by L. C. Mawson
“He finally told you, didn’t he?” Ruth asked.
“Hmm?” Ivy replied, before realising what Ruth was asking with a smile. “Of course he would have told you. How long have you known that he loved me?”
“Since just before we left England.”
“I suppose that’s not that long.”
“So, what did you tell him?”
Ivy smiled. “That I returned his affections.”
Ruth returned her smile as she settled back down. “I’m glad for the two of you.”
“You should get some rest,” Ivy told her.
Ruth nodded, barely managing to keep her eyes open.
RUTH AWOKE WITH A START, as she heard something rustling in the woods nearby.
She looked around the camp to see that everyone else was asleep, and she was reluctant to wake any of them up. Especially when her mind was still fuzzy. She may have even imagined the noise.
However, just as she rolled over to try and get back to sleep, she heard the noise again.
It was probably an animal, she knew, but her confused mind refused to rest until she confirmed it.
She pushed herself up to her feet, using the tree next to her for leverage and doing her best not to disturb the others. It took her a moment to realise that she was upright, her head was still spinning, but once she was sure, she shuffled towards the noise, doing everything she could to stay on her feet.
Once she was out of view of the others, she finally happened across the source of the noise. Her eyes took a moment to adjust and recognise that it wasn’t an animal in front of her. No, it was a man.
“It appears that I was right before,” the man said as he raised his arm. After a moment, Ruth’s eyes registered that he was pointing a gun at her. “This would have been more easily solved with a bullet.”
“No,” was all Ruth managed to croak out as her legs began to give beneath her. “You can’t.”
“You have ruined my plans for the last time,” he told her.
The gun was aimed at her head, but he was moving it from side to side. It took Ruth a moment to realise that he was trying to keep up with her swaying on the spot. After a moment, he simply moved the gun down to her chest before pulling the trigger.
Ruth fell backwards into the dirt, but otherwise couldn’t register what had happened.
She had been shot. That much was for certain, but anything else was thankfully blurred by her addled mind.
Maybe this is for the best, she thought as she felt what little strength she had leave her. None of this would have happened if not for my inventions.
“Ruth!” she heard Ivy cry as black started to bleed into her vision.
“It’s okay,” Ruth managed, unsure as to whether anyone was actually close enough to hear, but knowing that she had to say it anyway. “It’s okay.”
16
Ruth opened her eyes to find herself propped upright, surrounded by the others, with Ivy and Michel at the forefront.
“What happened?” she asked, her voice surprisingly clear, though it didn’t sound like hers.
“What do you remember?” Ivy asked her.
“You rescued me from Banks, and then we were in the woods. He found us while we were sleeping. I heard him and woke up. I followed the noise, only for him to... He shot me.”
Ivy nodded. “Ruth, please remain calm. We couldn’t do anything for the bullet wound.”
Ruth tried to frown but her face wouldn’t quite respond. It felt odd. As if parts of it were numb.
Ivy simply stepped back, indicating across the room. The room Ruth now recognised as the one she had been trapped in by Banks.
She looked over to where Ivy was indicating, only to see herself, propped up in the same machine Banks had used on her. Only, the body in the machine, while it looked very much like her, was chalk white, and her bodice was stained bright red.
She wasn’t breathing.
She was dead.
Ruth looked down at herself, noticing first of all that she lacked breasts. The second thing she realised was that her skin wasn’t skin at all, but ceramic plates over a metal skeleton.
A standard WestTech automaton model.
“We couldn’t save you,” Ivy told her. “So, we used Banks’ machine to save your mind. It was the best we could do. I’m sorry.”
“I...” Ruth was unsure of what else to say as she stared at her hands as she moved them. Her body felt strange. Her pressure sensors were rudimentary, leaving her with far less sensation to process. She couldn’t decide if that was a relief, or just unnerving.
“I can remake the body,” Ivy assured her. “As soon as we’ve found Banks, I can make it more womanly, and I can give you every enhancement Michel has.”
Ruth nodded. “Thank you,” she said, in the hope that that would assure Ivy that she had done the right thing in saving her. The new body may be unnatural to her, but it was surely better than death.
Ruth attempted to step forward carefully. Everything for her height to her weight to her proportions had changed, all of which would take some getting used to.
However, her first step was a success. She quickly followed it with a second and third, gaining confidence in her new body as she went.
The new body was stronger, with larger strides.
The perfect vessel to catch Banks by his neck and return the favour, she thought as she once more dared to glance at her previous, inert form.
“Now the question is, where is Banks?” Ruth asked them.
“I think I may know how to answer that,” Sally said with a fiery glare.
17
Sally took the lead as they headed back to her house, which only ruffled Ruth’s feathers a little. She wanted to be the one to take revenge for what had been done to her, a fire burned just beneath her ceramic plates demanding vengeance, but there would be time for that later. Banks would be her revenge. For now, she was happy to let Sally deal with her brother.
Sally quickly spotted her brother, fast approaching him with the others in tow. They swiftly cornered him at the side of his workshop.
“Sally, what is this?” he asked, though he seemed to be sweating.
Ruth took that to mean that he knew exactly what was happening.
“You sold us out!” Sally accused. “You knew that we were going to stop WestTech and you went straight to Banks. How much did he pay you to sell out your own sister?”
“Jesus, Sally, you think I did this for money? These are dangerous people. I thought that, once you saw that, you would think twice about messing with them.”
Sally responded by pushing him up against the wall of the workshop by the scruff of his neck. “I knew what I was getting into. Unlike you, I couldn’t stand by and watch them roll over whoever gets in their way.”
“Only because you’re involved with an Indian girl! You want to pretend that you’re so high and mighty, but you wouldn’t even blink at WestTech if she wasn’t your girl.”
“Of course I would.”
“Well now you’re just deluding yourself. You’re no better than the rest of us, you just have interests on the other side.”
Sally shook her head. “Where my interests are is irrelevant. This is the right thing to do and I am doing it. Banks has hurt enough people, we’re not letting him get away to start again elsewhere. Tell us where he is.”
“So that he can kill you? Not a chance.”
Sally responded by thrusting him up against the wall once more.
“Alright, alright!” he relented. “Banks came by and told me that he was heading out of town. He headed towards the train station.”
Sally nodded, throwing him towards the ground, though he staggered a little and managed to remain on his feet.
“I have horses we can take,” she told the others. “Hopefully we can catch him before the train leaves.”
RUTH REACHED THE TRAIN station first, jumping from her rather disgruntled horse as soon as it was in sight. She had never been a good rider, and sh
e assumed that her new body only made it more uncomfortable for the horse.
As soon as her feet hit the ground, she started sprinting, her more powerful legs making for much more powerful strides.
The train station wasn’t particularly large, allowing her to quickly spot Banks.
She ran up to him, and he turned to give her a confused frown as he heard her heavy metal footsteps. The second before he realised he was in peril, she grabbed him by the neck, lifting him a foot from the ground.
“Desist,” he croaked. “Command override: desist!”
She grinned at that. “Oh, you don’t remember me, do you?”
He stared at her with wide eyes, telling her that he had no idea what was going on.
“Let me remind you. You shot me and left me for dead.”
“Ruth,” he finally managed before letting out a strained laugh.
“I really don’t see what’s funny about your inevitable demise.”
“It’s funny because you won’t kill me,” he croaked. “You can’t. Even made of metal, you’re no killer.”
Ruth squeezed her fingers a little around his neck, but not enough to truly do harm. She wanted to draw this out, she told herself. Of course she would kill him. She couldn’t not.
She moved to crush his neck, but her hand refused to obey as she felt in icy chill down her spine.
She had to do it. She had to make sure that he didn’t just start somewhere else.
But her hand refused to move.
No, she refused to move it.
Even faced with Banks’ smug face, she couldn’t end it.
“She may not be a killer,” she heard past Banks. “But I know how to put a stray dog down.”
The next thing Ruth knew, there was a hole through Bank’s head.
She dropped him to the ground, revealing Hall standing behind him with a gun in his hand.
“I had that handled,” she eventually said as she processed what had happened.
“Of course,” he said. “Are you alright?”
She looked down at herself in an attempt to assess any potential damage. She didn’t seem to have any damage, but she was drenched in bright red blood, though she had no way of feeling it.
“I believe so,” she told him before reaching down to Banks’ body. As she rolled him over, she quickly found her plans.
“Is that all of them?” Hall asked.
She nodded. “I believe so.”
“Then we have exactly what we came for.”
18
Ruth watched the flames of the bonfire reach for the night sky for several moments, wondering if she could ever sacrifice enough to the flames to reach the stars.
As if to test her pondering, she threw her plans onto the bonfire, one by one.
“Wait,” Thomas said, placing his hand over hers as she got to the third piece of paper. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “I had always hoped that, at some point, there would be someone that I trusted enough to bestow these plans to. But I don’t think that day will ever come. Given that I am now, essentially, immortal, and these plans are firmly secured in my mind, it is better to destroy these. If the day ever comes when I am comfortable enough to pass them on, I can always draw them up again.”
Thomas nodded, stepping back and allowing her to throw the rest of them to the flames.
“So, back to England?” Ivy asked.
Ruth shook her head. “Not for me,” she told them. “If James was right, I’m not safe anywhere. I doubt that my new body will change that. It would be best for everyone if I simply disappear.”
“Disappear?” Michel asked. “Where will you go?”
“The factory here is abandoned now, and it’s far enough out of the way that most will ignore it. I can work out of it as much as I like without interacting with anyone else, since I don’t need food anymore.”
“Are you sure?” Ivy asked. “You’ll be cut off from everyone else.”
Ruth nodded. “It’s for the best.” She turned to the others. “What about all of you? The chances are, you’ll be under suspicion for my disappearance.”
“I think it’s about time to retire,” Hall told her before turning to Thomas. “France is usually nice this time of year.”
Thomas nodded with a smile, taking his love’s hand. “I think retirement is exactly what’s in order.”
“Just as long as you’re happy,” Ruth told them before turning to Ivy and Michel. “And what about you two?”
“Well, I doubt our relationship will be accepted, even in France,” Michel ventured.
Ivy nodded. “Perhaps disappearing isn’t the worst idea in the world.”
“Disappearing?” Ruth echoed. “Disappearing where?”
“Well, the factory is more than big enough for the three of us, isn’t it?” she asked Ruth. “If that’s fine with you, of course.”
“Of course it is, but are you truly okay with being hidden away from everyone? From all of society? Not to mention, tolerance may be hard to find, but America is hardly the best place to start.”
Ivy shrugged. “Then we’ll try it for now. If it turns out to be a terrible idea, we can always head elsewhere later. But, for now, I think here is a good place to settle.”
Michel nodded. “It seems as good a place as any.”
“Then I guess we’ll see,” Ruth said as she looked back to the stars, wondering what the future may hold.
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