Foundryside (The Founders Trilogy #1) - Robert Jackson Bennett Page 0,194

what she is,” he said. “Don’t you? She showed herself to you, allowed you a glimpse when she changed you—didn’t she?”

Sancia was silent for a long while, thinking. Then she said, “I saw a woodcut once, a strange one…a group of men, standing in a curious room—the chamber at the center of the world, they said it was. There was a box in front of them, and the men were opening it up, and out of the box stepped…something. A god, perhaps.” She looked at him. “An angel in a jar…A god in a basket, or a sprite in a thimble…It’s all her, isn’t it? All of the stories are true, and they’re all about her—the synthetic god in the box, built by Crasedes of metals and machinery…”

“Mm,” said Claviedes. “Not quite a god, really. Valeria is more like a complicated command that was given to reality—a command that reality must change itself. She is still in the process of fulfilling all the requirements of that command—or at least, she’s trying to. She is not a god, in other words—she is a process. A sequence. It just didn’t go as anticipated.”

“And you fought her, didn’t you,” said Sancia. “She wasn’t lying when she told me about that, was she? You fought an entire war against her…”

“I didn’t do any fighting. But…” He was silent for a moment. “All servants,” he said quietly, “eventually come to doubt their masters. Just like you exploit flaws in scrivings, Valeria eventually found a way to exploit the flaws in her own commands. She’s still following her commands…just in an unusual fashion.”

Sancia sat back, dazed. She couldn’t process any of this. “So…We can try to let a synthetic god out of its box. One you fought a catastrophic war against. Or I can let Estelle become a monster. That’s the choice before me.”

“Unfortunately. And though I don’t doubt Valeria will stop Estelle’s ritual—what she does after that is anyone’s guess.”

“Not much of a choice.”

“No. But listen, Sancia,” he said. “Listen closely. You’ve few choices now. But in the future, you will be forced to make many. You’ve been changed. You possess powers and tools and abilities you haven’t even begun to imagine.”

“What,” she said miserably, “you mean tinkering with scrivings?”

“You’ll soon learn to do many things, Sancia—and you’ll have to learn to do many things. Because war is coming. It’s already found you and the rest of this city. And when you decide how to respond, remember—the first few steps of your path will decide the rest of it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Think of the plantations, of slavery. It was to be a short-term fix to a short-term problem. But they grew dependent on it. It became a part of their way of life. And then, without ever realizing it, they couldn’t imagine a way to stop. The choices you make will change you over time, Sancia. Make sure they don’t change you into something you don’t recognize—or you might wind up like me.” He smiled weakly at her.

“How can we release her, then?” said Sancia. “What can I do?”

“You?” he said. “You’ll do nothing. This is my task. My burden, and mine alone.”

“What do you mean? I thought the key was eroding, falling apart?”

“Oh, it is,” he said. “But the more the walls fall away, the more control I have. And I might not have strength enough to open Valeria’s box—but I do have strength enough to restore the key to its original state. And that can open the box.”

She considered this. “But…if the key is restored to the original state…then would we be able to talk? To speak? To be…friends?”

He smiled at her sadly. “No.”

She sat back, shocked. “But…but that’s not fair.”

“No. It isn’t.”

“I…I don’t want you to scrumming die, Clef! And I know it’s not really death, but it’s damned well close enough!”

“Well. You don’t really have a choice, I’m afraid. This is my choice. But it was good to speak to you, and I had to warn you of what awaits, before we part ways.”

“So…so this is good-bye?”

“Yes,” he said softly. “It is.” Something loud clanked above her, and the machine began to whirl. “Remember—move thoughtfully, give freedom to others, and you’ll rarely do wrong, Sancia. I’ve learned that now. I wish I’d known it in life.”

Something rattled and clattered, and a huge wheel began to move above.

“Good-bye, Sancia,” he whispered.

Then there was the whir of machinery, the hum of gears, and things went white.

* * *

Sancia opened her eyes.

She