The primeval forest was never truly silent. After the carcasses of the Moss Stalkers were left behind, the sounds of the night returned to fill the void. The snap of breaking twigs in the distance, the rustle of wind passing through giant trees, and the buzz of insects the size of human palms.
Dayat and Dola moved quickly, leaving the slaughter site behind. The pungent smell of green blood from the wolf carcasses was a dinner invitation for larger predators, and Dayat had no intention of becoming the dessert course.
"My breath..." Dayat panted, his steps dragging. "Dol, let's rest a bit. I swear, my lungs are about to explode."
"Master's heart rate is 145 bpm. Lactic acid levels in muscles have increased significantly," Dola reported without turning back. She walked ahead, parting the bushes with elegant yet stiff hand movements, as if dancing ballet in the middle of a jungle.
"We have not exited the Red Zone, Master Dayat. However, there is a rocky alcove at 2 o'clock, 200 meters away. It can serve as a temporary shelter."
Dayat only nodded, too tired to answer. He stared at Dola's back.
Under the bioluminescence of the forest fungi, the matte black tight suit Dola wore reflected a faint light. Dayat noticed something strange. Earlier, when he pulled Dola's hand to help him up, that hand felt... warm.
Not the warmth of an overheating machine. But natural warmth. Like holding a human hand. The skin texture, too, despite being incredibly smooth, felt elastic. Not plastic, not silicone, and definitely not cold metal.
"Hey, Dol," Dayat called out between breaths.
"Yes, Master?"
"What... what model of robot are you, actually? When I touched you earlier, why were you warm? Do you have a heater inside?"
Dola didn't stop walking, but she answered in her signature encyclopedic tone.
"This physical unit is a Bio-Synthetic Construct Type Alpha. My internal circuitry is indeed supported by micro-hydraulics and quantum processors, but the outer layer—epidermis and artificial muscle tissue—is designed using synthetic organic materials to perfectly mimic human physiology."
"Synthetic organic?" Dayat frowned. "So you have blood?"
"I possess a red coolant fluid that functions to distribute nutrients and oxygen to the artificial organic cells. Technically, it is similar to blood. This is necessary so I can blend in with the human population without triggering the Uncanny Valley effect or suspicion."
"Ooh... that's high-tech," Dayat mumbled. The explanation made sense to his layman's brain. He didn't suspect that "coolant fluid" might be real blood, or those "artificial organic cells" might be real human flesh. To Dayat, Dola was alien technology that surpassed his logic.
Slither...
A soft friction sound came from the tree above to their right.
Dola stopped abruptly. This time, there was no long verbal warning. She immediately spun around, extending her right arm sideways, holding Dayat's chest to stop him.
"Do not move," Dola whispered. Her voice was very low, barely audible.
"Why?" Dayat whispered back, his hand reflexively gripping the handle of his folding knife.
"Something is following us. Not on the ground. Above."
Dayat looked up. He saw only pitch-black darkness among the giant branches.
"I don't see anything, Dol."
"Target is using Active Camouflage," Dola's eyes narrowed, her blue irises spinning fast, scanning infrared and ultra-violet spectra. "It refracts light around itself. Almost invisible to the human visual spectrum."
Suddenly, Dola shoved Dayat hard to the side.
BOOM!
Something slammed into the ground exactly where Dayat had been standing a second ago. Soil and moss scattered into the air.
Dayat rolled on the ground, then scrambled to get up in an awkward defensive stance. In front of him, the dust slowly settled.
A creature was crouching there. Its shape resembled a leopard, but its body was transparent like it was made of glass or water. Slowly, the creature's "skin" began to change color, adjusting to the environment—moss green, soil brown—until it almost vanished again. Only a pair of vertical yellow eyes and the steam of its breath were clearly visible.
"Shadow Stalker," Dola identified. "Threat level: High. Reaction speed: 0.2 seconds. Far more dangerous than the wolves earlier."
The creature growled. The sound wasn't a roar, but a terrifying click-click-click sound from its throat.
"Master Dayat," Dola's voice sounded calm but authoritative. "Thumbtacks and wires won't work. It is too agile and can climb vertically. Master must fight it in close quarters."
"Are you crazy?! I only have a folding knife! That's a tiger!"
"Master will not fight alone. I will be Master's eyes. I will perform Overclocking on my visual processor to predict its movements."
Dola stared sharply into Dayat's eyes.
"Activating mode: Real-Time Combat Assist. Audio synchronization initiated. Master only needs to move according to my instructions. Do not think. Do not hesitate. Just listen to my voice. Understood?"
The creature bent its hind legs, its transparent muscles tensing, ready to pounce.
Dayat swallowed hard. Cold sweat poured down his temples. This was insanity. This was suicide. But he saw absolute conviction in Dola's blue eyes.
"Okay... Okay! Guide me, Dol!"
CLICK! The tiger leaped.
Its speed was extraordinary. To Dayat's eyes, it looked only like a blur of shadow.
"DUCK!" Dola shouted.
Dayat didn't process the command in his brain. His body moved automatically out of panic and trust. He dropped himself to the ground.
The creature's claws slashed empty air above Dayat's head, cutting a few strands of his hair.
"ROLL RIGHT! STAB AT 11 O'CLOCK!"
Dayat rolled to the right. As he rose halfway, he stabbed his folding knife blindly in the direction Dola shouted.
STAB!
The knife sank into something solid yet rubbery. A startled shriek came from the tiger. Purple blood splattered from who-knows-which body part.
"BACK THREE STEPS! NOW!"
Dayat jumped back. A second later, the creature's tail—which turned out to have sharp spikes at the tip—slammed into the ground where he had just been. CRACK! The ground fractured.
"Crazy... that was close," Dayat gasped. His heart raced like a metal drum.
"It is angry," Dola said. "It will use combo attacks. Focus, Master. Listen to my tempo."
The tiger, now slightly visible because the purple blood clinging to its body ruined its camouflage, roared in rage. It lunged again. This time not a single leap, but a flurry of rapid slashes.
"LEFT! RIGHT! PARRY UP!"
Dayat moved like a puppet whose strings were pulled by a master puppeteer.
He dodged left—claws passed a centimeter from his nose.
He dodged right—the tiger's jaws snapped on empty air.
He raised his left arm (wrapped in an imaginary jacket/spare cloth) to block the tail strike—the pain was excruciating, his bone felt cracked, but he survived.
"WEAK POINT EXPOSED!" Dola shouted, her voice rising slightly. Her eyes emitted a red beam highlighting the spot just below the tiger's neck, between the collarbones.
"RUN FORWARD! SLIDE UNDER! STAB UPWARDS! NOW!"
It was a crazy order. Run towards a rampaging tiger?
But Dayat had entered a trance zone. He no longer feared death. He only feared disappointing the voice in his head.
Dayat ran. He dropped his body, sliding on the slippery mossy ground, passing under the body of the tiger standing on its hind legs.
When he was directly beneath the creature's chest, he saw the red dot highlighted by Dola.
With the last of his strength and a scream of frustration, Dayat drove his folding knife into that spot.
SQUELCH!
The knife went in up to the handle.
Dayat continued sliding until he came out behind the tiger. He rolled and immediately got up, ready to be counter-attacked.
But there was no counter-attack.
The Shadow Stalker froze. Its body shook violently. Its camouflage failed completely, revealing its pale gray skin full of spots. Purple blood gushed from its neck like a leaking faucet. The creature stumbled, tried to roar, but only the sound of gurgling blood came out.
Thud.
The giant collapsed. Dead.
The forest returned to silence. Only Dayat's ragged, harsh, and heavy breathing could be heard. His right hand holding the knife trembled violently, now covered in thick purple blood.
"Target... neutralized," Dola's voice sounded soft.
Dayat didn't answer. He stared at the carcass in front of him, then looked at his own hands. He had just killed an alpha predator. Him. Hidayat Nur Mustafidl. A boarding house kid who rarely even went for a morning jog.
"Master?" Dola approached.
Dayat turned, his eyes still wild. "We... won?"
"Statistics indicate absolute victory. Injuries on Master: Bruise on left arm, scrape on knee. Fatal injuries: None."
Dayat laughed. A dry and slightly hysterical laugh. He dropped his knife and fell to a sitting position.
"Crazy... absolutely crazy. Without you, I would've been fancy cat food for that tiger, Dol."
Dola stood before Dayat. She extended her hand again. But this time, Dayat didn't immediately take it. He looked at Dola's face. There was something different.
Dola's blue eyes were no longer spinning with data. Her gaze was straight, calm. And... was that sweat?
Dayat saw beads of clear liquid on Dola's temples.
"Dol," Dayat pointed at Dola's temple. "You're sweating?"
Dola wiped her temple with a stiff movement. She looked at the liquid on her finger.
"Cooling system worked slightly harder than usual due to Visual Overclocking earlier. This is merely water vapor condensation from the heat excretion system."
"Oh..." Dayat nodded, once again believing the technical explanation. "I thought you could get tired like humans."
"Machines do not know fatigue, Master. But machines can overheat. Come, the shelter is near."
Dayat accepted Dola's hand. As their skin touched again, Dayat felt something more than just physical warmth. He felt safety.
"You're my eyes, Dol. And I am..." Dayat picked up his knife again, wiping it on his pants. "I am your hands."
"Efficient role synchronization," Dola replied. "Let's go. Master needs sleep."
They walked towards the rocky alcove. Behind them, the vicious forest seemed to make way. This strange pair—a human with wild imagination and a "robot" with lethal calculations—had just proven they weren't easy prey.
However, deep within Dola's circuits (or perhaps nerves?), a new data log was recorded without Dayat's knowledge:
[System Warning: Unit Heart Rate Increased. Cause: Unknown. Hypothesis: Biological Adrenaline Response?]
Dola ignored the warning and deleted it from her HUD screen. She had another priority: Protecting her Master.