment.”

“It sounds very terrible to me. What could possibly be worse than that?”

“What could be worse is to have your mind locked
up as yours has been. Even when we were in prison”—Abbey looked away, remembering—“there was hope, and as long as you have hope you can survive almost anything.”

For a long time the two girls continued their conversation. At last Abbey threw up her hands in desperation. “I know you’ve had a hard time, Cee Dee, but you’re going to
have
to begin to think for yourself. You’re almost grown up now. You’ve got to think of what it’s like to be a young woman just coming of age.”

“To the cyborgs that means nothing,” Cee Dee said and looked distressed. “What does it mean in your world?”

“For one thing, it means you’ll have to choose a husband.”

“In the cyborg world there’s nothing like that. There are breeding mothers, and that’s all.”

“I know you’ve told me about all that, and it’s just terrible.”

“Tell me again what it was like in your world.”

“Well, when a girl gets to be a certain age, she begins thinking about courtship. That means that she has to decide which one of the young men who are courting her she will have for a husband.”

“But how does she know the right one?”

“Sometimes she doesn’t, and to marry the wrong man is a huge mistake. That is one of the most terrible mistakes a girl can make.”

“See. I might do that—and that could be perhaps worse than being a cyborg.”

Sharply Abbey rapped out,
“Nothing
is worse than being a cyborg! Now listen to me. You’ve got to understand that it’s
normal
for men and women to get married and to have families. They will love each other and
love their children and raise them the best they can. Teaching them right and wrong and discipline.”

Cee Dee gave Abbey a hopeless look. Then she threw out her hands in a gesture of despair. “I’ll never get it right,” she moaned. “I just can’t even think of such things.”

Abbey went close and put an arm around Cee Dee. “Sure, you will,” she said with an encouraging tone. “After all, you’ve just escaped from the Peacemaker and that awful tyranny he had over you. You are so much better now. And I’ll be right with you, Cee Dee. I’ll teach you what to do.”

“Will you really?”

“Of course I will. After all, that’s what we’re really doing right now.”

Cee Dee touched the antenna that still dangled from her temple and said nervously, “But as long as this thing is here, I can’t really do anything.”

This troubled Abbey too, for she knew that was true. But she was not going to show Cee Dee any doubt. “Don’t you worry,” she said with a lot more confidence than she felt. “We’ll take care of all that. Goél has never failed us yet and he never will.”

“We better hide a little bit better than this,” Wash said. “These annihilators are a pretty rough bunch.”

Dave and Jake, however, both gave Wash a superior look. Jake said, “They can’t even
see
us.”

“That’s right,” Dave said. “It’s like they’re deaf and dumb. They shouldn’t give us any trouble.”

Wash was always more cautious than the other two. “I think you two are underestimating the Peacemaker.”

“Aw, he’s just an ordinary man,” Jake said. “We’ve had to deal with worse characters.”

“Anybody that can invent a device like he has and build up a city like this is pretty sharp. He may be a cruel man, but he’s no fool.”

The argument went on for some time until finally Dave said sharply, “Put a lid on it, Wash! These annihilators won’t pay any attention to us whatsoever—
if
we keep out of their direct line of sight! How can they track us?”

Three minutes later, however, Dave had a rude awakening. A group of five annihilators suddenly appeared before them. One said in his metallic voice, “Insane units without antennas at location 72b4.”

A crackling voice that seemed totally inhuman responded, “Capture them at once!”

“Run!” Wash cried and immediately took off.

It proved to be quite a chase. Annihilators were not fast, but apparently these relayed their location back to the control center, for other annihilators kept intersecting the boys as they raced through the city streets.

Jake found he could not keep up with Wash and Dave, and as they turned a corner he yelled, “You two go on! I can’t keep up! I’ll meet you later!” He flopped over into a trash bin and pulled down the lid. He heard the thumping feet of the annihilators as they approached, and he held his breath. He half expected them to raise the trash bin lid, but they did not. He waited until the sound of their running faded before murmuring, “They nearly got me that time!”

Jake lifted the lid, looked out carefully, and then quickly drew in a breath. What he’d seen was the two boys struggling in the grips of the annihilators.

“Oh no! They’ve got Dave and Wash!” Jake groaned.
Captors and captives were coming his way, and he quickly pulled the lid back down.

As they passed the trash bin, Dave was shouting loudly, “You turn loose of me, you big Tinkertoy, or I’ll bust your head!”

The shouting faded, and Jake cautiously lifted the lid again. He caught a glimpse of the annihilators as they turned the corner, and at once he jumped out of the bin. He stood uncertainly for a moment. “I can’t help them,” he said. “I’d better get back and tell the others about this.”

Quickly he threaded his way through the streets, and every time he saw an annihilator he quickly hid himself. It took some time for him to make his way to the hideout, but finally he did.

As soon as Jake stepped inside the old cafeteria, Josh could tell that he had bad news.

“Josh, they got Dave and Wash.”

“The
annihüators?”

“I’m afraid so.”

Rainor walked in while Jake was telling what had happened. He let Jake finish, then said quietly, “They got Reb too.”

Josh groaned, and Jake gasped, “Reb was always the one who was able to wiggle out of anything.”

“They’re whittling us down,” Josh said grimly.

“They sure are!” Jake said. “If this keeps up, we’ll all be in big trouble.”

“I can’t understand it,” Rainor said. “We’ve been going around the streets for days now, and the annihilators didn’t spot us. We’d walk right in front of them, and they wouldn’t even blink. They just didn’t seem to know we’re here. Now, suddenly—”

“I know what it is,” Jake said. “I heard them talking about it. The Peacemaker knows we’re here, and he knows one other thing about us.”

“What’s that?” Josh demanded.

“He knows we don’t have antennas.”

“That could be it!” Rainor nodded.

Josh looked around thoughtfully. He saw that of the Seven Sleepers, only he and Jake and Abbey were left.

“We’re losing this battle,” he muttered.

Cee Dee had been listening to all of this. She suddenly began to cry.

“What’s the matter, Cee Dee?” Abbey asked.

“It’s just that … well, it’s so sad. They’ve been so good to me. Dave and Sarah and Wash and Reb, and now they’re going to be made into cyborgs.”

A sudden light flashed in Abbey’s eyes. She said, “Something has happened to you, Cee Dee.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you’re crying.”

“What’s so wonderful about that?” Josh asked.

“It means she’s feeling emotion again. You never see a cyborg cry, do you? Or laugh?”

“She’s right,” Rainor let out a deep sigh of relief. “It means that it
is
possible for someone to come back. To get back to what they once were.”

Cee Dee wiped the tears from her face. “I don’t know how to explain it. But yes, she’s right. Ordinarily, crying is something that isn’t good. But I remember when I was a girl, before I became a cyborg. I would cry and feel bad. But as a cyborg, it wasn’t like that. Oh, I’m sorry that they all have been taken, but it’s just that I’m so glad to
feel
something again!”