Beauty. It comes in many forms and what one would think. I look out from a tree with my bow ready to fire. No sign from them. I sigh in relief and slowly relax the bow. My name is E-23. I come from a distant future, where Earth is nothing but a mere wasteland. I'm an experiment to test time travel through technology. That's all I know of from my past. Because I am not truly human. I'm an android, with a human like aspect. I barely have any emotions but I sound like anyone of you. Male, female, any kind. This is my first encounter with the past, and I'm the first one to successfully make it. My brothers and sisters, have also tried it but death visited them sooner than expected. I am the last of them, the scientists, researchers and engineers all died after I went through. It's a shame that none of them got to see me here, after all of my extensive training, all of it for nothing. I swiftly moved out of the wooded area and slowly came to a stop on to a ledge. What 'earth' used to be, funny, it looks almost identical if you add more brown and depressing atmosphere. How do I know? Simple, I got to see it in the last war that we fought on earth. I'll spare you the details for later, it's quite a long story now as I think of it. I take in the beauty of it all and think about how these humans could have screwed up such a place. I take off my hood and let the wind flow through my hair. For someone who's been locked up inside most of the time it sure feels... Epic to have this opportunity. Snap out of it. I thought I gotta stay out of sight. Now for a name... Name, name, name... "Eva" I muttered "Eva would do me good for now"
The name is just in case if I ever get in contact with another human being. Which is very very likely to happen. Especially when I meet up with my partner, John Grey. We socialized a few times but our schedules kept us apart a lot. He was the first man to time travel but never reported back after the French and Indian war era. He got sent out when the colonies were being created.
Snap! I turned around with my bow ready to fire. A small squirrel scavenges for acorns steps on a few twigs. I relaxed the bow and went back into the forest. I pulled back the hood until it was over my eyes. I wonder if he's in Virginia right now... I thought. I am on the borderline of North Carolina Colony so maybe if I keep moving north I'll find him in one of the towns. I kept moving along until I saw something. I hid behind a tree and looked to see if it was anyone. Two men in red coats looked like they were talking about something, one had a medal or two while the other one had a Musket. I climbed up a tree and crept closer to the two men.
They talked about some act that the British enforced upon the colonists but it wasn't really important to me. I took out some of my 'special' darts and put them in the tube and bamboo like stick. I put the stick next to my lips and aimed at the one with the musket and blew into it. He collapsed onto the ground while his partner took out a small dagger from his back pocket. He repeatedly kept saying 'where are you' and 'I'll find you, you cannot hide from me you little snitch'. In return for being an obstacle to me, I aimed for him and shot him as well. I put away my stick tube and the darts and move forward in the trees. The 'special' darts are just your average tranquilizers, in 2070. These tranquilizers back in this day and age... Might cause death... Or hopefully put them in a 9 week coma... Hopefully. I broke into a run/leap tree branch to branch. This is only possible for me since I am one of the most lightweight androids of my generation, and by that I mean although I can jump higher if I wanted to and a lot swifter, I can be tossed around easier. The plus side of it is that I can last longer ever since they noticed it with my first few siblings... After a few more trees, I came across a town. It was quite an average town, you have your markets, port, and townspeople. I jumped down from the tree and walked to the town. Suprisingly, they had a gate which had a lock on it. I picked lock the lock and went inside.
In the town, there wasn't too much color compared to my place in time. A lot of the men and some women wore red or blue while others wore brown or white. The town itself was pretty bland with white, brown and maybe yellow. I went up to a women and asked "Have you heard of a man named John Grey? He's a friend of mine and he said he was here"
"I don't think so" she replied with a British accent "but if you need to find men like... You, I suggest going over to any of the bars around here. Especially at a time like this"
"What do you mean at a time like this?" I asked her
"You must be new here in the Colonies, Great Britain passed a new parliament act a few days ago. It's called the Stamp Act, it puts taxes on all papers and of course stamps and documents. Some Americans are pissed about it but it hasn't affected me yet so I'm in between."
"Yeah, I can see why" I said "well, thanks for the information miss"
"You're welcome..." She said trailing off. I take off my hood revealing a tiny bit of who I am.
"Miss!" She said snapping out of a deep thought "You're welcome miss" then smiled
"Any time madam" I replied. I put back on the hood and begin my search for John. If you have been thinking that I've been a male all the way up to this point, you are a fool. Who on earth would call there son 'Eva' or even nickname themselves that? I walked over to the market alley and found the first bar on a corner. I could tell if it was a bar by a drunk american walking out with a women in some interesting clothes. I walked in to see a stage with a women singing in another interesting outfit and men rooting for her while drinking. I walked over to one of the darker areas of the bar and sat down. A waiter came by and asked "would you like anything to drink?"
"Water would be fine" I said "I like to drink on better days"
"Well said, especially with the new Stamp Act that just got passed its been tough."
"Yeah" I said agreeingly. Although I just got here from the Native American's tribes a several days ago and the Act hasn't really affected me yet, I can understand how it was. Kind of.
The waiter left to another table while I stared at my hands. I slip off my gloves and look at my hands. Although light and delicate looking, you can see the mechanical joints and the metallic hands. I wish I were human, people look down on us and call us 'machines' or 'the biggest step for technology'. I've been interviewed but only spoke when I was told. We were like slaves but only repairable and can't disobey laws or orders. We're like on a fixed mindset and can't do anything about it but just think to ourselves about it. It's miserable but the moment I could time travel to a past of freedom and rebellion, it sounded like paradise. But here I am, not sending or feeling the rebellion I dreamt of. At least I don't have to fret over orders.
"So you finally came" I look up from my hands and saw a male commoner wearing blue jacket like mostly everyone els standing next to my table.
"And may I ask who are you sir?" I asked polietly.
"John Grey at your service" he said happily and sat next to me
"So it took you guys this long huh?" John said
"Well, it did take a several of my brothers and sisters to finally catch up with you"
"Yeah" said John "I got in contact with a few of them but then they all vanished during the French and Indian war, Hell I even found some severed limbs and body parts when I was roaming around"
"Disturbing" I said grossed out
"I know"
We were silent for a while, the waiter came back with a glass of water for me. I thanked him and lightly touched my finger upon the glass rim.
"So you know what's up here in the, I should say 'pre-america'" John said in a low voice
"Yeah, I sorta hung out with the Indians for a while before I finally found Virginia. It took a while since the Indians mistook me for a Settler" I said
"So?"
"They attacked me for the first few days until one of the tribe members could translate English to their language. After a week I learned their language and culture and had one of them guide me all the way up here"
"That's some crazy journey"
"Eh, wasn't to bad"
John stood up and said "Well, I guess I should be going"
"Why?" I asked him