The Drool Bowl

Ian pinched the bridge of his nose. It was probably true that certain things were expected of him. He was not supposed to question things, he was to act and not to think, but how could he be a mere missile, when everyone was telling him different things and some of these people were surely lying to him? It bothered him greatly that he could no longer tell the truth from the big fat lie.

He only knew three things.

He liked his system.

He liked Lilac.

Against his better judgment, he liked Kortock, too, but that could be a fatal mistake.

He didn't like to play by the rules, well, neither did Kortock. Conforming to social expectations could not get Ian anywhere in life. He was the bearer of the Starfire System. He couldn't be dumb enough to think that this made him immortal.

All this was rolling around in Ian's head, and finally he managed to look Kortock in his face.

"The Outcast? An insane humanoid?"

"This individual might spend a lot of their time with tinfoil wrapped around the bulbous humanoid head, yes," Kortock said slowly, still swinging his legs restlessly. "What I am trying to say…this individual, the Outcast, is right about many things and fatally wrong about others. Want to test the flashlight? I have a feeling it's not a regular old flashlight at all."

Ian changed the batteries. He tapped the button, and a stream of light appeared from the other end of the thing.

It showed everything as either pink or turquoise. When Ian waved the flashlight towards Kortock, he saw the man as all pink, but the shadows of the people passing by the room were mostly blue, with only a few pink ones.

"I have no idea what this actually means," Ian sighed. "Everything is so confusing."

"Want to see the living one we captured?" Kortock asked him, raising an eyebrow. "I know you know about the krobinnuti. How could you not, with your father having seen it accidentally, there is no way that man can manage to keep his mouth shut…"

"The living one? The krobinnuti? Count me in," Ian said.

Kortock brought him into a place under the laboratory, under the ground, but just as they were secretively slipping into a tunnel with all the security cameras turned off, Ian got a nice little notification from the Starfire System.

[QUEST COMPLETED: FILTIGER MASSACRE]

[POWER UP POINTS: 10]

[EXPERIENCE POINTS: 10/15]

"Hey, I just completed the quest!" Ian exclaimed, but Kortock wordlessly commanded him to be silent.

They came into a room behind three different mechanical locks. Apparently there were still things that could not be left to chance when it came to the eternal quarrel between old and new technology.

If there had been a massive power outage, the beast would have been free to let itself out through a cybernetic lock.

"Here it is," Kortock whispered and pointed towards a cage that filled up half of the room.

Far enough from the krobinnuti that they would not be in the range of the venomous tail, the two men observed the horror and beauty of the beast.

"You have one chance in nine of getting a reply from that thing if you ask it something," Kortock said.

The krobinnuti was not sleeping, but nevertheless, it rested its massive head on its front paws. It was a bit smaller than the ones Ian had seen and killed before. It had less stripes on its body, longer fur and a tail that ended in a differently shaped teardrop, one with a stronger curve to it.

"Why are you so bent on killing humans?" Ian asked the krobinnuti, feeling stupid. Surely the beast would not even bother with him.

A voiceless voice spoke within his head, it was more like a concept of the words was being directly transmitted into his mind.

"Why would you believe me? None of these bastards have shown any care for me. No one except Kortock, and he is the only one I will discuss this matter with. Scram, human. You are wasting my time."

"The beast is quite eloquent," Ian said, feeling threatened by the fact that he was, by far, the dumbest person in the room.

"The beast could care less what you think of him," the krobinnuti replied, shifting its left paw threateningly.

"I am sorry…but you sort of trample over us on your way to your objective," Ian said with a shrug that he tried to hide his fear with. "What has this world ever done to your kind?"

"Carry on…does the young hero have thoughts?" the krobinnuti snarled.

"Actually, I do." Ian bit his lip. "I know that you are after a stolen item. Humans consider theft to be a bad thing as well. We have that in common. But why does it have to mean you are ready to murder? Yeah, I have thoughts!"

The beast looked shocked, if it was even possible for a vaguely feline face to look shocked.

Kortock, however, looked more pleased than surprised.

"I have thoughts about the natural beauty of my own Earth that I was never allowed to see because of you. Landmasses are not supposed to do that! They are supposed to move on their own. And you killed so many people for the crimes of others that humans should never forgive you."

That was actually how Ian thought about things when he was not actively pushing the pain away. There was a global anxiety plaguing his generation, as was common in times of war, but this time, it was different, since an external threat could now wipe out the entire species.

The krobinnuti turned away from him.

"He is smarter than he looks like with that silly suit of armor. You want your muscle hormone, Kortock? Come and get it."

Then the beast started to drool into a plastic bowl.

The krobinnuti said nothing more, but it pushed its drool bowl through the gaps between the bars of its cage so that Kortock could fetch it.

The drool looked slightly acidic, not like anything fit for human consumption.