Chains

Richard Knight, instructor: “If you want to fit in stop considering the obvious: yes, they are different. So what? Fitting in is not about differences, R.A.I.N.”

R.A.I.N. looks like a human. It has a human face, the skin of a deceased human.

R.A.I.N., android: R.A.I.N. doesn’t understand why humans do not accept R.A.I.N.

Richard Knight, instructor, says: “It’s because humans have emotions.”

Richard Knight, instructor, knows that R.A.I.N is an android and then R.A.I.N. does not understand emotions.

Richard Knight, instructor, says: “How do you know that?”

R.A.I.N. says: “Sam Horris, corporal, said: ‘I don’t like you. You haven’t done anything to me, but I don’t like you.’ And then Sam Horris, corporal, walked away.”

Richard Knight, instructor, says: “It’s because humans have emotions. They knew the person whose face you wear. And they miss him and you remind them of him. But they know you are not him. That was not a great idea.”

R.A.I.N. asks: “Why was ‘that’ not a good idea. Why does R.A.I.N. have face of someone that is not R.A.I.N.?”

Richard Knight, instructor, says: “Well, whoever made you thought the team would trust you more if you looked familiar.”

I says: “Humans do not trust R.A.I.N.”

Richard Knight, instructor, says: “I know, R.A.I.N. That’s why I said it was not a great idea.”

We are in a forest. We are all tensed up even though we’ve done this before. But we lost Logan in the last mission and now we have an android with Logan’s face. He has Logan’s voice too. It’s like a fucking ghost. It’s here to remind us we failed Logan.

“Hurry up, ‘droid. You don’t even get tired.”

“My name is R.A.I.N, Sam Horris, corporal.”

“God, can you stop to call me like that? You might as well shout my contact number as well.”

“If this is what Sam Horris, corporal, wants.”

“God, I forgot I cannot joke with you. Why don’t you go and die a little bit.”

“R.A.I.N. cannot do that.”

“Horris, not another word,” says Captain Morton. I know she is not happy to have the android either. It wasn’t her decision. I know she thinks she’s being punished. Chain of command and all that. Chains, chains everywhere. Even the trees seem places to hang chains from. I’m a simple soldier. I am no one, but I’m afraid of chains. I don’t want to be captured. I don’t want to be found chained the way we found Logan. I don’t want to die like a dog. My name is Ursula Gray.

This is a very simple mission on paper. Get to this resort of the rich in the jungle, kill everyone in sight and go back home. Okay, the rich are drug dealers that have the local government in their pockets, and by kill I mean capture and take them back to our country, since that’s where they are selling their drugs. Not in their home country, I respect that. But fuck you for shitting in my yard.

It’s night and we sit in the dark. Our camp is spare, a couple of tents, we don’t need much else. I have a clean in the portable shower. I had to open the case myself as no one seemed to have bothered to wash themselves. It was just a black suitcase, you open it and it expands into a nice shower 2m*2m at the base and 2.5m in height. It does the job perfectly. It took the engine underneath the shower about ten minutes to generate the water from the atmosphere around us. I can’t imagine how soldiers used to do decades ago.

I come out of the shower and Logan is waiting for me. Only it’s not Logan, but the damn ‘droid. I really don’t want to hate it, it’s not its fault. I don’t even know whether an android is responsible for its actions.

“Ursula Gray, R.A.I.N. noticed that the shower was not set properly and since you’d have run out of water 3.5 minutes ago R.A.I.N. solved the issue while you were under the shower. I hope I was on time and you didn’t suffer any discomfort.”

“Wait, you mean you were around me while I was showering?”

“Only for 33 seconds, Ursula Gray.”

“Stop saying my name! Okay, forget about it. Thank you, R.A.I.N.. No, I didn’t suffer at all. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Ursula Gray.”

Goddamit.

The resort is beautiful. The binoculars give a wonderful resolution, as if I was there right now. But it’ll take us another hour or so to actually get there. The plan seems simple, a lot of smoke, hopefully they get so confused that they surrender because we shout a lot. But I keep thinking about chains and Logan. I step back confused by my own fears and slam into something hard. I turn and Logan is staring at me.

“Are you healthy, Ursula Gray?”

“Just don’t stand behind me!” I raise my voice and everyone stares at me. Not because I shouted at the ‘droid, but because someone could have heard me. Stupid, that’s why I’ll never go up the ladder.

“My apologies, Ursual Gray. I was close to Ursula Gray to make sure Ursula Gray is okay because Ursula Gray was nice to R.A.I.N. But it was a misunderstanding. Ursula Gray wants R.A.I.N. behind. Angelica Morton, Captain, permission to move in front of everyone so as not to cause any more discomfort.”

“No, you have no experience. Let’s do this Communication Officer R.A.I.N. you move at the back. Behind everyone.”

“Understood, Angelica Morton, Captain.”

I just look at it walking. I don’t know whether an android has feelings, but it is definitely capable of making me feel like shit. I’m an idiot. It’s not its fault its got Logan’s face.

The android is responsible for the communications between the team. We have been in the middle of the attack for five minutes and R.A.I.N. keeps informing me about the dead in the team. It’s a necrology. Logans left and right. I will remain alone, because they left me behind, because they told me to cover them but I didn’t, because they just disappeared from the thermals, snuffed out like flames or ghosts. I had a rifle that could shoot through anything but I was blind. What the actual fuck. I’m fucked. I hear shooting in the Comms and in real life. I don’t know who’s doing the shooting, but it is very well not me. Finally I see the ‘droid walking towards me. He’s a choreography of blood.

“What happened?”

“Everybody is dead, Ursula Gray, Captain.”

“Captain? Where is our captain?”

“You are the only one alive, Ursula Gray, Captain. R.A.I.N. cannot assume command.”

“Why are they dead? Why didn’t you help them? Why are you alive?”

“R.A.I.N. helped. Everyone is dead. The mission is accomplished. And R.A.I.N. am not alive, Ursula Gray, Captain. R.A.I.N. never was.”

“Stop calling me captain! There is no one to command.”

“R.A.I.N. waits for your command, Ursula Gray, Captain.”

He is right. He needs me. It’s my team now. Just the two of us. Chained together. He waits for me. He is not alive. So I cannot kill him with my orders. No, wait, he is not alive, so he cannot die. So, in a way, I cannot lose him. I cannot lose him, he will stay with me. Chains.

“Okay, let’s go home then, Communications Officer R.A.I.N.”