@VisualInspiration

1/35

~~~~
1833
~~~~

They come in from the Pampas into Buenos Aires, dust rising in their wake. Dust covers their chests, heavy with fossils and rocks, notebooks filled with observations and diagrams and sketches. And below Darwin's seat, the chest with their most unusual finding, the Heart.

Darwin can feel it beating slowly in the chest below him.

#shortstory #argentina #sciencefiction #alternatehistory #buenosaires

2/35

Cool wind touches his cheek as they unload the chests into their hotel, under the watchful eyes of Governor de Rosas and his gauchos. De Rosas wastes no time in accosting Darwin as soon as they finish unpacking, closing the door beyond them.

"So, Mr. Darwin, I believe you have found an interesting... artifact," he fixed Darwin in his gaze, dangerous and wanting.

3/35

Darwin doesn't ask how he came to know this. Their retinue, which de Rosas had supplied to protect them from the attacks of the indigenous tribes of the Pampas, had many brutes, scoundrels, and spies, Rosas' loyal henchmen from the Mazorca secret police force.

"Yes, quite so, Mr. de Rosas. I must warn you, though, that this artifact in question must be studied further in order to assess its risk, we..."

4/35

"Make it a quick study then, señor Darwin. We are at war against the natives of this country, and against our enemies from within. And now it seems our country itself has given to us its strength, el corazón para pelear!" He pauses and looks appreciatively at the dusty chest. "I expect a return for my support of your little expedition, señor. You know," he adds menacingly, "there are rumors you are, in fact, an English spy. We wouldn't want these rumors to cause your expulsion, no?"

5/35

Darwin swallows and nods. They have found the Heart quite by accident, while digging for fossils under an abandoned armadillo burrow next to a scorched Querandí settlement, far beyond the Rio Salado. Syms Covington, the young seaman from the Beagle who was assisting with his research, noticed slow, methodical thumps coming from inside the burrow. "Oy, over here!" and off they went to dig it out.

6/35

A mechanical heart, bigger than a human's, slowly throbbing, as if its missing owner was asleep. Entombed there possibly many eons ago, probably enshrined by the locals before the Conquest. They dug around the area, but could discover nothing further. The body, if there was any, was not to be found. Or at least, that's what Darwin told the others after he returned from an excavation with his loyal crew.

7/35

Now, in his hotel room, Darwin opens the chest, and resumes his sketch of the heart in his notebook. Then he pauses, and flips back to the page where his diagram of the branches of life has been slowly unfolding during his voyages on the Beagle. Tentatively, he starts to sketch another tree of life next to it, a parallel tree, life stemming from iron and sulfur, born in the ancient past, or, maybe, on another world.

On the opposite page, he draws a small map, and a small metal body.

8/35

Darkness falls. Much later, Darwin lifts his eyes from his notebook and blows off the candle. Just as he looks at the stars, praying for guidance to a God he was no longer sure he believed in, a commotion starts in the city, and shots are fired.

He listens. It seems two groups are fighting each other, getting closer and closer. Darwin bolts the door in alarm, but it is for naught: de Rosas's brutes break it and the General himself enters, his face grim, his uniform bloodied.

9/35

"Perdón, señor Darwin," he bows sarcastically, slightly out of breath, "But I'm afraid I need to confiscate your findings, as property of the legitimate provincial government, to make sure it doesn't fall into the hands of the damned Unitarios."

10/35

Without waiting for an answer, his gauchos lift the chest containing the Heart, and de Rosas snatches the notebook from Darwin's hands. Shots are fired below, and a bloodied militia man rushes up the stairs and is aiming his rifle at de Rosas. But de Rosas shoots first, and the man collapses, his blood spattering on the chest.

11/35

De Rosas looks at Darwin almost apologetically, gestures to his gauchos, and together they disappear into the night, taking the body and the chest with them, leaving Darwin standing there, shaken and suddenly afraid.

12/35

~~~~
1953
~~~~

As they set out from Buenos Aires on the early morning, the gentle wind from the Pampas caresses Helmut's cheeks. It is chilly, but not as chilly as it was back in Bavaria, not as chilly as his wife's last look at him, back in his previous life.

He looks at the rear view mirror, but so far no one seems to have followed them. Lately, there have been rumors of Mossad and CIA agents tracking former Nazis.

13/35

A month ago he had finally made contact with José and had procured Darwin's lost diary, preserved in the cellar of the National Museum of Natural Sciences. José, one of the museum's curators, supposedly a Nazi sympathizer and an acquaintance of Eva Perón, allowed him access, saluting as he ushered him in.

14/35

"What a shame about the War, señor, uh, Fischer," he said, peering at Helmut, "All gone to waste, uh? Well, I hope our society can help restore the glory of the Third Reich, bit by bit, here in Argentina." He shifts his glasses. "So. Here, as you can see, Juan de Rosas wrote in Darwin's diary right next to the map where the Heart was dug up. They tried finding the body of the metal giant this heart belonged to, but failed, and then gave up."

15/35

José pushes his glasses again and peers at him. "I have made this my area of study, after pursuing hints about it in various historical sources. I'm glad I can be of help. De Rosas!" he exclaims suddenly, "What a hero! I hope Perón will be able to restore Argentina to its glory days!" he pauses, overcome with emotion, and then, "See here, I believe they were looking at the wrong place for the body. I believe Darwin's map was a ruse. The place is much closer to the city."

16/35

And indeed, it is just a brief drive out from the city. They enter a small opening in a chain link fence, the big sign outside saying it's a construction site for a new Villa. But inside, there is no building equipment in sight, except for a large excavator. A large hole has been dug in the ground. Scorched remnants of long-abandoned Querandí houses are tossed to the side as an afterthought.

17/35

Inside the hole, rusty and uneven metallic surfaces are barely visible, mostly covered with earth. But Helmut imagines he can
discern the shape of a body there. A giant's body, ancient, long dead. The future savior of the white Aryan race, the natural forward evolution of Darwin's theories and Hitler's, if they could control it.

18/35

They unload the old crate from their pickup truck and then open it. Slowly, they lift together the clockwork Heart. It is still slowly beating in their hand. As Helmut gazes at it in wonder, a car screeches to a stop outside, and two armed men rush into the site.

19/35

One of them stares in Helmut with sheer hatred, and aims a gun at his head. "Das ist für Hanna," he shouts, shooting before the other agent can stop him. Helmut is flung back and falls into the hole, the Heart tumbling after him. "No!" Helmut can hear the other agent shout with an American accent, "We were supposed to bring him to justice!"

As Helmut lays there dying, he sees the two agents paying José. Traitor, he thinks. Shouldn't have trusted him.

20/35

Then, below him, just he draws his last shuddering breathes, half his mind gone, Helmut feels the iron giant stirring back to life. Sensing its heart close by, instincts dormant for eons move iron tendons, and its hands rise slowly up, trying to locate its life source.

21/35

The Mossad agent stops and stares at this, alarmed. "So that's the golem they planned on reviving here, eh?" he spits, then aims and shoots several times at the ancient Heart. The Heart pops and explodes, showering metal fragments and strange gears over Helmut.

22/35

The agent turns to his companion. "Tell your CIA masters they shouldn't mess with these things. Nothing good comes out of golems." He starts towards the excavator. "Come on, let's cover this up."

The iron body stutters, falters and fails, falling silent again, just as Helmut, sprawled on its ancient body, dies.

23/35

~~~~
2073
~~~~

Marcella kneels in front of the iron giant. Gentle wind from the far-off Pampas touches her enhanced titanium cheeks. Marco knows she doesn't really feel it, except as sensor readings of a slight decrease in the local barometric pressure. He takes a deep breath. He hates these PR outings.

24/35

In front of them, the rusty iron giant sits in the center of the small park, immobile, its broken body propped up by metal supporters. The sun peeks through the hole in its chest where its Heart once was. Beyond them, the PR team for Marcella's party, Vanguardia Cibernética Nacional, are already live streaming.

25/35

"Come on, kneel with me, Marco," she whispers impatiently. Marco kneels obediently. Marcella places a metal hand over her modified heart, and begins praying. Her prayer is different each time, generated by the GPT model her mind is wired to. "Oh, great Iron Giant, by the grace of God, may all the good people of Argentina be united with our benevolent AIs!"

26/35

Marco repeats the prayer, and sighs inwardly. It hasn't been easy being with Marcella. Since they started dating, she was always obsessed with AI, but also always thinking ahead, always ambitious. Things escalated when the iron giant was uncovered, during excavations for urban renewal, under this century-old Villa. Its carbon dating said it was from millions of years in the past, but its body had oddly human characteristics, just iron-based.

27/35

This gave a boost to the already burgeoning human-machine movement, and Marcella embraced it all, surgically altering part after part of her body to have more sensors, more metal, more AI integration, documenting it all and streaming it live to a growing fan base. She has even modified her heart, 3d printing metal valves and stents and having it installed in a surgery, all financed by her fans.

28/35

Then she decided to go into politics, and the VCN party was created. Marco wasn't sure when exactly or why this happened but suddenly he was also in the spotlight, with multiple YouTube pundits wondering if Marcella's unaugmented partner was a secret Humanista.

29/35

Speaking of the Humanista party, there comes one. Marco recognizes him. Hernan, a popular Humanista streamer, who has been making all sorts of conspiracy theories about Marcella. Probably out here to cause a provocation, since the anti AI Humanistas have been declining in the polls recently. Strangely enough, he doesn't seem to be streaming this.

30/35

Marcella stands up and glares at the intruder. She waves her hand and her PR team stops streaming. "Hola, Hernan. Would you like to join me in prayer for the future of our country?"

But Hernan is genuinely angry, angrier than usual. "You're a traidora, Marcella, you Chinese puta. I know who's been financing you, I have proof, you fucking colaboracionista. You think we are stupid? You with your unnatural metal heart will not sell out our nation to the Chinese! No, this stops here!"

31/35

He suddenly pulls out a gun. Four shots echo in the small park.

Marcella is thrown back onto the iron giant. Hernan stares at her in contempt, and then at Marco. "You. I won't even waste a bullet on you." He spits and runs away.

Marco rushes to hold Marcella's body. Burned chrome and blood cover his clothes, and the giant's feet. She looks at him, surprised, pained, sad. "Oh Marco," she gasps, "what... what have done, you... don't deserve... you were so kind to me..."

32/35

A shrieking noise startles him. The giant's arm breaks free of its support, and slowly lowers towards them. Rusty fragments break off and shower them as some ancient instinct causes the giant to close its hand over them, as if protecting them from harm. The PR team is shouting and pointing and streaming again, Marco can't be sure if they're sad or shocked or even strangely happy.

33/35

Silence covers them. Something enters his mind, no, their mind, as Marcella is there with him. A vision of a race who once roamed the Pampas, a long time ago, large, gentle iron-based creatures with malleable bodies, their origin long forgotten. Watching the primitive humans coming in from the North. Helping them, liking them, modifying their iron bodies to be more like them. Then destroyed by human chieftains who wanted control, to harness them to their will.

34/35

"You are not ready." It is more of an impression than an actual voice in his mind. "But you are on your way." Then a vision: Two huge Ombú trees growing side by side on the Pampas, their branches bearing many strange fruits, one metallic, one organic. The metallic tree shrivels and dies, but then, after many years, the organic one grows big enough to touch its neighbor and revive it.

A gentle, giant hand seems to caress Marcella in their shared vision.

35/35

Then it's gone. The metal hand crumbles and falls from its socket, and they are exposed again to sunlight and to the PR team, who are still streaming. Marcella smiles in Marco's arms, her metal face hopeful and beautiful, just as in the day they had first met in university. "We will get there, Marco... We..." and then she shudders, and dies in his arms.

Footnotes 1/3

Juan Manuel de Rosas was governor of Buenos Aires, and briefly of Argentina. He established a totalitarian regime during the 1830s (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Manuel_de_Rosas).

Footnotes 2/3

Charles Darwin made several surveys in Argentina during the 2nd voyage of the Beagle in 1832-1833, which helped gestate his theory of evolution. He met with governor de Rosas, who provided him with passports and right of passage, personally, describing him as "a man of extraordinary character": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_voyage_of_HMS_Beagle#Gauchos,_rheas,_fossils_and_geology , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Manuel_de_Rosas#Governor_of_Buenos_Aires, and https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/the-voyages-of-charles-darwin/

The Querandí were one of the indigenous tribes of South America (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Het_peoples)

Footnotes 3/3

After WW2, a number of prominent Nazis fled to Argentina, aided by the authoritarian Perón regime (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Per%C3%B3n#Protection_of_Nazi_war_criminals), the most infamous being Josef Mengele and Adolf Eichmann. There were multiple attempts by Israeli and American secret services to locate and capture them.

NOTE

So. I've been too lazy and distracted by work in recent months to write.

This combines ideas from several stories I've been thinking of, so it's much longer than most things I've published here. This was prompted both by the image and by the setting in Buenos Aires in the story by @eperales above.

I've covered similar themes in other stories. The most similar would be this one, another Darwin story with a scifi twist: https://mastodon.social/@TheNudeSurrealist/114129002306623300