The Acolytes of Crane (Theodore Crane, #1)(103)
We had been on the move for an hour, and my hope was that we could breach the city of Jaakruid before sunrise.
The Tritillian world was filling my lungs with clean air from the abundance of plant life. I was able to bolt through the dense jungle floor of the forest with ease. I was running, but my strides were quickened by my lifters.
The forest was alive in the night. The moons were eclipsed by their neighboring planet. The outer rims of these celestial bodies shone through the mist and illuminated the forest during the hours prior to the sunrise.
After such a long march, I just had to take a leak.
‘We will break here, fifty-fifty security around the perimeter, one soldier watches while the others rest,’ I called out to my troops.
My warriors broke into the perimeter to guard off against any insurgents while I drained the contents of my bladder. It felt as if all the stress had been exonerated from my body. I have to admit, if I held it any longer my kidneys may have sprung a leak. Thank goodness Elons did not have the same pressing urge that I did—ever.
I took the airborne scout devices from the pouch upon my belt, and released them to scan the terrain. Using my X23-75’s, I hovered near the shelf of the forest and listened in on a conversation from two of my Elon fighters as they conversed between themselves.
‘Mum gave life to us, for us to immediately go into war?’ an Elon asked his battle buddy, with a raspy voice.
‘It isn’t war that made us, love made us. Mum put us to battle for love, for Theodore-zzz, and for our future free from tyranny,’ another Elon said, buzzing and lisping.
‘Well said.’
‘Watch your sector.’
‘I am. No one will enter my territory without meeting my arrow’s edge.’
‘You have been saying that all night.’
‘It is the truth.’
‘You two could not hit a moonflower with a cantaloupe,’ Ed said, and the Elons laughed.
I swooped in toward my metal friend on my lifters and said, ‘I thought you were just a robot. I didn’t know you could joke.’
‘I am a robot, but that does not mean I cannot observe an opportunity to make a joke. My maker made me so that I could analyze a situation and insert a joke, but I have not been given the necessary algorithm for emotion. You will not see me laugh and if you do, it will sound weird. I only act out humor by its definition, not its physiological function.’
Ed was my favorite acquaintance the entire adventure.
Spirits were high, and it was time for us to pick up. It ailed me to think about all the unknown dangers in that jungle, but just like late grandpa Marv said, ‘Some things you just cannot control.’
I was a fifteen-year-old teenager with an army of Elons, versus two mighty armies: Dacturon warlords, led by my archenemy Travis, and the Dark Elons, led by Quasikeum. We were soon to collide.
We just believed we could win on our esprit de corps alone. The airborne sphere-like robotic scouts returned to me and projected, for my private viewing only, a frontal holographic image of a large tree fort city. We were near Jaakruid.
I gave the signal to move out, and everyone picked up gear and pushed forward. I heard the bows clacking quietly against the backs of my Elons.
We ran using stealth, with only slight resistance. The jungle gradually thickened from the ground up to about fifteen feet. I drew upon the power of my rolesk to control the Dietons in the vicinity.
Using my rolesk, I propelled a massive force ahead, causing the trees to part away from an opening path through the lush growth. This tactically allowed us to move rapidly through less-than-friendly terrain, while the platoons of enemies following us had great difficulty making any progress. Like magic, I had created an instantaneous spacious labyrinth for every foot I took, accessible only to us as we moved along. The Elons had no trouble meandering through the jungle maze, but if I was going to shelter our clandestine advance from the perception of on-looking evil—I had to be innovative. I followed those thoughts with uttering of self-assurance: we are ninjas!
We didn’t lose anyone to the grip of the wood, and I was at the tip of our attack. Ahead, in the distance, I could see the wooden trunks of what were similar to redwoods.
The trunks were as wide as the base of a water tower. This was my signal. We were very close to Jaakruid. I threw up a solid fist in the air to halt our forward progression. All Elons within my field of vision stood up straight upon my command.
‘If I might have a word, Theodore?’ Ed asked, injecting sound into the silence.
‘Shhh,’ I hushed my robot friend, ‘Ed, relax. I think we are at the base of Jaakruid. What I will do is send a quarter of our forces in search of the Morlorian to distract it. If it is even here.’
‘I must advise against that, Master Theodore. We need the dedication of our full army to successfully launch a massive assault. To delegate a split away from the group will invite weakness to our main army. If there is indeed a Morlorian, we can deal with it as the time arises. We must continue on.’
‘Ed, I never knew I could find such knowledge in a hunk of metal,’ I said.
‘It isn’t what you are made of that gives meaning to your existence. It is the weight of your actions that presents your definitive worth in the end.’
On the tail end of those words, my raised hand dropped forward to signal the attack. We clung to our silence, because a surprise strike was our most effective weapon.