Chapter Forty-Five: Exfiltration
"LADY LAMAKI AND I ARE PLEASED," Don said, "BUT NOW TIME HAS RUN OUT. TURTLE OF FIRE, CLOSE THE PANELS OF THE TECHNOLOGY."
The crowd murmured in dismay and confusion as Raph obeyed. Don suspected he might pay for all this bossing around of his brother in the dojo later.
"O PEOPLE OF JIOR, I ART REMOVING YOUR PRIVILEGES FROM THIS MACHINE. THOU CANNOT BE TRUSTED TO USE SUCH ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY WISELY. PERHAPS YOU COULD BEGIN THY EDUCATION OF TECHNOLOGY BY OBSERVING MUCH SIMPLER, BASIC MACHINES." Pause, let Leo translate. Man, my hands are sweaty. "IN THE MEANTIME, BEGIN PUSHING THIS MACHINE OUT OF TOWN."
Jior eyes shone in surprise.
"INDEED, THOU HAST HEARD MY COMMAND. COME HITHER AND BEGIN PUSHING. THOU SHALT EXILE THIS MACHINE FROM THY TOWN. IT HAST BEEN A SOURCE OF GRIEF, FEAR, AND PAIN FOR MANY, AND IT DOES NOT BELONG HERE." Neither do we, and Mikey and I need to reset before we can leave.
At Leo and Raph's commanding gestures, Jior men approached the beast of a machine with reluctance and caution, led by Saja's—Kaiva's?—father. The elders, most of whom were glaring daggers, shuffled aside, retreating to the safety of the Council Building's columns.
Don and Mikey crouched atop The Technology as it began jostling its way across the fieldstone square. Leo and Raph led the way, looking calm and commanding. The girl, her mother, and Taevon stayed close. The Jior men who were laboring grunted and groaned, but pushed for all they were worth. The rest of the Jior, women, children, elderly, and men who couldn't find a place to help, trailed along behind.
Exfiltration is working.
The going got tougher when the awkward, heavy machine reached the end of paved streets, and even worse at the edge of the village on the dirt, but several people ran to fetch ropes, and eventually they were far enough away from the village to satisfy Don.
"THOU MAY CEASE THY LABORS," Don said, and the laborers collapsed, panting. Oof. I feel kinda bad making them push something so heavy and awkward so far. Especially with me and Mikey on top. At least there's plenty of them. "THE TURTLE GUIDES MUST NOW RETURN ME TO THE SPIRIT WORLD, BUT I DESIRE ONE LAST TASK OF YOU, PEOLE OF JIOR."
The Jior glanced at each other.
"RETURN TO YOUR TOWN AND REST FOR NOW, BUT IN AN HOUR, I DESIRE THAT YOU BEGIN A STRUCTURE OF REMEMBRANCE. GATHER STONES AND BUILD A STRUCTURE AROUND THIS MACHINE, LEST ANY JIOR BE TEMPTED, OR ANY JIOR BE INJURED BY IT. ENCLOSE IT WITH STONES, AND REMEMBER THAT TECHNOLOGY IS MERELY A TOOL, THAT OBSERVATION SOMETIMES ART COWARDICE, AND THAT DEFENDING SELF AND OTHERS IS NOT A CRIME."
Mouths dropped open. After a moment, a man stepped forward and bowed. "But, Great Parvoss, how shall we punish those who do commit crimes without it?"
"I SHALL LEAVE THAT TO THEE, TO DISCUSS AND DECIDE AS A PEOPLE—NOT MERELY YOUR ELDERS ALONE. ALL ADULTS OUGHT TO HAVE A SAY." How about a nice democracy or republic? Don desperately wanted to add. That oligarchy isn't really working out for you. I'd love to demote that creep Nafti, too. Ooh, better not go that far. I've already way overstepped my bounds as a fake hero.
"NOW, DEPART." Don said.
After a long moment, the crowd began to break up, heading back to the village. With a gentle touch, Leo indicated that the girl, her parents, and Taevon were to stay. The crowd, buzzing amongst themselves about this oddest of days, left. One man at the back of the crowd, navy hood up and wearing an odd bag, detached himself from them and drifted back toward The Technology.
Don smiled. And there's Casey. Good job blending into the crowd, Casey. Glad to see that some of our work with you paid off.
Leo looked up in his invisible brothers' direction and made a shooing motion.
Don nodded. "FAREWELL, JIOR. I, THE GREAT PARVOSS, NOW DEPART."
All four Jior and two turtles bowed.
"Thank you, Great Parvoss," the girl's father said, words loaded with emotion. "Thank you for giving our daughter back to us." His wife nodded, tears in her eyes.
Did not expect this. Don twitched. I don't think I deserve all this praise at all. I just pretended to be a legendary hero for a few minutes.
Mikey gladly supplied a sound effect for their "departure," and then he and Don remained quiet.
Leo approached the Jior and nodded solemnly. "We turtle guides must depart as well," he said. "However, there is one last task for which we must beg your assistance, Taevon Yue'lah and Kaiva K'el—the task we told you about earlier. It will not be dangerous for you, nor will it take more than a day or so of your time, and then you will be free to return here or travel wherever you wish."
Good thinking, Leo. I was wondering how to get Saja away from her parents. I hardly want to separate them now, but we do need her.
The elder K'els stiffened and looked at each other. "We will travel with Kaiva and assist you if we can."
The girl was already shaking her head. "No, Appi, Ouva. I'll be back with you soon. The turtle guides asked me about this already, and I promised them I would help. And they promised I would be in no danger."
Her parents did not look convinced nor happy, but eventually the girl persuaded them to return to the village and let her leave. The three of them agreed to meet in a certain world, a favorite of theirs, and then said tearful goodbyes. Leo and Don disabled their translators, and all parties looked away politely. Finally, the girl's parents turned to go back to town. They looked back only once.
Once they were far enough away, Don cleared his throat. "COMING DOWN."
All three non-ninjas started. Sorry. Better keep quiet until I get this megaphone removed.
"Finally!" Mikey added. "And finally I can talk again!"
Ouch, that was my ear. But good job keeping quiet all this time, Mikey. That's practically forever for you.
Leo and Raph made room, and Don and Mikey jumped down. The girl stared at the crushed grass under their invisible feet. Taevon and Casey stepped closer to see too.
Don pointed at Mikey and then the seat, and while Mikey obeyed, he threw open Panel Eight. It was still set at the "reset" option, of course, but Don triple-checked it anyway. He threw the activation switch.
The machine hummed, beautiful colorful energy flowed out, and Mikey reappeared in the visible spectrum.
"Mikey! Welcome back, bro!" Raph cried.
"Good to see you again, chum!" Taevon said, in a British accent.
"What's it like being invisible?" Casey blurted.
"Are you okay?" Leo asked with a gentle smile.
Mikey jumped up, grinning hugely, and gave and received bear hugs all around. "It's super fun being invisible!" he said in answer. "I wish we could do it all the time!" He glanced around. "Oops, I can't see Don anymore, but it's his turn. Have a seat, bro, and return to the land of the… seeing? Sighting? I dunno, just sit down!"
Don smiled and sat down.
Stepping up, Leo put his hand on the activation switch, paused to be corrected just in case that was the wrong one, and then threw it.
Blinking, Don marveled at the energy flowing around him before it retracted. Shell, I want to study this thing like crazy.
He knew the instant he was visible again.
"There he is!" Mikey cried.
"Donnie! Great job, brainiac!" Raph congratulated.
"Well done, wise one!" Taevon praised, his accent still British.
"Hey, Great Parvoss—your crazy plan worked!" Leo smiled. "Is your voice back to normal?"
Let's find out. Standing, Don endured hugs and hearty shoulder slaps with a grin. "Testing, testing, one, two, three." That's a check on the normal voice. Thank goodness. "I can't believe that worked! That was the craziest idea I've had—or at least the craziest one we've implemented—in a long time." Yep, can definitely put that on the Crazy Stories List. Master Splinter would either be really proud or really annoyed at us for pulling this off.
"Oh, hey, gimme my mask back, Raph." Mikey zipped over to Raph and held out his hand.
"You can have it—it smells like soda and pizza grease," Raph growled, but a grin ruined the effect. "Case, Leo an' me need ours back."
"Oh, right," Casey mumbled, fishing in Mikey's snack bag and producing blue and red masks as Leo untied Don's purple one and gave it back to its rightful owner.
As Don's fingers finished tying the knot, the girl with golden eyes, who had been thrown into Don's life just as all this latest adventure began, approached. She must be exhausted after all this. She's had a rough day, and it's not even ten o'clock. She opened her mouth, and Don fumbled to turn his translator back on.
"Don, I-" She stopped, swallowed harshly, and then lifted her arms.
She's… asking for a hug? Wow, she has come a long way. She hasn't been brave enough to ask for reassurance before. Don hugged her, and he could practically feel the emotions swirling around inside her for a long moment until she pulled back.
Her eyes were still shining and threatening to spill over again; Don kept a hand on her shoulder. It's my fault she's had such a rough day. I asked too much of her. Words tumbled out of Don's mouth. "I-I'm sorry I made you come forward in front of everybody to reverse your punishment, Saja. I know that was super hard for you. And if you don't like the name, that's fine—I just wanted to help reinstate you to your people." I think I'm rambling. Yep, definitely rambling. This isn't helping, Don. "But if you don't want to live here anymore, no one would blame you, I'm sure—I sure wouldn't. You've been so brave and if you want to just-"
The girl lifted her chin. "I'm not Saja."
"What?" The turtle blinked in astonishment at being interrupted by the girl who practically defined shyness.
"I'm not Saja. My name is Kaiva. You yourself suggested the new name, and I accept it. I-I have been brave, and I want to keep being brave." She squared her shoulders.
"You… really like it? I didn't way, way overstep my bounds pretending to be your legendary hero?"
The girl—Kaiva—nodded. "I like it."
"She has earned her new name," Taevon said softly, his own golden eyes gleaming with pride. He looked like a proud older brother.
"We'll do our best to call you by it, then," Leo said. He looked like a proud older brother, too. He patted Don's shoulder again. "Great job, Donnie."
Don looked down at his toes, cheeks turning pink.
"What now, Fearless?" Raph growled. "Home, then backtrack to the guy who's earned an appointment with my fists?" He held up said fists for emphasis.
"Yeah! I'm starving! Can we have pizza?"
I like pizza as much as the next turtle, but we just had pizza right before we left for here. Besides, pizza feels like more of a celebratory thing, like after we defeat the Gamer.
Leo nodded decisively. "Back to the Lair, then rest for a day or however long Taevon and Kaiva need to recharge, and then we'll time travel to the Gamer. We'll have pizza after that," he added for Mikey's benefit, who really needed an answer right that minute. "The Gamer is in for a reckoning."
Wait. "Uh, Leo, I don't think we should leave the power source in The Technology—I don't trust some of the Jior, especially the elders, to leave it alone, even if they do listen to my command to block it up with stones," Don put in. Plus, I'd love to study it, even if I can't study the whole machine. "Do you think…?"
"Go get it." Leo eyed his duffel even as Don started to scale The Technology yet again. "Casey, give me the snack bag. We'll wrap it in a hoodie. No, I'll carry the bag. All right, let's make a circle. We're going back to the Lair."
None too soon, either. It hasn't been an hour, but we've got to go. Before curiosity outweighs fear.
In a moment, four turtles, one human, and two Jior stood, hands clasped, in a circle. Leo nodded to Taevon.
Taevon nodded. "All right, lady and gentlemen, picture the Lair, as they call it. Galtu, hemrees, alau, genen, jar… martzitae."
