Interval 5 PART 2 – Prometheus and Sisyphus

We returned home after today's events, almost ripping the door off its hinges, and we all collapsed into the living room, I threw myself into the armchair with the fire ax in my hands, looking out the window, Devola, Popola and 11B sat down on the couch, with their weapons in hand.

The Pods floated next to me.

We stared at each other, waiting for someone to start a conversation.

"So..."

"That was..."

"What the hell..."

"That machine..."

Everyone spoke simultaneously, realizing that no one would be able to speak, we went silent again, minutes passed in silence and tension, we walked around the house, looking out the windows, waiting for something.

What was that something?

A machine?

A Yorha android?

I can't tell, we were all tense. I don't know how much time passed, but eventually we calmed down and talked.

I took a deep breath, "I think it's time we talk about what happened."

I received a positive nod from everyone.

11B was the first to speak "What were those machines doing? Of all the machines I've fought, they've never done anything so strange."

"The machines tried to imitate human reproduction." Popola spoke.

"And from that, a machine was born." Devola continued.

"And one of the first things this machine encountered when it was born was androids attacking it." I spoke.

"Alan, you've been at this war longer than anyone here. Do you have any idea why the machines act like that?" 11B spoke.

They all looked at me waiting for an answer.

"Let me tell you the story of Prometheus."

-Kingdom of Night, El Salvador, Year 7.645-

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

With the shoots of my Mossberg Mariner, the medium biped fell to the ground, a stubby one approached from my left, with a quick turn of my feet, I pointed my shotgun at its face, pumped and pulled the trigger.

BANG!

The machine fell to the floor, its head shattered by the lead rain from my gun, another stubby one appeared in my right, I turned towards him, pumped and pulled the trigger.

BANG!

The machine fell as well, the red light in its eyes fading. I heard metallic footsteps approaching, I saw a Medium Stubby running towards me, didn't have time to reload, so I drew my Beretta and fired.

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

The machine fell in mid-run, its face sliding across the street. A few seconds of silence passed before metallic footsteps echoed down the moonlit street.

I ran away from there, passing through wide and narrow streets. I entered a five-story building and hid myself on the fourth floor, next to a window overlooking the street. I pressed my back against the wall and watched the place. I saw a group of passing machines, their red eyes lighting up the night.

I hid behind the wall again, waiting for them to pass. When the steps went away, I waited a few seconds in silence, the machines didn't came back. I slid my back through the wall and sat on the floor, letting out a sigh.

I reloaded my guns and got some rest.

"That was close." A voice said beside me.

Looking at the broken window glass, I saw my reflection talking to me, but it didn't follow my movements and had a different appearance, white hair and red eyes.

"Shut up." I replied.

"Come on, is this how you treat me after everything I've done for you?"

"What do you want? That I thank you?"

"Yes, or you could pray and worship me, that will do."

"As if I would do that. I'd rather die."

"Oh! You know what will happen if you die again, if you win, you'll wake up the next day like nothing happened, if I win, well, let's just say I'll have the same fun I had in the Amazon Rainforest years ago."

"That will not happen again."

"What's the problem? You found Novi again, didn't you? What fault I have if some androids died as a result?"

"You tricked me!"

"I tricked you? Meh! Maybe I have, but you got what you wanted, didn't you?"

"Yes, but the price was not worth it."

"You are too sentimental, if you cared less about others and only focused on what you want, you would be happier."

"I did that and look where I am, alone and stuck with a mad god."

"Maybe I'm mad, but we'll be together for a long time, after all you agreed to make a pact with me."

I brought my hand towards my chest, above my heart.

"Shut up."

"Remember, if you want to talk, I'll always be here my pact buddy, let me know when you give up, then I'll finish what I started in Midgard."

My reflection returned to normal. Know what? Better find a place to sleep. I walked through the building going door to door until I found a room, it was a simple room with a bed, closet and a full length mirror.

I entered the room and closed the door behind me, pushed the closet in front of the door for safety, threw my clothes and equipment aside, leaving my guns by the side of the bed and stopped in front of the mirror.

Taking off my shirt, I saw the black mark on my chest, it was the image of two children touching their cheeks, their faces merging to form a third eye in the center, around the face there was a circle with strange letters, on each side of the face, angel's wing sprouted, passing over the circle and extending outward.

A pact mark, a sign that I sacrificed something to get more power, and now I'm stuck with whatever that thing is, God, Watcher, Flower, every moment he refers to himself differently.

I just know that he wants to destroy everything and for that, he needs me. Stepping away from the mirror, I went to bed and tried to get some sleep.

CRASH!

CRASH!

CRASH!

I woke up to the sound of something knocking on the door, the closet was pushed forward repeatedly, I quickly got up, grabbed my gun and pointed it at the door, taking a quick look at the window, I couldn't see anything outside, it was total darkness .

CRASH!

Whatever was bashing on the door managed to knock down the closet and the door. Outside, I only saw darkness, until two red and shiny objects appeared on the floor. These objects rose and rose until they reached about two meters in height.

A pair of long, thin hands gripped the doorframe, the thing stretched its body into the room, it was a white creature, its body thin but with a well-built physique, claws on its hands and feet, a long sharp tail that it glided across the ground, its face looked like a metal mask representing two faces merging together and on top of its head, two horns extending upwards.

The thing entered the room, its back hunched and its arms almost dragging itself on the floor. The thing looked at me and let out a roar. I pointed my gun at the thing, simultaneously it jumped towards me, I pulled the trigger...

Then the world disappeared.

"Gasp!" I woke up scared, getting up and looking around. I saw that everything seemed normal, the closet was in front of the door, looking through the window, I could see the moonlight illuminating the street.

"Did you like the dream?" The thing I made the pact with appeared beside me.

"So you are the one who creates the nightmares?"

"Of course, I don't have much to do, tormenting you is one of my few sources of entertainment."

"Listen here you..."

I couldn't finish, as the whole building shook.

"Earthquake!" I screamed.

"What are you doing standing there you bastard? Get out of here now!" The Watcher screamed.

I immediately grabbed my things, pushed the closet aside and left the room, ran through the corridors of the building and down the stairs until I reached the street, everything was shaking, cars, shop windows, small objects and furniture were falling.

I heard a deafening noise, a large shadow passed over me, looking up I saw something like a meteor passing over the city, the thing landed in the football stadium on the other side of the city with a huge explosion.

"A meteor, as if the machines trying to kill us weren't enough, now we have to worry about a giant boulder falling from the sky and crushing us." The Watcher spoke.

I ignored him and walked towards the stadium.

"You won't see what that thing was, will you?" The Watcher asked.

"What do you think?" I asked.

"I think you should do as I command."

"I think you should shut up."

"Humans have no respect for their superiors. It was a mistake to create you."

"Serious? So why don't you kill me?"

"You know very well why."

"Because depending on how I die, you die too."

The Watcher went silent.

I ran through the city streets, past buildings of old architecture, tiled roads with grass growing in them, shops and houses falling apart, rusty cars and much more.

There were machines in my path, but they were sprawled on the ground, sparks shooting from their joints, stubby and bipedal, including their medium versions. An electromagnetic pulse perhaps?

I continued advancing until I approached the football stadium, the meteor left a huge trail of destruction during its fall, part of the city was destroyed, the meteor knocked down the wall of the stadium and stopped in the center of the field.

I entered the stadium, on the way I quickly looked at the name at the entrance "Estádio Cuscatlán".

I ran through the corridors of the stadium until I reached the entrance to the field. The meteor's fall raised a huge cloud of smoke, but I could hear a robotic voice coming from there.

"Trajectory error. Unknown location. Damage caused during the fall. Initiating self-repair."

What is this thing?

"Lifeform detected. Scanning... Life form identified as human. One of the creators."

A huge purple-colored eye glowed through the smoke.

"Greetings."

The smoke dissipated and I had a full view of the thing in front of me. It was a gigantic metallic sphere made of irregular metal parts. I could see parts of alien machines and androids trapped in here.

"What… what are you?" I asked, stepping back.

"We are Prometheus."

"We?"

"Yes we."

"I am Prometheus." A machine in the sphere spoke.

"I am Prometheus." An android in the sphere spoke.

"I am Prometheus." A machine I couldn't identify spoke.

"We are Prometheus." Everyone spoke simultaneously.

"Nice to meet you creator." Everyone spoke.

"Creator?"

"Yes, we are Prometheus, formerly P-33, a machine created by humans to fight the legion, after millennia decommissioned and centuries of repairs, we are free to explore the world."

"I didn't think humans would create a giant, talking metal sphere."

"And they didn't, we took that form by merging with the various machines found on this planet, the Junk Heap machines, the strange red-eyed machines and the androids, our minds combined in symbiosis, forming a network."

"Like a computer network?"

"Correct." Prometheus said happily.

"Sorry if this sounds rude, but you seem strangely happy to see me."

"Why wouldn't I? For centuries I wondered where all the humans went, until I finally found one. But tell me, are you okay?"

"Yes, why the question?"

"My scans indicate that your heart is not beating. Are you having a heart attack? It is said that some humans have heart attacks without any noticeable symptoms. I recommend looking for the nearest hospital."

I put my hand to my chest, I heard the Watcher chuckling in the back of my mind.

"Don't worry, I'm fine and even if I went to the hospital, it's not like there's anyone there to help me."

"Why that?"

"Well, I am the last human on the planet."

"Where did the other humans go?"

"To the moon."

"Moon? Why?"

"Because the alien machines kicked them off the planet."

"Alien machines? You mean the red-eyed machines?"

"Yes."

"But why do you remain here? Shouldn't you be on the moon? Have you been left behind? Overslept and missed the shuttle to the moon? If you wish, we can try to contact the humans. They must have some communication system on the moon."

"No, I don't want to bother them and you, the reason I stay here... Well, this planet is my home, I don't want to leave it to the machines."

"Could you tell us more about the machines?"

I sat on the floor across from Prometheus.

"Centuries ago, aliens attacked this planet for no apparent reason, they used an army of machines to invade, in retaliation the production of androids was increased and the planet went into all-out war with no clear winner. But the machines are slowly winning, they have no fear, self-preservation or free will, they advance endlessly in abundance."

"So the machines and androids fight because they have no other option? Because they where ordered to fight?"

"Yes."

"We don't like it. If they could see the world as we see it, think as we do, maybe they would stop."

"Who knows? I've been fighting the machines for years, but so far they've been mindless drones."

"Hm! Why do you fight? Isen't this pointless? No matter how many machines you destroy, there will always be more."

"Maybe it's pointless, I feel like no matter how hard I try, I don't make progress. But even if it's pointless, we should keep trying, shouldn't we? Better to die trying than to live without having done anything, right? And what should I do? Stand and watch? When I find my men we will return to the fight."

"Your men? Are you in the military?"

"Not to brag, but I'm a General, or so I think I am, my men must think I'm dead."

"Sorry for not referring to you properly, Sir!"

"Stop it, I'm not in uniform and you're not one of my soldiers, call me Alan."

"Yes, Mister Alan. But if we may ask. What happened to you being separated from your men?"

"Well, the machines became too much for us to fight, I became a general because all other capable androids died, with hardship, stress and coffee, I fulfilled my duties and led my men, we spent years fighting the machines, until an almost infinite army knocked on our door in the Amazon Rainforest."

"And what happened afterwards?"

"I ordered the evacuation of the base and the detonation of the Maso generators, creating the equivalent of a nuclear explosion without radiation, destroying the machine army. During the escape I was separated from my men and spent a good deal of time unconscious. Due to a certain God..."

I whispered the last part.

"...When I woke up, I wandered around for a while and found some non-combat androids, they said rumors that the androids from the Amazon base were moved to Alaska, and I'm trying to get there."

"One hell of a story. What about Alaska? It's a long trip."

"Absolutely, but sometimes I feel like I'm making a futile effort."

"Why?"

"Every time I get a little bit of normality in my life, I end up losing it all."

"Could you explain?"

"I was married once, you know? My wife died of an incurable disease, I traveled towards the Amazon Rainforest, where I settled in a village of androids, but I ended up destroying this village, all my fault, then I found a boy named Emil, we traveled for some time, until the aliens attacked and Emil decided to fight with everything he had, let's just say there are several of him out there now, when I thought I found my home among the androids of the Army of Humanity, I lost everything to the machines. I feel that no matter what I do, I will lose everything in the end, but I keep moving forward."

"Is this your dream, Mister Alan?"

"My dream?"

"Getting back to normality, a place to settle down with family and friends."

"I think so."

"Don't give up Mister Alan, even if it seems impossible, you shouldn't give up, we didn't give up and see how far we've come, humans have survived until today because they didn't give up, so keep going and your dream will come true. We have a dream to see the sky, but we have already realized that dream, so we decided to go further."

"Thank you Prometheus. And further? You mean..."

"Yes, space. We are exploring the world for parts, to get into space and see what lies beyond."

"You are closer to fulfilling your dream than I am."

"Don't give up, Mister Alan, someday you'll make it."

"Thanks."

A silence fell between us.

"Tell me Mister Alan, where are we?"

"San Salvador."

"San Salvador? We went off course. Tell me Mister Alan, would you mind keeping us company while we prepare the launch site?"

"No, actually it's nice to have someone to talk to, it helps keep my mind sane. But what do you mean by launch site?"

"This stadium is the perfect place for us to prepare for our launch and continue exploring the world. We can use the machines in the city to modify the stadium."

"Do what you want, you are the collective consciousness here."

"Understood. Initiating connection to nearby machines."

Prometheus' eyes glowed. A few minutes passed until I heard the sound of metallic steps. Looking at the entrance to the stadium, I saw the disabled machines walking with glowing purple eyes. They were carrying tools, pieces of metal, car engines and much more.

"Starting construction. Would you mind if we talked while the machines work?"

"No Prometheus, it would be a pleasure."

Prometheus and I talked about different subjects, the events we both missed, the history of the world, our dreams and goals, memories of the past, the war, the androids, the humans.

-Kingdom of Night, El Salvador, Year 7.645-

I think that's it, after two months Prometheus was leaving, the stadium was covered in metal, circuits, computers, control centers. Metal platforms covered the stadium and surrounded Prometheus, the machines that worked on the construction merged with Prometheus, making part of their network.

"Mister Alan, it's time for us to proceed with our journey, when we are finished we will return to the Junk Heap and go to space."

"I wish you a safe journey Prometheus, I hope you find what you are looking for."

"Before we leave, we would like to ask you something, Mr Alan."

"Ask."

"Would you like to come with us? To space."

I was silent with this proposal. Go to space? Away from this planet, from this war, away from the place the Watcher wants to destroy.

"Is this serious?"

"Yes, we could explore other planets, explore galaxies, see the wonders of the universe, we can modify our body so that a human can live inside us."

My God.

"You called me?" The Watcher appeared.

Shut up.

This proposal is one in a million. How many people dreamed about it? Explore space? It would be a childhood dream come true.

But what about my friends? The people who trust me? Should I let them think I'm dead?

This planet? The planet where I was born? I've been here for so long. I'm not sure I'm psychologically prepared to leave Earth so abruptly.

I sighed "Prometheus, I am grateful for everything, but I refuse, although the proposal to explore the universe is wonderful, I do not want to leave the planet, there is a chance that my soldiers, my friends and family are alive in Alaska, I need to know if that is true."

"I see, it's a shame, we would love to have one of our creators come along with us. We wish you luck in your search. But there is something else we would like to discuss, the alien machines."

"Yes?"

"We want to give them awareness, the ability to choose their destiny."

"Are you sure? You guys can make the war worse with this."

"We are aware of the possibility, but this is something we want to do. Why do machines fight? Because they have no other option, they are not allowed to live, we want to change that. Let them live."

"Do what you want, it's not like I can stop you."

"We understand, best to withdraw from the stadium, the launch sequence will begin shortly."

"Okay, goodbye Prometheus."

"Goodbye Mister Alan."

The whole stadium shook, smoke came out from under Prometheus, I ran out of the stadium, when I was far enough away, I saw Prometheus tearing through the sky towards the other side of the world, I waved at the large metallic sphere as it disappeared into the horizon.

"Há! That ball of rust finally went away." The Watcher spoke.

"Shut up."

"I don't know why you let it go, the old tin can was a human creation, wasn't it? If it were my creation, I would demand total obedience."

"And you still wonder why I call you Mad God."

"Creation must obey the creator, it was because of this lack of obedience that I decided to destroy you humans."

"And you failed several times, didn't you? After all, I'm still here."

The Watcher fell silent and disappeared.

With Prometheus following his journey, followed mine, Alaska is my next goal.

-Puerto San Jose, Guatemala-

Months passed and I kept heading north, this time I got to Guatemala, but I feel like I'm not making progress. It takes me months, almost years to cross a country, I don't have any means of transport and I have to be careful with the machines in my way.

I was walking through the port, following the coast of the mainland, this is my plan to get to Alaska.

Everything seemed normal, no machines in the place, that is until I heard a ship's siren.

Looking out to sea, I saw a small ship approaching the port and on the side of the ship was written Prometheus, I opened a smile and ran towards the docks and waited for the ship to dock, a ramp descended from the ship and a voice came from inside .

"Greetings Mister Alan, a long time no? Please come in."

I went up the ramp and entered the ship, its interior was technologically advanced, walls full of wires and monitors, gauges and screens that I had no idea what they indicated.

"This way Mister Alan."

A voice called from inside a room, it was the captain's room, there I found a large computer with a purple eye glowing on a monitor.

"Greetings."

"Good to see you again Prometheus."

"Likewise Mister Alan, how have you been?"

"Good and you?"

"I am in perfect condition, ready to start my journey into space. And are you ready to start your trip to Alaska?"

"What do you mean?"

"This ship has been modified to function autonomously, its course is set for Alaska, even when we move away from the planet and we lose control of the ship, it will still proceed to its destination."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Why not? We are Prometheus, a living machine, we can choose, and we choose to help you, think of it as thanks for keeping us company."

"I… I don't know what to say."

"Don't say anything, just keep us company while we prepare for launch."

"So soon?" I sat in the captain's chair.

"Affirmative, the launch will start at 10, 9, 8... You know, during our travels we were attacked by machines, while screaming for our lives, we continued to think. Why were these machines participating in this terrifying battle? There could only be one reason: they didn't know fear. Fear is a form of consciousness that forges the ego. It was because they were not alive that they could fight to the death."

The counting started.

"...3, 2, 1, We're going up, we're passing the clouds, we're through the atmosphere, we're in space. Mister Alan, can you hear me?"

"Yes."

"Thanks for keeping us company. I'm watching the war from up here. My systems are connected all over the world, this is so ugly, I'll give my last gift to the machines. This gift is a message. Let us live!"

"This is exciting, some of us are laughing, brimming with hope and anticipation for the future. Others, afraid of the unknown, tremble with fear. There are those of us talking among ourselves, and others sitting silently with our eyes closed."

"We are going further and further into the outside world, just as we promised you. We are alive, just like you were. We're singing, singing, singing. Will our music reach you? Will our feelings reach you, wherever you are? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah."

"Let us live! Let us live! Let us live! Let us live! Let us live! Let us live! Let us live! Let us live!"

The message repeated for a few minutes until everything was silent.

"Prometheus?"

"Yes Mister Alan?"

"Goodbye and thanks for everything."

"Goodbye..."

Prometheus' voice cut off and everything went silent. The ship continued on its way at full speed, there was food and some books on the ship to keep me distracted from the Watcher's litanies.

For a long time I only saw the calm sea and Emil's giant heads staring at me with their permanent smiles.

Finally I arrived at my destination, the ship docked in a port built by the Army of Humanity.

Snow fell from the sky covering the place in a sea of white, a light mist drifted through the place, I walked down the ship's ramp with my gun ready, looking for any machine, until I found one.

"Hey you!" A stubby one spoke as he ran towards me.

I recoiled in fright. After so long fighting emotionless machines, one just suddenly spoke, my eyes widened and my mouth dropped. Is this the result of Prometheus' plan?

"You are not allowed to dock here, I will have to fine you!" The stubby one wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to me, taking the paper with a trembling hand, I read its contents.

"Fine for docking in a prohibited place, Amount: 100,000,000,000 Gs"

I almost fainted from the amount of the fine, I saw the stubby one walking away, and with that the fog lifted, and what was around me was unbelievable, machines working in the harbor as if they were humans, moving crates, talking, preparing ships, operating cranes.

Prometheus, you've done the impossible.

-Present Times-

I finished telling the story, I just omitted the parts about me being human and the Watcher.

"So it was a machine created by humans that gave alien machines a will of their own? So machines really feel and think like people." 11B asked.

"Yes." I replied.

11B took a deep breath, grabbed a cushion from the sofa, covered her face and screamed.

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

"Surprising, who knew a P-unit would evolve to such a degree?" Devola spoke.

"Our creators never imagined this possibility for such a simple machine." Popola continued.

"That's why the machines act like humans, now what remains to be seen is what the desert machine wants. Why was it created? And what will it do?"

-BUNKER-

"Is this serious?" Commander White asked Alexander, the two talking through a terminal.

"Yes." Alexander answered.

"Was an unknown android a general in the Army of Humanity?"

"Yes."

"Why are you so calm about it?"

"Because despite being unknown, his victories cannot be ignored."

"Don't give me that talk, this android knows too much, he must be eliminated!"

"White, I've been at this war longer than you, centuries to be precise, with those years of experience I've learned that you don't throw such a valuable resource away."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, let's just say news of a war hero's return could do wonders for the morale of the Army of Humanity and resistance groups."

"You're not suggesting putting this android back in the army, are you?"

"Not for the time being. I intend to use him as a symbol."

"I hope you know what you're doing, Alexander."

"Trust me White, now if you'll excuse me, I need to make some calls." Alexander spoke, ending the conversation between the two.

White let out a long breath and leaned back in her chair, clutching her forehead with the stress.

"What else do I have to do today?" White asked as she read her messages.

"A request for 16D to be transferred to Earth? Hm... Approved."

-Germany, Berlin, Present Time-

At the base of the Army of Humanity, in the area controlled by the androids, a telephone rang inside an office.

That phone was answered by an unknown android, he or she was sitting in a large swivel chair which obscured his or her figure for all to see.

"Hello?"

"Hello! This is Commander Alexander speaking."

The hand holding the phone tensed visibly.

"Sorry for the informality Sir!"

"Don't worry about it, I'm just calling to let you know you're being transferred."

"Transferred?"

"Yes, judging how things are under control in Germany, you will be transferred to a place where you are needed."

"If you may ask, where will we be transferred?"

"To Japan, tell me, what do you and your men think about meeting a certain general you served a long time ago?"

END OF THE CHAPTER