Karriya leapt at Jal, trying to knock the sword out of its hand, but missed. He landed squarely on his feet and spun. As Jal defended itself from Puta’s sword, it ducked. Puta’s sword met empty air. He swore and brought the weapon down in an arc toward Jal’s shoulder. Jal dove for Puta’s feet. Simultaneously, it kicked at Karriya, who jumped. Karriya stabbed with the sword at Jal’s back as Jal rolled to the side and kicked Karriya in the knees. The three lay in a pile on the mat. Jal sat up and hit the buttons on his opponents' backs.
“Hey! That was after the fact! We were all down,” Puta objected.
“You could have hit the buttons,” Karriya pointed out. “You were on top.”
“I was recovering.”
“There’s no time for recovering,” Jal said. “Again?” it spoke to Master Barloch.
“No. I want to teach you a new skill. Follow me.” The three youth followed their instructor to the far side of the training facility. There was a rocky terrain built here that they had practiced on. Today, ropes hung from the rafters. “You will each climb a rope to the top, hit the button, then descend as quickly as possible.” Jal grinned. It practiced this a lot at home. The tower would adjust the rope’s height randomly, then Jal would time itself. “Go!”
Karriya and Puta dropped their weapons, grabbed the rope and climbed, their feet wrapped around the thick cord. Jal slid its weapon into its sheath and followed. It pulled itself up the rope hand-over-hand. The buzzers at the top sounded, and they descended. A good distance from the bottom, Jal let go of the rope and landed on its feet.
“You cheated!” Puta said as he stood glaring at Jal afterward.
“I did not! Master Barloch said to descend as quickly as possible.”
Their instructor interrupted their squabble. “This time your goal is to stay on the ropes the longest. I want you to go to the ceiling, hit the button and attempt to displace your opponents from their ropes. Go!”
Again, the three raced to the top. This time, Puta was first. He tried to reach Karriya but the rope was out of reach. Each of them tried to get their ropes to swing, but the the rope was held by the length lying on the floor. Jal looked around. There had to be a way to get some motion. It climbed to the top again and pushed at the ceiling. The rope swung, but only a tiny bit. Jal repeatedly pushed at the ceiling with one hand, then the other. The other boys followed suit.
Jal felt itself slipping as its hands began to sweat. It couldn’t hang with dead weight much longer! What could it do? They all struggled to hang on and figure out what to do. Jal noticed that the two boys had wrapped their feet around the rope, something it never did. It wrapped its foot around the cord and climbed back to the top. This time Jal pushed at the ceiling with both hands and swung slowly back and forth. Puta and Karriya tried to copy it, but none of them could get much momentum going.
“We’re getting nowhere,” Jal thought. “I wonder if I let go and throw myself at Karriya, what will happen? Could I catch hold of his rope?” Jal again climbed to the top. It pushed off the ceiling several times, as it swung over the sixth time, Jal leaped through the air and reached for Karriya’s rope.
***
Jal opened its eyes. “I’m going to be sick,” it said. “Look out!” Vomit went everywhere. “Sorry!” Another wave of nausea hit as Jal tried to focus. Someone shoved a basin under its chin and Jal emptied the contents of its stomach.
“That was a pretty crazy thing to do, Jal!””
“Shhh, my head hurts!”
“You’re damn lucky that’s the only thing that hurts.” Sage Elvan muttered. “You’re supposed to be taking fighting lessons, not trying to kill yourself.”
Jal’s head throbbed as it tried to remember what happened. “What did I do?”
“You tried to jump from one rope to another. Obviously, you missed.”
Jal groaned. “I’m sorry, Jan. I was just trying to do what Master Barloch asked.”
“Did he tell you to jump?”
“Um,” Jal tried to recall what exactly had been said. “I don’t think so.”
A doctor came into the alcove where they were. “Concussion, grade 2. There’s a break in the left shoulder and one in the forearm. I’ll put a plate and screws in, and we’ll fix you up.”
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“Will I still be able -”
The doctor cut Jal off. “You’ll likely be able to do whatever you want. I hope you’ve learned some sort of lesson?”
Jal looked at her as a dark haze tried to take over its brain. “Next time I’ll get more detailed instructions regarding how to swing between the ropes.”
***
Jal sat, arm in a cast and wearing a sling, watching the computer screens in the Protectorate Natural Resource Office. “First, let us set the parameters of the entire system and do a general scan. This will show the topography and general climate of the area we are studying.” As Dr. Gyasi and Jal watched, the computer showed the outline of the large area. “We will include the mountains,” he adjusted the parameters, “all the way south to Zibran. While the satellites are doing the first overall scan, I want you to tell me what you think the wind patterns might be like.”
The two discussed the generalities of airflow between the polar regions of the planet and the equator. Dr. Gyasi spent some time going over the weather patterns that occurred on the planet, and as they talked, Jal drew a rough map and his first guess of the climate zones.
“You will find that these zones are not accurate, Jal. The mountains on the eastern part of the continent stop the airflow and create a different weather paradigm.”
“But we’ve been taught in school that there’s a great jungle on the west side of the mountains.”
“That is what is in the educational books, Jal. The writers believe that no one has really spent the time studying the area. There are a lot of misconceptions about what is over there.”
Jal was stunned. “How much have you studied the area, Doctor?”
“A lot.”
“How many years is ‘a lot?’”
“I am 354 years old. I was created to serve as a scientist for the Protectorate. I have studied the entire planet for over 350 years.”
“Wow! That’s amazing. Do you focus on one area at a time, or do you study various regions simultaneously?”
“I am capable of ten thousand basic operations per second. I am interested in all the living and nonliving things on the planet.”
“So, you’re studied this area that we’re mapping for three-and-a-half centuries?”
“Yes.”
“You know the weather patterns already. You are aware of the animals and plants, the bugs, and everything else?”
“Yes.”
“Are other people aware of this?” The android shook his head. “Why not?”
“No one has asked for a long time.”
“How do you feel about that, Doctor?” He turned away and was silent. “You’re sentient, aren’t you?” Jal asked. “I think you’re glad that I'm asking you questions and am interested in your research.” Jal sat quietly for several minutes and watched the computer scan continue. “Have you ever offered this information to the Protectorate officials who work with you?”
“I did, in the beginning.”
“And then?”
“They did not want to hear it.”
“’They’ would be the luminaries?”
“Yes.”
“350 years is a long time,” Jal thought to itself. “I wonder if he knew one of the Protectors. Should I ask? Or not?” Jal debated this question for several minutes. It realized that since the doctor was an android, programmed to give acceptable social responses, it was likely unable to tell a lie. What was the worst thing that could happen? Dr. Gyasi could refuse to help Jal. Jal decided to take a chance; it could always pick a different biome since it was just getting started.
“Dr. Gyasi, when did the Protectors last communicate with anyone?”
“Communicate?”
“With anyone on the planet.”
“It was the twenty-first day of the sixth month in the year 6124.”
Jal did the math, “So you were alive for about 190 years before that happened.” It was silent again. “Do you have a theory about what the Protectors have been doing for the past 162 years?”
“Why do you ask?”
“I asked two Spirit Guardians about them, and they wouldn’t answer me. Sage Elvan can’t answer my questions, nor can Solrio.”
Dr. Gyasi studied Jal’s face. “You are very serious about these questions.”
“Yes. I want to know why it is that things are happening around the planet that they would never tolerate. I believe something is wrong. Are they dead?”
“I do not have enough data to formulate a solid conclusion.”
“Did you have any contact with any of the Protectors when they were around?”
“Yes.”
“Based on your interactions with them, do you believe they would simply disappear?”
“No.”
“What was their last known location?” Dr. Gyasi responded with a series of numbers. “What does that mean?”
“It is a series of coordinates.” They looked at one another.
“Can we look at it?” Jal asked.
The scientist opened another screen on the computer and looked on a world map. “The central northern region of Shifos.”
“Were all eight Projectors in one place?”
“Yes.”
“I’m certain that you’ve looked at this map numerous times,” Jal said.
“No.”
Jal’s eyes widened in surprise. “Why not?”
“I am an android. I do not make mistakes.” Jal was puzzled. “Once was enough. I received all the information I needed on the first pass over the area with the satellites.”
“You could have missed something,” Jal suggested.
“Oh?”
“Perhaps there’s something that’s different from the scans before the Protectors disappeared.”
“There was no change from one scan to the next.”
“You’re telling me that nothing in the entire western half of Shifos has changed in the last 162 years?”
“The plants and trees grow each year, and there is some wind and water erosion.”
“What kind of inhabitants are there?”
“Jal, I thought we would get into the details as we went down your list of questions.”
“You’re right, Doctor. I’m being impatient. I’m very excited to be here and thankful that you are allowing me to work with you.”
When Jal left that day, it had a memory card with data of the typographical map they had generated. “I’m finally getting to the truth,” it thought. “I think something happened, and no one bothered asking questions. The androids keep doing what they were programmed to do, and the humans have no idea that anything is wrong. If they do, they don’t know who to ask. As long as nothing goes wrong, nearly everything remains status quo.”