[Continued from here]
There
was silence, then the creaking of floorboards. After a long time, the door
eased open a crack, and the face of a young, suspicious man looked out.
“What?”
“Hello.
I’ve come looking for someone, and I hoped you could help me.”
“Who
are you?”
“My
name is Beranwen Tuple.”
“Never
heard of you.”
“No.
But I’ve got a friend who you’ve probably heard of. He’s called… well now, I
suppose that won’t help, will it? He couldn’t remember his real name. We call
him Stan at the moment. But he’s, sort of…”
“He
can’t remember his name?” The man pulled the door open a little more. Around
him, Beranwen could see a well-kept kitchen, as clean as any house-proud wife
could make it. But the man seemed not to want her to see much more, positioning
himself to block most of the room from her view. “Is he an odd sort?”
“Sort
of odd, yes.”Beranwen got the feeling the man was trying not to give too much
away. “When we found him, he didn’t have his legs.”
The
man at the door looked exasperated, then concerned.
“Does
he have them now?”
“Yes.
Are you the man that made him?”
“Where
is he?”
“Not
far off. You’ll understand, I thought it best he stayed away until I discovered
why he'd left in the first place. He doesn’t remember what happened, you see.”
“But
he found his way back again?”
“He
saw familiar points on the road. Why did he leave?”
“I
don’t know. He just wasn’t here. Two mornings ago, it was. Woke up and he was
gone.”
“For
no reason?”
“Not
that I know of. He didn’t leave a note.”
The
man was lying. She wondered what he was lying about.
“It’s
possible he’ll remember when he gets here. Recognising things on the road seems
to be shaking his memory up a bit. If you’re happy with it, I can go and fetch
him. Then we can see what he has to say.”
It
was a stab in the dark, and it failed to hit a mark.
“Right.
Bring him along. If he’s had his legs off, he probably needs some work.”
“Can
I give him your name? See if that helps too?”
“Mendel.
And he’s…”
"Master
Win!" Quinton's cry was sudden and terrifying. Moving faster than she even
had in her life, Beranwen turned and ran back to the track to find her lord.
Quinton
was crying, shaking uncontrollably and staring at Stan. Stan himself looked
puzzled, and a bit shocked. An arm lay on the ground between the two men.
"What
happened?" Beranwen asked, trying to take the scene in.
"Well
look at that." Mendel said, having followed at Beranwen’s heels.
"Never mind. Better get it put back on." With little fuss, he pushed
past Beranwen and picked the arm up.
Beranwen
left him to it. Hurrying to Quinton, she held him and muttered soothing things
until he stopped crying. Still, she couldn't get him to stop shaking, and he
kept repeating "It just came off. It just came off."
"There
now, Quinton. Don't fret. We know Stan comes apart, we saw his legs. I'm sure
his arm will go back on just as easily as his legs did. Don't worry. There
now."
In
the background, she could hear swearing coming from Mendel as he worked, and
for a moment she worried that she was lying to Quinton. But soon enough Mendel
had stepped back and was considering his work.
"It'll
do for now, but it's not the best. Probably come off again soon as blink. Don't
try and lift anything heavy, you might be okay."
"There,
Quinton." Beranwen soothed. "You see? Stan's arm is back where it
should be, and everything's okay. How do you feel, Stan?"
"Fine."
Stan replied, rolling his shoulder apprehensively. "It was strange for a
moment, but then... oh..."
Stan
staggered, his eyes rolling in his head. Quinton cried out again, breaking free
from Beranwen's hold and running to his friend.
"No,
no, I'm alright." Stan reassured, leaning quite heavily on Quinton as he
said it. "I thought I was going to sleep, but..." His eyes rolled up
into his head again, and despite Quinton's grasp on him, he slowly collapsed.
"Master
Win!"
"What
happened to him?” Beranwen turned to Mendel while Quinton sank to the ground
next to Stan. “He did this before when we reattached his legs. Is it supposed
to happen?"
"No.
But it does anyway. Can't figure it out. Like his memory. It's just one of
those things.”
“Wake
him up!” Quinton shouted at Mendel.
“Quinton,
hush.” Beranwen said firmly. “He'll wake up when he’s ready, just like we all
do. You remember the last time, don’t you? Just keep an eye on him, and he’ll
be fine.”
“Your
friend is very demanding.” Mendel commented idly.
"Stan's
arm just came off. Couldn't you make a man that didn't fall apart so
easily?"
"Maybe,
if I tried again. But I'm not looking to. It worked, that's enough."
"Why
did you do it? How did you do it? You
can't just turn a bundle of cogs into a living person."
"You can't. But he's not just a 'bundle
of cogs'. There's more to him than that."
"Clearly.
But how did you do it?"
"That's
not really important. If you're done crying over him," Mendel turned to
Quinton, "You can help me carry him back to the house. I don't know what
he's been up to, but he needs some sorting out. It looks like he's been dragged
through mud."
[Part 30]
[Part 30]
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