Tanjelavi

Trinat

Trinat was still clenching his fist while getting out of the post office with his face to the ground as if he hadn't just sent a statement of claim and it was still there in his hands

Two, three—a decade! A decade together... Where had all this time gone to? Why so fast...? He hadn't even got to become at least somewhat aware of it, just idly spending each fleeing day with Goe when he seemed to get back into normal, whatever that normal for him was

A call just ran through his body, but Trinat didn't pick it up, now only a quarter listening to a machinable voice telling him to please visit the funeral—fools, fools! He wasn't dead!

Trinat's whole body was shivering from within with anger and annoyance, but he had to hide the armor and take out a chemical matter that looked like bits of black sand the bomb gang probably produced to make the transport crash into each other and put it on the driver seat—to just let them delusionally think he was dead: there was a trace of him neither in the city each corner of which Trinat has already combed through, several times in a raw, nor in the Center—of course, he was dead! decided they because he couldn't run away or, even if he tried, he would be deleted anyway, so he's dead, dead now!

Trinat was clenching now his fist even tighter, this time without imagining his statement of claim in his hand: just the imaginary mouth of the machinable voice who was telling him this again, again, and again, feeling a vibration striking his body again, slightly pressing an index finger to his radio, it seemed to vibrate—picked it up and received nothing: it was just his footsteps that made that vibrations after all...

A realization that must had been something going on between Goe and the bomb gang hit him long time ago when after a few years, Goe started to ask him the same questions over and over again each single morning... Maybe, he was just afraid they would again attack the city he was living in? It was scary indeed especially if it really was his home they struck at... So thought Trinat—until he took a map and marked all the cities and towns that recently got attacked by the bomb gang: the points on the map formed a mass of random dots, but still roughly in between the accountant AIs' city and the Capital...

The fact he was always afraid, the fact he didn't know the city he was presumably born in, the fact they even couldn't find any record on him before his presumable death—Trinat chocked each time on the thought it wasn't just his speculations, it wasn't his delusions, it wasn't his madness... It was real

Goe—his nice, rational, law-abiding Goe—got involved with...

"What on Earth had pushed him to?!" was Trinat walking to and fro in the fallen down street, massaging aggressively his chin, his eyes looking nowhere, hands on his sides. If he could smoke, he would definitely put a cigarette in his mouth, so stressed and restless he was now, unable to calm down and stop walking, completely blind to those few AIs now on the street staring at him while he himself was still walking to and fro, to and fro... Whilst another AI, trying so carefully as possible to sneak near him, was pressing themself to the wall of the building until they disappeared behind the corner—and this was what Trinat finally noticed with a corner of his eye. So noiselessly and watchfully as he could, he rushed to the corner and pressed himself silently against the wall, his huge nose slightly betraying his position, he heard the AI from earlier say
                                                     ko selgi'a mi lo drata klaji .i .oi mi'o na kancau1

The AI from earlier looked around and Trinat withdrew his nose so fast as he could
out of panic, so a slight sound of an armor rubbing against the wall came out, right into that AI's ear—and he was now taking steps towards Trinat—so Trinat stepped out of the corner with his license already in his hands, showing it to the two AIs:

ko stali tu noi re do ca zvati2
                                                    ordered Trinat firmly and both ran away

ko klama la .fohmen. klaji .i ri'a re palci .i ju'ocu'i lo cmina be lo jbama bende3
                                                    told Trinat on the radio as he rushed after the two criminals,
                                                    cursing humans for not letting AIs get at least an ordinary gun,
                                                    not just a stun gun

Others arrived quickly and surrounded them with their cars. When Trinat just got there, the two criminals were already pressed to one of the police cars and given a great dose of electroshock. That destabilized a little their physical shells and they obediently followed into the car. The senior officer took Trinat with him into his. And they all went to the nearest police station

"Maybe, even my statement of claim won't come in handy after all", thought Trinat trying to sit still, but each time a corner of his eye caught a glimpse of the ruined Capital city he so loved, he wanted to vomit (even if he physically couldn't). "Maybe, I don't have to go anywhere after all. I don't need to be physically near him: just knowing that he's safe and sound will be enough for me... Even I can't take him back in anyway..."

And all the ten odd years just rushed before Trinat's eyes: how he found Goe under the building, how he let him enter the police crew, how rapidly Goe was moving up the service ladder, how he said .i ri'a mi lacri no zmiboto .i ri'a mi lacri do4 to Trinat back then, with such a sincere and loving tone Trinat's head went on spinning round and round as he remembered it—along with Goe's fair long Asian face, his black smoky hair, his wide sardonic smile, his deep low voice, his thick Lojban accent...

na go'i .i mi ticysku .i mi nitcu la .gouis.5

He couldn't yet bring himself to imagine how—but on the other hand, all he craved now was just one meeting: for the rest, he gave absolutely nothing, getting out of the car, going to the nearest entryway, leading a small group of the police officers—as usual: as always...

1. Hey you, follow me to another street: we're not alone here...
2. Stay where you are!
3. Come to the Fohmen's street. Over. There're two criminals. Over. Maybe, members of the bomb gang. Over
4. Because I trust no one here; because I trust you
5. No, I lied: I need him...