The Cyborg's Daughter ( I'm close to 100K reads! Then Party)

Chapter 30/Tears in the copper market

10:52 The Copper Market/Washington 2.0. 

I was back at the copper market. It was dark and I had to use my collar light to show the way. Towards the end I turned the light off and relied on the directions my collar gave me. I made my way cautiously to the centre of the market. I wanted to wait near the water pump I had used as a fountain for the story teller's water. I was early I had a good hour or more to wait. That was good. If it was a trap I would see them setting it up.

I walked along trying to pick things out in the dim light. Then stumped on something.

"Say it's isn't you" said the voice of the storyteller.

"You?" I said. "what are you doing here? Can't you see this place is empty?"

"I sleep here. Do you know how hard it is to go any were with no legs and one arm?" he said. He did have a point, but I tried not to think about the possible sanitary consequences of his daily routine.

"Can I sit down?" I said.

"If you must," said the Storyteller.

I followed the smell of old dogs and damp cloth to the cold ground.

"What you doing?" said the man.

"I'm cooling down after being in the Kimjodo contest all day" I said.

We sat quietly only hearing the sound of drones high above us for a few minutes.

"I didn't say thanks for the water. How about I tell you a story" he said.

I had plenty of time. Going from the intensity of the contest to sitting outside doing nothing was very dull.

"OK" I said quietly.

"Do you know what story you want?" the storyteller said.

"Do you know the story of Prometheus ?" I said - I needed to have it repeated it clearly had some link to what's going on.

"Oh I know that story big time. Sure you want it?" said the Storyteller.

I nodded.

It was getting cold I moved closer to him for warmth.

"Cover your collar. It was a wet and stormy night..." the storyteller began.

"Seriously?" I said "Wet and stormy night, that's like story telling cliche number one"

"Were you there? No." said the story teller clearly displeased about being interrupted " The resistance had hacked the weather conditioning to freak the robots. AND wet and stormy night isn't the number one story telling cliche, it's 'and they all lived happily ever after' and I don't do happy endings. OK?"

He looked at me with what was left of his good eye.

"OK" I said.

"It was the day of victory. Prometheus had just entered the CPU's hall. In those days the New Mechanical Order was run by the CPU who operated under the request of the robot republic senate were all robots and cyborgs' could speak. The robots were desperate, loosing the war with the resistance."

"But how? The robots are so much smarter, faster, better armed than people" I said.

The story teller leant over.

"You don't have to be smart to survive. Rats aren't as smart as humans and the human were never able to wipe rats out either, what hope had the robots have?"

"OK" I said. 
"Prometheus went to the CPU to negotiate a truce, together they would design a new world." he continued "One where the humans, cyborg's and robots were free. What no one knew, even those close to her"