Strength of Stones by Greg Bear Read Free Book Online Page A

same.
    "I've got friends elsewhere, and a past life to return to. I don't have anything here."
    "You have all of the past here, an infinite number of things to learn."
    "I really just want out."
    "You can leave anytime."
    "How?"
    "This is a problem. Not all of Mandala's systems cooperate with this unit -- "
    "Which unit?"
    "I am the architect. The systems follow schedules set up a thousand years ago. You're welcome to try to leave -- we certainly won't do anything to stop you -- but it could be difficult."
    Jeshua drummed his fingers on the panel for a minute. "What do you mean, the architect?"
    "The unit constructed to design and coordinate the building of the cities."
    "Could you ask Thinner to come here?"
    "Thinner unit is being reassembled."
    "Is he part of the architect?"
    "Yes."
    "Where are you?"
    "If you mean, where is my central position, I have none. I am part of Mandala."
    "Does the architect control Mandala?"
    "No. Not all city units respond to the architect. Only a few."
    "The cyborgs were built by the architect," Jeshua guessed
    "Yes."
    Jeshua drummed his fingers again, then backed away from the desk and left the apartment. He stood on the terrace, looking across the plains, working his teeth in frustration. He seemed to be missing something terribly important.
    "Hey."
    He looked up. The girl was on a terrace two levels above him, leaning with her elbows on the rail.
    "I'm sorry I scared you," he said.
    "Dis me, no' terrafy. Li'l shock, but dat all mucky same-same 'ereber dis em go now. Hey, do, I got warns fo' you."
    "What? Warnings?"
    "Dey got probs here, 'tween Mandala an' dey 'oo built."
    "I don't understand."
    "No' compree? Lissy dis me, close, like all dis depen' on't: Dis em, was carry by polis 'eh dis dey moob, week'r two ago. Was no' fun. Walk an' be carry, was I. No' fun."
    "The city moved? Why?"
    "To leeb behine de part dis dey call builder."
    "The architect? You mean, Thinner and the information desks?"
    "An' too de bods 'ich are hurt."
    Jeshua began to understand. There were at least two forces in Mandala that were at odds with each other -- the city and something within the city that called itself the architect.
    "How can I talk to the city?"
    "De polis no' talk."
    "Why does the architect want us here?"
    "Don' know."
    Jeshua massaged his neck to stop a cramp. "Can you come down here and talk?"
    "No' now dis you are full a man ... Too mucky for dis me, too cashin' big."
    "I won't hurt you. I've lived with it for all my life -- can live a while longer."
    "Oop!" She backed away from the rail.
    "Wait!" Jeshua called. He turned and saw Thinner, fully corporeal now, leaning on the rounded corner of the access hall.
    "So you've been able to talk to her," Thinner said.
    "Yes. Made me curious, too. And the information desk."
    "We expected it."
    "Then can I have some sound answers?"
    "Of course."
    "Why was I brought here -- to mate with the girl?"
    "El! Not at all." Thinner gestured for him to follow. "I'm afraid you're in the middle of a pitched battle. The city rejects all humans. But the architect knows a city needs citizens. Anything else is a farce."
    "We were kicked out for our sins," Jeshua said.
    "That's embarrassing, not for you so much as for us. The architect designed the city according to the specifications given by humans -- but any good designer should know when a program contains an incipient psychosis. I'm afraid it's set this world back quite a few centuries. The architect was made to direct the construction of the cities. Mandala was the first city, and we were installed here to make it easier to supervise construction everywhere. But now we have no control elsewhere. After a century of building and successful testing, we put community control into the city maintenance computers. We tore down the old cities when there were enough of the new to house the people of God-Does-Battle. Problems didn't develop until all the living cities were integrated on a broad plan. They began to compare notes,