Primal Saga Volume 1: The Queen of Silence

Chapter 4: Victor's Tale

The walk from Zone C to B was bittersweet for me. Uncle Victor didn't scold me about me disobeying my aunt's instructions, but I still felt guilty about what happened. We walked along the jungle pathway intermittently chatting about the school and about how I built Ace. When we crossed the draw bridge to Zone B the jungle opened up unveiling the factly housing and dorms. The girls and guys dorm were basically two-storied safari lodges with a one-story lounge building in between. Together the three buildings formed a horseshoe shape with a courtyard in the middle. In the middle stood a third goddess statue. Unlike the last two, this one didn't hold her sphere but rather the sphere orbited around on a water-filled track that wrapped around her waist like a hula hoop. Her hands were positioned in a way that looked like she was manipulating the gravity of the sphere using some kind of invisible force. Beyond the dorms in the distance were the sports fields. The tennis team was practicing - batting the ball back and forward across the court. My Uncle guided me to the two story factly house closest to the girl's dorm.

The soft sound of an oscillating fan greeted me as I entered the second-floor room my aunt and uncle had prepared for me. It had a simple layout, a single twin bed, dresser, closet, bookshelf, and a workbench. There was even a door leading out to a small balcony. What surprised me most was the banner hanging from the ceiling that read "Welcome to your new home Donovon."

"My wife spent all yesterday evening getting it ready for you. She knew that we would be too busy today to pick up from the nexus building today but she wanted to give you a warm welcome."

"Is that why she wanted me to come right here when I arrived on campus? She was very upset at me when she found me by animal containment."

"Well, this is one reason," Victor said pulling up a chair from the corner of the room. His cybernetic arm began to make a clicking noise. "The other as you can already tell is that she wanted you to stay away from animal containment. We take security very seriously here. Although, today was a bit of an anomaly. Those gates shouldn't have malfunctioned like that. Especially after they passed inspection a few days ago," Victor said losing his train of thought. "Either way, you are not familiar with our safety procedures or just how dangerous some of these animals are. My wife wanted you to have you properly briefed about it before showing you what we live with on a day-to-day basis."

"Is that so?" Finally, I asked the question I have been holding in since my uncle walked into the medical station. "Did a dinosaur do that to you?" I said, motioning to his arm.

My uncle was silent for a bit but he didn't seem surprised by the question. "No. My wife did this to me. She took my hand."

"Wait. What? Really?"

 "In marriage. Hahahaha." He moved his cybernetic fingers causing his arm to start clinking again.

"Your joints are seizing up," I said - ignoring his pun.

"Excuse me," my uncle said with a curious look.

"That clinking sound it keeps making is because the servo motor inside the joint is rubbing irregularly. I could loosen it if you want? Should only take a few minutes."

My uncle disconnected his arm from its housing just a little bit above where his elbow would be and presented it to me. I removed Ace from my back and set him on the bed where he remained in sleep mode. I received my uncle's cybernetic arm, which was heavier than I expected, and brought it over to the workbench.

Do you need tools? I have some here in my vest," my uncle offered.

"No thanks, I have a set." I pulled out my wallet and thumbed through the small screwdrivers lined neatly in small side pockets. "I have these just in case I have to do emergency maintenance on Ace," I said pulling one of the screwdrivers out of its pocket. "But it looks like your arm uses the same size screws." I set the arm down on the workbench and began to unscrew the housing. "A draco did this to you?"