Gareth and th Lost Island

by Patrick Mallard

  A second shot from the destroyer wasn’t aimed as well, and missed the main hull of the Glorious Dawn. Unfortunately, the cannonball did manage to slam into their port side Aetherium tube. The crystal and wood device shattered with a brilliant green light. Gareth slammed the wheel over, while Izzy rerouted their remaining magically charged gas to their starboard tube. The third shot went wide as the Glorious Dawn slipped into the dark cloud banks of the massive electrical storm.

  Wind driven rain pelted Gareth’s face, as he kept the wheel steady by hooking one arm through the rungs and bracing one foot against the remains of the wheelhouse railing. He squinted as the clouds went from almost pitch black, to blindingly illuminated by flashes of lightning, and then back to darkness again. Gareth kept a wary eye on the gauge that showed how high above sea level they were. No matter what he did, he couldn’t stop the needle from showing they were losing altitude at an alarming rate.

  Gareth felt, more than saw, an island just off of their port side. He was able to make out some sort of lighthouse on the island. Gareth dug his foot in harder, and pushed the wheel with all of his strength to change their course. The ship shuddered, but reluctantly obeyed his commands.

  Gareth allowed himself a flicker of hope that they would make it to the island before a bolt of lightning struck the starboard Aetherium tube. The tube held, but the magical backlash knocked the remaining crew and Teesh unconscious. Without Gareth to fight the controls, the Glorious Dawn slewed sideways, and then slammed into the storm driven waves of the ocean surrounding the Island of Mascal.

  Chapter 28

  With a terrible pounding in his head, Tralnis kept his eyes closed as he took stock of his other senses. He wiggled his fingers and toes. Considering how much pain he was in, Tralnis was surprised when they all worked. His inner ears told him that he was lying flat on his back. The sound of waves crashing against a beach explained why his whole body felt wet. A persistent cold tapping on his forehead finally convinced Tralnis to open his eyes. When he did, he found himself staring into an oval metal “face”. A clear glass plate covered the face where the eyes and nose would have been on a person. Under the glass was a mass of lenses and instruments for which Tralnis had no idea what they were for. A two inch piece of rectangular crystal served as a mouth for the face. The rest of the face looked to be made of smooth brushed brass.

  “Greetings, small biological specimen,” a feminine voice said from the metal face. The crystal mouth glowed white with each word spoken.

  Tralnis shifted his head to look at the rest of the thing speaking to him. The head was set on a cylindrical body that had a rounded end on the bottom. The machine had three arms, two on the sides and one in the center of what Tralnis thought of as its chest. The outer arms had three joints, and ended in mechanical hands with four fingers and a thumb like most of the sentient species of Hadronus. The center arm had twice as many joints, and ended in a three fingered hand with another lens mounted in the palm. It was that hand which had been tapping on his forehead. Three crystal hemispheres containing swirling, purple gas were mounted on the bottom of the cylindrical body. The hemispheres were providing lift and propulsion in much the same way as a Leyship’s Aetherium tubes did.

  “Um… hello,” Tralnis replied cautiously. He knew of a few experiments his people had done in trying to build automatons, but none of them had even come close to what he was seeing now.

  The mechanical face pivoted to the right and called out, “This small biological specimen is awake.”

  The loud crunching of sand underneath something very heavy had Tralnis sit up, and turn to look in the direction of the sound. A second mechanical creature was rolling towards them on large jointed treads. The treads were mounted on either side of a rectangular engine housing. Above the engine house was an articulated waist that led to a wide body covered in angular plates of armor. Two enormous arms were mounted on the sides of the body that were almost long enough to reach the ground while the machine was upright. The mechanical head of this machine kept up the rectangular theme of the rest of its body. The face was softened some by the corners and edges of the head being rounded off. A similar crystal mouth compared to the first robot was set below three crystal lenses mounted on a triangular frame. Two of the crystals were clear, while the third was blood red. At the moment, one of the clear crystals was at the top of the triangle with the red one sitting at the bottom right. While the first automaton had skin of brushed brass, this one’s metal skin was black like wrought iron.

  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 f
riends 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.

  Chapter 29

  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 win
dow 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.