Episode 5 – A Conversation about Time and Civilizations

Alan's POV

"Sand, ruins and memories, that's all that's left of the great buildings consumed by time." I said to the POD000 in front of me as I stood on the roof of a building buried in the sand, the building was covered enough that only the roof was outside, so it was no problem to get up here.

Currently Devola, Popola, 11B and I were in the area near the metal gate that blocked the path to the desert. Why are we here? Well, Anemone wasted no time in giving me a job, she asked me to deliver parts to Jackass, and right now Jackass was doing something with the gate. At least I'm getting paid.

As for Devola, Popola and 11B, each one was busy doing something, 11B was teaching Devola how to fight using a sword, I was surprised when Devola pulled out a Claymore out of nowhere, the training consisted of fighting the machines in the region, I could hear the sounds of metal being cut from below, I saw a machine arm being thrown up and then falling.

Popola was with Jackass, I don't know what they were doing, but judging by the giggles I could hear, the two were getting along well.

"You must be wondering what I mean by that. Look around." I said as I opened my arms and POD001 recorded the surrounding area.

"Have you ever wondered what this place was like before it was taken over by sand? I have, but unfortunately we can only speculate, after all, the time is not friendly at all." I walked towards the door that was on the terrace and kicked it open.

"But I can help you get an idea." I went down the stairs and entered the building, went down the floors to the top floor that was still out of the sand, looking through one of the glass windows, I saw 11B and Devola fighting machines.

"Imagine that you are a human being, not the modern human being, but the nomadic human being, who hunts his food and worries about his survival every day. You travel the world looking for a place where you can live for a while, you need to adapt to the nature around you…" I kept walking until I entered an apartment.

"But there comes a time when you can't move around anymore, you can't find a new place to live anymore, so you have to settle down. What do you do?" I posed the question to my viewers, but it's not like anyone can answer me right now.

"Simple! You explore the nature around you, find what it has to offer and interfere with it, by observation, trial and error you learn to plant and domesticate animals, with this it is easier to get food, the population of your tribe increases and stop being a tribe, and becomes a complex society where everyone has their role. But time takes it all away."

Said while looking at a picture in a frame in the apartment.

"Everything you built and conquered is forgotten, your friends, family, everything is taken away and the people of the future won't even know you existed, that is until they find the ruins of your civilization. But it's always been like that, hasn't it?" I said as I ran my hand across a dining table and rubbed the dust between my fingers.

"This apartment, for example, at some point someone lived here. A family? Probably yes. Can you imagine what they were like? A family doesn't have to be made up of people related by blood, it can be made up of people close to each other, but for the sake of the example, let's assume that the family that lived here was made up of a father, a mother, a son and a daughter." I sat down on a chair in front of the dining table.

"What did they look like? The father could have blonde, black, brown, red hair, he could be tall, short, fat, skinny, the same goes for the rest of the family. What did they do? Did the children go to school? Probably yes. And their parents? The mother could be a doctor, a police officer, an engineer, the father could be a businessman, a scientist, they could lead happy lives, or not, the family could be falling apart in the middle of a divorce. But how are we going to know? Not much left, is there?" I got up from the table and looked out the living room window, watching the desert outside.

"All that's left are ruins, ruins, ruins tell stories, I find myself looking at ruins and thinking about how this world was in the past, papers will decay, but the constructions made by human beings still remain, showing that at some point there was a civilization there. I am not saying this only because of the abandoned cities scattered around the world, vestiges of civilizations that existed even before this war started, are still standing, the pyramids, the coliseum in Rome, the wall of China." I turned to the PODs.

"You know, I don't remember who said this, but I once heard a line that goes, 'If your buildings outlasted your civilization, the construction was overpriced.' And there's a certain meaning behind that. Why should I build something out of the best material if it will outlast me? Why should I build something that I won't see the end of? Well, for me the answer is to leave a legacy and to be remembered."

"Many civilizations have come and gone in human history, but their great monuments still stand, fighting against time, unless something really catastrophic happens, no great civilization thinks it will end, the Romans never imagined that the Roman empire would fall, but this happened, even so they left a legacy, of the knowledge they acquired, their culture and history, and thanks to everything they did, they are remembered until today." I sat on the old sofa in the living room.

"But don't get me wrong, I'm not glorifying the Roman empire, because despite all the wonderful things they did, there are also the horrible things they did, the wars, conquests, enslavement of other peoples, this doesn't just apply to the roman empire, other civilizations did it too, Egypt, Greece, china, but we can't blame them, after all those were the circumstances of the time, as the centuries passed, wars and enslavement became repudiated, I'm not saying they ended, but were diminishing, human beings were learning from the past."

"Where was I again? Oh! I remembered, about being remembered, you can be remembered for good things or bad things, you can be remembered for discovering a cure for a disease or for causing one of the greatest tragedies of humanity, in the end the choice is yours, but Humans tend not to think about the consequences of their actions, so I imagine most people don't think they'll go down in history because of their actions."

"But who am I to judge? If you want, my dear viewer, try to make a new scientific discovery or not, instead you could detonate a nuclear bomb in the middle of a city. Who am I to stop you? But I am not responsible for the consequences that come afterwards. So we get into another question. Does it really matter?" I got up from the couch and walked down the hallway of the apartment until I found a room, there was a crib in that room.

"I say again, look around, time-worn ruins. What's the use of building and revolutionizing if in the end everything will be destroyed and forgotten? Nobody will remember your name, your face, what you did. Can you tell me who ordered the construction of this building? No. We know the names of most art creators because they signed their works, but nobody signed this building, the only proof that someone ordered this building to be built is a stamp on a sheet of paper that fell apart a long time ago."

I left the child's room and entered a room with a double bed, leaning against the door frame as I surveyed the room.

"But it's not that bad, time can cause you to be forgotten, but you can still leave a legacy. Can anyone tell me the name of the person who invented androids? I don't doubt that name is saved in some database, but that person ceased to be relevant a long time ago, but his legacy still continues on Earth. Despite the war and the millennia that have passed, androids are still here. The legacy humanity left on Earth before they were forced to go to the moon."

"This is a legacy that time has not yet consumed, the last gift that humans left before going to the moon. These gifts are you dear androids, you who are watching me; you are the legacy of humanity. How about you leave your legacy in this world? You might not be remembered for your name or face, but you might be remembered for something you did. So how about leaving something positive for future generations? Something they can look back on and feel proud of being a part of, and inspire them to leave their own legacy. Or not, you can try to turn this world into nuclear hell, the choice is yours."

I left the room and walked out of the apartment.

"Thanks everyone for watching me today, submit your questions to the PODs and we'll see you again! POD cut the recording!" With my order, the light on the PODs went out indicating the end of the recording.

"Well, PODs, what did you think of today's show?"

"Statement: An interesting subject, which is likely to have positive effects on android morale." POD000 said.

"Question: Administrator Alan seems strangely inspired, is this due to some reason?" POD001 asked.

"Not exactly, it was just something I wanted to get off my chest, the world is full of ruins and I wanted to talk about them, now what the androids will do with my information, only time will tell. Let's go away PODs." I said as I walked out of the apartment.

"Affirmative." Both PODs responded.

We walked the stairs until we returned to the roof of the building.

Devola's POV

"Then why would you want to learn how to use a sword?" 11B asked me as she sliced open the belly of a biped.

"No reason, I just wanted to learn." I replied as I plunged my sword into the top of a stocky one's head.

"I feel like you are not telling me the truth." 11B responded as she kicked the medium biped towards an approaching group of machines.

"Is it that obvious?" I asked.

"Yes." 11B assured.

I swung my sword, ripping the machine head off and throwing it at a biped.

"Let's just say a long time ago my sister and I got into a fight with people who used swords, and it didn't end well for us."

"So you want to learn how to use a sword in case those people come back?"

"No, those people are long gone."

"Then why would you want to learn how to use a sword?"

"For the situation of the past not to be repeated." I said as I looked at the sword and saw my reflection in the blade.

"You want to protect your sister, don't you?"

"Yes." I said as I took a step to the side, dodging the blow of a medium biped and cutting his arm off, then cutting him in the belly from the bottom up.

"I understand, I would give my life to protect 16D, but she would kill me if I told her that." 11B responded as she swung her sword in a circular slash, splitting a group of machines in half.

"HA! She seems like an interesting girl, I would like to meet her." I said as I trusted my sword forward and pierced two stubbies, their bodies getting caught in my sword.

"Better watch out, she has a short temper, she would be jealous to see me with you." 11B replied with a smile.

"Tell her not to worry; I have my eyes on someone else."

"You mean…"

Not letting 11B finish, I slashed at the biped approaching her, my sword passing inches from her face.

"Better be careful not to get distracted during a fight, you never know where a blow might come from." I said with a sweet voice and a smile.

"You… You're right, I better watch out." 11B answered nervously.

"I'm glad you understand; now let's get back to my training."

"S-sure I'll show you a new sword technique." 11B said as she approached another group of machines.

Popola's POV

"Do you know what you are doing?" I asked the android in front of me.

"But of course! Who do you think I am?" Jackass responded as she worked on the bomb wires.

"An android who doesn't know what she's doing."

"Wait a minute; you'll see this gate blow up." Jackass replied as she spliced two strands together.

"And why would you want to open a gate with a bomb? Doesn't this gate have some kind of mechanism to open it?"

"Yes, but where's the fun in that? Once that gate is opened, Yorha's troops will come and go as they please. So why not open the gate in style?"

"Your joy in blowing things up worries me."

"You should try it, it's a good way to have fun and relieve your anger." Jackass responded with a laugh.

"It's also a good way to blow someone up by accident."

"Don't worry, I just blow up machines, and the people I blew up never complained."

"Probably because there's nothing left of them to complain to you about."

Jackass was silent for a few seconds.

"Changing the subject! Would you like some explosives?" Jackass asked me nervously.

"Thanks, but no, I'd rather not walk around carrying hazardous materials."

"Come on! You never know when you're going to need an explosive, and besides, my materials aren't hazardous, I only sell quality products."

"Hm! I don't know…"

"Think what you could do with my explosives, you could knock out big machines, you could blow holes in a wall if you needed to escape, you could help your friends over there." Jackass said as she gestured to where 11B and my sister were.

Damn it! She convinced me. "Okay, what have you got for me?" I said with a sigh.

"I'm glad you changed your mind. I've got dynamite, C₄, Molotov cocktails, frag grenades, incendiary grenades, land mines, claymores. Make your choice." Jackass responded as she held up a finger for each type of explosive listed.

"I will decide that when we get back to your shop."

"Fair enough, I recommend going back soon because the gate is about to explode!" Jackass yelled as she ran past me.

"What?!" I screamed as I looked at Jackass running and then at the gate, attached to the gate was a mass of wires and circuits flashing lights of different colors.

*BEEP*

*BEEP*

*BEEP*

My eyes widened upon hearing that noise.

"Wait for me!" I yelled as I ran after Jackass.

Alan's POV

"So guys! What have I missed?" I screamed as I stepped onto the terrace.

BOOM!

"HOLY CRAP!" I threw myself on the floor.

"What the hell was that?" I screamed as I dragged myself across the terrace out of the building, when I stepped onto the sand I saw 11B and Devola with their swords pointed towards where the explosion came from.

"What was this?!" I asked both.

"Someone blew up the gate!" Devola replied.

"Yes, but whom?" 11B asked.

We had our answer when two androids came running towards us, there was Popola and...

"So, a nice explosion, isn't it?" Jackass said as she approached.

And Jackass, but of course it was Jackass, it had to be Jackass, I thought as I tapped my forehead with my hand.

"You are crazy!" Popola screamed as she ran.

"And what's the fun in being a normal person?" Jackass asked as she shrugged.

"Claim: The android known as Jackass needs a systems overhaul." POD000 said.

"Claim: The android known as Jackass needs to be disassembled and its parts put away for recycling." POD001 said.

"I didn't ask your opinion, you heaps of rust." Jackass said to the PODs.

"I see you haven't lost your habit of blowing things up." I said to Jackass.

"You know me, not much happens out here in the desert, so I need to entertain myself somehow." Jackass said with her hands on her hips.

"Do you know each other?" 11B asked me.

"Yes, unfortunately."

"How?" Devola asked.

"Well…"

FLASHBACK

"SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!" I screamed as I ran across the desert, a bunch of machines behind me.

What was supposed to be a simple job of delivering a package to an android ended up with the android not showing up at the meeting point and the machines chasing me.

I kept running until I saw a rock formation ahead, I ran faster, with the android package under my arm, when I approached the rocks, I climbed them.

Upon reaching the top and looking down, I saw that the machines could not climb and just kept looking at me; I lay down on the rock and looked at the sky, now I can only wait for the machines to leave.

Ten minutes passed before they heard screams.

"SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!" a female voice called out.

I heard something clambering over the rocks; I took out my knife, thunder in my pocket and approached the edge of the rock. Suddenly an android appeared.

"Wait!" The android screamed as she saw me with the knife raised, ready to strike her.

Seeing that it was an android, I lowered the knife.

"So the machines forced you to come up here?" the android asked.

"Yes."

"Looks like we'll be here for a while. How about introducing each other? My name is Jackass." The android said as she extended her hand.

"My name is Alan." I replied as I accepted the handshake.

END OF FLASHBACK

"That's how I met Jackass." I said to everyone.

"Why don't you ever tell us this kind of thing?" Popola asked.

"Because I know I'm going to get a lecture soon after. In the end it was Jackass, the android I was supposed to deliver the package to."

"See? Everything ended well." Jackass said as she headed towards her tent that served as a shop, Popola following her.

"Looks like we're done here, don't we?" 11B asked me.

"Yeah, let's just wait for Popola to finish her business with Jackass and we can leave." I replied.

"I'd rather Popola not be around Jackass, she's a bad influence on my sister." Devola said.

"She's not that bad, a little crazy, but she's a good person."

"I hope you're right. Hey you want to see what 11B taught me." Devola asked expectantly.

"Of course!" I replied.

A few minutes passed with Devola showing me new sword techniques until Popola returned, carrying a bag over her shoulder.

"I finished." Popola said.

"Well, I delivered the parts to Jackass and the gate is destroyed, we can leave now, I will report this to Anemone on the way back."

With everything done we start walking out of the desert.

UNKNOWN POV

1?: Well POD001 we would like to apologize for what we are about to do.

2?: But we need you to conduct a small experiment.

POD001: What do you mean by that?

1&2?: That.

ERROR!

ERROR!

ERROR!

Alan's POV

"POD!" I screamed as POD001 struggled, sparks and smoke erupted, and then the POD fell to the ground.

"POD?" I asked as I approached, but suddenly something came out of the sand and grabbed the POD, it was a medium stubby wearing a mask and cape.

I immediately grabbed the thunder knife and slashed at the machine, the machine leapt back, my knife opening a gash in the side of its head.

"Witness the birth!" The machine screamed in its robotic voice as it ran towards the exploded gate.

"Come on, we need to retrieve the POD!" I shouted out to Devola, Popola and 11B, not just because I consider the POD my friend, but also because of the information stored in it, the information that Salieri warned me about.

With a nod, the girls and I run after the machine, we pass through the gate and into a large desert.

"There!" I pointed to the machine as it fled towards the buildings in the distance.

"Why did that thing take the POD?" 11B asked.

"No idea, but we need to get it back!"

We kept running until we reached a large metal pipe running down a dune, we went down the dune, our feet sliding across the sand until we reached an apartment complex.

When we entered the complex, not a single machine came our way.

"Where did he go?" Devola asked.

"There!" Popola pointed down an alley.

"Witness the birth!" The machine raced into the alley.

We chased the machine, going from street to street until we reached a passage with skinless android bodies trapped in metal beams. At the end of the passage we saw the machine entering a tunnel.

"This could be a trap." Said to everyone.

"But we need to get the POD back, don't we?" 11B asked.

"11B will lead with POD lighting the way, Devola will follow 11B, I will follow Devola and Popola will follow me. This is good for you."

Everyone nodded yes.

"So let's go."

We entered the tunnel with the POD light illuminating it, walking slowly and looking around us in case this is an ambush.

"The birth!" We heard a voice screaming in the tunnel.

We could see the machine making a turn ahead, we followed the machine.

And when we reached the end of the tunnel, our eyes widened with what we saw, a huge hole made in the ruins of buildings, looking down we saw the machine going down a ramp in a spiral shape, we went down the ramp until we reached the bottom of the hole.

And when we got there we saw that the machines were acting strange. Were they trying to have sex?

"LOVE!"

"MY LOVE!"

"TOGETHER FOREVER!"

There was a machine rocking a cradle.

"CHILD!"

"What are they doing?" 11B asked.

"The machines are trying to reproduce." I replied.

"How is this possible?" 11B asked again.

"11B, now that you've joined us, you need to forget everything Yorha taught you about machines. Machines have feelings, machines know how to think, machines know how to speak, and machines know how to live." I said to her.

11B was silent at this revelation.

"Machines want to reproduce, but why?" Devola asked.

"What do they gain by imitating human reproduction?" Popola asked.

"Claim: Runaway machine sighted." POD000 said.

In the center of all this was the runaway machine, it held the POD in its hands, the machine approached us, we all drew our weapons, but the machine did not attack, it just approached and placed the POD on the ground in front of us.

The machine backed away from us, raised its hands and screamed.

"WITNESS THE BIRTH OF MY LEGACY!"

Immediately all the machines stopped what they were doing and ran, and thrashed around the place.

"WITNESS THE BIRTH OF MY LEGACY!"

"WITNESS THE BIRTH OF MY LEGACY!"

"WITNESS THE BIRTH OF MY LEGACY!"

All the machines screamed until they stopped and fell silent.

"What the…" I didn't have time to finish.

All the machines climbed the metal beams in the hole and formed a cocoon in the middle of them.

I was paralyzed by this, my breathing quickened, my heart pounding frantically.

I blinked.

And when I opened my eyes I wasn't in the hole, the girls and the POD disappeared, I was alone in a cave and in front of me there was a big white sphere, it looked like an egg. Or was it a seed?

I heard steps, looking to the side I saw it was me, but this me was wounded with bullet holes in the right arm, and had glowing red eyes, this me approached the egg and placed his hands on it, the hands sank as if touching the surface of a lake, when the other me sank into the egg, all was silent.

Until a deafening roar echoed through the cavern.

"RRROOOOOAAARRR!"

No human could make that sound.

Then the egg cracked, a piece fell to the ground, and I caught a glimpse of something, a single red eye staring back at me.

"Alan!"

"Not again!"

"Alan!"

"I got rid of you!"

"Alan!"

"You no longer control me!"

"ALAN!"

The cave disappeared and I saw the girls and POD staring at me worriedly.

"Are you ok?" Devola asked.

"Warning: Admin Alan's heartbeat has accelerated to dangerous levels."

"What will we do?" 11B asked.

"Suggestion: Try to calm Admin Alan down."

"Alan, look at me!" Popola held the sides of my head.

"Popola?"

"Yes, it's me, focus on me and take a deep breath."

I did as Popola asked, gradually starting to calm down.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine." Popola said.

"Thank you Popola."

"You're welcome." Popola replied.

SPLAT!

We were taken out of our moment by the sound of something wet hitting the ground, this something got up, it was a thin man, with a well-built physique and white hair, and the man had no genitals and looked around confused, until his eyes focused on us.

"What…" The man said with difficulty.

"Alert: Machine Life form Detected." POD000 said.

He was a machine? I've never seen anything like it before.

The machine took a few steps forward with difficulty, the girls readied their weapons.

"Wait! Do not attack!" I screamed.

The machine recoiled, startled by my scream, I approached it.

"Alan wait!" Popola screamed.

"Give me a minute, but get ready." I said as I approached the machine.

"Hello how are you?" I said as waved at the machine and tried to look as non-threatening as possible.

"How… H-how am I?" The machine said confused.

"Yes. Are you in pain, tired, confused? How are you?" I asked again.

"I… I don't know… One moment there was nothing… Then this…" The machine said as it opened its arms.

"You have just been born, you are a child."

"I was born… Child…" The machine repeated my words, trying to figure out their meaning.

"Yes. I propose we try something else. My name is Alan, and you?" I said to the machine.

"Alan… Android?" The machine asked as it looked at me more closely, suddenly its head was thrown back, and the machine grabbed its head in pain.

"Warning: Machine life form attempted to scan Administrator Alan, this unit stopped the scanning." POD000 said.

"Nameless…" The machine continued.

"This is not good. How about giving you one?" I said as I extended my hand towards the machine and gave a smile.

The machine looked at me confused by my gesture, but slowly extended its hand.

Looking back I saw the girls looking at me impressed, they must not believe what was happening.

But before the machine could shake my hand, a section of the spiral ramp collapsed and two Yorha androids appeared.

"Alert: Machine Life form Detected." The male unit POD said.

"What are you doing here? This place is dangerous!" The boy screamed.

"9S focus." The female android said.

"Yes 2B."

The two Yorha androids advanced towards the machine simultaneously, I felt Devola and Popola grabbing my shoulders and pulling me away.

"Wait! Don't do it!" I shouted to the Yorha androids but they didn't listen, their PODs fired at the machine as the androids slashed at it with their swords.

"Let's get out of here!" Devola screamed.

The twins dragged me towards the ramp and with one big leap they took me up, 11B came along carrying POD001. As I was carried up the ramp, I had glimpses of the fight taking place below; in a moment the machine jumped on one of the beams and faced me, eventually I walked out of that place, leaving the machine behind.

UNKNOWN POV

?: You crossed the line.

1?: What's the problem?

2?: Nobody got hurt.

?: I believe I was too kind to you; apparently I will have to interfere in a less discreet way.

END OF THE CHAPTER