Although cold, high-force winds blew over Iragos Peninsula, it was comfortable in the lab where Jal studied the satellite feeds. The northern part of Shifos was now much easier to see, since the deciduous trees were barren. There was not much activity except in the cities along the northern oceanfront. Jal checked the two satellites that were circling below the equator and saw an unusual formation.
Dr. Gyasi was working on a project in another part of the lab and had given Jal permission to use the probes and cameras as it saw fit, so Jal launched a probe.
After some study, Jal determined it was a series of buildings that had been set in lines that created the outline of a human. One arm pointed over its head in a northwesterly direction, and the other seemed to hold a circle. Jal maneuvered the probe back and forth, taking pictures of the structures and noting specific locations and measurements of each. As the probe dipped along the top of the trees, several inhabitants came from a building and stood in a group.
“Dr. Gyasi, do you have a few minutes?” Jal called to him across the lab.
“What is it?” The scientist came to Jal’s side.
“It seems a group of people have seen our probe. Is there a way to communicate with them?”
Without hesitation, Dr. Gyasi went to the controls for the probe. He typed a brief message that flashed lights on the probe. A few came and went, shading their eyes and looking up. A moment later, one person held up a flat object. Dr. Gyasi adjusted the lenses on the probe and took pictures of the object.
“Can you see what it is, Jal?”
“It appears to be a series of markings. I don’t recognize them.”
Jal watched as Dr. Gyasi replayed the message in the lights of the probe. “We’ll stop for today.” He set the probe to return to the satellite. “We’ll try again tomorrow.” Excitedly, Dr. Gyasi went to a communications panel.
“Dr. Gyasi! Wait!”
“What?”
“If you tell someone about this, what will happen?”
He leaned back in his chair and looked at Jal. “You’re right. I talk with my colleague, but I won’t mention the work we’re doing.” At his request, Jal copied the markings of the photo onto another electronic pad. A moment later, he was talking with an elderly woman.
“I recognize this,” she told him. “This is an older form of the Stafriez language. I’ll work on it for a while. Perhaps I’ll be able to tell you what it says tomorrow.”
“Let’s talk,” Dr. Gyasi said to Jal. Perched on two desks, they discussed Jal’s project. Jal told him that its first draft of writing on the Shifos rainforest was nearly complete; it still needed to create all the documentation notes. Jal looked at Dr. Gyasi. “Each time I’m here, I’m more and more uncomfortable. I’m concerned that your superiors or an outsider will realize what we’re doing and try to discourage us. I don’t want to risk ruining your reputation or put your work here in jeopardy.”
The android scanned Jal’s face and saw the lines of worry. “Yes. It’s time that we protect ourselves. I knew this day would come when you first came. You can stop an inquiry that is made by an android, by saying the words, “Invoke Protocol 296B84.”
“What will that do?”
“An android will receive a message to halt any future queries regarding you, as well as tell it that there is no information in the system regarding you. If the android disregards the message and continues to seek further information more and more of its memory will become inaccessible to itself.”
“Jal, if our work is put in grave danger, and you sense that I might be taken away and my mind might be erased, notify me. Use your communicator and type ‘Jomari Invoke Protocol 296B84.’”
“Is it possible to reverse this protocol?”
“Yes. Instead of the words ‘Jomari invoke,’ say ‘Gyasi revoke,’ then the sequence.” Dr. Gyasi handed Jal a collection of data chips. “Here’s everything we’ve worked on, since you first came. Put them where no one will find them. Now, what else do you need to know?” They were both quiet. “You’re nearly finished. What will you do when your project is complete?”
“I was hoping you’d help me get an appointment with the Luminaryf.”
“Me? The Luminary?”
“I’d like the Protectorate to fund an expedition through Shifos.”
“Through Shifos?” he echoed.
“To the western coast where the cities are.”
“He’ll simply say no.”
“I’ll ask him to listen to my reasoning and read my report.”
“You’re going to go by yourself?”
Jal hesitated. “I’m hoping to take a group. I was hoping you’d go with me.”
“Me?” Dr. Gyasi’s eyes widened. “Why me?”
“You’re a scientist. This would add to your knowledge of Shifos. I think you would enjoy the process of going across the country. It won’t be for some time. I need to finish with my primary studies. I’d like to gain some more experience fighting, and I hope to advance further in one of my crafts.” Dr. Gyasi shook his head. “Just because you secure me an appointment, doesn’t mean you have to go to Shifos.”
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“I don’t know, Jal. I’ve only had minimal contact with the Lu
minary.”
“Is there something else that I could do to secure an appointment?”
Dr. Gyasi contemplated this question. “I would say that you need several recommendations from people affiliated with the Protectorate that are acquainted with what you’re doing.”
“If I do that, won’t everyone know? If someone like Solrio writes a recommendation, won’t her supervisor know, because she has access to Solrio’s computer records? It will go up the hierarchy. Anyone could block such a request, if they wanted.”
Dr. Gyasi stared into the air. “You are correct. However, there is a way to restrict the access to a communication so that only the intended recipient could view the request for an appointment.”
“Would you please show me how to do that?”
“Yes.” The two went to a computer, and Dr. Gyasi opened his communication portal. “By restricting the access,” he clicked on a button, “and doing this, the request will go directly to the person that you intend to go to.”
“Thank you.”
“Jal, you do realize that the luminary gets many requests for appointments. It is very likely that you will be denied access to him.”
Jal looked at the scientist’s communications. “You have a lot of requests. How do you decide who to meet with?”
“If there are several requests for an appointment about a specific subject sent at about the same time on one day, they are moved to the top of the priority list.”
“I see. I’ll let you know when I’m finished with my project. I’ll have to think about how exactly to do this.”
***
That week, Jal returned twice to the Protector’s Enclave, collecting the final details it needed for the project. The following week, it spent hours writing the documentation. The week of the winter double-moon, temperatures on the peninsula dipped far below freezing. Jal spent its free time starting the seeds it had collected over the past few weeks for the next assignments in herbology.
It went to Nik with a crate filled with ceramic wares, which it presented to Master Jasper Neve. “Jal, I’m very impressed with what you’ve shown me today. There is this one piece,” he rubbed his beard. “What is it?”
“You told me to make artistic objects. Turn it this way. It’s a snow leopard.”
“Now I see. I had it upside down. It’s a feline? You’ve seen one?”
“Yes. I killed one. This is a remembrance of it.” Jal told him the story of its hours in the tree.
“These candelabras are very artistic, and I see that your ceramics have taken on a more flowing style. You’re more comfortable at the wheel, and with the paintbrush.” He quizzed Jal on the settings of the kiln it was using and the types of glaze for each piece. “I wish I could watch over what you are doing each time you sit down at the wheel,” he said finally. “If my apprentice had her own wheel, I would ask you to alternate days with her.”
“You could visit me at Ridali Tower,” Jal suggested.
“And where is that?”
“It's on the Iragos Peninsula.”
“How do you propose I get there, Jal?”
“You do a transport spell.”
“A transport spell? What’s that?”
Jal hadn’t considered that Master Neve might not know about magic. “Never mind. Is there something specific that you’d like to see me doing, Master?”
“I’d like to see how you get these colors for your glazes.” He looked at Jal closely. “Are you making your own?” Jal shook its head. “Are you mixing different colors?”
“No. I’m using cans of glaze that were given to me by a friend. She said they had been around for a very long time, and she thought it would be good if they were used.”
“Perhaps they’re from another planet?” he suggested. Jal hadn’t thought of this. It agreed to bring samples and names of the glazes to the next lesson.
Jasper gave Jal two samples of a new type of clay and asked Jal to try them out. When Jal asked where they had been dug from, Jasper told Jal that they were from the banks of the Twin Rivers. “Do you dig your own?” Jal asked.
“Bah! That’s grunt work. I can easily pay someone to do that!” He looked at Jal. “I’m advancing you to the journeyman level, Jal. Take this mug with you. Make fifty exactly like it. I need them next week.”
“Fifty? Next week?”
“I’ll have the clay shipped to you. Here’s the glaze. Here’s one of my stamps.”
Jal looked at its electronic pad. “I can come back in ten days.”
“One week.”
“I’m only at the wheel three mornings a week.”
“You need to do three days.”
“I can’t.”
“You need to learn how to make fifty of these in one week. Two firings. I’ll see you next week.” He went off to help a customer.
“Now what do I do?” Jal thought. “I don’t see how I can do it.”
Jal came to the meal table that night covered in clay.
“Why didn’t you clean up?” Jan asked curiously.
“I have to go back to the wheel.”
“You have schoolwork.”
“I’m done with today’s schoolwork.”
“You didn’t eat the noon meal,” Jan pointed out. “You said you wouldn’t skip meals.”
“You’re right. I did. I didn’t hear Niki tell me it was ready.” Jal took a big bite.
“She did. I heard her. What’s going on?” Jal explained that it was now a journeyman and had an order to fill. “How are you going to do that, Jal?”
“I’ll have to make all the mugs in one day, fire them, glaze them the next day, fire them again, and deliver them.”
Jan stared at Jal. “That’s not possible, is it?”
“I guess I’m going to find out.”
A week later, Jal stood in the potter’s shop. “Hello, Master.”
The master potter inspected Jal’s wares. “Good. Here’s the job for this week. One hundred plates.”
“Master Neve, that’s not possible. I have exams every day this week.”
“School is only held five days a week. You can do it after school.”
“I can’t. My time is all spoken for,” Jal said as it looked at its calendar. “Three weeks.”
“One week.”
Jal refused to back down. “Three weeks.”
“You are working at three crafts?”
“It’s the winter. My work on herbology is very limited in the winter.”
“You have plenty of time to get these plates done in a week.”
“I don’t. Here is my schedule. I have tests these five days. Two days with Master Elvan. Then a tournament.”
“A tournament? What kind?”
“Vetz mekva.”
“Ah,” Master Neve drew out the word. “I see. I can come to watch?”
“Please do. I’ll come back in three weeks with the plates. Do you have the glazes?”
“I’ll send those with the clay.”
***
Jal set the crates carefully on the floor of the potter’s shop three weeks later. Snow fell from Jal’s shoulders and off its boots. “Jal, I’m glad to see you, but you’re making a mess on my floor.”
“Sorry, Master. It’s snowing at Ridali Tower.”
“You’ve recovered from your fight injuries?”
“Oh, yes! I hope you enjoyed watching. It was great fun!”
“Fun? You call that fun? You play a very dangerous game, Jal. I saw the blood on your shirt.”
“It was only a minor injury.”
“And the mended spot on your boot?”
“That was from last time.”
“You had a good record? I only watched the three.”
“I won six and lost two.”
“Good. Here is the next order. I need one hundred of each of these.” Master Neeve handed Jal two bowls.
Jal looked at its calendar. The potter looked over its shoulder. “Wow. Two tournaments in a row?”
“Master Barloch believes that I can have an eight win, no loss record at this next one. That will move me up to level two at the next one.”
“I’ll see you in four weeks, Jal. Send me the details on your fights. I made some money at the last one.” Jal looked at him puzzled. “You know that people are making wagers on the fighters, don’t you?”
“I had no idea."