T1N took a step forward. His metal skin buzzed in the static of that room. A spiderweb of cables snagged at his feet and ran across the cavern, leading up to a hole in the ceiling at the back of the room. He didn't know whether the hole was the origin or the destination, but the whole installation culminated there in a mess of monitors emitting nothing but white noise.
"Come closer," said the voice, and T1N obeyed.
That was when he saw her, below the torrent of cables that poured from the roof.
Her silhouette was blurred, chaotic and convoluted amongst all the wiring and unidentifiable devices that surrounded her. Her arms were nothing more than copper-plated prongs that hung limp. Her ribcage was exposed, a corpse of repurposed machinery, barely containing all the pumps, valves, and diodes imprisoned within. He couldn't see her legs, if she had even bothered to build them. Below her waist there were only more cables and tubes leading into that spiderweb that covered the entire scene.
"Bella?" asked the android. He was cross-referencing everything he saw with his memory banks. The similarities were lacking.
Only the face of this figure contained traces of what was once his creator. There was a translucent plastic skin covering a metal skull, perforated with ports for various cables and lights. The depths of her eye sockets shone a celestial blue. Her mouth of metal teeth formed something between a smile, a grin and a leer.
Dotty stared at this thing, terrified. Who or what would do this to a living being?
"Where is your arm, boy?" The figure's voice had a grating dissonance on certain syllables.
Dotty took off her backpack and took the metal arm from inside. She held it up with both hands so that the metal woman could see.
"You must be Dorothy. Please, be a dear and take that over to T1N." Bella waited a few moments as the young woman complied with her request, leaving the lifeless arm on the floor beside the android, and then continued: "We've got so much to talk about, my dear boy. I'm so happy you finally made it. But for now the most important thing is that you repair yourself before you lose too much energy. Energy is such a precious resource here."
"How? It's impossible. I tried to reattach it, but the wound is too big. I don't have enough power…"
"T1N, your operating system has been changing since you arrived on Eidolon. Little by little, all those hidden caches inside you are opening up— the ones that, much to my dismay, I was forced to seal away once. Now that you're here, now that you have a mission, I need you to open up completely. You need to finish the process and become everything you were created to be. You need to repair yourself."
"That's impossible without the correct tools."
"You're no ordinary android. You don't need tools. The rules for inferior artificial beings don't apply to you. You are the fruit of my love, a mother's love, a singular and unique model. The materials from which you are made are intrinsically connected to you, as you are to them. Embrace that thought. If you focus on that idea of coming back together, that idea of unity, you will open yourself to a whole new world of possibilities— one where you make all the rules."
"But…"
"Do it," she ordered.
T1N closed his eyes and imagined his arm stretching down from his shoulder.
Dotty gasped as she saw the arm begin to move, using the hand to snake its way towards T1N. At the edge of the wound, the edge still attached to T1N, the metal began to liquify and drip onto the dirty cavern floor. Pushed by some invisible force, the droplets searched out the severed limb. When they found it, the liquid surface dragged T1N's missing piece back towards him, lifting it up to his torso, returning it to its rightful place. His shoulder bubbled until the wound was sealed.
T1N opened his eyes and extended his hand before him. He opened and closed his fist.
"That's incredible T1N!" cried Dotty as she marvelled at the repaired arm.
"But, how?" asked the android. "Bella, it was you all along, wasn't it? Those visions, those images…"
"When I arrived on Eidolon," replied Bella. "The city was already doomed. You've seen it for yourself: this moon is a purgatory. Those creatures have infected this city with their venom. Little by little, they've ruined everything: they destroyed the biggest generators, the water condensers, and the ventilation system. They've done everything they can to eradicate us, but why? Vengeance? Survival?
"When we're hit by a disaster of this magnitude, we only want to know the reasons behind it, the how and the why. I still don't know and, with time, I stopped wondering."
"But," said T1N. "There has to be some way to stand up to them, surely."
"They only need water to live. Apart from the shortage of energy supplies on Eidolon, water is also a precious commodity here. Humans are 60% water. And those creatures are capable of extracting every bit of it from our bodies, right down to the last drop in our bones. You saw that outside, didn't you? They surround the landing platforms, waiting for the next load of victims to be delivered into their waiting mouths."
On hearing that, Dotty balled her fists. The image of the bodies of her aunt and uncle was burnt permanently into her mind.
"How and why did you call me?" demanded the android. "Why bring me here?"
"I had to give up my job to do it. They thought they had it all figured out: there was no way to communicate directly with the Earth, the Hermes was the only route between the two galaxies— but they underestimated me. Wasn't I Earth's most promising engineer?"
The sound of her laughter sent shivers down Dotty's spine.
"I found a way to send encrypted messages. Voluntarily, I joined myself with the city's network and used the domes to form a giant antenna. I only needed to send a message to one person, the only one on Earth who meant anything to me: you, my dear boy. But I had to make sure they didn't find it, otherwise they would have dealt with you the same way they dealt with me."
"Who do you mean by 'they?' What are you even talking about?" Dotty rushed forward, wanting to understand. A bad feeling constricted her chest.
"All of them. I mean the people of Earth," Bella replied without taking her eyes off T1N. "It was them that abandoned us here. They all bear the guilt that this situation has been allowed to continue for so long. They know what has been happening here and they use it for their own advantage.
"I was like you once — innocent — but I've had a lot of time to think and I've come to the conclusion that the human race was an error within the complicated equations of the universe. We're so selfish that our survival is dependent on the exponential annihilation of resources and other species— worse than that: of indefensible species much weaker than our own.
"Eidolon was a catastrophe. No one could stop the invasion and that project to build a paradise city was left unfinished. Of course, they abandoned the construction, but they refused to renounce all those generous donations from their clients and they themselves stayed put on Earth. If they hadn't had a hidden agenda…"
"Are you telling me they knew on Earth?" cried Dotty. "They knew they were sending the Hermes to this… this death camp?"
"I understand your reaction, girl. I worked for the Government, as part of the Terrestrial Commission for Biosphere Recovery. The plan was to use those funds to repair our planet. They petitioned me to build a range of androids to clean up the toxic wastelands. But I gave them something so much more than a simple street sweeper when I designed T1N. They wouldn't give me funds when I showed them his blueprints. They said he was 'too dangerous, too adaptable.' They were cowards.
"When they rejected me, I decided to continue on my own. It was easy enough to enter their accounts and simply take the funds I needed. They had billions in goods and facilities, and all of these resources kept making more and more money. That was when the blindfold fell from my eyes and I realised what they were really doing."
One of the robots behind them stepped closer.
Bella continued: "They were using those funds to build a new earth: Neo2."
T1N and Dotty looked at each other without understanding.
"They were terraforming a planet in a closer galaxy with all that money, but they knew there wouldn't be space there for everyone. So, in the meantime they started thinning the herd, getting rid of those with the most resources to oppose them. Two birds, one stone.
"The evidence was spread across their systems: the budgets, the designs, and the guestlist. Among them: my department manager.
"I tried to remove all traces of my entry, digital and analogue, but I could feel something was wrong from that point on. They knew someone had been snooping. So I had to construct you in secret. I used everything I took and I made you, thinking you would be somewhere between my son and my protector.
"I knew they'd come for me sooner or later so I gave you hidden abilities, subroutines, that would lie dormant, and I planned to activate you when trouble came. But I never imagined they would try to send me to Eidolon, or that they would actually get me here.
"They drugged me and they stuck me on the ship. Can you imagine it, T1N? Three years later, can you imagine waking up here?
"A few of us survived that first wave that descended on us when we landed, but the survivors were all picked off, one by one. If it wasn't for my knowledge…"
"And the Hermes?" asked Dotty. "Surely we can get home with that?"
"The Hermes is just another part of their trap, girl. The moment it leaves Eidolon, it enacts what they refer to as a 'Purge Protocol.' The ship increases in temperature until it eradicates every trace of life, every living cell. No one returns from Eidolon. It's a one-way trip. I almost fell for it, when the ship first returned, but I was already questioning everything.
"Now that T1N is here, however, everything is different. Listen to me well, son." Her eyes blazed celestial blue. "Before the last spark of energy courses through my circuits and this planet sinks into eternal night, I want you to do something for me. Consider it my last wish."
"What do you want from me, Bella?" T1N crossed his arms. His empathy circuits told him he wasn't going to like this request one bit.
"I want you to call the Hermes back and to return to Earth in it. I have a very special message for the Earthlings."