Sequel: Flare ›
Status: Edited version of Human After All for NaNoWriMo.
Human After All (II)
VI
“Master, who is that?” Joshua pointed through the window in his new bedroom at a group of men walking together down the winding streets of the city. Black jackets fell to their ankles, and collars hid their faces up to their cheeks. As they walked down the sidewalk, man people stopped with a look of fear in their eyes. The men didn't bother to interact. They spoke among each other, and even then, only small phrases were uttered between them.
Beau looked away from the book in his lap, and looked out of the window. He brushed his hair away from his face to get a better view as he leaned his body against the window pane. Suddenly his eyes widened at the sight of the men, and without warning, he shoved Joshua away from the window.
“Empyreal sailors.” Beau mumbled while he hid Joshua from the view of the sailors. They walked away from the street, but Beau waited until they were absolutely out of sight to let out a breath that he had been holding.
The sailors' long black coat had blue and green highlights outlining the ends of them, and their boots were a shade of deep gray. Their hair was short and spiked, and even though you couldn't see past their reflective, demonically dark glasses, their eyes were terrifying. Beau looked at Joshua, and while Joshua was forgiving of his master for the shove, he still looked very hurt. A sudden rush of guilt washed over Beau, and he brushed Joshua's hair away from his flawless face.
“Joshua, I didn't mean to push you like that. I'm so sorry.”
“No matter, master.” Joshua rose from the bed, hiding his gaze from Beau's. “What's wrong? Who are those men?” Beau frowned in response.
“Please don't take what I did to heart. I didn't mean it.”
“Master.” Joshua said firmly, brushing off the apology. “It's quite all right. I accept.”
“But... I feel terrible because we just saw your abused companion a while ago, and I said I would never abuse my own personal robots, and then I pushed you.” Beau ranted, hoping Joshua was listening even slightly.
Joshua cocked his head. “Unless you meant it as abuse, it's not abuse.” He said, and he gave his master a quick nod. “Will you please explain what an empyreal sailor is? I think I heard you mutter that... unless you didn't want me to hear!”
Beau felt ridiculously guilty, and after a few more apologies, Joshua crossed his arms over his chest in defiance. He had seen Dahlia do the same when she was impatient with Beau. Beau couldn't help but smile at how adorable Joshua was, especially when he was trying to be serious.
“Okay, okay.” Beau said. Joshua relaxed and smiled. “Empyreals are.... They're officers of the government. They don't do much other than keep the cities functioning, and tranquil. They're robots, as you are, but they feel no emotion.” Beau paused. “Like, when you saw Troia scared of her master, what was your first instinct?”
“To protect her.” Joshua replied quickly. “I had to save her.”
“Yes!” Beau approved. “ Just that! These robots, the empyreals, they do not feel like they must protect others. Only the rules. They protect the rules, but to no purpose. They just protect it for the sake of protecting it.” Beau continued. He felt like he still wasn't getting his point across, yet he didn't know any other way to say it.
Joshua slowly responded. “I understand. But why did you push me?”
Beau chewed on his bottom lip. “It's been rumored that the empyreals like to take robots for, “study,” as they call it. It hasn't happened in a while, but there's no such thing as being too careful, right?” Beau shivered at the thought of any of his bots being taken by the solar sailors. They were not loving officers. “I just don't want you to be taken, Joshua. The empyreals— well, they also apprehend criminals. Torture them. Hurt them.” Beau spat out the last part.
“Why are they here?” Joshua's tone of voice was slightly terrified now. “Are there criminals in the town?”
Beau shrugged. “I'm not sure.” He looked out of the window. Many of the citizens spoke quietly, most likely discussing the sailors that had just stormed past them. “But they're gone now. They should be in the next town within the hour.” Hopefully.
Joshua grinned, and ran his fingers along the silk blankets of his own bed.
“Thank you for the room.” He said, adding to the amount of times he thanked Beau for the room. His eyes twinkled with happiness. “Of, if I could, I would embrace you, master!”
Beau considered the idea. Another embrace wouldn't have hurt anybody. It was just a hug, after all. Beau had sex with Drew and considered it less that a benefit between friends. An embrace was nothing. But the thought of when Joshua first hugged him was still in the back of his mind. Why had Beau's face flushed when Joshua wrapped his arms around him, if Beau said it was nothing more than an embrace?
“You're too kind.” Beau said, messing with Joshua's hair. He sat next to his beloved bot, staring into the comforting glasz eyes that met his gaze halfway. Joshua was so innocent, Beau thought. So kind, and naive. “Joshua, how do you feel about Drew and I?” Beau asked. Joshua tilted his head.
“I don't understand.” Joshua's voice was delicate “I accept what my master does. You're my master.”
“But how do you feel....” Beau sighed in defeat. He didn't have the words to express what he was feeling. “Do you like Drew?”
“Drew has been very kind to me.” Joshua nodded. “I consider him an acquaintance.”
“And you don't mind what we're doing?” Beau asked while he pushed Joshua's hair away from his face. Joshua shook his head, grinning from ear to ear.
“If master doesn't mind, then I don't mind.”
***
“Are you ready?” Beau's voice was quiet.
“Yes, master.” Joshua nodded.
“I'm gonna put it in.”
“Yes, master. I-I'm ready.”
Beau slipped the USB drive into a small slot nearing Joshua's back. Joshua slid his eyes shut, and then opened them again, but his eyes were blank, gray. After situating himself at the desk, Beau pulled out his glass keyboard, tapping the keys softly.
“Let's see what he can do.” Beau pushed a headset to his ear. Although he never used it for his cell phone, he did use it for internet hacking. It was a way to keep contact with other hackers, without having to type it all out. Their voices were altered through the headsets, so nobody could determine who a person was through their voice.
Beau first opening the paranoid linux system, which he used to hide his hacking activity with fake chat rooms, and emails being sent to false a false email address. Beau then opened his server, typing in “936777” in the user entry, with which is opened Joshua's server. However, even with the linux system in effect, Beau never spent more than five minutes on a page for fear that his IP address would be retrieved by a government spy and Beau would be arrested. And Beau would never, under any circumstances, allow his computer to blue screen. The blue screen meant that his files would be wiped, and that meant Joshua's memory being wiped. Another repercussion was the fact that your bot could never be used to hack again.
Although Beau didn't think he would mind if he couldn't hack with Joshua, he did like how fast Joshua was working at the system. In less than a few seconds, Beau was searching through the government's data. He hoped the reason the empyreals were in town was somewhere in the articles. Curiosity killed the cat, Beau thought, but he was still living.
Beau found a page concerning the empyreals. “Read paragraph three through of the article aloud, please, Joshua.”
“Yes, master.” Joshua's voice was uncomfortably robotic. Beau didn't like the nearly emotionless sound to Joshua's voice. Then Joshua's eyes transitioned to a light shade of gray as he began to read off of the page.
“Lieutenant General Mark Matarazzo issued a warning to all empyreal sailors pertaining the safety of the people, and the towns. There has been rumor of a code 291; rogue robot, accompanied by Squadron ST's rebellion leader, Ethylon Wright, age 18. The rogue robot described by many witnesses, is a fembot, nearly age 12 or 13, blonde hair. The rogue's clothes are described as worn, torn, dirty, and most likely child-like, possibly blue pants. Warning; said rogue robot is said to be armed, dangerous, and causing heavy destruction to anyone, and anything in its path.
“Squadron ST's rebellion leader, Ethylon Wright, is described as a rough looking juvenile male. Height is six foot, weight undefined. Clothes are dark, and most likely worn. Ethylon Wright escaped juvenile bion through ways currently unknown to the public. Ethylon, after leading the rebellion that caused the destruction and ultimate demise of Squadron ST, is danger. Again; dangerous. Empyreals have been sent on foot to search for any sign of Ethylon. Citizens of all squadrons are warned to stay inside of their homes, lock all doors in the home, and show no obvious signs of movement to keep safe.
“We advise many masters and mistresses to watch their bots carefully, as the fembot accompanying Ethylon is a skilled hacking bot, and could, at any given moment, infiltrate a robot's defenses. Empyreals are currently searching for the reason the rogues are running. Sources claim Ethylon is searching revenge, but this is unconfirmed. Citizens must know that if they are seen helping or harboring a fugitive, they will be killed on sight. If citizens have hints or tips about the rogues, allow them to reach the emergency line. A statement about the rogues will be issued in a week if not captured within that time. If said rebels are caught and quarantined before a week's time, government officials are to say that the empyreals were doing nothing but an annual sweep, and should not be worried.”
Beau swallowed hard. A rogue robot? It had been years since a robot had rebelled, and the last one had caused so many deaths. Beau remembered fearing for his bot's safety, as Leslie was just a tyke at the time.
“Please read paragraph seven aloud.”
“Yes, master.”
“Government officials are calling the rogue team a scamp at the time, since of the small threat from the team. They are extremely loyal to their rebel cause, and they will stop at nothing to satisfy their hunger for revenge. While it is still unclear what the rogues are fighting for, it is clear that they are willing to kill others to reach their goal. Officials have just received a body count of seven dead in squadron 9V, and hear rumors of a body count of at least twelve in Squadron FE. The rogues have been on the run for two weeks. The rogues, as said before, are armed, dangerous, lethal, and most likely without mercy for anyone, or anything. Generals advise a serious warning to citizens and their well being.”
Beau leaned forward. “Thank you, Joshua.” He licked his fingers against the keyboard, quickly closing the pages, but he saved the article. After saving the article on his computer, Beau opened his encrypted email server, sending the file to Drew. He must have seen the empyreals, there was no way he could miss them. After all, Drew walked to high school every day. He couldn't have missed the empyreals walking that morning.
Yes, Beau was sleeping with a high school student. The idea in his head seemed dirty, but it couldn't have been.... It was only three years age different, it wasn't too strange. When somebody calls Drew a high school student though, it sounded insanely different.
“Get ready for deactivation, Joshua.” Beau walked up behind Joshua, his hand traveling to the part where the USB met Joshua's skin. Beau carefully slipped the USB out of Joshua's back. Joshua stared blankly at the ground before his eyes restored to the breathtaking colors they always were. Joshua rubbed his eyes as though he had woken up from a long nap.
“Did I do good, master? Did I satisfy?”
“You did fantastic, Joshua! Better than expected.” Beau helped Joshua off of the high table by lacing their fingers together. “But I think we'll keep you away from the hacking for a while.” It was probably be in everybody's best interests if Joshua stayed off the grid for a while.
“Why?” Joshua asked, frowning slightly. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No, of course not!” Beau exclaimed, and tapped his finger on Joshua's soft nose. “But there are some rogues running around the squadrons.”
“Rogues?” Joshua's eyes widened like a puppy's, and Beau couldn't resist the urge to coo. He did so, but quietly.
“They're evil people, Joshua. They're killing others. One of them is a bot like you, but not with the same values.” Beau said, realizing that a grimace was now on his face. He was speaking firmly, trying to keep the distaste for the rogues out of his mind. “She could hack into your defense. I would never risk that.”
Joshua clasped his hands together behind his back. “Why? Am I not strong enough? I'll become stronger!” Joshua punched at the fake air, throwing a few weak punches with giggles coming out of his mouth.
“No!” Beau said again. Joshua jumped at how fast his master spoke. “No, no, you're very strong, Joshua. It's just that....” Beau paused. What was the reason for the concern of his bot? What was Beau so scared of? Joshua was a very complex robot, he could probably handle more than anybody thought he could. He was stronger than anybody could actually tell. It was the simple fact that Beau could lose Joshua that scared him. What if this fembot was harsher than a blue screen? What if she wiped Joshua's memories and emotions? Sure, Joshua was only a few weeks old, but to lose the bot that Beau had grown so fond of in less than a second was something he would not allow.
“What, master?”
“I don't... I don't want to lose you. Just as I don't want to lose you to the empyreals, I don't want to lose you to the fembot either.” Beau said. He inhaled after saying the entire sentence without taking a breath. “You are very important to me, Joshua.”
“And you are important to me as well, master.” Joshua smiled.
“Then you understand why I don't want to lose you.” Beau straightened Joshua's shirt out. “You're previous to me, just as Dahlia, Leslie, and Kiyah are. If not, more important.” He said in a whisper. “But you don't tell them I said that.”
“Yes, master.” Joshua giggled.
Beau brushed a few stray hairs from Joshua's face, and he leaned close to Joshua's ear, murmuring soft words on his cheek.
“Have you ever heard music, Joshua?”
Beau looked away from the book in his lap, and looked out of the window. He brushed his hair away from his face to get a better view as he leaned his body against the window pane. Suddenly his eyes widened at the sight of the men, and without warning, he shoved Joshua away from the window.
“Empyreal sailors.” Beau mumbled while he hid Joshua from the view of the sailors. They walked away from the street, but Beau waited until they were absolutely out of sight to let out a breath that he had been holding.
The sailors' long black coat had blue and green highlights outlining the ends of them, and their boots were a shade of deep gray. Their hair was short and spiked, and even though you couldn't see past their reflective, demonically dark glasses, their eyes were terrifying. Beau looked at Joshua, and while Joshua was forgiving of his master for the shove, he still looked very hurt. A sudden rush of guilt washed over Beau, and he brushed Joshua's hair away from his flawless face.
“Joshua, I didn't mean to push you like that. I'm so sorry.”
“No matter, master.” Joshua rose from the bed, hiding his gaze from Beau's. “What's wrong? Who are those men?” Beau frowned in response.
“Please don't take what I did to heart. I didn't mean it.”
“Master.” Joshua said firmly, brushing off the apology. “It's quite all right. I accept.”
“But... I feel terrible because we just saw your abused companion a while ago, and I said I would never abuse my own personal robots, and then I pushed you.” Beau ranted, hoping Joshua was listening even slightly.
Joshua cocked his head. “Unless you meant it as abuse, it's not abuse.” He said, and he gave his master a quick nod. “Will you please explain what an empyreal sailor is? I think I heard you mutter that... unless you didn't want me to hear!”
Beau felt ridiculously guilty, and after a few more apologies, Joshua crossed his arms over his chest in defiance. He had seen Dahlia do the same when she was impatient with Beau. Beau couldn't help but smile at how adorable Joshua was, especially when he was trying to be serious.
“Okay, okay.” Beau said. Joshua relaxed and smiled. “Empyreals are.... They're officers of the government. They don't do much other than keep the cities functioning, and tranquil. They're robots, as you are, but they feel no emotion.” Beau paused. “Like, when you saw Troia scared of her master, what was your first instinct?”
“To protect her.” Joshua replied quickly. “I had to save her.”
“Yes!” Beau approved. “ Just that! These robots, the empyreals, they do not feel like they must protect others. Only the rules. They protect the rules, but to no purpose. They just protect it for the sake of protecting it.” Beau continued. He felt like he still wasn't getting his point across, yet he didn't know any other way to say it.
Joshua slowly responded. “I understand. But why did you push me?”
Beau chewed on his bottom lip. “It's been rumored that the empyreals like to take robots for, “study,” as they call it. It hasn't happened in a while, but there's no such thing as being too careful, right?” Beau shivered at the thought of any of his bots being taken by the solar sailors. They were not loving officers. “I just don't want you to be taken, Joshua. The empyreals— well, they also apprehend criminals. Torture them. Hurt them.” Beau spat out the last part.
“Why are they here?” Joshua's tone of voice was slightly terrified now. “Are there criminals in the town?”
Beau shrugged. “I'm not sure.” He looked out of the window. Many of the citizens spoke quietly, most likely discussing the sailors that had just stormed past them. “But they're gone now. They should be in the next town within the hour.” Hopefully.
Joshua grinned, and ran his fingers along the silk blankets of his own bed.
“Thank you for the room.” He said, adding to the amount of times he thanked Beau for the room. His eyes twinkled with happiness. “Of, if I could, I would embrace you, master!”
Beau considered the idea. Another embrace wouldn't have hurt anybody. It was just a hug, after all. Beau had sex with Drew and considered it less that a benefit between friends. An embrace was nothing. But the thought of when Joshua first hugged him was still in the back of his mind. Why had Beau's face flushed when Joshua wrapped his arms around him, if Beau said it was nothing more than an embrace?
“You're too kind.” Beau said, messing with Joshua's hair. He sat next to his beloved bot, staring into the comforting glasz eyes that met his gaze halfway. Joshua was so innocent, Beau thought. So kind, and naive. “Joshua, how do you feel about Drew and I?” Beau asked. Joshua tilted his head.
“I don't understand.” Joshua's voice was delicate “I accept what my master does. You're my master.”
“But how do you feel....” Beau sighed in defeat. He didn't have the words to express what he was feeling. “Do you like Drew?”
“Drew has been very kind to me.” Joshua nodded. “I consider him an acquaintance.”
“And you don't mind what we're doing?” Beau asked while he pushed Joshua's hair away from his face. Joshua shook his head, grinning from ear to ear.
“If master doesn't mind, then I don't mind.”
***
“Are you ready?” Beau's voice was quiet.
“Yes, master.” Joshua nodded.
“I'm gonna put it in.”
“Yes, master. I-I'm ready.”
Beau slipped the USB drive into a small slot nearing Joshua's back. Joshua slid his eyes shut, and then opened them again, but his eyes were blank, gray. After situating himself at the desk, Beau pulled out his glass keyboard, tapping the keys softly.
“Let's see what he can do.” Beau pushed a headset to his ear. Although he never used it for his cell phone, he did use it for internet hacking. It was a way to keep contact with other hackers, without having to type it all out. Their voices were altered through the headsets, so nobody could determine who a person was through their voice.
Beau first opening the paranoid linux system, which he used to hide his hacking activity with fake chat rooms, and emails being sent to false a false email address. Beau then opened his server, typing in “936777” in the user entry, with which is opened Joshua's server. However, even with the linux system in effect, Beau never spent more than five minutes on a page for fear that his IP address would be retrieved by a government spy and Beau would be arrested. And Beau would never, under any circumstances, allow his computer to blue screen. The blue screen meant that his files would be wiped, and that meant Joshua's memory being wiped. Another repercussion was the fact that your bot could never be used to hack again.
Although Beau didn't think he would mind if he couldn't hack with Joshua, he did like how fast Joshua was working at the system. In less than a few seconds, Beau was searching through the government's data. He hoped the reason the empyreals were in town was somewhere in the articles. Curiosity killed the cat, Beau thought, but he was still living.
Beau found a page concerning the empyreals. “Read paragraph three through of the article aloud, please, Joshua.”
“Yes, master.” Joshua's voice was uncomfortably robotic. Beau didn't like the nearly emotionless sound to Joshua's voice. Then Joshua's eyes transitioned to a light shade of gray as he began to read off of the page.
“Lieutenant General Mark Matarazzo issued a warning to all empyreal sailors pertaining the safety of the people, and the towns. There has been rumor of a code 291; rogue robot, accompanied by Squadron ST's rebellion leader, Ethylon Wright, age 18. The rogue robot described by many witnesses, is a fembot, nearly age 12 or 13, blonde hair. The rogue's clothes are described as worn, torn, dirty, and most likely child-like, possibly blue pants. Warning; said rogue robot is said to be armed, dangerous, and causing heavy destruction to anyone, and anything in its path.
“Squadron ST's rebellion leader, Ethylon Wright, is described as a rough looking juvenile male. Height is six foot, weight undefined. Clothes are dark, and most likely worn. Ethylon Wright escaped juvenile bion through ways currently unknown to the public. Ethylon, after leading the rebellion that caused the destruction and ultimate demise of Squadron ST, is danger. Again; dangerous. Empyreals have been sent on foot to search for any sign of Ethylon. Citizens of all squadrons are warned to stay inside of their homes, lock all doors in the home, and show no obvious signs of movement to keep safe.
“We advise many masters and mistresses to watch their bots carefully, as the fembot accompanying Ethylon is a skilled hacking bot, and could, at any given moment, infiltrate a robot's defenses. Empyreals are currently searching for the reason the rogues are running. Sources claim Ethylon is searching revenge, but this is unconfirmed. Citizens must know that if they are seen helping or harboring a fugitive, they will be killed on sight. If citizens have hints or tips about the rogues, allow them to reach the emergency line. A statement about the rogues will be issued in a week if not captured within that time. If said rebels are caught and quarantined before a week's time, government officials are to say that the empyreals were doing nothing but an annual sweep, and should not be worried.”
Beau swallowed hard. A rogue robot? It had been years since a robot had rebelled, and the last one had caused so many deaths. Beau remembered fearing for his bot's safety, as Leslie was just a tyke at the time.
“Please read paragraph seven aloud.”
“Yes, master.”
“Government officials are calling the rogue team a scamp at the time, since of the small threat from the team. They are extremely loyal to their rebel cause, and they will stop at nothing to satisfy their hunger for revenge. While it is still unclear what the rogues are fighting for, it is clear that they are willing to kill others to reach their goal. Officials have just received a body count of seven dead in squadron 9V, and hear rumors of a body count of at least twelve in Squadron FE. The rogues have been on the run for two weeks. The rogues, as said before, are armed, dangerous, lethal, and most likely without mercy for anyone, or anything. Generals advise a serious warning to citizens and their well being.”
Beau leaned forward. “Thank you, Joshua.” He licked his fingers against the keyboard, quickly closing the pages, but he saved the article. After saving the article on his computer, Beau opened his encrypted email server, sending the file to Drew. He must have seen the empyreals, there was no way he could miss them. After all, Drew walked to high school every day. He couldn't have missed the empyreals walking that morning.
Yes, Beau was sleeping with a high school student. The idea in his head seemed dirty, but it couldn't have been.... It was only three years age different, it wasn't too strange. When somebody calls Drew a high school student though, it sounded insanely different.
“Get ready for deactivation, Joshua.” Beau walked up behind Joshua, his hand traveling to the part where the USB met Joshua's skin. Beau carefully slipped the USB out of Joshua's back. Joshua stared blankly at the ground before his eyes restored to the breathtaking colors they always were. Joshua rubbed his eyes as though he had woken up from a long nap.
“Did I do good, master? Did I satisfy?”
“You did fantastic, Joshua! Better than expected.” Beau helped Joshua off of the high table by lacing their fingers together. “But I think we'll keep you away from the hacking for a while.” It was probably be in everybody's best interests if Joshua stayed off the grid for a while.
“Why?” Joshua asked, frowning slightly. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No, of course not!” Beau exclaimed, and tapped his finger on Joshua's soft nose. “But there are some rogues running around the squadrons.”
“Rogues?” Joshua's eyes widened like a puppy's, and Beau couldn't resist the urge to coo. He did so, but quietly.
“They're evil people, Joshua. They're killing others. One of them is a bot like you, but not with the same values.” Beau said, realizing that a grimace was now on his face. He was speaking firmly, trying to keep the distaste for the rogues out of his mind. “She could hack into your defense. I would never risk that.”
Joshua clasped his hands together behind his back. “Why? Am I not strong enough? I'll become stronger!” Joshua punched at the fake air, throwing a few weak punches with giggles coming out of his mouth.
“No!” Beau said again. Joshua jumped at how fast his master spoke. “No, no, you're very strong, Joshua. It's just that....” Beau paused. What was the reason for the concern of his bot? What was Beau so scared of? Joshua was a very complex robot, he could probably handle more than anybody thought he could. He was stronger than anybody could actually tell. It was the simple fact that Beau could lose Joshua that scared him. What if this fembot was harsher than a blue screen? What if she wiped Joshua's memories and emotions? Sure, Joshua was only a few weeks old, but to lose the bot that Beau had grown so fond of in less than a second was something he would not allow.
“What, master?”
“I don't... I don't want to lose you. Just as I don't want to lose you to the empyreals, I don't want to lose you to the fembot either.” Beau said. He inhaled after saying the entire sentence without taking a breath. “You are very important to me, Joshua.”
“And you are important to me as well, master.” Joshua smiled.
“Then you understand why I don't want to lose you.” Beau straightened Joshua's shirt out. “You're previous to me, just as Dahlia, Leslie, and Kiyah are. If not, more important.” He said in a whisper. “But you don't tell them I said that.”
“Yes, master.” Joshua giggled.
Beau brushed a few stray hairs from Joshua's face, and he leaned close to Joshua's ear, murmuring soft words on his cheek.
“Have you ever heard music, Joshua?”