Night fell gently over the land. A campfire was lit in the depths of the forest. Moran, Huixiong, Shahuang, Feiluo, and A-Ka sat together, preparing a meal. Moran had brought quite a bit to eat, which he benevolently shared with the rest of them. While the food cooked, A-Ka told him about everything that had happened in that short year in the future, starting from their arrival in Phoenix City.
Meanwhile, Heishi was sitting roguishly in a tree. Leaning against the tree trunk, he dangled one foot from the branch and swung it languidly. “Are you done?” he asked distantly. “Not only are you full of words, you’re also too loud.”
A-Ka concluded his narrative with one more sentence, then got to his feet. “Well, it’s just like that. Please remember not to tell anyone else.”
The rest began to chuckle. Huixiong looked at A-Ka, then at Heishi. “Heishi, if it were not a necessity to do so, I would never choose to work with you.”
“He’s just a ruffian,” Feiluo said casually. “He can’t accept anyone else’s opinions on anything.”
“Don’t say that.” A-Ka walked to the base of the tree, then turned his head back to the group. “Heishi’s a good person.”
“I’m not a person,” Heishi said lazily.
No one knew what to say to that. Heishi let down his other leg for A-Ka to hug as he climbed up the tree.
“You’re nothing good,” Feiluo said.
“That’s right,” Heishi replied, unconcerned.
“But you’re like a human now,” Feiluo continued. “You should thank A-Ka.”
Heishi’s expression shifted as if he was embarrassed, surprising A-Ka. When Heishi completely halted the conversation, A-Ka was taken aback again—was Heishi really embarrassed?
Heishi could only pretend not to look at the rest of the group as he shifted to the side, giving A-Ka a little bit of space to sit. A-Ka was holding some food that Moran had given him, but he handed the lion’s share of it to Heishi.
Heishi gazed into A-Ka’s eyes, then said, “You should eat it.”
“You eat,” A-Ka said. “You never had the chance to experience a happy life in Phoenix City or try all the delicacies that humans make.”
“Delicacies.” Heishi found his thoughts entirely out of step with A-Ka’s. He was about to scoff when an idea came to him, and he changed his tune. “What delicacies?”
“Percy really liked to eat the coconut buns from the shop on the street corner, fresh from the oven,” A-Ka said, “and the coffee jelly sold outside the Municipal Tower.”
Heishi did not understand what any of that was, so he could only hum neutrally in response.
“After the war is over, I’ll take you places,” A-Ka said. “Let’s go together, if that’s all right.”
“Where will we go?” Heishi asked. “Are we going to eat other foods?”
“I once read that this world has many steep mountain peaks and islands out at sea. There’re certain spots where the sunlight is gorgeous, and others where the ocean is so pristine that you can clearly see the sand under the water. There are forests that sing, with many strange, odd beasts living within, and there are also humans in many places where Father’s power is not yet able to reach.”
Heishi absentmindedly grunted once as a response.
A-Ka finished eating the soda crackers in his hand and handed the paper to Heishi. On it was printed the limpid snow lakes of the eastern mountain range. “This looks like a nice place. When I was small, I always wanted to travel to see them.”
“You learned these things from your educational materials?” Heishi asked.
A-Ka nodded. “We had a human teacher, Krakos, who taught us general knowledge. Though, after he died, we had to read on our own. When I was still back there, I even made a pact with a few good friends that if we ever had a chance to leave, we would visit those places for sure. To us humans, those spots used to be our ancestral homes, our deities’ shrines, our very own mountains, vast oceans, and ancient ruins…”
“I remember you had friends among the humans,” Heishi said. “You were raised in a concentration camp.”
“Concentration camp?” A-Ka asked.
Heishi didn’t respond, and A-Ka sank into a prolonged silence.
“After we go back, can I go check on how they’re doing?” A-Ka asked. “The little kids in the same living quarters as me.”
“As long as there’s enough time, what you do is up to you.”
“If I saved them, what would happen?”
“I don’t know. You should go ask Moran that.”
A-Ka glanced over at the pontiff in front of the distant fire, hesitating. Heishi guessed at what he was thinking.
“The reason you’re not asking him is because you also know that you can’t.”
A-Ka remained dejectedly silent.
“You can save one person, but you cannot save multiple people,” Heishi said matter-of-factly. “It’s even less likely for you to be able to save all of the humans in the City of Steel. At this moment, Father still has the upper hand. Unless you destroy Father for Liber’s sake—but that’s impossible, because when we left the city, Father had not been destroyed yet.”
“If it were possible,” A-Ka murmured, “I would rather, in this battle…do what I could to destroy Father. That way, I could prevent so many things from happening.”
“But with that,” Heishi said, “the world would collapse, and the rules of the space-time continuum would be broken. Reconsider. As soon as you get the passcode to open the door, leave immediately. Otherwise, Moran will also be dragged into this mess.”
A-Ka said no more. He sighed and leaned back into Heishi’s embrace until he dozed off.
When the sky brightened the next day, Heishi shook A-Ka awake. Moran split breakfast among them. A communicator he was holding beeped, sending news from the clones via an irregular coded telegram.
“After we sneak past the city walls, we should be in the Western District.” A-Ka used a branch to draw a map of the general sections of the City of Steel on the ground. The city was built in the shape of a crown. Thousands of years ago, the area around the Nucleus had been built by humans, and its central point was Father’s tall tower.
“The Western District goes from here…to here.” A-Ka circled a large region. “It’s where the mechanical life-forms gather.”
“Wait a moment,” Huixiong said. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but I have to ask. How are we supposed to get in?”
A-Ka blinked at Huixiong in confusion before looking to Moran. All of them suddenly found themselves in an unsolvable dilemma.
“Keep talking,” Heishi said. “Don’t worry about how to get in for now.”
A-Ka could only continue in his explanation. “Let’s assume that everyone has already entered the city, ignoring the issue of how we’ll get in… Now, we’re in the Western District. This is where the acquisition terminals that allow androids to charge and exchange communications are. In the outer city, there are about two hundred thousand clones who provide all kinds of services for the mechanical life-forms. They’re basically a small-scale community.
“Any off-duty robots will be on standby in the Western District,” A-Ka said, “to save on power. But Father sometimes wakes them up. No matter what, we cannot pass through this area aboveground. We have to avoid that whole area. If we circle around the outside of the Western District, there’s a gap.”
“Is it here?” Moran used the long scepter he was carrying to point at a spot on A-Ka’s drawing.
A-Ka nodded. “Yeah. That’s the spare-parts assembly plant, which is operated by robotic guards. Inside it, there’s a conveyor belt that brings metallic plates, extra parts, and other half-finished bits to the casting plant. We can follow the conveyor belt to the casting plant, where they refine and enhance the crude metal.”
Next, A-Ka drew a line toward the north of the city. “Outside the casting plant, we’ll find a road around the biomaterial synthesis center that leads to the Eastern District. That’s where the humans are gathered. We can use the central elevator shaft there to get into the underground passages, then wait until the energy passageways start up to make our way to the surface. We’ll wait for General Liber in front of Father’s nucleus.”
“Very well-articulated,” Shahuang said. “A solid lecture, clearly thought out and delivered with a serious attitude. Though my calling is that of a bodyguard, and I care little about how you plan to sneak onto the mother ship, I still have to ask. How will you get in contact with General Liber?”
Huixiong and Moran looked toward Feiluo.