Hello! I bring to you the third chapter!
This fanfic is going to explore Zenyatta's background, but of course I'm not going to write every single day of his 20 years of age. The fic will be divided in three different arcs. The first deals with his meeting with Mondatta up until he becomes part of the Shambali, the second will deal with his teachings and learning about the Iris and his orbs (and might include brief appearances of some other characters from overwatch), and the third arc will be focused on his and Genji's paths intertwining.
Next chapter there's some action! For this one, you get some growth in Zenyatta and Mondatta's relationship.
I'd be delighted to know what you readers think of this fic so far! Don't be shy, I'd love to know your thoughts on it!
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Rating: Mature for themes and later content.
Warnings: some violence mentions but nothing graphic.
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Sankhara
Chapter 03 – Vicaya
Xiaguan was a busy city.
People roamed the streets from the early morning, buzzing around and starting their day even before the sun was fully up past the crown of mountains surrounding the area, and the impression was that of a city in constant movement.
The first few rays of sun peeked past the grey clouds, reflecting on the windows of the tallest buildings, hesitant into showing itself, but the air was warm already, wet with dew and the last remnants of the past night.
Tekhartha stood on the side of the street, sensors registering the temperature, the humidity and the wind strength, alerts that flashed in the back of his mind and were recorded in his memory logs for reference. He had no hurry to move, content in observing that little niche of the city that he could access from his safe spot, optical sensors flickering from one side of the street to the other.
With his receptors back at full capacity and functional, Tekhartha could register all the noise and the smells from the restaurant a few feet away from where he was standing, the enticing scent of meat dumplings and noodles mixing with the thick, oily smell of fried vegetables.
After a short talk with Cheng, who had allowed Tekhartha to pick a new mouth piece to install on his face and had offered him the choice to change his identification number plate with a different one, the other omnic had left Tekhartha and Mondatta behind to return to his chores at the restaurant, looking instantly happier now that his job at fixing Tekhartha was finally concluded.
With Mondatta also leaving for a round of encounters with locals, Tekhartha had been left alone in Cheng's apartment, and instead of staying put, he had decided to leave the cramped place, and his feet had brought him back to the restaurant, where he had been hesitant to go in.
The memories of their first meeting were fresh in his memory banks, even if hazy from the pain and the low battery alerts, but Tekhartha could not easily forget the upset, empty sound of Cheng's voice, his original programming bleeding into his circuits, staining them.
Tekhartha knew first-hand how that felt.
The weight of having had to accept help at the cost of Cheng's wellbeing… yes, it had been his choice to offer them his aid, but that did not diminish Tekhartha's guilt. He hoped the restaurant and Technician Li would be enough to silence the undercurrent, constant prodding of a resurfacing programming, and idly wondered if Mondatta ever felt his own resurface. He had often wondered what it was, for him.
The thoughts cluttering his mind were interfering with Tekhartha's attempts to enjoy the view, so he forcefully terminated the thought processes and returned to his quiet appraisal of the street.
Standing there, he felt hidden from the rush of the street, the wall behind him a steady, secure reassurance, and he was able to focus on the people, on the view, on the myriad of input data he received, filing it all away quicker than before.
The area the restaurant was in looked new and modern, and there was a parking lot nearby with neat rows of cars and even a bike rack on the side, and on his right he could see Li's restaurant main entrance, while further ahead there was a small kiosk of newspapers with a dog sleeping in the front, belly rolled up and looking completely at ease.
The sight was pleasant, and he felt the tension within his shoulders loosen.
As Tekhartha's sensors shifted to look further into the distance, a movement coming from the front doors of the restaurant attracted his attention; one of the other omnics working there was shuffling out, dragging a signpost with the daily menu to the front. It was the tall omnic with grey and brown metal plates and the vibrant voice, Tekhartha recalled.
She placed the sign a few feet away from the restaurant doors, looking at it with a pleased flicker of her forehead array lights, then turned around and disappeared inside again.
The action was a small, casual one, but it highlighted the difference between Xiaguan and Lijiang enough that Tekhartha's fans whirred into life, dispelling the sudden increase of heat in his core.
There was less hatred here –or at least it was not as visible, not as outright, as he had felt on his own body in Lijiang.
Shaking himself out of his trance, Tekhartha stepped out and into the streets, looking up at the cloudy sky with concern; he had hoped the weather would hold up enough for him to leave Xiaguan without trouble, but he was afraid it would rain, and that would make the trip uncomfortable…
"There you are, Tekhartha!"
Mondatta's voice was laced with enough warmth and relief that Tekhartha visibly jumped, a flicker of guilt passing through his mind before he terminated the thought before it could fully form.
"You were not at Cheng's apartment when I returned," Mondatta's pace was even as he walked closer, and Tekhartha fought the urge to look at him, concentrating instead on the floor in front of him. "I am glad you did not go too far, you're not familiar with the city and I would not want you to get lost".
Squaring his shoulders, wires tensing a bit as he straightened his spine, Tekhartha tried to hide the fact that the soft chiding had rubbed him wrong. "I needed some time to think about what to do next, Master Mondatta".
"Indeed, Cheng's news were troubling," without missing a beat, Mondatta moved to his side, optical sensors sweeping across the street. "It seems like you were not the only one who noticed something wrong, and even with Cheng providing us with the new identification number your fellow batch mate has received, it will be impossible to find them and inquire about what they might know. We are at a bit of an impasse, my dear".
Tekhartha stiffened, Mondatta's casual use of the plural a dead giveaway. "Master Mondatta, this is nothing you need to concern yourself with. I am grateful you helped me, but I can't let you get dragged into this".
"Last time I looked, you were doing a good job of dragging yourself around on your own," Mondatta replied without missing a beat, "I just had to pick up the pieces".
The chiding in his tone rattled through Tekhartha's core, sounding like a gentle scolding wrapped by a teasing edge.
"That was not the way I intended for things to go," he answered, openly defensive. "Things just… spiralled away from me, but I could not have predicted an ambush. I think I have had a learning experience I would not wish to see repeated".
"That will be for the best, as I did not enjoy having to worry about your continued existence this side of the Iris. It pleases me to know you'll try hard to keep out of trouble now, but that does not mean you have to do everything on your own… or were my words so bland that you can easily forget them?"
"Master Mondatta, I–" Tekhartha hastily corrected his voice box levels, his tone faltering as he paused. "No, I received the message clearly, but I fear for your safety".
"My dear, as any other omnic in this world, my safety will be compromised as long as we cannot coexist alongside humans, so I am afraid the road is still long and impervious." Mondatta leaned forwards, pressing one hand over Tekhartha's chest plates, right above his core. "Our meeting was granted by the Iris, and I do not think it was a coincidence that I happened upon you as I did. I feel it would be a great disservice if I allowed you to walk away when I can do something to help".
Tekhartha was visibly split –on one side, he wanted to spare Mondatta what could be something dangerous that had nothing to do with him, while on the other, he felt Mondatta's presence at his side like a supportive warmth, and his own feelings of respect and awe at Mondatta's relentless work spoke for themselves.
His optical sensors flickered to the side, where Mondatta was waiting, calm and collected, with his hands clasped behind his back.
Even standing there, he looked to Tekhartha as if he was a part of something bigger than anything Tekhartha could reach, separate and better; his kasaya was frayed, and there were stains of oil that marred its previous pristine state, and Tekhartha found his attention focusing on those blotches, aware that it was his oil that had ruined Mondatta's clothes.
On the matter of clothes, that he wore any or not did not bother Tekhartha much –his body was that of an omnic, and covering it did nothing to hide who he was, not to mention how there was nothing visible that humans could consider offensive or 'revealing' to the eye, but what little he had owned to wear had been ripped and ruined during the first few weeks of his job, and he had never replaced it.
Still, the feeling of fabric over his body had been pleasant to have on him again, but he regretted that he had soiled something Mondatta owned. He had nothing on him to pay him back for that.
"Do you have any idea how to proceed from there?" noticing that Tekhartha had yet to answer, and not knowing where his thoughts had taken him, Mondatta spoke up again, making him focus back on the problem at hand.
"No," he admitted, shoulders dropping as the tension in his wires relaxed. "I had followed hunches to Lijiang but from there on, I have nothing left. I do not know where any of the others from my batch are, but the fact that someone else noticed something is wrong means the ones I was in contact with might not be the only ones who disappeared".
Mondatta nodded, the array LED on his forehead dimming to a soft glow. "It might be foolish to hope to find someone who does not want to be found, so we should give up on the omnic that Cheng met. We might have to do something a little more drastic, I fear".
Tekharta did not like Mondatta's continuous use of the plural, but in the little time he'd spent with him he had grown to realise that Mondatta would not let him go so easily, so instead of pushing back, he relented, allowing himself to feel warmed by Mondatta's honest desire to help.
"Most of my batch were sent to big cities, that I know of," he said, tilting his head to look at the street again. "It was not a batch selected for rural work. The ones I kept in contact with had similar designations –one was meant to be a night guard in a museum, two were sent to be clerks in malls or public places, and the one I followed to Lijiang had initially worked for a moving company, but had stopped working there and moved on by the time I arrived to the city".
He ignored the sound of optical sensors zooming on him with a soft click, and was grateful that Mondatta did not ask him what his own designation had been. The thought was still uncomfortable, and he hoped to be able to move on from there.
"It might not mean much, but there is also to consider the area your batch was assigned to," Mondatta said instead, and Tekhartha was surprised to feel a hand press against his shoulder, heavy and reassuring. "If the remaining omnics were sent to the same precinct or district, then it might make it easier for us to track them down".
He did not say it out loud, though both he and Tekhartha were thinking the same thing –if they could track down the others from Tekhartha's batch using the designation area codes, it would be the same for whoever was targeting them.
"First we need to go to the Regional District Bureau of Technology, and luckily for us there's a branch of it right here in this city," Mondatta straightened his back and removed his hand from Tekhartha's shoulder, moving away. "If there are any of your batch stationed here in Xiaguan, then I might have an idea on how to meet with them".
This startled Tekhartha enough that his head snapped to look at Mondatta, the joints in his neck creaking at the sudden movement.
"Let us walk together then, Tekhartha," Mondatta motioned for him to step out into the street, fingers splayed out in an inviting gesture. "Allow me to guide you through this city, and maybe this walk will do us both some good".
Nodding his assent, Tekhartha followed Mondatta out into the street, his uncovered feet making no sound against the cement of the road as he walked at Mondatta's side, feeling almost hesitant with the glaring difference in their stances as he did so.
Mondatta walked with his back held straight, hands clasped together behind his back, gait relaxed, and Tekhartha admired him for that, for how elegant he looked, and poised. There was no chance for him to even try and imitate him, so he did not even try, simply walking at his side and keeping his attention focused on their surroundings instead, not wanting to get fooled into inattention.
He had not been to Xiaguan ever before, but it looked no different than Lijiang had been, or Xining before that. Tall buildings, people rushing by, the familiar smells of food and life mixing together with pollution and the noise of cars and people.
"Tell me, Tekhartha," Mondatta's voice was quiet, low but compelling, "what made you leave your designated city?"
Tekhartha tilted his head to the side, considering. He had not been asked about his programming, or his job, and answering was tied to that, but also… "You," he answered honestly, and his next words were coloured with mirth at the visible startled whirr from Mondatta. "Surely that is not surprising?" there was still a lingering sort of awkwardness in his core at sharing a name with Mondatta, but it was slowly melting away through Mondatta's casual using it to address him, enough for him to lightly joke about it. "I had harboured the desire to do something… not about myself, or my situation as I was already…" his voice glitched out, which took him by surprise.
His pace faltered for a split second and he was aware of Mondatta's optical sensors focused on him. He straightened his back and regulated his voice box again, but kept silent for a few seconds more, worried that his voice would still come out bitter.
"There should be a choice," he finally said, relieved that his tone did not waver.
He remembered, the memory of Mondatta's face so vivid in his data banks, carved so deeply in his logs that he doubted it would ever disappear, the first time he had seen one of Mondatta's sermons aired on television.
Tekhartha did not have a name yet then, or a proper identity –he still went by his identification number, because the thought of naming himself while still working there had felt vile. His name would mean a new him, and he would not be new for as long as he kept to that programming. He had been waiting for a long time already, fighting against indecision and not knowing where to go or what to do if he ever managed to leave.
Mondatta's face had wobbled weirdly, the old flat-screen in a corner of the room flickering with bad reception and age, but the sound had been clear, and Mondatta's voice had vibrated through the air, reaching into Tekhartha's core like an arrow.
The thought had been growing within him for a long time already, hidden away within the confines of his mind, but seeing someone so open and vocal, fighting for omnics to have a chance to be considered equal to humans…
It had offered him hope, and hearing some of his thoughts spoken freely with no hesitation… something had clicked inside his brain, circuits overheating, and for one second, Tekhartha had felt his programming dim under the onslaught of other thoughts, a flood that had silenced the impositions built into his system until they were blissfully quiet.
He had recorded the speech through his sensors without even realising it, a copy preserved in a private network file, encrypted so it would not be corrupted.
A week later, Zenyatta had attempted to leave for the first time.
Mondatta seemed to understand what Tekhartha was not saying, because he nodded, and again he offered a silent gesture of acceptance and support, one hand wrapping around his arm.
"It is all we ask, is it not?" his voice was still quiet, but had raised in volume a notch, and there was a sparkle of something there that made him sound more alive. "A choice. To be able to enjoy this life that was given to us without an option, make our own mistakes and grow from them, because even if we are made of circuits and metal rather than skin and bones, are we not alive as much as any human? Do we not think, or experience pleasure and emotions as they do? We make no demands, we ask to be considered alive, we just ask… a partnership".
Tekhartha felt his core de-pressurize in his thoracic cavity. He felt emptier and fuller at the same time, like a weight had been lifted from him and replaced with something firmer.
"So you see, my dear, how I could not let you leave on your own?" Mondatta was smiling, LED array bright and tone light and full of warmth, almost satisfied. "We walk the same path, from different starting points, so why should we walk by ourselves when together we can do so much more?"
It was such a small thing –words and a gentle gesture of reassurance, but Tekhartha felt like there was a seed planted in the centre of his core that was growing, and he dared to hope, as he followed Mondatta through the crowded streets of Xiaguan, that perhaps whatever sapling would come from that seed would be able to eclipse his insecurity, and offer him the roots he needed to build his life from there.
"Thank you for your help," Mondatta's voice travelled to where Tekhartha was sitting, attracting his attention.
He had been unable to sit still while Mondatta spoke with the technicians in charge of the Bureau Office, and as there was nothing to attract his attention in the sterile waiting hall, Tekhartha had instead focused on his hands.
There had been hope that the trembling would subside quickly and that his limbs would regain their previous strength, but it seemed like it would take more than a couple days to recalibrate correctly, and in the meantime he was left on his own to try and ignore the shaking.
It was difficult –these were his arms, his hands, part of his body, and he was used to having his circuits obey him, not resist the orders filtering through his circuits. Even holding a magazine from one of the racks in the corner was difficult, fingers unable to muster the correct amount of pressure needed to hold up the pages, and it made his frustration grow.
So in the end he had slipped off his bracelet, fingers running across the metallic beads one by one. The magnetic pull kept the bracelet from rolling out of his hand and allowed him to exercise and test pressure sensors and sensitivity in his fingertips, and just like before, the repetitive movements slipped under his radar, calming him down.
One bead, then the next, fingers sliding across each sphere, memorising the feeling and inspecting the texture of the carved runes and drawings. Different omnic types had varying degrees of sensitivity in their limbs and bodies, and Tekhartha's model was not one who had needed all the extra sensors, but the arm he had received in exchange for his mangled one had new sensor inputs that were a novelty for his brain, and learning to read them kept him busy.
He could recognise the runes carved into the beads by touch alone, which spoke of a degree of quality for his hand that was astounding to him. If he switched hands, the other hand could feed far less information to his data banks… it was almost disappointing.
Tekhartha idly wondered if he could get an upgrade in the future for his left hand as well, so he could match quality for both of his arms.
As it was, there was no way he could afford that, but maybe if he found a job somewhere… after all, Cheng was working at a restaurant, and did get paid. For sure, Tekhartha could find something agreeable that he could do well.
The triviality of his thoughts surprised him, and he hastily terminated the thought process.
What good would it do to have two hands that could feel things to this level anyway? Wasn't this vain for him to desire?
Without warning, he terminated the subroutine sensors for his new hand, dulling its sensitivity until it was the same as before, and locked the activity so they would not reset whenever he went through his sleep cycle.
The reduced sensibility felt like cutting off part of the world, but the inanity of his thoughts had scared him, and he did not need to focus so much on something irrelevant when there were better things to concentrate on.
Mondatta walked towards him and he hastened to stand up, metallic joints clacking as he did so. There was a smile in the flicker of array lights on Mondatta's forehead and the tilt of his head, and Tekhartha hoped it meant there were good news for him.
"I'm sorry it took me this long," Mondatta apologized to him, motioning for the entrance of the building. "There was… an unexpected problem in retrieving the files I was interested into, so the workers here had to compile some extra paperwork for the hassle".
Tekhartha looked at him in askance, but did not speak up, following Mondatta out of the building. The door clicked shut behind them, and Tekhartha expected to be debriefed right away, but Mondatta walked away in silence, pace unhurried and relaxed, so there was nothing he could do but follow along.
'Do not appear alarmed now, my dear,' the sudden sound of binary beeped at him at low frequency threatened to startle Tekhartha, but thankfully he was still idly fidgeting with the bracelet, and he was able to pass off the reaction as a casual movement. 'We might have touched the tip of a much bigger problem, but I feel like we will be fine if we stay out in the open. May I suggest a walk to a local park? There is a beautiful one nearby where we might sit and contemplate the beauty of the world as we meditate –it is a relatively unsuspicious activity for a monk and his apprentice and it might help dispel some doubts in case we are being followed'.
The sliver of worry inside Tekhartha's core seized his immediate thought circuits, but Mondatta did not appear to be worried, so he pushed down his fear and attempted to portray a relaxed, carefree persona.
'Is this what you told them?' he asked, unable to keep quiet until the park. Their binary pathways was low enough in frequency that it was virtually undetectable by human ears, so he felt rather safe to reply to Mondatta in such a way.
Mondatta tilted his head to look at him, and even if binary could not convey emotions, Tekhartha had the impression he was amused.
'There are times when it is better to shield your true intentions, and let others believe what they will. Or downright lie, that's an option too,' he added after a brief pause. 'As far as the helpful workers at the Bureau Office know, I asked to look into the list of identification numbers and their assignation area because we are looking for a thief who stole from the Shambali, and we are searching for them in order to bring them to their proper justice without bringing the case to human court, as it is for omnics to deal with'.
Tekhartha's head snapped to look at him, then hastily looked away, fans whirring up in embarrassment.
'I… I did not expect you to lie to someone,' he admitted, almost reluctantly. 'And they believed you?'
'Of course. Having such an upstanding reputation does aid whenever one needs to be able to slip by unnoticed, if the need arises.' Mondatta's tone was still emotionless, binary precluding Tekhartha from understanding what he was thinking, but the words left him hesitant, and he slowed down, trailing behind Mondatta for a moment.
He had not expected such words to come from Mondatta –not that he considered lying intrinsically bad, but he had never thought about lying as something that Mondatta would do, and he was aware that Mondatta had chosen to lie specifically to protect Tekhartha, as his identification number put him in possible danger.
That thought rattled through him and his fans stuttered up in answer, his core heating up in shame.
Mondatta stopped and spun around, and Tekhartha was once again startled when he found himself enveloped in a hug, confusion making his processors click in surprise.
'Do not think that I condone lies used to bring harm or hurt to others,' Mondatta was still speaking in binary, but this close, Tekhartha could feel the whirring of his core vibrate against the outer plates of his own chassis, warm and reassuring. Then Mondatta released him from the hug, but took hold of Tekhartha's hand, feeling its tremors and holding it gently. 'But there is no shame in being careful, and sometimes lies will keep you or someone dear safe. Do never pick honesty when you have to choose between protecting yourself, or others, or upholding some moral standard that does not belong to you. It is not the lie that will cause harm, but the intention behind it, and surviving means one more day on this side of the Iris that can be devoted to do good'.
Tekhartha started to reply, but Mondatta tightened his hold on his hand in a gentle reproach.
'I did lie, but this is not the first time I do so, and I have lied in the past for less important reasons, too. More than that, I do not consider that a fault of yours to bear. I promise you though, that I would not lie about something like this, or to you. My concern is real, and so is my worry, and this does not mean I'd lie on a daily basis for the sake of it… that would be tiring, would it not?'
The lights of his forehead array were burning brightly, and Tekhartha dazedly looked at him, and felt the sheer, utter intensity of Mondatta's stare, the conviction that passed through his binary and into him like a binding connection, more so because Tekhartha was convinced that he was smiling, too.
The hand holding his let go, clothes fluttering around him as Mondatta spun around and started walking again.
After a second to collect himself, fans still whirring, Tekhartha hurried to catch up with him, back at his side, and caught the way Mondatta's forehead array was flickering in a soothing pattern.
'Alas, there is much to worry about,' Mondatta spoke again, addressing the problem once more. 'The list of identification numbers pertaining to the Qinghai Omnium was unfortunately corrupted and unusable,' he was looking ahead and his pace was still even, but there was a tension in his shoulders that even Tekhartha noticed. 'When I asked to see the printed copy that is usually kept at every branch for index purposes, they were unable to find the book, nor did they find the extra copies digitally made and indexed in the Bureau Network'.
Tekhartha's fingers clenched down on his bracelet, slipping through the beads as he tried not to look as distressed as he felt.
'So…'
'This fact understandably made the workers worry, and they sent a request to the other branches through their interconnected network, and unfortunately the answer they received was the same –the codes and area listing for your Omnium batch have disappeared from the records as if they never existed'.
That… made no sense.
There were no less than twenty branches of the Bureau of Technology scattered around China, and they kept a meticulous eye on every file they had, especially the ones pertaining to Omnics and all the Omnium locations. Tekhartha hadn't even known there was one in Xiaguan before Mondatta had mentioned it, as the only one he knew of was in Chengdu.
More so, after the theft of the Nuclear Core from the Qinghai Omnium, stricter rules had been applied to security all around the nation. It made no sense that an entire batch of information could disappear like this without anyone noticing until an omnic had pointed it out.
'This…' Tekhartha fought the urge to look around him, his circuits crawling with the sudden need to check for anyone following them. 'This is not possible, not from so many different locations'.
'Indeed, and this baffled the workers at the branch as much as it did the ones they spoke with on the phone. There might be some copies located in international branches, but finding the files with such short notice would be impossible, so I did not press further in that direction,' Mondatta continued, then paused and pointed ahead of them with one hand.
"There we are, my dear," he said out loud, keeping his tone even as he led Tekhartha across a street and into the green area of the local park. "This will be a nice spot to meditate, is it not?"
Tekhartha felt the weight against his core intensify at Mondatta's casual indifference, and his core whirred louder, shoulders tensing as he followed the other omnic into the park.
His feet registered the different texture under them as he moved from cement to grass, and he was momentarily thrown off by the rush of new information that he had neglected to register before. After a moment of hesitation, he logged the stream of info, lingering on it, then shut down the sensibility of his feet the same way he had with his hand.
It would do him no good to be distracted.
The park was a beautiful area, full of lush patches of grass and trees spreading their branches into the air, with pathways clean and polished in white marble and pretty statues everywhere, some of them depicting modern abstract art while others sticking to traditional figures, like qirins or dragons.
There were people coming and going even at this time of the day, families with kids and teenagers having fun, and there were even a few omnics, though the ones that Tekhartha noticed were cleaning out the trash cans into the distance, and left shortly thereafter.
Tekhartha followed Mondatta into a patch of grass, and sat with him under a tree. He looked around, appreciating the sight for a moment and wondering if it could have looked even better in a sunny day, then let the thought go.
He folded his legs neatly in front of him, then hesitated when Mondatta slid down in the lotus position. He failed to see how imitating him would fool anyone watching into thinking they were master and apprentice, as most people would not take care of the exact sitting pose required for meditation, but in the end he fumbled and imitated him anyway.
"Allow your core to expand and the tense circuitry of your body to relax," Mondatta instructed him, and Tekhartha hesitated again. "With every pulse coming from your centre, let your thoughts scatter into the air like birds, leaving behind only empty perches swaying in the wind".
Meditation had never been something he had tried, and there were far too many thoughts cluttering his brain to be able to empty it and attempt to meditate, even if it was for appearance.
"I am not… familiar with any method to clear my mind, Master Mondatta," he admitted uneasily.
Mondatta looked visibly startled before he spoke again, "then I think focusing on sound will aid you greatly in your pursue for an empty mind".
His voice box flickered into a humming sound, a continuous, low baritone that seemed to vibrate into the air and reach the depths of Tekhartha's core. For a second Tekhartha faltered, brain latching on the repetitive sound that his protocol pathways categorized as soothing, then…
'Forgive me for assuming you would follow my prompting,' Mondatta's binary was a little subdued under the sound of his humming, which did not require any intake of breath, but it was still understandable. 'Meditation is for me like breathing is for humans, I forgot for a moment that we were not supposed to meditate for real and treated you as I would any of my apprentices'.
The confession was so surprising and absurd that Tekhartha chuckled, unable to help it. it was a soft, startled sound that he cut short when he realised he'd just laughed at Mondatta, steam rising from the vents of his body in shame as he looked down to his lap.
'Please do not stifle your laughter, even when it is at my expense. There is no respect greater than the one offered through a shared laugh, for I know you were not laughing against me but at my silly mistake,' Mondatta's body language told Tekhartha that he was amused even when his binary could not convey that. 'As it is, you had little reason to laugh in your life, so I hope from now on you might find chances to do so as often as possible'.
Tekhartha fumbled a bit, fingers tightly clasped around the bracelet he was still holding, feeling almost dizzy with embarrassment, and yet underneath that, there was a knot of happiness that Mondatta's words had brought to light.
'I fear there will be little reason to laugh now, though,' Mondatta made sure he had Tekhartha's full attention again before continuing. 'Once it became clear the data missing was the same for every database, the question became 'why would this particular information disappear?' and there was no answer. I think that, unfortunately, the same people who seem so focused into finding your batch mates might be far more spread than we expected, if they could easily delete the files from every branch of the Bureau'.
Tekhartha shuddered, shoulders shaking under the weight of this new information.
'It might be… the same people,' he offered hesitantly, glad that the binary could not show how rattled he was at the news. 'The ones who stole the Omnium core'.
'There is no proof as of yet of a correlation between the two,' Mondatta corrected, tilting his head to the side and looking right at him, the inflection of his humming growing in volume for a second, 'but the chance of it is very high, and that we are talking about some kind of organization… but that does not mean anything unless we find proof, nor do we know what they might do with the possession of a nuclear core if they are also tracking down omnics belonging to it'.
For a few seconds neither spoke, and Tekhartha focused on the humming sound instead, letting it wash over him, soothing his worry and his circuits' tension until the mess of thoughts inside his brain calmed down and his processes returned to working without clutter.
His fingers continued their unconscious fidgeting with his bracelet, the movement familiar and reassuring to hide the almost constant shaking of his hands caused by his processes reassigning themselves and his overheating.
'It might not be an anti-omnic faction,' he said after a while. 'After all, the omnic that I found disabled might be unrelated with the disappearance of the others, and the one who Cheng encountered could have reasoned the same as I did before, but…'
'Yes,' Mondatta answered, nodding. 'It could be something else entirely, but I would prefer to thread carefully in either case. If the ones who destroyed the files left behind some of their accomplices, it might be better not to attract too much attention. That aside…' Mondatta leaned forwards, offering Tekhartha his hand.
With a confused tilt of his head, Tekhartha reached out halfway with his own outstretched hand, surprised when Mondatta's finger bypassed his palm to slot into the curve of his wrist, right against one of his wire ports.
There was a soft sound, and then Tekhartha's brain flared up as data was transmitted through an external network directly into his processors, stored within his data banks. He accessed it quickly, uncovering a long list of numbers and designation points, more info than he'd ever wanted to have about his own batch.
He ran through the numbers one by one, connecting the dots between the specifications for the programming of each of them and the geographical code they had been sent to, and only stopped when he found his own number, fingers twitching in recognition.
His area of designation was, of course, labelled as 'Xining, Qinghai', followed by his programming label. He ignored it, as he'd barely had a few weeks to work there before he'd been…
He disengaged himself from the data stream and closed the file down, optical sensors flickering back to focus on the outside world, and found Mondatta looking at him, his hand still wrapped around his wrist.
With a nod, Tekhartha watched Mondatta detach his finger from his wire port and move away.
'Didn't you say–'
'Fortunately for us, there was a backup file log created a month ago during an upgrade of the local branch's computer OS to a newer version, and they were able to recover the data SD cards from a drawer. It took them a few tries to find the right one, and I made a copy when they were busy uploading the files into their servers'.
Mondatta could not show his satisfaction with his expressions, but the way he straightened his back, head tilted up, definitely conveyed that emotion without a change in tone or a face.
Tekhartha bumped up the protocols for his maintenance and expelled steam from his vents, regulating his core heat and calming down.
'There are three omnics that have been assigned to Xiaguan's area –we do not have the specifics about their exact location, considering the size of this county and the possibility that one of more of them were sent to Dali, but knowing they were sent to this city means we might have the chance to find out if they are still here, or not,' Mondatta spoke up again, and Tekhartha hastily opened the file again, zooming on the omnics he was talking about. 'Your number and theirs are towards the end of the list, while the omnic that met with Cheng is around the top. Which ones are the omnics you already know about?'
Tekhartha double checked to be sure. 'They are all at the top, except… the one that ceased to function,' he said, binary faltering. 'Whatever is happening, whoever is making them disappear, might be doing so in chronological order of creation, so… we might have a chance to find these omnics first and warn them'.
'That gives us some time. I will give Cheng this list and ask him to interface with a wider network in order to check if there have been omnics disappearing and their logs signed as offline, but as for how to track down the ones in this district area…'
Mondatta unwind from his sitting position with a fluid movement, the soft humming coming from his voice box fading into silence. Tekhartha hastened to stand up as well, doing so with less grace and feeling awkward and cramped, his wires tense for the unfamiliar position and his auricular sensors strangely empty now that the humming was gone.
"Well then, my dear," Mondatta spoke up again, soft and gentle and everything Tekhartha admired in him, shoulders squared and head held high. "It is time to prepare a speech".
That brought Tekhartha's brain into a full stop. "I'm… sorry, Master Mondatta, but… what?"
A flicker of a smile in his LED array, head tilted to look at him, Mondatta chuckled. "Of course. What better way to attract all omnics and all humans to us if not through a speech? I had no intentions to put myself into public view during this travel, but I would be glad to make an exception in this case, and it would offer us a chance to interact with those we seek, would it not?"
Without waiting for Tekhartha to answer, Mondatta stood up, wiping down his clothes from stray grass blades, and started walking away.
Numbly, Tekhartha hastened to follow him, left speechless by Mondatta's casual decision.
There was a car parked in front of the entrance.
Every time Tang looked up from where he was sweeping the floors, he could see it outside of the giant glass doors of the hall, parked a little on the side, out of the way.
It did not belong to any of the workers at the Chengdu Panda Base, but Tang had noticed it for the first time over a week before, as he parked his bike on the rack against the wall in the early morning. The only reason he had noticed it was because there was a tiny dangling turtle charm against the window on the driver's seat side, and turtles were Tang's favourite animals.
Pandas were ok, but it wasn't like he saw much of them, since his job at the Research Base was to clean, sweep the floors, empty trash cans and make sure all the lights were off when he left at night, after his second shift.
The car was always parked in the same spot near the bike rack, so Tang had grown used to seeing it, even though there was never anyone in the car and he had never met its owner; when he arrived at the base for his morning shift the car was already there, and when he left by midday it was still in the same spot. Those days he worked in the evening shift were the same, so he had concluded the owner of the car had some sort of full-time job they were doing at the Base, and left it at that.
Today was different, though –ever since he'd seen the car the first time it had always been parked outside near his bike rack, but as he had arrived for his morning shift, the car was nearby the entrance instead, in one of the lots assigned to the workers of the Base.
That was… strange, even Tang had no explanation for that. If the boss had wanted to hire someone new, they would have introduced the new employee to the other workers as usual.
The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding was a rather well known non-profit facility situated in Chengdu, Sichuan, and had been systematically improving the panda population since the late nineties of the previous millennium. During the past one hundred years of work the Base had managed to help the existing colonies of captive pandas triple in number since the start of the millennium, and had since then expanded to include other rare animals.
It had expanded further with funds given by the International Cooperation Animal Act, and since then it had started to employ twice as many workers as before in order to cope with the enormous amount of work required for the upkeep.
Tang was only one of the many trained employees of the facility, and his task was a rather simple one, all things considered. He just cleaned things up.
The main hall of the research base was big, and it was divided in two areas –the touristic entrance and the section with the offices, that split up and led to the veterinarian bay, the research lab and the nursery. The open gardens on the back had doubled in size, and the current panda population held there was of twenty, including two babies born only months earlier.
As only the certified workers were allowed down the corridor to the facility, Tang had never set foot in there, nor had he interacted with any of the animals on the property.
"Good morning, Tang," the familiar metallic voice had Tang look up from where he had been swiping the floors until moments earlier, and he smiled at the sight of the short, buff omnic that was coming his way.
"Good morning, Dawa," he greeted back, stretching his back with a pop.
Dawa was an employee with full clearance to the breeding area, and was one of the five omnics with the required authorizations to work at the Base; she was pleasant to talk to, and always greeted Tang every time they met in the hallway. It was always nice to exchange pleasantries on the job, it made working a little less boring.
Today, though, Dawa seemed strangely subdued. Ever since she had started working at the Base, she had been a cheerful lad, curious about everything, particularly fond of the baby pandas, and one of the favourites for the viewers of the 24/7 Panda Cam, since the pandas seemed to love lounging on omnics more than they did on their human co-workers.
She did not look cheerful at all now, and Tang noticed that her appearance was more crumpled than usual, head lowered forwards and shoulders hunched almost defensively as she clutched a stack of papers in her arms.
Tang looked at her, confused.
"Dawa, is everything ok?" his accent, usually barely noticeable, became thicker as he spoke, worry clear in his tone. "You look… worried".
His words seemed to startle her and she glanced down at her papers before looking back up at him, slanted eyes zooming on him before her head tilted sideways to look past his shoulder and out of the main entrance.
The research bay was quieter on Saturdays than it was during the rest of the week. Most workers went home to rest and the shifts started later in the day, with the omnic workers taking up the feeding and the nursing shifts, if there were any babies in the facility. There had been a lot of visitors from Monday to Friday, so Tang had been tasked with an extra shift in the middle of the day to clean up the clutter they'd left behind, but with Saturday came the weekend, and he was looking forwards to have the rest of the day and all of Sunday to rest.
As it was, so early in the morning, there were only five employees present at the facility. Two were security guards, one was Tang, and two were omnics.
The place was deserted, and it would open up to tourists and visitors later, so her behaviour seemed strange to him.
"I… Tang, did you see that car out there?"
Tang blinked, surprised at the question. "Yea, it's been around for a week now, but today it moved to the front. Haven't seen who drives it once since it's been around. Have you?"
Dawa winced, and Tang heard the familiar sound of fans starting up. "I… I don't feel safe," she said, her voice quiet. "I saw them once, they were talking with the director Monday. I don't think they like me very much".
"Now that can't be right, you're a right piece of machinery, if I can say so," Tang winked at her, hoping to cheer her up, but when she did not react, still looking past him and out of the windows, he sighed. "Tell you what, why don't you go stay in the security room for a bit? I'll go warn Jean, I think he's outside for a smoke, an' tell him to make a round inside to make sure nothing's wrong and then keep you some company".
His offer seemed to have a reaction at least, and Dawa nodded hastily, the one-point array on her forehead flashing purple. She looked at the papers in her hands and hesitated. "I'll put these down first, but I'll feel better if Jean checks where these people are. They don't seem that interested in our pandas, I don't know what the director is doing, letting them stay this long around…"
With that, she turned around and hurried down the hall, towards the offices in the private area. Tang watched her go, then sent a wary look at the car parked outside before walking out from the back, searching for the security guard.
Dawa felt somewhat reassured at the fact that Tang would know where she was. There was no real reason for her wariness around the men that had arrived earlier the previous week, but the way they kept staring at her and her omnic co-worker had grated to her circuits. The gaze always felt less than civil to her, and it was obvious there was a shift in mood whenever an omnic was in the same room as them.
The director of the research base was an omnic sympathizer, and kept at least two omnics always on hand to fill in for more delicate roles, so Dawa had no idea why he was tolerating the presence of someone so clearly biased against omnics in the faculty.
She worked just as hard as her human counterparts, but the constant looming presence of those two men wore down on her nerves. She usually got along easily with others, but she could do nothing with people who looked down on her except stay strong and ignore them, but… she would be happier when they left for good.
The two men in the white car had arrived earlier than she did, and were somewhere in the Base, but the fact that nobody was around made Dawa feel unsafe and restless, so much that she could not even focus on her job.
Yes, staying in the control room with Jean and Cheng would settle her nerves and when the director arrived, she would speak to him about her worries. He would do something, she was sure of it.
The office door was slightly ajar, but in her haste to drop the documents, Dawa did not take notice of it.
As usual the desks were messy and disorganized, with paperwork and flyers scattered everywhere, but she made a point of putting the papers she was holding in a neat pile, not wanting to add to the already existing chaos.
There was a television in the office, usually switched on the local news channel, and as she made her way back to the door, its projected screen flickering in the air attracted her attention. The volume was off, but the news rolled across the lower part of the screen as the cameras of the news channel zoomed on a familiar face.
Without thinking, Dawa tapped the television on the side, interfacing with the machine and turning the volume up enough that she could listen to the report.
"–and Tekhartha Mondatta, leader of the Shambali order, spoke with the local authorities of Xiaguan yesterday evening, expressing his wish to have a peaceful exchange with the city and its inhabitants. His presence in Xiaguan was unannounced due to his personal desire to keep a low profile, but he later expressed a change of heart," the announcer was speaking still, the camera focused entirely on Mondatta's emotionless face. "The Shambali practice of openly speaking against omnic segregation and preaching for equality caused the order's rise to the public eye in the recent years, and Tekhartha Mondatta's relentless work to spread his pacifist message has put him in a unique position which he strives to maintain and cultivate, in order for his wishes to come true in a nearby future".
Archived images and videos belonging to old speeches of Mondatta flashed on the screen in rapid succession, showing the growth of his followers and sympathizers from around the world, though there were also less pleasant images of protests and violent outbursts following his speeches across the countries.
"Due to the extreme security measures needed in order to maintain order during a public speech, the designated area will be monitored strictly by local security services deployed by the city council," the anchor-woman continued, her tone somewhat enthused. "Monday morning will be an exciting moment for Xiaguan, as the city had already hosted a similar speech in the past, and the reception had been positive, with little protests".
Dawa felt her core heat up at the thought of Tekhartha Mondatta, leader of the Shambali order, being so close to Chengdu. Xiaguan was less than a day away by car, and with high speed trains she could actually manage to be at the speech and back home in time for her next shift on Monday evening.
It was the chance of a lifetime for her, since every time Mondatta had left the monastery in Nepal, she'd been too far to go see him. A chance to see one of the Shambali speak for her rights as well as those of her fellow omnics… she wanted to be there.
There would be local coverage at least, and if the news were already spreading past China's borders, international news services would want to be there. It was a sudden, unexpected situation, anyone close by would want to go and be part of it. The last time Mondatta had held a public speech it had been a subdued affair over a year before, following a protest that had ended with three humans and ten omnics dead. Dawa still remembered watching the news on television, her core aching for the lives that had been lost for nothing.
Her array flickered purple in a smile, wondering how would Mondatta look in person.
The hand wrapping around her throat caught her by surprise, and so did the pressure against her voice box, a sudden weight that pushed against the sensors at the base of her neck and sent a wave of pain up her frame, joints rattling as she fell back, attempting to avoid it.
Someone was behind her –someone tall and human, dressed in black– but she had no time to think or even scream.
The pain in her throat rose as sparkles of electricity flared through her sensors, burning her voice box and silencing her. The gasp that had started vibrating fizzled into abrupt silence, and she slumped back against her assailer, shaking in pain.
What happened next was even worse. As she tried to wriggle out of the hold, she felt a hand press down against her lower back, a metallic wrench prying open the compartment with her battery.
A flash of disgust and horror filled her as Dawa struggled, hands shaking as they tried to pry the assailant away from her, fighting to stop him from doing–
It was too late.
Something burned through her circuits like fire, shutting down the control she had on her body. One by one her sensors flickered offline, and Dawa crumpled into the man's arms, unconscious and unfeeling.
The man grunted at the sudden increase of dead weight, then shoved the body of the omnic over his shoulder as if it weighted nothing. He was holding a small hand-held Taser in his hand that was set on the lowest level. He had used it to short-circuit the omnic's processors as instructed, just as he had done for the previous two omnics he'd tracked down during the past month.
Putting the Taser away in his jacket the tall man turned around to look at his accomplice standing near the door of the office whose attention had been on the television, as if uncaring about the fight happening right in front of him.
They were both wearing latex masks on their faces, which distorted their appearance and made them unrecognizable by face-recognition software, but in person it made them look like dolls, faces white and alien.
"We have to go before people come," the man urged the other, thick Han accent eating at his words. "Whatcha looking at?"
The other man pointed a thumb at the television. The news reports had moved on to the next subject, a dam that had broken down somewhere in the south. When he spoke up, he did so with a lighter version of the same accent. "Didn't you see the news just now?"
"I was a little busy with that thing here," the first man sneered, brushing past his accomplice to leave the office, the omnic slumped over his shoulder. He looked left and right, to make sure there was nobody outside, but the corridor was still deserted. All their hard work had paid off.
"That pacifist monk from Nepal or something is going to be over at Xiaguan doing a speech," the other man told him, following him at the same brisk pace.
Another snort. "We got something better waiting for us than some stupid pacifist monk spouting bullshit".
"You never listen, do you? We got a call yesterday about people snooping into the Xiaguan Tech branch. They were askin' around about our shit. It was that guy. Seems really suspicious he'd want to make a huge speech right afterwards," he shrugged, as if to sound blasé about what he was saying, but there was a small frown on his face. "Bet you all your cash that the guys at the headquarters will want to do sumthing about it".
"So what?"
"We might make a call, that's what," the man sneered, feeling his mask pull at the skin of his face. "There's a couple left of these guys in Xiaguan that we might catch and maybe we can get a bigger fish while we're there, too".
"Ooh, I like the part where we hurt them," the first man's glee was obvious in his tone, and he rushed forwards to the entrance of the hall, uncaring if he was seen.
"You always like that part".
Their car was waiting for them right outside of the entrance, and the first man dumped the unresponsive body of the omnic into the truck, shutting it close without care before moving to sit in the passenger's seat.
"Phone the guys then," he prompted as the other manoeuvred the car out of the parking lot, driving quickly away from the Base without anyone coming to stop them. "Wouldn't want the job to go to someone else. Like Chi. I hate Chi".
"Yes, yes, hang on".
Without taking his eyes off the road, the first man pressed a button on the header of the car. There was a cracking noise as the computer inbuilt in the car started up.
"Call: headquarters," he ordered.
Three seconds later the phone connected.
He drove out of the side road and into the highway, rapping his fingers on the wheel, and after what felt like forever, someone picked up.
"Wangdue and Tenzin here," he spoke up, not bothering with waiting for identification as there was never any need for that on the protected line he'd called. "Reporting in, we got our last omnic. We're taking it back to the headquarters with the other three".
Leaning forwards from the passenger seat, Tenzin spoke up, not wanting to waste any more time. "Do we get to go to Xiaguan now?"
Wangdue rolled his eyes at that, but did not say anything. He felt the same sort of vicious pleasure as his colleague felt at the thought of dragging more of those blasting bots down, and he hoped he could get more action this time.
There was a sparkle of static from the speakers of the car. "Wangdue, Tenzin, you're the first one reporting back today. Good job," they could hear rustling of paper from the other side, muffled somewhat. "You can drop the omnics to the station on the way to Xiaguan and let the others deal with them, but you won't be alone. There's gonna be news reporters there, you can't handle that by barging through as you did last time".
"Oi, we learned from that," Tenzin spoke up, slamming his fist against his thigh. "This one we took our time with! Nobody even noticed!"
"We'll see about that. But still, if you've heard the news you know this will be a publicity stunt. If we want to make an impression we can't let them see us yet. Does undercover mean anything to you? Just shut up and get to Xiaguan by tomorrow and debrief with Chi and the others".
Tenzin's lips curled into an unpleasant snarl, one hand rubbing at the uncomfortable latex of his mask, ripping it off his face. "Ugh. I hate Chi".
"The feeling is mutual," Wangdue muttered. "Ok, we're going," he said louder for the benefit of the person on the other end of the phone. "Maybe we can even get enough leverage to drag that metallic tin can down and send that pacifist shit where it belongs".
"Rise of the humans," Tenzin muttered with a sneer.
"Rise of the humans," the person on the phone said, sounding final.
Wangdue passed by a car in the highway, barely glancing over, and grinned. "Rise of the humans," he said.
The phone call clicked shut.
…–…–…–…–…–…
Vicaya (Pali): Interest and inquiry into experience. One of the seven factors of enlightenment.
Again, you see my headcanons being brought into the fanfic. Some assorted ideas about omnic programming and defying it, and of course a few hints about Zenyatta's personal past, which will be uncovered as the various arcs move along!