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Chapter 13: Brightbill

"Come on, Brightbill's here!" The fox shouted…running ahead of me excitedly as I struggled to keep up. We got out of the beach and back into the forest trail. I had to stop momentarily to catch my breath as Fink was forced to stop and wait. Sure enough, however, we heard the many calls above us…the geese. Soon, the vulpine across from me couldn't wait much longer and got impatient, "Terry! We're not far from the field where they land…we were just there!"

"Okay, okay!" I panted…gathering enough strength and breath to soldier on.

We break the conifer tree line and end up seeing dozens of geese flying in the air above us. It was an amazing sight…of the likes I have never seen before. I have witnessed migrations in the mainland…but on this scale…simply not!

"Amazing…" I muttered softly. The avians were landing all around the clearing…finally taking a rest from their long trip in the sky. I suppose all this reinforces my belief in how special this island is compared to the rest of the world.

How on earth will people believe me when I get home and tell them…should I? I had this conversation with Fink the day I first talked with him. One way or another: humans will come back here at some point. But…do they really care what happens to this island? Wouldn't they have come here on an expedition to research what goes on here already? Maybe there is something I don't know about all of this?

I am pulled from my thoughts when, as I watched from the sidelines, Fink greeted a particular smaller goose in the main group. They looked familiar. Suddenly I winced, for the fox had bit into their neck and ended their existence…or so I thought.

Then, I saw them move away after a tight embrace. I walked closer as the flock around them got spooked and flew to safety. This got the duo's attention…with the smaller, green-eyed, bird seeing me for the first time. To say they were visibly distressed would be an understatement.

They knew my kind…and just how dangerous we were…having had hostile encounters in the past at the farms and outlying settlements. His eyes widened…his feathers puffed out as fear took hold, "Fink…run!" His voice broke.

The bird brandished his wing as if to shield the mammal from me. I stepped back, so as not to escalate the situation…I was about to make my case, but then Fink made the first move, "it's alright, he's one of us!" He moved toward me a bit…sitting on his hunches. The avian fell into a confused state…looking at the fox and then at me with an opened beak, "them…how?"

I had my suspicions about who this was…it was abundantly clear who this was…this was Brightbill.

The goose looked at me with a scrutinizing gaze, but quickly Brightbill thought about the differences between me and the other humans he had encountered over the past few months. In fact, there were two kids that prowled the farm that Roz was working at back in the city…and both kids never seemed to ever have any ill-intent. Brightbill would eventually explain this, of course. I suppose that familiarity lowered his untrust of me a bit. But soon, all the negative thoughts he would have of me would be shattered the moment I spoke in animal tongue.

"Fink is right, I mean you no harm." I added.

Brightbill's eyes widened. Out of all the humans he had seen and interacted with in his entire life…I am the only one who could "speak" and understand every single word the animals said. His reaction garnered a smile from the fox…sensing that his family member had dropped his tense demeanor immediately afterward.

The latter slowly walked toward Fink and me…stuttering a bit as he did so, "y-you can really understand us?"

I nodded. That was enough for the avian.

Brightbill soon got friendly again as his demeanor often was and he waddled over to me…looking up and brandishing a wing to me, "In that case, I am pleased to meet your acquaintance, I am Gosling 0186, but you can call me-"

"Brightbill" we both said at the same time.

"Yes!" A smile ran across his beak. We both laughed.

I grabbed the tip of his outstretched wing with a soft pinch of my fingers to shake it. He was beyond confused but I soon explained, "this is the way we humans greet one another."

"I see! What's your name?"

"I am Terry Bennett, pleased to finally meet you, Brightbill. Fink told me a lot about you. He told me how you were raised by a robot."

"Is that strange, everyone around here thinks it's strange…it would be interesting to get an opinion NOT from this island" Bill said…kind of embarrassed but I shook my head a bit, "not at all, in fact…I am acquainted with your upbringing, and it is fascinating to me" I began speaking in my usual speech since I downplayed my patterns for Fink and the others. Brightbill clearly did not have this issue, and he spoke in a manner very similar to mine.

Fink just stood there, wincing at the sight, oh boy…now instead of one Brightbill I got two! He jokingly thought, it's like they're twins or something…

Brightbill began circling me…inspecting my degraded (yet leafy) outfit with great interest, "h-how did you manage to learn our language? You're not a robot, or…are you?"

"Trust me kid…Terry isn't" the fox added.

"To answer your question, Rozzum 7134 made a backup on the unit in the shelter. I simply transferred it to my Brain Computer Implant."

"Annddd here comes the robot speech…" Fink rolled his eyes.

"Impressive!" Brightbill brandished his wings before folding them back behind him once again, soon walking to inspect the chip on my temple, "was it difficult for your computer to decipher Roz's code? Does it utilize the same A-UD Operating System and Alpha-113 processor as Roz?"

Fink walked between us. He gave a fake laugh, "oh-kay, boys. We can talk about this crazy stuff another time…how's Roz?"

Suddenly, the bird perked up at that and nodded.

…

We left the clearing on our way to the shelter…but this time Brightbill would be coming with us. On the way, the goose would share his experiences of his second migration to us, "Roz is okay and says hi."

"That's a relief" Fink said, trotting beside his family member.

"But…she is under constant watch by his kind" Brightbill stated, looking up toward me, "she's working in one of those translucent domes I told you about…helping alongside other Rozzum robots."

Brightbill explained further that both he and Roz considered breaking her out of the farm, but she now had other responsibilities…and humans wouldn't simply let her leave either…

"So…she's trapped, essentially…" Fink whined, shaking his head. The other adult across from him nodded in solemn…

"But she's safe, isn't she?" I asked.

Brightbill looked up at me and nodded, "she's hiding her true self from the others. As long as she does so, she should be safe."

"Knowing Roz…she'll find a way back…"

I sighed loudly…getting both their attention, "I'm afraid it's complicated. I'm not sure how she would be able to get all the way back here on her own or with help. An airship would definitely help."

"Then we'll get one" Brightbill retorted but I shook my head.

"She's property of that farm…and by extension Universal Dynamics…they'll come after her."

"What do you suggest, human?"

I stopped walking…shaking my head, "it's such a precarious situation…we are hopelessly outmatched…but perhaps, Brightbill, you can collect her main computer components…and we can transfer her to a new Rozzum unit…"

"Whatever the kid just said sounds like a good plan to me" Fink added.

"But…"

"But?" He snapped his head at me.

"Getting access to her internal components requires human input…and there's no working Rozzums on this island for the transfer process."

"We have to try it at least!" The avian replied desperately, loving the idea.

The fox understood my statement, however…he saw me do it with Rummage several times, "Terry is right. He would probably need to be there to do it…or you guys gotta somehow get another human to do it."

"Those humans on that farm have no interest in helping us!" Brightbill grunted in frustration.

We all stood there in silence…clearly, the air was tense.

"Perhaps we should discuss this later…" I recommended.

Brightbill looked toward me with a raised "eyebrow" and asked, "you live in those cities, don't you?"

I nodded, "I was one of them, yes."

We continued our walk, going through the final trail to get back to their little hut around the tree line. The goose moved a bit closer, stopping me all of a sudden, "was? What happened?"

"Clearly ended up here…he's stranded, kid."

"Not anymore…" I reached into my brown bag and pulled out the blue transmitter. Brightbill knew what it was and nodded. Fink felt sad a bit, remembering the conversation we were about to have on the beach before Brightbill's arrival.

"So, you intend on leaving?" The bird asked.

"I have a family and a life outside this island" I responded…crouching down to be eye level with Fink, "it's what I wanted to tell you, Fink…I-I think I'm going to leave soon."

The fox had an adverse reaction…fearing that he would eventually hear this. In many ways, he wanted me to stay…but he also understood that getting me home is a priority.

"They'll ask me about everything, of course, and if they wanted to…they'll extract the memory from my implant…" I sighed.

Brightbill gasped, "You mean…"

"They'll know everything about what's happened here."

Both animals didn't like the sound of that, but they still had resolve, "don't worry about that kid…we're tough…we can take care of ourselves" Fink said.

"Terry…" Brightbill moved closer, "they won't hurt you like they did Roz…will they?"

I sighed, "it's not completely out of the realm of possibility."

Fink and Brightbill looked at each other. The fox knew my situation and he HAD to tell me. I felt a paw on my side, and I looked down to see his serious look, "kid…you won't survive another winter here…." He said in earnest.

"Fink here is correct, judging by your layers. Without proper insulation, diet, and shelter the odds of you living here seem very unlikely. A one in 10,000 by my calculations" Brightbill stated.

"It's fine now because it's Spring…but remember what happened to you weeks prior…" the fox added. I simply nodded, letting them know I understood.

"Besides, look at you" the vulpine sniffed me…circling me, "you're a lot skinnier than when I first met you…you're one of us…but you have to get back at some point. It doesn't have to be right away…it does take a while to send a message to your people with that thing anyway."

"Fink is quite right" the goose nodded in agreement.

I suddenly felt Brightbill land on my shoulder and he arched his head toward me with a smile, "in the meantime, I'm very excited to learn more about your world from your perspective!"

I giggled.

This should be interesting.