Of Gears and Humanity

| 07.2

[DAMIEN]

Love. Family. Unity. All the words I thought were real as I grew up. Arvon expressed as much as he was able. I remembered numerous times when I was small when Arvon would try and recreate moments I'd seen in movies, within videos. Where a father and son would learn together, run together, and play together. I thought his smiles were genuine, then; I believed every part of him to be true.

Unique, on the other hand, though simple and not as advanced as he was, was able to give me more. I felt the love from her, even if she didn't try. And when she smiled, no matter how robotic it really was, I saw the kindness behind the emotion. She was the one I leaned on when my head got cloudy, my heart heavy; a boy always needed his mother.

And in a single night, after a single response to humanity, Arvon took that all away.

There were bags under my eyes by the time morning came. I hadn't slept, hadn't thought of closing my eyes. In truth, I hadn't fully stepped inside of my room since returning from the Gate.

Instead, until the sun rose above the horizon, I sat with my head against my knees beside Unique's charging pad. It was where Arvon had left her after he fixed and removed the human ability to lie from her systems. She was in the booting stage, her computers calibrating with new information. What kind? I wasn't sure. Arvon normally filled me in when changes were made.

This time, Arvon left me in the dark.

He knows.

As my Sector home came to life with movement from the Attributions reporting for duty, I lifted my head and watched them pass me. I didn't exist at that moment. None of them stopped to question why I sat on the floor. Not a single cyborg knelt down to look at me, talk to me, see if I was coherent.

He knows I saw something at the Gate.

Reaching my hand up to grab Unique's, I squeezed her cold, plastic fingers before I pulled myself up to stand. My eyes were closed as I took in a breath. When the oxygen settled in my lungs, I looked down at her, at her still face. It was the first morning I didn't get her smile at the start of my day. There was no hug. No touch.

I chewed on the insides of my cheek.

"Damien?" Someone called me. A voice I recognized but hadn't heard in a long time.

I turned away from Unique and looked out into the large hallway. Through the crowd of working cyborgs, I saw the smiling face of Eon, Arvon's right-hand Attribution. He was tall and blonde like the cyborg I called my father. His eyes were violet, like Unique's, his face calm like hers, too. As he cut through the Attributions stepping outside for morning labor, he approached me, that smile on his face.

I couldn't give him the same. "Eon, hello," I said.

"Hello." Eon looked me in the eye, lips never fading into a frown. When I didn't speak, he looked over at Unique. Still, there was a smile on his face. "Has she fully rebooted?" he asked.

Has she fully rebooted? Eon knew what Arvon had done. I always believed there were never secrets within the Sectors, but Arvon clearly had other intentions. But if the ability to lie wasn't acceptable, maybe Eon couldn't hide the truth if I asked. With the thought in mind, I straightened and tried to look Eon in the eye. "Do you know what was done to her? Did Arvon tell you anything?"

Eon, seemingly unbothered by my question, lifted a hand to trace the sides of Unique's face with a single finger. "Arvon has removed Unique's self-advancing system. He believed that part of her software was evolving with ill qualities, and as an Attribution, he needed to repair to issue before it became a problem for all of us."