Charlie referred this stagevan company to us. He says they've got a good safety record, which means I'll be sleeping easy at night. He waited at the station while we loaded up the vehicle, then hugged Sam tightly in farewell. I felt it necessary to look away before I embarassed us all by witnessing the emotional exchange.
There are two other passengers traveling with us, Oar Ellis and Anthony Morales. Mr. Ellis is a Michaelman, a man who willingly serves one of the New Gods. (Sam clearly does not trust Mr. Ellis. She has not said more than three words to him and spits the word Michaelman as if it is a curse.) Anthony is a young man of approximately fifteen years of age. He is traveling south to one of the larger cities where he hopes to find a doctor to study the art of medicine. They have both agreed to be interviewed for my journal.
Anthony is a native of Bismarck. I asked him why he didn't speak in the same screeching tones as our old guide. He pulled his shirt sleeve up and showed me the cables that danced around his wrist in place of tendons. "I've been upgraded by the Gear Baby, same as her. It let me keep my head, provided I go out and learn how to fix the flesh side of things."
When asked why, he shrugged. "Every one of the Gear Baby's towns has got to have a doctor. I was picked to be Doc Hannigan's replacement when I was five. But I needed more book learning so I'm headed to one of the big cities for a couple of years. When Doc Hannigan's dead, the Gear Baby will let me know and I'll head back home with whatever I've managed to learn."
"Why a doctor?" This from Sam. "Why not just keep replacing the body with scavenged metal and concrete?" Though she was scornful, there seemed to be honest curiosity behind her question.
"I.. I don't know. Hold on a sec and let me ask." Anthony closed his eyes for a moment, his lips moving. When he opened them, his face was blank and it took him a moment to focus on us. "CURRENT PROJECTIONS INDICATE CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS EXHAUSTED IN FIFTEEN YEARS. BY ADDING ONE DOCTOR TO EACH TOWN TO CONDUCT MINOR BIOLOGICAL REPAIRS CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS CAN BE EXTENDED UP TO SIXTY-FIVE YEARS." It was Anthony's voice, but in a mechanical monotone. Everyone edged back from the boy who blinked. "Did that answer your question?" Back to his normal voice.
"Er, yes." Sam shifted further away from Anthony, pulling her heavy canvas coat tighter around her.
Anthony smiled. "Don't worry, ma'am. It gets a lot harder to talk to the mainframe the further I get from the cities. Those wires," he pointed out the window to cables that could be seen in the distance. "The Gear Baby's gotten to some of them, but not all."
This was my chance! I leaned forward in my seat, pencil at the ready. "Can I ask the mainframe some questions, Anthony?" Sam's head whipped around and she stared at me incredulously. "I'm not just describing what the world is like now," I explained while Anthony's face once again went blank. "I need to tell people how it came to be that way."
"I too am interested in pursuing this line of inquiry." Mr. Ellis added. Sam shrugged, leaning back in her seat and turning her attention out the window.
"AWAITING REQUEST."
"Oh, um." I thought back to the video the guide had shown us. "Well... Where did the Gear Baby come from?"
"THOUGHTS. DREAMS. MEMORIES. ALTERNATELY A POCKETWATCH OWNED BY A MAN WHILE HE WAS IN NEW JERSEY."
"What's New Jersey?"
"A GEOGRAPHICAL AREA IN A NATION THAT ONCE WAS BUT IS NO LONGER."
"Well that was helpful."
"YOU'RE WELCOME."
"No, I mean- Never mind. What exactly is a mainframe?"
"MAINFRAME: NOUN. DEFINITION: A LARGE COMPUTER, OFTEN THE HUB OF A SYSTEM SERVING MANY USERS."
"What's a computer? Or a hub? Is it like the hub of a wheel?"
There was silence. Anthony rolled his unfocused eyes. "PLEASE NARROW SEARCH TERM PARAMETERS."
"What are paramete-" My question cut off in a grunt of pain as Sam elbowed me in the side. "All right. Well, what do you do?"
"I SERVE MANY USERS. MY PRIMARY FUNCTIONS ARE SCHEDULING TASKS, TRANSMITTING COMMUNICATION FROM THE ONE TRUE MAINFRAME AND MANAGING SEEPEEYU USAGE."
I didn't ask what seepeeyu was, I didn't want to feel Sam's sharp elbow in my ribs again. "Who is the 'One True Mainframe'?"
"THE ONE TRUE MAINFRAME IS THE ONE DESIGNATED 'GEAR BABY'. IT -kkkkssss- THE -skkkt- TO -ssksksksks- ANTssskkkPATE TERRITppsskssssEA WILL kkkkkssssBLE IN sssksksTEEN YEAssskkkk..."
Anthony's voice was cut off suddenly, and he slumped forward like a dead weight. Mr. Ellis was fast enough to catch him before he hit his head on the seat in front of him. The young man was deathly pale, he had sacrificed his own health to allow me to talk with this mainframe person. At the very least, I must pay for his meals while he travels with us. Mr. Ellis laid the boy down on the rearmost bench of the stagevan and covered him with his black leather jacket.
I decided to wait until we stopped for the night before interviewing Mr. Ellis. He nodded and to be honest, looked a little relieved. His tension didn't ease any when I told him that Anthony was the first to faint after one of my interviews. Instead, I was treated to Sam's elbow digging into my ribs-on the same spot as before, no less. I will surely have a bruise in the morning.
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