The Free Trader of Warren Deep (Free Trader Series Book 1) (14 page)

42 – The Lake

The red fruits and the large brown nuts were rather good and supplemented their meat supply nicely. After the unfortunate incident with Skirill’s feathers, Braden cut the fruit into bite size chunks for them all to enjoy. Everyone except G-War, who was already getting tired of his smoked meat diet. He wanted something fresh.

Which meant they needed to leave the oasis.

For Braden, the goal had always been to find Old Tech. He’d found it, but it wasn’t what he expected. He thought it would be salvage – find it on the ground and pick it up. The oasis changed how he thought about it. He knew the oasis was a product of still functioning Old Tech. Who else besides the ancients could have built the lake? Who built the Mirror Beast? He wanted to study these more and he needed help.

‘Master Aadi. Can you swim to the bottom of the lake and tell me what you see?’

‘I most certainly cannot, young human,’
Master Aadi responded.

“Wait. You’re a turtle and turtles swim,” Braden said aloud.

‘I most certainly am not a turtle, and Tortoids do not swim.’
To emphasize his point, Aadi floated higher and waved his thick legs about. Although he used them to swim through the air, Braden realized that was part of his ability to float and not anything to do with swimming.

“Sorry, my friend. I think I can do it, but if you would all be so kind as to make sure that nothing eats me, I would appreciate it.” Braden waved at Skirill and G-War.

‘I’m not going in the water,’
the G-War said simply, with a look of complete indifference on his ‘cat face.

‘I’m afraid I can’t do more than skim the surface,’
Skirill told the group over their mindlink.

“Fine. I see how you are. If I don’t make it back, have fun trying to hook up the horses,” Braden said, staving off further conversation with a dismissive wave of his hand. He stripped naked and waded into the soothing, cool water. As he got deeper, the sand changed to something smooth, like a processed metal.

He dipped under the water to get a closer look, but he was buoyant. He had to kick his legs out of the water to hold his head close to the bottom. It looked like glass with a regular pattern underneath. This was undoubtedly Old Tech, but what did it do?

Much of it was covered with sand. Standing upright, he slowly drug his feet toward the shore. He wanted to expose as much of the bottom as possible, without clouding the water. He moved deliberately around the lake. One pass, two passes, three passes as he got closer to the shore. G-War lost interest three passes ago and was taking a nap. Both Skirill and Aadi looked on stoically. Then again, Braden believed each of them could sleep with their eyes open.

Without seeing it happen, he realized that the fountain had gained in strength. It was now throwing water a full arm span above the lake, where before it was only a hand span. The level of the lake rose slightly, climbing up the shore into the long-dry sand.

“Master Aadi. Have you ever seen anything like that?”

The Tortoid shook himself, then bobbed his head in thought before finally answering.
‘As trees can block the wind and rocks can block a stream, maybe the sand blocks the spring?’

“You have a point, Master Aadi, although I can’t see how clearing sand from a smooth bottom has opened anything up. But it must have.” Braden looked over the lake for a couple heartbeats, then waded back in until he could no longer keep his head out of the water. With a deep breath, he submerged and dove for the bottom.

Once there, he swam with broad strokes toward the middle of the lake. He wasn’t sure what to expect, but his expectations were more than what he found. At the middle of the lake, the pipe simply disappeared below the strange bottom material. Small vents surrounded it. And that was it. When he put his hand by the vents, he could feel water flow into them, as if draining from the lake.

He put his hand on the pipe. It was smooth and cool. It vibrated slightly as the water raced skyward. He planted his feet on the bottom and pushed toward the surface. He broke the water beneath the fountain and took a deep breath as the arc of fresh water splashed into the lake around him.

He looked closely at the fountain’s mouth. The end of the pipe had been shaped to spray the water in a pattern. If the artisans and smiths back in Warren Deep got together to build something like this, how great would the world be? A never ending supply of water. Who wouldn’t benefit from such a thing?

He couldn’t see how it all worked, only that it did. After appreciating the quality of the metalwork for a while longer, he swam slowly back to the shore.

43 – Development Unit

Once ashore and dried off, Braden decided to take a closer look at the Mirror Beast. Just like he knew the fountain at the middle of the oasis was Old Tech, he knew the Mirror Beast was a most complex example of Old Tech. In fact, it was different from the Old Tech that existed anywhere in Warren Deep.

If he could only talk to it, maybe it could tell him what it was.

As he got closer to the thing he slowed, opening his mind to the tickling of the Beast.

‘84js9r9sy6432nbwevs002…’
The sound of its thought voice was loud in his head. He didn’t know what the letters and numbers meant. He pinched his eyes shut and held his hands over his ears trying to soften the litany of letters and numbers that bore down on him.

‘Listen to me. Answer my questions. What are you?’
Braden tried to think of what an even more basic question would be. If he was asked that same question, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to easily answer it. He tried something different.

‘Where are you from?’
His answer was the endless stream, delivered in a monotone. He continued to move forward, stumbling as his foot caught under the roots of a nearby bush.
‘Crap! My boot,’
he thought before he could stop himself.

The numbers and letters stopped and a clear voice emerged.
‘Does the user request a reboot?’

Braden didn’t know what that meant, so he asked.
‘What’s a reboot?’

‘Does the user request a reboot?’
It asked without hesitation.

‘Careful young master,’
Aadi’s voice cautioned.

Not knowing what else to do, but wanting something besides the current stalemate, he took the only course of action he thought available.
‘Yes,’
he said.

The Mirror Beast voice disappeared and after a few heartbeats, the shimmering around the creature stopped. It seemed to settle into the sand, before coming back to life. It rose slightly, exposing the wheels beneath. The shimmer returned.

And the voice.

‘Reboot complete. Phase 3 of desert oasis project zero three is complete. Commencing Phase 4.’

“Stop!” Braden commanded in a loud voice.

‘Does the user wish to cancel Phase 4 implementation?’

“What is Phase 4? What are you going to do?” Braden asked in his normal voice. His companions were alert. G-War’s whiskers arced forward as they did before he joined a fight. Skirill took to the sky and started circling higher and higher above the lake. Aadi swam backwards, putting more distance between himself and the Mirror Beast.

‘Phase 4 is the construction of fields and the subsequent establishment of viable soy plants.’

“Why would you do that?”

‘It is the next phase of development,’
the Mirror Beast answered without emotion.

“Why would you develop this place?”

‘As part of the surface transportation network to establish contact with the northern colonies. Oasis zero three is the third of six oases needed to cross Devaney’s Barren.’

“Is that what you call the Great Desert?”

‘There is no reference in my database to a location called the Great Desert.’
Braden couldn’t follow how the Mirror Beast thought. How could it not know about the Great Desert? He took a deep breath and put himself into his best trader frame of mind.

“I am Free Trader Braden. What are you called, good sir?”

‘I am Development Unit 67C.’

“A very long name, but elegant. I shall call you C. Is that okay?”

‘I will add that to my programming.’

“Where are you from?”

‘I was manufactured at the Higgins Bot Construction Facility.’

“And where is that?”

‘Higgins Bot Construction Facility is located outside Sanctuary within grid zero zero.’

“And where is that?”

‘It is grid zero zero.’

“You’re not helping. Is it south of here? How many turns?”

‘Grid zero zero is one thousand seven hundred eleven kilometers south west of this location.’

“What’s a kilometer?”

‘A kilometer is one thousand meters.’

“Again. Not helpful. Are you looking at me? Here. This is one stride. How many strides is a kilometer?” Braden stepped purposefully forward with his left foot, then held that position, indicating by pointing that his is what he meant by a stride.

‘Your stride is 0.87 meters. By your measure, you are one million nine hundred sixty-seven thousand four-hundred ninety nine strides from grid zero zero.’
C didn’t seem phased when spewing out long numbers.

“That’s a long way, C. You said that this was oasis zero three. Does that mean there is a zero two and a zero one? And where would those be, in direction and strides, from here?”

‘Oasis zero two is eighty-six thousand two-hundred six point nine strides to the south south-west from here.’

“Well that’s not far, but still sounds like a long way. Skirill! Have you been listening?” Braden asked.

‘Raptly,’
came the Hawkoid’s response.

“Great. If you can fly that direction for a dozen or so heartbeats, maybe we can find out how long it would take you to fly there and check things out.” Braden turned back to Development Unit 67C.

‘C. Watch my Hawkoid friend flying above us. How long would it take for him to fly to oasis zero two if he maintained his current pace?’

‘This unit cannot make the calculation. As a surface development unit, only ground measurements are possible.’ 

“My friends and I need to talk about some things. Go ahead and begin your Phase Four, whatever that means, but don’t go too far. I’m sure that I will have more questions.” Without another word, the Development Unit scooted out from the brush and across the beach, heading directly out of the oasis. Soon the unit was in the desert, digging into the sand with invisible hands.

44 – Distance Check

“What do you make of that, G?”

‘I cannot feel this Beast. I hear its words, but it is empty to me. I do not like it or trust it.’

“That’s odd G because it didn’t give me the impression it was capable of telling anything other than the literal truth. What’d you think Master Aadi?”

‘It is an interesting creature. Why does it shimmer like that? How can it reflect attacks upon it?’

“I think those are questions for the next time I talk to it. I wish it could tell us how far we’ve come. Is eighty-six thousand strides further than what we’ve already traveled? I need to walk it to get my mind wrapped around it. Skirill, keep your eyes on me. I’ll take a few flasks.” He held his hands up and waved at the Hawkoid. “Care to head out into the heat Master Aadi? G-War, how about you?”

‘Yes, Master Braden. That sounds pleasant. It is so cold in here. I shall enjoy getting out.’
The Tortoid took their departure as imminent since he started air swimming toward the beach.

‘Surely it jests?’
Was the simple response from the ‘cat.

“Let me grab a couple flasks and then let’s head toward the next oasis. G, if you would be so kind, keep track of time for us. Braden slung his Rico Bow over his back along with three flasks. He shifted his long knife until it was comfortable in his belt. With a small cloth wrapped around his head, they set off.

Braden diligently kept count of his steps as they walked. It took little time to reach one thousand paces. He thought it would take longer.

He was getting hot beneath the desert sun, even for this brief time he was exposed, but knew the oasis waited not far off. He drank one full flask before turning around and pointing his toes back the way they had come. Aadi swam through a small arc and joined up at Braden’s side as they started their return trip, the daylight’s mission complete.

‘This is quite pleasant Master human. I only know how far we came since we met. I believe the oases are not too far apart.’

“I had the same thought. I think we should be able to get there in three nights of traveling, or somewhere there about.” Braden ran the calculations through his head. He was confident that they could find the next oasis without any great stress. Skirill had the eyes of a Hawkoid and would show them the way. 

“What lies beyond oasis zero one?” Clearly another question he would have to ask the Mirror Beast when they returned.

The oasis readily welcomed them. Skirill and G-War hadn’t moved. The horses were eating grass which grew spartanly between the bushes. Even the Gila Monster hadn’t changed positions. It was good to see that their truce held, despite Braden and Aadi’s absence.

The Mirror Beast threw up clouds of dust as it plowed purposefully through the sands just beyond the outer trees of the oasis. It was making significant progress. Braden was impressed with how much work it could do. He wondered if he could command it to help them?

“C! Can you hear me?” He changed positions and yelled a second time. Then a third, before finally giving up.

“Master Aadi, any ideas on how I can talk to it?”

‘I suspect, my human friend, that it is singularly focused on the task at hand. You may have to wait until it completes that task before it is open for further conversation.’

“Well that’s just a cloud of dog breath! Who knows how long this Phase Four is going to take?” Braden waded into the lake for a refreshing swim, then waited.

And waited.

Still waiting.