The team returned to Argos with a terrified young Goblin. They quickly

provided him with a room and prepared a meal. He began bashing on walls and

doors, trying to break free, but with no success. Despite his immense brute strength,

the door would not be broken by his strikes. Soon he exhausted himself and lay on

the bed that was there. To his surprise, the bed was softer and more comfortable

than any he had seen so far; Konoya could tell from his reactions.

“We have about two days before they come here,” said Alex. “Keep a drone

close to them, and inform Anais to hide.”

“She has been warned,” said Bara, with his voice hanging low. “I don’t know

what I should have done,” he continued apologetically.

“What is done is done. We will discuss this at a later time,” said Alex, pumped

with adrenaline. “The only thing that matters now is that the coming army will not be

the end of us.”

“They can’t. Can they?” asked Gakuto.

“If they surround us and build a camp around the city or attack us every time

we try to move out, then they will end us slowly,” replied Bara. “Primitive or not, they

outnumber us at least a thousand to one.”

Everybody’s eyes opened wide.

“Inform Argos that we are now on alert,” said Alex, looking at Jain. “Call for all

the leaders to gather, and make sure no civilian is outside of the walls.”

“Konoya is not here,” said Jain. “She is working with Jade to feed their

language to the system and run medical tests.”

“Do we know when we will have a working translator?”

“I am not sure, but if the kid starts talking soon, then it will take very little

time.”

Alex took a deep breath. “We need to avoid war with them. When they arrive,

we will give them their child back unharmed physically and mentally. Make sure you

do not stress him too much.”

“We are not going to. Konoya is showing images to him and promoting him to

say the word for that image.”

“We need to examine him and see how his skin can withstand bullets,” said

Gakuto.” We will only need a small sample from his skin.

“Can you take it without him feeling it?” asked Juuda.

“No. We can’t use local or general anesthesia because we can’t be sure of

the effects it will have on him. We need his permission,” said Galen.

Alex seemed to be the most stressed. “Bara, we need to make a plan. We

know that last resort will be to bring down a Cerberus.”

Juuda’s eyes opened wide. “You can’t be serious. These machines are

devastating. We can defend without them. We have weapons and walls. What will

they come with? Tanks?”

“We don’t know,” answered Alex, “but if a battle is unavoidable, we need to

clear it fast and decisively. Otherwise, they might drag it out indefinitely.”

“I agree,” added Bara. “If it comes to it, it will be better to make a display of

power early on. This way they might surrender faster and save themselves.”

“What if we made a display of power earlier than the battle?” asked Jain.

“Before they arrive here, we can meet them halfway and show them that they can’t

mess with us. We can deliver the kid back to them at the same time, and if the

language is ready, then we can explain about the incident with their dead.”

Alex smiled at the idea. “I like it. Let’s get the plan on its way. Steve and Bara,

stay with me for the details. Jain, go and check that Konoya is proceeding with the

language, and try to get the kid to give us a sample of its skin. He does not need to

know what for. Just a pinch on his arm. The rest, please make sure that the civilians

understand the situation and are prepared for the worst. Distribute plasma rifles and

prepare them the best way you can.”

In the following twenty hours, Argos became hectic. Konoya was making very

slow progress, so she decided to enter the room with the young Goblin.

“I am not sure this is a good idea,” said Jade, while Konoya was opening the

door.

“I need to try and gain his trust. Time is ticking,” said Konoya while entering.

She sat on the floor just a step inside the room and saw the little Goblin

shivering from fear. She pointed at herself and said, “Konoya.” Then she pointed at

him. There was no answer, so she repeated this process with a smile and patience.

After a couple of minutes of this, the little Goblin said, “Bikz.” Konoya’s face lit up.

Her smile was friendly, and she greeted Bikz with a wave of her hand. “Bikz,” she

repeated. Then she proceeded to show him a picture of a tree, then a river, then the

sea, and then a mountain. Bikz was naming things, and the computer was filling a

database of a language. After many basic words were placed in, Konoya stood up,

pointed at her feet, and said, “Feet,” in Goblin language.

Then she proceeded to walk. Bikz, who had understood the game, continued to play, up to the point where

his fear was almost gone. After a few hours, Bikz got tired, and they let him sleep for

the day. When the sun was setting, he woke to find Konoya in her place and a warm

meal next to him. Stressed, he tried it and proceeded to eat some of it. Konoya spoke

to him in Goblin, which made him comfortable. “Voice me,” she said.

Bikz smiled. “Speak with me, you mean. Speak with me.”

Emile was hearing the conversations, helping the computer log the right

translation. Every word that was not identified would be placed in standby until it was

identified, when its meaning became apparent from other sentences. This process

helped the system build the language very quickly, and soon Konoya was ready to

test it. In the meantime, a large group of Goblins began to gather at the main Goblin

city, and smaller groups were arranged all around. Alex worked on the strategy, and

Jain informed Konoya that Bikz would be returned to his people.

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“Speak with me,” repeated Konoya.

“What do you want me to say?” asked Bikz.

“You will go to your father soon. No fear.”

“You killed my mom,” said Bikz and almost came to tears.

“Terrible accident. Terrible mistake.”

“I only wanted to show my father that I was brave. She only tried to protect

me, and you killed her.”

“We were scared. Very scared. We thought she wanted to kill us.”

“We are always scared,” said Bikz sadly.

“Why are you scared?”

“War is always there. We fight always, but we can’t win.”

“Why are you fighting? Whom are you fighting?”

“We fight everyone who is not us. Sometimes we make friends, but they don’t

last long.”

“We want to be your friends.”

“You killed my mother. Now you want to be friends?”

“Yes. We want to be friends. You have already helped us a lot. Now we can

speak with you because you taught us. Soon we will take you to your father, but first I

will touch this stick to your hand, which will feel a small pain.”

“What is this?” asked Bikz fearfully.

“It will not do bad to you. Only good. It will only pain for a blip.”

She approached Bikz slowly, and he extended his arm out in fear. The

apparatus sucked and took a small sample of skin and blood from Bikz.

“Did it hurt?” asked Konoya.

“No,” said Bikz while rubbing the small wound.

“Then wait for a bit. Eat and soon we will take you to your people,” said

Konoya, standing up and walking out of the room.

She gave the sample to Jade, who immediately began running tests. Four

hours later, she called for a meeting to give the leaders a better understanding on

who they were dealing with.

“It might sound impossible, but there is technology working here,” began Jade

“What do you mean?” said Jain.

“Bikz is swarming with nanobots. Just like us,” she said, causing everyone’s

eyebrows to raise. “Only their nanos seem to have the sole purpose of enhancing

their combat abilities. In fact, Konoya going in there was a risk. He could probably kill

you with his bare arms.”

“How did you deduce that?” asked Jain.

“We gave him colorful items, which he explored, that had different weights.

He can grip and lift with much more force than that of a human. Despite his small

size and young age, he is already dangerous to someone like Bara.”

“That means that we cannot engage in close combat with them under any

circumstances,” said Bara.

“No,” added Alex, “and this world keeps on surprising us. It is too early to

engage in any kind of aggression with them. We can’t be sure of what else we will be

surprised with. We have to make our display work.”

“But wait,” said Jain. “Are they producing nanobots now? It certainly does not

look like they do.”

“They probably don’t,” said Jade. “The bots do not offer any protection against

infections. That means that the bots are not dangerous for babies, and they can pass

from mother to child. Ours need to be programmed for each individual, and then they

directly affect our cells’ reproduction and well-being. I think this is the reason they

made them back in the days to be only for military advancements. I think they had a

war between them, and they made them with exactly that purpose.”

“This is an incredible find, but now is the time to finalize the plan on getting

him back to his people,” said Alex with determination. “How is the language

translation, Konoya?”

“It is finished. We can speak with them with almost no misunderstandings. A

few conversations with their adults, and we will have most of their vocabulary filed.

We have no idea about their written language, though, and he did not seem able to

read the scripts we found around.”

Bara interrupted the conversation. “Anais has something to say. Speak,

please.”

“I am seeing a large army of Goblins moving toward Argos. They are moving

fast, so I estimate that tomorrow after sundown, they will be there.”

“How many are there?” asked Bara.

“It looks like there are over ten thousand,” she said calmly.

“This is a manageable number,” said Bara.

“No! The problem is not their current numbers,” added Alex. “We can surely

take on them easily, and if their numbers move up to one hundred thousand, we will

land a Cerberus. The problem is that our weapons and machines are numbered. If

they go for a guerrilla warfare and we remain under constant attack for the years to

come, we will eventually perish. We need to avoid combat in any way possible. Let’s

gather everyone at the agora to inform them of the situation.”

Within less than an hour, all the citizens had gathered at the agora.

“As many of you have already heard, there is an army marching toward us.

An army that currently does not pose much of a threat, but it could mean the

beginning of the end for us.”

“How?” asked Guliame, one of the citizens. “How will tiny creatures with sticks

pose an actual threat to us?”

“Yeah,” said another, “we should not be scared of them. They should be

scared of us.”

The crowd muttered their agreement, and Alex frowned. Bara made a sign to

Alex that he wanted to speak, and Alex nodded.

“You have no idea what a war looks like,” said Bara loudly.

“We all have no idea what it looks like. But not them. They have a clear view of what it means.

Our weapons will prove our superiority in open war, but if they start hiding in the trees and bushes,

if they start hunting you the moment you get out of the walls, if they burn every tree around Argos

and sabotage our crops for the foreseeable future, then you will understand that our weapons only

give us superiority when the war is fair. But war is never fair. This is their world, and

we are few and new here. We don’t know their strengths or their weaknesses, but

they know ours. They know we are few. So, stop acting brave with someone else’s

guts!”

“Thank you, Bara, for clearing this up,” said Alex. “Now, there will be no

venturing out until the situation is resolved. The ones born on Hera have no weapons

training at all, and there is no time to be trained. After this is all in the past, you will

begin your basic weapons training. The rest, you should prepare for the possibility

that they reach the city.”

“Why don’t we use the Eagle to take them out or build an ambush before they

reach here?” asked Maria. “If it is going to end up with bloodshed, why take the risk

of doing it here?”

“We are planning to give them every reason not to come and every chance to

back away. If they don’t, we will need to show that we are defending our city. Killing

them out there will only provoke a larger response.”

Something resembling fear started to spread in Argos. Something new.

Something strange. Something difficult to put into words started to affect everyone.

Something between fear and rage. It looked like everyone was prepared to go to

fight. The horrors of war were nowhere to be found in the memories of humans. They

did not understand what war stood for. Like little children, they challenged the

attackers in their minds, and with their superior weapons they thought they were

undefeatable. But not all. Not Bara. Not Alex. Not Jain. Not the soldiers. Not the ones

who had been trained for the small chance they will face war. They had seen images,

stories, and videos of what war looked like. They had studied and knew that once the

weapons started blazing, the screams and horror would drive them mad. They knew

that war would change them completely.

The following thirty hours were hectic for Argos. Alex had ordered the

production of weapons from Steve, who could not produce fast enough and

additionally arm the Eagle with weapons. Anais was sending continuous info on the

movements of the Goblins and also discovered many of their hideouts. What the

naked eyes could not see, her cameras could. The numbers of the Goblins seemed

to change occasionally. After more focus, she could see that in some areas Goblins

seemed to disappear for a while and reappear later. That’s where their underground

hideouts were. So well made that it would be near impossible to be seen without

someone going in or out. By keeping a relative distance while scouting them, Alex

had a clear eye on the progress of their march. When the time was right and at a

distance of about seven kilometers off Argos, Alex and his team flew to meet the

marching army at an opening in the forest. By that time, Konoya had managed to

become somewhat of a friend with Bikz. They were comfortable enough to sit next to

each other in the Eagle. Bikz had informed Konoya that the Goblins were facing a

main adversary over the past years. The land where the humans had built Argos was

near the borders with another species. The Orcs, as humans called them.