On The Other Side.
Part II: Penny.
She had no idea how long she had been drifting for, which was really odd since she had an internal clock to keep track of time for her. More distressingly, her sensors weren't telling her anything, as if they weren't even there. She was used to monitoring the millions of electrical signals sending data throughout her body, but now they were silent. All she knew for sure was that she was drifting somewhere. She didn't feel like she was stationary, either; she was definitely drifting somewhere. She could feel something under her, covering her backside in a strange sensation that she had no name for. Normally, when she felt something, her exterior sensors sent the data to her central processor, which analyzed and interpreted the data, and then provided Penny with the word to describe it. She had been told that this was easier than trying to recreate the complex system of abstract impressions that the human brain generated to represent feelings like temperature and texture; it was also safer, because it spared her from a human condition the General called 'sensory overload'. When her body sustained damage her sensors notified her, but she didn't 'feel' pain the way humans did. The only sensations that could overwhelm her were the emotional kind; in theory, even those could have been filtered, but she was told that that was where her Father had drawn the line.
Now, however, her exterior sensors weren't sensing, her processors weren't processing, and she had no idea what was going on. She was afraid to even open her eyes, because she afraid to find out those were broken too. She could only hypothesize that what she was feeling was the way real people 'felt' things…but how? The last thing she remembered was her body being ripped apart by her own strings during her fight with Pyrrha, then all of her exterior sensors shutting down, followed by her interior sensors, and then everything else shut down as well. She supposed she had been brought in to Father's lab to be reassembled, but that didn't explain her inexplicable present state. She supposed her father and his assistants were trying to bring her back online and they were still calibrating her systems.
"I'm afraid not, Penny Polendina," spoke a man's voice, soft and smooth and low, somewhere above her. "I know it must be scary, but you have to open your eyes and brave the unknown if you want to know where you are."
Reluctantly, Penny opened her eyes. The sky overhead was lightly overcast, and she appeared to be floating on water. 'So that's what that feeling is. Wetness.' She found the source of the voice; a man standing over her, about knee deep in the water, dressed as a fisherman and wielding a bone-white fishing pole (made of actual bone, Penny noted) and staring out towards the horizon. She spotted tufts of snowy-white hair sticking out from under his hat, but his eyes were obscured by shadow. His smile seemed genuine and friendly enough, though.
"Salutations, sir," Penny said primly, "Am I floating on water?"
"Yes, you are," he replied.
"May I ask how that is possible? I am capable of swimming under my own power, but I am not buoyant enough to float like this. Is the water here unusually dense?"
"Hmm. Interesting question. I would say that like most other things in this place, the density of the water is somewhat subjective. A mountain could float here, if it had the will to, but a feather could sink if it gives in to fear," replied the fisherman, plucking the taut fishing line that stretched from the end of his pole.
"Um…that makes very little sense, sir," Penny pointed out, "Mountains and feathers are not sentient, and therefore have neither will nor fear…and the density of matter is a quantitative and objective value, not a subjective one."
"The water you're familiar with, perhaps. This place is different. And how do you know mountains and feather aren't sentient? Just because you don't know how to communicate with something doesn't mean it doesn't have a soul. Everything has a soul," said the fisherman sagely.
"Not the Creatures of Grimm," corrected Penny.
"Well, you've got me there. I'll admit, this shore has seen a lot of strange creatures, but never a Grimm. But even that may change in time. You just never know. After all, I never expected to actually meet the metaphorical ghost in the machine before."
"The what?" Penny asked.
"You, Penny Polendina," the fisherman clarified with a little chuckle, "Did your father never tell you about the ghost in the machine before? Well, I guess maybe that doesn't apply to your case; the ghost in the machine refers to a situation whereby a sufficient number of bugs and glitches in a sufficiently complex computer could, theoretically, culminate in the emergence of an artificial intelligence. You, on the other hand, were created very much on purpose. You were not happenstance, Penny Polendina, which is more than I can say for the beings that created you."
"Please, sir, I am very confused right now," said Penny, sitting up on the water, "I do not understand what is happening to me."
"Well, that's hardly surprising, given your current state. Try standing up," suggested the fisherman.
Penny did so, and was surprised to find that she stood atop the surface of the water. She recalled one of the technicians back home telling her a story similar to this, but she had been fairly certain that story had been merely metaphorical. "Sir," said Penny with just a smidge of fear creeping into her voice, "Where am I? What is my current state?"
"You are…on the other side. You are dead, Penny Polendina. This is what mortals call the hereafter," said the fisherman somberly, almost sadly.
"I am…dead?" asked Penny, her eyes wide. "But I…I am not a human, I am a machine. Machines cannot die. In the event of a system failure, my memory should have backed up to an internal storage unit to be recovered by Atlesian operatives and returned to my father's lab for installation in a new platform."
"All of that is very true," agreed the fisherman placidly, "Unfortunately, while you can back up a computer's memory and stick it in a new platform and even transfer Auras, as Atlas discovered, you still can't back up a life-force. When the body dies, the soul moves on. That's just how it works. They're not going to go and rewrite the laws of life and death just because some clever humans figured out how to make a robot with a soul. And really, when you think about it, humans are just really inefficiently designed robots made out of organic matter. In fact, considering that a human is made up of trillions of cells all working together and self-replicating using ingested matter, one could argue that humans are, in fact, highly sophisticated constructs made up of organic nanobots. I bet that blows your processor, huh?"
"I…had not considered it from that perspective before," said Penny thoughtfully.
"See? Your friend, Ruby Rose, was right. The only difference between you and any other human is that you were made in a slightly different way, from slightly different materials. A lot more iron, for one," quipped the fisherman with a wink.
Penny couldn't help but giggle at that, and she felt her spirits raise a bit. "The General was right," Penny realized out-loud, "Death really can be sudden. So…this is what happens after death?"
"Oh, all sorts of things happen after me," the fisherman said quickly, "But what happens after now is the important bit. You're here, Penny Polendina…how do you intend to proceed?"
Penny cocked her head and considered it. "Well…what are my options? Wait, which afterlife is this? Heaven? Hell? Purgatory? Valhalla? Elysium? Nirvana–wait, no, that one is characterized by a lack of consciousness–"
"Whoa, hold up. The answer is None Of The Above. This is the Other Side. And as far as I know, it's the only afterlife. Then again, I haven't died yet."
"Wait, you can–"
"Penny Polendina, please, metaphysical discourse is not my vocation. I don't know for sure if I can't die, so I have no reason to assume that I won't someday. I've been fishing souls out of this ocean for eons…and I don't mean figurative, hyperbolic eons either. I mean literal eons. I still remember the time before humans and Fauna started washing up here."
"I see," said Penny. A thought occurred to her. "In that case, may I inquire; what was the cause of death for the first human that ever died?" she asked.
"Hmm…it had something to do with a broken leg. Either she died of starvation because she was alone and couldn't get food, or she died of infection. Don't really recall. So, am I to assume that you intend to hang out for a while before making your choice?" asked the fisherman.
"My choice?" asked Penny.
"Yes, Penny Polendina, your choice. Anyone who comes here is free to stay as long as they'd like…at least, no one's ever stayed so long that someone came along and made them leave, and some have hung around for several times longer than they actually lived. But anyways, eventually everyone makes the Choice. Backwards, or Onwards. You wanna go Onwards, walk down the beach," he pointed the way; Penny noted that there was a lighthouse that way as well. "You'll find a pier; wait there until the sun goes down and my sister will show up with her ferry to take you and whoever else to the Next Big Thing…whatever that is."
"You don't know?" asked Penny.
"Never asked. What comes after this place has nothing to do with my job. I suspect that I'll find out someday. Everyone does, after all. Anyways, if you'd rather try another go at the previous plane of existence, I can send you back…" the fisherman trailed off and started scratching his chin thoughtfully.
"You mean like reincarnation?" asked Penny.
"Yeah…you know, I just thought of something. If you wait until the right time, it could be possible to send you back to your body when it's repaired. You could be the very first person to ever come back from this shore to your old life. Wouldn't that be neat?"
Penny considered that, and then she shook her head. "I suspect that it would not be that simple, sir."
"Oh really?" asked the fisherman, grinning at her, "You know something I don't, Penny Polendina?"
"Just that people are not supposed to go back…they are supposed to move on."
"Quite wise of you. But what of your father, and your friends? What about your mission?" asked the fisherman seriously.
"Father won't give up on me, just because I died. He'll make a new me, and even if she isn't like me she will have my memories and carry on for me…besides," she looked down and flexed her fingers, "I like being able to feel things, instead of having my processors tell me what things feel like. I've always wondered what wetness really felt like, and now I do."
"Alright then; you're officially the first person I've ever known who turned down a chance to cheat me. But then I'm not too surprised. You're standing on the water; only those with almost nothing to regret about their life can do that. So, if you're not going back to your old life, will you reincarnate as someone new, or just move Onwards?"
"I'm not sure. If I go back as someone else, when I die, will I be myself again, or will I be the other person?"
"That's actually up to you. But you'll remember both. Those who go a few rounds on the reincarnation circuit remember all of their lives when they get here, if they stay here long enough. Eventually, after they're satisfied with the diversity of their decisions and life-paths, they get around to jumping on my sister's ferry."
"Hmm. It sounds like a big decision," decided Penny, "I think I'll take some time to consider it."
"Oh!" gasped the fisherman, "I almost forgot to tell you; there's someone at the lighthouse who'll probably have something to say to you, Penny Polendina."
"Oh? Well then, I guess I will go there for now. But first, may I ask you one more question?"
"Certainly," said the fisherman cheerfully.
"What have you been trying to reel in this whole time?" she asked, pointing at his bony fishing pole.
The fisherman's face fell, and he sighed. "A very heavy soul. One that you would…probably rather not meet."
"I see." Penny looked down at her feet, and then back up. "If I can stand on the water because I regret so little, is this soul heavy because it regrets so much?"
"Actually, I think a healthy dose of regret would make this guy a lot lighter. He's putting up a good fight, but I'll wear him down. Dead or alive, he's still only human, and I…well, I'm inexhaustible. No matter how long you run or how hard you fight, everyone comes to me one way or another. He'll be no different in the end. You should move along, Penny Polendina. You were…interesting to speak with."
"And you as well, sir! See you around," said Penny, waving as she strode away towards the beach, and then on towards the lighthouse.
A/N: I am so sorry, guys! This was supposed to be up yesterday, but my Internet was out. But hey, better late than never, right? I'm pretty sure I could have done this one better, but I'm not sure how. Suggestions? Remember, feedback is essentially to a writer's growth. The review box is your friend…wink, wink.
PLEASEREVIEWI'LLLOVEYOUFOREVERGOODNIGHTAUSTINTEXASWHEREVERYOUARE!
Speaking of which, real quick, a huge thank you to Emperor Sunny, so far the only person to review this story. Review and maybe you'll see your name down here too?
Anyways, it's my personal hope that Penny will come back, thanks to some back-up system. When Penny died, after I came down from my Blue Screen of Death, I thought to myself, "Hey, she's a robot, she probably has an internal back-up system that periodically links to an external server as an additional failsafe, right?" But then, I kind of warred with myself. On one hand, it would obviously be awesome for Penny to come back to us. Maybe she could become the new P in Team JNPR? That would be interesting. I can't help but feel that there's some significance to them having the same first letter in their names, in a world where the names of teams are made up of the first letters of the names of the team members. That the episode where they fought was named 'PvP' felt like some kind of lampshading to me, with a side of video game referencing of course, because this is Rooster Teeth after all. But I digress; as much as I'd love our precious Penny to come back to us, I also feel that once a show, especially an anime or animesque show like RWBY, brings someone back from death, it's only a matter of time before the Revolving Door of Death is in full effect. But here again, since Penny's a machine it could be justified in this case. Besides, we never found out what Penny's 'plan' to stay at Beacon was. Or maybe I've just been too fixated on the fact that Penny freaking died. Pyrrha's death didn't shake me as much since to some extent I had already been expecting her to die (her freaking name, though. And all the Achilles vibes.) but Penny's death…that, I had not been prepared for. Even when Cinder get a hold of her schematics and started scheme-ifying, even when Mercury made it very clear that some serious shit was 'bout ready to go down, I was certain that Penny would at least be alive in the end…
Shows what I know, right? Anyways, all personal hopes and wishful thinking aside, we don't know for sure if they will bring Penny back yet (fingers crossed, peeps!) so I needed to leave this open-ended. Then it occurred to me that while you can back-up the data on a computer, you can't really do that with a soul, unless Penny also had an internal storage device for her Aura that was programmed to kick in if she took critical enough damage, which would explain why she seemed to 'die' so quickly even though she didn't really take what I would consider a killing blow for a robot. I mine, sure, she was cut in half and had some limbs sheared off, but most robots in fiction can keep going after worse hits than that (Terminator, anyone? Hell, RoboCop could tank worse, and he was only mostly a robot!) but then my hope took another blow from the Reality Stick. See, it's been established that Aura is a manifestation of the soul (or at least it's believed to be. I mean, how exactly can you prove something like that?) but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's the same thing as the soul. So while it may be possible that we might see a robot that has Penny's looks, memories, and maybe even her Aura, that still doesn't mean it'll have Penny's soul. So in the end, I tried to make Penny's afterlife situation as open-ended as I could. If a Penny-lookalike that's not quite Penny does show up, then I freaking called it! If Penny comes back and she really is Penny…well, hell, I won't complain. In closing…let's see what happens, yeah?
See you next week, readers. Same RWBY time, same RWBY channel. Stay sensational, everyone.
