Taishka Part 17

I woke up to light on my face. It felt incredibly hot. For a moment I wondered if I had been lit on fire, but moving away from the light brought immediate relief. My two comrades remained asleep on the floor. The robots on the other side of the room didn't seem to notice I was awake. At first I thought they might have been powered down because each of them were sitting down, still, silent. Then I remembered seeing them hook themselves up to something before I slept.

I stood up and walked over to them, trying to be as quiet as possible. As I suspected, they were all hooked up to the machinery in the walls. That was the first time I had seen how the robots recharged. Not as high tech as I had been imagining, which provided my mind with a bit of comfort. Back home on the space station we had developed a wireless form of energy transfer. The idea that the robots had not meant we weren't as behind. At least in a few ways. They still had much more power and concentration to develop and invent as they pleased than the space station humans had access to. It was also possible that they had that kind of technology and deemed it too much of a hassle or that it was not as efficient. My smug hopes dropped again.

“It doesn't just charge us, you know,” a hushed voice said. I looked up at Ikhah, who happened to be the robot nearest me. “It connects us. In the connection, there is all the information known to us mechanicals. The Mind used to be it's own connection. Or, two different connections when it was Hall and Tower.”

“Oh, that is interesting,” I whispered back. The giant robot was still intimidating to me, but they seemed much less threatening when speaking in such a low volume. Why they were giving me information was unknown to me until they explained with their response.

“It would be very interesting to have a direct link to the connection while something happened to one of us,” they said. Their intimidation returned. “Such as being tampered with.”

“I wasn't...” I sighed. “Listen, I wasn't' going to tamper with anything, I was just curious.”

Ikhah made a sound to inform me of their dissatisfaction and began to stir, removing themself from the wires and placing them on the ground. Their movement spurred the attention of Cide and the informants, who did the same.

“Should we wait until the evening, when it is less hot?” Cide said. “I know we would spend an entire day here doing nothing, but that might be worth it, don't you think?”

Informant A shook their head. “We have a way around the heat. We have to, after all, working and living in these conditions. Once we make it to the mosque, we can go inside. It was built to aid in blocking out this weather. Or at least that's what we've come to assume.”

I let the robots figure out their plans and went to the other side of the room to nudge my team awake. They appeared to also have had a miserable night by the sound of their groaning and reluctancy to wake. I helped them gather our bedding and take it down the stairs to the truck outside. We weren't doing too badly with carrying the items until we hit the air outside. It was even less humid than the day before, which I would have thought impossible.

I started to cough and backed up into the lobby of the building. It wasn't cool or less dry inside, but it wasn't nearly as dusty and horrid. The light outside was much more intense than I remembered. The cloud coverage must have weakened in our area, because the sun was bearing down onto the sand and dirt, making it glow and sparkle. I regained control of my lungs and picked up my dropped items again.

“Shit.” Branis cursed. They had also felt the heat coming from the outside. “What temperature is it out there?”

Fintan grabbed her controller and had Sender exit the building. The robot half of our group watched us. Our informants followed Sender into the heat and disappeared. Cide carefully examined my expressions I explained to them how the heat and dust had interfered with my lungs. They seemed to understand and seemed to worry. Ikhah stood by the door and watched the native robots walk around outside. Several of them had some kind of robe or umbrella for protection from the light. I watched how some of them stopped to look at Sender in confusion.

“It's thirty seven degrees!” Fintan said. “I've never felt it so hot before.”

“Yikes,” I said. “I thought the room was hot last night. I miss it already.”

“Same,” Branis agreed. “How are we supposed to survive out there during the day?”

“We will shield you so you may get to our wagon.” One of the informants returned holding a few yards of cloth and an umbrella. “It's just outside. We should really get going.”

I helped Fintan under the thick white cloth with me. At first it seemed hotter and counter productive, but once outside I understood the effect. It was much cooler beneath the white shroud than it had been unprotected. We followed Branis with their umbrella. They kept looking back to check on us. It was only a few minutes before we stepped into the back of something. Once inside I cautiously removed the cloth from myself. Fintan joined me in poking our heads out of the protection.

The 'wagon' was another type of vehicle. This one had cloth above the cab, for shade. And there were tarps that were able to be lowered and secured to the sides. I wondered why cloth was chosen as the material for covering this thing. It didn't seem incredibly practical to me. Although if heat was such a normal issue, it could prove to be cooler than surrounding yourself with metal.

I looked around and found our truck behind us. Cide was inside of it in the passenger seat and was telling one of the informants how to drive it properly. I felt myself smile. The informant had described themself as living. By the way they interacted with the smaller robot, I couldn't help but agree. Their expressive gestures and the personality spilling from them made it hard to say they were nothing more than a program. I shook the idea from my head. They were not alive and I did not want to be fooled into thinking so.

Ikhah climbed into the back of the wagon with us. They took up more room than all three of us humans combined and kept in the back. The seats were also on the sides of the trailer and not facing forward.

“We finished packing your belongings for you.” I turned around and saw the other informant in front of us at the controls. There was nothing separating the cab and the trailer. “Get ready to go. Also keep your limbs under the tarp. You don't want to get burned. Cide told me to tell you that. Not sure how you humans work, myself.”

They turned around and powered up the wagon. We began moving, making our way past the building we stayed in during the night. There were no more streets in front of us. Nothing but dry wilderness. A few large plants were scattered around, but everything else was sand and dirt. I noticed that our vehicles were making deep tracks in the ground. The sand was getting softer the farther we got from the city.

From the back side, I could see the buildings lined out in front of the huge tarp walls that surrounded the docks. The vibrant red of the walls framed the golden dirt city like a painting. I found myself wide eyed at the beauty of it. The robots most likely did not intend to make anything pretty, but the sight made me wonder if they understood the concept of aesthetics. The city faded into the background over hills and miles of sand. I started looking ahead of us.

The clouds started to return and provided slight relief from the heat, but not enough to be thankful for. Wind had begun to pick up and we opted to lower the tarps around the wagon, making the outside views impossible to see. A few hours into our ride and Sender decided to break the silence.

The little robot was in between the seats. We surrounded it, facing it and Branis even had their feet resting atop it. When it made a sound, Fintan noticed and shoved the hunter's legs away from it.

“What are they saying?” Ikhah asked. They seemed annoyed for some reason.

“Oh no. Uh. Hey, stop this vehicle!” Fintan said to our driver. They did as told. “We have to put on our hazard suits. This area isn't safe.”

“What is it detecting exactly?” Our informant said. They had reached the back of the wagon to help us.

“I'll tell you after you get our suits. They are in the smaller compartment. Uh. Let me go with you,” Fintan said. She looked back at me and Branis. “You two should stay inside. It's safer under cover. No need for all of us to get burned.”

“Um, okay?” I said. I looked at Branis. They were on the same page as me, worried but not hysterical.

Ikhah returned with Fintan carrying two suits for me and Branis. Sender sent out more notifications to it's controller. Fintan didn't answer them until the three of us were safely in our suits. Cide watched us from their seat in our truck.

“It's just done testing the air more completely,” Fintan explained. “It says the temperatures are unsafe.”

“Well isn't that a surprise,” the hunter growled sarcastically.

“It also says,” Fintan continued, glaring at Branis through her helmet. “that there are hazardous chemicals in the air. We've probably been getting closer to the source.”

“Probably the place we are headed to,” the informant driver said. They were looking at our new outfits. “This place. Ancient. It was abandoned we think, even before humans... were gone. Something strange about it. Maybe you humans will be able to tell us?”

Our vehicles began movement again. The destination was only a few more hills away. Walls of dirt that were held with sticks and stones started to build around us as we made our way deeper into the ground. The mosque was only visible once we came out of the trenched road into the clearing. It was completely cleared of sand, but lay in a valley, which also features some areas being supported by crudely made walls of wood. It was clear to see this place was built by ancient humans. Much older than a few hundred years. The entrance was no longer buried under sand, but the back half had yet to be cleared completely.

A giant dome was above the sand and the top of two pillars could be seen sticking out even taller than the large dome. Pillars in the entrance kept that part of the building standing. Several bits of the structure was damaged and scattered around, probably uncovered by the informants we were being escorted by. Sender continued to update us on the levels of toxicity in the area, which only grew worse as we approached the entrance.

“Will these suits keep us safe from this stuff?” I asked Fintan, as we parked.

“This stuff, yes. I'm a bit worried about these radiation levels though. It isn't bad enough to really effect us as is, but...” she looked at her controller again to double check her statement. “We should be fine. I will let you guys know if we need to leave.”

We got out of the vehicle and rushed to the shade the building provided. The sun was in a position where the amount of shade the mosque gave off was almost covering the entire dug out area. We set up our tent near the entrance and then followed our hosts into the entrance. They assured us it was stable in the front area.

While impressive at first simply by being a huge empty building, the informants lit up the area with their spotlights they had installed. Pillars and patterns appeared, lined with gold and other metals. I marveled at the painted patterns surrounding us. It was intense even if everything was faded beyond proper recognition.

“I theorize that this old building used to give off light naturally, through windows and mirrors. However,” Informants B explained, “years of deterioration and damage caused it to be a dark cave. You can see some cracks and damage where the windows used to be. Without the glass and mirrors involved, it doesn't quite work.”

“The structure of this building surpasses many designs of the later humans,” the other robot continued. “It's bizarre how the ideas stopped being utilized in favor of using up extra energy. The ideas behind that are what make humans so mysterious to us. Almost as if there are multiple different time lines within separate cultures.”

“Don't worry them with that nonsense, Trisha,” the other informant scolded. “It's just one of your theories.”

I found myself wandering away from the bickering native robots in favor of examining a line of artifacts under their own spotlight. Most of them were broken, but there were a couple of in tact pots with pictures on them. I could make out an image of flowers and some form of writing. I reached out and picked up the smaller one carefully. It was amazing. I was no historian, but the thought of holding something my ancestors built with their own hands overcame me. I quickly set it back down.

I walked to the entrance to where Fintan was standing. She was looking at the sky. I joined her in watching the clouds float above.

“It occurred to me,” she started, “that we are on earth right now. Surrounded by robots, which we have been told to fear our entire lives. And they are showing us this insane place with no restraints. It doesn't feel real to me.”

“I understand,” I said, looking around. Ikhah and Cide were walking with Branis, who wanted to take a look around the outside of the mosque. The other two robots were inside, having disappeared into another part of the place. “I don't think it's entirely innocent, though. We need to keep a sharp mind in this situation.”

“Yeah. I guess we are still technically prisoners.”

Later that evening we sat around in a lit area in the middle of the dug out area. It was peaceful and entirely quiet aside from our own noise making. The robots finished up a conversation they were having while us humans prepared to go to the tent and eat our dinner.

“When exactly is Marki supposed to meet us here, again?” Cide asked before we left.

“They will be arriving next evening.”

“What a timely person,” Ikhah growled under their breath. I wasn't sure if everyone had heard them or if they meant to be heard by me. I didn't show signs of catching their comment.