Alliance (15 page)

“
Anyway,” says the Head,
drawing the attention of the agents back to her. “The point is that
it is extremely unlikely that Reunification will attempt another
invasion of the base, now that they have no way of transporting
large groups of those monstrosities across directly into
here.”

“
That's a relief,” says
Nacina with a sigh. Then she scratches the side of her face. “But
what about the exterior? I agree with Konoa that we must shore up
our defenses before they attempt to attack us that way.”

“
I agree with both of
you,” says the Head. “While Reunification's moves are often
unpredictable, we can at least ensure that our defenses are capable
of handling whatever they will try to throw at us.”

“
Then what are we
waiting for?” says Konoa. He puts his hands on the arms of his
chair, like he is ready to stand up. “I shall go and find as many
able-bodied agents as I can and send them to protect the
entrances.”

“
An excellent idea,”
says the Head. She gestures toward the door behind her. “Go.
Reunification moves fast, so we must move faster if we are going to
stay on top of them and predict their every move before they make
it.”

Konoa nods and stands up from his chair.
He then dashes around the table toward the door, which he opens and
disappears through. He then slams the door shut, which seems
unnecessary to me, although I say nothing about it.

“
What about us, ma'am?”
says Nacina, gesturing at herself, Rina, and Rozan. “Should we go
and help Konoa recruit as many able-bodied agents as
possible?”

“
No,” says the Head,
shaking her head. “I have different plans for you three. Konoa can
do this job on his own.”

“
Then what do you want
us to do?” says Rozan, who apparently is unable to stay silent.
“Sit here and be quiet little agents, like children told to sit
here by their mommy?”

“
Of course not,” says
the Head. “Rina, I need you to go and ensure that all of the
witches and wizards have their skyras rings and are ready to use
them at a moment's notice.”

Rina nods, and the next instant she's
gone, leaving behind no sign at all that she had been sitting there
moments ago. I do not even sense her presence anymore, though I
suspect that is due to the Head's own overwhelming skyras energy
levels completely eclipsing the levels of everyone else.

“
As for you two, go and
help prepare the bodies of the deceased agents for the mass
burial,” says the Head. “We will not be able to give them a proper
burial at the moment due to the current situation, but at least
make sure that all of the bodies are gathered up, taken to the
morgue, and identified so we know exactly who we lost.”

“
Yes, ma'am,” says
Nacina as she stands up. “Come on, Rozan.”

Rozan does not appear happy about this,
but he does stand up and walk with Nacina to the door. Once they
are gone, it is now just the Head and me, who is still sitting on
her chair with her head lowered, as if she is thinking.

I do not want to stand around here and do
nothing, even though boredom is not as much of a problem for me as
it is for organics. But I cannot leave, either, as the Head has
already said that she wants to keep me here, where she can keep an
eye on me.

But perhaps this is not as bad as it
appears. By speaking with the Head, I might be able to learn more
about the Foundation and Reunification. If I cannot leave this
place, then I can at least learn more about these two organizations
so I can understand better what is going on here, and possibly
collect information for the Database once I return to Xeeo. Then
again, the Head doesn't look like she is in the mood to tell me
anything.

Without warning, the Head raises her head
and looks at me with stern eyes. She seems displeased with me,
although why, I do not know. After all, I have not done anything to
bother her. Maybe I unintentionally offended her somehow.

Then the Head says, “J997, what do you
think about this recent series of events?”

I do not know why she asks that question.
I doubt she sincerely wants to know my opinion, considering how she
does not know me well at all, but if I refuse to answer her
question, then I might anger her. If I actually knew her or had
information on her in the mobile Database, it would be a lot easier
to know what to say.

Deciding that answering her question is
better than not, I say, “It is all very confusing. When I came to
Dela a couple of days ago, I did not think I would end up in a
place like this. I thought I would only need to help the Knights of
Se-Dela arrest Jornan ah Kona and bring her before the court of law
to be judged for her crimes.”

“
I understand,” says the
Head. “Even I do not completely understand what is going on here.
Reunification has rarely directly attacked us like this. It
disturbs me more than I have been disturbed in many years. It makes
me question myself.”

As the Head speaks, I do a brief scan of
her body, something I have not been able to do thanks to the
hurried-ness of the last few hours, in order to understand her
biology better. She appears human on the surface, but the immense
amount of skyras energy she radiates, as well as her oddly-swollen
back, make me doubt that she is in any way mortal.

But despite my best efforts, my scan comes
up incomplete. Apparently my scanner is unable to tell me anything
about her, aside from her skyras energy levels. Perhaps she has
some kind of device she is using to block my scanner or maybe it is
the skyras energy itself blocking my scan.

“
I know you just
attempted to scan me, J997,” says the Head, snapping me out of my
thoughts. “I can tell. You robots are not very hard to figure
out.”

“
I only scanned you to
find out what you are,” I say; there is no reason for me to lie, so
I do not. “You appear human, but at the same time,
different.”

“
I know how unusual I
am,” says the Head. “But I won't let you find out what I am just
yet. That is information you do not need to know at the moment,
especially because not even my agents know my true
nature.”

“
Are you a
genetically-modified human?” I ask. “Or did you use Delanian magic
to change you?”

The Head shakes her head. “Neither, but
that is where I will leave it for now. You know how tight-lipped we
Foundation agents are about our secrets.”

“
I know,” I say. “But I
still do not like not knowing what you are. Ignorance has caused
more harm in the two worlds than anything else in the
world.”

“
I would say that
well-intentioned extremism has caused more harm than anything
ignorance has ever done,” says the Head. “But I am not in a mood to
discuss complicated and lengthy philosophical issues with you. I
have something more important for you to do. Would you like to know
what that is?”

“
Of course,” I say.
“Ever since you sent out your agents, I have wondered why you kept
me here. Do you have a mission for me to accomplish?”

“
No,” says the Head,
shaking her head. “As you are not an agent of the Foundation, I
have no missions for you to take. Instead, I am going to have you
help me in other ways.”

I fold my arms over my chest. “Other ways?
What might those 'other ways' be?”

The Head chuckles, which makes no sense to
me, because I did not make any jokes this time. “You remind me of
another robot I once knew years ago. I was just chuckling at the
resemblance between you and him. And I thank you for it, because it
has been a long time since I've been able to chuckle about
anything.”

I still do not see what is so humorous
about any similarities between me and this other robot she once
knew, but I decide not to ask. On the other hand, if I can find out
what is so humorous about it, then maybe that will help me tell
better jokes.

Before I can ask for further
clarification, the Head says, “Now I know I said I wanted to keep
you here in the base so that you do not compromise our secrecy, but
there are still ways you can help us. Of course, I won't tell you
too much detail about these ways, seeing as you are not an agent,
but I will give you just enough information to make you
useful.”

“
I dislike going into
any situation without complete knowledge of it,” I say. “It is
unwise to enter a situation without knowing all of the
facts.”

The Head frowns. “I expected that, though
I must say, the robot I once knew would have agreed without
question. I suppose the two of you are not quite the same after
all.”

“
I will consider helping
you if you tell me what you need or want me to do,” I say. “As it
is, you have been speaking very vaguely about all of it. This makes
me suspect that you want me to do something that is illegal and
unlawful.”

“
It is nothing of the
sort,” says the Head. “While the Foundation does operate outside of
the law to achieve our goals, what I am going to have you do is
perfectly legal under Delanian and Xeeonite laws.”

“
Are you certain of
that?” I ask. “You do not seem like a lawyer to me.”

“
I am certain of it,”
says the Head, nodding. “Now, do you want to hear my offer or
not?”

“
Very well,” I say. “I
am listening.”

The Head laces her fingers together, a
thoughtful look on her face. She appears to be thinking about what
to say to me, which means she is deciding what information to share
with me and what not to. If I had telepathy, I would be able to
read her mind, but J bots were not designed with the ability to
read non-mechanical minds, so I must wait for her to speak in order
to find out what she is thinking.

Then she looks at me with a more focused
look and says, “All right. I want you to go down and help the other
agents examine the corpses of the lizard creatures that attacked
earlier. You can use your scanning technology to help us better
understand how these creatures are put together and search for any
weaknesses in them that we may be unaware of.”

That sounds like a simple, reasonable
request. I, too, am interested in learning more about these
creatures, which, based on the evidence I have gathered so far, are
not natural creatures from Dela or Xeeo. Mostly, I want to find out
more about them so I can put their information in the Database when
I return to Xeeo in order that the Database will continue to be the
most perfect and up-to-date record of every species on both
worlds.

On the other hand, the Head has already
said that she is not going to give me all of the information about
the job she wants me to do. That means she has her own hidden
agenda for why she wants me to examine these creatures and
understand their genetic makeup, although what it is I do not know.
The most likely explanation is that she wants to know more about
them so the Foundation can fight them more effectively in the
future; however, she likely has other reasons for doing this, too,
and perhaps not noble or good-intentioned reasons, either.

I detest helping people who refuse to
share their true intentions with me, but the only other
alternative, it seems to me, is to remain here as a virtual
prisoner while the Foundation battles against the mysterious
Reunification organization. At least if I accept her offer I stand
a chance of learning information that will help to complete the
Database's records, if nothing else.

So I nod and say, “All right. I will do as
you ask. I will not ask you further about why you want me to do it,
but I will do it nonetheless.”

“
That is good to hear,”
says the Head. “Your cooperation is much appreciated. Now, it's
time to send you to the—”

The Head ceases speaking. She looks
around, like she thinks someone might be eavesdropping on our
conversation, although my optics and sensors alike confirm that we
are the only two beings in this room.

“
Head?” I say. “What is
the problem? Did you hear something? If so, what was
it?”

The Head stands up from her chair with a
serious look on her face. She looks this way and that, but again I
do not see what she thinks she sees or hears. I wonder if this is
some sort of test on her part, although what she is testing me on,
I do not know.

Finally, however, the Head stops looking
around and then looks at me. A frown crosses her thin lips and her
skin seems unusually pale, as though she is afraid of
something.

“
What?” I say. “I do not
know what you think you hear, but you and I are the only two beings
in this room.”

“
I know we are alone in
this room,” says the Head, although her voice is almost a whisper
now. “Do you sense that?”

I check my skyras sensors, but aside from
the Head's unusually large skyras levels, I sense nothing out of
the ordinary.

“
No,” I say. “What do
you sense?”

The Head gulps. She jumps off her chair,
lands on the ground gracefully, and then stands up.

She looks at me again, only this time, she
says, “I sense an army about to batter down the doors of this very
base. And if we are not fast, then they
will
succeed, and we
will be destroyed.”

***

Chapter
8

B
efore I can ask what army she is
referring to, the Head says, “You stay here. I don't want to lose
you in the battle that is probably already starting below.”

“
Hold on,” I say,
holding out a hand toward her. “What is this army that you speak
of? Is it from Reunification? More of those lizard creatures,
perhaps?”