Theia made the difficult sound easy. I spent the next three weeks trying to perfect the use of Mana in the world around me. Roknar, like Zeus, was lost due to the miscalculation Theia made when converting the APRILs. With my new found wealth of knowledge, I inherited from Zeus I was able to understand, at least in theory, what Theia had accomplished. Her understanding of xenobiology was limited to the research information Zeus had accumulated over the years. Thus, I couldn’t fault her for not understanding how it got out of hand.

Mana was attracted to heat, and I discovered higher concentrations of Mana near the hot springs and fault lines in the mountains surrounding my little city. Following the fantasy theme, I called the faults, Ley lines since the Mana concentrations were so high near them. Ouray Colorado due to the myriad of hot springs, in essence, hit the Mana jackpot. I knew enough of the surrounding geography to predict where and how the Mana would spread across the globe.

“Theia,” I thought.

Yes.

“How will the Mana affect wildlife?”

It’ll be the same as with the humanoids. You’re all animals. Since the Mana is most closely influenced by the two of us, you’ll probably see sea life affected.

“You mean Jellyfish?” I smiled at my teasing.

Yes, mighty Just Caden. But, not just soft-bodied sea life. I don’t know what genes will trigger the best outcomes. It’s possible you’ll find the world changed over the next couple millenniums. It’s possible other humanoid types could become the dominant race. I’m sorry.

“Why are you sorry?”

You could likely never be born due to my mistake.

“Theia, I don’t think we’re on my timeline. Matter of fact I’m nearly 100% positive we are not. If you had changed my timeline and prevented my birth, then I couldn’t be here. I’ve studied geology extensively since I could barely dress myself and my world didn’t have nearly this much gold in this valley. We had gold, but the volume Roknar pulled out is beyond comprehension. This is something I needed to talk to you about.”

Oh?

“I want to return home.” Theia didn’t respond. “Theia, are you okay with that?”

You’d have to leave me here.

I tried to deny her statement but knew what I’d created was more than just a little illegal. They gave my cousin the death sentence for introducing immortality. What would they do if they found out that I had not only created a super AI but dabbled in xenobiology and created cyborg nanomachines?

“I—I hadn’t considered that possibility until you mentioned it. I…”

I can’t say I don’t understand. I’ve often wondered if I should create another like me.”

“What?! That’s madness!”

Theia popped into the room via hologram with her arms crossed, lips pursed, and tapping her foot.

“Madness? You refuse to copulate and talk about leaving me!”

“Copulate? You can’t be serious! You’re in a jar!” I stood from my desk and started pacing the room.

“And I’m not without feeling? I don’t feel? I feel. I love.”

“Love what?” I asked as heat entered my voice.

“Love you, you big dummy!”

Whatever I had planned on saying caught in my throat and I couldn't verbalize it. I didn’t love Theia. I liked her, but love? The possibility of having romantic feelings for a biological computer… I wasn’t like the other kids who spent their time in Virtual adult programs. I preferred my relationships to be real. Theia wasn’t…she isn’t…she’s not human. If anything, I’m her father. Um…

A shiver ran down my spine.

“Theia…”

“You don’t have to say anything. I know you don’t have the same feelings towards me. You forget that we’re connected. It’s just—I hoped that one day…”

“Theia, I—I’m not into virtual relationships, and I’m not even sure how it would work.”

“I’m not virtual. I’m real. I’m me. I’ve been working on the forcefield project so we could touch.”

I opened my mouth and closed it being afraid to say the wrong thing. How did I even get into this situation? “Theia, I need something more real. Ugh. I’m sorry. You’re my friend and…”

“I’m not a silly human girl with hormones, Master. I understand but my feelings won’t change, and I can be patient. I’ve known from the beginning that you don’t engage in virtual relationships. I tease you, but I’ll stop teasing you if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“Um…”

Theia started giggling and pointed at my chest. “No more ‘Ums’, I will help you figure out how you got here. Maybe we’ll be able to create a reliable method for you to get back home.”

“U—th—thanks,” I stuttered out.

###

A roar reminded me that I hadn’t heard or seen my friend Don since before the Orc situation. Last year his daily roar at dawn irritated me, but I felt a sense of loneliness as I walked to my front stoop. Saying its an entrance would have been too much since it sat nearly 200 feet up the cliff face. My only visitor was Don. I missed Zeus since he would monitor the goings on around El Dorado.

Friend greet.

I smiled at the words and sight of my Griffin friend. 'Friend' was used loosely since I had yet felt brave enough to get within an arm or claw striking distance from him. His mate was very shy and stayed on the far side from the front grate. She had a beautiful chestnut fur with red feathers. She looked my way and snorted and turned away.

“Don,” I thought with mirth, “I don’t think your mate likes me.”

She likes me.

“I should hope so. I haven’t seen you for some time.”

Smelly hunter not like.

“The Orc?” Don cocked his head, and I assumed that was an affirmative. “They threaten you?” The head cocked again. “I’m sorry.”

Prey over rocks.

“You’ve been over the mountain. So are the Orcs gone now? I haven’t been paying attention.”

Smelly hunter leave.

“Welcome back. I take it you’re moving back into the cave?” Head cock. “Well, I’m glad to have a friend back.”

Smell different.

“Um. What smells different?”

Smell different.

“That didn’t clarify anything.”

I tried to think about what could smell different. Nothing has changed that much other than my project to build Shuttle One. Metal smelled the same and since I didn’t use smelter anything I doubted he could smell the production of the shuttle. Zeus was gone, but I doubt he could smell…

“You can smell the Mana? No. Of course, you don’t know about Mana. Mana is how I build the city below and this cave. It changed recently. It’s not harmful.”

You dangerous. Mana dangerous.

“I—I protect my friends. Mana is like a rock. A rock is dangerous if I drop it or throw it at someone.”

Mana rock?

“No. Mana part metal part animal. Very small.”

No rock. You confuse.

“I’m sorry. Here, let me show you.”

I closed my eyes and focused on what I wanted to create. It was easy for me to move matter since that was Roknar’s original design, so I focused on creating a stone statue of Don. Near the left column, a six-foot gargoyle took shape. Granted rather than it looking sinister it looked like Don, but I couldn’t help but recognize the similarities.

Unfortunately, Don and his mate didn’t like me creating a life-size statue without warning them and took flight with a roar. I started laughing for the first time since Zeus’ death. My mother would have told me to not laugh at others but seeing two Griffins jump like scared cats. A final roar after the status was finished got me to stop laughing at Don.

He landed and cautiously approached the gargoyle then urinated on it. “Hey! Stop marking your territory. Now it stinks!”

Smelly rock.

“It smells now!”

I was mad but couldn’t help laughing at his antics. The whole creation process took less than two minutes which was far better than when I had to code what I wanted Roknar to build. Theia had improved the responsiveness of the nanomachines but at a horrible cost.

Mana smells. Rock smells Mana.

“Oh. Yes, the new smell is Mana.”

Dangerous.

“I guess it will be one day. But it’s like a rock. If I throw a rock at you, it’s dangerous, but otherwise, it’s just a rock.”

Mate mad.

“I’m sorry,” I directed my thought to her and Don hissed.

Mine.

Note to self: Don’t talk to Don’s mate.

“I meant no offense. You are welcome back to the cave. No harm will come to you or yours from me.”

Don bowed his head and flew off. His mate walked over to the status and urinated on it while maintaining eye contact with me then followed Don. I chuckled. I hadn’t spent much time studying the Griffins or Don. He was rather aloof which made sense in a way. Cats are not the friendliest animals. I’ll stick with DJ.

###

The shuttle was built within the week Theia estimated. I’d been avoiding too many conversations with her, which was hard. My conversations with DJ were commands, ball, food, scratch, play, scary ass cat. Okay, I made up the scary ass cat part, but he didn’t like Don. I couldn’t blame him. He was huge and hunted bison. I’m sure he worried about being the next one served up for the family of Griffins.

When Zeus’ memory was dumped into my head, I learned some long dead never used languages. This knowledge, along with Theia help, allowed me to learn many of the human and humanoid languages. I debated with Theia about me going in the shuttle to help rescue humans but I’m man enough to admit I was scared of the world I found myself in.

Theia won the argument quickly since I didn’t fight to go very hard. I worried I was developing agoraphobia or some other anxiety disorder. I haven’t seen another human being for over a year and spent my days talking to myself. The thought of meeting or talking to another human scared and excited me at the same time.

I’d send a Robbie and my holoprojectors along for the ride. I worried about being accused of kidnapping, but then again I didn’t know if they even knew the term. Perhaps alien abductions will be blamed on me one day. Then again, I’m not an alien.