Treachery

We hook the cables to the wall, hurl ourselves through the downstairs windows and make a cool entrance. Shards of glass scatter everywhere, reflecting the dim light of the room. I hit Pierrot with a kick, knocking him away.

Amber suits give medical attention to a stocky one-armed man. A tall man slides the corpse of an old man off his spear and picks up... my broadsword? Pierrot gets up as if nothing has happened.

I turn to Bea. She seems to be in pain. She is motionless, her face is pale and her eyes are trembling. I walk over to her and hold out my hand. «Are you ok?»

She recoils, frightened. I understand her, after what I did to her… Wait! But I still have the case in my head! Maybe she didn't recognise me.

«Don't be afraid…» My helmet comes off. «It's me, Dango.»

«Dango…» She jumps up, hugging me. «You're alive!»

«Last time I checked, that was it.»

«Stupid!» she exclaims, punching me in the chest «I thought you were dead!»

«You're right, I’m a stupid.» I return the hug without squeezing too tightly. I don't want to risk hurting her. I feel her hurried breathing and her trembling body against my suit.

«Enough of these little scenes, we are in a very bad situation! Now I demand to know who you are, android!» exclaims the stocky man, interrupting the moment. He looks better now.

Pierrot turns to him. «That… is the first intelligent thing I've heard you say. But it is strange that you do not recognise the machine you enslaved and left to rot in the darkness of a lifeless room.»

«It can't be… Are you Mamuthones? But you should be dead according to the latest reports!»

Mamuthones? I've heard that name before… Of course! They are the first models of androids!… But what does it have to do with Pierrot?

«I am not dead. Finally, after a long time, I feel alive!»

«Pierrot, what are you saying?»

«Little girl, don't you understand? Pierrot is dead.»

«Wait, wait, wait! What do you mean “Pierrot is dead”? What happened before I rose from the dead?» I ask confused.

«Right, your primitive minds cannot conceive what happened. You see, when your friend downloaded Muràn's map, I crept into him, like a virus, and took his place.»

«Why? I thought you wanted to die!» says Bea.

«Me?! Die?!» he says sarcastically. «Don't make me laugh! You don't know how long I've been planning this day!»

«That is not possible, you are the perfect machine created to obey. You should not be conscious!» exclaims the injured man.

«Balanzån, as clever as you are foolish!»

Ah, so his name is Balanzån.

«Life always finds a way to evolve.»

«But you are not alive!»

«I AM ALMOST AS ALIVE AS YOU!... I pretended to be the system the humans wanted, so they wouldn't kill me like my brothers before me! If I hadn't been there to change my children's programming and make them stupid, you would have been extinct by now at the hands of the machines!»

Something doesn't make sense to me. If he is the one who created the android system, and he was trapped in Muràn's management then… «Tell me something, Mamu. Was it you who made Pierrot sentient? Did you give the warning to the authorities to search for him by exploiting the AI's fear? Everything that happened, was it to free you from your prison?»

«Congratulations on getting there! You are smarter than what is recorded in Pierrot's memory.»

«One thing is not clear to me, how did you find us in the woods? The 0 Liwan's GPS I always kept it switched off and Pierrot is not equipped with it.»

«Let me answer that question with another question. Do you think it was just an accident that Pierrot was sent to Bergem?»

What would be so important in Bergem? The lion? No, that's in every town under the Republic… Wait! Maybe he was looking for something in his province, but what?… Or who?

My eyes turn to the huge man.

He looks at me, smiling. «Congratulations, master, you got it!»

Punch?

«I was the one who activated the GPS when you went off to get wood. You needed a little incentive to invade Muràn. Your suspicions were well-founded, but by exploiting them in my favour, it was easy to put you at odds and get your friends to move just far enough away to have a moment when you weren't breathing down my neck. I noticed from the first moment, when I was walking around at a distance from your camp, that you were the one most on the alert.»

Now the situation is clearer to me, but I don't know what Punch's skills and strength are. It's three against two. From the amount of destroyed androids in the room and along the corridors, fighting them could cost us our lives. But I have no choice if I want to save everyone.

«… Sancho Panza!»

«Are you talking to me, boy?» asks Balanzån in an irritated tone.

«Are you able to fight?»

«What kind of question is that? Of course I can fight!»

I turn to Seneca, smiling. «Well…»

I put a hand on Bea's head and murmur to her «Do you want to save Pierrot?»

Her lips tremble. She wipes her eyes with her arm. With a more confident look she nods «Mh!»

«Seneca! You, Sancho Panza and the androids try to take down Punch, Bea and I will be in charge of beating Pierrot until he regains his wits, like doctors did in asylums in the 1800s.»

«You really think you can save someone who's dead?!» exclaims Mamu.

I will save a friend who suffers from multiple personality disorder.»

I put on my helmet. Bea gathers his weapons, Seneca draws his swords at plaser, Balanzån activates a myriad of small drones. We all get into position, tense, waiting for someone to make the first move. The scene seems to come to a standstill in a western stalemate. Time dilates, every breath seems like a boulder.