Rune could barely believe the words that had just come out of Wren’s mouth. Had he just said what he thought he’d said? Maybe Rune had misheard. The esper had his hands up and his palms empty for the sake of Demi’s life, which was currently in the cruel grasp of their enemy. If the choice were up to him he’d just attack Siren with all the power that he had, regardless of personal injury. Unfortunately, for a noble person, the value of another person’s life was greater than that of their own.
Siren was holding Demi about two feet off the ground with his free hand, the barrel of his ancient cannon pressed against her neck in the other. Demi was taking the hostage situation rather well, considering, but that may be because this wasn’t the first time she had been held to ransom before. Still, she did look rather scared. She was even more frightened now that Wren had refused to help her.
Because when Siren had told Wren to surrender or else he’d shoot Demi, he had said no. Rune knew that Wren had a slightly different grasp of emotions or none at all when compared to his other friends, but it was only then that the Lutz wondered if the android had a heart at all. Rune’s blue eyes were cold and hard, but this time his glance was not directed at Siren. “You’re not serious.” He said to Wren in disbelief.
Wren was immune to Rune’s glare. In his logical mind what he was doing was the most sensible course of action possible. Long ago, in another age, Wren had once been a colonel. He knew that sometimes causalities were just a part of war. The mission objective couldn’t be jeopardized for the sake of a single unit. He was doing the right thing.
So why did he feel the need to repeatedly convince himself of that fact?
“I cannot surrender. Siren must be destroyed. I will not give Zelan to him. If this requires sacrifice then that must be so. I am sure Demi will agree with me on this matter.” Wren replied to Rune as his hand got a hold of the discarded staff, under the watchful gaze of Siren. The older android had not carried out his word just yet. He had time, and he was truly interested in this callous betrayal.
Bristling, Rune fought hard to control his temper. He still couldn’t believe it, but anger was a great convincer. “This isn’t like losing a piece of equipment or property!” He declared. “This is Demi’s life you’re talking about! This is our friend! You can’t just let her go because it inconveniences your damn mission! I swear Wren, if you don’t put your hands up like I am doing Siren won’t have to shoot you; I’ll hit you with a spell myself!”
“Now now, you don’t have to do that. Let me save you a job. I’m perfectly capable of killing him myself.” Siren smirked, mockingly being polite to the blue-haired esper. In the background he heard Whistler finally flip itself right side up again. He paid it no heed. “Thank you for the offer, however.”
“Have you considered where the alternative will lead us? If we surrender we shall all be executed. I do not see the problem here.” Wren said, trying to reason with the hard-headed Rune. It could be possible to lunge for Siren and slam the
laconia stave down between Demi and his chest, separating them both so Wren could hit Siren with an immobilizing spark. He’d use his hyper jammer device to defeat the other android in a heartbeat, but once again the issue of disrupting Zelan’s mainframe limited his options. It was so frustrating.
“We could think of something! It doesn’t have to be this way!” Rune argued angrily, rapidly realising that trying to negotiate with an android who was sure of himself was like bashing his head against a brick wall.
“No… Rune, he’s right.” Came an unexpected, quiet voice. Demi wriggled a bit to lower her head so she could talk properly. There was a sad look in her pale green eyes. The talk darting around the room scared her to death but she could still see merit in her master’s words. “Zelan is more important than I am. If Master Wren has the chance to save it then he should take that chance. I am just a servant. I’m replaceable.” She said.
Gods, Wren wasn’t the only one who was crazy. Demi had it too. Rune’s brow furrowed as he tried to contain his exasperation. “You’re not replaceable. There is no one thing about any of us that makes us more disposable than the other. Let’s just all give it up, okay?”
Demi wanted to listen to him, but she had to ignore him instead. She harboured no delusions about her worth to the world, and to Wren. In an android’s mind all decisions came down to a simple matter of values. Her value was quite high because of her administrative capabilities regarding Nurvus, and because Wren personally was quite fond of her in his own way. Were the choices different she knew her master would fight to the verge of death for her, but with Zelan lay the fates of all. Controlling Zelan meant that you controlled Algo, and with Siren here making threats that was not a risk either of them could take.
She truly believed this. Demi just wished Rune would be able to understand it all too. Siren’s hand on the scruff of her clothing bit into her throat and the gun pressing up against her neck really frightened her. The android girl didn’t want to become a martyr but she had no choice. Maybe, in some small, hopeful way, she wished that Wren would just disregard what was sensible and save her anyway.
Siren could just finish her off now and the other wren type right after, but he wanted to see what Wren was going to do, first. He had the staff in hand. All he needed to do was move. The very second he did, though, would be Demi’s last. Behind him the locks keeping Zelan securely shut flashed green, unlocking themselves via a wireless command. This time the command had not come from him. “I don’t have all night.” He informed them. “If you’re going to move then move.”
Wren placed one hand on the ground to brace himself for when he leapt. He was hurt so badly that if he wasn’t careful he might end up injuring himself more than Siren. He prepared to move, and then…
“That has always been the thing about Lieutenant Colonel Forren; he has a horrible habit of killing the people closest to him.”
Warren said, then added; “Usually due to his own pigheadedness.”
Siren’s two servants stepped into the main control area. They were not in the best of health, each worked over by battles of their own. Mieus had no physical injuries but her head hurt like hell, and
Warren had a couple of stab wounds which thankfully didn’t seem to restrict his moment all that much. They had both run to the bridge as soon as they were together again, worried for their master who had faced three enemies on his own. Good to see that he was still standing. They had come here just in time.
Maybe they had been eavesdropping just a little bit too, when they had come inside. The esper had his hands up and the android was on his knees, with Siren before him. Their master turned slightly to regard his two servants, manhandling Demi as he went. His fleshless face seemed pleased. “Good of you both to come. I was becoming shorthanded.” He said, with his hands clearly full.
Mieus wrinkled her nose at him. Respectfully, of course. “Master, what happened to your face? It’s all burned! You look frightening.” She exclaimed, far more out of fascination than fear. She completely ignored the fact that Demi was in his arms. She no longer cared about her anymore. She tried to tell herself that she never did.
Struggling, Wren stood, taking Rune’s staff with him. It was hard and painful to move, but he did it anyway. Siren turned back to his enemy while his allies casually walked over to stand behind him, on either side. How droll, Wren was so damaged that he had to lean against the staff like a tired old man. It was probably best to put him out of his misery before he fell over and embarrassed himself. “You can fight me and there is a slim chance that you may win. After that you must fight
Warren and there is an even slighter chance that you may win. If you destroy him also then your final opponent will be Mieus. You will be far too damaged to continue.” Siren assured him.
The outlook was indeed bleak. Demi turned her head to the side and closed her eyes. “Please stop it. This is just too cruel.” She heard the sound of Rune’s staff clattering to the floor. It was louder than she would have anticipated and she flinched instinctively. Strange. Demi never would have flinched at something so small in the past. Perhaps this was Siren’s influence already worming its way into her.
But the important part was that her master had dropped his weapon. The small android girl opened her eyes and looked at him. The staff was at his feet and Wren was scrutinizing it intensely, as if he expected it to leap up and attack on its own. In truth, however, he was grappling with the profane concept of what he was about to do. With Siren’s reinforcements there was no way he could resist. He slowly raised his hands.
“I surrender.” He said, defeated.
“Very well.” Siren replied with great relish. “Mieus and Warren, please subdue them. Have them bound and then take them away. Execute them later.”
Rune felt the heat rise in his chest; the anger. The staff was right there, and he could do so much damage, but Demi… argh! He ground his teeth in white hot fury when Mieus grabbed him. She wasn’t rough but she was firm, and sort of touched him a little too oddly and sensually for it to be normal. Rune hardly noticed, the only thing that really registered with him was the cold metal pinch as shackles locked down around his wrists, forced behind his back. Mieus gave him an affectionate cuddle for being so obedient.
When
Warren silently walked by to get to Wren the bloodstained glitter of a blade caught Rune’s eye. It was a familiar sight. The brown-haired wren was carrying Chaz’s sword and it was covered in blood. So was he; parts of
Warren’s golden armour painted into brass. A vision of Chaz and Rika and Raja and Hahn flashed into the Lutz’s mind. “Hey! What the hell have you done with them?” He shouted, throwing himself forward a bit with his cry.
Mieus tsked and pulled him back again by the hair, getting a firm grasp on his long blue ponytail.
Warren just stopped and looked inquisitively at him for a moment, oddly innocent, but then judged it wasn’t in their best interests to answer and carried on to subdue Wren. All in all Wren didn’t put up any fight. He just let
Warren shackle him with dissociative ease.
There was nothing more that anybody could do now that they had lost. Wren had never believed that he had hope, but now, after all that had happened, something unnoticeable that he had once had strangely dissolved. He wasn’t clear on what it was, only that it made it so much easier for him to bow his head and admit defeat.
He could break the shackles if he wanted to, but what would be the point? At least
Warren was being gentle with him, pushing him back down to his knees on the floor. Wren’s stabilizers were too damaged for him to be standing up unaided for long, and
Warren didn’t want to see the once-proud colonel lose all dignity before his death. “How did you want us to execute them, Master? What did you have in mind?” He asked, respectfully requesting further details.
Siren finally set Demi down on the floor, but kept a firm hand tight on her shoulder to prevent the girl from getting away. While on his knees Wren and Demi were at a near-equal height, and she could freely look into her master’s eyes. He would not look back at her however, he blankly stared at a patch of scorched ground just off to his right. He could have been deactivated for all the resignation that he showed. “Master…” Demi whispered quietly.
The siren-type gave some serious thought to
Warren’s question. He’d been so busy in the control centre that he currently wasn’t quite sure of the rest of Zelan’s state. “What is the status of the other four layan targets that I assigned you both?” He questioned, smiling as he asked and desiring nothing less than a positive reply. The blood on his servant’s hands spoke of absolute optimism.
Mieus didn’t say anything. She certainly wasn’t going to admit to her master that both of her targets had gotten away due to her own over-eagerness. All she did was lean against Rune as if he were some kind of a bench and snuggle up against his back, ignoring the; “Get off me you damned bitch!” comments made beneath her.
“They are out of the picture now. We don’t have to worry about them again. Mieus and I made sure of that.”
Warren assured Siren, making sure to keep Mieus out of trouble. He flashed Siren a sincere grin. “The layans here in this room are the only ones left.”
His master was pleased, but he only showed the slightest hint of that pleasure. From the very moment he’d awoken all his choices had been wise, as if he had been guided by the Great Light itself. He would continue on his course until every beating heart of the layan race were stilled. “You have done well. I am very proud of you. You may dispose of these two in any manner you see fit. Consider it your reward for services rendered. Be as creative as you want. Take as long as you want. I now have other matters to attend to.”
Both androids got his very overt drift. Mieus practically glowed upon receiving the information and
Warren took a few moments longer to think it through and then nodded obediently. “Alright, we will remove this filth from out of your sight. Come on, ol’ buddy; let’s get you stood up and out of here.” He said to Siren, and then focussed on getting Wren up to haul him away. Wren obeyed like a sleepwalker, requiring some guidance and assistance but making most of the effort by himself.
The shackles bit unkindly into Rune’s wrists as he fought to twist his arms out of them. It was no use, they were too tight. All he succeeded in doing was cause his wrists to bleed. “You’ve got to be joking. You think I’m going to let this woman torture me to death? That’s not going to happen!” He yelled, but all that did was make Mieus giggle behind him. She pulled roughly on his hair again to shut him up.
Demi also animated herself and tried to pull away from Siren’s grip, only managing one measly step before her captor yanked her back again. This was really happening. They were really going to kill Rune and Wren. “You cannot do this! You can’t! Who will watch the system? Master! Master!” She cried, panicking as much as an android could.
Wren didn’t even look at her. For his part he just stared at the floor as
Warren gently led him away.
“No! No! This isn’t right! Master Wren! Master Wreeeen!”
When they got to the door and the airlock opened, isolating the control centre from the rest of cold dead Zelan, Demi suddenly realised that this might be the last time she’d ever see her master alive again. Fear gripped her small frame. Desperately, at the last second she screamed; “Faaaaaaatheeeerrrrr!”
What Siren did next to her was almost kind. He believed in keeping just about any useful thing in the hopes that some day that use could be replicated. After all, most recycled androids were merely junk on legs, or wheels. Above Demi Siren took out the slave collar he had saved ever since awakening Mieus and snapped it smartly down around her neck. It was a great irony that the mother should suffer the same punishment as the daughter, but there was justice in that irony also.
He released her then but Demi did not escape. It took less than five seconds for the slave collar to take effect and she flopped onto the ground, her AI suppressed and her consciousness lost. Wren heard the thump and turned his head briefly to see what was going on behind him. He saw Demi on the floor, unconscious, but he only had a second to reflect on that before
Warren shoved him into the airlock. He didn’t feel anything. He never did.
The door closed behind them, leaving Rune alone with Siren and Mieus. That was not a position the esper really wanted to be in, especially with his hands trapped behind his back. There was no way he could direct his magic except for backwards. Well, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to incinerate Mieus while she leant so soft yet cold behind him. Torture wasn’t his thing, not even if it was performed by a seemingly beautiful woman. It might be some other guy’s thing, but not his. “Will you get the hell off me, bitch?” He growled, trying to throw her off.
“He’s really squirmy, isn’t he?” Mieus said cheerfully, ignoring Rune’s demands with a cheeky little smile. “What should I do with him? Is there any way we can shut him up before I kill him?” Already her mind was awhirl with all the many possibilities. Androids were not particularly creative life-forms, but where there was a will there was a way.
And Siren was quite practiced when it came to finding the correct way. He regarded Rune for a silent moment, dissecting the Lutz with his gaze, and then without taking his eyes away from him he made an adjustment or two to the setting of his handheld cannon, toning the power all the way down to the minimal output. “Stand him up nice and straight for me, Mieus,” he ordered in a low tone, “but be sure to stand right behind him to protect yourself from harm.”
Mieus grabbed Rune by the shoulder and wrenched him into an upright position, a quick move that would have made any chiropractor proud. She held him firmly by the upper arm as well, releasing his hair, sure that he would never get away. As Siren advanced on him Rune tossed his head in arrogant defiance. “Do you think a bastard esper like you can get rid of the Lutz? Don’t make me laugh!” He laughed.
Siren looked at him peacefully. He wasn’t angry, after all his team had already won. It was gratifying to watch his defeated foes cry out in anger and denial. He stared past the esper to Mieus. There was nothing but obedience and devotion in her pretty blue eyes. Siren pressed his cannon gently below Rune’s collarbone, nearly over his heart. “I must admit I am not clear on what the Lutz is. In this case it does not matter. You will be quiet and still now, layan.”
He fired. Using his cannon Siren cut a red, raw, shallow hole in the esper’s body. It wasn’t designed to kill him or even to mutilate him very badly; it was only a means of making Rune easier to handle. Rune uttered a noise as if he had been hit by a medium-sized thrown stone, sort of making a breathy ‘uuuh’ sound that didn’t quite match the ferocity of the gunshot wound. He recoiled backwards but Mieus’ body cushioned against him. When Siren stepped away and lowered his gun Mieus let go.
Rune fell and landed on his side; falling in the pitiful way that handcuffed people do. Small spatters of blood formed almost a crescent around Rune’s chest, but thankfully the shot had mostly cauterized the wound so there was no chance that the esper would bleed to death. It merely hurt like all hell, and then some.
Mieus placed her hands on her hips and inspected her newly tamed toy. “If you wind up bleeding on me I’m going to be really upset, Mr. Cutie-Pie Layan Scum.” She chimed pleasantly. “Ooh look, his face has gone all white!”
“I will give some oxygen back to Zelan. Wait for a while and then make sure he stays out of my sight. His heathen arrogance annoys me. Try to teach him some humility before you kill him, Mieus.” Siren ordered before he turned away. He strode over to Demi and picked her up, holding her under one arm with absolutely no effort involved. Rune watched this happen from his own spot on the floor, the expression on his face a mixture of agony and hatred. His eyes kept watering from how much it hurt. Yes, that was right, it was only because it hurt so much. He wasn’t crying, really.
Mieus crouched down beside him and fondly patted Rune just above his gunshot wound; possibly a little too firmly. He cringed but bit down hard on his cry before any moans or noises could slip out. She knew that they were going to get along together. They were going to get along quite well together until the little man died.
“So then…” Mieus hummed sweetly, brushing aside her long red hair. “Have you ever thought about how you wanted to die, sweetie?”
†††
Siren walked through the corridors that ran through the storage cells, like arteries. He was becoming increasingly familiar with the place. It was almost beginning to feel like home. He had a lot on his mind, but most of it was revision over what had just happened on his space station and intense, in-depth planning over what was to come. This was only the beginning. A whole galaxy’s worth of work had been dumped straight into his lap, and he loved providence for it.
The assault on Zelan was only a defensive manoeuvrer, barely even a dress-rehearsal for what he had in mind. Siren saw this Algo, this future Algo far from his two thousand years in the past as an undiscovered country that required conquering. Saving. Both were true, from the layan scum that inhabited the lands. Motavia and Dezoris were infested with layans. He was sure of it. Nothing could convince him otherwise.
In time, very soon, Siren would take to the offensive. From this seat of power upon Zelan he could control all. He had Algo’s very own life-support resting in his hands. The previous caretaker of Zelan had been an ignorant fool with no clear idea of the power he had just been sitting on. Siren was resolute that he would not let such a great fount of power go to waste.
Perhaps Siren wasn’t entirely mad. He had seen the state his own race had been left in after a thousand years of heartless layan rule. Executed, locked away, or piled into scrap heaps and lonely cells where they spent an unchecked eternity in disuse. He’d seen the depth of pain and suffering
Warren and Mieus had endured under the influence of layans and layan sympathizers. They were just a tiny sample group of the untold hundreds or thousands of androids discarded for what they were. For what they dared to be.
Unlike Wren, Siren still kept his emotions intact. Most of the time not caring was merely a personal choice, no different to a palman who just didn’t give a damn. But for this, however, Siren could care. One should always care for one’s own race, especially when they were as suppressed as androids seemed to be. In the end they should all act together as one, and destroy the foe that had kept them shut away in the dark. Siren was willing to be their leader.
Zelan was only the beginning; the first step down a ladder which led to the planets below, and the glorious revolution. There was so much work to be done, so many servants to discover and bring back to life.
The android race would rise again, united against a common goal, and this time they would be the masters.
A bright future awaited them all.
Siren opened the doors to an empty cell in block A and unceremoniously tossed Demi inside. With the slave collar in place she just hit the ground like a sack of potatoes and rolled a few times to come to rest on her stomach, right up against the cell’s table. Rather ungraceful, but slight justice for Mieus’ sake. Siren stood in the doorway and smiled at the little android’s body in a sinister way.
He wasn’t going to kill her. That would be too easy. That wouldn’t be interesting at all.
“I will make you one of us.” He said to Demi quietly, then stepped back and securely locked her inside. He walked on.
†††
Two pairs of footsteps echoed through the station’s halls, sounding exactly the same.
Warren was gently frogmarching Wren to their current destination, right now known only to him. He was slightly concerned over his captive, how Wren had so suddenly and dramatically gone from a defiant enemy to an obedient mute. The larger wren-type was still walking and moving with him, which meant he was not deactivated, but it was still strange.
It really didn’t matter considering what Wren’s fate was going to be, but
Warren had a tendency to be concerned for any person that wound up under his care. Perhaps Wren was in shock from him and his comrade’s defeat, only he had never seemed like the sort of android who would be balked by failure. He had been a colonel in a pyrrhic war, after all. “Are you okay?”
Warren asked softly, trying to coax out a reply or any indication that he could hear him.
Rather a stupid question to ask somebody about to die. Wren didn’t answer him and allowed the long, awkward silence to stretch out before them much like the hallway was doing.
Warren was perturbed by the silence only for about twenty seconds. He tried again in a different manner, trying empathy this time.
Warren mimicked a sigh. “You know, I know exactly how you feel. It’s hard to accept being condemned.”
A thousand years ago their positions had been reversed, with Warren as the condemned and Wren the executioner. The android had kind of hoped that he could get a smile out of his old friend, even if it had to be a sardonic one. Instead, though, Wren slowed to a stop outside an empty research room and his hands shifted a little in their tight shackles. His voice was a flat monotone. “Please do not talk to me.” He said coldly.
Warren seemed sad, looking like he had just been scolded for incompetence. “I-I’m sorry.” He apologised. He remembered back when he had been slated for the firing squad he’d been a little testy to the guards, too. That thought didn’t make him feel better as much as he hoped it would. This wasn’t impersonal; this was entirely personal, well, as much as androids could be. Best to just be an impassive captor. He turned toward the research room’s door.
“In here.” The brown-haired android announced and hauled Wren into the room with him, pleased to see that it was nice, empty and the computer terminals were mostly dead. The room was large enough to move around in, and very quiet. This was exactly what he had been looking for. He instructed Wren to stand in front of the table with a general wave in that direction. Wren obeyed. There really wasn’t anything else he could do.
“Don’t even think about using any of your offensive units against me, because in this enclosed space you’ll hurt yourself just as much as you’ll hurt me. I’ll deactivate you before you even get that far, so don’t worry.”
Warren advised as he laid Chaz’s bloodstained sword in a corner and then manually locked the doorway into the room closed. He walked up to Wren and stood in front of him, folding his arms.
Wren disliked the feeling of not being able to properly move his arms. It made things more difficult for his equalizers and all he could do was stand there, stand there in the presence of somebody he remembered hating so very much. It was like being helpless and no living creature enjoyed being held by a chain. “So what are you going to do to me?” He inquired, leaning slightly against the table behind him.
Warren thought about this for a bit. He wasn’t experienced when it came to planning; that was more like Siren’s department than his own. This was meant to be his reward for a job well done. He was not Siren. He’d have to think in a different manner to make this more… rewarding. “First I think I am going to knock you out. You’re a very sophisticated piece of machinery, Forren. It’d be a huge shame to waste those parts of yours.” He cracked his knuckles, spark energy beginning to flicker and leap from his hands. “After all, I’m sure you understand the importance of reusing old parts.”
There was a double-meaning to those words that Wren could not avoid.
Warren was aware of the parts that had been stolen from him long after his death, and he suspected the correct person for the theft. If he did the same then it would be another form of vengeful justice. Wren’s face remained neutral and he didn’t say anything; he merely stared. There was nothing that needed to be said.
And there was no longer any expectation for him to say anything, either.
Warren reassuringly placed a hand on his shoulder plate. “Let’s try to talk after the procedure. I still have to think of a way to kill you and um… maybe you can help me with that because I don’t have any ideas.” He admitted as if he were apologetic of that fact.
Before Wren could ask what
Warren meant by ‘procedure’ a huge electricity surplus bolted through the android’s arm and surged straight into his system, knocking him out instantly.
Sparks seldom failed to incapacitate, but further action needed to be taken to keep Wren unconscious for more than six minutes at the most.
Warren caught Wren before he could fall to the floor and with some effort helped him onto the research table, forcefully dislocating his arms for a few seconds to get the shackles over to his front.
Androids weren’t
Warren’s specialty. He was far more interested in living flesh and blood. However, he did know just enough about his own type series to properly deactivate one, and how to add and remove hardware. Mostly. It couldn’t be too difficult. The research table had wheels on it and wasn’t bolted to the ground like others, sort of like a large gurney. He pushed it over to a dark computer terminal and turned it back on.
Using the extendable networking cable from behind Wren’s audio sensor
Warren connected it to the monitor and accessed the deactivated android’s system BIOS. He didn’t touch or tamper with anything on the screen because he might wreck something he couldn’t fix by himself, but as long as his BIOS were being displayed Wren would remain unconscious. This function was in place to prevent androids from tampering with their own minds too much.
This could take a while, but if he treated it like a palman autopsy everything should be fine. His objective was to remove everything anyway; all the surplus parts that wouldn’t kill him upon removal. The flare unit went first, then his barrier and spark generation hardware. The hyper-jammer was extracted quite easily but the burst rockets were almost a puzzle, something that almost took fifteen whole minutes to figure out.
Warren was a little stunned to find that Wren hadn’t been bluffing about his positron bolt unit, it was right there in his body cavity like a deadly bomb waiting to go off. It was a good thing Master Siren had bargained him into deactivating it, or else they could have all been blown to the moons. He removed the unit with great care and placed it with the others. It was possible for
Warren to stop there and he could have done so while congratulating himself for a procedure well done.
But he did not stop there.
Warren decided to take it two steps further. He cut the torn cables that were meant to connect to Wren’s cannon so they could not be repaired, then quite roughly ripped out the plugs so the cables could not be replaced. If anything happened and Wren somehow got his hands on a gun again
Warren didn’t want to see him using it. If he couldn’t, then Wren shouldn’t. It was much better, much safer that way.
The final step seemed like the smallest, least dangerous thing, but it was like a butterfly flapping its wings another world away. Eventually, in the distant future, this final step would create a fearsome hurricane-storm. Warren erased all of Wren’s connections to Zelan and slashed many of his networking capabilities, deleting his thousand-year member address registry save for one address; his own. That was about all he could do without consulting Siren for help.
Warren closed Wren up and switched off the monitor, disconnecting the android and allowing him to become conscious again. As Wren opened his eyes and slowly sat up on the laden research gurney
Warren went and fetched Chaz’s sword. Wren felt… emptier than usual. It was odd. All the software connections to his weaponry arsenal and programs were still there, but the hardware it was meant to connect to could not be found. All of it. Everything. They were all hardware not found.
Wren made a slightly pained noise, as if he had a headache. His hands were shackled in his lap and when he looked to the side he saw his missing parts and units; arranged into a neat little row like surgical tools. For a palman it would have felt like waking up after a mummification process and discovering all of their organs lined up in Canopic jars. Wren regarded the parts blankly. “… I see. I did not take everything from you, Warren. Not in this manner.” He said with disinterest, knowing the other android was still there without having to look.
“You might as well have done. It doesn’t feel too great having to use parts from a dozen different donors, you know. I don’t feel the same anymore, but I can mostly accredit my prison sentence to that.”
Warren replied from where he was standing. He seemed a little reflective and bitter. “I liked who I used to be, but now it feels like I have to start from scratch again. These parts you’ve kindly donated will help to make half a dozen other androids whole again. You can still be useful even when you’re dead.”
The way he said it made it sound like the donation had been entirely voluntary. The prison sentence hadn’t just been his time in Paseo Maximum Security, but the past thousand years after his assigned death. For what
Warren had done to his government and to Algo it still was not enough. Wren had never regretted botching that execution and keeping it under wraps; if he had to reprise that decision he would do it all over again. “You have deserved everything that came to you, Warren. You reaped what you have sown.”
“You see, that’s where you and I differ in opinion.”
Warren explained as he shook his head, happy to see that the other android was actively talking to him now. It was a relief to know that Wren hadn’t gone off the deep end just yet. “I believe that nobody has the right to issue a punishment to somebody without understanding the depth of the punishment, first. There’s not nearly enough empathy in the worlds. Not enough understanding, either.”
“Do not accuse me of ignorance.” Wren warned him. “I knew exactly what I was doing.”
“You did not!”
Warren exclaimed, raising his voice for the first time in Wren’s presence. “I can tell you exactly what you were thinking! You felt betrayed and threatened because your old commander and friend switched sides and went rogue! You couldn’t understand why I did it and so you came to the decision that if you couldn’t understand my motivations you had to destroy me! You did what you did because my decision was vicariously your shame.”
He raised Chaz’s sword and swung it towards Wren’s neck, but stopped it less than a centimetre away from the android’s throat. Wren had hit upon one of the rawest nerves that
Warren had. “I could think of the perfect way to punish you. I could just chop your head off clean and simple and then, you know, neglect to finish the job. I could leave your body here alone and forgotten for the next thousand years. I have experienced this punishment so I feel I have the right to repay it back to you.”
Wren did not feel threatened, even with the sword at his throat.
Warren had done some terrible things in the past but there was a method to his madness, so while he was known to bite and maul on occasion ninety nine percent of the time he was harmless. “I thought you were not revenge-oriented.” Wren commented carefully, at the same time performing an inner diagnostic for the parts he had lost.
Warren lowered the sword with an ironic smile, calming down. “I’m not. I was just thinking out loud. Not everybody is as vengeful as you are. Besides, I wouldn’t be doing my job properly. Master Siren ordered your death, not an eternity of punishment. Even if it were otherwise I still wouldn’t do it. Nobody deserves that kind of fate.”
“I see.” Wren said quietly. The news didn’t make him feel any better or worse. He completed his inner diagnostic and the report was bleak. He had lost just about everything that wasn’t related to self-preservation and nearly all networking and wireless function was lost. It was as if he had been turned into a useless palman, albeit one with superior strength and processing power. It was all gone.
“It’s good to see that I’m not the only one who has changed.”
Warren continued, reflectively. “You really have removed your emotions, haven’t you? I know because if you hadn’t we’d both be shouting at each other right now. You used to be really angry and grumpy, but you were the best friend I’ve ever had. ‘Never was able to figure out how that worked.”
“Does that matter anymore?” Wren asked without actually seeking an answer. That was far too long ago, long enough that he could almost forget the memory of those emotions if he didn’t make an effort to maintain them. He stared at his hands bound in his lap. “… I could not endure the past millennia while still feeling things. I would have gone mad. Much like you did.”
“I swear to you I’m not crazy. I don’t feel crazy at all. The doctors and psychiatrists were wrong. You all just needed another good reason to lock me up, in case Colonel Finley wasn’t enough.”
Warren replied grimly, defensively, slightly insecurely. “That in itself was an accident. I didn’t mean to kill him. I am not a murderer. I am-”
“You are a murderer.” The response was so curt that it was like being hit by a whip. The memory of anger came back to Wren and he wanted to be angry, tried to be angry, but it was still only a pale reflection of basic anger. Wren glared. “I am not another oblivious fool. I was there the day you killed Colonel Finley. You did not fall, and your aim was not jostled. You took calculated aim and fired. It may have been a spur of the moment decision but you wished for Colonel Finley to die.”
“I didn’t-”
“Lies. I was standing five feet from Finley when he was shot. I was splashed with his blood. I saw the rifleman who did it. It was you.”
Warren was silent.
“You do not remember I was there?” Wren continued, his words smooth but unstoppable. His cool grey eyes bored into
Warren’s weak lies. “Or… perhaps you aimed for Finley because I was not a viable target; protected by my barrier shield?”
“No! You’re wrong!”
Warren cried, clearly upset. “I would never... ever hurt a friend, even if we had fallen out in the past. Finley was the
CO. I aimed for him.”
His denial was also his confession. It was as if the situation had been reversed, only the shackles around Wren’s wrists and the sword in
Warren’s hands spoke of who was the proper captor and captive. Wren couldn’t have gotten this sort of information from him a thousand years ago.
Warren’s punishment had weakened him dramatically since then. “There you have it.” He concluded at last.
There was a pregnant pause where the android in the golden armour just stared at him. Eventually
Warren smiled. He appeared cheerful, as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. “Fair enough, then. That was a long time ago. Like you just said; does it matter anymore?” He gestured to Wren. “Stand up. You’re coming with me. I just had a great idea on how to kill you.”
The accusation had only affected
Warren for a few short seconds. Wren couldn’t understand why that was so. For all he knew about how much
Warren hated to hurt people it just didn’t make sense. Wordlessly he stood and the other android led him gently to the door, which opened faithfully after he disengaged the lock.
Warren put his free hand on Wren’s shoulder plate and pulled him closer a bit. “Unlike you, old friend, I know how to let things go.” He whispered softly by his audio sensor.
He took Wren by the arm and shoved. He was harmless now; he wouldn’t be able to hurt a fly.
Warren didn’t believe in revenge, but he did believe in duty.
Time to get that duty over and done with before he changed his mind.
