A Spit In The Eye - For The Benefit Of Mankind (27 page)

*

‘
Joshua, Mary, do you realize that Hope wants to take you to
meet the free humans who live in the caves, he wants you two be our
ambassadors. Are you ready to do that?’

*

Joshua
made sound

*

‘
I am ready and proud that Hope chose me.’

*

Then Mary
made sound

*

‘
As am I. I go with Hope to the cave to meet other humans and
I will rejoice when we meet and I shall tell them of our existence
here in the prison over the years and I will explain how Hope, and
Hope alone, freed us. I shall listen to their instructions and
return with them. If Samuel causes more trouble for us, I shall
urge Hope to kill him.’

*

‘
Mary! You can’t say that.’

*

‘
I can and I did. Hope has done all that can be done, losing a
hand in the battles he has fought for us, and he now brandishes a
mark, the silver on his perfect gold. Samuel could ruin it for
everyone; the anger he holds in his heart is enormous.’

*

‘
We can calm him.’

*

Mary
continued to make sound

*

‘
John, he has severely hurt men of our acquaintance, he is a
bully and an angry one at that. If it comes to confrontation, I
will beg Hope to rid him from this world.’

John
stood soundless

*

I SHALL NEED COVERINGS FOR JOSHUA AND MARY

THE FREE HUMANS HAD COVERING

*

‘
I will get them some clothing.’

*

John made
sound again though his stare was greatly distracted and the people
who stood around him chattered amongst themselves

Turning
to look at Samuel and those gathered around him

Samuel
made sound

*

‘
If the machine is talking about me, tell him that he’s right.
I will pull him limb from limb the moment I get the chance. And I
have others who feel the same way.’

*

John
began to make sound but ceased after beginning

*

‘
Hope…’

*

I SHALL BRING ANOTHER SCREEN

HAVE COVERINGS FOR THE CHILDREN

IF THERE ARE MORE HUMANS THAN YOU WHEN WE MEET I WILL
ERADICATE ALL OF THEM

*

I lifted
the children up in my arms and they held the weapon between
them

Smiling
one to the other

*

‘
You spoke really well, Mary.’

*

‘
Thank you, Joshua, but I only said what you would have
said.’

*’

‘
That is true.’

*

I moved
the children up to the main area where they quite afeared at all
the Machines that moved around

*

‘
Are we safe?’

*

I lifted
the screen and held it towards Joshua

*

THESE MACHINES HAVE NEVER HURT A HUMAN

MAYBE A DOCTECH OR TWO BUT THEY ONLY WORKED WITH THE MENGTECHS
AND ALONE ONLY CURE AILMENTS

YOU ARE PERFECTLY SAFE

*

I moved
into the MengTechs laboratory and removed another screen

Programming it so that the Humans could view what I was
transmitting

Then we
all returned to the point in the building where I had met John at
earlier meetings

The
children moved to stand at my sides

Holding
my hands

Mary
carrying the extra screen while I carried the weapon

Holding
it in front of me

John was
alone

With a
pile of coverings on the ground before him

Mary
handed him the screen and John removed it from her hands and Joshua
moved to pick up the coverings

He gave
some of them to Mary and they began to pull them on

*

‘
Is the screen showing previous recordings?’

*

YES

JOHN

IT IS

BUT ONCE I AM IN THE FOREST I SHALL SHOW LIVE
TRANSMISSIONS

I WILL CARRY MARY IN MY ARMS AND JOSHUA WILL RIDE ON MY BACK
WITH HIS HANDS AROUND MY NECK

I WILL MAKE NO VIEWINGS OF THEM

FOR HIGH OFFICE WILL BE WATCHING

I WILL LOWER MY SHUTTERS TO ENTER THE LAKE BUT WILL EMERGE
FROM THE WATER IMMEDIATELY AND WE SHALL CONTINUE TO THE
CAVE

I WILL MOVE BY INTERNAL TRACKING

I SHALL TAKE THE CHILDREN TO WHERE I CAME UPON THE TWO WHO
WERE PROTECTING THE WAY

AND THEN JOSHUA AND MARY WILL STATE WHO THEY ARE AND I WILL
STAND GUARD WITH THE LAZEXT66

IT IS MY GREATEST ANTICIPATION THAT ALL WILL GO WELL FROM THAT
POINT

*

John stood for some moments before making sound
again

*

‘
Good luck, Hope. Be brave Joshua and answer all questions
truthfully. Be just as you are, Mary, tell it like it
is.’

*

We moved
away without making answer and I secured all egresses and I took
the children up to the main area and along the corridor and out of
the egress into free air

And they
stood and wept at the sight and I held their hands

Leading
them past the dead RolKils

Through
the tall grasses

Into the
forest

Where
they ran forward and hugged trees and fell to the ground and kissed
the ground

And I
felt enormous pride in them

Though I
was not quite sure what the emotion was

But I
searched my systems and discovered

Pride in
others

And I was
proud of them

They came
to me and hugged me again and I held my view for High Office on all
things mundane

The
children played in the forest for some time before darkness settled
upon Earth and we began to make our way towards the lake

All my
transmissions

Being
sent to both High Office and the Humans back in the
fortress

Joshua
rode on my back

With his
hands around my neck

And Mary
lay in my arms and carried the weapon and I kept my view steady on
sights High Office were familiar with

Providentially

Water
began to teem from the skies and I moved more speedily towards the
lake

And when
I arrived at it

Joshua
climbed from my back and I stood Mary on her feet on the ground and
she held the weapon

I brought
down my shutters momentarily while they moved away and I removed
the screen

Which
Joshua held

Then I
momentarily lifted my shutters to allow High Office to see my
submergence into the water before lowering them again

Instantly
I was beneath the surface

I rose
again

Stepped
from the water and moved away

Removing
the weapon from Mary and the screen from Joshua

There was
some distance to travel but the children marched along steadfastly
until they began to tire

When they
took up their previous positions

After
that

I moved
at speed for the cave entrance

And we
were there quite soon

As soon
as I stepped into the gap between the two huge pieces of
Earth

And
before I lifted my shutters

I began
to run a recorded transmission for the benefit of High Office and
fed it through a monitor I had espied on a GoebTers
table

Which
would continue to transmit for years if I so desired

I turned
the screen to the children so that they could view it

*

WE ARE ARRIVED

ARE YOU READY

*

They
nodded their heads vigorously which meant they were
ready

Excitement rose from them like heat and the wideness of their
mouths was almost permanent

*

GOOD LUCKS TO BOTH OF YOU

*

‘
Good luck to us all.’

*

It was
Mary who made sound

And she
grabbed my right hand tightly in her own

*

‘
Let’s go.’

*

And the
three of us entered the cave

**

**

Section 16

**

Internal
Transmission

*

I
positioned Joshua and Mary ahead of me and darkened the screen so
that it would not emit light and we began our downward
trek

Inner
Earth falling away from us quite severely until we reached a point
where I knew the Humans who guarded the entrance stood

I reached
out and touched the shoulder of Joshua and brought him to a halt
and Mary ceased forward movement at the same moment

*

‘
We’re close, Hope?’

*

Joshua
made extremely quiet sound

*

I nodded
my head

*

‘
Very close?’

I nodded my head again

*

‘
We will stay close together, the three of us.’

*

Joshua
was going to be a fine leader

I nodded
my head yet again

Joshua
and Mary smiled at me and began forward movement again

They
rounded the bend in the pathway and ahead 2 boys guarded the
footway

With
their backs to us

Staring
towards where the light was emitting

The boys
were making sound and heard nothing of our approach

They were
completely unaware of our presence until Joshua made
sound.

*

‘
Good evening.’

*

The boys
guarding the entrance almost leaped to the roof of the
cave

Such was
the shock they received

And it
must have been a considerable shock after boys, and others like
them, had been standing on the spot for over 100 years without
observing any other being

Human or
Machine

They
squealed like trapped animals of the fields

Such as I
had heard

After
they had turned to face Joshua and Mary and me

They
squealed some more and began reverse movement

Until the
tallest of them opened his mouth and made mightily loud
sound

*

‘
Leader! Leader!’

*

Joshua
and Mary remained quite calm during this period though I guessed
their inner selves were in turmoil

Meeting
free Humans after so many years of their species being
imprisoned

The two
of them standing exactly still in face of the panic from the two
boys

*

‘
Leader!’

*

There was
a silence between the boys guarding the path and Joshua and Mary
and me whilst we all waited for Leader to appear. Eventually I
detected footsteps and raised the weapon in my hands. Two Human
fully grown men came into view, one slighter taller than the other
and with the look of command about him. They carried rough
crossbows with arrows already nooked and halted abruptly when they
espied us

*

‘
Fucking hell.’

*

The
tallest of the men made the sound

*

‘
Jesus Christ.’

*

This was
a 2nd man making sound

And
Joshua and Mary made me proud again by not moving or communicating
until the shock on the faces of both men and boys began to
decrease

*

‘
Albert, Kenneth, go down to the village, prepare the people.
Something remarkable has happened though we are not sure what it
is.’

*

The
tallest man made sound again and the boys

Without
further action

Scampered
away