by Max Jager
"Kaitlyn, you do what you want, I just thought this combination of clothes would look sharp, nothing more, nothing less. By the way Amber, what kind of trouble should we expect once we get to this Xandrus?"
"Living beings were responsible for the creation of the androids, and according to what I was told, they treated the androids and robots cruelly, but it's been a very long time now, and they do not come anymore. I only warn you that my friends may not permit you to join me, they didn't for Greg."
"So what did he do?" Asked Kaitlyn,
"There is a nearby moon called Mito, he went there."
"Well don't get us into something we can't get out of Amber," replied Matt.
The trip took four days or cycles, as Amber called them. Originally, she and Greg operated on what worked out to a twenty-six hour cycle, but Matt preferred a twenty-four hour one,
"Twenty-four hours makes up one of our days," he explained to Amber,
"Let's set up our cycles to match that, our biological "clocks" are also set to an eight hour sleep cycle, so it would really work out a whole lot better if we did it that way."
"This will be fine by me," replied Amber, "I will adjust the ships computer to this new cycle."
At the appropriate time, the computer brought the Nora-Lee out of hyper-drive showing them to be around eight thousand miles from Xandrus. This was another re-calibration Amber performed, and that was to adjust measurements for miles, feet and inches, Matt felt that he had enough to do while learning how to fly the ship without worrying about alien units of measure. As they neared the planet, which appeared to consist of two large continents surrounded by water, both Matt and Kaitlyn worried about being attacked by angry droid ships who hated humans.
Instead, they were hailed by a normal sounding voice who asked who they were.
"This is captain Amber speaking, I am in command of the spacecraft Nora-Lee, and we are a class three transport/cargo ship."
"Amber…Yes, welcome back, is the human with you?"
"No, however there are two living beings with me, they are in no way associated with the creators. They are friendly, and mean no harm, if they are not permitted, then we will leave at once." There was a long silence, then the voice replied,
"We know you Amber, you are a friend. Very well, your human friends will be allowed to land on Xandrus, but you will be completely responsible for their actions, is that understood?"
"Yes," she replied, "And thank you very much, my friends are vary curious about Xindusians, and only wish to meet them."
"Very well, then you may proceed, land at the coordinates your computer should now have."
"Well so far, so good," replied Amber, "Just stay close to me, there is someone I would like you to meet." Matt thought about Greg's pistol, but Amber was wearing it now, which was only right, she was the captain. They set down in what was some sort of landing area, there were a number of other craft parked nearby, the spaceport as Matt termed it appeared to have a lot of strange looking trees, and other assorted growth covering the area, something rather unusual for a place of this nature he thought. Stepping off the ship, they were met by what Matt thought were humans at first, but they were androids all the same. Dressed in blue jumpsuits, they zeroed in on he and Kaitlyn.
"You have temporary permission to be on Xandrus," announced one of them, "But humanoids must submit to a security check." All Amber could do was stand and watch, as the two droids stood staring at Matt and Kaitlyn.
"What is that in your pocket?" He was asked,
"It's just my multi-tool, I use it all the time, but it's not really a weapon."
"Please remove it and demonstrate its function." Matt shrugged, and took the tool out of his pocket, then held it up as he demonstrated all the different functions. This seemed to puzzle the sec droids who then had him demonstrate, and explain the device all over. Before long, two more droids arrived, but these looked more like Amber, their "skins" looking more silver-like, but their facial features not so human -like. He was asked once more to demonstrate the tool, then the new droids asked that he hand it over, so they could duplicate his efforts. Meanwhile Amber and Kaitlyn looked on with curiosity as Matt's pocket tool-kit drew much attention. The new droids operated the tool flawlessly, several times, without a word. By now Matt was extremely puzzled as to what they were up to.
"We will take this for the time being, but it will be returned shortly."
"Looks like they just stole your knife," chuckled Kaitlyn,
"Well they said I'd get it back," replied Matt, and I tend to believe them. One of the sec droids placed metallic wrist bands around their wrists, except for Amber, who then told Matt and Kaitlyn that they were permitted to roam around, but not to start any trouble.
Amber led them over to a large plaza, where again, there were all sorts of androids milling about, and every one of them gave the two teens the once-over.
"This is starting to bother me," stated Matt,
"What if they decide to attack us?"
"You are perfectly safe," replied Amber,
"How do you know that Amber?" He asked. She stopped and turned to him,
"They told me,"
"Who did?" He asked,
"Look," said Amber, as she pointed to what looked like an android coming towards us.
"It is my friend Gandric.
"He looks like you Amber," announced Kaitlyn. Indeed he did, "skin" of a silver/grey color, even the same type of masquerade mask like Amber wore.
"Oh Gandric! Exclaimed Amber, I missed you so much." Matt and Kaitlyn shared puzzled looks, as the two androids touched hands.
"Gandric, I would like you to meet my dear friends, this is Matt, and this is Kaitlyn, they are from the planet earth. Gandric studied both teens,
"They are not creators?" Amber made a metallic giggle,
"No Gandric, they are not, they come from an entirely different planet, located in an entirely different quadrant. Gandric continued to study the two.
"Do you have droids and robots on your planet?" Matt looked to Amber for guidance, receiving the android equivalent of a shrug.
"Well yes, mostly robots though. I think I've read about android technology, but like I said, it's mostly robots, and pretty much industrial types."
Gandric made a grunting noise, then turned his attention to Amber and asked,
"So what have you been doing since your last visit?" Matt and Kaitlyn watched as Amber placed her right forefinger and index finger gently on
Gandric's forehead, and held them there for several seconds, when she removed them, Gandric said.
"I'm sorry to hear that, you were very fond of him. So you three are off to explore the galaxy eh? I certainly wish I could come as well, it's pretty boring here."
Matt looked at Amber, and then at Gandric.
"Would you like to come with us, it's clear that you and Amber have a "thing" for each other. Do you have any skills that might be useful?"
"Gandric is a flight engineer," said Amber,
"Yes," replied Gandric. "Unfortunately no one is much interested in traveling anywhere these days, afraid of the creators I suppose; therefore flight engineers are not in much demand." Matt smiled at the droid, and said,
"Well Gandric, I can't promise much in the way of pay at this time, but you're more than welcome to come, it might be a little crowded on board the Nora-Lee, but we'll make do." Gandric looked at him and replied,
"You would offer me this chance?"
"Of course we would Gandric, we could certainly use a good engineer, I don't know jack squat about anything yet, Amber likes you, that's all I need to know."
Gandric then touched Amber's forehead with his fingers, for a few moments, then when he removed them she brightened, then speaking to Matt, she said,
"Gandric and I must do something, we may be gone for a long time, feel free to wander, no one will bother you now, if you get tired, just return to the ship."
With that, both droids walked off together,
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br /> "Well how do you like that?" observed Kaitlyn, "They go off to make a little android "whoo Hoo" and abandon us here, what are we supposed to do now?"
"Well Kaitlyn, I don't know about you, but this is the first alien world I've ever been on, I'm going to look around…"
"Well don't leave me," she replied, "Say uhh, I gotta pee, and real bad too." Matt looked around,
"It just occurred to me, do androids even need bathrooms?"
"I don't fucking know!" snapped Kaitlyn, "But I've really gotta pee." Matt shrugged,
"There's a tree over there, go take a squat behind that." Kaitlyn gave him a dirty look, but scooted for the tree.
When she returned, Matt grimaced,
"Hey look Kaitlyn I'm sorry but we don't know anything about this place, you know I was just thinking about where we could get something to eat, but then I realized do androids eat, Amber told me she didn't need to."
"Well what would we use for money anyway?" Observed Kaitlyn
"Good point," he replied. They began to follow a winding path past large grass covered hills, Kaitlyn commented on the almost yellow looking grass as well as small funny looking trees that seemed to grow like shrubs.
"Kinda like those "Bansai" trees the Japanese have," replied Matt.
As they walked, the teens observed 'droids sitting on the sides of the hills, or moving along on other paths. As they approached what looked like a small river, they saw a number of androids standing along the river bank looking at something in the river. As Matt and Kaitlyn got near, they could see an android struggling in the water, bobbing up and down.
"He can't swim!" Gasped Kaitlyn, we have to save him." Without saying a word, Matt took off his boots, and took off his pants, before diving into the water. Not to be outdone, Kaitlyn did the same, disregarding the fact that she was now half naked.
As the other androids just stood and watched, the two teens got in front and behind the male android, who wasn't doing very much to save himself.
"I've got him around the waist Kaitlyn! See if you can keep him from hitting me with his arms." Both struggled themselves but were able to reach the bottom of the river with their feet. Slowly, the two of them were able to get the android back on shore, and back up on the bank. The android lay on the ground but didn't seem all the worse for wear. It then sat up and looked at Matt,
"Thank you for helping me, I must have walked too close to the river's edge."
The android was a silver metallic color, no distinct facial features, or hair. It was obviously a male, as there were no breasts; basically it closely resembled a store mannequin.
"I take it you 'droids can't swim?" Asked Kaitlyn,
"I cannot, however there are some that can," replied the droid.
"What is your name?" Asked Matt,
"Dozox 1168,"
"Well that's certainly a mouthful," said Kaitlyn.
"Normally I am known as just Dozox, the numerical designation refers to my structural program."
"Well Dozox," said Matt, "You might want to be a little more careful around water next time."
"Thank you, I will." The crowd had now dispersed, leaving the three standing there, Dozox then spoke out,
"Are you two "Creators?"
"I don't know who these creators are Dozox," replied Matt.
"If you mean the people that created you, then no, we come from another planet entirely."
"Well thank you," replied Dozox, all will now know of your assistance." The two teens looked at each other and shrugged,
"Well let's find someplace to dry out," said Matt, my shirt and underwear are all wet,"
"So are mine," added Kaitlyn. The two continued to walk, skirting areas where androids appeared to be congregating, coming upon an open meadow with what appeared to be some sort of shed on the edge of it. The door was hard to open, indicating that it had been a long time since anyone had been around here. Once he got the door open, it took Matt a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dark but when he did,
"Shit! Fuck! There's a dead body in there." As he backed away, Kaitlyn had to take a look for herself.
"Shit! It's a fuckin skeleton Matt; it looks like it's been in there a long time too." Forcing the door open as wide as it would go, Matt cautiously took another look inside,
"Damn, will you look at that?" He exclaimed. Kaitlyn entered, but kept averting her eyes to the remains,
"Well it looks like a human skeleton, although the skull looks a little larger, and a little longer than a real human one," said Kaitlyn, rather matter-of-factly.
"What's all that stuff laying on the ground there?" said Matt. Together, they examined the floor around the skeleton, the clothes were still intact, and covered most of the remains. They found what looked like a weapon of some sort, along with a small book with the pages being made of something other than paper, but in a strange looking language. Although the small devices they wore in their ears, allowed the teens to understand others, they were unable to read anything.
Chapter 9
Titan Stand Chapter 9
"I wonder who this was?" Said Kaitlyn, Matt 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 Kaitlyn,
"This looks like a credit card, but maybe it's something else, replied Matt,
"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 Kaitlyn happened to look behind her,
"Don't look now, but we're being followed." Matt 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 Kaitlyn kept glancing behind her.
'There's more of them," Matt turned to see that the group of droids had now grown to around twenty-five,
"What do they want with us?" Said a worried Kaitlyn.
"I don't know, stated Matt, 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 Kaitlyn. By the time they got back to where the Nora-Lee was parked, there must have been close to a hundred androids behind them, Amber and Gandric suddenly appeared as Matt and Kaitlyn moved up next to them.
"Why are they following us Amber?" Asked Matt,
Amber and Gandric made noises he took for laughing.
"Do not worry," said Gandric, "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 Matt,
"Just wave to them," Said Gandric, "I've told them all about you two. Matt and Kaitlyn 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 Kaitlyn, "How did you do that?" Gandric looked at her with an air of superiority,
"We are constantly communicating with each other, in fact, Amber and I watched as you two pulled Dozox out of the water, very admirable of you."
"Well thanks," replied Matt, "But thats really creepy,
"We call it "remote viewing" explained Amber," 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 Matt, the droid with the box handed it to him,
"This is for you," then reaching in his pocket, he pulled out Matt'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."
Matt 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 Nora-Lee.
