Jaded Dusk

by Scott Wale

  A clicking noise came from the pavement behind the Batarmiv. He turned and looked down to find the claw of a Sauronoid tapping against the ground. He followed the clawed foot up the long, scaly leg, up the medium build torso and finally to the snarling grin present on the Sauronoid’s face. The Sauronoid grabbed him by the ears at the base where they protruded out of his head and pulled him off the ground.

  “You have something I want”, Tradok hissed.

  “Are you sure you have the right Batarmiv?” the black market dealer futilely pleaded. “I don’t even know who you are.”

  “This looks like you to me”, Tradok said pulling out his dataport and showing the Batarmiv a picture of himself in the middle of his run through the market.

  “What?” the Batarmiv expressed with agony that Tradok assumed was exaggerated. “You’re with the Mortoptera and the Chafel?”

  “I need to know the same information as them”, Tradok said putting more emphasis behind his frustrated tone.

  “Put me down and we can talk”, the Batarmiv said. “I can’t even feel my ears anymore.”

  “I hardly think you’re in a position to negotiate”, Tradok replied.

  “Denegrass”, the Batarmiv expressed the pain being felt in his ears. “Ok, ok, what do you want?”

  “You know what I want”, Tradok said easing off his portrayed tension. “The longer you delay, the longer you suffer.”

  “It’s a little hard to think when my ears are being ripped off”, the Batarmiv fired back.

  “Then I suggest you concentrate”, Tradok responded.

  “Ok, the Chafel wanted to know about Prominence”, the Batarmiv started.

  “That’s better”, Tradok grinned. “Go on.”

  “Do you know who Grimtav is?” the Batarmiv asked.

  Tradok returned a blank stare.

  “Ok, well it’s his place”, the Batarmiv continued not wanting to waste any more time trying to read Tradok’s expression. “He has been in there for quite a while.”

  “When was the last time you were there?” Tradok interrupted.

  “A few days ago”, the Batarmiv answered. “Grimtav’s people feed me intel about what mining sites can easily be raided and then I pass that information on to thieves who cut me a deal on what they end up pilfering.”

  “And what does Grimtav get out of it?” Tradok asked the obvious question.

  “I give him information”, the Batarmiv answered.

  “Like”, Tradok urged giving the Batarmiv’s ears a quick jerk.

  “I’m his ears around the city”, the Batarmiv squeezed out between squeals of pain from the jerk.

  “Then I suppose I should stop putting strain on your artum maker”, Tradok thought out loud.

  “That would be appreciated”, the Batarmiv replied in relief despite still being held up in the air by his ears.

  “One last thing”, Tradok said reaching up with his other arm.

  Tradok patted down the Batarmiv’s pants until he found what he felt what he was seeking. Tradok removed the Batarmiv’s dataport with his free claw and brought it in front of the black market dealer’s face.

  “You can do without this”, Tradok said while crushing the dataport between his claws.

  Tradok returned the Batarmiv to his feet. The Batarmiv immediately began massaging his ears where they came out of his head. The black market dealer looked up at the Sauronoid and shot him an expression as if asking for permission to leave. Tradok paid the Batarmiv no attention and focused off into the distance at nothing in particular. The Batarmiv used the opportunity to speedily scamper away. Tradok rehashed the events that had just taken place in his mind. Things hadn’t gone according to plan, but maybe everyone still remembered about the rendezvous.

  ***

  Nevit, Alejade and Fenrit had all arrived at the eatery simultaneously greeting Tradok in the dark corner he had chosen. Most of the eatery was well lit, but Tradok had chosen the darker corner for a reason. He had sustained enough light for the day and he looked forward to the break, especially given the fact that the journey to Prominence would be a trek without reprieve from the light.

  Heat and light were important outside factors that a Sauronoid needed to closely manage unlike most other living beings. Heat was necessary for movement and higher temperatures corresponded to more movement up to a certain point. Contrarily, colder temperatures would slow a Sauronoid’s body down to the point it gave off the illusion of being frozen. Light only compounded the temperature issue. The problem wasn’t Tradok’s actual eyes as his pupils could adjust accordingly to various lumen levels. The issue was with his parietal eye. Too much synthetic light would throw off his body rhythms. This would often result in improper thermoregulation, which led back to the temperature dilemma.

  The group was eager to celebrate an early victory, but realized the planning that still needed to be done. Today had taught each of them that they’d need to be able to think on their feet because events didn’t always go as planned. They each reflected on what they could have done differently or how they could have prepared better to prevent things from going awry. The objective had almost slipped through their fingers and they would be remised to not learn from the day’s mistakes.

  “I still can’t believe we got what we needed from that Batarmiv”, Alejade said in disbelief. “You came just in time, Nevit.”

  “I was heading back to you after checking with Fenrit when I saw a commotion in the crowd”, Nevit started. “The Batarmiv came bursting through the crowd in my direction. I figured I’d run at him. Either you were involved and it was my turn to give chase or I was going to look like an idiot for charging at a complete stranger. I’ve looked like an idiot enough times in my life that it feels pretty natural at this point. I will admit it surprised me when he turned and headed back the way he came. I suppose that was best because the self-incriminating act prompted me to get his picture with my dataport and send to Tradok.”

  “Speaking of dataports what if the Batarmiv contacts someone at Prominence?” Alejade worried.

  “I crushed his dataport”, Tradok hissed out a laugh. “That was more for show though. I took the second scrambler I had made and tangled it into the fur in his ear. It’s safe to assume he didn’t notice or feel a thing because his ears were probably numb at that point. Even when he gets around to replacing his dataport I imagine it’ll be awhile before he discovers the scrambler.”

  “Sounds like I missed out on all the action”, Fenrit said with disappointment.

  “There will be plenty of other opportunities”, Tradok said staring at the menu displayed on the table’s dataport. He struggled to make up his mind on what to order and thought about punching the ‘surprise me’ button. “I say that unfortunately. When things go smoothly there’s a lot less excitement, but at least you know you’ll live to see the next day. Unfortunately, things never go smoothly”, he concluded punching the ‘surprise me’ button and passing the dataport menu to Nevit.

  “Living can be exciting too”, Nevit joked entering his order immediately and handing the dataport menu to Fenrit.

  “I guess I’m too used to the premalier lifestyle where a plan included engaging someone or something”, Fenrit said looking at the dataport menu with confusion. “And it wasn’t always a welcoming engagement.”

  Fenrit began to play around with the dataport menu. He figured out that the dishes available contained descriptions, pictures, prices and reviews. The number of choices and data around those choices overwhelmed him. He decided to take advantage of the ‘surprise me’ button as well before passing the dataport menu to Alejade.

  “Ahhhh, so you were a premalier”, Tradok exclaimed.

  “What’s a premalier?” Nevit simply asked.

  “They roam the Jade Plains collecting all the information they can about the plains themselves and its other inhabitants”, Tradok said trying to field the question. “And obviously they do so without modern technology. I imagine Fenrit could lead us rig
ht to Prominence without a dataport map.”

  “No, I can get you to Lake Ulea, but anything beyond that would be new territory to me”, Fenrit explained.

  Alejade placed her order through the dataport menu after spending some time figuring out the technology just as Fenrit had. She had found a way to organize the dishes from most to least popular and then made her decision on the most appetizing picture from the top five. This would truly be an experience to not only dine in an eatery, but also to sample food outside of the Chafel and Loupiq culture.

  “Do your people ever leave the Jade Plains?” Nevit asked.

  “Rarely”, Alejade answered. “Ironically, one of our old temples is located in the Split range, but other than this our travels are limited to within the Jade Plains. I say ours, but in truth most of the traveling is done by the premaliers.”

  “Sieral”, Tradok said.

  “Yes, how do you know of it?” Alejade asked.

  “It’s south of my old mining site”, Tradok said. “I believe it’s the reason I’m somewhat familiar with your people. They would often traverse my land on their pilgrimage and some would stop eager for a break and talk. That was a long time ago though. Even before my mining site was raided I hadn’t seen any travelers headed that way for quite some time.”

  “The temple was abandoned, but not forgotten”, Alejade started. “When our elders determined the threats from the outside world were getting too dangerous, they ceased individual pilgrimages to Sieral. Occasionally, the premaliers were asked to check in on it. The last I heard its neglected state was showing.”

  “Believe it or not the premaliers loved those missions”, Fenrit said. “We never went deep into the mountains or even the Echo Woods, but we enjoyed any chance we got that took us off the beaten path around the Jade Plains. To my knowledge no one ever crossed to the other side of either mountain range, but all the premaliers had a story about someone who had. I wrote them all off as tales, but the mystery and wonders that supposedly existed made them entertaining tales. Maybe someday I’ll have to find out the truth for myself.”

  “You always were one for mystery, brother”, Alejade commented.

  A puzzled look spread across Tradok’s face. His mind went to work combining everything he knew about the world in an attempt to answer his questions. No solutions came to fruition. The next logical step in the process was to just ask.

  “You two are siblings?” Nevit asked beating Tradok to the inquiry.

  “Yes, I may have misrepresented that”, Fenrit explained.

  “You didn’t want to impress us with, ‘I’m here with my sister’?” Nevit laughed as his eyes turned from black to blue.

  “I’m still confused”, Tradok interrupted. “One of you is Loupiq and the other is Chafel.”

  “Loupiq and Chafel can successfully have offspring”, Alejade explained. “Long ago before Fenrit and I’s time, they were separate tribes. The best records we have indicate the Loupiq reached sentience sometime after the Chafel and there was a gap of a few generations before the two were joined as one. We suspect the capability of producing offspring between the two species was a big driver in what joined us together.”

  “And your parents?” Tradok further inquired.

  “Our mother was a Loupiq and our father was a Chafel”, Alejade answered. “Obviously to bear an offspring of each you needed to start with one of each.”

  “Interesting that the gender switched”, Tradok commented.

  “The legend goes that the Loupiq seed and the Chafel seed join together to form a fertilized egg”, Alejade began. “Once the egg is fertilized one of the seeds becomes more dominant and completely takes over the formation of life. It’s only a legend; however, it’s based on observations. Fenrit is a strong resemblance of our mother and I’m a likeness of our father.”

  “And what happens when two Chafel or two Loupiq bear an offspring?” Tradok asked.

  “Typical results that you’d find with most other life forms”, Alejade answered. “You get a variation of traits some of which resemble the father, others the mother and sometimes traits appear that are found elsewhere in the family lineage.”

  “Does it create societal stratification?” Tradok asked.

  “What do you mean?” Alejade responded with a puzzled look.

  “I suppose the simplest way to ask this is if there are members of your people who do not prefer the other kind?” Tradok rephrased the question.

  “Ahhhh, not anymore”, Alejade answered. “Based on the choice of words in some of our historical texts that was an issue in the past when the two species first came together, however, speciesism was never openly admitted. Without the continuing spread of that unevolved point of view it simply died off.”

  “Interesting that two separate species could overcome what many times a single species with unique variations cannot”, Tradok commented.

  “We have enough common enemies in the world that we don’t need to make any amongst ourselves”, Fenrit added.

  “That is a fair statement”, Tradok concluded. “Shall we discuss our next steps?”

  “On to Prominence”, Nevit quipped.

  “First, I believe we need to stop by my former mining site”, Tradok suggested. “Alejade and Fenrit could use a dataport which I’m sure I could dig up there along with some other essential gear.”

  “Won’t that be out of the way?” Fenrit asked given what he remembered about Tradok’s description of where his mining site was located.

  “Yes, but not a major detour”, Tradok explained. “We could even use the river to help with some of the east bound travel.”

  “We won’t take, uh”, Alejade paused.

  “Crawler?” Tradok finished her thought.

  “Yes, won’t that be swiftest way to travel?” Alejade asked.

  “Crawlers are not ideal on the plains or really anywhere without the proper infrastructure or necessary modifications to the crawler itself”, Tradok explained. “Shadowport and VaSaige have always had a plan in the works to put the proper infrastructure between the two cities, but they can never agree on the financing. Currently, Shadowport only has a road that goes a short distance outside of the city limits. Tax collection for the project has ceased, and I imagine the project will remain on hiatus for quite some time. That always seems to be the result when finances are involved. If the road did exist, it wouldn’t do us a lot of good anyways, since we want to travel southeast. Scouting cymutts are also programmed to investigate signals that are out of the ordinary, which would include crawlers traveling along the plains. Finally, when we hit the mountains we’d need a hover. Unfortunately, we’ll be making this journey primarily by foot.”

  “Plus we don’t own a crawler”, Nevit said with a grin.

  “So we collect the gear, make the trek and then what?” Fenrit asked.

  “Prominence is well secured”, Tradok began. “We’ll have to figure a way inside and then I’ll need to get to the controller to disable it in a way where it can’t easily be brought back online.”

  “Sounds like the getting in is the tricky part”, Fenrit said.

  “I know of a few entrances including tunnels that were bored under the fortress itself”, Tradok said. “The security is based around the idea that no one is getting inside. Patrolling cymutts and limited entrances are the main barriers. Fortunately, there are few living beings working for Grimtav and the cymutt’s work is done outside of Prominence. The risk drastically declines once we’re inside. We’ll have to scout the security setup which is where your raptor will really come in handy”, Tradok finished staring at Alejade.

  “If there are tunnels under Prominence, then why don’t we just plant a string of explosives in them and bring the whole place down?” Nevit asked. “It’d give us a chance to see what that new ‘divider” does.”

  Alejade winced at the idea. While it sounded easy, there would be many unnecessary casualties with that plan. She had coped with the idea that when the journey co
ncluded Grimtav’s life essence may have moved on to a new structure. Though this was an unfortunate possibility, she had not signed up for a killing spree.

  “The problem there is that the controller itself has a shield”, Tradok explained to Alejade’s relief. “You could bury it under a sizeable pile of rubble and it would still be operational. It’d be difficult to send commands to cymutts, but eventually someone could just dig it back up. We have to get inside the shield itself, which encompasses the room where the controller resides. Obviously, this all assumes the setup hasn’t changed since I last saw it.”

  “And if we break the controller, you’re confident no one can put it back together?” Fenrit asked.

  “I think they have just enough knowledge to keep the thing running”, Tradok answered. “The unique blend of the mechanics and the programming behind the controller make it nearly impossible to just analyze and learn. My entire life’s experience was in robotics before I even came across Grimtav. That plus the fact that I built the thing myself gives me a lot of confidence that destroying the machine will be the end of it.”

  “Sounds pretty straightforward then”, Fenrit said. “Get some supplies at your former mining site, travel over to Prominence, figure out a way to get in and take out the controller.”

  “You know it won’t be that easy”, Tradok said bluntly.

  A waitress brought over four meals to the table. She set them down in the middle of the table leaving the group to decide who ordered what. Alejade took the fresh, leafy purple dish she had ordered while Nevit snatched up the bowl of pureed meat that he had ordered. Tradok and Fenrit exchanged glances over the last two plates. One contained live, wriggling worms swimming in an opaque liquid while the other was a shredded meat garnished with an arrangement of colorful vegetables.

  “Since the meal is on me, I believe I will take the first pick”, Tradok stated grabbing the bowl of worms.