Alive

Ross and Nakya

"I really need your guys' help." I say.

I contacted both Ross and Nakya, and now they are sitting in my room, giving me puzzled expressions despite my clear explanation of events.

"How do you know Goshi is actually doing anything wrong?" Ross asks, to which Nakya adds, "Yeah. I mean, that robot could have been failed attempts."

I haven't told them that I am a robot; simply what I saw. I made up an excuse to get so upset about it, and they believe me.

"No, I know what I saw and I know my hunch is right. So are you guys in or what?"

They nod slowly, and Nakya asks what we all have to do.

"I will spy on the lab, Ross will spy on Goshi, and you, Nakya, will go through all of Goshi's books and papers and try to find any sort of clue." I say, and they both nod again, more enthusiastically again.

I bring out a map I made of the house after Goshi and I returned home from Kempo, and show Nakya and Ross where they need to be and where they can hide if anything goes wrong.

"If Goshi questions anything, tell him we're playing a game. If he asks you to move, hide until it's safe to come out, but also keep to your task. Got it?"

Once again, they both nod, I'm starting to get sick of it.

"Guys, just say something! Don't just nod!" I beg for no apparent reason, and in unison they respond "Okay".

That bugs me more than their silence, but I let it drop and then we're off. I tell my friends to go to their stations. I wish them good luck, and then head to my own.

We all walk in different directions. I walk down to the left from my room to reach the lab, and when I see the doors, I push them open. A familiar wave of dread and anticipation wash over me as I look at the sea of unorganized lab-mess.

Then I see the robot. The messed up, half-finished, sloppy robot. Is that what I looked like before being finished? Or did Goshi simply not care anymore? I try to keep the reigns on my frustration drawn tight, but it's really hard.

I have a mission to do, and I must focus on that, I can't let my emotions get the best of me. 

I sit down behind a table, in case Goshi happens to walk in, and I start thinking about what I have to search through to possibly find answers.

I look around at all the chemicals strewn everywhere, the papers clipped to random boards around the room, but what really sticks out is the closed binder close to the experimental robot. I can clearly see that Goshi isn't typically so organized, and it looks very out of place in this room, so I go over to it and open it. The first few papers are nothing special; formulas and drawings.

About half way through the stack, however, the drawings become more detailed, more shaded, more... realistic. More like the robot. More formulas and theories are written around the drawings, but the handwriting isn't the same. And the paper with the drawings of the robot... they're all more straight and crisp, whereas the first half was more yellow, more crumpled, more Goshi.

At the end of the binder, there is a communication number. I look at it closely, and I nearly gasp. I make sure I look at it again, make sure each line connects and reads the way it looks. And they do. This number is Goshi's number!

Which means that Goshi didn't plan this. Which means he may have been dragged into this by another person; the person I heard him talking. Which means he probably has that person's number! Which means we can get to the bottom of this.

I practically sprint around the rest of the lab, looking around things and under things and above things, looking for the number. I look back in the binder to see if I missed anything. I look at the machines and tools to see if it's inscribed on anything. But it's not. And I don't find the number.

I look at the clock on Goshi's wall and see that it's nearly already 6:30, the time we agreed we'd meet back in my room.

I start heading that way because I have nothing else to search for. I enter my room and sit on my bed, waiting for them both. Finally, my door opens, and Ross comes in.

"Hey, Takyi, you'll never believe what I-"

Nakya interrupts my nearly breaking down the door. She enters and looks so excited and eager, and now I am eager, too, because she might have the answers.

"Ross, you first. What did you find?" I ask him. I want to be polite, and despite my eagerness to hear what Nakya found, he was talking first.

"Well, Goshi doesn't say much out loud, but he does sometimes talk to himself. And that's how I learned-" Ross it once again cut off because Nakya is bouncing around like a mad man. She has a huge smile on her face and looks about ready to blow.

"It's okay Nakya, you go first." Ross says, smiling with her. Nakya thanks him, then starts talking fast.

"I found two things. First, I found the number of someone who was labeled as experiments partner. Takyi you said you heard Goshi talking to someone the day you got suspicious, right?" 

I nod, and she continues.

"I think this is their number which means we can call them!"

"That's all I found out. I didn't have their number, but I figured out that it must be somewhere." I say, nodding encouragingly. Nakya smiles, then begins speaking once again.

"The second thing, wow. I mean just... wow." She pauses for a second, then blurts it out. "I found out, through a lesson planner book that Goshi had, that he was the history teacher at Hilda before that class got shut down. You know about the origins of that place, right?"

I nod.

"So whatever was wrong with the truth of past, Goshi knows all about it! We could find out so many things about the past! We could learn more about Goshi and the lessons and we could learn more about our little mystery!"

I smile so broad that I swear my lips touch my ears. I know this could be great for us. This explains why Goshi knows so much about our history, and it could help explain more about him and all of his experiments. If we learned about the past, we could connect the dots and discover so much! This is perfect!

Ross is grinning too, but he is also so clearly ready to share what he found. I knew having them over to help was a great idea!

"I found two things as well. The first is that Goshi is sorry. I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but I basically just heard him admit to creating another robot, and he told himself that he wishes it wasn't him. I think he wishes it was whoever this 'experiments partner' is."

I nod, but Nakya frowns.

"Wait, did you say another robot? Where's the other one." She asks.

"And that was the second part. Takyi," he says, looking at me. "You are a robot."

My mind and face go blank. I'm shocked. Of course I knew, but know they know too. Nakya has this look on her face, like she's scared. She's scared of me. And I can't take that.

I'm about to try to explain when Nakya whispers, "I am, too."

My face contorts into a deep shock, the shock of someone who's world has just been turned upside down. This can't get anymore confusing and terrifying and horrible, until...

"Me too." Ross whispers, looking down at the ground.

I don't understand.

And now everything is wrong.

Author's Note: I'm so sorry that I haven't been writing in a while. It's been a long few weeks and I just didn't have the time. However, I will continue to write more often. I appreciate anyone and everyone who has made it this far into my story, and to anyone who will continue to read. I'm glad that people enjoy my stories and I can't wait to write more for you guys! 

Happy Reading,

CJSomethin