By David C. Daoust
Hamlin felt like he was left out, cut off from the Onion; from the Arkroy, from all his normal life. It all started with just an interest in protecting his family. The Ai known as Noreen offered to intercede in a conflict between the Zhou siblings. That is, she would intercede if Hamlin agreed to complete a mission for her.
For much of his life in the real world, he was an Aspirant of the House of Zhou. One of the thirteen Royal House’s that ruled the airways during the centuries-long trek to the Second Sun. A house that had spent most of its riches, plunging the City-station, Titanholm, deep into the Gas Giant, Iopa. What was left, lost a generation later, ending the house of Zhou. Leaving only three children to make their way through the newly formed civilization. Two of the three, found themselves on the opposite sides of a conflict; the opposite sides of the law. The Pirate Queen, Sweet Honey Zhou, finally cornered… by the very Constabulary Alfred Zhou was employed by.
This was his House, his family; Hamlin cared for them deeply. In the hopes of staving off a horrible end to what was left of the fallen House of Zhou, Hamlin had agreed to travel all the way across the solar system, to complete Noreen’s Mission.
The mechanical form Hamlin was so familiar with, a form common, if somewhat old fashioned, among Aspirants throughout the Arkroy Provinces, was left behind on the planet, Delphine. Instead, Hamlin was forced to use a newfangled ‘holobot’– the first of its kind, in fact.
The holobot was a rather unique form, comprised of a solid-light lattice a meter in height, with a flaming torch for a head, and an invisible neck. His goal, to free the human woman Mari Swan, from the northern pole of the small moon Twin Crown…
Almost immediately upon his arrival, he was entangled in a conflict that, ultimately, had nothing to do with him. Yet, the Wayward Aspirant could not allow such an injustice to be carried out without some form of intervention on his part. That injustice being the willful destruction of the Ark-tech device, whom he’d found pleading for his very existence… a being known as Ferguson.
Ferguson was a great mystery even to Hamlin, who, as an Aspirant, knew the ins and outs of not only the Ai that secretly ruled the Solar System, but the Arkroy, whom, once upon a time, pretended to.
The pair managed to elude Ferguson’s enemies, only to be swept up in whole new conflict: A runaway Rover, seemingly controlled by a rogue Ai, pulled them far out into the desert. Soon after Hamlin realized he was cut off from the Ai, Noreen. This added a snag that was unforeseen. His mission, however, did not change. Once they finally stopped moving, they found the Rover itself was no longer functioning properly.
Hamlin has since teamed up with a small crew of humans who also had an interest in completing his mission. One of whom was the nephew of the very woman he was there to save. A mottled boy named Ratchet, whom Hamlin had, moments before, heard jetting up the stairs into the helm he had been using as a workstation.
Luckily, it only took a moment for Hamlin to will himself invisible; an unintentional ability that Hamlin had discovered within moments of being loaded into the unique form. It had become apparent to Hamlin that if the neck could be made invisible, than why not the rest? Of course, this tended to leave behind the small device, floating there. But, for the most part, if it’s not what one is looking for, one is probably not going to spot it. It was a roll of the dice that the boy would not see it hovering there among the now clear lattice that supported it.
Seconds later the boy jetted back out of the room, which was good– Hamlin could only keep himself invisible for about as long as a human could hold their breath.
Hamlin flickered back to a visible spectrum.
Truth was, Ratchet had worn thin on the Wayward Aspirant. The mottled boy meant well, but thanks to Hamlin’s small frame, he tended to treat him like a ‘little buddy’– one that he wanted to teach things to. Hamlin had witnessed many generations of the Zhou Family, many of whom he had tutored himself, long before the Ark Age had come to a close. Being a ‘little buddy’ was a bit much for the ancient Aspirant.
It proved enough to oust him from his workstation, to sneak past the kitchen door Ratchet ducked within. Hamlin headed down to the hold, maybe maintain some peace and quiet for himself. He was hiding, it was true; he was not sure how he felt about it. They had a long way to go… maybe once they were finally moving again, he would have more patience for the boy…
Hamlin spotted the abandoned Junkbot, sitting there in the corner of the Hold. The girl-bot Margo had come across a much more powerful form. Hamlin had not been fully informed, possibly because he was avoiding children… he felt a buzz as he approached. It felt somewhat like being around a strange bot, but different. It was a bit more like a housefly buzzing about his head.
He approached, flipped the lid up of the trashcan-like head of the Junkbot. Within was just an overflowing mess of tiny glittering ‘particles’. Resting atop the mound, a small heart shaped hover-bot. These were the two forms abandoned by the young bots. The particles, however, made him wish he was better informed.
The buzz grew stronger.
Hamlin had no way of knowing how these things were meant to work. He had no way to know that merely being in the presence of these strange devices would cause them to try and synchronize with a data-sphere. Fact was, Hamlin’s Data-sphere was not actually there. It was back on Delphine, where he had allowed Noreen to project him to this faraway moon, in the faraway holobot form… Needless to say, he had no way to know that the way these strange particles worked for him, was a far cry different, than how they had worked for Margo and her small furry friend.
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