The wizards followed the creature in their gyroplane gliding above the trees at a height of three-thousand-two-hundred meters. Through the spotless windows above, the sun hung in the clear blue sky. The trees appeared far brighter basking in the sunlight, stretching beyond the horizon which lost its color to a silver atmosphere. The plane was one large room, like a banquet hall. A small flat robot cruised around, keeping everything in check. A scholar wearing a blue uniform, with white lines wrapped around her hips like a belt, poured a crimson liquid into her glass and noticed the velocity displayed on the walls. “We’ve stopped moving.”

The other wizard looked below at his feet, and through the glass he saw the forest they hovered above. “Why have we stopped?”

“We lost the output.”

“Nowhere on the radar?”

“Nowhere,” she said. “Looks like it vanished.”

The screen was spotless, without a target in sight. “Did Rubosamler get to it?”

“It shouldn’t have, it never reached its caller.”

“Maybe it burrowed into the dirt?”

“Maybe… Actually, it could have been collected if they wanted to run the system, not retrieve its output.”

He turned to stare at the ceiling. “It executed the intricate system, but didn’t care to store what was offered?” He poured himself the same drink. “Then, we have to wait for another call.”

The students stood outside the classroom waiting for their teacher to arrive. “Do you think we’ll leave Rorohiko?”

“Not in a long, long while.”

“When do you think we’ll become apprentices?”

“Maybe a year or two.”

He sighed and sat on the floor. “That’s still so long to go. When do you think he’ll be here?”

“It’s only been five minutes. He might have had an errand to run.”

“Better than choking in that class,” said a third.

“Choking?”

“I just want to go outside. Not on a balcony or view the night sky from a window, but actually leave this place.”

“I do too, eventually. I’ve studied a bit of programming and grew a passion for it. The atmosphere of the class may be uneasy, but programming sure isn’t.”

“Really?” a fourth joined in. “I researched some languages and my mind was melting on the syntax.”

“Yes, the syntax will take some getting used to. Fortunately, other problems can be easily solved using keywords to search for answers.”

“Why are you guys taking this course?” asked the seated one.

“I’m aiming to become a wizard,” said the third without hesitation.

“Woah, really? Isn’t it extremely difficult to do that?”

“I think he knows it is, because I am striving for the same goal,” said the passionate one.

“Wow, I can barely get the syntax right.” He shivered. “I can’t imagine how much work it takes to become a wizard.”

“What’re your names,” said the one on the floor. “I’m Gus.”

“I’m Andrew,” said the one with passion.

“Willard here,” said the unimaginative.

“It’s Roy,” said the other aspiring wizard.

“Another futile day,” he said and sighed. He drank from his glass, and spilled some on the floor and his white uniform. “Great, the day couldn’t get better.” The flat robot circulated to the leakage and drove over it. The white horizon now beamed with amber as the sun sunk into its depths. The walls displayed a velocity of four-hundred kilometers per hour. The windows gradually tinted with darkness. “You don’t like the sunset?”

She turned the knob to eighty percent. “It’s too bright.”

It was. Especially him in his all white outfit. The red mark inflicted by the drink became more apparent in the dark, and he got up to brush off any molecules lurking on the outer coat of his uniform with a tissue.

“What’s up with him?”

He looked down, at the robot, it rotated in circles trying to clean up the mess to no avail. “It’s trying to clean the spill, but looks like it’s bugged.” He pushed it with his leg, it moved back onto the liquid and continued its spiral. “Needs improvement,” he said. “What are we going to tell Laaibah about the expedition?”

“What happened today. What else is there to tell?”

“Right, we ventured for five hours to return with nothing. Our only lead was swallowed by Rubosamler and then we sat there for three hours waiting for something to happen.”

She converted the seat into a flat cushion and wore a sleep mask. “Yes,” she said, “that’s what we’ll tell her.” And, fell into slumber.

Once the teacher arrived, he took his students to the lab. They gathered around the single container standing in the center of the room. Eight bits or one byte. The bright line stretching from its top to bottom, in the center, only appeared on the front of the organ. Around the perimeter was vast amounts of controls, like a music studio. “A boolean,” he said and switched a lever that turned on a bit. “In logic, we can say: if A and B are true, then C is true, otherwise C is false.” With a push of a button, another organ with all bits off was injected into the capsule. “And,” he said. “And,” he repeated. “The logical operator called: and.” He pressed another button, and the two organs dissolved into each other. A single organ was produced with all bits off. “The first boolean was true, the second boolean was false. Use the ‘and’ operator on them, and it produces a boolean with a state of false.” He pressed a button, and another organ was injected. He pulled a lever, and one bit was turned on. “If A or B is true, then C is true, otherwise C is false.” He paused. “Or,” he said. “Or,” he repeated. “The logical operator called: or.” He pressed a button, the two organs dissolved. A boolean with a state of true was left. “These,” he said, “are boolean operators.”

‘Boolean operators: toggle, and, or’

“Unlike toggle, the ‘and’ operator and ‘or’ operator need another boolean for evaluation.” He ejected the boolean and injected two integers. “Is the first integer equal to the second integer?” he said. “Equal,” he said. “Equal,” he repeated. “If the first integer equals to the second integer, return true, otherwise false.” The entire organ had all its flaps flipped to its right. When the two dissolved, a boolean with a single bit on was returned. He ejected the boolean, then injected identical integers. “If the first integer is greater than the second integer, return true, otherwise false.” He pressed a button, and a boolean with no bits on was returned. “False!” he said. “False because the two integers equal, none greater or lower than the other. Yes, you can compare using equals to, greater than, or lower than.”

‘Boolean operators: toggle, and, or, equal, greater, lower’

“Oh,” he remembered. “And don’t forget about not equals.” He moved to the opposite end of the lab and the screen displayed a code editor.

bool a = 1 > 2;

“One is not greater than two, therefore ‘a’ will equal to false.” The teacher was correct, as the dissolved integers returned a boolean with zero bits on.

bool a = 1 > 2 < 3;

The container disappeared to be replaced with nothing. “This will throw an error in some languages. If you hadn’t realized, the operators I mentioned require a left side and right side. In this language, the sides cannot be shared by different operators.

bool a = 1 > 2 && 2 < 3;

Two integers dissolved into each other, producing the familiar false boolean. Then, another two integers were injected and dissolved, which returned true. “Look,” said the teacher. “The ‘and’ operator in action.” The false boolean and true boolean dissolved into each other resulting in a false boolean. “The order of operation can be made explicit with the use of brackets.”

bool a = (1 > 2) && (2 < 3);

“Equals, not equals, greater than, or lower than have precedent over ‘and’ operators and ‘or’ operators. So, they are evaluated first.”

She was awoken by his laughter. She took off her mask, it was pitch-black except the shining diamonds which made her eyes glitter. “What are you laughing about?”

He turned to look at her. “Stars,” he said with a smile from ear to ear. “I can’t ever get tired of them.”

She walked over and stood beside him. Across the sky, like a slash from a sword, certain stars were surrounded by a faint aura. Forming a path that dipped below the horizon. The glittering was magical, enchanting her with a smile. She looked towards the forest, except it was nowhere to be found. Disappeared like the creature. Nothing remained but a gaping void.

“I remember looking out of one of the windows in Rorohiko,” he said. “The night sky didn’t radiate like this. No, not for us in Rorohiko.”