When Lenin finally returned, I was allowed food, which an android JT-3514 routinely brought down.
It seemed to be that someone had ordered the androids to not speak to me, because when the three units were around, none of them ever said anything, except to address Lenin.
It was to my surprise when, on the night of Lenin's return, that he came down into the dungeons and entered into a nearby cell to sleep. He didn't lock the door, merely letting it swing open.
Weren't royalty supposed to sleep anywhere but in the dungeons?
The following morning Lenin was back at our interrogation. This time around he still sat on the backwards-facing chair, but held a serious demeanor, and avoided my gaze unless necessary.
"Name?"
"You know it already."
"Age?"
"I've lost track."
"Under whose orders were you sent here to assassinate the High Prince?"
"My own."
Lenin dropped his clipboard in frustration. "Can't you at least try to cooperate?"
"I have a question for you," I said instead. "If you guys have all this technology, why are you still taking notes by pen and paper?"
Lenin picked up the clipboard, brushing dust off of the pages. "Because systems can be broken, of course. Like…"
"Like what?"
"Like those two ZH-83s."
"I wasn't the one who did that. They were already like that when I arrived."
Lenin scoffed. "Seriously?"
"Of course I'm serious. If it weren't for their failing systems, then I would be long dead. Besides, why would I waste my precious ammo on two bots?"
"If only you could be so open about other things." But still, something behind his eyes softened.
"You're from the Sunaarashi Unit, is that correct?"
"Thought your androids already figured that out."
"We need to hear it from you, Akiya. We want to hear everything from out of your own mouth." He leaned forward a little, tilting the chair forward. "And don't worry, there's no one left who could possibly take the information that you give us and do anything with it. There's no one to kill, no one to blackmail. There's only you and what you remember."
And whose fault was that? Whose fault was it that they were all dead? They had no reason to want all this information from me! Useless information! None of it mattered anymore! The people, the places, the memories…
"Just leave me be, will you?" That was all I could say.
"Be that way, then." Lenin kicked aside the chair, and a couple of pages fluttered off from the clipboard, a few landing in my cell. He didn't seem to notice or care, and left, his cloak sweeping the air behind him. YV-7144 followed him closely, but only after giving me a cursory look..
The faintest light illuminated some of the text on the papers. All handwritten. And I pulled forward on my chains, as much as they would allow, to try and read the papers.
And I realized that the questions didn't have anything to do with military or governmental aspects.
What activities do you enjoy? Are there still stars out there? When's the last time you laid down and looked at them?
Those were just a few of the questions that I saw.
I tried pulling at the chains, so that I could move a bit closer. MK-5567 noticed and turned around.
"What do you want?" the android asked.
"Could I have some…longer chains?" I asked.
"Maybe if you answered the questions properly," he replied. But he went to go replace the chains anyway.
After my arms were freed (well, more than they were before), I moved forward and picked up the papers, trying to decipher them in the dark. DG-8260 seemed to pick up on this, because he turned on a light in the palm of his hand, the beam flowing into my cell.
When was the last time you had real food? What is your favorite food? Are there any plants near where you live?
How many people do you know? Are they family? Friends? How close are you with them?
Are you married?
These weren't interrogation questions… The only ones that were even remotely close were the ones on the front page, the ones that Lenin was already asking.
Why…?
I was their prisoner, locked up in this dark dungeon with heavy chains around my hands, and the questions that Lenin was to ask me were on the first page. If I was their prisoner, then why were they asking me all these types of questions?
The door from above opened, and I looked up to see YV-7144 come down. As I hastily tried to move back to where I had been, he reached through the bars for the papers.
"Having fun?"
"What's with all these questions?" I responded, handing the papers back.
"Heh." YV-7144 sighed, taking the papers into his pale robotic hands and brushing them off. "You know…we don't often get human visitors. None, in fact. And since there are so few humans left…" He glanced up at me. "The High Prince wants to know about those left as much as he can."
Maybe if he didn't kill them all…
"What have you done with my belongings?" I asked.
"Oh, I have them." And the android did not elaborate.
Wanted to know people better… What even was this place? And that was what I asked Lenin when he returned for another round of questions.
"I believe I am the one asking the questions here." He was sitting in the chair properly this time.
"Hey, as you said yourself, I have no one to tell this information to. No advantage in knowing this whatsoever."
"Eating my own words, eh?" Lenin leaned back, brushing his hair away from his face. "Well, what do you want to know?"
"Who are you? And what do you do?"
"Me?" The corner of Lenin's mouth twitched. "I'm one of the four advisors to the High Prince, of course. I'm in charge of the androids and…down here."
"Why is he only High Prince? Why is he not king?"
"I'm afraid that you're going to have to ask him that yourself."
There was silence, and then Lenin cleared his throat and said, "If you're done, I'd like to get back to this list here…" He rifled through the pages, and seemed tired, like something was weighing him down. Then finally he threw the whole stack on the ground and leaned forward.
"Screw that. What can you tell me about yourself?"
"There isn't much to tell, honestly…" Nothing more than I had told Darius.
"I was raised somewhere far from here until the age of ten. Then I was taken to a special training area. We were told that we only had to do one thing: to kill [him]. That was to be our sole purpose in life. Nothing more. When I was eighteen I was transferred to the Sunaarashi Unit, to work full time on finding a way to kill [him]. That's all. Nothing more."
"And this was all thirty something years ago?" Lenin arched an eyebrow. "You look, what, twenty? You sure you're human?"
"When I was twenty, because of the lack of supplies and oxygen and things, we decided that the best thing to do would be to put a couple of us into hibernation in hopes of us surviving longer."
"And did this prove to be the case?"
I looked up at him. "They were all dead when I woke up."
Lenin was silent. "I assume that by [him], you mean the High Prince?"
"Who else did I attempt to kill?"
"I'm assuming that you don't have any hobbies? And that your teammates were your only friends?"
Well, I had another friend, now, but…
"There's nothing remotely interesting about me. My one goal in life has not yet been achieved, and I doubt I can achieve it now."
Lenin stood up, pushing his chair away. "Well, maybe you should find a new purpose in life." To MK-5567 and DG-8260 he said, "I'll be back later. If JT-3514 comes, let him bring food."
Maybe I should have asked him why he was staying down in the dungeons now…
Though…
When I had mentioned that part about waking up, Lenin looked as if…the same thing had happened to him, as well.
And if he really was a Magic User, then such things…were possible, weren't they?