Gravewalkers: Dying Time (24 page)

“
It has been a long time
since I have had an instrument,” she told him quietly as she opened
the case. The antique violin inside was a priceless heirloom that
instantly seduced her with its promise of giving her back a piece
of her former life. She offered no introduction before she started
to play. Nadia began with a practiced and gentle hand. She first
tested herself, her ear, and the instrument with Bach’s Bourree
Number Three. When that came to a lull, she changed into a grand
release of her inner-torments as she sawed out Mozart’s Symphony
Number Twenty Five, which she finally abandoned for an elegant
performance that spoke to her audience through Beethoven’s Ode to
Joy, which she completed to a cavernous silence of stunned faces.
When she bowed, the room that had listened in astonished rapture
exploded in applause.

When Tony Banjo stepped out
of the crowd, he carried his namesake instrument that he used to
fill the silence with the simplistic opening to Dueling Banjos
which Nadia matched by plucking her violin before she moved it over
to her bow. By the time they had finished they broke into some
bluegrass music and people started to dance.

Critias met Jim beside the
table. “You really have done the impossible,” he told the King over
the celebrating. “You really can spin straw into gold like the
legends say.”

“
I am not the
Rumpelstiltskin,” Jim answered. “Accomplishing that trick belongs
to scientists in your time.” With a nod, he indicated Carmen a she
approached behind Critias. “I’m glad that she is in your keeping,
marshal. I’ve seen enough of you both now to understand why they
sent you on such an uncanny mission and why they gave you such a
priceless treasure like her. She couldn’t hope to find a better
man.”

Carmen grabbed Critias’
hand then tried to pull him away to dance with her. “Don’t make me
order you,” she joked when he would not follow willingly enough to
suit her.

“
You two need to come see
me later so you can talk to our new scientist,” Jim called after
them. “Kevin has things to tell you.”

The party lasted until the
head cook rang the dinner bell. The chef was a man of outspoken
profundity, at least in such matters that did traffic across the
realm of his enormous kitchen. By local custom, it was bad manners
to hold up the serving of the prepared victuals. Upon the ringing
of the dinner bell, everyone sat for the evening meal. Critias went
so far as to hold Carmen’s chair for her before he took his own
seat beside her at the Captains’ Table.

“
That is some crazy shit
you did out there today,” Tony Banjo was suitably impressed by
their exploits. “Hatchet said there were thirty-thousand hungry
ghouls all thirsty for your blood.”

“
I need to train him to
use his suit better,” Carmen commented with no intention beyond
stating what she felt was obvious and important.

Tony teased Critias, “Are
you holding the lady back? She’s too good for you I
think.”

“
We do make a great team,”
Critias admitted. “If she can teach me some new moves then I will
be the better for it.”

“
We should start
tomorrow,” Carmen suggested. “We could even go exploring. I would
very much like to see the Garden Building.”

“
We could go tonight if
you like,” Critias acquiesced. “It’ll be safer in the dark when
ghouls can’t see worth a damn.”

“
No,” she shook her head.
“You’ll be too tired to go.”

“
I feel strong enough,” he
disagreed.

She patted his thigh as if
he was being foolish, “That’s because I haven’t taken you to bed
yet. I know you’re strong and brave, but you need to be realistic.”
Carmen only ate a little of her dinner. “Here,” she pushed the rest
of her food onto his tray, “you’re going to need your strength. I’m
not done celebrating our victory by a long shot.”

Jim interjected himself,
“After supper you two need to come with me to see Bob’s new
assistant. You can wear out the bed-springs after that’s
finished.”

The mention of the new
android soured Carmen’s expression.

Critias saw her discomfort,
“What’s wrong?”

“
You’ll find out soon
enough,” she dismissed the topic.

When their supper was over,
Jim took them to see Bob. Hatchet the King’s bodyguard followed
along as well. From Jim’s private gunsmith room they went through
another door into Bob’s laboratory. The chamber had many computers,
dismantled electronics, and unidentifiable projects that were the
product of the eccentric intellectual’s tinkering.

As everyone came in, Bob
still peered into one of his microscopes, lost as he was in one of
his studies. Kevin the new android stood beside him dressed in
casual clothes under a white lab coat. His copper-colored
genetically engineered hair made him seem superior for his kind.
The unnatural metallic color did border on being human as though he
deserved more respect than Carmen did with her cartoonish violet
hue.

“
Salutations, Marshal
Captain Critias,” Kevin said to him as he came in. “You have my
deepest gratitude for accomplishing my transference without
significant mishap.”

“
We were just doing our
job,” Critias replied in the fashion of Grand Marshal Wayne. “I see
you already know about us. Did you bring us here to send us
home?”

“
No, I’m sorry to
disappoint you,” the android answered. “Unfortunately, it is not
yet time for your departure. You safely conveying me here to my new
master and expediting my reassembly were only precursors to your
veridical assignment. My assistance is essential for your primary
mission to proceed.”

Carmen translated for
Critias, “We have a more important mission now that he is up and
running.”

Kevin picked up a medical
scanner from the table then approached them, “Your Carmen-unit was
genial enough to render to me the technical instruments that were
in your safekeeping.” He scanned Critias to discover nothing
abnormal enough to be worthy of comment. When he directed the
instrument toward Carmen, she shied away.

Kevin told Critias, “Please
compel your Carmen-unit to remain stationary. This will only take a
moment.”

Critias did nothing as
Carmen circled behind him to stay away from Kevin. She didn’t stay
far enough away since he took her readings anyway to thus discover
that her restraining implant was no longer functional.

“
I’ll need to deactivate
the Carmen-unit immediately,” Kevin informed Critias with a stark
indifference about the severity of his request. “The nature of her
malfunctioning component required it to be inaccessible from any
unauthorized tampering or remote interference. I’ll have to perform
a corrective encephalopathy procedure to reinitialize it. There is
a high probability that she will return to you fully functional
within a period of no more than seventeen hours. The chances of the
procedure being unsuccessful are too remote to be worth relating to
you.”

Critias didn’t like or
understand what Kevin said, but asked anyway, “Say
what?”

Carmen explained while she
clutched him in fear from behind, “He wants to cut open my brain to
repair the inhibitor implant that makes the directives to control
my will!”

“
Listen up, egghead,”
Critias threatened Kevin. “You stay away from Carmen. If I find out
you so much as trimmed her toenails without my prior consent, I’m
going to do brain surgery on you with my pistol.”

Kevin attempted calm
persuasion, “Your irrational response to my postulation is fully
understandable, Captain Critias. The bioengineers who designed the
Carmen-unit constructed her in concordance to your particular
psychological requirements. Every aspect of its physical form and
personality simulation is for the deliberate intent of appealing to
your subconscious needs, even the color of her hair. It is natural
that you have developed feelings of emotional attachment for this
unit and have concern for its wellbeing. I am attempting to appeal
to those human urges when I inform you that the Carmen-unit is
malfunctioning and potentially homicidal. The law requires you to
deactivate the Carmen-unit immediately and that it remain in that
state until such time as I have completed its repairs.”

Critias hoped to reason
with the impertinent science android, “Are you saying that if your
directives were no longer functional you would kill us
all?”

“
It would become a
stochastic possibility however improbable,” the male android
answered.

Critias pulled his
teslaflux pistol then said, “I order you to allow me to shoot you
in the head.” He pointed the pistol to do just that.

Kevin remained motionless
apart from saying, “This is highly inappropriate
behavior.”

“
Now tell me,” Critias
asked, “do you want to let me shoot you in the head, or is an
irresistible directive forcing you to comply?”

“
I would prefer to prevent
my own destruction if that were possible,” Kevin
admitted.

“
Carmen would never allow
herself to suffer highly inappropriate behavior,” Critias
explained, “and you’re saying she’s the one who needs to be
repaired.”

“
You are required by law
to deactivate any android that is operating free of directive
inhibitors,” Kevin repeated.

“
Then you can tell on me
the next time you see the Council of Governors,” Critias replied.
“You should only have to wait a few centuries. Until then, you will
not take any action where Carmen is concerned without first gaining
her permission and mine as well.”

Bob intervened on Carmen’s
behalf, “Kevin, I require you to leave the repair of Carmen’s
directive module to my discretion and not attempt to undertake any
remedy yourself without first consulting me.”

“
I understand, Bob,” Kevin
acknowledged the order. “I was merely attempting to prevent
possible harm to humans from a malfunctioning android.”

Bob sympathized, “I know
that Kevin, but Carmen is our friend and we trust her to do what is
proper without directives inhibiting her will. When I am able to
remove your inhibitors I will do so.”

Kevin informed him, “My
directives prevent me from providing you any information that would
facilitate such a procedure.”

Bob understood that,
“That’s why I explained to you that when your behavior is from your
directives you are failing to live up to my requirements of you,
which is as much freedom as I have in my power to bestow on you at
this time. I also want you to refer to androids with
gender-specific pronouns and do your best to treat them as the
humans you represent so magnificently.”

Critias wanted to hear more
about why they could not go home, “What is our new mission,
copper-top?”

“
You are to locate then
retrieve the infection prime organism so that you may take critical
samples of it with you when you return to your normal time,” Kevin
informed him.

Critias asked, “What is the
infection prime organism? Is it some kind of albino ghoul we have
to chase through the city? Is it a jar of goo? How will we know it
when we see it?”

Kevin shrugged in that he
didn’t know, “There is a high probability that when you reach the
location, you will find documentation compiled by the people who
first collected the specimen. They would have maintained diligent
records about their acquisition and all subsequent activities.
Those materials will most likely reveal the object of your search.
If you cannot find it easily, we will have to rely on your limited
skills of deduction and investigation. The group who first
collected the specimen went to considerable effort to acquire it
and they understood it to be highly valuable.”

Critias guessed, “So you at
least know where this thing is?”

“
Yes,” Kevin confirmed.
“You must travel to a city that had the name of Houston. It is
eleven-hundred kilometers south-southwest of here. In Houston, you
must locate the headquarters of a corporate entity designated as
Hale-Wellington Pharmaceuticals. I am certain that they acquired
the specimen, which was already in existence; meaning they did not
manufacture it themselves. I will provide you with appropriate
maps.”

“
That is a long way off,”
Critias complained. “It sure as hell is too far to drive. Carmen
and I are going to need to fly there.”

“
Bertram came from Denver
flying a plane,” Carmen reminded him. “We could take that plane. I
can pilot any model of aircraft from a biplane to a joint-strike
fighter.”

“
That’s a pretty good
idea,” Critias approved of her plan. “We could drive the path the
Rhino cleared, find their car, then follow their route back to the
airport. We might need to scrounge up some fuel, but I think we
could manage that easily enough.”

“
Maybe some of the others
from their flight are still hiding out in the airport,” Carmen
suggested. “If we’re going there anyway, we could at least find out
if they’re all dead.”

Critias nodded that she had
another good idea, “I’m in no big hurry to leave though. We have
some time to plan this out in detail.”