The Holy Machine

74

The Vehicle stood up.

‘I am not getting any more instructions via SenSpace,’ it said to me. ‘I would be grateful if you could return me to the hire facility. There’s a deposit payable on my safe return.’

I nodded and the redheaded robot and I walked back through the olive grove to my car.

I felt quite calm at first as if nothing much had happened. With the beautiful syntec beside me, I drove back towards Illyria City through the bright landscape of summer.

But then I began to shake, and soon I was shaking so much that it was impossible to drive. I pulled over on the side of the road. That pressure from behind my eyes was stronger than I’d ever felt it.

‘Mummy,’ I whispered, while the beautiful empty syntec sat impassively beside me, staring straight ahead, its torn hands resting in its lap, ‘Mummy, Mummy, Mummy…’

I couldn’t have said it to Ruth herself. She never liked being Mum.

Then the dam broke and the tears came pouring down from my eyes for the first time since I was a little child.