Taishka Part 16

“What was Ikhah saying to you?” Branis asked.

“Ikhah?”

“That's what Cide called them.”

“Oh, um...” I looked at the door. Branis had brought me back to the cabin and locked the door behind us. Fintan was still laying down when we returned, but our shuffling woke her up. She looked concerned. “They were afraid I would fall off the boat. I was leaning on the side.”

“It didn't sound like they were worried about you,” Branis said.

“After they pulled me from the edge, they were talking about humans. Or they said we looked small to them. And then they asked why we came back. To earth.”

“Oh,” Fintan was fully awake at that point. “What did you tell them?”

“Nothing. I didn't have time to.”

“Oh boy,” Branis said. “They definitely looked intimidating. I don't think we should be walking by ourselves from now on.”

“I agree. Why did you leave the cabin?” Fintan asked. “What if you actually did fall off the boat and nobody knew about it?”

I sat back down on the floor and sighed. Fintan's robot Sender was resting beside the mattress like a headboard. I leaned against it. “I'm sorry. Won't happen again. I promise. I was just awake and wanted to look at the ocean.”

We all went back to bed and slept soundly until morning. It had been several days since we embarked on the voyage across the ocean. I was beginning to miss dry land, despite how interesting the idea of being on water had been originally. Knocking on the door woke us up.

“Hey you guys, come on! Look at these!” Cide's voice rang from beyond the door.

I hurried to my feet and went to the deck. Cide was leaning on the edge of the boat like I had been the night before, but they were looking at the water. I joined the little robot and examined the waves. There was an army of bulbous sea life floating below us. It was like a cloud of balloons under the water. They did not look like the jellyfish I had read about, but they were the closest thing I could compare them to. My roommates caught up to us and marveled at the sight with me. Cide looked more excited than the rest of us.

“Have you never ridden in a boat before?” I asked innocently.

“Huh?” the little robot looked up at us. “Oh. Yes of course. I've helped rebuild these machines, after all! Someone had to figure out all of those human codes for all those vehicle constructions. Your ancestors had very elaborate ways to explain building techniques.” I looked away from the jellyfish and back to the little robot.

“You helped build vehicles?” Branis asked.

“Yeah. I had figured out how to fix old human machines before the Mind reformed. Before us mechanical beings were free to do as we like, I would hide out and learn about humans on my own, without guidance. Self teaching, basically.”

“I'm sorry. The Mind reformed? What do you mean by that?” I asked.  

Cide blinked. “Has Buere not told you anything?”

“Your friend told us about this Marki robot. Or well... sort of. Something about how they knew the Mind?” I said.

“Is that really all they told you? I guess they were a little busy trying to record your language... Well uh. The short version of the story is that after the Mind was split, it tried to contact itself and Marki helped it do that. But then it vanished. That happened about a hundred years ago.”

“Woah wait. When exactly did it 'split'? I don't remember this from history class,” Fintan said.

“Oh, it was separated into halves. That was before the mass extermination of your kind happened.”

I felt my gut fall into my throat when Cide so casually referred to the war as an extermination. At least we finally had proof that the robots knew of that history. The news about the Mind having been tampered with was not something I had been aware of at all. I could tell it was news to my roommates too.

“I'm sorry, to bring that up. I don't mean to worry you,” Cide said. It was looking back at the water. “Buere told us not to really talk about it.”

“Don't worry about it,” I felt myself say, trying to keep the air light and open. “There aren't more robots, eh, mechanicals out there trying to come after us now. Right?”

Cide's expression had gone flat. I wondered what they were thinking, unsure if their silence was as uncomfortable for the other two humans as it was for me. “We are going to keep you safe. Nothing should happen to you with Ikhah around.” they said, finally.


“Thanks...” I said. I looked at the other two in my party. They seemed to be concerned about the comments too. I said nothing.

“I wanted you to see these creatures first hand,” Cide said, changing the subject. “They have existed in the past, before my time. I've been seeing them reappear in the past few years. It's nice to see the species returning.” They turned to us and smiled. “Regardless of circumstances!”

“Neat,” the medic said. We became silent and watched as the group of ocean creatures slowly disappeared.

It was mid morning when Fintan decided to turn on Sender. Our companion bot tested the air for us and once more confirmed it's cleanliness. Temperatures were getting higher and less comfortable as we approached the destination. The land became visible. It shimmered gold in the distance.

Our large guardian observed as we packed our things into the truck. Cide was out of sight trying to finish up arrangements for where we would rest for the night. It would be a long day of organizing ourselves at the port according to our guides. The place we chose to land was always busy and highly organized. Nothing to a robot, but surely tiring for a human.

The boat approached a large port. There were large walls and a ceiling encasing the dock. They looked so thin that I almost expected them to crumble under the wind's light breeze. There were several larger docks which showed off even larger walls. I could feel my skin relax as it found relief in the shade. My sweat began to dry. The other two made sure I had water available to wash myself with after their own sweat had dripped into their burning eyes. It was supposed to be summer, after all, I thought.

There was shade, but a lack of wind inside of the bizarre buildings around the dock. It was a different kind of warmness. Like being cooked. We eventually found Cide and convinced them to lead us to a cooler area. They instructed Ikhah to lead us into the city until they were able to catch up.

There were no real solid halls in the place. It reminded me of being in the tent, only a hundred times more massive. Once we reached the other side of the 'tented' area, the sun greeted us again. The blanket of clouds covering the sky was not enough to keep the light from reaching us. Whenever there was an opening in the clouds and the light hit my skin directly, I felt it burning. The air was more uncomfortable to breath in, as well.

We followed the large machine to the city Cide had mentioned. It was a short distance between the city and the port. I wondered why there had not been buildings between the two but did not question it. The entire place was built by the robots that took over the world. They did not think the way humans did. There was probably a logical explanation.

Other robots emerged in the streets and took heavy notice of us. Ikhah managed to pull us into a tighter group behind them, letting us know to keep a firm grip on each other. I ended up holding onto part of their leg that was sticking out. The new city of robots had a distinctly different look to them. They were all painted in gold or metal colors that matched the buildings and the sandy ground. It did not occur to me that robots would have aesthetics or cultures.

Ikhah pulled us into a taller building that was on the edge of the city and the farthest building away from the port. Nothing by sandy dirt and a few roads were beyond that point. We didn't get to see much of it before entering the building. A couple of new aqcuantances approached us and introduced themselves as the informants Buere sent for us.

“It's an honor to be in your presence, humans.”

“A very great honor. We are humble.”

One held out a hand and successfully got Fintan to touch them. They seemed delighted. Ikhah took a back seat and allowed them to lead us into the upper area, where an empty room waited for us.

“Oh, all of our stuff is in the truck still,” Branis mentioned. We looked at Ikhah.

The large robot stood by the door protectively and did not turn to respond with, “Cide will be here with your things eventually. I'll let you know when.”

“How unfortunate,” one of the informants said. “Let's not worry too much about that now. I hear only good things about your friends. They have done much to rebuild the world, you know. The leaders of our mechanical revolution.”

“I'm sorry, but can you explain what you just said?” Branis said, offended. “They lead what exactly?”

“Oh, when the great revolution happened. It was after the great being was lost to the world. The robots that were left had no leaders. They stopped hiding and began creating, so they say. Without the Mind to stop them, the new leaders pushed others to explore and retake this world.” The informant looked incredibly interested in telling us about this. I looked at Branis. It was obvious they had misunderstood the revolution as the extermination of humans. I was relieved they were wrong. “Buere, Cide. Marki. They are all our leaders.”

“Oh yeah, where is this Marki guy?” Branis said. “You're the ones taking us to him?”

“That leader is working now,” the other informant started. “We are helping them to collect from more ancient sites. Human artifacts. Remains. They are important items that are to be protected and examined. That is what Marki has decided.”

“Oh, so that's why Buere wanted us here,” Fintan said, “To add to Marki's collection. That better not mean we are going to be stuffed.” Her voice turned defensive with the last remark.

“Certainly our leaders would not harm you!” Our new friends said. “They will want to speak with you and learn from you. Marki is the one who you created, after all.”

I remembered that Buere had said something similar about humans creating this one robot. “How exactly is this mech the only one that was created by humans?” I asked.

“That is such a long story,” the darker one said. “It is one that 5578 will surely want to tell you in person.”

Hearing the number half of the robot's name felt jarring being used to suddenly. I almost didn't remember it was the same person. “Well okay then,” I said, defeated.

Eventually Cide returned to us and we went to the bottom floor to retrieve our stuff. We had been shown so much of the findings Marki was to be picking up in the next few days. The informants were more than helpful in attempting to explain what it was they discovered. We weren't much help either, realizing that much of the past was just as lost to us as it was to them. I wondered what exactly happened. It had not been fully explained to us and nobody seemed eager to discuss it.

There were several native robots on the ground floor that did not want to hang around when they saw us. We received plenty of glances but nobody stopped to sing praises or ask questions, which is how the robots in our group had made us feel was appropriate. It was more than a bit confusing to me. We slept on the side of the room while the robots kept watch by the door. They chose to communicate silently to allow us to get sleep.

It was so hot and dry that I found myself cringing any time one of my fellow humans touched me in their sleep. We did not sleep with the cover over us either, all deciding that would be an awful idea. Eventually I managed to nod off in the warm, crowded room. The lack of privacy made it difficult, but thankfully not impossible.