Syn reluctantly took a few steps forward until she stood even with the girl. Ripley clicked her tongue against the top of her mouth and then gave a tiny bow and a small curtsy, bending at her knees before standing back up, her face still aimed at the ground “Now, you do the same.”
“Is someone really watching?”
Ripley sighed again. “You’re a bit infuriating. Not sure how you survived this long. One of the others shoulda killed you by now. Just do it. Please. We’ll get to Zondon faster if you do.”
Syn looked around, and then with a shrug of her shoulders, leaned forward and then bent her knee to give a simple bow.
Ripley laughed, “See? Now what that too hard?”
Syn growled.
“Trust me. She saw. Adding up the points now. Might make you one of her favorites. Well, except for me. I’m still the favorite. For now.” With that, Ripley clicked her tongue again and from behind the massive form of the dead tree mover, a large harvest bot—a massive, cube-shaped bot running on large tank treads—appeared and rolled close. Ripley grabbed ahold of the bar rail on the side of the harvest bot and swung herself to sit atop the blocky creature. She motioned to Syn. “Come on. Ride in style. It’ll be nice. Remind you—the toasters can follow, but ain’t no one else coming into town with you. If they’re planning on it, you need to talk them outta it now.”
Syn turned back to the three. “You don’t have to go with me any further. I’ll be safe. You got me this far. Go on back.”
Arquella shook back and forth and Bear gave a gruff, “Nope.”
Syn raised her hands out, palms up.
Ripley snorted. “Fine. Waste o’ time, but they sure welcome to follow. As I always say, toasters are nutters. Completely through and through.”
“You know them?”
“Know of them,” Ripley said, “I know all about that crackpot collection that call themselves the Ecology.”
Syn was slower pulling herself up and climbing to the top of the bot, but she managed after a moment.
Ripley smiled. “I know I’m all nice and kind, and you’re thinking to yourself that the citizens of Zondon can’t be that bad. Trust me. I’m the one who hasn’t killed anyone in the last month. The rest of the people you meet are complete animals. So, be on your guard. With everyone. Eyes forward. Heck, that works for riding alongside me. We have a bit of distance to cover, but by then, you shoulda had enough time to think about how you gonna present yourself.”
“Present myself?” Syn asked.
“Well, you’re going to have drop all this. Ain’t no one lasts at Zondon that long with that attitude. Not unless they plan to be killed. There’s only four of us left, and I have a feeling she’s growing pretty irritated with at least one of us. I suspect it’ll be down to three pretty soon. So, all said, you need to pay attention to what you say and what you don’t say. More importantly, how you do both.”
Ripley looked at Syn, who stared wide-eyed at the horizon, taking in the Disc from her new vantage point. The settlements rose behind them, darkened from the fire, obscured by the blowing dust, and each seemingly empty. She knew that the Ecology occupied them, and behind the swooping rises, life flourished in colors that seemed impossible in this depleted landscape.
Ripley sighed. “Wow, you really don’t get it, do you?”
Syn returned her gaze and lifted an eyebrow.
“Okay, well, let’s just worry about that when we see the others for the first time. Until then, let’s just go ahead and mosey on our way.” She kicked the back of the bot with her heel. “Giddy-up!”
The bot came to life, roared up its loud engine, and sputtered as they moved forward, the three bots following behind the growling harvester.
27
THE SURPRISE BEYOND THE GATES
“It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.”
The arid desert spread its edges to the iron and rust-dappled walls of Zondon Almighty. No path, no garden, no lawn transitioned. It was just desert and then wall, both equally inhospitable.
As they neared, the painted faces on the walls came into focus. Ghastly images pulled from horror films she had made Blip watch in years past: a maniacal clown, masks with red, torturous eyes, scarred faces, pale skin with deep white, blood-colored fangs. All were immense faces expressing pain and fear—the antithesis to the great faces of the Yoruban gods that looked down upon them from high up on the Jacob Lifts. The Orisha masks looked upward and onward; their slab colossal visages declaring hope and constant watch. The painted faces outside Zondon glared down with malice and shouted, Stay away!
When they arrived outside the main gates, Syn felt a wave a familiarity wash over her. She somehow knew this place and yet couldn’t figure out how.
A crumbled stone wall stood outside. Large metal plates had been fastened with bolts to the tall swinging gates. The hinges of the gates were mounted to two great steel pillars. Across the front the word Zondon appeared—a strange assortment of letters. The Z and O were metal cutouts and the N, D, O, and N that followed had been painted on.
“And the tour ends, toasters!” Ripley said, waggling her knife at Huck, Arquella, and Bear. “Go on now. Get outta here. Shoo.”
“We don’t leave until the Expected releases us,” Arquella announced.
Ripley furrowed her brow and pointed the knife edge at Syn. “That you?”
Syn did not respond.
Ripley shrugged. “Well, then. Tell your machines to leave.”
Syn started to speak and then hesitated. She didn’t want to be alone. She had only known the three for a short time, but they were faithful companions.
“Listen. I ain’t tellin’ you for my own good or yours. It’s for theirs.” She glanced back to the gates. “If they walk in that door, they’re dead. She hates all toasters. Kills them on sight. She doesn’t want anything related to the machines walking around. And she just doesn’t discard them so you could fix ‘em later. She chops them up and does some strange stuff with the bits.” She pointed the knife back at the three. “They leave now, or they aren’t safe. Hell, they may have already stayed too long.”
Syn leapt from the back of the harvest bot and wrapped her arms first around Arquella and then Bear. “You two go straight on back to the Barlgharel. Tell him I made it.” She looked up at Huck as he floated above unmoving—oddly stationary. “You keep an eye out for them.”
Bear spoke up, “You promised to come back to us. Right?”
Syn patted his side and nodded. “Yes.” But inside, she was less certain than ever. She had no idea what lay beyond the gates. “Please, go on now. I want you to be safe.”
“I ain’t movin’ an inch more ‘til I see the backs of them toasters disappear,” Ripley grunted.
“Go, please. I need to know you’re safe,” Syn said, hugging them once more.
“Okay,” Arquella said, “We’ll see you.” She and Bear turned around and began to move away. They paused twice and glanced back, and Syn waved.
Huck hesitated twice, and instead of flying along with, he them zipped straight into the air, far above them, until he disappeared in the dark rolling clouds above. She waved at him as well, hoping he would catch up with the other two now disappearing from view. She turned back to Ripley. “Let’s go.”
Zondon Almighty seemed to be a mocking term now that Syn had passed through its gates. The massive gate had swung open and then closed, manned by a single burly. From the dunes below, moving on the grumbling harvest bot, the massive outer walls seemed to shout Stay out. Syn could only imagine what had lay past. Pulled from films of the past, her mind conjured a bustling metropolis, the last remnants of those that survived.