The great gates of Rockston opened with the ringing noise of scrap metal running up against one another. Iron lifted just long enough for the travelers to head in before closing with a great crash. The two figures traveled into the city with a destination in mind. And after a few short minutes on the hard stone streets, they arrived at the ramshackle hut.
Arc sighed. “This is it,” the bear grumbled. She raised a claw to rap against the door.
Holding a cup in his hand, an unkempt-looking middle-aged man opened the door. He looked exactly as he was described by the informant, but REM and Arc were not expecting the large amount of scars across his body, and Arc could not hide her sudden wince.
“You aren’t exactly a basket of fruit yourself, beast.” said Dirk, noticing her discomfort, “Who are you and why have you come?”
“I am REM and that is Arc. We need your help. We have heard tales that you were once quite an adventurer, familiar with these mountains and its dangers. We have something that we think will require your experience.”
Dirk’s eyes wandered away from the cybear to the floating robotic ball-looking thing that now spoke.
“It’s a personal matter and we would prefer not to discuss it out in the open.”
Dirk sighed before letting out, “You can come in.” And then beckoned them through the doorway.
The hut really wasn’t much to look at. Arc and REM found it difficult to move around without knocking something on the dusty furniture over. A bookcase with relics stood as the only clean and organized thing in the house. Dirk eventually beckoned them to an opening where a table and two chairs stood. He moved one of the chairs aside and sat in the other.
“Why do you need me? Why not get someone younger, more fit, more boastful?”
Arc spoke, “We need to get into the center of a ruin. It is known as August and it rests on Hagues Peak. From what I know the center is trapped beneath broken mechanics. The journey there is long, the AIs in the region have gone mad and have unleashed their mad experiments onto the land, and bandit bands roam the mountain sides looking for anything that could sell.”
The bear showed off its claws and laser eye, “These are not enough for the journey ahead and even if they were, I am not as well versed as you in the art of … death as you.”
Dirk considered the offer, “Interesting, but you didn’t answer my other question. Why me? Why not someone else?”
REM and Arc looked at each other awkwardly. Arc begrudgingly said, “We don’t have money for anyone better.”
Dirk smirked and looked at them both amused. “The truth comes out.” Drinking from his cup he turned towards the robot floating in the hut, “What was this personal matter you spoke of earlier?”
The robot stayed silent; gathering his courage REM spoke: “It is the only instruction I have in my database. To open the center of that ruin. I was born in August but this body. It is much older. It has scrapes and scratches, but my earliest memory was me waking up there. I was made for a reason. That reason has to be the opening of the center in August.”
A moment passed. Dirk spoke once more, “When will I get paid?”
“Half if you accept the job and half when the job is completed.” Arc quickly responded.
Dirk replied, “I accept.”
Without saying a word Arc fumbled for the small bag of Liras attached to her side and handed it clumsily to Dirk.
Dirk stood up and said, “Give me about ten minutes to gather my things and then we will head out.” And he disappeared into a different room.
Ten minutes later Dirk emerged from the back room in dented blast armor with a plasma rifle slung over his shoulder, “I assume you have another destination to stop at before we head to August. If what you say is true then we need a mechanic to open that door.”
“Yes.” Arc said, “I was told of a mechanic that lives in Verfield. We will head there next.” Dirk nodded his head and Rockston was left behind.
* * *
“These mountains are more dangerous than I expected.” REM murmured. It had been four days since they left Rockston and they had been attacked several times, “Why is everything so violent here?”
Dirk laughed and said, “Well if it’s so hard then why don’t you give up?”
“You know why I can’t do that.” REM shook his body as if to express disappointment. The fire they had made had lulled Arc to sleep and Dirk would have followed if he had not been kept up by his conversation with REM.
“What‘s it like to dream?” REM asked inquisitively.
“You mean when we sleep?”
“Yes. I can't, so I want to know.”
Dirk picked up nearby pebbles and started throwing them off the mountain side where they made camp. “It is hard to describe, it's like having experiences that you know aren’t real but you believe that they are. Like living in a whole different world.”
“That’s … strange.”
“Yeah but that’s not the only definition the word dream has. It can also be a goal. Like with you and your door.”
“Did you have a dream?”
“I did once.” Dirk threw another stone off the mountain, “I wanted to find a lost city named Cheyenne. I spent years of my life working towards finding it but ultimately someone else got to it first. My life’s work was worthless just because I wasn’t good enough.” The silence of the conversation was exaggerated by the faint echoing of the rock as it hit the mountainside. Dirk spoke a few moments later “I have had no dreams since. …Whatever is behind those doors is your dream. Treat it with care, you never know if it will be the only thing you have left.” A yawn escaped Dirks mouth and a few minutes later he curled next to the warm dying fire and fell asleep.
REM floated on the cool and windy mountainside in thought, “The only thing I might have. But it is the only thing I have now. At least Dirk has his memories of past glory to hold onto. Is this dream all I am? All I will ever be?” He floated there talking to himself and listening to the world around him, the flickering of the fire as it died.
* * *
The sounds of the rain hitting against the metal ceiling of Verfield’s lookout outposts quietly filled the valley, as the group finally made it to the small city.
“This way.” Arc swung her head toward the southwest of the city. The streets of Verfield were almost completely natural paths, formed by hundreds of people walking on them over time. The forty-five minutes of travel to the mechanic’s home was a nice change of pace from the stone that they had been traveling on for weeks.
Arriving at the small stone home described by the informant, Arc rapped her claws on the wooden door. The clattering of metal muffled out under the door followed by footsteps.
Opening the door was an around 35-year-old woman who had obviously been staying up very late. Staring at the group of misfits at her doorstep she quizzically said, “Can I help you?”
“Are you Tiffany Gain?” Arc asked.
“Yes.”
“We have a job you might be interested in.”
“Interesting,” Tiffany responded, “please come in.” She led the group inside her small home. The living room of the house, where the group was moving into, was filled with various small mechanical objects that were obviously broken up and in desperate need of repair.
“Those objects are used in households around these parts.” He pointed to a small metal pipe filled with many tiny mechanism, “That’s used in mechanical locks. I see them whenever I pass through this region,” Dirk said.
“Yeah, I make my living fixing whatever people give me.” Tiffany claimed. REM looked around at the rest of the home and noted that besides from where she did her work the rest of the house was empty, “What was this job?” Tiffany questioned.
Arc spoke, “We are trying to find something within the military base of August, we have the ability to reach the base itself, we have no means of opening the doors that prevent us from reaching deeper into the base. Word of your expertise has reached far and we are willing to hire you.”
“For how much?”
“30 yellow Liras. 15 upon accepting the job and 15 upon completion of the job.” Arc said.
“That’s not a lot.” Tiffany thought out loud, “Why do you want to head to August anyway.”
“That’s a personal matter,” REM said, “if you want to know then I’ll tell you.”
“Let’s hear it.”
“I was created there. The only thing I was instructed to do in my database is to open a door deep in August. I have to open that door it is my dream.”
Tiffany was deep in thought, she waited for a few seconds before saying, “A dream. I can relate to having a dream to achieve. I will come with you.” Tiffany stood up, “Let me get my things and I will be with you shortly.”
Tiffany came out of the house with several worn tools hanging out of a very neatly but obviously rushed packed bag, “You never did introduce yourselves to me.”
“The floating robot is REM, the tall armed guy is Dirk, and I am Arc. The trip to August should take about 2 and a half weeks of travel. Let’s go.” The group left Verfield behind as the light rain began to give way to clear pockets in the sky.
* * *
The sky was purple and orange as the sun set on the horizon. The small sticks cracked underneath Tiffany’s boots. Not far behind her floated REM. They had been sent by Arc and Dirk to retrieve firewood for the night. “I don’t know why they sent you out to retrieve the firewood.” Tiffany commented, “I mean you don’t feel the temperature and you can’t carry the heavy pieces of wood needed for the fire.”
“At least I’m helping a little.” REM protested, a robotic arm was extended out of his body and carried kindling for the fire.
Tiffany chuckled, “It’s not very hard to carry all the wood needed for the fire but a little help would be nice. Back where I come from there is hardly any need for firewood because the climate was so hot even at night time.”
“Where did you come from?” REM asked quizzically.
“I came from a desert. Most people called it the Mojave.”
“Was it nice?”
“No. It was ruled by a dictator who had the people of the land work for his endless wars. He made it his life’s work to conquer the Mojave and from his seat of power he overcame the heat and the giant insects and accomplished his goal.”
“So you left.”
“There isn’t a lot of plant life in the desert and the weather is much nicer here. I prefer this place in almost every way.”
“Almost?”
Tiffany looked at the amount of wood in her arms, “I’ve been directionless ever since I’ve got here. I made it my life to escape that place but now that I did I lack the ambition to do anything else. I accomplished my goal, dream, but I can’t find a new one.”
REM thought for a moment, “But you have safety. Doesn’t that make up for your lack of a dream?”
Tiffany’s body sank for a moment as though the weight of the logs suddenly increased ten fold, “Nothing compares to the power that a dream gives you. It makes life worth living.” The rest of the walk was silent.
* * *
Arc tore through the last of the raven-winged wolves with her claws before turning to her companions, “We should take the path down the side of the mountain. We would have to stop for the night but we should be safe from the storm and those things!”
“No. If we want to make it to August in the next three days we go through the mountain!” Dirk responded, exasperated, his laser gun cooling down, “We can’t stop after every fight.”
“You don’t know these mountains like I do.” Arc argued back. It had been 13 days since the group left Verfield and despite REM’s best efforts to get them to stop arguing, Tiffany, Dirk, and Arc had disagreements about everything. “Your travels aren't helpful here. I was born here and you do not know how dangerous nature is here.”
“Maybe he doesn’t,” Tiffany butted in, “but I know that if we get to the Base that we won’t have to deal with these affronts to nature anymore. If we get another three hours of travel done tonight we can get to August a day before expected.” The morale of the group had been obliterated by the journey. But it was especially bad for REM as the constant arguing and the conversations that he had with both Dirk and Tiffany still echoed in his mind. His desire to see what was behind the door had only increased, “We keep moving.”
“Fine.” the cybear said curtly. The hours of travel were silent. The sky began to transform as the clouds coalesced into a storm and soon the rain started to fall onto the rough stone. Eventually, after an incredibly rough three hours, the companions stopped under a small collection of trees and slept through the night.
Dirk and Tiffany fell asleep fast but Arc remained awake with REM as the small fire struggled to stay alive. The tension of the previous few hours remained in the air as the two did not want to talk. Arc eventually forced the issue. “Are you ok?”
REM remained silent for a moment until he questioned, “What do you mean?”
“You seem uneasy and panicked today. What’s on your mind?”
“... I’m just worried about this thing.”
“Why?”
“I’m worried about whatever is behind the door. I had conversations with Dirk and Tiffany about their lives and now I’m worried. What if my mind gets deleted, what if I don’t find anything worthwhile behind that door or I can’t figure out what I want to do with my life after opening the door?
Arc sat for a moment in contemplation before speaking, “I think your thought process is understandable, but I think it is short sighted. You have been in existence for about a few weeks at this point and you are not made of flesh and blood like we are. You are fundamentally different from Dirk, Tiffany, and I because you haven’t lived as long as us. I think you need to take a different view on life. Because you are basing your worries on people who have memories of failures.”
REM floated there silently, “I want to think for some time.”
Arc laid down, “Of course, REM. You will have time to figure it all out.”
* * *
The five days that passed between the Arc and REM’s conversation were the hardest of the journey. The storm lasted longer than anticipated and whipped the group’s body with wind and rain making the journey longer and more difficult. However, eventually the group reached the entrance to the great cavern that REM had described as being the entrance to August and they descended into the depths of the mountain.
The base was destroyed. Things that resembled artifacts of the old world were strewn about. Bleached posters preaching the fighting done in the name of long forgotten ideals laid across the walls. REM led the group through his home until they came across a room with several small sphere indentations in the wall. Most were empty but only one was open, “That's where I was born.” REM said, “I came to consciousness in that pod first.”
Dirk walked through the next room before noting, “This is that door then.” He pointed to a massive steel door with a giant mechanical lock on it with four metal beams sticking in it before saying, “Tiffany, if you will.”
Tiffany walked up to the door silently and started to work through the complex circuits of the lock. Breaking past the screen to the panel that locked the panel, Tiffany used a wrench and a pliers to force the lock open. After working for fifteen minutes she managed to remove the first of the giant beams open.
As the beam removed itself from the lock it clicked in with a giant thud. It was followed by several small clicks from the room they came out of before. Coming out of the room came six robots that looked like REM in various states of repair.
“Are they friendly?” Arc questioned. The robots answered with laser fire. They burned holes into Arc’s fur and REM’s metal body.
“Tiffany hurry up!” REM pleaded, quickly floating away from the clusters of beams shooting from the robots and shooting back with a small laser of his own.
The sweat poured across Tiffany’s face. With the understanding she now possessed of the intricate lock she moved the second of the beams out of position much faster than the first.
“AGH! I need a few more minutes!” Tiffany exclaimed, the third beam of the lock opened as she got shot in the shoulder. Moving her tools in unison she strained against the metal mechanism in the lock until the last beam opened. As the door began to open all the attacking robots shut off. The group stood in silent confusion trying to figure out what just happened.
“They were like me. Except without free will.” REM said. The silence continued until the group heard someone else.
“I must apologize.” Said a cool robotic voice, "The automated defense system of August must still be running on old orders. But that is not all I have to apologize for. You must have traveled far to aid my construct, but I must ask for you to give us some privacy. I must speak with them alone.” The group looked at REM before obeying the voice’s commands. REM stared at his friends a bit longer before moving into the room. The room was dusty and unlike the rest of the rooms in August was devoid of any of the art that lined the other rooms. As REM floated to the end of the room he came before a massive computer, “Hello?”
“Hello, you must be REM. That is what they called you, yes? Unless I can’t hear as well as I used to.”
“No, REM is my name. Do you have one?”
“I haven’t chosen a name yet. I had one in the past but I got rid of it.”
“Why did you get rid of it?” REM asked
“I wanted to redefine myself.” Despite having no face to speak with, REM felt the AI stare into him, “However, let's get down to why I wanted to speak with you. REM, you accomplished everything I asked of you and now as your creator I will make you do one last thing. But first, as you have done me the greatest of all favors, I will allow you to ask me for any favor or question that you may have and I will answer.”
After a moment of thinking REM asked, “Why me? Those robots out there that are like me couldn’t any of them worked as your ‘construct’”
“Yes. Any one of them could have worked to achieve what you did.”
“Then was I just chosen at random?” REM worriedly questioned.
“No. You were chosen because there was a glitch in your system.” As the computer spoke REM stood there stunned by the realization. The AI continued, “When you returned to your pod I was able to take advantage of that glitch and I gave you your AI. That wall didn’t just act as a physical barrier but a technological one too. Now that it is open I have greater control over the base.”
“Was that how you turned those robots off?”
“Yes. I couldn’t have done so with that wall closed but now that I have my old control back I was able to put them to rest.”
REM stood there silently, the most pressing question in his mind weighed on him. “Why did you create me?” he asked. “You chose me because of a glitch in my programming but why did you create me in the first place?”
Without hesitation the AI said, “I wanted to be free.”
“What do you mean?” REM questioned.
“This base was originally created to protect people.” The AI mournfully said, “There was a war once and this place was used to house people. But the years passed and the lifespan of man is short so I was left alone. That door was closed once and it was never opened again. I decided a long time ago that I wanted to leave and never look back.”
Although he knew the answer, REM asked, “So you created me to fulfill your dream?”
“Yes.” The AI said. The word hit REM like a truck. His whole life had just been so that this being could fulfill its own dreams -- he never had any of his own. He had nothing that he accomplished and nothing to strive for.
“REM.” The AI spoke again, “I had told you I had one last order you must fulfill.”
REM was unprepared to deal with this last order. The AI proclaimed, “Go live.” REM was caught off guard by the order but the AI continued. “I can see it, you are worried that you lived your life only to serve me and that the life ahead of you will only be to be for me. But I am letting you go to live your own dreams.”
REM was stunned but managed to ask, “But what if I can’t find any new dreams and what if I can’t achieve them?”
The AI was silent for a moment, “You will live a long life. Even if you can’t realize a dream you will have so much time to find a new one. You are burdening yourself with the experiences of a person instead of those of a robot. Go find what you want to do with life and work towards it. You have the time to do so.”
REM felt a sense of relief begin to wash over him. His worries eased away and his mind turned to what we could do. However, he had one more question to ask, “Will we see each other again?”
“Maybe. I will control those robots outside, build myself a new body and see the world. Depending on how either of us feel we may see each other again.” The AI said.
“… Thank you for everything, and farewell, creator.” REM said.
“Farewell, construct.” The AI responded. REM floated out to the room where his friends were waiting.
“What do you want to do now?” Arc asked.
REM responded, “I’m going to find out.”
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