One Android's Journey To Live

 My name’s Araddius and I’m a humadroid, which was sired by a human woman and an American-Xorban android. My paternal sire is from Xorba, a sun, of the Xieria solar system, of the Xobagawa Galaxy, and my Earth mother is a Spanish-American woman, named Cadyn Dominguez, whom found my sire and repaired him. It was a year before she knew the full of his story and on my thirteenth birthday, my mother told me, of my androdian heritage.

It was the year 2025, when a German-American astronaut went missing on a colonization mission to the moon; Never to be heard from again (at least in this galaxy.)

Lycadis, the astronaut, was the first installment of a “zoo” of species, which the king of Xobagawa, whom the galaxy was named after, had ordered created. He was a very zealous being and wanted a creature, of every alien species, to grace his zoo. He was, also, a lover of rare minerals that his zoo specimens were forced to mine, from the planet, Sadirius, where the rarest, of all minerals could be found.

My sire was a type of prison guard and charged with guarding the zoo specimens. The zoo’s name was Workers of Lycadis Plystine, but the general public knew it only as Wolp and were told that the “W” stood for Wonders. Androids were used to police, in place of sentient beings, because, as you know, human or not, sentient beings are prone to mistakes and can be made to feel empathy, whereas, androids cannot.

Then one day, in 2030, an uprising from within King Xoba Gawa’s Drevilam, the equivalent to an earthly palace, and the WOLP was overtaken by entities, which knew whom had taken their loved ones. My sire was on duty, at that time, and one of the men zapped him, with a Fritzpeller, which is a stun gun that uses a propeller, at the firing end of the weapon, to blow the laser beams into a spray pattern. The gun malfunctioned and hit him harder than the raiders had intended; Therefore, when they rescued the imprisoned, zoo creatures, they, also, took my sire, with them.

Franden, of the planet Rynya, leader of the rebellion, named my sire Wolp, after the zoo, which he had guarded. Franden, nor any of his acquaintances, had knowledge of how to repair an injured android; In fact, this is the first they had ever seen and vowed they would travel until they found someone who could enlighten them. For the next five years, Wolp was flown, on a spaceship, and was treated, as Franden’s own son due to the man’s son, Ryonyo, having taken a liking to Wolp and talked his father into treating Wolp as a younger son, as Wolp’s injuries had rendered him, with the mental capacity, of a young boy, younger than the Rynyan child.

Ryonyo played games with Wolp and taught him lessons, which Franden, himself, taught his son about how to be a man. Wolp’s memory banks recorded every word and, with its own backup battery, waited for the time that the body could be repaired, so that the circuit of memory banks-to-mind-to-body would once again be whole. Once that occurred, Wolp would seek vengeance against the ones that almost killed him; This was the plot of the memory banks, as it only knew how to guard and destroy, because this was the purpose for which it had been programmed.

In 2035, the spaceship came to the edge of the Xobagawa Galaxy, which now was renamed, Refenia, after the fall of Xoba Gawa’s empire, and the new territory frightened the men of Franden’s crew. He wanted to honor the vow he made, of helping Wolp find help, but he was torn between the vow and the safeguarding of his men. One day, Wolp asked, in his halting, childish way, if he could speak to Franden, in private, and once the two were outside the bridge, Wolp asked Franden why he worried. Franden sadly smiled and truthfully told Wolp about the men being frightened of this new galaxy and that they wanted to go home.

(I, Araddius, speak American English, and therefore translate, the language, which is hard to write.)

“Why that worry?”

“I vowed to find you help and we have not done so; Yet, how can I continue on when I will be forcing my men to do so? I am a man of Honor and I do not shirk my duties, nor do I force my will onto others; Therefore, My Friend,” He cups a hand atop Wolp’s shoulder, “I am at a loss, as what to do about my vow to you.”

“Ryonyo teach me lesson...He say know me five year,”

“Come, Wolp, let us talk, as we go to the garden (Chrandatchka, in their language,) and there we will rest, as we talk.” He draped his arm around Wolp’s shoulder and turned him to face the end of the corridor, “It is true, that we have traveled many years, while trying to find you help.”

The garden was, actually, an observatory, under a dome, located at the apex of the spaceship, and its ceiling was constructed of Plystine, the rarest of minerals, which Xoba Gawa had died coveting. My sire described, to Mother and I, the way the light, from without the domed room, refracted within the mineral seemed breathtaking. When no light shone upon a pane, or prism, of Plystine, the object becomes clear, like glass, but, when light hits it, the pane absorbs the light and the color of the light undulates, within the pane, as a lava lamp, but with less opaqueness and dimension.

“Beautiful.”

“You know what the word beautiful means, Wolp?”

“Yes, means…,” Wolp shrugs, “something beautiful.”

“How do you know it is beautiful?”

“Ryonyo tell what beautiful mean.”

“But, Wolp, if no one told you what to say about something, would you know if it was beautiful or not?”

“I not understand. I know things. I learn from Ryonyo every day. Ryonyo teach me. No alive being not know without learn. I learn. I know.”

“Please, sit, Wolp, I only ask things, because I need to know for certain that you will not be vulnerable, if we were to leave you someplace. If you are not capable of being on your own, then I will, either, have to escort you, without my son and crew, or take you back with us, which means you will never again be the man that you were.”

“Now, Wolp, understand and sorry for anger.”

“You feel anger, Wolp? Did Ryonyo teach you this word?”

“Only after I angry.”

“Why were you angry?”

“Had hard time remember,” Wolp tapped his temple, with a splinted, index finger. It was then that Franden,noticed the bandage and asked Wolp if he injured himself when he became angry. “I hit wall and finger break. Ryonyo fix and ask if angry. I ask what is angry. He say it like when he get mad Sutanka not let Ryonyo play at night.” (Sutanka means father.)

“Yes, it is beautiful,” Franden says, as he switches his attention to the sky outside the Plystine dome. In the distance, a star explodes and the Plystine lights up like the beginning of the vintage Disney movies, which Mother salvaged from a place she once told me was a movie theater. “So you became angry and injured your finger. How did that make you feel afterwards?”

“Feel? Afterwards? I felt...” Wolp searched within, for a word, but found it hard to describe how he felt. “I felt no pain.”

“I see that I am to take you back with us, My friend, I am sorry, but you are so very vulnerable. You are not a sentient being and lack the functions to fit into any society.” Franden stood and turned toward the door, “Come, Wolp, let’s retire for the night.”

Wolp complied, dutifully, but his fragile link to his memory banks sparked with a plan that grew, as he lay upon the bed, in his quarters. He would leave during the night and make his way alone. He would find a place where he fit in and find a way to, once again, become a man. He knew he was a machine, but somewhere inside, Wolp wondered if that was all he was. Could a machine become a sentient being? So, while, he waited for the ships other occupants to sleep, he himself stared, unblinking, at the darkened ceiling, biding his time, until he could slip quietly from his birth, and make his way to the escape pods.

The night was quiet, as Wolp entered one of the 10 escape pods, which could seat four people each, and when he was about to close the hatch of the pod, a hand stilled him. It was Ryonyo, which clasped Wolp’s elbow, and the child spoke, when Wolp turned his head to look over his shoulder.

“Where are you going, Brother?”

“I go explore. You go bed.”

“I don’t want you to go, Brother. Are you not happy here? Do you not love us enough to stay with us?”

The young male did not understand that androids could never have such feelings, but he was certain that he could teach them to Wolp.

“I know not those feelings; I want learn, but I not learn here. Sutanka not think I learn them. He take Wolp back and not heal. Please,” Wolp placed his hands on Ryonyo’s young shoulders and stared unblinking, into his cobalt eyes, which were rimmed, with a glowing, turquoise-blue ring, “Ryonyo, please, I heal. I need Heal.”

Ryonyo, with tears, which seemed infused with silver glitter, coursing down his face, hugged Wolp tightly.

“Go Wolp, My Brother, and, please, never forget me, because I will never forget you. I love you, Wolp.”

Wolp hugged Ryonyo, just the way he had witnessed Franden, himself, hug the boy, “I love Ryonyo and not forget. You are brother. Now, bed,” He clasped Ryonyo’s shoulder with a hand and turned him away from him, “Go, Brother. Learn leadership and find me. I always welcome Ryonyo.”

“I go when you do, because you need me to help with the bay doors. It takes an operator outside of the pod to work them.”

Wolp looked back at the spaceship, for one last glimpse, before he left the only family he had ever known behind him, for an indeterminable amount of time; Maybe he was saying goodbye for all of eternity and would never again see another being, nor a place where he fit in. The Plystine, of the garden room, caught the gleam of a shooting star and, for what seemed, one last time, Wolp watched the brilliance, of the cosmic wish bringer, flare to life, within the clear mineral. One thought occurred to Wolp, as he watched the silvery display; How had he known the object had been a shooting star and that it was considered as a wish bringer?

After the silver glow left the Plystine dome, Wolp turned from the round window, of the escape pod, and settled into a seat. He, then, leaned forward and cursorily scanned the console, in front of him, and in his short term memory banks, he recalled all that Ryonyo told him about the controls. It was a good thing that he was a quick study and that Ryonyo was able to teach him all that he had gleaned, from watching others, whom manned the crafts, the day his father had him taken to the spaceship.

Wolp’s finger’s flew across the panel and tapped the necessary lights, as they appeared in rapid succession. A crackle of sound rent the air:

“Wolp, can you hear me,” A tinny voice asked, whilst static disrupted from time-to-time.

“I hear,” Wolp, whom kept one hand speedily tapping the console display, pressed, with the other hand, the com link button.

“I am Franden.”

“I know. I not lose all mind.” Wolp quips, to which there is a static chuckle.

“I am not implying that you have, My Friend, I am just stating who I am. I will not insist you come back with us, but I will say that I know why you go. You will be missed and that I plan on coming one day to find my escape pod.”

“Always welcome..Sutanka. When Sutanka try to get pod?”

“It will not be for a while yet, because it will take time to get my crew where they are not afraid of this new, strange place.”

“When heal, pod beacon activated.”

“Yes, Wolp, when you find a place to heal, do that, so that Ryonyo and I will know where to find you. Be safe, My Son, and know that I love you.”

“I love Sutanka,” Wolp replied, as he glanced, from where he sat, out the small window, at the tiny speck that was rapidly shrinking from view. His hand still whirred over the display, as he watched the tiny speck growing more faint, until, even, his dynamic eyesight could no longer detect the vessel.

The com link crackled loudly, then all was quiet once again, and all that Wolp heard was the blips and beeps of the console displays. Wolp, halting his actions, with his hand over the console, gave an order for the AI, of the pod, to do a scan for sentient life, and his mouth set in a grim line, when the result, of said scan, reported there were none, except the crew he had left several hours before. How many days had he repeated that same request and ended with the same result? There was no way for him to track the time, so, from the time he left the spaceship, his tiny pod drifted aimlessly across the new galaxy.

Then, the day came that Wolp charted a route to a sole planet, named Earth and that out of all of the planets in this galaxy, the Milky Way, it had the only signs of sentient life. The other planets showed signs of having been inhabited, but now were barren; It was as something had caused life on those planets to cease being.

Scans were run upon all planets that were in the Milky Way, but the results were all the same; No Life Found. The AI told Wolp that every planet had some of the characteristics, which Earth held for sustaining life, but Earth was the only one that had all required for sentient beings to live. It took Wolp maybe three years to finally cede that Earth was the planet that he need go to, so, he set the course for the water-covered planet.

As, the pod neared, Wolp saw Earth was not only covered by water, but had lush green land midst all that blue and white. When he asked the computer what the white was, he learned it was called clouds; He then learned that all the blue was water, with the green being land. When he began his descent into Earth’s atmosphere, he asked why the heat censors were going crazy. Wolp learned that plummeting through the atmosphere, at extreme speed, heated up any vessel. It was very lucky that the Rynyan space travelers knew about heat caused by acceleration and Wolp was not melted into a pile of metallic liquid, along with the space pod.

The pod crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, where my mother, Cadyn, was, on the beach, searching for clams. She heard the loud whistle of the pod, as it hurtled through the sky like a rocket, and looked up in time to see it crash into the water. She stood at the edge of the dirty ocean, while shielding her eyes, from the harshness of the never ceasing sun. She stood for an hour, waiting while the pod sank rapidly out of sight, to the bottom of the once deep ocean, and then squealed in delight, as the pod popped back into view, a few moments later.

The sound of faraway motors could be heard revving to life and Cadyn knew that scavengers had seen the pod. She knew there were no way she could let them get their grimy hands on her discovery, so, she did what she had to do. She ran to her boat, which was a garbage scow, and turned the rudder to take her towards the space pod, after quickly starting the engine. She had never seen an escape pod before, therefore, she thought it a giant egg, that had fallen from the ancient realm, of Mount Olympus, which she had heard stories of, as a child.

Cadyn procured the pod safely aboard the scow, with the help of its large fishing nets, and drove the boat into the area, of Cape Canaveral, which had become a sheltered cove. When docked, she hit a button, which slid doors of solid steel into place, and the cove became secure against outside intruders. The door of the pod opened and Wolp staggered out; His legs were unused to the movement of water. When he saw Cadyn, he marveled how alike she was to him, in every way, except a few minor changes.

It was year 2040 AD when an American scientist, rescued and repaired an android male, setting him on a road of discovering where he belonged. Mother laughs, now, at how Father touched her face in awe, and made her fell in-love with an android. She started calling him, Wolf, and taught him everything she knew about science and being alive. She created software that helped him to emote and be aware of how others were feeling.

The day of my birth he felt tears for the first time, as he held his daughter, and thirteen years later, he is crying again, as he hugs the Father and Brother, which he had left behind, and they cry for the Son and Brother they thought would never learn what it mean to be alive.