“Then what are you?” asked Umbo.
“A machine,” said the expendable.
Rigg found himself inexplicably filled with emotion. And to his own surprise it was not anger. It was something more like grief. He found himself convulsively sobbing. He did not understand why. Nor could he stop.
“I’m sorry, I—”
Umbo put a hand on his shoulder. “Your father isn’t dead,” said Umbo.
“A machine,” said Rigg to the expendable, getting his sobs under control. “I should have known. You have no path! Neither you nor Father.”
Param smiled at Rigg. “So you were also raised by a lying monster pretending to be human,” she said.
Rigg smiled as he wiped his eyes. “Just one more thing we have in common.”
“The expendable you called ‘Father’ is not a monster,” said the expendable. “He is a servant of the human race.”
“He lied to me every day of my life,” said Rigg.
“He lied to me and Param, too,” said Umbo.
“He trained you and prepared you,” said the expendable. “You are the first human beings ever to pass through the Wall.”
“Except Knosso Sissamik,” said Olivenko.
“Who?” asked the expendable.
“Their real father,” Olivenko replied, indicating Param and Rigg. “He had me drug him and he floated through the Wall in the Great Bay.”
The expendable shook his head. “The influence of the Wall is not blocked by drugs. When he reached the other side he would have lost all coherent mental function.” A momentary pause. “The active expendable in your former—”
“Call him the Golden Man,” said Param.
“The Golden Man assures me that this was the case. Policy was followed by the expendable in the wallfold he floated into, and he was euthanized immediately.”
“Euthanized?” asked Umbo.
“Killed,” said Olivenko. “Murdered.”
“The man Knosso no longer existed,” said the expendable. “At that point, the brain in that human body had only one desire, which was to die immediately.”
It was Olivenko’s turn to weep. Loaf rested a hand on Olivenko’s back as he bent over, his face buried in his hands.
Param was looking at the expendable. “Why should we believe anything you say to us?”
“Because you are the first humans to pass through the Wall,” he said.
“So what?” she demanded.
“So you are now in command.”
“Of what?” asked Rigg.
“Of me,” said the expendable.
“And what does that mean?” asked Umbo.