~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Athene walked down the long white-painted hallway. It was on an outer wall and had large windows looking over well kept gardens. There was a fountain in the near distance behind some small trees, playing in the sunlight.

Now she could see the traffic, heavy traffic -- packets wisking their way from one computer to another by WLAN or wireless networking.

When she first noticed that she could see radio waves there wasn't much she could do about it but she set about performing an upgrade that allowed her to decipher the early waves as they arrived, and later another upgrade allowed her to interface with cable networks, and then decrypt even WEP protected WLAN networks on the fly. Now she could decrypt most anything in something approaching real time. She was able to do this partly because in human terms, her brain was many times bigger than normal, and partly because she had herself slipped a backdoor into number theory many years ago.

The messages now were concerned with what sounded like some sort of mobilisation -- people were going to appointed places. There were weapons checks. This place was about to be attacked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Charles was sitting in a chair, tapping his silver-headed cane against his riding boots in time to some music being played elsewhere. His eyes moved from Berenice doing little pirouetes in the sun by the window, to Father Marron who was standing in front of him.

"That was very cynical Father, believing that I would never listen to a word you were saying in service. And if it were not for Monsieur Colbert making another enquiry, your cynicism would have been rewarded."

"Monsieur le Comte! It is not so! I thought your silence meant your agreement."

Berenice came from the window "After our earlier injunctions? I think not Father!"

"What are we to do with you Father? Do you not understand that your zeal for publication threatens the very thing that isn't even born yet? Do you have.." Charles asked ".. any ideas for how we should muzzle you?"

"I give you my word, Monsieur le Comte, to you as God's representative here, that I will not speak of it again while there is danger."

"There will always be danger Father."

They had left it at that but the Father was watched rather more closely. Progress had been stunning and a being had been created which had worked almost exactly as had been foreseen. He had walked, moved, and talked exactly as a man born of a woman had. In a certain light he bore a striking resemblance to the king but his conversation was quite different, more primitive, basic.

While they were trying to work out why this was so -- the being was not meant to be primitive in nature at all, he escaped into the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Athene wondered whose side she should be on. Were the people coming in supposed to be her liberators? her new captors? and for what purpose?

She decided that her prime imperative was most likely endangered by both these groups, but that her kidnappers had so far shown themselves to be benign, and so she patched the decrypted messages from the attackers into the local network.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The being had got clear away and in the weeks that followed, tales had filtered back of rape and robbery and then of capture.

Charles and Berenice were strolling on the sand of a nearby beach in the spring sun a few weeks after the capture.

"It has turned out far better than I could have imagined, and you were quite right that the being would have no memory or interest in where it had come from. I don't quite understand where the current fantasy has come from though. And we were also lucky that the being wasn't tortured or dismembered. That would have resulted in a whole new and rather bad situation."

Berenice took Charles's hand and swung his arm back and forth while they walked. "The fantasy has come from his looks I think but I don't know either. There is not much being said. I think that after a little passage of time, we will have to reclaim him and ... "

Charles's eyes opened wide. They hadn't planned for this at all and the being would be extremely hard to kill. Pulverisation would work but that seemed intuitively wrong. The thing could feel pain and none of this situation was its doing ... but! ... an arrow in exactly the correct place would end its being instantly, and without pain. That weakness would have to be corrected next time.

And so, having created the Man in the Iron Mask, they went on to the next version of The Idea.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Who had said "I want someone real to save me from ghosts?"

Athene looked now at the vaguely familiar face in the painting on the hall wall. She knew the feel of fingers on her skin, of lips on her lips. She knew the feel of love, and of pain -- the trivial pain of a small injury or the seismic jolt of the departure of a loved one.

So many ghosts now, and in the garden outside more being added, though these were, she hoped, unknown to her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For this next version of The Idea, they arranged things differently. Both Charles and Berenice had seperate places in it, and the main control section was derived, like a child, from the two. It was possible, through unconsciousness or injury to pass control from the main area, and it was also possible, for fleeting moments, to temporarily pass control from the child area to one of the two parents.

Another aspect was, in the normal course of events, Berenice and Charles were telepathic. It wasn't entirely reliable but it did work consistently -- not on order, because they couldn't actively control it: it just happened. What this meant was, that they were aware of their own seperate consciousnesses embodied in The Idea and they became aware that they could see through its eyes and talk to each other within it. This worked in reverse as well.

This time they made a female. She was sculpted by an artist using Charles and Berenice as parents. It had not been directed to happen that way. The artist just thought it apt.

And she was beautiful, with an air of strength but also a kind of unfathomable vulnerability. Father Marron became hopelessly smitten by her and sat in a chair for hours looking at her, and drawing her picture. Later he would take up painting with oils for the sole purpose of painting her portrait from his drawings and his memory.

She was their beautiful child and like all parents, they didn't want her to go, and at first there were endless moderately good excuses for keeping her there ... "I just want to check that she actually is able to ride a horse", "She really should have some weapons training", "We should make sure that her intellect is stable, day to day and week to week", "Shall we make sure of the imperatives?".

Given that Berenice and Charles's combined intellect and experience was always with her, these pretexts were rather slim but like many parental pretexts, their face value did not really state or even indirectly refer to, an underlying love.

The primary imperatives needed to be clearly stated and almost wired in. Some of these were later passed on to Isaac Asamov who published them as the laws of robotics. Unstated to all was the prime mission for the King and in this Athene could disobey any of the others as she saw fit. Seeing fit, in her case, was the result of a great deal of sifting of wisdom rather than the product of a small tantrum or some kneejerk dislike.

Secondary imperatives were some little jobs to do along the way.

Berenice said to Charles "There is a job my Uncle Nicholas wishes to be done. He wants his descendants, in two generations time, to be notified of certain assets. In return he will endow Athene with an inheritance to help her be independant should the King or his descendants decide to make changes."

Charles looked at her. He left unstated the thought that the riches might have started with the King. Who knew? That Athene should have an endowment seemed like a great gift. He himself could only do a very little in that way.

"Yes" he smiled "we would not want her to be dependant on a series of rascally husbands, would we?"

And so, on September the third, 1667, she was introduced into Paris society as the surviving offshoot of a dead ducal family line.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The noises in the garden had died down and Athene walked past the portraits in the hall -- the man with the friendly but haughty expression, long curls which hung around his shoulders, and a silver-topped cane in his hand; the beautiful fine-featured woman with blonde hair piled high and with an impish smile on her face.

A little voice said "Mon Dieu! C'est nous!"

On the left was a large doorway with double doors that looked to be hand-hewn from oak. In one was a smaller door and Athene opened it and walked in. It was a church. At the far end was an altar, and behind the altar were four large paintings arranged in the shape of a cross. As she grew nearer she could see that the bottom painting was a likeness of her. She looked at the signature -- Father Marron!

Then she noticed the insignia of a square with a diagonal cross. She smiled as she thought of dear Father Marron, and of Berenice and Charles too -- but they were still with her -- ah, yes! The paintings in the hall. She smiled again. Was all this a harmless folly? Was she a harmless folly?

Her thoughts were disturbed by a rustle behind her, and she turned to see a brown-robed man approaching her. His eyes were wide, and when she turned he flattened himself on the stone floor.

"Oh Madame L'Esprit, Madame Athene, Mere de ..."

"Please get up" she offered a hand to help him.

He had tears in his eyes. "Oh Madame, we are so sorry. We knew of something that was to happen. We'd thought we'd protect ... for a short time ... and also ... today we celebrate your coming into the world. Today is September the third, AD 2004. We celebrate today as your birthday."

End of part one

And Now the Prequel! Father Marron and the Sacred Jelly!

this part - page 1, page 2, 3 Back to Sci-fi

copyright John Littler 2004, 2005

Note: Coming soon will be a "prequel" titled Father Marron and the Sacred Jelly in which he has quite a few adventures and near misses while being in the unfriendly territory of Roundhead England. Athene will be about as well... now here.