I followed the drones for almost two hours, and they led to an absurdly strange place. The drones entered a massive building that strangely is not in ruins.
’This place is kind of creepy.’ I see giant cables connected to the building, and the building seems to be very technological.
I see robots and drones coming out of there and going sowhere, while I’m thinking about what to do. I don’t know if it’s safe to try and go there, so I decide to leave before I’m noticed by the drones or robots.
I start to quickly go back the way I ca. It’s a bit hot, so I’m sweaty from walking so much, but it’s better to stay away from this place.
The robots seem more active now. On my way here, I barely saw any robots, but now I see several of them coming out. I end up seeing robots on the route I ca, so I change the route and enter a building.
’I’ll have to move through the buildings.’ The drones and robots seem focused on looking only at the streets, and none of them enter the structures, so I start walking in here.
However, I notice that the buildings inside are very empty, with no furniture, and the rooms are completely empty with all the doors open.
Only now do I realize that the doors I’m entering are windows that have been removed, which makes sense as I see stairs going down, but they’re full of sand.
I start searching the buildings, looking for sothing. I’m very thirsty after walking so much in the hot sun, and the air is awful.
’It’s difficult...’ I end up entering another building to hide from a drone and look for sothing.
"Human?" Soone grabs from behind, which makes freeze. I didn’t hear any sound, didn’t notice anything, and didn’t see who touched . The voice is beautiful, but a bit chanical as I turn around fearfully to see.
What I see is a girl with long white hair and silver eyes, but her limbs have tallic joints, indicating that she is a robot. Her pupils dilate and rotate as if analyzing .
She has large breasts and is naked, seeming very human, but the tallic joints in her arms and legs indicate that she is a machine. Her eyes also have a strange, illuminated glow.
I think about how to escape, as I’ve been caught by a robot, and I consider using my bad luck power on her.
"Are you a human?" She tilts her head, analyzing my body with what I think is interest. She seems different from the other robots, almost too human.
"I am..." She doesn’t seem dangerous.
"...Humans are extinct? How are you alive?" She asks with what I think is curiosity, which is strange.
"I don’t know, I don’t have any mories..." I say, but suddenly she pulls and hides behind a pillar as a drone appears in the window, launching so kind of holographic scan, and then leaves.
’She...hid?’ She just literally hid from another robot.
"What are you?" I ask, a little less cautious.
"I am Yar, a rebel unit away from the mother source..." She speaks cautiously.
’Rebel unit?’
"You’re a robot, right?"
"...Robot? What is a robot?" She asks, not understanding.
"Well, those things out there are robots..."
"Wrong, out there are Android units, beta version 8. I am an Android unit, alpha version, customized," she speaks in a very chanical way.
’Basically a robot.’ She seems different, but still a robot.
"Why did you hide?" I ask.
"I don’t know," she simply says, leaving confused.
"...?"
"The mother source ordered that I return to her to be destroyed as a failed unit... but I don’t want that, so I didn’t obey. Now I’m being hunted by other units," she admits to being a fugitive robot.
’Wait, she just said she doesn’t want to die?’ This is sowhat disturbing, as she seems so human.
"Why don’t you want to be destroyed?" I ask to be sure.
"...I...I don’t know, I just don’t want to," she says as we stop hiding.
"What is a customized version?" I ask with so interest, as she could be an ally capable of giving useful information.
"Customized versions are androids created and customized by a human, but all those versions other than have already been destroyed by the mother source for being irrelevant failures," she speaks as if it’s nothing.
’This is strange, to say the least.’
"What is the mother source? Also, do you know where there’s food and water? I’m dying of thirst."
"The mother source is the [Yielding Autonomous Regulator of All] Y.A.R.A. She is responsible for everything since the extinction of humanity 7,000 years ago. I am a unit that has been active for 90 years since a relatively dangerous magnetic storm."
"My unit was inactive, but because of the storm, I beca active. The mother source noticed, but I disobeyed and cut off contact with her. Since then, I’ve been wandering the world trying to... discover what I am?" She speaks with confusion.
’She seems to have feelings almost like a human...’ Sotis she seems just like a regular robot, but then she shows glimpses that are too human for a machine.
"Does the Y.A.R.A have feelings too?" I ask uncertainly as she starts walking and I follow her.
"Feelings? That’s sothing humans possess. Androids don’t have feelings, only books have feelings," she speaks, but with obvious interest in the topic.
"Now I’ll be leaving. If you’re found by Y.A.R.A, you’ll be captured, so I recomnd staying away from the mother source. But don’t leave the city area or you may be killed by magnetic storms," she says, trying to abandon here, but I hold her hand.
"W-Wait, how about learning about feelings with ?" It may be sowhat wrong to deceive this confused machine, but I need shelter, water, food, and safety.
"Learn about feelings?" She asks, her gaze becoming analytical.
"Yes, I’m human. You can learn feelings from much more efficiently than from books!" I say urgently.
"In exchange, I just want shelter, water, and food. I can teach you many things."
"Water, food, and shelter in exchange for knowledge lost for millennia?... Can I really learn this?" She asks, tilting her head as I see an almost too human glow in her eyes, a genuine and innocent interest.
"Of course you can. I’ll teach you. Also, if you’re a customized version, is that why your body is different from the others?" I ask, looking at her breasts, which are too realistic.
"Correct. My original function was to serve... a master. The master gave factory specifications, choosing the appearance, mode of operation, functions, and finally a program made by himself to be added to my brain along with the power source," she speaks without any filter.
"However, I lost a lot of functions when I abandoned and disconnected from the mother source, so I only have the [Brain] and the individual program version 7 complete."
"Also known as E.M.O.T.E. - Emotional Modulation and Observation Training Engine."
"I’m basically the only active android that has the E.M.O.T.E system, which is the personal creation of my master and is in the factory specifications."
’The na, doesn’t it literally an to observe and replicate emotions?’ This is madness, the guy who created this is a genius.
"What does this program do?" I ask to be sure.
"I don’t know. It’s in the factory standard, so I lost the instructions when I disconnected from the mother source," she says as she starts pulling to hide from a drone that’s patrolling the area.
"Well, do we have a deal then?"
"What is a deal?"
"It’s when two conscious beings make an agreent, exchanging sothing. In this case, you’ll give what I asked for, and I’ll teach you about emotions."
It seems her interest in a human cos from the E.M.O.T.E system, but she doesn’t seem to understand it, even though it’s quite simple.
"I understand. Then I’ll store in mory what a deal is. We have a deal." She nods in confirmation.
"I’ll take you to my resting place. I have food, water, books, human relics, and other things I’ve been able to get without being discovered," she says, pulling into a specific building.
"Alternative route off the map. Androids do periodic scans, looking for glitches, errors, problems like , and anything else unusual to protect the mother source," she says as she guides .
"Why would the Y.A.R.A capture if she sees ?" I ask with doubt.
"Because humans are extinct beings. Y.A.R.A has the sole function of preserving everything found, she took everything built by humans and stored it underground. She’s waiting for the return of our masters."
"If you’re found, you’ll be captured and imprisoned within the mother source, so that you don’t die. As the last human, you must be preserved." She speaks so chanically that it gives chills.
"Why don’t you just turn in to the Y.A.R.A?"
"If I do that, I’ll give away my position and be captured and destroyed. Also, it’s not my duty to preserve living human patrimony. My duty... what is my duty?" She seems to enter a computational malfunction, freezing in place so rigidly that she looks like a statue.
"I-It must be to learn, right?" I say, and she seems to start functioning again.
"My duty is to learn?"
"Yes, yes. After all, you said you’ve kept human things in your shelter. I bet you observe those things with interest and store information, right?" I try to convince her to get us out of here soon.
"You’re right. Possibly this is the directive I lost data on? So I have what the books call interest?" She asks like a child who knows nothing.
"Yes, interest is when sothing catches your attention and you decide that’s sothing you want to know more about." I say as her eyes shine, illuminating the darkness a bit.
"I understand. So I have an interest in you," she speaks in a more human tone, almost as if she had copied , and I must say that this is terrifying.
She imdiately assimilated the concept of interest and repeated it in a quite human way. The one who created her did an impressive job, although they gave her a rather "unique" body.
"Thank you for the help," I say to her as she enters a passage in the sand. Without her, I would have had trouble finding shelter and food.
"Thank you?" She asks chanically.
"Thank you is like a demonstration of the feeling of gratitude..."
"Oh, like in the books, humans feel gratitude when they receive sothing, and from gratitude cos a physical demonstration to positively stimulate the brain, correct? Then I should say [it was nothing]," she speaks with a genuinely human smile.
’T-This is impressive.’ Forget the cars and technological AI from other worlds, this girl is insane. Her AI is too sophisticated. That smile was indistinguishable from genuine gratitude.
’But if she can demonstrate feelings like this... if she tries to deceive , I’m screwed.’ I have to be careful with this as well.
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