Ironheart (26 page)

‘I understand the risks,’ he said, ‘but this machine was built by someone with technology far more advanced than our own and it may be at least partly intelligent. I am going
to try and speak to it.’

He walked towards the crackling cauldron. When he got within ten feet of it, he held out his palm. A white arc of electricity shot abruptly from the metal surface and connected with his hand. He
stiffened and arched backwards.

‘It’s attacking him,’ cried India.

‘I don’t think so,’ said Verity. ‘I think it’s working, I think he’s actually talking to it!’

The electricity ran lightly over the android’s metal skin, forming a latticework of connections. It really did look as though some sort of communication was taking place. Suddenly the
lattice grew brighter and more intense. With a sound like a thunderclap, Calculus was sent flying backwards across the floor.

Verity was by his side in an instant. ‘Calc, speak to me, let me know you’re still in there.’

When he spoke, his voice had none of its usual resonance. ‘I think,’ he gasped, ‘it didn’t like the way I spoke to it.’

She hooked her arms under his shoulders and tried to pull him clear. ‘India, help me to move him.’

But India wasn’t listening. She was staring at the point where the arc had emerged from the cauldron. The bright spot had now elongated into a tall rectangle of brilliant light. Like a
doorway, she thought to herself. Mesmerized by the blue-white glare, she walked slowly towards it. The sound of the storm receded and she heard only a faint hum and a voice that spoke clearly in
her head.

‘
Only a true soul voyager can enter the dream world
,’ it said.

She didn’t see her father rush forward to grab her and she didn’t notice as he was forced back by the bolts of raw energy. Oblivious to the shouts of her companions, she extended her
hand towards the white-hot metal. In the moment of contact she felt a pulse of energy in her palm, then a sudden rush of coldness surged up her arm as the light overwhelmed and engulfed her.

A sea of sparks danced around her like a shoal of fish before scattering in all directions. Then she was alone, floating on a dark sea, not black but deep red, the colour of
blood. It felt good against her skin and all she wanted to do was let herself sink into its warm saltiness.

‘
Wake up, soul voyager
,’ Nentu’s voice was suddenly loud in her head. ‘
Wake up and find your wits, your kujaii is already dead
,’ An image flashed across her
mind. The white deer, eyes glazed, blood running from its mouth.

She opened her eyes. The place in which she stood was so dark that she could barely see, but she could tell she was no longer in the cavern; it felt closed in and uncomfortably hot. She sensed
there was another presence in here too; the same ancient, brooding intelligence she had first felt when they entered the caverns.

As her eyes adjusted, she thought she thought she could make out three shapes, like dark spheres, floating against the blood-red background.

‘You are not Nentu.’ Three voices spoke in perfect unison and a flurry of tiny lights danced over the surface of each sphere.

India wondered what response was required and she struggled to make her mouth work. ‘No,’ she said thickly. ‘No, I’m not Nentu.’

The sphere on the left floated a fraction closer to her. ‘Then you are another soul voyager?’ it said. It sounded female and clinical, as though it was partly artificial. Violet and
blue lights flickered when it spoke.

‘Well, no, not exactly,’ she said. The heat was starting to make her feel faint. ‘Who
are you
exactly? Where is this place?’

The sphere drew back.

‘She is confused,’ said the sphere. ‘She is still partly in the dream world.’

‘She must be a soul voyager,’ said the middle sphere. ‘Even if she does not know it yet.’ It flashed lights of gold and silver and its voice combined both male and female
tones.

‘I said who
are
you?’ said India more insistently.

‘We are the mind of the machine,’ said the first sphere. ‘The mind is made of three parts. I am the voice of Compassion and these are the voices of Wisdom and Logic. Only when
all three parts of the mind are in agreement will the machine make a decision.’

‘Why is Nentu not here?’ said the last sphere. ‘Nentu was trusted but you have not earned any trust.’ It sounded cold and irritable. India guessed this was Logic.

‘Nentu couldn’t come,’ said India, ‘she wasn’t strong enough any more.’

‘Then how do we know you can be trusted?’ said the voice of Logic. ‘What assurances do you bring?’

‘
The bag child
,’ said Nentu’s voice in her ear.
‘Show them the bag
.’

She pulled the half-remembered fur bag from her pocket and emptied the collection of pebbles and small bones on the floor in front of her. ‘I have these,’ she said.

The three voices went quiet and the spheres drew nearer. Then the voice of Wisdom spoke. ‘She holds a nexus,’ it said.

‘Is it important?’ said India faintly.

‘The nexus is the key to the portal,’ said the voice of Compassion. ‘We have granted them only to a few soul voyagers. Without it, the portal would have killed you.’

She was feeling horribly hot and longed for some fresh air. ‘If you’re a machine, then who built you?’ she said, trying a different tack.

‘We were created by the long-lives at the start of the last great cycle, many millennia ago,’ said Wisdom. ‘They built the machine to protect their world. Now they are gone and only
we remain. Nentu calls us . . . the Elder Spirit.’

‘And what about the Valleymen?’ said India. ‘Did the long-lives create them too? I’ve seen them kill a man.’

‘The Valleymen protect the machine from the inquisitive,’ said Compassion. ‘They reflect only what men bring with them into the forests.’

‘There’s an asteroid,’ said India, remembering why she was there. ‘It’s heading towards the Earth.’

‘We know this,’ said Logic. ‘We have detected the coming of the rogue planet named Nibiru.’

‘You have to shoot it down,’ said India. ‘I mean,
could
you shoot it down? If it’s not too much trouble. Please?’ She wondered how you were supposed to ask
a machine to save the world.

‘Why should we do this?’ said the voice of Logic. ‘This machine was built to protect the makers. Short-lives like you are not our concern.’

‘But . . .’ India struggled for words. ‘The people who made you, the long-lives, wouldn’t they want you to help us, even if they weren’t here any more?’

The three voices fell silent. India felt there was a conversation going on between them.

Compassion spoke next. ‘You speak the truth,’ it said. ‘But still we cannot help you.’

‘But why not?’ said India. ‘Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?’

‘There are tools of war in this place,’ said Compassion. ‘We can sense the greed and fear that surrounds them.’

‘Do you mean the warheads?’

‘The man of blood will take what he wants and then he will destroy Ironheart,’ said Logic. ‘He has set one of the warrior heads to explode. This machine will be destroyed
before the asteroid comes within range.’

India’s head swam. ‘Lucifer Stone’s going to set off a warhead? Here, in Ironheart? But then what will happen?’

‘The course of nature will run true,’ said Logic. ‘Nibiru will enter the Earth’s gravitational well in approximately three hours. The impact will destroy all higher-level
life forms on the planet.’

‘What? But there must be something that can be done?’ said India. She was finding it hard to breathe now.

‘This is no longer our concern,’ said Logic. ‘The short-lives sow the seeds of their own destruction and care nothing for the consequences. Now we must shut down the machine to
preserve the mind.’

India struggled to focus. ‘But you can’t just leave us to die,’ she cried.

The room spun and the spheres began to fade to blackness.

The three voices spoke as one. ‘Our time in the dream world is at an end and your world will soon be gone. Goodbye.’

India felt herself slipping away.

‘
India
!’ hissed Nentu’s voice. ‘
This is your last chance
!’

‘Wait,’ said India, though she was not sure if anyone was still listening. ‘What if we could stop Lucifer Stone and prevent the explosion? If we could do that, you could still
shoot down the asteroid, couldn’t you?’

‘Do you know how to do this?’ said the voice of Logic.

‘
Speak only what is in your heart, India
.’ Nentu’s voice was suddenly loud.
‘Say nothing less
.’

India sighed. ‘No,’ she said. ‘No, I don’t know. But I’ll find a way. Whatever it takes I will find a way to stop that bomb. I give you my word.’

‘Whose word do you give?’ said the voice of Wisdom.

‘My word!’

‘And who are you?’ said the three voices together.

India felt groggy, as if she might faint.

‘
Now, India
,’ said Nentu. ‘
Now is your last chance. Say what is in your heart
.’

‘Who
are you
?’ demanded the voices.

‘I am a soul voyager!’ she shouted with the last of her strength. ‘I am a soul voyager and I give you my word. Now will you help us?’

There was no response, just silence and blackness and the sense that the whole scene was slipping away from her.

‘Answer me!’ she shouted. ‘You have to answer me, it’s not fair!’

‘Steady now, steady.’

‘I’ll find away. Whatever it takes, I’ll find away.’

‘Give her some space. Here, drink this.’

A bottle was pressed to her lips and her eyelids flickered under a harsh light. She coughed as cold water was poured into her throat.

‘Go easy now,’ said a voice that sounded like Bulldog’s. ‘That thing gave you a helluva jolt.’

India pulled herself up to rest on her elbows and the pain in her head seemed to split her skull in two.

‘I think she’s going to be OK,’ said Verity. ‘India, can you hear me? You’ve been out cold for the last ten minutes. You gave us a real scare there, but don’t
worry, everything’s going to be all right.’

India shook her head, sending more waves of pain through her skull. ‘No, it isn’t,’ she said with as much force as she could muster. ‘Everything’s not all right.
It’s a long way from being all right. We’re all going to die!’

It took a long while to make her tongue work so that she could be understood. Then they wouldn’t let her speak until she had taken a drink.

‘Just sit still for a moment, India,’ said her father, wide-eyed with anxiety. ‘Give yourself a bit of time.’ So she drank the water and took a deep breath, feeling that
the frustration might kill her.

‘There
is
an asteroid coming,’ she managed to say eventually, ‘and it’s going to hit the Earth.’

Verity and her father exchanged looks.

‘We already know that,’ said Bentley. ‘I told you, remember, just before you got knocked out.’

‘But the machine can’t defend us!’ she said, pulling herself up. The pain in her head redoubled. ‘They can’t fire the machine because Stone’s going to explode
one of those bombs and destroy everything.’

‘Calm down, India,’ said Verity. ‘You were hit by a lightning bolt and you’ve been unconscious, you must have dreamed it.’

The fragments of her memory started to fall into place. ‘Where’s Calc? He’ll believe me – he spoke to them too!’

A look passed between her father and Verity.

India turned to see Calculus sitting against the wall of the chamber about twenty feet away. His head was drooped on his chest and his sinewy body was limp and lifeless. Worst of all, a black,
clotted liquid had begun to bubble from the hole in his chest plate.

‘Calc!’

She scrambled over to where he lay, ignoring the pain that flooded her body. A faint rasping came from deep inside his chest like the sound of metal gears grinding without enough oil.

‘He’s been like this since he was struck by the lightning,’ said Verity.

India put her mouth close to his ear. ‘Calc, can you hear me? It’s India. I need you to wake up and tell the others what you heard.’

‘Let him rest, India,’ said Verity, placing a hand on her shoulder.

‘No!’ she cried. ‘It’s too important. Calc! You have to wake up!’

‘That’s enough, India!’ said Verity firmly.

‘Did somebody call me?’ Calculus’s voice was weaker than before. He sat up slowly and placed his head in his hands. ‘There is an asteroid coming,’ he said
eventually. ‘India is right. But the machine can’t shoot it down because Lucifer Stone is going to destroy Ironheart first.’

‘Then you
did hear
them too,’ said India. ‘The voices, I mean?’

He shook his head wearily. ‘No. They spoke to you because you are human. When they realized I was a machine, they tried to download information directly to me. The entire history of the
ancient people who built the machine was fed into my brain in a microsecond.’ He looked down at his scorched body. ‘I’m afraid it took it out of me a little.’ He made a
sound like a cough and the grinding noise increased.