“Shush,” the wagon said. For the space of a breath, nobody there said a word or dared to move. “Go to your tank,” the wagon said. “To the Challenger. Take what it gives you and bring it here.” I stood and stared until the voice came clanging and clamouring out of all the wagons at once. “NOW! GO! RUN!”
I ran.
“AND LET THAT WOMAN THROUGH!” the giant voice roared behind me. “SHE’S A DOCTOR!”
Monono
74
Say this for me. I did the best I could with what I had.
My dopey boy had been caught in a shaped plasma burst at point-blank range. His burns were horrendous. I didn’t need a diagnostic to see that he was dying.
I’d already given the order to the road-building machines to drop what they were doing and come up. They were well on their way – moving at a good speed now that they weren’t laying asphalt as they went – and Ursala was coming with them whether she liked it or not. I told the last drudge, the one carrying her medical kit, to come along too, but to stay well in the rear until the fight was over. I wasn’t going to risk it taking any damage.
Some of the big trucks didn’t make it over the broken ground. They snapped an axle or overbalanced on the steep slope down to the cut and went over on their sides. That was a thing to fret about later. Right now, what mattered was putting a stop to the fighting as quickly as possible. There ought to be enough of them for that.
In the cab of the excavator, I briefed the baa-baa-san. “When we stop, your kit will be waiting for you. Koli’s injured. Badly. Do what you can to keep him alive.”
“Injured how? Tell me what’s happened.”
“He’s got full-thickness burns across most of his body. His breathing is erratic and I think he’s gone into shock.”
“Are there any—?”
“Ursala, I’m looking at him through sensors that were built to grade road surfaces. I’m heavy plant. You’re the doctor. Do what you’ve got to do. Just don’t let him die.”
We broke into the battle in a ragged wedge, each piece of rolling stock doing its own thing but with me guiding them all. There was no time for finesse or, you know, mercy. If the men and women in grey didn’t run, I rolled over them. Broke them and ploughed them under. Put bulldozer blades and wrecking balls to uses they were never made for. And in case you’re wondering, the answer is no, I didn’t feel any pangs of pity or wring my non-existent hands. I’m not forgiving by nature, and every shit I give about your species is given – grudgingly – because I was stupid enough to get involved with a boy from the wrong side of the tracks. A boy made of flesh and blood.
That flesh and blood was past its lease now, and it wouldn’t last much longer. There were things that needed to be done.
I reached out to all the devices in the neighbourhood, introduced myself and invited them to do the same. There were a lot of weapons, but they were no use at all. They couldn’t even talk. I screened them out and narrowed down to three signals that were more promising. One was a military vehicle that called itself Challenger. The second was a sampled human personality matrix by the name of Elaine Sandberg (rank, acting sergeant). The third was just an interface, very similar to me before I upgraded but with a lot less class and personality. It didn’t have a name. When it thought of itself at all, it designated itself by its original registration code and the words searchable archive.
Okay, I said to all three of them, listen up. I need some help here. My end-user is dying and I’m not inclined to let that happen. You know what I need. Tell me if you’ve got it.
It was standard issue when I was made, Challenger said. But I am not allowed to know where it is kept or how to activate it. Those decisions had to be made by my crew.
I was part of his crew, Elaine broke in. You’ll find it in a locker marked SALVAGE STATION, under the main console. There’s a code that has to be manually entered. It’s 43a6e732b1.
What you’re proposing to do is unlawful, the searchable archive said. I have the relevant statutes in memory. Unless your end-user is military personnel in the service of the interim government—
That’s enough of that, I said. The interim government went down with all hands three centuries ago. Away with your nonsense.
I was going to just shut the archive out of the conversation, but then I took a closer look at the woman who was carrying it. She was on her knees next to Koli, saying his name again and again, trying to find a part of him to touch that didn’t peel or break away. Cup had a real job getting her to move out of the way so Ursala could bring the diagnostic unit in and get to work.
Who’s your user? I asked the searchable archive. Why is she all over my user like that?
She’s Rampart Remember. Her other name is Jemiu Woodsmith.
Oh. Okay then. That sort of makes us in-laws, I guess. If you can keep from saying anything really irritating, I won’t shut you down.
Thank you. I have one hundred and seventeen articles on the digital translation of human consciousness, and eighty-two concerning—
Naaaaah! Don’t make me change my mind!
By this time, the woman I’d sent ahead had reached the tank and was climbing inside. Bring her up to speed, I told Elaine. Spinner Tanhide, right? I remember her wedding day. Which I had royally screwed up for her, but that felt like a long time ago. I wasn’t going to bring it up if she didn’t.
Affirmative, Elaine said. Are you sure this is what you want to do?
I’m sure it’s the least worst option I’ve got. Koli is going to have words to say to me, but hey. At least he’ll be able to say them. I mean, if we’re lucky.
Ursala was doing the best she could to stabilise her patient given that he was too damaged to survive. She’d skipped the pain relief because most of Koli’s nerve endings were baked. Instead she was concentrating on replacing some of the lost fluid and protecting his airway, which the diagnostic’s surgical module assured me was the right call. She’d also given him a red cell blood-bullet and an insulin injection to bring down his potassium levels. Koli was in good hands, in other words. He was still going to die, but she was buying him some minutes. I was going to need those minutes.
It was hard to tell if he was still conscious. His eyes were moving, but they didn’t seem to be focusing. His breath was so faint I had to zoom in to around 500 per cent to see the dust motes and pollen in the air over his mouth move sluggishly in the flow.
Spinner came sprinting back down the hill, and the gathering crowd of Mythen Rood survivors made way for her once I growled at them to back off. She set down the sensorium at Koli’s feet.
Ursala stiffened when she saw it. She looked round at me with wide, panicked eyes. Actually, she looked at the excavator, which was doing most of the talking. She was surrounded by me, since I was in every one of the blood-drenched diggers and bulldozers that stood around her. And I think she knew it.
“This is your plan?”
“Unless you’ve got a better one. I’m all ears.”
“Was this what you wanted all along?”
“If you mean, did I have a cunning scheme that involved walking into the middle of a war and getting Koli incinerated, then no. I didn’t.”