The team returned to Argos with a terrified young Goblin. They quickly

  provided him with a room and prepared a meal. He began bashing on walls and

  doors, trying to break free, but with no success. Despite his immense brute strength,

  the door would not be broken by his strikes. Soon he exhausted himself and lay on

  the bed that was there. To his surprise, the bed was softer and more comfortable

  than any he had seen so far; Konoya could tell from his reactions.

  “We have about two days before they come here,” said Alex. “Keep a drone

  close to them, and inform Anais to hide.”

  “She has been warned,” said Bara, with his voice hanging low. “I don’t know

  what I should have done,” he continued apologetically.

  “What is done is done. We will discuss this at a later time,” said Alex, pumped

  with adrenaline. “The only thing that matters now is that the coming army will not be

  the end of us.”

  “They can’t. Can they?” asked Gakuto.

  “If they surround us and build a camp around the city or attack us every time

  we try to move out, then they will end us slowly,” replied Bara. “Primitive or not, they

  outnumber us at least a thousand to one.”

  Everybody’s eyes opened wide.

  “Inform Argos that we are now on alert,” said Alex, looking at Jain. “Call for all

  the leaders to gather, and make sure no civilian is outside of the walls.”

  “Konoya is not here,” said Jain. “She is working with Jade to feed their

  language to the system and run medical tests.”

  “Do we know when we will have a working translator?”

  “I am not sure, but if the kid starts talking soon, then it will take very little

  time.”

  Alex took a deep breath. “We need to avoid war with them. When they arrive,

  we will give them their child back unharmed physically and mentally. Make sure you

  do not stress him too much.”

  “We are not going to. Konoya is showing images to him and promoting him to

  say the word for that image.”

  “We need to examine him and see how his skin can withstand bullets,” said

  Gakuto.” We will only need a small sample from his skin.

  “Can you take it without him feeling it?” asked Juuda.

  “No. We can’t use local or general anesthesia because we can’t be sure of

  the effects it will have on him. We need his permission,” said Galen.

  Alex seemed to be the most stressed. “Bara, we need to make a plan. We

  know that last resort will be to bring down a Cerberus.”

  Juuda’s eyes opened wide. “You can’t be serious. These machines are

  devastating. We can defend without them. We have weapons and walls. What will

  they come with? Tanks?”

  “We don’t know,” answered Alex, “but if a battle is unavoidable, we need to

  clear it fast and decisively. Otherwise, they might drag it out indefinitely.”

  “I agree,” added Bara. “If it comes to it, it will be better to make a display of

  power early on. This way they might surrender faster and save themselves.”

  “What if we made a display of power earlier than the battle?” asked Jain.

  “Before they arrive here, we can meet them halfway and show them that they can’t

  mess with us. We can deliver the kid back to them at the same time, and if the

  language is ready, then we can explain about the incident with their dead.”

  Alex smiled at the idea. “I like it. Let’s get the plan on its way. Steve and Bara,

  stay with me for the details. Jain, go and check that Konoya is proceeding with the

  language, and try to get the kid to give us a sample of its skin. He does not need to

  know what for. Just a pinch on his arm. The rest, please make sure that the civilians

  understand the situation and are prepared for the worst. Distribute plasma rifles and

  prepare them the best way you can.”

  In the following twenty hours, Argos became hectic. Konoya was making very

  slow progress, so she decided to enter the room with the young Goblin.

  “I am not sure this is a good idea,” said Jade, while Konoya was opening the

  door.

  “I need to try and gain his trust. Time is ticking,” said Konoya while entering.

  She sat on the floor just a step inside the room and saw the little Goblin

  shivering from fear. She pointed at herself and said, “Konoya.” Then she pointed at

  him. There was no answer, so she repeated this process with a smile and patience.

  After a couple of minutes of this, the little Goblin said, “Bikz.” Konoya’s face lit up.

  Her smile was friendly, and she greeted Bikz with a wave of her hand. “Bikz,” she

  repeated. Then she proceeded to show him a picture of a tree, then a river, then the

  sea, and then a mountain. Bikz was naming things, and the computer was filling a

  database of a language. After many basic words were placed in, Konoya stood up,

  pointed at her feet, and said, “Feet,” in Goblin language.

  Then she proceeded to walk. Bikz, who had understood the game, continued to play, up to the point where

  his fear was almost gone. After a few hours, Bikz got tired, and they let him sleep for

  the day. When the sun was setting, he woke to find Konoya in her place and a warm

  meal next to him. Stressed, he tried it and proceeded to eat some of it. Konoya spoke

  to him in Goblin, which made him comfortable. “Voice me,” she said.

  Bikz smiled. “Speak with me, you mean. Speak with me.”

  Emile was hearing the conversations, helping the computer log the right

  translation. Every word that was not identified would be placed in standby until it was

  identified, when its meaning became apparent from other sentences. This process

  helped the system build the language very quickly, and soon Konoya was ready to

  test it. In the meantime, a large group of Goblins began to gather at the main Goblin

  city, and smaller groups were arranged all around. Alex worked on the strategy, and

  Jain informed Konoya that Bikz would be returned to his people.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “Speak with me,” repeated Konoya.

  “What do you want me to say?” asked Bikz.

  “You will go to your father soon. No fear.”

  “You killed my mom,” said Bikz and almost came to tears.

  “Terrible accident. Terrible mistake.”

  “I only wanted to show my father that I was brave. She only tried to protect

  me, and you killed her.”

  “We were scared. Very scared. We thought she wanted to kill us.”

  “We are always scared,” said Bikz sadly.

  “Why are you scared?”

  “War is always there. We fight always, but we can’t win.”

  “Why are you fighting? Whom are you fighting?”

  “We fight everyone who is not us. Sometimes we make friends, but they don’t

  last long.”

  “We want to be your friends.”

  “You killed my mother. Now you want to be friends?”

  “Yes. We want to be friends. You have already helped us a lot. Now we can

  speak with you because you taught us. Soon we will take you to your father, but first I

  will touch this stick to your hand, which will feel a small pain.”

  “What is this?” asked Bikz fearfully.

  “It will not do bad to you. Only good. It will only pain for a blip.”

  She approached Bikz slowly, and he extended his arm out in fear. The

  apparatus sucked and took a small sample of skin and blood from Bikz.

  “Did it hurt?” asked Konoya.

  “No,” said Bikz while rubbing the small wound.

  “Then wait for a bit. Eat and soon we will take you to your people,” said

  Konoya, standing up and walking out of the room.

  She gave the sample to Jade, who immediately began running tests. Four

  hours later, she called for a meeting to give the leaders a better understanding on

  who they were dealing with.

  “It might sound impossible, but there is technology working here,” began Jade

  “What do you mean?” said Jain.

  “Bikz is swarming with nanobots. Just like us,” she said, causing everyone’s

  eyebrows to raise. “Only their nanos seem to have the sole purpose of enhancing

  their combat abilities. In fact, Konoya going in there was a risk. He could probably kill

  you with his bare arms.”

  “How did you deduce that?” asked Jain.

  “We gave him colorful items, which he explored, that had different weights.

  He can grip and lift with much more force than that of a human. Despite his small

  size and young age, he is already dangerous to someone like Bara.”

  “That means that we cannot engage in close combat with them under any

  circumstances,” said Bara.

  “No,” added Alex, “and this world keeps on surprising us. It is too early to

  engage in any kind of aggression with them. We can’t be sure of what else we will be

  surprised with. We have to make our display work.”

  “But wait,” said Jain. “Are they producing nanobots now? It certainly does not

  look like they do.”

  “They probably don’t,” said Jade. “The bots do not offer any protection against

  infections. That means that the bots are not dangerous for babies, and they can pass

  from mother to child. Ours need to be programmed for each individual, and then they

  directly affect our cells’ reproduction and well-being. I think this is the reason they

  made them back in the days to be only for military advancements. I think they had a

  war between them, and they made them with exactly that purpose.”

  “This is an incredible find, but now is the time to finalize the plan on getting

  him back to his people,” said Alex with determination. “How is the language

  translation, Konoya?”

  “It is finished. We can speak with them with almost no misunderstandings. A

  few conversations with their adults, and we will have most of their vocabulary filed.

  We have no idea about their written language, though, and he did not seem able to

  read the scripts we found around.”

  Bara interrupted the conversation. “Anais has something to say. Speak,

  please.”

  “I am seeing a large army of Goblins moving toward Argos. They are moving

  fast, so I estimate that tomorrow after sundown, they will be there.”

  “How many are there?” asked Bara.

  “It looks like there are over ten thousand,” she said calmly.

  “This is a manageable number,” said Bara.

  “No! The problem is not their current numbers,” added Alex. “We can surely

  take on them easily, and if their numbers move up to one hundred thousand, we will

  land a Cerberus. The problem is that our weapons and machines are numbered. If

  they go for a guerrilla warfare and we remain under constant attack for the years to

  come, we will eventually perish. We need to avoid combat in any way possible. Let’s

  gather everyone at the agora to inform them of the situation.”

  Within less than an hour, all the citizens had gathered at the agora.

  “As many of you have already heard, there is an army marching toward us.

  An army that currently does not pose much of a threat, but it could mean the

  beginning of the end for us.”

  “How?” asked Guliame, one of the citizens. “How will tiny creatures with sticks

  pose an actual threat to us?”

  “Yeah,” said another, “we should not be scared of them. They should be

  scared of us.”

  The crowd muttered their agreement, and Alex frowned. Bara made a sign to

  Alex that he wanted to speak, and Alex nodded.

  “You have no idea what a war looks like,” said Bara loudly.

  “We all have no idea what it looks like. But not them. They have a clear view of what it means.

  Our weapons will prove our superiority in open war, but if they start hiding in the trees and bushes,

  if they start hunting you the moment you get out of the walls, if they burn every tree around Argos

  and sabotage our crops for the foreseeable future, then you will understand that our weapons only

  give us superiority when the war is fair. But war is never fair. This is their world, and

  we are few and new here. We don’t know their strengths or their weaknesses, but

  they know ours. They know we are few. So, stop acting brave with someone else’s

  guts!”

  “Thank you, Bara, for clearing this up,” said Alex. “Now, there will be no

  venturing out until the situation is resolved. The ones born on Hera have no weapons

  training at all, and there is no time to be trained. After this is all in the past, you will

  begin your basic weapons training. The rest, you should prepare for the possibility

  that they reach the city.”

  “Why don’t we use the Eagle to take them out or build an ambush before they

  reach here?” asked Maria. “If it is going to end up with bloodshed, why take the risk

  of doing it here?”

  “We are planning to give them every reason not to come and every chance to

  back away. If they don’t, we will need to show that we are defending our city. Killing

  them out there will only provoke a larger response.”

  Something resembling fear started to spread in Argos. Something new.

  Something strange. Something difficult to put into words started to affect everyone.

  Something between fear and rage. It looked like everyone was prepared to go to

  fight. The horrors of war were nowhere to be found in the memories of humans. They

  did not understand what war stood for. Like little children, they challenged the

  attackers in their minds, and with their superior weapons they thought they were

  undefeatable. But not all. Not Bara. Not Alex. Not Jain. Not the soldiers. Not the ones

  who had been trained for the small chance they will face war. They had seen images,

  stories, and videos of what war looked like. They had studied and knew that once the

  weapons started blazing, the screams and horror would drive them mad. They knew

  that war would change them completely.

  The following thirty hours were hectic for Argos. Alex had ordered the

  production of weapons from Steve, who could not produce fast enough and

  additionally arm the Eagle with weapons. Anais was sending continuous info on the

  movements of the Goblins and also discovered many of their hideouts. What the

  naked eyes could not see, her cameras could. The numbers of the Goblins seemed

  to change occasionally. After more focus, she could see that in some areas Goblins

  seemed to disappear for a while and reappear later. That’s where their underground

  hideouts were. So well made that it would be near impossible to be seen without

  someone going in or out. By keeping a relative distance while scouting them, Alex

  had a clear eye on the progress of their march. When the time was right and at a

  distance of about seven kilometers off Argos, Alex and his team flew to meet the

  marching army at an opening in the forest. By that time, Konoya had managed to

  become somewhat of a friend with Bikz. They were comfortable enough to sit next to

  each other in the Eagle. Bikz had informed Konoya that the Goblins were facing a

  main adversary over the past years. The land where the humans had built Argos was

  near the borders with another species. The Orcs, as humans called them.