"Hm?" Tetsuro was taken aback. "When I first met your brother, he wasn't talking at all. In fact... in those two years he used to come here, I never heard him speak a word."
Zephyr's face turned from confused to extremely concerned. "Two years?!"
Eyes downcast, Karl grinned bitterly. "Sorry, Zeph. It's not like I had intentionally kept it from you. It was so long ago that I just didn't think there was any point in bringing it up. But just like Tetsuro said, there was a time when I couldn't speak. It all happened before... you were born..." He looked up and stared into Zephyr's eyes, and then his face slowly relaxed into warm smile. "Come to think of it, it's thanks to you that I spoke again, actually."
"Me?" Zephyr looked lost.
"Yeah. I... don't really remember much of my childhood. Dad said I lost some of my memories due to a trauma, and because of that, he never wanted me to force myself to talk or try to remember. He said that it would all come back in time.
Around a year after we moved here, Mom got pregnant. I was so happy every time I touched her tummy and felt you kicking inside. And finally, that autumn day when they came home from the hospital, Mom said, 'Come Karl, meet your brother Zephyr'... That was the first time I finally spoke again, and the first thing I said was your name."
Zephyr's eyes widened at those words.
"Mom was so happy. And Dad, he... he looked like he was gonna cry. He knelt in front of me, asking me to call your name one more time... and one more time... And then he hugged me, saying he really missed my voice."
He walked closer to Zephyr and leaned on his younger brother's shoulder.
"Back then, I said to myself I couldn't be weak anymore, because I was a big brother now."
Zephyr hugged his brother, giving him a quick squeeze right before letting go and swiftly turning away, rubbing his eyes. "Stupid dust."
"Zeph? You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm good," he sniffled."Let's keep going, Tetsuro."
"Sure. We're almost there," Tetsuro said "I hid the thing in a cave, because I didn't want curious kids playing with it in case it was something dangerous."
Following Tetsuro's lead, they moved along. They went inside a small cave by the shore.
"This way. Watch your step; some parts are slippery, others muddy. The waves aren't getting close enough right now, but when it's high tide the entrance of this cave gets flooded."
A little farther inside, they saw a fishing net tied to a rock pillar. Tetsuro untied it and spread out the net. Inside, there was a metal pyramid-like object that was about the size of a model plane.
Karl frowned. "This looks exactly like the drone Captain shot down with his lightning bolt, except this is still intact, and doesn't have the burn marks one would expect from being hit by such a high voltage. Plus, we all saw with our own eyes how that drone burned, and some of its parts flew off as it fell to the sea. There's no way this is the same one."
"Just how many are there? And what are the intentions of whoever's sending these?" Zephyr asked.
"That's what we'll have to find out. For now, I need to check if this one transmitted anything..."
Karl reached inside his fanny pack and pulled out a device that resembled an electronic pocket dictionary.
"What's that?" Zephyr looked inquisitively.
"It's a scanning device that Bianca made. It reads and extracts data while interpreting it into a language we can understand," Karl explained, then spoke to his watch. "Ava, check if this drone has transmitted any data."
"Roger," Ava replied, and in just a few seconds, characters filled the small screen. When it stopped, Ava said, "Scanning complete. There was one failed transmission that stopped at 76%. There were no successful transmissions. Cause of failure: hardware damage."
"Probably from the storm," Karl sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. I guess nature saved us this time. Okay, next step. We need to destroy it. But before that, we need to get Tetsuro away from here," he turned to his old friend, "Sorry, it's too dangerous."
Zephyr quickly turned to Rywa, saying in a deadpan voice, "Why don't you escort Tetsuro out of the cave?"
"Me?" Rywa raised his eyebrows.
"Actually, Zeph, I'd like you to go with him. In case something goes sideways, I'd prefer that he has a medic by his side," said Karl.
"That's precisely why I want to be by your side," Zephyr insisted.
"I'll be fine. Besides, what's the first thing in our GDF mission protocol handbook?" Karl smirked.
"Civilian safety is our top priority," Zephyr reluctantly recited, then pinched his brother's nose. "Fine. I get it. Let's go, Tetsuro-san."
As soon as they were safely out of the cave, Karl pulled out a round black object that looked like a hockey puck. He stuck it on the drone then lifted the top cover, revealing a small screen and three buttons— two arrows pointing up and down and a red square. He pressed the arrow pointing up until the screen showed 30 seconds.
"Okay, let's go."
They hid behind the rocks before the explosion sent debris flying in all directions within a two-meter radius. Rywa reflexively wrapped his arms around Karl and shielded him with his body.
"Are you all right?" Rywa asked as he let go.
"Yeah, thanks," Karl grinned at him then groaned as he looked at the wreckage. "Ugh, now the not-so-fun part. We gotta clean this up and toss it out. We can't just leave our mess here." He reluctantly took out a used convenience store bag from his fanny pack. "We'll just put the smaller shards here, and leave the bigger chunks in the fishing net."
As they were picking up the fragments, Karl noticed Rywa inspecting a broken piece. He took out what looked like a microchip and instantly looked startled.
"Rywa? What's wrong?" He went over to his companion.
"Karl, could I ask you to do something for me?"
Karl could tell Rywa was trying to make himself sound calm, but he could hear traces of both urgency and unease in his voice.
"What do you need?" Karl asked.
"Would it be all right to show me the raw data this drone was trying to transmit? And where exactly it was attempting to transmit it?"
"Sure."
He opened the scanning device once more and passed it over to Rywa, commanding their virtual assistant, "Ava, pull up the data extracted from the drone. Don't translate."
"Roger."
Rywa's eyes widened. "I knew it. This is Zirkan."
He clenched the microchip, looking even more troubled.
"What?!" Karl asked. "But I thought you said these drones weren't Zirkan."
"They're not." He closed the scanning device and passed it back to Karl, then opened his hand to show the tiny metal chip. "But this microchip is. Who made this? And why— how— is Zirka involved?"
"Ava. Identify the location the drone attempted transmission to."
"Scanning... scanning... Triangulating location... Confirmed. Coordinates found."
At those words, Karl's watch projected the image of a galaxy, before zooming in on a solar system, and further closing in on one of the planets. But before it could identify the exact location, the screen was jammed and then it turned off.
"Scanning has been blocked and location data has been permanently deleted."
"What?! Ava, try again." Karl frowned.
"Negative, data is no longer available."
"It's alright," Rywa put his hand over Karl's. "At any rate, I can confirm the location they sent it to was not our planet. That was not even our galaxy. But now the question still remains, why is Zirka involved? Karl, I want to look further into this. I know you were given orders to destroy the drone, however..."
Karl closed Rywa's fingers over the microchip. "My mission was to destroy the drone, and I did. I wasn't ordered to dispose of the wreckage." He flashed an innocent smile.
Rywa chuckled. "I fold. You must be quite a handful to your captain."
"Hey, do you want the microchip or not?"
"I do, I do. I will let your captain know, of course. I want to send the data to my allies in Zirka, if possible, and ask them to investigate this matter. For now, our priority is to find the documents Lord Vlint left behind. Time is of the essence. With each passing day, more people are getting sick and dying on my planet."
"We're here to help you, Rywa," Karl said, laying his hand on Rywa's shoulder.
They stepped out of the cave and met with Zephyr, who was waiting outside with Tetsuro.
"Mission accomplished. And it was all thanks to you," Karl gave his friend a thumbs up. "I might have to borrow your net, though. Sorry! I promise I'll return it!"
"Anytime. And don't mind it! Keep the net, I've got plenty! Well, I gotta get going. I need to run some errands for my wife. But do come back, yeah? I can show off my wife's cooking and let ya meet my kids. They're super cute!"
"Will do. Thanks, Tetsuro."
Tetsuro walked away, turned back one more time to smile and give a little wave, and then went on his way.
Once he was out of sight, Karl updated Zephyr with what they discovered in the cave. As Karl told him about the microchip, Rywa pulled it out to show them. Something he had not noticed before, which was on the reverse side, caught Karl's eye.
"Hang on, are there words engraved at the back?" Karl asked, squinting his eyes at the writing.
"Hm? Ah, yes. That's how I knew this is Zirkan. It says right here," Rywa pointed to the characters.
"Made in Mira" Karl and Zephyr read simultaneously.
Rywa looked dumbfounded. "You can read Zirkan?"
"No. I mean, yes. I mean- Wait, so this is Zirkan?!" Karl's eyes widened. "I see… My dad always said the best way to learn about other beings in the universe is by studying alien languages. I remember he'd take home documents with weird symbols before and study them late into the night, trying to decipher them. So I'd sit by his side doodling until I fell asleep.
But there was one particular language that he was more proficient at than the rest. I wonder if he studied it the longest? Because I've been drawing these symbols for as long as I can remember. I just never knew they were Zirkan. I don't think Dad did either because he never mentioned anything about Zirka to us."
"You were a natural," Zephyr told Karl. "I don't have that knack in learning foreign languages— even the ones we have here on Earth."
"But you can do it. Look, you were able to read it just now," Karl reached up to ruffle his brother's hair.
"That's amazing and all, but how did your father learn our language in the first place? Did he have any Zirkan... literature...?"
Rywa's words faded as they all looked at each other. Their faces glowed with amazement as realization dawned on them and they yelled out in unison.
"Zirkan documents!"