THE STRANGER

A few years earlier

It is interesting to note that there is only one wild population of monkeys on the European continent. Called Barbary macaque, this bright, ochre-coloured monkey species, although it has no tail, has the morphological capacity to undergo significant drops in temperature, inherent to its mountainous environment. This is due to the negligible length of its tail, the toes of each of its legs and the thickening of its fur when the cold seasons occur, which distinguishes it from almost all its fellow primates. The Barbary Macaque is not only the second largest free-ranging primate in Europe after Homo sapiens, but its population is concentrated in a specific spot on the European continent: the Rock of Gibraltar.

The presence of these Gibraltar macaques has been dated for many years, well before the annexation of the Rock by the British, and well before the occupation of the Iberian Peninsula by the Moors. Although small, this population of primates has been perpetuated over the centuries and has become an integrated part of the Rock's history. When the British decided to set up a military base in Gibraltar, they took great care of these animals, feeding them, protecting them and carefully monitoring their reproduction, thus helping to preserve this exemplary species. A superstition said that as long as the Barbary Macaques remained on the Rock of Gibraltar, this territory would remain under British authority. This belief had forced Winston Churchill, in the middle of the Second World War, to send British agents to reconstitute the macaque population on the Rock, which had been decimated due to a disease, by sending other monkeys of the same species from North Africa.

Despite their particularity and the interest that the locals had paid to them for centuries, this species of macaques remained wild and the Rock was their territory. It was not advised to get too close to them and to interact with them. Some soldiers at the military base were not entirely comfortable with dozens of apes looking down on them from the barracks and quarters. Even Winston had to admit that he did not feel safe in front of these monkeys.

He made his way to the barbed-wire fence where signs were hung, forbidding entry to the site under penalty of being prosecuted in accordance with the terms of the Petras Act. Winston, as a man of science, was not well versed in all aspects of international laws and conventions. Yet this simple act, this simple text had destroyed everything that had been his life for the past few years. So, no matter how much he was forbidden to enter the base, he did not have anything else to lose. He readjusted his thin glasses on his nose and, with his big paws, twisted the fence to create a pathway for himself.

Overwatch's base in Gibraltar had not changed much since the last time he had visited it. The barracks and the infrastructure, dug out of the Rock face, had retained their orange and grey tones, unless it was the colourful glow of the falling sun towards the horizon. Antennas and satellite dishes still stood proudly on structures leaning against the now empty water tanks or containers. At one glance, Winston saw in the distance the great launching pad that rose almost as high as the Rock. The Gibraltar complex was not a base like any other among all the ones owned by Overwatch. It was first and foremost a study base for space research and for launching probes and orbiting satellites to store the vast amount of data that lay beyond the Earth's atmosphere. For this reason, that base was given a small nickname within the organization: the Observatory.

It was the sort of place Winston adored. He remembered the back and forth of astrophysicists and engineers in white coats and work suits. He remembered the lively discussions among scientists who had greatly exceeded coffee and the squealing of the markers on the whiteboards where lines and lines of formulas were stretched out and were often at the heart of all the discussions. He recalled the modules and the devices developed and assembled in the hangars, in a state of permanent agitation and emulation. In his memories, it was a lively place, far away from what it looked like today.

The large aisles were deserted while the buildings and hangars remained enclosed. The whole place had been abandoned. Silence prevailed, disturbed only by the crashing of the waves on the Rock's cliffs and the hoarse, jerky laughter of the seabirds. The Petras Act had banned any activities of Overwatch or its former agents and this unfortunately included the field of research. Construction machinery and transporters were still on site, covered with black tarpaulins, and storage boxes that were now empty. The base had been vacated and only what was expendable remained.

Winston leaned on his hind legs and with his agility he climbed up the front of a building to reach the roof. At the top, a cohort of macaques, surprised by his sudden arrival, burst out in high-pitched, panicked cries. Winston ignored them and hoisted himself up on an antenna to view the surroundings. He searched for a method of entering the base, but the heavy hangar doors were locked and heavy iron curtains blocked the window openings. With a single leap, he jumped from one building to another and looked around him for opportunities, but he found nothing conclusive.

Not discouraged, he dropped to the ground and walked to the doors of a hangar built into the rock of the cliff. The doors were very large and certainly very heavy, but Winston took a deep breath and tried to insert his fingers into the gap between the two doors. When he felt a slight grip on his fingertips, he gathered his strength and pulled to each side. Despite his efforts, the doors remained closed. As he stepped back, he saw a recess in the rock that led to a small door almost hidden from the unwary eye. A smile appeared on Winston's face. This place was inaccessible by most people, but not by him.

Winston climbed up to an adjacent structure, stooped down, and jumped into the recess to face the sliding door, which seemed more than adequate for him. Looking for a grip on the side of the opening, he tightened his muscles and grabbed the door and pulled it to the left. For a few seconds it resisted, but Winston's strength overcame it. The lock broke and he was able to enter.

Inside, everything was dark. Winston rummaged through the bag on his back looking for a flashlight to face the darkness. As he took the object out, a few pictures slipped out of his bag, lying on the ground, which Winston quickly retrieved and collected. He hurriedly retrieved them and gathered them together, but he still observed them one by one. In the first one, a blonde woman was wearing a large dark witch's hat next to a small man in Viking costume with a dense golden beard. Winston giggled with amusement at this snapshot, which had even been annotated with a "Happy Halloween Winston", a heart and an A. The next photo showed many people gathered for a celebration as indicated by the banner behind them. In this picture, there was complicity, pride, satisfaction, but also envy and bitterness. Winston moved on to the next shot where he was in the company of a young woman with brown hair wearing an orange visor and the sign of victory by her hand. Winston couldn't help smiling at this picture. The last picture always had the same effect on Winston, it overwhelmed him with contradictory feelings: joy and sadness, relief and anger, nostalgia and regret. It was years ago now, when he was a young gorilla in the company of a man in a lab coat. At that time, Winston was already wearing his thin black glasses, which the same man in the photo had left him. The gorilla buried his dark thoughts deep in his mind, put the photos in his bag and activated the flashlight and then entered the complex.

The deserted aspect of the base took a completely different turn inside. There was something gloomy about the dark corridors, and this feeling only grew stronger as Winston went deeper into the compound. He came to a walkway that led to a large room which he examined closely with a flashlight. All the furniture was still there: computers, desks, whiteboards, chairs, cabinets, workbenches and consoles. It was as if everyone on the base had vanished into thin air in an instant. Winston had no trouble recognizing the place but seeing it from this grim angle gave him shivers down his spine. He couldn't hear a sound, and no matter how much he listened, only silence answered him. He went over the barrier and fell back to the lower floor where he pursued his search.

Winston was frightened when a rattling sound echoed through the complex. He raised the flashlight to where the sound was coming from and saw heavy chains swinging from the ceiling. Relieved, he saw a corridor on his left and walked down a staircase that went further down into the base. He reached a gigantic shed and looked around with his flashlight to discover that this was the place where all the space modules were stored. His research would be easier if he could get electricity back onto the base. Of course, the authorities had cut all the power connections to the base, but Winston knew that every Overwatch facility had an emergency generator, so there was always a backup for any situation that might arise. If he could find it, and if it was still operational, it would be a great time saver.

With that in mind, he escalated a series of stairs that brought him to a platform overlooking the shed. He swept his flashlight from left to right, moving from a prototype satellite to a half-mounted rescue module. As he reached the other side of the hangar, something caught his attention. He directed his light to a console on a wall that could be the emergency power control. When he was within reach, Winston was happy to see that it was the good console. He tugged on the box and flipped the switch on the side. The console gradually lit up and illuminated Winston's face with a green glow. The Overwatch logo appeared, as well as the command to activate the emergency generator in the complex. Winston hesitated for a moment. Would this alert anyone of his presence at the site? The primate scientist was aware that the prison would not be convenient for him. A small voice in his head reminded him, however, that he had already broken into a site protected by an international convention and that at this point he could not really make matters worse by activating the base's emergency generator. By this simple deduction, he tapped the control panel and the neon lights in the hangar were activated one by one.

Winston packed away his flashlight and was surprised to find that the shed looked much bigger than it was in the light. He climbed back up to the canopy of metal bars that held the ceiling in place and looked carefully through the many modules and prototypes stored on the floor. Then he recognized it, well-hidden between a container and a parabola, in the far end of the complex. He stumbled upon a prototype equipped with solar panels, which he crushed on landing and headed towards his objective.

Winston moved slowly and pushed the container out of his way. In front of him was a single-cabin rescue space module that he knew only too well: his own. It was the one he had used to leave the lunar station, where he had been born, and reach Earth. Ultimately, the Observatory members had kept it intact. At that moment, Winston felt incredibly grateful to them for their outdated but deeply meaningful gesture. Good memories came back to him and made him smile as he put his palm on the door of the module.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in ages" he said in his deep voice.

It was no coincidence that his space capsule ended up in this precise Overwatch base. More than a decade ago, it was within this complex that his capsule had crashed. It was then equipped with parachutes to cushion its fall, but during its long descent, two of them had been damaged and its landing was consequently much less pleasant than expected. The module had hit the cliffs of the Rock of Gibraltar, ricocheted against a barracks and ended up in the sea. Fortunately, Winston had previously fitted the capsule with floats in case of immersion, and when he opened the capsule, he remembered the stunned and astonished faces of the Observatory's rescue crews when they saw a gorilla with glasses coming out of the module. Calling them in with his little bit of Spanish learned on the Moon had not been the right approach for Winston, but English allowed them to communicate more easily.

Of course, the first contact had not been without a hitch. As his capsule was taken out of the sea, he was taken by force to an isolated room for interrogation. Winston had expected this and had cooperated with the base authorities as much as he could. He recalled that he had answered questions from the security chief of the base, a very down-to-earth man who had asked him only basic questions. Winston had felt that the man seemed slightly overwhelmed by the circumstances. Afterwards, he was left for hours, locked in the room with no information, until another superior took over the interrogation: a woman who had nothing in common with the security chief. At first sight, her stature and poise had caught Winston by surprise; although she was much smaller than his previous interrogator, she was a natural authority, typical of great military officers. She also had a sharp eye that constantly gauged her interlocutor, making the gorilla uncomfortable. Winston had then noticed a symbol that he had recognized from ancient texts about Egyptian mythology that he had read on the Horizon Lunar Colony, a long time ago. When he had spoken to his interlocutor about her Udjat eye, the protective symbol of the god Horus, which she had had tattooed under her left eye, she was much more intrigued by the specimen she was to submit to the question. The interrogation had been preceded by exchanges on Egyptian mythology which reassured Winston so much that he seemed to impress this woman with his knowledge. He had spent years consulting the archives of the Horizon Colony and had assimilated a great deal of information about the Earth. Everything he knew about this world he had learned from holo-documents and holo-vids. He had tried to amaze him by speaking Arabic, but the woman's laughter had made him realize that he would have to improve his pronunciation.

From the moment Winston made him laugh, she had introduced herself as Captain Ana Amari, a senior official in the organization that held the base where he had accidentally landed. The gorilla had not hidden anything from her about what had occurred on the Horizon Colony: the riot orchestrated by the escape of the experimental specimens, his improvised flight to Earth and the death of Doctor Winston. At that time, he eluded this last point to Captain Amari, but much later Lucheng Interstellar, the Chinese aerospace exploration company that managed the Horizon Colony, provided a statement to the press indicating the disappearance of the station's research team. Winston had faked the surprise but there was no need. The image of frozen silhouettes in the vacuum of space still haunted him.

Following the interrogation, Captain Amari placed him under surveillance. He was free to go wherever he wanted within the Observatory while waiting for Overwatch to determine what should become of him. Winston had spent several weeks wandering around the base, becoming a real attraction and distraction to the research team. The scientific team could see that he was not just a mere laboratory subject. He had corrected a Polish scientist on one of his calculations in front of the entire scientific corps of the base. This provoked the ire of the first one and the hilarity of the whole team. Winston had discussed, debated and argued at length with people of various ages, cultures and ideas. When he visited the engineers working on the space modules, he shared with them his thoughts on the ergonomics of the module's thrusters and the best alloys for sealing the shuttles, as well as all sorts of things he had learned while he was on the Moon. He shared his information candidly without realizing that he was delivering Lucheng Interstellar's discoveries and trade secrets to a potential competitor. For this reason, the engineering team welcomed him as a full member of their team. Those few weeks at the Observatory were a real delight for Winston. The loss of his lunar home and the discovery of the Earth had been a real ordeal for the primate, but the exultation and good fellowship at the Gibraltar base had allowed him to move forward.

Then Captain Amari returned to Gibraltar. Winston had spent some pleasant weeks with the team and it almost made him forget that his fate was still in the balance. Ana Amari had told him that, as a research specimen from the Horizon Colony, Lucheng Interstellar had demanded that Overwatch return its experiment to them. Dr. Harold Winston had always treated the young gorilla as an individual, caring about his health, his education and his well-being, like a father raising his son. At no time had Winston felt like a laboratory guinea pig. The Doctor had respected him as a living being, as a peer, not as one experiment among many. Been belittled as a mere object by people he didn't know and had never seen had made him very resentful. Moreover, the way Captain Amari had envisaged this possibility, she did not seem to agree with Lucheng's request.

Thus the captain offered him another opportunity: join Overwatch and work in the scientific teams at the organisation's headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. Looking back on the weeks spent at the Observatory, Winston didn't hesitate for a second. Things went extremely fast for the gorilla afterwards, and he had to reluctantly leave the Observatory to move to the headquarters. Upon his arrival, he had to undergo a long examination with Dr. Angela Ziegler, head of the organization's medical research team. Dr. Ziegler reminded him of Dr. Winston; she was endowed with a gentleness and empathy that emanated from his person. He had already heard about the organization's role during the Omnics Crisis from the Horizon Colony databases, but through Dr. Ziegler, he learned that the organization had recently turned its attention to scientific research and exploration to push the boundaries of that era and bring humanity to prosperity. This noble goal resonated with Winston as a legacy of the ideals passed on by his spiritual father.

The years had passed. Friendships and enmities had been forged, but Winston had treasured those years among the members of Overwatch, traveling and exploring new parts of the world, interacting with the brightest minds on the planet, working in teams with comrades in arms who were first and foremost comrades. It was a young gorilla's dream come true. But it had all come to a tragic conclusion. The organization had gradually disintegrated from within and the destruction of the Zurich headquarters had heralded the end of Overwatch. The investigation by a UN committee into their activities drove the final nail into Overwatch's coffin, which had been dissolved by the same institution that had previously created it to counter the advance of the Omnics.

Winston withdrew his hand from the rescue module. He had nowhere else to go from there. The former members of Overwatch had scattered to the four corners of the world, some had fallen off the radar and others had died. His close acquaintances had returned to civilian life, but it was just impossible for him to return to his former life. He had been approached by many companies seeking to recruit him as a member of their research teams. The Minister of Genetics of Oasis had invite him to join one of the most advanced cities in the world where he could continue his research. However, Winston was suspicious and declined their offer. He was worried that he would go from being a researcher to a guinea pig. When an executive from Lucheng Interstellar contacted him to hire him within the company, he knew that he, too, would have to disappear.

So he had returned to Gibraltar, hoping to find the last thing that reminded him of home: the rescue module that had brought him out of the Horizon Colony. And now that he'd found that beloved thing, he felt strangely empty. So much had happened since he had gotten out of that pod. Did everything he'd been through come down to that capsule? Winston sighed deeply and put his glasses back on his nose. He didn't want to think about it and chased those memories out of his mind. First, he had to get the module out of the shed.

Using maintenance chains, Winston wrapped the module in a metal knot. But it was heavier than Winston thought, and he had to catch his breath a few times as he pulled the escape pod out of the metal and electronics graveyard. He then set about dragging it to the exit, making his way through the wreckage and prototype carcasses. His fists gripped the chains attached to the pod, which he pulled along the wide corridor and bumped against the steps of the staircase. It was challenging, but Winston managed to carry him to the workroom, which was now lit by dim ceiling lights.

The gorilla recovered his breath and his attention was drawn to the control centre overlooking the room behind a large bay window. Now that power had returned to the base, he could surely access the control of the security doors. Leaving the module behind, he climbed up the walkway leading to the control room and walked into what appeared to be a data center. Leaning against a wall, columns of computer servers came alive with green and red LEDs, resurrected by electricity. Winston lingered on the heavy metal flap that blocked the view of the rest of the base, and then he approached the central control unit. The touch screen keyboard was glowing blue, while in front of it was a palette of interconnected screens of varying proportions. With a simple touch on the pad, Winston reactivated the unit and the central screen woke up before his eyes.

Several lines appeared succinctly that Winston managed to grasp as the mainframe was recovering its functions. Reactivation of the systems. He emitted an impatient grunt and rubbed his nose with his paw. Recovering data. Several windows scrolled across the screen. Calibrating location. Winston saw a security section that he rushed to look at, without waiting for full reactivation of the control unit's functions. While browsing the system, he accessed the security tab control and attempted to enter the confidential codes common to the senior members of Overwatch. The first attempt was unsuccessful, as was the second, but the third was successful and Winston was glad to see the iron curtain rise to unveil the sun that was gradually disappearing to the West, set between two barracks on the base.

Winston approached the large bay window to take a look outside. The day was fading, and night would soon come. The gorilla remembered that when the base was active, the nights were more than short. The construction and assembly shops at the Observatory never rested, just as the scientific teams spent many of their nights sitting around caffeinated drinks calculating and recalculating the pathways and trajectories of celestial objects. Some spent their nights busy at their control computers monitoring the evolution and movements of satellites they had launched beyond our orbit. Even when base personnel had their evenings off, they would still be out on the cliffs of Gibraltar watching the stars. Looking back on these fond memories, Winston looked up at the sky, whose warm hues gradually faded to the blue of the night, revealing the lights of the stars. Among the faint glow, the gorilla saw the Selenian star, which reflected the shades of twilight with its pale appearance.

Did the Colony now look as grim as this one? Were there any survivors still up there? The rioters had taken over, for a time, but resources were not unlimited on the Moon and they must have joined the Earth by now. Either way, those who hadn't killed each other and the lucky ones. The Lunar Colony was no more, and it was mainly inaccessible. His escape pod wouldn't get him back up there. Still, he had all the materials he needed to build a shuttle to the Colony. Gibraltar's base was equipped for suborbital launches and he had enough assets and tools to tinker an aircraft. And for what?" a voice whispered in his head. What would you do once you got to the Colony? Rebuild it with your own hands, with moon rocks and your clever mind? No. Winston had to resign himself. He was stuck on Earth.

Winston could not hope to have a normal life like human beings because he was not one of them. He could talk and think like a man, but that was all that linked him to Homo sapiens. All his differences with the others brought him back to his monkey state. His closest friends and colleagues at Overwatch had gone beyond the matter of his condition, but he knew that within the organization, some saw him more as a grotesque curiosity, a fairground attraction, that of a chimp in a lab coat. Beyond the window overlooking the base, he saw a band of macaques watching him with great distrust. They never took their eyes off him, and the stiffness of their movements betrayed the sense of threat the gorilla represented to them. Winston stepped away from the bay window so that he would not have to endure their grim faces. His friends were far away. They had returned to their former lives, which was no longer possible for him. He had no home to return to, no family to find comfort. He was alone.

"Good morning."

Winston turned sharply to the tune of that voice. His gaze wandered across the control room as his heartbeat raced. He expected to see men-at-arms, alerted by the return of the electrical power. The gorilla moved slowly towards the bay window that faced the inside of the control room. But there was nobody below.

"It is very discourteous not to respond to greetings." said the voice.

Winston had distinguished where the voice was coming from and looked over his shoulder at the mainframe, whose screen was animated by itself. Intrigued, the gorilla approached the device.

"Hello." he hesitated.

"Good evening."

"T.. To whom am I speaking?" asked Winston.

"I am Athena, administrator and monitor of the aerospace research base in Gibraltar affiliated with the Overwatch organization. How can I be of assistance to you?"

"You're an AI?" said the gorilla while rubbing his chin.

"That is correct. And you are?"

Winston remained silent. No one was supposed to know he'd been trespassing on this base, so he wasn't going to get too talkative with that artificial intelligence.

"I consulted my database and analysed it with your physiological data." began the female but metallic voice. "All indications indicate that you are Winston, Overwatch field agent and member of the science team from Zurich headquarters."

On the screen of the control unit, he saw his photo appear along with other pictures taken in operational theatres or official settings. There was no longer any need to rely on secrecy.

"Did you really have to analyse me?" Grumbled the gorilla.

"It's the procedure." she said indifferently. "Are you in fact the agent Winston? If not, I'd be obliged to report it to base command and contact the local authorities."

"There's no need to do that." he replied to defuse the situation. "I am Winston. And you certainly seem to be a pretty advanced AI."

"I was created and programmed by Dr. Moreno. I administer and manage the complete functionalities of the Gibraltar base."

Strongly interested by this new interlocutor, Winston progressively relaxed.

"What do you mean by the complete functionalities?"

"Dr. Niklas Moreno programmed me to keep a constant watch on the satellites launched by the Gibraltar base teams. I'm also collecting all the data from the Overwatch organization's suborbital devices. Dr. Moreno has added further features to my abilities. Professor Cedomir Motylesçù and Director Arata Kiritoru also participated in the addition of these new features."

Without warning, Winston heard the squeaking of the iron curtains and the hum of the armoured hangar doors opening. Outside, he saw the indicators and lights of the antennas and dishes come on. Below the working room, he saw the tactile tables being activated along with holographic projectors depicting the globe and the trajectories of the satellites that orbited around the planet. The base came to life again, not without displeasing Winston.

"Very impressive." the gorilla admitted. "You have control of the entire base."

"Right, yes. Can you please explain to me why I was put on standby? Where are the other members of the base?"

Winston didn't realize immediately whether the artificial intelligence could see his puzzled look on his face in front of the control console."

"Well..." started the gorilla, scratching his temple. "It's quite long to explain."

"Overwatch has been disbanded."

On the console screen had just appeared dozens of articles and press covers, excerpts from news channel reports revealing a building devoured by flames, William Petras in front of a tribune, archive footage with various members of the organization, and a document marked with the acronym of the International Commission of Justice. Winston remained mute in front of this patchwork of tabs that scrolled across the screen, bitterly reminding him of the past few months.

"The Observatory has been shut down until further notice as all Overwatch bases, in application of the Petras Act." mechanically stated the AI. "All Overwatch activities are now prohibited. I have just updated my database. So I've been deactivated as a result of the shutdown of the base?"

Winston was surprised by the last line of the AI. Something in his voice evoked a certain melancholy, a grief that had hit him hard.

"I'm sorry." Winston said out of spite. "I don't know why they left you here. Surely an artificial intelligence as advanced as you could have been very useful elsewhere."

"My place is here." replied the AI. "I'm affiliated with the Overwatch organization and that's how Dr. Moreno programmed me. I still have access to the orbital satellites and the data they gathered. I will proceed with my task because this certainly is what my creators would have intended. Even if, in truth, it makes me irremediably turn to illegality."

Winston chuckled at the resolve of the entity he was conversing with. It remained faithful above all to the mission that Overwatch had entrusted to it, or at least to its initial programming, to the brains that had created it.

"What about you, Agent Winston?" asked for the AI. "What are you doing here? You were trespassing into the base."

The gorilla took a deep breath and sat heavily on the ground, torn by guilt and weariness.

"Yes, I trespassed into the base. I came to retrieve some of my belongings."

"The escape pod you came to Earth in from the Horizon Lunar Colony. I consulted your personnel file a few seconds ago."

"For an AI, you're far too curious." Winston groaned as his eyebrows frowned.

"I actually have a name, too, Agent Winston. My name is Athena, and I kindly ask you to remember it."

The scientist, bewildered by Athena's composure, swallowed his pride. His creators had named him after the Greek goddess of wisdom and military strategy. She had not failed to earn her name.

"Forgive me, Athena. I'll keep that in mind."

"I am sure you will." Athena replied in a playful tone.

Winston laughed heartily at the remark of her interlocutor. He hadn't laughed like that in a long time.

"So, you've come to get what's been yours?" Athena inquired. "And for what purpose?"

Winston lost his gaze in the stars as his lips pinched in an indecisive pout.

"Actually, I have no idea."

"No idea?"

"I don't even know why I'm here. Why did I come to get that capsule? I think I wanted it back because it would remind me of my past, of who I was before I joined Overwatch. But aside from the nostalgia it reminds me of, I find no other consolation in it."

A moment passed. Athena remained silent while Winston stood in her thoughts. He was cogitating. Acknowledging aloud that he had no reason to be on that base had made him understand the silliness of his situation. Out of a simple nostalgic impulse, he had violated several terms of the Petras Act and was facing punishment. All this for a simple padded escape pod. What did he hope to do with it? Throw it into the ocean and embark on a trip to the Canary Islands? He felt awfully stupid.

"From the tones and the intonations of your voice, Agent Winston, I can detect anxiety and distress." announced Athena. You seem lost."

"I am." he admitted reluctantly.

Athena became silent once again. Winston wondered if she was as embarrassed as he was by his moods. Could an AI be embarrassed? Could she understand his feeling of perdition? Winston let go of his powerful arms, which fell softly to his knees and breathed weariness.

"I have no place else to go." the scientist pursued. "Overwatch has always been a part of my life since I came to Earth, but now that it's all over, I have absolutely no nowhere to go back to."

He let a few seconds pass, hoping for an answer from his misfortune lady companion, but only the seabird cries reached him.

"I think I understand your feelings, Agent Winston." Athena added, breaking the silence.

Winston turned to the mainframe console where the crystalline voice of the artificial intelligence emanated. The gorilla realized how long it had been since he had any "human" contact with anyone. The dissolution of Overwatch had forced him to isolate himself, and this meeting with Athena had just broken his reserve. But she wasn't human, so what could she possibly understand about what he was feeling? Was she really just an A.I.? A machine driven by circuits and programs? Was she more than that?

"May I make you a proposition, Agent Winston?"

"What would that be?" asked the intrigued gorilla as he looked up at the control screens.

"Now that you have reactivated me, I will be able to keep track of the space modules and satellites still in service, as Dr. Moreno would have intended. However, I'm afraid I don't have enough functionalities to take care of the maintenance of the base and my components if there is a malfunction or if I need to correct some alterations in my program. I was designed to interact in a very advanced way with the Observatory and its infrastructures, but given my constitution, I am very limited when confronted with problems that go beyond my artificial intelligence condition. And there is a high probability that I will not be able to carry out my duties if an unpredictable event occurs, no matter how long it lasts."

"I don't understand." Winston replied with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm asking if you'd like to stay on the Gibraltar complex to help me in my task. According to your record, you are more than qualified. Your research topics and your work in astrophysics and aerospace engineering suggest that you are a perfect match."

"But the base is a restricted area." Winston replied, standing on his legs. "I'm not supposed to be here and you're not even meant to be activated."

"As I explained earlier," Athena resumed. "I control all the functionalities of this base. I won't let any information leak out. I can encrypt transmissions between the Observatory and other communication devices. No device will be able to detect my reactivation nor your presence on the complex. The auxiliary generator by itself is sufficient to provide us with electricity, and we still have access to drinking water. It will only be a matter of providing you with food and water, but the base has a greenhouse as well as everything that concerns your well-being: sleep, comfort, hygiene, ... toilet paper ..."

Winston grumbled as he rubbed his chin and then moved away from the control to observe the workroom below. Athena's proposal had taken him by surprise. His cartesian mind weighed the pros and cons.

"By staying here, you could continue your researches." Athena added. "There are resources and equipment within the complex that could easily suit you. In addition, I have in my database all the reports, documents and prototype plans created by the research teams of the Overwatch organization. I am entirely willing to let you consult them without restriction."

The gorilla examined his escape pod and realized that with the metal chains hanging from the ceiling; he could make an excellent ape's nest. His reflection in the control room window gave him his most beautiful smile.

"I agree to stay here." replied Winston, whose heart felt much lighter. "I don't know how long it will last, but right now it's the best choice for me."

"I'm pleased to hear that."

"You know, I've always really liked this place. If Overwatch hadn't put me in Zurich, I think I would have loved working with the science and engineering teams here at the observatory. And I'm beginning to think that it wasn't chance that brought me here today. I hope that I will live up to your expectations, Athena, and prove myself worthy of your trust."

"I have complete trust in you." Athena answered in her crystalline voice.

"Of course, I will have to make some small adjustments to this place but nothing too important or extravagant." announced the gorilla by putting the glasses back on his nose.

"Do as you please, Agent Winston."

"Oh! No need to call me agent, Athena." catch the gorilla with a knowing look. "Winston suits me just fine."

"All right, Winston."

The gorilla could barely contain his euphoria. Fortune was finally smiling upon him after so many mishaps. The doubts he had expressed about Athena's proposal had vanished, giving way to all the opportunities that were open to him by staying here. His imagination sparkled with all the possibilities of study and discovery within his reach, as well as the experiments and research he could carry out. His mind was full of ideas, theories and plans. The same perspectives that he had had to put aside when Overwatch was disbanded in the past few months. Winston was suddenly alive again.

When the primate fell asleep on the padded cousins of his escape pod, he had a peaceful night, a fact that had become rare for him lately.


The next day, at dawn, he wasted no time and started work. Through one of the hangar doors opened by Athena, the gorilla sped outside where he crossed the path of a construction machine, hidden under a large black tarpaulin. As he shot at the tarpaulin, he discovered that his intuition had proved to be right. He amputated the machine with two large tires, using his superhuman strength, and drove them to the workroom where Athena was waiting intrigued:

"What will these pneumatic tyres be used for?"

"Well, you see, an individual with a strong constitution like mine doesn't really appreciate seats like this."

With one hand he presented the standard office chair that was placed in front of the control table.

"That's why I went to get something much more suitable for me." Winston said, lifting a section of the tire.

He swivelled on himself and the tire sent the desk chair into a corner of the room. Winston smashed the tire back in front of the control table and quickly curled into the gap where the vehicle's rim had been. With a happy smile on his throne, he posed victoriously in the hope that Athena could "see" him.

"You seem much more slumped than seated." Athena replied disapprovingly. "Besides, I don't see how you could work on the control table in this position."

Winston's grin widened and he lifted his hind legs and wiggled his fingers in a disorderly sweep. The gorilla's paws began to type on the control pad while Winston put his hands at the back of his head with a perfectly relaxed expression.

"I see." Athena said. "It's quite unusual."

"Ha ha, I've got this little trick for me." Winston giggled proudly as he readjusted his glasses on his nose.

"Do you still want me to show you how the base interface works?" the AI inquired.

"Yes, yes." replied the primate as he sat on the edge of the tire in a more studious manner.

Athena explained to him all the subtleties of its programming and the mechanisms that tied it to the Observatory's infrastructures. As Athena revealed her secrets and weaknesses, Winston had the strange impression that he was entering the privacy of the AI. Yet she did not discard any information and provided all the necessary details so that her guest could fully understand its many features. The scientist added his own questions to which she gave all the answers. Winston had to take notes to make sure he didn't forget anything. She also pointed out some handling emergencies that he had to answer immediately. Winston went to hunt a couple of seagulls that had nested on a base station relay antenna. The primate removed the nest, which was stuck on top of the antenna and escaped the strong pecking of the occupants, and placed it back on the edge of a cliff in the hope that the seagulls would return as soon as it was out of their sight. He also had to clean ventilation outlets that were beginning to be blocked with foam and check the power supply to several electrical boxes of the base.

Afterwards, the AI took him on a tour of the site and although Winston remembered some of the locations, he discovered new buildings and facilities that had been added to the station after his last visit. Nevertheless, he found the library and archive room of the complex and remembered the number of hours he spent consulting flight plans and advanced astrophysics books. He was not going to run out of reading. She showed him the greenhouse where scientists grew many fruits and vegetables for their own consumption. With artificial light, the plants had survived the base's abandonment. Athena told her that the greenhouse could operate autonomously for about ten months, relying on an independent electricity generator and drinking water supplies. Winston was more than delighted to discover that the Observatory members had planted many banana trees there. Driven by a nagging hunger, he picked up some bananas with one hand and tasted the fruit greedily while Athena continued the visit. The base's pantry contained only non-perishable food or food that only risked losing its flavour over time. In front of the rows of cans and the many opportunities for menus, Winston felt that he was still safe from hunger. At the end of one row, he noticed jars of peanut butter and promised to come back for them later.

Once this visit was over, Winston set about setting up the workroom that would become his new home. He hung the second tire from a hook in the ceiling with the help of a strong cable he had seen during his tour and hoisted it high enough to make a swing. Athena pointed out to him that this was similar to what can be seen in the enclosures of large primates in most zoos. Winston didn't pick him up. It may have been inherited from his gorilla genes, but when he was a young boy, he had a swing similar at the Lunar Colony. When he saw the tire hanging down at the end of his rope, he tested the resistance of the attachment by climbing on it. The place was getting more comfortable. The most challenging task would be to lift up his escape pod to create a cozy nest where he could sleep. Winston found some powered fasteners that he could tie to the metal chains in the workroom and use them to raise his escape pod into the air. After a few hours of work, his improvised monkey's nest overlooked the room. He opened the door of the capsule and attached a rope that would allow him to reach the module from the ground. For the next few days, he planned to retrieve as much material from the base as he could to bring it back to his new lair. He had to find a workbench to work on and he didn't want to use the digital tables at the risk of damaging them and he had to find shelves to store what he could find in the base. The ones in the pantry would probably do the trick. He had so much to think and do that he didn't realize that the day was coming to an end.

Winston returned to the control room where he could see that the sun was finishing its course behind the horizon. He breathed with exhaustion and sat down in his makeshift seat.

"So, are you satisfied with your setup?" asked Athena.

"Rather." said the gorilla, looking at his swing and capsule over his shoulder. "Thanks again for letting me stay here."

"You're quite welcome. Thank you for reactivating me."

The gorilla pulled out a jar of peanut butter that he had stored in the desk furniture adjacent to the control table. With his back legs, he unscrewed the red lid and placed it on the control table. With his other paws, he took a banana fruit that he had hung on the handle of a drawer, carefully removed the peel from the fruit and dipped it into the jar. He bit into the peanut butter-soaked banana and lengthily stretched it out.

"After effort comes comfort."

"It's a very particular diet." Athena remarked slightly intrigued.

"I love peanut butter."

"Perhaps you would like to have access to the holo-transmission network during your dinner?"

Winston was unable to answer that the command screens displayed several tabs showing programs from different holo-transmission channels. In one corner of the screen, he saw an old report on the Omnics Crisis, while in the opposite corner, two hosts were announcing a new anti-omnic incident in London. On one of the side screens, a woman and an omniac were dancing passionately to salsa music, while on the opposite screen was a cooking programme in which people who were deeply concerned about cooking roast beef were debating. Winston seemed to recognize scenes from the film "Some Like It Bot", a broadcast of a UN General Assembly session, an anime with giant robots fighting, a TV debate in which he could not discern the guests, and a documentary that appeared to be about the city of Numbani.

"You have access to all these programs?" Winston wondered.

"I have access to multiple satellites, Winston. And I can easily obtain holo-transmissions from the four corners of the planet by tracing the reception of the other satellites."

"Aren't you afraid of getting caught?" worried the gorilla.

"I'm undetectable, my designers made sure of that. They won't even know I'm collecting such data. We can sleep peacefully. Well, at least you can."

Winston had no choice but to believe her. Athena's great confidence in her abilities didn't completely appease him, but so far, no one had come to stop them, despite the Observatory's reactivation.

"So, what do you want to watch?" Athena reiterated.

"I've always liked "Some Like It Bot"." Winston replied, swallowing a bit of banana.

The main screen of the control panel now displayed the smooth, chrome-plated face of Thespion 4.0 playing saxophone in front of A.I. Schylys with a chiselled face and sunken eyes scratching the strings of his double bass. In this movie, the two omnics pretended to be musicians in order to escape anti-robots attacks. Faced with these two impostors, disguised as women, dresses and wigs included, the complicit crowd was hilarious. Winston chuckled slightly as the two policemen came out of the curtain to chase the escaped omnics. It was Lena who had made him discover this movie. Back in the days of the Zurich headquarters, they enjoyed spending time together watching old movies. He thought about what she could be doing right now and where she could be.

"Have you seen this movie, Athena?"

"Dr. Moreno isn't a big fan of movies."

"You mean you've never seen a movie?"

"I'm afraid not." said Athena bluntly.

"You have to have seen some movies, especially classics like "Some Like It Bot"." Winston insisted, licking a finger full of peanut butter. "Since we're going to live together, this is going to be an opportunity for you to do your culture."

"I'm not quite convinced, but I'm still curious."

Maybe it was watching a movie with an artificial intelligence able to assimilate an astronomical amount of data per second, but Winston felt appeased. He was enjoying his favourite food in front of a movie that had been one of his first discoveries in a place that reminded him of everything he loved. Winston feared that he would suddenly realize that it was only a dream and that he was still without a home to return to. The gorilla shifted his attention to the film, preferring to focus on the present rather than dwell on the past. He didn't know if this bliss would last, but in view of the events he had gone through in the last few months, he wanted to enjoy it. Winston stuck his hand in the peanut butter jar and licked his fingers with delight.

"You know it's very unhealthy to abuse this kind of food." Athena remarked childishly.

"But I never abuse it." Winston replied in defence.

"Your heartbeat indicates to me that you're lying."

"I already told you not to analyse me."

From the outside, half a dozen monkeys observed, fascinated, through the bay window, this newcomer. The latter would surely change their habits around the Rock, but over the years, while keeping their distance from him, they would get used to his presence. Europe had just welcomed a third species of primate in freedom on its territory and would ignore it for many years to come.


Hello everyone,

I come back with a second chapter focused on one of the main characters of the Overwatch lore. It was an obvious choice since he's central to the canon. This chapter finally comes quite quickly after the first chapter [A month, you could say it's pretty fast anyway? Compared to previous publications?] and I thought it would be much shorter than the previous one, but every time I judge the length of a chapter, I always end up exceeding the prediction. It's always more stuff and it's never a problem.

Thank you for reading this second chapter, I hope you enjoyed it and that my English is readable. Do not hesitate to tell me if you find any errors or misunderstandings in the text. I would like to thank Etsukazu again for his rereading and the people who commented on this story. It's not easy to get started on a fandom, especially when translating it from the French version, but your comments and remarks have boosted my motivation. Chapter 3 has just been released in French, I still have to translate it but it shouldn't be too long.

I hope you liked this chapter, don't hesitate to comment and give your opinion.

See you soon!