On a sandy, desert planet, numerous corpses were spread around one of its dusty plains. The corpses, however, clearly weren"t human.They had light-colored coats, big ears, and a few small humps across their backs. Their coats were covered with red blood from other bodies and their own. There were enough to form a mountain that one could stand on.
And there was a single man, overlooking such a scene from on top of a cliff.
His silver hair was covered by his white admiral hat, showcasing his status. His dark blue military uniform was covered by his free-flowing white coat. It didn"t have a single speck of dust on it and had dark blue and gold accents over it, giving the man a n.o.ble air.
Although his eyes were slightly hidden by the cap"s shadow, you could still see the cold black eyes that stared at the field of corpses as if it was just an everyday occurrence.
〔Operation Succesful. Congratulations, Master Cole.〕
A robotic voice resounded out inside Cole"s head. It sounded similar to Cole"s but still had that synthetic feeling.
"Steward, could you please stop with the Master?"
〔Haha, fine. But still, it amazes me on how you were able to accurately predict that they had no intention of actually accepting the Alliance offer.〕
If there was another person near Cole, they would think he was insane since he was talking to himself since there was no window floating in front of him. Everyone with a Neurochip, no matter how old the model, would be able to perceive that a person was doing something.
"It"s called being prepared."
〔I still don"t think anyone would normally think that.〕
"They had friendly relations with the Argons but still held a neutral position in the war overall. Although the Argons weren"t any kind of major player, the Aridans were. Since we recently crushed them, they would hold some sort of grudge, wouldn"t they?"
〔I don"t think anyone would research way back into the Argons and Aridans history to find out that their friendship was more than what it seemed on a surface level normally. And wouldn"t it be more logical to go with the safer route?〕
"Sometimes, a person"s emotions can override all sense of rationality. I also don"t think a Neurochip develops into a sentient AI with its own distinct personality either."
Cole said as if it was a matter of course and joked a bit with his AI. When Steward heard his Master"s comment, he couldn"t help but mockingly agree with such. Cole originally felt it weird to be able to feel any kind of emotion from a synthetic voice, but he grew accustomed to it over time.
〔Ha! True. So, are you going to take care of the one that"s playing dead?〕
"You took the words straight out of my mouth."
Cole pulled out a thin rectangular box out of one of the many pockets inside his coat. There was a b.u.t.ton placed on top of the box.
Cole a.s.sumed a sniping stance and pressed the b.u.t.ton, the box turned into an advanced sniper rifle. A crosshair appeared on Cole"s target. It was a body hidden underneath a pile of bodies.
Cole pressed his finger on the trigger the moment the crosshair locked on to his target.
*WHOOSH*
A blue laser shot out of the sniper rifle"s barrel. The person underneath the bodies seemed to have noticed the oncoming laser, but it was too late.
Red blood leaked out, but it was just another puddle added to the ma.s.sacre.
〔All enemies successfully exterminated. Let"s go back to the ship.〕
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Why did I have such a memory...?"
Cole raised up his lying body and grasped his head. His days of war were already something of the past to him now. Well, not fully. He had just been pretending to forget about it.
Cole breathed in and out for a while before placing his hand back on the ground.
"Cold."
The floor"s surface was cold. When Cole looked down, there was only black. Above, around, behind, everything was black. The blackness surrounding him showed no ends of stopping.
He stood up and decided to explore his new surroundings. It felt familiar, somehow. He turned around and then he saw a figure.
It wasn"t there when he first looked around.
It was wearing a white coat that Cole knew too well and silver hair that was just like Cole"s. Stature, back, and posture. It was all too similar. As if sensing his gaze, the figure turned around to meet it.
The person"s face was exactly like Cole"s. The same almond-shaped eyes and long eyelashes. Skin like porcelain and a well-sculpted nose.
Cole felt like vomiting when he thought of his own face that way.
There were a few differences though. Instead of black eyes, the man had blue and his silver hair was also styled differently.
But Cole didn"t freak out. He didn"t have any deep personal issues about himself so it probably wasn"t some other him that popped out when he wanted to mock him or something. He had an idea of who the person before him was.
"Steward?"
〔Ping Pong! Correct!〕
The person or AI, known as Steward said with an energetic smile and even added hand gestures. It showed that the person before Cole definitely wasn"t him. He would kill himself before he was forced to act with such an att.i.tude.
"I see your frivolous personality hasn"t changed in the least..."
〔What? You don"t miss me?〕
Cole sighed at his AI"s att.i.tude that hasn"t changed in the least since he last had contact with him. He even had puppy dogs eye on. Cole felt the urge to puke grew even stronger. He usually spoke with Steward mentally only.
The only reason Cole had reason to suspect that the person before him was Steward in the first place was when Cole had asked what kind of form he would take if he were to ever be visualized, it would basically be Cole"s appearance.
He was born due to the psychological need of a person he could freely talk to. And that came about due to the repeated scans of Cole"s brain, including the ones that controlled behavior.
Cole still had no idea why Steward ended up becoming such a vastly different person from the source material.
"I have conditioned myself to mentally endure the loss of anyone regardless of closeness."
〔Well, if you could endure her death, you could endure mine, I guess.〕
A pause engulfed the two and the mood got visibly heavier and Cole"s eyes darkened and gazed into the distance.
Aware of his mistake, Steward tried changing the mood to help ease his Master"s mood.
〔But it"s been what? How many months?〕
Cole regained is usual indifferent look and put the past behind him once again.
"About 2 or three. I only recently started missing you."
〔Ha! See--〕
Steward felt elated when he heard the confirmation of his Master actually missing him. He felt like he won a victory over him, despite it being a pointless one.
"Because I missed your convenientness."
〔It wasn"t because of me, huh...〕
The sentient AI"s mood fell and he dropped to the floor and started drawing circles on the black floor.
Cole brushed off Steward"s actions and got straight to the point.
"Anyway, where am I? My subconscious?"
〔Correct again! How are you good at these things?〕
Steward jumped straight back to his usual cheerful nature and even posed for no reason.
"Intuition and common sense."
〔I"m not sure if your sense is common or not...〕
Cole had actually said such with a bit of pride. His face still seemed as indifferent as ever.
"You really love my face that much?"
〔I actually like it. As you can see, I at least changed the eye color and hairstyle.〕
Steward struck another pose, one that flaunted his ocean-blue eyes and his silver hair. He was about to say one more thing when it seemed that he got a notification.
〔Looks like you"re body seems to have adjusted already. When you wake up, there"ll be a few different things you"ll notice. Just ask me when you need an explanation.〕
"Wait, how were you--"
〔No more time. You can ask me later. Your girlfriend"s waiting for you.〕
"Wait--"
Before Cole could fully say his answer, his body disappeared from his subconscious, leaving Steward alone.
〔Hmm... Maybe I can decorate this place~〕
He didn"t seem lonely in the slightest.