Eight-year-old Ty materializes in the desert outside of Tucson, Arizona, where ten-year-old Tyco lives. Ty's fair skin instantly begins to glisten with sweat as if he is a wax figure about to melt. He looks around with squinting eyes as his British, cool-weather body is accosted by the desert heat. Where is Tyco? Ty could sense that Tyco was here and until Ty materialized, he thought he knew where Tyco was. Ty feels a breath of wind behind him, barely affecting the burning heat. He senses a presence. He begins to feel dizzy as his pulse shoots up, increasing the effect of the heat stress.
“This was a dreadful idea,” he thinks. “If some desert predator has found me, I should jaunt immediately. But what of Tyco? He might require assistance. I cannot leave him.”
Ty slowly turns and screams at the looming figure.
“Tyco, I am not your prey! Stop sneaking up on me. I feel so sick.”
“Don’t worry, wimp. I would never let anything happen to you, anyway. Let me get in front of you, man. You almost scared off what I was chasing.”
“What are you going to do, Tyco?” says Ty in a quivering, fearful voice.
“This,” says Tyco as he raises his hand and shoots a beam at a rabbit. The belly of the rabbit explodes as its intestines shoot across the desert and catch on a nearby saguaro arm.
Tears begin to run down Ty’s face. “You killed it, Tyco. Why? You are not a primitive Mayan hunter. You don’t need to kill to eat. It might have babies that will now starve.”
“No man. It’s a male. I made sure. I have already had breakfast, so I’m not going to eat it. Look what I did to it. Its heart is still beating. I learned to open it up and seal the blood veins and get all that other stuff out of the way. I’m getting pretty good with my beam, aren’t I?”
“Tyco! You hurt it and now it’s going to die. I can’t stand to see animals die. Why did you do it?”
“I wanted to study how it works. It’s cool. Look at it. You can see everything working.”
“But Guardian could have showed you a simulation of this. You didn’t need to kill it.”
“Elof2 hasn’t shown me how to use the Guardian yet. I got tired of waiting for him to show me.”
Ty looks down. “I know how to use it. I could have showed you.”
“How man?”
“Don’t ask. I just do. I’m sorry now I didn’t show you already. It’s my fault that rabbit is going to die. Another one for my cry list.”
“Don’t start that again. I thought I helped you get rid of your cry list.”
“You did, until today.”
Both Ty and Tyco jump as the rabbit suddenly begins to glow brightly as if some sort of luminous fog has started to consume it. The fog fades as a salt-like dust falls to the ground. Both shakily turn to see nine-year-old Paul7 standing behind them. He lowers his palms and his arms. His blond hair in the bright desert light combined with the black eye shadow surrounding his eyes gives him the appearance of a deadly ghost about to extract vengeance.
“Hey man, why did you disintegrate my rabbit? It took me a long time to learn how to do the beam like that.”
“I destroyed it because you left it in agony,” says Paul7 with an intense stare. “This is not an acceptable use of your beam.”
“But I was just trying to learn how it works. That’s all.”
Paul7 points his finger at Tyco and hits him with a lightning bolt. Tyco moans loudly and falls to the ground.
“Why did you shoot me, man?” exclaims Tyco.
“I just wanted to ‘learn’ how you would react to my lightning bolt.”
Paul7 shoots another lightning bolt. This time, it hits Ty and he emits a high pitched scream. He collapses to the ground and curls into a fetal position, quivering. Tyco immediately rolls over and hugs him like a protecting tent.
“Why did you do that?” screams Tyco. “You know he is sensitive to pain.”
Paul7 lowers his arm. “I suppose I just wanted to ‘learn’ whether or not there is any empathy left inside of you. You seem to have no problem killing an animal in front of him even though he can’t stand to eat living creatures. I just wanted to learn if the desert has changed your brain.”
Ty whispers to Tyco, “It okay, Tyco. I know you get carried away sometimes.”
Tyco whispers back, “I’m sorry, man.”
“It’s my fault. I needed to show you how to control yourself. I know some methods that work quite well.”
“I believe I hear ‘learning’ occurring,” yells Paul7. “It seems that if you can’t get the student to their class on time, the ‘learning’ has to come to them.”
“Guardian, transport these two clowns to the Haven and clean them up,” says Paul7 telepathically.
“Confirmed, Paul7,” telepathically responds the Guardian.
