Cold Reception -- Part Four

"What's that?" Azur asked, smirking. "My sister, considering a vacation?"

"Well, kind of," Erol said. "She doesn't exactly want to go on holiday, so to speak. She says she wants to go to Zelan."

Azur set the graphs she had been studying down on her desk and stared Erol right in the eye. "Zelan. For what, may I ask?"

Erol swallowed, hard. Azur was always so easygoing and lighthearted, but at the mention of Dahl and Zelan, she had become more serious than Erol was used to seeing her. Not since the ordeal with Son had she looked so concerned.

"I don't really know," Erol said, sitting down in the chair on the side of Azur's desk opposite the blue-haired Numan. "She said something about 'finding out who she is,' or something like that."

Azur buried her face in her hands and shook her head. "Oh great. Here we go again."

"What is it?" Erol asked.

"Yeah, I guess you wouldn't know. You haven't known Dahl long enough yet. But every couple years she gets on this kick about discovering herself where she questions the morality of genetic tinkering, and the whole thing usually ends up as a huge fight with Wren, if she speaks to him at all that is, and then Dahl refuses to speak with Wren for another year or two."

Erol leaned back and closed his eyes. "Just what we all needed. She's done this before?"

"Yes, but she never gets that far. Either Wren puts her off or she loses her nerve and never even talks to him. Then she forgets about it for awhile, burying herself in her work. Until something triggers it again. After she sort of made up with Wren, back when Mium came, I thought this little cycle might end. Apparently I was wrong."

"Apparently."

"I suppose you'll be in charge while she's gone," Azur said, picking up her papers again.

"Actually, Azur, I'm going with her."

"Okay. Then who, exactly, is going to be running things while you're both away?"

Erol smiled.

"Oh, no way," Azur said definitively. "I'm just as tired out as you guys are! Mium and I were going to hop over to Dezo."

"Oh, are you going on a tour of the temples?" Erol asked. "Or maybe lodge-hopping?"

Azur shook her head. "No. Mium's never seen much of Dezo. She just wants to see it. I suppose we'll visit Jut, maybe jaunt around to some of the bigger cities, enjoy the night-life." Azur smiled. "In that case, I guess I'll be exploring unfamiliar territory as much as Mium will. But the whole plan's blown out of the water if Dahl--"

"Now you know darn well that Dahl would never deny her only identical twin sister the vacation she's been looking forward to," Erol said, leaning forward and taking Azur's hand. "She's been worried about you, and frankly, so have I. You haven't been your usual...happy-go-lucky self the past few weeks."

Azur giggled and blushed. "The stress gets to everyone around here, Erol, not just you and Dahl."

"Don't I know it! So you and Mium, you go make your plans and have a good time on Dezo, okay? Man, I really wanted to go take it easy, myself. I'm jealous."

"Well, don't be. Like I said, it's not like we're going skiing or--"

"Skiing?" asked a new voice. "Wow, I've never gone skiing!" Erol and Azur looked over to the office door to find it now open a crack, with Mium's fiery-maned head poking its way in. "When do we leave?"

"Now you see what you've done, Erol?" Azur asked. "Sorry, Mium, but I'm not going skiing. And that's final!"

"Oh, come on," Mium said, stepping into the office. She stood next to Azur's desk and set a clipboard on top of it. "You're the one who's been saying I've been cooped up for too long."

"Yeah, about three thousand years too long," Erol said with a chuckle.

"So why not go out and have some exciting new experiences?" Mium asked. She was not about to give up. "I don't know about you, but I'm just dying for some sort of adventure!"

Azur smiled but shook her head. "And I don't know about you, but Son's shutdown and the switch over to Daughter's datanet has caused enough excitement for one lifetime, at least as far as I'm concerned! You combat androids... Personally, I would much rather just find a cozy lodge off in the mountains where I can sit by a fire with a hot drink and forget all--" She thumped the papers on her desk ruefully. "--of this!"

"But that'd be perfect!" Mium said. "A lodge, in the mountains, on a planet covered with snow..."

Azur rolled her eyes and laughed. "Fine, whatever. But I promise you I'm not spending my whole vacation there."

"How about a week?"

"Deal."

"Deal! Oh, Azur this is so cool! Thanks, Erol!" And with that, the happy android bounded out of the room, already dreaming of the adventure waiting just around the corner on an unfamiliar planet.

"Well, at least someone's happy," Azur said, stuffing her papers into a folder with disgust and then shutting them away in a desk drawer. "Now for the rest of us."

"I hear that," Erol said, standing up. "I wish you luck. As for me, I said I'd meet Dahl after lunch, which makes me late already..."

"But wait!" Azur called after him. "Who's going to take over while we're gone?"

"Don't worry about it!" Erol said. "I'm sure Dahl will think of something!"

When he had gone, Azur plopped down in her chair and rested her weary head on the desktop. "Dahl? Have an opinion? Gee, I guess there's a first time for everything."

The construction on Dark Force's new metallic body was not half finished when Betty shut down the construction arm. The robot was exhausted. She wheeled a few steps away from the arm and was silent.

Dark Force rose up on his hands and stared at Betty. He gave her a toothless sneer. His red mechanical eye glowered menacingly, its core becoming a blinding white. "What are thou doing?" he asked.

"I cannot proceed," Betty said wearily. "I haven't the know-how for this extensive a job."

Dark Force pounded his metal fist into the table on which he lay, denting and cracking it severely. "Then who does?" he demanded. "You cannot leave me like this, with...wires hanging out of me!" Dark Force indicated his midsection, which was still a mess of electrodes, cords, and loose metal plates.

Betty was quiet.

"In all of Algol surely there is one who has the wisdom necessary to finish me!" Dark Force went on. "Robot, if you do not comply at once I will destroy this pathetic little station, taking you and your filthy Dezorian master along with it!"

The threat on Tirotul tapped new wells of compliance deep within Betty. "Very well. There...there is one who can fix anything, one who can...create anything."

"You will call him here."

"I will call him here."

"And be quick about it. I ache to be able to move freely once again. You have no idea what it is like to be so restrained!"

"Oh, but I do," Betty whispered as Dark Force, still pouting, lowered himself back onto the damaged table. Silently and internally Betty logged onto Daughter's datanet and issued a simple request. "Put me through to Wren. And yes. It is an emergency."

Beep, beep, beep. The noise filled Wren's ears.

"What is it?" Wren asked, looking up from his work which lay spread out on a table before him. "I said I did not wish to be disturbed." Even as he spoke, he continued to work fervently over the blueprints and models of the new spacecraft he was designing. The worktable itself was lit from within, but the rest of the room was completely dark.

"I am very sorry, Master Wren," Warren's voice replied. With the speakers concealed by the blackness, one could almost believe that Warren was right there in the room with Wren. "The one who sent the message, a research drone on Dezoris, said that it was an emergency requiring immediate attention from you personally."

Wren paused. "Have you been able to verify the name and location of the drone? I do not wish to be pulled from my research because of a 'prank call.'"

"I have verified it," Warren said. "The robot in question is a Whistle-type assigned to one Dr. Tirotul Urbanich. Dr. Urbanich is a geologist and zoologist currently conducting research on the northern glacier of Dezo. According to Daughter, his last report to the datanet, an announcement concerning the discovery of a new species, was abruptly cut short. Dr. Urbanich's current state is unknown. It would appear, Master Wren, that the call is legitimate."

"Did the robot itself give any indication as to the nature of the emergency?"

"No, Master Wren. It did not."

"Very well," Wren said with resignation, setting his tools down and taking one last look over his work. "Send the coordinates to the computer onboard Landale VII. I will head for Dezo immediately."

"It's done," Betty said. "I've contacted the one known as Wren."

"And he...he is the greatest expert in all of Algol?"

"Yes. Master Wren is an ancient android. He was created at the very end of the civilization similar to the current one which vanished three thousand years ago. For the last two thousand years, Wren has been doing all he can to improve the lives of all Algoians."

Dark Force's eye glittered. "Oh, has he?" The creature smiled. "That will be perfect. Just perfect."

If Betty had blood, it would have run cold. Over the private robot channel, she said, "We must do something, immediately."

"What did you have in mind, Betty?" Belthasar asked.

"I don't know. I'm afraid of what Dark Force will do with Wren. Seeing as Wren has all the resources of Algo at his disposal, the unfolding situation is a recipe for disaster."

"But Wren is so powerful. I cannot imagine anything could harm him, not even this fearsome creature."

"Maybe. Maybe you're right. I certainly hope so."