by G. L. Argain
Andrew was alive again. In some way. In two ways, really. He was breathing, and he could feel a pulse in his body. But something was off. Something didn’t feel right about his body, although he was technically in perfect condition. He was conscious before he opened his eyes, and he was afraid to do anything at all because he was unsure whether he was dead or alive. Was he in heaven? Or was he still alive, by some miraculous chance? He was too frightened by the reality of the situation, and he didn’t know what lay before him.
Did he go insane from everything that happened in his existence? Was it possible to be insane while dead and in heaven? Perhaps he was insane in thinking so, but then that would be a contradiction—
Breaking the silence, a familiar voice called out to him, yelling, “Hey! Wake up, already!” It was Anzem’s voice; this forced Andrew to open his eyes, and finally he saw the truth. Or at least whatever lay itself before him.
He knew he was alive now. He could see Anzem, Shul, and Juvir in front of him, along with….a human. A huge human that looked a lot like him, only he had reddish-pink skin on its face. The rest of the human’s body was covered in the usual black suit. There were all looking at Andrew.
“Well?” said Shul. “How do you feel?”
Andrew looked at his hand, discovering that there were no fingerprints on it. No hairs or pores, either. His skin felt smooth and almost rubbery. There was no saliva in his mouth, although the dryness didn’t seem to bother him. He still had a tongue; he still had eyes and ears and a nose. And yet….
“What did you do to me?”
“You?” said Juvir. “We didn’t change anything about you, if that’s what you mean. This one over here, however….” He was pointing to the human beside him. “This guy had to go through an entire reconstruction because of all the damage he’s taken. Care to share the story, Andrew?” The human nodded.
However, before the human spoke, Andrew interrupted by saying, “Wait a minute, is his name Andrew as well? Is he some kind of copy of me of something?”
“Actually, he is Andrew. You are a copy of him.”
“What?”
“You’re an android,” said the human. “I am the original, you are the artificial twin.”
Andrew—or rather, the android—found it hard to speak out of initial disbelief. He stared at the large human, who really was the true Andrew Lockeford, for a few seconds, trying to find a fault. Hair, wrinkles, and even the occasional freckles were found on his face, exactly as he was familiar with. The only thing he did not accept was the red skin. It looked like a giant sunburn.
“Why is your skin so red?” said the android.
“Genetic muscle modification. When your muscles become more efficient from the gene, they require more oxygen and therefore more blood. The gene accounts for increased blood pressure, tendon strength, all that stuff.”
“So you’re just blushing all over?”
Andrew the red human said nothing.
“So go on,” said Anzem. “Ask us how we did it. How you got split into two bodies.”
“I don’t wanna know how, I wanna know why!”
“You had gone insane,” said Juvir. “And if not, then you were bound to become insane. The best way to resolve this issue was to either ‘wash out’ your brain or create an artificial brain that still maintained your personality.”
“Then why do I not have just one body, with red skin and a robot brain?!”
“It’s safer that way. Your intelligence is best used for the political aspects of an AOIB officer, and your brawn—which Andrew utilizes over here—is best used for the combat aspects when we go to war. So a smart, artificial being plays the role of political representative while the toughened, organic being plays the role of military officer.”
Ignoring the fact that Andrew was just called a military officer, the word “war” struck the android’s mind very unpleasantly. Were the AOIB and the Selentors really going to go through with that intergalactic war? All because Andrew showed up at their doorstep?
“We know that you aren’t fond of the fact that a war is going to be taking place. And even more so that Andrew’s kind is going to play a role in it—”
“Then don’t do it! Do go through with it!”
“It was inevitable! Even if we never met Andrew, we were bound to find out the Selentors’ illegal activities, anyway. Our conflict regards the humans, after all; we want to keep them safe, but the Selentors want to take over Earth for the sake of colonization, business, and resources. No regards for the people.”
“And don’t act so harshly on this,” said Andrew the red human. “It’s not as though we will let the humans just die to the hands of the Selentors. Once we gather enough, they will actually give us an edge in the war!”
“How exactly?”
“….I tell you the details later.”
“No, dammit! I wanna know now!”
“It would be best that you don’t know right at this moment,” said Juvir, “considering how emotionally unstable you’re being.”
“I have a reason to be emotional!”
“And what reason is that?”
“My entire race is going to be used as pawns in an intergalactic war that’s not even part of their business!!!”
“Well, he pretty figured out the details on his own,” said Andrew. “And it’s my race, not yours. You’re just an android.”
“SHUT UP!!!”
The android stormed out of the room through an open door, running aimlessly through the halls. No one ran after him. Anzem and Shul stood in their place, wondering silently how he could have been so upset.
Juvir turned to face Andrew, “Congratulations on becoming an intel-being, by the way. How are you feeling from all of this?”
“Pretty well, thank you.”
“That’s what we aimed for. From all of the abuse you went through with the Selentors, I was unsure whether you were beyond repair or not.”
“Well, even if I didn’t go through all that abuse, I would rather be how I am now than my old self on Earth. I don’t see this business about war or aliens all that bad anymore. In fact, I see it as….somewhat exciting.”
“Just don’t get too carried away. You are a military officer, after all. You’ll be directing all of the humans once the war really begins, and you’ll need a stable mind along with a strong body. Need a food pill?”
“Sure.” Andrew took a pill from Juvir and ingested it without hesitation. “What’s an intel-being, anyway? It’s seems so inconsistent between what I think it is, what the Selentors think it is, and what the AOIB thinks it is.”
“It’s complicated—there’s a lot of characteristics that must be held for someone to be named an intel-being.” After a short pause, Juvir changed the subject. “Remind me later to refine INT-EH1’s programming. His spontaneity could become quite a hassle for us.”
“Will do.”
———
Meanwhile, the android found himself in front of a mirror that took up the entire size of the wall. He discovered the new face, the new body that he possessed now. As he stepped closer, he noticed that his irises were different. Up close, he realized that the pupil was similar to that of the eye from a digital camera, and his iris was just a series of tiny plates that moved in and out to the center. A robotic eye. There were no blood vessels in the whites of his eyes. There were no wrinkles, skin tags, pores, zits, or anything abnormal on his face. There wasn’t a trace of hair—not even on his scalp. He stepped back, looking at his body as a whole. There were no genitals, no nipples, and no belly button. He still looked like he had muscles though, or at least what were designed to be like muscles. He was no longer seven feet tall; like he was on Earth, he was six feet tall again, from the looks of it.
He turned around, vaguely feeling as though something was on his back. Upon the sight of his back came a feeling of shock. On it was a tattoo, or perhaps some other kind of imprint, that read “INT-EH1.” He had no idea what it meant, but according
to the AOIB database, it went as such: INT referred to the fact that he was an intel-being. The E stood for Earth, the H stood for human, and the 1 meant he was the first of his kind—a human—to ever be turned into an android in AOIB history.
And yet, knowing that he was a hunk of metal, he did not feel as though he was different or oppressed mentally from when he was still organic. He was conscious. He was a living being—artificial, perhaps, but still technically living and autonomous. He could think about his feelings for the war. He could think about his memories back on Earth. He could think about thinking. He was self-aware.
What does this say about organic beings, then? Organic humans are conscious, autonomous hunks of meat, so having metal and rubber instead of meat shouldn’t end up being that much different. Right?
This mind of his….how did it move from Andrew’s mentally-damaged brain to this artificial one? How did he still remember everything about his life? Or rather, Andrew’s life? Did they really just transfer the personality from Andrew’s brain into his? Or was there some sort of database about his personality stored onto a computer and reworked, ready for use for the AOIB?
The android began to have a headache from all the stress. He didn’t even think it was possible for an android to have one. He sat down with his back against the wall, moved his legs so that his knees were close to his face, rested his elbows onto his knees, and buried his face into his hands.
Epilogue
In a remote part of Ku-an Doel, among all the skyscrapers and machinery, stand two intel-beings. One of them looks like a half-human, half-squirrel being, most noticeably with the head. It has two arms and two legs, with each hand having four fingers and each foot having five toes. His name is Jimmy. The other one is somewhat insect-like, although it breathes through lungs rather than through its skin. It has four arms and two legs, with six fingers on each hand and four toes on each foot. It has claws with its hands, but not its feet. Her name is Ionoe. People were all around these two, but they spoke as though they were in private. Everyone could hear them, but no one cared.
Jimmy: And that’s the story.
Ionoe: Wow, that actually sounded….interesting. Not like it was romantic or action-packed or anything, but interesting in a different way.
Jimmy: There was some action to it.
Ionoe: Some.
Jimmy: But the scariest part about it is that according to Andrew, Earth wasn’t as far off as we thought it would be.
Ionoe: Sure makes the “forbidden planet” label unnecessary.
Jimmy: Perhaps. You know what he said about hypocrisy?
Ionoe: Huh?
Jimmy: Andrew said that one of the reasons he didn’t like his life on Earth was because of all the hypocrisy. Kind of like how we always see people saying that they want things to change things on Ku-an Doel, but they don’t actually do anything?
Ionoe: Yeah. Or like how “everyone’s equal” when it’s impossible for us to be so. If we really were equal, then why do we treat each species separately, even though we’re all intel-beings?
Jimmy: Yeah….we’re set to work in places designed for our particular species, after all.
Ionoe: I think that’s just a physical thing, though. You know, like how each species has its own strengths and weaknesses?
Jimmy nodded his head, then the two intel-beings stood silently for a few moments. Dozens of people walked right by them. A few of them heard bits and pieces of the conversation earlier. Various thoughts sprang up in their heads, such as “Weirdos…” or “Why are they just standing around like that? Don’t they have something to do?” One person slowed down as he walked by just to catch the part, “they don’t actually do anything.” He returned to his original pace, thinking, “Maybe he’s right. I should get my life in order.” Ten minutes later, he forgot entirely all about it, resuming his usual life.
Jimmy: There’s another thing.
Ionoe, who was not paying attention any longer, attended to her Do-All headset. Her model was designed to fit her species. She was busy communicating to a friend with it.
Ionoe: Sorry, what?
Jimmy: He portrayed me kind of badly when I was talking to him.
Ionoe: Who?
Jimmy: Andrew Lockeford.
Several people in front of Jimmy and Ionoe stopped in their tracks.
Ionoe: You actually met the guy?!
A law enforcer kept on walking, but he listened very deliberately as he turned around the corner and stopped, using a sound amplifier in his ear.
Jimmy: Yeah, just before he departed for training at the volcano. [One guy on the street thought, “What’s a volcano?”] I was the “squirrel dude” that he mentioned.
Ionoe: So you’re the crackpot! Hah! Explains everything!
Jimmy: You’re just an acquaintance of mine! You hardly even know me!
Stranger: None of us do, partner. Doesn’t mean you can’t be a crackpot.
Jimmy: I….what? No! Go away!
The person walks off, laughing along with a few other people, all who had also walked away after stopping from hearing Andrew’s name. “Yhn damn idiots,” thought Jimmy.
Jimmy: And just because my name happens to be “Jimmy” doesn’t mean that I’m the same brat who wanted to see some guy get hit by a meteorite. [He began to mutter] I may have been that way as a child….but that’s beside the point….
Ionoe: So what about when Vice-President Juvir called you a crackpot?
Jimmy: Just because Vice-President Juvir called me a crackpot, doesn’t mean….[Suddenly, Jimmy realized the problem with his words. An official’s opinions are treated as though they were undeniable on Ku-an Doel. Ionoe stood smiling, trying not to mock him.] Well, Juvir never met me, and I can say that there’s something beyond life, if I want.
Ionoe: You mean that Impossible Realm thing?….Makes sense, sort of.
Jimmy: Hey, I think there’s a connection. I mean, from what I determined by Andrew’s dreams, I knew he was going to be an important figure one day.
Ionoe: You can’t just determine a guy’s popularity by their dreams.
Jimmy: Or can you?
Ionoe: No. No you can’t.
Jimmy paused for a moment, thinking back to his idea of an afterlife. Then he recalled something from Andrew’s last words to Voriaku.
Jimmy: Back to that thing about life after death—Andrew wondered if there was any reason as to why we live, why we are put into existence.
Ionoe: I….I don’t get it. I never had to worry about that. Usually, we don’t worry about anything past death. We live just to live. When we die, we die.
Jimmy: Yeah, I know. But we don’t even do anything with our lives, as least I think that goes for most of us. Do you think that we’re significant?
Ionoe: [Ionoe tried to find the equivalent of “Hell no,” but considering she has never heard of the idea of Hell before, she had a hard time responding.] Nnn….no, no! No! Of course not! We’re two people among trillions of others. How could we be significant?
Jimmy: Hey, we don’t even have to affect trillions of people. We could just be important to a select few. It’s just that when….well, Voriaku said our actions make our lives and other people’s lives either living heavens or living hells.
Ionoe: I don’t even know what heavens or hells are.
Jimmy: I just found out about those recently. They were Earth terms, used for—
Suddenly the law enforcer from before appeared in front of them, having his hands behind his back. He had a friendly expression, but Jimmy and Ionoe were rather uncomfortable due to his presence. He was wearing something over his eyes.
Enforcer: So I heard from you that one of the Selentors actually sounded like a good person.
Jimmy: [Jimmy spoke slowly and nervously.] Well, I….don’t think he actually was a good person, just that what he said—
The law enforcer stretched out one of his hands, which had a device on it. He pressed a button and a flash occurred, bright enough to affect ever
yone within a ten foot radius. He put away the device into a pouch on his belt.
Enforcer: Remember this: anything and everything that the Selentors do is evil and ruthless. Nothing they say or do is beneficial to us.
Ionoe: Okay.
Jimmy: Understood.
Enforcer: Alrighty then, have a good day. [The law enforcer walked away.]
The memory-erasing device that the law enforcer had was designed so that people knew they had part of their memory erased, but they didn’t know what had been erased from their memories.
