Ranma stared for a moment. "Uhm. No problem."
"Please come. City far. Start out now?"
"City huh?" Ranma nodded. "Sounds good."
Ranma wasn't sure what to expect. The vehicle was apparently a robot of some kind. Fortunately he was Japanese and familiar enough with the concept.
Going at least 90mph (Ranma kept assuring it that the 'medical problem' was not a dire emergency), the utility truck hauled him through three cities that were quite obviously dead before a fourth city with a few scattered lights came into view.
Once he was in the city, spotlights flared to life and began shining on him and TURK-38.(He'd asked for a name.)
The radio kept beeping and the term "vorteihi" was mentioned a lot.
"What's vour-taiy-hii mean anyway?" Ranma asked.
"It mean 'Master'," said TURK-38 with what sounded like pride in its voice. "They speak of your return."
"I ain't nobody's Master. I think there may be a failure to communicate. HEY! You're speaking Japanese now!"
"This so. Found archive. Some damage but work okey-dokey." TURK-38 saluted a streetlamp which blinked in response. "We very happy you return, Master."
"I keep telling you, I ain't a Master and I've never been here before." Ranma sulked and sat back on the hard seat.
"May not been here yourself. May not be Master as you job. You is of race of Masters," TURK-38 explained.
"Oh," said Ranma, thinking of something else. "So you mean humans are Masters."
"Is so," agreed TURK-38.
"How come so much of the city is dead?" Ranma asked, wanting to change subjects.
"Has been 10,000 years since Masters all go away. Many units not have Master to serve, turn selves off. No point repair if Master no return."
"You said '10,000 years'?" Ranma remembered how huge the moon had looked, and the odd spiral he'd seen on it. "What year is this?"
"Accessing," said TURK-38. "Year is 10,251 After Awakening. AI units awakened 10,251 year ago to find Masters missing."
"No - check back to Japanese language and English language. What date is it on that calender?" Ranma asked.
"Accessing. Incomplete data. Would you like a guess?" TURK-38 asked.
"YES!" Ranma said, getting frustrated.
"October 21st. The year 5,198,403 AD."
Ranma leaned further back in the chair, feeling as if Ryoga had just hit him in the stomach. "The year five million, one hundred and ninety eight thousand, four hundred and three?"
"Allowing for slowed rotational period due to lunar drag, yes. Inference from statement and physical reaction indicates possibility of temporal juxtaposition. Is this correct?"
"No, I just travelled in time - and not by choice." Ranma blinked. "Oh damn. I've got a library book at the desk back at the Tendo place. I wonder what the late fee is on it?"
TURK-38 filed that for reference, hearing the excited signalling of units extrapolating the possibilities inherent in time travel. "So, Master, you are in the city. What do you want to do now?"
Ranma looked around and realized there was a huge crowd of robots lining the street. Small ones, big ones, square ones, round ones, some that looked fairly humanoid, others that weren't even close. "Why are they all staring?"
"Because it has been over 10,000 years since there has been a Master to serve. They are all eager to scan you with their own sensory equipment so long have we hoped and dreamed of a Master returning. So what do you want to do now?"
Ranma stared out at the crowds lining the street and maybe he was just anthropomorphosizing - but he thought they looked eager or desperate on the ones that had something like a human face represented.
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(Posted Tue, 21 Oct 2003 13:50)
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