A. Warren Merkey

by Far Freedom

  “I know this one! He’s Samson! He’s my baby!” The way Constant said it was heart-wrenching. She cared for Samson, loved him. “We did terrible things to him! My heart ached for him! I think he’s finally safe now. This one I don’t know!” Constant looked wonderingly at Sunny. “He’s one of us, but not one of us! I’ve never seen a Golden One who is a child!”

  “He was born to one of you named Jessie. His father was my husband.”

  “None of us is named Jessie, Milly. None of us can bear children.”

  “I think you can. You don’t know of Samuel Lee?”

  “Samuel Lee?”

  “You took him from Earth seven hundred years ago.”

  “That memory isn’t within my current partition. If you command it, I’ll try to remember. If I lose my years with you I’ll be sad, despite the terrible things I did. I think I was more alive than ever in my entire existence. This moment I’ll hold no matter what else I must discard.”

  “I won’t command you to do that. I only ask that you tell the Golden Ones I

  no longer require their protection. If they will be at peace with we who are not barbarians, they’ll be free to live their own lives. They’ll be released into the temporary custody of our Marines. Please go with Koji.”

  “Will I be allowed to see you again, Milly? “

  “Yes, Constant. You’re my friend.”

  We watched as Marines formed a circle on the grass by the lake. Golden Ones appeared within the circle. Constant stood up, glanced toward the lake, but gazed around at the people standing near me, as though looking for someone. Aylis took a step toward her and carefully placed a hand on her shimmering forearm.

  “He isn’t here, Constant.”

  “I felt him die,” Constant said sadly. “I hoped for another miracle.” She turned away toward the Marines and her fellow golden people.

  I had to sit down. Constant made my legs shake. Koji returned from the lakeside and I glimpsed him shedding his weapons as though he was glad to be rid of them.

  “Is that it?” Aylis asked. “I, too, hoped for another miracle.”

  “Protector said he wouldn’t let Sunny die, Aylis.”

  “Thatpiece of parlor magic couldn’t even deliver a baby!”

  {Life is a mystery to me, Aylis Mnro.}

  “Who said that?”

  “Freddy!” Jamie’s shout woke her son who had fallen asleep in Direk’s lap. She approached the seated android.

  Freddy moved! For eight years children played in his lap and did childish things to the dead AMI. Freddy and Fred had sat, posed as statues of themselves, heroes of the highest order, in the corner of the patio of this abandoned apartment by the lake. Jamie knelt by Freddy, touched his hand, and his eyes looked down at her hand, then at her face. He gently took Jamie’s hand in his, raised it to his lips, kissed it. “Sister. “

  “Freddy? Are you…?”

  Everyone waited for Freddy to say what he would say. His face was amazingly expressive as he saw and recognized the faces of all the people who knew him and loved him. Then he saw me. Then Sunny. Then Sammy.

  Freddy stood up, his eyes locked on Sammy, and moved with such human fluidity that I couldn’t believe he was made of metal and plastic. He dropped to his knees in front of Sammy and made such a human gesture with his hand, a hand that asked if Sammy was real and alive, a hand that trembled with an emotion needing release. “Is it you, little brother?”

  “It’s me, Freddy!” Sammy reached out for the questioning hand.

  “How?”

  “They found Shorty. You remember Shorty? Aunt Aylis and Shorty put me back together. Your hand feels warm, Freddy!”

  A tear flowed down from one eye of Freddy, then the other.

  “He can’t do that!” Aylis remarked. She put her fingertips on his wrist, then his chest. She tried to speak but, for once, was speechless.

  “I can’t imagine being any happier,” Freddy said, taking Samson into his arms.

  {Just wait, Pinocchio.}

  “Who said that?”

  “Where am I?” a new voice asked from the other chair at the corner of the patio.

  “Who is that?” Freddy asked as everyone pivoted but still blocked his view.

  “Fred?” Iggy said.

  “Fred!” Freddy exclaimed, glimpsing the androidfor the first time.

  “Who are you?” Fred asked.

  “You used to carry me around in your ancient circuits, Fred.”

  “Baby? What a fine body they gave you. It looks quite organic to me.”

  “My name is Freddy. I named myself after you.”

  “I’m not dead?”

  “Why do you ask unanswerable questions?”

  “I died entering the fortress of the Lady in the Mirror. Where are the others? Did they survive?”

  “They were all killed, Fred.”

  “Then it isn’t my desire to continue to live. Why did you repair me?”

  “We didn’t,” Direk answered.

  “I don’t understand,” Fred said.

  “Neither do I,” Freddy said.

  Jamie screamed. It was not a scream of fear. Have you ever seen an android be startled? Two of them? “Mama!Mama!”

  Aylis screamed. Others uttered many sounds of shock as faces turned toward the interior of the apartment.

  An African woman emerged from the doorway and seemed to look for the sources of screaming. I knew who she appeared to be. I would have been screaming along with Aylis and Jamie, had I any strength for it, not because I was so shocked and hopefully joyous to have Zakiya Muenda Gerakis among the living, but because her appearance continued the string of miracles and promised more to come. My heart was racing from the anticipation, my senses were saturated by the high voltage of emotions pouring from everyone. All I could do was hold onto Sunny in the storm and try to capture the beautiful moments as they occurred.

  Zakiya walked slowly into the semicircle formed by men and women and children frozen as statues of trapped euphoria. She appeared calm, perhaps even a little sad. She smiled lovingly at Aylis and Jamie. She reached out and touched them. I can’t imagine what that did to Jamie and Aylis, but the electricity reached me all the way at the rear of the group.

  Aylis tried to put her physician’s probing fingers where they could test Zakiya’s reality, but couldn’t delay embracing her friend on faith alone. Jamie wrapped her arms around both of them. Koji approached and dropped to his knees by Zakiya, raising a hand toward her, which she took. Iggy was right behind him.

  She was real. They fell upon her, enveloped her. Even as she was smothered by incredible affection, her eyes saw Sammy and would not leave his face. I pushed Freddy, urging him forward, so that he brought Sammy nearer to Zakiya. The others parted for them.

  Jamie released her mother and hugged Freddy. “He died, Mother! Freddy died again! We have him back, we have him back! And Sammy!”

  Zakiya was just the most natural person, overwhelmed by circumstances but able to express her feelings for Freddy, and then for Sammy. She wept along with Jamie and Aylis while hugging both Sammy and Freddy.

  “Is it safe for us to come out?” A tall man with blue eyes and a kind, scholarly face peered out the doorway. Setek charged forward and threw his arms around the man, and I realized this was Alexandros Gerakis, Zakiya’s husband, Jamie ‘s father.

  The next of the formerly deceased was another tall man, dark but neither African nor European. He waited for a moment behind Gerakis, until Setek saw him and tried to embrace both men at once. It was Pan, Setek’s younger son. Fred the android approached and was drawn into the reunion.

  Yet another tall, dark man stepped from the once-abandoned apartment, moving to one side and apparently trying to avoid an emotional confrontation. Petros Gerakis, known as Admiral Etrhnk by about a trillion citizens of Union and barbarian space, couldn’t escape notice. Everyone fell silent and watched as Aylis took a step toward him. Petros tried to back away from her. She cornered him. Jamie follo
wed and stood behind Aylis.

  Petros said nothing with his voice. It was all in his face and posture.

  “I will never forgive Admiral Etrhnk,” Aylis said. “I don’t think you are he. But you look like him. Give me time.” She raised a hand and touched him lightly on the cheek before turning away.

  “It may be unfair to you,” Jamie said, taking her turn at the former bad guy, “but I can’t trust you yet. I know our mother loves you. I know a Golden One who thinks of you. Maybe you won’t be too unhappy until time heals our wounds.” Jamie raised a fist and punched Petros in the arm, much the way a sister hits a brother.

  It was all so wonderful, I didn’t think to imagine how Protector managed the miracle. Did Zakiya and the others understand they died what should have been the final death?

  “Once again I emerge into life,” Alexandros Gerakis said, “andI still don’t know what lies in the land beyond. The Protector talked to us. It told us that what we remember is what happened.”

  “After you died,” Jon Horss said, “the Lady in the Mirror swept over your bodies, and also those of the Golden Ones.”

  “We were copied in the last instant before death,” Pan said. “The Protector gave us little time to prepare for this rebirth. Most of it was spent trying to believe we were alive again.”

  “I see you were promoted,” Gerakis said to Horss.

  “More than once,” Horss replied. “I’m the Navy Commander. The Freedom is now Navy Headquarters.”

  “Congratulations,” Alexandros said. “Protector told us that a major disaster was avoided. What is the state of the Black Fleet? “

  “It still exists in smaller numbers, along with many other problems in the territories beyond the old Union boundaries. We trade old problems for new ones, and life goes on.”

  “Some amount of time has passed since we died.”

  “Eight years.”

  “What happened to the Lady in the Mirror?” Zakiya asked.

  “Deceased,” Koji answered.

  “AndMilly?“Alexandros asked.

  “You should have arrived a little sooner,” Jon replied. “She was the guest of honor.” Jon glanced toward me, bringing their attention in my direction. People moved aside to give them an unobstructed view.

  “A Golden One child?“Pan remarked.

  Zakiya gasped, also seeing Sunny for the first time.

  “Is that Sunny?” Alexandros asked.

  “He’s my brother,” Sammy said proudly.

  “Your grandson’s favorite playmate,” Direk said to Zakiya, hefting little six-year-old Alex in his arms.

  “Who is that with him?” Alexandros asked.

  “That’s Milly,” Setek replied.

  “The Milly?”

  “That’s her,” Jon confirmed. “Wild Woman of the Roaring 20th.”

  “Jessie!” Alexandros called into the apartment.

  I stood on trembling legs, holding a beautiful child who was too big to try to climb into my arms. Sunny buried his face against me and tightened his arms around my waist.

  I watched her approach and was enchanted by her. She was not a Golden One. She was Jessie. She was Sunny’s mother. She looked at me, watched me, smiled at me, and every gesture was human. She wanted to look at Sunny but didn’t. She was waiting for me to respond in some way. I extended my hand to her while still holding tightly to Sunny. She took my hand and we both pulled until we were together. There were no words to describe this…

  “Don’t you want to meet your real mother?” I asked Sunny, kissing the top of his golden head.

  “You are my mother!”

  “She’s wonderful, Sunny. She’s crying. She wants to hold you. Don’t worry. We both love you. We can share you. Come on. Turn loose. There you go.” I turned away with empty arms. I was happier than I had any right to be. I passed by Aylis who was just bawling.

  Zakiya stepped in front of me, still holding onto Sammy. She took his hand and put it in mine. She embraced me before she turned us around. “You have a son to present to his father, Milly.”

  I looked down at Sammy. He smiled at me. I knelt down and hugged him with all the motherly passion I had. Zakiya then led us to a man standing beyond the edge of the patio. Petros Gerakis passed by Sam, giving him a friend’s hand upon his shoulder, and Sam watched Petros walk toward the group of Golden Ones who were apparently socializing with the Marines.

  My long-lost husband shifted, sensing our approach behind him, but didn’t turn around.

  “Sam,” Zakiya said. “You ‘re only human. Forgive yourself.”

  He turned around.

  {Get down on your knees and behold, Samuel Lee.}

  Sam dropped to his knees. He raised his face to us. He was sad for only a moment, because Sunny and Sammy were there.

  Jessie held my hand.

  We would be a family.

  *

  I awoke with a start. I had fallen asleep at my desk, grading quizzes. I’d drooled on the stack of papers under my head. I pulled off my glasses and massaged the crease the earpiece put in my temple. I had to go potty. Damn. It took forever to deal with bathrooms. I hated to admit it, but I missed that gorilla nurse who used to help me.

  I backed up and wheeled toward the latrine. I looked at the alarm clock as I rolled by the bed. 0500. Past reveille. I didn’t know when I fell asleep but I suspected my sleep tank wasn’t full enough to get me through my three sections of freshman calculus today.

  The bathroom was a disaster. If I didn’t need a bath before, I needed it afterward. I was too groggy to figure out how I fell on the floor. I hoped I didn’t break something down where I couldn’t feel anything. I knocked my glasses off trying to reach a handhold. Strangely, I could see pretty well without them.

  I wasn’t going to cry. I was too tough. I was Dad’s number one daughter. He went from stripes to eagles, survived WW2 and Korea, and expected no less of me.

  I was going to cry. I wasn’t tough enough. I perused my barracks vocabulary for a ripe incantation to cure self-pity and came up snake-eyes. I opened my trembling mouth to let curse or wail loose, and things got too weird to start.

  So, how’s it going?

  What the hell?

  Need some help?

  This is a private facility! Where are you?

  In your face, soldier. You’re out of uniform.

  Who are you?

  Hoo R U? So, how’s it going?

  What’s it look like?

  Crap. How’s the guy you met? Like him?

  This is me, talking to myself!

  Almost.

  Almost? I don’t need any help talking to myself.

  So, answer the damn questions, soldier.

  The astronomer? Kind of cute. Witty. Why?

  You like him ?

  I only just met him! What, do I need to marry him or something?

  Your words, not mine, but I can put in a good word for you.

  I must be dreaming.

  Quite. It’s kind of a rerun of something unremembered.

  Whatever that means. Are you going to get to the point?

  Nobel Prize. Two sons. Choose.

  Suns? Sons? Stars or boys?

  Boys.

  I think you came to the point a little too quickly. Nobel Prize?

  Is that your choice?

  You can make it happen?

  There are good probabilities in either direction.

  Oh, yeah. Abused by probabilities and missing possibilities. That’s me.

  So, what’s your choice?

  Boys?

  Is that your choice?

  Why do you know I have a choice? Why do you care?

  It’s complicated.

  I can handle complicated, if it will just get you out of my bathroom.

  You’ve already handled it. Make your damned choice, soldier.

  I don’t care about Nobel Prizes.

  You care about mathematics.

  It’s a gift. It puts bread on the table. What about sons? Who�
�s the dad?

  Sam.

  Sam who? You mean, the astronomer? Go on! And I’m the mommy?

  Is that your choice?

  Don’t rush me! What’s the deal here? Why can’t I have both?

  You can have the Nobel Prize and sons, but they won’t be Sam’s sons. What’s so special about his sons? What’s so special about him?

  You ‘ll have to pay to find out.

  I don’t like the sound of that.

  The probabilities will definitely abuse you.

  You want me to choose Sam’s sons, don’t you? You’re a damned sadist.

  I never wanted to hurt you, but I had to. Probabilities.

  You know, I’m actually scared to play your little game. I can’t choose!

  You already have. You just didn’t remember.

  And I chose the special boys and the special Sam ?

  Time to wake up, Milly Lee.

  No! Leave me be!

  What would your Dad think?

  Oh, Daddy, please! It’s going to hurt!

  The pain is in the past. It’s only a memory now.

  You evil evil… thing! You promised! I made the choice! I paid the price!

  So, you remember.

  Sunny! He never… Eight years… It was a lie!

  A possibility.

  Not any longer!

  No, not that one.

  You promised! Two sons!

  You’re dead. I can’t keep the promise.

  But I saw them! Sunny. Sammy. Jessie. And Sam. Is that all I get? A dream? You have another choice.

  Even though I’m dead?

  Death, as they say nowadays, is a treatable condition.

  What are the choices?

  Life or death.

  And the probabilities?

  Probabilities are tricky, and promises are hard to keep.

  You can’t make Sunny live again?

  Aylis may eventually do that.

  How can she, if you can’t? Or won’t.

  She’s suffered too much to be intellectually effective.

  Can I help her?

  You would know better than I.

  Why did you give me the dream?

  Life or death. Choose.

  Section 023 It Was Always About Sunny

  “I’m very worried about her,” Mai said, trying to hold her baby and wipe the tears from her face at the same time.

  “Let me hold her,” Jamie said. She took Mai’s infant into her arms, but she couldn’t enjoy holding little Chumani, not with all the concern raised in everyone by Aylis’s condition.