13

Remnants

Saber was not a fast runner. As he watched that poor animal die, he did not think that he could run fast enough to avoid having the same thing happen to him. He was sure now the beast had fired its flame directly at the animal because it was too close. He had not been as close, and so had received a warning.

Still, Saber did not thing the building to be alive, at least he did not think so. He eyed a few good sized rocks and thought a moment, before picking one up and throwing it. Nothing happened. After a few moments, a bird flew by and it went on, unbothered. Maybe they were too small?

Maybe he could get in from the top. It was high up and against the mountain but that would mean a long climb. Not nearly as long as the one that had taken him up here, but a good three hours at least. And his muscles still ached.

Still, the boy's curiosity won out, and he began to climb.

Saber had been right. The top was open completely, and within three yards of the mountain he stood on. Taking a running jump, he grabbed a jutting metal rod, panicking a minute as he thought he would not make it over. But finally he hauled himself over and crouched panting on the floor for a moment ebfore looking around.

What he saw here was like nothing he had ever seen before. This whole area of the land was a world of wonders for the boy, and he eagerly took in everything with curious eyes. There were slanted metal tables with bright buttons and blank squares of glass here and there. It was rusted badly from rains and other weather, and cracked in many places. There was debris and leaves, and dirt, and even a birds' nest nestled into the metal that had once been a chair, but was now a wire framework whose thick vinyl had long since rotted off.

Saber looked wonderingly at the floor, which had once been beautifully crafted, glossy tiles, but now was cracked and pitted, many of the little tiles gone But Saber could still make out the design on the floor. It was a red circle, with the black silhouette of an animal's head within. He grabbed some of the thin, tough bark and drew it out carefully with the writing stick that was now only a nub. He had seen some of the plants the sticks were made from; he would have to get a few.

Saber looked the room over carefully, playing with the buttons that clicked, and pulling levers. This would be a great playground! Drii would love to come here and see this place. He wished his little brother was here now. Nothing in the room worked, although Saber did not know it. He thought they worked just fine.

However, one thing did happen. Unwittingly, his hand hit the release for a drawer that popped out from underneath one of the consoles. The boy jumped back about three feet with a startled yelp, then giggled.

It was creepy there, really. After the rainstorm, the clouds had been replaced with hot, humid summer weather once more. And here the air was completely still. Saber felt as if he were peeking into the spirits' realm.

He crept forward to peer in the drawer, and saw nothing but little metal disks that had holes in the center of them. He grinned. That was the kind of thing Drii would like. There were about a dozen of them, and he took them all out of the little slots they had been in and put them in his pocket. They were no more than an inch wide.

Having seen everything he could see here, Saber looked out over the edge of the broken wall. He watched in amazement as the one eye, which now he could see was also glass, cracked and marred, shoot upon something else. Looking once more on the view, then straight down, he saw with some amazement that there was a moat around it! Like the fortresses in Nenda's old stories! But the front of it had been smashed together, as if a giant hand had hit one side of the cliff below and simply smushed the moat together to make a solid area. But the sides still were open, with sluggish water trickling in through nearly clogged holes in the rock.

The old fortress had been made centuries ago to be automated, but now, so many hundreds of years after its creators were gone from the planet, and those that looked after the place were gone, the great wonder was finally winding down.

Saber left this somehow disturbing scene to itself and went to the half-opened door. A sliding door made of metal! He had never seen such a thing. He wandered down empty halls of crumbling metal, and cracked floors, his footfalls echoing in the silent fort.

He found many doors that had no power, but were in a state of decay severe enough for Saber to be able open them. In some, he found half- rotted bedchambers, clothing that had been partially devoured by moths. He figured that since they were inside, and sealed so well, they had been preserved.

Well, kind of preserved, he amended in his thinking when he tried to sit on the bed and it collapsed. There were several more such bedchambers, some with ancient photos preserved in their frames of glass, sealed from the elements. He looked hard at these, as they were among the few things that did not crumble when he touched them. They were of people almost like his own! But they also seemed to be part animal. They had thick fur unlike the thin covering his own people had, like the skin of a peach. They had wild manes of red, and orange, and yellow, and slitted eyes almost like a reptile! They were clearly warriors, even two that looked like children, and were obviously twins.

He decided to take one of the photos from the room that had the picture of the strange twins on it, a room that also had two beds and twin chests of drawers. Nothing was in the closets but dirt and bones, bones of small animals, Saber guessed. He hoped. One of the rooms had a sturdy table of a material Saber had never seen. It wasn't glass, but almost. It did not crumble when he touched it, and the metal stool held his weight. There were things that looked like writing sticks, and the ones that held together long enough for him to try proved that they were. But so skinny! There was a bed of course, and a shelf of books that were crumbling to dust.

Yet another room had some more machine things like in the top of the fortress. This room was on the very bottom of the fort, and the things in here seemed to be preserved perfectly being farthest from the elements at the top. The door had slid open at Saber's approach, startling him badly. Things worked in here! Long ago, a red-maned warrior would jokingly have said, "Nothing you make would dare not to work!" And now it was as if the gray warrior's very spirit had kept things functioning.

Eagerly he went in, seeing more of the photographs, this one with a gray toned animal-person with two older ones, a man and a woman, Saber was sure. But it was the machine he was interested in. It was little, just for one person, and he looked it over. Touching a button, he nearly jumped out of his skin when a spark zapped from the console, and a little blank square like he had seen lit up like a lamp! Wide eyed in amazement, he watched as a little metal drawer with a circle in it slid open, and a voice an actual voice! Said "Insert disk, please."

Badly startled, Saber only blinked. It was a while of looking around before he decided the very machine had talked to him! "A-are you...are you a spirit?" he asked it, wondering now if the little screen might not be an eye.

The machine said nothing of course, but Saber notice the little hole was the right size for the little circles he had found. Hmm.

Taking one of them, he put it in, and the drawer retracted with a screech of lightly rusted metal. "Come on, Panthro!" came a high pitched voice. Saber screamed in complete startlement and dove behind the ancient bed as the square lit up with a moving picture! Shaking, he peered out as the voice continued. The twins he had seen from the photograph were moving on the screen! "We can help you with the Thundertank, we're old enough!"

"Yeah!" came a slightly lower voice.

Saber cautiously crept from behind the bed. "H-h-hello?" he asked. "Are you real?" But the voices just went on as if they did not hear him. He reached a shaking hand out to touch the little square, and it did nothing but emit a tiny spark of static electricity. It truly was a moving picture, as if someone tiny had crawled in there and was putting on a story-show!

The people spoke a garbled version of his own language, which amazed him. He was able to understand if he concentrated, but it was not easy as he witnessed this marvel. He watched it for a long time, watching the scene move on to another day, and a battle! An actual battle! Horrifying beasts that were half man, half animal fought these strange warriors, but that was not what startled Saber the most. What made his jaw drop, not for the first time that day, was that he saw someone he had seen before! Or someone that was similar! He saw creatures of pale skin, with horns on their heads, moons on their brows. Now that he looked closely, they were different from the demons he had been terrified by on Gathering Day but he had no doubt they were the same things. And the warriors were fighting them! They must be demons themselves, or at least as powerful!

Saber watched this for a long time, and by the time he could no longer hold his eyes open, he had gone through three of the little disks he had found in the top of the building. He put his duffel on the floor, happy that he had a real bed to sleep in, one that seemed like it might not fall under his weight, and he fell asleep in the room of the gray warrior. Tomorrow he would see more.

As Saber slept, something passed overhead. Something that he would have thought a giant bird, but it was not. It was a vehicle. The pilot of this vehicle was running a scan of the place. "Amazing," the man said, looking at the readouts. "Absolutely amazing. I had not thought the little pest would still be alive."

"I can't believe we finally found him. Fourth Earth's a big place. Even if we did have a starting place. I can't believe he made it here though. Let's go report to Fintii."

The man nodded, and Chilldon and Icerii sped away from the place, where centuries ago, their ancestors had once fought the knights that lived there, and now were gone from the planet.

Part 14: Contact

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