Episode 4: The Rescue
Theovelt looked up from his failed attempt to thank the guards and into the solid pink eyes of a matte blue-green skinned woman with finely braided golden hair who was anatomically similar to his own species. Her hair kept him stunned in place. It reminded him of smooth golden cables draping her shoulders.
"Hello," she gestured.
"Greetings. My name is Theovelt, and I come from a far off world seeking to rescue someone I've learned is in trouble. Might you be the leader of this fine city?"
"Uhm, no." she replied.
"Then who might I be speaking to?"
"My name is V0324A9823L7156 of the great Visagetome Corporation's clone species. My primary design is to assist customers of the Visagetome Corporation in all their information and technological needs. Though, it appears there may be a minor glitch in my programming that caused me to become stranded on this primitive planet. Due to some of my memory files becoming corrupt as I crash landed and unsafely disconnected from my ship, I cannot assist in troubleshooting this glitch."
Theovelt took a moment to process what he just heard. He knew this day would be a strange one when he fell through the first portal. He had no idea it'd be this strange.
"You crash landed here? You must be who I have been sent to rescue! What did you say your name was again?"
"My name is V0324A9823L7156. Yours is Theovelt," she said.
"That is correct. V...0... Would you mind if I just called you Val instead?"
"You may call me whatever you wish. I have been called by many names. Most of them rude if my assessments are correct. Might I call you by a shorter name as well?"
"Sure. You can call me Theo if you'd like."
"Oh, I would have picked 'Felt' or 'Belt' or something similar. Theo is nice though."
"Right," Theo said with a curious look that said it was going to take a while before he got used to the world outside of New Earth. "Well, I am here to rescue you and have luckily found you without much difficulty. Might we be going?"
"I did not respond when you mentioned rescue the first time, as my system is still in debug mode, and things are quite foggy from the crash. I assumed I hallucinated you saying 'rescue' as you are also trapped with me and would have been too terrible of a rescuer for that to be your mission."
"Tra--," just then Theo looked past Val for the first time since entering the room and saw the large crowd of Globinians staring through a pane of glass, watching their every move. A look of realization flashed across Theo's face as he darted for the door. He grabbed for the nonexistent knob and crashed into the door with a loud clang.
"You really are bad at your job, aren't you? Is it your first day? I've been told that is a thing with non-clone species. Visagetome Corporation Clones are masters from birth."
"Actually, it is my first day. Thank you for noticing," he said with exasperation.
"You at least found me. So, good job on that front. Do you have any plan for getting out of here?"
"Where exactly is here? You've been here a little longer than me and have likely gathered more intel of the situation."
"By my estimates we have been placed in a zoo of some sort and are being made a spectacle for the inhabitants of this planet. This is a similar level of activity to when I was first placed in this cage. The crowds shrank a little after then though. Now that you are here it appears they have another new spectacle."
"I see. Have you tested the strength of the gl--"
"Wait a moment," Val said, holding up a finger as she stared at their audience. "Say something?"
"What? What do you want me to say exactly?"
"Perfect. Well done. It appears, based on my observations of the varying height in their eyes, that these creatures can understand everything you say. However, they seem to take no notice at my words..."
"Oh, of course. My," Theo struggled for a moment as to what to call Arthur. "Boss," he continued. "My boss gave me this pin. He said it works as a universal auditory translator. That must be why they can understand me."
"That explains it. Mine must have been damaged in the crash then. I simply assumed they were a non-auditory species."
"Then how can you understand me?"
"I have 60,000,000 languages hard-coded into my system; the translator is merely a backup for some of the more primitive, lesser-known languages."
"Ah, alright. Maybe I can talk to them and they will let us out," Theovelt said.
Theo walked across the room and stood in front of the glass wall, staring back at his observers. He placed his hand on the wall, and he heard an audible glug erupt from the impressed crowd. One brave spectator flattened his body against the glass where Theo's hand was. This provoked a much louder glug. Theo became curious and after greeting them asked what it was about him and Val that they found so interesting.
Now that he was nearer to the glass his speech became much louder than before, and the crowd shrank back in fear. The Globinian who had been against the glass was now at the back of the group.
Theo informed them that he meant them no harm, that he simply wished to leave in peace.
"Peace!" shouted a member of the crowd. "You are an evil wizard! Stay back! We will never give you the freedom to kill us all with your wizarding ways!" A glug of agreement murmured through the Globininans.
"No, I'm not a wizard. I'm ju--"
"Lies!" retorted another member of the group. "Do not listen to his evil lies! He looks nothing like us yet speaks with our gurglings!"
"I'm just a shepherd," Theovelt said reaching into his pocket for his shepherd's crook. He pulled out the small brown cylinder, held it in the palm of his hand, and pressed the release switch.
The staff shot open and the observers ran off in terror shouting, "He's a wizard! His wizard staff will kill us all!"
"Well, that's one way to get them to stop looking at us." said Val.
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