The Ascendant Stars - Michael Cobley [167]
It was warm at the bottom, a rocky channel above which cliffs reared to either side. The air had a peculiar, sharp taint to it. The thudding sounded metallic, and was irregular, two or three impacts followed by three or four heavier ones, a cluster of lighter ones, then two louder ones. Only when he reached and rounded the corner were his questions answered, then hardly how he expected.
Half in and half out of a huge cave mouth was an immense heap of machines. Robert recognised bots, drones, droids, vehicles small and large, torn-up sections of larger craft, and domestic devices too, washing machines, lawn-cutters, automaids, entertainment consoles, all manner and all sizes of holoscreens, as well as industrial power tools, engines, road-menders and many others. A very big brick-red hand dragged a piece down off the pile and onto a black slab of some chipped, unreflective material where a fearsome, ridge-faced sledgehammer wielded by another big brick-red hand fell upon it repeatedly, crushing it flat. The compacted debris was then tossed into a large rusty hopper the contents of which were presumably tipped into the blast furnace whose hot bright maw gaped just within the cave. At the centre of it all was a brick-red giant, hairless, clad in tattered hide breeks, his snaggle-tooth mouth muttering and growling.
And there, on the other side of the A-sided framework that cradled the hopper, was a pale-blue-clad form creeping along behind the small mounds of flattened wrecks that had missed their target.
Robert stared at the grotesque scene, the grumbling giant, the hammered machines, the hungry furnace. What is this? he wondered. What is it doing in the Godhead’s subconscious?
There was no time to lose if he wanted to stay on Rosa’s trail. Crouching along at the foot of the cliffs, he hurried to the path Rosa had taken, slipping behind crushed, mangled metal while the red giant went about its hammering business. Except that he had gone barely a dozen wary steps when a deep gravelly voice said:
‘Halt! You have the stink of machines about you!’
Robert froze, wondering how he had been detected.
‘Because I have good ears, device-lover!’ said the giant. ‘And a good nose which tells me what you smell of!’
‘Why am I being stopped?’ Robert said from behind the heap of battered metal. ‘I saw someone else go past … ’
‘Them ladies are permitted to roam – s’orders. Intruders must be put to the test!’
‘Does this test involve any pressing, squeezing, crushing or even possibly hammering?’
‘You will submit to the test! All machines must be destroyed!’
‘I’m not a … ’
He gasped and flinched when something struck the side of the hopper assembly with such force that it tipped over, threatening to come down on him. But its centre of gravity pulled it back to crash down, crumpled sheets of debris spilling out. Robert turned and ran past the furnace, feeling the heat of it burning in his face, neck and hands.
A big slab of compacted metal slammed into the cave wall just a few feet before him. Sparks and splinters of stone sprayed in all directions and he felt something nick his forehead.
‘You dare! – you dare enter my hall! Machine-lover filth!’
Another crashing noise but further back for some reason. Then there was a whirring noise descending from above – it was the drone, Reski Emantes, looking even more retro than before.
‘I can see that you’re having lots of fun,’ it said.
‘Is that wood panelling on your upper casing? Most distinguished.’
‘It’s not what you would call robust. Look, Robert Horst, I know who you’ve been following and you need to catch up with them. When I cause the diversion, be ready to run … ’
‘Wait, what do you mean by “them”?’
Too late, the drone was already aloft and flying over to buzz around the red giant’s head. With deafening roars and hammer blows ringing in his ears, Robert scrambled past the furnace and made a dash for a low tunnel at the