Chapter 5
Not Important
Dark clouds filled the sky, as the children drew closer to their target. They were walking through a field of dried up brownish plants, with long leaves. Some of them had what seem to rotten fruits hanging from them. But, there were no foul smells in the air.
A.R. was walking a few steps ahead of them, when Jimmy asked, “How far away from suit one now, A.R?” He looked around and said, “It looks like a storm is coming.”
“We are at a distance of…” A.R. was responding when the robot went silent. He had disappeared behind a bush of these strange plants. The children came to a halt.
Concerned, Amy took a few steps forward not being able to see in front of her because of the tall grass.
Jimmy thought something was wrong so he immediately went after her. “Amy, wait!”
Right behind the bushes was the edge of a large crater. Amy was about to fall over, but Jimmy managed to grab her legs just in time.
Amy watched as A.R. tumbled down the crater rolled up into a ball in order to protect itself from heavy damage. “Pull me up!” She cried.
“Give me a second. I’m trying.” Jimmy struggled to get his footing right for a moment. He put all his weight behind it and got his sister out of trouble. “Phew, that was close.”
They sat near the crater to catch their breath, when Jimmy thought, “We have to find a way down there.”
Meanwhile…
A.R. came to a stop at the bottom of the crater. There were more of these plants but the fruits on them where brighter in color—a light green.
Once motionless, A.R. unwrapped itself again to look around. By doing so, he spooked a strange-looking creature that was nearby. The creature hid behind the bushes quickly, so the robot could not make out what it was.
Slowly, the creature came to stare at the robot in awe and approached it with caution. A.R. began to walk away heading in the direction of the children as instructed by Jimmy before.
The creature came from behind the bushes to curiously follow A.R. It was as tall as an average man. It had two eyes in front and another two eyes on the side of its head. It had yellowish skin. It had four arms and two short legs. Between each arm and the legs, it had stretched skin like the wings of a bat. It also had two long fingers on each hand with opposable thumbs. And it was eating one of the fruits.
A.R. kept moving. The creature crawled up closer to it, dropped the fruit and poked the robot. The creature then mumbled some words.
A.R. turned to it and exclaimed, “Detecting speech patterns…” The robot paused for a moment then asked, “What—is your name?”
The creature replied, “Noh, ipotoo…” and tilted its giant head.
“Your name is—Not Important—First name ‘Not’—last name ‘Important,’ is this correct?” A.R. questioned.
“Mm?” The creature murmured, quite confused.
“Name registered.” A.R. responded. “What can I assist you with?” The creature spoke to A.R. in a strange tongue the robot could not understand, so it replied, “Please, rephrase the question and clarify.”
The creature spoke once more, but neither one could understand the other.
“Language not registered. Good bye.” A.R. responded and kept walking.
The creature picked up A.R. to look at it closely, but the robot curled up into a ball immediately. Startled, the creature dropped A.R.
When the creature looked up, the children were standing there, astonished. Anxiously, it took a few steps back. It has never seen human beings before—or robots for that matter.
“Whoa!” Jimmy exclaimed and then spoke to Amy without looking at her. “Keep calm and very still Amy, we don’t know what it’s capable of.”
Amy carelessly stepped forward and said, “Hi!”
Jimmy was left stunned by Amy’s disregard for their safety. Suddenly, the creature repeated, “HI!”
“You can talk!” Amy rejoiced. “What’s your name?”
Confused, the creature remained silent. But, A.R. replied, “Its name is Not Important.”
“What?” Jimmy pondered. “What do you mean it’s not important?”
“Yes. That is correct.” A.R. confirmed.
“Why is its name is not important?” Jimmy upsettingly asked.
“That is what it spoke when I asked.” A.R informed.
“What?” What are you talking about?” Jimmy cried.
“Please, rephrase your question and clarify.” A.R. said.
Jimmy grunts out of frustration. Then, Amy calmly asked, “A.R., what is his first name?”
A.R answered, “Not.”
“You cannot be serious!” Jimmy exclaimed.
“What is his last name?” Amy asked.
A.R. answered, “Important.”
“His name is ‘Not Important.’ Really?” Jimmy said and shook his head.
“Yes. That is correct.” A.R. confirmed.
Jimmy sighed, “Fine. We’ll just call him Knot.”
Knot seemed very curious of the strange beings from another world. He stood silently in astonishment as they spoke with each other, yet not understanding a word they were saying. He took a few steps forward as he realized that they were not a threat.
“Hi, Knot!” Amy waved at him.
“HI… HI…” Knot responded and looked around a few times, then said “HI.”
Amy laughed, where Jimmy remained serious. Then, he asked, “What can you tell us about Knot, A.R.?”
A.R. informed, “It has a large head relative to its body and has developed speech patterns. In essence, this particular species has developed intelligence, to which extent is unknown…”
Knot began to touch Jimmy’s space helmet, which was smooth and shiny. But Jimmy shooed Knot’s long fingers away, “No touching.”
“Its wings are intended for gliding, not flying…” A.R. continued. “Seeing as there are no tall trees around, we can safely assume that the species inhabit the cliffs nearby.”
“That makes sense.” Jimmy added. “They can glide down to eat. There’re plenty of fruits down here.”
“How do they get back up, if they can’t fly?” Amy asked.
“They must climb back up.” Jimmy answered as he kept trying to keep Knot from touching his suit. “That’s probably why they have these long fingers.”
“Most likely.” A.R. acknowledged.
“But why live so high from the ground?” Amy wondered, when suddenly a long roaring bellow echoed from the walls of the valley. It sounded like the Mean-o-Saur they encountered before.
Jimmy looked behind them and said, “That’s why!”
Scared, Knot stretched as tall as he could to look around. Then, he began to cry out loud words in his native language. Jimmy grabbed Amy and they hid as well as they could, behind the tall plants, and within some large rocks.
They ground chook as something big drew closer to Knot. From behind the tall plants appeared what seemed to be a larger version of Knot. It was three times the size of an average man, and had a crown like ornament on his head.
“Whoa!” Both Jimmy and Amy where astonished at the sight.
Then, another big Knot emerged slightly smaller than the one with the crown.
“He was calling for help.” Jimmy whispered. “Those must be his parents.”
“He’s a kid just like us!” Amy smiled.
The Knots argued among each other for a quick moment. Kid Knot seemed to be trying to let his parents know that he had seen beings from another world, but they would not listen. His mom grabbed kid Knot by one of his arms and pulled him away from the area. They were trying to avoid being eaten by the looming predator, the Meanosaur.
“Now what?” Amy asked.
“We have to find dad, but that monster is out there somewhere.” Jimmy turned to A.R. “A.R., where is suit number one now?
“Target is within close proximity, 252 meters east.” A.R. informed.
Jimmy glanced at his compass and looked out. There were tall
cliffs in that direction. “Um, what is the target’s altitude A.R.?”
“Altitude is at 1323 meters.” A.R. responded.
“Ouch!” Jimmy realized.
“What does that mean?” Amy wondered.
And Jimmy answered with, “It means we have a long climb ahead of us.”