Nawx (Project IzeBorn Book 1)

by Andrew Jones

  "How can Humans eat their own?" She asked as she looked at her hand, "Machines can eat their own if they tried... I guess that's another thing Humans and machines have differently."

  She stepped out of the hut and shut it, not wanting to stay in that one. Looking around again, all the other huts had looked like they were destroyed by raiders or the cannibals. But one hut caught her eye as it stood in the darkness. She became curious as she stepped toward it slowly. It still looked decent- time has taken its damage with cracked wood along the walls, and the front door was relatively cracked as well, but it didn't look as bad as the other huts. She placed her hand on the doorknob and opened the door. She spotted a mattress on the floor toward the back corner, a long table that had many jars of flowers, and an old lantern. Picking up the lantern, she flipped the switch to see it light up within seconds. She was amazed at how good in quality the hut was compared to the other huts.

  A page fell from the ceiling. She bent down to pick it up to see only a part of a picture, so she looked up to see where it came from. There were dozens of pictures hung up on the ceiling, and all the pictures fused together to make one big, complete picture. It was a picture of Blaze, with the same red eyes she noticed from the other machines from way back at the Machine Village. Blaze gasped as she stared, but she frowned and tore up the picture that she had in her hands, tossing the ripped material on the floor.

  "I won't let you fuck with my head anymore..." Blaze grunted.

  Blaze took out her spear and stabbed up on the ceiling, stabbing each and every picture that was hung up there, and grabbed them, ripping them all into torn pieces. As she ripped the last of the pictures, she sheathed her spear, looking back at the opening door and seeing a figure. She gasped, as she knew she was intruding on someone's property, but she could recognize that long silver hair. It danced and waved in the darkness. But as she used the lantern to fill the figure with light, she could see herself, only she was see-through, like a ghost. The Phantom Blaze had no expression on her face, the look in her eyes made Blaze feel like the Phantom was dead inside. Grunting from frustration, Blaze dropped the lantern and pulled out her spear again to quickly slash the Phantom Blaze. As she did so, the phantom was slashed in half- and instead of bleeding blood, it seemed to bleed the same pictures that were hanging on the ceiling.

  She watched as the phantom fell to the ground, watching her own expression. This is how she'd look when she would die. Her hands shook, from both fear and anger. And just straight confusion. She had never seen an illusion like this, and she shouldn't be seeing this. She's out of the desert so it couldn't have been a hallucination. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down as the phantom seemed to stop spilling the pictures out. She scanned through the pictures, only seeing the same ones until she noticed a picture that just showed darkness. Holding up the picture, she saw nothing at all, even when she had the lantern's light under the picture. No sense of shape or life in the picture. She thought she should keep this picture, just in case, but as she held the picture, she heard Kryptonite approaching and calling out to her.

  "Hey, Blaze! I have the campfire set up! Did you find a hut yet!?" Kryptonite shouted.

  He jumped inside the hut and saw Blaze sitting down on the bed. She stretched her arms out and looked really tired. Kryptonite sighed, but he smiled as he was relieved that she was able to find some place that was decent to stay in.

  "J-Just lay down and get some rest. I'll be back with our food in a split second!" Kryptonite shouted as he jumped out of the hut.

  She chuckled as she watched Kryptonite pounce out of the hut in his usual excitement. Taking a deep breath, she laid back on the bed, it was oddly comforting. Probably because of how tired she was. But as she closed her eyes, she couldn't fall asleep. No matter how long she kept her eyes closed. She grunted and smacked the side of her head.

  "Chip! Activate sleep mode!" Blaze yelled.

  "Sleep mode is not available for unknown reasoning."

  "You're never any help anymore."

  Blaze grumbled as she began to yawn and look down on the floor where she still had her lantern. It would only brighten up a little part of the hut, but it was enough. She could see just how dark it was outside, evidently from seeing Kryptonite's lantern a few feet outside from the window. She laughed as she saw Kryptonite try to take some meat off the top of the stick he used to cook the meat, burning his paw. He jumped around and shook his paw around, blowing on it heavily.

  She looked down at her hand. Still seeing that she had a grasp of the black picture from before. She leant it up in front of her eyes and narrowed her eyes as well. She was able to see a little something- a few lines, some curvy ones that would create a form or picture, but she still had no idea what it meant. And all the pictures that were spilled from the phantom before disappeared except for this one, she felt this one had special meaning.

  A few moments later, Kryptonite walked into the hut carrying two plates and having the holding part of the lantern gripped by his teeth for light.

  "Dinner's ready!" Kryptonite shouted as his teeth were still gripped, sounding a bit off.

  Blaze smiled as she sat up on the bed, "Looks good... I didn't know teddy bears could eat meat...?"

  Kryptonite frowned at her, but he just let it go as he opened his mouth and let the lantern softly drop to the ground. He reached one of his paws up and handed Blaze her plate, while he jumped up next to her on the bed and held his little plate. Blaze looked down at her plate, seeing the big piece of meat that was plopped in the middle of her plate. She wondered if she could even eat it. But she knew Kryptonite could eat his meat; he was chewing on it as hard and fast as he could. She even felt some of the meat's blood fly onto her cheek. She raised an eyebrow as she watched him in horror.

  Kryptonite's button eyes widened as he went and wiped off the spot of blood that flew onto Blaze's cheek, "I'm sorry, L-Lady..." He was saying up until he saw his paw on her cheek, seeing her having no response.

  He grew extremely nervous, judging by the way his fur color went from his original light green color to a light red color. She guessed that was a major sign that he was blushing. He was flustered as he tried to complete his sentence, but he ended up rambling on and on about stuff, only making his situation more embarrassing in front of her. She was looking straight at him. But she eventually started to ignore him, as she looked down at her food and used her fork and knife to cut a piece of the meat off- a clean little slice. She stabbed it with her fork and put the little piece of meat up into her mouth, while she began chewing.

  She nodded her head as she was chewing, and looked down at him. She couldn't believe he was still going on and on and on about mere nothingness. So she sighed and patted the top of his head before speaking.

  "This meat is pretty good." She muttered her compliment to him.

  He looked up at her again, smiling as he finally stopped talking. He plopped back down and began to ferociously chew on his food, while Blaze laughed at his wild style of eating. She enjoyed the moment for sure, she couldn't remember a time where she smiled, laughed and enjoyed eating food. It was like she was finally gaining some trust in the unusual teddy bear.

  Verse XII

  Memory Chip 011-998-0332/0333/0334

  "Accessing memory chip... Scanning for any present malfunctions... Buzz Buzz... Readings indicated regretful memory file. Memory file 011-998-0332. Unknown malfunction found in said file. Requesting permission to open memory file... Buzz Buzz... Inputting password 'BLAZE-0X119.BIRTH'... Permission granted, access to the malfunctioned memory file has now opened." Chip says.

  "This machine is quite fragile, sir. Her readings indicate that she has a high risk of being contaminated in her brain. Must I have her dismantled?" A voice is heard.

  "No. Leave her be. I have special plans for her." Another voice speaks within the room.

  Blaze slowly opened her eyes slowly. Her vision was blurry, but she could still make out some moving figures in the roo
m. As she attempted to rub her eyes in order to fix her eyesight, she felt her wrists being forced down. She grunted and tried to move them with all her might, but there was a restriction keeping her wrists still. It was an iron bar that had been keeping her arms down, and it was the same with her ankles. She looked down, but as she saw the bars restricting her from moving, she looked back up at the figures with no emotional expression on her face.

  "Drenawx, this one's awake." A voice was heard.

  Drenawx chuckled as he walked to her, looking up into her face. She was being held in a vault, just like the others in the room. The room was a long hallway, with vaults covering both sides of the hallway, covering the walls that led to the doors on each side of the hall. Her eyes made their way down to him. Her eyes looked so dead like she had no soul inside her. She did not frown, she did not smile, she could only look down and stare. Drenawx stared back at her, spotting a sparkle just under her eye. A teardrop fell down her eye slowly, and dripped down her cheek, leaving a watery trail. She didn't look sad, this was very odd to Drenawx.

  "Augur, run some tests on this one. This is a code blue." Drenawx announced as he kept his eyes on her, eventually turning back and walking down toward the other side of the door to leave.

  "Yes, sir..." Augur answered.

  He looked down at his tablet-looking device and pressed on it multiple times. He swiped his finger, typed and observed the tablet's picturing before he pressed another button that would release steam from the vault. Blaze looked all around the vault, before the steam that was forcing it's way out of the holes inside forced her to cough ferociously. He stepped in front of the vault and watched as the glass door that distanced him and Blaze began to open slowly. The bars that restricted her wrists and ankles quickly retracted into their holes of the vault, eventually allowing Blaze to fall forward into Augur's arms.

  Augur quickly released his arms so that she was able to fall into him. He felt her in his arms as he held onto her, watching as her eyes were shut and she seemed to be peacefully sleeping. Still having the tablet in his hand as his arms wrapped around her, he used his thumb to press the button the screen to close up the vault as he carried her to the other door.

  The door opened a representation of an inner laboratory- which had only a hospital bed. Blaze's body laid softly on the bed as Augur typed away on his tablet once again. The square tiles on the floor hid away the laboratory's secret equipment, he had used his tablet to active some sort of function that allowed the tiles to open up and lift up operational tools that looked like they were used previously for Humans, only now they were used on machines. He looked down at her from above and dragged his hand across her cheek, sighing while looking away.

  "I'm so sorry..." He whispered.

  He brushed her head to the side, so she's been looking the other way. Grabbing a screwdriver, he knelt down and attempted to unscrew some of the screws that held the back entry point on the back of her head, but he had trouble because her hair would often get in the way. He grumbled with frustration, as the process slowly moved on, eventually watching as the entry door opened and he saw the machinery parts. He pressed his finger on one of the wirings, the yellow one. He saw no reaction, nodding his head in the positivity. If she had moved, she would have had a forced mental psychosis in her brain, which in most cases, would give machines the ability to feel pain more than others. He then pressed his finger on the red wiring. He heard Blaze sort of grunt in her sleep, which he frowned in his own confusion. Recording the newfound information on his tablet, going on with the process. There were no real unusual findings as he went with the process of a code blue.

  The door opened behind him, and Augur turned to see Drenawx entering the room and overseeing his progress with Blaze.

  "Sir, she was fine. But she only reacted when I pressed on the red wiring..." Augur explained as he would try to screw up the back opening, moving around her hair every so often.

  "The red wiring...? Are you quite sure?" Drenawx asked, sounding concerned.

  Augur stood up and nodded his head, "What does that mean?"

  Drenawx looked down at Blaze and placed his hand on her forehead, "There are three different colored wiring that connected to the brain of these Synths. The blue wiring is the functionality of survival. When I created Blaze, I found that her survival instincts made her unique as the results were overwhelmingly positive. Now, the yellow wiring is for the functionality of free will. It is a little off, I've had to go in there a few times to reconstruct it. The red wiring is usually what concerns me. The red wiring is the functionality of non-emotion. And for some odd reason, her body is acting as though the red wire is nonexistent at all. I created Blaze as a blueprint for the machines and Synths, she is basically the reason why the Machina were even born. But in some way... She is the most Human of them all, as well."

  Augur crossed his arms as he listened, "Is that why you are so amused with her?"

  "Not at all. She isn't like my first creation. This one is only a blueprint that is used to create better machines. At some point, I'll have her dismantled. She brings more trouble than she helps in all honesty. With both the red and yellow malfunctioned wires, I fear she has gained an extraordinary interest in Human revelations. I think she wants to be Human. She is the definition of a corrupted machine."

  Augur sighed as he looked down at her.

  "Analyzing memory file, corruption found inside memory file... Buzz Buzz... Permission to access memory file 011-998-0333... Urgent care is needed to ensure user safety and updated maintenance... Permission granted... Buzz Buzz... Inputting password, 'BLAZE-FREEWILL'... Access to the memory file has now opened."

  It has been a while since Drenawx had allowed the machines to roam freely. There were machines roaming around everywhere, acting as though they were at peace while they were away from their cages- or vaults. Some machines liked being around others, and they gave the imagery of a family; a Human family from the old world. A mother, father, and a few kids. Only this machine family had a few more adult machines, and numerous child machines, so they did not really grasp the real definition of what a family looks like, but they still showed love for one another.

  Blaze would mostly roam around the laboratory on her own. She didn't necessarily have a main objective, she was just happy to be able to freely move her arms and legs, and think for herself for that short while. There was something off with the vaults, she thought. There had to have been a reason why the machines, as well, did not like being stuck in the vaults. It was like the vaults were doing our thinking for us, judging what the machines sleeping inside should think. Judging what they should be dreaming about. But because Blaze's overpower to have her own free will, she was not able to notice the vault's hypnosis. She was able to think for herself from what she saw from inside the vault, what she heard, and what she had wondered about.

  She was approached by Augur from behind, as he tapped on the back of her shoulder. She stopped her wandering around and slowly turned back to him. He was smiling, and rubbing the back of his neck as he looked at her.

  "Hey," He spoke.

  Blaze tilted her head to the side in wonder, "... More tests?"

  Augur shook his head, "N-No... I was just wondering how you were doing."

  Blaze frowned and pressed her fingers to her forehead, closing her eyes as she communicated with Chip, "Conditions are at a reasonable level, functionality is running at a 100%."

  He chuckled, "No... I know you're able to freely think for yourself. How are YOU doing?"

  She grunted as she looked down, "I'm fine, I suppose..."

  "Is something troubling you? You can trust me, I'm not like the old man." Augur laughed.

  "Well... To tell the truth, I don't like being experimented on." She spoke softly and quietly, "It hurts, and my body feels differently every time. I feel like I'm slowly breaking down, and I won't come out of my sleep mode on of these days..."

  "That's understandable." He answered as he leaned against the wall
beside her, glancing around at all the interacting machines, "Humans go through it, too."

  Blaze looked up at him with sudden interest, "How so?"

  "Well, Humans would contract these diseases or viruses. Sometimes they'd be so bad that they'd have to go to the hospital and stay there for days just to get a clear diagnosis. After that, the doctor, much like Drenawx and myself, would do surgery on the sick person to help them feel better. That's what I'm doing for you, Blaze." Augur smiled at her.

  She laughed, "I see... Where did you come from, Augur?"

  He raised an eyebrow at her, thinking that was a strange question, "Why would you like to know?"

  "Because I'd like to know you a bit better."

  "Why...?"

  Blaze shrugged her shoulders, "I read in a book that if someone is interested in another, the best way to start something with them is to get to know them."

  Augur gasped and jumped back, "I-Interested!? As in...?"

  "I don't know..." Blaze's voice was soft when she answered, she held her hand up to her chest as she spoke, "When I first saw you, I had this odd feeling inside. I was afraid, but the more time I spent with you, the more I embraced the feeling. What is this feeling?"

  He sighed as he thought of what to say before a loud ding from the intercom, hearing Drenawx's voice calling him to the interrogation room. Augur sighed again as he heard his voice, looking back down at her. She was just looking up at her, having her head tilted to the side and having her eyes all big. Augur had to admit that she looked pretty cute at that moment, especially from how she made her purple eyes look, but he shook his head and looked down.