Little Alba, stealthily stalked her target. Her slender and tiny body melted behind the tall golden grasses of a small meadow that bordered the last forest of the planet. With a fixed, penetrating gaze, she silently observed the subtle, precise movements of the artificial being in front of her. The android had a body similar to her own, with arms and legs, and a pair of emerald green eyes, capable of seeing a wider spectrum than she could reach, both in the clearest day and in the darkest night. Yet, at that precise moment, those refulgent eyes were distracted by the meticulous task she was performing. An opportune moment that the girl would not miss.
Slowly, she approached cautiously, without the android noticing. She bit her lower lip to contain a small nervous laugh that struggled to give away her presence. Unable to wait any longer, she pounced on the android like a feline to catch her prey. But her efforts to surprise it were in vain. Her small body fell directly into the arms of Gaia-3155, whose approach sensors had detected her much earlier.
Alba laughed out loud as she felt the tingling of the android's fingers on her belly. She loved the swaying sensation as Gaia rocked her in her arms; she closed her eyes and clung to her.
"I'll never be able to surprise you."
"Someday you will, I'm sure," the android affirmed tenderly.
Alba was used to hearing Gaia's metallic voice.
"Why can't I be like you? You're faster than antelopes and stronger than rhinos. You never get tired and you always know everything."
"That's not true, right now I don't know what you're thinking." Gaia stroked Alba's nose for a few seconds and carefully placed her on the ground.
"What are you doing?" Alba asked curiously.
"I'm about to move this litter of fox cubs to a safer area, the integrity of this den puts them in danger, do you want to help?"
Alba nodded happily.
Gaia took a pair of cubs in each arm, as Alba struggled to keep hers in her arms, it kept licking the little girl's face. The little girl's laughter delighted the android. They both headed for another spot 50 meters away.
After ensuring that mommy fox knew about the den change, Gaia took Alba for a swim in the stream. The girl removed her android-made synthetic suit, designed to tolerate the planet's climate. As she splashed in the water, Gaia searched for roots to make a soapy cream to wash the girl's body. When she finished her bath, Alba emerged from the river, frozen to death. The android turned her arm into a cannon and emitted a blast of warm air to help her dry off.
The night was beginning to fall when they returned to the cozy home the android had built to raise Alba. It was made from recycled materials. It had only a small bed where the two of them could fit; a stove and a table.
Alba liked to feel the android's synthetic body next to her. It produced a cooing vibration and emitted a regulated heat to simulate the 36-degree Celsius temperature of humans.
"Can you tell me again the story of how we met?" the girl asked.
"It would be my pleasure, my dear." Under normal circumstances she would have said "Affirmative," but contact with that tiny being had caused her to change her mechanical nature, becoming less and less artificial.
"Once upon a time, there was an android who worked all the time sowing seeds and fertilizing the soil. Her task was to bring life back to a dying world. Day and night, she collected debris and magically turned it into part of the planet itself. It was a long time before, for the first time in years, the first seedling was born. Satisfied with her work, she continued to populate a whole area with many others, so that the animals would have a place to live. Little by little, she gave back to the planet the beauty it used to have; a paradise full of wild and beautiful life. Then, the first trills and chirps of the birds appeared".
Gaia imitated the sounds of the birds.
"Then came the monkeys: Ooogh! Oogh! Oogh!" she commented, hunching, swaying and scratching like apes.
Alba laughed with delight.
"The sheep said, Baaah!"
"And the warthogs," she emitted a snore in the form of a grunt.
Alba laughed again
"So many other small animals filled the forest with their roars, howls, squeaks, grunts, growls, squawks, and bellows."
"Even though the lonely android found a place among her friends, the animals, who were accustomed, began to walk around her without fear; still, she longed, deep inside her, for someone to play with. It was then that she asked the first star of the night to grant her wish for a friend."
The little girl listened attentively, straining to keep her eyes open.
"The next day, to the android's surprise, a small creature had arrived in her earthly paradise. She was very small, barely walking, yet she gave him the best gift she could receive, her laughter. Her sweet laughter filled the android's cold central processing unit with joy and warmth. It was then that she realized she now had a friend and a heart that loved her."
A small giggle escaped the girl's lips before she fell completely asleep.
Gaia wrapped the little girl up and carefully got out of bed so as not to wake her.
The android always found herself deficient in her neural network from the beginning. She did not know if it was a malfunction or a manufacturing defect. Her binary world, full of ones and zeros, was replaced by illogical reactions that she decided to call intuition. In the memory stored inside her cybernetic brain, the story was different from the one she used to tell.
Five thousand years ago, the Earth was a very beautiful and rich planet, teeming with animal and plant life throughout. But then one species appeared and decided to be the dominant species, and made indiscriminate use of all the resources that the planet generously gave away. However, not satisfied with this, they began to devise equipment to adapt their environment to their liking, polluting the air, water, and soil; and extinguishing many other species in their path, causing much damage to the environment. Many beings of this species were very greedy, avarice and selfishness filled their hearts, creating an apathetic society that ignored the damage caused to other beings of the same species and to those of other species that inhabited the planet. They wanted power to dominate all the others, and that's when they decided to fight among themselves to achieve that goal. They decided to build powerful weapons to subdue their fellows. Eventually, a great war began between them all. The conflict got out of hand, eradicating their entire existence on the planet. Thousands of bombs descended from the sky, destroying everything in their path.
There was a group of them, anticipating the events that would happen next, decided to create a series of automaton beings, with their own intelligence, programmed to repair the damage caused to the planet. Fortunately, foreseeing the worst, they managed to save enough seeds to repopulate the Earth again.
The survivors fled to other worlds. The dying planet had suffered greatly, a radioactive cloud covered the skies. The androids waited many years to begin renewing life. Fortunately, in their constant search, they managed to find the best area with the necessary conditions to sustain the beginning of existence. It was then that Gaia-3155 was activated for the first time. Its primary directive was to sow seeds and protect nature. In the end, the human species disappeared (or so they thought), but the mission of renewal did not end with their absence. They continued until the first forest could survive on its own. The surviving animal species found a home in the forest, creating the bountiful ecosystem it was then.
One day, like any other, Gaia-3155 was performing routine tasks, degrading a pile of scrap metal (machines that were once vehicles) with the help of nano-machines. The tiny robots were pulverizing the material, degrading it to its minimum expression, and returning it to the planet.
Their proximity sensors detected the presence of an unknown species. This caught the android's attention. She extended her left arm and did a quick scan of the organisms. Her species database was activated and a search began. A red alert flooded her screen. They were humans. The most dangerous species on the planet. The cause of the deterioration and destruction of the world.
Her defense system activated and her right arm hollowed out to form a cannon that began to reverberate a deep red. However, the cry of the human puppy stopped the android. Perhaps it was a glitch in her system, at that moment, her weapon stopped working. The android decided to ignore the destruction directives in the face of the imminent threat in front of her, and finally, she desisted from her extermination order.
The adult human was female and was extremely exhausted, her vital signs were very weak, a product of starvation, the human puppy extended her small arms towards the android, tears covered her small face and a toothless mouth kept screeching.
"Save her, please, I beg you," were the last words uttered by the adult.
The android took the baby in her arms, curious, the little one was astonished before the android, and both looked at each other. Fascinated by her discovery, in a nanosecond, the automaton decided to erase all the directives of destruction towards this new species she had found.
On her small bald head, a tuft of reddish hair sprouted that matched the color of the sky during the dawn of that day. From then on, Gaia-3155 decided to call the human baby Alba.
Gaia hid her findings from the other androids, fearing that they would not be as understanding as she was. At first, she fed little Alba different kinds of milk from different animals. Then Gaia got her used to eating cooked vegetables: roots, bulbs, legumes, and fruit. Sometimes Gaia would surprise Alba with delicious honeycombs. However, the android provided the nutrients necessary for Alba's organism to develop properly.
Alba grew fast, and curiously, she never got sick; she soon reached android height, although she was still young.
Like Gaia, Alba used to examine the edges of the forest to see if any animal was in danger. She always carried a device with her, in the form of a helmet, which allowed her to communicate with the android at any time, in case she had any problems.
For Alba, the entire forest was her home and she knew it like the back of her hand. But, one day, life as she knew it changed radically. She encountered a species that her mind had forgotten many years ago.
Alba was stunned to behold another human being. She didn't know what to feel when she saw it for the first time, despite seeing it kill an animal. She knew very well that predators fed on small prey, it was the natural order of nature. However, she never needed to kill any animal to survive.
He was a boy, a little younger than her. He wore animal skins over clothes faded and worn from the conditions of a hostile environment. The clothing covered both his legs and arms. He carried a bag at his side and a makeshift metal spear, with which he had killed the small rabbit. His hair was long, pulled back in a ponytail behind his head. His eyes were dark, reflecting a smile of having achieved what he desired.
He had a particular smell that aroused her curiosity and something else.
For a moment they looked at each other, scrutinizing each other. The boy thought of running away when he thought she was an android, confused by the outfit Alba was wearing. However, the girl took off in time the pseudo helmet she used to communicate with Gaia. She shook her reddish hair and greeted the stranger.
The boy, calmer, returned the greeting with a gesture.
"What tribe do you belong to?" he asked.
Alba recognized the language, it was one she had learned from Gaia.
"We live about 20 miles south of here. You'd better come with me, this area is not safe. The androids could come and exterminate us."
The last sentence confused Alba, but she didn't have time to ask. The boy had already disappeared.
It wasn't hard to find him. Alba had learned to track animals and it wasn't difficult to follow the human's scent, now that she knew him.
Cautiously, she reached the boy's campsite. They lived in an arid area far from the forest. There were about 15 other humans next to the boy. Some of them older than others. However, her attention was drawn to some children who greeted the boy she had met with joy. They were happy and relieved by his presence.
They were not hostile beings, although they were used to eating animal flesh. Furthermore, they were a primitive tribe, living in tents around a central campfire. Alba decided to learn more about them. She hid her communicator behind some rocks before greeting them.
The tribesmen were nervous when they saw the girl arrive, but changed their attitude when they heard the words of the boy she had followed.
The smaller ones surrounded her with curiosity, a little girl approached and asked her what material her clothes were made of, while she appreciated their softness with her fingers. A woman made a sound and all the children ran to her by the fire. The boy invited Alba to join them.
Alba sat with them. They offered her a piece of dried meat, from an animal hunted earlier. She shook her head; Alba hid her expression of disgust and nausea.
An older man cleared his throat and everyone suddenly fell silent. He was a wrinkled man with a long white beard and tanned skin. He solemnly looked at her and began to explain more about them. They were a tribe of nomads. They never stayed in one place to mislead the androids. Likewise, they stayed away from wooded areas to avoid being discovered.
Alba could not believe her ears. She was unaware of the existence of more androids. How was it possible for androids to kill humans? she wondered.
Finally, they showed her the head of one of the androids they had managed to eliminate.
"Damn robots!" the boy spat.
Alba, terrified, fled in terror at the sight of it. The boy tried to follow her, but she was faster and disappeared from his sight. Soon, he gave up chasing her for fear of being found by an android.
Her eyes filled with tears as she ran as fast as she could. She didn't stop until she reached the familiar meadow. Falling flat on her face, exhausted, she lay grave on the ground.
"Alba! Alba! What are you doing on the ground?" asked Gaia.
For a moment it seemed she had dreamed it all, but as she tried to get up, the scrapes on her body, brought more intense pain to her mind.
Tears welled up in her eyes again.
"You've been lying to me this whole time!" she cried angrily, pulling away from the android.
It took Gaia a couple of seconds to understand what Alba had meant and she kept silent.
"We're the species that destroyed the planet, aren't we?" cried Alba sobbingly.
"You're right," Gaia replied.
"But I have never stopped loving you and I can assure you that I have never killed any of your kind."
The android sat down on the ground, hugged her knees, and looked into Alba's eyes.
"I never wanted to lie to you. But my neural net forced me to hide the truth from you."
"You are the best thing that has happened to me in my long existence. You are free to go wherever you want if you wish, you can live with your own kind. I'm not going to stop you."
The android lowered her head as she said the last sentence. She knew that, like all living organisms, Alba had to live with her kind, get a mate and reproduce.
The girl understood that the android could not cry, but somehow felt the sadness it implied. In her mind, Alba could not assimilate everything that had been revealed to her so far.
Immediately, the android stood up and her arm hollowed out into a cannon, which began to emit a glowing heat. Her eyes turned red and a familiar metallic voice shouted:
"Run!"
For a moment she thought the android was going to attack her, she had never seen Gaia behave that way. Alb was paralyzed with panic.
Again she heard her scream.
"Get out of here now!"
The android raised her cannon and rested it on her left arm. Three other Gaia-like androids landed in front of them. The ground rumbled as it felt their weight.
Gaia stepped between Alba and them.
"Desist your hostility 3155, a human sighting has been detected nearby."
Alba covered her ears at the roar of Gaia's cannon fire. She had managed to destroy two of the androids quickly, but the third returned fire immediately, shattering Gaia's left arm and putting her out of action. The Gaia could have dodged the shot, but her conviction to protect Alba was above her own existence.
The remaining android approached the human and aimed its cannon at her. Tears ran down Alba's cheeks, horrified by what had happened to Gaia, and simply closed her eyes.
The android turned around automatically, detecting a new human, who in a failed attempt had thrown a spear towards it. Unfortunately, the android caught the spear before it hit the target. The boy was surprised by the android's speed of response. Humans normally hid or ran away. But it was too late to retreat.
Gaia seized the moment to get up and destroy the third android.
Alba ran to Gaia, who was still casting sparks on what was left of her left arm.
"I'm so sorry," Alba repeated over and over to Gaia. As her tears fell on her. Alba kept hugging her.
"Don't worry about me, my daughter,” she said caressing her head.
Gaia looked down at the gawking, frozen child.
"Both of you must leave. Soon more androids will come to replace the ones I destroyed."
The boy's eyes widened as he heard the news. Panic seized him and he forcibly pulled the girl. She struggled and kicked to get back next to Gaia. She struggled to break free from the boy's arms as best she could and clung tightly to the android's torso again, as she did as a child.
"I don't care, I won't leave you!"
Alba felt a small pinprick and fell unconscious. Gaia turned her eyes back on the boy.
"Get her to safety, please, I beg you."
The boy nodded wordlessly, took Alba in his arms, and ran as far as he could.
Thanks for coming by
“This post is taking part in the t2 x Bonsai x Stack writing challenge”
