When I fail to follow, he gestures impatiently. I hesitate. This might be a very bad idea. But it’s either stay here on Shai-Hulud’s territory until he gets hungry again or go with the weird stranger.
I sigh and hop into the hovering doorway. The door automatically closes behind me. I try not to panic and kick it back open. The mutant is already going to the next room. This place looks human-made, like the inside of some kind of spaceship you only see in old movies. The passageways are narrow. There are dozens of pictures and paintings on the walls. Most are from old magazines and books. I see tropical beaches, mountains, and big cities from thegood old days.
I follow him into a wide, circular room. There is a green velvet couch in the middle, a few comfy chairs, and a coffee table. This looks like a living room in a house. Except the windows are smaller and round.
“Who the fuck is this?” says a feminine voice.
I look around, confused. It sounded close, yet it came from all sides.
The mutant still has his hood up. “What’s your name?” he asks.
I look around, but there is no one but me. “Me?”
He scoffs. “Yes, you.”
“Helios.”
“Helios, meet Beet. Beet, meet Helios. He’ll stay with us until we can drop him off somewhere safe.”
“Since when are we taking hitchhikers?” says the woman again.
I try to pinpoint the origin of the voice. Is she talking through speakers?
But the man comes to my rescue. “Beet is the AI that controls this beast,” he says, patting the metallic wall.
Oh. That makes sense now. Most AIs have been around since the Rise. Humanity was pretty good at making them back in the days. I never know how to act around them. They can be bad-tempered if they’ve been running for a few decades.
“Hello, Beet. Nice to meet you,” I say. I wave to the ceiling like a fool. I have no idea where her sensors are.
“At least he’s polite,” she says. “Even if he smells bad.”
The mutant grunts his opinion. Does she have sensors for smell too?
“Hey!” I say. “I’ve been tied into a caravan for days around other prisoners. Sorry if I didn’t have an opportunity to take a bath.”
“You’re excused,” she says. “Griffin, we need to refill the water tanks so that our parasite can take a bath.I don’t want him rubbing his filth all over me.”
So, my savior is called Griffin. It’s good to know. And did she just call me a parasite? That answers the question: is she one of the bad-tempered AIs?
“Let’s head out to the nearest lake, then,” says Griffin.
“Calculating a new journey. Arriving at destination in two hours and sixteen minutes,” Beet says.
And I feel vibrations through the floor under my feet. My first thought is that Shai-Hulud is on the hunt again. But then I come to another realization.
“Are we moving?” I ask, dumbstruck.
“Duh,” says Beet.
“Welcome on board theBeetle,” says Griffin, gesturing at everything that surrounds us. Although he doesn’t sound welcoming at all.
“What about Shai-Hulud?” I ask, worried.
Won’t we just attract him with theBeetle?
“Let me handle him,” says Beet. “I have my ways to ensure he stays away.”
Okay,that’s not cryptic at all.
