Gol and Maia attempt to remember how to create the Dark Eco creatures again, so as you may guess, this chapter is filled with people engaged in science! I enjoyed writing the beginning of this chapter in particular….

Chapter 9: Lost and Found

Once again, Gol pondered what it was lately that everyone felt the need to wake him up. Not that anyone was touching him. And he didn't hear anything. But, something was on his bed.

"What is it now?" he asked the person who was surely behind him.

There was no answer.

"I know you're there," he continued. Why couldn't anyone leave him in peace! He was starting to consider finding a quiet cave in the middle of the Wasteland somewhere and staying there for a few days. Odds are, though, he'd manage to find some cave dwelling people that thought him great company, sour temperament and all. It didn't help his mood any when someone reached over him and pinched his bare arm.

"Ow, why…" He rolled onto his back just as his most recent stalker finally decided to speak.

"That's for waking me up," Maia said from where she sat on his bed. "And this…" She moved to do it again, and he grabbed her by the wrist, only to be pinched with her free hand.

"Stop it!"

"And that's for the attitude!"

He grabbed her other wrist, as well, in case she thought up a third way he had wronged her. "Isn't waking me up fair enough punishment?"

"You're usually awake by now anyway." She attempted to pull her arms free. "Let me go."

"No."

"Yes!"

"Promise me you'll stop assaulting me!" Not that her promises were worth a Lurker shark in the middle of the desert. She was always swearing she wouldn't do something, and then she'd find a loophole in her promise and do it again. And he always fell for it.

"Promise. And I'll have you know, I'm not above biting."

He was aware of that, and more for that reason than the promise, he let go. She rubbed her wrists for a moment, then, leaned towards him. He attempted to fend off her next attack, but all she did was kiss him on the forehead.

"Good boy." She stood up and looked down at him. "Don't we have some work that needs to get done?"

Gol sighed. "Yes, I suppose so." He was still positively exhausted from last night, and his aches hadn't gone away. And now two bruises were forming on his arm.

"What's the matter? You don't look so well, dear brother."

"It's nothing," he said, as he forced himself out of bed, rubbing his eyes.

"Come on, then," she said and headed towards the door. Gol followed her out into the hallway at a slower pace, smoothing the knots out of his hair.

As they entered the lab, the Sage noticed all the containers of Eco from the night before had been placed on the table and the paper and candles cleared away. Maia gestured to it all. "Is this to your liking, dear brother?"

He suppressed a yawn. He'd really need to go to bed much earlier tonight, but with his obsessive tendencies, it was unlikely. There was work to be done, and he would just as soon dance a jig as quit before finding the correct procedure. Well, not literally.

Gol smiled. "Much better, dear sister."

Maia brought papers for him to write on (apparently, she had gotten some, she just didn't put them in a reasonable place, even though she claimed she most certainly had, and he had simply not looked hard enough), and they got right to work, just like old times, his aches and his weariness forgotten now that he had beakers and papers back in his hands again. Now that he could actually try out different combinations for himself, the memories started to trickle back into his mind like water from a dam that had developed a leak. Soon he'd have it. He could feel it.

They tried adding different kinds of Eco together, with Dark Eco comprising the majority of it. Green Eco, the Eco of life, was certainly part of it. And Blue, the Eco of movement. He just didn't remember how much. Maia had been right about Yellow, as it never seemed to have any desirable effects. As for Red, he just couldn't remember either way.

The hours passed by, and they drew nearer and nearer to the correct formula, but nothing was working quite as they remembered. Most of what they tried resulted in nothing whatsoever. Once did their concoction billow up in a frothy mass, from which Maia had stepped away from with no small amount of finesse to avoid getting any on her shoes. Another time, they created a thick smoke that nearly threatened to smother them both until his sister had forced open the old windows, which had been almost hopelessly fused closed with age. It wasn't until evening that Gol finally came up with an idea that had to work. He mixed the various forms of Eco together, and then they leaned over the large beaker. Maia appeared to be holding her breath. He would, too, if he had possessed the lung capacity.

They stared as something bubbled up and leaned in closer. A shape started to form, part of a claw.

"We did it, dear brother, we…" Maia started, and then the claw melted back into the Eco. "Ah, so close!"

They tried several more times, but each time, the creature would dissolve back after only a few seconds of life. Something had to be off. Just a little. But, what were they missing?

The sun was going down, and the siblings had retired to the bench by the window, warm air blowing in. Gol stared at the table and the worrisome level of Dark Eco left in the remaining containers. He had to figure out what he was doing wrong. He couldn't afford to waste much more. Well, he supposed he could ask Maia to find more, but not so soon after that last incident.

Maia put her arm around him and leaned in close to him. "Don't worry, dear brother. I'm sure you'll get it soon."

"I just can't remember what we did, dear sister. It was so long ago, I fear I've forgotten all we've worked for." He sighed. "If only I still had my notes."

"You'll figure it out." She kissed him on the side of the head.

"I don't know about that."

She kissed him again. "Don't argue."

Gol put his arm around his sister, and they sat in silence. Blast that boy and his rat! They had studied Dark Eco for decades, and they had become the most knowledgeable people in history on the subject. They likely still were, if Dark Eco retained the stigma it held in their day. To have so many years of knowledge wiped away because of one wrong move on one fateful day.

He looked up as Maia stood. "I have a few errands to run."

He stood, as well. "Where are you going? I still need your help."

She winked at him, a most mysterious look on her face. "You'll find out soon enough. Take a break."

"We're not finished yet, dear sister." Was everyone going insane lately?

She kissed him again. "Do as you're told." She wiggled the fingers of one hand in farewell as she left. "Bye bye."

He shook his head. What had gotten into her? Gol walked over to the table and stared at the mess of notes and beakers and other equipment, along with the containers of their failed experiments and remaining Eco. There was just one detail he had forgotten. He knew there was, but what could it possibly be?

He formed his notes into a pile and picked them up, looking them over. He scratched his chin. He couldn't, for the life of him, tell where he had gone wrong. And now he was left to figure it out himself while Maia did whatever it was she was up to. He dropped the notes back on the table and wandered out of the room, arms crossed. The sun had since disappeared over the horizon, and it got rather cold at night. He shivered and went into the library. Not much chance one of the books here would hold the answer he sought, but he looked over them anyway. Maybe there was something that would jog his memory.

Gol started pulling books out of the shelves, anything that had to do with Eco. There were no books discussing the merits of Dark Eco. Only on the four main colors, theories on Light Eco (which was, as far as he was concerned, the most vile substance to ever exist), and books on why Dark Eco was evil. These books on the last topic he collected and threw into the fires in the other room. They weren't going to poison any other minds. When he had the time, he'd rewrite all his notes and publish them. Then, people could know the truth. Not that they would care to.

He then returned to skimming through the books, but none contained any information that would help him. Just like with Dark Eco, people seemed to have some sort of problem with the topic of creating life. Sure, you could grow plants with Green Eco, but apparently it was frowned upon to make any other form of life. If life was so precious, what was so wrong about making it? He slammed his last book shut and left the room. As little as he could stand leaving work unfinished, he wouldn't get it done any faster sitting around. He returned to his room and went to bed.

Gol woke up the next morning, body tense. He stayed absolutely still, anticipating some newly thought up method of bothering him. But, nothing happened. Not only was the room silent, but there wasn't anything touching him, either. What kind of joke was this? He jumped out of bed and looked all around, but there was indeed no one around to pester him. Maia had gotten back safely, hadn't she?

He went out into the hallway and headed to Maia's room, but upon closer inspection (the door was left open, otherwise he wouldn't have gone in, even though she didn't give him the same courtesy), she wasn't there. He checked the lab, and that room, too, was unoccupied. Perhaps the library, even though Maia didn't have the best relationship with books, for whatever reason. She must have spent too much time thinking about boys when she was young to cultivate a love of reading.

To his surprise, his last guess turned out to be correct. She was sitting at a table, going over a pile of loose papers in her hands. He hadn't realized he had written so much yesterday.

"I've gone over them, as well, and I couldn't find where we went wrong, dear sister," the Sage said as he entered the room.

"You didn't go over these notes, dear brother," she replied, not looking up. But, he did notice a smile forming on her face.

He sat in a chair nearby and watched her. Was it just him or did those papers appear much too old to have been written recently? She glanced over at him without moving her head.

"Yes, do you need something, dear brother?" The smile grew bigger.

"Where did you get those?"

"Where does one usually find paper," she said, laying them down flat on the table, "containing years of research on Dark Eco?"

His eyes widened. He recognized those. Pages and pages of writing and equations and diagrams. They were now in rough condition, but he remembered them.

"My notes," he said.

"Are you really that slow, dear brother? I would have thought you'd recognize—" Before she could finish, he had closed the space between them and held her tight.

"Thank you."

"No need to get emotional."

He wasn't getting emotional. Not at all. He just thought they were long gone. That was all.

Seeing as she wasn't getting free anytime soon, Maia hugged him back and continued. "As you can imagine, I found our old citadel. Shame we couldn't have gone back, but I suppose it's too late now, and it would be the first place people would look for us, wouldn't it? Anyway, even though sand had blown in and animals had made a mess of the place, I managed to find your notes. I think some are missing, but…"

"It doesn't matter. The fact that you found any at all… I had no idea."

"Of course, you didn't. You're clueless. You always are."

There was silence, and he held her longer. He never would have expected she'd find them for him. All that work. It wasn't lost, after all. All thanks to her and her cryptic behavior the other evening. He really was clueless.

"Brother…"

With a bit of review, he would have all his knowledge back. Or at least, most of it. He wouldn't have to waste time repeating his work, and he could finally figure out what he had done wrong with his experiment.

"Brother."

He let go of her, and she went about smoothing her hair back into the condition it had been in before he had messed with it. "While you were busy sleeping, I also found where we've gone amiss." Hair now perfect, she slid the papers around on the table until she found the correct one, then handed it to him. She gave the paper a poke with one finger. "There."

He looked over the equations and percentages his sister had pointed out. He could slap himself. It was that simple?

Maia smiled at the look on his face. "I know, we're stupid, aren't we?"

How could he forget a little thing like that? "Come, dear sister, we must correct this mistake right away."

They headed back to the lab and proceeded to mix the Eco in accordance with his long-lost notes. If this didn't work, he was indeed stupid. No, he was an absolute idiot.

Once again, they leaned over the beaker, Maia gripping the edge of the table with both hands. Gol jumped as she spoke, "Come on, already!"

After that sudden exclamation didn't prompt any response from the liquid, they said nothing more, as if they were now trying to see if silence was a key factor in what they were trying to do. The Sage glared at it, willing something to happen. It bubbled, and then it began to take form. The Eco rose up in a hump, and they both leaned in closer as it formed arms and legs and finally a snarling, toothy face. The creature hissed and spat at them, attempting to bite at and climb up the glass walls of the beaker. It was a small thing, but now that they had the formula worked out, all they'd need was more Eco, and they could create much larger creatures better suited to their purposes.

Maia giggled like a young girl getting a first look at her new pet kitten. "It worked, we did it!" She gave it a scratch on the head, throwing it into a fit of rage. She withdrew her hand just before it could attempt to devour it.

"What a feisty thing! Can I keep it, dear brother?"

"You don't need to ask me," Gol said. These things would need some training, that's for sure, plus he'd need to look into making some modifications, but once that was all set, it was only a matter of time before they'd have access to all the Dark Eco in the Catacombs.

"Time to make some more?" Maia asked, as she watched her new pet thrash around within the confines of the beaker.

"You've read my mind, dear sister."

I write about Gol's sleeping habits quite a bit, don't I? Hmm. Anyway, please read and review.