Deathstalker 06 - Deathstalker Legacy

tendrils twitching and drawing to one side to form a path for the robot and Lewis to walk through. Lewis hurried after the robot, if only because he really didn't want to be left alone in this place. He felt like Jonah in the belly of the whale, far and far from his own kind. He jumped slightly as the robot calmly turned its head 180 degrees, so it
    could look at Lewis while still walking forwards.
    "We have been studying the records of the Terror's arrival in our space. We don't know where it came from. It wasn't a teleport. It came here from somewhere outside or beyond our space. From somewhere we cannot . . . imagine. From somewhere outside our knowledge. We find that concept disturbing. Like an itch in our thoughts we cannot scratch. We have been supplied with all the data from Donal Corcoran, from his ship and his drones . . . and none of it means anything to us. A puzzle, with no logical solution.
    Fascinating. Quite fascinating. A completely unique event; unlike anything we have ever encountered before, in our entire existence. There is only one other thing we can even compare it to."
    "Really?" said Lewis. "What's that?"
    "The only other phenomenon we have never been able to understand. The Madness Maze."
    Lewis decided to let that one pass. He rather felt he knew where that was going. "So; you've been studying the data. Any conclusions yet?"
    "Just one. We're scared."
    "You're scared?"
    "Yes," said the robot. "For the first time in our long existence, we are faced with a threat against which we can conceive no defense. The last time we felt this way . . . was when we considered the extent of the dangers posed by your ancestor Owen, and the others transformed by the Madness Maze. Power beyond belief, beyond logic or reason. At least Owen and his companions had recognizable human frailties. Physical or mental weaknesses, that could be manipulated or exploited. We understood humans, or thought we did. We do not understand, or even recognize, the Terror. It exists, but it is not alive, as we understand life. It is a multidimensional creature, existing in more than three dimensions. It is, perhaps, more real than we are. It comes and goes, and we don't know how. It breaks every law of creation that we can identify. It changes the nature of things, by its very nature. It eats souls. It is greater than we are, or could ever hope to be. Unless . . ."
    "Ah," said Lewis, smiling coldly. "I get it. Unless . . . you go through the Maze, like Owen. Well it's no good asking me. Only the King and Parliament can make that decision."
    "You are close to the King."
    "Not as close as I was."
    "You have influence."
    "I wouldn't bet on that, if I were you."
    The robot considered this, without slowing its pace through the technojungle. "We could refuse you access to our records. Until we get what we want. What we need."
    "You could," Lewis said carefully. "But that would just lead to a long debate, with no guarantee of success at the end. And there's no telling how much time we have left, before the Terror strikes again.
    Surely it's in both our interests to pool our knowledge, and present a unified front against a common threat. If you start withholding information, so might Humanity. It would be ... unwise, to deny each other necessary data over a question that is never going to be decided by threats or blackmail. You want
    access to the Maze, to fight the Terror; come up with a good logical argument that Parliament can't deny."
    "Spoken like a true Deathstalker," said the robot. "Wise, honorable, and utterly naive. Humanity will never allow us access to the Maze. They fear what we might become, if we could learn the secret they cannot. They fear that if we were to transcend, we might become even more than Owen and his kind, and leave Humanity far behind."
    "No," said Lewis. "That's not it. We fear that you might destroy yourselves in trying. You are our strayed children, found at last. We don't want to lose you again."
    "Ah," said the robot. "We had not considered that. We apologize."
    "That's all right," said Lewis. "It's in the nature of things, for children and parents to misunderstand each other."
    And then he broke off and stopped suddenly, as he caught sight of a human figure, standing motionless among the tech and hanging metal strands. It looked exactly like a man, perfect in every detail, dressed in old-fashioned clothing. Lewis walked slowly over to stand before the figure, the metallic creepers pulling obediently