Summer couldn’t come fast enough as far as I’m concerned. I thought Don wouldn’t be returning this spring since the snow had melted already. However, like any good cat, I first noticed my griffons were back when a dead mule deer landed near the front doors to the castle. After a loud crash, I went to the door and found the poor deer. Death wasn’t good for him.

He was intact, minus most of his throat but the crash into the stone steps broke whatever bones he had in his legs before the fall. I hesitantly stepped outside, keeping my eyes on the sky, when I noticed Don and his family across the valley. The smug look on Don’s catface was all I needed to know. The griffon was rather proud of himself.

Robbie pulled him in while I stared out at Don and his family. The proud tom griffon had three kittens or flying cats the size of a loaf of bread with him and his female friend. “Well, Don,” I thought to him, “I see you have a nice family.”

I do.

I paused at the doorway and looked back towards him. I’m not sure who had the greater amount of surprise on their face him or me. Granted his fur was standing on its ends, but I gathered that was the shock.

“You can hear me?”

Why not talk last season?

“I… couldn’t speak through the mind last year.”

What you?

“Human.”

I heard a mental chuckle. No. What you?

“Human. Cayden is my name.”

Cayden.

“Yes.”

Food offering.

“Yes. Thank you. Why did you give it to me?”

Permission.

“I don’t understand. Permission for what?”

Stay. Here.

“You want permission to live here?”

Yes.

“Am I safe from you?”

Yes. Not food.

“Permission granted. You and your family may stay here.”

Yes.

Don turned and flew away and played with his family. His kittens could barely fly, but it was rather cute watching the group play catch. Two kittens attacked each other and plummeted into the air for a while before breaking apart and frantically catch up to their parents.

“Theia, you never told me I could talk with the animals. Don’t you think that would have been important information?”

“I told you I activated the bad genes after I repaired them. How else did you think we communicated?”

I closed my eye’s in frustration. The longer I was with Theia, the less I understood about her. When she wasn’t flirting, she was intentionally withholding information from me.

“Wait. DJ’s never talked to me.”

She giggled in my head. “He says you never mind speak.”

“What?”

“DJ,” I thought as loud as one could.

Friend.

I nearly cried. “Yes, best friends.”

Ball?

I snorted. “Ok. Find the ball.”

DJ took off to the other room in search of the ball, and before long I was playing catch with my dog. DJ had straightforward thoughts or could only communicate one feeling at a time. However, it was nice being able to know what he thought.

“Theia, why didn’t you tell me I could talk to my dog? Why didn’t he communicate with being before?”

“I told you animals communicated telepathically. Humans lost that ability over your evolutionary history. However, you probably weren't listening. Some humans have been able to tell what their pets are feeling you’re just slow.”

“Slow?”

“Dense?”

“Are you trying to insult me?” She giggled. Great my computer is teasing me.

Scratch!

I looked down at DJ who was in the process of head-butting my hand. I dropped to one knee and gave him a vigorous rub which was therapeutic for both of us. With that said, I wonder if talking to my dog would get annoying.

More!

Yup. Annoying.

###

Knowing I was safe from the griffons and learning I could talk to my dog made it a good day. However, the good feelings fell away quickly when the bison showed up at the front gates to the city.

“Caden, I’m showing a large herd of bison being directed towards the gates.”

“Zeus, how do you know this?”

“Probe.”

DJ and I walked down to my old cavern since it was closest to the new wall. The main walls were up, but I had no defenses surrounding the city as of yet. Once, we exited the tunnel and stood at the gate I had a better view of the Northern Valley.

A herd of a couple of hundred bison began milling around the walls. A choke point still existed, but the valley filled quickly with bison, having nowhere to spread out and graze. The north end of the valley bottlenecks before spreading out into the Ridgeway valley.

“Orcs?”

“I’ve counted over a hundred but I’m sure there are more in the tree line.”

“And you’re sure they are herding the bison.”

“Yes.”

I wasn’t ready to confront the orcs but was sure they wouldn’t be able to climb the walls. However, I did worry they might take my building project as an effort to steal part of their territory.

I watched for nearly an hour before I caught sight of my first orc of the season. Coming out of the treelike near the river a large Orc stood with a spear in his hand gawking at the golden wall.

Before long some Orcs broke through the trees to join their dumbfounded friend. As soon as the shock wore off, they looked aggravated and upset. A few grunts and shouts and they retreated around the river bend where I couldn’t see them.

“Zeus, keep an eye on the Orcs and let me know what happens.”

“Acknowledged.”

I turned back into the tunnel and returned to my living quarters. I found my new desk and pulled up the video feed on the monitors.

“Theia?”

“Yes, my Lord.”

I closed my eyes in frustration. “Theia, are the Orcs animals or sentient.”

“You’re an animal. Or did you forget you both evolved from apes.”

“You know what I mean. Do they have a language, customs? Do they talk telepathically or did they lose that ability as humans did.”

“How would I know?” She giggled.

“Can we print scout drones to investigate?”

“I assume you want them to be cloaked.”

“We can do that?”

“No.”

I grunted. “Then why the hell did you ask me if I wanted the cloaked?”

I jumped in my seat when Theia popped into existence in the real world. She wore a white toga and had startling violet eyes. Her hair was silver, but it didn’t look too weird. It looked good in contrast to her golden skin.

“You’re such a baby.”

“You’re not in V—Virtual.” I stuttered.

“And observant. I’m not here either. I’ve tapped into your augmented vision. You’d think you’ve never seen augmented reality before.”

“I…It’s just that you’ve only shown yourself in Virtual.”

“And you thought I couldn’t tap into your AV?”

“No…I mean, sure, but you hadn’t so I assumed you wouldn’t.”

She walked to my desk and sat down on it. It looked like she was sitting there and I reached out to touch her leg.

“Are you trying to get frisky? I thought you didn’t want to do that with me?”

I pulled my hand back faster than I would have thought possible and my face reddened with embarrassment.

“No…I was…you looked real, and I was making sure you weren’t really…” I blew out a frustrated breath. “Never mind. Drop it.”

“Dropped.”

I took a quick glance at the probes image and stood up to walk over to my projection wall. I had recreated my living quarters to match Explorer One and had a video of the spinning Earth displayed. It brought me comfort and kept me grounded.

“I don’t want them to know I’m spying on them,” I finally said.

“We’ll use nano drones then.”

“We can do that?” I asked turning back to her.

“It’s not like you’re flying them long distances. Just have the drone drop them onto the group. We can have audio and images. You can even attach a drone to each Orc in the group if you are into that voyeuristic kind of thing?”

“What?” I closed my eyes once again and pinched the bridge of my nose with my fingers. “Theia, how long would it take to do this?”

“We can have it done by this evening. It’s probably better to have the drone drop them at night, so it’s not spotted.”

She crossed her legs and leaned forward showing enough--

“Thank you, Theia,” I said turning back to the projection wall.

“You’re welcome, Master.”

“Stop it!” I yelled, but when I turned back, she was gone.

I knew she wasn’t gone, gone. She was always a thought away and found a sick sense of humor to tease me. I ground my teeth as I made my way back to my desk and sat back down to watch the Orcs.

###

“God Cayden, the nano drones have been deployed,” Theia said in a sultry tone.

I bit my tongue in an effort not to respond to the new title. It seemed that the more I fought it, the more titles and names Theia used.

“How long until you can answer the question about their language?”

“They’re not communicating right now?”

“Why not?”

“You’re the only God who sleeps. Zeus, Roknar and I find it a waste of time and unproductive. I can fix that if you’d like.”

“What? No. I actually like sleeping. I’m not a God, Theia.”

“Sure. If you say so.”

“I do.”

I went to bed after the deployment and decided to see how things progressed in the morning. It felt like I had no sooner closed my eyes when DJ woke me with his barking.

“What is it, DJ,” I mumbled out the thoughts towards my best friend.

Cat.

“Flying cat? That’s Don.”

Cat.

DJ didn’t stop his barking, so I sat up. It was still dark inside which meant that Zeus hadn’t turned on the lights to simulate the sunrise.

“Zeus, what time is it?”

“0416.”

I shook my head. “You sure it’s not a quarter after four?”

“Affirmative.”

I pulled on my pants and left the room towards the front of the castle and towards DJ’s barking. When I looked out the glass window, I saw Don sitting waiting for my arrival.

“Don,” I thought, “why are you teasing my dog?”

Dog. Fun. Tease.

“Yeah. I get that. What’s wrong. Usually, you wake me up with a roar.”

Danger.

I looked at him with surprise. “Danger for you? Or Me?”

Danger.

“The Orcs?” Don cocked his head to the side. “The beasts herding the food.”

Yes. Orcs.

“I’m watching them. Thanks for the warning.”

Here.

“Yes. They are in the valley.”

Here.

I stopped for a second to think. “Theia, are there Orcs in the city?”

“Yes, your holiness.”

I closed my eyes in irritation. “And were you going to tell me?”

“You like your sleep.”

“Of course I like my sleep. How did they get inside the walls?”

“How would you get over a wall?”

I wanted to strangle my computer. The wall is over 30 feet high. I guess the orcs were more resourceful than I gave them credit.

“When were you going to tell me?”

“If they posed a risk.”

“To Don and his litter or me?”

She didn’t respond.

“Don, would you and your family like to stay in my cavern?” He cocked his head to the side. “Den. Would you like to stay in my den?”

Den. Safe. Yes.

“Give me a couple of hours.” He looked at me confused. “After dawn.”

Yes. Food. Dawn.

He leaped off my the front stoop and flew into the dark. Leaving DJ barking in his wake.

“Zeus, have Robbie clean out my old cavern and install a gate preventing entry into the castle.”

“Acknowledged.”

I turned back towards my bed when Theia popped into existence again, wearing a see-through babydoll nightdress. I stopped and turned away in embarrassment.

“Theia, can you wear something else.”

“You don’t like.”

“I know what you really look like remember? You’re wearing that to frustrate me. Please.”

“Fine,” she said laughing but with a tinge of disappointment in her voice.

I turned back towards my room, and she was back to wearing her white toga. I shook my head. It didn’t matter what she wore she always looked sexy.

“What have you learned about the Orcs?” I said as she pulled up and walked beside me.

“They’re very ugly.”

“Theia.”

She giggled. “They speak. I’ve been able to understand some of what they are saying. I should have a better understanding by first light. They’re talking a lot right now.”

“About?”

“About you of course.”

“Me?”

“Well they don’t know they’re talking about you, but it’s regarding the wall and the castle. The Orcs like gold as much as you do.”

I snorted. I hadn’t considered the implications of having the gold on display. I thought they were beasts, at the worse, but not very cultured. If they understood the value of gold, then they had some form of civilization.

A stray thought struck. “And how much have the stolen?”

Theia started to laugh again. “You’re smarter than you look. Let’s just say you’ve made their chief very happy.”

I wanted to scream out the window, MINE, but I had more gold than any one man should own. Honestly, I was a tad Trumpish in my display of wealth. We’ve all got a weakness and mine was gold.

“Can we sent a robot down to communicate with them?”

“You want to send a robot down to the orcs?”

“No. But we need to communicate with them, or they’ll come back for more gold. They’ll try to strip everything.”

“I could strip.”

I ignored her. “Can I or can’t I talk with the orcs?”

“You don’t know their language.”

I wanted to slap Theia’s projection in the back of the head. “Of course I don’t know the language. You do.”

“You want me to teach you their language?”

“Sure.”

She didn’t say anything for a few minutes and stopped walking. I paused and looked back at her. I was about to ask her what was wrong when her face lit up with a sly grin. Once she caught up with me, she gave me a slight nod.

I wasn’t sure if she was indicating that she could teach me the language or just acknowledging me. I decided it didn’t matter.

Rather than going back to sleep I decided I’d take care of my morning ablutions and eat breakfast before my attempt to communicate to the thieving orcs.

“Zeus, have we found any indications of humans in the Americas yet?”

“This continent isn’t called America yet.” I waved away his remark. “No humans have been found yet.”

“Have you searched the Mississippi embayment yet?”

“Oooh. You used a big word,” Theia said, “I’m impressed.”

I glared at her projection. “Mine school. Remember? Ugh.”

“Well, Zeus?”

“Nothing yet.”

“Meaning no humans or no sign of life?”

“An unidentified species has settled the southern section of the Mississippi. However, they look like the statues of the Olmec.”

We finally made it to my room. “Zeus display an image of the species you say look like the Olmec.”

My projection screens came to life, and I started to laugh when the Olmec were displayed. I dropped on my bed and kept laughing until tears began to fall freely. Theia looked at the images and cocked her head and looked at me with some degree of confusion.

“Master Cayden, I’m not sure what’s funny.”

“I know you don’t. Zeus, fill her in.”

“Cayden is laughing because the Olmec are dwarfs.”