LF Friends, Will Travel

Our Clockwork Children: Chapter 6

The velociraptor was clearly an uplift; if the woven shawl he wore and the slightly more upright manner in which he stood didn't clue people into this fact, the ability to talk confirmed it. He stood there, grinning with a mouth of large teeth, bouncing slightly from each clawed foot as he stood in front of them.

Ivan was undergoing some form of mental breakdown upon this revelation, mouth hung open with a look of wonder as he saw his first dinosaur, all thoughts of tired legs gone. Even better, this was a dinosaur that could speak, as if they were some kind of magical guide in a children's story. There were plenty of words Ivan should be saying, but all he managed was a single whispered one.

"Awesome."

They stood there in silence for a few moments before the uplift gave an awkward wave with one of his stubby little arms.

"I know I'm fabulous enough to leave you speechless, but generally it's polite to introduce yourself to new people. I'm called Kaiser, and who are you, and what do you want?..."

Ivan had taken to just staring at the raptor occasionally making a random nonsense sound, while Scellestra had busied itself with spreading out into a billowing cloud of nanobots to properly analyse this new never-before-seen lifeform. This had left ODIN the only responsible adult in charge.

"I apologize. I am ODIN, and the overexcited human is Ivan. The strange cloud is a Woolean AI called Scellestra. We were told you could guide us".

"You're a talking dinosaur! This is a dream come true, I didn't know they uplifted any of you! This is like something out of Magechaser, I used to read those as a kid! You're basically Aquinox!"

Ivan gave an excited outburst suddenly, causing everyone else to pause and stare at the strange human for a few moments as he started almost bouncing in place, a look of absolute joy and excitement irradiating from the strange man.

"I do not require guidance. However, this strange organic Terran person gets easily lost and is very susceptible to death. We would like to hire your services to go see these 'dinosaurs' that Ivan hasn't stopped talking about." Scellestra added, finally shrinking back into their single faceless ever-shifting bipedal form once again.

"Hey!"

Kaiser gave a small laugh, looking at the trio in front of him. Already he could tell that this was going to be interesting.

"Well, the nearest location to see any is a two-day hike north of here. I'm also guessing that none of you have any actual gear or tools, so if you go alone Ivan here will probably get hurt. I could take you, however."

"We do not have our pads with us to transfer credits, however-" ODIN's offer was cut off as the uplift raised a hand in dismissal.

"Credits are useless here. Much prefer to be paid in interesting stories and I have a feeling you've all got some fun ones to tell. Especially the swarm guy. Never seen an AI not made by humans... and I've seen a few interesting tourists come through here. I'll take you to a good hotspot for some of the bigger great herds, and in return on the way you can all tell me a bit about where you've come from?"

There was barely a moment's pause before Ivan spoke up, vigorously nodding with the enthusiastic energy of a child.

"Of course. Anything you want to know, I got bunches of cool stories! I once crash-landed on this planet with an AI and met Scellestra, ooh ooh ooh then there was the time we were trying to smuggle Zolathian Houdblooms into Sol because someone needed it for-"

"That seems reasonable and a kind offer" ODIN interrupted, desperately trying to stop Ivan from admitting to any more crimes they may or may not have allegedly done in the past.