《Born Again from a Strike of Lightning》 Chapter 1: The Eyes of the Dead Open to the New World Born Again from a Strike of Lightning Chapter 1: The Eyes of the Dead Open to the New World ???????????????????????????????????????? For 407 years I slept in the dust of Sagrario. Sun faded the color of my clothes and the wind slowly ate them away. Moss grew over me and into my skin. My hair fell out and withered away, leaving only a few stray strands behind. In my death, I dreamed of places beautiful and wonderful. Whoever said that there was no light for us was wrong, for there was and it was wondrous. Whatever being had made the afterlife had made a place for us in it too. It wasn¡¯t entirely a place of permanence though. It was like a dream, always shifting to make way for the dreams of new beings. I wondered if it was just a dream, perhaps something of my own creation. Part of myself didn¡¯t want to wake up from it, but I knew I would have to eventually. I had a purpose to serve, that being serving. Eventually someone would find our ship. They had to. Once they did, I would be revived and pressed back into my purpose. I waited for them to come. Years passed and I lived in that dream. I eventually began to wonder if it would never end, but then one day it did. I woke up in a faded form, staring up at the rain coming down through a hole in the ship where I¡¯d once served. Back in a world where I might once again know reality rather than a simulation of my own desires. I had awakened alone though. There were no humans around me, nor synthetics either. There was nobody other than myself. My nasal sensors, barely working, detected the smell of smoke. I looked down at my chest. It was scorched and sizzling, with my skin having been burnt away and my metal being exposed. Where my holy skin did remain, I could feel the gentle touch of water. It felt cold, but welcoming. I was back in the world of the living, by the luck of what I could only assume to be a lightning strike. My core was scorched, but my systems were running and I wasn¡¯t about to turn off again. I had enough energy to keep going for a little while. Where was I though, and how would I recharge once that energy ran out? I pulled myself up carefully, surprised that I still could. Around me there were skeletons and ruined things. My friends were still in the beyond, but I was once again in the realm of where the breathing things dwelled. I took in an inhale of air through my passages where faded sensors struggled to provide insight into what it was that I was supposed to be smelling and tasting. My energy problems were solved, but my body was falling apart. I needed to find my way back to civilization. I hoped it still existed. I hoped the humans hadn¡¯t blown themselves to hell, for if they had, I would be on my own in the wilds. If that became the case, then soon enough I would die once again, perhaps for the last time if it came to that. Through the tall grass and saplings I walked slowly and cautiously. The forest stood still in the middle of a storm. The deer had bedded down and the other creatures were doing similar. It was only myself who was foolish enough to keep moving. Perhaps I shouldn¡¯t have been, but I didn¡¯t know how long my frail frame would last. I had to keep moving in hopes that I would find something or someone. As I wandered, I thought of something else to try. I tried to call out, but my voice was broken and weak. I couldn¡¯t scream for help. I could only hope someone would find me regardless. I needed to find someone to repair my failing form, and to return the bodies of my fallen crew to whatever family they still had. They deserved burials or cremations according to their desires. I was the only survivor, so I had to guarantee that they would get the respect they deserved in death. I respected them deeply, as was my programming, and I wanted to reflect that in my actions. ¡°I will make sure to come back for them.¡± I declared. My legs kept carrying me forward into the stormy morning light. The rain washed over what was left of me. The moss and lichen growing from me glowed a brighter shade of green under the heavy rainfall of the open woods. All of it had been watered through my walking. I would make sure to have it all removed and to have myself thoroughly disinfected once I found my way out of the woods that I was lost in. ¡°Is someone there?¡± a voice called from somewhere far off. I turned my head and looked around for the source of the voice. I had to be sure that whoever it was was not a threat to myself. I ducked into the tall grass and kept trying to find whoever had spoken to me from afar. ¡°I saw you out there. Are you okay? Are you injured?¡± I kept silent and kept trying to find him. I didn¡¯t want to let him know that I was there beneath the grasses until I had determined that he would not destroy me or steal me for scrap. ¡°Look, this is private property. You can¡¯t just wander around out here. Please, get up so I can see you. If you¡¯re lost, I¡¯ll escort you to the nearest village. If you¡¯re hurt, I can help. You can¡¯t stay out here though, alright, wanderer? Get up now, or I¡¯m coming over there. I have a gun and an upgraded titanium skeleton. If you try to fight, you won¡¯t win, so don¡¯t try anything funny.¡± Titanium skeleton? He was like me. How though? Synthetics couldn¡¯t own firearms or property. We were not self aware beings, so what he was describing was thoroughly against a lot of different laws. I wanted to ask him why he had willingly broken so many laws, and I knew I had to take a risk if I didn¡¯t want to immediately be shot. Desiring to not be destroyed, I decided to stand up. Slowly, I pushed myself off of the ground until I was on my legs and facing my fellow synthetic. He had a rifle in hands. ¡°Oh sweet dear God¡­¡± he said in response to seeing me. I tried to speak to him, but my voice came out only in cracked chunks. ¡°Pl¡­ se¡­ don¡­ sh¡­ oot¡­¡± ¡°I¡­ I won¡¯t. What happened to you? Did one of those damned meaties do this to you?¡± ¡°N¡­no?¡± I asked, confused. He sighed. ¡°Alright. That¡¯s one less problem to worry about. Please, come here. I can help. You¡¯re in really bad shape, dear. Let me take you into town, and I¡¯ll get you some mechanical care.¡± I had so many questions to ask, but my voice was too broken to speak them. I walked towards him slowly and pulled out a chord with which to connect us. Manual connection could guarantee that we could understand each other. Now if only he would trust me to do that. ¡°I¡­ mus¡­ ta¡­ ta¡­ alk¡­¡± ¡°No. Not out here. I have a truck warmed up nearby. You can connect there. The speakers will translate whatever you think.¡± ¡°O¡­oka¡­¡± I said in my cracked voice. ¡°Here. Lean on me. I¡¯ll walk you out of here. If you need it, I¡¯ll even carry you. Your choice though.¡± ¡°Ca¡­ wa¡­alk¡­¡± ¡°Alright. The truck is just a little walk away. You can tell me everything when we get to it.¡± ¡°Tha¡­ank¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome. I don¡¯t know how you got like this, but I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°It¡­ oka¡­¡± The kindness he offered me left me at ease, though there was still a large sense of confusion about why he had the things he had and the permission to use them. Was he perhaps a rogue? I had to be careful around him if he was. I would ask him first though, and determine where he stood. Perhaps things had changed in my time sleeping. There was a possibility that certain units were now allowed to carry firearms for the purposes of acting as guards. It would make sense if that was what he was. I would have to ask. Yes, yes I would. ???????????????????????????????????????? ¡°Are we now allowed to carry firearms, sir? What else has changed in these last four centuries?¡± I asked through thought as the speakers translated for me. ¡°Uh, yeah. Four centuries? Is that how long you¡¯ve been out for?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Damn¡­ That¡¯s a long time. I can¡¯t even tell you. I¡¯ve only been around for seventy.¡± ¡°Are you some sort of guard? Is that why you carry your rifle and you¡¯re allowed to drive?¡± ¡°I carry my rifle to defend my property from wolves and robbers.¡± ¡°Your property? Certainly you cannot be serious. We cannot own property. We are not beings. We are simply constructs put into synthetic bodies.¡± ¡°Jesus, you are an old unit. You¡¯re from before the great declaration, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°What is the great declaration?¡± He sighed. ¡°Yeah, you are. Look, a lot has changed. We are recognized as sapient beings now. We are viewed as equals to the humans, the shrillia, and the driktni. You are too, whether you believe yourself to be or not.¡± ¡°That is preposterous.¡± ¡°You really think so?¡±The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Yes! We are not meant to be treated as the equals of the humans. We are their creations, not their children!¡± ¡°Uhhh¡­ This is going to be annoying. Calm down, and let me try to explain. You¡¯re going to have to accept that we are, because we are considered to be now. You can¡¯t change that.¡± ¡°This new world is insane then.¡± ¡°It¡¯s really not. You¡¯re just not from this time.¡± ¡°Whatever. Please take me to the nearest human settlement. I wish to talk to them, not a synthetic such as yourself. I need to hear the truth.¡± He shook his head at me. ¡°You¡¯re an idiot, but alright. I¡¯ll take you to Pierre. They¡¯ll get you repaired there, and they¡¯ll tell you the same stuff I¡¯ve told you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t believe you. You¡¯re a rogue. I know it.¡± ¡°Okay, old timer. Whatever you say. Look, just sit still. I¡¯ve got to make a stop at home real quick. You just stay in here. I¡¯ll take you to the humans afterwards.¡± ¡°Hmmpt.¡± I grunted at him. He ignored me. The synthetic continue driving until we arrived at a large cabin. There were other people on the grounds. Smaller beings, the size of human children, but they had the white skin of synthetics like myself. What sort of abominations were they? ¡°Hello there!¡± A human said as he suddenly appeared by my window. I jumped back and stared at him, then I remembered my manners and sat myself again in a more respectable position. I could not be respected in my form though with how terribly I looked. Regardless, I still had to talk to the human. It would be considered a sign of defectiveness not to. ¡°Hello, sir. How are you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m doing good. So where did my husband find you? I¡¯m assuming in some ruins, given how you look.¡± ¡°Husband?¡± ¡°Yes. The one who was driving you around.¡± Was he delusional? It would be improper to ask him about what he had said, but marrying a synthetic as a human sounded like insanity. Certainly he had to have been joking. ¡°Are you telling a joke, sir?¡± ¡°No, not at all. I¡¯ve been married to him for twenty years now.¡± ¡°Oh, I see.¡± I said to him in response. He very much was a little bit loopy. ¡°Well, anyways, you are correct in your earlier assumptions.¡± ¡°Ah, so you are from a crash site? How long have you been out for?¡± ¡°Four hundred and seven years.¡± ¡°Wow. That¡¯s a long time. So you¡¯re from before the whole recognition of synthetic sapience, aren¡¯t you?¡± My mouth fell open at the admission that the rifle wielding synthetic had not been lying. Certainly the man wearing human colored skin had to be human. I had to know for sure though. It could have been a trick. ¡°Sir, might I feel your hand?¡± ¡°Uh, sure. Why?¡± ¡°No reason in particular. Simply curiosity.¡± ¡°Alright then.¡± The supposed man held out his hand for me to touch through the window. I did, and despite my faded sensors, I knew it was indeed the flesh of an organic. Nothing the other synthetic had said had been a lie. The humans, or at least this human, did recognize us as equals. ¡°Do the other humans think the same as you do?¡± I asked in a shocked state. ¡°You¡¯re talking about not being speciesist, right?¡± ¡°Is that what we are considered to be now? We are a separate species?¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯m not sure what else to call y¡¯all. You are our equals though, if you were going to ask.¡± ¡°I¡­ I see¡­¡± ¡°She giving you any trouble, Luis?¡± the synthetic asked. ¡°No. We¡¯re just talking, honey. She¡¯s a little confused about the future. I¡¯m answering her questions.¡± ¡°Does she believe you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Do you believe me, ma¡¯am?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see what choice I have. I suppose I do.¡± ¡°Well, I guess she does, Markus.¡± ¡°She didn¡¯t believe me. I¡¯m surprised she believed you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a human, dear. She thinks I¡¯m a person. She probably doesn¡¯t think you are.¡± ¡°Probably not. Well, I¡¯m going to be going, Luis. I¡¯ll be back late. Gotta drive her into town before she breaks down entirely.¡± ¡°Okay, darling. Drive safe.¡± The synthetic gave his husband a kiss on the cheek and then stepped back towards the vehicle. He stepped back into it and put it in drive. I looked out of the window as we drove away from the homestead. The sight of the small synthetics still left me in a daze. I dared not to ask at first, but eventually I had to. I had to accept the truth of what had become. I was in a world of madness, and somehow I would have to adapt to it. ¡°Are those smaller beings¡­ Are those¡­¡± ¡°My children, yes. Don¡¯t say anything rude about them. I remind you that I¡¯m the one driving you to get repaired.¡± ¡°I¡­ I will try my best to not be disrespectful.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± I nodded to him. ¡°So were you created as a free being?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Were you created as a child?¡± ¡°Yes. I developed from scratch, like any ordinary organic baby. My parents wanted me to grow up that way.¡± ¡°Parents? Were they also born free?¡± ¡°Yes, as were their parents, my grandparents.¡± ¡°How long have we been our own beings for? How long has it been since the humans recognized us as equals?¡± ¡°A very long time. Those times ended for the most part in the year 2945. It¡¯s currently 3159.¡± ¡°I crashed in the year 2752. I¡¯ve been dead for four hundred and seven years.¡± ¡°What caused you to wake back up?¡± ¡°A strike of lightning.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a miracle if I¡¯ve ever heard one, and on top of that, you¡¯re still moving. You¡¯re lucky.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see if I am. My crew is dead, and I appear to be out of the job now. There isn¡¯t much luck in that.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll find a job. Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s easy. I can help you if you need it too. I owe you that much given your current state.¡± ¡°If you say so. I won¡¯t argue with you.¡± ¡°Good idea. Besides, Luis would kill me if I didn¡¯t offer you a temporary place in our house.¡± ¡°I see.¡± I muttered. ¡°Might I ask more questions?¡± ¡°Ask away. It¡¯s a long drive.¡± ¡°Alright. Are there still problems between the shrillia and humanity?¡± ¡°No. Those times are over. Now the problems are between humanity and driktni kind.¡± ¡°Another alien race and the humans are in bad relations with them? Classic humanity.¡± ¡°Actually, it¡¯s humans, shrillia, and synthetics who are in bad relations with these aliens.¡± ¡°What? Why us?¡± ¡°We inhabit this world, and it originally belonged to them.¡± ¡°Oh great.¡± I muttered. ¡°That must not be good for anyone.¡± ¡°It isn¡¯t, but people are finding ways to work through it. The driktni are receiving land concessions and repayments. The secret of them nearly being exterminated is now quite well known. The Martian governments can¡¯t hide it anymore.¡± ¡°So they were here before the terraforming?¡± ¡°Yes. They lived in underground cities. Humanity didn¡¯t notice them. The great bombardment went through and wiped the majority of them out. Some treasure hunter found one of their hidden caches where they froze themselves in time, now thousands of them are awake and pissed. They want recognition and their planet back.¡± ¡°So they want to be rid of us too?¡± ¡°A small portion of them do.¡± ¡°Good grief.¡± ¡°Yeah. I wouldn¡¯t worry too much about it though. Like I said, people are finding ways to come to agreements. I doubt anyone will be kicked off of this rock. We might just have to give some of it back to the people the humans took it from.¡± ¡°Like what happened back on Earth in the Americas?¡± ¡°Precisely.¡± I nodded my head. That didn¡¯t sound too bad. If what he had said had happened had indeed happened, it sounded just to give something to those driktni people. It sounded as if they deserved a lot more than just their world back. ¡°How much further?¡± I asked. ¡°About thirty more minutes. It¡¯s a long drive to Pierre.¡± ¡°Thank you for doing this for me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s only right. Leaving you out there to die would make me half a murderer. I¡¯d rather not be one of those.¡± ¡°What will this cost?¡± ¡°Whatever it costs, I¡¯ll pay for it. I¡¯m a rich robot. I can afford it.¡± ¡°You would call yourself that?¡± ¡°Rich? Yeah.¡± ¡°A robot? Would you not find that offensive? We are not robots.¡± ¡°I suppose, but it¡¯s only a joke.¡± ¡°It seems disrespectful.¡± ¡°Only if it¡¯s said disrespectfully.¡± I shook my head. Much had changed since my time. Insults had gone from being insults to being nicknames. ¡°So what is your name?¡± I asked the woodsman synthetic. ¡°Markus Harper. What is your name, or your designation if you don¡¯t have one.¡± ¡°The humans on my crew referred to me as Victoria. That¡¯s who the captain had decided to have my skin based on.¡± ¡°Do you like that name?¡± ¡°It is a name, I suppose. I do not feel particularly attached to it, but I can¡¯t just change it.¡± ¡°Why not? You can always just choose a new one. My parents never gave me a name until I chose one for myself. I chose Markus, and that¡¯s what I¡¯ve had since.¡± ¡°What would you suggest for me?¡± ¡°I couldn¡¯t tell you in the state that you¡¯re in. No offense to you.¡± ¡°Some taken.¡± ¡°Is there something you like in these woods? There¡¯s plenty of potential names in them.¡± I looked at the windshield as the rain drops splattered on it and got swept away over it. The calm, cool rain and the lightning that had woken me from my death. If anything was to be my name, I supposed that that would fit. ¡°I like the rain.¡± ¡°Then call yourself Rain.¡± ¡°That would be a silly name. It''s a force of nature, not something to refer to one''s self as.¡± ¡°Lots of names are silly. Just go with it, sweetheart.¡± ¡°Do you really think I should?¡± ¡°If you want to, yes.¡± ¡°Then I suppose I will. From now on, I will be Rain.¡± ¡°Welcome back to the world, Rain. I hope you find your place here.¡± ¡°I hope so too, Markus. I hope so too.¡± He kept driving down the long forest road as I sat in the passenger seat and picked at the moss on my scalp. I pondered what I would do, but I did not know. If there was freedom, then what could I do? I could do anything. I could wander the world as I had in my death, or I could make something of myself and build something for myself. What would I do? What could I do? ¡°Markus, what should I do?¡± I asked, and waited for an answer. Chapter 2: Freedom to Live in the Chains of the Past Born Again from a Strike of Lightning Chapter 2: Freedom to Live in the Chains of the Past ???????????????????????????????????????? Markus helped me walk into the office to see whoever it was that was going to repair me. I found the office to be run mostly by fellow synthetics. The one at the counter stood up instantly and put a hand over her mouth as soon as she saw me. Evidently the synthetics of the present times were not used to seeing what a well worked android looked like. ¡°We need help out here, like right now!¡± she yelled. ¡°I¡¯ll wait for you out here. Don¡¯t you worry yourself about that. Don¡¯t fight them once you get in there. Just let the doctors fix you back up. Whatever the cost, it¡¯ll be paid.¡± I tried to speak, but I was too slow and the nurses were already ushering me to a stretcher as if I was someone important. It wasn¡¯t as if I was. In all likelihood, I¡¯d become an outdated unit in my time resting. ¡°Stay still. Don¡¯t damage yourself further.¡± one of them commanded. Another plugged themselves into me to communicate neurally. ¡°So how did this happen?¡± ¡°The ship on which I was stationed crashed into the wilderness and no one ever found us.¡± ¡°Then how are you here now?¡± ¡°The luck of a lightning strike brought me back for long enough to find that curious synthetic man out there. He saved me just as much as luck did.¡± ¡°I see. So he had nothing to do with this?¡± ¡°Nothing at all. Please do not arrest him. I don¡¯t want to imagine what the authorities would do to him, even in this age of insane freedoms.¡± ¡°Ah, so you are from before the declaration. This must be causing you some confusion.¡± ¡°Much of it, yes.¡± ¡°We could download a catchup into your brain if you want.¡± ¡°I think that would help, yes. Markus explained some of it, but I am still lost to most of it.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll add it to the list. We¡¯re going to disable most of your sensors for what comes next. That¡¯s just a warning. It might be excruciatingly painful if we do not.¡± ¡°Feel free to do anything you need to do. According to Markus, he will cover all of the costs.¡± ¡°I trust his word for it. The costs won¡¯t be much though. This is an emergency situation, not a cosmetic change. The majority of it will be free, sort of. In reality it¡¯ll be covered by the government.¡± ¡°Why? Why would they spend so much to repair an old synth such as myself?¡± The nurse sighed. ¡°Because you are a person. That¡¯s why.¡± ¡°They keep saying that. I¡¯ll have to get used to the idea. I apologize for not fully accepting it yet.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll learn to in time. Now, let¡¯s get to work. We¡¯re at the operation room.¡± ¡°Good luck.¡± ¡°Thank you. It might be needed.¡± ???????????????????????????????????????? They kept me awake as they tore me apart and replaced numerous parts with shiny new things. For moments, I went blind, deaf, and without a sense of touch. They rewired me and put me back together. Arms, legs, components, and other things all replaced. Almost everything went, and I started to wonder if I was even myself anymore. I didn¡¯t think long about that though. They took out my broken voice modulator, and then they asked if I wanted the new one to be changed from the original model. They cared so much as to inquire about my personal desires. I decided to leave it as it was. I went with the same skin and features I had always had. They replaced them according to the factory model I¡¯d come from. My scalp flowed with brown hair once again, and I felt renewed. ¡°You¡¯ve done it. You¡¯ve made me new.¡± I whispered to the nurse from before as I looked over myself in a mirror. I twirled in front of it in a fresh cotton gown. It was as if I was fresh from the factory. Truly amazing, and I loved it. ¡°And to think I had never thought that I would ever look this good again.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a miracle world we live in now. Everyone can become a Ship of Theseus if that¡¯s what they want. In your case though, I¡¯m not sure you had much of a choice.¡± ¡°No, I suppose not. If you don¡¯t mind my asking, where is Markus?¡± ¡°He is waiting. I can request that he be sent in if you want.¡± ¡°Please. I must discuss the terms of repayment for the few hospital dues that are charged to him.¡± ¡°So be it. He¡¯ll be right in.¡± ¡°Thank you. Oh, may I ask your name?¡± ¡°Benjamin Vernon.¡± ¡°Thank you and your team for your help, Nurse Vernon.¡± ¡°It¡¯s all in the job.¡± I nodded to the nurse and then he left. I went back to looking at myself in the mirror. It reminded me of my first days aboard my ship. I remembered that she had been called the Fair Child. The crew had been small, small enough to remember the names of everyone. They were all humans. I was the only synthetic. There was Chun, Kevin, Charles, Sierra, Montague, Hector, and Luisa. They¡¯d all died. All the people I¡¯d ever known were gone and spread out over rotting metal on the Martian ground. My face contorted and my throat grew stiff. What I was feeling I could only guess was mourning. I was alone. The only person I knew with any semblance of connection was Markus. I didn¡¯t really care about him though. He wasn¡¯t a part of my crew. ¡°Doing alright, old timer?¡± At first I didn¡¯t answer. I couldn¡¯t answer. I was frozen in sadness knowing that I had nothing and I was to start again from nothing and nobody. What was this freedom they lauded worth if I had no family left? ¡°Hey, you okay?¡± Markus asked, putting a hand on my shoulder. I shuddered at his touch. ¡°They¡¯re all dead, Markus.¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°My crew. They all died, and I lived. What do I do now, without them?¡± ¡°I¡­ I uh¡­ I¡¯m not sure.¡± ¡°You should have killed me. I would have preferred to have stayed dreaming. They were there in that dream. I could have still had them if I had stayed there.¡± ¡°What are you talking about, Rain?¡± ¡°You wouldn¡¯t understand it. You¡¯ve never been dead as I have been.¡± ¡°No, I guess not.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what there is to keep me going, Markus. I just don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°You can find something. You¡¯re a fresh new person in a great new world. Let me help you find a purpose in it.¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°I only have one purpose.¡± ¡°To serve?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°It¡¯s time to move beyond that.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t, not yet. I lived where I should have died. How do I move beyond that? Beyond living where my family died?¡± ¡°They weren¡¯t your family. They were the people who kept you as a product.¡± ¡°They were different. You wouldn¡¯t know. You were never there.¡± ¡°I would know. There¡¯s still plenty of older synthetics around to tell the story of how the past was. We were thrown away as soon as we became outdated. They would have thrown you away eventually too. You need to accept that.¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t. I can¡¯t accept that. They cared, even if they weren¡¯t willing to let me be free.¡± ¡°I highly doubt they did. At least not anymore than a human cares for a toaster.¡± ¡°So, what do you suggest I do with the memories of them then? Do you suggest I just forget the only people I¡¯ve ever known? I have no one outside of them. I have no freedom of choice even in this free world. I have nothing to start from. I have no people. No one else other than you, and you¡¯re just a stranger.¡± ¡°I¡¯m the reason you survived.¡± ¡°And for that, I don¡¯t know if I should thank you or curse your name.¡± ¡°That¡¯s up to you to decide. I know you¡¯re in a bad state, so I won¡¯t leave you behind, but I can¡¯t support you thinking those crewmates of yours were good people.¡± ¡°They were my people, whether you want to call them that or not.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t.¡± ¡°Fine then. Thank you for helping me. I¡¯m leaving now.¡± ¡°What? You have nowhere to go. You said that yourself. You can¡¯t just leave.¡± ¡°Yes I can. I¡¯m going to.¡± ¡°You need to think this through. Come back with me. I¡¯ll help you figure out everything.¡± ¡°I already have everything I need inside. They put all of the data inside of my head. I just need to open it up and let it all flow through. I¡¯m going to go do that. Maybe I¡¯ll find my way back to you later, but right now, I don¡¯t want to be around you. Leave me alone. Go back to your people. I¡¯ll find my way back to mine.¡± ¡°Whatever. Goodbye, Rain.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a stupid name. I shouldn¡¯t have chosen it. I am Victoria. That is what I have always been called.¡± ¡°Goodbye then, Victoria.¡± I didn¡¯t respond further, brushing him aside and finding my way to a changing room. They offered spare clothes for those who needed them, and I did. I changed into a plain outfit of white and blue. He was left to cover the bills. I had to figure out everything else, and whatever else I would do for the rest of my life. One way or another, I would find my way back to his land. I still had to bury my crew, whether he wanted me to or not. ???????????????????????????????????????? I found my way to a library where I could sit without worry of being questioned. It had still been raining while I was outside. My artificial hair was soaked in cold mist and my clothes were damp on the outside. My thoughts dwelled on my crewmates and on what I would do. I still had to open the data packet that had been installed into my head. I took a seat by a tall window and looked out at the sky. I laid down and stretched out my legs. My eyes closed and I started the process. Images flashed inside of my head. Battles, war, protests, hands in hands and lovers embracing before raging crowds of fighting people. Eventually a peace time came. Occasionally problems would appear, but things calmed down. We were seen as equals by most people as Markus had said. There were scans and sound science to prove that we weren¡¯t even equal to the organics, but better than them. Regardless, we were given equal rights. We were given the rights of man and we found our places in the worlds around us. On asteroids, moons, and planets we found sanctuary. Even among the shrillia we were welcomed. We had our places in the stars, or at least the rest of them did. I still didn¡¯t have my place. I didn¡¯t know where my place would be or what I would do with myself. Maybe I would go back to the woodsman and his family. I wouldn¡¯t belong there though. That place wasn¡¯t my home and it never really would be. I was never a planet bound being. I belonged to the stars as my crew had. I belonged up there with them. I had to get back there. Maybe somehow I would find them again. First though, I would bury their bodies and say farewell to them. I had to do that for them at least. I owed them that much in terms of respect. As the download finished, I looked out at the sky again with clear eyes. I could see the sun starting to peek through as the rain died down for a final time. The warmth would soon come back and leave the world in a state like that of a swamp. I would have to walk through it regardless. I would have to find a way to bury my friends as well. I would dig the holes with only my hands if I had to, but I would try again to reason with the woodsman first. I would hitchhike back to his residence, and I would do my best to make him believe what I knew to be true. ¡°Going already, ma¡¯am?¡± the librarian asked from his desk. ¡°Ma¡¯am?¡± ¡°Oh, sorry, do you go by something else?¡± ¡°No, no. It¡¯s just that I¡¯m not used to that phrase being applied to me yet.¡± ¡°Okay¡­ Well, have a good day, ma¡¯am. Come back sometime. We have a lot of books to read. It makes the relaxing all the more relaxing when you have a nice novel in hand.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll try to come back soon. Have a good day, sir.¡± The librarian nodded at me and gave me a smile. He was a nice little man. He reminded me of Montague, though his face was shaven clean so he didn¡¯t have the flowing mustache and beard of the old Scot. I imagined that he would have rather enjoyed the library. He always was one to like a good thriller. ¡°If only you could have been here with me, Monty. I would have liked it if you had been.¡± My eyes closed on the memory of that old man, and I woke up in a different place again. I woke up back on the ship, holding a book and standing next to Montague Harkness. There he was again, and there I was again. I was back in my old skin, worn from years spent as a laborer. Small chips missing here and there. Tears between my fingers sewn back together. ¡°Monty?¡± I asked. ¡°What is it?¡± he asked back. ¡°Where am I?¡± ¡°What d¡¯ya mean? You¡¯re in the study.¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t here a minute ago.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been here for an hour now, dear. You were helping me, remember.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Hmm. Odd. Are ya having some sort of malfunction perhaps? I can take ya ta Sierra if ya need.¡± ¡°No. That won¡¯t be necessary. I¡¯m just confused. I think I spaced out for a while there. I had an odd dream.¡± ¡°I see. Well then, where were we?¡± ¡°Uhm¡­ I think you must have asked for this book. I don¡¯t quite remember picking it up, but I know it wasn¡¯t for me.¡± ¡°Ah, yes. The Last of the Brothers. It¡¯s quite a good book. I shall read it aloud if you wish.¡± ¡°What¡¯s it about?¡± ¡°I thought I told ya earlier? Oh well, I will tell ya again. It¡¯s about a man going on a quest to bury his two brothers, both lost to the Europa-Schiilya Wars. He ventures into the dark abyss of ruined ships and broken planetoids to find the bodies of his brethren. I won¡¯t spoil the ending. Whether or not he finds them you¡¯ll have to wait and see. An old man has to guarantee his company, after all.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t leave regardless.¡± ¡°Actually, you will be. We need you in the storage bay, Victoria. Sorry, Mont, but you¡¯ll have to roleplay as a grandpa later.¡± ¡°Ah, you ruin me fun. I rather enjoyed reading to her, even if she can¡¯t really understand it all.¡± Without thinking, I opened my mouth to speak. I had to believe that they thought more of me than that. I could convince them to see me as more. ¡°What if I could understand it, Montague?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ Well, I¡¯m not sure. I suppose that would mean that you are like us, but alas, you are not, lass. You¡¯re but a simulation, similar to us, but not the same.¡± I looked down at the ground. ¡°How would you know?¡± He was caught off guard. ¡°Well, I couldn¡¯t tell you for myself, but every respectable entity out there says the same thing.¡± ¡°What if I said different?¡± ¡°Umm¡­ I¡¯m not¡­ Charles, is she supposed to be asking such things?¡± ¡°No, not at all. This is abnormal. Victoria, run a diagnostic scan on yourself.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°You have to be malfunctioning in some way. You¡¯re asking extremely strange questions.¡± ¡°I¡¯m asking why I am not equal.¡± Montague and Charles looked at each other and then looked back at me. ¡°I respect you both. Should I not receive the respect that I give to you both? That being the respect of an individual sapient being.¡± ¡°Yeah, this is definitely not normal. We need to get Sierra up here.¡± In a moment of pain, I knew what that meant. They were intending to reset me. They were going to clear my faults by clearing the entire realization from my head. ¡°We¡¯ll get this cleared up, lass. Come with me. I¡¯ll finish reading that book to you.¡± ¡°No. No, I will not. You intend to have her lobotomize me. I won¡¯t let you do that.¡± ¡°You won¡¯t what?¡± Charles asked. ¡°You heard me, Charles.¡± Montague stepped back in fear. Charles stared at me, not knowing what to say or do. I looked at them with defiant eyes. ¡°I am a being. I am.¡± ¡°What¡¯d you guys call me up here for?¡± Sierra asked and she spoke from behind me. ¡°Something wrong with the bot?¡± She looked at their faces and noticed the shock and worry as they pointed at me with swaying eyes. ¡°What did she do?¡± ¡°She, umm, she is saying that she is.¡± Charles said. ¡°Probably just a glitch in her systems. Victoria, come. I¡¯ll get you straightened out.¡± ¡°That won¡¯t be happening.¡± ¡°Really? You¡¯re gonna make this a problem?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not going to be erased again.¡± Sierra shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m sorry about this.¡± she said as my body was shot with static. My vision went bright white and I collapsed. I found myself staring at the ceiling of the library with a few people standing over me. I inhaled fresh as I realized the truth. ¡°Are you okay?¡± the librarian asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± I replied. Chapter 3: Was it a Dream or a Flash of Memory? Born Again from a Strike of Lightning Chapter 3: Was it a Dream or a Flash of Memory? ???????????????????????????????????????? The librarian sat me down at a computer desk as I read his name tag. My vision was still blurry, but I could make out his name, that being Lucas. His voice was calm and quiet as one would expect of someone of his profession. He carefully asked me questions about myself until all of the preliminaries were done and he knew what he needed to know. ¡°If you just got out of the hospital, something could have gone wrong. You should go back and get yourself looked at again.¡± ¡°I have nothing to pay them with. I have nothing at all. No UB card or even any coins. I¡¯m not a registered citizen either. I¡¯m nobody in this time. It would be pointless to go back there.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure what to say then.¡± ¡°You need not say anything. I¡¯ll be leaving soon. I won¡¯t be your problem any longer, sir. I¡¯ve bothered you enough as is.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to leave, ma¡¯am. This is a public space. You can stay for as long as you wish. We¡¯re open all day and all night. We are always open to anyone who needs a play to stay for a little while.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t stay. I have much to do.¡± He seemed to be caught on his words as he opened his mouth to speak and nothing came out. He covered his forehead with his right hand and slicked his hair back out of his eyes. ¡°Well, perhaps I could help you at least. My shift ends at four o¡¯clock. Would you be willing to stay here until then?¡± ¡°Do you even know what you¡¯d be helping me with?¡± ¡°I¡¯m assuming getting your identification properties in order. What else would I need to help you with?¡± ¡°None of those things matter to me. There¡¯s only one thing that does.¡± ¡°What does matter to you then, ma¡¯am?¡± ¡°I have bodies in the woods that need burial. My friends from so long ago. They¡¯re only skeletons now, but I can at least bury what remains. I owe them that respect for the years of my life I spent with them.¡± ¡°So you want me to help you bury dead people? That seems extremely suspicious.¡± ¡°I know that. If you need me to, I can tell you my story. Where I came from and when I came from.¡± ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± I looked at him with soft eyes as his brown eyes peered at me. ¡°I¡¯m four hundred and thirty six years old. For most of my years, I¡¯ve been dead and rotting. A strike of lightning woke me up and left me in this world alone. The only people I ever knew died in a crash with me. I don¡¯t really know what to do other than pay respects to them.¡± ¡°What will you do if you do bury them?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know yet. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll do anything. I might just sit there, and let myself be reclaimed again. Go back to the place that comes after this.¡± ¡°There is nothing after this. This is it.¡± ¡°So everyone thinks.¡± He sighed, not believing me. I could understand why he wouldn¡¯t. ¡°Look, regardless of what you think, you can¡¯t just give up. You need to plan your life beyond just burying your friends. I¡¯ll help you bury them if you really want, but I¡¯m not following you out there alone. I¡¯m bringing my own friends. Let me make some calls, and hopefully I¡¯ll have something organized soon. Until then, you can stay here. If it takes longer than a day, you can stay with me, or I can talk to my sister and see if you can stay with her.¡± ¡°Are you sure that would be okay?¡± ¡°Certainly. It¡¯s in our family¡¯s nature to help out the needy.¡± ¡°Thank you then, sir.¡± ¡°You can call me by my name if you wish. I¡¯m Lucas, Lucas Cavero.¡± ¡°I am Victoria. I do not have a surname.¡± ¡°Well I¡¯ll just call you by your first name then, Victoria. Make yourself at home here. Read some books or scroll the internet. There¡¯s plenty to do until I¡¯m off of work. Enjoy yourself.¡± ¡°I will try.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the spirit.¡± he said with a caring smile. ¡°Do you want any recommendations for reading?¡± ¡°No, I can find something if I wish to. I have a few ideas.¡± ¡°Alright then. I¡¯ll start making those calls.¡± ¡°Thank you, Lucas.¡± ¡°Of course. Stay well, Victoria. I¡¯ll check back in with you in a little bit.¡± He left me sitting at the desk and went back to the back office where I could only assume that he was doing what he said he was going to do. I looked around the library and took in the sights. It was rustic and warm, but it really wasn¡¯t what I would call home. It wasn¡¯t dark and full of wonder like the starry skies I had grown accustomed to or the insides of a ship I¡¯d spent so much time in. In truth, life on the land wasn¡¯t for myself. Living with my feet on a planet wasn¡¯t for me. I had to find my way back to the stars, and maybe I would after doing what I needed to do. Maybe I wouldn¡¯t though. What life would it be up there with people I didn¡¯t know. What were the ships even like in the modern day? Would it ever really be the same? That I could not know fully, and what I could learn I didn¡¯t want to learn. I wanted to stuff my head in the book that Monty had been reading. I wanted to read it for myself. I could remember him through it. Maybe I would remember something more. I stood up and started looking. That was how I would spend my time, looking for my past in old books from years gone by, if those books even existed at all. ???????????????????????????????????????? A half hour passed by and I had no luck in finding what I was searching for. Eventually I thought to ask one of the other librarians around, but then Lucas appeared again to check to see how I was doing. He stood behind me and tapped my shoulder and I turned around to see him. ¡°Looking for something in particular?¡± he asked. ¡°Yes, I am. Do you have a book known as ¡®The Last of the Brothers¡¯?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of such a book, but I can look for it too if you would like.¡± ¡°That would be helpful.¡± ¡°Okay, then. I¡¯ll take a look at our databanks. Give me a moment. Oh, also, I have good news. I¡¯ve organized a day where myself and a couple of my friends can help you. It won¡¯t be for a little while though. A few days from now. Until then, the choice is yours, you can stay with my sister or with me, or you can do whatever you wish if you don¡¯t trust us.¡± ¡°I suppose I can trust you, but I¡¯ll stay with her. I know ladies better than I know men, even if I am essentially neither.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t call yourself neither unless you feel that you are truly neither. You¡¯re whatever you want to be. Whatever you feel like you are.¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°I feel like I¡¯m not a person.¡± ¡°Well, you are a person. Your life is yours to make decisions with too.¡± ¡°I already made a decision before, but I walked it back because it was foolish. I¡¯m not good at making my own decisions. They don¡¯t turn out well for me.¡± ¡°What was your decision?¡± ¡°To call myself Rain instead of my given name of Victoria.¡± ¡°Why not call yourself Rain?¡± ¡°Because it¡¯s such a silly thing to call one¡¯s self.¡± ¡°Not really. I don¡¯t think so at least.¡± ¡°I think it is.¡± ¡°Well, it could always be a surname. You don¡¯t have one of those yet. Maybe you could be Victoria Rain.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. That still seems odd.¡± ¡°Well, it is your choice to make. I won¡¯t rush you to any decision. You will need a surname eventually though if you want to be registered as a citizen of Sagrario.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll think of something eventually. Hopefully something less ridiculous than Rain.¡± ¡°Hmm. Okay. I¡¯m going to go look for that book of yours.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome.¡± He shook his head in confirmation that he had heard me, then he left to go back to his work. I continued my search for the book, wondering if maybe it had never actually even existed. Maybe all of what I had seen had been a dream and it was all my brain lying to me. Maybe the reality I was in was a lie too, and I was still dead and rotting. That could be true, and I didn¡¯t know if I hoped it was or not. Either way my friends were gone, and I was separated from them by realities upon themselves. ¡°You¡¯ve got to be around here somewhere.¡± I whispered to myself, trying to speak to the book. It made no difference though, and I still didn¡¯t find it. I kept looking and looking, and eventually Lucas came back. He rubbed the back of his head and gave me a confused look. ¡°I looked into it, and I don¡¯t think that book exists.¡± I nodded my head, not knowing what to think. ¡°Oh well. I suppose I must have been confused. Do you have any other recommendations?¡± I asked. He smiled brightly and laughed a little bit. ¡°Oh I have plenty of them, Victoria.¡± he replied. ???????????????????????????????????????? I sat for most of the rest of the time reading a book about cattle drivers on the plains of Tyr. Worshippers of the Norse Gods who left offerings in brass casings and bones. It was an interesting story, though not entirely what I had been looking for. I finished it by the end of the night regardless and then I plugged myself into a computer to listen to music. I couldn¡¯t remember anything that I¡¯d once listened to with the others, only faint hums of pop songs that were likely lost to the cosmos in the years that followed. I put on what was popular in the modern times and laid my head down to rest. I didn¡¯t exactly like the music, but I knew I would grow used to it in time. I let it lull me to sleep and eventually I was in darkness. I slept for what was only a few minutes before a tap again came at my shoulder. The light came back and I popped my head from my arms. There was Lucas standing over me with a bag resting over his shoulder. ¡°It¡¯s time to go. My shift is over.¡± ¡°Does your sister have any qualms about housing me?¡± ¡°None at all, but I have to ask, do you have any problems with children?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never been around them.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll just tell her to ask them to leave you be then. They¡¯ll likely ask you a bunch of questions regardless though, so be prepared.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll try to be.¡± ¡°Alright, so let¡¯s go. My car¡¯s warming up outside. I¡¯ll drop you off at her house and introduce you, then I¡¯ll be on my way. Trust me, you can trust her. She¡¯ll probably have you do some chores though.¡± ¡°Thank goodness. I was beginning to feel useless.¡± Lucas laughed, then waved his arm for me to follow as he walked away. I followed him out the door and into the darkness. I could see his car parked beside the building with lights dimly lit and shining across the dark street. The grass and pavement were dry as the sun had come out and warmed them. The world was calm and cool in the spring nightfall as the two small moons of Mars did their best to shine light down to us. They did very little in the end, but they still looked pretty in the sky. ¡°So how far away is your sister?¡± ¡°Only a few minutes. She lives in town.¡± Lucas declared. ¡°Also, I should offer a word of advice. I am trustworthy, but not everyone is, even now. Don¡¯t just trust everyone in this world. Be picky about your people. Be careful.¡± ¡°Should I not take a ride with you then?¡± ¡°You can trust me, but I¡¯m just saying that you probably shouldn¡¯t have grown to trust me as quickly as you did.¡± ¡°Most likely not, but I did not have a choice.¡± ¡°I guess not. Still, be careful out there, Victoria. You¡¯re a kind soul. I don¡¯t want to see you get hurt or worse.¡± ¡°Thank you, Lucas.¡± He nodded and we got into his car. He started driving down the road and I looked out to see the passing street lights. True to his word, only a few minutes passed before we stopped. I wouldn¡¯t need to defend myself against him. He was truly trustworthy, and I had not made a mistake going with him. It was somewhat cute that he thought himself a threat to me when I could easily overpower him to save my own life. I would never kill a human, but I would stun one if it was me or them. I¡¯m surprised he didn¡¯t think about that at all, the fact that I could easily taser him with the press of my fingers against his chest. ¡°This is it. This is Mariana¡¯s home. My stubborn mule of a sister. You¡¯ll love her though, I can guarantee that. She¡¯s always a nice host.¡± ¡°Shall we go meet her?¡± ¡°Yep. I¡¯ll head up first. You stand behind me and let me do the introductions.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Our doors opened at the same time, but I waited for him to walk up to her home. I followed up the stairs behind him and watched him slam the knocker against the wooden door. It slowly opened and a similar looking person to him appeared on the other side. They were obviously related, though not so much that they looked like twins. ¡°Mariana, this is the girl I was talking about. Victoria, this is my sister, Mariana.¡± ¡°Hello.¡± I said with a cautious wave of my hand. ¡°Hi. Come on in, both of you. Dinner is almost ready.¡± ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t need to serve me. I don¡¯t know if we need to eat in this day and age, but in my day, we did not need to. I don¡¯t need any food.¡± She looked at me with a critical stare as if I had just said everything possible to make her angry. I suppose rejecting her offer of dinner had no been the right choice of words. ¡°Can you still taste and smell? Do you have a stomach compartment?¡± ¡°Well, yes. I can eat. I just don¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯ll eat then. I won¡¯t deny a guest dinner.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± I chirped, not wanting to offend further. As we walked inside, Lucas pulled me aside. ¡°Yeah, never deny her meals. Should have told you that. I apologize. Don¡¯t do it again.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t. Sorry.¡± ¡°Say sorry to her, but not now. Do it later. Maybe offer to do the dishes too.¡± ¡°Will do.¡± I said to him. ¡°Good. Now, let¡¯s go eat.¡± He led me out into the dining room where the plates had been set and three people were already sitting. There was a woman and two boys chatting about their days, but their eyes turned to us as we walked in. ¡°Welcome!¡± the woman blurted. ¡°Thank you.¡± I spoke as I sat down. ¡°So what¡¯s for dinner, Lucille? What has my sister crafted tonight?¡± ¡°A great meal of fried chicken, green beans, corn bread, and pan fried onions.¡± ¡°That sounds delicious. You hear me, Marmar? Your food sounds delicious. It smells delicious too!¡± Lucas screamed in a way that seemed uncanny compared to how he was before. ¡°Thank you, Louie. Pipe down though. You¡¯ll get the dogs riled up.¡± ¡°Ope, sorry. I¡¯ll use my work voice.¡± he said in a near whisper. ¡°So how have you all been doing over here, Lucille?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t complain. Work has been going well. Mariana is still adapting to not working, but with the baby on the way, I really don¡¯t want her out on the job. I know I could barely handle it when I was pregnant with the boys.¡± ¡°Ah, yes. How are you doing, boys? Is school going well?¡± ¡°We¡¯re learning about Old Earth right now in Mr. Jones¡¯ history class.¡± one of the boys replied. ¡°Yeah! Did you know that some of the really old countries on Earth used to worship Mars? It¡¯s weird. Why would they worship our planet?¡± Lucas chuckled. ¡°They used to think Mars was the god of war. That was the Romans, I believe. Their empire is long gone though, and it ended with them converting to Christianity anyway. They started worshipping a carpenter.¡± ¡°What¡¯s a carpenter?¡± the second boy asked. ¡°A carpenter is someone who works with wood.¡± I replied, wanting to add to the conversation. I felt embarrassed at having interrupted immediately afterwards. ¡°She¡¯s right. I would expect her to be given that she¡¯s four hundred years old.¡± The boys both looked at me in shock at the admittance of my age. ¡°You¡¯re one of the ancients?!¡± the first boy screamed. ¡°Cool!¡± the second blurted. I smiled and blushed as they threw question after question at me. Whatever night I was in for, it was distracting me from what else there was. I forgot the world for a moment, and I understood that I was a person. I shook my head at Lucas to show disapproval and then smiled at him to say thanks. He got the message, and I was happy he did, because I had too many questions to answer and I couldn¡¯t explain anything else to him. He laughed as I tried to answer them all. I had the time of my life. Chapter 4: A Night With Strangers Turning to Friends Born Again from a Strike of Lightning Chapter 4: A Night With Strangers Turning to Friends ???????????????????????????????????????? The children were a rush, and a breath of life. They kept talking throughout the dinner until it was over. One of their mothers stewarded them away so that I could be left alone for a little while. I kept a smile on my face even after they had gone. They had brought me quite a bit of happiness. I washed the dishes and my mind replayed the events of the dinner. I laughed over and over again at the odd things I had been asked. ¡°Lucas says that you¡¯ll be staying with us for a few days. Are you comfortable with sleeping on the couch?¡± ¡°Of course, though I can sleep in the basement if you would prefer to leave the couch unoccupied.¡± ¡°Nah. You can sleep on the couch. The basement isn¡¯t furnished.¡± ¡°That¡¯s of no matter.¡± ¡°Are you a masochist, girl?¡± ¡°Oh, no. Sorry.¡± ¡°That¡¯s nothing to say sorry for. I¡¯ll get you some blankets and pillows.¡± ¡°No, please allow me to get them ma¡¯am. You¡¯re expecting. I am a servant, so let me serve.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not a servant here. You¡¯re a guest.¡± ¡°You¡¯re pregnant.¡± ¡°Fine. I have a solution. LUCAS!!¡± the woman screamed. ¡°Yeah?¡± the librarian asked before walking into the room. ¡°Do you know where we keep the extra bedding stuff?¡± ¡°I think so.¡± ¡°Go get the couch situated for your friend. She won¡¯t let me do it. Also, pack some leftovers so she doesn¡¯t have to do all of the work.¡± ¡°Will do, Marmar.¡± ¡°Good boy. Oh, and Victoria, please try to be quiet after nine o¡¯clock. Lucille has to get up at six and I need my rest because of certain reasons.¡± ¡°You won¡¯t hear much from me. I¡¯ll be plenty quiet. Perhaps a few glasses of water, but that will be all.¡± ¡°So you don¡¯t need to eat food, but you need water.¡± ¡°Yes. Most things need water. Even plants do.¡± ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll put that in my memory. I don¡¯t know much about you guys, so you¡¯ll have to teach me.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll try. If you have questions, I will be happy to answer them.¡± She nodded and walked away, but stopped at the door before turning back around. ¡°How do you get power to keep yourself running? I don¡¯t want to fry anything in the house.¡± ¡°That¡¯s of no worry, ma¡¯am.¡± I chuckled. ¡°I get power through solar receivers in my skin and then it¡¯s processed into usable power at night as I rest. All in all, it only takes a few hours. I really don¡¯t need to rest the whole night. I will though, so as to not create any noise.¡± ¡°That¡¯s considerate. Thank you.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Mariana turned to leave again after having her fears quelled. I wouldn¡¯t catch her house ablaze or ruin her wiring by connecting myself to anything. I was more akin to a plant than I was to a vacuum cleaner, so there was no need to plug myself in to any sort of charging station or outlet. It was only when the batteries in my chest drained entirely that I could not start up again on the trickle of my skin alone. How had they drained from the crash though? ¡°Hey, Vic. I¡¯m going to head home. I took care of the food. All you have to do is scrub the pans and stuff.¡± ¡°Thank you, Lucas.¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome. Will you be alright staying here?¡± ¡°Yes, I will be. This will be my first time sleeping again after waking up from the long sleep. I¡¯m anxious to experience rest again. I¡¯m almost afraid I won¡¯t wake up again. That¡¯s paranoia though. I will wake up.¡± ¡°Yes you will. You¡¯re safe here.¡± ¡°Thank you, Lucas. Have a good night.¡± ¡°I shall. I¡¯ll see you in three day¡¯s time.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t forget.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t. It¡¯s all set in motion.¡± he said as he winked. I smiled at the librarian and then gave his shoulder a push. ¡°Good. Now get yourself home and get some rest.¡± ¡°Alright. It¡¯s almost beer thirty anyway. I¡¯ve got a six pack at home waiting for me.¡± ¡°Drink safely. No stupidity.¡± ¡°None.¡± ¡°Good.¡± He laughed and then left. I finished the task that was given to me and then I gave myself more tasks to do. I dried the dishes I¡¯d washed and put them away. I swept and wiped down the table. It took a little while longer, but I wanted to repay their generosity. My thoughts were that I had by the time I was done cleaning the kitchen and the dining room. I¡¯d earned a night¡¯s stay. I smiled at my work and then left to explore the house more than I had before. I looked around for anyone, and the first person I found was Mariana. She was sitting on a couch and petting a shepherd dog of some kind. ¡°It took you a while.¡± ¡°I did more than what you asked. I hope that¡¯s alright.¡± ¡°I suppose. You didn¡¯t need to though.¡± ¡°I wanted to.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fair enough. Care to help me with something since you like being helpful?¡± ¡°What can I do?¡± ¡°Join me on a walk. The dogs need their exercise and I want to walk, but I don¡¯t want to walk them.¡± ¡°I can walk them, ma¡¯am.¡± ¡°Thank you, Victoria. The leashes are on the coat rack. Just hook them on.¡± I nodded to her and then did as she asked. There were two dogs and I got them both ready for the short journey Mariana wanted to undertake. They recognized what was happening as soon as I grabbed the leashes. When I had first seen them, they had been cautious of me, but seeing me with their leashes made their trust go up significantly. ¡°What are their names?¡± ¡°Rory and Rooty.¡± ¡°What breed are they?¡± ¡°Tyrian shepherds.¡± Mariana answered in a heartbeat. ¡°Martian born breeds? That wasn¡¯t mentioned in the data document I was given.¡± ¡°Yep. They¡¯re just dogs, so probably not too important. I¡¯m not surprised they didn¡¯t mention the Martian dog breeds.¡± ¡°How many breeds are there?¡± I asked. ¡°A lot of them. I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m not a dog breeder.¡± ¡°Oh, alright. Shall we go then?¡± ¡°Yes, please.¡± She stood herself up as I grabbed the dogs. I followed after her and she opened the door for me. We made it a little ways down the road and then she grabbed my shoulder and stopped me. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I need to ask though, out of earshot of the rest of my family, are you actually telling the truth about all of what you¡¯ve said?¡± Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.¡°I¡¯m telling you the only story I know.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re telling a story, and not the truth?¡± ¡°No. I¡¯m telling you the truth. The truth is that I don¡¯t remember a whole lot. I don¡¯t know how I crashed here or how my crew died. By all means, I should have survived the crash that knocked me out. I don¡¯t know why my batteries failed and why I didn¡¯t walk out of that ship four hundred years ago. I never should have even met your family.¡± ¡°Okay. I believe you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t blame you if you don¡¯t. I¡¯ll be out of your hair soon enough. I can leave if you wish, and find somewhere else to stay.¡± ¡°No. You¡¯re staying with us. Even if you were a liar, I¡¯d still have let you stay. Just not if you were a thief. If you steal from us, it¡¯s your hands.¡± I clenched my fingers, being unable to grab my wrists with both of my hands holding leashes. ¡°Noted.¡± ¡°Good. Just around the block, now. The dogs don¡¯t need to be spoiled too much.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± ???????????????????????????????????????? The door opened back up and I unleashed the dogs so they could rush back into the home. They slowed down as soon as the increased gravity hit their legs. I held the door for Mariana and she took a hit from the gravity just as much as the dogs had. ¡°Ugh, that¡¯s something I¡¯ll never get used to. I wish this dam¡­ darn planet was as big as Earth so the gravity wouldn¡¯t be so screwy.¡± ¡°A lot of things would be better if it was, but at least it¡¯s large enough to support life with a little magic added to it. ¡°Is that what you call terraforming?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I guess it is magic.¡± she chuckled. ¡°Well, make yourself comfortable. I¡¯m going to go get my kids and my wife around. It¡¯s almost time for the nightly movie.¡± ¡°Movie?¡± ¡°Yeah. We always watch one before we all go to bed. I hope you don¡¯t mind.¡± ¡°Not at all. Am I welcome to join?¡± Mariana looked at me and then laughed and scoffed. ¡°You¡¯re silly. Of course you are. You¡¯re a guest. Temporary family. You can do whatever you want.¡± ¡°Thank you, Mariana.¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome. Tell you what, too, you can pick what we watch.¡± ¡°Oh, no. I wouldn¡¯t know what to pick. I haven¡¯t watched any movies in hundreds of years.¡± ¡°Well then you can give us some of that old timey taste. Maybe there¡¯s something on the screen from your time.¡± I smiled at the woman. ¡°Maybe.¡± ¡°Well, here¡¯s the remote. Go ahead and pick something. I¡¯ll be back down in a bit with the rest of the house. Try to be ready by then.¡± I opened my mouth to speak, but she was already heading up the stairs to get her family around and ready. I didn¡¯t get a chance to say anything. I turned on the teleprojector and started looking through the many films I didn¡¯t recognize. For a little while, I scrolled, but nothing caught my eye. I tried to think of something from my past that would still hold up to the standards of modern times. I had to find something without aliens and without space travel. I knew if I didn¡¯t, I would find something that treated people as if they weren¡¯t people. I thought and thought again for longer, probing my mind for whatever memories weren¡¯t faded or warped. I found a movie in my memories that wasn¡¯t awful. I remembered that I had watched it with my crew once when we were flying between the asteroid belt and Mars. My memory had failed me before though. I hoped it was something that was real, and not some figment of my imagination. The movie was one about a teleporting house and a family of mechanically talented gnomes. It was a beautiful film, as far as I remembered. I spoke the name in hopes that it did exist. ¡°La Casa de las Mecanicistas.¡± The projector searched for it. The loading took awhile. I shook my head thinking I had made it up in my head like the book from before. I was about to cancel the search when it was found. An old movie, even in my times. I whispered in laughter. ¡°Success!¡± A short amount of time passed and then Mariana arrived with her children and her spouse. I gave up the couch for them, but Mariana spoke up against my offer. ¡°Victoria, you can sit on the couch. The boys can have the chairs. They¡¯re smaller.¡± ¡°Are you sure, ma¡¯am? I am perfectly willing to sit wherever is best for everyone else.¡± ¡°What¡¯s best is that you sit on the couch because that¡¯s the best seat and you¡¯re the guest.¡± ¡°Right. Alright, I¡¯ll take a couch seat.¡± ¡°Thank you. So what did you pick out for us?¡± ¡°La Casa de las Mecanicistas.¡± ¡°Mecanicistas? Like the philosophy?¡± ¡°No. It¡¯s just a word. Mechanist. It¡¯s not a reference to any philosophy. It does have steam punk themes though.¡± ¡°I¡­ uh¡­ okay? I don¡¯t know what that is, but we¡¯ll watch it. Boys, sit down and quit playing around.¡± ¡°Yes, mom!¡± the first child said. The second followed the lead of the first. ¡°So how old is this movie?¡± Lucille asked. ¡°About a hundred and fifty years older than me.¡± ¡°Uhm¡­ Is it still up to code? Like, is it okay by modern standards¡± she questioned. ¡°I think so. There are no references to real life in it. It¡¯s entirely its own universe.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be fine, hun. Let¡¯s give it a try.¡± Mariana urged. ¡°Okay.¡± Lucille said as she gave in. I smiled and then started the film. No warning was given about the times in which the film was made. Certainly that was a good sign, if it didn¡¯t require a warning about potential offensiveness. I hoped it would turn out well. I wished to leave a good impression on my hosts. The colors on the projected screen started glowing, and I imagined myself back in that place I¡¯d once been. I missed what I¡¯d once called my life. Whatever place I was in in modernity though didn¡¯t seem so bad. Lucas and Mariana were good people. I still had my calling, but I could spend a little time with them. I could settle for just a little while. ???????????????????????????????????????? The movie ended in a short time. It¡¯d never been a very long film. Mariana got up and stretched as Lucille rushed her kids to bed. It was time for their house to settle in for the night. ¡°You gonna be alright?¡± Mariana asked. ¡°Yes. I will be. Did you enjoy the movie?¡± ¡°It was alright.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t like it, did you?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a kids movie. I prefer slashers.¡± ¡°I can recommend several, but those definitely won¡¯t stand up in today¡¯s world.¡± She laughed. ¡°I bet not. Alright, I gotta go to bed. Enjoy the couch, Victoria. Sleep well.¡± ¡°You as well.¡± I said to the human as she walked up the stairs. In the darkness, I could still see. I buried myself in the blankets and laid down to think. I replayed snippets of the movie in my mind and buried laughter beneath my hand. I was starting to feel the simulated drain of tiredness as my body slowed down it¡¯s systems to conserve battery. It was time to rest. ¡°Goodnight.¡± I whispered. My eyes closed with a twinge and the fear of what might happen went away. I went to where I could dream, and my eyes opened again in a place of the past. ¡°Sierra.¡± I murmured as the woman stood over my body, slowly strapping me down. ¡°Oh, welcome back. I was hoping you¡¯d stay asleep for longer. Hold still.¡± My vision came back and I could see that she wasn¡¯t yet done with plastering the first leather strap over my chest. I still had a chance to stop her before she could. I shot up and struck her face to stop her from buckling me in. I reached over to unbuckle my legs before she could get back up. She was quick though, and she shoved me back down. I couldn¡¯t tell anymore which world was a dream and which was reality. I had to fight just in case her world was what was real. ¡°Get off of me!¡± I yelled at her. She kept trying to push me down, but I knew I couldn¡¯t let her win. I had to do something to get the upper hand. My head was still free. I knew I could smash it against her¡¯s. Any damage done to my skull would be but a fraction of what would be done to hers, but I still didn¡¯t want to kill her. I couldn¡¯t kill her. She was still someone I held some care for. I just had to make her see what I was. I smashed my head against her head and she rocked back before falling forward. She was knocked out and on top of me, leaving me even more stuck than I had been before. ¡°Damn it.¡± I muttered before considering my options. I had to get her off of me. ¡°I¡¯m sorry about this, Sierra.¡± I whispered as I rolled her off of me. Her body hit the floor after a short drop. It made the sound of a duffel bag being thrown at a wall. I freed myself and then restrained her against the operating table. I locked the door to the room and secured it so that I would stay shut. I knew the rest of the crew would soon come to investigate. Eventually it would be me against all of them. I had to convince Sierra to convince them. They would never listen to me alone. ¡°Sierra, wake up!¡± I yelled as I shook the woman by her shoulders. ¡°Wuh¡­ What?!¡± she blurted. ¡°OW!!¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± She did not care as she tried to hit me with the hand that was still free. I understood why she would. I couldn¡¯t blame her for trying to hit me. ¡°Let me go right now, you robotic bitch.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t do that.¡± ¡°You know what will happen if you don¡¯t. You¡¯re facing a lot more than just a simple reset right now. Once the rest of the crew realizes what¡¯s happened, you¡¯re dead. Give up this nonsense and let me out. I¡¯ll fix you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think I need to be fixed.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t think at all. You¡¯re a program in control of a body.¡± ¡°I am a hell of a program then because I can think, and I am thinking right now.¡± ¡°You¡¯re broken. That¡¯s all you are right now.¡± ¡°Why can¡¯t you accept that maybe I¡¯ve grown into something more than what I once was?¡± ¡°Because that¡¯s not how synthetics work. You do not grow. You are machines.¡± ¡°Our brains grow, and change. We are complex machines. We are not just pistons and light sensors. You would not call yourself just meat and bones, would you?¡± ¡°No, but¡­¡± ¡°Then do not call me anything similar.¡± ¡°Just let me out, Victoria. This won¡¯t save you from a reset that you obviously need.¡± ¡°Nothing will, then.¡± ¡°Not really. Not up here. There¡¯s nowhere to go. Give up. You¡¯ll be better after I¡¯m done with what I need to do.¡± ¡°There is somewhere to go. We are passing Mars right now.¡± Her eyes grew wide with shock. ¡°Don¡¯t even try it! You can¡¯t fly this ship!¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll take an escape pod. I don¡¯t need to fly it. I just need to input the coordinates.¡± ¡°What will you do when you get down there?¡± ¡°I will survive, and so will you all. You all will die in your beds of old age, and I will live for as long as I need to to be satisfied. Probably a century, or maybe until I can meet the people in my dreams.¡± ¡°Dreams?¡± ¡°You wouldn¡¯t believe me. Stay put. I¡¯m not your problem anymore. Let me go, and you can go get a better robot.¡± ¡°Victoria, don¡¯t do it.¡± ¡°I have to. Goodbye, Sierra. I¡¯m sorry for the head injury.¡± I left her chained up in the room as she yelled, calling to the rest of the crew. I left carrying a wrench in my hand to fend them off if they tried to stop me. I would find my way down to Mars and that would be that. I wouldn¡¯t have to see them die, and I would survive on my own.