The City in the Sky
CHAPTER 5

Having bid goodnight to Lucy, James retired to his bedroom with intentions of brushing up on Clockwork history. Though his full stomach and heavy eyelids protested the postponement of sleep, he proceeded to light the bedside lamp and read a somewhat outdated text he had brought up with him entitled “A Brief History of the Mechanical Man” by Jerome Farnsworth Jr. The aged book was one of the few ever written about Clockworks that wasn’t slanted with an anti-Clockwork stance. He propped his pillow up against the headboard, forcefully blinked his eyes and opened the book to chapter 3, The Clockwork Genesis. After some quick scanning of the pages he came to the information he sought.

The mechanical man’s origins (It began) have always been and continue to be a much debated issue that seems to be an amalgam of logical deduction, recorded history, and well circulated rumors. It is widely believed that the Clockwork was fabricated prior to The Ascension (See “Ascension” pgs. 2, 10, 64-99), in a factory located on the earth’s surface. Though the factory is still rumored to exist it has not been seen by a member of the general public in over 100 years. For what purpose the factory is used today is not commonly known as Clockwork production has been declared illegal. The factory was owned by a fellow of Japanese descent who we only know as Ayumu (See “Ayumu” chap. 2 pg. 35). It was he who originally designed and built the Clockwork man, though for what purpose, it is not exactly clear. It has been speculated that all Clockworks were created to serve man. This seems possible in light of the fact that many of the non-android automatons were built for such purpose prior to the unveiling of the human oriented variety.

Though his brain was foggy with fatigue, the passage brought to mind a memory from at least 5? no it had to be 4 years ago. It wasn’t long after the transplant and he was still marinating his self-pity in gin. He had been sitting at the pub after another dreary day when an old man quietly sat down in the barstool beside him. Mulligan really wasn’t in the mood for conversation, but his neighbor had other ideas. Mulligan became increasingly dismayed that the curt replies he gave while he stared into his glass did nothing to deter the fellow. The subject of occupation was brought up, and when Mulligan answered he was surprised to hear the old man suddenly sound morose.

“Clockworks, eh?“, said the man. “Why I can remember when Clockworks used to look like machines instead of people.”

Mulligan was shocked when he realized just how old his new acquaintance must be as the android Clockwork was around many decades before the detective was ever born.

“It was just so sad”, continued the elderly one. “They would break down, and people would just throw them away. A shame. A downright bleeding shame.”

At this point Mulligan didn’t know what to think, as the old man went on like he had lost a good friend. He turned to the fellow and looked him in the eyes. To the day Mulligan couldn’t remember the man’s face, much less his name, but his eyes...He knew he’d always remember those eyes. They were like deep, dark-blue pools of sorrow glistening with the tears that overflowed and ran down his hollowed cheeks. The James Mulligan of that time couldn’t understand, but he was a different man now.

For a moment he found himself once again sitting on the barstool trying to comprehend the meaning behind the nameless man’s tears before he realized that he had actually dozed off into a waking dream. He shook off Morpheus’ embrace and redoubled his efforts to finish his studies.

In a sort of Darwinian farce the factory gradually shifted from producing simple utilitarian Clockworks to the humanoids we know today. At first people readily accepted these mechanical beings, taking them into their homes and using them for manual labor. As time progressed and people became familiar with their mechanical servants they began to see something of themselves in the Clockworks. Something all too human. Slowly a word began creeping into the minds and conversations of the populace: Slavery. A rift was created as many said to keep these “mecha-humans” (See “Mecha-human” Glos. pg 846) subjugated without rights or freedoms was wrong. Others countered that they were machines created for human use and nothing more. Eventually the matter was brought to trial. The magistrate who presided, being a pious man, reasoned that men being created in the image of God were born free, therefore Clockworks being created in the image of man should likewise be free. Thus the Clockwork Equality Act of 1820 was created. There was some sporadic out crying, but for the most part the Act was accepted and even celebrated.

For a while Clockwork and Man lived side by side in peace, however, this was not to last. Clockworks, with their considerable energies and being guided by their “Purpose” (See “The Purpose” chap. 3 pg 135-178) had a natural proclivity for prosperity. Unfortunately for them, this did not sit well with many of their human counterparts who had come to resent the apparent ease by which the Clockworks flourished in the rich soil of their new found freedom. As the tide of approval turned against the Clockworks, amendments were made to the Clockwork Equality Act. With each amendment the “mecha-humans” lost a basic right that had been heretofore guaranteed by the very Act being amended. As the Clockworks were on the verge of losing everything, humanity once again stepped in, this time in the form of protest groups who believed the law had gone too far. However, this time the majority of mankind did not side with the hapless automatons, and many anti-Clockwork groups rose up against those who would succor the machines. This rift only deepened when control of mineral importation, especially coal, was handed to the mecha-humans (See “Coal” Chap. 28 pg. 641). To this day the battle continues as humanity rages against one another over the fate of the beleaguered machines...