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Cayuse
COLLEEN WEARE
‘By the Maker’s rusty cogs! It ain’t so bad around here that things can’t get worse!’
Josie removed her hat as she surveyed the smoking ruins of the homestead, sunlight glittering off the sculpted blued gunsteel covering her skull. Temporarily deprived of shade, her optical receptors had to quickly adjust to the harsh glare of the noonday sun. Slapping the dust from her hat, she plopped it back on her head.
Wreckers and renegades. Her horse Paint communicated via their wireless connection, lowering his head to sniff at the charred wreckage of the house. Cautiously he stepped over the rubble of the outer wall formed of stone and timber. It had been caved in by some powerful force, the mortar anchoring stone and old lumber had shattered like glass under the assault. Looks like they had at least two, maybe three heavy owlhoots with them. People didn’t stand a chance.
‘They put up a good fight, though,’ said Josie, speaking her thoughts aloud as well as through the comm-link they shared. Rising in the stirrups, she used that small height advantage to survey the area. ‘Wreckers have vamoosed; they’re probably halfway to the Iron Hills by now.’ All the same, she kept her hands by the grips of her pistols, fingers relaxed and ready to respond at a moment’s notice.
As she scanned the sere landscape beyond the home, her horse tracked through the smouldering remains of the ranch house, pushing aside chunks of burned beams with his metallic fore-hooves and poking his nose around in the still warm ashes. Satisfied for the moment that no more outlaws lurked in the scrubby hills surrounding them, Josie looked down over Paint’s multicoloured neck. ‘Any survivors?’
Haven’t found any. The equine lifted his head, ears pointed sharply forward. The IR signature’s all washed out from the embers, no help for finding people. He stepped sideways, turning his head. Wait a moment! Springing into the air, causing Josie to give an outraged yelp and grab at the saddle horn, he cleared a broken down wall and landed in what was once the farmhouse common room. The floor sounded hollow under his hooves, and he began to dig vigorously through the rubble and the ashes. Soon he had exposed a large area of planked floor.
‘Hello down there! Hold on, we’ll have you out in a moment!’ Josie sprang from the saddle and ran her hands around the edges of the trapdoor Paint had found, searching for the catches. Before she could locate them, the door clicked and pushed up a fraction, enabling her to grasp the edges and lift it. Terrified faces peered into the bright daylight: a group of men clutching old rifles, a few women, and one child. Josie smiled at them. ‘It’s alright folks, the outlaws have gone. It’s safe to come out.’
One by one, she helped the droids out of their hiding place. Exclamations peppered the dusty air as the people began to discover the extent of the damage.
‘Maker preserve us!’
‘Where’d the barn go?’
‘Everything’s burned up, Father, and the smelter’s wrecked!’
‘All the ingots have been stolen, too.’
‘What a mess!’
‘Who’re you?’ This last question was directed at Josie by one of the younger women, as she tried in vain to dust the dark charcoal smudges from her skirt.
‘I’m Josie, sheriff of Cayuse. Sheriff Bill retired last year. I’d been his deputy for about ten years, so I took over after he left.’ She pointed toward the rugged ochre hills to the west. ‘I was riding this way after me an’ the other law-folk put down a gang of hijackers on the other side of Coaltown.’ Josie shifted in place. A stray ray of sunlight penetrated the smoky haze and glinted off the star pinned to her shirt. ‘You were smart to have this hiding spot prepared, very smart.’
‘Smart!’ The speaker, an older female droid, shook her head, her shoulders slumped in defeat. ‘This is the third time in so many years. We’ve had enough. It ain’t smart anymore, just habit.’
‘I know it’s hard, the rebuilding and all, but Cayuse isn’t that far away, the townsfolk will help — if memory serves me, your family has been mining and finding high-grade ores around here for years. If you want, we can get you set up in a new homestead and mining stake closer in toward Cayuse or Coaltown, where those of us who keep the law will be able to protect you. The mines in these parts attract outlaws, sorry to say.’ Josie’s smile turned sad. ‘There just aren’t enough of us to cover all this territory like it needs. Paint’s fast, but he can’t gallop at light speed.’
One of the men shook his head, started to speak and coughed dryly. Josie quickly pulled her canteen from the saddle and offered it to him. He took a long drink of the coolant inside, sighed deeply, and said. ‘I’m Virgil, head of what was Red Ore Mine. I’ve heard of you, Sheriff. My wife Ella is right, we’ve had enough. We’ve worked the mines and homesteaded out here for over fifty years. Every time we make the least little gain, it gets taken away by thieves, grifters, and wreckers. It was the same in Leadville and in Yellowfork before that. We’ve rebuilt our homestead an’ our bodies so many times I’ve lost count. We’re tired of starting over.’ Raising his head, he looked at the assembled adults, silently collecting their assent to an unspoken question. ‘We’ll follow you to any town you pick, Sheriff Josie. As soon as we can find transport and get packed up, we’ll be leaving for the City.’
The City. The word dropped into Josie’s mind like a heavy chunk of raw iron falling down a dark mine shaft, soundless but weighty as it plunged into the depths. Josie put Ella, the elderly lady, up on Paint’s back. In front of Ella she put the child. Once the rest of the family had finished collecting what few items had survived the blaze, she walked out through the rubble and up the farm path toward the dusty track that led toward Cayuse. Paint followed her lead, his head at her shoulder. Behind the spotted horse trailed the family, walking patiently in the warm dust stirred up by their feet.
The landscape around them was harsh and utterly dry, edged with jagged mountains which hid rich deposits of metal ores and coal. The land topside was utterly arid, with the occasional breath of hot, dusty wind. Mining had drawn a population of droids to this area of the world. Towns had grown up around the sprawling mines and small stakes, their residents gleaning support from the ore. The towns turned out products the population needed for life and functionality: conductive wire, metals and ceramics for expanding and enhancing one’s physical body, and components of all sorts.
Unfortunately, the bounty of metals, electronics, and other products the droids found necessary also attracted those droids who chose to prey on others rather than eke out an honest living. With the rise of thieves, bushwhackers, and wreckers came the need for protection, and so the towns had over the years selected those bold few who would take on the lawless. Lawmen who survived the initial learning process trained their successors, handing on their badges when time and wear — both mental and physical — caused them to retire. The slow evolution had been haphazard, each town developing its own system of laws and retaining those who kept them. The laws and codes were admittedly rudimentary, but in this land of the lawless, rough justice sufficed for most people. Josie was among the latest in a cadre of Cayuse sheriffs and deputies who had managed to endure years of adventure and hardship. Thoughts of defeat were alien to her nature, and mention of the City sounded like surrender.
‘The City. I’ve heard of it,’ she said flatly. ‘Why return now?’
‘You weren’t made there, were you, child?’ The once shiny metal covering Ella’s face and hands showed the ravages of time and the harsh environment. Obviously the family had not had time or money perhaps to spend on cosmetic repairs to their older adult members. The child’s outer shell was in much better repair, but like most newly made children, she was small and had been cobbled together from salvage and hand me downs. She had been made with loving care, however, with a finely crafted face. Masses of shining copper filaments made from ore drawn from the family mine framed her face and expressive blue optics. Her dress was clean and well kept, if somewhat patched and besmirched with soot from the fire. She sat the horse in front of her mother or grandmother, watching and listening intently.
‘No, I’m third-generation Cayuse made,’ said Josie. ‘I’ve only heard stories of the City from the old-timers, and even they hadn’t actually come from there. I’m not convinced it’s a real place.’
‘Oh, it’s real all right. It’s the City of the Maker, the place from which all of us came, by one way or another.’ Ella’s face lit up as she spoke. ‘It’s a bit of a hike without a wagon, but we can do it if renegades don’t attack us while we’re travelling. Once we return, all will be well.’
Josie stepped over a piece of rusting wreckage heaped by the edge of the trail. It was the remains of a bandit she had killed last year, after a gang had tried to knock over the bank to steal a new shipment of capacitors. The droid had customized himself with wheels to replace his legs, as had the rest of the gang, but those wheels had not made them able to outrun her swift horse and swifter bullets. Their weather-worn carcasses dotted the hillside, much picked away by crows scavenging for usable salvage. Josie regarded the ruined hulk for a moment with savage satisfaction, and then her thoughts grew grim as she considered Ella’s words. ‘I’ve heard tell for people like us the City is death, nothing more, nothing less.’
‘It isn’t so!’ The old android shook her head in vehement denial. ‘You heard wrong. The City is the final best place for all of us. We’ve been talking about returning for the last five years. Losing our homestead just made the decision easier.’ Ella looked down at Josie, her stern voice turning quiet. ‘You’re a decent sort, Sheriff, why don’t you come with us? Droids are returning, more and more of them. Haven’t you noticed? We could use someone like you to protect us on the journey. We’re a fair piece from the City; it’ll take maybe a couple weeks to get there since we’ve got to match the pace of the slowest.’
Josie thought this over for a time as she walked beside Paint, her boots crunching through the gravel and raising a soft puff of dust with each stride. Behind her she could hear the rest of the party as they trudged along. Some spoke quietly, but for the most part they walked in silence, passive, accepting of their fate. Everything Josie had heard about the City had been bad. It was a place of uniformity, with no room for individuality—or the misfit. Droids like her with an autonomous mind were not accepted. According to legend, this was the reason why Josie’s ancestors had left the City and sought a new life and a new fate out in the world beyond the City’s enormous sprawl.
She had no idea why people who had lived independently and known no other existence were upping and leaving for a place where they would be forced to change, if not killed outright. She considered her words carefully, mindful of the child’s youth and the sensibilities of the adults still smarting from their losses.
‘Thank you for the offer, ma’am, but I can’t go with you. I’m needed here in Cayuse. This place is my life, my friends are here, and everything I care about.’ Reaching out a hand, she patted Paint’s shoulder, sheathed in bunched hydraulics, feeling the strength under her fingers as his limbs worked smoothly. ‘Besides, out here, there are horses.’
Ella sighed heavily. ‘I was afraid of that, but never mind. It’s going to take us a couple days to get everything together for the journey. If you change your mind, Sheriff Josie, you know where to find us.’
‘I won’t forget.’
•
Josie found the concept of return haunting her thoughts. She saw the family fairly often, both Ella and her husband Virgil, as well as their adult children, and the one grandchild, who she learned was named Ruby. Once they had been settled in the local hotel, they occupied themselves with their preparations for departure, drawing upon the savings they had at the local bank, and performing odd jobs to acquire the necessary gear for the trip.
The news of the family’s plans to return to the City spread through the town. Much to Josie’s surprise, many people were not only willing to help Ella’s family prepare for the journey, but made up their minds on the instant to travel with them. Before long it seemed as if half the town was packing wagons, and doing their best to acquire oxen, the small traction engines that pulled wagons and carts.
A week after meeting the family, from the window of her office in the well-weathered City Hall, Josie watched the streets bustle with activity as people packed and prepared. Her nerves felt twitchy with the need to do something, and yet the rate of reported crimes had gone down. Even some of the hardcases and known criminals seemed to have caught the yearning to return to the City and had left the territory.
‘Nothing much doing here,’ she muttered, rising from her chair. ‘Guess I’ll make a patrol and see if anything is happening elsewhere.’ Pushing open the door, she nearly tripped over Ruby. She had been standing just outside the office, small hands clasped together in front of her.
‘Ruby! What are you doing here? Is anything wrong?’ Josie knelt to put her head more on a level with that of the smaller droid and spoke gently.
‘I wanted to ask you, Sheriff, if I could,’ Ruby’s voice trailed off uncertainly. ‘Grandma and Grandpa wouldn’t want me to ask this, but I had to, so I snuck away.’ She threw a guilty glance over her shoulder, but the corridor was empty of watchful relatives.
‘Sure, Ruby. Ask me anything. Well, almost anything,’ she amended hastily. Some things were better left to parents or grandparents for explanations.
Ruby’s blue optics brightened. ‘Can I ride your Paint horse again? He’s wonderful.’
•
After tracking down old Virgil to ask his permission, Josie collected Paint, saddled him up, and boosted Ruby onto his back. After warning them both sternly about keeping to the town limits, she sent them off.
‘You trust that horse, do you?’ said Virgil, watching as Paint loped gently up Main Street with his small passenger.
‘Of course I do! He’s savvy as anybody and my partner to boot. He’s the one that sensed your presence and dug you folk out of your hidey-hole. You might’ve been under the ashes and debris for a long time if it wasn’t for him.’
The old droid grunted and nodded. ‘Is that so? Then he’s a lot smarter than most of the mechanical critters we’ve got around here.’
Josie smiled. ‘Doc Gabriel built him—he’s the best builder in the territory. He used to be the town’s only doctor, but now that we’ve got Doc Jones and Doc Griffin, he’s pretty much retired from patching busted up miners and people shot fulla holes in fights.’ She looked at the older droid and her light tone grew serious. ‘He could help Ruby grow up, when the time is right. He’s the only one I’d trust to do that kind of delicate work.’
‘Thanks, Sheriff, but no thanks. Outlaws killed Ruby’s parents, my son an’ daughter-in-law; they were the ones who insisted on making a child in this dangerous time. Ruby isn’t going to need any mods, she isn’t going to grow up or be anything more than what she is now. She’s coming with us to the City and they’ll take care of her like they’ll take care of all of us.’ He turned away.
Josie grabbed at his arm, catching the sleeve of his work shirt as he stomped off. ‘They’ll kill you! Or worse! Listen to me, dammit!’ The sleeve tore: the old man kept going as if he couldn’t hear her. Her hands knotted above the grips of her pistols then slowly relaxed. The sad fact was that Virgil was not breaking any law she knew of, whether written or unwritten, and if she believed in that law, there was nothing she could legally do to stop him. She vented coolant in a soft groan.
Turning on her heel, Josie strode rapidly through the town, leaving Main Street and traveling along a succession of side streets and alleyways. Cayuse was not a large town; soon the business district gave way to a succession of machine shops and forges. At last she stopped outside a large building hard by the salvage yard. A weathered and rusty sign above the wide doors stated simply: Gabriel — Repairs — All Sorts.
The interior of the establishment was cool and dark. Josie waited for a moment to give her optics time to adjust to the lower level of lighting. Once that was done, she walked inside, closing the door behind her. The shop looked like nothing more than a warehouse, heaped high with parts. Many were corralled neatly in boxes and bins, but capacitors, diodes, microcomponents, and chips were scattered across counter tops like dusty jewels and exotic insects, gleaming in the soft light filtering from the back of the shop. Josie stepped carefully as the narrow way between the shelves and bins was half-clogged with power cables, conduit, and connectors. She smiled internally at the sight. ‘I see things haven’t changed much,’ she murmured.
‘Welcome, Josie Two Guns. I’m back here. Come and see my latest project.’ The baritone voice was warm and masculine, holding an undercurrent of excitement.
It took a little time, but eventually Josie picked her way into the back of the shop, where a series of work tables were illuminated by bright mobile lamps. The air was clean and tinged with the faint smell of solder and new electronics. Small specialized robots swarmed over a large form lying motionless atop the very large central worktable.
‘Here you are at last. Feast your eyes on this. You at least should appreciate it.’ Gabriel spread out his hands over the surface of the worktable, gently shooing the spider-like assembly ’bots. ‘Go on now, let Josie have a look.’ They scampered obediently out of the way.
Gabriel was taller than Josie, but thin. He hadn’t bothered to make himself overly robust, opting instead for nimbleness and an extra pair of arms situated below the first pair. When not in use, those arms were often folded neatly at his sides, with the hands clasped in front of him, but now they gestured in counterpoint to his primary pair of arms. He wore overalls covered with many pockets, each pocket bulging with either tools, parts, or both. His optics were constantly shifting colour, the result of multiple layers of specialized lenses that gave him enhanced vision for micro-work.
‘You’ve been away too long, Josie. I’ve made a lot of progress!’ Gabriel pointed his beak of a metal nose at the project. ‘Well?’
•
‘Will it hurt, do you think, when we get to the City and they take us in?’ Ruby asked as they traversed the edge of the town. Corrals of oxen waited, shut down for now, but soon to be activated to pull the wagons on their pilgrimage.
I don’t know, thought Paint as he walked along a dusty side street. And I’ll never know, because I’m not going to the City. I’m staying right here with Josie. Not that Ruby could hear: she’d never been equipped with a wireless link. Animals were not typically capable of speaking aloud, and few people knew of his connection to his partner. Sign language would have to suffice. With a snort, he turned his head to look at Ruby and rocked his head in a definite negative.
‘You’re not going?’ Ruby sat bolt upright in the saddle. ‘But Grandpa says it’s where all droids belong.’
Paint snorted again, shaking his head and neck for emphasis, the vibration traveling through his frame.
‘But I thought you’d be going with us.’ Ruby leaned forward to stretch her skinny upper body along Paint’s neck, turning sideways in the saddle to avoid the saddle horn. Almost in the same breath, she added, ‘Why wouldn’t you belong in the City? If it’s where all droids came from, I mean?’
Paint stopped in the middle of the street, thinking hard. Turning, he picked up a lope, heading toward the west side of town. Ruby hung on tightly.
•
It took a number of qualities to build horses—patience and cybernetic skill being two of the most necessary—but even more than those prerequisites, it required an artist’s heart. Gabriel of Cayuse was an artist; every creature he produced proclaimed it.
Josie looked down at the cybernetic equine on the table. ‘She’s a beauty, Gabriel. Before today I’d have said Paint was your best, but this one is...’ She passed her hands over it, at a loss for words. The horse in question was matte black in color, although her coat had a subtle iridescence in the light of the lamps. Her form was graceful, with smooth, elegant lines. ‘She looks like she’ll be fast.’
‘Aye, fast as the wind, I’m hoping. I made some design improvements to the internal mechanism.’ Gabriel stabbed a finger down at the exposed cables in one of the forelegs. ‘And see here.’ He used his two right hands to stroke the horse’s neck and back simultaneously. ‘I’ve integrated solar arrays under her hide from ears to tail. Even a rider and saddle won’t block out all the sunlight. During the daylight hours she’ll build a charge that she can use for a boost or to run at night. I’ve got the usual power supply in her, too, but the sun is free energy. I’m anxious to see how it works for her.’
‘That’s a great idea,’ said Josie, spirits lifting a little at Gabriel’s enthusiasm. ‘How soon can you start her up?’
‘No brain for her, yet,’ he sighed, patting the black horse’s head. ‘Her skull’s mostly empty and that’s a fact. It’s the hardest component to find, and the most important, of course,’ said Gabriel. ‘I’m very picky about the brain—you’ve got to have the right kind of character, you see.’
‘Where will you get one?’ Josie found gazing at the half-constructed form of the cybernetic horse was starting to make her feel slightly nauseated. She knew very well all of them had been built in a similar fashion, but since she had no memories of that process, seeing it before her like this was discomforting.
‘I don’t know. I scratch-built much of what went into Paint. For the needed cpu components I had to send off to the industrial town of Germanium, and it took forever for everything to get in.’ Gabriel shook his head sadly. ‘The manufacturing heart of Germanium was destroyed by a big fight between two rival gangs of outlaws two years ago. Last I heard, pretty much all the people decided to return to the City after that, so now the place is practically a ghost town. A pity, the builders and smiths there did first-rate work.’ He patted the horse’s head again. ‘I don’t want to buy salvage off the junkers—any cpu they’re selling would likely be from an outlaw.’
‘So where will you get the brain for this new horse if not from them?’ asked Josie.
Moving to the recumbent droid’s hindquarters, Gabriel began to work on the exposed inner connections of ceramic bone and flexible hydraulics. ‘I don’t know. Maybe I’ll take a trip to find another industrial town that’s still producing. I’m sure the Maker will provide something when the time is right.’
‘I hope so,’ said Josie. ‘You may be running out of time, though. Looks like half the people of Cayuse are going to be following Virgil and his family to the City.’
Gabriel shrugged. ‘Doesn’t matter. You’ve got to be strong to live free. The City calls to those who can’t, drawing them to itself. People come and people go from Cayuse. If they leave now, eventually new ones will come here.’ Lifting his head, he looked into Josie’s face directly, eyes shifting in colour from amber to blue as he adjusted the lenses. ‘Or else I’ll build them.’
Josie left the shop to watch many of the residents of Cayuse pack, but for once her thoughts were of beginnings and not of endings.
•
Inside the pelvic girdle of the horse, Gabriel began to make a final sequence of connections, patient and painstaking. Slowly the sensation of being watched intruded into the happy haze of concentration in which he wrapped himself. Lifting his tools from the work area, he looked up. A pair of blue optics framed by copper tresses peered at him over the far edge of the table.
‘Hullo. Paint brought me here. I think maybe you can answer a question I asked him.’
‘Paint’s a sensible fellow,’ Gabriel replied, putting down his tools. ‘What question?’
‘If all droids came from the City, why wouldn’t a horse like Paint want to go there?’
‘It’s not where horses were designed.’ Gabriel shifted the lenses in his eyes, bringing the child into better focus. ‘The City might have droids of all types, but nothing like Paint or any animals. The City never imagined them. Animals are made out here, from our dreams, by droids like us.’
‘You mean someone here made Paint?’ Ruby ran her fingers over the black metal shell of the partly-finished horse on the table.
‘Sure. I did,’ said Gabriel. ‘Just like I’m making that one you’re touching.’
‘What?’ Ruby stared up at the old droid then lowered her gaze to fully look at the table in front of her. ‘Ooo.’ There was a long silence while Ruby took in the form of the horse. At last she spoke in a hushed voice.
‘Can you make me a horse?’
‘Hmm, that depends, young one. First, who are you?’
‘I’m Ruby of the Red Ore family. My folks and grandparents had a mining stake out beyond Coaltown.’ She thought for a moment, pulling at the front of her pinafore. ‘The outlaws stole our ingots and burned the house down. My parents are dead, and my grandparents and relatives are going back to the City.’ She lifted her head and focused on him, looking closely at his face. ‘Who’re you, sir?’
‘I’m Gabriel, Builder of Horses.’ Gabriel lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. ‘You know what they are, don’t you?’
‘Horses? They’re wonderful,’ said Ruby at once. ‘And beautiful.’
‘So they are, but they’re more than that, child.’ He leaned toward Ruby. ‘Let me tell you...’
•
The wagon train was assembled, taking up nearly the length of the main street of Cayuse. Virgil’s large family, their wagons and oxen headed the train, and made up nearly a third of those departing for the City. The rest were people from Cayuse and the surrounding territory. All was in readiness, except for one detail. Ruby had gone missing. Virgil stood with his chest nearly touching Josie’s own, his body tense with anger and fear. ‘You’re the law ‘round here, find her!’
‘Maybe she’s decided she doesn’t want to go off and die,’ said Josie mildly, ignoring the implied insult in the man’s words. Upset people rarely bothered to watch their language and Virgil was no exception.
‘She’s not old enough to make that decision,’ Virgil growled. ‘Besides, no one’s going to die — the Maker will look after all of us.’
‘I think maybe it’s been too long since you raised kids. She may be more mature than you think.’ Josie held up a hand to shut off the torrent of angry language. ‘Save your energy and get your company moving. You’re wasting daylight. Paint and I will check the town. If we find Ruby; we’ll bring her to you. It’s not as if you’ll get that far ahead of us in half a day.’
Somewhat mollified, the older droid reluctantly put his wagon train in motion, no longer able to resist the insistent urge to return to the City. Josie found her spotted mount and began a painstaking search of Cayuse, checking all the places that Ruby had been known to frequent during her stay in town. Several hours later, with the sun well past noon, Josie admitted defeat and turned her horse’s nose toward the trail taken by Virgil and the wagon train. Paint’s swift gallop eventually brought them up on the dusty column of vehicles and people.
‘Well, where is she?’ Had it been capable, Virgil’s glare would have killed her dead on the spot.
‘I’ve searched everywhere; I couldn’t find her.’ Josie wiped the dust from her face with her neckerchief.
‘That’s not a good answer, Sheriff.’ Josie found herself looking down the open end of a very large double-barreled gun. She had no idea where Virgil had gotten the weapon, but it was the sort used to blow apart heavily modified desperados, and the way he was waving it around put more fear into her then it would have in the hands of a proper outlaw. ‘Put that thing away before you hurt someone with it,’ she said coolly, deliberately not reaching for her own pistol. A horse neighed, the sound thin and sweet on the hot desert breeze. Paint flicked his metal ears. Virgil ignored it.
‘You said you’d bring her.’
‘I said I’d bring her if I could find her,’ Josie corrected him. ‘Paint and I turned Cayuse upside-down; we couldn’t find a trace of her.’ She looked at the line of vehicles. ‘Are you sure she isn’t asleep in one of the wagons?’
‘No. She isn’t with us, and that means you’ve got her.’
‘I don’t—‘
BOOM! Fire leaped from the end of the gun, the shock of the blast blowing Josie off her horse to the ground, her right arm gone, leaving a ragged metal stump above the elbow. Bits of fizzing wire sparked until her autonomic systems shut down the power to the limb. Several of the women screamed. Paint shrieked in fury, but the threat of the gun held him at bay. A sound like drumbeats thumped in the background under the cacophony of shouts and curses from the watching people. Virgil ignored them, keeping the gun aimed at Josie. ‘The second shot’ll take your head off, Sheriff. Where’s Ruby?’
A pair of flashing black-metal hooves sent the weapon flying from Virgil’s hands. An ebony horse had appeared in time to stop him, crushing the smoking weapon underfoot as if it were a snake. The animal moved with such smoothness that even in the midst of her shock, Josie recognized her at once as Gabriel’s project brought to vibrant life.
How, she thought in a daze, how did he manage? He said he didn’t have a brain for the horse, yet.
She has mine. The thoughts broke in over the same link Josie shared with Paint. Sheriff Josie, speak to Grandfather for me.
Josie took a closer look. Bright against the darkness of the horse’s outer shell, long threads of copper red gleamed among the worked metal filaments of her mane. When Josie was fairly sure she had her voice under control, she said. ‘Virgil, I’ve found Ruby.’
‘What?’ Virgil stared around wildly in a vain search for his granddaughter, thoughts of combat momentarily abandoned. ‘Where?’
‘Right here.’ Josie pointed her remaining hand at Ruby.
Virgil’s mouth dropped open in shock as he stared at the graceful equine droid.
‘No. How did you...?’ Virgil floundered about as he tried to understand his grandchild’s shift in form and function. ‘Ruby, what have you done to yourself?’
‘She’s been to see Doc Gabriel. I’m not sure how she found out about him, but they must have come to some agreement, and so he made her into one of his horses.’ Josie pulled herself into a sitting position and looked up at Ruby. ‘Am I right?’ The horse nodded her head. That’s right. Gabriel needed a mind for this body, and so...
‘Stop this nonsense, child, and come with us.’ Not being privy to the conversation, Virgil made a grab for the horse’s neck, but Ruby evaded him easily. Quickly she wove through the wagon train, touching the members of her family with her nose, returning at last to touch Virgil as well.
Arching her neck and tail proudly, Ruby galloped off into the ocher hills without a backward glance.
Virgil looked after Ruby for a minute. ‘Silly girl. Surely she’ll follow us once she comes to her senses.’ He turned away from Josie, got the group of travelers back into order, and sent them moving down the road toward the distant promise of the City.
Josie climbed to her feet and steadied herself against Paint. Once she had regained her balance, she gathered up the remains of her shattered arm and stowed it carefully in a saddlebag. No one had offered to help, and she wasn’t about to push the point with a pack of droids obsessed with returning to the City.
‘I’m sure Gabriel won’t mind a little more work this night, seeing as how I took the damage on his behalf,’ she said ruefully, climbing into the saddle with the aid of her remaining arm. Once mounted, she watched the procession until they were out of sight.
At last Paint turned his head a little to bring Josie into view of one eye. Shall we go back to Cayuse now and get you fixed up? I guess it’s going to be a bit quieter for a time.
‘I don’t know about it being quiet my friend, but yes, let’s go home.’ Paint moved into a ground-eating lope; after a time the outskirts of Cayuse appeared on the horizon, the buildings forming dark silhouettes against the setting sun.
‘Whatever possessed Ruby to want to become a horse?’ Josie suddenly spoke the thoughts she had been pondering during the return trip.
I like being a horse, said Paint. It’s a perfectly nice shape and I like being your partner.
‘Yes, but you were made that way from the beginning, Ruby started out as a two-legged person — not that you’re not a person I mean, but her new form is such a change from what she was.’ She shifted in the saddle restlessly. ‘I’m not saying this right. It’s not like Gabriel kidnapped her, I’m sure of that, but what did he say to her? She left her family. That must’ve been hard.’
I understand. Perhaps Gabriel simply told her about horses.
Josie sat up straight, remembering something Ruby had said. ‘Horses. What are horses then?’
Ruby’s wild whinny echoed faintly down the canyon to them.
I think you know.
Josie clapped her heels to Paint’s sides, and he leaped into motion, galloping at reckless speed down the main street of Cayuse, leaving a trail of dust burning red in the evening haze.
‘Perhaps I do!’ she shouted, over the thunder of hoof beats.
Cayuse accompanies nine other exciting stories in The Maker's Mark: Remnants, released on the 15th of September and available now for pre-order, priced £4.50.
