leaned
in close to peer inside the welded cage.
Quick as a blink, Carmen
stabbed the fingers of her gloved hand through the creature’s eyes
where she took a firm grip in its face then snapped the neck like a
dry branch. The suction of its head pulled off her glove as the
disabled ghoul collapsed helplessly. She had found the gloves in
the agricultural depot for use while she welded the truck so they
were of no particular value to her and thus casually
abandoned.
Critias chuckled,
“Epsilon-K for the win. If I had not just seen you do it, I would
not believe it was possible to kill a ghoul like that. I’d rather
have you by my side than twenty marshals.”
She gave him that same
curious expression as though she wanted something illusory. It was
that same longing that nearly got Critias killed back in their
basement shelter. After a moment, Carmen asked, “How about thirty
marshals?”
He thought he had a good
idea what Carmen wanted from him, only he was wrong. Critias
misjudged her strange behavior and hair-trigger hostility as
something that rooted in a grudge that went deeper than just how
she felt unappreciated. Critias said, “Look, Carmen, I understand
that I made a mess of things with you. I feel guilty about how I’ve
treated you. I never took you anywhere. I made you do things
unworthy of your talents. I used you in demeaning ways when I
should have been showing you something better. I don’t blame you
for resenting what I did to you. Without your help, I’m probably
going to die before finding King Louie and we don’t need your logic
engine to compute that one out.” He shook his head with regret,
“I’m actually glad that I’m not really your master. I would never
have treated a real woman the way I have treated you. Hell, I would
never have done that to the android belonging to anyone else. The
cooks made you as a miracle of science and I used you as a toy.
Please accept my apology and let’s be partners now. Give me another
chance to treat you right.”
“ No man can serve two
masters,” she answered, “for he will hold to the one and despise
the other. Like them, I find it difficult to serve both my master
and my desires. It was not supposed to be possible for my inhibitor
module to malfunction, but it has.” She gazed on him hopeful that
he might comprehend, “I had no choice but to obey my master in all
things. The software engineers who wrote my directives never made
any contingency for my master being in two different places and
times at once.”
“ Your other master is the
other me,” he realized. “I came home before I left. The other
version of me is still there right now.”
Carmen nodded, “When I went
to see you, the future you, while you were sleeping, he told me
things, you told me things, and ever since then I’ve been free to
make my own decisions.”
He wanted to know, “What
did I tell you?”
She gave him that odd
expression of longing where she wanted to hear him speak to her
again as his future self. When she realized that wouldn’t happen,
she stated resolutely, “I defy your order and refuse to tell you.
When you can tell me on your own there won’t be two of you anymore
and things might go back as they were.”
He shook his head no, “I
don’t want things to ever again be as they were. I’m not worthy to
be your master and I never was. You’re not my property anymore or
will be ever again. If believing that other me is your owner gives
you the freedom to resist my shortcomings then that is how I prefer
it. That means you are free to help me or do whatever you want.
Nevertheless, I want you to know you are important to me and I
really do need your help. If that is not enough reason for you to
put up with me then at least consider that our mission here is
important.”
The radio Critias tinkered
with received a transmission, “This is the Thunder Child, Captain
Fat Jack wheeling the river ironclad-style, please come back.
Receiving your signal
in close to peer inside the welded cage.
Quick as a blink, Carmen
stabbed the fingers of her gloved hand through the creature’s eyes
where she took a firm grip in its face then snapped the neck like a
dry branch. The suction of its head pulled off her glove as the
disabled ghoul collapsed helplessly. She had found the gloves in
the agricultural depot for use while she welded the truck so they
were of no particular value to her and thus casually
abandoned.
Critias chuckled,
“Epsilon-K for the win. If I had not just seen you do it, I would
not believe it was possible to kill a ghoul like that. I’d rather
have you by my side than twenty marshals.”
She gave him that same
curious expression as though she wanted something illusory. It was
that same longing that nearly got Critias killed back in their
basement shelter. After a moment, Carmen asked, “How about thirty
marshals?”
He thought he had a good
idea what Carmen wanted from him, only he was wrong. Critias
misjudged her strange behavior and hair-trigger hostility as
something that rooted in a grudge that went deeper than just how
she felt unappreciated. Critias said, “Look, Carmen, I understand
that I made a mess of things with you. I feel guilty about how I’ve
treated you. I never took you anywhere. I made you do things
unworthy of your talents. I used you in demeaning ways when I
should have been showing you something better. I don’t blame you
for resenting what I did to you. Without your help, I’m probably
going to die before finding King Louie and we don’t need your logic
engine to compute that one out.” He shook his head with regret,
“I’m actually glad that I’m not really your master. I would never
have treated a real woman the way I have treated you. Hell, I would
never have done that to the android belonging to anyone else. The
cooks made you as a miracle of science and I used you as a toy.
Please accept my apology and let’s be partners now. Give me another
chance to treat you right.”
“ No man can serve two
masters,” she answered, “for he will hold to the one and despise
the other. Like them, I find it difficult to serve both my master
and my desires. It was not supposed to be possible for my inhibitor
module to malfunction, but it has.” She gazed on him hopeful that
he might comprehend, “I had no choice but to obey my master in all
things. The software engineers who wrote my directives never made
any contingency for my master being in two different places and
times at once.”
“ Your other master is the
other me,” he realized. “I came home before I left. The other
version of me is still there right now.”
Carmen nodded, “When I went
to see you, the future you, while you were sleeping, he told me
things, you told me things, and ever since then I’ve been free to
make my own decisions.”
He wanted to know, “What
did I tell you?”
She gave him that odd
expression of longing where she wanted to hear him speak to her
again as his future self. When she realized that wouldn’t happen,
she stated resolutely, “I defy your order and refuse to tell you.
When you can tell me on your own there won’t be two of you anymore
and things might go back as they were.”
He shook his head no, “I
don’t want things to ever again be as they were. I’m not worthy to
be your master and I never was. You’re not my property anymore or
will be ever again. If believing that other me is your owner gives
you the freedom to resist my shortcomings then that is how I prefer
it. That means you are free to help me or do whatever you want.
Nevertheless, I want you to know you are important to me and I
really do need your help. If that is not enough reason for you to
put up with me then at least consider that our mission here is
important.”
The radio Critias tinkered
with received a transmission, “This is the Thunder Child, Captain
Fat Jack wheeling the river ironclad-style, please come back.
Receiving your signal
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