Jaded Dusk

by Scott Wale

  “I can’t argue with that logic”, Fenrit said relieved by Tradok’s choice. “We’re very fortunate you can fill all the gaps we never expected to encounter”, Fenrit continued staring at the bowl of worms Tradok was about to devour.

  XI.

  Jandra glided in a holding pattern above Tradok’s former mining site. Alejade had filled her in on the plan the night before and instructed her to go scout the site ahead of the others. The site was not too far south of the Trados River and by Jandra’s estimate it would not take the group more than a day to reach the site from Shadowport.

  The mining site was nestled against the foothills of the Split Range that abruptly rose from the ground. The Trados River flowed out of the Split Range towards the east before turning south and emptying into Lake Sier. The grass between the river and the foothills was a flaxen color that defied the jade green grass that made up the rest of the plains. The site itself had an excellent view of the river in the distance and was located near a mountain pass that continued for quite a distance before eventually halting into a dead end. The pass allowed easy access to ore rich rock that also contained other valuable minerals. This was the reason that Tradok had chosen the precise location and the beautiful scenery that accompanied the spot had probably been lost on Tradok.

  The site itself was comprised of three structures. The largest was a secured warehouse where modified crawlers would dump their mineral haul. Jandra was quick to notice that many crawlers were still operational and carrying their loads between the actual mine located in the pass and the warehouse. The warehouse had been setup to only allow admittance to the crawlers and Tradok himself. Unprocessed minerals were stored here and would eventually be conveyed underground to the second structure, which was the refinery. The refinery processed raw minerals into a finished goods state based on incoming orders. A separate set of crawlers operated out of the refinery and delivered completed orders to customers. Faunite, Artinium, which was used to mint Artum and ore that could be smelted into poloy were just a few of the mineral outputs of the refinery. The system was capable of delivering a wide variety of minerals and the numerous states in which they existed. The operation practically ran itself just as Tradok had proclaimed.

  The final building was Tradok’s workshop. This was the command center of the operation and where Tradok had spent most of his days. From there he could monitor output, orders and most importantly preventative maintenance on all the various components of the operation. Rarely did he have to manually intervene with the process, which eventually became a sense of pride. In the later days the system had become so efficient that Tradok had begun to work on other projects. He had expanded his workshop to house all of his other inventions most of which were only partially completed.

  Jandra scanned the surface for any unusual activity. The crawlers that were part of the operation were the only moving things in the whole area. She flew along their route between the mines and the warehouse and initially followed a few that were on their way to deliver product to customers. Jandra abandoned the investigation when she determined the latter crawlers were headed on a distant trip. The site as a whole looked secure and it was time to report back to Alejade.

  ***

  “How do you understand her?” Nevit asked.

  “It’s a skill”, Alejade responded. “The critical part is to develop the skill when you’re young. Jandra and I have been bonded for a long time now. I can communicate with other birds, but nothing will ever be as strong as my connection with her.”

  “Can you simply talk to any bird you see?” Nevit inquired.

  “Not necessarily”, Alejade replied. “Creatures are just like you and I. Some are more open minded than others. They also have their own languages, some of which are too complex for my abilities.”

  “What did she just tell you now?” Tradok asked.

  “Your site looks safe”, Alejade answered. “It also appears to still be operating.”

  “That’s not a surprise”, Tradok said complimenting himself. “I’ll be impressed if it’s still operating above sixty percent capacity given how long I’ve been gone. Most orders must still be getting filled though, because if they weren’t my customers would have gone elsewhere by now and the operation would have ceased due to the lack of orders.”

  “Yes, yes, you’re an impressive Sauronoid”, Fenrit began smarmily. “Now how much further until the site?”

  “We’re almost at the Trados River”, Tradok said.

  “Where does your name originate from?” Alejade asked Tradok.

  “I knew that would come up eventually”, Tradok replied. “I was hatched by the Trados River near Lake Sier. Trados is simply a modified form of Tradok, which was the ancient Sauronoid name for the river.”

  “If you’re really interested in Tradok’s upbringing”, Nevit began. “You should ask him about his…”

  “That’s enough, Nevit”, Tradok interrupted.

  “Ask about?” Fenrit pushed the issue.

  “Another discussion for another time”, Tradok hastily replied. “Given Nevit’s infatuation with the subject, I’m sure it’ll come up again.”

  Fenrit and Alejade recognized the agitation in Tradok’s voice and decided it was best to not pursue the topic.

  “Besides, I can see the river ahead”, Tradok continued. “In the distance you’ll notice some structures. Those would be mine. We’ll need to head a bit upstream to get to the point where we can cross the river on foot.”

  The group followed Tradok’s lead to the river ford. Tradok crossed first moving forward as if river presented no obstacle. Tradok’s thick scaly legs protected him from the rough river bed rocks and provided enough insulation that he didn’t feel the delayed chill of the water until he had reached the other side. He waved the remaining members of the group across who had halted on the opposing river bank.

  “Looks a bit chilly”, Nevit hollered over to Tradok as his eyes turned orange.

  “Don’t tell an exotherm about chilly”, Tradok hollered back.

  Alejade removed her leather boots and then sprinted to the other side not wanting to prolong her exposure to the icy menace. Fenrit followed behind Alejade picking up his cloak as to not let it drape in the water. Fenrit casually made his way across the river showing the most concern that his cloak remain dry. Like Tradok, the sting of the cold appeared to have no effect on Fenrit. When the premalier made it to opposite bank he looked back at Nevit who was still hesitant to enter the water.

  “Down to you, Mortoptera”, Tradok called across to Nevit.

  A quadruped skipped across the river a ways upstream from where the group stood. The splashing gained everyone’s attention and they continued to watch the creature in awe of its beauty. Once the creature hit the opposite river bank it launched into full speed and disappeared into the distance of the Jade Plains.

  “What a beautiful caplas”, Tradok said.

  “That was a mallas, caplas are smaller”, Nevit replied seeing the opportunity to stall his river crossing.

  “If the only difference is size, then how do you know which is which without seeing them side by side first?” Tradok said taking the bait.

  “I just know by size”, Nevit continued the argument.

  “How do you know it wasn’t just a big caplas?” Tradok continued to goad the Mortoptera.

  “Maybe it was a small mallas”, Nevit replied his eyes turning blue, which was not visible to Tradok.

  “Denegrass! Just cross the river”, Tradok finally yelled out.

  “We picked a bad time in my cycle to do this”, Nevit continued to stall.

  “What is he talking about?” Alejade asked.

  “He can’t fly across like he’d prefer”, Tradok answered. “Mortopteras go through cycles of growing wings and then eventually shedding them. Nevit shed his not too long ago and it’ll be awhile before a functioning pair grows back.”

  “Do I need to return to the other side and carry you on my back?” Fenrit
offered.

  “No”, Nevit vehemently refused the help.

  Nevit’s proboscis began to throb signaling a heavy breathing pattern. He removed his fleeters and then positioned himself as if to start a sprint. He relaxed out of the sprint position and changed in to a casual stroll. He crossed the river at no faster a pace than Fenrit and joined the group on the other side releasing his breath that he had held during the crossing.

  “Overly dramatic”, Tradok commented leading the group on towards his mining structures.

  “What? I’m from a humid swamp”, Nevit feebly argued.

  “We’ve been over this”, Tradok said. “You haven’t lived there for quite some time or at least enough time that your body should have acclimated to a new environment.”

  “You’re one to talk about acclimation”, Nevit countered. “Say what you want, but this journey to your mining site is so you can get your heat rock.”

  “It’s a torrid sleeper”, Tradok corrected. “Besides I also want to show off my facility”, Tradok continued with a devious smile.

  “What’s this about a heated sleeper?” Fenrit asked.

  “It’s one of the many items I intend to grab from my workshop”, Tradok revealed. “Without maintaining proper body temperature on this journey I will eventually become immobile. Nevit actually has a point that my body is not built to stay active in the cold mountain air. When I resided at Prominence I had my own special chamber, plus the interior of the fortress was somewhat warm. The point is that if I spend the nights in my torrid sleeper then I should be ok for daytime traveling.”

  “So basically cold air kills him”, Nevit summarized in jest.

  “Not exactly true”, Tradok replied ignoring the lack of seriousness behind the remark. “My body shuts down. There’s a difference. My body could easily be reconstituted if you brought my internal temperature back up within a reasonable time from when everything shut down.”

  “Sounds kind of like a hibernation process”, Fenrit observed. “Have you ever gone through it?”

  “No and I don’t intend to”, Tradok answered. “It’s more like a failsafe except you better trust either who you are with or that the ambient temperature will increase to a sufficient level. I’ve heard stories of Sauronoids shutting down for the night and returning during the heat of the day. Nothing I’ve read or heard has gone any longer than that.”

  “You’re pretty much the reverse of Fenrit”, Alejade commented. “He comes alive in the cold.”

  “I don’t know if I’d say that”, Fenrit said bashfully. “I feel energetic in the cold. It’s not as exhausting as the heat, but it does reach a point where it’s debilitating.”

  “You’re being modest”, Alejade said. “I’ve seen him tolerate a cold that would paralyze most premaliers, even the Loupiq ones.”

  “Stereotypically Loupiqs handle the cold better than the Chafel”, Fenrit pointed out. “But if we all followed the same grain, life would lose its spark.”

  “Predictability isn’t so bad”, Tradok responded. “Without it my endeavors in robotics would likely only end in failures.”

  “Speaking of robotics there goes one of your crawlers”, Nevit said pointing out the vehicle.

  “It’s off to deliver some goods to a customer”, Tradok explained. “I only have two sets. One set delivers finished product and the other set hauls raw minerals from the mines to the warehouse.”

  “I thought you said crawlers were ineffective without the proper infrastructure”, Alejade pointed out.

  “I’ve modified these crawlers to appropriately handle the expected terrain”, Tradok explained. “The crawlers that operate in the mine are heavy duty and can take a beating. Their traction is less of a concern because the path between the mine and my warehouse was fairly smooth when I constructed my facility and now it’s even more so given all the traffic it has endured. I gave special attention to the traction on the crawlers that deliver the product. They’re lighter weight up top and contain stabilizers so the product doesn’t succumb to damage from all the jostling. The light weight also helps with speed whether it’s for timely delivery or outrunning raiders. The product delivery crawlers can move faster than most things on Faunar. Neither crawler would suit us for our travels. The heavy duty crawlers wouldn’t be that much faster than walking and the product delivery crawlers aren’t much use outside of preprogrammed routes. I suppose I could have spent some time setting up a product delivery crawler to take us from here to the base of the mountain trail, but the river will get us most of the way.”

  The group approached Tradok’s mining structures and observed the operation for a few moments. Most of the operation was still functional just as Jandra had reported. While Tradok observed he noticed the slower movement of some of the raw mineral crawlers. The receiving process at the warehouse had grown sloppy and inefficient over time. A pile of raw material had built up near the entrance to the warehouse where crawlers would momentarily wait for the facility to grant security clearance. Tradok could only imagine the mess that was probably inside the warehouse where the actual bulk dump pit was located. The refinery probably suffered the same fate as unacceptable deviations went uncorrected over time. Nevit, Alejade and Fenrit probably wouldn’t pick up on this type of minutiae, but if Tradok had planned to spend time at the facility the issues would have been quickly resolved.

  “Let’s move on to my workshop and get what we came for”, Tradok finally said breaking up the observation.

  ***

  Tradok’s workshop lacked any expression of vibrancy, but while the drab atmosphere was uninspiring, it was at least clean and well organized. The lighting was dim and provided just enough visibility to make out most of the objects in the room. A terminal was mounted to the wall near the doorway and four monitors that were currently powered down were on the wall above the terminal. Shelves lined the walls holding an inventory of hardware, basic parts and subassemblies. The shelves were properly labeled with their contents and the items themselves were aligned to maximize the usage of space. Projects that were closer to completion sat on a surround workbench where Tradok had laid out the projects in an efficient manner. The layout made it evident that Tradok spent his time here moving from one project to the next as he got stuck or suffered a temporary loss of his creative spark. A single door was on the far end of the room that one could safely assume led to Tradok’s sleeping quarters.

  “TMT six, status, please”, Tradok commanded.

  “TMT six?” Nevit questioned.

  “Tradok Mining Terminal”, Tradok explained.

  “Current Capacity is eighty three point eight three percent”, the terminal reported in a stoic version of Tradok’s voice. “Yield loss is at three point seven two percent, which is up from zero point three two percent at the last status request.”

  “The yield loss was quite evident”, Tradok said to himself. “Still the current capacity exceeded my expectations.”

  “Well done on surprising yourself”, Nevit commented. “Now can we grab your heat rock and leave?”

  “We’re here for more than just that”, Tradok replied ignoring Nevit’s disparaging remark as usual. “My torrid sleeper is in my sleeping quarters; however, everything else should be in here.”

  Tradok walked over to one of the shelves and began examining the labels. It had been a long time since he had set foot in his workshop leading him to forget where everything was placed. He didn’t need labels back then, but they were certainly helpful now. He grabbed a few gadgets off the first shelf and then moved on to a second shelf grabbing a few more items. He paced to a third shelf and grabbed one final item before setting everything he had collected on to the workbench. He reached under the workbench and pulled out a gear pack that had been sitting on a shelf. He opened the gear pack and then set it next to the inventory he had just collected before turning around to face the group.

  “First, I have a set of dataports for Alejade and Fenrit”, Tradok said briefly showing the devic
es before tossing them into the pack. “They’re older, but they’ll allow you to communicate with Nevit and I which is all we really need at this point.”

  “I hope you’re prepared to give a tutorial to the technologically challenged”, Fenrit said.

  “We’ll have plenty of time for that”, Tradok responded. “Like I said, communication only, so nothing too complicated. Next, I have a skin shield for everyone.”

  Alejade and Fenrit shot Tradok a perplexed look.

  “I know, I know”, Tradok responded to the look. “This is one of my own inventions that few people outside of Nevit and I know about. Nevit likes to call it the PSG.”

  “Personal Space Guarantor”, Nevit interrupted.

  “The device covers your body with a barrier that sits right above the skin”, Tradok continued. “It can sustain a few heavy blows before it powers down requiring a recharge. Obviously, it leaves the protected body inside unharmed. It takes quite a while to recharge and the amount of punishment it can take depends on the force that is being applied. If something is strong enough, it may only absorb a single blow before shutting down. Simply having the device on also slowly drains the charge, so don’t expect continuous protection all day. You’ll experience a funny feeling while inside the protective bubble, so you’ll know when you’re no longer protected. ”

  “Beats the old way of finding out”, Nevit said hinting at an inside joke.

  “I’m pretty sure these units contain the fix”, Tradok said with a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

  Tradok turned over the first skin shield unit to check its design. The relay unit, which was a bright green in contrast to the dark blue color that doused the rest of the device, indicated the unit was safe. After being satisfied with the first unit he placed it in the pack and began to check the remaining units.

  “The old units collapsed essentially crushing whatever was inside the shield”, Tradok explained while continuing to check the units and place those that had passed into the backpack. “Fortunately, I only tested the early models on inanimate objects. I added a meter with a relay that would trigger a power down before that could happen on these modified units.”