Disclaimer: I'm not repeating it!

Note: You'll be hearing a lot more words from other languages from this chapter forward. As always, the definitions are at the end.

Chapter 3: Blackup

Mr. At ended up keeping his peripherals off for more than a day. When he finally turned them on, he exclaimed in surprise, "Jano, it's still night time!"

"What did you expect? You were like that for one entire loquaid!" the robot next to him snapped in reply.

"Oh, sorry, didn't realize it's been so long," Mr. At replied. He jerked his plug out of the kachanga, then asked, "Sorry if I didn't bother you about it earlier, but what's your name?"

"Blackup," the black robot responded. "And what's yours?"

"Mr. At," the white one replied.

Strange name, but I think I've heard weirder, they both thought simultaneously.

"Oh, yeah, I better tell you this," Mr. At remarked after the short pause. "Besides looking for electricity, I'm also looking for whoever created me. I've been searching ever since I can remember, but I've had no luck."

"I haven't bothered to search, but I don't know who created me either," Blackup replied. "Now you've got me wondering…"

"I've searched through all the Malnusike Manuals, all the Robot Owner's Guides, and all the Achaiya Gazettes I could get from Kazera, and I found no one. I also haven't found anyone of the same model as me (besides you), so I think we're of a very rare model. That means we could both be created by the same guy. You think so, too?"

"Come to think of it, we probably are," Blackup responded. "At any rate, this is near the edge of the forest already. Maybe we'll find some Kazes outside of this. And yes, I'm joining you." As he said this, his screen flickered to a happy smile.

The two robots walked out of the forest and into a wide plain. Besides the forest of kachangas, the only things in sight were an endless field of croppis and a faraway, silver tower.

"That tower's probably inhabited by someone," Blackup commented. "I haven't heard of them popping out of nowhere. You think we should check it out?"

"Yes, if only to find out where to go next," Mr. At answered.

"Nnn, it looks far away. Should we walk there or not?"

"I think we both want to get this over with (and we'll need some electricity back, too), so I'm thinking of rocketing there…"

"Amappa, I need to fill up, then! Should we go back?"

"Well, if you agree with my plan, we should…"

"Yes, I agree. It's more economical that way. But I've run flat out of rocket fuel!"

"We can go back, you already suggested that."

Mr. At and Blackup then ran back to the forest to access the lake. Luckily, they were not hunted by any more Fungiloids.

"Whew, I'd thought we'd meet that Fungilo again!" Blackup commented as they reached the lake.

"Who's Fungilo?" Mr. At asked.

"Fungilo? He's that blue Fungiloid who's been going through this patch of forest lately. I don't think he'll want to eat us again after I got away."

"Is he the only one around here?"

"I'd think so. The only other ones I see in that area are purple, and they're female."

"Darn, that means he's the one that tried to eat me! He must've thought he was trying to eat you again…"

"Nnn, I wonder why it didn't work…Well, at any rate, if we're going to be blasting ourselves to there, then I need to fill up."

After Mr. At helped Blackup fill his jetpack with water (which the black robot then split into rocket fuel components), Mr. At then asked, "Should we start rocketing out of the forest?"

Blackup answered, "I don't think it's practical. There's a very good chance that we could slam into a kachanga."

"I guess that chance is pretty good," Mr. At agreed, so they ran out of the forest as fast as they could.

As soon as they reached the plain again, Blackup asked, "Sorry if I forgot, but how do you rocket toward there? I haven't done this very often."

"You just point toward where you're going and use the fuel from there," Mr. At replied.

After the advice, they both soared off the ground and headed for the building. It took them a while (that tower was a little further away than they thought), but they finally got there. By that time, Kazera's sun was high in the sky.

When Mr. At and Blackup arrived, they looked at the tower and wondered how to get in. Then Blackup noticed a rather strange barking.

"Ruuuu…"

"Sheesh, not another Fungiloid," Blackup commented as he looked toward the purple Fungiloid.

"Rawra huru ro roruho," the purple Fungiloid muttered as she noticed Blackup's glance.

After Blackup looked back, he then remarked, "I have a really bad feeling about this encounter…"

Your Vocabulary and Translation Guides

Kazean:

Achaiya - A word for robot (in general)

Amappa - A stronger exclamation of surprise (the Kazean equivalent of "Darn it!" or "Dang it!")

Croppis - A small grass-like organism

Loquaid - A Kazean day

Malnusike - A sentient robot

Nnn (the number of n's does not matter) - The Kazean equivalent of "umm..." or "uh..."

Fungiloid:

Rawra huru ro roruho - "You're the same as the description"

Ru (the number of u's does not matter) - A general negative remark