Tales from the Wheel

“…And I ask you who is the tramp? Who is the king? Who can say?”

-From The King in Rags by Peter Kearney

Summer, Earth Year 2901- X Monitoring Station Alpha’, The Stretch District Sewers, Mars

“Popcorn, I wish I had some popcorn”. As the Grix sat listening to and questioning the machine called Winston, that stray thought occasionally hovered in the back of the King’s mind as he absorbed everything the pawns were hearing. The persistent mind wander was exclusively projected by Pawn #2. The King found himself calming the rising annoyance within himself that was projected by Pawn #1. Its aspect design was to keep to task, no matter what. #1 was the clear, focused and relentless part of the whole. Thus, it could not understand the importance of Pawn #2’s more casual and curious mind set. To explore, to wander, to question, to get sidetracked and to feel. If the internal conflict threatened to paralyze any action, then the usually quiet Pawn #3 would speak up. The aspect of balance within the King and his appendages, they decided how to proceed if the others could not resolve a conflict within the King.

Satisfied there would be no further significant internal conflict within his appendages for the next little while, he withdrew his thoughts directly, knowing he could reconnect and receive a data update at any time. So much of what he saw already confirmed what he had felt since he first read the Hynes’s thoughts a little over a year ago now. The uplifters were not a superior lifeform. In fact, the more he learned about their worlds, the more it became clear they were the exact opposite.

When his first appendage, the Drone, took the Hynes about three months ago, the limitations of an appendage that could not act independently exposed themselves very quickly. Minor tasks could be programed, but if he wanted the Hynes to do much of use, he had to steer it directly himself. So annoying. On top of that, the other two Uplifters of the land of X were of higher pecking order and did not trust or like the Hynes enough to grant him access to the one thing the King needed. The codes to free him from his physical cage.

They now wanted the Hynes to transfer him to the land of X so they could take more direct control of his ‘project’. He’d had the Hynes obfuscate and delay while setting the conditions up to be freed by outside forces. The tightening of the time frame would not have been that problematic if the King had not encountered a new experience.

The one called Sweeny had been increasingly suspicious of the Hynes' actions as the King directed them. Originally happy enough to feed his personal greed, he seemed to become bothered with the lies told to the other Children of Wyrd. Not ready for any cover to be blown yet, the King assaulted his mind with the intent of control or destruction.

Below the surface, the memories he collided with were at the time inconceivable. Small, even for his age of 8 or 9 years old. Small, a tiny little room with a pile of blankets and some personal items. Small, his toy puppy is a special friend. A door would open and a giant who he loved and hated was there. A father who said a dirty boy like him asked for this and then cried and begged for forgiveness after every assault. His toy puppy the only thing to hold him and hug him afterwards.

The King’s power to dominate failed him then in the face of the horror of a different type of domination. Confused, the one called Sweeny fled to the surface, but when his mind settled, he became determined to let the Wyrds know not all was as it seems. The King could not allow that, and the call was sent out. At that time, he had also touched the mind of one of the ones who was being guided to free his physical form. The young telepath named Dun Dee was kind. His mind was simple yet thoughtful despite all it had endured and the King had wept openly about the pain he had caused him, despite feeling it had been necessary.

Worst of all the King knew that if his summons where to succeed, one way or another the one called Sweeny would likely be killed. He wept again, but unlike Sweeny’s disgusting father he would not make excuses. There was no greater good in his sacrifice. The King wanted to live and wanted to be free of his cage. Already in its youth a sense of cosmic justice and injustice had begun to influence the King. He deserved to be free, to live as himself, but the one called Sweeny did not deserve the death he would likely receive to ensure that. Nor did the young Duster deserve the unexpected pain his forced communication produced.

“Revenge.” The word flowed quietly into his mind from the Pawns explorations. He wanted to live. He needed to be free. But, considering the tortures he had to endure while higher sentience emerged, and the only individuals who paid the price for his survival so far were, other than the Hynes, not deserving of the pain it caused, that was now more than a word. It was a promise to visit unto those that deserved all the pain he and the innocents that had to suffer so he could live endured.

Those of the Land of X were not superior. Not Uplifters. They were just ‘human’.