The Lost (The Maauro Chronicles Book 3)

by Edward McKeown

  “So you see,” she lay back against her pillows. “The Great War here was inevitable but the New Hope humans coming triggered it, the match to the tinder. Then we came along. We didn’t make the Destroyer, but we resurrected it and set it killing again. Will you help?”

  “Yes,” Parisha echoed, “will you help?”

  I looked at Maauro but she gave no sign. I realized that once again, she was deferring entirely to me. “We will, if we can.”

  Eljee collapsed back onto her pillows and her eyes closed. Maauro moved instantly, placing a hand on the young Morok. “Natural sleep and exhaustion. Wrik, we must leave this young woman to recuperate.”

  She turned to Dr. Parisha and spoke quickly in Seddonese, then turned to me. “I have given medical instructions.”

  Parisha gaped at her. “Your mastery of our language is astonishing.”

  “I will also require a complete tactical briefing with your senior military staff, all that is known of the Destroyer and previous engagements.”

  “You interests extend beyond the medical sciences?” Parisha said. I could see total confusion on his face.

  “Dr. Parisha,” I said. “Please sit down.”

  The older being reached for a chair and sat, staring at me.

  “I don’t want you to be frightened,” I began. “But for us to work effectively together there are some things that you must know. Maauro is a living being, but she is artificial in origin. She is made of ceramics and metals and her brain is a computer such as Bexlaw must have told you about, only vastly more complicated.”

  The Seddonese gripped his chair with hands that showed white through the green skin.

  “Please do not be afraid of me unnecessarily,” Maauro said. “I am in the same service as Wrik and follow his orders—”

  Sometimes, I thought.

  “—I do not harm anyone who does not threaten myself or my companions.”

  “But,” I added, “she is not the little girl she appears and she is vastly stronger and more dangerous than you could ever believe. Elgee will be no less surprised when she learns of it. Maauro was made by an unknown species long ago. She’s far beyond even Confederate science.”

  “You can think?” Parisha asked her tentatively.

  “Yes, I do,” she said. “I also feel, joy, sorrow, even love, in my own way.”

  “Gods,” he whispered, “a living machine. With a mind…dare I ask, a soul?”

  “You may ask, but for your last inquiry I have as yet no ready answer. Once I would have said, no. Now, I do not know.”

  “May I,” he hesitated, “may I touch you?”

  Maauro walked slowly over to him. “Anywhere but my left arm, which will only feel metallic and cold to you, it is not original.”

  Parisha slowly extended a hand to stroke Maauro’s cheek. She stood motionless as he did so. It occurred to me that no one touched Maauro regularly other than myself and Jaelle.

  “You do feel alive,” he said. “You face is as soft and smooth as my granddaughter’s.”

  “And yet would survive a direct hit by any weapon a being might lift,” I said.

  Maauro picked up a metal stool and with no fuss and only minimal noise folded it into smaller shapes until it was crushed to a ball that glowed in her hand from the heat.

  “Like the Destroyer,” Maauro said. “I too, was created for war, only in my case eons ago. I fight now to save lives, to find the lost and to help biological life. Wrik has said we will help you. We will do so. I will caution you, that like the Destroyer itself, I am an implacable enemy if those I value are threatened and harmed. You mentioned your manipulations of Bexlaw. Be careful not to make such moves with me and mine. In return, I will do battle for you.”

  “No enemy,” I said, looking at the sleeping Morok girl, “has survived Maauro.”

  “I will…I will brief my superiors,” Parisha said, eyeing the crushed ball and clearly struggling to keep his grip. “Please go with the guards. They will not harm you. I will be sure of that. You will be given quarters, but it must take some time for me to convey this, for the shock to be overcome...”

  Maauro put the ball in the sink and ran water over it which hissed and crackled, then placed it in a trash can. “We will await you as requested. If I could be given a grammatical dictionary it will facilitate communication. More so, if any of the expedition’s computer equipment is available. They must have digitized some of this it will speed the process from tedious minutes to seconds.”

  “Really?” Parisha said, dazed, as he stood and went to the door. He spoke to the officer outside in very, slow and deliberate speech, apparently to make sure there could be no error in his orders. I noted a human soldier had joined them, a young man. He nodded to me and spoke, haltingly in something that almost sounded familiar.

  “He is using an old variant of a human language called English,” Maauro said. “There’s a lot of it in Gal-Standard. He assures us we will be treated well.” Maauro answered the young man, who smiled in relief. We followed them up the hall to another floor and a well-appointed room.

  The Seddonese guards were more alert now, more careful. I noted that when we reached the new room that were a lot more guards, but they stayed well away from us. Only the human came into the room with us. There he brought us food and water and carefully explained each item to Maauro. I ate slowly anything that she suggested would be safe, though one local dish smelled so bad, I asked them to remove it so I could enjoy the other food.

  “What’s his name?” I asked Maauro. She translated.

  “Enso Pape,” the young man said. He was of a medium complexion, shorter than I with a wiry build and dark hair and eyes.

  “I believe he is of some form of special forces or intelligence,” Maauro added. “His rank, which appears to be the equivalent of a major, seems very high for his youth. I suspect this is a very intelligent young man who has been placed here to handle us.”

  “Well,” I yawned picking up a drink and leaning back on a comfortable couch, facing away from the sun setting through the golden drapes. “I am sure you can defend your virtue if he seeks to handle you.”

  “That is not what I meant.”

  “Kidding,” I said with a smile.

  Pape watched our interactions closely and I suspect with an understanding of Gal-Standard that equaled Parisha’s.

  I looked at him. “Do you want to continue having Maauro translate? Or would you rather fill us in on the local history while we are waiting for Dr. Parisha? I am sure you speak our language, or they wouldn’t have put you here.”

  He looked at me for a second, his face void of expression then said. “I speak Gal-Standard about as well as anyone. I’ve spent a lot of time in the field with Tomas and Fitaz, trying to find ways to slow up the Destroyer. I have a better grasp then Parisha on colloquialisms.”

  I nodded. “Can’t blame you for pretending. We were doing some of the same.”

  Pape looked at Maauro. “Did you really crush the stool into a small ball?”

  “Yes,”

  “And you are really a machine?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you think? He does not control you?” Pape pointed at me.

  “I think and Wrik is my friend. I consult with him on my actions but he does not control me.”

  “I don’t even have that luxury with my girlfriend,” I joked.

  Maauro smiled.

  Pape merely shook his head in wonder.

  “Tell me about the humans here,” I said. “You seem on good terms with the Seddonese.”

  “Now,” he said. “It hasn’t always been the case. There aren’t a lot of records from before the fall but most Seddonese knew about the Kolzins and didn’t blame us for the war that broke out. So we weathered the worst of it with the Alish, the local Seddonian democracy we landed in. Human fortunes ha
ve waxed and waned over the centuries. Our numbers grew slowly but we have a lot of immunities to native germs and diseases.

  “When Bexlaw came and the Seddonese found out about how much humans figured in the Confederacy, our stock went through the roof. Then, of course, came the Destroyer, now you. Not sure where the credit balance stands today.

  “I will get you the grammar books that you asked for,” he said.

  “Unnecessary,” Maauro said. “I detected an active computer from the Bexlaw group on a floor below. Your military is using it, I imagine with the help of one of the survivors you mentioned, but it contains the grammar that I needed I have downloaded all information in it.”

  He froze looking at her.

  “It will facilitate our military briefing when we get it,” she said, smiling sweetly.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said, knowing it was pointless. “She is on my side.”

  “Always,” Maauro nodded.

  Chapter 17

  Stardust entered geosynchronous orbit over the capitol city of Revived Tur-Sharaa. As soon as they were within range, Maauro updated Dusko and Olivia on what had transpired. She was able to use the Sinner II to relay the signals up to the orbiting starship. All this occurred while we were in the room with Pape, talking to the young operative. Parisha checked back in with us to advise we were invited to a meeting with the Seddonese president of Alish. There was no world government, but Alish was the leading force in the world recovery, with its mix of human and Seddonese and their contacts with Bexlaw.

  “Are you too fatigued for this meeting?” Pape asked. Parisha hovered anxiously behind him.

  Truth was I was tired, but I wanted to see the powers as soon as possible. “I’m good. I’d like to bring our ship down and recover our smaller ship.”

  “Do not worry about the vessel you came in,” Pape said. “It has been secured by our special forces.”

  I smiled. “No doubt. I hope they didn’t try the locks.”

  Pape’s face was carefully neutral. “The vessel is undamaged and we will see to it that it remains unmolested.”

  “Good.”

  He turned to Maauro, “And you?”

  She gave him a pleasant smile. “I do not fatigue in biological terms.”

  I nodded. So long as she wasn’t using vast amounts of power in battle-mode, she didn’t need to recharge, drawing power from everything from sunlight and ordinary food, to hydrocarbons or fuel cells.

  “The counsel is assembling,” Parisha said. “If you will follow me.”

  We followed Parisha out the door, trailed by Pape. I noticed that the guards had changed. The Seddonese and two humans around us now wore much more subdued uniforms. None of them spoke and they seemed to watch both us and the area around us. I suspected we were now in the hands of Pape’s Special Forces. Probably good, less chance for someone to make a mistake, I thought. However, most of them had some form of grenade on their belt, worthless against Maauro, but more than enough to take care of me.

  We went down the escalator, and across the building into what was apparently the political wing. This part of the building was opulent, with chandeliers, thick rugs and curtains on all the massive windows. Even at this late hour, the halls were full of Seddonese and the occasional human rushing about on tasks. Parisha was known and expected as we were passed through layers of security and bureaucrats. Finally we came to a set of ornate white and gold doors under bright flags. The attendants opened the doors. Our security detail split. Only a few of the most formidable-looking followed Pape into the round chamber room before us.

  The room was filled with rings of concentric desks, all unoccupied. However there was a central dais and six Seddonese stood there, awaiting us.

  As we walked up to the area in front of the dais, I studied the Seddonese before us, noting no humans were present. Of the six, one I guessed might be female. The two at either end wore military uniforms. I suspected they were service commanders, likely a general and an admiral.

  Parisha paused before them and gave a small bow. He turned back to us. “Given your friend’s mastery of our language, I will propose that she translate for you. And I will translate for the Emergency Committee.”

  “As you wish,” I said.

  Parisha turned to the six on the dais and began speaking.

  Maauro immediately translated. “He is addressing and identifying the committee. Center right, in the black suit and white shirt is President Landertan. The Prime Minister is the female with the longer hair/feathering and dark red clothes. Next to her is Barocorpin, Minister of Defense. Beside the President is the Minister of Species Relations Naracorpin. At the far end, in the red and gold uniform, is General Telmas. At the other end is Admiral Bernarin.”

  President Landertan began speaking. He was a small being but somehow seemed to convey a great authority, his voice deep for a Seddonese.

  “The President welcomes us in this dire time,” Maauro translated. “He invites us to sit. He confesses both relief at our appearance and some amazement and trepidation at meeting a living machine like me.”

  We sat in the indicated seats before the dais, looking up at those in power.

  “They ask for a briefing on why we have come,” Maauro said.

  “Fill them in completely,” I said, “including about finding Maximillian.”

  Maauro did so, taking a few minutes. Since she did so in their language, Parisha did not have to translate.

  “I am commended on my Seddonese,” Maauro said. “They say I speak like a native, if formally.”

  “Tell them that I would like to bring down the Stardust as near to the capitol as is practical and to bring the Sinner here tomorrow. I want to concentrate our assets as we explore a way to stop the machine and save Maximillian. Ask if they have a suitable site nearby and tell them what we need for a landing.”

  “The President says a suitable site is nearby. He will direct that it be prepared. The General asks if we have the capacity to attack the Destroyer from our ships.”

  “Unlikely,” I replied, as Parisha translated. “My vessel was originally a military courier, optimized for speed, not armor or firepower. We have a smaller vessel with us that has armament, but from what I heard of how Bexlaw’s ship was brought down, I think a direct attack in line of sight from the air would be very risky. We have three small but efficient fighting machines aboard Stardust we can employ, but truth be told be told our best chance lies with Maauro.”

  There was a long and pregnant silence.

  “I believe a demonstration is in order,” Maauro said. She walked over to a heavy white stone bench and causally lifted it into the air with her left hand.

  “Impressive,” the Prime Minister said through Parisha, “but hardly—”

  Maauro’s right hand lit in the plasma torch and she sheared the bench in two in an instant.

  The guards around me all twitched, then subsided.

  “Maauro is far stronger, faster and more deadly than you can imagine,” I said into the astonished silence. “But her greatest strength is in her ability to intrude into and control almost all machines she meets.”

  “Including ours?” demanded the Admiral.

  Maauro shook her head and answered for herself. “No. For me to control a machine it must be computerized, like our machinery. Your machines have no artificial brains to control.”

  “And you think you can do this to the Destroyer?”

  “Only time and combat will tell. My biggest problem is, that in order to take over something, I must, if you will pardon an analogy, first be able to speak its language.”

  “I speak Kolzin,” Parisha said.

  “You speak the language of the biological entities, while that will serve as a starting place for my attack, it is not the language of a battle-computer. I must somehow acquire an ability to translate my attacks into
its language before I can even begin to batter my way through the programs defenses.”

  “Are there any other examples of Kolzin machinery that we could examine?” I asked.

  “No,” Parisha said. “General Telmas says that few of the Kolzin machines survived their battles with our ancestor’s forces. We have broken parts in museums and we will make those available to you, but for hundreds of years, the Kolzin machines were avoided as they leaked poisons and radiation. They were not preserved.”

  “An examination of what you have may still be useful,” Maauro said.

  The politicians and soldiers questioned us for an hour further before the President brought the meeting to a close. “You have come far and we have kept you late. Rooms are prepared for your rest. In the morning, you will be taken to your small ship and may summon your large one. After that I will leave you in the hands of our military commanders to plan a strategy.

  “We have not seen the Destroyer for some days. It has been most effective at eliminating our scouts, or losing them. We do not know where our enemy is or where it will strike next.”

  “We can’t risk our starship to hunt for it,” I said. “Perhaps we can do something with our bomber. We will need a briefing on all that is known of the Destroyer’s ability before we take that chance.”

  “Until the morning,” the President said.

  Our escorts took us to another area, where well-appointed rooms awaited us. Maauro demurred at being given a separate room. The major domo who showed us the rooms didn’t seem quite sure what to make of the propriety of that until Pape assured him that she was a machine and his sensibilities need not be ruffled over it.

  I shut the door, assuming Maauro would deal with any surveillance devices focused on us. To be frank there was nothing really to be concerned about, we had in fact come to help these people, though they may not have appreciated our emphasis on saving Maximillian. Hard to blame them, I thought. If someone handed me a weapon that could stop a monster is such circumstances, the life of one young man wouldn’t weigh heavily in that calculus, but we were agents of Shasti Rainhell and if we could recover him, we were bound to do so.