The Lord of the Sands of Time Read Online Free PDF Page B

Recovery Force. As Messengers, they knew more about the origins of this war than any human. The time they spent living as humans prior to deployment was not to teach them what humans knew. It was designed to instill in them human sensibilities, to encourage them to ponder the significance of humanity, of society, and finally, of their own identity.
    As highly advanced intelligent organisms, the Messengers were far more than machines designed for service. They were capable of harboring profound doubts regarding themselves and the world, and many of them did. If Messengers were to have the ability to question the basis of a given action, they had to be endowed with a self capable of providing an answer. Their father Sandrocottos did not tell them who they were, nor did he think this was something that could be taught. The self is the history each individual makes through living life. Knowing this, Sandrocottos gave them a single directive: discover for yourselves what you fight to defend.
    Orville and his kind were produced by different designers and builders in batches of several hundred to several thousand units; Messengers were endowed with varied temperaments from the outset. Based on its temperament, each Messenger chose a personal path for establishing a self. One Messenger might devote itself to the study of science, seeking mankind’s essence through the accumulation of knowledge. Another might delve into religion, seeking ultimate value in its manifold patterns and multiple ways of interpreting the universe. One might seek to understand art in its widest sense; another might narrow his focus to the development of a single creative field such as literature or music.
    But most Messengers made an effort, above all else, to venture out into the world—to observe its sights, experience its sounds and smells, converse with its people. By exploring the fullest potential of the complex organic machine interfaces that were their bodies, they were able to acquire knowledge through the broadest number of pathways. These pathways formed the basis for memory, which is why more than half of all Messengers were assigned physical bodies. It was hoped the precious memories created by going out into human society would sustain them during the long journey that lay ahead.
    The Messengers came to see Triton as a wonderful place. Resurgent humanity was done biding its time, and Triton was the focus of that resurgence. The city overflowed with passion and vigor, wealth and energy. And it was there on Triton that Orville found his reason for living—the deathless memories of his days and nights with Sayaka.

    He found her working at a window in the Defense Force Supply Section. It was an odd place for an encounter. Even stranger was her behavior: she had one foot up on the counter and was emptying a mug of coffee over the head of a requisitioner. That was Orville’s first glimpse of Sayaka.
    This was somewhat unusual behavior for a clerk in a military installation—in fact, he had seen nothing to match it anywhere on Triton—so Orville approached her. “What are you doing?”
    “What was that?” Her hair, the color of burnished gold, was pulled back tightly and piled on her head. A tie encircled her throat, her suit was immaculate. Nothing in her appearance would have predicted what she’d just done. Not only did she take the trouble to pour the last drop of coffee onto the head of her dazed customer, she balanced the empty cup on his head.
    “This is my job. I distribute supplies to the right people.”
    “I’ve never seen it done that way,” said Orville.
    “Excuse me. What I meant was, I make sure supplies don’t go to the wrong people.”
    “Ah, I see.” Orville paused for the two milliseconds needed to query the Supply Section AI about its responsibilities and work practices. The AI responded that it handled over 90 percent of all hardware/software aspects of matériel distribution to Defense Force units, but special