recap: it has been a while, and for those of you who have forgotten or can't be bothered to reread for a refresher, here:
- our dashing hero has met up with A2 and confessed to her that he stalks the amnesic 9S like an obsessed kpop-loving tween mixed with a serial killer's level of possessive thinking
- A2 has decided to help this piddly human boy
- they are accompanied by a small, armless stubby that stubby-ornly insisted on following Ribbon ever since he left the village to search for his peeps
- Ribbon is following a lead from Pascal that the human "settlement" he came from is near the Machine Village, and so he decides to check out the canyon floor now that he has A2 to protect him
- enjoy
19.
As promised, we find an elevator in the canyon wall.
I've been doing a lot of exploring, especially the area around the Machine Village. Pascal found me not far from the village, so wherever I came from is likely in this vicinity. Maybe the humans I come from were a group of nomads who did what I just did: stay in random buildings. Maybe they drifted along like the sand, scattering and running and never staying in one place.
Or maybe they had a home, here, in this canyon.
Pascal told me never to descend into the canyon because of the mad machines down here. The canyon is famous among machines for it being a place to go to die. Suicide, humans call it.
But some machines survive, broken and insane, down at the bottom.
Hence why I'm only now exploring it. With A2 at my side, I just may survive.
I give her a small smile. "I haven't used this thing yet on the account that it's creepy."
A2 raises an eyebrow. "I wonder what that's like."
"What what's like?"
"Having the luxury to be a coward."
I tap my chin. It's hard to tell with A2, but I'm pretty sure she's jabbing me. I'm sure her feelings are all akimbo towards me. Towards humans. I don't think my people have anything to do with her humans, other than we're humans and all, but I've no proof one way or another. That's what I'm going to find out.
I'm going to get answers. Where I came from. Who I came from. How we survived this desolate world that is, undeniably, not a place for humans anymore.
A2 leans over, peering into the canyon. "This elevator leads down there?"
"I'd wager yes."
A quick smile flashes across her face, so fast I might've imagined it.
She leans back, whirls around, and kicks the operating button. "This should be fun." The doors draw open, and her Type 40 sword materialises in her hands.
She's kinda scary.
We step inside. My heart is in my throat. Machines in general aren't the most stable, so what's a super insane machine life form like? If machines had to warn me about other machines, how bad are they? Can A2 protect me while fighting for her own life? I splay a hand over my face and tap my foot. Wait. Am I committing suicide?
The elevator whirs and shifts. I lean on a wall, tense. This thing is rickety. Is it falling? Actually falling?
"Are you alright?" A2 doesn't sound like she cares one way or another.
"We are in a falling box with no escape, on our way into a dark crevice with bloodthirsty machines." My voice is stretched thin. "How are you so casual about that?"
A2 levels me with a mock-concerned look. "You failed to mention the bloodthirsty machines."
"Ah, did I?"
"I did assume they'd be teeming down here, but you seem confident we are heading towards danger."
"Chalk it up to my positivity. Oh, and legend says machines throw themselves down this canyon to die. Some survive. They're not happy campers."
The elevator comes to an abrupt stop, and I touch my head. It feels funny, like the pressure around me has changed.
The doors open with a cheery ding.
Darkness.
Good thing machine's eyes glow.
I glance at A2. "So."
She waves me away and steps out first with little caution.
The whir of machine movements makes my head snap up. A2 has already found them. I gingerly step out of the elevator but stick close to the rocky wall. The commotion is loud. A2's attacking without hesitation, without restraint. My eyes adjust in time to watch her finish off the last of the nearby machines.
She sighs as she strides back to me. "Is that it? How disappointing." Her sword floats overhead. "Here I thought I'd get to go on a machine massacre."
"That—that wasn't a massacre?" I wade through the scraps, stepping over heads and limbs. I kick some wires. "A2."
She sets a hand on her hip and regards me with a frown. "What?"
"You're amazing."
"Huh?"
I've seen Nines maul through machines like it was nothing, but A2 fights like a beast. There's something flowing and thoughtful about Nines' fighting, but A2? Damn. She's brutal. She's quick, relentless, and just brutal. Something in me swells, like there's a creature trying to scratch its way out of me.
I am so lucky to have encountered her. I have to do everything I can to keep her with me, and I need her to understand the importance.
A2 joins me in the rubble, and I turn around and wrap my arms around her. She is cold against me, but it feels nice.
"What the hell are you doing?" Her tone is flat.
"Hugging. It's used to express—"
"I know what hugging is. If you don't let me go, I'll—"
"Thank you." I touch her hair. It's soft, like Nines'.
She goes quiet. She doesn't move against me.
It's my first time holding an android like this against me. It's not like hugging machines. A2 has a body like mine, but not like mine at the same time. For one, she has breasts, and they are surprisingly soft against me. Her hair is long and falls across my arms like feathers. She fits against me like it's perfectly natural, like this is how humans are supposed interact.
My throat's dry. My first hug, even if it isn't being reciprocated. I didn't expect her to, didn't even consider she'd hold me back, but now that I'm in this position, I could cry. Contact I've been starved from. I forgot how good it feels, and I'm on the verge of begging her to hug me back.
But I don't think she'll understand.
I wrench myself back, and she looks thrown off by my abruptness. My ears are on fire. I scratch the back of my neck and avoid her gaze. "Uh, yeah. Remember when you asked how I've survived for so long?" I toe at a machine head. "I've just been very lucky. I forgot what it's like to feel 'safe'."
Her forehead furrows. "I did hear humans are quite emotional." She points. "What is that?"
I start. The ribbon around my wrist is glowing a whitish-blue, like foxfire.
"A2!" My voice pours out like I'm a child again. "I—I think we're close."
She surveys the area. "It seems to be signalling this way."
We follow the brightness. If we stray in the wrong direction, the light fades. We keep following, our footfalls echoing in the crevice. Some kind of lizard scuttles between us but I'm too focussed to be startled by it. This is it. Finally. I'm so close.
"Stop." A2 roughly grabs my shoulder.
"Huh?"
"I'm detecting an unusual agent in the air ahead." She walks ahead, blade drawn. "I believe it is life-threatening to biological creatures."
"Like, uh, me?"
"Yes." She glances over her shoulder. "Wait here. I will check ahead."
"Ah, A2." I untie the ribbon and hold it out.
She comes back to take it from me. She lets her hand linger on mine and our eyes meet.
"Stay."
Like I'm a dumb toddler who's gonna wander off and get himself lost.
She spins around and continues ahead.
I find a crevice to stand by in case I need to squirrel away from a haywire machine or something. I wait until I can't hear A2's footsteps anymore, and then lean against the rocks and rest my head back. Noggin wriggles about in my backpack. A series of beeps emits from it for some reason and it nestles in between my shoulder blades, nudging.
"Okay, okay." I drop the pack and Noggin waddles out. "Stretch your stubs, then."
It turns and angles its face up to me. Its eyes are blaring red. Does it want to hurt me?
"Run," it says.
I go still.
Pinpricks dot my skin. "What?"
"You are in danger," it says.
I'm lightheaded. "Wa—wait. How do—?"
"Quiet," it says. "You are in danger. Get to the elevator."
"I—"
"Now."
The force of its tone drills into me, and I rush to grab it.
"Leave me. I am heavy."
"But, I can't just—"
"Ribb."
I freeze, hands outstretched. Then I recoil as if it has tried to hurt me.
"Run," it repeats.
It called me Ribb. Why the hell did it call me Ribb?
No. I've got to run. I don't want to be separated from A2, but I can't run to where she went because of whatever anomaly she detected in the air over there.
Alright, the elevator.
But if I leave Noggin, will it be destroyed?
"You are so damn stubborn. You have to get out of here, right now."
"Okay." I speak soft. "Okay." But it doesn't feel right. My feet move and it's like I'm slogging through mud, but then I take off and my heart races with me. Now I sense it, too. That odd feeling of being watched. It's back. It was waiting for A2 to leave my side, most likely. I am definitely being hunted.
Noggin yells after me: "Don't turn around!"
Why? What will I see?
I reach the elevator and slam my palm down on the button, the blood pounding in my head.
"Excuse me."
A stranger's voice sounds from directly behind me.
"Ribb, don't turn around!" Noggin cries.
"Are you a human, too?" the voice is languid and friendly.
The elevator dings and my stomach drops.
Don't turn?
How can I not turn?
I've finally—
I whip around and find myself face to face with a man with long white hair and a clipped smile.
We stare at each other. Behind me, the elevator doors open and a breeze hits me from behind, stirring my hair.
"Weren't you trying to come home?" the man asks, and holds out a gloved hand.
AN: i wonder who dis is