Gareth and th Lost Island (31 page)

The massive robot rumbled to a stop a few feet in
front of Tralnis. It bent at the waist so it could lower its head
to be even with Tralnis’ eyes. “Hello, would you like to be my
friend?” the thing said, with a voice that somehow sounded both
deeply masculine and yet childish at the same time.

Tralnis forced down his natural urge to flee, and
considered what it would probably mean to
NOT
be this things
friend. Wisely he replied, “I would be honored to be your
friend.”

The large robot leaned back a bit and nodded its
head. “Oh good. My last biological friend ceased to function, and
then rotted away into dust a long time ago,” it said.

A third mechanical creature walked over to Tralnis.
This one was covered in the same brushed brass skin as the first
one. Unlike the other two robots, this was one fashioned in the
likeness of a human body. It had a heart shaped face, with two
large lenses set where a human would keep their eyes. Metal
apertures on each lens closed and opened to let in varying amounts
of light. Like the other two, its mouth was a rectangular crystal.
The crystal flashed as it asked in a slighter higher feminine
sounding voice compared to the first robot, “Do you have a
preferred designation, or should we refer to you as Dwarf unit
1?”

“Preferred designation? Do you mean name?” Tralnis
inquired for clarification.

The humanoid robot nodded “her” head. “Correct. My
designation is Research and Evaluation of Non-mechanical Entities
unit 7, but you can refer to me as RENE 7 if you prefer,” she
said.

Tralnis nodded his head. “Pleasure to meet you, RENE
7. I’m Doctor Tralnis Granitestaff,” he replied. “Who are your
friends here?” he asked.

The floating robot dipped towards him, and then
righted itself. “My designation is Debris Assessment, Reclamation,
and Cataloging unit 254 or DAR-C 254. That big lug-nut over there
is the Power Core Maintenance and Protection Automaton Prototype.
We just call him Kevin,” she stated.

Kevin wiggled his fingers as he waved a hand at
Tralnis, and said cheerfully, “Heloooo, friend Doctor Tralnis
Granitestaff.”

“How about we just shorten that up to Tralnis,” the
Dwarf suggested.

“Heloooo, Tralnis,” Kevin repeated, wiggling his
fingers and waving his hand again.

RENE 7 cocked her head to the side as she accessed
her memory crystals. “Doctor is an honorific given to those who
perform maintenance on biological entities. Is that your primary
function, Tralnis?” she inquired.

“Yes, I’m a medical doctor,” Tralnis replied.

“Good. We have found six biological specimens that
may require maintenance. They are three humans, a Roehus, a Chim,
and an Ur-Kwa-Kwa. They were located in the same remains of the
crashed airship we found you in,” RENE 7 said.

“You mean Kwa-Kwa-Ur?” Tralnis asked for
clarification.

RENE 7 again cocked her head to the side.
“Kwa-Kwa-Ur? I wonder what happened to make it so that the eyestalk
symbiotes receive top billing now?” she muttered to herself.

Tralnis frowned as his throbbing head caught up to
the number of people RENE 7 and company had found. “There were
eight of us. We’re still missing one,” Tralnis told them
worriedly.

“DAR-C 254… Kevin, go back to the airship, and tell
me if you find any other biological specimens,” RENE 7 ordered.
Both robots saluted before they either rolled, or floated over to
the crash site.

Tralnis watched them go, and saw the remains of the
Glorious Dawn for the first time since waking up. His throat
tightened, as fear for his friends welled up in him. It was hard
for Tralnis to wrap his mind around the thought that the mess of
wood and debris he saw on the beach had once been an airship. A
small voice in the back of his mind told him he should be thankful
that even six of his friends had been found. “Lead me to other
‘biological specimens’ so I can see what I can do to help them,”
Tralnis ordered.

RENE 7 offered her hand, and helped pull Tralnis to
his feet. “This way,” she said before walking towards a small
grassy hill at the edge of the white sand beach.

They had made it only halfway to the hill before
Kevin called out, “I found a pretty blue starfish.”

A soft metal clang sounded from where RENE 7 hit her
forehead with her metal hand, and then shook her head. “That’s
good, Kevin. Keep looking, but focus on trying to find biological
specimens closer in size to Tralnis,” she advised him. Shifting her
hand to the side of her glowing crystal mouth, Rene 7 whispered,
“Kevin is… a bit… special.” She then led him the rest of the way to
the small hill, and then took him around to the side protected from
the sea winds.

On the lee side of the hill, Tralnis found Pilot,
Elizabeth, Izzy, Teesh, Sheldon, and Henry. Each was sitting up,
and looked like they had headaches similar to the one Tralnis had
woken up with. Sheldon’s eyestalks were leaning against each other
for support, giving him a crossed eyed look. Luckily for Tralnis,
his headache was already beginning to ebb away. After taking quick
stock of his friends, Tralnis turned to look at RENE 7. “We’re
still missing a human male,” he told her. He had decided that
Gareth was close enough to human that he wouldn’t have to try and
explain that the young man was something else entirely.

Back at the crash site, Kevin picked up a heavy piece
of wooden deck planking, and tossed it aside as if it weighed next
to nothing. He looked at what lie underneath it, and scratched the
smooth metal side of his head in confusion. “Um… DAR-C, I think I
found something,” he said hesitantly.

“What did you find, Kevin?” DAR-C 254 asked.

“I think I found a Mascalian,” he replied softly.

DAR-C 254 shook her head sadly. Kevin had been one of
their most brilliant minds before he sacrificed himself for the
island. Ever since then, his logic and processing functions left a
lot to be desired. “Kevin, the last Mascalian left the island
nearly 13,000 years ago,” she reminded her friend.

Kevin switched lenses, and looked closer at the human
looking male below him. The young man’s hair had been brushed back
during the crash, and showed his pointed ears. “He looks really
good for a 13,000 year old biological,” Kevin stated, somewhat
impressed.

“What makes you think he’s a Mascalian?” DAR-C asked,
starting to float over his way.

“He has pointed ears and an active DM signature. A
really big DM signature,” Kevin replied.

DAR-C 254 sped up her flight to see what Kevin was
talking about. One of Kevin’s responsibilities before the accident
was maintaining the island’s power source, the Void Stone. It was
the single largest source of Dark Magic emissions on Hadronus.
Since his reboot, he had difficulty even registering the DM
signatures of his fellow automatons. If he could measure a DM
signature coming from the person, it had to be huge. When her rune
powered DM sensing crystal array got in range, she had to pause to
make sure she was getting a proper reading.

“You weren’t exaggerating, my large friend. I’m
measuring an 8.1 DM signature coming from him,” DAR-C 254 said in
awe. Her center arm swept over the young man’s body. It stopped
when she saw the Void Rod holstered on his hip. “Oh, that make more
sense. He has a Void Rod on him. That must be what’s giving off the
emissions,” she stated. Her third arm snaked over, and pulled the
rod out of the holster. Holding the rod close to her body, DAR-C
254 hovered away to investigate more of the wreckage.

“Nope, DM signature’s still there,” Kevin told
her.

DAR-C 254 turned on her DM sensing crystals again and
looked at the rod. It was only giving off a 7.0 DM signature. She
handed the rod to Kevin, and rescanned the young man. He was still
registering an 8.1 DM signature. “Well interface me with an upside
down cable… a Mascalian!” she swore.

Kevin leaned over, and slipped the Void Rod back into
the Mascalian’s holster. Those that wielded a Void Rod were the
chosen protectors of the Mascalians. Kevin felt a special kinship
with them, since he had been programmed to be the last line of
defense for their island. He gently shook the young man’s shoulder,
and spoke in a language that hadn’t been heard in those parts for
almost 13,000 years. “
My lord, it is time to wake up,”
he
said softly.

Gareth stirred, and managed to turn over onto his
side. “
Another five minutes,”
he requested in the same
language, still mostly asleep.

Gareth sighed as Izzy rubbed the back of his neck in
an attempt to relieve him of the headache they had all shared.
 She was sitting with her back to the grassy hill while Gareth
leaned against her legs.  Their new mechanical friends, Kevin
and Dar-C 254, were huddled over RENE 7’s silent form trying to
bring her back on line.  For some reason, when Gareth had told
her his name, she had shut down from the shock.

RENE 7 came back online, and reviewed her memory
crystals for the previous few minutes.  The impossible had
happened, and her computational array had short circuited trying to
accept it.  The fact that she was still online now was only
thanks to DAR-C 254 reconfiguring her disbelief filter.  Using
Kevin’s treads to help pull herself up, RENE 7 managed to stand.
 She looked over at the group of biologicals, and fought the
urge to shut down. “Please follow us.  Central will want to
meet you,” she said in Trade after the Mascalian had asked they
speak in that language as a courtesy to his friends.  

“Who, or what is Central?” Elizabeth asked
defiantly.  Her ship had been destroyed, and she was feeling
more than a little put out over it.

DAR-C floated over to address the biologicals.
 “Central runs the island.  He is the second oldest of
us, and will know what to do,” she replied.  “Follow us,
please,” she requested before slowly floating towards the city.
 The biologicals followed the floating robot, while the
humanoid and tank like robot took up the rear.

Once they entered the city, Izzy looked around in
awe at what she saw.  Automatons of all shapes and sizes went
about their business, while small craft held aloft by the same
purple glowing hemispheres that floated DAR-C 254 sailed above
them.  RENE 7 led them to a flat open square made of large
paving stones.  She walked over to a pole placed on the
perimeter of the square, and pressed a button.  A moment
later, one of the small craft landed in the middle of the square.
 The back end of the craft lowered to form a gentle sloping
loading ramp.  They were just barely able to fit all eight of
the biologicals, RENE 7, and Kevin in the craft (with Kevin taking
up half of the interior by himself.)  DAR-C 254 attached
herself to the outside of the craft with a docking cable designed
just for that purpose.

Izzy and Gareth held hands as they looked out the
window at the huge city below them.  Apart from scattered
pockets of activity, like the gate they entered through, most of
the city was as silent as a tomb.  Something else about the
city below them was bothering Gareth, but he couldn’t put his
finger on it.  Henry was able to put a name to it when he
hooted and snarled softly.  

Gareth looked closer at the city, and nodded his
head.  “You’re right, Henry.  I can see where parks used
be, but they’re just barren fields now,” Gareth agreed.  Now
that he knew what he was looking for, Gareth realized the only
vegetation he had seen had been outside the city.  “What
happened to the all the plants?” Gareth asked RENE 7.

RENE 7 joined them at the window and looked down at
the landscape she hadn’t paid that much attention to for past
couple thousand years.  She turned to face Gareth.  “Your
people called it the Blight.  It was the released on Mascal
during the final days of the Wizard Wars, and was the reason why
your people were forced to flee the island 13,000 years ago,” she
explained.

“13,000 years… why does that number sound so
familiar,” Tralnis asked.

Gareth stared out the window at the sterile
landscape.  Records from before the Second Great Apocalypse
mentioned many different species that no longer existed.  They
also talked about Wizards capable of magics far out of the reach of
modern practitioner. “It’s when historians think the Second Great
Apocalypse happened. These so called Wizard Wars must have been
what was responsible for wiping out half the life on Hadronus,” he
replied softly.  “RENE 7, what
was
the Blight?” he
inquired.

“The Blight was a magical plague created by the
Council of Wizards to end the war they were fighting with the
people of Mascal.  It was designed to destroy all life it came
in contact with, and then die out itself after a few days.
 The Wizards, in their arrogance, never considered the plague
would change, and manage to leave the shores of Mascal,” RENE 7
told him.

“Why would they do that?  Why kill everything
on the island, and risk killing everything else on Handronus?” Izzy
asked, her voice weak with shock that anyone could do something so
terrible.

RENE 7 paused before speaking, not sure how to
address a topic that she knew was sensitive for many biologicals.
 “It was a combination of religion and greed,” she replied,
deciding to be blunt.  “The Wizards had gained power over most
of Hadronus by being the sole suppliers of magics. They influenced
the various religions so that science was frowned upon, and the
mixing of magic and science was pure heresy.  The Wizards were
furious when the people of Mascal refused to bow down to them. The
Mascalians even showed they were capable of magics the Wizards had
never dreamed of.  To top it off, the Mascalians had created
us, the Automatons. We are the culmination of mixing science and
magic.  For their part, the Wizards branded us demons that
must be destroyed,” she explained.  “The Mascalians refused to
give the Wizards their secrets. They all died defending us,” she
told them, guilt in her voice.  “At least, we thought they had
all died,” she added, looking straight at Gareth.