Gol and Maia begin the next phase of their plans, what to do about their new army. I find the latter half of this chapter particularly entertaining.

And I have been getting questions in the guest posts, and since I can't reply to them in the usual fashion, I will address them here. The questions boil down to, will our favorite wicked siblings cause more trouble and will they run into Jak (and other various characters)? The answer to number one is a resounding, does the farmer from "Jak 1" sleep a lot? The answer to number two, I will say that many characters from the series will show up later, along with a lot more action (more will certainly happen, even though I've been rather slow-paced in my story, but blame Gol, he's like 400 years old), so it is indeed a possibility…. (Okay, okay, how can I not include Jak? I mean, he's Jak.)

Chapter 8: Forgetfulness

Gol spent the rest of the day flipping through musty, old book after another, all the while doing more than his fair share of sneezing from the dust. He had managed to find some useful things, including the new layout of the land. Much of the places he had known had been swallowed up by that blasted Wasteland. That's certainly something they'd have to change when they covered the planet in Dark Eco. He wouldn't tolerate such ugliness in their new world.

He also learned more about Haven City and Spargus. Apparently Spargus had nothing but a wall around it, a single turret by the sea, and its armed, but no doubt simple-minded, citizens to defend it. As he had found when perusing Kassra's books, Haven City was the greater threat. They had found more ways of using Eco, including more advanced vehicles and weaponry, in addition to a "shield wall". If they planned on forming a new army, they'd have to do something about that. And speaking of an army, it appeared the Lurkers of this era had decided to make peace with humans, so using them again was not likely an option. There was also the Metal Heads, or as he was more familiar with, the Hora-Quan. That was a possibility, though they commonly had a fellow Metal Head to lead them. What they needed was an army that would have allegiance only to them. Or if they couldn't find one, perhaps they could create one instead.

Gol closed his most recent book. That would be satisfactory for now. He put his reading materials back where they belonged and headed out in search of his sister. He found her sitting on a bench in his lab-to-be, looking out the large window. On a sturdy-looking table that dominated much of the room sat several large containers of Dark Eco, quite similar in appearance to the containers he had used long ago. Made of a reinforced glass, they were not quite as well-suited to containing Dark Eco as Precursor metal, as they would eventually corrode, but they were easier to obtain.

The Sage drew closer and observed the containers with no small amount of confusion. Where had Maia been while he was busy reading?

"I believe a 'thank you' would be an appropriate response." Gol looked up as his sister spoke, but she didn't turn her head. Her gaze was still directed outside.

He headed over to where she sat. As they were when he had entered the room, his footsteps were nearly silent, but it no longer surprised him that she could always hear him come in. It was a superhuman ability she had possessed since even before the Dark Eco had changed her. Sometimes he worried she'd gain an aptitude for hearing his thoughts, as well.

Gol sat beside her. Outside, all that could be seen was endless sand, broken only here and there by jagged mountains. They were at such a height, if he squinted enough, it was possible the ocean could be seen far off.

"Where'd you find it?" he asked.

"I'm resourceful," Maia said. "As for the Dark Eco underground, we'll need an easy way of bringing it up to the surface."

"A pipeline. That's what we need, dear sister."

"Hmm, yes, I suppose that would work. We also need someone to build it for us. I'm certainly not going to risk getting lost down in those tunnels again. Plus, I've never been a fan of manual labor." She turned to him. "Which brings me to why I brought us that Dark Eco."

"And why is that?"

"You remember those creatures we were able to make, dear brother? Perhaps if we could do it again, we'd have ourselves a nice, little bunch of slaves."

He certainly did remember. They had even tried to use several of the things in their attempts to stop the boy and his pet from interfering as they opened the silo, but the kid had somehow made short work of their creations. They would need to be made stronger, and then they would serve them rather well as a new army. In fact, Gol had already decided on this arrangement hours earlier. Perhaps his sister had learned to read his mind!

As he pondered over and hoped this wasn't so, he noticed she was gone. He looked back to see Maia standing by the table, fists on her hips. She looked over at him. "Well? This is your area of expertise."

The Sage moved to join her by the containers and stroked his beard in thought. Now how had he done it again? In response to the expression she was directing at him, he said, "Give me a moment."

"Don't tell me you've forgotten."

"Creating life is no easy task, dear sister."

She shook her head. "Becoming senile, are you?"

"Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Just don't."

She laughed. "No need to get surly with me. I'm only joking."

"Bring me some of each of the four main colors of Eco." He knew they had something to do with it.

"Really? Even Yellow? I'm certain we didn't use Yellow."

"Just do it!" He needed her out of here. He couldn't concentrate with her staring at him like that.

"Oh, fine!" She began to fly off. "But, don't expect me to hurry back!"

"Thank you, dear sister." He made the sarcasm in his voice quite obvious.

Maia snarled, and then she was gone. Gol went about finding paper and a pen. He found the latter, but had to tear out a page that didn't appear too cluttered from one of the more useless looking books he could find to make the former. (How could Maia remember to get pens, but not paper?) "The Joys of Yakow-Raising". What in the Precursors' name was that doing here?

He then pulled up a chair to the table in his lab and got to work, writing out all sorts of equations in an attempt to remember the formula for creating the creatures from the Dark Eco. It had been so long ago, and he had lost the countless notes he had spent decades writing. He had meant to make a book out of it, but had never gotten around to it. Now all that remained of his work was what was left in his memory and Maia's, and three hundred years had a way of making one forget.

He tore out page after page from that ridiculous book (What could possibly be so hard about raising yakows? Just feed and water the stupid things!), filling all the empty spaces up with notes and formulas and scribbled-out equations he knew were wrong. Crumpled papers began to pile up at the base of the chair, and then they started to appear farther from the Sage as he tossed his notes across the table, as if keeping them nearby would dampen his thought processes.

Many hours later, Gol had his head resting in both hands, surrounded by bunched up balls of paper and candles he had brought in to fend off the impending darkness of nightfall. It was quite a fire hazard, but at this point, he didn't really care. Even the front and back cover of the book had been covered in writing. Once Maia brought the Eco back, perhaps then he'd remember. Notes just weren't cutting it.

More time had passed, and Gol had gnawed his pen quite extensively as he racked his brain for the method he had used three centuries earlier. He had been positively elated when he had finally created a living, breathing creature from pure (well, mostly pure) Dark Eco. All he had managed to do prior to that was simply alter existing creatures. He had become quite adept at that, and it was at least one skill he had not yet forgotten. But, the formula he needed now was beyond his mind's grasp.

Gol clutched his chest to take a deep breath. Where in the blazes was Maia? She was certainly taking her sweet time! He stood up and marched out of the room, looking around. He looked down to see the Eco he needed, several containers of each, sitting on either side of the doorway. He glared at them, hands turning into fists, nails digging into the palm of his gloveless hand. How long had this been here, while he waited for her return?

He headed for the door to her room, now closed. She must be in there, sleeping no doubt. He raised a fist and pounded on the door.

"Maia!" No "dear sister" this time. It was far too late in the night for that. "Maia, you open up this—"

The door swung open, his sister glaring up at him, now several inches shorter without her heels on. She blew hair out of her face. She was wearing loose-fitting night clothes. And her teeth were bared. "Yes!"

"Where were you?" His voice was low.

"I did my job. And I assumed you were doing yours." Her crimson eyes were trying to burn holes through him, but he just stared back.

"You didn't tell me you were back. How many hours ago was that?"

"I didn't tell you to stay up."

They stared at each other, daring the other to blink. Gol, after more hours of no sleep, caved first. Maia made no indication she had noticed, but he knew she did. She must be feeling so smug about it, too. He turned and left. He could still feel his sister's gaze on his back until he turned the corner.

He went into his room and shut the door. He resisted slamming it, as he knew Maia would hear, and her satisfaction at having bothered him would only grow stronger. He got into bed, not bothering to change, not that he currently had anything to change into. He attempted to lie on his side, facing the wall, but it was rather difficult when also sitting upright. He thrashed around, finding it next to impossible to get comfortable. Either he was in a position not conducive to sleep, or he'd suffocate. He hated what the Dark Eco had done to his lungs. Perhaps it was his own fault for not listening to Maia's pleas to be more careful in his experiments, but that didn't make him feel any better right now. And she was probably happy to see the state the Dark Eco had put him in, while she became young and healthy again. He sighed. No, she wasn't happy about that. Likely relieved it wasn't her, which was understandable, but not happy about his decline in health.

He grew still for a while, trying to ignore the ache in his upper back. And his leg. It still hurt when he wasn't careful with it. He was sure Kassra hadn't set it right. As soon as he wasn't busy with more important matters, he'd see what he could do about healing himself. Surely there was a way the Dark Eco could reverse his current afflictions, even if it had caused several of them, but only due to his misuse of it.

Sleep did not come quickly for Gol, as he unwillingly focused on his aching body and was periodically brought from the verge of sleep to cough and gasp for air. Someday, things would be better.

You remember when you fight Gol and Maia in "Jak 1", and they shoot this green stuff into the Dark Eco, and these monsters pop out of the silo? That's what I had in mind. Plus, I thought that the two may have used more than simply Dark Eco. The robot does four main things, and each is the color of one of the four main colors of Eco, like the red balls that blow up and the blue laser. So that's why I assumed they must have used the different colors in addition to Dark Eco in their experiments. It's probably not even necessary to explain this, but yeah…. I over-think things.

And that fight was sure fun to write. Now those are fight scenes I have no trouble with.