“Eiske,” Jal spoke as they settled into chairs by the fireplace. “I wonder if you would help me with a school project?”

Eiske saw the gleam in Jal’s eyes. “Jal, what are you up to?”

“I have a paper I’ve written as my eighth-year project. It needs to be proofread. I was hoping that you’d read it.”

“I can do that. How long is it?”

Jal took a breath. “Three-hundred-sixty-eight pages. About one hundred of those are documentation.”

“You wrote a book?” Eiske was wide-eyed.

“I guess you could call it a book.” Jal’s eyes became dark and brooding. Its hair darkened along the sides, and in the center, a line of yellow stood up. “Eiske, you have to promise me that you won’t say anything to anyone about this. If you want to talk about it, you can only talk to me.”

“Why?”

“Because the shit’s going to hit the fan. And if you happen to slip and say something to the wrong person at the wrong time, I’m afraid you’ll get caught in the middle of it.”

“What have you done, Jal?”

“I’ve done eighteen months of research on this project. I’m going to ask the Luminary at the Protector’s Enclave here on Iragos for an appointment to discuss my findings. I expect that when I begin to explain what I’ve discovered, he’s going to go to his communicator, call the other five luminaries and request a conference.”

“Has Jan read it?”

“Not yet.” Eiske tried to get Jal to tell him what it was about, but Jal told him that it wanted to be certain that the paper was clear enough for a human to read. “Dr. Gyasi read parts of it, but he’s an android. He was familiar with what I wrote about. Promise me you won’t talk to anyone, Eiske?”

“All right. I promise.”

Jal took out his tablet, typed in a password, and went through the series of encryptions that it had created on it before handing it to him.

Eiske began to read and Jal opened its laptop to do schoolwork. Eiske was midway through the introduction when he let out a low whistle. “Jal, this is crazy!”

“I know.” Jal slowly worked through the calculus chapter as Eiske read on. It was listening to an anatomy lecture when Eiske asked how Jal had decided which explorers to highlight. Jal told him about the statues they had seen that had been moved to the library in Pejaru. They spoke briefly of Jal’s trip to see Talim and the journal Jal had read before Eiske sat back down.

Several hours later, Jal made tea, and discovered that Eiske had baked taai-taais. The two moved to the table where they drank tea and snacked as they read and studied. The fire burned low, and when Jal mentioned getting some sleep, Eiske told it to put more wood on the fire. Jal finished its homework and was studying a book about mixing glazes from various minerals when it fell asleep. It woke up to the crow of the rooster and found Eiske still reading.

“Jal, did you make a log to track the hours you spent researching and when you accessed specific sources?”

“How did you know that I did that?”

“I have a vague memory of you asking how I researched things before I made decisions. Are your conversations with your great-grandfather in that log?”

“Yes. And the ones with my grandfather.”

“Giel won’t have anything to do with you?”

“No. It’s better this way, Eiske.”

“That’s a shame. His loss.”

Jal stayed with Eiske as he pored over the pages of the book. One day, they went to Pencadick Rill, where Jal made a delivery of ceramics to Tunne, and a small one to Minnie. After lunch at Limke’s, the two spent time at the community center downloading articles and books.

Back at Eiske’s, Jal turned on a lecture on how to give oral presentations. For the next few days, Jal cooked, cleaned up, and took care of the animals while Eiske read Jal’s paper. Partway through the third day, Jal glanced up. Eiske had finished the book. He sat staring into space, and Jal paused a lecture. It waited for Eiske to speak.

“Jal, I get the impression that you think something crazy is going to happen once this material is made public. Tell me why.”I'm

They spent the afternoon discussing the things that Jal didn’t refer to in the report. Jal told Eiske that it had made a trip to each of the sanctuaries on Shifos, and Nacturis, and made second visits to the ones on Trazene and Iragos Peninsula. None of the Spirit Guardians would say when a Protector had last been at a temple or that they had ever met one. Jal showed Eiske a map of the continent, and Eiske was stunned when he saw that there were two more Protectorate Enclaves on the continent.

Eiske and Jal talked about the many things that were happening around the planet that Jal was certain the Protectors would never tolerate if they were around. Then Jal told Eiske of its conversations with Dr. Gyasi about the last date that the Protectors had been in communication with anyone on Zuphreon.

“Basically, what you’re saying is that the Protectorate Luminaries have covered up the fact that all the Protectors went missing a long time ago. Do you believe that they’ve hidden it from the rest of the world intentionally?”

“I don’t know. What I do know is that there are people on this planet who are being ignored. Others aren’t getting their basic needs met, and there are others who are being victimized.”

“Do you think a conversation with a Luminary is going to change anything?”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“I don’t know, Eiske.”

“You’re hoping to accomplish something. You’ve put a lot of effort forth.”

“I want the Luminary to provide Protectorate support for an expedition to go across the continent of Shifos.”

“You’ve had this in your head for a long time, Jal.”

“I believe that there are three things that are somehow related. One is that there is a specific location where communication came from on that last day. Secondly, the Stafriez from the west coast had a terrible time crossing the interior of the continent. And thirdly, there are all kinds of folktales of scary things on the west side of the mountains. There are some animals that vaguely match bumps on backs and crazy-shaped heads, but there are a lot more stories than creatures. There’s not enough there to justify the fear, Eiske.”

“Are you saying those aren’t giants and man-eating reptiles?”

“You looked at the pictures. What do you think?”

“Some of those people are really big. I don’t know what to think.”

“We could have missed something. What it would be, I don’t know. We won’t know unless we go. The enclaves need to be restored, so that they can be manned, and services provided to all those residents.”

“You’re right about that. It’s not fair if it was promised to them, and now they’re not being cared for.”

“Would you like to go along?”

“I would, but I think I could help better in a different way. Once the outside of each enclave is repaired, I’m willing to transport over and help check out the insides of them. It will all need to be restored.”

“You’re right, Eiske. Someone will have to do all of that. All the information that we have access to every day will need to be connected with the information those people have. How does the information network on Capesia compare with Zuphreon’s?”

He had to think about this. “Their world population’s much higher than ours. The system there is extremely well supported by businesses and citizens alike.”

“Do you feel we have a steady stream of scientific information? Or is it delayed or missing certain things?”

“I think it’s pretty reliable. Why are you asking?”

“Eiske, several weeks ago, I watched Dr. Gyasi place several articles it had written regarding animals and plants that have been discovered in the mountains of Zuphreon onto the server in the encyclopedia. I watched him work through the process of uploading them and indexing each one so that they would be released in the protectorate educational system. While you were downloading things this week, I did seventeen different searches for the items he made available. I documented each of the results. None of his articles came up in the searches. None of them showed up in the scientific magazines that are on the tablets. The magazines are there, but the articles aren’t in them.”

“How can that be?” Eiske wondered.

“I don’t know. I’m wondering if someone is deliberately preventing information from being shared.”

“What purpose would it serve?”

“I have no idea,” Jal responded. It scratched its head. “That reminds me of something. Did I ever tell you that when I started in the Stafriez school, I had to retake the history classes for the three-year-olds?”

“But you had history in Pencadick Rill! I know I did.”

“Do you know who the first settlers of Zuphreon were?”

“Um. The Pitsus.”

“No. The Stafriez.”

“Who were the first explorers of Zaletori?”

“That’s easy. The Pitsus from Kop.”

“That would be the Pitsus from Nik.”

“No way!” They argued for a few minutes, and Jal told Eiske that the Stafriez had taught different things. Eiske was bewildered by this.

“Do you know that the Aphyxians tried to settle in a different place, then asked to be moved to the peninsula?”

“That’s not true. The ships were landed down by Dagmon.”

“They were in Pejaru. They tried farming the flatland down there, but decided it wasn’t cold enough to suit their lifestyle or crops. They asked to be relocated to Iragos.”

“I didn’t know that, Jal! Are you sure?”

“I was so confused, frustrated, and didn’t know what to think when I studied world history. I couldn’t believe the teachers here in Pencadick Rill would lie. Sage Elvan started showing me things in the books in its library. They’re a lot older than the material in the tablets. I realized that the land around Pejaru seemed familiar when I went to Zibran with Sage Elvan. The country is all gridded and they have a really great road system. It’s the same way in the disputed territory. I wondered how our hosts could fly at night without lights. The people who want to ally with Zibran painted the markers with a different type of reflective paint and use certain colors of night lenses, they can see the markers from above the treetops.”

“The Aphyxian spaceships landed here along the coasts, and the people stayed on the ships all winter,” Eiske argued.

“But the books in Sage Elvan’s library, and the material taught in my academy classes describe how the Protectors transported load after load of people and their belongings from the enclave by Pejaru to the one up here. They came here in the spring, used technology provided to them by the Stafriez, and built homes according to the safety guidelines laid out by the Protectors. I got really mad when I realized that someone or some people are teaching the children wrong information. What if someone’s been giving out wrong information about Shifos over the past century? What would they gain?”

“It’s kept people out of the center of the continent. Could there be something there?” they wondered together.

***

A few days later, Jal jumped up the tower to the solarium. Tiny sprouts showed in the planters it had started for herbal crafting. Carefully Jal moved the plants to a different location under high-intensity light. It checked the special plant that was now several centimeters tall. Eaglestje had never told Jal the name of the plant or how to take care of it, and Jal couldn’t find it in any of the plant listings on the planet. Jal guessed that the plant must have come from Aphyx and not been shared with hardly anyone.

“A few more weeks before it blooms,” Jal thought as it returned to its room and sat down in front of the computer.

Several minutes later, Jal contacted its project advisor.

“This communication is being recorded audio-visually, and by transcript,” the computer communication program said immediately after she accepted Jal’s call.

“Why is that on, Jal?” she asked.

“It just is. I wanted you to know that my final draft and documentation of my eighth-year project are done, Instructor Padeedah.”

“Already? You’re two months early.”

“I am.” Jal nodded.

“Who was your proofreader?”

“I’m not releasing that person’s identity yet.”

“Who checked your documentation?”

“I’m not at liberty to say.”

“Jal!” They watched one another closely. “Are you sure that you don’t need more time?”

“I’m sure.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“Because it’s ready. I have other things that I need to move on to. Before I send it, would you do something for me?”

“Maybe.” She waited.

“Would you sign this document that I’m sending you right now?” Jal hit the send button on the computer and waited. It watched the expression on her face as she read.

“Jal?” she said curiously, “What is this all about?”

“I’d like assurances from you that what I’ve written won’t be released to anyone, and that you won’t discuss it with anyone, unless I’ve given you a written approval.”

“It seems to me that you’ve made this project quite complicated.”

“I’m pretty sure you’ve told me this about ten times now,” Jal laughed. It saw her smile and realized that the tightness in its gut had lessened. “I want to submit it to you, for a final grade, before I share it with anyone else. I’d like to make my presentation to the other students when they do theirs.”

“Very well. I’ll maintain confidentiality regarding your project.”

Jal waited for the signed document to come back from the instructor, then got onto its school portal. It created a file and locked the settings that would prevent anyone from duplicating, downloading or printing the report. Jal uploaded the report into its account and turned on all the tracking buttons, so it would have an idea of how rapidly she received and was reading it. This way, Jal hoped it would have a bit of a warning before the final evaluation session on it.

That night, Jal went to Jan. “Do you have time to talk with me?”

“Of course,” Jan put its tablet aside. “How can I help you?”

Jal told Jan that it had turned its final project paper in. “You didn’t have me read it first.”