On a glass shore

[Blackrat]

'I see,' I respond - although to be honest I'm not sure I do.

'And who sent you? And who are these operatives?'

And, I don't ask, what the fuck is "tatterdemalion"?

[Learned Hand]

'Ah, dear lady it is with the greatest embarrassment that I have to confess that in this matter I must -with a degree of anguish you may well find hard to credit- relinquish my absolute commitment to the fulfillment of your every whim. Put plainly, I am not at liberty to divulge that information. There, it is said. Let us quickly move on from this unfortunate quantum of dissonance to the ground state of accord that I trust will inform our future relationship'.

[Blackrat]

Didn't I see some overly-verbose bot like this in a film somewhere? I sigh inwardly.

'Very well. However, I can't accept your assistance until I know who sent you - you'll appreciate, perhaps, that I am not as stupid as I might look.'

[Learned Hand]

'But why ever not, my Lady? You have at your disposal an inimitable piece of technology, whose sole purpose is the fulfillment of your every caprice. Why, were I not such a distinguished and multi-faceted machine I would not be able to tell you that the gun which you are currently holding in the left-hand pocket of your jacket with your index finger on the trigger and your thumb ready to flick the safety catch is a silenced FrintArms ten-millimetre HandCannon with eleven ten-seven coaxial depleted-uranium-casing mercury-core general purpose rounds in the magazine, plus one in the breech.

'Incidentally, I feel I must point out that FrintArms inc. strongly recommend that their handweapons are never carried with a round in the breech'

[Blackrat]

'Yes, and when they get a hole blown through their heads because they didn't have time to cock their weapon before the assassin fired her own breech round, perhaps they'll think more carefully about that advice.

'Look, it's cute that you can tell what gun I'm using. Well done. Were there some kind of robot award I could give you, I can honestly say that I would do so. And I don't doubt that, if I asked, you could demonstrate your proficiency in a large number of other ways, some of which might be quite gruesome. But for exactly that reason, I do not want you following me around until I know who sent you and why they give a damn.

'You mention a team of operatives that are also willing to work for me for free - though I notice that they aren't here to introduce themselves in person. There is only one team of operatives that I want or need to protect me, and -

...

'Miz, if this has anything to do with you, I'll... Just be glad you're not here to introduce yourself in person.'

Hang on, hang on... I'm getting carried away here. Do I really think Miz might be involved in this? Perhaps... I assume the hunting passport will apply to him as well. To the whole team, in fact. Fuck - I'd better warn them... God, what the fuck is going on here?? Anyway, I doubt this machine is his creation - probably just wishful thinking. It is the kind of joke he'd play, though. Idiot. I smile.

'Look, can you at least tell me whether or not you work for Geis Brejik, or are here as a result of any instruction of his?

'In fact, how are you able to understand what I'm saying in the first place? Who's on the other end of this line?'

[Learned Hand]

'You seem to be making certain unwarranted (and I say that with a most ineffable respect) assumptions about the status of my employ, my lady. I must repeat, with a full reminder of my utmost disquiet on this matter, that this is the one area in which my amaranthine devotion to you must waver.

'I can, however, give you my most consumate assurances that there is no one at the end of the line, as you so succintly put it. My programming has been so meticulous, perhaps fastiduous, that I am able to respond appropiately and effectively to any number of situations, no matter how apparently unpredictable or adventitious to your quest'

[Blackrat]

'Well, then we've reached something of an impasse, haven't we? I cannot, do not, and will not give my trust freely to any voice that asks for it, and you refuse to give me the information that will allow me to consider trusting you. Were you harmless, that wouldn't be a problem, but you've also indicated that you're a very dangerous machine, and that there is in fact a hidden team of dangerous people - even less trustworthy - who are backing you up. Maybe you're lying - but I guess we'll never know.

'Do you have any suggestions as to why I should blindly trust an unknown quantity, and potentially a very dangerous one? If so, I'd be glad to hear them. And don't list all the great things you can do for me - you can easily spin some bullshit and I'm not interested in hearing it. If you've got a real argument, then present it.

'If not, then my first and only order to you will be this: Roll into the sea and rust.'

I debate walking away; if it was a human I probably would - my reactions are good enough that I'd be confident of putting a bullet through their head before they tried anything. But until I know a bit more about this machine, I won't be turning my back on it. So I wait for its response, hoping against the odds that it just rolls its way into the sea...

[Learned Hand]

'If that is the way you want it, Lady Sharrow, then I have a confession to make'

A section of the machine's battered front casing swings open to reveal a red-glowing interior bright with screens and read-outs. Seconds later, a man's head and shoulders appear in the compartment.

He's young, muscular-looking in a dark T-shirt and quite bald; the red light throws dark shadows across his face and over eyes which look gold in the half-light. The skin on his smoothly reflecting head looks coppery.

'We have to --- ' he begins, and you can hear his voice, and the mechanised voice of the beachcomber.

'We have to talk'. There's a slick bassiness about his voice.

[Blackrat]

'Oh, for goodness' sake. You evidently haven't done your research very well, or you'd know that I'm a stubborn bitch so you'd have made yourself known in the first place to avoid wasting both of our time. I agree we have to talk - although mostly just you. Why not start now.'

[Learned Hand]

The young man flashes an annoyingly attractive smile.

'Sorry for the deception. It was felt that you might be more receptive to this form of contact. The truth is I'm simply here to offer you a proposition. Would you like a job, Lady Sharrow? A contract. if you will. I believe you are reforming your old -shall we say- 'Company'? '

[Blackrat]

Interesting - even I haven't decided that yet...

'Well, whoever "felt" that was an idiot, and should have known that I trust robots considerably less than people. And that's not a great deal. So please don't waste any more of my time. If I were in contact with my team, of what interest would it be to you?'

Some contract he's going to offer me, if he thought the best way to do it was for me to order him around... In robot form...

This is fucking crazy.

[Learned Hand]

The man looks a little bit embarrassed. 'ahem... indeed.'

He reaches into the shell of the machine and pulls out a small bag.

'Platinum' he says, flatly. 'Please don't believe, Lady Sharrow, that we would waste your time. We would want your services to be reserved for our disposal. We would contact you from time to time to give you an item from our shopping list. We would understand that you would be on the run and we would be accomodating.

'If I may be frank, none of the things we would have you procure are terribly legal anyway'

He throws you the bag.

'Do we have a deal?'

[Blackrat]

'I'll discuss it with my team as and when I speak to them. I trust that I can take this as an advance - thank you. How do you recommend I contact you to inform you of our decision?

'And, since you've brought it up, what makes you think we'll be on the run? I imagine you won't answer, but I like to know who I'm working for and what connections they have that might impinge upon my well-being.'

I don't like this - it doesn't add up. In some ways he knows a good deal more about me than I'd like - the fact that I'm on the run and that I'm going to round up the team. But in some ways he's clueless - like he thought being a robot would help me.

Similarly, he says he wants to offer me a contract, but he thought that pretending to be a robot offering me his services would be the best way to do that. It doesn't make any sense.

I guess I'll discuss it with the others, if any of them actually want to speak to me. But I can't say I'm too keen. That said, we may just need the money.

[Learned Hand]

The man nods when you ask if you can keep the coins.

'You'll be on the run because the Alliance will begin hunting you and the rest of your team in the next few days. As for who you're working for, Lady Sharrow - that would be me'

He turns to walk away, in the direction Geis went.

[Blackrat]

What a fucking lunatic. Well, I don't trust him at all - which makes a change. I'm concerned that he knows about the hunting passport, though - I thought Geis said that wasn't active yet. But I guess I'll see what the others say - if I can find them. Time to get started, in fact...

I wait until he's out of sight and walk in the opposite direction. First stop: home, to grab supplies, if I don't get shot or accosted on the way. Second stop: Miz.