The storm blew outside, and I was in it.
A storm of such magnitude would surely wear me down, eventually, so I went and sat against the side of the building, away from the direction of the wind.
As I held my broken arm, I wondered…why had Lady Mao done this?
I thought…we were…
But then I laughed to myself. I was only a broken android. What use was I to her?
And besides, now I had failed in my mission, to kill them both.
Ah…HH-2300 would want me to get repaired as soon as possible. As he would say, that much sand in my system was not good…I would be shutting down soon.
Did Lady Mao ever care about me?
No, I was just an android, I shouldn't worry about be cared about…
I closed my eyes, so that no more sand would get in them.
She cared about me the moment she asked to buy me.
What was happening now was not what it seemed to be.
And for me to be where I was now was enough for me.
Those were the thoughts that ran through my head.
During the time of calm that followed the storm, I began receiving some transmissions from the palace. I pressed a button on my neck and saw YV-7144's image appear before me in a hologram.
"Is something wrong?" I asked.
"LX-1882. You're currently outside of Shuijing, correct?"
"Yes, I am."
"I think it's best if…you don't return right now."
"What?"
"Yes, it would be safest if you stayed where you are right now…" YV-7144 now seemed to be muttering to himself, but he looked up at me again. "You look terrible. Have you been in a fight?"
"What's going on?" I asked, dodging the question.
YV-7144 avoided my gaze, like he was trying to decide whether or not it would be wise to tell me. Finally he said, "There is a problem with the dome outside. I am afraid that it will collapse soon. You might be crushed."
"Oh…"
Then Lady Mao and Lord Castro should not return.
"Are you leaving?"
YV-7144 shook his head. "No, I have to stay. I have to make sure that Lord Lenin is safe."
"Isn't there anything in the system…?"
"I'm doing research on the dome right now, and I think I've found something interesting. But I'll tell you later. If this proves to be true, then you may return now. But still, I don't know how it might affect your system…are you wounded?"
"Very much so," I replied.
"Well." YV-7144 sighed. "See what Lady Mao and Lord Castro think. You're with them, right?"
So no one else knew of my mission…
"I'm with them," I replied.
"Okay…that's good. You should get yourself repaired."
"Sure." But just as I said that, my arm was blown off by the wind. I picked it up and put it in my lap.
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
"Well, you know the way back, don't you? Hope to see you soon." The hologram began glitching; the connection must have been unstable.
"Goodbye."
And the connection broke.
The wind started up again, and I shut my eyes once more, leaning against the side of the base. I supposed I would be buried in sand soon…
An android, all alone, in the desert.
But it didn't matter, did it? I was supposed to have ended up on the scrap pile anyway...
So let it be.
My system shut off.
+++
"Your system has been activated."
I opened my eyes. I was an android, unit LX-1882. I was made to serve the Prince of Shuijing City.
There was darkness around me. A wire connected me from the back of my head to one of the monitors on a nearby table. Someone was hunched over at one of the screens, muttering to himself.
"Let's see…how to repair an android…can't believe I'm doing this, gosh…" He clicked a few keys. "This looks difficult…"
"He's awake." A female voice. From my left.
"Oh, great, let's ask him. Android, do you know how to repair yourself?" the boy turned to me.
"System. Repair manual." I pressed a button on my collarbone, and a hologram opened up, showing a list of the files that I contained. At the bottom was a repair manual.
I opened it, and selected the option for a scan. The screen blanked, then showed a SCANNING FOR DAMAGES message, and after a few minutes, came up with an outline of my body. My left arm, left leg, eye, and other various places were highlighted.
What in the world had happened to me?
A man sat down next to me and looked at the hologram. "Can you transfer this to one of the monitors? In case your system gives out."
So that was why there was a wire attached to my head…not only for power but also for this…so I selected the "upload data" option and waited.
"So, android—" the boy began, but the lady cut him off.
"Don't call him that! He has a name, you know."
"Name? You mean, manufacturing code?"
"No, a name."
"Really? Then what is it? Care to tell me?" the boy looked at me.
Name? I didn't have a name. "My serial number is LX-1882," I replied. "I am pleased to be in your service."
"LX-1882, eh? That's a rather old model."
"What may I be allowed to call you?"
"Darius will do." The boy turned away, back to the monitors.
"Wait, Lex…" The lady came over to me. "Is this about earlier?"
"I do not understand."
"Do you know who I am?"
I scanned her face, and my system prompted me that this was Lady Mao, one of the four advisors to the Prince, whom I was to serve. "You are Lady Mao?"
She looked troubled. "Please stop it. Don't be like this."
"He's an android, Nova. What can you expect from a machine?" the man asked, and upon further scanning, turned out to be Lord Castro, also of Shuijing City.
Lady Mao stood, and began pacing around the small room. "Look, if it's about earlier, I'm sorry. I left you a note on the rooftop. Did you find it?"
"I'm afraid I do not understand."
"The rooftop, Lex! Don't you remember?"
"My number is LX-1882, my lady."
"Nova." Lord Castro's voice was calm. "What do you even want with this android?"
Lay Mao sat down on the floor across from me, looking as if she were about to cry. "Vano, you know how much I wanted to leave."
"We've been planning this for months. Yes, of course I know. But then you…changed."
"I thought that…out here, I could finally be happy. But when he assigned Lex to guard my quarters…I realized that…as long as I was with him, I could be happy in Shuijing, too."
"Um." Darius looked up from the monitor. "His memory bank is empty. His system was trying to keep up with all the damages, so it looks like it emptied the bank. That could probably be why he doesn't remember anything."
"And now, I guess, it's all my fault that he's injured and that his memory has been wiped and everything…" Lady Mao buried her face in her hands, and Lord Castro went over to pat her on the shoulder.
"You know…you didn't have to come…if you wanted to stay…"
"Yes, but we've been planning this for so long…I didn't want to disappoint you."
"I mean, I would have been disappointed, but…as long as you're happy."
"There is one thing left, though," Darius said from over at the monitor. "Looks like a message he received quite recently. Would you two like to see it?"
They went over, and Darius played the message. It was from another android, apparently…
After they had listened to it, Lord Castro rubbed his temples. "Well, if this isn't a dilemma. As soon as we leave Shuijing it is going to be destroyed."
The boy Darius seemed to realize something. "So the time to go is now."
"If you want to see your friend again, then yes."
"Could we do anything to help? If we go back?" Lord Castro asked.
"I'm assuming that Lord Lenin is in charge of the situation as of now," Lady Mao replied.
Lord Castro sighed and rubbed his temples. "We just made it out of here…"
"And I'm telling you, there's nothing out here," Darius said.
"So you really want to go to Shuijing?" Lady Mao asked him.
Darius bit his lip. "Yes," he said. "I really do want to go to Shuijing now. I'll probably never get another chance."
Lord Castro ran his fingers through his beard, exasperated. "Fine. Fine. We'll repair LX-1882, and then we'll take you back. Nothing—nothing more. Is that okay?"
Darius shrugged. "Fine by me."
The file had loaded completely, and Lord Castro began following the instructions for a quick, temporary repair of my limbs. There weren't any proper tools, so my right hand would have to do.
"What are you going to do when you arrive at Shuijing?" I asked Darius.
He glanced at me, then shrugged. "Don't know. I'll decide when I get there."