I spent a frantic few hours trying to add features to Roknar. I needed a strong door or gate at the entrance to my tunnel. I shuddered as I considered what would have happened had I not had DJ scare that…

“Zeus, I’m designating that animal as a Griffon.”

“Designation accepted.”

I can’t imagine what will happen to me if DJ can’t keep that beast from attacking. The Pincock code cured diseases and repaired damage to my body, but it didn’t replace limbs. Was it this morning or yesterday that I laughed about being immortal? It was just one more thing I needed to add to my must-haves to survive.

“Zeus, connect to Robbie. I need to change his code as well. Send him into the tunnel. Hopefully, he’ll scare off anything should I not complete the changes fast enough.”

Food and rest meant nothing if I’m attacked before I even get started. Where the hell did a griffon come from anyway? Orcs? Griffons? Hell, I’m sure these beasts never existed in my timeline, but I was in Ouray. I need time to process what’s happened to me, but survival came first.

###

I don’t know how long I spent in Virtual programming but based on the pain in my stomach I knew it’d been at least eight hours before I came back to my new reality. Roknar was programmed to form the metal up into Earth standard shipping bars. The shape was great for storage but made for a better wall than a door. I had Robbie stack up the silver and gold bars to block the entrance while I tried to figure out how to manufacture a gate. It’s all fun and games until something tries to eat you.

Roknar was designed to separate elements not combine them. I had to perform some fast and loose programming to combine the titanium, aluminum, and vanadium to create Grade 5 Titanium. I wouldn’t have been able to do with if I hadn’t already had a Ph.D. in Metallurgy & Material Science from Mines. I like titanium, but it’s still costly due to the difficulty purifying it. Well, it was before I came along.

Once I was able to create the metal I needed, then I had Roknar and Robbie fashion together my metal gate. This titanium alloy isn’t the most durable alloy, but I wasn’t even close to being ready to form patented steel. I’ll add “Build a big furnace” to my todo list when I don’t die from flying lions. With that said, Grade 5 is a strong metal and will hold back anything this planet could throw my way…I hope.

By dawn, I managed to have a gate installed at the entrance of the tunnel. I felt better about things, but I was now back to my original problem. I was running low on food and water.

After the gate was installed, I slept for four hours and woke again to a growling DJ. With a sleep-fogged brain, I asked, “Zeus, what is he growling at?”

“The griffon is back.”

“Back?” Any fatigue I felt earlier faded in a heartbeat.

“It’s been trying to gain purchase on the ledge, based on my analysis.”

“Are we secure?”

“Yes.”

I felt a wave of relief sweep through my body, but curiosity replaced that fear and perhaps a tad bit of stupidity. Climbing out of my Zero G couch, I walked towards the entrance of the tunnel. The griffon must have heard or smelt me since I heard a roar that earlier would have and did cause me to quake. Surprisingly, now I felt curiosity and excitement like when I visited the Denver Zoo two years ago. I chuckled when I realized that the roles were reversed and I was now the caged animal in his zoo.

I rounded the final bend in the tunnel and saw the griffon clinging to my gate with one paw and flapping his wings to maintain his position. From my vantage point, it was easy to see that this griffon was most definitely a male griffon. Our eye’s met, and I saw intelligence and curiosity in his eyes, but from the way he snorted and shook his massive head, I could tell my scent bothered him. Hell, my smell bothered me as well. Going four days without a bath and having a— needing to a change of clothing has done nothing to help my sense of smell. Let’s not even mention not having a restroom for my other needs. Regardless, his musk was nearly as overwhelming as my own.

I stood there for five minutes while we sized one another up. He was beautiful and deadly. He looked like a cougar in every way except for the massive wings with golden brown feathers. If he stood up on his hind legs, he’d be at least eight feet tall, and I wondered how his wings could even keep him in flight. The wind that buffeted me with each beat caused my chest to thump like a bass drum.

With a roar, he retracted his claws and turned from the tunnel and cliff wall. I don’t recall how long I stood watching him soar across the valley, but I felt at peace for the first time since the accident. I can face this new world and conquer the challenges if I kept my head and was careful. I don’t know why, but I felt a connection to this beast and knew I wouldn’t be on his meal ticket in the future.

DJ’s wet nose pressed against my wrist bringing me back to my problems and I quickly gave my friend the attention he desired. DJ wouldn’t think twice about fetching a duck for me if I’d shot it, but I knew my buddy would run if faced with that griffon. A cat with wings would be any dog’s worst nightmare.

“Well, pal. Let’s see about getting us some fresh water.”

I turned and walked back into my cave, prioritizing while I walked. Being able to create Grade 5 titanium allow me a lot of options. Titanium is not used in construction due to the cost, but with my new process, it was better than using copper as pipes. It was lightweight and stronger than regular steel, but with Roknar’s ability to create the metal I could have him build anything quickly and relatively cheap since it’s so abundant.

I sat on my couch and entered Virtual. I programmed Robbie to move the EM generator to the tunnel since my floors were still covered in a Faraday cage. The shaft was smooth bare rock and wouldn’t interfere with the radio wave. I then had Roknar spread out along the floor of the tunnel to get the best picture of where the metals and water could be found. With a slight hesitation, a sent a small radio pulse into the rock.

I breathed a sigh of relief when the world didn’t shake or shatter, but at the same time, I felt a little disappointed I wasn’t back home. Zeus took a long time processing the image before I had a relatively good picture of the mountain. It was a tad surprising I could see a quarter of a mile in all directions, but as I thought, my cavern was a black hole in the image. The copper mess blocked the radio waves.

I had two options. Quick and ugly or slow and beautiful. I could get water in my cave but then what? As a child when I wasn’t dreaming of the stars, I wished I could have grown up in a castle. Without the means to get to the stars, I figured I could at least build me a castle in Earths ancient past. I thought a lot about where I’d want to construct my castle but kept thinking about the dangers I would face down below on the valley floor. I wrestled with this problem until I remembered about the castle-like buildings in ancient Petra, Jordon. The ancient Greeks built their city inside the rock cliff faces throughout the area. The unique landscape and construction stood the test of time. At the time of my accident, Petra still looked beautiful even after nearly 2,000 years after its creation.

As a child, I dreamed about the ancient myth of the city of El Dorado, the city of gold. Since gold was far more abundant here than Ouray of my past, I decided that I could build my version of El Dorado. So with Zeus’ help since my design skills were lacking, we plotted out a city that would eventually transform the Ouray valley into the legendary ancient city of gold, El Dorado.