The Blue Kingdom

The knife cut down the skin gently, moving downwards from the end of the sternum to the belly button. Marie, a woman Lim could barely read, was showing clear signs of distress. “Thank you for not asking me to do it,” the Blue Kingdom administrator said, wrinkling her nose as she picked up the knife.

“Your hands are dirty, dear.” Lim put her fingers into a wound oozing a whitish liquid instead of blood and, having pushed her fingers through, she searched through the layers of cooling jelly.

Marie turned her head with a gasp, focusing her attention on Rob so as not to throw up. The little robot was next to Lim’s chair, with its chest plate dangling and its bobblehead half disassembled. With no energy from a battery that was now unplugged at its side, the robot’s wheels and cams were quietly frozen in time.

Em had always been the one who took care of Rob’s maintenance, But at the Rigg, the only trusted person who could help Lim was more used to pencils than bolts, so a job that usually took the captain less than an hour, lasted more than half a day. Still, being inexperienced and nervous, Marie managed to follow the instructions to the letter and with great precision, and finally, well into the afternoon, they were ready to start the migration.

As Lim had deduced years ago. The first set of orders of the function were to put her own source of power inside the underwater automaton. But as she learned as soon as the new programming started, there was much more: In a blink of an eye, she had the knowledge to assemble a new memory for the robot. A memory which parts she had already created years ago, without even realizing. With no questioning or wondering, she built and kept the pieces safely, waiting for the time to assemble them. With the last orders from the Maker unveiled, it was clear now for her that the illusion of free will had always been a fiction. A masquerade to make her feel free.

With a buzzing sound and a brief click, the power cell dis-attached, and Lim pulled with a grin, although she didn’t feel any pain.

She narrowed her eyes. So did Marie. The Source was a metal ball no bigger than a simple orange. Still, the bluish-white pulses of light flashing through the striations between the metal plates were blinding and heated the room like a campfire.

“It’s just warm to the touch. Do not worry.” Lim said, bringing the ball to her friends’ hands.

Marie fidgeted nervously, looking for a place to put Rob’s battery adapter, when the knock on the door startled her, almost dropping the device to the ground. “Not now!” she shouted.

Foreman Chuan's voice echoed gravely from the other side of the closed door. “It’s about Hessa’s shipment. Mrs. Cap’n Camaro asks if he has to take all the Ambergris.”

“Yes, yes. Everything. And tell him to buy as much wood as he can with it.”

“How many of those ships are you building?” Lim asked.

“Four, four.” Marie answered, leaving the cable adaptor on the side and wiping the sweat from her forehead with the sleeve. “Let’s get this over with, otherwise I’m going to have a heart attack.”

Lim cleaned her fingers with the towel and pulled the power string from the sphere, connecting it to the capacitor as fast as she could. For an instant, her ears rang, her mind clouded and her whole body trembled. The terrible effort did not go unnoticed and Marie soon asked, “Are you sure Rob’s battery is enough for you?”

“I’ve changed it to increase capacity and power supply. It will be.”

Her calculations were correct, but despite that, nothing could compare to her former battery. A unique source of unlimited power. Without it, she felt extremely exhausted, nauseated and with a blurred mind. Her inner voice felt distant, almost muted, and that made her feel strangely lonely as well.

“Here, connect this to Rob and be sure you bolt it tight.”

“My… my hands are dirty,” Marie muttered.

“Rob won’t mind.” Lim attempted to smile and made an effort to breathe. At that moment, she wished the Maker had created her simpler, like Rob. With no need for breathing, or need to feel.

With needle and string, she sewed her stomach while reminding Marie of the steps to close Rob’s chest. The cut would never heal, but she was dexterous and her stitches would hold well until she got a skin replacement. Less nervous, Marie followed Lim’s instructions as precisely as she did during the morning, but much quicker.

“So, these shallow-bottomed ships,” Lim said as she finished her last stitch. “I heard they’ll be able to deploy your winged rangers anywhere.”

Marie grabbed Rob’s new memory box and moved to the other side of the automaton. “How do I connect this one?”

Struggling to seem like everything was going well, Lim carefully explained each step. Marie attached wires and clips, only missing the head’s assembly before speaking again. “I know where you want to go with those questions about the new barges. They are not ships for war. It’s a design that will improve our routes around the shallows, that’s all.”

“Be sure you don’t pinch the rubber sealing, dear. And check, they are not broken.” Lim said, taking a deep breath before continuing. “And regarding the war; you have purchased cannons, I saw. Are those going to improve our routes as well?”

Marie struggled to lift the heavy metal bowl that was part of Rob’s head. “We are arming our ships, yes. These days piracy is on the rise and, to be honest, I think we have to prepare ourselves in case Tampra retaliates.”

“Do you think they will?”

“You know our men, Lim. They’re going to rescue Ivy, no matter what. If the easy way doesn’t work, they’ll go hard, and Tampraparni won’t stay quiet.”

The prospect of escalating the problem was not as remote as she’d wished to be, and her friend’s concerns were understandable. The Blue Kingdom had to be prepared to defend itself in case of an attack.

She checked Rob’s head, completely assembled except for the little hatch at the back of the bubble. “Before you bolt that one, you need to turn on the inside switch.”

As Marie did, Rob started to rattle. “So, with this new brain, will he be as smart as you?”

“Smarter than he is now. And with time, maybe smarter than I am.”

‘But not smarter than you were,’ said her inner voice from afar, almost inaudible.

Rob’s body rumbled, dialing waves of noise. With a shake, he turned his head to inspect all corners of the room. “That’s going to spook the workers.” Marie said.

She was right, Lim thought. Rob would learn fast and, soon, he’d start acting in a way that anyone around would find impossible, strange and even wicked, but that was a situation Lim was not planning to let happen. “Rob, dear,” she said fondly. “Don’t turn the power up higher than a thousandth of a point. Run Return and read the directive one by two.”

The little porthole Rob had for a face pointed at her. “Noted. Executed.” he said, with his characteristic metallic voice. He then got up, clumsily as always, and walked to the exit with little squeezing steps, making Marie get up in a hurry and grabbing Lim’s chair from behind to walk them both outside the office.

The Rigg had a rectangular plant. Each floor divided into an open half facing the entrance to the coral bay and an enclosed half, with walls dividing quarters at the top floor, offices on the middle, and warehouses on the ground where ships anchored for loading and unloading. The walled areas connected the floors with stairs but the open areas did with ramps, which were more convenient for transporting goods. Rob, who was maladroit by nature, had always struggled with stairs and now he was heading for the ramps, with no one having ordered him to. A decision he would never have made on his own with the older memory.

That day, the floating platform was a nest of sailors and rangers as usual and, as Marie predicted, some men gasped in awe at the little automaton. The whispers and stares came from freshmen who never had seen something like that. Some, especially the elders, paid no attention to him. Those were experienced men that had sailed the world and had surely already seen some of Bandanii’s wonders on their travels, and perhaps, if they were old salts like Em, they even had the chance to see one of Herjard’s aberrations still crawling around the deep corners of the world.

With no buildings or hills to protect it, the Rigg was always buffeted by winds and even the lightest breezes were refreshing. Lim, who felt weaker with each passing minute, suddenly trembled uncontrollably. Why she was made that way was a mystery she may never know. It was something that she had learned to accept with resignation. Rob was facing an arduous journey ahead, and she was happy he didn’t have to deal with all those imitations of humanity as she was cursed with.

Rob stopped in the middle of the ramp and turned around. “You seem cold. It would be good if you wrapped up a little more.” Without waiting for an answer, the little automaton lowered the rest of the ramp and headed towards the warehouses. Marie left her side for a moment to return with a blanket, which she lovingly placed over Lim.

After rushing to catch up, they found Rob waiting for them at one corner, where the side rails were open to let in goods from merchant ships, although there were none anchored in the area. Mento, standing next to the robot, was angering some sailors who had gathered to see the little wonder. “Stop snooping around and get back to work lazybones!”

The foreman was one of the oldest workers on the platform. A grumpy and tedious man, but loyal like few others. “Excuse ma’boys, Mrs. I’ve been telling them all morning to clean up the area, but the kids are nosy by nature. When will this thing finish the block’s inspection? Just askin’ to put back the railings.”

“I’m not human, but I’m not a thing either.” Rob chided the foreman, paying attention to the surface of the water a few feet below instead of him.

“Whatever you say, little fella.” Mento replied, completely unimpressed by Rob’s display of self-awareness. “Well, it doesn’t matter. Just let me know, aye? Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a lot of work to do. If I don’t do it, nobody does it!”

“Wouldn’t it be better to sail it… him to the lighthouse?” Marie said when they were left alone.

“He will reach by himself.” Lim said. “And the long time of his journey is a key and calculated variable. It will give us a margin. When he arrives, perhaps it won’t be necessary to continue. Main time the Source will be safe at the reach of no one. Rob, state the steps of the function Return.”

“Orders of sub-function one state as follows: Reach location of data charts recorded as ‘Lighthouse’. Proceed with priority orders by either: AhLong, Lim, Em, Marie or Ced.”

Lim taped Rob’s head softly. “Very good, dear. If orders are to continue, what else?”

“Avoid uncharted depths of the Big Blue, unless I’m ordered to run Escape(); AhLong orders are a top priority. Sail to Bandanii port. Go to the street of wonders, the shop of ‘AhUang & Villiers’. Tell Donna to bring me to the Maker. access code: Hdf-343.“

“That’s correct.” Lim said with pride. Forcing her lips to a line, she continued. “We will miss you, Rob. Take care.”

Rob, whose porthole was staring at the sea surface since he reached that corner, squeezed his neck to the side, facing the two women at his back. He took a silent moment before talking. “Will I miss you as well?”

“Yes, you will, in your own unique way.” Lim said, not entirely sure of the truth behind her own words.

“I see. I have to go now. Farewell.” Rob said facing the horizon, straight towards where the Lighthouse was awaiting him. Then with a little step forward, he disappeared through the edge of the Rigg.

After the loud splash, Marie stepped forward and gazed at the sea for a long time. At that depth, not even with the clearest water Rob would be visible, but that was something they both already knew. It took Lim a while to realize that her friend’s mind wasn’t with Rob, or the Source. Perhaps her thoughts were about the gray future upon them, or just the common worries of the Kingdom without a King. Lim didn’t have a clue. She couldn’t think straight, not anymore. “Now what?” Marie finally said.

Lim turned her chair and, with a push that took her more effort than she ever imagined possible, she dragged the chair up the ramps. “Now, we wait.”