Tieria studied his reflex on the train's window. For this highly unorthodox outing he had dyed his hair black and put on matching contact lenses. Attired in normal, form fitting and gender appropriate clothing he looked almost human. He found it strangely painful, like the echo of a long endured wound still speaking to him.

"Master Tieria also looks very pretty like this."

Tieria smiled wanly and looked at a beaming Mileina.

"I'm traveling as a human so no more 'Master Tieria' for a while."

Mileina seemed perplexed.

"How should I address Master Tieria, then?"

Tieria shrugged.

"Anything you'd like. Think up a name."

"But Master Tieria is Master Tieria."

"Not today. I'm playing human. It's been a long, long time since I last done that."

Against all odds Tieria found himself nothing short of thrilled at this unexpected outing. He stared at the scenery with intense curiosity. It did not know how starved for the outside world he was until he was in its midst.

"Master Tieria used to live with humans?"
"That's right."

Tieria did not want to pursue this conversation any further. Not now and probably not ever.

"With Your holy siblings?"

"My 'holy siblings', you say. No, it was just me and my human- the rest of the crew was human."

Tieria nearly said 'human family'. It seemed that Mileina's family talk was affecting him. Through some inner turmoil he took notice of the scenery of fields punctuated by villages.

"Wasn't it lonely?"

Tieria blinked in surprise.

"Lonely? How so?"

"To be so far apart from Your own kind."

"Ah, that. It wasn't lonely. They accepted me."

It was Mileina's turn to blink.

"Surely, it was a true honor for these humans to be Master Tieria's companions."

Tieria giggled.

"It was hardly an honor. There was no worship involved. Can you understand that? I was their equal, nothing more. Nothing less. Now pick a name I can use, if you will."

As much as Tieria hated talking about this he realized that once he started he could not stop. Which was why he called for a sudden change in topic, almost angrily.

"I can't think of any game worthy of Master Tieria…"

"Call me 'brother', then."

Tieria chuckled at the look of sheer shock.

"I could never do that!"

"It's an order. Try saying, 'Yes, brother.'"

Mileina hesitated and after some spluttering,

"Yes- brother."

"See? Not that difficult."


There was no direct train to the industrial sector so Tieria and Mileina had to transfer at a station to a secondary branch. Tieria alighted on the platform with a flutter of excitement. It was an impressive building but just outside the street had a dirty veneer to it that Tieria identified as the consequence of humans gathered in their own environment.

Groups of burly men leaned on bar corners, a series of stacks of smoke heralded the thus far invisible but very present factories, shops and stalls displayed all sorts of goods, from heavy tools to old electronic bits and pieces along with screws, cogs, metallic bits of all kinds.

Tieria spent some time absorbed studying a circuit board. It was ancient but a sign of human ingenuity. And it represented something almost grand in the collapse of civilization. Tieria ran his fingertips over the delicate grooves. It crossed his mind that this was an ancestor of his, one of the necessary steps in developing what eventually came to be finely tuned piece of technology that was Tieria Erde.

"You interested in this kind of thing, lass?"

It took Tieria a while to realize he was being addressed. The bearded stall owner leered at him. Mileina hid behind Tieria.

"I'll take this, please."

"Right on, miss."

Tieria spotted a spherical form in a heap of clutter. He picked it up, a rush of familiarity nearly overwhelming him.

"This is a Haro unit!"

"You've got an eye for this, huh, miss?"

The man seemed impressed now. Tieria ignored it altogether. The round robot seemed to smile at him. Its original color had been whittled away almost to nothing but Tieria could distinguish a hint of orange.

"I'll take it. Do you have any more of these?"

"Hard to come by these days. Human Age material and all that."

"Human Age…"

Tieria was not familiar with the term and feared looking it up. At least for now he was free, even if relatively so, accessing Veda would pinpoint both his location and what his present interests.

"You know, before the Innovators- may Their Name Ring Forever- took over the place. Or so they say…that humans used to make things. Back in the day."
The tone was not nostalgic but curious. Tieria was still fascinated by this relic of humanity's past, of his past, of realizing anew the connection between the two. But he forced himself to face the man directly. Here was someone who did not sound particularly reverent to the holiness of his android overlords but still tagged the mandatory praise. As if devotion had become a verbal default of sorts. Tieria found it both depressing and oddly uplifiting.

"Do you think they- that we did?"

The man shrugged.

"Who knows. That'll be a thousand Inno Units."

Mileina gasped at the figure.

"Is that expensive?"

"It's too expensive! Mas- brother, this man is ripping you off!"

"Hard to come by. Genuine Human Age stuff. I'm cutting you a deal here, pretty girl and all. Wait, did you say brother?"

Tieria waved all this away. He was provided with quite some live money in the shape of physical money but it was hardly enough. As for the unlimited ominously looking black credit card that Regene had handed it, that too would be immediately traced. Tieria was in quite a quandary. Of course, all he had to do was to reveal his identity and all the property in the known universe would be immediately his to keep, even if it meant stealing it. But above all that was something he would do.

"I'll give you five hundred Inno Units and repair all this."

The man blinked. Tieria was already rolling up his sleeves and making a pile of gadgets that he knew he could easily fix.

"Oy, oy, this is not something a young girl can do, you know."

"If I can do it, do we have a deal?"

The man was visibly stunned then amused.

"Tell you want, miss. If you can fix half of this stuff, you go yourself a deal."

"Very well."

"Mas- brother! This is unseemly,"

Tieria barely heard the banter between the by now very bemused man and a borderline furious Mileina. At a glance he could tell that most of these disparate parts could be put together.

Tieria did not even notice the small crowd that gathered to watch this delicate girl who in no time proved her skills as a topnotch mechanic. His hands smeared in oil, a wrench firmly in his grasp, Tieria started out repairing simply as a means to achieve his end of obtaining the Haro but he soon came to truly enjoy it. Machinery was a domain that he understood thoroughly. The other Innovators dislike dealing with the physical aspect of machines. Some because they saw no point in them, others because of more complicated reasons. Ribbons was the most interesting case, Tieria considered as he wiped an oily hand on his face to the absolute horror of Mileina.

Ribbons seemed not so much to dislike machinery as to find it a veritable offense to his being. Which was not to say that he handled it and even created machines expertly but his highly aesthetical driven sense of what life should be- life as a supreme being- was too rarefied to allow for ugly metal, grimy oil, grinding gears.
But there was something deeper still. Tieria contemplated it as he made finished piecing up a television set. Ribbons hated machines because they reminded him of lowly origins he would rather outgrow entirely by never having to think about it. For Ribbons the idea of being in any way connected to machines was an affront to his ego. Ribbons preferred lofty notions of the pinnacle of technology and the free flow of information. As if all these existed disconnected from actual hardware.

Tieria knew that Ribbons did not enjoy visiting Veda's main hub. As far as Ribbons was concerned 'Veda' was a concept, a tool, to be accessed whenever he pleased and such not rooted to any particular location.

"Done."

Tieria looked at his work. He had assembled a vast array of machines, from the television to a set of walkie-talkies. None of it seemed at all useful and most would have been ancient even in Tieria's time. But there was a peaceful sense of accomplishment that Tieria had almost entirely forgotten about.

"Well I'll be damned, miss!"

"Can I have the Haro?"

"More like, how about I hire you?"

Generalized chuckled from the crowd.

"Sorry but I'm not interested. I just want the Haro."

"Take it, you more than earned it."

Tieria nodded. He petted the disheveled robot.

"Hi there, Haro. Sorry it took me so long to get you."


Tieria's next destination was a somewhat seedy looking restaurant that also served as a bar. He figured that Mileina might be hungry. As soon as he approached the counter to make an order he was surrounded by a group of men.

"Hi there, cutie-pie. Heard you know your way with a wrench."

Tieria lifted an eyebrow.

"'Cutie-pie'? I see cheesy pick-up lines die hard."

Tieria ordered two cheeseburgers but was barred from making his way to his table.

"How about I buy you a drink?"

"How about no."

Tieria glanced at Mileina to silence any potential outburst.

"Looks like you're new around here. That's not how things work around these parts."

Tieria almost sighed. He could smell sweat and blatant lust, it was all rather repulsive.

"There's something you ought to know, since we're on the topic of knowledge."

"What…?"

There was a cluster of guys but Tieria knew that he only had to deal with the leader. The rest would scramble.

"I'm not a woman. Now if you'll excuse me."

Tieria glided between them easily. The men were too stunned to react. He took a seat opposite to Mileina at a booth table.

"Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Of course! Since I'm with Brother. But is this food really okay?"

She looked with suspicion at the burgers that arrived.

"It won't kill me. You might have to worry about yourself first."

"I'll test taste it just to make sure."

Tieria watched her nibble away at her burger.

"Compared to ship food this is nothing short of gourmet."

Grease oozed through the buns as Tieria squeezed the burger.

"Ship food? The food is wonderful at the Innovator Ship."

"I meant another ship."

"Which one?"

Before Tieria could reply, thus far invisible giant screen popped up out of nowhere. And on them shone the image of Regene, fully arrayed in purple robes of great majesty, hair straightened as Tieria's.

Immediately everyone dropped to their knees. Tieria blinked in confusion. One moment the restaurant was full of the typical background noise made of many conversations and the next an eerie silent ruled over the kneeling costumers and waiters alike. To his stupefaction even the people outside were in same stance.
It took him a heartbeat to realize he should mimic them least he stood out too much. Mileina was already kneeling as it was.

Tieria's voice echoed from the screen, coming from Regene's voice, a chilling effect that sent a shiver down Tieria's spine.

"Humans, I have descended upon this colony as a sign of good will. Take heart and know that the Angel of the Earth is with you. We, Tieria Erde, grant Our blessing unto you."

And with this the transmission was over but not without a creepy chant that everyone took up in response.

"We thank You in our unworthiness, may Your will forever guide us."

Tieria had to bite his tongue in order to stifle a fit of giggles. It was all so absurdly ridiculous and full of bitter irony. Here he was, kneeling in worship to himself, a display of narcissism that matched even Ribbons in all his self-love. The majestic plural in particular stroke a funny bone. Tieria mouthed silently, 'We, Tieria Erde', and was glad for the imposed kneeling as it allowed him to hide the nervous smile twisting his lips.

And all along he knew that Regene had arranged this performance for his eyes alone. 'We, Tieria Erde', might very well be 'Regene and Tieria'.