Bread and the Circus

Chapter 15, Part 1

Chapter 15

Though I look quite a bit different from a human, my senses are not really that different.  Before my accidental rise to sapience, I would shift through the various spectrums of light as a matter of course, the infrared and ultraviolet being quite useful for noticing anomalies in the space rocks I was made to break down and collect.  However, anything beyond those simple extensions to “normal” sight was considered too expensive to install in a mining robot, and unnecessary as well, since the ships that would transport me to various asteroid belts and other mining sites would have equipment of their own for more detailed scans.  Besides, now that I’m sapient, changing my range of vision takes a conscious effort, so I am essentially as limited as my two new companions…my friends…in the fields of vision.

With this in mind, I think it should come as no surprise that I was more than a little concerned when we all stepped through the vast door leading from a long, empty corridor, into a wide open room, its ceiling so high up that we couldn’t see it, and shadows all around, obscuring all but the most essential and immediate details from view.  The place wasn’t absolutely lightless, but the only sources of illumination were a few widely-scattered patches of the “magic runes” along the stone wainscoting.  In such gloom, and knowing how vulnerable I am, I think that I can be forgiven for staying close between dear Neph and Mac, keeping their strength between myself and whatever terrors might be lurking somewhere in the shadows.

“Cheery place,” Mac quipped, her twin clubs held ready in her hands as she looked around; we (well, mostly I; Neph really is amusingly squeamish) had done some rather gooey adjustments to her new armor, and now it fit her most excellently, if I do say so myself, moving naturally with her body, even if it did still leave damp spots on occasion as its tissues continued to slowly break down.  Neph, meanwhile, looked straight ahead, a spear thrust out before him (and a little over one of Mac’s shoulders), ready to defend the front even as Mac’s splayed stance seemed made for taking assaults from the sides, allowing a rapid shift in her focus of attention to meet any oncoming threat.  As for me, I clutched my spear timidly as I kept between my new friends, feeling as weak as I knew I was – perhaps weaker – as I experienced…trepidation, I suppose.  I was afraid, certainly, and could feel my circuits firing faster, opening up pathways in preparation for action, much like the adrenaline-based “fight-or-flight” of many organics.  Still, I wasn’t in a state of panic, and I wasn’t “freezing up” like I had before, when confronted with Mac’s injury.  This was a controlled state, and I could only hope that I could maintain that control when the next crisis hit.

“There’s torch sconces above us,” Neph suddenly pointed out, the tip of his spear flicking slightly to indicate the objects in question.  “And that big round brazier in the middle looks like it’d work, if we can find some fuel.”

“Tapestries,” Mac answered, leaving our little defensive knot to hook her club’s thorny protrusions into the lightly hole-ridden fabric of one of the decorations she’d just mentioned.  “Huh, actually in pretty good shape,” she added as her hard yank flopped it into her arms.

“So much for perfection in detail,” Neph chuckled while Mac dumped the bolt of cloth unceremoniously into the wrought-iron fire-furniture right at the edge of our limited field of vision.  “Too bad we don’t have anything to start a fire easily.  Just those chips of flint we picked up back outside.”

“Actually,” I suddenly chimed in, wanting so badly to be useful to my new friends, I was able to put aside my fear with surprising ease, “I can help there, if you’ll permit it.”

Mac blinked, then shrugged and stood aside, and right away I stepped forward, handing Neph my spear as I approached the brazier.  It was a heavy thing, ornate and carved with all sorts of disturbing imagery; if what I noticed in passing was any indication, it had once been used for burnt offerings, or some other similarly visceral religious rite.  That was neither here nor there, though, as I extended one of my hands, letting the fingers splay out, reshaping into a single long, thin tube.  I focused my concentration for a moment, and instantly a spray of sparks leapt from the orifice I’d created at the end of that tube, scattering onto the dry fabric of the tapestry Mac had dumped into the brazier.  Once more, and then again, and suddenly there was a bright blaze, filling the room with the crackling, wavering, eerie light of the fire.  But it was light, and we could now see, so I suppose that was better than what we’d had before.

Once more we all gathered close, staying next to the brazier in its place set slightly into the stone floor beneath us, Neph handing me back my spear as we took stock of the now-lighted room presented to our collective vision.  The entry area where we stood was trapezoidal in shape, expanding outward from the big, ornate door through which we’d just passed.  The rest of the room, however, was rectangular, wide and high, with a set of six rectangular pillars running down either side, each of the pairs of pillars set at the base of a short flight of steps, creating a tiered arrangement to the room.  While there was only one lit brazier (out of three total, each set at the midpoint between each pair of pillars), it was big enough and bright enough to light almost the whole room…more-or-less.  There were still plenty of patches of caliginous nooks where the light didn’t reach, especially on the other sides of the pillars, around the room’s perimeter, but our field of view from our point of entry all the way to the far side of the long tiered gallery was almost unobstructed.  As was our view of what was to be found at that far side.

“Like some dead Viking king, buried with all his treasures,” Neph said, his voice sounding awed.

“Complete with what killed him,” Mac added grimly.

There indeed sat the old king, whoever he’d been (or was meant to represent, at least), resting on an immense throne that looked as though it were made of solid gold – a not-unlikely possibility, I mused, since matter transmutation, while somewhat energy inefficient, could indeed make some truly impressive decorative effects when they were needed, and the Circus could certainly afford such “special effects.”  He was a giant of a humanoid, a reptilian-like thing, much like the zombies we’d battled before, but vastly larger, over half again the height of either of my friends, and more broad than both of them standing shoulder-to-shoulder.  Most of his (and I did keep thinking of the artificial skeleton as masculine; it just seemed like an appropriate designation) trappings were rotted away, leaving only scraps of fabric clinging to the bone.  Despite this advanced state of apparent decay, however, on its brow was a great golden coronet, marking his station, and the bones themselves sparkled slightly in the light of the brazier despite the dust of ages that clung to them, indicating that there was some special quality about them, something I couldn’t quite see from where I stood (and if I couldn’t see it with my enhanced visual abilities, I doubted either Mac or Neph could).  Most prominent of all his features, however, was the long, still-bright silver spear thrust straight through the dead king’s chest, piercing wherever his heart had once been.

“That is some incredible work,” Mac said, nodding, her face showing just how impressed she really was.  “I mean it: I actually believe in the history behind this guy, that he’s some long-murdered king of old, still sitting on his throne, waiting for the end of the world.”  Then she suddenly turned and grinned at me and Neph over her shoulder.  “How much you wanna bet he wakes up and comes after us as soon as we get dramatically close?”

“No bet,” both Neph and I said in unison.

“Yeah, didn’t think so,” she chuckled as she slid her weapons back into their holders on her waist, then went to one of the wall sconces, giving a soft grunt as she put her weight against the fitting, then jerked it off.  “C’mon, let’s gather these up and get a nice, big fire ready.  If we’re really up against the so-called undead, then fire’s probably our best friend for dealing with them, robots or not.  And even if they’re not flammable, at least we’ll have a warm campfire to keep off the grave chill down here.”

What Mac said didn’t sound implausible, and so after Neph and I traded a look and a shrug, we got right to work helping Mac tear down all the wall hangings we could reach without having to ascend as far as the second big brazier, then pile them up as a source of ready fuel.  We didn’t chatter much, all of us quite tired (me emotionally so, Mac and Neph definitely showing signs of physical fatigue as well as hunger and thirst), but all the same we worked in relatively good cheer, if the expressions of my companions were any indication of their general moods.  From the first brazier, we soon moved to the second, and after I’d put my “sparker” (as Mac called it) to use, we  had another bright fire shining even more light into the recesses of the vast burial chamber.

“Those certainly have a sinister mien,” Neph said as we dragged the last of our fuel up the stairs and piled it next to the middle brazier.  Mac and I followed his pointing finger to the walls that were now visible in the new light…and the statues that had become equally visible, four in total, two each set right in the boundary points between the six pillars, their backs pressed flush against the walls.  “Do you think they come to life?”

In this place, and with such looks as they had, that hardly seemed unlikely!  The statues were of hideous demons, humanoid creatures with sharp-edged spikes all over their bodies, horns, lashing tails, razor claws, and terrifying gnashing teeth in their slightly oversized heads.  As Neph had pointed out, they definitely did not look friendly.  No, not in the slightest.

“Okay,” Mac spoke, and both I and Neph could tell immediately from her expression that she was thinking strategically, saying her thoughts out loud for our input.  “Looks like this is going to be a three-front fight.  That’s statues on either side, and the big guy at the far end.  That leaves the door out as our only safe spot, so if things go south, that’s where we head.”  Her lip curled at this, and she turned her face to glare at the skeleton king.  “If it’s obvious that one of us got killed, that’s probably a pretty good indication that the other two should get out while they still can.  No sense all of us biting it at once, and less point in staying here and starving to death in an impossible situation.  Better to take chances with the beasties on the outside, in my opinion.”

“But until that happens, we’re going to keep fighting until we win,” Neph added, catching Mac’s eyes with his gaze, then holding it until she finally broke down and smiled.

“Yeah,” she agreed, hefting her shillelaghs in her hands, then turning to face the skeleton king.  “Same battle plan as before?”

“Sounds good to me,” Neph chimed in.  “Minus the near-death experiences, of course.”

He stepped up just behind and slightly to one side of Mac, spear outthrust at the ready.  But before they started forward, he turned his head toward me.

“Stay close to me, Aleph,” he said, and his voice was gentle when he looked into my eyes.  “We’ll keep you safe, I promise.”

“We’ll certainly do our best,” Mac added, keeping her eyes facing forward for several long moments…before her pupils widened.  “Hey, have either of you taken a really good look at the dead king?  ‘cause now that there’s more light, I’m seeing some stuff that’s really interesting about him.”

“What do you…” Neph began as both he and I did indeed turn our complete attention onto the giant’s skeleton.  “Oh.”

‘Oh’ indeed!  Before, shrouded in the crepuscular light that had reigned when only the first brazier had been lit, there had been few enough details for us to make out about that mighty creature.  Now, however, it was quite apparent that he was more than a mere construct of ceramic bone: he was also plated in gold and crusted in countless tiny gemstones, their glitter only somewhat dimmed by the layers of dust on top.  Up above, each eye sockets was filled with cabochon-cut star rubies, each the size of one of my balled-up fists.  While I will be the first to admit that my hands aren’t especially large, as sizes went, that was more than large enough for a gemstone of that sort of value.  Even the Circus would have been hard-pressed to find or even the manufacture something of such detail!

“I can see where the rewards for a dungeon run come from,” Mac quipped, both her eyebrows raised so high they almost disappeared into her red-headed hairline.  Then her face set into an expression of determination, dreams of avarice visibly fleeing when confronted with the needs of the moment.  “C’mon: let’s go up and say hi to the neighbors.”

My eyes flicked down in that moment, right when Mac stepped onto the invisible central line that ran right through the middle of the second brazier.  While there wasn’t any obvious sign there of the division, it felt right to me, somehow, that there would be something momentous about that point.  Sure enough, right before my steady gaze, I saw the room tremble, just slightly.  Flicking my eyes up, I saw dust falling from the dead king, and then from the four great statues.  But it wasn’t the statues that came alive: it was the things behind them.

Now it was obvious, as the thin plaster veneers behind each of the four statues exploded outward, each of the stone effigies tumbling forward to shatter on the floor, their larger-than-life counterparts advancing on us with purpose: we’d been suckered, even when we thought we knew what to expect.

“Those Circus people are good,” Mac said with a rueful grin and shake of her head.  “Okay, new plan: let’s split up, then try to maneuver ‘em between us, so we can make this into a series of one-on-ones instead of four-on-three.  Like it?”

“Love it,” answered Neph.

“Yes,” was all I could say, my knuckles only metaphorically white as I clenched the spear in my hands between my fingers until I could see the stress lines on the wood.

Then we were moving.  And so were they.

Conveying that sense of motion is difficult when you’re right in the middle of it all.  My internal visual feed was able to compensate for the jostling, certainly, but all the same, the images of a battle as tightly-packed as this are inherently chaotic.  For a moment, Mac stood her ground, acting as the deliberate focal point for the four demons as they closed in around her, metal edges gleaming through their flesh; they were cyborgs, living creatures like the ones Mac and Neph had described outside, but creatures of the Arena, whose only purpose was to kill the contestants who fell into their clutches.  As I and Neph ran back up the second short flight, leaving Mac behind, they zeroed in on her, choosing the target of least resistance.  That at least was a blessing: being the Arena’s creatures, they weren’t gifted with too much intelligence of their own.

Mac was fast, and she dove between the legs of one of the towering creatures, though I saw her wince as she brushed against the razor-sharp spurs that jutted out from the cyber-demon’s digitigrade heels, leaving brief trails of red before her stat suit sealed up behind them.  The quartet spun as one, but that little pause was all we three needed as Neph bent, making a cup with his hands, into which I stepped, letting him launch my light body skyward.  In the air, I screamed, the sound filled with metallic reverberations, swinging my spear around, then pointing it straight down, curling my body to better place all the force and (admittedly minimal) weight of my whole self into the blow.  If they’d been paying attention to me, or if they’d been expecting our strategy, subvocalized and out of hearing for either them or their masters up in the Circus satellite, then I would have died.  But they weren’t expecting it, or me, and these were living creatures, for all their cyborg enhancements, and when my spear thrust through the heart of the demon in the fore, it roared in animal pain as it tumbled to the ground, a red puddle quickly spreading out beneath it when the point of my spear snapped as it struck the stone floor.

Falling back, my hands extending to catch the spear Mac tossed from its place on her back, she and I fell back as the demons advanced, their red eyes blazing.  This time they were expecting Neph to strike, and I saw them giving him occasional glances, their steps wary.  They weren’t ready enough, though, not with what we had planned as he jabbed his spear into the brazier, then whipped one of the burning tapestries out, flipping it over the two demons in front.  As they thrashed, bellowing in confusion and pain, unable to see for those few critical seconds while their claws and razor-studded skin shredded the smoke-spewing cloth, Mac and I leapt forward.  My spear thrust straight through the tapestry, and I felt it jerk powerfully as it sank into warm flesh, followed soon after by spurting blood.  To my side, I saw Mac in my peripheral vision (my eyes are quite large, after all) as she swung her shillelaghs again and again, each doubled blow cracking against a joint in her enemy’s legs, until he was sprawling on the ground, the burning tapestry still covering him from view as he dragged down his mortally-injured companion with him (my spear still inside of him as it was torn from my grasp), and Mac was able to stand over him, raining down still more blows until he went still.

All I can say is that it’s just as well that me and Neph were there, because the last one would have surely torn Mac limb from limb while she was distracted with finishing off her chosen target.  I snatched up one of the knives from Mac’s belt as I passed, and Neph charged from the rear, screaming in fury.  This time, though, strategy failed us: the beast was ready for us.  It spun as we neared, and though we were almost perfectly timed, those slashing claws sent us both flying, flowing with the force of its strikes rather than trying to resist so as not to be shredded by all those blades.  I went up the stairs, rolling then uncoiling like a spring, and Neph went down in similar though far more fleshy fashion, trading places.

Now it was Mac and Neph together against the beast, circling the cyber demon, each rushing a short distance in then pulling back, testing its limits, seeing how fast it was, how able to fight.  The answer, of course, was “very” on both counts, as on Mac’s second sally, the flick of its claw-tipped fingers sent a light spray of her hair flying as she just barely ducked in time to avoid something far more lethal, and Neph soon lost his last spear as the demon snapped it between its jaws.  If Mac hadn’t switched places with him quickly, a “castling” maneuver that let Neph snatch the last spear from her back, he’d have been left with the short flint knives he’d taken from the foes the pair had faced outside.  In a fair fight, though, the demon was better than both of them, faster, stronger, more skilled, and we could all see it, saw it and knew it without having to say a word, out loud or subvocalized.

I had to help them!

Flicking my eyes to the brazier, I saw that its bottom was lined with old coals, just starting to glow a cherry red from the heat of the lighter stuff burning on top.  Just as well that I could turn off my pain receptors at need.

Now the demon was moving forward with confidence.  It knew what we knew, that we didn’t have a chance against it, none of us, not with its formidable built-in armory and computer-honed reflexes.  Not when it was ready for us, aware and alert and primed for battle.

But for all its combat programming, seared into what fleshy parts of its brain had been left during its creation, it was still just a biological android, a robot made of flesh.  Its responses were limited, and when it was confronted with too many differing stimuli all at once, it found it hard to focus on just one.  This sort of situation caused it and creatures like it critical moments of delay, a delay we’d already used to prime effect in dispatching its comrades.

Now I had to exploit that weakness one more time.