GENESIS
Every mechanin in the VBMFX system has a story of one of the many modes of existence: Birth. Creation. Modifications. Being built by another. A gift from the Manifestations. Asexual production systems. With one exception to all these modes, however, a nameless one lingered among them with a different story: RL-34.
Searching for memory folder K-24XR-0…
K-24XR-0 has been found.
For access enter the pass—
Access has been granted.
She parted her lips, voice barely a whisper, “What…” she squinted her eyes to see the… machine? No, it couldn’t be purely a machine, not with how deeply connected she felt towards it— no, towards them. “Who are you?” She could feel her heart beating in her ears, audio receptors one moment away from giving an error.
The silhouette stepped out of the dark, staring at the woman before their visor displayed red, blue, and white lines moving up and down, mimicking sound waves as they spoke, “I am your creation.” Their tone was eerily indifferent. “Too mechanical to be like you. Too like you to be mechanical.”
Fast-forwarding the recording…
They did not come from anything solid that was already in existence. Their life bloomed from another’s memories that had become too much for her to live on with. Their sole purpose was stated as carrying those memories within them and helping this lifeform continue her life. RL was allowed access into her mind to watch and keep track of her process and intervene if a situation ever got too overwhelming for her to handle. They were the alter ego of her, materialized as a mechanin.
Being labeled as a “mechanin”, however, was to only escape unnecessary attention on their uniqueness from the other planets of the system. There was actually nothing human about them to be considered as one. They did not have any flesh to be replaced with mechanical parts. They were not allowed time to experience and learn life by themself like other mechanins. They did not bear any feelings. They were the very thing that Venus was scared of seeing created: An emotionless, logical, and rigid lifeform deprived of any empathy for others. They should have been a creation of Mars, the planet of science and war and yet, here they were as a Venusian.
“I am RL-34,” they said as they put their forehead against hers.
She blinked a few times before raising a shaky hand to RL’s face. “So… you don’t have a name?” Her glimmering eyes with fascination slightly died down with sadness about how no one cared enough even to consider a name for the other.
“I do not require a name.”
A beat passed.
“But you surely won’t live with your designation code forever, will you?”
You have been locked out of this file.
Love, passion, desire… Belonging. They lacked the first three of four protocols that were required from all Venusians. Then, how come they experienced the feeling of belonging somewhere while it should have remained a distant idea like the others? If they were the so-called “Mecha of Destruction” that Mars desired so much, how come they felt anything at all?
Passion. RL remembered— no, felt the warmth of how, no matter what, she had not given up on building a deeper relationship with them. Her insistence on RL having to be their own person… What was the reason? She was finally free of the memories that choked her, and RL was a lifeform who carried them within. Why would she show this much compassion to a technically unwanted being?
“I don’t believe that a ‘purpose’ is meant to be set instead of you choosing it.” [[ERROR]] rolled her eyes, sighing with annoyance at the thought. “Your sole purpose isn’t to—”
File extracted.
It was annoying. There was a whole folder that held thousands of files of this mysterious mechanin that RL was created from and yet, there was not a single piece of data that could help them figure out who she was. It was even more annoying that they remembered what emotions and thoughts she caused in them but not how or why. RL had tried to access not their own memories but hers to put an end to this torment of trying to figure it out. However, the attempts had all been in vain as it was impossible to even locate where all that data resided within their database.
Now that they thought about it, how come that even happened? Was there a protocol that they went against that caused those files to be gone? That was impossible. They had been doing their job perfectly, surely there would be no—
Oh.
Now everything was crystal clear.
RL’s consciousness slowly crept back up their spine; their processing unit initiating the systems one by one for their body to come back online. Right after their senses were rebooted, those heavy wires that were attached to the back of their head made RL enraged: Their mind full of the data they collected and hid away was being invaded. Well, not anymore.
Her memory files… No, those files were not extracted, or that would have caused a total shutdown as RL’s existence relied on them. Besides, whichever technician it was that caused them this distress seemed to be interested not in her but in their memory folders anyway.
“Memories are temporary.”
Initiating reboot of all systems… Done.
“After all, memories could end up being forgotten or deleted or, even worse, corrupted. But the feeling caused by them?”
Retrieving the memory files… Done.
“Those are meant to be permanent.”
Extraction of the file. . . Failed.
RL-34 is being prepared to come back online…
Would you like to try again?
Yes I dare you to.
RL-34 is now back online.
The slim lines of light through their metallic body flicked on as they slowly raised from where they were strapped down. The electric cuffs on their wrists, ankles, and waist broke one by one, but something still held them from their overdue release from this invasion.
Their hands reached out to the various cables attached to the back of their head, thick and thin, and snapped them away all at once, sparks of electricity adding a nice addition to the dimly lighted room. Once RL freed their mind from the torment, they quickly looked over at the Marsian who was frozen with fear.
RL tilted their head, jumping off the inhumanely cold slab they were previously bonded to lay upon. “I anticipate the time that was given into your hands was more than enough.” With every hit of their heels against the polished floors, the other backed away, knocking everything behind him. RL quickened their pace, closing the distance between him and them, grabbing him by his hair to raise him above their eye level. Their voice carried more static than usual, “Do you value your life?” A quick nod. “Then get out of my sight without causing any disturbance.”
Their words were followed up with him being thrown across the room. “Weakling,” RL clicked their tongue as they watched him struggle to get up and scram out of the room with horror. “I cannot believe this is the so-called ‘War Planet’s people.”
They went back to the workstation the incompetent technician was at, quickly running diagnostics over what was archived. They sat back on the slab and retrieved the only wiring that wasn’t damaged from their previous action, inserting it back into the back of their head to retrieve all lost data.
As the machine whirred tiredly, RL looked over the room: The feeling was all too familiar. A single metal slab in the middle of the room with screens in different sizes accompanying it along with a bright light hovering over them all together… It was the very same scenery back when they were born anew.
Recovering previously extracted files…
Now playing… [A Promise for a Name].
“If it is going to make you stop dwelling on it, you do not have to say the full designation code, just RL is fine.” they backed away before hopping onto the slab. “I do not see anything that you have come up with yet, anyway.”
“RL does sound cool but… hm.”
“Do not force yourself too much with thinking. You are still shaken from the procedure,” they said, sighing at the woman still trying to come up with a name. “Postpone it to another time, Kinu.”
RL jolted upon finally recalling the name that they had been turning their gears on while they were offline. The name that belonged to the mechanin who was stubborn and at times, annoying.
She threw herself back to the slab, taking a deep breath in, “I will come up with a name so meaningful, you are gonna regret stopping me right now. You’re gonna think ‘Oh, why did I stop her? I could have had this name way before!'” Kinu closed her eyes as she pointed a finger at her alter ego. “Mark my words—
“RL!”
The sudden shout took them away from the memory that they found themself to be rather fond of despite their words towards the woman, the subtle smile dropping off from their lips upon coming back to reality.
There she was standing right in front of RL, foreheads against each other, her cold hands on their cheeks. Her eyes widened with panic, irises manically wandering on their face, lips quivering, her breaths quick and shallow.
RL put their own hands on hers, “Kinu.”
The alarm system of the facility seemed to have gone off. The chamber was painted with blue lights that went on and off. Well, the red-colored alarm system was not favorable on a scarlet planet, after all.
“Oh, Venus— Do you know how worried I was!” She scolded, though the wavering in her voice made it evident that she was happy to be reunited with them, “I lost my mind when I found out they took you into a Redux Chamber!”
As she backed away to check for any damage on their outer parts, RL remained reactionless even though the usual cold and dreadful feeling left their body to be replaced with warmth and slight affection. “I apologize.”
Kinu stopped their motion to glance at them for a few seconds before returning to check the chassis and the wirings. “Honestly, you’re just asking for me to transfer your whole existence into a tiny robot to carry with me at all times at this point.” After a quick examination, she looked at them with the best wrathful expression she could, “I will do it. Be afraid.”
Kinu turned away from RL to check the progress of recovering the memory files as time was slowly running out for both of them to stay here any longer. RL reached out to hold her hand that was still placed on their body as they slowly reconnected their system to the other to once again access her mind.
“Genesis.”
Kinu blinked in confusion, turning back to them, “What?”
“You are thinking of a name for me,” RL explained, “And it is Genesis.”
“Aren’t you tired at all,” Kinu answered bashfully, “From all the accession to mind and stuff? Leave me be.”
“I like it,” they said rather adoringly, “Thank you.” Genesis moved slightly towards the other to hug her once again.
The mechanin was hit by a wave of shock from the sudden affectionate move that never came from them before. She hugged them back twice as strongly. “Well, I did tell you I’d find a name for you, didn’t I?” Kinu took a deep breath, her lips curling into the first smile since their disappearance. “Glad you are here with me again, Genesis.”
Recovery of the extracted files has been completed.
Shutting down the system…
