Prologue
"Since the dawn of recorded history, Mankind has boldly pursued its destiny, bolstered by an unwavering belief in progress.
Yet, progress has a dark cost-"
I turn off the monitor, disregarding the sudden drop of white noise in my room. Today was the day he would be sent back to Earth. Pretty soon my function as a recruiter would become null and void, and it will only be a matter of time before Nix decides that I was unnecessary.
Fear is not a part of our programming, but perhaps the thought of disassembly was more than capable to simulate such an emotion within me. With hands trembling in a way I did not know I was capable of, I opened the door and prepared to go to the roof and watch him get escorted out of our world.
There was a man standing outside my room.
He looked to be around his 20's, with a buzz cut-type hairstyle that complements his completely clean look. His face, for a person his gender and age, was devoid of facial hair save for his eyebrows and trimmed sideburns. Both his irises and his hair were a shade of black. He was dressed casually in a plain white t-shirt, olive cargo shorts, and grey sneakers.
"May I help you?" I ask cautiously, noting how he seemed—no, he was clearly lost. Not simply lost like someone who cannot find their way, but lost like someone who doesn't belong.
"Yes, umm…" He replies, looking befuddled yet assertive at the same time. "I think I'm a little lost, miss…"
"I'm Athena," I replied and stuck a hand out, "And you are?"
"Oscar," He shook my hand with a smile, even with my high-grade optics I couldn't tell if it was a sincere smile or a grin. It looked like a bit of both, "Oscar Chase."
Chapter 1: Boy Meets Robot Girl
"How exactly did you get here?" I asked Oscar Chase as he followed me to the rooftop. Far down below I could see Frank Walker being escorted out of the building. There's a high chance that they would get rid of me next.
"I don't really know," he replied, rubbing his nape like it was a mannerism. "I just woke up here. You were the first person I saw."
I started walking back downstairs, expecting Nix to be waiting for me in my room. Oscar Chase followed beside me, asking questions about what's going on. I explained as much as my programming would allow, avoiding any information that was deemed classified or confidential.
"There's this nagging feeling at the back of my head…," Oscar Chase continued, "…feels like my brain is withholding a lot of information from me."
"I can help with that," I replied and balled my hand into a fist. "Maybe your head needs a hard restart."
"T-there's no need for that!" He chuckled nervously, waving his arms around in such a silly manner that it could easily ruin my first impression of him. I speculated that he must be some sort of childish young adult.
Oscar Chase. Everything about him piqued my interest, like he was some sort of walking paradox. I can't properly process the information yet, but the fact that he was in a place he shouldn't be in plus the fact that he doesn't clearly remember how he got here…
Unfortunately, I cannot waste any energy thinking of his situation until I have fully handled mine.
I had decided that I did not want to be disassembled. Perhaps if continued on recruiting…
"What exactly is it that you do here Athena?" Oscar Chase asked, almost catching me by surprise. Almost.
"I was in charge of finding potential individuals that could contribute towards scientific breakthroughs."
"Was?"
"That function is deemed unnecessary now." I replied without looking at him, afraid (?) that he might see that I've become…upset. "Basically, I'm obsolete now."
"Obso- Wait, what do you mean?" He stopped walking and so have I.
"I expect to be shut down and disassembled soon." I replied and looked at him, keeping as straight a face as my hardware would allow. He seems to have seen through it, though.
"You mean they're going to kill you?!" He practically shouted, although it was more of a surprised exclamation than an actual shout. His kind demeanor switched to obvious worry and I could hardly comprehend how someone I just met showed genuine concern for me.
After all, I'm just a robot.
"They're not going to kill me," The beautiful girl beside me replied, "They're going to shut me down and disassemble me."
How she said that with such a poker face I'll never know. But it was pretty obvious she was no normal girl. Meanwhile, my head, my goddamn head just keeps trying to tell me something. But I just can't understand, like my brain has not completely regained its full functionality yet.
"Wait, you're a robot?" I asked, finally getting what she's been implying.
"Audio-animatronic." She replied. That nagging feeling in my head still won't let up.
I know this.
I know what's going on.
I just can't remember it yet, my brain won't let me.
"H-hold on," I kept stopping her from walking, somehow knowing that if she keeps on walking, she will be disassembled eventually. "That still counts as killing you, right?"
"Does it?" She said with a stern look, and yet…she seemed troubled. "I'm not exactly human."
"Still…" I was speechless. First of all, here I am finding myself in some weird ass sci-fi city, and now I'm talking to a robot that looks like a 12 year old girl trying to convince her that she's about to die. "Does that not scare you?"
She looked at me again, that serious face of hers. I was, suffice to say, stunned.
Mesmerized.
Enthralled.
And whatever words you can think of that would describe this feeling… well I guess there would be no words good enough. I doubt it would even be possible to justify this feeling.
"I…" She paused for a little too long. For a moment I was afraid I broke her or something. I was intent on saving this robot girl, imagine how ironic it would be if I accidentally broke her. "I don't want to die."
I only noticed that we were outside her room when she suddenly rushed inside. I followed her inside and saw (in awe-struck silence) her taking her clothes off.
"Okay…" I tried to speak while savoring the image unfolding before me, "…wow."
She started picking though her other 'non-sci-fi looking' outfits and settled with a simple dress.
'Quite different to what she wore in the movie,' My brain told me.
Wait,what?
I did my best in picking an outfit that would make it easy to blend in. I've been in this place for a while and haven't been properly updated with the current trends of Earth.
Maybe Oscar Chase knows?
"Is this acceptable?" I asked holding out the dress that I was planning on wearing. It was similar to what I wore when Frank and I met years ago, but this one was tailored to look more 'modern'.
"Hell yes," He whispered, sounding like someone with a lung problem. Was something bothering him?
"Is my state of undress bothering you?" I asked, wondering if it's already considered bothersome for adults to see children with no clothes on. I don't remember it being a huge issue during the previous years. "Don't worry, I maybe female but I was designed to look like a child. But if this troubles you…"
"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Oscar Chase replied, his body stiffening while his face was clearly blushing. "It's not that I'm bothered. I'd rather use the term 'enthusiastically shocked'."
"If you say so," I replied and put on the proper underwear and other accessories before wearing the dress. It was short enough which was good, it wouldn't hinder me in case we needed to run or fight.
I checked my storage drawer if I had spare pins. I needed a whole pack to have a chance at recruiting at least one genius individual. Maybe, just maybe, and with the right encouragement he or she might be able to save us from this predicament.
If all else fails, we still got a couple of years before Frank's fears from his invention become a reality.
The odds are incredibly against us though.
After witnessing such an incredible display that left me breathless and speechless, Athena was already dragging me along with her towards another exit. I assumed that this meant she did not want to be destroyed and was probably trying to sneak out.
"Now what are we gonna do?" I asked simply because I've been running around with this girl without knowing what exactly is going on and what we're doing about it.
"We're gonna go to Earth," She replied, "And I'm going to prove that there's someone out there that can fix this mess. I'm going to prove that I'm not obsolete."
"Wait, so we're not at Earth right now?"
"Technically," she said, not even bothering to look my way as we hurriedly snuck around. "We're at a different Earth. A different dimension."
Dimension
Different Earth
Remind you of something, Oscar?
I tried my best to shut my brain up, annoyed by the voice in my head that was most likely my own. My brain was trying to remember, problem was it's being a huge dick about it.
We were already outside, but I saw that we were headed into yet another building. Unfortunately, this one was surrounded by robots.
Not the kind of robots that I expected after seeing Athena,mind you. Big-ass Real Steel-esque robots.
"Are those guys, by any chance on our side?" I asked, but was answered by a laser bullet. It barely missed me as I looked back to see a burning spot on the ground.
"What do you think?" Athena asked as she jumped inhumanly high to tackle one of the robots, leaving me to wonder what the hell I am supposed to do. She didn't exactly give me any gun or self-defense weapons or anything.
The other robot noticed me and stopped trying to help the other one being attacked by Athena. It started walking menacingly toward me and began to aim a cannon-looking arm.
This is it, I thought, expecting death. Not wanting to go down without a fight I started sprinting towards the robot, hoping to dodge its attack at the last second.
It fired and my reflexes were fast enough to allow me to dodge.
Now what?
I finished incapacitating the robot I was on and saw that I had left Oscar Chase to fend for himself. I did not prioritize protecting him as I was not programmed to prioritize the safety of anyone who I did not recruit. Sure, I felt bad about leaving him to die, but I had it justified.
He didn't seem to need help though.
As things considerably get stranger, Oscar Chase started running towards his enemy robot. The strangest part was, his veins were glowing white. It was like he had some kind of power source inside his body fueling him and allowing him to do what a mere human can't.
I watched in awe and disbelief as he jumped high enough to ride the robot like I did, and plunged his glowing fist straight into its core. Sparks flew and the robot started tumbling around as it prepared to self-destruct.
Deep inside me, a thought emerges, 'Is that robot scared right now, knowing that it's about to die?'
Before I knew it Oscar Chase was in front of me, holding me and hugging me as if he was trying to protect me from the explosion of the robot's self-destruct sequence.
Silly Oscar Chase, I do not need to be protected.
The glow from his veins started fading away and he started checking if I was injured.
You truly are a strange man, Oscar Chase.
Part of me remembers. It was that nagging feeling at the back of my head. I couldn't remember it all just yet of course. It's like during those times when you try to remember the title of a song, or when you know an answer to a question but you just can't
It's like your brain won't let you remember
But you know it's there at the tip of your tongue right?
And now my head is exploding with random thoughts-no, memories. Words like Nexus or Fragmented and unstable power keep going through my head.
sundayandalltheotherfriendsihaveleftbehindihavebeenshatteredintopiecesandthisisjustoneofmeandiamnotlostiwasmeanttobehereichosetobehereandi-
I know who I am.
I am Oscar Chase.
But who exactly is Oscar Chase?
Oscar Chase fainted after his glowing receded, and I had no choice but to carry him towards the gate. Behind me I could feel Nix and his robot body guards arriving.
I opened the portal to a random coordinate on Earth. I managed to hack the gate to close as soon as I go through and prevent anyone else from tracking down where I went. That should buy me some time.
"Don't do this Athena," I heard Nix shout at me. I didn't look back at him. I didn't say anything.
I walked closer to the portal.
"Your job is done," he continued, "Do this and we will have to hunt you down."
I don't want to die, I thought, and looked at the limp body in my arms. He was pretty big for a guy his age and perhaps the image of a little girl carrying an adult man could be considered funny.
I tried to stifle a giggle and failed.
Perhaps if you were there when the portal opened up, you would've seen a little girl giggling her heart out. In her arms lay a 20 year old man who seems to wield a yet unharnessed power.
And in her pocket, she safely kept the keys to tomorrow.
And in his blood, the power to either save or destroy it.
