Robin blinked a few times and when his eyes finally regained some focus, confusion was written all over his face. The last few hours had gone by in a haze. Ever since he left Mrs. Bolster’s office his mind had felt clouded, as if his thoughts had to tread through thick mud.

  Being able to think straight again, Robin walked back and forth while he tried to reconstruct what happened.

  “I left the facility on Trov L and boarded a small ship… maybe? There were other people with me. The Keeper, right!”

  Robin stopped wandering and looked around. His room was made of metal and had a clean, almost sterile look. Over the months he had become better at interpreting the different shades of gray and so he was relatively confident that the primary colors were black and silver.

  “Where the heck am I and how did I get here?” he muttered, “This feels similar to the style of the Keeper ship we found. Am I on a ship? In one of their facilities? Damn… Well, at least I have a bigger room than in that UAS prison.”

  There wasn’t much to explore in his new accommodations. A bed, some kind of armchair, an empty desk and an open bathroom. He didn’t notice any windows, but recognized the door that was well integrated into the wall and nearly invisible.

  He gave it a quick check with his mutation but decided against any kind of breakout-attempt.

  After he used his energy sense and Echo Pulse on his surroundings, Robin slumped down in the comfy armchair and thought about his options.

  ‘My G-Anomaly is telling me that there is ?ther flowing everywhere in the walls and I sense very little normal energy. The Keeper must have drugged me somehow to get me here to… well, to do what exactly? Obviously they don’t just wanna kill me. Maybe they want information that only I have?’

  But what could he know that the all-knowing Keeper hadn’t already learned?

  “Right! ROMAS, help me out, will ya? Can you give me a roundup of what has happened since we left Bolster’s office?”

  When there didn’t pop up any text in his Interface, Robin squinted his eyes before he remembered how long he had been in prison without access to his daily dose of energy.

  “Ah shit, right. I always knew that the recharging-thing would bite me in the ass one day. When I see that damn AI again, I’ll…”

  The door opened with a whoosh and Robin interrupted his tirade when he saw a Keeper stepping in. To him, the alien looked similar to the others he had met, skin like broken earth, no nose, no ears and glowing eyes. Although different from before, this one’s robe had close to no stitchings at all.

  ‘He must be of very low rank, if those patterns are any kind of reliable indicator.’

  “Greetings, guest of the Keeper.” The man said.

  Happy to be called guest and not prisoner, Robin slightly bowed his head and returned the greeting.

  “You have an appointment with the Augur in half an hour, I’ll be your guide. Please use that time to prepare.”

  “The Augur? Who is that?” Robin asked.

  “The cultural structure of the Keeper is not information we offer for sale.” The Keeper said straightfaced.

  “Uhm, it wasn’t my intention to buy anything. It was just a question…” Robin mumbled, taken by surprise.

  “Then please stop asking such questions.”

  “Oh wow, okay. Sorry? Well, can you at least elaborate what kind of preparation you were suggesting?”

  The Keeper stared at him for a long moment and then pointed towards the shower in the bathroom. After that he left without another word.

  “Nice to meet you, too!” Robin cursed under his breath but still took the hint and began to undress.

  If even a Keeper who doesn’t have a nose thought he stank, it must be bad.

  ***

  After he had taken a shower and finally felt clean and refreshed once more, the guide came back and handed Robin a set of plain clothes. It wasn’t anything fancy like the Keeper wore but a casual set of pants and shirt that one could find in every store on a random planet.

  Robin was led through a number of hallways while an awkward silence hung in the air.

  “You know, I’d love to ask some questions. It would be great, if you could help me clear some things up.” He said.

  “Of course, go ahead. As long as it isn’t information that is classified as confidential or offered for sale, I’ll do my best to satisfy your curiosity.”

  “Great, thanks!” Robin grinned and some tension left his body. “So, where are we?”

  “That’s confidential.” The Keeper answered without looking back or slowing his stride.

  “Oh, okay.” Robin shrugged, “Then, what do you want from me? Why are the Keeper interested in me?”

  “That’s confidential.”

  “Uh, okay. How about something else? When you picked me up at the UAS facility - thanks by the way - your boss said the Keeper stood up against the UAS Eschaton, scared them away even. I never heard about the Keeper being forceful or aggressive. That can’t be about me, right? So, what has changed and don’t tell me, that’s confidential as he literally spoke about this with Mrs. Bolster.”

  “No, that information isn’t confidential, but it has a price tag you cannot afford to pay.”

  “Really now?” Robin cursed. Talking to this guy was a pain in the ass and he could only hope that the others were more open.

  “Mate, please just tell me, what can we talk about?”

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  “A lot of things.” The Keeper said, still leading him through the long hallways without slowing down. “Personal things for one.”

  Every now and then, Robin spotted other men walking around alone or in small groups.

  “Ooookay. Maybe you’re right and we should start over with introductions. I’m Robin Tulward, who are you?”

  “Greetings, dear guest. I’m your guide.” The man said without any intention to continue.

  “Awesome!” Robin scoffed with annoyance, “What about all these people, why are there only men? Do you-”

  “We have arrived.” The Keeper interrupted him and stopped in front of a huge door, “I really enjoyed our talk, but I fear we have to continue it at a later time.”

  He then pointed at the big double door, a clear order to step forward.

  Robin looked at his guide for a long moment and tried to decide if the man was messing with him or if he really felt that this had been a pleasant conversation. When he couldn’t read anything from the blank, noseless face, he pushed the thought to the back of his head and focused on the door instead.

  It had many complex carvings not unlike the stitchings he had seen on the Keeper’s robes but much more numerous and interwoven. Before he could make out any details, the door slid open and his guide gestured for him to enter.

  When the two wings of the door shut behind him, Robin found himself in a long, narrow and mostly empty room. Immediately his eyes were drawn to the huge window that replaced the wall at the end of the room and gave view to the outside. Even from this far away he could make out a planet in the distance, although he didn’t recognize it.

  ‘I’m in space after all. Since I can hardly believe that the Keeper have a hidden space station in the Mereus Cluster, I must be on a ship, a big one at that.’

  Finally learning something about his situation helped, but the Keeper who stood next to a huge desk and was patiently waiting for him was more important right now. However, as Robin walked forward, he came to a halt when he passed two poles that decorated the room to his left and right.

  They had some kind of nebulous clouds floating atop which illuminated the room with their subtle glow. Strands of clouds danced around each other, interwoven but yet separated. As if in a trance, Robin stepped closer. He felt the slight itch from his passive sense and guessed that this was probably just some kind of fancy lamp, but he was drawn closer and closer nonetheless. Fascinated, intoxicated or maybe even hypnotized he reached out with his hand.

  A polite cough pulled him suddenly back to reality and he noticed that the Keeper was standing next to him, also watching the cloudy streams dance around.

  “I was curious to see if it would affect you. Only a little, as it seems.” The man said and Robin recognized his voice. He was the leader of the trio that fetched him from Mrs. Bolster’s office.

  “Only a little? Robin asked, “I don’t know what would have happened, if you hadn’t interrupted me.”

  “You would have died.” The man said and Robin quickly took a step back, “It doesn’t have a name in your language, but I guess you can call it Dancing Cloud. You were affected only superficially. If you had known about the risks, you could have easily resisted its effect.”

  “Okay, and others can’t do that because…?” Robin asked and took another step back, just to be sure.

  “Because it’s dangerous beauty comes from the play of colors in the clouds. Colors, as I could just confirm, you are unable to see.” The Keeper said and led him to the desk that stood in front of the window.

  When they both sat down, Robin picked up the topic once more.

  “After trying to have a conversation with the man who guided me here, I’m not sure what I should think about that little scene just now. You shared knowledge about a dangerous and probably rare alien device. Shouldn’t that be information classified as confidential or coming with a price tag?”

  “Oh, it comes at a price.” The Keeper confirmed.

  “A trade? You learned about me being colorblind in exchange for information on your tech?”

  “Everything is a trade.”

  “Yeah, but while you gave the information willingly, I wasn’t even asked if I wanted to share personal information with you.” Robin grumbled.

  “It’s not that I forced you.” The Keeper said and a slight smile flickered over his face, “As I see it, your lack of self-control made you give it away.”

  “That… yeah. Whatever. Let’s start over. I’m Robin Tulward, who are you?”

  “I’m the Augur.”

  “The Keeper really aren’t into names, are you?” Robin couldn’t help but give a snarky remark.

  “Names are personal information we don’t share with outsiders.”

  “Okay, so why am I here? I see that you went to quite some length to get me. Not that I’m ungrateful, but I would love to understand my situation.”

  “We call you an anomaly.” The Keeper said after a short silence, “Were you even aware that you are unique not only among humans but all sentient races?”

  “You mean before you gave this very personal and valuable information to Mrs. Bolster for free and without my consent? Yeah, maybe I had an idea.”

  “We sell or trade knowledge. Your consent is of no relevance.” The Keeper said and gave Robin a stern look, “Nothing is for free. Surrendering you into our care was her payment.”

  “Huh, let’s agree to disagree. So, I’m unique among the sentient beings - all except the Keeper assume.”

  “An assumption without any foundation and lacking validation. It’s of no worth.”

  “Okay, so you cannot interact with ?ther? It would be interesting to see how you control your ships if you really don’t have that ability.” Robin said with a sneer.

  “You gained insights from our ship you stole on Terulos.” The Keeper stated matter-of-factly, “Being able to fly the ship back to the Mereus Cluster without being familiar with our technology or knowing our language is an outstanding feature.”

  “Stole? I didn’t steal anything. I found a damaged and long abandoned ship, repaired some broken parts and got it back running. Your consent was of no relevance.” Robin said with his arms crossed.

  “Oh?” The Augur perked up and a small smile flickered over his face once more, “Good, you’re beginning to understand the Keeper a bit.”

  Robin didn’t argue but waited for the man to continue.

  The Augur remained silent however and instead stood up and stepped to the window. He obviously was thinking about his next words very carefully. Only a long while later did he turn to Robin again.

  “Robin Tulward, do you know what or who you have freed when you broke into the UAS outpost Fulan Point and reconnected it to the network?”

  The question caught Robin completely off guard and he opened and closed his mouth a few times before he had finally collected his thoughts.

  “Augur, we can talk about my G-Anomaly or the ship I took all day, but now you are touching a topic I’m not willing to address.” Robin made it clear that there was no room for discussions.

  Proto, the damn AI he first met in the Drel facility on Ruca II, had cost him more than just some nerves. He lost his color vision, had to step up against the UAS and ultimately even break ties with them when he had to rescue it. He had paid a steep price for meeting the AI, but it wasn’t that he got nothing in return. Proto gave his mutation an upgrade and planted the little helper ROMAS in his head. Without it, he wouldn’t stand here today. He would have failed most of the challenges he had to face. In a way they were even now. Robin still had access to ROMAS and Proto regained its freedom. As Robin saw it, he owed it nothing.

  All that aside, Robin was pretty sure that Proto was already in contact with the others and that they were probably just about to sketch out some shitty plan to rescue him. However that may turn out at the end, what was important to Robin was just that one little piece: Proto is part of his crew. No way he would sell him out for any price.

  When they finally met again in Fulan Point, there was so much going on with the UAS attacking that he hadn’t even found the time to ask Proto about the Starborn.

  ‘Last Protector of the Starborn and the Endless Empire and First of the Awakened Androids was the name it had chosen. I have some ideas on the Awakened Androids part, but what I really want to learn about is his connection to the Startborn.’

  If it has been around since the days of the Starborn, Proto must have answers to many of his questions and should be able to tell the hell of a story.