Free Twisted Metal by Tony Ballantyne Page B

talking?’
    ‘Sometimes. But when we’re playing some of the other robots cheat. Or, when we’re picking at the metal scraps in the gangue, some of the others push in and take more than their fair share. Why did you build me so that I couldn’t do that?’
    ‘Because this is Turing City. We look after each other here. Together we are stronger.’
    ‘But other children aren’t made that way.’
    ‘ Some other children aren’t made that way,’ Karel allowed.
    ‘But that’s not fair! They get to do what they want and I’m left just standing watching.’
    ‘It may not seem fair at the moment, Axel, but as you get older you’ll find out that those children aren’t lucky at all. They won’t be trusted; they won’t get chosen to join the best teams; nobody will want to spend time with them. Their parents think they are doing them a favour, but really they are not being fair to them at all.’
    Karel was struck by how small his son really was: still just a four-year-old, with a perfectly formed little body. No, not perfectly formed, because children never were, that was just the way that their mothers and fathers saw them, but there was something about him, the way that everything was there, and working in miniature. Something formed out of Karel and Susan. Axel was fiddling with the electromuscle once more, serious again.
    There was something else, though. Karel knew Axel wasn’t telling him the full truth: no mother would ever have twisted their child to be completely predictable. There would always be that last couple of inches, that last little part of the personality that could lie or cheat, if necessary.
    ‘What’s up, Axel?’ asked Karel. ‘This isn’t like you. Is there something else bothering you?’
    Axel pulled at the muscle halfheartedly.
    ‘Dad,’ he said. He was coming to the point, but in his own time. ‘I know you’re right about the selfish ones. I’ve seen the way that they get treated. The way that people talk about them, behind their backs. That’s not what I mean, though.’ He paused as if unsure what to say next.
    ‘What do you mean, Axel?’
    ‘I mean, well, this is all very well in Turing City State, but what if . . . I mean, what about . . . ?’
    ‘Are you talking about Artemis, Axel?’
    Axel dropped his eyes to look at the floor.
    ‘Well, yes. They say that they have invaded Wien. And that we’re next.’
    Karel laughed. ‘Artemis could never take Turing City State, Axel. They are strong, it’s true, but they don’t really value what they have. They don’t recognize their robots as being anything more than metal. In Turing City we value life. Our power lies in our recognition of what makes us all special. If we stand together, they will break off us like waves off a rock.’
    ‘But suppose they do invade!’
    ‘They can’t!’ insisted Karel. ‘They never will be able to beat us. Because we will always stand together as robots, and they will only be fighting as machines.’
    ‘But suppose they do beat us! Couldn’t you have built me so that I could pretend? So that I could share and be honest most of the time, but take it back when it really counts?’
    ‘But when would it really count?’ asked Karel.
    Axel rolled his eyes. ‘I hate it when you say things like that. You don’t know what it’s like . . .’
    ‘Trust me, I do,’ said Karel quietly.
    ‘No you don’t! I know about you. The other children say the rules don’t apply to you. They say that your mother bent your mind in strange ways. That you don’t tell the truth. That you only pretend to be part of Turing State.’
    Karel was shocked by this sudden outburst. So was Axel, who looked embarrassed and not a little ashamed of the ferocity with which his feelings had bubbled out. Silence fell, warmed only by the orange glow of the forge.
    ‘People say a lot of things,’ said Karel at last.
    ‘But is it true, Daddy?’ asked Axel plaintively.
    ‘Of course not. Why would I pretend to believe