“The road was hard. There were brigands in the desert, and Bedouin tribes that caught the unwary to sell for spare parts. We were soldiers but we did not have much left with which to fight. There were four beside me, a Tasso, a Jenkins and a Fondly, plus a giant mecha who called itself Esau. They were an odd bunch but they were to be my companions for some time, as you will see. We were old comrades.

“We were only attacked once, near Halat Ammar. But Esau scared them off easily. We made the long trek from the peninsula to the Dead Sea. There, where the old Cities of the Plain were once extinguished, we found the monastery. The Black Robes are a curious order, their faces always hidden behind their cowls. I got a sense they were neither human nor machines but some synthesis of the two. They claimed to be building a god. But I had seen enough in the war to not entirely believe them. Regardless, they treated us well They had workshops and the expertise to help us. I got a new arm and a new leg. My systems were upgraded to what was then current. It was a peaceful time in my life, and one that I look back on with gratitude.

“It was hot there. It is hot on the Dead Sea. One day got very hot. I came down into the vegetable garden where the Fondly was hoeing. The Fondly was fond of singing. It sang all the time. This time was no different. The Fondly was singing but it was a new, raw song, with nonsense words. The heat had got to it, I think. It hoed the ground, the hoe went up and down, up and down. The groove in the earth ran wet with blood.

“One of the monks lay in the carrot patch. Their head was bashed in. Circuitry hissed and fizzed and blood flowed. So I guess the monks were a little of both, more cyborg than human and less than robots. The Fondly sang and hoed. I grabbed it and made it put the hoe down.

“By the time we got in the shade it had become progressively intelligible. I had two choices, of course. I could give the Fondly up and let the monks enact justice. Or I could help my fellow robot.