Here's another story about Terry, the eunuch from Amrekh: Two years after defeating the evil witch Amonika, he left his home country to seek legendary MYTHOPIA, a country which once had been inhabited by highly intelligent people who had not believed in the old school of magic but had concentrated on science and technology instead.
They had constructed machines and mechanical creatures which had been meant to take over all the dull and boring work that their creators had not been willing to do. However, so the legend went, those mechanical workers had done their job so perfectly that the human beings had become totally dependent on them, hanging lazily around all day, unable to do the easiest things -- so they gradually had become extinct, failing to maintain the order in their over-perfectionised society.
But still, the big and great machines of that ancient culture were left, and Terry managed indeed to find them -- far, far away from United Amrekh. Although rusting and no longer functioning at all, they were still awe-inspiring in their mere existence. At last he reached Mechano City, the former capital of Mythopia. There he could hear the silent droning of some machines still working deep down in the city's underground. Actually he did not really hear it, but he clearly felt the vibrations beneath his feet -- obviously a few large machines were still able to keep themselves running -- or were still some human beings living there? Terry was slightly frightened.
Then he saw a little girl standing around like a statue
in the middle of the street; but when he came closer he saw that she was a life-size ballerina doll. She
looked so sweet that he fell head over heals in love with her, although he knew she was just an
artificial life form. He only had one thing on his mind: Bring her back to life and make her move again;
perhaps she could tell him about the country's history! At least, he thought, she might be the perfect
mate for me. Even though he was completely castrated, his heart was full of romantic feelings. So he
started to look feverishly for the key -- in Amrekh, many young girls loved playing with little ballerina
dolls that danced after winding them up with a key. Of course he expected that life-size version to do
more than just dancing. And really, he found the key lying in front of a house's door, not far away from
the doll.
He put it into her back and moved it counterclockwise -- click, click, click, until it didn't
go anymore. Then he pulled the key out of her back, and she began to move almost as smoothly and elegantly
as a human girl. "Oh", she said, "what has happened here? The city looks so awful, so old,
and where have all the people gone? Is there anyone else but you?" -- "Well, I hoped that
you could tell me what happened; my name is Terry and I'm from Amrekh, which is far away
from here. I'm sorry to say that, but all the human population of Mythopia became extinct a long time
ago. I'm really surprised that you still look so good after all these centuries!" -- "Oh thank you,
Terry. You must know that I'm much more than just an ordinary ballerina doll; I'm an artificial friend,
my name is Katarina di Sento. If you want, I can show you around Mechano City -- although it seems to be
so run down that all of its beauty has disappeared. I can hardly believe that I was sleeping for such a long
time!"
Nevertheless, she showed him around the city. When they arrived at a little house in the
outskirts, she suddenly stopped and looked at it awesomely. "That's the house where Master di Sento
made me and my sisters -- he loved us all like he would have loved his real children made of flesh and blood,
and I was the youngest -- do you mind going inside?" -- "Of course not", Terry replied.
So they entered the house and came into the workshop, where lots of spare parts were lying around.
However, not all items were spare parts -- with an excited scream, Katarina took up a doll's head which
looked very similar to her own one: "Oh noooo!" she cried, "That was my sister Joylanda --
the one I loved most! Please, Terry, can't you put her together again?" -- "I'm afraid I don't know
anything about your complicated technology. And if you can't put her together, nobody can" --
"And where can we find this Nobody?"
She was so desperate that Terry took her in his arms and said: "Don't be sad, my little girl; if it helps you, I'd love to be your brother!" Katarina looked at him with her bright, green-brown eyes and began to smile: "Do you want to be my big brother or my little brother?" she asked. "Oh, that's really a good question. On one hand, you are a few centuries older than me; on the other, you do not look older than 20 years, and as I'm 27 and 2 centimetres taller than you, I would prefer your calling me your big brother!" -- "OK, so you are my big brother!"
They left Master di Sento's house after Katarina had taken a long rope made of unknown
material and some other odd gadgets with her. "What's that?" Terry asked curiously.
"I want to go rock-climbing. It's not difficult at all -- you can do it, too!"
-- "Rock-climbing?" he really was a little bit confused. "I know it sounds odd",
she laughed, "I think I'm the only ballerina doll in the world that prefers rock-climbing to dancing;
but that's just the way I am!"
So they left the city's outskirts and soon they stood in front of a squat mountain. "We have
to walk up 150 metres, the last 30 metres of that mountain have been especially prepared for sportive
rock-climbing. But before, would you wind me up again, please?" Carefully he did, wondering
what a society that must have been where people had gone rock-climbing just for fun -- they
had nothing like that in United Amrekh, but he was excitedly looking forward to that new kind of
experience.
The first 150 metres were really exhausting. After arriving on a platform, Katarina gave him a
strange looking belt and told him to put it on while she was already wearing one. Terry could see
metal crooks which had been driven into the rock's surface, leading to the top of the mountain. She
climbed up to the first crook, slang the rope through it and afterwards through the rope at her belt
and went on to the next crook. He understood, slang the downgrading end through the crook at his
own belt and started climbing, hoping, praying that those crooks would firmly stay where they were.
But when they were sitting on the top of the mountain, he was overwhelmed by the sight of the landscape
and the city lying beneath them.
"Oh, Terry", Katarina said, "I'm so glad I've met you -- you're the first
human man who's doing rock-climbing with me; all the others only wanted to see me dance
or even treated me like one of those dumb and stupid lover dolls!" -- "Lover
dolls?" -- "Yes, mechanical prostitutes that could fulfil sexual desires but really had
nothing in their head!" -- "I think Master di Sento never created one of that kind -- or
did he?" She shook her head violently: "Never! He always said that true friendship is much
more worth than a shallow sexual relationship. My sisters and me were not made for physical love --
even if I wanted, I never could have sex with a man!" -- "That doesn't matter at all; for
I just feel the same like you and your father and that's one of the main reasons why I got
castrated!"
"Castrated? What do you mean?" Now she was really confused. "I don't
want to go into details, but it means that I never could have sex, either. And I'm quite
happy about it -- it even helped me to save my country and deliver it from the evil!"
-- "Oh, that sounds interesting! Could you tell me that story?" And so he told her
about his adventure with the bad witch Amonika Satansky. When he had finished,
they decided to climb down again after he had wound her up once again.
"Oh, I hate being depended on other people to wind me up all the time!"
Katarina said angrily. "I can understand you; but I swear I will be there for
you for the rest of my life and wind you up over and over again -- I don't mind doing this at all!"
After reaching the foot of the mountain she told him: "I'm so happy that you want to be my lifelong friend, but what will happen when you will have died? -- Oh, I'd so much love to be a human girl; I would get older together with you and would never need that stupid key again..."
Terry looked at her and said: "You may be not human in your physical appearance,
but deep inside in your soul you are more human than many people of flesh and blood!"
-- "I'm glad you think so about me, but to me it's just not enough! I want to breathe, I
want to drink, I want to eat and maybe even procreate! You would be the ideal godfather
for my children, if I ever should have any!"
He looked into Katarina's sad eyes and replied: "If you really want it
so dearly, the only way to help you might be in the city's underground -- there
are still some machines working, can't you feel the vibrations beneath your feet?"
-- "I can hardly feel it, my mechanical body is not as sensitive as your
organic one! And besides, Master di Sento always forbade us to go under the city's
surface, for no one knows exactly what has been going on there!" -- "You don't have
to be afraid, my sister, I will protect you from all evil -- if there should be any at all!"
So they walked around in the city until they found an entrance to its underworld
and went down. Only a few, obviously electric lamps brought light into the darkness; Katarina was
scared and did not dare to move a millimetre away from Terry.
After walking down the almost endless corridors for about half an hour, they suddenly
heard steps -- there was someone approaching! Now even Terry got a little bit scared;
soon they saw a male figure coming towards them: "I just can't believe my eyes!"
the stranger said, "a human master after all these centuries!" --
"I really feel honoured by your words, but I'm only a traveller from a country far away; all
human inhabitants of Mythopia have obviously died out! My name's Terry, and that's
my friend Katarina di Sento, one of Master di Sento's miraculous ballerina dolls!"
The unknown person, definitely a kind of mechanical doll as well, was highly surprised:
"Di Sento? I can't believe it, either! But my sensors are telling me that
Lady Katarina is the most advanced, clockwork-driven humanoid I've ever seen! I'm a
B-5000-t-7 service android, but you may call me Bob! My program commands me to
treat both of you just like human masters -- so tell me, Lady Katarina, Master Terry,
what can I do for you?"
The ballerina doll first didn't know what to say, but then she remembered her urgent desires: "Could you perhaps reanimate my sisters and make me a real human being?" -- "Your first wish seems to be a challenge which I would love to accept, but the second one definitely goes beyond my modest abilities -- I'm afraid only a miracle can help you! -- And you, Master Terry?" -- "Well", the eunuch said, "I'd like to know about this country's history, especially concerning mechanical dolls and androids!"
"That's no problem: Primitive ballerina dolls, incomparable to Lady Katarina,
were the first artificial life-size humanoids. They would dance and say stupid,
pre-programmed sentences, just do the same things over and over again. Soon their restricted
mechanisms were complemented with electric and electronic modifications and finally completely
replaced by them! These electronic humanoids are called androids, like me. I could implant
electrical auto-wind-up mechanisms into the bodies of Lady Katarina and her sisters to make
them independent from those stupid, old-fashioned keys." -- "Oh yes, that would be
wonderful!" she said.
Bob continued his story: "Electronic circuits provide a much higher flexibility
than ordinary clockworks; Master di Sento was the only one who thought different,
but I never would have believed that he really might have succeeded in creating fully
mechanical life forms that are even more intelligent and human than most androids! There's
only one logical explanation: Magic! Master di Sento may have been a brilliant
craftsman, but using magic powers as well was a severe offence against our basic law: Science
and Technology only -- no magic at all! Nevertheless, I'm glad you are here, dear Lady Katarina.
Calling you a ballerina doll would be pure understatement. However, if you were really created
by science and magic, I probably cant reanimate your sisters, either. I suggest we go to Master
di Sento's working place and look for the original plans..."
When they reached the city's surface, they noticed that the sun was about to go down. "If we hurry up, we could be at Master di Sento's house before the night comes", said Bob, "but we also could spend the night in a boarding house which is quite near. Are you tired, Master Terry?" -- "I am indeed, but do you also have something to eat there?" -- "That's no problem, Sir. Our human masters have developed a very special technique to preserve food for up to 10000 years without it loosing its freshness!" So they stayed in the boarding house during the night, and when the sun had risen, they went to Master di Sento's domicile.
Terry didn't know exactly what they were looking for and neither did Katarina. Thank god Bob
knew what was important, and soon he held the original blueprints of the Master's brilliant
creations. "This is really fascinating! Your creator did use magic elements,
but less than I supposed!" -- "What do you mean, less than you supposed?"
asked Katarina. "Nano technology!" he replied. "Master di Sento managed to create
clockworks and mechanical structures that are so tiny that you can't see them with the naked eye at
all. Up to a certain degree, they can be as effective as electronic microchips. In addition, about
half of these structures seem to permanently alter and vary their size and position, imitating
human intelligence and even emotions much better than my circuits and transistors could ever do.
That is the magic factor!"
"Can you reanimate my sisters?" -- "I think so. But I'm afraid that
there will only be enough material for two of your four sisters -- namely these!"
He showed her two doll heads of which one was already familiar to Terry. The
ballerina doll was very excited: "These are Joylanda and Jadzia! I would be happy if you
only managed to reanimate one of them -- preferably Joylanda! --, but two of them are more than
I would have expected! But is there really no chance for the other ones?" --
"Unfortunately not. These two, however, will be no problem for me!"
During the next five hours, Bob was busy reconstructing Katarina's sisters and equipping them with auto-wind-up mechanisms driven by solar energy. Finally, Katarina got such one herself. The three sisters were overwhelmed with happiness when they saw each other again and they spend the two following days just among themselves. Katarina was the only one who really wanted to be a human girl; Jadzia and Joylanda were happy to be just as they were. But all three of them were grateful for Terry and Bob bringing them together again. However, Katarina's dream seemed to remain a dream for all eternity...
One day a young prince from a country beyond the big mountains arrived together with some
companions. They were all riding on horses, and when the prince -- he had long, dark-brown,
curled hair -- saw Katarina, he fell in love like Terry did before, but with a slight difference:
The prince took her in his arms and kissed her tenderly. She felt something mysterious going
on with her and asked Bob and Terry to come over to her with a scanning device. The eunuch
could see with his naked eyes what the android's machine confirmed:
"Congratulations, Katarina", they said simultaneously, "now
you are a real human being!"
The prince was a little bit confused: "Hasn't she always been?" He had arrived there by pure chance, without knowing about Mythopia at all. But now he liked that place so much that he decided to bring new live to it; he and Katarina got married -- even king Billvoy Clintonis from Amrekh arrived to join the wedding celebration. A few weeks later, the ex-ballerina doll was pregnant... So they all lived happily ever after, with Mythopia regaining its former importance, allowing magic to become a steady part of it.
| Inhaltsverzeichnis | Click here for Terry's first adventure! |