pale, as if she were some princess from some world far away. She blinked and her eyes wandered over the construction around her as the car moved. Her eyes were pale blue, almost white in color, and her eyelashes were long, brushing together softly whenever she blinked. Her body was thin, but held the curves of maturity, and was clothed in a simple, white jumpsuit that conformed to her. Dale let a smile cross his own face and put his arm around her. Instead of tensing like he had thought she would, she clasped his arm in her hand and wound it tighter around her torso. She looked to him and smiled.
"What have you seen in your life?" Dale asked.
"I’ve seen everything the computer has ever known." Her smile brightened. "I think the better question would be what have you NOT seen in your life?"
"Well then, what haven’t you seen in your life?"
"You. And where you’ve come from. Even to the computer your true origin is a mystery. You carry the form of the overseers, but the computer knows there is something different about you." She put her head back down on Dales shoulder. "The computer knew though that it had rested for long enough and wanted only to begin anew. It felt there was no need for this extended lull in the existence of the robots and computers."
"Huh. Makes sense why the computer so willingly did whatever I asked it to do."
"Yes, the computer knows much."
"And now you know just as much as the computer does." Dale smiled. "You are amazing."
"Yes, for now I carry all that the computer knows, but as time passes I will forget until I know only the things that I need."
"Oh. Will you ever be able to access it again?" Dale asked.
"Maybe. But I won’t want to. Perhaps you can persuade me though." Her smile was mischievous this time.
Dale laughed. "Maybe I will." He became somber. "I can’t believe this is happening. My own mother told me I would never find a lady friend, and yet here I am, talking to one who was made just for me." He thought for a moment. "Do you have a soul?"
"Yes." She thought for a moment too, weighing the gravity of the statement. "But I don’t know where it came from. Can you imagine, being created from thin air for someone?"
"No, I’ve lived my whole life based on who I’ve been in the past. To be made from nothing would be like losing who I am. It would kill me."
"To die inside is worse than death."
"You are sad to be alive." Dale said as a fact.
"Yes, I wish I didn’t exist, then I would not be so lost." She sighed. "I’ve been alive for only a few moments and even now I wonder what it means to live. Things the computer has seen and knows would cause you to question everything you are."
Dale thought of the ease in which the computer had created her. "I’m sorry. I wish things were easier for you."
She sat in silence.
"Do you have a name?" Dale asked. "I don’t think you’ve told me yet."
"Yes, but it’s not really a name."
"What is it?"
"Serial number seven twenty five."
"It sounds like a wonderful name to me."
"I don’t want it. It reminds me that I’m not real." She looked down at her hands. "I don’t want a name. I want to always remember myself a nameless, to remind myself that I don’t really exist. I don’t want to lie to other people."
"But having a name is a wonderful thing."
"Why do you say that?" She asked.
"Well, my parents named me Dale. It’s reminiscent of a country boy and it’s stuck with me ever since my parents decided they wanted me to be a farmer. But, I decided it would mean something else. Something personal that only I can understand and appreciate. I decided that Dale would mean me. And only I would ever know this name the way I do. No one else can tell me what my name means because it will always be who I am."
She thought silently. "Do you hate your name?"
"Not anymore. I’ve learned cherish my name because one day that may be the only thing left of me."
She frowned. "Do you think I should stay serial number seven twenty five?"
"What do you think?" Dale asked kindly.
"I think I will. I don’t want to change who I am. I want to be exactly who I was intended to be from the start, and that’s everything you need, and I’m okay with that."
Dale smiled. "How about I call you seven."
"That sounds perfect." She hugged him tightly "I like the way you say it."
Dale laughed. "Well you don’t sound half bad yourself."
"Thanks Dale."
Sevens eyes turned back to the landscape, taking in more of the pictures and impressions. Her young mind was seeking to find the answers implanted in her memories.
Her hand would reach out every once in a while as the silence dragged on, pretending to touch and feel certain objects as they passed by as if to learn their shapes and textures. Dale was incredibly impressed with her coherence. She had just been born a few minutes ago to a strange world and her seemingly gentle nature was entirely acclimated. That in itself showed how impressive the technology of these overseers had become but more importantly it meant he could find friendship in her without worry. She would be a perfectly good person for him to know. Yeah everyone else he got along with just fine, but if what the computer had said was true, then Seven was honestly designed with him in mind and there was no way they could go wrong.
"What are you thinking about Seven?" Dale asked leaning in to her as she swiped at a small winged machine.
"I think the world is going to change for the better. Don’t you think so?" She turned and looked Dale in the eye.
"I think so."
She turned back and swiped at the flying machine, catching it in her hand. "The world is old and full of husks. This reinvention of the overseers will mean the machines can begin again. It will be the beginning of a renewed age." She kept the flying machine cupped in her hand and held it out to Dale, smiling.
Dale carefully extracted the machine from her fingers, awed by the intricacy of creature.
"Sounds fine to me. I want to help in whatever way I can, but I really should get home."
"Home is where you choose to be. Home is where your heart chooses to rest."
"Am I wrong to want my life? I had what I wanted in my job and my experiences. Are these things wrong?"
Seven thought about it. "No, they are not wrong, but I don’t know this place where you’ve come from. It doesn’t seem to be like this one, and the overseers do not seem to be a part of your life."
"Well, overseers have a deep resemblance to humans. Perhaps were the same in some way."
"Maybe there’s a relation. The computer thought you were an overseer. Well, the computer used its image of the overseers and projected it on to you. You are overseer in form and language. I’m sure the computer used the commands you gave him to unlock whatever he’d been hiding inside. It seemed like the computer had been anxious to start things back up again and since you were here, he did everything in his power to make sure you freed the overseers."
"I asked for happiness for everyone and he started spitting people out like a popcorn popper."
"A what?"
"Some kind of machine that prepares food in large quantities."
"Oh."
"And if you’re right, it means that the overseers who had left had ordered this computer to lock down the workers here. Maybe the computer needed to return things to normal. Habit is a hard thing to break if you let it control you for too long."
"That’s true. I wish the computer could tell me why he let everyone back out."
"Well, maybe that’s what the robots wanted. I asked for happiness for everyone and if there were those who wanted the overseers to return, then it would make sense for the overseers to be released." Dale thought for a moment. "How many overseers left the planet before everything was shut down? Who was in charge of everything?"
"Well, the original order to stop production was given via a transmission from the command center that orbits the planet." Seven pointed
to a small blip in the sky, shrouded by the dusty clouds in the sky. "Everything else that happened leading up to that point was never discussed or explained."
"So for all the computer knows, an invader could have shut down the planet for some reason."
Seven put her head against his chest and gently pushed his hand upward. "You can let the clockwork flyer go. It should be let free before we leave its home too far behind."
Dale opened up his hand and the flying machine flapped its wings and took off.
"Maybe, but who can know? If someone did sabotage the operation here, then how will they have survived this long? It’s been thousands of years. Things change in that much time."
"They do" Dale said thoughtfully. "But if they did, I want to know. We have a ship. Why not just go see what's happening?"
The vehicle stopped several meters from a hulking mass of welded metal. It was the ship. Dale got out, pulling Seven carefully behind him.
"This ship is huge!" Dale said, letting his eyes roam over the surface. "It doesn’t even make sense why it has to be this big."
The ship was large, clawing its way up through the air until its nose was on par with that of the computer spire which could be seen some distance off past the launch platform. Dale couldn’t register how quickly the ship had been made, but the amount of time the computer had allowed for its construction had amounted to less than a minute.
"How was the ship made so quickly?" Dale asked the robot who accompanied them in the vehicle.
Seven stepped in before he could respond. "He wouldn’t know that Dale, but the amount of ore collected over the past few thousand years has provided an