Beyond The Circuit

Chapter II ~ History Hurts

Demi had managed a good repair job on Shirren. Forren was impressed; even the older Shirren's arm had some functionality, even though it would never be the same.

At first, talking to Shirren had seemed like talking to an old family relative for Forren. He heard all about the world ships and the Alisa III, how another model android – Siren – destroyed one of the other ships, and how Shirren had punished him for it later on, destroying him and sending him to the scrap metal heap. He recalled stories of an adventure across three generations – of other female androids, Mieu and Miun, and their loyalty to the royalty of the generations.

Yet he always recalled his stories so coldly. Forren knew why, it was clear that the Shirren had no emotion capability, only that which he had from mimicking human beings, and that was slight. So he told stories of ancient wars and lost friends that hurt Forren to hear, yet he said them without expression or emotion.

Soon Shirren was back on his feet and wandering around, and suddenly Forren felt that this was not some relative of his but an equal. He told his stories of Chaz Ashley and their trip across Algol, of Rykros, the previously unheard of planet, and of the Great Light and the Profound Darkness. His eyes lit up with the sad memories of Alys's death, and the happy moment when he knew Rika had chosen she wanted to spend her life with Chaz, instead of wasting it on a dull space station. Oh, Seed had taught her well, he mused, for she had chosen the life of freedom over this life of solitude and duty.

Shirren looked at the Forren with a look that would have been awe, if he had been able to feel it.

"Forren," he said, "You have something I don't… that which all the Palmans have, the thing that I have longed for for over a thousand years. You have the one thing that makes people close, that makes them live full lives instead of the half-life that we androids are condemned to – you have emotion. When did humans learn to put emotion in an android and still get him to do what he wanted? I don't understand."

Forren looked back with a feeling of pity… To never be able to feel a thing… he knew the feeling, just 300 years of life virtually alone on a space station had dulled his emotions and made him feel empty. How could it feel to never have felt at all while all around you displayed emotions?

"Emotion chips were pioneered just before the Great Collapse, but rarely used. Demi and I are the only androids they were ever used in," Forren explained, "Because our job was to protect the people of Algol, our creators thought that giving us the emotion chips would help us complete our duty, because we would care for the people of the planets."

"I see," Shirren answered, "I have just one more story to tell you… one that I kept hidden deeply within my memory banks – One of the reasons why I wanted emotion… the ability to love."

"It was… back on the Alisa III…The first generation prince, Rhys, had his bride stolen from before his eyes by a Layan dragon knight. Alone, he set out on a journey to find her. I joined the party after being found in a cave. After the long war which damaged the Aridian climate control system and made the dome a perpetual desert, I had shut myself in a cave, knowing that if humans truly needed me, they would awaken me in my desert hideaway."

"Rhys… woke you?" Forren asked.

"Yes, and I embarked with him and Mieu, a young girl called Lena and the very dragon knight that had taken his bride, across the dome-worlds. The final realization for Rhys came in the very walls of Cille, the Layan capital – Maia was the princess of Rhys's sworn enemy, the Layans. Despite the pleadings from his family to return to the Orakian world, and Lena, who also wished to become his bride, Rhys stayed true to the woman he loved and married her – even though it meant he would never see his homeland or his family again."

"What happened to you after that?" Forren asked.

"I stayed in service to Rhys and his son, Ayn, and Ayn's son, too. Yet I never got what I longed for, that understanding of the human heart. We were still embroiled in a bitter battle between the races, and so it was no time to beg for an emotion chip, if such a thing even existed upon Alisa III. There was little technology, the people had gone back to an almost medieval way of living and shunned technology. The Orakians had androids but they were all emotionless drones, and the Layans had the power of Techniques and fought with monsters." Shirren explained.

^*^*^

That night, Forren wondered if such a thing as an emotion chip would be possible to install on such an old android. He felt bonded to Shirren, and wanted to fulfill his wish. Unable to shut down because of an irritating feeling, he went up to the control room in the darkness.

Sitting in his seat was Shirren.

Forren walked over to him, "I want to give you what you want, I want to give you emotion, Shirren."

Shirren looked up, "In these times it's impossible. I can see the state of Algol now. Nobody would even want to create an emotion chip in this day and age."

"Then have mine," Forren said, "So you can finally be able to feel… what I feel…" He cut himself off and turned away, "I'm going to shut down now. I just came up here to check everything was running smoothly." He went over to the terminal and pressed a few keys methodically as if checking something, nodded, and began to walk away.

"I wouldn't let you give away your chip anyway. You seem to need it more than I do," Shirren said after him.

^*^*^

Forren lay down on the table he used to shut down on. Thoughts in the form of electrical impulses flooded his brain. He felt so many millions of conflicting emotions that lit him up and made him feel like he'd never felt before. He wanted to give this feeling to Shirren, so he could feel it…

Forren knew what it was. He was experiencing the greatest emotion known to man, the thing that Shirren could only crave for.

He was in love.