Lives Of The Unknown Book 1: The Legend of Andrew Lockeford (24 page)

“Why is your skin so red?” said the
android.

“Genetic muscle modification. When
your muscles become more efficient from the gene, they require more
oxygen and therefore more blood. The gene accounts for increased
blood pressure, tendon strength, all that stuff.”

“So you’re just blushing all
over?”

Andrew the red human said
nothing.

“So go on,” said Anzem. “Ask us how we
did it. How you got split into two bodies.”

“I don’t wanna know
how, I wanna know
why!
”

“You had gone insane,” said Juvir.
“And if not, then you were bound to become insane. The best way to
resolve this issue was to either ‘wash out’ your brain or create an
artificial brain that still maintained your
personality.”

“Then why do I not have just one body,
with red skin and a robot brain?!”

“It’s safer that way. Your
intelligence is best used for the political aspects of an AOIB
officer, and your brawn—which Andrew utilizes over here—is best
used for the combat aspects when we go to war. So a smart,
artificial being plays the role of political representative while
the toughened, organic being plays the role of military
officer.”

Ignoring the fact that Andrew was just
called a military officer, the word “war” struck the android’s mind
very unpleasantly. Were the AOIB and the Selentors really going to
go through with that intergalactic war? All because Andrew showed
up at their doorstep?

“We know that you aren’t fond of the
fact that a war is going to be taking place. And even more so that
Andrew’s kind is going to play a role in it—”

“Then don’t do it! Do go through with
it!”

“It was inevitable! Even if we never
met Andrew, we were bound to find out the Selentors’ illegal
activities, anyway. Our conflict regards the humans, after all; we
want to keep them safe, but the Selentors want to take over Earth
for the sake of colonization, business, and resources. No regards
for the people.”

“And don’t act so harshly on this,”
said Andrew the red human. “It’s not as though we will let the
humans just die to the hands of the Selentors. Once we gather
enough, they will actually give us an edge in the war!”

“How exactly?”

“…
.I tell you the details
later.”

“No, dammit! I wanna know
now!”

“It would be best that you don’t know
right at this moment,” said Juvir, “considering how emotionally
unstable you’re being.”

“I have a reason to be
emotional!”

“And what reason is that?”

“My entire race is
going to be used as pawns in an intergalactic war that’s not even
part of their business!!!
”

“Well, he pretty
figured out the details on his own,” said Andrew. “And it’s
my
race, not yours.
You’re just an android.”

“SHUT UP!!!”

The android stormed out of the room
through an open door, running aimlessly through the halls. No one
ran after him. Anzem and Shul stood in their place, wondering
silently how he could have been so upset.

Juvir turned to face Andrew,
“Congratulations on becoming an intel-being, by the way. How are
you feeling from all of this?”

“Pretty well, thank you.”

“That’s what we aimed for. From all of
the abuse you went through with the Selentors, I was unsure whether
you were beyond repair or not.”

“Well, even if I didn’t go through all
that abuse, I would rather be how I am now than my old self on
Earth. I don’t see this business about war or aliens all that bad
anymore. In fact, I see it as….somewhat exciting.”

“Just don’t get too
carried away. You
are
a military officer, after all. You’ll be directing
all
of the humans once
the war really begins, and you’ll need a stable mind along with a
strong body. Need a food pill?”

“Sure.” Andrew took a pill from Juvir
and ingested it without hesitation. “What’s an intel-being, anyway?
It’s seems so inconsistent between what I think it is, what the
Selentors think it is, and what the AOIB thinks it is.”

“It’s complicated—there’s a lot of
characteristics that must be held for someone to be named an
intel-being.” After a short pause, Juvir changed the subject.
“Remind me later to refine INT-EH1’s programming. His spontaneity
could become quite a hassle for us.”

“Will do.”

———

Meanwhile, the android found himself
in front of a mirror that took up the entire size of the wall. He
discovered the new face, the new body that he possessed now. As he
stepped closer, he noticed that his irises were different. Up
close, he realized that the pupil was similar to that of the eye
from a digital camera, and his iris was just a series of tiny
plates that moved in and out to the center. A robotic eye. There
were no blood vessels in the whites of his eyes. There were no
wrinkles, skin tags, pores, zits, or anything abnormal on his face.
There wasn’t a trace of hair—not even on his scalp. He stepped
back, looking at his body as a whole. There were no genitals, no
nipples, and no belly button. He still looked like he had muscles
though, or at least what were designed to be like muscles. He was
no longer seven feet tall; like he was on Earth, he was six feet
tall again, from the looks of it.

He turned around,
vaguely feeling as though something was on his back. Upon the sight
of his back came a feeling of shock. On it was a tattoo, or perhaps
some other kind of imprint, that read “INT-EH1.” He had no idea
what it meant, but according to the AOIB database, it went as such:
INT referred to the fact that he was an
int
el-being. The E stood for
E
arth, the H stood
for
h
uman, and
the 1 meant he was the first of his kind—a human—to ever be turned
into an android in AOIB history.

And yet, knowing that he was a hunk of
metal, he did not feel as though he was different or oppressed
mentally from when he was still organic. He was conscious. He was a
living being—artificial, perhaps, but still technically living and
autonomous. He could think about his feelings for the war. He could
think about his memories back on Earth. He could think about
thinking. He was self-aware.

What does this say about organic
beings, then? Organic humans are conscious, autonomous hunks of
meat, so having metal and rubber instead of meat shouldn’t end up
being that much different. Right?

This mind of his….how did it move from
Andrew’s mentally-damaged brain to this artificial one? How did he
still remember everything about his life? Or rather, Andrew’s life?
Did they really just transfer the personality from Andrew’s brain
into his? Or was there some sort of database about his personality
stored onto a computer and reworked, ready for use for the
AOIB?

The android began to have a headache
from all the stress. He didn’t even think it was possible for an
android to have one. He sat down with his back against the wall,
moved his legs so that his knees were close to his face, rested his
elbows onto his knees, and buried his face into his
hands.

Epilogue

In a remote part of Ku-an Doel, among all
the skyscrapers and machinery, stand two intel-beings. One of them
looks like a half-human, half-squirrel being, most noticeably with
the head. It has two arms and two legs, with each hand having four
fingers and each foot having five toes. His name is Jimmy. The
other one is somewhat insect-like, although it breathes through
lungs rather than through its skin. It has four arms and two legs,
with six fingers on each hand and four toes on each foot. It has
claws with its hands, but not its feet. Her name is Ionoe. People
were all around these two, but they spoke as though they were in
private. Everyone could hear them, but no one cared.

Jimmy: And that’s the
story.

Ionoe: Wow, that actually
sounded….interesting. Not like it was romantic or action-packed or
anything, but interesting in a different way.

Jimmy: There
was
some
action
to it.

Ionoe: Some.

Jimmy: But the scariest part about it
is that according to Andrew, Earth wasn’t as far off as we thought
it would be.

Ionoe: Sure makes the “forbidden
planet” label unnecessary.

Jimmy: Perhaps. You know what he said
about hypocrisy?

Ionoe: Huh?

Jimmy: Andrew said that one of the
reasons he didn’t like his life on Earth was because of all the
hypocrisy. Kind of like how we always see people saying that they
want things to change things on Ku-an Doel, but they don’t actually
do anything?

Ionoe: Yeah. Or like how “everyone’s
equal” when it’s impossible for us to be so. If we really were
equal, then why do we treat each species separately, even though
we’re all intel-beings?

Jimmy: Yeah….we’re set to work in places designed
for our particular species, after all.

Ionoe: I think that’s just a physical thing, though.
You know, like how each species has its own strengths and
weaknesses?

Jimmy: There’s another thing.

Ionoe, who was not paying attention any
longer, attended to her Do-All headset. Her model was designed to
fit her species. She was busy communicating to a friend with
it.

Ionoe: Sorry, what?

Jimmy: He portrayed me kind of badly
when I was talking to him.

Ionoe: Who?

Jimmy: Andrew Lockeford.

Several people in front of Jimmy and Ionoe
stopped in their tracks.

Ionoe: You actually met the guy?!

A law enforcer kept on walking, but he
listened very deliberately as he turned around the corner and
stopped, using a sound amplifier in his ear.

Jimmy: Yeah, just
before he departed for training at the volcano.
[
One guy on the street thought,
“
What’s a volcano?
”
] I was the “squirrel dude” that he
mentioned.

Ionoe: So you’re the crackpot! Hah!
Explains everything!

Jimmy: You’re just an acquaintance of
mine! You hardly even know me!

Stranger: None of us do, partner. Doesn’t mean you
can’t be a crackpot.

Jimmy: I….what? No! Go
away!

The person walks off,
laughing along with a few other people, all who had also walked
away after stopping from hearing Andrew’s name.
“Yhn
damn idiots,”
thought Jimmy.

Jimmy: And just because my name happens to be
“Jimmy” doesn’t mean that I’m the same brat who wanted to see some
guy get hit by a meteorite. [He began to mutter] I may have been
that way as a child….but that’s beside the point….

Ionoe: So what about when Vice-President Juvir
called you a crackpot?

Ionoe: You mean that Impossible Realm thing?….Makes
sense, sort of.

Jimmy: Hey, I think there’s a connection. I mean,
from what I determined by Andrew’s dreams, I knew he was going to
be an important figure one day.

Ionoe: You can’t just determine a guy’s popularity
by their dreams.

Jimmy: Or can you?

Ionoe: No. No you can’t.

Jimmy paused for a moment, thinking back to his idea
of an afterlife. Then he recalled something from Andrew’s last
words to Voriaku.

Jimmy: Back to that thing about life after
death—Andrew wondered if there was any reason as to why we live,
why we are put into existence.