The Boy at the End of the World by Greg van Eekhout

Author:Greg van Eekhout
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Published: 2011-06-22T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

Click and Protein stood behind the machine. They both looked all right, though Protein’s head shuddered with agitation. Fisher cocked back his hand ax.

The machine’s surface was some kind of gleaming, black material that seemed to ripple like maggots on rotten fruit. An assemblage of arms and joints rested on hundreds of legs, like a giant millipede. In the middle of the machine’s back rose a curving neck that moved fluidly, like a snake. And at the end of the neck was a face more human than Click’s, but less human than Fisher’s.

It broke into something like a smile.

“Hello! I see you have a stone. Do you wish to throw it? Hello!” It spoke not with one voice, but with a thousand little voices.

“Are you okay?” Fisher said to Click and Protein.

Protein shivered, as though he might charge.

“We are unharmed,” said Click.

“Yes,” the machine said. “I will never let any harm come to you. Hello!”

“Move out of the way and let me stand with my friends,” Fisher said.

“Yes, I will do this. Hello!” The machine scuttled back, its hundreds of legs tapping against the plasteel floor.

Fisher was very aware of all those arms towering over him as he moved past the machine and joined Click and Protein. He rested his hand on Protein’s shoulder to calm the mammoth.

“What are you?” Fisher said.

The machine’s smile grew broader. Tiny black things squiggled between its black teeth. Fisher’s underfed stomach squirmed.

“I am the Intelligence, an I constructed of we. I am many forms combined into a single form. This arrangement allows me to serve humans with great effectiveness. Hello!”

“Ah, very interesting,” said Click. “You are a composite machine, one machine made of many. I presume you are composed of nano constructs?”

“Hello, yes!” the machine—the Intelligence—said brightly. A few tiny black wormlike things broke off from one of its legs. They wriggled on the ground for several seconds before returning to the leg and flowing back into it. “Each of my nanobots is made from millions of molecule-sized machines, and I am made of millions of nanobots. Combined, we can assume any shape and perform any function.”

To demonstrate, the Intelligence became a crane. An instant later, it was some kind of wheeled vehicle. Then, a giant drill. And then it cycled back to its original form.

“See?” the machine said. “Very useful! Hello!”

“Why does it keep saying hello?” Fisher asked Click.

The nano-worms in the Intelligence’s mouth shifted. It looked like a faltering smile. “You have not returned my greeting. Would you like to return my greeting? Hello!”

Fisher didn’t quite understand the purpose of a greeting. It made sense if you were coming back to camp and wanted to let your companions know you weren’t a predator. Maybe the Intelligence was trying to say it wasn’t a predator. Or maybe it wanted Fisher to say that he wasn’t a predator.

Fisher said nothing.

The Intelligence’s smile grew very wide. “Hello! There is danger.”

Protein’s ears perked up. Soon Fisher heard it too. A distant noise quickly rose in volume to the now-familiar sound of gadget engines.

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