Murphy brought the ship down to where the signal came from. What I saw was what looked like a small town, where there were only a few houses. Two of these houses stood out, as they were both made of the same type of white rock. One of them had windows, with only one of them open. Its roof seemed to be made of palm-leaves, or at least some kind of plant. This must be a hotel of some kind. Near its door sat a man, wearing ragged clothes, his face covered in dirt, possibly a beggar. The other building had a large gate, which was guarded by two men in blue shirts, wearing funny, perfectly circular hats, and carrying guns, that looked more like long sticks than the usual rifles. Near it was what looked like a fence, which they used to tie their horses to. The ground was plain sand, not even grass grew there. The people were dressed in what I can only describe as old-fashioned clothes. But then, from the looks of it, these people seemed to be living in a time period some time before the twentieth century.
"Odd." Merlin said, "Doesn't anyone see us?"
"Only if I'm not using the cloaking system." Murphy replied.
This puzzled Merlin: "Why would ship need a cloak?"
"As Foaly explained it" Murphy replied, "the cloak makes this ship invisible. Even if these people had anything to detect this ship, they won't be able to."
"Oh! Like an invisibility cloak. Now I see." Merlin spoke.
"Congrats." Saya whispered, "So where did you pick this signal up?"
"It came and went." Murphy explained, "I didn't have enough time to triangulate its position. But I could narrow it down to this area."
Saya took one quick look at the people: "They don't seem the type to even know what electricity is. Let alone be able to send out any sort of signal."
"So it must be someone from another world?" Merlin asked.
"My thoughts exactly." Murphy said.
"Think it's related to Smith's Army?" Saya wondered.
"Unknown." Murphy replied.
Merlin loosened his seatbelt as he got up: "Only one way to find out. Ask."
Saya groaned and rolled her eyes. Of course she wouldn't be a fan of talking to people. But she undid her seatbelt anyway and followed Merlin. Both were already at the door, before Murphy had even landed the ship. I didn't follow them, until I saw Murphy take the ship down next to the hotel, just out of sight for most of the villagers.

I had to take one step outside the ship to know this was a mistake. The sun shone too brightly, I could barely keep my eyes open, and feel my skin melt. Saya seemed to feel almost exactly the same problem, except while I tried to endure the heat, she immediately ran around the hotel, looking for shade. Merlin and I followed her. When we found her at the front of the hotel, we saw her breathing heavily.
"What's wrong?" Merlin asked her.
"It..." Saya tried to talk, "... it has been a while since I've felt light as bright as this."
"I understand." Merlin said, "Albion isn't as warm or as bright as this either."
So Merlin was from some place called Albion. It made me wonder what this village was called.
"Well, hello there, strangers." a booming voice sounded.
All three of us looked at where that came from. A man, dressed in a blue shirt, white pants, and wearing a perfect circular hat came to us. He was wearing a uniform similar to the ones that those guards from before were wearing, but one clear way to tell this one apart from the other two, was because of his overall size. Calling him overweight would be an understatement.
"Welcome to Los Angeles." he said, "Are you friends of Senior Kyrano?"
Merlin turned to Saya: "What is he saying?"
Saya shot him a look: "It's called Spanish."
"Eh? What are you two talking about?" the man asked.
It didn't even surprise me anymore that I could understand this man so well, I didn't even notice if he was speaking a different language.
"Why won't you tell us who you are first?" Saya seemed to challenge him.
As Merlin turned around, whispered something I couldn't make out, but it somehow caused his eyes to light up, the man introduced himself: "Forgive me. I am Sergeant Dimitrio Lopez Garcia, soldier of the King of Spain, and acting Commandante of..."
"Soldier of the King?" Merlin spoke, "Are you a knight, then?"
The man, Garcia, looked puzzled: "Knight? My dear young man, this isn't the middle ages."
"The what?" Merlin didn't understand.
"Never mind him." Saya told Garcia, "What do you want with us?"
"Ah! Well, as acting Commandante of this pueblo, it is my duty to ask every stranger for their name and what brings them here." Garcia explained.
"Oh, well that's easy." Merlin replied, "My name's Merlin. This is Saya, and..."
He hesitated as he pointed at me.
Merlin apologized: "He doesn't speak, so we don't know his name."
"He's dumb?" Garcia asked.
I was taken aback at that. I've been called many things, but this wasn't one of them.
"That's a matter of opinion." Saya answered, "Why did you ask us if we're friends with this... Kyrano?"
"Oh, I'm sorry." Garcia suddenly forgot all about me, "It's just that you're all funnily dressed."
Speak for yourself, I thought to myself.
"And carry around these weird... things. And..."
"Get to the point, Garcia." Saya got impatient with him.
"Well, Senior Kyrano is also funnily dressed, and carried around some weird baggage. He left just a few minutes ago, saying he had some friends to take care of. I thought he might have meant you."
"Ask him which way he went." I heard Murphy tell us.
"Alright." Merlin replied.
"Eh?" Garcia looked at Merlin, wide-eyed. He clearly wasn't used to seeing people talk to someone who, as far as Garcia knew, wasn't there.
"Uh..." Merlin had to do some quick thinking, "Did you see where this Senior Kyrano went?"
"No." he answered, "Not even any of my lancers have. It's like he just vanished without a trace."
The sound of a coach riding nearby distracted Garcia. He turned to look, then looked back at us, suddenly with a bright look in his eyes, and a wide smile on his face.
"Excuse me a moment." he said, "I have a friend to greet."
He didn't wait for any of us to say anything, he just ran to that coach, leaving us alone.
"Thought he would never leave us." Saya sounded relieved.
"What do you think?" Merlin asked, "Could this Kyrano be who we're looking for?"
Saya shrugged: "He could be just a tourist passing through here."
"But he disappeared at roughly the same time when I picked up the signal." Murphy told us, "Quite a coincidence."
"Do you know anyone named Kyrano?" Saya asked him.
"No." was Murphy's short answer.
"So what do we do now?" Merlin wondered.
"Wait until he returns." Murphy suggested.
Saya already started back toward the ship. Merlin held her by her shoulders, stopping her.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"There's no way I'm waiting for him in this heat." Saya replied.
Merlin looked at me. I raised my shoulders, as I didn't know how else to respond.
"Here they are." Garcia's booming voice sounded dangerously close.
All three of us looked in his direction. He wasn't alone this time. With him were two men. One tall, wearing a brown suit, slicked back hair, and a small mustache. The other was about the same size as me, balding, and yet somehow more childlike than me.
"This young man is called Merlin." Garcia started introducing us, "The girl is named Sara."
"Saya." she nearly barked at him.
"Oh. Forgive me." Garcia said, "And the quiet one, I think the little one would like him."
He pointed at the short man when he said that, who raised his hand and waved at me.
"What do you want this time?" Saya asked him.
"Nothing." Garcia replied, "I just thought, since the little one here is deaf and dumb, maybe he'd like to meet your little friend here."
I could be mistaken, but the "little one" looked at Garcia, brows raised, as if he heard what he just said. Didn't he just say he was deaf?"
"What a splendid idea, Garcia." the mustached man spoke, with a voice as loud as Garcia's, but somehow friendlier.
"It may help to our advantage if we try to be friends with the locals." Merlin whispered to Saya.
"So I shouldn't return to the ship?" I could hear the frustration in her voice.
"Gentlemen. And lady." Garcia suddenly stood stiff, as if he suddenly remembered he had manners, "Meet Don Diego de la Vega. And his man-servant Bernardo."
"You must have had a long journey behind you." the man, Diego, said, "How would you like to come inside the tavern and have a drink?"
"Excellent idea, Don Diego!" Garcia couldn't be happier.
"At least you'll be inside, where it's cooler." Merlin told Saya.
"Best idea anyone's had all day." though she tried not to show it, she sounded more pleased than I've ever heard her.