literature

Taishka Part 21

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“Now,” Marki started up a new conversation. “The most important question for you to answer is why you have returned here. If I know your purpose, I may be able to give you some direction. It's obvious nobody else has taken the time to consider the goals of your mission. It is clear you four have a purpose.”

For a moment I wondered who our fourth member was, then I noticed my feet resting on Sender. I put my feet down and brushed the dirt off of it. “That's a very sensitive topic,” I said. “We might need to discuss it again before... talking about it with you?” I talked slowly and hoped our new host wouldn't be offended or afraid of our secrets. I was relieved to hear their response.

“That is a reasonable request, considering the nature of your situation. Next I would like to know where you came from? There have been many theories as to where humans could have escaped too, but I would enjoy knowing the truth for once. Did you come from off planet?”

My heart sank. I looked at the other two. They seemed to have the same feeling of dread.

“I want to answer your questions, but we are supposed to keep that information classified,” I explained. I feared that at any moment this new host could turn ugly towards us. They remained quiet, thinking about my answers. “It might be somewhat similar to how you hide the collections?” I suggested.

“Yes...” they looked out the window and pondered. “Are you allowed to tell me any information?”

“We could talk about the past?” Fintan suggested. We looked at her. “Cide may have mentioned that you only know what happened from the Mind's perspective?”

“This is mostly correct. Although I do have a few odd memories of my time from before.”

“A 'few'? You don't remember?” I asked.

“Not entirely,” they said. “My mainframe nearly wiped from corruption before I was powered up again. There are specific commands I remember and the last few recordings of the events before I was... removed from service.”

“You worked with humans, though? Do you remember them at all?” I asked. I had assumed the robot retained all information they knew on humans. Them not remembering any of it rendered them practically as useful as the rest of the robots we interacted with. I felt disappointed.

“I remember one human. They were my last patient. I don't know if it was good or bad that they were in the first wave of human extermination. The stress would have been too much for them otherwise,” Marki said. They didn't seem incredibly happy to talk about it. “I lasted only a few days longer.”

“So, wait wait wait. Alright,” Branis started. “They killed you too? Why would robots kill each other?”

“I was built to care for humans. They decided I was no longer needed,” they explained.

“The hell man? That's fucked up,” Branis said. Fintan had an expression of horror from hearing the story. I wasn't sure how to react.

We had been told that all robots with AI had turned on the humans at once. In one big sweep of human extermination. There was no mention of waves or a process to it. There was definitely never any mention of robots trying to save humans. Marki hadn't said there were robots on the other side of the fight, defending humans, but it was possible with these new  implications. A hint of anger sparked inside of me. I was confused about my sudden feelings for any robots that the Mind had deemed as useless as humans.

“Are you okay?” Ritica asked. They had twisted themself around to look at us.

“Yeah, we're good,” Branis said. “I didn't know any of that. None of us did.”

“There are many mechanicals that would argue against my memory,” Marki said. “I do not blame them. Their vision of the Mind is a complete, creative being. Tower was not complete, however. It was them who made the decision to get rid of humans and to silence any mechanical who wanted to question them. Hall wasn't complete either, although more passive.”

“It was how some of us thought of humans, too,” Ritica said. “Complete, creative beings, I mean.”

“Wait, so you did know about humans?” I asked. Just as soon as I felt I was starting to understand, more confusing comments surfaced.

Ritica and Marki explained to us how Hall had remained hidden from Tower. They were both halves of the Mind. Split by someone having tampered with them. Most likely a misguided human or the Mind itself. Tower disagreed with Hall and wanted that half to die off completely, but Hall sent missionaries to the city of Tower in hopes of reconnecting and becoming whole again. Hall also send stray signals of energy towards the city in hopes of bothering Tower enough to agree with them. It accidentally brought long dead mechanicals from the trash back to life. That is how Marki came to be.

The missionaries spread word of the humans with the knowledge Hall gave to them and Tower eventually killed or ran off the group, which resulted in Marki and Ritica finding Buere in the city of Hall. They returned to the city of Tower in hopes of connecting the mind themselves, however, once they returned, Tower's and Hall's AIs had disappeared. Their machinery wiped of any traces they had ever existed. That is how Marki destroyed the Mind. It was an accident.

I wondered if I should have been happy to hear of their adventure or upset. If the Mind had reformed it was possible it would have helped the humans return to earth peacefully, but on the other hand it may have become more efficient at wiping us out. It was a lot of information to take in. The knowledge that us three humans didn't even know correct details about the war before the humans were scared off of earth made me feel helpless. It was possible our knowledge was all fabricated lies. There was a feeling of betrayal.

“This blue piece on my chest,” Marki pointed at the triangle on their chest and at Ritica, “and that blue piece on Ritica are two of only three pieces left of our fallen friend. The one Tower's battle machine crushed. Spind, YT119U, has the other piece.”

“That was their idea. YT119U has taken over the city of Tower. That is where we are going now,” Ritica explained. “Our blue friend was the motivator for us to fix the world after the Mind had gone.”

“Oh,” I said, understanding. “I've noticed you also wear red capes?”

“The red cloth, yes.” Marki said. “Also Spind's decision. We who wear the red cloth are the ones who... killed the Mind. It's supposed to represent our connection to a human cause. Red was an important color for the humans. Cloth was how they dressed themselves, which seems to still hold true.” The pointed at our suits. I shrugged.

“Why are you two all painted, though?” Fintan asked. “Just for looks?” she smiled sheepishly, attempting to bring humor into the conversation.

“It was something practiced by humans as well,” Marki said, “However, we did not paint ourselves. A group native to other lands had the idea. They were more than graceful towards us. Just one of the few groups we do not need to keep hidden from.”

“Why do you three have designs on your skin?” Ritica asked. I looked at my teammates. They had similar facial tattoos to me. It was part of a ritual chones did with each other to celebrate their achievements. Each part of the tattoo was for a separate thing.

“They represent our success,” Branis said. “At doing human stuff.”

I felt myself grin at their vague response. It was accurate. The robots seemed to accept the answer. Fintan seemed more at ease. The casual attitude these two robots had with us was a relief. They were the first who seemed eager to fill us in with their knowledge. Knowing the specifics of what happened with the Mind was also nice because we didn't have to keep worrying that we were about to be murdered or tortured by it.

We kept up with the more casual conversations, being careful not to be too specific about describing our home. I was glad my teammates were so good at filtering themselves. There were a few times I almost slipped up. We talked about our friends and family and some ceremonies we would have. Answered a few intrusive questions the robots had. I would admire the outside views every now and then. The port city was getting closer gradually. The informant driving had a few questions as well.

We stopped before getting into the city and stretched our legs. I had not noticed before then, but the robots would also get out to walk around. Occasionally rotating their joints and loosening up. Cide kept their tiny cloak over their head to keep the sun away from them during our stop, which didn't last very long.

In the port city, we said farewell to our informants. The truck would be more crowded with the four robots, two dogs, and three humans. I was glad we would be getting onto another boat and didn't have to worry about it too much. Getting through the customs was faster this time because Cide decided to handle it for us, and to let us leave without them. They had business elsewhere and were only supposed to tag along to get us to Marki. I thought that meant Ikhah would be leaving as well.

“Will we be seeing you again?” I asked. A bit sad that the tiny energetic person was being left behind.

“I don't know! I hope so. I will miss you humans!” They ran off after the exclamation.

“Aren't you going to follow them?” I asked Ikhah. Not seeing a reason for them to stay now that Ritica and Marki were with us.

“Of course not. My mission is to protect the three humans,” they explained. “Even if that means I have to endure certain company.”

“Oh,” I said, deciding to shut up before they started another argument.

We followed the ramp onto the boat, our truck already being secured on the deck. Sender rolled up after us and followed Fintan as she explored the new ride. Marki had shooed the dogs away to keep them from following us. I wondered how long it would take to get to the city of Tower but didn't think to ask about it. I enjoyed the sight of the giant tarp walls around us for the possibly last time.

We sailed off into the ocean with a much smaller crew than the first boat we used. The captain actually came down to interact with the robots in our group and tried to make sure we all knew how excited they were about us returning. My teammates were laying down for the night and watching a movie. Ikhah guarded the tent like a I decided to walk around on the deck and found the captain with Marki and Ritica.

“It's quite a shame, you know, what all happened. I am glad to see humans returning. Many species I thought were gone have been returning slowly. I never imagined I would meet humans!”

“Well, thank you, for having us,” I said, approaching them.

“I'm glad we found a friend in the area,” Marki said to them. “I was afraid to take a chance with a stranger as our captain. Thank you for helping on such short notice.”

“You know each other?” I asked.

“They've helped us many times in the past. To keep us hidden while we travel,” Marki explained.

“And to tell you all interesting stories about those other boating mechanicals. They can be a bit out of touch sometimes if they are off the connection for too long, haha!”

Hearing a genuine laugh from a robot was a bizarre feeling. I had heard a robot make a few smaller funny noises, but not such a bold laughter. I laughed with them, not fully understanding myself. Marki seemed pleased.

Ritica was looking over the ocean and seemed comfortable. I joined them. My closeness startled them for a second before they relaxed again. “It's such an odd thing,” they said. “I finally meet humans. After all this time of wondering if your kind still existed.”

“We practically don't,” I sighed. Then my eyes widened and I looked up at the robot, wondering if they understood what I meant.

“I'm sorry that our kind, what you call 'robots' tried to kill you off. We aren't all like that. Not now.”

“I know,” I said. After a while I left the side of the boat and found my friends asleep on the floor. I joined them and rested my head. There was more hope returning to me. I just wondered how I would handle our mission now that I was becoming overly fond of the robots. I reminded myself that the human species was depending on us to succeed. Perhaps there was an alternate way to finish our mission, I thought. Maybe instead of only one of our kinds surviving, we could convince the humans to give them another chance and to coexist.

I drifted off to sleep with visions of humans and robots living together.
word count 2,285
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