The Scholar's Tale (Original Fantasy)

Book II, Chapter 10

"The truth will set you free."-Common Midworld threat, origin unknown;

Liberty...earned?

***

"Making". Not "giving birth'".

I shouldn't have been so surprised, I supposed. Ib had never seemed organic, alive, in terms of physiology, if you could even call it that. But...it had always been human, for as long as I had known it. More human, indeed, that the homunculi that had once been people-several people, in some cases. Human resources, as some mages joke darkly. Only the best homunculi, however, possessed mannerisms and emotions the way Ib did.

If my friend was a construct, though, it only proved how limiting such terms were. Perhaps the Free Fleet's technology(for Ib, as marvelous and strange a being as it was, was not magical, or, at least, not in a way I could understand) had made it so cunning as to successfully, even unwittingly trick people into seeing it as a person...but at that point, was there truly any distinction? I had known, killed and killed for wretches that had only been human in appearance.

The giant stood stock-still for a moment. No. Looking more carefully, I could tell it was rocking on its heels in...shock? Anticipation? Of what, then? Embracing its creator and learning the truth about itself, or tearing them apart before they could even begin to attempt justifying themselves?

'Made me,' Ib said in the smallest voice I had ever heard from it. 'Made me go mad, too, I think,' its voice deepened and sharpened at the last word, face shaping into the beginning of a sharklike smirk. 'I cannot remember, father, mother...' The grey giant's smirk was now broad as it laughed. 'What even are you? You're changing your body like I change mine, but you smell human. And...I detect no mana.'

'Any sufficiently-analysed magic is nigh-indistinguishable from science,' the engineer replied with the air of someone seizing the chance to quote a beloved work or person. Hmm...had I read it somewhere?

They held up their gloved hands with a disarming smile. 'I'm not making light, you lump-' Ib was crouching over the scientist now, having moved across the room faster than I could see. It leaned forward, knees bent, supporting itself on its four upper arms. The lower ones were spread to encircle the scientist, palms open and fingers splayed around them, as if to press around them in a crushing grip.

I knew for a fact Ib would only need a fingertip to utterly obliterate a human. Either it was showboating, riled up by the revelations about its past, or it could sense something dangerous about its creator. Something I couldn't.

'You do not make it sound like mockery.' If I hadn't lived on the same ship as the grey being for months, I might have been fooled by its apparently light tone, coupled with the lack of body cues. 'But I do not understand the significance. I feel like I should...maker.'

The engineer nodded rapidly, their smile becoming far more energetic as it widened. 'Yes, that is wonderful! Why don't we go somewhere quiet, and I will tell you what you want-indeed, need- to know?'

At Ib's wordless nod, they turned and walked back to the room I had glimpsed through the parted wall. Ib said nothing to us as it entered, but it shed off two chunks of itself. One, just big enough to be visible to the naked eye, slithered into a corner. Any part of Ib was both a limb and a sensory organ; through this, it could still see, hear and smell what was going on in the room, as if it had never left.

The other chunk of grey substance was far bigger. Rising and shaping itself into a wedge, it stopped the wall when it tried to close and seal Ib and its creator off. The Council's glares slid off the giant like water of a duck's back, but when its creator turned, eyes wide in a mixture of exasperation and hurt, it actually stopped mid-step.

But only for a moment.

'Do you really think your lovely Councilors won't attempt anything with me "gone", when one tried to shoot my captain while I was at his side?' Ib resumed its stride, and the engineer hurried to catch up, the two of them soon disappearing from view, even their voices falling to a indecipherable mumble.

...And we were left alone in the middle of a bunch of paranoid martinets with itchy trigger fingers, and extensive experience when it came to convincing themselves atrocities were necessary-

Thump.

The sound was repeated twice more, as two grey blobs came to land at Mharra and Three's feet, mirrors to the one at mine.

I smiled. Not alone at all, perhaps.

***

'Why can't I remember anything meaningful unless close to the Fleet?' Ib asked as soon as it was out of Ryzhan's sight and earshot. Three, it knew, mostly sensed what he wanted to and completely missed what he didn't, and Mharra...

Well. It had once told Ryzhan the captain was a good man. If it had lied about his nature, Ryzhan would have been disappointed: at Mharra, at Ib, for lying, at himself, for falling for it.

If it had lied about his species, Ryzhan would have been shocked.

Good thing it had lied about both, then. Or, well...not a lie, perhaps. An understatement.

Because, according to all its senses and whatever passed for its instincts, Mharra was human the same way it was a lump of metal.

Tch. Now it was using that word, too.

'A safety measure,' its creator said, preparing to sit down on nothing; then, the blue, reflective floor smoothly shaped itself into a chair catching them just a metre off the ground.

No, not a chair, Ib realised. One of its copies-later models, maybe, a part of its mind corrected sardonically-shaping itself into furniture for...for...

'Can that thing think?' iIt jerked its head at the 'chair' when its creator raised an eyebrow. 'That cheap doll made in my image. Can it think, reason? Does it feel anything?'

'Of course not, Libertas,' the engineer shook their head, patting the chair affectionately. 'Such things are superfluous to its purpose.'

'Which is...what? Being furniture? Thank you for tossing me into the sea, if that was what you made me for.'

'Do not be absurd, Libertas,' the scientist snapped lightly, then caught themselves, running their hands over their face. "'Sorry...I just...never expected to see you again.'

'I am glad to disappoint you, then.' Ib couldn't keep the bite out of its voice, and for once, it didn't give a damn. 'What was my purpose, then? The exile said they were weapons inspired by me. Am I-was I meant to be-a war machine?'

Its creator looked ready to answer, then shook their head, smile returning. 'To think...most parents talk about such mundane worries with their confused children, and we-'

'I am not your child. You are not my parent, anymore than I'd be a knife's father if I took up smithing. And I am not confused. I am stunted.'

'You will never cease being a child, if you keep thinking like that.' The engineer took a deep breath. 'We've started off the wrong foot, and are sliding into irrelevancies. Let us start over. You can call me Theo.'

'I can call you many things. Answer my question.'

Theo's shoulders drooped. 'Very well. Libertas? You were named thus because I made you to be able to take any shape you could imagine, in order to defend the Fleet from our enemies, and strike them down in our name. You passed all the physical and mental tests, breezed through the mock-battles...'

'...But?'

'But, because the mind is a reflection of the body, or perhaps the other way around,' Theo amended at Ib's scoff. 'You were...too much. You thought too freely-and yes, I am aware you think that is amusingly ironic. But freedom, like water, while vital, can also kill, in excessive quantities. And you, my child? You are freedom itself.'

'How flattering,' The grey giant kept its voice from wavering, but not, to its surprise, at the empty flattery. Because, deep inside it, where a human would have had a heart, something reared up in acknowledgement, and remembrance.

'Merely factual. You know how our Fleet travels? We sail possibility itself. That is how I made you, Ib. I reached beyond space and time, beyond our universe and its infinite collection of counterparts, into the realm of ideas. The bedrock of creation, some say, on which everything is built. Others say it is like a sun, casting the shadows we call existence. Others yet say it is the home of the gods, who are the only beings there capable of thought and action. You are freedom.'

'...My body. A...shell? Something to bind me to mundane reality, then?'

'If it is, I did not make it. You created it yourself, seemingly by reflex, when I dragged you into our realm. I wanted to build you a vessel, I admit, but you spared me the work. Unsurprising. You have always been too generous.'

Ib growled. 'More taunts. Referencing things I can't remember, as if expecting me to know them. Why the gaps? The missing memories?'

'Are you not curious how a mundane human such as myself managed this feat? Well, it is not like I could prove it to you at the moment, I will sadly admit. You broke my machine during your...birth.'

'Then the others...?'

'Lesser reflections, in terms of nature. Nothing so lofty as an embodied idea, descended from up high to walk our world of salt and dust. But...I think you would find them all unwavering in their devotion, and more than a match for your shell, as it is at the moment,' Theo tilted their head. "You have been eating poorly...though, I suppose I cannot blame you for not knowing yourself.'

'I have consumed everything I considered worthwhile,' Ib replied tersely, perhaps a touch more defensive than it should have been. Why was it so stung by this wretch's derisive pity?

'But you are not using it as you should be able to. Another safety measure, when we sent you away,' Theo leaned forward, eyes steely. 'You began putting down "unfit" elected leaders, doing the duties of the Freed to "prove their redundance"...you even tried to stop the creation of new Freed, by slaughtering the specialists tasked with making them. That could not stand. You were this close,' Theo held up their right middle and index fingers millimetres apart. ;To declaring yourself eternal god king of Libertas' Fleet, because you disagreed with our culture and felt you knew better.'

'You were a lousy maker, then.' Ib's smile was nowhere as comforting as intended. This did not bother it, it realised. 'Why wasn't I a perfect little toy soldier, sharing your glorious perspective, or even a mindless attack doll, like the Freed?'

'Because we gave you the capacity to think freely!' Theo stood up, face flushed. 'Don't you understand, dammit? This is the danger of freedom. It takes good, proper beings, and twists them into self-absorbed anarchists, who believe everything they know should bow to their wishes!'

'So, I went rogue.' Theo looked away at its words, saying nothing. 'And you did something that shut down all my memories, until I met my captain. But even then, the ones of the Fleet remained sealed away, until I approached you. Why? To prevent me from returning for revenge?'

'To prevent you from falling into the hand of our enemies. Our greatest weapon, with everything you know?' Theo shook their head, throwing in an entirely-theatrical shudder.

Ib was almost insulted at these gestures. Like they were trying to trick a human, or...

Or trick it into believing they were trying to trick them like they would a human, in order for it to become overconfident, and...dammit.

'What did you mean when you said I'm not using what I eat as I should?'

'Hmm? Ah...' Theo blinked, then scratched the back of their head with a gloved hand, that sheepish expression returning. 'I forgot. When I sealed your memories, I also stunted your potential, Libertas. You should theoretically be able to "become anything", as you are not bound to a single "shape" or "identity". Your assimilation is an extension of that, or perhaps a mirror. You should be able to manifest, or even combine, the traits of things you consume.'

'Will I be able to do that once we leave? Now that I know?' It couldn't keep the giddiness out of its voice, but who even cared about that? With this power, it could...it could...

It could find a spell to help Three find peace. It could protect Ryzhan from his pursuers, if they still even existed. It could-

'No,' Theo sounded almost as crushed as Ib felt. 'Your memories will, once more, fade, after you depart the Fleet.'

'Can't you cure that?' Ib clenched its fists. 'You did it, can't you...?' Ib was aware how pathetic, not to mention naïve, it sounded. People often did things they could not undo, and...and breaking was far easier than making. This, it knew.

'I could. In exchange for-'

'I won't become your slave again. You already have enough of them.'

'In exchange for,' Theo looked more annoyed at the interruption than the words themselves. 'A volunteer, in an experiment we are running at the moment. You, or a crewmate of yours-though, if you do not survive, my offer will become redundant. You see, we are trying to learn what a man could do, if bound to possibility, like our ships are...'