Jonathan hated it when Luke gloated. Yet at the same time, it made him happy to see his friend so happy, talking excitedly and repeating how he had told him so.
Jonathan sat on his bed, watching Luke brag about how he was right all along, dancing around Jonathan's bedroom with victorious joy. Vanoss-III, aka Evan as Jonathan was trying to remind himself, was held tightly in his hands, not letting Luke hold the machine. It felt wrong to Jonathan to be calling Evan a 'machine.' He wasn't. He was a consciousness with an awareness and memories of his own. As happy as Jonathan was to see Luke so happy, he couldn't help but feel nervous thinking about this meant, to be holding a consciousness in his hands.
"It's like you're holding someone's life in your hands! Everything that has ever happened to them all there in your hands!" Luke cried, sitting down beside Jonathan.
"Don't say that." Jonathan cringed. He had been reluctant to call Luke, fearing that he would tell someone. He wouldn't tell him over the call what was going on, waiting till he got there and Jonathan had closed the door before telling him.
"What should we do? We can't tell your dad eh?"
"No. He'd destroy Vanoss-III...I mean, Evan, in a heartbeat. A thinking machine. That'd be catastrophic to him and to everyone in New Town who relies on machines." Jonathan said, looking down at Vanoss-III. "I don't know what to do. I could just...not do anything. But how could I let Evan live like this now that I know he really is conscious? That he is awake!"
"How do you know that the real Evan is dead? Maybe we should find his friends, figure out what happened to Evan and let the people who know him best decide!" Luke suggested.
"Are you suggesting that this Evan is just a copy? Not only are we not able to do that but Evan seems too real to be a copy even if we could copy people's minds. Though, he hardly remembers anything. That's what is so strange. He remembers things...slowly but they come to him. Important things, I guess. Things that you would think about a lot. Like a name for example. Maybe something happened to him before all of this that made him lose them. Or maybe it was the process of creating the whole thing." Jonathan wanted to turn the device on and ask Evan himself how he would explain it but he decided not to.
"Well copy or not, we have a name. That same name was in that article I read! Remember! We can research this guy, find where he is from and go there!
"What if he is from Old Town?" Jonathan looked nervously to his large window, seeing the smoke rising on the horizon. "We can't go to Old Town!"
"Not even for Evan?" Luke pouted. "Come on! This could be something huge! You are just going to let it slip away because he might be from Old Town?"
"People from New Town who go there never come back, Luke! They get killed! Held hostage to try be used as bargaining chips!" Jonathan cried.
"We would be going to help them! To help Evan! Technically, we're on their side!" Luke protested.
"That isn't how this works! We can't go across the cheek point into Old Town and say 'hi yes we found one of your friends. He's a machine now but still alive thanks to New Town technology!'" Jonathan mocked him. "No! Fuck no! If and if we get into Old Town, then people are gonna be after us simply because we are New Towners! It doesn't matter our intentions! They'll see Vanoss-III and destroy Evan!" Jonathan yelled, getting up off the bed, walking over to the window as he tried to calm himself down.
Luke picked up the Vanoss-III, looking down at the owl design on the back. They were silent for awhile, thinking of what to say and do.
"Evan can't live like this." Luke said quietly, now holding Vanoss-III in his hands. "This is not a life. If we leave him like this, it's gonna be on my head the rest of my life. I'm going to be thinking about how we could have helped him or if we ever could have found out what happened to him. All because you were too scared to go across the checkpoint into Old Town." Luke snapped. Jonathan sighed, slouching down into his desk chair.
"So what do we do"
"Off to school now." Jonathan's father said from the door like he always did. With fear of what he had to do running through him, Jonathan pushed his chair away from the large white desk, keeping his eyes on the robot across from him who stared back blankly. He tucked the chair in, turning slowly as he picked up his backpack, walking towards his door where his father was. He stopped, opening his bag as if he was looking for something he had lost.
"Wait...I think left my math tablet in your office. May I go get it?" Jonathan asked, looking up at his father who stared down at him.
"Forgetfulness is not a good trait. Why did you forget it?" His father demanded.
"I was talking with my friend. Vanoss-III." Jonathan admitted, acting guilty for his mistake. His father didn't react, continuing to stare down at him. "The machine you made for me." He tried to remind him when he didn't react. "I'm sorry, father. It won't happen again." Jonathan quickly apologized, knowing that was what his father wanted to hear.
"Be quick about it. You don't want to be late." His father ordered. Jonathan nodded, running down the hallway, up the white stairs to the large office. His math tablet in his bag felt heavy as he hurried up the stairs, glancing over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't followed.
As he pushed the button, the door to the office slid open with the sound of gears. He pulled his math tablet out of his bag, setting it down on the desk as he reached the cabinet system behind the desk. One was full of details on all the machines. He looked for Vanoss-III first, pulling open the drawer to look through the tablets but found nothing. There was not even a single design file. He searched again but found nothing.
With a sigh, he pushed the drawer back in and went to the next which had information on the people working for his father, in New and Old Town factories.
Footsteps echoed down the hallway, fear running through him as he searched through the names. Evan had to be there, searching through the glowing blue information tablets.
"Jonathan! Have you found your math tablet yet? You are going to be late!" His father called, sounding annoyed. Fear ran through him, making him freeze up for a moment before regaining himself. He pushed the tablets back, going through names in search of Evan. He saw the name, pulling out the tablet to look at it, but the details were wrong, the worker from New Town. In his panic, the tablet fell from his hands, skidding across the white floor. He dropped to his knees, scrambling to pick up the tablet and put it back into it's proper place.
"One minute!" Jonathan called back. He got to the 'F' section, now frantic in his search. He wished that he had asked Evan if he could remember his last name, but he didn't have the time to ask.
"Jonathan!" The panic rose in Jonathan as he went through the last names, his eyes landing on the name, Evan Fong from Old Town. He froze, taking the information tablet out of the drawer. He skimmed his eyes over the tablet, hearing the door button being pressed. Jonathan stuffed the tablet into his bag, grabbing his math tablet and forgot to close the drawer as he ran towards the door."Jonathan. What are you doing?" His father snapped as the door slid open.
"I found it! On my way now!" Jonathan smiled, slipping past him into the hallway, leaving his father to glance uncertainly into the office as if looking for something out of place such as a drawer left slightly ajar.
"Fong, Evan. Twenty three years old. Factory worker since the age of seventeen. That sounds awful. I can't imagine working in one of those places." Luke admitted. "Where did you get this?" Luke swiped the screen of the info tablet on Evan, new information flashing up on the glowing blue screen.
"In my dad's office. We needed information on Evan like you said so I got it." Jonathan shrugged. "Is that him?" He pointed to the picture on the screen which showed the young man with dark hair and eyes. Jonathan thought that he fit the voice he heard through the Vanoss-III. Beautiful, his eyes looking like how his voice sounded. Beautiful, full of kindness and wonder of the world and every beautiful thing it had to offer.
"Yeah. We should check this information with Evan to make sure it's right." Luke suggested, pretending to not notice the dreamy look on Jonathan's face.
"Hmm? Oh...yeah sure." Jonathan nodded, taking the device out of his bag. Jonathan pressed the power button, turning it on. The red owl flashed to life, Evan's confused voice filling their ears.
"I'll never get used to that." Evan said softly, the red light flashing as he spoke.
"Evan. We found a file...On you, we believe." Jonathan said, looking over the file he held in his other hand. "Do you remember working in a factory?" Evan was silent for a few moments, the red light dimming in the silence.
"I remember...Noises. Harsh noises. Metal on metal and gears. Sparks and heat. I think that I did." Evan thought aloud.
"But why would he be picked to put into this machine though if he was a good worker? He worked in one of your dad's factories. He was useful. How could he just be randomly chosen?" Luke asked as if the Vanoss-III was off and Evan couldn't hear him.
"Maybe just that. Randomly chosen. He wasn't lucky." Jonathan said softly.
"What do you mean?" Evan asked sharply. "What are you talking about?" His voice rose, sounding panicked. "What do you mean; I wasn't lucky? I'm still here! I'm not hurt! I'm alive!"
"You are! We aren't saying that you aren't alive or that you were hurt. We're just saying that there must be a reason that this happened." Jonathan tried to explain himself. "You're okay, Evan! You're okay." Jonathan repeated as he turned the Vanoss-III off, not wanting to hear the fear in his voice. "What do we do, Luke? If we stay here, we will never know what happened to Evan but...but at least we will be alive and safe! Old Town is dangerous. We might die in the process of trying to find out what happened to him because of the riots...because we are from New Town. If we die...what happens to Vanoss-III? What happens to Evan? What if he lives on if the Vanoss-III is turned on, unable to talk to anyone or see any beautiful lights? And what if it's turned off? He can't stop someone from destroying him!"
"Jonathan. You're freaking out." Luke said quietly and calmly. "We'll figure this out!" Jonathan sighed, looking down at his polished shoes. "We have his name. We can find who he is associated with. His friends and family. They'll take Evan back and help him! We'll be there and back in a flash! Don't you worry!" Luke said with a smile. "It's going to be okay."
They spent hours researching, trying to find a name connected to Evan. First they would ask Evan himself for anything he could remember. When he couldn't think of anything, they turned to searching up his name and seeing what came up. From the file that Jonathan had taken from his father, they discovered that almost all of Evan's family was dead or missing so there was no point in looking for them. Jonathan expected this, having seen the stats that came in from Old Town and the violence that the numbers resulted from.
Jonathan laid on his bed, going through the Information tablet again while Luke sat at his desk, tapping his fingers against the top of the metal desk. Jonathan swiped to the next set of information, a video file flash onto the screen. Below it was a letter from the Old Town police chief put in charge by New Town's government, that sent chills through Jonathan.
"Evan Fong is becoming too much of a problem in Old Town and we have reason to believe that he is a leader among the Replaced for rebellion. The video file we have sent was taken during the last riot is of said Evan Fong, leading a group of rebellious, violent Replaced in an attack on police. He destroyed one of our valuable machines. The footage is disturbing." Jonathan read the words aloud, catching Luke's attention. "Terminate him at once or we will have to take more violent action." The words send chills through Jonathan. Maybe this was what made them choose Evan for the Vanoss-III. What could be worse for a Replaced then becoming a machine?
"Play it!" Luke sat down on the bed beside him, tapping the screen to play the video.
The footage was blurry, the camera shaking in the filmer's hands as they pushed through a massive crowd that screamed and yelled as smoke bombs flew overhead, the white choking smoke filling the air.
The cameraman got near the front, turning so the camera could get a view of the front of the crowd. A tall dark blonde haired man with a black bandana tied around his face, wielded a baton. The blonde flashed the middle finger at him as another young man who could only be Evan, fired the flare gun in his hand at the advancing police machine. Red smoke and sparks exploded near the cameraman, making them jump and panic to get away from the sparks and the police.
Evan took the baton from the blonde, the two of them sharing a trusting glance before Evan and the crowd ran forward. Jonathan saw that look that Evan and the blonde in the video shared, wanting to go back and see it again. Jonathan imagined that the Evan he knew would have that same look sometimes when talking to Jonathan, especially after Sark decided to try to break Vanoss-III. His attention was taken back to the video as the screaming and yelling got louder.
"We will not let your mechanical hell rule us!" Someone screamed in the crowd as gunshots drowned out the noise of the yelling. Jonathan watched in awe as Evan ran forward and brought the metal bat in his hand down on one of the machines, striking for the vulnerable neck area on the machine as if he knew that would destroy the two more hits, the head of the machine flew off, sparks flying around Evan as two police machines grabbed him and forced him to the ground out of view as the crowd continued to surge forward. Jonathan fought back the gasp of horror at the sight of Evan being taken down by the machines, the last of him being his deep, beautiful red jacket that rippled as he was thrown to the ground.
"Did...Did they kill him?" Luke whispered as the video stopped.
"No...Those types of Police machines aren't programmed to do that. They are just riot police. Not military police. They must have just arrested him but who knows what happened to him afterwards." Jonathan whispered, finding himself reaching for Vanoss-III and holding the machine close as if it would bring comfort to Evan and himself.
"Did you see that blonde guy beside him? Maybe he knows him! Does it say who else in the video?" Luke asked, taking the information tablet from him.
"It doesn't work like that, Luke! It's not like in New Town where we know everyone. I bet in Old Town, when there is a riot, you end up with whoever can help you and it doesn't matter who they are. It must be so tragic over there...You couldn't get really close to anyone for fear of them ending up dead." Jonathan said quietly to himself. Luke wasn't listening, going through the pages in the information tablet.
"Nothing! Let's just ask him. See what he can remember." Luke sighed, setting the tablet down. Jonathan turned the Vanoss-III on, watching the red owl flicker to life.
"I won't be able to get used to that." Evan said after a moment. Jonathan noticed that he was always saying the same thing, as if shocked by the same thing every time.
"Get used to what?" Jonathan asked.
"When you turn me off, it feels like time just...stops. Like falling into a deep sleep but I don't know when it's coming. Time just slips away from me, then it comes back so suddenly." Evan explained, sounding sad.
"Listen, Evan. We don't want to stress you out more...but we were wondering if you could remember any of your friends. Best friends." Jonathan set the Vanoss-III down on the bed between him and Luke. Evan was quiet for a long time, the red owl on the screen darkening. "Someone easy to remember."
"I remember… someone tall. Taller than me so I think that's pretty tall. And I remember blonde hair...and blueish...maybe green eyes. There were others...two others...I can't… I can't remember them." Evan struggled. "I want to remember so badly. I'm sorry that's probably useless."
"No. We found a video of you. You are with someone who is just like how you described! All we need is a name." Luke said excitedly. "Easy!"
Yet a name was not to be found. Days passed, their homework and social lives neglected in search of a name but they couldn't find anything. Jonathan was too nervous to go try to search his father's office again for another file, so he watched and rewatched the video over and over again, listening for a name. All he heard was screaming, gunshots, and the cracking as Evan bashed the machine to bits.
It was so strange for Jonathan to see this person that was supposed to be Evan. He did not know this person. Knew nothing about him. He knew Vanoss-III, could only picture him as a voice. To see him as a person, a person who was destroying machines and getting taken down by police machines, was unsettling. What was more unsettling was that Evan couldn't recognize this person either.
Pushing these thoughts away, Jonathan continued to try to find the name of Evan's friend. He couldn't help but wonder if they were doing all this work for nothing. Old Towners are rash and violent. At least, that was what he had heard from his father. So how could they accept Evan now in this New Town form even if it wasn't his choice?
"Do you think it's worth it?" Jonathan asked Luke at lunch, a few days into their search. "I know what I said, don't try to turn that on me. What I'm saying is what if we do all this and get to Old Town and it's all for nothing? They don't want Evan back because he has become a machine. What if that happens? Then what?"
"Evan is still their friend. If they care about him, they will want him back. Machine or not." Luke said firmly.
"What if they think that it isn't the real Evan? Like you said what if he is a copy?" Jonathan cried. "What if they don't believe us?"
"They will believe us. Vanoss-III is Evan no matter what. They cannot deny that." Luke snapped and that was the end of it.
Sleeping became harder for Jonathan, his mind full of all the possible scenarios they might encounter. He thought about the riots and the violence and the hatred towards New Town. He thought about Evan's friends he couldn't remember and the possibility that they would say no, and how sad Evan would be.
It was during one of these nights when Jonathan was woken from his doze by the soft sound of whispering. He had fallen asleep talking to Evan, not realising it until he was woken up by Evan's voice. He wasn't talking to Jonathan but to himself, his voice quiet as if not to wake Jonathan.
"T...T...Tony...T...Tray...No. That's not it. T...T…" He kept repeating the letter as if it was going to give him the answer he was looking for. "T...Ty...Tay...T...Ty...That sounds better. Ty...Ty...T…" Evan kept repeating.
"E-Evan? What are you doing?" Jonathan yawned, rubbing his eyes as he focused on the glowing red owl on the screen.
"You said you need a name and you haven't found it yet. I'm trying to remember. To...To help you." Evan explained, his voice sounding sad. He seemed reluctant to help.
"Evan you don't have to. We'll find your friends eventually. If it's too hard for you, it's okay." Jonathan said softly.
"No. The sooner you find them the better. You want to get rid of me. Abandon me because you don't know how to deal with me." Evan said quickly, as if nervous to say it.
"Where did you get that idea? Evan we are trying to help you! You were taken from your home and we are trying to get you back!" Jonathan snapped, sitting up to glare down at the glowing red machine.
"I can't remember my life before this! It comes in flashes and goes again like the lights of the city! I can't see anything else, Jonathan! I am not who I was before! This is my life now! In a fucking God forsaken machine! I can't do my job anymore! I can't hug my best friends anymore or see them laugh or smile! How can you think that returning me to them like this is going to fix everything? I am everything that is wrong in this world! How can Tyler accept me like this?" Evan yelled, the red owl lighting up brighter than it ever had. Evan and Jonathan went silent when Evan said the name, realising what he had just done. "Tyler." Evan said again. "Tyler. Oh no...Tyler."
"That's your friend's name...isn't it?" Jonathan sighed.
"Please. Please don't do this. Who knows what will happen. They might kill you. They might turn me away. Destroy me! Jonathan, please!" Evan begged, his voice full of fear and pleading. "Don't do this." Jonathan closed his eyes, feeling tears of anger and confusion well up. He hated New Town, hated his father for creating such a machine. Hated Old Town for hating New Town. He was angry at himself for caring so much about Evan to be reluctant to help him, to return him to his home. He was angry that the creator of Vanoss-III had taken Evan's memories. Had taken Evan. With all of these things running through him, there was only one thing he could do.
"Evan. I have to do what is right."