Chapter 4
By the time we made it to The Circle it was dark and our torches sent our shadows bouncing behind us. The Circle wasn't anything that special, really. It was, well, a circle with walls a bit too high for us to climb and were perfectly smooth. The walls and ground were like cold stone against your hands. The vines sprawled across everything and completely covered the area. There was one special thing about The Circle though. It had a small divot in the ground that followed along the edge of the wall and for some reason plants refused to go into it, so we decided to name the place The Circle, like the kids that we were. We even tested the divot by putting rocks and plants inside to see if anything would happen. By morning the plants and rocks were always gone. None of us could explain it, so we chalked it up to magic, which is probably more exciting than whatever the real reason was. Sensei Shioseki says magic is just science that hasn't been explained yet. She even makes magic boring.
"You guys." Taka interrupted my train of thought. "I think I found something." Taka waved us over to him. "This cave wasn't here before right? Am I crazy?"
Kawa and I joined him and our mouths fell open. Behind the vines perfectly hidden unless you noticed the shadows cast in the torchlight. It was a cavern. A perfectly smooth, square opening into the wall that went straight back farther than the torches would let us see.
"You think it was the earthquake? There's no way we missed this opening after all this time." I thought out loud and turned to Taka and Kawa. Their expressions could not have been more different. Taka was jumping with excitement to go in and Kawa knew we would end up going in, despite anything she could say, and was dreading it.
"Here Kawa, we'll put out our torches and use Taka's torch. When it goes out we'll light ours and head back to the village. Sound fair?" I hid it well, but I was more than little curious about where this cavern would lead. It was more like a doorway into a house of some kind.
"What if there's another earthquake? It's not safe!" Kawa protested, but before she could continue a shriek sounded in the distance. It didn't sound like any animal I ever heard and we all didn't like the sound of it.
"What was that?" Kawa was already shaking.
"Come on, we should go inside and wait it out." Taka put his arm around her shoulder.
"But we'll be cornered inside the cave!" Kawa squeaked.
"It won't be able to smell us though; we'll be safer out of the wind." I reassured her both for her sake and my own.
We moved the vines out the way and entered the cavern. As I suspected, it didn't feel like a cavern. More like a hallway. All 4 sides perfectly smooth like the walls outside. There were no doors or windows anywhere. I ran my fingers down the wall and didn't feel any cracks. The farther we went, the more I noticed a faint smell like the old books Shio would show to us in class.
We thought we hit a dead end when we saw a second hallway open to the left and far down the way we saw a red pulsing light. It looked the color of fire, but it didn't flicker like it. I strained my ears to see if I could hear it crackling. How could there be fire down here? We looked at each other with a nervous anticipation, except for Kawa of course. She was emphatically shaking her head no.
"Come on let's just go check it out and then we'll leave, I promise." I had to see what it was now. Shio had told us there was ancient technology that the old Mikado would give people and they could do amazing things. What if we found something amazing that could help the island?
The closer we got to the light, the more puzzled I became. It looked like it was coming from some kind of round pebble. Was ancient technology all rocks? Taka looked just as confused as I and was uncharacteristically quiet. Kawa had her hands covering her eyes. It was up to me. I had to touch it. It was like it called my name. I reached out my hand. There was no warmth. This wasn't a fire, it had to be magic.
Just as my fingertips touched the round stone the light turned into a soft white. I stepped back and clutched my hand, though it hadn't hurt me. A moment later a low bell tone came from the rock. The light from the stone turned a solid red color again and we all backed away and huddled together.
"Access Denied. Confirming User Provisions. DNA Authentication Program Error. Connection to Verification Server has Timed Out. Parsing Local Libraries." A voice tone rang into our heads.
"Okay Kawa you win. The game is over. There's nothing here. Let's go home." My voice shook and my bravery vanished into thin air.
"Let's go before it comes back." Kawa could barely get the words out. Even Taka's enthusiasm had faded. We all held hands to steady ourselves, but only made it a couple steps down the hallway. Just as we thought we might be in the clear, the voice toned again.
"Identity Verified. Proxy Detected. Warning: Project Gaia Disaster Recovery Protocol has been engaged. No Provisioned Personnel Accessible. Proxy Privileges Elevated to Administrator Motoo Kimura." The light turned green and the wall behind the orb split in two to reveal a large room behind it. It was lined with what look like windows and possibly dormant machines. Soft blue lighting illuminated the edges of the room. I'm once again drawn in by curiosity.
"Come on Kinu I thought we were going home." Kawa grabs me by the hand.
"You guys seriously don't want to know what's inside. Taka you don't want to know either?" He shook his head and motioned me to him. "Just wait here, I'm going to take a look."
I left them outside and walked the edge of the room. The lights along the floor followed my every step. What could all of this be for? There was one wall lined with large empty slots, but one of them had something in it. Like a smooth ball with two ears sticking out. It had a slight shine to it like it was made of metal. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I stood in front of it and looked back to Taka and Kawa. They both stood unblinking, seeming just as curious as I was now. I reached out to touch the metal ball in front of me and I felt my finger tip press into a soft circular spot on the front. It made a clicking sound when I pressed into it. I pulled my hand away expecting more lights, but nothing happened. I turn to look around the room to see if anything has changed. The room is empty, grey, and silent.
"You're right Kawa, I guess we shouldn't press our luck, plus we can always come back. Let's head home." As I exit the room my stomach drops to my feet. The ground starts shaking. It's another earthquake, but this time much bigger. The next moment I hear humming behind me. Lights all around the room are flashing on and off. The metal orb is shaken out of its slot, but then to all our amazement, it doesn't hit the ground. The orb just floats there above the ground. The earthquake gets stronger and the floor starts to show cracks first. Survival instinct kicks in for all three of us. No time to find out if the flying metal ball is. We've got to get out of here, so we all break into a sprint.
We make it back to the first hallway running at full pace and then I realize none of us have a torch lit. Where is this light coming from? I glance behind me and my eyes almost pop out their sockets when I see the metal orb keeping pace with us. I don't care if it's chasing us or not I scream and startle Taka and Kawa. They see the orb behind us and we all scream as a trio.
We make it out of the cavern, but the divot in the courtyard outside trips up all of us and we land in a heap together. The earthquake seemed pleased that we were out the cavern and it seemed to subside reluctantly.
"I can't believe we're alive." I laugh between breaths and lay down. We're all smiling now and everyone seemed to forget the danger we were in. I sit up, but my breath catches in my throat.
There's a fourth person. There is a boy. There is a naked boy on the ground sitting with us. Taka and Kawa see him too and go silent. We're all speechless for a moment and then Kawa and I scream like witnesses to bloody murder.
"Hello." The boy says waving at us. Taka can't believe his eyes, but he takes off his cloak and hands it to the boy.
"Here! Put this on! How can you not be embarassed, uh, being like that in front of my sister and Kinu!"
"Uh, more importantly, who are you?!" I yell facing the opposite direction.
"My designation is GPACDRU_214916029622116. My function is General Purpose Assistance and Communications Disaster Recovery Unit." The boy stands up now covered by Taka's cloak.
"You were that flying metal ball we found in the cave weren't you?" Taka scratches his head. "I guess if you wanted to eat us you would've done it already."
"I am equipped with a core that produces enough energy for me to never need to consume materials to sustain myself."
"You don't eat?" Taka asks with his mouth hanging open.
"What, you don't sleep either?"
"I am capable of hibernation, but it is not required for maintenance."
"I guess that's a no." Taka looks at Kawa and I still too stunned for words. My mind was whirling. This was a boy in front of me, he looked like a boy, but I knew he was made of metal. He was a floating ball and he must have transformed.
"Okay hold on." I say. "What do we call you? I am not going to remember all those numbers." We all looked at each other and Taka's face lights up.
"What about Haku? That's a heroic name and easy to remember."
"No." I say while my eyes meet with the boys. "Hisa. Hisanaga. That will be your name." The boy looks please.
"Yes. Please call me Hisanaga." Taka turns in surprise.
"He seems to listen to you." I'm as surprised as he is.
"You told us who you are or what you are, but what do you do exactly? Why are you here? Why were you in there?"
"I was activated as part of the Project Gaia Disaster Recovery Protocol. My first priority is to restore the Mission Critical Weather Systems at all costs. However, my logs indicate I have been damaged and I have lost my connection to the Network, so I will require assistance."
"Whoa wait, you can fix the weather?" I exclaim, blinking at the twins.
"It is my purpose."
"What do you guys think?" I look to Kawa who hasn't said a word the whole time.
"We should help him." Taka and I are both slapped with surprise. "He's just an innocent little boy, I mean look at him. Little Hisa." Kawa seems to have completely come to terms with the situation. She approaches him and touches his arm. "May I?" She asks. "Oh, he feels sort of like a person, but a little metallic."
"Kawa are you serious? You can't just go touching him we still don't even know him!" Taka yells maybe a tiny bit jealously if I didn't know him any better.
"Well I say we help him too." I get up and reach my hand out to shake his. "If we help him fix the weather we can save the island. We don't need the adults, you know they already do all they can. With Hisanaga we can do it ourselves." Kawa looks to me and agrees.
"I think it could be dangerous." She thinks for a moment. "But most noble causes are." She looks to me with determination. Taka's head falls in his hands.
"There's no stopping you girls once you agree on something. So what's the plan? What do we say when people see we have another kid on the island completely out of nowhere?" I hadn't thought of that. Surprisingly Kawa pipes up.
"We tell them he stowed away on the passenger ship in the docks. The one Akafude came in on." Taka and I look at Kawa both thoroughly impressed.
"Kawa, I am so disappointed and impressed with you." I put my hands on my hips like a proud teacher.
"Just don't tell Sensei Shioseki." She replies smiling.
"That might work, but it's probably best if you don't talk and only say what we tell you to say. Your voice sounds a little weird and it could give it away." Hisanaga nods.
"Yes, I will only speak when she tells me to." Hisa looks right at Kinu.
"We haven't told you our names yet have we? I'm Kinuito. This is Takaharu and Kawaharu, they're brother and sister."
"Hello, it is fortunate to meet you, how may I be of service?" We all giggle at him.
"Maybe try 'Hi, nice to meet you. How are you doing?'" Hisa repeats what I say perfectly.
"This could actually work." Taka folds his arms impressed.
"We'll sneak on board the ship before it leaves." We all nod in agreement.
"Hey! What are you three doing out here?!" We all wince in pain at the oh-so-familiar tone and voice. It was Shioseki. "Wait until I show you-" Shio pauses when she sees us and Hisanaga. "Oh, who is this? That's a new face. Are you all okay? It's dangerous to be out this late and you know that." I jump in just as planned.
"He stowed away on Akafude's ship. His name is Hisanaga. He's an orphan like us. He has no parents. We just wanted to show him around, right guys?" They all eagerly nod in unison. Shio falls for it easily.
"Oh my, all of you better come back with me then. Tsurumatsu got hurt by some wildlife earlier, so we need to go home now. I may as well tell you the news. I'm sorry you just got here Hisanaga, but we have to leave the island in the morning by order of The Fellowship. It's for everyone's safety." We all stifled back our smiles. Was it really going to be this easy to get off the island? We all put on the most convincing, disappointed faces we could and followed Sensei Shioseki back to town.