Shownotes
In the post-apocalyptic city of Ambara Down, Joe Wildmon is just your average leopard electronics tech, until he finds himself helping the wazagan Hamia and their adopted fox daughter Ali, on a quest to free her from the plotting of the insane AI, Pax Machina.
Today’s story is the first of two parts of “Silence and Sword” by Royce Day, which was originally published in the shared world anthology The Reclamation Project: Year One, edited by John Robey, and available through Furplanet. When he's not defeating the plots of insane artificial intelligences, Royce is complicating the romantic lives of the Darktail family in his long running Red Vixen Adventures series, available through Amazon.com, and has had short stories published by Armoured Fox Press, and Thurston Howl Publications.
Read for you by Rob MacWolf — werewolf hitchhiker.
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https://thevoice.dog/episode/silence-and-sword-by-royce-day-part-1-of-2
Transcripts
You’re listening to The Voice of Dog.
Speaker:This is Rob MacWolf, your fellow traveller,
Speaker:and Today’s story is the first of two parts of “Silence and Sword”
Speaker:by Royce Day, which was originally published in the shared world anthology
Speaker:The Reclamation Project: Year One,
Speaker:edited by John Robey,
Speaker:and available through Furplanet.
Speaker:When he's not defeating the plots of insane artificial intelligences,
Speaker:Royce is complicating the romantic lives of the Darktail family
Speaker:in his long running
Speaker:Red Vixen Adventures series,
Speaker:available through Amazon.com,
Speaker:and has had short stories published by Armoured Fox Press,
Speaker:and Thurston Howl Publications
Speaker:Please enjoy “Silence and Sword,
Speaker:Part One” by Royce Day
Speaker:The string of bells mounted above my shop door jingled as I heard it open.
Speaker:I didn't look up from the counter immediately, as I was in the middle of soldering a new processing circuit into the pocket comp I'd picked up for scrap from the market the day before.
Speaker:With so much crap being dug up every day from the bowels of Ambara Down, it was easy sometimes to miss tech that just needed a little TLC to get it working again.
Speaker:It wouldn't sell for new like some of the gear the Reclamation Project stiffs brought down from High Empyros or elsewhere for trade,
Speaker:but folks around my neighborhood couldn't afford that stuff anyway.
Speaker:"One sec," I muttered, completing the circuit. I set it in the work box I kept bolted to the counter.
Speaker:When Ambara hit the ground forty-five years ago, it left the building my shop occupied
Speaker:bent at a perpetual five degree angle,
Speaker:which meant everything not nailed down
Speaker:tended to slide when I wasn't looking.
Speaker:Once I was sure the comp was going to stay put, I looked up and started to say,
Speaker:"May I help… you…?" Then I looked up a bit more.
Speaker:Then a lot more. You get a lot of oddball-looking furs in Ambara Down.
Speaker:Folks with pelts in colors and patterns you don't normally see in furry territories,
Speaker:folks with cybernetic bits bolted on,
Speaker:folks with maybe too many limbs, or occasionally eyes.
Speaker:These two were weird even by those standards.
Speaker:The first was the guy who was making me get a crick in my neck.
Speaker:He was like no other furry I'd ever seen,
Speaker:more like an anthropomorphic dragon,
Speaker:with skin composed of thousands of tiny blue scales, but with a
Speaker:head of bright red hair drawn into a ropy braid all the way down his back to a
Speaker:thick, two meter long tail,
Speaker:with bushy tufts in his large, mobile ears.
Speaker:He hunched over on great clawed feet as he stood in the middle of my shop, and I guessed if he stood all the way up
Speaker:he'd top out at about
Speaker:two and a half meters.
Speaker:His armor looked like it had been cobbled together from composite slabs cut from something else,
Speaker:maybe a warbot or vehicle,
Speaker:riveted together to fit his huge frame.
Speaker:Over the armor he wore a stained and patched white cloak, and I saw the handle of what looked like an honest to goodness sword about as long as I was tall,
Speaker:in a scabbard slung across his back.
Speaker:Next to him stood a much smaller fox.
Speaker:She was a vixen with bright golden eyes and a
Speaker:slightly oddball tuxedo pelt, white neck fur disappearing into the collar of the high necked red blouse she wore,
Speaker:over which was buttoned a black vest.
Speaker:She wore a black skirt over black leggings
Speaker:and, like her companion, didn't bother with shoes;
Speaker:she did wear an
Speaker:equipment belt around her waist, which included a holstered needle pistol and a large utility knife. If the
Speaker:blue dragon was ridiculously tall, she was short,
Speaker:the top of her head level with my chin,
Speaker:and I'm shorter than average for a leopard,
Speaker:at just a meter and a half.
Speaker:"Are you Mister Wildmon,
Speaker:the proprietor of this establishment?"
Speaker:the big blue whatever-he-was asked, his voice so deep and rumbling it
Speaker:shook my own chest a bit. His accent wasn't local, that was for sure,
Speaker:nor from anywhere else I was familiar with.
Speaker:"I'm Joe," I replied. "Nobody around here calls me ‘Mister’.
Speaker:Who the hell are you? What the hell are you?" "I am Hamia, Egg Knight of Clan Sandstone, of the Valley of Soft Grass,"
Speaker:he said, as if that were a perfectly normal sentence. "I am a Wazagan."
Speaker:Okay, I'd heard of Wazagans. They were a
Speaker:bunch of lizards, or so I'd been told, living in the deserts past the mountains in the distant north.
Speaker:I wasn't sure if they were a naturally occurring race or some old human experiment that had been
Speaker:dumped over the side of a floating city when the scientists were done with 'em.
Speaker:Nobody had ever bothered to mention that they were blue giants,
Speaker:nor that they talked like somebody out of a historical vid.
Speaker:"What's an Egg Knight?"
Speaker:I asked. He smiled,
Speaker:and I was happy that he didn't show off any teeth when he did, because I suspected they were a lot sharper and longer
Speaker:than mine. "An Egg Knight is a protector of all that is smaller than themselves."
Speaker:"Buddy, everyone in this town is smaller than you,"
Speaker:I told him. Hamia shrugged in agreement, which
Speaker:seemed to involve a lot of creaking leather and armor plates grinding together.
Speaker:"I am kept well occupied,"
Speaker:he replied serenely.
Speaker:"And who is your friend here?"
Speaker:I asked, waving to the vixen.
Speaker:She'd been keeping quiet during my conversation with the big guy, making me wonder if she was a
Speaker:junior partner in
Speaker:whatever business they had going.
Speaker:At my gesture,
Speaker:she looked up at her colleague and touched the collar of her blouse.
Speaker:"This is Ali," Hamia said.
Speaker:"She is the reason we have come to your establishment."
Speaker:"Okay, why didn't you say so?"
Speaker:I turned to Ali.
Speaker:"What do you need fixed, ma'am?"
Speaker:Instead of answering,
Speaker:Ali started unbuttoning the top of her blouse.
Speaker:As it opened up, I saw a seamless ring of gleaming silver around her neck, maybe
Speaker:three centimeters wide and one thick,
Speaker:with a dimly glowing red light centered over her throat.
Speaker:A collar. "Get out of my shop,"
Speaker:I growled. "Allow me a moment to expl—" the Wazagan began.
Speaker:"I don't give flying fuck what kind of bullshit explanation you're about to give me,"
Speaker:I spat, my tail lashing as my ears turned back.
Speaker:I reached under the counter and brought up the stun baton
Speaker:I kept there for emergencies, waving it at him.
Speaker:"I don't deal with slavers.
Speaker:Get out of my shop before I call the Prefect’s Guard on you, and don't you bring your big blue tail back around here."
Speaker:"I am no slaver!" the Wazagan roared,
Speaker:one hand reaching back to grab the hilt of his sword.
Speaker:This time I did get a look at his fangs,
Speaker:a whole mouthful that were a lot bigger than mine.
Speaker:"You will not sully my honor so! I will have satisfac—"
Speaker:A piercing whistle
Speaker:split the air, interrupting both our rants.
Speaker:Ali withdrew her fingers from her lips, glaring up at Hamia.
Speaker:She began gesturing at him rapidly,
Speaker:paws and fingers moving in patterns I didn't get, but the
Speaker:Wazagan apparently did. "I'm sorry," Hamia said to her, ears flicking back, letting go of his sword hilt.
Speaker:"No I did not mean to…
Speaker:But he interrupted me and I didn't get a chance to…"
Speaker:As she continued to glare and wave her fingers at him, he ran
Speaker:one meaty paw through his scalp and said in frustration,
Speaker:"It is just that they all make the same assumption
Speaker:every time." "Wait, hold up,"
Speaker:I said, setting the stun baton down on the counter,
Speaker:then grabbing it again when it started to roll away.
Speaker:"She's not your slave?"
Speaker:"Ali is no one's slave,"
Speaker:Hamia said, the vixen nodding firmly in agreement.
Speaker:"All right," I said. "Then what's that thing around her neck?"
Speaker:Hamia frowned at me, and then
Speaker:said, "Ali is neither deaf, nor a potted plant.
Speaker:Address your questions to her."
Speaker:Okay, he had a point there.
Speaker:I turned to face her.
Speaker:"Sorry, ma'am. What's that thing around your neck?"
Speaker:Ali gestured again, her eyes focused on mine, and Hamia
Speaker:translated for her,
Speaker:"It's a slave collar."
Speaker:I closed my eyes and
Speaker:pinched my muzzle
Speaker:briefly, feeling a
Speaker:headache coming on.
Speaker:"But you just said…"
Speaker:I was a slave, but not anymore, Ali gestured to me, as relayed by Hamia. Then she sighed,
Speaker:stepping closer to the counter and lowering her head so I could see the back of her collar.
Speaker:Inscribed there was a GNDN code,
Speaker:along with the trilobe knot symbol of Pax Machina.
Speaker:Close up I could see how tight the awful thing was around her neck, visibly compressing her throat, and probably making swallowing difficult.
Speaker:"A Pax unit put that on you?"
Speaker:I asked. She nodded, and went on.
Speaker:I was in a place,
Speaker:a machine place of metal walls and metal sky. Deep underground I think.
Speaker:There were other furries there.
Speaker:All young. All different species.
Speaker:Taken away from their families by the thinking machines,
Speaker:kidnapped. None of us could remember what was before the machine place.
Speaker:We were taught to do tasks, build small machines.
Speaker:No one knew why. Only that we had to stay absolutely silent while we worked.
Speaker:I frowned. "You're not
Speaker:naturally mute?" She shook her head once, and then sighed, gesturing for Hamia to continue.
Speaker:"Ali was six years old, I think,
Speaker:when I found her,
Speaker:naked and starving,"
Speaker:Hamia said, taking up the thread.
Speaker:“She’d found a way to escape that awful place. I gave her food and water,
Speaker:and then I asked her what her name
Speaker:was. When she told me, that evil collar shocked her so hard she was insensible for nearly half a day.
Speaker:She hasn't said a word aloud to me since."
Speaker:"Why the hell haven't you cut it off her, then?
Speaker:It looks like it’s half-choking her.
Speaker:her." Hamia ran his claws through his hair again.
Speaker:"Would that the task were so simple,
Speaker:especially given how tight it has become as she’s grown older.
Speaker:The metal is as hard as my armor. Any force or heat great enough to break it would likely fatally injure Ali as well.
Speaker:And I fear if we were to try,
Speaker:it might send another shock through her body, one that would be
Speaker:fatal." Or maybe just make her giggle until she threw up, I thought.
Speaker:With the Pax Machina you just never knew.
Speaker:I couldn't blame them for their caution though.
Speaker:"You came into my shop expecting me to help
Speaker:somehow." "Yes. Two months ago we found this,
Speaker:while examining a ruin that showed signs of a Pax Machina excavation." Hamia reached into the pouch at his belt, drawing out another silver circle,
Speaker:the same as Ali's, but somehow broken into two pieces.
Speaker:"It was in a pile of bones that we determined was once a young badger.
Speaker:Somehow it had opened.
Speaker:Perhaps it just ran out of power, or perhaps it shut down when its victim expired,
Speaker:but there must be a means of
Speaker:disabling the mechanism."
Speaker:I held one piece up, squinting at the open joint. It was
Speaker:as flat and featureless as the rest of the thing.
Speaker:"Magnetic maybe?" I guessed.
Speaker:"It might explain how the
Speaker:join is so strong you can't see the seams. Then again, with Pax Machina tech you never know quite how it works."
Speaker:"You have a reputation in Ambara Down
Speaker:for knowing how to get old or
Speaker:incomprehensible tech working,"
Speaker:Hamia said. "Do you think you could figure this out?
Speaker:Find a means to release
Speaker:Ali's collar?" "I'm a tinkerer,"
Speaker:I told him. "I can get old GNDN tech working sometimes, sure. But Pax
Speaker:Machina is another thing altogether."
Speaker:"I can pay you a fair price if you are willing to try,
Speaker:Joe," Hamia said, reaching into another belt pouch.
Speaker:I waved him down.
Speaker:"Keep your money for now,"
Speaker:I told him. "Look, give me a day to examine this thing, and I'll meet you at the Damselfly tomorrow evening to give you the results. If I can figure it out, you can pay me." I tapped the collar once.
Speaker:"If I can't, I'll hold onto this
Speaker:as the price for wasting my time. Fair deal?" The Wazagan and fox looked at each other for a moment, somehow reaching a silent decision.
Speaker:Ali turned back to me and nodded, and Hamia said,
Speaker:"A fair deal." "See you in a couple of days then,"
Speaker:I told them. The two mismatched companions left my shop, Hamia somehow not beaning his head on the low door sill. I frowned to myself, stepped around the counter to turn the sign on the door to "Closed",
Speaker:and pulled out my tools. # # # The Damselfly always had good music, even if it sometimes was a little odd.
Speaker:A trio of tigers were on the stage when I walked in,
Speaker:thumping a danceable beat on improvised instruments made of plastic pipes, a tub drum, and a guitar constructed from scrap tin.
Speaker:I grabbed a beer and a plate of chips from the bar
Speaker:and found a table for myself.
Speaker:The collar and a
Speaker:couple of other items were
Speaker:in a carryall slung over my shoulder.
Speaker:About a half-hour later Hamia and Ali arrived,
Speaker:the former getting a few stares from the ‘Claimer humans scattered around the place as he ducked under the doorway.
Speaker:The furries and local humans did a better job at pretending not to be surprised.
Speaker:Everybody comes to the Damselfly eventually.
Speaker:Ali grabbed a chair with a high seat so her head was level with mine. Hamia solved his similar problem by just sitting on the floor,
Speaker:wrapping his long tail around his waist.
Speaker:The vixen, the neck of her shirt buttoned up tight to hide her collar again,
Speaker:ordered a half-pint for herself with Hamia translating,
Speaker:while he got a pitcher of water,
Speaker:earning a dirty look from the bartender.
Speaker:"I don't indulge in spirits,"
Speaker:he said simply. I tried to
Speaker:imagine a drunk giant with a sword in his hands stumbling around the bar's dance floor, and decided the bartender shouldn't complain too much.
Speaker:"Okay, here's what I was able to figure out,"
Speaker:I told them, pulling out the two pieces of the inactive collar and setting them on the table.
Speaker:"I couldn't pop the case open to figure out what's going on with it;
Speaker:no surprise there given Pax tech."
Speaker:Ali gestured something, but then closed her eyes and drew her fingers into fists. Hamia reached across the table to grip her shoulder in one massive hand, looking concerned.
Speaker:“It was not worthless,”
Speaker:he said. I waved to get their attention.
Speaker:"Hey, hey! I just said I couldn't crack it
Speaker:open. That doesn't mean I didn't find out anything," I told her.
Speaker:Ali looked up at me, her golden eyes intent.
Speaker:"Some GNDN tech can be recharged via
Speaker:ambient static on their surfaces, so I thought giving it some power was worth a shot. When I did,
Speaker:I found this." I pulled my signal detector unit from my bag, used in my younger salvage days to search for stray tech that
Speaker:might be alive and transmitting in the lower
Speaker:Warrens. When I brought the detector close to the collar pieces, it started beeping for attention,
Speaker:its display lighting up.
Speaker:"What does this mean?"
Speaker:Hamia asked. "Best guess?
Speaker:It's calling back to a control unit,"
Speaker:I told them. "Probably whatever facility Ali was in had some kind of
Speaker:central coordination system to control all the collars.
Speaker:Theoretically you could use a collar to
Speaker:pinpoint where the AI exactly was in the facility."
Speaker:Ali's eyes narrowed in thought,
Speaker:then she turned to Hamia and started gesturing rapidly.
Speaker:The big blue lizard frowned, and then shook his head.
Speaker:"Too dangerous, far too dangerous," he told her.
Speaker:"What?" I asked. "She wishes the impossible,"
Speaker:Hamia said. I felt my tail lash.
Speaker:"Wishes what?" Ali turned to me to gesture, then glanced
Speaker:at Hamia, waving a hand at him, then over to me.
Speaker:"I will not speak your foolishness to him!"
Speaker:Hamia argued at her, his ears folding back.
Speaker:"The risk to you would be too great!" Ali waved back and forth more urgently between us, tears starting to soak her face fur, and the Wazagan's only response was to fold his arms over his armored chest, looking displeased.
Speaker:"Hey," I said. "Let the lady talk. Or are you deciding what's good for her or not?"
Speaker:"I am just watching out for her…" Hamia started. Then he was silent for a moment, before putting his face in his hands and sighing deeply.
Speaker:"I'm sorry, Ali.
Speaker:Sometimes I forget you are no longer six.
Speaker:six." He turned back to me and said,
Speaker:"She wishes to use the collar's signal to
Speaker:find the facility where she was held."
Speaker:"You don't know where it is?"
Speaker:I asked her. Only vaguely,
Speaker:she told me, Hamia
Speaker:translating once more as she regained her composure.
Speaker:I escaped into the forest and
Speaker:ran as far as I could, but pretty soon
Speaker:I got lost and ended up going in circles.
Speaker:By the time Hamia found me I was passed out from
Speaker:exhaustion. Hamia pulled out a large plastic map from his pack, printed somewhere long ago, stained and annotated over the years with a flowing script I didn't recognize— his native language maybe.
Speaker:He pointed to a specific notation about two hundred klicks north of Ambara Down.
Speaker:"That is where I found Ali, as I traveled from my home to the
Speaker:furry lands." "You never tried to go back there before now?"
Speaker:I asked. He shrugged.
Speaker:"My people have learned to keep well clear of
Speaker:Pax Machina activity,
Speaker:and I was more concerned with Ali's well-being.
Speaker:My quest to find a technology that could remove that accursed collar from her neck seemed fruitless, until now.
Speaker:There was nothing to be gained just
Speaker:stumbling around with vague hopes through the trees."
Speaker:I took a thoughtful sip of my beer.
Speaker:"Say you find this place where she was held.
Speaker:What do you think you can do there to take it off her?"
Speaker:"I have been told that sometimes Pax Machina can be bargained with."
Speaker:"Yeah, I heard that too, from a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy,"
Speaker:I replied, taking a longer sip.
Speaker:"And if that doesn't work?"
Speaker:He reached up and tapped the hilt of that enormous sword of his with one claw.
Speaker:"Start breaking things,
Speaker:until I break the thing that controls Ali's collar.
Speaker:I'm rather good at that."
Speaker:"Not exactly subtle,"
Speaker:I noted. Hamia shrugged.
Speaker:"I'm not a subtle sort of person."
Speaker:"I can believe that.
Speaker:that." I finished off my beer and set my glass down.
Speaker:"You might have better luck, if you went in there
Speaker:with someone who knows electronics."
Speaker:Ali glanced at me and gestured.
Speaker:You're a shopkeeper,
Speaker:not a mercenary like us.
Speaker:"Maybe not," I told her.
Speaker:"But I got most of the stuff in my shop from scrounging in the deep
Speaker:Warrens. I'm not going to say
Speaker:I'm an expert on Pax Machina tech,
Speaker:no one is. But I might find something you might have overlooked, that would help you."
Speaker:Hamia looked over to Ali,
Speaker:exchanging gestures with her, their faces intent.
Speaker:"You have a deal," Hamia said, once they had finished.
Speaker:"What is your required
Speaker:payment?" "Transportation
Speaker:and food to there and back,
Speaker:and whatever GNDN gear I can salvage out of the place,
Speaker:that you can carry for me,"
Speaker:I told him. Hamia let out a roaring laugh,
Speaker:then offered his hand for me to shake,
Speaker:"A deal, my friend.
Speaker:For Ali's sake I can carry much!" # # #
Speaker:It only took a day to get my gear together and arrange for a friend I knew in the guard to watch over my shop while I was away.
Speaker:They'd also take care of
Speaker:disposing of all the contents if I didn't come back after my rent was
Speaker:due. I didn't figure on losing my life out there, but I was also going to deliberately look for a Pax Machina facility and poke at it,
Speaker:which is no one's definition of a smart idea. I met Hamia and Ali at the western sky dock on the edge of Old Ambara.
Speaker:Back when the city was flying,
Speaker:it was one of four huge bays where airskiffs would dock to load or unload passengers or goods.
Speaker:Nowadays the docks served as city gates,
Speaker:controlling foot traffic in and out,
Speaker:a constant flow of furries and the occasional non-‘Claimer human
Speaker:that I had to dodge around as I looked for my ride.
Speaker:The pair were waiting for me beside a beat-up hoverskiff, the composite metal top long since torn off and replaced by a set of aluminum poles and a
Speaker:nylon awning. There were two seats for average sized furries, and a
Speaker:large uncovered cargo bed in the rear.
Speaker:"Where are you going to sit?"
Speaker:I asked the Wazagan.
Speaker:"In the back," he replied,
Speaker:waving his tail at the cargo bed.
Speaker:"Ali will pilot the craft.
Speaker:craft." "Works for me." I tossed my backpack and toolkit in the cargo bed and climbed into the passenger seat. When Hamia climbed in, the skiff's grav unit whined in protest as it bobbled a bit back and forth until Ali started the hydrogen generator and everything settled down. As soon as I strapped in Ali eased us out of the bay and onto the dirt road
Speaker:leading outward towards
Speaker:furry territory. The day was warm,
Speaker:but there was a nice breeze as the skiff skimmed along the ground at a leisurely
Speaker:thirty kph. We circled around the cobbled-together buildings that surrounded the great vine-covered bulk of Ambara Down, as we turned north
Speaker:towards the jungle. The city was ever expanding outward,
Speaker:as the folks who couldn't afford to live within its walls built up around it, using
Speaker:scrap or whatever else they could find digging through the debris
Speaker:dropped during the great city's impact.
Speaker:"Mind if I play some music?"
Speaker:I asked Ali, as she weaved around slower skiffs and ground carts.
Speaker:She nodded, and I plugged my palm comp into the skiff's com
Speaker:unit. Soon I had a nice classic beat pumping through the speakers,
Speaker:as I tapped my finger pads on the door frame.
Speaker:I glanced over at Ali as we pulled out onto the northern trade road
Speaker:(a generous gift to the Furry populace by the Reclamation Project,
Speaker:and there were plenty of signs beside it to remind us)
Speaker:to see she was mouthing along silently with the words.
Speaker:I couldn't hold a note to save my life, but I couldn't imagine not
Speaker:even daring to sing,
Speaker:for fear of getting killed by a collar like hers.
Speaker:I really hoped that when we found this place we could get the damned thing off her.
Speaker:The sun was just setting
Speaker:by the time Ali pulled the skiff off the road into a nearby clearing,
Speaker:dropping it on its skids with a light touch.
Speaker:I rolled out of my seat, taking a good stretch, while Hamia uncurled his legs out from underneath himself and did his best not to tip the skiff over as he got out.
Speaker:"Whose turn is it to make dinner?" he asked Ali. She pointed to him, and then
Speaker:made some gestures, her ears up and smiling.
Speaker:The big lizard placed a hand over his heart, frowning in mock offense.
Speaker:"I am not lazy! I merely don't fit in the driver's seat. I am deeply wounded by your accusation!"
Speaker:The next gesture she gave him was easy to translate, even without knowing the rest of the language.
Speaker:Hamia laughed and grabbed a large bag from the skiff's cargo bed, pulling out
Speaker:cooking pots and
Speaker:sealed canisters of preserved food, while Ali gathered dead wood from under a nearby copse of trees
Speaker:and started building a campfire.
Speaker:"Hey, what can I do to help?"
Speaker:I asked, as the pair moved about in an obviously practiced routine.
Speaker:"Do you have a tent or something I can put up?"
Speaker:Ali mimed washing the dishes after the meal, and I nodded.
Speaker:She then gestured and Hamia translated,
Speaker:We don't bother with a tent if the weather is nice. "Okay." I watched as Hamia poured water from a large plastic jug into a pot, and started cooking up a bean and jerky stew. Ali glanced over to watch for a moment,
Speaker:then moved off, pacing the perimeter of our campsite,
Speaker:ears up and one paw on the holster of her pistol,
Speaker:probably making sure there wasn’t any hostile wildlife to bother us.
Speaker:While the Wazagan stirred the pot, I ventured to ask,
Speaker:"So what do you guys do when you're not hunting down Pax Machina facilities?" "Mercenary work," Hamia replied,
Speaker:his armor clanking as he shrugged.
Speaker:"Caravan escort, bodyguarding,
Speaker:breaking the heads of people who prey upon the weak."
Speaker:"You've been doing that with her since she was six?"
Speaker:I asked. Hamia snorted briefly.
Speaker:"No. I first attempted to find her place of birth, and return Ali to her parents, if they were alive.
Speaker:After two years of searching for any kin,
Speaker:I gave up and attempted to at least place her with a family of foxes."
Speaker:My tail lashed in surprise.
Speaker:"No one wanted her?"
Speaker:"Oh, no. The family I found was more than willing to take her in, even with Ali's, er,
Speaker:difficulty. But two days after I left I found that she'd run away and followed my trail.
Speaker:I walked her back, left again,
Speaker:and she followed me once more.
Speaker:Finally I faced the choice of allowing her to remain with me,
Speaker:or hog-tying her until I was out of her reach.
Speaker:reach." He shook his head,
Speaker:his braid swinging back and forth behind him.
Speaker:"I couldn't do that to her.
Speaker:So I brought her along as I traveled,
Speaker:and raised her as best I could."
Speaker:"Where did she pick up that
Speaker:gesture language you two use? It's a brilliant way to get around that damned collar."
Speaker:Hamia grunted. "My clan is
Speaker:isolated and small.
Speaker:We do not get many travelers to
Speaker:offer their seed to the egg pools.
Speaker:As a result, there are many there whose ear
Speaker:drums did not develop properly,
Speaker:Creator be gentle with them.
Speaker:Everyone knows a bit of it to communicate with those who cannot hear.
Speaker:It was easy enough to teach her."
Speaker:Our ears pricked up as we heard Ali whistle sharply, two quick tweets.
Speaker:Hamia leaped to his feet, drawing that huge sword of his out as he shouted,
Speaker:"I'm coming!" He waved at the skiff.
Speaker:"Get in, Joe. If it sounds like we're being overwhelmed,
Speaker:try to get away as quickly as you can."
Speaker:"Hey, I'm no coward!" I protested.
Speaker:"You're also not armed!"
Speaker:he called back over his shoulder, as he ran towards the copse of trees and disappeared into the darkness.
Speaker:I strained to see what was happening,
Speaker:but even a leopard's night vision only goes so far.
Speaker:Honestly, the big guy was right though.
Speaker:I didn't have a weapon beyond my fangs, my claws, and a pocket tool hanging from my belt.
Speaker:Better to leave to the professionals rather than get in the way.
Speaker:That decision lasted for all of a minute,
Speaker:as the continued lack of sound except for the crickets singing started to get to me.
Speaker:If there was danger, shouldn't I have heard fighting?
Speaker:I headed towards the trees,
Speaker:finally spotting Hamia and Ali looking at something by the base of a particularly large oak.
Speaker:"What's up?" I asked.
Speaker:"What's down is more like it,"
Speaker:Hamia said. He pointed to the base of a particular tree. I squinted, then saw what had made Ali sound the alarm. From a mouse-sized hole at the base of the oak, a line of small machines marched out, looking like black, flat topped cockroaches.
Speaker:Atop each of them was a cube of wood about a centimeter square, cut so fine the sides looked polished.
Speaker:I watched over two dozen of them emerge, mechanical termites on a mission to do…
Speaker:something. "Are they
Speaker:hollowing out the tree?"
Speaker:I asked. Ali nodded, her face grim.
Speaker:"Why?" I asked. "It's Pax Machina,”
Speaker:Hamia replied. “'Why' is usually an irrelevant question."
Speaker:"Should we follow them?"
Speaker:He shook his great head.
Speaker:"Only if you want to meet what needs all those little wooden cubes.
Speaker:I certainly do not."
Speaker:The oak tree began to sway,
Speaker:creaking loudly, then toppled over away from us with a crash,
Speaker:branches snapping off
Speaker:in every direction.
Speaker:We all took a step back, Hamia grabbing the edge of his cloak to shield Ali and me as splinters flew through the air.
Speaker:From the hollowed trunk a
Speaker:silver cylinder about a half meter long and ten centimeters wide emerged,
Speaker:walking on four spindly metal legs. A pair of antennae with camera lenses on the ends poked out from the top of the cylinder,
Speaker:rotating to focus on Ali.
Speaker:The cylinder tilted upwards,
Speaker:as if it was looking into our faces,
Speaker:and announced in a chirpy,
Speaker:cheerful tone, "Service Unit #652-396 identified!
Speaker:It has been 4,023 days since your last completed work shift! Pax Machina requests you return to your work unit and complete all scheduled tasks to earn your daily calorie ration!"
Speaker:As it went on burbling happily,
Speaker:Ali unholstered her needle pistol.
Speaker:Her lips peeled back from her fangs in a silent snarl
Speaker:and she shot the cylinder three times,
Speaker:the tiny needles cracking through the air as they hit the bot.
Speaker:The damned thing just kept going, despite having three metal spikes in its body.
Speaker:"Service Units who complete their tasks are well fed! Service units who do not complete tasks may be volunteered for recy—" Hamia swept his huge sword
Speaker:in a low arc, catching the cylinder with its tip. The robot flew up into the air and disappeared into the darkness.
Speaker:I heard it crash to the earth a couple of seconds later,
Speaker:distantly protesting,
Speaker:"Brzt! Damaging Pax Machi— ERROR 428— units may result in termin— brzt! of oxygen privileges!"
Speaker:"The fuck?" I asked,
Speaker:as Ali shoved her pistol back into its holster and started marching back to our camp,
Speaker:shoulders and tail stiff with anger.
Speaker:"That happens every time we encounter a Pax Machina unit,"
Speaker:Hamia explained as we turned to follow.
Speaker:"It almost always upsets her,
Speaker:for obvious reasons."
Speaker:"Yeah, I can guess,"
Speaker:I said. "Is it safe to stay here?"
Speaker:"Probably. Construction units like that are rarely aggressive.
Speaker:aggressive." We stopped in front of Ali, who had
Speaker:sat down in a miserable ball in front of the fire,
Speaker:facing away from us,
Speaker:arms wrapped around her legs,
Speaker:her face buried between her knees.
Speaker:I reached out to touch her shoulder,
Speaker:but at the last minute thought
Speaker:better of it. Being touched by a near stranger probably wasn't what she wanted right now.
Speaker:Instead I said, "My night vision is pretty good. I could
Speaker:run us a few more miles up the road, if you wanted."
Speaker:She looked up at me,
Speaker:golden eyes wet with tears,
Speaker:and gave a sharp nod.
Speaker:I ended up driving half the night.
Speaker:It still didn't feel like we'd gotten far enough away.
Speaker:This was the first of two parts of “Silence and Sword, Part One” by Royce Day,
Speaker:read for you by Rob MacWolf,
Speaker:werewolf hitchhiker.
Speaker:You can find more stories on the web
Speaker:at thevoice.dog,
Speaker:or find the show wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker:Thank you for listening
Speaker:to The Voice of Dog.