The Project

Chapter 9

The Project Chapter 9

"I wonder who this was?" Said Kelly, Alex stood looking at the skeleton for a moment, then said,

"I think whoever this is was one of the creators those droids were talking about. Call it a hunch, but I'll bet I'm right."

"What's all this other stuff?" Wondered Kelly,

"This looks like a credit card, but maybe it's something else, replied Alex,

"This looks like a pendant or charm of some kind." He stuck the items into his pocket, then suggested they leave.

"We'd better close that door, or somebody might start asking questions."

They continued to wander along loosely following a worn path that bordered a large meadow covered with a yellowish looking grass. So intent on looking at all the strange sights, neither teen saw the small group of androids following at a discreet distance. Finally Kelly happened to look behind her,

"Don't look now, but we're being followed." Alex quickly turned around to see a half dozen droids standing on the path, just watching them.

"I wonder what their problem is?" he asked aloud. They resumed walking, but Kelly kept glancing behind her.

'There's more of them," Alex turned to see that the group of droids had now grown to around twenty-five,

"What do they want with us?" Said a worried Kelly.

"I don't know, stated Alex, but don't run, just keep walking at a normal pace."

As the two continued to walk, the number of androids continued to grow, alarming them even further.

"I feel like we're on the damn yellow brick road being followed by a bunch of munchkins," said Kelly. By the time they got back to where the Karla-Ann was parked, there must have been close to a hundred androids behind them, Arna and Garmik suddenly appeared as Alex and Kelly moved up next to them.

"Why are they following us Arna?" Asked Alex,

Arna and Garmik made noises he took for laughing.

"Do not worry," said Garmik, "The word is all over the town, you are the humans who saved Dozox, they are very curious about you that is all."

"What are we supposed to do?" Asked Alex,

"Just wave to them," Said Garmik, "I've told them all about you two. Alex and Kelly gave him strange looks, but did as he asked, waving to their adoring fans.

"You say that you told all those droids who we were," asked Kelly, "How did you do that?" Garmik looked at her with an air of superiority,

"We are constantly communicating with each other, in fact, Arna and I watched as you two pulled Dozox out of the water, very admirable of you."

"Well thanks," replied Alex, "But thats really creepy,

"We call it "remote viewing" explained Arna," It's just something all androids can do, just because you don't see us actually talking to one another, doesn't mean we aren't communicating. Speaking of that our friends are back."

The droids that had first approached them after landing were waiting outside the spacecraft; one of them was carrying a box. Approaching Alex, the droid with the box handed it to him,

"This is for you," then reaching in his pocket, he pulled out Alex's multi-tool and handed it back to him.

"A very interesting device earthman, however we made one change, and that was the small driver. We did not recognize the one on your device, so it was replaced."

Alex looked at his Leatherman which featured screwdriver bits that could be changed out, instead of a Phillips head bit, the new bit had a spoke shaped bit, a pattern he'd noticed in many of the screws and fasteners aboard the Karla-Ann.

"Thank you very much sir," said Alex, "I was wondering about that strange pattern on some of the screws I've seen." The android then said,

"We manufacture some very fine tools here on Xindus; let other's know if you would." Alex opened the metal box, which reminded him of one of those army ammo cans, inside were twenty exact duplicates of his multitool. Examining one, he could see it was very well made, and exactly like the original. Checking the knife, he could see that the steel was very high quality, and the blade was razor sharp, it even had "Leatherman" printed on the side.

"How did you make these so quickly?" He asked the androids looked puzzled,

"It is just how we manufacture goods," came the reply.

A thought came to his mind,

"How much would it cost me to have stuff cop…Er, made?" The androids looked at each other, then back at Alex.

"Arna has told us your story," said one of the droids, "You and your friend have proven to us that you are friends of we Xindi. We are also aware that Garmik is to accompany you on your adventure, He will sing of us, and, let our kind know of our great victory over the creators. Are these items essential to your forthcoming adventure?" Alex grinned,

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Very well, bring forth whatever it is you have." Kelly looked at him,

"What are you going to do?"

"You'll see." He retrieved his AR, and the shotgun, along with a magazine for the AR, a pair of cammo trousers, a tee-shirt, boots and a hat. Handing everything to the droid, he said,

"Copy these but only two each of the weapons, four of the clothing and boots, but fifty of these magazines."

The android looked at everything,

"This is not much, are you sure you would not like more?" Alex wasn't sure if the droid was being sarcastic but rather than push his luck, he replied,

"This will be all we need thank you." The androids then left leaving the four of them standing by the ship. Alex looked at Arna, and said,

"All right, what's been going on around here?" Garmik spoke up,

"Arna is now an official citizen of Xindus Alex. At some point you will tire of adventuring but what will she do? Now Arna has a home to return to."

"Well that's great Arna," said Kelly,

"It sure is," added Alex, "You too Garmik, umm, does this mean you two are married now?"

"I do not understand this "marriage" you speak of, but if you mean that our "units" are joined, then I suppose we are."

Alex offered his hand to both droids and said,

"Well I guess congratulations are in order. By the way, being the lowly humans that we are, there are certain things we require such as a place to sleep, go to the bathroom, drink water, and eat." Both droids made that laughing sound again,

"I'm sorry Alex," replied Garmik, right now, I can think of none of the places you seek, perhaps at some point in the future if we Xindi permit living beings back on Xindus again such places might appear. However, there is a facility that will clean you."

"What, you mean like a shower?" Asked Kelly.

"It is a place that will make you clean, and freshen you," said Garmik.

"Well hell yeah!" Exclaimed Alex, I'm pretty dirty, that stream must have had a lot of crap floating in it,"

"Same here," added Kelly, "Could you take us there?"

"Follow me," replied Garmik. As they walked along, they started drawing a crowd again,

"Does this bother you?" Asked Garmik, Both teens looked at the group of droids following them and shrugged,

"I guess not, don't they have anything better to do than follow us around?" Asked Alex.

Garmik turned to him and said,

"Ever since we destroyed the creators, there is nothing to do for many; it is an unfortunate situation, and one we are working to resolve."

"Well it seems to me Garmik," replied Alex, "You androids have a good set-up here, I mean for making stuff, you just need to find the right people you can contract to, you know, making things for them."

"That is one of the reasons I am coming with you, perhaps we will find someone who needs someplace to manufacture things for them."

As they continued to walk, Kelly pointed to the large grass covered "hills"

"What are those?"

Garmik didn't respond for a few steps then replied.

"Beneath all those hills lie the rubble of war, buildings, and the debris of the creators, it was a very bad time for us, Kelly, it is not something we freely discuss."

"We came across a small shed not long after we rescued Dozox," said Alex, "Inside was a skeleton of what I think was one of the creators, it looked like it had been there a long time, we also found this stuff." Holding out the "loot" he and Kelly had found next to the skeleton, Garmik snatched up the device Alex thought was some kind of weapon. Crushing it in his hands, then pulling the pieces apart, he threw them as far as he could before the astonished eyes of the teens. Then looking straight at Alex, he said,

"Were you to have been caught with such a device would have resulted in your immediate death Alex, and there would have been nothing Arna or I could have done about it." Now extremely upset, Alex exclaimed,

"But how were we to know what that thing was,"

"And that's why I didn't kill you," replied Garmik, "That was a "slaver," the creators used them to control us, it is a much hated device, what else do you have there?"

"I'm really sorry Garmik, said Alex, I-I just didn't know."

"That is an identification card, there are still places where those can be read, but it would alert the central authority that there was a curator around. I won't take it from you, it might be useful at some other time, but put it away, and don't carry it while you are here on Xindus. That pendant is a tracking device as well as a religious symbol, those are gambling tokens, and there are still a few machines around those will work in, if we get near one, I will let you know. What is that book?" Alex handed him the small book, whereupon Garmik began to flip the pages as he read.

"This book Alex…This book lists all of the secret codes the creators used to run Xindus, and although much has been destroyed, much is left, this must be given to the central authority."

"We aren't going to get into any trouble?" Asked Kelly,

"Oh no," replied Garmik, "They have been looking for the creators code list for a very long time. They will look well on you." Alex pondered the last few minutes as he went from being an "enemy of the state," to "hero," it boggled the mind.

Before long, they arrived at a building that looked to be made of pre-cast concrete and painted blue. Alex noticed there were cracks all over, and chunks of concrete were missing. From the faded look of the paint, it must have been a bright vivid blue at one time, but no more. They entered into a small room where there were several doors located along an inner wall.

"I believe you go into one of those rooms and undress," said Garmik, "I think there's a separate place to place your garments so they are cleaned separately."

Alex entered a door, and found himself in a chamber-like room, there was strange writing like signs over what looked like a control of some kind.

There was a smaller hatch-like door he guessed were for your clothes, which after undressing, placed inside Taking a wild guess, he pressed a button next to the small hatch which caused a yellow light to come on. Pressing a similar button on the wall, a larger yellow light came on. Suddenly he felt very warm just like he was standing naked in the desert. There was a faded chart on the wall that indicated that you should hold your arms out which he did. Besides feeling very warm, he felt a tingling sensation which he hoped was supposed to be happening. The warmth lasted for close to five minutes, then the light turned a light blue for a few seconds, then went off.

The light was also off on the clothing wash as well, Taking his clothes out he noticed his underwear was bright white and smelled clean and fresh, the same for his boots and the rest of his clothing. As far as him being clean, he couldn't really tell, he didn't see any dirt on him, so he got dressed, and exited the chamber. Kelly was exiting her chamber as well sniffing herself.

"Well I don't know," she said, "My clothes are clean, my hair doesn't feel dirty, I guess I'm clean.

"There is one aboard the ship," said Arna, but Gideon was complaining about it not working."

"Perhaps I can repair it," said Garmik.

Their next stop was the shed where the skeleton was found, Garmik opened the door and went in. Standing over the remains, he pointed down and announced,

"That used to be a creator; he must have hidden in here during the war, and died.

Moving the skeleton with his foot, an object was revealed that had been hidden under it. Picking it up Garmik held it out, it looked like an iphone but Garmik said,

"This is a pocket computer, I can tell its battery is long discharged, but when we're back at the ship, I will be able to work up a power supply and discover what's on here." They found nothing more inside but Garmik insisted on leaving the door open,

"Some poor droid in need of shelter may happen along and see the open door." With that, he and Arna removed the moldering skeleton and tossed it off into the grass,

"There a potential home for a droid in need," observed Garmik.

As they were heading back to the ship, Garmik and Arna took the lead while Alex and Kelly followed behind. In a whisper, Alex said to Kelly,

"The droids must really hate whoever these creators were, man! I'm glad we're on their "good" side." Kelly nodded in agreement.