Code Lightfall and the Robot King by Daniel H. Wilson Page A

stunned. He could hardly comprehend this devastating news. He felt a surge of anger. Every risk he had taken, every sacrifice he had made—it was all for nothing! This stupid mechanical world had seeped into his grandfather’s bones and stolen him away. Why didn’t I choose to do nothing?
    Peep chirped sadly, her sorrowful bluish glow reflecting from the inside of the helmet. At that moment, Code knew it was true—his grandfather was lost forever.
    But what about the rest of Mekhos? Without Code’s help, Gary would perish in the Disassembly along with all the other robots. In his entire life, Code had never met anyone more loyal, more trusting, or more friendly than the huge slaughterbot.
    Even though he knew Gary would beg him to go home, Code could not. He didn’t care that he couldn’t win, or whether it was all for nothing. I may not be able to save my grandfather , thought Code, but I will not let down my best friend!
    The problem was how to explain this to Lodestar, an impossibly huge robotic whale.
    â€œI’m sorry, Lodestar,” said Code delicately. “But I can’t go home. You may not believe it, but Mekhos needs me. Will you take me to the surface?”
    â€œImpossible. The Other beasts swim the upper waters. Before, you sank too fast for them to notice. But rising takes longer. They will find you and chew your bones. Even in your little seashell you are but a mouthful of food to them.”
    Code mustered his courage. “You have an allegiance to humankind. My ancestors built this world. I’m commanding you. Take me to the surface right now … or leave me here.”
    Lodestar was silent for a long moment. Then, with a swoop of its great tail, the gargantuan beast pushed away into the deep. Dislodged from the whale’s snout, Code tumbled wildly and began to sink once again into the blackness, abandoned.
    â€œNo!” pleaded Code as the massive form disappeared. He had gambled and lost. Darkness swallowed Code.
    Then, silently, the dark waters below lit up with a soft luminescence. The glowing crestplate of the whale reappeared and pressed roughly into Code’s feet. With a few thrusts of its tail, Lodestar accelerated to ramming speed. The plates of its deep armor shone with thousands of beautiful, hypnotic shifting lights. The lights danced off the surface of Code’s white exoskeleton as Lodestar heaved upward through the empty blackness.
    â€œHold on to my armor!” thundered Lodestar. “And don’t let go, no matter what happens!”
    Code looped one sturdy arm of his exoskeleton through a link of chain and primed the electrocannons on the other arm. Lodestar churned the waters in tremendous strokes and they began a terrifying elevator ride straight up. Soon the water temperature rose—along with the danger of attack. Defensive patterns of light glittered and sparkled around him as Code clung to the great glowing crestplate.
    Code thanked goodness that the unknown designers of the exoskeleton had created a machine that could withstand the pressure of the deep ocean and a ride on an armored whale. He only hoped that the engineering would stand up to whatever horrors waited in the warm waters above.
    Just then, a mossy shape darted in to snatch Code from Lodestar’s back. Code flinched away from a long mouth filled with a chaotic explosion of steel teeth. Lodestar began a slow roll to spin Code away from the danger; pulses of electricity burst from Code’s arm cannons into the water, shocking the monster’s toughened snout and sending the thing fleeing into the darkness.
    Just as Code breathed a sigh of relief, Peep twittered in fear. A small, snarling metallic head flashed past his face and clamped its mouthful of jagged teeth onto his cannon arm. The vicious head was attached to a long neck that trailed away into darkness. Code struggled, but was helpless with his cannon arm trapped.
    â€œLodestar!”