When Sophia checked to the right, it was obvious where the android had gone: there was an open door about fifteen feet down the corridor. Horus led the way, of course.
Sophia took a long look at the ancient makeshift barricade before she followed. It was covered in dust that was probably almost as ancient as it was and there was no sign of disturbance by anything larger than mice. Sophia hoped that ant there weren’t any surprises hidden in or beyond it and not that there might be mouse-sized mobile bombs or sothing. She didn’t have the tools to deal with that. The only person who probably did was Los’en, and that was simply because he could blow everything up if he were here.
The room the android disappeared into was about ten by fifteen, a little small for all of them, but it had sothing that imdiately explained why the android picked it: there was a door on the far end of the room. It was the only room Sophia could think of that was both small and had multiple entrances, which ant that this floor was once again designed with a different purpose in mind than the higher levels.
If there had ever been any furniture in the room, it was long gone. Sophia’s guess was that it was probably part of the barricade in the hallway. There were, however, so things on the wall. They were a variety of sizes, but they were all rectangular and thin, a lot like a poster. Sophia couldn’t imdiately make them out, because under the thin coat of dust they seed to have acquired they were simply different shades of gray.
Xin’ri would probably be excited and want to clean them to see what they were. Sophia focused on the more important aspect of the room right now: the people in it. In addition to the android she’d seen before, there were two more. The two new androids stood between Horus and the original android. They seed even more chanical than the first android.
They were nearly identical, with a clearly artificial body made of both silvery and dark tal; the only apparent decoration was a set of glowing blue spirals on their chest pieces and sothing that looked like a degraded rune on the forehead. Their heads were also visibly chanical, with the only flesh visible the portion from the nose to the chin. Even that had almost organic-looking tallic ridges. Their eyes glowed a solid orange.
“Who are you? How did you get here?” The words spilled out of Lan’ti’s mouth the mont he stepped into the room.
The two identical androids didn’t react at all. They didn’t even seem to have noticed that people were entering the room, though Sophia was inwardly certain they saw everything. That was one advantage of eyes that glowed, she guessed; it was impossible to see where they were looking as long as they kept their heads still.
The original android, the one that looked like a woman, did turn slightly to face Lan’ti. She spoke in the sa language as before, so Sophia understood what she said almost imdiately after she spoke. This ti, Sophia noticed a slight lag in the translation, as if whatever was doing the translation had to wait for enough to be said to accurately translate. “I do not understand you. What language are you speaking? Why do you not speak Kestii?”
“He doesn’t know Kestii,” Sophia answered.
The woman turned her head towards Sophia. “Are you the coordinator, then? Or are you a translator?”
Sophia blinked. She reached out ntally to Dav. “Did I say that in English?”
“Yes, why do you ask?” Dav’s silent answer confused Sophia even more.
“She understood .” Sophia was a little shaken by the fact that Innate Communication worked both ways even when she wasn’t trying to use it. “You understand her, too, right?”
“No.” Dav seed to think for a mont. “She isn’t in our network. I bet we’d all understand her if I added her. I’m not sure I should.”
“Don’t,” Sophia requested. “I forgot your Innate Communication changed. Uh, do you think you can add her?”
“There’s no way to tell without trying.” There was a smile in Dav’s answer, even if it wasn’t on his face. “Can you translate for us, or should we wait on Volat? He should be here montarily, and if she’s speaking Kestii, he should be able to understand her.”
“He knows the culture,” Sophia reluctantly admitted. “I don’t know how good the translations are, either. Maybe they’re better, but without cultural knowledge, who knows what I’m missing?” Sophia had run into that in the past. Most of the ti, it didn’t matter, but when it did it was always an unpleasant surprise.
“Tell Volat you can help, then,” Dav suggested. “I’m sure he’ll be happy for the assistance.”
Sophia gave Dav a doubtful look. She didn’t know Volat that well, but every ti she caught him talking to Lan’ti, Volat was complaining about soone else’s translation.
Sophia turned back to the android, who waited calmly. She didn’t seem to have even noticed that Sophia took far too long to answer. “I can help translate, but our primary translator is on his way. What did you an by coordinator?”
“You can help tr-” Lan’ti’s shocked exclamation was muffled when Ci’an put a hand over her brother’s mouth. For so reason, Ci’an was quietly laughing. It was probably so brother/sister thing; Sophia could tell that Ci’an was trendously amused, but that didn’t tell her why.
“I told you.” Ci’an’s words were barely audible. “Never bet against those two. They’re straightforward, open, and honest, but they always have another trick. And anyway, of course they can translate; they’re from outside the Broken Lands! How do you think they understand you?”
Sophia actually understood Lan’ti because he spoke English. Sophia still thought that was weird; this was another universe, but people here spoke the sa language as her ho and even shared so of the sa idioms. Dav’s world seed to be even closer than here, since his English shared more of the cultural baggage.
At the sa ti, she did understand the android because of the Innate Communication Ability the Guide gave her. It would have been needed if everyone didn’t speak English. It was probably best if she established that. “It’s a gift of the Guide, from when we arrived in the Broken Lands. I’d rather let Volat translate, anyway; he should know more than just the words.”
“Is that a vote of confidence I hear?” Volat’s voice ca from just outside the room, followed by the man himself as he squeezed past a couple of the people crowding the entrance so they could see what was happening in the room. “Of course I can translate. Understanding the past requires understanding the Kestii Empire and that ans knowing the language.”
“What are the Broken Lands?” The question was soft and clear but completely emotionless. Sophia didn’t even hear curiosity.
“We reside in the Broken Lands,” Volat answered imdiately. His words were in the sa language as the android’s, but they sounded subtly different. Perhaps they were more like modern English, or perhaps it was an accent; either way, the translation didn’t preserve the difference. It sounded almost like his normal voice.
The android frowned. It was oddly practiced, as if she knew it would get her aning across better than words but had to think about it to make the movent. “I have never heard of these Broken Lands. They are not on the maps that my…” She stopped short and seed to swallow the next word she’d intended to say. Sophia had the feeling she’d almost said more than she ant to, though Sophia couldn’t guess what it might be.
Volat seed to perk up, even though he’d seed happy enough earlier. “You have maps of the Kestii Empire? Maps from before the Breaking?”
Sophia shook her head. Even she knew that was a terrible way to tell soone that their civilization had fallen. However obvious it seed, that still wasn’t the right way to say it.
The android didn’t react the way Sophia expected. “Yes, there are maps. Most of them are data representations instead of physical items; most physical items have degraded in the ti since they were created. I do not believe you would be able to access the data representations. Records say that very few humans had that capability.”
Sophia thought that was an odd way to say it if the android had been around since the Kestii Empire fell, which implied she hadn’t been. “How old are you?” It was a rude question, but she didn’t think the android would mind. On the sa note, she was tired of calling her an android, even in her own mind. “And what’s your na?”
“I am Scout,” the android answered with no gesture beyond shifting her gaze towards Sophia. “I have spent so of the ti since my creation in recharge-stasis, where I cannot asure ti, and in any case ti asurent is difficult with no external markers. My best estimate of my age is two tendays.”
If she was only twenty days old, she’d been alive longer than Sophia had been at the ruins, but not by much. Lan’ti’s team had definitely been here longer than twenty days. “With a na like Scout … you were created because of us, weren’t you?”
Scout nodded. It was a deliberate action, but her flat tone of voice didn’t quite reflect the certainty of her movent. “I believe so. I was created to investigate mana disturbances. Your presence at the edge of the disturbed layer indicates that you are likely the cause. Have you been destroying ruins apparitions? That seems the most likely direct chanism for the disturbances, since the ones I had to destroy caused similar fluctuations.”
“And bone remnants,” Sophia said with a frown. She hadn’t noticed any mana disturbances from the killed apparitions. Did that an that Scout was more sensitive than Sophia? That was a little disturbing if it was true. Sophia was used to easily noticing mana movents that others had to work to understand.
“I thought you were going to let
lead?” Volat asked in English.
His smile made it seem like a gentle reminder rather than a rebuke, but Sophia flushed anyway. He was right; she was supposed to be letting him ask the questions. “Yeah, ah, go ahead.”
“Tell
about the mana fluctuations,” Volat asked as he turned back towards Scout. “Do they happen often? Are they a problem?”
Ah. That explained why Volat wasn’t upset; she’d opened a line of inquiry that he was interested in. Curiosity trumped irritation for him, apparently.
Scout shook her head. “No, I am supposed to ask you a question. You asked why I am here but have not said why you are here. Why are you here?”
“We’re exploring the ruin,” Volat answered easily. “Ruins are the best source of information on the past; they can also contain relics of great value, both historical and magical. We don’t know what’s here, so we want to find out. You could help us if you share what you know.”
Scout frowned again. It seed a little more natural this ti, but it was still obviously sothing she had to think about. After a mont, she nodded once. “That is enough, thank you. Please wait here; I will be back.”
“Be back? But we were just getting started!” Volat took a step towards Scout.
The two male androids that seed to be there to protect Scout took a step towards Volat in unison. It was the first ti they’d moved at all since Sophia entered the room; they’d been still enough that she’d almost started to dismiss them as colorful statues, even though she knew they weren’t.
“That’s enough,” Scout said as she turned towards the door. “Don’t follow . I will be back.”
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