Chapter V: Sword and Shield
A perspective change! A short but necessary aside. The story continues at this point through the eyes of Ignacio's right and left hand, reeking havoc in Milagros' otherwise peaceful village.
A quick note for myself - Shield is the dumb one, Sword is the smart one. At least, that’s what Sword enjoys explaining to his fellow androids. Shield keeps his voicebox powered down whenever Sword says this — best to let him believe what he says and manipulate him later.
Sword and Shield approach Far Eastersand prefecture, still as slow as molasses. If not for the short stature of their current artifices, they might be intimidating to the locals. Their near-identical facial construction is uncommon but not frightening. Even limbs are in the right places, mostly. What stands out is the sheer bulk of Shield’s chest and the absurd length of Sword’s arms.
Mlesna has a peckish sense of humor, for sure.
The pair normally bicker endlessly. Today, they push each other off-stride while they walk as though siblings fighting over the love of their life. In silence, their intention is to be subtle and not raise alarm.
It was Sword who broke the ice. “We’re making great time! Not that time really matters to us. We’ll go in, talk to their leader, and tell them all about Overlord Ignacio’s plan!”
“And it will be so easy, brother!” responds Shield. “We just need to relay a message and get them on the plan.”
“Exactly like I just said, big chest!” Sword fires back.
Shield gets in Sword’s face without breaking stride. “No, I said something so completely different, long hands!”
Colm, who was today assisting his aunt Lily with water procurement, happened to look toward the village entrance. He sees the two oddly-shaped cyborgs in the distance. Worried and certainly frightened, he makes for the village’s alarm. An old-fashioned bell scraped decades ago by Horatio himself. It was dusty, rusty and had more than a few cracks in it, but Colm took a dull hammer and made it ring.
Lo and behold, once Sword and Shield were a couple of hundred meters from the entrance, the village’s alarm sounds. Those asleep are awoken with a jolt, dashing quickly indoors. Those who were awake rounded up the others, ushering them safely inside. By the time the two artifices were at the village entrance, there is but one humanoid outside. A few folks peer through their windows to catch a glimpse of the supposed threat. Plenty cower on the ground, whimpering faintly but loudly enough for Horatio to bark back at them.
“Callate! Not a peep!”
Horatio stands unflinching in the presence of Sword and Shield. The pair stand, a bit awkwardly from lack of knowledge of their bodies. Shield puffs his enormous chest. Sword flails his arms up once, and down once. They both make a stance, as if to say “your move.”
Horatio, again, is unperturbed. He pauses dramatically, then locks eyes with Sword.
“State your business, android scum. Or be ready for a quick return trip to dust.”
Sword and Shield look at each other desperately, then respond in almost call-and-response sequence.
“We mean no harm!”
“And bear no animosity!”
“Good word, brother!”
“I agree, thank you brother!”
The back-and-forth is quickly halted by yet another bark from Horatio.
“Oye! Return trip to dust it is, then.”
“No, no, no! That will not do. We are here for a very benevolent reason.”
“Quite benevolent, considering your sand-stricken lifestyle.”
“We’re here by order of the High World.”
“To help you build irrigation systems.”
“To help get your people more water and more food!”
“Well, maybe food. It really depends on what they want, brother.”
“Quite right, we leave the destiny to you!”
Horatio spits on the ground, then snarls. “So I’m supposed to believe you, android scum, are here to get us more water?” He pauses, then marches toward the pair “I will tear you where you stand!”
“It’s terribly true, I’m afraid!”
“We don’t like it either, bud!”
“But yes, we’re here with this recycler.”
“One that turns sand into viable building and construction materials!”
“And we’ll be digging up more well!”
“You can’t dig more well, brother, that’s incorrect. We will dig around the well and hope more water comes out!”
“There’s no way that’s right either, brother. We should look at the schematics.”
As Shield readies to project the schematics of this plan (that Ignacio devised), Horatio launches at Sword for a sneak attack. Sword quickly and reflexively moves away from the strike. He pushes Horatio back nearly 10 meters with just the palm of one long-armed hand, without breaking eye contact with the schematics.
Those who watched gasped in fear. Horatio got up slowly, clutching his stomach and spitting sand out from his mouth. There might’ve been a little blood in the spit, too.
Sword looks over to Horatio and raises his voice louder, supposedly to cover the distance. “We don’t have to fight!”
Shield shouts similarly in Horatio’s direction. “We certainly want to fight, but we’re not supposed to.”
“They don’t need all of that info, Shield.”
“Well, Sword, then continue our peaceful conversation.”
“Ahem. We have schematics here and will begin immediate excavation of the well.”
Horatio, still doubled over, managed a response. “Well? What well? Another android trick, I presume.”
“Why, the well right over by your largest building!”
“To the left if I remember correctly.”
“Well left or right depends on which direction you’re facing, brother.”
“Current left, then! We needn’t waste energy on that argument again, brother.”
Horatio laughs heartily, despite barely being able to stand. “We have no such resource. What you see is not a well, but a chute. Our leader made the same mistake when she first came to the village.
“Wait, you are not the leader?”
“You are some commoner’s cyborg?”
“We weren’t meant to waste breath with you.”
“And yet waste it we have, mhm, where is your leader?”
Horatio’s laughter is settled. He slowly and painfully stands up straight.
“Ha! That’s not for either of us to know, android scum! With no well to build, why don’t you super-speed your way out of our village and never return?”
“Hmm, quite the predicament.”
“Yes, no well and no leader. A conundrum of sorts.”
“Perhaps we build one anyway?”
“Brilliant! You are the smart one, Sword!”
“What’s that meant to say?”
“Merely remarking at your brilliance.”
A sudden dread overcomes Horatio. “What do you mean, ‘you’ll build one anyway?’”
“Well, we’ll make ourselves a drill”
“Then dig a few holes”
“Then see which ones have water”
“Then build the holes out!”
“That plan is unacceptable. You’ll destroy the village! There are innocent people here. We have water. We don’t need your help. Or any android help for that matter!”
“Too late! By order of the High World.”
“We must begin today.”
“And allow the overlord to observe our benevolence”
“Our do-goodery, as it were”
Before Horatio can muster another word, both Sword and Shield set down the recycler and begin funneling sand through it. Different construction pieces, as per the schematic, begin forming on the other end, flopping hard onto the soft sand. Within minutes, the village entrance is engulfed in machine parts.
“I build and you dig, brother?”
“No, I build and you dig, brother!”
“Let us compromise.”
“How so?”
“We each build half and each dig half, eh?”
“A negotiation worthy of the High World, brother.”
Sword spins rapidly, enough to resemble a human-sized power drill. He swan dives into the sand just in front of Dorothea’s village center, and before anyone in town can see it, he’s gone deep under the village ground.
Shield begins to build a 3-story high crane with strength, precision and god-like speed. Rubble and dust spill over everywhere, forcing people out of their homes toward the back end of the village.
Where in dust is Dorothea? She is the only person I know who could talk these androids out of doing something they’re set on doing. I’ve seen her do it before. These androids are monsters, bent on destroying the peace. They cannot be negotiated with, only re-routed. It won’t be long before the scum pair plunges the whole village into a kilometer-deep sand pit.
Where is she?!