The butterfly sat unassumingly on the rock, a rare sight of beauty in
the barren landscape. It unfolded its wings calmly, seeing no predators
around, bathing its delicate, fragile wings in the slight glimpses of the
morning sun, drying the dew off of its wings, if one could even call the
water-sand mixture dew. The butterfly's body seemed to give a little sigh
as it relaxed, finally secure from the dangers of the world.
In a second, though, the butterfly was proven wrong-out of nowhere came a hulking form, a great shadow descending upon the helpless creature. In moments, it was a captive, being slightly squashed between two metallic hands, that of an android. The butterfly fluttered frantically within its metal prison, but could not find a way out. A single eye peeked in on the imprisoned butterfly, staring at it hard.
"Just don't kill it, Mitsuko-it's wrong to kill something as innocent as a butterfly," came a familiar male voice. The one holding the butterfly hostage looked up from her prey to see Krishna watching her idly as he simultaneously tuned up the speeder, lying down on a board in wheels and frequently wheeling underneath the vehicle.
Mitsuko scowled, opening up her hands and releasing the butterfly, allowing it to desperately fly away, knowing now that it wasn't safe. The small, foot-long Buzz messenger robot buzzed above her, watching her, a constant monitor. She had been obsessively bored the past few days. She seemed to have so much pent-up energy from the time in the junkyard ready to be released, yet not finding an opportunity to do so. Krishna seemed to prefer to lead a rather calm life, certainly not suited for the robotic Shoyru, who found herself growing progressively more antsy as the days grew long and stretched out, seeming to last into infinite.
She had to give Krishna some kind of credit, though-even though she could remember little of her past, there was always a warm feeling around his place, resembling somewhat of a home. She could not recall ever having a home in the past, or someone that truly cared about her; perhaps she had, but couldn't remember them. And what good was someone she couldn't remember? Still, there retained the uncontrollable urge to remain active, to DO something-to fight. To destroy.
After she had remained awake for a time, Krishna had gently explained to her the history of the world she was living in, after she had quite bluntly asked. There was something eerily wrong with the world, yet she was intricately accustomed with it-perhaps too much so.
"What is this world?" she had asked, while staring up at the ceiling, up into the stormy sky.
"This world? Well. . .it used to be the surface land of Neopia," Krishna had replied, leaning his elbow against the side table, resting his chin on his arm. Mitsuko remained silent for a moment, watching the clouds move. Slowly, they moved enough to reveal a patch of white clouds, floating up in the sky. Yet these were different-they seemed to be supporting extravagant buildings of enormous proportions. In moments, however, the illusion faded to nothing, leaving behind just clouds.
"Is there always castles in the sky?" Mitsuko had asked.
"Faerieland, you mean? No, not anymore. It fell from the sky long ago- there are still said to be illusions left of it in the air, however, by remnants of faerie magic."
"Who lives there?"
"The faeries. . .the perfect ones. The ones that weren't succumbed to the plagues and radiation, and thus, the rulers of all down on our surface world. Well, back then."
"The plagues and radiation?"
"Don't remember those either? Well, when I inspected you, you looked to be a model made after those events, anyway, so I guess it's understandable. They say that a villainous person named Frank Sloth decided to finally do away with Neopia, which he hated so much-and so, he sent down many weapons of destruction, destroying the surface world and many of its inhabitants. What you see now is all that's left. Only the faeries were safe in their little haven, Faerieland-yet they didn't dare allow any of the mutated and injured Neopets enter their precious domain. For one reason or another, though, Faerieland fell from grace and to the world-only to be corrupted, and thus abandoned by faeries. They congregate now in some unknown place-I'd rather not know of it personally." He shrugged. "It's best not to think about them-many have died trying to get their revenge. It's a pointless struggle."
Krishna had made the outlook terribly bleak, but Mitsuko didn't mind- she wasn't one that was satisfied with being lied to in order to soften the truth. Even if it hurt, the truth was always better to hear.
Krishna had also added that it was quite risky for her to travel into town. Sentient robots were disliked, for they were thought to be replacements for Neopets-if she was found to be such, somebody was likely to capture her and take her back to the junkyard for her to be turned into a pile of metal, or perhaps have her sentience taken away entirely. This didn't stop her from being drawn towards the town in the distance, bustling with activity. It certainly looked more interesting than here.
Looking back over her shoulder idly at Krishna, she could only see his legs sticking out from underneath, moving sometimes when he grunted with effort, stamping against the ground. Seeing that he was clearly occupied for a while, she got up from her position in the dirt and dusted herself off. Moving towards him, her eyes scanned the speeder with interest. The small robotic Buzz flittered of one of the speeder's handles, settling down and deactivating itself. "Dr. Krishna," she began slowly, forming her words as accurately as possible, "what exactly did you get me from the scrapyard to be, anyway? A common Neopet?"
"Sort of. . .I've never enjoyed cleaning up after the organic type. And the last one I had ran away," came Krishna's voice from underneath the speeder, sounding as if it were coming through a variety of metallic tubes.
"You know, I can do chores for you," she replied, although she wrinkled her nose to herself at the thought. In her mind, she could never lucidly remember being of a servant type. "If you need a certain material, I can get it for you. I have to have some purpose other than sitting around, after all-it's what robots are for."
"Are you?" replied Krishna, rolling out from underneath the speeder, giving her a questionable look. His normally pale face was streaked with grease and oil, giving him a rougher look than usual. "And what are you hoping to draw out of me? You can just say it, you know-round about ways kind of annoy me."
"I'm bored," Mitsuko burst out, her point pretty blunt. "I want to go to town-I'll get something for you. I'll pretend that I'm just a normal task-doing robot. I just need to get somewhere."
Krishna inspected her face for a moment, as if trying to verify whether she truly wanted to go to town or not. He himself hated going to town-mostly, though, because he was ridiculed for being only half-faerie, and having to stay down on the wasted planet of Neopia. It would help him quite a deal for her to go get some material instead of having to do it himself. Grabbing a wrench with a sigh, he slid back under the speeder. "I suppose. But be warned-you have to act completely like a house robot. That means no free-thinking, or acting like you can free-think."
A smile crossed Mitsuko's face, a foreign thing again, seeming so strange, as Krishna listed off what he needed her to retrieve. As soon as she had the information locked away into her brain, she took to the air, flying towards the town with steady wing beats.
It didn't take her as long as she thought it would to arrive at town, landing on the ground steadily. She changed her gait from a smooth one to a jerkier one, hoping that it would look as if she were under some outside control, only stealing a glance at those surrounding her every so often.
The buildings in the area looked exceptionally primitive, only containing a few pieces of real support here and there, scraps from a time when there were large, magnificent buildings where the town now was located. Where many little high-tech shops with paved sidewalks had been were now small little clay-made adobes with drapes for doors, barely any clarified roads beside the one in the middle, bustling with activity. Loud screaming of haggling could be heard, as well as the whinings of infant Neopets. Strangely enough, there was not a human to be found-it was a community consisting of purely Neopets, mostly with strange deformities that couldn't quite be considered Mutants, yet at the same time were definitely abnormal.
Mitsuko tried to keep her mind set on her destination, but found it hard to keep up to robotic standards. She couldn't say that she wanted to join into the bustle of those organic around her-she was set apart from them. Yet she did not want to be viewed as a common slave either. Still, she even less desired to be taken back to the junkyard that Krishna described.
Steering herself in what looked to be some kind of store appropriate for getting parts for the speeder, she pushed back the curtain and entered the small little shop. It was lit by many candles and the light from an opened window. Numerous faces of shoppers turned towards her in interest as she entered. She kept her face as stony and emotionless as possible, which wasn't difficult, as expressing emotion didn't come exceptionally easily to her in the first place. Pulling up a mental list in her mind, she walked up to the Scorchio behind the counter, who occupied his idle time by flipping through the pages of a magazine, crinkled and torn.
The Scorchio did not seem to notice her at first-although she stood quite visibly in front of him, albeit silent, he didn't seem to even acknowledge her existence. For a moment, she stood quietly in front of him, waiting for him to notice her. When it was obvious such an event was not going to happen, she gave a loud buzzing noise which managed to catch his attention, startling him and making him toss his magazine excitedly into the air, falling to the ground.
"I have orders from my master to obtain engine parts for a Year 2 speeder," Mitsuko said stonily, looking the Scorchio in the eye. The Scorchio steadied his glasses on his face, peering down his nose to look at the Shoyru android. A confused look spread over his face.
"I've never seen you in here before-you're certainly an odd looking model as well. What's your production number?"
Mitsuko remained silent, and then repeated her request, hoping that the Scorchio would look over her lack of answering. He did seem to excuse her lack of answers, but presented another question to her, although it was much more answerable: "Who's your master?"
"Doctor Krishna," Mitsuko answered, keeping her voice even, monotone. She could feel eyes boring into her metallic body, the warmth and stench of other Neopets crowding towards her flaring up in her synthetic senses, making her want to shudder. Normal robots, however, would not have the five senses, so she held back the gag reflex stirring within her.
"You mean that half-faerie piece of dung?" snorted a Grarrl from behind her, lifting up the shoulder strap of his garment roughly. "Hear he's making some illegal stuff back at that 'lab' of his."
"Yes, s'weird for a faerie, even a half-faerie, doing science-like things. Maybe this thing's his newest creation," came a voice from directly behind her. If Mitsuko had had hair, it would've risen at the new voice, which seemed to come from nowhere. Yet now she could feel the breath on the back of her neck, feeling the water droplets forming on her metallic outer layers.
"Heh, it's got a nice outer shell though. . .my house-robot's needed a new outer shell fer months now, I think hers would suit just swell."
"Now, good sirs and ma'ams, this robot belongs to Doctor Krishna. As. . .peculiar as he may be, we still must respect his property," the Scorchio commented over the rising of voices in his shop. His voice just barely pierced their comments, however, and Mitsuko felt herself become increasingly unsure.
"Sir Scorchio, I must have the speeder engine parts. Doctor Krishna requires them," repeated Mitsuko, swallowing. She was thankful at that moment that she lacked an artificial perspiring gland, for her organic skin would've been soaked.
"I've never seen a task OR a house robot with such realistic features. Knowin' Krishna, y'think he's fixed up a nice lil' sentient one here and ain't told nobody?" came a female voice, though having a distinctly masculine edge to the voice.
"I ain't doubtin' it's a possibility. . .lookee, lookit its registration panel, s'like nothin' I've ever seen. . ."
"Yeah! S'gotta be a custom-prolly a sentient!"
"I've got its torso!"
An overwhelming swell of voices escalated over Mitsuko's head, seemingly thousands of voices bargaining and haggling each one of her parts, as if she were a mere object to be taken apart and distributed. She could feel anger rising within her, and unknown programming being subconsciously activated in the back of her mind. She could feel her arms twitching, information from her brain flowing down to them, to her legs, to her wings and tail. She was at the ready, though didn't know quite why- besides the fact that their little regard for her thoughts and feelings made her significantly uncomfortable.
"Forget this-I'm ain't bargainin' with you lowlifes!!"
Without warning, a hand grasped Mitsuko by the arm, tugging with a great strength that nearly toppled her over. An automatic reaction surged through her body, her other arm suddenly sweeping forward and colliding with the Acara who had grabbed her's face, smashing him backwards. He practically flew threw the crowds to land against the other wall, crashing into merchandise and breaking quite a few glass bottles. A deadly pause was heard throughout the crowd, eyes slowly going from the Acara and back to Mitsuko.
And then they were upon her.
What happened next was a blur in Mitsuko's memory, but for the first time since she had been reactivated, she felt as if she were really in her element, submerged in the environment that she had been born into. With stunning accuracy, she took on the crowd with a fervor as they swarmed in on her, tons of faceless enemies to be bashed into smithereens. From all angles they came, and so, from all angles she attacked-with her arms, legs, tail, wings and head alike. She was a flurry of movement, kicking, jabbing, punching and slashing, leaping into the air and finding herself on top of another customer, the customer unconscious moments later. One by one they threw themselves at her-and one by one she picked them off, the mob no match for her superior strength. Soft, tender flesh could never stand a match to cold, cast-iron steel.
Soon, there was nobody left to fight, to defend herself from attack. She stood in the middle of a battlefield of unconscious bodies, none dead, many groans and moans rising from the fallen customers. The Scorchio, who had remained behind the counter the whole time, observing the ordeal, stared at her wide-eyed, backing up against the wall. Her head snapped towards him, eyes burning, the internal, unknown program flowing through her body still in full force. Slowly, however, it began to wear off, and sentience returned, making her aware of the damage she had done, of the cowering, frightened Scorchio. It also made her quite aware of how spent her body felt, feeling as if she would fall apart at any time. Still, Krishna had sent her to get something.
She took a weary step towards the Scorchio, trying as hard as she might to keep her balance. "May I have the parts I require now?" she asked quietly, not bothering to keep up the monotone act. It seemed quite obvious now that she was something much more than a house robot-it was useless to keep up an act. The Scorchio nodded shakily, fleeing to the back room and returning in moments with the small engine, handing it over with trembling hands. Mitsuko began to open her chest cavity to produce the proper amount of money, but the Scorchio shook his head furiously, plastering himself against the wall.
"N-n-no. . .y-you c-c-can have it. . .j-just don't come back. . ."
Mitsuko shrugged tiredly, opening her chest cavity and placing the engine inside. "Thank you, sir. . .and sorry about the mess," she said, giving the appropriate bow that Krishna had instructed her to perform. Exhausted, she took to the wing and flapped out of the store, happy enough to turn back towards the outskirts of town. She would be more than satisfied to rest for the remainder of the day, and refuel-now that she had seen just how nice the community could be towards questionable robots, she would find herself completely content to keep at peace within Krishna's residence.
And yet, perhaps not. Within the back of her mind, there lingered an excitement at the discovery of her natural talent for such fighting skills. It was like an adrenaline rush-perhaps not too pleasant at first, but leaving her feel somewhat exhilarated afterwards. Something inside of her told her that this was her purpose, something deep inside.
And now that she had found her purpose, there would be little to stop her from living to fulfill it.
"Krishna?"
Mitsuko opened the door to Krishna's house, peering around. He was not outside, fixing the speeder-in fact, the speeder was back in its storage place, shut down. Walking through the doors, she found herself in a vacant living room, noises coming from the basement of the house. Calling out her master's name, she continued to the stairs, walking down them and looking around the whole time, wondering why Krishna wasn't responding to her calls.
As she came to the final step into the basement, her question was answered. In the large space of the basement were various tubes and flasks filled with various chemicals, but the crashing was coming from the back. Squinting her eyes, as the light was not as significant down in the basement, she shifted to night vision, the area around her turning to a greenish glow. With her night vision activated, she could see a humanoid form working busily in the back of the room, shifting through many different drawers and large cabinets, opening and shutting each one after rustling the contents inside.
"Krishna?" she repeated once again, her voice uncharacteristically timid. The form finally responded, Krishna's red eyes glowing oddly in the night vision.
"Mitsuko? Is that you?"
"Who else would it be," replied Mitsuko, walking towards him with more confidence. "What are you doing? I have the part you required." With little hesitation, she opened her chest cavity and produced it, holding it out from Krishna. She neglected to mention the incident in the store involving conflict between other subsequent customers, but it seemed that it didn't matter whether she told him or not.
"You had trouble in town, didn't you?" asked Krishna, his voice sounding grave. Mitsuko almost drew back in surprise, as if the half-faerie had read her mind.
"Well. . .a bit."
"You don't need to cover up the truth, Mitsuko-I already know about it. I had a few angry complaint calls just moments earlier. And I'm afraid it's likely they'll come to eliminate you altogether-take you back to the junkyard. We can't let that happen," said Krishna, not looking at Mitsuko, but still through the numerous cabinets and drawers. Finally he opened and looked into one and breathed a sigh of relief. "Mitsuko, will you help me get this out of the drawer?" he asked. Mitsuko nodded absentmindedly, and began helping Krishna cart out a large, robotic body, sans a head.
"What does this mean for me?" asked Mitsuko, worry absent from her voice. Krishna bit his lip, momentarily forgetting about the weight of the body as he lugged it from the cabinet, recovering quickly as he nearly dropped it on his foot.
"It means you'll have to leave."
"Leave? Leave for where?"
"Anywhere but here," answered Krishna with a long, drawn out grunt of effort, fading into a sigh. The two carried the body across the lab under Krishna's instruction to the next room in the underground level, more suited for welding of robotic parts. An eerie sense of premonition crept into Mitsuko's consciousness, but she ignored it, presenting another question to Krishna as the two set the body up onto a metal table suitable for operating and transferring robotic parts.
"But how will I refill myself? I'm already exhausted as it is.this body isn't right for long-term use without availability to fuel."
"That's why we got this body out, Mitsuko-this will be your new body."
Mitsuko looked down at it blankly. It was certainly of a custom model, as it was of nothing she had ever seen before. It was shaped somewhat like a human and somewhat, conveniently, like a Shoyru at the same time-its body parts were more upright, resembling that of a human, with longer legs and arms, and even boasted a full set of ten fingers. However, there was certainly Shoyru undertones, for there was a tail protruding from the back, as well as a set of wings resembling those of a Shoyru's, fitted with acceleration boosters for hovering and flying, rather than wings to flap and soar on. A blank internal stats screen was on the stomach of the body, which would show off the amount of energy left within the body's energy storage tank.
"It will function for at least two years without needing a single tune-up, an oil-change or even a refilling of a fuel tank. That's under normal activity, of course. I designed her myself, so if there would be any problems, I would know about them-and there are none that I can recall." Krishna took in a deep breath, wiping his sweating hands on his lab coat's pockets. Mitsuko noticed that Krishna's expression was slightly troubled, as if he had to make a decision that he would rather avoid. There was a tint of sadness in his face as well, almost a bit of regret.
"What's the matter?" questioned Mitsuko, searching Krishna's face curiously, as if looking for a response in his outward expression. Krishna, however, quickly masked up the strange expression, forcing a smile onto his face.
"Oh, nothing. . .just thinking," he said, rubbing his hands. He moved towards Mitsuko, putting his hands on her shoulders, assumedly to shut Mitsuko down in order to perform the operation without Mitsuko having to experience the odd sensation of having her head transferred to one body to another. Yet he did not do it immediately-he rested his hands on her shoulders for a long moment, his facial features blank, staring forward. Mitsuko could feel his fingers squeeze her shoulders, trembling slightly, as if afraid of letting her go, of shutting her off.
"Aren't you going to. . .?" began Mitsuko, looking back at the vacant- looking Krishna, wondering what exactly he was acting so peculiarly about. Krishna seemed to jump at Mitsuko's words, and then nodded furiously, fumbling for the switch at the back of Mitsuko's neck.
"O-oh, yes. . .just a sec. . ."
Krishna's words, however, dissolved into nothingness as Mitsuko felt herself shutting down, allowing her consciousness to submit to the darkness of deactivation.
She didn't like the new body much, (it was much too far off the ground to suit her tastes, and seemed awkward to walk in, as if she were on stilts) although she didn't have the heart to admit it to Krishna-he had seemed to be so proud of it as a creation, and to insult it would surely break his spirit even more. She could tell it in his eyes now-something about his departure was digging deep into his soul, making him quieter than usual, almost wistful, looking at the blood red sun, billowing clouds of dust sweeping over its surface, making it look unnaturally hazy.
Yet as she looked out on the barren landscape, she could feel a similar emptiness inside, mirroring that of Krishna's. Ahead of her, she could see only a landscape of unknown proportions, stretching as far as the eye could see. It already made her feel desperately lonely, a strange feeling that welled inside of her mechanical stomach, already growing on her quickly. Looking back at the past few days, the homely life offered by Krishna's abode seemed much more preferable to a trek into the desert of enigmatic lengths, perhaps never ending. Would two years be enough?
Contrasting, there was also the intimate sense of adventure, the sensation of being a rogue. It was a familiar feeling to it, although she could remember nothing in particular about journeying into the unknown, though in a hypocritical sense, it felt like familiar territory. Yet when she looked back at Krishna's face, she could not help but feel guilty about her intricate eagerness to travel into the wide expanse of desert. His expression seemed to stretch the skin across the bones of his face in an expression of both anxiety and loss, seeming to make his faerie-retained youth melt away, his face aging in instants.
"You should probably be going-they like to strike at night. Mostly because it lets them carry torches in the traditional mob way, and plus it's a lot cooler then. And night's approaching," cautioned Krishna, though there was no seriousness in his statement. In fact, he seemed to struggle to get the words out of his mouth. Mitsuko nodded her head, and Krishna seemed almost injured by the movement, his arm convulsing slightly, Krishna trying to hide the moving limb from sight.
"Thank you, Krishna, for all of your help-even if I can't remember some of it," said Mitsuko, bringing her lips into a smile. It still felt forced, but she was working on it. "I'll come back someday, when. . .sometime," she said, although her tone wasn't very reassuring. She didn't like the look on Krishna's face-she didn't want him to be unhappy, just because she was leaving. It made her feel rotten inside, as if she were falling apart. "Okay?"
"Alright," responded Krishna, his voice cracking a little, choking a bit on his words. He feigned a smile as well, patting Krishna pleasantly as possible on the shoulder, like a sad father approving of a grown-up child finally parting from the family to go off to college. His glistening red eyes gave a final look over of Mitsuko's body, as if memorizing everything about the robotic Shoyru. "Good-bye."
Mitsuko took to the air, igniting the boosters and shooting high up, launching forward into the air. Steadying herself, trying to keep balance in the air, as the sensation of flipping upside down in the air did not seem to be too appealing, she strained her neck to look back at Krishna. The half-faerie stood so alone against the dismal background of earth dried beyond rehydration, a solitary figure slowly becoming smaller and smaller as the distance between them increased rapidly, due to the acceleration of the boosters on the back of Mitsuko's wings.
Now Mitsuko understood. She had been admittedly confused of what Krishna had been so sad about-she had only been with him a few days, after all, and the exchanges they had shared certainly hadn't been groundbreaking ones. Yet now she saw it all too clearly: the single man against a backdrop of loneliness, nothing to comfort him. For a few days, he had had a single soul to interact with, if artificial-a bit of sweetness in a life of bitter solitude, those who surrounded him plagued with the hatred for his half- faerie nature, as well as his eccentric methods in science. He was a man.a half-faerie alone in a world among thousands.
And all she could do was feel sympathy for him.
In a second, though, the butterfly was proven wrong-out of nowhere came a hulking form, a great shadow descending upon the helpless creature. In moments, it was a captive, being slightly squashed between two metallic hands, that of an android. The butterfly fluttered frantically within its metal prison, but could not find a way out. A single eye peeked in on the imprisoned butterfly, staring at it hard.
"Just don't kill it, Mitsuko-it's wrong to kill something as innocent as a butterfly," came a familiar male voice. The one holding the butterfly hostage looked up from her prey to see Krishna watching her idly as he simultaneously tuned up the speeder, lying down on a board in wheels and frequently wheeling underneath the vehicle.
Mitsuko scowled, opening up her hands and releasing the butterfly, allowing it to desperately fly away, knowing now that it wasn't safe. The small, foot-long Buzz messenger robot buzzed above her, watching her, a constant monitor. She had been obsessively bored the past few days. She seemed to have so much pent-up energy from the time in the junkyard ready to be released, yet not finding an opportunity to do so. Krishna seemed to prefer to lead a rather calm life, certainly not suited for the robotic Shoyru, who found herself growing progressively more antsy as the days grew long and stretched out, seeming to last into infinite.
She had to give Krishna some kind of credit, though-even though she could remember little of her past, there was always a warm feeling around his place, resembling somewhat of a home. She could not recall ever having a home in the past, or someone that truly cared about her; perhaps she had, but couldn't remember them. And what good was someone she couldn't remember? Still, there retained the uncontrollable urge to remain active, to DO something-to fight. To destroy.
After she had remained awake for a time, Krishna had gently explained to her the history of the world she was living in, after she had quite bluntly asked. There was something eerily wrong with the world, yet she was intricately accustomed with it-perhaps too much so.
"What is this world?" she had asked, while staring up at the ceiling, up into the stormy sky.
"This world? Well. . .it used to be the surface land of Neopia," Krishna had replied, leaning his elbow against the side table, resting his chin on his arm. Mitsuko remained silent for a moment, watching the clouds move. Slowly, they moved enough to reveal a patch of white clouds, floating up in the sky. Yet these were different-they seemed to be supporting extravagant buildings of enormous proportions. In moments, however, the illusion faded to nothing, leaving behind just clouds.
"Is there always castles in the sky?" Mitsuko had asked.
"Faerieland, you mean? No, not anymore. It fell from the sky long ago- there are still said to be illusions left of it in the air, however, by remnants of faerie magic."
"Who lives there?"
"The faeries. . .the perfect ones. The ones that weren't succumbed to the plagues and radiation, and thus, the rulers of all down on our surface world. Well, back then."
"The plagues and radiation?"
"Don't remember those either? Well, when I inspected you, you looked to be a model made after those events, anyway, so I guess it's understandable. They say that a villainous person named Frank Sloth decided to finally do away with Neopia, which he hated so much-and so, he sent down many weapons of destruction, destroying the surface world and many of its inhabitants. What you see now is all that's left. Only the faeries were safe in their little haven, Faerieland-yet they didn't dare allow any of the mutated and injured Neopets enter their precious domain. For one reason or another, though, Faerieland fell from grace and to the world-only to be corrupted, and thus abandoned by faeries. They congregate now in some unknown place-I'd rather not know of it personally." He shrugged. "It's best not to think about them-many have died trying to get their revenge. It's a pointless struggle."
Krishna had made the outlook terribly bleak, but Mitsuko didn't mind- she wasn't one that was satisfied with being lied to in order to soften the truth. Even if it hurt, the truth was always better to hear.
Krishna had also added that it was quite risky for her to travel into town. Sentient robots were disliked, for they were thought to be replacements for Neopets-if she was found to be such, somebody was likely to capture her and take her back to the junkyard for her to be turned into a pile of metal, or perhaps have her sentience taken away entirely. This didn't stop her from being drawn towards the town in the distance, bustling with activity. It certainly looked more interesting than here.
Looking back over her shoulder idly at Krishna, she could only see his legs sticking out from underneath, moving sometimes when he grunted with effort, stamping against the ground. Seeing that he was clearly occupied for a while, she got up from her position in the dirt and dusted herself off. Moving towards him, her eyes scanned the speeder with interest. The small robotic Buzz flittered of one of the speeder's handles, settling down and deactivating itself. "Dr. Krishna," she began slowly, forming her words as accurately as possible, "what exactly did you get me from the scrapyard to be, anyway? A common Neopet?"
"Sort of. . .I've never enjoyed cleaning up after the organic type. And the last one I had ran away," came Krishna's voice from underneath the speeder, sounding as if it were coming through a variety of metallic tubes.
"You know, I can do chores for you," she replied, although she wrinkled her nose to herself at the thought. In her mind, she could never lucidly remember being of a servant type. "If you need a certain material, I can get it for you. I have to have some purpose other than sitting around, after all-it's what robots are for."
"Are you?" replied Krishna, rolling out from underneath the speeder, giving her a questionable look. His normally pale face was streaked with grease and oil, giving him a rougher look than usual. "And what are you hoping to draw out of me? You can just say it, you know-round about ways kind of annoy me."
"I'm bored," Mitsuko burst out, her point pretty blunt. "I want to go to town-I'll get something for you. I'll pretend that I'm just a normal task-doing robot. I just need to get somewhere."
Krishna inspected her face for a moment, as if trying to verify whether she truly wanted to go to town or not. He himself hated going to town-mostly, though, because he was ridiculed for being only half-faerie, and having to stay down on the wasted planet of Neopia. It would help him quite a deal for her to go get some material instead of having to do it himself. Grabbing a wrench with a sigh, he slid back under the speeder. "I suppose. But be warned-you have to act completely like a house robot. That means no free-thinking, or acting like you can free-think."
A smile crossed Mitsuko's face, a foreign thing again, seeming so strange, as Krishna listed off what he needed her to retrieve. As soon as she had the information locked away into her brain, she took to the air, flying towards the town with steady wing beats.
It didn't take her as long as she thought it would to arrive at town, landing on the ground steadily. She changed her gait from a smooth one to a jerkier one, hoping that it would look as if she were under some outside control, only stealing a glance at those surrounding her every so often.
The buildings in the area looked exceptionally primitive, only containing a few pieces of real support here and there, scraps from a time when there were large, magnificent buildings where the town now was located. Where many little high-tech shops with paved sidewalks had been were now small little clay-made adobes with drapes for doors, barely any clarified roads beside the one in the middle, bustling with activity. Loud screaming of haggling could be heard, as well as the whinings of infant Neopets. Strangely enough, there was not a human to be found-it was a community consisting of purely Neopets, mostly with strange deformities that couldn't quite be considered Mutants, yet at the same time were definitely abnormal.
Mitsuko tried to keep her mind set on her destination, but found it hard to keep up to robotic standards. She couldn't say that she wanted to join into the bustle of those organic around her-she was set apart from them. Yet she did not want to be viewed as a common slave either. Still, she even less desired to be taken back to the junkyard that Krishna described.
Steering herself in what looked to be some kind of store appropriate for getting parts for the speeder, she pushed back the curtain and entered the small little shop. It was lit by many candles and the light from an opened window. Numerous faces of shoppers turned towards her in interest as she entered. She kept her face as stony and emotionless as possible, which wasn't difficult, as expressing emotion didn't come exceptionally easily to her in the first place. Pulling up a mental list in her mind, she walked up to the Scorchio behind the counter, who occupied his idle time by flipping through the pages of a magazine, crinkled and torn.
The Scorchio did not seem to notice her at first-although she stood quite visibly in front of him, albeit silent, he didn't seem to even acknowledge her existence. For a moment, she stood quietly in front of him, waiting for him to notice her. When it was obvious such an event was not going to happen, she gave a loud buzzing noise which managed to catch his attention, startling him and making him toss his magazine excitedly into the air, falling to the ground.
"I have orders from my master to obtain engine parts for a Year 2 speeder," Mitsuko said stonily, looking the Scorchio in the eye. The Scorchio steadied his glasses on his face, peering down his nose to look at the Shoyru android. A confused look spread over his face.
"I've never seen you in here before-you're certainly an odd looking model as well. What's your production number?"
Mitsuko remained silent, and then repeated her request, hoping that the Scorchio would look over her lack of answering. He did seem to excuse her lack of answers, but presented another question to her, although it was much more answerable: "Who's your master?"
"Doctor Krishna," Mitsuko answered, keeping her voice even, monotone. She could feel eyes boring into her metallic body, the warmth and stench of other Neopets crowding towards her flaring up in her synthetic senses, making her want to shudder. Normal robots, however, would not have the five senses, so she held back the gag reflex stirring within her.
"You mean that half-faerie piece of dung?" snorted a Grarrl from behind her, lifting up the shoulder strap of his garment roughly. "Hear he's making some illegal stuff back at that 'lab' of his."
"Yes, s'weird for a faerie, even a half-faerie, doing science-like things. Maybe this thing's his newest creation," came a voice from directly behind her. If Mitsuko had had hair, it would've risen at the new voice, which seemed to come from nowhere. Yet now she could feel the breath on the back of her neck, feeling the water droplets forming on her metallic outer layers.
"Heh, it's got a nice outer shell though. . .my house-robot's needed a new outer shell fer months now, I think hers would suit just swell."
"Now, good sirs and ma'ams, this robot belongs to Doctor Krishna. As. . .peculiar as he may be, we still must respect his property," the Scorchio commented over the rising of voices in his shop. His voice just barely pierced their comments, however, and Mitsuko felt herself become increasingly unsure.
"Sir Scorchio, I must have the speeder engine parts. Doctor Krishna requires them," repeated Mitsuko, swallowing. She was thankful at that moment that she lacked an artificial perspiring gland, for her organic skin would've been soaked.
"I've never seen a task OR a house robot with such realistic features. Knowin' Krishna, y'think he's fixed up a nice lil' sentient one here and ain't told nobody?" came a female voice, though having a distinctly masculine edge to the voice.
"I ain't doubtin' it's a possibility. . .lookee, lookit its registration panel, s'like nothin' I've ever seen. . ."
"Yeah! S'gotta be a custom-prolly a sentient!"
"I've got its torso!"
An overwhelming swell of voices escalated over Mitsuko's head, seemingly thousands of voices bargaining and haggling each one of her parts, as if she were a mere object to be taken apart and distributed. She could feel anger rising within her, and unknown programming being subconsciously activated in the back of her mind. She could feel her arms twitching, information from her brain flowing down to them, to her legs, to her wings and tail. She was at the ready, though didn't know quite why- besides the fact that their little regard for her thoughts and feelings made her significantly uncomfortable.
"Forget this-I'm ain't bargainin' with you lowlifes!!"
Without warning, a hand grasped Mitsuko by the arm, tugging with a great strength that nearly toppled her over. An automatic reaction surged through her body, her other arm suddenly sweeping forward and colliding with the Acara who had grabbed her's face, smashing him backwards. He practically flew threw the crowds to land against the other wall, crashing into merchandise and breaking quite a few glass bottles. A deadly pause was heard throughout the crowd, eyes slowly going from the Acara and back to Mitsuko.
And then they were upon her.
What happened next was a blur in Mitsuko's memory, but for the first time since she had been reactivated, she felt as if she were really in her element, submerged in the environment that she had been born into. With stunning accuracy, she took on the crowd with a fervor as they swarmed in on her, tons of faceless enemies to be bashed into smithereens. From all angles they came, and so, from all angles she attacked-with her arms, legs, tail, wings and head alike. She was a flurry of movement, kicking, jabbing, punching and slashing, leaping into the air and finding herself on top of another customer, the customer unconscious moments later. One by one they threw themselves at her-and one by one she picked them off, the mob no match for her superior strength. Soft, tender flesh could never stand a match to cold, cast-iron steel.
Soon, there was nobody left to fight, to defend herself from attack. She stood in the middle of a battlefield of unconscious bodies, none dead, many groans and moans rising from the fallen customers. The Scorchio, who had remained behind the counter the whole time, observing the ordeal, stared at her wide-eyed, backing up against the wall. Her head snapped towards him, eyes burning, the internal, unknown program flowing through her body still in full force. Slowly, however, it began to wear off, and sentience returned, making her aware of the damage she had done, of the cowering, frightened Scorchio. It also made her quite aware of how spent her body felt, feeling as if she would fall apart at any time. Still, Krishna had sent her to get something.
She took a weary step towards the Scorchio, trying as hard as she might to keep her balance. "May I have the parts I require now?" she asked quietly, not bothering to keep up the monotone act. It seemed quite obvious now that she was something much more than a house robot-it was useless to keep up an act. The Scorchio nodded shakily, fleeing to the back room and returning in moments with the small engine, handing it over with trembling hands. Mitsuko began to open her chest cavity to produce the proper amount of money, but the Scorchio shook his head furiously, plastering himself against the wall.
"N-n-no. . .y-you c-c-can have it. . .j-just don't come back. . ."
Mitsuko shrugged tiredly, opening her chest cavity and placing the engine inside. "Thank you, sir. . .and sorry about the mess," she said, giving the appropriate bow that Krishna had instructed her to perform. Exhausted, she took to the wing and flapped out of the store, happy enough to turn back towards the outskirts of town. She would be more than satisfied to rest for the remainder of the day, and refuel-now that she had seen just how nice the community could be towards questionable robots, she would find herself completely content to keep at peace within Krishna's residence.
And yet, perhaps not. Within the back of her mind, there lingered an excitement at the discovery of her natural talent for such fighting skills. It was like an adrenaline rush-perhaps not too pleasant at first, but leaving her feel somewhat exhilarated afterwards. Something inside of her told her that this was her purpose, something deep inside.
And now that she had found her purpose, there would be little to stop her from living to fulfill it.
"Krishna?"
Mitsuko opened the door to Krishna's house, peering around. He was not outside, fixing the speeder-in fact, the speeder was back in its storage place, shut down. Walking through the doors, she found herself in a vacant living room, noises coming from the basement of the house. Calling out her master's name, she continued to the stairs, walking down them and looking around the whole time, wondering why Krishna wasn't responding to her calls.
As she came to the final step into the basement, her question was answered. In the large space of the basement were various tubes and flasks filled with various chemicals, but the crashing was coming from the back. Squinting her eyes, as the light was not as significant down in the basement, she shifted to night vision, the area around her turning to a greenish glow. With her night vision activated, she could see a humanoid form working busily in the back of the room, shifting through many different drawers and large cabinets, opening and shutting each one after rustling the contents inside.
"Krishna?" she repeated once again, her voice uncharacteristically timid. The form finally responded, Krishna's red eyes glowing oddly in the night vision.
"Mitsuko? Is that you?"
"Who else would it be," replied Mitsuko, walking towards him with more confidence. "What are you doing? I have the part you required." With little hesitation, she opened her chest cavity and produced it, holding it out from Krishna. She neglected to mention the incident in the store involving conflict between other subsequent customers, but it seemed that it didn't matter whether she told him or not.
"You had trouble in town, didn't you?" asked Krishna, his voice sounding grave. Mitsuko almost drew back in surprise, as if the half-faerie had read her mind.
"Well. . .a bit."
"You don't need to cover up the truth, Mitsuko-I already know about it. I had a few angry complaint calls just moments earlier. And I'm afraid it's likely they'll come to eliminate you altogether-take you back to the junkyard. We can't let that happen," said Krishna, not looking at Mitsuko, but still through the numerous cabinets and drawers. Finally he opened and looked into one and breathed a sigh of relief. "Mitsuko, will you help me get this out of the drawer?" he asked. Mitsuko nodded absentmindedly, and began helping Krishna cart out a large, robotic body, sans a head.
"What does this mean for me?" asked Mitsuko, worry absent from her voice. Krishna bit his lip, momentarily forgetting about the weight of the body as he lugged it from the cabinet, recovering quickly as he nearly dropped it on his foot.
"It means you'll have to leave."
"Leave? Leave for where?"
"Anywhere but here," answered Krishna with a long, drawn out grunt of effort, fading into a sigh. The two carried the body across the lab under Krishna's instruction to the next room in the underground level, more suited for welding of robotic parts. An eerie sense of premonition crept into Mitsuko's consciousness, but she ignored it, presenting another question to Krishna as the two set the body up onto a metal table suitable for operating and transferring robotic parts.
"But how will I refill myself? I'm already exhausted as it is.this body isn't right for long-term use without availability to fuel."
"That's why we got this body out, Mitsuko-this will be your new body."
Mitsuko looked down at it blankly. It was certainly of a custom model, as it was of nothing she had ever seen before. It was shaped somewhat like a human and somewhat, conveniently, like a Shoyru at the same time-its body parts were more upright, resembling that of a human, with longer legs and arms, and even boasted a full set of ten fingers. However, there was certainly Shoyru undertones, for there was a tail protruding from the back, as well as a set of wings resembling those of a Shoyru's, fitted with acceleration boosters for hovering and flying, rather than wings to flap and soar on. A blank internal stats screen was on the stomach of the body, which would show off the amount of energy left within the body's energy storage tank.
"It will function for at least two years without needing a single tune-up, an oil-change or even a refilling of a fuel tank. That's under normal activity, of course. I designed her myself, so if there would be any problems, I would know about them-and there are none that I can recall." Krishna took in a deep breath, wiping his sweating hands on his lab coat's pockets. Mitsuko noticed that Krishna's expression was slightly troubled, as if he had to make a decision that he would rather avoid. There was a tint of sadness in his face as well, almost a bit of regret.
"What's the matter?" questioned Mitsuko, searching Krishna's face curiously, as if looking for a response in his outward expression. Krishna, however, quickly masked up the strange expression, forcing a smile onto his face.
"Oh, nothing. . .just thinking," he said, rubbing his hands. He moved towards Mitsuko, putting his hands on her shoulders, assumedly to shut Mitsuko down in order to perform the operation without Mitsuko having to experience the odd sensation of having her head transferred to one body to another. Yet he did not do it immediately-he rested his hands on her shoulders for a long moment, his facial features blank, staring forward. Mitsuko could feel his fingers squeeze her shoulders, trembling slightly, as if afraid of letting her go, of shutting her off.
"Aren't you going to. . .?" began Mitsuko, looking back at the vacant- looking Krishna, wondering what exactly he was acting so peculiarly about. Krishna seemed to jump at Mitsuko's words, and then nodded furiously, fumbling for the switch at the back of Mitsuko's neck.
"O-oh, yes. . .just a sec. . ."
Krishna's words, however, dissolved into nothingness as Mitsuko felt herself shutting down, allowing her consciousness to submit to the darkness of deactivation.
She didn't like the new body much, (it was much too far off the ground to suit her tastes, and seemed awkward to walk in, as if she were on stilts) although she didn't have the heart to admit it to Krishna-he had seemed to be so proud of it as a creation, and to insult it would surely break his spirit even more. She could tell it in his eyes now-something about his departure was digging deep into his soul, making him quieter than usual, almost wistful, looking at the blood red sun, billowing clouds of dust sweeping over its surface, making it look unnaturally hazy.
Yet as she looked out on the barren landscape, she could feel a similar emptiness inside, mirroring that of Krishna's. Ahead of her, she could see only a landscape of unknown proportions, stretching as far as the eye could see. It already made her feel desperately lonely, a strange feeling that welled inside of her mechanical stomach, already growing on her quickly. Looking back at the past few days, the homely life offered by Krishna's abode seemed much more preferable to a trek into the desert of enigmatic lengths, perhaps never ending. Would two years be enough?
Contrasting, there was also the intimate sense of adventure, the sensation of being a rogue. It was a familiar feeling to it, although she could remember nothing in particular about journeying into the unknown, though in a hypocritical sense, it felt like familiar territory. Yet when she looked back at Krishna's face, she could not help but feel guilty about her intricate eagerness to travel into the wide expanse of desert. His expression seemed to stretch the skin across the bones of his face in an expression of both anxiety and loss, seeming to make his faerie-retained youth melt away, his face aging in instants.
"You should probably be going-they like to strike at night. Mostly because it lets them carry torches in the traditional mob way, and plus it's a lot cooler then. And night's approaching," cautioned Krishna, though there was no seriousness in his statement. In fact, he seemed to struggle to get the words out of his mouth. Mitsuko nodded her head, and Krishna seemed almost injured by the movement, his arm convulsing slightly, Krishna trying to hide the moving limb from sight.
"Thank you, Krishna, for all of your help-even if I can't remember some of it," said Mitsuko, bringing her lips into a smile. It still felt forced, but she was working on it. "I'll come back someday, when. . .sometime," she said, although her tone wasn't very reassuring. She didn't like the look on Krishna's face-she didn't want him to be unhappy, just because she was leaving. It made her feel rotten inside, as if she were falling apart. "Okay?"
"Alright," responded Krishna, his voice cracking a little, choking a bit on his words. He feigned a smile as well, patting Krishna pleasantly as possible on the shoulder, like a sad father approving of a grown-up child finally parting from the family to go off to college. His glistening red eyes gave a final look over of Mitsuko's body, as if memorizing everything about the robotic Shoyru. "Good-bye."
Mitsuko took to the air, igniting the boosters and shooting high up, launching forward into the air. Steadying herself, trying to keep balance in the air, as the sensation of flipping upside down in the air did not seem to be too appealing, she strained her neck to look back at Krishna. The half-faerie stood so alone against the dismal background of earth dried beyond rehydration, a solitary figure slowly becoming smaller and smaller as the distance between them increased rapidly, due to the acceleration of the boosters on the back of Mitsuko's wings.
Now Mitsuko understood. She had been admittedly confused of what Krishna had been so sad about-she had only been with him a few days, after all, and the exchanges they had shared certainly hadn't been groundbreaking ones. Yet now she saw it all too clearly: the single man against a backdrop of loneliness, nothing to comfort him. For a few days, he had had a single soul to interact with, if artificial-a bit of sweetness in a life of bitter solitude, those who surrounded him plagued with the hatred for his half- faerie nature, as well as his eccentric methods in science. He was a man.a half-faerie alone in a world among thousands.
And all she could do was feel sympathy for him.