The Forgotten Four

  Episode Four

  The Forgotten:

  Discovery

  By

  Kaitlyn O'Connor

  © copyright by Kaitlyn O'Connor, January 2010

  Cover Art by Alex DeShanks, January 2010

  ISBN 1-978-60394-396-3

  New Concepts Publishing

  Lake Park, GA 31636

  www.newconceptspublishing.com

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author's imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.

  ?

  Chapter Seven

  It was not until Baen left and some of his anger had worn off that Kiel realized that he had not only failed to convince Baen of the futility of struggling against the inevitable, he had not convinced himself. Accepting as he always had held no appeal to him whatsoever. He was furious that Manuta had dismissed their needs as if they were insignificant when it had created them with those needs and beyond that told them that it was expected of them. Now, when they had waited so long, anticipated, they were supposed to simply dismiss it?

  He realized he could not, no more than Baen could. It made him feel ill to consider ignoring a prime directive, to consider the possibility that he might set himself directly against Manuta to do so, but he realized that he would.

  Getting to his feet decisively, he turned his steps toward the settlement, intent upon finding Baen and discussing it further. When he reached the clearing beyond the settlement, however, he discovered what seemed to be the vast majority of Manu's residents, including the server bots, and construction bots crawling over the landscape with a purpose.

  Frowning, he stopped to study the activity. He had gone to the river to start with because he had known that the composition of the rocks there would interfere with Manuta's ability to communicate with him-or access his CPU. Clearly, Manuta had done more than advise them of the change of plans, but it was not immediately obvious what the commotion was about beyond some sort of construction.

  Spying Jalen after a time, he strode toward him. "What is going on?"

  Jalen sent him a look of surprise, but his expression was sullen. "We have been told to construct a secure building for reconstructing Danielle's ship and then constructing a fleet to ferry the Danu from the mother world to the colony if necessary."

  Kiel frowned. Baen had said that was Manuta's new plan. He had not said that Manuta had already implemented it. "Manuta is in a very great hurry."

  Jalen grunted, throwing him a speaking glance. After studying him for a long moment, Kiel jerked his head in silent communication toward the rocks near the river. Jalen glanced in that direction and then met his gaze again almost warily. Shrugging after a moment, he followed Kiel back to the river.

  "Baen has made it clear that he will refuse Manuta's orders."

  Jalen gaped at him. "Refuse …?" he repeated as if he had never heard the word.

  "How are the others taking the news?"

  "They are as thoroughly infuriated as I was to learn it!" Jalen growled angrily. "We were told that we would one day have mates and off-spring of our own! Now, when we have waited until we had begun to think there would never be an opportunity, we have had one dropped in our laps, only to be told that Manuta has decided against it? Of course everyone is furious! Are you not?"

  "I am, but if we do not watch ourselves, Manuta will begin to believe it might be best to terminate us," Kiel said warningly.

  A wave of shock seemed to roll through Jalen. "Manuta would not do that!"

  Kiel sent him a wry look. "Manuta's prime directive is to see that the colony is best served. If it feels that it is best served by eliminating us to make way for the Danu colonists, it will do so. Manuta does not need us to build these crafts. It could recycle us and produce purely mechanical robots that would not question orders."

  Jalen was horrified and unable to hide it. "What are we to do then? Simply accept?"

  "I do not think I can. Can you?"

  Jalen swallowed a little convulsively. "I do not, but I also do not think I can destroy Manuta."

  Kiel frowned, considering that. "We cannot allow Manuta to discover what we are thinking about doing until we know if the others are of a like mind. If the majority is inclined to accept the orders, then I do not see that it would be any more right for us to make that decision for them than it is for Manuta to do so."

  "Manuta will become suspicious about us meeting here," Jalen said warningly.

  "True," Kiel said slowly, "but if we are constructing a building to use to manufacture spacecrafts, then we can say that we were here looking for materials. I believe that we should mine these stones for the walls."

  Jalen looked around at the rocks, flicked a glance at Kiel, and nodded. "I will send a group down to begin to cut them. What are we to do if Manuta decides these are not suitable?"

  "We will remind Manuta that we have already used the natural materials available to us that is close to the settlement and point out that it would take longer to construct the building if we must go further."

  "Manuta might still insist upon it."

  "If so, then we will have to formulate another plan that will allow us to speak free of concerns that we are being monitored. I do not think so, though. Clearly, Manuta wishes to set the plan into action as quickly as possible."

  Instead of returning to the construction site himself when he had dismissed Jalen, Kiel headed directly to the settlement and entered the habitat where Danielle was being held. He found her in the food preparation area, but she was merely sitting on a stool, staring at the far wall. She jumped and whirled to look at him the moment she heard him, but she did not jump up and run.

  Wryly, he thought that was probably a good sign.

  "You are … better?"

  She studied him for a long moment. "Not especially. Did you inject nanos into me to heal my hand?"

  The question took him completely unaware. He hesitated, but it did not require the ability to monitor her thoughts to grasp that she did not welcome the possibility. "I did not," he responded, leaving it at that.

  The tension went out of her and discomfort wafted through him-guilt that he had withheld the whole truth. It was not a lie, however, when he did not know for certain, he told himself.

  "I guess I didn't hurt my hand as bad as I thought I did," she muttered doubtfully.

  Amusement flickered through him. "It was sufficient to get my attention."

  Color suffused her cheeks. "You scared the hell out of me!" she said resentfully. "What the hell was that all about anyway?"

  Surprise flickered through him. "You were in a state of panic and seemed likely to injure yourself if we did not calm you."

  "Oh it was really calming having the three of you chasing me all over the fucking habitat!" she said sarcastically.

  He frowned. "If I had realized the sight of us would throw you into such a state, I would not have returned."

  "What did you expect," she demanded indignantly, "when I'd just watched the three of you try to kill each other?"

  Kiel felt his own face heat with embarrassment. "We were sparring. It was an exercise in spontaneity, to ensure the proper responses if we are attacked by surprise."

  Danielle stared at him searchingly. Abruptly, a smile curled her lips. "I think I misjudged all of you."

  Kiel lifted his dark brows questioningly.

  She shook her head. "A machine wouldn't consider lying to cover its ass," she said dryly, but then she frowned, remembering that Gertrude had.

  He stiffened. "We are not machines."

  "I'm beginning to realize that and it isn't comforting, I can tell you."

  "Why?"

 
She considered it and finally shrugged. "It changes things."

  Curiosity welled in him. "How?"

  She shifted uncomfortably. "In a lot of ways," she said cryptically and got off the stool abruptly. "I'm hungry. You think it'll be alright for me to eat any of this?"

  "Manuta determined that your nutritional requirements are much the same as ours. It should be safe to eat whatever appeals to you."

  "Mmm," she responded non-committally. She'd taken care to focus on the food that she'd first eaten since that hadn't had any adverse effect on her, but she was getting damned tired of the eggs. "The problem is, I don't know what any of it is and I can't tell by looking at the packages."

  "I will choose something for you," he volunteered, following her to the shelves and studying the supply. "This is one I like. Mayhap you will also like it."

  Danielle looked up at him as he reached past her, studying his face.

  He paused, looking down at her. Almost with a will of their own, his eyes moved to her lips and stayed there as his mind flooded with the memory of touching them with his own lips. Heat suffused him, but it was entirely different from the discomfort he had felt before. This heat was all consuming and brought urges to the forefront that made him stiffen to resist them. He swallowed a little convulsively. "Before … when we were inside Manuta and you touched your lips to mine, what was that about?"

  Danielle blinked at him. Her cheeks reddened. "The kiss?"

  "It is called the kiss?"

  She chuckled huskily. "A kiss, to kiss."

  "Why did you do it?"

  She smiled ruefully. "To distract you."

  Disappointment flickered through him. "You succeeded," he said flatly.

  Danielle watched him as he moved away to heat the container. Realizing he'd taken down two, she went to the drawer where Baen had found the eating utensils and took out two, and then found two drinking vessels and filled them with water from the cooling unit. He studied the seating arrangements when he returned and finally set the containers down, settling across from her. Without a word, he dug into his meal with every appearance of the intention of focusing completely on it.

  "The Danu," Danielle said hesitantly after a moment, "they can … transform themselves into other … things?"

  Kiel lifted his head and sent her a piercing look. "I assume so," he said a little stiffly. "We are Danu."

  "I wasn't trying to insult you. I was just curious."

  He seemed to wrestle with himself. "We only know what Manuta has in its memory banks." He paused and corrected that statement. "We only know what Manuta has given us to know. We were created here. None of us have ever seen anyone of the parent race."

  Danielle frowned, considering that and realized it meant that they had never been 'exposed' to actual living beings if he meant what she thought he did. "Manuta is a robot?" she asked in surprise.

  He looked equally surprised by the question. "Of course."

  Danielle bit her lip. "I had this crazy idea that he was … like a deity."

  He seemed to consider that. "I suppose, in a sense, Manuta could be considered in that light since it created us." He grimaced wryly. "We do not worship Manuta or have rituals, if that is what you are suggesting."

  Embarrassed, Danielle shrugged. "It was just the way you said it-that Manuta would decide."

  He stared at her blankly.

  "When you were talking about my ship right after I got here?" she prompted.

  She could see he was reviewing the memory. He shrugged. "Manuta was designed to create the settlement here. Manuta makes the decisions based upon its programming."

  Danielle digested that while she finished the food he'd given her. "Either I was starving or that was exceptionally good. I'm not going to ask what it was," she said with amusement.

  He seemed pleased. He frowned after a moment. "I regret that I frightened you. It was not my intention."

  She'd never thought it was. It had been his possible intentions that had scared her, but she didn't see any point in bringing that up. "Well … I am a prisoner."

  His frown deepened. "You are not," he said finally. "As Baen said, you are a guest."

  Danielle eyed him skeptically. "Then I'm not confined here?"

  He seemed to wrestle with that. "I have not been ordered to keep you confined," he responded finally. "For your safety, you cannot leave the settlement without an escort. The wild beasts of this world do not often come near the settlement, but they have been known to. The same with the primitives."

  "There are intelligent beings indigenous to this world?"

  He shrugged. "I am not certain that they are what you would call 'intelligent'. They are beasts. They run in packs-attack in packs. They are more intelligent than the other beasts, but not a great deal more-only intelligent enough to be more dangerous."

  "They sound a lot like the higher life forms on Meridie, my home world," Danielle responded wryly, getting up to dispose of her container and place the drinking vessel and utensil in the cleaning unit. "Maybe you could escort me? I'm really tired of staying inside."

  He seemed reluctant but after a moment he nodded and gestured toward the door. Relieved that he'd agreed to let her out, even for a few moments, Danielle was almost equally unnerved at the prospect considering the way the Danu stared at her. She discovered almost as soon as they stepped outside that the settlement was virtually abandoned, however.

  "Where is everyone?" she asked in surprise.

  "We have been ordered to construct a secure building where we can reassemble your craft."

  Danielle looked at him sharply, feeling her heart leap with hopefulness. "Really?"

  He smiled faintly. "Truly."

  "Then … you're going to let me go?"

  His expression tightened. "We have been ordered to use your craft to reach the home world of the Danu and inform them that the colony is established and awaits them. When we have done that, we are to return you to your people."

  Danielle's excitement took a nosedive. They were planning on going with her? And detouring to their world first? That didn't sound good. "How long will that take?"

  "We have not been given the coordinates, yet, or the estimated time it will take to make the trip. The only thing that I know is that this world was more distant from the home world than the other worlds chosen as possible colonies. It was also deemed least desirable."

  Something about his explanation just didn't seem to fit, but Danielle decided to mull it over later. "So … everyone is out working on the building?"

  "Yes. Manuta thought it best to make certain the ship could be secured while under construction. The primitives have been known to attack without warning and destroy anything they cannot carry off."

  "The little bastards!" Danielle muttered. "So they're, basically, just a pain in the ass?"

  It took Kiel a moment to respond. When he finally did, he looked amused. "I could not say if they are bastards or not. By your definition of the word, I would guess so, but I do not think that you would consider them little. They are taller than the Danu and bulky brutes besides. I cannot find a reference to the other comment."

  "It's a figure of speech-both of them, actually. It means they go out of their way to be a nuisance for no apparent reason."

  "This is true, though it is not for 'no apparent' reason. They are territorial and they consider this their territory."

  "Too bad! It's yours, right?"

  Kiel studied her for a long moment. He had never considered it to be. They were in essence merely caretakers who had once had some possibility of becoming colonists. Now they had been reduced to the status of merely caretakers once more-in Manuta's consideration. "It belongs to the Danu."

  She sent him a curious look, but since they'd reached the gate by that time she was distracted by the activity on the plain. "When did they start?" she asked in surprise.

  "Shortly after dawn, I suppose. I was not there when they began to prepare the foundation." She sent him a questioning look
, but did not ask him where he had been, though he could see the question in her eyes.

  After that brief pause, Danielle continued, walking briskly. She slowed her steps again when they'd covered perhaps half the distance between the city walls and the building under construction. "I don't see any women. I haven't seen any since I got here."

  "Because there are none," Kiel said flatly.

  Danielle sent him a startled look. Even though she hadn't seen any women, she had assumed there must be some around-somewhere. "Manuta didn't make any when he made you?"

  Kiel's lips tightened. "Manuta could only use the genetic materials entrusted to it. The contributors were all male."

  Dismay flickered through her-for several reasons. "That's … that's …." Words failed her. Creepy for her. How was it for them? "I guess you don't really need the headache," she muttered finally. "Guys usually seem to enjoy each other's company a lot more than they enjoy the company of women anyway. I suppose it just seems … uh … natural, huh?"

  "No," he said flatly. "It does not."

  Confusion filled her and wariness. She knew she shouldn't pursue it. Really, it wasn't her business, and she couldn't even claim it was more than simple curiosity, that it had some bearing on her presence. "But … there never were any women. Aren't you used to it?"

  "There is a difference between accepting, now, when there is promise of a change in the future and accepting something that is less than ideal that will never change."

  She'd known it was a bad idea to ask! Talk about awkward! How to respond to something like that? Say she was sorry? She was, both that she'd brought it up and for their situation, but she had troubles enough of her own. "I'm sorry," she responded finally, "but as long as you're alive there's hope things will change and … if it doesn't change to suit you, you can make a change, you know."

  He paused, glancing at her sharply in surprise, bringing their progress across the field to a halt significant enough it had to be noticeable to everyone that their conversation wasn't idle. Just about the time his expression became thoughtful it dawned on Danielle that she was talking to a cyborg-about other cyborgs! God! That was the problem with being impulsive! She never completely thought things through!