Chapter 13: The Mythical Town of Hope
…
33E jolted upright. A pain spiked up her arm into her bad shoulder, immediately resulting in her falling back down, landing on a pillow. Finding herself starring at an unfamiliar ceiling, she blinked.
The structure was wooden. But like a hut, it was thinly constructed and delicate to a degree. Glancing around, she noticed the relatively small building she was tucked away in. It was, indeed, a literal hut.
She threw off the blankets and tried to compose herself at the edge of the bed. As it turns out, she was undressed. She was, however, wrapped in bandages in select spots. The bandages were partially soaked with her own blood.
Great, She thought. This again.
She also noticed that on the small vanity by the door, 6Hs Pod sat idle in the dark.
33E frowned.
She peeked out of the hut to see a wide view of the ocean and parts of the beach that was connected to it. She was taken aback by the sudden change in scenery.
To her right, the hill the hut was stationed upon curled upwards intently to a moutainous point, where the terrain wasn't suitable for habitation. Her hut was propped up on leveled part of the steep hill that made up what seemed to be a village. Similar huts stretched to her left where the hill gradually sloped down flat into the sand.
It was there, where the biggest clusters of buildings were stationed. A propped up structure connected to the dock extending towards the sea sat on the border of a forest surrounded marketplace and the town square that was proudly featured beside at an entry gate.
But tucked away a bit further, between the market and docks, was the largest building in the village. 33E assumed this was where the authority figures were stationed.
The door opened to a stone porch with a wooden chair and table. She grabbed the Pod and slowly sat down, setting it on the table as she fixed her gaze on the ocean.
"I see you're awake." an android walked up the steps to the porch, a sack slung over his shoulder. 33E recognized the man from before she passed out. Sure enough, the man's arms were as uncanny as they were before.
33E kept her gaze on the ocean, "How long was I out?"
The android shrugged, "Not too long. Your friend did great patching you up. The rest of our maintenance team hasn't had much of any experience with YoRHa units."
33E winced.
The android walked up, sat the sack he was carrying by the door and kelt next to 33E.
"Your friend told me about what happened. I'm- sorry." the man spoke with an unfamiliar softness. It made 33Es whole body tensed. She wasn't sure how to process what she was feeling at that moment.
The man untied and reached into his sack and produced a fruit of some kind. It was a bright and desaturatsd orange color. He offered it to 33E, "I hear these were a delicacy in the old world. Would you like to try one?"
33E raised an eyebrow, ultimately declining.
The man took a hefty bite from the fruit, juices splattering to the ground. A look of contentment crossed his face before turning and spitting out a piece of peel.
"Why are you eating those anyway? Androids only need water." 33E chided.
The man, surprised, wagged his large mechanical index finger as he swallowed.
"That's where you'd be wrong." the man continued to hold up his finger as he took another bite, "We're a village of mostly mechanics, and I suppose scientists. We've been required to study android anatomy and functionality extensively. As such, we learned where we get our taste from. We then learned how to extract energy from the broken down food we ingest. Much like our human counterparts."
33E felt unnerved, counterparts wasn't a term she felt comfortable using when comparing androids to humans. It felt almost.. Unclean.
"But for what purpose?" 33E raised an eyebrow.
The man shrugged, "Some of us can eat faster than we drink. Not to mention the fact that we can already taste. Some mechanic must have wanted to give that function an actual purpose."
33E furrowed her brow glancing at the bag of fruit.
Seeing her curiosity, the man reached in and offered another fruit, "Change your mind?"
33E exhaled as she grabbed the fruit, inspecting it. She was always told eating food was a waste of time. Time that could have been better used on training.
With great hesitation, 33E licked the surface of the fruit, trying to determine what she was supposed to taste.
Immediately, upon her tongue meeting the surface of the fruit, a disgusted chill ran down her spine. The texture was revolting. With dozen of what felt like hairs pricking her tongue.
She recoiled, "Y-you like this stuff?"
The man stopped, and saw the fruit in 33Es hand. He chuckled to himself, "You're supposed to bite into it, you know. But since you got the hands for it, you can peel off the outer layer." he said, clenching his free hand. "These are just a hair too big for peeling."
33E inspected the fruit once again. She grabbed the outer layer from around the stem and began to pull. A slice of the outer layer peeled away to reveal a moist juicy inside. It was so juicy, in fact, it began to run off the peel onto her arm.
"Ah- shit-!" 33E sat the fruit down and flapped her arm free of the runny residue.
"You've really never done this before, have you?" the man said, in a tone of almost pity.
33E scoffed, "I've had better things to do with my time than indulge in pointless taste tests."
The man dismissively waved his hand, mouth still full of the delicacy, "Whatever you say."
33E poked the fruit. It was just as moist as it looked. She licked her finger clean, still cautious of the idea of actually ingesting anything.
The flavor was… Surprisingly pleasant! It was smooth and clearly had some sugar content, but there was also a bite that she hadn't experienced before. She reflexively screwed her face.
"Ah. That's the tart nature of the fruit. It's good, isn't it?" the man said, tossing the remaining peel into the small flower bed by the porch.
"Actually… Yes." 33E said, surprised herself. She picked up the fruit and took a proper bite. The fruit itself was like small bags made of a thin membrane holding in the juice. She was surprised how easily it went down.
"That was… Good. I think?" she said, still inspecting the fruit, "But what happens to the solids?"
"For you? It just gets burnt up by your internal combustion system. For us… It's a bit more complicated now." the man said, hoisting up the bag.
"Well, I think I'll leave you to recover-"
"Wait!" 33E interrupted, "What about my partner and-" she looked down at herself, "My clothes?"
"Ah. Right." The man scratched his head, "Your friend has been in the village. She's just been looking around as far as I can tell. Our town leader wanted both of you to meet with her later."
"As for your clothes, I believe both you and your partner were supplied with temporary garnments while they were being cleaned and repaired." the man said, taking a few steps down the porch.
"But why?"
"Hrm?"
33E stood up, "Why help us? What do you have to gain?"
The man frowned, "Not all good deeds have contingencies. I heard a commotion and we typically want to help those who run across those cannibalistic shit-stains."
He shrugged, "All there is to it."
The man continued to walk down the porch, "Also, if you're in town, me and my sister run the docks out there," he pointed towards the building by the lake with the tall dock adjacent to it, "Stop by if you're looking for anything else to eat."
As the man left, 33E glanced to one of the adjacent houses to see a man walk out. He was also undressed, stretching in the morning air. He politely waved at her.
33E returned with a half hearted wave of her own and stepped back inside the hut.
It was almost comical how small and dark it was compared to the beauty of the rest of the village. That's when she noticed there was a windows above the bed that was tucked against the back wall. She opened it, allowing the morning sunlight shine into the room alongside a cool breeze of ocean air.
33E felt a certain peace. It was nice, after the hell of the past few hours.
She checked the vanity once again, finding some minimalist clothing she could wear tucked into the drawers.
She put it on and inspected herself in the mirror. The sandy brown color helped hide the baggy nature of the wear. It was a simple get up, just a short, ragged sleeveless tunic, along with some shorts and sandals.
She started at her reflection for a moment. Something wss missing, she just didn't know what, exactly.
With the snap of her fingers, she immediately pulled up her hair as she usually did, ultimately nodding in approval.
33E exited the hut, ready to look around the town for 6H.
As 33E walked down the path towards what looked like a large common area outside of the marketplace, a couple of androids passed. She avoided looking at them as they passively waved at her.
"Good morning," the woman of the couple said as she returned to her conversation.
"Morning…" 33E muttered quietly such that they couldn't hear her. She sighed as she continued on the path down hill.
As she approached the common area, the sounds of people grew in intensity alongside the sound of some type of music.
In the center was a circular water basin. Occasionally a villager would fill a bucket with a scoop and wonder off to their home. 33E figured it would be an ideal spot to gather her thoughts.
She sat down at the edge of the basin and peeked in. The water crystal clear, exposing an array of jets carefully placed around the basin floor.
It was then 33E realized how parched she was. It hadn't occurred to her, but she hadn't drank anything in a while.
Slowly, she leaned over and reached her hand towards the water. As it approached, she felt a sudden… Heat? She hesitated.
As she did so, a large hand grabbed her other arm, "Careful!" a reverberated feminine voice called out, "You'll hurt yourself!"
33E turned around, confused, "What do you mean-?"
33E turned around to see a large machine lifeform towering over her, holding her bad shoulder. Her eyes widened.
"Are you OK? You didn't burn yourself, did you?"
33E jolted up and yanked herself away from the machine, "What- what the hell are you doing here-?"
The machine cocked her head, "I… Don't know what you mean?"
"Don't play coy with me, how are you things still here!?"
The machine slumped, as if coming to a realization, "Oh. You must be one of the YoRHa units, right?"
33E twitched, "Don't you say that name-"
"I'm sorry for approaching so suddenly. I forget how your kind can be. Forget I said anything." the machine, now dejected, walked away towards another group of androids, where they resumed an unrelated conversation. A few unapproving glares directed towards her.
33E stood wide eyed. Her mind racing a thousand miles per hour. Machines… Her mind echoed, Machines… Here!?
She collapsed by the circular wall of the basin and simply held her head in her hands.
Why do those destructive things get to live like they're innocent!? She shook her head, They shouldn't have that fucking luxury!" she shook her head even more.
A machine got into a backdoor at the bunker and gave effectively all of YoRHa the logic virus, and now I'm expected to believe they can stand there without a care in the world!?
A lump formed in the back of her throat. This feeling was familiar. It wasn't pelasent. But it was familiar.
Her vision began to blur as tears began to fall from her face, My home… The only place I could belong… Gone.
As time passed, no one paid 33E any mind as she sulked quietly.
Eventually, something began to stick out in her head amongst the noise, the music. It was… Pleasent.
She pulled her heavy head up and scanned the area, looking for the source.
Looking behind her, she spotted a small table towards the where the treeline that surrounded the marketplace met the shore. Mounted on top of the table was box with a rotating circular disc. Towards the back of the box was a large cone where the music eminated from.
Sluggishly, 33E approached.
Beside the small table was a strange looking girl who stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the villagers. Her high heels and thigh high socks were an equally strange contrast to her leggings and regal top. To further emphasize that contrast was the leather skirt hoised by some belts along with her similarly leather gloves.
Her hair split at the nape of her neck, with finely secured hair pins. Either strand falling down her back.
She pushed up her circular glasses as she was stuffing her face with a book. Despite her appearance and current setup, she seemed rather bored.
33E looked around to see if anyone else notice the oddity sitting in front of her. No one seemed to pay her any mind.
"H-hello?"
The woman sniffed, glancing up without moving her head. She returned her gaze to her book, "Yes, yes, can I help you?"
She sounded bored as well.
"Um- I just wanted to say that this music is- very nice. That's all."
The woman with one hand, shut the book and placed it down on the table, "That so~?"
"Um. Yeah." 33E rubbed the back of her neck, beginning to feel ever more uneasy by the woman.
A smirked wormed over her face, "Well~~"
She slipped behind the table and hoisted a strange looking crate next to the music box. The music skipped and crackled as she did so.
With a few swift clicks she swung the box open and pulled out a similar disc, carefully holding it by the edges.
"This here is some old world music. They used to cut slates of this fragile material here and used the vibrations generated from a needle running across it to make this!" she gestured to the music box.
"What material is that?"
"Some really really brittle old world shit. I think they even called it that? Shit-tack? No… No that's not right…" she placed the disc back in her box and began pacing.
"What was it- shell back? Not important. But this~" she pointed to the currently playing disc, "Is what the old world called jazz."
"I don't think I recognize the language." 33E scratched her head.
"Another old world language. Don't worry too much about it." she leaned towards the music box, "Listen, this is the best part~!"
On que, the music picked up. What sounded like a horn began to rapidly and smoothly fluctuate it's pitch in a harmonious manner. As it wound down, a gravely deep voice cut through the instruments and began to soothe once more. It gave her a strange sense of peace.
"Weirdly hopeful, isn't it?" the woman said, looking up at 33E.
"I'm not sure if I'd say hopeful-"
"Just think, humans were able to churn out this sort of thing regularly. Among what was supposedly some of the worst horrors occurring around them. And yet, this exists."
The music wound up again, the man and the horn began to struggle for the dominant position in the song, before ultimately joining in a harmonious final few notes. The band sustained on those notes as they faded into quiet.
"Fucking beautiful stuff, isn't it?" the woman looked up at 33E her smirk turning to a frown, "You… Uh- OK?
33E hadn't realized it, but she had started tearing up again. She frantically wiped her face clean, "Y-yeah. Sorry. Don't know what came over me."
"Mhm." the woman raised an eyebrow.
"Listen," she picked up the disc, "Sometimes things seem hopeless, and maybe you don't have anywhere to go. But you're still standing, aren't you?"
33E stood in silence.
"Sooo~" she put the disc in her case and produced a new one, "Do something!"
"Like- what?" 33E asked.
The woman shrugged, "Sing, dance, write poetry- fuck if I know." she put the disc on the music box, and placed the needle at the outer edge of it. Music slowly faded in, this time of a more somber tune. "But if nothing else, you seem like you could stand to be more expressive."
33E frowned, not appreciating the tone.
"Well then," the woman shut her case shut and tapped on one of the edges, a green light shining from it. She flipped it around, showing off the shelves of weird nick nacks and bottles of something. "You in the market for some weird shit?" she said with a smile.
"Erm- no." 33E said, backing up.
The woman's smile turned right into a frown, "Oh. Well, then leave me alone." she slammed her suitcase shut and hid it behind the counter, sitting back down as she opened up her book, returning to the same position as when 33E first approached.
"Well… Thanks. I think." 33E backed away and slowly began to make her way towards the market nearby.