The Watcher Read online

  She concentrates on her driving, as they continue along the track. The track seems to go on forever, with lots of twists and turns. They come to a really sharp bend. She edges round it slowly and they come to a stop.

  ‘That isn’t what I was expecting to see’ she exclaims. ‘I was expecting there to be some Tepees. They have all been burnt down from the looks of it.’

  She edges the car forward in the open area, where the tepees should have been. She brings it to a stop in the middle.

  Just as she is getting out of the car, someone appears ahead of them. The man who appears is older than Maria. He is dressed in a check shirt and blue jeans. He has a pair of moccasins on his feet. Mario gets out of the car too and stands by his door. His eyes are on the man ahead of them. He stays where he is, while Maria walks forward to the man. He stays where he is and waits for Maria to reach him.

  ‘I thought you would be coming here. It is a long time since you left us.’ They are about three feet apart. It is obvious to Mario that they are related. He can see some similarities in their stature and looks.

  ‘This is the only place I know’ she replies.

  ‘I have come here to wait for you. I knew you would be here soon.’

  ‘Where are the others?’

  ‘They are in the new reservation. We had to move, as they found the ground here was unsafe. They have mined so much; that cracks just appear in the ground.’

  ‘When did they do this?’

  ‘It has been many years.’

  ‘Why didn’t anyone say, when I made contact again?’

  ‘At first no one thought of it and then when we did, we realized that it wasn’t a bad thing. You would have to be brought to us and not just turn up like this.’

  Mario can see that Maria is shaken with this. It is not a good start. They appear to have the upper hand. Maybe things aren’t what she thinks they are, with her tribe. It is not for him to say this to her though. Maria needs to make that statement for herself.’

  ‘We have a good life here’ the man continues. ‘They have given us compensation for the theft of our lands. We live in solid houses and have good cars. Many of us have jobs too, where we work alongside the white man. The consensus of opinion is that we like things the way they are. We don’t really want to change and we definitely don’t want to start a war.’

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me all this when I spoke to you?’

  ‘You would not have understood. You would have had time to prepare for what you are going to see now. We didn’t think that would be a good thing. As time has gone by, we realize that you would have been confrontational, if you had been here. You would not have been good for the tribe.’

  ‘But I am here now’ she retorts.

  ‘You are, and when you see what we have, and when you talk to your people; you will see that the life they have, is the life they want. This opportunity you have been talking about is something that is furthest away from the lives we want to lead.’

  Mario can see that Maria is unsure what they should do next. The man has stopped talking and he is just standing there, letting his words sink in to her. Maria comes to a decision.

  ‘Alright, I can understand what you are saying. I only suggested these things as I knew, or I thought I knew how badly we have been treated. Let me come to your new camp and I will be able to see all these things you are telling me about for myself.

  Chapter 15 Spirit

  The robot walks over until it is about two feet away from the cell.

  ‘I have brought you some water.’

  ‘You must have gone a long way to get it. You have been away for hours.’

  ‘I was not sure that I should get it for you.’

  ‘Well, I’m glad that you have brought it now. I don’t suppose that I could have some food too. All that rocking backwards and forwards has given me an appetite. I must say that I am quite hungry.’

  ‘I have brought you some water.’

  ‘You have already said that and I can see that with my own eyes. The question I have to ask you now; is how am I going to be able to drink it? As you can see, I am on my back on the floor, with a body clamp and a leg clamp on. I can’t take it from you. You will have to take the clamp off me, so that I can take the glass from you and drink the water.’

  ‘I can’t do that’ the robot replies and then just stands there.

  ‘So how do you suggest I am going to be able to have my drink?’

  The robot just stands there with the glass of water. He stands there for a couple of minutes, without doing or saying anything.

  ‘Now you’ve actually brought me a drink, surely you are going to allow me to drink it?’

  ‘I don’t know what to do?’

  At least that is something of an advance. It also tells Spirit something. Something has changed, but it is not what he thought it was, when he became conscious again. It has nothing to do with the control room, or if anyone was in the control room. No, it wasn’t about that; it was about something else altogether. The thing that has changed is the robot. It is most likely the same robot, but then again it is not. It is not because something has changed in the robot. The only thing that could do that is because things have changed, because the Grand Master is no longer a Guiding Master. Because he is not that, then he loses certain bits of his power. He returns to being a mortal, but Spirit hasn’t seen him yet, to see what effect that has had. He will have lost some other powers too. One of those will be about the technology he has had access to. Technologies that he has been able to use as a Guiding Master will be lost to him. They will be lost, not only in that he won’t be able to use them to build things in the future, but also, and this is what is in effect now, is that things that he has used these technologies to build, will lose those powers. So his transport will not have the same engines. His robots will not have the same powers. They will become so much more basic, only matching the capabilities that are already known in the relevant quadrants of the universe.

  So, this robot is not the same as when he left. Spirit suspects that some if not most of the time he was away, is because of this sudden change. The robot will suddenly have found that it has lost a vast quantity of systems. That will result in a vast loss of capability. It is something that it is doubtful it will manage to cope with, without some serious programming. The surprise is that through all of this, it actually remembered to come back and bring the water too. The big question is; how much has it changed and how much does that change reflect in its actions of keeping him a hostage?

  ‘So let’s take this thing through.’ Spirit decides to see how far things might have changed. ‘I asked you for a drink of water and some food. You have brought me a drink.’

  He doesn’t want to risk saying things that won’t be helpful to his cause. He wants to say something was said before that actually wasn’t, but he decides that to do that might be unhelpful, in that it might make the robot wary of him. He continues to talk to it.

  ‘You haven’t brought me anything to have the drink through, like a straw?’

  ‘No I haven’t’ the robot immediately replies.

  ‘So we need to find a way for me to have this drink and also my food when you bring it.’

  ‘I will bring you food too’ the robot says quickly.

  ‘But we need to plan how I am going to be able to drink my water and eat my food, when you bring it.’

  There is a minute or so of silence before the robot responds.

  ‘I can see that’ is all it says.

  ‘So what would the Guiding Master who built you, tell you is the answer to this?’ He purposely has not called him the Grand Master. He wants to see how the robot responds to this.

  The robot stands there for a few minutes. Spirit can see that it is trying to work out something, but obviously he doesn’t know what. He does know that his question is causing some confusion for the robot. He gives the robot the time it needs, to get to the answer it needs to. Eventually it comes up with a reply.


  ‘I do not know of a Guiding Master. Who is this you are talking about?’

  Now that is very interesting, Spirit thinks. He still does not want to ask the question using the words; The Grand Master.

  ‘Who told you to put me in the cell and put the clamps on me?’

  The answer comes back more quickly this time.

  ‘I don’t have that information available to me.’

  ‘Do you know why I am being kept in this cell, with the clamps on me?’

  ‘No, I do not.’

  ‘Would you please come into the cell and give me a drink of water. Hold it to my mouth and then slowly pour it in. I need to have a drink of water very soon, as I am so thirsty.’

  ‘I will have to get another robot in to watch me. I don’t know why you are in there, but I do know I cannot let you out.’

  ‘Could you at least take the clamps off me? They are most uncomfortable.’

  ‘I will summons another robot.’ It moves over to the control desk and presses some buttons. It is only a matter of seconds later that another robot comes into the control room.

  The first robot then presses another button and the door to the cell slides open. It is on the next wall to where Spirit is. He has no intention of making any moves. The limit to what he can do is to lie on the floor; or rock a little, or move along on his back a few inches at a time. He can’t exactly make a run for it.

  The second robot comes into the cell and comes over to Spirit. He stands over him for a few seconds, before he tries to move Spirit into a sitting up position. Spirit says nothing. He soon finds that the clamp around Spirit’s body stops him from being able to get him to sit up.

  ‘It will not happen’ it says to the other one. Spirit still does not say anything.

  ‘You will have to stand him up then’ the first one comes up with.

  It tries to do that, but Spirit is playing as heavy a weight as he can. That is quite heavy, as he transfers all his weight to his body, where they are trying to lift him.

  ‘It is no good. The clamp will have to come off.’

  ‘Come and get the key then. I will stay out here and guard you while you do it. I have his weapon to use. That will stop him from doing anything when you release him.’

  Spirit almost thinks he can hear the robot wishing for him to try something, just to give it the excuse to use the weapon. He won’t do that, as he doesn’t want the robot to know at this stage, that the weapon won’t work for anyone, or anything, else but him.

  The robot collects the key and comes back into the cell. It bends down and touches the clamp with the key. He takes hold of it as it becomes loose. Spirit takes the opportunity to stretch, once the robot has backed off a step or two. The leg clamp is left in place.

  The robot moves out of the cell and collects the glass of water from the desk and brings it back across for Spirit to have his drink. While it is doing that, Spirit manages to sit up with his back against the bars of the cell. He gets his drink of water.

  Chapter 16 The Grand Master

  You have to undo the shackles from around our legs. We cannot be your prisoners any longer.’ The Guiding Master repeats when the android does not respond to its first request.

  All it does is look to where the other android and GM3 have gone. It is almost as if it wants to run along after them. It doesn’t do that; it just stands there and looks towards the way they have gone.

  ‘You have to do something’ the Guiding Master pushes another statement at it. ‘We cannot stay out here in the open. You must open the door to the base and take us in. Or, you must undo the shackles on our legs and let us move on our own. Or you must move back towards the craft. You have a choice and you must do something. Just standing here is not an option that is acceptable.’

  The android makes to move off towards the craft. It gets about fifteen feet away and then stops.

  ‘You must come with me’ it says.

  ‘That was not one of the options I gave you.’

  ‘It was one of the options’ the android increases the severity of its tone.

  ‘You are wrong. I will tell you the options once again and if you listen carefully, you will see that it was not one of the options. This is what I said “We cannot stay out here in the open. You must open the door to the base and take us in. Or, you must undo the shackles on our legs and let us move on our own. Or you must move back towards the craft. You have a choice and you must do something. Just standing here is not an option that is acceptable.” So you will see that you are wrong.’

  ‘You said you must move back towards the craft. That is one of the options you gave me.’

  ‘No, it is not. One of the options was for you to move back towards the craft. That did not include us. You are just assuming that we will go with you. But we will not. We don’t want to.’

  ‘It is not about what you want.’

  ‘It certainly is not about what you may want. You are just an android. I am a Guiding Master and you are holding me prisoner against my will. I will not go with you.’

  ‘Nor will we’ The Keeper and the other Guiding Master chip in.

  The android raises its arm and points the weapon at them.

  ‘I don’t believe it will work’ The Keeper hears the voice in his head again. ‘The technology used is that of the Air Micro Compounder. That is definitely a Guiding Master technology. That will have been removed.’

  ‘Won’t it have been replaced by something else?’

  ‘That is extremely unlikely, but saying that, we don’t know for sure.’

  The Keeper then speaks out loud.

  ‘I am The Keeper. Your weapon will not work against me. I am not going with you back to the craft.’

  I take a step forward towards the android. If I could see the faces of the two Guiding Masters, I would see two faces, with sheer horror written all over them. I keep thinking that any second I am going to hear one of their voices inside my head, telling me that I am not immortal. I am a mortal and this android can indeed use the weapon against me. I expect that to come, but it does not. I take another step towards the android. It takes a firmer hold on the weapon and aims it at my head. It does not stop me. I take another step. The android retreats a step and then stops.

  ‘I will fire at you. I don’t want to, but I will do it.’

  I take another step. I am now maybe six to eight feet away from the android. It really does not know what to do. It does know that it should be guarding us, but it can’t make the decision to take us back with it against our will. I am pushing it probably a shade too far, but something has to be done and this is as good a moment as any, I think.

  I am not sure about taking the next step. I feel the others move behind me. I don’t feel them move nearer to me, well not in a direct sense. They spread out as they come towards me. One goes to my left and one goes to my right. I catch them in my peripheral a few seconds later. They are maybe ten feet away to me, one at each side. The android does not like that. It does not like us being apart. Something is going to happen in the next few seconds. Either we let the android make the next move, or one of us does. It is me who makes the next move. I take another step forward. As if they knew what I was going to do, the other two take a step forward too. The android visibly takes aim with the weapon. I see it move to depress the button. I am only three feet or so away from it. I am not afraid, as I decide that I need to take the next step. I must have stopped for a second or two longer than I thought I had. The two Guiding Masters must have kept on walking. They have taken another two steps, after I took my one. The android only has eyes for me right in front of it, challenging its authority. They are converging on my position from the sides.

  The android fires at me. I can’t say that I knew for sure that nothing would happen. It is a weird sense being shot at. It is a relief when I see that nothing has happened. It is not that for the android, when it realizes that the weapon does not work. I take the last step and I am there at him. My hand goes towards the wea
pon, as the two Guiding Masters grab hold of the android and prevent it from moving to struggle against us.

  My hand touches the weapon and a surge of power goes through me. It also reaches the android and the experience is something that he obviously does not like. He lets go of the weapon in shock, at the surge of power. As soon as the others see that I now have control of the weapon, they let go of the android. I take a step back too. We regroup, to stand about six feet away from the android. It looks at us and then towards where the other android has gone. It puts one arm against its side and a pocket springs open. The arm goes in. I already know that it is going to bring out another weapon. This one, I suspect, will still work. Our shackles mean that we are restricted to a degree. The android probably still believes that the weapon I have will not work. I am hopeful, well maybe even confident, that it will work. The Guiding Masters back off as quickly as they can. They know they won’t be able to get into any form of cover, as there is none. But they need me to have the space; I need to be able to deal with this threat.

  I don’t really want to destroy this android. It might be useful to us, as it will know the layouts of this place and be able to give us information about things the Grand Master has done. But I think things have gone past the listening to reason stage. This is going to be about survival. I intend to survive. That is going to mean, sadly, that this android does not.

  The weapon by now is virtually all the way out of the pocket. I have never fired a weapon like this before. It doesn’t look like any weapon I have seen before, but the principal is the same. There is a trigger that needs to be depressed and a direction it needs to be aimed in. I do both of those things in a split second. One second there is an android in front of me, threatening my existence. The next millisecond or so later, it is not there. It has been pulverized to dust, taken away from me, in a way that I don’t feel anything as it happens.