Chapter 10 - The tally
The Human
After I'd 'fetched' his head (it had kind of started to... melt; I didn't really get what was happening, but it was quite gross), Matthew had simply taken it off me and placed it onto his neck-stump. The slime of his neck reached up and connected with the slime of the head, which had also started to turn a bluish colour. Not too long later, he could move his head and look around and speak properly. It seemed that beheading was not fatal to a Slug.
"My brain was in my stomach-chest area", he explained to me. "So cutting off my head didn't really do anything."
"But you could see and talk!" I protested.
"A mouth is simply a hole, easily replicated from slime, and normal Slugs don't have eyes. Simple holes will do fine, to funnel the light into my brain."
"Uh-huh", I answered. I resolved not to think too hard on that subject.
"Anyway", Matt also closed the topic, and turned to Boy. "Give us the tally. What are our injuries? Any casualties?"
"As you can see", Boy answered gravely, "I have lost an arm." It was true; his left arm culminated in an elbow and nothing more.
"Wait, wait, wait a second", I interjected. "If you" - I looked and pointed at Matt - "can simply reattach a detached head, then why can't you" - I looked and pointed at Boy - "reattach your arm?"
Boy looked at me with strife. "Once my opponent had severed my arm, it lay on the battlefield, and was unfortunately trampled on. Most of it is too damaged to recover, and the bits that are still in a recoverable state aren't worth the effort."
"Ah", I answered. "Carry on, then."
"So", Boy continued. "I've lost an arm. Frank has also lost some slime through his chest. Amazingly, Carmen has sustained only minor injuries."
"It seems fate decided she'd copped enough", Matthew smiled.
"Perhaps", the other Slug replied. "Unfortunately, we have some casualties. Both William and Jason have perished. Rosetta is severely injured."
Matthew shook his head sadly and slowly. "Unfortunate indeed. They will be remembered with Honour."
"Of course", Boy agreed. If I was getting this correctly, two of our friends had just died and they'd already finished talking about it. I really didn't get this Honour thing. And I didn't really want to either.
"And", Boy continued, "Phill is badly damaged. He took quite a beating trying to help you and Ethan."
"Yes, he did", Matt replied in a strange way.
By this time, Frank and Carmen had returned. While the latter appeared relatively unharmed, the former sported a large, gaping hole in his chest. They were supporting a crumbling Phill and a badly staggering Rosetta between them.
Matthew exclaimed at the sight of Frank, "You look like a certain damaged robot I know!" When he looked at Phill, he added, "So do you."
"The Cyborgs escaped", Carmen informed us solemnly. "Although they, and particularly Rabadootime, were badly injured, they still outnumbered us. Rosetta caught up to one of the slower ones, but it abruptly turned around and slammed her several times, including once where her brain was... We stopped to help, and the rest of them fled."
"No matter", Matt consoled her. "They will escape in their ships, and flee. I doubt even Rabadootime will try another assault until they have restocked on reinforcements."
"I agree", Frank agreed.
At that moment, Rosetta chose to groan to remind us she was mortally injured. The two Slugs helped her to lie down. "Don't mind me", Phill told no one in particular as he collapsed to the ground, and the Slugs were happy to oblige. They were busy tending to Rosetta's injuries. She had a beaten head, which looked squishy and abused, like a rotting apple. Both her arms and one leg were dragging, as they held onto her body with mere tendrils of slime. In short, she looked pretty beaten up.
Since she had so many caretakers, I decided to lend my aid to Phill. He was a mess on the ground, and looked completely incapable of doing anything for himself. "Do you need my help for anything?" I asked.
"Help me get out of the sun", he told me. "I don't want my CPU to fry from radiation after all of this." Despite the day being merely warm, and that I couldn't see anything on him remotely resembling a CPU to fry, I tried to help him up. But the thing was, without his full strength to assist me, he was really heavy. After a bit of struggling, Pauline came to help me, and we managed to haul him onto his feet and drag him into the shade.
"You didn't need to push me out of the way, you know", I told Pauline as we worked.
"Perhaps. But I figured that it was still pretty dangerous, and that Matthew would want you to live, no matter what else happened."
"What do you mean?"
She looked at me incredulously. "Don't you know anything? Why he staged this whole defence?" I had no answer to that. Well, actually I did, but my answer was silence, which made it look like I had no answer. Which I kind of didn't.
"Soooo..." I tried to talk about other things. "What do you plan to do now?"
"I've no idea", Phill mused aloud.
"Nor I", Pauline added, answering the question aimed at her.
I asked Phill, "Surely you can return to Slugenis with the Slugs?"
"You mean with you", he retorted. Pauline smiled.
"Bah", I said. "Giving me false hopes does nothing for me. I can't go to a different planet! They have no human food, no human... stuff, no humans!"
"If a Slug can come and survive on Earth", Pauline told me logically, "a human can survive on Slugenis."
"Why such a strong viewpoint?" I asked her, almost snidely. "Hoping to hitch a ride?"
"Who, me?" She was astonished. "I can't just leave my home. I have a family to be with."
Now I was astonished. "You do?"
"Yes." For some reason, I'd never imagined her knowing anyone other than us. Like me. Was that selfish of me?
"Oh", I said dumbly. "Well. Phill then. You can come to Slugenis. Where else would you go?"
"I've expended my usefulness", he replied glumly. "What use am I to anyone in this state? Besides, dying isn't so bad."
"Are you serious?" I asked. "That's it, if you're right and I go to Slugenis, you're coming with me. And don't argue about it."
He looked up at me. "Why would they take me? I'm a Cyborg."
"And?"
"I'm their hated enemy."
"Cyborgs are their hated enemy. You are a valuable ally, who's saved all of our lives several times. You underestimate the kindness of us 'organics'."
Something made him turn away from me at that point. I wasn't sure why, and I highly doubted its accuracy, but I fancied that it was some sort of gratitude.
Eventually, the rest of the gang sauntered over. Well, except Rosetta, who lay prone on the ground, and except Jason and William, who were kind of dead... I still hadn't wrapped my head around that yet.
So, those alive and capable of moving came over to our spot of shade. "Sup", Matt greeted us.
"Sup yourself", Pauline countered.
"How's Rosetta?" I asked.
Matthew's face fell grave. "She's severely injured, and might not make it. But I remain hopeful."
Pauline asked, "I thought that all she wanted was to die."
"That is true", Boy answered. "But we must do all we can to save her life, otherwise all of us will lose our Honour. Such is the Slug way."
"Indeed", Matthew added in an undertone.
There was a slight pause of awkward silence after that, where we all just stood around, waiting for someone to say something. It was Carmen who broke it. "What about Phill? Will you be alright?"
"As long as no one else beats me", he replied, "I'll survive. You Slugs are hardy, but we Cyborgs are hardier. If our CPU survives, so do we."
"Is it possible to repair you somehow?" Pauline asked, concerned.
"I suppose, with human metals", he responded thoughtfully. "Although I'll never be at my former state without proper Cyborg metals and technology. Which I am unlikely to ever get."
"Don't fret"
, Matthew reassured him. "We have plenty of, umm... replacement... Cyborg parts back on Slugenis."
Phill looked at him. "And how would you get them here?"
All of the Slugs smiled at him, which surprised me. It must be some kind of conspiracy. Matt answered him, "Don't be ridiculous. You'll be coming with us, of course."
Uncharacteristically for a Cyborg, Phill's eyes goggled, and his face perfectly conveyed the human emotion of shock. It seemed that he didn't quite believe it. "But, I'm a Cyborg! Your hated enemy. I'm useless to you now..." he looked at my smug face. "Shut up, Ethan!"
I sniggered, along with Pauline. It was Boy who continued on. "And of course, both Ethan and Pauline are invited to join us."
The biologist answered for both of us. "Unfortunately, I'll be staying on Earth. Ethan, on the other hand, is more than happy to come along. In fact, he was dreading not getting invited..."
"No, that's not true!" I protested. Well it was true, but I don't think I'd ever told her that. "I don't want to be a burden on you guys, and..."
But now Matthew interrupted. "Listen here, Ethan, and you listen good. I don't like trying to railroad you into making a decision, but this is what's going down. If you don't leave for Slugenis, neither am I." He continued in a weird voice: "Read my beak: I'm staying with you."
As he said 'read my beak', the slime around his mouth slightly shifted to form a point at the end, and was then coated with metal. The result was that his mouth ended up resembling a beak. Well, a metallic beak.
I could see the Slugs smile at this jest persuasion, but the intense look in Matthew's eyes told me it was the truth. But all I could see was his mouth, coated in Metal Slug.
I nearly shouted, "How does that blasted Metal Slug work? How!?"
Boy burst out laughing, and Matt smiled and shook his head, his mouth back to normal. "Very well", he replied. "Do you recall I said it was nanotechnology-related?"
I nodded, although I actually didn't. "Yes", Phill replied for some reason. Then I noticed Matthew was addressing all of us; Phill, Pauline and myself.
"Good", the Slug continued. "How it works is like this, although, as you can guess, it's much more complicated than this simplistic description. We Slugs have crap-loads of nano-particles floating around our body. There are two types of particles; senders and receivers. Each sender consists of a magnet and several coils of wire, which are held to the particle by the magnet. Each receiver consists of a stronger electromagnet, tuned to a specific type of brain signal. Obviously, this is all really tiny."
"So you're not made completely of slime", I surmised.
"Technically, although the vast majority of us is still slime", he answered. "Anyway, when I want to, say, wrap my hand in Metal Slug" - and he lifted up his hand - "I send a brain signal to the Metal Slug particles covering my hand. Note that brain signals are electrical. When sent at the right, uh... frequency, this signal activates the electromagnet within the receiver particles, causing them to magnetise. These particles then exert a magnetic pull upon the sender particles, much stronger than the base magnet of the sender. Thus, a strand of metal wire shoots out from the sender and joins the receiver. Among other reasons I'm not going to explain here, the actual sender particle itself stays in place as it is surrounded by receivers, and is therefore pulled in every direction, while the wire shoots out to join the nearest receiver.
"One nano-wire may sound like nothing, but image this a million-fold. The result is countless crossings of wire all over the designated area, joining sender and receiver, and giving an outward appearance of solid metal. Or, Metal Slug." And with this, his arm was suddenly solid metal. Or, Metal Slug. It continued to continue amazing me.
Pauline was likewise impressed. "So how do you reverse it?" she asked.
"Simple", was the reply. "I stop sending the brain signal. The receivers' electromagnets de-magnetise, and the base magnet of the sender becomes the dominant force. The wires revert to their original position, wrapping around, or bunching up at, the sender, and the crossings of wire is no more." And with that, his hand become normal again. The Metal Slug had seemingly disappeared.
"That is simply astounding", I commented, and with good reason. Didn't that mean that the Slugs had to keep constant concentration to keep Metal Slug activated? Sounds hard.
"Indeed", Matthew replied. He rolled his sleeve back to his wrist again.
"Are you always so cold?" I blurted out unexpectedly.
"More-or-less perpetually", Boy answered for him.
"So I will be boiling hot on Slugenis", I surmised, without satisfaction.
"Not all the time", Matt tried to reassure me. He failed.
Phill smirked at me. "We Cyborgs don't get hot or cold."
Quickly, I replied, "Yes, but you do get your asses kicked by Slugs!" This was met with some positive remarks from the Slugs regarding my wittiness, a much-too-soft slap on the back by Boy (quite human of him), and a grudging smile from Phill. I had completely won all of their regard.
The Cyborg
So. Now I fully understood how Metal Slug works, although the simplistic model described for the Human's sake would have some inherent complications. I wondered if that information was stored right now somewhere in the Archives. If I had been an ordinary Cyborg, it would be there soon, and would be used to develop further counter-measures against it.
Fortunately, I was no longer an ordinary Cyborg; indeed, I was almost more Slug than Cyborg now.
Ethan was right. I would be returning to Slugenis with him and the rest of the Slugs. This was an entirely unforeseen outcome; once again, I had underestimated organics. I wondered if, were the situations reversed, I'd offer them the same. I was glad I'd never have to consider it.
After Ethan had finished his belittlement of my species, which was perhaps true, there seemed nothing else to say. We all knew we had to make preparations to leave this planet, but no one seemed willing to break the moment of their triumph. Of our triumph.
It was now that a low groan escaped from Rosetta, still lying down on the ground. At the sign, everyone rushed over, Pauline and I staying behind, due to my near-incapacitation. However, I could prop myself up with my arms, allowing me to both hear and see what was happening.
The Slug's arms and leg, previously near detached, had been pushed up against their respective stumps. I surmised that, were I closer, I would be able to see the faint beginning of slime reattachment occurring. However, why was it not already finished? Due to Rosetta's extensive injuries? Or perhaps Matthew was the only Slug who could shift so fast. I decided that I wouldn't yet find out, and now was an inappropriate time to ask.
"Here, this will help", Matthew said soothingly, and bent down to her body. He unrolled her sleeves, which had been rolled up to give the slime room heal itself, and extended them all the way down to Rosetta's wrists. The purpose of this act escaped me.
The injured Slug's breathing was shallow and laboured, occurring very infrequently compared to the normal rate. "Don't breathe", Boy suggested. "You can live without it for now". Ethan shot the Slug an astounded look before regaining his composure. Despite all he'd been through, he still wasn't used to how alien the Slugs were compared to his own race.
So Rosetta ceased her breathing. Common logic states that extra breathing, and therefore extra oxygen, would speed the healing process, but I deduced that the Slugs knew more about this than I. Therefore, I merely observed.
Everyone stood in a rough circle, looking down at the Slug, each deciding for themselves whether or not she'd survive. The sight of her injuries told me she would die, but I knew that Slugs could recover from worse than this. Matthew could certainly survive it.
This brought to me to a startling revelation; Matthew could certainly survive Rosetta's injuries. Therefore, the effectiveness of Slug healing correlates to that Slug's mental ability. How effective they are at controlling their own bodies. Thus, Matt could heal through near any injury, due to his ability to utterly control every aspect o
f his body, and keep his concentration at controlling it permanently.
Rosetta, on the other hand, has had little experience of manually controlling her body. Her slime kept its shape through mental blocks, the technology that sends continuous brain signals without any input from her. Thus, she had not been trained to manipulate her body in any major fashion, as she didn't need to.
It was Matthew's time on Earth that forced him to learn to keep his body's shape without the use of mental blocks, and thus gave him the ability to control any aspect of it, faster than any other Slug, and at any time. That is what made him so good at healing, at combat, at... being Human. My actions, those 20 years ago, had inadvertently created the ultimate super-Slug.
This sudden comprehension caused me to reorder all I had thought about Slugs. Did the ones other Cyborgs had defeated, such as Jason and William, only lose because they had been incapable of commanding themselves? Was Matthew's supernatural abilities not supernatural, but actually the result of an extreme form of natural selection? Could the results be recreated in other Slugs?
Such things were too much to ponder, and I didn't have the time right now to do so. However, I kept note of the fact that I believed that more Slugs like Matt could be created under radical training programs. If this were actually possible, then the war would be all but over. Had I created the weapon the Slugs would use to destroy my species? Did I want them to destroy my species?
My frantic thoughts and calculations were interrupted by Carmen. "Is she going to be alright?"
"I think so", Matt surmised. "As long as she keeps her concentration and doesn't give up."
Rosetta gave a staggered response. "Can't... have to... die."
There was a small silence before Matthew verbally exploded. "Absolutely not! Are you insane?!" No one commented on his hypocrisy. "No, Rosetta, no! You are going to live. We've lost enough friends today. I won't lose another to foolishness!"
"Matt", Boy tried to console him, clearly in the midst of an internal struggle himself. "She fought well, and wants her Honour. Who here will deny her that?"
"I thought Slugs aren't allowed to let themselves or others die", Ethan whined, a voice in the background. It was ignored.
"I will deny her that!" Matthew almost screamed. He dropped to his knees, somehow aggressively, and grabbed Rosetta's head. Perhaps due to my angle, his fingers' firm grip sunk more into her slime than seemed normal. "Listen to me very carefully, Rosetta", he began quietly, but fiercely. "The point of Honour is to make us Slugs fearless, to make us willing to sacrifice our lives for the Empire. However, it is not always right. Death isn't the only purpose of living! You have served the Empire greatly today, that much is true. But you can serve it better by living, by remaining alive. That will give you greater Honour, much more than this. Much more! Trust me in this, for while I have lived alone for a cycle, I would live alone for another 2, because that means I would yet live!" Once again, no one commented on the fact that Matthew was most definitely not alone in the time he spent here.
Slow and slurred as it was, Rosetta's words emerged from her mouth. "And... that is... why... you are... insane."
Even from my distance, it could be seen, it could be physically seen as something went dead in Matthew's eyes. Although he had once claimed to me that they were fake, no fake eyes could suddenly lose faith in the world around them as those eyes did.
Rosetta closed her eyes, and looked set to stop her struggles. "Rosetta?" Ethan started. Her eyes opened a bit. "I have absolutely no idea what is going on here" - he shot Matthew a look - "and rest assured that it will be explained later, but I don't think I want you to die. Remember me, you and Pauline waiting at my excuse of a home? And how we forced you to come back to the school with us?" He gave a faint smile at this. "And how we worried and fretted over everything together?" Beside me, Pauline gave a nod to back him up.
"Well, memories are like life", Ethan continued. "Because everything you experience is just a memory, even one that happened a split-second ago. And I will always remember you. So if you choose to die, well, you failed. Because in my act of remembering you, you are still alive. Technically not, but you get what I mean. You are alive in my memories."
Such an organic persuasion. I doubted it would ever work on me; it seems very obvious that just because Ethan remembers Rosetta when she was still alive, that doesn't make her alive at the time of the remembering. However, I was determined not to underestimate organics again, so I refrained from calculating what I thought would happen.
Rosetta's eyes slowly closed. Everyone stood around looking at her, wondering what she had done, when she mumbled, "I'll... wait... and see".
Just as slowly, Matt stood up from his position of crouching over her. He walked over to Ethan. He then embraced him in such a hug that everyone was left stunned. It was the first time I'd ever seen a physical manifestation of his affection towards the Human.
I wondered how long it would take before I was prone to committing such impulsive acts.
The Slug
Everyone was still basking in the glory of Ethan owning Phill when Rosetta interrupted our thoughts. She gave a low groan, as if to remind us that she was still alive, and didn't want us to forget her.
Before the noise had even ended, we all rushed over to her body, less Pauline and Phill. After a quick examination, I saw the very start of some healing around her limbs. But it was slower than normal, even for an ordinary Slug. Much too slow.
'Here, this will help', I tried to console her as I leaned over and unrolled her sleeves carefully. The feeling of the fabric against her arms would help set the dimensions of what shape and size her arms should be. I wasn't sure if her mental blocks were still active, and using that simple tactic had certainly helped me.
Rosetta let out a haggard breath, and Boy tried to assist her with, 'Don't breathe. You can live without it for now.' She complied.
There was a small silence as we all regarded her, trying not to put too much hope or despair in our faces. Or, at least, I tried. Enough Slugs had died today already, and although I was supposed to feel happy for them, I knew now that that was not quite right. I wouldn't lose another.
Carmen broke my reverie by asking, 'Is she going to be alright?'
'I think so', I replied. 'As long as she keeps her concentration and doesn't give up.' The latter being the most important part; I hoped Rosetta understood just how much her willpower and resolve would determine her fate.
The injured Slug managed to stagger a reply. 'Can't... have to... die.'
Have... Have to die. Die. With sheer dread I understood what she meant by that; she wanted us to let her die, and let her die with her filthy Honour. When she still has the possibility of living! She wanted to die when she could continue to live! Unacceptable!
The great Slug Empire has truly degraded if individuals truly wished to die, and to make others think that they did the best that they could. I could have done that, a long time ago. I could have died easily, and with great Honour! But I choose life, and have never looked back. Never! Rosetta wouldn't make that mistake while I stood by! Never!
'Absolutely not!' I pretty much yelled at her. 'Are you insane?! No, Rosetta, no! You are going to live. We've lost enough friends today. I won't lost another to foolishness!' She must've learnt something from her time here, something about the precious value of life!
'Matt', Boy spoke the traitorous words. 'She fought well, and wants her Honour. Who here will deny her that?'
Someone else said something, but my attention - and rage - was focused on the dying Slug who had given up, and the one who wanted to let her. 'I will deny her that!' I replied angrily. I dropped beside Rosetta and grabbed her head to ensure she was paying attention. 'Listen to me very carefully, Rosetta', I almost whispered. 'The point of Honour is to make us Slugs fearless, to make us willing to sacrifice our lives for the Empire. However, it is not always right. Death isn't the only purpose of living! You have served the Empire greatly today, that muc
h is true. But you can serve it better by living, by remaining alive. That will give you greater Honour, much more than this. Much more! Trust me in this, for while I have lived alone for a cycle, I would live alone for another two, because that means I would yet live!' I didn't add that I had Ethan because I didn't think that would help my argument.
But the Slug was beyond saving. She uttered the words that we had all known this whole time. 'And... that is... why... you are... insane.' I saw it then; she was lost, Rosetta was lost to me. Everything I had hoped that Earth and the Humans would teach her, all for nothing. I had not seen this from her before; it must have been so entrenched in her mind and beliefs that, through our contact, she had never leaked it to me, because she never considered that she didn't want to. She had been a traitor this whole time, without even realising it.
It was over. If one Slug could secretly harbour this treacherous belief, then they all could. Perhaps Carmen still thought that this whole defence was a waste of time. After I'd ceased reading those feelings from her, I assumed she'd naturally come to my way of thinking, but now I wasn't so sure. Perhaps Frank blamed me for his injury... Perhaps Boy despised me for making him come all this way to find me, only for me to force him to help me defend a seemingly insignificant planet. Right now it seemed that the only people I could trust were Ethan and Pauline. And Phill. Despite my anger before, he'd never betrayed us; rather, he'd betrayed himself to help us. I doubted that these "Slugs" would do the same as that one Cyborg did.
That was when the mentioned Human spoke up. 'Rosetta?' he tentatively asked. After a moment, he continued. 'I have absolutely no idea what is going on here... and rest assured that it will be explained later, but I don't think I want you to die. Remember me, you and Pauline waiting at my excuse of a home? And how we forced you to come back to the school with us? And how we worried and fretted over everything together?
'Well, memories are like life', he continued. 'Because everything you experience is just a memory, even one that happened a split-second ago. And I will always remember you. So if you choose to die, well, you failed. Because in my act of remembering you, you are still alive. Technically not, but you get what I mean. You are alive in my memories.'
Never. Never before had I been so proud of Ethan. He had known exactly where to strike to get through to her; it turned out that placing those three together had been a good idea. Not that I'd planned anything like this to happen. I knew it had worked most likely before anyone else did. A truly stubborn Slug would have refuted his arguments immediately. But Rosetta slowly closed her eyes. She wouldn't decide now, but I planned to sick Ethan onto her a few more times before she did.
As if she aspired to prove me right, the Slug mumbled, 'I'll... wait... and see.'
Ethan had succeeded. I slowly stood up, not wanted to alarm her or cause her to shift lest any rapid movement brush against her. Trying to keep my calm, I then walked over to Ethan. He looked at me bewilderingly, as if he had no idea what I was about to do. Which he didn't, and this was evident in his utter silence as I pulled him in and simply hugged him.
He was perfectly still as he tried to decide what to do. I let him go, and refrained from looking at him as I turned to address the watching audience.
The Human
And, just as suddenly as he'd dragged me in towards him and hugged me fiercely, Matt let me go and stood back. I'm pretty sure that was the first time he'd ever made any sort of meaningful contact with me; I couldn't remember if he'd even shook my hand before.
I'm not even sure how my so-called 'argument' had swayed Rosetta anyway. I just jumbled some words together and really had no idea what I was saying. By the end of it, I had wondered if I had actually just said that my memory of her makes her immortal. Phill would love that; he was probably calling us 'dumb organics' right now. But it had made the Slug wait a bit, and earned me a hug from my best friend, so it was worth it.
Meanwhile, Matthew had turned to get as much people as possible in his viewpoint. Which was hard, considering most of us were all standing in a circle around Rosetta. "Ahem", he artificially cleared his throat to get our attention. He swept his gaze across us, but I noticed he never made eye-contact with me. Coincidence?
"It seems, comrades", Matt started his speech, "that we have actually won this defence. Didn't see that one coming. Well, I hoped for it, which means I did see it coming, but not necessarily believed it... Anyway, we've won. The Cyborgs have lost and fled, and likely won't be coming back."
"Didn't you say before that they'd likely come back and destroy Earth, to prevent the Slugs from allying with them in the future?" I asked. I was sure he'd said something like that.
"That I did", he confirmed. "But there's one crucial difference now: they know we are allied with them. Of course, we're not yet, but they think we are. Once the Slug King learns about the offensive technology that the humans have, he will be markedly grateful that I decided, in my madness, to save them. The Cyborgs cannot come back here without a full-scale battle ensuing; they will have to assume we are heavily defending them now. Not to mention it will take a while for Rabadootime to return home and tell them what happened, and then more time for them to get ready and launch the attack over here.
"Anyway, it's time to decide what we're doing now." He turned to look at me. "I'm going wherever you are. Which is?"
Great, now I was on the spot. Could I honestly say I wanted to stay here, even if I wouldn't be forcing him to stay too? Although I'd known what I'd wanted to do for some time now, I'd never stated it decisively. Well, I guess that now was the time. "I think I'd like to go check out Slugenis, if you don't mind?" I addressed that to all of the Slugs, not just Matthew. It was, after all, their world too.
"Of course we don't", Frank reassured me.
At the exact same time, Boy said, "Nope."
"It's settled then", Matt concluded. "Of course, Phill is coming too, and Pauline can still change her mind."
"No thanks", Pauline said, somewhat sadly. Phill didn't respond.
"Phill?" Carmen prodded him.
"Yes, I will accompany you to your homeworld. I would have thought that my absence of a rejection amounted to an acceptance."
"Excellent", Matthew concluded that also, ignoring the remark. "So, here's the plan. We'll return home, get yelled at by the King until he realises the value of human weapons, and smile at him as he's forced to take back his rebukes. Then, we'll oversee the trading that will begin with Earth. It should all be quite exciting, and will allow us to visit Pauline. We're about to become ambassadors for the human race."
That he said this so casually shocked me; he must have had this plan for some time. A trading alliance between Earth and Slugenis. Although I supposed it would be good, I hoped we didn't get drawn into their war. I mean, I hope we don't get drawn into our war. Does that even make sense?
"So we will be frequently returning to Earth, then", Boy commented.
"Yes, but not for a while. The Prime Minister won't be in power when we get back."
"In power?" Phill asked. "You mean in the position of figurehead for the group that is in control of their respective nation's decisions."
"Ahh, Phill", Matthew replied condescendingly. "Sometimes I think there is great hope for you, then you go and say something like that."
The Cyborg didn't reply.
But I had confusion of my own to attend to. "She won't be in power? How long will we be staying at Slugenis?"
"As long as we want to", Matthew answered. "Most of the time will be lost during the travel anyway."
"The travel?" I asked worriedly. "How long does it take to get there, exactly? I won't die of old age will I? Will we go into cryo-sleep or something?"
"Yes, it depends, you can look at it like that and if you want to spin it that way", was my only answer.
Frank was kinder. "Ethan, our ships... don't exactly work the way that you're thinking of. Our travel time is... different."
This wasn't sounding good. "OK then",
I started, "how exactly do your ships work?"
"Have you heard of ion engines?" Matthew asked me. I hadn't.
It turned out that ion engines expelled ions - charged atoms - for thrust. Apparently, they had low power but super-high fuel efficiency which made them perfect for long-distance travel. Boy was explaining it all to me with occasional inputs from Matt.
"Now, I'm assuming you know... New...News... what was that guy's name?"
"Newton", Pauline supplied. "Isaac Newton."
"Not to be confused with Isaac Clark", Matt chipped in, but as usual, no one paid his random references any mind.
"Newton's laws", Boy continued. "Was it Newton? The one about equal and opposite reactions."
"I'm pretty sure that's Newton", I offered.
"OK, Newton it is", he accepted.
"If anyone says Newton one more time, I'm leaving", Phill informed us, but he had a slightly joking tone. Since when did he start having tones in his speech?
"OK", Boy repeated. "So the ship fires the ions out one side, propelling the ship in the opposite direction. As space is, well, empty..."
"Actually, space is filled with space-time", Matthew corrected him solemnly.
"You know what I mean", Boy replied, exasperated. "As it's practically empty, the longer you keep firing this engine, the faster you'll go. But here's the catch; there is a limit on how fast one can go. I actually know this time that that was Einstein."
"Hmm", Matthew mused. "I can't think of anything for that. No creator would dare blatantly rip off Einstein's name, and no right-minded parent would willingly call their son Albert."
"Hey, don't bag Albert, that's not such a bad name", I defended the arbitrary arrangement of arbitrary letters.
"If you say so", he replied, amused.
"Anyway!" Boy emphasised to continue his explanation. "So, there is a speed limit. That limit is the speed of light, which in kilometres is about three hundred thousand kilometres a second."
"Exactly two hundred and ninety-nine million, seven hundred and ninety-two thousand, four hundred and fifty eight metres a second", Phill added for exactness.
"Thank you for that, Phill", Boy told him. "So, the thing is, the closer you get to reaching this speed limit, the slower time within the craft flows."
There was a pause. "Don't worry about that too much, it's quite mind-bozzling", Matt reassured my confused look.
"Yes, go look up Einstein's theories if you want to learn more", Boy agreed. I didn't want to learn more. At least, not yet. "Suffice it to say", the Slug resumed, "that the faster one goes, the faster they travel through time. So although, on the outside, it takes us about ten years to travel from Slug space to Earth, it actually takes us just several days to a few weeks inside the ship, depending on the amount of fuel that we have and how fast we wish to go."
"So, in the ten years it took you to get here, one-and-a-half whole cycles have passed for your world, but not for you?" Pauline questioned.
"Hold on, are you sure that it actually works like that?" I asked. It didn't sound terribly realistic to me.
"It is", Pauline reassured me. "Us humans know it too, we just haven't made any real use of it."
"So that means you've only really been alive for three-and-a-half cycles, since you technically haven't lived for five", I added after a second, proud that I'd remembered his age.
"Not exactly", Boy responded, thinking over his response. That is, the response he was about to give after his initial response. "Normal time flow while in space travel isn't counted towards your cycle age. Otherwise, that would skew the length of a cycle as not every Slug spends long periods of time in travel.
"So, we keep track of the time we've spent in travel and send this information back to Slugenis, which processes it and calculates how much we have aged whilst in the craft. At the time that Matthew disappeared, I was five cycles old. After my travelling to get here to Earth, although it took an exterior time of about ten years, it took me only several weeks. Therefore, I am five cycles old, taking travel time into account."
I had to ask, "Are you saying you need to send a form to your government so they can tell you how old you are?"
"Strange way to put it, but yes", Matthew answered for him. "Kind of like a tax return. But an age return."
"Tax return?" Carmen asked.
"Taxes", Matt said solemnly, shaking his head. "Don't get me started." She didn't.
"So let me get this straight", I began as I tried to reconcile all the information. "It will take several weeks to get to the Slug-controlled area. But, back here, ten years will have passed."
"Precisely", Boy confirmed. "So after some time staying at Slugenis, and after the travel time to get back here, about twenty to thirty years will have passed before we return. But it will feel like only a few months to us."
"Jeez, Pauline will be, like, sixty when we come back!" I exclaimed.
"If she's still alive", Phill added. I looked sharply at him, and he explained. "There are many things that can go wrong before a human reaches that age. It's not entirely unlikely that an accident or a fatal disease..."
"I'm right here!", the human in question complained.
Phill looked at her. "Of course, due to the age of sixty being below the average age of this country's inhabitants, probability indicates that you will still be alive after a maximum period of thirty years. I look forward to meeting you then."
That seemed to win back her regard, but his remark had opened a pressing question in my mind. "Well, what about viruses on Slugenis? I won't die from them, War of the Worlds style will I?"
"No", Matt said significantly. "All Slug viruses were designed to attack and merge through slime cells. If they encounter skin or stomach lining, or anything else human, they won't be able to survive; they have not evolved to get past such barriers. Much the same as us Slugs being immune to Earth bacterias - or bacterium? - which all rely on a bloodstream to travel throughout the body. We have no bloodstream, therefore, we are immune."
"Ah, that's good then", I said back. We all just stood there, looking at each other. "So, Boy", I said to break the silence. "What exactly will we be doing while on the ship? Does it have any games on it or anything?"
"It's an intergalactic space craft", he answered, looking at me. Well, that answered that question.
Matthew offered me, "Well, we could play rock-paper-scissors."
"And that is?" asked Frank.
"A cool but irrelevant game", he replied. "I'll teach you later."
"Very well then", the Slug answered.
After another brief silence, Matt broke it by clapping his hands together loudly. "Well, then, it's time to get ready! Ethan, go pack your things."
"My things?" I asked incredulously, thinking of my tattered mattress, blanket and box.
He looked uneasy. "Well, they might have some value to you, and you may want to bring them with you..."
"Ahh, no thanks", I told him. "I think I'll survive without them. Besides, perhaps when we come back, someone else in need will be using them."
"Perhaps indeed", he answered. He looked straight in my eyes for a few more seconds before turning to address everyone else. "Anyway, Ethan has nothing to pack, Phill has nothing to pack, the Slugs have nothing to pack. I've already packed; the biggest thing I'm bringing is a human."
He grinned at this, as did Phill and Pauline. None of the Slugs did though; randomness or some deep underlying reason? The only real question was why I cared.
"What else are you bringing, then?" I asked.
"Oh", he replied slyly, "you'll see." Great.
"OK, let's roll then", I told everyone. "I suppose no one needs to say goodbye to anyone, except Pauline."
"If you don't mind", she piped in, "I'd like to see you all individually. Privately." She emphasised this last word, which made me internally sigh. Not that I was looking forward to not seeing her for a few months to me, but twenty or years to her, but I was still eager to go and check out the Slug ship
I would be spending the next few weeks in.
Oh well. It would have to wait. Pauline motioned at one of the nearby buildings. Phill in turn motioned for me to help him move there, just assuming that he would be first. Well, I guess now he was.
After Pauline and I had helped move him in there, I came back out, and waited with the others. We just milled around, not really talking about much. As for me, I awaited the last conversation I'd have with a fellow member of my species for a very long time. For them, that is.
The Cyborg
"Okay, you'll remember all that?" Pauline asked me again, looking down at my prone form. "For me?" she reiterated, trying to force me into a position where I couldn't in good conscience say no. Of course, such tactics don't work on me; I'm a Cyborg. Yet, I still gave the answer she wanted.
"Of course. I can record anything I want into my long-term memory."
"You can? What do you mean?"
I amazed me that she knew so little of Cyborgs. We were, after all, machines. Hadn't she seen any of the multitude of sentient machine movies?
Nevertheless, I deigned to attempt to explain it to her. "All of the things that I interpret through my senses gets sent through the network to the Cyborg Archives. At least, for a Cyborg still connected to the network. This is because we cannot store all of this data permanently on ourselves. That is, on our local memory. Having the capacity to store such a huge amount of data is inefficient and not necessary.
"So, all of my interpreted senses gets stored into what I call my short-term memory. After a set amount of time, approximately 2.36 Earth weeks, this data is overwritten with new data. However, some of this data will naturally be important for me to keep. This is completely up to my discretion. So, when I have some data which I believe I should personally remember forever, I consciously transfer it to my long-term memory, which has no deletion date. I have transferred what you just told me into my long-term memory; therefore, I will never forget it."
She took a moment to process what I'd just explained, before asking me, "So you've forgotten most of what has happened all of this time we were together?"
Ahh. This must be the organic emotion of hurt. I could see it in the way she positioned her facial muscles; she momentarily believed that I'd consciously deleted all of the time we'd all spent in each other's company. I sincerely hoped that I'd never become so Human that I felt such things. It looked unpleasant.
Presently, though, it was time to truthfully dispel her illusions. "Actually... while I was imprisoned, Matthew visited me several times, to alter my appearance so I would pass as a Human. He also... upgraded some of my internal components. This included adding a rather large Human hard drive to my Cyborg long-term memory. At first, due to it being a very different technology, I had difficulty accessing it. Like Matthew, however, I had plenty of time. Plenty of time. I soon adapted my processes to be able to efficiently access this hard drive, so that I could upload and download data to and from it, and interpret the information."
I didn't mention that Matthew had stocked it full of human information for me to access and learn. I continued, "In short, my long-term memory is much larger than a normal Cyborg's; consequently, everything that has occurred since I was released, I have uploaded to this hard drive."
"So you have a perfect memory of everything that happened?"
"Not exactly; not in the way that a Human would think. I have the memories, but I don't spontaneously remember them. This is true for all Cyborgs. However, the memories are there, and I can access them when I want to. Not without choosing to."
She looked confused. "So, let me get this straight. You can only remember the things that happened if you consciously choose that you want to remember a specific moment?"
"Yes. I admit, it must be a hard concept for a Human to understand."
"So it is", she replied, musing. "And, in a way, you've adapted just like Matthew, with this hard drive. Changed yourself to fit in with your environment."
"Perhaps, but to a lesser extent."
She nodded to this, and continued with our earlier discussion. "But, I must be certain. You can remember and do what I've asked of you, but will you?"
This was a harder one. It is simple to state one can do something, but not so easy to confirm that they will. In fact, now that I ponder it, being and thinking organically is simply hard. Cyborg thoughts are easy; the most efficient solution that kills the most Slugs is the only solution. Unfortunately, organic solutions are never simple; there is never a correct answer to anything. Not to mention a huge amount of variables involved in every decision, and the consideration of how that decision will affect everyone you've ever met. Sigh.
In this case, I made my decision. "Yes, I will. When and if I ever come back to Earth, I will report to you everything that I think is appropriate, and no more."
"And I won't ask for more, Phil", she replied, with slight liquid in her eyes. Why is that? Before I could ponder the phenomenon any further, she suddenly crouched down and hugged me.
Now this was unexpected; wasn't this the Human who'd been terrified of me when we first met? Apparently I wasn't the only one who'd gone through changes. I wondered if, like me, Pauline couldn't imagine not having gone through her change, and can't bring herself to miss how she used to be.
"Goodbye Phil", she whispered. "I'll miss you."
"Goodbye Pauline", I copied her.
The Slug
'OK, got all that?' the Human asked me, hopefully for the last time.
'Pauline, you haven't really given me much to remember', I almost sighed. She was almost starting to get annoying.
'Very well', she replied. For a few moments, we stood there, regarding one another while trying to look like we weren't. I suppose she was trying to fix my face in her memory. I didn't need to remember her face; I'd privately taken some photos of her, as well as everything else I thought I'd miss about Earth. Plus, there was always Phill's memories. There was probably some way to extract them.
'So?' she asked suddenly.
'So what?'
'Are you going to do it?'
'No.' She looked shocked that I'd refuse. And so she should. 'Just kidding. Yes, Pauline, I'll remember anything important and "report" back to you when you're an old woman.' She gave me a look which made me continue. 'And yes, I'll keep an eye on Ethan for you. Happy?'
'Yes', she replied simply.
Well, it was time to say goodbye. I wasn't sure how I felt about maybe never seeing her again; at least, not as the Pauline I know now. She was a good Human friend, my second best in fact, but she was no Ethan. She wasn't the one who'd helped me keep what little amount of sanity I had left through irrelevant arguments and ridiculous conversations. Well, when I put it like that... perhaps that didn't help preserve it either.
But the time to say goodbye didn't wait for me to decide how I felt about it. 'I suppose, for all intents and purposes, I'll never see you again', Pauline mused sadly.
'I suppose so', I agreed. 'But I'll always remember you.' With the help of some pictures. 'In a good way, that is.'
'And I'll remember you. Perhaps I'll tell my kids stories about you.'
'Don't forget to make them awesome', I declared.
'Of course', she almost sobbed, but recovered, saying, 'Please tell Ethan to come in here.'
I nodded, and with that, fondly gave her a final look of farewell as I left the room. It seemed much more appropriate than any words I could say. Plus, if I did say something, it would probably totally ruin the emotional moment.
The Human
"Alright, we're done then", Pauline finished by telling me. I still didn't get anything though.
"Is there a reason you want me to observe Slugenis and how their planet is run?" I asked.
"Yes", she replied. "Perhaps there are some valuable lessons for humanity to be learnt by observing a much older species. Plus, there are probably things there that humanity could benefit from if we acquired them through trade. You never know."
r /> "You never know", I echoed. "Well, I suppose this is it then."
"I suppose so too." She sniffed.
What was I supposed to do now? Hug her? I decided that I would, and stepped forward. She quickly stepped towards me also and we embraced each other. And I sincerely hope you'll believe me when I say it felt really weird.
"Goodbye, Ethan", she whispered, with great sadness.
As for me, I had no idea why she'd even miss me. But I'd miss her; it would be strange being the only human around again. "Goodbye, Pauline", I whispered back. "I'll be thinking of you. Not every minute of every day though; anyone who says that is lying. But a respectable portion of my thinking will be about you."
She gave a half laugh. "As will mine, Ethan. As will mine."