The Emperor's Jubilee II

[Proto Man]

With a gasp, Proto Man emerged from the hatch and immediately scrambled for some cover as a volley of musket fire from the nearby enemy vessel peppered the deck of the Blight Runner. Two men let out yelps and fell clutching their chest and gut as blood started to soak through their thin clothes.

“C’mon lads, give them hell!” The voice came from near the bow of the ship. On an elevated platform that housed the steering wheel among other landmarks, a massive man in a tricorne hat sneered as he shouldered a musket and fired at the enemy vessel. He grinned and limped over to the railing that overlooked the rest of the deck, allowing Proto Man to see that he had a peg leg. “Wipe your britches and prepare to be boarded!” As if waiting on cue, the other ship swung hard around, close enough that Proto Man could see the crew hoisting several large planks with hooks on the end.

“What do we do?” Proto Man shouted as the crew of the Blight Runner fired another volley of their muskets. The other youth had already collected a sword and pistol from one of the fallen crewmen.

“We’re two of the five prisoners on this ship…this is the part of the story where we earn our keep by defending the ship from this attack.”

Proto Man nodded and tried to activate the Proto Buster. Much to his dismay, the weapon system along with all of his advanced HUD overlays was offline. “My weapons aren’t work!”

The other boy let out a chuckle. “You’re a teenage boy who steals from food carts o make a living. You don’t have any weapons on you, weirdo. Go grab a sword or a gun like I did. You’ll need it, because we don’t have long before this gets real hairy!”

With a nod, Proto Man crawled over to the freshly dead pirate with the chest wound and collected his saber and flintlock pistol. The android had never actually seen such an antique firearm, but he imagined it had to share the same basic functionality of point, pull trigger, and pray.

“This is it!” The captain roared as finished reloading his musket and fired. On the other ship, a man standing near the railing sagged forward—fresh blood dripping from a wood in the center of his skull. A few other men on the Blight Runner got off shots as well as the boarding planks fell and plunged into the deck. At the same time, men on the other ship started to swing across on ropes as a volley fired to scattered defenders from the inter-boat platform.

The android popped up from behind cover and fired. It became readily clear that he was used to neither the kickback of an actual gun or the act of aiming something in his hand, rather than his actual hand. His shot went off wide, and the android reacted by scowling and hurtling the pistol at his intended target. The sidearm clipped a swinging pirate in the side of the head, and with a scream that contained more shock than agony, the many lost his grip and vanished into the drink.

“Well done!” J’hath shouted as he fired off his own flintlock. His aim was far truer than Proto Man, and his intended target—a man crossing the planks—let out a scream as he took the ball in the chest and crumpled.

With that, the window for ranged combat drew to a close as the attackers reached the ship and drew axes and sabers before moving to engage the dozen or so defenders who remained able to fight.

“If it gets too heavy, try to fall back into the captain’s quarters near the bow. That will bottleneck them, and you’ll be able to defend yourself, since they won’t risk cannons or torches lest they intend to damage their prize.” With that, J’hath sprung up and moved to the nearest attacker. The grizzled, sweaty man sneered at the sight of a youth charging at him with a sword. J’hath however, not only easily parried the oncoming sword blow but twirled under the second swipe and cleaved off the man’s head with the flourish that only a highly skilled swordsman could display.

A nearby pirate drew a pistol and fired at J’hath, but much to Proto Man’s horror, the boy deflected away the musket ball, closed the gap with a spin that evaded a sword swipe, and slashed open the man’s throat. The pirate hit the deck with a thud as J’hath leapt over him and cut down another with a graceful swipe. More men came at the wiry youth, and one or two at a time, each of them fell beneath his sword.

Emerging from his cover, Proto Man found himself set upon by a pirate, who had just overpowered a defender and pushed a blade through his heart. The android parried the man’s first swing and then punched his unoccupied fist into the man’s wrist. A yelp escaped the man as he dropped his weapon and cradled his injured joint. As he tried to process the strength and weight behind the child’s fist, Proto Man scooped the man up over his head. Rushing to the nearest railing, the robot dumped the man over the side and into the ocean.

As he stepped back away from rail, the android looked back to see two more men rushing at him. Proto Man backed up against the railing and kept his eyes on the pair as they zeroed in on him. As the first lunged in, blade-first, the robot hopped up onto the wooden rail and leapt over both men. The second swung up to try and intercept him, but the android twisted midair and landed in a crouch behind the pair. Landing behind the twosome, he dashed forward and slammed both pirates into the rail. The wood held for a split-second before breaking apart, sending the two seamen into the ocean.

Proto Man turned around in time to watch a man across the deck brandish a pistol and fire at him. Before the musket ball found its mark, J’hath moved into its path and took the projectile between the eyes. For a heartbeat, everything faded to black. When the world returned, Proto Man and J’hath were back in the tree lounge. Despite having just been shot dead, the youth was fine, although he wore a confused look on his face.

“You could have just cut down those two men, why’d you draw out that confrontation like that?”

“I didn’t want to kill them. That way, they were removed as threats and had their fate in their own hands.”

“You know those were just simulated people, right? They weren’t real.”

“So? A person is a person, it all feels and looks the same. There are people who would say I’m not real because I have more wire and steel in me than flesh and bone.”

“Have you never killed a person?”

Proto Man shook his head. “No people. Just robots, and an animal once or twice to help feed some hungry friends. But never a person. That’s not a road I want to start down.”

J’hath shook his head. “You won’t survive in this city.”

“I’ve already seen the worst that mankind has to offer, so I think I’ll manage,” Proto Man rebuffed with a heavy scowl. “And where did the whole master swordsman stuff come from? You seemed like a natural twirling around slashing throats and chopping off limbs.”

“It’s how I was raised. The Order and my master prepared me for this. This might be a different world, but the principle is still the same.” J’hath frowned as he glanced down at his hands.

“They raised you to be a weapon? How many people have you senselessly murdered for your principles?”

“No one who didn’t deserve it!” J’hath shouted, his lip quivering as he clenched his hands. “A bunch of thugs and slum lords and Imperial goons.”

“Oh and what happens when all this spills over into the streets?” Proto Man shot back. “Do you think that goons and thugs are going to be the only causalities in the sort of full-scale urban warfare that will happen the moment your army hits the streets?”

“Shut up!” The boy shouted as he wiped the corner of his right eye. “They know what they’re doing. Their in the right!”

“Where are they?” Proto Man asked, his tone cool as the other boy shook with something midway between grief and rage. “Let me talk to them, so I can determine for myself if they’re in the right and know what they’re doing. You know I don’t kill people, so how threatening could I be?”

After what felt like an eternity, J’hath wiped his eyes and muttered a response: “They’re at the Imperial Metal Works. It’s about twenty miles north-north-west of here on the Information Highway.”

“Thank you,” Proto Man muttered as he sat up out of the chair. “Do you live in Coruscant?”

“My master has a few shelters in various verses. I’m usually on Tier Six, but I’ve been to the Vasty Deep and Camelot with him…he has a way to bypass the guards at the main gate and get into the Nexus.”

“Maybe we’ll meet again then,” the android muttered as everything around him faded to white. When shapes and different colors returned, he was standing back in the Dataverse Library, staring at the blank space of wall where the doorway to his little computer room had once been.

“Do you learn anything, Blues?” The Librarian AI asked from behind the youth.

“Yup.” Proto Man whispered with a frown. “My heart’s made of steel, but I’m more human than the people claiming to stand for truth and justice in this city.”