Alliance

Alliance

Two Worlds Book
#2

by Timothy L.
Cerepaka

Published by Annulus
Publishing

Copyright © Timothy L.
Cerepaka 2015. All rights reserved.

Formatting by Timothy L.
Cerepaka

Contact:
[email protected]

Cover design by Elaina Lee
of
For the Muse Design
(http://www.forthemusedesign.com/)

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electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written
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permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, send an email
to the above contact.

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Chapter
1

D
ate: Asiday, fifth day of the
week, Zaxo 10th, 3050 XE, six years after the last Xeeon city
election

Time: 10:00 AM XST (Xeeonite Standard
Time), 10:00 PM DST (Delanian Standard Time)

Location: Ra-Dela, capital city of
Se-Dela, largest and most powerful country on Dela. More
specifically, in Ra-Dela's dwarfish slums, though do not have much
information about this particular area, as Database records have
little facts on this part of Ra-Dela, aside from noting that many
violent criminals and mentally disturbed individuals of all
Delanian races live here due to stigma and Se-Dela's lack of mental
health resources. Best to be cautious, as records indicate that
visiting Xeeonites have been known to be attacked by this slum's
residents. Activating sensors to avoid being taken by surprise.

Objective: Find and apprehend wanted
criminal Jornan ah Kona. She is wanted on both Dela and Xeeo for a
variety of crimes. Her most recent crime is running an illegal
vampire feeding ring in Xeeo, which resulted in twenty deaths
total: ten humans, four elves, and six dwarves.

After completing objective, I will return
to Xeeo, with Jornan in tow, where the Xeeonite High Court will
judge her in accordance with the law. Doubt she will be given a
light sentence, considering her long list of crimes, but it is not
in my place to speculate about such matters. Only to bring to
justice those who have broken the law.

I stand on top of an abandoned building in
Ra-Dela's southern edge, where few people live. Sensors indicate
that, through the hard wood ceiling of the warehouse, that Jornan
is directly beneath my feet. Jornan is also a witch, which is how I
locate her in the first place. My sensors pick up a skyras energy
spike coming from this warehouse. The spike lasted thirty-six
seconds, but that had proven to be more than enough time for me to
confirm its source.

Daylight is low. Sun is setting in the
east, making visibility difficult. Night vision senses activating,
but will not receive full usage of them until the sun goes down
completely. If warehouse lacks interior light, I may be able to use
this earlier; if not, I will survive.

Paralysis repulser blaster—PRB for
short—is at 98% power. It should have been 100%, but Portals always
take a fraction of a machine's overall energy levels whenever a
machine such as myself travels through them. Ninety-eight percent
will work, though I must not get cocky, because Jornan is still a
threat with her skyras rings, which have unknown magical
properties.

Perform a quick run-down of my various
programs.

Connection to Database: Lost, as the
Database does not have a server in Dela. Have to rely on mobile
Database, which is housed in my memory unit, though due to storage
capacities is far more abridged than the full Database. Mobile
Database files are 10.0.2, which means they are up to date, as
10.0.2 is the latest update for the mobile files.

Arms and legs are fully functional, though
left knee squeaks slightly. Quickly fix with tiny droplets of oil
from finger, but make note to bring knee to the attention of one of
the certified technicians back in HQ after I return to Xeeo. My
quick fix will do for now.

Optics are not obscured. Zoom in
feature—which allows me to see two dwarves arguing in a building on
the other side of town—works, as did zoom out feature, which
returns my vision to its original size.

Alert! Audio receptors pick up sounds of
feet in leather boots coming up behind me. I whirl around, aiming
my PRB, only to see that it is my temporary ally in Dela, Sir Alart
Garson of the Knights of Se-Dela.

Sir Alart is a tall human specimen, male,
wearing typical metalligick armor that all members of the Knights
wear. It covers his body from head to toe, with knobs along the
shoulders, arms, and chest to allow its user to activate the skyras
energy stored in it. Carries a sword by his side, a silver-white
one, which I recognize as the best kind of weapon to use to kill a
vampire. Quite appropriate, because records indicate that Jornan
typically works with vampires and vampires cannot be killed via
most normal means.

Unlike most Delanian humans, Sir Alart's
left eye is mechanical, a generic type of mechanical eyeball that
is popular among those who lost their eyeballs in an accident. Its
pupil extends and retracts as he draws closer to me, as if he is
trying find the best setting to view the situation.

“
You ready for this?”
Sir Alart asks. I sense tenseness in his tone.

I nod. “Of course. I have nothing to fear.
I have you and the other Knights to aid me should the target prove
difficult to catch.”

“
And you're also a
robot,” Sir Alart points out. “Which means you can't feel fear at
all, right?”

Again, I nod. “That is correct, Sir Alart.
All emotions are foreign to me, though I've found I don't need them
in order to be an effective law enforcer.”

Sir Alart shudders, as if I had just said
something disturbing, though my reference files for human social
interaction do not indicate I misspoke. “I just can't imagine it.
Ruthlessly enforcing the law, without any sort of mercy or kindness
behind your actions. Makes me glad we Knights are mostly
organic.”

Despite my lack of emotion, I begin to
question just how useful an ally Sir Alart is. Most Delanians are
so afraid of robots like myself that they do not talk even this
much to me; even so, Sir Alart does not appear to like me that
much. He seems to view our alliance the same way that the street
cleaners of Xeeon view their job: an unpleasant task that needs to
be completed quickly.

Were I a human, I might be offended by
that; however, I am not a human. It doesn't matter to me if Alart
considers me his best friend or not. What matters is that we are
both law enforcers who, with luck and skill, are about to put an
infamous criminal who has terrorized both of our worlds for decades
behind bars.

Nonetheless, I ask, “Are the rest of the
Knights in position, in accordance with the plan?”

“
Every last one of
them,” Alart confirms. He gestures with his hands at the area
surrounding the buildings. “They'll strike like cobras as soon as
they see the signal.”

“
Excellent,” I say.
“They have the communicators I gave them?”

Alart grimaces. He pulls a tiny, handheld
radio from his armor and waves it in front of me. “Yes. And they
all know how to use these infernal contraptions, too, so you don't
have to worry about anyone messing up.”

“
Good,” I say, “though I
notice you sound less than enthusiastic about these
devices.”

Alart puts his away as he says, “Because
they're unnatural. The way we Knights usually remain in contact in
situations like this, we either have a portal monkey to deliver
handwritten notes to each other or develop a series of bird calls
we can use to signal our positions to each other without giving our
position away to the enemy or some other signal that only we would
recognize.”

“
Both methods sound
inefficient to me,” I remark. “But it does not matter. I see that
we are both armed and ready to go, so why don't we head down and
find out what kind of party Jornan is throwing?”

I wait for Alart's response, but the
Knight simply stares at me as if my head had popped off its
sprockets and rolled at his feet.

“
Was that … a joke?”
says Alart in disbelief. “From you?”

I nod and smile. “Yes. It was funny,
wasn't it?”

“
It was …” Alart seems
to struggle with finding the appropriate words to criticize my
humor. “Why did you tell a joke? I thought bots like you didn't
have a sense of humor.”

“
We normally don't,” I
explain. “But the Xeeon City Government has been making a concerted
effort to 'humanize' us J bots, because they are starting to think
that our normal robotic selves are frightening to the
citizenry.”

“
Uh, okay,” says Alart.
“But—”

“
To achieve this goal, I
have been downloading many electronic books on humor so I can
become the funniest robot in all of the two worlds,” I continue
(because I feel it is important for him to understand completely
what I am doing to achieve this goal). “I have downloaded books by
such famous Xeeonite comedians as 'Mad-Hammer' Hagan and 'Master of
Comedy' Killan. I have learned the secrets of humor from their
books; in fact, Hagan's book is titled
Secrets of Humor
,
appropriately enough.”

Sir Alart shakes his head in exasperation.
“I've never heard of either of those two comedians, but whatever.
Let's just do our job. You can joke later, after we've busted
Jornan and her cronies.”

“
An excellent
suggestion, Sir Alart,” I say. I tap the side of my head. “But may
I suggest that you take your attitude and sell it to the Attitude
Store on Sixth street? Because I hear you can make good money doing
that.”