Interval 4 PART 2 – The Curiosity of Androids and its Result

Alan's POV

Another day in this City in Ruins, actually I've had plenty of time to walk around as I don't have to worry about work or bills or all the other inconvenient things necessary for a society to function, I guess the lack of television and video games also help.

Without our magic entertainment boxes I end up spending a lot more time outside the house, although living in this city can be quite boring sometimes, after all most androids are in the resistance camp and the streets are full of killing machines, but I can't complain about the company I have, Devola, Popola, 11B and the PODs.

Speaking of the PODs, they were accompanying me at the time, the three of us were walking around, looking for something to do, 11B said she was going to find some way to get in touch with 16D, while Devola and Popola are exploring the city.

I'm not going to lie, sometimes I feel worried that I don't have any of them around to help me in case I find some machine too dangerous for me, but on the other hand, I made it clear that I wouldn't want to be accompanied and protected at all moments, but I'm glad they're learning on their own, androids can get too focused on their work, it's good to distract the mind occasionally.

Speaking of distracting the mind… I'm completely bored! At the moment I don't have any idea for the subject of the next episode, nothing different has happened in the city. What should I do? Record an episode answering questions? No, I'd like to give the androids more time to think about what to ask.

"PODs, do you have any suggestions for something fun for us to do right now?" I asked the PODs.

"Suggestion: We could go fishing again Administrator Alan." POD 000 suggested.

"Note: The activity known as fishing has been performed a considerable number of times." POD 001 responded.

I sighed, "Thanks for the suggestions PODs, I'll think of something."

"Suggestion: Administrator Alan could record a new episode about humans, behaviors, cultures, history." POD 001 said suddenly.

"Where did the sudden curiosity come from?" I Asked POD 001, POD 000 just "stared" POD 001.

Before the POD could respond, we were interrupted by a noise coming from an alleyway beside us.

FFFFSSSSHHHH!

Did it sound like a spray? The three of us turned towards the entrance to the alley and saw someone inside, it was an android for sure, he or she was wearing black boots, brown pants, a gray coat with the hood covering his head. The android had a bag next to him and in his hand the android held a can of spray paint and was spraying it on the alley wall.

"Hello?" I said to the android as I waved from the alley entrance.

The android stopped what he was doing and looked in my direction, his face covered by a surgical mask and sunglasses.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

The android quickly stuffed the spray can into his bag, slung the bag over his shoulder, and hurried into the alley.

"Wayth!" But the android didn't stop, he disappeared through the alleys of the city, I didn't bother to chase him.

"What was this android doing here?" I asked as I walked into the alley with the PODs following me.

I stopped in front of the wall where the android was, my eyes widened with what I saw.

"WOW!" It was beautiful.

"Administrator Alan, what is this?" POD 001 asked.

"Note: Looks like some kind of painting." POD 000 responded.

"That PODs, it's graffiti." I said as I took a few steps back and looked at the art in front of me.

It was an android making a peace sign, her eyes were closed and there was a smile of tranquility on her face, on her back there was a pair of wings made of metal, at the feet of the android there were several weapons and ammunition thrown on the ground next to destroyed machines, behind the android angel were tombstones and on each of the tombstones a serial number.

There was no title for the graffiti, just a signature in the corner and I couldn't make out the signature, it looked like a doctor's handwriting.

"Question: What is graffiti?" POD 001 asked.

"Glad you asked POD! Graffiti it has more to do with drawings. Sometimes graffiti suffers from prejudice being considered vandalism, I'm no expert, but I believe that this is because some people make graffiti that are just bad words or prejudiced phrases. Graffiti is a form of art, but depending on how they are used, they can end up becoming vandalism."

"Affirmative: Record taken." POD 001 responded.

"PODs, I have a suggestion. How about we explore a bit and see if we can find any more graffiti?"

"Affirmation: A great suggestion." POD 000 said.

"Statement: I believe this can be a great source of information about human art." POD 001 said.

"I'm glad you agree, but first…"

What we did next was a series of photos next to the graffiti, first a photo of just the graffiti, then a photo of me next to the graffiti, a photo with just POD 000, then just POD 0001, me with POD 000 and me with POD 001.

"PODs! Save this photo in the photo gallery, as the author didn't leave the title, so let's name it 'Artificial Angel'. What do you think?"

"Affirmation: A great title." POD 000 said.

"Affirmation: An excellent title." POD 001 said.

"Well, then it's decided! Let's go after our mysterious artist!"

TIMESKIP

So we started our search, we walked through alleys, stores, apartment buildings, markets until we found the mysterious android once again, this time he was doing graffiti on the wall of a hotel.

The android seemed to notice me as I approached, he quickly stopped painting and turned to me.

"Listen, I just want to talk…" But the android didn't wait for me to finish, he quickly packed his things and ran away.

"Hang on!" But the android had already disappeared through the city streets.

"Damn it! Well, let's see what this android painted this time." I approached the hotel wall and was impressed with what I saw.

It was a graffiti representing space, a black void full of stars, at the bottom of the graffiti there was the planet Earth, the continents painted in green and the water in blue, but above in the graffiti giving a perspective of distance was the white moon, looking more closely I saw small silhouettes on the surface of the moon, the humans who supposedly live there.

The graffiti is wonderful, but I'm a little saddened by what it represents. Mankind… I wonder if they will ever know… Forget it.

"PODs let's take some pictures." I said to the PODs.

"Affirmative." POD 000 said.

We repeated the same process as before, taking several pictures in front of the graffiti.

"Question: What name does Administrator Alan want to name the painting?" POD 001 asked.

"Hm… Let me think. How about 'Those Who Wait'?"

"Affirmation: An acceptable title." POD 001 responded.

"Suggestion: This title should be retained until a better option comes along." POD 000 responded.

"Hm! The title isn't great, is it?"

"Affirmative." POD 000 said.

"Let's go on, let's see if this time the android will listen to what I have to say."

TIMESKIP

We found the mysterious android again, this time he was doing the graffiti on the wall of a warehouse.

Again he ran away to see me, I didn't even have the opportunity to speak this time, we'll see what the android did this time.

It was a graffiti representing Yorha, the bunker was in space in the background, there was something coming out of the bunker, I think it's the drop pods sending the androids towards the surface of the planet, lower in the graffiti there was a battlefield, on the left side the androids From Yorha and to the right side of the machine life forms, the two armies faced each other.

"I don't know who this mysterious android is, but I'm enjoying the art he's making. A tribute to all who died during that war. PODs, I think you already know what to do."

"Affirmative." Both PODs responded.

After a sequence of photos I decided to think of a name for this work of art.

"Let's see, what should I name this work of art?"

"Suggestion: How about 'Our Story'?" POD 000 suggested.

"Good name POD!" I said as I stroked the POD on top of his head. I noticed POD 001 'staring', I decided to do the same to POD 001 before he gets jealous. There is! Jealousy, I wonder if PODs can feel it.

TIMESKIP

"We meet again." I said to the mysterious android in front of me, this time the android didn't immediately run away, we were in an abandoned library, much of the building had collapsed leaving only a few walls and shelves full of books.

"Listen, I know we didn't get off to a great start and I didn't make a good first impression, but I'd like to talk to you. How about I introduce myself first? My name is Alan." I said to the android in front of me.

The android just nodded his head and pointed to a wall to his left, when I looked where the android was pointing, my eyes widened at what I saw.

It was me.

The graffiti showed a floor in the shape of a half circle, I was walking through this half circle from left to right, in front of me there was POD 001 and behind me POD 000, in the background there were different scenarios, cities, deserts, forests, and being carried by the wind there were sheets of paper with something written on them, these sheets were coming out of my back and being picked up by androids that walked behind me.

"Is this… Is this me?" I asked the mysterious android.

He nodded.

"Thanks!" I said as I smiled at the android.

The android waved again and walked out of the library, I started to take a closer look at the graffiti, this one had a title "The Wanderer."

"PODs, take some pictures please."

"Affirmative." The PODs responded.

During all this time the smile did not leave my face, I think I will pay a visit to the resistance camp.

TIMESKIP

Alan's POV

The PODs and I approached the resistance camp, on the way we found some androids near destroyed machines, there were two androids, one male and one female, they all wore resistance uniforms and carried AK-47s.

"Hey, everything okay over here?" I asked the android who was further ahead.

The android stopped kicking the bullet-riddled machine on the floor and glared at me.

"Yes, just a few machines that got too close to the camp. Tell me, you look familiar. Haven't I seen you before?" The android asked me.

"Hey, isn't that the android that keeps doing the recordings?" The female android asked.

The android in front of me stared more attentively "Oh! You are right! I watch your recordings sometimes. You're getting famous, you know?" The android said with a smile.

"I'm glad you're enjoying my show, but it's not exactly my intention to become famous." I said embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it, things have been livelier at camp since you started, it helps break up the usual boredom." The male android said.

"Let's say the camp droids picked up new hobbies and thanks to that the camp changed a bit." The female android said.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"Just enter the camp and see for yourself." The android said as he pointed towards the camp with a thumb over his shoulder.

"Okay, are you coming too?"

"No, we are watching the entrance to the camp, we will only return during the shift change." The female android replied.

"Well, see you later." I said to the androids as I walked past them and headed towards the camp.

"Sure, until next time!" The male android said as he waved.

I waved back and started walking towards the camp when suddenly…

BANG!

The sound of a gunshot echoed through the region, POD 000 immediately created a shield around me and POD 001 prepared to fire at any nearby threats.

When I looked back, I saw the female android pointing her gun with the smoking barrel towards the head of a machine that was on the ground.

"It moved!" The female android screamed.

"I told you to check if those things were dead!" The male android replied.

"But I checked!"

"So, why…"

And the two androids began to argue, I ignored their discussion and approached the entrance of the camp.

As always the entrance was in the alley between two buildings, there were two androids at the entrance to the alley, one on each side, I also noticed that further up in the windows of the buildings there were androids with sniper rifles watching the area, this place seems more reinforced than last time.

When walking through the alley that led into the camp, I noticed that the walls of the alley were painted with graffiti of the most diverse types, landscapes and androids covered the walls in different styles of art, surrealism, cubism, expressionism, I also saw parodied versions of famous paintings, a Mona Lisa with half her face stripped of skin revealing the inside of an android's face, a version of The Scream with a machine in place of the person who was screaming.

Les Demoiselles d'Avigno, but with resistance androids posing in the place of women, I also saw a Pop Art with the face of Anemone repeated in different shades of yellow.

Did the androids do all this because of my program? If so then I'm impressed, I didn't expect them to actually do what I showed them in my show.

Upon entering the camp one of the first things I saw was a metal statue in the center of the camp, it was a statue similar to the image of soldiers raising a flag in Iwo Jima in World War II, but instead of soldiers there were androids raising a flag with the symbol of the army of humanity and instead of a hill there was a pile of machines below the soldiers' feet.

"Impressive!" I said as I approached the statue, it looked like it was made of scrap metal, but whoever built it did a great job, I reached out to touch the statue, but I was stopped by the scream of an android.

"Hey, no touching my artwork!"

I jumped back at the scream, looking where the scream came from I saw a familiar android, it was Salieri.

"Your work of art? Did you build this statue?" I asked Salieri as he approached me.

Salieri puffed out his chest with pride and pointed to himself, "You can bet! I am the best sculptor in all world!"

"When you are the only sculptor in the world, then of course you are the best, after all there is no one else to compare your work to." Looking to the side I saw an android coming out of the crowd, it was Florence.

Salieri cringed at the response he got from Florence.

"Good to see you Alan." Florence said to me as she smiled.

"Good to see you Florence, and you too Salieri." I said to the two androids in front of me.

"Greetings." The PODs said to the androids.

"What brings you here today Alan?" Florence asked me.

"I'm also curious to know, you've been missing for a while." Salieri said.

"I'm looking for an android, but I don't know what it looks like. To explain it better, while I was walking around the city I found an android painting graffiti on the walls of buildings, I tried to talk to the android, but he always ran away when I got close. Do you know who this android is? I took some graffiti pics of him, show them POD."

POD 000 displayed a holographic screen and on it appeared the graffiti painted by the mysterious android.

Florence and Salieri looked at the pictures in awe.

"I admit, the graffiti is amazing, but I have no idea who did it." Salieri said.

"Perhaps another android at camp knows?" Florence asked.

Hm! Maybe, but thanks anyway. By the way Salieri, your statue is amazing, I look forward to seeing what else you can do."

Salieri looked away embarrassed "Thank you." Salieri whispered.

"Come on, no need to be embarrassed, you deserve the praise." Florence said as she gave Salieri a small punch on the shoulder.

"See you later!" I said to the androids.

"Until next time Alan, hope to see you again." Florence said.

"Try not to die out there, I'll be sad if I hear I've lost one of my clients." Salieri replied.

"You can leave it to me! I will be careful!" I said as I walked away from me.

We'll see if anyone else knows about the mysterious android.

TIMESKIP

Unfortunately my search was fruitless, no one seemed to know who the mysterious android was, but it wasn't that bad, at least I got to see some changes in the resistance camp, the camp was tidier, rubble was removed, walls were painted, looking above, I saw ropes connecting one building to another and hanging from them were colored paper cutouts representing people, flowers, animals, I also noticed some vendors selling small wooden or metal statuettes.

The camp had definitely improved, I suddenly heard music. Did it seem to be coming from above? Looking up I saw Kokio leaning against a window of a three story building, she was playing a Harmonica.

"Hey Kokio!" I yelled as I waved at her.

Kokio stopped playing the harmonica and looked towards me.

"Alan! What are you doing here? It doesn't matter, you can come in, the door is unlocked!" Kokio said as she pointed to the door of the building.

I shrugged and entered the building, while walking through the corridors I found some androids, they just looked at me strange, they shrugged and went on their way, in the corridors there were several doors looking quickly through one of them I saw it to be a type of room, there was I could see two bunks on each side of the room, I think I get it, so this is where some of the camp androids rooms are.

For a moment I thought they worked non-stop.

"Alan, here!"

Looking to the side, I saw Kokio calling out to me from a stairway leading upwards.

I went upstairs and approached Kokio "Hello Kokio, what are you…"

"Come with me!" I couldn't finish as Kokio grabbed my arm and started pulling me up the stairs.

"Kokio, wait a minute!"

"Come on, there's something I want to show you!" Kokio replied.

We climbed to the third floor, the androids leaping out of our way as we ran until we reached a door at the end of the hall.

"Come in." Kokio said to me as she unlocked the door.

"Are you sure?" I asked Kokio.

"Yes, come!" Kokio said as she pulled me into the room.

When I entered I began to look around, the room was similar to the ones I saw on the floors below, it was a medium-sized room, in the shape of a square, there were two bunk beds, one on the left of the room and the other on the right, on the wall between the two bunk beds there was a window, where Kokio had been playing the harmonica before.

"Nice room Kokio." I said to Kokio.

"It's not that pretty, after all I share this room with three other androids, but this one is my corner." Kokio said as she pointed to the bottom bunk on the right.

I took a closer look at the bunk bed, saw that on the wall next to the bed there was a series of photos pinned to the wall, photos of landscapes, travel cards, clippings from magazines, forming a kind of mosaic on the wall.

"So what did you want to show me?" I asked Kokio.

"This!" Kokio went towards her bed and took a cardboard box from under it.

I noticed something written on the side of the box "Property of Kokio! Don't touch or I'll dismantle you!"

"What is this Kokio?"

"That's my box of wonders! Here I keep all the objects from the human world that I collected around the city!" Kokio said as she smiled and held the box above her head.

"Seriously? Can I see it?"

"Of Course! After all, that's what I called you here for, I have no idea what some of those things are." Kokio said as she placed the box on the bed and started showing me its contents.

"First of all, what is this thing?" Kokio asked while showing me an object.

It was a rectangular black object with a screen above and below the screen several buttons in a circular format, it was an MP3 Player.

"Oh! This is an MP3."

"And what is it for?" Kokio asked me.

"It serves to store and play audio files in MP3 format."

"What?" Kokio asked me.

"It plays songs recorded in a specific format."

"Oh! Can I fix it?"

"I highly doubt it, but you should give it a try, I'm not sure where you'll find MP3 music these days."

"Well, I'll worry about that later. What is this thing?" Kokio said as she showed me another object.

The object had a slightly rectangular purple shape, a screen in the center and white buttons on the sides, there was something written just below the screen, but it was erased for a while.

G… B… A…

GBA? A game boy advance? "HAHAHA! I never thought I'd see one of those again."

"What is it?" Kokio asked me.

"A portable console for playing video games." I said as I studied the object in my hands, I was hit with a feeling of nostalgia, so many memories.

"I see, and how do I make it work?"

"You would need two AA batteries and the cartridge with the game."

"I think I have a few of those here, give me a minute." Kokio went towards a closet in the bedroom and started to rummage through it until she came back with two AA batteries, she gave me the batteries and I put them inside the Game Boy.

"And now?" Kokio asked me.

"Now we need the cartridge."

Kokio went towards the box and removed a series of game boy cartridges and handed them to me.

I took the cartridge, fitted it to the game boy and started the console, the screen lit up and a familiar song started playing, my eyes widened with the introduction that appeared on the screen, a gengar fighting a nidorino, a while later the screen title appeared, Pokemon Fire Red.

"Kokio, can you sell me the game boy and games?" I asked the android.

"They are not for sale." Kokio said as she crossed her arms.

"Come on, I'll pay any amount."

"No, I found them, so they are mine."

I sighed, "Okay." I said while giving the console to Kokio, she started watching the images on the screen and randomly pressing buttons.

"So this is a video game?" Kokio asked as she started the game.

"Yes, humans used it as a form of entertainment."

Looking at the Game Boy screen, professor oak asked the famous question "Are you a boy or a girl?"

After choosing her character, the name screen appeared.

"What do I do now?" Kokio asked me.

"Now you write your name."

Kokio put her name on her character and the dialogue continued until it was time to introduce her rival.

"And now?"

"Now you choose your rival's name, it can be a predefined name or one written by you."

Kokio decided to write a name for the rival, and she put my name, from there Kokio's adventure in the Pokémon world began. As Kokio played I noticed that we had fallen silent, the game's music being the only source of noise.

"So Kokio, I noticed you were playing the harmonica…"

"Oh! Yes, after your music episode some androids decided to learn to play an instrument, but there aren't many intact instruments around here, so most of them were improvised, but thanks to my walks around the city I managed to find an instrument in perfect condition, the hardest part was learning to play it. I didn't want to just download all the information on how to play the harmonica onto my systems."

"So you learned by trial and error?"

"Yes." Kokio said with a smile.

"Is there anything else you would like to show me?"

"Actually, yes, there is this magazine that I found, but I don't understand the function of it." Kokio said as she paused her game and pulled a magazine from her box and handed it to me.

I jumped back and my eyes widened at the contents of the magazine.

"Honestly, I don't understand why the women in this magazine wear so little clothing, they are almost naked."

I rolled the magazine in my hands into a cylinder and then slammed the magazine down on top of Kokio's head.

"OUCH! Why?" Kokio asked as she grabbed the spot I hit.

"Listen here young lady, this magazine is not for androids your age! I don't want to see you again with that kind of magazine in your hands!"

"But… OUCH!" I didn't let Kokio finish, I hit her again with the magazine.

"No buts! I don't want to see you again with those things, do you understand?"

"Yes sir." Kokio said while looking down.

"Excellent! And to make sure it doesn't happen again, I'll keep the magazine in a safe place!"

POD 000 placed the magazine in its storage.

"Will I be able to have the magazine back?" Kokio asked.

"I'll think about it. And if I find you with one of those magazines again, I'll leave you without a video game for a month." I said to Kokio as I crossed my arms.

"NO!" Kokio said while hugging the game boy.

"Kokio what is this screaming?" A voice said from the other side of the bedroom door.

"It's nothing Cosmos." Kokio replied as she walked towards the door.

Cosmos? "Kokio, wait!"

But it was too late, Kokio had opened the door and on the other side was the android known as Cosmos.

"People don't scream for nothing Kokio, what… YOU!" Cosmos was talking to Kokio, but unfortunately she noticed me.

"What are you doing in our room?!" Cosmos said as she pointed at me.

"Our room? Are you Kokio's roommate?" I said as I backed away.

"You can bet I am!" Cosmos said as she pulled Kokio aside.

"Cosmos, wait! He is my friend!" Kokio said as she wrapped her arms around Cosmos and held her in place.

"Friends don't stay locked alone in a girl's room!" Cosmos screamed as she tried to break free.

"Run Alan, run! She's jealous and overprotective!" Kokio yelled at me.

She doesn't need to say it twice! I ran towards the bedroom window with the PODs beside me, looking back I saw that Cosmos was running towards me.

Without thinking twice I jumped out the window, as I fell each POD grabbed one of my arms and I slowly floated towards the ground, as I descended several objects were thrown towards me.

"If I see your face here again, I'll throw you in the garbage compactor!" Cosmos yelled from the window as she threw objects in my direction.

As soon as I landed on the street below I started running away with the PODs at my side, on the way the androids stared at me confused with what was happening.

TIMESKIP

I think I'm far enough, I ran through the streets of the camp, I believe I managed to lose Cosmos, I sat down on a wooden bench in the camp to catch my breath.

"That was close, isn't it PODs?"

"Statement: Administrator Alan should avoid the android known as Cosmos." POD 000 said.

"Statement: If the situations with the android Cosmos continue, the androids at the camp may get the wrong impression." POD 001 said.

"Wow, thank you for the trust you have on me." I said to the PODs as I laid my head on the back of the seat and closed my eyes. While that day was fun, the camp and its androids have definitely changed and that's all because of my program, I wonder how this place will look in the future.

Suddenly I heard someone approaching and then sitting next to me.

"I finally found you." A familiar female voice said from beside me.

Opening my eyes and looking in the direction of the voice, I saw a familiar android, a nervous but happy smile appeared on my face.

"Hello Anemone."

"Hello Alan." Anemone said with a smile.

END OF CHAPTER

Hello, thanks for reading this far! I don't have any prompts for the story at the moment, I'd just like to wish you, the reader, a merry Christmas. So let's go…

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Until the next chapter!