By the Waters
By the waters, the waters, of Babylon,
we lay down and wept,
and wept,
and wept for thee, Zion,
we remember, we remember,
we remember thee Zion.
Lament of the Jews after being taken into captivity in the Babylonian Empire
Diagnostic check: all systems functional
Weapons: 99.96 full
Processors: on line
Boot Up: commencing
I wake. The surrounding circumstances are not proper. I am a Mark XXXIII Bolo, and one of the most powerful weapons ever created by man. I am a defender of humanity, and have served the Concordiat of Man, and its successor states for 100 years. I have fought in ten campaigns, and have been awarded the Platinum Solar Cross for heroism twice. Always I have fought with valor, and never retreated or surrendered. But never have I been awakened in this manner!
The beach was cold, and the sand was not as warm, as it appeared to be. That was why Lucy Rosenblum had come out to run around. Her mother was working hard at her job, sewing pants with the aid of sewing machines, and her father was also working at his job at the aircraft plant. He was a night watchmen, when he could have been a engineer, and her mother a seamstress. But they were from Poland, where her parents had gotten out in 1936. Father was terrified of Hitler, and when Czechoslovakia was overrun, he had turned all his assets into cash, and bought tickets to America. They had come to America with no personal friends, and very little ready money. Papa and moma were near their wits end when they had found a advertisement in a newspaper offering jobs at a aircraft factory in California. It had been a hard train trip, but there was work to be had. Unfortunately for Lucy, her parents had no time for her, with the family to feed on small wages. And so she amused herself, playing on the beach near Los Angeles. And . . . What was that?
At first the object looked like the wreck of a ship, but it was too new for that, its metal shining in the sun, and weapons bristling from every angle. Lucy had seen newsreels of Hitler's tanks, and this was like that, only ten times larger than any tank or anything else Lucy had ever seen, even ocean liners!
I see the human girl, and wonder what she is thinking. And then she screams and runs away. I turn on my counter-gravity unit and pursue her. I soon overtake her and have her inside my warhull. I then ask her what is wrong.
"What is wrong, citizen?" "Why do you percive me as a threat?" "I am no threat to citizens of the Concordiat of Man, or any other states that have been established by humans."
Lucy's heart nearly stopped when she realized what the machine must be. It must be a German war machine, here to invade America! She ran as fast as she could from it, but it caught up with her easily, and took her inside it. Strangely enough, there was no pilot inside it, only machines that she could see. She had been in the aircraft factory many times, and had seen lathes, drill presses,and other machinery. This was like that, except that it seemed much more advanced. And then the machine began to speak . . .
She felt amazed, and wondered what this Concordiat was, that the machine spoke of. "What do you mean, Concordiat of Man?" "There is no such organization, that I have ever heard of.
I calculate that the girl is telling the truth, based on the factors used in lie-detectors, such as sweat, and breathing rate. The fact is alarming, meaning that either so much time has passed that even the memory of the Concordiat of Man is gone, or . . .
I cannot guess what the other possibility might be. No, I fear what the other possibility might be. I have never known fear before, in 100 years of conflict, and decades of powered down status. I have the equivalent of the Concordiat's whole library system in my computer banks, and I have scanned through thousands of them. I have read of battles and wars that go back to the time when man was on only one planet, and believed that the world was flat. But despite reading of fear in battle, and hundreds and thousands of men and woman running away from a battle or a war, I have never understood fear. Surely, I thought, men and women could overcome their fear. They could stand and fight despite the danger, or because of it. But to think, even for a moment, that I am alone, the only one of my kind . . .
I understand fear now, and have some sympathy for those soldiers who have run from battles before. I see a book in my files, called the ''Red Badge of Courage' set in the American Civil War. It seems to help my dilemma, being about a soldier who wants to fight and gain a wound, a ' Red Badge of Courage' which will prove he is brave. But he runs away from the battle, and thinks himself a coward. And yet he then rejoins his unit and proves his bravery in battle.
Lucy asked the machine "Are you one of Hitler's tanks?" The machine gave no reply, and then said "No."
Hitler. I look for him in my memory banks, and find masses of information. Most of it is terrifying. He seems to have been a dictator, and tyrant of the first stripe. His Nazis were based on alarmingly false beliefs,and his Mein Kamf is a collection of lies. His crimes . . . are practically unbelievable, and monstrous. It is good for Terra that he was destroyed.
But why does this girl think I might be one of his tanks? He had impressive tanks, and indeed the Mark I Bolo is partially based on some of the principles that Hitler's tanks had. But Hitler was destroyed nearly a thousand years ago. Unless . . .
The thought is maddening, and I cannot say that is it is true. But how else would she know of Hitler, after the Concordiat. Unless I am before the Concordiat of Man was created.
And not only before, but nearly 1,300 years before. Back in the 1900's, when modern warfare was just starting, and tanks were only one human generation from having not existed at all. There can be no one in this era who can command me properly, and I could be free off all human orders. The thought is not pleasing. I have been programed to obey lawful orders, and protect humanity. That is easily done when a alien race declares war on or attacks the Concordiat of Man or its allies. It is not so easy when humans fight each other, such as pirate raids or internal conflicts. On Jefferson, a Bolo was used by a anti-populist socialist goverment to hold on to power. In many respects it paralled the Communist Party in Terran Russia and what it did to stay in power. In the end, though, the government was overthrown. I scan the files on Hitler again, and am still astonished. How could such a obvious liar have managed not to get caught in his lies? And how could he justify his hatred of Jews? It makes, and made, no sense.
Lucy asked "What are you then?"
"I am a Bolo Mark XXXIII of the Line, Hull Number 18456207B, Initials MRC.
I have now divulged privlege informantion to, as far as I know, an unknown civilian. But I have no way of contacting the Concordiat of Man, or my superiors. It seems I am marooned in the past, and having no information in my data banks of any such war machine or invasion in the past, I have already by my very presence changed the future of man.
